A to Z Challenge Theme

With so many different bloggers involved in this challenge, people are going random or with a theme.I am going with the theme route. If you watched the video above you probably guess what my theme is going to be ...that is correct Star Wars. So I am going to go with a person, place as long as they were in the movies involved in the Star Wars Universe.

I have been a Star Wars fan as long as I can remember. I was raised on those movies, I could recite the movies on a whim...;) So you can look forward in seeing whom or what I pick for each letter. Thank you for stopping by my blogging corner.

A to Z Challenge

 

I heard about this challenge last year about this time. So I figured that this year I will give it a whirl and see if I can blog the alphabet in the month of April.  What is this challenge anyway?

 Most of the time if you subtract Sundays from April, you then have 26 days--one day for each letter of the alphabet.  When April 1st lands on a Sunday you begin on that day which will be the only Sunday you would post during that month's challenge. 

        Using this premise, you would start beginning April First with a topic themed on something with the letterA, then on April second another topic with the letter B as the theme, and so on until you finish on April thirtieth with the theme based on the letter Z.  It doesn't even have to be a word--it can be a proper noun, the letter used as a symbol, or the letter itself.  The theme of the day is the letter scheduled for that day.

So we will see if I can discipline myself enough to do this for the whole month. So I am in and are you with me to give this challenge a try. Here is the site and hope to see you there.

Once Upon a Time Pool List

Here is my reading pool of the books that I would like to read for the Once Upon A Time Challenge. It will be interesting to see which ones I pick and if I sway away from the list. I probably will do some swaying..:)

Fairy Tales:

Enchantment by Orson Scott Card 
A Curse Dark As Gold byElizabeth C. Bunce 
The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

Folklore:

Hood byStephen R. Lawhead 
Good Omens byTerry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart 

Fantasy:

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb 
Magical Kingdom for Sale  Sold by Terry Brooks
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman 
Terry Pratchett 

 Mythical
  
Nobody's Princess by Esther M. Friesner
In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente  
Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
 

Once Upon a Time VI

I just cannot believe that it this time of the year ALREADY. I participated in the reading event that Carl has been hosting for the past 6 years. I saw his post on the google reader and figured that I was participate once again..:) The challenge spans from March 21st to June 19th. He has a varied number of quests that you the read can choose to conquer. The most important thing to do is have fun during this challenge. The quest that I decided to sleigh is:

 

This quest guidelines are as follows. Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time categories. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four genres.

Amazing Birthday:)

On Friday it was my birthday, the BIG 3-0. I cannot believe it that I am 30 already. It was a pretty good one that is for sure. my wife had the most amazing cake made for me, it was any geeks dream. She had the woman she work with make a cake that looks like a motherboard. Now talk about total AWESOMENESS. We are friends with the owners of the bar and had a mug of old-fashion that is the equivalent to four drinks in that one mug..:) All I can say is WOW and all I did was get a buzz from the drink.

Throughout that week myself, me wife and Aquagirl were battling the flu. Aquagirl is still battling the virus. I just hope that she can get over this SOON. My wife is taking her in to see if it is just a virus, because Aquagirl has had it over a week now;(

I hope that this week goes a little bit more smooth than this past week went.

Happy Irrational Day

It was kind of funny this morning, my wife asks me," Is it march 13?"
My Answer: "Yes, it is."
Her response:" Oh! That is why there are adds on pies today."

People may wonder what is so great about pi?

Image via Wikipedia

Pi is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of any Euclidean circle's circumference to its diameter. π is approximately equal to 3.141592653589793238. Pi's value cannot be expressed truly into fraction form considering that it does repeat nor have a pattern.  Reports on the latest, most-precise calculation of π are common news items; the record as of September 2011, if verified, stands at 5 trillion decimal digits. Now how would you like to write that one out..lol.

Plus an added bonus for this holiday is the fact that it is the field of physics godfather's birthday today as well. Albert Einstein!!

Image via Wikipedia

So are you doing anything special on this holiday??

Locke Lamora Read-Along Part I

I have been wanting to read this book for a while. I have had heard nothing, but great things about from the book blogosphere. This read-along is being hosted by quite the crew dubbed the Directors of the Lynch Mob:

Dark Cargo

Little Red Reviewer

SFSignal

MyAwfulReviews

Dark Cargo Explorer (Doing a Slower Version)

This book sure is interesting thus far. I am not quite through the last chapter yet. It has been a crazy world this week out side my reading working. Worked a couple 12 hour days and running 6 days this week and . Does not leave a whole lot of time to sit down and read sometimes..:)

I also think that it is pretty cool that Scott Lynch is going to be actively involved in the read-along. This is a first for me being in a read-along with the author being a participate.Then again the other read-alongs that I was in the author is deceased.

 

1. If this is your first time reading The Lies of Locke Lamora, what do you think of it so far?  If this is a re-read for you, how does the book stand up to rereading?

This is my first time reading The Lies of Locke Lamora. It is quite interesting to say the least in the different obstacles that has encountered already in his life. This book is better than I expected and now I can see why Andrea loves this book so much. I like Scott Lynch's humor throughout the book so far. Some of those part suppose to be funny right? If not his cast crack me up at times anyway..:)


2. At last count, I found three time lines:  Locke as as a 20-something adult, Locke meeting Father Chains for the first time, and Locke as a younger child in Shades Hill. How are you doing with the Flashback within a flashback style of introducing characters and the world?

The flashback upon flashback is a bit confuzzling at times. I am getting use to it now. At least Scott does warn us in the book. With a new number, you do not know if it going to be a flashback or continuing on with the current one. For the most part it is not that bad. I am not that sure if wife would like this book with trying to keep 3 stories straight.

For some reason, the flashbacks work just right for this book.

3. Speaking of the world, what do you think of Camorr and Lynch's world building? 

I feel that Carmorr is quite an interesting place to say the VERY least. The city of Camorr, and the world that it inhabits, is pretty obviously based off of a late renaissance era Venice, and regularly makes reference to the Therin Throne, a fantasy-Rome.

I like the way that Lynch make you feel that you are right beside Locke thoughout his journey.  His world-building is something that I have never experienced this way before. Makes me want more and see what the next wrinkle in his world will be. I sure do like that he provided a map..:)

4. Father Chains and the death offering. . .  quite the code of honor for thieves, isn't it? What kind of person do you think Chains is going to mold Locke into?  (have not gotten this far just yet)

5. It's been a while since I read this, and I'd forgotten how much of the beginning of the book is pure set up, for the characters, the plot, and the world. Generally speaking, do you prefer  set up and world building done this way, or do you prefer to be thrown into the deep end with what's happening?

I like the way that Lynch does his character development and world building. When you get thrown in the deep of it all. The author has to back track and sometimes it does not work.I am not a fan of being thrown in the middle of the war and then back tracking and finding out how we got here in the first place.  I like to know how the story progresses in this writing style.

6. If you've already started attempting to pick the pockets of your family members (or even thought about it!) raise your hand.

I could not help myself officer I have been reading this great book..and..and. Can you believe that they would not read my book while waiting to get bailed out..lol That would be a yes I have been trying to pick pock family member co-worker and my boss(ya sure). I would be interested to see how everyoine else answers this question.

That is all my answers for week 1 folks. I am not doubting at all for joining in this read-along..:) Thank you for stopping by my blog.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins(Hunger Games #3)

Title: Mocking Jay

Author: Suzanne Collins

Series: The Hunger Games

Format: Paperback

Genre: Science Fiction/dystopia

Year:2010

Acquired:Library

Ranking: Save it

Summary: Young Katniss Everdeen has survived the dreaded Hunger Games not once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District 12. The thrill-packed final installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy will keep young hearts pounding

Thoughts: I have been debating over the past couple of day on how the approach this review. Here we go anyways. In this final book in the Hunger Games, just seemed it did not flow as smoothly with all the first two books of the series. I feel that this book could have been so MUCH more. I liked on how some of the people in the book was "taken care of."


Mockingjay tells of the uprising in the districts and the war against the capitol.I did like the idea of the book. It just seemed that Katniss was feeling sorry for herself throughout this book. Like telling herself look at what I did to ruin lives so of the people that I truly care about.

In the end, I thought that the solution between Katniss, Petta and Gale would have ended better than the way that Collins decided to go with this series. I guess that is what life does to you sometimes.

As a series, I give it a 4 stars and recommend it to any reader.I gave this book a save it ranting based on the 2 books before the Mockingjay in the series.

What were your thoughts of Mockingjay?  Where you satisfied how Collins ended this series?

My First Award! :)

A HUGE Thank You  to Jeremy over at Geeky Tendencies for selecting me for the Liebster Award! This is an award specially for bloggers who have less than 200 people following them, and helps them to gain more followers.

Be sure to stop over to Jeremy's blog.

The rules for accepting the award are as follows:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.

2. Nominate up to five others for the award.

3. Let them know via comment on their blog.

4. Post the award on your blog.

Another rule was added by Inspirenordic and carried on by Jeremy, and I'm also going to add it to my list as I think it was a really good idea:

5. Follow this link and at least consider signing up for the A-Z Challenge. It is a great way to find new and interesting blogs, have people find your blog, and meet new people.

Here are my winners: (Drumroll please)

First is Daddy Geek Boy- This is a blog that balances parenting and Geekdom.

Second is Sarah over at Bookworm Blues- She takes an in-depth look into every book that she reviews on her blog.
Third is Lindsey over at Blue Fairy Bookshelf- She is a fantastic book blogger that balances her reading pleasure between comics and reading pleasure. A side note some of her pics she posts crack me up.

Before I log off, I would like to thank Jeremy again for selecting me for the Liebster Award.

April Reading Event

What:The event that I plan on running is The Hum(u)or  of it all Reading Event
When: In runs the entire month of April

All you need to read at least one book in the month that you think that will make you laugh or see humor in the situation.

If you would like more info here is my first post on this subject.

The reason that I am running this event that this gives people a chance to get more laughter in their life. So in this event, this gives them a chance to pick out books that are less than serious. You can sign up by replying to this thread.

I hope you can join in the fun.

 Laughter is an instant vacation.  ~Milton Berle

Crazy Leap Day

It sure was a leap day that I will never forget that is for certain. Here is the deal my wife and I were married on February 29...so technically it was our 1st anniversary yesterday. Really it was our 4th year of marriage, I cannot believe that it has been that long already. The time sure has been flying by at the rate of ludicrous speed..:)  We do celebrate it the day on March 1st usually, because both of our birthdays fall in the month of March.

Our part of Wisconsin has been spoiled for most the winter with limited amount of snow thus far. That did change yesterday.  We received about 10 to 12 inches of snow yesterday. It was the nice heave waterlogged snow as well. I was not able to go to work. So my wife and I were able to spent the day together. I was unexpected, but it was nice.

I know that we will never forget this day for the year the to come.

Happy April Fools Day

I hope that you fool somebody on this day. This is always a day that I like, because my goal everyday is to make somebody smile and/or laugh. In the light side of reading, I am doing an event that starts today. It is called in the Humo(u)r of it All Reading Event.

There are no rules set in stone or anything.  During the month of April, you can read one book or 21 books that you think that would make you laugh. If you interested comment on this post. I surely hope that you can join the event. You can take this buttom and splatter it on your blog if you would like.