Lego Update: Part 1

It's been a while since I've mentioned anything on this blog about my hobby of building Lego kits. 

I have updated my Lego picture album on my Facebook page several times but haven't written an update here on RHFactors. 

So here's some of what happened in my personal "Lego Land" over the few months.

Birthday Surprise

As I mentioned at the end of my September 27, 2013 post about my birthday gifts, James and Brandi promised to give me my birthday gift when they were finished making it.  

Here is what they gave me:

It's a giant wooden box shaped like a 4x2 Lego block. Painted inside is the year and Aria's hand prints. A very unique gift. I now have a very special place to store my Lego kits. 

In between my birthday and Thanksgiving I put together several kits, completed my collection of Series 11 mini-figures (see October 25, 2013 post) and started building my Volkswagen Camper van. I'll have more on that in "part 2" of my Lego Update tomorrow. 

By the time Christmas came around I was ready to build my enhanced Lego Christmas display. With red and green bricks I collected over the course of the year and a couple of holiday themed bubble packs I created my display for this year. 

I was very pleased with and proud of my creation. I couldn't wait for my family and friends to see as they visited during the holidays. But they never got to see this version.  
One night while bending down to pick up one of the "gifts" I had knocked from the display I accidentally leaned on the shelf and caused a disaster. 

A bit discouraged, at first, I wasn't going to rebuild it. But after getting a 4th elf mini-figure as a Christmas gift from some kids at church I decided to rebuild. Here's the 2.0 version. 

This brings me to my most current Lego accomplishments including buying some new Mini-figures and the completion of a new Technics kit. 

I'll have more on those things in tomorrow's post.

Movie Reccomendations

As the first weekend of January comes around and the holidays are well behind us, our search for entertainment turns back to the usual sources among them going to the movies. 

With January being the month that movie studios release the pictures they don't feel were worthy of release at any other time of the year, now is the time to go and see those holiday season releases that you missed.

I didn't go to the movies as much as I usually do over the holidays but I did see some that I would recommend and some I feel compelled to warn you about. 

In the interest of brevity I'm going to make my recommendations in only a couple of sentences. 

Go See:

Frozen- Another Disney Classic. Lots of music, cool characters, and a 3rd act plot twist that surprised even me. 

The Hobbit: Decimation of Smaug- Not as good as the first one but lots of cool action. Character development is focused mostly on the supporting cast. The dragon is a fierce and intriguing villain.

Saving Mr. Banks-I was a little disappointed in this one but still recommend it. The intended emotional connections fell a little short for me.The Disney history surrounding the production of Mary Poppins and the first on screen portrayal of Walt Disney is worth it. 

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire-I didn't see this myself. But my wife, who is a fan of this franchise, says it was better than the first one.

Captain Phillips-Although this was released just prior to the start of the holidays, it will be back in theaters later this month. The action, suspense and Tom Hank's performance are worth seeing. 

Now before I end this post I have to warn you about two movies you should avoid at all cost. I have to explain my reasons for these warnings so these reviews are a little longer.  

Wolf Of Wall Street-This Martin Scorsese film, while based on a true story takes place in an opposite world. One where deceptive business practices, drug use, infidelity, promiscuity, money laundering, and greed are seen as an acceptable means to (according to the main character played by Leonardo DeCaprio) the only goal important in life: getting rich. 

It is way too long (2hrs 45min) and very redundant. Don't waste your time. Stay home and rent several pay-per-view movies instead.

Don Jon- This is by far the worst movie I saw in 2013. Joseph-Gordon-Levitt is one of Hollywood's best young stars but not in this case. In his directorial debut he made a film that's presents a warped view of excessive abuse of an extremely taboo subject. 

Even decent supporting performances by Julianne Moore and Scarlett Johannson cannot save this film. 

It's not in theaters anymore but is available on blu-ray. WARNING:Don't shame yourself by wasting 2 hours of your life on this trash. 

So there you have my movie recommendations for the month of January. 

Audience Of One

One of my current passions (some may call it an "obsession") is learning to play the ukulele. 

It's something I've wanted to do for a while now. I bought a uke at a music store in a local flea market bout 2 or 3 years ago. 

Since that time, occasionally I would take it out and try and mess with it but never got serious about it. I kept putting it off because I thought I needed someone to teach me. But couldn't find anyone in our area who gave lessons. 

From my online research I knew that there were plenty of videos and free lessons on You Tube. But I didn't think I would ever be able to teach myself. 

Then at the end of last November I bought an e-book version of the book "Ukulele For Dummies" on my Kindle Fire HD. I got it hoping that it would be the spark that motivated me to finally learn how to play.  

Reading the first chapter brought back to my mind all the reasons I've wanted to play in the first place. I started reading and learning. 

The first song I learned was the classic folk song, "Little Liza Jane." It was only 2 chords and very easy. But to help me concentrate and remember the pair I made the song personal. I started making up words about my granddaughter, Aria. 

I know a girl from Richardsville, Aria Nicole

She really give my heart a thrill, Aria Nicole

O little Aria, Aria Nicole. O little Aria, Aria Nicole

We've always had a connection when it comes to music. Almost since she was born her "Papa" has been singing to her. I saw the uke as yet another opportunity to make that connection.  

Over the holidays she came to our house a couple of times. Each time including last weekend, I got out my uke, sat down on my living room floor, and sang to her. During their Sunday visit my daughter-in-law, Brandi, took this picture. 

At the time this was taken she was "modeling" a Christmas coat my wife had gotten for her. Amid this activity, I got out my uke, and she stopped to sit and listen. It's now one of my favorite pictures of 2013. 

From now on whenever I have doubts about learning to play ukulele, all I have to do is go back to this picture. The look on my sweet little girl's face and the connection we had during those few moments are all the I need to keep going. 

Although I plan on using my newly learned musical ability to minister to others at church and as part of my ventriloquist shows; at the core of my desire to play will always be the anticipation of getting to have another of those special moments. The ones where "Papa" gets to sit down and have some ukulele fun singing with a very precious "Audience of One."

Eyes On The Denim Prize

In my first post of the year I mentioned setting goals. I've decided that my health/weight loss goal for this year is not based on numbers. 

The proof that I've achieved my goal will not be what the scale says; although I will use the numbers to monitor my progress. 

My ultimate weight loss goal for 2014 is to be able to once again fit into the smallest pair of jeans I have in my closet. 

"Smallest" is a relative term because they are a size 42. 

The last time I wore them was back in the fall of 2010. So I've got 3 years of digression to make up for and get back into those jeans. 

I can see them hanging in my closet every time I go into my bedroom. That means I will be looking at my goal multiple times each day. 
That should motivate me to keep going. 

So in order to reach this goal that's very high priority on my list I have to keep my eyes on the denim prize. 

It may take me all of 2014 but I will slip that metal jeans button through the button hole which will make all the work it's going to take to get to that place, worth it. 

2014:The Year Of Blogging Daily

Happy New Year everybody.

At the beginning of every calendar year I make a list of the goals I want to reach before December rolls around again. Some years I achieve most of them and other years only a few.

This year I've decided to set the bar high in my annual posting goal. I'm going to post every day this year. Not too sure just what I'll be writing about. Some days the post may be short and others they will be longer. 

I will most likely rely on the events of the day as subject matter but will try my best to be varied and interesting. 

While the publish date at the top of this page is January 2nd, I am writing it on the evening of New Year's day. So I'm off to a good start. 

On this first day of 2014 Paula and I spent the afternoon with our friends, Mark & Patty, at their house. 

We had a very delicious lunch that included meatballs, corned beef and cabbage, veggies, fruit, cheese and a delicious coconut pie for desert. 

We also played a couple of board games including: Racko and Headbanz. 

It was a fun way to start off a new year. Tomorrow it's back to the business of life and taking the initial steps toward reaching those goals I've set for 2014. 

This post of the year is the first of 365 steps toward one of those steps.

A 4-D Experience

Saturdays for those of us in the Havens household have settled into a pattern that plays out in two ways. One of them is a day where Paula and I stay home to relax, do chores or possibly work on some of our on-going "home improvement " projects. 

The other "story line" for Saturday involves spending the majority of the day out with friends or family. It could be going to the movies; out for dinner, shopping, or to see a live entertainment event.

This past weekend we had one of those "day out" Saturdays. 

At the invitation of our son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Heather, we went to the Opry Mills Mall in Nashville. We were headed to the I-Max 3D version of the new Thor movie. 

For it being the opening weekend the 4:15PM showing at the I-Max was not crowded at all. By visual estimate the theater was barely 1/2 full. But that was most likely an anomaly. From the reports I read today the follow up to "The Avengers" was # 1 at the box office for the weekend. Believe it or not it out earned the next 15 movies earnings COMBINED!!! 

The movie comes through with action but the story was a bit difficult for me to follow. Still I got the general idea. I enjoyed it as yet another terrific Marvel film. 

After the movie the four of us walked through the mall to the food court. While Michael and I waited for a table at the Chilli's restaurant; Paula and Heather went shopping for clothes.  

By the time we finished out dinner it was after 8 o'clock; less than an hour until the mall closed. But we wanted to do more shopping. We went to the Disney Outlet store, first. 

Paula bought a new Minnie Mouse cup for Aria and a couple of Christmas gifts for her as well. I found a Goofy figure to add to my Goofy collection. It was "clearance" priced @ $5. As part of the store's weekend sale we got a 25% discount on everything we bought. 

Of course, I can't go to the Opry Mills without going to the Lego store. That was our final stop of the night. I had not planned on getting anything more than their featured bubble pack for the month; a Thanksgiving theme scene. 

But because of a discovery made by Paula, I bought more. She pointed out to me, something that I'm very excited about. It's a brand new Lego version of the Delorean time machine from the movie "Back To The Future." 

Both Michael and I got very excited about this model. We each got one. Although Paula is going to hold mine back to give me as a Christmas present (I promised to act surprised). 

As we finished up in the Lego store the announcement that the mall was closing came over the PA system. We made out way back down the mall's concourse back to the entrance near the movie theater and out to our car. Our day out with the "kids" was over but for the ride home. 

It was great spending time with them; yet another memory made and lot of fun. I continue to be amazed that our children actually enjoy to spending time with us. Days like this are what I live for. 

We talked about a lot of things over the course of the day. The most important discussion for me was about the possibility of the whole family taking Aria to Walt Disney World, for the first time, near the end of next year. But that's still just one of my crazy ideas and no where near for certain. 

There you have my "4-D experience". It was a day that involved a demigod (Thor), a Dinner, a Disney store, and a cool Delorean. 

One of the best and memorable days of 2013. 

"I, Saul" One Of My Favorite Authors

Jerry B. Jenkins

Last night I had the opportunity to hear one of my favorite authors speak at an event sponsored by our local library. 

Jerry B. Jenkins is a best selling Christian fiction author. He's written 181 books including the popular "Left Behind" series. 

Because I have read all 16 "Left Behind" books; I've read more of his books than any other author. Michael Creichton is a distant 2nd. I've read six of his books.  

Mr. Jenkins' latest "I, Saul" is based on the life of the Apostle Paul before his infamous life changing encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. 

The event was nothing spectacular. It was a group of about 100 people listening to an author discuss the details of his new book. But it was kind of cool to also hear Mr. Jenkins talk about his personal history, career, and favorite titles among those he's written.  

During the subsequent 30 minute Q&A session; I had the opportunity to ask him a question I've wondered about for quite a while. 

I asked him how he came up with the name "Nicolae Carpathia" for the anti-Christ character in "Left Behind." 

I was curious to know if it had anything to do with the ship named "Carpathia" that rescued the survivors of the Titanic disaster in April 1912.

He said the character's first name is a common one in Romania (where the character lives and initially rises to political power) and his last name is the same as a mountain range in that country. 

However, he did bring up the fact that he was very happy to see the name of his "Left Behind" antagonist scrolling across the theater screen on the hull of a ship at the conclusion of the 1997 James Cameron movie. He said,"I thought, 'Hey there's some free publicity for my books.' when I saw it." 

After about an hour the event ended and Mr. Jenkins sat down at a table to start signing books for the guests. I didn't have a book so the night was over for me. 

It was a fun night and a pleasure to meet one of my favorite authors in person.