Review - Deadline

I just finished listening to Deadline by Clair M Poulson.

Here is the description from Goodreads: Life is quickly turning from bad to worse for newspaper reporter Dallas Dixon. It all begins when Dallas’s job at the El Paso Chronicle is inexplicably terminated by his formerly admiring boss, Andy Norton. However, a bad day turns into a nightmare when, while heading to San Antonio to make a fresh start, Dallas is shocked by the news of Norton’s murder — and even more shocked to hear himself named as a suspect. When an attempt to assist at a highway accident scene lands him in the middle of a drug scandal, he realizes he has powerful enemies determined to see him imprisoned — or dead.

On the run, Dallas must call on the skills he gained from his time in the military to save innocent lives, including his own. With unexpected help from his long-estranged father, and additional assistance from a rugged private investigator and a brilliant, beautiful Chronicle ally, Dallas races to untangle the murder mystery, but can he find justice before his own deadline?

I liked the book and found it to be interesting and fast-paced. It was narrated well. A great non-offensive book but with some references to LDS culture.

Review - Mr. Monk is Cleaned Out

I recently finished Mr. Monk is Cleaned Out by Lee Goldberg. I really enjoyed this book.

The plot of the book involves Mr. Monk being taken to the cleaners by a swindler. he believes this swindler, who has been arrested on several charges of fraud, to be guilty of murdering the witnesses who may provide more information about his schemes. But the swindler is under house arrest, his house is surrounded by police and media, and he is wearing a tamper-proof ankle bracelet. Yet Mr. Monk still believes that he did the impossible, to sneak out of the house, past the media and police with an ankle bracelet on and murdered the witnesses.

As Goldman continues to write I believe he is getting better. I hope this series continues. Now I am working on Queste by Angie Sage.

Review - Physik

This morning I finished Physik by Angie Sage. This is the third book in the Septimus heap series and while I have enjoyed all the books, I can't say i enjoyed this book as much as the first. But it is still worth reading.

The story centers on Septimus who is pulled back through time to become an apprentice to an alchemist. His sister and the Princess Jenna, along with his friends and dragon, all try desperately to find him. Meanwhile a secondary story of Queen Etheldredda muddles the whole story but does fit in.

The series is appropriate for an upper grade school reader. nothing offensive in it. Definitely fantasy so if you don't like this genre find something else.

I already have Queste, #4 in the series, in the wings waiting for me, but now I have to work on Mr. Monk is cleaned out.

Review - First Boy

I just finished listening to First Boy by Gary Schmidt. The plot of the book involves Cooper Jewett, a farm boy. When his grandfather dies Cooper intends on keeping the farm running, remembering his grandfather's phrase of fondness for him, "You're my first boy, Cooper, my first boy." But keeping up with school and his other farm chores is running him ragged. When a local senator comes campaigning through town, along with the U.S. President, a mystery begins to unfold, and it turns out that "first boy" may have more than one meaning.

Appropriate for any children, it is a okay story. But it's not the best story I've ever listened to. Now I'll listen to The True Meaning of Smekday by Bahni Turpin.

Lexie's Great Adventure

As we try to get Lexie used to longer car rides so we can take her camping, we took a short drive to Mirror Lake, or at least tried to. We stopped in Heber City at Dairy Keen for lunch where Lexie got her first kids meal. At least she got the hamburger and I got the fries and drink. We had to turn around on the highway to Mirror Lake as there was a multi-vehicle accident involving 3 motorcycles and 4 cars with one fatality.

But we were proud of Lexie and her adventure.

Lexie likes the burger but not the bun. Can you say "spoiled"?

Lexie even had her own water bottle, hand fed.

She even got to go for a little walk down next to the lake on the way home.

Our next adventure

Call us for the "real" date!

Our First Cruise

For our first cruise, we decided to go on a short, 3 night cruise out of Long Beach to Ensenada, Mexico. We didn't know if cruising would be good for us, how accessible the ships would be, or if either of us would get sea sick. We discovered we really enjoyed the experience and are already planning our next cruise.

We quickly found that this cruise is sometimes known as the "booze cruise" on account of the availability of alcohol at pretty much any time. There were some entryways that were a little tight but we managed to squeeze through them. The accessibility of the boat was pretty good with only a few spots we couldn't get to.

But the service we received made up for all the negatives. From the moment we arrived in the airport we were called by name, whisked directly to the cruise terminal and through security, and personally escorted to our room. The dining room staff was the epitome of excellence. they were not only friendly but fun. They really spoiled us!

Our Cabin; pretty large for an accessible room. Bathroom had a wheel-in shower with plenty of space to get the wheelchair completely around.

Public areas of the ship were clean and inviting. Even though the ship was a little older (constructed in 1998) the crew tried hard to keep it clean and orderly.

Table 305 was where we were assigned for our 6:00 pm dinner. The second night was "elegant" night when we got to dress up with the other diners (no tank tops, flip flops, or swimwear). The lido deck had a buffet that was open pretty much the whole time with 24-hour pizza. Rather than paying $2.00 for a soda, I bought a "soda card" that saved me a bundle!

The atrium of the ship. We were on the 7th floor with a bar, the embarkation and disembarkation level, guest services and excursion counters. they used lots of colors, dark woods and brass to decorate the ship.

Nice sunsets at sea. Weather was great, probably in the 70-80 degree range.

The ship had a library but the books were only available for a couple of hours a day. not the greatest collection, but then I may be biased.

Ensenada was a safe, enjoyable port. the violence in Mexico is getting worse and worse all the time so I wonder how much longer these ports will survive without the tourist traffic.

These shops are right on the dock. Plenty of choices of shops; we bought a very colorful blanket, very pretty dish, some pure vanilla (I remember mom buying some from Mexico when we were kids and visited Tijuana--it was very strong and lasted forever), salt and pepper shakers, and a magnet.

On the dock the sea lions enjoy a restful day in the sun.

These sea lions are on a dock along the waterway in Ensenada.

Nice ship art throughout.

"The Whale Man" art displayed on the waterfront walkway with our ship in the background.

Our ship. Our room is right over the "D" in the ship's name.

A huge flag flies along the waterfront walkway in Ensenada.

Lots of shops in Ensenada. Most of the shops along the waterfront were tourist shops and restaurants. I was a little uncomfortable about eating there but some of their toppings and selections looked delicious. Here the fish market and typical tourist shops sell junk.

One nice thing about the day in port was the decks were neatly completely empty. here we had plenty of deck chairs to pick from.

Is there anything better than sitting on deck reading a fun book?

Course, there are always the scantily clad playboy bunnies running around the ship.

No curling means I had to resort to shuffleboard.

Once the boat got underway, so did the parties.

DeeAnn couldn't choose from the prime rib and the lobster so our dining room staff brought her both! And she said it was delicious!

Towel animals greeted us each evening as we returned to the room. Very clever. They even had a demonstration of how to fold them. But the stage was not accessible and we couldn't really see what they were doing so we didn't stay for it.

DeeAnn can't go anywhere without critters following her around. I kept telling her she could visit all the gulls she wanted at the local dump.

Our "Day at Sea" was basically sitting still off the Long beach coast. But the water was so calm, it looked like glass.

Mel and Alvin (both from the Philippines) were our dining room staff. Excellent service. If we ever go back on this boat, we will certainly ask to be seated at their table.

Our cruise is almost over, the sunset our final day at sea.

Boat scenes. A beautiful mermaid can be seen along the railing.