Stacking the Shelves #3

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual.

This is another weekly meme about books, I’m probably boring you all but it’s my blog and I can book if I want too.  These are what I purchased this week.

 

Extinct by Ike Hamill

What comes in as a winter storm, blows out much more.  After coming out into the snow, they find out most everyone is missing.

Purchase Price – Free

Kindle Edition

 

 

Ravage by Iain Rob Wright

Another apocalyptic book.

Purchase Price – Free

Kindle Edition

 

 

 

Tartarus (West of Hell #2) by Jason Brant

You can read my review of the first book here.  I actually bought this whole trilogy together but I’ve already read the first book so I’m listing the second 2 books separate.

Kindle Edition

 

 

 

Sheol (West of Hell #3) by Jason Brant

See above book description.

Purchase Price – all 3 books for $.99

Kindle Edition

 

 

 

 

Blood Reaction by D.L. Atha

A mother is content running her farm until a vampire takes it over and holds her daughter over her to get what he wants.  She has to do what he says, but she’s working to find a cure to the problem.

Purchase Price – Free

Kindle Edition

 

 

The Biomass Revolution (Tisaian Chronicles #1)

A city of the future surrounded by a wasteland isn’t all it seems to be.

Purchase Price – Free

Kindle Edition

WWW Wednesdays #20

To play along, I’m supposed to answer 3 easy questions.

What are you currently reading?

The Ultimate Game (Echo’s Revenge #1) by Sean Austin

This is pretty good.  Right now, it seems that the game Echo has come alive and is hunting down the masters of the game that tend to defeat him in the game.  I’m wondering if it isn’t real life and they’ve been sucked into the game somehow but you don’t know for sure.  If you know me, I don’t like knowing everything, I like a little mystery so I’m enjoying this book.

What did you recently finish reading?

The Gate by Jason Brant

I enjoyed this one.  It was a little different then what I expected but it was still pretty good.  A couple of college kids win an internship on a ghost hunters type of show only to get pulled into a real life gateway to another world.  It has some pretty good action and the creatures are believable with a little humor mixed in.

What do you think you’ll read next?

The Guardian of Threshold (Threshold #1) by A.A. Volts

Another series starter.  I’m always looking for a good series.

If you want to join on WWW Wednesdays, click the logo on top or go to http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/ and leave a comment.

Stacking the Shelves #2

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual.

This is another weekly meme about books, I’m probably boring you all but it’s my blog and I can book if I want too.  These are what I purchased this week.

 

Chasing Vegas by Tad Vezner

This looks different and entertaining.  I can’t quite tell if it has a supernatural touch to it or not but I know it has a science fiction feel which is certainly good enough for me.  This book is #40 on my To Read list.

Purchase Price – Free

Kindle Version

 

 

Creatures of Appetite by Todd Travis

A couple of FBI agents are in search of the Iceman, a seriel killer who preys on little girls.  The search gets more intense when the Iceman challenges the profiler and agent in charge of him.  Sounds like a great thriller to me.  This book is #41 on my To Read list.

Purchase Price – Free

Kindle Version

 

 

 

Blood, Smoke & Ashes by Bradley Convissar

In 1955, Jane the Ripper is killed in the electric chair.  Every decade a copycat has come out and killed in the exact same way.  When a victim survives, they get more evidence, only the evidence leads to Jane the Ripper and not a copycat.  This book is listed as a Supernatural, Thriller/Horror, yes please.  This book is #42 on my To Read list.

Purchase Price – Free

Kindle Version

 

 

Origins (Zombie Games #1) by Kristen Middleton

A zombie book, a female lead who kicks ass, a possible series of zombie books.  How could I not pick this one up.  This book is #40 on my To Read list.

Purchase Price – Free

Kindle Version

It’s all good

I have stuff to blog about, but I’m not really in the mood to blog about it.  I could tell you how my oldest daughter got my wife to keep paying for her storage, even though she’s got over $6000 in her bank account and we’ve struggled to eat this past couple of weeks.  Or how my wife knew about the money and still paid it.  Or how the same daughter could teach a class on how to make money from financial aid for college.  Or how my oldest son surprised us by coming up from Virginia last weekend.  The problem being he quit his full time job before he came up and he’s blowing through his money on fast food and pop because he knows the first bank of grandma will give him some when he runs out.  Or that my whole family has all kinds of time off next week and I have to work 5 days.  Or how when I thought we’d be able to buy a house this summer, but my credit score is freaking 10 points to low.  Or how the AC was out for 3 days and it was 90°+ on those days.

All that has gotten me pissed off in the past week at one point or the other.  But I had a decent day today so I don’t want to talk about the crappy part of my life.  Let’s talk about the good.

• My oldest son has come home for a visit.  He has been pleasant and helpful around the house.  I think we bore him to death because we don’t do anything and he always has to be moving but he says he’s not bored.  He was originally just going to stay the weekend, then that extended to the next Friday, now he’s here through the 4th.  Like I said, I don’t mind him being here, he isn’t a bother.  But I do enjoy my evenings with Cheri and no kids, not that we do anything, but it’s our time.
• My oldest daughter has found her own apartment.  We love her, but she annoys us.  Granted, very rarely is she ever home, but she is at night and she has no clue how to be quiet.  She can’t even open a freaking door without being loud, she grabs the doorknob’s, yanks the doors open and close, slams the cabinets, fridge and toilet lid shut.  She just doesn’t care about anybody around her.  So we are happy that she’s on her own, just so we can sleep without getting woke up.  Sure, we worry about her being on her own, but she’s self sufficient and will be fine.
• I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before here but Samantha has made the All-Star team in softball.  She had her first practice last week and a batting practice tonight.  Of course, I’m happy for her but it also means I get to watch her play more.  I’m really enjoying watching her this year and she looks like she’s really enjoying playing.  Here’s a vine video of her in the batting cage - https://vine.co/v/haagaKvYgX2.  It may not work in chrome but I’m told it works in other browsers.  If you follow my Twitter you can link up to my Vine page or just continue to follow Twitter because they’ll probably all be posted through there.  Or you can watch the following YouTube video.

• Trevor’s team made it to the championship game which is tomorrow morning.  While it sucks it’s at 9 am, I’m happy his team has made it this far.  He’s not as good as his sister and to be honest, he doesn’t even look like he’s having fun, but he says he is and wants to play so there it is.  I’d say that they are favored to win, his team is the best in the league.  While they have taken a couple of losses, they are definitely the better team.  I believe they’ll be facing the team that they beat in the first round but they barely beat them in the final inning so it’s certainly not in the bag.  I know it’s a double elimination tournament and they haven’t lost so they will have to lose 2 in order to not win it all.
• Had a good day at the pool with the family.  3 of my kids, 2 of my brothers, and 4 of my cousins kids plus the adults.  I even took a dip in the pool for awhile, got in a water battle with Samantha (she lost, of course).  It was a pleasant afternoon.  If you follow my Instagram, you would have already seen this photo.

The bad part is, I couldn’t do the infamous butt dive because of my back issues (I think I’ve mentioned them here).  I was also supposed to go golfing with my cousin from North Carolina in a few days and I think I’m going to have to bow out of that too.  What is the infamous butt dive you ask?  Ask and ye shall receive.  This is from a couple of years ago.

Upon further review, holy crap am I white in that video.  Ignore the fat gut, just watch the dive.

So I guess you take the good with the bad.  While it has been a crappy week in some areas of my life (including work, because it always sucks), there is also is some good points.  So I guess I’ll dwell on those and try to enjoy my weekend, before I have to go back to hell (work) next week for 5 12 hour days.

WWW Wednesdays #19

To play along, I’m supposed to answer 3 easy questions.

What are you currently reading?

The Gate by Jason Brant

This seems like a decent read.  It’s supposed to be 2 college kids who win a trip with one of the psychic tv shows that go into haunted houses and look for evidence.  Which of course, they end up going into a real haunted place.  I started this today but I’m not real far into it.

What did you recently finish reading?

Sunfall Manor by Peter Giglio

I read this yesterday and today.  It was a little different.  My main complaint would be the length but it was free so I guess I can’t really complain.  It did have a twist ending so that was good.  It lead up to what you thought would be a continued story and then all of a sudden, the twist ending, and it’s done.  I think I read where it was only 78 pages.  I don’t generally look and see how long the books are since I generally purchase free ones so it’s my fault.

Inheritance by Joe McKinney

I liked this book quite a bit.  I even gave it 5 stars on Goodreads.  It catches you from the beginning and through out the whole book it’s dangling what’s going on but it’s just out of your reach.  Which I like, because it keeps you entertained.  As typical with books, while you are learning more about the characters, it gets a little slow.  This book, the author keeps it going by throwing some calls in the mix (the main character is a cop) and it keeps you entertained from start to finish.

What do you think you’ll read next?

The Ultimate Game (Echo’s Revenge #1) by Sean Austin

Gaming gone wrong.  A little different then what I normally read.

If you want to join on WWW Wednesdays, click the logo on top or go to http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/ and leave a comment.

Music Monday’s #3

Welcome to the next edition of Music Mondays.  It’s pretty basic, I take a playlist and put it on random, and post what comes up.

• Playlist – “Anything & Everything”
• Description – Anything from Christian to Rock, Rap to Country, Classical to 80’s.  Pretty much anything and everything that I like.
• Number of songs on the playlist – 1,272 songs

 

1. Coming Undone (Korn)
2. Cool Lookin’ Woman (Jimmy Vaughn)
3. Far Behind (Candlebox)
4. Ain’t No Grave (Russ Taff)
5. Slither (Velvet Revolver)
6. Callin’ Baton Rouge (Garth Brooks)
7. This Means War (Petra)
8. Breath (Breaking Benjamin)
9. With Arms Wide Open (Creed)
10. It’s The End of The World As We Know It (R.E.M.)
11. Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond)
12. Born on the Bayou (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
13. Love Story (Taylor Swift)
14. When I’m Gone (3 Doors Down)
15. Little Bit Is Better Than Nada (Texas Tornados)
16. So Cold (Breaking Benjamin)
17. Frozen (Madonna)
18. Stupify (Disturbed)
19. Animals (Nickelback)
20. Help (Beatles)

There’s a lot more of my normal music on this list so that is good.  I spent the last few weeks taking my playlist and dividing it up between decades just to give you an idea of what all is there.  I’ll list the decade, how many songs, and the top 5 artists (top 5 as in most songs in the decade on my playlist).

• 1950’s (7 songs – Frank Sinatra, Frankie Lymon, George Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Nat King Cole)
• 1960’s (50 songs – the Beach Boys, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Beatles, the Righteous Brothers, Rolling Stones)
• 1970’s (113 songs – Billy Joel, Queen, Aerosmith, Boston, Foreigner)
• 1980’s (383 songs – Petra, Van Halen, Michael W. Smith, White Heart, Journey)
• 1990’s (418 songs – DC Talk, Michael Jackson, Michael W. Smith, Garth Brooks, the Choir)
• 2000’s (242 songs – Godsmack, Linkin Park, Three Days Grace, Staind, Puddle of Mudd)
• 2010’s (53 songs – Maroon 5, P!nk, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Halestorm)

As you can see, the majority of my playlist is from the 80’s and 90’s.  And a lot of those are the christian music that I used to listen to.  The 2010’s is probably low because I never listen to the radio anymore so I don’t ever add anymore new songs.  I should probably rectify that but I don’t really go any great distances so I end up listening to 2 songs before I’m getting out of the car.  Either that or 20 minutes of commercials which is why I never listen to the radio anymore.

Stacking the Shelves #1

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual.

This is another weekly meme about books, I’m probably boring you all but joining these leads me to other blogs, which leads to other books I may be interested in.  These are what I purchased this week.

 

Wick (Wick #1) by Michael Bunker

This is listed as a pre-apocalyptic thriller which will be a new one for me.  I’m afraid it’s going to be too much drama, not enough action but we’ll see.  If I like it. I believe it is the first of four books.  It’s #40 on my list to read.

Purchase Price – Free

Kindle version

 

 

Ghost Hand (The PSS Chronicles #1) by Ripley Patton

It’s supernatural, and it’s different.  The main character has a hand made of energy instead of flesh and bone.  It starts doing things on it’s own and other want it.  Sounds good to me.  It’s #41 on my list to read.

Purchase Price – Free

Kindle version

 

 

Binary Cycle: Disruption by W.J. Davies

Earth is gone and humans are inhabiting another.  Only this planet is on the brink of destruction too and it has to be stopped.  This is part 1 of 3 so we’ll see if it holds my interest enough to purchase the other 2.  It’s #42 on my list to read.

Purchase Price – Free

Kindle Version

Flashback Friday’s #10–I Love My Wife

I have decided that every once in awhile, I’d throw up an old post for Flashback Friday’s.  It’s a flashback of sorts.  This post was from June of 2011.  It’s a few weeks after Cheri was diagnosed with her MS.  I still feel this way, but I probably show it even less.  I suck.  The post is called “I Love My Wife.”

 

I know, everyone says that.  But I mean it too.  Not only does she take care of this family.  But she does it all with MS (Multiple Sclerosis).  She’s probably had it for years even though she was just diagnosed a few weeks ago.  She was diagnosed with other things before so through all that time, she was on meds that would help for a month or two, then stop helping.  Well, now we know why.  They weren’t treating the right disease.  It sucks that the diagnose was that, but our hope is, now that we know what it is, maybe she can get the proper help.

Even though she doesn’t sleep worth a crap at night (I still say it’s because she’s in bed with me).  She wakes up every morning and wakes me up.  And for the last few weeks that’s been at 4:20 am.  Then she tries to sleep a little bit before having to get up to get my two kids (8 yrs. & 6 yrs.) up for school.  Takes Samantha to school, comes home and then takes Skyler to school, then comes home for a few hours before taking Trevor to school.  In between all that, she’s making sure they are fed and looking good.  Then a couple hours afterwards she picks up Samantha and Trevor.  All this while some days she can barely move without pain, days where her head hurts so bad she looks drugged, days where she’s so exhausted, it’s all she can do to just get up to go to the bathroom.  Then after everyone is home, she makes supper.  Not always just 1 supper as Skyler doesn’t eat meat so she cooks 2 meals for us.  But that isn’t all I love about her.

She is so strong, when she feels so weak.  So smart, even though she feels like her mind is failing her.  So loving, when all she feels is pain.  She has taken this diagnosis in stride and just keeps plugging along.  She complains about the pain, who wouldn’t, but she never says “Why did this happen to me?” or “What did I do to deserve this?”  She just keeps going and tries to do all she can.  I have to tell her to stop and I get on her all the time for not asking for help.  I have to tell her it’s ok to not go to the kids games because it’s 100 degrees out.  That it’s ok to sit on your butt once in awhile and just take it easy.

The worst part is the rest of us in the house take advantage of her and she lets us.  The kids are horrible about this, but I don’t think all 3 have a clue what she deals with on a daily basis.  2 are just too young to understand, and the other is afraid to admit that it’s happening to her mother.  Even I’m guilty of this, I try to help out and I think I do help some, but she always does things for me that I could do for myself.  I tell her to leave it for me, but I know she won’t.  I need to just take over and do it for myself.

I won’t even get into what she deals with emotionally with dealing with certain family members of hers, or either of our exes, and even myself and the kids.  The whole time she deals with those emotional rollercoasters, she deals with this ugly disease.  But I believe that things will get better, because I can’t see why this awesome woman was brought into our lives, just to suffer with pain and anxiety.  I see her strength fighting this disease the whole time.  And I will be by her side the whole way.

So in closing, I love my wife, not only for the love she shows me but for the strength she shows everyone else.  She doesn’t even have a clue how strong she is, and I love her for that.  My job as her husband is to make sure she knows how special she is to me.  I don’t always show it, that’s my flaw.   A flaw she more than makes up for with all the ways she shows me that she loves me.  I will try to live up to her expectations because it’s the least I can do for my wife, the love of my life, my everything.  My heart and soul belongs to her.

I love my wife!

WWW Wednesdays #18

To play along, I’m supposed to answer 3 easy questions.

What are you currently reading?

Inheritance by Joe McKinney

This has been pretty good so far.  It has mainly been a regular book but it has a supernatural feel to it.  There is something happening, supernaturally, but we aren’t exactly sure yet.  I think I’m 37% through and the supernatural stuff is about to hit the fan, so to speak.

What did you recently finish reading?

101 Things to do Before the Apocalypse

This was ok, it certainly wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t as good as I thought it would be.  Towards the end I was just flying through it so I could get to my next book.  It wasn’t quite as funny as I thought it would be.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Sunfall Manor by Peter Giglio

This sounds interesting, kind of creepy actually.

If you want to join on WWW Wednesdays, click the logo on top or go to http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/ and leave a comment.

Where have you been, Google knows

If you saw my post about camping this past weekend, you know I used a couple of screen caps from the Google Maps from my phone to show the campground.  Well, one night I was playing on my phone while everyone was sleeping and while I was on Google Maps, I noticed an option in the menu.

See that?

Right over there,

to the left.

Down there,

a little further.

Yeah,

right

there.

<<<<<<<

 

 

Location History, hmmm!  So I clicked on it.  And it’s exactly what it says it is.  Remember when I took the kids to the Sox game?

My phone is freaking tracking me.  Now I personally don’t care, it’s not like I’m out on a killing spree or anything.  If the cops ever come knocking on my door wanting me, it’ll probably be of the false arrest variety so maybe my phone can be my alibi.

You see up above, last Thursday.  It tells me what time I left home (6:38 am), what time I arrived at work (6:47 am) and how long I stayed (7:06 pm) and that I drove over to Baugo to watch the end of my son’s game.  How long I was there (7:37 pm – 8:15 pm) and what time I arrived back at home (8:21 pm).

To be honest, I think this is cool as hell.  But as you can tell above, the red lines show I was all over the place.  Although those lines don’t show my route, just a direct line between stops.  On this day (my birthday actually), I traveled 26 miles but it says the only places I were was home with some travel time in between.  What I was doing was running errands, but everywhere I went probably has never been “checked in” before so they didn’t register.  Some of them, I probably wasn’t there long enough to register that I stopped.

I zoomed in on the map.  The bottom right corner is my home.  What I do remember from this day is first I went to the top red line which was the post office, then the little triangle to the left of that is the bank, but neither of those lines go directly to where those places are on the map.  I think I went back home after that so I don’t know where the 1 hour, 50 minutes comes in.

Later in the day, the big loop at the bottom, we drove out to IHOP for lunch and hit Kmart to pick up a White Sox shirt for Samantha to wear to the game.  None of those showed up on the travel, nor do the red lines correspond to exactly where we were at.  I also noticed on the days I go to work and back and nowhere else, sometimes it says I traveled a mile, some days less, some days a little more.  Considering I only travel one route to and from work, I’m not sure why that’s different.  So maybe it’s not as cool as I thought.

I wonder if the NSA receives these reports from everybody’s phones.