Fidelis: Birthpangs Book 1 by: A.R. Horvath

Fidelis:
Birthpangs Book 1
A.R. Horvath
ISBN 9780979127618 Softcover
ISBN 9780979127601 Hardcover
Suzeteo Enterprises

Fidelis is the best speculative fiction I have read since the early 80's. Reminiscent of Heinlein's writings with the skills of a master wordsmith, A.R. Horvath has created an amazing world and looks to a possible future that is dark and brooding. He creates a world in which the United States has entered a second dark ages after a military defeat. The writing is superb, the characters believable and engaging. As you read you become transported into the events by Horvath's skill with the pen for he draws you in and captivates you. His storytelling is masterful.
We follow Fides as he goes from being a young man trying to look after his family and working as a skilled laborer to being a warrior serving a cause greater than any he could have imagined. As he journeys across the remnants of America he journeys into a faith he never dreamed of nor wanted. The book deals with big questions: faith, doubt, manhood, integrity, purpose in life, bravery and above all else, truth. It does so in a futuristic setting, however is written in such a way that the characters as they struggle with these issues seem to be real, not just a story for entertainment but a story to help us learn to ask the right questions in life.This book has been compared to Stephen King's The Dark Tower, or as a cross between it and the Left Behind books by LeHaye and Jenkins. However, to me it is more similar to C.S. Lewis's The Dark Tower or a darker version of Lewis's space trilogy. It also reads much like James Axler's Deathlands yet with more depth. Reading Horvath is like reading science fiction by Asimov, Bester or Heinlein, with the narrative power and creativity of C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien. It also contains strong military themes like those found in Piers Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant, Orson Scott Card's Ender Series or Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan books. This book is an amazing work of fiction. Both the writing style, and story itself will captivate and enthrall. This book is moving to my all time favorites list and it will take something pretty awesome to knock it down a notch on that list. So pick up the book and join Fides on his journey, both across a continent and into faith, and you too may be challenged to look inside and find the strength to struggle with faith and to ask yourself the tough questions. I for one eagerly anticipate the rest of the books to come in this new series.

(Note: a review of book 2 soon to follow.)


Books by A.R. Horvath:
Birthpangs Series
Fidelis
Spero

The Annals of Myrtle and the Blood King Series
The Warden-Watch

Books as Anthony Horvath:
Chronos and Old Facts
The Golden Rule of Epistemology and other essays
We Choose Life
Polite Company and Other Stories
The Knight in Black Tuzedo
Mordecai's Dilemma
For No Reason at All
Roots and Fruits
SUperfan
Author Profile and Interview with Anthony Horvath

Computer Tools, Tips and Tricks

Over the next few weeks I plan on writing a series of articles about computers. These will be written from the perspective of an IT Professional who constantly receives requests for help from friends and family. What I hope to do is outline and provide ideas for some tools, tricks and tips that will help users keep their machines clean and healthy and functioning better. Some of these tools I have been using for years and some are new to me through working in the field or through friends and colleagues. In this piece I will take a quick look at a number of tools, then over the next couple of weeks write a more in-depth step- by- step piece on each of these.

RegCure
AdAware
A-Squared
MalwareBytes
AVG
NoteTabPro
iGoogle

Part of how I see my role in IT is to help educate end-users so that they can do as much as they can for themselves. To that end, when I am working on someone's machine I explain what I am doing and why. This series will aim to help computer users learn from these experiences. Most of these software programs have a free trial version or scaled-down version for home/personal use but also have a more advanced version you can use buy if you want the extra features.

AVG

First and foremost it is important to have good virus software and to keep it up to date. Most software on the market will automatically update and let you know if it has not. AVG is great software and I have been using it for years. Once I was a huge Norton fan but it became more expensive to upgrade/renew each year than to buy a new version but for older machines the new version often took too many resources. AVG has always had a free home-use version; it is good software that runs efficiently without eating your system resources. The free version is good, the full version is great. AVG also has the ability to scan from a menu - you can right click an item or file you downloaded and scan it before opening it.

RegCure

This utility you can run for free but will have to buy eventually. It is fantastic. It will clean up stuff you are not even aware of. The system registry on a Windows-based machine is what allows the hardware and software to work together. This is a document that almost every program you install writes to. What Regcure does is remove the stuff not needed such as lost paths, empty registry fields, uninstalled program stuff and more. I know IT guys who run this every day to keep their machine running faster. Now on a side note, you will almost never get zero entries in this software. Because the registry is dynamic and always being written to, it will almost always find a few items to remove.

AdAware & A-Squared

AdAware and A-Squared are both very similar but do their jobs in a different way. They check for tracking cookies, malware and spyware. Both have free versions and are easy to install, update and use. I usually load both updates and set both to run, then walk away from the computer, go have supper and when I get back both scans are done and my machine is healthier. I always run a deep scan - it takes longer but checks everything on your computer not just the common items. AdAware has a paid version but it uses more system resources and runs all the time in the background. A-Squared has a nice function of being able to scan from the menu, so you can right click an item and scan with A-Squared to check it before opening or installing.

MalwareBytes

This program has come to be invaluable. It will remove almost any virus we have encountered either at work or on systems for friends or family. It is free to download and try and you can pay to upgrade to a pro version. Tip for this one is to update it twice after you install it. The first time it updates the software, the second the definitions it uses to scan. Malwarebytes has removed the UPS Virus, the XP Antivirus 2008/09, Antivirus Vundoo and many others. This is an excellent product. If by chance you exposed your system or know it is infected, this is the tool for you.

NoteTabPro

This little application is a fantastic utility. I use it daily at work and at home. I use it most to edit posts for my blog. I compose in MSWord, to be able to use spell check and grammar check, but if you cut and paste from Word you end up with all kinds of extraneous MS code in the paste. It can also be used for checking HTML, XML and CSS files. It is small, quick and extremely efficient. It's like Notepad on steroids, yet uses hardly any resources or space on the hard drive. I have barely tapped into the features of this utility in the 2 years I have been using it, but have recommended it to a few people who all rave about it.

iGoogle

Over the last year as I have become more mobile, I have come to find this to be an awesome tool. One reason is that Gmail now supports checking other email accounts and even sending from them. I have GMail configured to send from 8 accounts and it receives the messages from them also. iGoogle is a customizable webpage with gadgets galore to add to it. You can have your Gmail, news feeds, even Google calendar and many, many more. You can currently choose between the classic tabbed view or a sidebar navigation. I have moved to using this almost exclusively for mail and scheduling. Plus I have all my news and sports feeds on one tab and then a separate tab for using the Google reader to stay up on all the blogs I read. If they ever start charging for this service like Hotmail once did, I will be toast but currently, in my opinion, it is the best free service on the web.

Articles in this series:

Computer Tools, Tips and Tricks
RegCure
AdAware
A-Squared
MalwareBytes
AVG
NoteTabPro
iGoogle

(Note a variation of this article first published in Imprint 2008-11-28.)

Peace and Strength! Yours, learning to be Steven R. McEvoy

http://mcevoysmusings.ca My Homepage
http://bookreviewsandmore.ca My Blog

CompTIA IT PRO, A+ ITT, A+ DT, A+ RST, Network+
Microsoft MCP, MCTS Business Desktop Deployment, MCTS Vista Configuration, MCITP Enterprise Support, MCITP Consumer Support, MOS,

"The only reason for being a professional writer is that you can't help it."
- Leo Rosten

From the Journals

As I have mentioned before not only am I an avid reader I am an avid writer. I am currently on volume 35 of hard back journals. I use the Blueline A19 series 192 pages each they are 9 1/4 " X 7 1/3" or 235mm X 184mm. I have varied the color but green is dominant. Recently I went back through looking for my Myers Briggs results and found it in the 3rd one I pulled from the shelf. While doing that search I found a number of short book reviews that I wrote back in the spring and summer of 1999 while doing a children's literature course at the University of Waterloo. Now when journaling I write a 1 page summary of each book I read. However often it is more how the book affected me and what changes or observations I have discovered about my self from the books digestion. So I have decided to pull this collection out and clean them up a little and post them here. Some of these were favorite books when I read them but I was not reviewing formally then so this is a way to promote those books but not sacrifice the time to go back and reread them. Therefore over the next few months you will see posts every few days of some of my earliest reviews.

(Note yes I stole the title of this post from Eric Scheske who has been running a series of posts pulled from old journals.)

Quiz: What Does Your Taste in Music Say About You?

What Does Your Taste in Music Say About You?

Your musical tastes are reflective and complex.
You are intellectual to the point of being cerebral.

You are very open to new experiences, and even more open to new ideas and theories.

Wisdom and personal accomplishment are important to you.

You are naturally sophisticated. You are drawn to art, especially art by independent artists.

You are likely to be financially well off... and not because you were born that way.

My Top Ten List of Favorite Bands/Performers is:

Evanescence
Bif Naked
The Wyrd Sisters
Holly Cole
Chris Lizotte
Ozzy Osborne
Paul Gross
George Thorogood
David Wilcox
Beethoven
AC DC
Bach

Hat-tip Jean at Catholic Fire.

Do You Have Gaps in Your Knowledge?

Do You Have Gaps in Your Knowledge?

Where you have gaps in your knowledge:

No Gaps!

Where you don't have gaps in your knowledge:

Philosophy
Religion
Economics
Literature
History
Science
Art

Hat-tip Jean at Catholic Fire.

What Type is your Blog?

ISFP - The Artists

ISFP (for my blog)

The gentle and compassionate type. They are especially attuned their inner values and what other people need. They are not friends of many words and tend to take the worries of the world on their shoulders. They tend to follow the path of least resistance and have to look out not to be taken advantage of.

They often prefer working quietly, behind the scene as a part of a team. They tend to value their friends and family above what they do for a living.
Analysis
This show what parts of the brain that were dominant during writing.

ISTP - The Mechanics

ISTP (for my website.)

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

I do not remember the last time I did the Myers Briggs test but I do recall one category split almost 50/50 and one had a 99/1% split. I will have to look it up and see if I can find it. I went back and here are my results from the last time I did this in April of 99

E - 60% / I - 55%
S 75% / N 55%
T 55% / F 50%
J 55% / P 25%

So test as E/I S T/F J. It only took my 3rd journal out of 35 to find it. Which is funny based on these results making my writing in both categories a P. I know this will just show how precise I am I did some testing and it only check the title page, so I tested each month of my archive and got:

ISFP - The Artist - 19
ESFP - The Performer - 14
INTP - The Thinkers - 5
INFP - The Idealist - 1

For those not familiar with Myers-Briggs Types: the letters stand for:

Extraversion - Introversion
Sensing - INtuition
Thinking - Feeling
Judging - Perceiving.

(Hattip to Jean at Catholic Fire. You can check out your own here at the type analyzer.)

Knights of Columbus Book of the Month Club

The Catholic Company has more new stuff on the go. Now they are promoting their Joint venture the Knights of Columbus Book of the Month Club if you join you will receive the monthly offering at a 20% discount. Each month members will have the opportunity to join Supreme Knight Carl Anderson reading insightful, informative and faith-filled books and have the option to participating in an online discussion about that month's book. The discussion at the end of each month is led by Mr. Anderson and his guest's - authors and authorities on the subject of the book that month.

If you join before the 10th of a month you will receive that months book if not you will receive the next months book. There is even an online archive of old discussions.

This looks like a great tool to help you grow your faith. So Drop by and check it out.

Prereview of Skeleton Creek by Patrick carman

Skeleton Creek
Patrick Carman
Scholastic
ISBN 9780545075664

This is a prereview( my final review is here). That is, it is a review before a book comes out or even before I have read it. You might be asking how can I do that? There are two ways. First I have read 7 of the 9 books by the author and they are all excellent. Second this book is a brand new form of art. This book is not just a book, it is a book linked to a series of sites and interactive media. The media has started now and is available at skeletoncreekisreal.com. The book comes out early next year. The concept is that as you read the book you will be given codes to specific websites.

Now some might say that books linked to websites are nothing new, especially, John Twelve Hawks' fourth realm trilogy, starting with The Traveler. Or The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins which has supporting fan sites. But that is completely different; that book only hid sites that were created for organizations in the book. In this case the Skeleton Creek sites are designed as part of the book. It is created as an alternate reality experience in which someone has discovered hidden secret files on a website (you can do it also if you follow the instructions in video #2). Those hidden files lead the narrator to believe that the Skeleton Creek story is based on real world events. And apparently there is no end of depth to these interactive sites. The narrator will never break character, so it feels very possible that everything he's saying could be true. Stay with it and pretty soon his own story will spin way out of control.

Author Patrick Carman states: "Now the fun part....there are clues to what's going on hidden in the videos, the file folders, on websites you'll find access to, even wikipedia sites. If you follow along you'll know about certain events almost no one else will be aware of. For example, if you pay attention, you'll be at the right place and the right time for live, once-only web casts of me giving additional information - and you might even get a chance to meet me in person or discover a hidden book in your area." The concept for this book is just so cool. How can it not be a great hit?

This book will be fantastic so check out the websites and get the book when it comes out. It is geared for the net generation, and the mixed media format will attract students, and students of all ages. As you read the book you get codes to watch the video's. The two combined tell the ghost story and should almost make it seem real.

Other Supporting Websites:

www.enterskeletoncreek.com
www.skeletoncreekisreal.com
www.haunteddredges.com
A couple of more links added:
Discussion Forum
Link found on Discussion Forum


Other of Patrick Carman Books:

The Dark Hills Divide - The Land of Elyon Book 1
Beyond the Valley of Thorns - The Land of Elyon Book 2
The Tenth City - The Land of Elyon Book 3
Into The Mist - The Land of Elyon Prequel
Stargazer - The Land of Elyon Book 4

The House of Power - Atherton Book 1
Rivers of Fire - Atherton, Book 2
The Dark Planet - Atherron Book 3

Saving Mr Nibbles - Elliot's Park Book 1
Haunted Hike - Elliot's Park Book 2
The Walnut Cup - Elliot's Park Book 3
A Windy Tale - Elliot's Park Book 4

Skeleton Creek - Skeleton Creek Book 1 - A Prereview.
Ghost in the Machine - Skeleton Creek Book 2
Crossbones - Skeleton Creek Book 3
The Raven - Skeleton Creek Book 4

The Black Circle - 39 Clues Book 5

Trackers #1

Thirteen Days to Midnight

Great Deal on Great Books

Catholic Apologist Dave Armstrong has a fantastic offer going on on his site check it out. 15 Ebooks in for $25 these are great books that will nourish your faith. The books are:

The One-Minute Apologist
A Treasury of Chesterton Aphorisms
A Biblical Defense of Catholicism
Martin Luther: Catholic Critical Analysis and Praise
The Church Fathers Were Catholic: Patristic Evidences for Catholicism
More Biblical Evidence for Catholicism
Bible Conversations: Catholic-Protestant Dialogues on the Bible, Tradition, & Salvation
Development of Catholic Doctrine: Evolution, Revolution, or an Organic Process?
Mere Christian Apologetics
Christian Worldview vs. Postmodernism
Family Matters: Catholic Theology of the Family
Pensées on Catholic Traditionalism
Protestantism: Critical Reflections of an Ecumenical Catholic
Twin Scourges: Thoughts on Anti-Catholicism & Theological Liberalism
Orthodoxy and Catholicism: A Comparison

Click on the image to link through to the special offer.

2008/2009 blog Awards

It's that time of year nominations are up for a number of blog awards at this time. So Go nominate the blogs you like, the one's you read ...
or
and if you feel inclined to vote for me so be it.

Signs & Mysteries: Revealing Ancient Christian Symbols by Mike Aquilina & Lea Marie Ravotti

Signs & Mysteries:
Revealing Ancient Christian Symbols
Mike Aquilina
Lea Marie Ravotti (Illustrator)
Our Sunday Visitor
ISBN 9781592764501

Signs and Mysteries-Revealing Ancient Christian Symbols by Mike Aquilina and Lea Marie Ravotti is a great new book. It examines the signs and symbols of the Christian tradition from three perspectives - the historical archeological perspective, a theological perspective and from the view of what they can mean to us today. The book is written for the casual student of church history to the most devoted practitioner of the Catholic faith and the full range in between. The book is fantastically illustrated so that the images will have an original feel rather than look like photos from an art history book.

This book will cover a great breadth. The chapters of the book are:

The Background
The Fish
The Orant
The Shepherd
The Vine
The Philosopher
The Phoenix
The Dolphin
The Peacock
Milk
The Lamp
Moses
The Plow
Vessels
The Lamb
The Dove
Bread and Sheaves
The Crown
The Banquet
The Lighthouse
The Ankh
The Cross
The Anchor
Ships and Boats
The Labarum (Chi-Rho)
Alpha and Omega

Through the process of examining these symbols, a believer will encounter deeper meaning in elements of the tradition with which they are already familiar and will encounter new symbols that can bring deeper meaning into their faith and worship life. The book can even be used for a series of meditations as you read about each sign, learn about it, meditate upon its meaning and how it can impact your faith. What does the peacock (usually associated with pride or vanity) have to do with Catholicism? What does the Ankh, usually a Goth symbol of death, mean to early Christians and what can it mean to us? Many of these signs have corrupted or perverted representations in general culture. Now we can reclaim these items and when we see them misused know their true meaning (and maybe use it as a tool to pray for those people.)

This book is an excellent addition to Catholic History and to your faith life. Pick it up and explore new elements of tradition, history and practical faith.This is my first review for The Catholic Company. They have a new expanded reviewers program. So if you are Catholic and have a blog or website and are interested in reviewing products, stop by and check it out. Hat tip to Ebeth from A Catholic Mom Climbing the Pillars for putting me on to being a reviewer for The Catholic Company and here is a link to her review of this book.

Books by Mike Aquilina:
A Year with the Angels: Daily Meditations with the Messengers of God
A Year With The Church Fathers: Patristic Wisdom for Daily Living
Angels of God: The Bible, the Church and the Heavenly Hosts
Companion Guide to Pope Benedict's 'The Fathers' 
Faith of Our Fathers: Why the Early Christians Still Matter and Always Will
Fire of God's Love: 120 Reflections on the Eucharist
Good Pope, Bad Pope: Their Lives, Our Lessons 
Love in the Little Things: Tales of Family Life
Ministers & Martyrs: The Ultimate Catholic Guide to the Apostolic Age
Praying in the Presence of Our Lord: With St. Thomas Aquinas
Roots of the Faith: From the Church Fathers to You
Sharing Christ's Priesthood: A Bible Study for Catholics
Signs and Mysteries: Revealing Ancient Christian Symbols
Sweet Gridlock: Selected Love Poems 
Terms and Conditions: Assorted Poems
The Apostles and Their Times
The Church and the Roman Empire
The Fathers of the Church Bible
The Fathers of the Church: An Introduction to the First Christian Teachers
The Mass of the Early Christians
The Resilient Church: The Glory, the Shame, & the Hope for Tomorrow
The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
The Way of the Fathers: Praying With the Early Christians
The Witness of Early Christian Women: Mothers of the Church
Understanding the Mass: 100 Questions, 100 Answers
Why Me? When Bad Things Happen
Yours Is the Church: How Catholicism Shapes Our World

The Holy Mass

Work Play Love

St. Joseph and His World

How the Fathers Read the Bible

...

Books co-written by Mike Aquilina:
A Pocket Catechism for Kids - Fr. Kris Stubna
Dion: The Wanderer Talks Truth - Dion DiMucci
Keeping Mary Close: Devotion to Our Lady through the Ages - Fr. Frederick Gruber
Living the Mysteries: A Guide for Unfinished Christians - Scott Hahn
Praying the Psalms the Early Christians - Christopher Bailey
Saint Monica and the Power of Persistent Prayer - Mark W. Sullivan
Seven Revolutions: How Christianity Changed the World and Can Change It Again - James Papandrea
Something More Pastoral: The Mission of Bishop, Archbishop, and Cardinal Donald Wuerl - Ann Rodgers
Take Five: Meditations John Henry Newman - Fr. Juan Velez
Take Five: Meditations Pope Benedict XVI - Fr. Kris Stubna
Take Five: On the Job Meditations With St. Ignatius - Fr. Kris Stubna
Talking to Youth About Sexuality: A Parents' Guide - Fr. Kris Stubna
The Ancient Path: Old Lessons from the Church Fathers for a New Life Today - John Michael Talbot
The Church: Unlocking the Secrets to the Places Catholics Call Home - Cardinal Donald Wuerl
The Doubter's Novena: Nine Steps to Trust the Apostle Thomas - Christopher Bailey
The Feasts: How the Church Year Forms Us as Catholics - Cardinal Donald Wuerl
The Grail Code: Quest for the Real Presence - Christopher Bailey
The Great Life: Essays on Doctrine and Holiness in Honor of Father Ronald Lawler, O.F.M. Cap. - Kenneth Ogorek
The Holy Land: A Guide for Pilgrims - Fr. Dave Halaiko
The How-To Book of Catholic Devotions - Regis J. Flaherty
The Mass: The Glory, the Mystery, the Tradition - Cardinal Donald Wuerl
The World's First Christmas: Jubilee 2000 - Regis J. Flaherty
Weapons of the Spirit: Selected Writings of Father John Hugo - David Scott
What Catholics Believe: A Pocket Catechism - Fr. Kris Stubna

Kenny & The Dragon by: Tony DiTerlizzi

Kenny & The Dragon
Tony DiTerlizzi
Simon & Schuster
ISBN 9781416939771

This book is both written and illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi. This is a fantastic story of a young bibliophile named Kenny. Kenny has always felt a little on the outside - he loves books, and his pursuit of knowledge is almost relentless. At school when he has to do presentations the other students become bored and have even fallen asleep. Then his life changes drastically for his father finds a dragon in his pastures on their farm property. Kenny goes to investigate.

Kenny's only close friend in town is a retiree named George who owns a bookshop in town. It was from George's shop that he has borrowed a book called The King's Royal Bestiary. This book had a section on dragons so Kenny took it with him when he went to investigate the dragon his father found. The dragon was not at all what he expected. First the dragon's name is Grahame, and Grahame loves books, poetry music and dessert.

Kenny wants George and Grahame to meet but something gets in the way. The town finds out about the dragon, and The King has commissioned his champion to kill the beast. Kenny must find a way to save his friend.

This is a great adventure. Kenny is a smart young boy who loves books. He also loves adventure and he faces a battle. DiTerlizzi has created a wonderful story. It would be nice to meet Kenny again in further adventures.

Other Books by Tony Diterlizzi:

Jimmy Zangwow's Out-of-This-World Moon-Pie Adventure
Ted
G is for One Gzonk
Kenny & the Dragon
The Search for WondLa

Books Illustrated by Tony Diterlizzi:
Dinosaur Summer
Ribbiting Tales
Alien & Possum: Friends No Matter What
Alien & Possum: Hanging Around
The Spider & The Fly
Dragonflight
Peter Pan in Scarlet

Books by Tony & Angela DiTerlizzi:
Adventures of Meno:
Wet Fun!
Big Friend!
Yummy Trip!
Uh-Oh Sick!

Books by Black and DiTerlizzi: The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Field Guide
The Seeing Stone
Lucinda's Secret
The Ironwood Tree
The Wrath of Mulgarath

Arthur Spiderwick's Notebook of Fantastical Observations
Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You
Care and Feeding of Sprites

Beyond Spiderwick
The Nixie's Song
A Giant Problem
The Wyrm King

The Changing face of BRAM

I have been playing with different designs. Some of the followers of my blog will have noticed that it has gone through a few style changes lately. These pictures at the left are the history of the appearance. It started with a standard a variation of 'Rounders 2' by Douglas Bowman that I had modified a few years back to have the sidebar on the left and not the right.

Then I decided to do away with the rounded edges and clear out the blogroll, sidebar buttons and other thinks to simplify the design and layout.

After that I Put my family tartan in the background did some more hacking to create a dropdown menu for the archive, for after 3 years it was over 36 entries and a long list.

Some further hacking has allowed me to add an image in the header and footer. I have played with a few different ones and have settles on the current for now. I have a friend custom drawing one that will hopefully appear sometime soon.

Then last night I managed to split my sidebar and make it a three column template. It functions on a variety of browsers and platforms. I have tested it with Firefox 2, Firefox 3; Internet Explorer 6 and 7; Netscape 6,7,8 and 9; Seamonkey 1.11 and 1.12; Opera 8, 9.2, 9.5, 9.6; Google Chrome, Safari, the World, Konqueror and Flock. I have also done testing across platforms, (see Playing with multi-OS's or Unleashing the Inner Geek) I have done testing in XP, Vista, Win 2k3, Fedora 6,7,8; Suse 10 server and desktop, Mac OSX, and some other legacy OS's.

I like the new look and feel but would like some feedback. So use the comments and let me know what you think.

(Note: as of tonight I have added scroll bar link lists to limit the size of lists on the left hand side. Everyday learning something new. Or at least I hope so.)

Articles in this Series:

Unleashing the Inner Geek
MOS Microsoft Office Specialist
Playing with Multi-OS's
Inner Geek - Validated
Inner Geek - On My Way
Inner Geek - Validated February 2008
Inner Geek - Validated September 2008
The Changing face of BRAM
Inner Geek - Updated February 2009
Windows 7 Beta Review
Inner Geek - Updated April 2009
Inner Geek - Updated July 2009
Inner Geek - Updated November 2009

Inner Geek - Updated December 2010
Mac VS PC an It Guys Perspective
Inner Geek - Updated June 2011
Inner Geek - Updated December 2011

Saving Mister Nibbles! Elliot's Park Book 1 - Patrick Carman

Saving Mister Nibbles!
Elliot's Park Book #1
Patrick Carman
Jim Madsen (Illustrated)
Orchard Books
ISBN 9780545019309

Patrick Carman created these stories for his daughter while visiting the real Pioneer Park in Walla Walla, Washington. This first book in the wonderful world of Elliot's Park, is about a great adventure for the squirrels of Elliot's Park. The vast cast of characters including: Elliot the book worm with glasses who loves collared shirts, wide ties and solving problems, Mister Nibbles who is a most unusual squirrel who is introduced in the adventure, Roscoe and Coconut the two dog's from the yellow house across the street who love to chase Elliot and his friends, Scratchy Spurs a former rodeo star squirrel with a cowboy hat, spurs and a stick cane, and Sparkle the stargazer who often gets into trouble with the Owls, and many many others. The book has a cast of characters in the back of the key players from the whole series.

In this story the squirrel's of Elliot's Park, are amazed and incensed when a child receives a squirrel as a present at a birthday party held in the park. Elliot and his friends decide that this squirrel must be liberated. So they have Crash the only flying squirrel in the park follow when the party pack's up. They discover that Mr. Nibbles has been taken to the yellow house across the street. The home of Roscoe and Coconut two ferocious squirrel chasing dogs. Elliot can not think of a way to save Mr. Nibbles, so he visits his friend Scratchy, and comes up with a plan. But can the squirrels of Elliot's Park, leave the park and rescue Mr. Nibbles. Read this story and find out!

These books will captivate children of all ages from 5 to 105. I even read it to my two year old and she stayed captivated by the story. The artwork by Jim Madsen is excellent, and children will love his representations of the adventures of the squirrell's. And as an added bonus there are exercises at the end of the book, to create fun for a family or class. In this book they include:
o Elliot and Chip's Trail Mix (GORP)
o Create Your Own Elliot's Park Adventure
o Sparkle's Starry Night
The book concludes with a preview chapter of the next book The Haunted Hike. Pick up this book by award winning author Patrick Carman for he has created a wonderful world for young readers and for the whole family in these books.

Other of Patrick Carman Books:

The Dark Hills Divide - The Land of Elyon Book 1
Beyond the Valley of Thorns - The Land of Elyon Book 2
The Tenth City - The Land of Elyon Book 3
Into The Mist - The Land of Elyon Prequel
Stargazer - The Land of Elyon Book 4

The House of Power - Atherton Book 1
Rivers of Fire - Atherton, Book 2
The Dark Planet - Atherron Book 3

Saving Mr Nibbles - Elliot's Park Book 1
Haunted Hike - Elliot's Park Book 2
The Walnut Cup - Elliot's Park Book 3
A Windy Tale - Elliot's Park Book 4

Skeleton Creek - Skeleton Creek Book 1 - A Prereview.
Ghost in the Machine - Skeleton Creek Book 2
Crossbones - Skeleton Creek Book 3
The Raven - Skeleton Creek Book 4

The Black Circle - 39 Clues Book 5

Trackers #1

Thirteen Days to Midnight