My Easter Sunday began this morning about 5 hours after Saturday night ended.  I COULD NOT sleep for the life of me.  I was sooooo excited that we were going to redeem the Christmas presents Jeff and I got the parents and I got for Megan and Carol.  The anticipation was staggering (I swear I’m worse than a kid at Christmas… imagine if I were the one going to be in the company of a professional cast… no sleep at all).  Around 1AM, I finally fell asleep.  Around 6, I woke up and flipped the channels and came across the Pope’s mass from St. Peter’s in Rome.  By 7, I was wide awake.  Breakfast was at 8 with the family, so I went down, showered, and put on some leisurely clothes so I did not ruin my good clothes before mass.

We went to 10:30 service instead of sitting through the 2.5 hour Easter Vigil mass the night before.  I did get to sing in the choir and was told by another member how jealous she was and that she was going to see the show before its run in Toledo was finished.

What to say about WICKED?  I have to say that the hype and praise is definitely well deserved.  I have to admit that I was a bit apprehensive at first by the audacity of changing a classic movie I have had fond memories of for my entire life. I was tempted to reread the novel by Gregory Maguire but am glad that I decided not to.

Starting with the novel Wicked, Maguire has turned several fairy tale legends upside down and told familiar stories most people know from the eyes of the antagonist.  He has also penned two sequel novels set in the Land of Oz.

Wicked begins seconds after the liquidation (eh) of Elphaba (aka… The Wicked Witch of the West).  From there, Galinda/Glinda takes the story back through the life of her “friend” the green one.  We go from birth to school at Dear Old Shiz University to the life changing appearance of a flying farm house which falls from the sky.  Traditional concepts such as acceptance, popularity, and the effect of rumors are put on great display.

Along the way, we meet several new characters created in the novel:

• Doctor Dillamond (the last remaining animal teacher at the university)
• Boq (a Munchkin who has eyes for Galinda… incidentally, he was played by a Northwest Ohio native)
• Fiyero (a student who is the love interest of Galinda and Dances Through Life)
• Madame Morrible (a teacher who if you change the first letter of her name describes her character perfectly.  Rue McClanahan played the role on Broadway)
• Nessarose (aka The Wicked Witch of the East… wheelchair bound… cared for by Elphaba)

I just wish that I could go on forever about how great this show is!  It really did challenge everything and provided insight into one of the most sinister characters ever created.  The performances, sets, and music  were all spectacular.  Elphaba herself herself definitly was the star… WHAT A VOICE and she was an understudy!

I must admit that I splurged just a bit on the souvenirs but I did get a nice jacket to do my walking in and a colorful program!

Then we went to NICKS for dinner!  Always a filling delight… but I did bring some cherry cheesecake HOME!  It was already in a take home container which makes sense because none of us ate everything.  But once again the ribeye/shrimp combo was worth every penny of the $14.00.

And the YANKS are…. winning 2-1 in the top of the 4th in Boston!

Here is a shot of the Wizard, himself who has a very interesting role in the show:

We color the eggs, hide the eggs, find the eggs and then eat dinner. The children in our family are growing up now, and the next generation of egg finders are in a place too far. How long will we be able to keep the tradition. We will see.

The dinner was far from traditional. There was ham, but that was in a soup. The meal was wonderful and the company of family was greatly desired.

Another time to cherish and remember everything we hold dear in our lives. Something that is needed at all times of the year.

No matter what your faith, this time of year hold the promise of new beginnings. A time to remember what was and what can be. A time to look in your own heart and think of everything life can be, not just what it was.

Happy Easter.

With Friday we honored the blackest time in history- God’s Son, put to death in the worst possible way, and the front page of this site went black in remembrance.  Peter, one of His closest friends denied ever knowing Him.  “Now what?”  People wondered.  Wasn’t this man Jesus supposed to save the world?  And for two days the Adversary laughed and people mourned.  Then came the third day, and the tomb was found open and empty, and soon the people’s grief turned to joy…

My weekend kicked off to a great start!  On Good Friday after singing at services, I was dragged ( 😉 ) by a crowd of no less than 5 kids to see How to Train Your Dragon in 2D.  I didn’t find the idea of paying the extra money for the added thrill of three dimensions too appealing… THIS TIME!  I am pleased to announce that both the movie and my band of 5-14 year olds were excellent!  The story and the humor in the animated feature are enough to entice  both the young and adult viewer.  After taking someone’s “shortcut” to their mother’s house, I returned home.  Note to self… never listen to a 10 year-old’s directions no matter how many times she has been to the destination or how “easy” this way is… but it was fun.

Tomorrow after mass, the family (yes… Megan & Carol, too) are heading out to see WiCKED! My oldest brother has already seen the show and the fact that he wants to again and suggested that we get the parents tickets for Christmas tells me something.  At least it doesn’t look like we will be driving home in a snowstorm at 11 PM as was the case 2 years ago when Megan, Carol, and I went to the Stranahan to see The Lion King. Not forgetting Nick’s after the show!!!

Finally, tomorrow night will see the Yanks begin their bid for championship number 28!  We won’t elaborate on their preseason record because high or low it doesn’t really mean a great deal.  But why does the season opener have to be THERE!  UGH!

In the midst of all these fun, exciting events, let’s not overlook the reason for the season.  The ultimate sacrifice of the One who died to save us all from our sins.  As Father stated in his homily yesterday, how fickle is man.  Jesus entered Jerusalem amidst cheers and celebration. Five days later, he was crucified upon the order of the same revelers.  Then to complete the prophesy, he rose from the tomb saving all of us.

May you all have a Blessed and Happy Easter weekend!

Ok, my initial reactions to my new book Nook. I like it a lot, as long as I am using it with books downloaded in the proper format. This would be the standard format for readers. PDF files of some of the older books that are straight scanned don’t work too well. I haven’t found a way to enlarge pictures, so some of the text is not readable. I was wishing for a magnifier function.

I now have over 100 different books loaded on the machine and I get to pick my way through to see which ones I will keep. It will play mp3 music files, and since I can actually save my plays in that format, I could use this in place of my recorder. I could set it up to read a script and play the audio at the same time.

More to come as I find out more about it…

I was looking at getting an e-book reader for some time. I’ve been loading old classics on to my computer and reading them from the screen. There were a couple of problems with this. The first was that if I wanted to take the book with me, it meant that I had to have the book on the laptop and the laptop with me. The second was that the laptop was not conducive to late night reading in bed. I would just do other things on the laptop. Can’t do that with a book.

So, I picked up a Barnes & Noble Nook reader. It had some advantages over the other readers that I really liked, so I decided to get one.

I will give a full review after I’ve had time to go over the ins and outs of the device. I will say that I am very happy with the service. I happened to get a bad device. It just would not turn on after I turned it off. The people at Barnes & Noble were wonderful in 1) trying to find out what was wrong with the device and 2) making sure I left the store with a working device today. I’m certain that the problem with my machine was a fluke, but it was handled in a very professional and friendly manner. My hat is off the the Barnes and Noble crew.

I have my first book loaded on the machine, So, I’m now going to settle back and read a chapter or two.

I got up early this morning when I didn’t have to. The dog decide to bark at something, he usually sleeps in late. But I got up and around, checked my email, the news and my blog. Not much happened since last evening on the blog, so I went to get some other things done. I come back in 1/2 hour and the site is blocked. Good April Fools prank, but I couldn’t find the back door. Oh well, I had things to do.

Laundry check, dishes check. Pick up daughter, oops she was still in Fort Wayne. Check
Movie with friends Check. All told a very good evening.

Tomorrow I’ll may write about my new toy. But I may be busy with it instead.

Thank goodness.  I would hate to think that one of our annual April the 1st glitches actually stuck!  I love April Fools Day!  I got the three co-workers today.  I got the boss although she promised that I would  need to find another place of employment if I had.

Because I had to work this morning, I recorded The Price is Right.  Not something I usually do but since inheriting the microphone, Drew has had brilliant shows on April first and today was no exception.  Last year, “Mimi” served as a model on the show.  This year, she was the new “Executive Producer” and promised to keep an eye on the host to see if he made any mistakes.  She was very helpful in particular with his trouble with names.

A few of the games were hysterical:  In Plinko Pat had to determine the correct number for a Snuggie (sorry, not $50+), a Club (one of those anti-auto-theft devices), a chia pet, and (what else) THE CLAPPER!  She only missed on the snuggie and ended up winning $11,000.

Pick-a-Pair saw Pat needing to pick the two grocery items that were priced exactly the same.  Halloween ready to bake cookies, Christmas Ziploc containers, St. Pat’s Day garland, Valentine conversation hearts, New Years party poppers, and Count Chocula.

And finally, the showcase saw Pat and Pat going for two fabulous showcases. And not to spoil the surprise, but…. PAT WON!  Of course, they both could have gone over.

Did you know that residents of the Midwest and the Great Lakes region are to expect one last hurrah from Old Man Winter with two feet of snow expected?

APRIL FOOL’S!!!  Have a good one – And BE NICE!!!

I made chicken for dinner and thought that it would taste good with some salsa on it. It did, but I put on a bit much. Now I’m paying for it. Up late at night waiting for antacids to kick in. You can’t put it back in the jar after it hits partially cooked chicken. And it was the good stuff too, lots of heat.

Ahh, the joys of aging. I still like all the spicy stuff, but it doesn’t like me as much as it used to. The cast iron stomach seems to have some rust.

On another note, I miss my laptop. Even though I got the tower up and running again, it was so easy to have the laptop with me wherever I wanted to be. I have an old machine going, but it is very, very, very slow. I think it is slower than my internet connection. I do have it loaded with a full version of Unbuntu Linux at this time, maybe that is pushing it a bit. I wonder if it would work with the netbook version of that OS. I may have to try it and find out. I need to get a list of USB or other wireless cards that work with Unbuntu or Puppy Linux. I have two old laptops that I have installed Linux on and only 1 wireless card that works. The newer of the two laptops has an internal wireless, but Linux doesn’t like that one either. I even tried a backdoor way that was supposed to allow the use of the windows drivers. No go. I guess for now I share. I really can’t use two laptops at once can I?