Greetings and a Happy 2012 to all my wonderful readers out there! I have returned once again from the immense expanse known as the Internet (*cough* and work *cough*) to bring you some useful and interesting info on a peculiar device that we use every single time we use with our electronic workhorses. I’m talking of course about the mouse! The computer mouse, not a real one. That’d be gross 😛

The mouse was invented around the late 60s-70s and it was made of wood. Interesting eh? Anyways, it had no practical application in those days, so it was shelved along with plenty of other brilliant ideas that at the time many thought would just be a waste of people’s time and money. Then comes an interesting man and his team of fellow geeks and programmers called Steve Jobs, and acquires this idea from Xerox (that’s a story for another day hehe). Needless to say, in the 1980s, Apple released to the masses the Apple Macintosh, the first “affordable” personal computer for the masses. And of course, it included a mouse. This was an amazing revelation! And it stuck.

Fast forward to today. The mouse is as common with technology today as butter is to bread. It’s the primary tool we use to surf the Net, play games, design, draw and so on. It’s our modern day hammer.

Since I eat, breathe and sleep technology, I’ve had A LOT of mice. They come in all shapes and sizes and many are tailored for specific functions like gaming, design, ergonomics for those with Carpal Tunnel, and the list goes on. Since the list is so long, I’m going to recommend a few I’m using nowadays.

If you’re a PC gamer (high five!) you want to go with a gaming mouse. These are generally a tad more expensive than your run-o-the-mill optical, but the features you get to give you the edge make it worthwhile. They come with extra buttons, use laser sensors (don’t look at ’em) instead of optical, and they allow you to change the density of the mouse by adding or subtracting weight in the form of little metal pellets or discs. Gaming not your thing? I recommend the Logitech G-500 or the   Microsoft Sidewinder X5. Gaming not your thing? No problem!

Ever heard of a trackball? No? Well I’ll tell you. It’s a sort of mouse that instead of moving it about on your desk, it has a ball that you move with your thumb or index finger. It may seem strange at first but trust me you’ll feel the difference after several hours of surfing the web without your wrist hurting. I use the Logitech Wireless Trackball M570 and if you’re willing to give trackballs a shot, go for this one.

There really is no limit in what you choose here. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any suggestions!

Take care and have fun! (but be safe eh?)

Welcome to another Life with Lisa! So everyone knows, that it’s now officially 2012, and at the beginning of every new year, people set goals for themselves! Some want to lose weight, do better with homework, or even just meet new people, make new friends and try new things!

Even though I want to do all of the above, most of my goals for this insane year, are for Turning Pages, and blogging. I’ve come up with a few different main points, that I want to discuss.

One of the most important and hardest things about having/reaching goals, is actually doing what you said you would, and keeping your eyes on the prize. A lot of people lose their way, only a few months into the new year, and just go back to whatever they were doing the year before.

Here are some of my goals:

Reviewing:

I want to write longer, more in depth, and interesting reviews. Besides that I want to write reviews more often, and have them published on a few different websites (such as Turning Pages, Burn Bright, Goodreads etc).

Youtube:

I have a YouTube channel, but barely ever find myself using it. This year I hope to use it every week for reviews and In My Mailboxes. Along with that, I want to find more different types of book related videos I can do!

Twitter:

I feel that Twitter is one of the biggest and most popular website bloggers, authors and readers use to communicate. I also have one, but barely ever find myself using it, so in 2012, I want to be able to tweet at least five tweets a day, and have a conversation with one person!

Goodreads:

This website, is a great place to repost all of my reviews, and I started doing that, but just was to lazy to keep going. Which I’ll be changing this year.

2012, is where I want to branch out, meet more people, authors and communicate with my followers. I have so many plans for this year, for both blogging and my personal life. I’m excited to get things started and kicked into gear!

Do you have any goals? If so, what are they?

Lisa! 🙂

Now you may have been reading this blog for over a year (I hope, but if not do some scrolling back we have some great stuff on here) and you may have noticed I am a HUGE fan of the Supanova Pop Culture expo.

This year is shaping up to be the most epic one ever, and I’m not just saying that because it gets bigger and bigger every year without fail… I’m saying it because there are now going to be six stops on the calendar.

Melbourne has theirs April 13-15. The new kid on the block, the Gold Coast (Queensland), is a week later April 20-22. Sydney gets their chance from June 15-17 Perth is June 22-24. Brisbane is November 9-11 and Adelaide rounds out the year November 16-18.

You may be wondering what the big hairy deal is; and if you are, my guess is you have never been to Supanova. Poor you, let me give you a really quick rundown of the awesome stuff you can expect from this much awaited expo.

The difficult part is where to start.

I guess you start with the pricing; it’s cheaper to go to Supanova than catching a flight to the USA, or the UK. (They’re the only other places I can think of who may have an event that might match this level of awesome.) Tickets for the Melbourne and Gold Coast expos go on sale in late February BTW.

Then the next thing you will notice is the level of participation. The crowds may be a little large; however there is always a cosplay competition and the costuming is always, always top notch. You may wish to dress up just for the heck of it, but be a good sport and be willing to have your photo taken, and if you are planning to be the photographer, be nice and ask your subject if it’s okay before snapping their pic.

Next it has to be the merchandise. Swords, anime, comics, bobble heads, clothing, costumes, posters and rare items that you may not see outside of the expo, are one of the main reasons my family turn up year after year. Oh, and considering the downturn of the bookshop gravy train, there is always a book stall selling a nice selection of sci fi fantasy books, and on that note we move to the next cool thing that Supanova is famous for, and that is authors. Check with the Supanova website closer to the date of your closest expo to see who will be the lucky ones to be signing and doing panels on various topics to do with their line of work.

But then the thing you may want to save up for is the guests from movies, tv and character voices from well-known anime series. Again check their website or friend them on facebook for updates on appearances and guest lists closer to the date.

If this hasn’t convinced you, then the only thing left to do is challenge you to go to your nearest Supanova pop culture expo and not have fun. Mission Impossible!

http://www.supanova.com.au/

http://www.facebook.com/supanovaexpo

Marianne here: Lisa’s Xmas post is a little late due to me not being up to posting it last week. Better late than never though! Apologies to Lisa!

So the holidays are just around the corner, I’ve been gift shopping, sending Christmas cards, and books like a crazy person. But I finally finished today, and I’m broke (no new books for January, that’s for sure!). And besides that I made tons of Christmas cookies. When I was younger I would spend the night at my grandma’s house, and we would spend the whole time baking, playing board games, drinking hot chocolate, and just spending time with one another.

She lives in Germany, and now every Christmas, we only have a phone call to share. I love my grandma. She’s one of my closest friends, I could talk to her about anything for hours! I do miss her a lot, and I pray for her health every night. To make myself feel closer to her, I bake her old recipes, make hundreds of cookies, just so I can share them with friends, neighbors, my family, and just anyway that needs a little bit of holiday spirit.

Do you, do anything special with love ones? Or that reminds you of your childhood? What are you doing for the holidays this year?

I’m actually spending Christmas Eve with Josh and his family! I’m super excited, we’re having secret Santa (don’t tell anyone, but I got Josh’s mom), and tons of amazing food! On the 25th, Josh is coming over and were eating more food (yaaaay!), and sharing more gifts, between my mom, my brother, Josh and myself. I’m happy to spend the holidays with my family, I can’t wait!

If you keep up with Life with Lisa, than you would know that my dad recently deployed to Afghanistan, and he isn’t here to spend it with us. But we are planning on webcaming with him, unwrapping gifts with him!

No matter what you celebrate, I wish you a great time with your family and friends, delicious food; simply a awesome time.

Lisa