Young Life

I've been thinking about this blog, and I've decided that it's kind of redundant. Since Sara has set up a sweet family blog for both of us, I feel that it would be easier to post my random thoughts there. So this is probably the last post I will put up on this blog. For my new updates, go here.

Harry Potter as you've never heard it before...

Over the last little while I have developed what I like to term "book attention deficit disorder". What usually happens is that I move on to another book without finishing the one I'm reading, because I get bored. It has taken me a while to figure out why this has started happening to me. Then I thought about how much I want to re-read Harry Potter. I've only read the Harry Potter series twice, which to some of you hardcore fans might not seem like very many times, but hey, I'm a busy guy. Anyway, I came to realize that the Harry Potter Series has ruined pretty much every other book for me. Ok, that's going a little overboard, but what I mean is this: Harry Potter is so good, that every time I start reading anything else, I have trouble finishing it because it isn't as good as Harry Potter. And now that I have realized that this is the reason for my book ADD, the nature of the disorder has changed. Now, when I'm reading a book, I have trouble finishing it because all I want to do is read Harry Potter again!

Luckily, I have found a solution, at least for now. I checked out the Harry Potter books from the library on compact disc, and I listen to them while I am driving. Currently, I am almost done with The Chamber of Secrets. They are read by Jim Dale, who is famous in England for stuff I've never heard of. He does an amazing job. He has a different voice for every character, and he adds a new dimension to the books that makes listening to him great. I have tried to read other books on CD, and I could never get through them because I couldn't stand the way the reader was portraying the book. This is another reason I am glad that they chose someone to read the Harry Potter Series that has the ability to do such a phenominal job (He did the audio version of all seven books). I would have hated it if I had started listening to the books on CD, only to have the reader's voice make me like the books a little less (although if that had happened, maybe I would start liking other books again a little more? JK!)

So, for now, because of Jim Dale, I am able to read other books with less distraction. The audiobooks are like the nicotine patch to my Harry Potter addiction. My cravings for the Harry Potter books are temporarily lessened slightly.

Newest Book Review on Goodreads

This one's kind of boring, but this is the first time I'm trying this, so it's mostly just a test to see if it works. Enjoy!

Organic Chemistry by John E. McMurry

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
I had to read this book for Organic Chemistry. As far as textbooks go, this one was easy to understand and very well laid out. It is also one of the books that the Organic Chemistry section of the Dental Admissions Test is taken from, so I was lucky to use it in my class. Overall, I'd say I didn't really enjoy it (because of the subject matter), but for a textbook it was easy to learn from.


View all my reviews.

Cafe Rio

Well folks, I'm finally getting around to posting my first blog.  I've been pretty busy taking Organic Chemistry over the summer, so I haven't got to do much else.  

Anyway, enough chit-chat.  

Sara and I live in North Las Vegas, about 20 minutes away from Aliante.  We were driving around Aliante the other night, looking for a place to eat, and I noticed a strange sign on an old truck that looked like it was from the fifties.  At first we were just looking at the truck because it looked so out of place parked next to a retail building that didn't look quite finished yet, but a closer inspection of the truck revealed what was written on the sign: Cafe Rio!  

For those who don't know (and I would assume most people who would read this already do), Cafe Rio is one of the best Mexanish restaurants around.  (I say Mexanish because I'm sure if you went to Mexico the food would be completely different).  They are mostly in Utah but recently they started putting some branches down here in good ol' Vegas.  If any of you have heard of Cafe Caubo, it's pretty much the same thing, but Cafe Caubo was actually a copy-cat of Cafe Rio and they no longer exist because Cafe Rio sued them out of business.  Anyway, I'm making this longer than it has to be.

Cafe Rio has great burritoes.  They are big, and their meat is juicy.  I would recommend the pork; it's very sweet. (That might be because, according to a former employee of Cafe Caubo, which, as I said, is the exact same thing as Cafe Rio, the pork has 3 pounds of sugar per 15 pound batch of pork).  

Back to my original story, after seeing that the truck said Cafe Rio, I looked around and, sure enough, the unfinished building that it was parked in front of also had a Cafe Rio sign on it.  I did further research and found out that this new branch opens on August 18th (just 11 days from now).  Needless to say, I'm very excited.  

For those who don't live in North Las Vegas (which I'm assuming is pretty much everyone), they already have branches on Eastern near the 215 and in Summerlin off of Sahara.  Give it a try in the near future.  Just make sure you have plenty of extra money for eating out, because after you try it you will be addicted.  

If any of you would like to add comments to this post, I'd love to hear your feelings about Cafe Rio.  Love it or hate it, let me know.  I know that asking for comments is presuming that someone is going to read this, but we'll see how it goes.  

Ryan's World

Here is the page you've all been waiting for, Ryan's Random Thoughts! Some inspirational, some silly, some serious, some thoughtful, and some crazy...

Enjoy!