New twist on the ol' chicken/egg question

Which came first: Santa Claus or naked women?

According to Ron Raffonelli, 65, of Cranston, R.I., Santa Claus did (see story about a Paris Hilton Christmas display on cnn.com).

Any other opinions out there?

Quotation: from Middlesex

I found this quotation from Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides interesting:

"Everyone struggles against dispair, but it always wins in the end. It has to. It's the thing that lets us say good-bye" (524).

The thing that lets us say good-bye. In my mind, it usually takes two parties to say good-bye. Is dispair winning in both parties, just the one leaving (the context of this quotation involved a dying person), or just the one who has to let the leaving one go?

Thoughts? Agree or disagree with the quotation? I'm not sure if I fully understand it, but I found it interesting to think about.

Copy editor's day off

I'd just like to say that in the four CNN.com articles I've read this morning, I've found three errors. For whatever reason, errors in the media make me giggle (not to say that I never make my own errors; those don't make me giggle.).

"...added Alex McLeod, 16, who lives three houses down on the opposite side of the three-lined street..."

"The 'Image' mosaic with a flowered peace symbol in Central Park."
It's actually the "Imagine" mosaic. This error is even funnier because it's a caption to a picture of the "Imagine" mosaic, which very centrally has the word "Imagine."

"Many fans will remember Lennon at the 'Imagine' mosaic—named after one of his most famous songs—that is the centerpiece of 'Strawberry Fields' (named in honor of another of his songs), a section of Central Park across the apartment where Lennon lived with his wife, Yoko Ono."
Wow, that must be a pretty large apartment in order to contain Central Park, or at the very least, a section of it.

It really IS Christmas

Gosh I hope my modmates read this because I think it's very important for them to know that A Very Brady Christmas will be airing on FOX this Saturday at 1pm CST. Will Bobby reveal to his family that he dropped out of school to race cars? Will Carol EVER see Cindy as a grown woman and not her little girl? And perhaps most important of all, will Mike survive the building collapse?? Oh, the suspense.

My work day = a baker's dozen hours

I've been at work for the last 13 hours. Well, I did leave for lunch, but does that really count? On the plus side of things (aside from finally (mostly) finishing a huge project—you BC alums better appreciate when you're reading your new Context magazine), I did discover that two Eminem CDs + one extra song from a third CD will pretty much exactly get me through three hours of work. It's good music to work to...just not so much during regular business hours, so it must be reserved for post-5 o'clock.

Good-bye

I've had to say good-bye to too many people recently. Not as in the death sense, just the see you later sense. But still, the see you A LOT later sense. One person, will I ever see her again? Another, when will be the next time? I feel lucky to have seen you four times in the last ten years. That's sad. I think we will never live near each other. I wish we would. Instead, we live $600 away from each other.

Today was not one of the best days of my life

Today was not one of the best days of my life. And neither will tomorrow be. I hate good-byes.

The church and the trial OR privacy and the media

Last night, I felt sort of down. So my church has been affected by a recent criminal trial. Two people who were recently tried and convicted of approximately 30 counts each. These two people are members of my church. I think the fact that several of the charges had to do with abuse of people affects the church more than if they were only charges of things like tax evasion or insurance fraud. Our church had a processing meeting last night. People could talk about their feelings, and we tried to come up with the answers to, "What do we do now?" All of that is not what got me down last night. Oddly, perhaps, what did make me feel sort of hopeless about humanity is an announcement our pastor gave at the beginning of the meeting. He said that an area tv station had received an anonymous tip from someone letting them know about the meeting. The camera crew and an anchor were outside the door right then. Obviously, I cannot know that it was a congregation person who called the tv station...but it's not like the meeting was advertised in the newspaper or something. It definitely could have a case where such-and-such church member told such-and-such non-church member and that's how it ended up getting to the media. If it came from a church member, that would make me sad.

This was an interesting situation to come up for me at this time. A couple of Sundays ago, I was on a panel of professionals from our church to talk to a Mennonite History class about how being Mennonite affects the work we do. [Side note: I was the communications professional from the church—whoa, weird...am I old enough to be that?] One thing I mentioned was that at the time I was looking for a job, it came down to a decision between my current job and a job as a newspaper reporter. The reason I was aware of at the time for not taking the reporter job was that it didn't fit my personality as well as what I do do. Ok, yes, I was somewhat afraid to step out and do those things that I'm not all that comfortable doing, but I love my job now, so that's worth quite a bit too. Anyway, I mentioned at the panel presentation that I didn't know exactly why being a newspaper reporter didn't fit in all that well for me with being Mennonite, but that I thought it related somehow. And I don't know that it doesn't fit in with the theology of Mennonitism—it's probably more of a cultural thing...not being intrusive or something. So it was interesting to me that my experience last night at my church reinforced my occupational decision.

Now for an admission: Just because I don't want to be the one being intrusive and finding out about those things that perhaps should be allowed to be private doesn't mean that I'm not one of the people reading those "juicy" stories. I'm just as curious as the next guy. Ah, hypocrisy.

In addition to the somber feelings, I also felt very proud of our church for having the meeting. I'm not a fan of things being swept under the rug or conveniently ignored. I'm proud that the response wasn't just "pray for them that God will show them their evil ways." I'm proud that some people want to confront them, want to talk to them about what is seen as guilt. I'm proud that people are struggling with this—what to feel, what to do. I'm proud that people admit they don't have the answers.

Poverty

So I've been attending our church's Wednesday night study of poverty. The text we've used is What Every Church Member Should Know About Poverty by Bill Ehlig and Ruby K. Payne. My thoughts about the text are lukewarm, but the discussion has been interesting. Things that have caught my attention the most from the study:

• Nearly 50% of students in the Newton schools receive free or reduced school lunches (I think the actual figure is 48%, with one school coming in at 60%). I know some of those instances might reflect situational poverty rather than generational poverty, but half of the students. Wow. I'm not sure what the stipulations are for receiving free/reduced lunches. I know I received reduced for a while in 5th grade after my dad was laid off.


• There are currently 50 kids in Newton? Harvey County? waiting for a match with Big Brothers/Big Sisters.


• Publicity hasn't even gone out yet that Habitat for Humanity in Harvey County will soon be accepting applications again. However, Habitat has recently received 20 inquiries for applications.

What to do? Where to start? How to get involved? Last night at the study, I got to thinking about how I'm so immersed in my little Bethel world—work, lectures, leisure time with other Bethel/former Bethel folk. Yeah, I do the little things from the list of suggested actions of how to get involved with people in poverty. And I mean, the little things. Things like talking with my cashiers at discount stores or talking with/trying to always be pleasant with waitstaff at restaurants. Like I said, little things. Our church (as well as a dozen other area churches, I believe) has been approached by the local homeless shelter to commit to staffing the shelter for one week every quarter. Part of me thinks, how can we not agree to this? Part of me knows that every time a notice in the newspaper appears about training for staffing the shelter, I seriously consider it and then always chicken out out of fear. Do I really want to stay at the shelter overnight?

Today was one of the best days of my life

Today was one of the best days of my life. I feel great about life right now. I finally did something that's been two and a half years overdue. I feel strangely liberated.

Relations2

So last Thursday over lunch, I observed Dr. Nibbert lying next to, holding, and licking Button. And then Button promptly bit her head. Progress, progress.

US black sites

Hello?! How/why do we do things like this? Is anyone else concerned??

Some key lines from Report: CIA holds terror suspects in secret prisons:

"Virtually nothing is known about who is kept in the facilities, what interrogation methods are employed with them, or how decisions are made about whether they should be detained or for how long."

"Those concerns [from lawmakers, foreign governments and human rights groups about the opaque CIA system] escalated last month, when Vice President Cheney and CIA Director Porter J. Goss asked Congress to exempt CIA employees from legislation already endorsed by 90 senators that would bar cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoner in U.S. custody."

Relations

On this day, I declare that Dr. Nibbert does not like Button. These are our two cats that my housemate and I are trying to introduce to each other. I'll await the days that I can declare "Dr. Nibbert no longer hisses and growls (as much as a small cat can growl...although, she doesn't really purr, so maybe she's a large cat at heart) at Button" and "Dr. Nibbert tolerates Button" and "Dr. Nibbert loves Button."

No Schmidt!

NRG crisis2: sentiments at the pumps

More personal

Oh, heck yes, Diddy is mos def more personal. Before it was like, "P. Diddy...I feel so distant from him," but now it's like I know he's always going to be there for me. Thank you, Diddy. Remind me again, how does talking in the third person make anything more personal??

From CNN.com, Aug. 18, 2005:
Now he's just plain 'Diddy'
Sean Combs drops the 'P.' from his name
Thursday, August 18, 2005; Posted: 1:12 p.m. EDT (17:12 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) — P. Diddy wants to get closer to you. And something was getting in the way.

Namely, the P. in front of the Diddy. So from now on, just call him Diddy, please.

"We had to move the P. We had to simplify it. Diddy is more personal. We are entering into the age of Diddy. It's a new era," the rap mogul said in a recent interview with "Access Hollywood" to promote his upcoming hosting duties on MTV's Video Music Awards in Miami on August 28.

Diddy—whose monikers have included Puff, Puff Daddy and Puffy, says Diddy is "a little bit more personal. I've let down my guard. I'm fully exposed. We are going to have a lot of fun with it. It is the return of hip-hop, rock 'n' roll superstars and they call them Diddy. I'm going to start talking in the third person everything."

Diddy, whose real name is Sean Combs, is working on a new album for the fall.

NRG crisis

Toyota planning 10 more hybrids: By the end of this decade, Toyota plans for 25 percent of U.S. sales to be hybrid vehicles. posted on CNN.com.autos, Aug. 3, 2005

Let's hope they're right. Not because I have stock in Toyota hybrids or anything, but because I fear for the state of our world...more specifically, country. The good ol' U S of A, where we're always right and the oil will never run out. At least not if you're willing to pay over $60 per barrel. And luckily our buddies over in Congress just passed an energy bill that cuts support for energy conservation and efficiency programs. Whoopee! At least the rest of the developed countries will more or less be able to hit the ground running when oil finally gets too high to buy. MOSH!

Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-To-Dragon

Huh? Does that even sound like a real Harry Potter book? Does it even make any sense? Is it like about HP and another character or something? "Harry, I'd like you to meet Leopard-Walk-Up-To-Dragon."


Excerpted from CNN.com:
Potter posted in full on Chinese site
Thursday, July 21, 2005; Posted: 9:35 a.m. EDT (13:35 GMT)

BEIJING, China (Hollywood Reporter) -- Less than 24 hours after the English edition of the latest Harry Potter book went on sale in China's capital on the weekend, the full text of the 672-page tome was available for free on the Internet as an unauthorized e-book, the Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

The Shui Mu Tsing Hua bulletin board service posted the full text of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" on Sunday, according to the Chinese language daily.

Author J.K. Rowling has long warned readers against unauthorized electronic versions of her work. Her fantasy series enjoys vast popularity in China, however, spawning in 2002 a copycat adventure, "Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-To-Dragon," by an unknown Chinese author who attributed the work to Rowling.

Oh, the pain of the triceps

So I went water skiing last Saturday, and boy were my triceps sore for a few days after that. Today is the first day that I don't really mind doing those large windmill circle things with my arms (and goodness know I like to get in my daily dose of windmill circles...am I in middle school P.E. again?). I got to thinking that water skiing is a strange sport. You get pulled across water behind a boat going 25 mph. Of course your arms are going to be sore.

Water skiing: Ripping your arms off since 1922.

Wonka Donutz.

They look so nasty, but they taste so good. They also create a good feeling when you work out and then eat one and then look at the "nutrition" information and find out that 69% of the calories you just spent 30 minutes burning were immediately restored by one Wonka Donutz. How does that work grammatically? I realize that "Donutz" isn't exactly the proper way to make "donut" plural, but it indeed connotes that. One Donutz.