Spring!

One of my favorite seasons...and here's why:

Just passing the time...

There is a bit of a lull right now at work, between Excel & PowerPoint firedrills. So I started poking around a bit on the internets and found a fantastic series at This Old House.

It's called "Home Inspection Nightmares" and it goes a little something like this:



It's currently a 10 part series of all of the crazy things that home inspectors have found while on the job. It could likely be retitled: Stupid Human Home-owning Tricks.

Anyhow, take a gander. Be sure to read the captions and the comments. Some of this stuff is just incredibly uneblievable. People actually live like this.

Confessions:

1. We currently have duct tape sealing part of our hall bath tub surround. But it is nowhere near this bad.
   
   
   
   
2. We lacked flashing on part of our roof (unbeknownst to us) for quite a while. But again, it was not even close to this.
   
   
3. My grandmother's house did look similar to this for 50 years or so:
   
   

New Masthead

Folks,
I know that many, many of you were fans of the previous masthead. Thus today may in fact be a day of mourning for you all.

Have no fear, however, as bigger and better things are yet to come.

I present to you the new masthead!!!

Ok, enough with the silliness. I just got a new computer that came complete with Photoshop, so I've been havin' me some good old fashioned editing fun!

This masthead is part of a series I made last night, after I got a little photo-editing happy with some of the pictures from our trip to India awhile back. The original shot was taken at Mahabalipuram, which is a coastal town just South of Chennai. There are several temples by the sea, built centuries ago. Read more about it at your leisure.

Anyhow, I took several shots around the site, but never really did much with them. Until last night. For some reason, I was really liking this editing element. So after some cropping, playing and touching up, I wound up with the above picture.

Hope you like it!

Project Table: Inching towards completion

Yesterday was a good day in table-construction land. Tis a cheerful land, able to transport one's thoughts from the rut of day-to-day schlepping about to a land of magical power tools, sawdust and progress! Join me, won't you?

Because Austin's weather apparently thought that the city was temporarily located in the Southern hemisphere yesterday, conditions on the previous work-site (the front porch) were too stifling to endure. So project table went indoors.

The new work-site:



The first step yesterday was lining up the doors and joining them with two hinges, set perpendicular to the seam for stability, as you can see in the super-fancy-artsy-macro-closeup of said hinge:



Here's an idea of what the table looked like from the under side, pre-legs. In this shot, you can also see the tools needed for such a job:

1. Duct tape
2. Fancy drill
3. Pencil
4. Pillow
5. Tape measure



Yep, we're all pro here at Project Table. And don't you forget it.

Ok, moving on. I chose to use 5 table legs for this particular setup. One at each corner, and one in the middle to support the seam. Here's a shot from below so you can get the idea:




And here is the current product, not quite in it's final form:




What could be missing from this picture of perfection, you ask? The following:

• Glass for the top
• Potentially a coat of poly
• Some kickin' chairs

Project Table: Day 10

This week has been a good week for Project Table. I was able to finish scraping, cut the boards, and start painting. Lovely pictures of the progress below:



This is a picture of the rip fence that I setup to enable the cut to be straight. As you can see below, it worked. I was pleased to find out that the door was in fact solid. I had been thinking that it was, but couldn't be positive until I had cut into it. Had it not been solid, I would have had to attach a piece of wood to the outside so that the cavity wouldn't be exposed.

To be honest, I was pretty scared of making the cut. I've used saws before, but there's always a feeling of apprehension before you actually cut. I had purchased some clamps and a small piece of straight wood (a piece of a fence), and got to work. I had to extend my table length a bit to account for the hole in the door where the doorknob and hardware went. I didn't want to have an exposed cavity at the corner, so I bumped the cut line out a few inches to make sure I would have a solid corner after the cut.

Once I had measured my cut line, I taped over it (to ensure that the wood wouldn't splinter during the cut) and redrew it. Then I had to measure where the rip fence would go. Basically, the blade on the saw was offset about 1 1/4 inches from the right-most point of the saw, so the fence went 1 1/4 inches to the right of the cut line and I clamped it into place. Making triply sure that it was completely parallel to the straight cut line, I got to work cutting. And voila, a straight cut.



Here is what both pieces looked like after the cuts:



That was the status as of Wednesday night.

Thursday afternoon I was also able to make some good progress. I was itching to start painting, and had come to the realization that there was no way on God's green earth that I would ever have all of the paint scraped off. So I did what final prep I could with slightly more scraping, some sanding and lots of brushing off.



So after two coats of some paint, the final product is above.

This afternoon, I hope to get the second door painted. Then assembly can start tomorrow! Yay!

Questionable post...

But something compels me to write it nonetheless.

My church has a retreat coming up.

They sent an email to all of the attendees, providing some of the retreat information and generally welcoming them to the event.

But they apparently didn't spell check before they hit send.

The word was supposed to be "Buckner"

Unfortunately, an "f" made an appearance in the word.

In the absolute worst possible place.

Just imagine it.*

"Buckner" with an "f" somewhere strategic.

From the church.

To a lot of people.

Yeah.







*Footnote:
I debated about whether or not to actually write out what they wrote. I just couldn't bring myself to do it, and trust, rather, that you can just figure it out on your own. Go for it.

Project Table: Day 7

First off, thank you all for the encouragement! Via email, comments, etc, you have been incredibly supportive!

Much progress has been made since day 2. I have just been too lazy to post about it. But I know that you are all on the edges of your seats, so I couldn't make you wait any longer.

I worked on the doors almost every day after work last week, chipping and scraping away. I did luck out on Friday and found out that the other side of the door that I had been working on all week was a TON easier to scrape. So as of last Friday, I was able to get to this stage on that door:





For your reference, this is what your jeans look like after an afternoon of vigorous scraping:



Saturday, the great and powerful Tiffany accompanied me to IKEA so that we could do some brainstorming and potentially procure some table legs. The trip proved to be really successful, and at times, humorous. We basically took over the dining section of the store, moving tables and chairs at our leisure trying to see what arrangements would work. We test drove almost every chair they had, so if you have any quesitons about their selection, just let us know.

As for work on the doors, the bitterly cold rain kept us from doing much that day. However, that was not the case on Sunday. Tiffany came back over (a glutton for punishment, some may say) and we got to scrapin'.

Here is Tiffany with her weapons of choice:



Though Tiffany did seem to get a lot of scraping done, I couldn't help but think that she had a hard time keeping her mind on task:



Anyhow, here is what the door looked like before:



And here is the damage that we did:



The triumphant warriors after a long, hard day at battle:



Goals for the week:
- Finish scraping both doors
- Purchase hinges
- Purchse equipment to make a rip fence*
- Cut both doors to size
- Start assembly

The stretch goal is to have the table assembled by Saturday night, when we have a big group coming for dinner. Keep your fingers crossed...

*A rip fence, as suggested by my dad, will aid in cutting a straight line across the bottom of the door. For this I will need a set of clamps and a straight piece of wood...I'm off to the hardware store later today to get such items.

Project Table: Day 2 part 2

Progress from yesterday afternoon:



I'm hoping to finish that side this afternoon, after I pick up a better paint scraping apparatus today on my way home from work. Yippee!

Just for some context, the dark part that you see exposed is the first layer of paint on the door. Then come 2 layers of some sort of tan. Then another layer of brown. And finally a layer of white. Wow.

Project Table: Day 2

In an effort to be transparent through this process, and to share with you the craziness that is me brainstorming/second-guessing/creating/etc., here are a few things/thoughts/questions that came to me in the last 12 hours:

Musings

• Will one big table, made of 2 doors, be too big?
• Should I instead, make 2 smaller tables?
• We could leave 1 out all the time, and store the other one, then when the need arises, bring them both out and put them side by side...
• Will the glass be too expensive?
• Will the glass be too hard to procure?
• How will we get it home?
• Ordering two smaller pieces of glass would be easier to transport, potentially less expensive, and allow for the flexibility of having 2 tables at a time, or just 1 table at a time...
• Should I strip all the paint of both doors, or just keep chipping away at it for a bit longer?
• If I just chip away at it, and don't get it all off, is that ok to paint over?
• Geez, these are ugly paint colors that these people picked back in the day...why do you paint the hardware onto the door?
• Are old doorknobs worth anything?
• What color should this be in the end?
• Is this really worth the time and effort just for the "unique and handmade" factor?
• Do I have all of the necessary tools/skills/etc. to complete this?
• Just how much can you do with a circular saw?
• I wish I had a table saw...
• I wish we had a garage....
• Am I making too much noise for the neighbors?
• Do the neighbors think I'm: insane? and idiot? weird? Who cares?
• Will one table be too narrow?
• Will the narrowness cause people to knock knees? Unavoidably play footsie? Never want to have dinner with us again?
• Will people need to sign a liability waiver before they dine with us?
• Will the legs support the weight?
• If I do two tables, is there a cool hook/clip/clamp I could install under the seam so that they can lock together?
• Is the aforementioned idea too much work?
• Am I now, or at some point during this project will I be, breathing in anything toxic?

More craziness to come, I'm sure. Stay tuned...

Project Table: Day 1

Here's the damage I was able to do after work today:

Project Table: An introduction

I like to make things.

At times, I also tend to overestimate my ability to do so.

This deadly combination recently manifested iteself in the form of my newest project for the house: a dining room table.

I've been thinking about our need for a bigger table for a few weeks now, but I wasn't really ready to take the plunge, spend several hundred dollars, and have something cookie-cutter in our dining room. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just wanted to do something different.

I've seen this particular experiment done on t.v. before, so I'm going to attempt to recreate it for the purpose of allowing us to host more than 2 people for dinner at our humble abode.

To summarize: I'm going to attempt to take 2 old interior doors, cut them to size, join them together, attach legs, and add a nice piece of tempered glass to the top. Voila - we've got ourselves a table.

So Amar suggested that I keep a running status of the project on this here blog, since I know you are just dying to know what we're up to.

Current project status:
There are two very old, very dusty, very ugly doors on our front porch. I was able to partially remove some of the harware on one of the doors over the weekend.

What's up next:
This evening I'm hoping to get the doors cleaned (they are really filthy). I'd also like to get the remaining hardware removed and the paint scraped off. Since I'm planning to paint the wood, and not stain it, it's not imperrative that it be totally stripped down. And if the wood happens to get a little scuffed up in the scraping process, it will just create all the more character.

Wish me luck.

I'll also try to post pictures of the process, so you can feel like you're right there with me, which I know is of importance to you all.

For now, however, here's a taste of what the end project will resemble, and a link to a "how to" article:



How To article

The race is on!

Ok, seriously folks. All of the Presidential coverage is killing me. It's akin to decorating for Christmas in October. By the time the holiday rolls around, you're already over it.

Why must we be subjected to this day in and day out for months on end?

Amid my whining, I saw this quiz posted on a blog I read. Basically, it matches you up with the candidates that most closely hold your views on various topics. I took it, and here are my results.

84% John McCain
79% Mitt Romney
72% Mike Huckabee
70% Fred Thompson
68% Tom Tancredo
58% Bill Richardson
58% Rudy Giuliani
55% Ron Paul
50% Hillary Clinton
50% Chris Dodd
47% Barack Obama
46% John Edwards
36% Joe Biden
28% Mike Gravel
24% Dennis Kucinich

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

I'm honestly not sure about the accuracy. But it is interesting to say the least. How do you measure up?

Some cuteness to start the week

Ok, seriously. How cute is that guy? I just couldn't avoid posting it after seeing him on the front page of Wikipedia this morning. Happy Monday!

For more on this little guy, read the whole article here.

Cake

My corporate life as of late:

"Bake me a cake" says the man upstairs.

"No problem, sir." I respond. "I'll need 6 eggs, 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of sugar, some vanilla and some icing."

"No problem." He responds.

2 days pass, while I'm making the cake.

The phone rings.

"Kim, I still need that cake. But you're going to have to make it with half the eggs."

"Sir," I humbly reply, "I don't know if I can do that and still make a decent cake."

"Kim - bake the cake. 1/2 the egss. Talk to you in 2 days."

So I slave away in my bakery, trying to figure out how to make the cake with 1/2 the eggs I was originally planning on.

Two days later, the phone rings.

"Kim's bakery. How may I help you?"

"Kim, about the cake..." comes a familiar voice over the phone. "I'm going to have to ask you to make it with no flour."

"No flour?" I reply, holding back the panic that seems to be creeping steadily into my tone of voice.

"That's right - no flour. You'll have to give me a cake with 3 eggs, sugar, vanilla and icing. Actually, hold off on that vanilla for now. I'll get back to you."

Two days pass.

The phone rings again.

"Hello?" I answer tentatively, not wanting to hear his familiar voice.

"Kim, I've been looking at the recipe again. It's calling for way too many ingredients. You're going to have to do with just one egg, 1/2 the sugar, and no icing."

"So sir, let me get this straight. You want me to make you a cake with 1 egg and 1/2 a cup of sugar?"

"Yep. And have it on my desk by 8AM tomorrow."

So back to the bakery I go, late at night, to figure out this cake. Since the man upstairs called at 10PM, it's going to be a long night to try to make my deadline.

Finally, I come up with something that I think might work. I drive back into the office and present him with the "cake".

Upon sampling the concoction, he spits it out. "Kim! This is nothing but flavorless meringue! I thought I asked you for a cake!?!?!"

So, who wants dessert?

Foods of yesteryear: A humble plea

The other night at Bible study, we started reminiscing about foods we used to love, but which aren't available anymore.

I mentioned Yoplait Custard-style Banana yogurt.

Suddenly the room was filled with "ooohs" and "ahhhhs" as people recalled the thick, creamy goodness contained within that pale yellow plastic cup.

I lamented, however, that I was not able to find such yogurt in any grocery store. Others shared the same concern, and out of that collective sorrow, I decided to launch a campaign to bring it back. We want our creamy delicious banana yogurt!

So Yoplait, if you're out there, we're desperate. We need you! Do you still make this tasty product? Your website indicates that you do, but none of us can find it!!

Anyone?

In keeping with today's theme: quirks

Eryn and Krista both wrote about various "quirks" today, so I figured I'd continue the theme.

Although, before I get started, you may be wondering about the nun. In searching for an image to complement this post, I searched for "habit" and voila: a nun. I love search engines!!

My quirks:

• I am #2 on Eryn's list
• Before I start doing laundry, I have to make the bed
• Actually, to think straight in the morning, I have to make the bed. This poses a problem when the husband is still sleeping...
• I could eat a peanut butter product every day for the rest of my life and not tire of the wonderful substance!
• I have a strong fondness for Microsof Excel, so much so that I basically think in spreadsheet format
• My work email box has to be relatively clean for me to feel productive/organized
• I tend to be a very competitive driver, so I guess the quirk here is that I need to find the most efficient route at all times
• I do not like talking on the phone, so don't take it personally if this particular quirk of mine impacts your life directly. You are not alone, nor is it about you
• I, too, count stairs when ascending/descending, though I am not as neurotic as Eryn seems to be about it ;)
• Actually, come to think of it, I used to count bites when I would eat as a small child. And I would have to have the same amount of bites on both the left and right side of my mouth before I could swallow. What a weird kid!

OMG!

I work with a bunch of folks who are relatively older than I am.

Ok, so they are a lot older, for the most part.

I am the same age as their grand-children, in some cases.

So when they respond to an email or instant message with "LOL!!!", it just about makes my day.

Here's a typical* IM session:

Kim: Hey Harold**, did you get my email?

Harold: Y :)

Harold: OMG! That was so funny! LOL!!!!

Kim: What was funny? I sent you an email about compliance training.

Harold: BRB LOL OMG!!!

Kim: Harold, are you ok?

Harold: CYA L8R!

Kim: Harold, did you take your pills today?

Harold:....idk?

Kim:Harold, is your blood sugar low?

Harold:IMHO, TMI!

Kim:cya....


*The definition of "typical" is used loosely.
**Names changed to protect the innocent.

I (heart) Steven Colbert

Simply because the man can do things like this and get away with it.

Check it out.

Even if you don't know who the heck he is, reading the Wikipedia articles will surely bring a smile to your face. If it doesn't, I don't want to talk to you ever again.

There, I said it.

Sharing the goodness

While catching up on some blog reading this morning, I figured that it might be helpful/interesting/entertaining to let you, faithful readers, know what I peruse on the web of the wide world:

Fashion/Style/Shopping

• The Manolo: a.k.a. the Shoeblogger. Wildly entertaining and insightful.
• Oh Happy Day: a relatively new find, offering good decorating/shopping/etc. ideas
• Design*Sponge: very similar to the above...

Technology/Finance/News

• Lifehacker: tech tips and news, and overall life shortcuts
• The Consumerist: interesting/funny/snarky tidbits about business
• The Austinist: all things sarcastic, and entertaining about Austin

What would you add to the list? Let me know....this may come in handy on slow days at the office....enjoy!

Chronicles of the Holy Land: Part 2

It's not weird, it's different.

We quickly learned that they do some things differently in Israel:

Pizza - we have a problem:
They don't mix meat and dairy food at any meal. It's either a meat meal, or a dairy meal. Never the two shall meet.

This might lead to, for example, an interesting lunchtime experience in which one attempts to purchase a slice of pizza (clearly dairy) and take in into the falafel restaurant (clearly meat) to join one's friends and winds up getting yelled at by the falafel shop owner "NO DAIRY!!!". One then finds oneself eating pizza alone in the Old City. Never fear, however. This makes for some good people watching.

Going down?
The Shabbat elevator.

Fantastic for those who observe the rules of the sabbath and want a long, leisurely ride down to the lobby from the 13th floor.

Not so fantastic for the Christian tourist who merely wants to meet up with the rest of the group in the lobby quickly before they leave the hotel.

The result? About 15 people in a teeny, tiny elevator, stopping at every floor on the way down, all the while adding to the number inside the overburdened elevator car.

Word to the wise: your elevator ride will take more than 60 seconds if you are trying to depart your hotel around sundown on Saturday in Jerusalem. Just accept that as a reality.

Et tu, tofu?
Again, the meat and the dairy. This time, lesson #2. You think we would have learned by now, but no.

One of the last, and best, meals that we had was at a kibbutz in the Galilee. Wow. I mean, these folks grow their own food, and they do a darn fine job if I say so myself.

At dinner one night, which was clearly a meat meal, even to the untrained eye, a group of us gals found ourselves eyeing what looked to be a very fine display of ice cream. We concocted a lovely sundae out of the ice cream and went to town. I'm no ice cream snob or anything, but this stuff was just incredible. We just kept eating and eating, wondering how they made such tasty stuff.

Finally, we asked our guide what kind of ice cream this was. Godiva? Blue bell? Sorbetto? Do tell!

Tofu.

Soy-based.

And at that, my mouth dropped open. I had been betrayed by dairy. Tofu, I never knew ye.

Happy New Year, and all that...

So it seems that 2007 has come and gone, leaving us all breathless and wondering how in the heck we could be an entire year older in such a short time. Ah yes, my friends, as sands through the hour glass, so are the days of our lives.

In thinking about the past events of said year, it seems to have been a busy one. Here's a recap for you, in case you missed some of these highlights. Eager clickers be aware, each month section title is a link to all the posts for said month. Also, I am an HTML wizard. So for those of you who want to relive the triumph and the tragedy, feel free.

January
World travelers, take note: I was in Brazil and Alabama in January. Ha! Beat that! I spent some good, quality, working time down in the Southern hemisphere. Nothing says international travel like wearing a hard hat for 12 hours each day. This month I also tried, rather unsuccessfully, to make granola. Woo.

February
This month saw me obsessing over a Target ad, providing personal advice to co-workers, and getting the flu for the first time in my entire life. Gotta love February.

March
March. The month in which I apparently decided to spill large quantities of food on myself at all the wrong times. Also, I discovered the goodness that is IKEA, went to the dentist for the first time in WAY too long, and...what was that other thing? Oh yeah, we bought a house. Oh, and peanut butter betrayed me. We have since reconciled.

April
In April, I aged, fought of a fierce snake, watched some TV and tore apart then redesigned a kitchen. Good times.

May
Looks like it was a bit of a slow month. Apparently I painted and ate orange foods. Big month for color. Huge.

June
We moved into our house in June. And I had some problems with gas. June was not a good friend to me this year.

July
In July, I apparently took humorous pictures of my husband and mocked our last name. Who doesn't love doing that? Oh, and I grew a flower. Said flower has since betrayed me and abandoned our front porch without so much as leaving a note. Good riddance.

August
During the month of August, we celebrated our 1 year anniversary of being married (awww!). I was also the victim of a near hit-and-run (vicious!), and we took care of a SOLID dude named Wallace. Shout out to my peep Wallace!

(Can "peep" be used in singular? Oh yeah, it just was.)

September
Wow, apparently the ONLY thing I did during the entire month of September was fly to and from Poland. I'm freaking awesome.

October
In October, we hung out with good ol' Lyle Lovett. I also wrote a sweet joke, and we got 2 puppies, one of which threw up almost 1/2 her entire body weight last night. Good times.

November
In November, we went to Chi-town for a bit. Chilly, but also cool at the same time if yaknowhatimsayin. I also made a lasting impression on O'Hare.

December
Israel. That's all I can say.



What did you do last year?

Chronicles of the Holy Land: Part 1

Rocking the boat on the Sea of Galilee

Chronicles of the Holy Land. Stories in which I impart wisdom to those that stayed behind. Stories in which I attempt to convey to you, dear reader, what you missed. Stories that will resonate through your very soul.

We begin with Part 1: Rocking the boat on the Sea of Galilee.

It was a dark and stormy morning. Our travelers had chosen this day to take part in an epic adventure out to the semi-deep waters of the Sea of Galilee. Or Lake Kinneret, as I found out it sometimes uses as an alias when it wants to lay low. Ha! Get it?! Lay low? It's conveniently located 209 meters below sea level, making it the lowest freshwater lake in town.

Seriously. Back to the adventure. The darkness and the storms....

Half way out to sea, the captain starts playing some, ahem, oldies. Christian oldies. Circa 1985. We were touched.

It was about this time that Tiffany and I chose to have a little fun. I took a look at the planks of the deck, and thought to myself, "Hey, wouldn't it be funny to try to walk in a straight line whilst sailing on the Sea of Galilee?"

Tiffany was up to the challenge, and we began our feable attempts at walking in straight lines. Soon enough, the whole crew had turned its attention to us, as apparetnly we were making quite a spectacle.

We got a little bored of walking the plank after awhile, and the captain could sense our unrest. It was at that moment that he made the best decision in his life: to play Hava Nagila. Bam! The whole boat became a floating party.

Several of us made our way to the center of the deck, joined by 1/2 the crew and our tour guide, and we took off. Dancing our way through the song, singing at the top of our lungs, and trying to copy what the Jewish people in the circle were doing, since many of us Americans had never learned the proper dance.

Tremendous.

Israel - the pictures

Well my friends, you can stop twiddling your thumbs now. I have finally gotten around to posting some pictures from our trip to Israel. Here are some to wet your whistle:



This is a picture of a hillside in Jerusalem, taken from near the Temple Mount.

*Bible scholars, take note: the words "temple" and "mount" when paired together should ring a bell.





This is downtown J-town (my pet name for Jerusalem) at night.

*Bible scholars, take note: J-town is where it's at. All of it.





This is the fabulous Tiffany, giving a tour of the Valley of Elah.

*Bible scholars, take note: This is where David gave Goliath the smack down. For real.





This is one of the characters at the top of the Mount of Olives, posing with his donkey, Dr. Peter. Yes, that is the donkey's real name. I saw his driver's license. This guy will also sell you 20 postcards of Jerusalem for $3.

*Bible scholars, take note: Cool things have happened at the Mount of Olives.

As always, more pictures available at theramas.smugmug.com. More updates regarding the trip in general are soon to come.

I'm back, and have triumphed over jet lag

Yes.

There has been a severe shortage of posts lately.

But I have a good reason: VACATION!!!

Yep, Amar and I just got back from a 2 week trip to Israel. So, I promise that you shall soon be seeing posts again.

So for now, it's back to the office. Speaking of which, I came across this fantastic Dilbert cartoon. Those of you in corporate America - I feel your pain (and so does Scott Adams). Those of you not in corporate America - I know you must be green with envy:

Chicago Pictures!

Hey folks,
Here are some pictures from our trip to Chicago. All in all, I really enjoyed the town. I highly recommend the architecture boat tour. You really get to hear some neat history and see the city from an interesting perspective - the river!

Anyhow, I went a little Picasa crazy. I've just uploaded the pictures that I like (most of which are edited....). Here are some teasers.

You can check the rest out by going here.

Enjoy!

What a Monday!

I know, I know. I've taken several blogging breaks lately. Please forgive me as I explain to you the craziness of Monday morning. Get comfy...it's a long story....but worth it, I promise!

Amar has been in Chicago these last two weeks for work, so I joined him up there for the weekend. I'll share stories/pictures from that later this week, but I had to tell my O'Hare story before its vivid memory faded from my mind.

My flight from O'Hare to Austin was slated to leave at 8:20 AM. So our plan was to leave the apartment by 6:30 AM, put me on the train to the airport, and have me there with plenty of time to get some coffee and relax before winging my way back home.

Think again.

We actually left the apartment around 6:50 AM, hailed a cab, and headed for the train station. I think I got on the train around 7:00 AM or so, leaving just enough time for the ~40 minute ride. Little did I know that the train I got on (along with 50+ other people heading to O'Hare) wasn't going to take us all the way there.

No.

It stopped 4 stops early and booted everyone off before it turned around and headed back down town. So there we all were, standing on the platform with our luggage at 7:20, mere miles away from our final destination.




I tried to convince myself not to panic at that point. "You have plenty of time..." I said to myself. I even decided to put my cell phone (and clock) away for the rest of the trip so I didn't panic.

10 minutes passed and finally the next train came along. It was 7:30 AM, if you're keeping track, and I was supposed to board my plane in 20 minutes. So I again tried to calm myself and keep myself from making 10 contingency plans in the back of my head.

My prayer, at that point, went something like, "God, if You want me to make the flight, I'll make the flight. If not, then no big deal."

The train crept along as if the tracks were made of molasses.

Literally.

Probably going about 10 miles an hour at that point.

Heck, even the RUSH HOUR traffic I could see out the window was passing us.

"Don't panic," I reminded myself. "Stay calm. It'll work out. No need to stress about it."

Finally, I gave in and checked my cell phone for the time. 7:53 AM!!

Alarm bells went off inside my head, and I decided to text a co-worker to spread the word that I may not make my flight and to pass that info along to my boss. I clicked "send" on the text message just as we entered the tunnel into the airport. "Message sending failed," my phone told me.

Great.

We came to a stop and it was the moment of truth. Either I was going to go ALL OUT and haul myself to the terminal, trying everything I could to make the flight - OR - I was going to give up and admit defeat.

Well, I'm no quitter. So I decided that I've gotta go for it. Game face on.

So I slung my backpack over my shoulder, extended the handle on my rolling carry-on and headed for the nearest steps....along with about 200 other people with luggage. I immediately observed that the escalator was packed, so I picked up my bag and sprinted up the stairs. Additionally, the moving sidewalk people-mover-thingy was jammed, so I ran past it as well. I hauled myself up the last set of stairs and into the airport.

Blast! The security line!!!

Time check: 8:03 AM

I got in line, sent my text message, and waited it out. As usual, all the lines were packed. After all, it was Monday morning at O'Hare. What did I expect?

I got up to the point where they check your ID and boarding pass and I noticed that the "Airport Staff" security line was virtually empty. Now, I normally wouldn't do this, but I looked at the security lady and asked if there was any way I could hop in that line. She pretended I wasn't speaking to her....so I tried again, indicating that my flight started boarding 15 minutes ago...She looked around to see if anyone was watching, and then mumbled to me "go under the rope..."

So I did. Gladly.

I got in line and started throwing my stuff on that conveyor belt. Removing my shoes. Bumping into people...and folks started to notice that I needed help. So the lady behind me asked what I needed. "I NEED A PLASTIC BIN" I exclaimed, as I realized that I hadn't fully followed airport security measures. They tossed a bin to me and I threw my shoes and liquids in.

Boom.

I was through security. I threw my shoes on, forgot to zip up by backpack, grabbed the carry-on and tried to find out what gate I needed to be at.

K1! MUST FIND GATE K1!!! As the words "Final Boarding" flashed next to my flight number on the big board.




So I started running through the airport, bag flailing around behind me, scarves falling out, yelling "Excuse me!"

I found K1 and sprinted to the gate.

The poor agent said, "Are you Kimberly?"

"Yes, ma'am," I replied, handing her my boarding pass.

"You're in an exit row."

"Yes, ma'am," I wheezed, panting between words.

"Have a nice flight." And she closed the doors behind me as I walked down the jet way.

5 seconds to spare.

Jesus action figures

I just find it really ironic that these are made in China.

Anyone?

A taste of Texas

Last night we joined some friends, headed down to San Antonio and made our way to the Majestic Theater to see Lyle Lovett and his large band.

Now, I'll start off by saying that I'm not a huge country music fan. However, good friends were going so if we didn't like the music, at least we would enjoy the company. However, I will say that the sound of the "large band", some soulful backup singers and Lyle's gritty voice was really neat.

He had a fiddle, cello, 4 piece brass section, multiple guitars, 2 percussionists, a pianist, a steel guitar player and 4 backup vocalists. It was indeed large.

Their set ranged from jazz, to Texas country, to Bluegrass to Gospel. And it all sounded really good. I do wish, however, that they would have turned Lyle's microphone up a bit. In between songs, it was a bit difficult to understand what he was saying between the multiple "umms" but it was entertaining nonetheless.

The singers got really into the music and danced. And they certainly had some moves! The bass player had the biggest beard I think I've ever seen in person, and we half expected another band member to crawl out of it midway through the set.

All in all, it was a fun evening. I particularly liked "The Boat" and "Don't Cry a Tear" if you were curious....

Puppies!

Well, at long last, here are some pictures of our new puppies. We've had them for about a month now, and they are doing great!



Their names are Bella and Zoey, and they are Scottish Terriers. They are now about 6 months old, and are still very much in the puppy phase.

Anyhow, more pictures to come in the future, I'm sure. Check out the smugmug page for pictures and captions...

A few pictures from Poland

Since we basically worked 12-14 hours each day, I didn't get much time to run around town and take pictures. So on my last day there, I snapped a few from the taxi (most of which came out blurry). I had about 20 minutes of downtime before I had to catch my next taxi on my way out of town, so I ran down to main street and took as many pictures as possible. So here are a few....for more, check out SmugMug (I even added captions!).

The joke

Sorry, I realized that I left out the joke from yesterday's post...

I really enjoy puns.

The other day I was listening to the radio and was inspired, for some reason, so I invented a joke. Here goes:

Did you hear the one about the probate lawyer?




For the answer, click on "comments."

So many updates, so little desire to write

Ok, so honestly it's been forever since I've posted anything decent. Or anything at all. And I do apologize. I usually enjoy writing, but lately, I've enjoyed chilling out just a bit more. I have pictures of Poland and puppies to share, along with various other things to write about....

But all my pictures are on my other computer which is currently sitting in a car half way across town. So for now, hopefully a list and a joke will suffice.

Latest happenings:

• I went to Poland for a week, and lived to tell...
• We got two puppies! Scottish terriers, to be specific
• I am totally loving our sermon series at church lately (Everything from 8/26 onwards...)
• Reading another Brennan Manning book, and loving that as well
• Our company is undergoing a massive "re-org" so the job scene may change a bit in the near future
• Amar and I have been in the same place for more than a week!! Yay!