Read this, Not that

There is a store in Oxford called Blackwells. Inside is the Norrington Room, which according to the Guinness Book of World Records is the largest single room selling books. I confess to having bought 3 books from them last week.

I was in Oxford to attend the Zacharias Trust summer school, a week of seminars on Christian apologetics. Every time a speaker mentioned a title or author, I wrote it down with an * next to it. After going through my notes, Google Books has helped me compile a list of 25 titles. This doesn't include books I actually own, brought back with me from my latest trip to the US or books I've been meaning to read for a long time.

If you find yourself excessively interested in my reading choices, you can check them out at LibraryThing. I'll post the occasional comment on the books I'm reading and would love your suggestions, as well!

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Box Set

Jayne and I had decided to blow off work and talk about men in a way we never would have done when we were younger and more responsible. (Actually, our bosses had pre-approved the vacation time if not the conversation, but I like to think that after sensible teenage and young adult years, we still have a chance of turning into carefree middle aged rebels.) Jayne was sharing with me the surprise some people had expressed when they learned she was getting divorced and how that had opened her eyes to the compartmentalization in her life; in this case, that her marriage had been slowly deteriorating but she didn't talk about this with anyone - even close friends. I asked Jayne how many "boxes" she had. "5 - 1 for work, 1 for family, 1 specifically for my ex, 1 for Christian friends, and 1 for non-Christan friends." As she finished, I saw myself 6 months ago. I was having morning coffee with a friend and my phone beeped its daily 9 am reminder....

101 Things To Say Into a Microphone: Take 1 - Eletelephony

Dear Reader, At one point years ago, back when I was doing a bit of freelance audio, video and film production work, an idea came to me: I should write a book and call it 101 Things To Say Into a Microphone . The idea was likely brought on by hearing some production assistant or other saying "Check...check 1.... check 1, 2, 3...Can you hear me?...... Check...........check....check....1...2...1.......2...check...3...4..." and so on for a period of time much longer than he wished to repeat it and everyone else wished to hear it. Why not, I thought, write (or rather, compile) a book of relatively short, funny or interesting poems, quotes, stories, jokes, etc. which can be easily memorized and repeated by production assistants everywhere to the benefit of everyone on set or stage? This idea came back to me recently when I needed to test the recording quality of a microphone I purchased to record super-interesting-technical-stuff for work. Let's make this a collective...

Day 2: Grand Rapids, MI to Oconomowoc, WI

When I lived in England, I learned the saying - Start as you mean to go on . I thought about this as the hotel manager explained to me that he was calling because I had left my journal in the hotel room but he would be able to have it shipped back to me if I could provide a pre-paid shipping label. This was the second distressing phone call before lunch. The first distressing phone call was to say that due to high winds expected across Lake Michigan, our ferry to Milwaukee was cancelled. I really like ferries and I had been looking forward to the ferry across Lake Michigan for weeks. We stopped at Panera for lunch and to discuss the situation. My lunch was a disappointing sandwich. And then there was a lot of highway south of Lake Michigan and around Chicago. And Spotify kept slipping weird mellow folk music into my upbeat driving playlist. And then about 20 miles before Oconomowoc, the sky did this, and I think we will consider this the new start of the trip.

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