I was hanging out with a crazy Brit named George when I first had the idea of the bookii. I had been working on writing a book and was finding it incredibly 2 dimensional. I wanted multiple topics and more visual than I could accomplish in print. I wanted my reader to be able to explore my book rather than reading it one page after the other. In a conversation with George we were talking about an online technology called Prezi that allows you to explore deeper and is a more flexible presentation platform than Power Point. Somehow talking about that helped me start to visualize a dynamic memoir that had pictures and color and video and wasn’t bound by the boundaries of a printed book. Prezi didn’t end up being the medium, but the concept stuck with me. What makes it a bookii? Well, it is a book that you read electronically It is written by one author and instead of purchasing a book, you purchase an annual subscription to a bookii. My bookii is creative non-fiction–a lifestyle, but I hope there will be lots of bookiis that are both fiction and non-fiction combined. I imagine being able to read my favorite authors and about their characters while simultaneously being able to look up what they were thinking about when they were writing about it or what their inspirations were by exploring their bookii. The Crucible Bookii is my bookii. It is the world’s very first bookii. It is rich with interesting articles about the stories that make up my life. I hope you will become a member and share this journey with me as I create this interactive real-time memoir. Melanie shares how the bookii idea...
read more
I felt so incredibly free. I can’t tell you the last time I was on vacation by myself in a city other than my own. It was an explorer’s dream.
read more
Owl Cafe Green Chile Burger vs. Buckhorn Tavern Green Chile Burger I stopped in San Antonio, New Mexico for lunch the other day. I wanted to go to the Owl Cafe, which is famous for its green chile cheeseburger. Now, it is in the middle of nowhere on the way to nowhere (apologies to the 3 people who live there) but it has been a popular stopping point my whole life. As I got off the highway, I noticed a “newer” burger restaurant with signs proclaiming that it offers the #7 burger in the nation. I was intrigued. The Buckhorn Tavern (the “new” restaurant) had a full parking lot while the Owl Cafe was looking pretty lonely. I decided to do my own comparison. Step 1: I start at the Owl Cafe. I order their green chile burger without cheese because they only have nacho cheese and american cheese which both have corn in them and I am allergic. The waitress is probably in her late 50s to early 60s. She has worked there a long time. I am pretty sure she has waited on me before. She doesn’t seem to care whether I’m happy or not. See their very empty dining room in the photo below. As usual, the fries are brought by one server and the hamburger is delivered several minutes later by the waitress. This has been the way they have done their food for 20 years. On a scale of 1-10 the fries are a 3. The oil tastes old and they are nothing special. The green chile burger is delicious and I would give it a 9 on a scale of 1-10. I am only giving it a 9 because if I give it a 10 and the Buckhorn has a better burger I won’t be able to rate them properly. The burger comes with Green Chile, tomato, lettuce, onions, and mustard and the patty is clearly home-made. I discovered this restaurant in my college years and it is always...
read more
