Thatgeek – Previously Sonicpling

Well, Melissa drove the car to work and back today and the brakes still work. I consider it a rousing success.

Melissa and myself have both taken tomorrow off for an impromptu three-day weekend. We might go to Houston or Tyler tomorrow.. Or maybe we’ll just hang out around the house. One never knows.

Book of the day: Hey, I just noticed that amazon.com has added a “search within the book” feature. Looks very cool. Check it out.

Anyway, back to the book: Today’s recommended volume is Wings of dawn by Sigmund Brouwer.

When I first read this book it was called “Magnus”, I’m not sure why they renamed it, but it is a magnificent book regardless.

From Amazon: In the year of our Lord 1312, in the remote North York Moors of England, Thomas pursues his destiny–the conquest of Magnus, an 800-year-old kingdom, an island castle that harbors secret dating back to the days of King Arthur and Merlin. Haunted by a beautiful woman he dare not trust, surrounded by enemies he cannot see, and with no army but a mysterious knight he has saved from the gallows, Thomas faces an insurmountable task. Yet armed with a powerful weapon he had concealed since his orphaned boyhood, there remains and glimmer of hope. To win Magnus, however, is the only the beginning of Thomas’s quest, one that will unearth ancient secrets, strengthen his fragile faith in God, and place him squarely against an evil conspiracy that has ruled the land for centuries–spreading wings of dawn over a land that has experienced a long, bleak night.

This one is more grounded in reality than the last two I’ve recommended, so if you’re not into fantasy, maybe you’ll prefer some historical fiction.

Till Next Time…

A few days ago Melissa’s car started making a small noise as we were driving along. this noise sounded something like a small pebble caught in a hubcap and rattling around. I didn’t really give it much thought, but the next time I drove it it was making a grinding noise when the brakes were applied. Melissa was worried about this, but I, in my wisdom, assumed it was just because the roads were wet.

Well, chalk one up for Melissa, because the passenger front brake pads were down to bare metal, literally. Because of this the rotor was damaged as well.
we called the shop and it was going to be $200 to resurface the rotor and replace the pads. so I decided to look into doing it myself. Since I’m not a mechanic, this prospect didn’t excite my lovely wife. But the parts would only be $70, and I can’t let that much money slip away without a fight.

So I looked on google and found some good how-to’s here and here.

Turned out to be even easier than they made it out to be. Took about an hour for the first wheel and, having built up my confidence, twenty minutes for the other. (Since they say you need to replace the rotors in pairs I did the drivers side front as well.)

Anyway, long story short (too late, I know..) everything seems to be ship shape now (knock on wood) and I saved $130. Pretty good wages for an afternoons work, I think.

Another favorite book coming tomorrow…

I caught a small part of a special about The American Orient Express while channel surfing the other day. And decided to check it out today. The National Parks of the West tour looks like a blast, as well as the Autumn in New England & Quebec tour. It looks like my kind of vacation too, once you’ve paid up (and boy do you ever pay up..) you can just sit back and take in the views.

I’d say it’s one of the first things I’m going to do after I win the lottery.

Yesterday I mentioned that I might let you in on some of my favorite books, and I’m going to do just that, but I’ve decided to spread it out over a few days. This is for several reasons, not the least of which is that I have nothing else to write about at the moment. ;-P

The first book I think you might like, is titled Stardust and was written by a fellow named Neil Gaiman.

I first read this book a few years ago and was enamored with the dreamlike quality it has.
Neil has a wonderful gift for prose and also a vivid imagination, and he draws you into a very well crafted world with this top-notch story.

Spike magazine has a review that sums up pretty well how I feel about Stardust.

Go read it!

Another dull day gone by.. not that I mind, don’t get me wrong, it just doesn’t give me anything exciting to write about. (Maybe thats a good thing anyway)

It’s been a while since I had a good book to read, so when we were at wal-mart Saturday evening I picked up Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card.. I read it Sunday night and was pretty pleased with it. It seemed a little hostile towards the general Christian world view, but I’m not sure if he’s being hostile towards Christianity in general or just those that are more or less hypocrites.. I prefer to think the later, due to my enjoyment of the story.

to save myself some typing I’m going to blatantly plagiarize the description from amazon here: This first volume of the Tales of Alvin Maker introduces young Alvin Miller Jr., the seventh son of a seventh son, who lives on the frontier of an alternate early 19th century America, where folk magic such as faith healing and second sight really works. While Alvin embarks on his mythic struggle against the Unmaker of all things, he is watched over by a flesh and blood guardian angel; he is pursued by the rigid, zealous Reverend Thrower; and he is guided by the wandering Taleswapper, William Blake.

I wonder which, if any religion Orsen’s subscribes to?

Ah, here we go: Community in the Work of Orson Scott Card (Thanks google)
He’s a Mormon. (I’ll have to look later and see what that entails.)

Good book regardless. Check it out.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll list some of my favorite books of all time.

Till then…

Not much exciting going on today.
I’ve just uploaded some pictures I took around the yard yesterday.
I was especially pleased with the picture of the lizard on the right. (Makes a great desktop background)

Enjoy!