Author: etoiline

RIP Randy Pausch

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Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon who died yesterday from pancreatic cancer, the same type of cancer that my uncle died from. He gave two very moving, inspirational lectures and wrote a book and gave many interviews. He lived strong and filled his last days with whatever he could, and I can have nothing but respect for him. The world has lost a good man. We need more heroes like him. Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.
“The Last Lecture” and “Time Management” after the cut.

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Mark This!

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Free book! I read this a couple of months ago, and I really liked it. It’s a fast-paced thriller with lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing. And now you can read it too…for free! For the next few days, anyway, so click ye now and read!

Visit the author’s site at www.jasonpinter.com.

make a face

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jen-muchaface.jpg See what you look like as a guy or a baby or an anime character with this fun site. This is their idea of me as a Mucha painting. Too bad I’m not really that pretty! 😉
Gotta go buy a digital converter. Silly government coupons expiring.

Farewell to the King

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It’s a sad day when a huge part of St. Louis becomes owned by a foreign company. Anheuser-Busch is now Anheuser-Busch InBev…
I don’t even like beer. If I’ve been to the brewery it was long ago, way before I was able to enjoy the tasting at the end. But I do love the Clydesdales and the dalmatians and the many events and destinations that Busch is a part of, and they are a huge part of St. Louis culture, and indeed the US. Sure, the mean people who bought the company in a hostile takeover say they’ll keep sight of A-B’s standards, but that’s what they said when May company bought Famous-Barr. I call ballocks. And who thought that the Belgians were so rotten?
I wonder if it’s still going to be Busch Stadium in a few years. I hope so. I always liked that name. I realize it is actually product placement, but it’s been Busch for so long, it doesn’t seem that way. Maybe the Busch family can keep their names on some things.
Bye bye Busch. I hope you stay the same, but I bet you won’t.
Oh yeah, happy Bastille Day.

10 Books

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Found through Writers Unbound, which brought back memories of the Pizza Hut Book-It program, where you had the summer to read a certain amount of books and if you did, you got a free personal pizza. Needless to say, I had no problem earning the gold stars.
So here’s a challenge to me in July…read 10 books. Shouldn’t be too hard, especially since I’d like to reread most if not all of Carol Berg’s books before Worldcon…
Rules say books started in June and finished in July count as half a book. So I’m already up .5:
0.5: Midnight Never Come, Marie Brennan (July 02)
1.5: The Last Guardian of Everness, John C Wright (July 10)
2.0:Son of Avonar, Carol Berg (July 13) (re-reads count as half)
2.5: Guardians of the Keep, Carol Berg (July 16)
3.0: The Soul Weaver, Carol Berg (July 19)
3.5:Daughter of Ancients, Carol Berg (July 23)
4.0:Twilight, Stephenie Meyer (July 25) (getting ready for the Breaking Dawn release on the 2nd!)
4.5: New Moon, Stephenie Meyer (July 27)
5.5: The Guilty, Jason Pinter (July 28)
6.0: Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer (July 31)
I’ll update when I finish a book.

Joyous Solstice

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Enjoy your summer.
Yes, I know I’m a few hours late. I was helping my parents get ready for a neighborhood garage sale. Fun!
Seriously, though, tomorrow I’m hitting Missouri Bakery (which you’d have to look up as Missouri Baking Co.) and falling in love with their strawberry tarts and apple cream cheese tarts. I love summer, heat and humidity and all.