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Re: my rant from last Monday…. Suffice it to say… it was a big misunderstanding. The person is quite sarcastic as usual and I didn’t get his sarcasm. I thought he was being mean, a jerk, etc… Anyway, I’m better today… but my first sentence still stands: to not waste brain cells on people who don’t give me the time of day.

Was in Harrisburg yesterday. It’s quite an interesting city… got stuck in traffic. Was in time for my meeting with about 2 minutes to spare. After the meeting, I went to Hershey and played for a bit… Went to Hershey Chocolate World and ate lunch & people watched for a bit… then I went to my appointment at the Spa… I’m getting quite spoiled. This was my second visit this year and it was totally wonderful. I had a massage this time around. Very relaxing.

Nothing else too exciting to add.

Bye for now.

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Please remind me to not waste precious brain cells on people who don’t give a flip about me. I’ve finally realized what a waste of time it is.

There was this great television show on from 1998-2000. It was called Sports Night. It was Aaron Sorkin’s project before he started writing “The West Wing.” SN was basically all about the insides of a TV Sports show (ala ESPN’s Sports Center). The writing was amazing (as are all of Sorkin’s shows)… they were intelligent, witty, thoughtful, sad, funny, etc….

A few years ago, the series was released on DVD. I was fortunate enough to have hip parents who bought this for me a couple of Christmas Eve’s ago. About a year ago I let a friend borrow the series… I finally got around to asking for it back. Well, I’ve been rewatching the show and I am through episode 9 of the first season. There are 6 main characters in the show…

Dana: Senior Producer of SN…. she’s high strung, young, dippy with everything else besides sports.

Natalie: Junior Producer… She’s same as Dana.. just not as seasoned… likes Jeremy

Jeremy: I think he’s an editor??? He was hired during the show’s pilot episode…brand new guy… likes Natalie

Dan Rydell: played by one of my favorite “Dead Poets Society” actors (Josh Charles).. one of the co-anchors of SN.

Casey McCall: the other anchor… is an on again/off again relationship in his head w/ Dana… (Dana has a boyfriend… and she still sorta likes Casey).

Isaac: The head honcho of SN. The guy everyone turns to. The grandfather of the bunch. He’s tough yet gentle…

Well, my profound moment of learning happened during watching episode 9. Actually, one of my totally favorite episodes. During a previous ep, Dana sent Natalie to interview a pro football player who has been accused in the past assulting his girlfriend. SN has the exclusive interview in the studio and Natalie was supposed to do some pre-interview thing… Well, long story short… the football player exposes himself to Natalie. SN cancels the interview… Natalie decides to press charges…. During ep 9, we learn that since Natalie pressed charges… she has been receiving nasty emails about how women shouldn’t be allowed to be in men’s locker rooms and she deserved what she got, etc, etc, etc… At this point, it’s quite obvious to the viewer that Natalie and Jeremy like each other…. Jeremy asks Dan for advice about what to do…He suggests dinner… Long story short… During the whole ep, Jeremy has gone to sleep b/c he is up all night worrying about Natalie…. so, at the end, he has this dinner all laid out on a picnice blanket in the SN office…. too bad he has fallen asleep by the time Natalie comes after the show ends (at Midnight)….. he wakes up , she accuses him of feeling sorry for her …. She asks “Why did you do this for me?” He answers, “because I like you. And I wanted to do something nice for you.”

This was my profound moment… He set up this dinner for her b/c he liked her. Yes, he liked her romantically… but this was more important than that…. again, he did it b/c he liked her and he wanted to do something nice for her.

Anyway, lots of stuff has led up to my little diatribe tonight… none of it to be mentioned here. If you care to, read between the lines and you’ll know who I’m talking about.

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Happy other stuff worth mentioning:

1. My mom is doing well. She has started to drive. I’m excited about that.
2. I really, really like my digital camera (that is outdated already).
3. My job is still really busy (I stayed late tonight and probably will be in on Sat)…but it’s getting better.
4. I’m going to Hershey Spa and getting a massage on Thursday.
5. I won’t be in my office on Thursday b/c of the above & a meeting I have to attend in Harrisburg.
6. 8 more weeks until Ireland (I can’t believe it’s only 8 weeks!!)
7. Jamie Doran thinks this blog is funny. I’m glad I could help with his daily dose of amusement.
8. M. Night’s new movie “The Village” comes out on Friday. I’ll be seeing it on Saturday… He’s such my local hero.

That’s it. Not of my happy thoughts.. but of writing for tonight. I’m hungry. Time for food. I think I still have some leftover Chinese…..

Be good. Bye for now.

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“Walking to Work”
 
I take the train to work everyday.  It’s a great set up.  I live a block from the train station and then it’s  3 blocks to my office from my stop in the city.  Anyway, one of the best things about not driving to work is the fact that I have an extra 40 minutes to do anything or nothing… I can read or not.  I can sleep or not.  I can stare out the window or not.  This morning I listened to sermon on my discman.  The sermon was on Colossians 4:5-6.  Here is the paraphrase of the passage from Eugene Peterson’s ”The Message”… 
 
“Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don’t miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.”

The sermon was mostly summarizing how we should go about talking, thinking, and acting with people who are not Christians.  We need to think wisely, speak wisely, and ultimately act wisely when interacting w/ people (although he spoke mostly of our relationships with non-Christians… I also add that this applies to everything we do…heck… duh… I think we should know that by now….).

Blah, Blah, blah..  he also spoke about one of my favorite books.  “What’s So Amazing about Grace?”  by Philip Yancy.  That was the first book I read when I moved to Philadelphia.  I borrowed it from someone (I think it was Mick Watson… but I can’t remember), read it in a week and have never forgotten it.  It just so happened at the time the kinship I decided to go to was going through the book.  That book truly made me laugh, cry, and think… really think about God’s Grace and what a gift it is.

Anyway, back to my walk to work.  Everyday I pass a church…It’s actually built on the spot where Ben Franklin flew his famous kite (which I think is sooo cool!  History coming alive).  Anyway, there hangs a poster with a quote.  Everyday I read it….but today, in light of this sermon I actually thought about it.  It goes as follows:

“Man is born broken.  He lives by mending.  The grace of God is glue. ”  

The quote is by Eugene O’Neill.  He was a playwright who won a Nobel prize for literature in the ’30s.

Grace is the glue that holds us together.  We are often disappointed and we often disappoint…. but God’s grace really does mend us and bind us together.  It gives me hope for the future.  And freedom from the disappointments of the past.      

That’s about it for today. 

 

 

 

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BIRTHDAY BASH
 
Jamie & Suzy Doran had me over for my birthday last night.  I introduced them to Baja Fresh….  I’m not sure how much they liked it…  Jamie had a salad, Suzy some fajitas, and I had my ubiquitious shrimp tacos….. 

They gave me a great gift for a single woman.   A tool set from the Home Depot.  It’s pretty cool.  It has all those tools that you think you’ll never need but then when you go looking for them… you really wish you had them… like that really, really tiny screwdriver to fix your $60 pair of sunglasses. 

Yes, I know that’s a lot of money to spend on sunglasses… but let me explain…. 1)  I liked them.  I think they’re cool (they are black Kenneth Coles with a lime green inside) I could afford them.  So, I bought them.  2) Last year, I did an experiment.  I bought sunglasses that never cost more than $15 and guess what… I lost like 5 pairs of them.  I was in Texas for 5 days and I lost 2 pairs there.  So, when you add up what I bought in cheap sunglasses ($75)…to me it’s worth spending a lot and not loosing them.. then, spending a little and keep having to go back and buy new ones…. which, truth be told, I  have actually found a couple of the pairs that were previously lost and now I’m collecting cheap Target sunglasses in my desk drawer at work (currently, I’m up to 3 previously lost pairs of glasses). 

Ok… done explaining my purchasing history of sunglasses.

Back to the birthday gift.  There is also a little glue gun… haven’t really thought about what I’ll glue… but I’m sure it will come in handy one day.

Finally, after birthday cake we all played Scrabble.  And, I’m very happy to boast… that I finally won the game.  This is the first Scrabble game I’ve won since January 2001.  Sue, Jamie, and I are pretty intense when we play Scrabble.  I bought the official Scrabble dictionary and we play on the “Deluxe” gameboard… Actually, they got me the Scrabble game for my 30th birthday… and it’s spent most of the past 3 years at their house….  since we always play it over there anyways…  when I need it… I call and “borrow” it… Kinda weird… since it’s mine anyways.  But, heck…everything belongs to God… even Scrabble boards… so, it really doesn’t matter where it decides to reside from day-to-day.

Well, that’s about it from here. 

Have fun.

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Greetings.
 
I’m back here at work…working like a busy bee.  California was nice.  I’m glad I was able to go out and visit Melissa and her husband.  We did a lot of cool things…. Thursday we had lunch at a great little English pub by her apartment (they live in the Presido… a former Army base).  Then we walked around the Marina area… which, isn’t actually by a marina….  lots of shopping.  We had a coffee… Thursday night we ate at a little Italian place.  Good food…. 
 
On Friday, we went into the city and did Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39.  On Friday evening, we saw “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”  A great little musical all about single, dating, and married life.  Dinner on Friday night was at one of the most amazing restaurants I have have eaten at… It’s called the Farallon.  Visit it at www.farallonrestaurant.com  If you are ever in San Francisco  definitely GO!!!!!  It will set you back about $150 for 2 people… but it’s more than worth the money. 
 
On Saturday, Ben (Melissa’s husband) got tickets to the Oakland A’s baseball game.  They just happen to be playing my beloved Chicago White Sox.  The Good guys won 5-2.  It was a great game.  We had amazing seats really close to the 3rd base line.  I got a little too much sun.
 
I spent all day on Sunday traveling back to Philly.  It was really hard to get up on Monday morning for work.  But, alas, bills must be paid… so, it is off to work I go. 
 
I just paid off my trip to Ireland.  I still can’t believe I’m going… I can’t believe even more that it’s only 8 weeks away.  Back in January, I thought this would never come.
 
I got my first prints back from my digital camera.  I think it will be ok!  Ok… a little more than ok… I think I’ll like it a lot.  It was fun taking pictures in CA and seeing them right away. 
 
Nothing else too exciting to report.  I still haven’t figured out a plan re: my church of choice. 
 
That’s it for now.  I just read Don Liles’ blog entry regarding C-SPAN.  I think, that I am probably even more boring than C-SPAN on a good day!  Which, I have to stop complaining about… because being boring is probably a lot better than having a billion things going on and trying to put out fires everywhere. 
 
Well, now I really need to go… student to see.
 
 

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i leave for San Francisco in a little over 22 hours from now!!!!

CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tonight I have to go home and pack….

That’s it for now.

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I came in early to load the ISIRs into the system… unfortuntaly, no one told me that the password for one of the systems expired and so, therefore, I can’t do what I deliberatly came in early to work on. By the way, ISIRs are the technical name for what schools receive when “Joe Student” completes a FAFSA application.

I had an interesting conversation with Mark yesterday over email. I was talking about a friend of mine who used to go to BRV and stopped after she graduated from college because she said she outgrew the church. Mark and I were talking about that and he didn’t understand how anyone could “outgrow” a mission… That’s not what my friend meant and I tried to explain it to him. He emailed me back the type of person that he is looking for to be a member of the church. I’m not sure if I’m that type anymore.. To paraphrase what he said… he is looking for people who after they outgrow a church that corresponds with their age that they will stay around to guide the generation below them.

I really don’t know. That’s all I’m going to say for now (which, I guess I really didn’t say anything).

Onto other topics: I’m reading a fascinating book right now. It’s called “The Devil in the White City.” The book is non-fiction, but it reads like a novel. The book tells two separate stories… First, about the creation of the “White City.” The White City is what the Columbian Exposition was called when it was held in Chicago in 1893. The book chronicles the architects who were responsible for building the Exposition from the ground up. The second story is a little more chilling: during the same time frame…Chicago had it’s own serial killer… Dr. H.H. Holmes… who built a “hotel” not too far from where the World’s Fair was being held. He was in the true sense of the word a psychopath. In this “hotel” he had a furnace and there he would capture and tortue and kill young women. People would mysteriously disappear and never show up again. Despite the macabre nature of the story of the serial killer… the book is a great look into Chicago at the turn of the century.

Ok… that’s about it for now.

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I’m a much more calm today as I sit here at work. I’m almost about to leave for the morning.. I just wanted to get a little stuff done today. I said I would never really work on Saturdays but it seems lately it has become a weekly occurance.

Yesterday was sooooo hellish. The kind of day that makes you want to quit and become a waitress or worse… maybe a lounge act singer.

After work I treated myself to some gelato at the best place in Philadelphia (I can never remember the name… starts with a “C”). I had a cup filled with half kiwi and half peach. Totally a wonderful treat.

Then I headed to West Philly and spend the evening with some of my friends from 10th Pres. We ate homemade pizza, jabbered on Katie’s porch and watched “Cold Mountain” until 1 in the morning.

Right now I’m listening to a REALLY OLD cd. It’s an album Charlie Peacock did probably 5 or 6 years ago. He used to be my favorite Christian recording artist (when I REALLY listened to Christian music.. ie..right after I became a Christian someone who I respected told me that I needed to get rid of all my secular music… which, I regretfully did… I couldn’t see why my James Taylor albums were bad… but that’s another story) when I lived in Chicago. After listening to this album I’ve kinda rekindled my love for his music. Oh… the title of the album is “Everything that’s been on my mind” or something to that effect.

Only 5 days until I leave for San Fran!!! Can’t Wait!

That’s it for now.

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I’M SOO ANGRY RIGHT NOW I JUST THREW MY CALCULATOR AT THE WALL IN MY OFFICE.

I SOMETIMES CAN’T STAND THIS JOB.

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idon’tlovemyjob
idon’tlovemyjob
idon’tlovemyjob
idon’tlobmyjob
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idon’tloveyob
idoj’tlovemyjob
idon’tlovemyjob
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It’s soooooooooooooooooooooooo hectic here today… and I’m assuming that the rest of this month and all of the next will be just as hectic.

Nothing else exciting to report.

I finally entered the digital camera age…. I broke down and bought one yesterday. A Canon S410. I kinda like it. It’s very shiny and pretty. I’m hoping it takes good pictures.

That’s it from here.