Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Well.....

i did it.

i have pierced ears!! Yes both of them! It is something i have wanted to do for a long time. And so last night it happened. I did not pass out. I did not cry. It actually was not as painful as i thought it would be. Becca was the one encouraging me to do it.

Good week so far. Becca and the Fisher clan was in Florida over the weekend. So it was a long weekend for me but she had a great time and that is what is important. But they are back and i am looking forward to seeing her.

thanks what i know. Except -- Thomps is my hero!

later
Carter

Monday, January 30, 2006

yeah!

I realize this is just a joke -- as i checked thru snopes.com -- but it is still too funny!


For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on. At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally, your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause you car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive -- but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask, "Are you sure?" before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lift the door handle, turned the key, and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

A friendly conversation

I have been in contact with some of the gang i used to hang with in high school. This is an excerpt from a conversation i have been having from one of those friends.

Okay...imagine we are "God's Antfarm"....he is watching us move about our world in our hurried fashions or walk about in wonder. What would bring Him the most pleasure?? Would not He want us to experience the many wonders He has provided, rather that saying, "Hey thanks, but I just don't have time for these things....I am just going to keep thanking you and assume their nice." It's like when I am teaching math. (No...I am not saying I am a math Goddess) Is it the kid who stares at me like I am "so cool" that makes me feel like I am doing something productive with my life? No...it's that argumentative hyper little shit in the corner who questions the theories, who has to experience the problem solving in their own way, who comes in the next day with a question they hope (and sometimes I can't) answer. It is the kid who comes in the next day with this useless long division problem they had to tape two pieces of paper together to solve (and got it way wrong anyhow...but I can't bear to tell them that). That is the kid who I am reaching. That is the kids that is enjoying the world I am providing for them. I am not trying to slam religion, although I am much more cautious than the rest of you in this area, due to my background. I am also not saying to question your faith, absolutely believe in whatever your heart allows you. Instead, I am trying to say that we have been given so much in this world...nature, friends, relatives, education, entertainment, relationships, and I don't think that we are meant to chose only one and go with it alone. To chose one, and SHUT out the other areas is turning away from the gifts of this world. This...is my thoughts...

She goes on to say after another friend chimes in on the conversation:

You will still talk to me when Darin pretends I am a "dead goat"! (Talk for someone you no longer speak to because they aren't a Jehovah anymore!)


Dead Goat? What the?? She explains. "JW" is Jehovah Witness.

And the "goat" thing, let me explain. When you are a "JW", you are a "sheep", everyone else are "goats". When you leave, you are not only a "very bad goat", but also "presumed and treated dead" by the continuin JWs. The vocabulary is, well, interesting!

Wow. I am taken back by this whole conversation. I am struggling how to respond. My first reaction is frustration that a group of people would treat someone as if they are dead because they left the church. Sympathy for the gal writing this is another.

I may edit this later and add more thoughts. Stay tuned.

Thoughts??

Monday, January 16, 2006

Thoughts for 2006

I stumbled across this -- thought you might enjoy!

New Rules for 2006

1. New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for Classmates.com! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days: mowing my lawn.

2. New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain? Trout?

3. New Rule: Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their hot, blonde teachers are permanently damaged. I have a better description for these kids: lucky bastards.

4. New Rule: If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards, you're gay. If you're a kid, the cards are keepsakes of your idols. If you're a grown man, they're pictures of men.

5. New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: do you have two of them? Okay, we're done.

6. New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket — water, but without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.

7. New Rule: Stop f***ing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis.

8. New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a "decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low and one NutraSweet," ooh, you're a huge asshole.

9. New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering my PIN number, pressing "Enter," verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want cash back, and pressing "Enter" again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.

10. New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to "beef with broccoli." The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.

11. New Rule: Competitive eating isn't a sport. It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN recently televised the US Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting? Oh wait. They're already doing that. It's called "The Howard Stern Show."

12. New Rule: I don't need a bigger mega M&M. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.

13. New Rule: If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy, old television shows, then you have to give everyone in the Cineplex a remote so we can see what's playing on the other screens. Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is that the idea wasn't good enough to be a movie.

14. New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.

15. New Rule: and this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell if he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. don't want to be on your webcam, dude. I just want to wash my hands

16. New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to know in months. "27 Months." "He's two," will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Christmas Party

Yes, it is true. Our companies Christmas party is this Friday. I think we should call it a "Martin Luther King Day" party. Not sure what happened there but it is this Friday night. should be good time.

Well, the Becca made the honor roll at school. Pretty cool. I need to figure out a way to reward her for the effort. thoughts?

Anyway, I am looking forward to this year. I have made some positive changes Health-wise and financially which will make a big difference this year.

Work is good. Busy as usually.

That's it for now. More later!

C

Friday, January 06, 2006

Recently Discovered Bloggers

Hey i added a few more. check em out!

Friday night

Hiho! Kermit the frog here! What the?

Well, i am wishing i was home right now but i am not. You see, i am finishing a video dvd for a friend. I am having some problems with the equipment in the rendering process. Unfortunately the real problem is that i am impatient. I know find i hard to believe but i am. so i thought while my computer i rendering i would blog.

The Becca is down with the flu. So much so that mom drove her to emergency yesterday afternoon. Apparently, Becca was throwing up so much that she became dehydrated. Pretty scary since i work in Zeeland and could not break away. But by last night Becca and mom were home and all was looking mucho better. I spoke to the Boo tonight and she sounded fine.

New Years day! What an interesting day. Becca and I spent New Years Eve with some friends. rang in the new year and headed home. Yeah we were both tired. Next morning, we had one combined gathering. That was cool. I played -- always a good time. Then we had some down time before the Hilson, Hempinstal, Fisher, Cary, Furr Christmas (white elephant). That was interesting. We had great food and lots of laughs. Especially when the white elephant gifts came out. In fact, you will all be impressed to know that i actually received a "white elephant" as my white elephant gift. I have named him Jumbo and he seems to be getting along with Tigger the Cat.

Well, the video only had another 30 minutes to go.

Go X-box 360! (yeah right)

Later
C

Monday, January 02, 2006

blogstipation

ok, ok i stole that from the thomps. but is it really stealing if you acknowledge it?

Wow, so much has happened since 12/10. Both holidays have zoomed by. Times with family and friends has zoomed by. One death and funeral of a friend.

The holidays are always a stressful time for me. I know it is for others but i did not know how to start this segment. It is a very divided time. I certainly would love to spend the entire time with my daughter--that would be heavenly. But i need to divide that up accordingly. I would love to spend time with my brothers. But things like that do not happen enough. This one is going to sound weird, but i would even love to spend time with my ex-in-laws. They are a cool group (who let me hang around) what can i say? I would love to spend more time with my church family. Again, some really cool people there.

But that is not what happened. Oh sure some of it did. Gatherings still went on. I saw my in-law family for a little bit. I spent some really great time with the Becca. During all that two significant things happened. 1. The death of a friend. 2. Time alone with God.

I am not going to spend a tremendous amount of time on the death thing. I am finding myself really struggling with it. A 19 year old goes to bed one night, falls into a coma and 43 days later goes home to be with the Lord. Now there are ALOT of details left out of that story -- i realize. But it just shows how fragile life really is. I head the opportunity to work on the "sidelines" during the whole thing. It was amazing to see God work -- for that i thank Him...

I am still working my thoughts thru - as you can see.

TAWG. When i was on staff at a church, we were required to take 1/2 or full day once a month & be alone with God. I miss those. For me, i had music, a journal, some books (including a bible) and some music writing paper. (and a pillow - because i often found myself taking a nap). Amazing times. Very intentional & focused. It seemed like it would take forever to shut my brain down enough to really hear.

So why is it difficult when i have time and don't do it. hmmmm. Why is it difficult to just be alone?

One of the things the Deur family does at Thanksgiving time is rent an arena. Ok maybe not an arena but a large space and have Thanksgiving dinner. They invite alot of people to this. And i understand it is a great time. Maybe a couple years ago, i found myself "thanksgiving-less". (Matt - look that up for me a let me know if that is a real word.) I was approached by a friend. He said, "You should go to the deur family thanksgiving. they are always taking strays." Now let me say that i was not offended by that and i am writing this because here is my point. Is it that i feel like a stray? A wayword cat tossed out in the snow, meowing at a door.

From the Message, Romans 5: 6-8 reads:
6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Hebrews 11:1
1The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see.

A daily walk is critical to any friendship. Without disciple, we will not connect. Which is the same with God. One of my goals for the new year is a greater commitment to prayer and time listening. I do not know how successful i will be but i am going to try.

Wow that was scattered. Hope you enjoyed.

later,
c