It’s not uncommon for me to read a book then see the “based on” movie at a later time. I usually try to read the book first, and often I’m disappointed by the movie. I think the most recent book/movie was my biggest disappointment yet.

One evening I saw the movie “The Redemption of Sarah Cain” on TV. I have a fascination with the Amish community so when I saw the movie I thought I’d enjoy it, so I DVRd it and watched it. When it started I realized it was written by Beverly Lewis and I usually like her work. The movie, however, wasn’t all that great.

A week or so later I went to my parents and my mom had just finished the book, so I took it to read. I wasn’t really looking forward to it but my bookshelf doesn’t have many unread books at the moment so it got moved to the top of the list.

Much to my surprise (not that I should be) the book is NOTHING like the movie. Seriously, N O T H I N G! OK, I’m sorry, the main characters in number and name are the same (well, the ones that weren’t left out of the movie) but other than that and the fact that the kids are Amish and orphans the books is completely different from the movie. For goodness sake, they take place in two different locations (Portland and Lancaster county!!!) and Sarah had a completely different career which was a pretty big part of the movie.

Why say the movie is based on a book if nothing in the movie even closely resembles the original story?

So, my recommendation: buy the book and use your movie watching time more wisely.

Till later…

I’m not a super frequent flyer but I do ride the skies fairly often. I used to be an American Airlines customer but since moving I’ve had to choose another company. (I guess Hickville isn’t big enough for AA to service.) So, I tend to fly Southwest a lot recently. I have to say, I don’t really like Southwest all that much. I don’t like the “cattle car” feel that you get when you wait. I really dislike the pushiness of the customers….Southwest is the only airline I’ve flown that gives me that feel. But, I have found one thing that I REALLY like about Southwest so let me sing the one praise I do have for them.

They make it REALLY easy to change your flight. My first experience came when I purchased a ticket then they went on sale for cheaper two days later. I was PISSED! I called them to complain and the lady said “just repurchase the ticket”. See, Southwest has this policy that even if you purchase a “non-refundable” ticket you can still change it and if the price is cheaper you get a credit for future use. You don’t get your money back, but you do get the credit to use with them again later.

Also, if you need to change the day you are flying all you do is rebook the flight and apply the amount from the first flight to the second. SUPER EASY! This trip I’ve already rebooked my flight two times. Didn’t cost me a penny. No other airline does that.

Now if they’d just let you go stand-by for free. See, with American Airlines if you get to the airport early and haven’t checked baggage you can ask to be put on an earlier flight. If there’s room they’ll let you go earlier for no charge. Not Southwest…they charge you for a new ticket. Pretty dumb if you ask me. Why not let someone take up an empty seat earlier. But, oh well. It’s actually pretty rare anymore that I fly without checking my baggage.

Till later…

I love free books. I few months back someone recommended this site to me. I signed up (because it’s FREE) and have loved it ever since.

Here’s the deal, you register and list some old books you have laying around. Books that you’ve already read and enjoyed but don’t plan on reading again. You know, all those books that are collecting dust on your bookshelf because you don’t know what else to do with them. Then you can start requesting books from other members. They’ll mail them to you for FREE. You get credits when someone requests your book (you pay to mail it to them) to request more books. I have to tell you, I absolutely LOVE this site! It allows me to get some FREE reading materials and gives me something useful to do with my old books. It’s great.

I know, you’re wondering why I’m sharing this with you. Well, there are two reasons. One, I want you to try it because I know you’ll love it too. And two, if you sign up with me as a referrer I’ll get some book credits. LOL (I know, seems like a catch) but truthfully, I think you’ll like it which is the main reason I’m sharing it with you.

If you have any questions let me know but otherwise,

Till later…

So, I’ve been having some trouble with Outlook the past few weeks. I finally just got sick of it and decided to take my life elsewhere. (I know you’re thinking that’s a typo, not it’s not…Outlook is my life.) So, the e-mail things was an easy switch. I’ve been using Firefox for quite some time now so switching to Thunderbird for e-mail was an easy decision. I spent a little bit (OK, a while) of time last night getting everything set-up and it’s looking good now. All I need to do is recreate my signatures and I’m good to go.

But, then we come to my next problem. I utilize the Outlook calendar and task functions A LOT. So, I need to come up with a good solution for that problem. Well, I searched and searched and searched last night and I think I might have a solution. Mozilla makes a program called Sunbird that has the additional functions I need. So, I downloaded it. However, I can’t get my current calendar into this calendar. I’m still working on it. I even found anothe function that if I can figure out how to make it work will be ABSOLUTELY AWESOME. I’ve been using google as my home page for a month or so. If I can figure out how I can get Sunbird and Google calendar to sync with each other. Woah, now THAT would be uber-cool. But, that’s making my non-techy brain hurt trying to figure out. So, that’ll wait until another day. (Although, if you really want to get excited with me I figured out WHAT I need to do, now I just need to figure out HOW to do it. I’m cheering for myself in case you can’t see me. LOL) The only thing will be figuring out if this solution will still allow me to sync with my palm. At this point, unfortunately, I don’t think that will work. So, I need to figure something else out. OK….hold that thought…I might have a solution.

It’s official, I’m a geek. <>

Till later…