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A bad day

Today was a rough day at work. There were lots of layoffs: 10%, including some very good friends. A fellow I'd met in Toastmasters came by my desk today at about 8:45 and shook my hand and said it was nice knowing me. I actually thought he was kidding. He'd recently mentioned to me how many projects he was working on. His colleague also got booted: this is a man who had 18+ years with the company. My former manager and good friend also is gone: we'd just had lunch on Tuesday and were talking about how we both wanted to retire from here. Another good friend from my days as a Pathfinder is gone: he's one of the smartest people I've ever met. And, a sweet lady that I'd met in Wed. Bible Study is also gone: we were going to have lunch tomorrow.

So many people smarter than I and with tons more experience were told to leave my company. Why wasn't I booted instead? Me, who just gets by each day more confused than the previous day? Winging it is a way of life for me at work! I'm starting on a project even now that could just as well be written in Latin: that's how much I understand it.

It could have (probably even should have) been me.

24

Has anyone heard when the season premier of 24 is scheduled? It's been one of the highlights of January for me the past few years.

Jeopardy!

Charles, aka Mr Wikipedia, is going to take the Jeopardy challenge online tonight at 8:00. Go Charles!

I took the plunge

Tired of working on my "practice piece" in knitting, I went back to the knitting store Saturday afternoon to buy some real yarn for my very first scarf. You can see by the picture that the yarn is a beautiful gray with touches of pink and teal.

My fork in the road, however, was 1) continue practicing on the ugly pastel purple practice piece full of ugly mistakes until I could knit perfectly or 2) take the plunge and risk ruining my beautiful new scarf. Deciding that number one was impossible anyway, I took the plunge and haven't looked back!! My best decision was opting for all "knit." No "purl" this time around. Purl is too tricky, the trickiest part being whether it's time to knit or purl. If you stick to all knit, then you don't have that pesky knit-or-purl dilemma to worry about.

I took this picture yesterday and have already knitted dozens more rows! The trick is to catch mistakes early. That's my bit of wisdom to pass along to beginner knitters. And another bit is "Just take the plunge!"

The Bucket List

We saw The Bucket List yesterday. I was expecting a comedy, however, it was much more of a drama with comic undertones. Don't let the drama turn you off: it's an awesome movie! Two guys - one married with a devoted family, the other rich as sin - have cancer and less than a year to live. They get fed up with their diagnosis and decide to go out and fulfill some dreams. While doing so, half way round the world, they find out what's really important in life.

Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, two of my favorite actors play the men. The hospital scenes are some of the best in the movie in terms of dialogue. However, the "bucket" scenes are pretty fantastic too: sky diving, race car driving, private jets, pyramids, mountains and Hong Kong.

I liked the ending! It's hard to say more without giving it away. I'll simply say that The Bucket List comes full circle in many, many ways and reminds us that in dying sometimes we learn what it means to live.

The disadvantages of smooth feet

Like a lot of other people, I got several nice bottles of lotion for Christmas, including a jar of "body butter" (from the Dead Sea, no less!). My immediate reaction was: I'm gonna get my runners' feet in shape once and for all... no more callouses, no more scratchy surfaces, no more dead skin! It took a few weeks, but I achieved the elusive "smooth feet". (Must have been the body butter!) However, in the process, I've gotten terrible blisters and have spent lots of money on mole skin, blister bandaids and cushion-y pads. Yesterday's run was brutal.

Best I can tell, the blisters are from the smooth feet. I'd heard before that callouses protect runners' feet from pain and blisters, but it simply seems too outrageous that an athlete can't also have smooth feet. Somebody, please, say it ain't so!

Did anyone else get an amaryllis for Christmas?

If you got an amaryllis for Christmas, what does yours look like? Has yours bloomed yet?

Ours is about 2 feet tall, very healthy looking. There are no signs of blooms. I'm happy it is still alive and green, at least!

Tragic news

I just heard last night that Rick Burgess' little two-year old son drowned earlier this week. That's the Rick of Rick and Bubba. In Atlanta, we hear them only on Sunday afternoons during their "Best of Rick and Bubba" show on AM 750. Rick and Bubba are so funny! I'd call it Southern, Christian, right-wing comedy, and it's easy to literally laugh out loud during one of their stories.

It's so tragic that Rick's son drowned. Someone taped Rick's eulogy at the funeral and put it on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PUHUZWyFeg. It's way more than a eulogy: more like a sermon. Very powerful. Rick urges us to let our lives be defined by how many people we bring the gospel to. He reminds us that in this world we will have tribulation (John 16:33), but Jesus has overcome the world. And, Rick also reminds us of the simple statement by Jesus: If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15).

Good stuff to hear, especially from a father who is mourning the loss of his youngest son. That family will never be the same, although I can already predict, based on their strong faith in God, that the Burgesses will become "better", not "bitter" from this terrible event. Even so, I'm sure their feelings of loss right now are simply overwhelming.

So much has happened this week that reminds me of the fleeting-ness of life on earth. Really makes me want to re-examine some priorities.

McDonalds Night!

We had a wonderful supper tonight with Mama, and it's becoming a weekly tradition: we bring take-out from McDonalds and have a picnic in her room. She loves cheeseburgers, and can eat them by herself. In fact, tonight, she even reached for the cheeseburger! Charles, Janice and I had more fun chatting, while Mama was listening very attentively and turning her head to whoever was talking. All the while, she was very methodically enjoying her supper and everyone once in a while would utter a word or two. So, although I'm not a big fan of greasy cheeseburgers and fries, this meal with my beloved family was by far my favorite meal all week!

What do you say?

We have a friend in square dancing who suffered back aches during the holidays and made it through with pain killers. In January, she went to the doctor who discovered cancer had spread to most of the organs in her torso. Because of the tricky locations, it's not very operable. She's in the hospital now; they are at the controlling-the-pain stage. Her husband said cards are nice to send, but she's not up for visitors. What do you say, even in a card? I'm staring at a blank note card, but I'm drawing a blank. I think I'm going to stop by CVS on my way to work in the morning and buy a ready-made card to sign and add a short note. Even then, what kind of card to pick out: Religious? Light-hearted? Get Well Soon? I'll probably go religious. Thank goodness she is a Christian. And Lord, relieve her pain.