That last 2 months or so I've taken a break from reading. The first tour, starting in June, was pretty good for reading. I would wake up in the morning, play the first set, and then read in the shade for an hour or 2. The Locked and Loaded tour on the other hand was not good for reading. When we were in the van, there were 12 of us in the van, and when we weren't in the van we were either setting up or listening to loud bands all day long.
The break has done me well though, and since I've been home, I've finished up 2 more of the Narnia books. That puts me at 14 books for the year and I'll be finishing "The Last Battle" hopefully this week which will put me at my goal of 15 books. This doesn't mean I'm going to stop for the year.
Next year the goal will be 24 books. 2 a month. I'm confident I can accomplish this.
One thing I have noticed while reading the Narnia books though, is that CS Lewis has an amazing way of detailing food. So much so that I often times put down the to make a huge meal for myself. This morning after reading only a chapter of "The Silver Chair" I found myself making and then eating a breakfast of pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, coffee, orange juice and milk. It really was amazing.
Just to give you a taste, I'm going to type out one small passage from "The Silver Chair" where it is explained how a Centuar eats breakfast.
"Why Son of Adam, don't you understand? A Centaur has a man-stomach and a horse-stomach. And of course both want breakfast. So first of all he has porridge and pavanders and kidneys and bacon and omelette and cold ham and toast and marmalade and coffee and a beer. And after the he attends to the horse part of himself by grazing for an hour or so and finishing up with a hot mash, some oats, and a bag of sugar. That's why it's such a serious thing to ask a Centaur to stay for the weekend. A very serious thing indeed." CS Lewis "The Silver Chair"
I don't know about you, but even reading about the horse breakfast makes me hungry, and I'm already full.
I would guess that Mr. Lewis had quite an appetite back in the day as there are descriptions like this all throughout the book.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Day of the Squirrels...
Ever since I was in 6th grade and we went to my friends house in small town Nebraska to play with their pet squirrel, I've wanted one for myself. Even before that, some of my earliest memories were of my grandpa taming black squirrels in his back yard so that they would take walnuts from his hand.
Yesterday I was given the opportunity to tell a squirrel story of my own.
It started simple enough, I was letting the dogs out, and like normal I was sitting and watching them from a concrete step in my backyard. I wasn't paying much attention until I noticed they were both looking intently at something on the tree, and that something, just out of the reach of their nose was a baby squirrel. I really wanted to capture the moment so I grabbed my camera phone and tried to snap a picture. The dogs were to excited so nothing came out, but I decided to take a closer look anyway. Upon further investigation I noticed that the poor baby had a bloody nose and was very wobbly on the side of the tree. As soon as I noticed this he stumbled forward into the reach of the dogs, and Ringo, my puppy, had the squirrel in his mouth on a second. I yelled "Drop it" as loud as I could and rushed over to stop him. He dropped it on command but went after it again. I grabbed his collar and pulled him off and the squirrel made its way up the tree again, half in a daze. Just to make sure the baby was ok I stuck my head up the tree and gave a look. He was huddled at the fork of two branches and looked kinda beat up. Since I'm stupidly fearless around animals, I slowly lifted my hand up near the little guy, and to my surprise he climbed right in my hand. I slowly lowered the both of us out of the tree and had Mindy put the dog away.
Since I wasn't sure how hurt he was, I decided I should keep an eye on him, so I brought out my 25 gallon aquarium and put him in with a little dish of water and some almonds. He wasn't interested at first so I decided to leave him alone for a bit. I went upstairs and had dinner and came back down a little later. He still hadn't touched anything so I decided there wasn't anything else I could do but let him go. I tipped the aquarium and he crawled out, but instead of scampering away, he started hopping towards me. I took a step back and he hopped towards me again. Another step back, another hop towards me. Finally I sat down on the ground to see how it all played out, and Mr. Squirrel decided to climb in my lap. I cradled him there for a little while and took some pictures with him. Finally, since he seemed to be feeling better, I decided it was time to set him free. I picked him up and started heading over to the tree again but as I did, another baby squirrel came crawling across the neighbor's yard to the same tree I was headed to. As he climbed up he chattered at me a little bit but wasn't afraid as I came closer. Since the baby I had in my hand wasn't interested in getting on the tree again, I thought maybe his little brother would help. I held him up and they nuzzled each other. I was even able to pet the brother and the thing almost fell asleep on the side of the tree. Finally after knowing I was getting too attached, I set the baby on the tree and he started to climb again. They nuzzled each other again and I considered my work to be done. I walked away and went back into the house.
10 minutes later I decided to check on them again, this time from my deck. When I walked out, one of the little guys was clear up above my eye level, but when he saw me, he started down the tree again. When he got to the bottom he started squeaking really loud and then scampered towards my house. He was squeaking and squeaking and actually trying to climb the side of my house, then he decided to sit on the stoop of my basement door.
I went downstairs once again and opened the door, and there was the little brother squirrel sitting and looking at me. I gently picked him up and took him back over to the tree and let him go again. He looked at me once more and then went up the tree again.
I saw them playing later that night. When I went outside again, the brother was in the neighbor's yard again, and squeaked when he saw me, but chose not to come say hi again. I'm hoping maybe I've made some friends that will come back and visit me. If not though, at least I had the experience.
Yesterday I was given the opportunity to tell a squirrel story of my own.
It started simple enough, I was letting the dogs out, and like normal I was sitting and watching them from a concrete step in my backyard. I wasn't paying much attention until I noticed they were both looking intently at something on the tree, and that something, just out of the reach of their nose was a baby squirrel. I really wanted to capture the moment so I grabbed my camera phone and tried to snap a picture. The dogs were to excited so nothing came out, but I decided to take a closer look anyway. Upon further investigation I noticed that the poor baby had a bloody nose and was very wobbly on the side of the tree. As soon as I noticed this he stumbled forward into the reach of the dogs, and Ringo, my puppy, had the squirrel in his mouth on a second. I yelled "Drop it" as loud as I could and rushed over to stop him. He dropped it on command but went after it again. I grabbed his collar and pulled him off and the squirrel made its way up the tree again, half in a daze. Just to make sure the baby was ok I stuck my head up the tree and gave a look. He was huddled at the fork of two branches and looked kinda beat up. Since I'm stupidly fearless around animals, I slowly lifted my hand up near the little guy, and to my surprise he climbed right in my hand. I slowly lowered the both of us out of the tree and had Mindy put the dog away.
Since I wasn't sure how hurt he was, I decided I should keep an eye on him, so I brought out my 25 gallon aquarium and put him in with a little dish of water and some almonds. He wasn't interested at first so I decided to leave him alone for a bit. I went upstairs and had dinner and came back down a little later. He still hadn't touched anything so I decided there wasn't anything else I could do but let him go. I tipped the aquarium and he crawled out, but instead of scampering away, he started hopping towards me. I took a step back and he hopped towards me again. Another step back, another hop towards me. Finally I sat down on the ground to see how it all played out, and Mr. Squirrel decided to climb in my lap. I cradled him there for a little while and took some pictures with him. Finally, since he seemed to be feeling better, I decided it was time to set him free. I picked him up and started heading over to the tree again but as I did, another baby squirrel came crawling across the neighbor's yard to the same tree I was headed to. As he climbed up he chattered at me a little bit but wasn't afraid as I came closer. Since the baby I had in my hand wasn't interested in getting on the tree again, I thought maybe his little brother would help. I held him up and they nuzzled each other. I was even able to pet the brother and the thing almost fell asleep on the side of the tree. Finally after knowing I was getting too attached, I set the baby on the tree and he started to climb again. They nuzzled each other again and I considered my work to be done. I walked away and went back into the house.
10 minutes later I decided to check on them again, this time from my deck. When I walked out, one of the little guys was clear up above my eye level, but when he saw me, he started down the tree again. When he got to the bottom he started squeaking really loud and then scampered towards my house. He was squeaking and squeaking and actually trying to climb the side of my house, then he decided to sit on the stoop of my basement door.
I went downstairs once again and opened the door, and there was the little brother squirrel sitting and looking at me. I gently picked him up and took him back over to the tree and let him go again. He looked at me once more and then went up the tree again.
I saw them playing later that night. When I went outside again, the brother was in the neighbor's yard again, and squeaked when he saw me, but chose not to come say hi again. I'm hoping maybe I've made some friends that will come back and visit me. If not though, at least I had the experience.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Biting it...
Well I did it. I finally got a facebook account, and ya know what.? I kinda like it. I don't have to worry about trying to make my page look cool, I just log on and talk to people. It's real simple.
I also got a new phone the other day. My phone went haywire when we were in Minnesota and considering we were still a week away from being done, I really needed a new one. I went to the store and looked at several and decided on a Samsung Alias. It flips open Sideways for a keyboard to text on, and then normal like a cell phone. Well I kept it for the rest of the tour and was just un-impressed overall. If I wanted to keep more than 50 text messages in my inbox I was going to have to buy more memory. Not what I expected from a $100 phone. So when I got back to Omaha I went and browsed Nebraska Furniture Mart. The one stop shop for the best prices on anything you could ever want to buy. They had the SAME phone and after the rebate it would have actually cost me negative one penny. They would pay me a penny to take the phone. Then I played with the LG Dare and was faced with a moral dilemma. I loved the Dare but it was more than the first phone cost and I know in a matter of months the price will be cut in half, and even more. So do I get a phone for free that was ok, but unimpressive or get a phone that I really really liked, but spend money on it just to watch the price go down in December. I called Mindy up to get her opinion and she was helpful. I walked away with the Dare, and so far I love it!!! It's pretty much an iphone and it's smaller so it fits in my pocket. I would suggest it to anyone who wants an iphone, but doesn't want to switch to AT&T.
Other than that, we're headed to Dallas next weekend for the Feedback Conference. That'll be fun. Next month we'll be venturing down into Alabama and Tennessee. It should be a good time.
I'll have a few more videos to post here pretty soon.
I also got a new phone the other day. My phone went haywire when we were in Minnesota and considering we were still a week away from being done, I really needed a new one. I went to the store and looked at several and decided on a Samsung Alias. It flips open Sideways for a keyboard to text on, and then normal like a cell phone. Well I kept it for the rest of the tour and was just un-impressed overall. If I wanted to keep more than 50 text messages in my inbox I was going to have to buy more memory. Not what I expected from a $100 phone. So when I got back to Omaha I went and browsed Nebraska Furniture Mart. The one stop shop for the best prices on anything you could ever want to buy. They had the SAME phone and after the rebate it would have actually cost me negative one penny. They would pay me a penny to take the phone. Then I played with the LG Dare and was faced with a moral dilemma. I loved the Dare but it was more than the first phone cost and I know in a matter of months the price will be cut in half, and even more. So do I get a phone for free that was ok, but unimpressive or get a phone that I really really liked, but spend money on it just to watch the price go down in December. I called Mindy up to get her opinion and she was helpful. I walked away with the Dare, and so far I love it!!! It's pretty much an iphone and it's smaller so it fits in my pocket. I would suggest it to anyone who wants an iphone, but doesn't want to switch to AT&T.
Other than that, we're headed to Dallas next weekend for the Feedback Conference. That'll be fun. Next month we'll be venturing down into Alabama and Tennessee. It should be a good time.
I'll have a few more videos to post here pretty soon.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Life on the Road
If you want to know what life has been like on the road for FOA this tour, this video pretty much sums it all up.
Have I written anything lately? I can't even remember. I was in the van today and was trying to figure out what day it was. I had absolutely no point of reference. I tried for a good 5 minutes to figure it out on my own but couldn't come up with anything. Luckily my phone has been keeping track. It's Wednesday.
Have I written anything lately? I can't even remember. I was in the van today and was trying to figure out what day it was. I had absolutely no point of reference. I tried for a good 5 minutes to figure it out on my own but couldn't come up with anything. Luckily my phone has been keeping track. It's Wednesday.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Day One
Sorry for the lack of writing. I've been so busy putting together the video that I didn't want to write about it to. The video gives a better description of where we've been anyway.
Today is the first official day of the Locked & Loaded Tour. We're here in Columbus, Ohio right now. We took off on Thursday, July 17 and drove through the night. We showed up at Pendlwood Studio B around 6 am and stayed the night. We all woke up about noon and went and had lunch with our producer CR Pendelton. After that it was work all afternoon. We had several boxes of merch and merch display stuff sent here so we spent the afternoon putting it together and getting shirts rolled and rearranging the trailer. After that it was off to a late dinner and then a mad rush to see "Batman: The Dark Knight" and it was freaking amazing. I'm going to go and see it again. Heath Ledger was awesome at the Joker and I'm especially sad over his death now because we won't get to see him do it again. There is Oscar buzz around the performance I think it's well deserved. The Joker was amazing.
Anyway, we got back from that around 2:30 and went to bed. Now the 30 people (all the members of Fate of Angels, Anacey, Divide the Sea, Alli and I, and A Life Echoed are all here) are all getting around to leave, and that's what I need to do.
I'll catch you later.
Today is the first official day of the Locked & Loaded Tour. We're here in Columbus, Ohio right now. We took off on Thursday, July 17 and drove through the night. We showed up at Pendlwood Studio B around 6 am and stayed the night. We all woke up about noon and went and had lunch with our producer CR Pendelton. After that it was work all afternoon. We had several boxes of merch and merch display stuff sent here so we spent the afternoon putting it together and getting shirts rolled and rearranging the trailer. After that it was off to a late dinner and then a mad rush to see "Batman: The Dark Knight" and it was freaking amazing. I'm going to go and see it again. Heath Ledger was awesome at the Joker and I'm especially sad over his death now because we won't get to see him do it again. There is Oscar buzz around the performance I think it's well deserved. The Joker was amazing.
Anyway, we got back from that around 2:30 and went to bed. Now the 30 people (all the members of Fate of Angels, Anacey, Divide the Sea, Alli and I, and A Life Echoed are all here) are all getting around to leave, and that's what I need to do.
I'll catch you later.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
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