Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

Update: Brandon posted the first two chapters to this book on his Web site here. Check it out.

A friend of mine is publishing a series of YA fantasy through Scholastic. The first one comes out this year. Since I have connections, I got to read the book already (as well as giving feedback on the second one). I have to say, I really enjoyed it. Although it's for YA readers, this series will be enjoyed by readers of all ages. It's a really fun book full of humor, suspense, creativity, an awesome and original magic system, and . . . well . . . Evil Librarians. Where can you go wrong?

Here is a mockup of what the cover is likely to look like.



It's scheduled to be released October 1, 2007. If you want to keep updated on what Brandon is up to, check out his Web site www.brandonsanderson.com.

Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End

So I saw this movie on Saturday. My company rented out like four theaters inside a movie complex. It was fun to see a movie in a regular theater (stadium seating) rather than the dollar movie theater. We only do so about once a year. We were almost late because I turned off the freeway in the wrong direction. We were walking in as they were showing the previews.

Overall, I really liked this movie. I don't understand why some people didn't like it. It was a fun creative story that somewhat tied up the storyline (esp. with the scene after the credits). Some feel that the storyline is covoluted and hard to follow, but I really didn't have much trouble at all knowing what was going on. And I felt it made sense inside the Pirates universe. Meh.

Although some people are speculating that there is a way for Will to leave the ship alive (I really don't know how. If you know, please explain). Also, the fountain of youth thing points to a fourth. If that's the case, then why is it they filmed the second and third together, but haven't started on a fourth? Maybe they want to see how At World's End does first. And if they can get the actors to do another.  Hmmm . . .

Overall, I think it's a movie worth seeing in the theaters. I didn't realize how long it was. I think after the previews, the movie started around 9:15 a.m. and ended at noon. But it didn't feel too long—I had no idea how late it was.

And, well, Orlando Bloom as Will Turner is just hot. So what can I say. I really don't understand those who think Jack Sparrow is hot. How can you think a guy is hot who acts drunk and crazy all the time (although I admit, Johnny Depp is hot and him in the Jack-Sparrow getup is pretty hot. The character isn't, though. If that makes sense). I was watching the first Pirates movie last night during commercials, and it's interesting how Will and Elizabeth have changed since that first movie, where Will was so against the idea of his father being a pirate, and now he's a pirate. Jack's prophecy of, "You're of pirate's blood and you'll have to deal with that one day" certainly came true (and that's a paraphrase. I can't remember exactly what he said). 

I've heard some say that you should just forget that the second movie exists and just skip right from the first to the third (understanding the couple of key points from the second movie). I don't know. It's been so long since I've seen the second to remember why I did or didn't like it. 

Well, anyway. Yay, Pirates of the Carribean.

Update: Primary Class

So I've officially been teaching my Primary class for 4 weeks. I think I'm getting into a groove now. It's interesting: out of the 4 weeks, we've only had 2 kids come more than once (they both have come 3 out of the 4 weeks). We've had 6 other kids only come one time each in those 4 weeks, so if they all came, we'd have 8 kids in class, but the most we've had at once is 4 and last week (Memorial Day weekend), we only had 1! 

So yesterday we tried something new. One of the kids in class (we'll call him Wiggly Coyote), the only boy , incidentally, cannot sit still! I can't decide if he's ADHD or just really active. One of the girls says he's not like this at home; I assume that's because he doesn't have to sit relatively still at home. So Husband talked to his mom (because his step-brother is ADHD) and she suggested using Play-doh. 

So yesterday we offered the Play-doh to each of the kids. We told them that they had to follow the rules for the Play-doh or we'd take it away (i.e. still participate and pay attention, only play with in your hands, don't mix yours with your neighbor's, etc.). It went really well. It was mostly for Wiggly Coyote, but we didn't feel it fair to only give him the Play-doh. But Coyote was actually answering questions and getting something out the lesson. He also did not bother his neighbors very much (where last time, he was constantly distracting them by poking them and talking to them and such). Overall, I think the kids got about the same out of the lesson, yet had more fun. Hopefully this will encourage those who don't come often, to come more.

SUCCESS!

Don't Give Up, You Are Loved

This song from Josh Groban is really awesome. Don't give up because you are loved!!!!

Pictures, Wedding, Dinosaurs, and Primary

So this last week was quite busy.

On Wednesday, Aaron and I had our anniversary pictures. I know what you're saying, "But your anniversary was in March!" Well, you're right. We held off on the pictures till after Aaron's semester was over. I think overall it went well. I'm not very happy with my hair cut, but I made the best and I think mostly it looked okay. There were some pictures where the angle or something made my bangs look funky. We went to JCPenney and I found out that they have gone digital. The plus side: We got to have lots of pictures taken rather than the 12 limit they had when they used film. The down side: They got rid of most of their backgrounds so we only had one background (don't ask me why. What does that have to do with digital) and they no longer have stools and such to sit on, so all the pictures were either standing up or sitting on the floor. Weird. Also, they no longer have a sheet that has a 5x7 with wallets, only two 5x7s. I really wish they would have the option of one or the other. Having two 5x7s on a page would be nice if you want multiple for parents and such, but isn't so much when you just need one, and wallets would be nice to give out to family. Whatever.

But the photographer was really fun and we did some fun poses. She didn't always follow exactly what I wanted her to do (and, of course, I didn't know till afterward when we looked at the proofs), but overall I think she did a great job and I think the pictures turned out well. They'll be put up online soon, and when they are I'll send out an email letting people know how to view them.

On Friday, my cousin Josh was married to Katie. Very exciting. You could tell when they looked at each other that they are very much in love, and I'm so glad that Josh found someone wonderful to marry. The reception was quite an experience. I've never been to one that had real plates and waiters and such. The food was all right, but a little fancy for my taste. The desserts were interesting—they came on plates about an inch square. I needed three of them to feel like I actually was eating anything.

I got to see my grandma, which I was glad of. She's real sweet and an awesome grandma, I think. I'm glad she was able to come from Oregon for the wedding.

One thing that I really liked at the reception was that they had a photo booth where you could take your picture (the old fashioned kind with four black and white pictures on a stip). You were suppose to take your picture then paste into a memory book for Josh and Katie. It replaced the registry book. You could also take extra for yourself to take. I was so excited about this, and then forgot the pictures there. I could kick myself.

On Saturday, I went to my aunt's to see my grandma and spend time with her before she left (and my aunt and uncle as well). They were headed out to the dinosaur museum up at Thanksgiving Point, so I tagged along. It was pretty interesting. They had a lot of dinosaur skeletons, including two T-Rexes and two Supersauruses. I have to say, I thought the T-Rexes were bigger, from what they looked like on Jurassic Park, but they were probably onl 15 feet tall (and not the 25–30 that I was thinking). I'm glad I got a chance to there and see it.

Then Sunday I had my first time teaching my Primary class. I was called to teach the CTR 6 class last week. We only had three kids in the class, so it wasn't so bad, but they were pretty wiggly. One of the girls in the class impressed me. I'm not sure if she is 5 or 6 years old, but she can already read most words (not just the basic cat, ball, Jane, etc.) and she knew a lot of answers to the questions. It was pretty fun to be in Primary rather than Sunday School and Relief Society. I just stress about giving lessons to kids because I don't really know how to make it interesting and not bore them out of their minds (although, I know that participation and activities help). I think I'll like it better than when I was the Primary Chorister. At least as a teacher I have a lesson manual. Plus I only have to worry about a few kids rather than 20–30.

About Me

This is a survey my sister wanted me to do on my sister-blog on MySpace. I thought I would post it here too:
And since I do try to be a good sport . . .

TAGGED!!!

Here's the rules: Once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird random things, facts, or habits about yourself. At the end, you choose 5 people to be tagged, list their names, and why you chose them. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you're tagged" on their profile and tell them to read your latest blog. ENJOY!!!

So, weird and random, huh? This might be hard.

1. My favorite fairy tale character is Beauty, and I love the many reiterations of the story (my favorite being Beauty by Robin McKinley). So I have a dream to one day have a rose garden as close to Beauty's as possible.

2. When I'm happy, I like to squeal and clap my hands. I think if someone saw this who didn't know me, they might wonder if I'm "special."

3. I think I might be ever so slightly dyslexic, especially with numbers. I frequently mix up numbers either switching or replacing (like earlier when I was trying to call a 442 prefix and instead called a 422 prefix, and had to look at it twice before realizing it was wrong).

4. I know someone who has been an actor on The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, One Life to Live, and All My Children. Can you guess who?

5. I'm extremely stingy. I don't understand how people can have thousands of dollars in credit card debt, and still continue to spend money. That would stress me out so much! So instead, I'm conservative with my money. Right now we have a student loan for Aaron's schooling, but it's government subsidized, so we don't owe interest till after Aaron's done. That's the only debt we have. Even when we were living on $600/month, we still avoided debt. I got a student loan my last semester at BYU ($2500) and it was paid off within 8 months of graduating. We rarely buy "luxuries" or go out to eat. I'm just glad Aaron is with me on this.

6. I'm all about sleep. I always have been. I was sleeping through the night at two weeks old. Of course, my mom LOVED that (especially with 4 other kids to deal with). She said that I would wake up at 6 a.m. to be fed, and go back to sleep for three hours while she got the other kids ready for the day. It was PERFECT. My freshman year of college, there was this required GE class that most students took as freshman called American Heritage (talked about the founding of the US and how the government works). We had a pretty tough professor and there were about 800 in the class. The night before the final, a lot of girls on my floor stayed up all night to study for it. I, on the other hand, took time to study during the day and then slept my normal 8 hours. After the test the next morning, one girl commented that she didn't even remember what the questions were or how she answered and that she fell asleep during the middle of it. I can't imagine she did well (or at least not her best). I got an A-. I just really believe that sleep is important to you functioning and doing well each day.  (I'm not trying to brag, just saying that sleep really helped me in concentrating on what the questions were asking, especially since some were kind of "tricky.")

7. I'm quite a messy person, I admit. I've two or three bosses actually ask me to clean up my desk because it wasn't very presentable. And my apartment is a perpetual mess. Now, this isn't to say my apartment is dirty or gross. There's a difference. I do clean the dishes, I do mop the floor, I do vacuum, I do clean the bathroom. It's just messy again by the next day. And, most importantly, I really make an effort to have a clean and orderly house when I have guests over, so they aren't uncomfortable by my messiness.

8. I have recently starting having a crush on British TV star Paul Blackthorne (who's been on ER, 24, and Monk). I mean just his name is AWESOME. Why can't I have a cool last name like Blackthorne (and it's not cool unless you're born with the name, which I assume he was). He's currently starring in The Dresden Files, a fun show on the Scifi channel about a private investigator who just happens to be a wizard (my favorite genre--fantasy). He's hunky and tall and . . .*swoon*. Well, here, judge for yourself:

Additionally, the character of Bob, played by Terrance Mann, is absolutely delightful and they play off each other very well. And if you're worried, yes my husband knows about my recent obsession with Paul—he's not worried one bit. *Swoon* (They haven't announced if the show will renew for another season, so check it out. The more fans the better, and I think I'll die if it doesn't come back for a second season. Also, just realize that the show has some rocky moments, but really comes into its own around episode 9 or so. Then it absolutely rocks!)

9. I can touch my nose with my tongue.

10. I'm so boring, I can't think of a tenth one, but my sister wants me to post this, so oh well. Maybe I'll think of one later.

New Job, Sort of

So today has been an interesting day. My company has been bought out by Symantec (it was announced in January, but became official last Friday). Today we had a 3-hour orientation that frankly left me quite confused. There was a lot of information to go over and a lot of Web sites reviewed that I can't remember (although now that I'm back at my desk and able to go through them, I'm starting to get where everything is).

In some ways, I'm really excited about this opportunity. With a bigger company comes the ability to do more. I'm also excited to see how professional their style guide is and I'm pleased that most of their decisions are in line with Altiris' Style Guide (which I helped to create).

In terms of benefits, there are ups and downs, but I think there are more ups. The insurance is like 4 times as much, but we had just about the cheapest insurance ever, so it's still not that bad, and they cover SO much. Plus, because of the transition, we're basically getting 2 months of free insurance (we're already on Symantec's payroll, yet we're still covered by the insurance through Altiris till the end of the month. So our pay isn't being deducted for the insurance. And we have till the end of May to sign up for insurance through Symantec, even though we'll be covered on May 1, no matter when we sign up (retroactively). Even so, they said they wouldn't deduct our wages retroactively, thus giving ustwo months of free health insurance). Additionally, even though the insurance is more, they'll be reimbursing us quarterly for the difference between the old insurance and the new insurance until the end of the year (since when we signed up last December, it was supposedly for a whole year), so we won't really be paying the higher premiums till next year. I still think they're rather reasonable (between $216 and $288 a month for a family, only $27/month for an employee only).

They also have cool benefits, like if you join a gym, they'll reimburse you up to $69/quarter for the costs (I haven't found out yet if they'll reimburse me, even though I prepaid for a two-year membership, but if they do, that'd be so cool). I also found out that they have paid maternity leave. I'm not sure how long I would get, if I were to have a baby while working here, but it's nice to know it would be paid (I was worrying that I'd have to use whatever vacation I had accrued and then go back to work).

One of the things I'm really disappointed about is I believe they said Timponogas hospital is not covered, which is the closest and nicest hospital in the area.

So, an interesting day overall.