Category: Books

Friday’s Walkabout

Friday after the morning sessions at the conference were over and the conference ended, most people headed right out. Within a short time the church was quite abandoned. I had thought to bring some casual clothes in my backpack so that I could change before heading out for some last day shopping. I asked a friend to take my dress clothes back to the hotel. I was still wearing my dress shoes though. I have probably logged many more miles on my dress shoes than I ever will on any pair of running shoes. These shoes have served me well for 7 years. I get them re-soled every 6 to 12 months. They get a lot of use.

On my way to the big used bookstore that I was planning to visit, I saw a Taco Bell. Besides Krispy Kreme, that was the only other food place I was planning to hit. I had my standard soft taco and bean burrito meal. Though it tasted good, I realized something from that meal. One of the podcasters I listen to, Scott Smith, always says to ask the question “How do I want to feel?” before sticking something questionable in your mouth. I have eaten so well for so long here in Mexico that I did not remember the yucky food choices in the US made me feel awful. I just thought that I felt good because I lost weight. Now I know I feel good, at least in part, based on what I eat too. All that to say, I did not feel good after eating at Taco Bell. Though the flavor was just as good as I remembered, the gastro intestinal stress I was in for the rest of the day just was not fun.

On my way to the bookstore I realized that, in my desire to clean out my backpack to make maximum room for my shopping purchases, I left out my list of books I needed to look for. My wife had given me a full typewritten sheet of books to try and find. I also had hand scribbled my Amazon Wish-List on the back of the paper. Now I did not have that as a guide.

I got to the book store with just a vague idea of what I needed. Obviously I would remember the books that I wanted if I saw them on the shelf. I did find one (Running & Being: The Total Experience, George Sheehan). I also found a few in the right genre for my son. Nothing for my wife since I certainly would not remember even a small handful of titles she wanted.

Then off to the sporting goods store just to look. I had nothing else on my list that I specifically needed from there. I just wanted to browse. Nothing caught my eye.

Wal-Mart provided a new set of headphones that I like. I can get them here pretty easily. Wal-Mart had them for about $3 less. I am hard on headphones and have to replace them every 6 months or so. I just pull the wires too often or get them hung on something. I am sure the 6 gallons of sweat I pour on them every time I run does nothing good for them too.

I then headed on down to the Queen Mary just to get a closer look. Not sure why I did not snap a picture of her. Just do a google search for images and you will see what she looks like. I am talking about the ship, not the person she was named after.

Back to Borders where I picked up Duel in the Sun.

Finally back to my hotel. This was all a 6 hour walk. Some of it was covered on train and bus.

I was then all blahed out. I talked with my wife over IM for a bit before she headed to bed. All my hotel friends were still out (those who had not left yet). It was only about 8:30 and I had nothing to do. So…I changed shoes and went out for a walk.

I walked up a road I had not ventured up yet this week. I found the very top of the hill that my hotel was on. I walked around in the dark until 10:00 and then got back to the hotel and into bed quickly. I wanted to get a fresh start early the next morning for a nice long run I had planned.

Picnic at the Aquarium

Yesterday afternoon we had a banquet on the lawn of the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was a fancy catered meal. We had dinner rolls, chicken breast, baked beans, tortillas, corn on the cob (probably the best I have ever eaten), fajitas all followed up by ice-cream novelty bars.

We then had free reign of the aquarium. It is not an overly large aquarium, but it was nicely laid out. They made good use of their space.

I then left the group after a quick run through the fish and headed out on my own. Though I have some good friends here, they all had much tighter relationships with this particular group. Some ofPicnic on the lawn these pastors and attendees have been meeting together annually for 27 years. This is my first time to attend this conference. I am definitely the outsider. So, I did not feel bad about taking off and leaving everyone behind.

Just outside of the aquarium area is a large shopping complex. It is not quite like a mall, more like an outlet store complex, except the stores are not outlet stores. A big jumble of just about anything high end. One of the more interesting stores I saw was the Segway store. You could rent a Segway for a few hours or all day. They were also a dealership. For $6K you could have a nice decked out machine.

I then buzzed over to Borders Books. I was pleasantly surprised by something that I had not experienced in a while. I went into the bookstore with my backpack. Being a good Mexican, I went right up to the front counter and asked them where I needed to store my bag. The lady looked at me funny and said that I did not have to leave it at the desk. That was a surprise to me after living here for 3 years. Every store here has a package counter where you have to drop off your carry in items before entering the merchandise area. I was suddenly brought back to a thought that I had 3 years ago, but had forgotten. Here in Mexico (at least in the stores) it is assumed that everyone is a thief. In the US, it is assumed that no one is. The truth is that in the US there are more high tech ways of catching someone at shoplifting than there are here. So you are still assumed to be a thief in the US, but as a regular consumer, you just don’t notice it.

I then made my way back to the church and asked for directions on taking the metro train/bus back to my hotel. One thing I have learned in Mexico is that you don’t ask someone for directions if they are walking. They are walking because they don’t drive. I should have used that knowledge to help me get back to my hotel. I asked a man in the church how to take the train/bus back to the hotel. Don’t ask someone who drives for directions on how to use public transportation.

He told me to buy an “all day” ticket when I got on the train. That would allow me to get on and off as many times as I needed for the day. Then I could use the same ticket to take the bus from the train station to my hotel. Not quite true. I ended up paying for 3 train rides (though I only rode once) buying that ticket and still had to pay for the bus. There is an all day ticket for the bus too. But, they are two separate systems. So you have to pay a fare on each.

I got back to my hotel just fine though. I had a bit of time to get ready for my sermon that night. I was pleased that, even though I was not originally on the speaking schedule, they let me preach. The man that I was supposed to serve as interpreter was not able to make the conference. Therefore, they let me speak in his place. It was an honor.

Final preparations

Tomorrow morning the wheels will be up headed to California. I know where the running stores are. The general sporting goods stores. Used book store. Thrift shop. Ham radio store.

I still need to find the closest Fry’s Electronics. I also need a general computer store. That should be fairly easy to find.

I also have my list of stuff that I want to see and buy.

I am editing the next episode of Missionary Talks right now. It should be up before I go to bed tonight. That is, assuming that I go to bed.

I have to swing by and pick up my driver to the airport at 5:00 in the morning. He is loving that.

Review: Grace Like a River

I got this book, Grace Like a River, last summer when it came out. I read about it somewhere before it came out and I had my mom hit Books-A-Million to pick it up for me as soon as it was available.

It is the autobiographical work of Christopher Parkening and his concert career. As an avid Parkening fan (I have 12 of his CDs), I had to have the book. Though I knew quite a bit about the man, I was pleased to learn about what drives him as a musician and how he came back from retirement to fight his way to the top again.

A brief synopsis is that he was an accomplished musician on the world’s stage. He wanted to be retired by the age of 30 and living in a cabin in Montana so that he could fish full time. He accomplished that and thought his life would be complete. Of course, it was not. He was living for himself alone with no care for anyone or anything else.

He not only stopped playing professionally, but he pretty much gave up the guitar completely. It was a hard struggle to come back to concert guitar and recording. Even though he had great recordings in the past, making new ones meant he had to come back to the level where he was.

The book is about the hard work that took. Some difficulties outside of the concert life are peppered throughout the book.

My favorite parts are when he talked about Master Segovia and the respect he has for the man. I thought it was particularly insightful to see Segovia’s thoughts on some of his contemporaries. He had no great love for some people while having absolute respect for the abilities of Parkening. I also enjoyed reading about the wonderful guitars that Parkening has had the privilege of owning and playing.

The book covers some details about his love of fishing as well. I knew that Mr. Parkening was a fisherman, but I did not know that he is as accomplished as a fly-fisherman as he is a concert guitarist. He has won several major championships through the years. You can tell through the book that he is as passionate about one as he is the other.

The book is decidedly religious. It is basically his spiritual journey and how God has worked in his life. While I don’t completely agree with all of Parkening’s theology, I do highly recommend the book. This is one of those books I may lend out, but only to people I know will get it back to me. This is one I will keep on my shelf for a long time.

Tyndale House Publishers, 2007, 286 pages with color photos.

[click photo to buy the book at Amazon]

Dyslexia Decoded

Do you know someone with dyslexia? I found a website today that has lessons on how to teach children and adults with dyslexia how to read. It is based on a phonics method, which is a solid reading method. Because English has 44 sounds and only 26 letters, we have sought a different way to teach reading, which, frankly, has not been working. But phonics has worked and will work.

This website, Dyslexia Decoded, promotes the ReadingBySix method. At Dyslexia Decoded there are links on how to get the full program for free. They seem to be more interested in getting the material in the hands of those who need it than making money off of it. They do, however, have a revenue stream. The materials are all available in printed format if you would rather work from a hard copy as opposed to reading the computer screen. They also take donations at their website.

We used phonics when teaching our son to read and will do the same with our daughter. By the time our boy turned 4 years old he was able to read the newspaper. He may not have understood what was being said in the paper, but he was able to read the words and pronounce them properly. Phonics is a great method for teaching children and adults to read.

Here is a press release that I read from them:

Dyslexia? Now there is Free Help

Now there is free online help for people who have dyslexia or simply did not learn to read well while going to school. It is a click-‘n-learn program. Students and adults may learn decoding, basic reading skills, and advanced reading skills all with the click of a mouse.

The program is called ReadingBySix. It provides a systematic approach to helping people defeat dyslexia and related reading problems. You will notice measurable progress from week to week provided participants are active in their studies and do their assignments. The online courses are virtually free when you give a small donation. If you choose not to donate, they are completely free.

Dyslexia is a distinct learning disability characterized by difficulties in decoding individual words. These difficulties may not show up in other cognitive and academic abilities. Dyslexia results from the confusion caused by the brain’s inability to associate abstract symbols with abstract ideas. This includes associating letters and words with the sounds they represent. The key to defeating dyslexia is learning to decode English sounds.

You are invited to review the website and take a few of the courses for practice and learn how the program works. Then use it to teach your children or students to read. It can be used for preschool, home school, grade school, or high school. Students, adults, and children can use it. It teaches reading 100% of the time and it’s all electronic. If you know of people who need help, please tell them about ReadingBySix: http://www.dyslexiadecoded.com/

Source: Dyslexia Decoded
Free Help for Dyslexia

So, if you know anyone who struggles with reading, or if you are going to be teaching your child to read (which, in my opinion, the parents should do and not leave it up to a school system that is broken), then check out Dyslexia Decoded. You don’t have to have dyslexia to be able to benefit from this program.