Kindle vs. Nook

It looks like the battle of the e-readers is shaping up as Barnes & Noble announced the release next month of their reader, the Nook. For the last year and a half Amazon's Kindle has been the king of the e-book readers, enjoying a major dominance due mostly to it's ease of downloading books from the Amazon site, something other e-book readers could not compete with.

But now B & N has built in that same ease and convenience for e-books from their online catalog and the war, it would seem, is on.

Amazon had announced a few days ago that the Kindle was their most purchased item. B & N announced a couple of days ago that, since they announced the upcoming November 30th release of the Nook on October 22, pre-orders for the device have led their sales! It looks like lots of people will be getting one or the other for Christmas this year.

Cindy was an early adopter back when the Kindle was first released and she loves it so much that she has just about worn hers out. The battery will barely hold a charge anymore and I know she'll be looking to get a new reader soon, especially before we move to Maggie Valley. I haven't talked to her about this particular subject yet, so I have no clue if she'll prefer to stick to the Kindle or give the Nook a whirl.

Me, I'll keep reading my e-books on my iPhone. It's always with me, small and easy to use. And, to my way of thinking, much cooler.

Share

Treats, No Tricks

Sunday night was a treat for me. The plan was to chat with Mikey and Heather on webcam, but Yahoo Messenger seemed to be having problems so we consoled ourselves with a phone conversation. It would have been fun to see them, but it was still nice to talk to them on the phone for a few minutes and hear their voices and my daughter's. I don't know how other people are, but I imagine it's the same for most people; it always makes me feel better to hear my kids' and grandkids' voices when I'm away from home. I slept like a baby Sunday night.

Monday night was another treat for me. Cindy's mom and dad stopped in Atlanta on their way back to Orlando from the mountains of North Carolina and we had a chance to visit when they invited me to dinner at...wait for it...wait for it...CRACKER BARREL. That was a surprise, wasn't it? We all love eating there. If that chain ever closes we'll probably just drift apart, lol.



I've said before I'm very fortunate to have the in-laws that I do. Most people just endure theirs but I enjoy mine and always look forward to an opportunity to spend time with them.

We caught up with each other over dinner and I was able to get photos from them that they had taken on Sunday of the cabin progress. I had brought my laptop and we put my father-in-law's camera memory stick in my reader and downloaded away, then enjoyed viewing them on the laptop screen. I'll have them uploaded soon. And my mother-in-law suggested that when we move to Maggie Valley that I write a blog about the adventures of a pair or flatlanders during their first year in the mountains. I'm kind of liking that idea. What do you think? Would you read such a blog?

Our time together was over much too quickly, but it brightened and lightened my spirits.

So far this Halloween week, it's been all treats and no tricks. Just the way I like it.

Share

Lex Luthor Visits Magic Kingdom!

Sunday morning I had the pleasure of getting my brother, sister-in-law, niece and her fiance into the Disney Magic Kingdom park. It's been more than a year since I have seen my brother, so I was excited to get the chance to spend some time with him. Everyone else was a bonus.

So it turns out that about a week ago my brother shaved his head bald and also shaved off his beard, something he'd never done in the past and thus caught me completely off-guard. My first thought was "Holy $h!7!!" because I was so surprised and it was such a different look for him, but I didn't verbalize that. I remember many years ago when my parents hadn't seen me for a while and came to visit. I had been letting my hair grow out for quite some time. When they arrived on my front porch and I opened the door the first thing my mom said wasn't "How have you been?" or "I've missed you" but rather, "Good God, you look like a woolybooger!" It scarred me for life and I could not be responsible for affecting my brother in a similar manner. So I bit my tongue and enjoyed just getting to see my brother, hug him and spend a small amount of time with him. However, brothers being brothers, I could not resist the urge, later when I was taking photos, to say, "I'm going to name this picture 'Lex Luthor Visits Magic Kingdom!'" and everyone laughed.

Here are some of the photos I took and one I'm in with my brother. It WAS good to see him!

Share

Disney Animal Kingdom Photos

Last Saturday Cindy and I took our granddaughter Heather, our niece Rhyan and her husband, Townsend to Disney's Animal Kingdom for a morning of fun. We all walked around a bit and then took the safari ride together. Then it was time for Grandma, Granddad and Heather to leave so we could get Heather to her pool party with Rowan, while Rhyan and Townsend continued their visit to Nahtazu.



Photos of our morning at Disney Animal Kingdom are on my Flickr page.

Share

Weekend With Heather

Our 3-year-old granddaughter Heather came over Friday afternoon to spend the night and Saturday with us. Here are some of the best shots of her weekend.

First up is Friday afternoon playing on the living room floor with her building blocks. She finally sweet-talked Granddad into building a castle for her.



Next up is from Saturday morning right after breakfast with Granny, Grampy, Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Wendy, Aunt Amber and cousins Rhyan and Townsend; Heather is holding the huge lollipop/all-day-sucker that Uncle Jeremy bought for her.



After breakfast we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. Here is Heather holding the stuffed panda bear toy that Grandma and Granddad bought her.



Here's a photo of Heather taking a rest on a stone bench before we left Animal Kingdom.



After we left Disney's Animal Kingdom we went to visit our friends George and Caroline so Heather could enjoy a pool party with their daughter Rowan. Here's Heather after some fun swimming.



I'll be uploading more photos of our Weekend With Heather to my Flickr page in the next few days.

Share

Birthday Breakfast

Last Saturday morning several, though not all due to scheduling problems, family members gathered for breakfast at Cracker Barrel restaurant to celebrate my father-in-law's 75th birthday. Everyone had a great time and here are a few pictures from the festivities.



A view from the opposite end of the table.



Awwwww....

Share

Happy Birthday, Princess

Happy Birthday to my daughter. You captured my heart on the day you were born and you have never let it go.

Love Forever,
Dad

Share

Napoleon And Josephine

What a wonderful ending to an otherwise hectic Saturday.

My mother-in-law and father-in-law belong to the Central Florida Rose Society. At their last meeting they portrayed Napoleon (although "portrayed" is probably a generous description of what my father-in-law did, since he simply stood with his right hand resting inside his shirt over his stomach) and Josephine, as my mother-in-law gave a talk about the famous couple and roses. This link does a fairly good job, I think, of explaining that connection for those of us who may not be familiar with it.

They left Orlando this morning on the first leg of a road trip to Minnesota to visit family, pulling their pop-up trailer and accompanied by their two "Westies", Annie and Fannie. Around 4:30 this afternoon my father-in-law called me to let me know they were staying at a campground in McDonough, GA, about 30 miles south of where I'm at in Atlanta, and asking if I could join them for dinner at the Cracker Barrel off exit 218 in McDonough.

Of course I could!

I drove down after getting off work at 5:30 and it was SO good to see them. I think I've expressed my love and admiration for my in-laws in previous posts. I always tell Cindy that if we ever get divorced...I get her parents!!

We had a great time visiting. I was truly touched that they would plan to make their first stop near me so we could get together. That's something even Cindy didn't do when she and Rebecca drove up to our mountain property last weekend (though admittedly with good reason), so you can see how special my in-laws made me feel.

After eating, talking, laughing and visiting for almost 2 hours, it was time to say goodbye. We hugged each other, talked some more and then hugged again, finally saying our final farewells. My in-laws are two of my most favorite people in the world, and it really made my day, hell my week, to get to spend some time with them while I am away from home.

So a big "thank you" to the Emperor and the power behind the throne; Napoleon and Josephine.

Share

Can We Upgrade?

My daughter IM'd me today while she was in the waiting room at the doctor's office with both my grandchildren to tell me that my 7-year old grandson, who is a computer whiz, asked if they could "upgrade to a Premium account so we can see the doctor sooner?"

That little guy just cracks me up.

Share

My Grandson's Blog

Getting ready to go to Kentucky has left me with little time for blogging. Ran several errands today getting things I need before the trip and filling the refrigerator and pantry with food for Cindy. I also bid a tearful "adieu" to my office late this afternoon when I finished cleaning it out and converting it into a storage room.

I wanted to mention that my 7-year old grandson Mikey has started a blog. He has his first post up and it's how to do a file check in Windows. He's like a little Bill Gates, lol. His Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Amber each gave him different programming language books for Christmas and his mom tells me he has been putting them to good use. Last I heard he had written a program in PHP to create a calculator. He simply amazes me.

Anyway, because of his young age I don't want to make his blog address public, but if you want to stop by and see it and I know you, feel free to send me an e-mail and I'll reply with his URL.

Obviously, he makes his granddad proud, and not just because he is smart and has an insatiable need for knowledge, but because he is a good kid with a good heart who pwns his granddad's heart.

Share

Weekend With Heather

I picked up our 3-year-old granddaughter Heather on Friday afternoon for a weekend with Grandma and Granddad.

Friday night Grandma took her to visit some friends of ours who have a 3-year-old daughter, Rowan. A few weeks ago Heather spent a night with Grandma and met Rowan and the two have been asking to see each other since. The girls had pizza while Grandma and her friends sipped tea and watched the girls play, dance and share dollies.

Saturday morning we met Cindy's mom and dad at Cracker Barrel for breakfast with Heather (as well as buying Heather a heart-covered bear and a purse with a little doggie poking out of it ala Paris Hilton) and below are a couple of pictures I snapped with my BlackBerry.

Here's Grampy showing Heather how to look at pictures on his cellphone.



Here's Heather sipping her milk while modeling her hoodie jacket.




Lunchtime gave Heather and Rowan another chance to get together, this time at McDonald's where they ate lunch and played in the playhouse, then afterward went to a playground to run and play off some of that youthful energy. Cindy took some photos with her new camera.

Here's Heather and Rowan riding a play car with every woman's dream...2 steering wheels.



Here's Heather and Rowan holding hands.



Then in the early evening it was trip over to Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Wendy's house for homemade calzones. Here's a picture of Heather making her own calzone. She did a great job and actually ate more than half of it!



Sunday afternoon it will be back to mommy and daddy's, but Grandma and Granddad will have great memories of an enjoyable weekend with our little Heather.

Share

Top 10 Word Of Jeff Posts For 2008

I thought it might be fun to review my blog statistics and see what the top posts were for 2008, in terms of page hits. In case you may have missed them or are a new reader, here are the Top 10 Word Of Jeff Posts For 2008:

10. By Grabthar's Hammer

9. Top 10 Science Fiction Authors

8. Top 10 Movie Theme Songs

7. Sunny 105.9

6. Saying Goodbye To Missouri

5. The Facebook/YouTube Virus

4. The 100 Worst Christmas Songs

3. Angel At The Fence - A Hoax

2. What Does "Des Moines" Mean?

And the Number One Word Of Jeff Post For 2008...

1. Cindy Hard At Work

Share

Christmas Eve Family Dinner

Tonight was our annual Christmas Eve Family Dinner and altogether I think I counted 30 people and 3 dogs in the house for a few hours of food, fun, visiting and gift-giving. I'm especially glad I was able to be home off the road to be a part of the celebration.

Here's a photo of my granddaughter Heather, who seemed to be having a wonderful time tonight and looked so beautiful in the dress that Cindy bought for her.



More photos are up on Flickr.

Share

Balsam Mountain Inn

Thursday afternoon our tires arrived and we drove into Waynesville to have them put on the truck and then made our way to Blue Ridge Books & News, which you can read about here.

Cindy's mom and dad had made 5pm reservations for the four of us and Cindy's uncle and aunt to have dinner at the Seven Springs Restaurant inside the historic Balsam Mountain Inn, about 2 miles from Moonshine Creek Campground. However, we had been granted permission to arrive at 4pm and tour the hotel's three floors of rooms which weren't currently occupied that remain, for the most part, as they were when the hotel opened in 1905. It reminded all of us of the Grand Hotel in the movie "Somewhere in Time" starring the late Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.



The occasion for the dinner treat by my in-laws was to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary. That anniversary was back in March, but since I had not been home any length of time since then to observe it, they were kind enough to make this meal in these very elegant surroundings an anniversary gift to Cindy and I. "Thanks, mom and dad."



The tour was a lot of fun and I have many photos that will be posted on Flickr. Each room has its own style of decor and every room is unique in its furnishings. A couple of rooms were very feminine and a couple were very masculine and the rest were gender neutral, but all were interesting in that they maintained the feel of the early 1900's. There is no air-conditioning (a sign, kept from the original opening of the hotel in a lobby display case, reads, "Air-Conditioned By Nature"), and no TV's, radios, DVD players or other electronic items, though each room does have electricity. Most bath accommodations are in-room, but bathtubs are the norm (except in the masculine rooms which had shower stalls) and all are in the old "Claw leg" style while sinks are the pedestal type and usually mounted in corners. It truly is as if you have stepped back in time.

No self-respecting inn would be without its ghosts and Balsam Mountain Inn is no exception. One room, 205, is supposedly haunted, but it was occupied by a guest so we did not get to go in it and see if we felt a "presence."

I did see a shelf of blinking wireless routers, so I assume they offer Wi-Fi, but I forgot to ask. They also have a wonderful reading room off the side of the expansive lobby that was stocked with a wide variety of reading materials and furnished with an equally wide variety of furnishings for sitting and relaxing. Front and back covered porches allowed for sitting quietly in rocking chairs while taking in the beauty of the grounds or enjoying conversation with companions.

After the tour we made our way to the waiting area of the Seven Springs Restaurant to chat prior to our 5pm dinner reservation. Before we knew it, the hostess was escorting us to the hallowed alcove dining table, reserved for special parties. Our server, Lindsay, was a jewel; making recommendations and answering our questions. The food was absolutely exquisite. We all shared appetizers of Fried Green Tomatoes and Fried Brie (except for Cindy's dad who ordered a cup of Peanut Chicken Soup), before moving on to our excellent entrees. Cindy had the Coffee-Rubbed Ribeye with Garlic Mashed Potatoes; I had the Angus Filet with Mushrooms; Cindy's mom had the Coconut Crusted Salmon with Asparagus; her dad had Venison (Bambi's mom, we kept telling Cindy, to her great distress), as did her uncle and her aunt had the Pecan Crusted Catfish. For dessert I had the Bourbon Pecan Pie; Cindy had the Creme Brulee; her mom had the Chocolate Torte and her dad, aunt and uncle all had the Pumpkin Cheesecake. All of this wonderful food was washed down with glasses of wine.



It was, for Cindy and I, a wonderful anniversary gift of great food and drink, coupled with the enjoyment of excellent company. If you are ever in the area, I highly, highly recommend the Seven Springs Restaurant inside the historic Balsam Mountain Inn. Especially if your wonderful in-laws are treating, lol.

Share

Happy Father's Day

While my late father is always in and on my mind, Father's Day sharpens my thoughts of him.

My father was a huge fan of Hank Williams and his music. I, on the other hand, being a child of the rock and roll era, hated listening to what I came to call (although never in his presence) $h!t-kicking music.

So it was a little bittersweet today when I decided to treat myself to a steak for lunch at a place outside Des Moines called Texas Roadhouse. While the food is great, their choice of music is sad. Yep, you guessed it, they play country-western songs. While I tried to block out the awful stuff, my attention was suddenly grabbed when I heard the (unfortunately, lol) familiar strains of "Hey Good Lookin'" over the sound system.

Dad would have enjoyed it.

Today, I'm fortunate enough to have a fantastic father-in-law who is dear to my heart, and a wonderful son-in-law who is a great father to my grandchildren. I hope they both know that I love them and wish them a very Happy Father's Day.

Share

Mikey's Birthday Celebration

Saturday Cindy and yours truly joined Ann, Jason, Mikey, Heather, Amber, Jeremy and Wendy at Downtown Disney to celebrate Mikey's upcoming birthday. We took Mikey to his favorite store, The Lego Store, and he picked out two new Bionicle toys that grandma and granddad bought him, then we had an early dinner at the McDonald's next door and afterward walked down to one of the Disney toy stores where he picked out another toy with money from other family members.

Walking to the toy store Heather saw the large scale choo choo train and cajoled mommy into taking her on the ride, while the rest of us sat in the nearby shade (well, except for me...I was taking pictures and shooting video of course) and we all had fun looking at all the toys (Jason, remember "Darth Tater"? lol) that sometime make you wish you were a kid again. Mikey picked out a Nerf Ball shooter and had the law laid down by mommy that he would lose it if he ever pointed it at his sister or anyone else.

By this time he was pretty much ready to call it a day, so he'll use the rest of his birthday money later at some other store. Here's one pic from the outing showing Mikey and his daddy having a good time.



I haven't had time to get the photos uploaded to Flickr yet (or work on the video footage I shot) because I've had to get ready to fly out to Des Moines, Iowa on Monday morning. I'll be in Iowa for a month and that's where my next post will be coming from.

Share

Mikey's Award Ceremony Video

Here's the short video version of Mikey's First Grade Award Ceremony. Thanks so much to Mikey's dad Jason for shooting the video while I took a few hundred stills with my camera.

Share

Mikey's Award Ceremony

Yesterday morning I was up early and out the door by 6:45 to drive up to see Mikey receive some awards from his school. Ann has most of the details on her blog.

I am so proud of Mikey. Despite his difficulties, he is incredibly smart; a fact he demonstrated by winning awards in Reading, Math and Spelling. He and I kept smiling and waving at each other during the ceremony. I love that little guy SO much. And he made the day for Cindy (who couldn't be there because she was working) by saying, "I like seeing you Granddad, but I wanted to see Grandma Cindy with you."

Mikey's dad Jason was kind enough to use my video camera to tape the ceremony while I took pictures with the still camera. Those pictures are here and I'll try to get the video edited and uploaded over the next few days.

Congratulations Mikey! You've had a great year in First Grade.

Share

"It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's...Zengrrl!"

A week ago today my brother and I met to visit our mom. Mark and I hadn't seen each other in about 18 months, I think, when he was in Orlando for a job interview and I picked him up at the airport. The drive between OIA and downtown Orlando was all the time we had together for that visit, so it was nice to get to spend a few hours together last Tuesday, visiting our mom and catching up on each other's lives.

While we were driving to the store to buy a new mouse for our mom's computer, my Blackberry buzzed on my hip, indicating I had received an SMS message from someone. When I pulled up the message it was a photo of the Superman statue in Metropolis, Illinois and text that read, "It's a bird...It's a plane...It's a 30ft tall concrete Superman! @ Metropolis, IL - detour just for you, Jeff." from my friend Zengrrl who was driving down to Orlando from Wisconsin and made the side trip to take photos of the self-proclaimed "Hometown of Superman" because she knows what a fan I am of The Last Son of Krypton.


One day I've GOT to visit Metropolis, preferably during one of their Annual Superman Celebrations.

Thanks for being so SUPER Zengrrl!

Share

Fun With The Grandkids

On Wednesday, May 14th Cindy and I picked up Mikey and Heather and took them to lunch and then over to Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure. Our original plan was to spend the afternoon in the park, but just as we stepped through the entrance we got a call regarding a family emergency. We took a few minutes to run over to where Spider-Man normally appears in the hopes of giving Mikey a quick visit with the Webslinger, since he had been looking forward to this outing for several days. We were fortunate that we arrived during one the scheduled appearances, so we were able to get several photos of both Mikey and Heather with Spider-Man before leaving.

Mikey and Heather spent the night with us (lots of wrestling on the bed and granddad being a "monster" kept them laughing and screaming, but wore granddad out long before they got tired) and we got up Thursday and went to Walt Disney World for a day of fun.

We started out in Animal Kingdom, going on the safari ride and encountering 2 baby giraffes that wanted to "play" by running around and between the jeeps while out on the savannah. That was a real kick for everyone. Afterward, we tried to see the gorillas, but they were all hiding. We stopped for a few minutes to enjoy some popcorn and cool liquid refreshment, only to be harassed by an experienced duck who did his/her best to beg every piece of popcorn we had. I took Heather to see the interactive "It's Tough to be a Bug" show (I took Mikey a couple of years back but the sensory overload nature of the show was not something he enjoyed) while Cindy took Mikey around a couple of exhibits. Heather laughed and cried, so it was a toss-up as to whether she liked all of the show.

Then we drove over to the "new" Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney-MGM Studios) so Mikey could see the Power Rangers. We got there early and a street performance of "High School Musical" had Heather dancing around. As her mom is fond of saying, she's such a girl, lol. Mikey, on the other hand, just sat there looking bored waiting for the Rangers to appear. When they did appear we got in line for an autograph and photos with his favorite (at the moment) the White Ranger. We tried to get the same from the Red Power Ranger, but the lines were too long and all the rangers left before he could see the Red one. Next time, we'll get in the Red Power Ranger's line first. Pictures of the Disney visit are here.

We had a lot of fun with Mikey and Heather and hope that over the Summer I'll be home some and we can do it again.

Share