Prince of Egypt

I watched Prince of Egypt today. Ok, I know it's been out a long while but I'm terrible about watching movies. You can ask my sister Ellie. I remember raving about The Matrix and, she reminded me that by the time I got around to watching it, it had been out a year and a half. Anyway, in regards to the cartoon movie Prince of Egypt, I thought they did a really nice job of it though they definitely took some liberties. For example, Moses wife didn't go with him to Egypt. She later visited him after he had led the Israelites out of Egypt and as I remember, she didn't stay then either. Also, the Israelites wanted to kill Moses when they got to the Red Sea and saw Pharoah's army hot on their tails. Still, the essence is right about God hearing the cries of his people and him choosing Moses to lead them. Moses did perform a number of miracles which ultimately resulted in Pharaoh releasing Moses' people.

If you don't like Judeo-Christian religious stuff, you won't care for this cartoon/movie. If you do, I think you'll enjoy it. I know I did. It is a nice story and, the artwork in it is pretty decent. You should be able to find the movie for rent at various video rental stores. I don't know what it would cost you if you wanted to buy it though it should be less than $18 or $20. It has been out a while. I would definitely say Prince of Egypt is worth renting or buying and watching.

A Test

I'm curious to see if my Dad reads my blog so I've decided to create this little test. If he passes, he'll know he's going to be getting one of his favorite novels on DVD soon. If he fails, he'll get a surprise when it arrives.

Here are the particulars. My Dad is an avid John LeCarre fan. One of his favorite novels by John LeCarre is Smiley's People. Back in 1982, the BBC made the novel into a mini-series starring Sir Alec Guinness. It is a superb series and one my Dad very much wanted to own. There was only one problem. It was only in the British tv format. I kept checking on it to see if I could get it in the American tv format as I knew it was something Dad would really like to have and it isn't easy finding things I can buy for Dad! Finally, they recently released it in the American tv format and I planned to buy it only to have it suggested to me that I should hold off till some special day came up like his birthday to give it to him. I thought the suggestion good and held off until now. If you don't know, Father's Day is coming up and I thought that was a good time to get it for him. Plus, I want to buy it for him before he buys it for himself. So I did and it is supposedly enroute now. Which brings me back to this test, if Dad reads my blog, he'll know it's on its way. If not, well you the reader will know something he doesn't.

I hope he enjoys the DVDs and has a great Father's Day. He's been a great Dad especially the last year. The transition to civilian life has been hard for me. Through it all, Dad has been a great source of support. Plus, he's cheered me up a lot too. It's easy to get down when so many things are uncertain. Dad doesn't allow me to stay in the dumps. We'll see how things turn out but I know I can count on an encouraging word from him. I look forward to the day when I'll FINALLY get my degree from the University of Maryland and make him even more proud. Cheers!

The Greatest Game Ever Played

Recently, I watched the movie The Greatest Game Ever Played by Disney Studios. It is typical Disney in that it is good wholesome family film. There isn't any wholesale violence, swearing, or sex in the film which makes it unique sadly among today's standard movie fare. The movie is about a young boy named Frances Ouimet who lives in early 20th century Boston. He lives across from a golf course and dreams of playing golf. His idol is Harry Vardon, the great British golfer. He tries to break into the game but he is met by massive class bias as well as a disapproving father who considers golf a waste of time. Because of a deal made with his father, he gives up his dream of playing golf and pursues a career in business but fate has other things in store for Frances. The U.S. Open comes to the very course that Frances used to play at. Friends at the course offer him a chance to qualify for the Open and he decides to take it. Frances qualifies only to suffer another problem when he loses his caddy who is offered more money by someone else. A spunky 10-year old ends up taking his place. This 10-year old at times nearly steals the movie as he has some hilarious lines. Later, in the tournament, members of the club committee suggest that Frances dump his caddy but he refuses and thereby begins a friendship that will last a lifetime.

As the tournament progresses, Frances slowly crawls to the top of the board and finds himself tied with his idol Harry Vardon and another British golfer. When the fourth round finishes, it is a three way tie and the rules committee decide on an 18-hole tie-breaker. To the astonishment of the crowd, Frances goes head-to-head with Vardon and the other golfer staying tied with them for over 15 holes. Vardon tries a psychological maneuver but thanks to Ouimet's caddy, Frances doesn't fall for it and takes the lead by 1 shot. Vardon however isn't done and the tension continues. The other British golfer falls out of the competition after putting a ball in the trees and it becomes a battle between Ouimet and Vardon. It'll go down to the very last hole and the very last putt.

If you like a suspenseful golf story or of one of the underdog coming from behind, this movie is for you. It is also a movie that sends a beautiful message of persuing one's dreams in the face of great obstacles. It is a really nice film and I enjoyed it. It is definitely an excellent family film. That said, I don't know if it's worth the $18 or $20 some stores are asking for it. I might wait until it comes down in price before I buy it. I do feel it is worth renting and seeing. If you want to see a nice film that'll leave you feeling good at the end, check out The Greatest Game Ever Played.

Quote by C. S. Lewis

I received the Patriot Post Number 06-21 today. The Patriot Post is a conservative organization that is supported by subscribers. Subscribers can receive well thought out emails (they're considered well thought out unless you're leftist, liberal, or Democrat) from them that address various issues of the day.

Today, they sent out a particularly good quote from C. S. Lewis. I think you'll see why when you read it. "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of thing Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

An Awesome Day!

I wish I could have more days like today. Today, so many things went right. The day did start off nicely with me finding a quarter while walking around the gift shop at work. Incredibly, I would keep finding pennies during the day (almost like an Easter Bunny left them) and ended up with 31 cents. Not much money but it was still neat. I brought some grubby clothes to work because our operational manager asked me to. The day before, he asked if I knew how to paint. I answered no (which is truthful) but I could improvise. I think that pleased him. Sadly, I didn't get to paint as they had to try to figure out what colors they wanted. I was little disappointed as I really wanted a chance to make some good job points with him. Little did I realize that I would get my chance to impress.

A massive shipment of glasses came into today. Normally, a shipment wouldn't be a big deal but it is when it's 26 pallets worth! We don't have that big a warehouse. Worse still, the truck didn't have a lift gate (a lift attached to the truck that can be used to lower loads from the truck to the ground) and we didn't have any way to offload the truck except manually i.e. manually take every one of those boxes off the pallets, restack them on a different pallet, and take them into the warehouse. That would've been an impossible job with so many boxes. Initially, the ops manager refused the shipment only to find out it was our fault there wasn't a lift gate (the shipper hadn't been notified that we needed one). The ops manager ended renting a forklift which we used to offload the first two pallets. Someone was going to have to get inside the truck with a manual jack/lift and maneuver the rest of the pallets to the end of the truck so the forklift could take them off the truck. I ended up being that someone. It was hard work but I was delighted to do it. I found it a trip that a skill I learned while volunteering at SHARE had come in handy so much at work.

Half way through unloading the truck, I saw to my surprise my general manager. He saw how hard I was working. I was delighted that he got to see that. For the last week, I would've sworn he was peeved with me about something. With me being close to finishing my three month probation period at Medieval Times, I was very anxious to keep him happy. At times, I felt like I was walking on pins and needles.

I continued to slog away at getting the truck unloaded. I finally finished and was told to clock out but I wasn't ready to quit. I came back and offered to work for free. I wanted to finish the job. We still had to move everything in the warehouse. I found out that if anything were to happen to me while working for free, the manager in charge would be in big trouble. It was agreed they would write down the additional time I worked though to honest, I don't care about that time as I'll explain later. I summarily took over the job of throwing boxes up to folks that were restacking them so we could get all the boxes in the warehouse. We must've stacked them 14 or 15 HIGH! I worked for another hour and by the time I was done, my hands were black from all the grime on the boxes and my arms felt like they wanted to fall off. Those of us who had toiled hard at the work walked out and to our surprise, the general manager praised us for what we did. The man is not light with praise so it was very sweet to receive it. That alone made it worth slogging away so hard. Also, it came at a great time. I have four days left to my probationary period. Unless, I royally screw up, I think I'll get through it all right now.

I drove home very contented. As luck would have it, I had a pound and a half of steamed shrimp flavored with Old Bay seasoning and some cold Sam Adam's Boston Lager in the fridge. It made for a wonderful meal.

As I mentioned in previous posts, I recently finished the college class I took this spring. I decided to see if the grades had been posted for my class. I called up the website, logged in, and then nervously called up my grades for the 2006 Spring Semester. To my delight, I'd earned an "A" for the class. I was thoroughly delighted.

So, it has been awesome day. I wish I could have more days like these. God knows, I've had plenty of rough ones. Tomorrow, I'll face another day of challenges. Which is why for now, I'll savor today. It has been a wonderful day.

Collecting Game Cards

I remember when I was kid, I collected baseball cards. Every week, when I received my allowance, I would walk down to the neighborhood drug store and buy more baseball cards. I kept track of my cards so I knew which ones I had and which ones I still needed. I showed my collection with pride on my bulletin board. It was a lot of fun collecting them.

Ironically, I'm collecting Lord of the Rings cards now. That is what has caused me to reminisce about my baseball card collecting days. In some ways, they're the same though in some ways they're not. I keep a list of what cards I have though I keep the list on my computer now vice on a writing pad in those earlier years. I also have to buy LOTS of packs and get many duplicates before I'll complete my set of cards. I am taken back a bit by how much more the cards cost now a days. A set of Lord of the Rings cards cost a minimum of $2 each. I don't remember the baseball cards I bought costing more than 25 cents a pack. Also, I can play some kind of game with my Lord of the Rings cards whereas with baseball cards, you just showed them off proudly to your friends. One thing I don't miss in the Lord of the Rings cards is the terrible chewing gum I'd get with the baseball cards.

It's a lot of fun collecting the cards. Like in my younger days, I'm determined to get the entire set though in this case, there are three sets I'm collecting: Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. Unlike my my younger days, I plan to save my cards. I don't know what ever happened to those baseball cards I collected but I regret losing them. I plan to do a better job of keeping the cards I'm collecting now. I don't know if they'll if ever be worth any money but by taking good care of them, I'll be able to enjoy them for years to come. They'll also remind me of a wondrous world that Peter Jackson brought to the silver screen.

SHARE

I got to help out at SHARE yesterday. I haven't been able to help out there in over a month and a half. I've been busy with work and college plus when I finally got free, they had finished delivering last month's packages and were taking a well deserved break. This time however, I was able to make it down there for Distribution Friday. I'd wrapped up my spring college class last week and I had Friday off work wise. It was great to see all the folks that work there. Sam was his usual cheerful self. Scott was his usual hectic self running around trying to do all the things expected of the general manager. Jingle was Jingle, ever smiling and always ready with a warm welcome. Chris was his usual kind self. Debbie too gave me a wave as she rang up the sales at the register. Herbert was busy helping out where needed. Ollie was busy arranging the shipment of food items for future food packages. And Krystal and Natasha (I hope I have her name right) were busy in the office. These folks are amazing when you think how much food they process every month.

I ended up helping with the master orders. Master orders are where you give out cases or sacks of items. A customer's order will be split into three parts. You'll have the split part where they'll receive items that make up less than a case or sack ex. 10 boxes of cornbread mix (the case holds 24 boxes). Once they get all their split items, they see Chris if they have a special package orders. This month's special package were four t-bone steaks. After they're done with Chris, they come to the section where I was working. I got to work with Sydney who is an old-timer at SHARE. He told me of times past at SHARE. He pointed out one gentleman who brought his young daughter to SHARE to help out. The girl was barely able to lift one big onion when she started. She's now attending college. He also told me about when SHARE received so many orders they had to do distribution days TWICE a month. Sadly, thanks to people moving and churches withdrawing from the program, the numbers have gone down though Scott is doing every thing he can to help them come back up.

I found out from Scott that SHARE now accepts Visa, Mastercard, and Debit card at the SHARE warehouse. I suspect this will help greatly order wise and hopefully get more people to buy packages. Eventually, Scott plans to have it where the host sites will be able to have customers pay that way.

I also found out SHARE is having a sale on SHARE merchandise. Hats, t-shirts, jackets, and mugs are all on sale. (I was proudly wearing my SHARE long sleeve t-shirt!). It's a great chance for those who want to show they're part of the SHARE team to show their support for SHARE and show their SHARE colors. I plan to buy a SHARE hat.

Lastly, I have to mention Mrs. Henderson (again I hope I have to name right, yes Kevin I haven't forgotten I got your name wrong and called you Mark, duh). She is a retired schoolteacher who still has a no-nonsense manner. There are set ways to do things and that is how she will do them and how YOU will do them. She is also a fantastic cook. I think one of the main things I missed not being able to help out last month was her cooking. Every Market Day Monday, Mrs. Henderson fixes something for lunch for the people at SHARE. The food has been consistently outstanding and is a serious treat for anyone helping out that day. Mrs. Henderson was helping out in the room where Debbie rang up the orders. I made sure I said hi to her and told her about my last college class (I'm seriously hoping I passed this time as I don't want to read Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath again, DEPRESSING!). I also told her how much I missed her cooking. If you can help out on Market Day at SHARE, you'll be glad you did as you'll get to try some of her fantastic cooking. It is definitely worth the drive out there.

McKellen Website Update

I did some further searching and managed to find the website of the company responsible for running Sir Ian McKellen's website. I subsequently emailed them to find out what was happening with McKellen's website. The email got kicked back as undeliverable. I would strongly recommend you don't order anything at this time from his website. Hopefully, McKellen will get the mess sorted out soon.

On another note, McKellen has been defending the movie The Da Vinci Code. He stars in it and one critic I read said he stole the movie in his scenes. I don't know if thats true or not but I can't imagine him doing a bad job of acting. In a rare case where McKellen dropped his usual geniality, McKellen made the following comment during an interview "Well, I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction. I mean, walking on water, it takes an act of faith." I doubt this will help the movie any nor will it do credit to McKellen or his case for gay rights. McKellen is right that it takes an act of faith to believe that a man walked on water however, much of the bible has been proven to be factually accurate, something that can't be said to be true for The Da Vinci Code. I still feel the book and movie are a smear on the Roman Catholic church specifically and Christianity in general. I personally hope the movie tanks. Hollywood needs to stop making movies that attack Christianity. Maybe when enough movies like The Da Vinci Code tank, they'll get the message.

John Howe

I recently discovered John Howe's website (http://www.john-howe.com). For those of you who don't know who John Howe is, he is one of the two artists most responsible for shaping how most people imagine Middle-Earth. He and Alan Lee were the two conceptual artists that Peter Jackson hired for the Lord of The Rings movies. He is the one most responsible for the way Bag End, Minas Tirith, Cirith Morgol, and The Black Gates look. He is also responsible for the images of Shelob and many of the orcs we saw in the movies. Many of his drawings and paintings are beautiful pieces of art in my opinion. I remember getting to see a painting he did of the outside of Bag End that was at the Lord of the Rings film exhibition. It was stunning. One unique ability Howe has is the ability to imbue light in his paintings. A classic example which you can see on his website is his drawing of the front hall of Bag End. You get to look out the front hall through the open front door into the countryside beyond. It's just one of a number of outstanding works done by John Howe. There are many more on the website to be enjoyed including a number of works not related to the Lord of the Rings. I would definitely recommend this site to any Lord of the Rings or Hobbit fans. I would also recommend it to any who love fantasy art. John Howe is without doubt one of the finest illustrators and fantasy artists in the world today. If you can, use the link provided and see pictures of worlds that never existed but you might wish had.

Samuel Adam's Cherry and Wheat

Recently, I bought a six pack of Samuel Adam's Cherry and Wheat Ale and their signature Boston Lager. The cherry and wheat ale is a unique mixture where they mix cherries and cherry syrup with the mash for a wheat ale. It is a very different tasting brew. You can definitely taste the cherries in it. It's the first brew/ale I've ever tried where that has a slight cherry flavor. In regards to how it tastes overall, I thought it was all right. It isn't something I'm going to rush out to buy though. I would say it depends on your own individual tastes. I personally thought it was neat to try it one time but I don't plan on buying it again. I'll let you know what I think of Adam's Boston Lager is a later post. Cheers!

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire

I finally got to watch Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire yesterday. I'd been wanting to see it for a while and finally rented it from Blockbuster Video. I found it to be a really well done movie. The actors and actresses were superb, the script was sound, and the special effects excellent. The movie also addressed the problems standard to all teenagers when they start maturing i.e. the problems guys and gals can have with trying to create relationships. The only thing I can fault the movie on is that it is sad. Lord Voldemort is determined to return and he has no qualms about killing to accomplish it. Harry, his friends, and lots of others are attacked at the world quidditch matches by followers of Voldemort. Also, Cedric Diggory is killed by Voldemort himself when he unknowingly is transported to where one of Voldemort's followers (I forget his name) awaits. It is really sad to see him die or the grief of his father when he sees his son's body. I suspect the next Harry Potter movie will be even more grim. Still, the movie overall is excellent and I'd heartily recommend it. It is out on DVD now and should be available at all video stores.

Sir Ian McKellen's Website

Yesterday, I decided to see if I could find out anything on the order I placed with Sir Ian McKellen's website. I ordered 2 extra large Gandalf t-shirts. I haven't received them yet and I decided to see if I could check on the status of my order. I managed to find the number you can call to place an order and decided to call it. To my shock, I found out the number had been disconnected! So, I'm posting this blog entry to warn folks about buying stuff from there. I plan to pursue this further and I will let you what I find out but for now, you might want to hold off ordering stuff from there. Hopefully, there has just been some kind of hiccup with the folks in charge and I'll be able to get the t-shirts I ordered. We'll see.

Eloise

I finally mailed a birthday card and small present to my sister Eloise. In the card, it asks how someone can be so wonderful. Eloise or El or The Kid as I call is just that. The transition from military to civilian life has been very hard for me. My life in the Air Force was very predictable and stable. Now, nothing is predictable or sure. I'm scrambling to make a new life for myself and it isn't easy. El has been a huge blessing. I can't tell how many times her phone calls have cheered me up when I was really stressed about the future or down about things. She has always been upbeat and positive. Compared to her, I've been having a cake walk though I haven't seen it that way. She went through months of scrambling to find a job in Seattle. Finally, after many ups and downs it appears she has found her niche at Trader Joes Supermarkets. She's in training to become a manager. She should be a really good one. I'm happy that she has finally found what she wants to do job wise. By all accounts, Trader Joes is a great place to work. They apparently take good care of their people and pay them well. One of these days, I'll have to go find the Trader Joes in Annapolis just to check it out. El bought a bunch of stuff from them for the family Christmas grab bag. The grab bag is a huge Christmas stocking where all members of the family drop in various items they've bought for it. On Christmas day, the stocking is emptied on the floor and family members take turns picking an item from the pile. This last Christmas, I got some salmon jerky and pepper cashews that El bought from Trader Joes. They were both pretty good. I'd definitely like to see what other stuff they have.

Back to the main point of this post. El is a neat sister and the only one I helped raise as a baby. I was 15 when El was born and I got tagged to change diapers (barf! gag! and SERIOUS YUCK!), baby sit, and watch over her (one time I didn't keep a close enough eye and when I went to find up what she was up to, I found her drinking SHAMPOO! I must have 9 lives because I swear I lost at least 3 of them that time from heart attack. I remember reading the ingredients of the shampoo and finding out it had formaldehyde in it. They use that to preserve things. I thought great, I've pickled my sister! I started pouring water down her throat to dilute the shampoo, she starting spitting up BUBBLES! I was ready to have a nervous breakdown. My Dad has arms like tree trunks and I could imagine what he was going to do to me when he found out (it was 2 years before I had the nerve to tell him what she did). Fortunately, kids are pretty indestructible at that age and maybe she didn't drink much of the shampoo. I don't know. I just know she survived and didn't appear any worse for wear.).

Last year, I got to visit El in Seattle. It was a neat time. We had lunch at the top of the Space Needle, got to see the Science Fiction Writers Hall of Fame, did a 2 hour cruise through the locks and harbor, got to see the famous fisherman's market where you better watch out for the flying fish, got to see an impressive waterfall, play some pool, meet some of her friends, and see the latest Batman movie which was really good. It saddened me when it was time to fly back to Maryland. Seattle was a very pretty city and I really enjoyed myself there. I hope to make it out there sometime to see her again. We'll see on that. Hopefully, like her, I'll find my niche job wise. As she says, something will work out. I just have to be patient and stop worrying. Not easy to do considering what a numbnut I am. Hopefully, everything will turn out well and El will be able to kid me for worrying so much about it. I in turn will give thanks for having such a great sister. As the birthday card asks how did you turn out to be so wonderful? I don't know sis but I'm very glad you did. Thanks for being there. Love, Bro.

Elven War Sword

Yesterday, I received the Elven War Sword I'd ordered. It was the last sword I wanted to own from the Lord of the Rings collection. Sadly, it my opinion, it is the worst. The handle on the sword looks Mattelish i.e. it looks like it's made of plastic. It should look like it has leather wrapped around possible a wooden handle. To make matters worse, there are clearly visible lines on the top and bottom parts of the handle. The reason for this is because the handle was made of two parts and then somehow welded together. Because of this, the blade is purely display. If you actually tried to hit something with it, you would split the handle. Another problem I have with the handle is it's too big. I think it should be smaller and more slender. I suspect they did this so they could make it easier to manufacture.

The blade part of the sword looks good and is a good copy of the blades that were used in the movies. Overall, the sword does more or less look like the blades that the Elven characters used but, I still think that if they couldn't make the sword properly, they shouldn't have made it at all. From what I've heard about engineering and manufacturing problems associated with the blade, this is one sword United Cutlery shouldn't have made. All the other blades I bought in the Lord of the Rings collection were superb, some extremely so. There are a lot of really crappy and kitschy looking swords out on the market. In my opinion, the Lord of the Rings swords were the exception. They are blades that a person would want to own simply because they are beautiful and high quality swords (as far as wall decoration swords go). It saddens me that the final sword in the collection ended up being such a poor representative of the collection.

Procrastination

One of my worst traits is procrastination. If there is something I really don't want to do, I'll put it off till the very last possible moment. Such was the case with two essays I needed to write for the college class I was taking. The part I hate worst about the college classes I'm taking is writing the papers. To make matters worse, I'm majoring in English. If you major in English, you are guaranteed to have to write a LOT of papers.

The class I was taking this spring wasn't that bad. All totalled, I had to write 4 essays of between 3 and 12 pages in length. Still, I hate doing the assignments. Miracles of miracles, I actually got the first assignment in on time. I wasn't to be so lucky on the second assignment. I kept putting it off until I ABSOLUTELY had to do it. I actually managed to knock out the first essay in an hour though it helped that I'd already marked the parts in the book that I was going to use.

The second essay ended up taking a LOT longer. I had to analyze two mother-daughter relationships in The Joy Luck Club. I'd read the novel twice but, I had to re-read the parts on each mother and daughter that I was going to analyze. I also take to take notes on those parts and note what page or pages I took those parts from. It was a very time consuming task. Not surprisingly, I didn't meet the deadline for the second essay. It ended up taking almost an entire day to do the research and write and then re-write the paper. I finally turned it in approximately 18 hours late (which isn't bad for me) (which also doesn't speak well of me either).

I should still pass the class. I got a "D" in it the first time and that's without doing any of the papers. We'll see what happens. If I do by some chance fail it, it'll be my own stupid fault and sadly, it won't be the first time. Perhaps, one of these days I'll learn though I doubt it. I can be a real dipshit when I have to do stuff I don't care to do. Just ask my parents how I was when I had to my chores at home. They know!

The Da Vinci Code

I recently got to read an article on The Da Vinci Code novel. I'd heard about the book and how supposedly it was filled with inaccuracies and false conspiracies. Because of that, I wasn't in any hurry to buy it. The article by www.catholic.com confirmed what I'd heard. According to the article, the Da Vinci Code book and forthcoming movie states that Jesus was an ordinary man, that he married and had a daughter with Mary Magdalene, that Mary Magdalene is to be worshipped as a goddess (yah, right, NOT!), that daughter gave birth to a family line that continues to this day, that Mary Magdalene was directed to create the church instead of Peter, a secret society was created that worships Mary Magdalene to this day, Catholic Church has done whatever it can including murder to destroy that secret society, and that the Catholic Church has tried to wipe-out the family line that originated from Jesus and Mary's daughter.

While the Catholic Church has not been the most saintly organizations throughout the centuries, I can't believe that it would murder those who found out about the so called secret or try to exterminate a family line. I have to suspect the author of The Da Vinci Code has a serious grudge against the Catholic Church. It also seems to go with a number of articles now a days that try to deny Jesus's divinity. I suspect the articles are because the faith of Jesus doesn't play well with the anything goes crowd. No matter how you play it, Jesus and the Christian faith don't approve of sin. They say we should try to avoid sinning though if we do, we should repent of what we've done i.e. acknowledge what we did was wrong before God and through Jesus's saving work on the cross, we will be forgiven. The anything goes crowd don't care to admit they did anything wrong at all.

Based on what I read on the article: http://www.catholic.com/library/cracking_da_vinci_code.asp, I'm going to pass on The Da Vinci Code book and movie. I'd recommend other Christians do the same. It sounds like just another attempt at attacking the Christian faith which sadly seems in vogue today.

Groceries

I got to ring up and bag my own groceries yesterday. I decided to run out to the Base Commissary and buy some milk, Sunkist orange soda, and gala apples. I've developed a real liking for orange soda lately and have been making the soda machine folks at work rich. I like the taste of gala apples and the Base Commissary has the best price on them. Compared to other places, the commissary can save you a $1 a pound on them. I also wanted to see if they had any luncheon meat ends for sale. Luncheon meat ends are the leftovers from the loafs and rolls of luncheon meat the delicatessen sells. I like to munch out on them. The Commissary sells them $1.29 a pound which is more half the price the local Giant supermarket sells them for ($3 a pound). The only problem with the luncheon meat ends is other people like them too. It's always hit or miss with trying to buy them. Sometimes I get lucky and sometimes I don't. Yesterday, I didn't.

They have good prices on other items as well. I was able to buy Louis Rich turkey breast for $1.50 a pound and 7 ounce bags of Gibbles cheese puffs for 72 cents each. Whole milk is only $1.76 a gallon. In my opinion, one of the best benefits I have from serving in the Air Force is being able to shop at the Commissary. It can really make a difference on the food bill.

Back to ringing up my own groceries, I think it was last year the Commissary introduced a new service where you could ring up and bag your own groceries. I think they did it as a way to save money. This way they don't have to pay for a cashier for four check-outs or the baggers. I would guess for the customer, the benefit is they get out of the Commissary quicker. For me, I just wanted to bag my own groceries and take them out to my car. I guess I was in a cheap mood and didn't feel like tipping the bagger 50 cents a bag. It was an interesting time. I'd always wanted to try out one of those scanners and get to weigh my own apples. The only problem I had ringing up my own groceries was when I tried to move groceries I'd bagged. The sensor would pick it up and the person who overseas the four positions would have to reset the alert. Overall, I thought it was a neat service. I definitely plan to use it again when I visit the Commissary again.

My Uncle Richard and Aunt Liane

I heard from my Uncle Richard today. It caused me to remember when I got to visit him and his wife my Aunt Liane. It was an interesting visit. I was in the Air Force at the time and had just finished a one year tour in Bahrain. When you're enroute to your next duty station, you can take leave (time off) as long as you have some leave saved up. I did and I had some things I wanted or needed to do before I reported to my next duty station. I first flew down to see my friend May Jackson in San Angelo, Texas. After that, I needed to pick up my car. Before going to Bahrain, I'd placed my Toyota Camry in storage. It didn't make any sense taking it to Bahrain as I would've only gotten to drive it 6 months. It would've take 3 months to get out there and 3 months to get to wherever my next duty station was going to be. So, I flew down to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, saw my friend Jeanne Haun and her husband Rick, and then used a rental car to drive to Pensacola to pick up my car.

After I picked up my car, I drove to Jacksonville to see my Uncle Richard and Aunt Liane. I couldn't remember when I'd last seen them. It turned out it was back in 1967! I realized I had no idea what either of them looked like so it was with nervous trepidation when I knocked on their door. Uncle Richard looks like my Grandfather McCarthy as I recognized the resemblance at once. My Aunt Liane turned out to be a real sweetheart. We visited an alligator farm, Fort Augustine, and the site where a French settlement had been. He also showed me downtown Jacksonville. At the end of my visit, we visited a Hooters restaurant where we enjoyed some of their famous chicken wings.

After that, it was time for me to drive down to Sanford, Florida where I boarded the Autotrain. The Autotrain is a train that Amtrak runs from Lorton, Virginia to Sanford, Florida. It's an easy way to take you and your car to Orlando, Florida (Sanford is just outside Orlando) if you live the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area. I boarded the train while they put my car on one of the special train cars for carrying cars. I arrived the next morning in Lorton and had an easy drive to my next base.

I had a great time visiting my Uncle Richard and Aunt Liane. I make it a point to keep in touch with them. I hope to fly down sometime in the future to see them. It all depends on the job situation. Hopefully, I'll get that sorted out soon and be able to make it down to see them. They're awesome people.

Ale II

This is my second post on Samuel Adam's various ales hence Ale II. Yesterday, I got to try Samuel Adams Summer Ale. I found it a nice smooth ale. On their website, Samuel Adams says there is a background of peaches and some other fruit. If so, I couldn't taste them but then I'm not a connoisseur of ales. I just know if it tastes good or not and, I think their Summer Ale is pretty good. One bad thing about their summer ale is it's seasonal brew. It's only available during the summer.

I also tried their Brown Ale. I found this ale has a harsher taste though it's still a decent brew. Unlike Adams Summer Ale, their Brown Ale is available year round. It's part of their Brewmaster Collection.

One final side note. As I mentioned in previous posts, I've allowed my hair to grow long and I've grown a goatee. When I went up to the counter to pay for the two six-packs of ale, the cashier carded me. I'm 45 years old. I should've grown my hair long years ago! (grin) Cheers!

College Books

After I finished taking the final for the college class I'm taking, it was time to sell back the books to the college book store. This always strikes me as something of a rip-off. They give you half of what you paid for the book and sell it for twice what they paid you. A nice deal if you can get away with it and they do. For the nine books I sold them, I got all of $34.25. I then walked over to the college bookstore to see about getting the two books I need for my next class. It turned out that they were out of stock. I'm going to have to buy them brand new. The total price for the two new books - $35. Some days, you just can't win. Oh well, at least I had the rest of the books for the class. I'd hate to see what it would've cost me otherwise. I'll get to drive back later this week to pick the books up. For some reason, they couldn't mail them to me. :-(

College Final

I took the final today for the college class I was taking for the Spring Semester. I hopped into my car and drove down to the College Park Campus. This time, I made sure I had plenty of time. Previously, I've been slow to get out of the house and have cut it close. This time, I arrived with over 30 minutes to spare. The final was given in the Cole Field House. Cole Field House is an indoor arena where they have various indoor sports events. I remember seeing on a board that they had scheduled flag football in it in April.

The final itself went so-so. I had to write three essays. I liked what I wrote for the first essay BUT I thought the essay was a little short. It ended up only being a little less than a page and a half. The second essay turned out all right BUT took longer than I'd planned. It also was longer than I'd planned. The third essay was something of a disaster. I didn't plan on having to write an essay on two poems so I was caught totally surprise for it. To make matters worse, the second poem I chose was never covered in class. I didn't have time to find a good second poem so I went with it anyway. Hopefully, I'll score all right on the first two essays. We'll see.

Royalty Magazines

I don't know about anyone that reads my blog but, I'm a bit of a fan of royalty. I think it started because I'm an Anglophile, a person who loves things that have to do with the United Kingdom. One of really neat things about England is the British Royal Family. To me, they have a lot of cache. One of the biggest thrills I've had on my travels was when I actually got to go inside Buckingham Palace during a tour. It was something to see the balcony the royals will come out on and wave from during various events. I also got to see the room the Queen uses to bestows honors in including knighthoods. Lastly, I got to see her backyard. You might ask what is so special about seeing her backyard. First, the backyard is in downtown London. People don't have backyards there because land is so danged expensive. I remember seeing ads where people paid over $85,000 for a garage to park their car in. The Queen has a backyard you could 20 or 30 garages in. The land value of her backyard must be ridiculous. If that isn't incredible enough, however many people do you know that have their own LAKE in their backyard? I doubt many and again remember her lake is in the middle of downtown LONDON! Unbelievable! It was truly incredible to get to see the inside of that palace.

Back to the subject, two of best magazines you can buy if you want to follow the world's royalty are Royalty and Majesty. Both of these magazines have excellent pictures on the various royal families. They also have interesting articles on them. In Volume 20 Number 3, Royalty magazine talks about the girlfriends of Princes William and Henry. It's kinda interesting to read about them. Volume 27 Number 3 of Majesty has a nice article on Princess Caroline if you're interested in Monaco royals. Majesty also gives a list of dates and places where various royals will be appearing in England. It would very useful if you've got the desire to try to catch a glimpse of one. Lastly, the magazines sell good selections of books on the royals. I remember one I was interested in but didn't get around to buying actually told how the British royal household actually worked.

If you like royalty, either of these magazines might be for you. I was able to buy my copies at Books-A-Million. They also have websites at: www.majestymagazine.com and www.royalty-magazine.com. Cheers!

Movies

I bought four movies on DVD today. Best Buy has some movies on sale for $5.99 and I decided I couldn't pass that up. I ended up buying Flashdance, Trading Places, Stargate, and The Saint. I've seen all of them except for Stargate which I bought in VHS format but never got around to watching (problems with my VCR). They should make a nice addition to my movie collection. I'm hoping Best Buy or Sam's Club will have Apollo 13 and Mannequin on sale some time. I'd like to get those on DVD too. I'm slowly replacing all my VHS movies with DVDs. DVDs in theory will never wear out whereas videotapes do. Also VCRs sometimes eat them (definitely not a good thing).

On a different note, I got to try an Orange Julius at Dairy Queen. There is an Orange Julius/Dairy Queen right across from the Medieval Times where I work. I've tried one of their smoothies and wanted to try an Orange Julius. Basically, an Orange Julius is an orange flavored smoothie. I found it all right. I plan to try out some of the other smoothies they have there. I'll let you know how those are. Cheers!

Book Review

The final book I had to read for the college class I'm taking for the Spring Semester is Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. The book tells of four Chinese women who emigrate to the United States and their American born daughters. It is a fascinating book filled joy, love, pain, and loss. It shows the differences between Chinese and American culture and the problems children of foreign born parents can encounter when they try to create a sense of identity. It also shows the problems you can have between immigrant parents and their American born offspring. One example was the embarrassment one of the daughters felt over their parents poor English. One of the problems the mothers had was the lack of attention she received from her daughter (typical now a days in the U.S.).

I personally found the book very enjoyable though I think women would enjoy it more then men. It very much hits on the difficulties of mother-daughter relationships, something men might have a hard time identifying with. The book isn't a hard read nor a long one. The paperback edition has 332 pages. Cost wise, the list price for the book is $7.99 U.S. Supposedly, the book was made into a movie. I don't know how good the movie is as I've never seen it though I may try since I joined Blockbuster video today. We'll see. As far as the book goes, I'd definitely recommend it. It is a very nice and touching read.

Samuel Adam's Boston Ale

I decided to try Samuel Adam's Boston Ale this week. Medieval Times sells their ale and I thought it would be fun to try some. I found the Boston Ale to be stronger than regular lager. The alcohol content is 5.1%. It also has a robust taste to it. It isn't a watery or weak brew. Also, it's available year round. I found out Samuel Adams has a line of seasonal brews as well as regular brews. One of these is called Summer Ale. I picked up a six-pack of that today and plan to try it out Sunday. I'll let you know what I think of it then. If you'd like more information on beers, ales, and other alcoholic brews by Samuel Adams, their website is: www.samueladams.com.