a christmas wish list

though i feel safe betting that most people have, unlike me, finished their christmas shopping so late in the game, by smam's suggestion, here is a post about some christmas gifts i would like to receive:
1. regina spektor's new album: begin to hope
2. the office, any/all seasons of the american version
3. books by bill bryson, but i've already received english: the mother tongue
4. the a&e version of pride and prejudice
5. settlers of catan and the expansion pack for 5-6 players
6. postsecret books
7. target gift cards are always appreciated

that's all i'm going to write now. at the moment, i've forgotten most other things i've asked for, though i'm sure i'll be thrilled to remember when i receive them this weekend. (all that to say, if you bought me something and are now worried because i didn't list it here, don't be worried. i'm easy to please... i'm sure i'll love it!) in review, i am not finished with my christmas shopping, and am hoping to invite suggestions from your wish lists by giving you mine. pathetic, i know.
anyhow, i'm headed off to get into the christmas spirit by attending one of my favorite seasonal services at a nearby church. merry christmas.

absolution

yesterday at the geneva HED christmas party, we played a game of sorts, which i won. i received a package that included the following variety of green and white items:

--whitening toothpaste
--whitening gum
--whitening tooth-covering apparatus
--dental floss (the kind that is suspended on a wish-bone like structure)
--gum-pickers
--an electric toothbrush designed for children that has a dolphin on it. my professor commented that it is a "porpoise driven life" toothbrush.

(at this point i started to sense a theme, and got a little self-conscious about my teeth. however, as the game was not rigged, i was forced to conclude that this collection of items was not intended to spur me, personally, on towards better dental hygiene.) the following items were non-tooth related:
--12-pack of sprite
--geneva college watch
and my personal favorite:
--"wash away your sins towlettes." the packaging claims that they are "heavenly scented," "handy, reliable," and contain an "anti-bacterial formula that kills sins on contact." the back of the package gives directions for "righting your wrongs with a wipe!"
1. remove moist towlette
2. devoutly wipe away wrong-doing
3. spot-check for stubborn guilt
4. wipe again as needed
5. discard sins in waste receptacle
6. go forth purified & moisturized

fantastic. i'm saving those for next time i do something really bad. it's kind of like a get-out-of-jail-free card. may you all be so lucky this christmas.

all right, all right, i know

i know i haven't posted. but i have nothing to say. feel free to suggest a topic you're interested in hearing about, and i will consider updating you on the subject. or i might ignore you. i can do what i want. this is my blog.


well, now that i've scared off all my reader(s), i'll sleep better knowing that at least you're not checking back and getting disappointed. happy holidays.

wow, this thing is BORING these days. the truth is, i've been quite busy, and unable (unwilling?) to take the time to update it. my apologies to those of you who depend on my blog for an up-to-date snapshot of my life.
i've been participating in the following activities, in no particular order:
-learning arabic
-reading books
-doing dishes
-making presentations in class
-contemplating "the next step" in a number of different life-areas
-transforming college students to transform the world
-writing emails
-wasting time on facebook
-packing to go home
-hanging out at borders reading books by bill bryson
-double-dating
-reading other people's blogs and being comforted by their failure to update
-playing with small children, of whom this one is a favorite:

you can't get better than that. look at that toothless grin. a-dor-a-ble.
all right, folks, that's all the time we have. back to work for a few more hours, then home to pack! whoever thought it would be a good idea to fly home tomorrow, on the busiest travel day of the year, was kind of stupid. and the person who decided to make that flight for 7:20 a.m., requiring her to arrive at the airport at six, was even stupider. and the person who decided to carpool with her boyfriend, whose flight was EVEN EARLIER, was stupider yet. sigh. hindsight is 20/20.
happy thanksgiving, y'all.

pierogies

hey everyone. please enjoy this excerpt from today's pittsburgh post-gazette. it's an article about a competition for the pierogie capital of the world. pittsburgh lost to buffalo, ny due to a poor showing of spirit. a spokesperson for the mayor of pittsburgh made the following comment: "at least we're still the city of trees, bridges, intelligent children and good looking and talented women." and to show there are no hard feelings, he's issued an invite to buffalo officials. "they can come down and eat pierogies and look at our super bowl trophy."

back at it

hello all. i got sick of looking at my last post, with the no comments. boooring. so, here's a quick update on me:
i went to g-rap last week. thanks to everyone for a great time. i got to spend lots of time with my family, including a shopping-for-birthday-present-for-my-dad trip to dick's sporting goods. i went with my older sister, in search of something that i can no longer name and also some waders. we were in the hunting and fishing section (where i *clearly* don't belong), and i felt more than a little out of place. while being eyed by the employees and other patrons, sarah and i started singing the "one of these things is not like the others" song to amuse ourselves. however, she did in fact know exactly what we were looking for, and with a little help from the store clerk, we successfully purchased what turned out to be the wrong kind of waders. oh well. it was an adventure, nonetheless.
i also got to see a bunch of friends and learn how to play texas hold 'em, which i am awesome at. it was lovely to see you all. and i had such a good time (as always) that i didn't get quite enough sleep and had to pull over and take a lil nap in a meijer parking lot about an hour east of grand rapids. luckily, i didn't die at all, and am back in pa getting back in the swing of things.
i have to go now so that i can study a bit more before my arabic class. that's right, i'm taking arabic. for free. at bobby mo. masaa al khair.

anyone sick of the birthday shout-outs yet?

i hope not. because here's yet another one:

the dutchman is 25 today. we're getting old, j. luckily, i'm nearly a year behind you. you'll be old WaaaaaaY before me.

that's not very nice though... what i really meant to say was happy birthday, and i can't wait to see you, and i'm sorry i missed the party. and remember when we went to fridays for your 21st (because you were WaaaaaY older than the rest of us, and we couldn't go anywhere else?)? somewhere i have a picture of you saying grace over your khalua. good times. anyway, hope the quarter-century celebration is beyond your wildest dreams. i heart you, j.

okay, that's all. back to work. see you soon!!!!!

nifty nifty daddy's fifty

today is my dad's 50th birthday! hooray! i was waiting to call him after work because i thought he'd be busy at the office, but then he sent me an email with this picture attached. my oh my.


happy birthday, daddy. i love you.

be jealous of me. do it.

guess what i'm doing on saturday night. for free, on geneva college. maybe this will help.


no, i'm not having an arrested development marathon, though that would be fun. i am going to see the blue man group! hoooray! i've always wanted to see them, since i've been intrigued by them (slash freaked out) since i first heard of them. and then when sarah fuller called to see if i'd like to go for free, i accepted heartily. so be jealous of me. do it. ha ha.

cars and safari wildlife

okay folks, here it is. the promised update involving cars and elephants. after a week of fighting with the "upload photos" page on blogger, i have prevailed. enjoy.
scene: last week thursday, 8:30 a.m.
khadija, fuller and i left my apartment on our way to staff seminar in khadija's car.
8:57 a.m.: the "service engine soon" light came on. we began debating over how soon "soon" meant, as we were on our way to ligonier, still an hour's drive from our current locale. also, it was important that we arrive on time, as all three of us had meetings at 10:30. since we were too far to turn around and get fuller's car, we started making phone calls to switch cars with a benevolent friend in the city. we had convinced k-ho to do so, and had arranged to meet her in east liberty.
9:07 a.m.: we were nearing oakland when we discovered that the "soon" in "service engine soon" really meant "now." the car's engine starting revving and roaring angrily, and refused to shift. we were now travelling at a speed no greater than 26 mph on the highway, miles and miles from east lib and the promised car switching. we put on the flashers, which merely induced people to honk their horns furiously and give us horribly dirty looks.
9:12 a.m.: luckily, feffer, who lives just minutes from where we were, returned our call just then. he agreed to help us, and we headed over to his house.
9:18 a.m.: feffer's car was not up the challenge of driving to ligonier, due to a lack of sideview mirrors and questionable tires. however, he did agree to drive us over to kristin so we could take her car. so, we pulled all our suitcases out of d's car and huddled on the porch to get out of the rain. (it was raining. of course.) 9:20 a.m.: feffer informed us that before he could drive us to the east end, he'd have to change his tire. awesome.
9:32 a.m.: a coworker called and told us she was planning to leave the city for ligonier in an hour, and we were welcome to catch a ride with her. we made plans to meet her at our main office.
9:35 a.m.: feffer finished changing the tire. we loaded our things into the trunk of his car. as i slammed it shut, khadija decided to try to grab something out of the trunk, and it hit her squarely on the top of the head. she was not happy with me. but, we got in the car and drove to the office.
(i'm going to quit the play-by-play here. it's getting a little long, and honestly, the next part of the journey was successfully uneventful.)
12:22 a.m.: nearly four hours after leaving my apartment, we arrived at staff seminar. we were two hours late, effectively missing all our meetings.
9:45 p.m.: we decide to go out to joe's bar and taxidermy museum, a veritable wonder of small-town america. this place is exactly what it sounds like. it has been around for a long time, evidenced by the animals it contains that are quite illegal to hunt due to the modern-day poaching laws. it contains nearly every mammal you might find at a zoo, including, but not limited to, lions, tigers, and bears, oh my. there is also a rhinoceros, a giraffe, and heaven forbid, an elephant. if you don't believe me, see for yourself.
**bonus e-props to whoever can identify the mystery animal in the last photo. (not the jackalope, the other one.) hint: it is not bigfoot.

happy birthdays y'all

birthday shout-outs to dear friends near and far, in order of occurance in the last week:
emily (venn) vanjacobs
jonathan dugan
katie tarara
anya lê
becky noricks
khadija garrison.

much love to all.
weekend update to follow, with many amusing anecdotes involving cars and elephants. just you wait.

newsflashes

weekend developments:
i received simultaneous phone calls from two friends on saturday to let me know they are both engaged. incredible. (and congrats again, betsy (and nathan) and melissa (and jason)!)
though i never audibly heard it, i spent the day yesterday with "labor day" by the black eyed peas in my head. "we're gonna celebrate... cuz it's a holiday. i don't work today, or the next three days..." classic. i did celebrate yesterday, by hosting a small gathering for general merriment at my place of residence. we did not have access to a grill for the traditional labor day cook-out, but we did make bocas on my stove.
while shopping for labor day "kitchen picnic" foods, i learned how to select cantaloupes. khadija and i chose a good one. sweet. orange. smelled like melon.
we also watched a few episodes of the office. it is awesome. really. do yourself a favor and check it out. i can't believe i'm so late jumping on the dunder-mifflin bandwagon.
that's all, folks.

nightmares

i think i'm a little stressed out about the after-school program i'm starting at church in a few weeks. there is still a lot to do, and the time is flying by. last night i had a horrible dream that it was the first day, and i wasn't ready. i was trying to change my clothes in the bathroom in order to look more professional (feeling inappropriately dressed i think is typically a sign that you're feeling unprepared), but it was taking too long. all the parents and kids were there, and i wasn't ready. my pastor had to start the program for me, and i had to sneak in late. then i was trying to introduce myself and tell everyone where to go so we could get started, but no one was listening to me. it was chaotic and horrifying. i realized that i didn't have enough volunteers and we didn't have anything copied and there were no games planned, and i freaked out. it was awful. then i woke up. so if you think of it, please pray for me. i need some help.
that's about all i have time for right now, because if i don't get back to work, my wildest and most terrible dreams will come true. eek.

hootie

i got an email today that said i get two free tickets to hootie and the blowfish, no purchase necessary, no further obligations. i'm not even sure if i want to go. i haven't listened to hootie and the blowfish since eighth grade. but i've got tickets! if you want them, make me an offer.
today is a big day! i get to go hang out with lizz, one of my beach project students, this afternoon in the city. she just got back from ooooooooooklahoma. then i'm having dinner with becky, fellow beach project staff, and then i'm picking up my montannie annie at the greyhound station! she's staying with me til friday before she heads up to nyu for law school. smarty pants.
right now though, i'm still at work. adios.

updatesmas

breaking news... there are episodes of friends i've never seen. whoa. in order to rectify this, khadija and i went to target yesterday and purchased season 5 with my birthday money. this will hopefully fill in the gaps in my repertoire. (ruth, how could we have let this happen?? how could we have missed the one with the yeti?)
other disheartening news: my tan has faded to 52% of its original potency, despite regular moisturizing. disappointing. pennsylvania, boo.
okay. i've been here since 8:30. we had a community day today... everything was free! it started to rain now though, which effectively ends any sort of yard-selling function. so, i'm out. adios.

back at it

hello all. i'm currently in my office at church, officially back to work. i'm giving being back in pittsburgh mixed reviews. i'm coming off such a wonderful experience at the beach project (i love and miss you all), and the transition period has been only so-so. feel free to call for a more detailed explanation.
in other news, my apartment is more organized than ever. my new roommate emily is wonderful, and she's really making some vast improvements. i'm figuring out where everything goes again, and soon i'll be able to put away all the dishes without help. hooray!
that's all for now. my ninth graders are knocking at my door.

last week. boo...

hello everyone. this is our last week of the project. i'm pretty sad about it, but i don't want to waste any time writing about it now. so, here's a picture of everybody! everybody! enjoy!

a luau!

hello all! i've just returned from a weekend in grand rapids to celebrate my parents' 30th anniversary, as well as both of their 50th birthdays. it was a wonderful time. we had a luau and i got to see a lot of family, friends, and supporters. there were leis, a lê, and mai tais! i'm really glad i got to spend this weekend with my family. (thanks again for flying me home, mom and dad!) i also had a little walk down memory lane, reliving my childhood as i showed chris my old stomping grounds. we went to the house where i grew up and looked at my forts and my alfalfa field where i used to go snowmobiling and the place where i crashed my bike. then i took him to all my old schools, from preschool through college, and we played on the merry-go-round and walked around campus and had a lovely day. i'd like to tell you more right now, but lizz and i are ready to go to the beach again now. feel free to call for a better update, but please not during the day cause i'm fresh out of minutes until august first. thanks y'all.

happy days

hello all. just a quick update. first of all, thanks to all for the birthday wishes! sorry i missed most of your calls. i was out and about. :) it was one of my favorite birthdays ever. on friday night, we had a birthday dinner at the house, with a total of 39 people, which was craziness. the candles on my cake blew themselves out before they got to me, but i've had two more chances already. (birthday week 2.0 commences!)
chris was here to visit this weekend, and we went to brunch at this cute coffee shop, and then spent the day at the beach. we drove down to cape may and checked out the lighthouse, which was very very very high in the air, and out to dinner, and sightseeing. it was fantabulous. good times were had by all. ;)
today my prayer partner from the church we're working with had scott, one of our male staff, and chris and i over for dinner after church. it was both scott's and my birthdays this weekend, and my prayer partner's grandson's on tuesday. so they had a big birthday celebration for us. there was one cake with one candle that we re-lit three times and sang the song for all three of us. it was funny.
this isn't probably very entertaining for you, and i'm too tired to make it more so. so please enjoy this picture of me with my pirates flag. go bucs!

on the having of birthdays

first of all, today, july 7th, is my baby sister stephanie's 20th birthday! happy birthday, stephanie! i wish i was there to celebrate with you. we'll have a party in two weeks.
second, happy birthday to mr. nathan hibma yesterday. hope it was happy. sorry robin and i disappointed your birthday fantasy.
and third, i've just remembered three things that i desperately want for my birthday NEXT saturday. they are the following, in no particular order:
1. the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice, the one with Colin Firth.
2. Settlers of Catan. it's a board game, and it's awesome. i also want the expansion pack for 5-6 players.
3. the PostSecret book. it can be purchased at barnes and noble or by visiting this site.
yay!

back at the beach

hello? is anyone still reading this thing? i (again) apologize for the lack of content. things are pretty busy here at the beach. i actually have lots of things i could tell you about, but with the comments section so sparse (nigh empty, lo these many posts), i am having a hard time feeling motivated to take the time for a proper update. so which came first, the chicken or the egg? hmm. quite a quandry. but, if you're around and interested, just say hi,and i'll begin posting again. i'll be honest; i'm nervous to give this quasi-ultimatum, fearing that you've all already gotten bored with my sorry excuse for a blog and quit coming. but i shall forge ahead with it nonetheless, in order to see if it's worth spending time posting.
comments, anyone?

pitt trip!

heads up, pittsburgh! i'm coming home this weekend, and i want to see you! there's some stuff planned, so call me on my cell. i'm carless, but i'll be in the city. hoo-ray!

occupational hazard

i nearly died today. i was standing in the water at the edge of the ocean with sharayna, one of my students, when a bolt of lightning jolted down from the sky, very close to us. we screamed bloody murder, jumped out of the water, and then it started pouring down rain like a deluge. everybody was yelling and running up to the boardwalk, and the lifeguards were blowing their whistles and hauling people out of the water, and the wind was howling and the thunder crashed and it was amazing. so we went to visit another student at work on the boardwalk and had lunch at his restaurant under an umbrella. and nobody died. the end.

shout out from the OC!

hello again! it's time for another update from the o.c. things are good. today, especially, is good. it's the first really nice day we've had in the week that i've been here. the students are all here and out looking for jobs today and yesterday. we've nearly finished the orientation process, and we're getting settled into our routine. i've had some really great conversations with students already, and i'm really excited to get to know them more. we've also played three rounds of settlers of catan since they got here on saturday, and i taught three of them how to play euchre yesterday. we also went down to the boardwalk as a group last night, and had a great time. these are good students. there is a lot more i could tell you about, but i will save that for a later date, since i am ready to head out to the beach to appreciate our first sunny day! i'd love to hear from you this summer. email me, call me, write me. email me for my address. i love mail! adios!

finally!

hello hello! the internets are working! yay! i can finally update you on my life. i am in ocean city, new jersey, getting settled at the beach house. i've been here since wednesday. we've been crazy busy getting the house set up before the students arrive, unpacking the attic, washing loads of dishes, doing laundry, making signs, and having meetings. we've been grocery shopping four times; imagine doing the shopping for thirty people! it takes two of us every time. the students are moving in today, and we have a lull in the unloading process. i'm having flashbacks of "we-haul" days at calvin. this is both better and worse; it's not nearly as hot as it is in late august, but almost everyone lives on the fourth floor of this building!
but anyway, things are going well. i'm happy and getting used to living at the beach. i miss you all very much. i am slightly comforted, however, to know that everyone i know is jealous of me. this is the best job in the world.
please pray for us as we get settled this week. pray for our community, and that God will be present in our house. okay. pictures to follow. adios!

my apologies

hello all. i'm sorry about the severe post drought around these here parts. i'm at spring institute with limited internet access. also, i've been very busy. ;) things are good. class is good. grand rapids was good. even beaver falls is good. stuff is good.
that's all we have time for right now. i'm on my way out to a beach project meeting. i'm sorry this is vague; feel free to inquire if you have specific questions. i may or may not answer them.

(hi, hp!)

weird

last night was potentially my last youth group ever. i'm leaving on sunday, and when i come back in the fall, someone else will (hopefully) have taken over. weird. it's the end of an era. i don't really know how to feel about it... i've never felt an extreme, mind-blowing passion for youth ministry. however, i am really going to miss these students that i've been working with for the past two years. i'll still see them, but it will be different. strange, strange. but regardless of how i feel about it, time marches on. i just don't want it to march on without allowing me any time for reflection. i'll have to make sure i have time for that at the beach. ahh, sweet bliss. look at this:

that should ease my pain. T minus 20 days. hooray!

mhmmm...

:D

tulip time

hello all. i'm back from grand rapids, where i had a lovely time with my mother. unfortunately, it rained for all but seventeen minutes of my visit. boo. i made the rounds and got caught up with quite a few people, which was great. i also visited calvin college and took this beautiful picture of the tulips for khadija. i did not attend any other tulip time festivities.
i did, however, go to barnes and noble with trixie and take this picture with johnny depp. who takes their picture with random cut-outs of famous people in bookstores? apparently, my little sister and i do. don't judge me. i love johnny depp and i have no pride.

today i saw some old friends from college who were up here from virginia beach for a few days. it was wonderful to catch up, though too short, as always. but they said they'll be checking my blog, so here's a shout-out to the kastrounises!

well, that's about all we have time for right now, folks. i am finishing up here; this is my last week at the church until august, and i have some things to take care of. so, i'm off. like a dirty shirt. awesome.

i'm coming home

heads up, grand rapids. i'm coming home tomorrow. i've gotta see my momma. and i wouldn't mind seeing the rest of you either. give me a call... i'll be in the car all afternoon. feliz dia de las madres. hasta la vista.

spring update

i've recently been chastised for posting boring content that is irrelevant and fails to inform you of milestones in my life. (good point though, robin.) therefore, i have today decided to update you on what is going on. vis a vis, the following:
i am in the home stretch at work this month. i have eight more days at church before i'm done for the summer, which is surprising, exciting, and a little unnerving. there is much to do and little time to do it. for those of you who don't know, i've decided to start an after-school program at my church next fall, which is very exciting. however, i get back here on august 12, just two or three weeks before we hope to get started. so, i have a lot to do in preparation.
meanwhile, i'm trying to get ready to go to the beach! i'll be working out east this summer, just a few blocks from the ocean, doing student leadership development. i couldn't be more excited about this. i've just returned from spending two days in philadelphia with the other three staff members preparing and planning, and it was great! we're all pretty laid-back, which will make living in a house with thirty people much less stressful. one of the staff is married with three small children (who are extremely cute, by the way), and their entire family will be living with us at the beach.we stayed at their house in philly, and it was really cool to watch their family dynamics. they're very hospitable people, and i really admire their marriage and parenting style. it's going to be a really cool summer, watching how someone else's family functions. and the baby is not talking yet, and i shall endeavor to have his first word be "katherine." or "kaky," as my own baby sisters used to call me. or as my current friends call me. whatever.
there's a lot more going on, but this is all i have time for right now... more later!

hApPy BiRtHdAy SaRaH!

it is my beloved sister's birthday today! sarah, i wish i could be there to celebrate with you. i also hope that the card i sent in the mail has made its way to you in time. i hope you have a wonderful day, and i'll see you in a week and a half! i heart you!

a little helper for you!

hello all. i got an email yesterday from khadija with some valuable information in it. it's a website that tells you the cheapest, average, and most expensive gas prices in your region. just enter your zip code! it's fabulous. perhaps it's my dutchness, but every penny counts! gr, you appear to be winning the petrol game by about 3 cents, which is suprising. anyway, check it out.

you're welcome.

dandelions

my pastor's kids just picked some dandelions and brought them to me in my office. how charming. they're so cute.
in other dandelion-related news (betcha didn't think there would be *more*, didya?), yesterday i was looking out the back window at church at our lawn that i'm fairly certain hasn't been mowed yet this spring. some unidentifiable animal (gopher? groundhog? prairie dog?) was skipping about the yard, eating the tops off hundreds of dandelions like they were about to disappear. i didn't realize they were such a hot commodity. also, i don't think they taste very good. pretty acidic, if the smell and residue are any hint. gross.
i'm in a pretty good mood today... i had two very successful presentations yesterday, and so i feel fairly satisfied in my work world for the time being. aviance and i spoke to the board of directors at the office yesterday, and we both did well. they seemed pleased with us, which is good since i'd like to stick around here. and my session (that's council, for you crc-ers) was *very* supportive of our new after-school program idea, and so it's going to take off! yay! so thanks to all of you were praying about those yesterday. it was a good day.

cien!

*** tHiS iS mY oNe hUnDrEdTh pOsT! *** yAy!
i can't think of an appropriate celebration. perhaps some congratulations are in order. at the very least, on this momentous occasion, i'd like to thank my faithful readers. i appreciate (most of) your comments.

now, for some things.
1. donald miller (author of the acclaimed blue like jazz) has a new book out. it is called to own a dragon, and it is about growing up without a father. i started it last night. so far, so good. i'll keep you posted.
2. you may recall the birds that have been infesting my apartment. in a self-destructive moment this weekend, i decided to rent alfred hitchcock's the birds. andrew and i watched it on friday night. aside from the lack of closure at the end of the film, it was good. quite obviously fake (or so i tell myself), but good.
3. steve garber, author of the fabric of faithfulness which a bunch of us read with the heffners senior year, was speaking at staff seminar this week. he was excellent. plus he's cco alum. yay.

i'd like to go home now for a bit. good day.

a quickie

two things. this:

the pier in st. joseph, near anya's house last week.

and, there was ANOTHER bird in my apartment yesterday. funniness factor is dwindling. please help.

happy easter

hello all. i've just returned from g-rap, where i've been celebrating the easter holidays with my family. event update to follow. for now: we sang this at church on sunday morning, and it is one of my absolute favorite easter songs. enjoy.

IN CHRIST ALONE

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone!—who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied—
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious Day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

—By Stuart Townend and Keith Getty

"hurry hurry hurry!"

said the children in my office, as they took turns grabbing the sheets of paper as they shot out of the copier machine and brought them, one by one, to the desk. they are my pastor's children, and they are "helping daddy" today in the office while their mother is at work. they are four years old, and they are twins. for the last ten minutes, they have been playing this game. ally has now tired of it, and andrew is doing double turns and running twice as fast, so as not to miss a single sheet when it spits out. it's amazing what will entertain children. a few minutes ago, they were in my office, inspecting everything and looking for candy in the drawers. a few months ago, there may have been some, but after the harold the church mouse incident, there is absolutely no food in this office. so they entertained themselves with my cell phone and talking to toni, the secretary, on my intercom, and pulling my "jesus books" off my shelves. they really are adorable. plus they distract me from the task at hand, which is to imagine every possible question that the session may ask me about the plans for our new after school program, and come up with satisfactory answers. so the periodic fish faces that the twins blow on my window are welcome.
they are leaving now to go to playland at mcdonald's as a reward for being so good for daddy today. i'm going to try to get back to work now. this will require me to stop listening to imogean heap on myspace, and also to hide my sudoku puzzle book (i'm almost done with a "super tough" one!) and hide the book that is calling to me from my desk. it is called the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, and it is fascinating. i recommend it highly. but not if you're at work. so get back twerk! what are you doing reading this anyway?!?!

visitors!

this weekend, i had a full house... my mom, my aunt, my sister, her best friend, and my best friend were all visiting! it was fabulous to have them all around. we did all manner of touristy things, like visiting a bunch of historic landmarks in the city and taking pictures at scenic overlooks. i took them to all my favorite places, like the coffee tree in shadyside and station square, and we explored new areas of the city too! i'd (amazingly) never been to the fountain at point state park (where all three rivers meet) or ridden up the duquesne incline to mt. washington. it was great to show them the city and why i love it. plus i took a lot of great pictures, as it was a beautiful day. i tried to put up a link to my shutterfly album, but it doesn't work. it has all the pictures from this weekend, and also last weekend when jonathan was here. too bad. they were pretty.

a plea for mercy

this is an open letter to the birds who KEEP GETTING INTO MY APARTMENT.
dear Birds,
i beg of you, please stop coming into my apartment. it is not outside. i know there are multiple windows and skylights, but my apartment is inside. it is for human inhabitants only. i do not appreciate your visits. we had a deal. i will stay in my apartment, and you were supposed to stay outside.
this morning, as i was blow-drying my hair, your presence nearly gave me a heart attack. why do you insist on invading my territory? please stop crawling through the crawlspace in my attic to gain entrance. if by some navigational mistake you do find yourself in my apartment, please take the out i provide for you by flying out the open window, rather than continuing to dive-bomb the skylights. how many times do you have to throw your body against the glass to know that it is solid? windows are the invention of humans to keep animals like you out while letting the sunshine in. you may not be familiar with my indoor architechture.
i'll admit, i am afraid of you. perhaps it is alfred hitchcock's fault. it may also be related to the recent avian flu epidemic. i may also be afraid that you will peck out my eyes. even so, i realize that you are probably even more afraid of me. please know that the broom i wield is merely a directive device. as long as you do not fly into my face, i will not hit you with it. please follow the swooping motion toward the *open* window. do not perch on my lamp. please do not sit on my bed. do not climb around on my table, knocking over my chess set with your incessant flapping. and for the love of all that is good and holy, STOP POOPING ON MY COUCH!
just get out of my bloody apartment. go outside where you belong. go away, and never come back.
when the landlord comes over later today to investigate, please leave him alone. it is for the good of us all.

sincerely,
katherine, queen of the apartment

p.s. please don't tell anyone about the nervous screaming. it would bruise my pride.

a failed attempt

be nice to me. i tried to give blood today. however, after three hours of waiting, filling out questionnaires, answering questions, and lying on a porch-type chair, i donated less than the required amount of blood. i'm not exactly sure why... my blood does not flow quickly. this was the first time i've ever tried to donate, so i don't know if it was situational or not. we were having a blood drive for stephanie, a little girl from my church who has leukemia. i wasn't going to give, because i faint easily, and i didn't want to chance it. but then stephanie and her family were here, and she told me that she'd sit with me while i gave. she said, "whenever you're ready to get poked, i'm ready!" so i thought the least i could do was try. they tested me, and my blood pressure was perfect, my iron levels were good, and my temperature was 98.6. so we went for it, but it didn't work out. my arm still hurts, and i feel a little woozy, but i'll recover. meanwhile, 150 people came to donate blood for her today. please pray for her.

something more interesting than "weekend update"

things i did not do this weekend:
1. attend a wedding in ohio
2. bring khadija the silver earrings i said she could borrow to be in said wedding
3. homework
4. sleep an adequate amount
5. my taxes

things i did do this weekend:
1. play with jon
2. see ben folds play for free at the bigelow bash
3. take my middle schoolers to a "funfest," which was aptly named
4. watch the basketball semi-finals
5. learn how to play settlers of catan
6. cut off all jon's hair
7. eat squash soup and sushi at whole foods

appendix of pictures:
a. jonathan with a pile of his own hair
b. ben folds standing on top of his piano, directing the audience in song
c. me and three of my middle schoolers at the funfest
d. a billboard for giant eagle in the parking lot of whole foods

nearly dying

so last night khadija and i laid down in the middle of an intersection to watch the lights change. we were in robinson, which is normally a very very very busy shopping center near my house. d and i had been sitting in steak n shake discussing some things that we're dealing with lately, and finally we realized that it was quarter after one. we decided to leave. when we walked outside, it was so quiet (except for some apparently nocturnal birds) that we just stood still to listen to this anomaly. there was nobody out, because nobody actually LIVES in robinson... it's all malls. so, we decided to do what we would never be able to do there in broad daylight: lay down in the middle of the street. it was just like the notebook, but far less romantic, as khadija and i are not romantically interested in each other. nothing happened, and we didn't nearly die or anything. but now when we're eighty, we can say, "remember that time we laid in the intersection to watch the lights change in robinson?" and then we will laugh.

summer fun

hello everyone...
i haven't posted this week at all due a homework and weekend trip crunch. i'm going away to splash lagoon with my middle and high schoolers in about two hours. we went last year, and it was awesome! (though i wish jack and erin were coming again this year.) anyhow, i've been busy trying to get all that together, and i have two papers due for grad school TODAY. so, this is all you're getting. just an invitation to be jealous of me while i go enjoy the 80 degree weather, hot tubs, and awesomeness that is splash lagoon, "Your Indoor Water Resort!"

prayer of st. francis

i have always loved this prayer. someone sang it at my parents' wedding, and i think it's beautiful. enjoy.

make me a channel of your peace
where there is hatred, let me bring your love
where there is injury, your pardon, Lord
and where there's doubt true faith in you

o Spirit, grant that i would never seek
so much to be consoled as to console
to be understood, as to understand
to be loved, as to love with all my soul

make me a channel of your peace
where there's despair in life, let me bring hope
where there is darkness, let me bring your light
and where there's sadness, ever joy

make make me a channel of your peace
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
in giving to all that we will receive
and in dying that we're born to eternal life

attic attack

i nearly died today. this afternoon i was home cleaning my apartment when i heard a strange noise upstairs. my windows were open (since it's 70 degrees here), and so i thought it was the strings from the blinds flapping in the wind. however, the flapping was followed by a thud, and then a crash. then the flapping started again. i went over to the stairs to the third floor, and this time i could hear the flapping better... it was quite clearly some winged creature, wreaking havoc in my attic. now, the attic is finished, with skylights and couches and lamps and many things to be knocked over. however, my greatest fear was that The Thing would come swooping down the stairs and dive at my head, tangling itself in my hair and pecking my eyeballs out. even worse, it could be a bat. sick sick sick sick sick. so, like any normal person would do in such an emergency, i started to freak out. (i just got shudders again thinking about it. oh gosh.) i was crouching on the stairs, holding a mirror at an angle and trying to get a good view of the third floor without actually having to venture up there, putting myself in grave danger. every time i thought i might be getting close enough to see something, the flapping got louder and i flipped out and ran back down the stairs. hence, my exploratory endeavors were failing, and there was no way i was going to go up there without proper eye protection. so, i called my landlord. he didn't answer. i thought about just leaving my apartment, but i had all these visions of wreckage and bird poop everywhere. and if it was a bat, it might eventually settle down, but i couldn't bear the thought of not knowing where it was. so, being the empowered woman that i am, i ran downstairs and got my neighbor. i made him come up and check out my intruder situation. he didn't have any luck with the mirror thing either, so he went up there, and then screamed a bit and yelled down to me, "it's a huge bird! don't worry, it won't hurt you!" i was unsure of this, so i cautiously climbed halfway up the stairs. a vase of flowers was knocked over, half my candles were on the floor, there was bird poop on my couch and on one of my chairs, and it had knocked my chess set over and a frisbee onto the floor. then i saw the bird, dive-bombing the window, trying to get out. my neighbor opened one of the other windows, and after a minute, it found its way out. i keep getting chills just thinking about it again! there was a bird in my house! i have no idea how it got in, but i'm glad it's out. sick!
well, that's my big story for the day. i'm going to chicago tomorrow, so don't expect much from me for a few days. adios.

lexicon lusciousness

i am writing my next newsletter, and hence looking over my notes from jubilee. i went to one of lauren winner's break-out sessions, which was entitled, "lies the church has told about sex." it was based on her book real sex: the naked truth about chastity. if you havn't read it, you should. in it and in this session, she was talking about faithful christian embodiment. she says that chastity is conforming your body to the arc of the gospel, and that the church has not always done a good job of teaching the spiritual discipline of chastity. in an effort to help, it has misled. for example:
myth #1: if you have premarital sex, you'll feel terrible.
however, sometimes having premarital sex doesn't feel terrible. the truth is, sex outside of marriage is destructive, even when it doesn't FEEL destructive. because we are fallen people, sometimes our feelings don't accurately match the way we should feel.
myth #2: women don't have sexual desires. it is their job to keep men's sexual desires under control.
this is absolutely not true. both men and women experience sexual desire. in fact, the idea that only men experience sexual desire is fairly new; a hundred years ago, men were assumed to be bastions of morality, and women were thought to be "lascivious, libidinous, and wanton." (she actually used all those words IN ONE SENTENCE. twincredible.) so both genders have sexual desires, but desire can be disciplined.
myth #3: premarital sex is the unforgiveable sin.
the truth is that behaviors have consequences. our decisions today will affect our lives and marriages later. however, most of the time, when we talk about premarital sex, we use language about scars and ghosts. the idea is that engaging in premarital sex will leave us marked and broken forever, and the ghosts of past sexual partners will hover around our marriage beds. this language of scars does not fit with the biblical assurances of psalm 51: "cleanse me with hyssop, and i will be clean. wash me, and i will be whiter than snow."
she also spoke about the term "renewed virgin." she doesn't like this term, because, first of all, it is false. recommitting to abstinence before marriage after engaging in premarital sex will not cause your virginity to "grow back." you cannot become a virgin again. second, the term values virginity, not chastity. and it is chastity that we should be aiming for, which is ever so much more than virginity. it is, as i wrote before, "conforming your body to the arc of the gospel." we could be virgins, and yet be far from chaste.
a few months ago, i had a great conversation with a student about her sexual past, and how she felt that the church saw her as a lost cause because she is no longer a virgin. we started talking about this book, and she came to jubilee, went to this session, and loved it! i think it was great for her to hear christians talking about sex in a healthier, more biblical way that affirms her desire to pursue chastity.

ms. winner (i've met her now, so i assume i could call her lauren) also used the following quote by c.s. lewis, which i loved:
“Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
true, true.
that's it for now. pax.

postsecret.chom

misslay sent me this link. fascinating concept. check it out.

the north side

hello all. i'm become aware that my blog has been dismally boring of late. (and i bet you thought i was going to attempt to fix that now. you were wrong.) i'm not sure why, but my creativity level is bordering on non-existant. my apologies.
i've been hanging out on the north side of the city this week. yesterday i had my supervision meeting at the vault coffee and tea bar, which i like. newfriendphil was working there, so i hung around for a bit after my boss left and did sudoku puzzles with him. he lives on the north side, and last night andrew and i went there to hang out with him. we listened to the red house painters and anathallo and ate burnt popcorn and stayed up too late. and then i went to the pyn today (that's pittsburgh youth network for you out-of-townies) at pnc park. this dude was speaking about his passion for the emergent church, and it was pretty interesting. his vision for the emergent church around here has a lot to do with the city... for a few decades now, people have been trying to make pittsburgh as famous for God as it was for steel. the christians are trying to think of ways to unite the city around faith instead of football, for example. but he said something interesting that i'd never thought of before: when we talk about our churches, we split up on denominational lines. but in the new testament, the defining characteristic of each church was geographical. everything is written about the church of corinth, or of thessolonica, or of laodecia (luke-warm as it may be). so this morning, as we looked over the city out the windows of the pirates stadium, we were thinking and praying about what the church of pittsburgh would be like. it was pretty amazing to join hands and pray with people from all over the city that God would do something big here. it's a good time to be in pittsburgh.
afterwards andrew and i went out for coffee at beleza, a new place that opened on the north side last weekend. it's owned by newfriendphil and some of his friends from hope. it's pretty great. plus the girl who was working there today is pretty great, and i think we might be friends.
so i'm enjoying my exploits on the north shore. there are art museums and coffee shops and stadiums and red brick rowhouses. PLUS, it's much closer to my house. good times.
well, i'm off to watch my middle schoolers in hopewell junior high's performance of the classic musical, annie. i hope your evenings are equally enjoyable.
pax.

taking a deep breath

hello, everyone. well, i survived the whirlwind that was last week. everything got done that was supposed to get done, and i would say that it was an overall success. i am taking the day off today, and am currently sitting in a booth in the coffee house in moon township, drinking french vanilla coffee, eating a blueberry muffin, leisurely reading emails, perusing the blogworld, and stalking people via facebook. in a minute, i plan to read some more harry potter.
a bunch of big things have happened in the last week; too many to explain in fair detail here. jubilee was this weekend, and it was incredible, as always. i've got a lot of stuff to think about now... i'm not sure where to start to explain. so, if you're interested, call and ask. i was so exhausted afterwards that i got home, i climbed into my bed, and started reading a book by tony campolo (one of the conference speakers). after an hour of so, i decided that i needed a nap, and i fell asleep so soundly that when my friend emily "venn" vanjacobs called at 8:15, i was convinced that it was the middle of the night. once i woke up, it was fabulous to talk to her. i'm glad she called, or i probably would have woken up at 3:30 in the morning ready for the day.
unfortunately, when i did wake up this morning, i found that the cold i was coming down with last week has finally caught up with me. i don't have much of a voice today. all the more reason for me to take the day off.

great lakes, great times

i'm back from a lovely though frigid weekend in michigan. apparently, it was the coldest weekend of the year, and i believe it without a doubt. it was a grand total of 8 degrees on saturday, the kind of cold that makes your hair freeze and your fingers hurt for 20 minutes after you go inside.
i've been missing my family a lot lately, and it was time to go back and see them. we had a good time on friday family fun night, a shoutout to days of yore when my parents had us push potatoes across the living room floor with our noses. this time we stuck to less snake-like games, like taboo and rummikub. please enjoy this picture of my parents attempting to read the "tiny" print on the taboo cards:


thanks to my new digital camera (potentially my favorite new possession), here also are some pictures of my sisters and brothers-in-law, and also my honorary sibling, liz, who is trixie's best friend and one of my favorite people:

i also went to an uhhmazing sigur ros show at calvin. it was unbelievable. those of us who attended have since been discussing the sub-parness of the rest of the music in the world. if you've never gone, please do yourself a favor and experience heaven on earth. the opener, amina, was also beyond description. i take comfort in the fact that most of the people who read this were there, and hence my lack of descriptive ability is of no consequence. i will direct your attention elsewhere, to a much more articulate description of the ecstasy in the FAC.
ahh, sweet bliss.
but now, i'm home, and as this weekend is jubilee, i am very vErY VERY busy. so, don't expect much from me til next week.
pax.

ohmygosh

oh no. facebook is taking over my life. i just spent an hour looking people up and being oddly obsessed with finding out what they are doing these days. this is not a good habit for katherine.

goshen getaway

this weekend, i spent a day in the amish wonderland that is goshen, indiana. this picture was taken outside a bank. i'll be honest, i haven't seen a horse and buggy in awhile, and when i saw one going across the overpass on I-80, it took me by surprise. i haven't seen too many farm animals in pittsburgh, except for at the live nativity at christmas. (go ahead and make your country bumpkin jokes. i'm ready: "but kath! those are your roots! you LOVE horses! you used to have some horses! you're a farmer!" no, they are not; no, i don't; no, i didn't; and no, i am not.)
we had a great time though, reuniting with robin and soaking up small-town culture. we even found a country dutch pastry shop, and we went in to celebrate our heritage. unfortunately, it turned out to be less holland dutch and more amish dutch. but, we had a good laugh. it's good to be with my people. :)
and of course, FaBuLoUs to see bobo. i love that guy, and i'm so glad i got to spend some time with him, even though it was a 6 hour drive and he was there for less than 24 hours. i'd do it again tomorrow if i could. you'd think it would be hard to catch up immediately with someone you haven't spoken to (though not for lack of desire) for six months, but robin is one of those people that, no matter how long we've been apart, we'll always be thrilled to see each other, and it will feel like no time has gone by at all. there were so many people there who are so important to me, and even though i didn't get to talk to many of them as much as i would have liked, it was wonderful to spend time together nonetheless.
i'm back to work today, and i have a lot to do before thursday, when i'm going HOME to see my family. i'm really excited, so i have to get a lot of work done right now. i'll see you soon.
pax.

oh so soon

yay for me!

unbelievable

i promise i'll stop going on about the steelers after this post. i just wanted to tell you that they had a parade downtown today for the team, and it went on for a few hours because there were so many people that the cars couldn't get through. the newscasters said there were probably a quarter of a million people downtown this morning. people drove in from all over. one guy they talked to had flown in from california to be there today. it was unbelievable. some of my students went, and i almost went with them, but i'm kind of glad that i didn't, because i don't like being around THAT many people, and i'm too short to be able to see anything anyway. but i saw it on the tv, and it was crazy. i love this city.

I TOLD YOU SO!

hello hello hello. it is a beautiful day in pittsburgh. just in case you missed The Game last night, this picture should sum it up for you:

i watched the game at some friends' house in the city, and when it was over, let me tell you, there was jubilation in the streets. i've never seen so many people rejoicing in my life. i had to drop off my friends at their houses, and then make the trek through oakland, through the campuses of both cmu and pitt. there were people everywhere! there were terrible towels hanging out the window of every car, and people shouting on the sidewalks, and horns honking like in an LA traffic jam. the cross streets were closed, and there were people smiling and yelling like nobody's business. it was a good time, let me tell you. the whole city was united. i wish you all could have been here. it was uhhmazing.
i forgot to bring in my camera to load the pictures from last night onto my computer, so you'll have to wait a bit. but here's one of bill that makes me happy. enjoy.

T minus one hour

hello everyone... i'm in the city, waiting for kick-off. today is the day we get the one for the thumb. you wouldn't believe the craziness around here... all the digital road signs on the major highways that are supposed to warn you about congestion ahead and bad road conditions and reminders to wear your seatbelt have been replaced by a single banner: GO STEELERS. the digital signs on the busses say GO STEELERS. everyone is all decked out in black and gold. they are closing the bridges to keep people where they are, and the tension is mounting.
just wait.
today is the day.

some things

i really don't have anything good to say today, but as it's been five days since my last post, i feel compelled to change the scenery. here's what i've been reading lately:

they're both excellent. both authors are speaking at jubilee at the end of the month, and i'm trying to prepare myself for what they're going to say, so that i know how to respond in case my students flip out on me again. in the meantime, i'm enjoying reading them.
i recently went to see pride and prejudice, which is my favorite book of all time. i'd never seen any of the film versions before. i was initially skeptical because jane austen's writing style is so subtle... she leaves so much to the imagination that i was afraid that translating her work to film would be unsatisfying at best. with this mindset firmly in place, i lowered my expectations and went to see the film. it's true that some things about the book just can't be communicated on screen. but, i love the story, and as i wasn't expecting greatness, i was satisfied. it was pretty well done, except for the pukey ending, which was entirely made up and gross. so if you go see it, walk out before the "mrs. darcy, mrs. darcy, mrs. darcy" part if you want to avoid a positively vomiticious reaction. (unless you've never read the book, in which case it might not bother you.)
some things i'm excited about:
going to indiana to see ROBIN!! and everyone else. yay!
going to GR to see my family and sigur ros
winning the superbowl on sunday
well, that's the best i can do to entertain you today. perhaps something fabulous and truly blog-worthy will happen tomorrow.
good day to you.

clumsy mcfallsalot here

hello everyone. i am writing from the porterhouse of wild game (i.e. jess and erin's apt.). it is saturday afternoon, and i have been detained here overnight due to an embarrassing mishap last night. jess and erin and i attended a show at club cafe on the southside. as erin and i were walking to my car, less than one block from the club, i fell into a gutter. oh my gosh. there was a gaping hole under the curb that sloped down into the open gutter, and i rolled my ankle and fell into a disgraceful heap in the street. my shoe fell off and was dangerously close to dropping inth gutter abyss. i hurt my knee a bit, got pavement burn on the palm of my left hand, and significantly hurt my right foot. in an attempt to get up, i dropped my coat into the gutter as well. luckily i was able to grab it in time. we drove back to the girls' house, and i spent the remainder of the evening lying on the futon with my foot iced and elevated. i had to crawl around the apartment like an invalid! this is the second clumsiest thing* i've ever done, and i feel like a pitiful fool. but, the girls have been very thoughtful, bringing me ibuprofen and frozen peas and breakfast in bed. it feels a bit better today, but i don't think i'll be going much of anywhere for the rest of the day. good thing it's my day off.

*the clumsiest thing i've ever done was in the summer between my first and second years of college. i went to see planet of the apes (the marky mark production) at studio 28 with ruth and jonathan and some other people. i may or may not have walked into a huge sign in the theater lobby. if you're interested in a more entertaining version of this snippet, feel free to inquire of ruth or jonathan, who are sure to give you a treat.

happy epiphany and a shameless plug for lauren winner

i just thought of one more thing i want to say today. i've been going through a phase of late that makes me extremely interested in forgotten traditions of the christian faith. (i am actually hoping that this is not merely a phase, but the beginning of being more attentive to the history of the church.) this has been fed by reading books by lauren winner, who i mentioned a few weeks ago. i love her. she is speaking at jubilee next month, and i am trying to read her books before i hear her speak. meanwhile, while perusing my friend matt's blog, i found a link to an article that lauren (i wish we were on a first-name basis) has written about epiphany. i'm posting a link to it here. go and read it. and then go and buy her books (mudhouse sabbath, real sex, and girl meets god).
also, at a training event for work last week, we had an eastern orthodox priest come and speak to us about the cross and suffering. it was really interesting to hear him talk about the liturgy and prayers and things that they repeat all the time. obviously, there are things like praying to saints that i'm not about, but i think there is something to be said for recognizing the tradition that we come from. the modern church forgot about all that stuff in an effort to be contemporary. i think we threw the baby out with the bathwater. in church on sunday, i was sitting with three of my eighth-grade girls. we were singing some hymns a capella, from memory, and i discovered that my girls don't know the doxology, or even holy, holy, holy! i can't believe that in just the ten years between me and them, the church has forgotten thousands of years of tradition! sure, the adults know the songs, but they're not teaching them to the kids! (of course, i see the value in the contemporary worship too. but still, i think we've swung too far.) it seems that the postmodern generation is interested in tradition and liturgy, and i think we should include it to the extent that we can.
maybe it's just me that feels this way. feel free to comment or disagree at will.

my computer is possessed

my computer is doing that thing again where it opens up the cd drive of its own volition. it also freezes up momentarily when it does it, and makes the music from my windows media player buzz. it appears to think that i'm trying to play a cd, which i'm not. IT'S A PLAYLIST!! i've removed the *blank* cd that was in the drive, and now my computer is "autoplaying" it. meanwhile, sufjan stevens sounds like this: "i was the beeeeeeeeeeeeeest man, innnnnnnnnnn a size too smaaaaaaaaall..." periodically, it does this. perhaps there is a virus. jacksma, i need you! jonathan always fixes my computer for me when he comes here. unfortunately, since he moved back to michigan, that has been less frequent. (p.s. jonathan, i miss you, in a non-computer repairman sort of way. let's talk soon.)
well, this is a very lame post. hopefully i'll come up with some better content soon. keep your fingers crossed.

p.s. yesterday was oof miller's birthday. i did call her yesterday, but if you didn't, you should. happy day of birth, roooooth!

can't....write....papers.....

this is the first week of my grad school classes for this semester. this is also the first semester that i've tried to take two classes while working 50 hours a week. this is proving more difficult than i wanted it to be. i think for now my main problem is my inability to jump back into the homework sphere. i have to read books and write responses?!?! i read a lot, but at the moment, real sex by lauren winner is much more enticing than the soul of the american university: from protestant establishment to established nonbelief. i also decided to re-read the first harry potter book this weekend, rather than do my homework. plus the steelers were on yesterday (fyi, WE'RE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!), and thus i didn't get it done. and now, rather than reading, i'm blogging. nice work, kath.
anyhow, this is just an announcement that there may be less blogging going on for me this semester. luckily, the quality of my posts has been declining steadily according to the polls, so perhaps my readership has dropped off and i'll be disappointing only a very few people. if you are one of the faithful (or let's face it, one of the bored) who continues to frequent my blog, my apologies.
now, back to my study and analysis of the history of higher education. good day to you.

here, kitty kitty

courtesy of bob crow.

a hole in the wall

today i arrived at work and was greeted with some unfortunate news. apparently, last night at senior high youth group, during an ill-advised game of flashlight hide and seek, one of the students ran into the wall in the fellowship hall. he appears to have been traveling with such a velocity that his body cracked the drywall cleanly in two, leaving a person-sized hole in the middle of the wall. rumor has it that he thought he was running through a door. (there are no doors, mind you, within four feet of the new portal.) the hole begins about eighteen inches above the floor, and ends just above my head, at five feet and four inches off the ground. it is also about two feet wide. the building and grounds committee is, unsurpisingly, not thrilled. our first concern is of course the safety and well-being of the student, but as he appears to have won the fight with the drywall and sustained no significant injuries, we shift our concern to the gaping hole. this is sure to be a headache for weeks on end. perhaps i'll post a picture tomorrow.

here we go!

i don't know if you saw The Game today, but just in case you missed it, the Steelers, the number 6 seed in the playoffs, beat the favored colts on their home turf in indiana. i'll admit the fourth quarter was a little rocky, but my boyfriend ben roethlisberger tackled the guy, and we came out with the win. so, with a final score of 21-18, the Steelers are off to denver next week for the afc championship. let's have a round of applause for the black and gold.

Here we go
Here we go
Here we go
Steelers, here we go
Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl
Here we go

Cheer the Steelers, Black and the Gold
Here we go
Town of Pittsburgh's Heart and Soul
Here we go
With Cowher power, we'll get the job done
This is the year we'll get that one for the thumb

Here we go
Here we go
Here we go
Steelers, here we go
Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl

Here we go
Big Ben is ready to throw
Here we go
To Ward, Antwaan, and Plaxio
Here we go
We'll go to Bettis when we need a touchdown
and if you get his way he's goin to knock you around

Here we go
Here we go
Here we go
Steelers, here we go
Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl

Here we go
Now the offense is ready to score
Here we go
And there's one thing we know for sure
Here we go
If we don't get it in the endzone
Will get 3 points off of Reed's big toe

Here we go
Here we go
Here we go
Steelers, here we go
Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl

Here we go
We got Chad Scott, Hope, and Gildon
Here we go
Porter, Logan and Washington
Here we go
The other team ain't going to gain any ground
Because the defense is going to bring the steel curtain down

Here we go
Here we go
Here we go
Steelers, here we go
Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl

HERE WE GO!!

bwuh?

i went for a walk this morning before i went to work, and it was sunny and beautiful. it seemed to be unseasonably warm. so, before i came to the office, i watched the news. according to the little box on the bottom of the screen, it's 62 degrees in pittsburgh today. it's supposed to stay in the fifties until the end of the week! i drove to work with my windows open! i wish i didn't have to be inside today. i don't know what's going on, because last time i checked it was mid-january, but i'm lovin it. yay pittsburgh.

the sikky and porterhouse show

yesterday i had some non-office things to do, such as attend the pittsburgh youth network meeting with a first-year staff member, make some phone calls as kick-it girl to follow up for the recruiting team, read a book, etc. plus, my students don't get back til monday. so, i went into the city in the morning, and stayed there all day. my dear friend erin, whom we refer to affectionately as "porterhouse," was with me. we went to the meeting, which was black-and-gold themed due to the upcoming playoff appearance by the steelers. afterwards, we were on our way to oakland, and decided to take a new way. it consisted of a trip around the back of the jail, a number of wrong turns, and a strange dark tunnel that i was afraid would lead to our death. but, it didn't. we pulled onto forbes, and within minutes nearly died again by bus-side-swiping. i honked my horn, to no avail, but did manage to stop quickly enough to avoid sure and sudden death. to celebrate our survival, we got some chicken nachos at qdoba (mhmm, qdoba), and went to caribou coffee to complete some reading tasks and have some chai. we were momentarily distracted by a checkers board, and after i beat her repeatedly, we decided to remove ourselves from the temptation of playing games all afternoon by going to her apartment. i did lots of work (yay), and when i was done, we watched some arrested development. we also went to an art gallery that had some lovely but far too expensive items. but, there was free wine and cheese, plus some chocolate. we also bid our final-for-now adieus to mo, who was in town with her dad picking up her stuff from k-ho's. plus i went to bed early.
well, that's all i have by way of update. erin, i hope you're happy.

back in the saddle again

after a lohohong day of sitting in airports by myself, i am back at work in PA. yesterday, due to the fog, rain, and general crappy conditions, my three hour transit time was stretched into an abysmal eight hour day of nothing. i did finally finish the screwtape letters, which i found fascinating, and completed a number of crossword puzzles. the guy across from me on the plane was about my age, and he was doing number puzzles. i think we could have been friends.
in other airport news, there were two small children singing a song with their mother that was about going to grandma's house, and what animals they might see on their way there. (my first thought was that my own children may someday sing this song, as there will be PLENTY of animals to see on the way to grandpa steve and grandma sue's house.) anyhow, what concerned me was that immediately after singing this cute little barnyard song, they began singing a song that sounded exactly like "my humps" by the black-eyed peas. i hope i was mistaken.
okie dokie. gotta get crackin on my plan for this evening. fifteen middle schoolers will be here to play with me in but a few hours. good day to you.