So, what was I up to this weekend? What wasn’t I up to this weekend!

Friday night started out late with broom hockey with the jr. and senior high youth groups. For those who don’t know, it’s just like hockey. You are on ice and you’re trying to get the, in this case ball, into the goal. However, you play with brooms instead of sticks and shoes instead of ice skates. Can cause of pretty spectacular slips and falls. I usually don’t fall at all, but managed to fall 4 times that night. The first was the best and my feet slipped out from under me and I landed almost flat on my face with my broom sliding half way across the rink. The others weren’t quite as bad, but I did wind up with bruises and sore muscles from the swinging the broom around.

On a more serious note, one of the kids got half his front tooth chipped off by the ball flying in the air and hitting it. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen anything like that happen before.

That got done after midnight, and the next morning I was up early to play ultimate Frisbee intramural style. Our team, the Rogue Rascals (I know you couldn’t wait to see what the outcome was) lost our first two but won the last game. So our record is 1-4. But since the first game was at 8, that felt super early.

Didn’t make it to the beach this weekend. The wind was still blowing strong, and Ben and I didn’t feel like fighting it to go. Of course I found out Sunday that the wind died as soon as you left town. O well, next time. So I took at two hour dozing nap and hit Borders. I only spent $32 on books (after discount). Hope you’re proud of me!

Sunday Marcus announced that he’d bought a computer and wanted to set it up downstairs. That led to a bunch of furniture rearranging. The upshot? My electronics are now in the entertainment cart I brought back from Grpop’s in May of last year and I have my home computer hooked up for the first time since I moved into Villa La Paz a year and a half ago. Why rush into things? Now I need to start investigating dial up internet access. I know it’ll be slow and drive me crazy, but I can’t afford anything else.

Sunday night, I went over to Ben’s for a BBQ. Not the best time in the world, but I got to hang out with some people instead of my apartment by myself. Of course, I could have gone to church….

Meanwhile, I got to watch a great episode of Alias and read a ton of my book. All in all, it was a busy but good weekend.

Ok, I've joined in the madness.



Now, can someone tell me why not everything is coming up like it should on my page there on Blog Shares?

Back with a weekend update later today. Promies.

I haven't done something just because everyone else is doing it for a while, so I thought it was about time.





what decade does your personality live in?


quiz brought to you by lady interference, ltd


Speaking of which, I thought I'd point out that I'm not a psycho. After all, I have yet to do Eric's psycho survey. :)

So, what have I been up to? The usual. Wednesday, it was just George and I for practice. Garrick and George practiced later. The three of us lead the time last night, and it seemed to go very well. Hopefully we'll have Jon joining us next week.

Found out last night that Quizno's won't be keeping their Chicken Carbanara sandwich past Monday, so I guess I'd better get it one more time, like tonight. Planning to go home and try to get my laundry done before our late night broom hockey event with the youth.

I've had a very productive week at work. Got three major accounts reconciled, including the one I promised Phil I'd have done by now. :) Would have liked to get more done, but frankly I'm a little brain dead from finishing up the dental account today. Deleting names from lists all day can tend to do that to you.

We'll see how my weekend goes. We've had a bad wind for the last couple days. It's supposed to stay through tomorrow night with gusts up to 70 mph. Have I mentioned recently how much I hate wind? Hopefully it'll die down tonight like one report I heard said it would and won't interfer with ultimate and the beach tomorrow. But we'll just have to wait and see.

Almost forgot, I've got yet another interesting article I thought I'd link from Breakpoint. And, if you're interested, the links down at the bottom are worth your time as well. All of them. Ok, at least the half dozen I've read.

What do ya know, it's finally time for this week's Thursday Threesome, brought to us by the director's guild and the friendly people at The Back Porch.

Onesome: Lights- Did you watch the lights of Hollywood at the Academy Awards the other night? ...and were you surprised by any of the winners. ...or did you spend the evening doing something else?
I spent part of my evening getting back from the ultimate Frisbee tournament I’d been playing in. Then I took a shower before heading to the SNYF. Yet another thrilling evening in the life of Mark Baker. (And I generally don't watch, so if I'd been home, I would have done something else.)

Twosome: Camera- Do you enjoy photography? ...and do you take pictures for your web site if you have one? Hmmm... Digital or film? Inquiring minds and all that...
Since my computer capabilities are limited, I take film pictures, when I take them at all. I don’t usually look through them, so I don’t tend to take that many. Except at convention. When I do get my pictures developed, I am paying the extra for a picture CD so I have the ability to use them on my computer if I so desire. And this is my only web site (not from lack of an offer) so I don’t post pics on a regular basis anywhere.

Threesome: Action- For some, March Madness has begun. Have you succumbed to the action of the basketball tournament, or are you immune to the madness and just waiting for regular programming to resume?
There’s a sporting event on? Is that why Survivor has been on Wednesday the last two weeks? O well, next week brings new episodes of all my CBS Thursday shows.

This week is looking to be perfect weather wise. Supposed to be in the 70's all week. Got my window openned right now enjoying the breeze.

I finally have the main bank account in the general ledger reconciled to the bank rec. system. It feels so good. Now, if I'd only do it more then twice a year. Tomorrow, I tackle some of the benefit accounts like I promised Phil I would before the month ended. Hate to start too soon, wouldn't I? :)

And I got my 900th helpful vote at Amazon.com today. Sometimes the littlest things can make your day.

About the only bad part of the day I can see will be picking up my car on the way home tonight. Took it in for the 30,000 mile service this morning. Will set me back $300. Fortunately, I don't have to do that every month. :)

Tonight, new episodes of Buffy and 24. What more could a guy ask for?

Bet you didn't expect me to pop in this time of night, did you? Well, here I am. :)

But first, we bring you yesterday.

Matt and Tavi really did lead worship for Sunday School, so I didn't have to have anything prepared. Maybe I'll use what I had next week. Then I skipped church and headed down to the field. We won the first game but lost the second to a team we'd lost to on Saturday. This means both years I've played, my team has lost in the semi-finals. I was only in a few points, but didn't really have anything spectacular to report either good or bad. The most frustrating part for me was when a certain teammate kept trying to call me out the few points I did go in for. Hey, I paid just as much money as he did to be there. Anyway, the two teams in the finals were the only two teams we lost to, so I'd say that's something to be proud of.

Probably the best part of the day was playing the crazy game some of us played while waiting for the finals to get going. We were doing things like opposite hand throwing and under a leg. Crazy stuff but I couldn't stop laughing.

Dave forgot to bring the songbooks to the SNYF last night, but that's ok since we didn't have time to sing. They've sure picked up on the nuances of 4 on a couch. After 30 minutes, Dave ended us with a tie.

Today was not my day. Phil was asking me about stuff I knew I'd have the answer to in a few days. He figured it out, but I really should have had an answer for him. Did get most of the problem with a different account figured out. Hopefully I can get the done early tomorrow.

And read this interesting op-ed piece today. I readily admit my biases. Wish others weren't so hypocritical about them.

Right now I'm on my way home from spending some time with Pete and his hot tub. Had some fun trying to come up with a name for our intramural ultimate frisbee team. I think we've decided on The Rogue Rascals, but I'm not certain. Muscles are now nice and relaxed, so I think it's time to head home and sleep. Good night.

Just popping in quickly to report on the day. Sitting directly in the pounding sun makes things seem much hotter then they really are. I'm on team bottle this year (think 7 UP. See, this green) and we're 2-2. I had a great catch in the first game, but after that have dropped everything thrown to me except the one time I threw something completely away. But tomorrow is another day. Deep breath in and out.

Right now, it's off to home for shower, shave, and bed. Need to get some music ready for tomorrow in case Matt and Tavi really don't do anything like Tavi said they would last week.

It's another glorious day here in Southern CA. It was supposed to be around 70 today, and I believe it got there. Supposed to be the same all weekend, which will be perfect for playing ultimate frisbee. This is the weekend of the St. Pat's Hat tournament. You might or might not remember that I played in this tourny last year as well. I'm guessing I'll be playing 6 or so games this weekend, so I'll be sore by the time it's over, but it'll be so much fun. And much nicer weather then last year. Last year, we were freezing! There isn't much up at the official site, but if you want to read a little more about where I'll be, there you go.

Of course, this does mean I'll miss the first weekend of our intramurals for ultimate here at Master's. I'm on Pete's team again this year, and I think we've got a really strong team. Definitely got the two strongest women. Should be a good year.

And tonight, I'm going out after Bible study with the newly engaged Donald and Heather. Seems that all it takes to get married is be my roommate. :) With the tourney, 'twill be my only chance to hang out with Donald this trip, and something tells me I won't be seeing him much after Heather finishes her student teaching and moves out of the area.

Bible study went well last night. Talked to Dave for quite awhile after, and took a look at the new songsheets for the kids. Not really that different, but we're talking about having them bound so they'll last longer then the 8 years the last ones lasted. And they were falling apart let me tell you!

My Quizno's sandwhich wasn't up to par last night, however. They were having major problems with their oven. :( And I thought they'd finally have Sabrina get back together with Harvey last night, but they didn't. I hope those two are together before the show ends.

Looks like it's time for dinner. Pizza in the caf and then again with D&H. The perfect before ultimate food, right?

Yesterday turned out to be quite different then I thought it'd be. We were all working hard (really) around 10:45 when we heard a load buzz-pop coming from outside and the lights started to flicker like crazy. We looked outside, and the wires outside the building were sparking. And setting the leaves on an oak tree on fire. Power came back on, but about 10:50, power went out for good. Fortunately, I had the deposit mostly finished, so I finished that up in the semi-dark of the room. The trees never did catch fire (fortunately), but when I got back from lunch, they determined that we weren't going to get power back at all yesterday. So I went right back home (stupid fitness center wasn't openned again!) and called Other Seth. He decided to skip class and we headed out to Ventura. It wasn't much colder out there then it was here in town, so the weather was very nice. We walked on the beach and around the dock area for awhile because we thought the water would be too cold, but it was still very nice to get out and enjoy the day. Temp was in the high 60's or low 70's.

Then I got on with my normal plans for the day, which included heading over to the Moss's to meet with Garrick, George, and Jon to work on guitar stuff. We hardly got anything done in the hour we had. Of course, George and Jon were later then I was and we stopped to watch the President's speech. Still, I don't think Wednesday night is going to work, so we'll see what happens.

Got up and ran again this morning. So why haven't I gotten sore at all? Does this mean it's doing me no good? Or does this mean I won't die as much as I think I will this weekend?

Meanwhile, in all this electric confusion, looks like they've reset the internet settings. All the blogs I've asked to remember my info seem to have forgotten it. It'll be annoying typing it all in again. O well, I'll survive.

Meanwhile, need to go so I get to youth group on time. Of course, after yesterday, I'm all set music wise of tonight, so it definitely had a plus side.

I'll be back with a life update later, but for now it's time for today's Thursday Threesome, brought to you by Arrowhead and the fine folks at The Back Porch.

Onesome - Mountain: Hey, summer's on the way! If you can get away, is it to the mountains or to the beaches? ...and even if you cannot: if you could, which would you go for?
Seems like I usually head to the beach. It’s only an hour at most away and that’s where the majority of my friends go. Heck, that’s where I went yesterday. But I love the mountains as well and would love to get a trip or two in to them. Heck, I’m willing to go just about anywhere.

Twosome - Spring: Enough is enough! Are you ready for Spring yet? ...or are you one of the lucky ones who are already smelling the roses?
Aside from our cold snap early this week, I’d say that spring is in the air. And with tomorrow being the official first day, I say bring it on!

Threesome - Water: Domestic or bottled? Are you one of those who just cannot drink tap water and absolutely has to have bottled? ...or does any source that has some chlorine in it to okay with you?
Growing up in Santa Rosa, I drank tap water without thinking about it at all. The water tasted just fine to me. Here in Santa Clarita, the water is horrid. I drink bottled water here at work, and have a filter at home. How I miss Santa Rosa water. Of course, the small bottles you buy in stores always taste plasticy to me.

Another day, another 75 cents (after taxes). Actually, I’m discovering something. You feel much better about yourself if you actually work during work hours. I’m feeling good about what I’ve gotten done this week, and it’s only Tuesday. Now, if I’d just been at this point a month ago I’d feel even better.

Actually got out of bed and ran two miles this morning. Well, most of two miles anyway. Can I at least count one and three quarters? Anyway, I haven’t been feeling it at all today. Either I’m in better shape then I thought (ha!) or it’ll hit me like a ton of bricks and I’ll feel like I got hit by a ton of bricks tomorrow.

After the nice weather we had last week, the temperatures have plunged back down to the 50’s. And we’ve got a strong wind blowing and making things colder. I’m keeping everything closed up tight and hoping that it’ll warm back up soon. (Funny how we perceive that same temperatures in different parts of the country, isn’t it?)

So, Saddam now has 24 hours to get out or we will attack. Let’s just broadcast it a bit louder when we plan to go in, shall we? And what about the intelligence reports that said he’s arming his troops with chemical and biological weapons. I thought he’d been saying for the last 6 months that Bush is a liar and he has none of these. Oops! Didn’t miss the commentator on Fox news who was reporting this, either.

Yes, I’m going to continue with political rants, just so you know.

So I’m watching Fox News off and on all night, and I see someone complaining about the backlash against the anti-war movement and how it’s such a shame since we have freedom of speech in this country. My mouth just hung open. Yes, you have a right to voice opposition to the war. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy to, but you won’t be arrested for doing that. However, that means I have the same right to respond to you however I feel like. Depending on what you say and how you say it, I might reason or affirm, or I might mock, ridicule, and boycott. Those are all my rights. If you can’t take it, maybe you need to consider how you say things. For example, saying “I have a problem with this war because...” and then giving me a valid concern (like some people have done on their blogs) will be just fine. But, if you stand up in a foreign country and say “I as ashamed to be an American,” believe you me I’ll treat you as such. If you’re famous, that doesn’t give you any more right to say anything, it just means that you’ll be heard by more people and you’ll possibly make more people upset by what you say.

To change the topic, Thursday, I saw an interesting article on someone who left our country to be a human shield in Iraq and is now back. Why? Because, he wanted to protect civilians, and Saddam wanted to put him at an army base. Yet this person still didn’t think we should be attacking. I’m sorry, but what did you think would need shielding? Do you honestly think that we’re going after civilians? What kind of country to you think you’re from? And have you paid no attention to one of the many charges being made against Saddam?

For anyone wondering, yes I’m very worried about retaliation. Especially since I live 30 miles from LA, a logical choice for them to attack. Frankly, I’d be surprised if they went for New York again. DC possibly, but it’ll probably be something on the West Coast this time. Possibly up where my parents are 60 miles north of San Francisco as well.

Think I’m about done for now. If you’ve made it this far, I truly thank you for listening to the random ramblings.

Well, I didn't make it. I got home Friday night and just had to watch The Music Man. While I enjoyed it, I think I liked the new version better. Then again, maybe if I watched it again, I'd feel differently. I'll certainly say that the Buffalo Bills are an incredible barbershop quartet! I've got to find more barbershop quartet music.

Of course, by watching this after the Just for Fun, I didn't get to bed until 1 Saturday morning. Sometime in the middle of the night I started to rain like crazy. So I didn't go to the work day or play ultimate. But, I did get up and get going. Spent lots of money, but this time on clothes. The pants I wanted to get a month ago at Mervyn's were on sale even more, and then I went to Kohl's. They've just openned one here in town, and I got some good deals on towels and sandals.

Spent the afternoon reading and watching TV. Finished Lemon Meringue Pie Murder late Saturday night. Figured out the killer about 100 pages before the end, but I did get thrown off track again. Sunday, I started Cold Water Corpse and watched Gus. Silly Slapstick fun, but I love it. And I'd forgotten that Tom Bosley was in it. That really threw me for a loop.

Sounds like, in spite of the dire threats made last week, things are the same in Santa Rosa. Grandma was with my uncle and aunt for the weekend again. I hope they get things figured out soon for everyone's sake.

And speaking of soon, I'm glad it looks like we're finally going to war. We've known it was coming for months. We need to get to it and get this waiting over with. It's obviously not doing anything but giving Saddam a chance to build his forces. Of course, I wish we didn't have to go to war. It would be nice if everyone could get along and peace would really last. Unfortunately, that won't happen this side of heaven.

Also unfortunately, my link update isn't coming through. I added SIM's blog to my list last week, and it still isn't showing up. I'll certainly be glad when blogger gets it's latest problems resolved.

Is this day finally over?!! It seems like it's dragged on forever. It hasn't helped that no one in the office has wanted to work all day. We're chatting, goofing off. But that makes the time move so slowly.

And the worst part is, I'm not nearly as far along as I should wanted to be on the project I'm working on. I've got about another day's worth before I can set it aside and get to the next project. Still, I've made major progress this week, so I can rest happy.

They're predicting that it will storm tomorrow!!!! First of all, that means I won't have to go to the youth church work day. Second, it means I can get nice and muddy and make myself sick playing ultimate frisbee in the rain. Third, it means I'll be able to experience a real rain storm on my bald head. You'd think I would have experienced that shaving two years in January, but these have been drought years and we haven't gotten any rain. And, finally, it means we get more rain, which we really need.

I'm thinking of trying to add a showing of DareDevil in to the mix as well tomorrow. I know, I know, I already have enough planned. But I so need to see Jennifer Garner on the big screen. Yes, need is right. Then I get to see her in an all new Alias the next night. Sounds like a good weekend to me. Marcus will be gone, so I can spend all the time I want reading, watching my new DVD's and basically be lazy.

But right now, I'm off to a just for fun at the Durons. Should be...fun.

Ok, which one of my co-workers reads this thing? Or should that be which one of you snitched to them? At 4:30 I was called out of my office to find a group waiting for me with balloon card and present. Usually we just do card and cake, but they got me the original version of The Music Man on DVD since we've been listening to and discussing it so much over the past few weeks. The card's a belated card, and a couple of the comments are great. Like Jason wishing me a "Happy 5 days after your birthday." Yes, I'm feeling better.

Only problem? I really want to go home and watch the movie tonight. Heck, I wanted to watch the MM last night. But instead, I need to head home and get ready for Bible study. And when I get home, it'll be time for CSI and Without a Trace. But I guarentee I'll be watching this weekend!

Before we get to this week's Thursday Threesome, I want to clarify something from yesterday. That rant had nothing to do with the Trixie community. I had birthday greetings in two places, plus a message here. And I've gotten lots of donations from you guys. As I said on the boards, a total of $160, which I'm very happy with. Yet on this other board, the other two guys are raising hundreds and I've gotten $15, something's not right. (This was not a solititation for more donations. As I said, I'm very happy with what the Trixie community has given and the number of gifts given.)

Now that I've hopefully clarified, let's move on to this week's Thursday Threesome, brought to us this week by Eric (he immediately sprung to mind) and The Back Porch.

Onesome: Blue- Mac brought color into the scheme of computer things. What color would your computer be if they offered custom colors for PC or Mac?
Green, of course. I love that color.

Twosome: Screen- Hey how about a quick survey? What type of screen are you running, CRT or LCD? ...and what size screen would that be? Uh-huh, and that would be at what resolution? Designing minds want to know...
Um, Um…. It’s the Gateway monitor that my office got for me since this is a work computer. The resolution is set to 1024 by 768. And that’s about all I can tell you.

Threesome: of Death- Have you ever had a catastrophic computer crash? Could it be revived or did you have to pronounce it dead?
My computer completely died a couple years ago. Had to give it to MIS to revive. Fortunately, they took my files off the hard drive first after giving me a lecture on saving there vs. the network. Of course, I’ve had network files disappear and when the network crashes, I can’t get anything done. But beside that, it’s the perfect thing to tell me to do.

There you go ladies. Steal away!

Pass the cheese; I feel a major whine coming on.

Basically, I've been having a pity part in my office all day. Feeling like the world is ignoring me. I swear, I must be invisible half the time. My car, too, but that's another post.

Yesterday, I mentioned the fact that my co-workers never did anything for my birthday. Today, the problem's increased.

I first heard of St. Baldricks on a haircut related website I semi-frequent. I heard about it because someone was thinking of signing up, and he was seeing if anyone would support him, much like I first did on the Trixie boards. When I decided to sign on as well, I figured I'd let them know over there. Many people had already pledged their support to CC and didn't support me as well. Which is fine since the money goes to the same place anyway. Monday, someone else decided to sign up. (Keep in mind they take place all over the country on different days.) Today I log in to see that someone has pledged money to both of these people but not to me. HELLO! AM I CHOPPED LIVER???? CC is the only one from that site to sponsor me. He paid exactly what I paid for him, which is more then fair. It's not like I'm getting anything outside of ego rubs from this, but it would be nice to be included when people are sponsoring others.

Frankly, this is the way it often seems in my life. I say something, I'm told I'm wrong or ignored. Someone else says the exact same thing, and suddenly it's a great idea. It gets so frustrating.

On to other news. In case you missed it on either site, I'm bald once again. It was pretty crowded last night as there were about 30 people who shaved their heads. I don't know how much total was raised, but if I find out I'll let you know. As of this moment, the plan is to keep shaving through April Fool's Day. That way I can be shaved on the day I first shaved my head back in 2000.

Pete took an after picture for me and I've submitted it. Hopefully it'll be up by this weekend.

Back tomorrow with the Thursday Threesome.

Well, I’d say it’s official, my co-workers have forgotten my birthday yet again this year. I’m three for six in the remembering department, the worst average out of anyone. And I’m counting the year they got me a card but no cake, which was the only person that happened to that year. Yes, it’s kinda discouraging and upsetting. No one at church mentioned it either. Someday, it’ll become an event again like it was for me growing up. I refuse to let that part of my childhood go.

In other news, Sue will be glad to know I got both loads of laundry done last night. Had to stagger them since the laundry room was fairly busy last night. Took me 2 and a half hours instead of the normal hour and a half to do the loads. But I don’t have to worry about it the rest of the week.

And I see it’s finally quitting time. I’m off for my appointment with the razor. Have a good evening everyone.

I honestly thought I’d get here over the weekend. But that was before I started having fun.

Even thought spring break started here at Master’s, a group decided to see how many they could get together for ultimate. Since I’d love to play that on my birthday, I actually got out of bed and got to the field at 8:20. Very early for me on Saturdays. We played for about two hours. Meanwhile, the weather’s decided to be very pleasant. It’s been in the 70’s all weekend. Perfect ultimate weather. Then Pete, D Rob, Tommy, and I went out to brunch at IHOP. We got a kick out of the waitress calling all of us “Hon.” I swear, she used it at least 6 times every time she came to the table. Only downside? I didn’t have real maple syrup, so I had to use their imitation stuff.

When we had just finished playing, Pete had invited Tommy and me over to go swimming. Naturally, after eating, we weren’t nearly as hot as we’d been then. But we still decided to go over. The pool was freezing, but Tommy and I did jump in, he several times, me just once. We did spend some time in the hot tub. And we threw a Frisbee around the pool. Only downside? I got a very nice tan, which will look funny when I shave my head tomorrow night.

I spent longer then I’d planned at Pete’s so I raced home, showered, and left for Linda’s. Even though I got there at 3:10, I was the first to arrive for the private signing. Only downside? Joann was rushed, so I really didn’t get a chance to talk to her. But I’ve started reading Lemon Meringue Pie Murder anyway.

Then I met Josh, Bonnie, and Pete in downtown Pasadena at Josh’s office. Bonnie and I were bored (the downside again) while Josh did something he had to do. But then we all went out to dinner at a spaghetti place that J & B love in Glendora. Downside of that? I ate way too much and could hardly move. And I was driving! Personally, the food was good, but spaghetti is spaghetti to me. I wasn’t nearly as impressed as Bonnie wanted me to be.

As you can tell, Saturday was a fun, full day. What a birthday.

Sunday was much more relaxing. Church in the morning and evening with a SNYF at night. Finished the book I was reading in the afternoon and got all caught up on the TV I’d recorded the end of the week. Connected with Grandma at my uncle and aunt’s to wish her a happy birthday. That was partially sad, however. We had the same conversation twice. It’s so hard to watch her go downhill like that.

Meanwhile, I got an ear full when I called home. They were having a hard time with my uncle and aunt over stuff, so I got to hear all the complaints. Mom is fed up, and frankly, I don’t blame her. Things are getting just as bad as I feared they would. When this is all over, I doubt we’ll ever have contact with them again, which is the saddest thing of all. But the upside of this? They were so preoccupied, they didn’t quiz me further about my plans tomorrow.

Speaking of which, one more thing to leave you with before I go. For anyone interested, John MacArthur, the president of the college I work for, will be a guest on Larry King Live tomorrow night. The subject will be the Christian’s response to war. Since I’ll be well on my way to Arcadia and my date with a razor, I’ll be taping it. But I should be good. And it helps to have friends in high places. My college roommate’s sister is married to a producer of Larry’s show. Guess who first suggested Dr. MacArthur as a guest for religious related topics?

Life gets complicated quickly. Grandma is once again spending the weekend with my uncle and aunt. This means she'll be over there for her birthday Sunday. Which means I can't talk to her on that day. No one will be home Monday night, when I have all the free time in the world. Which means they're planning to celebrate her birthday with her on Tuesday. Which is St. Baldricks. Which means I need to leave by 5:30 at the latest. And, of course, I can't explain this to my family since they'll flip if I tell them. Anyone else in the known universe (like you) is fine. But telling them is a problem.

Meanwhile, I also need to try to figure out when I'll call to wish Grandma a happy birthday.

Life can be so complicated sometimes.

We had a small group last night for Bible study, but it was the sports award dinner for winter sports. And both Dave and Jon were gone. Seemed to go well, however. Biggest problem, I actually attempted "I Stand in Awe" and OtherSeth wasn't there. Don't know where he was, actually. He's somewhere on campus right now, but I'm not sure where. Saw him drive by, saw his parked car, but that's about it.

Speaking of which, the new dorm openned today! It's really nice, and it's the first three story dorm we've got here. Will make for some fun since the middle wings will be mid-east and mid-west.

Today starts spring break for the students. Will be very quite the next week. And no caf! O well, I'll survive somehow.

Seems I had something else to say, but I can't remember what it is, so I'll just sign off, go home, and get ready for Bible study. I so don't want to go, but it's been six weeks so I really should.

This week's Thursday Threesome is brought to us by the weather man and The Back Porch.

Onesome: Cold Are you a cold weather person and just deal with it or do you prefer temperatures closer to the century mark?
Hot weather! I hate being cold, and once I get cold, I find it very hard to warm up. I’d much rather be hot and be able to put on shorts to cool off. Plus I love the water, and hot water allows me to go swimming more.

Twosome: and Misty What makes you misty-eyed? Do you cry at Hallmark commercials or get all sentimental when you hear a specific song? You can tell us, we won't laugh ;)
I cry at the drop of a hat. Well, not completely, but almost. I generally don’t cry at Hallmark commercials, but I did cry at Tuesday night’s 24. I cried through Lilo and Stitch. Books can really get me, too. That’s one reason I prefer mysteries where everyone hated the victim. Makes it easier not to cry.

Threesome: Morning Mornings? ...or evenings? Which is your time of the day? Are you up with the sun or do you help the moon keep the night lit?
I’d say afternoon. I have a hard time getting up in the morning, but once I’m out of the shower I’m fine. And there comes a certain point at night when I can’t keep my eyes open any longer and must go to bed. So I don’t tend to stay up late. Sometime around afternoon or early evening is probably my best time of day.

I’ve been warned.

Our HR director came by my office for a couple reasons today. One of which was to tell me to cut back on my internet usage during work hours. He actually saw a report. Every day when I log in, they mention that all internet usage is logged and monitored. It’s been that way ever since I started working here. But I’ve let myself go more and more places and let my work time spent grow and grow. Then I wonder why I seldom get anything done at work. Really, it should be very easy for me to cut back and start getting more work done. And since that’s what I’m paid for, that’s a good thing, right?

Of course, I took the warning to heart. I’ve spent very little time on the internet today. In stead, I played solitary. Any wonder why I always sounded stressed out about how much I have to do? I fully apply the ostrich solution to all problems, but very few go away if you burry your head in the sand.

In other news, I’ve got the cold that will not die. Just when I think I’ve got it under control, it comes back. I’m so sick of being sick! Why won’t it just go away??!!

I’m really loving Chris Rice’s new CD. Listened to it all morning. I’ve been giving some of my other purchases equal time this afternoon. Why have I not given Jars of Clay a chance before this? I really love their best of. I may have to try some of their other stuff. Looks like my Benny Hester and Randy Stonehill CD’s will just be for one song, but at $6.99 each, that’s not that bad.

And, as long as everyone else is doing it, I’ll grip that we aren’t going to get another new hour of 24 for 3 weeks! How can they, especially after the wonderful hour we just had. Man, I love that show.

Tonight, “The Convention” is coming over for a 3 episode Babylon 5 marathon. Got to make up for the fact that next week is Spring Break for them, right? And how did we get half way through the semester already, anyway?

(Written in word so my actual internet time was kept to a minimum.)

I realized when I left work last night that by not posting, I didn't get a chance to comment that yesterday was 03/03/03 or 3/3/3. I'll have to figure out some way to work that into today's post.

Ok, I didn't want to do it, but I added up my receipts. At least all the ones I had. (One store didn't issue receipts for cash purchases.) I thought I was doing so well, but I spent over $200 this weekend on books. Not that I've let that stop me. I spent $60 at the Disney store last night. Then I spent over $80 at Family Christian Stores today. Somebody stop me before I spend again!

Of course, my purchases today included such wonderful things as THE NEW CHRIS RICE CD!!!! I really like it, too. Probably his best since his first, in my opinion. And I like all of his CD's. But I got so many CD's I'm wanting to sample (Including Alathea and Third Day's Offerings II) that I can't give Chris the air time I want to give him.

Also released today is Jonah, A VeggieTales Movie. Run out and buy a copy. (Mine's on the way from deepdiscountdvd.com.)

My plans for the evening fell through. Sheree and I had planned to go to see DareDevil tonight since we're both huge Jennifer Garner fans. (Star of Alias of course.) But she started mocking something unnecessarily, and I didn't handle it well. Basically, I told her to shut up without telling her to shut up. But I really upset her, so she doesn't want to go any more. And this is coming from the same woman who will rather rudely tell me how much she hates it when I shave my head. At least I tried a little tack on the tackless. Very little, and I did apologize. But still, with the way she behaves, she shouldn't behave like she just did. Frankly, I think something else is bothering her, because she has really laid into someone else today, too. O well, this means I can watch 24 tonight. Unless I decide to go anyway. Maybe Marcus will want to go.

Going to close tonight with a couple articles on human cloning from Breakpoint. We've got religious and non-religious articles on why it's dangerous. I don't know where you are on the issue, but these certainly provide some good food for thought.

I survived LCC. Actually, had a very fun time. Got lots and lots of books autographed. Really wish I'd actually read some of the books. I felt rather stupid after awhile going up to an author and getting an autograph saying, "I haven't read your book yet, but it sounds good and I'm looking forward to it."

However, I do have a few highlights for you.

1) Spilling to beans to Dawn Weiss that she's in Jerrilyn Farmer's new book.

2) Discussing said book at length with the author since there's a mistake in the first chapter that really threw me off when I stayed up late finishing it.

3) Touring "The Manor," or at least the location for it, with Keith Snyder. It's the house he used to live in that he had his characters live in in Show Control and Coffin's Got the Dead Guy on the Inside. It was within walking distance of the convention.

4) Getting a signed excuse slip from Keith since walking down and back made me late getting to Lovell's for dinner.

Linda (Crime Time) and Jan (another of Linda's loyal customers) were both there, so I had someone to hang out with. All in all, I had lots of fun, but will probably crash and burn tonight.

I think my cold might be going away again. I sure hope for good this time.