I was a very bad reader last week. Lots of things are to blame, it was the week before Thanksgiving break and I just wanted to relax. I did finish Philip Graham's The Moon, Come to Earth. I also attended his reading at Prairie Lights. Graham is very gregarious, I enjoyed his reading. He read three dispatches from the book though, which took quite a long time. I'm always more interested in hearing authors talk about their books than read from them.
The book that has taken up most of my time is George Eliot's Middlemarch, which I plan to finish tomorrow. If I haven't mentioned it before, I will mention it again: Middlemarch is a beast. It's a multi-plot novel with what seems like one thousand characters. It takes me a long time to read, but thanks to a couple 4-8 AM shifts at work I am almost finished with it. I'm really enjoying it too, but that doesn't surprise me. Eliot is a genius.
Today I plan on finishing The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James. I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, I am obsessed with Charlotte Bronte and I'm always iffy on books that make the authors the characters. I am happy to say that I have not been able to put it down. James has really done a great job researching all the Brontes and I like how she documents her research in the back of the book. There are footnotes in this, which I know have put some people off, but I kind of like them. Some are unnecessary to me because I know enough about the 19th century, but some of them are helpful and interesting. The character that has interested me most is Branwell. I knew that he was a drunkard but James creates a fully developed character out of a man that has always baffled me.
Next week I plan on reading A LOT because I will just be sitting at home anyway. Books I plan to read are The Last Great Dance on Earth by Sandra Gulland, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, The White Garden by Stephanie Barron, and Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? by Thomas Kohnstamm.
It's hard to believe we're approaching the last quarter of 2009. Soon those of us in the northern hemisphere will be curled up in front of the fire (or solar heater) with our favorite wintry reads, and those in the southern will be off to the beaches with their summer books.
Do you have a plan of what you're going to read the rest of the year? Have you had a master plan all along? If so, have you stuck to it? What helps you to decide what you're going to read next? Challenges? Book groups? Or do you have the luxury of closing your eyes and picking any book off your shelf?
I know some of you have spreadsheets and other devices to help you keep track of your books and challenges. (I even succumbed to using a spreadsheet this year after teasing my friends relentlessly about theirs.) If you have online spreadsheets, such as Google, can you give us a peek at them with a link or a screen shot?
As usual, sign Mr. Linky below and leave us a comment if you're so inclined. Don't forget to visit your fellow Geeksters and see what kind of plan they're working on for the rest of 2009. Maybe you'll get inspired for 2010! =============================================
Have you voted yet for your favorite blogs for Book Bloggers Appreciation Week? The voting ends at midnight tonight! Weekly Geeks is on the shortlist for Best Meme/Carnival Event. And sally forth next week and appreciate you some bloggers!
Gavin is a handsome American who heads to Prague to escape financial problems he's experiencing in the States. He meets Katka, a gorgeous Czech woman, and they fall in love. Like many women in the Czech Republic, Katka is desperate to escape the poverty that surrounds her and her family. So, along with Gavin and her best friend, Simona, they devise a plan to scam buyers of mail order brides. When Gavin is approached by Sal, a man interested in buying Katka he initially declines. When the potential buyer offers an obscene amount of money for Katka, he can't resist. He and Katka devise a plan for Kataka to escape during a connection in Amsterdam. But when the buyer tells her about Gavin's financial woes and promises these mistakes will be erased, Katka decides to stay true to the deal and remains with Sal.
Months after the deal, once Gavin that Katka hasn't followed through with the plan, he is riddled by guilt. It was he that suggested this deal. He can't help but think of the future they could have spent together. Gavin uses whateve means necessary and tracks down Katka's location. Instead of living the life that was promised to her, she's become an dancer/prostitute. She admits to Gavin why she agreed to this shift in the plan-she loved him so much she was willing to give anything for him to be relieved of the problems he was facing back in the States.
Gavin is ultimately put in the shoes of a buyer and must be willing to give anything in order to get Katka back. But what price is he willing to pay?
To be completely honest, Katka
was difficult for me to get into. The sentences are choppy and the storyline jumps around from the past to the present. But once I became accustomed to this, Katka
became easier to read. It's a very short read, barely over 100 pages. I think if the author added a bit more depth to the characters (perhaps explain a bit more about Gavin's reason for fleeing to Prague or about the family for which Katka is desperate to provide) Katka
would have been a more engaging read. In addition, I believe changing the format so the scenes flow a little more would be beneficial as well. Overall this is a good read, but I don't think it does the author's talent justice in the current format.
This past week Becky wanted to know what reading challenges you are participating in or hosting this coming year. She also wanted to know how you plan ahead for the next year. Do you make lists? Or do you just read whatever catches your attention?
Kerry wrote a great post taking about why she does challenges, lists the ones she is interested in, and give ideas for other challenges she would think about joining. Overall, her goal consists of 3 challenges and 43 books.
Gautami also signed up for 3 challenges which she says is her max amount. She prefers to read whatever takes her fancy than planning everything out.
Rikki isn't fond of sticking to lists, but also signed up for 2 challenges and is hosting a Steampunk Challenge of her own.
Becky is hosting three challenges (42 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Young Readers) and one mini challenge (Connie Willis). She's also signed up for quite a few challenges hosted by other blogs and lists a few that have caught her attention, but she isn't sure if she'll sign up or not.
Melanie is signed up for 4 challenges, but has also set a personal goal of reading some of the Russian books off her TBR list. (If anyone knows of a Russian challenge, please let her know!)
Zee hosts the Nordic Challenge and has signed up for at least 9 others. She planning on getting a post up with book lists for all of these within the next couple days.
Chelsea is a new Weekly Geek who hasn't done any reading challenges in the past and isn't sure that she'll sign up for any this year (unless she can find one that gets her to read a wider variety of books).
Katherine hasn't thought about which ones she wants to do this coming year, but lists her favorites from past years and a few that she'll be looking for in 2011.
Carina has signed up for 9 challenges and has 2 that are on-going from this year. She's looking for imput as to what your favorite reading challenge and if there are any you would recommend.
Hannah has signed up for more posts that she originally thought she would. She's up to 5 starting in 2011 and 2 carrying over. She likes the structure and setting goals for herself. She's still looking for more suggestions!
Margaret has only signed up for 3 challenges and has mixed feelings about them. While part of her likes the structure, the other part stops wanting to read a book as soon as "should" read it.
Lifetime Reading Plan has reading goals that she has set for herself based on the book The Lifetime Reading Plan. She has them broken into 6 categories and hopes to read them chronologically.
Amat Libris loves reading challenges! She has signed up for 2 and is thinking about a few more. Her goal for next year can be summed up in three words "Read. More. Books."
Alex wants to sign up for them all. The problem is making sure it is manageable, which should be too hard to this list-maker.
Florinda tries not to sign up for too many due to her mixed experiences with them in the past. She is signed up for at least 2 and is going to continue working on her own Blogging Authors Reading Project.
Suey is going for more general goals after seeing how spontaneous of a reader she really is this past year. However, she's still keeping an eye open for a good challenge.
Jacqueline didn't even realize there were reading challenges prior to this week's post. She isn't sure that she would like being over structured with her reading, but she's ruling out the possibility of doing one if she comes across something great.
Have you posted about your reading challenges yet? Link up here!
A coalition of environmental groups filed suit in federal court on Wednesday to push back against Bureau of Land Management's permitting of hydraulic fracturing wells near Chaco Culture National Historical Park.An oil well is pictured in September 2012 off County Road 6480 at sunset [Credit: Daily Times]
The suit, which names the BLM and the U.S. Interior Department as defendants, argues that the federal government is putting the environment, public health and the region's cultural resources at sites like Chaco Culture at risk by allowing oil and gas development in the lower San Juan Basin, primarily the Lybrook area.
Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, the San Juan Citizens Alliance, WildEarth Guardians and the Natural Resources Defense Council, with attorneys from the Western Environmental Law Center, collectively filed the complaint in New Mexico's U.S. District Court, arguing that the BLM's ongoing permitting of drilling in the area violates the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, and the National Historic Preservation Act, or NHPA.
The groups also took to the state Capitol Wednesday to try to convince legislators to support a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, production for Mancos Shale oil in the Gallup Play area. The drilling process involves injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure to fracture shale rocks and release the natural gas or oil inside.
On Dec. 30, the BLM said it would defer issuing leases for five Navajo allotment parcels that represent 2,803 acres in response to a protest filed by environmental groups that demanded the agency suspend fracking on public lands near the Chaco park.
The BLM's Farmington Field Office is expected to finalize its amended resource management plan later this year, said Victoria Barr, the BLM Farmington Field Office district manager. Barr declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Jeremy Nichols, the climate energy program director at Santa Fe-based WildEarth Guardians, said the lawsuit was a last resort but a necessary one, given BLM's continued drilling permitting.
"The BLM has not fully analyzed the full impacts of horizontal hydraulic fracturing in the Mancos Shale area. Why are they approving all these permits? We wanted to take it to court and have a judge decide," Nichols said.
Groups like WildEarth Guardians complain that the BLM should cease approving all oil drilling permits in the Mancos area at least until its management plan is completed.
"They're leaping before looking because, at the same time, they're trying to update their (resource management) plan, and they've acknowledged that fracking wasn't something they'd thought hard about," Nichols said. "While they're doing that, they're approving dozens — over 100 permits. It doesn't add up to us."
Overall, Nichols said the groups' concern rests with the unknown implications of unchecked drilling in a culturally sensitive region.
"They are approving these permits and arguing that they're insignificant. It's unfortunate that we have to go to court," he said. "Maybe they should think more about the public resources that are at stake. These are public lands and minerals. It's not the oil and gas industry's lands and minerals. Hopefully, we can get BLM to realize that a little restraint is warranted."
Colleen Cooley with Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment said in the group's March 11 press release that the impacts of ongoing horizontal drilling pose dangers to Native communities who live in the region.
"The (BLM) is not taking serious consideration of the sacredness of the Greater Chaco region and the impacts on surrounding Diné communities as they continue to approve more drilling and fracking," Cooley said in the release. "It's time to account for what really matters, our health, our environment, and future generations."
Author: James Fenton | Source: The Daily Times [March 11, 2015]
It's almost that time of year again! Thanksgiving? Christmas? Snowy weather? What is she talking about? National Novel Writing Month! For the whole month of November writers across the world commit to writing a 50,000 word novel. If you write every day that comes out to about 1,667 words a day. I did NaNoWriMo for the first time last year and I won (meaning I wrote a 50,000 word novel). Last year I attempted to write a young adult book, but it was very difficult for me to write stylistically. This year I hope to write something I'm more interested in and something more usable for me-- which means this year I'm planning to write an essay collection. I have ideas and admittedly some essays to start with. Even though I have some things written already I'm going to edit them during November to make them fit with the collection I plan to write.
I was more successful than I planned last year and I think part of my success was having a writing buddy. My boyfriend joined me in NaNoWriMo and we wrote together every night. We really encouraged each other and it was great to have someone to bounce ideas off of. If you're participating in NaNoWriMo this year I would really encourage you to find a writing buddy--even if its just someone on the Internet. A lot of writers outline before NaNoWriMo. I did write an outline last year, but this year I don't plan to. I've kept random thoughts in various journals throughout the past year and I plan on using those as my ideas.
Who else is participating in NaNoWriMo this year? Feel free to add me as buddy-- my screenname is ashbrux and I promise I'll add you back! What worked well for you last year if you did it?
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I slept in until noon today and I definitely wasn't planning on that. Actually, I got up at eight to finish my cookies and then I went back to sleep at ten, planning on only sleeping for about thirty minutes. Silly me for not setting an alarm. It wouldn't be a big deal but I'm going to a Christmas/Birthday party at two o'clock so I have zero time.
I am not in Iowa City anymore, I'm at my parents house very far away from Iowa City. Actually not really, only about in a hour and a half. So far my mom has pushed a hydrating nasal rinse on me because I have a small nose and asked me if I'm eating enough fruit in Iowa City. Gotta love moms! My boyfriend brought his presents for my parents over yesterday but my dog has started to open them. Woops!
Last week was a good reading week for me because I had nothing else to do. I didn't finish quite all the books I wanted to, but I never expect that I will. I finished The Eyre Affair, The Moment Between, and The Red Necklace. I also posted a review of In A Gilded Cage, which I finished two weeks ago. I did some deep thinking this week about how people look at you when you read certain types of books, and how it doesn't really matter. Today I plan on finishing The White Garden by Stephanie Barron and The Clumsiest People on Earth edited by Todd Pruzan. I am also reading The Luxe by Anna Godbersen right now and I must admit that I am hooked! This week I also plan on reading The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and Sex Lives of the Roman Emperors by Nigel Cawthorne. I was only planning on reading four YA books for my self challenge, but I ended up purchasing the first three of The Luxe series and I might end up reading all three before I turn 20. We shall see!
Today I have an interview with up and coming author Alexandra Bracken. Her novel, Brightly Woven, debuts March 23. The short description of the novel from her website is, "Sydelle Mirabil is living proof that, with a single drop of rain, a life can be changed forever. Tucked away in the farthest reaches of the kingdom, her dusty village has suffered under the weight of a strangely persistent drought. That is, of course, until a wizard wanders into town and brings the rain with him." I haven't read her novel yet, though I plan to, so many of you might be wondering why I chose to interview her. Bracken is unique in that she was working on publishing her novel while she was still in college. She signed with an agent on her 21st birthday and after spending her senior year revising the novel her dream is finally coming true next week. How did she do it you might ask, and I think the work diligence pretty much sums up Bracken's story. I won't just leave it at that though, as follows you can read her answers to my questions about how she balanced school and writing and what path (or paths) she took to get there.
Where did you go to school, when did you graduate, and what did you go? I went to the College of William and Mary, graduated last Spring, and majored in History and English
Did you start as an English major? What made you decide to become an English major? When I was applying for schools, I focused on the Virginia area, mostly because I knew I wanted to study Early American History and I would freeze my butt off if I went to school in New England. I had always loved English, but my dad had convinced me to major in History and Government because he wanted me to be a lawyer. BIG mistake. I took one Government class and realized how stupid it was for me NOT to major in English--AKA the subject I really loved.
What were your plans for after graduation? How have those plans been fulfilled or how have they been different than you expected? Originally, I was going the pre-law route (I'm sure you've all noticed that when you say you're an English major, most people assume that you want to be A) a lawyer or B) a teacher)... but I realized, in the middle of taking the LSAT unfortunately, that being a lawyer would make me MISERABLE, and spent all of the summer between Junior and Senior year moping around without a life plan. My next idea was to work in PR/Communications (which I definitely recommend), but I ended up getting a scholarship to attend the Columbia Publishing Institute and decided to take it. I now work as an editorial assistant in children's publishing. Looking back, it seems like a natural choice since being an author had given me a lot of insight into the business.I'm not sure if it's what I want to be doing forever, but I'm happy to be employed and doing something I enjoy!
What made you decide to take on writing a novel while in college? I first tried my hand at writing a novel my freshman year--I always say that NaNoWriMo made me very brave, and it's true. I thought I would just give it a go, and ended up getting hooked on the process.
Were you planning to publish this all along? No... I tried to be very realistic about it and not get my hopes up, but secretly I was hoping I'd be able to sell something before I graduated.
How did you balance school and writing? I get asked this all the time, and I'm still not sure what the right answer is. I was very disciplined and made a lot of social sacrifices on the weekends. You really do have to find a schedule that works, though. The first three years of college were incredibly reading and writing intensive (I was once assigned 2000 pages of reading a week in my Sophomore year. Not. Fun.), but that helped me write. Knowing that I only had an hour here or two hours there meant that I used that little time for writing and writing alone. When i was working on revisions with my agent, I gave myself a deadline to finish the first round before finals that May. Starting in March, I woke up at 6 AM every day and wrote until I had class at 1 PM, and when I was done with homework at night, I'd be back to revising. I tried getting up at 5 AM and squeezing in an hour of work out time, but... uh... I quickly decided an extra hour of sleep was more important than getting my fitness on.
What advice would you give college students who want to write seriously in college? What advice would you give those who want to publish? What steps should they take? The advice that I always give to high schoolers and college students that ask me this question is this: While you're in school, focus on being a writer before you focus on being a published author. I really miss the days I had before I was published, when I could write whatever I wanted regardless of how crappy it was and I didn't have to worry about another person's judgment. I can't reinforce this enough, being published in college is like having a full-time job, and one that isn't always fun. It's an incredible amount of stress and pressure to put on yourself, when you're already anxious about exams/papers/what-have-you. Not everyone will have a negative experience, but I would also add that a good portion of my friends thought that I had graduated a semester early because I was so deep in my revision hole that I only surfaced for food and class. School is such a unique and wonderful time, but you don't get to experience it when you're by yourself writing. There are a zillion and a half elements in Brightly Woven that I picked up from the classes I was taking at the time. Be a sponge and absorb as much as possible from your classes and friends. Make sure you're taking advantage of all that college life has to offer, and if you happen to write something that you feel is ready to be seen by the world, go for it! Revise it seriously, submit it to agents, and learn from the feedback you get. Make sure that when you're writing you are happy and excited, because the minute you start feeling stressed out or depressed, it often means that your life has become unbalanced, and you need to step away and refocus.
What advice would you give to English majors about how to make the English major work for them after school? Okay guys, here's a secret: what matters in the job world isn't necessarily what you majored in, but the internships and work experiences that you have. My current boss didn't hire me because I was an English major (though I'm sure that helped)--she claimed it was because I talked about coordinating our Student Assembly's Thanksgiving airport shuttle rides. So don't discount any work experience you have, regardless of how small or insignificant you think it is. I would also recommend networking with alums in the career field of your choice, and seeking out speciality programs like the Columbia Publishing Course, which often feed you directly into jobs. Besides the fact that companies are always looking for good writers (seriously--critical writing does not tend to be a strength of most business majors), so be sure to always play that up. Plus, you've spent how many years analyzing and forming your own arguments, right? That's another skill you have in the bag.
Alexandra's novel, Brightly Woven, comes out March 23. You can read a longer synopsis if you follow the Brightly Woven link.
It has been over a month since rust and decay uprooted a massive wooden door, Moti Darwaza, of the historic Golconda Fort.
When Moti Darwaza almost came off in 2006, the officials had repositioned it within a few days. But this time, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) sub-circle office at Golconda is yet to act.
The ASI has chalked out big plans for restoration of all the doors at as many as eight entrances to the fort.
According to ASI superintending archaeologist R Krishnaiah, plans are afoot for complete restoration and repositioning of the door by this month-end.
“After an inspection, we have decided to take measures to prevent any such incident in the future. Estimates are ready and work will start soon,” he said.
As of now, the ASI has decided to tie down the doors onto the fort walls using iron cables so that they do not fall down.
“The mechanism for operating these old doors is different. Since none of them is operational anymore, we have decided to tie them to the original position using flat iron cables at two places using L-angle and an iron U-channel from the top portion on to the masonry wall,” said N Ch Peddintlu, assistant superintending archaeological engineer, ASI-Hyderabad circle.
Regarding the damaged right door of Moti Darwaza that has been lying at the ASI sub-circle office in Golconda, he said, “We are going to add a wooden plank of teakwood and embed it to the old door using the ancient techniques. Also, we are going to apply wood preservatives to prevent any further deterioration of wood. This will be done for all the doors at eight different darwazas,” he added.
He said the ASI has also decided to restore the merlons of the fort walls that have either been damaged or have collapsed. This work is expected to start soon and would be completed by June 2015.
During an inspection, it was also noted that land close to the inner fort walls was being misused for parking purposes.
“We are going to enhance greenery by planting vegetation close to the walls so as to prevent littering or defecation or even unauthorised vehicle parking,” Peddintlu explained.
Golconda Fort is over 900 years old. Built by the Kakatiyas, it rose to prominence during the Qutb Shahi era. There are eight darwazas on the outer wall of the fort. All these gateways lead to important urban centres.
Author: Rahul V Pisharody | Source: Indian Express News [January 12, 2015]
Kitty and Ben plan on tying the knot. Kitty’s mother, so excited that Kitty has found “a keeper” begins planning a large, ostentatious wedding. Kitty and Ben want something much smaller, so they plan to elope in Las Vegas. Kitty’s producers even arrange a special live televised episode of Kitty’s radio show “The Midnight Hour.” When word gets out that Kitty’s planning on making a trip to Vegas, she is approached by Rick, Denver’s Vampire Master, and is asked to give a message to the Vegas Master, Dom. Kitty obliges, after all, she and Rick do have a special “partnership” as leaders of their respective “species.” When Kitty and Ben arrive in Vegas, they discover their hotel is holding a gun show. They are surrounded by hundreds of gun-toting bounty hunters. Not exactly paradise for a lycanthrope!
Kitty begins searching for guests for her show. In a city like Vegas, it can’t be that difficult. She soon learns about a show at The Hanging Gardens, one run completely by lycanthropes. But there’s something off about the Vegas lycanthropes---no wolves.
While Kitty is off on her search, Ben has discovered that being a wolf has some advantages. He sits in on a round of poker, and soon learns that he can sense how his opponents are doing. He signs up for a poker championship. Kitty is thrilled for him—she’s happy that he’s accepting and taking advantage of his “wolf.” But during the championship game, Ben outs a cheater, and is abducted. On his wedding day, nonetheless. Kitty reports him as missing, but everyone seems to believe that he’s not missing, but simply has a case of cold feet.
As usual, Kitty finds herself in danger. She’s discovered a secret behind The Hanging Gardens show, and an explanation for the lack of werewolves in Las Vegas. How will she protect her life, and save the man she loves?
Vaughn does another amazing job with this installment of the Kitty Norville series. As always, the character development is spot on. It’s amazing to see how Kitty’s character has grown, both as a person and as a wolf. The secondary characters add a great deal of interest to the book as well. So, once again, I’m impressed! Another highly recommended book!
When Terri asked us to write about our reading plans, I fully expected to see samples of the ultimate spreadsheets and flowcharts, illustrating how fully geeky some of us are when it comes to reading. There I was, cowering in the corner with my multiple TBR piles, ready to be totally intimidated by everyone's superior organizational skills.
Not the case, after all! Maybe the geekiest of us were too busy writing up and editing their spreadsheets (or immersed in Book Blogger Appreciation Week) to post them.
In fact, far more of us—at least of those who responded—are inclined to agree with Maree of Just Add Books who writes: I never plan my reading. I sort of stumble over books in a clumsy and graceless fashion and read whatever smacks me in the face the hardest.
Kerrie, of Mysteries in Paradise, treated us to a nifty flow chart to show how her monthly reads are determined. It's not so much a system, as an outline of how her priorities come into play. It's simple enough not to require the type of regular updating that would eat away at reading time. And it's in color!
The closest we got to a big-time planner was Puss ReBoots, who used to have a master reading plan but recently gave it up in favor of the "willy-nilly approach." Puss Reboots is a planner at heart, though. She even has planned randomness, using random.org to schedule the order that she posts her reviews. Now that's dedication!
This post is to announce to the world that I'm participating in the Spring into Summer read-a-thon hosted by Enna Isilee of Squeaky Books!
This read-a-thon is going to be so great! It's two days where you try do NOTHING but read. It's a great chance to get rid of some of those books that have been sitting on your TBR pile forever.
But that's not all! There will also be awesome mini-challenges and a TON of giveaways! In fact, just for signing up you are entered to win a $25 gift card to Amazon! SO GO SIGN UP! And if you say that Ashley sent you, you'll get 5 extra entries to win that gift card! in my blog to enter to win, and know all there is to know about the read-a-thon.
Here's my goal:
I plan to participate on: BOTH DAYS (Duh, I'm a total sucker for a readathon: P) I plan to read: as much as possible! Between the two days, I'm hoping that I can get at least 8 or 9 books read. I hope to read: a lot.:) I'll update the list as we get closer, because my reading moods change pretty quickly and I am pretty likely to have some of these already read by the time the readathon gets here, but for now, a few titles I'm thinking of are: Deadline — Chris Crutcher Birdwing - Rafe Martin Will Grayson, Will Grayson- John Green & David Levithan Delirium — Lauren Oliver The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks — E. Lockhart King of the Wind — Marguerite Henry
Beginning today, I'm joining three teams of bloggers in The Game On Diet Challenge. We learned about this Challenge from Jennifer (aka Book Club Girl) when she embarked upon this challenge a few weeks ago. I haven't received my copy of the book yet, so I'm pulling information from Jennifer's blog:
The Game On! Diet is the brainchild of Krista Vernoff, head writer and executive producer of tv's Grey's Anatomy and Az Ferguson, winner of the Body-for-Life Challenge. When Krista returned to work after having her baby, she called on Az to help her lose the baby weight. He made her a workout regimen and eating plan that she, well, didn't follow at all. So Az went back to the drawing board. Knowing that Krista had a VERY competitive nature, he decided to present her with a healthy lifestyle plan in the form of a game, that she could play with a team, and that she could play to win. This appealed to her very much. Rather than the focus being on losing weight, the focus is on winning points, a far more tantalizing prospect.
So how do you earn points? You can earn a maximum of 100 points a day for doing the following:
1) Eating 5 balanced meals a day, every 2-4 hours -- 6 points per meal 2) Exercising for at least 20 minutes a day -- 20 points 3) Sleeping for a minimum of 7 hours per night -- 15 points 4) Drinking 3 liters of water a day -- 10 points 5) Adopting a healthy new habit that you practice every day -- 10 points 6) Dropping one unhealthy habit -- 10 points 7) Communicating with your team members every day -- 5 points
You earn penalties (points lost!) for:
1) stepping on the scale more than once a day 2) unsanctioned snacking (you can have as much celery and cucumber as you want throughout the day, plus 100 free calories of whatever once a day, no other snacking) 3) Colluding with the opposing team to get them to break a rule 4) Drinking alcohol (see exception below) 5) changing the healthy or unhealthy habit during the course of the game (you have to pick those and stick to them).
It's not about total deprivation as you get:
1) One day off a week, when you don't have to follow any of the rules 2) One meal off a week when you can eat what you want and have one unit of alcohol 3) each day you can have 100 calories of anything as a bonus treat
My habit I'm going to break is logging on to email/twitter as soon as I get home from work, even before we've had dinner. I will now wait until we've had dinner and enjoyed some time with my family before getting on my computer.
My new habit will be...gasp...reducing the size of my library. It really has become quite overwhelming. In addition to the 4 overflowing bookshelves I have, I have stacks of books all over the house. So, my new habit--with every new book that comes in, I have to get rid of one. By getting rid of, I mean giving away, swapping, etc. A manageable goal that will make my dear husband happy!
Ok, back to the challenge. Here is the line up of the three teams:
The Ding-Dongs: Julie from Booking Mama softdrink from Fizzy Thoughts Amy from My Friend Amy Jill from Rhapsody in Books Ti from Book Chatter and Other Stuff
The Twinkies: Beth F from Beth Fish Reads Jenners from Find Your Next Book Here ME! Denise from M. Denise C. Dawn from She is Too Fond of Books
The HoHos: Kathy from The Brain Lair two of Kathy’s IRL friends who will be updating their progress on Facebook
I will be posting a few times a week about this challenge. I don't want to inundate those that aren't interesting in this challenge, so after I post my first update, all you will need to do is click on the "Game On" button on my sidebar to view my progress.
Thanks for all the support...and wish me good luck!
Experts have hit out at plans for a road tunnel under Stonehenge, warning it could damage the oldest encampment discovered near the stones.Vehicles on the A303 at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, where a 1.8-mile tunnel is being planned [Credit: Steve Parsons/PA]
Charcoal dug up from the Mesolithic encampment at Blick Mead in the world heritage site, around one and a half miles from the stones, has been tested and dated to around 4,000 BC, archaeologists said.
A dig by the University of Buckingham has also unearthed evidence of possible structures, but more investigation is needed to see what the site contains. There is also evidence of feasting, including flints and giant bulls known as aurochs, the experts said.
They warn that the chance to find out about the earliest chapter of Britain’s history could be damaged by the plans for the 1.8-mile tunnel as part of efforts to relieve the A303 bottleneck at Stonehenge.
The £2bn scheme would see the road put into a dual carriageway tunnel past Stonehenge, reducing congestion and improving the setting of the stones - giving the public greater access to the wider prehistoric landscape and benefiting wildlife, supporters say.
But archaeologist David Jaques, who made the discovery of the encampment, said: “The prime minister is interested in re-election in 140 days – we are interested in discovering how our ancestors lived six thousand years ago.”
He added: “Blick Mead could explain what archaeologists have been searching for for centuries – an answer to the story of Stonehenge’s past.
“But our chance to find out about the earliest chapter of Britain’s history could be wrecked if the tunnel goes ahead.”
The expocentre in Addis Ababa on a plan of founders should unite versatile city buildings. The expocentre will settle down in territory in the size of 4,5 acres. In the middle of the centre there will be already existing museum. From different directions the project will be surrounded with the entertaining on plan entertaining and trading complexes, business hotel and office premises.
The project for a city which searches for the individuality
The design decision tries to satisfy interests of natives and visitors of capital. For this purpose designers of firm FXFOWLE used a local landscape on which will create the area for live informal dialogue. Near to territory there will be the multistage building sculptural towers become which deification.
«New Flower»
The form and composition of towers are inspired by the city name. Addis Ababa — is translated, as «a new flower». The approximated facades of towers are similar to the structured, suddenly born, extraordinary flower which is turned petals to the sun.
Elements from the colour glass, entered in system of hinged tower walls, will allow to feel ecological compatibility of motley structures surrounding a complex. Buildings unlike against each other will change under blinking of colour glasses and will get the general sounding.
Do you plan on participating in any reading challenges in 2011? Are you planning on hosting any reading challenges? Perhaps you'd like to share an idea for a reading challenge--to see if there is any interest! Share with us which challenges look tempting to you! (You don't have to "officially" join any of the challenges for this weekly geek. Just let us know which ones you'd be most interested in.) You might want to spend some time browsing A Novel Challenge. Are there any challenges you are looking forward to that haven't been announced yet? Regardless of your challenge plans, are you starting to plan ahead for next year? Do you make lists or goals? Are you a person who enjoys reading more if it is structured? Or are you all about being free to read what you want, when you want?
is the story of two sisters. Abigail is an accountant living in Florida. Actually, she was an accountant until she decided to uproot her life and save her sister like she has been doing her entire life. Hailey is bipolar amongst other things. She has struggled with tantrums, violence, and depression since she was a child. The only person who can really help Abigail is Hailey, and Abigail puts much of her life on hold to do so. She stays home for a couple years after she graduates from high school to make sure Hailey is okay. As much as Abigail loves her sister though, she can't help but resent her. After all, Hailey is always messing everything up.
When Hailey commits suicide she leaves a note that says, "I don't blame you. I don't blame Tyler." Abigail knows what the note says, but she can only see that Hailey's death is her fault. She decides to find this Tyler guy, the guy who was supposed to change everything for Hailey. This requires her to rent a car in go to Canada. She doesn't really have a plan, but in the back of her mind she knows her plan is to kill Tyler. She wants revenge for what he did to her sister. Abigail had never met Tyler before, but she knew that the last time she saw Hailey everything was different. Hailey said that Tyler was the man she would marry.
Once she is in Canada Abigail meets Eli who gives her a job at his vineyard. Eli turns out to be Tyler's uncle, and Abigail's new landlord. Abigail decides to feign a romantic interest in Tyler in order to get information out of him, but she is so disgusted by his presence that everyone thinks she hates him. Which is true.
This book took a couple tries for me, but once I started it I couldn't put it down. This is some of the best characterization I have seen in a book lately. I really felt like I knew Abigail, and like I knew what she was thinking even when the book didn't tell me. The novel also has a nice set up. Each chapter starts with one section about Abigail's life during the present, one section about Abigail's life in the past which is where we see Hailey, and the chapter ends with a scene from the suicide. It was a very engrossing read even though it wasn't something I would normally pick up.
I read this for GalleySmith's Literary Road Trip project which is a chance for bloggers to highlight authors from their own state. Nicole Baart is an Iowa girl, born and raised, and even though most of this book takes place in Canada or Florida there are still some lovely descriptions of the Midwest. You can visit Nicole Baart's website here.
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Two conversations inspired this Weekly Geeks. First, during Book Bloggers Appreciation Week, Amy asked us to write about our blogging goals. I noticed many people's goal was to acquire a larger readership*. Then during a Twitter conversation Natasha from Maw Books said she was told by a non-book blogger that book blogs were confusing. Which brings me to our topic.
Take a look at your blog as if you were someone who has never seen a blog before. Imagine they are looking for something specific. Could they find it? Could they find YOU again? Be able to contact you? Would they understand your jargon?
With these questions in mind, start making your blog more reader friendly. You can do as much as upload a new template to adding a subscription button. Here are some ideas:
*Add meta tags to help people find your blog. *Add a RSS feed button. *Add a contact page. *Make sure as many people as possible can comment on your posts. *Make your blog searchable. *Check your links. *Explain your rating system, if you have one. *Create a glossary if you use a lot of blogger acronyms ie- BBAW, BTT, ARC.
These are just suggestions. There are probably a million more. Check out Blogging Tips on the Book Blogger's Ning for more ideas and advice.
After you've accomplished all you can, write a post telling us what you did or even what you plan to do down the road on your blog to help your readers.
Now if you haven't thought about your goals, it's a good time to do so. Maybe you haven't thought about readership, maybe you could care less! Then where do you see your blog in a year. How do you plan to accomplish that? Write a post about it.
*Adding Google Analytics to your blog will help you figure out who your current readers are and how they found your blog.
The ancient city of Ephesus in western Turkey is expected to enter the UNESCO World Heritage List this year, after 22 years of efforts.
The ancient city of Ephesus, one of the sites in Turkey that attracts the most tourist income, is expected to enter UNESCO’s permanent list this year [Credit: Dick Osseman]
Dating back to the 6th century B.C., Ephesus hosts around 2 million local and international tourists every year. Although it has been added to the UNESCO tentative list, along with 37 other sites in Turkey, it has failed to be included in the main list so far.
Selçuk Mayor Zeynel Bakıcı said his district was blessed thanks to its history, culture, nature, as well as many archaeological sites.
Bakıcı added that it was a "great deficiency" that the ancient city had not been on the UNESCO list up to now but said his team "believed the problem will be solved this year."
The first submission to UNESCO was made in 1994 but was rejected in 2000 and failed to later get results.
“It was a great deficiency that Ephesus is not on this list. But we know where this deficiency comes from. This is why we are now collectively working with the Culture and Tourism Ministry, municipality, museum and the excavation team, as well as with academics. Now all the changes and rearrangements that UNESCO had asked for have been done," Bakıcı said.
"We have finished the reconstruction plan for protection and the land management plan has been approved. Unless something very important goes wrong, the ancient city of Ephesus will become a part of the UNESCO World Heritage permanent list. The 22-year-old dream of Ephesus will come true in June,” he added.
Selçuk is home to the 8,500-year-old ancient city of Ephesus, as well as one of the seven wonders of the world, the Temple of Artemis; the Virgin Mary House; the Church of Saint John, and Şirince village.
Since Weekly Geeks and The 24 Hour Read-a-thon (which is coming up next week) are both Dewey created events, and therefore technically sisters, I thought for this week's assignment we could join forces just a bit and post our read-a-thon plans.
Sometime this next week, write a post that tells us:
* if you are participating in the read-a-thon or not. * and if not, why not. (timing isn't right, you didn't know about it, life won't allow it, it's not your thing, etc.) * if you are, do you have a strategy? * do you have a stack of books prepared to read from? * will you try to read as many books as you can or as many pages as you can? * do you have special food and snacks planned? * do you have a special spot all set up for reading? * will you get your Saturday things done on Friday so you can read guilt free? * if you have others living in your household, do you have to work around their schedules too?
Basically, let us know how you plan to approach the event.
My guess is that there will be a link up for a similar sort of post over a the Read-a-thon blog too. If so, just link your post up both here and there and kill two birds with one stone!
