Freedom Run

I only beat dad by 51 seconds! I will spend the entire next year trying to extend that lead. It was the most humid Freedom Run I remember.

Book Review: Leadership, by Rudolph Giuliani

Rudy is a great author and had many stories and lessons in this book. I listened to it on tape.

He had nearly finished this book when the WTC Disaster happened. In the book, he included many personal accounts and lessons from his life in regards to that tragedy.

It is not really possible for me to outline all of his points about leadership, but his stories were inspiring.

Here are a few of the things he accomplished in New York City:

• Reduced welfare state
• Reduced crime
• Reorganized a failing Child Protection Agency into an independent group.
• Built parks, and other things to improve the lives of citizens
• Had all of his officials chosen before he even became mayor.
• As a U.S. Attorney, took down several criminals, including some in the mafia
• Managed to get elected without compromising his loyalty to the Yankees (also managed to get elected as a Republican in a heavily-leaning Democrat area)
  
• Reestablished a city government center on Sept 11. Managed the crisis.

And there were many other things.

You may be reading between the lines - yes, listening to this made me more likely to vote for Rudy as President of the U.S. in 2008. I'd not only be willing to vote for him, but am excited to do so!

This book is not only for people interested in leadership or politics, but it is for anyone wanting to be inspired. Courtney listened to about half of it when we were driving around, and she is excited to listen to the whole thing in the Fall. I'd be willing to listen to it again.

Here were a few of his leadership mottoes:

• Sweat the small stuff
• Don't assume a damn thing
• Underpromise, Overdeliver
• Stand up to bullies
  

Movie Review: Mrs. Miniver

This was a good movie about a middle class family in England when the Germans began to bomb them, which situates this plot in 1940. This movie starts out with the family doing frivolous things like buying a new hat and car. A city worker names his rose the "Mrs. Miniver", and enters it into a competition.

Then the war starts, and their son joins. Their son gets engaged to the granddaughter of the grouchy lady who always wins the rose competition. Then the father goes out to do some kind of army task. And the wife has to fight off an escaped soldier in her house. Then they spend the night in their bomb shelter while the bombs come down and take down part of their house.

Then their son gets married. Then the grouchy lady lets the city worker win the rose competition. Then the son goes to fly his plane in war. Then a few important people die, and they have the funeral in the bombed-out church. The movie ended with a message that said "Your country needs your money. Buy U.S. Bonds"

It was better than most old movies. I actually said "This one was pretty good".

It was followed by an "MGM Short" special feature - "Mr. Blabbermouth". It was a comedy/documentary about war doubters, who believed everything they heard about how the Allies couldn't win, and talked about it all the time. The documentary presented facts that showed that the U.S. was much more powerful than Japan, etc. It was interesting and educational.

This was Oscar Best Picture winner 1942, the winner the year my dad was born.

Movie Review: Ocean's 13

This movie was very funny and had a great plot. The acting was tremendous. Courtney and I watched this in the theater the night she got back from Nebraska. She really enjoyed the time, and I got to hear her laugh loudly! We are gladly out of touch with the theater and the $9/each cost, and we admit that was shocking!

This was a perfect sequel in the Ocean's triology. Where the first one was to steal, the second one, to protect themselves, the third one is sticking up for a brother.

Fireworks Dud at Royals stadium

Dad and I took in a Royals game to have some father-son time and to see some fireworks. The Mariners quickly went up 4-0 in the first inning, and then not much happened after that! The Royals lost 4-0.

Then we made our way down to some better seats to take in the fireworks display. After 2 or 3 false starts, they announced that the rain earlier in the day damaged some equipment, and that there would be no fireworks. Our tickets could be used as a rain check. I thought that was a good public relations move. Instead of everyone going out angry, many of us were happy.

Here is an article about it: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/179206.html

For the family that said they spent $300, and thought a rain check was a gimmick to make them spend more money, I do believe that it's their problem!

Movie Review: Fantastic 4 - Rise of the Silver Surfer

I went to see this movie with Bryson late on Monday night. (You know that erratic behavior when I am a bachelor?)

The movie had a lot of really bad wise cracks (supposed to imitate a comic book?) and lots of sexual innuendos, which I think is odd for a movie that would attract kids.

The action sequences were really good. (Reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 where that was the only good thing I could say about it.) The villian "Silver Surfer" was really well done.

So basically, they save the planet. With a lot of cheesy situational comedy before that.

The Single Life

I have been "batching it" for about 11 hours now, and I've been reflecting about how different it is. I do things really strangely as a single person. I eat weird things at weird times. (I just ate half a package of pepperoni at 11 PM!). I sleep at weird times (still up at almost midnight writing this). I work at weird times.

One example of a weird thing I did when I was single in Manhattan is that I went out walking around 3 AM in the drizzling rain. Some police officers stopped me and shone a bright light on my and asked me questions, including if I enjoyed watching beautiful women walk by in the area. They took a few pictures of me for their file. I took this to be very strange. Eventually, I found out I was a suspect in the City Park Pusher/Attacker case. It is still vague to me exactly what this criminal did, but he was wanted really badly. It so happens that one visit from a detective, and he was convinced that I couldn't possibly commit any crime. So the moral of the story, is that marriage keeps me out of those situations!

The cool thing is that continued watching the Ken Burns Jazz series. I also just purchased a Stride Piano book. Harlem Stride is the jazz piano style immediately following the ragtime craze. See, I've been learning things!

Best of June

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: The Wizard of Oz
Best Life Happening: Shed Removal
Best Book I Read: The Heavenly Man

June saw the lowest number of posts in 2007! :(

Book Review: The Cat Who Talked To Ghosts

This was on of the better of the Cat Who Series by Lillian Jackson Braun. I appreciate how the main character refuses to believe in ghosts and UFOs even though the people in his town do believe in them! This book sees the death of one of the favorite characters Iris Cobb, who is a great cook and friend. Qwill moves in to take care of the museum that Mrs. Cobb was managing. His next door neighbors annoy him, and another one down the street he has a crush on, so to speak.

Anyway, the conclusion of this includes underground tunnels and searching for buried treasure, and a really good mystery. blah blah blah. if anyone is still reading this, thanks!

Nightly Camp

I believe I will be at camp every night this week. The 5 night perfect score. Of course a requirement is that Courtney spend every night at camp. Also, I must not have any evening activities (worship band practice, for example). I even spent an entire day there yesterday. And I will blog about that later.

Then next week I will not see Courtney from Sunday morning to Friday night, because she is going to Covenant Cedars in Nebraska with our church's middle school youth. So I am filling up with her presence before I miss her next week!

Book Review: The Heavenly Man

This is a touching book about a Chinese Christian, Brother Yun, who was/is greatly persecuted for his faith.

Caution, major plot spoilers ahead!

As a teen he prayed for over a year for a Bible, and finally received one, and he memorized a lot of it. He was sent to preach in various areas near his hometown. He was arrested and miraculously escaped from prison.

He continued to preach a lot, and eventually was arrested again. He went through horrible torture, and then he voluntarily went through a miraculous 74 day fast w/o food or water.

Then I think he got out again, the details are fuzzy, but then he had his legs shattered. Then he walked out of the prison eventually in a miraculous escape. He was able to flee to Germany, and then waited for his family for a while. He actually spent more jail time in Burma trying to retrieve his family.

He now is involved in a movement sending Chinese church members to evangelise the Buddists and Hindus and Muslims between China and Jerusalem.

This was a touching book about someone who was incredibly passionate about Christ, and who did not ever deny him. He does not wish for persecution to leave China, because he fears then that the church would become asleep like it is in North America. I recommend this one. It challenged my faith and my ability to listen to the Lord.

Father's Day pics

Movie Review: How Green Was My Valley

This film won Best Picture in 1941. It was the least entertaining in the previous 4 years. Plus, it was in Black and White. And it was really long.

Interestingly, this movie beat out Citizen Kane, which the American Film Institute ranks as the best movie of all time.

It was an interesting memoir of a boy growing up in a Welsh coal mining community. He had 5 brothers and a sister. Part of the story involves his sister's love of a preacher, and that is a relationship that doesn't work out. Also, a couple of people die.

It is a movie about people starting a coal mining union, and there is some unemployment. The boy tries to get educated and gets made fun of and beat up, and he has to learn how to fight. Overall, I guess I fail to see the supposed greatness of the movie. I vote no to recommending this movie.

I should also mention, however that there were many Christian and Scripture references. There are several church members who the preacher accuses of attending only out of fear of wrath, and they do not show the love of Christ. The preacher helps the boy to walk again, and encourages him to have faith. He tells the boy that his sickness was a blessing, because he could spend the time forming his inner identity and his faith. Plus, the reason the preacher declined to court the daughter was because he felt he was called to the ministry and did not make much money, and he could not bear to see her in poverty.

Movie Review: The Wizard of Oz

Yes, I've finally seen the Wizard of Oz! After 17 years of living in Kansas! I still haven't seen a tornado though.

The movie was better than the Theater in the Park version, which is four and a half hours trying to get comfortable on a blanket. This movie was only about 100 minutes, which was really short especially for an old movie. It was also the first old movie we've seen in color! It was actually not a Best Picture winner. GWTW beat it out.

So, what did I think about the movie for which the Kansas City Wiz soccer team was named? I must say that Judy Garland and the Scarecrow turned in superstar performances. I didn't really like the Tin Man character. And the Lion's vibrato on his "courage" solo was horrific. The songs were all good though.

We were impressed by the Special Effects. There was a tornado and a house that flew around inside of it and flying monkeys. Mo said that the Wizard of Oz series gave great hope and inspiration to those who lived through the Great Depression. I also see it as a funny and imaginitive kids story. I'd also like to point out that it was the first time my sister Monique had seen it, and I found out that my dad has still not seen it.

Here is one of the best clips from the movie:

English errors

I cam across a site full of common English errors

http://wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors

I think it's worth a read!

Example:

HIV VIRUS

“HIV” stands for “human immunodeficiency virus,” so adding the word “virus” to the acronym creates a redundancy. “HIV” is the name of the organism that is the cause of AIDS, not a name for the disease itself. A person may be HIV-positive (a test shows the person to be infected with the virus) without having yet developed AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). HIV is the cause, AIDS the result.

PRODIGY/PROGENY/PROTÉGÉ

Your progeny are your kids, though it would be pretty pretentious to refer to them as such. If your child is a brilliantly outstanding person he or she may be a child prodigy. In fact, anything amazingly admirable can be a prodigy. But a person that you take under your wing in order to help promote his or her career is your protégé.

Movie Review: Rebecca

We skipped 1939 and Gone With the Wind and watched Rebecca (1940), which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David Selznick.

I think it is an awesome movie, because it depicts such a wide range of human emotions. The biggest ones are shame, anger, love, fear, loyalty, bewilderment. It is just a really good psychological suspense movie.

Oscar Best Picture 1940

The movie is based on a book named Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. The book was a best seller at the time.

Shed Removal!!!

Here is a slideshow of Jeff and Heidi and family taking down our shed! He has a lawn care business and needs it to store his things. We really enjoy our view of the backyard! We have a nice big spot with no grass, and a slab of asphalt, but it is an improvement! I can't express how big of a deal this was.

Result of the Dave Ramsey Live Event:

It's not 72.3% of the month's income...it's 72.3% of spending. We spent more than our income.

Best of May

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: You Can't Take it With You
Best New-To-Me Restaurant: Aloha Chopstix
Best Life Happening: Dave Ramsey Live Event
Best Book I Read: Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America

May saw a tie for the the number of posts in one month!

Rainbow continued

For a better explanation of the rainbow I talked about in the previous post about camp, follow the "Mitchum" link on the right.

Movie Review: Fletch

This movie is from 1985. We rented it on Memorial Day. It was on my list of movies to watch.

It was funny. Hey, I kind of have to leave, and go to camp, so sorry for the bad review! This was good to watch for pop culture's sake. But it we weren't really rolling with laugther. There are two scenes which were particularly funny. Where he is a patient and then dresses up as a doctor and when he dresses up as a airplane technician.

Camp adventures

Camp is definitely a different lifestyle. I've driven about 4 hours the past two days, rather than my usual under 1 hour. I had breakfast with teenagers this morning. And I ate sausages and fruit instead of cereal. All of my stuff fits into a travel bag. Every day I ponder the question "Should I go down or stay here?"

We dedicated the prayer chapel at YouthFront Camp South. It was kind of a long "service" which explained the background of the chapel, but at the end it was raining and the sun shone out at the same time. Then the sun shone specifically on the prayer chapel. Then a rainbow appeared over the chapel. It was really amazing.

June Newsletter

Courtney's June newsletter is available if you follow the link on the right...

Flagpole dedication

This Sunday after church, we all gathered in the parking lot to dedicate our new flag poles. One of our members wore a flag shirt, similar to the one on the left, and he sang "I'm Proud to be an American" to a music track. As he sang, some veterans raised the American, Kansan, and the Christian flag. Then some youth read the names of all of our veterans. My dad was listed. Then some trumpet players played taps. Then there was a potluck, which I opted out of.

Courtney got back from camp, and asked me who the flagpoles were dedicated to. I said I wasn't sure, but I guessed America. We also discussed how much we don't care for/about the Christian flag.

Grissom "our" cat

Here is our neighbors cat, who we would be willing adopt. He comes over to us for attention, and he gets it! We call him "Wussum", because he startles very easily.


Photo by BJ Anderson

Forming my one-man band

It's 9:30 AM Saturday, and I've already spent significant time playing all of my 3 instruments

1. On bass, I played through Rob Thomas' "These small hours" - click here for the vid.
2. On keyboard I spent time learning Oscar Peterson's "The strut". That was way fun. The OP book was from Courtney on my birthday
3. On guitar I learned Shane & Shane's "Name's Sake". The Evening With Shane & Shane DVD has an instructional area where Shane B teaches the songs. This song required a short cut capo, which Courtney got me for my birthday. The DVD was from a previous birthday from Courtney!

So definite thanks to Courtney for enabling me to make the tour-de-instruments with birthday presents. Not to mention the keyboard was given to Courtney a long time ago for lessons, so I got that too.

Camp

Camp is back!! I was separated from Courtney Tuesday night, because I had some things to take care of in town. Tonight, I am going down there to spend the night. Please pray for a great summer for all!

Why is there baldness...or anything bad?

Last week as we were sitting around the dinner table discussing my upcoming baldness, I pondered "Why did God create baldness?" But then, I realized if that is a question, why did God create Turner's Syndrome, or cancer, or lupus, or thyroid disease? That is a short list of things that have bothered my loved ones. And then I wondered if God created these or if they are just "a result of the Fall of Man".

Then I realized how much I don't trust the "theological catch-all" of the Fall of Man. It seems that anything that can be disruptive in health, or natural disasters, or evil acts are due to the Fall of Man. If it is such a catch-all, is it mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament other than Genesis and Job? Does Jesus ever mention it?

But if the Fall of Man is not the answer to sickness (or baldness), then it poses the question, of why did God create them, or allow Satan to create them? Is Fall of Man the cop-out for answering this tough question, or is it the valid "catch-all" for sicknesses and natural disasters?

Restaurant Review: Aloha Chopstix

This was another hole-in-the-wall Chinese place. It is on Rainbow Road near Courtney's work and near KU Med.

Gluten-free items: For a tiny buffet it had many non-breaded items. Yeah!

Environment: It is always awkward in these places when the waitress is YELLING things to the kitchen in Chinese.

Price: CHEAP! I don't see how they make it.

One last thing....I wonder how the word Aloha got chosen.

Movie Review: You Can't Take It With You

Famous names: Frank Capra, director. James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore

Best Picture 1938

This movie was about the richest man in town trying to buy a large area for development. Except one good man and his eccentric family are holding out, and not taking any sum of money. Then the rich man's son wants to marry a "lower class" girl ( memories of "It Happened One Night"), and the girl happens to be from the strange family. This is a recipe for really funny situations, and the lesson is that being rich and greedy is really an unfulfilled life.

Courtney said it may rank as one of her favorite movies of all time. It had a lot of laugh-out-loud and smile-really-big moments. And it will definitely be towards the top of my Oscar Best Picture rankings (which are not public until we've seen them all!)

sit out the vote?

Dr. Dopson recently said if Rudy Guiliani was the Republican nominee for President in 2008, he would sit out and vote neither Republican nor Democrat.

Read this blog for the excellent discussion surrounding this idea.

I have thought about this, and it is a difficult decision. However, I will go against the idea. I think when it comes down to the general election, I need to vote, and to vote to win.

Book Review: Men In Black - How the Supreme Court is Destroying America

This is the best book I've ever read about the Constitution and the Supreme Court. (and the only one). But really, it teaches you a lot of things that you didn't have time to learn in history class. You have to be a logical thinker to read the book, because it is really just a series of arguments about how the Supreme Court has misused their powers on various issues. Whether you are left or right wing, it is worth a read.


Here are my book notes with basic ideas. Read them if you wish. But read the book to get the complete picture.

1. Several Supreme Court justices in the past had serious mental illnesses and refused to step down before they died.
2. Many founding fathers expressed dismay about how the Supreme Court justices were able to declare laws unconstitutional. It appears to be a mistake how they made the Supreme Court justices unaccountable in every way.
3. Instead of protecting the First Amendment, justices have taken freedoms away. An example is prayer in school. the right to "not feel uncomfortable or offended" was given priority over the right of people to have clergy give a prayer at a school event. Even thought the right to not feel uncomfortable is not in the constitution.
4. The right to privacy is also not in the Constitution. Instead of using the Constitution to decide cases, justices gave their opinion and said that women can have abortions. There is almost no legal language in the decision.
5. The right to "do what you want in the privacy of your home" is not in the Constitution, but the logic was used by the Supreme Court to make anti-sodomy laws unconstitutional. Drug deals can also be done in privacy by 2 consenting adults, but it does not make anti-drug laws unconstitutional. Also the logic of "we can't legislate morality" was used, but what laws are not based on morality? And why should 7 justices decide what is moral, instead of every citizen using the democratic process?
6. The Supreme Court upheld affirmative action in universities. This essentially is reverse race discrimination, which is prohibited in the Constitution. But justices used the argument that "attaining a diverse student body is at the heart of the Law School's proper institutional mission".
   
7. In the Constitution it is clear in Article I, Section 8 that Congress shall have the power "to establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization". However, the Supreme Court has forced states to use taxpayer money to teach illegal immigrant children. It also denied government agencies the right to fire employees on the basis of not being citizens (they need to be legal immigrants though).
8. The President has the right, as Commander in Chief, to do what is necessary to win wars. Our current President has been mild in the treating of detainees, compared to Lincoln and FDR. However, the Supreme Court has forced our system to hear appeals from war time enemy combatants.
9. The Commerce Clause in the Constitution allows the federal government to regulate inter-state commerce, but not intra-state commerce. The Court upheld a federal law that imposed agricultural limits on a farmer who only traded within his own state. The list of federal commerce rules is 75,606 pages long, imposing billions of dollars of costs for compliance.
10. The First Amendment simply says "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech". However, the McCain-Feingold Act prohibits groups from running advertisements about a candidate's position thirty days before a primary election and sixty days before a general election.
    
11. In the 2000 Presidential Election, the Florida Supreme Court ignored election laws and created their own rules about counting ballots and about ballot deadlines. The Supreme Court overruled them, but in the future this may lead to constant lawsuits regarding elections, which were never meant to be guarded by the judiciary.
12. Democrats used an unprecedented and unconstitutional filibuster to stop qualified judicial nominees from being confirmed
    
13. The author gave some ideas about how to reign in the judiciary, which include periodical Congressional reviews of justices, a 2/3 majority "veto" of judicial decisions, and increased impeachment hearings on judges who manipulate the Constitution

Book Review: The Cat Who Went Underground

This book was really slow, but the ending was good. It took us a month and a half to read it. Not our favorite.



Quote from Amazon:
"In the 9th book in The Cat Who...series, James Qwilleran aka "Qwill", is feeling despondent over the recent absence of Polly Duncan, and decides he needs a change. He moves his two beautiful Siamese cats (KoKo and Yum Yum) into his lakefront cottage in Mooseville for the summer, and quickly learns that country living is not for him. He has to call for plumbing repairs almost daily, and with the small size of the cottage, he quickly decides to build an addition to create more room for himself and the cats. Finding a reputable builder during the summer season is a daunting task, however, as all of the builders are booked for months in advance. Qwill finds himself a builder with a stellar reputation and feels smug for his ingenuity. This all comes to a screeching halt when the man goes missing, and Qwill must find himself an "underground" builder to finish the job. When the carpenter is discovered dead on Qwills property, he becomes a suspect."

brownback 2008

I added a link to my current favorite Presidential candidate - Sam Brownback. If I hear one more time "he went to Bible study at Grandma and Grandpa's", I'm going to explode. Also, if I hear "he's not popular enough to win", I will not like it. Because I don't want to endorse the most popular candidate, but who I'd like most in the White House.

From wikipedia: Herod's tomb found

Every archaeological find from Jesus' day is exciting to me.

Reported tomb discovery

Aerial photo of Herodium from the south west

This section documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

The location of Herod's tomb is documented by Roman historian Flavius Josephus, he writes: "[A]nd the body was carried two hundred furlongs, to Herodium, where he had given order to be buried." ^[14]

Flavius Josephus provides more clues about Herod's tomb which he calls Herod's monuments: "So they threw down all the hedges and walls which the inhabitants had made about their gardens and groves of trees, and cut down all the fruit trees that lay between them and the wall of the city, and filled up all the hollow places and the chasms, and demolished the rocky precipices with iron instruments; and thereby made all the place level from Scopus to Herod's monuments, which adjoined to the pool called the Serpent's Pool." ^[15]

Ehud Netzer, an archaeologist from Hebrew University, read the writings of Josephus and focused his search on the vicinity of the pool and its surroundings at the Winter Palace of Herod in the Judean desert - a part of the West Bank occupied by Israel. An article of the New York Times states: "Lower Herodium consists of the remains of a large palace, a race track, service quarters, and a monumental building whose function is still a mystery. Perhaps, says Ehud Netzer, who excavated the site, it is Herod's mausoleum. Next to it is a pool, almost twice as large as modern Olympic-size pools."^[16]

It took 35 years for Netzer to identify the exact location but on May 7, 2007, an Israeli team of archaeologists of the Hebrew University led by Netzer, announced they had discovered the tomb. ^{[17][18][19][20][21]} The site is located at the exact location given by Flavius Josephus, atop of tunnels and water pools, at a flattened desert site, halfway up the hill to Herodium, 12 kilometers south of Jerusalem.^[22]

US Postage Rate Increase to 41 cents

From http://www.usps.com/ratecase/ratecase_faqs.htm

Why are rates going up again?
The costs of doing business — for things like fuel, transportation, utilities, and health care benefits — have continued to increase. Without an increase to keep up with rising costs, we face significant losses. Many people do not know that postal operations are not subsidized by tax dollars. We rely on the sale of postal products and services to cover our operating costs.

The USPS raised prices January 8, 2006 - why another increase so soon?
The January 8, 2006 across-the-board price increase was to meet an escrow payment mandated by Public Law (PL) 108-18. This is the first time since January 2001 that we have restructured our prices. A lot has happened since then. As part of our Strategic Transformation Plan, we’ve made extensive changes to our operations and increased our efficiency. And the market has changed too – we’re using this opportunity to reflect changes in operations, and respond to market changes. We’ve done that by re-aligning our classifications (product descriptions), and their prices. We must ensure our prices for our products cover their costs.

Dave Ramsey Live Event

Aside from the panic of parking and traffic near Municipal, we enjoyed the Dave Ramsey Live Event. My favorite part was screaming "Show me the money!" ala the movie "Jerry Maguire" with the 10,000 person crowd, while Dave Ramsey jumped around and yelled"you work too hard your whole life to just be broke". It also helped Courtney and I to be on the same page. I plan to make a huge payment on the college debt, and make a few other adjustments, so that that debt goes away by Fall, instead of 3 years from now.

My favorite Dave Ramsey quote was "Men on average speak 30,000 to 50,000 words per day, and women speak 80,000 to 100,000 words per day, with gusts up to 125,000".

Saturday was also big trash day, so on Friday night we cleaned out the sheds in the backyard. There had been things in there for decades, since we estimate the husband died in the 70s. No one had ever completely cleaned out his stuff.

We also ordered that counter top from Lowe's. And Sunday I played bass, and the leader said that I have really improved and have been playing very well the last month.

Movie Review: The Life of Emile Zola

This was another Oscar Best Picture winner, courtesy of the Johnson County Library. It was a biographical sketch of Emile Zola, spending the bulk of the time on how he tried to take down French Army generals for falsely sentencing a Jewish captain, and then covering their mistake up when they found out they were wrong.

Overall this was a "yawner". I may like to read an Emile Zola book someday (oh, I failed to mention he was a famous French author).

Best of April

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: It Happened One Night
Best New-To-Me Restaurant: Zaxby's
Best Life Happening: South Carolina trip

Bathroom renovations

Dad and I put up the cabinet doors, which took at least 45 minutes. Then we put up a mirror. Our bathroom looks so much better! No pictures yet. I'll wait until we get the tile, new counter top and toilet.

random fact

Random fact: I drove an average of 20 miles per day since my last oil change. So it took me 5 months to reach 3,000 miles. I have a feeling that my driving is below average.

*edit - I had gone exactly 3,000 miles since my last oil change when I rolled into the oil place. I think I should get some kind of award.

Movie Review: The Great Ziegfeld

Oscar Best Picture Winner 1936

Nope, still no color. This movie had some really good parts, but it was longer than it needed to be, running at 3 hours. It was the story of a Broadway musical director, who began his career at a Worlds Fair displaying the "World's Strongest Man". The viewers in 1936 were familiar with the real person of Ziegfeld, and the movie seemed to bank on that prior knowledge. There was an amazing set and great camera work for one of the musical numbers. It was amazing. But probably not worth sitting through the movie to see that.

piano on the house

We finally have a piano in our home. It's an electronic. Courtney was given one as a child, and it has been sitting around all this time, waiting for ME. As soon as it came home, I played some Oscar Peterson on it.

South Carolina trip expanded

Day One. Courtney gets sick. Initially blamed on McDonald's which was our first meal. I initially thought it was funny that Courtney puked in our hosts' bathroom trash can. After one year of marriage I'm still working on my sympathy. We just hung out and played a game named "Puerto Rico".






Day Two. Evan took us to play disc golf in Chapin, SC, near Lake Murray. Courtney hung out on a couch in the visitors center.


Friday night we watched a movie named The Interpreter (reviewed below).





Day Three. We headed to the Columbia Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

Later Audrey took us to see the State Capital building, the RiverWalk, and the campus of Columbia International University.

That night we traveled to Batesburg-Leesville, SC to get some of the famous Shealy's Bar-B-Q. See review of this earlier in my blog. I came down with the same sickness that Courtney had.






























Day Four. Our 1 year anniversary.

We stayed home from church because I was sick with a fever. After lunch, we headed east toward the Congaree Swamp National Park. Very cool type of earth that I've never seen before. We walked around a 2.5 mile elevated walkway.




























































The exact minute that we had been married for 1 year.



Day Five. We went on a walking tour of Charleston. Lots of old buildings. Nice day. We got sunburned on the last day of the trip, just like on our honeymoon. People live in these historic homes, and they are filthy rich.











































Day Six. Goodbye. Thanks Audrey and Evan!!

Restaurant Review: Garibaldi Italian

We ate at Garibaldi when we arrived in Charleston. I just had a salad and soup, because I was still queasy from being sick. Courtney had a salad. The atmosphere was nice - we were way underdressed. Me in my Old Navy long sleeved shirt, and other patrons in sports jackets. But they served us anyway - slowly. It took forever, because supposedly they were down to one cook. But we were grateful to be in town, and to be celebrating our anniversary

Restaurant Review: Shealy's Barbeque

This was an interesting experience from all perspectives. When we arrived the line was outside the door to the left hand side of the above picture. In a certain point in the line, you reach a hand washing station. In the buffet, I pointed at an item, and said "What is that?". Courtney informed me that it was the mustard-based BBQ I had wanted to try. It looks like a strange casserole, and not at all like BBQ. The vinegar based BBQ looks equally as strange, but a lighter color. But the vinegar based BBQ is much more disgusting. The dining room is made up of rows and rows of tables like you would see at an indoor church potluck.

I ended up puking everything on the Evan and Audrey's lawn at the conclusion of the trip. And not even the heavy rains the entire night washed it away. But I should be fair and say that the sickness was not related to this restaurant. Plus, I am happy to have gone to this restaurant for the authentic South Carolina dining experience.

Movie Review: The Interpreter

While we were in South Carolina, Courtney was sick one night and our hosts were away, so we plopped in one of their videos - The Interpreter. It is about an intepreter at the UN who overhears a plot to assasinate a head of state. Then investigators try to decide if she is telling the truth, or if she has political motivations. It was not the best movie ever, but it moved quickly and kept our interest.

Jason Whitlock

I'm proud of our local sports columnist for what he said on this video:

Back from SC

It will be difficult to describe my entire trip on this old blog. But the down low is that we were sick with stomach flu for half the time, we saw the sights in Columbia SC, and some in Charleston SC. It is great to be back, and to be holding our food inside.

Restaurant Review: Zaxby's

Hanging out with my friend Evan is the best, because he has a gluten allergy. Zaxby's is his favorite, and it has non-breaded wings. We went through the fast food window. I don't think it would pass for a corporate lunch because I couldn't picture myself wearing my dress clothes and eating wings. But it would make a great weekend lunch. (If any existed in Kansas).

http://www.zaxbys.com/

Movie Review: Mutiny on the Bounty

Courtney and I watched this over the period of 2 days before our trip. Halfway through the second evening, the mutiny still had not happened. Half the movie was establishing that yes, the captain is in fact an inhumane self-centered jerk. The end was good, how the captain was set out to sea to try to survive in a little boat, and the mutineers just kind of secluded themselves on a lonely island, not to be discovered for 20 years. (The sentence for mutiny is hanging). The coolest thing about it is that it is based on a true story. There are descendants of the mutineers living on the same island today, although most people emigrate, because it is a horrible island. They still have the last names of the British sailors. (Oscar Best Picture 1935, and no it's not in color)

Planning South Carolina

Planning a trip is harder work than I thought. It really should have involved some planning. But we've been doing one thing at a time. 1st, pick the dates. Then we bought the plane tickets. Then we found out how to drive from the SC airport. Then we found a ride to and from the airport in KC. Then we found a hotel in Charleston. Next we might plan what to do in Charleston. But our friends planned out some great events for us for when we're in Columbia, SC.

*Corrections: We drove from the Charlotte, NC airport and not the "SC airport"

birthday

I'm finally posting about my birthday.

My parents got me a drill and garage storage shelf, Mo gave me a Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison CD. Awesome. I had been dropping hints about getting a drill. Mom made a cake of fruit. It wasn't a fruit cake. It was actually just fruit on a platter. But I appreciated it.

The most heartwarming gift was Courtney's gift of the Oscar Peterson Note-for-Note transcription. It was on my electronic wish list. She knows one of my only dreams is to be a jazz pianist. I had put this book on my wish list.

Being a jazz pianist is kind of a hard goal to define. I thought about this, and I think it has to involve performing in front of others. The performance wouldn't have to be a concert - I'd actually rather play at a party. And it would involve playing several challenging songs.

Being a jazz pianist to me does not mean becoming an expert in improvisation. I am content with playing from a sheet. However, jazz is somewhat defined by improvisation, so these sheets are hard to find. That is why I found a few, and put them on my wish list, and voila, I have one now. I figure these will be very hard to learn, but once I learn 6 or more, I can start letting people know that I could play for a party.

To read more about Oscar Peterson, go here

Courntey also got me a short cut capo. This helps guitar players to get interesting sounds that would be almost impossible to do without. And she got me some gluten-free snacks.

So I am now involved again with 3 different instruments! Yeah!

And Courtney also made me dinner and a gluten-free chocolate cake!

Best of March

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: Grand Hotel
Best Book I Read: A Painted House, by John Grisham
Best New-To-Me Restaurant: A Taste of China
Best Life Happening: my work's "Hallympics"

Movie Review: It Happened One Night

Oscar Best Picture 1934

Featuring: Clark Gable

We loved this movie. I think the title is misleading. It is a story about a runaway, as they are avoiding the authorities, and it ends up being a romantic comedy as well. Clark Gable did a great job, and he made us laugh a lot. Best old movie so far.

*Extra note: This is probably the first movie where there is no annoying background music during all of the scenes. The other movies made it difficult to understand what the actors were saying.

father-son time

I enjoyed the time I spent with Dad last week. On Thursday we took the flat tire off of my riding lawn mower, and took it to QuikTrip to try to pump it up. It worked, and we gave each other a high five! Then we went to the garden store and learned about weed poison.

Then Saturday, we emptied the oil out of the mower. It was black as dirt. We went to the store looking for a new spark plug and air filter. Then I sprayed weed poison onto my entire lawn. It was not fun, so it better work! (I need to mention it got increasingly cold that day too) Then we put up my new garage shelves. And Dad unclogged our kitchen sink with a pipe snake. There may have been a high five involved at that moment as well. If there wasn't, there should have been.

I'm thankful for the good time we had together. Not all sons have their dads in town, and even if they were in town, not all dads would help out like that.

Birthday post coming up!