I’ve been watching with interest the roller derby taking place among ebook reader producers, smart phone makers, ebook reading public, publishers and authors. There is a lot of pushing and shoving going on, finger-pointing and general grouching among all the players.

We have propriety devices; vendors wiping out ebooks bought and paid for from said devices. Vendors making arbitrary decisions about which ebook format/standard to use. Publishing blaming authors and vice versa for DRM (Digital Rights Management) and somewhere in the middle of all of this, is the consumer who generally sees the ebook as a book, which could be bought, sold, borrowed out, etc. Just like the paper book can be. And same said consumer wants to be able to read the ebook on any device and transfer the ebook to one or more devices as needed.  So, why is that so difficult to understand and to achieve?

Is it time for some legislative or administrative intervention? Can the FCC (or other governmental body) help to regulate or establish ground rules for formats? Can the Consumer Products Safety Board help? How about Congress? Who is taking the consumer side in all of this? Is our only option to vote with our pocketbook?

Update: Power player: Amazon. Following the money at TeleRead

Well, it has been a while since I have written a new post. My last post was added just before I learned that I had cancer. To say that my life changed is a huge understatement. First major surgery, then chemotherapy has changed my perspective about what are my priorities and narrowed my focus on where I spend my time.

Family first, of course. My biggest supporters through all of the pain and fatigue of the past months. I love them unconditionally. Friends/Co-workers. What would I have done  without their cards of well wishing and phone calls? I can feel their support always.

My journey is not yet done as there are still two more chemo sessions but I can see the finish line. I’m looking forward to seeing my hair grow (!) and feeling more energetic. I know odds of recurrences and survival rates with this disease so I live each day to its fullest.

Not wanting to dwell on this scary part of my life, I opted to not post these past months. I don’t promise to start a posting frenzy, but I hope to have a say when I find something worth sharing. Perhaps there will be someone left who has kept me in their feed.

One of Rachel Maddow’s favorite words and concepts is “infrastructure“. I had to laugh and report that there is a commercial going right now that uses “infrastructure” as the come-on. Want to guess the product?  A GMC truck.

I look forward to springtime, not only because I can plant my garden, but because my youngest son and I can talk baseball. On occasion we will get on BART and go to an A’s game although usually we try to catch a game when it is televised (such busy schedules, you know).

For the past 2 years, the A’s owner has been in talks with the city of Fremont to move the baseball team and build a stadium in southern Fremont. The first site, near Pacific Commons, had enough land to have the stadium, parking, retail and housing development. The biggest issue, for me, was the potential for nightmare traffic. The site was not near BART and when the Warm Spring’s station was complete, there would still be the necessity of some sort of shuttle to the ball park. There were some other issues that made Wolfe, the owner, look for other sites within Fremont.

The next site was directly across from the Warm Spring’s BART station, a seemingly good solution to the parking/traffic mess, as many, many fans use BART to travel to games. There wouldn’t have to be as much parking and there was potential for new retail, including restaurants in the immediate area.

I was looking forward to being able to walk to a baseball game. Yes, I live less than a mile from the proposed stadium. Unfortunately, others did not see the positive aspects of this site. A group of homeowners in the area took up signs and protested the possible park. Last evening, the A’s owner basically said, “Forget it. Why fight with neighborhoods? I can look somewhere else.”  Yep, we can no longer look forward to being the Fremont A’s. No new retail, no new tax base for the city and no recognition for the city.

Sadly, this is not the first time that Fremont has turned up its nose on the opportunity to increase our revenues and recognition. Anyone remember NewPark mall? Why yes, it is in Newark, not Fremont. All the revenue from the Mall and other Newark ventures gave Newark a solid financial base for twenty or more years.

Don’t get me wrong. The homeowners were absolutely within their rights to use protests and petitions to make their case against traffic problems and potentional crime. (I strongly disagree with the last assessment and would want to see some statistics on other ballparks and criminal activity to establish a pattern). I completley disagree and think that the A’s would have been a good neighbor. Baseball teams have been very willing to work with communities, schools and other charities in their area, especially those for children.

What I am ranting about is the lack of leadership in our city. Dragging out the whole process and being wishy-washy. Our leaders could not see the forest for the trees and have let many jobs leave the city in a time that our economy is frightenly bad. How much money would the city have made from hotel taxes, parking taxes, retail and restaurant sales? How many city services will be cut do to lack of funds in this recession?

Fremont would not have been the A’s first choice by any means if there was the possibility of getting into San Jose. The Giants have been blocking that move as San Jose is considered their exclusive territory. With enough pressure from the city of San Jose, the Giants and/or baseball commissioners could overturn the territory ruling and let the A’s have a new home south of us. San Jose has been courting, practically begging the A’s to come. A lesson for Fremont to learn. Again.

I am not a driving fan. I was able to go to Oakland via BART and see games. I wont’ go by car to San Jose or wherever it is that the Athletics end up. I will watch a TV game and think about what could have been. Or perhaps I can overcome my strong dislike of the Giants and take BART to San Francisco.

February is a good month. We have family birthdays to celebrate and two holidays (Lincoln and Washington’s birthdays) off work to relax or work in the garden, if it isn’t pouring rain outside. This particular February has been accompanied by the loss of a family member and the illness of another. Perhaps the rest of the month will be better.

I have found another food-related book to read called Tomato Girl by Jayne Pupek. It definitely fits the bill on the Well-Seasoned Book Challenge at least by the name. Review will follow later.

The Well-Seasoned Book Challenge is done. Yeah! Here are the three reviews for the titles read:

Jamie at Home: Cook your way to the Good Life by Jamie Oliver

I have always enjoyed watching Jamie Oliver on his cooking shows so I was not surprised to find his book just as fun to read. His personality shows through the cookbook and he really does make cooking look both easy and fun, even for the beginner or burnt-thumbed type.

His introduction starts out with the bit about his wife thinking that he is having an affair. Of course, Jamie explains that his “mistress” is his garden where he spends lots of time growing food to use in his cooking. He has an outdoor oven (on my wish list for sure) and a very simple barbeque set-up. Lots of the recipes can be done outside on the grill. There are some ingredients and combinations of food that appear to be very British, but quite adaptable to American palates. Divided by the four seasons with fantastic photos of the dishes and gardens. At the end of each section there is a “How I grow…” section with Oliver explaining how he grows a particular vegetable in his garden. This is definitely not for vegetarians although the author uses fresh veggies throughout. And there is a short section on game hunting.

I am a cookbook collector so I had already purchased this title. Having read it, I would still have spent the money or perhaps borrowed from the library after having read the book. I liked the combination of garden and cooking. Some of my favorite recipes (used and not yet used) are:

• Bubble and Squeak
• Grilled asparagus
• Curried cauliflower fritters
• Rhubarb and custard kinda souffle

The Secret’s in the Sauce: A Novel by Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson

I chose this title blind–no recommendation, review or description other than the catalog record. This title is in a series called “The Potluck Catering Club”. The story follows the lives of the women in the Potluck Catering Club and the problems occuring in their lives. The novel is set in Colorado.  It is a Christian fiction with all problems tied up by end of the story through the power of prayer. This is one of the few titles that I did not like but decided to finish only because it was on my list. Very predictable.

The Woman who ate Chinatown: a San Francisco Odyssey, a moveable feast of food, history and shopping by Shirley Fong-Torres

What a fun title. Shirley Fong-Torres tells a great story, leading readers on a tour of San Francisco Chinatown in history, food and family.  I found the personal story compelling. Fong-Torres gives her family’s travels from China to the United States. Fong-Torres explains her Hispanic-Chinese name, how her family came to live Oakland and Angel Island history. Recommendations of eating, dancing and exploring Chinatown comes from 20 years in the tour business. Also included are favorite recipes requested many times by guests of Wok Wiz Chinatown Tours. If you want to learn about Chinatown or are planning a visit, read this book.

Anyone else feel like you’ve been on a especially scary roller coaster ride with the election and now you have the let down when you get off? I think this describes how I’ve been feeling even though I can quite hopeful for the nation’s future. Yes, we have a recession of epoch proportions, bad housing market, rising unemployment and an environment that desparately needs our attention. But I still am hopeful we can re-tool and re-think old ways of doing business, education, health care, energy, etc. etc. Am I being a cockeyed optimist? I do hope not. I won’t stop watching the political picture, but I am focusing inward a little more.

I’m planning a Victory/Liberty/Locivore garden. I’ve always had some type of veggies growing, but this year I am expanding. Why? One, I am saving money, two, I am providing the family organic, tasty foods and three, I am making an environmental and political statement. Environmental because the cost of energy from garden to house is from my own body and it doesn’t use any fossil fuels. Political because eating local is a political act that tells agri-business that a more sustainable way of producing food is best.

Last year I started many plants from seed and will do so again this year. If you have never grown from seed, I encourage you to give it a try. What fun it is to see the circle of life in one tiny seed. And, don’t try for perfection. Make mistakes because every spring or fall you have a do-over. Nature is a little chaotic so don’t sweat the small stuff. So what has this to do with my wired life? Read on.

Niche blogs, forums, businesses,  news feeds, microblogging, you name it, gardeners have gone there. A whole community of people who eat, sleep, dream and talk gardening. Librarians like to say that we share information. It is the same for gardeners. Sharing comes naturally. Whether it is talking about the weather or bringing yet more zucchini’s to the neighbor, giving help, encouragement and produce is all part of being a gardener. Sharing the information becomes easier with the available technologies. I love the fact that there are quirky, funny blogs along with information and amazing photographs. There is truly something for everyone on the web and in the garden.

So where do I go for my information on gardening. Glad you asked! Starting with directories, I will share some of my personal favorites places to go for all things gardening.

Garden Directories

Cyndi’s catalog of garden catalogs

My Garden Guide

Gardening Launchpad

Gardening Places

Horticulture on the Internet

next time . . . garden magazines

I am beside myself with pride, hope and just sweet happiness for this wonderful, historic day. What a difference a day makes.

Congratulations to President Obama and the United States.

Today I worked through statistics for our databases using cost analysis. Then made an Excel chart on cost per use. This will be used as one tool in determining what to keep and what needs to be considered for non-renewal. The state budget situation will be played out and  libraries are always vulnerable so having a plan in place for electronic resources seems appropriate.

You have to love a book (in this case a cookbook), that starts out…”My wife thinks I’m having an affair…but really I was in the garden”  [paraphrased from Jamie at Home by Jamie Oliver]