Busy Busy Busy... Kinda

Life continues in Indiana. It was "warm" all last week with of a high in the mid 60's (18-ish for you metric folks). That's NOT warm! *sigh* On the plus side, no ice on car ! On the down side, it rained for most of the week.

Haven't been online much or reading much (must read The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie *nervously checks calendar* *panics*). Instead I have been knitting and just completed my very first sweater, mostly - still need to assemble it. Pictures will be forthcoming once I actually assemble it. And as I have yet to figure out how to read (a bound book - e-books are easy since you can turn pages with a touch and don't have to keep them open, and now am seriously thinking about buying a e-reader since reading on the computer is a bit awkward) and knit at the same time, the reading hasn't been going well. And the TBR continues to grow!

Some review to be written... soon-ish... really...

A quick run down:

1. Meljean Brook's Demon Forged was excellent! (Can't believe what she did to poor Michael... wondering how CJ/KB will rescue him so that he can continue to "dust" their cabanas).
2. Nalini Singh's Blaze of Memory was fabulous. Nalini continues to please! Loved it. Of course I'll need to get an official copy when it get out on the 3rd of Nov. (still giggling over Rom and Jules's jealousy).
3. Anthea Lawson's All He Desires was good/okay (B-/C+ still trying to grade it). I'm thinking it was a mood thing since I read it after Demon Forged (which had the reading bar set really high and had me thinking of knife wielding, heart devouring heroines *sigh*). She's a new author with promise and her book will hit the stores in November (see here for an excerpt). Come by the Island next month (11-14) to chat with Anthea!
   

Now, back to my knitting... must make mittens for winter (which they tell me is just around the corner... I'm still making people laugh at my indignation about the weather). On the plus side knitting has made me some new friends at work. Now I'm teaching four people how to knit!

Reminder!

Just reminding all you folks out there that you have until end of day Monday (14th of Sept) to enter to win an autographed copy of Wanderlust! See details here.

Finally all unpacked and all the books put away into there appropriate spots. Due to some creative rearranging I have discovered lots of additional space for yet more books without having to go buy another book case (although I have tentatively scoped out a wall for the additional book case).

Boxes unpacked: 80-ish (I packed 65 and what the movers packed - they really really love packing paper, I made 12 13-gallon bags (49 liter) of the stuff.
Time Unpacking: approximately 24 hour (not counting eating and sleeping breaks)
Trips to the store for "things": 8
Trips to the grocery store: 3

During unpacking I discovered that I have four copies of Lord of the Fading Lands and three copies Lady of Light and Shadow. Why do I have so many?! And where were they before I unpacked them! *sigh* Anyway... I'm going to giveaway two copies of Lord of the Fading Lands and one copy of Lady of Light and Shadow. They are well loved (abused, depending on how you think of them). Its first come first serve. E-mail me your address and I'll ship them out on my next trip to the Post Office (sometime next week).

The BIG Drive: Part 5 and 6

The big drive is now over and I'm reporting to you from Indiana. (Thank goodness I was able to find free wifi at Barnes & Noble - books, coffee and free wifi could it get better?)

Highlights for Part 5:
1. After leaving Salina, KS it was more corn fields and what I later learned was soybeans.
2. Missouri is more interesting to drive through than KS. They have corn, soybeans and the occasional hill to drive up or around.
3. Weather was really lousy. Overcast all day.
4. Got to relatives hows (no wireless *sigh*) and lots of visiting eating and then some card play.

Highlights for Part 6 and THE END:
1. Discovered a used bookstore (A-1 Books) in Overland, MO (just south of St Louis). Acquired an additional 8 books and they were off my TBR list *smiles proudly*.
2. Discovered the leasing office closed at 5:30pm and that I really should have left earlier or skipped the bookstore (like that was going to happen).
3. Discovered the Pepper the Prius will indeed go over 100 mph (161 kph)*blink* and still get a fairly decent mpg averaging out at 41 mpg
4. As far as I have discovered there are no major highways that go through Bloomington.
5. The nice folks at the leasing office stayed open for me for an additional 15 minutes so was able to get keys.

THE END
1. Got lost trying to figure out where in the hell I'm living (apparently one should update their in-car GPS discs because if they are over 5 years old then its quite likely that some roads and places do not exist.)
2. Bought lots of bleach and bleached the hell out of the bathroom because I can stand any mold even if its in the caulk around the tub. Much happier now.
3. Discovered the whole foods grocery store and it's cheaper to eat organic in CA (go figure)
4. The aerobed worked great after figuring out how to keep it from deflating.
5. Movers will be here later today! Two whole days before the best estimated time of delivery!
6. Cable guy comes tomorrow so should have internet at home sometime tomorrow afternoon!
7. Already discovered a fairly decent used bookstore (The Book Rack) (across the street from B&N, sometimes getting lost has its perks).

Now off to buy some bathroom things and more groceries.

So the stats:
Distance: 2383 miles or 3835 km
Driving time (minus stops and detours): 35 hours
Books read: 2
Books acquired: 21

The BIG Drive: Part 3 and 4 and Award

Didn't have time to access internet yesterday and woke with twitchy,itchy fingers. I think I may have been experiencing internet withdrawal.

Part 3 Highlights:
1. Woke up really, really early because my friend had to go pick up someone in Jackson Hole, Wyoming at 10am to start is fishing vacation. (yeah I wasn't too impressed with his vacation plan either, guess I just don't like fishing that much). And lets face it I really didn't want the responsibility of locking up his house. With my luck I would locked myself out and then would have had to wait for his house sitter to show up so that I could get the rest of my things.
2. Was the longest leg trip at 551 miles (887 km).
3. Lots of hills again (in the mountains, go figure) so mileage was okay (still averaging around 44 gpm)
4. Got to relative's house in the early afternoon. There was lots of visiting and gossiping then eating (wonderful meal with a great glass of wine) then more visiting and gossiping until it was past bedtime. Since was up really really early (before that big bright thing in the sky was even remotely visible).

Part 4 Highlights:
1. Had nice breakfast and was off at 8-ish (that bright thing was up and about)
2. Once out of the mountains it was very, very flat and quite boring. But not nearly as boring as the salt flats.
3. Not much in eastern CO or western KS. Corn and other growing stuff and some hay rolls and bales.
4. The Pruis does not like flat roads with no starting and stopping. Currently getting 42 gpm now.

Now only have one more night before hitting my new hometown. Completed 1725 miles of 2383. Hopefully there will be internet at my next stop but not counting on it. Stay with some more relatives so mostly will stay up yakking again and waking with those dang twitchy, icky finger.

Award *blush*: JennJ of Sapphire Romance Realm gave me a Lemonade Award!

The BIG Drive: Part 2 and an Award

I have official completed leg 2 of 6. Leg high-lights:

1. The Great Utah salt flats are really boring. Miles and miles of nothing but white stuff (that apparently is not snow *g*) on the ground. And really, really flat.
2. Averaging 44.4 MPG today. Lots of going up into a higher elevation.
3. There is supposedly a giant used bookstore in Salt Lake City. My friend gave me the choice of going to a high school football game or the bookstore. One guess which one I chose? Because everyone knows how much I loathe love football especially that stuff kids play.

And while I wasn't looking the lovely Leontine gave me an award.



"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all. "

My nominations go to:
KB of Babbling About Books
Donna of Fantasy Dreamer's Ramblings
Lusty Reader
My Favourite Books
Orannia of Walkabout (although I think she already got this award)

The BIG Drive: Part 1

On my way out of CA I stopped at my local new & used bookstore (Bounty Books) and said a fond farewell to Darlene and Cindy. Of course I also walked out with eight books. ^_^

I have official completed leg 1 of 6. Leg high-lights:

1. The Sierra Nevada mountains are pretty. Lots of deep blue lakes and green evergreens.
2. Nevada is really boring to drive in. And they are doing so much road construction and have so many speed limit changes cruise control is almost useless.
3. Averaging 47.4 MPG (7.78 km/liter)
4. According to a billboard I saw, I've stop in the place that is "Half Way to Everywhere" Nevada. I'm thinking that its just another way of saying middle of nowhere. But that would describe most of Nevada.

And thanks for all the support. Moving to a new place won't be so hard with all of you out there. If I get lonely I know that all I have to do is go online and be instantly surrounded by my pals.

The BIG Drive

The car is all packed with all the necessities (books, some clothes, books, lotion collection, books, some munchies, books, computer, and books). My pretty little Prius has never been more than 380 miles (612 km for you metric folks) from where it was bought. And after nearly 5 years it only has 37,000 miles on it. So it a big adventure for the car as well!

Tomorrow I will be leaving my beloved Bay Area to drive almost all the way across the country to my new home in Indiana (2300 miles/ 3700 km).

And as my friend put it, I am going to be living in the middle of nowhere. *sigh*

Having never lived away from the Pacific Ocean I have no way of judging how close to the truth that is. I will be moving to a college town so it can't be that bad (crosses fingers) and I am within driving distance of Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinati which all have large airports with flights to "everywhere" (again previously mentioned friend).

So I'm off to start my new adventure starting tomorrow and who know what will happened. Hopefully only good things! *crosses fingers*

It's off to the RWA Conference!!!

Yay! I decided I needed a break from my "real" world and go off and play. Perhaps look at a career change. Who knows maybe there's writer in me waiting to be set free. Or maybe there's story floating around in my head wanting to take form. Who knows.

Anyway... thanks to those lovely folks with JetBlue and SuperShuttle, I will arrive at the Marriott very very very early Wednesday morning. Will have to find folks to hang out with while I wait for check in time and for my RWA roomie (Mho Fho) to magically appear (KB says that she'll bring him IF he behaves). Then its fun fun fun and learning learning learning and books books books until I drop from exhaustion.

Fourth of July

Everyone in the US was so happy to have me come to the country they celebrate it every year with fireworks, parades and special picnics (never mind that whole independence day thing). Golly! *blush*

You know as a thank you I think everyone should take a day off work with pay (thankfully I have a lot of support from businesses)!!! *g*

Happy Fourth everyone! Go forth and gorge on all that lovely barbeque, watermelon and ice cream! Then sit back and watch those lovely fireworks.



Eeerrrr.... Note to self. Really must start Broken Wing *looks around nervously* Have less than 26 days to finish.

Where Was I????

I've been a very bad blogger. *sigh*

Been spending my time looking for work and trying to keep calm about the finances so I've been doing a lot of reading (the best escape there is!) and trying very hard not to be depressed about the whole jobless and no money thing. I figure it can only go up from here.

Anyone have any great ideas about finding work? At this point I need to get some influx of cash so am pretty much willing to do anything (well... probably not asking "doing you want fries with that?")

Still on non-voluntary vacation and now going on to month number 6! Ugh! But on the bright side, I have two phone interviews tomorrow. So let's keep those fingers crossed (and eyes and toes and whatevers). I'm hoping to then be able to move on to the next step... the face-to-face interview and have employment by the end of July! Wish me tons of luck.

Anyone have any ideas on how to increase luck? I've fung shei'ed my home, and my friend gave me a good luck candle to burn and some lucky money to place in my wealth corner. I think the more the merrier (and likely to work better)!

Which Character Are You?

So I've been in hiding again for the last couple of days (and experiencing technical difficulties... reading too much is that right?). Anyway... I was wondering around all my usual spots and lookie what I found at Lisabea's (Nose in a Book)! So of course I had to do it and here is my Star Trek character:

Your results:
You are Jean-Luc Picard

Jean-Luc Picard 95% Spock 64% Data 62% Beverly Crusher 60% Geordi LaForge 55% Will Riker 55% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 45% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 45% Chekov 40% Worf 40% Deanna Troi 40% James T. Kirk (Captain) 35% Mr. Scott 30% Mr. Sulu 20% Uhura 15%

A lover of Shakespeare and other fine literature. You have a decisive mind and a firm hand in dealing with others.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

HA! I knew I was captain material (just not that overly dramatic one!) . Not digging that I'm 45% Expendable. I am SO not fodder!

Who are you?

Its My Birthday

It's my birthday!!!

Oh Happy Birthday to ME
Happy Birthday to ME
Happy Birthday dear ME
Happy Birthday to ME!

I am now celebrating my... uh... Twenty-fifth (yup that's right!) Anniversary of my birthday!!! Here's to blowing out the candles and wishing for some luck.

Blogversary!!!

It's my first Blogversary!

It all started last year due to the Desert Island Keepers heroes draft which led to the founding of the Heroes Liberation Organization. The HLO is now a part of DIK (we have our own little corner of the DIK island) and all is well in the land of heroes.

For me, it's been a strange year spotted with work and many months of non-volutary vacation. Here's to hoping for a better personal year!

AARRGGHHH!

Okay this week totally sucks and I can't wait for it to be over. So the week (so far anyway) from hell in review:

Sunday: Migraine!

Monday: Flat tire, and didn't get into work and had to spend the day at COSTCO! No internet access to be found in the the total of six life sucking hours.

Tuesday: Flat tire! Again! Same tire! And yet again didn't make it to work, and now have intimate knowledge of COSTCO (more than any sane non-employee should have). And again another wasted day with no internet in sight.

Wednesday: Completely forgettable.

Thursday: Yelled at by employer for not making it into work Monday and Tuesday. Why did they tell me they were "OK" with me not coming in on Monday and Tuesday if they were just going to yell at me for not coming in? And didn't get to the Farmer's market so now have to eat icky store bought fruit for the next week.

Friday: It can only go up.

Saturday: The impeding doom of the parental visit. My mother can spot dust at 500 yards! Have no idea how she does it but then she can also spot the nearest mall and bathroom (two very important skills) so I guess the dust thing had to be balanced out somehow.

Okay... happy thoughts...
1.) Got books in the mail! (thanks sarai)
2.) Only one more morning before the weekend!
3.) Got paid!
4.) Home has been de-furred and cleaned due to the impeding parental visit.

Algebra Required?

As I was driving to work, I was listening to NPR, as usual, I discovered that our 'beloved' govenator (CA Gov. Arnold) has decided that all eighth graders should be require start taking algebra.

Now being a part of the whole 'nerd squad' and all, math was easy for me, but I remember my sister literally crying through algebra. I'm not sure that it would make students more prepared for life. Who's used algebra in everyday life? I think we'd be better off bring arts back to schools.

Your thoughts?

Have You Read...

This looked like a cool idea... Uh... copied from Christine who go the idea from Kristie(j) who got the idea from Naida...

So here's the list of the 100 most popular books per LibraryThing.

Green = Read
Blue = TBR
Red = Wishlist

1. Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone by J.K. Rowling (32,484)
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) by J.K. Rowling (29,939)
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) by J.K. Rowling (28,728)
4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) by J.K. Rowling (27,926)
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) by J.K. Rowling (27,643)
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) by J.K. Rowling (27,641)
7. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (23,266)
8. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (21,325)
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) by J.K. Rowling (20,485)
10. 1984 by George Orwell (19,735)
11. Pride and Prejudice (Bantam Classics) by Jane Austen (19,583)
12. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (19,082)
13. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (17,586)
14. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (16,210)
15. The lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (15,483)
16. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (14,566)
17. Jane Eyre (Penguin Classics) by Charlotte Bronte (14,449)
18. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (13,946)
19. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (13,272)
20. Animal Farm by George Orwell (13,091)
21. Angels & demons by Dan Brown (13,089)
22. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (13,005)
23. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (12,777)
24. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Oprah's Book Club) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (12,634)
25. The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, Part 1) by J.R.R. Tolkien (12,276)
26. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (12,147)
27. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (11,976)
28. The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Part 2) by J.R.R. Tolkien (11,512)
29. The Odyssey by Homer (11,483)
30. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (11,392)
31. Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut (11,360)
32. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (11,257)
33. The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, Part 3) by J.R.R. Tolkien (11,082)
34. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (10,979)
35. American Gods: A Novel by Neil Gaiman (10,823)
36. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (10,603)
37. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (10,537)
38. Lord of the Flies by William Golding (10,435)
39. The Lovely Bones: a novel by Alice Sebold (10,125)
40. Ender's Game (Ender, Book 1) by Orson Scott Card (10,092)
41. The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1) by Philip Pullman (9,827)
42. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman (9,745)
43. Dune by Frank Herbert (9,671)
44. Emma by Jane Austen (9,610)
45. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (9,598)
46. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Bantam Classics) by Mark Twain (9,593)
47. Anna Karenina (Oprah's Book Club) by Leo Tolstoy (9,433)
48. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (9,413)
49. Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides (9,343)
50. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (9,336)
51. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (9,274)
52. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (9,246)
53. The Iliad by Homer (9,153)
54. The Stranger by Albert Camus (9,084)
55. Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics) by Jane Austen (9,080)
56. Great Expectations (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens (9,027)
57. The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel by Margaret Atwood (8,960)
58. On the Road by Jack Kerouac (8,904)
59. Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt (8,813)
60. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery - (8,764)
61. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (8,421)
62. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (8,417)
63. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (8,368)
64. The Grapes of Wrath (Centennial Edition) by John Steinbeck (8,255)
65. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (8,214)
66. The Name of the Rose: including Postscript to the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (8,191)
67. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (8,169)
68. Moby Dick by Herman Melville (8,129)
69. The complete works by William Shakespeare (8,096)
[The complete works? Uh... Hamlet, Orthello, MacBeth, King Richard III, Much ToDo About Nothing, Julius Cesar, Romeo & Juliet, MidSummer Nights Dream, Henry V and I did see the Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abbreviated by the Abbreviated Shakespeare Company - that counts right?]
70. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (7,843)
71. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (7,834)
72. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (7,829)
73. Hamlet (Folger Shakespeare Library) by William Shakespeare (7,808)
74. Of Mice and Men (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) by John Steinbeck (7,807)
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens (7,793)
76. The Alchemist (Plus) by Paulo Coelho (7,710)
77. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (7,648)
78. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics) by Oscar Wilde (7,598)
79. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by William Strunk (7,569)
80. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (7,557)
81. The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book 2) by Philip Pullman (7,534)
82. Atonement: A Novel by Ian McEwan (7,530) TBR Pile
83. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (7,512)
84. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (7,436)
85. Dracula by Bram Stoker (7,238)
86. Heart of Darkness (Dover Thrift Editions) by Joseph Conrad (7,153)
87. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (7,055)
88. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (7,052)
89. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (7,043)
90. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Penguin Classics) by James Joyce (6,933)
91. The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel (Perennial Classics) by Milan Kundera (6,901)
92. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (6,899)
93. Neuromancer by William Gibson (6,890)
94. The Canterbury Tales (Penguin Classics) by Geoffrey Chaucer (6,868)
95. Persuasion (Penguin Classics) by Jane Austen (6,862)
96. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (6,841)
97. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (6,794)
98. Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt (6,715)
99. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (6,708)
100. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (6,697)

Pretty good for an engineering science nerd: 58 read, 3 TBR and 5 wishlist. Though by default some of these are duplicates aka if you read the Chronicles of Narnia, you would have read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

I want to know why there is no Dr. Seuss, Rudyard Kipling or Stephen King!? No Scifi greats like Asimov or Heinlein either but Douglas Adams made it? Strange.

Back into the Groove of Thing

After taking a break from my migraine induced read-a-lon, and still pondering where Wednesday when, and returned to my usual life of enlightening (aka time wasting) activities.

First was the monthly trip to the used book store (Bay Books), where I happily acquired more books to add to the tittering TBR piles and ate some yummy Mediterrean food for dinner.

Then off to do my internet surfing, still increasingly puzzled as to where Wednesday went, and have discovered that PatRack continues to be the best for squadering the hours away until the next feeding (mine or kitty's). In between playing PatRack (since all the items you are looking for are no longer anywhere to be found), its off to Bloggia. At my first stop, I see a quiz to take. Here are my results:

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

HA! I always said I would be back to haunt people for whatever deed or misdeed they have done, this simply proves it.

Additionally, I am happy to inform EVERYONE.... This Aymless is now once more among the employed! Whee! Now I too can complain about how I never have anytime to do anything and how the boss sucks, and why we HAVE to get up on Mondays! Best of all NO MOM, I'M NOT MOVING BACK HOME!!!!

Is Friday the 13th an evil, unlucky day?

How it all started. During the aftermath of the First Crusade of 1096, in the middle ages, a group of knights founded the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, better known throughout history as the Knights Templar. It was originally founded to ensure the safety of European pilgrims to the Holy Land.

The original nine Knights Templar, led by Godfrey de Saint-Omer and Hugues de Payens, requested and were granted headquarters on the Temple Mount. Temple Mount is above what is believed to the remains of the Temple of Solomom. During their time there some believe the knights unearth a great treasure. This treasure is proposed to be the reason to their rapid rise of power in the Catholic Church. With the help of Bernard of Clairvaux, the Knights Templar were official sanctioned by the Catholic Church in 1129.

With the endorsement and blessings of the Catholic Church, the Knights Templar quickly rose in power and wealth, as well as prestige. The Knights Templar were granted additional power in 1139, when Pope Innocent II exempted the Knights Templar from obedience to local laws. This allowed the Knights Templar to move freely and exempt from taxes and all authority except that of the Pope.

As Muslim forces were beginning to win land and battles, the Knights Templar split into two Orders, the Knights Hospitaller and the Teutonic Knights. The Orders military mission became less important and support began to fade. When the Crusades were lost, the Order expanded their business ventures.

In 1305, the two Orders began to discuss recombining the original Knights Templar. This was not favored by then Pope Clement V and King Phillip IV of France, who at the time owed a great deal of money to the Knights. King Philip wanting to free himself from debt pressured the Church into taking action against the Knights.

On Friday, 13 October 1307, King Phillip ordered the arrest of the Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay and all other Templars in France. The Templars were charged with heresies and tortured to extract false confessions of blasphemy. Using these confessions King Phillip of France burned the Templars at the stake.

The horrors that followed the arrest made on Friday the 13 of October 1307 were so great, the unluckiness of the day is still remembered today. Although the exact date is rarely remembered, Friday the 13 still incite feelings of unrest and discomfort to some.

Is Friday the 13 unlucky? It is not unless you are a Knight of the Order of the Temple with an angry, vengeful king who owes you money after you.