Tomorrow is Thanksgiving...

So I'll make my second blog of the night (hey...I'm playing catch up) one listing things I am thankful for (since I slacked off on my daily thanks on Facebook).  This list is inspired by The Walking Dead (my current absolutely favorite show ever):

• My daily hot shower (actually...most days it is two...one at home, one at the gym) - I mean seriously...just the general grime that coats the characters every episode and the occasional getting drenched in the blood of the dead and the walking dead...boy do I love my hot showers!
• A working modern washer and dryer (well...once we get a new dryer this weekend).  Nearly every episode it seems the characters are in the same clothes.  Every day.  Day in, day out.  I mean...how long was Rick wearing his sheriff's uniform?  Change it up some...geez!  
• Modern medicine (although apparently it isn't likely to find a cure for whatever brought on the Walkers).  Yes...Lori was annoying as hell...but man, what a way to go!  How Hershel survived his amputation (and didn't become a Walker) is beyond me.
• Electricity in general - Not just relying on a generator...but electricity.  Uninterrupted electricity.  Maybe we rely too much on it and any thing apocalyptic could just throw is into a total tailspin once the power goes...but still (I would never survive in that scenario)...and, wouldn't you know it...the end of the world is scheduled for less thn a month away.
• Phones...all phones - Not being able to get a hold of someone when I need to drives me nuts.  I'm not talking the kind of phone calls Rick has recently received...but being able to call  if I got separated from the group, or if I'm out hunting down needed supplies, etc.  
• The internet - How else would I keep myself entertained for hours on end...because I'd lose:
• My Kindle - I mean, I could still read books on it and play angry birds as long as I can figure out how to charge it every now and then...but still.
• Calenders - I need to know what day it is.  Every day.  I use a calendar for pretty much nothing else (wonder why I can never keep track of my appointments, due dates for different things, etc.).
• Restaurants - again, this is where I would likely not be able to survive in that kind of world.  I am not so much on dining out these days...the whole fitness thing, ya know...but I still want that option!
• Grocery stores - up and running, full stocked with fresh food...perishable fresh food.  Not picking my way through trying to find something that never goes bad (especially now that there is the potential of Twinkies going away for good).

I'm sure I could add more - a lot more - to this list...but I need to go to bed.  And with that...I will add that I am thankful for my comfy flannel sheets, my tempur-pedic pillow and my fleece pjs.

eBook Review: Solstice: A Novel of the Zombie Apocalypse (Donna Burgess)

I am all about the zombies these days.  Addicted to The Walking Dead (AMC on Sundays nights).  I am watching it right now actually since they are running them back to back with the new season starting tomorrow night.  I've read World War Z (for all the raves I've heard, wasn't that impressed) and I've read various other zombie-type and/or end of the world type novels.  And, gotta say, Zombieland is one of the most awesome movies ever!  And I'd also recommend Patient Zero - it is the first book in the Joe Ledger series - not a zombie series, but a series about a special ops type group...the first book, though, is all about zombies.

Solstice...another end of the world zombie story.  As far as zombie stories go, it's not the worst...nor is it the greatest.  For some reason, as soon as the zombies start talking (yes the zombies in this book talk), it kinda takes a little away for me.  I don't know why...maybe it's because the zombies are really only supposed to have the most basic function left of their brain...and that does not include speech (or memory - which some of the zombies in this book seem to possess).  Overall, there is a core group of characters - at least one that actually wanted me to cheer when she finally bought it (and was almost disappointed in how it went down).  All about trying to survive in the end of the world.  This story has it's only little twist on the zombie apocalypse and the precipitating events...and it is pretty far out there compared to some of the others (total darkness all the time...almost as if the sun were snuffed out...and the world plunged into another ice age).  I think the author threw a little extra elements into the story that could have either been left out (the marauders..., or she should have further told that part of the story.  I am really not a fan of stories where the author dwells too much on a few parts which in turn causes the author to run through, fast forward or skip over other parts.  It just feels so...incomplete I guess you could say.  And too many do this.  It just leaves me wanting more and/or pissed off!

As a whole, this wasn't an entirely bad book, not regretting the time I spent reading it but it could have been a little better, not so rushed through in a few parts and too much dwelling in other parts.  I'd recommend it if you are looking for a simple read, or another telling of the zombie apocalypse.