From Author Jim Michael Hansen

The Ja'Velle Nodja Thrillers are Coming!

Big news.Ja'Velle Nodja is a hypnotically beautiful Paris detective with a rough edge, a free spirit and a rather remarkable tattoo. She'll be introducted to Laws readers in Ancient Laws (2009), when Bryson Coventry gets entangled with her after getting pulled to Paris in pursuit of a killer.

Ja'Velle will then branch out into her own Edge series set in Europe, starting with Hot Edge. For all you Bryson Coventry lovers out there, don't panic. He will continue to appear in brand spanking new Laws adventures twice a year, just like he has since 2006. He's not going to leave town unless the coffee runs out.

News Release From Harlequin Romance

For Immediate Release


DailyLit and Harlequin to Deliver Romance Novels
Via Email Installments
Leading Series Romance Publisher Offers Frontlist and Backlist Titles in Digital Serialization Format

Mamaroneck, New York –– DailyLit (www.dailylit.com), a service that allows users to read entire books via email and RSS installments announced today its initial deal with Harlequin Enterprises Limited, the global leader in series romance and one of the world’s leading publishers of women’s fiction, to deliver in its digital serialization format 100 of Harlequin’s backlist as well as 20 frontlist titles each month on an on-going basis.

His For The Taking, Beauty and The Billionaire and Expecting His Love Child are just a few of the titles that will be added over the next few months. Most titles will be priced under $5.00 and will be delivered in daily email installments, with more on demand, at the click of a mouse.

“We are delighted to be working with DailyLit”, said Donna Hayes, Publisher and CEO of Harlequin. “DailyLit allows us to bring our compelling editorial to readers in a convenient new way. This partnership means that the Harlequin experience will be available as emails on demand to readers with computers or handheld devices anytime, anywhere.”

“We’re thrilled to offer romance readers a large selection of Harlequin titles, including brand new frontlist titles on a monthly basis,” said Susan Danziger, Publisher and co-founder of DailyLit. “Romance novels are a great escape from day-to-day life, and via

DailyLit, they can be read in any spare moment, from when you’re waiting to pick up
your kids from school to when you want to take a break from work.”


ABOUT HARLEQUIN
Harlequin Enterprises Limited is the global leader in series romance and one of the world’s leading publishers of women’s fiction, with titles issued worldwide in 26 languages and sold in 109 international markets. The company produces 120 titles monthly and publishes more than 1,300 authors from around the world. Harlequin Enterprises Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation, a broadly based media company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TS.B). Harlequin’s Web site is located at www.eHarlequin.com. Harlequin has offices in 18 countries, including offices in Toronto, New York and London. For more information please visit www.eHarlequin.com or press.eHarlequin.com.

ABOUT DAILYLIT
DailyLit (www.dailylit.com), a service that allows users to read entire books via email and/or RSS feeds, currently features over 500 classic and contemporary works offered for free and on a Pay-Per-Read basis. The books are sent in individual installments on the day and time selected by each reader (e.g., every weekday at 6:30 AM) and can be read in less than 5 minutes; additional installments are available to be read on demand. Co-founded by a team of publishing professionals and technology experts, DailyLit is headquartered in Mamaroneck, New York.

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Real vs. Fake: The Christmas Tree Debate

Three years ago, I got sick of trekking through snow to find a Christmas tree (I've always been a stickler for cutting our own to get the freshest tree possible). Given the fact that we are usually in and out throughout the holiday season, I just no longer saw the point in having a real tree taking up space in a small home. My children are older now, a 'tween and a teen, and they didn't seem at all interested in decorating a tree anymore. For this reason, my daughter and I went out and found a smaller fiber optic tree that is already decorated, looks pretty real, and takes up much less space than a real tree. The only downfall is that you lose the scent of pine, but I can buy candles for that purpose.

Then I came across a test in the local paper titled "How Green Are You?" Apparently, owning a fake tree is a sin to those preaching going green. They claim it is best to cut a tree every year. I still don't understand that mentality. Yes at some point, this fake tree will probably due out and need replacing, but by that time that happens, they may have come up with a way to recycle the nylon/plastic fibers that make up the tree. I've seen experiments that show a plant reacts to pain, and I find it equally heartless to cut a tree down before it has had a chance to fully grow up and live its natural life cycle.

I recycle everything I can and a recent change in practices here have made it possible for me to recycle every form of plastic found. So owning a fake tree, in my opinion, really doesn't make me a horrible, non-green person. Better yet, I'd love to see what the reporter who came up with the quiz drives. I'm going to bet that it isn't as efficient as my cars that get over 30mpg.

Holiday Rush & A Warning

One of my goals was to keep this blog updated more frequently, but between the holiday preparation, chauffeur duties for my daughter, my freelance writing, and life in general, I've fallen behind yet again. Something, however, happened yesterday that made me want to get online and warn any potential readers before they head out on their battery shopping quests for Christmas toys and electronics.

I was talking to my brother yesterday when he suddenly vanished. This was weird for him, but I waited it out. Turns out he'd heard a loud pop from his living room and went to see what had happened. His universal remote was lying there with the battery cover off and one of his batteries had exploded. Seems unusual and very scary, so he went online to do a check of Logitech Universal Remotes to see if there is a product recall. While he did that, I decided to do a check of this Duracell battery and the results were quite surprising.

http://www.pcw.co.uk/personal-computer-world/analysis/2196695/strange-case-exploding-aaa-cell

http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2007/06/22/exploding-9v-duracell-alkaline-battery.html

http://ask.metafilter.com/50042/9v-battery-explosion

I don't know why his battery exploded or why others are having the same experience, but I do know that I'll be avoiding Duracell batteries in the future!

Outstanding Customer Service

Back in March, my husband and I purchased and installed three outdoor motion dectector halogen lamps. We were having an issue at the time with our neighbor's teenage daughter and friends drinking in their driveway and then tossing their beer and Twisted Tea bottles into our yard. So hoping to deter them, we put in these lights from EML Technologies.

In August two of the bulbs blew and we took a bulb with us to Aubuchons to get replacement bulbs only they couldn't find a compatible size. So we went to Home Depot and ran into the same issue. In desperation, we emailed the company to ask what the bulb size is and to our surprise, not only did they provide us with the correct size, but they've now sent two separate shipments of bulbs so that we have plenty to last us for the years to come. That's what I call customer service!

Books or Music

I'm a music junkie. While my book piles stack up, this month has seen some incredible music releases. With the age difference between my husband and I, the music in our house varies greatly. Here's my take on some of the recently releases available.



I am a huge Eagles fan. Their harmonies rock! I love the song Long Road Out of Eden and even How Long has been rather catchy. The rest of this album is growing on me. The big downfall is that I feel Joe Walsh's offerings are rather weak. I've love his music in the past, but the two tracks he does on this album just are not that good IMO.



In interviews, Little Big Town have said that Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, and CSN are idols. Little Big Town's harmonies are exceptional. If you caught the concert they did with Lindsey Buckingham, keep watching for repeats! They did an amazing job. Their third release is pretty impressive. I still prefer the second, but their new one still needs to grow on me.



Like her or hate her, I will give Carrie Underwood credit for wanting to write her own music this time around. The album is pretty catchy, but one specific song caught my attention. "I Know You Won't" is the best on the album and showcases the power in her vocals. Some of it is pretty sappy, but you listen to Carrie Underwood music expecting her to be perky.



Reba isn't someone I normally would have chosen, but I will give her credit for being a good comedy actress and some of her music does intrigue me. Stand out tracks on this album have to be the one with Leann Rimes (heartache of being dumped and blaming yourself) and then the track with Don Henley. The track with Kenny Chesney about divorce and sharing custody makes me cry every time. Over all, I find this album has become one of my favorites this fall.



Robert Plant teaming up with Alison Krauss - enough said it's a weird combination. Yet, for some twisted reason the rocking Led Zepplin frontman and Alison work very well together.



The rocking side of me always loves some harder music, but I tend to be a very vocal person and want music that I can sing along to. Foo Fighters appease to my son and husband who want harder guitar driven music, and I find it still easy to sing along with. Pretender is one of the best tracks on the album. Let It Die is a decent song. Summer's End is my favorite though.

Book Preview: Tom Brokaw's BOOM!

FSB Associates is kind enough to share a clip from Tom Brokaw's new book. Look for the review at RTR in the next few weeks.



Boom!: Voices of the Sixties
By Tom Brokaw

In 1962, I had an entry-level reporter's job at an Omaha television station. I had bargained to get a salary of one hundred dollars a week, because I didn't feel I could tell Meredith's doctor father I was making less. Meredith, who had a superior college record, couldn't find any work because, as one personnel director after another told her, "You're a young bride. If we hire you, you'll just get pregnant before long and want maternity leave."

In retrospect, the political and cultural climate in the early Sixties seems both a time of innocence and also like a sultry, still summer day in the Midwest: an unsettling calm before a ferocious storm over Vietnam, which was not yet an American war. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was confronting racism in the South and getting a good deal of exposure on The Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC and The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, the two primary network newscasts, each just fifteen minutes long.

In the fall of 1963, first CBS and then, shortly after, NBC expanded those signature news broadcasts to a half hour. As a sign of the importance of the expansion, Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley were granted lengthy exclusive interviews with President Kennedy. ABC wouldn't be a player in the news major leagues until the 1970s, when Roone Arledge brought to ABC News the energy and programming approach he had applied to ABC Sports. Kennedy, America's first truly telegenic president, was a master of the medium, fully appreciating its power to reach into the living rooms of America from sea to shining sea

During our time in Omaha, John F. Kennedy was not a local favorite. The city's deeply conservative culture remained immune to Kennedy's charms and to his arguments for social changes, such as civil rights and the introduction of government-subsidized medical care for the elderly. I'm sure many of my conservative friends at the time thought I was a card short of being a member of the Communist Party because I regularly championed the need for enforced racial equality and Medicare.

One of the most popular speakers to come through Omaha in those days was a familiar figure from my childhood, when kids in small towns on the Great Plains spent Saturday afternoons in movie theaters watching westerns. Ronald Reagan looked just like he did on the big screen. He was kind of a local boy who had made good, starting out as a radio star next door in Iowa and moving on to Hollywood, before becoming a television fixture as host of General Electric Theater.

Reagan's Omaha appearances were part of his arrangement with GE, which allowed him to be an old-fashioned circuit-riding preacher, warning against the evils of big government and Communism, while praising the virtues of big business and the free market. He was every inch a star, impeccably dressed and groomed. But those of us who shared his Midwestern roots were a bit surprised to find that although he was completely cordial, he was not noticeably warm. That part of his personality remained an enigma even to his closest friends and advisers throughout his historically successful political career.

In Omaha the only time he lightened up in my presence was when I noticed he was wearing contact lenses and I asked him about them. He got genuinely excited as he described how they were a new soft model, not like the hard ones that could irritate the eyes. He even wrote down the name of his California optometrist so Meredith could order a pair for herself. (Later, when he became president, I often thought, "He's not only a great politician, he's a helluva contact lens salesman.")

President Kennedy also passed through Omaha, but only for a brief stop at the Strategic Air Command headquarters there. In those days, SAC was an instantly recognized acronym because the bombers it comprised -- some of which we could see because they were always in the air ready to respond in case of an attack -- were a central component of America's Cold War military strategy.

More memorable for me was a visit to SAC by the president's brother Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The younger Kennedy was a striking contrast to the president, who had been smiling and chatty with the local press and even more impressive in person than on television. Unlike the president, who was always meticulously and elegantly dressed, the attorney general was wearing a rumpled suit, and the collar on his blue button-down shirt was frayed. He was plainly impatient, and his mood did not improve when I asked for a reaction to Alabama governor George Wallace's demand that JFK resign the presidency because of his stance on school desegregation. Bobby fixed those icy blue eyes on me and said, as if I were to blame for the governor's statement, "I have no comment on anything Governor Wallace has to say."

I was on duty in the newsroom a few weeks later when the United Press International wire-service machine began to sound its bulletin bells. I walked over casually and began to read a series of sentences breaking in staccato fashion down the page:

Three shots were fired at president Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas . . . Flash -- Kennedy seriously wounded, perhaps fatally by assassin's bullet . . . President John F. Kennedy died at approximately 1:00 pm (CST).

John F. Kennedy, the man I had thought would define the political ideal for the rest of my days, was suddenly gone in the senseless violence of a single moment. In ways we could not have known then, the gunshots in Dealey Plaza triggered a series of historic changes: the quagmire of Vietnam that led to the fall of Lyndon Johnson as president; the death of Robert Kennedy in pursuit of the presidency; and the comeback, presidency, and subsequent disgrace of Richard Nixon.

On that beautiful late autumn November morning, however, my immediate concern was to get this story on the air. I rushed the news onto our noon broadcast, and as I was running back to the newsroom, one of the station's Kennedy haters said, "What's up?"

I responded, "Kennedy's been shot."

He said, "It's about time someone got the son of a bitch."

Given the gauzy shades of popular memory, the invocations of Camelot and JFK as our nation's prince, it may be surprising to younger Americans to know that President Kennedy was not universally beloved. Now Kennedy was gone, and this man was glad. I lunged toward him, but another co-worker pulled me away.

Copyright © 2007 Tom Brokaw from the book Boom! by Tom Brokaw Published by Random House; November 2007;$28.95US/$34.95CAN; 978-1-4000-6457-1

About the Author

Tom Brokaw is the author of four bestsellers: The Greatest Generation, The Greatest Generation Speaks, An Album of Memories, and A Long Way from Home. From 1976 to 1981 he anchored Today on NBC. He was the sole anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw from 1983 to 2004. http://www.boom-brokaw.com/

Becoming a Book Reviewer

I've been getting a few emails asking how someone can become a book reviewer. The answer is really easy - if you love books and love to talk about them, you'd fit right in.

At RTR, we've been getting a string of people who think they love to read everything and then after one or two reviews discover they hate reading books that they do not pick out for themselves. People feel book reviewers should be getting paid - that's nice if the advertising is heavy enough, but I hate ads, especially pop-up ads, and I refuse to charge authors a fee to get a review.

Reviewing can take a lot of time out of your day. I read a book a day on average. My day starts at 5:30 a.m. with a shower, followed by lunch preparation for the kids, and then my daughter and I fit in a half mile walk around the neighborhood. Usually, I work on my freelance writing jobs until noon. I write about some pretty unusual things from job duties of an underwater welder to medications for prostate infections. On better days, I write up airport, hotel, or product descriptions for a number of websites. After this, I go for a mile walk, and then get chores done. With whatever time is left over, I get some reading in. My kids are home at 3:30pm, so is my hubby actually, so chaos usually ensues until after dinner. Both of my kids have an hour to two hours of homework per night. I have a daughter who has to be shuttled off to team practices from 6pm to 8pm twice a week and then weekend practices and games are also involved. At 7pm, I try to get upstairs to relax for an hour or two with a book in hand and finish up what I started reading earlier. I've been reading since I was three years old, thanks Dr. Seuss, and read far more quickly than others. Yet, I can't own up to the rate that Harriet Klausner seems to be able to read at, nor do I think I'd want to because if she really does read as many books from cover to cover as is claimed, I can't see her having any time left over for her personal life.

I have the opportunity to work from home which helps out tremendously. I don't have to deal with commutes, work hours, and the likes. If I did go back to work full time, I'd give up reviewing because there are not enough hours in the day.

RTR is always looking for reviewers, but we don't accept everyone. Experience isn't necessary, but we do want people who enjoy trying new authors, aren't scared to sample a new genre, and can handle the pressure of sharing their thoughts on a book that they feel is truly sub par. That's where people seem to get lost. If they hate a book, they don't see the point in finishing it.

LOR Book Fair Starts Tomorrow

If you have some time to spare for the next few days, head over to the Love of Reading Book Fair hosted by FSB Associates. www.loveofreading.com

The first round of raffle books are up on their website and you can enter to win them with the click of a button. Reviews for the books are found below.

http://www.roundtablereviews.com/keetphilomena110107.htm

http://www.roundtablereviews.com/yennebill100107.htm

http://www.roundtablereviews.com/mayjane100107.htm

Book Fair for Book Worms

Love of Reading Online Book Fair
Second annual fair celebrates and connects online book community with three days of non-stop events.

The second annual Love of Reading Online Book Fair will be held November 14-16 at http://www.loveofreading.com/ from the hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST. Talk about an idea that’s really plugged-in.

A cause for celebration and connection for the burgeoning online book community, the three-day fair has something for everyone, according to Fauzia Burke, a pioneer in online book promotion and president of FSB Associates, host of the successful event. With its “Love of Reading” theme, the event is designed for a wide audience—authors, publishers, booksellers, bookworms, bloggers, reviewers and anyone looking for a gift for the holidays.

“Participants will have non-stop interaction and information at their fingertips,” says Burke, along with a variety of special events and giveaways. Among the online happenings:

4 Free raffles—including 3 free books an hour and one large prize giveaway per day

4 Ongoing Podcasts and author readings by popular authors such as Alan Alda, Kim Edwards and Pulitzer Prize Winner Rick Atkinson.

4 Guest bloggers and reviewers will blog at the fair

4 Forum and discussion groups

4 Reader’s Choice Award for favorite book jacket. Last year’s winner was the mega bestseller, The Thirteenth Tale.

4 Roundtable discussions with topics including How to Get Your Book Published

“Today’s online book community is more vital and vibrant than ever” says Burke. “Throughout the book fair, we want to celebrate their increasingly important voice and connect people who love books in a whole new way.”

To participate in the book fair, or to get more information, visit http://www.loveofreading.com/

Red Sox and Patriots

What a treat for New England sports fans!! Congrats to the Red Sox for another championship. And my glass is raised to Tom Brady and his team - they rock!

Parenting Advice: A Book To Avoid

It's not even out yet, but I shuddered when I read that Britney Spears mom was penning a book that is touted to offer parenting advice. I'm not sure which aspect of her so-called "parenting" skills scares me more... the use your child to make you lots of money or the I didn't fit in as a cheerleader, so my girls are damn well doing it for me.

I haven't even seen a copy of this book, nor do I want to. Here's my own parenting advice and this comes from someone with two normal children! DO NOT take anything this woman says as decent parenting. If she was a great mom, she would have stepped in and helped out Britney long before now. She's always struck me as a media/drama queen and now with her book on the way and Britney and Jamie not earning enough money for her liking, she's going to ride Britney's coat tails and pull in some of her own money. Run far, far away!

http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=89a9f122-5d3b-4ccd-ad31-aaaf31673872&entry=index&sid=rss_topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

Can We Move On?

I have a typical morning routine - I tackle writing jobs and then read the online news. Britney Spears is yet again in the news. This time she ran over a photographer's foot.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071019/ap_en_ot/britney_spears_foot_flap;_ylt=ApkjvuYKdZjO7mBL4hDa2xBxFb8C

First off, WAH. Maybe if he'd not been so close to her car and invading what little privacy she has, his foot would have been safe. I still think it is time for Britney to lock herself up somewhere, kick the drugs that she's fallen prey to and then try to start life anew. And meanwhile, could someone please wipe the smirk of Federline's face. He has his hands in her money because he's too pathetic to get a job, and now that the judge has supported his wonderful parenting skills--sarcasm included--he's been nothing but smug.

The quote I read earlier about him telling a pal that "Britney is a hard woman to control..." Perhaps had people allowed her to NOT be so controlled through her childhood and now adult years, she would have had the freedom to make mistakes without everyone jumping at her.

Guess what people, when I was four months pregnant, I lost my balance coming down the stairs and fell down five stairs. I'm not the only pregnant woman to lose my balance and the fact that Britney's stumble on the curve when she was carrying baby #1 and pregnant with baby #2 is still haunting her is just ridiculous.

Sure she's made plenty of mistakes, but you know what everyone has. The only difference is that the average person doesn't have psychos with cameras watching their every move.

Woodstoves

This winter, my husband and I decided that given the extreme expense of propane, and the fact that our company was dropping all pre-pay plans due to the rising costs, we need to revert to heating our home with the woodstove again. Our woodstove is older and I didn't trust it after fifteen years of non-use. With some money we'd saved towards propane, we purchased a new woodstove.

Now, when we first moved in, the previous owner only heated with woodstove. We never had, so inexperienced as we were, we used it and quickly learned it was hard to keep our house from quickly reaching 80 or 90 degrees. We've learned a lot since then. A book that can be of tremendous help -



Woodstove Cookery does teach you how to cook on the woodstove, but it covers far more than that. I am adamant that come the cold of winter when the woodstove is going, we will have pots of stew or soup simmering on the woodstove all day long. First, it is an efficient way to cook, but also it is like crockpot cooking only better - it uses no electricity.

I'm hoping for a relatively mild winter, but I won't hold my breath. In Vermont, mild isn't usually an option. I've seen January lows topping 30 below at my house before, and I know just how much propane can get sucked up after a week of below zero temperatures. I've had it with the propane and gas industry and think it's time to revert to the olden days with wood heating becoming my main source.

Favorite Novels

I read a lot, I mean a lot! Usually, it is not surprising for me to read one or two books per day. While I've never quite tapped into the pacing that Harriet K. claims to be able to read -- in all honesty, I do speed read and don't see how one can read as many books as she claims and still have a life -- I do enjoy reading a book or two after I've polished off my freelance writing assignments and sent them for editing. I usually have a three hour window between the time I finish writing and the time my kids return from school. Then if I'm lucky, I'll read a bit before falling asleep as well.

Over the years, I've read some duds and some real gems. But I find myself always reverting to a few favorites. In fact, two of them I kept after my senior year in high school ended (Sorry Mr. C., but I just didn't have the heart to give them back, but you never hounded me to turn them in either, so I'm thinking deep down you knew.)



George Stewart's EARTH ABIDES is the only sci-fi (though I prefer to title it postapocolyptic) novel I've ever enjoyed. Fans of Stephen King's THE STAND will find subtle common themes between the two. At heart, this is a story of a few people who manage to survive some epidemic and now must repopulate the earth and also figure out a way to survive without electricity and the modern conveniences of life.



Stephen King's THE STAND is similar to EARTH ABIDES. In fact, King admits that he's enjoyed EARTH ABIDES for years. I've read posts from people who think George Stewart's novel is a copy. For that reason, I'll note that Stewart wrote his book decades before Stephen King was an author. THE STAND tends to be a little more creepy, and for those who've seen the miniseries, it can be hard to get Gary Sinise's face out of the mind while reading...



Harper Lee's only novel TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD has to be one of my favorites. It's another book I swiped from high school. I fell in love with Atticus Finch in this novel -- I wish more men would look at others like he does. In fact, there is a blog I frequent, www.freelancewritinggigs.com, in which the author/owner of that blog shows us some of her reader mail throughout the week. Some of the mail is just downright hurtful and there's really no need to send in mail of that nature. I have never understood why people can't argue without namecalling.



Finally, Alice Sebold's THE LOVELY BONES haunted me the day I read it. I picked up that book and stretched out on the back lawn near my kid's swingset. I read it in one sitting and have never cried more during a story. It's been in the process of turning into a motion picture for years and I just hope that Peter Jackson does it justice. Casting an unknown for Susie's role is probably a very good idea. As for the rest of the cast--Susan Sarandon, Rachel Weisz, Ryan Gosling, Stanly Tucci, etc.--I'll just wait and see.

Recent Movies Worth Viewing

It's been pretty dreary and rainy in Vermont for the past few days. While I've been working on my freelance writing projects, and actually caught up, I've also been reading. As yesterday was a family day though, weekends are always family days, it was due time to sit down and do some movie watching. I've always had my favorites and have found some pretty good ones recently. As it is still dull outside, I figured it's a good time to talk about them.

Pleasantville (New Line Platinum Series)

First up is a movie that I've watched and re-watched for years--PLEASANTVILLE. The movie is a number of years old now, but I still watch it and think the producer/writer/director team had a stroke of brilliance. Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde) is one of those actresses who I really enjoy--she adapts nicely to the roles she plays. Pleasantville also stars Tobey Maguire (Spiderman) The pair play a brother and sister duo who get sucked into a 1950's television show and have to figure out how to get out. The problem is that if they behave more modernly, the show begins to colorize. The scene where Joan Allen learns how to pleasure herself is a riot!

Big Daddy


We also watched Adam Sandler's BIG DADDY again yesterday. It's been years since we've seen this movie, but our daughter happens to have an Adam Sandler lookalike for her teacher this year. He's a great guy and mixes schoolwork with lines from some of the movies, so that students who answer the question and name the movie correctly win prizes. She loves going to school every day, and this was on of the only movies she'd not seen yet. (Other than Punch Drunk Love, which I don't think was that good a movie anyway.) Any parent with tweens who are hooked on the Disney show "Suite Life of Zach and Cody" will be interested to know that the Sprouse twins happened to play the little boy in BIG DADDY.

Knocked Up - Unrated (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

KNOCKED UP is a newer movie, but I have to say I've already seen it twice. The movie has this knack for making me laugh and even cry a little towards the ending. What impresses me the most is that they didn't hold back during the birth scene. I happen to know two teenagers, both about to become parents far before I think they are ready, but there is that part of me that thought had they seen this birth scene it might have scared them from having sex. Birth isn't necessarily pretty, but it is an amazing experience, and those in KNOCKED UP did a great job with this scene.

My Fair Lady

MY FAIR LADY is a classic musical. Now some may be groaning now, but for anyone who enjoys a romance, MY FAIR LADY is an exceptional movie, yet the ending still ticks me off. I'd like the chance to go back and rewrite the ending! Audrey Hepburn is a timeless actress, so anyone who enjoys musicals must give it a shot.


These are only a few of my favorites. Today we'll be watching movies I've not seen yet - Adam Sandler's Reign Over Me. Hopefully, it will be a good one. Meanwhile, I have to figure out what's for dinner. With a high temperature of 45 and rain predicted for the day, I'm thinking it might be time to bring out the crockpot for a stew.

Parenting 101: SMARTEN UP

I just read the morning news and this story http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071012/ap_on_re_us/student_arsenal_5 truly disturbs me on so many levels. However, I will cover the issue that bothers me the most - the boy's mother.

What the hell is that woman thinking buying her 14 year old an assault rifle? I have a 14 year old. If he EVER asked me for a gun, I'd be locking him up, not purchasing said gun for him. In my own opinion, this woman now needs to have her children removed while she undergoes parenting 101. Had the boy gone through with his plans, I would hope she'd be charged as an accomplice and thank God the other student and his father called police and that police took it seriously.

Now, I understand bullying and know it can make a student feel helpless. I've been there. Here's a tip to those in that situation. The law is on your side. Instead of letting the bully push you to the point that you feel ending the lives of dozens is acceptable (and hopefully you have the brains to realize this is not okay), talk to your teachers--a teacher you trust. If that fails, slap the bully and his/her parents and the school with a lawsuit, include the school for not working harder to prevent it because schools are supposed to have bullying policies in place. I'm not one for suing over every little matter, but you know what if a lawsuit is what it takes to prevent these high school shootings from occuring, then it's time to try something a little more radical. I can guarantee that a school slapped with a bullying lawsuit, especially if it makes the news, is going to work harder at putting a stop to all bullying in the future.

NECAP Testing

With the school year newly in session, it is time for students throughout Vermont and New England to sit down and spend an entire week taking the government mandated NECAP tests. Now for those who may not be familiar with NECAP (New England Common Assessment Program), they are tests that students in all school districts in New England must take in order to receive any federal funding. Schools whose students do miserably are cut off from government money. In a nutshell, and in my opinion, this means that the students and schools that most need money to provide a better education receive a slap in the face for receiving failing or low test scores.

Tests cover the basics: Reading, Math, and Writing. According to the Principal's Guide, tests are broken into three sessions for each topic and each session takes 90 minutes. Children from the third grade up must take the NECAP tests, so in all it comes to six 90-minute sessions to complete the entire NECAP exam. Is it any wonder children dread this test?

In order to properly prepare children for this test, many teachers spend hours teaching the children how to take the test. That's right, focus is pulled from actually teaching school and instead teaching kids to take long, drawn out tests. I have spoken to many teachers that dread the NECAP tests just as much as the students.

Parents who want an idea on what the questions are like are welcome to answer the following questions taken from the sample test. These are fifth grade questions, so it truly is time to find out--Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?

Now that you have a better understanding of the NECAP tests. It leads to my frustrations, and I'm sure hundreds of other parents feel the same way.

1. Parents are flooded with letters from the school principal and teachers urging parents to move up bed times and ensure the children are fed a full breakfast on testing days. Apparently research shows that children with a full belly are better prepared. While this may be true, the average parent gets home at 6pm if they are lucky. Dinner has to be cooked and homework must be completed before a child can even think about bed time. Now teachers swear they won't give out homework during NECAP weeks. If this is true, I'd LOVE to know why my son had fifty algebra problems and spelling definitions to write out last night.

2. It is also made general knowledge that the children will NOT be allowed to take bathroom breaks during the testing period. When I was admitted into the hospital for dehydration eight years ago, my doctor told me that a person is really supposed to drink enough so that they are peeing every hour. Test sessions are 90 minutes long during which kids cannot drink or use the toilets, let alone walk around or stretch. I am adamantly against keeping a child sitting on a hard plastic seat for a full 90 minutes before offering them a ten-minute break. Can you say thrombosis?

3. Students experience tremendous amounts of pressure by the school before and during these tests. I remember my son and daughter both coming home from school in tears in 4th grade because their teacher kept telling them that students who didn't score highly were letting their teachers down by not having tried hard enough. The teacher and I had words that year. A child should NOT be pressured by anyone, and for a teacher to make a child feel bad if they don't do well on the NECAP tests is horrifying.

What the government has done to our education system is unforgivable. It is time for them to sit down and take a long hard look at suicide rates and talk to the kids feeling this pressure. Childhood is the only time a person can truly enjoy life and act like a kid. Is it really necessary to take that away from them?

Today's Vent: Britney Spears

Going off the usual book topic again. Let me start by saying, I am not, nor have I ever been, a fan of Britney Spears. With this in mind, I am unhappy at the judge's decision to take her kids from her.

While I wholeheartedly agree that Britney needs counseling, drug rehab, and the likes, I just don't see Kevin Federline as being a great parent either. This is a man per the gossip columns was getting $20,000 a month - A MONTH - and wanted more alimony because $20,000 was not enough to live on. I know people who earn that much in ONE YEAR and have to struggle to survive. My message to Federline is to trade in his car of the week, buy a cheaper SUV and get a freaking job.

This is where I think the judge is wrong. Federline now has the kids in hand and I'm sure he's sat in his ritzy little home/apt/mansion (whatever he's living in) and rubbing his hands with glee. With both kids in hand, he now has a great way to tap into Britney's pocketbook. Those kids should have been placed in a good foster home (check it out first because some foster homes suck), put them far from the media's vulture-like stares, and given a chance to enjoy childhood while their mom gets the chance to get help.

For whatever reason, people seem to forget that Britney was a childhood star, her mother seems more than happy to let her child turn into a sex symbol at the age of 12, and also seemed to enjoy the money that Britney had rolling in. No one gave this girl a chance to be a kid and I'm sure that's where the majority of the problems lie. She was thrown into adulthood before she was a teenager, and that's always a recipe for disaster.

I know that there are Federline fans out there who think I'm nuts for insulting their hero. I know that there are those who completely loathe Britney who think she got what is coming. You're more than welcome to your opinions.

Meanwhile, I still shake my head at the fact that Britney's kids have been taken from her and thousands of other kids are starving their children, leaving them alone while they go out for drugs or drinks and social services don't have the manpower to handle all of these cases so non-famous kids are in risky situations and it will take their death before someone says, "Hey, we should have helped them."

Beer Drinking Throughout New England

At a local thrift shop, I came across a book in the dollar bin that I just knew would appeal to my husband. Andy Crouch must have spent a good deal of time touring New England, probably gaining a nice buzz along the way. THE GOOD BEER GUIDE TO NEW ENGLAND is the best guide to all of the brewpubs and breweries located in New England to hit shelves.



As a frequent traveler around my home state and through New Hampshire and Maine, I've been to many of the brewpubs listed within. While I don't always agree with the author's favorites, and that's not a bad thing, the information found within each brewpub or brewery guide is exceptional.

Listings include information on the brewery/brewpub's history, tour hours, regular and seasonal offerings, best beer (his personal favorite), and directions. There is little this guide is missing. He does delve into if the brewery/brewpub offers food or not, but I wish he'd spent a little more time on the menus. Redhook Brewery for example makes an exceptional white chili from turkey and their beer that is definitely worth ordering.

The author even hits places that I wasn't sure the general public knew about, so it is obvious that he spent plenty of time and energy finding every little nook and cranny where homemade beer is served.

Those coming to New England looking to sample some microbrews should not miss this guide. Order a copy before your trip and you'll hit some of the best places in town for a frosty mug of beer or two--or three if you're not driving.

What Gives?

I've been trying to focus this blog more on books, but something happened last week that is ticking me off, so today's blog will be slightly more political.

There are certain houses in my neighborhood that seem to have landed straight from the soap operas, but like it or not, these situations are happening in many areas. Years ago, a local resident decided to open his house to wayward teens who were a step away from juvie hall. While this is a thoughtful act, it has led a lot of miscreants to this family neighborhood. I've yet to hear of a success story from his house, but maybe only the bad seeds are making the gossip rounds. Anyway, I digress.

My next-door neighbor was a single mom for a number of years trying to raise her eight-year-old son and eleven-year-old daughter while holding two jobs to pay for her house and have any shred of a life. I'm the first to admit that she's done some things that I've thought were off the wall, but she's my neighbor and so be it. Today, she has a gem of a beau, a second daughter, and she's doing well. Her two teenagers on the other hand are about to become parents. The son is 16 and the daughter is now 19. Not exactly a prime age to become parents, especially not the son, but it's happened and now they have to grow up rather quickly.

The daughter is the reason for my post today. Her boyfriend is one of the not-so-great seeds to come from this wayward home for troubled kids. I think he deals drugs, though I can't prove it beyond the wad of cash he seems to have and his hanging out on the corner at night talking to people who drive up to him in their cars. He comes and goes from her life more than a yo-yo. Meanwhile, mom kicked her out of the house in an effort to force her to grow up and take responsibility for her soon to be born child. From my vantage point, this girl has done little in the past year but hang around and refuse to work.

She's finally gotten herself a job paying a typical Vermont salary of around $8 per hour, just barely over minimum wage. She has a baby on the way, due in a month, and has found an apartment with a rent of around $700 a month. The apartment isn't anything fancy, but it is inexpensive for the area. Meanwhile, the daughter got her act together and applied for assistance to help her and her baby survive.

Break this down at $8 an hour - that's $320 a week or around $1,400 per month. Take out taxes which usually come to around 18% around here - I'll round it down to 15% to make things easier. She's left with a little over $1,200 per month.

So here comes the rent - she's immediately left with $500 to cover her electricity (heat and water are generally covered by the cost of rent), her gas to get to work (no bus service in this area), phone for emergencies, health insurance, food for her, diapers, renter's insurance, and clothing for both her and the baby. $500 will not last long at all.

Last week, she received her letter from the state as to how much assistance she will be getting. NADA, ZIP, ZILCH. If she wants state aid, she'll have to quit her job, but they know she is capable of working because she has a job. She's left to gain income from her boyfriend who may or may not remain in the picture. Then she'll have to go after him for child support, but he's never worked a legit job that I know of, so there will be no money to get. This leaves her with the alternative of turning him in, but then he's in jail and she still might not get a cent from him while he serves his jail sentence.

While this girl is now struggling to figure out how to survive, my other neighbors, both on disability, haven't worked a day since I've lived here (15 years) because of back problems, but the back problems have never once stopped the husband from climbing up onto his roof drunk or from bending over to tie a push mower to the back of his car so that he could mow his lawn by driving around it.

The system infuriates me. It's time to step back and look at the bigger picture. This girl wants to do right but she's been slapped down. Someone who knows they are riding the system all the way to the bank has the system mastered and the state doesn't seem to check up on it to ensure people really are disabled. Plain and simple, the system is F$%KED.

Harvest Time

Few families have time for it, but I always try to make jam/jelly and do some canning or freezing in the fall. This is the first year that I plan to turn the crab apples from my apple tree into jelly. I made the juice a couple days ago and have it sitting in the fridge. Yesterday I bought the wax and pectin so that I'd be ready to go today.

Jelly for me has always been hit or miss. I'm hoping it turns out okay, but it took me forever to find the best book I own on canning. Everyone has their favorite book and mine is clearly a book my husband acquired before we married.



This book has unique recipes and normal ones. The pickled green beans are exceptional, and there are a number of jam recipes that I've tested as well. While the book seems to lack a crab apple jelly recipe, they do have an apple jelly recipe that I'm using as a base. I can't wait to see what happens.

The Final Chapter In An Older Topic

Years ago, I'd posted about the new pets my daughter had acquired. A number of people said "Ewww, Rats." I'd owned a rat before and knew what a great pet they make. Rats are clean, you can litter train them to a section of their cage, intelligent, and never aggressive (at least ours never have been.)

Templeton and Stormy were sisters hand reared by a local pet shop and we bought them when they were a couple months old. They turned two this spring and sadly Templeton passed on in May. Both had developed a common problem with rats, cysts and tumors, but area vets here don't take on animals that small. Templeton died peacefully one morning. She'd seemed pretty lethargic and came up to be handled. Went for a walk, returned, and she had died with Stormy curled up next to her.

I'd figured that Stormy, who clearly had a larger tumor and a cyst, would go shortly after. Two years is a good life span for a rat. Months passed and she did great. Her cyst ruptured and I spent the next week keeping it cleaned, bandaged (for whatever reason, Stormy never objected). It healed beautifully and she was in great shape until August when the tumor started growing. She died yesterday in my hands, and it wasn't an easy death. Any pet I've owned that has died in my hands (both of my Siamese cats--one from old age and the other had to be put down because he'd developed a life threatening ailment and was suffering) has died quickly and relatively painlessly. Stormy was different than any others. She suffered to the final breath. Having witnessed this, it really shook me up. I've always believed that humans should have the choice to terminate their life if they are facing a life ending disease. Having seen Stormy suffer in pain only reaffirms my belief that everyone should have the right to not have to suffer.

Guilty Pleasure Books

I've been a book addict for years, but there are some books that I own that people, particularly my husband, ask why on earth I need so many--I'm taking cookbooks.

I love cookbooks and have hundreds of them tucked away, yet I really only regularly rely on about two dozen of them for ideas. Why collect so many? I am among the few who will sit down and read a cookbook from cover to cover to learn new tips, come up with new recipe ideas, and always view the pictures. I think pictures are the key to a successful cookbook.

My friend was asking if she could come look through my collection and take away a few of my least used books because her cookbook shelf is empty. I am always willing to share. My thing is that there are certain books I will not part with, and sadly two of them are done by a company with whom I don't agree--Marlboro cigarettes.

Marlboro rewards smokers with freebies from time to time. A decade or so ago, they came out with a series of cookbooks that are the best cookbooks I own. Like it or not for cowboy style cooking Marlboro's cookbooks are what you need.





The recipes in these cookbooks are not all healthy options, though some are, but it does offer excellent recipes for comfort food at its best. It doesn't matter who you are, comfort food is sometimes needed! One of the greatest recipes in this book is the recipe for a sourdough starter. I keep a batch of this starter on hand regularly now and have made incredible rolls, breads, and even pancakes from it. My son swears the country fried steak recipe is the only recipe to use. I find their chili recipes to be fabulous.

With the recipes are loads of pictures, handy tips, and even a glimpse at times on the cattle trail - a life that cowboys have lived and still live today. These cookbooks are definitely my keepers and the ones I will not hand over to anyone!

Honest Book Reviews

Good or bad, I've always told my reviewers to be honest when reviewing the books they receive. If a book costs $20 as a paperback (very true with some publishers like PublishAmerica for example) and the book is only mediocre at best, I find it very hard to recommend the book for purchasing. Only if the quality is exceptional will I give it a glowing review.

With this in mind, a recent lawsuit (http://www.switched.com/2007/08/22/blogger-sued-for-negative-book-reviews/) has gained attention. In this case, a very negative review has led to a libel lawsuit. At this point the outcome is yet to be determined, but it does offer food for thought. Must reviewers sugarcoat the truth in order to save themselves from the wrath of authors?

I've never been threatened to this extreme, but I did once have an author demand I take a review down for pointing out errors made in the storyline. I was threatened with the atypical "If you don't take the review down, I will tell all of my writing groups and publisher to blacklist you." In the end, it wasn't worth the barrage of emails I got so I took it down, but the authors who emailed me defending the original author and the author herself were added to my list of authors I would never review again.

Another time, I had an author (he was a retired cop) make a comment that I better hope I was never in his former jurisdiction because he'd told his friends my name. A quick note to that publisher guaranteed he would never talk to me again and that I would never review his books again.

In all of my 7 years reviewing, two incidents really isn't surprising. However, I now wonder how many emails someone like Mrs. Giggles receives. Her book and music reviews are usually very honest, and refreshingly funny.

At what point do negative reviews become libel? It's hard to say, what's hurtful to the author may never have been intended that way. It all makes me wonder how far this lawsuit will go.

Previous discussion of Associated Content

I have posted raves over the is website in the past. Unfortunately, now I have to revise my statement. The winds are changing at AC, which in itself is not a bad thing, but it became apparent to me that they are not reading the articles they are rejecting.

I have been writing for them since April, usually just posting my rants or restaurant reviews for places in the area. My latest restaurant review was rejected after three weeks of it being pending. They rejected it with a note saying I should resubmit it after adding the name of the restaurant, city, and state. The problem is that all of this information was in the review to start.

I opted to hit their forums and see if others had the same problem. Apparently, I am not alone with the frequent rejections. On top of this, if you resubmit an article without editing it too many times, they will ban you from the site. So it is a lose lose situation now.

In the end, I'd really love to promote this neat Vietnamese Restaurant in St. Albans, VT. The newspaper in the area would not take content from a reader, so AC was my second choice. It's not going to happen there either unless their editors wake up and read the articles.

Skipping to the End

How many of you are guilty of skipping to the last couple of pages of a book, peeking at the ending, and then going back and reading where you left off? I'm notorious for it, especially when reading mysteries.

I read a lot of mysteries and find that usually by the time I'm halfway through the book I have a strong suspicion on the culprit. Most of the time, if I reach this point, I'll go see if I'm right. Don't get me wrong, I still finish the book, but that sleuth in me loves to know if I'm right.

I have friends who do the same thing while others ask if it spoils the book. For me, it really doesn't. If I know the ending, I feel glee at having solved the case in advance. I still will go back and read it just to find out how long it takes the real sleuth in the novel to figure it out. Half the time I find myself annoyed that the hero/heroine isn't as perceptive.

I know others who will read the end of a romance to make sure it ends as they like it, otherwise they'll forgo reading the book and move onto something else.

Over the weekend, my mom informed me that she finished reading one mystery and was horrified with the ending. I'm not going to give the title or author away, but the book ends with the main character dying instead of the criminal. Now truthfully this is a stroke of brillance on the author's part because he/she is going against the norm and introducing a strong dose of reality. However, it also ticked off readers who are now certain they will not read a book by this author ever again. So in the end, I wonder if the author has done him/herself a favor or giving all future books a kiss of death? Only time will tell...

Changes to the RTR Site

I was starting to feel tha the website was getting too cluttered, so I've done away with some of the pages (particularly the Welcome page) that few visited anyway. Instead, everyone is welcome to come in and read about my current "ramble." I love to talk, I'm an excellent gossip (I guess that depends on who you are), and I think far too many people sit back and keep their mouths shut in today's world. Sitting and ignoring an issue doesn't make it go away. I'm far happier witching about it and hoping that maybe one person might listen and take something away from the conversation.

Those who know me well generally know all about my neighbors. In a nutshell, they are the most predictable family known to man. There are certain things that the kids have done or said that signaled impending doom. When the daughter turned up pregnant this winter around six months after graduating, I can't say I was surprised. The daughter's motivationally-challenged boyfriend had been allowed to move into the house with them during the daughter's senior year. To me that was a sure signal that the daughter would start to lose any responsibility she had towards sex. My heart broke, however, when I soon learned that her almost 16 year old brother, a kid I tried to set on the right path from the time he was 8, was also entering impending fatherhood. Part of me feels bad that I gave up hope on him two years ago, maybe he might have been spared...he's never been a good student and now that he's about to become a dad, I honestly can't see him motivated to stay in school.

This has weighed heavily on my mind for most of the summer. The lack of protection used by both of these teens isn't a great thing. So now a family of five is about to become a family of seven, plus the on-again, off-again boyfriend/father of the daughter's baby. They all must fit into one tiny house that can't be more than 1100 square feet.

Then in the news this past week have been two tragic stories regarding women who had babies, killed them, and went on to have other babies. The woman in Maryland obviously hid her pregnancies well, but how can she put her body through the birthing process time and time again. You can go to any Planned Parenthood and get on the pill and then follow this with the use of condoms. I can think of many men and women who would have given both arms and a leg for these babies. Instead, they were tossed aside like last week's garbage. It horrifies me.

Today, I woke up and read the headlines. A woman out in California was having babies and dumping them in various locations. I don't get the mentality. How can you have a baby and just dump it? Again, has this woman heard of birth control? I'm sickened. I know there are those who say this is inhumane, but perhaps people who have been convicted of crimes this horrendous should undergo mandatory sterilization to prevent another innocent newborn from death.

Unfair Late Fees

My husband and many of his friends and co-workers were offered a credit card through their union a decade ago. The credit card has always offered incredibly low interest rates because they are union members and up until recently, we've been happy with the card. Now we are going to have to cancel it and run far, far away.

A while ago, HSBC took over the company who originally owned the credit card. Now, there may be some people out there who are happy with their service, but I am disgusted. First, they use a telemarking service, 800 446 1022, to call you dozens of times per day asking you to sign-up for their “credit protection” services. Both of us have declined the service numerous times. I've even spoken to a supervisor who promised to take me off their calling list to no avail. I see on the Internet discussion boards that I am not alone. This company starts calling at 8am and proceeds to continue until 9pm. I no longer answer my phone if I see it is that number because being on their do-not-call list means nothing to them and after talking to the state, they say there is little they can do because we are customers of the credit card company.

This alone is enough to make me switch banks, but the breaking point came last month. Usually, I pay online to save postage, but a rash of thunderstorms kept knocking out my power and/or Internet. Without Internet, I can't pay the bills online, so I opted instead to mail out the payment six days before it was due. I could have risked it, but if you pay the same day with the Union card now, they slap on a $15 rush fee to process your online payment. You can call in your payment, but again expect to pay a $15 fee.

I paid my car payment, satellite, and Union card bills on the same day. The car payment and Union card were going to the same state – Delaware. Prior experience shows me that it generally takes two days for mail to reach this area. The car payment was received two days later and they posted it to my account that day and the check cleared the next. Satellite does in North Carolina took three days, but the check cleared on the fourth day. By last week, Union card still hadn't gotten my payment so I called. I learned from “Steve” that they need ten days to process mailed in payments and that any payment without the account number written on the check is automatically delayed because they separate payment coupons and checks when they open their mail. I still cannot get an answer as to why they do this. I've worked in banking and know that writing your account number on a check is a great way to become a target of identity theft.

After talking to another woman higher up in the company, she informed me that the company promises that they do not process any transaction that does not require the three digit security code on the back of the card. Liars! I've used that card online and have only been asked for the code twice. If the website is set up to ask for the three digit code, you do have to give it, but many sites still do not, so anyone could take the account numbers that people write out and then have the means to go on a shopping spree.

By now, my mailed in payment is late because they claim it takes ten days to process a check payment. So they slapped on a $40 late fee because they say they may well have the check, but until their staff processes the payment, even if they have it in hand, the payment doesn't count. So some schmuck who hates his job can sit on payments for weeks and make you pay the late fee. This is not sitting right with me. I wound up paying again, online, just to make sure the money has been paid.

This infuriated both myself and my husband, so he started asking his co-workers if they are having problems with their card payments now too. He knows many of them do not have home computers and Internet access at work is forbidden. Turns out, every single one of the half dozen people in his department who use the Union card have had this happen. While we are not alone, it strikes me that it is time for cardholders to ban together and start going after HSBC for causing delays with payments. Unfortunately, it is also a very hard thing to prove. They say it might be the payment got lost in the mail, and I can't prove otherwise unless I start sending payments with return receipts.

This leads me to wonder. The government is cracking down on credit card companies who are now becoming overzealous charging fees. How long before HSBC is in their sights?

If you are a member of HSBC, be very careful with your mailed in payments. They say they need ten days to process a payment once they have it in hand. I say that is very wrong and ensures I will be cancelling this account immediately.

Associated Content

Obviously, I've not been frequenting this blog very often. I've been freelance writing more and more which limits my time, but I've also found that I can get paid to vent my frustrations at Associated Content



In all honesty, I'd rather vent and get paid for it. So anyone looking to read up on my latest happenings is welcome to go to AC. If you can write, I highly recommend signing up with them while you are there. They take anything from game reviews to television show recaps to town information and travel guides.

Oh, Boy. Guess I've Been Busy

I just noticed I've let a month slip without posting. Sorry for those who do come in and read. I have been busy writing travel articles and trying to catch up with reading!

I did have a warning to send out today. Recently a job posting appeared in Craigslist within many cities. The company was/is looking for restaurant evaluators - think mystery shopping only for a restaurant. I was excited and signed up. Within hours I had the necessary forms, only after reading them two contradicting terms made me leery. Thankfully, I'd not yet sent the W-9, so they didn't have any of my SS information.

The company had two contracts for you to sign. One stated that you were not an employee so that made you able to work for any of their competition providing you keep information regarding your jobs and their paperwork format private - copyright laws and all that. I had no problem with this.

However, in the second contract it stated that you could not own, work for, contract for, consult for, be an officer for, or manage any other restaurant evaluation firm to a term of two years. Failing to meet this term made you open to lawsuit. I emailed them immediately and the woman claimed that the form only means you cannot own another firm within two years. I became very worried over this term because it clearly states more than "owning" per the "consult for," "contract with," and "work for." I'm not willing to risk a lawsuit because of their unclear terms.

Anyway, it wasn't a day later that the account I used to apply for the job started filling up with spam even with my spam filters turned on. I try to use a private Yahoo account for things off of Craigslist and I hadn't used this account for anything yet. For it to suddenly be filling up with dozens of "Evaluate hotels," "Become a mystery shopper," "mystery shop at restaurants," etc. I am pretty certain they took my email and then sold it. That ticks me off and I informed Craigslist of it.

For this reason, I am warning others who may have seen this ad from Restaurant Evaluators, don't bother! The spam truly isn't worth it! I'm up to my 47th spam message today and am clicking away constantly to beef up my spam filters.

GeoBee

This weekend, my husband and I took our son to participate in his school's GeoBee. Now I am seriously hoping that the Vermont chapter of the GeoBee is not related to the National Geographic competition at all. If it is, what an embarrassment for National Geographic!

To start, some brainchild decided that the regional competition would be held in Northfield, about a two hour drive, and that all students had to be there at 9:30 to register with his school's team and await the arrival of the others so that the competition could begin promptly at 10am. So we left at 7:30 on Saturday morning (try getting a teenager up at 6:30 to get dressed and showered on a WEEKEND. This is earlier than he has to get up to catch the bus during the school week.) There was no time for breakfast at that hour, so unfortunately he had to go into the competition on an empty stomach which wasn't a good thing.

They started off extremely well. I still can't understand why they opted to hold the competition in this place with a lack of seating and the seating that did exist was folding metal chairs. We were told that they usually use the auditorium in the middle school that have padded seating, but they wanted to try something new this year. Folded metal seating SUCKS, but we'd been told the competition would take two hours. Three hours later, my behind disagreed with the location!

The geobee is 12 rounds of sheer torture. These questions are ridiculous. One round of questioning had nothing to do with geography. The questions were - What is the name of the professor killed at Virginia Tech two weeks ago? The next, where was he born? Where is he being buried? I supposed to of those questions could be stretched to fit in with geography, but it is a stretch and nothing these kids would have studied. So that category was absurd.

My biggest issue came towards the end of the competition. In round 10, a question was asked - What is the deepest lake in the world? And then four choices ABCD were given. IN round 12, the question was asked again without the choices. So obviously that team got it right because they heard it two rounds earlier. That same round 12 another question was asked that had been asked three rounds earlier. The teachers and parents were all balking that it was unfair to repeat questions. Meanwhile, the judges were simply stating too bad these are the official questions we were given. So one team was able to pull ahead of another because they got duplicated questions.

In the end, my son lost, and no he's not upset by it. He's actually quite happy and plans to skip this competition next year. He got one question about pointing to Cuba on a map, he looked at the map and they had Haiti there and then a circle next to Haiti that was shaded with the symbol representing a lake, so he was unsure what was goign on and decided to point to Haiti and explain that the other was shaded to look like a lake. Two teachers jumped up to defend him and the judges shot them all down.

My experience with this stunning GeoBee, what's the point? The judges were from the school that won, so obviously there was some crooked politics going on. The announcer is a TV announcer for public television and he seemed not to care. In the end, my son learned that he competition is too biased for him to have enjoyed. It's a shame they let this happen to somethign that has such promise otherwise.

Church & Religion

I had a discussion this past weekend regarding the state of religion today. I do realize everyone usually has a strong opinion regarding church and religion. I'm no different. The question came up - what is the one biggest incident/occurrence that shaped your views of church/religion. For me there is one biggie:

When my son was born, we had just moved to a new town. Let me backtrack, I didn't grow up with parents who pushed us to attend church. They let us make our own choice with my dad being Protestant and my mom Catholic. As a teen, I took a job working in an area church's nursery and Father Don was human. He did not look down on anyone. He make the services fun, with laughter and merriment.

So I move to this town, and there are three choices. Catholic, which wasn't going to happen, Methodist, or Baptist. I opted for Methodist and my husband and I decided to start going ever week because having our son Christened was important to us. What a miserable experience that turned out to be. The reverend was very anti any form of gambling. He scorned people who bought raffle tickets (even for charitable purposes), lottery tickets, friendly poker games with friends, etc. But I figured it might be a Methodist principle. We attended for a couple months and then my husband's work started forcing weekend overtime. Because I stayed home with our son, we cut down to one car to save money. So weekend overtime meant I was home without a car. For three weeks while he was mandatoried, we skipped church. The next week we returned. Before the service, the reverend's wife and some of her friends were sat in front of us and made the following comment out loud so that I heard - "I don't know why those sinners bothered to return at all. It's obvious that they are doomed."

Floored, I walked out of the church and never returned. When the reverend called me to find out why we'd left, I told him and he stood up for his wife. At that point, I decided that with an attitude like that church was not for me. Over time, I've developed into an agnostic anyway. I am pretty sure there is a higher being, but I'd like evidence to prove it. Renderings of a "white" Jesus doesn't convince me. In Jerusalem, he is far more likely to be Middle Eastern. Again, I want my proof.

Then I heard another story that happened probably fifty years ago. My grandfather was the one who would go out and plow roads during the winter. Vermont winters are quiet snowy. So one Sunday morning, he had been out plowing snow since the wee hours. He made it to church and happened to fall asleep during the sermon. The pastor took him to task in front of the church for daring to fall asleep during a sermon. Church wouldn't have been held had he not been out clearing the roads, so I'm baffled. He never returned to that church.

Obviously, times haven't really changed. It leaves me to wonder, how can people like this call themselves "Christians". Tolerance is supposed to be a part of being a good Christian and I've heard far too many stories of intolerance in church to believe some churchgoers are truly any nicer than the average joe.

Why??? I Don't Understand This!

I caught this news story today.

http://cw2.trb.com/news/kwgn-csu-football-kid-hit,0,7112496.story?coll=kwgn-home-2

I can only imagine how horrible the player feels, but I am still perplexed and have yet to find an answer. Why was this four year old down on the field? He should have been in the stands and not on the sidelines. I realize the students say they have no plans to sue, and if they had said otherwise, they wouldn't have wanted me on a jury. I cannot understand why the parents allowed the kid to be that close and from the video I saw, I don't see a parent nearby either. If anything, they are more to blame.

Simon Is Right Again

I get tired of them always booing Simon. He's usually the only person up there with common sense. I would LOVE to hear Randy expand his vocabularly. My husband has taken to predicting what Randy will say and he's usually right. What's up Dawg, Yo, Dope... they all drive me nuts. Someone hand the man a dictionary please!

Last night was country night with Martina McBride--

Phil did Keith Urban and he finally got peppy. I liked that.

Jordin did one of Martina's songs "Broken Wings" if you have ever tried to sing it, you know there is a lot of holding notes and hitting higher notes. Jordin nailed it.

The drunken karaoke clown seems to think that "Something to Talk About" qualifies as country - in my book Bonnie rate is more blues. Whatever, he sucked anyway.

Lakisha - She did Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel." I liked how she started. Then she hit the chorus and to me it was all over the place. She yelled, she expanded words to make them last longer, shortened others, and I just didn't like it at all.

Chris did the one Rascall Flatts song that I don't like "Mayberry". He thinks his nasal quality was for the song, I'm afraid he does the nasal, Billy Goat note holding thing too often for my taste. He had a rough night given the V Tech tragedy, and I feel for him for that reason, it had to be hard focusing on music when your head was with your friends. I don't think he should go tonight, but I bet he will because the one who deserves to go won't.

Melinda did a newer Julie Reeves song. I don't know it, but she definitely pulled sassy off.

Blake - I wasn't horribly impressed. First, Blake picked this song, I'm certain, because it really isn't a country song. Ryan Adam's wrote and performed "When The Stars Go Blue" years ago. Bono and the lead singer from the Coors make it a hit a few years back. I'm betting Blake knew the Bono version better than the Tim McGraw version. I still say Bono's version is the best of the bunch and Blake left me feeling bored.

All in all, I'm betting it comes down to Phil, Lakisha and Chris tonight and Phil will be the one to go home only because someone else keeps staying in there undeservedly.

Is It The Weather?

Sick of rain and snow, my husband and I opted to spend all of Saturday doing errands and getting the kids and myself out of the house. I freelance write and had been completing assignments for IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and a travel guide for a city in Vermont. There has been nothing but rain and gloom for 9 days here, and this was topped off by a snow storm yesterday. Our basement is now flooding and in general I am sick to death of this weather.

Anyway, Saturday we are driving down Shelburne Road, not one of the best roads in town due to the congestion, and this woman on a side street decides she wants to ignore the red light and pull out in front of traffic. My husband didn't have time to stop, so he got past her okay by swerving into the other lane half way, but she was obviously pissed that he didn't stop and let her out ahead of him. A few miles down the road, she passes us on the right by using a turn-only lane and misses our car by inches as she cut back in. Now, my husband at this point is laughing at her stupidity--she was in a brand new (temp plates anyway) Pontiac Grand Am, our car is a few years old. Had she hit us, she was clearly at fault for passing us in a turn-only lane, and she would have owed us a nice little sum. She then proceeds to give us the finger repeatedly by slowing to a crawl. Meanwhile, there is this elderly woman in the car looking scared to death. I grabbed my cell phone and made it look like I was calling in her license plate number (don't really think that would do any good around here, but it did the trick) she flipped us off once more and sped off until she was on another car's bumper.

Usually this would tick me off more than it did, but the speeds were slow enough that I know any damage caused wouldn't have hurt any of us. This was apparently only the beginning however. We then ran into a real jerk who kept pushing his cart into my daughter anytime she wasn't tucked right against my cart. Instead of apologizing, he would comment that she needed to get out of the way of adults. This store, Mr. G's, doesn't have huge aisles, I understand that, but at the same time, he seemed to be following us around. I would see him go into an aisle and bypass it and all of the sudden he would be right there again, so I'd backtrack to an area I missed and he'd be there again.

At another store (a Bouyea Fassetts Bread store), the clerk insisted that a sale item wasn't on sale until the manager came up front and told her he'd discussed it in the staff meeting and that if she looked at the sales notice pinned to the register she would have seen it.

It just seemed no matter where we went, the people were extremely pushy and argumentative. With this in mind, I wonder how much of this is weather related. I know I deal with SAD from time to time, but this long dreary period when we should be much warmer must be affecting lots.

Fate's Twisted Humor

Growing up in VT, Ben and Jerry's has been a staple of my life for decades. Unfortunately, in the past decade, their quality has gone downhill in my opinion. It's mass produced now and you can tell it.

So a couple weekends ago, I came across another locally made ice cream, Island Ice Cream, that is made about 15 miles from my house. We drove over to the islands in Lake Champlain to buy some. http://www.islandhomemadeicecream.com/

On the drive to Keeler's Bay Variety Store, we saw a smooshed rabbit in the road. Now, obviously my kids are older so this wasn't too disturbing to them. Nonetheless, my daughter did have to ask about how many kids were seeing this dead rabbit and thinking Easter Bunny... It was rather twisted to think about it being the day before Easter and there was a bunny dead in the middle of the road...

The Feminine Mistake?

So I recently heard about the major debate over author Leslie Bennetts' book "The Feminine Mistake." Apparently, the author brings up points about why becoming a stay-at-home mom is a bad thing. My immediate goal was to find out more about this woman. She is a mom, so she gets minor points there.



I have been a stay-at-home mom for thirteen years. Sure, I rely on my husband for money, the government told me long ago that I'm useless to them and that as a "non-working" entity, I am entitled to NOTHING, I do some writing from home to supplement our income and to earn enough credits to qualify for any social security benefits that may or may not be around by the time I am of retirement age. I will not argue the author's points regarding the financial aspects of being a stay-at-home mom.

However, I would not change my life. I'll take the lower pay scale having been out of the actual work force for more than a decade. My kids are well-adjusted, do not touch drugs or alcohol, they have not had sex by the age of 13 like many of their peers, and they are both straight A students. To me, that is far more important that money.

In my childhood, almost every mom in the neighborhood stayed home until the kids were in middle school. We are all well adjusted. The one mom who did work. Her son has been in and out of jail, beats his wife, and is raising his children by ignoring them unless they've done something wrong and in that case he'll smack them around too.

In my own neighborhood now, I look at the homes where the moms either work from home or stay home. Those are the children who never get into trouble. Across the street, we have girls who actively do drugs and are dating boys much older than themselves. In other homes, one boy was dating a girl 10 years older and his mom was at work and seemed not to care "she's slow and seems to be mentally the same age..." A kid down the road almost went to jail for destroying headstones in the cemetary because his mom was working and he was "bored." Some former neighbors used to kill time when their mom was at work by having sex with the neighborhood boys. For these girls it became a game to see how many times they could have sex before the mom came home. Sadly, and far too often, I'd see the mom pull into the driveway and then the boy would be climbing out the bedroom window. Where are they now? Both girls are now in their early twenties and both girls are moms. Each had a child by her 19th birthday.

This isn't what I wanted of my kids. I'll take the loss of pay and stay home until they have matured enough to know right from wrong. My kids know that we could be in a much nicer place financially had I not given up my job as the assistant to the president of a mailing company, but I was willing to sacrifice everything to raise children who know how much I was willing to forego. Eventually, I will be returning to the workforce. In the meantime, I am tired of those who do think that SAHM's are going against the ideals set by feminists years ago. Perhaps the freedom to choose what you feel is right for yourself and your children is the ideal goal.

Would I buy this book? Never. I don't feel the need to pad someone's pockets when they are not showing both sides of the issues.

Unseasonably Cold

Global Warming... I am sure there is some merit to it, but suddenly I find myself in the throes of winter again and given that the weather pattern has shifted oddly like this for hundreds of years, I begin to doubt that the change in weather patterns are truly based on global warming. According to my morning news, the warmest day on record happened more than 20 years ago. The coldest according to the grid at Weather.com occured in the 1920s.

So far our winter started off incredibly warm. Through early January we had little snow to talk about. Then something shifted. We started hitting sub-zero temperatures regularly and this was followed by a pattern of holiday snow storms. Valentine's day dumped more than 20 inches on most of Vermont. The same occurred on St. Patrick's Day. My neighbor jokingly asked what Easter would bring. I really wish he'd kept his mouth shut. They are saying that those of us near the lake will be spared the worst of it, most likely sticking near the 2 to 6 inch range. Those in the mountains, enjoy your 3 to 10 inches! This weather sucks! I've had enough and am extremely ready for spring

Education Today

My daughter is in the 4th grade and has been struggling (very frustrated) with math this half of the year. Our school uses a program developed by the University of Chicago and in my opinion it is worsening the way children are learning math.

In the past month, I have kept notes regarding what she is learning from day to day, week to week. In mid-February, they switched from learning multiplication to division. They started by memorizing basic division (the tables). It hasn't come horribly easy to her, but she's working on it.

The first trouble came when the unit jumped into long division in mid-January. They still didn't have their tables memorized and this suddenly became a huge challenge to many of them. My daughter learned this odd way that I can't see how it helps and now the frustration is kicking in because she cannot understand my way and I think her way is making the paperwork and time involved triple.

So to divide 7 into 320, the kids have to guesstimate how many times 7 would fit into 320. My daughter did a problem similar to this, guessed 30 and that leaves you with 110. She then has to figure out how many times 7 fits into 110, etc. At the end, she adds all of her "guesstimates" and gets the correct answer eventually.

Most of us learned to divide 7 into 32. Subtract, bring down the 0, and continue. It is so much faster, and neater!

Anyway, a week after this assignment, they jumped to geometry and started working on triangles. A week later they were working on surveys/polls. The next week they worked on fractions. Supposedly this breaks up the boredom. Meanwhile, we are back division now, but they are learning how to turn fractions into decimals and she's utterly confused because the division wasn't enforced for long enough that she can get the problems done. Come to find out, not that it was on the homework papers at all, they are supposed to be using a calculator now until they have learned division.

Why not just learn division before you start showing children how much easier and quicker it is to use a calculator? I think it is sad that they are teaching kids to use a calculator before they are teaching them how to do the actual math.

I'm working with her now to teach her my way of division and we are working daily so that it sticks. Sadly, I know many schools started using this "Everyday Mathematics" and I don't think that this system is truly going to help children in the long run!

American Idol/Sanjaya #2

Never mind, I was just reading that Howard Stern has been on a quest to prove that he can control who wins American Idol. He's been urging his listeners to vote for the worst contestant. Given that, we all know that Sanjaya is guaranteed to win. May as well stop watching now.

American Idol

Okay, I'm not a big fan of reality shows over all, but I do watch American Idol. Like many viewers, I'm left wondering exactly what these teeny-boppers see in Sanjaya.

American Idol is supposed to be about TALENT not looks, yet week after week the rather lame Sanjaya whose performances strike me as very bland, makes it another round. His faux-hawk was just as weak as his performance, and I have a feeling that hair-do helped him stay out of the bottom three.

I guess what I don't understand. Sanjaya seems to be a decent, slightly shy kid. He has to know he's not as good as the rest of the competition. By now he knows he is the laughing stock and that he's even pushed one woman (slightly deranged albeit) to go on a hunger strike until he's booted out. In fact, he's even pushed Simon to serious consideration of not returning for another season. With all of this in mind, how can he not resign? Apart from some ten-year-olds, and what 17 year old wants to be the object of a 10 year old's devotion, and his family and friends, he's not getting support from the rest of us. In fact, I know quite a few people who loathe him.

After last night, I had to wonder. Is it really the 10 year old crowd that is pushing him through? Perhaps, those who have hated Idol and all it stands for are voting for the weakest link to show just how ludicrous the show has become...

Ratings are down over last year - I don't find that surprising. Even I am sick of it. Tony Bennett is next week, I think I won't mind skipping it at all.

How It Should Be Vs. How It Is

American Idol - Sanjaya. I realize he'll win because of his amazingly large population of fans. He just doesn't have the talent in my opinion. With training perhaps, but he has no stage presence and his vocals are far too weak and timid. His hair, I don't even want to go there. When he told Simon he was just jealous - trust me Simon had nothing to be jealous over. The hair was ridiculous!

Television:

Television in general. It was a dreary, rainy day yesterday so I watched some television in the afternoon while waiting for my daughter's bus. Here there is a rule that a child is not dropped off unless the parent is visible. Flipping channels, I came across The Real Housewives of Orange County - WHY are people paying these women to act ridiculous? Then one of my top billed "Shows that have no place on television" I Love New York. WHY are these men fighting to get to be with her? I've yet to understood that. She's loud, brass, obnoxious, and sorry but just not that attractive at all. I can't imagine why they stay and put up with her. I'd like to see the tides of TV turn and get away from reality TV and focus on something better that doesn't make my mind melt after thirty seconds. Too many people are now making money for ludicrous reasons.

Music:

My daughter came home and told us she had to do a report for her music class (4th grade) and had chosen Ray Charles. First, I'm impressed by her choice. Second, I'm happy to say that we've listened to lots of Ray Charles in the past week and she's really enjoying most of it. I wish more schools could offer music classes and take this approach to showing kids that there is a lot more out there. Sadly, I also know that many schools have given up their music classes to keep budgets down. If teachers would stop asking for dramatic pay raises in some areas. (Speaking from experience, my son's 2nd grade teacher was making $50,000 five years ago, she's now up to $62,000. She's not a great teacher and often made him feel very inadequate, despite the fact that he has never received less than an A- in any class.)

Speaking of teachers, I got another letter from my children's school. My son has just missed his fifth day of school this school year due to illness. The school still wants to keep student absences under three per school year. I tore up the letter and have this to say:

1. If students can't miss more than three days, why has my son's science teacher, the brainchild behind the attendance committee, already been out 10 times this year. I'm keeping tabs this year and so far he is definitely slacking!

2. How about you disinfect the school!! In my daughter's class, we were just talking to her teacher. There are 17 children in her class. One now has viral pneumonia, 10 have had strep, all 17 wound up with the stomach bug back in February, 10 had this weird high fever and lack of energy. If the kids are bringing it home to their siblings and friends, you cannot possibly expect other kids to remain healthy.

What I'm sick of is the school's attendance committee's decision that children who miss more than three days per year will fall behind in their classwork. I'm certain that is true for some. Pushing kids to attend school when they are sick is absurd. My own son is a straight A student, has been since kindergarten, and always completes any work that he misses. Until this changes, stop wasting my tax paying money and stick to focusing on the kids who truly are delinquent.