Twin Vs. Twin

The Story at My Sister Sarah Tells It:

"It was all fun and games until Ava tried to take the toy away from Aidan. When he ripped it away from her she fell over and then he beat her over the back with the toy she tried to steal!!! Aidan ended up losing as usual because Ava stole his pacifier!! "

March Reads

Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
Everyone in the known world has apparently read this book by now so i figured I should give it a shot. There has been so much hype over this book amongst the common known world that I had very high expectations. I guess I walked away just thinking, "that was pretty good." I think I'm just tired of memoirs. It's like reading a dirtier version of chicken soup for the soul at points with it's heart warming moments and sentimentality (i guess that mostly makes up these kind of memoirs!); but there are also great moments and great stories of her story. I guess it got kind of tiresome because these type of spiritual memoirs just doing feel like they are going anywhere a lot of the time. It's some cutesy, cleverly worded thoughts now and again and then that's it. I appreciate some of the questions which she raised in the book and I honestly did enjoy reading it but still just walked away with a "ah, it was okay" kind of feeling about it.



The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells
Very short story about a mad scientist sort who figured out a way to make himself invisible thinking it would give him an advantage over all mankind. Little did he realize that being naked all the time outside is cold and not eating so you can retain your invisibility is difficult. Being invisible doesn't turn out to be all that he thought it would be and ends up going off the deep end. Great story! Very thought provoking and entertaining. Did they ever make a movie of this???

You; The Owner's Manual - by a few Doctors

I can't remember where I first heard of this book but I saw it once again at the Bodies Exhibit at the Mosi in Tampa and looked through it and talked my mom into buying it for me while she was visiting. I have zipped through it in the last 6 days because it was so interesting. I am intrigued by how the body works and what keeps it functioning well. It was a great beginning guide to how your body works and what goes wrong with time and how you can keep your body as young as possible. The best thing about this book is that they don't really try to sell you any kind of plan or anything, it's practical information that you can use as well as a diet that fulfills this plan in the back of the book with recipes. It was a very interesting read and if you want to keep your body running for as long a time as possible, i suggest you pick it up.


The Time Machine - H.G. Wells

Kind of got in an H.G. Wells kick while we were on our trip to the Northwest. Another fascinating fantasy of a man who builds a time machine hoping that he can go into the future to find answers for humanities problems but instead finds out the horrifying truth! The future is a horrible, awful place where two kinds of species are battling it out with no hope of long term survival! This is another short story you should take the time to read, if you haven't already!




Books on tap for April:
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
Seven Storey Mountain - Thomas Merton
Practicioners: Voices within the Emergent Movement - Russinger
And hopefully I will finish up reading Great Expectations! That book has given me more trouble than any book I've ever read! Is this not the hardest book to read in the universe??? It's driving me mad!

CHECK THIS OUT!

Click HERE to go to this ebay auction. Make sure you read the story. This is one of the best things I've ever seen on Ebay! People have such a great imagination!

Close Encounters of the Reptile Kind

WARNING: TRUE STORY










Tonight Kelli and I rode our bikes over to a park about 2 miles from here. In this park there is a typical Florida lake with lots of brush and weeds, etc. Well we rode our bikes up to the lake by what we have called "Bagby Head" because it's a little peak right on the lake and no one is ever there so we thought we would claim the land for ourselves.

In any case, I jumped off the bike and jumped from Bagby Head right down to the water of the lake talking like I was the Crocodile Hunter searching for a Croc! Unfortunately there really was a Croc and it was one large mommajomma. As soon as it saw me walking towards it, it jumped and flopped in the water which was a large splash and freaked Kelli and I out because we weren't sure what it was but there in the water in front of us was the head of an alligator just glaring with it's beedy little eyes. It stopped and stared at us for several minutes and then when we started walking away slowly it swam out to the middle of the lake and then over to the other side watching us the whole way. It was awesome! I almost lost my life to an alligator! It was so freaking close! Yes, this is a true story! I'm thankful it wasn't as hungry for my flesh as Barry Bonds is for steroids! I would have been toast.

Rocking All Over Your Face

That's what Kelli and I are doing at the Experience Music Project in Seattle.

A new friend in Seattle

Sunday, the day before we left Seattle we were able to catch up with a new friend Johnny who we met through the blogosphere. He gave us considerable help with knowing what to do and where to go while in the Northwest. We got to eat lunch with him and a few friends of his at a good Vietnamese Restaurant. Thanks again Johnny!

New Beer Reviews

NEW BEER REVIEWS HERE!

Read about all the great Northwest Brews plus: introducing the best Stout I've ever tried!

Cheers!

A New Article on Relevant

Click HERE!

Northwest Thus Far....

CLICK HERE FOR NORTHWEST PICS

So far we've been to Portland, Eugene, driven the Oregon Coast from Florence to Astoria and are currently in Vancouver, BC. It's been a great trip! Tomorrow we leave for Seattle where we'll spend the final four days. Check out the pics!

Bad Way To Start Vacation

On my way to the barber today I got in a car accident. I stopped at a stoplight and a Dodge Ram stopped behind me and the guy behind that car just crushed the truck's back end which in turn hit our car pretty hard. We all pulled off the road and the lady in the truck was in a lot of pain so I called 911 and got an ambulance down there and basically just made sure the woman was alright while we waited for the ambulance. The Jeep that hit the truck was smashed up in the front end pretty bad, it deployed the air bag and it scaped his arms a little but he was okay too. The office got there and got everyone's information and this is where it could have gone really bad. Let me tell you why:

1) My New York State License has been suspended since November (which I didn't know) because of an unpaid traffic ticket (you remember Elvyss???)

2) I have not been added to Kelli's insurance (oops)

3) I moved to Florida about 8 months ago and did not get a new license. You are required to get one by law within 30 days of moving.

Those are obviously all bad things. But I was very thankful for what happened. The sheriff was very very lenient with me. She just gave me a ticket for having a suspended license and told me to take care of the ticket immediately and get a Florida license. She also said that she was supposed to arrest me and I would be arrested if I got pulled over again but she also said that I apparently wasn't aware of the situation so she wasn't concerned about it. The insurance thing she never said anything about. But she did ask when I moved to Florida and I told her and she told me about the 30 days rule. The other great thing is that it did absolutely no damage to our car! I got hit pretty hard, but apparently our car is awesome! The front end of the Truck that hit me was pretty dented up so apparently a 97 Grand Prix is stronger than a new Dodge Ram! Take that Ram!

Anyway, a pretty stressful way to start our vacation week! Can't wait to get on that plane. Thank you officer for being so graceful to me! I know it could have been much much worse! And thank you God that no one was injured seriously and our car is still okay! Phew!

Pacific Northwest Here We Come!

Pic stolen directly from Johnny's Blog

This Friday evening Kelli and I leave for our Northwest Exploratory Trip and vacation. We're going to be out there for about 10 days and get to spend time in Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver as well as drive up the Oregon Coast. We've been wanting to do this for the last two years and we are thrilled to finally get the chance! It will be interesting to see how we like the area. I'm hoping I like it as much as I remember liking Seattle! Here are some highlights of our plan for the ten days! I wish we had time to visit Mt. Ranier or Olympic National Park but those are too time consuming for this trip.

Friday - Arrive in Seattle

Saturday - Drive to Portland
-Visit with Andrew Ooms (a friend from El Paso, Illinois)
-Meet with Bob Hyatt of Evergreen Community

Sunday - Visit Evergreen Community Gathering
-Drive to Eugene
-Spend time around University of Oregon

Monday - Drive up Oregon Coast
-Check out the Sea Lion Caves
-See Devil's Church
-Visit Winery in Lincoln City
-Spend Night in Seaside

Tuesday - Drive to Vancouver, B.C.
-Explore Robson Street and Gastown

Wednesday - Vancouver
-Go to suspension bridge and rain forest.
-Skyride to Grouse Mountain
-Go to Celtic Fest

Thurs-Sunday - Seattle
-Space Needle
-Experience Music Project
-Seattle Aquarium
-Hang with Arthur and Andrea (friends from New York City)
-Go to Mars Hill Church

LET ME KNOW WHAT I'M FORGETTING!

Bonds Taken Down

HERE IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK
I had no idea how much of a psycho Barry Bonds really was until reading this. The information they got from Jessica Bell, his ex-girlfriend is especially enlightening.

CLICK HERE TO READ STORY
Wow, what a shocker huh? Bonds actually used steroids. It's hard to wrap my mind around that. On a serious note however I'm glad that he's finally going to be taken down. It's been obvious for years he's been cheating, i can't wait to see the league strip all his records. Is that wrong that I feel that way?

Birthday Surprise

I almost forgot to tell this story. This happened on February 7th, my 26th Birthday.

Kelli and I went out to eat at an Irish Pub here in Tampa. I had the Shepherd's Pie and at one point a guy not too far from us asked me how it was. I said it was good and that was that. At the end of the meal when I asked for our check, the waitress said she was going to get it and then came back a few minutes later and said that the man I had talked to earlier about the Pie offered to pay for our meal. I was a bit surprised to say the least so Kelli and I went over to meet him. His name was Dave and all he said was, "Well, i thought the Shepherd's Pie looked good so I just thought I would pay for it." Kelli said, "Wow, that's so cool, it's his Birthday today." And then Dave gave me a "Happy Birthday." He went on to say, "I had some dental work done today so maybe it's the drugs doing the talking but just thought I would pay for you guys." How cool is that??? I have never had a complete stranger pay for our dinner before. Have you???

My sister Molly and her Boyfriend Nick

Never pictured my sister doing this!













Nick, you are insane!

A Visitor

Today as I was driving home I saw something on the side of the driveway to our apartment complex so I stopped to check it out. Turns out is was a Peninsula Cooter Turtle. Yes, that is really the name! Couldn't make that up. Pretty friendly little guy, although beware of his claws! Do you see those things? Those are huge!