It seems as if I’ve had just as many posts lately explaining why there are no reviews than I’ve posted reviews. I apologize once again, but the past six days have been hectic. First, my 78-year-old father was admitted to the hospital through the emergency room last Friday. He has only recently started dialysis for kidney failure and simply had not been improving. He has been dropping weight like crazy and sleeping almost 20 hours a day. Needless to say there was a problem. Fortunately, the doctor’s realized that his medications hadn’t been changed since the start of dialysis and a simple removal of two medications has brought about a more alert, less sleepy and slightly hungrier man. We’re hopeful that he’ll be discharged later this week if all continues to go well.
Second, my computer died a rather spectacular death yesterday. I was in bed on Sunday and Monday with severe migraines and a sinus infection and hadn’t actually been online or even on the computer since late Saturday evening. After running a few errands yesterday morning (early start at 5:00 AM), stopping by the hospital to visit my Dad, going on a few more errands, and going back to the hospital to visit my Dad, I didn’t arrive home until 8:30 PM. I attempted to turn on my computer and the screen went black. I waited a few minutes and attempted to turn the computer on one more time and nothing. It wouldn’t start and nothing ever appeared on the screen. Now I knew this was bad, but I didn’t realize how bad until I realized I hadn’t made a backup in over 18 months since the CD/DVD drive had died (the laptop was over 6 years and had been used for 12-16 hours a day for most of that time). Long story short, I know too late, the laptop won’t boot. I’m hopeful that the computer guys will be able to transfer the data from my old laptop to a new external hard-drive. In the meanwhile, I’m attempting to reconstruct all of my bookmarks, templates, etc. on a new laptop. Moral to this story is back-up your files! If you don’t have a CD/DVD drive or burner, then please use an online service or invest in an external hard drive so you don’t end up in the same situation.
Initially I was told that I could have my old laptop back late today for an appropriate burial but that has been revised until 02/27/12. I’m extremely grateful for online programs such as Spotify and Google Music so at least I have access to all of the classical and jazz music that I had on my old laptop. Of course, all of my ebooks, pictures, documents, and original music files, etc. are in limbo until the data is successfully transferred. Thankfully, I had already transferred a number of ARC books to my ereader. Reviews are coming soon for the following: The Ninth Step by Barbara Taylor Sissel, Striking Back by Mark Nykanen, The Garden Intrigue by Lauren Willig, and The Healing by Jonathan Odell. I’m also currently reading Jane Vows Vengeance by Michael Thomas Ford and Return to Grace by Karen Harper (both are scheduled for release on 02/28). Upcoming reads include: Like Sweet Potato Pie by Jennifer Rogers Spinola, The Reconstructionist by Nick Arvin, and How to Eat a Cupcake by Margery Scott.
FREEBIE ALERT: The Brevity of Roses by Linda Cassidy Lewis is currently available for free on Amazon.com as a Kindle ebook. I posted a review for this book back in September of 2011. Grab this one while you can!
Thanks for reading with me and for your patience. I hope to have new reviews posted within the next few days.
Don’t forget to check back tomorrow to see who has won a copy of The Color Purple by Alice Walker in the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop.
The Book Diva's Reads 