I won a cookbook!

WAHOOO!!! I am so excited that I won this book from @ChubbyVeganMom on Twitter. She is a fellow Vegan and is always posting fun tweets that will make you smile. Several of the tweets are about her blog posts. If you have never seen her blog, go check it out. It is full of yummy recipes....complete with pictures.

As for the book.... I Can't wait to try some of these recipes. They look YUMMY! This will make a great addition to my HUGE cookbook collection. I'll try to remember to post when I try out recipes from the book. I am sure they will be great from all the reviews that I have read about this book.

Thanks again @ChubbyVeganMom!!!!!

My latest eReader Dilemna

Before I you proceed, if you haven't read my blogs about my eReader experience, please read Part 1 and Part 2.

OK, so now that you are all caught up, you know that I now own a Nook. For the most part I have loved it. I have even re-purchased books, for the 3rd time, for my Nook. I have a few books that I like to read repeatedly and I HAD to have them at my disposal. I definitely like the Nook the best out of the readers that I have owned. I like the fact that I can purchase things via wi-fi and I also like the physical look of the reader. I wasn't too keen on all of the dials and buttons on the Sony, or the weight and shine of the metal. It is a tad heavier than the Bookeen but not by much. It is very easy to use and I do like the touch screen on the bottom. I will admit that I haven't really played around with the web or games feature that much because I have my iPhone for that.

I am running across one major issue at the moment. At the time of my purchase, the books that I knew that I wanted to purchase were available through Barnes & Noble. Since then I have tried to purchase a few random books or new releases and I can only find them on Amazon. *sigh Perhaps I should have gotten a Kindle. The main thing that held me back from the Kindle was the look of it and the fact that the Nook enabled me to borrow and loan books to other Nook owners. Apparently the new Kindle is now implementing the Loaning feature. Hmmmmm
I just looked at the details of the loaning and I guess you can only lend a book out one time. That's kind of stupid in my opinion.

The questions that I have now are:
1. Can I get past the buttons on the Kindle? I don't really like the look of them.
2. Can I change the format of all the books I have purchased on my Nook so that they will be available on the Kindle? Will I need to re-purchase these books yet again?
3. Should I just keep the Nook because of its ability to borrow eBooks from public libraries and still purchase a Kindle? or should I sell my Nook and use that money to buy a Kindle?

The only other option would be to purchase the books from Amazon and somehow find a way to change the format so that I can read it on my Nook.

Any opinions or wards of advice are welcome.

Birthday Goodies

Here are the belated pictures from my belated birthday. This year I was sick and couldn't really celebrate my birthday until the following weekend. The cake was YUMMY and Vegan. Gotta love Whole Foods. Hopefully there will be one near Branson someday. Adam picked this one up when he was in Tulsa.
My brother already got me the awesome jersey for my birthday that I blogged about earlier. He surprised me with yet another gift....a Tour de France Jersey and keychain. WAHOOO. I have the best big bro!
Kahlan is a cycling fan too. =)
I finally decided on a Nook as my eReader. It has taken me quite a while to come to this conclusion and so far I am happy with my decision. Even better....my parents got it for me as a gift. =) The one that was initially sent was defective and we had to exchange it. So far this one seems to be working fine. At the moment I am just trying to figure out which of my previously purchased books will work on it. I'll post more about the Nook after I have had a chance to play around on it more.

My eBook Reader Dilemma

I have now gone through 3 eBook readers. By "gone through", I don't mean that I ruined them or ran them into the ground. I just wasn't completely satisfied by any of them. Sure, there were things that I absolutely LOVED about them but....alas, they have all gone the way of eBay.

The Cybook from Bookeen was my first love. It was all new to me. So nice and so simple. Something that was portable and held hundreds of books. What's not to love? Then I learned about the different formats and files that various readers could accommodate. *sigh Unfortunately the Cybook didn't recognize all PDF files. =( I was under the impression that it did.

Next was the Sony 500 that I won in a blogging contest. It was shiny and red and new. This one read all PDF formats BUT did NOT read all of the mobipocket books that I had already purchased for my Cybook. I sold this one right away to so that I could get the full value back. Free money since I won it in a contest. =)

Actually, as I stated in a previous posting, I sold both of them because there was an even newer and "better" Sony....the Sony 700. THIS one had an internal light so that I could read in bed and not disturb Adam if he was sleeping. WHAT?!?! Are you kidding me? Absolute genius!!! or so I though. This is a definite plus as I am someone that tends to stay up night in order to finish a book. I figured that the money from both of the readers would help me buy and replace a lot of the books that I had already purchased.

Sadly my hopes and dreams were shattered because of the glare from the screen. *sniff sniff. In order to accommodate the internal light, they had to add an additional piece of glass to "sandwich" it in. Big mistake. BIG! (BTW, you need to read that last comment like Julia Roberts says it in Pretty Woman). Due to the glare I found that I barely used the reader. I tried holding it at every conceivable angle but there was always a glare. The Sony was sold on eBay the last week of December.

So....now I am at a loss. I am seriously temped to go right out and replace my eBook readers but am torn. I have read a lot about the Kindle but I don't like the fact that you HAVE to purchase everything through Amazon. I already have books that I have purchased twice and do not relish a 3rd purchase of the same books! The Nook also looks pretty nifty. They are pretty comparable from what I can see. The Nook is much newer and needs a few more updates but...it looks promising. At the moment I am anxiously awaiting Apple's new announcement on the 27th. I am hoping that their new release will be an eBook reader and not a notebook. I figure I may as well find out if they will have a reader to see its pros and cons. I am also trying to force myself to wait for the next updates for the Kindle and Nook. If anyone owns the Nook, Please let me know what you think of it!

Sony 700 Reader Review

Well....I've now had my new Sony 700 reader for about two weeks and I have mixed feelings about it. I'm always wishing I could create my own "thing" by mixing and matching features from different items to make THE PERFECT product.

The Sony 700 IS pretty cool. It has a touch screen that works similarly to the iPhone. The only difference is the fact that it isn't quite as sensitive and needs a tad more pressure. I like the fact that they did away with that ugly wheel button thingy. Yes, that is the technical term , "wheel button thingy". The smaller buttons are more convenient and look much better.

My favorite feature is the light. VERY COOL. It's great for reading late at night or in my car during my show. Because of the light and the new technology, the reader is twice as thick and twice as heavy. BOO!

The thing that is driving me insane and I that literally HATE is the glare. Ugh...huge glare on the screen that is virtually impossible to avoid. I have to keep tilting the screen to stop the glare. I think it is due to the fact that the glass is raised, in a shadow box type of way, so that the light can be used. *sigh* Honestly, I don't use my reader as much because of it. You can literally see your reflection in it and you just can't avoid being blinded.

My perfect reader would be as light as the Cybook, be able to read both PDF AND Mobipocket formats, have a light and touch screen and the look of the new Sony 700, OH... and would have NO GLARE!!!

and the winner is...

THE SONY

I finally made my decision. Honestly, I'm not 100% sure of my final decision but....there it is. I decided that I wanted to keep the Sony because, well....I WON IT! I figured I should keep my prize. I do like the side button functions that allow me to get to my library of books faster. The page turn is also faster than the Cybook. I still think that the bottom right circular button is useless. It is supposed to be a history button or something like that. I plan on using a hack so that I can use that as a page turn button. Hopefully the hack will work because it is where the page turn button is on the Cybook and I am used to that location. Frankly, it makes sense to have it on the right side as opposed to the left side, which is how it is configured.

So...my plan is to sell my beloved Cybook on Ebay along with the books that I have already bought for it. Hopefully I will make enough money back to replace some of those books on my Sony. That being said...I still may hang onto the Cybook because it is so stinking light! I'll be sure and post if I sell my Cybook.

Sony Digital Reader VS. Cybook

Decisions. Decisions. Bookeen's Cybook or the Sony Digital Reader? Quite the dilemna. I have been trying to figure out which one I like better and frankly, I'm still stumped. There are pros and cons to each of them. For those of you that don't know...I bought the Cybook in September and won the Sony this past month. I am trying to decide if I need to keep both of them. Well, need is such a STRONG word. Here are a few of the pros and cons that I have found. Maybe you can help me decide or offer up a few more points.

Bookeen Cybook

Pros:

• Lighter
• More protective padded leather case
• It reads more formats including Adobe and Mobipocket
• I have already spent close to $200 on books that will not transfer to the Sony
• There are more free Mobipocket books online than Adobe format
• Cleaner look because of the fewer buttons
• Different fonts are available

Cons:

• Does not read all formats of Adobe
• Harder to toggle through the menu
• Made of plastic so perhaps not as durable
• Limited menus so it takes a while to get to your books if you have a lot loaded onto the reader

Sony Digital Reader

Pros:

• It's RED!
• More durable because it is metal
• I actually won it...which hello? What are the chances?
• More buttons allow easier access to menus
• More functions because of the buttons
• Able to purchase a leather case with a night light attached to it
• Comes with 100 free classical books from Sony
• You can make "collections". These are similar to your playlists on the iPod

Cons:

• Will need to re-purchase the books I have already bought for the Cybook because it does not read Mobipocket
• The metal may get scratches
• Heavier
• Reads only 2 formats, Adobe being the main one. However, it reads all Adobe formats
• Fewer free Adobe books online
• The 100 free books from Sony are mostly available for free in the Mobipocket format
• Not as clean of a look because of the buttons
• Bottom right button is pointless, however, I did find a hack online to change the functions
• The cases aren't as protective

Hmmmmmm, any opinions?

My Sony Digital Reader Arrived!!!

OK...please excuse the bags under the eyes and the fuzzy pjs. It's been stinkin' cold out here and I had just gotten back from a long day of rehearsals. The awesome Sony Digital Reader prize arrived on Saturday. Well, actually, it arrived on Friday but I wasn't home to sign for it. I was....of course...at rehearsals. So, before rehearsals on Saturday I had to drive to the post office to pick it up. I decided to wait until I got home so that Adam could take pictures of the joyous occasion.

At the present moment I am faced with a slight dilemna. Do I really need TWO digital readers? Can I justify keeping the both of them? I am going to compare the Cybook and the Sony Digital Reader and make a decision in the next few days. While I would love to keep the both of them, it just doesn't seem very practcal. *sigh Do I HAVE to be practical?

I'll let you know what I decide after I play around with my new cool toy!

Wahoo!! I WON I WON!! I LOVE booksonboard.com

Yes, yet another Wahoo!! Sorry folks, but I'm pretty stinking excited. I just found out that I won a contest for a new Sony Digital Reader in ... Sangria Red (ohh la la). It was a blogging contest of sorts. If you missed my blog entry for the contest, you can read it here. You will also see another blog about booksonboard.com at the bottom. Hmmm, a lot of free advertising going on around here. I was a little nervous about my entry because I wrote it in about 10 minutes. The contest slipped my mind until about 20 minutes until the deadline was about the expire... So...me being me...I started rambling. LOL Anyway, here is the e-mail that I received today. I hope they are ok with my putting in on my blog. If not, Lee....send me a message and I'll delete it. =) ________________________________________________________ Hi Vikki, Congratulations! You won First Prize in our Sony Reader Contest, and will soon be receiving a shiny new Sony PRS-505! Would you prefer a Sony Reader in Dark Blue or Sangria Red? Which address would you like us to send this to? Also, our Public Relations department was extremely impressed with your blog entry, and would like to use an excerpt in a press release in the future. May we have your permission to use excerpts in future press releases? Congrats again, Lee BooksOnBoard Support _________________________________________________________ Of, course I said "yes". Wahooooooooo

eBooks

For those of you that do not know me...I am a pack rat by nature. It's just something that has been part of my persona since I was a little kid. I actually have a few random things around here from when I was in grade school. In addition to that, I tend to collect things...with a passion. For example, I have a rather large collection of key chains of the places I have traveled. Another fact about myself, I love reading. I am a self-proclaimed bookworm. Now....add those two things together and you can only imagine my book collection.

I have literally over 1000 books in my collection. I have my own little library in our basement. Of course, some of these are children's books that I had from my childhood ( I told you I hoard things). I still remember reading a lot of these books as a child with my mom. Reading always brings back wonderful memories for me. Also, I am the type of person that must own every copy of a series if I like that series. I can't just read a book in a library and call it a day. Noooo, I need to go out and buy it for my collection. It needs to be there in case I want to read it again.

This past year I found a solution to my growing library. I love having my books but, let's face it, they take up a lot of room and goodness knows how fun it will be packing up these books if I ever move. This year I discovered eBooks (queue angels singing). What a wonderful invention!!! Now, instead of buying a book that will eventually collect dust, I can just have it as a file on my computer or digital reader. How cool is that? If you have a digital reader you can bring it with you anywhere. It's been great for meetings and appointments. I was raised to show up early to appointments so....what better way to spend that time waiting than by reading? It strengthens the brain and is much more impressive than playing on your phone or bringing a Nintendo DS around with you.

The best place that I have found to purchase my eBooks is Booksonboard.com . They have great prices and a great staff. I have had a few questions with a few purchases and have received responses on the same day. Amazing huh? You can also purchase gift certificates ( hint hint) and they also have fun contests on there. They had a great contest with Breaking Dawn. I actually won a prize on that one. wahoooo. Not only are eBooks more convenient, they are more affordable. Right now they have a few books online that are free, as well as several books on the New York Times Bestsellers List that are $9.79 or less. I don't know about you but I am a little short on cash after the holidays and I still need my book fix. =)

So, if you haven't looked into eBooks and you love reading as much as I do, you need to check them out. Booksonboard is a great place to start. Let me know if you have any questions at all. I'm all for helping someone else in sharing my addiction.

Harry Potter

I just came across some of my Harry Potter pictures from last year and thought I would post a few. As you can see, I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. Yes, it's true. I have all of the books in hard cover and audio. If it was available in the digital format I would buy that too. The movie, "Order of the Phoenix", came out on my birthday last year so... of course we had to go. We went to the IMAX theater the day before to purchase the tickets and saw it on the 11th, my birthday.


As for the book release...I can honestly say I was the first person to buy the book in Branson. Wal-Mart had a deal where you could prepay a little amount so that at the midnight book release, you could go in a "preferred" line. Well, of COURSE I HAD to do that. The line was pretty long that night but I got to go to the customer service desk instead. YAY. Apparently I was the only one that showed up for that line hehe. SO....when midnight rolled around, I was the first in line. Wahoooo YES, I am a dork!!! I also collected the 4 bracelets that night.

For the next few hours I was glued to the book. I even used the stair stepper while I read. At that point I was wishing for a much lighter book. My poor kitties felt a little neglected and kept trying to sit on my book to get my attention. =)

Best Gadget for a Bookworm

Actually, forget the title of the blog. This is the BEST. GADGET. EVER. OK, so I may be a little biased seeing as I love reading so much. I have loved reading since I was about six years old...well, at least that is my first memory of reading. My mom used to take me to the library to check out books and I remember being able to check out as many books as I was old. I was so excited when I was about to turn seven because it meant that I could check out one more book each time. YEP...I have been a nerd since a very young age. I think I liked reading because I was basically an only child. My brother is 15 years older than I am, which basically made me an only child. I wasn't allowed to watch TV during the weekend, and only a few hours on the weekends. Add that to the fact that I was always at one lesson or another when I wasn't home...well, you get the picture. Books became my best friend. You can always bring them with you where ever you go and yes, as cliche as it sounds, they do open you up to an exciting new world.

Now, reading is great because it helps you with your spelling and vocabulary but...did you know that it can also be bad? I'm one of those crazy people that can read a book a day, sometimes two. Now, this tends to be a very bad thing when you are staying up at all hours trying to finish a book. I always tell myself, " OK, I'll just finish this chapter and then I'll stop." Yeah, right! I get to the end and then think "I'll just start this next chapter" and then the cycle continues. This was especially bad in college when I was supposed to be reading my actual course books. What were my teachers thinking? Did they not KNOW that I had much more exciting things to read? Sheesh! Needless to say, in college I had to force myself to stop reading "my" books until after finals.

OK, so the gadget....it is The Cybook by Bookeen. SO COOL! It's one of those digital readers that there are so many of. Amazon has the Kindle, which you may have heard of. However, that thing is ugly and you are forced to buy the eBooks from Amazon. I found some online comparisons and settled on the Cybook. The Cybook allows you to buy eBooks from anywhere and also reads PDF files. You can also bookmark different pages in your books. I bought mine from Booksonboard.com . They had a great price and also added store credit to the deal. I think they sometimes have a special where they also throw in a memory card that has a lot of clssics loaded onto it. The Cybook is nice because it is so compact and also has a cover. I can fit it into my purse and take it with me everywhere. You can load hundreds of books onto it and can also buy a memory card to hold more (I also have a 2GB card). It's about the size of a paperback but is only 1/2" thick. The screen is nice because it uses e-ink and is not back lit. There is no strain on your eyes like when you read your computer screen. It's like you are reading a regular book but much lighter. I love the fact that I can choose from any book and just read at my leisure. It's great when I am early to a meeting or am just sitting around.

Now, don't get me wrong...I'm still a book nerd at heart. I love my tangible books and have literally over 1000 books. Yep, I've got my own library! Some are I loved my from my childhood. I will still continue to buy hard back books of my favorite authors but will also buy the eBook versions of those I think. Case and point, the Twilight series.

So...if you love reading like I do you should check out that link that I posted. It is the BEST GADGET EVER!