That Rascally Voldemort (AKA Tom Riddle)

So I know all of you are dying to know the end to Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secret's (I realize that this only applies to about 10 people in the world besides those who are illiterate, and those who are both illiterate and blind and can't watch the movies.) So although I now know who opened the Chamber of Secrets to kill all the mudbloods, I'm not going to spoil the surprise for you nine--you are just going to have to read it for yourselves. Nicole and I just finished book two of the Harry Potter saga. When we were first married, Nicole couldn't believe that I had never read any of the Harry Potter books. So in order to culture me, we have taken to reading the books out loud as we drive. We tend to spend quite a bit of time in the car together dropping each other off and picking each other up. I will concede that the books are well written and interesting, and I actually have caught myself thinking about them besides when we are reading them. In fact I look forward to the time we spend together reading and it makes the time in the car go by much faster. My only regret is that I didn't get on the whole Harry Potter bandwagon earlier. I never got to enjoy going to Barnes and Noble at 8am dressed up in a Dumbledore costume I sewed myself making jokes about 'how dumb muggles can be' and waiting in line until midnight to get my book three, book four, book five, book six, or book seven.

Beyond Harry Potter, this has really been a great week. Thursday we got to go rock climbing at a gym in Virginia beach with two of our friends Chuck and Quincy. It was a great time. Climbing is great because it helps you find muscles to strengthen that you don't normally use--then it reminds you the rest of the week about how weak you really are and how you should really consider using those muscles more often--dually noted.

On Saturday, we got to go to the Washington, DC temple to see two of our friends be sealed for eternity. It was a great experience. It reminded me of how lucky I am to be married to such an incredible woman and how grateful I am that we can be together forever. On the way home from DC, we went to Golden Corral to celebrate. It has been a long while since I have been to an all you can eat buffet. I used to be quite good at eating; however, much to my surprise, I had two plates, and a little dessert, and I was done. I filled up fast--I'm no longer the 'Great White Kobayashi of the North' that I used to be. However, I still did manage to get in steak, fried chicken, prime rib, shrimp and a taco.

Today on the way to church we had a rough bout with nature. When we were almost at the church, we were driving about 40 down Mercury boulevard when I heard what sounded like rocks hitting the windsheild. It wasn't rocks, it was droppings from some unknown bird between the size of a California Condor and WWII fighter plane. Needless to say the windshield was covered in feces. We turned on the windshield wipers which only made matters worse until after we used up almost all of our windshield washer fluid. Regardless, I have to say we deserved it.

You see earlier in the same car ride, immediately after leaving our apartment we turned right on Kecoughtan ('kick-a-tan') Road. As we turned right, we saw this:

Memorial to the squirrel we crushed on the way to church

This squirrel was on the side of the road just gathering nuts into a basket to take home to his children. I thought to myself, 'That's cute. Hope he doesn't run out under the car.' Then, of course, against my better judgement he ran right under the car. Rear passenger tire caught him square and that was it. Anyway, I was sad, but aparently not sad enough because we got taken to town by the aforementioned mystery bird.