What I'm Reading and what I SHOULD be reading.

I recently completed John Irving's Last Night in Twisted River, and excellent book that I loved (I am unapologetically a John Irving fan, so your mileage may vary). Before that I was reading Pat Conroy's South of Broad, which I hated (despite being a Pat Conroy fan) so I stopped. I restarted it after Twisted River, but then stopped again, after realizing that the only thing I hated more than not finishing a book, was actually reading THAT book. I have a stack of books I've received as Christmas and Birthday gifts and plan to read them all. I am partially through Blink, a non-fiction book by Malcom Gladwell about quick decision making. Here's the rest of the line up:

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
• Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
• The Complete Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook by Piven & Borgenicht
• Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

Last Night in Twisted River

I am very excited about this new book by John Irving, to be released on October 27, 2009.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m3BL0HUG6SS6VX

A Busy Bee!

Admittedly, I've been slack in my blogging lately. I've been reading everyone elses' posts, and y'all ain't necessarily rocking the blogs either.

Here's some of the stuff I've been up to:

Last weekend I went mountain biking at the Tsali Recreational Area near Bryson City, NC, with my buddy Alan and some of his work homies. (Here's Alan's recap.) It was very cold, but we had a fun rustic cabin and really enjoyed ourselves. The AMC channel was showing the Godfather trilogy so we watched the Godfather the first night and Part II the second night. None of us had ever actually seen either once in it's entirety so we felt like this was an accomplishment or right of passage. Good times.

Work has been very busy. After over a year of searching and interviewing I finally hired a new Web Development Manager. Additionally, I got an excellent contractor to finally agree to convert to Full-Time. So things at work are looking up. We're aggressively pitching a new web project to the government and that's looking very promising. Also, we're awaiting the results of several contract awards that would make life very busy but also very secure for the next few years.

I did not have to play in the praise band this weekend, since it was Youth Sunday. Instead I spent my Saturday in the woods on the very back of my lot cutting down trees and such in an effort to fend off encroaching Kudzu. I learned why you should always wear jeans while using a chain saw. No injuries, but I do have some new cut-off shorts now.

I finished a book I was reading, but I'll save the details for another blog post.

Today, after church, I took the family to see Bolt in Disney 3D. It was excellent. I am still amazed at how good 3D has gotten. That technology is so much better than the old red and blue stuff. Good story and excellent voices too. There is some excellent glass reflection rendering that I have never seen (or been impressed by) in animations before. Very impressive. I recommend you see it in 3D while you can.

Well, that about sums it up for now. The holidays will be busy... and sad for many of us. I'll try to post more frequently.

Got A Book 123

I was challenged by my pal, Rick, to play the following Blog game. Here' s the rules:

• Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!
• Find Page 123.
• Find the first 5 sentences.
• Post the next 3 sentences.
• Tag 5 people.

My books was THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS by Conn and Hal Igguldn. Page 125 falls in a chapter called "Famous Battles - Part Two" and was about the battle of The Somme in 1916, in which there were over 60,000 casualties. Sadly, my 3 sentences will only pick up the begining of a peom, but here goes:

There is a touching poem called "For the Fallen" written by Laurence Binyon
in 1914 that is quoted at every Rememberance Day service. This is an
extract from it, remembering those who gave their lives for their country.

"They went with songs to battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow."

Now, Paul, Kyle, Alan, Tim, and Charlotte, considere yourselves tagged.