I Feel Somewhat Like Navin Johnson

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Book Review - Nice Girls Don't Bite Their Neighbors

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Nice Girls Don't Bite Their Neighbors by Molly Harper My rating: 4 of 5 stars Nice ending to Jane's story (though I suspect she will be in a supporting role in future books). Jane and Gabriel are finally going to get hitched now that the government is allowing vampires to marry. Of course, all does not go well. With a vindictive spirit haunting her house, a potential killer stalking Gabriel and trying to keep her Mom from taking over the wedding, one would think Jane has enough going on. Nope. Add in her reluctant but requested turning of a young vampire childe and the mix gets overwhelming. I love these characters and I hope Harper includes them in her next books which look to center around a newly introduced character in this one. View all my reviews
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Frank Abagnale - The Art of the Steal

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I had the great fortune to hear Frank Abagnale speak last week. Yeah, that's the guy who inspired the Spielberg movie, Catch Me If You Can . Abagnale started the presentation with his personal story. Sobering and full of pathos; I don't remember it being as dark in the movie. While his cleverness at the art of the con at age 16 was entertaining and often humorous, his personal despair at the breakup of his family and remorse over his criminal actions were the overwhelming emotions I walked away with. He feels guilt to this day and has turned down three Presidential pardons. It was also a powerful story of the preservation of the two parent family and the importance of teaching children lessons in morality. He presented many studies showing the shift regarding the latter. Short story, kids today don't consider things "wrong" as previous generations have. For example, cheating in school is considered no big deal by a growing percentage of youth over time. Sa...
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I Owe It All To Jimmy!

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With apologies to Jimmy and the Parrots for paraphrasing their song title. I know there are a lot of people celebrating some pretty famous guy's birthday today but perhaps not the guy whom I would wish a most happy birthday to and give many thanks. In fact, just what people are doing to that other guy, now that I think about it. Yeah, it's that Jimmy Buffett dude. Today is his 66th birthday. Unlike the most devout of Parrot Heads, I have no idea how many Buffett shows I've been to. I'm not even sure which was my first one but I think it was after a Triple-A baseball game here in Phoenix. Jimmy played out on the field and we hung out in the stands and had a great time. Gosh, I can't even tell you the first Buffett song I heard or when that was either. It seems like there was just always Buffett in my life. And, now my life is based a lot around Jimmy. I officially joined the Arizona Parrot Head Club in 1998. The first meeting we went to was at a bar on...
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