My favorite author......

...passed away today. Michael Crichton died at age 66 from a private battle with cancer. apparently, he kept the news of his cancer away from the public. this was the first i had heard of him being ill.

there's no other author that i read from. not stephen king or john grisham or anyone. maybe i should branch out more and find other authors to read, but Crichton always had a way of blending the scientific/medical side with the suspenseful/entertaining side that really appealed to me. he graduated from medical school before devoting his life to books, and he always incorporated difficult concepts into the stories in a way that i could really grasp.

the first book of his that i read was Jurassic Park. that was the summer blockbuster in the theaters when i was a teenager. we didn't have the cash-money to go to the movies, so my parents bought me the book. about a year later, i watched the movie on VHS. compared to the book, the movie was awful. i understand that the movie was a special effects breakthrough production, but it left out critical parts from the book, and the book painted a much more vivid picture than could be reproduced on the big screen.



i went on to read most of these selections in this cover collage. "Sphere" is one of my favorites that i read periodically. "The Great Train Robbery" was a piecing-together of an actual train robbery in the 1750's (?). i liken it to an "Ocean's Eleven" type adventure. i just finished "Timeline" for the first time. "State of Fear" is probably my favorite. in this book, he challenges the well-believed concept of global warming. basically, he exposes it for what it is: a theory that is one of 100's of theories for why our climate changes over time. he drew harsh criticism from environmentalists for his objective and documented views on the illusion of man-made global warming.

i know this isn't a blog about the house or our family or our work, but the sudden loss of such a great author seemed necessary to blog about. so if you're looking for a good read, give one of his books a try.

Happy Halloween!!!

we had some friends over for a halloween party Saturday night. i think we counted 33 total. so getting ready for this party forced us to get the new house somewhat in order more quickly. we had taco salad and LOTS of halloween candy. we watched some football and played our annual game of Celebrity. we had a great time, plus, we got an extra hour of sleep that night from the time change. woohoo! check out my facebook profile for more pics.

we've had some issues come up (quite literally) with the house. our first night, we slept without heat b/c i couldn't figure out how to get the pilot light to come on at the furnace. our master shower isn't working right, so we have to climb the stairs to the guest bathroom for our morning showers. and to top it all off, our sewage line was clogged, and "poo-water" spilled everywhere in our laundry room (and dripped into the unfinished basement). we've almost got that resolved. the clog is gone, but the stench remains. but, we're loving how close we are to work/school/church. it's been wonderful.

now that our halloween party is done, we can start our projects. be watching for more pictures soon.

ps.....how bout my Crimson Tide?!?!?!?! if you could jump in a time machine, travel back to 1/3/2007 (the day Saban was hired), and tell the masses that Bama would be ranked #1 in 2008 the week Saban returns to Baton Rouge to play LSU, you would be locked away in the crazy house. but here we are. we may lose to LSU, Miss State, Auburn, and Florida, but i'm enjoying this ride. i do think we're playing a little over our heads, but i believe we can make it undefeated to the SEC championship game. then, i'll be scared to death of Florida. they are good.