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!"