Mulch day

I had to go buy and distribute mulch in one of our flower beds today, so not much blogging. See you tomorrow.

“A Feast for Crows”, why change a good thing?

I’m an avid audiobook listener. I never really understood audiobooks until I started commuting 45 minutes each way, but now they get me through the commute. I listen to all kinds of things, but I’ve always had a soft spot for fantasy.

I’ve been listening to George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series for the last several months. Yes, its that big. A Storm of Swords is 39 CDs. 39. The first three books were read by Roy Dotrice. He did a fantastic job, including unique voices for the plethora of characters in this huge world.

I just started listening to A Feast For Crows and, much to my surprise, I heard a different voice. Dotrice was replaced by John Lee, who, while well spoken, does not distinguish between the characters enough. I’ve found myself trying to figure out who exactly is speaking. With Dotrice, it was very clear, just by his voice characterization.
The other complaint is the difference in pronunciation, even of the lead character’s names. Circe Lannister’s name is completely different between the two of them. I would have though that Random House might have had Lee
listen to some of Dotrice’s performance to get a feel for what the listeners are looking for.

I love the series, but I miss Roy Dotrice terribly.

Technorati Tags: Audiobooks

Catching up

So I’ve been slacking. I’ve been traveling a lot for work and haven’t been blogging like I normally do. I have 90 or so articles clipped, but I haven’t gotten to sift through them yet. As it turns out, it takes forever to do that!

E-mail checking is a sickness

Apparently, I am a compulsive e-mail checker.

I had a BlackBerry for years. Close to six years to be exact. It became a common occurrence for me to pick it up and look at it with no provocation. No vibration. No tone. Nothing. I always had this feeling that I might have missed an e-mail while I was laughing at a joke or something.

A few months ago, I gave up my BlackBerry. There were several reasons, but in the end, the decision was made. My compulsion migrated over to checking e-mail on my laptop. A lot. On the bright side, at least it was because I was getting no notifications, so I felt like I needed to check.

Now, I’m carrying a Blackberry again. Its a wonderful 8700c from Cingular. I really like the device, and since I don’t live with Rod, it works great. Unfortunately, I still check e-mail while I’m sitting here with my laptop. With my BlackBerry sitting on the coffee table next to me. The green light is blinking, so I know I haven’t missed anything.
Does that stop me? No!

In the end, I just can’t help myself.

Technorati Tags: Cellular, Humor

Oops!

Has some issues so I haven’t gotten to update anything or change the site layout. I’m sure I’ll get to work on it after my trip this weekend.