April 24, 2012

1. Disappointed to read I did not make Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world this year.

2. I did read something there that caught my attention and gave me hope. A fellow named Salman Khan has created a website designed to help teenagers with their education in subjects such as math and science.

            Khan came up with this idea trying to help his teenage cousin solve algebra problems. Since she lived far away, he attempted to help her online. He succeeded.

            Bill Gates wrote that this idea has morphed into an amazing service covering a multitude of subjects. I decided to check it out myself. In five minutes, Khan taught me how to do logarithms. Folks, you have a better chance of teaching my pet dogs to talk than Khan did of teaching me logarithms.

         If you have teenagers, what I about to give you will be very valuable to you. It is a link to Khan’s website…. http://www.khanacademy.org/

3. Great line from ESPN’s Colin Cowherd… To paraphrase – What a week in sports when a player named Meta World Peace gave another NBA player the worst elbow to the head in memory, and a team called the Saints are anything but.

4. Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez announced his retirement last night at Rangers’ Ballpark. Believe it or not, no “expert” ranks him the greatest catcher of all time. Are you kidding me?

            Look at some of his stats—Gold gloves: 13, the most by a catcher in MLB history; Silver Slugger Awards: 7; All-star selections: 14; 1999 American League MVP; .296 career batting average (Mickey Mantle’s was .298); 311 career home runs; threw out 45.68% base runners… a MLB record.

            This guy was an offensive gem and a defensive stud. He played in two World Series, winning one. He was the MVP of the 2003 NLCS.

I think, in time, he will move up the list.

5. RIP Charles Colson.

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.

April 17, 2012

1. TIME magazine had a fantastic cover story in this week's issue. It is called “The Worlds Most Exclusive Club” and is taken from a new book written by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy called THE PRESIDENTS CLUB.

            The article highlighted several fascinating insights into the relationship of the current president and the ex-presidents. Two of the highlights for me are: 1) President Clinton and the Bush family have not only overcome the bitterness of the 1992 presidential election, they have grown so close that Clinton has vacationed with George H. W. Bush, raised money with George W. Bush, escorted Barbara Bush at the funeral of Betty Ford, and received the nickname from the Bush family “Brother from Another Mother”, and 2) President Clinton would often call President Nixon late at night to consult with him about foreign-policy matters and other presidential issues. Nixon sent Clinton a letter shortly before he died in 1994. The letter assisted Clinton so much that he makes it a practice to read the letter every year.

2. I agree with many I've heard on talk radio, who wonder why in the world New York fans booed Tim Tebow the other night at a New York Yankee ballgame. As “Mike and Mike” said yesterday morning, why take your time booing somebody who is building hospitals for orphans and auctions off opportunities to spend the day with him as he ministers to children in children's hospitals–with the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised going to charity.

3. I still don't know where we are going to get all of the money to pay for what the federal government spends in a year.

4. Mark Bergin wrote last week of an incredible plan by Oklahoma State University that backfired. The board opted to purchase life insurance policies on 27 elderly boosters back in 2007. Each policy was valued at $10 million. Two years later, there was a problem. None of the boosters had died. During that time, OSU had paid out over $32 million in premiums. In 2009, OSU canceled the policies and sought litigation to recover a portion of the money they had paid in premiums. Not only did they lose in court, the judge ruled that OSU had to pay the insurance company for the cost of litigation.

5. Charles Colson is recovering after falling ill at a conference and undergoing surgery a few weeks ago. The founder of Prison Fellowship had surgery on March 31 to remove a clot of blood from the surface of his brain after he had an intracerebral hemorrhage. Colson has shown some encouraging signs. I’m praying for you, Chuck Colson.

           

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.

April 10, 2012

1. Last week was a whirlwind for the Edge family. We drove Thursday to Harding to see our daughter Haleigh perform in Spring Sing. (Spring Sing was neat!)

            Friday morning we drove to Dallas for the LEADERSHIP TRAINING FOR CHRIST convention. Our daughter, Abby, drove part of the way on the interstate. That was good experience for her and she did well. I would say that was the highlight, but maybe I should give that honor to being stuck for an hour and a half in traffic on I-635 in lovely Richardson.

            LTC ended Sunday morning with a worship service, and we returned home. I usually have to return home on Saturday night in order to preach Sunday. This year I was able to stay with my family, which I appreciated greatly.

2. I came across an intriguing summary of Walter Isaacson's recent biography on Steve Jobs this week. It was from the April 9 issue of FORBES; I found it interesting to see the business magazine’s take on Jobs’ impact on our culture:

 
 
The Macintosh which begat the home computer revolution popularized graphical user interfaces.
 
Toy story another Pixar blockbusters, which opened up the miracle of digital imagination.
 
Apple stores, which reinvented the role of a store in defining a brand.
 
The iPod, which change the way we consume music.
 
The iTunes store, which saved the music industry.
 
The iPhone, which turned mobile phones into music, photography, video, e-mail and Web devices.
 
The App Store, which spawned a new content–creation industry.
 
The iPad, which launched tablet computing and offered a platform for digital newspapers, magazines, books and videos.
 
The iCloud, which demoted the computer from its central role in managing our content and let all of our devices sync seamlessly.
 
And Apple itself.

The Apple II, which took [Apple cofounder Stephen] Wozniak's circuit board and turned it into the first personal computer that was not just for hobbyists.

            To me, the most intriguing statement was that the iTunes store “saved the music industry.”

3. This also from FORBES—this week’s issue. Now that Steve Jobs has passed away, Amazon's Jeff Bezos is being called America's number one CEO. The magazine credits this to his obsession with customer service.

            There are symbolic actions performed everywhere by Bezos to drive the mission of customer service home to his employees. In every meeting Bezos leaves one chair empty. Symbolically, the customer sits there.

            Another interesting tidbit, of the top five officers in the company, none earned more than $175,000 a year. I would suspect they were given stock options, although I did not read this.

4. I have been listening to the recordings of Jacqueline Kennedy (Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis), which her daughter Caroline recently released to the public. These consist of several hours of oral interviews conducted and recorded by the historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

            The idea was to obtain an oral history from Mrs. Kennedy while the events of her husband's life were fresh on her mind. The recordings began in early 1964, just a few months after her husband’s tragic assassination.

            I have listened to a few of the sessions, and I cannot help but be initially impressed with the normality of Mrs. Kennedy as a human being. Time had not interspersed itself between the assassination and the point where Mrs. Kennedy would become a cultural icon. Consequently, it is easy to spot the humanity of Mrs. Kennedy, her husband, and their family.

            Retrospection also offers perspective on just how sudden President and Mrs. Kennedy rose to such a prominent place in the spectrum of world events. In 1951, a young college graduate named Jacqueline Bouvier met a handsome young senator from Massachusetts. Ten years later, at the age of 32, she was the first lady of the United States.

            She was a first lady with enormous influence. Reflecting upon her commitment to the restoration of the White House, I was able to gain new insight into what an achievement that was. To bring groups together and to raise funds for such an unusual (at that time) endeavor was an enormous achievement. However, coming from a young housewife and mother, who was committed to her family, I consider this to be an amazing accomplishment.

            I look forward to hearing more of these recordings.

5. Yu Darvish gives me hope for the Texas Rangers’ pitching staff. Joe Nathan gives me doubt. Darvish recovered last night from a horrific first inning to pitch well. Nathan has thrown one pitch this year—a home run ball, which won the ball game for the Chicago White Sox. Tonight, Naftali Feliz makes his debut as a Ranger starter. This will be an important start.

April 3, 2012

1. Today I am having a study day at the Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary library in Jacksonville, Texas. This morning, I attended their chapel service to hear Albert Mohler, the well-known president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary lecture on “The Fall of Man & the Christian Message.”

            I am of the acapella tradition when it comes to public worship. Consequently, in the chapel service, I could not but be reminded again that the chief battle in Christian worship is not over acapella vs. instrumental. The combat is over reserved worship vs. expressive worship and old hymns vs. new hymns.

            The seminary chapel service was instrumental, with a piano providing the accompaniment. The hymns sung were the old classics, most of which I grew up singing. The only “expression” displayed by the participants was smiles. I thought of the number of Baptists I know who would have howled had they attended that chapel service.

            There are people in my church tradition who think that brining an instrument in would bring peace. I can assure you, it would not.            

            I have often wondered why this is so. My guess is that public worship is so intimate and so personal, when one attends an assembly that does not match up with his worship style, it is the equivalent of going out on a Sadie Hawkins date with a girl he does not like. He wants to be nice, decent, and civil to his date, but the date is more of an event to be endured than a relationship to be celebrated.

            There are good people on both sides of the issue. I wish everyone the best.

2. Incidentally, Albert Mohler’s lecture on the “Fall of Man” was very good. He is one of the better public lecturers I have heard. With his intellect, his commitment to scripture, and his ability to communicate, I can see why he is a darling to the evangelical Christian world as well as a “go-to guy” when GOOD MORNING AMERICA and other media sources desire a quote or response from the evangelical community.

3. AMC’s TV series MAD MEN returned last week. Several magazines have run cover stories on the event, including NEWSEEK. You may be asking, “Why all the fuss?” My guess is the characters fascinate people because they (the characters) are so flawed. Thus the popular culture finds them authentic.

            Perhaps the best quote I ran across concerning the series came courtesy the keyboard of Rob Sheffield of ROLLING STONE. Addressing MAD MEN’S man character, Don Draper, Sheffield wrote, "Every American wants a clean slate, but nobody wants to lose what they've got."

            I have found this observation to be spot on. Sheffield, in one sentence, has summarized the challenge facing Christianity in American culture.

            A religion, who’s founder states that for one to be saved he must die to self, will always face obstacles in a culture where no one wants to lose what he has got.

4. Surrounding the death of former MONKEES’ singer Davy Jones, I came across an interesting little factoid: by the late 1960s, Davy Jones had become so famous, a struggling singer/songwriter named David Jones decided he had to change his name. He did; he changed it to David Bowie.

5. The past few days have reminded me why I never fill out a NCAA tournament bracket. I missed every pick I had made for the Men’s Final Four. (In “Five” last week, I had selected Louisville over Kentucky, Ohio State over Kansas, and Louisville over Ohio State in the championship game.)

            I am sticking with the Baylor girls though. They’ll beat Notre Dame tonight and go 40-0.

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for the title.

March 27, 2012

1. How could I not help but appreciate OCTOBER BABY. It was professionally done. The acting was high quality. The cinematography was excellent.

            If you have not heard, the main character is a young woman, who discovers that she was adopted—after her birth mother tried to abort her. Without giving away too much on the plot, the film offers struggle, realistic outcomes (not all is “happily ever after”), pain, redemption, and forgiveness.

            I appreciate the way young woman’s friends and loved ones desired to help her get to the place she needed to be. However, you sometimes have to let a person go and hope she will get there herself. People need time to process. That is real life.

            I don’t know if OCTOBER BABY is playing in a theater near you. If so, I encourage you to go.

2. I heard on a secular radio station this morning that since the year 2000, all churches in the United States have shrunk in number. This comes as no surprise. I was surprised to learn that the amount of mosques built in the United States since the year 2000 have doubled.

            Now, it is tempting to say something snarky and funny here, or to be sarcastic and ironic. I am going to take the high road, which makes what I am thinking even more difficult to contemplate.

            I wonder to what extent the growth of Islam in the United States is due to an unspoken recognition that since 9/11, those of the Islamic faith have taken a risk to be part of that religion. Muslims have been particularly marginalized in the U.S. since September 2001. The fact that they're willing to risk pain and suffering, and allow themselves to be placed in the margin, has impressed a sufficient amount of people to encourage their religion to grow here.

            I wonder how many of us in the Christian faith are willing to experience this as well. It might be fewer than I would hope. This might explain why rather than growing, all churches are shrinking in numbers.

            Humans, including we Christians, want to experience the good life. Many say that Christianity is headed for persecution in the U. S. I don’t want that, but could be this will be the only way the Kingdom will grow.

3. I love it that Roger Goodell was so tough on the New Orleans Saints. He had to be. I consider this to be the equivalent of Judge Landis' banishing from baseball nine members of the Chicago “Black” Socks, who threw the 1919 World Series.

            I also recall reading about NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle’s suspension of Paul Horning and Alex Karras from the National Football League for the entire 1962 season. In both of those cases, much good was done in curtailing gambling.

            I think the same will be the case with regard to offering bounties to players for putting their opponents out of football games. Sean Payton, general manager Mickey Loomis, and defensive coordinator Greg Williams were guilty of making a grave mistake.

            Hindsight is always 20/20, but I remember watching the 2010 NFC championship game between Minnesota and New Orleans and having the distinct feeling that New Orleans was playing dirty with Brett Favre.

            I blame Williams most for this scandal. I would not have considered Goodell to have been out of line if he had suspended Williams for life. Having said all of this, I do appreciate the way Sean Payton has responded to the suspension so far.

4. The Denver Broncos are wise to sign Peyton Manning. I am not so sure that Peyton Manning selected the best team for his talents; indeed, I think San Francisco is clearly the better team. I sense that Manning intuitively realized that he is a better fit with a weaker team and a defensive minded head coach, then a stronger team and an offensive minded head coach. John Fox will leave Manning alone.  Manning will have much more input, much less friction, and much more chemistry with the Broncos. Kudos to Manning.

   As one who is fascinated by Tim Tebow, I must admit I'm looking forward to his season with the New York Jets. I think he handled his press conference extremely well yesterday. He showed the proper amount of humility, kindness, and competitive spirit. In no way did he come across as calculating or lacking integrity. I wish him the very best in New York. I heard this morning on the radio that not only is he one of the most marketable athletes in America, he is one of the most marketable people in America. Only Oprah, Princes Kate, and Adele pass him in marketability. Amazing.

5. I am happy to see the Baylor Bear girls go to the Final Four. I was disappointed slightly to see the Boys team lose so badly to Kentucky. Still, Kentucky may very well win it all and it is no disgrace to lose to such a fine collection of athletes. I am picking Baylor to win the girls tournament. In the men's Final Four, I pick Louisville in an upset over Kentucky, and Ohio State to triumph over Kansas. By this time next week, Louisville will be the National Champions.

 (With a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Learn from my experiences. I want to try to do this in the spirit of “Consumer Reports.” If I am off base, I apologize. Here is my tale:

            Last summer, we decided we needed to replace our old dishwasher–Haleigh, who had left for college. (Rim–shot, please!)

            So, Judy and I began shopping around for non-human dishwashers. We found one at Home Depot that we really liked. The salesperson said, “Why don't you apply for our Home Depot card, and then buy this dishwasher using our card. If you pay it off within the year, will not charge you interest. For people who are disciplined, it is a good way to purchase. You're basically using other people's money to make your purchases. This is how successful businesspeople operate.”

            I knew enough about business to know he was right. On a much larger scale, successful businesses use other people’s money to their advantage over an extended period of time.

            Now, understand, Judy and I try to purchase everything paying cash. There have been exceptions—our house being the most obvious one.

            I felt like this purchase could be an interesting experiment. We had the money saved up to pay for the dishwasher in cash; however, we decided to take the salesperson's advice.

            I would obtain a Home Depot card. I would purchase the dishwasher on the card. I would make regular payments on a monthly basis. I would pay each payment early so there would be no chance of a late fee.

            Why not give it a try?

            Last summer, I made my first payment two weeks early. Thereafter, I kept on a disciplined program to pay off the dishwasher before this spring.             

          Consequently, you can imagine my surprise a couple of months ago when I received a bill with a $10 late fee on it. I called the good folks at Home Depot National Headquarters, and they told me that, yes, indeed, I had made a late payment.

            Raffling through all of the bills I had in hand, I could not find a single late payment anywhere. Then the representative pointed out that I had made two payments in January.

            I tried to explain to her that I had never considered that to be a problem. In my mind, I was way ahead of the due date of the February payment.

            The Home Depot representative explained to me that when I had made that second payment in January, the billing cycle had not even ended for what was to be the February bill. Therefore, not only did they NOT count my second payment in January, they counted the payment I had made at the end of February (in my mind, I was paying early for March) as late.

            I considered asking her why Home Depot accepted my money, since it appeared they had no place to earmark it. I decided this would be inflammatory.

            I have a Discover card that I use to make purchases for my ministry at Shiloh. I pay those purchases off every month.

            I can remember once receiving a late fee, calling Discover Headquarters, finding out that I was indeed at fault, and being told that since my record was so good, they would waive the penalty in order to assure that “we can continue to maintain good customer relations.”

            Hence, I was surprised when Home Depot did not say something to the effect of, “Hey, since your credit record is so outstanding, and since we can understand why you did not understand our policy regarding billing cycle, let's just waive the $10 fee in order maintain your business.” Alas, it was not to be.

            I guess this is how Home Depot makes money on deals such as the one they offered us last summer. I immediately paid the fee, paid off the dishwasher, and closed down my account.

            One more thought: it occurred to me later that I had never heard anyone on the planet say, “Boy, Wal-Mart sure ripped me off.” Surely, somewhere there's a person who is unhappy with a transaction at Wal-Mart, although I have never heard of it.

            The attitude I have encountered at Wal-Mart is, “We want to err on the side of caution in any transaction that we have. If you're not happy, we will take the responsibility. Here is your money back.” Maybe that is why Wal-Mart is where they are today.

2. I have heard good buzz about the movie OCTOBER BABY, which is opening this Friday. It is a movie about a young woman, who discovers that she was adopted—after she had survived an abortion attempt on her life. The cast includes former television stars John Schneider and Jasmine Guy.           

            My understanding is for OCTOBER BABY to have a chance of staying in theaters, and to be shown in more theaters, this opening weekend of March 23–25 is critical.

            I like the movie trailers; I like the stories, both of the movie and of some of those who participated in it; I, for one, plan on seeing the movie this weekend.

            The actress who plays the birth mother in the movie aborted a child in real life about twenty years ago. She has found God’s healing and forgiveness, which empowered her to participate in this story.

            I would love for Shiloh to be known for its compassionate and redemptive ministry to those who have experienced abortion in their lives—male or female. I know there are a lot of folks out there who are suffering.

3. I finally got to take Judy to see the movie THE VOW last week. The story is of Leo and Paige. They were a couple that was involved in a car crash shortly after their marriage. She lost much of her short-term memory, including any remembrance of her wedding to Leo. He patiently tries to win back her love by wooing her all over again.

            The movie offered spiritual themes including a high view of marriage, commitment, and, ultimately, of forgiveness. It is based on the true story of Kim and Krickitt Carpenter. Unfortunately, my understanding is Kim's book describes much more the faith in Jesus that sustained the real-life couple.

            I wish more of the spirituality of the original story could have been conveyed in the movie; still, I appreciate the fact that Hollywood did not glorify immoral sex, and, instead, lauded love and commitment in marriage.

4. I finally got to see the movie COURAGEOUS Sunday night. We had some of my singles’ class over for pizza and a movie, and one of them brought the DVD.

            I had been putting it off, waiting for an opportunity to watch the movie with my entire family. With Haleigh off to college, that has not happened. However, when this opportunity arose, I could not resist.

            The movie was made by the folks from Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. I read they filmed it for $2 million. Last I saw, it has grossed over $33 million. (Why am I not investing my retirement money in the Kendrick brothers’ movies!)

            It seems the quality of their movies improve with each new product. I know they have been accused of a “paint by the numbers” approach, but this movie is rooted in tragedy—so much for the “happily ever after” theme.

            I'm looking forward to Haleigh returning home from college and our entire family sitting down and watching it together.

5. I am pulling for Baylor to win the men’s’ and women’s’ NCAA basketball championships, but in the women’s division, I am rooting also for Elena Delle Donne. I read a great article in SI about her a month or two ago.

            She was a phenom given a scholarship by UCONN. She left in part because she missed her sister, who is blind, deaf, and suffers from autism and cerebral palsy.

            The University of Delaware campus was near her home. She joined their volleyball team and later picked back up with basketball.

            She is having an amazing year and the U of Del is in the tournament. I’ll be watching.

1. I had a chance to watch the greatest western of all time last week with my two oldest daughters. Haleigh, Abby, and I watched LONESOME DOVE. This is the fourth time I have seen it; the last time was 1998.

            I had forgotten how good the cinematography was in this mini-series. The actors’ work with the horses and cattle, and the stunt persons’ work was phenomenal.

            Of course, this series is where Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall sealed their legends. Still, others in the ensemble cast such as Danny Glover, Ricky Schroeder, Diane Lane, and Chris Cooper gave strong performances.

            None of that would've mattered without a strong story. Larry McMurtry's novel deserved the Pulitzer Prize it won back in 1985. If you know me you know that I don't normally read fiction, but I made an exception years ago, in this case. I found the book to be an enormously pleasant read.

            I am glad to say that my girls enjoyed the miniseries as well. I would like to thank my wife for allowing Haleigh and Abby to finally watch this miniseries.

2. A couple of years ago, the magazine TEXAS MONTHLY did a retrospective look at Lonesome Dove in commemoration of its 25th anniversary. The piece was entertaining, but one of my favorite lines came from a friend of Larry McMurtry, who was commenting on how long it took for the literary elite in New York City to accept McMurtry as a peer: “People in New York have extremely narrow horizons. The parochialism (narrow-mindedness) of the center is always greater than that of the provinces. In the provinces, they keep an eye on the center, but in the center they just gaze lovingly at themselves with both eyes.” I think that is an outstanding observation.

3. One of the great stories from the magazine article began with Tommy Lee Jones noting, with amusement, that an executive from CBS (the network which was going to broadcast Lonesome Dove) called one of the producers of L.D. to ask, “Do we have to use cows?”

            It turns out that CBS was astonished by the cost of the using cattle in the series. A meeting was called, and Bill Wittliff, one of the producers attended.

            At the conference, an executive asked him, “Bill, listen to this. What if they start the drive and right away there's that storm and the cattle scatter? You're the writer; why not let the cows go and have [Captain] Call (Tommy Lee Jones’ character) say, ‘Let's just keep going.’ Then you have all those guys going to Montana, doing all that stuff, but we don't have to pay for the cattle.”

            Wittliff was stunned. Intending to show subtle sarcasm, he responded, “Here’s a thought: why don't we just forget the cattle and get a herd of Angora goats? They can be the first guys to drive a herd of goats to Montana.”

            To his dismay, one of the executives snapped his fingers and said, “Yeah, goats!” Then Wittliff was forced to admit, “No, that's a joke.”

            Fortunately, saner heads prevailed, and the cattle stayed in the series. The rest is history.

            Let's be honest: would you have tuned into the Lonesome Dove had it been about driving a herd of Angora goats all the way from Texas to Montana? Me, either.

4. One last story on Lonesome Dove. In September of 1998, Judy, Haleigh, Abby, and I were vacationing. We stopped at Archer City, TX–the hometown of Larry McMurtry. This was my family's concession to me. Knowing how much I liked books, the family dropped me off at one of Larry McMurtry’s bookstores in Archer City (he had four huge stores there at the time.)

            I was looking around at the books when lo and behold, I spotted the great man himself. He was sweating profusely unpacking boxes of books. (This was definitely one hands-on owner.)

            Sitting near him was a young man, in his 20s, holding a pen and a note pad. He was a graduate student working on his Ph.D. in English. He obviously wanted to take notes.

            He peppered McMurtry with dozens of questions attempting to infiltrate the McMurtry's mind. This young man was hoping to discover the hidden meaning behind Lonesome Dove.

            McMurtry was clearly disinterested. He may have even been a little irritated. As I recall, McMurtry at one point looked at the student and said something to the effect of, “People are always asking me about the metaphors and symbols of Lonesome Dove. There are none. It's just a book.” He then went back to unpacking his books.

            I continued my browsing and the young student left a few minutes later. A short time later, Judy and the girls dropped by to pick me up. I told Judy, “You are not going to believe this, but Larry McMurtry is inside the store. Let me bring the girls inside. Maybe he will let me take a photo with them.”

            At that time, Haleigh was five and Abby was three. I approached Mr. McMurtry and asked, “Mr. McMurtry, would you mind if I take a photo of you with my two girls.”

            His whole demeanor changed. “I would be glad to,” he smiled. He could not have been nicer. I took two or three photos just to make sure I got one that turned out well.

            Somewhere in our collection of photographs, I have a picture of my two oldest girls standing next to one of the great American authors of the 20th century.

5. I think I mentioned recently that I have started listening to William Manchester's first volume in his biography on Winston Churchill—THE LAST LION. It’s been good so far. One of the best lines was when Manchester quoted Churchill’s colorful description of what it was like to write a book–“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.”

            I did not find this to be true with the one book that I wrote years ago. I liked the process very much. Of course, to this day no company has wanted to publish that book. Maybe that is why.

            On the other hand, I have found his description to be very accurate describing my experience writing a doctoral thesis. I am proud to say there are five bound copies of that earth-shaking work in this world—spread out over five different locations. If terrorists for some reason target all five locations, it is safe to say the world will be deprived of a great labor of literature.