Monthly Archives: April 2006

Goblet of Fire

Posted on by
2

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
by J.K. Rowling
Rating: 10 out of 10

Despite the unwieldy 734 pages, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is by far my favorite of the Harry Potter series up to this point.

Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that Harry is getting older and wiser and he is maturing. The problems that he has to deal with are also getting considerably more difficult. Harry’s first crush surfaces in this book as well (it is NOT Hermoine), he has to deal with more opposition from rising dark wizards and must compete in an extremely large event at Hogwarts that is NOT Quidditch.

I would like to list all of the things that I loved about this book, but I don’t want to give anything away (although I don’t know what I would be giving away…I think I’m one of the last people on earth to read this book). What impressed me the most that despite its length, J.K. Rowling manages to weave a story that is not even close to being dull. I continue to be impressed by her ability to create and describe creatures and spells that get more and more interesting.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire explores friendship, trust, and courage. It does so in a way that kids as well as adults can comprehend. That’s what makes these books so genius – the universal truths that find their way into the wizarding world, making Harry, Ron, Hermoine and the rest of the non-Muggle gang all the more relatable.

I talked to someone who recently watched the recent movie adaptation and they said that they felt lost. I can imagine why. There is a lot in this book (more than in the previous two) that makes reference to previous events in Harry’s life covered in the earlier books.

Rowling continues to amaze me. Her imagination and story-telling ability are incredible. I feel like a kid, much the same way I felt when I first saw The Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Special Two-Disc Collector’s Edition). I have become so enamored with Harry that I am abandoning all other reading until I’m done with both Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Forget the order of my book list.

Stay tuned. More updates to come.

Dodge for a Cause

Posted on by
3

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears mentioning again. I LOVE the company that I work for.

We have a dodgeball court.

Dodgeballs

This past weekend, we held our first annual charity dodgeball tournament. It was awesome.

Since I was gone two weekends ago, I couldn’t volunteer for the event, but I was able to get there this weekend. It was a lot of fun and I got my serious dodgeball ref whistle on.

My company co-sponsored the event with a local sports radio station and we ran it and hosted it in our official “dodgeball arena”. We had 56 teams participating, over 450 players, and we raised over $10,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Union Broadcasting Foundation, which benefits local Kansas City charities.

The outpouring of support was fantastic. What surprised me was how so many people are completely into dodgeball. And they were seriously competitive. We had two “almost-fights” that had to be “almost-broken-up”. And I’ll tell you something else…being a dodgeball referee is freaking TOUGH. Too many things going on at once. We had 5 referees watching the game at once and there were still calls that were contested. Players wouldn’t leave the court unless we told them to.

Dodge This

But for the winners (the Klown Punchers), it paid off. They received:

  • $1,000 cash
  • Entry into the National Dodgeball Championship in Schaumburg, IL
  • 8 free tickets on Southwest Airlines, and
  • 8 Richard Petty Driving Experiences from the Kansas Speedway

Not a bad prize. And a great tournament. We are probably going to start planning for next year’s tournament a lot sooner.

Good times.