Thanksgiving in DC

I finally have a bit of a chance to talk about our vacation to DC at Thanksgiving. It already feels like forever ago, but we had a great time and took lots of great pictures. We went to a lot of museums and walked everywhere. Our first night there we got a great picture of the Washington monument right at dusk. We went to a couple Smithsonian museums, the National Gallery of Art, and the International Spy Museum. The Spy Museum was definitely worth the price of admission, especially because it was the only museum in DC we had to pay for. We spent a good portion of the day after Thanksgiving doing a walking tour of the monuments. The monuments were impressive, but the wind and cold were a bit disheartening.

We ate at lots of great little local restaurants which had been suggested by my neighbors at the John Edwards campaign, so we were able to get a feel for the hip places to hang out in DC. I think we saw just about everything you can see in a 3 day trip, and we were pretty exhausted when we got back late on Sunday night. Fortunately, the return trip was made somewhat more enjoyable by a stop at two of our all-time favorite stores: Ikea and H&M. Overall, we had a great time and really enjoyed a little break together even though it involved pain in our legs and feet for the next three days.

It's finally over!

Tomorrow is the last day of the semester. It's about time too. For perhaps the first time in my life I am completely burnt out on school. Normally I would be excited to go back to class in January, but right now that is the least appealing option. Really I just need a break to refresh, rejuvenate and spend time with family and friends. It's been a really long 3 1/2 months, and I'm really looking forward to seeing as many people as possible over Christmas. If you're curious about our DC Thanksgiving trip, never fear, I will post some pictures soon. Unfortunately, that last day of the semester means there are still finals left. So, I really shouldn't be spending the time to write this blog except that it keeps me from studying for those said finals.

P.S. If it wasn't already clear that we needed to move back closer to home next year, God just keeps on inspiring people who are close to us to get engaged and get married next summer. It's like He's saying, "if you don't move, you're going to pay out the wazoo for plane tickets!"

Thanks for the Memories

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I have been reflecting on past Thanksgiving memories and how much they have made me appreciate Thanksgiving as a holiday. So, in honor of endless turkey and stuffing, I present my favorite Thanksgiving memories:

-H. family Thanksgivings which involved the opening of "plesents," receiving boxes, not the things inside the boxes, that were just what we always wanted, playing lots of video games, and reading knock-knock jokes at 3 AM in sleeping bags on the living room floor

-Family trips to various places when my sister and I were older and we didn't get everyone together as often. I particularly remember eating clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl for Thanksgiving dinner in San Francisco

-Who can forget Holer Thanksgiving in Taylor Hall? I don't think I need to say any more.

-Staying up until 4 AM the night before Thanksgiving playing KOTOR at my cousin's house

-Discovering the true meaning of a big family Thanksgiving when I started dating my wife and attending her family Thanksgiving celebrations.

-Sitting in a tree stand and taking pictures of deer because I don't have a gun license

-Going to D.C. this year with my wife for a long weekend and much needed vacation

I may not have had a "traditional" big family Thanksgiving for most of my life, but I'm glad for the Thanksgiving experiences I have had because they've made me appreciate and be thankful for not only family but life in general. I hope you all will appreciate Thanksgiving in whatever way you celebrate this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Boring Baseball

I think I may be starting to understand why so many people find baseball so boring. It's hard to be into a sport where the penultimate competition is completely lopsided and uninteresting. It wouldn't be so bad if that was an occasional occurrence, but the World Series for the last 3 or 4 years has been a death march of 4-0 or 4-1 series victories. I was really hoping that this year would be the year of breaking that trend, but I was disappointed once again. The World Series was a complete waste of my time and completely uninspiring. I didn't even care who won; I just wanted a fun series to watch.

What's even worse is that the playoffs leading up to the big show were equally uninspiring. The only series worth watching was Cleveland and Boston. And the networks wonder why no one tunes in for the baseball playoffs. They're about as exciting as watching paint dry. No amount of Dane Cook and "There's only one October" could salvage the postseason this year. Good riddance 2007.

The Fair is a Veritable Smorgasbord

This weekend Melissa and I went to the North Carolina State Fair. Before this state fair experience, I had been to the Wisconsin State Fair and Melissa had never been to any state fair. As I expected, the fair was for the most part the same fair that is in every state.

Lots of really unhealthy, but really tasty food. And some animals and mullets.

The NC fair, however, was unusual in a few notable ways. First of all, NC is the South. Anytime you do anything in the South, you are bound to encounter all shapes, sizes, and personalities of rednecks. I understand that Illinois and Indiana have their fair share of rednecks, but nothing is quite like a southern redneck. They are beyond accurate description and are only fully appreciated when observed.

The other notable aspect of the NC state fair was the benches and benches full of cured tobacco. I'm not sure if this is peculiar to North Carolina or if it's something peculiar to the South in general, but it was a very new and unusual experience for me. And, if benches full of drying tobacco was not enough for you, the fair generously provided homemade spittoons at the end of each bench. Each seemed to be made from whatever tin can was lying nearby. The friends we were with strongly recommended not picking up a leaf and giving it a chew unless we really wanted quite the buzz. I think I was in too great a state of shock to even process why anyone would want to pick up a leaf and chew on it. Definitely a highlight/favorite story from the fair this year.

I did actually try a fried Snickers this year, and it was better than I expected, but I kind of felt like I was eating a corn dog with powdered sugar on it and melted chocolate inside. Strange.

Carolina BBQ

If anyone ever needs a reason to move to North Carolina, one only needs to look to the savory flavor of an authentic Carolina-styled barbecue. Carolina barbecue is not just your average backyard shindig: it's a full-fledged lifestyle. We have been to several barbecues in the past few weeks, and I have come to the conclusion that nothing beats the aroma and flavor of a nice vinegar-based pig pickin'. There's no need for all that thick and heavy western style barbecue sauce that overwhelms your taste buds and sends them into sugary sweet overload.

A little tang.

A little zest.

A little kick.

There's nothing overwhelming or heavy about North Carolina barbecue sauce. In fact, it's just perfect.

But a vinegar-based sauce??? Slightly sickening perhaps, but only for the uninitiated. What's more disgusting is the amount of pig on my plate. Trust me, there have been studies done about this (in fact, my wife just informed me of a man who traveled around the country on a barbecue quest, only to conclude that Carolina barbecue is in fact the best).

Fortunately, Carolina barbecue, in all its tangy goodness, compensates for North Carolina's many severe shortcomings. But that's another topic for another day.

That Guy

I've become something I never thought I would be. I'm that guy who knows everyone everywhere he goes. You know the type. At the bank, the grocery store, the mall, the gas station, there's always a familiar face waving a friendly hand. For those of you who have known me for a long time, you know that this is very uncharacteristic of me. I have never been one to go out of my way to talk to people I don't know or even people I do know somewhat. Being a barista, however, has totally changed that. Every day that I go out in public, I see someone who is either a regular at the coffee shop or at least partially regular. Most of the time the interactions are relatively harmless; a simple "hello, how are you?" On increasingly regular occasions, however, the interactions are very friendly and sometimes even go beyond the surface level questions. On the other hand, there are some encounters that are just completely and incredibly awkward. I've been grocery shopping and I see a customer and they say, "oh, what are you doing here?" Well, I thought I was grocery shopping, but does it look like I'm doing something else? My personal favorites are the interactions where I have no clue what the person's name is but I can spout off that they usually order a skinny sugar-free vanilla latte with an extra shot. "Oh yeah, you're the person who orders that drink. What was your name again?" Melissa is quite amused by my newfound network of social contacts, and I have to say that I do in fact enjoy knowing people everywhere I go. There is something rewarding and fulfilling about being "that guy."

The Cubs

I really wanted to give them a chance to win over my heart. I opened myself up to them and all I received was heartbreak and anger. Unfortunately, after this baseball season, the Chicago Cubs will never ever again hold an opportunity to win my affections. Everything about this season was working perfectly until the Cubs started winning a few games in a row and then climbing in the standings. My beloved Brew Crew was finally getting their shot at a division title and maybe even the playoffs. But the Cubs ruined all of that. In two short months, the Cubs were now the hot team with the division lead, and I was left by the wayside questioning my own existence and how the tide could change so quickly. I'm sorry, most of my family, but there is no way I can ever root for the Cubs again. The Chicago Cubs are dead to me. They've plucked out my heart and not only mashed it to little bits but then reconstructed it and mashed it into little bits again. Needless to say, I will be heartlessly rooting against the Cubs, if they make the playoffs, with a gaping hole in my chest where my heart was so cruelly ripped out. I guess I won't be so quick to lay it all out in my next relationship.

New Semester

It's that time of year again when school gets in full swing and everything about life cranks up a notch. It's been forever since I've had a chance to sit down and blog because the past month has been so incredibly busy. We took a week-long trip to the Midwest to visit family and our brand new niece, Olivia. She was absolutely beautiful, and we couldn't get enough of holding her. We got to see a lot of family and friends, but ended up spending much of the trip in the car or traveling in some manner. The trip culminated in a furiously frustrating trip to the airport that resulted in missing our flight and sitting in the airport for 4 hours until the later flight. Fortunately, we got home, but much later than we ever hoped or intended. Many thanks to I-55 and the wonders of closing down entire stretches of the freeway.

It's been non-stop since we got back, and I have a feeling it will be non-stop until December. Both of us are applying for grad school this semester in addition to working and taking classes. This weekend has been a nice little break, but I'm sure it will only get harder until the end of the semester. I will try to blog as much as possible, but we'll see. No promises. The last few hours of my Labor day weekend are quickly slipping away, and I need to take advantage of all the relaxing I can.

Finally Some Harry Potter Stories

I've finally gotten around to relaxing and recapping after the Harry Potter release party at the bookstore where I work. Harry-mania is starting to die down, but I still talk to a lot of people still reading and savoring the seventh book. I, on the other hand, devoured it in two afternoons. I like to rationalize by saying I was just trying to be nice to my wife so she could read it soon, but truthfully I just couldn't put it down. I will not, however, divulge any secrets on this blog for those few of you who may still be waiting breathlessly to read the final installment.

On to more amusing things. In the few days leading up to the Friday night release, a young man (probably freshman in high school) began bribing me to give him a new Harry Potter book before anyone else. He started on Wednesday with an offer of $20, and by Friday he was up to the cash plus a Treo phone and his dad's "extra" iPhone. On Wednesday we hadn't even gotten the books delivered yet but he was sure that they were in, and he offered me money just to let him look! Oh, and it wasn't his money, it was his dad's. On Friday afternoon he set up a tent outside the bookstore with some of his friends so it looked like they had camped out. This kid was crazy! I told his dad about all his antics because I know his dad as a regular customer at the coffee shop, and he didn't seem too amused.

I ended up working the few hours before the party started and then came back around 11 to help prep and set up everything for handing out the books. I didn't have to come back but I thought it might be kind of fun just to see how crazy it would be. My wife came back with me for a while just to check out the decorations (both in the shop and on the people), and we were not disappointed. We saw several Harrys of all ages, a few Rons, one Hermione who looked like a cross between Hermione and a creature from the pits of Hell, a merperson, Mad-Eye Moody, Professor Trelawney, and the giant lady from the French school in the fourth book. The funny thing about her was that she was unnaturally tall to begin with. An instance of a costume perfect for the person. There was also a quite good Snape who had hair so greasy looking I'm pretty sure it would never wash out.

The costumes were only the tip of the iceberg. When it came time to hand out the books, people immediately congealed into a giant blob of anxious nerds. Our system for handing out pre-ordered books was no match for the amount of people gathered in the shop so we resorted to just having people come up to a table, give us their names, and we would check them off. I was one of the luck strong men to carry boxes of books to the distribution table. I made a couple trips with one box of ten books on my shoulder and another box of ten books at my waist through a crowd of people so dense I actually had to push people aside, nearly creating a domino effect throughout the whole store. I finally ended up staying by the distribution table opening boxes of books to set out to give to the customers. It was better than shoving my way through 200 people.

When it was all said and done, it only took a half hour to hand out nearly 200 books. I left the store at 1 AM on Saturday, thinking that I had just experienced something quite amazing but that I never wanted to experience anything like it again.

Harry Potter Week

Around here the local paper is unofficially calling this week "Harry Potter Week." Each day in the paper they have some different little section having to do with Harry Potter. At the Tiearney house, however, Harry Potter week is definitely official and it's definitely in fully swing. The week began with a viewing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and it will end on Saturday with the delivery of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in my very own mailbox. Or else Amazon owes me some money. If I told you how excited I was for this book release, I guarantee you would brand me an even bigger dork than you already have from reading the title and first lines of this post. This is the first time I've been able to participate in Harry Potter buzz because I hadn't read any of the previous books before the 6th one was released. And let me tell you, there is quite the buzz. The bookshop that I recently started working at is having a full-fledged Harry Potter party with games, trivia, costume contests, and more, and I will most likely be involved somewhat in that event. It's pretty cool viewing the release from a bookseller's point of view because of the excitement that it generates (which means $$$$$) ranging all the way to hysteria.

For all of you Harry fans out there, you know what I'm talking about when I say excitement. This book is it. It's what we've been waiting for for so long. So many questions that won't be answered until Saturday. Only four more days, and it's finally here. Enjoy this week and celebrate all things Harry Potter.

Good Times, Good Friends

This past weekend my wife and I were the brief hosts of one of my best friends from college and his wife. The two of us are world-renowned road-trippers, and we decided that this trip would be no less. Within the span of two days, we drove 6 hours to Atlanta, spent just under 24 hours in the city and drove the 6 hours back. We did sleep, in case you were wondering, at a very nice hotel that was only affordable because of priceline.com. It was the first time in over a year that I had seen my friend, and it was great. I love it when you know someone so well that you can converse with each other like no time has passed. It was also great to see our wives get to know each other better.

We didn't have a lot of time in Atlanta but we definitely made the most of it. We ate at a fantastic establishment in the Buckhead community of Atlanta (where our hotel was), saw the incredible new Georgia Aquarium, and got a panoramic view of the nighttime skyline from the tallest hotel in the Southeast. It was quite the whirlwind trip. After our short stay in Atlanta, I would love to go back sometime and spend a long weekend. The aquarium was one of the best I've ever visited, the city seemed very clean (as much as any city can be), and southern charm was at its best. Above all, the trip was a great time to get away, refresh, catch up with good friends, and just have some fun. Enjoy the supplemental pics that tell the further story of our trip.

Canoeing, Communication, and Cooperation

Today my wife and I took advantage of the gorgeous weather and did something we have been wanting to try for quite a while now. We live next to a large man-made lake that provides most of the drinking water for the area, and it also offers canoe and flat-bottom boat rentals. We decided to try the canoe. Neither of us had ever canoed before so we thought it would be a fun little adventure. Well, it was an adventure but it didn't start out too fun. As we pulled away from the pier, we barely got past the edge when our paddling started spinning us in circles. Somehow we got clear of the pier, but continued paddling in broad circles and going nowhere. At first it was a good laugh, but I could feel annoyance slowly creeping up on me. Fortunately, we decided to switch our places so that I was in the back, and we quickly got the hang of it from there on out. Throughout the rest of our peaceful canoe ride, we discussed the effectiveness of canoeing as part of a pre-marital counseling program. It confronts the couple with two of the major issues in marriage: teamwork and communication. If you can't get those down, you'll just end up turning in circles and shouting at each other, while everyone else watches from the shore and gives a little bit of a pity laugh. However, after today, I can safely say that we passed the canoeing test and will definitely be doing it again.

Bugs

Bugs. I hate them. Especially when they are in my living space. I never knew when I moved to North Carolina that I would see such a colorful and varied assortment of insects. My apartment is nestled in a quiet, wooded area that screams ideal at first glance. But, when summer comes, beware. The bugs literally start crawling out of the woodwork. Spiders spin their webs in my vaulted ceiling and all the way down the stairs to get to my car, house centipedes randomly pop up on my walls or underneath the shower curtain, wood roaches (palmetto bugs) occasionally find their way in, and to top it all off a real, segmented, hundred-legged centipede with nasty pincers on its butt casually made its way across the den floor last night. And yes, that's the kind that have a nasty bite. Ugh. If there is one thing that upsets my constitution, it's bugs of any shape or size. Plus, since I'm supposed to be the man of the house, it's always my job to dispatch the said insects, which usually results in an extended staring contest between me and the critter before I build enough courage to take a whack at it. I have quickly learned the importance of having a can of Raid and a flyswatter within grasping distance, and to keep relishing the thought that this is my last full summer to deal with all these crazy bugs.

A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Thirty years ago today one of the most groundbreaking and innovative films in history hit theaters nationwide. It proceeded to troop across the U.S. by storm (sorry, I couldn't resist) and become a colossal money-maker. Star Wars. The original Star Wars. I wasn't actually born until the year Return of the Jedi came out, but all three of the movies made a permanent and lasting impression on my young mind. In honor of thirty years of Star Wars legacy, I decided to take some time to reflect on a few of the ways Star Wars has influenced my own life.

1. It opened my imagination to a whole new world of spaceships, lasers, fantastic planets, and of course Jedi. I distinctly remember countless afternoons after school running around with my sister and my best friend pretending that we had lightsabers and were trying to save the galaxy. Of course, I always played Luke Skywalker. When it came time to write stories in 6th grade, I wrote the first part of my own Star Wars trilogy with myself as the main character. I enjoyed it so much I went on to write the second two parts, and I still have them somewhere.

2. It strengthened the confidence of my inner geek by helping me realize that it could be pretty cool to like geeky kind of stuff. Sometimes...

3. It forged a special bond between me and my cousins which began with hand-me-down toys and continues through Star Wars video games. Over the years it has practically become a trait in the family genes to be a Star Wars lover.

4. It has occasionally helped me escape reality for a few brief moments. When I was caught up in the Star Wars universe, I could dream big and imagine beyond reality. I even was determined to build my own working speeder bike!

Thank you Star Wars for bringing magic into movies and helping kids and adults of all ages and backgrounds escape into a world of imagination and fun. Here's to thirty more years of your legacy.

The Pool is Open!

After the apartment complex we lived at in Naperville, I never expected to be so excited about that phrase. When Memorial Day came around and the pool opened, no one cared. The pool had no aesthetic appeal, no privacy, and no one interested in using it (probably because you can't even really use it until July!). However, when I saw the sign saying that the pool is open posted at our apartment in North Carolina, it was a day of rejoicing. In fact, the pool opening was an event a long time overdue considering that the weather has been pool-worthy for about the last month. In contrast to the pool in Naperville, the pool here is surrounded by nice tall trees, it looks pleasant to be in, and- surprise!- people actually use it. The only thing better than the pool opening will be the first trip to the beach, but for now I can catch my rays at our lovely complex pool. Actually, I think I'm going to head down there right now.......

This is their year....

Could it be a sign of the apocalypse? Perhaps. Could it be an early season fluke? Possibly. Could it be for real? Hopefully. The Milwaukee Brewers, for the first time since 1992, are playing good, solid baseball and are in first place. And, they're not just barely in first place, they have a respectable three game lead over the competition. The last time the Brewers had a decent season I was 9 years old and they were still an American League team. That said, I understand it's still early in the season, but there's something to be said for early momentum. I also recognize that the NL central is quite possibly the weakest division in baseball at this point, but it's still first place. I don't think first place has happened since they went to the World Series in 1982. And yes, I will be quite happy to rub it in the face of all my friends and family if the Brewers somehow happen to maintain first place, although I might go easy on the Cubs fans because they are generally worse off than I am (and I have strong familial connections to many of them). The current baseball season is already promising to be an exciting one, and by the all-star break I should have a fairly good idea of whether or not my Brew Crew will say farewell to the rest of the NL central and head straight for the playoffs. And to put the icing on the cake, the Yankees are cellar-dwellers. The baseball gods are smiling favorably on me this season.

By the way, I hope that I offended some of you with my derogatory comments regarding the state of the NL central, and I think you know which specific team(s) I was referring to. I still love you, but I'm sorry that you're all going to get burned this season.

A Campaign for More Exercise

The campaign headquarters for the John Edwards presidential campaign moved in across the street from the coffee shop where I work just a few months ago. On the whole, the members of the campaign seem to be recent political science/law grads who are passionate about John Edwards' platform and probably looking to get more into politics themselves. Many of them regularly come into the coffee shop (sometimes twice a day) to help get them through their 12 hour plus days at the office. Yesterday, a few of the guys invited me to go play football with them because I was getting off work at about the time they were going to play. I decided that, since Melissa had a haircut appointment, I met as well play football instead of sit around at home.

When I got down to the field I did some warm-up stretches because I knew I hadn't exercised those muscles in quite a while, but I had no idea how out of shape those muscles were. The game was great fun, and I even scored a touchdown, but not long after I got home I could already feel my muscles stiffening. Not a good sign. Of course, this morning it got even worse, and I had difficulty driving to and from church because I had a hard time lifting my leg to move it from the accelerator to the brake. Maybe the best way to show me how out of shape some of my muscles are was to pound them to the ground, because I'm really not that old yet. I don't know if the football experience will actually motivate me to exercise more, but the pain was definitely worth the gain (remember those "No Fear" t-shirts). I like to look at the experience as maybe I burned one of our future presidents for that touchdown, and when he or she is in office I can say, "I totally smoked that guy."

A Random Collection of Various Thoughts, Updates, and other Useless Information

-Thrift store shopping in the South took on a whole new meaning for me this weekend. Carrboro is home to one of the "best" thrift stores in the country or something like that, and it is run by the PTA so all the benefits go to the schools. I was definitely impressed by the selection and quality of merchandise in the shop(I purchased two books in pretty decent condition for $.50 each), but what made the trip interesting was the customers. First of all, we had to wait in line for about 15 minutes just to check out because of one lady who took that entire 15 minutes. When she first got to the register she loudly proclaimed to the clerk that the item was grossly mismarked, and that it was even too big for her even though it was marked really small. I think after her tirade everyone in the shop knew exactly what size she wore and what size she thought the skirt was supposed to be. Geez, lady, it's a thrift store, cut 'em some slack. To top the whole event off, the lady's husband had bought a printer or something in the basement and as she was finishing checking out, the husband yelled up the stars, "Carol, give 'er another dollar, I'm buyin' somethin' else." Once again, he might as well have spoken over the loudspeaker. Thank you, thrift store couple, for redefining southern hospitality as speaking so loudly in a public place that I might as well have been invited over for dinner and treated to y'alls life story.

-I have decided that y'all is by far the most efficient way to address more than one person. I suppose if I learn nothing else while living in North Carolina, I can take that little nugget with me. Sorry Chicagoans, "you guys" just doesn't cut it.

-Speaking of Chicago, I just watched the movie The Breakup, and it made me really miss living in the Chicagoland area. Chicago is just plain a great city and there's no getting around it.

-I also just viewed the new trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean 3, and I don't care what anyone said about the second movie, this one looks so awesome I almost wet my pants.

-In more serious news, I am basically at the end of the line for grad school applications. I have heard from everyone except North Carolina, and every one of them has been a polite, but resounding "no." I have come to a point through reflection, prayer, and depression not to pursue a PhD in Classical Studies. Instead, I will be reapplying to schools for fall of next year for the Masters Program with a teaching certification for high school Latin. However, this means that we will be staying in North Carolina for another year, and I will be taking a few more classes at UNC. The whole decision process has been very exhausting and frustrating, but I feel that I'm at an exciting new fork in the road. If anyone would like to know more about my thoughts and decisions that are either too boring or long for a brief blog post, give me a call or send me an email.

-By the way, UNC is going to win the NCAA basketball tournament.

It has only begun...

I will be the first to admit that I have suffered from a serious case of blog neglect. It seems like the first of February was only last week, and now it's already March! Working 25 hours a week and going to class twice a week just makes the days fly by. But enough of making excuses. For those of you who have been following my blog over the past few months, you will know that I recently finished applying to grad schools. Well, the first verdicts have come in and unfortunately they have not been positive. All the festivities kicked off with a generic rejection email from the University of Illinois. I did receive an official letter about a week later, but it was definitely not a positive way to kick off the season of school responses. Duke was the next in line to send me the holy heave, and fortunately, it has stopped there so far. Admittedly, it has already been an emotionally trying time for me, which has driven me to questioning not only my ability, but my motivation as well. However, I think I see God working in reforming my motivations toward a life that's more focused on impacting other people. I still have seven schools to hear from, so I suppose the odds are pretty good that I will be accepted at one.

Sorry for no witty or humorous post this time around, but I pretty much only have one thing on my mind, and when it's not thinking about this one thing, it's fried.

A Slap in the Face

I recently saw a commercial that nearly brought me tears and roused my most deep-seated feelings of anger. And no, it was not the controversial Snickers commercial. It was a commercial for California dairy products. The tagline of the commercial went something like this: "Good cheese comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California." Those of you who are well aware of my dairyland roots will recognize the disrespect and downright disgrace of such an ad. Who do the Californians think they are, subtly saying that their cheese is the best in the country when Wisconsin has been producing the best cheese in the country since forever? If there was ever a time where I thought it appropriate for California to break off into the Pacific, now is the time. They must understand that you just don't mess with the cheeseheads. Forget about taking the Snickers commercial off the air, this commercial is much more disrespectful and worthy of censoring than any shot of two men accidentally kissing. California just gave Wisconsin one big slap in the face, and the cheeseheads I know will stand up to this disgrace and send all those rich hippies where they belong: a lonely island in the middle of the Pacific.

The Neverending Story

I love stories. I love to listen to them, read them, and even tell them. I like to tell stories with details that add a little flavor to the narrative and give listeners a little glimpse into the characters and the setting. I guess if you could compare my taste in storytelling to famous literary figures, I would probably be similar to a Tolkien, or my own professional research interest, Herodotus, the father of history. Both of those literary figures engage the audience with tangents that add depth and flavor to the story and provide a little mental rest from the driving narrative.

Recently, however, my own dear wife shattered my story-world. She told me that my stories are too long, and that they have too much detail, and that I needed to cut down on the number of details I included in my stories. Like a good husband, I took her advice to mind, but my heart broke. My world of story-telling will never be the same again now that I'm so self-conscious about how long my stories are. I deeply apologize to those who may have had to bear through one of my epic narrations. I promise to work on that fault and maybe attend rehab (but if I'm in rehab with the literary likes of Tolkien and Herodotus, it can't be that bad!)

The second half of this post may or may not be entirely serious, partially serious, or not at all serious (she did tell me my stories are too long, but I continue to lovingly disagree with her!)

The Art of Waiting

Most of us spend a significant portion of our lives waiting for something. We wait for the light to turn, our husband, wife, or kids to come home, or for someone to post another blog. Whatever way you look at it, we spend a lot of time waiting, and in fact we just finished a holiday season which relies strongly on waiting. I remember as a kid waiting impatiently to finally see what was in those presents under the tree. I waited for so long that I felt I couldn't wait any more without bursting. As I have matured, I have come to recognize that waiting is a skill that must be honed and practiced.

There are two prominent natures to the skill of waiting: anticipation and frustration. When we are young, we are overwhelmed by the extremes of both natures, so the idea of waiting for something is both desirable and undesirable at the same time. As we grow and mature, the dichotomy of waiting levels out because we understand it better. We have learned to anticipate but not over-anticipate, and we hopefully have learned to quell the frustration with a developed sense of patience.

All this nonsense to get to my main thought. I have been reconfronted with the dual nature of waiting as I wait for the decisions to start arriving from all of the schools where I applied. I am experiencing a great amount of anticipation because I am very excited about the next step in my life, but I am also incredibly frustrated because I have absolutely no control over what the schools decide. Everything that was in my power went out in the mail just a couple weeks ago. I'm having a hard time letting go and just waiting because I want to have some sort of hand in where I will go to school and live for the next five or six years. With this thought I realized that waiting is not only a test of my patience, it is also a spiritual discipline. Waiting, for me at least, requires trusting that God will illuminate the right path. With everything out of my control, all I can do is let go and let God work.

I am in the midst of an exciting and uncertain time right now, and it may be filled with much anticipation and frustration, but what better way to endure it than to sit back, treasure each day on its own, and enjoy the wait.