Sunday, December 31, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
Merry Christmas
We are having a really good Christmas here in Moorhead, Minnesota. It's strangely warm... around 30 degrees and no snow. Everyone's in good health. We have a lot of love and a lot to be thankful for this Christmas.
This morning we spent like half an hour taking the craziest pictures we could come up with... I think my family is now more into taking photos than opening presents. lol The actual goal was to get one for the yet-to-go-out Christmas card. Anyway, enjoy... and Merry Christmas.
This morning we spent like half an hour taking the craziest pictures we could come up with... I think my family is now more into taking photos than opening presents. lol The actual goal was to get one for the yet-to-go-out Christmas card. Anyway, enjoy... and Merry Christmas.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
A Super Reunion
I got to hang out with my very beloved friend Adriel and her husband Daniel in Topeka a few days ago! She was my RA freshman year of college, and we immediately found out that we were both from Topeka. The cool thing about that is that even though I live in North Carolina and my family lives in Minnesota, and even though she and Daniel are living in SCOTLAND for about 5 years as he gets his PhD at St. Andrew's, we still manage to see each other like once a year because we're both in Kansas somewhere near the holidays. Yay! It was really fun and just... so sweet to talk to an old friend.
These pictures were taken at the mall in Topeka as we waited for my Mom to pick me up. It is always funny being 24 and waiting for your Mom to pick you up from the mall.
These pictures were taken at the mall in Topeka as we waited for my Mom to pick me up. It is always funny being 24 and waiting for your Mom to pick you up from the mall.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Movie holiday
Movies I rented today with my Mom:
- All the King's Men
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Kate and Leopold
- The Family Stone
- An Affair to Remember
Special Envoy to Sudan
The UN finally appointed a special envoy to Sudan. Thank God. It's about time. NOW there can begin to be some progress...
It's fun (and cheap) to stay at the Y
A two-week membership to the YMCA (which is one of the nicest gyms in town, newly remodeled) is only $22!
Ohhh yeah!
Ohhh yeah!
Monday, December 18, 2006
Tis the season of ME
So I'm in Tecumseh, Kansas laying under my uncle's huge (15 foot?) Christmas tree. I woke up super early this morning to go on a cold walk with my Mom. She has been so committed to health lately, but she actually didn't want to go on the walk today. Apparently we don't have enough time before we meet some people for breakfast. Hmmpf! Oh well, it's kind of nice to see morning rising.
I've noticed something this Christmas season. It's not new, but it's worse and uglier than before. Every time I look at a newspaper ad, browse some online stores, or walk through the aisles of a mall store, I am thinking about one thing. It's not what I will get my mom, dad, brother, jess, or tom. (And believe me, I should be thinking about that: it's December 18 and I still haven't done my Christmas shopping!) No, it's not how I can give to others this season.
All I can think about is what I want. All I can process are my own thoughts of my own endless material desires. I have a long, specific list of things that I want... a new computer, clothes, kitchen gadgets, etc. I won't go on party because it's embarrassing, partly because I don't want anyone to feel compelled to get me anything on this list, and partly because I still want to get them without you knowing they were one of the wants I railed against in this post (evil, eh?).
It's shocking, actually, because I know that I already have significantly more possessions than one person could ever need. There's nothing I lack. NOTHING. Even when I do think of something I want, 9 times out of 10 it is to upgrade an item that I already own.
I realize when it comes to this, I'm a product of my culture - the era of supersizing, upgrading, and indulging in little luxuries. That's not necessarily evil, but the problem (as I see it) is indulging ourselves all the time. Living the lifestyle of indulgence. Letting the luxuries rule us until they are all we think about, all we desire.
It's really not just me either. I've had lots of talks with a couple of the guys in my life, and they too are desiring bigger and better toys. I've tried to counsel them to think about it less. I've shown them how their own lifestyles are really not that different from the people they so admire who have the big house, the nice car, and all the peripherals. But even as I say that, I go on wanting things myself.
I guess all of this is to be expected, but what I can't figure out, is how can a season so designed to FULFILL me, to remind me of my complete fulfillment in the tiny, amazing, unfathomable gift of a baby... how can this season actually leave me so empty, so full of worthless desires that consume me?
Sometimes, don't you wish we would just do away with the whole gift exchange? I like giving gifts as much as the next person, but we can't escape the reality that we do it now because we have to. We all say we are fine with getting nothing, yet we can't bear to give our loved ones nothing, so the cycle continues. Maybe Tom was right when he said we should celebrate Christmas every two years. Then we'd appreciate it much more.
You know what I despise more than the shopping rush leading up to Christmas Day? The only thing that bothers me more is December 26. I can understand preparing for the big day, but as soon it is past noon on Christmas Day, our thoughts already return to the stores and how much more crap we can accumulate if we get there early enough.
Corporate America has done a really excellent job of projecting our wants through megaphones... I for one can hear them loud and clear. My goal now is to let another voice in. This voice doesn't remind me what I want. Instead it tells me of the riches I already have. This voice doesn't create emptiness and longing where really there exists an overflowing cup. This not a trite saying for me... there really is an overflowing cup. I just... strangely... forget about it this time of year.
I've noticed something this Christmas season. It's not new, but it's worse and uglier than before. Every time I look at a newspaper ad, browse some online stores, or walk through the aisles of a mall store, I am thinking about one thing. It's not what I will get my mom, dad, brother, jess, or tom. (And believe me, I should be thinking about that: it's December 18 and I still haven't done my Christmas shopping!) No, it's not how I can give to others this season.
All I can think about is what I want. All I can process are my own thoughts of my own endless material desires. I have a long, specific list of things that I want... a new computer, clothes, kitchen gadgets, etc. I won't go on party because it's embarrassing, partly because I don't want anyone to feel compelled to get me anything on this list, and partly because I still want to get them without you knowing they were one of the wants I railed against in this post (evil, eh?).
It's shocking, actually, because I know that I already have significantly more possessions than one person could ever need. There's nothing I lack. NOTHING. Even when I do think of something I want, 9 times out of 10 it is to upgrade an item that I already own.
I realize when it comes to this, I'm a product of my culture - the era of supersizing, upgrading, and indulging in little luxuries. That's not necessarily evil, but the problem (as I see it) is indulging ourselves all the time. Living the lifestyle of indulgence. Letting the luxuries rule us until they are all we think about, all we desire.
It's really not just me either. I've had lots of talks with a couple of the guys in my life, and they too are desiring bigger and better toys. I've tried to counsel them to think about it less. I've shown them how their own lifestyles are really not that different from the people they so admire who have the big house, the nice car, and all the peripherals. But even as I say that, I go on wanting things myself.
I guess all of this is to be expected, but what I can't figure out, is how can a season so designed to FULFILL me, to remind me of my complete fulfillment in the tiny, amazing, unfathomable gift of a baby... how can this season actually leave me so empty, so full of worthless desires that consume me?
Sometimes, don't you wish we would just do away with the whole gift exchange? I like giving gifts as much as the next person, but we can't escape the reality that we do it now because we have to. We all say we are fine with getting nothing, yet we can't bear to give our loved ones nothing, so the cycle continues. Maybe Tom was right when he said we should celebrate Christmas every two years. Then we'd appreciate it much more.
You know what I despise more than the shopping rush leading up to Christmas Day? The only thing that bothers me more is December 26. I can understand preparing for the big day, but as soon it is past noon on Christmas Day, our thoughts already return to the stores and how much more crap we can accumulate if we get there early enough.
Corporate America has done a really excellent job of projecting our wants through megaphones... I for one can hear them loud and clear. My goal now is to let another voice in. This voice doesn't remind me what I want. Instead it tells me of the riches I already have. This voice doesn't create emptiness and longing where really there exists an overflowing cup. This not a trite saying for me... there really is an overflowing cup. I just... strangely... forget about it this time of year.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Technical difficulties
I was scheduled to give a 10 minute presentation this morning in my networking group. I made a PowerPoint that I was so excited about... I went and got slide handouts printed onto bright orange paper (with Tom. late at night. oh yeah. lol jk we were dead tired)
Thank goodness my Mom urged me to have a Plan B...
The dumb LCD projector didn't work! I am sure it was something totally simple and easy to solve, too, because it worked for a second but then wouldn't come back and I didn't have enough time to figure it out. Oh well. At least it got me to finally put together a PowerPoint for my business, but man it was really unflashy and boring doing the whole thing from handouts. I guarantee you people would've been way more attentive and fascinated if I had kept them in suspense from one custom animation to the next! Sigh.
So Tom and I are getting pretty serious. I've had guys say serious things to me before, but Tom actually means it, so that's new. We are miserably sad about having to spend the next 2 weeks apart. We're preparing for it by spending every minute together which is devastating my work productivity - niiice! Well I would say more on here but really this isn't blog material, is it now...
Thank goodness my Mom urged me to have a Plan B...
The dumb LCD projector didn't work! I am sure it was something totally simple and easy to solve, too, because it worked for a second but then wouldn't come back and I didn't have enough time to figure it out. Oh well. At least it got me to finally put together a PowerPoint for my business, but man it was really unflashy and boring doing the whole thing from handouts. I guarantee you people would've been way more attentive and fascinated if I had kept them in suspense from one custom animation to the next! Sigh.
So Tom and I are getting pretty serious. I've had guys say serious things to me before, but Tom actually means it, so that's new. We are miserably sad about having to spend the next 2 weeks apart. We're preparing for it by spending every minute together which is devastating my work productivity - niiice! Well I would say more on here but really this isn't blog material, is it now...
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Bush's actions amount to book-burning
Read this article about the White House's cuts to the EPA budget. The White House has begun closing the Enviromental Protection Agency's research libraries to the public and to its own staff, cementing Bush's reputation as usher of a new dark age.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Winter bliss
Two words for you this wintry holiday season:
Peppermint Steamer.
Okay, maybe five words. Peppermint steamer in a big mug. That's six I guess. lol
Peppermint Steamer.
Okay, maybe five words. Peppermint steamer in a big mug. That's six I guess. lol
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Friday, December 01, 2006
Wanted
I got a voicemail late last night from the Fargo Police. Okeyyyyyy...
So it turns out that some girl up in Fargo (basically where my family lives) was in a fight in a bar back in August. She identified me out of a high school yearbook as the girl that beat her up in the bathroom.
Haha.
The funny thing is that August is the last time I was home visiting my family, and I did go out to some bars, but I've never heard of the particular one they asked about. My family got a pretty big kick out of the whole charade. My mom answered question after question, finally laughing when she heard what it was about, saying "If you knew my daughter, you would know how impossible this is... she lives in North Carolina and has her own business doing communications for businesses." My brother left me a voicemail cracking up saying he heard his sister was in a gang and people kept knocking at his door looking for me.
So it turns out that some girl up in Fargo (basically where my family lives) was in a fight in a bar back in August. She identified me out of a high school yearbook as the girl that beat her up in the bathroom.
Haha.
The funny thing is that August is the last time I was home visiting my family, and I did go out to some bars, but I've never heard of the particular one they asked about. My family got a pretty big kick out of the whole charade. My mom answered question after question, finally laughing when she heard what it was about, saying "If you knew my daughter, you would know how impossible this is... she lives in North Carolina and has her own business doing communications for businesses." My brother left me a voicemail cracking up saying he heard his sister was in a gang and people kept knocking at his door looking for me.
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