Santa loves Jesus

(Please read this with as much sarcasm as you can muster up) Last night I saw the most beautiful display of Christmas. We were driving around Chelle’s neighborhood, looking at the Christmas decorations when I came upon the most spectacular demonstration of what this season is all about: Baby Jesus, in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Oh, but wait, who is that kneeling to pray next to him? Who else, but Santa Claus! I was taken aback at this beautiful display. What better way is there to teach kids about Christmas, including all the individuals that make this holiday what it is today? I dare you all to find a better demonstration of Christmas…in fact, I double dare you.

Two things I can't live without

Well, I have found out there are a few things I must have everyday. Actually, only 2 things to be exact.

Yes, this is my nalgene and my burt's bees chapstick. Without these things, I could not function. Of course, a close 3rd is Starbucks, but I do manage to go on without coffee from time to time.

**Obviously I'm having too much fun with my camera phone.

I love my sister

So I went home on my lunch break and checked the mail. The only reason for this is because I'm impatient, and have been waiting on a book to arrive. Well, still no book, but I did have a Christmas card from my sister. On the outside of the card it said "You might want to sit down...This could possibly be the best Christmas car you ever receive!" So what do I do? Well, I don't know if it's a self-torture thing with me or what, but I set it aside deciding that I wanted to wait to open it. (I've always done this--I tend to hoard things, not sure why) I have no idea why I did this. Anyway, about 20 minutes later I did open it, and it was quite wonderful, so thank you Lucas. (-; (Oh, and I'm so sure my sister wanted me to share with all of you her nickname that I gave her when we were little...haha) Oh, what'd you say? You want to know why I called my sister Lucas? I thought you'd never ask! Well, actually, it's a mean story. I called her this because I told her she looked like a boy. Ok, so now you know I was actually a big jerk as a child. (If you think I still am, I don't want to hear it.) Anyway, today has been great because all I've done is listen to music and pretend to work while reading and writing in my blog. I do have to go to a meeting soon, and I have a feeling it will be pretty heated. What fun, eh? I also got to go down memory lane for a few minutes because I saw Dr. Brooks, an old science teacher from Ouachita. He actually works at ETBU now and was here visiting my co-worker. So that was fun-I love seeing old faces. (Not saying he's old, just people I don't see anymore) Ok, so this post wins for the most parentheses. Hope you all have a great day and I'll see many of you soon! (And if I'm not going to see you soon, I say it's your fault.)

P.S. Please leave me comments. I need them--Thanks! :-)
P.P.S. My favorite line(s) from Lindsey's Christmas card: "Each card I send is a blessing for whoever receives it! And no I don't struggle with humility-I'm pretty much the most humble person I know!"

Quality family time...

Well, Friday night, I put on my best face, recruited my best pal, and we went to Santaland with my family. (minus my brother, because he's a punk and of course Lindsey wasn't there because she's at school...oh, and 2 family friends came too: Sonny and Carol. Ok-back to the story) Well, first I'll tell you that Santaland is a place here that displays 1,000's of lights with several themes throughout this drive-thru light display. (Since I know you're already very interested, here is a link to their poorly designed website http://www.santalandtexas.com/) When we pulled up, all crammed in the family van, because you pay per vechicle, I realized it would be hard for us to see with 3 of us in the back seat. So, I said, "I'm sitting on top of the van. Who else wants to?" Of course Ine and Chelle wanted to do the same, so we were ready to jump up there. Now, if you know my dad, he wasn't very keen on the idea. He made statements about us falling off and denting the top of the car. This was not going to stop me. If I was going to Santaland, I was going to have fun! So, while my dad was still driving (slowly), we opened the sliding door, and climbed on top of the van. We did have to disregard the signs posted that stated "Please stay in your car for your safety." It was a little chilly, but worth it, because you could see a lot better from the top of the car. Also, we attracted a lot of attention from other cars staring at us as if we were circus freaks. (please, no comments on this) For your enjoyment, I'll put a few pictures up of the evening.

Yes, those are my feet, and yes, I have my shoes off. I was afraid they'd slip off. And yes, my dad did use the wipers and wiper fluid to get my socks wet.

Ine and Chelle enjoying their ride on the top of the van.

I don't think it's possible to have much more fun than this!

Chelle doesn't get out much...j/k...I love this girl (-:

Random sampling of some of the light displays.

Last picture, I promise-Pretty Poinsettas

As I hope I've portrayed, you can tell we all had a wonderful time. Now on to Saturday...My mom wanted some dishes at Foleys, and on Saturday morning, at 6 o'clock, they were giving out $15 gift cards to the first 300 people. My mom recruited Ine, Chelle, and I (by bribing us with Starbucks...what can I say, we're easy) to go stand in line with her. This made it possible for her to get a place setting of her dishes for $3.24. My mom is the biggest bargain hunter I know. After receiving our caffeinated rewards, we all went home and went back to sleep. I mean, we had only gotten 4 hours of sleep anyway, so this was needed even after the coffee. After we all managed to get some sleep, we got our pets ready and went to Petsmart. Santa was there to take pictures with pets. Chelle wanted to bring Lucy, her dad's cat, for a present to him. And of course, I couldn't miss out on this photo-op for Annabelle. Here are some pictures from this outing:

Here is Lucy, the modest cat with her tail so daintily placed, with the strange Santa.

Annabelle with Santa...She's so photogenic.

Well, this is all for now. I know you're all probably sick of these pictures by now anyhow. More to follow...Now that I've figured out how to put pictures up, I may be posting a lot more. I know you're very excited Katy (-:

Warning: Serious post below

I think I know what Bono meant when he sang “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” I feel like I’m detached from society as a whole…severed off from civilization even. I go through each day the same: Get up, work out (most of the time), get ready, and go to work. After work activities vary, but usually consist of reading at Starbucks. Sometimes I’m with friends, and these times are good. I enjoy the community that is found with others, but as a whole, I feel like everything is surface level banter. I long for deep, significant conversation with others. I want to feel like there is more to this life than the commonplace. Even with close friends there is a lack of real depth, and when deep topics are discussed, it’s in a fleeting moment. I haven’t decided if this is because of me, or because this is how people have become in our day. I long for my heart to be connected to others…to know that my life is better because of someone and vice versa. Don’t take this wrong. The time I share with others is valuable to me. Maybe that’s why I’m not satisfied though, because I know it could be so much more. I want to expose my soul to others, to show them my inner self.
I think this is why God said in Genesis "It is not good for the man to be alone”. He didn’t say this so you would always have someone to wake up next to, or so you’d always have someone to enjoy dinner with. As humans we truly need someone to bare our soul to, someone with whom we can be completely honest. When you can’t do this you become trapped within yourself, wanting this part of you to break out. You need communion—and not just with Jesus Christ. We all know that Jesus is the friend that sticks “closer than a brother” but frankly, there are times when I don’t know what to say to Him, or just don’t know how to approach Him simply because of all He has done for me. From time to time I need to talk to someone just as defeated and scarred as I am.
I’m beginning to wonder if I can even recall a single conversation that would be described as meaningful. I know this occurred in Germany, and I know this has happened with a precious few of my friends, but it makes me sad to know how few times this has taken place.
Being single, I get asked a lot “why aren’t you married?” or “are you dating anyone?” etc…My typical response has something to do with how satisfied I am with my current friends/relationships and dating just means I have someone to share starry-eyed moments and kisses with. However, I need to withdraw this sarcastic retort, because dang, I do want those things too.

I want to be a Yankee

Well, I spent most of last night at Matthew and Kristie’s house. It was our second to last bible study, but I must confess that we didn’t really have bible study. We mostly all sat around talking, in between Jackson and Crosby (the kids) screaming with pants on their heads. Seems like most of the stories Matthew told last night started with “When I was watching the History of Toilet Paper…” As you can see, it was a stimulating night of conversation. Actually, I really did enjoy myself just being around all these people. They are a lot of fun.
I’m beginning my countdown to New York. It’s only 19 days away and I can’t wait to get on that roomy American Airline plane and fly up to Yankee-town. I’m hoping to pick up the accent within the first 2 days. The northern inflection will be noticeable to all if I do the job well. I know once I’m there I’ll want to move there. Of course I’d live in Jersey since the apartments there are much cheaper. Ahh, the good life. I wonder if people there would mind me wearing my Boston Red Sox hat. I guess I’ll find out when I get there. If anyone wants a souvenir, now is the time to speak up. I plan on finding the most odd items to bring back with me. However, I will have to get a new Statue of Liberty lighter since my old one broke. (“I keep a lighter in my back pocket all the time. I'm not a smoker, I just really like certain songs.”—Demetri Martin a.ka. really funny guy) If anyone else is going somewhere fun for the holidays, I want to hear all about it. Or even better, if you’re going to be in The Big Apple, we need to hang out. I really hope to catch one of Demetri’s shows while there. I had emailed him awhile back and he said he wasn’t sure when or if he’d have any during the time we’ll be there, but hopefully he’ll realize that his biggest fan will be there and he needs to plan one. Ok, enough rambling.
I was supposed to get up and play racquetball this morning but it didn’t happen. Neither myself nor the person I was supposed to play with got up. We’re so lazy, but I just really cherish my sleep. It was nice sleeping until 7:20 this morning.
Overall, I haven’t been super productive today, so I think I’ll work on that now. Hope you’re all doing well on your finals (if you are taking finals). And Lindsey, even though you’re not reading this, I know you’ll do fine on all your finals. Remember, you’re the smart one (-:

My weekend, for Katy, b/c I think she's the only one that reads this...

Friday night went to dinner w/my parents, then hung out w/George. There were also many other people there, most of them 6-7 yrs. younger than me. Made the most of it-had a good time. After all the young folks left to TP a house, George and I tried to figure out why the disk wouldn't open on the computer. Ended up going to my office where the files finally opened and George wanted to kiss me because this worked. Don't worry, we didn't (-: After all that, I went home and slept.
Saturday I tried to sleep in, but woke up at 9. Dad brought me breakfast in exchange for my help with raking the yard. After that, watched a show on E! about the young royals. Got ready and went to Barnes & Noble so I could pay full price for some books I didn't have the patience to wait on if I had ordered them online. Went to Starbucks, with the plan of spending most of my afternoon here reading one of my new books. It was crowded so I sat outside, but it was nice. Also tried to call my sister but as usual she was too busy to talk to me. I should be thankful for the 41 seconds she gave me, right? Actually, we've talked about this now and everything is fine. I'm not the type to hold a grudge. After I left Starbucks I decided to stop at Hastings. Well, here is my one exciting/scary moment of the weekend: I pulled in the parking lot and saw a great spot. No other cars around that I could see, so I head toward it. As I'm pulling in, I see a car (purple grand am) in my peripheral vision that I had just pulled in front of. Oops-common mistake, right? Well, it wasn't to this lady. (I also want you to know that there was another spot right next to the one I got, so I wasn't leaving her without a spot.) She sat and waited on me to get out of my car. I didn't move. After 2 long minutes, she started driving off so I got out. Well, she circled around, rolled her window down, and yelled this: "Hey, you need to watch out pulling in front of people. You could get hit, OR SHOT!" Yes, she said I could get shot. Who shoots people for this? This lady obviously needs a course in Anger Management. The worst part was her son, probably 8 yrs. old, was in the car. What a great example for your child. Anyway, after that, I went home, walked the dog, and got ready for the evening. I was going to hear a Christmas program with the East Texas Symphony Orchestra and Green Acres Celebration Choir. It was good-went w/my mom, grandmother, 2 aunts, 1 uncle, and one aunt's boyfriend. Well, I'm for sure the only silly person in the group, so I had no one to make my ridiculous comments to. I did manage to count the choir members-there were 312. I don't know why I do this. I give myself little assignments, not because I'm bored, but maybe because I have A.D.D. (If you want to see a very serious-and funny-case about such "assignments", read chapter 2 of David Sedaris' book Naked) Anyhow, the evening was enjoyed, even if I was mostly entertaining myself. I ran into a few old friends there too, so it was fun. I went home after this and watched Spiderman 2, since I've wanted to and none of my friends ever do. Sunday, I went to church, found out our church is closing down at the end of the year. Yeah, bad news, but God will take care of me and maybe it gives me a good reason to really look into moving, since one of the main reasons I was staying here is because I loved Woodgate so much. I spent the afternoon/evening with Chelle since we hadn't seen each other all weekend. I skimmed about 10 books about New York so i could get some information for our trip coming up (22 days) and enjoyed my peppermint Mocha. After that, we made dinner, if you call grilled cheese and tomato soup dinner, and called it a night. I mean, I did have to get up this morning and work out since I promised Shani that I wouldn't quit on him.
Well Katy, thanks for thinking my life is interesting. I'll try and keep it up!
Oh, and for closing, I'll tell you my new favorite bumper sticker: "My black lab is smarter than your honor student"

This is me being serious for a change...

Well, if you read my short post yesterday, hopefully you know I was being silly. I don't really think those are important things to consider in finding a mate. However, this morning I was reading on Boundless (really great online magazine) and I thought this was worth sharing. Just to get you interested, I've copied some of the article below, but to read the entire article, go here: http://www.boundless.org/features/a0000973.html

To most Americans, calling happiness a “destructive myth” sounds ridiculous —
it’s the kind of thing that conjures up mental images of dour religious types
dressed in black. After all, doesn’t the Declaration of Independence call the
“pursuit of happiness” an “inalienable right” on par with life and liberty? Yes,
it does. However, the right to pursue happiness isn’t the same thing as the
right to be happy. What’s more, what Jefferson and company meant by “happiness”
differs from our understanding of the word. For us, the word “happiness” refers
to a subjective emotional state more or less synonymous with “contentment,” with
a dollop of euphoria thrown in for good measure. For instance, I spent the day
after Thanksgiving with my family, many of whom had flown in from Puerto Rico
for the occasion. We literally talked and laughed the day away. When I got home
Friday night, I wished I could have bottled that day and made it last forever.
That feeling is what we mean when we use the word “happiness.” The problem is
that these feelings are fleeting, not to mention subjective and even a bit
egocentric. You can’t build an individual life, much less important
institutions, around them. That’s why the Founders, harkening back to John
Locke, St. Thomas Aquinas and, of course, Aristotle, understood happiness in
more permanent (and more social) terms.

Why is it that when I only have 10 minutes of free time in a day that has been full of meetings, and there are still 2 more, do I choose to write in this blog? It's one of life's mysteries I guess...either that or I've just got a sick addiction to blogging and coffee.
I was talking to a friend the other day about future mates. Everyone seems to have a list of things that are "must haves" as well as their share of "can't stands". I know my list is probably similar to many in the fact that my man has to wear clothes in public. I mean, this is important to me, you know? I think the big problem with most people's lists is that they aren't specific enough. For this reason, I've decided to ask you a few questions that maybe you should consider before dating that leads to marriage. Now if you're a casual dater, obviously your standards aren't as high, so this is not for you.

1. Are you willing to date/marry someone that wears a Metallica t-shirt at least once a week?
2. Do you care if your future mate wears shoes everyday?
3. Would it bother you if they let their dog lick their mouth?
4. Is it ok for your future mate to drink more beer than water on a typical day?
5. Would you date/marry someone that laughs at themself more than others do?

I hope this has inspired you to add a few important "must haves/can't stands" to your list. I would love to go on, but as I stated in the beginning of this, I only have 10 minutes and I've used 4 of these for this, so I must go to my last 2 meetings.

I'm so important, I get conference calls

Right now I'm sitting in a presentation for some computer software the school is thinking about switching over to. Our current system is POISE which is also referred to as "poison" by most people on campus. It's definitely not user-friendly. It's very inefficient so this new system, Banner, would probably greatly benefit the school. However, for the entire school to switch over, it will take around 2 years, and I sure don't plan on being here for that. I will say that this system has my vote--not that I think my vote counts. It's basically like voting in Texas this past election-what's the point when you know Bush will win the state? Anyway, we have to meet with another company next week. Hopefully we'll get more free stuff like the floating pen, but I sure hope it doesn't take as long. We met with Banner yesterday for 2 hours and this presentation I'm in now is supposed to last 3 1/2 hours, but so far I've only been here for one of those hours. I'll probably slip out at the break. At least for now it looks like I'm taking really thorough notes, and I don't think anyone has noticed that I'm listening to the radio. I couldn't be expected to miss the Kidd Kraddick interview with Gavin DeGraw. I did think of a cover story if someone asked me about the bud in my ear. You see, I'm waiting on a conference call. They're talking now, but my part hasn't come yet. (Oh, and so you know, my phone is a radio, that's why this story would work) I can't talk until the first part of the call is finished, so I'm just listening, waiting for my part. I think it's a pretty good story. I just hope no one ask why in the world I'd be involved in a conference call. Anyone that knows my position would question this so-called conference call. Luckily I haven't had to use the story, so there haven't been any such questions. Oh-I think I just heard something about housing. I better pay attention now, since this is really the only part that pertains to me. Too bad I'll have to leave early for a conference call...