Tag: Hobbit Day

The First Snow

Brendan Scott

I spent the last two weeks pounding away on my computer.  It’s getting a little old and the delete key isn’t working all the time, but for now, it is helping me get through grad school.  Funny enough, two weeks ago, when I was celebrating Hobbit Day, I did something very stupid.

Acting on little, to no sleep, I decided to go check out the new iPhone 5, it had just been released that day.  As I had expected, the Apple store was packed with people trying to upgrade their phones.  I didn’t really want a new phone, just wanted to look at it.

The iPhone 5 is sleek and remarkably light weight.  It was very compelling, but what really caught my eye was the new Macbook Pro.  My old Macbook only has 80 gigs and the battery has a life of about 30 minutes, though it still works.

Now, let me explain myself a little bit.  On Friday September 21st, I was still feeling the after-effects of completing my first masters level class the day before.  I’d been up since 5:30, already hard to work on the reading for my next class.

Still, NEVER go shopping when you are super tired.  Or you might walk out with a 2,000 dollar computer that you can’t afford.  That’s just what I did.

Fortunately Apple has a gracious return policy, which is what I took advantage of after I went to the gym and thought things over.

Now back to the present.

I spent all day yesterday typing away on my old computer, being very careful not to make any mistakes, as the delete key is being very tricky.  Kind of funny that I was able to delete my big mistake when I bought a new computer, but my old computer wont let me delete the wrong words I type.  Anyway, around 4:00 pm yesterday, I turned in my second big paper, which interestingly enough focused on the importance of sleep and how it correlates to learning.

I should have talked about sleep and how it can stop you from buying expensive Apple products.  But that wouldn’t have been scholarly, just realistic.

If you can’t tell I’ve learned I need more sleep!  So I decided to take this morning off, which was very nice.  When I woke up around 9 am, I was surprised.  A fresh coat of snow on the ground.

I love snow, especially the kind that only sticks on the grass.  So in celebration of the first snow I am going to share the pictures of my yard with a fresh dusting on it.

I think it’s awesome that it snowed today.  It reminded me that sometimes we make mistakes, but we can’t do anything bad enough that God will not take it back.  He covers over our sin and makes our lives as white as the fresh snow on my lawn this morning.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of the first snow in Denver. And remember, it’s not bad to sleep in every once and a while.

The Hobbit: A Second Breakfast Adventure

Brendan Scott

I would never have made for a good Hobbit, other than the fact I can’t grow much facial hair and I don’t like wearing shoes and would love to live in a hole in the ground.  Anyway, I am not round in the belly, at least not any more, and I love to go on adventures.  Adventures are very un-hobbit-esque.

It’s funny though, I love adventures because of The Hobbit.

I read The Hobbit for the first time back in middle school.  The dark, but funny tale captured me.  I wanted to follow the path through Mirkwood, ride the barrels to the edge of the Lonely Mountain, and find myself in the battle against Smaug.

I wanted to go on an Adventure.

I’ve longed for Gandalf to show up at my house and throw me into a grand story.  Yeah, it would mess up my life, and when I would return I wouldn’t be the same.  But a life well lived is a life where you embrace change, even if it is a little scary.

Unfortunately, I’ve never seen Gandalf’s fireworks, and he’s never marked my door with an invitation for a party of dwarves.

But not all adventures start like that.  Some start by opening a book.  Today, that book, The Hobbit, turned 75.  I hope you go out and read it and let it challenge you to live adventurously.  Who knows you might end up in a third world country.

Today, to celebrate the book, I joined the worldwide Second Breakfast Celebration.  I really didn’t do too much, besides watch The Hobbit trailer a billion times and post a bunch about The Hobbit on my Facebook page and listen to the LOTR soundtrack today.  Other than that I just ate my first breakfast at 6:30 and then made myself an omelet (which was the true adventure for the day, I’m not really a chef, but I cut my own onions and diced some peppers, threw them into the frying pan with some eggs) at 11 for elevensies, or as it’s known better, second breakfast and started reading The Hobbit for the first time in four years.

You might have missed out on the celebration today, but I challenge you to pick up the book and join the adventure.  Heck, you can have second breakfast tomorrow when you celebrate Hobbit Day (tomorrow happens to be Bilbo and Frodo’s birthday, but you might not know them yet, so read up cause they’ed love to have you at their party).  But be careful you might end up in Middle Earth.