When the fifth book in the Harry Potter series was released in the summer of 2003, I hadn't read any of the subsequent books. I'm not even sure how I got started reading the books1.

However I started reading them, I got hooked real quick. I read the first one after another, and then when the fifth book came out, which was about the same time that I finished the I fourth, I read that one. Then, I was left like millions of other people, wondering what was going to happen to Harry and his friends.

When the sixth book came out, it had been a couple of years, so I re-read the first five before diving into the sixth. Again, after finishing the sixth book, I was left wondering.

This past weekend, the final installment in the series was released. I didn't go out at mid-night and pick it up, though I know some people that did. I happened to be at Target the next day, and picked my copy. I'm looking forward to finding out how the series will end. I haven't decided if I will re-read the other books first. I have read two chapters and I feel like there are a lot of references being made, and I can't recall them all.

Is anyone else reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?

1. back I think I may have borrowed the first few from someone. Did I borrow them from you?

Labels: books, entertainment

Nooma is releasing their seventeenth video, Today, today.

Here's the blurb about it from the Nooma site:

How much time and energy do we spend wishing things were how they used to be? We often think about times in our past when things were different and want our lives to be like that again. Some of us have even come to believe that our best days may actually be behind us. But if we’re in some way hung up on the past, what does that mean for our lives now? How are we and those around us affected if we’re not fully present? If we’re longing for the way things used to be, what does that really say about our understanding and appreciation of our lives today? Maybe we need to learn to embrace our past for what it is, in order to live our lives to the fullest, right here, right now.

But wait there's more... For two days only, you can view the film in its entirety at the Nooma mySpace page.

Exclusive Online Premiere
Join us for the first-ever NOOMA online premiere. We'll be streaming NOOMA 017 | Today from the NOOMA player on our MySpace page from Monday, July 23 at 12 noon EST to Wednesday, July 25 at 12 noon EST.

So, go check it out. Thanks, Jasen, for the heads up.

Labels: church, entertainment

So, here we are... Kim is laying on the hospital bed, I'm sort of in a daze, stuck between making inappropriate jokes and being in shock1, and Krista, the nurse, is pulling stuff out of drawers, and getting the room prepped for delivery.

At this point, it was pretty obvious that were indeed going to have the baby. I knew there were people that would be interested to know about this. So, I called Kim's parents to let them know, but only got voicemail. Then, I called my mom to let her know. She answered the phone2, and her response to the news was something like, "Shannon! What are you doing in Florida?!?"3 I explained our situation to her, and she said she would call my sisters and let them know.

About the same time I was getting off the phone with my mom, the nurse firmly, yet politely, requested that I take my place by my wife's side, as we were about to start delivering the baby. Wait a minute. How are we going to deliver the baby without the doctor?

Krista directed Kim on what to do. She was to hold her legs with her hands, and to put her chin to her chest. Whenever a contraction came, I was to count from one to ten. While I counted, Kim was to take a deep breath, hold it, and "bear down". We would do this three times for every contraction.

Okay. Here we go. 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10

1. back At some point, I asked the nurse if I should put on my shoes. This may sound funny, but anyone that knows me, knows that if the temperature is above 60°, nine times out of ten, I'm going to have on sandals. When we left the hotel room, I had picked up my shoes. Having not taken part in the delivery of a baby, I wasn't sure if you had to wear shoes or not. I mean, it seems like a closed-toe event. The nurse, after laughing at me, said I didn't need to put them on.


2. back Don't ask me why my mother was up at three-something in the morning. I guess you could argue that the phone woke her up, but really who knows. She worked third shift for a good part of my younger years. She may be a vampire.


3. back Her reaction made me think for a minute. I couldn't remember if I had told her I was going out of town or not. There was a time in my life that she would have rather not known when I was out driving all over God's creation. In college there were seveal spur of the moment trips from Raleigh to Boone, one trip from Raleigh to New York, and a failed attempt to cross the country by car. For her it was easier to not know that I was driving in the middle of the night.

Labels: baby, birthStory

Today, I went in for another routine dental check up. I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again, everytime I go in there I think think they're going to tell me I have a cavity. This comes from the fact that I know that I don't do all those things that one is supposed to do.

My usual dental maintenance consists of brushing in the morning before leaving the house, and brushing at night before I hit the hay. I will occassionally throw in a flossing, but that usually takes me having something stuck in my teeth. Like I said, I know this is less than the optimal routine. However, since the boy arrived, I have been even more slack. There are times at night when I am tired and I just want to go to bed. So, I skip the nightly brushing.

Going in this morning, I had the feeling that this would be the day my lifetime cavityless streak would end. But, I was wrong. They said I looked good. I told them that I had been slack, and they said, "You wouldn't know it. You have great teeth."

I almost asked them if they were sure, but I figured they knew what they were talking about. Here's to another six months of remaining cavity free and not feeling like I deserve it.1

On a completely different note, my wife is an awesome mom.

1. back There is probably a parallel to my faith in there. You don't have to look to deep to find it.

Labels: indiscriminate

Awhile back, my mom gave me five boxes of "my crap". So far, they have just been sitting in my garage collecting dust here instead of at her house. Well, this morning, I was standing in my garage waiting on Daniel to come pick me up1 and I decided to take a peek into one of the boxes. What I found excited me.

I really only examined the top three items in the box. The first item was a scrapbook with all sorts of news paper clippings and other items from my football career. I'm not sure who kept up with that. Then there was another scrapbook sort of thing that I, and all other seniors on the basketball team, received from our coach, which documented a season.

As eager as I am to relive the glory days, it was the third item that caught my attention this morning. It is a day planner2 from my senior year in high school. I started off strong keeping up with what I had going on, and even using it as a sort of journal by not only keeping track of what was to happen, but also keeping track of what had happened. Here are a few of the high lights...

Tuesday, August 26: Pec cut my hair; paid him with Kool-aid.
Friday, October 17: Homecoming game vs McMichael (9 Tkl, 5 Ast, 3 TFL, Blk(Punt), FR)3
Wednesday, November 12: Basketball Tryouts; Ran 6:08 mile4

I wish I would have kept up with this longer. I have my stats from several of the football games which is pretty cool. Oh, the memories of a has been.

Shalom.

1. back We carpool to work, which has been enjoyable. We save money on gas; We reduce the number of cars on the road; We help preserve the planet, and, for the most part it is better than riding in the car alone.


2. back It is a Brain Quest Planner, which let's you know that "It's O.K. to be smart!" It has a trivia question for every day. My version happens to be for "Grades 3&4". I'm not sure why I had this.


3. back That's a pretty good day. I don't remember doing that well. I do remember they had a running back the size of an offensive lineman.


4. back I don't remember ever being that fast. I guess I wasn't as lazy as I remember.

Labels: indiscriminate, sports

Per the cable bill,

On August 31, ESPNU will be added to Digital Cable Channel 140.

Just in time for football season. Nice.

Labels: entertainment, sports

I was just spending some wake time with Palmer, and I was reading Colossians. It's a short book, so I just read the entire thing aloud. They say that he should hear my voice because somehow that helps him developmentally. I guess I can see how that could be true. And, I could definitely spend more time in the word. So, I figured it was a win, win, win.

As we were finishing up Colossians, Palmer was getting tired, and squirmy, which made it a little harder to concentrate. However, the final verse of the book struck a cord with me.

I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
Colossians 4:18 (NIV)

"Remember my chains." That's simple, but powerful. Maybe it's just me, but I need a poster with those words on it sometimes.

Labels: church

I saw the Transformers movie this afternoon with some friends1. When I saw the first trailer for the movie on Nothing but Trailers2, I was pumped. I was a little disappointed in the timing of the release, since our baby was due two days prior to the movie coming out.

I hadn't thought much about seeing the movie recently. I have been preoccupied with Palmer. So, I had not built any expectations for the movie. So, what's i think?

I thought they did an excellent job with the movie. The CGI was cool. The story was decent. And, it was a lot funnier than I would have expected it to be. If you are going to go see a movie, I'd suggest this one.

1. back Jonathan, Daniel, Jeramie, and Patrick


2. back I've mentioned this before, but in case you missed it, this is a show I watch regularly that is nothing but trailers; thirty minutes of back-to-back movie trailers.

Labels: entertainment

I have played and watched baseball since I was five. The other day, I saw something that I had never seen before.

This season, I joined a fantasy baseball league with a few guys I know. This has led to me keeping track of MLB more than I ever have. Nightly, I start the ESPN Game Tracker and monitor the happenings in all the games.

Game tracker is awesome. It allows you to keep up with all the games at once. For a given game, it will show you who's pitching and which player is batting. Pitch-by-pitch, it shows the balls, strikes, and outs. It also shows you in text format, every play that takes place, e.g. "Ken Griffey, Jr. homers to right.", "David Wright steals second.", etc..

Well, like I said, the other night I saw something that I had never before seen. At some point, late in a game, team A was up big. Team B was batting and had runners on the corners, Joe on first and Schmoe on third. The next play says, "Joe advances to second on fielder's indifference."

Fielder's Indifference what the heck is that?!? Come to find out, when you take an extra base1, and the defense does not try to get you out, it is scored as a fielder's indifference. It's a form of fielder's choice. Who knew?

1. back This also applies when a throw comes in from the outfield and the defense allows a runner to score without trying to get them out at the plate.

Labels: entertainment, sports

Today is July 2. Today we're supposed to have a child. However, said child decided to come a little early. A whole month early to be exact. So, here I am one month into fatherhood1, and I thought it was about time that I start sharing some of the wisdom I have gained in my adventures in parentdom.

1) Fathers of little boys must be like Boy Scouts.

As the father of a newborn, you get the pleasure/honor/duty of changing many diapers. I have never changed a girl's diaper, but I can't imagine that it is nearly as dangerous an activity. I have found that when changing a boy's diaper, you are putting yourself and the boy at risk. The Boy Scouts of America have the motto "Be Prepared", and when changing your son's diaper, you must be prepared like a good Boy Scout. You need to have a new diaper ready to be applied, and you need to have an extra wipe close at hand. Newborns don't have control over their bodily functions. So, you have to be prepared for about anything.

I have not suffered a direct hit, though several people have. This can be attributed to me covering the boy's urination device with a wipe while performing the routine cleaning and maintenance on his under carriage. I did leave him completely uncovered once as I walked across the room to retrieve more supplies, i.e. diapers, only to return to find him and the entire changing doused in his fluid. Another time, I got to experience the deuce while in transition. I had placed the new diaper under him, and removed the old diaper, but before I could finish the cleanup and get the new diaper latched on, he let it go. I quickly pulled the new diaper closed to limit the damage. I've found, the more prepared you are the less collateral damage you suffer.

Going into parenthood, most people, men especially, think that changing diapers is going to be gross, and I was no different. However, for some reason, changing Palmer's has never been a problem. It's odd. From the beginning, I just started doing it without thinking. I have actually found it quite gratifying. When he's crying, and I change him, and he stops crying, that makes me feel good.

More to come later. Oh, yeah, and I am going to finish my story. Maybe pearl of wisdom number two will have something to do with time management in parenthood.

1. back This month has went by quickly. Yesterday, when I looked at him, he looked big. He's gained a little over a pound, but I guess that is pretty significant when you start out at 7 pounds. It would be like me gaining 36 pounds last month.

Labels: baby