Amazon Round Up

Wow, it's really been a while. I've got a number of CDs and books for your consideration, and these are all over the place. Perhaps there's something you'll find interesting.

CDs

Pearl Jam - Ten Legacy Edition. If you're around my age, this was a high school classic.
Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson - Rattlin' Bones. This is a nice folk/bluegrassy CD.
K'Naan - Troubadour. Here's a little hip-hop courtesy of Vine.

Books

The Monsters of Templeton - This is an odd family drama.
Running from the Devil - I really enjoyed this action/adventure novel.
Flint and Silver - I highly recommend this prequel to Treasure Island.
Dead Man's Dust - This is a special agent meets serial killer thriller.

Until next time...
PH

Butterfly Boogie 10k Pictures

I've just now gotten around to checking out the site for pictures from the Butterfly Boogie 10k race back on March 28. Go here and enter bib# 1399 to see mine. If you also check out the "Lost and Found" section, you can see that people were bundled up quite a bit for the last Saturday in March in Dallas, TX. Enjoy! My next race is the Fort Worth Zoo Run on Saturday. Gun time is 7 a.m. Yikes!

Until next time...
PH

The Demise of April Fool's Day

Most of you heard about the April Fool's worm virus, aka Conflicker. While it doesn't seem to have had a major impact on our digital life, I found it had an interesting side effect. Did any of you fall for April Fool's jokes yesterday? Do any of you normally try pranks, but you skipped it yesterday?

I had a friend of mine who moved to Lubbock try to con me that he was moving back to Dallas, but I sniffed out his scam rather quickly. After the fact, I realized that my guard was up much more than usual due to all the hype about Conflicker. That actually gave me a tinge of sadness. While it is certainly small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, I couldn't help but think that something had been taken from me. Anyone else have a similar experience yesterday?

I did get a good laugh from our friends at Google yesterday. They had a posting for a new mobile app called Google Brain Search. It was obvious, but still worthy of a chuckle.

Until next time...
PH

Amazon Roundup

I've got an interesting variety of reviews for your consideration this evening - two CDs and two gadgets. The first CD is the latest from songstress Dido titled Safe Trip Home. It is her third release, but the first since the death of her father in 2006. It takes a different artistic direction, but it is still really good. Check here for the details.

The other CD is one that I took a bit of a flier on when Circuit City was essentially giving away their remaining inventory. I had heard samples of Keane's latest CD Perfect Symmetry, but I wasn't too familiar with their work. As my review shows, I'm glad I didn't pay anywhere near full price for it.

In Gadgetland, I am not always one to go for the latest and greatest. About six months ago our VCR finally kicked the bucket. My first thought was just a simple replacement, but you can't find standalone VCRs anymore that come with a tuner. This is important if you want to do programmed recording or watch one program while recording another. I checked on a DVR, but I didn't like the idea of paying $15 per month in perpetuity. So I opted for a DVD Recorder. At the time, I couldn't find much that met the requirement of having a tuner, and I wound up with a unit from Panasonic. However, as my review shows, it leaves a little to be desired.

For the serious digital artists and/or photographers, the final gadget for consideration is Wacom's Intuos4 Medium Pen Tablet. I got this through the Vine program without knowing a lot about the target user base. I don't have any needs that take full advantage of what this tablet can do, but others may find it is exactly what they need. Check here for details.

And there you have it. All the reviews that are fit to print (and maybe some that aren't). ;-)

Until next time...
PH