29 October 2008
BizzNet
Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TERRILYN!!!
27 October 2008
Fahrenheit 451 BY Ray Bradbury
I guess I can now officially say I have read this book. I have heard a lot of hype about this book for years and finally decided to give a try. I am glad that I read it, but don't necessarily see what all the hype has been about. The title, for one thing, always confused me, but now in just the introduction I understand that this is the temperature at which book paper burns. Ok, I guess that makes sense for this title to a book where the main topic is books.
The futuristic world that Ray Bradbury has created is one where books are bad and, in fact, if caught with books your house is burned to nothingness. The firefighters start these fired instead of putting fires out. I guess in the end we all have to decide if we are like Montag, Beatty, Clarisse, Faber, Mildred or even the Hound, how do books fit into our life and the lives of those around us?! I think everyone should read this book, once, unless you really really like, then be my guest to read it over and over. My challenge, in any case, is to keep books alive in whatever way we can. That, in my opinion, should be everyone's desire!
Now for the quotes, with a few thoughts, too:
pg 90: "If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none." hmmm....sound like something that COULD be applied today?! Yes, I'm glad it isn't, but it COULD be!
pg 158: "You'd better head for the river if you can, follow along it, and if you can hit the old railroad lines going out into the country, follow them." Sounds like good advice to me, on so many levels!
pg 180: "Don't judge a book by its cover," someone said. And they all laughed quietly, moving downstream." This could make sense to all of us, but in the context of this book, it is an amusing statement.
pg 181: "...when he died, I suddenly realized I wasn't crying for him at all, but for all the things he did. I cried because he would never do them again...He was part of us and when he died, all the actions stopped dead and there was no one to do them just the way he did. He was individual. He was an important man. I've never gotten over his death." see below
pg 182: "Everyone must leave something behind when he dies...It doesn't matter what you do...so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away." see below
I had a really hard time getting into this book, but as I said before I am glad that I read it. Not only does it challenge me to continue my love for reading and soaking up all the information I can, it left me thinking about what kind of legacy I hope to leave behind. Not just in the monetary or famous way, if even that, but in the basic personal one on one connections in my life. Yes, it reminds of the whole message of my all time favorite movie, It's A Wonderful Life, we do touch the lives of others, hopefully for good, even if we can't see it now. At least, that is my hope!
24 October 2008
The Heir Series BY Cinda Williams Chima


I felt the first in the series ended in a way that didn't leave a ton open for a sequel. As I started this one, I did find that is continued from the first one beautifully. There was not as much focus on genealogy, and no research really involved. This one focused on "weirbooks" which is ones Weir genealogy, so it was still interesting in that way. I loved the storyline following private schools. I think the author did a wonderful job of capturing the teenage struggles and views. Especially given the added stress of being 'orphaned'! It kept me very intrigued the entire time. Also, I love the nickname of "Seph" as I had not heard that one before. I did find one funny quote given a recent popular series....pg. 395: "What were you thinking...taking up with a vampire who sucks magic from innocent wizards?" You will have to read the book to find out what that comment is all about!
17 October 2008
The Camel Bookmobile BY Masha Hamilton


15 October 2008
Festival of Trees

05 October 2008
Angel's going on and on....

Yes, I know, you all expected a blog with my observations of this weekends General Conference....I will get there, but it will probably be a few days.
Right now, we are watching the CALIFORNIA ANGELS (yes, I know they changed their name, but I think it is dumb, so, there you go!) fighting to continue their 2008 season! They had a pretty amazing year, with 100 wins for the season, a first for this ball club! Only to end the season losing and continuing to choke in the first round of the playoffs! So, here Steve and I sit, game 3 vs Boston Red Sox in Boston, in extra innings. Yes, there is a little holding of the breath, on my part, when they let Boston get bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th, but luckily managed to get out of it fighting! While I am nervously awaiting the ANGELS to kick it up a notch and play THEIR game, I will tell you how I came to be an ANGELS fan...
I was always a baseball fan, don't know exactly how or why that came to be, but when I was a kid, I liked the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1982, we went to Anaheim for a family vacation, I'm sure you can see where this story is headed, but it is my blog, so I will tell the story how it goes anyway...We went to my Uncle Arvids house, who happens to live near Disneyland, and he had the Dodgers game on TV. The family all went out back to the patio to visit and such. I leaned on his little stairs next to the TV and was watching the game. My uncle came in for something and invited me to go out with them and even offered to change the channel on the TV, after all, I was just 11 years old (on to the 12th inning tonight, whew!) and a girl at that! My mom says Uncle Arvid went out to the patio with his jaw dropped and when asked why he said, "A GIRL that likes baseball?!!!" (yay, the ANGELS score, now to keep the Red Sox scoreless in the bottom half!!!) Needless to say, the next evening they all surprised me and took me to my first Major League Baseball game at Anaheim Stadium! I was hooked and have been a CALIFORNIA ANGELS fan ever since!
Ok, so back to reality, we are 2 outs away from winning this game 3 and continuing the season....1 out away.....AND NOW THEY HAVE DONE IT!!!! WHEW!!! YAY ANGELS!!!
04 October 2008
Bunco, Bunko, Bonco, or Bonko
Thursday night was my first ever at Bunko! I had a blast! This was a very last minute event for my mom and I. Early that afternoon, my sister called me and invited us to be subs that night for her group. My mom has played as a sub a few times before and enjoyed it everytime. As said before, this was my first time. I have had several people try to explain how to play this with not much luck, but it was so very simple once I was there. I ended up with the prize for the last bunko of the night. With everything going on this year and this week, I really needed this night out and am very glad I took the time to spend with my mom, sister and her friends!
This group was all women and did dessert during the halftime break. I understand some groups are couples. Also, that some groups do dinner before and dessert at the half OR just dessert at the end. No matter how it is done, I am competitve and had a great time! This group of women were loads of fun, as usual, there was all types of people there from the overly exuberant to the overly inverted and everything in between! This group had 12, I understand some groups to have 16.
Needless to say, now that I've experienced this night of fun, if anyone ever needs a sub, I'll do what I can to be available...OR better yet, let's get our own little group going!
01 October 2008
Into the Fire BY Jeffrey S Savage
I have been meaning to read this book since May. I finally got to it this week. The timing was quite interesting as it leaves me with intense mixed emotions. This is a moving fictional story about a man who is left to be tested by Satan himself. This is a modern day story of Job. We are having some major struggles in our household right now and this book left me mixed on feeling like I am being similarly tested yet knowing that our situation really could be so much worse! I have had many dreams over the time that we've been having our major struggles this entire year, but they seemed to intensify while reading this book. Power of suggestion, maybe?! Overall things are gradually getting worse for us, I (as of right now) am still holding strong to my faith! It is one that can't easily be messed with! I will let the following quotes and thoughts from the book speak for themselves:
pg 112: "Fish aren't the only ones with scales. The world can place scales on a child's eyes sometimes, blinding them from seeing what's important in life. And it's not just children that can be blinded either. Nope, no one's immune to scales."
pg 185: "On this earth. You are here to experience, to learn. Somehow your generation has come up with this crazy notion that God is supposed to keep you from experiencing pain. You think that adversity is a punishment, instead of realizing that it is an opportunity. You are so busy trying not to get hurt that you miss the chance to grow ---"
pg 205: "...maybe the real message of the story is...we can't control what happens to us, be we CAN control what we do about it---what we learn from it."
This book openly leaves one to wonder at the reality of just how much those that have gone before come back to help us. Also, if we believe that is possible, do we open ourselves up for that help?! Things that make you go, HMMM....