Wednesday, December 15, 2004
a somewhat eventful day
i've been commenting/complaining to myself and friends i've seen that i really have nothing to do during the day since they all have 9-5 jobs (suckers!) and prime time for support calls (which i really need to get on this week) are the early evening hours. so from the time i wake up (i wake up daily at 7 but don't get out of bed until nine for fear of boredom) there's not a whole lot for me to do other than read, play with the dog, and watch old football games on espn classic. i could probably be more productive by dedicating more time to reading and less to the watching the 1995 michigan vs. texas a&m cotton bowl, so we'll work on that over the next few days.
i do, however, have an appointment with the missions pastor at my church tomorrow morning at 9, so if you think about that sometime in the next 10 hours, send up a prayer of and for support for me. i'm hoping they stay on with a big commitment for next year, but we'll see. and after that, i'm committing myself to do support calls tomorrow night, so anyone who reads this is free to hold me accountable for that. i need it.
so we had a little excitement with the law today. i can hear the groans already....i'm not even home two weeks and already i'm getting in trouble with cops. but let me explain. i had to go drop off our new dog cooper to get a bath and groomed (sadly, my faithful friend bullet had a brain tumor and had to be put down about two months ago). anyway, after i did that, i decided to cruise through long beach cuz i didn't have anything to do back at the house.
i drove straight down long beach blvd to the downtown area and remembered that my buddy dave works at the t-mobile store in the newish shopping center down there, so as i'm making a left to pull into a parking lot, i see flashing lights and a bike cop in my rearview mirror. doh! as i park, i'm trying to figure out what i could have possibly done to get pulled over, but i draw a blank (because i'm such a great driver, hehe). he asked for the registration and i give him the first one i find in the glove box, not bothering to look at it. turns out it was the old registration for my sister's fiancee's car which was registered under his parents' names. double doh! so after some questioning (who's care is it, where do i live, how long i've been driving the car) i finally find the registration for my car (while slipping in that i'm a missionary from argentina, heh) and hand it to him. turns out the reason he pulled me over is that the car registration expired in september. triple doh! of course this was all unbeknownst to me...i left the car with my parents when i went to argentina and figured they'd keep everything up to date. anyway, the cop was a nice enough guy to let me go and told me to let my parents know that i met a nice police officer and he says to register the car. yay for getting off the hook!
the rest of the day was less exciting than that. i ended up walking around belmont shore, but it's completely different from what i remember. no penny lane (which was the reason i went down there to begin with) and lots of trendy little restaurants like the yen sake & sushi bar and this buona gente italian place. i saw a few mainstays that i recognized like legends sports bar, shore house cafe and phuket thai (pronounced pucket thai...behave!), but there was a lot more new than old to me. things are always changing around here. i guess it's just more noticeable when you aren't here to actually see it happen.
after all that, i hit up dave at the t-mobile store for a few minutes, went home and watched duke beat down the university of illinois (chicago), and caught most of the amazing race, which reb has gotten me semi-hooked on. sad that the older couple got eliminated cuz they were nice, and not so happy that the abusive couple ended up in second place (if this wasn't network television, i'd bet that one of them dies before the race is over). i just hope one of the nicer teams wins (reb's faves kris& jon, or gus & his daughter, what's her name?) so the abusive guy isn't rewarded for being such an ass.
i just found out my girlfriend likes the wedding singer and most other adam sandler movies. and i just keep on winning :)
symphonic melodies: union jack - water drums
food for thought: paul's letter to the colossians by God
i've been commenting/complaining to myself and friends i've seen that i really have nothing to do during the day since they all have 9-5 jobs (suckers!) and prime time for support calls (which i really need to get on this week) are the early evening hours. so from the time i wake up (i wake up daily at 7 but don't get out of bed until nine for fear of boredom) there's not a whole lot for me to do other than read, play with the dog, and watch old football games on espn classic. i could probably be more productive by dedicating more time to reading and less to the watching the 1995 michigan vs. texas a&m cotton bowl, so we'll work on that over the next few days.
i do, however, have an appointment with the missions pastor at my church tomorrow morning at 9, so if you think about that sometime in the next 10 hours, send up a prayer of and for support for me. i'm hoping they stay on with a big commitment for next year, but we'll see. and after that, i'm committing myself to do support calls tomorrow night, so anyone who reads this is free to hold me accountable for that. i need it.
so we had a little excitement with the law today. i can hear the groans already....i'm not even home two weeks and already i'm getting in trouble with cops. but let me explain. i had to go drop off our new dog cooper to get a bath and groomed (sadly, my faithful friend bullet had a brain tumor and had to be put down about two months ago). anyway, after i did that, i decided to cruise through long beach cuz i didn't have anything to do back at the house.
i drove straight down long beach blvd to the downtown area and remembered that my buddy dave works at the t-mobile store in the newish shopping center down there, so as i'm making a left to pull into a parking lot, i see flashing lights and a bike cop in my rearview mirror. doh! as i park, i'm trying to figure out what i could have possibly done to get pulled over, but i draw a blank (because i'm such a great driver, hehe). he asked for the registration and i give him the first one i find in the glove box, not bothering to look at it. turns out it was the old registration for my sister's fiancee's car which was registered under his parents' names. double doh! so after some questioning (who's care is it, where do i live, how long i've been driving the car) i finally find the registration for my car (while slipping in that i'm a missionary from argentina, heh) and hand it to him. turns out the reason he pulled me over is that the car registration expired in september. triple doh! of course this was all unbeknownst to me...i left the car with my parents when i went to argentina and figured they'd keep everything up to date. anyway, the cop was a nice enough guy to let me go and told me to let my parents know that i met a nice police officer and he says to register the car. yay for getting off the hook!
the rest of the day was less exciting than that. i ended up walking around belmont shore, but it's completely different from what i remember. no penny lane (which was the reason i went down there to begin with) and lots of trendy little restaurants like the yen sake & sushi bar and this buona gente italian place. i saw a few mainstays that i recognized like legends sports bar, shore house cafe and phuket thai (pronounced pucket thai...behave!), but there was a lot more new than old to me. things are always changing around here. i guess it's just more noticeable when you aren't here to actually see it happen.
after all that, i hit up dave at the t-mobile store for a few minutes, went home and watched duke beat down the university of illinois (chicago), and caught most of the amazing race, which reb has gotten me semi-hooked on. sad that the older couple got eliminated cuz they were nice, and not so happy that the abusive couple ended up in second place (if this wasn't network television, i'd bet that one of them dies before the race is over). i just hope one of the nicer teams wins (reb's faves kris& jon, or gus & his daughter, what's her name?) so the abusive guy isn't rewarded for being such an ass.
i just found out my girlfriend likes the wedding singer and most other adam sandler movies. and i just keep on winning :)
symphonic melodies: union jack - water drums
food for thought: paul's letter to the colossians by God
Sunday, December 12, 2004
not so healthy foodstuffs
hot dogs have got to be one of the shadiest forms of "nourishment" known to the american diet. forget about what we know (or don't know) concerning what goes into them....you can tell something's up when you're cooking them on the stove. it just can't be a good sign when yellow while you cook it (especially since that's not the original color of a hot dog). just makes you wonder, where does that excess coloring come from? i could probably come up with something if i sat around thinking about it long enough, but just as it is with the actual contents of a hot dog, i'm probably better off not knowing. sometimes ignorance is bliss. you just have to pick the right things to be ignorant about.
this of course hasn't, nor will it ever, stopped me from eating hot dogs. i had two for lunch thursday and three yesterday. and if it weren't for the combination of going out to meets some peeps for lunch today and the fact that there are no more hot dogs in the house thanks to my ridiculously healthy eating habits, i probably would have eaten more today. it's paradoxical and yet completely american that something like a hot dog would be such an ingrained part of our culture when we're so [seemingly] obsessed with health and especially physical appearance. grillin' out? i'm sure hot dogs are on the menu. fourth of july? you should be tarred, feathered and deported to france if you don't serve hot dogs. some kids birthday? hot dogs are probably the main item on the menu. we have contests to see who can shove the most hot dogs down their throat in the allotted amount of time for goodness' sake. the worst part about that is a tiny japanese dood always wins. what's up with that?
it's a quick and easy snack (plus you get to put ketchup on them) and was definitely a staple of my summer diet growing up. i love hot dogs, they're great. it's just an odd part of american culture that has perhaps become more salient as a result of my time living outside of the states....although i eat them all the time in argentina. they're called panchos and they come with crushed potato chips in the bun. good stuff, but i digress.
i think it says something about american culture that we obsess over physical health and appearance, yet so much of the food that's marketed in our country is quick and easy, but not exactly healthy. microwave this and that, minute rice, hamburger helper, and the list goes on. i just don't get how people can expect to be healthy and in shape when they're too lazy to prepare a healthy, well balanced meal, let alone do some physical exercise (this is probably the only country in the world where you can find a lazy health nut). they just get mad at mcdonald's for offering big macs with 500% of your suggested daily fat intake. all i have to say is i don't see anybody wearing a mcdonald's uniform shoving big macs down peoples throats on the street. i don't even like mcdonald's, and yet i find myself defending them. didn't see that coming.
oh, as you can see the commenting system is back in business, but i'm still not wild about these colors. perhaps someday this lazy american (who goes to the gym daily, by the way) will do something about it. until then, yay for the orange revolution.
symphonic melodies: zero 7 - end theme
food for thought: the 2003 chanticleer (duke yearbook)
hot dogs have got to be one of the shadiest forms of "nourishment" known to the american diet. forget about what we know (or don't know) concerning what goes into them....you can tell something's up when you're cooking them on the stove. it just can't be a good sign when yellow while you cook it (especially since that's not the original color of a hot dog). just makes you wonder, where does that excess coloring come from? i could probably come up with something if i sat around thinking about it long enough, but just as it is with the actual contents of a hot dog, i'm probably better off not knowing. sometimes ignorance is bliss. you just have to pick the right things to be ignorant about.
this of course hasn't, nor will it ever, stopped me from eating hot dogs. i had two for lunch thursday and three yesterday. and if it weren't for the combination of going out to meets some peeps for lunch today and the fact that there are no more hot dogs in the house thanks to my ridiculously healthy eating habits, i probably would have eaten more today. it's paradoxical and yet completely american that something like a hot dog would be such an ingrained part of our culture when we're so [seemingly] obsessed with health and especially physical appearance. grillin' out? i'm sure hot dogs are on the menu. fourth of july? you should be tarred, feathered and deported to france if you don't serve hot dogs. some kids birthday? hot dogs are probably the main item on the menu. we have contests to see who can shove the most hot dogs down their throat in the allotted amount of time for goodness' sake. the worst part about that is a tiny japanese dood always wins. what's up with that?
it's a quick and easy snack (plus you get to put ketchup on them) and was definitely a staple of my summer diet growing up. i love hot dogs, they're great. it's just an odd part of american culture that has perhaps become more salient as a result of my time living outside of the states....although i eat them all the time in argentina. they're called panchos and they come with crushed potato chips in the bun. good stuff, but i digress.
i think it says something about american culture that we obsess over physical health and appearance, yet so much of the food that's marketed in our country is quick and easy, but not exactly healthy. microwave this and that, minute rice, hamburger helper, and the list goes on. i just don't get how people can expect to be healthy and in shape when they're too lazy to prepare a healthy, well balanced meal, let alone do some physical exercise (this is probably the only country in the world where you can find a lazy health nut). they just get mad at mcdonald's for offering big macs with 500% of your suggested daily fat intake. all i have to say is i don't see anybody wearing a mcdonald's uniform shoving big macs down peoples throats on the street. i don't even like mcdonald's, and yet i find myself defending them. didn't see that coming.
oh, as you can see the commenting system is back in business, but i'm still not wild about these colors. perhaps someday this lazy american (who goes to the gym daily, by the way) will do something about it. until then, yay for the orange revolution.
symphonic melodies: zero 7 - end theme
food for thought: the 2003 chanticleer (duke yearbook)
