2023 Reading Challenges

I've started looking for 2023 reading challenges, and I've found a couple that appeal to me. I believe I'll be doing the Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge, hosted at Carol's Notebook, and Cruisin' Through the Cozies at Socrates' Book Reviews. These will be the first time I've done any challenges since I switched to audio and ebook as my preferred formats. Should be interesting! I realize they're both mystery challenges, but that is my favorite genre these days, so I think it will work for me. Since they're similar genres, I won't count the same book for both challenges. Both run from Janury 1 to December 31 of 2023.

For Cloak and Dagger, I intend to try the Inspector level (26-35 books). i figure that will be about half the books I plan on reading in 2023, maybe a little less. Cruisin' Through the Cozies, I plan on going for the first level (Snoop). I'm choosing option B, one cozy from each listed subgenre (culinary, animal, crafting, paranormal, outside USA, career-based, holiday, travel, historical, and reader's choice). If anyone has a recommendation for another challenge (not mystery), let me know in the comments and I'll take a look at it.

Also, today I started the audiobook version of Dune (Frank Herbert, Macmillan Audio). I must be the last American in my generation reading this book. I'm in the process of disconnecting from Goodreads and moving to StoryGraph, so if you're interested you can follow me there.

I hope everyone had some good holidays, and I'm looking forward to 2023!

Currently Reading, 8 June 2021

 I'm not doing Goodreads anymore, but here's a list of the books I'm currently reading (or listening to) Most of what I'm doing these days are audiobooks. I have quite a collection!

• Pains and Penalties (Sarah Biglow) - Book one in her Geeks and Things mystery series, and the only print book I'm currently reading.
• Red, White & Royal Blue (Casey McQuiston, read by Ramon de Ocampo)
•  A Quest of Heroes (Morgan Rice, read by Wayne Farrell) - The first book in Rice's Sorcerer's Ring series.
• Cemetery Boys (Aiden Thomas, read by Avi Roque)

So far I really like the McQuiston and Thomas books. I'm not so sure about A Quest of Heroes. Of course, the mystery is just some light summer fun reading. I'll let you know more about my opinions as I finish the books.

Random Music: 6 June 2021

Been a while, so let's do the first 10 songs recommended for me by Apple Music:

1. Thank You (Meghan Trainor, 2016)
2. Holiday (Madonna, 1983)
3. The Loco-Motion (Kylie Minogue, 1987)
4. The Look (Roxette, 1988)
5. Eye of the Tiger (Survivor, 1982)
6. Adventures in Funk Space (Bingo Boys, 1991)
7. We're Going to Ibiza! (Vengaboys, 1998)
8. Rich Boy (Galantis, 2017)
9. All for You (Spada, 2017)
10. Music Is My Life (Andras & Oscar Key Sung, 2014)

This random list started strong, peaked with Kylie Minogue, and then kind of faded. Nothing was really bad, but some are definitely better than others. Some I had never heard before, so that was pretty good. Overall, a decent list.

Chromebook Experiment Results

This is a followup to my Chromebook Experiment post from November of 2011.

I did purchase a Chromebook a few years ago. A Samsung Chromebook 3. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with it. Yes, it can be slow (it uses a Celeron processor and has 2 GB of RAM), but as far as limitations imposed by the OS, I haven't really found any. To be completely honest, it's faster than the little desktop computers provided by my employer.  It's not by any means usable for more than casual gaming, like Solitaire, but it does what I need it to do, it's lightweight, and has incredible battery life. I have two users set up on it, and I'm thinking about adding a third one (don't ask 😆). I can access pretty much any document I need to, and I haven't really found a website that won't work with it. Granted, I miss MS Office, since we use it heavily at work.

The main thing I miss is good design programs. But, I'm not doing nearly as much design work as I used to, and if I need to I can use my desktop at home. So, my verdict?

I don't regret getting it. It suits my needs, although I sometimes think about getting one that's a little more powerful. As long as you understand it's limitations and can work with them, It's an excellent little laptop. I love the way I don't have to worry about updates. Chrome OS just does them, and if I need to restart, it tells me (which, btw, is a lot faster than restarting Windows or Mac OS X). If you're on the fence about Chromebooks, and you can find it at a good price (mine was about $150 US), I think you'll be pleased with it.

New Writing Project

After spending so many years reading, I think it's time I tried something new. So starting today, I'll be working on writing. Of course, I'll be writing here, but I'll also begin some creative writing: fiction, poetry, maybe some short stories. I have things I want to say and this seems to be the best way for me to say those things.

This morning, I was looking for articles to help me learn how to write better. In a moment of serendipity, look what showed up in my Twitter feed: Writing Tip: The Three Act Structure. Exactly what I was looking for.So time to start!

Kentucky Genealogy: Bays

To help document, here's the Bays part of my family.

• Charlene Riley Bays (born 13 September 1937, Jefferson county, Kentucky - died 11 January 2013, Marion county, Indiana) - my mother
• John Riley Bays (born 30 May 1910, Kentucky - died 21 May 1997, Floyd County, Indiana) - My grandfather
• Joseph Walter Bays (born 2 December 1879, Carter county, Kentucky - died 1 May 1968, Rowan county, Kentucky) - John's father
• Newton White Bays (born 11 December 1853, Magoffin county, Kentucky - died 27 January 1922, Carter county, Kentucky), Joseph's father
• Rufus Garland Bays (born 7 June 1816, Tennessee - died July 1865, Carter county, Kentucky), Newton's father
• Joel Bays (born 1782, Scott county, Virginia - died 28 September 1852, Scott county, Virginia), Rufus's father

Where to Find Ohio River Bridges Project Information?

If you live anywhere near, or travel through, Louisville, Kentucky you probably know there's some major construction going on. It's causing major traffic delays and frustrating a lot of people. It's all because we're getting two new bridges in the are. We need them badly.