One Sweet World

Not so important posts about a married couple living in Baltimore.

Name:
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

What a surprise!

So, this past weekend I went and saw The 40-Year Old Virgin with Steve Carell as Andy. I thought it was just going to be some dumb comedy with crude jokes and no plot. I was half right. The movie was a dumb comedy with crude jokes but it actually had a plot and a heartfelt story about Andy (the virgin) who meets a single mom and falls in love with her. Spoiler alert: The one thing I did enjoy about this movie is that although all of Andy's friends were pressuring him to have sex, he didn't give in to the pressure and waited until he was married to finally have sex. What a great surprise! I'm glad a movie like this was able to come away with a message saying that premarital sex might be fun, but that it is riddled with heartache and relationship problems. I'm glad they had Andy waited until he was married to finally have sex with the women he loved. Pop culture finally has shown the other side of the story!

Overall though, the movie was kinda boring towards the end as the plot dragged on, but I still found it funny. Kevin, sorry I saw it without you but you're just not around anymore. Next time we'll catch a movie together.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

"The Bookseller of Kabul"

I've been reading through books like water this summer and I've read a lot of enjoyable books. The most recent book I've finished is "The Bookseller of Kabul" by Asne Seierstad. It's a non-fiction book written by a journalist who spent some time with a somewhat wealthy family in Afghanistan. It's about life there and how women aren't treated well and how this bookseller managed to sell books throughout the Taliban reign, even though most were banned. The author started out by thinking she was living with a special family in Kabul since they had more money than the others. It turns out that they were just like every other family, with the father being the patriarch of the family and ruling in every decision. I think the most shocking thing to learn was that girls are married off to whomever the father thinks is a good enough suitor, often not meeting the man she is to marry until the wedding day or engagement party. Often too, these men are much older than themselves and they might be the second or third wife of the man they are to marry. This really made me relish the free society I live in where I can choose the person I want to marry and that you aren't rushed into doing so. I highly recommend this book.

Next up: "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova. Yes, I'm reading a book that is on the bestseller's list and I even bought it in hardcover, which I never do!

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

"How to Lose Friends & Alienate People"

This book, by Toby Young, was a rather hard book to swallow. I just couldn't feel sorry for this guy! As a journalist from England, he was given the opportunity to work at Vanity Fair in NYC. He basically squandered his chance at getting somewhere all because he didn't' know how to deal with himself around celebrities. He was constantly trying to meet famous people and other high end of society people (whoever that may be). I just couldn't grasp his situation and didn't know half the people he was talking about. I guess that's why I didn't like this book and couldn't finish reading the last few chapters. I just don't care what famous people are doing or what they're wearing or where they vacation. Someone who does care about that would probably enjoy this book. I, however, did not.

I'm now reading "The Bookseller of Kabul" by Asne Seierstad.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"

I finally finished reading the sixth Harry Potter book and was not disappointed by the action and plot building this book revealed. The last couple chapters were definitely page turners and I was almost late coming back from lunch because I couldn't put the book down! The death of Dumbldore at the hands of Snape was truly shocking. Who would have thought that someone Dumbledore completely trusted would do that? Perhaps the answer lies in the 7th book. Also, Draco proved his worth by bringing the death eaters in Hogwarts. I wonder what will happen to him when Voldemort finds out that he didn't kill Dumbledore. Interesting...only book 7 will tell (hopefully!).

I can't wait until November for the 4th HP movie to come out. I finally saw the trailer earlier this week and I'm definitely looking forward to it!

I'm now reading "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People" by Toby Young.

Monday, August 08, 2005

The best bag ever!

I have been shopping around for this particular bag for a while now. I'd seen the style at REI but didn't want to pay $54 for it. I want to use it to travel to/from work, something big enough to hold a book and my keys/wallet without being too obtrusive. Well, we went back to REI on Saturday and I found the bag (different brand) and got it on sale! I only paid $29.95 for it, and in Oregon where there is no sales tax, that's exactly what I paid! Check it out. I got the Pewter/yellow one. I'm very excited about bag and plan on using it for everything. Go REI!

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Orientation!

What's the best way to start off officially at a new job? Go to new employee orientation for 1 1/2 days! Ugh...it's such work to sit through all those presentations. At least today I got to learn about all the nice new benefits I'm entitled to now. All I need to learn about now is investment accounts. I have no clue what I'm doing about that, but I need to start saving for retirement! So, yes, I have officially started at my new job. Yeah me!

This past weekend was good. On Friday night Kevin and I and others went to the Oregon Brewers Festival and got to drink a lot of great beer. Drinking all afternoon really makes you tired :( I think we were home by 10:00. Total old people! Saturday we had a great meal with Jacinta and Eric at Ringside where I ate a great pork chop with a cranberry sauce. Yummy! Sunday I met Kevin and his old college prof at Mamma Mia's for some good Italian food. I had the manicotti.

I also happened to buy a Nintendo Game Cube with Zelda and Mario Golf. I guess I needed a new way to spend my time at home :) yeah!!!