The Dis-Order of the Phoenix

You may recall in an earlier blog I wrote of my effort to finish reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix so we could watch the DVD as I'd be caught up to the story which Carol, Ian and Taylor had already read (and beyond). Saturday night's Netflix was "the Order" and as Taylor was already in Austria it was just Ian, Carol and I to watch it though Ian and Taylor had already seen it. The book which in the first half I found to be a bit ponderous picked up a lot of steam in the second half and was a very exciting read though the conclusion.

In this candid photo from the set of the movie
(L-R) Rupert Grint (Ron), Daniel Radcliffe (Harry)
and Emma Watson (Hermione) can't believe what
they are hearing from the deranged director who
is trying to convince them that the scene they
are about to shoot will make sense when they see
it on the big screen.

Well, considering the effort I made to read the book the makers of the movie should have done the same. This movie was completely fragmented from beginning to end with story bits out of context or totally made up from a different book in a alternate universe. In the first place, we all know that books hold a lot more detail which can't be included in a movie or it would be about 83 hours long. Who has that kind of time? The choices the director made of what to use in the movie hardly made any sense at all and we found it hard to believe anyone who hadn't read the book would be able to follow along and instead wonder what the heck was going on, how certain circumstances came about and why the characters were doing what they were doing (as you may be wondering about this blog...I digress). Now making a movie out of a Harry Potter book is not impossible. The previous movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was excellent. The story line used was cohesive from beginning to end. A lot of the book was left out but the parts that were used were linked strongly enough for the story line to make sense. Unfortunately this most recent release was quite a disappointment.

the gravity downunder

This month's newsletter daze is over and projects at the office have picked up considerably. Some of today's distractions was regularly checking the airline's arrive times to Auckland, NZ to see when Ian landed. They were about 20 minutes later than scheduled, similar to the two connections previous to to that. The time there is 18 hours ahead of us so now it's about Tuesday, 9pm here and Ian is on Wednesday, 3pm there. Carol has the agenda for his first day at the center so it may be awhile before he checks in with an e-mail. This is the e-mail I sent him before supper tonight:

Subject: How's the gravity downunder mate?

Hi Bud,

We hope you had a good trip to NZ and that things are looking good at the Field Centre. So after you drop your gear and hit the dunny have a good day there.

Cheerio,
the Dad

How's that for throwing in a little Kiwi lingo - I'm ready to go native, just get me a plane ticket.

We just received an email from a staff member there saying, "I'm just writing to let you know that everyone arrived safely and are having a beautiful summers day here. We have started the orientation process, and the students will have access to email soon. I'm sure they will be in contact themselves, but wanted to reassure everyone that the group has arrived and are well. Cheers!"

Boy, am I on target or what. "Cheers"

New Zealand or Bust

Today was the day for Ian to finally depart for New Zealand. A day we all have been looking forward to yet regretting him being away so long. It's a great experience by far. Carol and I will enjoy that Ian has this opportunity and look forward to hearing of his activities. Ian just checked in a few minutes ago from LAX as I began writing this blog. He and a group of other students he'll be traveling with are heading to check out the terminal they'll be leaving for New Zealand from. Maybe by tomorrow night we'll get an e-mail after he gets settled in at the Centre.

All ready to leave for the airport

Becoming one with the cat on the way out the door.

Bags are checked and there's time for
smoothies and coffee before going
through security.

Carol snapped this picture as Ian's plane taxis for takeoff.

After e-mailing to a friend that Ian will be back before we know it, the way time flies, she replied in verse,

"The years go by like nightbirds in a song.
It's just the days and nights that take so long."

She didn't mention where the verse came from but I thought it was good for the soul.

For the next few months my blogs will be peppered with things about Ian's activities and other things New Zealand.

Getting through another January

Been a little too busy to take time to blog. Right now I'm in my newsletter daze. Just sent the church's out to proof and will dig into the town's this morning and plow through it all weekend. I was a little down early in the week as my Green Bay Packers lost the NFC Championship game on their homefield to the New York Giants who will take on the undefeated New England Patriots in next Sunday's SuperBowl. Now we are on the brink of Ian leaving for New Zealand on Monday. Taylor arrived in Vienna, Austria yesterday safe and sound though with a couple of twists. Apparently a bottle of water from the plane one arrives from in Heathrow is a no-no, then a misinformed German driver in Austria delivered her group to the wrong school. All resolved and once there she likes her room and now her academic adventure begins. With Ian's and Taylor's overseas studies going on I'll need to get a handle on time differences. I like to get that straight in my mind so I know what time of day they are in relative to my own. Like I don't have enough to confuse me when all things are "normal".

Another couple of days getting through winter.

We're back in the snow again, about 15" Monday here on Ledge Hill. I left for work when it had barely started to snow - by the time I left there was over 6" of snow on my truck. Not as much snow on the coast as at home.

At lunch time I wandered up the street to Starbucks for
a Grande-Bold, my usual, a scattering of folks weathering
the storm with a beverage and a good book.

I took my libation to a table by the window
looking out upon Congress Street.

This view is down the street in front of my
office building.

On another note, Saturday Carol and I went to the Mall. She dropped me off at Borders while she headed to the nearby craft stores. I had a gift card that Lois and Jim gave me for Christmas. So I spent an enjoyable hour plus looking over ever the entire store. Ended up with three books, a magazine and a DVD. The books were: "Crossover" by Joel Shepherd; "Earthfall" the fourth volume of the Homecoming series by Orsen Scott Card; and "Look to Windward" by Iain Banks, an author I've seen mentioned several times in Asimov's editorials. All the books are science fiction. The DVD was scifi as well, "Blade Runner", been wanting that one for awhile, dark but one of the best. The mag was "Trailer Life", has an article about weight distribution bars for towing campers, thought it might be helpful, especially if I read it.

Fog for me

Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through fog with linguists and contenders,
I have no mockings or arguments, I witness and wait.

~ Walt Whitman: From Song of Myself (1855)

Carol and I left for work this morning at our usual 6am, dark with a bit of fog as we crested Ledge Hill and made our way along the roads to get to the interstate. After passing the stately farmhouse and following the downward winding road we were swallowed up by some of the thickest fog I've ever tried to drive through. It was all I could do to see either the centerline or the edge of the road in the same glance. Fortunately the interstate's fog was nowhere near as dense, we picked up Lois on our way and made it to our destination with no further problem.

60°...in January?

In Portland there is structure referred to as The Time & Temperature Building. It has a three-sided, four character, four sequence message display at the top of this 14 story building (see photo below).

Two of the display sequences will be some sort of message or ad, the final two sequences are the time and temperature (insert, duh, here). In conjunction with this town landmark is a "time & temperature phone number which provides... you guessed it! The time & temperature! Though I work in a nearby building it's not easy from my vantage point to see the T&T so at lunch today before venturing out for my noontime walk I dialed the number and was told the time (accurately enough) and the temp was "56°", cripes! According to tonight's weather report Portland got up to 60°. So I donned a sweatshirt and headed out. By the time I was on the backside of my trek I had to take the sweatshirt off. Folks were out and abouts in short sleeves, some in shorts. It was a nice break in what had begun as a doozy of a winter. I'm sure we'll get back to cold temps and more snow but a couple of days like this and no complaints. Now that's my kind of global warming, Al!

Non-productive production

Amongst the gifts I received for Christmas Carol gave me a 2 gigabyte memory card for my phone. In addition to making phone calls and taking pictures my phone stores and plays music - with the 2 gig card I could have over four hundred songs. The card itself is less than a half an inch square and wafer thin. So I put in some time this weekend converting songs from my CDs into mp3 files then transferring them to my phone via my computer. The phone came with a set of earbuds for listening to music or to use for handsfree phone use but Carol also gave me a Bluetooth headset (look ma, no wires!). Now when I choose to listen to music at work or home and abouts I get a dose of the "Psychedelic Furs" or "Ian Hunter" with a touch of a couple of buttons.

The long grind begins

I was back at work Wednesday after my week and a half of Saturdays wrapped around the holidays. At our company the New Years Day Holiday is the last paid holiday until Memorial Day (May 26th), hence the long grind. Sure I could drop a few vacation days along the way but one (cough, cough) never knows when a "mental health" day may become necessary. Well the days at work went by quickly, not a lot of things for me to do this week but I got my time in. I spoke with the vet the other day about Patches, we doubled up his daily dose of pills...he was out of the kennel both days he was left there. Last night, wishing I had a way to put a lid on the kennel, I realized I had an extra kennel panel the width of the kennel itself so today Ian and I installed it across the top of the doghouse that Patches climbs up on to jump out from. When Carol and I went for a walk today we put the dogs in the kennel and when we returned Patches was still inside though from the appearance of the thin layer of snow on the dog house roof it was obvious that Patch had gotten up there but was thwarted in his attempt to escape. This doesn't end the problem, at least not yet, we'll have to see.

Last night's movie was Shrek 3. Like it's predecessors, funny use of clinches and stereotypes. Tonight it's the second of the the first two NFL playoff games, two more tomorrow during which we'll duck out to attend a scout event with our Boy Scout Troop. All in all 2008 marches on.

New Year's Day

Greetings on this snowy New Year's Day on Ledge Hill. The snow hangs heavy on the boughs of the Norway spruce overhanging the propane tank in the back yard. It's a beautiful site, one of many snow storms we've had since the beginning of December. I think we've had seven storms so far. A big difference from recent years. The snowblower and shovels have been kept busy. Our brother-in-law Jim plows roads in the town he and Lois live in and at times it seems he and his co-workers are going non-stop from plowing and preparing for another storm right after the last. As you may know I'm not a fan of winter but for the time being I'm OK with it especially as there has been very little rain mixed in. By February I'll be craving springtime.

2007 was an interesting year in our household, events of note: Ian completes his freshman year in college - Carol and mine camping/hiking trips - Carol's trip abroad to England and Sweden - my vacation at the family camp - Carol's father passing away - nephew Marc and Meghan's wedding - celebrated my mother's 80th birthday - my diet with which I lost 30 lbs by June and maintaining it through the last six months.

2008 upcoming events we know about so far: Ian's study abroad semester in New Zealand and Taylor's to Vienna - Carol's relatives from Sweden visiting the family here in Maine in July - some camping weekends yet to be determined (campershow in February, ye-ha!) - celebrating Margaret's 80th birthday - I'll be building a deck in the back yard and Patches will be Patches, that you can be sure of!

I'm sure I left a few things of note out and the usual day in and day out happenings of course but once spring gets here I'll be ready and raring for anything.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas wrap up

We headed up to me Mum's Sunday for my side of the family's Christmas gathering. We invited Taylor to come along, this was her first visit with my family. Not too many surprises on activities, none expected. Mom and everyone looked great. Everyone brought some food along, calorie binge for me though I was back on track the day after. There was lasagna, mini hot dogs in BBQ sauce, veggy platter, cheese, chips , crackers and dip, spicy & hot cheese with hot sausage dip with Frito scooping chips. Desserts were a chocolate/strawberry torte, ice cream cake with a mini Almond Joy border and Blueberry cheesecake squares. I came down from the food high on the drive home - slept on the couch for about an hour after I got home. As usual I enjoyed myself immensely with the family, too brief of a visit. We'll have to see what's going on around Easter.

Melissa modeling her new sweater - (l-r) her
Dad, my brother Dave and brother Dennis
and his wife Barbara.

My sister Doreen and her husband Marc.

Barbara, daughter Sarah, Carol, Taylor,
nephew Eric and niece Lindsey.

Marc donning some headgear, his and Doreen's
daughter Deanna and Ian.

Lindsey, my sisters Kathy and Doreen.

and Mom checking out the digital photo
frame gift from Dave's family.