Vatican Air

The Vatican has started a new charter service to take Catholic pilgrims to various shrines. I'm sure they have a very thorough screening process to ensure that the people getting on the flights are actually Catholic and are intending to go on an actual pilgrimage, not just a cheap flight for their vacation. And it seems like the stewardesses chould be nuns, which is quite the image. Here's the follow up article with more about it.

traffic calming devices

There was a sign for "traffic calming devices" at an intersection that I pass all the time. They will be installed on or about May 8, 2006, which means it's been there for about a year and a half, and I had never seen it before. But anyway, what is a traffic calming device? Does that mean speed hump (the ones that are wider than regular speed bumps and aren't painted yellow)? Or is it something else? At any rate, it's a funny term.

The Magic Flute

We went to see the Magic Flute yesterday. It was lovely. The singing was good (even the kids who weren't quite together were at least cute), the costumes were a nice nod to period costumes, and the sets were appropriately background-y. In all, it was a nice evening out. Besides, who doesn't love some good glockenspiel music?

The international language of. . . baseball?

America has a goodwill ambassador of baseball. It's Cal Ripken. I guess it's like being a UN goodwill ambassador, except instead of promoting the end of world hunger, or whatever it is that Angelina Jolie does, he's promoting baseball. Almost the same thing.

A for effort

I made bread. My attempts at bread making tend to be a bit hit or miss. I don't what it is about bread, but I just can't make a consistent product. Oh well. Anyway, this particular loaf didn't quite want to rise properly. I don't know why. It's certainly warm and humid enough. So the finished product was a little dense (and a bit on the dry side, but it did include corn meal, so that makes most things dry), but not terrible. And it does go well with butter and jam, so it'll get eaten. And there's always next time to do better.

I was promised 3-D

We went to see Harry Potter at the IMAX yesterday. That meant going to Chantilly, VA, which is really far away. And, as it turns out, amazingly sketchy - that not being the point. The battle at the Ministry was supposed to be in 3-D. But the screen at the Air & Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center (or the "auxilliary location" as most people consider it) doesn't have a realy IMAX screen. It's just really big. But it isn't the kind that starts wrapping aroung the walls, which is what allows them to project in 3-D. So it was really big, but the picture was still flat. For all the time it took to get out past Dulles airport, I was expecting more, and I am quite upset about it. Damn you, Smithsonian Institution.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

***SPOILER ALERT***

I've given you all a day to have read it. If you haven't finished reading, stop reading this now (you shouldn't be reading this now anyway, because you should be reading Harry Potter). I, as was predicted, read it on Saturday. Other people at the bar exam had also taken a study break on Saturday to read it, so I was not the only one. I haven't finished my reread to get the details that I missed on the first go round, but I am taking it slower this time.

Overall it was amazing. The fact that they were moving arond the whole time, rather than always being at Hogwarts added a whole new dimension to the story. But naturally, the big climax had to still be at the school. I cried when Harry saw his parents, Sirius, and Lupin in the Forest with the resurrection Stone, and during the epilogue when he and Ginny had their kids, James, Albus, and Lily. I also screamed out loud when Molly cursed at Bella, both because it was so out of character and because I couldn't believe the publishers let Jo get away with that. I had some other moments when I reacted out loud (like when Dumbledore told Snape that Harry was a horcrux and was going to have to die, even though I was totally prepared for Harry to die - but YAY! he didn't), but that was the only time that it was an actual shriek.

I appreciated when Neville got to have his "Gryffindor" moment and stand up to Voldemort, because he'd been working towards that for such a long time. Also the line when they turned into Harry with the Polyjuice potion at the Dursleys' house and they were changing their clothes, and Harry felt they were being a little free with his body and he wouldn't have done that - how not true is that statement?

I do have to say, though, that I was a little unfulfilled by the ending to the Dursleys' story. I kept waiting for them to come back and for there to be some sort of resolution. But none ever came. Hopefully when the encyclopedia gets written, we'll find out what happened to them.

And for those who want to know what the trio does for a living once they get to be adults - Harry and Ron are aurors (Harry is of course in charge of the auror office) and Hermione is a lawyer with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It had to be edited out of the epilogue to make it more readable.

Any discussion that anyone would like to start about the book, please feel free.