Too long

Yeah, yeah, so I didn't update my blog as quickly as I thought I would.

Sweeney Todd was well done and I liked it. Nikki said that there was one word that was missing that disappointed her. My missing word is "locksmith". "A Little Priest" is one of the most amusing numbers in Sweeney Todd, but the took out one of my favorite parts. On the whole, however, I thought it was very good. The music they cut out is probably much more meaningful on the stage than in a film version because of the nature of the respective mediums.

The movie was bloody, but in a very non-realistic manner. The colors used overall were rather dark and the color of the blood was very intentionally bright red. To me that made the blood less horrific than it would have been if it had looked remotely real.

Burton's production is more tragic than humorous as compared to other productions, but he certainly did not remove humor altogether. There were some parts that made me laugh delightfully. The acting was excellent in some parts and merely good in others, but I like the casting. The film version has some definite casting advantages over the original Broadway cast, specifically with Johanna, Anthony and Toby. They seem much, much, much more age appropriate and sounded better in my opinion, too.

Overall, if the macabre doesn't make your blood curdle and you like a good musical, you might find yourself enjoying Sweeney Todd.

In other news, the job interview I had on Thursday for the promotion went very well. I don't expect to hear back too soon, so nobody should hold their breath. They changed my hours at work to 9-6 Tuesday-Saturday as well, so I am adjusting to more "normal" hours. So far I enjoy getting home from work at a time that makes cooking dinner more feasible!

Quick notes

I saw Sweeney Todd last night. I will share my thoughts on that later, but you shouldn't have to wait too long.

My shift changed at work again, slightly. I found out about it yesterday and chose to start the new shift today rather than waiting until next week. Instead of 10-7 Tue-Sat, I now work 9-6 Tue-Sat. A very slight shift change, but a positive one. I am now really, truly, working a day shift.

In other work news, I still have not heard anything about an interview for the position I applied for, but I am not surprised. I anticipate that they will start that just after the first of the year.

I seem to have done something that my lower back did not like at all, and it is telling me about it almost constantly. Without ever having such a thing, the closest thing I can compare the feeling to is a pinched nerve. It's a very localized pain but in a place that makes walking, standing up, rolling over in bed, etc., rather uncomfortable.

A few snow showers are back on the weather forecast for Tuesday. We'll see.

Attend the tale...

Sweeney Todd is coming out in theaters today. One of my friends from work and I have had many a discussion about whether Tim Burton's rendition of it will do it justice. My argument is that we can't know until we see it. I do know that they have cut out some things (like "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd", so we're never actually told to attend the tale; there's no chorus at all, from what I understand) and shortened others (like "A Little Priest", which happens to be my favorite part of the whole stage production), so they are doing an abridged version. I think that's a shame, but I plan to go see it tonight and am determined to take the movie and judge it for its own triumphs and shortcomings. Do I honestly think I'll like it as well as the stage production? We'll see.

White Christmas?

Yesterday I checked the forecast and it said high in the 40s on Dec 23 with rain and snow showers, a few snow showers for Dec 24, and partly cloudy for Dec 25. This morning it says the same, with one modification. Now they are expecting a few snow showers on Dec 25 as well. Will it snow on Christmas? That would be exciting for me, even if it is just a little bit! Either way I hope the "warmer" weekend weather doesn't melt all of the snow so there is at least some left on the ground.

It had only just begun

This is the parking lot at work just after I got there. Notice the excellent visibility. (It had actually been worse on part of my drive in.) The cars would all have a good 4 inches of snow on them by the time it stopped and the snow on the ground around the cars was deeper still. The worst was behind the cars after they plowed the lot. It was probably about a foot deep there. I took a shovel and removed some of the snow from behind my car to avoid getting stuck. The only real danger I had of getting stuck was trying to get into a parking spot back at home. I had to get out and clear a little path for my tires before I could actually get all the way in. That was fun. The worst is over now, however, and we should only get another inch or two before the next storm on Saturday night. ;)

Tidbits

I found out last night at 10:30 that I had an appointment with my optometrist this afternoon. I scheduled it last year. Next year's appointment is on my calendar at work, so I at least recorded it somewhere in an attempt to learn from this experience. My eyes are healthy, if any of you are wondering ;).

I saw a hitchhiker today. I almost felt bad for not stopping since it was a cold day to be standing outside, but stopping would have been foolish and I wasn't going more than a mile or two down the highway, so it wouldn't have done much good even if he had been harmless and I had stopped. I don't really recall seeing anyone doing that in the past several years (and can't remember any specific instances of it before that, even), so it stuck out in my mind as definitely an unusual sight.

We're supposed to get 5-10 inches of snow tomorrow afternoon. Up to an inch or more per hour, they say. It's supposed to be bad while I am at work, not heavy until after I have to be at work and is scheduled stop or at least lighten up a lot before it's time for me to go home. Leaving work will be, um, fun? Makes me tempted to bring my snow boots for the car extraction process and pack my snow shovel in the trunk. I'm definitely bringing my lunch since I really don't like driving in whiteout conditions. We do get to wear jeans, however, so that's some small consolation.

Doh!

If life teaches us anything, it should teach us to laugh at ourselves. With antics like mine, how can I resist such a lesson?

I spent almost an hour on Sunday morning on the phone with my mom (and my dad for a bit, but he had to leave for church so didn't stay on long). The consequences of that were rushing out the door in an attempt to get myself to church as close to on time as possible. Little did I know what my morning would be like.

Exit apartment. Door is locked. Walk to car. On the way to the car, grab keys out of the...wait! Why aren't my keys in my purse! Not again!

I locked my keys in my apartment a few weeks ago on a cold snowy morning. It was a Friday during business hours, so someone from the leasing office let me in for free. There is a charge after hours and on weekends for such services. One would think that I had learned from the previous experience. Then again, my history says that such things repeat themselves in a short period of time. I had never locked myself out of my living quarters before (I have had someone else lock me out when I was in the shower in a dorm, but that was inadvertent and was quickly rectified). I have locked my keys in my car twice. Both times were within a month of each other. Now the same with my keys and my apartment? *Sigh*

I checked and double checked my purse. Not there. There is a three inch plush Eeyore on them, so it's pretty obvious if they are there or not. I checked my pocket - no keys.

So I sent a text message to my roommate who was at church so she would know and perhaps take pity on me and come home after church to let me in. (No such luck. Knowing full well that I was locked out she opted to go to lunch with someone and didn't get home until well after 2:00.) I called one of my friends who goes to church at 11:30 to see if I could tag along, but I got no answer.

Fortunately for me, someone was doing laundry in the laundry room right next door to my apartment and opened the door. It didn't shut all the way, so I was able to go in and have a warm place to sit.

I read my Bible for a bit. Then I moved on to an old magazine and read a few articles. Then at 12:30 I tried to contact people again since church should be out and maybe someone could either come rescue me or find my roommate and see if she was coming home or not. Nobody answered still. Around 1:00 I decided to check to see if my roommate had come home, but she hadn't. I am not even entirely sure why, but I put my hands in my pockets and realized that my keys were in my coat pocket. I had checked the right one but not the left one. I had my keys with me all along and only assumed that because I had locked myself out once that not immediately finding my keys meant that I did it again. Doh! I let myself into my apartment and for penance worked on cleaning my room.

I think it's time to start carrying around a second set of keys again like I started to after locking my keys in the car twice.

Lights

I have always loved Christmas lights, but tonight as I was driving home, I was struck by the Christmas lights strung on houses with snow covered roofs. One house had a large lighted wreath complimented by two foot icicles. After living where it snows, Christmas decorations will never be the same. I love Christmas lights even more now, set against a backdrop of glistening white snow. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

What more was there to do?

Let me sing now for my well-beloved
A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.
My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
He dug it all around, removed its stones,
And planted it with the choicest vine
And He built a tower in the middle of it
And also hewed out a wine vat in it;
Then He expected it to produce good grapes,
But it produced only worthless ones.
"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
Judge between Me and My vineyard.
"What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?
Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?"

I missed church this morning. I was up in plenty of time, but did not have the opportunity to get ready since my roommate was having a slow start and was in the bathroom until it was too late for me to get ready and make it to church even close to on time. I instead spent some time reading my Bible. Some of my favorite "Christmas" passages are in Isaiah, so I started reading there. This passage is Isaiah 5:1-4. It is a parable that I understand full well. What has God not done for us? Sometimes it is just too easy to be a mediocre grape at best. Is it because God has not given us what we need to be high quality fruit? Not at all. He has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness. Even so, I cannot imagine that I am doing the best I can, but I know that when the fruit of my life is a little bit squishy and bruised, it doesn't have to be that way. More importantly, I cannot blame God for my own failures. God is good and gives us everything we need to thrive in Him if we choose to accept His care and nourishment. We become "worthless" fruit through our neglect, not His. I sometimes forget how to abide in the Vine and get caught up what we generally think of as life, and that's when I miss out on the abundant life given to me by my Savior and start going through life as relatively unimpressive fruit. I don't want to be a mushy grape, so I must abide and take advantage of the gracious gifts of God.

Nothing to lose

So I have decided to apply for another position at work. This does not stem from wanting to leave my current position. I actually feel no pressing need to do that. This is simply due to the fact that they are hiring three people to what is generally seen as the next step up from my job. Three people will be hired. That's not a window of opportunity; that's a city gate of opportunity. I am guessing that 5 or 6 people from my department will apply, including me. There are always external applicants and people from other departments will probably also apply, but the odds are much better than usual, so I have really nothing to lose. The worst thing that can happen is that I stay in my current job and get a better shift. Getting this promotion would mean most likely working second or third shift for some time but would be a good career advancement and would pay better. Why not?

When junk e-mail is fun

This afternoon I amused myself by clicking happily on links in an e-mail from "eBay Safe Departament". The subject of the e-mail was "Your winning bidder has been suspended!" Very amusing things were in this e-mail. Links that included .dll files in their path, links that look like they are pointing to, well, not websites, contradictions that said one place that an e-mail address would be shown and that an e-mail address will not be shown, and something that said that my username was included to show that it was legitimate when there was no such username showing. I loved it! It was so very clearly fake!

How did I do this? I used my Mac. OS X is not in any real danger of picking up viruses from e-mails like this, so I can have great fun looking at all of the really cheesy attempts to scam people with no fear. Fear viruses? Get a Mac.

I won't ask for this for Christmas...this year

I visited Amazon.com last night to check out my order status and see how shipping progress is coming along. Then I remembered that it was Sunday and that I had already checked on Saturday night and probably wouldn't find any new information. Something did catch my eye, however. This product has been around for at least a short time, but I am usually too busy looking for specific items to look at what they are promoting. This time I looked, and I liked what I saw. Amazon doesn't merely sell electronics anymore, they actually make an electronic device for readers, Kindle. I find the device and what people are saying about it rather interesting. This is definitely blogging fodder!

The Device
This is a $399 item right now. It's new, not long out of beta testing. It is an electronic reading device that can hold up to 200 downloaded books. It is designed and marketed for Amazon.com customers, not surprisingly, and specifically for book readers (I make this point here; it becomes more relevant later). The idea is that you buy your books electronically and download them wirelessly to your Kindle and begin reading. The screen is flat and uses a relatively new technology of electronic ink. The screen, in other words, is actually printed. It is not back lit at all and does not apparently have glare from lights, either, so it looks as much like paper as possible. This is supposed to be easier to read than most electronic displays and I imagine it is much easier on the eyes. The downside to it is that the technology can only use black ink...for now. It is a relatively light-weight device that is still big enough to be comfortable to read from. There are page turning buttons on either side of it so you can read and hold with one hand and in any number of positions. There is a QWERTY keyboard, laid out in an ergonomic fashion of sorts. It is used for searching online for books and periodicals (yes, you can subscribe to newspapers and magazines as well and they automatically download), searching within books and annotating pages. From what I have read, it uses Sprint's wireless network and the airtime for downloading books and magazines is "free". I imagine the airtime fees are actually included in the price of the content you purchase. The price of books ranges from $9.99 to, well, a lot more, based on what you're buying. I am sure there are some available for less, as well. An important note here is that what you buy is yours and you can download again it in the future. It is USB equipped to be connected to a computer for additional content options. Things have to be in a specific file type to be read, but from what I understand there are programs that are free or cheap that can convert various electronic formats to what you need to view it on Kindle. It also allows unlimited access to Wikipedia without any airtime charges (again, guessing those fees are absorbed elsewhere; they probably assume people won't spend all day reading Wikipedia and will usually be looking at content already downloaded) and contains a dictionary. I am sure there are a lot of details that I am leaving out, but Amazon can tell you the rest!

Customer Reviews
Customer "reviews" are a bit of an interesting read. I would say that the majority of them come from people who do not own and have not used the product, making the term "review" a very loose one indeed. The best reviews are written by people who own the product, as you can imagine. People who have used it liked it. I found that most people who rated it poorly were turned off by the price tag or did not seem to understand the product or the concept that products are designed for specific kinds of people. My two cents on that: if you don't like it, don't buy it. Don't bring down the rating of a product based on you uninformed opinion. I want product ratings to tell me how owners rate the product functionality and durability. Don't discourage other people from buying something that you don't understand or wouldn't benefit from. If you don't like it, you're most likely not the person for which Kindle was designed!

Common review complaint #1 is the price. People think it is over-priced. Why should I pay $400 for the device and then have to pay for the content as well? Does a bookshelf come full of books? Do video game consoles provide free unlimited access to a library of games? Did your DVD player come with access to a lot of free movies? Did your iPod (legally) come with a drive full of your favorite music at no additional cost? This is the nature of consumer electronics. You buy a device that allows you to access content you also buy. Yes, it is more expensive than I would want it to be. It is using new technology with the screen. That right there is probably where a lot of the cost is coming from. Even so, the product is on back order. Complain all you want, but people are willing to buy at that price. Sales will weigh much more heavily than your opinion or mine in the ultimate fate of the product.

Common review complaint #2 is the nature of the content. One customer wanted something to view .pdf files and complained that he can't use this device to view those work-related files on the go. Well, sir, it wasn't designed for that. It was designed for reading e-books. There are ways to convert those .pdf files, but perhaps you should look for something designed to meet your needs. Another common complaint is paying for books that you won't be able to use in 10 years. I think we all understand the nature of this complaint. Libraries of records, cassettes, VHS tapes and floppy disks gather dust while we enjoy higher quality and capacity on our newer technologies. Yes, you run a risk of not being able to use this format in the future. However, you can download things in the future at no additional cost once you have purchased them the first time. Technology changes, but with electronic files developers do a pretty good job of making things backward compatible. You may have to replace the device with a new, more advanced model, but I really think you will still be able to use older content. Not every book is available in this format from Amazon, true. You can, however, import files of other e-book formats after converting them, so if a book is available electronically, you can probably load it on here. You know, I'm still waiting for them to make Super Mario Bros. 3 for the Wii. They have Super Mario Bros. 2, but not 3, and 3 was much more popular. I am sure it is coming in the future, but for now I won't condemn the Wii for lacking available content.

The most baffling review was one that was positive, however. It wasn't because of the product. It was because of the reviewer. She spent over $3000 in books from Amazon last year, reading 5 or 6 books per week, and always carries multiple books with her. When she's done reading she...throws the books away. Did anyone else just die a little bit inside reading that? This woman doesn't need an electronic reader. She needs a library card. I wonder if she really throws books away or has considered donating books to a library. Some books are probably worthy of a free trip to the dump, but on principle they shouldn't just be discarded after one reading. She may be the perfect candidate for Kindle. I'm going to go hug my overflowing bookshelves.

My Take on It
Real users like it. That's what matters to me. I think it is a great idea. I don't want one right now, however, for a few reasons. I think the cost will come down over time, and when the original price is a little bit lower, I might bite. Right now I am not reading often enough to justify the expense, either. I think the product will improve with later versions. I also want to know how long these things really last. That is a big one right there. If it dies after a year, I'll take my paperbacks. I want to know how easy it is to back up content and then recover it later. I don't really mind that it is only available in black ink now. I am not really looking for that chemistry textbook with the colorful graphics. I would love to be able to read lying down on my side without having to shift the book to look at the next page. Reading with one hand would be wonderful as well...someone said you can use the other hand to drink tea or pet the dog while you read - is that not wonderful? I do want to know how easy it is to accidentally turn the page or press a button while changing positions or holding it comfortably. It uses Sprint's network, which is a downside for me, since Sprint cell phones don't get reception in my apartment, but I probably won't live in this apartment forever. I want to know more about the product and let time reveal it's quality before I buy or ask someone else to buy on my behalf, but Kindle does appeal to me, and I honestly think that it will do well.

Oh dear me, I ate a deer!

I went to my friend's family's Thanksgiving gathering yesterday. It was enjoyable, given that prior to yesterday I had met a total of 4 people who were there, and it was a full house. I had the opportunity to eat venison for the first time that I can remember. It was actually very tender and tasted fantastic. I understand that it has to be prepared well in order to really be at its best, and the chef did an excellent job. I think I might just love well prepared venison!

Christmas shopping...mostly done!

I did most of my Christmas shopping today. Over the past few days, numerous e-mails have been exchanged among the immediate family about Christmas presents. Most of us will not spend Christmas together, so it makes me grateful for the wondrous thing that is online shopping. They put a list up saying what they want and then with a few clicks the gifts are on their way, in some cases scheduled to arrive already wrapped. No trips to the busy malls (the very thought makes me shudder), no trips to the post office to mail packages (although I did mail something to my niece this week that was yet another "just because" present - I want her to get it before she grows out of it!), no getting halfway through wrapping something then realizing the tape is in the other room. I did not do all of my shopping, though. My parents have not yet indicated what they might want. I would like to get something for my roommate and for a few other friends, but none of the gifts will be spectacular (with the exception of a computer that one of my friends is getting, but it was won in a drawing at work for "retired" computers...it's not new but better than what she has now, for sure, and cost me nothing). In a few days I hope to be done for this year and can sit back and watch the mad rush, knowing that Amazon.com has saved me time and hassle. Wait...can I get paid for this advertisement?

One thousand word post

(Taken from my patio, 19 November, 8:17 AM)

Taking a breather

Today has been crazy at work. I have had nothing but big issues to deal with. In my first five hours of work I think I took 2 incoming calls. I had a day like this last week, too. I like it because it makes my day go by quickly and I get to expand my expertise. I am on my lunch break for a few more minutes, so I thought I would update my blog. There seems to be high demand for such a thing ;).

November 4 I went to Rochester and saw the Newsboys play there. After all these years, I'm still a fan of their music. They put on a great show at a rather small venue, too, which I really appreciated. It was really a lot of fun. They played quite a few of their older songs. I couldn't help wondering how many people in the audience weren't born yet or at least hadn't started school yet when I was first introduced to them by my sister (see what you started, Nikki?).

Since then things have been mostly routine, but that's okay. The weather is starting to turn. I went outside around noon today and it was raining, but there was a little bit of snow mixed in. Tonight there is supposed to be less than an inch of wet snow accumulation. I really prefer the light, "dry" snow. Wet snow is really heavy and dirty and just...WET.

That's about all I have time for right now. I need to follow up on a modem that has been down no less than 5 times in the past 3 hours. Work awaits!

Sweaters

I wore a sweater to church yesterday.

I am going to wear a sweater tonight (a nice, bold green one with a yellow camisole underneath - going out to watch some football - go Green Bay!).

There was ice on my car last night when I left my friend's house after a party.

I am not ready for this...

Land of cotton

Sunday morning, bright and early, I hopped on an airplane and flew to North Carolina to visit my sister and brother-in-law. My parents were also down visiting, so I got to see them, too. Our first stop was a restaurant where we ate pulled pork with Carolina style barbecue sauce. That was tasty. We then headed out to Morehead City and Beaufort on the coast. That evening we took a walking "Ghost Tour" of Beaufort, the third oldest town in NC. The tour included a lot of stories about people who died and now supposedly haunt the town. The famous pirate Blackbeard was a regular of the area and they believe they found what is left of his shipwreck just off of the shore. There were a lot of 17th century homes in town, one that still has a working outdoor kitchen. Since it was a ghost tour, we naturally had to visit the cemetery. The Old Burying Grounds has graves from the 18th century and later. We went back he next day when we could actually go inside. I find old tombstones very interesting. Many of the names seen all throughout the cemetery were names on the outside of the old homes all around it. This town, a tourist retreat for us, is where generations of families lived and died. The whole area was rich with history.

On day 2, we also took a ferry out to Shackleford Banks, a short little boat ride away. 400 years ago a ship was caught in a storm and dumped its cargo to lighten the ship. That cargo included ponies and ever since then there has been a herd of wild ponies on that little island. We spent almost two hours on the island and my parents and I did not see any ponies. My sister and brother-in-law have a better sense of direction than I do and were able to find a few of them. We all enjoyed looking for seashells along the shore on the island. Growing up on the West Coast I never saw such beautiful shells in such good condition and I never actually liked looking for them. This time was different, however, and we collected quite a few that we left with my sister at her house.

Dinner that night was seafood. I like seafood in moderation. That is to say that I like to eat it a few times a year. I felt adventurous and wanted to try a lot of different things, so my sister and I shared a two course seafood feast. It had tuna salad, shrimp salad, shrimp, clam chowder (Carolina style, which is different from any that I had ever had before), soft shell crab (the whole thing, no less), fried fish, fried oysters (I don't recall eating oysters before in any manifestation, so that was new) and fried scallops. The restaurant was called Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant. We all found that amusing. The food was fantastic.

Day 3 included a trip to the maritime museum, a little bit more shopping, and the drive back to the Raleigh/Durham area. On that ride home we took a slightly different route than we did getting to the coast and enjoyed a scenic drive. Along the way there were several cotton fields. It reminded me of how very different the economy of the South was from anywhere I have ever lived. They still grow the cotton, but harvesting is nothing like it was and the large plantations are merely hinted at today.

We stopped by my uncle and aunt's house on our way to my sister's house (they live quite near each other) and visited with them for a few minutes. Their daughter and her family live down there as well, so we watched her son's baseball game and then went to her house for some dessert and social time. The kids played on their Wii and we enjoyed watching them. My sister and I boxed each other on it. After a close encounter with being knocked out, I kicked it up notch and just did defeat her. That was a workout. I think I'm going to use the Wii I am babysitting for a friend as an exercise program now!

Wednesday was primarily the trip home, and what a trip it was. Weather all along the coast was a little bit stormy and that caused airport delays. Part one of the trip was Raleigh to Philadelphia. The airplane was late arriving in Raleigh and we boarded about 30 minutes late. Then we sat on the ground for an hour because they were backed up in Philly. As we approached Philadelphia, they were still backed up, so we got to circle for a bit. When all was said and done, we were 2 hours late arriving. My connecting flight to Binghamton was actually cancelled (I would have missed it anyway), so I got to go talk to customer service and get a new flight home. The only way they could get me into the area that night was to fly me into Syracuse (that's 80 miles away but where I tend to fly out of most of the time). I got home nearly 4 hours later than anticipated, very tired, but very glad to be home.

Since then it has been back to work and life as typical. The fall colors are here but starting to go away. Right now they are still beautiful. It makes being back from vacation that much more bearable ;).

There and back again

My trip to California was good. I didn't really see many people (so nobody should feel left out), but I was able to get some rest and spend good quality time with my dog, which is always important ;). I went through a bunch of stuff I left at my parents' house. I was, I confess, not surprised by how much was there and how much of that was junk that ended up in the garbage.

My latest challenge is helping my parents set up a new computer with two monitors. It's a good thing I'm used to doing telephone tech support. Sometimes it comes in handy. I am rather accustomed to walking people through things that I just can't see. The best part is that some of what I'm giving instructions for I have only done once before. I really do enjoy it! I'm a geek; what can I say?

Preview of coming attractions:
Coming soon to an airport near you (if you live in Raleigh, NC)! October 21-24 is my next little vacation to see my sister & brother-in-law and my parents (who are also visiting them during that time). I anticipate seeing other family there, including an uncle, aunt, cousin, etc. I think we're going to my cousin's son's little league game, which I always enjoy. I think we are also going to spend one night on the coast. It will be a quick trip, but full of good things.

I clearly can't stand staying put for long, since I will be going to Rochester for a concert on Nov 4 and will stay up there for the night rather than driving back in the wee hours of the morning.

News story of the day:
Pa. woman cited for yelling obscenities at toilet in her home
(Can't easily put a link in for it using this browser, so I'll try to remember to update it later, but here it is in the good old fashioned copy & paste linking method: http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071016/NEWS01/71016033)

Moon Over Slight

One of my projects while I am here in CA is to go through all of the junk that I left behind when I moved. Fun, huh? There is quite a lot that really is junk, or decent stuff that I just don't want. However, there are a few things that take me down memory lane.

I found a poem I wrote when I was in college. Given the content of the poem, I wrote this in my first semester of college - Fall 1999. I was sitting in my dorm room (that's the second from the end in Hotchkiss Lower Back on the side with Slight-facing windows; the right-hand side of the room if looking in from the hall...) studying. I can tell it was late in the semester because I hated going to the night class by then and it was already dark out by the time I had to go to class. The class was The Development of Modern Europe. I got a C- on my very first major assignment in that class, which probably had something to do with my aversion to it. Welcome to upper division classes, kid! The only thing about that class that I look back on and remember positively was that there was a young man in the class named Dan who walked me back to the main campus every week. He had to meet the shuttle to the off campus on campus housing (you TMC folks know what I'm talking about!) anyway, but he didn't have to wait for me. Something small but meaningful. Anyway, I will share that poem...

"Moon Over Slight"

As I look out my Hotchkiss window,
I see the moon over Slight.
To a student so weary of study,
It should be a wonderful sight.
Darkness was made for our rest
And work to be done while it's light,
So why do I have class right now
When the moon can be seen over Slight?
This poem is sadly the best
I can manage before tonight's test.

So there you have it. I never again took a night class as an undergrad because I hated it so much. I had to take them in grad school, and we can tell how long I stuck with that nonsense...

Auntie & Niece

Talia

Need I say more?

What's going on?

It has been awhile since I last updated my blog, so I'll give the short version of what's going on.
1. I leave tomorrow to go to California for a week. Yay!
2. My one year anniversary at work was two days ago and this morning I have a breakfast with other people whose hire dates are in September and October.
3. I am very thankful for grace. God is very good to us.
4. Acidophilus is my new best friend. Taking it for the past few days has really helped me feel better.
5. My niece is now 6 weeks old. Her parents are helping her with a blog, but I have chosen to not put a link here for privacy reasons. If you want a link, send me an e-mail and I will pass it along to you. One of my favorite pictures that they have posted so far is one with Talia and Anna, the daughter of a friend from college. It is very precious. :)
6. September's weather has been deceiving, but I suppose it should be expected. The month started out rather chilly, with a few frost advisories, but it has actually been rather warm out. I am enjoying that while it lasts. I still suspect that the season that officially starts in December might send its weather on a little early this year.
That's about it for now. Time to get ready for work!

Frustration

Today's post is about frustration. Right now I feel frustrated. I am frustrated with a friend because I feel very let down. I think I might be more frustrated with myself for being frustrated with that good friend because I would not feel let down if I had not set the expectations that I did. I probably set myself up for this one. I don't want to be upset with my friend, especially for something that is so small, but that's a very hard thing to talk yourself out of. I certainly hope that when I have a chance to talk about my frustration that I am reasonable and don't say anything that I may later regret. I'm sorry, my friend, for being upset with you when in reality I think that I should not be. My forgiveness is offered!

Vacation(s)

Four weeks from now I will be in California again. I am excited about that! Fly in Friday night, go to a wedding Saturday (Anna, if you're reading this, I'm sorry I haven't sent in my RSVP, but I AM coming!), go to church on Sunday, hang out for the week and then fly back on Saturday. My niece will be there for part of the time, and I can't wait to see her. My mother told me that Talia has my hands, so I'm going to have to pay special attention to that ;).

I'll be back here for two weeks and then I'm leaving for a second, brief vacation in North Carolina. It's four days including travel, but it takes 4 hours to fly down there including the one stop each direction to change planes, so travel won't cut into it too badly. My parents are going out there for 10 days or so to see my sister and my mom's brother and his family and I'm crashing the party ;).

October will be very quick and busy for me, but that's okay. I know September will fly by as well - long weekend this weekend for Labor Day so this week I'll only work 4 days, two full weeks of work then I'll work 3 days the following week and then get the traveling started! Once the traveling ends I get to start thinking about things like changing my tires to...the ones with softer, deeper treads (far too early to actually mention what I usually call them). Where did summer go?

Maps!

I am greatly indebted to my sister for pointing out the wonder that is mapsforus.org. Please do visit this website and support the effort to bring maps to the mapless US American children so they in turn can help the Iraq and South Africa and Asia. It's for our future like such as.

Okay, so for those of you who don't live on YouTube.com, Miss South Carolina's statement (if one can call it that) on maps was hilarious. It made no sense. She did not manage to form a complete sentence even once. So they made a website in her honor to collect maps. The video of Miss South Carolina is included on the page - I assure you I have watched it several times and still cannot fathom its senselessness! I have made two map submissions and may send in more as I get brilliant ideas. So far I have sent a map of Dante's Inferno and a 1958 map of Disneyland. What map will you contribute?

The name!

My niece's name is Talia Rose. I like it! :)

My sister (other new auntie, not mommy) has a very nice post about the name, and it includes a picture. Rather than attempting to repeat anything, I'll just link it here.

It's a girl!

My sister gave birth to a girl this morning around 3:30 Pacific time, after 3 to 3.5 hours of labor (not bad for a first). She is 21 inches long and weighed in at 8 pounds, 13 ounces. At this point they haven't named her yet, so I'll have to update when she finally has a name.

Alive and well!

Okay, so I'm alive still, and I am well. I returned to work last Friday after just over a week of illness. They aren't exactly sure what caused my tonsillitis, but whatever it was is gone. They tested me for both mono and strep and both were negative. They also did a CT scan of my neck, which seemed to show an abscess, but the ENT who was at the hospital said that there was nothing that he could see or feel, so I was treated with steroids for the swelling while in the hospital and antibiotics while in the hospital and for a week after I got out.

My condition when I went to the hospital was as follows:
Temperature taken by the nurse in the ER: 103
Days without being able to keep food down: 3
Days without being able to keep fluids down: 2

So I was weak, sick, tired (I wasn't sleeping, either) and dehydrated. Then when I was in the hospital I was on a no food or drink diet for the first night, and I learned that IV fluids may hydrate the body but they do not take away thirst! The treatment worked very quickly, however, and I was feeling much better Monday morning, but they wanted to keep me for another 24 hours for observation, at least to make sure that I was able to feed and hydrate myself.

My nurse on Monday evening was nice enough to get special permission from a doctor to let me take a shower. Small thing, but made me feel a lot better. One thing I could not get was antacid. After not having any food in it for four days, my stomach tended to react strongly to anything at all, which made eating hard, and I couldn't take anything for it because it wasn't on my approved list of medication. Antacid - it's over the counter, people, and I wasn't on any oral medication for it to mess with! So I dealt with heartburn and read Harry Potter in the middle of the night when sitting up was the best way to get relief. I got released Tuesday morning with a prescription for antibiotics and instructions to have a follow-up appointment with the doctor in a week.

Meanwhile...I had to take a leave of absence from work because I missed more than 3 consecutive days. This included getting a doctor's note to release me to go back to work, an official department of labor form for medical leave and calling in daily to update them on when I was coming back. I had lost my voice and also had no stamina, so it took me until Friday to get back to work. They hadn't seen my paperwork that I delivered on Thursday, so my account to log into the computers at work was disabled. On top of that, my computer was dead. It took them almost until my lunch time on Friday to get those things fixed, so I had an easy first half of my first day back. It was hard, though, because I just wanted to sleep. Saturday I also just wanted to sleep, but I had to work instead ;).

It is amazing how something as small as a slightly swollen tonsil can turn into two really swollen tonsils and a two day hospital stay (and medical bills that my insurance company may or may not cover...that's another story in itself). I have to say, however, that there are much worse things that could have landed me in the hospital and I am grateful that my first experience in the hospital was relatively "pleasant" and that I was there because I needed IVs and not because I was deathly ill!

That's it in a...nutshell? So my nutshell is big. ;)

In other news...my sister should be having that baby any day now!

Hospital!

Well, Saturday night and Sunday morning were enough to prove to me that I needed care that I could not give myself at home, so I went to the emergency room on Sunday afternoon and was admitted into the hospital that night and was just realeased 2 hours ago, so I am home again, feeling SO much better, but amazingly tired. I am therefore going to rest and update with more information on what was going on with me in the next day or two. :)

Tonsil update

I've been really sick for the past three days. Tonsillitis, but not the kind that can be treated by an antibiotic. So now I'm waiting it out, hoping it goes away soon! Pain reliever plus difficulty swallowing has made my stomach really...sensitive, shall we say? Right now I'm working on getting a small glass of water down and staying down. After that I will try to medicate myself. I'm starting to get rather dehydrated and think getting some fluids into my system is more important than trying to make myself comfortable. For whatever reason the pain is either more dull or I'm getting used to having it and can doze off even with half of my face and neck swollen, so water is priority #1.

My Harry Potter book arrived in the mail, so that's what has been helping me pass the time. Unfortunately it means that I dream Harry Potter. As much as I like Harry, that's kind of annoying. Anyway, that's the situation in a nutshell. I really look forward to getting well!

Not fun

I appear to have a rather inflamed tonsil right now. It hurts. A lot. So much so that I'm updating my blog at 3:00 AM instead of sleeping. I woke up with it yesterday, went to work for a couple of hours, then came home to take it easy and avoid getting my coworkers sick. I opted not to go to the walk in clinic, and I regret that. Right now I'm counting down the hours until it opens. 9:00 AM is only 6 hours away. Hopefully some hot tea and exhaustion will allow me to get some sleep in the meantime. Pain reliever so far seems to do nothing. This isn't fun!

I've been quiet!

I just realized today how long it has been since I last posted! I suppose two weeks is not my longest silence ever, but it's high time that I greet the world again.

I have recently become addicted to playing Final Fantasy XI. I am still getting used to playing it, and fortunately I have a much more experienced player helping me along. It is quite fun. *sigh* I'm such a nerd!

Things are going well at work. I finally have my own desk now, although I have to live with only one monitor for now, and have no idea when I'll get a second one like everyone else in the department has. I am starting to feel more and more comfortable with my job responsibilities, which is a good thing. I have a little bit less fear and paranoia every time my phone rings! I find that I like helping techs more than the average customer. Maybe it's because we can tell them what we see and work with them to fix the problem and can understand each other. Their issues are also a little bit more predictable and are usually not difficult to fix for them. I admit that I am still a little bit...on edge whenever I see that I'm getting a "commercial" call (business class, including hotels) since they can either be easy or really complicated. One thing I have learned is that if the gateway tells you that a device attached to it has failed even after resetting everything, there's nothing I can do from my desk to help! ;)

I saw the latest Harry Potter movie on Sunday night. They cancelled the evening service at church, so I went with a few friends to celebrate a birthday. I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, and cannot wait until the last book comes out on Saturday. I have a few theories from book 6 that I am quite curious to discover whether I was on the right track with them or not.

My office redecorating project is making slow progress. I am using some curtains to recover the futon and have ripped the seams on one of the two panels, so I'm halfway through that part of it. Then I get to get everything ready to start sewing. I bought curtain rods to use and the sheer panels for the window just shipped today, so things are coming together, albeit slowly. Right now I have what has come so far set out in such a way that things look roughly like they will once I finish with everything. It probably won't take me more than a couple of months to finish everything! ;)

I should be an auntie in approximately 30 days! I still have quite a long way to go on the afghan I'm making for my niece, so I'm going to have to get moving on that. I am thinking I will deliver it in person in September, but at this rate I might be hard pressed to finish it by then.

I suppose that's my life right now in a nutshell. Time is flying by!

Violating their own policy

Someone brought the Net Authority Violations website to my attention today. I include the link so that my readers can read what it actually says. I read that one page, not even bothering to read the rest of their site, and reported their own site as violating internet acceptable use, for two of the five reasons they allow to submit.

They give three examples of seemingly innocent sites that are actually very bad. Example #1 I will not argue with. They say that pictures of unclothed babies shouldn't be posted. Quite frankly I would agree. No matter what our parents may put in our own photo albums, leave that off of the internet.

Example #2 is reason number one that they got a submission from me for their own site. This one I'm just going to quote. Paraphrasing won't do it justice.

If you read the bible (you should, it's great!) you know that dinosaurs never actually existed, and that God put those fossils and bones there to test our faith in Him. While the stories themselves may not contain any offensive material, the simple fact that they are about dinosaurs may cause a child to question his faith in the one true God. By blaspheming, this site is in violation of the Internet Acceptable Use Policy and should be added to our database.

The Bible never says that dinosaurs never existed. I don't recall the Bible ever referring to aardvarks, either, but we know they exist because...they exist. For anyone interested, Answers in Genesis has some good stuff about dinosaurs and the Bible. Quite frankly, the notion that God planted fossils and bones to test faith is silly. Could God have done that? Certainly. Would God have done that? No, I don't think so. God is not the author of confusion, and putting bones on the earth that don't belong to any animal that actually existed would be cause for confusion, would it not? I'll let Ken Ham argue the issue, however ;). I used the reason of blasphemy for reporting the site.

The third example has to do with pictures of farm animals. Again, paraphrasing would never do justice to this, so I quote:

But imagine that some of the photos of animals included the animal genitalia in plain sight. This is hardly something that young children should be looking at, and especially not to be associated with the joy of viewing a fun website. By associating a feeling of joy with animal genitalia, this website would be an extreme danger to children and should definitely be added to the Net Authority database as a bestiality offender.

Young children should also not be around dogs, either, if that is the case, or visit a farm or a zoo. I think it speaks for itself. I didn't report them for this, just found it...silly.

The second reason I reported them was the way they worded reason #5 for submitting offending sites: Bestiality (including interracial relationships). This I reported for being hateful material. That just ruffles my feathers, to say the least. To say that is to say that anyone who is not of my racial group is an animal, some other species, or otherwise sub-human. That, to me, is hateful.

Someone else who saw the website thought it was a joke. Perhaps it is a joke, but I think they are serious, and that is just sad. Good intentions, but highly impractical on some points and misled on others. So the site got a little reaction out of me...heh...

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy 4th of July, all! Holidays in the middle of the week are great. They make the work week so much faster and easier to get through. Unfortunately I have to work this afternoon, but I am hoping that it will be slow. I also am making myself a to do list for the day:
1. Assemble casserole to be baked tomorrow
2. Take out garbage & recycling from all rooms
3. Put away clean dishes and load dirty dishes into dishwasher
4. Pay bills
5. Measure pillows to determine how much material I need to re-cover them
6. Sew buttons on shirt

Item #1 needs to get done today but can be done either before or after work. Items 2 & 3 really need to get done this morning because my roommate is coming home after a week-long vacation today and I don't know if she'll get here before I get home from work. Item #4 I think I might actually take with me to work and do there ;). Items 5 & 6 can wait if need be, but might as well do them today since I have the evening off and don't have any holiday plans. Exciting way to celebrate independence from those horrible British, isn't it? ;)

Family update

My mother sent me pictures today from my sister's baby shower yesterday. With about 7 weeks left before the due date, I am going to be an auntie before I know it! My mom included pictures of the stuff I took with me to California for my niece, and she wrapped it in a Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore bag, which was done on purpose, I am sure. You can always tell when gifts are for or from me around my house, since if Eeyore is on the bag or wrapping paper, I am somehow connected to it ;). I really need to get going on the second blanket I am making if I am going to finish it in time!

I don't know if I mentioned this before or not, but my oldest sister is moving to North Carolina this week. I am excited about that, since I will have immediate family much closer than I did before. She's actually going to be living very close to an aunt and uncle and one of our cousins, so where they are will be the greatest concentration of my family anywhere in the country. It also means that my immediate family is spread out quite a lot. My parents and my other sister (the one having the baby soon) will be the closest, and they are about 8 hours away by car. The drive from here to where my sister is moving is about 10 hours. This is the story of my family, however. By now only a handful of my family (parents, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins) actually live in the same area (or even state!) they grew up. I am not unique in that sense!

I have not heard anything lately about my grandmother, so I have no news on that front. I suppose given the circumstances, no news is definitely good news.

Schedule change!

My schedule changed at work a lot sooner than I expected it to. I was assuming it would happen some time in August, but last Thursday I received word that it was changing....the next day! To make a long story short, between some overtime I put in and the schedule change I worked 8 straight days between days off. What it allowed me to do, however, was go to church on Sunday evening - the first Sunday evening in several months! I was also able to go out afterward with some friends. It was very nice to be able to do that again. I look forward to getting back to church more often and think I will try to start going to Sunday School again, too. No more working on Sunday, so I can nap all afternoon if I don't get enough sleep on Saturday night!

I am no longer training for my new position. While the training seemed to drag on, I don't think the number of days I actually trained before they had me take calls without someone sitting with me is the equivalent of two weeks of work. Not much, but so far I have managed fairly well. There are still things that baffle me, but I seek help and learn something new! I like the stuff we do in this position better, even though much of it is the same as what I did before, just a little bit more in depth.

I have decided to redecorate the office in my apartment. I have some rather ambitious ideas, but I think when it is all done it will look really good! It involves recovering a futon and its pillows which I plan to do with some curtains that I like the pattern on and some pillow cases. I ordered some framed black & white photography and some curtains (as of right now the window has nothing covering it), and I am excited to see how it all comes together. My roommate is gone for a few days and doesn't know about my plans, so hopefully she won't object! ;)

Life is going by so quickly for me these days, which is probably evident at my lack of posting recently!

Forbidden Fruit?

Last night I brought home my MacBook. That's right. I am now a Mac owner. I have much still to learn about it, but so far I like it. Everything runs really fast and it really is easy to install things ;). Fortunately I have friends who know a lot about this, so I can get some assistance with learning some of the finer points, but as for right now I think I am going to love it!

Queens

I went to Queens on Saturday. That marks the second time in my life that I have been in New York City. The first time was something like 16 years ago, and I distinctly remember not particularly caring for the city. This time my visit included a bus ride to Shea Stadium, a Mets game, and a bus ride back to Binghamton. I went with a group from work, and the company paid for all of it, so it was free for me (except food). People were complaining about how expensive food was at the baseball game, and I was actually pleasantly surprised by the prices. Food was cheaper than what you pay at a baseball game in California, although still overpriced.

The game was nice. There was action, but it did not drag on forever. I was a bit amused to see the fans on their feet cheering with two strikes on a Diamondback batter with two out...in the top of the first inning. That was just funny to me. Guys! There are 8 more innings to go, relax! Fortunately for me, I wanted the Mets to win because Arizona is battling with the Dodgers for first place in the NL West, so I fit in with the crowd, and was also quite pleased with the outcome. We were sitting in the sun the whole time, so it made me grateful for sunblock once again. It was a warm day, but not oppressively so, at least in my Southern Californian opinion. The stadium is very close to the coast, which probably kept the temperature down quite a bit and also might be one reason for the fairly steady breeze that made the day more enjoyable.

On the way home we drove past Yankee Stadium, so I can at least say that I have seen it with my own eyes. They are building new stadiums for both the Mets and the Yankees, so being in one and seeing the other really did mean something to me. I suppose there is a little bit (okay, a lot) of my father in me, and I like being able to tally states, countries, and baseball stadiums that I have been to.

The bus we were on had air conditioning that worked a little bit too well, but the engine and/or transmission was a little bit less than impressive. There was a bit of an incline on one stretch of the highway, and the bus literally did not go any faster than 30 mph on that incline. I was not the only one aboard someone concerned about whether or not we were actually going to make it home, but we did. When all was said and done, I left my apartment at 7:30 am and arrived at 9:00 pm. It was a long day, but I am glad I went, even though technically I went by myself since I never did find anyone to take with me (fear not, one of my friends from work was there and had the seats right next to mine). Baseball games are always a good choice ;).

Sad

There are two things that I have pondered lately that make me sad. The first is the impact the world has on Christians. I am no exception. I amaze myself sometimes at how I respond to things, because I know what my mind jumps to is NOT what a follower of Jesus Christ should embrace. I suppose it just proves that I am not wholly sanctified, but for me it also proves that I should probably take care to focus on the things that are not of this world so that my mind may be transformed more and more.

The second is when people do not heed the words of wisdom spoken to them. More than one example comes to mind for this one as well. When a voice of reason breaks through the din of foolishness, one should listen. When people don't listen they end up unhappy, and needlessly so, because they were shown a way out of the hole they have been digging for themselves. Sometimes it is because they cannot understand that the majority is not always right and sometimes it is because they are probably too afraid to do what they need to, but either way the result is the same, and it is a sad thing to observe.

While the overall tone of the post is somewhat dark, I am doing very well. I started my training officially for my new position this week and cannot believe that my weekend has arrived already. Vacation really was good for me, and I am much more relaxed and patient than I was before I left.

Back to New York

Well, I got back to my New York home at 1:15 this morning after a very quick but great trip back to my California home. Friday night my dad and I went to the Dodger game, as planned. We had 5th row field level seats, which are by far the best I've ever had. We didn't stay for the whole game, as I was rather tired and they had one horrible inning during which their lead was obliterated and they were suddenly behind by three runs. They ended up winning, so that's good, even though we didn't see it happen. ;)

Saturday we went to Newport Beach for a walk, and we, of course, took the dog and his stroller with us. He got to walk part of the way, but he doesn't seem to mind just going along for the ride, and he looks darn cute doing it! We then ate at a restaurant several miles up the beach, which made for a rather nice drive, and then went home. I took a brief nap when we got home and then my sister and brother-in-law came over. My sister made a "Lizziebennet" (my online pirate - www.puzzlepirates.com) doll and brought me pirate band-aids and facial tissues which she brought to me. They are quite fun.

We went to dinner and had some great steak. Then we went to a pirate shop in Uptown Whittier, which was great fun. I bought some stuff to take in to work, since the group I will be part of now has a pirate theme. We then returned to my parent's house and sat and talked for a bit, ate some pie, then played some games together. The night grew late far too quickly, but it was a really great day for all of us.

Then yesterday I went to church. It was nice to be back, but a bit different. We went to the early service, which I really never went to unless I was singing for it somehow, and a lot of people were gone because of the holiday weekend. I got to see a number of people, and that was great. Then after that...time to fly! My dog slept on my lap the whole way to the airport, which is rare, since he usually doesn't sleep on laps in the car, but it was precious nonetheless. Then I flew home, which was relatively uneventful. The last flight was a few minutes late, which was okay, because I had virtually no layover without the delay, and since I was driving myself home, it didn't hold anyone up. So that's that, and I'm back home. The trip was really quite wonderful!

Taking California by stomach

So far my stay here in California can be summed up by...food. There are a number of foods and restaurants that I find rather palatable that are either very hard or impossible to find in New York. My first meal at home...tamales. Yum! They were white corn chicken tamales. Breakfast the next morning was not anything particularly special, but I made it, so that might have something to do with it ;). For lunch yesterday I had In-N-Out, the BEST fast food burgers I have ever eaten, hands down. For dinner last night my dad made carne asada, which he purchased from a Mexican meat market in the neighborhood, and we had more tamales (beef and pork with yellow corn this time) with beans, rice and tortillas. Breakfast was typical company fare for our house...omelette, bacon, hash browns, fruit and coffee cake. (Meals tend to be a bit over the top around here, but I don't mind that!) For lunch we are going to go to Ricardo's El Ranchito, which is one of my two favorite restaurants. They make their tortilla chips from flour tortillas, and those just can't be beat! Tonight I will eat at Dodger Stadium, so probably some garlic fries and a hot dog or bratwurst. The only meal plan for tomorrow that I know of so far is dinner. We are going to go with my sister and brother-in-law to Steak-n-Stein, which is my other favorite restaurant. I think I'll get myself a filet mignon, medium rare. Mmmm! I'll probably gain a few pounds out here at this rate, but considering how long I have to wait between enjoying some of these things I might be okay with that. ;). I am, of course, enjoying being with my family and my dog.

Home!

I arrived in LA safe and sound yesterday. The flights were uneventful. I had a middle seat for the nearly 6 hour flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, but I was asked if I would mind sitting in the exit row, so I had my middle seat there where I could stretch my legs out. That was nice. I didn't sleep much, but I did read quite a bit of the May/June issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, and that helped pass the time. My dog was very, very happy to see me, which made me happy :). It really does not feel like I have been gone as long as I have.

I was rather tired and went to bed at 9:00 last night (Pacific time) and then got up at 6:00 after giving the dog some good, well-deserved loving and made breakfast for my mom and me. My dad has a test today, so he's on a liquid diet, or else I would have made even more food ;). I also unloaded the clean dishes from the dishwasher and put them away. My mom said they should have me out here more often. It is good to be home, for sure.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow I hop on an airplane (or two) and fly home to California to spend a few days with the family. Tomorrow. It has been over a year since I have seen any of them. I am going to really enjoy that time. My dog will also get some special attention from me. I miss that little guy! I can't believe this is happening tomorrow already!

The Word of God

The word of God never ceases to be relevant. Though written thousands of years ago, the Bible still speaks truth. God never changes, nor does His word. His word is still a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Last night I read about Abraham obeying God when God said to sacrifice Isaac. That reminded me that God asks us to give up things we hold dear, and we must give them up whether or not we think we will get them back. Today's e-mail devotional contained a passage from Isaiah about God's guidance in our lives. Both are things that speak to me now, loudly and clearly. No other book can do this; there is power in the words because they are God's. What an amazing gift we have received!

Sunshine and rain

Sometimes the weather is a good reflection on life. Yesterday was hot and sunny and today is cool and rainy. It seems that life has been like that for me a lot over the past six months, and perhaps even longer than that. Bittersweet, really. Good mingling in with bad. Joy and pain. But after the rain God sends a rainbow to remind us of His promises. I am so thankful that He is faithful to us, and must remember that both sunshine and rain are necessary for things to grow.

Grandmother update

My grandmother is actually doing a little bit better now. She is under hospice care, but she has eaten more and is more alert, so hopsice will be reevaluated after one week to determine whether it is appropriate or not at this time. We shall see.

Just a man

I was reading my Bible this evening and read about the flood and then about how Noah got drunk from wine from the vineyard he planted. He fell asleep naked in his tent. Noah was just a man. I think that I am still tempted to consider people like Noah somehow superhuman, even though I know that he's not. God uses real people, and we don't have to be perfect. We just have to be obedient. Noah is remembered because of what God did when he obeyed, not for being a crazy old man who built a boat in a world that knew no rain. His neighbors laughed, but by obeying God it became apparent that he was not the village idiot. He was the wisest of them all. Noah was just a man, and he wasn't perfect, but when he obeyed God, God did great things in his life. That same God is still at work and still says to His children, "If you love Me, obey My commands."

Reading Genesis one also finds stories of "sons of God" finding women attractive and procreating to create a tribe of giants. There are great warriors who became the stuff of legends. Like flood legends from around the world, how much mythology is also based on historical fact? That's just food for thought.

The best laid plans of mice and men...

My parents have often planned to travel and had things come up that would not allow them to do so. I have likewise had this happen, so I understand how it goes. They were planning on coming to see me in just over two weeks. They aren't coming. My grandmother is going to be put in hospice care possibly as early as tomorrow, and there's a good chance that she won't live for more than a week or two, although nothing is guaranteed. As things are, even without making the decision to make the hospice contract, she probably would not live particularly long anyway. My dad is the one with power of attorney, my parents are responsible for all funeral arrangements, and circumstances just dictate that right now they need to stay home. So instead of them coming to me, I will be going to them. That's right. I am going home. I leave on the 23rd and come back on the 27th, so I won't be around long, but I will probably see most of my immediate family that way, and I will definitely find a way to spend some good, quality time with my dog. If my grandmother passes before I leave, they'll bury her and then have the memorial service when I am there. I really wish a trip home like this was for another reason, but honestly the timing seems about right. I already had the time off, and, as we discovered, airline ticket prices rose daily, so if things had happened quickly, coming home for this may not otherwise have been much of an option (and my parents can afford to pay for my ticket since they are saving money by not coming to see me, which would have been otherwise a lot harder for them to do). Usually I get excited about going home, and I am glad to be going, believe me, since it was a year ago this weekend that I was last there and saw any of my family, but so much of that is clouded by the circumstances.

Bombing WalMart?

There was a bomb scare at the local WalMart on Monday night. I showed up around 11:30 pm and everyone was standing around outside the entrance. Apparently I missed the excitement, since the police were there for 45 minutes or so. Not long after I got there they let people back in. Crazy. Who wants to bomb WalMart?

In other news, I got the job! I don't know yet when I'll start, but it will probably be next month. I am excited about that! ;)

Update

1. I still enjoy seeing Spring everywhere! The trees are starting to sprout leaves, and it is just fun to see it!

2. I won second place in a pirate parody karaoke contest. No joke. I was shocked!

3. Still no word on the new job...officially. I think I will find out in a week or so. I am really trying not to get my hopes up too high!

4. My parents are coming to see me in 3.5 weeks! I am excited! It will be a year at the end this week since I have seen them, so this is a huge thing for me.

5. I cannot get over how amazing it is to watch God work in someone's life. Nothing like it. Nothing.

6. Sometimes life is just confusing. If we knew everything, there would be no need for trust. I think that trust is one of the greatest things in life, and being able to trust God is the greatest trust we can have. If everything always made sense, we would lose out on that. So right now I will trust in Him.

Spring?

Today was a beautiful day. It was warm and sunny and there was a nice breeze. I spent time at a park, enjoying the day and was delighted to see green on the trees and bushes. We had a snow storm on Monday, so the nice weather was most welcome to me. I got a bit of a sunburn while at the park, but I intentionally did not put sunblock on today. I decided to let my skin soak in all of the rays, both good and bad. It's my first burn of 2007 and I am willing to deal with the minor burn in exchange for the sunshine.

I also had a chance to sit on my patio today and read. I am reading Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton. It was recommended by a friend who has similar intellectual tastes to my own, so I figured I would enjoy it. I was not prepared to laugh aloud several times while reading a philosophically inclined book on Christian faith. Chesterton is so witty. So far I am enjoying it immensely!

I am also still enjoying watching God work in the life of a friend. God is still in the business of transforming lives, and I love to see it in action! He is the God of all creation, displayed in the beauty of a warm Spring afternoon, and the God of new creations, displayed in the life of my friend. What a glorious God He is indeed!

Highs and lows

This week I have seen things happen that are amazingly exciting. The prodigal returned and I got to watch it happen. I think I shed a few tears of joy in the process. Then I had a conversation with someone tonight that I think needed to happen and it was not enjoyable. It was probably the last page of the last chapter of a short book that once was a friendship. The death knell was sounded long ago, but tonight I think I saw the coffin nailed shut and lowered down into the ground. I shed a few tears over that as well, but these were hardly tears of joy. Things make more sense to me now, but I don't think I will ever understand why the friendship ever existed if it was to end like this. One way or the other, it's over. Fortunately the joy from this week is of such a nature that it outweighs the sorrow. God is good. God is faithful. God takes care of His children.

Interview Update

The interview went well yesterday. I am sure it could have been better, but I don't expect perfection. Now it's time to wait, which is the most difficult part of the process. I think they should hire me ;), but there may be better candidates. We shall see. Pray that I will be patient and graciously accept their decision!

Interview today!

I suppose posting this is somewhat "better late than never", although I really should have posted as soon as I found out on Wednesday. I have an interview for that position at work today at 10:00 am. I met with my supervisor last night and she went over some things with me to help prepare me. I think I will do fine, but things are in God's hands one way or the other.

Ice Cream?

Well, here's my first personality quiz in quite some time, in honor of the fact that I actually went out for ice cream last night for the first time in months. I think some of this is pretty accurate for me ;).

You Are Strawberry Ice Cream

A bit shy and sensitive, you are sweet to the core. You often find yourself on the outside looking in. Insightful and pensive, you really understand how the world works. You are most compatible with chocolate chip ice cream.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

The LORD was pleased

Isaiah 53
The Suffering Servant

1 Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

3 He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.

6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?

9 His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

10 But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

11 As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.

Every time I read this passage, I am struck by it. The LORD was pleased to crush His own Son to heal us, to bring us back from our own way and forgive all of our sins. Tomorrow is Good Friday - good because on that day an innocent man was willingly killed for crimes He did not commit. That innocent man was God in the flesh, on earth for that very purpose. An unjust execution of the innocent graciously brought life to the guilty. The LORD was pleased.

Afikoman

The afikoman is prepared during the fourth part of the Seder, Yachatz. During this ritual, the leader of the Seder takes the middle piece of matzo out from the stack of three whole matzot on the Seder table. He breaks the matzo in two, returning the smaller piece to the stack and putting aside the larger piece to be eaten later during Tzafun ("Hidden", the eleventh part of the seder, which immediately follows the main meal). This latter piece is the afikoman.
After eating the festive meal and any dessert (such as ice cream or kosher for Passover confections), a piece from the afikoman is distributed to each participant at the Seder. If there are many guests at the table, each will receive a small piece of the afikoman supplemented by additional pieces of other matzo.
The Halakha prescribes that an olive-sized piece of matzo be eaten to fulfill the mitzvah of eating the afikoman. Many people eat an additional, olive-sized piece of matzo together with it. The first piece of matzo commemorates the korban Pesach (Paschal lamb), whose meat was eaten at the very end of the festive Seder meal in the days that the Temple in Jerusalem stood.
The second piece commemorates the matzo that was eaten together with the meat of the Paschal Lamb in the days of the Temple, in fulfillment of the Torah commandment, "They shall eat [the Passover lamb] together with matzo and maror" (Exodus 12:8). The afikoman is eaten while reclining to the left. (Wikipedia)

I think that the afikoman is cool. :) I don't know when the practice of breaking the second of three pieces of unleavened bread in half began, but there is some really neat symbolism there. Most of this I learned while in Israel, and six years is long enough to put some rather thick rust on my memory, so hopefully I get this right!
1. The second of three pieces is broken, half removed from the others. Jesus, the second member of the trinity, was temporarily removed from heaven when He came to earth.
2. The afikoman is also now broken to represent the Paschal Lamb. Jesus is the Lamb of God, slain during Passover in Jerusalem.
3. The afikoman is followed by the third of four glasses of wine served during the Seder. It is the only time that breaking bread is immediately followed by wine. Jesus took the bread and broke it, saying, "This is My body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me." Then He took the wine and said, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood."
While the Seder has undoubtedly changed over the years, these three practices make me love the afikoman's place in the annual celebration. Jesus is ever present in the Seder for those would would see Him there.

Winsock?

Today I reset my first winsock catalog. And Dan probably thought I was kidding when I said I was going to put that on my blog. I wasn't. ;)

Overwhelmed

Tonight I am overwhelmed by the greatness of God. He seemingly moves mountains to touch our lives. He uses us when we are not as faithful as we should be. I am honored to be His servant. What a joy it is to serve. I find that when we are willing to do what He asks us to do that He clears the path in front of us. My heart wants to sing. My face has a smile on it. I would say that I feel joyful, but I think elation may be a better term. Why? I have seen God at work and it is a marvelous thing to behold.

Can I get a "Woot!"?

I was chatting with a friend the other day and he mentioned how Jesus was crucified and did not stay dead, and I could not help but respond with "Woot!" to that. The very mention of Christ's death and resurrection excited me. What wondrous love is this, oh my soul!

In other news, lest any of you are tempted as I was to think that my new age (and Tim's and Matthew's, too!) of 26 makes for a rather uninteresting number, I would like to pass along it's significance, with special thanks to the friend who pointed it out to me. There are 26 characters in 128-bit WEP encryption keys. So for the few readers who might appreciate that (or even know what that means), here's to 26! Sigh... I'm such a nerd!

The big news!

When my sister called me yesterday I barely gave her time to express her birthday greeting to me before I adamantly demanded that she tell me the news. She made me guess whether I thought it was a boy or a girl and why. I thought for a brief moment and said, "Girl." My reason? It's what the "gut" said. Wasn't the first thing I thought. "Boy" actually came to mind first and I dismissed it and settled on "girl" instead. Well, I was right. I've got some lavender yarn just waiting around here, so I shall have to begin some sort of project. :) I am excited. August can't come soon enough, then September after that when I will actually see my neice! :) I just love cute little baby girl clothes, and it will take a lot of will power to not buy everything I see!

My birthday wish

Someone asked me a few days ago what my birthday wish is. I gave a very selfish answer. I have changed my mind. I want the angels to have a party. That's my wish. :)

My sister is supposed to call me some time today and tell me if she's expecting a boy or a girl. My parents know but won't tell me.

It's open...

The job position I would like to move into at work just opened this week. I have to be in my current position for 6 months before I can apply. My six month anniversary is on Sunday. There is only a ten day application window for the position, so I am just managing to squeak through! I will not be the only internal applicant for it and I am sure there will be some competition. One friend tells me that I am the strongest candidate, but I am not sure whether that's really an impartial opinion. I think I have a fair shot at it. I am working at picking up information that would be helpful to know and learning as much as I can before I go in to the interview. It will be interesting to me to see who actually applies and then who gets the job. I have a feeling there will be other opportunities for the same position opening up in the relatively near future, so even if I don't get it now there will be other chances. We shall see. ;).

Fickle, material moment

I was sitting here thinking of all of the things I would do if I had more money than I needed to comfortably cover my living expenses. Honestly I can think of very few. I would first visit California more often or travel more in general. I would get electrolysis or some other kind of permanent hair removal. I would have laser eye surgery. I would buy a dog (which, by now, we all know!). I would buy more preppy clothes, too, I am sure. And that's my list. Not long, but I could always find ways to spend more money. Amazing how fickle most of those things are. Getting a dog and travel, especially to see family, are not, to me, fickle, but the others most certainly are. None are horribly expensive, though, so perhaps someday I will have to replace these things with others...

The latest in online trends

So now I am an online karaoke artist. I really only found out about this a few days ago when my sister sent me a link to her page, and I had to create an account to rate her songs and leave feedback. Since I had an account, I might as well record. So I did. If you're up for it, you can find me here.

Making a spectacle of myself...

I said at one point that I would post pictures of myself wearing my glasses that I got in January. I actually wore them today and thought that I might take the time to take some pictures of myself.

Here I am looking like I am up to something:
And here I am trying to look like a "nice girl":
So there you have it. ;)

Time change

I really dislike setting the clocks ahead an hour. I lost an hour of sleep, and that never goes over well with me. Today felt weird from start to finish. I woke up when the clock said it was approximately the same time that I usually get up, but I wasn't ready to get up. My brain, however, decided to start rummaging through various plans for the day, and once the brain starts moving, I know there is no going back to sleep! So I got up and did some stuff, feeling really tired all along, and finally went back to bed. I almost made myself late for work because I set my alarm and then forgot to turn it on. Ooops. I managed to get myself ready and get out the door in time to make it with a few minutes to spare. The day seemed to drag on at work, yet it didn't feel like it was as late as it was. The clocks, in other words, did not fool my body! When 11:00 pm rolled around I was wide awake, so when I got home I spent my night cleaning the kitchen. I had left it a mess the past few days since I was cooking and baking on the run, and once I got going there was really no point in stopping until it was all done. The counters are clean, the stove is clean, there are no dirty dishes, the trash and recycling are all taken out and things look tidy. I had the energy to do it, so why not? I suppose that is one good thing that came from the time change!

Ambition in action

I've heard some news on the job front. Someone who works in the group at work that I would like to move into is actively seeking other job opportunities. Timing of that might mean an open position relatively soon. I will be able to apply for other positions in 15 days. I feel like I have so much to learn, but that hasn't stopped me in the past and I won't let it stop me from at least trying now. I was talking to a co-worker who is in the targeted group and asking about what I could do to learn more. I will probably start learning about networking, and what he suggested is becoming a Cisco Certified Network Associate. It's going to take some work, but I have no doubt that the work will pay off in the end. Let the geekiness begin!

"Use it and be blessed"

I received an unsolicited item in the mail today. I decided to replicate the envelope here so that my readers could read what it said on the outside.
Front:
"God's Holy Spirit instructed us to loan you this to start turning things around for you. So, here it is." And also: "Use it and be blessed."
Back:
"Dear God,
With our Bibles opened to St. Matthew 18:19, we humbly and sincerely pray on bended knees for You to anoint this letter with Your precious and holy power to meet the most pressing needs that someone is facing as they open this church letter of prayer.
Heavenly Father, we pray that this one who needs this divine help will write their needs on page two of this letter and will place this blessed, biblical, Acts 19:11, 12, Handkerchief and this sealed Bible prophecy under their side of the bed as they sleep tonight.
Let Thy power from heaven descend upon this home tonight and tomorrow night, after this one has mailed their most pressing needs back to this 56-year-old church ministry. We pray that they will break open this sealed prophecy after sunset tomorrow. Amen."

Let's just say that I did not exactly follow the directions. Enclosed was a letter explaining how the Bible instructs ministers to send Bible faith handkerchiefs to people's homes. It contained a "loaned" (does he want it back?) "paper, Bible faith handkerchief for something good to happen to you." The "handkerchief is a piece of paper with a pattern printed on both sides. It is a standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper that looks more like a very small, cheap place mat than anything else. I read on and found out that I was supposed to print my name in the middle of it and the name of someone that I really love who needs God's help under my name. Then I'm supposed to fill out the form on the back that allows me to pray for such things as To be saved, a better job, confusion in my home (why would I want that?), a money blessing, or "I am sowing my seed gift to God's work of $_______". I then take the handkerchief with my name on it and someone else's name on it and put it inside my Bible on top of Acts 19:11-12, put it under my side of the bed, and sleep with it there for tonight and tonight only. In the morning, I am to put the handkerchief with the names and my little prayer form in an envelope marked "The Next Morning" (which I prefer to call the "morning after envelope") and mail it to the ministry. After sunset tomorrow night, after the morning after envelope and its contents have been mailed, I am supposed to open a sealed Bible prophecy. If I do not do the above and do not mail the handkerchief back, I am told that I must destroy the prophecy, "unopened and unread, because this is of a spiritual nature."

Also included were testimonials from people who used this special system and had wonderful results from it. And the unsealed sealed prophecy. Yes, I said unsealed. It was a sheet of paper with cheesy, somewhat fuzzy paintings of Jesus, folded over like a normal letter, with a sticker seal set off center and no longer sticking to the paper enough to actually seal anything. A glance at it told me that it was full of more excessive use of bold and underlined fonts, and had a heading on it that said, "A sign from the Lord about your future." The prophecy was, for all I could tell, something that came from someone at the church, and had a grand total of one biblical reference in it. O me of little faith. It's going in the trash now. Opened. Partially read. Unsealed. The handkerchief is going with it.

Provision, responsibility, temptation

I was reviewing finances and budget last night. I am one of those people who believes that if we are not irresponsible with our money that God will provide what we need to get by. I'm doing alright this month with the finances, for sure. I paid all of my bills for this month except rent, and because I pay all of the common bills my rent check is usually pretty low (in other words I pay rent/2 - common bills/2). Our electric bill was much higher than usual due to the really cold weather we got last month, so my rent this month is less than $200. I have two paychecks coming between now and then and the one coming on Thursday is much higher than usual. I am also expecting my tax refunds to come sometime this month. The extra money is great, but the question is what to do with it. I know what it is going to go to, honestly. I need to pay off debt. The question is which debt to pay down and how much money to save for the near future when the last of my student loans comes out of its grace period. The new monthly payment for that one lender alone is equivalent to what I am giving to the church every month right now. I am doing fine paying all of my bills now because I have been really careful about how I have been spending my money and right now am able to predict fairly well how much I'll have to pay for everything monthly. That extra expense means that I have to be really careful. I crunched the numbers. If I make the same amount of money in June that I do on average now, my income will cover everything except giving to the church. Not giving is not an option, so I am going to have to use my extra money now very wisely to put myself in a position where my income covers everything. I need less debt, not more, and I will not stop giving back to God in gratitude for what He has given me, especially when I know very well that I can easily make up the difference by working a few extra hours every week. If that's what it takes, I'll do it.