Tag: reading a book

Nook Battery Replacement

On By Michel McDonaldIn NookLeave a comment

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My life partner bought me a Nook HD+ for Christmas in 2013 and I have loved it every time I’ve used it. I appreciate every gift he has given to me, even though I don’t always use those gifts because they either stop working or become so obsolete that I need a new one.

My Nook HD+ hasn’t been the same for a very long time because the battery doesn’t keep a charge for too long. I don’t remember exactly how long you’re supposed to be able to read before the battery dies, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a few hours. I brought my Nook HD+ with me to Oregon recently and let my cousin’s son play a game on there, and the battery only lasted for 1 hour, maybe. I had to bring out a portable battery so he could keep playing.

I have been scanning my groceries with the National Consumer Panel for a few years. I earn points for scanning groceries and for doing surveys, and I get points every week just for being a member, and I can use those points to buy gift cards for Amazon. 21,000 points gets me a $25 Amazon gift card, and I recently used my 21,000 points to buy a gift card specifically so I could buy this battery for my Nook HD+.

It came with tools and I watched a video on YouTube on how to open my Nook HD+ so I can change the battery. it’s a lot harder than I had originally expected. I thought the back would just come off, but apparently I have to peel the frame around the front screen off, then unscrew about 20 screws, then flip it over and unplug the battery and peel the battery off the back because it’s glued on there, then I can put the new battery in and screw all the screws back on, then snap the frame back on. It’s a lot of work, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to be able to use my Nook without worrying about my battery constantly dying on me.

Now I will be able to read books again and not worry that the battery is going to die on me right in the middle of the good part.

Update: Well, I followed the instructions in a YouTube video to the letter. I removed the frame around the screen, it’s got like a double sided tape all around it which most of it came off and I had to toss in the trash, but I got the frame off. I unscrewed all 20 screws and removed the back and unplugged the battery, then carefully removed the old battery from the back of the device, as told in the instructional video I found. The battery was just on with double stick tape. Then I placed the new battery in the Nook and plugged it in and replaced the back and flipped it over and I noticed the screen had started up, so I went to press the circle up to turn it on so I could basically just turn it off while I screwed in the screws, but it didn’t respond to my touch. I screwed all 20 screws back in and replaced the screen frame and tried touching the screen and it wasn’t responding again. So I turned it off and did a soft reset and still no response. I did a factory reset and STILL no response. Now I have a brick. A $200 brick and a $23 battery that doesn’t do me any good. I am so pissed off right now I can’t even see straight.

Another update lol: Well, somehow I got it to work, but then I went to the gym and it wouldn’t work. Touch screen is dead. So, since my gym is right next door to a Barnes & Noble, I just decided to buy a new Nook. I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab A Nook since they were out of the cheaper $50 Nooks. I figured the Samsung one looked better than the cheap $50 one, and you get what you pay for, so now I have a new 7 inch Nook tablet. It’s not 9 inches, but that’s fine. It works.

Fringe on Science Channel

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

Fringe-season-1

I have to admit something, I’ve never seen Fringe.  Yeah I know, some nerd I am.  Well, apparently I didn’t get the memo when this show began that it was science fiction and/or supernatural in nature.  I think if I knew, I would’ve been a regular viewer.  I think the fact that it was on Fox had something to do with why I didn’t watch it, because I have always connected Fox with Fox News so therefore I refused to watch it.  I got over that and ended up watching other shows, but I still didn’t know Fringe was SciFi/Supernatural.

I did add it to my Netflix queue, but I don’t have Netflix anymore because I never found time to watch anything, so I canceled because I was paying for nothing.  Science channel has decided to air Fringe every Tuesday, which gives me a second chance to watch it from the beginning.

November 20th, 2012, Science channel is breathing new life into this show and I will be able to watch it since it comes on at 5pm here.  That works perfectly for me because I normally watch Attack of the Show on G4 at 4pm and this ends at 8pm right when my regular shows begin.  It couldn’t have worked out any better.

http://static.discoverymedia.com/videos/components/sci/d08a1df1a72d7af1238cc7cc16c45dfb836ed93e/snag-it-player.html?auto=no

I don’t know anything about Fringe, so I am going in blind just like everyone else did before the show began.  I don’t want to know anything about it because I don’t like spoilers.  It’s like when you start reading a book or are in the middle and someone says oh hey, the twin did it.  ARGH!  I don’t want to know!  I have heard how gruesome it is though, so that I am prepared for since I see gruesome stuff on my other supernatural shows.  I guess I have this “I’ve seen it all so nothing shocks me” attitude going in.

I look forward to being dazzled by Joshua Jackson, or as I like to call him, Pacey.

Reading is a Skill

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, Nook, Reading4 Comments

I talked to one of my aunts on Facebook this morning about reading a book that she and my uncle had recommended to me in 2006.  I read the first book in the series of a million books (over-exaggerated number) and it was probably the most difficult book I had ever read.  I told her, and I was just saying this as an excuse, that reading is like a skill.  I can’t read an advanced book as a beginner, or even intermediate reader.

This was her response:

“Your analysis of reading being a skill is spot on, as the Brits say. It IS a skill, and the only way to improve that skill is to continually work at it.”

So, it is no longer just an excuse and the only way for me to be able to read those books is to continue to read my immature vampire ebooks to continue to grow as a reader lol.

I actually love reading.  I would say that I used the Harry Potter books as my beginners books and have grown from there.  The Harry Potter books were amazing because they didn’t have big words that I had never even heard in daily use, they were simple words that every person knows.

I think buying the Nook was the best investment towards my “skill” for many reasons like the built-in dictionary for example.  If I don’t know a word I can look it up by either typing the word into the Nook or by placing the cursor next to a word.  This helps me learn what those words mean for the next time I see it.  It helps me grow as a reader.

Eventually I will get to those Belgariad books.  Like I said, I read the first book and as difficult as it was to read, it was just as difficult to put it down because it was such a good story.  I’ve only read the first story and I can’t wait to get to the next one because I have to know what happens next.

I’m in the intermediate stage because the vampire books that I have read have had some pretty big words and I’ve been able to understand without having to look the words up so I feel like I’m almost there.

I was going to make up my own skill level names but I wanted some examples like beginner, intermediate, pro etc. but I actually found that there is in fact a reading level Wiki site.  Wikibooks: Reading Levels.

So here we have pre-reader which are the children’s book which I actually did read as a child until I was maybe 5.  Then there is beginner which is almost similar to children’s books but maybe without pictures.  I’m pretty sure Harry Potter is in this category.  Intermediate which are books that most adults can comprehend and I do believe that the vampire books that I read are intermediate.

The final 2 categories are advanced and professional.  I’m pretty sure the Lord of the Rings and Belgariad are both in the advanced category.  They may be somewhere in between though, I’m not quite sure.

It will take me a bit of time to get to the advanced stage because I haven’t really read that many books but I’m working on it.  The more I read the better I get at it and as long as I continue to read what I’m reading I’m pretty sure I will get up in the ranks and join the rest of the adults my age lol.

Cirque du Freak

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, Movies, NookLeave a comment

(This is not a book review)

I have wanted to see this movie since it was first released in theaters but since one us in the house doesn’t like horror, the other (me) never gets to see it until it’s either on DVD, HBO or Showtime. Although, I still have yet to rent it from the Red Box at the grocery store. I seriously don’t know why I haven’t seen it yet. But right now at this very moment as I sit here typing this out, I’m glad I haven’t seen it yet.

This morning I wanted to start reading a book and I had chosen to start reading the 2nd book of the Belgariad but then I decided it wasn’t going to fit with the theme of this very day, Halloween. I mean sure it has witches and lots of magic but is it Halloween worthy? I think not. I have a queue of books that I want to buy and read and so I searched through the queue and remembered Cirque du Freak.

I got on the Nook store and found the first book for $1.99 for the e-book version. Perfect! I don’t have that much money in the bank for another few days but I have just enough that if I could buy a few of these volumes at $2 each. But I only bought the first one which is called Living Nightmare.

I started reading it after breakfast. It has fewer pages than the paperback version does as mostly all ebooks do but it also had way less than my regular books do. I can usually read 50 pages of a book which probably equals out to 75-100 regular paper back book pages and since this one was 149 pages, I thought, this is going to take 3 days, no problem. If I read half of it then I can shorten it to 2 days no biggy. But, after the live Ghost Hunters investigation was over I figured I’d at least give it a shot and see if I couldn’t just finish this book. And you know what? I did.

The story reeled me in, hook line and sinker. Whatever that means, some fishing term I don’t know. Anyway I was immediately hooked.

Here I am typing this out so late at night after spending so many hours reading, my eyes are tired and blurry and I’m having to squint to read, closing one eye making it easier lol. But I want to make my point before I go to bed and forget about it in the morning.

It was the most awesome $2 book I have ever taken a full day to read. Actually, it’s the first book that has taken me a full day to read. I love it and I can’t wait for the next one.

I wonder though, should I just go ahead and rent the movie or read the next book tomorrow and can I read the whole thing tomorrow like I read today? And is this a new trend for me? Reading these books one a day? How many are there? Do I need to read the entire series before seeing the movie?

Ok I’m too tired for all these questions since it’s 1:30am. I need to rest my eyes. I just wanted to let it be known that my dyslexia, ADD and learning disability didn’t prevent me from getting through this book, well, it was touch and go but other than that it was pretty easy to read and that is the kind of book I like.

I will start with part 2 tomorrow and hopefully the DVD will either be at the red box tomorrow or I can go into the HBO or Showtime on Demand and find it. I like to watch the movie first, it makes voices in my head for each characters easier so I cam impersonate their accents easier.

To be continued…

Resting Eyes Today

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, NookLeave a comment

I’ve been reading every day this month and even though I feel like I’m in a race to read as many books as I possibly can, I think I need to give my eyes the day off today.

Ok so it’s not a race but I just feel like I’m on vacation when I’m reading. Vacation from the problems of the world, of my world. It’s an escape. But for today I need to rest.

If I go blind from over reading then what point will I have made by spending $160 on a Nook?

Earlier in the week I posted a poll asking how long it takes people to read and because only 5 people took the poll (thanks a lot) I didn’t get a definitive answer.

It’s interesting though that a friend of mine who got me wanting to read told me that she reads funny. She will be reading many books simultaneously. Like she’s reading 13 books right now. She has finished 9 of those 13 books but what she does is she reads a chapter in 1 book then goes and reads 1 chapter in another book and so on and so forth. And that’s all in 1 month too.

It takes me 4 days to read 1 book and I can usually read 4 books per month because after I finish reading a book I take a few days before going to the next one. I can’t imagine how fast she must read that she can go through 13 books in 1 day by reading 1 chapter each. That would take me the whole entire day and by the end of the day I would be too blind to do anything else.

I have astigmatism, I have trouble focusing my eyes after looking at a book so close for a certain amount of time. It’s like when I play video games on my PSP, after playing for so long, when I look away from it everything is blurry. That’s usually when I know it’s time to stop. Or when I’m sitting there with my PSP so close to my face that I can’t see anything in my peripheral vision. That’s why I like to play with the PSP hooked up to the TV.

It’s too bad I can’t hook the Nook up to the TV to read it lol. Then again what would be the point of e-ink if I’m reading from the tv.

I do use the large print when I read. I should probably use the biggest print which is extra extra large. Maybe that would be a lot easier on my eyes but that only means more page turns which means more battery usage. I’ve been using large only because of the time it takes to turn the page, it’s not too long but it’s long enough that I don’t want to have to turn it as much.

So from now on, I will use extra extra large as if I’m in my 80′s lol. What happens when I am in my 80′s? I will need a magnifying glass to go with it or maybe the Nook of the future will be as big as the wall with a remote control for turning the page. I’d still need to use extra extra-large though lol. I can see me in my 80′s with coke bottle glasses like Professor Farnsworth from Futurama.

Or maybe by then (if I’m still alive) I will be totally blind but hopefully voice recognition will be a lot better. I can grab my future nook like gadget, push the button on top and hear a sound like I turned on the computer then hear a voice greeting me. “Hello Mr. McDonald. What would you like to read today?” then I say “I’d like to continue reading the last book” then it starts reading to me in a calming voice, not electronic like the Kindle. That would be ideal for my blind 80-year-old ass in the year 2050 lol.

I said I was going to give my eyes a break today, what the heck am I doing blogging? Sheesh!

Information OVERLOAD

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, NookLeave a comment

I have been reading a lot of books lately, I’ve made it a point to read every day.  When I finish 1 book then I start another the next day. It can take me 4-5 days to read a book depending on the difficulty and/or length of the book.

The last 2 months I’ve been reading an average of 4 books per month and this month since I bought my Nook I’ve already read 3 books. Although 1 of those isn’t available in e-book format so I had to read it from the actual book but still. We’re somewhere in the middle of the month and I’ve already read 3 and I can see myself reading 2-3 more.

I wonder if I read so many books if they might blend together in my brain and then I won’t remember what I read from which book.  I might think that what happened in the David Eddings novel might have really happened in the Piers Anthony novel and vice versa.

Just as long as I don’t think what happened in the Marguerite Labbe novel happened in the Xanth novel, then I’ll be fine because that would really confuse me lol.

Tomorrow I start reading “Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn” by Piers Anthony. By the way, if you have not read any Xanth novels by now based on my past recommendations, you should.  They are so good.  There are 35 in the series although only 33 available for sale and only 17 available in e-book format.

And if you haven’t read any of the Rainbow eBooks yet you should start with “My Heart is Within You” by Marguerite Labbe.  Next month I will be on the final book of the Triquetra Trilogy which is sad because I kinda wanted that series to be longer but that’s ok, she has written other books.

Maybe since I’ve become such a Nook worm (get it? cause I have a Nook… no?) I should dress up as a worm with glasses for Halloween, although instead of reading a book, I’d be reading a Nook lol.

My First Nook Book Completed – Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Nook, TVLeave a comment

Well I finally did it. I finished reading my very first Nook book which was Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. It’s the first Sookie Stackhouse novel that True Blood is based upon.

The first e-book I ever read was on my computer last month but this is the first e-book that I’ve read on my new Nook. It was certainly an interesting experience.

It took me 4 days which is the usual for me if I read 2 or more chapters per day. The first day I read 2 chapters, the 2nd day 2 chapters, yesterday 2 chapters then today, the 4th day I read the final 5 chapters.

I did get many chances to look up the definitions of many words which thrilled me to no end because I just can’t stand reading a book and not knowing what the meaning of a certain word is. I start feeling stupid because I don’t understand. I dismiss it without even trying to find out then I’m lost.

What’s even funnier is that while I was reading this entire book, I was reading it with a southern accent in my head with the characters voices/accents. And each character had a different accent so I had to keep switching voices and accents. Sometimes I had to cheat and look at who was talking before reading the paragraph so I could make sure that I wasn’t using Sookies voice for Arlene or Eric’s voice for Bill etc. But it didn’t end there because when I would talk to people either on the phone or even talking to Darrin or the dog I would still have a little trace of that southern accent.

What was cool about this book was that while I was reading it I already knew what was going to happen before it happened because I’ve seen the show and I remembered it. Unfortunately, some of the things changed.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Like for example, Tara Thornton and her mother were not in the book, Miss Jeanette wasn’t in there and she didn’t die at the end in Andy’s car and Bill never turned Jessica and he never went on trial, instead he got some kind of vampire promotion in the vampire world that he lives in. Also, there was another vampire named Bubba who was never in the show and he was there when Sookie was getting beat up by Rene who didn’t even die at the end of the book.

My friend Alyce told me that this book was not like the shows and I thought that she was saying that it wasn’t like the shows meaning it had nothing to do with Bon Temps and Bill and Sookie etc. But what she meant was that it read for Sookies point of view the entire time and so you never read anything that happened to anyone in this book that was not around Sookie.

In other words, you are reading from her viewpoint and no one else. Since she can’t see what’s happening to other people, neither can we (as the reader).

I definitely enjoyed it even though it was very different from the show in that respect. I feel like I got a taste of an alternate True Blood. Which by the way, they never mentioned the words “True Blood”. They always said “synthetic blood” and Bill apparently hated it, he preferred to drink Sookie instead.

I loved this book and can’t wait for the next one. I plan on buying each book once every month until June and by then I will be on the 10th book. I don’t want to read all of the books at once, I have many other books that I want to read of different stories so I have to give those books a chance too.

True Blood on Twitter

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Kindle, TV, TwitterLeave a comment

You know, I’ve been a fan of Vampires my entire life, anything supernatural actually. I make it a point to watch any movie or tv show that has vampires, witches, werewolves and anything else that is supernatural.

When True Blood came on HBO I was psyched that I had HBO to watch it on lol. But mainly I was just psyched because it was a new vampire show.

I’ve only recently discovered the awesomeness of even though I’ve been on Twitter for a couple of years now. Since I started following Sam Merlotte on Twitter I noticed that he was role-playing. I started following another True Blood character that he mentioned and notice that person was role-playing too.

Thanks to Sookie Stackhouse, I discovered there is a website with all the True Blood character twitter names. “You can find all of us here: http://tweepml.org/?t=460087 #TrueBlood”. Go there and follow them all.

I also created and then some. If you check out that list you can see that the characters are actually tweeting each other. It’s like watching the show but all text, no visual. It’s sort of like reading a book.

I love the role-playing, it’s the best way to get my True Blood fix during the week. Since there are only 3 more episodes it will be interesting to see if they continue to role-play after the season is over until the next season.

I have not started reading the Sookie Stackhouse books yet but I will be buying the 8 book boxed set soon. I was hoping that it would be the first book(s) I bought on a Kindle that I plan to buy in the next month or 2 but considering the Kindle version is $55 and the actual paper book version is $35, I might just buy the paper book version instead.

Well, back to the drama on Twitter.

My Day in Xanth

On By Michel McDonaldIn BooksLeave a comment

I spent the day with an ogre and his 7 female companions.

That sounded silly but it’s true.  I sat in my desk chair the entire day reading Ogre, Ogre by Piers Anthony which is the 5th book in the Xanth series.

Earlier this year I committed to starting this book but only read 1 chapter and stopped.  A couple of days ago I finally picked it back up and started reading it again.  I only read 2 chapters then yesterday 3 chapters but today I really got into it and read 5 chapters.  The only reason I stopped reading it was because I had shows on tonight.

What I have left to read of the rest of the book is actually the same amount that I read today.  Actually it’s only 4 chapters but the amount of pages is the same.  I am so tempted to read another chapter tonight but I want to save the rest for tomorrow.

I love the Xanth books because they draw me into the adventure and I don’t want to leave.  I can picture everything that is happening as I’m reading and I can imagine what it would look like if it were a CGI movie.  Although it would be a very long movie but it would be well worth the watch if it were made .

In this story, the Ogre named Smash goes on a trip with a Nymph and despite the fact that being an ogre he eats women, he has made a promise to safely guide her through the very dangerous land of Xanth to help her find what she is looking for.  Along they way he helps 6 other women.

Yesterday as I was reading he was collecting the women and today chapter by chapter most of the women found their mates and the end of their adventures. The point that I’m at he still has 3 more women although I have a feeling one of those women has found her mate and the end of her adventure since she has found the male of her species.

Tomorrow when I finish this book I can finally check another book off my queue then add “Night Mare” which is the 6th Xanth novel.

Reading isn’t as exciting to everyone and who blogs about reading a book but I find it an accomplishment since I have Dyslexia, LD and ADD.  I also find that reading helps me with my writing.  It broadens my vocabulary and helps teach me good grammar, if that makes any sense.

You can see my aNobii profile which shows the books I have read and have yet to read but I will get to eventually.  I want to finish all the physical books before I get to the eBooks then I have a reason to buy a Nook.

Author’s Guide To Sue Amazon

On By Michel McDonaldIn KindleLeave a comment

I’m obsessed with the Kindle 2.  I can’t stop googling it lol.

I found this article about how the authors guild is suing Amazon because of the text-to-speech feature on the Kindle 2.  Because they sell books plus they sell books on tape so by having a text-to-speech feature available, they are giving away the audio book version for free with the sale of e-books.  But that is so not true because nothing can compare to the emotion in the voice of a person reading a book on a tape or cd.  It’s totally not the same because text-to-speech sounds robotic.  There is no emotion.  We will see what happens.  I mean, what’s preventing people from using text-to-speech on their PC to listen to e-books?  They aren’t suing Microsoft.