Let's Start Walking

Coming soon...


Good reason to buy a smaller car...

Another good idea...

Picture of my father...

And, finally...

These have been around, of course, so you may have seen them. But now they're around here. :)

Making my life better

So while I was running this evening, the song "If You Buy This Record Your Life Will Be Better" came up on my iPod. Now I realise that this song has some dodgy lyrics somewhere around the second verse, but it is the chorus that I like:

If you buy this record your life will be better
Your life will be better
Your life will be better
If you buy this record your life will be better
If you buy
If you buy
If you buy

I don't know what the songwriter's point was, but it makes me smile every time I hear it. This is so the point of all advertising. Sadly, I think we are all far too convinced and pulled in by advertising. So in that way, this song makes me more aware of the tact.

So after this song came on, it made me think of the line in Ten Things I Hate about You, when Kat is lamenting the "meaningless, consumer-driven lives" of her peers. Now while Kat is hardly someone I would choose for an ideal role model, her attitude toward the "everybody's doing it" mindset is great.

Now of course Kat comes round to some extent before the end of the movie, although not quite in the same way as Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew. Chad and I saw that as a "Shakespeare in the Park" production a few years ago, and during Kate's speech at the end, Chad poked me and asked, "Are you listening to this?"

Anyway, my life is not better for having bought whatever record it was the song was on. I haven't quite hit the level of hostility of Kat or Kate. I don't go running out and buy everything I see on TV. So I don't really know what that all says about me.

Hurray for Lynne Truss!

The author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves and Talk to the Hand has confirmed, once again, my preference for British writers. Sorry, American and Canadian writers, I know many of you are wonderful as well, and with any luck I will someday join your ranks, but British writers are absolutely unbeatable.

So if you haven't read these books by Lynne Truss, by all means please do so. If you can read the entirety of either one without laughing out loud, then I'm afraid there is really no hope for you.

More on my mother

Karla, here you go... is this anything like what you imagined?

Yeah, Mother in McDonald's was priceless. I had tried to get her attention as she walked past the counter (I was about to order), then told the cashier by way of explanation for my bizarre behaviour, "That's my mother." The cashier, having never met me, was a bit surprised at this, and turned to ask my mother how many children she has. My mother turned, looked at me, and screamed in a way I imagine she would do if suddenly faced with a gun-wielding madman. Then she started to cry, tried to explain her own bizarre behaviour to her coworkers, and ended up just shooing me into the "Employees Only" area. I don't think I'll be doing that again, just because I do not wish to be responsible for my mother's cardiac arrest.

On the upside, if it happened at work, at least she'd be eligible for worker's compensation benefits.

Grace and Madeleine

We've had a visitor from the UK in our clinic the past couple of weeks. Grace is a Churchill Fellow of 2007 and is travelling around the world looking into the use of bacteriophage. Since we (word used loosely-- I am not personally involved) are currently conducting clinical trials on phages at the Wound Care Center, Grace elected to pay us a short visit. She is quite a delightful person and I am so glad to have met her! Please visit her blog to read about her trip to Lubbock and what she has seen/learned while she has been here.


Also, if you have missed the news about the young British girl who was abducted while on holiday in Portugal, Lynn of the Daily Photo blogs has pictures of Madeleine and links to the story of her disappearance, as well as updates on the search. Please go and have a look-- this little girl could be anywhere by now. And also take some time to be praying for her and her family.

Greenfield

So I went to Indiana this weekend, to see my grandfather (he's in the hospital), surprise my family, and generally spread cheer and goodwill to all around me. Sort of.

My mother screamed in McDonalds when she saw me. My sister stepped on my foot. My father thought I was an insurance salesman. My grandfather just smiled and told me he was "Wunnerful" when I asked. (Not all at once.)

I have some photos and a couple of amusing videos that I will probably share, once I get them off my camera and on to my computer.

New Toy

I got my birthday gift a couple of days early-- a shiny blue iPod Shuffle, with Cheeky Su beautifully engraved on the back. Isn't my husband the greatest?

Can't manage a pic that's not blurry. Will try again later.

Denver City

So I went to Denver City last weekend and it was absolutely brilliant, as ever. I never grow tired of seeing those friendly faces. And since I rarely get to go there, I never grow tired of seeing that town, either.

There was some disagreement on the drive out as to where we should turn, and the driver ignored my advice. But I told him how to get to the church once we got to town, anyway.

Anyway, much laughter was shared, much chitchatting took place, and goofiness reigned in the land. One of the teens (who I've now known for almost 11 years) is going to aim this fall, news which delighted me to no end. And I got to spend an hour or so with a delightful elderly woman (I hope she isn't reading this) who I hadn't seen in ages.

Also, I think there may have been a Bible bowl meet taking place while all this was going on.

Tabitha (again)

I know I've posted about her before, but I would again like to express my fondness for this godly woman.

So the next time I'm asked one of those internet-survey-friendly "If you could meet anyone, who would it be?" questions, my answer is Tabitha. I want to chat with her over tea. I want to show her my sewing machine. I want to take her to Hobby Lobby and let her see all the fabrics we have available now-- things she did without. I want to buy some fabric, bring her back to my house, and let her teach me how to make useful things. Maybe I'll teach her how to crochet.

And I'd like to know what she was doing when she wasn't starring in Acts 9.