I really like this song. Supposedly the chorus was found on the wall of concentration camp. For some reason I'm being blocked from putting the video straight on here. Probably because I'm not doing it right. :) Oh well, just click on the link.
This song is a great reminder that faith/belief/trust is a decision or an attitude, not the way you feel. By the same token, belief is more than logic.
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0fe7e0f4f3b9f5f402f5
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Happy Day
Tofutti has done it again. They have one of the best dairy free ice creams I've tried. I went to Brookshires (pronounced Brook-sures here rather than Brook-shires) to pick up some groceries and decided I would look again for Tofutti sour cream and cream cheese. This store has a pretty good selection of gluten free foods and organic foods, but not so good on dairy free. I still couldn't find what I was looking for, so I think I'm going to put in a request at customer service. Do people do that? I'm going to try. Anyway, as I came to end of the ice cream isle, after looking longingly at the whole row, I found a huge selection of sorbet and dairy free ice cream!! I've tried the Cuties made by Tofutti before and they are good. They had a lot of those and also pints of "frozen dessert" in different flavors. They had a couple of other brands too, but I wanted to try Tofutti and it didn't let me down. I got vanilla fudge and indulged in a delicious milkshake tonight. Yummm.
This may be interesting to like 2 people besides myself, but oh well. My camera's still broken, so that's the reason for the off-centeredness. As another side note, my kitchen coutertops look like that, but a brighter/darker color of green than you can see in the picture. The picture makes it look like a gray marble something, but it's not. It's green.
The weekend is here. Celebrate with some ice cream!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Respite for the old tailbone
Here's my new chair!! 
This is the building I live in. My apartment is the door you can fully see on the left.
This is the building right next to mine that burned three days after I moved here. 
Here are the Sawtooth mountains near Stanley, ID. Kind of random.
And here's one more picture of my little chair. :)
Friday, September 12, 2008
Friday
TGIF!!! Fridays are extra nice now because I don't have class on Fri. It's like having two Saturdays. Because of that I should be getting tons of work done, but I've been finding little things to do to occupy my time instead of homework and reading: check e-mail, check facebook, read blogs, eat a little snack, check e-mail, listen to the radio (particularly Sean Hannity sp?), eat lunch or another snack, check e-mail, check facebook, go to the store, go check my mail, maybe text message a few people in between all of these things, and maybe do a little reading or homeowrk in between. Very lame. I think I'm going to begin limiting myself to one e-mail check a day. I got into this habit of over-checking all of these forms of communication when I was in Daegu, got out of the habit while I was at home, and now I'm back in the habit. This bad cycle happens for two reasons. One, it helps me feel connected to people even if I'm not, and two, it helps me delay the work I need to do. So, no more! Maybe I'll limit my check to twice a day + try to actually respond to people instead of just checking it. Okay, enough on that.
Here's what's been happening. We're supposed to get some wind and thunderstorms from Hurricane Ike, but it's not supposed to be as bad as Gustav. Yesterday, the tank on my toilet overflowed while I was gone for an hour, so I came back to a slightly flooded bathroom. It was an easy fix. Something had come out of place in the tank. Anyway, when I went to tell the office about it, they asked me what color of chair I would prefer for my apt. They had two to choose from, from corporate that are in good shape, that they're giving away if people need it, so I willingly took this cute little blue chair. God is so generous!! I really love this little chair. I also love the management at these apts. The maintenence man observed that I could use some furniture when he was in doing a work order and his wife and step-daughter, the office manager, all jumped on board. They are great.
Today is Fri. so I went to Happy Hour at Sonic and got a DP. Chrissy, everytime I go to Sonic now, I think about what my mom told me about Cooper thinking the trip is to get water. Do I have the story right?
The college/young professional class at church is studying A Purpose Driven Life. Looks like it's going to be a good study. I've tried reading it before, but couldn't get into it, so maybe reading a chapter a week will work out better. They do "house church" on Sun. night which is the same as a small group/care group/cell group/whatever you want to call it. Everybody's been very welcoming. My expectations for finding a church I liked were low coming here, although I was hoping to find one I could get involved in quickly. I had a definite negative stereotype of what churches are like in the South. This place is Christ-centered, sincere, warm, welcoming, open-minded, and very mission/outreach oriented. And I love the musical worship. Really great. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect, but I'm thankful to find a place so quickly. Now it's time for me to get disciplined and plug myself in. Recently, I've talked with several people about the importance for community. No doubt I've written about this before, but I'm going to again.
Not a single person was created in isolation. We weren't born into it. We can't survive in it. Relationally, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and even physically (have I missed any?), isolation is cancer. When people let themselves become isolated, it often (usually?) destroys the relationships they did have. Isolations cuts people off from understanding others, which in turn creates more isolation and often a lot of pain for all parties involved. Part of the problem a lot of people have with wanting to be part of a community -- church, town organization, spending time with family, spending time with co-workers, etc. is that they've been poorly treated in their socializing experience. That is unfortunate, but it does not mean that it's not valuable to have solid relationships with people who care about you and who you can mutually care for. I'm not talking about constant interaction, but everyone can use and can benefit from having people -- at least one person, but two or more is better, I think -- they can depend on. The key factor I saw last year with my clients that I think determined their poor mental health, was poor socialization they experienced. Problem #2 was that I, as one worker, could not meet the needs they had for relationship. These people did not have the skills to create meaningful relationships and the majority of people they knew had no desire to create meaningful relationships with them. Many people who are isolated are surrounded by people physically, and do not experience real community. Real relationships and real community comes out of mutual openess and trust. It doesn't happen overnight, and it's not something that just happens to you. It's something that has to be created or developed. It's something you have to be intentional about. I'll put an end to these thoughts, but get out there, out of your comfort zone, get to know people, and let yourself be known. This has very much been a pep talk for myself. There's no pressure I would put on any of you, that I'm not having to forcefully put on myself. I'm no expert at putting myself out there and it's difficult everytime I do it, but it's always, always worth it.
Here's what's been happening. We're supposed to get some wind and thunderstorms from Hurricane Ike, but it's not supposed to be as bad as Gustav. Yesterday, the tank on my toilet overflowed while I was gone for an hour, so I came back to a slightly flooded bathroom. It was an easy fix. Something had come out of place in the tank. Anyway, when I went to tell the office about it, they asked me what color of chair I would prefer for my apt. They had two to choose from, from corporate that are in good shape, that they're giving away if people need it, so I willingly took this cute little blue chair. God is so generous!! I really love this little chair. I also love the management at these apts. The maintenence man observed that I could use some furniture when he was in doing a work order and his wife and step-daughter, the office manager, all jumped on board. They are great.
Today is Fri. so I went to Happy Hour at Sonic and got a DP. Chrissy, everytime I go to Sonic now, I think about what my mom told me about Cooper thinking the trip is to get water. Do I have the story right?
The college/young professional class at church is studying A Purpose Driven Life. Looks like it's going to be a good study. I've tried reading it before, but couldn't get into it, so maybe reading a chapter a week will work out better. They do "house church" on Sun. night which is the same as a small group/care group/cell group/whatever you want to call it. Everybody's been very welcoming. My expectations for finding a church I liked were low coming here, although I was hoping to find one I could get involved in quickly. I had a definite negative stereotype of what churches are like in the South. This place is Christ-centered, sincere, warm, welcoming, open-minded, and very mission/outreach oriented. And I love the musical worship. Really great. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect, but I'm thankful to find a place so quickly. Now it's time for me to get disciplined and plug myself in. Recently, I've talked with several people about the importance for community. No doubt I've written about this before, but I'm going to again.
Not a single person was created in isolation. We weren't born into it. We can't survive in it. Relationally, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and even physically (have I missed any?), isolation is cancer. When people let themselves become isolated, it often (usually?) destroys the relationships they did have. Isolations cuts people off from understanding others, which in turn creates more isolation and often a lot of pain for all parties involved. Part of the problem a lot of people have with wanting to be part of a community -- church, town organization, spending time with family, spending time with co-workers, etc. is that they've been poorly treated in their socializing experience. That is unfortunate, but it does not mean that it's not valuable to have solid relationships with people who care about you and who you can mutually care for. I'm not talking about constant interaction, but everyone can use and can benefit from having people -- at least one person, but two or more is better, I think -- they can depend on. The key factor I saw last year with my clients that I think determined their poor mental health, was poor socialization they experienced. Problem #2 was that I, as one worker, could not meet the needs they had for relationship. These people did not have the skills to create meaningful relationships and the majority of people they knew had no desire to create meaningful relationships with them. Many people who are isolated are surrounded by people physically, and do not experience real community. Real relationships and real community comes out of mutual openess and trust. It doesn't happen overnight, and it's not something that just happens to you. It's something that has to be created or developed. It's something you have to be intentional about. I'll put an end to these thoughts, but get out there, out of your comfort zone, get to know people, and let yourself be known. This has very much been a pep talk for myself. There's no pressure I would put on any of you, that I'm not having to forcefully put on myself. I'm no expert at putting myself out there and it's difficult everytime I do it, but it's always, always worth it.
Friday, September 5, 2008
"Allllllligator! Allllllllligator! Can be your friend, can be your friend, can be your friend too..."
I was mostly joking on my last blog, but the next day I read this in the newspaper. Where this guy was found is 2.36 miles (I had to look it up) :) from my house. When I came for the interview in the spring, people told me that alligators don't live in the area of the state so much. Yesterday, though, after I was talking with some people about this, they said that yes, there are alligators in the bayous around here. Fishermen see them frequently. I've traded in possibly seeing a bear or mountain lion for seeing an alligator. All those years in the mountains, I never did see a bear like I hoped to. Since I don't have the hope of seeing one now, I've exchange that hope for seeing an alligator in real life. Not at the zoo. And not outside my door. But I wouldn't mind seeing one swimming in the bayou, or walking through the neighborhood at a distance. I'm glad my new phone is a camera phone. I'm ready!!!! Bring it on!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain...
It is raining, raining, raining here. Yesterday afternoon the wind and rain started and it picked up throughout the night. I (not a big fan of storms) didn't sleep so well. The normal amount of bright light coming through my window wasn't there because the power was out and everything was really quiet except for the rain and wind. It's interesting all the noise electricity makes that you don't notice until it's out.
Because of the severe weather predicted and I guess the general chaos the hurricane has created, they cancelled classes today and tomorrow. I was excited at first. Now I'm getting kind of bored. It's a good chance to catch up on reading, on the plus side. This afternoon I went to the mall to walk some and to Sonic for a DP since I was experiencing a little cabin fever. :) I got home just before the deluge started around 4:30. It's been pouring hard for the last 4 hours. There was a flash flood warning until 10:30 this eve. but they've extended it until tom. morn. For the most part, I don't think there's been a lot of wind damage here. Some of the siding on an apt. building across from me is halfway off and making an annoying scratching sound as the wind is trying to tear it off, but other than that, I haven't seen too much debris around.
A lot of the southern parishes aren't letting residents come back until Fri. because they've got to clear the streets of debris, and in some parishes they have to get the water and sewage systems in working order again. Another interesting reason I heard they don't want residents to go back yet is because with the flooding there may be a lot of alligators, snakes, and other varmints wandering around -- in and out of yards and houses. Hopefully we won't have that issue here. :) I was imagining walking out of my apt. and seeing an alligator and then I imagined one somehow getting in my apt. and me having to throw a blanket over it and wrestle it back out the front door while at the same time trying to call the police or animal control or whatever. No, this is not a strange dream. This is my strange train of thought that I'm going to blame on sitting in my apt. for several days straight and listening to too much Gustav coverage. Did you guys hear the story several months ago of the lady, I think in Florida, who found an alligator in her house? Stories like that have also contributed to my overactive imagination. I know some of you can come up with way better alligator stories than mine, so if you think of one -- or more than one, please share. I'm in serious need of some entertainment.
I was going to write more, but I'm going to go ahead and post this because the lights have been flickering. Time to get my little pocket radio out. Talk radio is becoming my good friend. With the exception of Albert? Arthur? Greg? somebody Norry? I think he's the new late night Art Bell? I'm not a fan of him. I decided last night the wind was better than listening to him. Okay, I really am through. :)
Because of the severe weather predicted and I guess the general chaos the hurricane has created, they cancelled classes today and tomorrow. I was excited at first. Now I'm getting kind of bored. It's a good chance to catch up on reading, on the plus side. This afternoon I went to the mall to walk some and to Sonic for a DP since I was experiencing a little cabin fever. :) I got home just before the deluge started around 4:30. It's been pouring hard for the last 4 hours. There was a flash flood warning until 10:30 this eve. but they've extended it until tom. morn. For the most part, I don't think there's been a lot of wind damage here. Some of the siding on an apt. building across from me is halfway off and making an annoying scratching sound as the wind is trying to tear it off, but other than that, I haven't seen too much debris around.
A lot of the southern parishes aren't letting residents come back until Fri. because they've got to clear the streets of debris, and in some parishes they have to get the water and sewage systems in working order again. Another interesting reason I heard they don't want residents to go back yet is because with the flooding there may be a lot of alligators, snakes, and other varmints wandering around -- in and out of yards and houses. Hopefully we won't have that issue here. :) I was imagining walking out of my apt. and seeing an alligator and then I imagined one somehow getting in my apt. and me having to throw a blanket over it and wrestle it back out the front door while at the same time trying to call the police or animal control or whatever. No, this is not a strange dream. This is my strange train of thought that I'm going to blame on sitting in my apt. for several days straight and listening to too much Gustav coverage. Did you guys hear the story several months ago of the lady, I think in Florida, who found an alligator in her house? Stories like that have also contributed to my overactive imagination. I know some of you can come up with way better alligator stories than mine, so if you think of one -- or more than one, please share. I'm in serious need of some entertainment.
I was going to write more, but I'm going to go ahead and post this because the lights have been flickering. Time to get my little pocket radio out. Talk radio is becoming my good friend. With the exception of Albert? Arthur? Greg? somebody Norry? I think he's the new late night Art Bell? I'm not a fan of him. I decided last night the wind was better than listening to him. Okay, I really am through. :)
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