Palm Springs Weekend

I just love the sound of that title, don't you? Or am I just making you jealous?

This last weekend really was fun and relaxing. The only problem was it wasn't long enough.

I left work at noon on Friday. And immediately got distracted. See, I had gotten an e-mail from Borders with a coupon for 40% when you buy two DVD sets. Since I still needed Seasons 2 and 3 of the Muppet Show, I went to the Borders in town. No dice. Same in Pasadena. But I stopped at a random store along the way and found they were having a DVD clearance. All DVD's were 50% off. So I stocked up with season 2 of the Muppets (they didn't have season 3) plus the Pirates trilogy on Blu-Ray and the first season of Columbo, which I have been assured I need to see.

All this got me to Palm Springs later than I had intended to get there. But I still got there in time for dinner.

Saturday, we just lazed around the trailer. Went for a swim in the pool. They keep it so warm at the trailer park where Mom and Dad stay. It's one of the reasons they love it there.

Sunday, we headed up to Yucca Valley to visit with my friends Stephen and Natalie. That involved going to the church where Stephen is the pastor in the morning, time spent in Joshua Tree while they had a church pot luck, then games and dinner at their home. We stayed pretty late and had a fantastic time.

Monday was more swimming, then into Palm Springs for some miniature golf. Dad and I tied, so it was a good game. Last time we played, I lost by a mile.

Yesterday, we actually got up in time for a swim before I left to come home.

As you can see, it was nice and relaxing. Honestly, I wish I were still there.

1st in the Series Challenge

So, I just learned about the fun challenges that J. Kaye is hosting over on her book blog. And I just couldn't pass them up. Fortunately, you can use books for more than one challenge, which will be very helpful when Callapidder Days starts Spring into Reading next week.

Up first is the 1st in a series challenge. Basically, you have to read the first book in a series. The goal is to read 12 of them during the year.

Since I can go back and count books I've already read in 2009, I'm ahead of the game.

Books completed:
1. Too Big to Miss by Sue Ann Jaffarian
2. A Mind is a Terrible Things to Read by William Rabkin
3. Murder in Miniature by Margaret Grace
4. 1st to Die by James Patterson
5. The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzie & Holly Black
6. Wake Up Little Susie by Ed Gorman
7. Murder at the Academy Awards by Joan Rivers and Jerrilyn Farmer
8. Kilt Dead by Kaitlyn Dunnett
9. Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford
10. Murder in the Marais by Cara Black
11. Still Life by Louise Penny
12. Death of a Cozy Writer by G. M. Malliet

2nds Challenge

So, I just learned about the fun challenges that J. Kaye is hosting over on her book blog. And I just couldn't pass them up. Fortunately, you can use books for more than one challenge, which will be very helpful when Callapidder Days starts Spring into Reading next week.

This challenge is for those authors you have read but not gotten back to read again. The 2nds challenge requires you to read the second book by an author. It can be the second in a series or a stand alone as long as it is the second you have read by that author.

Completed (Links take you to my reviews at Epinions):
1. Fearless by Robin Parrish
2. 2nd Chance by James Patterson
3. The Seeing Stone by Tony DiTerlizzie and Holly Black
4. The Dog Days of Charlotte Hayes by Marlane Kennedy
5. Too Rich and Too Dead by Cynthia Baxter
6. Shark Island by Joan Druett
7. Burn Notice: The End Game by Tod Goldberg
8. Murder in Grub Street by Bruce Alexander
9. Slay it with Flowers by Kate Collins
10. Mayhem in Miniature by Margaret Grace
11. Curse of the Holy Pale by Sue Ann Jaffarian
12. Mind Over Magic by William Rabkin

Support Your Local Library Challenge

So, I just learned about the fun challenges that J. Kaye is hosting over on her book blog. And I just couldn't pass them up. Fortunately, you can use books for more than one challenge, which will be very helpful when Callapidder Days starts Spring into Reading next week.

The final challenge I am going to participate in is the Support Your Local Library Challenge. For this one, you choose the number of books you will read from the library and then try to hit that goal during the year. Since I get so few books from the library right now, I am going to pick the lowest goal of 12 books.

Finished:
1. The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzie & Holly Black
2. The Seeing Stone by Tony DiTerlizzie & Holly Black
3. Lucinda's Secret by Tony DiTerlizzie & Holly Black
4. The Ironwood Tree by Tony Di Terlizzie & Holly Black
5. The Wrath of Mulgarath by Tony DiTerlizzie & Holly Black
6. Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford
7. Mark's Story: The Gospel According to Peter by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins
8. The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
9. Shark Island by Joan Druett
10. Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin
11. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Jumping Frogs by Donald J. Sobol
12. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Word Association for March 11th

Good thing I can do the word association at any point during the week, isn't it?

1. Mourning :: Funeral
2. Approval :: Budget
3. Lotion :: Chapped Hands
4. Perspire :: Excercise
5. Language :: Watch Your!
6. Defection :: Cold War
7. Play :: Stage
8. Graphic :: Novel
9. Spicy :: Food
10. In love :: Married

Disney Birthday Weekend

I might recover from this last weekend eventually. It was tons of fun, but I could barely function yesterday.

After work, I headed south to spend the weekend with my parents in their trailer. They found a trailer park about 10 minutes from Disneyland. That's much better than the hour I'd have to drive if I were at home. Due to an accident, a trip that can take as little as one hour took two and a half. Believe me, I was ready to be there when I got there. After dinner, my parents let me open my birthday present. Then we went to bed.

Saturday morning we were up and going early. Despite a the set back of the parking lot where I planned to park not being open, we managed to get into Disneyland at openning where we met up with Angelique. The park was crowded, but we still managed to get in everything we wanted to do. In fact, around 11 we decided we were done for the day and all headed home. After all, we lost an hour thanks to day light saving time this weekend. That didn't help with how tired we all were.

We did get to go through the reopened Sleeping Beauty Walk Through. They did a really good job with it. Several of the scenes look like the old ones from the walk through recreation on the recent DVD release. And some of them include some pretty cool effects. I'm glad to see that piece of history come back.

We also went through the new Small World. They've added Disney characters throughout. I'm not that big a fan of the changes, although some of them were pretty seamless. Still, there was no need to include them. Not that I will let it stop me from going on that ride. I loved it as a child and I still love it.

Sunday, we got up and going again. The destination this time was CA Adventure. I had to wait in a line to get my free birthday ticket. Since we already had 2fer tickets, I went with a pass that's good for one park at some point during the next year. Now, I just need to plot my return trip.

The park didn't seem quite as crowded although it was certainly still popular. We started with Soarin' Over California, my mom's favorite ride. From there we went to Toy Story Midway Mania. Mom and Dad proceeded to ride Soarin' a total of four times. Angelique and I didn't ride it quite that many, although I did make it for three of them. Since that's how many we rode it last year, I think I may have created a monster. :)

The only down part of the day was that my friends Ryan and Charis didn't get to join us like we had originally planned.

We left at 10, when the park closed. But I decided I wanted to get a mug I'd seen on Saturday, so into the World of Disney store we went. By the time I found and bought it, it was close to 11 by the time we got back to the trailer and just after midnight by the time I got home. I had to do a little unpacking, so I crashed into bed around 1.

So, two days on my feet followed by very little sleep. Do you see why I was exhausted yesterday?

But I'd do it again in a heart beat.

The funny things is people have been asking if I was sick because I sounded stuffed up. Not sure what it was, because I felt find. I'm sounding better today, so I don't think I caught a cold after all. Phew!

Of course, being out in the cold weather for two days might have had something to do with it. I was wearing my sweatshirt for most of both days. The afternoons were pleasantly warm, but the rest of the time was cool if not downright cold after it got dark.

Redecorating

I know I'm probably the only one who looks at the right side of my blog, but I've been playing around with it all week.

It all started when Blogrolling finally came back on line. While my blogroll has been up, the ability to add or subtract anything has been frozen for six months or so now. When they relaunched it, they gave us two options. Either A) we could deal with small banner ads at the top of each page until we click a link to get rid of them of B) pay a yearly fee. When I signed up they were great because they were the only site that would organize your blogs for you in a simple non-HTML process. Now Blogger will do that for me for free. So why pay or put up with the ads?

So Wednesday night, I took the time to import all my old blog list into Blogger service. The only problem I have with Blogger's service is that it takes up too much room. So I've reordered things a little to make it easier for me. In an attempt to cut down on space, I did turn off the option to list when the blog was last updated, but after a couple days it is already driving me up a wall. I'll probably turn that back on next week.

Part of the reason for posting this is, if I used to link you and you can't find your blog now, let me know. It was an accident, trust me.

Not having the blogs in alphabetical order will drive me crazy if I am looking for someone in particular, but it is so nice if I just want to read new posts.

And I've added a ton of friends whose blogs I've been meaning to add for months (much longer then the outage). Now I have even more blogs to feel the need to keep up with.

Not much else going on in my life. It's been a quiet week, but I am about to make up for that. Two days at Disneyland for my birthday with friends and family. Is it tomorrow yet?

That's Responsibility?

So, a week ago, I actually had hope. I heard President Obama talking about how he was going to trim the Federal Government's budget whether it made him a one term President or not. And I thought to myself, "Maybe we've actually got someone who will balance the budget and truly cut spending."

Then I heard the details.

Despite the cover which declares it is "Responsible," it is anything but. See, in the first year, he's proposing a $1 Trillion deficit. Over the next few years the deficit will decrease until it is around $500 Billion about the time President Obama is up for reelection. Then it starts to go up again. A decade from now, it will be around $800 billion. For one year!

Now I'm not even going to get into the ins and outs of whether his numbers are realistic or whether the savings are truly savings. I'll let those who are read it better deal with that.

But how can continually borrowing hudge amounts of money be responsible? I'd like to try this for a few years. I'll just spend money on whatever I want. Then, when the bills come due, I'll just borrow to pay for them. That works in the real world, right?

The only responsible thing for our government to do is actually cut spending to match what they actually take in. And pay down the debt. There is a finite supply of money. And if we keep spending money like we are, we will cease to exhist as a nation.

I have been thinking of this quote for several months. "When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." Thanks to Mike Janke, I remember it was from Benjamin Franklin. But it is accurately depicting the outcome for our nation.

And before anyone jumps on me, yes I know that Bill Clinton actually managed to balance the budget. As much as I didn't like him as President, that is one thing that made me happy. And one reason I was getting frustrated with President Bush was how imbalanced the budget was getting.

Now, if only we could get truly responsible people in office things would be so much better.

Happy Square Root Day!

Yes, I had to have it pointed out to me, but today is 3/3/9 and 3*3 = 9. I'm a geek, but I find stuff like that fun.

This weekend was productive but fun at the same time. I started with fun on Friday night. My Sunday School class got together and had a game night. Apples to Apples was included at one point, and we were laughing so hard. It's nice to work on building relationships with people on a different level.

Saturday, I never left the condo. Well, I did leave it to go for a two mile run at one point, but that was about it. Brennon and I tackled the garage. There's still way too much junk down there (most of it mine), but you can actually walk from one end to the other again, which is good since I needed to get some stuff out of it this week.

That night, I hung out with Brennon, Josiah, and a friend of theirs. We started out by watching Prince Caspian. I hadn't seen it since it was in the theaters, but I still really enjoyed it. Then we wound up down at the pool and hot tub. It was nice, except for the fact that I tweaked my shoulder. It was beginning to get better, but now it is bothering me some again. Not as bad as a month ago, but it is still frustrating. At this rate, I may never get back to working out.

But the weather was wonderful this weekend. It was in the 70's on Saturday and 80's on Sunday. I wish that was the prediction for this coming weekend.

Anyway, Sunday we only had one church service followed by a potluck lunch. Got to hang out with some members I don't see that often (and some I do), which was nice. Then Joe came over and we watched Speed Racer. Again, I hadn't see it since May, but I enjoyed it just as much the second go around.

In between all that, I also got everything of mine off the DVR! At the beginning of the summer, I recorded some movies I figured I'd get a chance to watch. Wrong! And there they've been sitting for months. A week ago, I was down to four and decided it was time to get them all watched. Of course, I've got stuff on there again, but it is so nice to have a couple of recent TV episodes instead of four movies. Even better, I've written but not posted reviews. Spacing them out one a week, I could probably last until May without having to watch another movie.

And a quick public service announcement. 5 Minutes for Books is discussing fondly remembered kids' books and hosting a contest. Check it out.

Word Association for March 2nd

Time for more Word Association.

1. Pain :: and Suffering
2. Lego :: My Eggo!
3. Trooper :: Police Officer
4. Flicker :: Pictures
5. Character :: Funny
6. Determined :: Resolved
7. Wing :: Bird
8. Control :: Issues
9. Automatic :: Pilot
10. Yeah :: Agree