Just Purchased.

Wanna talk about having a random mind? I just made good use of an Amazon.com gift certificate for the following items:

Alias, season 4. Having watched all 3 previous seasons, my watching of Alias last spring was a bit spotty. So I'm going to make up for it soon. And then I'll have to buy season 5 when it comes out, since I haven't watched any of it yet.

Life Together, by Deitrich Bonhoeffer. Recommended recently by a good friend who thought I'd enjoy it, I realized that I didn't own it yet when I went to take it off of my bookshelf. A Christian classic, I'm looking forward to reading it.

Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. I've always avoided Ayn Rand because as a general rule the people I've known who liked her were ... well, pretty obnoxious. I'm thinking specifically of a J.M. from high school, who also happened to harbor a special dislike for Christians. But, my interest has been renewed of late (and I figure I should at least be able to intelligently critique her); it's doubly peaked because of this comment on Amazon: "Atlas Shrugged is the 'second most influential book for Americans today' after the Bible, according to a joint survey conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club."