Know what's gross?

Gross was the other day when I was working out and got to the ab curl station. I used the machine right after a guy I was already annoyed with – annoyed because he kept jumping around from station to station not following a pattern, which more than once caused me to have to not follow a pattern. And I like following patterns. So anyway, I get to the ab curl machine. The guy before me did the regular front curl and then also curls turned 90 degrees in either direction (so his armpit was right on the curl bar thing...I know lots about the actual names of the things I'm trying to talk about here). That in itself didn't annoy me; I do the same thing. But this guy had some super bad B.O.! I got to the ab curl and got the bar adjusted to the height I wanted it to. Being a female, I find it more comfortable to have the bar a bit higher than others might, so the bar was very close to my nose, and all I could smell for the duration of my curls was nasty, nasty B.O. Sickenating! [photo illustration below; too bad you can't really see the expression on my "expertly" inserted face]

Where have I been?

Check out the first headline under "Top Stories."












I saw this yesterday on cnn.com and was all, "Whoa! What?! The Cold War is over?!?! Where have I been?!" Not really, of course. My reaction was more like, "Way to state the obvious..." Upon reading the story, the headline made sense, but it sure was funny out of context.

I'm a walking disaster

I just attempted to put a lid back on a pen (by holding the pen cap still and sliding the pen into it). I missed the lid and got my finger instead. I must have been very serious about putting this pen away because [*slightly graphic detail to follow] when I looked at the pen tip, there was a piece of skin hanging off of it. Gross.

P.S. I have also shut half of my fingers (not all on one hand) in a door or drawer today. Hard.

Dumb.

Yesterday I fell off my bike.

Holy matrimony!

It was a weekend of weddings. I went to both the wettest wedding I've been to and the shortest wedding I've been to (mutually exclusive). Both weddings were outside and with all of the rain we've been getting around here, I was curious to see whether they would actually occur outside.

We were convinced that Saturday's wedding would be at the church instead of outside since it had rained, but when we got to the church, there were no cars in the lot. Out at the farm, I was somewhat worried that my car would get stuck in the mud. I got a kick out of the pastor thanking God in a prayer for the break in the rain providing a window of opportunity for the wedding and then probably five minutes later, it was totally raining. Umbrellas went up throughout the crowd, which of course resulted in blocking some people's views. My dress was pretty wet and my program was pretty soggy before the pastor said he was going to ask us to do something pretty unusual -- to pick up our chairs and take them to the large tent set up about 50 yards away where the wedding would resume. The meal afterward was crazy delicious, and the "cake" was really cool; it was tiered tables of cupcakes.

Sunday's wedding fared better in terms of weather. It was late evening and very beautiful. And it was very down-to-business, lasting less than 15 minutes, I believe. One guest was a bit late and missed the whole thing! I loved the atmosphere in the reception tent because by that time it was pretty dark outside, and the tent was lit with paper lanterns. The dinner was really, really good (as were the beverages). I had so much fun at the reception with a group of friends from high school, including of course the conversation that could be titled, "Remember Mark Smith's girlfriends?" during which I (perhaps a little bit tipsy) blurted out, "Remember the one that looked just like him?"

Oh, plus, bonus! I got to get a [share of a] water buffalo in their name through Heifer International as a wedding gift! And I have had a years-long wish to gift someone with a water buffalo!

Is this something that only happens to women?

Have you ever tried to get the DMV to change the figure in the "Weight" category of your driver's license when you get it renewed? It's been four years since I last renewed mine and it's still good for a few years, but the times I have tried, the conversation has gone something like this:

Me: Can you change the weight?
DMV Lady: Oh, we don't really need to do that.
Me: Well, it's quite a bit different from what's on there.
DMV: How much different?
Me: 1** (which of course, is still not quite at what it should be, but it's getting closer)
DMV: Oh, well, that's not that much different (even though even my fake figure was a good 20-25 lbs more than what's listed). I'll just increase it to 1** (about 10 lbs more than what was listed).
Me: Ok...

I'm surprised I haven't been accused of having a fake I.D. based on weight alone since it's still listed as a number from sometime when I was in high school! Goal: Next time I get my license renewed, not even need to ask that the weight be changed. Halfway there already!

Up in smoke

I was just thinking it will be cool to watch my ticker at the right end up at zero. Except I'll probably miss it like the times I wanted to watch my odometer roll over to 100,000 or 30,000. What will happen when it hits zero? Will the ticker thing blow up into a little puff of smoke like when you remove an application from your Dock on a Mac? I love that little animation and sound. Sometimes I add an application just so I can remove it into a tiny explosion of smoke. Poof.

Change

Today I have new housemates. And while I'm so incredibly socially awkward around people I don't know, I'm excited about the change. Also, we will no longer be an all female household, which is a difference I think will be good.

Ha!

I just had a good chuckle with my co-workers. So I was checking out the NHS website and was thoroughly pleased to find they still offer Hobby Club as a club that meets during some specified period of the school day. Here's the description from the website:

Hobby Club is for those who wish to share their hobbies and promote them to other students. It is a time to share activities and interact with students who have similar hobby interests. Activities may include guest speakers, student presentations, and other gaming and hobby activities.

One year I and my three best friends joined Hobby Club. At least at that time, the way Hobby Club operated is that everyone in the club met in the same room, but you'd break into groups based on your respective "hobbies." My friends and I realized this would be an excellent way to get to spend time together at school basically doing nothing. We told the sponsors we collected stamps and named our sect of Hobby Club "Stamps 4 Life." The ruse was aided by the fact that I had in my younger years been a stamp saver (I wouldn't call myself a legitimate stamp collector since I didn't know anything about collecting stamps), so I would bring in my stamp books, and we'd have them open around us during club time, but we'd just talk the whole time. If a sponsor would come by, we'd tell them we had a good lead on a possible guest speaker. I had totally forgotten about S4L (as we called ourselves for short), and I am so glad I was reminded of it today.

Bonus!

A cd I bought over the weekend came packaged with what are, as far as I can tell, two identical cds. Sweet! Two for the price of one. Except it would be better if they weren't the same cd.

I haven't been hungry for Chinese food in a really long time.

"the break-up song"

The other morning on the radio they were having people call in with songs they hate to admit they love. One of the callers' was "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men, and the dj was like, "Oh! The break-up song!" which struck me as sort of funny because my memory of it is a get-together song. I know that doesn't make much sense given the lyrics, but I don't know that I ever heard/read the lyrics too closely, so... The song fits in my story as the last song played at my eighth grade rec (the party for 8th graders at the end of the school year). I think it was the only song I danced to all night, and as the song was ending, my date asked me if I wanted to go out with him. Aw. And that's the memory "End of the Road" always conjures for me.

The difference

The difference in response to the VT tragedy as opposed to the Nickel Mines tragedy interests me. First off, I will fully admit I am not comparing apples to apples when I talk about responses: The response to the Nickel Mines tragedy I'm talking about is what I got from mainstream media; the response to VT I'm talking about are informal responses (i.e., Facebook). So I know this comparison is flawed (I will note that searches for "Charles Roberts," "Charles Carl Roberts," or "Nickel Mines" result in few Facebook groups and only one that is profane; this is not surprising to me since I think the Facebook community would feel more connected to a tragedy at a college.). I remember how amazing, humbling, and peaceful it felt to go to cnn.com after the Nickel Mines tragedy and read as the top story headline, "'We forgive them.'" Has the response to VT in mainstream media been the opposite? No, it hasn't. But I am terribly saddened to see so many hate-filled Facebook groups in response to VT. Some examples:

• Cho Seung-Hui is pure evil
• Cho Seung Hui, if you had a myspace, Tom wouldnt be your friend.
• Cho Seung-Hui can go to hell
• Cho Seung-Hui never got laid!
• Cho Seung-Hui was efffed up yo!
• Cho Seung-Hui Is A Douchebag
• Cho Seung-Hui is a coward and will rot in hell!
• Cho Seung-Hui IS A pile of SHIT!!!
• Cho Seung-Hui is a fucking dumbass
• Cho Seung-Hui should not be buried in America
• Cho Seung-Hui is a pussy
• FUCK CHO SEUNG HUI [several variations of this one]
• If I Met Cho Seung-Hui I'd Mess His Life Up
• I HATE Cho Seung-Hui !
• I Hope Cho Seung-Hui Burns in Hell

And the list goes on. A search of his name results in 177 groups. Are there group names of compassion? Sure there are. Thank goodness. But it is still so sad, disappointing, scary to see so much hate. People are angry. I get that. Would I be able to respond with such immediate compassion like the Amish affected by Nickel Mines were a similar tragedy to happen to me? I couldn't guarantee it, but I know my response would not be like some of these groups. I would venture a guess that many of these groups' creators and members are not directly related to VT; I don't know. How will our world ever get better if we don't care for each other? If we don't care that so many people are hurting? That so many people need help? That includes people who commit terrible acts against others.

On a much lighter note, the last sentence of the following I've read in several articles about VT puzzles me:
A doctor at a Blacksburg hospital described the injuries he saw Monday as "amazing" and the shooter as "brutal." "There wasn't a shooting victim that didn't have less than three bullet wounds in them," said Dr. Joseph Cacioppo of Montgomery Regional Hospital.
Because wouldn't the sentence, "There wasn't a shooting victim that [who] had less [fewer] than three bullet wounds in them," (emphasis on the had, not my other comments) mean what he intends? So one would think that saying "didn't have less" would mean the opposite. And, yet, I don't think it does. This has been bugging me for days, and I keep thinking through it slowly in my head trying to work out where the double negative or something is to make it the opposite, but it seems that they do actually mean the same thing. But I welcome someone to prove me wrong because then all would again feel right in my grammar world.

One weight off my shoulders

Yay for getting my taxes done before April 14 this year. Well, not really – I still didn't get them done before April 14, but since tax returns aren't due until April 17 this year, it's like I got them done April 12. Good job, me. And, you know, almost done...I still have to mail in my signature page.

It was a good weekend. Friday's weather was crazy. Snow coming down. It almost foiled my attempt to get some good eatin' this weekend, but we were successful on Saturday, and I greatly enjoyed the best verenike and ham gravy ever and bohne berogi whatever that word is that I'm realizing I don't know how to spell and new year's cookies with glaze, not sugar (the best way). Mmm.

Also in the good weekend was the calling of our youth(?) associate(? I don't remember what the title is) pastor, which passed with 98.5% of the vote. Sweet. I'm really excited about it and really excited that the family will be in our congregation for at least the next three years. What a good addition.

Lunch time! And off to the post office.

What in the hell?

So I'm auditing this theology and pop culture class taught by a theology prof that meets in the science building, specifically on the physics wing. Any more disciplines want to jump on board? Anyway, today there was this odd burning smell that came about partway through class.

Someone said, "It's probably just a chemistry experiment gone wrong," to which the professor replied, "Now, why do you automatically assume it was a chemistry experiment gone wrong? How do you know it wasn't a theology experiment gone wrong? Trying to summons Satan or something?"

Funny stuff!

To the max!

I had a great weekend in Denver with my modmates. It mostly consisted of hanging out and eating. Always good times to get together with those girls.

Easter weather was pretty...off. It snowed here on Thursday, which was a rare opportunity to see blooms and buds with a pretty thick layer of snow. Weather for traveling was ok, though we did see a number of vehicles in ditches, including a couple of RVs. It snowed on each day in Denver, and I don't remember the sun being out. This caused the odd phenomenon of not seeing mountains while I was there because of the thick clouds.

I would like to say I hope I can avoid ever eating at Chipotle again. I was filling out my calories from the weekend, and, dang, the chicken fajita burrito (so not even any beans in it) is 1219 calories. WTF?? That sucks. Not to say I didn't enjoy it though... Other fun food experiences were the Ethiopian place we went to last time I was out there, which I enjoyed even more this time, Beaujou's Pizza, which was delicious, and Kaladi Brother's Coffee, which was quite tasty.

All in all, when thinking of what my weekend was and was not, I'd say it was to the max, but it was not stranger drugs.

First, second, third

First of all, shout out to local businesses! I went to one yesterday, and the guy gave me a $3 discount for no apparent reason. This in and of itself would be sweet, but factor in that it was $3 off an $8 purchase and wow. At a 40% discount, I should have spent more money!

Second, a chalkboard in our office proclaims, "This has been a bird-free work zone for 3 days." We have had a high population of fowl in our office this spring. It's always really sad because we have a lot of windows in the office, so the birds run into them a lot trying to get out. If only they would try a little lower where there's actually an exit to the great outdoors through the windows we open for them. I bring this up now because of Monday's incident. Due to my eternal non-promptness to work, I actually missed out on the excitement, but it's still an interesting story. So my co-worker gets in and sees one of the large plants in the room broken on the floor. Then she sees it: the dead bird on the floor. Gross! And poor little guy. There was also a lot of bird poo around the windows. Dude must have been stuck in here for a long time over the weekend trying to get out.

Third, I'm going to Denver tomorrow, and I'm super excited about it. I only wish it weren't so short a visit. Oh life with all its silly responsibilities and all. Work, psh.

Sure, it's common sense for most people

But others may not yet know of the precautions one must take with one's grillz (open image in new tab and see "Cautions" at end). The only Care Instruction I have violated it #7.

When I grow up

I just spent a little bit of time reading online profiles of cats at the San Francisco SPCA, and I decided that what I want to do when I grow up is adopt cats. I love them! Except I don't want to be the weird cat lady, and I don't think there's much money to be made in adopting cats, but except for those minor details...tails, heh heh

Jesus is coming – duck!

Earlier this week we watched Johnny English, and one of the extra features is "Observation Test" that shows you a short clip of the movie and then gives you multiple choice answers, and if you get them right, you automatically earn your license to kill or something equally cool. My title is one of the choices given to the question of what some character had tramp-stamped on him (the real answer was "Jesus is coming – look busy"), and I distinctly remember finding the "duck!" answer quite hilarious. But I suppose that could have been the gin and tonic talking laughing.

Saturday marked the 2nd annual "Screwed out of green beer on St. Patrick's day." When, oh when will it ever become a reality? I just know that green Coor's light tastes infinitely better than boring old beer-colored Coor's light – why must I be deprived of this succulent beverage? Haha.

This week I did something I hadn't done in a very long time – spent the entire evening from when I got home at 6:30 until 11 reading for pleasure. I finally finished a novel (another thing I hadn't done in a while). I know it was good because it made me cry (not the only criterion for a novel being good, but if it's there, it usually is). And it was one of my favorite kinds of cries – the one that you're doing while thinking both, "This is so sad and also so beautiful."

The story of my first memory of crying over a book: In fifth grade we read Where the Red Fern Grows. During one of our in-class reading days, I unfortunately reached the last section. It was so sad! I cried and cried. Trying to shield my face from the rest of the class by putting my head down and the book up only resulted in getting my desk all wet. How humiliating! Of course fellow fifth graders had absolutely no qualms about pointing out my crying and laughing about it. Next time I'll have to relay the story of what stands out as my worst public cry experience.

This commercial's song has my favorite lyrics ever

My boss gave me this mug today. So awesome.

When I was home for lunch

[I'm in the kitchen and hear a knock at the door. I wasn't expecting anyone, we rarely get drop-ins, and one of my housemates was home, so I figure it's for her and ignore it. Then the doorbell rings. I wait, assuming the housemate will get it. She doesn't. So I go over and open the door to someone I've never seen before.]

Me: Hi.
Her: Hi.
Me: [blank stare]
Her: I'm here for a massage.
Me: [The blank stare comes back for a bit while my mind races, trying to come up with an appropriate response.]
Her: Am I at the wrong house?

Luckily at about the same time, I think of the woman down the street who gives massages and direct her there. But I sort of wish I would have invited her in and had her lie down on the couch in the living room. Or maybe the broken futon in the back room. I wonder how long it would have taken her to realize I wasn't a licensed massage person. Or if I could have made some money off of her.

New personal best

Time: 1 hour
Strides: 9300
Miles: 6.5
Calories: 770

That's like 2000 strides more that my previous personal best. And the nicest part was that that last 30 minutes went by like nothing. Just watch, now tonight or Saturday will probably be hell. Why is that?

In my possession

Because, what else were you going to do on Sunday?

Not sure what would tie this all together

Some days I think I could be an exercise nut. You know, one of those people who runs like daily. And enjoys it. Like yesterday I felt this way – I ran* for 50 minutes straight and felt like I could have kept going. But I wanted to make sure I could get in my 15 minutes of stairs and have time to stretch afterward, so I quit. (*and when I talk about "running," I'm talking about on the elliptical; I'm not so good yet(?) at the pure running) But I haven't forgotten those other days that are not so good. Like last Saturday. My personal experience is that it takes me a little while to enjoy running – like usually about 15 minutes. Those first 15 minutes are sort of painful and I want to quit, but I just force myself to keep going. Last night it was only 10 minutes. But last Saturday, ugh, last Saturday was 35 minutes. And that really sucked. Great! I got to enjoy the last 10 minutes! Woo hoo! I'm glad the vast majority of times are not like that; I'd probably give up all together.

Random stats from my workout last night: 3 out of 4 cars of the people who shut the place down last night were new model (2003 or newer) Toyota Corollas; 3 out of 5 people who shut the place down last night were BC grads.

What else of interest from life recently... Last Friday I went to a pool hall with one of my friends. When I think pool hall, I think smoky/hazy, dim/dingy, but this place was well lit and not too loud and didn't seem that smoky (though the clothes I wore that night beg to differ...even six days later). It was fun except that I'm incredibly poor at pool, so playing in a crowded place devoted to the sport was quite embarrassing at times. But it was fun. And I even got hit on. Evening=success! Haha.

When I was leaving, it was time for songs that evoke memories. The first song that came on the radio was Kokomo, which always reminds me of this friend who I had been with that night since it's in the movie Cocktail, and we watched that a lot in middle school (she loved Tom Cruise). The next song that came on was Rock the Boat – that wonderful song that Travis the Trout sang. Can I just say I can't wait for Easter to get here?! Then there was song disappointment: My most hated song currently is Lips of an Angel. I can not stand it. And what came on the radio? A country version of the song. Gag.

Last night I watched a movie that totally reminded me of a movie the mod would watch. Not only was it a stalker movie, it was a stalker movie with Shannen Doherty.

And the logic here is...?

"When you're a war hero [like McCain], you have less to prove on the character front."
–Richard Land, head of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention

From our launch party last Thursday

I even broke my six-months-of-no-dessert-or-candy challenge and had a piece because, hello?!, it's a cake with an effen picture of the website on it! Plus, I justified it this way: Let's say I didn't drink alcohol on principle but my church used wine for communion; I'd drink it then, right? Right?

Bluffton bus accident

Le Sigh

I easily worked over 60 hours this week. Easily, not as in it was easy for me to do, but as in I have no doubt that it was over 60 hours except I didn't keep track exactly. Hm. If I'm doing that, shouldn't I be making three times what I am now? And have a J.D. after my name? Alack, alas. But the end is in sight! Thank goodness, because I can't take another day of working until 2 a.m. like last night, er, this morning. Must. Sleep.

Dream

Last night I had a dream that one of my college professors started playing in the NFL, which apparently had been a life-long dream of his (in my dream, not in real life...well, as far as I know anyway). Who knew?! I must have been living or working in California or something, and his NFL team was in Colorado, but it wasn't the Broncos because their jerseys were black and silver. Well, in one game he ruptured something huge on/in his leg (yes, I'm being very scientific here), and the injury was life-threatening. For some reason Brian's boss flew him out to Colorado to go check on former professor. Brian emailed his boss about his condition, and when I tried to read it, the boss said I couldn't because if it were intended for me, Brian would have said so. So of course at this point I was incredibly worried about former professor. Then there was this mass pilgrimage of BC grads to Colorado to show support for former professor...in the form of a parade. It was all very touching. The last thing I remember before waking up was that I was attending some huge concert at the football stadium with lots of Hip Hop/Rap artists that Brian was loath to attend with me, so I don't know what ever happened to former professor. Apparently I had more important things to do.

First date

Fifteen years ago, I went on my first date. I don't remember exactly which day of the month it was, but it was for Valentine's Day, so it was sometime around now. I had just started "going out" with the guy about a week before Valentine's, so of course we wanted to do something for the special day. We decided we were either going to go to a movie or go roller skating with another couple. I preferred the movie option, and that's what we ended up deciding on. I remember being so nervous to ask my parents whether I could go, and I kept putting it off. Our desks were in the same module of four in fifth grade, so he would ask me every day if I'd found out yet if I could go, and for several days I had to report that I'd "forgotten to ask." After a few days of that response, he finally wrote me a little reminder on a scrap of notebook paper that read: "Ask About Movie." I'm pretty sure I still have that note tucked away in an old diary somewhere...and I think that old diary includes doodles of his name with hearts around it and such...yeah, it's a real piece of work. I finally did get up the courage to ask my parents, and by their response it seemed like no big deal, so I guess I shouldn't have been so worried. The next big worry was a Valentine's gift. I don't know why, but I ended up buying one of those large Hershey's bars. Another excerpt from my diary I think reads something like, "I hope he doesn't think I'm cheap!" Haha. On the big night, they dropped me off at the theater, and I met my boyfriend there, and he brought a friend! Too funny! We exchanged our gifts in the back of the theater before the movie. He'd gotten me little heart-shaped, gold-colored earrings. And I'm not sure he was too impressed with his large candy bar. (Oh well, I made up for it by the time his birthday came around with a KU t-shirt. His birthday was about two weeks before mine, and sometime in those two weeks, he broke up with me, so overall, he came out much better on the gifts—sort of a recurring theme with a couple of boyfriends I've had...) Then it was time for the movie—Hook—and we sat in one of the side sections, and his friend (who I will always remember as the boy who had the coolest sparkly silver retainer) sat right behind us. And I can honestly say that I had the yawn move used on me during that movie. I love that.

They wanted us to get the scarlet fever!

This is a sentence spoken to me by my grandma yesterday when I visited my grandparents to deliver some Valentine's candy and flowers. Grandma has a lot of stories, and one of the ones she told me yesterday went something like this:

When we [she and her sisters] were younger, we always made our own valentines. Norma, she could draw real well. We made these valentines where we cut out a little door and put tin foil behind there, so it would look like there was light in the windows. One year, our neighbors all had the scarlet fever. And if you had the scarlet fever, you weren't supposed to send mail, and you had to have your house fumigated. Well, I guess those boys were mad at us that we didn't have the scarlet fever and we got to celebrate Valentine's, and they sent us Valentines in the mail! Now why would they do that?! They wanted us to get the scarlet fever! Well, we put those Valentines real quick in the oven and burned them up. We didn't want to get the scarlet fever!

I know "the scarlet fever" is no laughing matter, but I was trying so hard not to let a huge smile overtake my face. "They wanted us to get the scarlet fever!"

Paragraphs beginning with "This"

This is pretty cool-lookin'.

This weekend I saw and excellent movie: Flags of Our Fathers. Like a review I read, you can't help but make the mental connection between the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima and the now infamous "Mission Accomplished." I had no idea of the story surrounding that famous flag-raising picture. Incredibly interesting and a great movie. Now I really want to see Letters from Iwo Jima.

This past Saturday I tried my first sushi with actual raw fish. We tried the salmon. I thought it was really quite tasty and didn't feel at all grossed out about it. I'm anxious to go back to this place and try more kinds. Plus, they have plum wine, which I think goes really well with sushi.

This was Super Bowl weekend. I didn't know who won until I got to work this morning and looked at CNN. In lieu of watching "the big game," I watched various tv shows I had taped last week and read from Rethinking Christ and Culture, which is a text for my class and which I found myself mostly agreeing with. Also yesterday we had another successful young adult potluck; I made barbecued pulled pork sandwiches.

This was not a good weekend for my uncle in terms of college basketball. He's a WSU fan and a KU fan. On Saturday he went to the WSU game in the afternoon, and they lost, and then he drove to Lawrence to watch the KU game in the evening, and they lost too. That reminds me I failed to mention a few weeks ago that he gave us his tickets for a WSU game he couldn't make it to, and my dad and I went; that was a lot of fun. And they won that game.

This is feeling really boring to begin every paragraph with "This," (though I'm not so naive as to think that's what's making this post boring...) so I think I will call it quits.

I guess somebody's gotta do it

Well, last night I got to see BC MBB break a losing streak...a 45-game losing streak...of the other team. Oops. That team hadn't won a game since the first game of last season.

Nervous as a little schoolgirl

So I'm taking (auditing) a class. It begins today, and I'm really scared about it. I think mostly because I'm afraid it will feel really awkward and also because I'm not entirely (at all) sure about what expectations are / how much I should participate and such. Well, wish me luck. T-15 minutes!

Congratulations, universe, you win

The title is really no reflection of life at the moment, but it was my favorite Office quote from the last new episode.

What this post is really about: all of the weird weird movies I've seen recently.

1. Stay Tuned was quite the gem with John Ritter and David Tom. The day I watched it, I thought to myself, "This is the weirdest movie I've ever seen." Luckily, the week wasn't over yet. The best part of this movie was when Three's Company made an appearance. At that point, I laughed out loud. Plus, Salt-N-Pepa is in it.







2. Copper Mountain is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The plot was basically non-existent, and the bulk of the movie were concert scenes of Rockin' Ronnie Hawkins.











3. 
Like I said, the week wasn't over yet. Which brings me to Super Sucker. I can't think of a weirder movie I've seen. So weird. I don't even want to explain it. If you want to know of its weirdness, you'll just have to see it for yourself. One user on imdb remarks, "Its [sic] like 'Leave it to Beaver' meets a soft porn movie."

Conclusion? Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in these movies by themselves, terrible. But put them together in Dumb and Dumber? Pure awesome.

Currently, I'm in the middle of Wise Guys. Now this is a classy movie. It really is pretty entertaining though. Can you really go wrong with Joe Piscopo? No way. The answer is, No Way.

How very Brecht-ian/Verfremdungseffekt-ian

The use of the flute, that is.

2 eProps to Maine

Maine rejects Real ID Act

The coolest snow thing ever. Ever.

Hold out until the end of my post to see the best snow thing ever.

So it snowed this weekend. No, really, as in snow on the ground. For days even. Not just the, "I think those might be snow flurries, but I don't know, it's hard to tell, it might just be rain." I was pretty sure we wouldn't really get a good snow this year, and I was ok with that, but I was wrong, and it turns out that I'm glad I was; I've really enjoyed having the snow.

Except for not getting to go to an out of town showing of An Inconvenient Truth. Oh well, better to have been safe and not venture out on the roads. Church was canceled on Sunday, but Nate and Esther had some neighborhood people over in the morning, so we went over there for some hymn singing and what not. Later in the day we went out in search of wabbits. To our surprise, only one was spotted. Mmm, also B made up some snow ice cream that was tasty-tasty.

And now...for the best snow thing ever! This was the start to my work day. How cool!

After months of reluctance,

I finally made the switch to new Blogger. My resistance to change shows. :)

Already the 17th day of the month?

So New Year's came and went. The par-tay we were going to go to got canceled the morning of due to hostess illness, so we all hung out as a family, which was fun, and learned the "wildly popular" catch phrase "at loggerheads."

Not a whole lot interesting has been going on. Work is very busy with a huge project that needs to be finished by the end of February. Scratch that, make it two huge projects to finish by the end of Feb.

Last weekend the fam went to a new restaurant in town. After dinner we checked out the lounge—who could pass up dollar draws and 25 cent pool? So dad bought us all a round of cold ones, and we played a few games. Not what I might have guessed my Friday night would be like, but sometimes those are the best ones.

It's been really cold here. The office is finally starting to be warm. On Monday I almost brought my coveralls to work to wear for the afternoon, but I decided to stick it out in a fleece jacket and gloves. Brrr. I think it will start warming tomorrow though.

I miss my brother b/c he had to go back to school. In his honor I used a Christmas gift from him last night and made a Dr. Pepper chicken. Pert tasty.

No 'mas, no more

As in, no Christmas, no more. 'Tis over. Oh wait, I have one more gathering this weekend, so I guess it's not quite over. Christmas weekend was very good. Incredibly busy and I'm incredibly tired still from late nights (ranging from 1:30-4 a.m.) basically every night for six nights with only one sleep-in morning. This old gal just can't take it anymore. It was a good time for seeing friends I don't get to see very often and lots of family too. Santa was generous too, and I am now well supplied with (among other things) The Office, Animaniacs (vol. 2), a chicken cooker thing that is both a good companion to my new meat thermometer and a beautiful stoneware, a dove bucket, and some new Palm games, written for me.

This week at the office has been fairly boring because I see almost no one all day; it's so empty here. Mostly I'm just trying to stay unfrozen enough for my fingers to work. Tuesday and yesterday it was so cold in here, so today I just gave up and wore a hooded sweatshirt. I figure it's not like anyone's going to see me anyway...

Happy New Year!

//edit
This is the state in which I've been spending most of my day—the face/neck warmer sweatshirt and the space heater at my back combo. I tell you, it is cold in here. B's trying to get me to instate a "Bring Your Cat to Work" day. It would be sort of nice to have a little warm cat body on my lap, but there are too many plants and nooks and crannies and probably other things that could go wrong, so I think I'll leave little Nibbert out of it.

Overheard in the North Newton post office

The conversation of two elderly women behind me:

#1: Let’s see, I need to choose my stamps, but which ones do they have?
#2: It looks like they have snowflakes and virgins.

Ah, yes, the old popular series of stamps: virgins!

Some funny signs around town

This one was actually just taken down. Now it says, "If your not first your last. Ricky Bobby." Love the grammar on that one.















Ok, even despite the missing "B," this is just weird. Is this something parents actually want their kids to get excited about? Think about it: If the sign read "Come swim with a half-naked old dude," would you really want to take your 5-year-old?

The recent sign I'm most disappointed about not documenting was a genuine winner from Long John Silver's. It was at the time that McDonald's (how do you make an already-possessive name possessive??) advertising was centered around the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie and had signs up like, "Arrrrr, Pirates be ye here" and such. LJS is located across the street from McDonald's here and totally won the advertising war by putting up a marquee advertising simply, "Real Pirates Eat Here." Hilarious.

I bought a meat thermometer!

I cooked my first whole bird last night (well, once I crockpotted a pheasant; I didn't use a meat thermometer, but I probably should have). Is it strange to view this as some sort of life milestone? I made one of those beer butt chicken things, and it was tasty. I should perhaps get one of those stand things for the future. The little guy stood up for quite a while, but I guess he got a little tired after an hour and 45 minutes. I'm just glad not enough of him was hanging over the edge of the dish to start a grease fire or something. Especially since I left it unattended for a while to go do some Amnesty International holiday card action.

Life in the recent past has been sweet. This past extended weekend was spent in Colorado visiting Tine and skiing at Loveland. It was much fun. An interesting and yummy highlight was eating at Abyssinia, an Ethiopian restaurant (my first time to eat Ethiopian). Even though we were told that some of the things "you cannot eat!" I'd say we still had very delicious fitfit.

This weekend begins family Christmas get-togethers for me, and I am indeed looking forward to that.

Brrrrrrr

Yesterday when it was snowing, snow came into my office on either side of my window air conditioner. I noticed it at about 10:30 a.m. The picture below was taken at 4 p.m. One would think that snow inside should melt, but it didn't all day. Also please notice the proximity of the snow to the heat register, which was definitely operational. So much cold air was coming in around the air conditioner that it kept the snow despite the heat rising from the register. After 2 1/2 years, I finally got tired enough of this cold air on my back that I rotated my desk away from the windows.

Bob Saget overload!

You wouldn't think it would be possible in 2006 to have so much Bob Saget, but the other night I sure did: He first popped up on Law & Order: SVU and then was on Jay Leno right after I finished watching my tape of L & O (at least he didn't get arrested after the Tonight Show!

Thanksgiving was wonderful, just too short. I had been looking forward to Thanksgiving since August because it's the first break from work after Independence Day. And now it's all done. At least it's not too long until Christmas. And actually, we're planning to head to Colorado for a couple of days next week, so that will be another nice break.

I had an annual check-up at the optometrist earlier this week and told him of some increased problems I've been having with my vision. The solution? TWO different sets of glasses. Woo-hoo! I've just been waiting for the chance to drop $300 on eyewear. And the strange thing about it is that my vision tests in at 20/20... I think my brother had the best idea of all though: Get one of the devices the optometrist uses to determine your prescription and wear it around—then the possibilities are endless. I still have to chuckle when I think of that one. I like to imagine asking my optometrist about that possibility with a straight face.

This weekend will be a quiet one with not much going on. It will probably be a lazy one for me (since that's so much different from every other weekend...) because it's cold and snowy, and I like to hunker down under my covers when it's cold and snowy. But maybe I'll venture out for some Christmas shopping and to a Christmas vespers thing. Perhaps tomorrow evening I should continue my Bob Saget theme and watch 1 vs. 100, which I've never watched before. I recommend looking up Bob Saget on YouTube and watching the video of him rapping and also the video of him singing, "Danny Tanner is not gay." And always remember, "Bob Saget is a Dirty Bird."

Yum, Thanksgiving!

So this book almost made me cry in Border's on Saturday. It's a winner. Plus, local author and illustrator!

Well, it's starting to feel like "the holiday season," if you will. And I am very excited. We got things kicked off yesterday with a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt's house. I will continue on Wednesday and Thursday evenings with two more Thanksgiving dinners. Wonderful.

And in the true spirit of Christmas, I wish I could afford the Nintendo Wii...for myself. **cough, cough** Well? It sounds like so much fun. Maybe later.

Bethel VB and FB did not end up winning in their post-season play. However, if you haven't, you should check out the new athletics website, launched back in September, I believe. Love the drop-down menus.

One of my favorite uncles is down from Alaska, yay! He's coming to have supper and hang out tonight with us, and I am oh-so-excited. I'm really liking this yearly visit thing, although this second annual visit might be the last in the annual visit series since he's been coming for my cousin's hockey tournaments, and my cousin is a senior now. Hm. I don't want to go another ten or so years again until I see him.

I just wrapped up a huge project at work, so that feels great.

Well, in the words of a student-announce from Emily Kerbs today: Happy Tofurky day

Just an update

Afternoon, fair readers.

The last few weeks have been fun and busy. Work is really busy, and I feel like I'm not getting things done as quickly as I should be. It's also the busiest time of year for the church committee I'm on, so we've been having pretty regular meetings for that, lasting 2.5 hours each, which more or less eats up a whole evening.

Earlier this week, Brian and I met Emily (the friend I recently reconnected with) for supper, dessert, and a performance by Trevor Stewart. That was fun; although Emily and I have been hanging out about once a week, this was the first time she and Brian spent time together.

Last night Bethel's volleyball team dominated in the post-season tournament semifinal match; they looked awesome. We're going to the final match at Tabor tomorrow night. If we win, it will be BC's third win out of three matches against Tabor, who was the regular season conference champ and only lost three conference matches all season. I love watching volleyball, so I'm looking forward to that. Too bad it will be over after that. BC football has a possibility of becoming conference champ tomorrow too. It depends not only on them winning, but on another team losing, so we'll see. Either way, they've had a great season with only one conference loss so far.

Tonight we're going out for supper and to Borat, which will be the second viewing for me since I went with my brother on opening night. Ooo, but first, I'm going to a jewelry party (or par-tay, as I wrote it to her in an email today) with my mom, so I should start to think about shutting things down around here.

Hugs. And don't forget to watch Teaching Mrs. Tingle tomorrow! :)

Middle school fun

Nibbert's Halloween costume

Well, I got a collar sort of like this one for Nibbs, but she didn't wear it yesterday. This is due partly to the fact that I was meat canning for the whole evening and mostly to the fact that Nibbert is still really freaked out because of all the roofing commotion. She did wear her collar the day I got it for her, and she looks sufficiently ridiculous in it, especially when she's flying through the air chasing one of her mouse toys.

What my morning was like

I'm sleeping during my first "snooze" of the morning, so it's about 7 a.m. I hear "nyeaaaaa hee hee hee hee heeeeeee" (think something like a laugh you might hear on one of those Halloween sound effects CDs) and then a lot of other chatter and then some banging around. I think there must be a large group of kids/teens walking past my house, and I also for some reason wonder if they're trick-or-treating, but that's just an aside. Then Nibbert starts freaking out, running around the room, from window to window. This of course gets my attention a little more and I am fully awake and look out the window where Nibbert is at and, whoa, there are legs. I realize what is going on and I go get Nibbert and force her back onto the bed and try to pet and calm her, but the whole time she is struggling to get free and also struck with bouts of trembling. In conclusion, I think I speak for everyone in the house when I say, "It would have been REALLY nice to know that our house is getting re-roofed today!"

things and more things

One thing I like about xanga is its "currently" feature, so I'll just rip it right out of there and post it in here.


The birthday celebration mentioned in the last post was a blast. It’s funny (and fun) how sometimes you can feel like you’ve just been transported back to a different time in your life. A couple of times—especially when we were laughing at her dad’s jokes—it felt just like we were back in middle school, giggling like crazy. I had to think of one of our P.E. teachers and her nickname for us, which she always signed to us whenever she saw us: giggleboxes.

We did the homeless shelter again Monday night. It was crazy busy. There were 27 residents (one of those a 5-year-old and one a baby, but still—SO full!), and I felt like I was running around the whole time. Other times I’ve had more of a chance to sit and relax and talk to people, but it didn’t feel that way this time. I did color with the 5-year-old for a while. I do say, my seahorse picture turned out quite nicely. But that was fun; some interaction time with the kid and her mom. Real sweeties. Having that many people there (and, in my opinion, so many young females) brought about more drama, and there were several interpersonal conflicts, and I had to tell a couple of women’s rooms to be quiet and go to sleep several times. The place is maxed out, and they can’t accept any more people.

Ok, this fork cracks me up. It came with some “just add water and microwave” “Thai” dish that advertised “fork included!” It’s seriously so small and frail. Yeah, I think I’ll eat a bunch of spaghetti noodles with a fork that will most likely break under the weight of them...



Its size does, however, provide for some nifty magic tricks:

What a difference a day makes

Ah. **sighs with relief

No, life's problems weren't magically solved, but I'm feeling so much better today. Despite my best efforts to be down and out, yesterday just kept getting better and better. The goodness of the day was not limited to the two following things, but they definitely played a big role. I had a voicemail from the aforementioned middle school best friend asking me if I want to go out for her birthday tonight. Sweet. And when we talked later yesterday evening, it was for an hour. How fun. While I was talking to her I was outside of Barnes & Noble, and who would happen to come out but a friend from high school who I hadn't seen since high school. She ended up going back into B&N and coming back out later, so I got to talk to her too. This is like the month of random reconnection (I also saw someone I went to elementary school with in Victoria's Secret on Saturday). Anyway, here's to possibly rekindled friendships...at least I'm successful sometimes at that...

Totally depressing

Wow, I've really dumbed down since college. I've recently been reading through some of my papers and wondered how I came up with some of that stuff. Not to say they're really great or anything, but I wrote things I wouldn't think now. I used words in high school papers that I don't even know the definitions of today. Like I said, totally depressing. I really need to do more to keep my mind active, thinking more substantial thoughts. Maybe I should go back to school. Of course, I need to work to make my car payments, insurance payments, etc., etc. Eh, it's one of those days.

Wow, this is one of the saddest

things I've read in a while:
Lynx and Lamb: thirteen-year-old twins...and white nationalist singers

Chance encounter

I happened to run into my middle school best friend over the weekend—at a restaurant she will soon be doing the interior design for, no less. I hadn't seen her in seven and one half years, and before that had only seen her once in the three years previous (she moved out of town after our freshman year). Needless to say, people's appearance can change a lot in ten years' time, especially the ten years between freshman in high school and whatever it is we'd be classified as now. We were across the restaurant from each other, and I could only see her side profile, so after we'd sat down, I thought that it could be her, but I couldn't be sure. I kept looking at her, several times making awkward eye contact with the guy at her table, and after a while I was convinced. Or I was at least convinced that the gal looked similar and had the exact same mannerisms. Memory and recognition are so intriguing; I wasn't sure based on her side profile, but the way she gestured with her hands and the way she held and drank from her straw was just as I remembered. Isn't it odd what your mind holds onto? Well, she eventually turned my way and looked at me and pointed, and we exchanged waves. And then she came over and we chatted for a bit. What a bright, unexpected spot in the evening.

mm hm

I thought this was a great concluding two paragraphs to the article Dobbs: Are you a casualty of the class war? By Lou Dobbs, posted on cnn.com:

Perhaps one of our nation's leading business magazines would like to create something called a Forbes or Fortune 250 Million list, which would reveal the dire financial pressures that our public policies have produced for working men and women and their families. It's time for all of us to focus on that deep chasm we have allowed to open between the wealthiest Americans and the middle class and those who aspire to it.

Otherwise, there will be 250 million casualties in what has become nothing less than class warfare.

[In case it expires, find the full text here: Dobbs: Are you a casualty of the class war?]

Where did the weekend go...

Monday again. Where the weekend went: Saturday from 11am-7pm (with maybe a 45-minute break in there to watch an episode of *cough* onetreehill) I was cleaning. Glad that's finally done. I really wanted to go on a bike ride because the weather was great, but by the time I was done with my cleaning I was hungry and tired and feeling dirty...in a dirt/germ sort of way, you sickos. I felt more tired than I do after a 10-mile bike ride. And I still had to make my food for the potluck the next day. And Sunday was completely full too, mostly with a birthday party for my aunt, which took a good seven hours of my day.

Something to look forward to: Possibly going to Dallas at Thanksgiving. Mark (no idea if you read this), did you know that Dougs are going to be in Dallas over Thanksgiving? McDougles.

Most recent favorite discovery

Well, I actually discovered it a few months ago but at the time was too lazy to do anything with it. Glad I finally did.

pandora

Great for listening to music at work—especially since I've recently been mildly bored with my iTunes Library on Shuffle.

How's that?

Ok, you know the recently declassified docs that say that terrorism is a threat more now than ever? I wouldn't have thought those could be used to support what the U.S. has been up to in Iraq. But no, they found a way:

For Republicans, the excerpts of the document -- declassified under orders from President Bush on Tuesday -- are more evidence that Iraq is central to the war on terrorism and can't be abandoned without giving jihadists a crucial victory. (from cnn.com)

Eh? How is it not obvious that what we've been doing for the last five-ish years is the cause of an increased terror threat?

S&B GOLDEN CURRY SAUCE with VEGETABLES

I was just cleaning out a box in my office that has various food items in it. For whatever reason, there was a bag with a can of tuna and a box of curry (full name above); probably possible lunch items. I got to reading the back of the box of curry and wanted to share a few fun parts with you. P.S. It is a product of Japan; I got it at the Asian Market.

{MICROWAVE OVEN DIRECTIONS}
1. Remove pouch from box. Cut pouch open and pour contents into a microwave-safe casserole.
2. Cover and cook on High 1 MINUTE or until hot, and LET STAND 30 SECONDS. Carefully remove casserole from microwave and serve over food ( steamed rice or noodles etc. ) .

So...first I have to have a casserole? And then I put the whole casserole plus the curry sauce on top of rice or noodles?

{SUGGESTIONS}
Excellent when served over grilled or sauteed cubed beef and rice. Also good with roasted chicken or boiled shrimp. If you prefer, simply add any of the following ingredients:
*Noodles, mashed potatoes, tacos, hot dog...

Hm, just add tacos...never heard that one before. If it works on this box of curry, why not try selling “Tacos In A Box—Instant Tacos*” *just add: tacos

recent things (a numbered post)

1. Like I told my brother, I'm now lusting after a Sea•Doo. Words can't do justice to how much fun that thing was. Of course I've had to have my bubble burst more than once by people reminding me that not only would I have to buy the Sea•Doo, but I'd also need a trailer to pull it on and a vehicle with which to pull the trailer. Well, I guess I'll just keep hoping that my cousin continues to provide me with opportunities to ride hers...much like I keep hoping that my uncle (her dad) continues providing me with opportunities to stay at his time-share condos during ski season...
   
   ah, bliss
   


2. My cousin's kids are adorable. She and her husband rock pretty hardcore too.


3. Confession: I love to drink coffee out of paper cups that have "Java Jackets" and lids. So even though I bought a mug that would give me 10% off of each coffee purchase at the local coffee shop, not to mention be better for the environment and not wasteful, I will almost always get it in a to-go cup.


4. Saturday is the MCC Flat Lander, so I'm trying to get ready for it. I'm going to end up only doing the 35 mile route because I haven't been able to get as much training in as I would have liked. Before yesterday, I hadn't ridden in for sure over a week because of being sick. I still had to stop for nose blowing like every two miles yesterday which sucked, but I was able to do 17 miles, which is pretty good, considering the lack of training.

nd, cool treat, b&b

Last weekend, Brian and I met up with the Kaufmanns in Wichita for some good eats at Bella Luna Cafe and then a sweet, sweet deal that Grayce had found out about—free admittance to Joyland. Woo hoo! Joyland holds a special place in my (and my brother's) heart since our family used to go there about once a year when we were younger. I informed my bro of this awesomeness, and he and his friend Sarah partook as well. Now, it's been many years since Joyland really seemed to be a happening place, but it seemed very much in disrepair now. At least the last time I was there (about seven years ago maybe), the roller coaster was still operational. When we got to the parking lot, the only letters of the sign that were lit up were "ND." Sad. Poor Joyland. Not to say I didn't have a great time though. Mark and I have fond memories of the Wacky Shack, although it hasn't been awesome or scary for many years. When we were there on Saturday, it had to shut down because the cars kept getting stuck inside. But at least we got to go on it before that. Sadly, the other sweet ride Log Jam wasn't running either, but it might not have been too much fun to go on that night since you do get sort of wet. I thought it was pretty cool that the Sky Coaster thing was included in the free admission, even though I'd never have the guts to go on it; watching Mark and Sarah go on it was enough of a rush for me.

Recommendation: chocolate malt crunch from DQ. Mmm, deliciousness. And I don't even really like malts all that much. The "crunch" are those little cookie crumbles from the orgasmic center of DQ ice cream cakes.

Except for the fact that I'm sick, I'm really looking forward to tonight/tomorrow. My uncle rented out a bed & breakfast, and he and my aunt, my parents, Brian and I, and my cousin's family are going there this evening. And then tomorrow we're going to my uncle's lake. I hope it's warm enough to do some Sea•Doo-ing. I'm excited to see my cousin's kid, who was born last December, maybe? I haven't even seen him yet, but in his pictures, he's adorable.

Just watched this again last night

and was reminded how funny I find this part.

Pretty schweet

I saw this on Inside Edition yesterday; it was all filmed in one take.

Pork and Beans?

The other night at our kick-off picnic, I walked past a group of boys (young kids). A father of one of the kids was kneeling down in front of him trying to help him with his shorts zipper, which looked to be about halfway down. I don't know if he was trying to help him get it up or down, though, because I heard one of the other kids exclaim, "That sounds like it would HURT!" Couldn't help but wonder if there was a little Something About Mary moment going on there.

At D'Angelo's over lunch

[I approach the buffet from one room as a man approaches from another room; the restaurant is quite empty]

Man: You guys got that song in my head!
Me: Huh? [thoroughly puzzled]
Man: Are you with that guy singing "The Hustle"?
Me: Uh...I don't know, I'll have to check...
Man: Now I'm singing that song. He was singing the dang "Hustle"! That song's from the disco days...

[When I return to my seat, I find out that, yes, apparently I was "with that guy singing 'The Hustle.'"]

Remember the "Mansiere" or the "Bro"?

The other day I saw the oddest thing walking down Spencer. And by that I mean the oddest thing was walking, not I was walking and saw the oddest thing. There was this man walking wearing a white...tube top, I guess. It reminded me of the Mansiere/Bro, except it wasn't covering his nipples, so it wasn't really functioning as such.

Tourism-drawing rooster killed by dog

[[ok, what happened isn't really funny, but this reads pretty funny...]]

SCIO, Ore. (AP) — Big Red, a rooster who drew tourists with his daily stroll down Main Street, died this week after getting mauled by a dog.

The Rhode Island Red was attacked Tuesday while walking to his home at the Scio Feed and Country Store in this town of about 700 people. The dog leaped through the open window of a parked car and pounced on the rooster, said Marian Heikkila, who had cared for the bird.

Heikkila said Big Red staggered for several steps before collapsing at the front door of a veterinarian’s office. The cause of death was broken ribs and internal bleeding, the Albany Democrat-Herald reported.

“I just said ‘Oh Red,’ and he took a couple of breaths and died, and then everyone started crying,” Heikkila said.

So it's been a while

In the past month or so, I've...spent a week at Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp and turned 25. In fact, I turned 25 at RMMC. Gosh, I guess I haven't done a whole heck of a lot... Yeah, took the youth group on a service trip to RMMC a couple of weeks ago. We did a lot of painting (the main lodge, if you're familiar with the camp), split and stacked wood, and dug a trench for a propane line. It was good times. The group was good and without drama (yay!). It was good to be away from work and home for a while but also good to get back. On our day off from working, we went rafting on the Ark. It was fun but not quite as exciting as I expected. The trip also marked my last official duty as youth leader! A highlight of the summer occurred soon after returning from Colo.—the party at the Waltners'. It was great to see everyone there. On the 4th, we went on a historic tour of Newton, which was quite interesting. I was not aware of the Chisholm Trail stagecoach ruts that are very near to my house. I didn't blow anything up for the 4th, but my brother had some unique items to explode, so that made for good times. Also saw the Newton show, which did not disappoint. This last weekend had a couple of belated birthday celebrations—took off Friday afternoon for shopping and then ate at P.F. Chang's, and on Saturday had a family celebration at Passage to India. And Cold Stone twice. Mmmmmmm. Ok, well, looking forward to the wedding at the end of the month, heading out to Colo. another time, and probably counseling at camp.

sweet flicks

{{EDIT: In a [self-created] lull at work, I decided to just go ahead and make a blog listing of movies I'm watching. If you're interested, find it here (movie list).}}

Ok, now that I feel some level of closure with that other situation, I'm ready to talk about two kick a$$ movies I saw last weekend.

• Lords of Dogtown — It might have something to do with this longtime fascination with skateboarding that I have, but I LOVED this movie. I thought it was so awesome. Now I want to take skateboarding lessons and see the related documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys.
• Cars — Packed with celebrity voices, one of the story lines this movie contains (pertaining to the Insterstate system) I found particularly interesting and, I thought, was unexpected. Plus, it includes a sweet one-line commentary on SUVs at the end. What does this movie leave me wanting to do, you ask? Take a trip (or two) covering all of Route 66.

Check 'em out!

<3 the family

In spite of everything (or maybe because of everything) this past week, I've had some really good times. I'm mostly talking about some really good family times. A death in the family creates this situation where all of a sudden you're spending a lot of time with relatives, some of whom you rarely see and when you do, it's during a several-hour reunion where there's a lot going on. Our time together during the last week was very precious, including tears and laughter. With some of them, I feel like I have this whole new bond. I certainly don't wish it would have happened this way, but nevertheless, I'm glad that part of this past week happened.

sad news

On Friday afternoon (June 9), my aunt died. She was my dad's younger sister and was diagnosed with breast cancer about three years ago. Hospice had been called in a couple of weeks ago when it was determined that she could no longer receive treatment. At the beginning of last week, doctors could tell that she didn't have much longer; her lungs were beginning to fill with fluid. Thursday afternoon, she took a turn for the worse and stopped really responding (at least with words). I and my parents spent Thursday evening at her house with her, my uncle, several other family members, and some of her friends; I feel so grateful for this time that I could be with all of them. Early Friday morning, she became very quiet and her breathing became very shallow; they discontinued giving her morphine. By Friday afternoon, she was gone. A lot of us have shed a lot of tears already, and it's difficult to yet imagine when all the tears might be cried out. She was one of the sweetest people ever and we'll all miss her greatly.

farewell today
travel on now
be on your way

go safely there
never worry
never care
beyond this day

farewell tonight
to all joy and to all delight
go well and go peacefully
we can't keep your majesty
be on your way

make ready for the last King of May
make a cardboard crown for him
make your voices one
praise a crazy mother's son
who loved his life
who loved his life

farewell today
travel on now
be on your way
can't bear the very thought
that we could keep your majesty
be on your way

make ready for the last King of May
make a hole in the crowd for him
raise your voices up
lift your loving cups
to his long life
to his long life

make ready for the last King of May
make a hole in the sky for him
raise your voices up
drink your loving cups
to his long life
to his long life

—King of May, Natalie Merchant

highlights

Ok, now that I've embarrassed myself with the last post (as if you guys didn't already know I'm lame like that...), here's a post of my highlights from the last few weeks:

• several diet coke/mentos fountains a couple of weeks ago


• a dry ice explosion in a front yard...obliterating grass and inverting the blown off top of a pop bottle


• the guess who concert last weekend


• a rockin' good time at newell's with a fun group of people when tine, lisa, and nick were in town


• discovering tequiza


• finally seeing an anvil shoot...it was awesome


• and probably the biggest highlight...my new bike! (pictured below)

lame tv post

1. I rented the first disc of the first season of laguna beach over the weekend. No matter what anyone else says, it doesn't hold a candle to the o.c.


2. I can't believe the series finale of everwood is on tonight. That's my favorite show. CW made a grave mistake canceling it. And I can't believe they're bringing back 7th heaven. wtf? Why did they have this 2-month long "Good-bye to the Camdens" ridiculousness and then bring it back? The only mention of everwood's series finale was at the end of last week's episode. That's it! I already hate CW. Except for one tree hill...

p.s. I love that spellcheck suggests "overdose" for "everwood."

I'm so excited!

Perfect for a consumer like me

I am definitely a consumer who likes to try new things. That's probably a reason candy sells so well to me...ok, I really just like it also. But they do a good job coming up with inventive NEW! variations on a theme. Come on, who can resist the inside out Reese's Cup? Seriously. Anyway, though I've been this type of consumer for the product I am about to tell you for a long time, but I just realized last night that it is the perfect product for a consumer like me: toothpaste. Think about it: there's always some new flavor or claim it makes, but it's not bad for you (like candy)—it's actually good for you, and you're never going to stop using it, so you don't have to feel bad buying new boxes of it when your other tubes aren't even used up yet. Like last night—I didn't need new toothpaste, but I started looking at it and ended up buying two boxes. Doesn't this flava flav sound good: Crest Lemon Ice? And doesn't this sound intriguing: Colgate Oxygen? Yeah, I thought so too.

Break food doubling as Brian's birthday cake

(Leah, if you still read this, does this look semi-familiar? Though, this time it is supposed to be a cat. I realized this is my 3rd animal-shaped cake.)

Observe a moment of silence

This weekend I lost my rearview mirror in a tragic high five accident.

Random commentary my boss found

Radical Hollywood Star Inspires College Play

(College = Bethel.)
It's one of those things that hilarious...in a sad, sad sort of way.

[In case it expires, find the full text here: Radical Hollywood Star Inspires College Play]

just plain irksome

I've realized that it's not when someone disagrees with me that gets me, it's when that person has a completely illogical way of arriving at his/her opinion. It drives me nuts. Mostly because I can't even begin to think about how to talk about it with that person. I would have much easier time with someone simply telling me, "What you're doing offends me morally," than that person saying s/he doesn't like it for some other reason that makes no logical sense and also for some reason does not apply to another person engaging in the same behavior.

There. There's my vague rant/vent. ... vagrant vent...

Bethel has a new president!

Barry C. Bartel

Restaurant commentaries

I was racking my brain (oops, accidentally typed "brian," which would have had a completely different meaning all together...) for something semi-interesting to post since it's been a while now, and I realized, "Wow, I ate at a lot of restaurants this weekend." Here's a review:

The Breadbasket (Newton): I'm sad to say that I think the tastiness factor of the BB has gone down. My verenike and gravy were not as flavorful as I remembered. :( They have added bohne berrogi, which is cool, but the sauce is more like sweetened condensed milk than what I think of as true bohne berrogi sauce. [ :( #2 ] They still have the most kick-ass horseradish sauce though.

Great Wall (Hutchinson): We chose it for its Mongolian BBQ, and it was tasty. And also well-priced. You can eat from the full Chinese hot buffet and/or the Mongolian BBQ (an all-you-can-eat Mongolian BBQ) for supper for $7.99. Lunch is $6.25. I did only one plate of Mongolian BBQ and, while the selection is not quite that of the Mong. BBQ I've been to in KC, I thought the taste was just as good.

Italian Garden (Wichita): I've eaten at this restaurant a number of times, and I continue to think it's an excellent value. A meal of lasagna (of which I took half home and had for supper the next night) that comes with cooked carrots and snap peas, salad, and breadsticks costs $6.25, I think. They make their own pasta, and the breadsticks are my favorite breadsticks. There are at least two locations, and I prefer the atmosphere of the one on 21st Street.

Which of your teachers are always with you?

My first grade teacher speaks to me nearly every day—in my mind. Almost any time I am walking down stairs, I hear her say, "Never walk down stairs with your hands in your pockets." Because, obviously, if you tripped, you'd be screwed and you'd probably smash your face all up at the bottom. It's a common sense thing, but her face speaking those words always pops into my mind when I'm on the staircase, especially when I have my hands in my pockets (which I then promptly remove). Funny, because she wasn't even particularly one of my favorite teachers.

Naked Sunday!

From: Faith Church
Subject: No Air Conditioning on Sunday

We just learned that the installation of the new air conditioners will not be finished by this Sunday. Dress accordingly.

[I guess this goes along right nicely with Good Friday...it's as if the celebration has been extended by divine intervention.]

.

Students:

Sometime last night, significant vandalism occurred in Haury. A fire extinguisher was released in the stairwell near faculty offices (the north side). Needless to say, it is everywhere! In addition to that, some of the new plastic convo and chapel sign holders were broken. Lastly, these vandals threw a bicycle into Patty Shelly's window and broke it.

Impressions of Mennonite Disaster Service

See also Impressions of New Orleans

As mentioned below, I spent a week with Mennonite Disaster Service working on hurricane/flood cleanup in New Orleans. One of the reasons it ranks up there as one of the best experiences of my life is due to MDS. MDS is really quite a unique organization since it involves/is supported by so many different varieties of Mennonites/Anabaptists. Our group was made up of 15 college students and three staff members. The other groups in our unit for that week were a group made up mostly of middle-aged couples from Eden Mennonite Church and a group of seven new order Amish young men, as well as their sponsor/driver, a 43-year-old former Amish man. Our leaders were Mennonites from Canada and Colorado, and also a Weaverland Conference couple from Pennsylvania. What a great mix of people! It was so fun to watch all of the groups come together as one, and we had a blast together. A couple of nights, the Amish guys and the college kids went down to the French Quarter and Bourbon Street, and I heard lots of memories shared from the college students in our room at night and on the van ride home about the great time they had with the Amish guys. The best new friendships I made were with Dan (of the Weaverland Conference couple) and Lister (the sponsor/driver for the Amish group).

Some might say that MDS is not as organized as it could be. However, I enjoyed this more relaxed style. Not to say that our days were relaxing though! We put in full 8- to 9-hour days of manual labor. The “relaxed style” I was referring to is that in the mornings, everyone would sort of be in charge of assigning him/herself to a work group, you might not know what tools are going to which work site, etc. So the feel was both relaxed and hardworking at the same time. We also had a lot of fun at our work sites. The work may have been hard and sometimes gross and always dirty, but we all enjoyed each other. Some of the Amish guys had volunteered with another Christian organization and commented that they strongly preferred working with MDS. Apparently with this other organization, you are treated more like an employee—hours are incredibly strict and you are expected to get a certain amount of work done each day. You might get to socialize for a bit after supper, but people are expected to be in bed early, and there is a “lights out.” Not so with MDS! :) I mean, we were respectful of a 10:30 quiet time, but that was not really much of a problem since we were all pretty tuckered out after a day’s work, and the next day would begin again in just a few hours.

Anyway, I loved working with MDS and hope to do it again when I can. I would also love to “retire” into MDS.

See also Impressions of New Orleans

Impressions of New Orleans

See also Impressions of Mennonite Disaster Service

[I typed this up last week and am finally getting around to posting it.] Late Saturday (March 25) I returned from a week long trip to New Orleans, doing hurricane/flood clean-up with Mennonite Disaster Service. It was one of those things that makes my “best things I’ve done in my life” list. Here are some of my impressions of the city as of March 2006.

It’s difficult to believe that the hurricane was seven months ago. One month ago would maybe be believable. Can you believe that much of the city still does not have electricity? Many intersections without stoplights; many streets without streetlights. Neighborhoods are pitch black at night. If you can still call them neighborhoods. Much of the city is pretty much a ghost town. The neighborhoods in which we stayed and worked were mostly devoid of people; sort of eerie, really. You can understand why many people are afraid to stay in their paper-thin FEMA trailers...on streets with no one else around and that remain unlit after the sun goes down. Would you believe that many of the houses have not even been entered except for by search and rescue teams? Most of the apartments and houses our group entered were just as they had been left seven months prior...tables set for family meals, laundry in the washing machine, dogs (now no longer living, of course) shut into a garage where I’m sure the owners believed they would be safe. Those particular owners hadn’t even been inside to find out if their dogs had made it out or not; students in our group had to inform the husband. His response was, “Don’t tell my wife.” We would go into an apartment or a house, and belongings would look fairly normal but nothing was. Couches and carpets are still seven months later wet from flood waters. Houses have been shut up this long and the air there is so humid that nothing has had the chance to dry out. Suddenly, people’s entire possessions become trash. An entire city’s possessions out on the curb. Where will it even all be dumped? Virtually nothing can be kept because it is all covered in mold. Mold climbs the walls from floor to ceiling in many cases. It all has to go. So we would enter these houses, discard of all of their belongings, tear out their floors/ceilings/walls, and eight hours to two and a half days later, all that is left is a shell of a house. Will people even be able to come back and rebuild? Will the mold removal chemicals work well enough on the studs that houses will be safe to live in once rebuilt?

A whole other factor all together is the lower 9th ward. This area lies right below one of the main levee breaks and is also a poorer section of the city. This was the first time I’d heard the rumor that the government blew up the levee here in order to divert the water away from the French Quarter and the Garden District. I don’t subscribe to this belief, but some people definitely do. This area is more or less flattened. Others observed that it looks like tornado damage, except that many trees are still standing and the area of damage is larger. Houses were washed clean off of their foundations. You can see the foundations but can’t spot the houses. The image that comes immediately to mind when I think of my tour through the lower 9th ward is of a house that was picked up off of its foundation and some time later set back down on it. But between the house and its foundation is an upside down pickup truck. The afternoon we were there, we saw search and rescue teams and dogs. As we came back by that location later, there were many flashing lights. That evening at a restaurant, the tv news reported that the body of a child had been found that afternoon in the lower 9th.

See also Impressions of Mennonite Disaster Service

Fun Amish factoid

When learning about the differences between new order and old order Amish at one point last week, a new order Amish guy told us that it is not uncommon for the woman in an old order couple to be pregnant before the couple got married. I found that interesting because it is not what I would have guessed.

Buh-bye

Well, I'm off to New Orleans for a week of service with MDS / accompanying the spring break service trip. See you, my faithful readers, upon my return.

Moment today I most felt like a dumbass

So around my place of employment you notice if someone's wearing a suit because, aside from one or two key people, no one really does—unless it's board meeting time. Then suits come out of the woodwork. Or wherever it is they've been hiding...along with the "good" cafeteria food. And it is board meeting time right now. I was just coming back from lunch, and a guy who works here was coming in my direction from across campus...wearing a suit. As I pass him I say/laugh in that voice that is both talking and knowingly laughing, "I take it you must have an interaction with the board today." Response: "Nope. Funeral." So that puts the ol' kibosh on the talk/laugh pretty quickly.

{Sidenote: I ran spellcheck on this post and for "dumbass" it suggested "Dempsey" ... Dale Dempsey, anyone?}

The underlying thing I want to underscore is don't underestimate this product for your underarms, though it seems underpublicized

I've always been an antiperspirant kind of gal (as opposed to a deodorant kind of gal). I know all of the "health risks" of the aluminum in antiperspirant are still disputed and that we're all exposed to aluminum in other forms probably daily, but it can't hurt to cut it out where you can, right? So the other day I was at Alco (!!) browsing the deodorant/antiperspirant section, though I was in no need of buying more, and I saw this: Adidas Absorbent-Deo Wetness Control. It's a deodorant that is aluminum free, seems to claim it uses some sort of cotton technology, and contends that it works as well as antiperspirant. Always one to be drawn in by advertising, I thought I might as well give it a try. It's only day four of using the product, but I would like to give it my two thumbs up. So far, it does seem to work as well as the antiperspirant I had been using. I recommend it. And if you're the type who likes to have all of your brands match, while I'm at it, I'll also recommend the Adidas Rev II windpants. They are the best windpants ever. I have two pairs.

**SPECIAL BONUS**
Other fun words beginning with "under"

• underbred
• underbrim
• undercard
• undercoat
• undercool
• underdrawers
• underling
• undersexed
• underskirt
• understrapper
• underthrust

Sobering thought

So here's something fun: A marquee of a video rental store in town advertises, "Now Hiring Managers $30-35K First Year." Hm, maybe I should double my salary and work as a video store manager...