Wrapping

It's one of my favorite parts of pre-Christmas prep. Throw some Christmas tunes on the radio (LIFE is non-stop Christmas now... just sayin...), grab some tape and pick out some nice paper. Then, get wrapping.

It's really too bad I'm terrible at it.

O.K, not terrible... just not great.

I used to be really bad. It was more of a ball of paper with a gift in it when I was a kid. Now it's a box with suspiciously rounded edges.

This year I discovered double sided wrapping paper. I'm not kidding! It's really a thing! I'm way more excited about this then I should be. I probably need a hobby...

Fireflight Concert

As you probably hear once or twice... or 15 dozen thousand times... Fireflight was in town on the 19th. I was stoked! So stoked, I brought my camera along for the ride.
As before, I shall let my adequate skill as a photographer do all the talking...

Getting things started with some flying guitar.

 Why not add another guitar and a bass (not to be confused with a bass)?

 Dawn begins to serenade us

 I really like this photo... in case you were wondering

Slappin De Bass, Mon!   

I love this shot too... during one of the few calm moments

More concert shots

 Look! We found a fern!

 This is my favorite shot. Love the back lighting on it.

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes. 

I'd been told most of my life the books were good, I knew I'd likely read 'em sooner or later, but never got around to it. Then, last year I watched a trailer for Sherlock Holmes 2. My immediate thought? Forget the movie! I'm reading the book.

It took 8 months, but I finally read "The Book". Or books. 

Turns out Sherlock is a whack (and I do mean whack) of short stories. There are 4 long form books, but the rest are from an old school (think 100 years ago old school) magazine.

I really loved them.

I think it's the way the problems are solved. With CSI being the standard in mysteries anymore, a different format was a refreshing experience.

Another thing that surprised me was how messed up Holmes is.

He's moody, rude, a slight chauvinist and even has some less the terrific habits.

Sounds like us doesn't he? Messed up. Yet, he was a hero in fiction world and in our world.

Believe it or not, God used this as an analogy for me. 

Just like Holmes was used despite his idiosyncratic, God uses us despite ours.  

I did wind up seeing the movie... just read the books...

Planking

It seems that we go from one crazed fad to another. In the past pet rocks (ya pet rocks) in more recent times virtual hamsters and stuff like that. We've also had some physical fads. One really cool one was Parkour which is basically doing ninja stuff without the ninja outfit.
Now for the year 2011 we have this....




I think the video sums it up best... planking is the new bored.