when

Infantino When I Grow Up Alphabet Puzzle
$12.99
This puzzle was for my 3year old niece. It is basically a great game for any child learning the alphabet. The outer loop of puzzle pieces is made up of 26 different people with occupations corresponding to the alphabet, and inside this loop are the pieces to a tiny detailed little town with buildings that correspond to the occupations.

When We Left Earth - The NASA Missions (4-Disc Set in Limited Edition Tin)
$29.98
This is not a review of the product, which I haven't had time to watch yet, but rather of Amazon's assinine policies regarding their pricing. The day I bought this, a month ago tomorrow, it was $12.99 as a lightning deal in the gold box specials. The next day it was back up to $36 and I felt good about my purchase, but now, a month later, the price is back down to $11.99 as the regular price! This sort of pricing policy most certainly DOES NOT encourage one to purchase the so-called lightning deals, and instead cheapens the image of Amazon as being a deceptive organization more determined to clear their warehouse than to provide quality deals to loyal customers.

Rebuilding: When Your Relationship Ends, 3rd Edition (Rebuilding Books; For Divorce and Beyond)
$17.95
For along time, after my divorce, I didn't want to deal with everything I was feeling. When I was finally ready, I sought out books and found this one. I read it over one weekend and felt so much better after putting it down. For me, the chapter on letting go was the most powerful.

I think, most of all, I was afraid of what the future would be like. I never imagined I would be alone. Several times, the author spoke to my fears and was reassuring that, not only was I not the only person who feared the unknown, but gave useful advice on how to calm that fear down.

I have to admit, this book played a vital role in me feeling better and being able to move on.

For any other men out there who are going through the same thing, I can tell you it does get better. I also recommend a book called Dating After Divorce - How to Meet New Women, Start a Sexual Relationship, and Have Fun Again... for when you're ready to let someone new into your life.

There is light at the end of a painful divorce.

What to Do When the Shit Hits the Fan
$12.95

This book is an excellent first look at surviving a natural or man-made disaster in an urban environment. Do not look here for information on wild edibles, constructing wilderness shelters or traps, or on the various methods of starting fire by friction. The focus is entirely on surviving in your home and city, and how to prepare for emergencies where electrical power, gas supply, water supply, and sewage removal may be shut down and you are left on your own without those modern utilities you've come to depend upon in your day to day living. The book is a straightforward, serious discussion of how you can prepare for such an event. The writing is tight and clear and there are no stylistic distractions.

The author grew up in a Mormon family that stockpiled the recommended two years supply of food and emergency essentials, and he has spent time living in primitive environments outside the United States. Following "long years in the military in intelligence and special ops", he was a firefighter and paramedic in Utah, and is now "an internationally recognized consultant in emergency planning and disaster response."

This is not a book that counsels to run for the hills with a heavily laden backpack, a compass and map, and a loaded gun. There is, then, no sense of the moral chaos and the clear need for self-protection that many survival minded people believe would arise in a "SHTF" situation. The author has an apparent faith in the appointed civil authorities, and a trust in one's local, community-network of neighbors gathering together to help one another through seriously difficult times.

Note: A "first look" is not a comprehensive look. It is simply one good place to begin. If you want only one book that tells you everything, this isn't it.