I snapped this picture when it was fall and not so bitterly cold.

In this case the currently reading Shadow of the Almighty actually means just finished reading Shadow of the Almighty. It is an incredible book, I pass it on with the highest regards. The real test will be writing the five page book review tomorrow, as to get a jump start on the semester.

Incidentally as I was finishing the book upstairs in Honeycutt my ear recognized the well amplified sound of John Letoto laughing (no surprise) downstairs in Founders (again no surprise). In typical Toto fashion he was entertaining more than one Boyce lady with his Hawaiian laid back charm. I joined in for a brief commentary on why light red is called pink but light blue still blue.

It does me a great pleasure to see the return of my beloved third floor eastside brothers, most recently Joiner, Paul Carr, and Tolly. Also, Carver's most prestigious hall now boast the occupation of Jordan Anderson, Chip, and Sean Morris- clinching that not only are we the coolest hall but in fact the best looking.

Now I have go beat a bunch of fourth floor kids in Risk. See you in the funny pages.

Breakfast

This entire week I've woken up to see my roommate eating a beautiful home cooked breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast. This made me look at my otherwise beloved breakfast of Cap'n Crunch with a certain amount of contempt. So what did I do? I went out and blew my textbook money on frozen sausages and hashbrowns... I am such a whore.

blue grass

well i'm back in the blue grass state, really it should be called the cold, wet, and dreary state but i suppose that would not inspire tourism. honestly it's great being back though, and i've already run into/ gotten big hugs from most of my crew.

i watched Dr. Mohler on Larry King today. i thought he did really well. really he was in a tough position, but he handled it well. it's a tough issue. i do wish we as Christ followers would be known for our love more than for what we are against. certainly standing up for our beliefs is important, but it can be difficult without coming across like a big jerk.

well i am going to try to find a ride to Wal-Mart. i need some Cap'n Crunch.

xLHCx

Well yesterday I traveled to the charming, spring break get away Lake Havasu City to do some Boyce recruiting. This is actually a quite a long way to travel. If everyone one gets their Arizona atlas out they would notice that LHC is just about on the California border. Towards the eastern New Mexico border are three cities: Payson, Snowflake, and Show Low. These three cities make and imaginary triangle. With the assistance of an magnifying glass you might be able to locate the microscopic community of Heber/Overgaard in the center of the said triangle. It takes about five and a half hours to drive to LHC one way, and in a daring feat of insanity we decided to go there and back in one day.

The recruiting was pretty much a smashing success. When recruiting for Boyce College the real trick is finding people who don't respond violently when you ask them if they are interested in going into the ministry. Most people find the idea of devoting one's life to God incredibly offensive. But as soon as they told us in our Big Ten meeting to think of churches in our home state to hit up over Christmas break one church instantly came to mind: Calvary Baptist, LHC. I met these kids over the summer at Arizona Southern Baptist youth events such as Make Waves (waterpark + youth rally) and ZONA YUTH KAMP (held in Point Loma, California). Well basically its a huge youth mostly made up of hardcore kids that besides really knowing how to cut a two-step in a pit are also pretty hardcore for Christ. Basically every other kid I talked to wanted to go into some kind of ministry, mostly youth ministry, not surprising since they have one of the most amazing youth groups I have ever seen.

Well this may come as surprise to most of you but London Bridge, yes the one of nursery rhyme fame, actually resides in Lake Havasu City. Don't ask me how or why they imported the bridge from merry old England all the way to Arizona, but the fact is it makes a pretty good tourist trap. Yep, Arizona has more then just the Grand Canyon to make tourists pull over and spend their money. In fact we also have the Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, the Painted Desert, and represent one fourth of Four Corners. But expect to see some pretty sweet shots of the bridge pretty soon on my facebook. Well I'll be back in Kentucky in less then a week.

Small Towns and Quasi-Terminal Diseases

Well I'm finally seem to be overcoming this cold that has made the last five days an agonizing blur. Being sick isn't very fun. Definitely the worst combination of ailments is a cold with sleep depravation and insomnia.

Last week, before the being bed ridden thing, I had the pleasure of having a small bonfire with my friends. Take it from me, there is no better way to enjoy living in the middle of a national forest than burning a small part of it. It really was a small fire, only 10-12 foot flames. As far as bonfires out in the woods go, that's pretty tame. Every time it would start to die down my old Mustang's Golf teammate Joe Costello would disappear into the woods with his dually truck and come back dragging another dead pine tree. I think we ended up burning 3-4 dead pine trees. That actually is good for the forest, because dead underbrush and such can cause really serious forest fires. Mostly I got to catch up with one of my best buddies from high school, Nathaniel Lail, who is now going to the Air Force Academy in Colorado.

It was an educational experience in the fact I learned a Sobe bottle once drained of its nourishing energy drink can be filled with gasoline and placed in side the bonfire with the cap on tight. As the gasoline begins to boil the pressure inside the bottle begins to sharply increase until the cap pops off. Subsequently the gasoline is propelled 20-30 feet straight into the air, which is ignited by the surrounding fire, creating a pillar of fire similar to the one mentioned in the Old Testament. Imagine if you will something to the effect of a large clearing in the woods. Picture the soft glow of the fire surrounded by complete darkness. Then for one glorious instant the entire clearing is illuminated by a towering burst of flame. That's what we do in small towns to entertain ourselves.