May 17, 2012

A Little Bit of Work Fun

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My team at work is scattered across the US. We have seven people, including myself, who work at our corporate building in Utah. We also have nine other employees in various parts of the US–Florida, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Missouri, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Team camaraderie is a little difficult when it’s only over the phone, once a week (sometimes once a month). Fortunately, all my non-corporate team members were able to come to our work conference last week. So, it was really fun to finally meet one (I’ve met all the others) and see the others again.

Since we were all together for the first time, my boss treated us to a night out. Unfortunately, everyone didn’t/couldn’t go, but it was still most of us and we had a great time! We went to Boondocks. We ate dinner, rode go karts, played mini golf, played a few arcade games, and even rode a 4D motion simulation ride (like Star Tours, but with 3D glasses, for those of you familiar with the Disney theme parks).

Here are some of the pictures taken while we were at Boondocks. Not all of them were taken by me.

It was a lot of fun and I’m glad we were able to spend some time getting to know each other better outside of work.

Filed Under: Work · 5 Comments
May 16, 2012

Movie Review: The Avengers

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Title: The Avengers
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Notable Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson

When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as SHIELD, finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.

I’ve been so excited to see this movie since I knew it was happening. I was worried that I’d be disappointed, but there was no need. The Avengers rocked!

I loved the cast. My favorite character/actor in The Avengers was Robert Downey, Jr. I just love Tony Stark’s character and RDJ does such a great job portraying him. My second favorite character/actor was Tom Hiddleston, or Loki. Why does Loki have to be bad?! I loved him in Thor and was disappointed when he went over to the Dark Side, if you will. And, I’m still disappointed. But, as long as Tom Hiddleston keeps portraying him, Loki can come back and wreak havoc any time he wants to. While I’m disappointed that Edward Norton was too much of a PITA to work with and subsequently fired from being the Hulk, I thought Mark Ruffalo did a great job of filling his shoes.

Some of my favorite moments were between the Avengers themselves. I loved their snarky little comments to each other when they weren’t a team yet. And, I also loved the moments between Thor and Loki.

I’ve seen all the individual superhero movies for each of the Avengers. However, I did fall asleep during the last 20 minutes of Captain America: The First Avenger because my family and I didn’t start watching it until 1:00 am. I didn’t think those last 20 minutes would be crucial to The Avengers. They kind of were because I don’t remember …

Spoiler: Show

Captain America being frozen so he could be available in 2012 instead of during WWII or the Tesseract being a part of his movie.
After watching how awesome Hawkeye and Black Widow are together, I think they need their own movie now too.

I look forward to more movies with the Avengers in them. The movie was nicely set up for a sequel and I’m sure the other superheroes will get more movies too. Hopefully, it’ll be sooner rather than later.

Filed Under: Movie Reviews ·  Tagged: , · 12 Comments
May 16, 2012

Weigh-In Wednesdays

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No measurements again this week. It’s interesting how much attending a work conference can set you back not only at work (because you have to catch up on all the work you missed) and in your personal life. I have been so physically and emotionally exhausted to the point that I relapsed into being sick over the weekend. Thankfully, I’m doing better now. There has been some “damage” to my weight loss because of the last couple of weeks, but I’m sure it’ll come off quickly as I get back into the swing of things this week.

Weight

Weight: 233.2 lbs. (+4 lbs.)

Weekly Goals

Here are my goals for the upcoming week:

  1. Walk a mile on Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday.
  2. Walk/run a mile today, Friday, Saturday, and Monday. I’ll walk for a minute and a half and run for 30 seconds, in intervals.
  3. Stay within my calorie limit (1,440 calories) each day and eat no processed sugar. I’ve come up with a meal plan for each day not only to help me with staying within my calorie limit but to help Corey and I stay within our food budget as well. These meal plans include one green juice each day because I know it’ll help me be healthier.
  4. Eat more veggies!
  5. Go to bed by 10:00 pm and stop using all electronics by 7:30 pm. I’ve been slacking on this and I’ve noticed a huge difference in how I feel both physically and emotionally.
  6. Read my scriptures each day, go to church on Sunday, and go to my youth activity on Tuesday.
Filed Under: Getting Healthy, Weigh-in Wednesday, Weight Loss · 4 Comments
May 15, 2012

The Problem with Book Reviews

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I’ve seen so many different book review styles across the blogosphere, especially within the book blogosphere. In trying to nail down my own style, I’ve often wondered what makes a good book review.

There are so many things to consider when writing a book review. First, what do you include in your book review? Do you include book publication information? Do people really care about that stuff? Do you include spoilers? I find it’s hard to say what I really think when I skirt around the major points of the book. Do you include a synopsis, either in your own words or from the dust jacket or back of the book? Do you talk about the prose and how good/bad it is? Or, do you just concentrate on the feelings you had when you read the book? Or, is it a mixture?

My style has morphed a lot in the past 4.5 years. I wrote my first official book review on this blog in October 2007. It was the hardest review I’ve ever written. I had no idea what to say or include. At first, I wanted to include a synopsis in my own words, but I didn’t like it. You can get the synopsis from the back of the book and I felt like I was reinventing the wheel. I settled on a few of my discoveries when I looked up concepts from the story on the Internet. I also included a small, very small, paragraph about my experience reading the book. The differences between that first review and my latest one are night and day. After a fair warning, I included a lot of spoilers because it was the only way I felt I could discuss my feelings about that particular book. The review is bordering on novel length (okay, that’s an exaggeration, but it is quite long). And, I almost feel like I rambled incoherently, even though I tried to organize my thoughts as well as I could.

Which review is better? Honestly, I don’t know. I’m struggling with what is good and what is bad. I want my reviews to do the books I read justice. I want them to inspire others to read the books. I also don’t want to bore my readers to tears. And, I want to write what I want to write. Is there a good balance?

There are a lot of sites that talk about writing book reviews. Most of them are for college classes. And, of course, that involves looking at symbolism, imagery, prose, setting, and analysis. Frankly, I don’t care about any of that stuff when I read a book, except for a select few (e.g. East of Eden, Night, Diary of a Young Girl). I just want to read for the enjoyment of it not really to be enlightened. And, maybe, that’s my problem. Maybe, I need to read more stimulating material. Or, maybe, I need to look at the books I do read more harshly and actually analyze the prose, symbolism, imagery, setting, etc. and use examples from the book to help support my analysis. Or, maybe, I’m thinking too hard and making this harder than it needs to be. Maybe, I just need to quit worrying about how good my reviews are and just write what I think, like I do now, no matter how long or short my reviews are.

What do you think? Do you struggle with this in your own reviews? If so, how do you combat it? If not, why do you think you don’t struggle?

Filed Under: Books, Discussion · 24 Comments
May 14, 2012

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

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Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Author: JK Rowling
Series: Harry Potter #7
Genre: Fantasy (YA)
Buy on Amazon · Add to Shelfari · Add to Goodreads

Harry Potter is preparing to leave the Dursleys and Privet Drive for the last time. The future that awaits him is full of danger, not only for him, but for anyone close to him–and Harry has already lost so much. Only by destroying Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes can Harry free himself and overcome the Dark Lord’s forces of evil. In a final and perilous journey, Harry must find the strength and the will to face a deadly confrontation that is his alone to fight.

There are spoilers in this review. Read at your own risk.

Each time I’ve read/listened to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I’ve cried. I can’t help it. There are so many emotions that go through me as I read this book. I cry because some of my favorite and most beloved characters die. I cry because it’s the end of a story, a story that means more to me than any other story, a story that helped me discover the wondrous world of reading. I cry because of the adventure, an awesome adventure I was/am able to be a part of.

I felt so bad for Harry when Hedwig died. He had no time to mourn her. It was so sudden and there was so much going on at the time. She was his only link to the wizarding world during the summers when he was with the Dursleys. She was one of his only links to Sirius when Sirius was on the run. She meant so much to Harry. I was just so sad and angry when she died. I wish she had just been set free so he didn’t have to worry about her when he was hunting Horcruxes. But, in war, people and animals die. I’m glad Rowling didn’t take the coward’s way out and keep everyone alive, even though I didn’t want to see any of them die. But, why couldn’t Rowling have just spared Harry’s owl?! At least she had a more dignified, heroic end in the movie. It’s the only thing I prefer in the movies over what happens in the books.

Dobby’s death was the hardest death for me. I know Dobby was the “Jar Jar” of the Harry Potter universe. But, I loved him. I loved his unwavering loyalty to Harry. I loved all the help he gave Harry over the course of five years. And, I think he died how he would’ve wanted to die, saving Harry. The burial was so tender and so heart-wrenching. I sobbed.

As soon as Lupin and Tonks made Harry Teddy’s godfather, I knew Lupin and Tonks were dead. I knew Rowling was going to mirror Harry’s life with Teddy’s, but with a happier childhood because of Teddy’s loving grandma and Harry.

I love the epilogue. I didn’t find it cheesy in the least bit. Sure, the name Albus Severus is something to be desired, but I still love it. I laughed and cried. My only disappointment is that I wanted to know more about more of the characters. But, I love that we get to see what we do and that Rowling has answered questions about the other characters in interviews.

“Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love.” Albus Dumbledore

I loved learning about Dumbledore’s past and family. I knew that Rita Skeeter would have some truth in her book. But, I also knew that she’d have it wrong and make it worse than it really was. After Aberforth and Dumbledore told Harry what happened, it made so much sense. And, it just made Dumbledore seem more human and made my love and admiration for him grow.

I also loved learning more about Snape. We only saw tidbits about his past here and there and they were usually jaded because we saw it through Harry’s eyes and didn’t get the full picture. I loved learning the truth about Snape and all it entailed. Not only did it show us how much Dumbledore understood Voldemort and how much Voldemort didn’t know anything at all, we also got to experience some of Lily and Petunia’s childhood.

The first time I read Deathly Hallows, I just wanted to know what would happen. I devoured it and I lost out on a lot of the detail. This time, my second read but third time through the book (audiobook), I caught so much more. I noticed the battle at Hogwarts a lot more. I also realized that there really wasn’t that much camping involved. Rowling just glossed over some of the smaller places Harry, Hermione, and Ron visited. But, they did a lot while they were searching for the Horcruxes and the sword. I also laughed and smiled more during this read because I wasn’t always anxious about what was going to happen next since I already knew.

Deathly Hallows is, by far, my favorite book in the series, although Azkaban is my favorite story. I just loved seeing all my questions answered. When I first read Deathly Hallows, I had made a list of unanswered questions, no matter how insignificant I thought they were, and I loved finding out the answers. I love the complexity of this series and how much detail is involved in everything right up until the end. As I’ve said many times, JK Rowling is a genius and that’s all there is to it.

Filed Under: Book Reviews ·  Tagged: , , · 4 Comments
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