writer dies

James Oliver Rigney Jr, a.k.a. Robert Jordan, the beloved author of The Wheel of Time series, died Sunday. Jordan died of a rare blood disease at the age of 58. This is a sad time for his wife and for his readers. For his readers, they are probably even more upset that Jordan died while writing the final installment of the series, book 12. Jordan will now never have the opportunity to finish his epic fantasy where Rand al'Thor takes on "ultimate evil."

the wheel of time

For anyone who loves fantasy books, Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series is a must read. You would need to be secure in your understanding of God's truth in Christ being the only way and that reincarnation and a "One Power" are not realities, but Jordan brings these stories to life in like manner with JRR Tolkien. The first five books' covers are below. I have now read four of the series, and just started the fifth: The Fires of Heaven. There are twelve books in all, that is, right now. And I don't think the story has ended yet. I'll have to see when I get there (in four years!). I do read slowly, but these are well written enough for my time.

It took me a long time, but I finished The Eye of the World in 2005.

The Great Hunt I finished in early 2006.

I believe I finished this one sometime last year, maybe Christmas, 2006.

I just finished this one on Saturday, June 23, 2007.

I just started this one Sunday, June 24, 2007. We'll see how long it takes me.

fourth anniversary

Amy and I have now been married for a glorious four years. How lucky am I? Go ahead, tell me. Amy's gorgeous, she's able to stay home and take care of Aidan, Aidan's now 9 months old and loves to clap, Kate is maturing in the womb and will make her debut in another 5 1/2 months: life is good. Some fun to talk about regarding the day Amy and I spent together. We've made it a tradition to head up to Flagstaff for our anniversary, ever since our second anniversary. (We honeymooned there, just so you know.) We hit Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks, then headed out of town up the 17. There was a winter storm warning in effect until noon, according to the 511 service that I called. As we found out on our way up the hill, it was snowing very heavily within 30 miles of Flagstaff even at 2:00 pm. It was snowing so hard that the visibility was down to under half a mile at best. We got ourselves behind an SUV from Oregon and followed them all the way up the hill. They obviously knew how to drive in those conditions, and not many others did, as we passed many Arizona plates on the way up. As we would change lanes, the ice that was building up where no tires had been traveling made it to where we seemed to slide a little. The Lord kept us safe the whole way up, and it was a fun drive, praise Him. I truly enjoyed myself on that drive. Before the snow and the bad weather, just as we were coming down the large mountain that leads to Camp Verde, I was caught by DPS driving 76 in a 65 mph area. The road sign changed to 75 just tens of yards away from where the officer was camping out to catch speeders. I did get pulled over. We pulled off the road in Camp Verde (which we were going to anyway because it was time for lunch). The officer was the nicest man in a uniform that I've ever met. He told me how fast I was going, asked me where we were headed (I told him "Flagstaff, for our anniversary"), and he told me that he wouldn't ruin our anniversary by giving me a ticket. I wasn't afraid at all, and I didn't even have anxiety, and he just let us off. I couldn't believe it. We then went to the A&W/KFC, ate lunch, then headed back up the hill to follow the Oregon SUV. We made it up to the Barnes & Noble (as we do each time that we go) in order to get our regular journal purchase. We got a lot of board books (which were on major sale) for Aidan, and even got a stuffed animal dragon, too. We got some other books, too, like Eragon and a guide to poker (since I'm starting up a regular game, hopefully). I also got to buy a couple journals for me to take sermon notes in. My parents gave us money for our anniversary, so we used that for the purchase. We then went around NAU's campus and took some pictures of the winter weather on the trees and overall campus. It was gorgeous up there. We had a nice time up there in Flagstaff, even though we didn't go up past Flagstaff to take pictures in the aspens which we normally take (because of the weather and safety). We headed back down the hill earlier than any other year, but it was a good idea. The roads didn't get any better with the weather continuing to snow and rain, depending on the elevation. Again, the conditions made it hard to see, and the Arizona plates really didn't know what to do with the snowy conditions, but we were still able to enjoy the road home. It was solid rain or snow the whole way down the mountain: almost 150 miles worth of solid clouds without a break. We got back into town, we to Cucina Tagliani, ordered to go, went to Walmart, went back to pick up the food, headed home, and enjoyed our dinner while watching the Suns battle the Mavericks for a little while. We had left Aidan with the Ogles (my parents-in-law) for the day, very generous of them, and so we went to pick him up when we finished with dinner. The Ogles told us that Aidan was good and slept all of his normal naps. That was great to hear. We told him about what I've told you, and then we headed home. That was our fourth anniversary.