1 & 2 Kings: Quick Summary

1 Kings starts at the end of David's life. We get to see the transition to Solomon. While we get the great stories of God blessing him with wisdom and Solomon using that wisdom with the whole "cut the baby in half" story, we start seeing Solomon's faith in God wavering as he looks elsewhere for guidance.

All hell breaks loose when Solomon's rule comes to an end. Israel is split into two sections. The remainder of 2 Kings is a whirlwind of the various leaders that seemed to wander further and further from God up north (Israel) and the tribe of Judah follows a similar path although there are a couple of kings that are true to God. By the end of Kings, the people of Israel are far from God, scattered around the Middle East, and far from the united holy nation they were under David.

Great Birthday Weekend

While my birthday on Friday wasn't a free-for-all leisurefest that lined up my day with a series of win-win events, it was really damned good. I did work, but nothing challenging or frustrating. In fact, I had enough time to create this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbU0dZCc9Vc

I left the office early and went to Vertical House records. There, I bought some vinyl - Talking Heads '77, Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms, and a two picture disc version of Barry Manilow's greatest hits. I left there and headed over to the taco truck at Drake and Triana to eat a couple of pastor tacos. When I got home, the kids had just left for the grandparents and I had a few minutes to change clothes before heading to the Melting Pot for my b-day dinner.

The Melting Pot's Big Night Out meal was Latin themed, so there was a spicy cheese course. A shrimp ceviche salad (the ceviche was a first for me and I loved it) followed. The entree course had some great options like the mole chicken. The dessert course was a dark chocolate and dulce swirl with bananas, strawberries, rice cereal blocks, brownies, and such for dipping/coating. Thanks to my being skimpy with b'fast and lunch, I didn't get to feeling full until we were nearly done with dessert.

The night was completed by some truly fantastic marital relations with JD. ;)

My birthday party was after church on Sunday. My grandmom came up from B'ham and my brother came down from Nashville. We had a Mexican themed party with carne asada, a chicken and poblano enchilada recipe I'd seen on a Rick Bayless PBS show, and a HUGE pinata purchased from a local mercado and stuffed by my dad with some of my favorite candy and some party favors for the kids (silly string, glow-in-the-dark sticks). Some of my presents included an IOU for a new set of windows for our living room from my parents, Shortlegs (my bro) gave me a pair of blue suede low-top Chuck Taylors, new sidewalk lights and a 2CD/1DVD re-issue of Band on the Run from the in-laws, and JD and the kids got me an expansion pack for Settlers of Catan and a year subscription to Reason magazine.