New Link

Check out my new link on the right...RJ Coffee. Go there often and see if anything new is brewing in the coffee world...lame joke I know. I thought it might be fun to have a site devoted to coffee. Let me know what you think on that site.

Next!

I've started my next book. I don't know if I'll be able to get through the four I wanted to by summer's end but oh well. Next on the list is We the Living by Ayn Rand. It is about a family in Russia just after the completion of the revolution so it takes place c. 1922. I'll keep you posted with details concerning the story and philosophy as I can grasp it. Any of you read this one? Let me know your thoughts.

Lord of the Flies

I finished my second book of the summer. Lord of the Flies. I'm not sure what I think about this book. The end of the book says they were crying over 'lost innocence'. Well we know that's not theologically sound. People aren't born innocent. Anyway...the book was a little disturbing hunting pigs, dead parachute men, pig heads on pikes, trying to kill each other, you know the standard drill. Basically it is a short story about summer camp.

I'm not sure if there were a few other meanings being communicated in the book. I wonder if he was trying to make a comment on British society specifically or Western society in general. The whole idea that breaking up into different groups is what led to the murder or Simon and Piggy...hum, I'm not sure but he could be trying to make a case for living together under common laws. So he may be saying that Western society is really better because we are a society of laws.

Or he could be saying that our divisions in society are what lead to murder and savagery. Could he be calling his readers to unite for the common good? I'm not sure yet as I just finished the book. Those of you who have read it let me know your thoughts.

Movie Lines

I finally got around to reading Klude's post about movie lines and really liked the idea and thought we could do one here on my blog. I'm seriously, I want to play... So here it goes...read the quote, tell what movie it is from and then add your own. Like Kludge said - please no swearing.

Ahem - this quote might prove to be difficult

"Look out cops!"
"What?"
"Cops!"
"What...uff." (as he runs into a cop) "Good thing I'm still wearing that Jock."

80's Movie

The other nite my wife and I watched a fun 80's movie. I will give a description and see if you guys can guess the film...I figure this is more fun then me just telling you about a movie you have probably seen.

A young nerdy boy meets the new girl at school, during summer break of course, and quickly falls in love with her. They spend a lot of time together doing all the nerdy things (which the movie shows as working but you know it never does!), and the boy gets his hopes up. Of course the girl is older and acts interested enough but you know full well she is not!

Enter the football stud who takes a fancy for this new girl. Problem, he's already got a girlfriend (bet you didn't see that plot twist coming). After hanging out as a group they decide to all go to the dance on friday nite. Nerdy boy with new girl, football stud with soon to be ex-girlfriend. Of course the break up happens and Studly is not going to the dance. Nerd rides his bike over to New Girl's house on the nite of the dance but she's busy consouling Studly and no longer wants to go to the dance (again another shocking plot twist).

I think I'm going to leave it there and see if you can guess the movie. If not I'll give more of the movie (which if I did now you would for sure get it). Post your guess!

Next Book

Since I finished the Count of Monte Python, I have decided to read Lord of the Ring Flies. I have just started it and will be back with a reveiw. I think it will not take me as long to read this book seeing's how it is only 1/5th the length of Cristo. Any thoughts from any of you who have read the book. I am interested to hear what you thought of the book. I know he (the author) is making some comments on soceity/human nature but since I haven't read the book...well I have to find out what is being said. Let me know if you have any ideas out there.

The Count of Monte Cristo

Okay so I finished my first book out of 5. This tome was way different than the movie. The movie made the plot like look a Shel Silverstein special, while Dumas' book has so many twists and turns that I think I want to buy cliff notes just to make sure I understood it. Overall the book was good and I really enjoyed the read. In some points I couldn't put the book down. It only took about 3 weeks to read the (almost) 1500 pages. The end tried to be happy but I'm not sure how you can have a happy ending when the whole book is about revenge.

There were many religious themes in the book as well. Very Roman Catholic. The religious themes were interesting simply for the insight into how Dumas thought. So out of 4 stars I give The Count 3. So if you have some time and want to read a book that keeps you thinking read The Count of Corpus Cristy...um Monte Carlo...Monte Cristo.

Okay, Okay

Well partly out of jealousy and partly out of necessity I am going to blog a little about the trip to Ecuador. First, it was tons of fun. I enjoy the first 2 nites with JCrew and Ando. We talked like best girlfriends and laughed a lot. It was a good time, especially when Josh discovered that he lost his Greek homework. But you've all read about that! Also it was hilarious when JCrew came in the next morning and said he had accidentally swallowed some water while showering. I was busting up. But he didn't get sick so no worries.

Second, the people in Ecuador were amazing. When we finally got to our host family we had such a blast. I think they were what made it so difficult to leave. My host family was so kind. There was an 11 year old girl in my family and one day she made ice cream and cake for me to remember Julie (the day before I told them how much Julie liked ice cream and sweets).

Third, this was the most stressful part of the trip for me, but somehow I got appointed as the translator for our small group of eight. Someone would say something in Spanish and then everyone would look at me, as I panicked and crapped my pants. I would look at the person and say, 'No intiendo' translation 'No I don't play nintendo' actually it means, 'I don't understand'. So half the time I made stuff up based on what I thought they were saying.

So those are a few notes from the trip. I hope that ya'all enjoy the upcoming time on Sunday. Thank you to all who prayed for us!

Crazy Building Jumpers

Now my friends recently got me into youtube. I have enjoyed watching ask a ninja there and Simpons intro live version, etc. But by far my favorite thing thus far is the video you will find if you type in crazy building jumpers in the search at youtube. Since I don't know how to link you'll have to go there check it out then respond. It was awesome.

Look Who's Back

So I went to Ecuador with the team from Santa Rosa Bible Church and I have returned. It was a great trip. The team was good, the host families were good, the food was good, it was all good. I'm not much for writing these type of stories on the internet so when I see you guys throughout the upcoming days/weeks I'll be sure to tell you all about the trip. Beside JCrew and Ando are better story tellers on their blog. Just read theirs (they're linked) and you can come back to mine and respond, I was there for pretty much all of their stories too! I'll be back with some more confusing thoughts soon!