A picture is worth a thousand words

In the smartest business move they ever made, the owners of the China Sea restaurant in Cuba leased what used to be Deb's place in Houghton, and tomorrow they will have the grand opening! A Chinese restaurant in Houghton - WOOHOO!!! They will make so much money, off the college students, faculty, staff, and Houghton Academy...not to mention the neighbouring towns...

So, in honor of their grand opening, they sent out flyers with their menu to everyone at the college. And, I kid you not, in true Engrish form, this is the map at the bottom of their flyer:

Heffalump!

Poor, poor Land Cruiser...It didn't stand a chance against that elephant...
(And, before you panic, these pictures are not from Paul & Katrina!)

What an experience for this car's owners! (Er, ex-owners?) Don't worry, nobody was hurt! I know, I couldn't believe it either when T.K. showed it to me, and said his daughter-in-law's father (a missionary in Namibia) was the driver of that vehicle and walked away from the accident uninjured. But if you look closely enough, you can see the steering wheel on the right-hand side of the car, British-driving style. Otherwise he would have been toast! But as it was, thankfully he's fine - and apparently so is the elephant, after the car ran into its right foreleg and the beast rolled over onto the car, then rolled back onto its feet and walked away!!!! Go figure...I complain about having to watch for deer while driving at night, but boy am I glad I don't need to watch out for something bigger! And slower.

Ah, the silence of an empty office...

I feel so much more relaxed working in a quiet office, rather than being surrounded by the hustle & bustle of constant commotion that makes me feel like I should be working faster and harder, and makes me feel more stressed out.

But since nobody else is around, I can spend the morning listening to my latest online find: the Audio Bible. It's an excellent resource! Then there's always countless audio sermons online, and especially close to my heart are those from All Souls Church in London - John Stott's church, where I attended for an unforgettable semester of my life. (Currently listening to an excellent message by Hugh Palmer, the All Souls rector, on Philippians 2 - "The Way to Up is Down.") Ah, it feels good to have my soul nourished by the Living Word of God as I work! There's something about listening to Scripture that is very different from reading it, very refreshing in fact - hmmm...almost as though that is how they were meant to be "ingested"...spoken by someone else, so there is a voice giving them life, dimension, depth, vibrance, and so that by involving a speaker and a listener they are inherently shared. Hmmm...that's interesting...I'll need to think about that for a while...

Laughter is good medicine

Today, I got an e-mail from a student named Kashmere, asking about a job, and the first 3 words in her e-mail were:

"Hi, Mrs. Clark..."

After I read that line, I just laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed...

And to make things funnier, yesterday I called the Helpdesk to put in a request for some computer work, and the student who answered and took down my request kept calling me "Dr. Clark."

Hahahaha, if only they knew me!!! Then they definitely wouldn't think me so mature as all that...But in the meantime, I'll take it as a compliment - hey, I'll take that over being confused with a college student any day!

Ode to Real Simple magazine

Installment #1 of my birthday present from Paul & Katrina arrived today...Real Simple magazine delivered right to my office! :)

Oh, the joy and delight I will have
reading it over my lunch break
with a simple cup of coffee
and a simple turkey sandwich.
Learning priceless, life-changing lessons
such as:

Q. Which of These Pants Is a Size 10?, pg. 155
A: They all are. A look at the elastic art of sizing clothes, and why a size 6 isn’t always a size 6.

The Well-Balanced Wardrobe, pg. 270

A Month of Dinners, pg. 290
(their recipes are aMAzing!)

As well as the very useful

When to dump a disappointing doctor, pg. 133

Olive oil? Yes. Butter? Not so much. How to choose healthy fats, pg. 141

Changing the world: a step-by-step guide, pg. 185

(I'm especially looking forward to what they say in that last one...)
And their experiments to find the best
bed sheets, vacuums, and frozen pizza.
Sometimes, a little bit of light reading
is exactly what one needs in the middle of a not-so-simple day! :)

Bye, bye

Katrina and Paul are now here:
And Becca is now feeling like this:

This is why I am a feminist

Today, someone in my office was talking about how women are complicated and hard to understand, while men are simple and easy to understand. And, feminist that I am, my blood began boiling the more I listened, until I finally couldn't stand it anymore, so I spoke up and said, "I happen to disagree with you. I'm not denying that women are complicated. I just don't think men are any less complicated. Or that ANY human being is simple. Honestly, is ANYONE easy to understand?"

Their response: "I always say, women are complex, spelled c-o-m-p-l-e-x. Men are simple, spelled s-e-x."

My jaw literally dropped, and I wanted to scream. Or worse. Now I was downright mad. If I had said any of the things that were jostling around on the tip of my tongue, vying for the privilege of being spewed out first, I'm pretty sure I would have been fired on the spot. But instead I just stood there in disbelief, my mouth gaping open like a goldfish, with my face gradually burning hotter and hotter, until I managed get out an incredulous, "WHAT???????????"

Before, they had been dismissing all women as tangled messes of moods and hormones to which there is no rhyme of reason. But this was infinitely worse. Now they were bashing men, too! (And the one speaking was a man, so he was bashing himSELF! Guys, are YOU insulted when someone says something like that?) I refuse to believe that little of men. I'm not denying that thinking about sex is a struggle - for men AND women - I'm just saying that nobody can be boiled down to their sexuality. It's just wrong. I know too many guys who are great and interesting and multifaceted and are interested in and motivated by LOTS of things besides sex.

I'm a feminist because of people like that. Because I hate the battle of the sexes. Because it makes me angry when entire groups of people are dismissed and put into general categories that are just plain wrong. (Not that I'm opinionated about this matter, or anything...hehehe...)

Out with the old, in with the new

Everything is changing! Everyone is moving! Or, should I say, everyone has moved?

Amy has successfully packed and moved to China, moved in with another red-headed housemate, and started teaching English to Middle-Schoolers. (Good luck with them, Amy!!!!!)

Paul & Katrina are successfully packed for Tanzania, with all their furniture, kitchen stuff, and almost all of their books having been brought to the Shaffners' barn in Rockton, PA. Now they are making their "goodbye" tour before heading out to Tanzania in less than a week! Crazy, crazy...

Noel has packed and moved successfully back to his home in the lovely nation of Canada, getting ready for a tour of the world.

And as for me? Well, all my earthly possessions have been successfully packed up into boxes and crates and carted off to Cuba, NY, until further notice. Sometimes I think, "I'm completely ready to just be on my own right now - I can't wait to have my own space!" And then other times it comes crashing in on me, "Who am I kidding? There's no way I'm ready to live by myself again! I've gotten too used to sharing. I don't WANT to have everything to myself!"

So if anybody is looking for a housemate, I'm taking applications! :) Requirements: must love the Triune God, reading books, drinking hot tea, swapping backrubs, and not mind listening to me practice the guitar.

For now, that slot is being filled by Laura & Walter - although I'm not sure how they feel about the whole swapping backrubs thing... :)

Feliz Dia dos Pais!!!!

Today is Father's Day in Brazil. And, even though I'd much rather be there to wish him a FELIZ DIA DOS PAIS in person, here's to you, Dad!
For this day, I knew that I had to post a picture of you teaching, because that is the best way I can find to encompass all the ways in which you have shaped my life. You have taught me so much, in so many more ways than I could ever count. Thank you. I love you, Dad!

Did you know that mice like chocolate?

Well, at least ONE does, that I know of...the one that took up residence on the bottom shelf of my pantry while I was gone in Lexington! I started seeing the signs that I had company in the kitchen last week - you know, the little black mouse turds scattered innocuously in the corners, or behind the flour cannister. But I never saw a pattern, found a source, or noticed anything that had been nibbled on by a rodent. That is, until last night, when I was craving chocolate and I dug through my junk food shelf to find my bag of chocolate...only to find that the Ziploc bag had 2 large, ragged holes in it, and was filled with shreds of paper and foil, but there was hardly any chocolate left! Grrr...now I HAD to do something about that mouse, because it ATE MY CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!! (It must have been a girl mouse, to only have eaten the chocolate, out of all the other things it had access to...and, I must say, one with good taste, because she had gotten through almost all of the dark chocolate, but hardly touched the candy bars.)

Needless to say, I couldn't go to bed last night with the choco-holic mouse still on the loose in my apartment...my mind just wouldn't stop thinking about it! I had removed all the food from that bottom shelf, and I could hear its frantic search for chocolate across the now-empty expanse, even searching in the bag of empty plastic shopping bags, which I kept down there for the noise factor. I thought that if I didn't at least TRY to trap that mouse, I would have nightmares about finding that mouse crawling on me while I slept, or nibbling at my toes, or having taken up residence inside my mattress. But by that point, any stores around here were closed, dashing any hopes of running out and buying a mouse trap! So I improvised, and used my handy-dandy, get-into-anywhere-in-the-gym key to let myself into my office and steal the mousetrap I knew we still had from last summer.

After I baited the trap with peanut butter and a few chocolate chips, I crawled into bed, but I knew my adrenaline was pumping way too much for me to sleep. So I tried to read for about an hour, half-listening the entire time, until I heard some rustling, followed by a loud snap, and then some more rustling that I thought was the mouse running back into its hiding place after a close scare. But I was afraid of what I would find if I went out and looked, so I just stayed in bed and read for a while longer, then ended up dozing off with the light on, then slipping off into a deep sleep. Of course, this morning, the first thing I did when I got out of bed was to check that trap, and sure enough, there it was, caught in the act, never to steal chocolate again...I must say, I did feel a little bit bad for its death, as I took it out of the trap and wrapped it up in a plastic bag and put it in my garbage can. But, hey, at least now my chocolate's safe! :)

(P.S. - Don't worry, I won't post any dead mouse pictures...But I WILL put up some pictures and an update on the Lexington missions trip with my youth group very soon! I just have to wait until Pastor Don burns me a CD.)

The story of a cell phone

Did you know that moisture is the worst enemy of cell phones? Well, I learned this week that it doesn't even take direct exposure to water, like a dunking or a spraying or an "I dropped it in the toilet." (Hilariously, that is the most common cause of cell phone replacement!) No, my friends, it takes less than direct wetness to make the little moisture-detecting sticker on the inside of the phone turn red. All it takes is humidity - in my case, sitting overnight in the pocket of a pair of pants that I had put on over my wet swimsuit. Not the brightest idea, I'll admit, but it wasn't that I thought it was a good idea, I just wasn't thinking!

So after panicking because it WAS my fault that it now wouldn't turn on, I spent several hours researching online what to DO about it, and I found some pretty interesting stuff to say the least. I definitely ignored the advice to bake it in my oven at 125 degrees to dry it out, but I DID take it apart as much as I could and put it out in my car with the windows rolled up for the afternoon, then overnight in a plastic bag surrounded by packs of silica gel (you know, that stuff that comes in vitamin bottles and new shoes that says "Do not eat!" - it's a moisture-absorber). And I prayed hard as I put it back together again, then plugged it in to the charger.

Guess what! IT TURNED ON!!! :) And now it works perfectly. HALLELUJAH!

Now, if only my car would cooperate just like that...

Oh, what a night...

So, in the past few weeks, I have both loved and hated not having a job. Sometimes I get tired of having all my time be free time, not having any structure. But in the end, I have been able to...

1. Take my brother Ben out driving, out for a college visit at Houghton, and climbing around the waterfalls in Wiscoy Creek.
2. Visiting the Davises in Hollidaysburg, PA, where I got to speak Portuguese, catch up with them, and get networked with some of their church friends who are physical therapists.
3. Have enough energy and time to be a housekeeper and cook in my own house.
4. Starting to learn how to play the guitar, thanks to the Shaffners' wonderful long-term loan of one of their guitars. (And I'm glad that nobody else is around to hear me yet, 'cause I'm really self-conscious, and I want to make sure I'm confident enough to not make a fool of myself in front of anyone!)
5. Picking strawberries and making a strawberry-rhubarb pie, (which was devoured at the pizza party we had at Paul & Katrina's, at which we made 7 homemade pizzas plus breadsticks and salad...for 12 people...).
6. Having enough time to guiltlessly read and thoroughly enjoy Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, Prophetic Untimeliness, by Os Guinness, and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
7. Successfully changing a flat tire on my car with Amy, at midnight, wearing skirts, on our way home from Buffalo on Monday night, all by ourselves. (Yeah! Go us!!!)
8. Having the freedom to say yes when my youth pastor asked if I wanted to fill in as a chaperone on the Cuba Youth missions trip to Lexington, Kentucky, in two weeks, because one of their original ones had to cancel.
9. Watching Brazil be eliminated, and then Portugal be eliminated, and then finally Italy win, the World Cup!!!!!
10. Being able to spend time with Amy, Sam, Paul & Katrina before they all leave the country again for their new and exciting lives in China, Thailand, and Tanzania!

But I don't want to have to say goodbye...not yet...

It's a wonder I still have fingernails left!

Wow. Except for the Germany vs. Sweden game, that was a blow-out in favour of the hosts, all the other games so far in the Round of 16 have been INTENSE! The classic Latin American duel between Argentina and Mexico went into overtime before Argentina pulled off the win, England vs. Ecuador was only 1-0 in favour of the Brits after a lot of sweat, and in a very physical game that ended with only 18 players on the field, Portugal beat the Netherlands in 100 minutes of regular time play.

(Yes, a normal game is 90 minutes long. That means that there were a total of 10 minutes added onto the game, because of the number of injuries, fights, and cards issued - a total of 16 yellow cards, with 2 players from each team ending up with reds.) CRAZY!!!!! I was shocked by how high their tempers were running! And yet, maybe I shouldn't be surprised, because, after all, it's a knock-out game, and winning literally means the world to every single team at this point. (Or at least until their next chance, 4 years from now.) But, unlike most of the commentators and analysts who have been tearing apart the ref's job, I think that the vast majority of those cards were deserved. Some of those players were out to kill, or at least it seemed so, and, especially on the Dutch team, they just lost all sense of sportsmanship. It was clear that they weren't going to give Portugal any room to play unless the ref absolutely made them, not even respecting the traditional unwritten rules of Fair Play football chivalry. For example, when a player on Portugal's team was laying on the ground injured, and the ref stopped play for him to receive medical attention, the custom would be for the ref to give the ball back to the Dutch team, who out of courtesy would play it back to the Portuguese defense so they could start the play over to make up for the injury. But the Netherlands were behind, and they wanted to tie it up, and courtesy apparently would get in the way of a potential victory, so instead of returning the ball to Portugal, the Dutch captain just kept the ball and launched it straight into an attack on goal. GRRRRR!!!! That made me madder than almost anything else that whole game. After that, I don't think I could have been content with Holland moving on. Even though either one will probably lose to England in the quarter-finals, anyways... :)

But, for me, the biggest nail-biter is yet to come, when Brazil plays Ghana on Tuesday. That will be a sad day for me, because regardless of who wins and loses, I will be sad no matter what. Those are the two teams that I most want to see succeed, and so to see them pitted against each other this early on is just too bad...Granted, I want Brazil to win the World Cup, and in order to do that they would have to beat Ghana. But of all the teams that are left, Ghana is the only other team who I could whole-heartedly cheer for if Brazil were eliminated. (Sorry for all of you who are cheering for Africa...you know I'd join you if it weren't for Brazil!)

And, Hiram, to answer your question (see comment on previous post), yes, we made it to our 32 minutes, but just barely...Japan scored after 33 minutes. Hooray! A new record by a whole minute! :) I was a bit scared at first during that game, because Japan scored first and we weren't looking too good, but then the boys shaped up and played some darn good football in the second half. Not to mention that they put in my favourite goalkeeper, Rogerio Ceni!!!!!!! For some reason which I don't understand, he is only the back-up goalie for Brazil this World Cup, even though I think he's way better than the starter, Dida. (Come on, how can you NOT love a goalie who not only blocks goals, but also makes them for his team? And he's really good at it, too, being the free-kick-scoring-est goalie in the world, and also scoring on PK's.) But, of course, I'm not biased at all. :)

May the best team win! And I promise to post on something not related to the World Cup soon. :)

The zebras are running loose!

That's right - a zebra is what we Brazilians call an upset. Something that nobody expected, a result that according to all reason wasn't supposed to happen but did anyways. And in a cup that until now had been fairly lacking in zebras, we now have a BIG one...

GHANA BEAT THE CZECH REPUBLIC!!!! Yes, that's right, the World Cup rookies came up big against the team that was ranked 2nd in the world coming into this Cup, in a b-e-a-utiful 2-0 win. Once again, the goalie played a HUGE part in the result, as Ghana's Richard Kingston moved into the lead with the most total saves so far this Cup. Chris Casali, who has "GHANA" painted in big letters on the rear windshield of his car, can now throw the party he's been waiting for, and Hiram is probably dancing a gleeful jig in Afghanistan at this good news! I hope that Ghana is the Zebra in this World Cup, just like Senegal was in the last one...or maybe even better. How awesome would it be if they, a rookie team from a small country in Africa, made it all the way to the finals?!?!?!?! :)

To make things even more interesting, in that same group, the U.S. pulled a very zebra-like tie with 3-time champs Italy, leaving their Group E still completely wide open, with none of the 4 teams yet guaranteed a spot in the next round, but also none of them eliminated yet.

And the other huge zebra is that France, the champions in 1998, have only managed 2 ties in a group where all the other teams have very little World Cup experience, and they face the possibility of being knocked out unless they shape up and put together a win against Togo on Friday!

Some things, however, have turned out as expected. The 4 teams favoured to win are already through to the round of 16. Argentina's offense is in the lead, with 7 goals scored and a guaranteed spot in the next round. The host Germany has also secured their spot, as well as being the team with the most shots on goal so far. England is also moving on, with 2 VERY hard-earned victories in close games against Paraguay and Trinidad-Tobago. And Brazil is also undefeated, moving on to the round of 16 regardless of the result of Thursday's match against Japan, and only 32 minutes away from breaking their own record of defensive consistency. If they reach 32 minutes of play without Japan scoring on them, they will have 459 sequential shut-out minutes played in World Cup matches. The most ever! After a disappointing first-round elimination last time around, Portugal has made it to the next round this time with some breathing room. And Ecuador, the only team to defeat Brazil in the World Cup qualifying games, is also undefeated and moving on, regardless of the outcome of tomorrow's duel with Germany.

But, in spite of all the results in favour of the traditional teams, the playing field is still wide open. You never know what might happen. And I have a feeling there are still plenty of zebras in store! :)

It isn't over 'til it's over...

For all of you who haven’t been following the World Cup, I have a few words for you: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? You’ve missed a great time. But don’t worry, it’s not too late to join the fun! We just finished the first of three rounds of group-stage play, which decides who goes through to the elimination rounds that start on the 24th. And, while we still have a long way to go until the finals on June 9th, there has already been enough excitement to keep even the most detached of non-soccer-fans on their toes!

You see, the beautiful thing about soccer is that every team has a shot. There is no team that is guaranteed to win any match, and no team that can be dismissed altogether. Sure, there are favourites, teams with World Cup tradition, with big-name stars, with high expectations. But the best play doesn’t always come from the people of whom we expect greatness, but rather from the most unexpected places. And so far, the only big team that hasn’t disappointed has been Germany, although for a team touted for their defense, they didn’t get the win easily, with Costa Rica putting in goals. England won, but barely. Brazil won, but barely. Portugal won, but barely. Argentina sweat to beat first-timers Cote d’Ivoire. France barely managed a sleepy, scoreless tie with Switzerland. Trinidad and Tobago, in its first-ever World Cup appearance, proudly holding the record of being the smallest country ever to play in the World Cup, brilliantly held the Swedes to a scoreless tie, even being down one player for most of the second half. You may ask, “90 minutes of play and nobody scored? Wouldn’t that be boring?” And my resounding reply is, “NO WAY!” It was one of the most intense, nail-biting, phenomenally-played games so far. Probably tied in my book with yesterday’s Tunisia vs. Saudi Arabia game for best-games-to-watch-so-far. (Yes, even more favourite than the opening victory of my heart-team, Brazil, 1-0 over Croatia.) Tunisia and Saudi Arabia ended in a 2-2 tie, but it went right down to the wire, with Tunisia scoring the tying goal in stoppage time. (For those of you who don’t know, those are the minutes the ref adds onto the game after the official 90 minutes are up.) Just goes to show that it isn’t over ‘till it’s over! J

And, although of course I am biased, some of the best stories so far belong to the world’s goalkeepers. Take, for example, the Mexican goalie, Oswaldo Sanchez, whose team didn’t think he was going to make it to the opening game against Iran because he had gone back to Mexico just a week earlier when his father unexpectedly passed away. But, even though nobody would have questioned him at all for missing the first game, or even the entire World Cup, for not having the emotional energy to play, he flew in and suited up for his team. When the teams shook hands before the kick-off, the Iranian team gave Sanchez flowers. And he played an excellent game to help his team to a 3-1 victory over Iran. It was impossible not to cry when the game ended and the entire team piled on top of a crying Sanchez, hugged him, kissed his head, and celebrated by crying with him.

And then there’s Shaka Hislop, the backup goalie for the Trinidad & Tobago team, who was called off the bench just minutes before the opener when the starting goalie got hurt in warm-ups. And he played the game of his life! He made one unbelievable save after another, and was a veritable brick wall for his team. All without having the mental preparation of being able to anticipate the game and plan for it. Or Tunisia’s goalkeeper, who at the age of 40 is the oldest player in the World Cup and was one of the reasons they stayed tied with Saudi Arabia.

I LOVE THIS GAME!!! Who is YOUR favourite team so far?

Finally!

I must have really bad timing, because every time I've tried to post something on my blog in the past week, the Blogspot site tells me something like, "Sorry, we're overloaded right now, try back later!" Or, "Blogger is undergoing maintenance." And then, when I checked back later, it gave me some similar message. But apparently other Bloggers have been able to update just fine! I must have really bad timing...Grrrrr...

I also hate technology because, for some reason, my phone is doing the same thing that Michelle's was doing a little while ago, and showing absolutely nothing on the screen. So while all the mechanisms still function normally for taking calls and making them, the problem is that I can't see what I'm DOING! Which means I can't see who's calling me, what time it is (this is very important since I don't have a watch...), or find anyone's number inside my phone! (Which of course aren't written down anywhere as a backup.) Grrrr again...

But in other, happier news, Amy & I have moved into a new apartment, just for the summer, and while I HATE moving (with the fire of a thousand burning suns), it WAS wonderful to discover that our new place comes with cable TV and high-speed internet included! SWEETNESS!!!!!

And, after tomorrow, my job is only half-time for a while, giving me the afternoons off! Perfect for spending the entire day...

WATCHING THE WORLD CUP!!!!!!!!!

That's right, people, the World Cup starts today! (Bet you can't guess who I'm cheering for...) :)

At long last...

It's hard to believe that my dearest friend Katrina is finally, after lots of waiting and time apart, married to Paul! But it really happened, even though I wasn't there to see it, and now they are one...Isn't she beautiful? And just look at the grins on their faces...Ah, to be young and in love! :)

(Edit: Oh, and many thanks to Chuck for the beautiful picture...)

Hooray for reunions!

It is so surreal to be reunited with the friends who are closest to my heart, after a year of being apart and trying to keep up with each other via e-mails, letters, blogs, and the occasional phone call...It seems so right, so normal, and at the same time so much has happened in the past year in our own separate lives that we all feel like very different people. And I guess we are! VERY different. Some married, some getting married, some gone to the other side of the world and back again, most with our futures still wide open, all trusting in God's hand to guide us and shape us even though we may have no clue where He's taking us or what He's making us into... But you know what? That's the beauty of friendship, of the Body of Christ - that it changes with us as we change, so that it is just as comfortable now as it was at the beginning and will be in the future, and it will feel just as right to be reunited them - with YOU - when we're all wearing our grey hair with pride as it does now, when we have most of our lives still ahead of us. :)

Somehow, I find myself with not nearly enough pictures in digital format...I'll have to fix that this weekend. :) I LOVE MY FRIENDS!

Apology...

I'm sorry! I know that I've been pretty absent recently...that most of my posts recently have been fairly sporadic, short, inane, and not very informative as to how I'm doing...That I haven't been responding to questions in your comments...And I want you to know that it's not because nothing's going on, or because I don't care enough to share more than just superficial anecdotes about my life, or because I'm ignoring you! There has been so much going on that I would love to share, discuss, ask, vent, and celebrate with you! Like reunions with friends and family, great books I've read and movies I've watched, progress that has been made with some of the kids in my youth group, and the curious mixture of excitement and fear at the prospect of making decisions about my future...But it has been impossible to sit down at a computer and type these things out for, oh, the last month or so! They have just been piling up in my mind and heart, and sometimes on the pages of my journal or in heart-to-heart conversations with friends, but never on the screen of my computer...Alas, the problem with having internet access only at work! That means that the only way for me to do anything online for my own benefit is either during work time, or if I stay late...And in my 8-hour work days, I have recently had at least 9 hours' worth of work to do. (For example, yesterday, my full work day was answering phones, managing the fleet, getting financial records ironed out for the end of the fiscal year, organizing end-of-the-schoolyear academic stuff for all the profs in my department, and working on contracts for all our home games next year. But in the middle of it all, the sound guy didn't show up for the opening ceremony of a big conference we had up here in the gym, so I ended up setting up the whole sound system! Woohoo! All those months of setting up the Godspeed sound system really paid off! In fact, to make things easier, it actually WAS the Godspeed sound system that I set up...) So, the writing while at work option is definitely out the window, and, inevitably, if I stay late, someone sees that I'm in my office and drops in to ask a question, or to give me more work to do...SO, here I am, apologizing profusely for being gone, and yet still not saying anything useful...go figure...

But the exciting part is that I get to see almost all of you in the next week! Hooray for weddings! :) I can't wait to see you all...

Ode to a brother

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirthday, dear BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN,
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!

On this day, 17 years ago, I remember when...(OK, fine, I'll spare you from the embarrassing, sentimental stories.)

Aah, how is it that he's 17 today? Time flies way too fast...
Love you, birthday boy!