Every year around this time my Monday night bible study class holds a winter formal. Of course, being irreverent young adults, we surreptiously refer to it as a 'prom.' Last night was the big night! This year's bash was held at a local Marriot hotel banquet room. Fate did not smile on me when it came to seating arrangements, sadly. 2 of my group-mates and I were seated with 4 young college-age girls. Honestly, I think I've been working at my job longer than the girl to my left has been alive! I say 'fate didn't smile on me' in the selfish sense of "I hope I am sitting at a table with eligible women who are close to me in age." Once I came to terms with the realization that that was not going to be the case for me and got over it, I got to know a couple of nice young ladies. The dinner entrée was some sort of fancy chicken with decorative steamed vegetables and a suspicious herb sprig. Later on, the DJ revved up his sound system and the dancing commenced! Yours truly got his groove thang on and danced away the stress of the previous weeks in a couple of hours. When the DJ prepared to launch into the Electric Slide at 11:00, I took that as God's leading that I should head home, so I did.
Yes, I did make it to church for the 9:00 service.
Only 10 minutes late.
....................................
Double-shot of dead-pool news from Hollywood this weekend. Don Knotts passed away on Saturday and Darren McGavin passed away this afternoon. Practically everyone knows the name Don Knotts (of whom I have a vision of a loud leisure suit being worn into heaven). You might only know Darren McGavin if I mentioned "A Christmas Story." Yep, he was Ralphie's dad who spoke in tongues to the family Oldsmobile and furnace. Both great actors and will be missed.
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MyTunes has updated tonight.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
It's Wednesday night...
...and all is well. I haven't had much to say since last week but the drought ends here and now.
Work has been extremely busy since last Wednesday. On that day, our employees migrated to a new e-mail system (to Microsoft Exchange/Outlook from Lotus Notes). This was not done voluntarily, but at the direction of our new corporate parent, who swallowed up my company last June. They are a "Microsoft shop" and we had to come in line with that. That, coupled with the migration to a new "domain" (think of a city of computers getting a new name) a week earlier, has put us under an unusual strain for the past couple of weeks. I've been busy resolving user access problems and training users on software that I barely had time to learn before the migration and trying to soothe their irritations with all the hassles that have come as a result. The dust is settling, though, so I think I'll be OK! Oh, and did I mention that a group of users went "live" with a new production system on Monday morning? And that all our users have had to cope with new user name and password standards? It's been fun!
So last week could've really been a "down" week for me. I had no date onValentine's Day, had a trying week at work, and to cap it off on Friday, UPS delivered another wedding gift for my bro and sis-in-law to my house! They're still scoring almost 4 months after the fact! (My brother was also my roommate prior to his marriage so they had gifts delivered to my house.) They never changed their delivery address because they assumed the well had dried up, but I guess not, as they received another gift yesterday. Now, I I don't mind receiving their gifts, but it does sort of remind me that I'm not married yet! : ) But it wasn't a "down" week. I purposely kept a positive outlook. Those things are little obstacles in the grand scheme of things.
................
In other news, a local suburb has denied an residential occupancy permit to an unmarried couple and their children. It seems this family doesn't meet the suburb's definition of a family. The suburb's mayor makes a valid argument, but this still seems like blatant discrimination to me. Thoughts?
..............
News of the weird - Yesterday was Senior Skip Day at a local private college prep high school. Two knucklehead members of the senior class continued the long and storied tradition of playing a senior prank. The problem was that their senior prank involved rappelling up the side of a mini-skyscraper in full view of passing motorists on a busy interstate. Predictably, the media had a field day with it (I happened to be working in the photo studio at work when our photographer on the scene was doing a play-by-play). Fortunately, both students made it back down safely and were cuffed and stuffed into a waiting patrol car. They spent the night in jail and are suspended from school.
...............
Sad news from the world of Southern Gospel music tonight. Pianist Anthony Burger collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack while performing on a Caribbean cruise ship this evening. He was a gifted musician, and one of the premier entertainers in gospel music. In recent years, he performed often with Bill Gaither and his Homecoming concert tours. I remember him playing with the Kingsmen during their concerts at the Malden Community Center when I was a child. My grandparents and I always saw them when they came to town.
Work has been extremely busy since last Wednesday. On that day, our employees migrated to a new e-mail system (to Microsoft Exchange/Outlook from Lotus Notes). This was not done voluntarily, but at the direction of our new corporate parent, who swallowed up my company last June. They are a "Microsoft shop" and we had to come in line with that. That, coupled with the migration to a new "domain" (think of a city of computers getting a new name) a week earlier, has put us under an unusual strain for the past couple of weeks. I've been busy resolving user access problems and training users on software that I barely had time to learn before the migration and trying to soothe their irritations with all the hassles that have come as a result. The dust is settling, though, so I think I'll be OK! Oh, and did I mention that a group of users went "live" with a new production system on Monday morning? And that all our users have had to cope with new user name and password standards? It's been fun!
So last week could've really been a "down" week for me. I had no date onValentine's Day, had a trying week at work, and to cap it off on Friday, UPS delivered another wedding gift for my bro and sis-in-law to my house! They're still scoring almost 4 months after the fact! (My brother was also my roommate prior to his marriage so they had gifts delivered to my house.) They never changed their delivery address because they assumed the well had dried up, but I guess not, as they received another gift yesterday. Now, I I don't mind receiving their gifts, but it does sort of remind me that I'm not married yet! : ) But it wasn't a "down" week. I purposely kept a positive outlook. Those things are little obstacles in the grand scheme of things.
................
In other news, a local suburb has denied an residential occupancy permit to an unmarried couple and their children. It seems this family doesn't meet the suburb's definition of a family. The suburb's mayor makes a valid argument, but this still seems like blatant discrimination to me. Thoughts?
..............
News of the weird - Yesterday was Senior Skip Day at a local private college prep high school. Two knucklehead members of the senior class continued the long and storied tradition of playing a senior prank. The problem was that their senior prank involved rappelling up the side of a mini-skyscraper in full view of passing motorists on a busy interstate. Predictably, the media had a field day with it (I happened to be working in the photo studio at work when our photographer on the scene was doing a play-by-play). Fortunately, both students made it back down safely and were cuffed and stuffed into a waiting patrol car. They spent the night in jail and are suspended from school.
...............
Sad news from the world of Southern Gospel music tonight. Pianist Anthony Burger collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack while performing on a Caribbean cruise ship this evening. He was a gifted musician, and one of the premier entertainers in gospel music. In recent years, he performed often with Bill Gaither and his Homecoming concert tours. I remember him playing with the Kingsmen during their concerts at the Malden Community Center when I was a child. My grandparents and I always saw them when they came to town.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
This made me hungry...
(From 4 of Clubbs' Brooke, who got it from her friend Amy)
1. Eggs? Fried or Scrambled? could go either way, depending on who cooks them
2. Chocolate covered cherries? No - strawberries, always!
3. When eating a salad, what type of dressing do you prefer to use? Homey don' eat no salad!
4. Peanut Butter? Creamy or Crunchy? Creamy - if it's crunchy it's been in my pantry too long.
5. If you HAD to eat only one flavor of ice cream for the rest of your life, what flavor would it be? Breyer's Vanilla.
6. Thick or thin crust pizza? They both have merits! Thick, but I have no problem with thin.
7. Salsa? Hot, Medium, or Mild? Medium, with a little kick.
8. Toast? Lightly toasted or practically burnt? Lightly toasted.
9. What is your FAVE food item at Taco Bell? don't eat there enough to remember.
10. When are you MOST LIKELY to pig out during the course of a day? Famous Amos Chocolate Chip cookies, or white seedless grapes.
1. What time of day is too late to telephone someone? I don't usually call people after 9:30, unless it's all good with them or it's a dire emergency
2. Have you ever looked up the lyrics to a song online? Many times.
3. What’s your favorite dessert to order at a restaurant? That's hard. Hm. Appleby's Caramel Apple crunch with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
1. What are your favorite pizza toppings? List your favorite 3 (or more). Beef, Ham/Canadian Bacon, Cheese
2. What was the last movie you saw (theater or rented, your choice, or both)? The Girl in the Café.
3. What is your favorite fruit? Mmmmm....Strawberries are my first love but I also love white seedless grapes.
1. Eggs? Fried or Scrambled? could go either way, depending on who cooks them
2. Chocolate covered cherries? No - strawberries, always!
3. When eating a salad, what type of dressing do you prefer to use? Homey don' eat no salad!
4. Peanut Butter? Creamy or Crunchy? Creamy - if it's crunchy it's been in my pantry too long.
5. If you HAD to eat only one flavor of ice cream for the rest of your life, what flavor would it be? Breyer's Vanilla.
6. Thick or thin crust pizza? They both have merits! Thick, but I have no problem with thin.
7. Salsa? Hot, Medium, or Mild? Medium, with a little kick.
8. Toast? Lightly toasted or practically burnt? Lightly toasted.
9. What is your FAVE food item at Taco Bell? don't eat there enough to remember.
10. When are you MOST LIKELY to pig out during the course of a day? Famous Amos Chocolate Chip cookies, or white seedless grapes.
1. What time of day is too late to telephone someone? I don't usually call people after 9:30, unless it's all good with them or it's a dire emergency
2. Have you ever looked up the lyrics to a song online? Many times.
3. What’s your favorite dessert to order at a restaurant? That's hard. Hm. Appleby's Caramel Apple crunch with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
1. What are your favorite pizza toppings? List your favorite 3 (or more). Beef, Ham/Canadian Bacon, Cheese
2. What was the last movie you saw (theater or rented, your choice, or both)? The Girl in the Café.
3. What is your favorite fruit? Mmmmm....Strawberries are my first love but I also love white seedless grapes.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Sunday night update...
Rather quiet weekend 'round these parts. Spent most of yesterday at work preparing for our upcoming company-wide e-mail migration (more on that later). Last night, I rented a cute little film called The Girl in the Café. It is a British production for HBO that premiered last fall. It was written by the same writer who wrote Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually, so I picked it up. Allmovie.com reviews it better than I can so I'll let you follow the link. If nothing else, rent it for the female lead who is Scottish and speaks with a delicious brogue!
This was a Dare2Share conference weekend in St. Louis. Their president and founder Greg Stier preached both services at church today. He is a powerful, engaging speaker who takes no prisoners and pulls no punches when he speaks.
I'm back on the job tomorrow so I'd better get some sleep.
but before I go, Erin Bode's new record is out in stores - I highly recommend it. Get a Rhapsody.com account and preview it for free, then go out and buy it... : )
This was a Dare2Share conference weekend in St. Louis. Their president and founder Greg Stier preached both services at church today. He is a powerful, engaging speaker who takes no prisoners and pulls no punches when he speaks.
I'm back on the job tomorrow so I'd better get some sleep.
but before I go, Erin Bode's new record is out in stores - I highly recommend it. Get a Rhapsody.com account and preview it for free, then go out and buy it... : )
Friday, February 10, 2006
From one live music extreme to the other...
Last night I took in some live music at Off Broadway--BR549 with The Avett Brothers. Tonight it's the St. Olaf College Choir at MUMC. Yes, THE world-renowned St. Olaf College Choir from Northfield, Minn. From loud, hillbilly country music in a smoky bar to refined elegance in a beautiful church nave, all within 24 hours. Such is life for my ears.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Chili for a chilly day...
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Super Bowl XL weekend update
So I was wrong in my previous prediction - the Seahawks fell short in their quest to return the NFC to Super Bowl glory. History will remember it as a sloppily played game, but the Steelers were clearly the better team. How about "Big Ben" Roethlisberger winning the big game at the tender age of 23? I was just a greenhorn computer tech starting my first job at that age. If you're a sentimentalist, you love it because Jerome Bettis retired with a big win, Bill Cowher finally won the big one, and Pittsburgh finally joined Dallas and San Francisco in the 5-win club.
You had to feel for the broadcasters of this game, having to spit out names like Tatupu, Roethlisberger, and Palomalu.
The Steelers sealed their victory with a touchdown on a successful trick play. Somewhere in the San Diego area, somehow, Mike Martz is smiling.
How about the commercials? I felt they were more violent this year overall, unfortunately. My favorite was the Sprint "music on your cell phone" commercial with the homage to Benny Hill.
.......................
I covered the night shift at work last night, as I have to do occasionally. 6:00 p.m. - 1:30 a.m. It can be a lonely shift, but I managed to keep busy. It was during the ride home that I noticed my headlights were either not working, or not working very well. Now, that's a bad situation to be in at between 1:30 and 2:00 in the morning, traveling down the interstate half-asleep with little or no headlights to guide you along. Thankfully, I didn't encounter any smokeys or county mounties during the trip home. I checked them today and something is wrong--fortunately, I have about 1,200 miles of warranty left. It's oil-change time anyway, so into the shop it goes tomorrow.
You had to feel for the broadcasters of this game, having to spit out names like Tatupu, Roethlisberger, and Palomalu.
The Steelers sealed their victory with a touchdown on a successful trick play. Somewhere in the San Diego area, somehow, Mike Martz is smiling.
How about the commercials? I felt they were more violent this year overall, unfortunately. My favorite was the Sprint "music on your cell phone" commercial with the homage to Benny Hill.
.......................
I covered the night shift at work last night, as I have to do occasionally. 6:00 p.m. - 1:30 a.m. It can be a lonely shift, but I managed to keep busy. It was during the ride home that I noticed my headlights were either not working, or not working very well. Now, that's a bad situation to be in at between 1:30 and 2:00 in the morning, traveling down the interstate half-asleep with little or no headlights to guide you along. Thankfully, I didn't encounter any smokeys or county mounties during the trip home. I checked them today and something is wrong--fortunately, I have about 1,200 miles of warranty left. It's oil-change time anyway, so into the shop it goes tomorrow.
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