Tuesday, June 22, 2010

:::Spammers, grumble, Spammers:::

Tough and funny and a little bit kind: that is as near to perfection as a human being can be. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

I spent the first part of my morning deleting spam comments. Even thinly disguised comments that appear to be made by a human are spam when they include a pile of links to advertising sites. Just saying.

I've also added moderation to all comments older than three days -- so at least next time I won't have to go back so far to delete things. *sigh*

I woke early this morning to the sound of a loud THUMP! DD had fallen out of bed. I went upstairs to make sure there were no broken bones and she was buried under her covers, but I heard a small, muffled "sorry" so figured all was well.

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I know you all know how much I love my Nook... I love, Love, LOVE my Nook (one really cool thing? If you take it into a Barnes and Noble, there's always some sort of coupon that shows up when you open your Nook ... a couple of weeks ago it was for a free dessert at Starbucks, another week it had a free coffee). You can even go into a Barnes and Noble and read ANY eBook they offer for FREE for one hour (rather like how you can browse a book in the store). It's non-proprietary, you can upload books in several formats without problem or cost. I read on it constantly and it's actually easier on my eyeballs than a regular book.

The reason I'm raving is this: Barnes and Noble now has a Wi-Fi only Nook for $149, and a regular 3G Nook for $199. In all fairness, I should mention that Amazon countered the lower price with one of its own on Kindle, but I'm such a huge Nook fan (and not so much an Amazon fan) that I have to rave about what I love.

Yesterday, I went into our local Barnes and Noble and bought THREE Nooks and THREE $50 BN Gift Cards for the LASR/WC/Aurora anniversary party in August. We are giving them away (so if you've been wanting one, but the bank account says no -- this is your chance). We're having a scavenger hunt starting August 2nd with just over 150 authors. It's going to be a ton of fun and I can't wait! I suspect I made the Nook lady's day, though, by buying three Nooks. Wonder if she sells that many a day usually? *G*

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In Pillar Place yesterday, things started off a bit rocky. We still had two pillars outside The Box on their food: Mu and Epsilon. Apparently that was a mistake, since when I got up yesterday morning, one -- Mu -- was AWOL. I searched, and I searched and I searched ... but caterpillars are pretty tiny and there were lots of places it could hide. I needed to catch it before it started settling in to make its pupa, so crawled around looking underneath furniture and watching where I stepped (I had visions of squishing it ... yuck).

I have a HUGE ficus tree in my office and I started thinking Mu went there to hide, so was looking, one branch at a time, for a pillar. As I circled the thing, I looked down ... and there she was. Half on the floor, half on the heater vent looking completely exhausted. If you consider her size, the six feet or so that she traveled was a LONG way.

We've opted to put them in separate containers to pupate -- not as small as those toilet paper "gizmos", but I taped a paper towel over the lid of our monarch containers and put a stick inside and left them there. As of last night Mu, Nu, Gamma and Eta were all purged and ready to start cooking. Epsilon was HUGE, but seemed disinclined to walkabout. Maybe he did last night -- I'll be able to check once DH is up.

We're watching Alpha very closely since he should be hatching into a butterfly at any time. I'm excited to start seeing these critters! So far, Mu's little jaunt aside, things have been fairly smooth. Here's hoping that keeps up!

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You're Sweet Because You're Zany



You've got a little zing to you, and people appreciate your edge.

You would never use your wit to hurt anyone, but you never pass up the opportunity for a good joke.

Your take on the world is a little unconventional, and you don't mind entertaining people with your observations.

You may not fit perfectly into the mainstream, but you wouldn't want to. You like being different.



Works for me! LOL...

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7 comments:

Ceri Hebert said...

I really really really really (and so on) want a Nook. I'll definitely be there to play at LASR. Nook should pay you because you advertise and endorse it so well! Maybe I'll have to convince my DH that I HAVE to have one. (if I don't win one)

My DS fell out of bed once. Flat onto his face. He was a bloody mess, poor kid. But no lasting damage. Just a bloody nose.

Dru said...

I love my nook too. Which nook did you get? The wifi or combo?

I'm glad DD is okay.

How did Mu get out of the box to find her way to the ficus tree?

You're Sweet Because You're Innocent

You may have been hurt many times before, but you don't carry it with you in life.

You still fundamentally expect people to be good, and you give them the benefit of the doubt.

You're innocent, but you're not naive. You know who could harm you, and you stay away accordingly.

Whenever you can, you open your heart up to possibilities. Life is so much richer that way.


more or less accurate

Have a good Tuesday.

Marianne Arkins said...

Ceri, you should play!

Dru, we bought the 3G Nooks to giveaway.

RE: Mu -- she wasn't in the box! That was our mistake. Swallowtail caterpillars stay on their food until it's time to make their pupa. We miscalculated with Mu. LOL...

Maria Zannini said...

This year I really need to buy an e-reader. This is what I told myself--just before my car's engine blew up. :(

But the prices are coming down!! Yay!

Ref: spammers
A pox on them.

Brandy said...

Spammers need a better hobby. *g* I'm glad your DD was okay. Son has fallen out of bed before but not quite woken up. (He's a DEEP sleeper. DEEP.)

You're Sweet Because You're Wise
In this crazy world, you are often the voice of reason. You don't panic.
You stand back, assess the situation, and figure out the best course of action.
You're a cool customer, and your friends appreciate your well reasoned advice.
You know that being stressed out only makes things worse, so you try to keep your head about you.

Not bad, except for the fact that I may stay cool, but I carry stress.

I hope you have a terrific day!

Marianne Arkins said...

Maria, re: just before my car's engine blew up. :(

I said the same thing about getting a treadmill... I HAVE to have one, and then I backed the car into the side of the garage. *sigh*

Marianne Arkins said...

Brandy, LOL!! That's a really deep sleeper. *snort*