i am so sick of reading "sugar/high fructose corn syrup/maltose/maltodextrin/cane juice/fruit concentrate" on every single pre-packaged food available.
it's even in bread. bread you buy at the store.
this is why i do my own baking.
i fuind it scummy how food companies will claim "made with fruit" on the front label, when on the back you read "fruit concentrate" which is fruit boiled down & sifted until there are no vitamins, no fiber, not any good thing left except the fructose.
it's sick. it's ugly. it's because consumers are addicted to sugars, which makes more money for the food companies.
what an ugly, distasteful truth.
high adventure, fearless cooking, insight and humor accumulated throughout a 27-year journey...
15 December 2009
20 November 2009
What to Eat
Currently reading What to Eat by Marion Nestle. She's a professor of nutrition at NYU. Cool.
Apparently she's done all sorts of extensive research on what food companies want us to think and buy, who owns food companies, why grocery stores are all laid out the same way, and what goes into genetically modified, organic, conventional, and local foods.
If you've ever been to a grocery store in North America, it probably has either flowers or the bakery section by the entrance [to stimulate appetite by smell], long long aisles of prepackaged foods [to keep you interested while walking along slowly], bright shining bins of produce [waxed over & labelled with various countries & states of nonlocal origin] and all that placed between you and the important stuff [milk, bread, eggs, meats - all located furthest away from the entrances] so that you look at more things they have to offer than you need.
The author states that 70% of grocery store customers create lists before shopping. 10% of shoppers don't buy more than their list includes.
Next time: Sugar - How invasive it is in our diets.
Apparently she's done all sorts of extensive research on what food companies want us to think and buy, who owns food companies, why grocery stores are all laid out the same way, and what goes into genetically modified, organic, conventional, and local foods.
If you've ever been to a grocery store in North America, it probably has either flowers or the bakery section by the entrance [to stimulate appetite by smell], long long aisles of prepackaged foods [to keep you interested while walking along slowly], bright shining bins of produce [waxed over & labelled with various countries & states of nonlocal origin] and all that placed between you and the important stuff [milk, bread, eggs, meats - all located furthest away from the entrances] so that you look at more things they have to offer than you need.
The author states that 70% of grocery store customers create lists before shopping. 10% of shoppers don't buy more than their list includes.
Next time: Sugar - How invasive it is in our diets.
17 November 2009
failure
failure: emily drinks real milk, phil drinks real milk,
french dairy farmers of 1944 drink real milk;
milk is boiled to scorching, milk is skimmed
milk is bleached, milk is tainted.
failure: using coordinates & clues &
global positioning units for geocaching for hours & finding nothing.
french dairy farmers of 1944 drink real milk;
milk is boiled to scorching, milk is skimmed
milk is bleached, milk is tainted.
failure: using coordinates & clues &
global positioning units for geocaching for hours & finding nothing.
failure: reading "best meteor shower of the decade", reading "11 pm to 4 am",
not reading "best view around 4 am", seeing only 4 shooting stars.
not reading "best view around 4 am", seeing only 4 shooting stars.
seeking help in the wrong place, self righteousness, self decay.
failure: landlord remodeling, research demographics &
rent rates, nowhere to go, close store, lay off employees.
rent rates, nowhere to go, close store, lay off employees.
failure: job searching, another opportunity for failure?
drinking real fresh milk straight from the milk bucket.
23 October 2009
palm 93
the Lord reigns, He is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength.
the world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
Your throne was established long ago; You are from all eternity.
the seas have lifted up, o Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea - the Lord on high is mighty.
Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns Your house for endless days, o Lord.
the world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
Your throne was established long ago; You are from all eternity.
the seas have lifted up, o Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea - the Lord on high is mighty.
Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns Your house for endless days, o Lord.
14 October 2009
day
today at work i met a german lady whose name is Hildegard [how old skool].
this evening i hung out with grandmotherly types, as i won't have my own for much longer.
i will learn how to purl.
this evening i hung out with grandmotherly types, as i won't have my own for much longer.
i will learn how to purl.
06 October 2009
...
today i woke up late, didn't run, went to work, read some of a contrarian's guide to knowing God: spirituality for the rest of us by larry osborne during lunch break, worked some more, work is boring, went to erin's to help make applesauce & play "practically perfect" & "would you rather" & then we went out and played & talked some more and i came home late. ....to hateful messages. wtf?
24 September 2009
wealth
i see a t.v. preacher promoting his 'financial breakthrough bible' and the 'four miracles god will release into your life'. before that, he proclaimed God's coming judgement on the u.s. for its inappropriate sex and abortion.
i look once more at this man, shouting into his microphone, wearing a great big red silk tie, an enormous gold ring on his finger, and an expensive-looking suit that covers his enormous body.
my confession: i eat more than my body needs. it's true. where in my caloric intake does ice cream play a part in aiding the nutrition of my body? it does not. i call myself out: i'm a sinner who eats more than i need to.
the increasing reality of americans' obsession with food can be clearly seen in their volume. cars become suvs [for suburban commuters] to accomodate the size of passengers. rollercoasters now boast rows of larger seats for their guests. tv channels that once provided science education now air programs about 800+ pound persons' addictions to take-out, their bed-bound lives, their gastric bypass surgeries, and their deaths.
it is easy to point out obese people and their obvious problem: food addiction. but we must think on our own selves as well. how much are we eating? what money are we spending frivolously that could be used to help the poor - as Jesus asks us to?
if one person who purchases a cup of coffee three to four times a week gives up the java and puts that money towards a poor child; that person could sponsor a kid in africa for his or her education, healthcare, food and more... for years.
Jesus calls us to love God and love our neighbor. more specifically, He calls us to do three things to honor God: pray, give, fast. i admit, i struggle to do all three of those. it may be difficult because of the implications our western society puts on us as its citizens, fueling our selfish, sinful nature.
1. pray - prayer constitutes the simple act of quieting the mind and communing with God. listening to Him, and speaking with Him [beyond asking for trivial things & saying thanks for dinner]. how do we achieve quiet? put down the crackberry, hush the tweeting, log off of facebook. turn off the mobile phone, step outside, lie down in the grass and be quiet. do that for more than 10 minutes and find out how much you hear.
2. give - God wants us to take care of the misfortunate because it brings honor to His name.
instinct tells us that the man on the street asking for change will use it the next minute to buy booze or crack. does Jesus ask us to judge what he'll do with that money? if we're honest with ourselves, as much as we think we work hard to "earn" money, we can't deny that God gave us the skills... and provided education... and put us in the job... and He's the one who truly earned us our paychecks. the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it. even two dollars in your pocket belongs to God - let His will be done when we give to strangers.
3. fast - this one is the most oft ignored among american Christ-followers. we don't think about *not* eating, mostly because we have in our country a ridiculous abundance of food. God spoke to the prophet isaiah, telling him that He wants a fast that's pure - a heart that wants to give up food so it can give that food to the hungry. He says if we do this, "then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear. then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard." awesome, awesome things happen when we choose the righteous path. what's holding us back?
i look once more at this man, shouting into his microphone, wearing a great big red silk tie, an enormous gold ring on his finger, and an expensive-looking suit that covers his enormous body.
my confession: i eat more than my body needs. it's true. where in my caloric intake does ice cream play a part in aiding the nutrition of my body? it does not. i call myself out: i'm a sinner who eats more than i need to.
the increasing reality of americans' obsession with food can be clearly seen in their volume. cars become suvs [for suburban commuters] to accomodate the size of passengers. rollercoasters now boast rows of larger seats for their guests. tv channels that once provided science education now air programs about 800+ pound persons' addictions to take-out, their bed-bound lives, their gastric bypass surgeries, and their deaths.
it is easy to point out obese people and their obvious problem: food addiction. but we must think on our own selves as well. how much are we eating? what money are we spending frivolously that could be used to help the poor - as Jesus asks us to?
if one person who purchases a cup of coffee three to four times a week gives up the java and puts that money towards a poor child; that person could sponsor a kid in africa for his or her education, healthcare, food and more... for years.
Jesus calls us to love God and love our neighbor. more specifically, He calls us to do three things to honor God: pray, give, fast. i admit, i struggle to do all three of those. it may be difficult because of the implications our western society puts on us as its citizens, fueling our selfish, sinful nature.
1. pray - prayer constitutes the simple act of quieting the mind and communing with God. listening to Him, and speaking with Him [beyond asking for trivial things & saying thanks for dinner]. how do we achieve quiet? put down the crackberry, hush the tweeting, log off of facebook. turn off the mobile phone, step outside, lie down in the grass and be quiet. do that for more than 10 minutes and find out how much you hear.
2. give - God wants us to take care of the misfortunate because it brings honor to His name.
instinct tells us that the man on the street asking for change will use it the next minute to buy booze or crack. does Jesus ask us to judge what he'll do with that money? if we're honest with ourselves, as much as we think we work hard to "earn" money, we can't deny that God gave us the skills... and provided education... and put us in the job... and He's the one who truly earned us our paychecks. the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it. even two dollars in your pocket belongs to God - let His will be done when we give to strangers.
3. fast - this one is the most oft ignored among american Christ-followers. we don't think about *not* eating, mostly because we have in our country a ridiculous abundance of food. God spoke to the prophet isaiah, telling him that He wants a fast that's pure - a heart that wants to give up food so it can give that food to the hungry. He says if we do this, "then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear. then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard." awesome, awesome things happen when we choose the righteous path. what's holding us back?
20 September 2009
Freedom
It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows.
For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out - in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom me then?
My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.
But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.
Galatians 5:13-26, The Message
For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out - in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom me then?
My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.
But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.
Galatians 5:13-26, The Message
03 September 2009
deterioration of the fight or flight response
Fight or flight. It's what we've been told. We're expected to do it. Instinct, as they say.
And you can't say you haven't ever made the subconscious choice and done one or the other or (likely) both. We're humans; we're confronted; our hearts are put on the line. A situation arises and that slow burn comes upon our hearts, fueling anger or confusion - pushing us to counter the problem strongly or leave it and run away, hoping to clear our heads and forget it all.
And it can happen any time...
When folks start talking dissenting politics, it's likely a person will argue or leave the room.
At that breaking point, when your most important relationship is under attack, what do you do? Fight the flesh? Fight the wife or the husband or the best friend? Or do you run? Do you even look back behind you?
We're all succumbed to fighting. We've all flown off, as well. It's instinct. It's human nature. It's our flesh taking action for us.
But what does the heart say?
Our hearts know that malignant situations come upon us, and that we should solve them rationally, not hurting the other person or thing involved. We should take time; figure things out.
So, how do we fight the instinct?
Could I do it by myself?
Certainly not.
Without the help and the drive of a perfect person, it's impossible.
How grateful, then, are we to be that the very Spirit of God rests within us. The very Spirit that can cause mountains to crack & crumble into pieces lives inside you and inside me to calm our inner storms. He brings us peace & serenity.
His presence moves us not to fight anymore. We don't have to run away; we run only to Him.
The temptation to lean on our own selves for understanding is, of course, strong and with us.
But we can choose to fall on Him.
We fight and flee no more.
And you can't say you haven't ever made the subconscious choice and done one or the other or (likely) both. We're humans; we're confronted; our hearts are put on the line. A situation arises and that slow burn comes upon our hearts, fueling anger or confusion - pushing us to counter the problem strongly or leave it and run away, hoping to clear our heads and forget it all.
And it can happen any time...
When folks start talking dissenting politics, it's likely a person will argue or leave the room.
At that breaking point, when your most important relationship is under attack, what do you do? Fight the flesh? Fight the wife or the husband or the best friend? Or do you run? Do you even look back behind you?
We're all succumbed to fighting. We've all flown off, as well. It's instinct. It's human nature. It's our flesh taking action for us.
But what does the heart say?
Our hearts know that malignant situations come upon us, and that we should solve them rationally, not hurting the other person or thing involved. We should take time; figure things out.
So, how do we fight the instinct?
Could I do it by myself?
Certainly not.
Without the help and the drive of a perfect person, it's impossible.
How grateful, then, are we to be that the very Spirit of God rests within us. The very Spirit that can cause mountains to crack & crumble into pieces lives inside you and inside me to calm our inner storms. He brings us peace & serenity.
His presence moves us not to fight anymore. We don't have to run away; we run only to Him.
The temptation to lean on our own selves for understanding is, of course, strong and with us.
But we can choose to fall on Him.
We fight and flee no more.
26 June 2009
climb mountains
live in a house
sleep under stars
shoes on pavement
feet on dirt
cityscape
clean air, clear skies
work for the man
climb trees, explore rivers, climb mountains
sleep under stars
shoes on pavement
feet on dirt
cityscape
clean air, clear skies
work for the man
climb trees, explore rivers, climb mountains
12 May 2009
Bread Winner
Check out what I made:
Also did some tiny, roundy dinner rolls for Mother's Day supper. Caprese salad, steak marinated in flat trippel & basil, dirt pudding. Turned out to be a great meal!
I'm currently in love with this publication: The Book of Bread by Judith & Evan Jones. The authors are a homesteadin' Vermont couple who've travelled globally to bake locally. Their book is full of the very best recipes they've collected from around the world, and it includes pleasant little sketches of dough being kneaded and loaves after baking. I really like that the whole thing is printed on a creamy paper in brown ink - very pleasing to the eye and grain-oriented!
Well, I've been borrowing (and renewing) the library's copy for several weeks now, and tainting its pages with whole wheat flour. I would really love my own copy, but Greg tells me to wait on it as he comes from a lineage of baking women who have their own recipe books to share. I look forward to that - so for now I'll keep taking advantage of the library. ;-)
Two Weeks: VIII
Tuesday, May 5
Work again, gave Magan some okra, which seemingly brightened her day. :)
Wednesday, May 6
Grabbed a sushi lunch with Robin & Abby, debriefed the week at Princeton and the three of us got really pumped about making our youth ministry more relational. Work again, then had dinner at ABC with Meg and Dan.
Thursday, May 7
Ill in the morning (I hope not because of the fish & chips?) It may be "swine flu", which apparently began its existence while I was out of town. Strange! So I just napped all day, ate crackers & broth, etc. Also watched Grey's Anatomy - oh my!!
Friday, May 8
House cleaning to prepare for Bridget hosting prom dinner. Stopped by work to bid Meg farewell, with a six-pack of glass-bottled Cokes. Weather improving - hopefully Central PA air quality will improve as well!
Work again, gave Magan some okra, which seemingly brightened her day. :)
Wednesday, May 6
Grabbed a sushi lunch with Robin & Abby, debriefed the week at Princeton and the three of us got really pumped about making our youth ministry more relational. Work again, then had dinner at ABC with Meg and Dan.
Thursday, May 7
Ill in the morning (I hope not because of the fish & chips?) It may be "swine flu", which apparently began its existence while I was out of town. Strange! So I just napped all day, ate crackers & broth, etc. Also watched Grey's Anatomy - oh my!!
Friday, May 8
House cleaning to prepare for Bridget hosting prom dinner. Stopped by work to bid Meg farewell, with a six-pack of glass-bottled Cokes. Weather improving - hopefully Central PA air quality will improve as well!
Two Weeks: VI
Friday, May 1
Helped Greg clean up & move out of his apartment, killed a bird with my car, drove to Abington to hang out with grandma for her 82nd birthday. Got home to Greg's parents' house, ate, hung out, relaxed, unloaded the truck & such.
Saturday, May 2
Greg & I went to the Fine Furnishings show in Baltimore. I am so good at reading maps, but apparently my PA map cuts off at a certain point on Route 1 South. Well, we got there, saw some sweet woodworking. Greg especially liked one guy Dave's work - lots of slabs, totally natural look & process. He doesn't do too much to the wood - and finishes it with linseed oil, rather than synthetic toxic crap. If we're ever in southern Illinois, I'm sure we'll visit Dave's shop.
Next, we drove up to York County (the "heart" of PA wine country, apparently) & tried to find Sarah's aunt&uncle's place: Moon Dancer Winery. There are more than 2 yards on that road with grapes growing in them. Found the party, hung out with KU people; Greg & I agreed that we aren't "winos" at all... drove back to Harrisburg & relaxed the rest of the evening while planning Sunday school stuff.
Helped Greg clean up & move out of his apartment, killed a bird with my car, drove to Abington to hang out with grandma for her 82nd birthday. Got home to Greg's parents' house, ate, hung out, relaxed, unloaded the truck & such.
Saturday, May 2
Greg & I went to the Fine Furnishings show in Baltimore. I am so good at reading maps, but apparently my PA map cuts off at a certain point on Route 1 South. Well, we got there, saw some sweet woodworking. Greg especially liked one guy Dave's work - lots of slabs, totally natural look & process. He doesn't do too much to the wood - and finishes it with linseed oil, rather than synthetic toxic crap. If we're ever in southern Illinois, I'm sure we'll visit Dave's shop.
Next, we drove up to York County (the "heart" of PA wine country, apparently) & tried to find Sarah's aunt&uncle's place: Moon Dancer Winery. There are more than 2 yards on that road with grapes growing in them. Found the party, hung out with KU people; Greg & I agreed that we aren't "winos" at all... drove back to Harrisburg & relaxed the rest of the evening while planning Sunday school stuff.
Two Weeks: V
Thursday, April 30th
Final day of great lectures & fellowship with everyone. Went to a great session, "Lifecasting: Teens Fishing for Intimacy in a Sea of Technology" about how adolescents grew up completely with technology, how they use it, how they change it, and how we can deepen relationships face-to-face, which is what they're really searching for. Great stuff! Picnic lunch with Donna, Jorge, and Susan from Wisconsin, followed by session 2 with Tom Stephen. Adrienne came this time too. :-)
Final small group meeting was a fun trip together to the Bent Spoon (I ate chocolate habanero ice cream - yowza!) filled with laughter, stories, and sharing contact information (just like the last day at camp). Another great lecture from Andy Root - great content, although his rhetoric is a little scripted. The Banquet that night was great - met Will from Clark's Summit, and enjoyed more good food served on actual dinnerware this time - coffee in fancy teacups, too! They gave out awards & certificates to folks and then we gathered for powerful final worship to send us out back into the world.
Sad goodbyes preceded my drive back to Kutztown, although Wallace called me and filled me in about how the invisible children rescue was still going on and they were petitioning Oprah in Chicago to help them end the civil war in Uganda & save the kids there. Arrived in Kutztown for a relaxing evening with Greg.
Summary: if you're a successful pastor/theologian, write a book!!
Final day of great lectures & fellowship with everyone. Went to a great session, "Lifecasting: Teens Fishing for Intimacy in a Sea of Technology" about how adolescents grew up completely with technology, how they use it, how they change it, and how we can deepen relationships face-to-face, which is what they're really searching for. Great stuff! Picnic lunch with Donna, Jorge, and Susan from Wisconsin, followed by session 2 with Tom Stephen. Adrienne came this time too. :-)
Final small group meeting was a fun trip together to the Bent Spoon (I ate chocolate habanero ice cream - yowza!) filled with laughter, stories, and sharing contact information (just like the last day at camp). Another great lecture from Andy Root - great content, although his rhetoric is a little scripted. The Banquet that night was great - met Will from Clark's Summit, and enjoyed more good food served on actual dinnerware this time - coffee in fancy teacups, too! They gave out awards & certificates to folks and then we gathered for powerful final worship to send us out back into the world.
Sad goodbyes preceded my drive back to Kutztown, although Wallace called me and filled me in about how the invisible children rescue was still going on and they were petitioning Oprah in Chicago to help them end the civil war in Uganda & save the kids there. Arrived in Kutztown for a relaxing evening with Greg.
Summary: if you're a successful pastor/theologian, write a book!!
Two Weeks: IV
Wednesday, April 29th
Day started with a long lecture, Southern-Baptist style. Rainy & cooler today. Grabbed some coffee at Small World (recommended by Robin) - lovely! Afternoon was free time, so grabbed a cheesesteak downtown with Dan, Jim & Amanda, followed by Canada v. US floor hockey!! Flippin' awesome! Canadians are so hardcore - pastor Blair was wicked fast; saw some seriously intense moves from all of them. Andy Root definitely the most solid U.S. player - saw some quick moves of the stick from him!!
Afterwards, Amanda & I wandered Princeton U. campus until we found the art museum, spent 20 minutes there 'til closing time. I looked at some Renaissance & medieval paintings (Albrecht Durer, yea!) as well as a few quick peeks at some Impressionists/Modernists (Degas, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Cezanne - all the good guys). Amanda had been exploring far more ancient Chinese art downstairs.
Then we wandered around town, Palmer Square esp. - checked out a ceramic/glass shop, popped into the Bent Spoon for a few tastes, visited Jake's on Nassau (I usually like a lot of the Life is Good stuff, but theirs was clearly meant for the affluent population of Princeton - "Life is Good... when I'm golfing"). Later we met up with Jim & Jorge at Triumph for dinner - and saw a great big crowd of Forum on Youth Ministry leadership (administrative folks, lecturers, pastors) come into their reserved party room right behind us. Jorge said, "Well, it's good for the leadership folks to get away from us and hang out for a bit." I replied, "Yea, it's grown-ups only night out!" It felt great to bond with folks 30-40 years old and not feel like a "kid" amongst them. :-) Well, this was the day Amanda & I had gotten a ride to campus with Donna, so we were waiting in the cold for the hotel shuttle to get us. Oh man. Did a midnight swim before bedtime - very refreshing!
Day started with a long lecture, Southern-Baptist style. Rainy & cooler today. Grabbed some coffee at Small World (recommended by Robin) - lovely! Afternoon was free time, so grabbed a cheesesteak downtown with Dan, Jim & Amanda, followed by Canada v. US floor hockey!! Flippin' awesome! Canadians are so hardcore - pastor Blair was wicked fast; saw some seriously intense moves from all of them. Andy Root definitely the most solid U.S. player - saw some quick moves of the stick from him!!
Afterwards, Amanda & I wandered Princeton U. campus until we found the art museum, spent 20 minutes there 'til closing time. I looked at some Renaissance & medieval paintings (Albrecht Durer, yea!) as well as a few quick peeks at some Impressionists/Modernists (Degas, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Cezanne - all the good guys). Amanda had been exploring far more ancient Chinese art downstairs.
Then we wandered around town, Palmer Square esp. - checked out a ceramic/glass shop, popped into the Bent Spoon for a few tastes, visited Jake's on Nassau (I usually like a lot of the Life is Good stuff, but theirs was clearly meant for the affluent population of Princeton - "Life is Good... when I'm golfing"). Later we met up with Jim & Jorge at Triumph for dinner - and saw a great big crowd of Forum on Youth Ministry leadership (administrative folks, lecturers, pastors) come into their reserved party room right behind us. Jorge said, "Well, it's good for the leadership folks to get away from us and hang out for a bit." I replied, "Yea, it's grown-ups only night out!" It felt great to bond with folks 30-40 years old and not feel like a "kid" amongst them. :-) Well, this was the day Amanda & I had gotten a ride to campus with Donna, so we were waiting in the cold for the hotel shuttle to get us. Oh man. Did a midnight swim before bedtime - very refreshing!
Two Weeks: III
Tuesday, April 28th
Opening worship starts the day, then went to a different Extended Seminar with Amanda (all about conflict resolution - good stuff), went to a lecture on missional hermeneutics (very bookish - made it seem like going to seminary is a bit boring) but has some good small group discussion.
Picnic lunch with Adrienne, Gerald, Amanda & Martin followed by small group & more lectures. Went to the "soul-tending" session with Tom Stephen, who reckoned one's spiritual life to the 12-bar blues.
Later, Keynote speaker: Andy Root - said some great stuff about being real with the youth in your group, not elevating yourself to "youth leader" status, but just fostering person-to-person ministry. Another delicious meal to end the day (I'm thinking on-campus catering gets way improved for guests, haha) followed by good conversation at the Yankee Doodle (old-skool Princeton U. watering hole). I really enjoyed the wall of portraits of Princeton U. graduates - all a bunch of rich, white dudes until the most recent portrait: Michelle Obama. Oh, patriarchal society... Anyway, hung with Becky, Karen, Amanda, Jim, Martin, and met Donna from Long Island and Jorge from Michigan. Great folks!
Opening worship starts the day, then went to a different Extended Seminar with Amanda (all about conflict resolution - good stuff), went to a lecture on missional hermeneutics (very bookish - made it seem like going to seminary is a bit boring) but has some good small group discussion.
Picnic lunch with Adrienne, Gerald, Amanda & Martin followed by small group & more lectures. Went to the "soul-tending" session with Tom Stephen, who reckoned one's spiritual life to the 12-bar blues.
Later, Keynote speaker: Andy Root - said some great stuff about being real with the youth in your group, not elevating yourself to "youth leader" status, but just fostering person-to-person ministry. Another delicious meal to end the day (I'm thinking on-campus catering gets way improved for guests, haha) followed by good conversation at the Yankee Doodle (old-skool Princeton U. watering hole). I really enjoyed the wall of portraits of Princeton U. graduates - all a bunch of rich, white dudes until the most recent portrait: Michelle Obama. Oh, patriarchal society... Anyway, hung with Becky, Karen, Amanda, Jim, Martin, and met Donna from Long Island and Jorge from Michigan. Great folks!
Two Weeks: II
Monday, April 27th
Said goodbye to Julie, met up with Greg who took me to Uptown Cafe for breakfast. Um, so chocolate pecan pie is flippin' amaaazing! Fueled up with good coffee for the road. Hadn't previously realized I-78 had such deeply rolling hills past Allentown/Bethlehem.
Made it into Jersey, almost broke down when I got stuck going 'round & 'round in a traffic circle. Saw Trenton & some Jersey countryside before I made it back to Princeton (yay detour). Figured out that PTS has some pretty horrible parking on the east side of campus; eventually found the lot behind the library. Wandered around a bit, met up with Amanda, tried to park on east campus but some administrative lady threatened us with a tire boot, found a spot (geez, this shouldn't be so hard...)
Then we went in for registration & opening worship, where I met pastors Mark D. & Tom S. after a sweet pro-real-community sermon. Small group time was refreshing in the shade on the grass. Jason Santos is a fun guy, chill, glad he was our "facilitator" (although we pretty much talked without him having to ask a lot of questions). Bonded with Karen from Eastern Shore Virginia, Dan from Alberta (yes, Canada!), Kareem from Newark, & Jim from the D.C. area. Great group!
Had our first Extended Seminar (mine was just ok), then another lecture (Mark DeVries on student leadership - solid stuff!) then sat down to dinner with Amanda, Adrienne & Martin. After dinner, Amanda and I each drove all over Route 1, being misled by those nasty jughandles until finally we made it to the hotel. Checked in, then met up with some Forum folks at Triumph on Nassau street. Met Becky from Wisconsin & Karen & Jim were there too for some great conversation.
Said goodbye to Julie, met up with Greg who took me to Uptown Cafe for breakfast. Um, so chocolate pecan pie is flippin' amaaazing! Fueled up with good coffee for the road. Hadn't previously realized I-78 had such deeply rolling hills past Allentown/Bethlehem.
Made it into Jersey, almost broke down when I got stuck going 'round & 'round in a traffic circle. Saw Trenton & some Jersey countryside before I made it back to Princeton (yay detour). Figured out that PTS has some pretty horrible parking on the east side of campus; eventually found the lot behind the library. Wandered around a bit, met up with Amanda, tried to park on east campus but some administrative lady threatened us with a tire boot, found a spot (geez, this shouldn't be so hard...)
Then we went in for registration & opening worship, where I met pastors Mark D. & Tom S. after a sweet pro-real-community sermon. Small group time was refreshing in the shade on the grass. Jason Santos is a fun guy, chill, glad he was our "facilitator" (although we pretty much talked without him having to ask a lot of questions). Bonded with Karen from Eastern Shore Virginia, Dan from Alberta (yes, Canada!), Kareem from Newark, & Jim from the D.C. area. Great group!
Had our first Extended Seminar (mine was just ok), then another lecture (Mark DeVries on student leadership - solid stuff!) then sat down to dinner with Amanda, Adrienne & Martin. After dinner, Amanda and I each drove all over Route 1, being misled by those nasty jughandles until finally we made it to the hotel. Checked in, then met up with some Forum folks at Triumph on Nassau street. Met Becky from Wisconsin & Karen & Jim were there too for some great conversation.
08 May 2009
Two Weeks: I
The past short chunk of time has been pretty crazy for me - thus, a de-brief blog will help me to collect my thoughts & decompress...
Saturday, April 25th
A full day at work, 10:00 am to 6:30 pm (as a part-timer, the first looong day for me). A hot day: ate lunch outside, which overheated me slightly until the end of the day. Felt good taking off my shoes after work. Drove to Kutztown, hung out with Julie, Greg, Josh, Jake, & Abrams at Basin Street, then stayed at Julie's apartment, talking until 3:00 am.
Sunday, April 26th
An early rise to walk across town to meet at the middle school for Cornerstone Church. A quick service - senior recognition, baby dedication, quick explanation of baptism, followed by baptism of my "freshman" friends (those who arrived at my senior year) Ben, Britt, and Adam, as well as Alex "SP" Smith. Gotta love watching the dunkings. Church picnic location change from Kutztown Park to Raudenbush Farm - spring allergies arrive on this hot & windy day, so Greg takes me back to his house to sleep while he goes into the studio to work all afternoon.
Went to the Library, hung out with Sylvia for a while, whilst figuring out the best way to get from Kutztown PA to Princeton NJ. Popped into the wood shop to see Greg, still working hard, then went to Ebling to help Julie procrastinate from studying for finals and to hang out with Jake, who showed me the mouse he beat to death. We explored various recipe websites to help him expand his cooking repertoire from microwaved egg & hot dog dishes (ew), and I taught him the basics of playing harmonics on guitar (we watched Susan's video, since she is actually good at it) Greg took me to Camillo's to eat an e-nor-mous calzone. Tried a Blue Moon for the first time - lovely! Stayed with Julie again, further assisting her procrastination on studying.
Saturday, April 25th
A full day at work, 10:00 am to 6:30 pm (as a part-timer, the first looong day for me). A hot day: ate lunch outside, which overheated me slightly until the end of the day. Felt good taking off my shoes after work. Drove to Kutztown, hung out with Julie, Greg, Josh, Jake, & Abrams at Basin Street, then stayed at Julie's apartment, talking until 3:00 am.
Sunday, April 26th
An early rise to walk across town to meet at the middle school for Cornerstone Church. A quick service - senior recognition, baby dedication, quick explanation of baptism, followed by baptism of my "freshman" friends (those who arrived at my senior year) Ben, Britt, and Adam, as well as Alex "SP" Smith. Gotta love watching the dunkings. Church picnic location change from Kutztown Park to Raudenbush Farm - spring allergies arrive on this hot & windy day, so Greg takes me back to his house to sleep while he goes into the studio to work all afternoon.
Went to the Library, hung out with Sylvia for a while, whilst figuring out the best way to get from Kutztown PA to Princeton NJ. Popped into the wood shop to see Greg, still working hard, then went to Ebling to help Julie procrastinate from studying for finals and to hang out with Jake, who showed me the mouse he beat to death. We explored various recipe websites to help him expand his cooking repertoire from microwaved egg & hot dog dishes (ew), and I taught him the basics of playing harmonics on guitar (we watched Susan's video, since she is actually good at it) Greg took me to Camillo's to eat an e-nor-mous calzone. Tried a Blue Moon for the first time - lovely! Stayed with Julie again, further assisting her procrastination on studying.
16 April 2009
Two things
There are two things I wish all Americans would do. The world's cost of food has been rising because North Americans have been using corn for non-food purposes. If I could broadcast myself in the national media, I would ask folks to:
1. Stop using corn-based ethanol to fuel your cars. Sure, it may be a tiny bit more environmentally sound, but it still pollutes and it's wasting food that could be used to feed hungry kids in Africa/Asia/South America. Carpool. Ride a bike. Take a hike.
2. Eat less meat. It takes 5 months of feeding a pig 8 pounds of feed per day to get it to full size - 265 pounds. (http://www.pork4kids.com). 1200 pounds of food (say, corn) create only 265 pounds of meat (less the inedible parts of the animal). Those 1200 pounds of corn can feed a LOT more people than ~265 pounds of pork. Additionally, more energy and vitamins & nutrients are absorbed through eating corn - because the pig has already digested & used much of that energy by the time you get to eating the pork. Seriously, beans & rice will save the world. If we allow it.
Every day, I'm more and more appalled by the wasteful gluttony I see here in this country. I may just learn Spanish and move to a monastery in Peru.
On a more fun note, my friend Matthew has made a fun video to share:
1. Stop using corn-based ethanol to fuel your cars. Sure, it may be a tiny bit more environmentally sound, but it still pollutes and it's wasting food that could be used to feed hungry kids in Africa/Asia/South America. Carpool. Ride a bike. Take a hike.
2. Eat less meat. It takes 5 months of feeding a pig 8 pounds of feed per day to get it to full size - 265 pounds. (http://www.pork4kids.com). 1200 pounds of food (say, corn) create only 265 pounds of meat (less the inedible parts of the animal). Those 1200 pounds of corn can feed a LOT more people than ~265 pounds of pork. Additionally, more energy and vitamins & nutrients are absorbed through eating corn - because the pig has already digested & used much of that energy by the time you get to eating the pork. Seriously, beans & rice will save the world. If we allow it.
Every day, I'm more and more appalled by the wasteful gluttony I see here in this country. I may just learn Spanish and move to a monastery in Peru.
On a more fun note, my friend Matthew has made a fun video to share:
09 April 2009
A bad potluck dish
Hello! I know that everyone loves potlucks/pot blessings/covered dish/bring-food-to-share dinners, so of course everyone must be familiar with the one dish on the table that looks a little funky and slightly untouched for that reason. Before you take another sympathy scoop from that particular dish at your next potluck, read the story of the original icky potluck entree:
Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, "Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these men."
One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine. He gathered some of its gourds and filled the fold of his cloak. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, "O man of God, there is death in the pot!" And they could not eat it.
Elisha said, "Get some flour." He put it into the pot and said, "Serve it to the people to eat." and there was noting harmful in the pot."
(2 Kings 4:38-41)
Jell-O/marshmallow salad, anyone?
Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, "Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these men."
One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine. He gathered some of its gourds and filled the fold of his cloak. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, "O man of God, there is death in the pot!" And they could not eat it.
Elisha said, "Get some flour." He put it into the pot and said, "Serve it to the people to eat." and there was noting harmful in the pot."
(2 Kings 4:38-41)
Jell-O/marshmallow salad, anyone?
06 April 2009
Mating Season
Typing seems to be faster than handwriting, so this place on the internet seems to be the best place to journal my weird thoughts. Here is another:
It is spring. I ran this morning and enjoyed the cool air, wet pavement, green grass and bright daffodils. All signs of April in Pennsylvania.
Going past one well-manicured lawn, I saw a pair of cardinals zipping around: a red one chasing a brown one. The male has bright, crimson feathers & a fancy hat; the female is a modest, soft brown hue.
I've noticed that this is often the case in birds: the male is more visually attractive than the female. Girlie birdies are beautiful in their own ways, but the colorations on the males are specifically designed to attract the eye.
Consider: a red cardinal; a green-faced mallard; a blue-green peacock with magnificent tailfeathers. On the other hand, the female cardinal, the female duck, and the peahen are each a duller brown color.
This is less often true in mammals. Buck & doe rabbits look the same, dogs of the same breed look the same; porcupines, raccoons, coyotes have the same appearance between genders (except size, sometimes). Deer have the functional difference in that the bucks have antlers they use for fighting over the females. One case I can think of is that lions have great big manes, and lionesses do not.
So anyways, I was looking at these cardinals today and thinking about how (most often in birds, I guess) the male is the "pretty" one, using his physical appearance to attract a female mate. With people, it's quite the opposite: women are the beautiful ones. In societies where courtship is practiced, the men each seek out a beautiful woman and woo her.
Boy-birds woo their lady-birds with their looks, while men woo women because of their looks. I don't know if there's any theology/philosophy/biological reasoning behind that, but I've observed this a few times before, and I wonder why our Creator chose to give women beauty rather than men, while the reverse is true in the animal kingdom. (I'm open to anyone's thoughts or answers in this)
02 April 2009
Easter? Not really...
Regretfully, I had never been exposed to multiple forms of Christian spirituality as a child. Occasionally I got to go to mass with my dad, which I found more interesting, but 95% of the time was Sunday mornings at Presbyterian church. Mainline, white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant church. "Middle class" to rich white folks.
And we followed the church calendar all year. Advent (waiting for Christmas), Christmas, Epiphany (arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem), Lent (waiting for Easter), Easter, Ascencion, and Pentecost (arrival of the Holy Spirit). This religious calendar was simply a part of the life I
lived on Sundays before lunchtime. It was all a given. A part of time.
When I got involved at a non-denominational church in college, though, all that day-by-day religiosity simply wasn't present. They did Christmas and Easter, sure. But the difference was that Pastor Nate always called Easter "Resurrection Sunday." And that is what it is. It made much more sense than calling it some sort of made-up word that doesn't appear in the Bible. Of course, I decided to go on an internet quest to find out why we call Jesus' resurrection "Easter."
It quite has nothing to do with Him or His resurrection day. Easter comes from Ēostre-monath, a month of the Germanic calendar named after Ēostre, the Anglo-Saxon pagan goddess of spring/fertility/dawn/the dawn star(Venus).
In America, people who call themselves followers of Christ - the risen One - choose to celebrate His resurrection day by repeating pagan traditions formerly used to celebrate this goddess Ēostre. And only in the English-speaking world do we continue to honor this goddess by name on the resurrection day of Jesus...
From religioustolerance.org:
"Based on Pagan name: In English, "Easter" is derived from the name of an ancient pagan goddess Eostre.
Based on "Pesach:" In most of the remaining languages in countries with a Christian heritage, the name is derived from "Pesach" (פסח in Hebrew) the name for Passover. These include...
Afrikaans: Paasfees
Arabic: عيد الفصح (Aīd ul-Figh)
Finnish: Pääsiäinen
French: Pâques
Greek: Πάσχα (Pascha)
Hebrew: פסחא (Pascha)
Irish: Cáisc
Malayalam: പെശഹ (Pæsacha/Pæsaha)
Spanish: Pascua
Tagalog: Pasko ng Muling Pagkabuhay, "the Pasch of the Resurrection"
Other bases:
Armenian: Զատիկ (Zadik) "separation" or Սուրբ Հարություն (Sourb Haroutiwn) "holy resurrection"
Chinese: Fùhuó Jié, "Resurrection Festival"
Georgian: აღდგომა (Aĝdgoma), "rising"
Japanese: katakana or Fukkatsusai, "Resurrection Festival"
Tongan (South-pacific): Pekia, "death (of a Lord)"
And we followed the church calendar all year. Advent (waiting for Christmas), Christmas, Epiphany (arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem), Lent (waiting for Easter), Easter, Ascencion, and Pentecost (arrival of the Holy Spirit). This religious calendar was simply a part of the life I
lived on Sundays before lunchtime. It was all a given. A part of time.
(I do often wish I lived in innocence/ignorance of the church calendar.
Last year I spoke with Greg about whatever church
services were going on, and I mentioned "Maundy Thursday."
He said, "What's that?"
I said, "It's the remembrance of the Thursday
when Jesus had His final Passover meal with His disciples,
and then prayed in the garden and was arrested."
Greg replied, "What is a maundy?"
I had no answer for him - I had simply called it that
my whole life without asking what the word
meant - how ignorant a follower I am! I discovered
maundatum - "command," as in , "A new command I give you: love
one another as I have loved you." - Jesus' final command to His disciples)
Last year I spoke with Greg about whatever church
services were going on, and I mentioned "Maundy Thursday."
He said, "What's that?"
I said, "It's the remembrance of the Thursday
when Jesus had His final Passover meal with His disciples,
and then prayed in the garden and was arrested."
Greg replied, "What is a maundy?"
I had no answer for him - I had simply called it that
my whole life without asking what the word
meant - how ignorant a follower I am! I discovered
maundatum - "command," as in , "A new command I give you: love
one another as I have loved you." - Jesus' final command to His disciples)
When I got involved at a non-denominational church in college, though, all that day-by-day religiosity simply wasn't present. They did Christmas and Easter, sure. But the difference was that Pastor Nate always called Easter "Resurrection Sunday." And that is what it is. It made much more sense than calling it some sort of made-up word that doesn't appear in the Bible. Of course, I decided to go on an internet quest to find out why we call Jesus' resurrection "Easter."
It quite has nothing to do with Him or His resurrection day. Easter comes from Ēostre-monath, a month of the Germanic calendar named after Ēostre, the Anglo-Saxon pagan goddess of spring/fertility/dawn/the dawn star(Venus).
"Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, to whom was dedicated a month corresponding to April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox; traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring." - history.com
In America, people who call themselves followers of Christ - the risen One - choose to celebrate His resurrection day by repeating pagan traditions formerly used to celebrate this goddess Ēostre. And only in the English-speaking world do we continue to honor this goddess by name on the resurrection day of Jesus...
From religioustolerance.org:
"Based on Pagan name: In English, "Easter" is derived from the name of an ancient pagan goddess Eostre.
Based on "Pesach:" In most of the remaining languages in countries with a Christian heritage, the name is derived from "Pesach" (פסח in Hebrew) the name for Passover. These include...
Afrikaans: Paasfees
Arabic: عيد الفصح (Aīd ul-Figh)
Finnish: Pääsiäinen
French: Pâques
Greek: Πάσχα (Pascha)
Hebrew: פסחא (Pascha)
Irish: Cáisc
Malayalam: പെശഹ (Pæsacha/Pæsaha)
Spanish: Pascua
Tagalog: Pasko ng Muling Pagkabuhay, "the Pasch of the Resurrection"
Other bases:
Armenian: Զատիկ (Zadik) "separation" or Սուրբ Հարություն (Sourb Haroutiwn) "holy resurrection"
Chinese: Fùhuó Jié, "Resurrection Festival"
Georgian: აღდგომა (Aĝdgoma), "rising"
Japanese: katakana or Fukkatsusai, "Resurrection Festival"
Tongan (South-pacific): Pekia, "death (of a Lord)"
01 April 2009
April 1st
April 1st is the best day of the year to use Gmail/Google. Those guys are great.
So now that it's April, it seems summer approaches more quickly. Currently I'm trying to figure out what to do with myself... advice, please?
Option A :: continue working at Dick Blick
+ relaxed schedule
+ teach classes at Carlisle Arts Learning Center
- Blick doesn't pay a lot (7.50/hr)
+ could earn money teaching at CALC
Option B :: work at Krislund, again
+ being outside for the summer (this is necessary)
+ not living at home
+ hanging out with kids & great people
+ help the new camp director as an alum staff member
- very low pay (0.22/hr)
- quitting Blick, or returning to work in August?
Option C :: potential employment at local state park
+ pays a freakin' lot more (12.75/hr)
+ would involve playing outside for the summer
+ could perhaps continue part time at Blick?
- 1 hour commute (2 hrs daily!)
+ continue involvement at CALC
Option D :: day camp for "at risk" jr. high kids
+ decent wages (8.50/hr) and hours (10-3)
+ fun activities (hiking trips, amusement parks...)
+ loving on kids who need it
+ could work afternoons & weekends at Blick
+ continue involvement at CALC
So that all has been on my mind lately.
Also this summer, if I'm around Camp Hill, I'll be able to continue hanging out with the youth group, which would be sweet. I am definitely going on the summer mission trip, July 18-26 - and hopefully Wallace will be coming as well! Plans may work out that I simply stick around in Maine after that and head east to Petit Manan to spend a few weeks with Greg's family on the coast. Wallace and I area also thinking about doing some sort of white-water rafting trip around here (PA, MD, VA). A summer of adventure!
This morning I made an attempt at vacuuming, but it broke, smoked and made a seriously awful smell. I turned on the bathroom and kitchen vent fans, opened windows, went upstairs for an hour - it still smelled, so I used a name-brand air spray and 2 hours later the scent still lingers lightly. Ew.
Yesterday I went shopping for my good friend Megan, whose bridal shower will take place on Saturday. The proprietor of the lingerie store was very kind and helpful; a lovely woman. Kept telling me how glad she was that I stopped in. Made me wish I had a reason to visit there more often, just to say hello.
I'm quite glad to be able to use the studio space at CALC. Last night I helped Thom with wedging some reclaimed clay and he told me all about teaching opportunities for the center. I can basically just make up a class curriculum, put together a materials list and then they'll make up advertisements for the thing. I got to see the creepy, creepy basement that extends under the entire building and has a cast-iron boiler the size of a steam engine in it, as well as some art materials. Apparently, the back room of the building had been used as a beauty school to get women off the streets in the 1970s - so they took beautician classes upstairs and lived in the basement. I can't imagine how anyone would want to live down there - I'd rather sleep on the sidewalk!!
Anyways, it's wet out, and spring is settling in, soon to dry out (I hope). Looking forward to sunny days, hiking, kayaking, and maybe some bouldering down at White Rocks. I think if I get that state park job I'd get a chance to do some paddling on their lakes. Maybe I'll look into pricing for kayaks...
26 March 2009
My Review of Teva Sayulita Cork Sandals (For Women)
Closeouts . The Sayulita cork sandal from Teva incorporates a unique rivet stud closure system on the leather straps for a more urban look. Soft, waffle-textured EVA footbed Molded cork midsole Encapsulated Shoc Pad heel Felt heel strap pad Textured rubber outsole Medium width Closeouts ...
Delightful footwear
Kate Harrisburg, PA 3/26/2009
Sizing: Feels true to size
Width: Feels true to width
Pros: Cute, Stylish, Durable, AWESOME, Corksynthetic sole, Comfortable, Breathable
Cons: Needs Break-in, Chafes
Best Uses: Travel, Going Out, Everyday, Barbecues, Walking
Describe Yourself: Active, Casual, Alternative
Teva's Salyulita sandals are quite wonderful. I love the combination cork and synthetic sole - it gives great traction with comfortable arch support. The leather straps take a little breaking in at first, but feel great and allow a lot of breathability. The rivet connections are a real unique feature, as well. These sandals are great for running around town and even for a leisurely walk or day hike.
21 March 2009
it's here
You Are Blooming Flowers |
 You are an optimistic person by nature. In even the darkest times, you are hopeful about the future. You feel truly blessed in life and can sometimes be overwhelmed with emotions. You have an artist's eye. You are always looking for beauty in the mundane. You have a good sense of aesthetics, especially when it comes to shapes and color. |
12 March 2009
With what do you wipe your butt?
Guess I never really thought about the fact that we literally send trees down the toilet every day. It makes me want to stop pooping! Or figure out an alternative...
American taste for soft toilet roll 'worse than driving Hummers'
The tenderness of the delicate American buttock is causing more environmental devastation than the country's love of gas-guzzling cars, fast food or McMansions, according to green campaigners. At fault, they say, is the US public's insistence on extra-soft, quilted and multi-ply products when they use the bathroom.
Greenpeace offers a guide comparing recycled post-consumer vs. virgin paper pulp toilet papers here.
American taste for soft toilet roll 'worse than driving Hummers'
The tenderness of the delicate American buttock is causing more environmental devastation than the country's love of gas-guzzling cars, fast food or McMansions, according to green campaigners. At fault, they say, is the US public's insistence on extra-soft, quilted and multi-ply products when they use the bathroom.
Greenpeace offers a guide comparing recycled post-consumer vs. virgin paper pulp toilet papers here.
26 February 2009
Leave it to hollywood
...to make a movie about life in poverty and actually exploit the poor kid actors who do so.
Slumdog children to be rehoused
"Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail, who played young versions of two main characters, were discovered by casting agents in Mumbai's Garib Nagar slum.
As for the western, Oscar-winning, millionaire movie-makers?
"The boy's father, Mohammed, who suffers from tuberculosis, told The Times of India: 'We have barely got any money from the film-makers. In fact, whatever came, has already been spent.'"
Slumdog children to be rehoused
"Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail, who played young versions of two main characters, were discovered by casting agents in Mumbai's Garib Nagar slum.
There was an outcry when it was found they were still living there after the success of the Oscar-winning film."
Since the producers of the movie wimped out on stepping up to make a difference in these two kids' lives, the Indian government is now paying for and giving decent housing to the families of the two child actors who brought pride to their country.As for the western, Oscar-winning, millionaire movie-makers?
"The boy's father, Mohammed, who suffers from tuberculosis, told The Times of India: 'We have barely got any money from the film-makers. In fact, whatever came, has already been spent.'"
16 February 2009
Crap Reduction
Okay, so this is a weird thought, but my brain enjoys tangents so this is what's going on in there:
Yesterday at Cornerstone Pastor Nate gave a sermon on John 15: Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. We have to be connected to Him or we'll whither.
His visual aide was a bit different. He had placed a large bowl of pure water on a pedestal above a smaller bowl filled with vegetable oil. He connected a siphon between the two, which allowed the larger bowl to fill the smaller one with water, pushing the oil out over the top. He likened God to the larger bowl, filled with goodness, and us to the smaller bowl, filled with icky stuff. We need to be connected to God so He can cleanse us of our gross stuff (our sins, our pain, all our dirt).
So that was a good idea. Then, he unveiled what was placed on a neighboring pedestal: a toddler-sized training toilet. You know, the plastic kind of tiny potty that comes in bright colours. He set the siphon between the toilet and the smaller bowl (representing individual people). He talked about how often we disconnect from God and suck our spiritual nutrition from something else - anything except God - which essentially means we're drinking from the toilet. Ick.
I loved the point P. Nate made and wrote notes and drew small diagrams of toilets and bowls of oil and then came the tangent...
Most people in America that are between ages 0 and 40 have parents who used disposable diapers on them. Now, the average baby soils about 6 diapers/nappies per day. That means one baby goes through 2190 diapers in one year. Multiply that by the time it takes for a kid to graduate from diapers to being potty trained, and that's between 4380 and 8760 diapers that each person in America has indirectly deposited into a landfill (how could plastic + crap be recycled?)
Let's say the average weight of a used diaper is one pound. That means each person has added between 2 and 4 tons of waste to any number of landfills in our country.
Are you as dumbfounded by this as I am??
I feel awful for the amount of waste my own body produced when I had no control of how it was disposed. Robin and I discussed this at breakfast (good timing, I know), and she could gladly say her parents used cloth diapers on her as an infant.
I usually try to be pretty cautious about wasting materials, but now I'm feeling the weight of this realization of my past as a babychild. How ridiculous!! I don't know what it will take to negate the effects of all that crap (+plastic) I put into the world, but I hope I can find a way to de-impact the environment, some how.
29 January 2009
Obesity contributes to global pollution
Check out this article:
Should Overweight Consumers Pay Extra for Services From Southwest Airlines & Other Businesses?
A number of companies and consumer groups think that overweight adults should pay extra for their services. Do you?
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/95247/should_overweight_consumers_pay_extra.html
Excerpt:
Statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics indicate that the American population's weight has been creeping up since the 1990's. More than thirty percent of American adults over the age of 20 are obese. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that the average weight of American adults has ballooned by 10 pounds.
The extra weight of these chubby vagabonds has translated into an additional $275 million dollar expenditure to burn more than 350 million additional gallons of jet fuel resulting in 3.8 million extra tons of carbon dioxide released into the air.
your thoughts?
Should Overweight Consumers Pay Extra for Services From Southwest Airlines & Other Businesses?
A number of companies and consumer groups think that overweight adults should pay extra for their services. Do you?
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/95247/should_overweight_consumers_pay_extra.html
Excerpt:
Statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics indicate that the American population's weight has been creeping up since the 1990's. More than thirty percent of American adults over the age of 20 are obese. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that the average weight of American adults has ballooned by 10 pounds.
The extra weight of these chubby vagabonds has translated into an additional $275 million dollar expenditure to burn more than 350 million additional gallons of jet fuel resulting in 3.8 million extra tons of carbon dioxide released into the air.
your thoughts?
27 January 2009
25x
001. i must eat m&ms in the correct order: blue, green, orange, red, yellow, brown.
002. i thrive on summer activities like hiking, climbing, kayaking; exploring nature.
003. if i had excess money i would buy a taylor guitar.
004. i once punched a raccoon in the face.
005. for years, i settled for a combustible-black marshmallow on my s'more.
006. one time i witnessed a girl nearly fall into the abyss at hershey's chocolate world.
007. the concher is my *favorite* part of the chocolate factory tour ride.
008. donald miller is one of my top 3 favorite authors.
009. green is the color to which i'm most drawn.
010. i have seen the sun set over cadillac mountain on the down east coast of maine.
011. i have not seen a puffin.
012. this summer i saw two bears, two porcupines, and several doe. and the raccoon.
013. i have only heard, never seen, a pack of coyotes (sneaky buggers).
014. wallace and i aspire to drive route 50 from ocean city to sacramento.
015. this spring i discovered how inexperienced arkansasians are at snow driving.
016. my favorite thing about florida is the abundance of anoles *everywhere*.
017. the only time i flew was to visit 2 friends in chicago in 2005.
018. i worshipped God with homeless folks in a church next door to a crack house.
019. my roommate and i once cleansed the waters of the atlantic in wildwood, nj.
020. i have been to 10 weddings, and was the maid of honor in one of them.
021. i am a founding member of the ice cream challenge.
022. i once licked a cave formation that has been filmed for television.
023. one of the best things about camping can be trying to hang up your bear bag.
024. i enjoy driving a 15 passenger van
025. i hope to travel extensively in the somewhat-near future.
002. i thrive on summer activities like hiking, climbing, kayaking; exploring nature.
003. if i had excess money i would buy a taylor guitar.
004. i once punched a raccoon in the face.
005. for years, i settled for a combustible-black marshmallow on my s'more.
006. one time i witnessed a girl nearly fall into the abyss at hershey's chocolate world.
007. the concher is my *favorite* part of the chocolate factory tour ride.
008. donald miller is one of my top 3 favorite authors.
009. green is the color to which i'm most drawn.
010. i have seen the sun set over cadillac mountain on the down east coast of maine.
011. i have not seen a puffin.
012. this summer i saw two bears, two porcupines, and several doe. and the raccoon.
013. i have only heard, never seen, a pack of coyotes (sneaky buggers).
014. wallace and i aspire to drive route 50 from ocean city to sacramento.
015. this spring i discovered how inexperienced arkansasians are at snow driving.
016. my favorite thing about florida is the abundance of anoles *everywhere*.
017. the only time i flew was to visit 2 friends in chicago in 2005.
018. i worshipped God with homeless folks in a church next door to a crack house.
019. my roommate and i once cleansed the waters of the atlantic in wildwood, nj.
020. i have been to 10 weddings, and was the maid of honor in one of them.
021. i am a founding member of the ice cream challenge.
022. i once licked a cave formation that has been filmed for television.
023. one of the best things about camping can be trying to hang up your bear bag.
024. i enjoy driving a 15 passenger van
025. i hope to travel extensively in the somewhat-near future.
01 January 2009
One
of the points that Donald Miller makes in his book, Through Painted Deserts, is that too often our culture focuses on answering "how" questions, because they're easier and allow us to be selfish and self-sufficient. How questions seek to fulfill personal goals for personal fulfilment. "How can I get a job? How can I make more money?" Why questions actually require some thought and some selflessness. "Why am I here? Why is there pain in the world? Why does color exist?"
Don said he'd ask, "What is beauty?" and receive the answer "Here are 5 steps to a successful marriage". How questions are at surface level, prone to easy answers. Asking why makes us smaller, makes us a part of the story of creation, not the protagonist of it.
So some women's health magazine periodically sends me emails. I received one today with a list of good resolutions to make for this new year. Various general, non-compelling ideas such as to read books recommended to you by former English teachers, to wear more colors for an attempt at a (false) positive attitude, etc. One said the following:
"Stop with the why-ning. "Why?" is a perfectly lovely question coming from a toddler, but not from you. Why am I stuck in this stupid job? Why don't I have a better boyfriend? A better question: "How?" How do I get a better job, a better guy?"
Oh how right Mr. Miller is about our culture and our simple seeking for simple answers. I resolve this year to dig deeper.
Oh, and I'm also going to start flossing.
Don said he'd ask, "What is beauty?" and receive the answer "Here are 5 steps to a successful marriage". How questions are at surface level, prone to easy answers. Asking why makes us smaller, makes us a part of the story of creation, not the protagonist of it.
So some women's health magazine periodically sends me emails. I received one today with a list of good resolutions to make for this new year. Various general, non-compelling ideas such as to read books recommended to you by former English teachers, to wear more colors for an attempt at a (false) positive attitude, etc. One said the following:
"Stop with the why-ning. "Why?" is a perfectly lovely question coming from a toddler, but not from you. Why am I stuck in this stupid job? Why don't I have a better boyfriend? A better question: "How?" How do I get a better job, a better guy?"
Oh how right Mr. Miller is about our culture and our simple seeking for simple answers. I resolve this year to dig deeper.
Oh, and I'm also going to start flossing.
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