Desecration and The Remnant

Last night, or should I say early this morning (about 2 am), I finished the 9th Left Behind book called Desecration and started the 10th, The Remnant. It’s hard to put these books down. For example, at the end of Desecration, 2 bombs and a missile are dropped on the believers in Petra. The book ended with no indication about what happened to the millions of believers there.

Even though ti was already 2 am, I had to start The Remnant so I could find out what happened. I won’t spoil it for you.

Once again, we had a very cold night – it was 43 outside when I got up about 5:30. The temp inside (55) wasn’t much better, but I can’t see much point in having the heat on unless there’s danger of freezing. A nice warm shirt, a pair of long pants allow me to be comfortable, especially if I cover up with a lap robe or blanket. And a bonus: it’s conducive to reading and napping. Other than picking up a few groceries, that’s pretty much all I did today.

I had to start my cmoputer backup for the third time. Instead of an incremental backup, which I think was causing the problems, I decided to just do another full backup.

Well, I have two more books to go in the Left Behind series and can’t imagine why I wouldn’t finish them in time to take them up to my brother’s for Thanksgiving. As it looks now, I probably won’t get much else done until they have been read.

Until next time…

Brrrrr!

If you have been watching the weather today, you know it’s been cold here in Florida. When I woke at 5:30 this morning, the temp outside was 48; inside was 60. Even though I slept through the night, I went back to bed and slept until 8:30.

I spent most of the day just reading. I finished The 8th book in the Left Behind series (The Mark) and started the 9th (The Desecration). After I finish The Desecration, there are only three more books in the series to read.

Despite wearing long pants, which I rarely do, and a long-sleeved denim/flannel shirt, even more rare, I spent the day wrapped in a blanket reading and catching up on watching TV programs I had DVRed.

Tonight and tomorrow are supposed to be cold again, but then the weather will warm up. I’m sure looking forward to that.

How great that the brunt of Hurricane Tomas bypassed Haiti! Please keep these poor people and that poor country in your prayers. Can you imagine those in tents who refused to leave even though a hurricane was coming? Of course, where would they go? May God bless that island and its people.

Until next time…

More Acupuncture, MegaMind, etc.

This morning, I visited the chiropractor where he did more acupuncture on my knee. Amazing how much better my knee is today, but some of that may be due to the fact that I wore my new walking shoes all day.

After my appointment, I drove to AMC in Brandon to watch the IMAX 3-D version of MegaMind. It is the first IMAX 3-D movie I’ve seen in the Brandon theater. The movie was great – Brad Pitt, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill and David Cross were the voices of the main characters, while Ben Stiller and J.K. Simmons played some of the more minor characters.

While the movie was really good – great story line and characters, I must say I’ll never pay the price to see a movie in IMAX 3-D again. What a waste of money. The normal price of a movie played before noon is now $6. This one, scheduled for 9 am, was $12. I don’t really care for 3-D most of the time and I didn’t see the point of the IMAX – I guess it’s something to do with the sound – the screen seems the same.

After the movie, I came home and finished up my scanning – I had a few documents and pictures ot scan, then started an incremental backup of my computer. I expect it might finish by Sunday night.

This afternoon, I finished the seventh Left Behind book (The In-Dwelling) and started the eight (The Mark). In fact, since it’s after 9 pm, I think I’ll try to get a good ways into it tonight. Since it’s only 50 outside and barely 70 inside, it’s a terrific night to crawl under the covers and read. On the other hand, I may just go right to sleep.

Until next time…

Scanning, Packing, Organizing and The In-Dwelling

I just finished scanning the negatives I recently found, but I still have some printed stuff to scan, including some pictures and documents. I am, however, going to stop scanning for the night. It gets a little tedious.

While scanning today, I did some more packing and organizing and reading. I also took 7 bags of stuff I threw out to the dumpster. Who would believe I had so much junk!

This morning I finished reading Assassins, so I am now half way through the series – only 6 more books to go. I’ve started The In-Dwelling. It’s 388 pages and I’m on page 96. I think The seventh book (The In-Dwelling) is the last one I read back when I was reading them as they came out. The rest should all be new to me.

People who haven’t read The In-Dwelling might think it refers to the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit by Christians. In fact, it refers to the in-dwelling of the Antichrist by Satan. Talk about evil personified.

About 3:00 this morning, I was awakened by very heavy, very loud rainfall. It has been raining most of the day, but not too heavy most of the time. Temps today were in the low 70’s. The next two days it’s supposed to be cold, i.e., in the high 60’s. I’m looking forward to it.

Well, back to reading. Maybe I’ll finish my book before I go to sleep, but probably not.

Until next time.

Elections, Conviction and Assassins

Elections

Are you as glad as I that the elections are over?

Of course, now starts the election season for the 2012 Presidential election. Almost everyone I wanted to win won. Let’s just hope that those elected remember the promise made. This country is in need of less government, a return to common sense and the Constitution, and a balanced budget. Need I go on?

I supported Rick Scott for Governor here in Florida and most emphatically did not want to see Alex Sink our next governor. Rick Scott won, but I’ve got to admit I was very impressed by Alex Sink’s prompt concession even though there were only a few thousand votes between the two of them. She certainly acted more honorably that I expected and much more so than some Republicans I could mention, e.g. Charlie Crist, Lisa Murkowski and Mike Castle. I didn’t expect this after Sink cheated during the last debate and then lied about it, but go figure.

Conviction

This morning, I went to the AMC and saw the movie Conviction starring Hillary Swank. What a great movie. It’s based on a true story about the close bonds between a brother and sister.

The brother is accused and convicted of murdering someone. The sister believes he didn’t do it, but can’t get anyone to help her prove it. She finally decides to become a lawyer so she can re-open the case and prove him not guilty. To do this, she has put her life on hold and get her G.E.D., her B.A. and pass the bar. This process takes her 16 years.

I won’t spoil the ending, but this is a great movie. If you get a chance, be sure to see it.

Assassins

I spent most of the afternoon scanning and reading. I don’t think I’ll ever get done.

I did finish the 5th Left Behind book last night since I couldn’t sleep anyway. Today, while scanning, I started the 6th book, Assassins. I can’t believe how well Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins can weave together and bring to life the events that occur during the Rapture and the Seven Year Tribulation that follows. I’m sure glad I now have all of the books in the series since I wouldn’t want to have to wait from one book to the next.

Until next time…

Lunch with Joan, More Scanning & Apollyon

Today, after dropping off two boxes of books for a lady at the Apostles Lutheran Church, my friend Joan and I met at Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch. I had spent the morning scanning some more color negatives. I can’t believe how well this scanner handles them and, since the actual scanning of 10 negatives at a time talkes quite a while, I got a lot of reading done as well.

Yesterday, before going to sleep, I finished the 4th Left Behind book, Soul Harvest. Today, I’ve been reading the 5th, Apollyon. Since it is almost 400 pages, I don’t think I’ll get it finished tonight. It’s strange but each book seems to get better than the last. And, they really make you think about what the Tribulation period will be like for those left behind.

Re: the Election: I have stayed up long enough to know that Alan Grayson from Florida has lost. In fact, he got trounced. Allen West also won – he seems like a good guy. Marco Rubio will be our next Senator. Now, if Alex Sink, Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer and Jerry Brown get beaten, I’ll be walking on air.

Time to go to bed and read for a few minutes.

Until next time…

More Scanning, More Packing, and Soul Harvest

Are you as happy as I that the election will be over (at least for the most part) tomorrow? If I have to listen to or watch another ad blasting one candidate or another, I think I might scream so loud you’ll be able to hear me.

Hope you all have voted or will be voting tomorrow.

Today, I did a lot more scanning, a lot more packing and have read almost 2/3 of the fourth Left Behind book, Soul Harvest.

One of the items I scanned today was a 64-page booklet I had titled The Great Flood of ‘72, produced by the Star-Gazette (Elmira’s hometown newspaper) shortly after Hurricane Agnes devastated the area. It brought back a lot of memories. I had

I packed two boxes full of Precepts Ministries Study Guides and Kay Arthur books for a lady from Valrico. I’ll be dropping them off at Apostles Lutheran sometime tomorrow.

I can’t seem to put down the Left Behind series. My brother Ray wants to read them next. He had read a couple, but since he’s retired, it shouldn’t take him long to make his way through them.

He didn’t think I’d be done with the twelve books by Thanksgiving, but at the rate I’m going, it will not be a problem. I seem to read one every day and a half. Since that’s 2 every 3 days, and I have 8 more to go, I should be done by 11/13 or 11/14, well before Thanksgiving. I’ll probably read a lot more of Soul Harvest tonight and may even finish it before I go to sleep – that would indeed be an accelerated rate.

By the way, have any of you been watching the new Sherlock series on PBS’s Masterpiece Mystery. In this version, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson live in the current time. Dr. Watson is a veteran of the Afghanistan war. I have loved Sherlock Holmes stories since I read A Study in Scarlet before I was in high school My mom had the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes and I read them all before I left high school. I can’t think of any Sherlock Holmes movie or TV show that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. This series is no exception. The stories aren’t written by Conan Doyle, but they are very similar, though this Sherlock may be a little darker than Doyle’s if that is possible.

Well, off to my reading.

Wuntil next time…