Cleaning Books

This is a helpful book. What I liked is that you can read it tip by tip. I read alot of it in the car waiting in the drive-thru, etc. If you have a really serious organization/clutter problem, it is helpful, but probably won't give help to that level. I really enjoyed this book.

The book is organized by weeks. The greatest feature is the organization of the menus and the inclusion of shopping lists. The beauty of the weekly menus is each week has only 2 days of real cooking, meat, starch, vegies and or salad. The other days of the week are creative ways to use the leftovers from the 2 cooking days. Also included are suggestions for purchased foods to help stay out of the pizza/hamburger rut. I don't recommend this books for families with young children as meals are somewhat sophisticated. However, the meals are relatively simple to prepare and provide excellent variety. It is a must for families with older elementary and high school kids with little or no variety in breakfast or lunch and who complain about having to eat the same old things

"Bootblacking 101: A Handbook" by Andrew McDiarmid is something that you would have expected to see multiple volumes on the topic. After all, you see bootblacks at almost every fetish event. The bootblack room-as-fundraiser is now standard for most contests, especially at International Mr. Leather. There is usually a boot-stand at any leather bar worth its salt. So why it took this long to get an actual book on the subject is surprising.

On the other hand, maybe not. "Bootblacking 101: A Handbook" is a pretty thorough look at the topic and it clocks in at barely 100 pages. This means that, as elemental as the bootblacking topic is, there may not be all that much to say about it. McDiarmid is certainly a worthwhile source for bootblacking. He twice competed in the International Mr. Bootblack competition at IML, finishing second runner-up in 1997. He's done volunteer time with the Leather Archives and Museum. He has given presentations on the subject at the Orange County Leather Association and in Fort Lauderdale, among other places. So he's certainly knowledgeable about the craft.

It is McDiarmid's experiences as he learns his craft and enters the arena of competitive bootblacking that set the tone of "Bootblacking 101." While the autobiographical final chapter deals just as much with preparedness and the rules of most contests, the description of the event is an informative read. While this is where the tone of the book was likely formulated, the soul of the book comes earlier.

McDiarmid waxes (sorry - couldn't resist) philosophical in the section headed "The Tao of Bootblacking." "Over the years of working in the bootblacking environment," he states, "I have developed a credo. My Tao of how bootblacking affects me." He emotionally describes how his philosophy informs the way he works on boots and leathers, and how - as you work on a person's pair of boots - you aren't just a bootblack. You are their bootblack. As he postulated in a pamphlet that was originally distributed at Living In Leather 1999, "The Seven Tao Of Bootblacking" sets the tenants of not just how but why a bootblack reaches his spiritual pinnacle when he enters the boot worshipping zone. McDiarmid finds his best footing in this area, and it really is the best part of "Bootblacking 101."

Unfortunately, immediately following this illuminating segment is a story excerpt from McDiarmid's collection of short stories, "Smoke...Cigars and The Men That Enjoy Them." Basically re-writing the previous segment with characters as a work of fiction, you wind up re-reading exactly what you just spent the previous five pages during "Marcus' Ethic from 'The Hunt'"...except with dialogue and some hot in-bar sexual tension. Plain and simply put, it's filler in a book that is already somewhat slight.

Be that as it may, "Bootblacking 101" covers the ground you really need to know. If you want to get in on the beginner's level, the first third of the book details "The Basic Bootshine." For bootblacks on a budget, there is a boot-kit that you can put together for about twenty bucks. He even humorously warns you away from anything with "insta" or "EZ" in the product name. From there you'll be cleaning, soaping, spraying and polishing in no time.

I can recommend "Bootblacking 101" as a primer to the world of boots and bootblacks. I just can't say that this book goes deep enough. It's a good resource for McDiarmid's Bootblacking Tao and for doing the deed, but in need of some more substantive research. This book feels incomplete, frankly. I kept hoping for more about the different brands of boots themselves, maybe a history of bootmakers and sellers (like the infamous Stompers in San Fransisco), some background on bootblacking through the ages, or even more of a history of the contests (the IML contest is now over 15 years old). There are no inclusions from other bootblacks to enhance McDiarmid's comments, nor any real attentions paid to the variety of footwear that one might encounter as a bootblack. Perhaps those issues and a little more in-depth research could go into "Bootblacking 201," but for the most part, "Bootblacking 101" feels more like a few magazine articles stitched together and then stretched out over the length of a book.

This book is really cute. I love how mole and mouse clean there house. Then mouse yells at mole because he wants to mess everything up. Also how mole goes and takes a shower, nap, and picnic outside. This is a very good book.

Feeling drained of energy? Never seem to get everything done? Perhaps one of the contributing factors is clutter.
Gaylah Balter provides an insightful treatise on how clutter, in all of its forms, affects our lives. Whether it is a
cluttered desk, cluttered house, a cluttered room in the house or even a cluttered mind trying to keep track of too many
things, clutter is around us everywhere. Using a system based on Feng Shui she leads you through the process of uncluttering
your life and returning to a more relaxed state.

She also discusses some of the reasons why people keep clutter and how it gets out of control, but best of all she offers
a framework for how to change yourself and get out of the habit of cluttering up your life. Very practical, useful ideas,
in a well written book, it was generally a joy to read. I say "generally" because while it is filled with useful information
and written in a wonderful, clear style, that style is often broken up with attempts at humor. I found it
added an amateurish quality to a book that was very professional in every other aspect. If you can
ignore such high school comments as the "Ha, ha" in, "I hope it hasn't become as overwhelming as your clutter is; that was
not my intention. Ha, Ha.", then you will probably find it an interesting book. Don't get me wrong, this is a great book
that would deserve a five star review if it didn't contain all the "clutter" of the annoying side comments. A recommended
read - with patience.

This booklet has some good general information. I would have liked to see more detail that gets to specifics. The publication could stand to be lengthened to great advantage. It does, however, bring together in one place some important scattered items of information.

First I have to admit I know Barry Kalb and was at the coming out party for this book whenI lived in Hong Kong. That said, this is a great book and a fun read. Having lived through the SARS crisis in Hong Kong (and the book came out right in the middle of that crisis) adds an extra touch of enjoyment to the idea of God wiping out 20-30 percent of the Earth's population by an unknown disease. Add to that the fun that Kalb had making up names for his characters. And top that off with a Black Pope from a war-torn African country.

Again it is fun and well worth the time. In fact I am doing a third read of the book right now just for the fun of it.

This book has a lot of good ideas on ways to store things. The drawings are pretty basic however and you'll need to figure out how to construct many of the projects on your own. If you have a lot of clutter and can't seem to find place to keep everything, you'll benefit from this book.

color concerts are explained in detail for a non graphic designer and for people who havent studied color theory formally.

This is a well-done guide to citing information that comes from electronic sources. It provides plenty of examples in both the MLA and APA styles. Unfortunately, it does not include the Chicago/Turabian style. I refer to this guide often and find it very useful.