whereisjodi.

Yesterday Senator Kerry said:

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

I have to be honest, if this was the first quote I'd ever heard from Senator Kerry I might believe his lame posturing that he misread his speech and was really trying to insult the President instead of the military. Unfortunately, I had to listen to his inane remarks during the previous unendurably long campaign and, if anything, I think he might have misread his Bush-bashing talking points and accidentally let slip what he truly believes about our soldiers. 

This weekend I listened to some very intelligent and thoughtful people discussing military service in time of war. The moderator wondered aloud to the crowd whether a young person with political aspirations ought not enlist in a time of war and whether such service would be a prerequisite to being electable as Commander in Chief. Would it be possible for someone running for President thirty years from now to be elected if he or she had shirked their civic responsibilities in this current war on terror?

Themes such as courage and duty were frequently mentioned. It's one thing to enlist in a time of peace so you can see the world and get a free education. It's quite another to volunteer when you know there is a near certainty you'll be sent to the front lines. That's why I generally find Senator Kerry's remarks reprehensible -- both during the previous campaign and yesterday. Frankly, I'd like to have seen him try that speech at Edwards.

I literally can't convey in words how much disgust I hold for a man who would say such things about the men and women I saw on Sunday. Young men and women in uniform who looked like they should still be strolling the halls of high school. Instead they were patiently herding a sloppy mass of fat and happy civilians who will never fully understand the lives they lead nor the risks they take. I wanted so badly to convey my gratitude but I couldn't think of anything more than to say thank you as we walked by.

This is not about Iraq. It's not about the war on terror. This is about the exceptionalism of every man and woman who wears the uniform of a United States soldier and the man who told them they were too dumb to do something more worthwhile.

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I spent the night on the side of the road about a half mile from where I've been staying the last couple weeks. Unfortunately I was clearly not forward-thinking and filled Bertha's 50-gallon tank the last time I was out and about visiting bookstores. Therefore I scraped the road going into the driveway and was unsure whether I could get out again...and I really didn't want a repeat of my arrival fiasco. That necessitated leaving at night when I could get help taking all the books out of the rear, backing out and parking on the street with hazards going, then quickly loading books and the hitch back on. After all that work I could only get a half mile before collapsing. ;)

Onward and forward!

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I went with my former roommates out to the Air Show yesterday after church. What an amazing sight! First of all, hundreds of polite young men and women in uniform bringing order to the zillions of people wandering around in non-uniformed chaos. They sent us all through metal detectors and trollied us from the acres and acres of flat dirt used for the parking lot, all with organized efficiency.

I certainly enjoyed all the different planes they had throughout the afternoon, but the highlight for me was when the Thunderbirds performed at the end. It was literally awe-inspiring and I found my eyes tearing, with a phrase I'd heard somewhere running through my head about "American exceptionalism."

They even had a sense of humor -- the PA told us to watch the main four do some really complicated maneuver and we were all watching and thinking...umm...this doesn't look as complicated as some of the other stuff they'd done -- when one of the single pilots buzzed really close over our heads from behind and scared the crap out of the crowd. The whole crowd laughed for the next few minutes.

One thing that surprised me was that the men speaking on the PA were going on and on at various times about the greatness of the military and how this or that plane coming along would bring bad news to the bad guys. It sounded off to me somehow and I kept waiting for something, but I couldn't figure out what. Finally I figured out that I haven't heard people speaking well of the military at that length for a long, long time. I'm used to the only references being bad ones -- the military didn't have this equipment or the poor soldiers were stuck with that bad plan...I guess I've been more influenced by the mainstream media than I thought.

Here are some pics.

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...only this time it's not 8 RV's at the W/M. I think I might have to use my ear plugs for the first time this trip -- there's a wild party going on next door. The kind where you can't hear any part of the music except the BUM BUM THUMP THUMP. Haven't posted a pic in awhile so here, for your viewing pleasure, is the exceedingly tall Jesus mural at Biola campus (pictured with a thoughtful co-ed walking by for scale):

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Other than a rather regrettable lack of sleep, the last couple days have been really enjoyable. I was told there were around 60 or 70 attendees. I think we split about half and half between Biola students and the age-d -- at least, that's how we managed to inadvertently seat ourselves several times. :p

I have to say I'm just really pleased that this "fell into my lap" as God-things so often do. There are quite a few subjects I'll be thinking through based on things I heard regarding blogging in specific and representing myself on the internet in general. I met a lot of really nice and interesting people -- and several gave me great marketing ideas and networking contacts. All around a great weekend. Supposing I sleep about 12 hours tonight, tomorrow I'll be in a little better shape to tackle the stack of business cards I acquired.

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Ok, the truth is I really have nothing to say that I can write in 30 seconds -- I just wanted to post from the middle of a session... ;)

I just had a great lunch with some folks who gave me a lot of good ideas and referrals for marketing MPA. Just had lunch and now we're having a panel about bridging the political divide. More later.

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I don't think I'll even try to explain what happened tonight -- I'll save that for another time when I can do it justice. It was far beyond my expectations, also a lot different than I was expecting. If I were a serious blogger I would have been "live" blogging while listening to the opening talk like some of the other attendees, but I figured my vast audience wouldn't mind waiting for a wrap-up til later. :p I will tell you that I was praising God on the way home and am looking forward to the day and a half to come.

I have to get up at the crack of 6 tomorrow and drive back in -- and, yes, in my new life the crack of 6 is exceedingly early. Especially considering the lack of sleep last night due to a combination of excitement and Santa Ana winds rocking me in a none too gentle fashion. I had a couple windows open and a bazillion little tree pieces flew in thru the screens. Just now I was dangling Cali's rope and she got so static-y chasing it and rubbing in the carpet that she has the little pieces stuck all over her, as well as my Good Sam emergency roadside assistance card which had somehow found it's way to the floor. Sorry, it fell off before I could get a picture...

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One and a half harrowing hours later, I make it from the Enterprise lot in Simi Valley to the Biola campus. Here I sit, chocolate chai frappe in hand (recommended by the student barrista), enjoying the shaded outdoors and listening to the small waterfall flowing behind me. I'm so glad I rented the little postage stamp car -- Bertha would have been a nightmare. I can't believe how many cars were on the road in the middle of the day.

I had a bit of a time warp moment when I got here. It occurred to me that it'd been 15 years since I was here last, being shown around by my mother the alum. I don't think I ever had any real intention of going here, but it was a good excuse to get out of school as a senior. ;) As I recall, I had more fun with my 2-day pass to Disneyland than scouting Biola...

I've a quiz for you Boiseans -- guess who just popped by and spent 45 minutes chatting with me?

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So last night I was working on my blog, wondering for the thousandth time how to make it better. I've really been in a bit of mental turmoil over what exactly I'm doing with this trip. Yes, I'm trying to promote my work of fiction, but I'm also kind of stunned at all the research I've been doing the past month. When I started MPA I wasn't that informed -- I literally created it out of nothing. Now, it seems everywhere I look I see examples of laws that lead in the direction of my seemingly ludicrous plot.

In that light, promoting a work of fiction seems kind of small. However, I keep remembering the one line that struck me in the incredibly bizarre V for Vendetta: "...artists use lies to tell the truth while politicians use them to cover the truth up." I don't think of my work of fiction as lies per se, but it is a story I crafted to entertainingly present some truths.

But back to how God works. Last night I was researching around, looking at different blogs in my quest to figure out the balance between the strict commercialism of promoting my book and speaking some truths to a broader audience with my blog...when what do I come across but a GodBlogCon ad. With a big sigh of sadness that I forgot to check into it, I clicked on the link. This was after 11 last night, but lo and behold the conference starts this evening. With a flurry of action I was able to get ahold of someone and get registered. Enterprise is coming to "pick me up" in an hour because renting a car for three days costs less than the gas it would take to drive Bertha back and forth to Biola each day (besides the state I would be in after driving her thru downtown LA).

I'm really excited. I think, from the circumstances, that God wanted me to attend, so I'm on the edge of my seat to see what He wants me to learn. Please pray with me that I'll get some great new ideas and network with the right people, both for the blogging truth aspect, as well as the "commercialism" that keeps Bertha's wheels rolling.

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Almost everyone who has commented to me after reading MPA has said they thought "it could happen." I find this a little disturbing, frankly, as I just made the whole thing up when I started writing in 1999. So...I've recently been trying to educate myself a little more about what is going on in the world as regards tolerance in general. The internet can be a beautiful thing. I typed in "tolerance re-education" on ask.com and came up with...

Scott Savage, a librarian at Ohio State University-Mansfield. He's on a committee that suggests required reading for incoming freshman and, earlier this year, suggested four books. Because of his suggestions, three professors on campus filed a sexual harassment claim against Mr. Savage. The faculty voted to have him investigated, then the vote was "rescinded two days later for legal reasons."

One of his colleagues sent a faculty e-mail about one of the suggestions -- The Marketing of Evil. He wrote:

"… I am not shocked, only deeply saddened – and THREATENED – that such mindless folks are on this great campus. … You have made me fearful and uneasy being a gay man on this campus. I am, in fact, notifying the OSU-M campus, and Ohio State University in general, that I no longer feel safe doing my job. I am being harassed."

I looked at blurbs of the four book suggestions and am fully willing to concede, for the sake of brevity, that they look like they'd fall under the purview of "right wing" literature. However, others on the committee suggested books that were patently "left wing" in nature and received not a hint of accusation. And they shouldn't have.

My question -- how is it that Mr. Savage was committing threatening acts merely by suggesting the reading of a book that puts forth a view that is in the minority on college campuses?

Quotes taken from here -- click to read the whole article.

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Heard an interesting quote today:

"No one has the right to choose to do what is morally wrong." Abraham Lincoln.

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I visited four bookstores today. The first and best visit was at an independant in Camarillo. I chatted for probably 10 minutes with (I think) the owner, discussing the themes of the book and publishing in general. He was very friendly, but made several remarks about how impossible it is to get anywhere as an unknown without a major label behind you. He took a flyer and I had a pretty good feeling he might order one to check it out. He suggested I add distributor names to my flyer which I thought was nice of him.

The second was one of the Family Christian Bookstore chain. Now I know they don't carry it, and won't even add it to their registry so people can special order...however, our Boise store said he would order some on the side or somesuch industry term. I thought maybe I'd drop a book at every Family Christian I came across and try to get several ordering on the side. Sadly, they informed me corporate has recently brought down the hammer and they can't even do that anymore.

The third answered the phone in Spanish but I thought, what the heck, I'll try anyway. It was called Debbie's and I think Debbie herself was sitting outside when I arrived. Everything in sight was in espanol and when I asked if they carried any English titles she pawed thru a stack and found one novel. She then spent several minutes trying to explain to me how to get to an English-speaking bookstore across town and followed me out the door saying God bless you and Jesus loves you. What a sweet woman!

And the last...well, I'd just missed the manager and their Canoga Park store does the actual ordering...so I gave them a flyer with fairly few hopes. Driving Bertha around the busy freeways has not been the most fun thing but I'm trying to remind myself that I'll be in the boonies again soon enough. ;)

Cali has parked herself right beside where I'm typing and her tail is swinging back and forth over the keyboard, tipping the antenna for my pc card back and forth...I guess that's as good a place as any to stop!

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Well this was a first. Earlier this evening I left Bertha while I was talking on the phone and roared off in a borrowed car for an appointment. When I returned just now I found the door locked. I'm thinking...I don't remember locking the door, but I guess I was on the phone so maybe I did it without thinking. Except that I don't have the keys anywhere. I double-check the car. I go inside the house. No luck. Finally I think, it's late, it's dark, I'll just try to break in.

I won't tell you how, but it was quite comical and I was glad to be surrounded by darkness and trees and, just in case you're worried, this method of break-in-age would not be available were I anywhere but the completely safe driveway where I am currently parked. ;) 

Once I got in I found the keys on the counter. I have no idea what happened -- maybe the lock slipped when I slammed the door shut...

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It must have been the visit Friday, but I had a dream last night that I was back in the building, except we were all in cages set up against the walls. Bars came from the top and bottom and met in the middle, leaving a small spot where you could sort of wave your arms. Every once in awhile they would open the bars and you could get out for a minute or two before being locked back up. Analyze that one!

I went to my old church yesterday -- you might recognize it from the book as the church George and Amanda attended. Here's a picture of the trailer that comes every week because they meet at Moorpark College and have to bring in all their equipment:

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"...since they held that all morality was a mere subjective by-product of the physical and economic situations of men..." That Hideous Strength, C.S. Lewis.

I thought that quote apropos since I was just discussing moral absolutes a couple days ago. It always strikes me as odd when I'm reading a book from yesteryear that speaks as if written today. Or, at the very least, makes me wonder if society is as it has always been. I remember being sort of thunderstruck when reading a passage in Augustine's Confessions that described the way people reacted to the rampant immorality in the theater of his day (around 400 AD). I thought I might just as well be reading a modern expose' on Hollywood.

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I was just messing around with the template again, trying to figure out how to add more goodies to the blog, when I ran across overall site statistics. I've been watching stats on the main page -- as you can see I added a counter to the right -- and thought I was doing pretty good with 700+ hits, fully assuming that my parents account for half of those... :p

Anyway, overall site statistics say that I've had 3,477 hits in the last 30 days. I'll have one month under my belt come the 25th...so...my November goal is to break 10,000. Don't worry, I'm not asking you to hit refresh six times every time you check... ;) That will be growth from all the zillions of business cards I pass out and the fancy-schmancy new flyers I made for bookstores. I plan to hit at least six or eight this next week.

By the way, I'm well aware that 3,477 hits is measly in the extreme compared to the big leagues, but I have to grab encouragement wherever I can get it when it comes to marketing. ;)

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I've been noticing a trend lately in the news. I don't know if I'm the last one to notice or not, but it seems to me that conservative Christians are being equated more and more frequently with Islamic fundamentalists. Two sides of the same coin and both bad for the world. The former leader of Germany, Gerhard Schroeder, is the latest one to comment:

"We rightly criticize that in most Islamic states, the role of religion for society and the character of the rule of law are not clearly separated," Schroeder wrote. "But we fail to recognize that in the USA, the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies."

I had a short discussion with someone just the other day about the war -- basically who did we think we were trying to impose freedom on them and change their religion. How would we feel if they came over here and tried to change our religion? First, I don't know that changing their religion is what we're trying to do, but I'll let that pass. The real crux of the issue, in my mind, is the implied notion that there's no difference -- no moral right or wrong. I'm not talking specifically about the war, why we went, what we're doing, etc. I'm simply asking if I'm really in the minority because I see a moral difference between a free society where people are not going to get arrested for making and selling t-shirts that use expletives to describe the current leader...and a society where people are executed if they convert to another religion. If there's no moral right and wrong, no absolute truth, then we may as well be at war to make the Iraqis prefer chocolate ice cream over vanilla.

I do believe that the Bible says there is one Way. However, that belief in no way, shape or form means that I subscribe to the notion of conversion by force. If I believed we should be in Iraq, or any other country, to force people to say the sinner's prayer at gunpoint -- well, quite frankly, I'd probably want to start bringing troops to Venice Beach. But that's not the essence of free will. And free will is the cornerstone of both our fallen, sinful society and our opportunity to accept Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf.

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That is the cheery song sung by the man in the center of the picture below. One of the later lines in his song was "support your local wino." He was, in actual fact, one of the least offensive things I saw on my walk from Venice Beach to Santa Monica Pier and back. To be fair to Santa Monica, the worst stuff was along the shopping mile in Venice. I don't know why I forget, but every time I walk down there I'm assaulted by tarot cards and psychic readings, t-shirts with sayings I am embarassed to read, let alone wear and all manner of moral filth. I used to love walking around and looking at the wild variety of people, but now I just feel like I need a bath.

I actually took my video camera, all flush with last night's "motivation," but just as I worked up my nerve to approach the first person with my three tolerance-related questions...the battery went dead. So much for that!

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I went to visit my old workplace today -- had lunch with folks from my last department and then wandered the building for a couple hours having conversations with former coworkers and etc. I have to say, as far as motivation goes...it was a very inspirational visit.

You see, I am a chicken. More times than not, my perfect vision of my future would include living somewhere like that dreamhouse on the Oregon Coast I found, madly whacking away on the keyboard creating my latest novel, accepting UPS packages every week with new books to read or videos to watch. I could conceivably live without human contact for weeks at a time, although I'd probably come out for church or lunch with friends every so often. That's not to say I wouldn't communicate, but to me, e-mail or reading a comment made to my blog is almost like actually having a conversation with someone.

This is the root personality problem that conflicts every day with this new life I've embarked on as self-promoter. I joke about breaking into a cold sweat when I go into a bookstore, but the first time I had to read my book aloud in front of a group I started crying. And that was just in front of my family because I was practicing so I wouldn't be as nervous at the book launch the next day. I can't think of a person less qualified to promote their own work.

But I was powerfully incentivized today to continue working against my grain. What awaits me on the other side of this year is, quite possibly, another desk job in cube world. If that's what God has for me I'm (almost) perfectly willing to walk back into that world, but if I do...I want to know in my heart that I gave it everything I had to give.

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As I said, I arrived in time to join my former roommates on a birthday jaunt to Disneyland. It was really fun, tho I did have to take some ibuprofen when I got home. :p I have to say, I still enjoy Magic Mountain more since I'm a rollercoaster junky, but it was fun to go with them and see what the boys (six and three) thought of it.

The much-hyped revision to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride was sort of a let-down. If I hadn't known it'd been closed for so many years my expectations might not have been so high. It looked exactly the same to me except for the Johnny Depp character sprinkled throughout. I'd like to point out that I always loved that ride -- so exactly the same was just fine -- but I fell victim to the hype and expected something different.

The most hysterical portion of the day was when two of us decided to ride Indiana Jones one last time before the park closed while the others went on the jungle cruise. We got about 30 seconds into the ride when the whole thing ground to a halt. The lights came on and a muffled loudspeaker said something about an operational difficulty and appreciating our cooperation. About 10 minutes later we started again without sound and with the spotlights still on, but only went forward another 15 seconds or so before we were stuck for good. That last spurt moved us into the larger room so we could see four other cars stopped in various positions -- one was stuck on the rickety bridge. It was really interesting to see the inside that is usually dark and scary.

The girls in front of us were taking it very well, laughing and cracking jokes. The Russians beside me were super unhappy and I eavesdropped for awhile on the woman and child behind me. The woman made a crack about how this was her karma to get stuck like this while they had people waiting outside. The little girl asked what karma was and the woman gave her a big explanation of the energy of previous lives and the choices we make and all that. For some reason they had to let all the other cars out first so we saw quite a few characters walking back and forth and joked with the different people hiking out. Finally they brought a ladder to us (at which point we did the wave as we'd been practicing) and we got out and made our own hike. Quite a different experience than blasting thru while bouncing around in the dark. I found out later that the Russians had missed their bus because of how long we'd been delayed so that explained why they were not as jolly as the rest of us... Russian to Customer Service Agent: "We're very unhappy in this happiest place on earth."

Here's another page of photos for your enjoyment.

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Lots of people I run into ask me whether I've seen the movie RV. Yes, my best friend made me go see it right before I went and picked Bertha up, then I rented it again to show my parents. Aside from the small dumping fiasco a week or two ago, I haven't had anything noteworthy to report in that vein. However, Tuesday night when I arrived in Moorpark I almost wished for a film crew.

The problem, as I see it, is Bertha's enormous length. Added to her length is a couple feet of a sort of arrangement that holds the scooter and plugs into the hitch. Driving up into their driveway I scraped for just a second, but went on not thinking too much about it. The next step was to drive up a rather steep hill to get into the riding arena, where I planned on parking for the week. Sadly, neither I nor the gal standing outside directing me heard the screeching and scraping until it was too late. At that point I was stuck, stuck and more stuck.

We tried standing on the front bumper. We tried putting boards behind the tires -- still they would spin uselessly. The gal had a jack in her truck that we thought we'd try (As an aside, what I thought was a jack in one of my compartments turned out to be reflector lights. Good to know.). So we tried the jack and, no matter how hard we worked at it, couldn't make the stupid circle thing turn more than one rotation. At this point one of the roommates came home and, tho I hate to add to the notion of the weaker sex, he was able to make the jack turn and move the rear up a little. Unfortunately it was not a big enough jack for Bertha's considerable heft, so it started to tweak.

The roommate, we'll call him MacGyver, then proceeded to try everything we'd already tried. No luck. Finally we sent the gal to her house to pick up her nephew's floor jack. I was prepared to make my inaugural Good Sam call if this didn't work. Luckily I was not made the butt of another joke around the Good Sam repair office because MacGyver was able to make the jack work, lift the end enough to take off the hitch contraption, and then muscle Bertha into reverse. Success!

Suffice it to say, I'm parked in the level part of the driveway and quite content there.

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I thought I'd better blog tonight even tho it's late so that no one thinks I experienced one of those untimely Los Angeles catastrophes -- like when the paparazzo mistake you for Linsday Lohan and rearend your car looking for a reaction shot...

Actually, I'm alive and well, parked in my former roommates' driveway. I was supposed to be in the riding arena but I experienced, at last, a true RV story. I'm too tired to do it justice tonight, but I will attempt to relate it in all its glory tomorrow. I got into town just in time to join my roommates in their trip to the happiest place on earth today. I've got a few words to say about that as well, but they'll have to wait til tomorrow. I was going to at least let you see the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger picture I e-mailed myself from Space Command...but sadly I'm having a spot of difficulty with the server. So...tune in tomorrow.

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I just turned on my computer to blog and up pops a wireless network labeled “Jesus.” Too bad it’s security-enabled or I might pop onto it… ;)

I’m in San Luis Obispo visiting one of the gals who used to be in my high school Bible study when I lived in California. She goes to Cal Poly and drove me around campus before taking me downtown for breakfast. We ate very near the Christian bookstore I went into yesterday. I can tell I’m making progress because I didn’t break into a cold sweat when I gave them a business card and asked them to look into ordering one. My friend said she’d get all her friends to go in and request it…so maybe they’ll order a couple. :p

I was a guest of the California Park system last night – $20 to park on a gravel turnout alongside the road. Here’s a picture:

Now I’ll show you a picture of the other side of the road and, quite possibly, why they can get away with charging so much:

I listened to crashing waves and barking seals all night -- it was lovely. Apparently they have a lot of shark attacks around here because of all the seals so I'm glad I decided against taking a dip!

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I’ve been debating whether to blog about something. You all know this is a commercial endeavor – I’m on this trip to try to sell just enough books that I can continue writing without having to take another cube-world job, but not so many that I have to deal with seeing hideous pictures of myself in the National Enquirer. ;)

But another, just as significant aspect, is that I’ve purposely put myself in this artificial environment where I have to rely on God to provide my daily bread more than I ever really have. I say artificial because I do, in fact, have a house at home that is being rented, and I will, in fact, not be risking living on the street if this fails. However, it is true that I set off on a trip across the nation with no steady source of income to pay for my health insurance, let alone feed this gas-guzzling behemoth or buy the occasional package of Top Ramen (which I had for dinner tonight by the way).

I blogged before I left about trying to sell my car and how that was really hard for me – the last shred of independence and etc. Well as it turns out, my car didn’t sell. I was planning on using that money as backup but it never materialized. Now the picture becomes clear to you – in my experiment of faith I said “I will trust You Lord, but just in case I’ll have some money in the bank.”

So last week I was praying for my daily bread and kind of…well…let’s be honest here – bellyaching to God about how He’d better arrange it so I’d sell some books soon or I’d be out of money shortly. And now we come to the point I’ve been debating about sharing – I received two out-of-the-blue monetary gifts within a span of a couple days. I tell you this, not to solicit donations because that is FAR from my objective, but because I’m sharing this journey with you and I want to tell you how God just blew my socks off with His abundant grace. Exceeding, abundant, more than you can ask or imagine...

My favorite definition of grace is undeserved favor. That’s what it feels like.

Posted by authorjodi at 06:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday my aunt and I went to see One Night With The King. I would highly recommend it -- one, because it was well done and two, because it was clean, clean, clean and I'm not sure they could have used much more Scripture as actual dialogue. If you haven't heard of it, it tells the story of Queen Esther.

After the movie we checked out C28: Not of this World. That was the store of the guy I chatted with for such a long time at the Harvest Crusade. I couldn't be more tickled with this store, let me tell you. I think it's mainly set to appeal to the younger set, but I managed to find a t-shirt I could buy. :p They said kids walk in there thinking it's any other trendy mall store, then ask what in the world it's all about. They've had six kids pray with staff to become Christians in their most recent store that's only been open two months. And the best part -- it's a viable business (or as viable as any new retail store). I tried to talk him into moving into the Boise mall but he said that's a ways off. He's concentrated on opening six new stores in northern California in the next little while. Meanwhile, you can order from the website I linked above.

Since I seem to be in a recommending mood, we were on a movie streak and watched Diary of a Mad Black Woman last night. I'm sorry to say I'd never heard of Tyler Perry, nor his stage plays, but I intend to rent the whole lot now that I've seen the first one he made into a movie. It was so funny. And again, clean with a great message. Apparently Tyler used to be homeless, but has since achieved wild fame and fortune with his plays and attributes it all to his faith in God.

Posted by authorjodi at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sometimes there aren't any words better than those already written down:

Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits -- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. (Psalm 103:1-5)

Posted by authorjodi at 09:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

That's not a typo, but the name of the church I attended this morning. I think it was the name of the band -- so many people were coming to Christ at their concerts that they formed a church. It was wonderful, again, to be among brothers and sisters who speak the truth but speak it in a different way than I'm used to. For instance, audience participation was much higher than in my tradition "come on pastor!" ;)

I (sort of) attended the Greg Laurie Harvest Crusade last night. My aunt and uncle had volunteered to be greeters so we got there about 4:30 and I wandered around until it started at 7. In the end there were about 2,000 people turned away by the HP Pavilion staff because they were at fire code max, and as the music was so loud you felt your chest reverberating within you....we left early and went to dinner. :p

I had several great chats with vendors -- one in particular that I'm going to do a little research on by going to their store today and then I'll tell you about them. Was able to pass out several of my hot-off-the-press business cards...

Last thing for now and then I've got to run. My aunt introduced me to the pastor at Cryy Out -- she'd previously told him I was coming and gave him one of my books. He was so welcoming, said if he'd known sooner he would have had me give a talk "you do talk right?" Uhhh...I'm working on one <insert fear and trembling>. Then he asked if he could pray for me and my journey and he just prayed right there at the back of the church.

Posted by authorjodi at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I tried to power through Perelandra last night because I was so close to the end. Sadly, I had to give up in the middle of the last chapter because it was really difficult to understand what he was saying and I was not at my most coherent. This morning I dreamed I was in a physics class and in the back C.S. Lewis was giving a lesson for those students who were having difficulty. I raced back to get a good seat at the table because I was in desperate need of extra help. Luckily, the phone woke me out of a dead sleep just as I was getting that sinking feeling that sometimes occurs when you know you're about to endure a long discussion that you have no hope of understanding.

I blame Famous Dave's BBQ. Last night, on the recommendation of my hosts, I ordered the Two Buns and a Heart Attack Burger (not it's real name) which was a burger topped with bbq pork and bacon. It was quite good but we had to waddle out. It's a good thing there was a Barnes and Noble across the parking lot -- I figure we were able to burn off almost 10 calories walking over there.

Posted by authorjodi at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

My father brought this story to my attention. I've certainly lost all track of the current news on this trip, not seeing much of headlines from one day to the next, so I don't know if this is old hat to you all...but I just had to share. An elephant and a mariachi band crossing the border with immunity. Yikes.

It's funny because, last night, in an attempt to figure out how I could stay more up-to-date with the news while traveling, I watched a short news clip that reported on a man who had been granted entrance into the headquarters of Homeland Security with a fake ID that listed his address as 123 Fraud Street. I was curious, so I just googled another story about it.

You know, I spent literally hours dreaming up scenarios for getting folks out of the country in my book. This was at least three or four years ago now -- I guess at that point I wasn't aware how loose our borders really were.

Posted by authorjodi at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I believe I said something about a desire to avoid the big cities of America on this tour. Driving white-knuckled through San Francisco freeway madness at 11 in the morning made me remember one of the reasons why. Granted, I have a whole set of reasons I want to visit small town America, but avoiding maniac drivers veering in and out of five lanes of traffic ranks somewhere on that list. I thought briefly of pulling out my lifesize George Bush cardboard cutout and sitting him down in the passenger seat -- but I couldn't see much benefit to the carpool lane. ;)

Posted by authorjodi at 09:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Another day, another parking lot. ;) It’s actually quite a party here tonight – eight RVs by 7:30. That’s a record as far as my experience goes. Too bad we can’t have a block party and make smores around a barrel of fire or something. I was going to take a picture, but you know RVs, I couldn’t fit everyone in.

I treated myself to dinner at Chili’s tonight and had the always exquisite chicken tacos while reading C.S. Lewis’ Perelandra. I finished Out of the Silent Planet a couple nights ago and have been meaning to tell you about it. I’m kind of embarrassed to admit this, but it happened again tonight – I got a little teary. I was so – I don’t know – moved I guess by the way he was able to create this entire other world that spoke so clearly of deep truths while, at the same time, just writing a jolly good story. It was quite similar to the experience I had watching Chronicles of Narnia. I always enjoyed the books, but there were several times during the movie where my spirit just soared within me at some of the truths so powerfully on display. You probably think I’m nuts. I’m quite sure my waitress did.

Anyway, the party is ON in this W/M parking lot. I hope I’m able to get a good night’s sleep. Last night’s W/M was so loud that I woke up fairly frequently. Tomorrow I run the gauntlet to San Jose.

Posted by authorjodi at 09:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been sitting in the Rohnert Park Library for the past several hours, greedily sucking up electricity as I busily mess with the blog. Like the new header? Sadly, it took me several hours to make even that work. I have plans for a counter and links to the main site and all that...but the coding of this "simple" interface is beyond me. :p

By the way, I forgot one of my favorite pictures in last night's batch. I call him the Elvis bird because of his bouffant and fine blue costume. Does anyone know the real name?

Posted by authorjodi at 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)