Brisingr Review

I cannot tell you how happy I am to be done with Brisingr. For those of you that don't know, this book is the third book in the Inheritance Cycle, which begins with Eragon and Eldest. These books are written by Christopher Paolini, and these are his first major works. I read Eragon years ago when it first came out. I was a younger lad then with a different outlook on books, particularly the fantasy genre. Needless to say, I enjoyed the first book, and I was immensely satisfied with the sequel, too. Brisingr was to be the conclusion of the series, but the story grew too large and Paolini needed to add a fourth book to tell his tale, which, at the time, was fine by me. If you haven't read these books, particularly Brisingr, then be warned that there may be plot revealing statements below.

)))LOOKOUT FOR SPOILERS! THEY'RE LURKING BELOW(((

This book starts on the heels of Eldest. Eragon is learning to live with his family problems--Morzan, Murtagh--and also grappling with his role as Alagaesia's savior. In this book, Eragon and Roran must save Katrina from the vile Ra'zac, Eragon must travel to Farthen Dur to secure the Dwarve's position with the Varden, he must travel back to Ellesmera to learn more from Oromis & Glaedr, he must find a true Rider's sword. The novel also focuses on Roran Stronghammer, Eragon's cousin and friend, and his travels with the Varden.

There are points in the story that I really enjoyed. For example, I love the close relationship Eragon and Saphira share, and it makes me wish I could have that sort of close contact with someone or something. I liked the mini quest of searching for a Rider's sword, particularly under the Menoa tree. I like the nuances of the languages spoken in the land, but sometimes I feel they're a bit ridiculous.

A couple years ago I thought the Ancient Language mechanics to invoke magic was unique, but now I think it is a very complicated, complex, and messy system.

Honestly, the only reason I read this book was because I was (and still am) a little interested as to how Galbatorix will die and his reign end. He will most definitely die, of that I have no doubts. The story is too "young adult" and light for there to be a plot-twist where Galbatorix wins. I also hold the belief of starting a book means finishing a book, and in this case, starting a series means finishing a series.

)))END OF SPOILERS(((

Overall, I give Brisingr a 2.5/5.0, or a 50% positive review. The story did not have enough Realism for my liking. After reading Pat Rothfuss' brilliant work, The Name of the Wind, and George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books, I enjoy the realistic approach to fantasy as opposed to the cliche fantasy. Don't misunderstand the previous statement: I enjoy some of the atypical books in the fantasy realm, but others are too akin to each other for my liking. I appreciate uniqueness and creativity, which Brisingr employs, but not enough for my satisfaction.

On Posting (Part 2)

I'm really too tired to post tonight, but I feel obliged to, as per yesterday's post. Today's been very busy for me. I spent around 5 hours in our stream today, doing general land surveying and walking the creek. We worked just downstream the confluence of the streams and then upstream until the road.

View Larger Map
Then I went to Kroger and picked up some things for Valentines Day. Then my landlord came o'er and fixed our water in the bathroom. Then Heroes came on. Then I bathed. Now I sit and think about all the stuff I have to do tomorrow, like get up really early and dress business appropriate, since I'm going to a Career Information meeting and meeting a potential employer. And I finished reading Brisingr tonight, too, which was a relief. Later, either tonight or tomorrow, I am going to start on Mistborn. I'm thinking tomorrow's post may be more coherent and will probably be about my thoughts on Christopher Paolini's book I just finished reading. Stay away from the green peppers, folks; they'll get you every time.

On Posting

I've had this blog since December of 2005. I remember hopping onto the blogwagon, but really unsure why. For a while I posted on weird, odd things, like "Why?", but I also posted some of my original poetry and reviews and books and Jesus. In short, I've had a pretty normal blog. However, my posting was, at best, subject to a high variance. For example, look at the (crude) table below:

Back a few months ago I decided that I would try to update this daily, and if not daily, then at least 5 days per week. So far, I think I've done pretty well at this. I feel obligated to no one but myself to do this. For one, it's a source for me to put a little of myself out there in the world. For two, it's provided an opportunity to get to know other folks (Matt, Marky, Cap'n Joe, and others that read through Facebook) and for them to know how I think on some things.

And this is the interesting point. Why do we want to know what other people think about things? Are we not confident enough in ourselves and our opinions, or do we find it entertaining to know how other's think? Perhaps we feel a connection with someone who shares a similar belief, or mayhap we feel intelligent reading someone else's obviously uninformed opinion. Whatever the case, we are attracted to other people's opinions like iron to a magnet. These musings make me want to delve into an intense Psychology or Sociology book, or at least talk to a scholar about these reasons and why modern thought tells us these obvious truths. What causes human attraction and a desire for relationships? What causes a moth to want to fly into an open flame? Why are chestnuts roasting over it?

Back to posting. I try to post regularly. I don't limit myself to any single topic on which I post, but I do take suggestions if anyone has any. My thought pools are very deep, and sometimes I forget there are other people reading this besides me. To me, my blog serves as a record of my daily thinking, and I can go to it and read my thoughts any time I choose. If Blogger decides to can and erase my archives, then I'll have to accept that. Until then, I'll continue to use Blogger and to write my thoughts on whatever I'm feeling. I mean, this blog's named Rememorandom, a portmanteau of Remember, memory, memorandom, and random, and so I should post my random thoughts about random subjects onto this free site so I can remember them when I'm older.

XKCD

Two funny ones:

Things about Logan (Part 1)

A good thing, I think, to throw into the mix is a little about me. I've tried to select a few things about me that describe my character, my personality, my likes, my dislikes, and my hobbies. Plus, there's a lot of links!!!

0. I love Jesus Christ and Keisha most of all.
1. I typically put others before myself.
2. I love dark chocolate. Absolutely love it.
3. My favorite color is green.
4. STAR WARS is the greatest movie of all time, and by STAR WARS, I mean all of them.
5. I enjoy listening to sad, violent music, like old folk and blues songs.
6. I've always wanted to go to the United Kingdom.
7. Italy would be nice, too. Or, maybe, just tour all of Europe.
8. I enjoy math and calculus.
9. I won 4th place in a regional chess tournament in high school.
10. I wish you could buy Mt. Dew Baja Blast somewhere other than Taco Bell.
11. I used to have Dumb & Dumber memorized.
12. I've been playing Fallout 3 for the past 2 or 3 weeks.
13. I had a back massage today.
14. I cannot wait until May gets here; I'll graduate in May.
15. I worked for Toyota in their Environmental department for 1 year, and also for Sud-Chemie for 1 year in their Environmental department.
16. The only biography I've read was Bob Dylan's.
17. The Beatles > The Rolling Stones
18. I want to see the Northern Lights. (Southern's okay, too.)
19. Parenthesis are my favorite punctuation marks.
20. I manipulate the rules of grammar to my liking, or you could say that I do not give obeisance to the rules of grammar.
21. My dream job would be for people to pay me to tell them whether or not I liked something. Kind of like a critic, where I could watch or read or play or test something and then offer my opinion. Or I could just be a professional stayer-at-homer and play with my toys.
22. I don't have a favorite version of the Bible. KJV, NIV, ESV, NASB, HCS...
23. This is a prime number.
24. I wake up nearly every morning burning up, even if I keep the heat on 68 and sleep only in my boxers.
25. I'm sure the world would fail if Microsoft Office no longer existed.
26. I despise peanut butter & jelly.
27. My closet is full of plaid. And sweaters. And STAR WARS tees.
28. Aladdin is the best Disney movie. Period.
28. I am taking too many hours this semester and looking for a job for when I graduate.
29. When I'm hungry I like to snack on small children.
30. Close ups of weird eye things make me squeamish. And seeing someone puke makes me wanna start PukeFEST. And I don't watch gory things. And blood....
30b. I want to design my home for the future, using green technology and sustainable designs, such as geothermal heating, low-flow water systems, natural lighting, solar panels, rainwater catchment, and other things.
34. I think my dog, Stella, just had a nightmare.
41. I'm balding, sadly.
42. My favorite food is taco stuff. But I also like Chinese, Indian, and homestyle American cooking. Oh, and fast food, too.
43. This semester I'm taking Advanced Hydrology, Stream & Wetland Restoration, Advanced GIS (Geographic Information Systems), Green Engineering & Sustainable Design, and Capstone Design for Civil Engineers.

That's all for now, good people. Part 2 will come some point after now along the timeline, but probably before 10 years from now. Don't drink the water.

Wayfarin' Stranger

This is me playing Wayfarin' Stranger on my Alvarez F style mandolin. For this track I overdubbed myself playing with my Alvarez guitar, too. I tried to structure the timing just off of each other. Enjoy. Below is a few pictures of my mandolin with the song playing, too.

Sledding Is For Kids

As mentioned a few posts ago, Kentucky was hit with a severe winter storm. The storm surged through Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Arkansas, and Tennessee and resulted in many deaths, most from carbon monoxide poisoning or fire. This said, the county I am from, Muhlenberg, was devastated, and much of the county is still without power. Cell phone towers were down, too, and so there really was no way to communicate with anyone from back home.

Here in Louisville we got around 6 inches of snow and ice in varying layers. Layers stacked so perfect that we just had to go sledding. The first night of sledding was down a rather steep, mostly ice-hardened hill, containing several downed tree limbs, a few large tree trunks, and a monster dip in the middle of the hill that would propel the sledder off-ground a piece. This was awesome. The thrill of sledding as a 23 year old brought back memories of sledding as a teenager. In fact, I had so much fun I agreed to go sledding again the following night.

The second night was sledding down an intimidating hill in Louisville's Cherokee Park. My wife was feeling better on this particular night and so she decided to tag along for the sledding. While there I realized that I forgot to take my glasses off, so I took them back to the car before I started sledding. My wife walked with me and she said she was a bit hesitant to go down first, so I offered to head down and show her it was okay. BAD IDEA. I was on a round sled and so naturally I was rotating as I flew down the large hill. At the bottom everything happened really, really fast.

From what I can remember the ground disappeared beneath me, quite suddenly, and a wall appeared before me. I collided and doubled over and felt pain across my back like I've only known once before. At first, I honestly thought I wasn't going to be able to get up. I remember saying "no" and groaning, but I couldn't raise myself off my hands and knees. I wanted to throw up. My face was sweating. I couldn't see anything but black. Two strangers was yelling and asking me if I was okay. I said, honestly, "NO!" My wife was waiting atop the hill for my "It's okay," but I hollered "Don't come down." She walked down to where I was and helped me walk back up the hill. I came to realize that I had hit a ditch that had been created at the bottom of the hill we were on, and I must have collided with the opposite bank side.

Dynamically, I think I obeyed the laws of momentum, gravity, and conservation of energy pretty well. See, let m1 be the weight of me and v1 the velocity in which I was traveling downhill. Let m2 be the mass of the earth and v2 the velocity it was moving. Adding these terms, m1v1 + m2v2 = (m1+m2)v, where final velocity, v, equals sudden death. Furthermore, all kinetic energy from me traveling down the hill, .5m1v1^2, was instantaneously transferred from my body into potential energy that the ditch bank would hold, i.e. too much for my liking.

Regardless, and nevertheless, I am thankful my wife and I didn't go down the hill together, lest we both received painful injuries. I've basically been doped on Excedrin Back & Body since Thursday, resting on a heating pad, and using my massage chair. I'm strongly considering visiting a chiropractor or a professional masseuse. In short, sledding was very fun, but regrettably, I don't think I'll be going back for a while. Hope you all are warmer than I am.

My Art Portfolio

Marky, your comment on my previous post made me realize that I could now post my artwork up on my blog now and display it using the slideshow function. Thanks for the realization.

This slideshow contains most of my artwork, from 7th grade through 12th. I took art all four years of high school and focused on Black & White images. I also liked self-portraits. I am in no way an artist, only an amateur, but I like to draw. I don't really have much time for it in this stage of my life, but I'm sure one day I'll get back into it.

Snowstorm 09

This is day 2 of our crazy snow/ice storm. We received around 5 inches or so of snow and ice in various layers. Everything is crazy. Power has been out throughout the city. Of course, since I live in the world's weirdest climate, one week ago it was almost 70*F and Sunday is supposed to be almost 50*F. Hope the slide show works. If it does, I'll love Google even more than I already do.


Wow, it does work. This proves that Google is on its way to global domination. You've won my heart, Google. And the Picasa program is pretty cool. Seriously, though, this storm was absolutely wild. Really cool, but fatal, too. Be careful out there folks. Enjoy.

PS: The statue of The Thinker is one of only 4 (I think 4, give or take a few) authentic replicas in the world. Pretty cool, eh?

Late

Late, again, and the tick tick goes on and on.
Outside there is four inches of ice and snow
And buried beneath is a small pile from my puppy.
The sleep that seems inside me is wanting out,
But my curiosity is keeping me up at night,
Playing with Google and its many functions.

My toes are cold.
My eyes are heavy.
My brain is clouded.
My wife is sick.

Early, still, and the clock hasn’t stopped its cycle
And outside there’s six inches of ice and snow
And buried beneath the covers is a small pile: my puppy.
I can’t help but feel that there is more to the insides of me,
More than sleepiness, more than blood and bones,
More than I am even aware of, but I know it’s there,
Wanting out.

Why, when it’s so cold and messy outside?
Stay in where it’s warm and gooey and hidden.
Stay in and hide and leave me alone.
Let me have my peace.

What are the merits associated with ambition?
When it is so easy to float, why should I rise above?
I’m comfortable. I’m restless, but comfortable.
Complacent. Satisfied. Appeased?

The lights are flickering.
My toes are cold.

Homelessness and Poverty

Last night we decided to go to Dairy Queen for the Buy One Get One Free gimmick of blizzards since it snowed yesterday. Before the DQ trip we all ate at Santa Fe, a Mexican restaurant. In fact, we've ate out several times in the past week, and odds are you probably have, too. Regardless, while we were at Dairy Queen a man made his way into the store and bought himself a burger. He sat a few tables away from us and ate his single burger silently and alone. He was wrapped in a heavy coat and his skin was hard and leather looking. I am sad to say that I did not notice any of this until the very end. Keisha pointed out the man as he was getting ready to leave. She pointed out that he was counting out change on the table as if he was figuring whether or not he had enough money for more food. While she was discreetly telling me, the man left the store. We sat and talked quietly about the situation, and I silently prayed that the man would still be outside when we left.

I thank God that he was. Neither of us had cash on us but we approached the man as we were making our way to the truck. "I think you dropped this," I said to the man, holding out a $10 bill and placing it into his hand. We looked at each other in the eyes and he seemed confused. I repeated what I said and he smiled and replied with a "God bless you." Ten dollars isn't much money, but to the man it was another warm meal or two. To me it was an opportunity to share kindness and love with a person in need.

Homelessness breaks my heart in a different way than starving kids in Africa or war-stricken villages in Afghanistan. Homelessness is at my doorstep and I can do something immediately to help. I keep a Bible with some money in my car on the chance that I meet someone on the side of the road needing help. I've gone through my clothes and packed warm things and non-perishable foods in Kroger bags and kept them in my car to give away to someone that may need it. I try to ask for the people's names when I give things so I can pray for them, and I hope by showing kindness to the person that another Follower of the Cross will be able to work with the seed that I planted.

We are so blessed that we don't even stop to think about it. We have our warm homes with enough electronics to scare Russia into thinking we're starting another Cold War. Our fridges and cabinets are well stocked. Our trash is full of food that we don't like and/or didn't finish eating. Our closets are stuffed with clothes we don't wear, but we think they look pretty or we could wear them someday. Outside it's 26* and feels like 20*, and there's a very likely chance that 3-6" of ice and snow will fall through the night. Outside our homes there are millions of people in need of not only the basic sustenance, but also in need of some kindness and generosity.

I urge you to lend a helping hand to someone in need whenever the opportunity arises. We have the blessing and opportunity to make money, but someone out on the street most likely does not. Give and give sacrificially. Prove to yourself that you are not a heartless, greedy, typical American. Help someone.

The Books I Read

I spend a lot of time reading. Nearly always, whenever I leave my home, I bring a book with me, just in case there is an opportunity to read. I have loved reading my whole life. I can remember as a small child reading Goosebumps and Wayside School and things. I can remember being in the middle school and reading my first real novel: Sphere, by Michael Crichton. I can also remember my best friend buying Lord of the Rings and reading it, then passing it along for me to read, too. (There were three of us that would read books and then pass them along to each other to read, that is, assuming they were good.) I can't recall if Tolkien was the reason I fell in love with the fantasy genre or not, but I am irrevocably devoted to fantasy novels. Terry Brooks was the love of my literature life growing up, and I ate through all 20+ books quickly.

I could go on and on about fantasy books for a while, but I won't. This post is about the books I read, which implies more than just one genre if you think about it long and hard. So, it should not surprise you that I also read a lot of Science-Fiction, too. Sci-fi is closely related to fantasy that I struggle to tell the difference, but there are some books that are unconditionally science-fiction. For instance, STAR WARS novels were plentiful, and still are, and I read them as often as I read my Bible, if not more...

I also developed a deep appreciation and interest in Classic books. This genre is difficult to classify, but Classic to me means books that are old and contain an important element to literature and history. I remember reading 1984 when I was volunteering as a tutor, and I shamelessly fell in love with it. In fact, Orwell's masterpiece is still one of my all time favorite books. Lord of the Flies, Brave New World, Of Mice and Men, Cat's Cradle (I didn't like Slaughterhouse Five), and the like are all excellent reads. I still enjoy reading these old books, and I soon hope to read some Faulkner.

In short, I've spent much of my life reading books. I got hooked on John Grisham once and read many of his books back to back to back. There is a wonderful feeling to opening a book and enjoying it so much that you sit and read the entire thing in one sitting, which I did with Hawkes Harbor, by S.E. Hinton. Going outside on a beautiful day with a book to read is an excellent way to spend a day.

I imagine I will continue to have a passion for literature my whole life. My wife likes to read, too, and so I'm sure our kids will. We both want to house a mini-library collection of books in our home in the future. The written word is fantastic, and I suppose we owe thanks and gratitude to Gutenberg and our ancestors who decided to develop a system of writing. I just don't think I'd enjoy an oral tradition based society.

Stream & Wetland Restoration

This semester I am taking a Stream & Wetland Restoration class. In it, we focus on a local watershed and work on restoring streams to their natural conditions, or a condition that resembles natural. Last Monday, MLK day, the temperature was around 28 degrees F, and the previous days had been the coldest in Kentucky history for several years back. We had to perform a basic pebble count on the stream on that day. A pebble count allows the engineer to see how the stream is transporting sediment and rocks down the system. To perform the test, a riffle of a stream is selected. Using a grid approach, a number of rocks/pebbles are collected and the diameter is measured. The diameter must be not the largest or smallest of the rock, but the mid size diameter. For our lab, 400 pebbles were collected.

The water was so cold that after 5 or 6 pebbles were collected, our hands were numb and feeling was impossible. We had to stick our bare hands into the frigid waters repeatedly and measure the diameter. Then we would classify the rock (silt, sand, pebble, cobble, boulder) and pitch it in the opposite direction. There was also large sections of the stream with inch+ thickness of ice on it, which we traversed on and broke to collect rocks. It was reminiscent of being a child, playing on ice and snow. Extremely cold and numbing, but fun.

The class looks to be informative, and most of the time should be spent out on the stream we are working on. We'll be dealing with bank erosion problems, unnatural cuts and irregular meanders, and who knows what else. I think the class will be exciting, but I can't wait until it warms up a bit.

LOST S5 E1 & E2 Reflection

For those of you that don't know, I am a huge LOST fan. For those of you that don't know, LOST is a television show that comes on ABC about a group of plane crash survivors and their quest on a mysterious island. For those of you that don't know, a television, or tv, is a gateway into another world...

Anyway, I am a huge fan of LOST. I've watched it since it premiered a few years ago with Season 1. The island has waged so many mysteries that my mind cannot remember them all. The character relationships with each other, in the past and present and future, are intriguing. The definition of good and evil and faith and science are all very questionable, and ofttimes it's hard to know how to describe accurately any character. You may think they are acting one way, when their intent is something completely different.

<{<{WARNING: BELOW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE EPISODES THEN I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND READING.}>}>

But this post isn't a post about why I like LOST. This post is a reflection of last nights episodes, "Because You Left" and "The Lie." The post-island Oceanic 6 have all slid into depression/madness/paranoia, and they all are acting differently than they were when on the island. Ben is wanting to collect them all, including a dead Jeremy Bentham, and to try and return to the island. The folks that remained on the island are now going through a space/time warp, traveling both frontwards and backwards through time. Daniel Faraday emerges as a leader (which I approve of) and attempts to explain this to the viewer. A good summary of the episodes is this: things get crazier and crazier on and off the island.

I enjoyed the episodes mainly because I've been dying to watch LOST since Season 4 ended last Spring. The story is still intriguing me, though I feel that its complexity may be losing viewers. People sometimes want a normal story. LOST is far from normal, as its creators tell the stories from many different and unique perspectives. I think Season 5 looks promising, but probably won't be as good as the earlier seasons. But my hopes are high and my expectations realistic, so I think I should be fine.

Mighty Muggs: A Defense of Darth Maul

This is my new tv stand decor item. Mighty Muggs is a toy type from the Hasbro company. It is made from "100% recycled awesome", though I am unsure what that means. Nevertheless, I thought this particular MM figure was pretty cool for three good reasons.

(1) Darth Maul has always been awesome in the STAR WARS universe. His appearance as the Phantom Menace from Episode I was brilliant, and his use of the double-blade light saber phenomenal. The body tattoos and art was reminiscent of Mephistopheles, except way cooler and the ability to manipulate the Force. In addition to this, his few lines provided some insight to his interpretation of the Force, and his beliefs to bring down the Jedi were very clear.

(2) Several of my friends call me Darth. It is one of my many nicknames. One reason for this is that many of them know that I love STAR WARS and so they call me that. Furthermore, I created an alternate identity on Facebook as Darth Logeon.

(3) Darth Maul is so cool that my senior year of high school I woke up a few hours early on Halloween so my brother could paint my face in the style of Darth Maul. Since my brother is an artist and he is a STAR WARS fan, the end product looked very, very cool. Sadly, back then I did not appreciate pictures and so I have no pictures to provide as substantiating evidence.

There you have it. A defense on why Darth Maul is absolutely one of the coolest villains ever created. One other thing I failed to mention. When I bought my MM figure I just couldn't help myself to one other STAR WARS purchase: a bobble head Boba Fett.

Dead Space: A Review

My friend recently purchased Dead Space for the PS3 because I kept insisting that he buy the game, as it looked fun and slightly freaky. And after he beat it I began playing the game. It is a first person shooter, but filled with mystery and puzzles to solve. The game takes place on the USG Ishimura, a mining space craft that has recently sent out a distress call. The protagonist, Isaac Clarke, is a mining engineer that goes on the rescue mission to find his stranded girlfriend, a passenger on the Ishimura. The rescue shuttle arrives at the downed ship to find radio silence and a massacre.

From the beginning of the game you see the Necromorphs, the alien specie that has caused the bloodshed. The creatures basically are human, but appear to be zombies and something else, too. There are several different types of the creatures throughout the game, but the majority are similar to the ones shown in the picture.

The story is told by collecting video, audio, and text logs that have been scattered about the Ishimura. And the player finds that what first seemed like a simple rescue mission to a downed mining ship is in fact much more complex. Religion, faith, brutality, and fear are all very strong themes in this game.

A couple things that make Dead Space so spooky: lighting, sounds, blood. The ship has been all but destroyed, and many lights are busted and not working. However, some lights flicker and others are motion sensored (which are really amazing), and your eyes play tricks on you. The noises of the ship are eerily quiet, and the occasional soft pattern of footsteps or a snarl can cause you to draw your gun so quick that you'll laugh at yourself at your jumpiness. But the blood is the most gruesome, disturbing part of the game. Apparently the passengers were ripped apart and blood splattered everywhere. There is writing on the wall with blood (often which contains hints). There is an infirmary and a morgue onboard the ship, and both of these places are literally covered in crimson.

I highly recommend Dead Space to anyone that has a PS3 or a 360 (there is also a PC version, but it didn't get very good reviews due to the controls or something). The game received amazing reviews throughout the video game world, and I heartily agree. The physics behind the graphics are simply beautiful. Zero gravity is awesome. The story is intriguing. The fright is fun.

Do yourself a favor and at least rent Dead Space. Or download the demo. The game only takes around 10 hours to beat, but it's a game you'll want to beat a couple of times to fully appreciate the complex story and the wonderful gameplay.

Grad School

This is my final semester as a student. I graduate with a Masters of Engineering in May, and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I've been going non-stop, year 'round, since the Fall of 2004. In my reckoning, that is a very long time to go without break. So, I was looking forward to my grad classes being easier, or at least more interesting, and I think I was only about 50% right on my expectations. I'm taking 15 hours, but it looks like it's going to require a lot more involvement than ever before.

Don't get me wrong. It should definitely be interesting, and possibly even fun, but super busy. One class, Stream and Wetland Restoration, will be really great because we get to go out to a watershed for 4 hours on a Monday afternoon and work in the field on things we are learning/have learned. However, since this goes until May that means I get to wade into frigid water weekly until the temperature starts to warm up. On the flip side, the class didn't require the purchase of any textbooks, only chest waders...

To my understanding, last year people had to break sheets of ice on top of the streams to get their water samples/rock samples/etc. I'm hoping that does not happen this year.

Another class I am taking is Green Engineering and Sustainability. Again, this class should be interesting, as "Green" and "Sustainability" are buzz words currently. But because they are buzz words does not make them interesting. Being environmentally aware of our impact on the earth is something everyone should familiarize themselves with. I'm not a tree hugger, but I do think we should strive to be good stewards of our beautiful, if not screwed up, planet.

Alas, I am off to class. Wish me luck. Long days and pleasant nights to you all.

Caught in the Act by Thor

You can read the full story here. I listen to "Wait, Wait don't tell me" on NPR quite frequently. The other day they were talking about this story. My wife and I were absolutely brought to tears of laughter. Peter Sagal, the host of WWDTM, described the event as "...The single most gratifying experience" in the entire history of histories of mankind.

The strangeness of this story is what makes it wonderful, if not peculiar. I can perfectly visualize it in my head. A drunken burglar and an apparent Norse god. The man probably won't ever recover. I just thought that I'd post this wonderful bit o' news for everyone to enjoy.

Have fun, folks, and eat some licorice while you're at it.

My Recovery

Many of you may be aware of my recent bout with illness. Not the normal coughing, sneezing, running nose run-of-the-mill common cold, but a vomiting, abdominal pain, diahrreatic old-time case of bubonic plague. Needless to say, it was something I hope to never endure again.

I'm really not sure how I contracted the disease, and the doctors were really uncertain, too. It turns out, in real life hospitals things that happen on House or ER don't actually happen. So, I was practically bed bound and full of discomfort. My lungs actually felt like they were going to stop functioning.

Ultimately the plague was eradicated from my system, thanks to the wonders of technology and the miracles of modern medicine. But, being without insurance for the past several years, and still without, there remains the unpaid bill. I'm really not sure how that's going to be taken care of, but I'm sure it will. If not, Keisha, Stella, and I will just pack up and head to Londontown.

One thing I learned from my experience was a greater understanding of the people that endured the Black Death. I'm just thankful that I really never actually got the disease, and subsequently ne'er had to go to l'hopital, thus I don't have an unpaid bill, hence this whole post is untrue. Anyway.

Say hello to your grandmother for me, will ya?

Say "Hello" to Stella

I've mentioned that changes were coming. And by changes I really just mean change. Keisha and I recently decided to get a puppy. She is a cross between a Maltese and a Shih-Tzu, thus she is a Malt-Tzu or a MaltShih. She currently weighs 2 pounds. She loves to sleep about 20 hours per day. Play, potty, and food is reserved for the other 4 hours. Pictures are below.


These are just a few of the wonderful pictures of Stella. I'm sure there will be more forthcoming. But until then, I bid you adios.

NOTE: This post has been updated on 1/28/09 by replacing the original 5 pictures of Stella with a cool slide show application from Picasa.

The End of All Things

The new year begins very soon here in Louisville. It's already 2009 for billions o' people, but billions more still live in '08. This year has been pretty good, and I'm glad to have lived through it. Perhaps 2009'll be e'en better. Can't wait to see what all's in store. Short sentences are easy to read. Long sentences, like this one, are sometimes complex and complicated, as often a penguin finds itself between dimensions, and hence more difficult to read and understand the point of.

Changes are coming. They'll be unveiled real soon like. Next year, anyway.

Bye bye blackbirds.

Christmas Time's A Here

Well, folks, it's here. The most wonderful time of the year. Family gatherings and loads of food, in addition to gifts and presents. There are some people that think Christmas is only for giving/receiving, and there are others who only celebrate it for the birth of our Lord and Savior. A comfortable medium exits.

Simply, remember that some day around 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ was born, meek and lowly. His humble birth and brutal death and majestic resurrection are the only reasons I have hope for the future. I love Him more than anything else can offer.

Furthermore, I love the Christmas season because it offers a perfect way to practice giving. Some people take gifts awkardly if it's not for a special occasion, and Christmas offers the most special of occasions. So, Keisha and I make a point to get gifts for everyone and to donate generously to our favorite charity (World Vision).

About giving. Money is not the only method of this action. Make food for someone. Go through your old clothes, toys, etc. and take them to the Salvation Army/Homeless Shelter/Church. Get an angel from the angel tree and make someone personally blessed and happy. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Give your time and energy to your stressed relatives. Write a check to a charity, or give cold hard cash to a homeless person. Finally, pray for people, and ask people what you can pray about for them.

The gift of giving is truly a great experience. Making someone happy and blessing them is a wonderful feeling, and methinks good for the soul. Sacrafice makes you realize what's important and what's not.

Enjoy your Christmas' everybody. There's a big announcement coming soon, too, so stick around. There'll e'en be pictures...

Logan Stewart and the Early Morning Blog Show +

Well, it's not really early. As I write it's 9:39 on the ante meridiem and I've been up for almost two hours. It's just that, being finals week and all, my body feels like it's been on fumes for a while. For example, I was so groggy yesterday morning that I e'en broke down and went to Starbucks, which never happens. See, I don't like Starbucks, but not because of their controversial stance on US soldiers in Iraq. Nor is it because they are a corporation in the world and leaking people of money left and right. And it's not because they sell all that weird stuff in their stores, either. Nope. None of those reasons are why I don't like Starbucks.

And so I'm sitting at my laptop doing my daily routine--Gmail, Pat Rothfuss' blog, Facebook (I know. It's sad, but I have to.), and weather. And I think that I should make a new post. Or I could eat a brownie or two that are in the pan about 18" behind my laptop. So you see the problem. I haven't had a proper breakfast this morning. I did have one bite of my wife's peanut-butter-and-raisin-on-toast this morning, which was actually pretty good, but that's it. To be honest, though, I didn't really start eating breakfast until recently. And still I don't eat it daily. Typically, if I eat too soon after getting up, my stomach decides to thrash about all day, whining and complaining and only making me miserable.

However, today is the last day of finals. I have an Economics exam at 2:30 in the post meridiem, which I will probably bomb. It's odd. I'm an engineer, and I've had all these hard classes like "Matrix Structural Analysis" or "Concrete Design" and I've done okay in them. Better than okay, actually. But then I take Macro-economics as my last undergrad class in my career, a 200 level class and mostly freshmen or sophomores (I'm a grad), and I'm struggling. It's all theory and blah blah and Keynesian economics and monetary fiscal expansion and blah and Idon'tknowwhatanyofthatcrapmeans and the like. Well, to be honest, I'm actually doing better than 80% of the class, but still, I much more prefer doing better than 90%. Now that I think about it, that's really not a good comparison, since technically 10 out of 10 folks could all get an A in a class and then no one would be doing better than no one, really, but I don't like backspace or going back, so it stays.

Anyway, the point of all this is really pretty simple. I don't like Starbucks because their coffee sucks. I'm a more mild coffee guy, or medium. Starbucks only has bold, bolder, and black-as-Hitler's soul.
Strong coffee + Logan = No Go For Launch

The American Hamburger

Whopper Virgins

I thought this brief clip was very interesting, albeit strange. I suppose as Americans we are immune to the fact that there are people who have never heard of a hamburger before. I do hope that they had cheese with their burger, though.

But, cynically, I thought that it is a good thing that there are not burger joints all over the place. Can you imagine if America's legacy to the world was the fat-full and calorie-loaded hamburger? Instead of world hunger we'd have global obesity.

But, amused and happily, I watched the "whopper virgins" try their hamburgers for the first time. Their faces were full of suspicion and curiosity, but most seemed to enjoy it, I think. I sure do like cheeseburgers, though.

The Greatness of Cornbread

I've been married for over a year and a half now. It has been the greatest year and a half of my life. I knew before I married her, my Keisha could cook. There wasn't much that she couldn't do in the kitchen, and I can tell you that if you've never had her jambalaya or orange juice cake or shepherds pie or potato soup, then you really are missing out. I'm not kidding you. My wife is a really, really good cook.

However, since we've been married, she's been unable to make satisfactory cornbread, until just recently. See, cornbread has long been one of my favorite foods, especially my mamaw's. Mamaw cooks hers in the old iron skillet, and is loaded with love and years of experience. And so, last Christmas, mamaw gave Keisha a set of iron skillets as a gift. After a few failed attempts at cornbread, she gave up. One day, thankfully, she had an epiphany and tried it again. The result was a wonderfully tasteful cornbread that I love so very much.

And since then she's been happy to make me cornbread whenever I ask, which it seems is quite a bit. She is a great cook, and I'm thankful to have her around. In addition to her cooking, my mom and mamaw, and my mother-in-law and grandmom-in-law are all wonderful cooks, and for the holidays I'm always way overstuffed.

Oh well. I just thought I'd take a moment to blog about how great cornbread is. But if you read behind and through the lines, I'm really writing about how wonderful my wife is.

The Story and the Moral

The story: There were once three brothers: Abe, Ben, and Chad. Two of them smiled all the time, and one was a sour-puss. Two of them were over six feet tall and one of them wasn't. Two of them had beautiful wives and one of them wasn't interested in love. Two of them personally had their own refrigerators and the other had to share one with his best friend. At least two of them were born before 1981, and one definitely was. Two of them could literally swim the English Channel faster than they could boat across, and the other was scared of water. One had dull eyes, one had blue eyes, and one wore colored contacts and so no one knew what color his eyes were.

Anyway, one day, these brothers decided to go on a hiking trip. They all met at the crossroads, embraced as brothers do, and set off. One of them complained the whole time, but the other two had a great time. One of them forgot to wear sunscreen and he burnt, but the other two didn't. One of them had recently had surgery and so he had a little trouble maneuvering the trails, but the other two got along just fine.

Once they made it to the top of their mountain there was a waterfall. At its base there was a big beautiful clear reservoir from the falls. One of the brothers took a picture of it, but the other two forgot their cameras. One of them called his wife and told her about it, one of them still didn't have a wife, and the other one didn't get any reception.

The Moral: Three brothers hiked up a mountain and all three peed in the water. It's that simple.

Curse You, Mega Man!

My friend recently bought the newly released 8-bit retro style Mega Man 9. I grew up playing Mega Man games, and I always liked them, especially the X series. So with the release of MM9, I felt like playing the old ones again, and so I went out and bought the anniversary edition, which means I now own Mega Man 1-8, as well as Mega Man X-X6. And I sat down to play yesterday, and I started with the original Mega Man.

Cutman was easy, and so was Bombman. Then I tried Iceman's world, and I died. Over and over and over. And I kept dying. So I quit. Then today I beat every other level and had only Iceman's stage left. I kept dying. In fact, the only time I even made it to Iceman was when I had 1 life left, and he quickly depleted my little energy bar.

I've really never been a gamer who gets mad at playing my games and stuff, y'know, those people who throw their controllers or call the computer a cheater. No, that's not me. But today, my friends, I really really wanted to crush my GC control. And so through it all, I've come away with 3 conclusions:

1. Don't play Mega Man for a very long period of time without frequent breaks, as your temper will quickly get to you.

2. Wipe out those little things that are low to the ground and speed up when you're on the same level as them. If you don't, you'll get ticked at them and yourself.

3. Don't play Iceman's stage unless you're in a great mood and ready to be heavily frustrated.

Good luck.

December

Happy December everyone. It's cold, bleak, and grey! Good luck to you all, with hopes that you make it through the hard month. And think, next month is basically a continuation of this one, just in a different year. I do like the winter, not as much as the fall, but pretty good, nonetheless. It makes me wanna put on old, tattered grey robes, grow a long white and whispy goatee and become a monk or something. A wizened man, all robed and thin. Or maybe it makes me wanna stay indoors where it's warm (sometimes extremely warm) and dry, away from the harshness of December...

This is my December.

Goodbye, friends, and farewell to arms. Have a safe and pleasant season. It promises to be a fun one. And our tree looks better than yours. And our stockings. And our nativity scene. And our wreathes. And I'm really tired, having studied macroeconomics for a while, and open channel hydraulics, and I haven't been sleeping much lately, and sometimes, y'know, you just feel like writing something that is more stream-of-conscience, while at the same time continuing on with a very, very long (possibly a run-on (I LOVE PARENTHESIS!!!)) sentence.
Rest in peace, Reginald. Your children are prospering, and Horatio has given birth itself, so now there are many, many of you. There'll possibly be more on this later. For now, I think I'll bite the bullet (trite) and hit the books (cliche).

Rosebud.

Song of the Week: "Round Here"

"Step out the front door like a ghost into the fog, where no one notices the contrast between white on white..."

From the captivating, poetic first line to the determined pleas at the end, Round Here is one of the greatest Counting Crows songs in their catalog. And, today, it has the honor of being crowned "Song of the Week". The fact of the matter is Adam Duritz can speak what he is feeling, something most of us cannot do very well. He is lonely, confused, afraid, misunderstood. Emotions tend to flow from him in the form of words and magically are put into a song normal folks can relate to.

Folks like me. I think part of the reason people have blogs is to offer what they are thinking or how they are feeling to the masses, e'en though the masses could generally care less (unless you're Brad Pitt or something). Who wants to read what Carol down the road has to say about the election? Or maybe what Thom got for his birthday? Isn't the blog-world like the lottery a bit? The readers never know what they're going to get from the blogs they read, truly. There is always the chance that there will be some randomness to the posts.

Maybe you read "Dan's Daily Dental Dilemmas" religiously. Day after day after day faithful Dan posts about the importance of flossing regularly, or the poor soul who lost his teeth in an automobile accident and how luckily Dan managed to create a perfect set of replica false teeth. You love to read what Dan deals with daily, and one day you click on your RSS and your jaw hits the floor (if your teeth break, that's okay, Dan's a dentist). Dan has posted something about the election, or maybe some wisdom on how to clean a cast-iron skillet. The point is, with blogs, you have no certainties in what you're going to get. And that's the same with this one. As with Adam, I feel like I "walk through myself and back again" to some unknown place. Things flood through my brain at a constant, unrelenting pace, and I find myself o'erwhelmed and confused quite often. Or misunderstood. Or afraid.

And that is why Round Here is this weeks song. Things are happening, folks. And you have to stand or jump. And who knows if there'll be a Holden Caulfield there to catch you?

Coldplay (on words)

Oh Death will never conquer, no it'll ju' get you lost!
No Death shall ne'er conquer, only lost?

Now don't panic, my friends, it'll pass as soon as the sparks are o'er,
The yellow bursts behind the parachutes and nothing more.
The spies shiver on Violet Hill as the warning signs and sirens blare.

Viva la vida! Vive le Roi!
Now all things are fine, right here in my place,
with you by my side and the smile God put upon your face.
So what if the king lives in the cemeteries of London?
Everything's already lost.

I am here, and I will fix you, or we'll be swallowed in the sea together.
Yes, we will pass on to Kingdom Come, hands held and trouble in the sky,
smiling as we join the ranks of Death and all His friends.

Heroes

Several people have recommended to me the ABC show Heroes. Finally, I decided to try it out. I rented the first 3 discs of Season One, spanning episodes 1-10, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the show thus far. I've always loved comics and such, and this show's character's are completely likable. Anyway, I just thought that I'd throw a quick "thanks" to everybody that recommended the show (Bill, Brian, etc.) and let you know that I am very glad to be watching it finally. Have a cold night, folks.

Post Script: By the way, if you look at the word for very long, it's one of those words that start to look funny and made-up. You know, like, roads. The more you look, the more you're convinced that it's misspelled.

Tea

Looking back through my past posts I see that I have a post on Tea & Probability. However, I cannot limit myself to just one post on a subject as grand as tea.

Tea is one of the most consumed beverages across the world. It's so important in England that people take a special time of the day to have a quaint glass. And in the South (that is, southern parts of the US) it is a staple during the summer time. I recently read something saying that the average American consumes 6 gallons of tea per year. That appalled me, to be quite honest. A year ago, my roommate and myself were drinking a gallon a day. Now, though, I've lessened a bit, and I'm down to about a gallon or two a week.

And this is sweet, iced tea, just in case you're wondering. I'll fill a pot o' water and put 4-5 tea bags in, wait til the pot boils, steep the tea for a while, then mix and make my gallon. Voila. And it's pretty tasty, too.

But I also enjoy a cup of hot tea quite often. I really enjoy Earl Grey, just because I think it smells and tastes great, but I like a few other types, too. Not much on the green teas, though. But on a cold night, or a late night, there's few things that compare to a cup of hot tea. And if you've never had a cup of hot tea, then you're missing out. Get yourself a kettle and some tea (I'd recommend the Earl Grey to start out) and make yourself a cup. Enjoy the complex taste. Let it tickle your tongue a bit. I know I do.

Patrick Rothfuss

I read all the time. And I mean all the time. Typically I'm reading two or three books at a time. What kind of books do I read, you wonder? Typically fantasy and science fiction, but also quite a bit of graphic novels, classics, mystery, westerns, suspense, horror, short stories, poetry, and a very little amount of non-fiction (unless you count wikipedia).

Nevertheless, most of my life has been fantasy novels. Sadly I did not realize how similar many of these books were until I read The Name of the Wind, by Pat Rothfuss. Pat revolutionized the fantasy genre for me with this book. There's few, if any, typical fantasy cliches in his book, and I cannot remember the last book I was this pleased with a read.

Pat stole my heart and and took it along for a ride with his protagonist, Kvothe. The man's tale is full of mystery, magic, joy and grief, and love (o'course). I forced my mom to read this book (she's a non-fiction, true story reader, or horror...) and she enjoyed it. I'm reading it aloud to my wife. I've recommended it to several folks and they've all loved it. And now I recommend it to you.

Go buy "The Name of the Wind" tomorrow. Or tonight. It doesn't matter when, just the longer you wait the more you'll wish you would've got it sooner. Savor every page. And when you're done, or before you start, visit Pat's blog and check out the awesomeness that he is.

You're welcome.

EDIT: I'm not really sure why there was such a gap from when I read this book until I mentioned it on my blog.  I read Name of the Wind during the summer of 2007.  I guess I wasn't blogging frequently between then.

Joe Purdy

As an avid listener of music (is that such a unique thing?), I think my taste is rather eclectic. I mostly listen to folky-bluegrassy-acoustic stuff, but sometimes I'll feel the need for techno, pop, blues, country, rock, classical, catchy hip hop, foreign music, and almost anything that's playing. However, I have to point out and give recognition to one of my favorite artists: Joe Purdy.

I became aware of Joe during the first season of Lost, from his song "Wash Away", which appeared on one of the episodes. Joe's also had several songs featured in Grey's Anatomy, and a movie or two, too, I believe. However, he's not in the mainstream music industry largely due to the fact that he's completely independent, that is to say that he produces and makes his own stuff without the hassles of a Big Name record company.

Joe has an extensive catalog, all of which is free to listen on his website. Every album is a wonderful pleasure for your ears, and thought stimulating for your brain. I would classify Joe Purdy as an acoustic-folk artist, similar to Jack Johnson and John Mayer, but without the pop themes. Instruments include acoustic guitar, mandolin, piano, percussion, the occasional harmonica, and a wonderful voice.

I can easily recommend Joe to anyone with any taste in music, and I can almost guarantee that you'll love him. Enjoy.

New Layout

I'm not really sure why I have a blog, but there is the chance that someone (even one) might read it and actually get something from it, then that's fine by me. I'm not sure what anyone could glean from the harvest of my blog, but, who knows.

I've renovated the layout. I think it's time for something new. Something green.

To give an account of how things have been, simply: Grad student now, in Civil & Environmental Engineering. Mandolin skills increasing steadily. Writing still defunct and strange. Books upon books continue to pass my eyes and hands. Life is wonderful, and I'm greatly blessed.

It's nearing winter, and the first flurries of snow are to be expected tonight or tomorrow. It's gonna be a cold one, I'm thinking.

i (b)

mmmm. cake and icecream. it was worth it. the easiest way to make friends is if it is forced upon you. in that, I mean that if making friends was optional, then i'm sure i would have many less friends than i do. for instance, when school starts, we find ourselves among complete strangers. we are forced to be students together, and since we share that, and we realize that we'll be spending quite a bit of time together, then we can only become friends to make the day go by. not that we have to become friends, but it just happens. it's mutual. we're kids, thrust into a maelstrom of other kids. but what i'm saying is that if we weren't thrown into the school system, then we would be left to our own selves--an equally bleak alternative. but the point is not school. school passes, and we become adults. granted there is higher learning, where we often live away from home and with more complete strangers, and again, friendship happens, but only out of force. but e'en college passes, and then there is only adulthood. this is the place where force often is eradicated and from its destruction comes choice. (the college years are a blend of this phenomenon.) we get a job, we go to work, we're the young dude at the place. people aren't as "friendly" as they used to be. the choice comes with self-determination to make friends. and that choice is hard. it's not that i don't want friends, because i do want friends. it's that i don't want to make friends. i want to have friends without the work. but, i suppose, that is impossible. it's like the alchemist wanting gold from oxygen. cheat the system, paint a rock or get some pyrite, but skip the work and get to the gold.

i (a)

most of the time i like being out of the light. not, like, in shadow, but just out of the light. on the sidelines. for instance, when there's a crowd gathering for an open house... it's not that i don't want to be social, it's that i want to be myself. i'm not scared of the crowd. i'm open to the crowd's opinion. and e'en though i'm invited, it's almost as if i don't belong, yet i know that i do. it's the strange, awkwardness of being. it's the thought of meeting and feigning interest. it's the thought of actually staying focused. it's trying to get through the crap and the fake smiles that decorate everyone's faces and instead being you. but i think that i'll go anyway...

8/9/08

There is no sanctuary.

Resurrection Fern

In our days we will live like our ghost will live.
Pitching glass at the cornfield crows and folding clothes.

The summer semester draws almost to an end and my innards have gone liquid. I've also had ABBA in my head for about 2 weeks, rendering sleep nearly impossible. And all day today I listened to Classical music and typed on my Applied Hydrology report.

I did find this scrap o' note today. It is dated 6/9/2034.

"It's after us. We've been running for 3 days straight with very little food and practically no sleep. I'm pretty sure that tomorrow we're gonna have to do something or I think I might die. I still haven't even seen it, though, but it makes a horrible feeling in my head, like it can actually read my mind or something... Our short rest is over and we're heading out again."

Kinda depressing. I'll keep you posted when I do.

Part II--Signs

And the people of the time shall wail and moan.
They shall fear their lords; their gods have left them.
Dragons will fly again, devouring whatever they will.
Hideous peoples will run the grounds on all faces of the land.
The seas no longer run true.
This shall be a sign to you:
The sky will blacken for one month.
The Great Star will not rise.
This will be the purifying of Man, and it will bring carnage and fear.
Countries will fall easily and men will pray.
And after one month the stars will live again.
This will be the birth of a new Season.
This will be the death of Freedom.

Part I--Woe

Come.
Listen.
Do you hear?
Quiet and Listen!
Do you hear?
War is coming, and with it Destruction.
Fire and Power flatten and crush the cities.
Violence and Panic finish up the annihilation.
And where is your hope?
You have killed it.
Yes, you wiped Hope out with a mighty blow,
all in your quest for Purification.
Vain and selfish people, you have destroyed yourselves!


**Translated from the 20th century prophet San-Sha ta Nek

Update

I'm married now. I'm so happy. I'm more in love with God than I've been in a long time. I've got a fantastic wife. My life is so good right now. I've just started eating yogurt. It's ok. I'm co-oping and going back to school soon. I'm tired quite a bit. I read a lot. I play my guitar & mandolin frequently. I sure do love my wife. But not as much as I love my Jesus.

Oh, and I'm still a weirdo.

Strange Tidings

Alice who lives around the apothecary
has never been quite as scary
as Ben, the neighbor's boy.
Chuck, who carries cats into his cheap, hot oven,
has baked Dante a dirty dozen
of them, in purest joy.
Each of them eat either the tongue or the eyes,
topped with frosting from Frank's pies
from Eden, a house down town.
"Golly Gee!" said Geminee, "These cats sure taste juicy."
Chuck just smiles and says "You see,
their heads weigh half a pound."

And such are the kids of Strange Tidings B,
the medieval town across the sea,
Where the alphabet runs and the cat's aren't free,
and Strange Tidings A is home to you and me.

Wii

After a very long week of waiting semi-patiently, I finally got my Wii. I shoulda got it on 11.19, but the preorders did not get delivered to FYE like they should have. They still do not have them, actually. I got mine from inside info at Best Buy. I showed up early and was eighth in line, and Keisha was there with me. I shoulda bought her Cracker Barrel like I told her I would, but I was worried that there would be no spots left, so instead she went to McDonalds. But I got my Wii. Sports is great. Twilight Princess (Zelda) is absolutely gorgeous. Oh so much fun and interaction. I enjoy it very much. Hmmmmmm. I recommend that other people at least play one, because it does involve movement and it is very unique.
Anyway, I just wanted to put it out there.
I got my Wii. And it is fun.

Prologue--An Olde Prophecy

And it was shown to me in a vision
That a new Hero would arise,
And with his birth the clouds would darken
And the sun would eclipse,
And the child would cry not.

And he would be marked upon his left hand
With a dead finger, broken off in the womb.
Dragons and scorpions - all manner of beasts -
Will strike at his birth.
But he shall be delivered into the world.

And in those days the world will be dark,
But hidden by a brilliant array of lights,
With automation everywhere.
And the child will grow, taught by his father,
Loved by his mother.

And the world will reject its hero,
But he will fight for them.
And I saw a great battle too glorious to tell,
But it brought bloodshed and death to many;
Corpses covered every street.

And the Hero shall receive a talisman of great power,
And with it he will wage war against the Dark.
And with it, he will defeat the darkness,
And light will reign forever.

**Translated from the 20th century prophet San-Sha ta Nek

negative cam'pains'

"Bob James...He's got a kid screwed up on dope and got pulled over. But ole Bob James, he's a cop, and so he got those charges dropped. Why vote for Bob James? He's just gonna drop you, too....I'm Ed Jones, and I support this message."

Well, election is over. Finally. And I'm glad I don't have to see another one of those stupid, warring commercials until next election. I honestly don't care about their past. What's past is past. I want to know what they're gonna do if elected. That's it. Forget the past.

To be quite honest, though, I didn't really follow the election very closely. I voted absentee three weeks beforehand, and I knew about half of the people running (perks of a small township). Nationally, I don't care who has control of Capitol Hill. Democrat and Republican are just words, just like Religion is anymore. They are adjectives that don't quite necessarily describe a person very well. I prefer to say I am a Jesus follower, not a religious person, not a Christian. I want a house full of people that truly care about the nation and its people, not one who cares about its pockets.
I would like to see a campaign where people say what they're gonna do in office and why you should vote for them, not why you shouldn't vote for their opponents. It's true for advertisements as well. "This is Subway, where your food is healthy, not like McDonalds and BurgerKing." Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! I am glad that I typically average ONE hour of television per week, and that is only devoted to Lost. Seriously. I do, however, spend about ten+ hours with my nose stuffed in a book or two or three... Books, better than tv anyday....
Foreverthemore, who cares about negative campaigns. I don't have much of an argument except that I just am one of these people that let the past be forgotten, regardless of how serious it may seem. That probably comes from my faith and my loving nature.

May your days be long and your nights pleasant...

simply put:

happy halloween.
i didn't have no candy to give nobody.
i didn't hear anyone say a "trick or treat"
i think ee cummings invented the microwave,
or maybe T. S. Eliot found gold in the wastelands.
this is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper!
there were no ghosts or goblins prancing around in the gloom,
there was one kid that came to my door, but
i didn't have no candy to give to nobody, ('at's a trip negative)
so i stood in the shadows and looked through the peephole until he was gone.
i shoulda opened the door just to hear "trick or treat".
i woulda been tricked, kinda like Hemingway, poor fellow.
the only bridges worth crossing are the ones that lead to the future,
or the ones that mend the past,
or the spooky one that the Headless Horseman sometimes crosses in Sleepy Hollow.
are bones hollow?
it was definitely Eliot who wrote of the Hollow Men,
but it was Abrams & Lindelof who wrote of the Others.
night wanes. i tire. work comes early. sleep comes slowly. r..aammbl...ee cummings?

the second post

The first post concerned itself with Pain, namely that of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The second post deals with my other love, that of my fiancee, Keisha L Miller.

I've known Keisha for much of my life, both being from a small town (a hamlet, if you will). And we've lived less than a mile apart for the past years. Somewhere along life's way she developed an attraction for me. I do not know why, but she did. And one year she asked me to go to a dance with her. Foolishly, as all young boys are, I said no.

It may have been there that I first started falling for the girl that I rejected. I thought it amazing that someone as cute as her would like me, but as a shy one, and a devoted one to studies, I said no. Infatuation somehow works itself into the mind, though, and my studies eventually became second. But I get ahead of myself.

My senior year of high school I decided that I finally was going to let her know how I felt. It had been a while since I said "no", and so I hoped that her feelings had not changed. So one morning I found her alone (a terribly hard way to get a high school girl) and pulled up a chair by her. My whiskers were rough; my hands shook; my voice wavered. "Do you wanna go to Winter Ball with me?" Or something of that nature. Luckily she said aye. Which, honestly, my memory doesn't let me remember much of that, unless, of course, you call Keisha my memory.

Since then we've dated. Practically. I never did technically ask her to be my girlfriend. I did, however, ask her to be my wife. She agreed. And so, Cinco de Mayo, 2007, we are to be wed. And she still loves me, and I still really have no reason why. She is beautiful and sweet and smart and funny and good and I really don't deserve her love, but I am so thankful to have it. God truly is a good God. He loves me. He showers me with blessings abundant. All of my praise goes to Him.

May your days be long and your nights pleasant, amigo...

Pain

I was at a concert the other night (Third Day, David Crowder Band, HyperStatic Union) and Mac Powell said a peculiar quote.

"Love is not the universal language. Pain is."

He said that this was told to him by his mentor when he was younger. I've thought about this a bit. Now I ask you to think for a second. Not everyone in the world is going to experience love. Some people probably won't even know what the word means. Many (delah) will not even know what an act of love is. There will only be those innate actions of goodwill, but are they altruistic? Can altruism exist? This is not the point I want to write about. The point I want to expand on is how blessed I am to know Love/love. (By the way, I say aye, altruism does exist.)

There are many loves in my life, but I want to focus on two. The first, and most important, is the Love of Jesus Christ. He came down to this earth, shedding His heavenly glory to take on the roll of a mortal man. He was tempted as we are, yet he succeeded. He lived a life that required work to survive. He had to eat. He had to rest. Through it all He never shirked His purpose: Proclaim God as God as God as Father. He was His Son, divine, immortally mortal, and the Godman. He faced hardships but never failed. He was beaten beyond recognition. His beard was plucked. He was spat upon. He was mocked. Flesh was torn from His body. His blood flowed freely from the countless wounds. His hands were nailed to some wood. His feet were nailed into more wood. Placed upon a cross He was raised toward the heavens. He looked out from His vantage point, vision undoubtedly hampered by blood, and He saw me. He knew me before I was. He knew everything that I would be. He knew all the things that I would do. He knew that my flesh and mind and body would want to be away from Him. Yet, even though I was rebellious, He died for me.

Jesus Christ, Son of God, Man, died in utter agony on a rough cross, bearing the terrible burden of sin. Of our sins.

And He did this because He loves us. He wants us to be with Him in Paradise. He wants to cleanse us from our sins. He will wash our black, rebellious souls with His red/white blood. He will be our Advocate before God and grant us permission to enter into heaven with Him. We can be with Jesus forever.

All that we need to do is to simply confess Jesus as our Lord. This does not necessarily mean that there has to be a big public ordeal. It can simply be done at the privacy of your computer. You can ask God to forgive you of all your wrongs and ask Him to live in your heart. He will. It's that simple. Seriously.

Once this is done, obviously your outward life is going to change, and that is where the world will know. There will be a joy in your heart. And they--the Black-- will hate the White. But God will be there, always. He will never leave. He's never left me. I need Him everyday.

And that is the First Love. Jesus Christ, Son of God, who died for me and you, for us all, who died so that we might live. He loves me forever. His mercy endures forever. He is always there. He will always be there. And He's always gonna want us to live with Him forever.

My second love will come on the words of my next post. Until then, may your days be long and your nights pleasant.

Co-op update

time: 9:10 post meridian

i'm sleepy. co-op's busy. i don't know why i have a blog. i don't write on it. i don't really even read other people's blogs, either. i kinda don't do much internet stuff, except play minesweeper flags with my roomie from louisville and keep up with my email and order books off half.com.

so, co-ops busy. i got to go to bed.

long days and pleasant nights.

co-op II

Start: co-op term II
Location: Princeton, IN
Time: 10:19 pm

I've moved in today. Back to the small town. Not quite home. Smaller than Louisville. Tomorrow I start my co-op with the best automotive comany in the world: Toyota. I really like my job, working in the environmental department. Everyone knows I'm in over my head, over my head...

I will be here until the end of the year. Making money. Lots of reading. Lots of writing. Lots of stuff. I really don't know why I have a blog. Maybe cause it's the cool thing to do. Maybe cause I really like writing. Maybe I like experimenting. Maybe, maybe she says somethin' I'm so, I'm so tired...

Cause, you see, Brick is to high school as Gotham City is to New York. 'Twas a good movie. About drugs being ran in high school and people getting caught. Strange. I think maybe I have fleas. Or maybe there's only eight seconds left in overtime, she's on your mind, on your mind...

I gotta go. Long days. Pleasant nights.

getting married

i'm getting married next year. just thought that it should appear on my blog. should be derby day, maybe a week earlier or later, pending on circumstance. but, one things a fact, and that's that i'm getting married next year. God truly has blessed me beyond measure and words. summer is very busy and not a time for computers, especially blogs. perchance i'll update when i get back into a regular semester. perchance i'll be too busy to update very often (as i've been). narytheless, next year, aye, i'm getting married.

long days and pleasant nights

Lucky! Lick the Downtrodden!

God has been good to me. Merciful. Gracious. Forgiving.
He has been good to the ones I love. Kind. Comforting. Strong.
Yet it seems, no matter what, people are conflicted. I've said before that drama does not really happen to me, but to the ones I love. Many of my friends and relatives have been beset by problems that lead to a deep sadness, and though no great tragedy has happened to me, I feel like I am to be a help. And so I try. I remind that God is always there and that He knows what is going on. He is in charge, after all.
But the downtrodden are given a choice: stay down or rise. Bravo to those who rise, and prayers to those who do not. Perserverance is vital for this life. As is God. He is a loving God and an omnipresent God. He does not forsake. He will never forsake. Prayer and a Bible are essential tools to press on.
And, of course, being around friends and just people in general usually makes bad feelings (loneliness, for example) go away. We are somewhat like leeches, feeding off the khef of others. And if people don't work, dogs usually always do. Go up to a dog (make it a friendly one) and cry around it; I would almost bet a limb that it will lick you and make you feel better. My fiance felt down the other day, and I wanted her to feel better, so I summoned the dog to lick the downtrodden. I think it worked. At least it got her sticky.

Radiator Problemo

So two days ago I was driving back to my apartment with my roomate in the car. We pulled in and got out and immediately noticed the acrid smell and pouring steam/smoke rolling from under my hood. Which is where things technically started going wrong.
The radiator had a crack that some epoxy somewhat fixed. But then there came the gash in the radiator hose, hence the smell/steam. So, after letting the stuff cool down, we cut off the part where the hole was and reclamped the tube down. Which worked fine for two days. And then tonight, I'm going to my friend's uncles and I notice that the temperature begins to rise very, very quickly. By the time I pull in it looked like my hood was on fire beneath, and the smell was terrible. So we poured water into the radiator. Which, I thought, would be a good idea. When I left and came back to my apartment, the same problem again.
The predicament: I'm leaving the Big Town tomorrow for a while to return home. I'm longing for home. For peace. For less stress here and for my fiancee (I think it's with the ee). However, it looks like I'm gonna have to be concerned about making it home in one piece for the 120 mile trek, as well as getting it fixed. And all this with little money. But I know that God will provide for me. He always has, and He always will.
Knowing little about automobiles, I hope that there is nothing too wrong. Or too expensive. I hope that by buying a new hose that my problem will be fixed. Hopefully. I'd like to be home. Once the car's there I won't let it bother me. But until then, I'll just depend on Jesus to get me through, and my car.

If I never post again, mayhap my car blew up.

Long Days and Pleasant Nights, amigos...

Exodus & finality

All my bags are packed (mostly), I'm ready to go,
And my belly's aching of buffalo,
cause spicy garlic and hot wings make me sick.

so i ate at bw3's.
and i probly shouldn't have.
but when i've only got two nights left in the big town i can afford a lil extravagance.
see, i'll be leaving for home saturday, not to return to louisville (potentially) until january of 2007. that means i'll be on co-op again. which means that i'll be making money again. which means that i'll still be farther away from my fiancee. argh.

and so the title become applicable. sorta. i'll be taking an exodus (hopefully spiritually) when i leave here. i plan on using my co-op as time to get closer to God and His Will. i read His Word daily, but i don't really read it. i'll be in a foreign land (i.e. Indiana), and across a river (the Ohio). and when i come back to the big town there may not look to be an outward change, but inward there will be. and of that i am certain. God has provided for me always, and He always will. for that I am most thankful.

and who knows, my plans for marriage may be more developed. and mayhap my tennis skills will have increased. and i might start working out more. but, for certain, I will be closer to my Father and Savior. i will persevere. and with that, i retire.

Long Days and Pleasant Nights, amigos...

3:13 a.m.

This late/early the mind seems to be thinking much clearer than usual. It is finals week. I am finished, yet here in town for another few days. Primarily I've been cleaning and organizing (mostly music on my computer). Finals were actually pretty easy. Wolves of the Calla is pretty good so far. I've not had too much time to spend reading here of late. However, I have been practicing my piano and guitar e'en more. Which, there is a song called "Boston" by Augustana. Me gusta mucho.
Which reminds me. Augustana opened for a concert I went to last week. The Counting Crows (best band ever to have lived) and the Goo Goo Dolls. The concert was in Cincinatti and was awesome. First time I e'er saw the Crows or the Dolls, and both were great. Plus, my favourite song was the second one that the Crows sang ("Mrs. Potters Lullaby"). I'm not really sure whether or not it can top the Nickel Creek concert I went to last fall, though, in Louisville. 'Twas amazing, especially since tickets landed us on the third row.
It's now 3:16. I should go to sleep. But I imagine that I'll lay awake and pray. Or think. I like doing both. Until...

Long Days and Pleasant Nights, amigos....

Wizard and Glass

There is that feeling when you finish a long book. It's the one that's saying There should be more, I just know it, but... Argh. So, I finished Wizard and Glass just a little bit ago. Of course it was good, and it's technically not over (because of the three sequels) but the book was good. Maybe it's not the There should be more feeling. Maybe it's Huh, I'm through. Now what to do?

Obviously the answer is to pick up the sequel--Wolves of the Calla--and start right away. But, I have STAR WARS books to read, and Frankenstein, and Absalom! Absalom!, and a William Golding. There are definitely way, way too many books out there to choose from. Way too many. Perhaps someday I'll have read e'erything that I wanted to e'er read, but I doubt that. That'll only happen if books become banned. And that's certainly not e'er gonna happen. Unless we live in a Farenheit 431 world.

Long days and pleasant nights, amigos...

wild eyed beast

and so the man sometimes finds himself subject to askant, glaring views.
his back hurts from hauling in hay.
his mind is still sleepy, so why's he staring at the screen?
there's the test thursday to study for,
e'en though environmental seems eccentric.
argh. pirates comes out this weekend, and i still gotta finish reading the Wizard and the Glass.
sometimes being a rodeo clown is almost too much.
but, through all the depression of the clown business,
the frowns and ridicule,
omnipresent is Jesus, to offer His love and grace,
His forgiveness for failure,
and His salvation for sin,
all free of charge to us, but His life was the price.
Jesus is truly the answer to everything,
with 42 following at a very distant second.

Long Days and Pleasant Nights, amigos...