Word Assocation for July 31st

Of course, if I'm not quick about it, this will turn into August 1st!

Taken from here.

1. Risks:: Rewards
2. Abdominal:: Pain
3. Radiant:: Bride
4. The usual:: Suspects
5. Mix and match:: Tiles
6. Wireless:: Internet
7. Remedial:: Learning
8. Mile:: Run
9. Long lost:: Relative
10. Only one:: Way

Quick Update

This will be quick. I'm all packed and need to be heading out the door to leave for a weekend in Vegas. I'm heading there for my cousin's wedding. Should be a good weekend.

Meanwhile, there are a couple things I wanted to blog about before I left.

I haven't heard anything on the mole that was removed last week, so that must be good news. I will probably get the official word via postcard while I'm gone. If there were a problem, they would have called me. Meanwhile, it didn't hear nearly as quickly as I was told it would. :( Doesn't hurt, but I still have a nice scab.

We lost our ultimate game last week. Guess the week before we clobbered the team. Why does that always happen when I'm not there? Anyway, we only had a couple male subs. Lots of females, however. It started out close, but by half we were down 5-9. We managed to tie it up before finally loosing 15-17.

Bible study last night was challenging, at least to me. We were talking about the lust of the flesh out of I John 2. The way Pastor Jon talked about it really got to me. He said it's the temptation from within. And we need to train out body that it won't always get everything it wants when it wants it. Rather convicting, actually, on the heels of a week where I spent work time catching up on stuff I should have done during the entire last year. Then last night, I left late to play an internet game but still watched an episode of Mary Tyler Moore before I arrived late to youth group. Not that I took it completely to heart. I got home from my game and watched the some of the extras on the MTM set until 1 AM.

Obviously, this is something I need to start working on slowly but surely. And I need to start today.

Thursday Threesome for July 28th

Brought to us this week by Amy Grant (and I made the connection before reading the post!) and The Back Porch.

Onesome - If You - If you were given a million dollars, what would you do with it?
Pay off my mortgage. Donate some to charity. Plan an extended vacation.

Twosome - Have To - What is it that you have to do today? Or is there something you're dreading to do this week?
Reconcile two accounts that are out of whack. And I'm really dreading it because it's always a time intensive process.

Threesome - Go Away - Where's that place you've been imagining to take a dream trip to lately?
Hawaii. With all the people who vacation there during the summer, it's always calling my name.

A Week? Yikes!

Can't believe it's been a week since I posted here. Life has just been crazy.

My brother and sister-in-law were in town this weekend because Bro was in a wedding. It was great to see them. When they weren't swamped with wedding stuff, that is. They stayed with us, as did Bro's best friends, so the condo was rather crowded. And Casey is a saint!

Anyway, I took Friday afternoon off work to spend a little more time with them. Took them on a tour of all the hot spots in town like my church and office since SiL has never been here before. Other then that, we basically hung out when they could.

Saturday, while they were at the wedding, I baked cookies like crazy. Three different kinds, to be exact. I still have left overs of one variety, even with bring them into work and to a youth staff meeting last night. They were all big hits, although I was a little disappointed with one variety. Yes, they were good, but didn't taste as advertised to taste. And yes, these are from Joanne Fluke's books, so I can now say I've tried recipeS from the books myself. (I made one last month as well.)

One reason I did all this baking was because game night was at the condo Saturday night. A good time was had by all. We played Apples to Apples again. I just love that game!

Bro and SiL left after the game night, and his friend left while I was at church Sunday morning, so the apartment was nice and quiet again come Sunday afternoon. And how did Casey and I celebrate? By going to see Batman Begins, finally. I'm not a big fan of the other movies, but I really liked this one. Made Bruce/Batman feel real and someone I could understand for a change.

Unfortunately, I messed up over at All Consuming Sunday. If you mark that you've completed something, you can't get it back for my sidebar. Which means I have no movies over there at the moment. Just TV shows. Oh well.

And speaking of that, I'm going to pick up Mary Tyler Moore season 2 after work. It's finally out!

Week has been a nightmare this week. I've been working on account recs again. You know, the things I've put off all year. Now I have some I have to get done this week or else. And they are in bad shape. When will I learn to keep these things going all year to avoid summer stress? To quote Chris Rice (I've got his best of in the car right now) "Think I'd have it down by now...."

Last night, we had a youth staff meeting at Kurt and Kellie's. Dinner and planning for future events. Went long, but I feel encouraged, which is always needed when leaving a meeting.

Think that's all the news here. Or at least all the news that fits to print. Kidding, I'm kidding. Don't let your imagination get the better of you.

Word Association for July 24th

Found here:

1. Believing:: Faith
2. Invasion:: Body Snatchers
3. Boys:: Girls
4. Island:: Ocean
5. Repeatedly:: Said
6. Normal:: Dryer (normal is just a setting on your dryer, afterall)
7. Hex:: Curse
8. Tuxedo:: Wedding
9. Virgin:: Mary
10. Cereal:: Cold

Thursday Threesome for July 21st

Welcome. This week's edition brought to us by Hersey and The Back Porch.

Onesome: I'd give up-- Is there anything you've given up that you're proud of? Or something you gave up on that you wish you hadn't?
There are lots of things in my life I should give up, but I can't think of anything I gave up on purpose.

Twosome: chocolate-- What's your favorite way to treat yourself? Would you kill for chocolate or would you rather have something else?
I prefer chocolate in small doses. I'd rather have ice cream.

Threesome: but I'm no quitter-- Is there anything you think you should give up, but you refuse to do it?
Ice cream. :) Most of the time I spend on the internet.

In Search of a Good Title

Any ideas? :)

I spent the better part of the last two days trying to reconcile one account that was more out of wack then normal. With a co-worker's help, we figured it out, and it wasn't good. But it balances, which makes me much happier. Everything should be pretty much good now, except the benefit accounts. Gotta start in on those tomorrow. That won't be fun.

My great aunt passed away Monday night. Of all my great aunts, this is the one I was closest to, especially after the couple years I did yard work for her. She's been going downhill for a while now, so it was no surprise.

The biggest issue with this has been contacting my parents, who are in Botswana right now. Fortunately, she and my uncle had discussed what she wanted done. Even better, her cousins are talking about having the service in early August, after Mom and Dad are back. My uncle should be sending an e-mail tonight, so hopefully they will hear but know they don't need to try to leave early. Still, I'm praying this doesn't disrupt their trip too much. They were really looking forward to it.

In other news, I've reached 700 reviews at Amazon!

And my brother and sister-in-law should be here tomorrow night. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'll be able to take time off Friday, however. We'll see.

Went in to see a dermatologist today. He removed a mole and will send it for an autopsy. He didn't seem too worried about it, and I don't think it's anything either. It's been there so long if it were cancerous, I think I'd already be dead. But better safe then sorry.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!

So I spent an hour and a half on one of the problem accounts, only to find that Phil must have already done it. The amount I was out of balance? Exactly the amount of some journal entries that didn't need to be there. So I'm feeling rather stupid right now. Relieved, but stupid. At least it balances.

Meanwhile, I had yet another busy weekend. Saturday, Casey and I went to see Bewitched. We enjoyed it. It wasn't the TV series, and those looking for that will be sorely disappointed. But it was certainly worth seeing once. And they did have some great nods to the original series.

Then it was down to Van Nuys for the game night. We played ImagineIff.... It was fun, but Casey and the other guy who don't really know the group had a hard time with it since you have to match the rest of the group.

Sunday I was it in Sunday School. Pastor Jon had a tape for us to listen to. Not that the kids were quiet for it. A group of boys were rather obnoxious the entire way through. And then had the nerve to act like I was awful to keeping them late to chew them out.

We had a SNYF last night as well. The kids hung out and played around the house. They seemed to have fun, which meant it went well.

I got the biggest surprise at church. Mindy walked up to me and told me I looked great with a Mowhawk. Yep, they'd found my blog after discovering my reviews at Amazon. They must have been really dedicated to find my blog since I'm rather buried down the google search. I went through six or seven pages and still hadn't found myself. Of course, I don't know for sure what Chad was searching under.

They warned me again that I need to careful what I post here. As if I didn't know with all the real life friends who are reading it these days. But, just to show them that I am taking the warning seriously....

Hi, Chad and Mindy. You're jerks! :)

(Not really at all. They're nice people. This is a joke. Don't hurt me. Please?)

Word Association for July 17th

Found here:

1. Tolerate:: Mischief
2. Release:: Date
3. My soul:: Mate
4. Sax:: Music
5. HP:: Printer
6. Worth:: Money
7. Rockstar:: Guitar
8. Terrify:: Scare
9. Knock me off my feet:: Love
10. Taunt:: Tease

What's Wrong

Tuesday, I happened upon this post at Michelle Malkin's blog. Basically, it's about a robber who is trying to get a short sentence for his crimes. His excuse? I was so tramatised by 9/11 that I couldn't stop myself from committing robbery. Give me a break.

But, just then I got Shaun Groves' new CD, White Flag. I stuck it in and started listening to the first song. The chorus immediately caught my attention because it goes like this:

I'm what's wrong with
This world. I'm bent
Warped and wicked. I am weak
My heart's twisted
Torn and tempted
This world is not what's wrong with me
I'm what's wrong with this world.

When talking about that song on the CD-ROM portion of the CD, Shaun talks about having seen Billy Graham on Larry King's program. It was right after a school shooting, and Billy was asked why things like that happened. While Shaun was expecting the normal list of violent movies, video games, MTV, etc., Billy Graham went strait to the real cause. Sin. It's because we're truly vile evil people that we do vile evil things. It really is that simple.

The entire CD is excellent, BTW. His best yet. Very highly recommended.

I proved how evil I am last night at youth group. Over capture the flag of all things. I've always hated that game. Something about being a slow runner and not being good at it. Combine that with people who cheat and you get an unhappy Mark. I need to stop playing that game when the youth group does. I think we'll all be happier for it.

But ultimate Frisbee went very well last night. We traded points for the first half basically. We were up 9-7 at half. But we smoked them second half, finally winning 17-10. With the way I was feeling when I showed up, it was certainly needed. And, while I was scored on a couple times on defense, I completely a couple passes on offense after throwing the first one completely away because I panic when I caught it. You think I'd get over that someday. :)

Thursday Threesome for July 14th

Brought to us by cameras and The Back Porch.

Onesome: Double-- Vision? What have your seen lately that's made you stop in your tracks and take another look? Oh, come on now; there's something !
I can't think of anything I've seen recently, but I made my friends do a double take with that Mowhawk.

Twosome: lens-- Glasses or contacts? ...or nothing? What's your preference? ...or do you have a choice? ...or maybe you're just lucky?
For now, I have nothing. I'm sure someday I'll need glasses. I just can't stand the thought of putting contacts in my eyes.

Threesome: reflex-- Do you ever have a reflex reaction to a TV commerical? Is there one that your finger just reaches to change the channel on without any conscious thought? ...or maybe there's one that has caught your attention and just locked you in before you even realized it?
My relex reaction to commercials is to change the channel. :)

If the Bulb Burns Out, Replace the Light

That's the cheapest way to do things, right? Yes, this is another for the nothing's ever easy file.

I think I'd mentioned in the past the problems I've been having with the light over my bathroom sink. The second, it stopped working. Think it was the bulbs, I replaced them. It's a two bulb florescent light, and one bulb lit up once, but then didn't work again. So I've been trying to figure out what to do.

Talked to Paul (Kurt of Kurt and Kellie's Dad) over the weekend. He's an electrician. Came over last night to replace the ballast. Except when he got the cover off, he said, "That's too small a ballast. You'll never find a replacement." Yep, they'd put a cheap light in so the only way to fix things is to replace the entire fixture. So we went to Home Depot where I bought a new fixture for him to install. Once we did that, things went along fine. Turned out to be more expensive then I thought it would, however, which I'm not happy about.

On the plus side, I can see at the sink without having both the light from my closet and the bathroom on. And the bottom light must have been out the two years I've lived there, because it's much lighter then I'm used to it being. Not that I'm complaining about the light.

Today I had a doctor's appointment. Haven't had a physical since I was in high school, so I thought it was about time. Spent most of the two hours at the doctor's waiting around. But I got 65 pages in my book read. Gunning to finish tonight since I only have about that much left. And let me say, Mindy Starns Clark has another winner on her hands with her new series. I'm enjoying the debut, The Trouble with Tulip, as much as I've enjoyed the Million Dollar Mysteries.

Anyway, I hardly spent any time with the doctor. He did spot a mole he wants a dermatologist to look at, so I go see him next Wednesday. And I had some blood work done and a tetness booster. All kinds of fun stuff.

Meanwhile, I got a second e-mail from an author today. After I had panned her book at Amazon, she'd e-mailed me saying she was disappointed with my review. Now she's e-mailed again saying she couldn't find what I was talking about in my review and asking me to edit it and e-mail her back. It's been two months, so finding the passages where she contradicted her timeline (my biggest pet peeve, just ask Jennie) will be rather hard. And I didn't like the book the first time through. I really don't feel like rereading it.

Oops, I Did It Again

Got sunburned that is. And just as last Monday's sunburn is starting to peel.

Saturday, the career group I attend had a BBQ in the afternoon. Hung out there all afternoon in the pool. I put sunscreen on before I got there, but what chance does it have after a day in the water? Still, it's not too bad. A little discomfort in the shower, but that's about all. Still, my arms and chest are definitely red! As a surprise, Steve and Karla were back, so it was nice to see them.

But I'm getting slightly ahead of myself.

Donald and Heather were in town this weekend. I only got to see them Friday night this go around, but it was wonderful to see them. Had dinner with them and Steven and Natalie. They went to Disneyland on Saturday without me. Maybe I should stop speaking to them as penalty. :)

Back to Saturday. (Confused yet?)

Went straight from the BBQ to the game night. Naturally, I left later then I had intended to, but then I got stopped at one signal for a train. Just as the light was about to change for us, the arms went down. Then the train took a couple minutes to come, then the other side got to go again. Finally it was out turn. It felt like about 10 minutes, but I know it was at least five.

Anyway, we had a small group at the game night. But we still had fun playing Scattergories. Kyle stopped by for a couple minutes, so I finally got to meet his girlfriend.

Sunday we got to gether again to see Fantastic Four. I know nothing about the comics, so I really have nothing to compare it to. I enjoyed the movie, although was a little surprised that it seemed to spend more time on character developement/drama over action/special effects/superhero stuff. Not quite what I was expecting.

So I came in today to get the accounts reconciled for the year end. And spent more of the day on one account. I still can't find $400. I've gone back futher then I should have had to. I'm missing something, but I can't figure out what. Hopefully, it'll come to me tonight. I hate banging my head against a wall when I can't find the answer.

Word Association for July 10th

As always, you can find the original here.

1. Do-it-yourself:: Project
2. Pickpocket:: Thief
3. Ballet:: Dance
4. Resumé:: Job Hunt
5. Phenom:: venem
6. Love/Hate:: Relationship
7. Unusual:: Weird
8. Intense:: Emotion
9. Interruption:: Talking
10. Not enough:: Time

Thursday Threesome for July7th

Brought to us this week by KFC and The Back Porch.

Onesome: Premium-- Have you tried any of the fast food empire's 'Premium' sandwiches lately? Was it any good?
Actually, I've been rather good and stayed away from traditional fast food recently. I know some count Quizzno's in the lot, and all their sandwiches are premium, so I would certainly say I've eaten those. And I just love them.

Twosome: Chicken-- Chicken, beef, fish, tofu... What's your dietary staple?
Chicken and beef although a little more toward chicken. Can't stand fish or tofu.

Threesome: Sandwich-- Let's do lunch! Do we head for that fast food place? ...or will noon find us over at your favorite deli noshing down?
Actually, lunch will find us eating the sandwich we brought from home for lunch. Sometimes during the school year I'm in the caf, but usually it's a brown bag lunch. Cheaper that way.

Another Quiet Week

My life is quiet right now. It's nice that I am searching for the mundane things to blog about.

Monday night we almost missed the fireworks. We left in just enough time to get there, but I didn't know for sure where I was going to try to go and park. As a result, we wound up looking at the fireworks through a break in the trees. Still, we did get to see them and enjoy them.

The fluorescent lights in my bathroom have stopped working. I assumed it was the bulbs (one hadn't worked for quite a while), but I bought new bulbs last night, and it's still not working. Might mean I have to replace a ballast, whatever that is. I'll poke around a little more and see what I can find.

Kurt just called and invited Casey and I over for dinner. That'll be fun.

The sad news this week is that an alumnus of the college was killed in an auto accident this week. While I didn't really know her, I know her parents pretty well as both of them work here. It's sad and it also is a sobering reminder about how short life can be. She was only 26. I was thinking about going to the service, but it turns out to be Saturday when my family is planning to talk. And since this might be the last time we talk to Mom and Dad for the month, I don't want to miss it.

See, Saturday, Mom and Dad leave for a few days in New York before heading to Botswana on a missions trip. They lived there for a few months back when they were first married, so they are looking forward to going back and seeing how things have changed. I'm sure they'll have lots to talk about when they get back. We talk every week, usually Sunday, so it'll feel weird not talking to them when they are out of the country.

Must the Weekend End?

This has been a fun four day weekend. I really am not ready to go back to work tomorrow.

Friday Casey and I went to Universal Studios. We had one false start. We'd just pulled out of the complex when Casey realized he didn't have his pass. Took a little while, but we found it and got on our way. We hit all the rides (not that they have too many.) I really enjoyed Revenge of the Mummy and Jurassic Park is still good. On the tour, we got to see a set from War of the Worlds. Along the way, we stopped at the Tombstone set and I tried on a coffin for size.

I most certainly didn't enjoy the Van Helsing haunted house. The people they had set to jump out at you were not my cup of tea.

Saturday, we hung out around the condo for a while in the morning. Watched some TV on DVD and I finished my book. Oh yeah, and Casey gave me a haircut.

I wanted to shave my head this weekend, and decided to have a little fun along the way. So I had a Mohawk for 24 hours. Casey did a good job, especially for a first time cutting something other then his own hair. I shaved the rest it off before church Sunday so as not to be too big a distraction. (Yes, Faith, this means I'm bald again.)

In the late afternoon, we headed out to meet up with Debbie to have dinner and go to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I wished I'd made Casey take his camera phone. The reaction on her face was priceless. She brought Konrad and Carol with her, who were in town, contrary to the rumors I had heard. Really enjoyed the movie. A funny dark comedy that was much better then I thought it would be. Not that I knew exactly what I was epecting. Anyway, it was worth seeing. We laughed all the way through it. Then we came back and soaked in my hot tub and played killer uno. Only played a couple hands, but I was loosing quite nicely.

Sunday was church in the morning. Because they are redoing the floor in the gym/santuary, we met outside. The floor looks great, and it'll be wonderful when it's done. After the service, we had a pig roast. Can't beat a free lunch.

Sunday afternoon found Debbie, Casey, and I back at the theater. They went to see War of the Worlds; I went to see Herbie: Fully Loaded. Don't listen to anything they say. I saw the better movie by far. Any lover of the classic Herbie movies will love this one. It has some nice nods to the classic fans and had a great new entertaining story. Ok, so most of it was by the books and if you've seen the others you know what to expect. But it was great!

Afterwards, we came back over here and worked on Debbie's blog for a little while. Then Carol and Konrad came over and we played killer Uno again. And this time I won! It was almost 1 before the game was over and we were laughing like crazy over every little thing. It was a wonderful time.

Today has been a very lazy day. Casey and I are just hanging around the condo. I went to the pool for about an hour. Went to the final of the five pools in my complex, so I can now honestly say I've been to them all. In fact, I decided to jump in the other four on the way back to my condo, so I've been in all of them today. What do you mean I'm weird? :) Anyway, Casey stumbled on the Monk marathan, so we've both been watching that most of the afternoon. We played American edition Monopoly, and I lost big time. I thiought I had it in the bag until Casey landed on Free Parking. Playing with money on that space sure does effect the outcome of the game.

I'm hoping to head down town for the fireworks a little later. Other then that, I guess I should start getting ready to head back to work tomorrow. Have I mentioned I don't want to go back to work tomorrow?

Today....

Happy Fourth of July!!!