20110404

Most Viewed Pictures for March 2011

20110302

Most Viewed Pictures for February 2011

Warmer weather is right around the corner - time to get out and take more pictures....

20110203

Most Viewed Pictures for January 2011

More old pictures - still generating on-line interest......

20110111

Damn - I love Amazon

Most of the time when I go to buy something, I want it NOW, so obviously that rules out on-line shopping. But after checking a couple of places, I will usually end up on Amazon.

What makes Amazon special in my mind, is that they have a major distribution/warehouse here in the Phoenix Metro area. So if I happen to order something that is in stock, and even if I only pay for 2-day shipping, I get it in a single day. It never leaves Phoenix.

(which of course now that I have said this - they will go out of their way to hold the package so that I stop getting this extra special/speedy delivery)

I will enjoy it while it lasts.

20110103

Most Viewed Pictures for December 2010

It was an unusual mosaic for December. The were only 13 'Top' pictures. Several were multiple day top pictures. So the last image (#14) is blank.

20101219

Is the Thriller genre over?

I read a lot. All three of the walls in my home office have Ikea bookcases filling them. And of course - you would be hard pressed to find any room on any of the shelves for anything new.

A sizable number of those books are action adventure or military thrillers. And when you talk about military thrillers - you have to include Tom Clancy. The first Tom Clancy book I read - was the Naval Institute release of "The Hunt for Red October", and I was hooked. Ever year or so from that point one - there was a new Clancy thriller to look forward to, and a new copy would get added to the bookshelf.

[one of the early books, actually was personally signed by Clancy when one of my friends got it at a book signing]

As the Cold War changed, so did Clancy's novels. Gone were the Soviets, replaced with terrorists (way before 9/11), or by greedy idealistic corporate leaders. But Clancy changed outside of the novels as well. His 10th novel - Rainbow Six - crossed over to become a very successful video game series.

After an absence of several years, Clancy has finally released a new book this holiday season - Dead or Alive.



A follow-up to 2004's Teeth of the Tiger.

The irony of all of this - in the 6 years since the last Clancy book, I have moved on. I saw the new book listed as a Future Release on Amazon a couple of months ago, but there was no excitement in finding it. Because the book was listing a co-author.
One thing I have seen w/ several other thriller author's in the last couple of years, is that unless the co-authors have the same style, the book becomes a mess.

So I am sitting on the sidelines and just wait for this to come out as a paperback next year (or maybe I will just get it as a Kindle download).

20101212

Most Viewed Pictures for November 2010

Even though my picture taking in Nov was pretty busy, I still have most of the pictures backlogged on my PC waiting for review/processing/posting.

I will be glad when 2010 is finally over, and maybe life will settle back down to normal.