In the World

So I went to see Borders this week.

The joke at the office is that they don’t let me go see reps because I’m scary. The truth is that I’m only a little scary.

But that’s not the subject here! The subject here is airplanes. Or rather, the very awesome people who fly them through 60mph gusting winds and still manage to land them.

Getting to Ann Arbor from Shippensburg was a bit of a chore, involving 3 airplanes and 4 airports. But coming back was the real fun time.

I started getting motion sickness maybe two years ago (I know, I’m getting old). And man did it kick in while coming back yesterday. We aborted landing in Nashville twice, and it felt like an off-road excursion the whole way from Detroit to Nashville to Charlotte and on to Harrisburg.

And I’m still sick tonight, 24 hours later.

With luck I’ll be feeling better for sparring tomorrow night. It’s the most fun I have all week.

So I finished reading Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books this week.

Contrary to popular belief (at least if the authors I work with are to be believed), I do read books published by someone other that Destiny Image. Shocking, I know. Try to remain upright.

And sometimes, I even read non-Christian books.  Again, try not to faint.

This series was pretty good. Once you get past wanting Bella to get eaten by something, anything, that is. She’s whiny and angsty. Although I’ve heard on pretty good authority that this is fairly common for teenage girls.

Meyer’s writing improves over the course of the series, which is nice. I read books by new writers all the time, and Stephenie Meyers shows a clear desire to improve her writing. I wish more writers were like that.

There is probably a pretty good chance that if you’re reading this blog that you’ve never read any of the Twilight books. Because of that, I’ll try to avoid spoilers, but I do want to talk a little about the books.

First, although this is categorized as Young Adult (YA) fiction, I have found that only thing that really eparates YA fiction from Adult fiction is the presence of discussion questions in the back of the book.

Second, these books are really well written. The characters are well-developed, and each has their own motivations for the way they act, and their attitudes. Some characters are flat, but when they’re just playing background for the larger picture, its not really necessary to flesh out everyone, particularly when you have so many characters to deal with.

Third: After 30 years of vampires being defined by Anne Rice, Stephenie Meyer is refreshing. Although I still consider Memnoch the Devil to be one of the best vampire books I’ve ever read, Twilight comes in a close second. Meyer has fun plot twists, hilarious conversations, identifiable heroes, vegetarian vampires, and werewolves (well, kinda, but I won’t spoil it for you).

Meyer never gets preachy, either. Something I’ve noticed in YA fiction is the apparent need by authors to preach their worldview, belief system, social change agenda, or cause du jour. James Patterson and the Maximum Ride series is a good example of that kind of nonsense (note to readers: Do not waste your time or money on Max Ride 4: The Final Warning. It is 300 pages of global-warming-is-killing-the-world-by-causing-giant-evil-hurricanes ridiculousness).

Final analysis? If you like fiction, read the Twilight series. It’s good, clean fun.

And yes, I know I just said “good, clean fun” in relation to vampires to a readership that is primarily Christian. Deal.

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I’m playing with some themes.

This site might look a little different for the next few days as I play with some theme stuff.

With luck I won’t actually permanently break anything.

But I probably will.

Let’s hear it for administrator access!

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“How can you tell when a politician is lying? If they’re speaking.”

The word ‘politics’ is derived from the word ‘poly’, meaning ‘many’, and the word ‘ticks’, meaning ‘blood sucking parasites’. -Larry Hardiman

‘Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realise that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.’  -Ronald Reagan

Don’t steal. The government hates competition.

If Patrick Henry thought that taxation without representation was bad, he should see it with representation. – The Farmer’s Almanac

A lot has been said about politics; some of it complimentary, but most of it accurate. -Eric Idle

Suppose your were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress… But I repeat myself. – Mark Twain

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. – Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

“There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order.” ‑Ed Howdershelt (Author)

My daughter and I watch cartoons together on a regular basis.

Old Looney Tunes, Disney movies, Pixar movies, Don Bluth films, and the occasional anime are the usual DVD fare, with a selection of shows from Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and PBS.

For Christmas, I got her a copy of The Powerpuff Girls movie from the bargain bin at Rite-Aid. She liked it, so a couple weeks ago we watched the marathon on Cartoon Network. Now she’s hooked.

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