Videos of the day
Fabian Cancellara ran away with the stage win, yellow and green jerseys today at the opening of the Tour de France in Monaco. It was like the great baseball games... the winning happened at the end of the day.
Lance Armstrong's team, Team Astana, had 4 riders in the top 10, Armstrong bringing up the rear at spot #10.
Vive le Tour!
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Get a Second Opinion?
A man fell off a cliff and was hanging precariously from a tree branch. He cried out "God, please help me!" God answered, "Have faith and I will protect you. Let go of the branch." The man, stunned, cried out, "Is there anyone else up there?"
Friday, July 03, 2009
"'Que Sera, Sera' a song that begins with Q"
That was the text message I received from my dear friend Julie this afternoon. And I laughed and laughed!
The first day we were at the beach, we were walking back to the beach house, talking about what games she wanted to play that evening. I am not a big gamer, board or otherwise, and I admit I was making fun just a LITTLE bit. As we walked along I suggested a game we could play without any hard rules, cards, boards or whatever. And moreover, the game could get more interesting as we got further down our bottle of wine.
"Let's come up with a song for every letter of the alphabet," I said. Julie loves to sing, is a fantastic singer, and had said she wanted to sing together during the week she was here. Well, I can't hold a candle to her vocalizations, so I was hoping this kind of thing would satisfy that urge of hers and also be a game I could deal with.
On we went, coming up with some pretty fantastical songs, although I did make fun of her for her inordinate number of hymns and spiritual songs (she is a preacher's wife, after all). And we got a little mired down at at times. But when we got to 'Q' we were totally stuck. And had no internet access either.
This bugged her. Julie does not give up. In fact, this is a photo I took of her on another quest she had while we were at the beach...her desperate need to find a shark's tooth.
We never did come up with a song for the letter 'X.' I have internet access now, but haven't availed myself of the opportunity to google it.
Que Sera Sera. Maybe we'll never come up with one for 'X.'
The first day we were at the beach, we were walking back to the beach house, talking about what games she wanted to play that evening. I am not a big gamer, board or otherwise, and I admit I was making fun just a LITTLE bit. As we walked along I suggested a game we could play without any hard rules, cards, boards or whatever. And moreover, the game could get more interesting as we got further down our bottle of wine.
"Let's come up with a song for every letter of the alphabet," I said. Julie loves to sing, is a fantastic singer, and had said she wanted to sing together during the week she was here. Well, I can't hold a candle to her vocalizations, so I was hoping this kind of thing would satisfy that urge of hers and also be a game I could deal with.
On we went, coming up with some pretty fantastical songs, although I did make fun of her for her inordinate number of hymns and spiritual songs (she is a preacher's wife, after all). And we got a little mired down at at times. But when we got to 'Q' we were totally stuck. And had no internet access either.
This bugged her. Julie does not give up. In fact, this is a photo I took of her on another quest she had while we were at the beach...her desperate need to find a shark's tooth.
We never did come up with a song for the letter 'X.' I have internet access now, but haven't availed myself of the opportunity to google it.
Que Sera Sera. Maybe we'll never come up with one for 'X.'
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Away We Go: A GREAT Movie!
Cassie and I went to see this movie this afternoon. I absolutely loved it. Yes, I did get restless near the end, but I get restless near the end of most movies.
So this couple is expecting a baby and they realize they really have not grown up. They lived near his parents (hers are dead), only to have the parents announce they are moving to Belgium for two years. They live in a crappy, run-down shack, and so they decide maybe they should move somewhere too.
So they start off on a round-the-country trip to visit friends and family to see if there is a good placed for them to settle down with the baby. And along they way they learn some valuable lessons in how to, and how not to, be parents.
It can be a little crude at times. I would not take my 14-year-old son to see it, but it's a great flick for adults.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Today
I'm up early this morning on a summer day. Got up at 6:30. I'm stressing myself about summer ending too quickly. I have to report back on July 27, so it seems like I'm not getting much of a summer break at all. I don't think I've fully recovered from the last round of 10-hour days, and now I'm dreading the next round already. So I'm doing a lot of self-talk, trying to remind myself to enjoy each day as it comes. Otherwise I think I'll lose the enjoyment of the current time off because I'll be brooding too much about going back to work.
"I live a day at a time. Each day I look for a kernel of excitement. In the morning I say: 'What is my exciting thing for today?' Then, I do the day. Don't ask me about tomorrow."--Barbara Jordan
"I live a day at a time. Each day I look for a kernel of excitement. In the morning I say: 'What is my exciting thing for today?' Then, I do the day. Don't ask me about tomorrow."--Barbara Jordan
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
I Didn't Embarrass My Teacher
So we went to The Yoga Center in the Elizabeth neighborhood in uptown Charlotte last night. Phyllis Rollin teaches Iyengar style yoga, which is very precise and detailed. There's not really any room for making the poses your own in terms of style. But I think that's a good thing sometimes. You really learn about your own anatomy as she leads you through what you think is going to be simple forward bend. She starts pointing out parts of your body that haven't thought of before, and telling you to adjust each of them. I mean, when I bend forward over one leg, I usually don't think of the opposite side of my ribs collapsing.
Anyway, we did not do much sweating, which Liz had told me we would do, but she also said the class seemed easier last night than usual. We attributed that to the fact that Phyllis was a little under the weather.
There were two men in the class, which was kind of cool, and I ended up next to the wall by one of them, Tom. He had a lot of back issues going on and so was doing most of his poses rather gingerly and receiving some assistance from Phyllis. As we were working on a prep for handstands, I muttered to him, "So when do we get to the napping part?" And he really enjoyed that one. The woman on the other side of him said, "That's just a rumor we spread to get people to come to yoga." And then pretty much our entire wall of people started cracking up. Phyllis hadn't heard the conversation, so she walked along the line of us asking us what was so funny, which made us laugh even more. All in all, it was a challenging yet fun class. I think I'll go back whenever I can, although that will mean sacrificing my Monday night Jazz class. We'll see.
This morning it's Jazz and then yoga at The Gym in Fort Mill and then afternoon is free. I have some tidying up, bathrooms to clean, and laundry to do. And I imagine I should cook supper too.
Anyway, we did not do much sweating, which Liz had told me we would do, but she also said the class seemed easier last night than usual. We attributed that to the fact that Phyllis was a little under the weather.
There were two men in the class, which was kind of cool, and I ended up next to the wall by one of them, Tom. He had a lot of back issues going on and so was doing most of his poses rather gingerly and receiving some assistance from Phyllis. As we were working on a prep for handstands, I muttered to him, "So when do we get to the napping part?" And he really enjoyed that one. The woman on the other side of him said, "That's just a rumor we spread to get people to come to yoga." And then pretty much our entire wall of people started cracking up. Phyllis hadn't heard the conversation, so she walked along the line of us asking us what was so funny, which made us laugh even more. All in all, it was a challenging yet fun class. I think I'll go back whenever I can, although that will mean sacrificing my Monday night Jazz class. We'll see.
This morning it's Jazz and then yoga at The Gym in Fort Mill and then afternoon is free. I have some tidying up, bathrooms to clean, and laundry to do. And I imagine I should cook supper too.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Is that Utthita Hasta Padangustasana or Utthita Parsvakonasana?
My yoga teacher told me in an email last night that the class we are going to is fun. It will make you sweat and work hard. The teacher is funny. Then she said:
"I realized - she also says all poses in sanskrit! so we will just do as the other students do..."
"I realized - she also says all poses in sanskrit! so we will just do as the other students do..."
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Church: The Whole Family
I couldn't be happier. Well, I imagine there are things that might make me happier, for right now? I'm delighted that Nate, Erin and Ryan are all coming to church with us. We'll be filling that second pew!
"I am familiar with Potato Gun safety," he said.
That was the end of the last conversation Mensa Boy had with the kids last night. All four of them (Nate, Taylor, Ryan and Erin) had disappeared around 8 o'clock. After asking me if they could "shoot my onions."
"No," I said. "I need my onions." I didn't even bother asking them to clarify.
We went to bed around 9:15 (yes, on a Saturday night) and shortly after that we started to hear sounds from the garage. Bear was also barking from his perch in Taylor's room.
Mensa Boy went down to investigate. He came back and said "At least there are no flames involved." Apparently they were building a potato gun with PVC pipe and cement. They had a can of hairspray and planned to use that as a propellant for potatoes.
"Three of them are adults now," MB said. "I hope they don't get in trouble with the police."
He said they were going to take it down to one of the stalled developments where there are no houses being built right now and shoot it off. He was tense. I reminded him that he and his friends had done a lot worse than that. "Yeah," he said. "We tended to use fire."
There are several videos of people making and using spud guns, or spudzookas on YouTube.
"No," I said. "I need my onions." I didn't even bother asking them to clarify.
We went to bed around 9:15 (yes, on a Saturday night) and shortly after that we started to hear sounds from the garage. Bear was also barking from his perch in Taylor's room.
Mensa Boy went down to investigate. He came back and said "At least there are no flames involved." Apparently they were building a potato gun with PVC pipe and cement. They had a can of hairspray and planned to use that as a propellant for potatoes.
"Three of them are adults now," MB said. "I hope they don't get in trouble with the police."
He said they were going to take it down to one of the stalled developments where there are no houses being built right now and shoot it off. He was tense. I reminded him that he and his friends had done a lot worse than that. "Yeah," he said. "We tended to use fire."
There are several videos of people making and using spud guns, or spudzookas on YouTube.
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