Testing

Reading Fiction

I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and had to contemplate it for a moment.  Fans of J.K. Rowling aren't kidding when they show so much enthusiasm for her work.  Now I can include myself among them.  It boggles my mind how much detailed information gets woven together through the entire final book.  One cannot read it and be left without a thankful heart for family and friends.  I just had to read this series, to take the time to read these books.  I'm so glad I did.  Thanks to my sister for giving me the ability to do this, for opening, not just Rowling's work, but a world of literature to me, and enriching my life.

MP3 Player!

Woohoo!  I've never had an MP3 player until last week, and they're awesome!  I figured the technology is finally saturated the market enough that I could find one for an ultra cheap price.  Turns out Wal-Mart is selling a bare bones 1 GB player for less than 10 Canadian dollars.  I couldn't believe it when I saw it.  Exactly what I was looking for - no fancy shmancy useless features.  Just two buttons and it plugs into my laptop to charge for 2 hours.  Basically, I'm just using it to download General Conference so I can listen to the talks when I wake up in the middle of the night, which happens like every night.  Arg!  At least now all that wasted sleep is the perfect quiet time to ponder on spiritual things.

Real Families, Real Answers

I just finished watching the first two episodes of a BYUTV production called Real Families, Real Answers and it is a very informative show.  I really like the way everything is presented in an uncomplicated and straight forward fashion.

The first two episodes explained that strong families are created by focusing on nine essentials:

• commitment
• love
• time
• encouragement
• communication
• adaptability
• faith
• connection
• responsibility

One of my roommates hooked up my laptop to his TV so that we could watch General Conference, and it's great - I really like the streaming that is available online, because I can just click on what I would like to watch instead of waiting for shows to happen.  There's usually always couple really good series on BYUTV every season.

Bippity Boppity Boo

Let's face it, everybody needs a little singing from an upbeat fairy godmother once in a while.

Order of the Pheonix

I'm nearing the last quarter of the book, and decided to post tonight for no particular reason.

The whole story has way more details than the previous books, and it's particularly the extra discussions between characters that I enjoy.  I have to agree with most people that Harry is slightly annoying with his pent up frustration and anger, but I think it's an effort to welcome attention to other characters in the story by deflating Harry's popularity.  Statements referencing things in terms of the story itself are always an amusing touch, like, "And though Harry would rather have jumped off the Astronomy Tower than admit it to her, by the time he had watched the game the following Saturday he would have given any number of Galleons not to care about Quidditch either."  Sometimes I laugh if more than one of these types of sentences occur, because each successive one almost seems to be trying to out perform it's predecessors.

I really am impressed with the surprises in the story, and Rowling seems to have no end to them.  Way more enjoyable to read than watching the movie, although it's difficult to top the embodiment of Dolores Umbridge - a truly frightening nightmare of a woman.  The actress does a superb job of it.

The one thing egging me on to read the series faster is to be ahead of the movies.  I bet it's an even more amazing experience to read one of Rowling's books not even having any clue what happens.

BYU-Hawaii Concert

I just finished watching Laie from the Heart: BYU-Hawaii's Celebration of Song and Culture.  You can watch it on BYUTV, because their Move Networks streaming allows anyone to go back and replay content.  Laie was shown on Saturday, July 12 at 7pm.

It was a great program, with a large variety of Polynesian cultures, not just Hawaiian.  There were women's and men's choir, combined choirs, and drum presentations.  I recommend watching it!