Help others with a click of your mouse!

It's summer, hard to ignore that fact. There is no school and if you are like me you have no job. So why not put that time into something good instead of hanging around facebook or twitter?  With all that said I I love helping others. I try and donate to various charities when I can, but lack of income makes it hard.

So here are a few sites I use to donate most take only a click of a mouse. And best part you are helping someone without breaking the bank. And some of the sites are fun!

Free Rice- The site that started it all. I've been playing on this site for a long time. In school this was actually a site we could go on in class without getting in trouble. The game is easy, answer questions in a category of your choosing (. Each question you get right, Free Rice donates 10 grains of rice.

Free Poverty- This is slowly becoming my new favorite site. Much like Free Rice here you point out different locations on a world map and get cups of Water. Unlike Free Rice the amount of water given is based on how close to the right location you are. And you get 5 lives.

Goodsearch- is a search engine. So instead of Google you use this site to search for... What have you. (I have been searching for info about Jack the Ripper for my new Novel I am working on.) Then you say what charity you want to donate to. So this is good for all of you who have certain places you like to donate to.

Click to Donate sites- These sites are cool with the fact that all you need to do is click and they offer a ton of options to donate to.  There are 2 different groups I have found like this one is Care2 the other is The Greater Good Network. Some offer the same places but some are different. Hey this isn't costing you anything so click away!

Care2 Click to Donate sites
Children in Need (Children International)
Save the Rainforest (The Nature Conservancy)
Protect Big Cat Habitat  (Wildlife Conservation Society) 
Find a Cure for Brest Cancer (Susan G. Komen for the Cure)
Pets in Need (The Humane Society of the United States)
Save Baby Seals (International Fund for Animal Welfare) 
Save the Oceans  (Oceana)
Feed Rescue Primates (Jane Goodall Institute)
Stop Global Warming (Carbonfund)
Stop Violance Against Women (Amnesty International)
Protect Wolves  (Defenders of Wildlife)

The Greater Good Network Click to Donate sites
The Rainforest site - Protects the Rainforest and other wildlife habitat
The Hunger Site - Donates food to help end world hunger
The Breast Cancer Site - Donates free mammograms
The Animal Rescue Site- Donates food and care to shelter animals
The Veterans Site- Donates meals to Veterans
The Autism Site Donates therapy
The Child Health Site- Donates Children's medical care
The Literacy Site- Donates Children's Books

So what are you waiting for? GET CLICKING!

Book worth Cheking out: Idlewild by Nick Sagan

I'm a slow reader and when I find books I enjoy I tend to read everything the author puts out. (Lately this then turns into me finding out that the author has died.) Anyways last year while in France I read my first Neil Gaiman novel Neverwhere. But that is a story for another day.

While on a recent trip to the library in a fruitless search for either Game of Thrones or Hunger Games. I lingered in the scifi section, because I am a huge scifi fan, and a cover caught my eye. 

There is this moon thing with a butterfly... Like what could this be about? I flip it over to look at the blurb only to find that I am an idiot and hardcover books have the blurb on the inside flap. I also discover a quote by Neil Gaiman. Okay so an author I like has read this so it is worth opening and actually reading the blurb instead of re-shelving it.

"Set in the day after tomorrow, Idlewild opens as a young man awakes with amnesia: He cannot remember who he is and doesn't recognize anything around him-all he knows for sure is that someone is trying to kill him. Not certain whom he can trust, he becomes reacquainted with eight companions, all of whom are being trained at a strange school run by an enigmatic figure named Maestro. Working to uncover the identity of the person who has attempted to murder him, the young man quickly starts to unravel a series of truths, making it clear that much more than just his life is at stake."

Okay I must say this is not usually my cup of tea. Actually after reading the blurb I did put it back on the shelf, I just couldn't fathom a book about some guy with amnesia walking around clueless trying to find the guy who almost killed him. Also what part of this is Scifi? All I could even think of was Ender's Game with the school. But something pulled me back, maybe it was Neil Gaiman, maybe it was the fact that Nick Sagan is a Hollywood screenwriter, or it could have been that damn butterfly on the cover how would that play in a murder mystery I am not sure. 

I'm glad I picked up that book! And I think you should too. Sure the first 100 pages are confusing. He (Halloween) has amnesia so you are uncovering the truth pretty much as the character does. Which also left me in a fog for much of the story, but as the rules unfold and the mystery begins to clear up, the book is kinda brilliant. Think post apocalyptic Matrix. And thanks to our friends at Goodreads I have just found out there is 2 more books! While I was satisfied with the ending I wonder where the story could go. So do yourself a favor and look for Idlewild. Because if you are like me and trying everything to find Game of Thrones or Hunger Games, you are in for a long and fruitless search my friend. And that wisdom way told to me by the Clerk of my favorite book shop.

Hack all the Facebooks!

This afternoon my friend posted on his facebook "Wait I can connect to facebook from this? (Via Glade Air Freshener.) Of course it looked more legit then that. This was my answer.

Yeah you know because I totally have access to the TARDIS.

Anyways you too can have this awesome power to now post status updates from ANYWHERE! Thanks to our friends as Reddit!

Happy hacking!

Last Dogs of Winter

Recently I became aware of this Documentary LAST DOGS OF WINTER from the production blog and since then I have been feverishly trying to spread the word.  Because how can you not love a face like this?

Meet the Canadian Eskimo Dog. The subject of the documentary. These dogs are rather special in the fact that they are pretty rare, they also live in Polar Bear country.  The film is Directed by Costa Botes who is from New Zealand of all places. (Something about a Kiwi making a documentary in Canada makes me feel so small in this huge planet so I had to point it out.)

Anyways some info from the site....
"1n 1976, Brian Ladoon took on the self imposed mission of preserving and breeding Canadian Eskimo Dogs, the rarest registered breed of dog in the world.  The dogs share their pitiless natural environment with itinerant wild polar bears. This film documents a  unique situation, and explores mankind’s responsibility for managing and exploiting animals."

As well as a teaser...

I for one am super excited for this and try and check the production blog once a week if not more.
So please check it out, more info can be found in the following places.

Last Dogs of Winter Production Blog
The Canadian Eskimo Dog Foundation
And lastly the Films Facebook, go on, Like the page! I already have!

How about a little Summer Knitting?

This blog is still rather new so I figure I can make a fool of myself, right? Well this is me, in my horrible room.

 

Hello there! But enough about me. Hopefully you are here for some knitting action! First of all I am new to the world of knitting, with only a few years under my belt and well this is my first real attempt at anything special. 

See when I was first learning I bought 2 Skeins of yarn I thought I would be happy with, and now I am not, but it left me with a TON OF YARN!

What to do with this?

 And well I live in Texas where today we saw temperatures rise to a balmy 105. Thus while I haven't knitted and I want to knit something tells me that my wool scarf or that cool knit cap will have to wait until we at least drop to 80.  Never fear I have a nice light pattern. 

Cast on 20 ( I did 40, because I am a rebel like that)
knit 2 rows
(knit 1,yarn over twice) * ending with knit
(knit 1, drop the  2 yarn overs) * ending with k1
Repeat rows 1 - 4 until the scarf measures 50" , 60" , 70" or 80", or until desired length.
Bind off all stitches.

* Repeat to end

Super simple! All you do is KNIT!  And it gives the work this nice open weave look something I am calling netting. Which is what I have always wanted to learn how to knit. See...

 

I'm using size 11 needles, but any size will do!

But wait... I hear you complaining, "that is all fine and dandy, but what is this yarn over thing you are talking about?" 

Well my friends fear not, a yarn over is just what it sounds like wrapping the yarn over the needle. Like I said super simple and makes it look like it took forever. 

This is my first time using this stitch but I am already liking it. Have you used it? Am I delusional knitting in the dead of summer. Tune in next time dear reader! And all will be answered.

Welcome All

Hello Everyone,
I'm not really sure what to do, as this is my first venture into the blogging world. Well real venture. So welcome and I hope you stay for the ride. Here you can expect a lot of things, from Music to Movies, Crafts to whatever I feel like posting.

My brain works a million miles per minute so one day I might feel like telling you about a new knitting pattern I'm trying out the next might be a review of the book I just finished reading. Any way you slice it it is going to be one wild ride.


So I hope to continue to see you on that wild ride.