Author Archive

This was truly a good read. The author did a really good job of expressing the feelings of 3 black maids, considering this was written by a white woman. I appreciated the fact that the story was honest, yet not as gritty as one could expect or should expect. Depending on what side of the fence you’re on. The story was warm, funny and a reminder of a shameful time within our history and my culture. I look forward to reading future books written by this author.

If you have a PS3 and a plasma over 32″ and appreciate HD you will be sickened by the Wii. The graphics are tragically horrid. The lack of response in the controllers compared to other gaming system is also not an appreciated attribute. That said, if you are considering this for your 5 year old or you really like to be active this is the system for you! The games that involve activity just don’t exist outside the Wii in the same manner so for that fact alone it’s worth the purchase if you want to move around. If you seek aesthetics and rapid response stick with XBox 360 or Playstation 3.

I attended a cooking demonstration featuring the KitchenAid Pasta Roller attachment. It looked fun and really easy so I bought it. Unfortunately, my delight in this product was thwarted by the “dirt” that seamed to be leaching from the rollers. I tried cleaning the rollers with the supplied brush and then I ran a clean dry cloth along (not through!) the rollers and found that the “dirt” was actually metal! I removed the roller from the mixer and found that a copper piece attached to the underside of the roller which scrapes the roller and keeps the dough from entering the housing of the unit was flaking off in little slivers. I don’t know if this problem would have corrected itself, but for the amount of “dough” this thing cost, I wasn’t going to wait and find out.

As for the operation of the roller attachment. It was fun!

This is the coolest tool ever; well for biking and running that is! I even wore it golfing yesterday. I’m hooked. I’ve been Garmin’d. Can’t wait to get home from a workout and plug it in. Provides even more motivation to workout. Everything worked perfectly right out of the box, setup was extremely easy, like charge it, turn it on. It found the satellites needed within 30 seconds and I was off. Software, PC based and online application, work flawlessly. The data produced by this thing is pure fascinating and motivational. Can’t wait for my next workout to improve that heart rate average. Just a hoot to wear it golfing, could see where I searched for a few errant shots. Certainly couldn’t keep the heart rate up like biking or running but it was interesting to see how many miles I covered and how hard of a “workout” golf is. I’m sure there’s a few features that I haven’t used yet but what I’ve found so far has been great. Ok time to buy the accessories for bike.

Poco más voy a poder aportar a lo ya dicho en los comentarios que hay pero por si a caso:

Transporte: Genial, lo encargué un miercoles por la tarde (a eso de las 19h) y el viernes a las 14h lo tenía en la puerta de casa, ni tan solo 3 días!!!

Embalaje: suficientemente rígido como para proteger el paquete de posibles golpes (en mi caso ninguno, tuve suerte).

Dispositivo: me encantó el tal cual encendí el Kindle se me comenzaron a descargar los libros que ya había comprado previamente y que solo fuera encender y comenzar a leer. Una pega que le puedo poner es que la navegación por la red no está activada en España (no al menos con todas las operadoras, según dicen ciertos dispositivos si que pueden navegar por internet libremente con la versión del firmware 2.5.6 y la red de Movistar).

The Help
by Kathryn Stockett

Book Review by Jay Gilbertson

Though this novel has soared up every chart, what drew me in and kept me reading was author Stockett’s risky writing technique. Using first person, (meaning the reader is seeing the world from one perspective) the novel is told through the eyes of three very different women. The tale opens in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi and if you haven’t figured it out yet, the main theme concerns the domestic help–the maids.

Two out of the three characters saved this work from completely tanking; Aibileen and Minny. Though heavy on the caricature side, their voices and concerns and harsh realities were the thunder in this perfect storm of racial tension about to rip open. As the maids rub and scrub the homes of the privileged white women, they also care for their children. What’s significant is the nature of these exploited maids in that they choose to love and care for them as if they were their own.

The opening:

“Mae Mobley was born on a early Sunday morning in August, 1960. A church baby we like to call it. Taking care a white babies, that’s what I do, along with all the cooking and the cleaning. I done raised seventeen kids in my lifetime. I know how to get them babies to sleep, stop crying, and go in the toilet bowl before they mamas even get out a bed in the morning…”

The interaction of the `maid-network’ and how they manage to find some crumbs of pride and wring a few drops of happiness out of a really rotten situation should have been the theme. Should have.

Enter Eugenia Phelan or Skeeter as everyone but her mother calls her. A college graduate with all the trimmings of a rich southern girl–minus one–no man in sight. Here is where The Help morphed into cliché-ville . Since Skeeter can’t seem to attract the proper blood-line in accordance to her mother’s long list of family- tie-must-haves, she realizes her only

I owned a Forerunner 205 before purchasing the 305. I didn’t think I would use the heart rate monitor but since my purchase I use it on a regular basis. The only problem I have with the heart rate monitor it that I have a hard time viewing the heart rate while running. It is quite small and I usually were prescription sunglasses that don’t have the bifocal in them. Other than that I have not experienced any difficulties (I even run trails without a hitch).

My brother got me this book for my birthday. A lot of my co-workers and friends who have already read it recommended it to me. I haven’t read a book that really moved me the way this one is. I’m right in the middle of it right now and it is so enthraling and exciting to find out what happens next. Each chapter leaves you wanting more before they switch who’s perspective you’re seeing things through. As you read on, you start to have your questions from previous chapters answered. It’s also a real eye-opener to how recent all of the issues with the Civil Rights movement was. Even though this book is fictional, it’s so real. I’m not even a big history person and I really didn’t know much about the Civil Rights movement. What I learned in school, I pretty much have stored in the most hidden depths of my mind at this point. This book is opening those drawers and reminding me of a lot of forgotten history and it is also very inspiring to know that there are still books about people who want to stand up for what they believe in. Read this book. You will not be sorry. It’s an easy read, it’s very well written (don’t be fooled by what seems like type-os.), and at least from what I’ve read thus far, it’s not raunchy so you could read it with your kids. Plus, the chapters are not very long which makes it easier to read with people if that’s your thing. Enjoy!

Live Like A Fruit Fly, a book i recently found on amazon, is far more practical.