Musings on Life in General

First True Nashville Celebrity Sighting

2007-05-20T21:33:00.001-05:00

Jack White, outside Fulin's in Brentwood, approximately 8pm at the end of a nearly perfect day.

Chadd rocks my face off.

2006-12-21T13:56:00.000-06:00

That is all.

(Perhaps over the holidays I will have time to a) finish my England journal and b) post a for real blog... we'll see. "For real," of course, is open to interpretation.)

Yeah, I haven't posted. Sue me.

2006-12-07T10:43:00.000-06:00

Well, please don't really sue me. Honestly, I get bored talking about myself, and things have been busy. My old computer finally died, as in good and dead, so I got a long-coveted MacBook. Love it. Three Thanksgivings. Lots of church stuff. One day the England journal will be done... if you're lucky. For now, I leave you with:

Dead mice: 5
Alive mice: 2
Mousetraps placed: 9
Holes discovered in apartment walls so far: 4
Holes fixed in apartment walls so far: 2
Calls to apartment office: 6

Sappy apartment resident who, upon finding dead mouse in glue trap, thought aw, he's still kind of cute in a really gross way and that was probably a really bad way to go: 1

Christmas present

2006-11-21T17:33:00.000-06:00

In other news, I received my first fruitcake today. I'm intrigued.

England: Day 6

2006-11-21T12:54:00.000-06:00

I know that the four of you who still read this blog in faint hopes of new posts have been very concerned that I left you in the middle of our England trip. Fear not. I was out of town but now am back!

Day Six - that would be Wednesday - was the last day of our HBC. Highlights included Lynn as Elijah ("Is that a man or a woman?!" - we think the eyeliner threw the kids off), everyone wearing their tie-dye shirts, more sketches, more singing and the Jungle Olympics. It was our last day with a lot of the kids, although a lot of them were around for the youth weekend since their parents helped out. Paul said they had several new kids come that week, which is fantastic.

Wednesday afternoon began our Magical Mystery Tour. The MMT had been the source of much discussion. Here's the summary: Last year's group didn't do a youth weekend, so they flew in and out of London and did a couple of days there at the end of the trip. Because our schedule was different with the youth weekend, we had Wednesday afternoon through Friday morning off between the HBC and youth weekend. So originally we were planning on going to Ireland for a day and a half. Well, plane ticket prices tripled in a week, making that quite out of the question. So, the fabulous Michelle took on the task of planning a trip where no one else knew where we were going, all on a very limited budget.

So Wednesday afternoon the awesome and fantastic Jason drove us to London's Stansted Airport, where we gathered around in a circle and waited with bated breath (I've always wanted to say that) to hear our destination. Michelle handed us all envelopes. We opened them to see, in bold and Italic type, "BELLA ITALIA!" Woohoo!

Off we flew to Bologna. Or, should I say, to a tiny airport an hour outside of Bologna. After adventures at the train station trying to get to our hostel (Kevin attempted to sell his etch-a-sketch drawings for bus fare), we finally wound up getting in three taxis. We had a good time with our driver. He had the radio on and Aretha Franklin or someone came on. He goes (in Italian accent), "Do you like the seventies music? Eighties? James Brown? Aretha Franklin? Superfreak? Do you like Superfreak?" Awesome.

More pictures are here. Tomorrow: Venezia!

England: Day Five

2006-11-10T15:39:00.000-06:00

Tuesday was Zaccheus Day at the HBC. Things went much more smoothly than Monday (always do the second day, I guess). Highlights included another fabulous video, Kevin as Zaccheus, lots of coloring, and the photographic talents of Tristan and Bradley.

After the coloring, there was drama, games, more singing...

...and a special happy birthday song for Lynn!

We had the afternoon free for a trip to Nottingham. Yep, as in Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, all that Nottingham. We did a little sightseeing, a little shopping, and then... Wagamama. Those of you who know me know how I felt about that. Seven years, readers. Seven years since I'd had a proper bowl of chicken ramen.

After dinner we headed back to Loughborough for youth night at the church. We had a devo (involving the Simpsons - sweet), ate, sang once more to Lynn, then played the world's longest game of Mafia. Seriously.

Tomorrow...the end of the HBC and the Magical Mystery Tour. You know you're intrigued.

England: Day Four

2006-11-09T14:03:00.000-06:00

Monday was the first "official" day of the HBC. Actually, let me back up. Monday started at about 1:30 am when Bethy dropped her last insulin pen in Mark's toilet. (It's not quite as ridiculous as it sounds... but it is funny. Now.) So Monday, for Bethy and Paul, consisted of going to doctors and pharmacies and attempting to get medicine while attempting to not allow Beth to get really sick. Fun times. Anyway, back to the rest of us. I think Monday a few of us - myself most prominently, in my mind - had a small mental breakdown. For some reason, rather than staying with the center that Keith and I were in charge of, I thought it would be a great idea to go with the little kids to crafts and snacks. Do not ask me why. I am perplexed. The whole day was kind of crazy - covering all the details we (I) hadn't thought of, all that. We made it through; that's what I'll say about it. We made it through and the kids not only appeared to have a good time and learn some things, but came back the next day. So that was a plus. They really liked the tie-dye t-shirts we did to "tie" in with our Lydia theme (get it?!).

Monday afternoon was mostly spent running more errands (I'm pretty sure we went to Sainsbury's more days than we didn't) and getting everything ready for Tuesday and Wednesday, now that we knew what we were doing.

We were supposed to go to Jason and Debbie's house for dinner, but since Paul (who was supposed to drive us) and Beth didn't make it back to the church until six, Debbie - the awesome and amazing Debbie - brought dinner to us. Yum. Dinner was followed by male bonding at the cinema and the women's Bible study, at which Michelle made us all cry with her selection of reading material. It was a good cry, though.

The day ended with a little girly sleepover chat at Mark's. On to Tuesday... hooray.

England 2006: Day Three

2006-11-08T14:52:00.000-06:00

Sunday, October 22: The sun arose upon seven girls getting ready for church in a bachelor pad with one bathroom. I have to say, I think we did pretty well. Sunday morning was the only time we were with the whole church. It was so great to see the feeling of family that's there. I know we Nashvillians like our big churches, but it is so hard to know everyone and have the feeling of community church is supposed to have when we're in that situation. In Loughborough, the big kids were playing with the little kids, grownups were holding other people's kids, it was total family.

After church they fed us a yummy lunch, then a few of us went to Sainsbury's to get fixings for the banana splits. I should explain here that the theme for the HBC was "Going Bananas!" It was all about people who have done crazy things for God. So there was a definite tropical theme in the decor (awesomely done by the Loughborough church), and for the kickoff Sunday night, we had banana splits.

After our Sainsbury's trip we arrived to find... luggage! Hooray! It was extremely exciting. We had some tea and biscuits to celebrate (you should just infer that this is a daily occurrence).

Once the kids arrived, we did the HBC kickoff, complete with songs, games, banana-decorating and banana splits.

Some of the young adults came later that night and had Ming's with us. They're so fun.

More pictures to be found here.

England: Day Two

2006-11-07T12:52:00.000-06:00

Saturday, October 21: We landed in Manchester, went painlessly through customs and filled out all our lost luggage paperwork. Paul, Vicky and Bethanie picked us up in the minibus for a gorgeous drive through the Peak District to Loughborough. Great scenery, nice nap.

Once we got to Loughborough, we had tea at Tyler's and then had to go shopping, since most of us had packed no extra clothes in our carryons. So Primark, Boots and Dorothy Perkins called our names. We got to see the town on market day, too, so that was fun. The university was having a carnival, so we also met some interesting guys in town. Vick has her Christmas card for the year all ready to go.

After a few more errands, we went to the church for Scream, the youth night Loughborough has every other weekend. For some of us it was a chance to see friends from last year; for the rest of us it was a good chance to meet everyone. Fun times were had by all.

England 2006: Day One

2006-11-06T12:12:00.000-06:00

Here follows my summary for you, my Dear Readers, of last month's trip to the UK. In short, we took a trip to work with the Loughborough church to put on a Holiday Bible Club (that's VBS for you Yanks) and a youth weekend. Following are daily journals including my own personal reflections and biases.

Day One: Friday, October 20. Here is how the day was supposed to go: Arrive at Nashville airport, 10am. Take off for Newark, 12:45pm. Make connecting flight to Birmingham, UK, 7pm. Arrive in Birmingham, 7am Saturday morning. Be picked up by Paul and taken to Cadbury World to stave off jet lag.

Here is how the day actually went: Arrived at Nashville airport, 10am (thanks to Mel's rock-my-face-off parents). Discover that flight is delayed. As we have a three-hour layover in Newark, do not get overly concerned...yet. Instead, we celebrated John Krasinski's birthday.

Hours pass. No word from Continental. Tiffany makes contact with Continental's gate representative, who tells us there is bad weather in Newark but makes no effort to reroute or otherwise assist us. Still, it's early yet, so we roll with it.

More hours pass. I'll sum up by saying that we were at BNA for seven and one-half hours before finally taking off for Newark...half an hour before our connecting flight was due to take off. Obviously we didn't make that. Once in Newark, we sent groups to two different customer service lines, neither of which was moving. I got on the phone with Continental and thankfully discovered that there were nine seats available on the 10pm flight to Manchester, which was leaving in 20 minutes. We ran to the gate while I continued the phone conversation with Tamara (a bright spot in Continental's customer service arsenal). By the time we got to the front of the line, we had seats confirmed. We made it onto the plane, but obviously our luggage did not. More to follow on Day 2.

And now, to end on a positive note, the Fabric Snob and I had the following conversation en route from Nashville to New Jersey. Enjoy.

FS (after discovering that I do not enjoy honey): How do you not like honey?! It's sweet and natural. Plus the Pooh thing.
JT: Maybe that's it - the bee poo thing.
FS: Huh? The yellow bear?
JT: OH. I thought you meant the fact that it's bumblebee poo. Oh, wait. I think it's bumblebee vomit.
FS: It's excrement either way.
JT: Pooh spelled it wrong. And we know how I feel about people misspelling things.
FS: I think it's OK to misspell and take creative license if you know you're doing it.
JT: Christopher Robin was what, seven? He should know how to spell honey.
FS: But maybe he was just allowing Pooh to be himself - it was inherent to his Poohness to spell it H-U-N-N-Y.

We don't need jet lag to be ridiculous, my friends. Photos from the day are here.

I'm baaaack!

2006-11-01T10:43:00.000-06:00

Hello all. I realize that it may not be surprising that I did not post the last couple of weeks, but this time I actually had a good reason. I, along with several others, was (mostly) in Loughborough, England. We worked with the COC there to do a VBS (or Holiday Bible Club, if you're British) during the kids' fall break, then helped organize a youth weekend for the older kids. That's the summary but lo, there was much more. I'm hoping to do a more detailed "daily" journal-blog once I get pictures up (because no travel blog post is complete without pictures). The trip was, in short, fantastic. It was so neat to see the feeling of community at that church - I do love OC and my family there, but it's so big I don't know anywhere close to everyone. The Loughborough church really has a feeling of family and community (possibly because most of them are related, but I digress). Anyway, I'm jet-lagged and therefore probably incoherent, but wanted to let you all know that we're almost all back safely (one stayed a little longer) and that the trip was fantastic. More to come.

How You Know You're a Grownup

2006-10-16T03:06:00.000-05:00

(among other items)

Reason #1 you know you're an adult: You high-five someone because your place of employment recently began to offer employee vision insurance.

Sorry no posts lately. Life has been life. I wouldn't expect much of out of me for a couple more weeks. But I leave you with new music to check out.

- Amos Lee's new album came out on my birthday. Sigh. Happy birthday me.
- The Luxury Liners have a new album out. I'm working late tonight and have listened to it about five times, so I can say with authority that it's pretty much great. Go get it.
- In other Nashville band news, The Comfies' debut EP is out. Good stuff. They put on a good live show as well. (How often do you get to see a band perform in pajamas?)
- I love me some guys with guitars (among other instruments). Go listen to Dave Barnes and Matt Wertz. When Vince Gill, Amy Grant and Marc Broussard sing backup for you, you're pretty dang good.

That is all for this edition of Jen's New Music Monday (early) Mornings. Enjoy.

Things I Am In Love With Right Now

2006-09-20T16:02:00.000-05:00

Google Calendar. It has the simple and attractive Google look. It goes anywhere. It has Google Maps integrated. And you can find "layers" other people have created and put them on your own calendar. For example: someone created a complete 2006 SEC football schedule that is now in orange on all my Saturdays (and a few Thursdays as well). Happiness.
Nature Valley peanut butter granola bars. Yum. And pretty healthy, if they'd just take out that little bit of high fructose corn syrup.
Uncle Ben's microwavable rice in a pouch. I have never been able to make rice well, especially brown rice. But a few weeks ago I decided I wanted to make fried rice to go along with my homemade gyoza (yes, I know those are two different types of Asian cuisine; just be impressed that I made gyoza). Thanks to Uncle Ben, my brown rice was perfect and ready to go in my fake-wok in ninety seconds flat. Hallelujah.
Jack Johnson. I bought Jack's first CD and enjoyed it. But the Fabric Snob introduced me to a Jack bootleg from a Boston show, and I am in love. (Since I am quite anti-stealing music, let me just say that if Jack ever puts out a full-length live CD I will purchase it immediately. This, to my knowledge, is unavailable for purchase.)
G. Love. The new CD is my current favorite workout album.
Snow Patrol. The new CD gets better every time I listen - love the lyrics.
Pandora.com. Tiffany introduced me to this fabulous invention. Tell it who you like and it creates your own radio station, playing people you already know you like and people it thinks you'll like. Give each song the thumbs up or thumbs down. See the "attributes" of each song (apparently I like acoustic rhythm guitar and the occasional smooth male lead vocal).
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. My love of the West Wing is well documented. This has Aaron Sorkin's writing, Matthew Perry, Timothy Busfield and (my personal favorite) Bradley Whitford. It's smart. It's funny. I see real potential here. Click on the link and scroll down - you can watch the premiere online. So they say.
Matt Wertz. I discovered him on Myspace and just ordered his brand-spankin' new CD, being unable to find it at Tower yesterday. If the rest of it is anything like the stuff on his Myspace, it'll be in permanent rotation on the replacement iPod, whenever he or she may arrive.
Thing I am NOT in love with right now: the guy that stole my wallet and iPod. It was a sad day. A very sad day.

I am so excited.

2006-09-12T17:11:00.000-05:00

The Girly Men Are Back

2006-08-31T16:47:00.000-05:00

For any and all who care, this season's fantasy draft picks (sorry Mel, you can quit reading now):

QB: Daunte Culpepper
QB: Byron Leftwich
WR: Santana Moss
WR: Derrick Mason
WR: Donte Stallworth
WR: Justin McCareins
WR: Sinorice Moss
RB: Ronnie Brown
RB: Frank Gore
RB: Duce Staley
TE: Tony Gonzalez
TE: Erron Kinney
K: John Kasay
DEF: Seattle
DEF: Buffalo

Once again, I went with my strategy of "If I've heard of them, they must be good." (Or they could be a Titan.) Comments? Insults? Direct them here.

Mom! Phil tagged me!

2006-08-30T11:58:00.000-05:00

Phil tagged me. I will preface this all by saying I used to be a voracious reader when I was younger, but higher education sucked the reading life out of me. Lately I have tried and failed to read deep, meaningful things, but I've always been more into fiction and I think I have to ease my brain back into deep thought. So my answers here will probably not be all that serious or rock-your-worldish. (Also, I have made the personal rule that "the Bible" is out. Although I would take it on the desert island.)

1. One book that changed your life:
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

2. One book that you've read more than once:
Any that I like. Some include To Kill a Mockingbird, the Little House series, the Harry Potters, most Jane Austens.

3. One book you'd want on a desert island:
Probably Pride & Prejudice. It has it all.

4. One book that made you laugh:
Can you say broken record? Seriously, Jane Austen is my favorite. She's sarcastic and subtle and just writes her characters so well. Mr. Collins gets me every time. So we'll say Pride & Prejudice.

5. One book that made you cry:
Memoirs of a Geisha made me very sad. I'm not much of a crier, but I probably got closest with that one.

6. One book you wish had been written:
"Cheap Healthy Recipes for Single Picky Eaters"

7. One book you wish had never been written:
Heart of Darkness. True confessions: This book and The Scarlet Letter were the only two in high school I only read the CliffNotes for.

8. One book you're currently reading:
Currently halfway through Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie (thanks to the Fabric Snob). Next on the list: starting Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner. Just got it in last week.

9. One book you've been meaning to read:
A New Kind of Christian by Brian MacLaren

10. Tag others:
The Fabric Snob, Tiff, Michelle, LB, and James A. Wiser (just to see if he will)

Things I've Been Doing Other Than Blogging

2006-08-25T12:44:00.000-05:00

1. Trying Sonic's hot fudge brownie blast. Um, yummy.
2. Going to Seattle for a work conference. Normally this would deserve its own entry, but I will point you to the pictures. Highlights: Space Needle, flying fish, Mariners game, convinced I saw Jack Johnson in the hotel lobby, almost saw David Beckham, stuck in SeaTac security line for four hours (thank you, terrorists), made brief visit to St. Louis because of nasty Nashville weather, finally home.
3. Going to a concert in a living room. Fun times, courtesy of Jetpack UK and Rich Creamy Paint.
4. Being in charge of caring for sixty-three children. Yay for England fundraising.
5. Seeing my "adopted little brother" prior his departure back to the School Who Shall Not Be Named.
6. Seeing MacBeth at Centennial Park. Interesting interpretation, what with the samurai choreography and such.
7. Seeing the Pulitzer Prize photo exhibit at the Frist. Moving. Humans do awful things.
8. Watching Dogville. Strange film.
9. Seeing Phil Keaggy (and friends) at OC. To quote BST: the man is freakishly gifted.
10. Working. Like a lot. Work is very busy, very crazy right now, and looks to be that way till we leave for England. So...here's to a couple months of sporadic email updates. For now, some of my favorite Seattle shots. Enjoy.

Life Is Busy

2006-08-01T11:42:00.000-05:00

Things I have done since my last post:

Went to Brett & Sarah's lovely wedding.
Discovered Las Paletas Gourmet Mexican Popsicles. I would link to it, but they have no web site. They don't even have a sign. But they rock. The mystery is part of the charm.
Finally made it back to Joey's House of Pizza. They missed us.
Went to McCreary's in Franklin for Team England bonding.
Had a Team England yard sale. Did you know that there exist people who are not only awake, but dressed, caffeinated and rarin' to yard sale shop at 5:30 on Saturday mornings? Those people freak me out a little.
Took in the Guster/Ray LaMontagne show at the Ryman. Ray: soothes your soul or breaks your heart. Guster: fun slightly nerdy pop with a fantastic live show and an amazing percussionist. Others have discussed Ray's...departure.
Had my carpet cleaned. Hey, you don't come here for deep insights. You come for the minutiae of my life.
Watched High Fidelity. I really do love that movie. It's about maturing, and pop music, and it has Jack Black and John Cusack. Can't beat that combo.
Went home to Knoxville to a) celebrate Mom's birthday and b) see Jetpack UK at Barley's. If you recall, we ran into these amiable fellows in Chicago and wound up not seeing their show there. Shame on us. They're fun. Go listen to them. Seriously, stop reading my blog. Go.

Erin's in the paper!

2006-07-15T12:49:00.000-05:00

My friend Erin is featured in today's Tennessean for her work in Honduras. Check it on out.

Catch It On Up

2006-07-12T16:40:00.000-05:00

Greetings, readers. Yes, it's been awhile. Sorry. (You're all distraught, I can tell.) Why? Well, as referenced in my previous post, I am busy and tired (although better). And, while I've been thinking a lot lately, I haven't formed coherent post-able thoughts on much of it. Hence the absence. More to come later, perhaps. However, this afternoon I am sitting at my work computer with not much to do. Why is that, you ask? Well, I'm waiting for code to run. At this point I have been waiting for two hours, twenty-eight minutes. Yes, the code works. I tested it on a smaller data set. It just takes stinking forever. So, having read everything on the Tennessean's web site that interests me, having caught up on emails (most of them), it is time to catch up with you, the Faithful. Sit back and enjoy a few random paragraphs.

* * * * *

I love the elliptical machine.

* * * * *

Over the Fourth of July weekend I went to Gatlinburg with my college suitemates and their husbands. Highlights included dinner at the Hard Rock (okay, not really a highlight, but we ate there), brunch at that one pancake place, driving the Cades Cove loop, dinner at the Alabama Grill (food: overpriced, service: great), hot tub and Lingo time (there was a TV on the porch), and late-night Trivial Pursuit. Oh, and some kick-butt Smores. Mmm. Additional pictures here.

* * * * *

Actual Fourth of July: Got lost with La in Percy Warner Park, driving from Brentwood to Belle Meade without actually leaving said park. Impressive. Watched fireworks at Belle Meade Country Club. Got to walk on a golf course for the first time ever. Nice.

* * * * *

Saw Tristan Prettyman at 3rd and Lindsley Thursday. She's so good. Mellow, beachy, great voice. Addictive, is what she is.

* * * * *

Was in charge of singles babysitting night Friday. Note: Babysitting nights are not meant for Fridays. Saturdays only. No one can get there on time on Friday.

* * * * *

I want to get a pet fish.

* * * * *

Saw "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" Saturday. It's fine. Just understand that the purpose of this second movie is to set up the third. Yes, they just want your money. You know you're going to go anyway. Also: introduced Stumps to the Donut Den. Mmm. Apple fritter.

* * * * *

Watched World Cup finale. Saw bizarre head-butting incident. Rooted for Italy afterwards. Although - who does not "even know what an Islamist terrorist is"? Come on, Materazzi.

* * * * *

This weekend my grandparents are moving to an assisted living facility in Atlanta. It's sad, but for the best. It's also strange. The furniture that's not going with them is being dispersed. The goal is to leave the house pretty empty. Hopefully the move will be a good change for them - organized social activities, someone helping them out as needed.

* * * * *

Now two hours, fifty-nine minutes. You wish you had my job today.

Tired...

2006-06-27T09:05:00.000-05:00

I'm tired, readers. Worn out. And feeling a little out of control. For weeks now I've been sleep-deprived - chalk it up to nothing momentous, other than the Chicago trip, but too many nights of socializing and busyness and long phone conversations. I've been eating junk and spending money like nobody's business. I get home and want to do nothing but go to bed - yet somehow spend plenty of time listening to bands on MySpace and obsessively checking my email (not that that's a new habit). I took last week off from the workouts. I'm behind on OC's read-the-Bible-in-a-year plan. I can feel myself getting sick. Basically, I need a good solid break and a plan to get back on track. I need to budget. I need to take better care of myself. I need to reprioritize. And I need to sleep.

So, here's the plan. This may be the most boring post you've ever read (although I doubt it; I've skimmed some very boring ones). But it's here for accountability, everyone's favorite buzzword.

1. Limit the socializing to quality. This one is very tough for me. For example, Sunday night after life group, I was bound and determined to go straight home. Instead I wound up at SATCO till ten with a fantastic bunch of people. That was a good decision, but I'm still worn out. My problem is that I'm afraid I'll miss something if I don't go out - I'll miss getting to know new people, or deepening relationships I already have. Which is true some of the time. Some of the time all I'll miss is another showing of High School Musical.

2. Budget. I have one, really I do. But I stink at keeping track of what I'm actually spending. And at remembering which bills are auto draft and which ones I have to actually pay. So, starting when I get paid in July, the budget has returned with a vengeance.

3. Prioritize the quiet time. Not TV time, not computer time, not fiction-reading time, but time with me and God. I know I need it. Fitting it in shouldn't be the issue that it is.

4. Get some sleep. Plenty of it. It's been more complicated than it sounds the past few weeks; I've had some needed late-night phone conversations, and don't regret those in the slightest. But I'm tired!

5. Get back to the workouts. I've already started this one. Thankfully, now I'm at the point where when I don't exercise I feel like a lazy bum.

So, readers, there you have it: my five-step plan for mental and physical recovery. Embrace it. Call me out on it. Just don't make fun of my enumerated list. I'm an ISTJ. It's how we roll.

(And yes, I really just wanted to say "it's how we roll" in a blog post.)

Chicago

2006-06-21T13:55:00.000-05:00

So, Chicago. I like it. It occurred to me this morning that many of my favorite movies are set in Chicago (While You Were Sleeping, Return to Me, High Fidelity, Ferris Bueller's Day Off). I wonder what that says about me...

Mel's parents kindly took us to the airport. They rock my face off. Our first exciting moment of the trip came when Mel and I thought the guy playing guitar at the Southwest gate was the troubadour from Gilmore Girls. (Southwest's birthday was Friday. Phil Vassar played at the Nashville airport.) Sadly, he was not, but it started an important precedent of Mel daring me to go ask people for autographs.

We arrived in Chicago and rode the el from Midway to our hotel (well, close). Our room was already available. Yippee! We checked in and planned the day's excursions. First up, walk through Grant Park. We spent lots of time at the fountain waiting for the big water show that never happened. But it was nice. Next up, Millennium Park. Lots of time at the Bean. The whole park is very cool.

This is the bandshell at Millennium...

...and this would be the Bean.

And this would be a shot I just love.

At this point, we had been up since five and were pretty much starving. We figured out the Chicago bus system enough to get to Giordano's for lunch, and it is here that the trip's most fun story occurs. We have ordered our appetizer (fried stuff) and are waiting for our pizza (deep dish cheese), when Mel looks up and says, "Hey, doesn't that guy go to Otter Creek?" I look up and it is Stephen Jerkins. Stephen is in a band called Jetpack UK which is moderately well known around Nashville and beyond. (I quite enjoy them. Check 'em out.) We determine that he is with two of his band mates. Mel informs me that I will receive five dollars if I go over and ask for his autograph. Now, I have grown quite a bit as a person since my very reserved younger years, but I'm still pretty introverted and shy. I say no way. We go back and forth and finally determine that we will both go over, but Mel will begin the conversation (I am Moses, she is Aaron). So we do. She says something to the effect of, "Are you the guys from Jetpack?!" But neither of us can keep a straight face for long, so we spill that we are, in fact, from Otter Creek. We sat and talked to the guys for awhile until we realized our pizza had arrived and Kelly and Erin were eating. So off we went. Jetpack was in town playing a show, and we really did want to go, but the idea of late-night public transport in an unfamiliar town sans male companions, and the fact that we were dog tired, led to our decision in the negative. But we're looking forward to our first Jetpack UK show. May be a road trip pretty soon...

Having reread that, it's possible that this is one of those stories that is way more fun when experienced than retold. Or perhaps I just don't tell it well. But it was super fun.

Anyway, after lunch we went shopping on Michigan Avenue. I can now say I've been in a Tiffany store. I also experienced Lush for the first time and was introduced to the awesomeness that is H&M. Shopping was followed by an evening at the Art Institute of Chicago and dinner at Kitty O'Shea's.

Outside AIC...

Saturday we awoke, again attempted to navigate the bus system (what was the deal with the 3 never coming?!), and barely made it to the Chicago Architecture Foundation river cruise for which we had prepurchased tickets. If you're interested in architecture at all, or just want a relaxed way to see parts of the downtown area, this is a great way to do it.

One of my favorite cruise shots...

The cruise was followed by lunch at Chipotle (sorry Maegan, a burrito would have made my luggage smell), then splitting up for more shopping - this time in the stores we could actually afford on State Street. We saw the Tiffany ceiling in Marshall Field's. Can I just say - that store is amazingly large. I headed back to the hotel and swam in our rooftop pool (that was my favorite part of the hotel) for a few minutes, then we headed to the Hancock Center's Signature Lounge to be there for sunset. Very cool. Also, the view from the ladies' room? Need to see it. Sorry, guys.

From our table...

From the ladies' room...

Sunday morning we were Presbyterian for the day, which was exciting as we not only got to see the inside of Fourth Presbyterian on Michigan, but also got to hear a sermon with a Scottish accent. Sweet. Afterwards, we went to Crate & Barrel, my new favorite home store, and then headed north to Wrigley Field.

We wanted to get Cubs tickets, but everyone was charging face value. As we were completely willing to wait until after the game had started in the hopes that tickets would be cheaper, we had lunch at the Cubby Bear across the street. The game was on, and by the time we were done eating it was about 6-1, Cubs losing. Not so good. It was also cloudy and raining a little, so we decided against going to the game. In the time it took us to take pictures and walk to the el, the score was 8-1. Good decision, us.

More shopping (there was a second H&M on State!), a stop at the Chicago Temple and the downtown library, and we were on our way back to the hotel to head for the airport. Excellent trip. All the pictures can be found here.

The Blog Is Alive!

2006-06-19T10:18:00.000-05:00

Sorry, faithful readers. I am still alive. I haven't had much to say the last couple of weeks, although a philosophical post of sorts may be coming if I can word it well. Just got back from a weekend trip to Chicago last night. I'm exhausted, but the trip was fantastic. Quick synopsis to tide you over: Arose. Flew. Rode el. Saw The Bean. Deep dished. Ran into these guys (they really are amiable). Shopped. Museumed. Cruised. Photographed. Shopped (there are lots of stores). Swam. Hancock Buildinged. Churched. Cubs gamed (sort of). Shopped (yes, again). Flew home. Stayed up too late. Sleepy.

Oh, and re-enacted as much of Ferris Bueller's Day Off as possible.

The Birthday Extravaganza

2006-06-05T14:52:00.000-05:00

Well, readers, it was an eventful weekend. Friday, of course, was Michelle's birthday, which meant that Friday evening and most of Saturday were spent at Michelle's Birthday Extravaganza. Said Extravaganza involved dinner, three games of laser tag, birthday cake, Jim Halpert, Johnny Depp, MASH, Man of Destiny, spades, Woman of Destiny, apple fritters, apple cinnamon French toast, British tea, hanging out, and Baja Burrito. So yeah, it was pretty much perfect. Saturday afternoon and evening I cleaned my apartment, which was fantastic because it needed it. Sunday: church, followed by lunch, followed by shopping, followed by exhaustion. I am not a shopper. So, we'll focus on the fun part of the weekend. Highlights:

- Michelle makes excellent chicken cacciatore.
- I stink at laser tag. But I am much better when aligned with Tiff Sniff and Jon "Monty" Lee.
- Mmm. Chocolate peanut butter birthday cake.
- Tiff is house-sitting at a ginormous house with a big-screen projection TV. John Krasinski is even better on the big screen.
- Speaking of, MASH says I'm going to marry Jim Halpert, and we all know MASH never lies. I am ecstatic.
- I highly recommend the Donut Den for all your breakfast needs.
- I used to hate tea. Apparently I just never had the good stuff.
- Saturday was just plain excellent. Got up. Watched Tiff make breakfast. Ate breakfast. Hung out around the table with friends. Hung out in the rec room with friends. Hung out in the kitchen with the Fabric Snob. Re-created The Portrait. Lunch at Baja. Drove down to Franklin with Aaron. Seriously, it gets no better.

* * * * *

Poll of the Day: Should my hair be straight(ish) or wavy? Input welcome.

I am such a cheeseball

2006-06-01T15:52:00.000-05:00

My daily routine generally includes breakfast while watching the Today show. Yesterday, in case you haven't heard, was Katie Couric's last day on the show. I was doing okay until they had six of the "ordinary" people she'd interviewed on, telling about how she had helped them tell their stories and start to overcome their struggles. Said people included the Central Park jogger, the parents of a 13-year-old who died of cancer, an inner-city high school teacher, a 9/11 survivor, and a guy who was in school at Columbine and lost his sister. Now, I do like Katie Couric, but that alone would not have driven me to tears. The packaged stories, though - tears streaming.

* * * * *

New music: Thanks to MySpace, I have gotten hooked on Gomez. And thanks to MySpace and the Fabric Snob, Amos Lee is one of my new favorites. I've been listening to him all day. Go check 'em out.

* * * * *

Every now and then, readers, I need your assistance.

I am once again contemplating joining a gym. I briefly considered it last fall but wound up just purchasing Turbo Jam instead. (Good investment, by the way. Punch, kick and groove your way to fitness!) But recently I have been hit with the urge to pump some iron. I took weight training in college and actually loved it, but I have reservations about gym memberships. Would I actually go? Only if it were a) convenient, b) not crowded, and c) someone showed me how to work the scary machines. (Weight training class was a long time ago.) So, here are my options:

Do nothing. Continue the daily Turbo Jam routine, perhaps throwing in a Firm DVD or two a week. (They're boring, but pretty effective.)
Join the Y. It's the most obvious choice. My concern is that it'll be too crowded and I will therefore be unlikely to go.
Join Climb Nashville. Rumor has it that it is not crowded and is considerably cheaper than the Y if I don't want to actually climb, which I don't (apparently they have weights and cardio machines as well as abs and yoga classes). Hopefully I'm going with Amanda to check out the abs class next week. My concern with this one is that the location is very convenient to work but not to home, meaning I am less likely to go on the weekends. But would I go on the weekends anyway? Maybe. Maybe not.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Memorial Day weekend '06

2006-05-29T16:44:00.000-05:00

It's just a convenient title, really. Time to catch you all up on my life since...whenever the last post was.

Thursday night was a veritable blogger convention at the Loveless Cafe. The Fabric Snob, the Malibu Librarian and his blogless wife, Tiff Sniff and I met up for a yummy dinner not to be found in Malibu. JA and Candice were in town - very fun to catch up with them. Old friends are great.

Friday: watched Zoolander. I love that movie. It's so quotable. "What if there's more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good-looking?" "Mer-man! Mer-MAN!" Hee. Also: enjoyed dolphins on Discovery High-Def. Truly amazing.

Saturday: Family day in Giles County. Mom, Dad and Adam drove down from Knoxville, and we were greeted by five out of six of Mom's siblings and a good chunk of cousins. Our 13-year-old cousins are now a lot of fun to hang out with. I love Mom's family. (Not that I don't love Dad's. That's just not the subject of this blog.) They're so fun. I get a lot of myself from Mom's side of the family, I think. The highly practical side, most especially.

Sunday: Baby brother Adam came home with me from Lynnville to spend the rest of the weekend. Church, lunch with some friends, Sudoku and Super Nintendo with Adam, cookout with more friends.

Today: My first trip for breakfast at the Pancake Pantry. Yum.

Followed by two hours at the park and my first sunburn of the season. You know how you can't tell you're sunburned till an hour after you get out of the sun? Yeah. That's where I am right now. Maybe this one time it'll actually turn to tan... But hot weather excites me.

Park time was actually fantastic. I feel like I've been going a mile a minute lately - I desperately needed some down time. So I caught up on my Bible reading, prayed for awhile, read a book Michelle loaned me. It was just what I needed. Now, to clean up the apartment, maybe watch a movie, go to bed early.

Happy Memorial Day to you all.

Cover Tennessee

2006-05-24T10:23:00.000-05:00

But first, Idol.

Round One: Katharine's first "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" was much better, and the step-touch dance steps look too choreographed for me. Good, but not great. I'm not sure about Taylor's "Living for the City" - not many people know the song at all now, which could work for or against him. But at this point I don't think that matters, and he did a great job with it.

Round Two: Katharine again did an amazing job with "Over the Rainbow," but I think she should have picked "Someone to Watch Over Me." Everyone still remembers "Rainbow" from last week; "Someone" would have reminded people of how good she has sometimes been throughout the season. Taylor's "Leavon" was good, but not fantastic, but I don't love that song anyway.

Round Three: Okay, pet peeve. These songs are cheesetastic, always. "Inside Your Heaven"? "My Destiny"? "Do I Make You Proud"? Blech. At least they both didn't have to sing the same one. That being said and expected, Katharine did not do very well, I thought. Taylor, on the other hand, almost had me liking the song by the end, which is an impressive feat.

So...may Taylor win!

* * * * *

The Tennessee legislature approved a new health coverage program, Cover Tennessee, yesterday. All that's left is for Governor Bredesen to sign it, which would seem to be a foregone conclusion given that it's his plan. There are three main parts: CoverKids, for children and pregnant women; AccessTN, for working adults who have preexisting conditions which make them ineligible for private coverage; and CoverTN, which subsidizes basic health insurance for uninsured workers. The program will also provide prescription benefits and include funding for a preventive care initiative focused on obesity and diabetes.

I'm really excited about the program. TennCare (Tennessee's ambitious version of Medicaid) is good in theory, but got too big for the state to handle; I hope that doesn't happen with this program, because it sounds like a good solution for the working poor. It will be basic coverage, but even basic coverage for doctor visits and prescription drugs can help. Plus, preventive care and education is good for everyone. Saving a few formerly uninsured people from preventable conditions and ER visits could help keep everyone else's insurance premiums from going up. So I'm very happy about that part of the program. Kudos to Phil for suggesting it; hopefully the program can work within Tennessee's budget.

The Shirt with Magical Powers (and other weekend stories)

2006-05-22T10:22:00.000-05:00

So a few weeks ago I got a new shirt. The Shirt gets me compliments. It makes me feel extroverted and fun-loving. The Shirt's first public appearance was at baby brother's graduation, but last night I wore it for the first time in Nashville. I was talkative. I was confident. I stayed out late (well, later than usual on a Sunday, which isn't saying much). It was amazing. It's crazy what clothes can do.

And now, the weekend roundup.

Friday: Went to Cheeseburger Charley's, then to see The Da Vinci Code. My review: The book is difficult to make into a movie, I think. It seems action-packed, but it also has a lot of dialogue. There's a great deal of explanation that has to be done for the readers to understand the plot, which makes for a somewhat slow movie. They changed some things from the book for reasons which I do not understand. The acting and directing were good, but the screenplay - well, it's pretty cheesy. But as I was rereading the book I realized it's pretty cheesy in some spots too, so I guess it's all to be expected.

On the controversy: I feel like in this case it's better to be educated than to fight. That doesn't apply in all situations, but in this case I think Christians are in a better position to discuss issues like Jesus' divinity and why we believe what we believe if we know what people are saying. Sticking our heads in the sand doesn't do any good.

Saturday: Helped Katie move. Again, I am a hoss. Went to a birthday party. Ate too much junk food.

Sunday: Went to church. Viewed the hilarious Dodgeball promo video. Went to the nursing home where Caroline works (many good stories on her blog). Those people are precious. One of the men informed our guys that we needed more bass, which he provided from that point forward.

Errands at Target and Publix. Back to church for celebration service, followed by an encore presentation of the Dodgeball video. Dinner at Pei Wei for Tiffany's birthday, followed by hanging out at Caroline's. We busted out the old school games. I am the Candy Land champion. Jon Lee is now addicted to Guess Who?. I made a Jim Halpert out of Play-Doh. Fun times.

The Ticket

2006-05-17T23:18:00.000-05:00

Well, I just got my first speeding ticket. Officer Bowling caught me going 50 in a 35 zone along Franklin Road, literally as I was turning into the Otter Creek parking lot. I really did think it was a 45 zone. I was informed by Ryan and Angela, while sitting in my car, that it doesn't change to 45 until after OC's building. Whoops. Also my left headlight is apparently out, but I just got a warning for that.

So my question for you, faithful readers, is: do I go ahead and pay the fine? ($115. As if the city of Brentwood needed that.) Or do I make my appearance in court at 4 pm Tuesday, June 13, in the hopes that I get a nice judge and he or she will let me off?

In my defense:

I really thought the speed limit was 45.
I have never in my life had a speeding ticket. I've only gotten pulled over once, and that was in a town in Arkansas that I did not even realize was a town.
I'm sweet.

What are my odds? Discuss.

Graduation weekend

2006-05-15T10:50:00.000-05:00

My baby brother graduated from college this weekend.

I'm super proud of him. As has been previously documented, he's going to grad school at UTK this fall. His professors think he's talented. He's an all-around good guy. So congratulations, baby brother!

My parents and I headed off to Searcy Friday morning. Sadly, my other brother couldn't come - he's busy learning to be a doctor - but our sister-in-law came later. Here's a typical view from the front seat of Dad's Saturn along highway 64, which runs from Marion to Bald Knob.

You know you wish you came.

Friday afternoon I got to see Kelly, everyone's favorite secretary, and Miss Donna, the wife of one of our favorite professors and a fantastic person in her own right. We went to the honors graduates medallion ceremony (yeah, my baby brother got some graduation bling) and then to the big senior reception, where we hung out with Miss Donna and her husband, also known as Dr. Long. All three of us love and respect the Longs so much - Dr. Long married my brother and sister-in-law, and we all went to their home Bible study while we were in school. They are such fantastic people - I can't say enough good things about them. (Although the very fact that I said "good things" would probably drive Dr. Long's English professor side up the wall. "Thing" is a weasel word!)

Friday night: fun times at Mi Ranchito. Nashville has good Mexican restaurants, but nothing holds a candle to Mi Ranchito. Yum. Plus we got to eat dinner with Maegan and two of my favorite triplets! (Yes. I realize "triplets" implies three. Nick is in Europe, being the Frenchman he was apparently born to be. Don't forget the little people, Nick.)

Then we ran over to Frozen D's before it closed (mmm, Oreo hot fudge) and headed to Midnight Oil to hang out. Because no trip to Searcy is complete, for someone from my era, without a trip to Midnight Oil. So, overall, a perfect Searcy evening, gastronomically speaking. And it was so, so good to see some of my best friends again.

Turns out I actually kind of miss Arkansas. Don't get me wrong - I love Tennesse and am not looking to move. But the Natural State will always hold a special little place in my heart, trailers on the side of the highway and all. (Well, maybe not the meth labs. But we have those here too.)

The rest of the pictures are on Flickr. Note: Some are blatantly stolen from my father. Sorry - his camera is fancy!

Fantastic video

2006-05-11T11:02:00.000-05:00

America. We were doing so well together, you and I. Chris? Really? Even Katharine was shocked.

* * * * *

Y'all have GOT to see this. Really. Make sure you have sound.

"Evolution of Dance" (thanks to Justin)

Quote of the day

2006-05-10T11:47:00.000-05:00

From C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, which (for any of you unfamiliar) is written from the perspective of an "uncle" demon giving advice to his nephew on how to win souls for Satan:

You see, it is so hard for these creatures to persevere. The routine of adversity, the gradual decay of youthful loves and youthful hopes, the quiet despair (hardly felt as pain) of ever overcoming the chronic temptations with which we have again and again defeated them, the drabness which we create in their lives and the inarticulate resentment with which we teach them to respond to it -- all this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition. If, on the other hand, the middle years prove prosperous, our position is even stronger. Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is 'finding his place in it', while really it is finding its place in him. His increasing reputation, his widening circle of acquaintances, his sense of importance, the growing pressure of absorbing and agreeable work, build up in him a sense of being really at home in earth, which is just what we want.

Old Friends and Good TV

2006-05-10T10:14:00.000-05:00

I totally got an email from Matt Damon this morning.

* * * * *

Monday night I went to dinner with two friends of mine I hadn't seen in about three years (thank you, MySpace, for reuniting the world). Shana and Emily's church used to go on mission trips with my church when we were in high school, and we've been friends ever since - about eleven years now. It was so, so good to see them. There's something about old friends - we hadn't even really talked in awhile, but those girls are the kind of friends you can just jump right back in with and never miss a beat.

* * * * *

So the series finale of The West Wing is this Sunday. WW is one of my favorite shows. It is past its prime, but it is still so much better than most of what's on TV. CJ has always been one of my favorite characters - she's so strong and witty, but the show managed to develop her flaws and make her human without diminishing that strength. (That, by the way, is one of the things that is so great about WW. Bartlet is a fantastic president, but he has his weaknesses. Josh is goofy and a little insecure, but he's also a brilliant politician. Nobody's one-dimensional.) This week's last scene between CJ and Danny is one of my favorite scenes in the entire show. I loved seeing how this strong, intelligent woman doubted herself, wasn't sure how to go about this new phase of her life, but was finally willing to try. And I loved, loved, loved how Danny tried to work her through it. That's why they work to me - they're both such strong personalities, both very good at what they do, both stubborn as mules, but they're supportive of each other. Well, at least now that Danny the reporter isn't trying to unearth what's really going on at the White House from CJ the press secretary.

Also, newly discovered West Wing trivia: Janel Moloney and I have the same birthday!

(American Idol was decent last night. I actually thought it wasn't one of Chris's stronger nights, but Elliott kicked some butt. America, since you have listened to me these last few weeks: Katharine. Send Katharine home.)

Products I Would Happily Endorse

2006-05-05T10:35:00.000-05:00

1. Acuvue Oasys contact lenses.

I went to the opthamologist yesterday. They gave me a pair. Already I love them. I highly recommend them for anyone who routinely stares at a computer 3/4 of their day.

(Side note: They also took digital pictures of my retina. Who knew the inside of your eyeball could be so pretty?)

2. Stonyfield Farms lowfat vanilla yogurt.

At this point, readers, I will share how I got back into yogurt after a long absence. The only flavor I used to eat was strawberry, but I didn't even really like it because I dislike the strawberry chunks and seeds. (Yes, I am a picky eater. You are telling me nothing I don't know already.)

Last February I babysat for one of my favorite little babies. Her mom had started her on YoBaby yogurt. (Really. That's its name.) I fed her vanilla for lunch and thought hey, I haven't tried vanilla yogurt. So I did. And oh, it was good. (That weekend also got me hooked on Goldfish again. Curses.)

Obviously I couldn't buy the YoBaby, as that would be just odd as well as high-fat, but I started exploring my vanilla yogurt options. The ones with artificial sweeteners just taste weird to me. But Stonyfield Farms has a different texture, no weird taste, and a yummy combination of tangy and sweet. Mmm. Organic.

3. TiVo. Please - try to contain your surprise.

4. The Pilot G2.

Seriously, the best pen ever. Daniel Dubois got me hooked on them my junior year of college. The only writing instruments I used to edit the entire 2002 Petit Jean yearbook was a succession of blue G2s. They are fantastic.

And just in case anyone important reads this: Apple, Honda Accord hybrid and Crye-Leike realty.

Observations on an April Afternoon

2006-04-29T17:17:00.000-05:00

My grandma can't remember what year she got married, but she knows that her favorite Braves are (in order) Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones. She also likes Bobby Cox. (Obviously, the Braves beat out Wheel of Fortune. Grandma likes 'em just as much as Granddad. She even has a jersey that says "Mean Jean" on the back, courtesy of my aunt and her husband.)
Watching baseball on TV is, while not the most exciting pasttime, strangely relaxing. (Although I wonder if that's mainly because I didn't care about the outcome; thoughts?) Going to games is fun, but last night I made it through three innings of the Braves vs. the Mets and actually enjoyed it.
Boboli now makes a whole wheat pizza crust! Go Boboli! Now may I suggest the same in the individual size...
Publix is a happy grocery store.
Krystal cravings simply cannot be ignored.
I think God likes to have a little fun with me sometimes.
The likelihood of my babbling increases exponentially with the relative perfection of the male with whom I am conversing.
I like goatees. Well, depends on the guy, but generally.
I am much more efficient at work when wearing track pants and able to sing along with my iPod. Can I work at home?
MySpace is internet crack.

Conversation

2006-04-28T12:15:00.000-05:00

I just got off the phone with my grandmother. As close to verbatim as possible:

GM: Hello?
Me: Hey Grandma, it's Jennifer!
GM: Well hi!

[Note: The surprise inevitably results in feelings of guilt on my end. Which reminds me - I should call my other grandma.]

Me: Hey! How're you feeling?
GM: Oh, pretty good. What you know?
Me: Oh, not much. Thought I'd come see you tonight, if you're going to be at home.
GM: Weellll...we're goin' up to eat sometime. We're usually there about four, four-fifteen.
[Note: "There" is Fairview's Kountry Kafe, also known as "Holly's." Holly being the owner. My grandparents go there just about daily.]
Me: Oh, well, I'd probably be there around six or so. Is that okay?
GM: Okay, we'll be glad to have you. Bye-bye.

Abrupt end to the conversation.

I love my grandma. Anticipated tonight: My arrival at approximately 6:00pm, followed by a few minutes of chatting, followed by Wheel of Fortune at 6:30. Wait. Do the Braves play today? Uh-oh. Yes, at 6:35 Central. Conflict. Granddad must watch the Braves. Who will prevail?!

Thank You, America

2006-04-27T15:32:00.000-05:00

It appears that you have listened to my sage advice.

Bucky went, then Ace. Now Pickler is gone. Thank you, America, for choosing wisely.

Next up: Paris.

(And if Chris had to sing a sappy love song, may I say he picked an excellent one. I love that song. And he even cut the "see your unborn children" line, which has always creeped me out a tiny bit.)

We Have a Winner

2006-04-24T09:31:00.000-05:00

The new ringtone is:

"Under Pressure," by David Bowie and Queen.

Just thought you'd want to know.

Keeping My Promise

2006-04-21T12:27:00.000-05:00

And I promised I'd link to it.

Props to Fulbright. Happy Friday.

Amazingly Well-Rested

2006-04-21T11:27:00.000-05:00

I overslept this morning.

Two hours.

As best I can recall, after going to bed at midnight, something woke me up at about 3:45. Thinking, "UGH. There is no way I can get up to work out," I reset the alarm for an hour later - or so I thought. Later, the rain woke me up. I rolled over and looked at the clock. My eyes told me it was 6:52.

My eyes were wrong.

Evidently it was 8:52. My alarm, I believed, was set for 6:55. When it seemed to be taking an extraordinarily long time for the radio to come on, I forced myself to awake more thoroughly. At which point I bolted upright, said "Oh, crap!" and raced to the shower.

But after waking up two hours late, I made it into work only an hour and a half late. Not bad.

* * * * *

Why, you ask, was I up until midnight, when my normal bedtime is (or should be) between 9:30 and 10:00?

I was trying to find a good ringtone.

I have Verizon, and my "new every two" upgrade kicked in a couple of weeks ago. My brother needs to borrow my old phone - their adorable dog decided my sister-in-law's was a good chew toy, and his upgrade doesn't kick in for two months. So I went to the store yesterday and got an LGVX5200. Not top-of-the-line, but free, and it has a camera, which is exciting, I guess. Anyway, I like the phone, but all its ringtones stink. I think it's a conspiracy to make you spend three dollars on a new one (along with the old car charger not fitting by a millimeter). Of course, the ploy worked with me, and I spent an hour and a half trying to find a good one. What I didn't know was that the ringtones are now actually the songs, rather than the old midi-sounding tones. Amazing. I thought I would just download "Rocky Top" and be done with it - but they don't have it. I couldn't find one that I thought I could stick with. So far the top contenders are "You've Got It (The Right Stuff)" by, of course, NKOTB, and "Baby's Got Sauce" by G. Love and Special Sauce.

Suggestions?

Weekend Rundown

2006-04-18T15:17:00.000-05:00

Friday: Girls poker night. Texas hold 'em at Caroline's. Awesome. I had never played poker in my life, but I did decently. I'm addicted.

Saturday: Helped Tiff and Michelle move. I am a hoss (in a good way). Made my first actual trip to the Donut Den for post-move Icees.

Sunday: Morning Easter service at OC. Lunch with the delightful family of the Fabric Snob. Potluck before evening Easter celebration service. Booked plane tickets for our upcoming weekend jaunt to Chicago. Ran the dishwasher. However, the splash guard in my Nalgene bottle now smells like dog. Don't know how that happened.

* * * * *

Quote of the day, from Maegan L. Rogers:

"These boys, we shouldn't let them have such power over us."

LOST Is Done!

2006-04-14T12:04:00.000-05:00

So apparently the Google blog linked to my Dennis post because I linked to its Dennis post. A plethora of people have clicked on The Blog because of it. That weirds me out a little. Probably should have thought about that...

* * * * *

Well, it's done. I am finally caught up on Lost. After starting in January, staring at televisions for hours at a time in five different abodes, experiencing the wonders of technology, and debating Sawyer vs. Jack (correct answer: Jack), it is done. Last night Tiff, Katie, Chadd and I (henceforth known as "The Tailies") went over to Cory's early to watch the last three episodes, before everyone else showed up to watch this week's. Yay for togetherness. (Well, sort of. Some of our number could not make it for various reasons, including this year's Easter festivities at my alma mater.)

I had a theory that Zeke was actually Henry Gale + theater beard, but that got shot down, as Zeke is way bigger than Henry. But Henry - man, that guy freaks me OUT. As did that shot of Libby in the psychiatric hospital. Shiver.

Hooray for Dennis

2006-04-13T17:14:00.000-05:00

How cool is this? I found out today, via the Google blog, that one of the guys I was on yearbook with in high school is now in charge of drawing all the holiday doodles for Google. Dennis, of course, would have no recollection of me, as he was a year ahead of me, but he did an awesome drawing of the school building for the yearbook cover his senior year. He's a super nice guy. Here's an interview with him from a few years ago.

* * * * *

Off to finish LOST. Finally.

Maintenance

2006-04-11T17:54:00.000-05:00

The Blog will be undergoing some cosmetic changes. Please bear with us and feel free to make any comments concerning aesthetics. Or hey, just concerning whatever.

Thank you,

The Management

PS: Singles retreat pictures are now on Flickr.

An Open Letter to Nashville's College Students

2006-04-11T09:37:00.000-05:00

Dear y'all,

I had the... experience of seeing The Fray with many of you last night. The band was enjoyable. The venue was nice. But I need to thank you.

When we arrived at the show we felt old. We are not, objectively speaking, old. At twenty-five years of age I am only four years removed from my own college experience. But we felt old. This did not initially strike me, though. There was no foreshadowing. It just seemed an anomaly. Perhaps that was my naivete. Perhaps it was my justifying by saying, "Of course it's mostly students; it is a weeknight, after all, and I was debating the wisdom of staying out so late myself when I have to be at work in the morning."

When we walked into the Cannery Ballroom, we found a good spot and settled in (well, as much as you can settle in in a standing-room venue). But you did not care. Apparently we were a sidewalk to you. Drink in one hand, boy or cigarette in the other, a multitude of spaghetti-strapped girls ran us over in attempts to hug each other or talk to boys. One of you guys just about ran over my foot - and proceeded to place your six-two frame directly in front of all five feet six inches of me, causing much amusement for my friends. So thank you, students, for allowing us to serve in this way. For teaching us true humility.

Blue Suit Guy, you were my personal favorite. Thank you so much for not only standing in front of me, but for elbowing me when you reached back to hug the girl beside me. For allowing me to watch you tease your girlfriend all night. And most of all, for providing an example of true love as the two of you shared your cigarette, directing the smoke back to my face. The scent of my jacket will forever remind me of you.

Most of all, thank you for reminding us what it is to be young and obsessed. When I paid $14 to see The Fray, I was, strangely enough, expecting to hear mostly... The Fray. But thanks to you, I was able to hear two hundred nineteen-year-old girls yelling all the words to "How to Save a Life" from the very get-go. I was able to see girls ghetto dancing to tunes that evoke Coldplay. Don't even get me started on the screaming as soon as "Over My Head (Cable Car)" began. Oh, you. To be young again.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

Love, Jennifer

P.S. - the show really was good. Promise.

Miscellaneous Drivel

2006-04-06T13:18:00.001-05:00

Hello, faithful readers. I realize it has been two weeks since my last update. Sorry - I just haven't had much to say lately. I could talk about the Nancy Grace brouhaha, but not as well as Mike Cope or get as many comments as Travis. I could mock the top-seeded Dookies getting knocked out of the tournament so early, but with all the recent controversy that could be in poor taste. (Besides, they and UConn trashed my brackets. And George Mason. No worries - Orange and White game this Saturday.) But I feel bad that you, those of you who tune in regularly, have had nothing to read lately. And so I will use this, my lunch break, to play catch up on Jennifer's life (similar to "catch up on Robyn's life," a fun game we used to play in England. Now that Robyn has somehow found the blog, I thought a shoutout was in order).

Important things in my life since March 23, in chronological order:

- I switched shampoos. Pantene to Herbal Essences.
- We had our first Team England meeting.
- I visited the Nashville Farmer's Market.
- I decided not to shop at Wal-Mart.
- I made approximately 327 servings of chocolate sauce.
- I went on a retreat.
- I went to a reception for alumni and prospective students for my beloved alma mater. At a Lexus dealership.
- I read an article that has me convinced I have eye fungus.
- I attempted to wrangle a two-year-old on steroids. (Failed miserably.)
- Mandisa got kicked off American Idol.

Some words of explanation.

1. Pantene was making my hair limp, after years of use. And Herbal Essences smells pretty.

2. We're going to Loughborough to do a VBS and youth weekend in October. I'm really excited. More about this later, I'm sure.

3. Lunch with the girls. As of yet I have only been in the food court. One day I'm going to make it to the "flowers and produce" section.

4. No, not because of the sweatshops. Every time I go to Wal-Mart I feel the need to stock up on things because they're thirty cents cheaper. So I wind up spending a hundred and fifty dollars. Ridiculous. I have much more restraint when at Target or Kroger, as I am more aware of the spending impulse. Well, restraint except for Monday, when I bought Pride and Prejudice on DVD. But let's face it, that purchase was inevitable. Anyway, we're going to try the no-Wal-Mart for awhile. I'll let you know how it goes.

5. For the retreat. See next item. Approximately 300 of these servings are currently in my freezer, except for the ones which would rather have stayed in LB's car.

6. OC singles retreat. Fantastic weekend. I am tired. I'll post pictures soon; till then, go look at Tiff's.

7. Turned out to be way more of a recruiting thing than an alumni thing. Oh, well. I did snag a few copies of an admissions brochure featuring one of my very close relatives. And I got to see my friend Becca, who was very excited about getting to fly on the Harding plane.

8. Well, just the paranoid side of me. The realistic side of me realizes that the reason my contacts are bothering me is because I wore them for approximately 60 out of 72 hours over the weekend and have yet to catch up on sleep. Reference #6 above.

9. No lie. Sometimes I help Tiff and Lesley teach the two-year-olds on Wednesdays. They are generally adorable, which is why I like doing it. However, one of them is currently on allergy meds, which means when he is sad he is very, very sad. Although it's not very pleasant to be kicked at and told "I DON'T LIKE YOU! I DON'T LIKE YOU!", it's hard to be mad at him. Poor little guy. He's normally fun. On the upside, I have become the master potty taker. Last night I had to actually crawl under the stall door to unlock it. Awesome.

10. Yes. It was very sad. Although I have to say, when it was just her and Elliott I was really hoping Elliott wasn't going home. I just like that guy. Please, America - Bucky, then Ace. Although if Ace goes home Brandon can no longer make fun of Lesley and do his awesome Ace Young impression. Hmm. Something to ponder.

Well, readers, I hope this has sated your appetite for now. Hopefully more frequent postings in the future. Until the next time, happy Thursday!

Yeeeess, I love technologyyyy...

2006-03-23T17:02:00.000-06:00

The Lost marathon continues.

A few weeks ago we watched the first four episodes of season 2, thanks to iTunes and Tiffany's laptop. Thanks again to a) iTunes, b) Cory's computer Tivo-esque device, and c) my iPod (I haven't found a name that just speaks to me yet, despite good suggestions; anyone?), we will be watching several more tomorrow. We have some on a CD from Lesley (via iTunes), some on a DVD from Cory (via whatever is on his computer), and I downloaded two. All will be downloaded (or uploaded?) to my video iPod, which will then be connected to my TV via the Apple iPod A/V cable purchased Tuesday. It's...incredible.

And on a side note, may I say that the Green Hills Apple store is the place to go for very friendly and very cute male salespeople. They're everywhere. Everywhere, I tell you.

* * * * *

Apparently after I pointed you to the MySpace page of Dwight K. Schrute, it was removed on either permanent or temporary hiatus. According to Pam, Dwight just couldn't handle the MySpace love while he was out of town. I'd like to think it was my faithful readers that put him over the top. (Hey. I said I'd like to think that. I don't really.)

* * * * *

America, congratulations. You got it right. Bucky, Kevin and Lisa were in the bottom three, and Kevin went home! Now, I was a little inexplicably sad. He did a good job Tuesday. But he's still just not in the same league with the rest of them. Adorable: yes. Likeable: yes. Good singer: yes, in comparison to most 16-year-old guys. But not compared to Elliott or Chris or even Ace. (I have issues with Ace.)

And Chris just is awesome. "I Walk the Line" gave me chills. I want his CD. Actually you know what would be awesome, American Idol? Is if you put performances on iTunes. Think of all the money you'd make. We know you like your money.

* * * * *

I've reached the point in my work day when I think, "It's 4:55. Do I start something new, only to leave it unfinished when I leave at 5:15? Or do I stay here out of guilt but read things and 'pilfer' around, as my roommate used to say?"

(It's true. "Pilfer" is ridiculous in that context. But Kelly really liked the word and commandeered it for her own purposes. In the lexicon of our suite, "pilfer" came to mean "rummage around in the cabinets or closet or even the dresser, looking for snacks, clothing or possibly one's engagement ring." My roommate was hilarious. One day, faithful readers, I will share with you the story of Wear Kelly's Clothes Day.)

I Have the Best Daddy in the Whole Wide World

2006-03-16T10:43:00.000-06:00

And I will tell you why. Aside from the providing of food, shelter, clothing, etc. for most of my life, of course.

Monday morning I pull into the parking garage, roll down the window, wave my little tag and the gate goes up. My window, however, does not go up. Interesting. Then the emergency brake light and ABS light come on. Uh-oh. Thirty seconds later, I try the window again and it rolls up, then the lights magically go off. So I, in my naivete, think huh. Guess I'll go on with my day. Fast forward to me driving home on I-440 when suddenly I notice the check engine light has come on. With my very limited knowledge of cars, I'm picturing my engine falling out on the middle of the interstate, leaving Maggie the Malibu without a very important component and sitting like a rock in the middle of high-speed traffic. So I get off, sit in the Rafferty's parking lot, and call my dad. Not in a panic, for I do have AAA, but mainly to find out if it's okay for me to drive home. We decide that these combined symptoms are likely an electrical problem, or if it is the engine it's an emissions problem that can be taken care of after I go home.

Tuesday my friend and coworker Cathy picks me up at the car place between our apartments. The car place calls me that afternoon to inform me that while they think they have found the problem (it's difficult to tell, as they have not been able to make Maggie misbehave again), they can't fix it. It's an electrical problem and has to go to a dealer.

Thankfully Amanda was kind enough to pick me up after work and take me to Car Place The First. But now I have to figure out how to a) get from the dealer in Franklin to work at Vandy and b) get from work back to the dealer before they close at six. Or, get from work to church to home and then back to the dealer in the morning. Preferably without harrassing all of my friends into chauffeuring me all over town.

Enter my father.

Dad was already planning to be in town Tuesday night for another of Granddad's doctor's appointments. So, great guy that he is, he got up super early, drove half an hour from my grandparents' house in Fairview to the dealer in Franklin, drove me to work and went back to Fairview to pick up my grandparents. Tiff picked me up at work, then we went to church and she brought me home. Dad stayed at my apartment last night and got up early again this morning to take me back to the dealer on his way back home to Knoxville. So while I probably could have gotten by with the help of my friends (cue Beatles), I am ever so thankful for my daddy, The Best in the World.

* * * * *

A few other things to bring to your attention:

- Pretty boy Ace was in the bottom three last night. Shocking. Really. I have to say, even though he's gotten progressively more boring and/or irritating to me, there are a few people I want gone first. Kevin and Lisa, I'm looking at you. Seriously? Kevin wasn't even in the bottom three? PEOPLE. Would you really buy that album?!

- For your reading enjoyment, I now point you to the MySpace page of Dwight K. Schrute. (From there you can also find Angela, Pam and Ryan's MySpace pages.) And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, watch NBC tonight at 8:30 central.

- Tonight I make the foray into Sephora. I shall attend the "VIP" pre-opening party at the Mall at Green Hills. I have friends that love it. I shall now experience the reported makeup bliss.

American Idol: Week 8

2006-03-10T10:25:00.000-06:00

Whoever you are: Please stop voting for Kevin Covais.

I know. He's cute. He's likeable. He's like everyone's adorable little brother.

But let us face the facts.

He sings fairly well, yes - if this were a high school talent show. He was just as shocked as the rest of the world that he made it to the top 12. He will not win the competition. And he's a little torturous to watch.

I do not know if his demographic is eleven-year-old girls or the grandmas that put Clay Aiken through. But believe me: Kevin, sweet as he is, is no Clay Aiken. And I simply cannot believe that you put "Chicken Little" through ahead of my adorable Peter Brady, who really can sing. So please - stop. Pretty please.

* * * * *

My predictions: Ace will win. Mandisa will rock the house. And I will buy Chris Daughtry's CD.

Weekend Update

2006-03-06T13:44:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Otter Creek's first day in the new sanctuary. It was pretty incredible. Brandon and the praise team did a fantastic job leading us. Yesterday was special, I realize, but to be able to experience something like that every week - I hope I don't start to take it for granted. We are so blessed!

* * * * *

Saturday night OC did "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," where we all signed up and were assigned to different people's houses to eat together and get to know each other. Stumps and I went to the Giddenses' house - they're fabulous. The Shermans were also there, and they told us the story of their daughter's kidnapping. (Short version: The Shermans were missionaries in Guatemala for 23 years, and in 2001 their youngest daughter was kidnapped. This is apparently not that uncommon of an occurrence. But she was rescued unharmed, which is uncommon.) To hear Magda talk about the peace that she had, unexpectedly, while her baby girl was who knows where, and to hear Steve talk about the man who placed the phone call that led to her rescue that no one could find later - it's an amazing testament to how God can work in the most dire situation.

* * * * *

On less serious notes...

My last set of contacts arrived mismarked, I'm pretty sure. My right eye was doing odd things for awhile till I figured it out. I finally got ahold of someone at the opthamologist's last week, and she said she would send me a new box. In the meantime I've had in one from an old box I had stashed in my makeup bag. Amazingly enough, my "two-week" contact has lasted about six weeks so far. My contact keeps replenishing! Just like the Maccabees' oil!

We had an Oscars party last night. Tiff and Michelle did it up right. Stumps and I got to recycle some bridesmaid dresses. And I am proud to announce that I won the Oscar predictions, resulting in a prize of unparalleled prestige: a Foxy original Oscar statuette made completely out of aluminum foil. Picture to come later.

College Basketball Euphoria

2006-03-04T23:03:00.000-06:00

Oh, it's been a great day, athletically speaking. First, my Vols beat Vandy at Memorial, a game at which I was present. (Thanks for the ticket, Lesley... I tried to be very classy.) My Lady Vols beat Georgia and are going to the SEC tournament championship tomorrow. And - and this is a big one - my Heels beat Dook. At Cameron. On senior night. How about that for some motivation, JJ? March Madness, here we all come...

As Seen on TV

2006-03-01T16:12:00.000-06:00

As spotted on the web site of Nashville's NBC affiliate, wsmv.com:

PROGRAMMING ALERT: Channel 4 will be airing the "American Baby Casting Call" this Thursday at 8:30 pm. "The Office" will be shown at 1:35am.

What is "American Baby Casting Call," you ask? Well, here's Meredith Corp. to tell you:

The "American Baby Casting Call," a custom, half-hour television program that is a behind-the-scenes look at the magazine's yearly search for the cutest babies in America, will air on 200 stations nationwide starting February 3rd, announced American Baby Publisher Norma Blatto. The magazine received nearly 20,000 entries for the contest.

Why this merits a prime time airing I have no idea. Why anyone would want to watch this I also have no idea. Make your own social commentary.

The Bachelor Finale

2006-02-28T10:23:00.000-06:00

Well, Travis picked Sarah, and all Nashville is aglee. Could it be that we will now spot them at the Green Hills Y together rather than separately? Could it be that Tiff will see them both at Portland Brew? Could it be that Brad About You will soon go back to only talking about Keith and Nicole?

We of course had a party to commemorate the Bachelor finale. (I'm starting to realize how much of my social life revolves around television lately.) There was much screaming when the "but" we'd all been waiting for came to Moana. I feel somewhat objective on this subject, having watched a grand total of three and a half episodes of the season prior to last evening. I'm glad he picked Sarah; not only does she just make more sense, but Moana needs to do some growing, I think. That being said, I do feel bad for Moana. Closed off as she was, I think she did feel like she made herself vulnerable, and to do that and then be rejected is pretty much a slap in the face. So hopefully she won't go back to being ice-cold and the most reserved person ever.

On the other hand, if I had been forced to watch the clip of her tearily saying "it rocked me to the CORE" one more time I was about to throw my phone at the television.

So we were all rooting for Sarah. I think we would have been even if she wasn't from Nashville, and I think this is why: we're good girls, my friends and I. Given the choice between Sarah and Moana, we are Sarah. So it's nice to see the (perceived) real girl win out over the mysterious exotic girl. Who knows what Sarah's actually like, but at least someone realizes mystery will only get you so far.

On a side note, our friend Brad quoted Sarah's friend Shannon Connor Schupps, who I went to high school with. So it's totally like I know Sarah. Right. I mean, the fact that Shannon and I were on yearbook together yet we never had an actual conversation has nothing to do with it...

On another side note, did you know when your workout involves kickboxing, you get a much better workout when you're angry? It's true. Having someone to picture throwing punches at makes it that much more effective.

Nashville Night Out

2006-02-27T09:37:00.000-06:00

Saturday night I had my very first cool-Nashville-concert-night-out. Some of us met at Vick's to go to Baja - seriously, how can your night not be fantastic when it starts at Baja - and then headed to the Will Hoge show at City Hall. Baja was way crowded (because Nashvillians know a good thing), but I had been looking forward to it since last Tuesday and it was everything I had dreamed about. Mmm, chicken burrito with black beans and Mexican rice and white queso and salsa verde... Sorry. Ahem.

Nugget of Truth #1: Nashville shows do not start at the time printed on your tickets. We arrived about 40 minutes after the appointed start time of 8:00pm. We stood around for half an hour, at which point the opener came on. I refuse to tell you who the opener was for two reasons. Reason One: It's a tad bit profane (although I thought they were saying "grits" until LB informed me otherwise). Reason Two: They were not good. They weren't awful, just weren't good, and the music was insanely loud. (And yes, I realize that when at a rock concert you should have no expectations of a quiet evening, but the sound was just up way loud. Will wasn't that loud and he was sublime. But that is later.)

Nugget of Truth #2: The girl guitarist for the opening band was amusing. And scary. One of those girls I would never want to get in a bar fight with, not that I am prone to getting into bar fights (picture that if you will). We think she was trying to be feminine - she was wearing this sheer girly shirt - but the constant flinging of guitar and hair coupled with contorted facial expressions made for one of those train wreck times when you can't help but look.

Nugget of Truth #3: Will Hoge puts on an awesome show. I have only recently gotten hooked on his stuff, thanks to Tiff and Melody and Lightning 100, but thanks to the show I have quadrupled my Hoge collection. He's straight up rock and roll and I love it. Plus there were horns and great backup singers and they sang "Keep On Rockin' in the Free World." So go check him out. And get the new CD - it's fabulous.

* * * * *

Nugget of Truth #4: I have some amazing friends, new and old. So thanks, y'all, for being around.

LOST: Part IV

2006-02-25T14:22:00.000-06:00

Roman numerals seem so final. We finished our Lost: Season One marathon last night (after we watched Ace a few times). What did we learn...

- Locke's dad is a creep. Locke's mom is creepy (which explains a lot).
- Hot lifeguards still die.
- Jack has a hero complex.
- Walt is special. So special that The Others want him.
- Annoying people are funny when they die.
- THE MAN KATE LOVED! THE MAN KATE KILLED! really should have been a little less stupid.
- You don't need a single piece of medical equipment to deliver a baby. Not even scissors to cut the umbilical cord. Nope.
- You can stop up a wound with gunpowder. Ow.
- These people have a thing about drugging each other.
- French Chick is crazy.
- Half-cat-eye glasses are hilarious.
- Sawyer, Hurley and Charlie are stinking hilarious. And Charlie is still my favorite.

Why Bono Is My Hero

2006-02-20T17:00:00.000-06:00

I know - a serious post. Don't worry, silliness will likely ensue in the next one...

I watched The Constant Gardener last night. As usual, the book is better, but the movie was good. They both discuss the role of pharmaceutical companies in Africa, as well as the poverty and sickness that is there. It's truly unfathomable to me. I've never been there. I don't know details of what happened in Rwanda or what's going on in the Sudan. But it's an issue many Americans and many Western countries just ignore.

Which brings me to Bono. I love U2's music. They are amazing in concert. They're also expensive to go see (although cheaper than Paul McCartney or the Stones). But one reason it doesn't bother me too much that I paid what I did to go see them was that Bono is one of the few celebrities who truly uses his fame to draw attention to something other than his personal life or new album. I just read his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast - this is not a man who just lends his face to a PR campaign. I don't know much about his faith, other than that he is a spiritual man. I know some would censure him for saying the f-word on the Grammys. I wish he hadn't myself, but the fact remains that no matter what language he uses, Bono does more to help the poor than most Christians I know, including myself.

I've been really convicted about this recently. When I've been reading the words of Jesus, the ones that have jumped right out of the page at me are the times when Jesus tells us to take care of the poor. That doesn't come naturally to me. I get nervous around most people I don't know - much less the homeless and poor. What do you talk about? How do you help without patronizing?

I'm sure Bono's not perfect. He probably has a big house and a nice car (although he does wear the same outfit every show, so that has to save some cash). But he is an example of how someone who, rather than using his success to just look after himself, uses what he has been blessed with to motivate others to do good. And that is why he is one of my heroes.

While you're thinking about it (as you must be if you've read this whole post), check out Blood:Water Mission. Jars of Clay started this organization after a trip to Africa to provide clean water and other aid. And of course there's ONE - to raise awareness, not money.

I just found out that Joey Cheek is donating his $25,000 Olympic gold medal bonus to help Sudanese refugees. I'm glad this kind of thing isn't as rare as it seems sometimes. Hopefully I'll get more on top of it myself.

LOST: Part Tres

2006-02-19T00:14:00.000-06:00

I switched to Spanish this week in honor of our main dish, LB's enchilada casserole. Mmm.

So tonight I have just returned from watching another six episodes of Lost: Season 1. I really should be in bed, as I must get up early to brave the icy roads to church. (Mom, Dad: Really, they're fine.) But obviously I am not - in bed, I mean. When we left the crash survivors last, Kate had just retrieved whatever was in that envelope that belonged to "THE MAN [SHE] LOVED! THE MAN [SHE] KILLED!" Tonight we discovered that Walt is "special"; Jin did not, in fact, kill a man (well, at least not that one); Sawyer did, in fact, kill a man (but not the right one); Charlie really wants to be a respectable guy; and finally - Hurley's numbers! What's in the hatch?! Also: Locke is still creepy, I don't think Sayid and Shannon is as weird as everyone else does, and Hurley is hilarious. But Charlie is still my favorite.

* * * * *

StatCounter really is addictive. At one point this week I had readers ranging from New York to LA. And may I say, welcome back, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. Also: apparently family "discussions" lead to spikes in your blog traffic. Hello to all those visiting from sunny Malibu.

Don't look here for profound thought.

2006-02-16T11:58:00.000-06:00

Well, I figured it's time to post, since my faithful readers haven't heard from me in a week. I know you miss me. Sadly, I have nothing terribly profound to say (well, that's bloggable), so you get more random thoughts and stories. Discuss: Do you like these? Or do you really come here for deep discussion?

* * * * *

Tuesday night some friends and I went to Pie in the Sky (yummy) and then headed to Kairos over at Brentwood Baptist. This was my first Kairos experience. Jeromy Deibler was leading worship, and he starts to pray.

"Dear Jesus, you're awesome."

Big pause.

I seriously thought that was going to be it. Fortunately it wasn't.

* * * * *

Last night I took Nolensville Road all the way to...Nolensville! It was on accident. I was trying out a new way home from a friend's house and assumed that there would be a light at the Nolensville/Concord intersection. Note to self: There is not. I did, however, find the Blue Bell Creameries which makes all the Texas transplants so happy.

* * * * *

I watched American Idol for the first time this season last night. I don't really remember many of the girls. But that Brenna girl is going to be irritating, I can tell. Harmonica guy is cool but won't last long. Shaved-head guy rocks. (How sweet is he, calling his wife?)

* * * * *

Most irritating song to have stuck in your head: "The Hippopotamus Song." (Be forewarned: Link has popups.) But two-year-olds love it. Susan and I helped Tiff teach class last night. They're so much fun.

* * * * *

I'm so glad I postponed posting this. According to the iTunes New Music Tuesday podcast, Cowboy Troy has released a song in honor of the NCAA DI champs entitled "Hook 'Em Horns" (ew, I just typed that), which is, as best I can tell from the clip, awful.

Also odd: Willie Nelson has released an iTunes exclusive inspired by Brokeback Mountain. It's weird. A sampling of the lyrics: "Cowboys frequently secretly fond of each other..." No, I'm not kidding.

The Grammys

2006-02-09T08:55:00.000-06:00

So yesterday I was at work till after 7, so I didn't make it to church. Instead I picked up my new Timbuk2 bag from the UPS center, grabbed some Chick-Fil-A (mmm, comfort food - if I could have but one fast food joint...) and went home to watch the Grammys. A few observations:

1. TiVo is so the best way to watch awards shows. I started watching at 8:15, took half an hour to read in the middle and paused a few other times, but was still done only half an hour after the show was over.

2. Fashion: Chris Martin has crazy hair. Teri Hatcher had a weird dress and scary eye makeup. Mariah Carey's hair gets caught in her armpits.

3. Speaking of Chris Martin, I just don't get Coldplay. I know most of the planet loves them, but all their songs sound the same to me. Sorry.

4. Was it just me, or did Nicole Kidman look totally out of place? When they showed her sitting next to Keith Urban she looked all stiff and nervous. Maybe she just always looks like that. Or maybe it's just her Oscar face.

5. Best speeches: Kelly Clarkson for being an adorable guilty pleasure. Alison Krauss and Union Station for saying "Hey, two of our guys aren't here. Thanks, y'all." U2 (for best album, I believe) - Adam Clayton speaks!

6. Performances: Springsteen was great. Faith Hill sounded a little weird, but I thought her performance with Keith was good. The Sly Stone tribute was pretty good, although he freaks me out a little. And who is Devin Lima? U2 and Mary J. Blige was good, although not as fabulous as I had thought it would be from the hype over their Live 8 performance. I fast forwarded through Herbie Hancock and Christina Aguilera - they're both talented (duh), but the song bored me. And Mariah Carey just irritates me on several levels.

7. Kanye West is just irritating to me. Big a fan as I am of U2, I wasn't cheering so much because they won album of the year as because they beat Kanye. But I will say he energized the whole shebang. His performance with Jamie Foxx was more VMAs than typical Grammys, which could be a good thing.

8. Ending on a positive note: I'm not much of an R&B girl usually, but John Legend's "Ordinary People" is a fantastic song.

Yesterday's games

2006-02-08T09:09:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm proud of both my teams. The Vols beat Kentucky at Rupp. The Heels came very close to beating Duke. Overall, not bad, boys.

I must confess I didn't actually watch the Tennessee-Kentucky game. When I turned it on the Vols promptly blew a five-point lead. So I decided I was apparently not good luck and watched The Bachelor. (I watched an episode with a bunch of girls a couple of weeks ago and thought I was sucked in. When I watched it alone, I wound up fast-forwarding through most of it and yelling, "Oh, shut up, ____!" to each of the girls. I think I'm cured.) Anyway, that being the case, I found out the final score when my brother called me, greeting me with "Go Blue Devils!" I can't believe I just typed that. It's a big win. And great blazer, Bruce.

I did watch the entire Duke-UNC game. There were ups and downs for my Heels. They were down by 17 at one point; they weren't hitting shots for awhile. But they came back! Oh, so close. They're good this year. They're going to be amazing next year, with the new freshmen and only losing one starter (not that David Noel's a minor loss, but still, better than seven players). That Tyler Hansbrough's pretty good, I'd say...

OK, sorry, two things...

2006-02-07T17:17:00.000-06:00

GO VOLS! BEAT KENTUCKY!

Today I have but one thing to say...

2006-02-07T09:52:00.000-06:00

GO HEELS! BEAT DUKE!

Last Day

2006-02-05T13:08:00.000-06:00

(Lost season 1 spoiler alert!)

First, thoughts on Lost Marathon: Part Deux. The last episode we watched was “Whatever the Case May Be,” or “the one where Kate tries desperately to get inside the silver Haliburton case which, aside from firearms and cash, includes a toy plane that belonged to THE MAN SHE LOVED! THE MAN SHE KILLED!” I was proud of myself for picking up on the beginning of the whole numbers thing. (We’re watching it with a girl who’s seen them all, so she will occasionally explain things. It’s not cheating. Promise.) I’m thinking Charlie is my favorite. Poor guy. I hope Claire comes back from being kidnapped by the freaky “Canadian.” Oh, and that look Boone gave Shannon when she was singing to Sayid? Creepy. Not very brother-like, if you ask me. Not even stepbrother.

* * * * *

This morning was the last service at Otter Creek’s Granny White building. As of tomorrow all the offices are officially open on Franklin Road. It was a great service. I’m so glad I’m part of a church with so much respect for its history and tradition, but also with so much hope and thought and excitement about the future. It’s a pretty rare combination, I think. Brandon did a fantastic job putting it all together as a look back at OC’s history. John Rucker, who’s been at OC I believe the longest of anyone still living, read a passage with his son Ed to start. There were other readings, from the Ruckers to other adults to Lipscomb students to youth group kids and – this is what finally got me – a six- or seven-year-old reading scripture to an unborn child. We sang songs from “Rock of Ages” to “Days of Elijah,” with “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” and “O Lord Our Lord” thrown in (thanks, Harding chapel – because of you those alto parts shall forever be engrained in my memory).

I already feel attached to the old place, and I’ve only been here for six months. I can’t imagine what those who have been here their entire lives feel. But I’m so excited about moving. I’m so excited to be able to sit next to the first service people and be able to worship together, and excited about all the new space. It’s going to be a great time, I think.

[Refer to the title of this blog]

2006-02-03T09:45:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I wish I wrote about more serious things more often. (I think about them. I promise my mind is not simply full of television and fantasy football.) But then I think you know, most of the people who come here come because they are my friends, not for deep discussion. (Or at least I thought that until a few days ago, but that's for later.) And among my friends, I have long had a reputation for random stories and thoughts. Ask my college roommates. So sometimes I will be serious, but I have come to grips with the fact that many other times I will mainly provide you a string of miscellaneous thoughts and/or diatribes, at least some of which will hopefully entertain you. As such, here's the latest.

1. I finally got StatCounter for the blog. It's pretty addictive. But I'm extremely curious as to who some of you people are.

2. Going to trivia night at the Flying Saucer involves approximately eight times more cigar and cigarette smoke than a meal at the neighborhood Waffle House. My coat smells disgusting. Unfortunately, as I just have the one winter coat and the weather in Tennessee changes from springlike to frigid in about six hours, I may have to wait until May to get it dry-cleaned.

3. While searching for a Spring Sing link (see below), I found this article featuring one of my favorite triplets. (Yes, Milner kids, you are the only triplets I know. But you'd still be my favorites.) Harding has just started a new international studies program in France. We're taking over the world.

4. The "Lost" marathon continues this evening. I shiver with anticipation.

5. At trivia night, they play a very random assortment of songs between questions. This week's selections included at least two ABBA selections, which, as a good Harding alum, always remind me of Spring Sing. (I wish someone would do a count of how many club shows "Dancing Queen" has shown up in.) Not that you care, but if I were to make a trivia playlist out of the songs currently on my iPod, it would include (not necessarily in this order):
- Be My Yoko Ono, Barenaked Ladies
- Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, KT Tunstall
- Bootylicious, Destiny's Child
- Blackberry, Black Crowes
- Brown-Eyed Girl, Van Morrison
- Canned Heat, Jamiroquai
- Curbside Prophet (live), Jason Mraz featuring John Popper
- Desire, U2
- Golden Years, David Bowie
- Hazy Shade of Winter, Simon & Garfunkel
- Home, Marc Broussard
- I'm Gonna Be, The Proclaimers
- I Got a Woman, John Mayer Trio
- I Want Candy, Bow Wow Wow
- Be the One, Will Hoge
- Low Rider, War
- Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Beatles
- Black Dog, Led Zeppelin
- Seven Bridges Road, the Eagles
- Stitched Up, Herbie Hancock featuring John Mayer
- Super Duper Love, Joss Stone
- Uptown Girl, Billy Joel
- You Can Call Me Al, Paul Simon
- Zebra, John Butler Trio

And if it were the holidays, "Deck the Stills" by the Barenaked Ladies. Just because it's great.

That's it for today. Have a fantastic weekend, all.

Yay for my brother!

2006-01-31T15:43:00.000-06:00

Shout out to my baby brother, who just got into grad school! More specifically, the MS program in computer science at UTK. Way to go!

Things I Learned This Weekend (Or, Why Medicare Stinks)

2006-01-30T10:22:00.000-06:00

1. Allergies can occur even in the middle of January.
2. Lost is a highly addictive television show.
3. Sleeping late does not necessarily make you feel better. It just makes you go to bed late and then start the cycle all over.
4. Medicare will not pay for one of my granddad's cancer medications.

Friday after work we had the beginnings of a Lost marathon. There are several of my friends who, along with myself, had never seen more than an episode or two, and so we decided to catch ourselves up. We watched six episodes Friday night and plan to continue till the first season is over. Then when the second season is out on DVD we'll watch that, so we can watch the third season premiere with the rest of the planet.

So far we've learned a little bit about Kate, Locke, Jack, Jin and Sun. And if any of you tell me anything further I shall be very, very upset with you.

* * * * *

My granddad was diagnosed with renal (kidney) cancer in October. They started him on a trial drug, to which he had a severe allergic reaction. After that he hadn't been strong enough to start his current treatment till now. He's supposed to be getting a combination of a pill (Tarceva) and an IV med (Avastin), but Medicare has so far refused to pay for the Avastin because it's not indicated for renal cancer (and, I'm guessing, because it's very expensive - thousands of dollars a month).

I was pretty mad when I found out about Medicare's refusal to pay. Avastin is currently on the market, but is only indicated for colorectal cancer. There are several trials studying its effect on renal cancer, including one published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing decent results in terms of time to tumor growth, but so far it hasn't been approved by the FDA for that use. So even with the mounting evidence supporting its use, Medicare refuses to pay for it in this case.

My chosen field has given me some experience with the pharmaceutical industry. I'm not an expert, but I know the process and can partially understand Medicare's reasoning on this. Drugs go through several stages of trials before they can be approved by the FDA. Those trials are meant to look not only at how effective the drugs are, but how safe they are, how well they're tolerated in most of the population that will be receiving them, and what dose gives you efficacy and safety in which patients. Labels and indications are there for a reason. For example, when I was an intern at GSK I worked on an epilepsy medication that wasn't yet indicated for infants. So MDs were legally allowed to prescribe the medication, but there was no guidance from its manufacturer on dosage or safety in newborns. One of the studies I worked on was specifically for infants in order to provide that information.

But this is a different situation. There's clinical evidence that this drug works, at least to some extent, and no reason to expect that its side effects and dosage for renal cancer patients would be very different from colorectal cancer patients. From what I hear, off-label use is pretty common, particularly with cancer medications. So I'm just mad at Medicare right now.

Family Time

2006-01-23T18:32:00.000-06:00

From today's Tennessean:

First elected in 1999, Purcell announced last fall that he would not seek a third term. The next mayor will take over in September 2007. That leaves about 20 months for Purcell's administration to complete what's informally become known as the "Get 'Er Done" campaign.

Excellent. Nashville's mayor has a slogan pulled from Larry the Cable Guy. That'll help Tennessee's image almost as Memphis politics in general.

* * * * *

Well, NBC canceled The West Wing. I'm sad, but not surprised. It's a logical time to do it, since Bartlet can't be in office anymore, John Spencer died and if Alan Alda won they'd have to replace the whole cast anyway. And anyone not in denial will tell you the show hasn't been quite as good the last couple of seasons. But if you get a chance and aren't a WW fan already, go rent the first few seasons on DVD. That show made me care about politics, and I am not even kidding.

(And Josh Lyman had better wise up to the fact that Donna really can find a better man. If he doesn't get his act together after the election, just about all female viewers will be very upset.)

* * * * *

I got to be a tour guide yesterday. Otter Creek is moving to a new building, so there were tours of the new place the last two Sundays. A friend of mine was helping organize and needed tour guides. It was really fun. I've been going to OC for about six months now and am pretty involved in the singles group, but yesterday was the first time I really felt like part of the whole church. I'm not saying that because people have been unwelcoming; quite the opposite. It's just a big church, and it takes awhile to get to know people and feel a part of things.

I'm excited about the move because we'll have more space, because we won't feel claustrophobic after services, because we'll have more than one women's restroom, because the kitchen and classrooms and sanctuary will allow us to serve more people more efficiently. But I'm also excited for a somewhat selfish reason. When we move in a few weeks, just about everyone will be in the same boat. This place is new to all of us. There will be work days and special activities that go on that will bring us together as a church. So I'm hoping that I, along with the rest of the new people, will be able to really plug in and get to know the rest of our church family, outside our singles groups or young marrieds groups or youth groups.

On a similar note, I'm trying to think of other ways I can get involved. I love the people I've met through the singles group, but I'm looking at OC as a long-term investment. I'm hoping to stay in Nashville a long time, and at OC as long as I'm here. So hopefully this church family will be home in all kinds of stages of my life, and I want to get to know as many of them as I can. I've thought about trying to be a covenant group leader for the youth group, and I think it would be fun and a great way to help out. But to tell you the truth, it also scares me. I'm an introverted person and I don't know if I'd be good at it. So I'm still thinking. Thoughts or ideas, anyone?

Random Thoughts on a Sugar High

2006-01-18T22:10:00.000-06:00

So in the last week and a half or so it has come to my attention that I have more readers than I thought I did. And now I kind of feel bad that I haven't updated in awhile. Things have been busy. I've started about five posts, but then I think no, I don't really want to talk about that, and the moment is over. And I really should be in bed right now, but I just got home from Chili's where I shared one of those molten chocolate cakes and therefore I am on a massive sugar high. And so begin the random thoughts. I hope you're prepared. Phil, this one's for you.

* * * * *

OK, I admit it. Snow is pretty.

Those of you with whom I have been in close contact the last few years are familiar with my hatred of cold wintry weather. I believe this hatred stems from December 2002. Before that, I do not remember ever losing power due to wintry precip. (And TVA, I thank you for that.)

In December of 2002 I was looking forward to finishing my first semester of grad school. It had been a terrible few months. Finals were almost upon me. There were warnings of wintry weather, which I, like everyone else, took to mean buy milk and then ignore. Wednesday evening I was working on my laptop when the power went out. No big deal, I thought. It'll be on by morning. Thursday morning I am awoken by my neighbor and classmate Cathy, who has come to tell me she has a camp stove if I need to share. Long story short, a half inch of ice had fallen on the Triangle metro area, and my power was off for three and a half days. I was one of the lucky ones; parts of Durham were out for over a week. Such joy as I felt when my answering machine finally picked up, letting me know that power was indeed restored, has rarely been experienced. And thus began my hatred and paranoia.

But Tuesday night I was driving home from trivia night at the Flying Saucer, and the snow was swirling everywhere, like you were in this vortex of white flakes. So quiet. Beautiful.

* * * * *

I have made a discovery. His name is Jon Stewart and he anchors The Daily Show. Yes, I realize I'm about six years behind the times. But I had never watched an episode until two Fridays ago when TiVo, in its infinite wisdom, knew that I was having a crappy day and recorded one for me. This was the episode which featured a "coot-off" between two US senators to see who was in actuality the bigger old coot. Hilarious. Of course, since I gave that one the thumbs up TiVo then decided I would like South Park and Chappelle's Show, which is not the case. The day it records Sandra Lee I may yell. Oh, that woman irritates me. Seriously - it does not take a genius to show me that I can make cupcakes from a mix instead of from scratch. How does that warrant that woman a whole television show?! And don't even get me started on her theme music.

* * * * *

I made my first foray into podcasting the other day. I subscribed to NPR's 7am news and story of the day, Slate's two daily podcasts, iTunes new music Tuesdays and ESPN radio. It's pretty addictive. As is NPR in general. Their voices are just so soothing. Sometimes you like you a little Kanye West (to be heard on the River once every half hour), but other times, after a hard day at work, the monotone voice of Robert Siegel is just what you need.

Speaking of which, I was all set to ask if anyone else has ever noticed that NPR's Ann Taylor, who reads the news during All Things Considered, has this weird pseudo-British accent sometimes, specifically when saying a) her name and b) "The Dow Jones industrial average..." I cannot describe it. You just have to hear it. It's strange. Anyway, I looked her up to provide an appropriate link and found out two things. One: Ms. Taylor has very large teeth. Two: She used to live in my hometown of Knoxville. Actually graduated from UT and then read the news on radio and TV for WATE (now an ABC affiliate). How about that.

(And yes, by "UT" I mean the University of Tennessee, and no, I am not getting into the "real UT" fight. Tennessee was established first, 1794 vs. 1839. We win. It's that simple, kids.)

Also related to NPR: Melissa Block really, really looks like Susan from Friends.

Playing Catch-Up

2006-01-09T11:19:00.000-06:00

I promised Maegan she'd get a shout-out the next time I posted...and that was a week ago. So: Maegan, congratulations for winning - and I quote from her - "some national pharmacy leadership award"!

(And if you look at the picture: No, her eyes are not normally that color.)

* * * * *

The cake woes continue.

Our fantasy football league party is today, for which I volunteered to make the cake. I used Grandma's special chocolate icing and decorated it with "Pac Man's Posse 2005" in girly Happi-Names letters, because after all, my Girly Men did win.

This morning I was carrying to work:

1. cake
2. normal work bag, fairly large canvas tote
3. styrofoam bowls and plastic spoons
4. package to mail

All this cargo made locking my apartment door difficult. So as I was trying to balance the cake and lock the door, which requires both hands because the door doesn't sit on the frame quite right and you have to pull it towards you, the cake?

Fell.

It was very sad. I fixed it as best I could when I got to work, but it still looks ugly. Hopefully the guys will think as we have always told my grandmother (whose cakes were never actually ugly, though she always claimed they were): "[Grandma], we don't care what it looks like. We only care what it TASTES like." And from licking the knife after I fixed it, I can attest to the fact that it still tastes dang good.

Zucchini and Daniel

2006-01-07T17:44:00.000-06:00

Things I learned today:

Cucumber and zucchini look very much alike. And when someone puts a cucumber in the zucchini bin, right above the yellow squash, in the Wal-Mart produce section, you are likely not to know the difference until you start dicing it and think "Hey, I didn't know zucchinis smelled this cucumber-y."

* * * * *

I have watched the first episode of The Book of Daniel. There has been much controversy over the show back in Knoxville. The NBC affiliate, like others around the country, received a lot of calls and emails asking it not to air the show. (I'm actually kind of surprised that didn't happen here in Nashville, but I digress.) I had seen the commercials and thought I (and everybody else) should actually watch it before we judged it. So I did.

As a TV show goes, it was okay. Pretty melodramatic. I mean, yes, everybody's got some crazy stuff that goes on in their family, but whose family has drug dealers, homosexuals, alcoholics, Alzheimer's, approval issues, murderers, embezzlers, AND mob connections? Really? It's a little much. I do appreciate that Christian families have problems like everybody else, but that's a little over the top for anyone. Except maybe the Camdens. Anyway. Daniel's not the best dad ever - I mean seriously, how naive can you get, dude, your son does NOT study that much with the congregant's pretty 16-year-old daughter - but that's probably not all that unrealistic.

Mainly I took issue with the show's brand of theology. Jesus is a character in the show. That fact alone didn't really bother me; in theory, it's good to show an actual relationship with God rather than the soap opera brand of convenient religion. They do get very close to flippancy, and sometimes cross the line, but I appreciate the thought. However, when Daniel is struggling with how to tell his dad that his son is gay, Jesus appears pretty accepting of the son's homosexuality. Plus I don't think the writers bothered to check facts. At the beginning of the episode Daniel preaches a sermon about how we shouldn't feel bad when we succumb to temptation, which the bishop takes issue with (rightly, I would say - I'm not advocating massive guilt, but Paul's pretty clear we should avoid sin). So Daniel quotes to her - and I quote - "Corinthians 10:13." (I rewound it twice to make sure.) Huh. I didn't know they merged two books of the New Testament.

I don't think the show, content-wise, is any worse than Desperate Housewives or anything similar. Actually the first episode was relatively clean, although most of the cursing was done by the reverend himself. I think the danger in it lies in that this may be some people's main exposure to Christianity. (This, and Pat Robertson.) I hope people will realize that the theology on the show is not accurate, but is the impressions of LA screenwriters. And I hope that eventually, rather than telling his kids "I'm glad you're gay and happy, it's okay that you sold drugs, and it's okay that you have sex at 16 - boys will be boys," Daniel will look to the Bible he preaches from for guidance and get some backbone.

Picture's Worth 1,000 Words, Part 2

2006-01-02T13:51:00.000-06:00

So I wanted to make a cake for Christmas dinner. The cake was in Southern Living. This, according to the magazine people, is what the cake was supposed to look like (except that I was only going to do three layers, not six):

Pretty, huh? Chocolate red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. My cake, of course, looked nothing like that. Instead, it looked like this:

The severe lopsidedness was not my fault. I put the cake pans on a cookie sheet so they would be easier to take out of the oven, and one of the cookie sheets did that weird popping thing in the oven, where one end decided it just didn't want to be flat. (The large crack in the top is from putting a toothpick in to try to hold the cake together.)

The rest of the weirdness resulted from my attempt to be somewhat healthy. I got fat-free cream cheese for the icing. In my defense, I have another recipe for cream cheese frosting which does use fat-free cream cheese. So I didn't think this would be any different. What I failed to notice was that said other recipe had about twice the ratio of powdered sugar to cream cheese that the one in Southern Living did. So the icing ran. Everywhere. See all that icing that goes to the edge of the plate? Yeah, that was originally on the cake. It ran so much that I frosted the cake and we still had half a bowl of icing left.

So we ate the cake like Dunkaroos. Remember Dunkaroos? I think they were made by the Handi-Snack people. Basically Dunkaroos involved two compartments: one for cookies of various flavors, and one with icing to dunk the cookies in. So we dunked the cake. Oh, it was terrible. None of us ate more than one piece. And that, my friends, is my funny Christmas story.

Picture's Worth 1,000 Words, Part 1

2005-12-27T23:02:00.000-06:00

More about Christmas later. (Yes, there will be a PW1K, Part 2. So that you can all laugh at me.) For now, rejoice with me. (Humbly, of course. I owe this to T. Brady, T. Barber, D. Bennett, D. Mason, B. Troupe and most especially S. Moss and F. Gore [last-minute pickup Saturday]. And to luck.)

Ah, sweet victory.

Fun with Felines

2005-12-21T12:11:00.000-06:00

Update: See picture below.

The only pets we ever had growing up were fish. I had my own beta named Azure. I fed him too much, so he died. (I figured he'd stop eating when he was done. Apparently an incorrect assumption for fish as well as humans.) We also had a big aquarium. My brothers and I were very excited when we got it, partially because whenever we went to the fish store we got to see the piranha. Of course, eventually we got bored and none of us wanted to change the water. Poor Dad wound up doing all the work. Then they died. So I guess we're fish killers. Sorry, PETA.

The point is that we never had dogs, cats, hamsters, gerbils, or parakeets. Which means that now, although I'm over my mortal fear of canines and am happy to admire those of others, I have no desire to have one of my own. And I really do not want a cat. I have no experience with owning such an animal and, unless I should wind up marrying someone with a dog (see Mad About You: Paul Buchman and Murray), have no desire to do so at this time.

Which brings me to Friday. Friday I will be traveling home to Knoxville for Christmas, bringing with me my grandparents. Normally we wait and do Christmas with them on the 29th, Dad's birthday, but this year my aunt and her family are going to see her stepson before he ships out, so Grandma and Granddad would be alone on Christmas. Not fun. So they're coming with me.

My cousin Julie moved from Nashville to Atlanta last year and is living with my aunt and her husband, who is allergic to cats. This posed a problem, as Julie had a cat named Savannah. So Savannah went to live with my grandparents.

My grandfather has become seriously attached to the cat. When he was in the hospital the last time he cracked jokes about how he wished they'd let him have his cat with him. (At least, we think his was joking. Sort of.) He holds the cat, pets the cat, loves the cat. I am not a fan of the cat, but I'm glad it makes him happy.

My brother and sister-in-law will be bringing their boxer, Jess, to Knoxville with them. I like Jess lots. She's quite entertaining. However, the cat would probably not like Jess. Plus we don't have cat food, kitty litter, etc. So Friday I will also be taking Savannah to board at the White Oak Animal Clinic in Fairview. (Fairview actually has two animal clinics. No McDonald's, but two vets.) Apparently Savannah really, really hates her carrier. So following for you, readers, is my dad's plan for me to get the cat to the vet. Oh, Friday will be fun.

--

Savannah is slated to arrive at the White Oak Animal Hospital on Friday. I took her on Monday to get her claws trimmed, so that should be less of an issue. [Note from JT: I had been previously informed by my aunt that gloves might be a good idea during this process.] If she sees the carrier (green plastic thing under the grill in the garage), she'll freak and you'll be in for a merry chase. You will, of course, win through sheer determination...but it won't be easy.

My plan (for you)...

1. Sneak the carrier into the bathroom carefully.

2. Open the carrier door.

3. Locate and pick up Savannah and, with stealth, grasp her feet with both hands (I prefer two paws in each hand).

4. At that point, you can shove her into the carrier and quickly close the door behind her. You have to squeeze the two spring-loaded portions of the door mechanism to open or to close the door. Practice first. You can always push the door up against the plastic, then squeeze the handles to close it fully. You ARE stronger than her...just not as quick.

5. Once she's in, she'll be a bit reluctant to come out at the vet, but they can address that issue.

--

My daddy's a funny guy. I, on the other hand, am a bit nervous.

Update: Dad sent a picture of the cat for my amusement. Title? "The Enemy."

Home and Away

2005-12-19T11:08:00.000-06:00

First, the most pressing issue.

Girly Men: 109.36
Opponent: 64.28

And we're headed to the finals. Thanks to T. Brady, D. Bennett, B. Troupe and most especially T. Barber for outstanding performances.

Also, kudos to the Tennessee Vols for beating the tar out of Texas Saturday afternoon. That burnt orange is hideous.

* * * * *

I went home to Knoxville this weekend. The youngest daughter of one of my very favorite families got married. The weekend was an interesting study in contrasts. First there was the Rucker family vs. my own, which if you know the two of our families you get what I'm saying. I love us both, but it's funny how different we are. Then there was my home church vs. OC.

I grew up in a very traditional church of Christ which I love. I love going home and seeing all the moms of the people I grew up with and knowing that they love me to pieces (as they do us all). I love getting hugs every time I turn around. I love getting the latest news and updates from Miss Deborah in a conspiratorial whisper. I love being greeted by Miss Gina with an exuberant "Hey girl!!"

But it's sometimes amusing to go back and see the differences. For example...

Home: The wedding was decorated with Christmas decorations - wreaths, Christmas trees, poinsettias. There were many jokes about how we should keep the trees onstage for worship in the morning - but everyone knew it wouldn't happen. There was, however, much excitement about the fact that we got to keep the wreaths on the front doors.

Away: I came back in time for the annual OC Christmas concert, complete with band, solos, Christmas tree and large Christmas banners hanging from the ceiling.

Home: When I was in high school, two of the middle school boys decided to cause some commotion and clap during worship. They were much discussed.

Away: I am among the few non-clappers in worship every Sunday. (I'm just not a clapper. It feels weird.)

Home: Mom (one of the church secretaries) used the PowerPoint template for the sermon this week with the blue background and star-looking thing in the lefthand corner. Last year she tried that and one of the elders commented about it looking too much like the Star of Bethlehem. She's not sure if he was joking or not. What can I say - my mother is a rebel at heart.

Away: The last few weeks have brought us holly and other signs of the season on the PowerPoint. I'm pretty sure no one has objected.

Home: Speaking of PowerPoint, I was shocked to show up at church yesterday morning and discover that the songs were being projected. Until now, PowerPoint has been strictly relegated to the display of Scripture and sermon points. I believe they were waiting until they had the ability to display the actual musical notes along with the words, which I actually think is a good idea. (Not the waiting necessarily, but the notes.)

Away: There's a church that doesn't use PowerPoint? The morning after the UT-Vandy game, Jay Cutler was the first slide in the sermon. To the chagrin of half those assembled.

* * * * *

Also this weekend: We took my iPod out of the box.

I'm getting a black 30GB video iPod for Christmas. I actually had to purchase it myself - Dad called and said they were all out of stock in Knoxville, but he found two in Brentwood. So I bought it, and Mom and Dad took it home with them at Thanksgiving. I have not been allowed to open it. But while I was home I ordered a case for it, and we needed to take it out to see where the headphone jack and dock thing are. (Okay, fine. It was just an excuse.) Oh, y'all, it's so pretty. We haven't taken off the plastic on the actual iPod or opened the earbuds and USB connector, but oh, it's so pretty. I'm so excited.

So now the iPod needs a name. For those of you who do not know, I name things. My car's name is Maggie. My TiVo is Velma. (Valerie, the first TiVo, is sadly deceased, as has been previously documented.) My laptop is Ava, named by my brother after our Spanish professor. But now I need your help. I am in need of an appropriate name. So check out the beauty that is the iPod, feel inspired, and help me out.

Ode to the Girly Men

2005-12-12T12:02:00.000-06:00

I have just been informed that everyone in our department is talking about me.

Well, maybe not everyone. But everyone in our fantasy football league. After three straight losses and a lackluster second half of the season, my Girly Men finally decided to show up in their first playoff match, beating my opponent Cole by sixteen points. (Cole tells me I have broken his heart, considering he so far has the highest score of anyone this week - except for me. Sadly for him, playoffs are head-to-head, single-elimination.)

Just thought I'd share my glory with you, faithful readers. May it last another two weeks.

Notes, updates and blogger tag

2005-12-08T08:33:00.000-06:00

I'm feeling the blogger love today. Yay for links on Phil's site and JA's. Who knew my ramblings on holiday music and Carolina basketball warranted such attention.

* * * * *

At the risk of re-opening this particular can of worms, apparently Harding alums aren't the only ones who would rather Ann Coulter not speak on their campus. Coulter stopped a speech at UConn after 15 minutes because of protests, switching to a Q&A instead. Quote: "I love to engage in repartee with people who are stupider than I am."

Here's the article about Coulter's impending appearance from yesterday's Daily Campus. As of now, it looks like the paper's web site isn't updated for today, so no response from campus yet. I'll keep checking, faithful readers...

Update: The Daily Campus has posted an article about last night's speech. I had to register (free) to read it, but they promise not to send you the email edition unless you ask for it.

* * * * *

Musical update: I finally got the new David Crowder Band CD. I love it more than words can describe. It's better than Illuminate, and Illuminate is one of my favorites.

Fantasy football update: The Girly Men made the playoffs, seemingly by the skins of their teeth. (I think that's grammatically correct.) I'm not sure how long I'll last in head-to-head competition. Not long if Tom Brady doesn't get his act together. Come on, dude, think of your adoring fans.

* * * * *

Tiffany tagged me. I've never been tagged before, and I'm not sure enough people who read this would actually respond to a tag from me, but here goes.

Ground Rules: The 1st player of this "game" starts with the topic "5 weird habits of yourself" and people who get tagged need to write a blog entry about their 5 weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next 5 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "You are tagged" in their blog and tell them to read yours.

Weird Habit #1: Using Velma the TiVo, I pause the TV on NBC after I work out in the mornings. In this way I can go take a shower and then eat breakfast with the day's first 15 minutes of Katie, Matt, Al and Ann.

Weird Habit #2: Just about every night I get into bed and try to go to sleep on one side, but pretty much always flip over to the other side. Doesn't matter if I start on my right or left, it's always the wrong one.

Weird Habit #3: Every year I rearrange the presents under our Christmas tree to their most aesthetically pleasing arrangement (according to me). It's not that weird. My brother rearranges my mother's wooden SANTA letters to spell SATAN.

Weird Habit #4: I sing very enthusiastic harmony parts in the car.

Weird Habit #5: I have a very specific order in which I check my preprogrammed radio buttons. (I am very ADD when it comes to the car radio.) It is as follows:

1. 88.7, WAY-FM
2. 89.1, WNAZ
3. 100.1, Lightning 100 (Nashville's Progressive Radio)
(I usually stay on Lightning 100 for awhile.)
4. 96.3, Jack
5. 107.5, The River
6. NPR, but only during Morning Edition and All Things Considered
7. 95.5, The Wolf
8. 94.7, The Country Giant - how I can pick up a Cookeville radio station in Brentwood, I have no idea
9. 97.9, The Big 98
10. 105.9, classic rock
11. 103.3, more country - it's not that I love country this much, it's just, well, Nashville, and the more stations you have programmed the more likely you are to find Keith Urban.
12. 102.5, Venus - unless it's Lulu and Trish, who irritate me to no end.

So if any of you read this, you are henceforth tagged: Amanda, Joel (JQ!), Caroline, LB and Dan. Congratulations.

Church

2005-12-05T10:12:00.000-06:00

9:05 yesterday evening. I am mentally blogging about what a great weekend it has been, basketballically speaking, as the Lady Vols beat Stanford Sunday, unranked Carolina beat #10 Kentucky at Kentucky Saturday and Virginia Tech is 1.6 seconds away from beating the hated Blue Devils. And then Sean Dockery goes and hits a 3-pointer from somewhere around halfcourt at the buzzer. Argh.

Update: Yeah, we're ranked. Although somehow Illinois managed to move up...

Update #2: How 'bout those Heels, Geno...

* * * * *
In the singles class Sundays we're reading Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz. It's a weird book, for people more used to Lucado or something. But it's extremely thought-provoking and honest. Yesterday we talked about the "Church" chapter. What is church? What should the church be doing?

It's very odd - or, maybe not - that all these things have been coming together in my head lately. I was at Sanctuary a few weeks ago, which I love, but after I left I thought, what's getting done outside the church while we're all inside worshipping? There's been such a focus in "Christian culture" the last few years on worship. Tons of artists have put out worship CDs. The Passion conferences are huge. Worship ministers are part of church staffs. And I don't think any of that is bad at all. We are called to sing and pray and lift up our hands to bring glory to God. But I wonder if in all this focus on worship, on lifting up God and encouraging ourselves, that we've forgotten about serving and encouraging others outside the church a little bit. I know I had.

I had Ross Cochran for two New Testament classes while I was at Harding. In both of them I remember him stressing Matthew 9:13 and 12:7, both taken from Hosea 6:6: "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings." The point is that God wants us to act out our faith, not take part in empty rituals, even if those rituals are part of what we've been commanded to do. He wants us to show mercy to others, not only to sacrifice a couple of hours on Sundays.

It can be a little scary to put this into action for me. Seems like a simple thing - go volunteer at a homeless shelter or something. Things like that scare me to death, though. Aside from the introvert thing, I'm a single girl. I don't want to go to the inner city alone. I'm not sure how much I should be concerned about that; how much should our personal welfare get in the way of serving? At the same time I don't want to be stupid. So right now I'm looking to help out more through church. It seems like OC has been focusing on this a lot lately, which makes me even more excited to be a part of it. (I don't know if they've always been this focused. I'm a newbie. Just wanted to put in the disclaimer.) Things like the gift card and clothing drives are things I can do. The singles group is doing Room in the Inn tomorrow night, and I'm excited about that. I feel like this is really something tangible, something that will show the love of God to people more than us staying inside our auditoriums and classrooms.
(Phil's been talking about this too. Go read his stuff.)

And we need technology because...?

2005-11-29T22:48:00.000-06:00

It's been an exciting evening. I came home from work, got a few things accomplished, and sat down with my dinner to watch my Heels take on the Fighting Illini in a sort-of rematch of last year's NCAA championship. (Which we won. In case you didn't know.) As it's back to freezing cold around here, I busted out the space heater for the first time this winter.

That didn't go so well.

About twelve minutes into the first half, everything goes dark. TV. Overhead. Space heater. Even the Christmas tree. So I'm thinking the power's out, which is weird since it's not storming. Then I look over and realize the microwave clock is still on. Which means it's a breaker problem. So I go in the kitchen and start flipping all the breakers. Finally one makes the light come on. Great. Back to the game. Except I turned on the TV to find that there is at least one and occasionally more horizontal white lines going up and down the screen and making the picture terrible. And my TiVo is not coming on, even though the DVD and VCR were.

So what do I do? I call my dad, of course. My father is not an electrician. Actually you should ask him to tell you about his electrical engineering course sometime. But he has a much better shot than I do of figuring out what's going on - except he had no idea. So I moved the TV into the bedroom at halftime to see whether the TV was going nuts or it was the power strip or something. Fortunately for me, it was the power source, and I have a cable jack in my bedroom. So while I was on the phone with the TiVo people for forty-seven minutes, I could watch the second half of the game.

(And while we're on the subject: Even though we lost, we lost by four points. And those freshmen looked dang impressive. I'm looking at you, Tyler Hansbrough and Marcus Ginyard. Good game.)

Anyway, I tried out the TV after the game with an extension cord with extra outlets. Seemed to work fine, so I think the power strip is kaput. So tomorrow I shall be off to Best Buy to buy a new power strip and to exchange my TiVo. Because if it won't turn on, well, there's not much they can do.

(Then I will need to find a nice friend with a phone line in my cable area who will let me take over their living room overnight to set up my new TiVo. Hint.)

And why am I willing to do all this? Because I love my TiVo. Possibly the saddest thing here is that I will probably lose 40 West Wing episodes and an entire season of House I haven't watched yet. Boo.

Links for Your Browsing Enjoyment

2005-11-28T14:56:00.000-06:00

Realize that the fictional Dr. McDreamy will never leave Seattle Grace for you? Try a real-life one.

Thanks to a commenter on Mike Cope's blog today, it has come to my attention that one of Vandy's own is ABC's next Bachelor. That's right, ladies. Rather than looking for love here in Nashville, ER resident Dr. Travis Stork is off to Paris to find a forever love on national television.

* * * * *

I know many of you have probably seen this clip, but if you haven't, it is so incredibly worth your time.

"He was injured. Injured bad."

* * * * *

So the BNL holiday CD is great. I mean, if you're looking for stirring musical performances, go buy Mannheim Steamroller or something. I was looking for a fun Christmas CD, and of course the quirky Canadians deliver. (They have a social conscience, too. This is the first time I've heard "Do They Know It's Christmas" and not been too annoyed to actually listen to the lyrics.)

It has the bonus of several Hanukkah tracks as well. This includes "I Have a Little Dreidel," which I remember learning in elementary school when Raina Brietstein's mom came to our class and taught us about dreidels and menorahs. One of my favorite tracks, though, is "Deck the Stills." I mean, thought-provoking, for sure. Check out the lyrics.

Plus they sing happy birthday.

To Jesus.

Awesome.

Brothers

2005-11-23T15:53:00.000-06:00

Today's song of the day: "Jingle, Jingle, Jingle" from the CBS Christmas special "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Why, you ask (and rightly so)? Well, first of all, it's the day before Thanksgiving, which means Christmas is almost upon us. Secondly, as I walked down the hall at work this morning my keys were jingling in my pocket. (I must keep them with me, as I share an office with three other girls and am liable to be locked out otherwise.) For some reason that triggered the song which is now stuck in my head.

* * * * *

I totally poured orange juice on my Cheerios this morning. Oops.

* * * * *

Apparently my brother has been reading my blog. I didn't think he read it. He feels that the "weird Aunt Jen" recollection may cast him in a negative light, and so I told him I would attempt to ensure that doesn't happen.

My brother Robbie (also known as Rob or Robert - why do boys like to change their names when they get out of college?) and I used to fight pretty much constantly. We have two very different personalities. We've gotten to the point now, though, where we either get along fine or just silently agree to disagree. (At least, that's what's going on in my head.) I think most of it is just that we've grown up, learned to appreciate each other. I think some of it is him being married, although I can't put my finger on why that helps. I have now learned that what I perceived as lack of sensitivity is usually a large dose of practicality in his mind. I think he has learned to accept the fact that I can be a little emotional. We've worked things out. (And for the record, he says the weird aunt thing was not meant to imply that I will forever be a spinster.)

I'm not sure how my mom feels about this. After all, whenever we ask her what she wants for [Christmas, birthday, Mother's Day], her stock answer is "I just want everyone to get along and be happy." Now that we do, I don't know if she'll know what to ask for. I mean, I might even see if Rob wants to play Trivial Pursuit this weekend. This is a huge step. She might faint.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2005-11-22T17:43:00.000-06:00

Dang it. Yesterday it was Billy Mack. This morning I heard REM's "Shiny Happy People" on the radio and have not been able to get it out of my head. That is a truly annoying song.

* * * * *

It's time for a little update on the Girly Men (my fantasy football team, for those of you just now joining us. This is the first year I've played. I am the only girl in a league at work, which makes me feel strangely empowered). Somehow, I lost this week, even though the team I was playing was the one with Donovan McNabb (out for the season with an injury, for those of you non-footballers among us). I'm not quite sure how that happened. At any rate, even though I lost, I am still holding steady at #5 and look to have a good shot at the playoffs. My strong hope is that Ben Troupe will come back and produce in next week's Titans game. Please. Pretty please, Benny.

* * * * *

I bought my first Christmas tree last night. The last few years I set a little one up on my dining room table which I believe my mother originally bought for my dad's office. I feel a little bit like a grownup. The plan is to put it up Saturday, while listening to my new holiday CD, "Barenaked for the Holidays." No, that's not dirty. It's the Barenaked Ladies' holiday CD. I'm pretty excited about it, after I heard their duet with Sarah McLachlan on the radio last year. (Is it still a duet if it's a group + another person?) But I have a rule: no Christmas music till after Thanksgiving. This rule obviously did not come from my mother. I remember one year on our way home from a church retreat she wanted to play Amy Grant's Christmas tape. Did I mention the retreat was in mid-October?

Thanksgiving is going to be relaxing this year, I think. No more driving six hours one way twice in five days, with eight more hours on the interstates once I got here. (Which is especially good considering it's snowing in the mountains.) This year they're all coming to me. Most of our extended family lives in Middle Tennessee, including my sister-in-law's family. So baby brother Adam drove home from Harding last weekend, and he and Mom and Dad will come here Thursday morning, as will Rob and Lyndi. I think Adam's staying with me this weekend, which makes me happy. Poor kid has his big senior project due next Tuesday, so he had to haul his entire desktop computer home with him. He's been programming all week, so when they get to my place he'll set up, connect to my wireless network and keep at it. I'm glad he's staying with me. Not only is it always nice to have him around, but it'll save him six hours of otherwise wasted time on the road.

(And yes, I realize that the fact that I call my 21-year-old brother my "baby" brother can be a tad misleading. My friend Mary was apparently expecting a seven-year-old the first time she met him. His bass voice threw her off a lot. Originally it was to differentiate, little brother vs. baby brother. Although I never call Rob little brother. That seems weird, now. Probably because he's married and has a dog and stuff.)

Thursday we're doing Thanksgiving at Dad's parents'. This year will be a little different, since Mom and I and maybe my cousin are doing all the food. Grandma has pretty much quit cooking in the last couple of years; instead she and Granddad frequent "Holly's," more formally known as the "Kountry Kafe." (My grandparents are on a first-name basis with the owner.) It is one of Fairview's few restaurant options, in addition to Sonic and a gas-station Subway. As I would never want to disparage Holly or her kountry kooking, I will simply say that I hope my grandparents enjoy a change of pace.

Friday is the big gathering with Mom's family. She has six brothers and sisters. There are sixteen cousins. A few great-aunts and -uncles also usually come. So it's always a big time. More grown-up stuff: this year I was included on the "who's bringing what" email. Not that it really mattered; all my aunts bring the same things every year. For example, as my mother has the furthest to drive, she is in charge of paper products and soft drinks. The only change in the lineup this year is exactly who will be making the asparagus casserole, since Aunt Sharon sadly has to work and won't be joining us. Kudos to Aunt Mary Lynn for stepping up. So I am bringing random things: sausage balls, because those have never been known to go uneaten at my grandmother's, and a vegetable tray, my contribution to healthful eating. We'll see which gets eaten first...

I give up on titles.

2005-11-21T11:00:00.000-06:00

Thanks, Travis. I don't even know you, but you have "Christmas Is All Around Me" stuck in my head. I have only even seen that movie once. Grrr.

* * * * *

Now in the news: TennCare (Tennessee Medicaid) is planning to pay for Weight Watchers for enrollees who want to join. (What? Preventive care?! Who would have thought it?) I think it's a fabulous idea, even if TennCare is strapped for cash. Hopefully this will help the budget in the long run. When I lost weight - I forget how much in this particular time period, probably around 15 pounds - my cholesterol went down somewhere around 40 to 50 points. Eat that, statins.

"[TennCare director J.D.] Hickey said the average cost of the 12-week program for a single enrollee is about the same as a month's supply of a single branded drug."

So if losing 20 pounds can help a TennCare enrollee get off statins and/or high blood pressure meds, everybody wins. Not to mention they may not need that knee replacement as quickly.

I wonder if they'll ever extend it to programs like Jenny Craig, NutriSystem, whatever. I've never tried any of them, but from what I can tell, one of the perks of Weight Watchers is that you can eat regular food. Which, I'm guessing, means it's cheaper. Plus it's been proven to work in esteemed publications. Just ask Fergie.

My week so far...

2005-11-18T22:52:00.000-06:00

It's been a little crazy. When we left each other last, faithful blog readers, it was Monday. Tuesday was the Great Tornado Day. A long and nasty cold front passed through several states, including my own, and brought with it ten tornadoes that touched down in Tennessee alone. Tennessee ALONE, people. Now, I really, really hate tornadoes. Hurricanes you have enough warning to get away (not that they're fun or anything). Earthquakes I figure you don't have enough warning to be scared, not that I'd know much about it. Tornadoes generally make my stomach turn to knots for four to six hours while whatever storm system is producing them moves through my area.

I don't know why I have this extreme fear of the funnel cloud. I have had only a few major experiences with them, which of course I will share with you now. (Otherwise, why would I mention it? You know me better than that.)

1) I was somewhere between six and eight; my baby brother had his preschool spring program at what is now our home church in Knoxville. I remember a tornado rumored to be in the Ball Camp area, so we were stuck at the church building with the Semores. That is all. Give me a break, I was seven.

2) Freshman year. Around 4:00 in the afternoon in late January I notice weather warnings popping up on the TV. Soon we are all herded into the first floor hallways - for seven hours. At first it was fun. All the guys couldn't stay in the glass-walled lobby, of course, so they are forced to come back to our hallways as well, which was a new and exciting thing for us. This led directly to girls placing phone calls which went something like: "Hey, honey! Come over here! If you come in the building you can't stay in the lobby and so you'll get to come back here with me!" Yes, tornadoes are romantic. (Meanwhile, while the girls were stuck in the hallways, many of the guys were actually out chasing the dumb things. Including Jason Ashlock in his sweet Eclipse. Why would you mess with that car?) Anyway, it was fun till the power went out, at which point most of us started really freaking out. Beebe and McRae got hit really badly - so badly that the next Monday they let us out of classes if we were going to help clean up. My roommate passed through the town of Pleasant Plains on her way home to Batesville, and it still wasn't cleaned up a year later.

3) Junior year, February. We were living in Shores. It was a Saturday. The warnings came. Mrs. Timms made everyone go down to first-floor apartments, which meant ours (Shores 111, in case you care) was nice and full. Among our visitors were Maegan and one of her club sisters, who had been getting ready for a Regina function. The tornadoes got closer, so we had to all go into the bathrooms. Eight girls in a very tiny bathroom. Did I mention the Regina function was an 80s function? Eight girls, including two with crimped hair, terrible pink lipstick and leg warmers, in a very tiny bathroom. I just wish I had pictures of that one. (By the way, that Regina function had about the ugliest t-shirts I have ever seen.)

Obviously I escaped Tuesday with all my limbs intact; I only had to hide in the guest bathroom twice (I prepared with my Walkman, pillows, blankets and some Sudokus).

Wednesday I helped Tiffany teach the two-year-olds. They are adorable. And make excellent hippopotamuses. After church we went to one of the guys' houses to watch a movie - but not just any movie. We wound up watching The Sound of Music. Oh, it was awesome. And it is at this point that I must tell you about one of the most fun evenings ever spent.

I spent fall semester 1999 in London - Great Russell Street, to be exact. London is known for crazy things. One of those things is the Sound of Music Singalong, which takes place in the Prince Charles Theatre in Leicester Square. The basic concept is that you get an audience together, put the lyrics on the screen, and everyone sings along with the von Trapps. But it is oh, so much more. We had drunk costumed yodelers behind us, one of whom pretty much fell onto the stage when it was time for the fancy dress contest. There were male nuns, Nazis (not including Prince Harry), probably a baronness or two in the audience. We also had Sound of Music Enjoyment Packs, which included curtain headscarves in your choice of color, champagne poppers, foam nuns with finger cutouts, and Ricola cough drops.

We got there late, so we had to sit on the front row - but that was awesome, and I will tell you why. Two of our girls had actually gone once before (Robyn Sandlin and Sara Beveridge, may their names live on in infamy), and told us all to bring flashlights. These same girls actually got up during "So Long, Farewell" and flitted and floated across the front of the theater, inspiring rousing applause from the rest of the audience. Why the flashlights? Well, kids, because the Nazis are looking for the von Trapps! In the abbey graveyard scene we all busted out the flashlights and shone them around the theater, again inspiring ovations. The Singalonga Sound of Music is one of those things that the US really should import, along with wagamama (which was our dinner after the show).

Oh, London. I miss thee.

More Random Thoughts

2005-11-14T09:41:00.000-06:00

Which is probably what most of my posts should be titled.

* * * * *

The Girly Men look to be making a comeback. After topping out at #2 in our league, my fantasy football team plummeted to #7 last week and lost two in a row. However, I'm currently leading this week's opponent by 18 points and still have Monday Night Football left to play, including Terry Glenn and the Philly defense. Dale, sadly (for him), has no one playing this evening. So it looks to be a sure victory at last - unless someone manages to put up negative points. Never say never. Playoffs, here I come...

* * * * *

We went to see the new Pride and Prejudice movie Friday night. Y'all, it is so good. Of course, nothing can compete with the BBC miniseries version (which I finally watched and became moderately obsessed with last spring), but this movie version is excellent. Jane Austen is probably my favorite author ever, and this is why. Yes, her books are all romance novels on the surface. But she is sarcastic and funny and comments on the social norms of her time, all the while creating these characters you instantly identify with. Sense and Sensibility used to be my favorite, but Pride and Prejudice may be the new one. S&S is excellent, but not quite as funny as P&P. Emma is also great - more lighthearted than the rest, since the heroine isn't pressured to marry for money for once. You know what - just read them all.

Up this week: The new Harry Potter movie - at the IMAX!

Random assortment of thoughts

2005-11-13T16:13:00.000-06:00

I've decided I want a Mac.

Erin and I are thinking about joining a gym, which pushed me over the iPod edge. Now I'm asking for one for Christmas, and I'm very excited about it. So I looked at the Apple web site to figure out exactly which one I want, and I decided I want a PowerBook. I currently have a Gateway laptop named Ava (my brother named her, after our Spanish professor; my previous desktop's name was Penelope). She's served me well, although her backlight broke and she is now hooked up to a desktop monitor and has lost her laptop functionality. And I don't plan to buy a new computer very soon. But when I do, it's very likely that it will be a Mac. Here's why:

1) They're pretty.
2) They work.

I got attached my senior year of college. I was yearbook editor, and all the computers in the student publications offices are Macs. The only times they crashed were when they were running Adobe PageMaker, which is prone to doing stupid things (or at least was three years ago - ask me about final deadline night when it decided to erase the index at midnight).

When I went to grad school, I didn't know what kind of software would run on Macs, and to be quite honest I didn't really think about getting anything other than Windows. Now - I am a Mac girl wannabe. Oh, I want one real bad.

They're so pretty.

* * * * *

You should all (legally) download "Come to Jesus" by Mindy Smith. She's an Americana-type artist, and that song is awesome. The lyrics are amazingly comforting, although it wasn't released to Christian radio or anything. I've only heard her on the River at home, sadly now defunct, and Lightning 100 here. So if you're of the school of thought that all Christian music is crap, don't worry. She's not in that box. The point is that the song is great and you should all get it.

Jeremiah vs. Phoebe

2005-11-07T09:30:00.000-06:00

I've been reading Jeremiah lately, and I've decided he reminds me of Phoebe Buffay.

Do you remember that Friends episode where Phoebe had the old lady's spirit inside her? (According to my research, that episode is "The One with the Lesbian Wedding." One of Phoebe's clients died on her massage table, and, according to Phoebe, the woman's spirit decided to live in her because she wanted to see everything. "Everything," of course, wound up being the lesbian wedding. This episode also involves Joey's first appearance as Dr. Drake Ramoray and Ugly Naked Guy playing the cello.)

Anyway, Phoebe kept saying all this crazy thing, not because she wanted to, but because this spirit was inside her and she just couldn't help it. I think that's how Jeremiah felt. He didn't want to tell his countrymen all these terrible things, but the spirit of God was inside him and he just couldn't help it. "[I]f I say, 'I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,' his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot."

How do you get to be like that? How do you get to a point where the Spirit is just inside of you and it can't be contained? Obviously Jeremiah wasn't all that crazy about the concept, but we have a far more hopeful message today.

Retreat!

2005-11-06T17:15:00.000-06:00

This weekend was the OC singles retreat. Dang, I missed fall in Tennessee. Aside from the obvious football fanaticism, the retreat was at a camp about half an hour from Dickson, and the scenery was absolutely amazing. Fall in God's country, it is. Forget that stupid ocean, Malibu Librarian. You know you want to come back.

The retreat was really good. Worship last night was awesome, and Dan did a great communion today. And there was trivia and Mafia, which always make things great. (Even if I did get killed. Honestly, everybody blames the quiet ones. We're not always shifty. I am an innocent townsperson.) Anyway, I have been thinking so much this weekend and lately it hurts my head.

I am a blessed girl. I have a family I love more and more every time I see them. I have friends all over the place I know I can call. I have a job that I like going to the vast majority of the time and allows me to not have to worry about money. I'm getting involved in a great church. I mean, I really don't have much to complain about. But I would really like to get married eventually. At the moment I'd take a date. Sometimes I feel completely loopy - I mean, I'm 25, and I'm worrying about being the old crazy spinster aunt. (This is likely not helped by the fact that my brother once informed me I would be his kids' "weird aunt Jen." He claims not to remember this statement. I believe our relationship has now grown to the point where I would just be "aunt.") Anyway, eventually I want a best friend, a guy I'm comfortable around, a guy who knows me better than anyone. Sometimes I wonder if that kind of relationship only exists in the movies. But then I see friends of mine and I know it doesn't. (Plus movie boyfriends are not reality boyfriends - this much I have observed. Unless we're talking Napoleon and Deb or something.)

My biggest problem, I think, is that I want this so much I'm afraid it's getting in the way of my faith. They say the thing you should want most is to be with God - but I feel like I already havethat. Not that I don't have to keep working at it, but it's attainable by his grace. It's a certainty, and I am thankful beyond words for that. Human love is not a certain thing. And I hate uncertainty. Last week with Granddad was nothing but, and it drove me up the wall. (Yeah, I'm sure it wasn't fun for him either.) I don't think it's a lack of faith that God will provide what is best for me. I think it's more that I want a great marriage to be that at some point, and I don't know if it is. I like to know things. I like to have a plan. Maybe it's partially that that's bothering me. (Wow. Blogging is like cheap therapy.) The point is that I've been praying about this for a long time, and the desire is still there. I feel incomplete right now - not that I need someone else to be a complete person, in my own eyes or in God's, but I feel like there's more in store for me. Maybe that's just wishful thinking, but I hope not. I have a lot to offer. I'm not an overdramatic girly girl. I am content to watch football for hours on Saturdays. I think I'm low-maintenance. (Of course, I could be the worst kind: "You think you're low-maintenance, but you're really high-maintenance." If you don't get that quote, I have a movie you need to see.) I guess we'll just have to see what happens. Argh. And I hate that.

Best Meeting Ever

2005-10-31T15:11:00.000-06:00

So I was going to blog today about how my grandfather is in the hospital and how much, in the words of my brother, cancer sucks. (That was what he told me to say when I interviewed at St. Jude. Hmm. Maybe I would have gotten the job then...) But I just had one of the best meetings ever and am in a much better mood.

(But now that you're curious about Granddad - he has advanced renal cancer and is on a trial medication. The latest theory is that he had an allergic reaction to the medicine, causing him to break out in a serious rash - I mean, the poor guy looks terrible - and to have some extreme fatigue. They took him off temporarily Thursday, but yesterday (Sunday) my aunt took him to the ER with a high fever and chills. Best guess is still the allergic reaction, since his white blood count is fine, so who knows what'll happen. Prayers would be greatly appreciated.)

On to the meeting. I've been working on a new project at work, looking at delirium in ICU patients. I'm still learning about it, but apparently this is a much larger public health issue than anyone thought a few years ago. A lot of patients are sedated when they're brought into the ICU, but the effects of those sedatives can be long-lasting. Anyway, if everything works out, half my time is going to be dedicated to this set of projects. The head of the group came by today to meet me. Y'all, he is awesome. The first thing he did when he came into my cube is ask me who my pictures are of, which is a quick way to get to my heart. He heard my triplets were from Arkansas, and I said I went to school there, and he'd never heard of Harding so I told him it was a private church-affiliated school. Conversation moves on. A few minutes later he's talking about this project and how he really feels like this is a God thing, and everything keeps falling into place with the right people and the right facilities, and how he feels like I'm an answer to prayer because they've been looking for a master's-level statistician for awhile to help Ayumi, the biostats faculty member I'm working with. It was such a great meeting, because this is why I got into biostatistics, for real - because it's numbers and all, but it directly relates to public health and, to put it cheesily, making the world a better place. Yes, I feel like an idiot sometimes. But this is why I got into it, and this is why I went through graduate school, and this is gonna be awesome. I am just so pumped right now, because I feel like these are going to be great people to work with, and that this issue is a great one to spend our time on. Woohoo!

You heard it here first...

2005-10-31T14:01:00.000-06:00

Well, maybe not first. But still. Apparently Randy Sanders is resigning this afternoon as UT's offensive coordinator. Speculation ensues as to whether David Cutcliffe, who left UT to head coach at Ole Miss, was fired, was hired at Notre Dame and subsequently resigned for health reasons and moved back to Knoxville (got that?), will be hired again.

I do feel bad for Randy Sanders. I mean, nobody deserves a web site dedicated to their demise, whether you're Ron Zook or Sanders.

Halloween Help

2005-10-25T12:38:00.000-05:00

Okay, I need y'all to comment on this one. I am, as most of you know, a very Type-A, non-creative person. Yet I am in need of a cheap yet creative and fun (and comfortable) Halloween costume. Help.

And now for something completely different...

2005-10-24T13:57:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to assure y'all that the country music industry, Nashville's pride and joy, is in absolutely fantastic shape. I hold up as evidence the latest hit from songster Trace Adkins, entitled (and I am not joking) "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk."

Chorus:

[Left, left, left, right left]

...Honky toooonk badonkadonk
Keepin' perfect rhythm,
Makes ya wanna swing along,
Got it goin' oooonnnnn
Like Donkey Kong
Oooo-wee, shut mah mouth,
Slap yo' gra-an-maw

There oughta be a law,
Get the sheriff on the phone,
Lord'a mercy, how she even
Get them britches on
With that honky tooooonk
Badonkadonk

I feel that this speaks for itself.

Football/Soapbox Updates

2005-10-24T12:21:00.000-05:00

It is so stinking cold here today. I talked to my mom yesterday and she was like, "I'm going to get to hear you complain about the weather for the next four months, aren't I." And I said: Try five, Mom. The upside to this, of course, is that since our office air conditioner is still nonfunctional, it's actually pretty comfy in here today.

So you're all dying for a fantasy football update, I know. Well, I got lucky this week - although Tom Brady is my QB and it was the Pats' bye week, it turned out that Billy Volek, my backup, was actually starting against the Cardinals because Steve McNair is injured. Go me. Then Volek goes and gets a concussion, leaving me with 3.16 points. Still, I am currently beating the #2 team by 29 points (I am currently third). Said team does have three players playing on MNF. However, one of them is listed as questionable, so I am forever hopeful.

The new/prospective members class was yesterday at OC, and it got me pretty excited. It was good to meet some people from other groups, and I'm excited about getting more involved. It's nice to be official. Next week I get my picture on the PowerPoint and I have to stand up in front of everybody. Another girl in the singles group had actually been thinking some of the same things as I have about getting to know people outside the group, so we asked one of the ministers about it after the class. One of his suggestions was to join a different small group. I'm a little torn on that, because I don't want to ditch (or appear to ditch) the singles group, since I do like them, after all. But it's definitely something to think about. And hopefully with the other things I signed up for I'll start meeting some more people. I think I might be being a little impatient - after all, I have only been there a few months. I just don't want to get stuck where I only see the same group week in, week out. I think we miss out on a lot when that happens. So for now, that's enough on that soapbox.

Are you a pinky or an eyeball?

2005-10-21T14:54:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about the church as community lately. I was thinking about it already, and then one of JA's posts pushed me over the edge, so blame him.

The thing that really didn't hit home to me till I got to Nashville, even though I knew it in my head, is how stinking enormous the churches are. I thought I would be used to it; I went to big churches most of my life till I went to NC.

Then I get here. Now, disclaimer: I like where I've been going to church; otherwise I wouldn't go there. From my observation, most of the churches I would like to join here, for whatever reasons, are big. And most of them have a similar dynamic, from what I can tell. So I'm really trying not to pick on OC. The point is that all these big churches have groups which pretty much cover everybody - children's ministries, youth ministries, singles, young marrieds, young families, single again, empty nesters, senior saints, I think I pretty much covered it. Those can be great. It was nice to have a place to go at OC where I knew there were people I could probably be friends with, and I like the people in singles group. My point is that if you have all these compartmentalized groups set up, when do they see each other? We babysat for the kids at church, which was really fun. But the singles group goes on its own mission trips, goes on its own retreats, has their own Sunday school class, has their own small group (which really isn't small), you get the point. I have met very few people outside the singles group in the few months I've been at church, and it's not because I haven't been there often.

Maybe this is more of a unique situation than I think. And I realize that there is a simple solution to this for me personally: get off your butt and get involved. Well, yes. They're having a prospective members' class Sunday afternoon and I'm hoping I'll figure out how to do that. My frustration is truly not with one particular church; it's with this mentality as a whole. I assume it's the same in Dallas or anywhere else there are churches big enough to split up like this. I just think when Paul talked about all the parts being a body as a whole, that includes this situation. I think young professionals (graduates, singles, pick your moniker) have a lot to offer the church - we can get involved in a way that parents or seniors can't. And I think the same is true of the other groups; everybody's got something to bring. I'm just frustrated, and this may not make much sense, but I don't understand why we try to put everyone in their own little group and don't try to foster a sense of community, don't encourage interactions between them more often. I see the value in the subsets. But I don't want everyone I know at church to be exactly like me either.

Back from the Tar Heel State

2005-10-16T20:49:00.000-05:00

My abs hurt.

It's not because I've been a good girl and have worked them out lately (although my intentions are good). It's because I laughed harder and longer this weekend than I have in a long time. I got back from Durham tonight, back from Em and Vadim's wedding and from seeing old friends. It's funny how fast friends go from "current" to "old." I mean, they're also my current friends. But they know me well enough, and I know them well enough, to be old friends, which I realize and appreciate more now that I'm hundreds of miles away. It was so incredibly good to see everyone, although as always I wish I'd gotten to see more of them. It's crazy to see how much things change in just four months. My favorite little baby girl is a toddler now with blond streaks in her hair, getting ready to be a big sister. Caroline and Brenda helped serve communion this morning - as much as we'd heard about it in the last year, it was a little surreal to see them up there. I'm still trying to figure out my exact opinion on women in the church, but communion is one thing I'm pretty sure about. It was amazing to see these women who have wanted so badly to serve this way stand up there humbly and serve their brothers and sisters.

Some of my favorite pictures from the weekend...

Korah, Emily and La. Korah was Em's maid of honor - she's one of those nice Duke grad students. La was obviously another bridesmaid. It's still crazy to me that she's the same age as my baby brother - she seems older since she's such a good friend. I'm not sure if that's because she's super mature or just because I have a warped view of my baby brother...

This one's a group shot of our campus ministry group - Em and Vadim started out as students and are now the campus ministry interns. These "kids" are such amazing people. There are undergrads, grad students, Dookies, Tar Heels, and even a renegade Durham Tech student, and we all get along really well (except on Duke-Carolina game night, and even then we only throw small objects). I miss 'em.

As if I needed more younger brothers...this is Christian and Nick. Christian is a sophomore. Nick is a junior and is getting married next summer (to Faith, who's between me and Nick in the CFC picture), and I still can't believe it. Nick is one of those guys who acts incredibly mature one minute and then - well, then he talks about poop. But I love him for it. Those guys are awesome.

This is a bunch of us at El Rodeo Saturday night. Oh, yum. Mexican restaurants tend to quickly secure a place in my heart (see Searcy's Mi Ranchito). El Rodeo is a local chain in Durham/Chapel Hill. The Chapel Hill one is stereotypical - mariachi music, Christmas lights, chiles on the walls. The Brightleaf Square one is classier, but still delicious. That was the last place we went for Sunday lunch before I left, and I was craving it when I went back. We stayed for like two hours - our numbers kept growing, we kept ordering, the crazy waiters kept trying to mess with our heads. Good times, good times.

More pictures, for you NC folks (and I guess whoever else). Such a good weekend. Back to reality.

Rah Rah Carolina-Lina

2005-10-13T22:30:00.000-05:00

I should be packing. I'm headed back to NC tomorrow for Emily and Vadim's wedding (at which I will apparently be cutting cake). I'm super excited. I need some old friends. I'm making new ones here, but I haven't had to do this in three years and I'd forgotten how hard it was. Between being excited about this trip and reconnecting with a few even older friends, I've been missing them all pretty badly. So my plane ride eastward comes at a pretty good time.

Speaking of NC, the US men's basketball team has itself a coach. (Or is it "have themselves a coach?" Whatever.) Coach K will be guiding the team to glory, or at least out of the pit. Much as I hate Dook, I have to say Coach K seems like a pretty classy guy. (Except for those American Express commercials. It's pretty fun to watch the Final Four with a Dean Dome's worth of people and boo those suckers.) I wish I could say the same for the undergraduates at that fair institution. There are some good ones, but by and large I have seen nothing to change my opinion from the stereotypical Dookie. The grad students, however, while a little crazy, are pretty good people. Some have even been known to fro their black hair and dye it orange so as to look like a basketball. (Oh, Korah. I'm so glad I'm getting to see you soon.)

OK. I'm really gonna pack now. Except Letterman's on...

TM@GH

2005-10-12T12:32:00.000-05:00

Aaron O., I am privileged to have you stalk me via blog. : )

After thinking about the matter further, I have decided that the honor of TV's most boring sport should actually go to golf (if you define golf as a sport at all). Baseball at least has players punching fans and cameramen on occasion, which, while morally disturbing, does mean something happens once in awhile. Golf is what they should show insomniacs.

I had a theory. My theory was that the sale racks in the stores of The Mall at Green Hills, Nashville's ritziest mall, would be better than the ones in the Cool Springs Galleria, the mall closest to my apartment. The theory was based on my cousin Rachel's experiences while working at The Mall at Green Hills, specifically in the Baby Gap. She said she would attempt to direct people towards the sale racks, to which they would turn their noses up higher and inform her they were not interested in the sale racks. So my thinking was that hey, if the uber-rich people aren't buying the sale stuff, more for me! Not so much. I guess the uber-rich bought all the good stuff at full price. So after I spent a wasted hour and a half in TM@GH, I headed down to the Galleria to find something to wear on my big trip back to the Tar Heel state this weekend. I wound up at the Gap. Got a skirt and some pants. It was exciting. I spent over two hours shopping yesterday and didn't get home till 8:15, but I did not miss Gilmore Girls. Why? Because I TiVoed it. Yeah I did.

One good thing I will say about TM@GH: The new Cheesecake Factory is scheduled to open very soon. And that is most definitely a good thing.

The Tivolution

2005-10-10T19:38:00.000-05:00

Do you know what I have just done, my friends? (A: Of course not, you idiot. We're not there. B: Of course, you idiot. We read the title.)

I just set up my TiVo.

I love TiVo.

I just paused live TV so I could type this blog. I set up season passes for The West Wing, Gilmore Girls and Grey's Anatomy. (Okay, so the last one is a guilty pleasure.) House is next on my list, followed by The Apprentice (not Martha's) and ER. I am so excited. And it was actually really easy to set up. I commend you, TiVo People. Way to go. Now I no longer have to worry about saying oops, I mixed up North Carolina and Tennessee channels and accidentally taped CNN! (Yes. It happened.) Now I no longer have to say hey, I have to tape House, only to discover that it was actually an hour of baseball, television's most boring sport, which I recorded. Woohoo!

Holy Texting, Batman!

2005-10-07T12:19:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wished you could read the Bible on your mobile? Text a verse to your friends without all that pesky number-pad typing? Well, here's your chance, kids. This story makes me laugh. I'm not sure it's supposed to, but I mean, come on. The Bible in text-speak? Here's the link to the actual project. The page's title: "4 God so luved da world..." At least they capitalized. I guess.

There's much room for theological debate, I guess - would the texting of random verses make you completely miss any context? - but I'm at lunch so that will have to wait...

Caffeinated

2005-10-05T22:17:00.000-05:00

I made my first trip to Baja Burrito tonight. This is a place that is known simply as "Baja." Out-of-towners have heard of it. I have heard Nashvillians rave. And I must say - they were not wrong. That burrito was yummy. And they have salsa verde, which makes me happy. This was better than Qdoba, and that is high praise in my book. Plus I had a Coke - the first Coke I've had in a long time. It was good. And it made me very wired. So wired, in fact, that I came home from church and worked out. I already did this morning, but skipped the last two days for a couple of reasons, so I figured this would at least be productive. I'm still hyped up but hopefully I'll at least be able to sleep.

Tonight at vespers, we read Hebrews 2, and it really hit me tonight:

...he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

My grandfather has his second oncologist appointment tomorrow. He had a CT today, so tomorrow we find out if the cancer has spread beyond his kidneys. It's scary. But talking about this reading tonight made me realize that we spend so much of our lives just afraid of dying. We exercise (well, some of us), we take drugs, we wear seat belts, all motivated largely by our wanting to live as long as possible. And sometimes I wonder what in the world for. My great-aunt has advanced Alzheimer's. This grandfather has had both his knees replaced in painful operations and long recoveries. My mom's dad had somewhere around five hips by the time he died, then he got very sick and spent most of his last few months in a hospital bed in his living room, where someone else had to do everything for him.

Now, I'm not saying we should all sit on our couches eating fried chicken, or ride motorcycles with no helmets. (Keith Urban, I'm talking to you. You're beautiful, but you could set a better example in those videos of yours. Not that I don't watch them as it is.) Quality of life is important. And I know that God can use illness and sadness for good. My grandfather changed quite a bit in the months before he died; we had one of the only real conversations we ever had on one of his good days two months before his funeral. My point is that in the struggle to prolong our lives here, we've missed the fact that death is no longer something to fear. We do - I do - fear it for ourselves and those around us. I don't want my grandfather to die. I'm hoping and praying hard that the cancer is contained and treatable. But I know that he has no reason to fear it, whenever it happens. And that realization tonight gave me an immense sense of peace.

Happy birthday to me...

2005-10-03T11:23:00.000-05:00

Today is the big day. I'm a whopping twenty-five. Birthdays always make me pensive; this year it makes me miss my Carolina friends a lot. Last year I was in a terrible mood on my birthday - we were at a retreat at Black Mountain, and some of us had stayed up till two a.m. the night before watching the Tennessee-Auburn game. (Two guys from Clemson drove into town, rented a hotel room and used its cable to record the game. I kid you not. They brought a TV and VCR from Clemson. I think they brought a satellite too, but left the instructions at the church or something.) We got smashed in that game, so I didn't wake up very happy. But then I was group-hugged and sung to and Nick bought me Bojangles for lunch. I hate Bojangles, but it was still very sweet of him. Then Chuck and Rebecca took me out to dinner and surprised me with a bunch of other people. And Lilliana stuck her foot in Korah's pasta. (I should probably mention that Lilliana was approximately eight months old at the time.) I miss them!

Today does not look to be nearly as exciting. My dad is coming, which is great. We're going out to dinner, and I might drag him to Best Buy to determine whether I can, in fact, hook up a Tivo; my electronic self-esteem was severely damaged by a plethora of issues with Comcast. But the main reason he's coming is because my granddad has his first oncologist appointment tomorrow. He has kidney cancer. I went out to see my grandparents Thursday and they were both doing well, but my brother and sister-in-law stopped by yesterday and they weren't doing so hot - apparently our great-great-uncle was there and talking about dying and how bad cancer is. Awesome. Way to lift the spirits, great-great-uncle. Hopefully Dad can cheer them up. Thursday Granddad appeared to be more worried about the cat than himself. Savannah is technically my cousin's cat, but my cousin moved to Atlanta a few months ago and is living with my aunt and her husband, who is allergic to cats. So the cat is living in Fairview. Granddad loves that animal. They've had pets before - there was Tina, the little white poodle-like thing that would run under the bed whenever anyone came, but who I was still terrified of. (Heh. "Tina you big fat lard, come eat your dinner!") Then there was Rudy, the stray cat. I don't remember either of them being nearly as crazy about those animals as this particular one. Granddad says he'll just have to take her to the hospital with him. I think he's kidding. He's already excited about the hospital food. He's spent quite a bit of time at the hospital over the last couple of years with knee replacements, so he developed quite a hatred of the stuff they call food. We kept offering to smuggle him in some Cracker Barrel, but he never would let us. Maybe he'll change his mind this time. Just looking at his food the last time grossed me out. Blech. Last time we were there we saw somebody had some Pizza Hut delivered. Not a bad idea, folks...