We got a new Toyota Prius this week. The short story is that we needed something more reliable. Fuel economy is more important all of the time and the Prius gets 55 mpg. If you want to hear the long story, click through to the full post. I'll try to have some more details about cool features of the car soon. And I've got another announcement to make.

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This past week Erika and I listened to The DaVinci Code on CD while driving to see my family for the July 4th holiday. After finally hearing this best-selling, controversial story, I really cannot understand what all the commotion was about.

Based on what I heard about the book, from both the fans and the protesters, I expected a well-researched, in-depth, biting exposé of the Church’s denial of the role of women in early Christianity. I thought it would involve a gradual revealing of historical events, painting detailed portraits of the people who orchestrated this theoretical deception. I thought it would involve a main character who is acting like a modern detective, gradually unravelling a conspiracy and cover-up of the past. I think that would have made a much better book.

Instead, what Dan Brown has given us is a simplistic one-chapter summary of a pre-existing theory about Mary Magdalene and Jesus, dressed up as a glorified treasure hunt. Very little of the suspense of the book deals with the past—it’s mostly deciphering anagrams and finding secret passwords invented by a man recently deceased. The best characters are not very interesting, and the worst ones are eye-rollingly unbelievable (A hulking, murderous albino monk? Come on!).

As a work of suspense, the book is entertaining enough, and some of the puzzles Brown comes up with are interesting, but it’s definitely not deserving of the resounding praise it’s received on one hand and the utter derision on the other. I think a lot of Christians who have made Dan Brown their latest boogeyman would be surprised to read the book and find out just how innocuous it is.

Got the call this morning. The shot is on! Wohoo!

Things are working out. I was a little depressed with that last post about appointments, but the truth is that the doctors have been doing good jobs of diagnosing stuff and helping me.

I've had the back problems since 2001 and have learned to accept them as a part of my life willingly, but it's also great that God has been giving me relief for my pain, little by little. When I think about the physical problems I face, they really are miniscule compared with actual handicaps and the like.

At any rate, I'll be getting shot up in my back early Monday morning, and will get to take a couple of days off to lie flat on my back while the stuff gels. Viva Netflix!