Well folks, this WordPress blog has officially reached its end. But all the content remains and all broken links have been fixed. And now for the good news. The blogging continues over at wordbit.com where I’ve moved to the Tumblr platform. Thanks for reading!

I’d like to reward all my loyal readers with a chance to win the iPad 3000! Featuring a holographic, 4D display with a synaptic interface, the iPad 3000 is sure to blow everybody’s mind. Just tell me how awesome I am, tell your friends how awesome I am, tweet about me, write about this competition in your Facebook status, create a Youtube video telling me why you want to win one of these beauties, drive traffic to my blog, and leave a comment with a valid email address! When the iPad 3000 is released sometime in the 51st century, I’ll pick a winner.

Good luck to all! And thanks for reading. No really, thanks.

You may be wondering if I’m talking about the book or the HBO series. Well, I read the book first, so the TV show paled in comparison, as is usually the case. I was optimistic at first, mostly because of the glowing reviews and comparisons to Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson undoubtedly won the hearts of purists and lovingly captured the spirit of the books. Unfortunately, the Game of Thrones TV series falls short of this benchmark. It’s not terrible, but not awesome either, the way LOTR inspired awe.

The screenwriters obviously took great delight in exaggerating and extrapolating on certain scenes and themes in the novel. It seems like there is some sort of mandate at HBO to maximize on vulgarity and shock value. I’m sure some people get a kick out of this, but if you’ve read the book first, it all seems so unnecessary.

As for the book, I can only say that it’s rooted in political intrigue without being mired down in politics. The characters are well fleshed out, but nothing genre-bending. I like long epic stories with many interwoven plot lines, and this exactly is what you get here. Perhaps my only real complaint is that the few brief battle scenes are often told through second-hand accounts instead of diving first-hand into the action.

I’ve just finished reading Clash of Kings as well, and there is a lot to enjoy so far in the Song of Ice and Fire series. I can’t say I’m looking forward to a mangling of this excellent second book on TV though. Not that I won’t watch it anyway.

My recent article on Battery Recycling is now available in the November issue of alive. I wasn’t aware of this before researching this topic, but you can recycle both single-use and rechargeable batteries in British Columbia.

Personally, I’m a big fan of eneloop batteries. I believe the batteries Apple uses in their wireless mouse and keyboard are re-branded eneloops.