Hauling Sunday LXVI

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

May 2012 be filled health, love and happiness!
and great books!

I hope everyone had fun during New Year's Eve and didn't party too crazily! :) I can't believe we're already January 1st of 2012. How did that happen?!?

No plans for me today :) Just taking it easy. I definitively need to continue cleaning my room. However, it is going well. Look, look!!

Yep, that's my shiny new computer!! Along with my extra spacious desk!! :) But I'm not showing pictures of the rest of the room LOL. Hopefully, in 2012, I will be spared from the computer troubles! :)

I really like that this year, New Year is on Sunday. It feels like you're really starting the year afresh. Obviously, it'd have been better if I had managed to finish my Monthly Reads posts ^_^; I will definitively try to tie that loose end. In the meantime, here are the last book I've bought in 2011 :)

The Sweetheart of Prosper County by Jill S. Alexander - I've been wanting to read Ms Alexander for a while. Ames read and really enjoyed Paradise by this author. Then, not long ago, Alex reviewed The Sweetheart of Prosper County and I decided to give this one a try as it sounded a little bit more light-hearted than Paradise :)

And there it is. I've kept track of all the books I've bought in 2011!! I'll be making a tally in the new couple of days :)

Hauling Sunday XXVII

Hey there! How was everyone's week-end? :) Okay, okay, the week-end is not over yet... but almost if you're working tomorrow ^_^; Mine has been okay. Not much reading done, but I did plenty of that during the week, so I don't mind :) I've been having some computer problems again since Christmas and so, I decided this week-end would be spent re-formatting my computer. That's pretty much what I did, fiddle with my computer... Had to back-up everything on external hard drives, re-download and install programs, cleaned up the external hard drives and so on. And now, I'm fretting a little bit - is my computer safe or not? In short, I'm being my self: paranoid ^_^; Seriously, computers are such a source of headache, but then, can't live without them either ^_^;

Book-wise, I'm quite proud of myself :) I was a very good girl this week! Seriously!! Want to know what I got?

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan - During the holidays, I read Dash & Lily's Book of Dares and enjoyed it so much that I wanted to read more of their work... and so, I went and got more LOL.

Prom & Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg - I wasn't planning to get Prom & Prejudice just yet. My initial intention was to wait till Ames read it and see how much she enjoyed it. However, there was 30% off on hardcover books and I thought why not? :P

Marry Me by Jo Goodman - After seeing all the good reviews for this book, I finally broke down LOL.

There you go, my new books :) And you know what? I've already read 3 of them! Go me LOL.

This week, I'm planning to try to wrap up the year 2010. Hopefully, I'll get up my December reads list soon and will try to complete the Re-Read challenge and write some end of the year posts... Then, I'll finally be able to start reviewing again! Can't wait for it, seriously! Lucky me, my boss is away till the 20th, so that will give me more time to read and blog! :) Woohoo!

My computer woes continue...

Hey peeps!

Sorry, but I just need to rant ^_^; My computer is again causing me trouble... and seriously, I'm about to just trash it and buy a new one T_T It's been giving me problems ever since I've bought it and that's been 3 years ago only!!

My internet browser keeps crashing - both Firefox and Chrome. It freezes or crashes down on a regular basis. I've restored it to its original setting and just this past summer, re-format the whole computer.

I just don't know what to do with it :(

Success!!

Yes!! Just a quick post to let everyone know that I successfully re-format my computer!! Woohoo!! It's like new now and I'm really happy :D It actually feels new LOL. Re-formatting wasn't that hard because I have a Dell computer, so it came with the necessary CDs. Just for that, I might continue buying all my computers from Dell ^_^; I was able to find some tutorials online and even a video... while it wasn't exactly the same, it was similar enough not to confuse me :)

LOL, can you feel my happiness?

Computers... can't live without them, but they suck!!!

Remember the computer problems I mentioned yesterday? Well they're even worst now ^_^; I tried to fix it and obviously, it didn't work, sigh. As a result, I need to re-format my computer. Yes, re-format it. I've never done it, so I'm not really looking forward to do it. Apparently, it takes time, so I'm only going to tackle it this week-end. Luckily, we have a lot of computers at home and I spent most of my days at work... so it's not as if I won't have access to internet (now I wouldn't survive that LOL). However, it's been soooo hoooot these past couple of days (we haven't turned on the AC. I have no idea why...), that the idea of sitting close to a heat-emanating/generating machine is makes me sweat even more ^_^;

Anyway, I just wanted to warn everyone not to worry if you don't see/hear from me :P I'm still alive and not dead in a ditch :P

Review: Nine Rules to Break when Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean

Hello!!

How was everyone's week-end? In Canada, it was a long week-end and we had gorgeous weather in Montreal. Sunny and warm... perhaps too warm ^_^; I should have gone outside and enjoy the sun, but I didn't ^_^; Perhaps this week as it's supposed to be as nice.

My computer at home has been driving me crazy. Ugh. Can't live without a computer, but sometimes, sometimes... they suck big time. Basically, Firefox and Google Chrome both keep crashing and the anti-virus is giving me a hard time too. I don't know whether it's because I've installed a few new program last week (Adobe Digital Editions, Kobo, Calibre...) or because my anti-virus was updated and got a new look. I'm going to try a few things tonight - wish me luck!!

Speaking of the Kobo, for those who are wondering (like Ames :P), no I didn't have time to play with it more or read on it. There's been a lot of new releases out lately plus the 50-something books I brought back from RT. And there's still a tons of books I want to get at the bookstore in the next few days. So I haven't really had the opportunity to use it... but I will. Soon. Just not now ^_^;

I'm hoping to have a few reviews up this week... but they're not written yet LOL. Only one is ready and you can head over to Breezing Through to find out what I thought of Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean. Buddy reviewing with me was Ames :D You can find the review here.


Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
published by Avon in April 2010

A lady does not smoke cheroot. She does not ride astride. She does not fence or attend duels. She does not fire a pistol, and she never gambles at a gentlemen's club.

Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried-and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she's vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she's been missing.

But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight kiss-to do those things, Callie will need a willing partner. Someone who knows everything about rule-breaking. Someone like Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston-charming and devastatingly handsome, his wicked reputation matched only by his sinful smile.

If she's not careful, she'll break the most important rule of all-the one that says that pleasure-seekers should never fall hopelessly, desperately in love...

McAffee Security Center?

All right, so with all the computer problems I have had recently... I need to choose a new anti-virus. I've got an e-mail from McAffee (it's what was installed on my computer initially), offering me 50% on a renewal... which comes to a really great price...

However, I'm wondering if it's the best. Anyone has suggestions or advices?

I used to use AVG... but I ran into trouble. My friend suggested Avast, a free anti-virus... That's what my dad had on his computer... and it went loco as well... So yeah, I don't know anymore. Problem with McAffee is that the reviews out there are atrocious... so it's hard to know what to believe.

What are you using?


EDIT: (Dec.31)

Thanks to everyone who commented and shared their experience with me. I decided to cave this morning at 2h30 AM and bought 2 years protection with McAfee. I have to say, part of it was the price. 70$ for 2 years, even if it's in US$, it's quite a bargain.

Also, I've been using McAfee for the past few days and my computer seems to be functioning correctly. However, like Li, I'll be knocking on wood :)

Computer update...

Hi everyone!

Thanks for everyone who asked about my computer. I somehow got some virus/trojans and it started messing stuff up. Especially Google... so every time I did a search and I clicked on a result, it would open in a new tab (which I don't like) and half of the time, it would be advertisement, instead of what I've been looking for... Luckily, it wasn't porn :P

I've been toying with the idea of re-formatting my computer... however, I never did that and it can be quite complicated. I ended up doing a PC restore, which is bringing my computer back to its original state when I just received it from the store. It did work (thanks god), but I've been using AVG as my spyware and I think that was part of the problem... so I had to do it all over again and use another spyware.

So now, my computer works well. Hopefully, it'll stay that way :)

Computer loco...

It's 4h28 am and I'm trying to resolve some problems with my computer. Basically, it's driving me crazy!!

Why did I buy a new computer again? Seriously?!?!

I just want to cry right now T_T

The Bad of my week-end...

So yesterday, you got the good of my week-end :) Technically, I had a great week-end :) I mean, I had a great time, got to hang out with relatives that I see, oh, once every 2 years on average... I ate well and got to buy books :P and even after being gone for 3 days, I didn't have that many posts on my Google Reader. LOL, seriously, I don't know how many blogs you guys have on your feeds, but me? After being gone for 3 days, I only had 69 posts to read :) Not bad right? Which by the way, I'm already all caught up to. (Ain't I good or what? LOL)

So everything should have been fine and this post should not exist... except that it does :( So what went bad? First, I had to wait at the border check point for 1.5 hour!!! It was loooong. Worst is, I don't get why it was so long since the custom agents only asked a few questions. So yeah, we were delayed and it basically screwed up all our schedule in the evening... but hey, can't do anything about it right? Plus, it was a long week-end, so it was kind of expected. Annoying, but predictable.

However, what got me all frustrated and unhappy is that I have... not one, but TWO computers down at home!!! TWO!!! Why did they have to crash down at the same time? so let see, my computer won't load Windows XP T_T It's basically stuck on the Dell splash... pressing on F2, F8 or F11 doesn't help. My dad's computer? It's been tricky for a while... First problem: Lack of disk space... yeah, yeah, I know. I can just delete some stuff to make place right? Well NO! My dad has nothing on that computer's hard drive. No pictures, videos, even Word or Excel files! So WTH am I supposed to delete? That's 40G of memory somehow/somewhere occupied... Apparently, I only have 29Mb left of space... and because there's so little space left, the anti-virus can't scan the computer... and result? Yep, you've guessed right... it's infected... not by one virus, but two. UGH.

*EDIT: So, I spent 3 hours this evening talking with tech support... My computer is back and running :P Which is great. I was hoping someone would come and take care of it, but no... I had to open the tower on my own. Luckily, it's okay now. My dad's computer is going to take more work... They're sending me the Driver and Utilities CD so I can run a diagnostic... but oups, I just learned from my dad that his computer was modified... so it probably won't work either... Ugh, help me... I'm about to shoot myself :(

So yeah, it totally sucked to come home, after about 6-7 hours of drive (which actually, should have taken only 4.5 hours)... and to come back to two broken computers :(