As I was shopping at Meijer for a BBQ later that day, I was wandering down the milk aisle and I noticed an old lady standing with a cart off to the side.  We’re talking very old, oxygen tank old.  In the cart was a baby in a car seat.  For no real reason, I made eye contact and gave the woman a big grin, just because I was feeling so good. (I whistled a Guster song that was stuck in my head through the entire store, I was feeling that good.)  And you know what, she gave me a genuine smile back.

And it made my day.

Well, our friends over at NPR, (who are like the BBC in a non-British way, I guess), recently put out a call for the best SciFi and Fantasy books.  Over 5000 people nominated books and series in the comments.  (I might have. I thought about it, but then I don’t know if I actually did or not).   Then they slimmed the list to the top 237 nominations, specifically excluding books that didn’t make their strict criteria (basically, they excluded horror, paranormal romance, and YA  from the list), and asked for votes.

50,000 votes later, and mine was for sure one of them, and they came up with a list of the top 100 SciFi/Fantasy novels (excluding YA. They are running a YA poll next summer.  Sorry Harry.)

I don’t propose a meme, although go ahead and play along if you want.  I’m just curious to know how many of them I have read.  I’ve got the top 13 down, except I have never finished 1984. 

Here’s the list.  I bolded the ones I’ve read at least one of the series, although in most cases, I’ve read the whole she-bang. 

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

So there it is. I count 37 of them. That leaves me with a whole lot of reading to do.  I recently added #14 Neuromancer to my to-read list, and several of the Neal Stephenson books are there.  Looks like we’ve got a lot to draw on for our SpecFic book club too.  So far, we have read #32 – Watership Down and #35 – A Canticle for Leibowitz.  Some of our other books will likely be on next summer’s YA list. 

Good times.  How many have you read?

I know, I know, arguably, this is not a chili in the true sense of the word.  No meat, no beans, but boy did it have a good chili flavor.  The original recipe was pretty weak sauce on the spicing, so I amped it up a bit with chipotles and cocoa powder.  Feel free to adjust the seasoning to your taste in chili.

Also, you should probably note that if you are taking this to a cookoff, you should give some sort of warning that there are peanuts in it.  Not something that allergic people are likely to suspect in a delicious chili.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Chili with Peanuts
Adapted from AICR

2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 to 6 garlic cloves, minced, to taste
1 1/2 to 2 pounds orange-flesh sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks (about 4 cups)
1 1/2 cups unsalted roasted peanuts
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes in juice
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
2 cans (4 ounces each) diced mild green chili peppers with liquid
2 chipotles in adobo, chopped
4 to 6 Tbsp. of chili powder, or to taste
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. ground cumin, or to taste 
1 Tbsp. sugar 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In a large, heavy pot, heat the canola oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and bell peppers, and sauté, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes, until onions are golden. Add the garlic and sauté, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Stir in the sweet potatoes, peanuts, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, canned chili peppers, chipotles, chili powder, cocoa powder, cumin and sugar.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 25 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are just tender. Halfway through the cooking process, adjust the seasonings, adding more chili powder and cumin if you want. Season with salt and pepper.

Makes 10 servings.

I was thinking about it this year, since I have addresses this time, but typically, I didn’t get it taken care of.  Fortunately, I saw a post on Lifehacker the other day, which gave me the perfect solution: Video Valentines.

On Saturday night, before I watched Star Wars: A New Hope, I recorded a set of videos on my phone (Droid Incredible, you are incredible!) and sent them to my family.  And it was great!  I actually got Valentines sent this year.

So, I decided to record one for you, Loyal Blog Readers.  I even busted out a red shirt for the occasion and set up some fancy shmancy frame on my webcam.  (I thought about going with a heart, but it was too not manly. So you get the postcard)

I hope you like it.  Happy Valentine’s Day!

To kick off my Happiness Project, I picked the theme of Mindfulness.  It’s strikingly similar to Gretchin Rubin’s February theme of Self-Awareness.

Mindfulness has been coming up in my reading fairly regularly over the past few months.  It is a process of paying attention to one’s self and one’s emotions, and accepting them.  One of my favorite articles on the concept, posted at Zen Habits, had this to say about mindfulness:

Inner peace is revealed when the inner war ends. We stop looking outside ourselves for solutions to our problems and, instead, turn our attention inward to make peace with our own experience. This simple movement of attention is revolutionary. It heals, calms, and clarifies like nothing else.

Trent, over at The Simple Dollar, didn’t call it mindfulness, but his experience seems to be typical of the practice of mindfulness meditation:

Once or twice a day, I go into my bedroom, turn down the lights, lay on the bed, and look up at the ceiling. I start off by reflecting on a small handful of things that have really brought me significant joy in the past few days. After a few minutes of that, I focus entirely on emptying my mind for a while, and once that’s done, I just drift without anything in my mind. Sometimes thoughts drift in and out of my head – sometimes they don’t. Sometimes I doze off for a bit – other times, I don’t.

After about twenty minutes of concentrated mental relaxation, I almost always feel refreshed and much more able to tackle whatever is on the table in front of me, whether it’s a household task, some work to be done, some bills to be paid, or anything else. I get that stuff done faster and better than I ever would have done before the meditation.

Call it meditation or prayer or whatever you wish – it flat-out works.

I don’t know a lot about Mindfulness right now, so my first weekly goal is to do some more reading and research.

I’m going to start with the following two items and add a few more to it:

• Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation, by Daniel Siegel (Provided that Snowtorious B.I.G doesn’t cause UPS to lose my package)
• Opening to Our Lives, from the NPR show Being, which aired this last weekend.

By this time next week, I’ll know a little more about Mindfulness.  By the end of the month, I intend to be practicing some Mindful Meditations.  I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Does anyone know of any other resources on Mindfulness that I use to learn more?

He looks happy!

Over the past few months, I have been doing a lot of thinking about happiness.  I won’t say that I have been unhappy.  I will say that I have struggled to be as happy as I think I can be.  Some portion of that is attributable to energy levels and work-life balance, but not all of it.  I realized that I am in control of my own personal happiness and I can do things that will improve my happiness.

Last year, I checked out Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project three times before I actually got it read. When I finally did get it read, I was floored.  Here was a happy woman who took it upon herself to try different things that might make her even happier.

Her “First Splendid Truth” of happiness is “To be happier, you have to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.”  And so, I have been thinking about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right in my atmosphere of growth.

I know that last year I had some really dark times, especially when I wasn’t getting enough sleep or when I wasn’t proactively working to balance my life.  I had moments when I felt lonely and times when I was overwhelmed by the goodness of my friends and family. I had my fair share of good times as well. I had love and I had heartbreak (and I had Bernadette Peters singing to me, but I digress).

I also know my outlook for this year.  I have a good understanding of where I will be challenged, and I fully expect to be surprised as well, by the good times and the bad times.

I kind of see happiness as a kind of metaphorical muscle.   In the same way that I don’t expect to run a race if I haven’t trained for it, I don’t expect to be happy in the face of difficulties without having practiced it beforehand.

As such, I decided to do my own happiness project this year.  I’ve been reluctant to get started for some reason, but here it goes…

I’m kicking off my Happiness Project 2011 on January 31.

My themes for the year are Simplify and Strengthen.  I’ll follow up on what I think that means to me in a followup post.

My intention is to pick a monthly theme and set weekly goals of things to do every day related to that theme.   If I get ambitious, I will also set a few month long goals as well.

My hope is to document it here on my blog, as both an accountability mechanism and as a way to process what I am learning about myself.  I will try to be honest and not hide myself.  I hope that you, dear readers, will talk to me in person about happiness and how I am doing with my goals.  I can use all of the encouragement I can get.

And if you want, you can join me in doing your own Happiness Project as well.   All it takes is a willingness to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right in an atmosphere of growth.  Do you have that?

Dear Friends and Family-
Yeah, I know! Christmas cards from Brady! Who would have thought?

2010 and I had a good time. I spent most of it in Michigan, making brief escapes elsewhere from time to time.

As you probably know, I continue working for Ford Motor Company, as a Financial Analyst in the Product Development group. I can’t tell you exactly what I work on, but you’ll probably start seeing it in a few years, if things go as planned. Ford continues to do well, and I continue to remind you that if you are considering a new new car, be sure to let me know. I can get you a discount! (Unless you live in Puerto Rico, as it turns out…)

I made my first visits to Chicago (Finally!), Puerto Rico, and the Bruce Peninsula of “Southern” Ontario this year. They were all wonderful visits. I also took a summer road trip with my kid sister Nicole across Ohio to New York. We just barely missed being rained out of the Cedar Point amusement park and were nearly rained out of the Hill Cumorah Pageant.

I set my grill on fire during a Labor Day party at my apartment and hosted a fantastic group of friends for Thanksgiving. I watched the last episodes of LOST and Heroes with friends. I made it to three different cider mills. I was the piñata swinger at a Fiesta Mexicana.

All in all, I’d say it was a great year. Thank you for the part you played in it!

Here’s hoping you have a happy Christmas and a wonderful year in 2011.

Brady Emmett

You can keep up with me in any number of ways!
Email: brady.emmett@gmail.com
Blog: http://bradyemmett.info
Twitter: @brady32
Facebook: http://facebook.com/brady.emmett

The Spirit of Christmas is a marvelous thing. In the days of Christ’s birth Angels sang, Shepherds watched with care by night, Wise men adored. It was a time of wonders and miracles. A new star appeared in the sky. Half a world away, “at the going down of the sun, there was no darkness” (3 Nephi 1:15). A prophet was commanded to lift up his head and be of good cheer and a people of faith was spared.

One passage of scripture has often caught my attention as I have studied the glorious times that accompanied the Savior’s birth. In the Gospel of Luke we learn that His mother, Mary “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart”. (Luke 2:19)

She had the Son of God with her every day and yet she kept and pondered the miracles of His birth in her heart. We would do well to follow Mary’s example.

What might we keep and ponder in our hearts throughout the year?

I propose that we remember first and foremost the miracle of Christ’s life and death. That we remember that He lived for us and that He died for us and that through His infinite atonement, we can be made clean.

Second, I propose that we strive daily to model our actions after His; that we love one another; that we keep His commandments; that throughout the coming year, we keep in our hearts the generosity, the love, the joy, the gratitude, the kindness and the happiness that we feel during the Christmas season; that we love our God and we love our Neighbor and we love Ourselves.

Finally, I propose that we Be Believing, now and all year. Christmas is a time of faith. Christ has made many promises to us. If we Believe Christ, we will find that when we are challenged, there will be no darkness. We will not be alone. We will be able to lift up our heads and be of good cheer.

These are just a few of the many Christmas miracles we could keep in our hearts and ponder over the coming year. You and I have been blessed beyond measure through the birth of Jesus Christ.

President Howard W. Hunter made the following invitation many years ago, and I echo its sentiment now: “If you desire to find the true spirit of Christmas and partake of the sweetness of it, let me make this suggestion to you. During the hurry of the festive occasion of this Christmas season, find time to turn your heart to God. Perhaps in the quiet hours, and in a quiet place, and on your knees—alone or with loved ones—give thanks for the good things that have come to you, and ask that His Spirit might dwell in you as you earnestly strive to serve Him and keep His commandments. He will take you by the hand and His promises will be kept.”(Hunter 1972)

In conclusion, I would like to share a lesson that I learned from the classic Christmas story, A Muppet’s Christmas Carol. The Ghost of Christmas Present teaches old Scrooge that Christmas “is a season of the heart, a special time of caring, The ways of love made clear. It is the season of the spirit. The message, if we hear it, is make it last all year.” Scrooge also learns that “When you do your best for love, it feels like Christmas.”

I have learned that the Spirit of Christmas is a spirit of love and gratitude. For me, keeping and pondering the spirit of Christmas in my heart all year means working to show love, compassion and kindness as best I can.

I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that He loves us. I know it now and I hope I remember it throughout the year. I know that if we do keep the Spirit of Christmas with us all year, it will be a time of wonders and miracles for us as well.

Brothers and Sisters, May we keep and ponder these things in our hearts. May we remember the miracle of Christ’s Birth, follow His commandments, and Be Believing.  May we do our best for love and make the Christmas spirit last all year.

Of course I came up with the original video:

But I also came up with these fantastic mashups:

Hagrid as the Ghost of Christmas Present

The Doctor as the Ghost of Christmas Present

Aladdin’s Genie as the Ghost of Christmas Present:

I think that the Hagrid one is my favorite, but the use of the Master at the beginning of the Doctor Who was great.  Which do you like best?

(Intangible) Things I want and need:

- A deeper relationship with my siblings, particularly my brothers.
- An occasional phone call from one of the above
- Someone to pick me a dentist and schedule me an appointment
- Encouragement (and help) planning and shopping for meals in advance
- Decluttering help and encouragement
- Some time to think  and encouragement to ask and answer the hard questions
- Insight into and practice to become a better friend

(Tangible) Things that I want and need:

- An Ultrasonic Humidifier
- Manly Thank You Notes  (Too many are feminine or wedding TY notes. Not what I need!)
- A Knife Sharpener
- Good Steak knives, and maybe an extra paring knife or two
- A storage solution for my Dominion collection
- Oneida Community Twin Star Serving Pieces (Esp. the Pie Server and Pierced Serving Spoon)
- A Green Tie
- Pocket Squares with Yellow, Orange, Red, or Green accents

Things that I want but probably don’t need:

- Argyle Socks
- Argyle Sweaters
- German Style Games that I don’t already own (ask if you want to know) (I’ve had my eye on Small World and Incan Gold)
- David Allen’s books: Getting Things Done and Making It All Work
- Gretchen Rubin’s book: The Happiness Project
- A Cast Iron Dutch Oven (Kitchen Style, not Campfire style)
- An Immersion Blender
- A Rice Cooker Cookbook, like The Pot and How to Use It
- Dr. Who trinkets

What do you want for Christmas?