24, Season 7: 3-4 AM

This is a little late. Sorry.

-Sprint offers its customers a chance to view "extended sneak previews" of the upcoming 24 episode. I am a Sprint customer, although I have no fancy features that would allow me to see the previews. But even if I could, I wouldn't, because the regular previews we all see at the end of each episode already give away too much. And I'm not that impatient; I can wait a week.

-In the hotel room, we had a showdown between Tony and his fellow bad guy, the one who smuggled the canister out of the perimeter. The guy, who was previously a highly-trained killing machine, turned into an incompetent law enforcement officer during their fight. How did he get beat and killed by a guy he had a gun trained on, one who was weak because he recently shot himself in the gut?

-There's a mysterious group that is organizing this whole thing. They talk to each other via teleconference with their voices scrambled for anonymity. We are led to believe they are all executives of private defense contractors. They also use parliamentary procedure and have votes. It's good to see that they value democracy, even as they plot attacks on the US.

-It looks like we'll soon figure out the deal with Janice. She's been asserting herself lately, questioning behavior she sees as illegal, but she's stayed loyal. So far.

-The phrase "enemy combatant" was thrown out twice this week, referring to Hodges and Tony. In both cases, people were suggesting that the bad guys be designated as such. Is this merely an attempt to link the show to real events, or is it a preview of upcoming events? Will Jack get to go to Gitmo and do some waterboarding?

WFMW - Crackers and Pizza and Bread, oh my!

I have a confession. On my non-controversial cracker post, I lied. Well, maybe lie is too strong of a word, but I said I didn't have a pizza stone. And that was true when I wrote it. But between writing that and actually posting it, I got a pizza stone. I have been baking so much bread, pizza and crackers that I knew I would use it a lot, so I went ahead and splurged.

But I didn't spend $50 on a stone for King Arthur, or even $30 for a stone from Pampered Chef. Nope, I just headed to Home Depot and bought a few 6" unglazed quarry tiles. My oven is small so I only needed six tiles to cover my oven's one and only rack. I just washed them with a little baking soda and water, let them completely dry then laid them on top of the rack. The grand total - $2.67. And that includes the tax!

It was so simply and easy that my post seems kinda short so I thought I would share some of the information I found while swagbucking pizza stones.

Tips for treating your pizza stones right (both the real kinda and the made from tile type)

1) Preheat, preheat, preheat.
The whole point of the stone is to get things hot - getting the oven's temperature up, keeping it there, and allow the food to cook by conduction and not just radiated heat. So you have to let it get hot. Put your stone/tiles in there oven when it is cold, then turn it on. You will also want to increase your normal preheat time by a few minutes.

2) Don't remove it from the oven.
People often complain about their stone breaking. Now since it only cost $0.67 to replace a tile, it isn't as bad as if a stone breaks but it is easy problems to avoid. Breakage is most often caused by a quick and drastic temperature shift. The solution - don't remove the tiles/stone from the oven. That means you have to use a "peel" to transfer your bread or pizza to and from the stone. I just use a cookie sheet. Sprinkle on some flour or cornmeal before placing your dough on it and it will come. It does take a bit of practice to get it to work, but it's not awful. My first time I was nervous about letting all the heat escape and was too rushed. I bumped the tiles and pushed them apart, leaving a hole for my bread dough to drip through. But even then it baked firm before it completely fell. My loaf was odd shaped but still edible.

Another option is to use a sheet of parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet or cutting board, then sliding the dough and paper onto the stone. Taking it out is easier as it should be quite a bit firmer now that is has been baked.

Once the oven is cool, you can take out the stone or tiles if you want, but I just leave them in there all the time. My oven is really bad at retaining heat and keeping a constant temperature, so having the extra mass in their helps. I have made everything from casseroles to cookies on top of my tiles and it hasn't affected anything negatively. (It improved the cookies, before tiles my cookie baking time could vary from 8-16 minutes from batch to batch because of temperature fluctuations, now it is much more constant.)

3) Keep it clean.
Don't use soap to clean a stone. Most of the time, you don't really need to clean it. If you use cornmeal or flour, it will "burn" and leave a black ashy reside (don't let that scare you, it is so little that I've never even smelt it, so don't worry about stinking up your house or setting off your fire alarm although if I am making pizza at 500 I turn the fume hood on). That residue will come off if you wipe it with a dry cloth. There might be some stains but that just makes your oven look like an authentic baker uses it. And if it really needs to be cleaned, you can wash it with water, or water and baking soda but be sure to let it completely dry. It may take a while because the stone is porous and will have soaked up some water.

Pizza stones - they work for me!

Switch in Time Saves Another Term?

After Senator Specter's party switch today, which was clearly based almost entirely on concerns for his own career, I've been wondering which would be better: term limits or an age cap for senators? There is clearly a problem with people in the Senate that are too old; 25 senators are over age 70, and Specter, at age 79, clearly needs to be put out to pasture. If we can have a retirement age for pilots, we can have one for senators. Maybe peg it to the Social Security retirement age; that would sure get jacked up quickly.

On the other hand, someone like Joe Biden, who was in the Senate for 35 years beginning at age 30, would still serve for a ridiculously long time before getting the boot under an age cap. Ted Stevens would fit here, too. So maybe term limits would be better; I would allow no more than 3 terms.

As for Specter, he acknowledged the fact that the upcoming election, and his poor standing in the polls, affected his thinking:

"I have traveled the state and surveyed the sentiments of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania and public opinion polls ... and have found that the prospects for winning the Republican primary are bleak," Specter said.

Eight years ago, Specter was quite unhappy that another GOP Senator, Jim Jeffords, left the party. But again, Specter was thinking about his career; he lost a committee chairmanship because of the switch.

I would like to see Democrats in Pennsylvania reject this attempt at party carpetbagging (a primary opponent could bring this up), but they probably won't, and Republicans would probably do the same if the opposite occurred. The best outcome, though, would be if Specter calculated incorrectly, and lost to a Republican in 2010. I would laugh long and hard about that.

Retreat!

I feel like I should post something, but I really don't have anything interesting to say. We were away this weekend on a couple's retreat so I didn't have time to pre-write any posts so I guess I'll talk abour our weekend. It was supposed to be a joint retreat with two homegroups except no one else from ours could go (except our home group leaders, who put it on) - so basically, it was a retreat with a bunch of couple's we didn't know. But we still had fun!

Saturday after our first marriage session, we had a barbeque out by a lake and then went sailing. I had never been on a sail boat before and it was quite a bit more unsteady than I was expecting. Our sail even dipped in the water once or twice. Our driver's told us that it was impossible to flip a sailboa, and I mostly believed them, but it didn't help that they kept saying "Oh, I don't think we are going to make it." It was later explained to us that when they said that, they meant that it wasn't going to make it without readjusting the sails. I think they should have been more explicit with their sayings.

Since there were quite a few of us on the boat, we took turns riding up on top and below deck. Below deck wasn't quite as scenic but it had another fun part - the baby. One of the couples had their little one with them and he was so adorable. And if you think you can't get cuter than a 5 month old, just try putting him in a life jacket so big that all you can see is his chubby face.

The rest of the weekend was spent learning bibley-marriage stuff, playing games, and eating. There was lots and lots of eating. It was a very relaxing weekend, until I realized that it was Sunday night and we had laundry and meal planning and grocery shopping to do. But I'm almost caught up. I love going away for the weekends, but hate coming home Sunday afternoon. It's such a dilemma. I think weekends should be three days long, anyone with me?

Foreign Affairs Friday: Demographics

Earlier this week, I linked to a column about Russia's declining demographics, which are due to high drinking and low fertility. There are a number of other countries about which dire predictions are being made as well (Foreign Policy has a good list). Let's take a look at a few:

• China has an overabundance of males, due to a preference for males inspired by the one-child policy. Men with no marriage prospects are considered to be dangerous; these "bare branches" can become involved in crime, gangs, and other destabilizing activity. A growing China that borders on a shrinking Russia could portend future conflict. India also hasChina also has the problem of a looming boom in its senior population. China could "grow old before it gets rich," as the saying goes, and the old folks will be unable to support themselves, as China has no pension system.
  

• Europe is getting old. Fertility rates in many countries are below replacement rate. In countries with large welfare systems, workers are needed to pay for them, so a lack of young people does not bode well for European budgets. The US has a similar problem,with the retirement of the baby boomers, but to a lesser extent because our birthrate is higher. Japan is also getting old, and it does not allow for much immigration, making its problem worse.
  

• While advanced societies are not reproducing, poor ones are. In Africa, this can lead to starvation, disease, and further poverty. In the Middle East, this can create large populations of disaffected, unemployed youth susceptible to radicalization. Many say that family planning is needed to lift these areas out of poverty, but I think that is backwards: prosperity is the best birth control. As incomes go up, infant mortality goes down and education goes up, and children are no longer needed to help support the family. Thus, fewer children are born, then you end up in a situation like the west, where we don't have enough reproduction taking place.
  

Much of international affairs these days inspires pessimism (US debt, Afghanistan, Mexico, etc.). Demographics are just one more (big) cause for concern.

It was pretty good, if I do say so myself.

I consider myself a fairly good cook - except when it comes to omelets. I have never been able to make an omelet. I'll try and try but every time I mess it up so much that I "decide" to just turn it into scrambled eggs and call it a day. So I normally just have Craig make them, but it has always been a tad bit annoying that I couldn't do it. That is, until last night.

Earlier this week, I was watching the Food Network when Good Eats came on and I was treated to a delightful lesson by Alton Brown on the art of omelet making. So when our regular scheduled breakfast for dinner meal came up, I gave it a try. And I am happy to report, that with my newly learned skills and some help and encouragement from Craig, I successfully made my first omelet. I was so proud of myself!

If you too have struggle with omelet failure, check out these videos:

I think someone missed the point of Earth Day

Yesterday after work, we stopped by HEB to grab some bananas. Upon entering the store, we received a coupon for a free earth gift- a reusable grocery bag. At the checkout, the lady puts the bananas in a plastic bag and then hands us the reusable bag. Okay, I guess we will just use that bag at a later point in time.

That is normally the opposite of what happens when we bring reusable bags to the store. The baggers are so nice about taking and using them, too nice in fact. On big shopping days, we have more groceries than can reasonable fit into our few cloth bags. But that won't stop them from trying. Maybe they are worried we will be mad at them if they have to use a plastic bag, but they fill them over maximum capacity. I have even tried to tell them it is okay if they need to use plastic, I don't mind. To which they always "oh, no, it'll fit" and I end up leaving the store with items falling out all over the place.

But despite that odd little occurrence, I really do love cloth bags. They are easier to carry, won't break on you, hold more, and enable you to look down upon all the rest of you earth haters still using plastic bags....just kidding on that last one, I promise.

24, Season 7: 2-3 AM

Well, that was a pretty bleak episode, which I will now spoil.

At the end of the show, we thought that Angelina Jolie's dad, the evil CEO, was dying, which would be bad only because he might have some useful information about continuing threats. Jack was also in bad shape, because Tony stole his anti-seizure medication. In addition, Larry is dead and the bad guy got through the perimeter (not a big surprise, though, because 24 perimeters always fail).

The preview for next week, however, indicates that the CEO (Hodges) survived the suicide pill, and that Jack will stop seizing. He will also get a chance to interrogate Hodges. Fun! I probably shouldn't watch previews, though. They give away a lot. It's like when I first started watching this series, on DVD. I had to avoid reading the backs of the boxes, because they reveal too much.

We also learned this week that Jack is a grandpa. He suddenly seems much less formidable and lethal. Grandpas aren't tough. Of course, the seizures don't help the toughness either.

We also heard Agent Walker request that someone notify Moss' ex-wife about his death, but that she shouldn't be the one to do it. Apparently Walker is a homewrecker.

UHF: Crackers - they are not controversial.

Since I am now feeling better and back at work, I don't have those boring time periods between naps when I don't feel like getting up but can't possible sleep any more. Which means I no longer have time to write lengthy blog posts and replies alienating friend, family and readers with my conservative views on social issues. So I thought I would posts about something everyone loves - crackers! You can't have an argument about crackers, can you? Well, unless someone asks Cheese-its or Cheese-nips - but let's just not go there.

"But can't you just buy those?" That was Craig's response when I made my first cracker recipe. Make crackers? Who does that?

I do and so do other hippies. I have actually found a couple good recipes from other Nourishing Traditions style foodies. Yes, you can buy them but why not make them? The ones I make are simply, don't use fancy ingredients and quite tasty. Not only are they cheaper but they are fresh and I know exactly what is in them and can make sure it is all good stuff.

Here is what are in commercial wheat thins:

ENRICHED FLOUR , SOYBEAN OIL, WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT FLOUR, SUGAR, DEFATTED WHEAT GERM, CORNSTARCH, MALT SYRUP (FROM BARLEY AND CORN), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, MONOGLYCERIDES, SALT, VEGETABLE COLOR (ANNATTO EXTRACT, TURMERIC OLEORESIN), SOY LECITHIN.

For a processed food, it's really not too bad. But sugar and high fructose corn syrup? No thanks. Enriched flour? That a fancier way of saying white flour. I can do better.

My wheat thin recipe: *This recipe is an altered version of one I saw on Raising Peanuts

• 3 cups ground oatmeal (Just put it in a food processor or blender for 30-60 seconds)
• 3 cups wheat flour (I like King Arthur white wheat, if you can't find white wheat, you might just want to use part white, part wheat)
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 3 Tabl. honey
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt (plus more for topping)
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup warm water
  

Mix all ingredients and let sit for 30 minutes. Roll out quite thin. Sprinkle with salt and roll a bit more to embed salt in dough. Cut into squares and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes until slightly brown around edges (depending on your oven and the thickness it varies quite a bit).

Pita Crackers: *From a recipe on 101 cookbooks
These are quite tasty. We eat them alone but they are a great cracker to serve with cheese or a dip. I think hummus or guacamole would be a nice accompaniment, or this roasted red pepper dip.

• 3 cups white wheat flour
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
  
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• Toppings: salt, pepper, parmesan, herbs...basically whatever you want. The cracker is your canvas. I've topped them with salt and parmesan, salt and pepper, and just salt. We liked them all. Check out the original recipe for more ideas.
  

Mix together in a kitchan-aid with a dough hook then leave on low to knead for about 7 minutes. The dough should be smooth and silky. You could probably knead it by hand but it would take a bit longer. Divide the dough into 8 pieces, roll into a ball, coat with olive oil and let rest for an hour. About 40 minutes into the resting period, start heating your oven to 450. You want it to be nice and hot. (If you have a pizza stone, it would probably be good. I don't have one and cookie sheets work well enough).

When it is done resting, roll out each chunk of dough fairly thin (you can experiment here, the thicker pieces kinda puff up which I like, but thin is better if you want a nice crunchy cracker, or if you want to be able to get the dip to stay on). Add your toppings, roll a bit more to embed, then cut into pieces. Bake 5-7 minutes until golden. Enjoy!

Mac n' cheese crackers: Originally called cheese pennies
These taste just like my homemade mac n'cheese, but in a cracker form. These are obviously not low fat, but that isn't the way we roll here and I consider a good homemade cracker made with real butter and cheese to be healthier than any low fat processed cracker I could buy.

• 2 cups cheddar cheese (Use block cheese that you grate yourself, I've used frozen pre-grated cheese and the dough just can't stay together. You will end up frustrated.)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup white wheat flour
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/8 tsp cayenne (you can use more but we are woosey)

Mix together. You might need to use a couple of tablespoons of cold water to get it to stick together (like a pie crust). Divide it into two and roll each section into a thin (1-2 inches in diameter) log. Wrap logs in wax paper and place in freezer for 30 minutes. (If you want to keep in freezer longer, just leave it out for 20-30 minutes before you try to slice it or it will crumble.)

After chilling, slice log into pieces about 1/8-1/4 in thick and place on ungreased cookie sheet. You can sprinkle with paprika if you like (I do, Craig doesn't). Bake at 400 for 12-14 minutes until very slightly brown around edges.

Overall Cracker tips:

• If the recipe calls for salt sprinkled on top, don't be a miser. The salt adds a lot of flavor and if you don't use enough, you will have boring crackers. I like Kosher but sea salt would also work, I don't think regular would be as good.
• Experiment with thickness. Thinner is generally better but see what you prefer. I meant to steal my mom's pasta maker when I was home for Christmas (what? She never uses it!) so I could get a nice thin cracker but a rolling pin does work.
• I keep them in big ziplock bags in the fridge. I think they last longer that way, although we normally eat them up in a few days so I'm not sure why I bother.
• Try it! Why buy processed crackers when you can easily make a tasty and healthy version at home?
  

Whither My Wardrobe?

Last week, George Will unleashed a scathing critique of blue jeans and adults who wear them. While it's a bit over the top, in the vein of a "what is the world coming to" complaint, he has a point.

Denim is the clerical vestment for the priesthood of all believers in democracy's catechism of leveling -- thou shalt not dress better than society's most slovenly. To do so would be to commit the sin of lookism -- of believing that appearance matters. That heresy leads to denying the universal appropriateness of everything, and then to the elitist assertion that there is good and bad taste.

That being said, I feel like I'm reaching an age where I should transition my wardrobe. I generally avoid wearing T-shirts outside the house, except on Saturdays (which I guess is casual day for me). I also generally avoid tennis shoes. But I still wear jeans most of the time, although they are free of holes and excessive bagginess. I guess once I'm out of school, I won't be able to wear jeans during the work week, so the question will be whether or not to upgrade my weekend attire.

America has been becoming more casual for quite some time, however. Hats went out of style in the '60's, and most people save a suit for special occasions. Jeans are the next step, for better or worse. Maybe sweatpants will be next. I'd be interested in your thoughts on this article and on modern fashion in general.

P.S. Since I deprived you of a Foreign Affairs Friday column last week, I will direct you to this George Will column about Russia's dire demographic situation.

To Lance - or the post where I still can't leave well enough alone.

Lance, I feel like you are a pharisee, trying to stir up trouble with your questions of divorce but I will answer anyway :-)

I don't think divorce should be illegal for the same reason God allowed Moses to grant divorces - it isn't good for society. Back in the day (of Moses) men weren't divorcing their wives but were making their lives miserable because their hearts were hardened against them. They were being mistreated and abused instead of being divorced. That isn't good for society or a good illustration of God's love for his church.

So just as marriage is for the benefit and protection of women and children, in a very sad way, so is divorce. If we didn't have sin in the world, we wouldn't have that problem, but we do - so we do.

But I do think it is too easy to be divorced in this country. You may disagree, but I don't think it should be easy.

But moving from legality to church issues, I think the church is way too soft on divorce. Yes, it has become common in our society, but that doesn't mean God's view on it have changed. I think the only church accepted reasons for divorce should be those that are in the scripture. And the Bible does clearly lay out times when divorce is acceptable - never good, never what He intended, but acceptable.

In Matthew 19:9, Jesus says

"And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery."

My Strong's concordance translates that word "fornication" to porneia, which is defined as

1) Illicit s*xual intercourse (adultery, fornication, h*mos*xuality, l*sbianism, intercourse with animals, s*xual intercourse with close relatives, s*xual intercourse with a divorced man or woman.
2) The worship of idols

So apparently fornication is grounds for divorce. Another example of acceptable divorce comes up in 1 Corinthians 7:15 when it states that if a believer is married to a non-believer and the non-believe "wants out" that they are no longer bound.

My point here isn't to dissect every account when the Bible talks about divorce, it is that the Bible does talk about divorce. We don't have to use our minds to reason when divorce is okay and not okay, God tells us. And for most reasons, it isn't. And when it isn't, it is sin.

So just like I am not going to say homosexuality isn't a sin when I think the Bible says it is, neither am I willing to say that divorce isn't a sin in cases when I think the Bible says it is, even if if is unpopular to do so. I know that I don't make the rules, He does. And I think the church needs to do a better job of going back to the Bible as the basis for its standard of right and wrong.

But, and I think this is a big but, I hate to get so caught up in discussing what is a sin and what isn't a sin that I miss the whole point - forgiveness. I think it is important to define sin, because without knowledge of our sin, we can't repent, we can't ask for forgiveness. But the point is not the sin, the point is forgiveness. I said in my last post that my whole reason for living is to illustrate the gospel. The gospel is all about the grace of God. He wants us to live in his will because He loves us and wants the best for us. But He knows we can't do that on our own. That is the whole reason He sent Jesus. Repairing lives is what He does best. He wants to work miracles in our lives and restore them. God wants to forgive us of all our sin, that doesn't exclude homosexuality, that doesn't exclude divorce.

Since it all comes back to the Jesus, I feel like it is fitting to end with a verse about Him, you will probably recognize it:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:16-17

To Rachel - Or the post where I just can't leave well enough alone.

This started as a comment on Rachel's post "Gay Marriage" but grew really big so I am posting it here. Be sure to go back to her post to follow the discussion.

Rachel,

I will state right now that I am going to use the Bible as the basis for my arguments. You will probably bring up separation of church and state and how we aren't a Christian nation and yes, that is true. But the people in our society, many of which are Christians, do get to decide what is a cultural norm. No, we don't get to infringe upon others rights but marriage is not a right. I don't have the right to marry whom every I want. I can't marry more than one person. I can't marry my brother. Why? Because we as a society don't think it is in the best interest of our society.

Marriage is a way society promotes what they want to be the norm. And I think you must agree with that because you realize it isn't just about legal/monetary rights because civil unions do that. But civil unions don't get you normalization. Marriage does. And I have absolutely no problem with society as a whole deciding what it wants to promote and encourage and what it does not.

But on to your first point, it's really the only one I am specifically going to address because this comment is already going to be ginormous.

You said, "Gay people are not a problem". I agree, sort of. They are a problem, but not any more that any other sinner is.

So right off the bat we disagree. I do think living a homosexual lifestyle is a sin. I believe that the entire Bible is the word of God and is completely true (I'm not clarifying that so much because I don't think you, Rachel, don't believe that, but because I know other "Christians" who
do not) so I do think those verses* clearly state that homosexuality is a sin and do apply today. But it isn't just those verses sprinkled here and there. It is that I can also see God's plan for marriage and human relations as a whole and how it is incompatible with homosexuality. People are not interchangeable. God made men and God made women. They are not the same. He also made them specifically in mind for marriage (man is not meant to be alone). That wasn't an accident. He made them for marriage with a plan, to highlight the gospel. I used to think about the comparison between the husband and wife and Jesus and the church to be a "kinda neat thing" Hmm, fancy that, they are similar, how neat. And then I would move on.

But once I got married, I really began to understand the example. Craig and I have different roles in our marriage, just as Christ and his Church have different roles in their relationship. They are not interchangeable, and neither are a husband and wife. And I realized I had the timelines all wrong. God didn't make man and woman and marriage, then have marriage exists for a couple thousand years, then once Jesus came around, God realized how similar the two relationships were. No!

God created marriage knowing that Jesus would be the ultimate husband, the head of the His church. As far as Christianity and God's plan - that is its purpose - to illustrate the gospel. And since God knew what he was doing, it is good in other ways, for the emotional and physical healthy of the couple, for the benefit of the children, for the stability of our society - all good stuff. But not the main goal. The main goal - to illustrate the gospel. In fact, that is our purpose as Christians - to illustrate the gospel. My entire life, everything I think, everything I do, should be about illustrating the gospel. It isn't because sanctification is a process and I am not perfect, but it should be.

So should I shun and despise divorcees? No!
Should I shun and despise fornicators? No!
Should I shun and despise homosexuals? No!

Should I despise divorce, fornication and homosexuality? Yes - because all those things undermine and tear apart the example that God has created of marriage as a representation of his Son's love for his church. They make a mockery of it.

I think some people hate to call homosexuality a sin because they don't think it is a choice. But I don't agree . You may think it is a crappy choice, a choice you wouldn't never want to make or ask anyone to make, a choice where all options are less than ideal. But it is a choice. And given the fallen and sinful state of mankind, it is not shocking that some people would want to sin in the that way. Some people are more disposed to pride, or to lust, or to gluttony. That doesn't mean those aren't sins.

Now I don't think we should chase after homosexuals yelling mean things at them anymore than I think we should do that to liars, thieves, adulterers, etc. Mostly because that would not illustrate the gospel to anyone, it would just make me look like a jerk. But neither am I willing to let homosexuality become acceptable in our society, any more so than I want lying, stealing, and adultery to become acceptable. Now people do have rights and they can choose to engage in behavior that I feel is immoral. I can't and wouldn't want to legally stop them. But the point of legalizing marriage is to make homosexuality normal and acceptable and I don't think it should be.

And if I truly believe that God loves me and every other individual on Earth (which I do) and that he has written the Bible as a plan for how I and every other person on earth should live our lives (which I do) and that the Bible says that homosexuality is a sin (which I do) - then I must think that his plan for our lives is the most loving and that if I or any other fellow man follow his plan, I will be eternally better off. The choices I make to live his plan may not always make me "feel" as good, they may not always make my life comfy and cozy and easy. But they are the best. So how can I think it is loving to encourage someone to do something contrary to God's plan? You think it would be unloving to ask a homosexual to abstain from marriage because they won't get the joy of marriage. But I don't want them to abstain from living God's plan because they will miss out on the joy of God's plan. And that is so much more than the whatever benefits they would get from marriage.

*1 Corinthians 6:8-9
Romans 1:26-27
1 Timothy 1:9-10
Jude 1:7

Input Request

I need to ask all of you for your input at whether I am too judgemental or not. More specifically, it is to see if my annoyance at something is unfounded or not. Earlier this week, I called a company to order some supplies at work. They had one of those phone things where it plays music until they pick up (I'm too out of touch to know what they are actually called, is it a ring back?) The song - All Summer Long by Kid Rock. And it was very loud. Now, I don't really think that song is a good choice for a professional business. It is quite embarrasing to be listening to someone singing about "smoking funny things" and "making love out by the lake" when your boss walks in and I do not appreciate that company putting me in that position. Do you think that is an appropriate song for a professional business to play? Am I being a little picky?

It could be that I was more annoyed because I happen to hate that song. Not so much the song but the fact that all of a sudden all these non-country people just decide to be country. Kid Rock - you are not a country music artist and I don't appreciate your songs being played on my nice country stations. (Oh, and please take a shower and wash your hair. I'm all about the no poo movement but you have taken it too far.) But this whole country cross-over has become an epidemic. I think Hootie and the Blowfish were perfectly fine back in the day, but what the heck is Darius Rucker doing in Nashville? So basically, I am not a fan of this genre mixing thing. At all. And if you as a business choose to promote it, I will take offense.

Untitled

Sometimes I feel okay again, and I rejoice in my savior. The life He has given me, the good things I still have.

Sometimes I feel okay again and I hate myself for it. Does it really not matter anymore?

Sometimes I know that in many ways, it will never be okay. And I'm mad, hurt, and inconsolable.

And sometimes I'm just too tired. Emotions are exhausting and I just go on living, knowing someday I will move on, but hoping I never forget.

Austin

My facebook status on Friday read "I love (my town) but sometimes my inner hippie just wants access to the awesome resources they have." Actually it read that with two typos but was Friday afternoon and I was tired.

After my weekend in Austin, I feel exactly the same way. I like to visit Austin, go shopping and see some neat places, but I wouldn't want to live there. I'm at home in good ol' Aggieland with it's cowboys and conservatives.

Saturday morning we arrived at 10ish. I'm pretty sure we woke my brother up but he was a good sport and we all headed to the farmer's market. I was so made when I realized I forgot my camera as this would have been a fun place to take pictures. It was much more, uhm, flavorful than the one in Logan was. That one was mostly farmer's selling food, this one was all sorts of vendors - low pasteurized milk, cheese, raw honey, humanely raised and slaughter pork, and lots of breakfast vendors. The cinnamon rolls and breakfast tacos looked really good, but eventually we went with the samosas with mango chutney. Now Craig is after me to find a recipe to make them myself - luckily for me I have heard rumors of a Nourishing Traditions samosas recipe. I'll be looking into that. I also picked up some raw honey. It's expensive so I will be sticking with my gigantic bottles of Sam's Club honey for my cooking and baking but the raw has so much flavor it will be nice for tea. I still miss my Cache Valley honey though :- (

After the farmer's market, we walked over to Whole Foods. I had been to the other big natural food store in Austin but never this one and it while it was really cool, they aren't kidding when they call it "Whole Paycheck." I got three items - a medium size bottle of Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap, a small bag of rye flour, and 1.5 lbs rapadura. Those three items cost's almost $20. It's probably a good thing I only have access to that natural food stores every so often as I would definitely have trouble staying in my food budget. But I have been wanting to get both the soap and the rapadura for a long time. If I like them, I will look into getting a Azure Standard account set up so I can get them at a more decent price. I will admit that the rye was a impulse buy, but it was only $2.50 and I can't wait to try it in my favorite bread recipe.

We roamed the city for a while before landing at a refurbished trailer that serves grain fed antibiotic-free cow burgers and Blue Bell milk shakes. Leave it to Austin to make a hamburger joint hippie. But it was pretty good.

We toured the campus where we saw a Gutenburg bible and the first photograph, then stopped in at a museum to see Monster vs. Aliens 3D at an IMAX theatre but lost our appetite for the movie after seeing the increased cost because it was a feature and the long line of hyper children. Instead we settled for cheesecake at the lake, a trip to a toy shop, and a hike up to a scenic overview.
Ignore our odd apparel, it was colder than we expected so Craig wore one of Rick's surplus uniform lot items while I had to borrow a jacket from his roommate. But honestly, since we were in Austin, we didn't really stand out at all.

On one of our trips, we stumbled upon a loose peacock and stopped to shoo him back home to his nature reserve. Here he is safe again. That evening, I realized I had forgotten my brother lives the night owl schedule of a engineering student. At 10:30 when we were eating dinner, he was getting geared up for a night of fun while I was falling asleep in my mashed potatoes. But I let the guys stay up late and drink beer (bought at a whole foods coop :-) while I slept the night away.

Since we didn't have church till the evening, we had the whole morning to cook a nice breakfast and think up adventures. Of course, by the time we had a plan, it was after noon already so we hurried off to have fun before the day was over. We tried to fly kites, Rick with his fancy fighter kites and Craig with his Dora the Explorer one, and these pictures make it seem like we were successful but we were not. The wind was sporadic and we soon gave up.


Since kite flying was not in the cards, we spent the rest of the afternoon touring the Johnson Presidential Library. We had all both been there before but wanted to see the special space exhibit. By then it was almost time for church so we headed back to my brothers for some Sunday afternoon napage and a go on the Wii fit. I'm not a big fan of video games, but I really want a Wii now. I just don't want to spend the money on one. Isn't that always the way it is? I also wish I had snagged some pictures of Craig playing the tightrope walking game. It was highly amusing. But this weekend I spent more time enjoying myself then taking pictures of other people enjoying themselves. That makes for a good weekend, but a boring post. I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not.

Someone Should Walk the Plank

I subscribed to a Reuters daily e-mail news summary, so I get to read things like this now:

The capture of the Greek-owned MV Irene E.M. and Togo-flagged MV Sea Horse were a clear sign pirate gangs have not been deterred by two raids in recent days in which U.S. and French special forces have killed five pirates.

Note that the pirates did not capture French or US ships. They attacked Greek and Togoan(?) ships. I would say that the pirates have indeed been deterred from attacking ships from certain countries. (I will concede that pirates shot at an American ship a few times yesterday, after Navy Seals sniped 3 pirates on Sunday. However, this looks to me like a desperate attempt to sink or damage a ship in retaliation. The pirates apparently did not try to board the ship.)

Pirates are after one thing: money. If certain nations pay for hostages, pirates will target their ships. If other nations fight back, pirates will avoid their ships. For Reuters to not consider this strikes me as amateurish.

Holy Week

I think this is one of the first years where the term "Holy Week" really
means something to me.

One of Merriam-Websters definitions of holy is
- devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity.

This past week has felt like it was devoted entirely to the work of deity. Yes, I went to work, and cooked dinner, and did laundry, but God was everywhere and in everything that I did. He always is, but I felt it more this week. No longer was I left trying to understand what the Catholic bloggers I read were trying to say when they talk about the joy of Holy Week. I hope that this is just one of many Easters I will feel this way.

The week before Easter, I made a little garland (pictured above). It wasn't anything fancy, I just stumbled upon this tutorial and thought it would be a nice touch. I still haven't taken in down - I really like how festive and cheerful it is.

Palm Sunday we started doing this devotional. It has a passage to read, a few questions and a prayer for each night from Palm Sunday to Easter. With a little bit of commentary and a lot of scripture, it avoided the most common problem in devotionals and was nice and meaty while still only taking 20-30 minutes a night.

Wednesday we celebrated a modified Seder. I have done Seder suppers with churches before and have even hosted one for a Christian sorority I was in back in the college days but Craig and I hadn't ever thought of doing one as a family. But this post gave me the idea. We didn't do the full script but served a simple seder supper using this as a guide. I served lamb stew, egg and onion matza, hard boiled eggs dipped in salt water, horseradish and charoset (I didn't follow a recipe, just mixed some nuts, chopped apples, currants, honey and grape juice). There also should have been parsley but somehow that didn't make it from my list to my shopping cart :-) We read our regular devotional during dinner and then talked about the meaning of each item on the table, both the traditional Jewish meaning and the new meaning that Christ brought. It was really incredible to have a physical way to learn about our Jewish history. No, we aren't Jewish by blood, but as Christians we have been adopted into God's family and so their history is our history. But the original Passover story isn't the whole story by far. To see the new meanings of each items really brought home how God's story was finished. The whole story was planned from the beginning, and it all makes sense - it fits together like a perfect puzzle.

And yes, technically this was a day early but that Thursday nights we have home group and I didn't want to feel rushed. It was a good decision because at the last minute, the home where we normally meet was unavailable so we were able to offer our place. It was just another chance to be thankful we have a small apartment as I only had 2 hours from the time we got home to
make and eat dinner, make a snack for the hg and completely clean the apartment.

Despite the frantic cleaning required, it was another great night. It was our worship night so all we did was sing songs, pray and break bread (or saltines) together. Sitting there with friends, knowing we were doing something similar to Jesus did with his friends just this night two thousand or so years ago, was a little intense. Normally people are quite talkative during our prayer times but this time everyone was speechless. When the night ended, my heart was heavy. But not in the sad, almost depressed way it has been lately do to a lot of circumstances, but in a pensive manner. Just knowing that He had to die, for me, for my sins. There was a weight on me.

Friday afternoon I had off work and we spent some time making sweets and relaxing before heading to Austin for some fun adventures with my brother. We had a great time and I'll try to put up pictures later, but still the weight was still there.

Then Sunday night before heading back home, we went to evening worship with my brother.
Now I learned to love the more casual worship times we have with our hg and our Baptist service but I do miss liturgy. Attending an Episcopalian service was just what I
needed. The hymns I knew, the liturgy, communion - I enjoyed every second and left really rejoicing in the knowledge that Christ has risen. He has risen indeed.

So I have learned a lot this Lenten season, especially this past week. I've learned that I am a physical person, I like to learn from books too but sometimes having daily reminders and activities around me really does make a difference in my ability to think constantly of God, of his work in my life, his goodness, his blessings. But I am not just happy I did it because now I am rejoicing in God's gift. The past week I went through a whole spectrum of emotions this week and through all of it, God was with me. In the worry, in the sadness, in the rejoicing, He was there. And that is true all year long, not just during Holy week.

24, Season 7: 1-2 AM

As always, I'll give away plot developments in this post.

Wow, so that was quite the show, what with a certain character being killed by another certain character who has now gone from bad to good to bad this season. But is Tony working with the Starkwood people, or is something else going on? I guess Hodges said he was just a small part of the whole plot during his arrest. And he'll be on next week's show, so the Starkwood angle is probably not played out.

-In the previews last week for this episode, they really made it look like a missile was going to launch, based on the satellite video, but that image, we found out, was just the fuel exploding. I think that was a well-played use of the previews to sow seeds of confusion.

-Kim's return to the show was short-lived (and very soap-operaesque, with all the crying). I think Jack will end up getting the stem cell treatment, though. He'll probably make it through the season, then at the end he'll be shown going to the hospital. Plus, they can't bring her back only to use her for 5 minutes. I suspect she'll be involved in danger soon. Tony was especially interested to hear her name come up when it did. I sense a little foreshadowing there.

-Fox's environmental and global-warming PSAs are bad overall, but the one with Chloe was the worst one ever.

-For the 3rd time this season, I was wondering, after the missiles were destroyed, what they were going to do for the X hours left in the season. Everything looked all wrapped up. But the question was quickly answered this week.

A day in the life of Zeeba

UHF: Drink your veggies

I'm taking off for the weekend to head to Austin and visit my brother. I thought it would only be appropriate to fill the void with an Undercover Hippie File. Have a Happy Easter!

I could have easily titled this post "How I have been survived Lent." Whenever I get the urge to eat ice cream, I just make a green smoothie. It isn't quite the same, but it's healthy. In fact, now that sugar is basically out of my system, these taste super sweet and delicious to me. For a while, I even felt like I was cheating with Lent since I liked them so much! And while I feel like green smoothies have been all over the internet lately, when talking to a few real like friends who read my blog they seemed interested in how we do them, so I am posting it anyway.

It isn't complicated. A green smoothie is a smoothie with some sort of greens in it. (I like spinach, it has a mild flavor that is easily hidden but I have heard others use kale. And we already grow wheat grass for a kitty snack so I have thought about trying to add that.) It's a great way to sneak in more veggies to your diet because you can't taste the spinach. Really, you can't. And even though I'm the pickier eater in our family of two so I don't really need to sneak veggies for Craig nor am I fooled when I make myself a smoothie, we can always benefit from more greens in our diet. Especially raw vegetables.

You can use any smoothie recipe you like, just be sure to blend the liquid ingredients and the spinach first then add your frozen items. That way the spinach gets fully mixed in. Here is my basic recipe (sorry, it is really vague):

• A couple big spoonfuls of yogurt
• A squirt of honey
• A few tablespoons of orange juice (I have used milk and water instead when we are out of juice, but I like the sweetness and flavor of the orange juice. Last time I made it without orange juice, Craig asked why it tasted so "different." So use it, unless you don't have any or are really avoiding sugar - how is that for ambiguity)
• A cup or so of fresh spinach (You can work your way up to a cup if you are skeptical but from what I have heard, do not try to use frozen spinach. You will end up with yucky chunks in your smoothie.)

Blend until smooth. Then add:

• some frozen bananas (They are both super cheap and make smoothie sweet and creamy)
• other frozen fruit (Anything works but peaches and strawberries are our favorites, mostly for budget reasons. Raspberries and blueberries are great if they come on sale though.)

The amount of frozen fruit you add is really dependent on taste and thickness*. Less fruit makes a drinkable smoothie, more fruit and you might need a spoon.

If you are serving others who are unsure about the whole green smoothie thing, start with a berry smoothie.The dark color hides the green very well and you can't even see that there is spinach it it. Peach is a great flavor but the smoothie will be very green!

*It also depends on your blender. My old blender was a hand me down from a friend when he moved away, at least three years ago. It was in sad sad shape and couldn't handle a thick smoothie. That is why I also started making smoothies in two steps. We finally threw away that old blender (sorry Lance :-) and got a super awesome new one which can handle anything but I still like the two step method. It's not only powerful but it is vintage looking and only has two options, pulse and on. Why do I need 7 options in a blender? If you are in need of a blender, I highly recommend the Osterizer Classic Beehive. It's loud but gets the job done well.

Foreign Affairs Friday: Poles of Power

Since the Cold War ended, we have lived in a unipolar world, with the US alone as a world power. It was always assumed that this would not last all that long. With China's rise, some have started to talk about a bi- or multipolar world. The economic crisis has led China, Russia, and other nations to claim that US hegemony has ended. One manifestation of this is a call for a new world reserve currency to replace the dollar.

However, the numbers suggest China still has a lot of ground to make up. The size of a nation's economy is generally the leading indicator of power. While a nation with a large economy isn't necessarily a great power (see Japan), it cannot be a great power without a big economy. As of 2007, the US economy is about 3.5 times bigger than the next, that of Japan. China and Germany are in a close race for 3rd. Goldman Sachs predicts that China will catch us in 2025, although long-term prediction is difficult.

The US has a much bigger advantage in military spending, another measure of power. We spend about 7-8 times more than China does. It's hard to say exactly how much more, because China does not disclose accurate budget numbers. Along with a monetary advantage is a technological advantage of 15 years or so. China cannot project military power outside of its own backyard at this point.

While many say the current economic crisis has hurt America's position in the world, it may hurt our competitors as much or more. The oil price drop that has accompanied the crisis has reduced Russia's ability to exert influence. In China, the crisis has reduced that nation's exports, and may threaten the Communist regime:

Because of the global economic crisis, however, Beijing is in trouble. The problems are numerous: China's exports are plummeting, tens of millions of migrant laborers have lost their jobs, millions of college graduates cannot find employment, industrial overcapacity is threatening deflation, and the once red-hot real estate sector has nose-dived. The country's faltering growth is posing the hardest test yet to the CCP's resilience.

While China is definitely on the rise, along with some other nations (India, Brazil), I think it's too early for them to start making a lot of demands. They have a long way go to, and many things can happen during that time. In the meantime, there are things the US could do to shore up its position, such as getting control of entitlements, cutting spending, and fixing education. I'm not too optimistic about that happening, though.

Weekend update

How is that for a post title. Boring - that seems to be a theme in my life right now. I guess it is because it is spring or something, but lately I have been feeling project-y. I have so many things I want to do, crafts and baking and little odds and ends projects. Some I have posted about, some I will, and some I won't mostly because they were time sensitive and well, time has passed me by. But I don't have anything interesting to say about my day to day life. It's good, but the same. I go to work, come home and try to stay on top of the household chores and sneak is some fun projects, then go to bed - basically, I am boring.

But this past weekend was pretty fun so I thought I would give you brief overview of what went on:

Friday night I attended a baby shower. This was the first baby shower I have attended since I was twelve and went with my mom. Craig stayed at home having man's night filled with candy, soda and wrestling, sending me off with the warning to "not come home all baby-ey." Hahaha, fat chance Craig. You can't spend the evening talking about how great babies are without becoming "baby-ey." It was so much fun. The cuteness of the food and decorations, the guess the baby item through the paper bag game, the terrifying hilarious stories told by the moms in attendance. Since my friend is also an undercover hippie and is planning on cloth diapering, I was able to buy (and secretly inspect then repackage) my first cloth diaper. I have mentioned before, but I am all about cloth diapering (and by that I mean, I think there are a lot of good reasons to give it a try but I have no kids yet and can not be held responsible for the decisions I will make once I have them so you can't hold this pre-baby belief against me...end of disclaimer). But even I, cloth diaper lover that I am, was not prepared for the cuteness of something referred to as a fuzzi bunz.

This is what I ordered:
It was actually backordered so they sent a plain periwinkle instead, but it is probably a good thing since the plain one was already so adorable, if the diaper had arrived and had daisies on it, I would have died from the cuteness. And it was so soft. Anyway, moving on from diaper cuteness.

Saturday was the Round Top, TX semi-annual antique weekend. It's really a flea marker/outdoor boutique/antique fair hybrid that spans 4 or 5 towns. And it's amazing. We had borrowed a van from our super-generous home group leaders so we could actually buy stuff, unlike last year when I saw a bazillion reasonable priced things I loved, none of which would fit in our car. I had a very specific goal this time - a dresser. We went a little over our planned budget and spent $175 but I was planning on buying something that needed to be stripped and painted and this doesn't so in the end it was worth it and I think we got a great deal. I just love furniture that is real wood. MDF gives me the heebie-jeebies.

We got back fairly early in the day but after all that bargain hunting, I was exhausted. But we weren't done. Saturday night we headed just outside of town to visit a goat farm (ignore the why behind this story, I'll talk about that in a future post). I got to pet a little guy that was only a week old. The farmer brought him out of the barn for the first time in his life (that is the goat's life, the farmers has been outside a lot). He was so adorable with his baby frolicking and little baby bleets. I really am not trying to set a record for how many times one can use cute and/or adorable in a post, but I would be really good at it if I was. And if we had a yard, I am pretty sure I would be bugging Craig for a baby goat right now. We also got to see goat's being milked and Craig got to try some award winning ice cream. I will admit I cheated a bit on Lent and had a bite of his. But I didn't take my own cup even though I was offered one and there were about 30 delicious flavors to select from.

Sunday was Palm Sunday service and it was a little different. Apparently Baptists, or at least the Baptists at our church, don't really do the palms part of Palm Sunday which made me sad. But the sermon was good nonetheless and anyway, this year, we have decided to prepare for Easter every day during Holy Week. We normally spend a whole month getting ready for Christmas but no time at all preparing for Easter, that is wrong. If it goes well, I'll post about it later so next year I will be able to remember what I did. I can't be the only one who uses their blog as a memory tool, am I?

WFMW: Swagbucks

Maybe you haven't even heard of swagbucks. Or maybe you have heard of them but didn't sign up because you were skeptical, or busy and thought you would do it later and never did. If any of those cases describes you, you really should remedy that. Swagbucks are awesome!

Basically, it is a search engine that gives you points, called Swagbucks, every few searches. It isn't regular, sometimes it is after two or three searches and you win two swagbucks, sometimes it takes ten searches for one. You can also earn them in a few other ways, but searching gets you the majority of your points. They make it pretty easy to get your free account and you can even add the search engine to your search toolbar to make it easy to remember to use it and not google. And the results are compiled from google and yahoo search results so you don't have to worry about not getting good results.

Okay, so you have these bucks. Now what? That is the fun part, you turn in those Swagbucks for giftcard or prizes. In the last three weeks I have earned enough Swagbucks for a $5 gift card from Amazon.com but I am holding out for a Target gift card. (I heart tar-jay). Unless of course I get a craving for a new book and go with Barnes and Noble gift card instead.There is even a starbucks card for those caffeine addicts that have given up fancy coffee due to the hard economic times. Basically, lots of good options. And you are already going to be searching for stuff, so why not earn things while you are at it.

So now that I have convinced you do try it, you might be wondering how? Well, just go here and get an account (or click on the button to the right). Now, I'm gonna be honest and tell you that if you follow that link or button and sign up, I get referral points. So please follow it and don't just search for swagbucks.com, that would be sad :-(

But I really wouldn't be saying to do it, if I didn't think it was worth it. I do it myself and like it. And I've already gotten my mom to sign up and I wouldn't just trick my mom into doing something for selfish reasons. What have you got to lose? (Oh, and I haven't gotten any spam from them so you probably won't either). My only regret is that I heard about it once and didn't do it. Now that I am doing it, I keep thinking of all those points I lost. And I hate losing out on free stuff. So Swagbucks work for me.

I have to admit this even though it is embarrassing but I wrote this post over a week ago and thought I posted it, but I hadn't. And last weekend I checked my swagbucks account to see if anyone had signed up and I was really disappointed that no one had. But then last night I was telling Craig that he needed to sign up for his own account instead of just using mine and he asked for my referral information. I told him just to get it from my blog post from last week and he looked at me like I was crazy "What post?" It was a definite "Duh!" moment.

Not Such a Feel Good Story

I've been quite annoyed by the talk during this Final Four season that Michigan State's run through the tournament is such a great story, because the poor people of Michigan are hurting:

The state has been feeling the fallout from the credit crunch, layoffs and auto industry burnout. Its unemployment rate recently hit 12 per cent, the highest of any state in the country. The unemployment rate in the city of Detroit, meanwhile, is 22 per cent. People are leaving the state in droves.

It's not like a hurricane or earthquake hit Michigan. The people of that state are suffering in large part because they continually elect tax-hiking Democrats into state and local offices (e.g. Gov. Granholm and every Detroit politician). Michigan's woes long predated the current crisis, with the recession there beginning in 2006. Michigan has the worst business tax in the nation.

Sure, we can blame the auto companies and the unions for some of this, and the citizens of Michigan can't be faulted for their actions, but I wasn't about to bust out the green and white apparel during last night's game out of sympathy for Michiganders and the problems they helped create.

24, Season 7: 12-1 AM

Hey, sports fans. It looks like the stage has been set for Jack's daughter, Kim, to return. Apparently, some kind of stem-cell treatment can be used to cure weaponized mad cow. But the stem cells must come from a relative. So they must be using adult, rather than embryonic, stem cells. Yay, no ethical dilemma! This all sounds like a stretch to me, but I'll be happy to see Kim back. Is she still with the agent who's arm Jack hacked off? Or is she living in the woods near LA with that creepy dude? We'll find out, although it will be a few hours, since Jack doesn't want to call her. Walker will change his mind.

-I do hope that Hodges, head of Starkwood, gets the Jack Bauer treatment at some point this season.

-It's not clear to me why the prez had to call off the air strike. Were the supposedly armed missiles far enough away from the bombing target to survive the air strike? Or was Hodges just bluffing?

-Next week we are told that we will have "the episode that will stop the clock." What does that mean?

Make Something Monday: Homemade face scrub

So it has been about a year and I still love the oil cleanse method for washing cleansing my face. A lot of people just use it once a week as a special treat, but I use it as my daily cleaner. It's great but I do find that every once in a while I need a stronger exfoliation method. So I made my own sugar scrub. About once a week, I just mix my normal amount of oil mix, about a teaspoon, in with about a teaspoon of sugar and there you go - instant sugar scrub. Just use it gently, don't grind it into your face. And for those non-ocm people, you could just use olive oil straight with sugar but castor oil is really cheap and does a nice job balancing the oil in your skin.

I do it a little at a time because I just haven't gotten around to making it as a batch, but you could easily mix it before hand and keep it in a small jar. I think I am going to try to find some tea tree oil to add in there, just to make sure it stays good for a while (tea tree has anti-microbial properties). And here is a fancier recipe if you wish to go all martha.

Sunday Sorbet

The Turtle

The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks Which practically conceal its sex. I think it clever of the turtle In such a fix to be so fertile.

~ by Ogden Nash

Another Aggie Tradition

For the third time, I have voted for the student body president candidate that ended up in last place (not counting write-ins). What does it say about the student body at A&M that its view of what kind of candidate should be elected SBP is so different from mine? I think there is cause for concern.

Foreign Affairs Friday: Olympics and Brazil

As was demonstrated once again last year, this time in Beijing, the Olympic Games play an important role in international relations. Countries yearn for the prestige and recognition that come with the Games, and with winning medals. China was especially interested in using the Olympics to prove that it is a major player in the world.

In the wake of the Beijing Games, Brazil is making a bid for the 2016 Games. While China and India get most of the attention when developing nations are discussed, Brazil is rapidly becoming more powerful. It currently has the world's 10th-largest economy and is dominant in South America. Recent major oil finds promise to increase Brazil's strategic importance.

Mexico (in 1968) and China are the only developing nations to host the Olympics, and they have never been to South America. The Mexico City Olympics were not very beneficial to Mexico, and are known primarily for the "black power salute" incident and a massacre of student protesters 10 days before the Games. Mexico did not seem to gain much from hosting them.

Tokyo was the first non-Western nation to host the Games, in 1964 (including Australia in the West). These Olympics served to signal Japan's acceptance as a peaceful member of the international community less than 20 years after after WWII. (Trivia: Detroit was runner-up to host both the '64 and '68 Olympics).

While China's first Olympic bid was denied, when it bid again 8 years later, the IOC was eager to see the Olympics held in China, both to welcome China into the world community, and in hopes that the Games would encourage China to embrace international norms. Similarly, I think the IOC will want to give Brazil an Olympic boost, especially with all the talk recently of expanding the world's leadership, through organizations like the G20, in the wake of the economic crisis. And since Brazil doesn't have a record of human rights abuses and support for rogue regimes like China does, Brazil's bid shouldn't be controversial.

Brazil's competition will be Chicago, Madrid, and Tokyo. I doubt the Olympics will be given to Europe again 4 years after London. Tokyo is the front-runner now, I believe, but 8 years would be a quick return to Asia after Beijing. Maybe Obama will give Chicago a boost, since the world looooooooooves him. However, I think that, as long as Brazil is deemed to be "ready," in terms of infrastructure, modernity, and safety, they will be the pick when the bid is awarded in October.

The power of a good habit

Despite the desperation that might have shown through on this post, Lent has been going fairly well. (What? I always wanted to know if it would work, but never wanted to ruin a batch of cookies finding out. Now I know.) I'm learning to depend on the Holy Spirit for my self-control. Maybe it's because of the "self" part of self-control, but I had always considered that to be something I was supposed to handle, but God is clearly showing me that it works better when he is in control. Although I really do think I should start calling it by it's more traditional name of "temperance" so as not to confuse myself.

I'm also learning the power of a good habit. Mondays are by far the hardest day because the rest of the week, I am out of the habit of eating sugar, it is out of my system and I don't really crave it. Friday night I attended a birthday party where the only things served were chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chocolate cookies, cake and ice cream. People, haven't you ever heard of a thing called a veggie tray? I shouldn't have expected much seeing as it was a husband throwing a surprise party for his wife. Oh, husbands. Regardless, I didn't have a problem saying no. But after even just a day of eating sugar when I want, cravings rear their ugly head again. Had that party been Monday night, I would have been a goner.

The effects of good habits was illustrated to me in another way this week, I finally bought new clothes... after 8 months. When we moved here in August, I realized just how much clothing I had, and I thought I was a little ridiculous. We also moved into a much smaller closet and I only had two little drawers. So even if I liked my other clothes, I never wore them because they were stored under the bed or in the back of the closet. So I decided not to buy anymore clothes until the beginning of the year (for the purpose of this self-imposed clothes fast experiment, anything that you buy in multipacks at wal-mart does not count).

The first month, it was hard. I kept thinking of things I wanted. But after that it was a piece of cake. Whenever I got an urge to buy new clothes, I sorted my closet, donated old stuff I never wore so I could bring some of the older but never seen clothes back into the light where I could appreciate them. I did receive a few tops from my mom every month or so, and she took me on a shopping excursion as my Christmas present where I picked up new shoes and a skirt but even then, I enjoyed the shopping more than the buying. And after January, I knew I "could" buy clothes, but I never thought I needed them. Buying clothes was not my habit anymore and it was liberating.

So what finally got me to purchase something new? Well, it's not even anything exciting. I just needed some new cami's after an unfortunate mold incident. Lets just say it involved orange juice split 5 minutes before we had to leave for work in the morning, a hasty cleanup, and juicy wet towels laying in the bottom of the hamper for a week - yep, it was gross and apparently, mold doesn't really come out of clothing.

And since I wear cami's under like 80% of my shirts, I needed new ones. I'm really excited to get them in the mail. I decided to go with Shade as I have heard such good things about their fit and quality. I was only going to get two but you get a price discount if you buy three, and my old ones were only from old navy and there were at least 4 years old - it was definitely time. Then I saw you if I spent $50 I could get free shipping so I decided to get two more. 5 is not unreasonable amount for something I wear all the time - and it was such a good deal., right? Except that apparently three cami's for $10 a piece and 2 cami's for $9.99 each adds up to $49.98 which does not get you free shipping - a fact I did not notice until Craig pointed it out the next day. Darn you two cents! I need to go back to not buying clothes. I've lost my shopping skills.

Something for Stellan

As soon as the Stellan name gallery was once again activiated, I started thinking of where and how I could take a picture to send in. And on a recent MckMama post this past Sunday, she mentioned getting a picture of Stellan's name with the president wouldn't be so bad, which got me thinking.

I was thinking I could do a picture of Stellan's name at the Presidential library. It's not quite the same, but it is kinda neat. But then I thought to myself "No, that is a lame idea, MacKenzie" and I left my camera home. But then Amanda mentioned it yesterday and I decided to go ahead with it. It would be perfect as I would not only be picking Craig up from the library but I would have some time to kill between work and this program. I won't lie, I did say a little prayer, reminding God how very awesome it would be if I could somehow meet President Bush and get him in the picture. But I have spent quite a bit of time in and around that library and never seen him, except while sitting in the back of an auditorium at a program. And anyway, the library would be cool enough.

So Tuesday I bring my camera with me and during lunch I make a little sign for Stellan. Then at 5, I swing by Craig's office and we go off to walk around the lake and school in search of a good place to take the picture. When all of a sudden, we spot him - the 41st President of the United States, Mr. George H.W. Bush himself. My mouth about drops off my face. I quickly uncap my camera, trying not to shake. Then the secret service guy sees me and says "No, pictures, he has to get somewhere" and it hits me, "Of course he is here, he is going to the Chuck Norris program too!" But I quickly regain my focus and ask if I can take a picture from back here. When he says yes, I throw Craig the sign and start snapping away. At first the silly secret service guys kept getting in the way, but finally I manage to grab a pretty good picture. If you look closely, President Bush's eyes are closed, but really - who cares!


After this, the secret service guys say we can also say hi to him as he passes so we do and Craig says that we saw his plane when we were in Pensacola. He actually talked to us for about a minute about that and the carrier as he walks by (he isn't the faster walker anymore but boy goes he seems like nice guy) and pats me on the shoulder. I really really wanted to ask for a better picture, but those security guys are pretty intimidating and they had already said no.

President Bush then went on his way and we tried to go on ours. Except I was so excited I could hardly stand it. Normally, I would have been excited that he talked to me and touched me, but all I could think of was MckMama.

To be able to do something, anything, to do something for the little guy I have come to love and to maybe make MckMama smile at a difficult time, I was thrilled. Except I know that it wasn't me that did it, it was a God thing - that I would decide not to take a picture on Monday, then that Amanda would comment and I would change me mind and go Tuesday, that I would have already made up the sign, that he would happen to be there, that we would happen to see him. It was providential. And I know, it's just a picture. Except that is isn't. It's a sign of love - for Stellan. And at least for me, it's a reminder that God has a hand in all this. I could never have imagined when I woke up and asked God if he would allow me to meet the President, that it would happen. But He knows what He is doing. Not just with this little issue, but with all of Stellan's issue, and with everything in the world. I feel like He is standing over me, saying "Oh little one, just trust me"

Oh, and all during the Chuck Norris' speech, all I could think of was "Okay, Mr. Norris, enough blabbing, I gotta get this picture to MckMama." I mean, I'm sure Chuck is a great guy, but he has nothing on Stellan. Stellan's a real fighter.

*Be sure to check out how he is doing.