Book Review: “Unfinished Business” by Nora Roberts

I’m not much of a novel aficionados, but once a while I’d like to kick back and learn about how stories are told to help my narration skill, which is important for speeches and conversations.

Just finished the novel while on vacation in Southern California. It’s a good novel to read when you are on vacation, relaxed and bored without the stimulation of work and Internet. I’m not sure why this novel is so highly rated but I enjoyed it all the same. A graduating high-school girl got taken out of her comfort zone in a small fictitious small town, Hyattown, and became successful being a virtuoso pianist, thanks to her Dad’s direct control and command without her Mom next to her. She came back to see her Mom after her father died of cancer and re-acquainted with her first love, Brady Tucker. The story was about what she found out why her Mom didn’t connect with her all these years and how she handled her first love, Brady. This is a fine romance book and a little of a mystery book to read while on vacation. Not really earthshaking. The book, “Unifinished Business” is written in omniscient narration point of view. The narrator knows everything and all points of views and their thinkings at the time. It doesn’t beat around the bush too much for those impatient readers. I enjoyed it but the plot was quite predictable though there were some small mysteries to keep the readers interested: like why her Mom never contacted her and who her Mom was with all these time. This is a perfect novel to read if you don’t want to think too much, especially in a vacation. More on the plots below: Spoiler Alert!

Vanesa came back from years of touring after her father died of cancer. She saw her Mom for the first time since she left for Europe to achieved what she achieve, thanks to her father’s moulding and pushing. She came back to Hyattown and had to reconnect with her Mom, who had fell in love with her family doctor. Vanesa carried a grudge against her Mom why she didn’t contact all these years when she was accomplishing all she did with her Dad. By the way, this type of situation probably wouldn’t happen nowadays with all the mobile technology we have in our hands. Just texted or Facebook your Mom, Vanesa! Meanwhile, she fell in love again with the high-school sweetheart, now a family doctor and also a son of her Mom’s fiance and the brother of her high-school friend. Brady Tucker was still handsome and full of emotion for her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to rekindle the emotion for him. Then she got more comfortable with the small town people, who kept bringing their children to her to teach piano lessons. But more importantly she got more familiar and in love with her Brady, now a mature, responsible family doctor. After a small performance in a fictitious European country, Cordina, Vanesa finally figured out what she really wanted – to be with Brady.

Maximize Refresh Rate for 4K Monitor – A LearnByBlogging Quick Tip

I recently bought a 4K monitor (LG – 27″ IPS LED 4K UHD FreeSync Monitor model 27UD68) with 4x the HD (1K High Definition 1920×1080) resolution or 3840×2160 resolution. Upon its arrival, I was so excited to set it up and hook it up to my computer, which I already checked before ordering that its embedded graphic controller can support 3840×2160 resolution based on the Intel CPU Description by searching for the CPU’s “ark.” For example, my computer has an Intel i5-4590 CPU. I googled and saw my CPU can support 3840×2160 resolution based on Intel’s ARK here, it should support 3840×2160 without any problem.

After plugging the DisplayPort to HDMI cable that connected the DisplayPort to the computer and HDMI port to the monitor, I saw the wonderful 4K display. Everything looked smaller but with a high resolution, just like Apple’s Retina Display. The only problem was that my computer appeared to be not very responsive to my mouse and scrolling actions. It’s very annoying. I almost wanted to switch back to my original HD 1K monitor.

Then I looked closely at the graphic display, I saw that the display was only running 29 Hz refresh rate. I tried to force the refresh rate 60 Hz but it wouldn’t let me, complaining that it exceeded the maximum bandwidth for the port. After examining the spec closely, the HDMI port supports only HDMI 1.4, which according to Wiki page, can support up to 30 Hz at 3840×2160. In other words, the refresh rate limitation is on the HDMI protocol, not the CPU nor the system. Then I checked again and saw the DisplayPort can support up to 3840×2160 @60Hz. I immediately changed the cable from DisplayPort to DisplayPort. The computer immediately register 59 Hz automatically. Wow! It made a huge difference on how I perceived the responsiveness of the display. It’s like day and night.

My key takeaways:
1. The display refresh rate has a lot to do with how you perceive the responsiveness of your computer.
2. Always check if your computer or laptop can support the display mode your new monitor is capable of running. Check with the CPU spec by googling the specific CPU model name.
3. Don’t count on the HDMI port to support 4K monitor at 60 Hz unless it’s capable of HDMI 2.0. Use DisplayPort to get the maximum resolution at a high refresh rate.

Comcast Login Error when Watching AMC Episodes – How I Fixed It – a LearnByBlogging Quick Tip

For the last few weeks, I have trying to watch my favorite AMC shows like “The Walking Dead” on my computer. Typically, when you click on Watch Episode which AMC allows you to watch the full episodes within 70 days of the showing, it will ask for your cable provider. See below:

My cable provider is Comcast. When I selected Xfinity (the Comcast proxy), the browser would hang for a few seconds then came out with a comcast login failure. This would happen when you select Xfinity, nothing else. I’ve tried for weeks without success and googled around without a clue how to fix it.

How did I fix it? I just logged into Comcast Xfinity site. It prompted me to identify the name of device. I entered “My Computer,” then I was able to search and watch the “Walking Dead” program. Afterward, I could now go to the AMC site, select my episode, and select Xfinity. Voila! I could now watch any episode at will.