A Nice Review for Bloated Goat

Just tooting my own horn here. Bloated Goat received a nice 5-star review on Amazon from a reader. Tanya says, "This guy has talent! Holy cow, I was laughing so hard I cried & my tummy was aching. I loved every page of this book. Interesting story and great laughs! Only took about an hour or so to read."

So if you haven't read Bloated Goat yet, give it a go. It is available in Kindle and Paperback versions on Amazon.com.

Time Traveling with a Hamster

Time Traveling with a Hamster is a good book. I just finished reading it. I enjoyed the character development and plot. It had an interesting take on time travel and kept things moving along at a good clip. Its one of those weird books that is over 400 pages long, but when I was done, I thought that it was way shorter. So, the pages fly by and the chapters are short, if that appeals to you. I would recommend giving this book a chance.

Halloween 2016 (hey, that rhymes!)

How about some cheap Halloween-flavored eBooks to scratch your reading itch?

Granny Gruesome: Nursery Rhymes to Terrify Children

Granny Gruesome 2: Thoughts and Observations to Terrify Adults

Camp Chin-up

Night at the Nursing Home

Beware the Blue Hubbard

Midnight Jack

Incubators

30 Minute Run PR

I hit another milestone PR that I was running for this summer. I was gunning for the elusive (to me anyway) 4 miles in 30 minutes or less. I had flirted with it a few times this summer with separate attempts of 3.85 miles and 3.92 miles in 30 minutes. But finally, with my son Bishop riding bike behind me, I ran 4.03 miles in 30 minutes, averaging 7:28/mile. Out of all my PRs this year, I really think this was the hardest one. For me, it is basically a continuous 30 minute sprint. It took a lot of mental determination to keep going during the uncomfortable times and stay focused during the lulls.

August 2016 - Great Month for Running PRs

Well, setting aside the awful humidity, bugs, and rain days, August 2016 was a pretty good running month. I set a PR in each of these races: 1K, 1 Mile, 5K, 10K, and half-marathon. The culmination (and my happiest moment) just happened to come on the last day of the month. I ran my fastest 5K ever and finally made it under 23 minutes.

Here's a screenshot from my Garmin Connect account. These races were all captured with my Garmin Forerunner 10 watch while wearing my Brooks Ghost 9 shoes.

So, when comparing my previous PRs from 2015 and earlier to this year, I have improved my race times by:

1K = 4 seconds

1M = 5 seconds

5K = 1 minute and 23 seconds

10K = 4 minutes and 34 seconds

Half-Marathon = 14 minutes and 49 seconds

New 5K PR

I have been trying to run just about every day this summer. One of my goals was to lower my 5K PR. It has been standing at 24:00 for about three years. Well, I've had success this summer with slowly lowering my time through June, July, and August. Yesterday, I posted my best 5K PR yet. I ended up finishing it in 23:17.

Shattered 10K PR

It was a perfect morning for running. Clouds in the sky, gentle breeze, and 60-ish degrees. My previous 10K PR was set 11 days ago. It was 51:17. Today, I ran hard and was determined to get close to 50:00.

I ended up finishing with 49:04. It completely shattered my old PR. It felt so good when I was done. I was surprised to see that time on my watch. I knew I was running well and going to get a new PR, but I didn't think it would be that dramatic.

My son rode his bike with me. I wore my Batman pajama pants, Superman t-shirt, and Brooks Ghost 9 shoes.

Batman 1966 - Enough Said

We've been watching random episodes of Batman 1966 (TV series) for the last year. I can't remember which episode we watched first, but I remember my initial reaction going something like this:

"What the...? Batman would never say that. Are you kidding me? This is ridiculous. This is so stupid. That's the villain? Oh my gosh...this can't get any worse. Oh, I guess it can. Wow. I'm speechless. Just get him. He's right there. Quit talking to the bad guy. Just punch him. What do the police even do in this show? They call Batman for everything!"

But we hung in there and watched a few more episodes. And then something amazing happened. The magic of the show - the crazy plots, ridiculous villains, and zany dialogue - it suddenly made sense in some strange way. Each episode made us laugh. Instead of laughing at the show. We were laughing with the show.

Now, we thoroughly enjoy watching each episode. We haven't finished the series yet, so the magic is still out there.

If you haven't discovered this show yet, give it a chance and let it grow on you.

Fun Halloween Books for Kids and Adults

Here are some fun Halloween-themed books for kids and scary-themed books for adults available on Amazon Kindle:

Young Children:

• Simple Monsters is a colorful children's picture book for ages 0 to 5. It has twelve original illustrations of silly monsters and each is accompanied by a funny verse similar to the literary nonsense of Lewis Carroll. Simple Monsters is available on Kindle.

Teens:

• Beware the Blue Hubbard is a children's horror short story similar to the Goosebumps book series. Will the crazy old lady's warning about the mysterious Blue Hubbard squash come true? Beware the Blue Hubbard is available on Kindle.

• Camp Chin-up is a children's horror short story similar to the Goosebumps book series. Eddie isn't looking forward to the last day of summer camp. Will he be able to do enough chin-ups to satisfy Mr. Payne, the unbearable Camp Director? Camp Chin-up is available on Kindle.

• Granny Gruesome: Nursery Rhymes to Terrify Children is a parody of Mother Goose nursery rhymes and features thirty original illustrations. Recommended for teens and older. Granny Gruesome is available on Kindle.

• Midnight Jack is a fun retelling of the tale of "Jack of the Lantern," better known as Jack O'Lantern, and how he became cursed to walk the land with a pumpkin in his hand. The rhyming verses are accompanied by eight illustrations. Midnight Jack is available on Kindle.

• Night at the Nursing Home is a children's horror short story similar to the Goosebumps book series. Ann and Jason are going trick-or-treating at a nursing home on Halloween. Will they get all the candy they want, or will they bite off more than they can chew? Night at the Nursing Home is available on Kindle.

Adults:

• Granny Gruesome 2: Thoughts and Observations to Terrify Adults is another humorous collection of twisted thoughts and observations about life, careers, and barn yard animals. This time, with only adults in the room, she won’t pull her punches. Be prepared to laugh, cringe, and scream out in horror. Recommended for older teens and adults. Granny Gruesome 2 is available on Kindle.

• Henry Sloan is a short story of 4,300 words written for adults. Driven by past memories, Henry returns to his old church to make things right. Henry Sloan is available on Kindle.

• Incubators is a horror short story of 3,200 words. Stranded in space, three astronauts struggle to accept their fate aboard a crippled ship. Could a last-minute rescue be all they hoped for? Incubators is available on Kindle.

150 Story Ideas For Kids Who Love to Write

Every story starts with a single idea, a spark that sets a writer’s imagination on fire. Sometimes a writer yearns to tell a story but doesn’t have that initial spark. Maybe this writer just needs one fresh idea to coax that wimpy flicker into a roaring, magical blaze?

To that end, we’ve compiled a list of silly, funny, interesting, and crazy prompts that you can use to get your imagination burning. All you need to do is take one idea (or build a dozen together) and ignite your writing fire. We hope you have a lot of fun, and we can’t wait to read your stories!

Check out 150 Story Ideas For Kids Who Love to Write on Amazon.com!

Lloyd Alexander - Some Great Books for Everyone

I can still remember visiting my local small town library as a kid and looking for a book. Any book to read over the summer and keep my attention for more than a few minutes. That day, some 20-odd years ago, in the kids section in the basement, I happened across The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander. The cover art - a menacing villain with a skull mask on horseback - drew me in, and the exciting adventure story kept me enthralled until the end. And what luck - it wasn't a one-and-done. It was a series. Five full books called The Chronicles of Prydain. I was in heaven. Each one was a masterpiece. That was a great summer.

If you are looking for other wonderful stories - that ooze with adventure and creativity and interesting characters - look no further than Lloyd Alexander's books.

Here are some of my recent favorites:

The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha

The Arkadians

The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio

Why don't you curl up with a good book and get lost in another world for a few hours?