Awake

Just another deer...

I was headed out my back door when I startled a deer passing through. I slowly went back inside and retrieved my camera and took a few quick shots before it went on its way...

A deer outside my window

A deer outside my window
Originally uploaded by amber_is_i

I was just about to leave my new office for the night—I was closing the blinds—and what did a see, but a deer grazing in the backyard of Abbinito.

Kitty?

Kitty?
Originally uploaded by amber_is_i

Our cousin thought Zoie looked like the little girl from Monsters, Inc. I think there may be a resemblance. What do you think? :)

New.

New desk.
New bookcase.
New blonde.
New jacket.
New phone.
New polish.
New post.
New me?

Nah. Still me.

What's Up

Leah asks What Have You Been Up To? and I'm here to answer that question after a long absence from my little blog here.

I've been enjoying biking the Bear Creek Greenway between Ashland and Central Point...

I've been meeting Dan and Alonna's new baby...

...and preparing to teach a new infant massage class for parents in Portland.

I've been working and learning a LOT: web design, drupal, business card design, postcard design, software development, training, troubleshooting, hot stone massage, table thai massage, aromatherapy, getting clients, keeping clients, etc...

I've been watching the Mariners play (and lose). Best part of this week was Richie Sexson throwing a helmut at the pitcher causing a mass emptying of both dugouts. It was awesome.

I've been traveling to Portland quite a bit and there are many more trips in sight, (today, for example).

I've been crocheting a little bit. I'm working on a shrug for one of the salon assistants.

I've been biking every night up and down Madrona Lane to watch the sunset and decompress from my day.

I've been doing a lot of chair massage — at the "Y" and once a month at the First Friday Artwalk in Ashland.

I've been trying to get up earlier and get a better start on my day.

What have YOU been up to?

Overheard at 50 North Third Street

Kelly and I are sitting at her manicure desk. The stereo is directly behind her and she is filing my nails as part of my acrylic fill. She turns up the volume and we enter into conversation about some of the music. You see, Drew recently made a comment to Kelly that her music was "old" so she asked our young salon assistants to make some mixes for the salon, I suppose in hopes of rejuvenating the atmosphere a bit. So while the mix included some "older" classics (relatively speaking, that is), there were some "newer" songs included as well.

As we sat and listened, I remarked, "Generation Y expresses angst much more melodically than Generation X, don't you think?"

She replied, "They do whine beautifully."

Indeed they do.

Photos from Alonna's baby shower are posted

Alonna and me
Originally uploaded by amber_is_i

Just got my photos posted on Flickr from Alonna's shower. It was great to hang out with the Reinmuth girls and others from Village that I haven't seen in quite a while! I crocheted a baby blanket for the occasion, my first crocheted project since the flurry of Christmas projects.

Link: Photos from Alonna's Baby Shower.

Happy Valentine's Day

This morning I arrived at the salon, portable massage chair in tow. Carsen smiled behind the front desk and I complemented her cute dress, which turned out to be one of those tops that only looks like dress from the waist up.

A Pony, It Was NotI began to unpack my chair and Kelly caught my eye. She smiled as she continued to manicure her client's nails and said, "There's a little something for you upstairs."

I replied, "Is it a pony?"

The laughter continued in smirks and repeats of "Is it a pony?" for several more moments. Kristi arrived with a sing-song, "Hellooo everyone!" and complimented Carsen on her cute dress, which isn't really a dress at all, but one of those tops that only looks like a dress from the waist up.

Having set up my chair and unpacked its supplies into the bottom center drawer of the product display hutch, I headed upstairs to my other office.

Perched peacefully upon the alabaster surface of my favorite laptop table, DAVE, was not a pony, but a bag of coffee beans and a See's heart o' chocolate. That makes two choco-hearts for me this year, as last night I arrived home to find a Valentine's package from Mommy Dearest (and Dadoo too) with a darling hand-made valentine accompanied by a See's heart full of yummy little chocolates.

It's another blue-sky-beautiful day in the Valley. It is chilly but we are so near the Spring, the chill is hardly bothersome. This morning in the backyard at 3355, I counted twelve robins, two scrub jays and a pair of squirrels. (Grandpa says, "But no deer.")

The sunnyness is promised into the weekend, making it a fine time for a trip north. And as it happens I am traveling in that direction beginning Friday evening. I am taking a Table Thai Massage class on Saturday and on Sunday going to Seattle see Brant, Jackie, The Puppy, and their new home. Monday, back in Portland, I'm getting a long overdue massage and my car will be getting a 126K service.

My treat for the day is a fill for my new acrylic nails (that look just like my own nails, only prettier) and a fresh coat of polish, courtesy of the lovely and talented Kelly, my cousin-in-law and owner of the salon. I think I've settled on OPI's "Passion", a glittery cornucopia of lavendars. Although I have been loving my redder than red nails of the past two weeks and will fondly reminisce of how my redder than red nails made me feel like a superhero, especially in the afternoon.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Psych. Just the right amount of Silly and Awesome.

I've recently discovered the TV show, "Psych" on the USA channel. Very silly. Very awesome. The best part is that new episodes have started up again. Who knew that new episodes of anything could be found? Fridays are my favorite TV/TiVo day: Monk, Psych and Stargate Atlantis — and all three were new last night. Joy.

Just for fun...

Coloring inspires "pay it forward" random act of kindness?

It was another sunny (albeit cool) day in Ashland. I decided to treat myself to lunch at Zoey's Cafe across from the Ashland Springs Hotel downtown. They have a divine salad with blue cheese crumbles, seasoned chicken, candied walnuts and a vinaigrette dressing that I adore. I am quietly munching on my salad when a couple walks in and seats themselves in the booth directly in front of me. After a while I deduce that they are a honeymooning couple from Canada (cell phone conversation plus a fair bit of schmoopiness). I finish my salad and decide to finish coloring the "Control of Ion Channels by Membrane Potential" page in my Physiology Coloring Book while I finish my mug of Chai.

The couple move from the booth to the gelato counter to decide on two pints. Gelato in hand, they return to the booth to collect their belongings. I continue to "mind my own business" even though in reality I'm observing them to my own amusement. Coloring the depolarization early stage's Sodium ions rushing through the slow gate, I glance at my Chai and note with dismay that it is, at last, empty. The male half of the honeymooners goes to the counter to pay and they leave, leaving me to find the bright blue I selected for the ever-leaking Potassium ions. Several minutes later, my server approaches.

"You know the man who was sitting in front of you?"

"Yeah," I reply with curiosity.

"He wants to pay for another Chai. That is, he already paid for it. Do you want me to just apply it to your bill?"

"Wha?" I grinned incredulously. And with several more exchanges of bewildered amusement, she returns to say that when he was paying his own bill, he added, "Oh, and one more thing. That girl with the coloring book? I want to buy her another tea or whatever she's drinking."

After several retellings of the tale back at the salon, the general deduction is that this was, in fact, a "pay it forward" moment. You know what I'm talking about. It's when you do something for someone in advance of their kindness, instead of in return of it. Likely inspired by the movie, Pay It Forward or perhaps by this recent news story of Starbucks customers paying for the coffee of the person behind them.

Evidently my mission is clear. It's now my turn to pay it forward to someone else. What a crazy and kind world we live in. Who knew?

Happy paying it forward.

Overheard in the living room at 3355

Grandpa: "That's an ugly looking dog."
Me: "I think it's a cougar."
---
After seeing a shot of the WSU mascot while watching the Washington State Cougars play the Washington Huskies women's basketball match Friday night after pizza.

It's a New Year

The impact of any particular date on the calendar is determined by one's beliefs about that date, as subtle, ingrained, or overt they might be. For me, January 1st sounded like the slamming of a book followed by a defiant, "Well, then!" to which my sheepish response was, "I guess it's time to get down to business."

I don't know who slammed the book (maybe it was God) or who said "Well, then!" (maybe it was me) but I am quite convinced that it truly is time to get down to business and I'm quite glad of the turning of the calendar in this instance and its book-end effect on my consciousness.

I've moved on, moved down, moved far enough along to finally realize I've got a new life to attend to, one involving an odd mix of setting and characters, a play that no one would believe without knowing me, of course. A massage therapist and former web developer who moved to southern Oregon to start her practice and realized quickly that to pay the bills the former web developer would have to become a formal web developer and thus Sleepyhead City Web Works LLC was born.

It's January 2nd. I've finally restored my laptop to general health and am installing the last critical bits I need to use it as a dynamic web server. It's still sort of a holiday at the salon (very very slow today) and I'm at a neighborhood coffee shop, chicken burrito down the hatch and a half-inch of Mexican mocha remaining in the glass mug they gave me "for here." I'm about 2 minutes away from getting PHP 5 installed and then I'll be ready to "get down to business." Again.

Tonight is chair massage at the Ashland Family YMCA. The new year also brings a new day at the 'Y'. I'll be there every week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 5-7. It's one of my new favorite places to be and now with an employee benefit free membership, part of "getting down to business" will include a bit of fitness as well.

Now to get down to it. Persevere, commit, excel. Those will be the words for this year. My heart swells with the prospect of claiming those words and seeing them transform into realities of character and action.

Happy New Year.

What's this? An update?!?!

Ok, I guess milking the birthday post for 2 weeks is a little desperate. Or just lazy. In any case, I have been a bit pathetic in the communicado department. (Though, in a glass half-full-sense, I have excelled in the incommunicado department. Ok I know. It doesn't work like that.)

The best way to break the ice on a long-overdue update is...pictures! Here's a small bundle from my trip to Portland for Thanksgiving. (From my camera...some taken by me, some by Adalie, my 5-year-old niece. They were sort of a "oh crap, I haven't taken any pictures all weekend!" series of pics.)

Here's my favorite. Two of the best smiles ever!

Sparing you the pathetic details of starting up two businesses in a new town in the dead of Winter...I have a few reflections on the journey thus far. I've been reluctant to share the difficult and frustrating aspects of this new adventure. Actually, it's less of a reluctance than an inability to articulate without condemnation. It's so early in the process; it's hard to speak the truth about what I'm going through without drawing premature conclusions. I'm so judgement oriented, so sure, so confident...to put off these things, to wait on judging the situation (or myself), to be unsure, to grasp at confidence half-heartedly, well what can I say, this is new territory for me.

This territory is Southern Oregon. Living in a house in Medford, on a residential street so intermingled with the country, I can ride my grandma's old bike in one direction passing two Christmas tree farms, horses, an orchard, and a country produce market and in the other direction find barns, cattle, and veritable mansions tucked behind the acreage of humble residences. It takes me 25 minutes along a country road and an old highway now polluted with stop lights to get to my business.

My business is massage therapy and web development. How can these two peas occupy the same pod? Like the crazy blonde says in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun, you have to live your life spherically, pushing out in many directions. So I try to ease a person's pain with my hands and build them a website they can be proud of too.

Until the middle of last week, I brought my laptop to the salon where I work as an independent contractor massage therapist, and sat in whatever chair was available and suited me and tried to make headway on projects while trying to be available to talk about or, ideally, give massage therapy.

After the middle of last week, when my powerbook decided not to startup after asking me if it could restart (the absolute nerve of it, I know), I have been bringing unfinished crochet projects to the salon. I am a bit at a loss as to what to do next. When I tell my closest confidantes that perhaps I should just go to bed earlier and wake up earlier and work at my desktop computer at home and then go into the salon, they laugh.

The nerve.

But I have an ace in my pocket and still hope to be able to repair my laptop before too long. Until then, I suppose I ought to at least make an effort at discipline. Hm. I wonder how that works.

Stop laughing.

Onto a less rueful subject. Christmas is coming! My family will be gathering at Sunriver this year for a weeklong celebration. We are all very very excited. It will be a week to remember.

Well that's all I can come up with for now. Hopefully I will break this creative block into pieces very very soon.

I am headed to Portland this weekend to see Leah and a few others as well. I may need to see at least one "limited-engagement" movie. Medford is so decidedly not on the limited-engagement short list.

Lots of love to you and happy a Friday too.

32.

I'm 32 today.

Received calls from the family. Rewards go as follow:
Most in-tune: Brant and Jackie
Cutest Chorus: The Fun Squad (Adalie, Kylia, Zoie, Seth and April)
Most Faithful and Dedicated: Mom and Dad (they have been singing it for 32 years after all!)

The funniest moment was when the Fun Squad called, sang happy birthday to me, talked for a while, got disconnected, I called back, and the girls sang happy birthday again, as if on cue! Hilarious.

Drew and Kelly took Grandpa and me out to dinner at Olive Garden in Medford for a birthday dinner. We had a very nice time there, enjoying excellent service, food, wine, and even a little Tiramisu. Somehow (I was trying to keep it quiet) our server found out it was my birthday and she alluded to a song later. (I asked if they could do it in sign language.) It was actually very classy and un-embarrassing. :)

Uncle Steve mentioned that my next auspicious day is my 33 and a 1/3rd birthday, March 2, 2009. I am already planning to have a big day that day...just not sure how big. Something to think about anyway.

Happy December Second.

A facelift for the ole' blog

October is my blog's anniversary month (four years and running); so, in its honor, I've changed up the look. I snagged the stylized eye graphic from the "Dollar Bin" at istockphoto.com and the font is what I'm using for my new logo for my web design business, Sleepyhead City Web Works, LLC. It's called Zephyr and I got it at Veer.com. (Love that place for fonts.)

Cheers and happy Tuesday.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie Made With Fresh Local Pumpkins

This is the story of how I, mistress of the microwave, actually baked a Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie and how it actually turned out magically delicious!

First, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon last weekend, I rode my bike down to White's Produce, a country produce market, which is about a mile away from where I now live. I picked up two sugar pumpkins and brought them home to sit on the counter for two days while I pondered the fact that I was about to actually bake something without adult supervision.

To prepare the purée, as per my friend's instructions, I roasted the pumpkins 'til they were very soft and squishy. The house smelled like Thanksgiving. Now I was excited.

On my lunch break in Ashland, I happened to have lunch at Allyson's of Ashland (they have a wine cellar and deli downstairs and a very charming gourmet kitchen store upstairs). I picked up some cheesecloth and was then ready for the next step.

That evening when the pumpkins were cool, I removed the string and seeds and gently separated the flesh from the skin. I mixed up the purée and placed it over cheesecloth in a strainer in a bowl and let the water seep out of the mixture in the fridge overnight.

Finally on Saturday night, after a week of debating between pumpkin bread and pumpkin cheesecake, after finding a recipe on the interwebs for sugar-free pumpkin cheesecake, after gathering all of the ingredients from the grocery store, and after going back to the grocery store to get what I forgot, I finally was ready to begin.

First I made a graham-bunny crust. (Graham bunny?) Yes. The second trip to the store for what I forgot was for graham crackers in order to make the crust. But every box of graham crackers I picked up either had partially hydrogenated oil or high fructose corn syrup in it. Finally, with some assistance, I found a box of Annie's Graham Bunny snacks (the organic counterpart to "Teddy Grahams"). I made crumbs using the Cuisinart Mini-Prep which worked beautifully, by the way. The resulting crust was delicious, even Grandpa said so. :)

Then I made the cheesecake layer using lower fat cream cheese and then the pumpkin layer with my pumpkin purée made from fresh local pumpkins. (Yum!) I substituted sugar with Splenda to make the dessert virtually sugar-free so that Grandpa (who has controlled type 2 diabetes) could enjoy it too. The two 9" pie pans weren't quite enough to hold all of the pumpkin mixture, so after filling it to the very brink of spilling over, I made another mini crust for a small dish and made a little mini pumpkin pie dish with the leftover pumpkin mixture.

I baked the pies and when the fork came out clean :) I took them out of the oven and you know what? They looked goooood! And they smelled good too! I was amazed! I baked the little baby pumpkin pie and left them all to cool overnight. This morning I put them in the fridge to chill. This evening Grandpa and I each had a slice of my Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie and enjoyed it thoroughly! Success!

I'd have a picture for you but my camera battery is dead after a day of taking pictures of the Rogue. This wouldn't usually be a problem except that my camera's A/C adaptor cord has frayed and is no longer functional. Luckily I found a replacement on eBay for cheap which is shipping tomorrow, so problem should be solved in a few days. :)

The Snowball Entry

No, it's not snowing here in Ashland. Nowhere close. It's a pleasant 68 degrees here and just a beautiful Fall day in general. No, this is the entry that starts all of the other entries that I've been posting in my head, but not on my blog for you all to read. My iPhoto 4/iPhotoToGallery combo has been acting up (read: crashing) for the past 6 months or more and I simply haven't had time to fix it; so, photo uploads have been slow-going, but I've got plenty to share, including pictures of Brant and Jackie's new ridiculously cute puppy, Tucker (a "Puggle"), my nieces at the Fair, and other summer delights. I'm sure I could dig up a few from my graduation too and the BBQ party over at my folks house that followed.

So here's the teaser...with a promise of many updates to come. Stay tuned...

Happy Tuesday.

Me in my new habitat

So while I wait for my client base to become, well, a client base, I plug away at my web design business or administrative tasks for my massage business or posting pictures of me in my new habitat on my blog. :)

I have a little more than a month left in Portland and then I'll be moving down to Medford to live with my grandpa. We're cleaning out two of the bedrooms and the garage to make way for my stuff.

My graduation from East West College is Sunday, September 16 at 3pm in the Oregon Convention Center. The week following graduation, I'll take my final final and be free to start a new life in southern Oregon.

Happy Friday.

Happy Monday! (Oh wait. It's Thursday.)

I love a good snow day. Two snow days: whoa. On a week with a holiday? Even better.

This week, I had MLK, Jr. day off and spent it up north with the fam. I headed up to Oly on Saturday night after teaching the 4s about John baptizing Jesus and trying to 4-year-old-ize answers to questions they were asking about the nature of the trinitarian God. (Yes, they're 4. Yes, they really did ask me about that.) Originally, Seth and April (and the girls) were going to Seattle to Deliver The Wii to Brant and Jackie. Of course, I wanted a piece of that action and since I had a holiday on Monday, I told them I'd be tagging along. Well then Brant reminded us that Jackie's birthday was on Tuesday and would we want to celebrate her birthday while we were all up there? But of course! Plus it made perfect sense.

Meanwhile, The Dadoo was in Mississippi replacing rotten siding, installing plumbing and doing other tasks that enabled a few flood-affected families in Moss Point to return home. He was to return home on Saturday, but due to a storm, the flight was diverted and he wouldn't be arriving in Portland until around 11pm Saturday night. So we weren't really expecting Mom and Dad to join us, but alas, they could not deny their dual parental and grandparental natures and like a moth drawn to a flame ("it's so beau-ti-ful") they decided to drive up to Oly on Saturday night, stay overnight in a hotel to rest up, and join us late-morning at Seth and April's to hang out with their granddaughters.

So on Sunday afternoon after Seth got home from work and we all had lunch, we drove up to Seattle to celebrate Jackie's birthday and Deliver The Wii. It was a delightful afternoon, albeit short-lived. April and I made Pink Lady smoothies for everyone as well as dinner and for dessert we broke out The Great Chocolate Fountain. The boys played with the Wii—I've never seen The Dadoo so relaxed! It was fabulous. (I may have to find a way to integrate the Wii into my practice. "For homework, I recommend 30 minutes of Wii Golf. Don't forget to stretch before and after." ;)

On Sunday evening, we headed South—Mom and Dad to Portland and myself to Oly to stay another night at Seth and April's. I finally got a chance to play with the Wii—it is so fun. Fun for all ages, actually. The Wii takes a SD memory card from a digital camera. My camera's card is an SD card so we plugged it in and sure enough, it loaded all my pictures and videos—even ones I had deleted years ago! (Side note: the Wii may be an effective tool in recovering deleted photos off an SD card. Just plug in the SD card into the Wii, select the photos you want to recover, and email them to yourself!) There are a few fun programs where you can "draw" on the photos and there's a few effects as well, like turning a photo black and white. If you're connected to the Internet, you can email these photos to anyone. Likewise, you can receive photos from others on the Wii as well! I'm going to give my niece Adalie one of my spare 32 MB SD cards to use in her Fisher Price digital camera so that she can take pictures, load them onto the Wii, have fun with them and then send them off to her extended family. How fun is that?

So then, the snow. On Tuesday, I didn't even realize it had snowed until I opened my back door to leave for work. What a delightful surprise that was! I called into work and sure enough, the office was closed for the day and it turned out, Wednesday as well. My classes were cancelled both Tuesday and Wednesday. So no first day of Clinic for me. I guess in a small way, I experienced the reality of how inclement weather impacts a business.

So now it's finally "Monday" but it's already Thursday. Bliss.

Happy Slush Day.

Bonus video: This was the video of the week. Bumper cars slippin' and slidin' and crashin' down SW Salmon Street (up the hill from where I work).

In The Event Of A Week That Almost Went Wrong

She can only post lyrics to the song that's been on "repeat" in her ipod.

"We Are Not As Strong As We Think We Are"
by Rich Mullins

Well, it took the hand of God Almighty
To part the waters of the sea
But it only took one little lie
To separate you and me
Oh, we are not as strong as we think we are

And they say that one day Joshua
Made the sun stand still in the sky
But I can't even keep these thoughts
Of you from passing by
Oh, we are not as strong as we think we are

CHORUS
We are frail
We are fearfully and wonderfully made
Forged in the fires of human passion
Choking on the fumes of selfish rage
And with these our hells and our heavens
So few inches apart
We must be awfully small
And not as strong as we think we are

And the Master said their faith was
Gonna make them mountains move
But me, I tremble like a hill on a fault line
Just at the thought of how I lost you
Oh, we are not as strong as we think we are

CHORUS

And if you make me laugh well I know
I could make you like me
Cause when I laugh I can be a lot of fun
But we can't do that I know that it is frightening
What I don't know is why we can't hold on
We can't hold on

CHORUS

When you love you walk on the water
Just don't stumble on the waves
We all want to go there somethin' awful
But to stand there it takes some grace
'Cause oh, we are not as strong
As we think we are

Crazy Quizzes

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational. Cultural Creative 94% Fundamentalist 75% Postmodernist 50% Existentialist 44% Modernist 44% Materialist 25% Romanticist 19% Idealist 13% What is Your World View? created with QuizFarm.com

Good Morning, Sunshine!

It's a balmy 44º outside. The sun is shining. The windows in Banana Republic declare, "Celebration is in your nature." And I've broken into spontaneous hip-shaking dance moves at three times today. This can only mean one thing: Finals. Are. Over.

Now it's time to clean house and get ready for family to come. Somehow, my shopping is practically done. (No crocheting this year. Although I may decide to stitch up a few things next week.)

I hope your Christmas will be full of joy and celebration. If you are in the Portland area and are looking for a Christmas Eve service to attend, my church, Village in Beaverton, OR (330 SW Murray 97005) has candlelight services at 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11pm on Christmas Eve. We'll be going to the 5pm. I hope to see some of you there! It's always fun to connect with friends I hardly see at Christmas Eve service.

Happy Vitamin-D Absorption! (Get outside!! Quick!)

Tidbits: Finals Week, 'U2ube,' NEED

Finals are this week. There's this shimmering light in the distance...It's. So. Beautiful. I think it's the light at the end of the tunnel. ;-)

U2 is promoting their new album U218 Singles on YouTube (I'm sure this has been done... or "U2ube" as I've labeled the bookmark in my browser.) The video for Window in the Skies is mesmerizing. The video syncs the audio/lyrics from the song with an amazing selection of videos from muscial history so that it looks like the people on the video are singing and dancing to this new song. Pretty amazing, I thought. There's even a shot of The Edge in the audience of some concert chillin' out. Check it out:

Also, I received my copies of NEED magazine. Wow. It's a page turner. I can't remember the last time I sat down with a publication of any kind and read it cover to cover. This is a must-read. Seriously. Go get your subscription. If anyone (local to me) wants to take a peek, let me know. I'm happy to share. I got The Dadoo a gift subscription. I called him today to tell him to expect it and that I wanted to wrap it up for him. But he said he already had received it and had immediately opened it and read it cover-to-cover. If you want a preview of the next issue, here's a link to a PDF of their current newsletter.

Happy December 19th.

Perhaps an update is in order?

Hello there. Thank you for visiting. Would you care for a little update?

Health update: I've been more philosophical than practical in my pursuit of health and happiness. My problem is simple: I burn the candle at both ends. Chronically. Habitually. Everlastingly. Also, I get discouraged at the price of real food. I want easy access to actual real food and I don't want to go into debt to get it. I don't want easy access to processed homogenized hydrogenated biogenetically engineered hormone injected high fructose food. But on the bright side, I did meet with a nutritionist and now have a booklet of recipes for cooking real yummy healthy food. I have the plan, I just have to execute the plan. Ok, then.

School update: Midterms are this week. I'm two-thirds done. I Aced the Massage 3 written and I'm pretty sure I did fine on the Pathology test as well. I have my Massage 3 practical tonight which consists of a 10-minute super-condensed, highly focused treatment plan, including posture and gait assessment, range of motion testing, palpation of the muscle to find trigger points, application of digital ischemic compression (you know where you press into the "knot"), and three muscle energy techniques. I'm choosing positional release, postisometric relaxation (PIR), and contract-relax-antagonist-contract (CRAC). (Yes, it's been funny to say in class, "Are you using CRAC?") So far in my practice sessions, I've released trigger points in my partners SCM (Sternocleidomastoid muscle) every time. It's all about the little victories, right? We start into Sports Massage next week, so if you're an athelete and you'd like a free homework massage, let me know. If you've got an event coming up, I'd even be willing to travel, within reason, of course.

Family update: I visited Seth and April and my nieces last weekend as a mental health break before midterms. It was, as I hoped it would be, an excellent, relaxing, and fun visit. I could have stayed home and studied for 3 solid days but too much studying makes me more wound up than I already am. Seth and I saw The Prestige. Good and/but dark and mysterious. Really wanted a remote control to rewind and slow-mo the last scene. This is why I wait for DVD releases! The credits were rolling and I was bellowing "Wait! Rewind! Rewind!" Oh well.

My nieces were so cute and fun to hang out with, as usual. Adalie and Kylia made library bags with their names and handprints and were given the opportunity to draw some additional elements on their bag as well. Adalie painted the members of her immediate family and Kylia drew just one person...ME! Auntie Amber makes the library bag! I was so thrilled. What a sweetie.

Church update: Also, I know there are usually a lot of Villagers reading this blog. I know this because you come up to me and say, "oh hi, I read your blog the other day!" Well, I'm calling you out. As you may know, I teach the 4-year-old class on Saturday night. I am currently short a every-other-week-helper (It's Saturday evening from 4:45-6:45pm). If you haven't taken the Child Safety class, TAKE IT ALREADY, because not only do I need a helper, but there are lots of teachers in early childhood who need to take a weekend off once in a while and though our substitute list is rather lengthy, the actual availability of people is really hit and miss. So I encourage you to sign up for the next child safety class and contact Donna or Cindy or myself if you are interested in being a helper. It's only every other week and the kids in my class are very sweet. We have a lot of fun. It is not a stressful environment at all (if you're picturing discipline problems and other nightmares).

Ok? Ok.

Happy Thursday. (Oh wait. It's Wednesday.)

Happy Wednesday!

Watch "Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown"

You too can watch Its The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

Happy Halloween.

The Green Cucumber Makes it to 100,000 miles

My '98 Saturn, aka The Green Cucumber (click here to see the Frozen Cucumber), recently crossed the 100,000 mile barrier. I snapped a blurry picture of 100,000 but only managed a clear picture of 100,001. Oh well.

Taken on I-5 North on my way to Olympia to celebrate Brant's birthday with the fam. Pictures forthcoming.

stream of consciousness

wow, it's been a while since i've posted here. i must be busy or something.
listening to joseph arthur radio.
"jesus loves you more than you know"
man, he's good.
why don't i own more of his music?
wish i went to hear him play at the doug fir friday. i'm such a chicken.

reading reading reading. must finish reading.
lots of reading for class this term.
routines.
body mechanics.
intent.
muscles.
law.
disease.
indicated?
contraindicated?
lower that table.
get more music.
fix airtunes.

must post pictures.
didn't i promise to do that 2 weeks ago?
geez i'm such a flake.
erin's baby's baptism.
at least bernie's on top of things

missions conference is now.
i can't remember what it's called now.
(even though it's been called that for years.)
old brands die hard.
caedmon's call concert coming.
got my ticket.
got my lifegroup.
good times ahead.
global briefing next week.
korean food. yum.
got your ticket?
i do.

tivo'd bono on oprah.
watched it last night.
product(red) launched.
consumer activism.
interesting idea.
change the world in spite of people's complacency.
buy for good instead of evil.
not a bad idea at all.
buy (red) stuff.
buy and distribute aids meds in africa.
gap.
converse.
apple.
and more.

coherent thoughts scheduled for later in the week.
for now,
buh-bye.

and happy monday.

Happy Friday

This has been a varied and interesting week. Some details are not fit for public consumption, but, you know, I have Vox invites, and if you accept, I will add you to my family/friends neighborhood and you (and only you), I will provide with varied and interesting stories that are not fit for public consumption. =) That's all I will say for now. (Wink wink nod nod.) Otherwise you'll just have to call me or e-mail me for the varied and interesting details. Use the keywords "Operation Catch and Release" in your inquiry and I will set you up straightaway.

One of the highlights of my week that I am more than happy tell you about was attending a small group bible study. It has been eons since I have been to a small group bible study and I went away thoroughly encouraged by the fellowship that took place there. I am very glad that I arranged my class schedule next term so that I can continue to attend on Tuesday evenings. What a delightful surprise that was.

This group is particularly interesting because of the range of ages, gender, and cultures represented. I have always been a little sore about the church sub-cultural mores that dictate that when I am out of college I cannot fellowship with people that I have ministered with since childhood and adolescence simply because they are now married and I am not. So I have found it quite refreshing to find a group of married couples with and without kids, single men and women, young people, older people, of various social, economic and cultural backgrounds gathered together to study the bible, pray for each other, and build relationships with each other. What a concept. I absolutely love it. There's one root of bitterness now uprooted.

Also, I have recommenced volunteering as a mediator apprentice at the Beaverton Dispute Resolution Center. Last night was my first night back after a hiatus of nearly 3 months. I am very happy to be back and to be working with people in my city to help them live at peace with each other. We are increasingly dealing with conflicts of a intercultural nature, which is particularly fascinating to me because of my studies at Biola in intercultural studies. Beaverton is a much more culturally diverse city than most people realize. Values based on "rights" (i.e. I have a "right" to park here) often conflict with a deeply held expectation of respect based on age or perceived (or imposed) social roles. The nuances of these conflicts are complicated by the mixing and changing of values that comes with a change of geography and community. (For example, what was important in his community in Korea is understood at a certain level now that he lives in Beaverton, but it is overrided by what values he now deems important in this "Western" culture. So he's been "Westernized" (his words) and he carries knowledge of former cultural values, but refuses to use that understanding in his current conflict with a neighbor that shares that previous value. Confused? You should be!)

This weekend I head north to see cute babies and other family members. Brace yourself for an abudance of pictures next week.

Well that's all the news that fit to print or type. Or whatever. Happy Friday to you. And friends and family, don't forget to ask me for a Vox invite. Blogging isn't as scary or hard as you think. Plus you'll be privvy to the more varied and interesting details of my life thus far. Exciting, I know. (Try and contain yourself.)

Again I say, "Happy Friday."

Howdy folks

Well there are only days between me and the end of my second term at massage therapy school. Some days I think it's going by slowly and then I realize that what I perceive as one year ago was only six months. In six more months from now I can start the process of getting my license and then six months after that, I will be set free into the world as a licensed massage therapist. Where will I go from there? I have a few ideas already, but I don't have to know now, so I'm holding off on saying for sure where I'd like to be.

I've been posting a bit over at my vox blog, so check that out when you get a chance. There are some super cute little videos starring my nieces at Sunriver. Clean family fun for everyone.

Enjoy. And happy Thursday.

The Contemplative Chic (or My New Amazon Store)

Just got word today of a new amazon associates beta program in which you can build your own little store -- kind of a more organized way to build links and get subsequent referral fees. Checkout is through amazon.com. I thought I'd give it a go. (It only took a few minutes to set up.)

So here's my little store:

The Contemplative Chic

Happy shopping!

Commuter Reading List

This week's commuter reading list reflects a tired soul looking for adventure as well as an overachiever trying to hold her 99.2% in A&P ;-)

• The Riddle (The Second Book of Pellinor) by Alison Croggon in which Maerad and Cadvan seek the Treesong. An epic journey complete with maps, a guide to pronounciation, a special language, poetry, songs, and a note on the translation, all of which give it that Lord-of-the-Rings-esque feeling that this might be some long lost piece of human history. Another gem from the "Teen Fiction" aisle. (Why should teenagers get all the good books?)
• Facilitated Stretching—chapter 6 for tonight's Massage 2 class. So far the book has been a little too incongruently technical for the class. The class itself is technical in its own nice friendly way, but the book leans a bit too far into the esoteric side of things. It might help if the instructor bridged the gap a bit. Anyway, gotta read it for tonight...
• Anatomy Coloring Book (various pages). For this, only a haiku can express the depth of my feelings for the ACB. If you please:

  green hypophysis
  bright orange hypothalamus
  color. remember. reflect.

Thus endeth the Commuter Reading List. Go back to your lives, citizens.

August?

Apparently it's August 8th. My brain is still somewhere between July 15 and the 23rd-ish. (I guess that's what happens with a 5-night-a-week class schedule and a full-time job.)

We celebrated Kylia's birthday the last week of July. She's 2 now. She says "happy bur-day whah....ME". It's very cute. She's very cute. She likes her new baby sister Zoie. She can't quite pronounce the "Z" so "Zoie" comes out "Howie". How cute is that.

Adalie (almost 4 now) informed me over the phone the other day that Zoie was crying that day because she wished that she was big enough to play with her and Kylia. I'm not one to disagree with her analysis. I mean, all of those girls speak Secret Baby Language (SBL) fluently. (It is their first language after all.) So I really have no doubt that Zoie told Adalie in SBL that she wished she had the motor skills to keep up with her big sisters. Really.

In other news, classes are going well. Midterms are next week. I can hardly believe how fast this term is going. I'm so glad that this is the last term that I'll have class on Friday night. So all you eligible-Jesus-loving-bachelors out there that have been just dying to ask me out on a Friday evening need only wait for the onset of October. I'll be waiting by the phone. ;-)

Ah yes, and pictures. Yes, I do have pictures of Kylia's birthday. Hopefully I'll get them posted before Adalie's birthday (September 4).

Another Place for Amber

Got my invitation to Vox yesterday and have been giving it the ole' test drive. My opinion so far? It is FUN. I love it. I've been wanting to do a booklist for ages but have lacked the presence of mind or motivation to get the plugins working in Movable Type. Book lists in Vox? A snap. Search for the book on amazon, highlight it. Done. I've had these little tiny videos taken by my digital camera for months and months. Vox supports the file format. I uploaded them and all I did after that was refine the title and descriptions. Didn't have to worry about what code to use or anything. As a developer, you might think that I enjoy having to tink around with code to figure out how to post stuff on the Internet. I don't. Vox is such a breath of fresh air. Sometimes you just want to express yourself. Share a little of yourself. This is truly an application that makes that work.

It's in the early stages and they're working out the bugs and what-nots. Soon it will be for the world. In the meantime, go check out my other little corner of the Web:

Another Place for Amber

Don't forget to let me know you dropped by! (Comment!!!)

Update: to sign up for an invite, go here: www.sixapart.com/vox/.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Minutes

1. Study origins, insertions and actions of muscles using handmade flash cards on a crowded MAX during rush hour en route to class

2. Converse with adorable nervousness and transparent joy (stuttering is ok, so is fumbling over words)

3. Be totally present and enjoy the moment

4. Enjoy every feature of those warm dark eyes, sincere dazzling smile, and brown hair that was curly but not too curly

5. Get off the MAX quickly and unexpectedly as you suddenly realize you are at your stop

6. Don't get his name

7. Don't get his number

And that's how to lose a guy in 10 minutes!

Needless to say, my kines classmates were sorely disappointed in me, though they did generously offer to make me flashcards for such situations in the future. I thought that was nice of them.

Pirates invade Portland

Rose Festival has begun. Translation: summer weather is on hold until after the final parade on June 10. My office was within earshot of the cannon fire of the pirate ships, VJ and I scurried down to the waterfront to snag some pictures. Here is one of mine. I call it: Impression of a Pirate Invasion. My medium of choice was Photoshop's Curves Adjustment Layer.

Apparently the Rose Festival peeps don't really consider this a Pirate Invasion but prefer the more politically correct Tall Ships Coming to the Waterfront Village!

To each her own, I suppose.

Just a chat

Dawling, I simply have to show you my pictures of the Kadwell kids from weekend before last and pictures of my nieces Adalie and Kylia who could be twins if they weren't nearly two years apart. Not only were they wearing the same orange t-shirt, but when I got Kylia (the youngest, presently) up from her nap, I experienced such a total deja vous that I almost called her Adalie! She looked so close to how I remember Adalie at that age that my brain was nearly convinced that she was Adalie! They have looked so different to me up until now, but now they look so very alike. I wonder how Zoie will look? What color hair will she have? Will it be curly or straight? What color eyes? Only two more weeks (or so!) until we meet her!

But, back to the pictures. Sorry but I don't have them with me right now. But I'll post them soon, I promise.

This week is mid-terms plus a quiz. So far so good. Actually so far, great. Fantastic, as a matter of fact. I'm very happy. Only one more to go this Friday: Kinesiology. Whew, all those muscles! Amazing how much stuff I never knew I'd learn is seeping out of my brain pores right now. I've been dreaming of origins, insertions, and actions of muscles lately. Yeah, that makes it official: I'm a kines geek now.

So pictures to come. I promise. Hope you're all well. Leave a comment so I know you're still out there.

C is for Cookie

I haven't seen V is for Vendetta yet (waiting for DVD release) but I could hardly escape seeing the trailer and that's all you really need to "get" this joke: C For Cookie. Hilarious.

Today is Friday

1. I'm glad it is Friday but I wish that Friday was yesterday because that would mean that right now I'd be getting a Swedish massage instead of writing a blog post wishing that I was getting a massage.

2. I'm glad it is sunny, but I wish I was in the sun instead of looking at it from behind a window and desk.

3. I'm glad I have my office to myself today because I have been able to work without distraction, but I wish that I had more visitors because I'm so tired I'm afraid I'll fall asleep!

Anyone remember Animaniacs and "Good Idea, Bad Idea"? So today is kind of a "Good Day, Bad Day." (And this analogy is kind of a "Good Analogy, Bad Analogy.")

I need sleep.

An opportunity to contribute

Some of you have courteously asked what you owe for hosting your website/blog/domain and I have been reluctant to tell you in so many terms, mostly due to my lack of organization, no doubt. Well now school is upon me and my budget needs tightening and thus I have decided to offer you an opportunity to give a little back. I've set this "campaign" up through DropCash which allows me to set a cash goal. This goal reflects my approximate annual cost, which I pay each month to my esteemed host, Pair Networks. If I can raise the annual fee through this campaign (that is, if this works), I am planning on switching back over to annual billing, which is much more economical. Further details below:

Friends and Family Web and Domain Hosting

Those of you with web sites and/or domain names hosted with me, feel free to pay your share by dropping a little cash in the bin. Domains cost me $1/month, web hosting costs me $27.95 per month. My goal for this campaign factors in PayPal transaction fees and "support requests." ;-) Thank you very much.

Link: Friends and Family Web and Domain Hosting

Payments are made via DropCash which deposits funds into my PayPal account. Feedback welcome on the ease/unease of use (via private e-mail or comments).

Coming Up

A few things on the horizon...(some near, some far, some just plain ridiculous...)

Massage school is on.

It's official. I'm enrolled at East West College and I'll be there for the next year and a half. I'm guessing I'll need plenty of bodies to train on, so if you know me and are interested in a free homework massage, let me know. I'll be in a position to get licensed after 1 year and during that time I'll continue school and hopefully start to build a practice.

Being sick does have its literary advantages.

I am currently plagued with Gunky Cold, the symptoms (Excess Gunk and No Sleep) of which convinced me to stay home 3 days last week. In between naps, tea, and soup, I have been practically bingeing on fiction before having to consume kinesiology and massage studies in a few short weeks. After watching the latest screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice as well as the mini-series, I decided to read the book as well. I also have been alternating Harry Potter books with the associated movies, averaging 1.3 HP books per day. I'm now on Goblet, however and am back to work, so the average is consequently dropping. ;-) Also sprinkled into the mix are the delightful Spiderwick Chronicles as well as A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle (I've been working my way through all the Time Quartet—four books related to A Wrinkle in Time all with the same core set of characters, who have an affinity for traveling in space in time exploring the mysteries of faith.)

Series commences on Jesus' conversations according to the Gospel of John

Pastor John started us off in John on Saturday and I'm really looking forward to this series. He's seeing the book of John as a series of Jesus' conversations with a variety of people and has consequently picked out 1 conversation per week for us to focus on—with a total of 25 over the course of the series. I'll try to remember to link to the podcasts when they are made available. Or you can just subscribe to his podcast in iTunes by copying and pasting into iTunes' Subscribe to Podcast input this link: http://johnjohnson.typepad.com/blog/rss.xml.

Optimizing the iTunes Living Room Experience

Since getting my powerbook over a year ago, I have barely even touched my G4 tower (really only to move it out of the way in my various spurts of furniture rearranging) but most of my music is actually digitized on that computer, not to mention a lot of photos. However, being so liberated from the shackles of Large Monitor and Desk and into Less Wire and More Comfy Chair Zone, I am loath to bring my G4 tower into the open. I'd rather it remain where it is, not cluttering up my space. So enter Chicken of the VNC. (I just love saying that.) This program will enable me to acces my G4 tower from the comfort of my G4 Powerbook (and purple chair with my feet up on matching chartreuse ottoman covered in my favorite wool blanket...ahhhhhhh). So that installation is slated for this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes. (I know you're dying of suspense. I'll try and be quick about it.)

What Would Chloe Do? (WWCD?)

Yes, I'm totally hooked on 24 this season and my favorite character Chloe is really pulling no punches this season. Her patented Chloe Sass is better than ever and I can hardly wait to hear who or what she will tell off next. Indeed, her performance has nearly inspired me to almost want to make buttons that say What Would Chloe Do? (Or simply, "No!" or "Whatever." —perhaps with a cropped image of her trademark soul piercing glare in the background.) The show has also been a fun source of Dadoo-bonding as I have infinitely preferred watching it in HDTV on a screen literally the size of my adolescent clothes closet (my old bedroom=my parent's home theatre) over the need to be conscientious of my neighbors by watching it at home. So I've been heading over there every Monday night and wait for my dad to come bounding up the stairs after no doubt cutting short my mom's post-life-group conversation. Sadly, Dadoo's enthusiasm for the show plummeted last week upon the supposedly trustworthy information Jack Bauer received about Audrey. (Whatever! As if they could play the Nina card again! No way! I believe you Audrey!!!) And he's been a little bummed about all the people they've killed off this season already. Has J.J. Abrams been ghostwriting this season? That guy will kill off anyone. (And bring them back. Twice.)

So that's all the news that's (un?)fit to print. Or display. Until next time.

Asleep?

Not exactly, though I am exhausted.

Just got through a slew of web design favors, best guesses, and out-of-the-goodness-of-my-heart volunteer work these past 3 months and boy am I tired. (Of it.)

So I took my first step on a path that I've been eyeing for at least 10 years: I took an intro to relaxation massage class last Saturday. Next step? Submit an online FAFSA and an application to East-West College of the Healing Arts. (I'm undecided as yet about July or September enrollment.)

It would mean putting my schedule on the Atkins-South-Beach-Jenny-Craig-Weight-Watchers diet of all time, but that, as everyone around me knows, is long overdue.

Mediation and massage, you say? Well it's all about peacemaking and healing. And that's a good direction for me to take, I think. Good for me, good for others, and honoring the Trinitarian God. You won't find this path in any worship and community book out there, but we all know that what pastors and leaders are reading ain't nearly all of what needs to be known. So when I get on the other side of this or at least heart-deep in it, maybe I'll be the one to write that book. ;-)

This Week's Distractions...Err, I mean, Awesome Fun Links!!!

Selected links, articles, and tidbits from my Bloglines clippings and my del.icio.us postings...(and did I mention hours of good clean entertaining fun?!)

For Ranting:

• I've enjoyed reading Naomi Klein's books in the past (No Logo, Fences and Windows). She writes occasionally for the Guardian; here's her latest comment: The US has used torture for decades. All that's new is the openness about it
• WorldChanging: Update: Inuit Defend Their Right To Be Cold | Emily Gertz

For Entertaining:

• Wicked Awesome Christmas Lights Video
• Asian Backstreet Boys Lip Sync Videos: I want it that way (but wait there's more!)
• Orsinal: Morning Sunshine - Games—Cute games with great music done in Flash. My niece loves these...even though she can't really play them.
• And yes, ladies and gentlemen, let us not forget the annually recommended Toboggan Jump! Game!!! Will YOU get burned by the ring of fire??! Hours of late-night entertainment await.
• Superman Returns Trailer
• Cute Overload! — the cutest pictures you'll ever see...EVAR! (And if you see cuter ones, then submit them to their site!)

For Learning...

• Ruby on Rails 1.0
• How to Install Apple's Front Row
• Creating a Tag Cloud in Movable Type (PHP) (What's a tag cloud?)
• The StitchGuide (Yep, I'm crocheting A LOT...must. learn. more. stiches!
• Make a cool spiky star ornament (scanned from a 1958 Better Homes & Gardens article!)

That's more than enough for now. I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my little distraction-waiting-to-happen, also known as, "my brain."

Satire: Rest of U2 Perfectly Fine With Africans Starving

In honor of not attending the U2 concert in Portland last night (let alone anywhere on the West Coast), here's an amusing piece of satire from The Onion on how the rest of the band feels about Bono's social views.

Rest Of U2 Perfectly Fine With Africans Starving | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Ambience in Bloom, Contrast Remix

The Love Seat

Continuing this little series on "pictures I promised to send to Leah regarding my ongoing living room redesign"...The Purple Love Seat. I love the love seat.

My new purple arm chair

For my birthday and Christmas, Mom and Dad and Grandpa got me a new-to-me loveseat and arm chair. A brilliant find 15 minutes before closing on my birthday at Consignment Northwest in Beaverton. The Mad Hatter meets Amber and they lived happily ever after. ;-)

O Christmas Tree

Weekly Bouquet

Here's my bouquet of the week...

Ambience in Bloom

Clippings Roundup

I've (finally) started using Bloglines to read/scan/skim updated blogs, zines, newspapers, etc. and one of the features is "Save to Clippings Folder". I've been meaning to post these as I go, but what a surprise, this task has been neglected. So here goes:

Techy stuff

• 43folders: Three OS X Timers— alarm clocks and timers that run on a Mac
• del.icio.us'd by vj (my office mate), PDX Super Crafty: Getting your creative business off the ground—applies to crafty-creatives not necessarily movie-making-creatives, interesting ideas though
• Posted on Macromedia Consulting Weblogs, a mashup of Yahoo! Maps Beta and some Webcams of the programmer's favorite skiing spots—mashup is the buzzword for creating something unique out of two or more existing (usually) digital things.
• Here's another Yahoo! Maps Beta Video mashup [Macromedia Weblog entry]
• Yet another Yahoo Maps! Beta mashup: Ivan Todorov of BLITZ | Blog: My Daily Traffic Report (as of this post, site took a while to load)
• If you want to dive in to developing a Flash app using the Yahoo! Maps Beta API, here's a simple example of how to do so. (Saving this for a snowy day...)
• Discussion of Safari CPU hogging issue, via MacInTouch
• Discussion of router problems, via MacInTouch
• Beta: Interrogate 0.7—a visual MySQL database manager for OS X, freeware. I'm using CocoaMySQL and I like it, but it seldom hurts to try something new
• For the iTunes glutton in all of us: Switch between two iTunes Libraries, via Mac OS X Hints dot com
• Via LifeHacker.com: Micro Persuasion: Ten ways to use Bloglines
• Also via LifeHacker, a nod to Atomic Learning's free online video tutorials for Tiger (OS X 10.4), Taming the Tiger: An Orientation to Mac OS X 10.4—mmmm video tutorials. I'm going to start producing these after the New Year. I've got my Snapz Pro, I'm wishing for a Logitech Desktop Microphone, and I've got Movable Type and Mac tutorial ideas aplenty to share...
• "Computer, What Day Is It?" Just discovered Tiger's voice command utility Speech. Very entertaining. Oh. And useful. Probably. ;-)
• Geek to Live: How to fix Mom and Dad's computer
• try ruby in your browser—ruby is a programming language I'm highly desirous to learn

Around the world

• BBC: Women resist 'honour' marriages—Five women from the same family in Pakistan's Punjab province have refused to be "united" with their prospective husbands as ordered by tribal elders.
• BBC: Girls Still Miss Out on Schooling—New figures show the UN has fallen well short of its target of getting as many girls educated as boys. (Maybe that's because it's a ginormous problem that needs widespread attention and coordinated strategy.)
• BBC: US firm to fight Somali pirates— I just thought it was somewhat ironic that there seems to be a comedic renaissance of pirate culture afoot in Internet-Land and here on the BBC is a story of US firm who's managed to score a contract for fighting pirates off the coast of Somalia. Who knew?

Fun(ny)

• Homestar Runner: Download All Our Playsets and Toys! ("cheap as free")—what will they think of next? I've only recently claimed victory over my random.bat Button Addiction

• Flickr Pool: MLK Blvd's around the world—who'll add photos of P-town's MLK Blvd.? (more about the project here)
• via Drawn!: animated shorts done in watercolor! La Papillon
• Of course you already knew that the third installment of X-Men is coming May 06: X3 Announcement Teaser, X3 Official Website

Thus endeth the linking extravaganza. Until next time, adieu and farewell.

Numb3rs Math Activities

I enjoy watching Numb3rs when I have the chance and today on the octm listserv a member wrote in to mention the Numb3rs math activities available on CBS' website. Pretty neat! I'll have to try some out and maybe clear a few cobwebs from that part of my brain in the process. ;-)

History Channel airs The Crusades: Crescent and the Cross

The History Channel aired the first part of The Crusades: Crescent & the Cross last night. Part 2 is tonight. I'm going to try and catch it next weekend on Saturday, November 12th starting at 8:00 pm when both parts will air back-to-back and I'll have a more convenient opportunity to watch it over at my parent's house on the big screen. More importantly they actually have the channel. I'm a basic cable girl; no History Channel for me.

I heard an interesting informal lecture this past weekend on the history of Islam and one of the things that was said was that understanding the Crusades was vitally important to understanding the conflict and miscommunication between Christians and Muslims. The speaker highly recommended this show and that is why I am mentioning it to you now.

You only *thought* you knew me...

Treat

Last night I actually bought a bag of 21 glow-in-the-dark M&M bars from the Big Lots on my walk home from work for any youngsters who might come a-knockin'. I actually taped the trick-or-treat sign on my door that our property managers provided for all the townhousers who welcome trick-or-treaters. And I actually carved out of my pumpkin the fair sillouette of Marzipan in under 15 minutes, (which might be a record...for me...). And guess what. 18 kids came in 45 minutes, from 6:00 to 6:45. I left to run errands, leaving the last 3 bars in a basket on my porch. When I got back at 7:30 pm, one was still left. Fifteen minutes later a kid rang my doorbell, even with the treat sitting there in the basket right next to him, and I bestowed upon him the twenty-first glow-in-the-dark M&M bar. Porch light went out, but Marzi remained-a-glow for all to see. It was a happy halloween indeed.

Good times.

Small Business Fair coming to Central Library

Central (Multnomah County Library) is hosting Small Business Fair on Saturday, November 5, from 1-4pm.

Related links from Multnomah County Library: online resources for business, Small Business Incubator.

Happy bread-winning.

Steps Back, Steps Forward

I've been out of a blogging mindset lately (if there is such a thing as a "blogging mindset"). Not sure why. Plenty has been going on, so I'll try and do a little catch-up here.

First off, I'm in the midst of mediator training. The City of Beaverton Mayor's Office runs a Dispute Resolution Center. I applied to be a volunteer mediator several months ago and got accepted into the program last month. Right now I'm smack in the middle of 40 hours of training.

Learning how to be a mediator, which requires skills such as active listening, negotiating, bargaining, problem solving, and well of course, mediating, has been very interesting. I am enjoying the training immensely and picture that I will be doing mediation work long into the future.

I've been so convinced of mediation as a vocation for me that I even considered and am still considering whether or not law school is a good path for me to take toward this end of practicing mediation in a private practice context.

In the midst of this question over the past few days, I got my LSAT scores back. They were not good. Just as I suspected that logic games section killed me and I killed it. (Yes, much violence ensued in the stillness and quiet of that Linfield classroom as I shaded answer sheet bubbles in utter despair.) ;)

So I considered carefully my remaining options. Take that ruddy test again, this time learning a strategy that will actually work or call off the whole thing, admit defeat and happily pursue a career as a volunteer mediator. A difficult decision to make.

I made my decision though. Paid and registered for the December LSAT this morning. It's on the day after my 30th birthday, December 3rd. I'm trying not to read too much into that. I also put a deposit down for a weekend prep course taking place toward the end of November. Bought the book Powerscore Logic Games Bible which despite their heavy use of Copperplate font seems to me to be my best chance of defeating the logic games section of the test.

So I'm regrouping and ready to move forward with the law school application process in the hopes that I will be an acceptable candidate to a school not located in Puerto Rico or preparing the next generation of ambulance chasers.

I'd really like to go to India again this year too. I'm a bit surprised to say that I'm missing it. Plus I really want to see my friends over there. I'm thankful for e-mail, but I'd be even more thankful for a plane ticket and a couple weeks to connect face-to-face. Even though the training schedule for the team totally conflicts with my LSAT prep, I'm hoping something can be worked out. We'll see, though.

So that's the update on the personal front. I've got some tales to tell about Ruth and company as well as a few more thoughts on Christian community. (Much thanks to those who commented. Good stuff.) Also I have a virtual stack of newsletters to sift through related to what's happening in the world related to justice and human rights.

I hope you are well as well.

Oh yeah. And I'm gonna be an auntie again! Here's my brother Seth having some fun with the pregancy test:

Weekend Update

LSAT. Check.

I can officially cross "Take the LSAT" off my to-do list. (I get my score in 3 weeks.) Next up: drafting a personal statement, prepping my recomendation letter writers, requesting an official transcript from Biola.

I'm so glad that test is behind me. All the little things that could have gone wrong went very smoothly and I believe I put forward a respectable and diligent effort, so I'm at peace. (We'll see how "at peace" I am when I get my score.)

Winding down after the test on Saturday, I went to see the movie "Serenity" and I enjoyed it thorougly. (Sorry, Shawn, I didn't see "Junebug" yet, but I will. Soon.)

On Sunday, I introduced my mom to the wonderful world of Mac and helped her set up her new-to-her G4 iMac (the "table lamp" model). It's a fine machine and I think it will serve her well. Since M&D moved the home office upstairs to make a little more room for Grandpa when he visits, next weekend I'll set up a wireless network with two wireless routers to cover the entire house with internet connection goodness.

In other news, my lil' bro Brant reported to me on his retreat with his fellow Fuller NW M.Div. peeps. God is working out some amazing things through these men and women. I was blown away by some of the stories he told. One particularly fine idea that I am hoping to someday participate in is a co-housing community in Bremerton, WA called Bartimaeus.

The vision of Bartimaeus Community is to create a safe and welcoming place where people can substantially grow into the whole, healthy, unique persons God intended.

Mmmmm. Community. As my dad remarked to me recently, "Amber, it's time for you to get some new people." It's true, my people have moved on to better places. Maybe my time to move on is coming soon. I think so. (It may very well already be in progress, in fact.)

Ready for God Knows What

5:27 am, Thursday.

I'm awake.

In my dreams I was having a nervous breakdown. For the time being, anxiety held its position within the boundaries of my subconscious.

I really was awake. It seemed early; it was still dark outside. The window was open and it was quiet, too. Still, even.

Still awake. I twisted my head around looking for red glowing digits: 5:29 am. Why was I awake? Oh yeah, nervous breakdown in dreams. LSAT tomorrow. Been relaxed all week. Calm. Cool. Collected. (At least on the outside.) I guess now its time for the game face.

I journaled for an hour and a half, attempting to eradicate any easily accessible mind clutter. Drafted a letter to a professor I haven't contacted in seven years which turned in a minor narrative on my life since the turn of the millenia. Remember me? Please do, because I need a letter to you to convince admission committees of several law schools to think I'm a good fit for their school—at least compared to the other poor saps who completed their application around the same time as I did.

Tomorrow is one of those milestone days. Tomorrow, I take the LSAT, the Law School Admission Test. It's one of those days that you wish wasn't as important as it is. (Please be a good day. Please be a good day.)

I walked to the transit center this morning ahead of schedule. This is a rare occurance and I felt justified in thinking, "Maybe I am ready for tomorrow."

I think I'm ready. For what? Triumph or tragedy or something in between. God only knows.

Storm Troopers, Skywalker Spotted from Skyscraper

Thanks for taking the pics, Mike!

in everything, give thanks

on monday
i was grateful
for greasy hair
and
sunburned arms
because
outside
in the sun
camping
with family
i am happy

on tuesday
i was grateful
for a hot shower
and
aloe vera
because
hot shower
after a long drive
and
aloe vera
on sunburned skin
feels so good

Shameless Afternoon Distraction of the Week

What's My Pirate Name?

Don't take your Mini Cooper on Safari

Hey Dad--Not that a drive through the wildlife safari is in your future, but if it ever is, beware of lions who may mistake your Mini Cooper for prey!

It's the Muppet Show!

I am now the proud owner of season one of The Muppet Show on DVD! 604 minutes of childhood memories! What more could a girl ask for?

Mediocre Parenting: All Are Welcome

Whining Ahead. (You have been warned.)

Today, I came upon a disturbing scene: the sight of a young couple with babies, who didn't look much like they were embracing their roles as parents.

This is the second time I have come across this particular type of scene at my local Subway. (Subway, the gathering place for couples not ready for parenthood?!?) There was a fussy toddler on the table, not more than 2 years old, a hungry infant in the stroller probably 3 or 4 months and a bun in the oven, probably 5 or 6 months along. The woman (with the bun in the oven) was ordering food and deciding (without much success) on a bag of chips. ("There's a jalapeno one here. That could be interesting.") The man had the toddler on the table with one hand and was making use of his remaining upper-torso-appendage by feeding the infant a bottle.

I just rolled my eyes. Honey, if you had been breastfeeding these babies in the first place, you wouldn't have had them so close in age and overwhelming you into chip-indecision-zombiehood.

I just don't understand why I, a young woman quite capable of caring for and communicating with a wide variety of children, am without children, and this overwhelmed couple entrusted have two babies and one on the way.

It just makes me feel sad and helpless when I see families like this. I wish I could do something productive about it instead of just whining about it on my blog.

Bleh.

Economic Research Firm Offers Housing Cost Calculator

My favorite group of economic researchers, the folks at the D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) have just released the web-based The CEPR Housing Cost Calculator. I discovered that right now, I'm better off renting. Until I think I'm going to be settled somewhere for more than 10 years, it's more expensive for me to buy than to rent in Portland, Beaverton, or Vancouver. This is good news since I just signed another 1-year lease on my apartment. According to CEPR,

This calculator compares the cost of owning a home relative to renting for a potential new homeowner. The Housing Cost Calculator reports the "Net Cost of Owning" -- the expected amount of additional cash available to a renter compared to the amount available to a homebuyer who buys a home today and sells the home at a specified time in the future. The calculator takes into account the unprecedented run-up in real home prices since 1997.

Are we ready to battle with evil?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a book that leaves me with an impression that evil should be approached with purity of heart; friends, prepared, armed, and ready; and a focused driven attitude—even to the point of sacrifice.

Though what I love best about the books in the Harry Potter series are the endearing protagonists, delightful setting, and engaging plot, many times in the series, especially in the last three books, I have paused to think about the due diligence (or lack thereof) evident in my own life as I walk with the current of the Kingdom-Come flowing swiftly and surely in and around me.

Am I prepared for the seemingly fantastical battles ahead? Is my soul ready for the heart-wrenching decisions I will face? Despite the content of witchcraft and wizardry which some oppose (though they may not object to it in LOTR), I believe the service J.K. Rowling renders to her readers, young and old alike, is the comingling of innocence and guilt, lightheartedness and forboding, safety and danger, truth and lie, illumination and obfuscation interwoven in a context of fictional story, characters, and setting.

Though rendered in the realm of fantasy, does this not inform, if not warn us here in the Real World and in the Church that though it may be too heart-breaking to acknowlege, to difficult to comprehend, to frightening to ponder, we are, as with all creation, headed toward a new world, a new earth, yes, a new creation—a place of victory—only preluded by epic battles of war, death, torture, separation, fire, destruction, monsters and beasts, and creatures that we perceive to only exist in Faerie?

I believe that Rowling, along with many other writers of fiction and fantasy, can prepare the imagination for the truth revealed in the Word of God. To me, we seem too ill-prepared for the days ahead. I am thankful to the writers, filmmakers, and other creatives who create a bridge from Reality to Another Place, so that when we close the book, walk out of the theatre, or power off the DVD player, we can return to our World, perhaps more prepared, or at least inclined to get prepared for the "real" magnificent stories awaiting us in the days to come.

Watertower Down

So on Sunday afternoon I was driving back from Tigard when I spotted this [intentionally] downed watertower! I was so excited (it was my first downed watertower, after all) that I got off 217 turned around and went back to Cascade Plaza to take some pictures. Here's my favorite:

Entertained, Provoked to Think

Wonderfalls. A TV series that lasted only a few episodes on the network, but one whose story and characters I immediately loved. Twelve episodes or so were released on DVD which I checked out from the library this past weekend. Kind of a post-modernism and Gen-Y primer, funny, but also containing almost disturbingly authentic performances that brought almost a heart-breaking realism to the tale (despite the dominant presence of talking stuffed animals, figurines, and other man-made objects with faces). What provoked me, though, was much more personal than intellectual. Watching a show that got axed after 4 episodes is kind of stressful. I find myself thinking, how many episodes did they end up filming? Will the series end with closure and a good ending or will it be cut off prematurely and haunt me forever? And about two-thirds through the story the romantic happy ending freebie that I thought was a sure-thing was ripped out from under me, just as it was ripped out from under the character of Jaye. She cried. I cried. And it really made me think. How much am I taking for granted right now with regard to relationships? Do I think I'm entitled to some happy ending, free of charge, with little or no effort? I think I have been thinking that and seeing that scenario played out on the screen made my heart stop. I couldn't get to sleep until I "wrote myself out of the shock" at two o'clock in the morning.

Maybe laughing and crying in response to a TV show or a movie can be a good thing. In some really great and heart-wrenching instances, I think it gets my soul ready to learn something previously stubbornly refused.

We'll see.