What was begun as an online journal of the books I read evolved...or maybe it devolved...to also feature behind the scenes goings-on at All About Romance from my perspective (mostly based on my personal feelings - okay, it's a personal pity party); topics I've gone over ad nauseum in commentary at AAR, including the nature of reviews and online behavior; and my non-cyber life (including family and items in pop culture that capture my interest, which is just about everything).

Please do not violate my trust. I restricted certain AAR-related and personal entries for a reason...to keep them as private as possible. Now that my blog is read-only, to access restricted entries you must already have a password; if you do, hold onto it so that you can continue to read restricted entries.

This blog is not part of All About Romance. I ask that you keep comments or questions regarding restricted blog content off of AAR.

Below you'll find the blogs I visit, broken out in my own odd little system of categories.

January 2006



Annual Reader Poll - Change in Reporting of Interim Results

Tuesday, 31 January 2006 10:57 A GMT-05
Yesterday I posted the first set of interim results in our tenth annual reader poll.  As ballots poured in throughout the remainder of the day in response to the interim results, I had one of my brilliant ideas...in addition to posting a second
Category: AAR

The Music of the Night

Monday, 30 January 2006 8:56 P GMT-05
Last year I blogged about enjoying Lydia Joyce's debut, The Veil of Night. And when I did my annual ATBF column featuring my favorite reads of the year, one of my 2005 selections was The Veil of Night. It's still a very strong read, but it fran
Category: Reading
Comments/Trackback (3-0)

How weird is that?

Thursday, 26 January 2006 6:16 P GMT-05
When my niece was in town a couple of weeks ago, I had a good time working on a difficult puzzle with her and my daughter.  I'd bought it because I know she likes to work puzzles, and this past summer, she and my daughter disappeared into t
Category: Personal/Political
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Locke...on Lost

Thursday, 26 January 2006 11:13 A GMT-05
Has Locke gone over to the dark side on Lost? TTFN, Laurie Likes Books
Category: Entertainment
Comments/Trackback (2-0)

Interesting Newsweek Story

Thursday, 26 January 2006 11:01 A GMT-05
Newsweek reports this week that the Pentagon has its own domestic spying program.  Stored in the Counterintelligence Field Activity's database is a most dangerous even that occurred in the summer of 2004, when a group of ten or so peaceful demon
Category: Personal/Political

The Book of Daniel

Wednesday, 25 January 2006 1:21 P GMT-05
For the past three Friday evenings, we've been sure to catch NBC's The Book of Daniel. The show features wonderful actors, strong writing, and I got my hopes up that for once, silly people who are easily led by the nose wouldn't prevail.  Well,
Category: Entertainment Personal/Political
Comments/Trackback (17-0)

Radio Goo Goo

Wednesday, 25 January 2006 12:46 P GMT-05
During Christmas vacation, when I wasn't in the car during morning drive-time, I realized the radio station I'd listened to for a few years, no longer appealed to me.  As one of the eight billion stations owned by Clear Channel, the music played
Category: Entertainment
Comments/Trackback (2-0)

Annual Reader Poll

Tuesday, 24 January 2006 9:49 A GMT-05
Nobody seems to be voting in AAR's tenth annual reader poll.  At times I probably sound like Chicken Little, but right now we're running behind on the percentage of  ballots received by more than ten percent.  Each year I hope for a la
Category: AAR
Comments/Trackback (10-0)

Ah...Mothers

Friday, 20 January 2006 9:20 P GMT-05
So we're eating dinner and the phone rings.  It's my mother, who tells me she our daughter's thank you note for the recent birthday gift she sent.  She says to me, "What lovely handwriting!  She gets that from her father.&quo
Category: Personal/Political
Comments/Trackback (6-0)

Dallas S.W.A.T.

Friday, 20 January 2006 9:39 A GMT-05
A&E is running another of their limited run reality series right now, and if you have the chance to watch it, do.  It's called Dallas S.W.A.T, and while the reviews I've read for it are pretty crummy, my husband and I couldn't take our eyes
Category: Entertainment
Comments/Trackback (2-0)

Two Odd Movies

Thursday, 19 January 2006 10:54 A GMT-05
My 16-year-old niece came to spend the long weekend with us...we had a wonderful time (so good, in fact, that she's going to come again next month!).  We shopped, we gossiped, we went to Smashing Times and made mosaics, we did puzzles, and we wa
Category: Entertainment
Comments/Trackback (4-0)

How a Bill Becomes a Law

Wednesday, 18 January 2006 2:02 P GMT-05
You don't have to have a B.S. in Political Science to know how a bill becomes a law. For many years all you had to do was watch Saturday morning cartoons on ABC and, along with Conjunction Junction, see I'm Just a Bill. But apparently, wh
Category: Personal/Political
Comments/Trackback (1-0)

Surveys and Polls

Friday, 13 January 2006 10:59 A GMT-05
In transforming some of our existing static pages to our "new" look, I came across Favorite Books by Favorite Authors (among other polls), and realized how out of date the results have gotten.  Unfortunately, our pollster was forced to
Category: AAR
Comments/Trackback (9-0)

Brokeback Mountain

Monday, 9 January 2006 11:02 A GMT-05
I had a pretty crappy day yesterday, so I probably should not have gone to see an incredibly depressing movie, but I promised my daughter that if she did her perspective drawing for her portfolio, I would take her.  Yes...even though I wasn
Category: Entertainment
Comments/Trackback (12-0)

Really Unusual Bad Boys

Sunday, 8 January 2006 12:03 P GMT-05
Okay, I admit it...I'm a MaryJanice Davidson junkie. Except for one really dreadful book she wrote long, long ago (and which she said in our interview last year that she doesn't really like anymore), she's never written anything I thought was bad, an
Category: Reading
Comments/Trackback (4-0)

AAR's Annual Poll

Saturday, 7 January 2006 9:54 A GMT-05
Although response to the newest ATBF column has been somewhat slower than expected, it's picked up pace, and then something hit me all of a sudden. Each year at this time I talk about my reading year, more or less to spur conversation among our reade
Category: AAR
Comments/Trackback (6-0)

Have You Seen It?

Wednesday, 4 January 2006 10:04 P GMT-05
Lazy Sunday
Category: Entertainment

It's Time To Share

Wednesday, 4 January 2006 10:31 A GMT-05
Over the years I've avoided actually naming my husband and daughter at AAR or in my blog in order to protect their privacy, and to avoid being Kathy Lee Gifford.  I do, however, link to my husband's blog, and when I caught up with his last few b
Category: Personal/Political
Comments/Trackback (2-0)

Three 2006 releases

Monday, 2 January 2006 8:21 P GMT-05
In a December 2005 ATBF issue, I mentioned Keri Arthur, a new name in the world of print "Urban Fantasy" releases.  Her January release, Full Moon Rising, is one of three 2006 books I read toward the end of 2005.  I had no expecta
Category: Reading
Comments/Trackback (2-0)