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.

July 2008



Arrogant...or Uppity?

Wednesday, 30 July 2008 7:17 P GMT-05
I can't help but wonder who decided to spin Barack Obama's trip last week on his presumed presumptuousness in behaving too "presidentially"...and why it seems to have such incredible traction. Is Obama's supposed arrogance simply a code-word for "upp
Category: Personal/Political
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Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife

Wednesday, 30 July 2008 2:03 P GMT-05
Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife Kate Walker Grade: D Sensuality: Warm My review of Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife by Kate Walker went online yesterday. Another Kindle read, which was the best thing about the reading experience this time around
Category: Reading AAR

Mad Men Season Premiere

Sunday, 27 July 2008 7:51 P GMT-05
The season premiere of Mad Men just ended. It's the evening in February 1962 and Don Draper can't get it up with his wife even though they're celebrating Valentine's Day at the Savoy, likely because his newly prescribed blood pressure medication caus
Category: Entertainment
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The Pursuit of Purity

Sunday, 20 July 2008 11:36 A GMT-05
In this week's Time magazine, an article by Nancy Gibbs caught my eye. She writes in The Pursuit of Purity about "purity balls" attended by fathers and their daughters, aged four through 18, wearing tuxedos and ballgowns. Obviously, like every other
Category: Personal/Political
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Sam's Creed (and my reading year)

Sunday, 20 July 2008 9:53 A GMT-05
My review of Sam's Creed by Sarah McCarty just went online this morning at AAR. My latest Kindle read...still loving it. Sam's Creed Sarah McCarty Grade: B- Sensuality: Burning I'm in the midst of an amazing reading binge right now. So far this year
Category: Reading AAR

Trimming Here and There

Friday, 18 July 2008 4:17 P GMT-05
For the first time since March of 2007, I've had to go into AAR Boards and trim them. I trimmed everything older than six months on three of the forums: Reader to Reader, General Chat, and Entertainment. In total I trimmed 1,100 topics and 10,200 pos
Category: AAR Personal/Political

The Italian Tycoon's Mistress & MacAllister's Baby

Wednesday, 16 July 2008 5:15 P GMT-05
Two new reviews from me just went online today at AAR. The Italian Tycoon's Mistress Cathy Williams Grade: D+ Sensuality: Warm MacAllister's Baby Julie Cohen Grade: B Sensuality:
Category: Reading AAR

Words

Wednesday, 16 July 2008 10:43 A GMT-05
After reading a series of articles (Let Us Now Praise the Son of a Bitch, A Moritorium on the Word "Douchebag", The C-word) in this month's Esquire magazine, I wondered...why is the word "asshole" worse than the word "ass?" The first is never bleeped
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Burn Notice: Season Two Premiere

Friday, 11 July 2008 10:38 A GMT-05
I'm sitting in Southern California tonight after having watched the season two premiere of Burn Notice on USA Network. Over at AAR, we're running such a great sweepstakes that I wish I were eligible to enter. While I may have had advance access to a
Category: Entertainment
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Re: My Latest AAR Review

Sunday, 6 July 2008 6:46 A GMT-05
Mid-week last week I finalized my review for Mary Alice Monroe's Time Is a River. In the review I mentioned my trepidation about reading the book because the premise didn't sound appealing to me. What I didn't mention was something that goes back to
Category: Reading AAR

Freshman by Verve Pipe

Saturday, 5 July 2008 11:39 A GMT-05
This was on my list of songs to download from iTunes, but why not share? TTFN, Laurie Likes Books
Category: Entertainment

Nothing

Friday, 4 July 2008 12:52 P GMT-05
Is it accurate to say you're doing nothing? Because if you're doing, it's something, and if it's nothing, it's...nothing. TTFN, Laurie Likes Books
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Beta testing goodreads

Thursday, 3 July 2008 6:03 P GMT-05
So it took another fifteen minutes for goodreads to import the .xls file I'd created at Shelfari. It missed nine books. I was able to add eight books; info for the ninth wasn't there and I'm not about to avail myself of the "add book" feature while b
Category: Reading Internet
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To Twitter or Not To Twitter...Not

Thursday, 3 July 2008 5:00 P GMT-05
It's impossible to read a technology article today without a reference to Twitter, the social networking/micro-blogging tool that allows you to update your friends 24/7, in one sentence increments (ie, micro), about what you are doing. The twitters g
Category: Reading Internet
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This Month's Texas Monthly

Wednesday, 2 July 2008 9:49 A GMT-05
Bill Broyles, founder of Texas Monthly, has this month written a powerful editorial against the war in Iraq. This month's issue of the magazine also features an excellent article by Matt Cook about his experiences as a soldier in Iraq. BTW, the refer
Category: Personal/Political
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