Sunday, January 15, 2012
Garage Work Bench
So I love my garage (I don't know how I lived without one for so many years - ignorance was bliss), and I've somehow managed to fill it quite nicely. It makes me wonder where all this stuff lived before I had such a nice storage location. In the garage along one side, I have these built in shelves which are quite handy. However, after the first few months of living here, I noticed I didn't have anywhere to put things when I was looking through some of the stuff on the shelves. One of the things that I'm always pulling off the shelf to look through is my container of nuts, bolts, nails, screws, etc (every man should have at least one of these things). Anyway... I found myself using my (gasp) car hood as a place to set things. Less than ideal. What I needed was a work bench, but I didn't want to build anything too grand and didn't want to dedicate the floor space to something either. So I came up with an idea I thought would work. I have to say that I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I had the piece of plywood laying around. I had to buy the chains, the carabiners, the hinges, screws, and bolts. I think it cost me around $10.
Monday, January 09, 2012
Moneyball
Had a chance to see this over the weekend at the $1.25 theater. Earliest movie time I've ever been to of 10:20am. Nice quiet theater with all of 6 other people or so. Yes, not the nicest theater, but it didn't change the film I'm sure.
A very good movie, and I'm certainly not a baseball fan. Yes, I've seen a bunch of baseball movies (The Natural, The Sand Lot, The Rookie, Major League, League of Their Own, For Love of the Game, Field of Dreams, The Fan, come to mind), but my wife too enjoyed it and she's no sports fan. Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill were both very good in it. Sorry, ladies... Brad kept his shirt on the entire movie (Jonah, too, remained fully clothed). It was nice to see Jonah in a film where he isn't playing the same role he seems to. Did you know BTW that Jonah Hill is the voice of one of the characters from How to Train Your Dragon? Me either. It was a surprise when I saw that on imdb.
A very good movie, and I'm certainly not a baseball fan. Yes, I've seen a bunch of baseball movies (The Natural, The Sand Lot, The Rookie, Major League, League of Their Own, For Love of the Game, Field of Dreams, The Fan, come to mind), but my wife too enjoyed it and she's no sports fan. Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill were both very good in it. Sorry, ladies... Brad kept his shirt on the entire movie (Jonah, too, remained fully clothed). It was nice to see Jonah in a film where he isn't playing the same role he seems to. Did you know BTW that Jonah Hill is the voice of one of the characters from How to Train Your Dragon? Me either. It was a surprise when I saw that on imdb.
Friday, January 06, 2012
Candide
Author: Voltaire
After I finished reading The Last Symbol, I needed another book, but didn't have a chance to pick anything up. We were headed out of town and I thought I'd have some time to read. I didn't want to take what I was reading at the time, The Power of Pause, because I wanted something different. We have quite a few books around the house including a bunch of "classics" that we've acquired over time. I've attempted to read a few of them in the past, but really struggled to get into them. I needed something though and Candide looked short enough that I didn't think it would be too much of a commitment.
Needless to say, I didn't have the time while out of town that I thought. So foolish of me thinking I'd have time for myself while on vacation with my boys. Not that I'm complaining.
Anyway... Candide was more dense than it appeared. It was easy enough to read as far as the language went, and it contained numerous historical references and footnotes, which were interesting at times. It was odd in how the timeline of the book raced and paused. One sentence would be describing a conversation about the struggles of life and the next would say something like "Candide and his company arrived in Portual two months later." Huh? What just happened to the conversation. I can't say I got anything from the book other than the satisfaction of having finished one of the "classics" that's been sitting on my shelves.
After I finished reading The Last Symbol, I needed another book, but didn't have a chance to pick anything up. We were headed out of town and I thought I'd have some time to read. I didn't want to take what I was reading at the time, The Power of Pause, because I wanted something different. We have quite a few books around the house including a bunch of "classics" that we've acquired over time. I've attempted to read a few of them in the past, but really struggled to get into them. I needed something though and Candide looked short enough that I didn't think it would be too much of a commitment.
Needless to say, I didn't have the time while out of town that I thought. So foolish of me thinking I'd have time for myself while on vacation with my boys. Not that I'm complaining.
Anyway... Candide was more dense than it appeared. It was easy enough to read as far as the language went, and it contained numerous historical references and footnotes, which were interesting at times. It was odd in how the timeline of the book raced and paused. One sentence would be describing a conversation about the struggles of life and the next would say something like "Candide and his company arrived in Portual two months later." Huh? What just happened to the conversation. I can't say I got anything from the book other than the satisfaction of having finished one of the "classics" that's been sitting on my shelves.
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Reservoir Dogs
This had been on my list of movies to see (again) for some time (Apr 2009). Jo and I finally watched it about a month ago thanks to Netflix. After watching it with Jo, I felt like I had to apologize. I think the way the movie was filmed was cool and the plot is engaging, but it didn't live up to the spot on the pedestal I had placed it in my memory. Maybe I'll have to talk to Jeff more about it's appeal.
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
The Power of Pause
Becoming More by Doing LessAuthor: Terry Hershey
Loyola Press
We heard Terry speak in Seattle at the EE convention in 2010 and really enjoyed his presentation. The idea of slowing down some to smell the roses struck me and this book talks about finding the sacrament and grace in all the ordinary of our daily lives.
While the book was quite different than I thought it was going to be (I expected it to be more of a self-help book), I certainly got a different perspective from it, and I'm sure Terry would agree that it's not intended to be a self-help book.
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