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.

September 2005



Sunday night TV

Wednesday, 28 September 2005 9:21 A GMT-05
It was somewhat disconcerting to finally place the actor playing Cicero in HBO's Rome, but it finally came to me Sunday night.  It is none other than the same actor who played the unctuous Mr. Collins to such perfection in the Colin Firth/Jennifer E
Category: Entertainment
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Grrr!

Sunday, 25 September 2005 12:11 P GMT-05
Grrr! I often have my most creative moments late at night, when my brain has had the chance to wander and go into day-dream mode. (And when I worked for a living, it was often on the drive home that the solution to a difficult thought-related probl
Category: Personal/Political
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AAR Aid Update!

Friday, 23 September 2005 2:31 P GMT-05
I've just finished reworking the "Katrina" page at AAR. The second set of auctions just ended...so far we've auctioned off 66 terrific lots to lucky readers and authors. The third set of auctions will begin on Monday, and we've saved some of the be
Category: AAR

Lost...Spoilers included

Thursday, 22 September 2005 11:50 A GMT-05
Last night brought the new season of ABC's Lost, one of the most compelling shows on television...ever.  I didn't find much of the lead-in hour, recapping much of season one, very exciting, but the moment the new episode began, I was hooked.  Le
Category: Entertainment
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Fareed Zakaria on Leaders Who Won't Choose

Thursday, 22 September 2005 11:19 A GMT-05
Fareed Zakaria has a brilliant column in this week's Newsweek.  It begins like this: "'Adversity builds character,' goes the old adage. Except that in America today we seem to be following the opposite principle.  The worse things get, the mo
Category: Personal/Political
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Help us reach our goal!

Saturday, 17 September 2005 9:57 A GMT-05
The first round of AAR Aid auctions ended Thursday, and we were very pleased at how much money we raised for victims of Hurricane Katrina!  But we are worried about losing momentum, which is why we've held in reserve some of the best items overall f
Category: AAR Personal/Political
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Spreading the Blame

Thursday, 15 September 2005 3:06 P GMT-05
My husband sent me a link earlier this afternoon from the Knight Ridder website indicating that "Brownie" may not have been as total an idiot as he seemed over the past two weeks.  Apparently Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff,
Category: Personal/Political

Never Forget...Always Remember

Sunday, 11 September 2005 3:32 P GMT-05
Today is the fourth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks slamming two airliners into the World Trade Center in New York, another into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a final airliner forced down by brave Americans to prevent an additional
Category: Personal/Political
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Static AAR Aid "ads"

Saturday, 10 September 2005 1:52 P GMT-05
I did a Technorati search this morning and discovered that some wonderful bloggers within the romance novel community have uploaded one or both the AAR Aid "ads".  Unfortunately, on two of the sites I came across, the ads are not working p
Category: AAR Blogging
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AAR Aid Back on Track - Phew!

Thursday, 8 September 2005 2:32 P GMT-05
AAR Aid is back on track.  eBay requires that auctions to benefit charities be conducted through MissionFish, the charitable organization they’ve selected to make certain that buyers are protected and that auctions truly benefit the designated cha
Category: AAR
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It's True! No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!

Wednesday, 7 September 2005 6:31 P GMT-05
While sitting in a doctor's office this afternoon, I received a call on my cell phone from Blythe Barnhill...eBay had suspended the first set of AAR Aid auctions, and what could we do about it?  First, come up with a new plan, one that we will try
Category: AAR
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AAR Aid Begins today!

Wednesday, 7 September 2005 9:30 A GMT-05
The first set of AAR Aid auctions begins today at noon, PDT.  Because of the level of generosity from those who donated, we have far too many items to auction at once.  Instead we will be setting up several sets of auctions.  You can learn more a
Category: AAR
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Adrienne Basso

Monday, 5 September 2005 12:59 P GMT-05
I have always had tremendous recall when it comes to the books I've read.  If a friend recounts a plot or title to me, 99% of the time I am able to remember the book if I've read it.  Yesterday I was very excited to write about a book I'd read the
Category: Reading

The Race Issue & What To Do Next

Saturday, 3 September 2005 11:43 A GMT-05
I've been mulling this over in my mind, particularly after talking on the phone yesterday with my mother in California, and while I can't quite connect all the dots, I know in my heart that race has been a factor in the lack of timely effort by the f
Category: Personal/Political
Comments/Trackback (21-0)

AAR-Aid

Friday, 2 September 2005 11:09 A GMT-05
<img src="http://www.likesbooks.com/images/aaraid.jpg" height="60 width="130" align="right">We are now calling the series of auctions we will be running on eBay over the next several weeks in order to raise funds for the victims of Hurricane Ka
Category: AAR
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A Question

Thursday, 1 September 2005 10:07 P GMT-05
After watching a Dateline NBC special on Hurricane Katrina just now (it's the first real coverage I've seen...my husband and daughter refused to watch, though, saying I was doing what I always do when something horrible happens, which is to become ob
Category: Personal/Political
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An Update on our Project, and a Funny Thing

Thursday, 1 September 2005 5:17 P GMT-05
Sandy Coleman, who spearheaded AAR's Hurricane Katrina project, just emailed to let me know that we now have more than seventy donors for our eBay auction benefitting the hurricane's victims.  As such, we won't be able to actually list them all on t
Category: AAR Entertainment