More embarassing pictures...

I'm beginning to think that about 80% of the pictures of me on the Internet are pretty embarrassing. Not that I mind....but I just wanted to put a number on it.

Anyhow, just to pile on a bit, here are some pictures of my Small Group Bible Study at a Halloween party last week. We've gotten rave reviews on the costumes, so no pressure, but I think you're going to enjoy them as well.

Now, I who doesn't love a good red? And I must say, that being red had it's perks for the photo shoot. I mean, you can't deny that it's a primary color, and is a critical part of so many other colors and color combos. I don't want to assume anything, but the secondary colors were looking at little envious.... ;)



The crayons, in all their glory.




Arrogant primary colors.




Red and blue make purple!




Orange was a little embarrassed by his parents. I mean, who wouldn't be? His dad was wearing a skirt!




The color wheel - wheeee!!!




I'm red. He's brown. Got a problem with that?




Girl colors - unite!

Movie Reviews

Within the past week, I've seen 2 movies, both of which I would recommend to you if you have $10 burning a hole in your pocket (or $20 if you want to see both, and spring for some popcorn).

I.O.U.S.A.



Yes, it's a movie about the national debt. And I can totally understand how you would just assume that this would be a real snoozer. But it was really good. It's hard to make a good movie about a global financial crisis, but these guys did it. I actually want to get it for people for Christmas....

You need to watch this. Even if you have no clue about the national debt, or don't care, this is an issue that requires our attention. It was really eye-opening, so if you do go see it, let me know! We can discuss :)


Body of Lies



Now, I'll be totally honest. It's never hard for me to watch Leonardo DiCaprio. However, this was not originally on my "must see" list until it became the movie chosen for our off-site at work. It's a spy movie set in the Middle East, and it was pretty entertaining. One of those that made me think about the plot for the rest of the day, trying to figure out who told who what and when and where they were and how on earth did this happen? Oy.

Anyhow, if you like action movies, or movies with plots about international spies who also happen to be fairly attractive (wink!), then you should go see this. I will warn you, there are a few scenes that I couldn't watch (violence-wise), but the rest of it was good.

One question: why do all spy movies have the same font? You know what I'm talking about. It's that all caps, computery-looking text that you can just imagine someone using to type in the coordinates of some safe house in the desert. Just something I noticed...

Enjoy!

How did we get here?

Here's another little gem about our crazy financial times. Now, I don't really care if you're pro- or anti-bailout, it's nice to have a summary of how we got here, and just how much cash has been shelled out.

And the comic is just for fun, because apparently I enjoy making fun of the government (wink!).





Image courtesy of the Consumerist

A long week...

I miss you, coffee.

Is it sad that this made my day?

This picture literally made my day. I hope it makes you smile.

To be fair, here's the caption:

US Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) reacts to almost heading the wrong way off the stage after shaking hands with Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) at the conclusion of the final presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, October 15, 2008.

Link to Yahoo story

Face it

We live in a world where a movie like this not only makes money, but it makes almost $30 million dollars.

Let me say again, that I do not approve of entertainment that features animals that talk. The only exception to that rule is the K-9 Advantix series of commercials. I mean seriously, how cute is that little singing puppy?!?!?




Note: if you happen to like talking animals, please don't take this post personally. I think we can still be friends, right?

My current reading list

Ever since reading the "Frantic Family" book a few weeks ago, I've been on a bit of a Patrick Lencioni kick.

For those of you familiar with his work, let me know your thoughts. For those of you that aren't incredibly familiar with his work, he is a long-time consultant who writes business narratives in order to drive home a central point, whether that be about meetings, silos, goals, etc.

And given the fact that I'm married to one of the most avid readers I know, I didn't have to go too far to start picking up some more Lencioni and diving right in.

First up, Death by Meeting



And it happened to be quite timely, because I had a little Death by Meeting experience yesterday, despite my best efforts in recent days to avoid such a travesty.

Rather than having a meeting for the sake of having a meeting, or spending hours on end in a conference room and getting nowhere, Lencioni argues that there are different formats, frequencies and agendas that one should have on their calendar. Honestly, it helped me think about work differently, which can't be a bad thing, right?

Some of what he covers in the book helped me try some different approaches to my day-to-day meetings, and I'm hoping that in the long run, my time, and my co-worker's time will be spent more effectively. I'll keep you posted.

Next up: Silos, Politics and Turf Wars



If you've spent any time in corporate America, you just might be familiar with the idea that a lot of folks have an "us vs. them" mentality in the work place. I can guarantee that folks, including myself, do at my office.

A lot of what Lencioni talks about in this book is familiar to the topics in "Frantic Family", especially the idea of setting a rallying cry to unite folks.

Man, how I wish that this were as easy to put in place as he makes it sound. The fictional story that he paints would be great if it were happening in real life, but from what I've seen, a lot of businesses are a long ways from getting there.

But I'm holding out some hope. And this did make me think of things a bit differently. I'd love to talk to some of the execs in my department about what they see as our rallying cry and what they think about working through some of the existing politics. I see how his concepts could work at a small company, but trying to get 80,000 people unified around a few core concepts is a bit of a daunting task.

And finally, The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive



I'm about 1/3 of the way through this one, and I'm enjoying it. No, I am not an executive. Will I ever be? Who knows. But I don't think it can hurt to try to start thinking like one. Or to start thinking like an extraordinary one, at that ;)

Mammoth, revisited

I have to admit I was a bit shocked when the news broke this week that evidence of Steve Fossett (cash, license) had been found near Mammoth Lakes, California. And then today, they found the wreckage of the plane near that same spot.

Why was I shocked? Becuase Amar and I were just there 6 weeks ago.

Here's a write-up in the Times about the find, first discovered by a hiker and then confirmed by an air search.

This is the kind of terrain that was searched.



Massive trees. Steep cliffs. Mountains. All in all, a tough find.

Hey Sports Fans!!

I saw this today and it cracked me up, though it may be a little snarky:



Click on it to get a full size image of "September Madness"! Which bank or government entity to you think will go all the way?!

What a waste!!

That's my takeaway from today's political activities. A. Complete. Waste.

A waste of time.
A waste of tax dollars.
A waste of money.
A waste of energy.

I was watching the news tonight, and NBC's political director Chuck Todd was on with Brian Williams. His insight into today's vote really caught my attention. He said, that after some analysis on the vote, he had determined that ultimately, 1 factor indicated whether a lawmaker would vote FOR or AGAINST the bill: whether or not they were facing a hotly-contested battle for their seat in November.

If a lawmaker was pretty much a shoe-in for their seat in the fall, they voted FOR the bill.

If a lawmaker was being challenged strongly for their seat in the fall, they voted AGAINST the bill.

If that is the case, and honestly it seems rather likely to (cynical) me, then I cannot think of anything more cowardly.

But then came the finger pointing, and the blaming.

Pelosi blames Bush.
Republicans blame Pelosi.
Democrats call the Republicans whiners.
The phrase "babies sucking our thumbs" was used.

I am honestly starting to think that the 1st grade Sunday school class that we teach could have done a better job crafting legislation and voting on it.

Please, for the love of God and country, stop the whining and do your jobs!



Whew.

Ok, sorry for the rant. Sorry for the series of rants, actually. Hope you're still hanging in there.

Dog show

I took advantage of the late afternoon sun yesterday to do an impromptu photo shoot with the pups. Here's the outcome:

Passing the time

I was just lamenting to a friend that I was really behind the times this week. I haven't watched the full Tina Fey video from SNL wherein she imitates Sarah Palin.

And I'm sure that most of you have already tried out the Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator...but I hadn't tried it yet, so here's my amusement for the morning:

Had I been born to Sarah Palin, I would have been named:

Bang Walmart Palin - my full name, using my maiden last name

Mustache Warthog Palin - using my shortened maiden name

Knife Pile Palin - using my full married name

Icepick Motor Palin - using my shortened married name



All are very, very flattering, as you can tell.

Who would you be, as a Palin?

Some perspective...

I know, I know - 2 posts in 1 day!

You're probably wondering how you could be so lucky as to stubmle upon 2 posts in one day here at chynmburli.

Well, sometimes it's better not to question such blessings.

So I'm still rather troubled by the many strange happenings in the market. I read an article today about the top 10 US bankruptcies in history, and to drive the point home (and given my on-going love affair with all things Excel), I created this nifty chart. (Click on it to make it bigger...this is the best that Blogger could do)



Ta da! Some perspective on what happened over the last 3 days.

These are billions of dollars.

And that freaking huge spike on the right? That's from Monday. Of this week. Like 2 days ago. The teeny blip on the far left? That's from 1987.

Here the article that I got the data from, if you're at all curious.

I read it, I said it, I stole your momma's credit

Anyone guess the movie?




And we're moving on:

Disclaimer: I'm feeling a little preachy this morning. If you don't want to read a rant about our current financial times, I suggest you just skip this one.

I read the Clark Howard piece that I linked to yesterday, and would encourage you to do the same if you want a dumbed-down, super-brief summary of what happened over the last few months.

I want to call attention to one of the minor points that is made in the story (and the one following it as well): this is not a "Bush" problem.

With all the flurry of various political campaigns going on day in and day out, both candidates were quick on the draw, blaming this party and that. Obama still seems to be on his "don't vote for 4 more years of Bush - they got us in this jam" mantra, but do not be fooled.

It takes years for financial policies, passed by our local, state and national government, to take affect. To blame the current state of Wall Street and the real estate market on any 1 term in office is not only unfair, it's wrong.

Now, I know in the past I haven't gotten too far into the political debate. But it's hitting our wallets now, and it's getting a bit personal. The government has either loaned, or made available, upwards of $280 billion dollars. And where they getting the cash? Mostly, from you. And me. And the rest of the American people.

Do I think the government should bailout these companies? It's a toss-up, simply because on one hand, the companies shouldn't have gotten themselves into this pickle in the first place. On the other hand, the companies are now so big that having them go down in flames would probably cause a HUGE wave of financial turbulence across the globe. It's a no win situation.

Indymac
Washington Mutual
Freddie
Fanny
AIG
Bear Stearns
Merrill Lynch
HBOS
Lehman Brothers

Who is next?

Money matters

I know there is a post somewhere, still forming itself in my brain, regarding the complete chaos that is the US economy over the last year or so.

However, I'm coming down with a little writer's block today, so for now, I leave you with these primers:

1) Fairly bland (i.e. it's not blaming one side or the other too terribly) summary of the most recent happenings from CNN: link

2) Just for some book learning, a refresher on what is actually meant by "subprime lending" and all of its sordid past: link

3) And just for a sanity check, please visit Clark Howard. For you AM radio listeners, hopefully you're already familiar with him. If you're not, you need to be. He has an article as well about the latest happenings, but I haven't read it yet: link, meltdown article link

Enjoy!

Looking ahead

I've never been really good at setting goals. I just am not geared for strategic thinking. Give me something tactical, and I'll dive right in and knock it out (most likely). However, I have recently been doing some corporate strategy thinking (more out of frustration than curiosity), and that's why when Amar suggested I read this book, I tore through it.



It's by a pretty well-known business author, Patrick Lencioni. Some of you in corporate America might be familiar with his other titles. Given that my past reading track record was pretty pathetic, I had heard of him, but never read any of his books. Today? I'm 2/3 of the way through my second of his set.

Anyhow, back to the yellow book.

It's basically about how to manage your family so that 1) you're not all running around like crazy people and 2) you're actually making progress towards meaningful goals that align with the unique values that make up your family.

It is not boring. I know you think it will be, but it is not. Even if you hate goals/milestones/objectives/etc., you should read it. I want to get it for people for Christmas. Seriously.

Amar and I both read it over the last week, and last night we sat down at a local coffee shop and planned out the next 2 months for our family: we outlined what made us, as a family, unique; we settled on a 'rallying cry' which is basically the highest-priority item for us over the next 2 months; we setup certain structure around how we're going to achieve that goal.

And it was great.

Seriously, I really think you should read this book.

Single? Read it.
Married? Read it.
4 kids under the age of 5? Read it.

We came up with values and a plan without too much debate (I know, this is a shocker for some of you to imagine us NOT debating!), and I'm genuinely excited about it. I'm excited about doing it again in 2 months, once we're past this initial goal. We already know what our next 2 will be.

So that's my endorsement for the week. If you do happen to pick it up and put it to use, let me know! We'll gladly welcome you to the bandwagon with us!

Mammoth Lakes: Pictures

Folks, here is a link to our pictures from our anniversary trip to Mammoth Lakes, California. Enjoy!

Pictures

Note: the first few pictures are either me goofing around or at a friend's wedding...I just haven't separated the albums yet.

Some love for the airline industry

Not to all of it, mind you. I do still have the fresh memory of being thrown under the bus by American a few months back...but Southwest Airlines deserves a bit of friendly affection, in my humble opinion.

Amar surprised me for our 2nd anniversary and booked a trip to one of my favorite places in the world: Yosemite. Actually, we stayed a little South of the park, down in Mammoth Lakes, also beautiful! More on that, with pictures, later this week.

But back to the travel - we had to fly through Las Vegas and then to Reno to get there, and the first leg of the trip was pretty smooth. No delays, no crazy passengers, no missing bags. All in all, a good experience.

The return trip, however, was not as smooth. For some weather-related reasons, all of Las Vegas was shut down in regards to air travel. So our flight out of Reno was delayed, but we didn't know this until we boarded the plane.

Now, I'm not a super-frequent flyer, but I know that when the Captain comes out to make an announcement while you're still at the gate, something is up.

And something was indeed up.

He calmly, intelligently, rationally and compassionately explained to us that we would not be leaving anytime soon, and that we needed to deplane. On any other airline, they would have 1) just kept delaying the flight and refusing to tell you why, all while forcing you to stay seated in a grimy waiting area or 2) done something else equally awful.

Anyhow, they kindly asked us to head back out to the gate and to stay close, since we could literally need to board the plane at any moment.

About an hour later, while I was happily re-reading some Harry Potter (catching up on book 6 before the [now delayed!] movie comes out next year), when they asked us to line up again, based on the honor system (since they already had our boarding passes). We lined up, in order, and waited. We waited for about 5 minutes before they came back on the loud speaker to announce yet another delay.

About 30 minutes later, they came back on the PA system and said, "Folks, we've been cleared for takeoff. If you can board this plane in 15 minutes, we'll be good to go." And then it happened: that sense of camaraderie among the group. We banded together, boarded quickly (since we all had something at stake) and made it to the friendly skies over Las Vegas all in about 20 minutes.

Kudos, Southwest. You handled that well. At no point did I feel like a cow in a herd of nameless cattle. At no point were any of the flight attendants gruff or impatient with us, even when a rather large, rather tipsy many pointed at us and yelled "THEY TOOK MY SEAT"*. You kindly handed him his seat belt extender and asked him to find another seat. And you didn't even charge me for a blanket (take that, JetBlue!).


*It was on the honor system, buddy. If you had a business select number, but you chose to down another glass of wine rather than board with the business select folks, you missed your chance. The honor system was for boarding order only, not for seat saving. This is not the 4th grade, and I didn't hear anyone chanting "same seats, same places, same people, same faces" like we used to do in elementary school. So I hope you enjoyed your flight at the "back of the bus" as you like to call it. We certainly enjoyed ours at the front!

New specs

I got glasses for the first time in 4th grade.

Due to the benevolence of my parents, I quickly upgraded to contacts in 6th grade and have been wearing them ever since.

My "backup" glasses have been the same since about Jr. High, and as you can imagine, were just a little bit out of date. Out of style, most definitely, but also very lacking in actually helping me to see anything, since my prescription has changed about 10 times since then.

That all changed last weekend. Amar and I went to get some new glasses and they just came in yesterday.

If you'd like to see the latest self-portrait, click here.

Really, I'm just trying to phase them in a bit. Since I can actually use them to see things now, I might start wearing them out in public every now and then. Brace yourselves, and thanks in advance for your support!

Happy Anniversary

It's been a wonderful 2 years...

Shout-out to the Indians out there

So I was giving Amar a hard time the other day about the seeming absence of any Indian presence for any Olympic sports. I wasn't aware at the time, but the country had yet to win any gold medals in any individual sport. Ever.

My argument:
There are over 1 billion people in the entire country. Out of that huge number of potential athletes, there have got to be at least a few people that are outstanding in various sporting events.

Anyhow, it seemed like such a loss to me that India wasn't well represented athletically....until recently.

Abhinav Bindra just won India's first individual gold. Sure, it was in men's 10m air rifle, but a gold medal is a gold medal.

So congrats, India. I know the resident Indian in my house was mighty proud!

Bah humbug

I'm really enjoying this picture

Thanks, Taylor!

Following in their footsteps...

I, too, took the Jane Austen quiz:

Take the Quiz here!

You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of ridiculousness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed.

More pics of the bathroom remodel

Sorry that there's been an absence of updates around here. This past weekend was spend mostly with my dad, a circular saw, and lots of wood. But here is the progress that we were able to make:

Shots of the various stages of demolition:





Goodbye to the scary medicine cabinet*.



And here is the tile partially done (it had not been grouted yet...)



And here are some shots of the various stages of installing the wainscoting/bead board...we spent about 8 hours on it on Saturday, and then another 2 on Sunday. Now it just needs paint:



Notice our fancy brace...yep, it's the shower curtain rod. Inventive!



*About medicine cabinets:
I don't like them. In fact, they creep me out quite significantly. Maybe it's because of the various homes I've lived in that have previously been occupied by other people, most have had a medicine cabinet that, upon opening, has been quite scary. You never know what you'll find in there. And most of the time, it ain't pretty. It's hard to clean, and while yes, it does add some storage space, that does not outweigh the creepiness factor in my book. Also, if you don't have one, no one can peek in on it (though, since we do have a significant storage closet in that bathroom, I figure that if people want to spy on our guest bathroom accouterments, they can just open the closet door).

That being said, we're in the home stretch of this project. Painting and decorating is all that is left to be done. And if you're in the neighborhood and find yourself in dire need of a cute guest bathroom, give us a week and we should be able to help you out with that :)

Out with the old, in with the new

We're finally making some much needed changes to our guest bathroom. For those of you who have been to the house, you'll recall with fondness the duct tape that was securing a hole in the corner of the tub surround.

Well, as stylish as that was, we decided it was time for a change. We already fixed the floor, toilet and sink, but the tub surround needed a major overhaul. So here's a timeline, in pictures:

When we first bought the house:





Once the new floor and fixtures were in:



And I'll post an in-progress picture later today or tomorrow, as I can hear the guys ripping into the old tile as I type this...scary.

Why you should be paying attention:

Even if you're not a big saver or a big earner, you should be paying attention to what the candidates are saying about their tax policies.

Particularly ridiculous, I give you an article about Obama's proposed "solution": Investment Gains Taxes Increase - The Worst Tax Policy Ever?

Please read this. It will take you less than 5 minutes.

Some of you may disagree with the author, and that's fine. I happen to be among the group of people who are not fans of Obama's plan. But that's just me.

O'Hare: Thou art a cruel beast

It's not you, it's me. Or at least that's what I used to think. But no, I was mistaken. The facts, you foul, relentless, vindictive airport, indicate that you are indeed the heartless creature that many warned against:

• Exhibit A
Our first date was when I took a connecting flight through your abominable gates on the way back from India. By the time Amar and I had made it through customs at 6:30AM after a 13 hour flight, you had canceled our flight and were laughing maniacally about it. We sat there for 5 hours in your uncomfortable chairs, with your harsh fluorescent lighting beating down on us, highlighting every sleepless, puffy eye in the worst possible way, waiting for you to get us home.

It was also on that same trip that you wrenched from my hands a longtime companion of mine: a warm, cozy, comforting sweater. Down you sucked it into your bowels, never to be seen again. Alas, fair sweater, I cared for you deeply.


• Exhibit B
A quick weekend trip to Chicago to visit Amar while he was away for two weeks ended on the sourest of notes. This time you conspired with your partner in crime, the Blue CTA line, to ensure that I burned at least 2000 calories sprinting through your linoleum maze, carrying luggage and a crazed look as I searched in vain for the shortest security line, with 3 minutes to spare. And again, your cackle echoed through the hallways as I raced to my gate, the flight attendants paging me over your sound system.


• Exhibit C
Just weeks after the unfortunate morning aforementioned, I was subjected once more to your vengeful madness on my way to Poland. Because you would not give us clearance to land, we sat on an Austin tarmac for 2 hours, watching the nearby cows graze. Once you'd had your fill, feasting on my precious layover time, you allowed us to become airborne, knowing full well that I would once again have to sprint, luggage in-hand, to my gate whilst wildly waving my boarding pass at the flight attendants in desperate hope that they would allow me on the plane.


• Exhibit D
This past weekend, after quite a relaxing and enjoyable few days spent walking the streets of your dear city, you decided to wreak havoc on the Ramas once more. This time you devoured a precious 8 hours of Amar's time, toying with him as you kept delaying his flight repeatedly through the afternoon, teasing him that there just might be the possibility of his making it to Philadelphia in time for a Monday morning meeting. By this time, you had already canceled my flight back to Austin, and in a method only your cunning could concoct, rebooked me on a flight Monday afternoon, which would have left me homeless for a night.

But no, you weren't finished with us yet. Your wrath had yet to be made whole. You would not be satisfied until you had also disposed of our luggage, which would actually arrive in Philadelphia, sans owner, 3 days later.

You chewed us up and spit us out onto Austin soil at 3AM, and while you may have crushed our spirit of adventure, you did not crush our soul. Much to your chagrin, we got our luggage back.

O'Hare, I say to you this: You vex me greatly.

That toddlin' town...

Yes folks, we will soon be winging our way up North to the great city of Chicago.

No real reason, just a fun weekend trip with some friends. I'm hoping to get some more fun pictures, as I was apparently fascinated last time by the bean:





For other Chicago pics from our last trip, click here: Chicago

A dinner to remember

Last night we had dinner with a couple of our friends. And honestly, it was one of the most bizarre evenings in recent memory.

Let me set the scene for you:

We arrived at the lakeside restaurant around 7:30 and followed the hostess through a maze of umbrellas, tables, and decks to find our table. Once we got to our table, she realized that someone else had been seated there. She then instructed us to just find our own table. I was a bit puzzled by this, since I had no idea how we were even supposed to get back to the front of the restaurant, much less to a different deck to find a different table.

We finally just started wandering through the levels until we found a suitable table and she seated us.

So we waited.

And waited some more.

We waited for so long that I began to wonder if the hostess had actually told anyone that we had been seated at a new table.

After quite a while, our waitress appeared and took our drink order. And the dinner experience went into full swing.

More minutes passed....and finally our drinks arrived. So we put in our order:

• I ordered chicken enchiladas with no onions.
• Amar ordered fish tacos.
• Our friends decided to split bean and cheese nachos and 2 beef tacos.
• And we got some queso to split for the table.

There were some other folks sitting nearby, and occasionally I would see that they were listening to us passionately debate the NBA playoffs and past NBA greats....

The chips arrived, sans queso.

We snacked on the chips for a bit, and finally the queso arrived, as did our water. And an iced tea here and there. 3 of us were already midway through our margaritas at this point, so the water was much anticipated, since it was about 100 degrees outside on the decks.

So at this point, we'd been seated for about 45 minutes. We had put in our order, and had so far only received drinks, chips and queso. And the folks around us seemed more interested in our conversation than their own.

Moving on....

A bus boy, probably a sophomore in high school, arrived with our food: cheese enchiladas, beef nachos, fish tacos and beef tacos. 50% accurate. I told him that I had ordered chicken, not cheese. And our friends indicated that their nachos were wrong as well.

The bus boy stammered...."well, is ANY of this right?" and stormed off towards the kitchen. Then our waitress came by to check on us, "Is everything ok?" Actually, Mary, no it's not. We told her what had happened, and she and I had about a 5 minute discussion about chicken vs. cheese enchiladas. I assured her it was no big deal, that I was fine with the cheese, and we both agreed to move on, even though my plate had also arrived with a garnish of 1 crinkle fry. Odd, I thought.

About 5 minutes later, another plate of nachos arrived. The exact same plate of nachos that they had brought 5 minutes earlier. The exact wrong nachos.

So Mary came back. She apologized profusely. And then we spilled a glass of tea. Chaos was breaking out at all levels. Once Mary left, the guys started trying my enchiladas and indicated that they were horrible and burned.

Finally, a third plate of nachos came to the table, and they were a lot closer to the actual order, but the beans were wrong. Our friends started eating anyways, since who knew what would come out of the kitchen a fourth time.

Drinks spilled. The sun setting. The nachos finally sort of right. The enchiladas burned. The evening winding down. Waiting for the check.

Still waiting for the check.

Calling out to Mary, and waiting for the check.

Finally, Mary comes out to us. It's now about 2 hours after we initially sat down, and we're ready to leave. She again apologizes for all of the various missteps from the evening, and tells us about her 2 months of employment at this restaurant and how she had been covering for someone who was supposed to have our table, and on and on.

She hands us the check and says, "By the way, the couple that was sitting next to you wanted to pay for your nachos, since they saw the whole thing and really thought that you all handled it so gracefully."

Our mouths dropped open. Yes, we were all expecting to get at least something free, but the fact that our fellow diner would want to cover it just really surprised us.

We divvied up the bill and sent her off. And we waited. And waited some more.

By now, it was quite late, and most of the umbrellas had been taken down, since the wind was picking up. There was 1 giant umbrella that apparently had been left standing, right behind our friends. I was in mid-sentence, telling some story, when in slow motion, the umbrella started to give in to the wind....and all I could do was yell "WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT!" and throw my arms in the air, flailing about trying to stop the tragedy unfolding before our eyes.

But no. It fell. It crashed down just behind my friend's head, barely missing him. At this point, we were just about the last customers there, and the check still wasn't back. The bus boys rushed over to try to fix the umbrella, and Amar jumped up to help. And then he remembered that he recently broke a clavicle, thus rendering his assistance a little diminished.

Whew. We made it out alive.

• 2.5 hours later
• 3 orders of nachos
• Wrong enchiladas
• Spilled tea
• Wrong table
• Kamikaze umbrella
• Burned enchiladas
• Random crinkle fry
• Sllllooooowwwww service
• And lots of laughs

When puppies go bad

We've been trying to leave the girls out in the kitchen while we're at work, rather than in their kennels all day. So I came home for lunch today to let them out.

Apparently they got a little bored today and started doing some remodeling in the kitchen:



That would be a wall, with about 6 inches gouged out of it by puppy teeth. Needless to say, I had a few words with them...

Here's a closeup:

Defeat

You know, there's nothing like starting out a Friday by having a PowerPoint deck that you've been working on all week completely dismantled by your Director and Vice President.




Have a great weekend!

Image courtesy of the wonderful folks at Despair.com

Young@Heart

We went to go see this movie last night. It's been on my list since for awhile now, and I was eager to find out more about this group of senior rockers.

They did not disappoint.

If you haven't heard of it, this movie is a documentary about a chorus of elderly singers that take on songs ranging from Sonic Youth to James Brown to Coldplay to the Rolling Stones. And they do it in style. The group is all 70 and over, with the oldest almost in their 90s.

Through this movie, you follow the group as they prepare some new music for an upcoming show. You get to know several of the members in detail, and they are just adorable. I won't lie to you, there are some very poignant moments, and I did cry a bit. You just can't help it. You see in the folks a love of life. They openly discuss their last days, but they don't shrink from the idea of their own mortality. They go on with the show, and it's just touching.

Anyhow, I liked it. And if you have 2 hours to spare, you should check it out. Good stuff.

More info:
IMDB Movie info
Offical Young@Heart Group site

Memorial Day Weekend: A Recap

We had no agenda. We had very few plans. It was great.

On one hand, we did a lot. On the other hand, we kept it low key. For some reason, the weight of a 3 day weekend hung heavy on me. It's like I had to fill it. I had an obligation to use this bonus time for something meaningful. But for us, the meaning came in the downtime.

The TV remained off for most of the time, which is a huge accomplishment for me. So instead, this is what we did:

• Dog Sitting
For a stinking huge black lab. Sweet lab, but huge lab. Wallace, I love you, but you made me thankful that my dogs have mouths that are about 1/4 the size of yours and do not slobber. Hang in there, big guy.




• Movies
We found ourselves among the throng of Americans who gave money to Harrison Ford. Entertaining? A bit. And I will admit that you just have to dig Indiana Jones on some level. But the aliens? Not so much...




• Books
As some of you long-time readers may know, I'm trying to read more. Not because I'm attempting to overcome decades of illiteracy, but because I'm trying to overcome decades of a TV addiction. Anyhow, I picked up a Jodi Picoult book from our shelves, Plain Truth, and devoured it in three days time. I find that once I get into a book I enjoy, I have a hard time putting it down. I almost become hostile when interrupted, which I know, I need to work on...but it's got to be better than wasting hours watching E! or TLC.




• Hung Out
We had some folks over last night for what was intended to be a game night, but instead was just a hang out and talk night. I baked cookies, made hummus and we straightened up the house. All in all, just fun to catch up with some friends we hadn't seen in a bit.


• Sunday School
We have been teaching 1st grade Sunday school at church lately. This past Sunday, we had some good one-liners from the kids, the most notable coming during the teaching time when we were discussing the disciples.

Teacher: "Kids, do you know who Peter is?"

Kid: Excitedly raising his hand, "Yeah! He's a Cub Scout!"

Teacher: "Oh, ok. Yes, and he was also a disciple."

I love the way their minds work sometimes...

Hope you enjoyed the weekend as well!

My suggestion for weary travelers

Last night at a dinner group with friends, the topic of the recent airline fee war came up. Now, I had heard about this on my way into work that day and was quite appalled, specifically at American, for what I consider the straw that is breaking this camel's back.

A $15 fee for the first checked bag.

The Wall Street Journal is also covering this story in their "Middle Seat" blog, which is worth a read to get a bigger picture of the problem at hand. What irritates me the most is that they are not allowing the market to decide. Instead, they are restricting fee information to lure you into a reasonably priced fare, only to double the price of your trip at the gate.

Anyhow, at dinner last night, the thought occurred to me: I know how we can fight back!

The answer? Become Joey from Friends.

Here's what I'm talking about, for you Friends fans out there:



"Could I BE wearing any more clothes?"

Rather than get nickeled and dimed on checking what most would consider a normal amount of luggage, just wear it all. Heck, I'm always cold on airplanes anyways, so this would actually kill two birds with one stone. And you could always manage your layers if you are on a long trip, right?

Airlines: this is what you are pushing us to.

You've got to be freaking kidding me, Japan!

I just read that you, Japan, recently appointed Hello Kitty as your tourist ambassador.

Wow. I hope you're happy with yourself.

God of creation

Sometimes I forget how evident God's power is in creation.

For instance, I love trees, but overlook how intricately complex each single leaf is, and the fact that they were designed for a specific purpose...and how much care and thought went into creating each one.

And on a larger scale, sometimes God's power is frightening. At the same time that I'm fascinated by cumulonimbus clouds, they can pack a mean punch which starts my heart racing with each crack of lightning.

A volcano erupted last week, down in Chile. Here's what it looked like from space:



In reading various reports about it, scientists think that it last erupted about 9,000 years ago. I didn't know this, but apparently volcanic eruptions can spark thunderstorms with some intense lightning. It looked like this in Chile:



Can you even fathom the power and force trapped in this cloud of ash? All of that energy, created by nothing but natural forces. No generators. No plugs. No scientists. Just the pure, raw display of nature. God's creation.



Beautiful and terrible all at once.