Random Chats

[Kandice]

Ana wrote: "Hey!
How is everyone doing? Any plans for the weekend?"

Have any plans yourself?

[Ana]

Sounds like fun, Kandice!
I plan on going to the beach today. Not sure about tomorrow. Sunday is my birthday but I will be spending it most of the day with the kids from church I have been giving catechism too, it's the end of the year get together.

[Sorobai]

Weedend and nice weather! Reading time! Yeah!!!

[Melaslithos]

I'm having an alpinism (or is that mountaineering? Not really sure of the exact English term) this week end. I hope that the weather is going to be good. It's a bit uncertain for now...

[Sorobai]

Hi Melaslithos! What will you climb!? Would it be the Magic Mountain!?

[Ana]

Nice, Melas!
Well I have been at the beach for a couple of hours now. It has been great so far!

[Kandice]

Melas, you seem to be very active physically. Good for you! My oldest son hikes, spelunks and rides his bike a lot, but I am quite a bit more sedentary. O_o

Ana, spending time with the kids sounds fun. We had our end of the year bash for the Torah School where I work a week ago and it's always bittersweet to see some graduate (won't see them much) and others go off for the summer and look forward to seeing them changed 3 months later when school resumes.

[Sorobai]

Hi everybody. I'm facing a dilema, I have way more than 300 books in my home but my GR account listens only 300. I think I'm missing something... -_-'

[Ana]

Hmm I am hoping all of mine will return next year, they are still young. Next year we'll prepare them for first communion.

It is so weird when they are back at the beginning of the new year, amazing how kids change in just 3/4 months!

Sorobai, you should try the GoodReads application. With its scanning option it is so fast to inventory your stuff!

[Sorobai]

What is the scanning option!?

[Kandice]

You can download an app on a smart phone and actually scan the barcodes of all of your books adding them to your GR shelves pretty easily.

I have thousands of books at home, but I only enter books on GR as I read and review them or as I see one I am very interested in on GR and click “want to read”. I am constantly loaning and giving books out, also picking up new books, so putting every single one on my GR shelves seems like an effort in futility.

[Sorobai]

Thank you Kandice for your explanation and Ana for your advise. But I don't have a smart phone. I have a tablet which I use to read ebooks, but it has only front camera and not back one.
I am not giving my books away so I have a lot and I use GR as a catalogue for new books, since the suggestions are based on books you own or read. I have read many books which I don't own like the ones lended from friends or from the library and those also count for the suggestions.
But I have many books which doesn't have information on GR. I added some already, but it's troublesome. There should be a easier way.
Anyway I will keep adding as the time permits.

[Kandice]

Have you tried searching GR by ISBN number? That often works when the title does not even though that makes no sense to me!

[Ana]

Hmm frontal camera should still work, it scans the bar code like when you go to the supermarket, you know?
For the ones which are in GR anyway.. If the books are in portuguese you probably won't find most of them here.

Good luck!

[Kandice]

Not sure if we have any fathers in this group, but if so...Happy Father's Day!

BTW, is that just an American thing, or is it celebrated in other countries as well?

[Ana]

Father's Day in Portugal is celebrated on March 19th.

[Kandice]

Is there also a Mother's Day?

Funny, because Mother and Father's day are celebrated on the third Sundays of May and June respectively here so that they are always on Sundays. The date fluctuates year to year like Easter.

[Ana]

Oh yes. If I am not mistaken, mother's day ocurrs on the first sunday of May.
Now that I think of it, it's odd that Father's Day has a set date. Probably because that's St Joseph's day too, though I am not sure.

[Melaslithos]

@Sorobai: no Magic Mountain for me. I don't know if you know it, but we went to "la Grande Glière", in the "parc de la Vanoise". Not too far from Switerland, but still in France. It's not the most well known spot for alpinism. Starting from the same place, there is a lot more people going to the "glacier de la grande Casse".

As for GR, yes, try looking for ISBN. It is much less random than looking for title/author.

A lot of books are still not on GR but you can add them yourself. Or if info is missing, ask in the librarian group, or here (I think both Ana and myself are librarians), we will help you fill in the missing information!

[Ana]

Hey, guys! I was wondering, is anyone on vacation yet?

[Sorobai]

Hi Melas thanks for your advise. And now I know la Grande Glière! Thanks to you! lol I think you can call alpinism to that.
I'm using ISBN for more rare books, but most I must had myself. Some of them I don't even find an image in the internet. Well, I guess I must take the photo myself.
Anyway, it's troublesome and tidious but I'll do it more often during the holidays.
Which answers Ana's question. I am not at vacances yet! I can't wait...
How you doing everybody!?

[Sorobai]

I just came from fnac today. I found some Terry Pratchet books of the Discworld. Gosh, they are really expensive now!!! I was really surprised they used to be cheaper... And in general seems everybook got a price increase! What happenned! Are we having a shortage of paper or what!?

[Ana]

Unfortunately, the price probably went up because he passed away recently, which brought more awareness to his work and therefore people want to buy it more, so more profit for them. Meh.

[Sorobai]

I thought about that too, but I doubt it will have a good impact in my country. I think they'll end with the books on the shelve unable to sell them and they will need to sell them at a shorter price later on.

[Ana]

Probably.
Btw, it's my country too :P
I haven't been to Fnac in years, i order all my books from bookdepository. Much cheaper and free delivery !

[Sorobai]

Hi Ana

10000 people think like you, me included. Why would I pay 5/6 euros more for something I can buy cheaper!? I don't get it. What are they thinking! Anyway, if I buy two books at the cheaper price I can get a third book for free.

[Kandice]

No vacation for me yet. I'm off work July 8-15 for Comic Con and I can't wait! It won't be relaxing per se, but it will be exciting.

[Sorobai]

Comic Con! That sounds interesting Kandice!

[Ana]

They probably think a lot of people don't know about these sites and if they do they don't want to wait several weeks to receive them? I don't know. They must have marketing research that proves it works!

I just got a call for a job interview tomorrow morning. I am so excited! The description sounds pretty much like my dream job: various administrative tasks and getting to speak in english most of the day. The company places portuguese students in british universities, so I would be in contact with them a lot.

Send positive thoughts/prayers, please!!!

[Ana]

Kandice wrote: "No vacation for me yet. I'm off work July 8-15 for Comic Con and I can't wait! It won't be relaxing per se, but it will be exciting."

Ooh very cool, Kandice! A whole week, nice!

[Sorobai]

Congratulations Ana! That's great news for you!
As for amazon and bookdepository I belive anyone with an internet connection and a love for books knows about them. Anyway, I don't mind to wait a week to get my books 5/6 euros cheaper, like I said I can use that money to buy another book.
I don't think their marketing research is very good then. It's pretty obvious they are losing money and clients. As with so many things in life, I think they just don't care.

[Ana]

Yes, it really is. I don't want to set high expectations but it is very good that they want to interview me at all.

Hmm I think if they didn't have customers they probably wouldn't have them there ;) It's good to have things immediately available to buy, like when you are looking for birthday gifts for other people, for instance. You know that the typical portuguese leaves everything to the last day ;)

[Sorobai]

Ana take a look:

http://www.fnac.pt/The-Colour-of-Magi...

http://www.bookdepository.com/Colour-...

Tell me they are not joking!

[Kandice]

Ana said: "I just got a call for a job interview tomorrow morning. I am so excited! The description sounds pretty much like my dream job: various administrative tasks and getting to speak in english most of the day. The company places portuguese students in british universities, so I would be in contact with them a lot."

Fingers crossed, prayers, good wishes, everything!!!!!!! Let us know.

[Ana]

Eheh not in those specific cases I mentioned ;)
Well, Fnac does have high import costs, from what I gather.

[Ana]

Will do!

[Sorobai]

The only good thing I see with fnac those days is that I like to hold the book in my hands before I truly decide to buy it. But I can perfectly wait 4/7 days to save 4/5 bucks. On the other side I would perfectly pay say one or one half euros to have the book right away. That said they can still be able to have discounted prices sometimes but that's a rarity. I wonder if the other sites mentioned don't have high import costs too, and they do it for free. That's what I can't understand.
Sometimes I see a book lying there on their shelves for months and no one catchs it. It really makes me sad seeing it degrading as the time pass. But then they sell it at a much inferior price than even other sites would do. Why is that!? I don't know and don't understand but I'm not complaining!

[Ana]

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!
How are you doing this fine day?

[Sorobai]

Who wants an headache!?

[Kandice]

Good morning everyone! I do not want a headache, BTW. :D

The final book in the Dexter series, Dexter Is Dead by Jeff Lindsay came out this morning and I am torn between reading it and prolonging it. I don't want it to be over!

Comic Con starts tomorrow and I am so excited I can't stand it!

[Ana]

Nuh uh! Keep it! I have had my own for a few hours.
Over the course of this week and the next I will be going through some life changes. I don't want to talk about it yet (call me superstitious), I will as soon as I feel comfortable with it. In the meantime, please send good thoughts/prayers my way!!

Woohoo at long last, huh Kandice?

[Melaslithos]

@Ana: Good luck, whatever it is!

[Kandice]

I will absolutely keep you in my prayers Ana!

[Kandice]

I have my Comic Con badge and tomorrow night is preview night. I am so excited I don't know if I can sleep!

[Ana]

Ahah well you gotta! Must stay wide awake for the whole thing ;)

[Sorobai]

Rise and shine dear fellows, rise and shine! The game is afoot!
I wish you luck Ana whatever you are after.

I wish a good day to everybody!

[Melaslithos]

It's typhoon time here. Rain and wind. I just hope it's going to be over by Sunday, since I'm supposed to take the plane to Taiwan, for a meeting on Monday.

edit: to be exact, it's a severe typhoon that is arriving over Shanghai, Chan-Hom.

[Ana]

Whoa that sounds nasty, be safe!

[Melaslithos]

I am at the airport. Planes are taking off, but it's such a mess! It look slike everyone from cancelled flights of the previous days are here, fighting to get a seat on a plane. I have never seen so many people at the same time here, and I have spent a lot of time in this airport.

But the good thing of having access to the VIP lounge (I'm a frequent flyer), is that I get free food and drinks, which makes delays so much more tolerable.

[Ana]

That sounds scary.. Will your fight be long?