The Village - The Waste Lands

Julie and I sawM. Night Shyamalan's The Village last night at Quality 16. I really like his movies... they always get ya thinkin, and this one is no exception. My favorit is The Sixth Sense, but I also really loved Signs. I really appreciate Joaquin Phoenix... great actor!

I finished King's The Drawing of the Three last night, and just checked out The Waste Lands (Dark Tower III). They're totally different from the other King novels I've read, but I'm really enjoying them... great escape reading.

Still plugging away at the thesis. I'm probably about half-way through my third big chapter, and it's currently at 75 pages... just for this chapter. I'll probably have to trim it down to about 40-45.

Bummer

Yesterday (Sunday) after church, I spent the entire afternoon and evening working on the house.  I put up three lights: one over the side porch, one in the foyer closet, and hung a chandelier in the foyer.  Then Julie and I worked outside, putting in a bunch of edging.  After that, I cleared out this vine that was attacking our Magnolia tree and my gardening shed.  I had plans to see a movie (Bourne Supremacy) with some friends (Ken, Donnell, John, et. al.) at 9:05pm at Quality 16.  When I walked in the house and checked the clock, it was already 9:03.  I was extremely bummed, to say the least!  Then, around 10:45 (after sulking for a long time) I called up Jesse to do some online computer gaming.  Once I had my desk ready, I went to set up the computer... and remembered that I hadn't brought my computer home!  By then it was too late for me to go get it... what a day!  Ugh.

Free iPod

Hey, I found out about a cool deal from Jesse's blog... a way to get a free iPod.  Of course, since I got this idea from Jesse, it's only fair that if you know him you should help him get the free iPod, not me.  Otherwise, you could sign up for a free promo and help me by clicking:

click here

You might consider doing the eBay promo... all you have to do is register and place a bid on something, you don't even need to win the bid.  So you could bid on something that costs a penny, and you'll surely not win... sound good?  All you have to do is get 5 other people to sign up and YOU get a free iPod.  Thanks for the idea Jesse!  I'll see if I can do one of your promos to help you with your free iPod too.

Thesis

Plugging away at my thesis this week. I have to have the rough-draft finished by the end of this month, and then the final draft done by the end of August.  I have two chapters done, and I have about 30 pages of notes for my third chapter, which I will probably begin writing on Monday.  After that all I need to do is write an introduction chapter and an 'application for today' kind of chapter.  Can't wait to finish!  I've been working on this degree since 1996!

I finished The Gunslinger, and am currently reading The Drawing of the Three, both part of Stephen King's Dark Tower series.  I'm really enjoying this series so far... very happy that it's a long series that will keep me occupied for a long time to come.  I love post-apocalypse/sci-fi/fantasy stories, so this is perfect.  I've always liked Stephen King a lot... I've read It and a few others... I haven't read The Stand, but I hear it's his best work.

Sting Concert

Had dinner with Peter & Tonnie Thursday at Mediterrano to celebrate Julie's birthday.  Then went to the Sting & Annie Lennox concert last night with Julie at the Palace.  Great show!  We were a bit surprised that Annie Lennox performed for so long--just about as much as Sting.  He did most of his songs from Sacred Love, but not all of them.  We were a bit shocked at the risque videos that were playing during some of the songs!  Who knew that so many of his songs (like Sacred Love and Dead Man's Rope) were about naked women!  The most entertaining thing we saw was a middle-aged woman who danced (quite badly) at the top of the nearest stairwell during the whole show... but she looked to be enjoying herself!

Healing Prayer

Had a great time preaching this last weekend. (Click here for the sermon audio and notes). It was probably the easiest time I've had doing prep... mostly because I had two really great healing stories I got to show, and also because I "borrowed" several good sermon points from a Rich Nathan sermon.

I've been working like crazy to get the electrical finished in our house. I've been working on this for the last 3 years, and I'm ready to be done with it. My hands are sore and have cuts all over them. It's fun to literally see the fruit of your labor though, when you turn on the lights and they work!

I'm reading a Stephen King novel, The Gunslinger, part 1 of the Dark Tower series. Pretty good so far...

Sermon Prep

I have the opportunity to preach this weekend! I should be reading and praying, but instead I'm here typing in my blog... I'm a procrastinator. I have a love-hate relationship with this phase of sermon prep--I don't have a text or topic yet, which is good and bad... it's fun because I can choose whatever I want to preach on, but there's literally a cornucopia of possible topics floating around in my brain. (note: i threw in "cornucopia" to add a little panache to this blog) (note: I threw in "panache" for the same reason) (note: i'm aware of my misuse of the term "literally", since there is not a "goat's horn overflowing with fruit, flowers, and grain, signifying prosperity" in my head [at least I hope not]) I hate it when people misuse the word "literally." I had a friend who said, speaking of his large and bulky car, "it's literally a tank." That literally made me puke (speaking figuratively). Speaking of which, what's with the parking situation at Arborland Mall? What were they thinking?

Stuck on You

On Thursday Julie and I ate dinner at Jesse & Ronni's and watched "Stuck on You"... a movie about conjoined twins (Matt Damon & Greg Kinnear). Very funny! The humor was raunchy at times, so I'm glad I wasn't the only one laughing. Also, Jesse picked up a couple copies of Ground Control 2, a new real-time strategy game. Lots of fun! Can't wait to learn all the units.

Had a good men's group on Friday, at our new time (noon)... we used to meet at 6:45 on Thursday mornings, but every week someone would oversleep. Dave Wild showed up, the other guys couldn't make it this week.

I'm starting a Tuesday evening Guy's Poker Night, beginning in August... definitely need some more hang-out time with guy friends. Looking forward to it! Also doing Diplomacy night this Tuesday. Haven't played in ages, but should be a blast.