For Those Who Love Government Health Insurance/Care

I just spent two stinkin' hours at the Department of Licensing with a hundred other people getting serviced by three counters. All for five minutes worth of work.

Just saying...

Raven's Ladder

For our second helping of goodness this month, the CSFF is presenting Raven's Ladder by Jeffrey Overstreet. This book continues the thread started in Auralia's Colors and weaves it into a full blown tapestry. Anyone who is a fan of big complex fantasy stories needs to pick this series up and give it a try.

Other opinions:
Brandon Barr
Rachel Briard (BooksForLife)
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Ryan Heart
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
John W. Otte
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
Andrea Schultz
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

Travelling Tips For the Completely Clueless

Now that I'm back in Seattle and awaiting transportation I have a few things to say about travelling. You people who don't do much flying really annoy those of us who do. You've heard the stories about airlines starting to charge for carry on bags, right? I'm not entirely opposed to this policy. As someone who's flown repeatedly over the years, I've noticed that carry ons are starting to get out of control. ONE carry on bag! Then a SMALL personal item like a purse or laptop case. Why is this so difficult to comprehend? Two bags that link together as one are still TWO! Then you have a humongous purse that could hold lipstick, a wallet, and a spare set of snow tires. And THEN you try to find a place for your shopping bags! Enough already! And while we're on the subject of carry ons, could you please arrange your stuff so that the one or two things you need while in your seat are in a convenient pocket that you can grab quickly and SIT DOWN! Also, can you please stop packing a bag so impossibly heavy that you can't even lift it?

And here's another thing. You people need to figure out what your friggin' suitcases look like. Yes, I know they're all black. But to say that they all look alike? Really, I thought we were over that as a country.

Thank you. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

Done With Hawai'i For Now

Well, the exercise is over and it's time to get on that big ol' jet airliner. One last jog on the beach and swim in the ocean and then it's wait until May to do it all again. Of course, what trip to Hawai'i would be complete without sharing a public shower with a big homeless Hawai'i'an while he sings through his repertoire of off-key Phil Collins songs. Mmmmmmm.... Island paradise.

Crash of the Titans

Took some time the other day to go see Clash of the Titans. This is a big loud movie with lots of dazzlement. It wasn't bad, but for most of the movie I was wondering about character motivations. I just couldn't quite follow why everything was happening. The whole theme of the movie is Man vs Gods. At times there seemed to be contradictory messages and I was left to puzzle out the meaning of it all. Thankfully, right about then something large and beastly would show up and a disagreement would erupt. Good fun stuff that.

For us in the real world there is a separation between God and Man that is bridged by faith because God's direct actions in our lives are mostly covert. But when the King of Argos declares that the Age of Men has begun it isn't but a few seconds of screen time before Hades himself shows up and demonstrates that the gods aren't quite done yet. In the face of such obvious power there were still several characters running around saying how wonderful and strong men were. Also, you had Perseus (with a cool Australian accent amidst the rest of the Greek warriors) who hated the gods and demanded quite clearly that he would beat them with only his manly powers. But soon it becomes obvious that he can't do it so he resorts to cheating by getting himself a Medusa head, using his magic sword, and flying on the magic horsey. Then you also had Zeus who wanted the love of the people he created so much that he let his brother terrorize them and release a giant turtle-squid on them. I didn't quite follow the logic in that.

So even though there are really cool giant scorpions, which are always fun to watch, you might want to rent this movie instead of shelling out 9 bucks for it unless you really have to see it on the big screen.

Lost Mission

The CSFF is stepping things up this month. First tour is for Lost Mission by Athol Dickson. This is an interesting story with a combination of historical-mystery-thriller and Christian-magical-realism. It's the kind of fascinating stuff that is blossoming within Christian fiction as a way of illustrating the reality of God and challenging us to examine and sharpen our own beliefs. When you can do that and tell a great story, you're doing something right.

The rest of the tour:
Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Amy Browning
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Rebecca LuElla Miller
New Authors Fellowship
John W. Otte
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

Who Knows What Evil Lurks In the Heart of Men?

The Shadow knows!

I Kid You Not

Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

For Those Who Have Gone Before

This is part of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument at Pearl Harbor. Every Marine is prepared to give the ultimate sacrifice for no other reason than because their country asked them to.

Some of us actually do it.

Authentic Hawai'ian Mini-Fridge

OK, here's my first picture of paradise. More to follow!

Wars and Rumors Of Wars

This time I'll be dealing mostly with the 'rumors of wars' part of the famous quote. I'm on another exercise with the Marines and I'll be spending a couple of weeks in Hawai'i. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing yet but that's not a concern. The major concern for today is that it's opening day for baseball season and the Mariners have almost completely overhauled their team. I need to catch up.

In a bit of a twist, this time I remembered to bring a camera so I'll be boring you all with pictures of paradise!