Book Review - The Grapes of Wrath

I finished reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck yesterday. I had to read it for the college class I'm taking. The novel has become the story that has defined the Depression Era in the United States. No other novel has taken root in the American consciousness about that time like The Grapes of Wrath. The reasons may be many. It is a story about survival. The Joad family have to battle the elements on the exodus to California. Once they arrive, they have to deal with hostility from native Californians, greedy large landownders and corporations, starvation, and appalling living conditions. The novel also vividly depicts just how hard life was during the Depression. My step-mom had relatives who lived during that time and according to them, Steinbeck was smack on in his telling of how hard life was during that time. Another reason why the novel has defined the era is because it shows how the migrant families fit into the big picture of what was happening in the United States at the time. Ultimately, whatever the reason, the novel has defined the era like F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby defined the Roaring 20's.

The book itself is wonderfully written and is an easy read. My only complaint with the book is that it is so unbelievably sad. One disaster after another befalls the Joad family. They and other migrants are taken advantage of by greedy large landowners and companies who use them to make themselves rich. The books begs for justice for these suffering people. If you hate seeing people taken advantage of, you're not going to want to read this book. For myself, I didn't care to read the novel because some of the things in it hit a little close to home. I've had to deal with recruiters from various companies and like some of the agents in the novel who look for workers, the recruiters haven't been the most honest folks. Another item I discovered about the novel is that it isn't accurate or in some cases historically true. Keith Windschuttle wrote an essay called "Steinbeck's myth on the Okies." http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/20/jun02/steinbeck.htm. This essay shows that the number of Okies who migrate to California were not the number Steinbeck claims. It also shows that the Joad family would've been the extraordinary exception of those migrating. According to Windschuttle, the average size family that made the journey was approximately 4.4 members. Also, sharecroppers were far more prone to move than what Steinbeck shows. Overall, the novel can't be taken as historical fact.

Still, the novel does show how hard life could be during this great era in U.S. history. In that regard, the reader might find it an interesting read. Overall, I would say it is a great novel though one I wouldn't care to read. It is simply too depressing. I like to read more cheerful or escapist stuff. I can't recommend this novel unless you want to read something about the Great Depression in the U.S. Then, I would recommend the novel as long as you don't take it for historical fact. There is much that isn't true or is exaggerated in the novel. Also, Steinbeck was heavily influenced at the time he wrote the novel by his marriage to Carol Henning who was a Marxist as well as other Communist friends. Steinbeck talks about a future uprising in the novel. This was wishful thinking of those in the Communist movement of the time. As long as you take the inaccuracies that Windschuttle mentions, the novel will give you an idea of hard the Depression era was for people in the U.S.

Lord of the Rings

First, if you are interesting in buying one of the Lord of the Rings swords or axes, you might want to do so quickly. For unknown reasons, United Cutlery is apparently stopping production of most of the blades. I think this royally stinks as these blades are some of the finest and most beautiful that have been produced in some time. I've seen other swords at various blade shops and they look like the crap. The Lord of the Rings blades have been consistently excellent. If you want a nice decorative sword that doesn't look kitchshe, you might want to get one of the Lord of the Rings blades before they're sold out.

Second, if you haven't heard, the Lord of the Rings musical has opened in Toronto, Canada. As far as I know, it has been well recieved. I still wonder how they could do a musical based on the books in 3 and a half hours. Maybe, I'll be able to get up to Toronto sometime to find out.

Third, no word on New Line and Sony doing a deal so "The Hobbit" can be made. Peter Jackson reportedly is willing though I haven't heard how his lawsuit was going with New Line which also might affect whether or not he gets to make the movie. I'm still hoping the two studios can get off their greedy butts and do a deal so we can see "The Hobbit" made into a movie vice the cartoon that was done previously (mind you the cartoon version was outstanding in my opinion).

I Got A Job!

I finally have a job that barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should be able to keep as long as I want. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I've been transitioning from military to civilian life. It has been one rough ride. There have been so many jobs that I thought I was going to get only to see them fall through. I finally got a job with the Arundel Mills Medieval Times which should be reliable and steady. What do I do at Medieval Times? I provide security. I make sure no one gets one in who doesn't have a ticket. I help pre-seat people. I make sure no one tries to through anything into the arena during the show. I make sure people don't bang the plates and cups together or against the table. I also make sure the food servers stay out of certain areas when certain events are taking place. I notify management if someone drinks one too many mugs of beer or glasses of wine. Lastly, I answer lots of questions from customers. That has been the most challenging part as I've had to learn a LOT about Medieval Times in order to answer their questions. In cases where I don't know the answer, I have to find the person who does know the answer. Medieval Times is very customer oriented and one of the most important things I do is help customers. I've found that really surprising as it isn't something you'd normally associate with security. The job has been neat in that I've gotten to interact with the people who play the King, Princess, Lord Chancellor, and Knight Marshal. I've gotten to see how things are behind the scenes. It is fascinating to see how the show is put together. Finally, it has been neat to see how much the kids that come to Medieval Times enjoy it. The little girls who dress up as princesses look incredibly cute. The little boys with their toy swords remind me when I was a kid and dreamed of being a knight. Sometimes, adults will dress the part too. One guy who inquired about working at Medieval Times looked the part already. My only disappointment of sorts is that I don't get to wear a costume. I can't in order to do my job. People have to have to take me seriously and they might not if I was in costume. Oh well. Barring that, the job has been a lot of fun and I look forward to continuing to work at Medieval Times. It is a neat place. If you like jousting, a nice story, and good food you can eat with your fingers or slurp out of the bowl, you might want to check it out. The eight Medieval Times locations (with a ninth opening in the Atlanta area in the summer of 2006) can be found at their website: www.medievaltimes.com.

Speech by President Bush

Last Wednesday as I mentioned in my blog on the Asia Society, I got to hear President Bush speak. President Bush's staff had apparently asked the Society if they would welcome him speaking on India and Pakistan before he left for his trip to those two countries. The Society gladly accepted and quickly made arrangements for the speech. It was held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington D.C. The hotel is a very posh hotel and is located close to the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument.

Bush's speech was informative. He stated how important India and Pakistan are. He told about some of the things he planned to discuss with each of its leaders. He planned to further cooperation between India and the U.S. in matters of terrorism, promoting democracy, free trade, the environment, and energy. Bush urged India to allow international scrutiny of its civilian nuclear program. He also argued that a prospering India is good for the U.S. economy. He acknowledged that the U.S. had lost jobs to India in the service industries such as computer support help lines. But, he felt the U.S. should be preparing U.S. workers for jobs in the 21st century vice advocating protectionism. He also planned to talk with Indian Prime Minister Singh about Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and a nuclear Iran.

In regards to Pakistan, Bush acknowledged the great risk Pakistani President Musharraf took in aligning his country with the U.S. in the war against terrorism. President Bush wants to build on the friendship between the U.S. and Pakistan and make it a lasting friendship. He plans to continue to work with Pakistan on the issues of terrorism, democracy, a free press, and building civil institutions. Bush pointedly mentioned that the U.S. very much wants to see legitimate elections in Pakistan next year. Bush also plans to do what he can to help Pakistan become more prosperous. He feels that by making Pakistan a more prosperous country, it will reduce the appeal of radical Islam. He also intends to continue work in education including the education of girls and women in Pakistan.

Concerning the speech itself, Bush did stumble on some of the technical terms he used in his speech. Some people may say this show Bush's lack of brain power. I don't see it that way. I think the terms would've been hard to say smoothly in any speech. Some plusses I saw in Bush's speech was the very honest upfront down to earth man that was giving it. There was no mistaking that Bush is from Texas and Texas isn't slick and high falutin. It is a down to earth state that is also honest and hard working. Texas is also no nonsense. If a Texan says he or she believes in something, they do. If they say they're going to do something, they do it. If they promise to do something, they'll do their best to keep their promise. All these traits show in Bush. I personally found it exciting to get to hear his speech and see him only 20 feet away. I hope I get another chance to hear him speak.

Asia Society

Last Wednesday, I got to hear President Bush speak at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington D.C. The speech was part of the Asia Society's 50th Anniversary celebrations. The Asia Society is a non-profit organization society founded by John Rockefeller III in 1956 to increase understanding between the people in Asia and in the U.S. It also works to strengthen relationships between these countries and the U.S. Ever since its founding, it has been growing. It's now an international organization with its headquarters in New York City. It has regional branches in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Melbourne, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Manila. It'll open a new branch in Mumbai, India on March 18th. It offers speeches by various important Asian, U.S. officials, and educators on Asia, art exhibits, classes on various aspects of Asian culture, and education programs. It is a multi-faceted organization. Their website can be found at www.asiasociety.org. Membership rates start at $35 a year for students. If you're interested in Asia and its people, it is an organization you might want to consider joining.

Book Review - The Last Battle

With great sadness, I read the last book of the Chronicles of Narnia. I've enjoyed the series enormously. The Last Battle which is the final book in the series was another outstanding book. It tells of the last King of Narnia Tirian and how he and Narnia are betrayed by an evil scheming talking ape called Shift. Shift gets a donkey friend of his called Puzzle to don a lion skin and impersonate Aslan, the great lion. Shift uses the Puzzle as the fake Aslan to gain the support of numerous talking beasts. He also uses the fake Aslan to gain power in Narnia which he subsequently betrays to the Calormen, a Persian like empire that borders Archenland and Narnia. Tirian discovers Shifts treachery but is unable to save Narnia. He and a few supporters fight the Calormen and animals supporting Shift in one last battle. At the same time, Shift and the Calormen called upon Tash and to their surprise Tash answers! Tash is the God the Calormen worship and is in fact a demon with the head of bird, four arms ending in claws, and a very deadly presence. If that isn't enough, Aslan also appears and saves Tirian as well as Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole who are sent to Tirian's aid. Ultimately, Tirian loses the last battle but, Aslan causes the world of Narnia to be destroyed. In an allegory to Christian doctrine, every animal and being has to go before Aslan. If the animal or being loved Aslan, he or she goes to the "real" Narnia (the one all the kids have adventures in is a shadow of the "real" Narnia). If they don't love Aslan, they are sent to the land of Tash the Demon where they undoubtedly suffer terribly. Christian doctrine says that at the last judgement, every person, both believer and unbeliever will come before Jesus Christ and be judged. If they accepted Jesus Christ as their saviour, they will join Jesus Christ in heaven forever. If they rejected him, they are cast into the lake of fire with the evil one and his fallen angels. You can see the similarity. Like those who go to heaven, all those who go to Aslan's land know perfect contentment and can never sin again. In the "real" Narnia, life will be many times better than it ever was in the "shadow" Narnia. This is like how it supposedly will be in heaven.

In a touching ending, all the kids who played such key parts in Narnia come back except for Susan Pevensie who it seems can't be bothered with childish Narnia. She has more important things like lipstick, pantyhose, and staying forever 25. The other kids know what is important and do what they can for Narnia. Because of this, they get to return to the "real" Narnia forever where they will be with their Narnian friends. It's a beautiful ending to a wonderful series.

Overall, the book is excellent as is the whole Narnia series. My only complaint is I wish C. S. Lewis had written more of them. I've truly enjoyed the books. I would heartily recommend them to anyone. I would give one bit of advice. I would recommend you buy the books in a set as you could save some serious money. I bought the entire series at Sam's Club for $28. Separately, the books would've cost $7 each or $49 total not including tax. My set came with a box too which makes it easier to keep them all together. While the books are meant for kids, I think adults can enjoy them too. They are wonderful fantasy with great messages about faith, courage, love, redemption, and friendship. I can't wait for Disney to do the movies based on the books. As long as Disney stays true to the books, the movies should be a great success. Just a reminder, it will be in April that the first Narnia movie will be released on DVD. Please check my earlier blog on this for the exact date. Cheers!

Guns N' Roses

One rock group that erupted on the scene, got some mega hits, and then self destructed was Guns N' Roses. For years, they remained apart and I personally believed they were finished. Apparently, that isn't the case. I found out on www.contactmusic.com that Guns N' Roses will be coming out with their first album in 13 years in March. I haven't heard any previews of the songs on the album yet so we'll have to see if it ends up being any good. Still, it is something to keep an eye out for.

Snow

We got a bit of snow in Maryland last night. When I awoke (probably around 5 a.m.), the power was out and everything outside was covered in the white stuff. I got dressed, went outside, dug in the snow, and guesstimated that we received between 5 and 6 inches of snow. Later, I dug my car out and cleared away the snow around Tami's parent's car. Around noon, the power came back on thankfully. According to Baltimore Gas & Electric's website, over 56,000 people in Anne Arundel county were at one point without power. I can only guess that a major power line went down some where. Right now, it looks very pretty outside. Who knows how long it'll last though. It can be freezing one week in Maryland and in the 60's two weeks later. Hopefully, this will be winter's last hurrah. If that is the case, I'll count my blessings as I think we've had a very mild winter this year.

Book Review - The Silver Chair

I finished the sixth book of the Chronicles of Narnia called The Silver Chair. I found it outstanding like the rest of the books in the chronicles. The story introduces us to Eustace Scrubb who in his desire to escape his terrible school returns to Narnia for a new adventure. His classmate Jill Pole comes along and is introduced to Narnia and becomes one of the key heroes in the story. The two find out that King Caspian's son Prince Rilian has been missing a number of years. Aslan gives them four signs to watch out for and assigns them the task of finding the missing prince. Along the way, the two will meet a marsh-wiggle named Puddleglum who will join them on their quest. They'll discover bad giants eat humans and narrowly escape the giants whose clutches they unwittingly walked into. The meet a people called Gnomes who are under the spell of a witch. And finally, they meet Prince Rilian though they don't know it initially. At first, they think the knight who is in fact Prince Rilian is a total prick but, it turns out the prince is worthy of his great father King Caspian (the same Caspian we meet in Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader). It is here that they are confronted with the fourth sign that Aslan told them to watch for. The three adventurers messed up on the previous three signs. They are determined no matter what, they won't mess up on the fourth. Unknowingly, they help free the prince of the witch's spell and end up doing battle with her. Ultimately they triumph and foil the witch's plans to takeover Narnia. Sadly, Prince Rilian returns in time to say a few last words to his dying father. Eustace and Jill depart with Aslan to Aslan's mountains where they see the dead King Caspian. It is there that we get to see references to Jesus Christ. Aslan tells Eustace to pick a thorn from a bush nearby. Those who remember Christ, remember he was crowned with a crown of thorns. Aslan has Eustace pierce one of his paws with the thorn and then allows a single drop of his blood to touch the dead King Caspian. Caspian comes back to life and is made young again. This is another reference to Christ as it is through his blood that we can be given eternal life like Caspian if we believe in Christ. Caspian will now remain forever young in Aslan's land. Eustace and Jill expect to stay there too but Aslan says now is not the time. Caspian asks Aslan if he may visit Eustace and Jill's world and Aslan permits him too for 5 earth minutes. Here, there is another reference to Christianity for Aslan tells Caspian he can't think anything evil anymore. Christian doctrine teaches that once we who believe in Christ die, we are freed forever from our sin nature and will sin no more. The entire group summarily returns to Eustace and Jill's school where Aslan and Caspian help them defeat the school bullies. Aslan and Caspian return to Aslan's realm but the adventures of Eustace and Jill in Narnia aren't over. They'll be called back one last time in the last book in the chronicles called The Last Battle.

Overall, the book is excellent with plenty of ups and downs. I think this book will make a great movie too and I hope the Disney folks will turn it into one. My only regret with the book is there is only one more book in the Chronicles series. I wish C. S. Lewis had written more of them. Stay tuned for my book review on The Last Battle.

Book Review - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

I finished the fifth book of the Chronicles of Narnia series today. The fifth book is called The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The book brings back Edmund and Lucy and a new character Eustace Scrubb. Eustace is a cousin of Edmund's and Lucy's whom they happen to be visiting. At the beginning of the story, Eustace is a total prick but through various adventures and misadventures Eustace will change like Edmund did and become a decent kid. The story also brings back Caspian who is now King and is off on an expedition to find seven lords who were "encouraged" to leave Narnia by Caspian's usurping Uncle Miraz. The voyage has a number of adventures before reaching the edge of the world. Narnia unlike our world is flat and eventually they nearly reach the land where Aslan and his father the Emperor live. Here Lucy, Edmund, Eustace, and the mouse knight Reepicheep will leave the ship and successfully reach the land where Aslan lives. Here, we will again see clear references to Christianity. Aslan appears to the Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace as a lamb. Aslan tells them that on their world (earth) he is known by another name. He also tells Lucy and Edmund that from now on, they will have to get to know him by that name and that they won't be allowed to return to Narnia any more. It seems they have gotten too old. The book also shows another reference to Christianity when Aslan provides lots of fish for the children to eat. One interesting point Aslan brings up is that Aslan and the land he lives in can be reached from all worlds. It is interesting to ponder that there might be other worlds and races that also know Jesus Christ. One final note, Aslan also reveals to the children that the reason he allowed Lucy and Edmund to return to Narnia was so they would get to know him better. This same reason may be why C.S. Lewis wrote the books in the first place. The books have been a wonderful way to teach various Christian themes and doctrines.

Overall, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is another outstanding book in the series. It sends a number of good messages about greed, fear, friendship, and redemption to kids. Adults however can also enjoy the book. After finishing this book, I couldn't wait to read the next one The Silver Chair. Stay tuned for the future review on that book. Cheers!

Book Review - The Big Sea

The latest book I had to read for the college class I'm taking is Langston Hughes' The Big Sea. The book is an autobiography that tells of Hughes life up to 1930 or so. It is interesting autobiography because it is more than a tale of Hughes' life, it is a window into Harlem's heyday and of Paris in the 1920's when it was the city to live in for writers and other artists. Hughes own life is sad as at an early age, his parents divorced. His mother who at one time left him with his grandmother and then a beloved Uncle and Aunt would move around a lot in search of a better job or a better place to live. It was a hard life for a young kid. It was made worse because Hughes was black. The racism prevalent during that time was terrible. Many jobs were closed to Americans of African descent. The attitudes of some of the southerners Hughes talks about are shockingly sad. At one point in Hughes' life, he teaches english in Mexico. His replacement is a lady from Arkansas who can't get to grips with the fact that her predecessor who is a black man was capable of teaching classes in English  Amazingly too with all the terrible racism, Hughes keeps a positive outlook and shows no sign of bitterness in the book even when he is beaten by a gang of white kids because he went into a neighborhood they felt he didn't belong in. It's an incredible story.

Overall, I found the autobiography excellent. Hughes lived an incredible life. He was a man who was determined that African-Americans should receive the same rights as white Americans. The story tells of how he worked for that end. The college that Hughes went to was a school whose goal was to teach future African-American leaders. Yet, when Hughes went to the college, the school didn't have a single African-American professor, trustee, or member of the board. Hughes did a study that showed how the school was failing instill confidence in the students by its whites only policy. Within 10 years of Hughes study, the college would have African-American professors and trustees. Hughes attitude in the face of incredible racism is also inspiring. He never let the racists get him down. And, as he says at the end of the autobiography, he continued to keep plugging away at his writing and for his fellow African-Americans whom he loved. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone.

Sprint's PCS Connection Cards

First, before I get started let me state that the following opinions are my own and are in no way influenced by Sprint. Sprint also hasn't paid me any kind of remuneration for my endorsement of their PCS connection cards.

One service I use that Sprint offers is their internet service using one of their PCS connection cards on my laptop computer. What a PCS connection card is basically a cell phone made for a computer that can enable it to access the internet via Sprint's cellular phone network. The big plus of these cards is that any where in the U.S. where you can pick up a Sprint cell phone signal, you can hook-up to the internet. For an internet junkie like myself, this can be priceless. I big time like to surf the web, get the latest news, and check my emails regularly. Thanks to Sprint's PCS connection card I can.

Sprint offers two of the cards. As far as I was able to determine, there wasn't any difference in capability. Both supposedly worked well. I ended up going with their Nokia card. Connection wise, the card enables you to hook-up to the internet at a minimum of 400 kbps with a top speed of 2 Mbps. This is equal to a broadband connection with the advantage that you can take it with you. The disadvantages is the price of the card and the cost of downloading. Even with a rebate, my new PCS connection card ended up costing over $100. I've heard you can get a cable modem for $25. Also, Sprint has various plans where you can decide how much you think you'll download off the internet. If you think you're going to use it LOTS like I do, you would be smart to get unlimited download though that will cost you either $60 a month with a 2-year agreement of $80 a month with a 1-year agreement. I think someone told me cable internet service would cost you $50 a month so you pay more for being mobile.

Realistically, the service is intended for the travelling business executive who needs to be able to access the internet any time they want while in the U.S. However, those who travel a lot may find the service handy. I like to take the train down to Richmond to see my friend Harvey or fly home to see my parents, and it's really nice to be to access the internet any time I want. The service also guarantees that I won't have any problem doing my college class assignments if I'm travelling. Lastly, the service can save you money. I remember staying at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. They wanted 50 cents a minute to access the internet on one of their computers in their business center. I've rarely been so glad I had my PCS connection card as I was then.

Overall, the service isn't for every body. It very much depends on how much you need to access the internet. Also, how much you travel would determine how much you would need the card and service. If you travel a fair amount and need to access the internet, the Sprint PCS connection card may be ideal for you. If you don't, it would be cheaper for you to use a cable modem service. One other consideration about the card. If you don't have cable service available, you might want to check into the card as it does enable you to have cable modem speed without having to get your yard dug up to install the cable modem. I personally very much enjoy the service. Whether it is right for you, only you can decide. It is in my opinion, an option worth considering.

Steelers Win Super Bowl XL

I watched the Super Bowl last night and it ended up being one nail-biting game. Seattle definitely came out to play and for a while it seemed only the Steeler's defense had bothered to show up for the game. The first four times the Steeler's had the ball, they couldn't escape their 20-yard zone. They looked hopelessly pathetic. Finally, the Steeler's offense did get going only to have Ben Roethisberger throw two interceptions including the one at seven and goal which left me speechless. I can't help but wonder if he even looked where he intended to throw the ball before he unloaded it. Still, the Steelers defense did its renowned job and Roethisberger managed to put enough points on the board to win the game. I've heard the officiating hurt the Seahawks but I think the Seahawks got some breaks too. I remember when their quarterback fumbled and the officials said he'd been hit by a Steeler and that some how negated the fumble. The Steeler managed to get one hand on his jersey as he was already going down. I don't consider that a hit. I will concede that a passing interference against Seattle which cost them a touchdown looked bogus. The push the Seattle player did on the Pittsburgh player had no effect on stopping the Pittsburgh player. Still, great teams overcome such calls and I thought Seattle would. I was absolutely amazed when their quarterback got intercepted down on the 4 or 5 yard line. That led to an incredible special play by Pittsburgh where one of their wide receivers threw a touchdown pass. It was a play to remember.

Overall, it was a good Super Bowl. The first half wasn't terribly exciting but the second half was. Many kudos to Seattle, they played a great game and in my opinion they had the better offense. Lastly, many thanks to Jerome Bettis for the memories. He's a class act. I know Pittsburgh will miss him.

Book Review

The latest book I had to read for the college class I'm taking was Willa Cather's My Antonia. The book tells of two children who arrive in late 1800's Nebraska. One is a recently orphaned boy and the other is an immigrant girl from Bohemia named Antonia. The two become friends. The story mainly focuses on Antonia through the eyes of the boy named Jim Burden. It tells of her life as well as the lives of immigrants that settled in Nebraska during that time. Their lives were very hard and the book doesn't try to hide that. It also shows something that was lost as more and more people moved off the land and into the towns and later cities. Jim will become extremely successful as a lawyer and yet he'll be unhappy with his wealth and success. Antonia will ultimately return to the land, get married, work very hard, and raise TEN kids. It would appear it isn't a life guaranteed to bring happiness and yet she does unlike Jim. Cather also shows her ability to paint pictures with words as she describes vividly life in Nebraska during those times.

Overall, the book is a beautiful tale of an incredible and indomitable woman. It also makes the reader wonder what has been lost in our more modern times. Lastly, it tells the important part immigrants played in the expansion of the U.S. and the richness they added to this country. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to read of a time past and lost as well as the people who helped this country grow during those times.

Book Review - Prince Caspian

I'd heard from a fellow blogger that Disney wants to make the book Prince Caspian the next Chronicles of Narnia movie. One reason supposedly why is because that way they could use the same kids from the first movie. It's a smart move in that way though I think it's a smart move in that book should crossover to the screen really well and follow The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe really well. The reason for this is because the kids return to Narnia a year later Earth time. In Narnia, it is clear that their time is very different from Earth time. The kids while waiting for the trains that will take them to school suddenly disappear and find themselves on unknown beach. They have no idea how they got there or why. They further discover that they're on an island. Then, they discover the remains of Cair Paravel. Cair Paravel was where they were crowned as the Kings and Queens of Narnia and where they lived for a number of years before they returned to Earth. It becomes clear that they've been gone a long time. They discover that years before, Narnia was invaded and conquered. The boy (Prince Caspian) who should be King has his throne usurped by his Uncle Miraz. Prince Caspian discovers the old Narnians i.e. the talking animals, dwarves, and centaurs and wants to help them. It is the prince that blows Susan's magical horn that causes the four Pevensey kids to be brought back to Narnia where they end helping put Prince Caspian on the throne of Narnia.

The story moves well and isn't too long. My only complaint with the book is it is the last of the Narnia books that has all four Pevensey kids in the Chronicles. Three of the kids do come back in the last of the books but still, it saddens me that this is the last book all of them will be in. I wish C.S. Lewis had written more Narnia stories with them in them. I think the book will crossover to the silver screen well and I suspect that is another reason why Disney chose it. It follows the first Narnia movie well, has lots of good action, and some nice plot twists. Overall, the book is excellent and I'd recommend it to readers of all ages. I hope the rumors that Disney will make this the next Narnia movie are true. If so, it should be an excellent movie.

Lord of the Rings

Recently, I discovered a feature on the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings films I didn't previously know about. When you put in the first of the film discs, instead of clicking on the movie, click on special effects. When that menu comes up, it offers special effects crew, someone else, and the cast, click on cast. What happens is that the movie starts playing and you get to hear the actors and actresses talk about the various scenes in the movie as they come up. It can be really interesting to hear their takes on the various scenes as well as their experiences when they were shooting the movies. This feature I believe is offered with each one of the extended versions of the films. It's pretty cool and it might be something you'd want to check out.

Book Review

I finished the third book in the Chronicles of Narnia yesterday. I continue to be extremely pleased with the books. They're really nice fantasy and yet, they also contain teaching about Jesus Christ. The third book is titled The Horse and His Boy. It is about a boy named Shasta who helps his poor fisherman father Arsheesh. It tells of his adventures when he meets a horse from Narnia who was horseknapped and sold in Calormen. The horse (Bree) talks and tells Shasta that a local lord plans to buy him. In order to avoid being sold by his father, he and the horse run away with the hope of reaching Narnia. Along the way, Shasta meets a young female runaway named Aravis who has left home because she is determined she won't marry a 60-year old man who becomes the Grand Vizier. She too has a talking horse that likewise had been horseknapped and sold in the empire of Calormen (a very Arabesque type empire). The party of four suffer various misadventures in the capital of Calormen. Shasta will discover and make friends of a prince of Archenland who happens to look just like him. Aravis will discover a plot that threatens Archenland and possibly Narnia. Later, the four get back together and do their best to foil the plot against Archenland. In the process, Shasta discovers that his true father is the King of Archenland. He helps foil the threat against Archenland through the help of Aslan. It is the meeting between Aslan that another allegory is drawn with Christ. Shasta moans about all his misfortune and Aslan shows that he wasn't misfortunate at all. Aslan shows that he repeatedly came to Shasta's aid when he was in grave peril. The allegory is about when Christ repeatedly comes to our aid during our darkest hours. I remember reading about a story of meeting between a man and Christ. The man looks along a beach and sees the walk of his life. At times, he sees two sets of foot prints and other times one. He notices that at the worst times in his life, there was only one set of foot prints. He remarks to Christ that Christ seemed to only be with him during the good times. Christ remarks that he was indeed with him during the good times BUT the reason there is only one set of foot prints during the man's hard times is because it was Christ who walked and carried the man. The story with Shasta is the same. It is a very touching story. Another interesting aspect of this book is that it is during the reigns of the Pevensy children after they defeated the Witch in the second book. We get to see Queen's Susan and Lucy and King Edmund. King Peter is mentioned in the story but plays no real part in the plot as he is off fighting evil giants in the north of Narnia.

The book is an easy read. It has only 241 pages. The storyline moves along well and never drags. Overall, the book is excellent. It should delight readers of all ages. I look forward to reading Prince Caspian which is the next book in the Chronicles of Narnia series.

Forklift Safety Training

I'm not someone who is mechanically inclined. I can operate machines after I've been shown how but I'm not someone who takes to them immediately. So it was with some trepidation that I signed up for a forklift safety training course at Alliance Material Handling Inc. I signed up for the course because I wanted to be able to operate the forklifts the Washington D.C. SHARE has. Until you take the course, you're not suppose to operate a forklift though some people still do. Forklifts are incredible machines. They can enable the operator to easily move thousands of pounds of material from one place to another. At SHARE, they enable the people there to move thousands of pounds of palletized food from and to trucks arriving at SHARE. They also enable them to easily move the palletized food between its five bays. However, forklifts can be potentially very dangerous machines. Because of the way they're built, they can become very unstable very quickly and topple over. They can also cause severe injury if someone is hit by either one of the prongs of the cab part of the forklift. Because of this, safety training is a must. The forklift operator learns why the forklift is prone to toppling over, how it can be prevented, that the forklift CAN'T be driven like a car (the dynamics of each are radically different), and what is the biggest cause of accidents (surprisingly operator inattentiveness). My instructor Bill Wisham was very thorough in explaining all these things. He really wanted to make sure we understood how important safety is when operating a forklift. He saw his main job as an instructor was to ensure that we'd be able to go home in one piece every day after operating a forklift. After explaining all the safety aspects of a forklift, we got to actually drive one. For me, it was a nerve wracking experience. Driving a forklift is enormously different from driving a car. The rear part of a forklift swings out widely and you have to take that into account. You also need to be able to see in front of you. Sometimes, a load can block your view. In that case, you have to drive the forklift in reverse and look behind you. You also have to be aware how the prongs are pointed. If you're going down hill and have the prongs pointed down, your load could slip right off the forklift! Another safety aspect is remembering to always put the prongs down on the ground when you're done moving something. That way, someone doesn't walk right into them.

I felt Mr. Wisham was a fantastic teacher. He worked to make the course fun while at the same time hitting on how to operate a forklift safely. I feel as long as I practice the things Mr. Wisham taught me, I should be able to operate a forklift safely. Now, all I need is practice. I plan to get that at SHARE under Sam's supervision. In time, I should become a proficient forklift operator and have one more way I can help out at SHARE.

SHARE - It's A Wrap!

Yesterday, I got to finish working an entire cycle at SHARE by helping them do inventory. It wasn't very hard work. All I had to do was pull everything out of the freezer, group like items together like all the chicken thighs, and then help Sam count all the items. What's left in the inventory and from next month's food packages will go on sale at February's market day (see previous post on this). Once all the remaining items were counted, I put all the frozen food back in the freezer. After that, I got to help with the disposal of the fresh produce SHARE had leftover. Due to health laws, SHARE can keep the produce only so long (I don't know how long). Usually, SHARE gets rid of the produce after market day. SHARE will donate the food to various church pantries and food banks so the food isn't wasted. Once all the produce is cleared out, I helped Sam set up the tables so volunteers can bag a new potato shipment when it arrives in two weeks. After the tables were set up, my part in the cycle was finished. For Sam and the other permanent staff, there will be time to work on various projects such as recruiting new customers for SHARE and finish determining what February's food package will be. It'll also give them time to take a breather before the cycle kicks in again and builds up to its peak on the distribution days.

It has been an interesting experience going through an entire cycle with SHARE. For someone who used to just bag potatoes on bagging Saturday, it has been an eye-opening experience to see how much more actually goes on at SHARE. It has also shown me how I can help SHARE in other ways such as showing new volunteers how things are done, help set things up for pre-staging, and preparing the bays for the distribution days. It has helped keep things exciting for me at SHARE. I can now do so many different jobs. Because of that, I look forward to doing more volunteer work at SHARE. I hope you the reader have found the SHARE posts informative. SHARE is an awesome program. Hopefully through these posts you might be persuaded to help out at the Washington D.C. SHARE if you live in that area or at a different one close to you if there is one. I feel certain any of the SHARE centers would appreciate your help. It doesn't take a lot of time and it can make a real difference for a lot of people. Cheers!

SHARE - Market Day

Today was Market Day at SHARE. What is Market Day you ask? It is the day that SHARE offers some really nice bargains on food items it's trying to clear out of its inventory. When SHARE orders food for its monthly food packages and special food packages, it deliberately orders 2% more then it needs. This surplus helps cover for unexpected orders and for damaged or bad food items example: there were some bags of apples this past month that had bad apples in them. Customers refused those items and demanded replacements. SHARE was able to replace the items because it had that 2% surplus. Normally, SHARE doesn't have a problem with bad food items and so is usually left with some items left over. Space can be at a premium in the freezer and chiller even though both are huge. SHARE attempts to free up space in the freezer and chiller by selling the surplus items during their Market Day. Some examples of buys they had today were sweet potato pies 3 for $3, 3 20 ounce cans of tomato sauce for $2, and 12 pounds of polish sausage for $20. As you can see, a shopper can save some real money on Market Day. Market Day is held I believe every Monday following Distribution Saturday though you might want to confirm that with SHARE.

Book Review - The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is considered to be an American classic. I got to read it again as part of my weekly assignment for the college class I'm taking. I found the book an easy read thanks to Fitzgerald's writing style. The words flow easily and smoothly so reading the novel was a pleasure instead of a torture. Another plus to the book is that it only has 188 pages. It won't take you many hours to read the book. Yet, for its short length, the book packs a lot into it. Fitzgerald does a great job of describing the Roaring 20's era. No other writer I think is so readily identified with that era. The story is of Jay Gatsby and his love for Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby is the American dream gone wrong. In his ambition and desire to acquire wealth quickly, he shows no qualms in breaking the law. We learn that Gatsby has been involved in bootlegging and stolen securities. Gatsby is in fact thoroughly corrupt and yet, he is equally charming. He also has a great and beautiful dream of getting back the girl (Daisy) that he won and lost. Gatsby doesn't realize that in his get rich quick by illegal means, he has doomed his chances of winning Daisy. He also doesn't realize just how weak the love of his life is. When Daisy finds out how Gatsby attained his wealth, she is shocked. Later, she abandons Gatsby preferring to stay with her two-timing husband Thomas Buchanan. Gatsby death by the duped Mr. Wilson who believes he killed his wife is tragic for it is Daisy, the woman he loves that killed Mr. Wilson's wife and Tom Buchanan's mistress. Gatsby pays the price his love should've paid who in turn betrayed him. It is a sad end to a fascinating character.

Overall, the book is worthy of its reputation as a classic. It is an easy and fascinating read. If you want a piece that so aptly portrays the Roaring 20's era, you won't go wrong with The Great Gatsby.

Book Review - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

As promised, I finished reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and wanted to give my review of the book and how it compared with the movie.

First, I found the book like The Magician's Nephew to be excellent. I suspect I'm going to enjoy all seven of the books. C.S. Lewis shows pleasant humor while at the same time keeping the story moving along. The book is also surprisingly short. My copy only has 206 pages. This makes it a very easy read. The short page count appears to be standard throughout all the books. I suspect this was done because I believe the books were intended for children who are less likely to like reading long books. It should be noted that adults will enjoy the Narnia books just as much as children would. I would definitely recommend the book to young and old readers.

Second, how does the book differ from the movie? There are some interesting differences though no major ones. In the movie, Edmund gets to meet Mr. Tumnus who he betrayed to the Witch. In the book, he doesn't. In the movie, there is a different area where the stone that Aslan has to go for his execution. In the book, the stone is located in Aslan's camp and he has his army move before he returns to the area to be killed. In the movie, the Witch kills a fox that was an ally of Aslan. In the book, there is a fox who is a member of a group that were celebrating thanks to Father Christmas. The Witch summarily kills the entire group and smacks Edmund for speaking up for them like he does for the fox in the movie. In the movie, the wolves attack the beavers and the children in the beaver's home. In the book, the beavers and children get away from the beaver's house. There is also a big chase scene in the movie between the Witch and the children. There isn't in the book. The movie also has one of the wolves who support the Witch talk to Peter before he attacks him. In the book, the wolf doesn't talk to Peter, he just attacks. In the movie, there is a centaur who is Aslan's captain. There isn't any mention of such a captain in the book. Also, at the end of the movie, you see the four now Kings and Queens riding in the woods where they find the lamp post. In the book, the now Kings and Queens are chasing after the White Stag that will grant them 2 wishes if they catch him. In the chase, they find the lamp post. These are just some of the differences. In my opinion, none of the changes they made in the story for the movie took away from it. I think the chase and battle scenes added to the movie's suspense. I continue to recommend the movie to anyone who hasn't seen it.

One final note, I read some where that Disney has been ecstatic of the success of the Narnia movie. The unnamed Disney executive revealed that Disney has the film rights to the other books. A blogger named Will Robison (his blog is: http://iconnoone.blogspot.com) revealed that Disney plans to shoot the fourth book Prince Caspian sometime next year. I'll be looking forward greatly to that movie.

SHARE Volunteers

Few things are as critical to the Washington D.C. SHARE program as volunteers. The reasons for this is because SHARE couldn't operate without them or offer the great savings they offer in their food packages if it weren't for them. I'll explain why these two statements are true.

First, SHARE maintains a minimal full-time hired staff. I think all totaled there are seven or eight paid staff. Considering SHARE put together and sold over 9,000 food packages in January, I think you can see there is no way just seven or eight people could do it alone. Every package consists of 14 or 15 items. Each item needs someone to hand it out or put it in each package if it is to be done quickly on the two distribution days. SHARE also needs multiple volunteers to run the bulk section where cases and sacks of food are distributed. This past Saturday, there were between 3 and 6 volunteers manning these sections alone. Another area where volunteers were needed was in resupply. As items are handed out, the distribution points on the split assembly line and the area where the bulk items are handed out eventually run out of product. Volunteers are critical in keeping these sections constantly supplied with the needed products. During Distribution Saturday alone, SHARE had at least 35 volunteers working constantly from 5:30 a.m. till at least 10:30 a.m.

Second, it is the volunteers who break down and rebag the 50 pound sacks of rice or potatoes. During January, SHARE repackaged at least 3,000 pounds of rice alone. If volunteers didn't do this, SHARE would have to hire another company to do it like they do with the 3 pound bags of onions they sell in their food packages. While the cost of doing so would be slight per package, overall the cost of hiring a company to repackage various items would put a serious bite in SHARE's budget and in what they could offer in their monthly food packages. The volunteers enable SHARE to save in labor costs and pass those savings on in the form of more food items in the food packages. These savings mean that those who are on tight budgets are able to get more needed food for their money. Without volunteers, some of Maryland, Washington D.C., and Virginia's needy wouldn't be able to get as much food as they can with their help.

I think you can see how volunteers are critical to SHARE's operations. Without these fantastic people, SHARE wouldn't be able to function. It is to their credit, that SHARE can do as much as it does. Thanks to them, thousands have benefited from the SHARE program.

One final note about SHARE's volunteers: In a previous post about elderly people helping out at SHARE, I may have been a little too negative about the young people who volunteer at SHARE. While some young people that help out there have been less than enthusiastic, there are a considerable number of young people who do their families and schools proud. This past weekend, I got to see two such examples. One student from Dematha High School worked without a break for 6 hours. He played a very important part in ensuring those who ordered Super Bowl packages received their orders. Another example is a fine young lady from McNamara High School who helped with the bulk section. Though it was cold in the warehouse (it usually is during the winter), she didn't let that stop her from doing her bit for SHARE. She too worked continuously for over 6 hours ensuring that people received the cases and sacks of product they were supposed to receive while at the same time making sure they didn't get more then they were supposed to receive. While giving an extra bunch of broccoli or bag of pasta wouldn't hurt SHARE, giving an extra case of salmon fillets or chicken thighs could. The lady issued thousands of dollars of product to SHARE's customers without a single mistake. Such young people play a very important part in enabling SHARE to function. They, like its elderly volunteers, are greatly appreciated.

Book Review - The Magician's Nephew

Recently, I saw the movie The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. (See my last movie review) It was an absolutely fantastic movie that I'd recommend to everyone. However, the movie at the end raised some questions with me. Professor Kirke at the end explains to Lucy when she is clearly wishing to return to Narnia that she will get to return only if the power at the other end clearly wishes her to. This implies that Professor Kirke knows about the power at the other end i.e. Aslan. How would Professor Kirke know about Aslan that well if he hadn't known himself? The obvious conclusion is that Professor Kirke did know Aslan. I decided I wanted to find out more. While visiting Sam's Club, I found a nice complete set of the Chronicles of Narnia. I found out that there was a book prior to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. This book is called The Magician's Nephew.

The Magician's Nephew is the first of seven books which form the Chronicles. In it, we find out how Narnia was created (Aslan created it through a song), how the Witch came into Narnia (Diggory Kirke i.e. later Professor Kirke caused the Witch to be awakened and he brought the Witch into Narnia in order to get her out of our world), how the talking creatures were (Aslan picked certain pairs of animals whom he gave special intelligence and the ability to talk), and how the wardrobe was created that the Pevensey children use to get into Narnia (Professor Kirke had it made from the wood of a tree that grew from an apple he brought back from Narnia). The book helps explain a lot about Narnia, Aslan, Professor Kirke, the Witch, and the inhabitants of Narnia. I thought it helped a person better understand the Narnia movie and would recommend it in part in that way. Another reason I'd recommend the book is simply because it is a very sweet book. It tells of Diggory's great love for his mother and what he does to save her. It is also a great tale of friendship between Diggory and Polly Plummer. Kids should particularly love the book though there is one catch as there is in the Narnia movie.

The book has unquestionable references to themes in the bible. Diggory representing Adam is the one who brings evil or sin in the form of the Witch into the world. The lion Aslan creates the new world of Narnia just as Jesus Christ in his deity created our world and the universe. Aslan also gives a man and a woman authority over all the creatures of Narnia just as God supposedly gave Adam in our world. I'm certain there are other connections but that should be sufficient to give you an idea of what you'll find in it. Like the movie, if you're a liberal, an atheist, or someone who doesn't care for Christian themes, this book is NOT for you. If you're Christian on the other hand, the allegories to themes in the bible make it even more delightful.

One thing I was a little puzzled by was why didn't the movie makers make a movie of the first book. In my opinion, it was just as good as the second. I can only guess that there are too many religious connections in it. Also, there aren't any great battles and while the Witch is unmistakably evil, she isn't any where as evil as she is in the second book.

Overall, I'd heartily recommend the book, especially to someone who watched the Narnia movie. It does explain a lot of how things came to be for the second book and movie.

In regards to the second book, I plan to read that next and, I'll let you know how that is. I confess, I'm curious to see how much it differs from the movie. My sister Ellie has told me that the movie was actually very close to the book. We'll see. Stay tuned for my book review on The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

SHARE Prestaging Continued

I found out today that I got one thing wrong yesterday. I found out they also pre-stage the frozen items and that they sometimes have more than just 2 or 3. Today, they had five frozen items. I can also vouch that the pre-staging process does save valuable time later. It took four of us over 2 hours to finish all the pre-staging for the frozen food. After we finished getting all the frozen food pre-staged, it had to be put back in the large walk-in freezer SHARE has. That took another 30 minutes at least. By the time, we had put all the frozen stuff back in the freezer, it was packed. Sam told me that the freezer was even more packed during November and December. During those times, SHARE received an additional 7,000 plus orders per month. The mind truly boggles just how much food SHARE handles in just one month.

Another neat thing I got to do today was meet another one of the awesome volunteers that help out at SHARE. Sam introduced me to Philip who has been helping at SHARE in the D.C. area since it first started (over 15 years now!). He is a man that does what ever needs to be done. So great was his help at SHARE that last year the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington bestowed upong him their highest honor - the Caritas Award. Sadly, last year, Philip also had heart problems and underwent bypass surgery. Initially after his surgery, he couldn't help out at SHARE at all and he was greatly missed. Philip was determined that the important work he had done at SHARE would continue to get done. He actually went out and found a replacement volunteer who continues to help out to this day at SHARE. As soon as Philip recovered enough to where he could start helping out himself, he was right back at SHARE. Today for instance, he helped guide us less experienced volunteers in the pre-staging process. Thanks to his and Chris's expert guidance, the process went smoothly. The result of his help will be pleased customers and ultimately people getting the food they need while making their precious dollars go further. Many kudos to Philip for his many years of selfless service to the SHARE program and to those less fortunate.

DISCLAIMER: All opinions expressed on this blog are my own and in no way represent any other person or organization. In regards to the blog entries concerning SHARE, my blog entries express my own observations and opinions of the Washington D.C. SHARE. They don't in any way represent the official position of the Washington D.C. SHARE or Catholic Social Services of Washington D.C.

SHARE Prestaging Day

Today was prestaging day at SHARE. We had to get ready 16 particularly large orders in advance. The reason SHARE does this is because it helps make things go smoother on Distribution Friday and Distribution Saturday. Large customers can create bottlenecks in the split and bulk orders as volunteers scramble to fill them. By preparing these orders in advance, it helps prevent those bottlenecks, ensures the customers get their orders promptly, and makes it easier for SHARE to ensure they get the right number of the things they ordered. Preparing these orders can be a lot of work. First, you have to lay out pallets to place the order on. Second, you have to carefully place on the pallets the cases and sacks of items the customer has ordered. Third, you have to then fill the split part of the order. Splits are the number of items that are less than a case or sack. An example would orders for broccoli. Each case of broccoli had 18 bunches of broccoli. If a split order required 14 bunches of broccoli then, I'd take 4 bunches out of the case and place the case of 14 on the customers pallet. The last step is where each order is wrapped with clear plastic wrap (like Saran Wrap). What this does is hold all the boxes and bags in place so when the pallet is moved, they don't fall off.

Not all the items that are ordered by the customer are placed on the pallets during pre-staging. Some are held until the day the customer will pick the order up. These items are items that must remain frozen. One example would be salmon fillets, another would be chicken thighs. Usually, there are only 2 or 3 such items so it doesn't create any great problem waiting to hand these items out until the day the customer is prepared to pick up the orders. By pre-staging the big orders, the majority of the work is done freeing up people to work on other orders on the distribution days. It's a good system that works well for SHARE and its customers.

SHARE Elderly Volunteers

When people look at the elderly, they may not realize just how productive they can be. The people at SHARE know first hand what these incredible people can do. A number of volunteers there are elderly people from various church groups that have made SHARE their special project. Today, I saw two such examples. A group of ladies from Mount Pleasant Baptist and a group of ladies from Pilgrim Baptist did their once a month trip to help out at SHARE. Unlike young people, these ladies weren't distracted by calls on their cell phone, trying to look cool in front of their peers, or only doing it because they had to. They were there because they genuinely wanted to help and they DID. While I was busy helping out at SHARE today, I got to observe the ladies from both groups. They were something else. They got themselves into a rhythm and they bagged a LOT of rice. They could've easily put a lot of the youngsters who help out at SHARE to shame. People should remember that just because people are old doesn't mean they're useless. The elderly people who help out at SHARE prove time and again that they can be priceless volunteers who can make a BIG difference. Many kudos to the groups from Mount Pleasant Baptist and Pilgrim Baptist churches. Your churches should be proud of you.

SHARE Post 1/23/06

I got to learn more today about SHARE's operations. Today, the more perishable items were delivered such as kiwi fruits, broccoli, carrots, and apples. Once the items were delivered, the items had to be moved to two different sections. The two sections are bulk and split. The bulk section is where cases or sacks of items will be distributed on Distribution Friday and Saturday. The split section is where items less than a case or sack will be distributed such a single bag of carrots or one 3-pound bag of potatoes. We also received frozen food items such as the special Super Bowl package SHARE is offering and salmon fillets. These items were moved into the large walk-in freezer. As the same time, volunteers continued to break down 50-pound bags of rice into 2-pound bags. It made for a busy day. In no time, two o'clock had arrived and it was time to head home. Tomorrow promises to be another busy day at SHARE. I look forward to learning more about how they operate.

Go Steelers!

I saw yesterday that the Pittsburgh Steelers have made it to the Super Bowl. I will readily admit I'm NOT a sports nut nor a fanatic Steelers fan. Still, they have been the team I've rooted for since I lived in Pittsburgh as a kid back in the 70's. I remember seeing a game with Terry Bradshaw when the Steelers stunk. Later, they would go on to win 4 Super Bowls. It is something to see them in the Super Bowl again. I don't have a tv as there isn't anything on television that I really care to watch. Still, it looks like I'll have to either go watch the Super Bowl in the apartment complex fitness center which has a tv with cable or, I'll have to make a trip to the Laurel Hooters restaurant where I can watch the game. I remember doing that when I lived in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. It should be a good game and I do hope the Steelers win it. Go Steelers!

Movie Review - The Dish

Yesterday, I finally pulled out a movie I'd bought on the spur of the moment and watched it. The movie is called The Dish. It is about a group of Australians and one American who run a communications relay station in Parkes, Australia. This station became the primary communications station which forwarded to the world television images of Neil Armstrong's historic walk on the moon. However, as the movie tells, there were some major glitches and the historic moon walk was almost NOT televised. These glitches as well as struggles between the Australians and the American give the movie its conflict. The movie also is a time capsule of how things were in Australia in the 60's as well as the world. To those of us who find laptop computers and cell phones blase, it is an eye opener to see a time when the standard calculator was a slide rule! It also gives us a benchmark on how far we've come since that Armstrong's historic moment. Since that time, we've sent mechanized probes that have explored the Martian surface and explorer spacecraft to the very edge of our solar system. There is talk of sending a manned mission to Mars. The mind boggles how far we've come and yet the first truly great step was when Armstrong stepped on the moon. Space travel from that point was no longer the stuff of science fiction writers. This movie gives us picture of those incredible tumultuous times.

I believe the movie was created for the Australian market but I think Americans would enjoy the movie as well. It shows some of the funny quirks of the Australians as well as some of the differences between American and Australian english. Repeatedly, one of the Australians on the team have to translate for the American when one of the other Australians starts using Australian English terms. It can be very amusing. Overall, I'd rate the movie as very nice. It is something to watch on a day when you want to want to watch something relaxing and funny. I'm not sure how easy it would be to be able to find the movie at your local video rental shop but, if you can't find it there, you should be able to buy it cheaply at Movies Unlimited or some other big internet store that offers lots of movies for sale. I believe when I bought the movie, it cost less than $10.

Movie Review - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

I'd heard good things about The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and I decided to check it out. Today, I took my friend Tami to see it. If you are a liberal, an atheist, or someone who hates Christian theology, this movie is not for you. C.S. Lewis became a devout Christian and loaded the story with Christian allegory. At one point in the movie, the Lion who's name is Aslan (I don't know how that may have a tie into Christianity) is beaten, shorn, bound, and executed. He later vanishes and rises from the dead. The stone that he lay on in death is broken. The two girls who play the true daughters of Eve stand by his dead body and grieve for him. All of these have clear associations with Jesus Christ. There are other allegories which I won't cover in this review. I think if you're a Christian or someone wants to take a kid to a movie that sends a good moral message, this movie is for you. I found it absolutely fantastic. The story itself is outstanding. The special effects done by WETA Workshop for top notch, and the fight scenes are very exciting. I would strongly recommend this film to anyone barring the three groups I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. I definitely plan to buy it when it comes out on DVD. I also plan to buy and read the books which I've never read.

On a slightly different topic, while watching the previews, I found out that a second Pirates of the Caribbean movie will be coming out this summer. I thought the first one was fantastic and I look forward to the second one. Johnny Depp plays an awesome pirate. Based on the preview, it looks like it's going to be another great movie. We'll see. Keep your eyes alert for this new forthcoming flick.

SHARE Update

We had a fantastic turn-out today. At one point, we had ten tables of people bagging potatoes. I would guess that we bagged at least 3,000 pounds of potatoes and at least 1,000 pounds of rice. I'm sure SHARE appreciated all the people who showed up. Special kudos to Georgetown Preparatory School. It was awesome to see kids from that school show up and help out.

For those of you who missed out today, there will be bagging week all of next week, every day from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. I'm sure SHARE would appreciate any help they can get. Next Saturday, there will be Distribution Saturday which starts at 6 a.m. It promises to be busy though not as hectic as the holiday season. Sam, all around good guy, told me that they had orders for over 9,000 food packages. That is less than what they had during the holiday season when they received orders for over 16,000 food packages! Again, if you can help, I'm sure they'd appreciate it and you would be helping a good cause while getting to work with some fantastic people.

Discount Food Warehouses

I got to visit the Columbia, Maryland BJ Wholesale Club and decided I'd do a blog on that club stacks up against Sam's Club and Costco. Just a reminder, the following comments are my own. Also, I haven't been paid any kind of remuneration i.e. money by any of the mentioned clubs. Also, you may find the club by you different from the one's I visited. Lastly, I didn't use any kind of standardized test to measure the clubs. I simply looked for items I've bought in the past and saw how they compared price or availability wise at the other clubs. You might buy different items at the mentioned clubs and get different results.

First, the three clubs I'll be reviewing are the BJ Wholesale Club in Columbia, Maryland; the Sam's Club in Laurel, Maryland; and the Costco located in Hanover, Maryland.

Second, I currently have active memberships at the Sam's Club and Costco mentioned. I bought these myself. I used a one day membership to see how BJ's stacked up against the other two clubs I belong to. I wanted to see if BJ's was worth joining and maybe cause me to quit one of the other clubs I belonged to. Here is what I found out.

Price wise, I found on the standard muffins, rolls, large cookies, that the three clubs didn't have much of a price difference. I did find that Sam's Club was 30 cents cheaper on a 58.8 ounce box of frosted mini-wheats cereal. I found that BJ's had a larger snack shop than the other two clubs. I also found that BJ's was more expensive in regards to some marinated mozzarella I like to buy at Costco. BJ's had it in the 24 ounce tub vice Costco which had it in the 48 ounce tub. The price per pound ended up being over $5 at BJ's vice under $4 a pound at Costco. I didn't see any notable price difference concerning DVD movies or music CD's. Concerning price as far as gasoline, I found that Costco was a penny cheaper a gallon than Sam's Club. BJ's in Columbia as far as I could see didn't sell gasoline. One thing that did surprise me was that there wasn't any great savings buying gas from these clubs compared to other service stations. I remember driving by an Exxon gas station that was just down the street from Costco and Exxon was only 2 cents more a gallon. Price wise, I wasn't impressed with either club.

One thing I have found with the clubs is that each will have items that I can only find at one specific club. Example. Costco sells some fantastic French bread with a wonderful hard crust. BJ's and Sam's Club don't. Costco also sells Pepper Jack cheese in large pre-weighed packages. Neither BJs or Sam's Club sold this particular type of cheese. There are some items that two or more of the clubs sell and here are my preferences for the items I've bought there. Both Costco and Sam's Club sell packaged already roasted chickens. I've personally found I big time prefer the chickens sold at Sam's Club. They use Lowrey Seasoning Salt on their roasted chickens and they are GOOD! In regards to BJ's, I didn't see any roasted chickens for sale though I could've missed them. If they do offer them, I haven't bought one to see how it would stack up against Costco and Sam's Club. Another item that Costco and Sam's Club offer that BJ's doesn't are smoothies (I looked). Costco offers a triple-fruit flavored smoothie for $1.35 which I think is a really good deal. I don't remember how much Sam's Clubs smoothies are but, I do remember the one I tried wasn't as good as the one offered at Costco. However, the Sam's Club smoothie did have REAL fruit in it whereas the Costco one doesn't. I've tried muffins at Costco and Sam's Club and have no preference between the two clubs on those.

As far as membership cost goes, all three clubs charge the same i.e. $45 a year for the basic membership. If you are prepared to buy items in bulk, I suspect you could save some serious money shopping at these clubs. I can't however quote you any kind of figure.

Another factor that has to be taken into account is location. If you live in Columbia, Maryland, BJ's would be more convenient then driving over to either Hanover or Laurel. In my personal opinion, I don't think you would save enough money at one club over the other's. The main reason I see myself remaining of member of Sam's Club is because of their chickens, and their location. I see myself remaining a member of Costco because I love their French bread, marinated mozzarella, and smoothies. From what I saw of BJ's, I don't see myself joining that club. I just didn't see enough of a benefit to make it worth splunking out another $45 a year for another club. If I lived in Columbia, I suspect I'd probably join it because of the convenience. Another plus concerning BJ's is that there is a Home Depot and Discount Shoe Warehouse in the same strip mall it's in. Costco has an advantage in being less then a block from the Arundel Mills Mall. The main location advantage I saw that the Sam's Club in Laurel has is it's right off Interstate-295. Costco is somewhat close to the interstate but not as close as Sam's Club. The advantage of the interstate is that you don't have to drive all over the place trying to find the club. You take the Maryland 198 exit toward Laurel and Sam's Club is on your right when you get on 198. Sam's Club is just across the street from a strip mall that has a Corridor Wine Store, Target, Weis, and Kohl's. The Corridor Wine Store has an excellent selection of wines and international beers. I buy my Foster's beer from there. There is also a Jimmy Dean Restaurant which I've had breakfast at a number times. I've found that restaurant to be consistently excellent.

That's all for this review. I can't say I prefer any club over the other's. There are some things that Costco or Sam's Club have that I prefer at those particular clubs. I wish the other clubs would sell the same items but, I suspect they intentionally don't. Barring standard items like bread, milk, eggs, cereals, and candies, they do seem to try to have exclusivity on certain items. I think where you live in relation to the clubs is a big factor. I don't think it is worth driving extra miles to one of the clubs vice the others. I only do it because there are some items that I prefer at one club vice the other. If you've found a particular item that is significantly cheaper at one of the clubs vice the others, please mention it in a comment so others can know about it.

SHARE Update 1/20/06

Time to post an update on what's happening at the Washington D.C. SHARE. Sam Minor, jack of all trades and all around good guy, continues to show me the ropes at SHARE. Tuesday of this week, Sam showed me how to use a mechanized lift so I could help him reorganize all the pallets SHARE has. All the food SHARE buys comes on pallets and they have quite a few of them. Sam wanted to weed out the broken pallets and better organize the good ones so they didn't take up as much space. He also showed me how a forklift works in advance of the forklift safety course I'm going to take on February 1st.

Today, my lessons on how SHARE works continued. I got to play quality control inspector. Every shipment of food SHARE orders has to be quality checked to make sure the seller is providing what was promised. This morning, seven pallets of bagged onions arrived. I got to pull a random sack of bagged onions from each pallet, open the sack, and count out how many bags of onions were in the sack. Each sack was supposed to have 29 bags of onions. Most had 30 though one sack only had 25. Another thing I got to check was the quality of the onions. SHARE can have a major problem is a lot of the onions are bad as its customers will refuse them. In this case, all the onions appeared to be fine.

Another operation I learned at SHARE today was how to make the bags they use to bag potatoes. The bags are made of red plastic mesh. SHARE buys large rolls of the mesh. The mesh is put up on a roller at one end of a table. At the other end of the table is another roller with space running the length of the roller and a notch in it at one end. The person making the bags ties a knot in the beginning of the red mesh, puts the knotted end inside the notch on the roller, turns the roller so the red mesh starts wrapping around the roller, and keeps turning the roller until the mesh covers the length of the roller. Once that's done, the person takes a pair of scissors or wire cutters, and slices down the open space in the roller. This guarantees a consistant size red mess bag for the potatoes. Later, the red mess strips are tied at one end by another volunteer who then opens the bag at one end, and places it over the another bag. Eventually, they create a large stack of red mesh bags which people bagging potatoes can easy pull bags from. These bag stacks are then stored in large boxes until SHARE needs them to bag potatoes.

Tomorrow, I'll get to start learning how to supervise different groups of volunteers. SHARE expects to have quite a few as it'll be bagging Saturday. That's the day, SHARE bags items that have to be bagged such as potatoes or sweet potatoes. The groups vary enormously. Some have volunteered for years while others are totally new to SHARE. The person supervising the groups shows them what needs to be done, assigns them a table, and makes sure they bag the proper amount of food. Tomorrow, we'll be breaking down 50 pound bags of potatoes into 3 pound bags. Once the potatoes have been broken down into 3 pound bags, volunteers will place 20 3-pound bags of potatoes into the empty potato sacks. On Distribution Friday and Saturday, these sacks will be distributed in bulk shipments. SHARE also fills up large container boxes with the 3-pound bags of potatoes. These boxes are used to fill split orders such as an order calling for 9 bags of potatoes.

The time proven system works well. Come Distribution Friday and Saturday, SHARE will be able to hand out hundreds of pounds of potatoes very quickly to its customers. They in turn will take them back to their respective organizations where they'll deliver them to the people who ordered them as part of a standard food package.

If you think you might be interested in helping out tomorrow, please check SHARE's webpage for directions to the Bladensburg warehouse. Bagging starts tomorrow at 7 a.m. Volunteers are welcome to come by themselves or as part of a group. If you arrive at the warehouse and aren't sure what to do, just ask for Sam or Jingle, and they'll be glad to show you how it's done. I hope to see you at the warehouse tomorrow. Cheers!

Lord of the Rings Stuff

The Council of Elrond website (www.councilofelrond.com) had a particularly interesting entry and link recently. Teenager Ben Gurin got to work the Lord of the Rings film exhibition in Indianapolis during its stay there. He tells of his experiences in an article in the IndyStar.com (http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060108/LIVING/601080359) I actually got to see the exhibition (see my December blog entries for my review of the exhibition) and thoroughly enjoyed it. I envy this teenager big time. It would've been so cool to have gotten to work the exhibition. Sadly, it is now returning to New Zealand for a six month stay. There isn't any word yet where the exhibition will go from there. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that they send it to either Washington D.C. or Baltimore. I'd very much like to see the exhibition again. For those who are interested in seeing the exhibition in New Zealand, it will be located at the Museum of New Zealand in Wellington. The museum's website is: http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/TePapa/English/.

SHARE Update 1/13/06

I haven't written about SHARE in a while so I figured I'd post something. Plus, I helped out there today. When SHARE finished getting out all the December food packages, the staff finally got to take a well deserved rest. The last two weeks, they've been taking vacations or days off to pay back for the six and seven day weeks they worked in November and December. Now things are starting to spring back to life there. Today, they received a shipment of chicken thighs for the January food package. Sam, jack of all trades and all around good guy, put out tables in preparation for volunteers returning next week. That's when things will really start kicking in as they start bagging various food items in preparation for food distribution day.

Recycling

I've been collecting aluminum cans, glass jars, plastic jugs, cardboard, magazines, old phone books, and mixed paper for a couple months now. I was determined to do my bit as the British say for recycling. A friend of mine where I used to work got me turned on to the idea and, I think he would be very proud of me. Today, it was time to load the car up and take it to the county recycling depot. It was an uneventful drive barring wondering if I'd take the right turn offs this time. One time, I didn't and ended taking unexpected tours of the Harbor and Fort McHenry tunnels. This time, thankfully, I made it without mishap and offloaded all my recyclables. I was pleased with myself.

The day before I recycled in another way. I took a large garbage sack of clothes, a table I no longer needed, ice cube trays that became redundant with my automatic ice maker in the fridge, and some dish racks that hadn't seen use in years thanks to a dishwashing machine to the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. Hopefully, all those things will be sold to someone who can put them to good use. One of these days, I'll have to go around to the front of the shop and see what they have for sale. Maybe, I'll get to use someone's old CDs or find a cheap pair of blue jeans. The Salvation Army may not come to mind when you recycle but it does in its way. It also helps a good cause who are there when people need help all over the world. If you have junk cluttering up your place, you might want to think about donating it to them. It'll get it out of your hair, help a good cause, and reuse something that otherwise might needlessly fill a landfill. This link may help you find the closest thrift shop/donation center near you: http://www1.salvationarmy.org/uss/www_uss_natcaparea.nsf. Cheers!

Feel of England

It was wet, chilly, misty, and grey today where I live. It reminded me of England. The weather in England is like that. It can be depressing at times when it goes on for days at an end. And yet, I liked the weather there. It was great for long walks finished by a trip to a 15th century pub with a real roaring fire, aged wooden beams, and pint glasses of stout, ale, or bitter. There aren't any pubs where I live. Today, I walked around the neighborhood where I live. So many of the buildings are new. When I moved here over 4 years ago, the main street that ran by the apartment complex where I lived dead ended. Now, it wraps around in a crescent with single family houses, row houses, and luxury apartments lining the way. In many a town centre in England, you would find a bakery with freshly baked Cornish pasties, almond fingers, and madeline cakes. The Weis grocery store down the street has a bakery of sorts where you can get donuts, so called French bread, and maybe a bag of madeline cakes. But it isn't the same. It doesn't feel of England there. The people are nice enough but, there aren't any copies of the Star or Sun to be found on the news racks. You'd have to do a serious search among all the sugar loaded candy by one of the cashiers to find a Cadbury's candy bar or Toblerone if there are any at all. There are tennis courts and a huge swimming pool close to where I live but there aren't any parks where families would set out a blanket and enjoy a small picnic. Nor are there benches where the elderly could sit and watch people walk by and remember times gone by. No, today there is just the weather which feels of England and brings back lots of memories when I wandered among her parks, shopped in her quaint shops, and sipped in peaceful contentment a pint of bitter in a pub that was built before my country was born. The feel is a pleasant one which I will savor for I know not when I'll return to England's blessed shores.

Movie Review - Sahara

One movie my sister Ellie recommended to me was "Sahara." It stars Matthew McConaughey, Penelope Cruz, and Steve Zahn. It is a comedy action movie. For my sister, I think the big attraction was seeing McConaughey flex his muscles in the movie. My sister pointed out that guys would enjoy some nice shots of Ms. Cruz. After promising her I'd get around to watching it, I finally sat down yesterday and watched the movie. I found the movie very entertaining. It has plenty of action, some nice laughs, and an easy to follow plot. It is also only 2 hours long which makes it easy to sit through. The story is McConaughey and Zahn play two deep sea treasure hunters while Ms. Cruz is a doctor for the World Health Organization. The two come together when McConaughey and Cruz are drafted to give Cruz a ride to Mali so she and her boss can investigate what they think initially is an outbreak of an unknown plague. After McConaughey and Zahn drop Cruz off in Mali, they go off in search of a Confederate Civil War ironclad that somehow made it to Africa (to be honest this is highly unlikely but it does make an interesting story) and then travelled along the Niger River inland until it became stuck far inland. The crew of the ironclad all die of unknown causes. McConaughey and Zahn run into unexpected opposition from the Malian military forces who attack their boat. Cruz is also attacked and her boss is murdered by the Malian Army. McConaughey realizes the Malian forces that attacked them were after Cruz and go off to help her arriving in time to save her. The three then seek to escape the Malian military by fleeing to Toureq rebel territory. It is here Zahn finds a drawing that depicts the lost ironclad. It is also here that Cruz discovers that people aren't dying of a plaque at all. Instead, it a deadly toxin that is getting into the water supply some how. The three then go off in search of the ironclad which is located by an abandoned fort. They find the fort and while looking around, they discover an unknown waste disposal plant that they break into and find out is causing deadly toxins to seep into the underground water supply. The director of the plant doesn't want people to know of the plant and it was he that tried to stop Cruz from entering Mali and identifying what was making people sick. When the three adventurers break into the plant the plant manager captures the three. He keeps Cruz while sending McConaughey and Zahn to the evil President of Mali who presumably wants to kill them after they killed 7 or 8 of his soldiers rescuing Cruz. The two escape and go back to rescue Cruz. When the two reappear, the plant manager decides to destroy the plant and take Cruz with him to presumably keep her quiet. McConaughey succeeds in rescuing Cruz after fighting an evil turbaned fiend. Zahn manages to keep the plant from exploding so they can presumably stop the toxins from entering the water supply. The action doesn't end there. They still have to find the lost ironclad which is carrying a fortune in Confederate gold.

While leaving the plant, the three are attacked by the evil ruthless Malian President in his attack helicopter. The three escape to the fort where McConaughey conceives of a plan to foil the evil President. They use explosives to uncover the ironclad which they promptly climb into. Once inside, they discover the evil President's attack helicopter has armor piercing bullets. They decide to shoot the President's helicopter down using one of the cannon in the ironclad (the story does get a bit farfetched at this point, I mean these folks are really going to know how to fire an Civil War cannon, come on). After one misfire, with the ruthless President deciding he is going to take our heroes out himself, McConaughey manages to fire the cannon without killing himself. The shell goes through the helicopter windshield, lands inside the helicopter, and after the few suspenseful seconds, explodes. Good bye evil President. Naturally, after that the evil Malian Army surrenders and our adventurer's Toureq friends show up. Lastly, McConaughey gets the girl. We see him at the beach with Cruz. Cruz undoubtedly delights her male fans at this point by wearing a very nice two piece bikini. The movie ends with them rollicking playfully in the sea.

While the story does get seriously farfetched at times as I noted, it does move along, and has some good laughs. I found it a fun movie and would definitely recommend it anyone. The movie is now out on DVD. Cheers!

Movie Review - Pirates of the Caribbean

My sister Ellie and my friend Tami would be shocked. I finally broke down and watched a movie. I own something like 60 or 70 movies on DVD and haven't watched at least half of them. Some of them I've owned for over 2 years or more. I've been promising my sister Ellie that I would finally watch "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Sahara." Well, I finally watched "Pirates of the Caribbean" and here is what I think of it.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" is a fun movie. If you want lots of double crossing pirates, sword play, cannon fire, and treasure, "Pirates of the Caribbean" is for you. I found it a very fun movie to watch though I did take issue with its subtle moral measure that people aren't entirely evil. The hero played by Johnny Depp is a case in point. He is a pirate who robs ships and kills people but we find that he also has a kind and brave heart. It is impossible to not love his character. The other hero in the movie played by Orlando Bloom (re: Legolas in the Lord of the Rings movies) finds this out in time. If we go by this moral message, we can say Saddam Hussein wasn't all bad because he did take good care of his mother and loved his wives while he calmly massacred the Kurds and the Shia. The fact is some people overall are pure and simply bad. Pirates for all our idolizing of them were for the overwhelming part BAD and deserved what the punishment they got. However, as long as we ignore this moral message, we can sit back and enjoy this really well done fantasy tale movie. Barring the subtle moral message, I very much enjoyed it and would heartily recommend this movie to anyone who wants to watch some fun escapist fare.

Book Review - The Silent World

No one person has probably done more for popularizing the the sport of scuba diving then Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Through his tv show "The Underwater World of Jacques Cousteau," his movies, and his books, he introduced what became known as scuba diving to the world. His first effort to tell the world about the undersea world was the book "The Silent World." This book is initially something of an autobiography of Cousteau's early life as it tells of how Cousteau became interested in the undersea world. It is a fascinating tale with interesting twists of fate. An accident caused Cousteau injuries that would prevent him from becoming a naval aviator. If it wasn't for that accident, Cousteau might've never developed an interest in diving that led to the development of the first successful open circuit Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) device which he called the Aqualung. While the book tells a lot of his life, the book also tells of some of the trials and mishaps Cousteau has as he seeks to learn more about the capabilities of the Aqualung system. Cousteau can be said to have lived something of a charmed life as he nearly drowned a number of times. Cousteau and his cohorts were pioneers who had to discover the limits of open circuit diving through trial and error. Sometimes the errors were fatal to friends of Cousteau as we learn in chapter 8 when Lieutenant Maurice Farques dies after setting a record dive down to 396 feet. The book is also a time capsule back into the early years of scuba diving. Cousteau himself remarks how things changed as he saw people nonchalantly don the aqualung later and dive to 130 feet on their 3rd or 4th dive. When Cousteau and his friends first began testing the limits of scuba diving, it was with trepidation that they broke the 130 feet barrier.

The book also dispells some of the so called terrors of the deep such as octopus and moray eels. We also discover dangerous creatures that people might not have realized as dangerous such as sea urchins with their very sharp spines which can easily penetrate wetsuits and skin causing painful and possible infectious wounds. There are also the dangers of stings from jellyfish which in some cases are poisonous. Cousteau does acknowledge the very real danger of sharks and tells of one of his terrifying adventures with three of them.

The book "The Silent World" is a very easy read and is just 160 pages. It also has some very nice black and white pictures. It costs approximately $13 U.S. It tells of the early years of scuba diving and at the same time tells the early life of one of the world's great explorers and conservationists Jacques Cousteau. For diver and non-diver alike, it should make a fascinating read and I would strongly recommend it.