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Just a few quick thoughts before bed tonight.
I have or rather had been planning Shanna's birthday for over a year. Because I am so bad at keeping secrets from her, I had to basically stop writing here for fear of giving the surprise away. Now that it's over, I can write here without worrying that I might give something away. So, what was the surprise that was so important that it be kept secret? The surprise was box seats to The Phantom of the Opera. The show was incredible! The costumes were perfect (I especially liked the Red Death costume the Phantom wears in the masked ball). We decided that we want to do something like that (see a live play) at least once a year but we want to go all out and live the "high life" for that one night.
Although l really enjoyed the show, I find that the book is much better. What? You didn't know that the play by Andrew Lloyd Webber (first performed at Her Majesty's Theatre 27 September 1986) is based on the book by Gaston Leroux of the same title (published 1911)? Indeed it is. If you like the play, might I suggest the book? Get it from Project Gutenberg or Blackmask for free.
I find it so indicative of the not-so-hidden agenda of most media outlets that there has been so little coverage or opinion made public about the hand-over of sovereignty in Iraq. It was hard to not stumble across articles that claimed this day would never come and yet where are those same pundits now that the hand-over has taken place?
My favorite comment of the day comes from a caller to an independent radio station in Baghdad. If the insurgents don't stop, all of Iraq will rise up and strike them down with steel.
I can't find an online copy of that statement and I heard it on the radio. If anyone comes across it, please let me know.
I can't for the life of me think of anything to really write about tonight and I don't feel like harping on the Iraqi situation. Instead I'll share what we're doing here at home each night. When Jonathan saw Shanna and I reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, he wanted to read it too. I told him that he really should read the first four books before reading the fifth and so began our reading adventures here at home. Now we're reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, each night we turn the TV off about thrity minutes before bed time and read ten pages from the book. If the kids are terribly involved, we'll read another five. At our current pace, we'll finish the book sometime in late August.
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.
Mark Twain
For anyone that has spent any amount of time reading this site, it is a well known fact that I do not like Internet Explorer (known as The Great and Broken Browser). It would even be safe to say that I consider it a plague. Evenso, it is with reluctance that I bring up, yet again, the fact that The GBB has another terribly serious security flaw. This time the problem is so pervasive that security firms the world over are telling people to find a new browser to use. If you've been thinking about trying out Firefox, now would be a good time to do it.
Related article from the BBC.
Update at 15:00, looks like there is even more nastiness going on for TGBB.
