In order to do something with all those free books I won (and keep winning and collecting) I decided to review some of them and create yet another blog. Not only has one of my reviews earned me a gift card at Powell's Books, it has also put me in a place to get even more books, with the potential to make a little money on the side. I also will do occasional giveaways, as I have already given one book away to one lucky reader.
So go read my reviews, and if you are moved to purchase a book there are links to Amazon on the bottom of each review that will earn me a small commission. If it helps your purchasing decision, we are looking at possibly becoming a single income family soon.
It has been exactly one year since I got my braces. The orthodontist says my teeth are moving very quickly and everything else is now just fine tuning.
For some reason, I like baseball movies. Maybe it is because I like baseball and I like movies.
Moneyball is the story behind Billy Beane, the Oakland Athletics General Manager, using computer-generated data to draft players. While being successful for a team on a budget, we can't forget the factor that good pitching had on the success the A's had for quite a while, especially with the trio of Zito, Mulder, and Hudson. While their pitching is respectable currently, they are nowhere near the numbers those guys had. Combine that with only one player batting over .300, it gives them a record under .500.
I still want to see this and relive the days when a budget team consistently made it to the playoffs because of smart moves and quality players.
As you all probably know by now, I am a fan of free stuff. I especially go out of my way to cash in on some freebies on my birthday. Over the past few months I have also entered in dozens of giveaways, mostly for books but including other things as well. This picture is of the things I have won since April. Here is what you are looking at:
A few pins of Stubby the Rocket, the mascot for Tor.com
The biggest prize here was actually the two Avatar books because with it came a two night stay at the Marriott in Seattle and two tickets to the Avatar: The Exhibition at EMP which we enjoyed last weekend. They also provided us with one of their incredibly knowledgeable people to give us a guided tour and give us the VIP treatment.
Some of the science fiction displays at the museum: Battlestar Galactica, Avatar, and the police car from Blade Runner.
These are me in the interactive Avatar exhibit and a video of me enjoying myself with my Avatar.
They have a spontaneous dance party at EMP sometimes, and this is the result. The guy in the black shirt with the long gray hair is Neil. He knew a lot about everything there and told us more than we could have learned from just the audio guided tour.
What trip to Seattle would be complete without a stop at Pike Place Market?
And here is a random picture in the food court at the Space Needle of kids from the Tibetan Association of Washington singing the national anthem of Tibet and the United States.
I have been wearing a band on the left side to move teeth in the back. It seems to be working. They also added some extra wires to keep the teeth on top immobilized.
Our church had a men only cake contest again this year. Again I didn't win, but my chocolate cookie cake turned out even better than last year's cake. I ran into a few problems making this, but it turned out better than I hoped. The cake is chocolate-infused, with cookie filling in between each of the four layers, chocolate frosting, icing, and cookies on top. There were more participants than ever this year, so I feel a little sick from sampling most of them.
In order to do something with all those free books I won (and keep winning and collecting) I decided to review some of them and create yet another blog. Not only has one of my reviews earned me a gift card at Powell's Books, it has also put me in a place to get even more books, with the potential to make a little money on the side. I also will do occasional giveaways, as I have already given one book away to one lucky reader.
