Author Archives: Shark

The benefits of eBorrowing from your local library

As some of you might know I’m a bibliophile who is addicted to both print and ebooks.  I’m also a tech geek so I have an Amazon Kindle, an Asus Netbook, an Apple iPad, and a Sony Pocket eReader.  Though I love the smell, feel and look of real books, I am quite fond of the portability of electronic books.  The best part of having a Sony eReader is the fact that I can electronically check out a book from my local library.  Right now the selection is a bit limited, but I’m hoping as more and more people get eReaders, electronic borrowing from libraries will become more popular.  I particularly like the fact that with eborrowing I don’t have to get a library book that somebody abused.  I don’t know how many library books I have checked out that were stained, reeked of cigarette smoke, were falling apart, missing pages or were just plain nasty.  No such thing with eborrowing.

Another great thing about eborrowing is that you can get some of the latest bestsellers without having to pay for them, just like you would checking out the latest paperback from your local library (free is not exactly true because your taxes are paying for it, but you get what I’m trying to say, right?).  My local library, the Decatur Public Library, is part of the LibraryOnTheGo system.  This system allows library patrons to use their library card to check out ebooks for one or two weeks.  After that the books are no longer viewable on your electronic reader.  You can “check out” up to three books at a time, and just like a regular library book, you have the option of returning the books before your due date.  Returning ebooks electronically is a really neat feature because then you’re not stuck with having to wait to borrow a new book.

Eborrowing is very convenient.  If it’s pouring down rain outside and you don’t feel like trekking down to the library, it’s comforting to know that you can just borrow the latest bestseller from the confines of your own home and curl up on your sofa.  This is also very useful for people with mobility problems.  The LibraryOnTheGo also allows library patrons to download audiobooks and other media with their library card.  Pretty neat if you ask me.

If you don’t have a library card you can always find free ebooks online.  I visit the MobileRead Forums every day for book tips, news about electronic readers, and for suggestions of where to find free ebooks.  I suggest you check them out.  Happy reading!

Memorial Day Chicken Recipe

1.  Get some chicken.

2. Get a grill.

3. Take chicken pieces out and place in a bowl.  Pour olive oil all over the chicken and then add Old Bay Seasoning.  Put your hands in the bowl and mix chicken all around making sure that the olive oil and the seasoning cover all the surfaces.

4. Heat grill and then grill the chicken till it’s done.  Stick a thermometer in there so that you don’t get some kind of food poisoning.

5. Let’s recap:  Chicken, grill, olive oil, Old Bay Seasoning, bowl, heat, thermometer.  Done!

The Little Guy

The Little Guy he doesn’t win
He has a kind heart but that won’t swim
Swim in this World full of hatred and folly
Gee golly I wish he would win.
Fate and despair conspire against him,
World events spiral out of control,
Yet he longingly hopes for a better
Place where his pace sets the tone.
Tone, like an iPhone, where his life is an app,
Apt to take him places to change: a winning place.
No, he is the Little Guy, he won’t win.
The Little Guy is you, through and through.

Fine dining my bottom

So last Friday Sharkette and I went on a date after many months of no restaurant visits.  We decided to check out the restaurant at the airport that we’ve heard so much about and try their Italian-American fare.  Though the interior was nice, I found several things lacking.  Maybe it’s because I’ve watched one too many Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay, but some things are just so common that you should just know that you don’t do that in a restaurant.

First, if somebody orders a slice of pie for dessert, it would be nice if you told them it was frozen when they bite into it!  I don’t know if it was supposed to have been served cold, or they forgot to defrost it, but Sharkette doesn’t dig ice pie.

Secondly, if you are going to be a waitress, try to look at least a little interested in your patrons.  I know we might not be the most interesting people in the world, but we are paying for your tip so please show us some frakking courtesy!

Thirdly, though the adage, “if you got time to lean, you have time to clean,” is wonderful, please don’t do that when you still have diners eating!  How annoying would it be if I invited you over for dinner and I vacuumed the dining room while you ate???  Seriously!

Fourthly, I know there is only an hour left before the restaurant closes, but you could you please not have the entire staff sitting at another table gabbing away???  I could hear everything they were saying, and I didn’t much care for their conversation.  It’s bad enough having to listen to other diners, but I certainly don’t want to hear from the wait staff as well.

That said, the prime rib was outstanding and your fries were excellent.  The bread sticks were to die for.

I still love my Original Amazon Kindle

I’m what you call an “early adopter.”  This means that if a new gadget or technology comes to the market, I have to be one of the first ones to have it.  I know it sounds crazy, but that’s how I roll.  I was one of the first to own an Amazon Kindle, an iPad, a Macintosh clone even!  Being an early adopter is risky.  Not only will you pay a premium price for something new, but you run the possibility of getting a lemon technology.  What’s worse is when you paid all this money and a year later the company closes or decides to no longer support the device.  That really hurts…

Anyhow, sometimes you pick a winner, and the original Amazon Kindle, or Generation 1, is still a winner.  Not only does it still work, but it’s still compatible with Amazon’s Whispernet download service.  I even think it has a leg up on the next generation of Kindles because the user can change the battery.  In the grand scheme of things, that might not sound like much, but I always like electronic devices where you can replace a failing battery without having to ship the unit off to the manufacturer.  Cough, cough, Apple…

I also like the fact that on the original Amazon Kindle you can switch out SD memory cards.  This means that if you have enough SD cards, you can carry with you an unlimited supply of books.  The new Kindles do not have the SD card expansion capability, they are stuck with the internal memory.  That’s a real shame in my opinion.

That’s not to say that the new generation of Kindles are bad.  They are slimmer, faster, and have some new improvements like the ability to read Adobe Acrobat .PDF files, and a long battery life.  No, the new Kindles are wonderful, it’s just that the original Kindle is still so good, I feel no need to upgrade.  Sometimes an early adopter picks a winner.

Today’s conservatives

Apparently these stories are important enough to be on the front page of Faux News.

 Whatever happened to real news?  Even the liberal news outlets are no better, but Faux News seem to be particularly bad.  There are times I can’t tell whether I’m reading TMZ or the “most trusted name in news.”  Even more interesting is the fact that 74% of Republicans polled “trust” Faux News, which probably means that those “conservative” Republicans must love gossip, sex stories, and everything else.  Maybe it caters to their core values and beliefs, as long as they are in church on Sunday, everything is fine.  It wouldn’t be so bad if they just admitted that they click on these stories and that they love the segments where they interview Hooters waitresses about important issues like the economy or the war on terrorism.  Come on, just admit it, you love the stuff just as much as liberals, get off your high horses.

American Recovery Sandwich

I’ve been down and out for the last couple of days.  A virus knocked me out, filled my throat with ulcers, and gave me a bad case of Montezuma’s Revenge.  Needless to say I’ve not been around on Random Misanthrope.

I’m back, kind of, and I praise part of my recovery to a sandwich that I invented.  I call it the American Recovery Sandwich.  If you haven’t eaten anything for days and lost over five pounds to diarrhea, this sandwich is just what you need to feel better.  Now I’m no nutritionist or medical professional, so I urge you to contact a professional before munching down on one of these.

Here’s what you do:

First, you will need to get a hotel steak or one of those thin steaks that are easily found in your local grocery store.  If you can’t find one, just ask your butcher, these are pretty cheap cuts of meat which suits me just fine.  After all, it’s an American Recovery Sandwich hahaha.  Sear it up on the grill or in a cast iron skillet, and use Canadian or Montreal steak seasoning.

Secondly, take a yellow onion, slice it up into rings, and brown it up in olive oil in a skillet.

Then take a slice of whole grain bread and toast it.  Smear it with horseradish cream.

Cut up the meat into thin slices and place them on the bread.  Top all of it with the onions.  Add a slice of cheddar cheese and put it in a microwave or an oven to melt the cheese.  Sprinkle Old Bay Seasoning on top and serve with two Kosher dill spears.  Bon Appétit!!!


The Four Hour Reading Pledge

By Arvind Jain originally posted to Flickr as "Match on TV"

According to a Nielsen study, Americans spend an average of four hours a day watching television.  I first thought that sounded like an awful lot, until I realized how much the television is on in my own household.  I generally watch the news in the morning if my youngest one is not watching The Jungle Book for the millionth time.  During my lunch hour I usually catch the news again, and in the evening my wife likes to watch The Biggest Loser or American Idol, and we both like PBS and some of the crime dramas.  It seems every time we are home, our television is on.  I can imagine it’s the same in every American household.  Pretty soon four hours does not sound like so much.

But it is a lot.  It is a lot of time that is wasted.  Time that could be better utilized.  Time that could be spent with your family.  Time reading perhaps.  I’ve got nothing against television.  Like I said, we do a lot of television watching in our household.  I just think it’s time for me to expand my brain and fill it with something useful.  Reading stimulates the brain, it’s an active thing.  It requires thinking.  Watching television does not really require much thought, and it really does depend upon the program you are watching whether or not it stimulates your brain.

I propose the following, a Four Hour Reading Pledge.  Instead of turning on the box with moving pictures, perhaps we should spend those four hours on reading instead?  Who is with me?  Let’s try this and see.