There’s no such thing as a free lunch, as they say. And reward card systems are no exception. I can’t speak to all of them everywhere, but can say with confidence that broadly speaking, if you’re seemingly getting something for nothing — i.e. if a bank or grocery store chain offers you free points if…
When I was still in public school, my dad — a guitar player for as long as I can remember — offered to teach me guitar. I was years into my life-long love affair with drums, however, so I didn’t have much interest in learning something else. Drums were my calling, thought I. Trying to…
Way more both tried out and finished this month. Behold: ReadTriggers – Robert J. SawyerThe Dreaming Place – Charles de LintCalculating God – Robert J. SawyerSkyhunter – Marie Lu (audiobook)Paperjack – Charles de Lint Started and stoppedThe 100 – Kass Morgan (audiobook)Infinity: Chronicles of Nick – Sherilynn Kenyon (audiobook)Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25…
I’ve recently mentioned my looking at getting into voiceover work (he says, determined to go with one spelling for “voiceover” and stick with it, and it looks best to me as one word). That’s still happening. It’s just been in a bit of a holding pattern over my wanting to approach it the best way…
My family and I are just recently back from a 2.5-week road trip to the east coast (specifically, Nova Scotia via Quebec and New Brunswick) to visit family and friends. It’s a gorgeous drive and the visits were fantastic. Couldn’t have asked for anything to go better. We’ve been trying to get our feet back…
Another bit of a stop-and-start month for reading, largely thanks to stopping a book I was enjoying but was on the cusp of not enjoying, then finding an unexpected gem at a thrift store, then having to put that one on pause when a library book I’d put on hold showed up. Here’s how it…
Just heard about Sinead O’Connor’s untimely death. She stood up for black musicians before they were officially recognized at award ceremonies. When told by her record label that she shouldn’t leak that she had a baby because it didn’t make for good optics, she looped her child’s onesie through her belt for her next public…
Bruce Schneier is a long-time digital and technology privacy advocate who’s written some of the most important and influential books on those and related subjects. He posted this brief article yesterday, nicely summarizing the grey area issue surrounding what constitutes fair use of material readily available to the public vs. what people should have to…
I was scrolling on Mastodon yesterday — the ad-free, federated social media I went to after finally leaving Twitter and Facebook for good a few years ago — and came across these two images that I modified. The Apple Store, where Apple devices get their apps, has long had a section deep on their app…
A marked improvement over last month, I’m happy to say. Started and stoppedHorus Rising – Dan Abnett ReadingThe Golem and the Jinni – Helene WeckerSavage Sword of Conan compendium Again, nothing I actually finished this month — that’s becoming a more common trend, which I’m not thrilled with — but I picked up and got…