happy new year!

we've been celebrating now for about half-an-hour. (remember, my computer has no idea yet that i'm in michigan and on michigan time. it still thinks it's in indiana.) poor thing. so happy new year! whee!

anyway, today we went to drummond island--take m-134 as far east as it goes and it leads to a car ferry dock. we crossed over to the island on the 11:40am ferry. we then drove around the island, had lunch there, went shopping, and came back. it was cool. the pictures here are mostly of the trip to drummond island. there's a pic of our car waiting to get on the ferry, (the one behind the fedex truck), and a pic of "the northwood," the restaurant we ate at today. oh, and that's a picture of us on the ferry. unfortunately, the deckhands were nowhere to be found when we wanted a group picture. but the captain TRIED to find one. (he even announced it on the loudspeaker!) there were 5 of us that went today: me, marge, farouk, chrysta, and greg.

happy new year...STILL HOPING FOR MORE SNOW! i think valpo is supposed to get 2-4 inches, my friend erica said, and hopefully we'll get even more up here tomorrow. the ski trails could use another dose of white. but i actually heard that it's supposed to be up to 49 degrees here in the U.P. this weekend. YUCK.

yeah, i've been busy outside!

hence the couple of days with no post! two nights ago i was too busy to come into town to blog and last night i had been invited to mike & sue vaal's to hang out (which was hugely awesome) and so now, being that it's sunday morning, i can write while everyone's either at church or sleepin in back at camp.

anyway, yesterday i spent most of my time outside playing and getting video/pics for the dvd at the end of the week. we got about 6 inches of snow two nights ago which was really great. it's actually been snowing CONSTANTLY since we've been here but some flakes are fewer and farther between and others are ginormous and pile up fast. yesterday everyone went skiing (cross country), ice skating on beaver pond, and to the sauna. thankfully there's a huge square hole cut into the ice so that people could actually jump into the water instead of just wading in. it's more fun and dramatic that way. i'll see what i can do to post a video; i don't have any stills of the people at the sauna.

here's what you're seeing: a sign to the skating rink and the path through the woods to beaver pond, which is where we are ice skating this year. lake huron needs more severe weather and frigid cold in order to freeze over solid enuf to skate on. (even the inner bay...) so beaver pond is a great alternative. there's a pic of andy's dog piper and her shadow, me and my fire, (i had just started it so YES, it got bigger!), and a few pics of the skis and skates we have been using. we don't have ski racks outside so we do it old school--pile up a bunch of snow and stick the skis in! seems to work out.

okay, well i have to make sure bob zeeb did ok firing the sauna; it needs to be between 150-180 degrees for this afternoon. i may need to stir the fire a bit and toss in some more logs. see ya later! (just as i wrote "see ya later," a couple of snowmobiles buzzed by me on the main road here in town.) I COULD SO LIVE HERE!!! sigh.

finally up NORTH!

okay. we're here; driving was not too bad. but the entire trip took 9 hours which is kinda disappointing when i've been known to do it in 6.5 hours. oh well. the snow wasn't too bad; i tried to learn how to work my new camera as i drove so here are a few pics of the road conditions. and the EVER-SLOW salt truck that was ahead of me as soon as i got east of spring hill (camp) on route 10. ugh. hopefully HOPEFULLY HOPEFULLY we'll get snow tomorrow. a LOT. that's part of the reason i dragged my cold self out of my warm cabin to check the weather online. i'm hoping for a true blizzard! btw, did i mention that someone else is here mooching off the little log library's wireless? first time i've been here and have had company! some guys in a pickup truck in front of me...

and didja see what shirt ANDY is wearing? i had to get a pic of him in it. i wonder if he did that on purpose. anyway, he's heading to a wedding tomorrow in grand haven. the rest of us are all going to the soo (sault ste. marie) to go ice skating, check out the soo locks, and hang out in the town. it's always a good time.

this is the first time that our winter gathering has been on the "mariner's cove" side of camp. usually it's on the side called "old mill point." anyhoo, i kinda like it better here at cove side. here's a wreath on the taylor lodge sign. well, i'm gonna sign off and check out the weather.

p.s. i HATE that benezir bhutto (sp?) was assassinated. i think we're really screwed now. but it was bound to happen; with all her protests and gatherings and such. ah well, time shall tell exactly how screwed we are!

leaving in an hour or two

i see we had freezing rain last night. poo. oh well. we (dad and i) tried to get a suburban (or other LARGE suv) to rent to go up north but instead got two smaller 4-wheel drive vehicles. we're considering shoving everybody and all their luggage in one, however. we can return one to enterprise this morning @ 7:30 if it ends up we don't need it. but we'll see. i guess it's better to have two and need ONE than to have one and need TWO.

i'll try to post regularly while i'm gone. blogging is no fun unless you have something fun to write about. i'm hoping for a major MAJOR MAJOR snowstorm once we're there. it's about 7.5-9 hours north of here. (about 45 minutes northeast of the mackinac bridge.)

happy trails to me!

heading north soon

well...sorry i took such a hiatus from my blog. i've been insanely busy and with two break-ins at my place of business and a ton of other things going on, (holidays too) i've not had much time to be on the computer at all. anyway, this is just a random update and to alert my avid blog readers that i actually AM still on the planet. (it can also be hard blogging when nothing exciting is going on.)

if i get into town while in the U.P. in the middle of the night, i may blog then--and post some pictures. let me explain that last statement: while in cedarville, michigan, the place we're staying at doesn't have great internet access. in fact, there's none. it's kinda hard in the middle of nowhere to get a signal or even dial-up. so late at night after everyone's gone to bed, i often drive into town and park next to the library and mooch off of the wireless there. usually works great. hopefully they haven't put passwords on it yet or anything. i've been doing this for two years now. usually i like to go during the day and sign in, because that way this new little log library can show that its grant is being used. (they're more likely to be able to keep their wireless internet that way--they got a grant from the state or something.) but since i'm crew this time around (working at cedar campus), i won't have much time during the day to disappear into town for any length of time. oh, and besides that, this little library has rather limited hours anyway.

this little log library is rather new and very cute. i think it was built 2003 or 4ish. after all, it's a small town. yup. a small harbor town. across the street, the marina sells boats & jetskis in summer and snowmobiles all winter. sigh. i could SO LIVE THERE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY GRAHAM!

YOU ROCK. have a wonderful 89th birthday. you deserve the best.

the dictionary changes for idiots???

this is news to me! there are three words that were highlighted recently that people don't know the proper spelling of (and i'm not sure which dictionary or dictionaries...) but the dictionary is adding extra spellings. so people who are confused and don't know how to spell still are right. I HATE HATE HATE THE POLITICALLY CORRECT WORLD WE LIVE IN SO MUCH. hate it. our society is in the biggest downward spiral! but i don't think we'll die of stupidity like originally suspected; i think we'll finish ourselves off in world war III the way pakistan has recently been ending up. and bush is trying to say that musharraf is undermining democracy? the "president" of pakistan is a freaking dictator! he was never voted in! he just took power! our president is so full of double standards! maybe some of the dictionary "revisions" are for his benefit too.

back to the subject at hand: for example, "vocal cord" shall also now be spelled "vocal chord." some people never did apparently learn to spell the word correctly and they just imagined it as a cHord as in a tone. or a tune. or part of a song.

then there's a "shoe-in." a "shoe-in" means for example, that a candidate will have no trouble winning an election. but i suppose there are so many flies in our country that this spelling has now been added: "shoo-in."

lastly, there's "free reign." example: she has free reign of the house while her parents are away. but now we are including the spelling, "free rein" as in REINS on a horse! how does that even work? REIGN is when you dominate something. you rule. having FREE REIGN makes sense. free REIN is IDIOTIC.

is there anyone else in our english speaking country who has an issue with this? i'm telling you. we've gone from worse to worser.

4 times in less than 4 months....

bank very nearby my apartment got robbed today around 10am. in broad daylight. this mexican dude is the same dude who keeps hittin it. he never brings a gun; just hands the tellers a note. then he gets away on foot; never has a getaway car.

here's another fun twist. (read on; it's related) my place of business, the courts, has decided to see what kind of numbers a new method of marketing would bring in. we've tried placing yard signs all over the place at busy intersections. sweet. we've actually had a LOT of calls from those signs. it's been crazy. but anyhoo, we've had a few TOO many calls and our one program is full and can't accept any more registrants. so today on my day off, i decided to go ahead and take down the second of two signs i had put up near my apt. i wandered out about 10:30 and watched an unmarked cop car parusing our parking lot. i figured he had just decided to take a break. or something. but then as i approached the sign and got out of my car to uproot the sign and throw it in the back seat, i see three fbi guys and an ADORABLE bloodhound walking down the middle of route 2. (or laporte ave. whichever u wanna call it.) so i stood there and watched them. apparently the robber had run right by where i was standing cuz the little bloodhound came up to me, sniffed my jeans and my shoes, and then kept going. i knew i couldn't pet the pup--as much as i had wanted to, i knew one of the three fbi guys would have prolly shot ME cuz they were so pissed for looking so DUMB. so i just stood there and watched the floppy-eared fellow sniff my shoes and continue on with his guys.

so anyway, i am supposing that my position on this whole thing is that this little dude DESERVES the $$$ if our little law enforcement in valpo/porter county is too SLOW to catch this guy. good grief. he's making monthly withdrawals! maybe i should try making withdrawals the same way he is doing it! i mean, it IS actually my own bank, anyway!

HOW EMBARRASSING. way to get on the map, valpo. oh yes, there is one more thing...why is it the DNR showed up? was it a deer, no wait...a SQUIRREL who ran off with the money? ahhh, maybe it was a raccoon or an opossum. their eyes look sorta shifty sometimes. i can understand why the DNR would want to get involved.

i luv VAN HALEN!

never saw them before but loved their music growing up. saw them for the first time thursday night at the united center. they were AWESOME. eddie van halen makes me want to go out and buy a guitar. i just wanna learn to play it! he's so amazing. these guys are still pretty hot (despite the fact that they're in their mid FIFTIES now...)

they are clean cut and clean shaven. mostly. and michael anthony is out as bassist and eddie van halen's boy wolfgang is IN. he's a 16-year-old kid and he's pretty musically talented. wolfgang van halen is called "wolf" for short and was named after wolfgang amadeus mozart. (eddie and alex were born in amsterdam and lived there for nearly the first ten years of their lives.) they were both trained as classical pianists when they were young.

apparently when they were young, eddie wanted to learn drums so he started a paper route so that he could pay for his new drum set. alex started out playing guitar. meanwhile, alex (AS EDDIE WAS DELIVERING THE NEWSPAPERS) was practicing on eddie's new drum set and got really good REALLY fast. eddie decided to not do drums anymore and went ahead learning guitar.

i also learned a few things about the band over the past week: did you know eddie had hip replacement surgery in 1999? he also is missing half of his tongue due to cancer. but he still smokes. david lee roth is an EMT in new york. alex van halen has a son named aric who is in high school and runs cross country at oakwood high.

i love van halen!

sing it, say it, shout it. but no one believes you, larry.

anyone else watch the matt lauer interview with larry craig (and suzanne craig)? holy cow. poor idaho. they are SO the country's laughing stock. what the heck? larry craig is the biggest freaking liar i've ever watched on t.v. to my knowledge. matt lauer is asking good and fair questions. i appreciate his finesse. but i just wanna smack larry. or something.

he pleaded guilty because he knew he was wrong. he followed a very orchestrated set of movements set in place to solicit gay sex that i firmly believe he couldn't have done without knowing the movements and the order of the gestures. just come on out of the closet already. and your poor wife...she is trusting your lies and is looking like the biggest naive fool ever. put everyone out of their misery. and tell the truth. WHY IN HEAVEN'S NAME WOULD YOU PLEAD GUILTY IF YOU WERE INNOCENT? you've implicated yourself. please be truthful to yourself. and be truthful to your family. you're perceived as a punk and don't have the credibility any longer to represent your state. step down.

and for anyone who's interested...go to youtube and enter in the search box "if larry craig were gay." it's quite amusing.

but also, to be quite honest, since i've been away from all my gay friends in philly and on the east coast, i'm becoming a bit of a homophobe again. and i'm not liking that. but whatever. my issue is with larry craig LYING LIKE A RUG. for all that he stands for, he's the biggest hypocrite ever. he needs to tell the truth. and only then can he really get on with his life. because otherwise, this will haunt him until he dies.

geez. how can you even live with yourself?????

V.U. Basketball

i am so glad homer drew and his coaching staff are so organized. love that. it made my life a LOT easier when they came to run a basketball camp for kids grades 1-5 yesterday. it was from 9:30-11am and the kids loved it. i will say, however, that the V.U. team is prolly (HIGHLY LIKELY) gonna have to work on their 3-point shots at practice this week. good grief. maybe it was cuz they weren't warmed up. but anyway, good times. here's a pic of me and homer, head coach at Valparaiso University.

who's the dumb one?

well...

got a lady into the courts today who lied about the premise of her even being there. nevermind that she came with her 22-year-old son who must have been too much of a wuss to take care of himself. apparently, there's a guy out of texas who had wanted to have a men's tournament at the courts. okay, fine. he called us to see if we would rent him the building. again, fine. but these people (the 22-year-old and his mommy) were dumb enuf to wire $250 cash to this guy in texas. the tournament was cancelled. so either he's running a scam out of texas or its legit. but she wants her $250 back and expects us to coff it up.

EXCUSE ME?

we didn't take her money. and we're certainly not giving her $250 of ours. ew. so she said she's going to the papers. mark, (the owner) said fine. she asked for someone more higher-up than him. he mentioned to her that he owned the place and she was already at the top. she was befuddled and disgruntled.

about the newspaper thingy...the nwi times published an ad about the tournament that was to take place at our facility. she is trying to say that we are at fault because we are connected to them. yeah, we wrote about it on our website but clearly left the texas man's phone number so they would know he is the contact. and next, it is rather irresponsible to publish something in the newspaper about a local business without that business' approval.

THE NWI TIMES SUCKS. repeatedly for years the grammar in this so-called newspaper is such that my inner-city 5th graders could have written a better paper easily. the articles sometimes are incomplete and that is just the beginning of it all. good grief. nevermind all the incorrect information and lack of responsible reporting. ugh.

no wonder jerry davich has moved on to the post tribune. TIMES, YOU SUCK!

tired of it!

i have a gift. a SPECIAL gift. something that i'm very good at. or at least this past week, anyway. wanna know what it is? i'm good at conversing with people when they're stressed out. i've just picked random BAD times to chitchat with people and have had them blow up and freak out on me. for no apparent reason. not sure why this has been happening this week, but it's stressing me out. and pissing me off. but such is life and i will need to get over it.

this is also why i joined the most recent group that i did on facebook....

Fernando inching by

so we have a family friend attending v.u.'s law skool who is celebrating ramadan this month. ok, cool. ramadan is a month in muslim beliefs of fasting during the day, breaking the fast at sunset by eating some dates, and then eating, partying, smoking bongs, and having sex till sunup. well--not for everyone. but for some of my arab friends, this is how many celebrate ramadan. so many from the west don't understand this muslim tradition and for that, poop on us.

so we took out our friend after sunset tonight to aladdin pita, a restaurant in merrillville. they usually only have the buffet on thursday and saturday nights, i believe, but with all the hungry muslims, this entire month (in the evening) there is a buffet. seeing as how i've been to the middle east--on several occasions--i am a FAN of middle eastern food. didn't used to be that way but throughout life with a boyfriend from my past and his mother holding me down and shoving hummus and pita down my throat, i've grown to love the stuff. but never would i have tasted it cuz it LOOKS LIKE CRAP. but it's quite delicious with the perfect amount of olive oil and garlic. mmmmmmm.

but as i gorged myself (like i need to) on this awesome and quite yummy food, i noticed that the dates my mom had mentioned earlier in the night were not yet to be found--neither on her plate nor on the buffet table. on my way back up to the buffet, i saw some and i grabbed a date out of a container near the appetizers and put it on the corner of my plate for her. the place was crowded and they honestly had a hard time cooking enuf stuff and displaying the stuff in enuf time for people to scoop it all up and munch it down.

well...the date that i had put on my plate for my mom had a guest. a house guest. i noticed him scrunching up, stretching out...scrunching up, stretching out--ON MY PLATE. he had left his home (the date, i'm guessing) and had begun the long trek to familiar lands--ACROSS MY PLATE.

ahem...well, with me HATING bugs and creepy crawlies of any kind and being terrified even of the very smallest ones (but at the same time not wanting to cause a scene), i walked briskly over to where my parents were sitting with Fernando, and told them of my dilemma. i explained to my mom how i had found the replenished date container at the buffet but this little inchworm named Fernando had decided to come out and play. i told her everything. here's what she did: she immediately KILLED FERNANDO and proceeded to gulp down the date. i mean, come ON! Fernando could have been having a party! friends may have been over!

that's gross. moral of the story: if there is a little worm in your fruit, kill him instantly and GET RID OF THAT FRUIT! and don't ever eat that type of fruit again. how incredibly disgusting. my mom was proud of her feat and smiled at me as if to say, "woohoo! more protein!" well no wait...she actually may have said that.

so faretheewell to Fernando and co. hopefully he (and maybe they) will have a happy inchworm afterlife.

ta ta.

anyone else?

anyone else out there tired to death of orenthal james simpson? what a circus. what a nuisance. what a sociopath. good grief. i actually have nothing else to say about that.

but how about them cars in iceland? yeah, that's my native land. i'm excited to read about all their "green" activities and such. and how they're not gonna rely on fossil fuels too much longer. how sweet. i really need to go there.

oh and about the garlic bread episode a few days ago...we tried it again last night and it was delicious. our garlic bread did NOT catch fire and we had an enjoyable meal.

BLACKWATER! LET'S GET OUT NOW! (and a garlic bread mishap)

okay. HELLO! WAKE UP USA! here's our opportunity! if iraq wants blackwater out, and if blackwater is who protects our diplomats and certain other important people, let's go! iraq has every authority to get rid of blackwater. and yes, i believe blackwater answers to no one. i feel that at first, blackwater did a good deed. initially they kept US interests safe in iraq. but now, it's like it's gone to their heads. shooting up random taxis if they get "too close" to a convoy doesn't protect anyone. and killing civilians? what does that accomplish? if you are not judged here on earth, there will be a doozy waiting for you later on. (and even if you are held accountable in this life, you are STILL screwed later.)

let me qualify this, though. yes, i know many civilians are armed. and many taxis DO have car bombs inside their trunks. i know this. but blackwater seems to have turned into a bunch of mercenaries, and whether or not they are justified in what they're doing, this is our time to bow out. let's get out of iraq! we've screwed up their country enough. maybe we should even pay reparations. BUT LET'S GET OUT!

once again the arrogance of the west (for anyone who is confused, that's us, my american friends) has continued to turn others away from us and make yet more enemies. iraq's people (and people groups) have been around for thousands of years. who are we to try to throw a quick fix in to "help" out this country? good grief.

but on a lighter note, last night we had lasagna for dinner (parent's house) and as we waited for the garlic bread to get done, we forgot about the garlic bread. and then we had garlic bread en FLAMBE. yeah, i finally got to use the fire extinguisher that had been sitting in the hall closet for years. and we MOURNED our black garlic bread. and our smoke filled kitchen. and our smelly upstairs. (but mostly we mourned our lack of tasty garlic bread.) but as a consolation prize, my dad took us out for ice cream at oberweis. that was good.

i am so freaking tired of the whole iraq thing

okay. i maybe like the new little slogan..."general petraeus or general 'betray us.'"

i guess this depends on whether or not he is HONEST or instead is another one of our dear little president's puppets--who will say whatever bush tells him to. but first of all, has he even had enuf time to take things in? does he know enuf about the war to give such recommendations?

i just wonder (once again, SIGH) how we could be so dumb. i mean, come ON. we just had the whole balkan conflict in the early-mid-late 1990's. why can we not learn from the past? before we go to war, unsmart presidents should have to take a few high school classes on history, foreign policy, europe, and specifically, european history. for example: yugoslavia has always had three people-groups residing within its borders. muslim, croat (catholic), and serb orthodox. okay. so why do we thing throwing a democracy together will be so easy? it doesn't work for everyone! they had a tri-presidency for the longest time and who really knows how their government is working now. nevermind the mafia and all the corrupt officials who took/are taking the donations made by so many countries and individuals.

if we had done any research into the country of iraq, we would KNOW there are also three people groups. yeah, maybe all MUSLIM, but still so very different. there are the shiites, sunnis, and the kurds. how can we expect one president to unite what was only united before in a dictatorship? that's the only way it COULD operate as one country before! and saddam obviously sucked as a leader, to put it nicely. you can't just go and kill off major people groups. that's ethnic cleansing. bad choice.

does anyone see a similarity? we are STILL occupying bosnia--even if only in tuzla today--but still, AMERICANS ARE THERE. nato is to some degree still there. the EUFOR is THERE. there are "occupiers" in that country. maybe not as visible, but still existing. i believe we went into iraq with the intention of being known as the "LIBERATORS." woohoo! liberators! people that give freedom! yessssssss! but we were never seen as liberators and never will be. we have made too many mistakes. we are definitely "OCCUPIERS." and there are no good connotations with such a title.

i firmly believe if anyone had a brain, they would have advised our non-smart president to not rush into such a war and to take a few high school classes and get a bit of a background knowledge first. not try to finish what daddy-dearest couldn't do in an earlier presidency. there are high schools not far away from the d.c. schools if bush really wanted to get a high school education out of the inner-city. may i recommend, falls church, virginia? i have friends from college who went to those schools growing up and were able to get a great education.

maybe it would be silly to send an "educated" president to high school, but i'm afraid there are high schoolers in our country who could do a better job than our current and unfortunate president. at least they could make more informed decisions.

but don't get me wrong, i do pray for bush as the Lord brings him to mind. i always roll my eyes first and tell God i still don't understand how this could have been allowed to happen, but i do pray that he would make good decisions as often as possible and would LISTEN TO WELL-INFORMED ADVISORS. that's all that can be done at this point. i'm just really not a fan of having a lame duck lead our country. a canadian goose may be a better choice. but God allows things to happen for a reason. and again, i'll just have to trust Him on this one. and i pray that His will is done.

i went AWOL for labor day weekend...

but i'm back now! where i went there was no easy access to the internet. but i took a bunch of pics. here are a few now. for labor day weekend i went to canada, hung out in the U.P. of michigan at cedar campus, and went to mackinac island for a day. it was good. parts of it were sad but i am super-very-entirely glad i went. it will make what is bad not so bad later. i can get used to the idea, maybe.

but in the meantime, i'm writing a huge letter of disappointment and regret to madison--intervarsity christian fellowship's mothership. i'm incredibly surprised at IV's poor decision-making skills. one person in particular. they're (she's) gonna tear the camp apart. and in the meantime...who is gonna take care of the place? good grief. if cedar can take this blow and still be in existence 3 or 4 years from now, great. but i'll be surprised. but i'm also afraid for the staff that remain. they work so hard as it is. are they gonna be able to pick up the slack for the at least FOUR staff who are now gone? stupid stupid stupid. i am no longer a fan of IVCF. not at all. and about donations? FORGET IT. if i am able to donate, it'll be directly to my friends who remain up there. I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH INTERVARSITY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP. their fellowSHIP is sinking.

rove's ride trashed...

sweet. at least someone has a sense of humour in washington. and at least the secret service/security around the white house decided for once what is really important. only thing that would be funnier is if a security camera would've caught a lame duck being the one doing the decorating.

and as for this senator craig guy...what the heck? that's gross. i mean, he's that desperate for what, anal sex? ugh. and in a public restroom? double ugh. especially as a hard core republican AND considering that he pleaded guilty--he DEFINITELY needs to be replaced. no question about it. i think he'll suffer embarrassment for a long time, tho, considering what craziness is on youtube, the news, late night shows, letterman & leno, etc. good grief. i almost feel sorry for the guy. but not really. i'm sure he's not sorry it happened, but for as much as what most are apologitic for, he's sorry he got caught.

EMBARRASSED TO BE AN AMERICAN! (yet again)

check out this website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6964564.stm

in short, here's what's up. we've been in afghanistan for six years now and STILL haven't a clue about the culture/religion of muslims. how are we gonna reach them if we continue to be STOOPID? our beloved american soldiers dropped a bunch of soccer balls (mostly for the children) out of helicopters in the khost province of afghanistan. the soccer balls had flags all over them.

unfortunately for us, we included the saudi arabian flag which is a bit more sacred than the rest. saudi arabia's flag includes the "shahada" which is one of the 5 pillars of islam--it's actually their declaration of faith. in the exact words, the word "allah" is included. since allah's name is on it and these words are super sacred, it is totally offensive to muslims who are very sensitive about how and where they're used--to have people kick around the equivalent to the koran. what the heck.

WHY ARE AMERICANS SO IGNORANT? i know people make mistakes. but how much longer are we going to continue to offend the world around us--especially when we are a country who is trying desperately (AND FAILING MISERABLY) to play GOD.

let me further mention that none of this was in any of american's news stuff. i found it on the bbc. the britich broadcasting company. why? because it's a total embarrassment of both political parties? we can't point the finger at one and blame them? yeah. it's all of us. but while i'm on the subject, united we stand, divided we fall. we are a country more divided than EVER before. it's all republican or democrat. I AM PROUD TO SAY THAT I'M NEITHER. neither neither neither.

let me go throw up now.

the cream of the crop of our country...

astronauts. yeah, they're supposedly the best and the brightest.

she wants her ankle bracelet off BUT WILL SIT IN HER OWN PEE BY CHOICE? (my, how uncomfortable, miss double standard!)

she's not really a flight risk? SHE'S A FREAKING ASTRONAUT!

makes me think it's not so much what you know but who you know. anyone could become an astronaut. especially if all they are saying about them is true. recently, the truth has come out about their trips away from our little round watery planet and how they "prepare" for those trips. i know this does not apply to all, but it sure does make the good ones look like CRAP!!!

nice job, lisa novak. think before you act next time, you psycho! and every fifteen hours, you dang well better change that battery. cuz your GPS ankle monitor had BETTER not come off.

our poor widdle twees

all around us, the weather reports from last night's insane weather cited wind speeds of between 70-84mph. and i can attest to that because i was crazy enuf (or stupid enuf) to climb up to the roof of the building i work at which is a huge building that is at the highest point in porter county. man, i could have blown right off if i had wanted to. oh yeah, then there was lightning too. AHA! so i decided toasted pop tart becky was not a good idea so i came right back down again.

anyway, our somewhat little trees in our newly landscaped parking lot fell over. so since we didn't have power all day today, we fixed our little trees and did landscaping stuff this morning. it's hard to work in a building with no windows! i ran over to our church to pee (the property next to us) but they had no power either. i walked around and said hi to everyone and saw bob had no problem working in HIS office. yeah, he has two windows and when i stopped by, he had a precious hour left on his laptop. greg carter was cleaning out his files; he has a window too.

anyway, it was an interesting-ish day. and then we were on the roof again today: 1. to see why water is coming in near or through our a/c and heating units, and 2. to hang out cuz there was nothing else to do.

so this was my day. and i know we got power back today somewhere between 7-10pm. cuz the voicemail at the building is answering our fones again.

spiritual warfare in chicago's inner-city

i don't really care to share much about this till i can post the pics that go with it. tune in a little later.

sigh, my girls are old and in college

yesterday me and kylie went up to visit christin at albion college in michigan.(and i DO NOT have to be grammatically correct ANYMORE. i am not a teacher. ANYMORE.)

i can't believe four years have gone by. i WILL say however, that it will be a refreshing thing for the profs to have freshmen in class that have perfectly capable, well-used, ready-for-a-challenge brains for a change. i have heard from my dad how new college students are getting worse and WORSE. this too says a lot about or diminishing society. but thankfully, my girls are very pro-active about lots of stuff. including bettering themselves, making the world a better place for everyone, and making the most of their education. woohoo and congratulations!

the pic is of me, kylie and christin in front of christin's dorm.

stupid ESPN guy

the show was on tonight, tuesday, august 21, 2007. anderson cooper's show on CNN.

okay. for real. michael vick done wrong. yessur. but first of all, why is hurting dogs all of a sudden more important (and seemingly worse) than all these pro athletes who physically abuse their wives/girlfriends? are they really too dumb to talk things out and be logical about their issues? oh yeah...guess you gotta have a BRAIN to be logical. but to the person with the argument that a woman can leave the situation and a dog has no choice, GROW A FREAKING BRAIN. maybe you need a petri dish to help the process. especially since most of you actually are starting unfortunately with microorganisms. let me know; i have connections. but number one: no, a woman is NOT always able to leave a troubled relationship. not with her life, anyway. and number two: the woman is still the victim. these dumb jocks with hot tempers. WHAT ever.

and to the ESPN idiot who was on my boyfriend's show on CNN tonight, (anderson cooper--what a hottie) you are shamefully stupid. there is no hypocrisy. NONE. zero. these pro athletes get paid a gazillion dollars to throw a ball, hit a ball with a stick, OR throw a ball AND hit a ball with a stick. did i confuse you? unfortunately too many little kids in our country hold these dumb jocks in high esteem and YES, THEY ARE TO BE HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD. and yes, michael vick is to be made an example of. (i believe you called him the "poster boy" for dogfighting.) okay, YES. michael vick sucks and ANYONE should serve some sort of a jail term for hurting defenseless animals and doing all the crap vick did to them. and SINCE michael vick is a large profile person, he needs the royal discipline--whatever that may be. so yeah, all the athletes that you "cover" and "interview" (which is another story in and of itself) are to be held to a much higher standard.

i would like to have thought higher of ESPN but i suppose you're not too much smarter than the athletes you interview. maybe getting a subject and verb to agree in your sentences is difficult. and heaven knows you'll never be able to enunciate. and TO ALL THE PRO ATHLETES IN THE WORLD: please stop uttering "know what i'm sayin" because i (thankfully) don't relate to you at all. learn to articulate. if you're not sure what "articulate" means, look it up. it's under "A" which in case that doens't help...is in the FRONT of the dictionary. and oh yeah, a dictionary is a BOOK. you might be able to find one in a library--oh forget it.

i truly feel sorry for you. it probably has something to do with your microorganism of a brain.

wedding @ aberdeen

so my friends chris & ellison got married last night and will be cruising in the northern pacific between seattle and alaska soon. man, does that sound like a TON of fun! so these two pics are of me and cindy, (old friend i haven't seen in FOREVER) and here's a pic of ellison and her dad mike.

here's a pic from the entry before

but bigger and funner news is that we had a tornado last night! woohoo! i actually didn't get to see it or anything but it was in our county--just south of valpo. we were totally on the weather channel and all! but unfortunately, they kept repeating that "portage county" needed to run away and hide rather than "porTER county." oh well. we knew what they meant.

here's the tire tracks that IDIOT semi left after slamming into the little old man's car that i helped earlier this week. freaking unbelievable.

what's wrong with people anymore?

so there was a little mishap on northbound IN 49.

on my way to work this morning there was a bit of a jam northbound at the stoplight at 500. when i finally inched up there, i saw a little old man trying to push his car out of traffic. his car had obviously overhetad and smoke was pouring out from under his hood. ALL KINDS OF TRAFFIC just drove around him--a little old man clearly in need of assistance.

so all pissed off, i pulled over, threw my car into park, and ran out to help him amidst the traffic on the highway. everyone just continued to drive around us and our efforts to remove the car from the road. (what the heck? do i live in a crappy place where everyone is so self-absorbed they can't help out a fellow human being that is in trouble?)

that aside, i let the man (his name is dale) use my cell fone to call ahead to the caravan that he was traveling with to let them know he didn't make it through the light. they agreed to circle back. since i knew he got a hold of his wife and son-in-law, i asked the man if there was anyone else he needed to call or anything. i also asked if he wanted me to stick around until they got there. he said he was ok and felt fine knowing they were on their way.

i stuck around for a few minutes but felt comfortable leaving him, knowing that he had reached his wife. i wished a good day upon him and headed back on the beaten path to work.

in my office a bit later, i heard my cell fone ringing. i don't usually get a signal in my office so i didn't even bother to answer. when i left for lunch, (jimmy johns...woohoo!) i checked my messages as i drove.

dale's wife was that one whose number i did not recognize. she had called twice and left a message once. here was her message: "i just wanted to thank you so much for helping my husband get his car off to the shoulder and to let him use your cell phone. i'm also thankful you didn't stay any longer than you did to help him. please call me when you get this message."

i was seriously like, WHAT THE HECK??? so i called her back immediately and asked if everything was ok. she explained to me that just as soon as i had left, they pulled up. instantaneously as her husband and son-in-law popped the hood to see what was wrong, a semi that wasn't able to stop at the light (for whatever reason) came barreling into them and ran them both over. the little old man (dale) was released from the hospital around 1 or 2 p.m. but his son-in-law didn't fare so well.

please pray for their family. and luckily, i didn't stick around cuz i could've been a pancake myself as well today.

but just a thought...what the h-e-double-hockey-stix is wrong with people today? i've not ever been so mad in a VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY long time. (thankfully, this is a righteous anger.) i'd love to go through life not being so cynical but unfortunately, more and more i'm seeing the worst of my fellow humans. good grief.

WHO ME?

yeah, YOU. i know you were just trying to help...but did you really want the big red fire trucks to show up?

so brynn was trying to help mommy cook dinner tonight without mommy knowing. somehow, deb had turned on the broiler for a pizza for dinner and in a split second, brynn cooked a plastic hamburger bun, potato chip, and cell phone. i understand her cooking food but the cell phone? anyway, there's soot and ash everywhere on the main level of their house. in my opinion, the basement is FINE but i'm not sure about the upstairs. so the fire department came and put a huge fan at the door to suck out all the bad black smoke. the fire had already been put out by the time they got there. (and the really bad black smoke was from the cell fone battery, most likely.) a neighbor person, grandpa-type-person, ran in and supposedly extinguished the fire in the broiler/oven but the house was full of black smoke.

so thanx to the fire dept for the big fan. and thanx to the grandpa-person for helping out. and thanx to brynn for a fun evening.

barry bonds is the most well known CHEAT ever

sick to death of him. and all the media hype. thankfully the BREAKING news i've heard is mostly from sportscasters bashing him. he knew what he was doing. he knows he was being illegal. what a sham.

in OTHER news, i'm dogsitting again. i'll actually not sleep in my own bed for about a month. the sad and pathetic thing about that is that i'm not on vacation or anything. i'm still in northwest indiana. ish. (except for the one night we stayed at my friend's lake house in michigan.) and unfortunately, this one dog is pretty gassy tonite. even worse is that it thinks it likes me so it hasn't left my side since i came in tonight. i need a gas mask.

ZOOB

it's been a year now! we were on our way back to the states from china this time last year. and with one more person! it's been cool to see the kids one year later. we're in noblesville for the one-year reunion with our travel group. pretty interesting. some of these kiddos can talk, some definitely cannot. anyhow, here's brynn...one year later. her birthday is on monday...she'll be TWO! she's pretty silly. understands pretty much all of what you say but can't say much yet herself. i don't suppose it helps that i make up random words all the time either. the word of the day today was "ZOOB." and of course i try to get her to pronounce these words. and the poor kid, she always tries.

this is her in her carseat; pic was taken today. er...rather...saturday.

anyone heard of dierks bentley?

apparently he's quite popular with country music fans. he definitely is hot...i'm just not a fan of that music. btw...how many country western singers does it take to change a light bulb?

FIVE. it takes one to actually change and replace it, and four to sing about how much they miss the old one.

my new friends are so cute!

aren't my new bffs so cute? brings new meaning to bart simpson's "eat my shorts!"

no picture yet...

i'm too tired to go in search of my camera with the pics from tonight...it probably ran off with my cell phone. but my cell is actually MIA and has been for a few days now. my mom and my employer person think i lost it on purpose cuz i hated that fone. anyway, i've already ordered a new one but won't get it till wednesday, so i'm told. thankfully, everything's backed up online. (seeing as how i have more than 400 contacts in my fone.)

anyway, i made best friends tonight with a 3-week-old jersey calf. he is soooooooooooo cute. and nibbly. when i got home a good third of my shirt was soaking wet. he licked my arm and sucked on my fingers. it is a good idea for 3-week-old calves to have a salt-lick? i dunno but i'm sure i provided that service tonight. man, i could take him home. i've got pics, but like i said, they're still in my camera. which is who-knows-where.

oh yeah, and i met some country singer named "dierks bentley." i had never heard of him before tonight but got a pic with him anyway cuz my friend went NUTS over him. he's in concert tonight at the good ol' porter county fair. and seeing as how he wanted to go hang out for a few minutes in between some parked trucks in the parking lot of the fair, it was obvious he was trying to keep a low profile. (he was sneaking around with a hat and sunglasses on too.) after a large herd of girls/women saw him, they drew a crowd and started heading over towards us in the parking lot. he saw them, greeted them kindly, said goodbye to us, and made a mad dash back to his "safe area" which was between his tour buses. so i guess i somehow am a lucky person! but he WAS totally hot. i'll say that for him. too bad i don't like country music.

the good ol' county fair

anyway, instead of working at the courts, i'm trying to PROMOTE the courts at our county fair. woo hoo. not woohoo, but WOO hoo. not super fun is what i'm trying to say. i think it's good for us though. but man, i've never seen so many mullets since the eighties! besides that, we've got more rednecks around here than i last remembered. but then again, they do always come out for things like this. all i can say right now is...the poor, poor offspring of people such as these. (and unfortunately, there are a lot.)

it's been awhile

i posted a comment on a friend's blog and found myself signing in to my own. i don't have a ton to write about or even mention. it's my first summer working. i don't teach anymore. and this is the ONLY thing i miss about teaching. stuff is ok but i miss traveling. i miss my freedom in the summer. saturday i had an enjoyable day, tho. i went to play wii at a friend's house, we swam and floated in the pool, had dinner, and then i went out with another friend on his boat to watch the fireworks.

sigh.

i miss the great white north too. anyhow i guess it would be the great brown north. the midwest has had a serious lack of rain. but i usually get to cedar during the summer. couple times. i still had fun on memorial day weekend when i forced myself up north even though i felt crappy. sore throat, etc. but i still had a good time. went sailing and slept a lot. both were muchly needed. i miss my friends up there and the water. miss the boats. miss sailing. and the trees and the lack of people. but again, that was basically my last post.

the pic is of a friend's dog. he lives on a farm. in ohio.

SAW MY FIRST MOOSE!!!

unless it was an elk. i was going southbound at about 85 and these two huge horse-type things were going north about probably about 20. enormous. i had just crossed the bridge (the mackinac bridge) and was on my way home from spending some time with my friends in the U.P. we slept and sailed. it was a good time. but it got chily when the sun wasn't around. i also bought a new game called "snorta." it's quite a fun game. anyone wanna play?