Good books

Have you ever read a book that you knew you should read, or that someone told you to read, but that you weren't really into?  I have.  It takes me a long time to read them.  I have to actually set aside time and break it into smaller pieces so it looks like a manageable task.

Sometimes those books get better as they go.  I finished the Skinjacker Trilogy by Neal Shusterman.  The first one was pretty fast, but the second and third really took a long time to get through.  I had to renew each one three times at the library in order to finish.  That's twelve weeks to read these Young Adult novels.  They ended up being good, but take a while to get into.

On the other hand, last week I picked up the new CJ Box novel, Force of Nature.  I absolutely love everything he writes.  His novels are brisk.  The action starts fast and there's tension on almost every page.  The characters are real and easy to connect to, and you get to know them by watching them talk and act in the book.  I finished it in six days.  Couldn't put it down.  Started acting like an idiot by failing to do much more important things with deadlines, but the book was just so good!

My next book is Sergeant Rex, about a military bomb-sniffing dog in Iraq.  I read the first two pages and my heart rate sped up.  Here's hoping it's one that makes me act like an idiot in planning my time.  I love those books.

Snow Canyon

Snow Canyon has red rocks on one side and white ones on the other.  Sometimes, it has both colors in the same rock.  It's really cool.

Now, I'm having a challenge with this post because the canyon is apparently inverted.  I took pictures with my new phone (Samsung Galaxy SII)'s camera.  It's 8 megapixels and gets much better shots than my old Blackberry.  And I haven't had this problem anywhere else, but these pictures all turned out upside down.  Even when I open them on the computer and rotate them 180 degrees and save them, they still show up with the top of the mountains pointing down.  And also my head points down.

There's really no other explanation for this.  Gravity inside Snow Canyon is reversed.  It's especially striking when you get to the natural amphitheater at the end of Whiterocks Trail.

And because gravity is all skeewampous, your legs are even more sore than normal the next day.  It can't be because you're out of shape.  It's got to be backwards gravity.

The Leonardo

The Leonardo is a lot more fun than I expected.

It's a museum of sorts in the old Salt Lake City Library building.  I expected it to be much more hippie-ish.  Instead, it was mostly arts and science, and very interactive.

These plastic-y and paper-y things hang from the ceiling.  I don't know what they are, but they look really cool.

They have a Hollywood section where you can turn yourself into a computer animated robot (and if you move funny, your leg will come out of your chest), take green-screen pictures of yourself in exotic locations, and even make a short stop-motion animation movie.

With more green stuff, it looks like just your head is at the beach.

They also had a very nice photography display of the Civil Rights Movement, which is leaving soon.

This is one of the happier pictures in the display. 

It's $14 bucks, but I thought it was worth it, and I only saw half of the museum.  I missed out on the map section (I love maps!), but I'll go back.

All moved in

I've not posted because I moved, and my parents got back from their mission so family is all out.  It's been busy.  I live in South Jordan now.

Furniture Shopping

I'm moving in a week.  Actually, I started moving this week.  In fact, I'm mostly moved because I own next to nothing.  Once I move my toiletries, my sheets, and my clothes, everything I own will be at the new place.  But I'm about to own some more.  I went out furniture shopping on Saturday.

On my list was a bed, mattress, dresser, mirror, nightstand, kitchen table, TV, desk, and couch.  Some of my bachelor friends live pretty spartan lives, with a futonish bed, a folding table or a desk, and a hand-me down couch.  (And a sound booth.)  I'll be higher on the hog.

I found this couch:

And this bedroom set:

Guess what doesn't exist.  A table I like at a price I'm willing to pay for it.  And why is an extra chair another $150?  I'll be standing to eat for quite some time.

Finding a TV I like wasn't a problem.  There were so many that fit the bill.  I'll be picking up one of those later in the week.  Maybe I'll put a board on top of it and eat off that.

Pina Colada Curry

Tonight was an Iron Chef competition. I volunteered to be "chef."  The secret ingredient was pineapple.  I made this Pina Colada Curry.

I cooked rice in pineapple juice and water, and then stirred in toasted coconut.  The curry is made with a Masaman base, but with pineapple juice and brown sugar to sweeten it a bit, and coconut milk, of course.

My team got a prize, but not the main prize, which went to the Hawaiian Haystacks Lettuce Wraps, which did look very good.

Pretzels

It's confusing why I like pretzels so much.  Normally, I'm more for foods that are easier to swallow.  Pretzels really make you thirsty, so you drink some, but then you just end up wanting more pretzels.  Why keep eating pretzels when there's caramel popcorn right there?  I can't quite figure it out.

Pretzels don't quite look like most of my favorite foods either.  They're very unique with their curls and their slightly brown skin.  When they're soft, and warm, with a little sugar and cinnamon, I've discovered nothing that I like better.

The more I get to know about pretzels, the more I seem to want them.  Perhaps it's time to purge the pantry of chips and popcorn.