In “The Da Vinci Code”, Brown reintroduces us to Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon. The novel opens after the chief curator at the Louvre in Paris, Jacques Saunière, has been murdered, his body posed like Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawing, the Vitruvian Man. If that wasn’t puzzling enough, a pentacle has been drawn on Saunière’s stomach … in his own blood and a mysterious message is beside the body.

Langdon receives a late night call that draws him to the scene. With the help of the curator’s granddaughter, cryptographer Sophie Neveu, Langdon sets out on a quest to solve the mystery. The journey takes him from the halls of the Louvre, through France, to England and into history itself.

After such an adventure it’s hard not to wonder what Brown has up his sleeve for “The Lost Symbol”.

From the official Dan Brown website:

“This is a great day for readers and booksellers,” said Mehta. “The Lost Symbol” is a brilliant and compelling thriller. Dan Brown’s prodigious talent for storytelling, infused with history, codes and intrigue, is on full display in this new book. This is one of the most anticipated publications in recent history, and it was well worth the wait.”

Brown’s longtime editor, Jason Kaufman, Vice President and Executive Editor at Doubleday said, “Nothing ever is as it first appears in a Dan Brown novel. This book’s narrative takes place in a twelve-hour period, and from the first page, Dan’s readers will feel the thrill of discovery as they follow Robert Langdon through a masterful and unexpected new landscape. “The Lost Symbol” is full of surprises.”

Some interesting facts about Dan Brown’s novels:

·         “The Da Vinci Code” is the bestselling adult hardcover novel of all time. There are a staggering 81 million copies in print.

·         With a first print run of 5 million copies, “The Lost Symbol” has the highest first print run in Random House history.

·         Brown released three novels before The Da Vinci Code. Digital Fortress in 1998, Angels and Demons in 2000 (The film adaptation to Angels and Demons is due out on May 15), and Deception Point in 2001.

Tonight, history was made!

Case in point. I weighed 123 lbs when I met my boyfriend. I was svelt, slim and wearing a size 5. That was a pretty big deal for me since I’d lost about 40 lbs a year earlier. Well, fast forward another year and guess what…I didn’t gain it all back (I won’t let myself) but I did gain 13 lbs!!! WTF! How could I gain 13 friggin’ lbs? Yeah, I know, that only pubs me at 136 lbs, but that’s 11 more than I want.

So to combat this little hike in my weight I’ve implemented some changes in my life. No more eating after nine just because my boyfriend (a martial arts instructor who burns calories like a mad man) wants a late night snack. No more burgers at McDonalds or fried nuggets at Sonic. No more eating 10 million times a day just because he’s always hungry. And no more sitting around working on my computer for hours on end without getting up and doing something physical. It’s time I got my body back.

So, starting Monday I started each morning with a jog/squat thrust ritual. I take a break every few days to go on a brisk walk. Today I weigh 134 lbs. Only 9 more lbs to go till I get to 125 lbs (my ideal weight).

Anyone else experience this annoying phenomena?  

I got the ticket because a good friend of my boyfriend managed to secure two. Her husband didn’t want to go and she knew I wanted to, so she rang me up and invited me to tag along.

I got to the school around 4, Susie was there a little after three. When I arrived I was thunderstruck by how long the line to get in was. It ran down the front of the school and down the sidewalk out front. I figured in about an hour it would be curving around the school’s property. Since Susie had gotten there so early I got to walk to the near front of the line and wait with her.

The mood of everyone there was upbeat and excited. A few McCain supporters were passing out documents comparing the two candidates…which is to be expected. Not long after I arrived, the door opened and people were allowed in.

There was about an hour and a half wait once we were inside, and I couldn’t complain about that. Many people who hadn’t gotten there as early as us weren’t allowed in because the gym was full. When Barack arrived, however, he spent time outside with them.

A funny thing about that evening was how whenever the announcer introduced a speaker, everyone thought that speaker was going to be Obama. Everyone would leap to his/her feet and start cheering, only to be deflated when someone else’s name was announced. It was funny and sort of sad for those who were announced, but they didn’t seem to mind. There was an overall feeling of celebration in the air.

When Barack took to the stage the audience went crazy. With rolled up sleeves and an empty platform he walked and talked with everyone. He spoke for about 40 or 50 minutes then had a 25 minute question period after that. He covered topics like the economy, saying that at the end of President Clinton’s term per family income had risen $6000 but at the end of President Bush’s term people are making $1000 less than they were at the end of Clinton’s term. He reiterated how similar Bush and McCain’s economic and foreign policies are and stated what he would do to make college more affordable for people.

All in all it was a great night. I’m so grateful to Susie for taking me.

Andy and I are going to see Extreme. This is going to be awesome. I haven’t seen them in years and it’s almost the original line-up. Andy and I are looking forward to it. It’s cool to be with someone who loves to go to shows as much as I do. We’re going to make a weekend of it. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures to post here.

Not doing too bad himself, Johnny Depp pulled in $72mil.

What would I do with that much money? I’d buy a house on a lake or on a beach. My dream house will look just like HGTV’s 2005 Dream House. I LOVE that house. I’d get a recording studio built into the house and a dojo for Andy. I’d have a library and….we’d take really cool vacations. And maybe I’d get a penthouse in Baltimore. Other than charities and investments for my descendants, I can’t think of anything else.

What would you do with $80 Million? 

Yep, I went out on my first paranormal investigation, and though the evening didn’t include any encounters with ghosts, it was a great experience. Like I said in my previous post, I’m doing a “Hill City Haunts” article for a local magazine. Spending a few hours with a paranormal investigation team seemed like a great way to find out more on the subject.

Not only did I get a lot of useful information for the article, but I also got to see first hand what happens when a team of paranormal investigators go to a site to see if they can document the paranoral activity reported there.

Randolph College has a long history of ghost sightings. One of the more interesting stories is that of a boy from a neighboring college (Randolph College used to be Randolph-Macon Women’s College) who agreed to be in one of the school’s productions. Because it was a college for women, they needed to look outside of the school for male roles. The boy was told that he had to be on time for the show, it was very important for him to be there on time. Well, the night of the show comes, but the boy arrives late. Fortunately, the show went fine. However, after it was over the college was informed that the boy that was to perform that night died in a car accident on the way to the college. Creepy, huh. There’s even a professor on campus who taught at the school when this happened. He says this is a true story. Even if you’re not a believer, it’s an interesting tale.

The investigation took us to many different areas of the school where the investigators set up equipment to record any activity. Although nobody recorded anything paranormal, a few people said they experienced something. One person heard someone say “Hello,” when we entered an unoccupied dorm. Another heard a sound come from a room in that same empty dorm.

All in all it was a pretty cool night. My sister came along to take pictures and Andy came to get video. Although you can’t tell from the picture, they enjoyed themselves.

What’s next…a report on great sights to visit on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I’m up and writing. I didn’t actually get up at 5 though, I got up at 6:30, made some coffee & watched the news then AMC on Soap Net…only because I was still too groggy to actually get any writing done. Note to self: When planning to get up before the sun, must go to bed before 1:30 a.m.

That got me to thinking. How much more could I be producing? My writing schedule is that I produce 2000 words a day. Once I do that, I feel pretty good. But could I do more than that? Could I write a full chapter a day? I sometimes worked 12 hour days when I worked in accounting, why couldn’t I do that in writing?  So I’m starting something new this week. A chapter a day, no matter what. I’m going to get up at 5am tomorrow and check in here so everyone can see that I’m up and rolling.

Wish me luck…