Weigh in

I weighed myself today, on week after the official weigh in and the results are

128.5. One pound more than last week, but.........................I had three large cups of coffe sitting very heavily in my stomach at the time so I think i'm about even.

Final mexican Meal

I ate my final mexican meal of the challenge on Friday. I went to a local place called Alfonsos and ordered the #5. This is a plate that includes a burrito with a fresh made tortilla containing jalapenos and shredded mexican beef (awesome), a cheese enchilada, and healthy portions (or that should probably be unhealthy portions) of rice and refried bean. Delish.

Dos tacos pescados por favor

Yep, that's right. I you can read the title, yesterday's meal was two fish tacos. Now, anyone who knows me in the least bit knows that I DO NOT like fish. But for the sake of vicarious living i HAD to eat. (what commitment). I went back to Hugo's...makers of the perfect burrito. MY fish tacos were piled high with seasoned fish, onions, queso blanco, and that wonderful tomatillo sauce, all on two heated corn tortillas. Muy autentico. The smell was VERY fishy. This made the first bite a hard one to take. A healthy squeeze of lime and away I went. Not too shabby. Very tasty in fact...aside from all the red colored grease that shot out the other end of the taco, which would have got me excited in any other circumstance, but the thought of fish grease turned me a little green. I persevered though, and ate both my fish tacos, savoring the flavor yet wanting to barf at the thought. One of these days I will break the mental block. Hope you enjoyed your authentic fish tacos Denise. By the way, my weigh in isn't until tomorrow, but I don't think I have lost any weight, and I haven't even run all week.

Anniversary

One year ago today, I started this blog. Although it has, at times, taken time away from other things I should be doing, I like to think that it has brought us all closer (albeit in a virtual way). Here's to another year of random pictures and mindless ramblings!

By the way, I noticed that nobody has commented on my blog with all the book names...not even mom! I'm thinking it's being overshadowed by all the pictures and flowery prose in Chad's blog entries. Get your own blog Chad.

Nappytime for little Emily

After Denise scarfed her big burrito yesterday, Emily headed straight away for a long and well deserved nap in a beautiful aspen and ponderosa pine forest. The weather was beautiful and in the mid 70's in the sun. There was a strong breeze blowing to help sing nature's lullaby to a sleepy patron of her forest. The drive up to Emily's little nest was gorgeous and quiet. The only sounds to be heard were those relaxing sounds of snap, crackle and pop of the gravel under her car's tires. This reminds her of the long mountain road leading to Blue Haven and sends her mind to an even happier place. Soon the smell of mountain dust and the vanilla scent of ponderosa fills her nostrils. The stark contrast of brilliant white towering aspens amidst the predominant ponderosa pines is breathtaking. There it is. The perfect spot. Prescott National Forest site #2. Emily pulls her car about 25 yards off the lonely gravel road and parks it strategically so that any passing cars can not see her in slumber. She has looked forward to a nap in the sun, but has forgotten how brutal direct Arizona sunlight can be even on a fair day like this. She finds a wonderful spot in the shade, just out of reach of the sunbeams and makes her pallet of a sleeping pad, bag, and her favorite Tempur-pedic neck pillow and gently falls asleep.

AHHHH. God wakes her up 2 hours later with his symphony of wind whipping through the needles of the pines. She is refreshed.

Este burrito es muy rico

Ayer fui a Hugo's restaurante de comida mexicana. There they have the closest thing I have ever found to heaven on earth: the carne asada wet burrito. This 2 pound gift from the tejano gods is stuffed with copious amounts of succulent carne asada, frijoles refritos ricos (delicious refried beans), cilantro, y cebollas (onions), all covered in their masterful homemade green salsa. They make this salsa by combining all of their fresh ingredients into a large vat and then they mix it all together using a powerdrill with an industrial sized paintmixer attachment on the end. The result is perfection. After the first bite into the tortilla de harina sopping with the green tomatillo sauce you are hooked. This is crack for mexican food lovers. Before you know it your plate is licked clean of the green sauce and you have a wonderful brick in your stomach. What lascivious pleasure!! This meal was the one I have been looking forward to since I have taken on this challenge, and just as I suspected, it did not disappoint. Now forgive me, for now I must go to confession for yesterday's sinfully gluttony.

Yours truly,

El gordito pachuco

I'm bummed

So I just did my daily routine of checking the blogs of all the people I have bookmarked...17 blogs...and not a SINGLE one has updated today! What a bummer! We're usually the ones who don't update for a week or two at a time so I'd say right now we're doing pretty good. Come on people, post to your blog...Even if it's a boring post like this one! You don't know how it makes my day. :)

Comida mexicana es mucho mejor que todas otras comidas del Mundo!!!

Denise's new Challenge

This challenge wasn't posted on the blog, and Denise sort of told to Lesley as a joke, but it intrugued me so I'm taking it on. Denise has asked me to eat a plate of mexican food everyday for a week and not gain weight.

Well....I started on Saturday and have not had a chance to weigh myself until I was at work today.
Here are my stats and meals so far.

127.5 lbs in a short and t-shirt...that is less than the last time I weighed myself (so much for this wieght gain I have been trying to do)

Saturday- Denise (I) went to On the Border and had a several sodas, mucho salsa and chips, and an Ultimate 5 platter (shared with Lesely) which had a crunchy taco, mini chimichangas, quesadillas, empanada, flautas with queso dipping sauce.

Sunday-A stop at Casa Sanchez produced a beautiful feast of Enchiladas Verdes with sour cream and guacamole, mexican rice and refried beans all topped with green chile sauce. the salsa there was AWESOME!!!!

Monday- A FULL plate of leftovers from Monday. After which I had to run to the helicopter for a call. (BARF!!!)

Thats all for now.

Denise's nature walk

We went to the Watson Woods riparian preserve trail near Watson Lake in the Prescott city limits. It is a very flat and leisurely trail. The day was beautiful with the weather being partly cloudy with intermittent times of needed a light jacket to being fine in a t-shirt. The fauna here is not as diverse as some places but it is very accessible and is one of the few places that has some water. Here are some pics of what I found.




I took a field guide so that Denise can develop a deeper relationship to her surroundings by knowing her native plants by name.

















Of course, one must familiarize themsleves with their field guide in order to extract the maximum value.




Me by a Quaking Aspen------
















Whipple Cholla Cactus--the only cactus I saw in the entire area! That fruit that has just began to form will turn into beautful yellow blooms.


Lesley laying on the trunk of a formerly HUGE tree. Even this picture doesn't do justice to the size of it.









This is Denise (use your imagination) indentifying a Box Elder tree's stages of new leaf growth.




























Coyote Willow Gooding Willow

ZOO

We went to the local zoo (wildlife sanctuary) on Friday. It is a really small but cool zoo. They take in animals that other zoos can't take care of, don't have room for, that were kept as pets and mistreated, or that have been injured and can no longer survive in the wild. Here are some pics with out captions because it is so hard to format these blogs when pics are added.

Lets redefine a little

shawn and emma said...

so is this helping you at all...is this what you had in mind minus the sarcasm?? :)

Yes this is what I had in mind, minus the things you all CAN do yourselves, but don't make the time to do like read theological books and plant a vegetable garden...no names, Erin. Sorry for picking on you Erin, and just for that I will give you a review of one that I have almost completed. Letters from a Skeptic has been an excellent and very easy read. I got this book from our former preacher from Prescott Church of Christ. It is an actual series of letters between a son (PhD in theology) and his aged skeptic father. Though I don't agree with some of his arguments...he relies heavily upon arguments of cosmic warfare, and I was told alludes to ideas of Original Sin, though I have not seen that yet....this read is one of the best I've ever come across in relation to how to address common questions from skeptics, and how to understand their perspective. I am reading for consideration on using this as a textual basis for my high school Bible class here in Prescott. Check this book out. I ordered a copy for myself shortly after I began reading it.

Erin I hope this makes up for picking on you.

Emma, it is hard to play racquetball up here (very few courts) but I think I can get in with one of our ministers up here.

Denise, your nature walk should be posted by week's end. I was going to do it yesterday but a work meeting went VERY long.

Running update. I ran/walked from Prescott to Prescott Valley on Tuesday after class via the Peavine/Iron King trails. This is a total of 8 miles. I walked the first 3/4 mile and the last 1 mile as a warm up and cool down. So I ran a little over 6 miles in 1hr25min. Not too bad seeing as how I have never run that far uninterrupted before. Lata

Book opinions

I know that if everyone else is bored with this blog entry, my mom will like it, so this one's for you mom. When Chad wrote the last post about things he should do now that he has more time, I suggested to him (in person, the way we normally communicate) that he get a list of the 100 best novels of all-time and an AP reading list, read all of them, and then report back to me which ones are good. You're probably wondering why I can't just do this myself. The reason is simple: just because it made a "best" list does not mean it's any good. I think it just means that nobody wants to be the one to say, "Hey! Willa Cather is a really boring writer!" I didn't always like to read, because I my perception of "liking to read" was that one liked reading for the sake of reading, not for the sake of a good story. When I was in junior high and high school, one of my memories is of my mom reading books in the evenings. I couldn't understand how she could read so much! Now I realize (and this is what I tell my students) that you can enjoy reading without liking everything you read. Mom once said that she will read 100 pages into a book and if she's not interested, she'll move on. I thought that was a good idea. So, I looked up the definitive "100 Best Novels of All-Time" list (aka the first one that popped up when I typed it in Google). I have to say that I have read some of these and they are definitely not the best, but this was the modern library. I also looked up the AP suggested reading list, and I've bolded everything I've read, and maybe made a comment about whether I liked it or not. So I've decided to take it upon myself to read more of these books, but not just to check off the list. I only want to read the good ones. So I am inviting everyone who reads this blog to give their input: if you have read any of these and you really liked them, I'd like to know. Also, if I shouldn't waste my time, tell me that too. I'll give the rest to Chad to preview for me. Here they are:

The Modern Library's 100 best novels (reader's list) I haven't even heard of most of these books! If you have read any of these (which obviously lots of people think are really good), please enlighten me.

ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee. My favorite book. If you haven't read it, you should.
1984 by George Orwell
ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard
ULYSSES by James Joyce
CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Skip it.
DUNE by Frank Herbert
THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein
A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute
BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck. Not the best Steinbeck novel, but well-written nonetheless.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
SHANE by Jack Schaefer
TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute
A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
THE STAND by Stephen King
THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN by John Fowles
BELOVED by Toni Morrison
THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison
THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
MOONHEART by Charles de Lint
ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner
OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
WISE BLOOD by Flannery O'Connor
UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies
SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint
ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
YARROW by Charles de Lint
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft
ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane
MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lint
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
TRADER by Charles de Lint
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood
BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint
ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card
THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint
THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis
STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein
THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling
THE MAGUS by John Fowles
THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein
ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig
I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O'Brien
FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis
WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs
THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy
GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton
THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein
IT by Stephen King
V. by Thomas Pynchon
DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein
CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey
A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey
MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather. Sorry, was I snoring too loud?
MULENGRO by Charles de Lint
SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy
MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock
ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach
THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies
THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie


The AP suggested reading list: Obviously, all my high school and college teachers saw this list too, hence the number of highlighted books.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Twain, Mark. This is a good book. Chad disagrees.
Aeneid Virgil
African Queen Forester, C. S.
Age of Innocence Hamilton, David
Agnes of God Pielmeier John
Agony and the Ecstasy Stone, Irving
Alias Grace Atwood, Margaret
All the King's Men Warren, Robert Penn
All the Pretty Horses McCarthy, Cormac. His weird sentence structure and punctuation bother me, but otherwise a good story teller.
America is in the Heart Bulosan, Carlos
An American Tragedy Dreiser, Theodore
The Andromeda Strain Crichton, Michael
An Enemy of the People Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Anna Karenina Tolstoy, Leo
Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl Frank, Anne
Another Country Pipher, Mary Bray
Antigone Sophocles Just read this in sophomore English. Short, but a classic Greek tragedy (Antigone is Oedipus's daughter)
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Richler, Mordecai
As You Like It Shakespeare, William
As I Lay Dying Faulkner, William
Awakening Chopin, Kate
Bear Faulkner, William
Big Sky Guthrie, A.B.
Billy Budd, Sailor Melville, Herman
Birthday Party Pointer, Harold
Bleak House Dickens, Charles
Bless Me, Ultima Anaya, Rudolfo. Mrs. Fort forced me to read this in 9th grade. I didn't like the books she picked.
Bluest Eye Morrison, Toni
Bridge of San Luis Rey Wilder, Thornton
Bridge Over the River Kwai Boulle, Pierre
Brothers Karamazov Dostoevsky, Fyodor
Caine Mutiny Wouk, Herman
Candide Voltaire, Francois-Marie Arouet
Canterbury Tales Chaucer, Geoffrey. Read it in high school. Vague memories of dad reciting some of it in some bad Old English.
Catcher in the Rye Salinger, J.D.
Cat on Hot Tin Roof Williams, Tennessee
Cat's Eye Atwood, Margaret
Catch-22 Heller, Joseph
Ceremony Silko, Leslie Marmon
Cherry Orchard Chekhov, P. Anton
Color Purple Walker, Alice
Count of Monte Cristo Dumas, Alexander
Crime & Punishment Dostoevsky, Fyodor
Crucible Miller, Arthur. Love this play. From what I hear from American Lit. teachers it is getting more and more difficult to explain the Red Scare metaphor as it relates to the play.
Cry, the Beloved Country Paton, Alan. Another Fort pick.
Daisy Miller James, Henry
Dead Joyce, James
Death of a Salesman Miller, Arthur. Not as good as The Crucible. Don't think I'd teach it by choice.
Delta Wedding Welty, Eudora
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Tyler, Anne
Diviners Laurence, Margaret
Doll's House Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Don Quixote (Don Quijote) Cervantes, Miguel
Dr. Faustus Marlowe, Christopher J.
Emma Austen, Jane
Equus Shaffer, Peter
Eumenides Aeschylus
Fifth Business Davies, Robertson
Frankenstein Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
Friendly Persuasion West, Jessamyn
Gathering of Old Men Gaines, Ernest J.
Glass Menagerie Williams, Tennessee
Good Earth Buck, Pearl S.
Good Soldier Ford, Ford Madox
Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck, John
Ghosts Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Great Expectations Dickens, Charles
Great Gatsby Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Gulliver's Travels Swift, Jonathan
Hamlet Shakespeare, William. One of Shakespeare's best. I like the tragedies better than the comedies.
Handmaid's Tale Atwood, Margaret Eleanor
Heart of Darkness Conrad, Joseph
Heart Is a Lonely Hunter McCullers, Carson
Hedda Gabler Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Hound of the Baskervilles Doyle, Arthur Conan
House Made of Dawn Momaday, N. Scott
Iliad Homer
In the Lake of the Woods O'Brien, Tim
Invisible Man Ellison, Ralph
Ivanhoe Scott, Walter
J. B. McLeish, Archibald. Yet another Fort pick. It is supposed to be a modern-day rendition of the book of Job.
Jane Eyre Bronte, Charlotte
Jasmine Mukherjee, Bharati. American Ethnic Literature @ A&M.
Joe Turner's Come and Gone Wilson, August
Johnny Tremain Forbes, Esther
Joy Luck Club Tan, Amy
Jude the Obscure Hardy, Thomas. Hardy is a dense author, but I enjoy what I have read of his.
Julius Caesar Shakespeare, William. Awesome play! We just finished it in my class again. Et tu, Brute?
Jungle Sinclair, Upton B.
Kidnapped Stevenson, Robert L.
Kim Kipling, Rudyard
King Lear Shakespeare, William
Kon-Tiki Heyerdahl, Thor
Les Miserables Hugo, Victor
Lesson Before Dying Gaines, Ernest J.
Life & Adventures of John Muir Clarke, James
Light in August Faulkner, William
Light in the Forest Richter, Conrad
Little Women Alcott, Louisa May
Living Sea Cousteau, Jacques
Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner Sillitoe, Allan
Look Homeward, Angel Wolfe, Thomas
Lord Jim Conrad, Joseph
Lord of the Flies Golding, William G.
Love Medicine Erdrich, Louise
Lysistrata Aristophanes
Macbeth Shakespeare, William. Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble.
Madame Butterfly Puccini, Giacomo
Madame Curie Curie, Eve
Main Street Lewis, Sinclair
Major Barbara Shaw, George Bernard
Martian Chronicles Bradbury, Ray
Mayor of Casterbridge Hardy, Thomas
Medea Euripides
Member of the Wedding McCullers, Carson
Merchant of Venice Shakespeare, William. Just finished this in honors English. A good one, but not the best.
Metamorphosis Kafka, Franz
Middlemarch Eliot, George
Mill on the Floss Eliot, George
Miracle Worker Gibson, William
Misanthrope Moliere
Moby Dick Melville, Herman
Moll Flanders Defoe, Daniel
Monkey Bridge Cao, Lan
Mother Courage and Her Children Brecht, Bertolt
Mrs. Dalloway Woolf, Virginia. Avoid Woolf at all costs.
Mrs. Warren's Profession Shaw, George Bernard
Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare, William
Murder in the Cathedral Eliot, T. S.
Mutiny on the Bounty Nordhoff, Charles
My Antonia Cather, Willa. Another one to avoid. Her writing is as stark as the landscapes she writes about.
My Brother Sam is Dead Collier, James L.
Native Son Wright, Richard A.
Native Speaker Lee, Chang-Rae. American Ethnic Literature @ A&M
Nineteen Eighty-Four Orwell, George. How did I graduate from high school without reading this book and Catcher in the Rye?
No-No Boy Okada, John. American Ethnic Literature @ A&M
Obasan Kogawa, Joy
Odyssey Homer
Oedipus Rex Sophocles. A seriously disturbed family.
Of Human Bondage Maugham, W. Somerset
Of Mice and Men Steinbeck, John
Old Man and the Sea Hemingway, Ernest
Old Yeller Gipson, Fred
On the Beach Shute, Nevil
Optimist's Daughter Welty, Eudora
Othello Shakespeare, William
Our Town Wilder, Thornton
Ox Bow Incident Clark, Walter Van Tilburg
Pale Horse, Pale Rider Porter, Katherine Anne
Passage to India Forster, E.M.
Pearl Steinbeck, John
Piano Lesson Wilson, August
Picture of Dorian Gray Wilde, Oscar
Pnin Nabokov, Vladimir
Portrait of a Lady James, Henry
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Joyce, James
Power and the Glory Greene, Graham
Praisesong for the Widow Marshall, Paule
Pride and Prejudice Austen, Jane
Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Spark, Muriel
Promise Potok, Chaim
Pygmalion Shaw, George Bernard
Raisin in the Sun Hansberry, Lorraine
Rebecca duMaurier, Daphne
Red Badge of Courage Crane, Stephen
Redburn Melville, Herman
Red Pony Steinbeck, John
Remains of the Day Ishiguro, Kazuo
Return of the Native Hardy, Thomas
Robinson Crusoe Defoe, Daniel
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Taylor, Mildred D.
Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare, William
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Stoppard, Tom
Saint Joan Shaw, George Bernard
Scarlet Pimpernel Orczy, Baroness
Scarlet Letter Hawthorne, Nathaniel
Sea Around Us Carson, Rachel L.
Separate Peace Knowles, John
Shipping News Proulx, Annie
Silent Spring Carson, Rachel L.
Sister Carrie Dreiser, Theodore
Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut, Kurt
Snow Falling on Cedars Guterson, David
Song of Solomon Morrison, Toni
Sound and the Fury Faulkner, William
Spy Who Came in From the Cold Le Carre, John
Stone Angel O'Connell, Carol
Story of My Life Keller, Helen A.
Stranger (L'Estranger) Camus, Albert
Streetcar Named Desire Williams, Tennessee
Sula Morrison, Toni
Summer of My German Soldier Greene, Bette
Sun Also Rises Hemingway, Ernest
Tales of the South Pacific Michener, James A.
Tartuffe Moliere
Tempest Shakespeare , William
Tess of the D'Urbervilles Hardy, Thomas. I really like this book. I did my H.S. senior research paper on this one.
Their Eyes Were Watching God Hurston, Zora Neale
Things Fall Apart Achebe, Chinua
Thread That Runs So True Stuart, Jesse
To Be Young, Gifted and Black Hansberry, Lorraine
To Kill a Mockingbird Lee, Harper. Did I mention I love this book?
Tom Jones Fielding, Henry
Tom Sawyer Twain, Mark
Tortilla Flat Steinbeck, John
Travels with Charley Steinbeck, John
Treasure Island Stevenson, Robert L.
Trial Kafka, Franz
Trilogy of the Ring Tolkein, J.R.R.
Turn of the Screw James, Henry
Twelfth Night Shakespeare, William
Uncle Tom's Cabin Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Waiting for Godot Becket, Samuel
War and Peace Tolstoy, Leo
War of the Worlds Wells, H.G.
Warden Trollope, Anthony
Watch on the Rhine Hellman, Lillian
Watch That Ends the Night MacLennan, Hugh
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Albee, Edward
Wide Sargasso Sea Rhys, Jean
Winesburg, Ohio Anderson, Sherwood
Winter in the Blood Welch, James
Wise Blood O'Connor, Flannery
Wuthering Heights Bronte, Emily
Yearling Rawlings, Marjorie K.
You Can't Go Home Again Wolfe, Thomas
Zoot Suit Valdez, Luis

After looking at this list I realize that there are many books that I should have read at this point, but haven't. So that is what your comments are for. Let me know what is worth reading, and if there is something not on this list that I should read, tell me that too.

To those of you who don't care, sorry for the really long post. Scroll up to see a picture of a llama!

Here's your chance...Step right up.

OK. So I am already graduated in my own mind. With all of this new found extra time...i am starting to remember what it was like having nothing more to do than to show up to work a couple times a week (even less than that now). This blog is an attempt to use the remaining days of my youth to their fullest. I am already training hard to improve my running with hopes of competing in a half marathon some time in the not too distant future.

Here is the chance for all of you people who are heavy laden with your jobs and kids, etc.. to post your comments on things you would like me to do so that you can live vicariously through me. Remembering that money is an issue, and that I am a devoted christian and husband (that rules out all of those lascivious "wild oats" acts) let me know how I, in my youth, can help make you happier through living out your dreams (or facing your nightmares). I will post pictures of my (and your) adventures on the blog. If this takes off...i will start my own blog devoted to all of your vicarious living. If you are bums....and i know you are not...then this idea of mine will go no farther than this post. Let the game begin.

Chad

Weekend

We had a really good weekend. I had Friday off and I took it easy while Chad had a training for work. Then Friday evening we tried out a new pizza place on the square which was pretty good. We always like finding locally owned places to spend our money instead of the boring ol' chain restaurants. After pizza, we went to the Arizona Sundogs hockey game. Let me tell you, if you have never been to a minor-league hockey game before, then you just haven't lived. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating just a bit, but still, it was fun. And wouldn't you know, the Sundogs were playing the Corpus Christi Rays. Chad and I found it easy to root for the Sundogs, since we have lived in Arizona for two years and really have no loyalty to Corpus Christi at all. The Rays won, by the way. I think Prescott Valley is the new "it" town to have its own minor league hockey team that made it to the playoffs.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was good too. Chad worked Saturday and I occupied my time rather well. I can't remember what I did, but it's Monday now, so I guess my time was occupied. Yesterday was a normal Sunday...we went to church, came home, cooked lunch, etc. The only difference was that we went running together. Chad and I have both been working out more lately, but our schedules don't really allow us to work out together very often, not to mention we have different ideas of how we would like to work out. But we did go running together yesterday and Chad made me do some really hard leg exercises, which I am paying for today.

That's about it, just more of the mundane. My week is going well so far, and I am enjoying my last few weeks in my classroom with my students. It is going by so fast!

One month!

Exactly one month from today, Chad will be a college graduate. I am so excited...for the graduation itself, for family coming in, for getting to take a few days off work to hang out with everyone...it will be a blast. This will be my last countdown post in case you guys are getting tired of it. Chad's load has lightened up a bit since he finished his senior project. You'll have to ask him what he is going to do with all that time once school is over.

I've been gone too long

This morning my good friend Larry gave me this quiz to take over Texas history. He said it was easy...but I only made a 60%. Oh well, that's passing in Arizona!

This is a case in point that we need to move back to Texas soon, and that I need to start lobbying for the Pecos canteloupe to become the state fruit of Texas.

By the way, I don't think I've mentioned Larry on the blog before. We met our freshman year at A&M (we just realized the other day that we have known each other for almost seven years, and that officially makes us OLD), and now Larry is doing what he loves, playing music all over Texas. Check out his website and buy his CD, and tell him I sent you.

I R A gradu8...almost

I stayed up late at work last night and finished the rough draft of my senior project. Now I just have to do some revisions with my mentor. Here is a link to my graduation info if you haven't all ready found it:

http://www.prescott.edu/calendar/graduation.html

This weekend...and a goal accomplished!

We had a good weekend. It was rainy all day Friday (out of the ordinary for here) and pretty cloudy Saturday as well. Saturday I went for a long walk in the morning and Chad and I went to the movies in the afternoon. It was a perfect day to go to the movies. Then Saturday night we went and hung out with our friends Alan & Dawn at Dawn's house...always fun. Yesterday was a beautiful day...in the 60s-70s in the afternoon, sunny and no wind, so we went climbing after church. We went to a place that is pretty familiar to both of us and climbed two different routes. One of the routes I had tried twice before and had never made it to the top, and it has been one of my goals to conquer this climb sometime before we leave this place. Well...yesterday I made it! It's one of the more difficult climbs I have done, and I was so proud of myself! I even cleared the anchor and rappeled down. Of course we didn't have our camera. I know it's getting pretty old how we never have any pictures on here. Maybe I will make it a personal goal to get a picture of some kind up on our blog this week. Don't hold me to that. :)

Time for a new post

So this is what people do at four in the morning when they can't sleep and they have internet at their house. No wonder so many people are so sleep deprived. Anyway, in case you don't know, Chad and I are on our spring break. My sister had a list of all these productive things they have done or are planning to do during the break, and I am just not that motivated. So our week has gone something like this:

Sunday: church
Monday: sleep late, go on a short backpacking trip (one night)
Tuesday: hike back, recuperate (i.e. do nothing)
Wednesday: begin housesitting (hence the internet at 4 a.m.), go hiking, church
Thursday: play with dogs, watch TV, check email repeatedly just because we can, check blogs, hike again, take a nap since I couldn't sleep during the night
Friday: see Thursday
Saturday: see Friday

As you can see, we don't have a lot going on this week. This is a good thing. Part of the reason we are not doing much though is because Chad has had a horrible time with his allergies this week. Sneezing, congested, weepy eyes, the whole shebang. I have not seen his allergies this bad since we got married and especially since we moved to Arizona. He has not felt like doing much of anything, and I feel really bad for him.

We realize we haven't posted pictures in a while. We have been meaning to take some pictures of our new car, but it just looks like an '03 Civic Hybrid, light bluish silver, so if you really want to see it, search for it on Google images. I'll get around to posting some pictures of the real thing eventually.

The countdown is on!

I wanted to post this yesterday, but because of technical difficulties, I could not. If I had posted yesterday I would have said it is EXACTLY two months until Chad graduates from college, so today, I will say it is EXACTLY two months minus one day until Chad graduates from college. The time is flying by! Chad is working really hard on a lot of stuff. Keep him in your prayers as he finishes up this chapter in his life. We can't wait to see some of you in just a couple of months!