Julie

Biking in & around Douglas County, GA: The Silver Comet Trail

Biking on the Silver Comet Trail is a wonderful way to spend the day with family or friends.

Starting in Smyrna, GA, the Silver Comet Trail spans over 60 miles, running through Cobb, Paulding and Polk counties. By the end of summer 2008, the Silver Comet Trail will connect to the Chief Ladiga Trail at the Georgia/Alabama state line, extending the trail another 100 miles and terminating in Anniston, Alabama.

The Silver Comet Trail is a great place to ride, walk or jog. The paved, mostly flat trail, spans some beautiful and scenic vistas and you can ride as far as you want without having to worry about cars. (The picture above is looking West from the Hiram, GA trail head)

Continue reading Biking in & around Douglas County, GA: The Silver Comet Trail

Prayers for a NeedleNerd

Sandra E’s house burned to the ground yesterday morning. The fire occurred around 9:30 am and Sandra and her two sons were NOT home at the time. The family lost everything, including Sandra’s much loved cats (4) and dogs (2) which she had kept in the house yesterday due to the extremely cold temperatures. Fortunately, Sandra and her sons are fine and were not physically injured.

I spoke to Sandra this morning and she told me that they are staying at the Hampton Inn for the next couple of weeks. Sandra told me that the fire investigators were not sure about the cause of the fire and will conduct a more thorough investigation next week, but their initial findings indicate some kind of electrical fault that started the fire in the basement of the home. Yesterday’s freezing temperatures and windy conditions accelerated the fire and made it very challenging for the firemen who arrived en masse (5 fire trucks) to try to put it out. Unfortunately, all their efforts were thwarted and the home and all its contents were consumed. (One of her neighbors called her at work when the fire was first discovered and she went home immediately).

Sandra’s youngest son attends New Manchester High School, so Sandra is looking for a suitable rental property (apartment, duplex, house) that is within that school district where they can live while their home is being rebuilt (about 6 months). If you are aware of an available property in that school district, please let me know and I’ll pass the information along to her (she is not on Facebook).

Fortunately, they are well insured and the insurance company is being very responsive to their immediate needs. Sandra’s employer, her neighbors and church family have also been very caring and supportive.

I emailed Sandra’s contact information to the NeedleNerds email list, so check your email for that information. If you aren’t on my email list let me know and I’ll provide that information to you privately.

Prayers for the Camp Family

I’m sorry to post that Catherine Camp passed away yesterday. Catherine was a valued friend and member of the NeedleNerds.

,Click this link to learn more about funeral arrangments.

Breath, by Tim Winton

Have you ever finished a book that was so beautifully written that all you could do afterwards is just sit and meditate for a while to let the story settle down into your soul?

That’s how I feel tonight after finishing “Breath” by Tim Winton. I didn’t actually read the book since I listened to the audio version of the book on my mp3 player, but, no matter, the story was profoundly shared, wonderfully told, beautifully written, and now I must sit and meditate on it. I may have to go read the printed version of the book to get another layer of Mr. Winton’s glorious style of spinning a story.

Swamplandia! was a bust (for me, anyway)

Sometimes it just makes sense to cut bait and move on!

I read about 30% of the book before I was so bored with it I started skipping and skimming around, reading just enough to follow the storyline. Using that method I quickly scanned through to about the halfway point of the book and then decided I was done. I had read all I cared to read about the Bigtree family. Why waste any more time suffering through a book that I was not enjoying? I didn’t care about the characters and, try as I might, I couldn’t identify with any aspect of the story.

This book may appeal to a different reader, but it holds no appeal for me. I was invested enough in the story that I searched around the internet enough to find out how the story turns out. What I learned finally happens with the characters in this story was not very believable or satisfying so I’m glad I didn’t suffer through to the end of the book.

Now, on to the next book!

Hello BookLikes! So Long GoodReads!

After reading about Amazon’s purchase of GoodReads I decided I needed to move my books out of GoodReads and close down my account there. I just don’t want Amazon.com to have such easy access to my reading preferences.

I looked around the internet for alternative websites, tried out a few of them, and then I landed on BookLikes.com. BookLikes is a fairly new website and it does not provide the same type of and level of functionality as GoodReads, but BookLikes is a refreshing change from GoodReads! My first impression of BookLikes was that it was a very beautiful and welcoming place to be. So far I have found the BookLikes staff to be very tuned into and responsive to their users’ needs and requests. BookLikes appears to be committed to keeping the site an independent oasis for book lovers and readers. I’m planning to settle in and see how things continue to evolve.

I’ve moved my books and reviews over to BookLikes and you can find me there at jujubean.booklikes.com. I’m still poking around, finding my way around the site, but now I’d like to invite my GoodReads friends and any of my other friends who love to read to join me over at BookLikes.com

If you are already a GoodReads member, it’s pretty easy to migrate your books and any reviews you’ve created over on GoodReads to BookLikes. To easily migrate your GoodReads data, just follow the steps I’ve documented below.

1. Export your GoodReads books and reviews to a csv file

Log into your GoodReads account, select “My Books”

Scroll down to the bottom of the bookshelves panel (on the left side of the screen) and select the “import/export” option (see red arrow in the screenshot below).

Select the “export to a csv file” option found in the right hand panel of the screen (see the red box in the screenshot below) and select the “save to file” option in the ensuing popup.

Now you are ready to move your data to BookLikes!

2. Sign up for your new BookLikes Account

If you haven’t already done so, go to the BookLikes.com website and click on the green “Request an invite” button. You’ll be prompted to enter your email address into a dialogue box and send a request to BookLikes. After a few minutes go check your email for the invitation link.

Now you can import the GoodReads csv file you just created into your new BookLikes account

3. Import your GoodReads books & reviews into your BookLikes Account

Log into your BookLikes account (if you aren’t already logged into it)

Click on the gears icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen to access your user settings (see red arrow in the screenshot below)

Click the Shelf Tab and then select the “Browse” button under the “Import books from GoodReads” heading. A file explorer box will open up to let you navigate to the place on your computer where the GoodReads.csv file is stored. After you select that file, select the green “Import” button.

BookLikes will add your request into their import queue, so you may have to wait several hours before your books show up on your BookLikes shelves. When I imported my GoodReads data into my BookLikes account, it took about 24 hours before I saw any books on my shelves.

Reading on a Budget

Here’s some useful information about books that all the avid readers out there might appreciate:

Paperbooks

We’ve probably all bought books from Amazon.com, but there are lots of other places on the web where you can get cheap books*.

Don’t forget about our local used bookstore, Douglasville Books, located at 7191 Douglas Blvd, Douglasville, GA (770.949.4363). If they’ve got the book, you probably won’t find it anywhere cheaper.‎

*Thanks to Sandra for providing links to these great online sources for new and used books. Continue reading Reading on a Budget

A trip to Seattle’s Market to buy Market Spice Tea

It was cold and gray and snowing lightly.

A trip to the Market would not be complete without seeing the fish display (and show). The guys behind the calendar throw fish around to one another and a crowd gathers.