Pathfinder by Orson Scot Card

It's been a while since I last read a book cover to cover.  Largely because of life taking most of my library into boxes while we prepared to and actually moved.  Christmas cured this problem because my wife got me an awesome book, Pathfinder by Orson Scot Card (my favorite author of all time).  This book is about a young man (13 years old at the start of the book),Rigg, who is raised by a man who is a trapper.  This trapper however spends every waking moment of the boys life teaching him things that have almost nothing to do with trapping.  He teaches him languages, astronomy, rhetoric, politics, finance, math, and other non-trapping things.  The boy absorbs the teachings like most kids would when given no alternatives and is spectacularly intelligent because of the teachings.  (This should start sounding very familiar...think Ender's Game)  While being exceptionally intelligent is important to the story the most remarkable thing about him is the fact that he can see "paths" of people from the past.  He knows where animals, plants, and people have traveled based on the path they leave behind.  He doesn't fully understand the meaning of the paths but his Father teaches him enough to eventually begin to understand what they mean.  When his Father passes in a tragic accident, Rigg must start a journey that is full of twists and turns that will keep your mind reeling at the possibilities.  Rigg, together with Umbo, a childhood friend, start off together and eventually find that they both possess remarkable "skills" that when combined cause time and space to not work the way we come to expect...and that is when things get VERY interesting.
This book is perhaps every bit as good as Ender's Game which for me is about the highest praise I could give a book.  The thought provoking dilemmas and the awesome characters come together to be every ounce the greatness of Ender's Game.  While solidly in the Fantasy genre...it crosses borders in ways that make it equally Science Fiction.  I can't recommend this book enough.  If you want to get it I've tried to make it easy by giving you a link to Amazon.com.  Let me know what you think after you've read it...I can hardly wait for the next part of the series.

Oh the drama and stress...

So it's been a while since I posted last and life as usual has been the barrier to my posting.  We decided that we were going to put our house on the market to sell shortly after my last post.  Since then we have finished some over due projects and put our house in order to sell.  We have also been searching actively for a home.  All of this culminating in the last two weeks of insanity.

First we fell in love with a house and got serious about selling our house.  We had a guy come by and then he brought his wife and they indicated that they were going to give us an offer after their real estate agent got a chance to look at it...and that is where things get frustrating.  We get this news on a Thursday before an awesome camping trip and we're very excited about the potential offer all weekend.  When we get home we're looking forward to having the agent come by and look at the house.  She does so and totally sours our deal.  So instead of making an offer on the awesome house we found we instead sit on it and wait until we have someone else who is interested in our house.  This happens about a week later.  A lady drives by while we're out in the yard and slows to a stop to get a flier from our flier box.  I invite her in and give her the tour.  She's clearly excited about the house.  This is when we start thinking now is the time to get an offer in on the perfect house we like.  So we have our agent draw up paperwork and submit our offer.  Only to find out a day later that the house we placed an offer on is no longer available because the day before that the seller decided to extend a 1 year lease to the current occupants.   We become very bummed.  So we start looking again...just as the lady who wants our house decides she wants to give us an offer for our house.  We're now excited again because now we have an offer and we just need to find a house.  So we find a house and we call our agent to set up an appointment to view it and likely place an offer on it only to find out that it is already sold.  So now we've lost two perfect homes.  Which brings us almost up to date.  So now were looking for additional homes to look at and we find a couple of run down places that we want nothing to do with and finally find something that is nice, comfortable but ultimately a short term solution.  We're ready to make the offer Friday night after leaving our agent and talking a bit.  Then we get home and see an automated email showing a NEW listing.  This house looks awesome.  So the next morning after an awesome event at the Adventure Challenge we drive by and meet the owners doing some last minute cleaning and ask if we can view their home.  They oblige and we fall in love all over again.  This home is AWESOME in so many ways.  We decided to forget the home we were going to make an offer on and instead place an offer on this house.  Again this is Saturday (11th).  We give them 24 hours to respond to the offer (full price).  So Sunday we are waiting to hear and then just before church we get the call that they accept and we're ready to go.  Just before church ends I get another call telling me that they have taken their counteroffer off the table to view another offer.  This is where dreams are destroyed.  About 8:50 pm Sunday we get the call that they accepted the other offer (under suspicious circumstances on behalf of their agent).  So we now have no home and an offer that we have accepted and are ready to move on.  Which brings us to today...searching for a home while finalizing the documents needed to start the lengthy process of selling our home.

It has been a roller coaster three weeks.  Elation, frustration, disappointment, excitement, and ultimately stress that we didn't want or need.  The selling of our home has been smooth and simple (so far).  So we're just going to play things by ear and see where it all goes.  I suspect we'll find a short term solution and start saving money for the "Perfect" home in a couple of years.  However, another "perfect" home could pop up tomorrow and we start the roller coaster all over again.  Heaven forbid

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Ooops! Haven't Posted in a while

So I've been so caught up in work and life in general that I haven't posted in some time.  As this is my catch-all blog I will try and catch up the many happenings in a brief (for me) post.  Hopefully I will get back on the two or three posts a week schedule soon.

Alright since my last post on Sarah: Women of Genesis I have completed that series and must admit that Orson Scott Card is hands down my favorite author of all time.  For the women who follow my blog this series is a must read.  There is reportedly a follow up to Rachel and Leah but no word on when it will be finished.  To all the men who follow this is a must read so you can learn how to recognize your spouse for the incredible being that she is.  I gained a whole new level of respect for the lives that women lead in secret from men.  How a man could write these novels is beyond me...lots of research and a wife over his shoulder no doubt.
I also read Last Song by Nicholas Sparks...yup.  Now that the men have stopped laughing I will continue with my review.  It seems to me that Nicholas Sparks has a real talent for tragedy turned happy ending.  His writing at times was very juvenile and perhaps that was to match the main characters personality because as the seriousness of the book became more clear the youth of the writing became more sober and a little more adultish.  I didn't cry...although I almost did.  I found the story to be predictable like most Hollywood situational romances which at times made for a boring read.  If I were to give it a rating on a scale of 5 I would give it a 3 for entertainment value and certainly not for quality of writing.

Now moving on past the book reviews (I really haven't read much lately). Since my last post I have acquired new gadgetry!  Yup I finally got an Android phone.  I stuck with AT&T so my choices were quite limited as their contract with Apple has made it unnecessary to delve deep into the Android market.  I got the HTC Aria which has the Sense UI.  I love it.  It's the right size (I could have purchased the Samsung Captivate but it was BIG) and price.  The apps that I've downloaded make life easier and it sure is nice to have organization right at my finger tips.  All the "neat" things that smartphones do, make me, a tech geek, just go crazy.  In fact I accidentally went over my Data usage plan...$15 mistake.  Now I have to be more careful and watch my data more closely.  I'm quite happy with almost all of the features of the Aria (probably because I don't know what I'm missing with the iPhone or something else) but one of the things that doesn't seem to be working properly (well) is the gyroscope doesn't register when I've turned it portrait or landscape consistently.  This can be a problem occasionally but I deal with it and still love my Aria.  It scores a 4 of 5 from me.  I'm anxious to get the most recent Android update (2.2) soon so I can enjoy Chrome to Android features.  I may geek out about this phone again at a later date.

Sarah: Women of Genesis Series

Many readers may wonder exactly why a man would be interested in this series.  They may even wonder specifically why I would be reading this book.  The honest answer is that despite the overtly feminine themes and the clearly female demographic that Sarah was written for I am a consummate fan of Orson Scott Card and having read some of his novels with strong female characters I felt like this would be another opportunity to see how a man writes for/like women.  Yup.  I said that men and women do in fact write differently.  It's not a matter of content.  It's not even a matter of the characters and themes, although those do in fact make a difference.  When it comes right down to it when asked I think that most women and men could tell whether an author was male or female simply by reading a book.  Women have used pseudonyms to enter the literature market as men.  Some have done so very successfully.  Rarely have men done something similar.  Why?  I would contend that Orson Scott Card could have successfully done so with this series.  I have read Rachel and Leah before reading this and when I read it again (this time in the proper order) I will review it as well.  That book was so enthralling and classic Card that I was anxious to get time and my hands on the rest of the series.  After reading Sarah I can say proudly that I understand women better as a result.
This book is really an opportunity to see how women's intuition is experienced and more specifically it also helped me understand a little better how to sense the whisperings of the Spirit in my life.  Sarai (her pre-Covenant name) is strong, smart and spiritual.  Abram may have been a holy man from the beginning but the reality is that (at least in the context of this fictional book) the saying that behind every great man there is a greater woman is indeed true.  I found myself admiring Sarai (and by extension all women) for her weaknesses and strengths, her self doubt and confidence.  Orson Scott Card makes the culture of the middle east come to life and pours on modern interactions, which really aren't modern at all, to make this a really entertaining book.  I'm now about half way through Rebekah and while very different from Sarah is, so far, a very good companion to Sarah.  Look for my next review early next week or sooner depending on my ability to finish the book.  Read this book and let me know what you think.

Work is no longer a dirty word.

This week I began work at the Tri-Cities Visitor & Convention Bureau.  Some of the first posts on this blog (well over a year ago now) were about my struggle finding a career.  After this first week at TCVCB (it's a mouthful) I can say that my search has ended and that God's hand was in the journey.  

My new job title is Technology and Website Specialist.  The position I now hold has never existed at TCVCB before.  I applied for the Marketing and PR Director position and was called in, after a little follow through on my application, to, ostensibly, interview for the Directorship.  Upon beginning the interview it became clear that I was not going to be getting that position.  Instead the President of the Bureau started talking to me about their website and about their print copy Visitor Guide and brochures.  She asked me point blank, "Could you make this?".  I answered, almost too confidently, "Yes".  We had a very good conversation about the needs of the Bureau and some of the technology difficulties they had.  She asked me about social media, blogging, search engine optimization and a variety of other wed centered questions.  I felt at ease answering her questions and felt encouraged to provide my uncensored opinions of their website.  In the end I used all the faculty of my degree (both majors) to communicate my ability to provide them with the expertise they needed.  It was an agonizing wait while she interviewed other candidates for the Directorship to see if any of them had the specialized skills that I have in addition to the experience they wanted for the Directorship.  A day or two later than I had expected (and after being depressed but reconciled to not getting the job) I was called to come in for another conversation.  It was the offer to come on as a "website, technology guru".  At long last I had an offer for a career position.  She asked me to think about the offer over night and get back to her the next day.  It took a considerable amount of effort not to call her at 6am and accept.  I did wait until about 9am the next morning to accept and she was genuinely excited to have me accept.  

A week and a half later I had my first day.  It was exciting and a little intimidating.  I was shown to my office (more on  that later) and then we met in the "Board Room" for a team meeting.  I was wearing a tie to work and I felt like I was important.  That first day was a blur.  I felt like the day had barely begun and I was already leaving.  I came home swimming with ideas and excitement about what I was going to do for the website and the print materials.  The rest of the week was encouraging as I got to do some simple fliers and brochures.  I was beginning to see my place in the team and I know it will be defined even more this coming week.  

Work used to be something I dreaded.  The weekends were separated by far too many days and the prospect of doing tasks that were mind-numbingly dull and excruciatingly simple made me irritable.  Now, as we celebrate Memorial Day, I am chagrined by the fact that I have a three day weekend.  Yup, I said it, I would rather go to work than enjoy a three day weekend.  Sick, huh?  Work is no longer a dirty word.  In fact I have officially struck it from my "four letter word" taboo list.  I look forward to using the skills that I gained through hobbies, education and God given talent.  I look forward to exercising my mind with tasks that excite and intrigue me.  I can hardly wait for Tuesday to get back at it and start back to WORK.  

Mother's Day. The most important day of the year.

Today is Mothers Day.   As my title suggests, this is the most important day of the year.  Why?  Well without mothers there would be no days.  Pretty simple huh?  More to the matter though is the fact that Mothers all over the US finally get recognition for being awesome.  Sure there's a few bad apples in the bunch that get press when they get found out but in general Mothers are the glue that binds us to society and makes it function.  Without them the world devolves into anarchy much like small children left unattended.
I'd like to just add my two cents to the celebration of motherhood.  I have a mother who taught me compassion.  I owe all the good fatherly actions I do to her guidance.   My mom taught me how to get along with women...an indispensable gift that has paid huge dividends in my marriage.  My mom also taught me the importance of education...even when I didn't listen to her.  My mom taught me that talents should be encouraged and shared.  (I'm working on the sharing part mom)  My mother was very young when she had me and had to make a decision that many other young women have had to make.  She was unmarried and finishing High School.  She had made arrangements to have me adopted, which is a very compassionate thing indeed.  In the end she made the decision, with the help of the Spirit, to keep me and to raise me despite the incredible hardships she would surely endure.  For that willingness to listen to the Spirit and to act according to the promptings, I will be forever in debt.  She was blessed to meet a man who had as much compassion as she did and took us both in and made us a family.  Their efforts made me the man I am today...despite all my efforts to ignore their influence.  I'm proud of my mother.
There's another mother that I would be in trouble if I forgot her.  She happens to be the mother of my children.  (I know...you didn't see that one coming)  My wife is the most important person in my life right now.  She is the one who makes sure I have something worth working for.  She is the person who manages my household.  She is a woman who seeks to do good continually.  The only reason she hasn't been exalted yet is because she's waiting for me to catch up so I can go with her.  She makes sure that my kids are taught things that are more important that catching a ball.  She is a mother after the pattern of her own mother.    I know that she will take that as a compliment because her mother is a terrific woman who has been a great second mother to me (after all she's seen me through half my life now).

And to all mothers I say this...the single most important job in the entire world is that of mother.   Despite the times when you feel like you aren't that great of a mother I can say without equivocation that you are indeed the most important person in the life of your children.  Your influence shapes nations.  Your love binds families.  And your life is an example of divinity on Earth.  Today we, in a small way, pay tribute to you, humbly, and with sincerity.  HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Avalanche in Richland Uptown.

You have to visit this place.  They don't serve any alcohol and their food is awesome.  We went for an early dinner.  I had their buffalo burger with beer battered fries.  Karen had the soup and salad (Potato soup and tossed salad).  Avalanche is located in the Uptown in Richland next door to the Papa Murphy's.   They advertise American but with their own twist.  The fry bread appetizer is large enough to be a meal all by its self.  The menu includes things like Dutch Oven Chicken and Cobblers.  We didn't get desert...but that's only because we were too full and not because the options didn't look absolutely mouth watering.  I'm not sure how long they've been open (rumor has it that they've been around almost a year now) but I hope they stick around for a very long time.  I'd really like to have something from their lunch menu sometime too.  You should check them out and try the Elk burger and let me know how it tastes.  If you get a chance to try out the deserts I'd also like to hear from you.
Also you should check out http://tastetricities.com  they say that they've got over 300 restaurants for the Tri-Cities...which would be news to me.

(Here's a pic of pigs in a blanket and Fry bread)
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Gardening became a passion the day I learned about this.

I'm not the most "green" of people.  Those of you who know my political side would say that's an understatement.  This post may confuse people that know me for my political leanings but I assure you that I am not joining Al Gore's Cult.  I am, however, very, very excited about things that grow.  In another life I may have been a farmer but only if it was as easy as it is now, under the tutelage of Mel.
Last year before Spring I went to a wonderful meeting where the Square Foot Gardening concept was introduced.  In this meeting they had some examples of gardens and dirt...yup, dirt.  I was a somewhat reluctant student because I honestly felt like the whole premise behind Square Foot Gardening was a bit too good to be true.  After listening in an uncomfortable chair for a couple of hours and caring for my newborn enjoying the growth of new life I think something inside me changed a little bit.  I have been an advocate of gardens ever since we bought our house.  We've had gardens for most of the five years since we moved into the house with varied success and effort.  After building our first square foot garden last spring we will never do gardening another way.  We planted corn, sweet peas, cucumbers, beets, onions, peppers, pumpkin, carrots, flowers (mixed including sunflowers) and tomatoes all from seed right in the Mel's Mix.  We harvested as well as we ever did with a row garden but we didn't have to worry about weeds.  We found that cucumbers were fine as long as we gave them a head start on other plants that might shade them.  We found that pumpkins grow vines that overrun an entire garden.  We learned a lot about gardening last year.  This year we started things earlier and we're trying more.  I hope to get more harvested this year than last year which should be easy because we know more about rotating, and plant times.  Check the garden pics below to see how we're doing so far. 

Leven Thumps and the Ruins of Alder

This is the end of the series and easily the best of the five books.  Leven's character is evident, the narrator becomes an unnamed character, and the ending is at once complete and purposefully incomplete.
Leven's adventure takes a very interesting turn as he battles against unfinished business and eventually fulfills the meaning of his name (you really need to read this book if for no other reason than to learn why he is called Leven).
The greatest part of this story as a whole and this book in particular is that when things are at their darkest there is always hope.  If you learn nothing from this book you should learn that hope is always present.  The unseen character, Fate, really takes Leven, Winter, Geth, Ezra, Dennis, and even Clover for a real ride.  Geth and Winter find themselves without Leven or Clover and the tension rises as they are joined by the Longing, Phoebe, and some other relatively minor characters trying to escape Foo with the Dearth and the rest of the Foovians.  Meanwhile, Leven and Clover, are mysteriously transported to the ancient island of Alder for an even more mysterious task.  For drama, humor, and a happy ending you really need to pick this book up and remember Foo.

Leven Thumps and the Wrath of Ezra.

This series is getting awesomer and awesomer.  I know that awesomer is not a word but this is my blog and I'll make up words if I want.  Foo is becoming a very dangerous place and Levin is becoming a very important part of Foo and the battle for dreams.  Fighting Azure, an evil Lithen (you'll have to read the books to know what that means), and the Dearth (again read the book) while trying to save not only Reality, but Foo and the Sycophants of Sycophant Run, Leven and his friends follow Fate as Leven fills his new shoes as the Want, and releases a Longing (she's very pretty).  He has his first kiss.  He grows to roughly the age of 18-22 years even though he's only been in Foo for a couple of weeks. This story was so fast paced that I often found myself reading way later than I should have just because I couldn't find a slow part to stop for the night.  In fact I'm nearly a third of the way through the final novel because the end of this novel is such a cliff hanger that I couldn't help but jump right into the next book.  It's an awesome story that gets better with each story and if you haven't purchased (checked out) the first couple of books, you better.  To make it a little easier on you I'm going to include links to Amazon to buy them or you can just go to the books section of my store and checkout through there.

SUPER Freakonomics

Did you know that car seats for children over 3 have pretty much the same rate of death as a regular seat belt?  Did you know that terrorists would be harder to identify by their purchases if they got life insurance?  Did you know that we could solve global warming for a fraction of the taxes that are being suggested under Cap and Trade?  All of these interesting facts and more are in this book.  Economics and economists never seemed so interesting as they do in this book.  This is the follow-up book to the very awesome and incredibly provocative Freakonomics.  This book is no less provocative and every bit as interesting.   These two authors have combined, again, to create something that is accessible, serious, humorous and should be read by world leaders and voters alike.  I laughed and scoffed and in general flipped pages like a mad man and not just because I needed to get the book to the library in a week.  This was an easy read with in-depth descriptions that would satisfy the most technical of readers.  It is full of the type of useless information that makes for great conversation at parties where there is nothing going on and it will excite the crowd in raucous debate for the rest of the evening.  Buy one today and be the instigator at your next get together.

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• What Bothers People About SuperFreakonomics? (freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com)

Pre-Release Avatar Review

I know most of the WORLD has seen Avatar by now and that this is really late but given the coming release to DVD and Blu-Ray I thought that it would be good to remind everyone (the two people who read this blog me and my, captive audience, wife) of the event of the Spring (after Easter of course).  When I watched Avatar in the theater it was no less than a month after its first viewing.  It was almost a crowded theater.  The glasses for the 3D were a little uncomfortable but the effects were worth the slight discomfort.
For an action movie this started out slow and really the characters were if not unbelievable at least unlikable.  This changed as the story developed.  Slowly the characters became more believable and more likable as the emotional connections to the setting caused the characters inherent apathy to disappear.  In fact the setting is perhaps the best actor in the whole movie.  Pandora is so beautiful that as a viewer you are drawn in and feel comfort and awe in the presence of a wild and loving world in which, if you are NaVi, you can literally become connected with.  The 3D effects enhanced that and made this movie great cinema even if the overt tree hugging was a little too much.  I will buy this despite what James Cameron may think of me.  While, politically, I'm not really excited about the message of Avatar, critically I'm in love with Pandora and the rich and wonderful world gives us reason to look at our own world and consider the beauty that it holds. Now stick around for the trailer advertising the home release of Avatar

Official Avatar Movie

A birthday gift for two.

We got this set for Ethan's birthday this week and didn't get to play with them until Saturday afternoon.  After all of the little boys left and we were getting ready for the next party (it seems like the kids have three parties each birthday.  One with their friends, one with my family, and one with Karen's family) we got these out and started our little war.  First of all you have to be a little kid to wear the vest.  Grown men should not attempt to strap the belt around their waist.  The guns each hold 10 darts that are auto loaded with every pump.  The only problem is that the darts go fast in a fire fight so you should have some extra's on hand.  The next problem with this system is that the vest is nearly completely lost behind your targets' arms and gun so the little point values on the vest are almost completely hidden.  You're really lucky to even get a dart stuck on the vest at all.  The glasses that come with it are actually sort of nice in a battle because these darts can sting when they hit your face.  In all these were a ton of fun.  I think it would be better if you could set up

teams so that one member of the team could be collecting darts and reloading while another of the members of the team could be fending off the onslaught.  I've also seen one where you play capture the flag with a little "beacon" of sorts.  I think we'll get another set of these guns so we can have wars as a family instead of just me and Ethan.  If your family gets a set or two give us a call and we'll have a feud.

Flip Ultra HD

We've had this long enough now to finally give it a review.  We bought this camera under the premise that Karen would need it to record her Sign Language assignments to send to her teachers.  At least that's how I tricked her into letting me spend money on a new gadget.  We had an older digital video camera that works fine and really would do the things that she needed to do but it takes DV tapes and is harder to download clips from as it's older and doesn't take advantage of some of the newer formats that compress and make usable the video that we took.  Well I reviewed just about every flash memory based video recorder and looked at user feedback and about a million other criteria.  In the end I took Glenn Beck's advise and got a Flip.  (As a general rule you can't go too far wrong if you take Glenn's advice) So they had a great price running on Amazon.com and it was coming up on Christmas and I didn't want to pay for shipping so we ordered one using the Super Saver Shipping, which if you've shopped Amazon you know can take some time in getting to you.  In the mean time we took advantage of a slightly higher price at Wal-Mart so we could have it for Christmas Day (which I had to work at 5:45am) and record the kids opening their Christmas stuff.  When I came home I viewed the video Karen had taken and was disappointed.  The lighting made everything a little grainy and I really wasn't all that impressed with the image quality.  It records in 720p HD format and I expected this to be at least as good as the broadcast HD we get on our 720p TV.  It wasn't.  Having purchased the camera from Amazon already and needing to take the Wal-Mart one back to Wal-Mart I was a little discouraged.  Granted the image quality was better than the images that our old DV camcorder took it just wasn't all that I expected.  I wasn't happy with the 2X zoom because it's only really effective indoors and I was still a bit bummed about the grainy look of images in artificial light.  I was pretty much stuck though.  We couldn't justify trying a half dozen models and taking them each back to try another one so I was waiting for a camera that was marginally better than the one we already had and no real prospect of getting anything better.  Well a week or two later our Flip Ultra HD showed up with it's accessories (HDMI cables) and I was excited but only a little.  It wasn't until our awesome weekend up at the Gorge that I finally fell in love with our Flip.  In the sunlight this thing shines.  We took video of us climbing up a cliff, rocks and rolling down sand dunes.  We ran out of batteries a little earlier than I would have liked but in general it performed as well as I could have asked given the limitations of size and the fact that it uses 2 AA batteries I couldn't have asked for more.  All of the things I said before about the grainy look when shooting inside are still mostly true (if the light is more white than yellow things come out pretty good) but the video outside is as good looking as what we got on our little day trip then it was money well spent.  I've got a little look at it just below this blog.  If you want to see a version in it's original form let me know and I can send you a clip.  In the meantime try not to fall out of your chair watching this clip.

Ok so I'm about to geek out over candy.  A couple of weeks ago the family went with my brother and his wife to the Gorge (past Vantage) and did some climbing and playing in the sand dunes.  It was one of the best weekends I've had in years.  It was great seeing the kids play with energy that I'll never have again.  More to the point it was great being out doors with my family all happy an not a fight to be had the whole day. Anyway...back to the candy.  So on our way back totally exhausted and immensely happy we needed to stop for some fuel.  The Suburban is always hungry.  Sorta fits my personality.  So Karen goes into the station while I'm filling up at over $3 a gallon.  She was getting snacks for the kids and she found these novelties tucked in a nearly full box and decided to buy one just because.  She goes to checkout and the attendant says she's the first person who wasn't an employee to purchase them.  Which actually makes me reluctant to post this for fear that others will have a need to make the one hour trip to buy these guys out of their supply.  M&M's is the iconic candy that found it's way into our lexicon through MRE's in the War.  Well it's just too bad that they didn't have these back then and we'd have a lot fewer smoking addicts and a whole lot more chocoholics.  M&M's have done peanuts, almonds, peanut butter, crisp, and I hear that they have a strawberried peanut butter.  All of that may be great but in the end there can be only one and that one is Coconut M&M's.  It was like consuming a pina colada and a chocolate bar all at once and if you think that's gross well then you haven't tried it.

Leven Thumps and the Whispered Secret

Ok.  Now I REALLY need to get the 3rd book.  This book picks up effortlessly where the last book ended.  The climactic happy ending from book one was interupted in Book 2 by impossible creatures that create a Grand Canyon and upset Leven's life. From the first chapter to the secret of the Sycophant on the last page the world of Leven is one adventure to the next.  One life ending experience to improbable exscape.  Leven is either the luckiest person in Foo or Fate has big plans for him. 
In this story Leven, Winter, Geth, Clover, and even the antagonists gain increased attention.  Leven becomes the character that the story deserves. Still the narrator is heavy handed and while the story is about Leven and his adventures it is still also about the storyteller.  I really enjoy the literal nature of Foo and how the personification of things like shadows, moon beams, and even secrets take forms as bodily real as any of the main characters.  From the fantastic Gunt that mends holes in Foo to the Ornicks and their testy nature this book brings Foo to life and gives us a chance to experience dreams in a state that can be loosely called awake.  As effusive as I was about the first book I was more impressed with the quality of the writing in this book.  I would like to take one thing in particular from Foo and that is the I-Chew gum.  Let's just say that it gives the person enjoying the gum a heaping helping of confidence...some would say it even gives some people a big head.  Now let the jokes begin.

Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo

This award winning book is an awesome read.  For those of you who deem yourself too adult to read young adult literature or too literary to spend time with a fun read, well, all I have to say is Foo on you.  This book is an adventure from the very first page.  This may be found in the Fantasy section in the bookstore but it belongs in the Dream section instead.  (They have one of those right?)  Obert Skye (If that's a real name) has created a story about a young boy who has the fate of two worlds hanging on his shoulders.  So not only does he have this burden to bear but he must also bear a name that is as outlandish as his genealogy.  Levin is raised by a "step-aunt" and her husband.  You can only guess based on the genre of this novel and the intended audience what type of people raise Levin.  Think Dursley's to the Nth degree.  Lucky for Levin fate has bigger and better things in mind for him than his step-aunt and uncle.  In fact Fate is as much a character in this story as Levin.  The magic of this story is the off the wall descriptions that break any sense of cliche.  Quips like, " He hauled himself out of the water and onto dry ground and shook himself like an uncoordinated dog with no rhythm", can be found through out this book.  Leven has a guardian in the form of a Sycophant (sick-o-funt) and he is the source of some pretty hilarious hi-jinx.  Leven, who was friendless before he met his Sycophant, finds some very unlikely friends as a result of the ever present Fate and the story climaxes in Foo and continues in the next book.  The characters are very fun but not nearly so fun as the narrator.  The narrator has a unique voice and is as entertaining as the storyline itself.  At times I feel more entertained by the narrator than any of the characters in the story.  This intrusive narration is actually welcome because while the characters are fleshed out well they are too involved in the adventure that they are hard to identify with.  Having read the sequel already I know that the characters become more likable and important to the reader but in this novel the narrator carries the story.  So as you meet monsters from Foo and unlock the mysteries of dreams you will find that while the impossible is to be expected it is not to be accepted.

Blogging will now have a purpose.

Alright folks.  I'm going to start blogging on a regular basis and this time I'll have a purpose.  Of course I had a purpose before...it just wasn't something that motivated me like my new purpose.  You may have noticed a few changes on my blog (changes will be coming to my website in the near future as well).  Some of these changes are the purpose that I am talking about.  I will be reviewing books and other items that I purchase/use/want and they will be available for purchase using my new store from Amazon.com.  I encourage you to purchase these products from my store further increasing motivation for me to continue writing my blog.  Nothing motivates like a commission.  Look for my first book review to come.  I've recently read Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo for a second time and I'd like to review the book and its sequel soon.  I will also have a gardening blog sometime later this week.