He Found Them, He Killed Them

TAKEN

Totally unbelievable, large gaps of logic, giant leaps of reasoning, , a weak ending, and a cast of cliched bad guys who can't hit the broadside of a barn with an automatic weapon, let alone a man 6 feet away from them. But you know what -

PURE AWESOMENESS

This movie is about a "skilled" man who follows through on his promise to the bad guys when they take his daughter. "I will look for you, I WILL find you, and I will KILL you." Then over the next hour he does just that. Basically imagine if Jack Bauer wasn't such a wuss. That is our guy.

And I quote the bad guy: "We can neg.."

Where is the rest of the quote you ask? That's it - shot to the forehead, negotiation is over buddy.

A Must Read for all Travellers

The Travel Detective
by Peter Greenberg

A great book that takes the time to explain through clear examples how air travel works. I simply thought I booked a seat, went to the airport, and rode to my destination. There is a lot more going on behind the scenes and it is well worth the read if you want to have a better, and more importantly, a cheaper flight. He also spends time on car rental, cruises, hotels, luggage, and most other travel related topics. I will probably read all his books to be prepared for our vacation in June.

The funny stories and the secret to using your frequent flier miles are worth the price of admission alone.

Stardate Whatever

Up Till Now
By William Shatner & David Fisher
Occasionally I like to throw a biography into my reading mix; sometimes it is serious and now and again completely frivolous. Up Until now was a brilliant book who opens up the man who is comfortable with himself.

Things I learn:

• It can take a really long time for being an actor to pay off.
• While he never got that "make you a big star" role, he did manage to become identifiable throughout the world with the jobs he took to pay the rent.
• Some members of Star Trek really don't like him.
• There has been some real sorrow in his life.
• He doesn't take himself too seriously, which is the key to being awesome.
• He is Canadian

What we didn't learn:

• Does he wear a Toupee

The one disagreement I have with his assessment, Shatner and Spader (as Crane & Shore) do not share the closest nonsexual male bond on television - for me that will always be JD and Turk.

Short Cuts

I have a coworker named Rae Dawn, and on the way home I heard the most interesting commercial. Apparently she is one of the most prolific silent killers in America and I should watch out. Amazing the things I don’t know, I mean, she doesn’t even look like a ninja.

I go to the store to make a small beverage purchase and pick up my coat from the dry cleaning desk – but it turns out I forgot my wallet at home. When the stores insist on cash now for your purchases, well, Al Queda has won.

Only funny for LDS members. A young man in the ward starts to bless the water, too bad we were on the bread. He catches his mistake halfway through, stops, and says into the microphone “Sorry, My Bad.”

Deep Thoughts from the Shallow End #1

I have been on the facebook (I like saying “the face book”) pretty heavy the last few weeks, getting caught up in the excitement of seeing people I haven’t seen in 20 years. I am especially amazed at how many old people I went to high school with. While it has been nice to see the great successes in others lives, either professionally or personally, I have also caught up on some of the tragedies. I have learned that the cute little 12 year old girl who lived next door to me had such a hard time that in the end she took her own life. Since I wasn’t there for the bad times, to me she is still the happy 7th grader and it is hard to bridge that gap in my mind. Just this week a very good friend of mine let it be known that he is getting divorced, and another person shared with me that my pictures of some happy couple 20 years ago are now broken apart.

Now I don’t know the stories about these particular people and wouldn’t pretend to guess, but it has got me thinking about some stuff I have read or experienced. About half of those in love couples you see get married will get divorced. Now sometimes they probably should, but occasionally it is an accumulation of a lot of little steps in the wrong direction. What gets me the most, and again I am speaking generally (and absolutely not about anyone specifically), is when I here someone say we are married in the Temple (i.e. an official Mormon wedding) so we have a better marriage. I know quite a lot of people who not only believe this, but have said it out loud. While a temple wedding statistically speaking has better odds of surviving, it is no guarantee of success, or that it will be a happy one at that. Too often people use that ceremony as an excuse to get lazy and not do all the work to keep a marriage up. It is hard work to have a successful marriage,and there if you believe for one second that your temple certificate has given you a free pass you are probably in for a very tragic surprise one day. Any two people can be happily married, just some require a hell of lot more work than others.

What am I trying to say? I don’t know except if you were to talk to most divorced people I feel they would tell you how hard it was on them. You should marry well to begin with and do not ever assume for one minute that you will always be as happy as the wedding day; be working every minute to shore up the weak parts. Because up until the second the I35 Bridge collapsed, everybody assumed it was secure, safe, and would last forever.

Double O - My Goodness, Back up Dude!

Occasionally I am actually forced to interact with people as I muddle through life - too bad I know. And sometimes in those interactions you meet him, the secret agent of destruction

Mr. Tosis

Hal Tosis

liscensed to kill with one breath.

There is a guy at work who has his good and bad days, and to quote Mae West - when he is bad, he is very bad.

Of course being an adult I don't say anything, I just try to keep a lot of personal space between us, keep the conversation short, and hide my grimaces. Most of all though I get all paranoid about myself. I mean, if this reasonably intelligent and attentive adult can walk around killing plant life - maybe I am too. And since most people are polite, they are keeping it to themselves as well. So the cycle of paranoia ramps up and I start chewing gum until my jaw hurts.

What is the answer???

I think I used to work there

The Crazy School
by Cornelia Read

A straight forward mystery which keeps you guessing pretty much until the end. I listen to this on tape as I went about my day and the woman reading it, Hillary Huber, nailed the voice perfectly.

Madeline Dare is a new teacher at a school for the mentally unstable, a place where desperate parents pay a lot of money for someone to take their kids off their hands. Unfortunately the people in charge are even crazier. When the bodies start adding up with all the evidence pointing at Dare - she is left to prove herself innocent.

A very good mystery, but be aware it is book two with this character. You may want to start with book one because her past is mentioned occasionally.