Dogma

I watched the DVD "Dogma" with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Chris Rock.

Synopsis

Two mischievous angels (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) who were kicked out of heaven, have figured out a way to get back in. Restoring ones soul by entering a new church is a part of the Catholic Dogma, and by restoring their souls, the angels could reenter heaven thus revealing a loophole. But their plan would prove God's imperfection thus erasing everything God had ever created. Jesus' last descendant (Linda Fiorentino) is enlisted by Rufus (Chris Rock), the unknown 13th Apostle to stop the fugitive angels. Along the way, she is aided by two prophets, Jay and Silent Bob.

Be Careful

"Be careful how you interpret the world: it is like that." - Erich Heller

Libraries

1. The first true library is thought to be the Library of Alexandria, founded in Egypt about 300 B.C., allegedly by disciples of Aristotle. A Polish-Egyptian archeological team claimed to have found its ruins in 2004.

2. The first public library in America to let people borrow books and materials was the Boston Public Library, founded in 1848. It was a revolutionary idea at the time.

3. The nation's largest library is the Library of Congress, with 29.5 million volumes. Second is Harvard, with 15.1 million, followed by Boston (14.9), Yale (11.1) and the Chicago Public Library (10.7). The New York Public Library is 20th with 6.7 million.

4. The Library of Congress got its first real collection in 1815 when it bought the personal library of Thomas Jefferson. This early example of a sweetheart deal gave the library 6,487 books and netted the heavily indebted Jefferson $23,950.

5. It seems likely that in the fullness of time, when copyright problems are worked out, the Internet will house the most complete and accessible library in history. Already, Google, born in 1998, is working with the Harvard, Stanford, University of Michigan and other libraries to scan in a huge collection of volumes.

Authorship: Jeffrey Lyon
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

The Importance of the Writer

“The importance of the writer, is that he is here to describe things which other people are too
busy to describe.” - James Baldwin, novelist

Watch

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

The Prize Winner

We watched the DVD "The Prize Winner." I enter a lot of contests and enjoyed this movie.

Synopsis

Evelyn Ryan (Julianne Moore) is a devoted housewife and mother of ten in the 1950s. Her husband (Woody Harrelson) can't seem to make ends meet, but that doesn't stop the car from breaking down, the mortgage coming due and the bills from piling up. It falls to Evelyn to defy the conventions of the day and find a way to keep her family together with the odds stacked against them. Applying her remarkable resourcefulness and an uncommon wit, Evelyn finds her own way in the profitable jingle contests popular in the 1950s and '60s.

Based on a true story and the book by Terry Ryan.

Grandma Pearl's House

We slept late and then I cut the grass while my wife vacuumed her van. My youngest son stayed home playing video games and we dropped my oldest son off at Yorktown Shopping Center with his friend. We drove out to Elmwood Park to see Grandma Pearl's house one last time. It's been sold and was almost empty. We walked through the whole house and picked up a couple of boxes and drove over to my mother-in-law's house to drop them off. We picked up my son and his friends at Yorktown and they came over for a couple of hours.

Life Is Now In Session

"Life is now in session. Are you present?" - B. Copeland

Crane's Pie Pantry and Restaurant

We made the decision in the morning to head home today instead of leaving tomorrow morning. After lunch we got dropped off at the beach so Mom could clean the cottage before we left. The boys got another four hours in at the beach before we got picked up. It was a beautiful clear day. The boys wanted to have dinner at Crane's Pie Pantry. We drank our unlimited apple cider and each had a piece of pie with ice cream after dinner. We got home about 9:45 p.m. Chicago time and unpacked. It was great to be home.

Love and Time

"Love and Time: those are the only two things in all the world that cannot be bought, but only spent." - Gary Jennings

When The Student Is Ready

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear” - Chinese Proverb

Guests' Last Day

Today was our guests' last day. We had a full day at the beach and stayed until after 6:00 p.m. They packed up and headed back home about 8:00 p.m. Michigan time. We went to Shell for gas
($3.15 a gallon) over $50 to fill the tank in our van. We all went to bed early before 11:00 p.m.

This Very Moment

“Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny.” — Steven Pressfield, novelist

More Morning Rain

We had more morning rain and stayed in the cottage. We worked a jigsaw puzzle and waited for the rain to stop. The kids walked into town again and fed the ducks by the gazebo. The adults waited by the gazebo. The kids took the chain ferry across the river and climbed Mt. Baldy for the third day in a row. (fourth day for our boys - a record) We met them at the beach again and stayed at the beach until after the sunset. It was a beautiful clear night and a beautiful sunset.
After we changed we drove into Holland for a late dinner at Denny's. We picked up some more groceries. We all stayed up until almost 2:00 a.m. Our guests decided to stay an extra day.

Live Today With Gusto

"Today is life - the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.” - Dale Carnegie

Morning Rain

We got a late start because of the morning rain. The kids explored the gulley and then walked into town to feed the ducks. They climbed Mt. Baldy for the second day in a row and we met them at the beach. We stayed a little later and had another barbecue for dinner. We tried to see another sunset but it was too cloudy again.

Surest Stepping Stones To Success

“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” - Dale Carnegie

Second Guests

Our first guests left around 9:00 a.m. Michigan time. Their mom had to work. Our second guests arrived around 2:00 p.m. got situated at then we went right to the beach. The kids climbed Mt. Baldy again and then we met on the beach. After the beach we had another barbecue. We went back the the beach for the sunset but it was too cloudy. The kids still had fun skipping stones and walking the beach.

Be Yourself

“Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.” - John Jakes

Ida Red's

We went to 11:00 a.m. Mass at St. Peter's in Douglas. Then we had brunch outside at Ida Red's. After brunch we walked past the gazebo and along the docks. The kids climbed Mount Baldhead (Mt. "Baldy") and we met them at the beach. We stayed at the beach until after the sunset - over 7 hours. The "Mom's" went back the the cottage and cooked some hot dogs and sausages on the grill and we had a picnic dinner up by the beach snack bar and waited for the sunset. It was a beautiful sunset. After we left the beach we stopped in town for ice cream at Kilwin's. We sat in front of the Saugatuck Drug Store eating our cones. It was a beautiful and full day.

One Step Beyond

“Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.” - Napoleon Hill

First Guests

Our first guests arrived about 2:00 p.m. Once they got settled in we headed to Oval Beach where we stayed until after 6:00 p.m. We had barbecued chicken, Italian sausage and hamburgers for dinner. We drove back the the beach for the sunset. Another fantastic day at the beach. We stayed up until after 12:30 p.m. talking.

To Receive Everything

“To receive everything, one must open one's hands and give.” –Taisen Deshimaru

Los Bandits

We slept in again and after lunch went to Oval Beach for another beautiful day at the beach. We had Taco Bell for dinner and drove into Holland to see the Friday concert - Los Bandits at the Centennial Gazebo. We parked right by the mayor's house and across the street from the Old Netherlands Museum. It was a cool cloudy night. It was fun watching the people. We left for the cottage about 8:30 p.m. It was a cloudy night so we didn't even try to see the sunset.

Be Good To Yourself

“Be good to yourself. If you don’t take care of your body, where will you live?”- Kobi Yamada

May Contain Nuts

I finished reading "May Contain Nuts" by John O'Farrell

ABOUT THE BOOK

Alice never imagined she would end up like this, so anxious after hearing about the dangers of meteorites that she makes her children wear bike helmets in the wading pool. Her husband, David, has taught their four-year-old to list every animal represented in Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. But the more they push their children, the more things there are to worry about. It seems no amount of gluten rationing or herbal teas can improve their children's intellectual development, and as Alice's eldest child looks set to fail her entrance exam for the exclusive private school on which her parents have pinned all their hopes, Alice decides to take matters into her own hands. With a baseball cap pulled low over her face, Alice shuffles into a hall of two hundred kids and takes the test in place of her daughter, her first examination in twenty years. "May Contain Nuts" is a funny, compelling, and provocative satire of the manic world of today's overcompetitive, overprotective families.

John O'Farrell is a big deal in Britain: joke writer for Blair; columns in the Guardian and the Independent; various sitcom-writing successes. In his fourth novel, Alice and David Chaplin live in south London with three young children and two conflicting obsessions: parenting their children to greatness, and shielding them from harm. Related from Alice's first-person perspective, this shrill mix produces a particularly hilarious and harebrained scheme: to protect daughter Molly from rejection by the local elite private school (and to get her in), Alice, conveniently petite and noncurvaceous, will masquerade as Molly and sit for the test. Some riotously funny situations result, with Alice deadpanning and kibitzing the whole way. Perfectly named 'friends' Philip and Ffion prove perfect foils again and again, as the parents compare (precisely: Ffion e-mails an elaborate chart) their children's achievements. There are some downsides: neuroses are simply stated as fact and then slapsticked, while larger issues like urban decay and racial profiling are raised but not addressed. What O'Farrell does accomplish is a near-flawless caricature of 21st-century upper-middle-class parenthood.

The more Alice and Peter push their children, the more things there are to worry about. It's only when Alice disguises herself as her daughter in order to take a school entrance exam that she realizes the exhausting pressures the kids have been under.

Marro's

After sleeping in we walked into town to get the beach pass. We saw some turtles sunbathing by Petersen's Mill. We had ice cream at Kilwin's and talked to one of the Saugatuck police officers - Bob Swartz. He recommended Phil's for lunch. We ended up going back to the cottage for sandwiches. We spent another wonderful day at the beach. We were gonna eat at Phil's by the drug store but it was too crowded and smoky. We even checked the Dockside Restaurant but it was too pricey. We ended up eating pizza at Marro's. It was pretty good. We caught a partial sunset and the boys walked the beach.

Determination

"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man's determination." - Tommy Lasorda

First Day In Saugatuck

View of Oval Beach in Saugatuck

We left home at about 1:00 p.m. and arrived in Saugatuck about 4:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m Michigan time) We unloaded the van and then drove into Holland for dinner at Denny's. We then picked up groceries at Meijers. We made it back to watch the sunset but there wasn't much of one.

A Child Playing On The Beach

"To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me." — Isaac Newton

Prepare

"The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital." - Joe Paterno

The Doing

“Things won are done; joy’s soul lies in the doing.” - William Shakespeare

The Duty Of Being Happy

“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.” - Robert Louis Stevenson.

Who Is Strong?

"Who is strong? He that can conquer his bad habits." - Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack.

Study Little Things

“It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery, and as much happiness as possible.” - Samuel Johnson

Birthday Party

We had a family get together for my youngest son's birthday. The temperature was in the 90's and it was hot, but the backyard was shady and there was a breeze. His little cousin Abby had a blast under the sprinkler/mister. Dinner was Pizza Hut pizza.

If It Weren't For The Optimist

"If it weren't for the optimist, the pessimist wouldn't know how happy he isn't." - Unknown

The Wedding Crashers

We watched "The Wedding Crashers" on DVD.

Synopsis

John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Klein (Vince Vaughn) are a pair of divorce mediators who spend their weekends crashing weddings in search of Ms. Right for a night. But when one of them falls for the engaged daughter (Rachel McAdams) of an influential and eccentric politician (Christopher Walken) at the social event of the year, they get roped into spending a wild weekend at the family's palatial waterfront estate and quickly find themselves in over their heads.

Compendium

The full text of the English translation of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is now available online at the Vatican website. An excellent resource indeed.

The 40 Year-Old Virgin

I watched the DVD "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" It had some very funny parts.

Synopsis


40-year-old Andy Stitzer (Steve Carrell) has done quite a few things in his life. He's got a cushy job stamping invoices at an electronics superstore, a nice apartment with a proud collection of action figures and comic books, good friends, a nice attitude. But there's just one little thing he hasn't quite gotten around to doing yet - something most people have done by his age. Done a lot. Andy's never, ever, ever had sex - not even by accident. So is that such a big deal? Well, for Andy's buds at the store, it sure is. Although they think he's a bit of an oddball, there's certainly a planetful of stranger (and homelier) guys who've at least had one go at having a go. They consider it their duty to help Andy out of his dire situation and go to great lengths to help him. But nothing proves effective enough to lure their friend out of lifelong chastity until he meets Trish (Catherine Keener), a 40-year-old mother of three. Andy's friends are psyched by the possibility that "it" may finally happen...until they hear that Andy and Trish have begun their relationship based on a mutual no-sex policy.

Hope

"Hope is like a road in the country; there wasn't ever a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence." - Lin Yutang

Children

"Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them." - Lady Bird Johnson

Happiness

"Happiness is a thing to be practiced, like the violin." - John Lubbock

Two Little Words

"Two little words that can make the difference: Start Now." - Mary C. Crowley

All The Beauty

"Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy." - Anne Frank

Prime

We watched the DVD "Prime" with Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep.

Synopsis

Dave (Bryan Greenberg), a talented 23-year-old painter from Brooklyn, falls in love with Rafi (Uma Thurman), a recently divorced 37-year-old career woman from Manhattan. Part counselor, part Jewish mother, Rafi's therapist Lisa (Meryl Streep) is gingerly helping Rafi out of her post-divorce slump and through the urgent alarm of her ticking biological clock. Although doubtful that Rafi's new fling (he is 23, after all) is an appropriate partner in the long term, Lisa encourages her patient to enjoy it and have fun (he is 23, after all!). But once Lisa accidentally discovers that Rafi's new boyfriend is, in fact, her son, Dave, she finds it increasingly difficult to act the good therapist while hearing intimate details of her son's love life. Soon, the secret is out and cultures clash, complications arise, civil arguments erupt and a storm of opinions swirl around the couple at the center of all this comic fuss.

Be Curious Always

"Be curious always! For knowledge will not acquire you, you must acquire it."- Sudie Back

Proof

I watched the DVD "Proof" with Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins and Jake Gyllenhaal. Parts of it were filmed in Chicago. It made me think of the movie "A Beautiful Mind."

Synopsis

A devoted daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow) comes to terms with the death of her father (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant mathematician whose genius was crippled by mental insanity - and is forced to face her own long-harbored fears and emotions. She adjusts to his death with the help of one of her father's former mathematical students (Jake Gyllenhaal), who searches through her father's notebooks in the hope of discovering a bit of his old brilliance. While coming to terms with the possibility that his genius, which she has inherited, may come at a painful price, her sister (Hope Davis) arrives to help settle their father's affairs.

Do it

"Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it. Plan more than you can do, then do it." - Anonymous

Broken Flowers

I watched the DVD "Broker Flowers" with Bill Murray, Sharon Stone and Jessica Lange.
The end leaves you wondering.

Synopsis

The resolutely single Don (Bill Murray) has just been dumped by his latest lover, Sherry (Julie Delpy). Don yet again resigns himself to being alone and left to his own devices. Instead, he is compelled to reflect on his past when he receives a mysterious pink letter by mail. It is from an anonymous former lover and informs him that he has a 19-year-old son who may now be looking for his father. Don is urged to investigate this "mystery" by his closest friend and neighbor, Winston, an amateur sleuth and family man. Hesitant to travel at all, Don nonetheless embarks on a cross-country trek in search of clues from four former flames. Unannounced visits to each of these unique women hold new surprises for Don as he haphazardly confronts both his past and, consequently, his present.

If You Wait

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older." - Mario Andretti

The Office: Season One

I watched the DVD "The Office: Season One."

Synopsis

A remake of the hit 2001 BBC TV series The Office (2001), this is a mockumentary that documents the exploits of a paper supply company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Made up of head chief Michael Scott, a harmlessly deluded and ignorantly insensitive boss who cares about the welfare of his employees while trying to put his own spin on company policy. With an office including the likes of various peers who have their own hangups, The Office (2005) takes a look at the lives of it's co-workers: bored but talented salesman Jim, his mildly sociopathic, butt kissing enemy Dwight, mildly righteous receptionist Pam, and indifferent temp Ryan.

Your Thoughts

"You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you." - James Lane Allen

Managing Your Boss

Managing your boss means:

• Knowing his/her work habits and how they affect you.
• Communicating in ways he/she's most likely to hear.
• Recognizing his/her values and looking for alignment.
• Representing your staff's wins, concerns or needs effectively.
• Building trust that makes successes more enjoyable and failures less than fatal.
• Anticipating his/her needs, so you can plan your work/manage your time accordingly.
• Knowing how to disagree constructively; as the loyal opposition, not just the opposition.
• Ensuring "a place at the table" for your team, when many others in the organization are requesting resources.
• Helping one another through knowledge of each other's strengths and weaknesses. And now, the quiz.

"Twenty Questions about Your Boss" to test your depth of knowledge and understanding of the person who has direct influence on your success. Answer as many questions as you can, and consider what it might mean to your effectiveness if you can't fill in some of the blanks. Here are the 20 questions:

1. Preferred method of giving info to me:
2. Preferred method of getting info from me:
3. Biggest current pressure:
4. Stands for these values, first and foremost:
5. Biggest "hot button":
6. Passion outside of work:
7. Has expertise in:
8. Lacks expertise in:
9. Vision for our organization:
10. Would be really hurt if someone:
11. Best boss my boss ever worked for:
12. Expects this from me when there's a small problem:
13. Expects this from me then there's a big problem:
14. Will not compromise when it comes to:
15. Considers a great day at work to be:
16. Handles pressure by:
17. Is respected by her/his bosses for:
18. Respects others for:
19. Has a blind spot about:
20. Thinks I'm great at:

My Country

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." - Nathan Hale

"Dreams are only thoughts you didn't have time to think about during the day." - Anonymous

Dreams

"Dreams are today's answers to tomorrow's questions." - Edgar Cayce

An Eye For An Eye

"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind." - Mohandas Gandhi

Family Reunion

My father's side of the family had a reunion at Lombard Commons. It looked like rain, but it held off. It was also a get together for my Aunt Dolores' 70th birthday. My Uncle Gene and his dog Hercules and Aunt Beatty with her new husband Ted were in from Florida. It was good to see some cousins and aunts and uncles that I don't get to see that much.

Life

"Life is the art of drawing without an eraser." - John W. Gardner

Reading Challenges

"A reading challenge is a good way to get some focus into your reading if you feel you don't know what to read next, you want to expand your reading horizons, become an expert on a given subject, or break out of a bad reader's block. Hunting down the books can be half the fun if you assign yourself a specific set of books and they turn out to be out of print or otherwise hard to find. Different challenges suit different people. Some may do a modest book-a-week challenge for one year or plan to read all of a specific author’s books, while others may be more ambitious and embark on a lifetime reading plan. Some may want to cover every number in the Dewey catalogue. Including the fractions would be a bit too much for most, but by taking whole numbers only you would get 999 books and many years of targeted reading. Here is a list of more possible reading challenges:

* All the books that have won a specific literary award: the Pulitzer, the Nobel, the Booker etc.
* The 100 best novels or non-fiction books of the 20th century.
* An A-Z challenge: read, in alphabetical order, books whose author’s last (or first) name begins with a given letter of the alphabet, or read books with ABC titles.
* An A-Z challenge: read, in alphabetical order biographies of people whose last name begins with a given letter of the alphabet.
* One book from or about every country in the world, or the states of the USA.
* One book about all the different sports.
* One book about all the different religions.
* Books that have been banned or challenged.
* Books that formed the foundations of a specific genre, for example science fiction or mystery.
* Every book in a given series.
* One book from each year of the 20th century.
* The top best-sellers from a given period of time.
* An unfocused challenge.

Other rules were that you could not read the same author twice, rereads were only allowed if you had forgotten what the book was about, each book had to belong to a different sub-genre than the last, and you would try to read as many new genres as possible."

Paraphrased and borrowed from http://52books.blogspot.com/

I have always tried to challenge myself to read at least 26 books a year about one every two weeks. I usually exceed that number and my reading is pretty unfocused. I find an author I like and read most or all of their books. I read according to my moods. I usually look for something upbeat and not depressing. A real challenge would be to read every book in my personal library.

So many books, so little time. The more I read the more I want to read.