Danny Wallace' "Friends Like These" Review

I wrote this review over at goodreads after reading this book.

Friends Like These: My Worldwide Quest to Find My Best Childhood Friends, Knock on Their Doors, and Ask Them to Come Out and Play by Danny Wallace

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

BRILLIANT!
Like the author - I definitely went through (and even 2 years later am still going through) issues of REALLY passing into adult-hood - or reaching/passing THIRTY years old. I could definitely identify with many parts of this book.
UNlike the author however, at 32 years old I have FOUR beautiful children, I have not written best-selling books that have been (or will be) turned into successful movies starring Jim Carrey (good movie actually, and now I've gotta read the book), nor do I have the means to travel off to various parts of the world just to say hi for a couple hours to friends long disconnected.
I do, however, work in IT. Funny, that.
Reading this book made me think about how I look at a lot of things in my life. How I see what's important and what isn't. The fact is, especially with all the tools available today (Facebook, Email, Cellphones/Texting, Skype, Blogs, etc) it really isn't that difficult to MAKE time to visit face-to-face with friends. And I think more of them would love that connection too.
Anyway - this book is wonderfully and entertainingly written - Definitely something I think anybody could enjoy.

View all my reviews

Like I mentioned in the review - this book really made me think...
We disconnect from people all the time without even meaning to.
We move; We change jobs; We get a new haircut...
And suddenly we realize that we haven't talked to somebody in YEARS.
Why not?
The excuse we use a lot is "We just got busy with LIFE!"
It's not like we're really THAT busy!
Seriously.
My nights fly by and I feel like "I didn't have time to get it all done!" but what did I do all night? Usually it's checking out Facebook, reading blogs, watching a TV show, looking at Amazon. Stuff like that. Really it isn't hard to go out for a burger with a friend.
Amazingly, that's what I did tonight.
I invited a friend out for a burger - it was his birthday yesterday and his wife was out of town and my amazing wife was all for it - so we went and it was great to just hang out and eat a burger and talk about Martial Arts and Egyptology and Real Estate and Literature.
It was good and I really want more connections. So I'm going to do it. Added a new item to the bucket list:
"Stay Connected" and I DON'T mean Facebook, even though that can be a tool to do so.
Life is good.
I am happy.

Books

I've been reading a LOT lately. Finished some good books (if you want to see which books you can go to my goodreads here or on the right - and in full disclosure, I do not get anything from goodreads although that would be nice if I did. :p)

Anyway just saw this crazy video over on Gizmodo and thought I would share:



The papercraft is amazing, the voice-over not so much. Still - very interesting!

The Barefoot Mile (x2)

I recently finished reading the book "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen" by Christopher McDougall.

This is a very inspiring book. I recommend it to anybody who is interested in Running or being healthier or even those who just want to read a good story, because it is full of those as well. It tells the story of a race with the Tarahumara people of Northern Mexico who live in very humble conditions yet are quite possibly some of the greatest runners on earth.

My brother has read it multiple times, and 3 years ago he ran 3 marathons and a long mountainous relay BAREFOOT. (blog hasn't been updated since then, still good stuff) The relay he ran is pretty much the main reason I'm trying to become a better runner, since I'm doing the longest and (possibly) hardest legs, so I need the training.

ANYWAY, to the point of this post - Some members of my relay team have been running weekly, I ran 7 miles a few weeks ago with them and since then my knees have been acting up. Plus I think I need more than once a week to get optimal results. So starting Monday I have been running at least a mile every day (woohoo 3 days so far) and I decided to mix it up a bit by running barefoot occasionally.

Monday was my first barefoot mile - and it was great! No problems at all except for a slight discomfort near my second smallest toe. I thought it was from the shape of that toe and stretching it more while running, but it turns out I had a little thorn up in there that as soon as it came out it was fine. Great experience!

Tuesday I ran 3 miles with the team, a great run through a wooded trail behind the local amusement park - the only problem being that it is getting darker and darker every week so we might change locations. We keep it slow and easy because a lot of us are really just getting used to running!

Wednesday, last night, I ran another barefoot mile, but this time wasn't QUITE as nice as Monday's run. Why? BUGS. There were swarms of gnat-like bugs all over, but they are bigger than the normal gnat, and they flew in my eyes, mouth, nose, hair, etc and made it quite difficult to concentrate on form (which is important when barefooting) so I ended up with a quite large and painful blister on one of my toes. When I got home and looked in the mirror there were TONS of the little beasties in my hair - quite gross.

It is nice to be running more often, and I hope that by running shorter distances more often for the next couple of weeks will strengthen my knees (and my form) enough that I can increase the distance. I also think doing this more often will help me shed the final bits of poochiness that I have hanging on!

Speaking of that - I recently completed a Health Evaluation at work so I want to go into that a bit in another post. You'll hear a lot more about my health than you might want to! Woohoo! Until then!

A Matter of Form

I ran for just under 4 miles today.

Overall it went well, except that occasionally I would have to slow down and stretch out my right knee do to a tight swelling feeling that would start to hurt. I'd slow and walk for a minute, try to stretch it out some, and it'd go away quick - but it wouldn't take long for it to flame up again shortly after running a bit.

I think my right foot is not properly hitting the ground, causing strain on my knee.

New shoes, or Vibram Five Fingers might help - but I know it's not just a matter of footwear (or even going barefoot!)

A couple of books have been suggested to help with this, so eventually I plan on reading them.

Chi Running - Also known as the 'Bible of Barefoot Running' to many barefooters - this book supposedly has helped many increase their ability to run and feel flow while running. My wife owns it (so I guess that means I do too ha!) so I will read this soon.

Born to Run - Story of a man's quest to find out why his foot was hurting - leading him to seek out the greatest long distance runners in the world - a remote tribe in South America. Sounds interesting!

Hopefully I'll find something that will help me with my form - I'm going to need it considering I'll be running in that Relay in 10 months or so!!

David Eddings

I think I've mentioned before that one of my favorite authors is David Eddings.

It is quite difficult for me to really commit to a "Favorite Book" (or series) but if I did it would probably be (and has been in the past) the Belgariad and Mallorean Series by David Eddings.

Good, Clean, Fantasy fun. Seriously awesome books.

My wife wasn't really a fantasy fan, but she loved these books once I finally convinced her to read them!

David Eddings died on Tuesday - he was 77 years old!

Thanks, Mr. Eddings, for wonderful memories and adventures!

Life Without the Internet

I haven't had access to the internet on my computer at home for about a week now!

I did better than I thought I would. Yeah... A break from the internet at home was probably a good thing!! There are two reasons I was able to stay sane without the internet.

1 - I'm not playing WoW - if I were playing World of Warcraft still I think I'd be very annoyed that I was unable to connect. Then again I would have taken my computer downstairs and plugged it in, since it's just our wireless that we don't have right now.

2 - Books. I'm in the middle of 3 series right now. The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson, The Mercedes Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs (Got my wife into those ones too ha!), and as I've waited for my books on hold from those series I grabbed a random book by Laura Resnick called The White Dragon, only to discover it had a prequel and a sequel, so I grabbed that as well.

I finally ordered the wireless piece for our new DSL modem. We'll see how it compares to our old one. At least the internet hasn't cut off for my wife so far! So yippee I'll have the internet again on Friday, which is still a long time.

We are finally dipping our hands into the stock market... or trying to as there are all sorts of barriers and waiting periods for investing in non-marginable securities. We are only looking to invest $500 into a local business' penny stocks, and for some reason Ameritrade isn't letting me. Possibly because they want me investing THOUSANDS through them... but I don't have thousands to invest. Hopefully we won't have to go through somebody else again, because we've already gone through this. I guess as long as the stock stays down while we aren't in and jumps up after it's all good, right? :)

P90X - Week 4 begins

Week 4 in the P90X schedule is supposed to be a "Rest" week.

We start with Yoga X today and Core Synergistics tomorrow... two of the harder workouts we've experienced! Actually the Yoga isn't HARD, it is just 90 minutes long and very intensive.

I almost can't believe that we've already gone 3 weeks - and we've only missed a few days due to car-buying and illness. Most of the days I was sick I worked out anyway. THAT was fun.

So far I'm impressed with the results I've had - the small pudginess in my midsection has gone down significantly. It's not totally gone YET but it is getting there!

Lately I've been looking into well-known artists/cartoonists/animators... Not sure why but I'm looking for inspiration and method to my artistic endeavors or something. Anyway - I rediscovered the artist responsible for MUCH of Disney's earlier movies and many many children's books I LOVED when I was a kid.

Bill Peet

I got "Bill Peet: An Autobiography" from the Library and it is really quite fascinating. SO many pictures bring back memories of his books and I really want to get them and let my kids experience them.

In Fantasy Books I picked up a new Author (new to me, not new to the publishing world and he has a bunch of books!) named Lawrence Watt-Evans, and am interested in his books so far. Interested enough that I finished the first book of the Obsidian Chronicles in a little over a day...

Finally thanks to meetings last week I am closer and closer to finishing my newest drawing and hope to finish it this week so I can get started on the planned Ocean drawing for my nephew.

I also need to start putting more of the "Brave Knight" stories down and maybe even illustrate them a bit... Have I mentioned the "Brave Knight" stories I tell my boys? I can't remember.

Random Geekishness (Webcomics)

A while back I discovered an artist with an amazing name.

An awesome name.

One that will go down in history as one of the greatest names ever!

Okay so maybe not, but hey, when you like something and the creator of it shares your name, doesn't that just make it so much cooler?

Aaron Williams has two comics I really like, and others I haven't read too much of.

Nodwick is the (mis)adventures of a Henchman at the mercies of his Adventurer employers.

PS238 is a funny elementary school for superheroes.

So if you like that type of thing, they're pretty funny webcomics.

Recently for some reason I decided I needed to read Dune again, since I can't even remember when I first read that book. Normally I don't like Sci-Fi very much, but occasionally there are some very good ones.

So I read Dune yesterday and have decided to read the rest of the Frank Herbert Dune novels. I've heard the Brian Herbert (Frank's son) Dune novels aren't anywhere near as good - but we'll see when we get to that point!

I remember years ago playing Dune II with friends... THAT was a fun little RTS game!

Dream Library

I love books - I always have.

Working in a book store or Library would be unfulfilling in many ways, but would be bearable just because I was surrounded by books all the time...

I was amazed to see on Wired.com (through some other blog or something) this beautiful 3,600 square foot Library owned by Jay Walker, a very successful Technology entrepreneur (guy came up with Priceline.com among other things).

THAT would be an awesome library... 3,600 square feet?!? Wow!

While I don't know that I'll ever have a library like that, there are lots of things in the design and content that I would love to have in my dream personal library.

Someday I'll come up with more interesting post titles...

But for now, I'm in a bit of a rush since I have an all day meeting starting soon!

I finished Shaman's Crossing and am 3/4ths of the way through Forest Mage the second book in the Soldier Son Trilogy. Really good stuff. I probably would have finished it last night, but I made myself stop and go to sleep.

I seriously doubt I would have been able to get up this morning if I hadn't finally exercised some self-control!

The more I do Wii Fit, the more I like it! It's fun, it's fast, and before you know it you're sweating, panting, and wondering where the past 30+ minutes have gone! I don't think I would have as hard a time if I ONLY did the balance games, but throwing those in between yoga, strength and aerobics is great. We've unlocked quite a few more workouts and games, and all of us are healthier (Although the new less-meat/no dairy diet we're doing is helping with that as well!).

We are trying hard to help our kids whine less and be happier. It really is an amazing change in myself lately in that I have been CHOOSING to be HAPPY and it WORKS. We have more power over our thoughts and feelings than we think we do. Sure everybody has tough times, things don't always go our way - but the happier we are, the easier these problems are to deal with!

For a couple of good blogs on happiness and exercising check out these:

The Happiness Project - While I don't always like HOW she says what she says, there is a lot to be learned from Gretchen Rubin's posts. Basically I think it makes me look at things in ways I didn't before, so I like her blog.

Caustic Musings - I found Maggie Wang's blog looking for info on the P90X (which I still want to try) and subscribed to because her writings on exercising motivated me. The Financial thoughts are great too!

More on the New Diet and Books

Day 6 of the New Diet:
Okay so technically we've really been doing this for a couple weeks now since we basically lived on this diet at my parents house in Denver.
I've noticed today though, that I am HUNGRY! I've even been snacking on Almonds all day! Normally I don't get that hungry throughout the day - barely even thinking about food until I get home and Kakes reminds me I have to eat dinner.
Since we aren't going to be eating all that much meat (We most definitely have not given it up), I have a feeling I am going to need to find a non soy source of protein.

I actually don't like to think about food a lot. It might be strange, but while I enjoy many types of food, I've never really LOOOOOOVED and raved about food, and I don't want to. I think too many people are obsessed with food. I don't want that to be me.

The other side effect of a mostly fruit and vegetable diet? Multiple trips to the bathroom.
Yikes! Hopefully that regulates sooner than later.

BOOKS!
I love books. Have I mentioned that?
Specifically Fantasy books are my favorite, but there are many other books I have greatly enjoyed.
I was finally able to get Shaman's Crossing, the first book of Robin Hobb's newest "The Soldier Son Trilogy" from the library. I've had a hold on it for months. I'm only 165 pages into it, but it's doing great at keeping my attention so far! Time-period wise it isn't so much medieval fantasy as an early American Cavalry vs. American Indians Fantasy. As a child I loved Native American lore, so I'm not having a problem with this at all. One thing I loved when I first opened it was the books dedication: "To Caffeine and Sugar, my companions through many a long night of writing." Too bad I've given up Caffeine eh? (6 days and counting! I can do it!) But sugar? NEVER!!!

The reason I'm excited about this is because of her previous Trilogies; The Farseer Trilogy, the Liveship Traders Trilogy, and the Tawny Man Trilogy. This one is brand new and totally unrelated to the other three. Great books. Not my favorites, but they are highly esteemed by me.

I recently finished some GREAT books by Carol Berg, The Bridge of D'Arnath series. These books are about a bridge that connects a magical world and a mundane one, and attempts to destroy and save this bridge. Really good reads all around.

AND I think I've realized why I don't blog MORE... As it is already, I write too much in each entry!