tasteandsee

Offline

The DVR must go back to Comcast today. Actually, not just today, but in a little under one hour. this means that they will be shutting off internet service. The cable guy will not be plugging us back in until about 4 p.m., but then it's not my service, it's Emily's and Alyssa's because I no longer pay the bills here. So, this may be my last post until Monday unless Emily is going out to buy a wireless modem today...which I doubt (understandably not her top priority, since she doesn't have a computer yet).

It's going to be a hectic couple of days. It all begins this morning as I go out to return the DVR (I'm almost crying ;), donate six boxes of books to the library (more tears), and foist some clothes, stuffed animals and other household items on the Goodwill. The rest of today will be spent doing a final sweep of the house to be sure that I have all my belongings, helping Alyssa move her stuff into my empty bedroom, reorganizing and repacking my massive pile of junk, and waiting for the cable guy to reinstall my umbilical cord (probably late in the afternoon).

Tomorrow will be a sad day. It will be my last Sunday at the Falls Church, possibly the last ever. To my great delight, John Yates will be preaching the sermon. The rest of the day will be spent fidgeting, watching Alyssa take over my space, goofing off with Emily, reorganizing and repacking (yes, I'm slightly obsessive), and packing my car. Some time after midnight, Jule Ann, my new hero, will arrive to crash on my couch and then help me move in the morning. Can I just say that Jule Ann and I were merely acquaintances before blogging and now she's coming to my rescue with the packing and the moving. I heart blogging and bloggers!

Monday morning, I will finally get into my bulging-at-the-seams car and drive to Princeton, NJ, followed by Super Jule Ann! It's a fairly short trip, but it will feel like an eternity. I can hardly wait to get there!

UPDATE - Apparently getting a wireless router was one of Emily's priorities for the day, so we now have wireless and she does indeed have the laptop that is one of her help desk job perks.

What I'll Miss...

My imminent move has gotten me thinking about my time working in DC. So, I thought I would compile a list of the things I'll miss when I'm gone. I will miss:

spending my lunch "hour" with V, La, R and M.
working with Ly and her boss.
figuring out E's cryptic phone messages.

Hmmmm...give me a minute. Yeah, that's about it.

A concluding thought: Free at last, free at least, thank God Almighty, FREE! AT!! LAST!!!

Tagged Again! I Must Be The Coolest!!

I tagged some people to play this word association game yesterday and then a person who may or may not keep up on my blog tagged me. Obviously, I am the coolest person in the world!!!

Here are the words Becca wants me to associate with:

Instinct - basic
Apples - crisp
Clusters - squirrels
Relief - hurricane
Telephone - booth

I'm not going to tag five more people...that's too much work. ;)

RGBP Friday Five: Enjoy!

This week's Friday Five is nice and simple: Name five things you have enjoyed this week.

Lunch with my favorite co-workers.
Wandering through DC taking photos of anything and everything.
Trivia Night at Stars & Stripes (though I wish I'd eaten something along with the beer I drank).
Being tagged by Jule Ann.
Scheduling a speaker to come to Princeton (more on that later...)!!!

What did you enjoy this week?

By the way, Blogger users, I know that commenting can sort of be a pain with the changeover to beta and all, but I've found a way to get around the issue. Even if you have a Blogger account, use the "Other" option for commenting and simply enter your name and URL by hand. That way there's still a link to your blog and you don't have the frustration of comments not posting.

I still have a weekend before I go, but it will mostly be spent running around doing those last minute things that must be done before I leave the area Monday morning. Anyone in the Princeton area may feel free to help me move in, take me out to dinner, shower me with gifts, etc. beginning September 11 around noon.

Finding a picture of "zero" was not especially successful, so I found a picture to represent my feelings about this being my last official day in DC instead. This particular photo was one of the first Google image results when I typed in the word "freedom." For three years I've felt tied down to a desk, to a phone, to two jobs I've abhorred. Finally, I'm moving on to something I want to do, something I want to be tied down to. It's a glorious feeling; blessed even.

This weekend is going to be tortuous. For the past week, I've wanted nothing more than to simply pack up my car and get moving. Unfortunately, I have to wait until Princeton will allow me into my dorm room. Hopefully, Emily and I will get to spend some time together before I head out. I'll miss her.

Fun In DC...and My 300th Post on Blogger!

My time in DC comes to an end in just a few short days. There's no doubt that I'm antsy. In order to combat my own special form of restless leg syndrome, I spent a day wandering around DC, trying to take in some of the sites I'd missed.

Emily let me hitch a ride into town with her since I'm trying my best to save money. The galleries I wanted to see didn't open until 10. In order to kill some time, I slowly meandered past the Capitol Building taking pictures as I walked. You can click on this interesting representation of the preamble to the Constitution to see my slideshow for today.

Despite tired feet and a slightly sore back, I had an excellent day. The National Air and Space Museum was excellent. Taking the free guided tour definitely made it easier not to get slogged down reading every single plaque (something that good honors students like me often do). There were several times during the tour that I got choked up just thinking of the dauntless spirits who made it possible for humankind to experience the wonders of flight.

After the tour, I took in few more exhibits that had caught my eye during the tour, then headed out for the National Building Museum. Despite the rave reviews I'd heard of this particular gallery, I was unimpressed. It was cavernous and empty. The one room that actually contained an exhibit felt more like an infomercial for a particular brand of ecologically friendly homes.

Needless to say, it wasn't long before I moved on to the National Portrait Gallery. People's faces say so much. It was amazing how the paint and sculpture and photography revealed the souls of the human subjects. Beautiful! My favorite gallery was Outwin Boochever 2006 Portrait Competition. It looks like all 51 portraits exhibited appear online here. Another great exhibit was "William Wegman - Funney/Strange," which was on view in the American Art section of the museum.

Anyway, a good time was had by one. Lots of pictures were taken and are now waiting to be viewed...by you!

Tagged...ME?!

I don't think I've ever been tagged before. Now I feel incredibly special and excited! So here's the word association game for which Jule Ann tagged me...

First, I associate with her words:

aluminum - brushed
braid - French
claustrophobia - toes
dumpling - chicken and
elevator - stuck

Next, I choose words for others to associate with:

branch - ?
wax - ?
stretch - ?
bangers - ?
sunglasses - ?

Finally, I tag five of y'all:

Go at it, folks!

ONE!!!

I googled "one" to find the perfect picture for the almost last day of my countdown. The very first search result was One.org. So, to celebrate my imminent departure from DC, I've added a banner for the Campaign to Make Poverty History to my page. Yeah, it's a bandwagon and I'm on it.

One more day until Emily's new roommate moves in and I start packing my car to move out.

Yeah, Women Again...

Molly, at Adventures in Mercy, is still tackling women in the church. Today she's stepped back from whether women should be in the ministry to the roll of women as human beings. I suspect that most of my readers are with me on this, (as Molly seems to be) but I find it jarringly difficult to comprehend that there are people who believe that the chief, best (perhaps only) roles that God has for women in society, in the church, are mother and wife.

If nothing else, this point of view effectively denies the usefulness (for lack of a better word) of all unmarried, childless women, not only in the church, but in the world. I am not a wife. I am not a mother. I do not live under any form of male headship, unless you count the pastor of my church whom I have met only once. Does all this mean that I am not fulfilling God's will for my life? Should I drop my plans to pursue higher education in order to concentrate my efforts on finding a man to marry?

Obviously, I've already answered this question in my own life. I refuse to be thought of as a walking womb. Mother and wife are both difficult, honorable callings, but they are not the only calling available to women. I am willing to say that it's not even the best calling for many women. I am even willing to put my neck on the block and say that there are some women who should never bear children. None of this makes them less godly.

For the record, I think Paul would back me up on this one. See 1 Cor. 7...

TWO!!!

Another countdown image brought to you by Toothpaste for Dinner.

So, the point of this cartoon is that people are clueless about the environment, but all I could think when I read it was, "TWO BUCKS A GALLON!!! Those were the days."

There are only two more days left in this week. I have a lot to get done and not much motivation to do any of it.

Attracting Readers

Recently, I happened across a list of suggestions on how to increase traffic to a blog. One of the suggestions that stood out to me was to disable commenting until you have a readership of several hundred. Apparently, people assume a blog is not worth reading if there are few comments.

For about a millisecond, I considered turning off the comments on this blog. Then the moment passed. I'm not in this blogging thing to get a huge audience. For me, it's a place to think and to have fun. If other people stop by and want to join me on the journey, that's fantastic! If they stop by and decide it's not worth staying, what do I care? :)

I also wonder...can a blog be a blog without commenters? Thoughts...

A Rainy Day In DC

I spent part of my morning and afternoon touring gray, drizzly DC and taking plenty of pictures to share with y'all. Lunch with my favorite co-workers was the highlight of my afternoon.

Click on the beautiful city ducks to see a slideshow of my day touring our nation's capitol.

THREE!!!

It's simply amazing how often three cats are depicted in art.

It's even more amazing to think that in three more days, I will be ready to leave DC and head to seminary. Wonderful!

Hopeful/less

As my stack of belongings continues to grow, I am beginning to grow skeptical of my ability to pack everything into one car load. Some recent circumstances have made the possibility of two trips less viable, if not impossible. I'm going to do a test pack near the end of this week, but I'm not hopeful.

Anyone in Northern Virginia, Maryland, or DC want to make a charity run to Princeton, NJ on Monday, September 11? I could probably afford to buy you lunch. :)

I'm only half kidding...

What Would You Do?

On August 14, two Fox News journalists, Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, were kidnapped as they performed their duties in Gaza City. (Read more here.)Both men "converted" to Islam at the business end of a gun. Since their release on August 28th, there has been quite a bit of discussion across the blogosphere about these shotgun conversions.

Plenty of people toot their own horns, claiming that in the same position, they would never think of denying their faith. Most of the people who make this claim are my brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm sure some of these people are speaking the truth, but it's an easy claim to make given the improbability that most Americans will ever be placed in such a situation.

One commenter on La Shawn Barber's blog pondered, "I wonder what an atheist would do if forced to convert with a gun pointed at their head?" I'm not an atheist, and I'm sure someone out there could refute what I'm about to say, but I assume the answer to this question is that an atheist would fake it. He or she would fake a conversion to Islam in order to expedite his or her release, just as Centanni and Olaf did.

Knowing myself as I do, I can't help but think I would do the same. Perhaps it's cowardly, perhaps I need to be more passionate about my faith than I am, but I'm not terribly interested in dying at the hands of extremists who are willing to put a bullet in my head for no other reason than conflicting beliefs.

So, my faithdul readers, what do you hope you would do? What do you think you would do?

h/t Mary Katharine Ham

Beta Woes

Another complaint to add to my list...

Because I foolishly upgraded to Blogger Beta, I can no longer comment on non-beta blogs. Non-beta blogs would include approximately 98% of the Blogger blogs I read. Makes me want to scream!!

Stumble!

Two days ago, I downloaded the Stumbleupon toolbar for Firefox.

As an aside, if you're still using Internet Explorer instead of Firefox, you need to switch immediately. Here's a link for your convenience. Stumleupon does work with IE, but let's be serious, it's an inferior browser. ;)

Anyway, Stumbleupon is fantastic fun! The Stumbleupon fairies index websites using 500+ sub-categories organized into 14 major categories, including everything from film noir to car parts to beer to reggae. You choose the categories that interest you (as many or as few as you like) and then you begin "stumbling."

As you stumble, you get to rate the sites you come across. If you like a site, it is stored in your Stumbleupon profile. Just to give you a taste, here are some of my favorites:

1) Album Art - type in the name of a band, singer, or album and this site finds cover art for you.
2) Scott Wade's Dirty Car Art Gallery - this guy creates art on dirty windshields!
3) Pipecleaner Dance - use your keyboard to make the pipecleaner man dance.
4) Mr. Picassohead - use the shapes to make a funny face.
5) And, my personal favorite, Jackson Pollock - a blank screen and a mouse are all you need to make a Pollock-esque creation. Click for a new color.

Try it. You'll like it. Depending on the categories you choose, you might even find something useful, rather than just some fun time wasters...

FOUR!!!

Today marks the beginning of my last week in DC. According to my countdown calendar, it's T-minus four days and counting. I'm not moving until Monday, the 11th, but I only knew what day I'd be leaving work when I started the countdown, so I'll stick with it now.

Fantastic Four Valentine's Day cards. Old school! I loved Valentine's Day in elementary school. No one really passed around Fantastic Four cards when I was in fourth grade, but there were plenty of other amusing ones (e.g. Ren & Stimpy).

The "original cast" of the 1994 aborted film version of The Fantastic Four. Look at the amazing costume work. Anybody know what that blond guy is from?

I've never seen this movie and I don't plan to at any time in the future, but I thought you might like to compare the original cast with the most recent cast. Sex appeal = +10. Costumes and special effects = +2000.

There ya go. Four pictures of the Fantastic Four to commemorate my last four weekdays in DC.

Canopy

I live in a beautiful neighborhood. This was one of my favorite pictures from a short jaunt about the place that I went on today. You can click on the leaves to see a short slideshow of the others photos I took. More to come...

Homework

For the past few days, blogging has begun to feel like homework for a class I hate. This feeling makes me incredibly sad because I love blogging.

I think part of the problem is that I'm too perfectionistic about my writing. Perhaps you think this idea laughable given my nonsensical posts in the past few days, but honestly, the idea that people are actually reading my blog freezes me in my tracks. I drive myself crazy wondering whether what I've written is good enough for an audience.

Another part is the pressure to write something important. It's much easier to blog stuff and nonsense and link to other people's substantive posts...

And, finally, the worst part of the problem is that many of the things I want to blog about are off limits. The thoughts I would normally type and publish are securely in the not-to-be-blogged category.

So, anyway, I'm getting desperate. Anybody have any suggestions? Is there anything you want to know about me? Are there any thoughts I've started that you want to see completed? Please, help me appease my blogging jones.

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