Complete Randomosity

Crazy

2006-01-19T18:22:00.000-06:00

So, Al-jazeera aired a tape from Osama bin Laden in which he threatens the U.S., yet again, while offering a truce. (Now is that irony or what?) This BBC article has a transcript of the tape. It doesn't even make sense! It could partially be a poor translation, but even if it is, the reasoning/logic used is completely horrendous. I just don't understand how anyone could listen to such illogical insane crap and think it's something worth following. Anyway, I just read this and it ticked me off, so I thought I'd share!
Also, is it just me, or does Osama look younger in this picture? (It's from this newest tape) Apparently, the CIA authenticated the voice though.

Must-See Concerts

2006-01-17T23:59:00.000-06:00

I had a conversation recently with someone about the concerts we each have to see before we die, and it's made me think about it a lot, so I thought I'd share my list with you! Although there are many other concerts I would gladly go to, these are the ones that I will be seriously upset if I or they die without me seeing them. (Although, I guess if I die then I won't really care - I guess it's more appropriate to say before they die!) Here's the list, as of right now - but this is by no means the final list, it will probably change some by tomorrow! With no further rambling, here is the list, in no particular order:

*Jimmy Buffett-big surprise!
*Jamie Cullum-preferably in a club, or some other smallish setting
*Counting Crows-very recent addition, I'm becoming a big fan
*Jerry Jeff Walker-this one is very specific! I want to see him in Belize on the beach at sunset, performing the songs from his Cowboy Boots & Bathin' Suits album
*Blues Traveler-anytime, anywhere!
*Train-I'm still mad about not getting to see them in 2001!
*Better Than Ezra-I wish I could go back in time and see them at the show their live CD was recorded at - it's better than amazing!
*Jack Johnson-just listened to him for the first time recently and I'm addicted
*Brad Paisley-I love the slower songs from his newest album - check out Rainin' You
*Kenny Chesney-I just have to see Old Blue Chair and French Kissing Life live
*Joss Stone-once again, anytime anywhere!

Well, I hope that this has at least been a somewhat amusing diversion from your day! I'd love to hear who is on everyone else's list!

My favorite pictures

2006-01-13T19:31:00.000-06:00

So, I was just going through pictures on the computer, and I just felt like posting a few of my favorite pictures that I have ever taken. I keep getting more and more interested in photography and I really want to take some classes and learn more about it. But for now, here are a few of my favorite shots! (Blogger will apparently only let you post 5 pictures at a time, so I'll save my other favorites for later!)

Hilarious SNL Clip

2006-01-08T14:38:00.000-06:00

Ok, so SNL basically sucks lately, but humor did make a cameo on an episode recently. It is a rap video about going to see Chronicles of Narnia called "Lazy Sunday." Everyone should watch it because it is hilarious!

Pictures for all!

2006-01-07T13:37:00.000-06:00

I just made an online photo album on Shutterfly. Please visit and feel free to add pictures of your own also! (There aren't very many on it yet, but there are more to come!)

Random Fun

2006-01-05T19:02:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I totally stole this from someone else's blog, but I thought it was fun - so deal with it! I am also doing it on my sister's computer with her music, but we generally have similar taste in music, so it shouldn't be too wrong. It will be interesting at the very least!

Open iTunes/iPod or Windows Media Player to answer the following.
Go to your library. Answer, no matter how embarrasing it is.

Windows Media Player
How many songs: 1367

SORT BY TITLE
first song: 100 Years - Five for Fighting
last song: Your Fault: Zwitter - Rammstine

SORT BY TIME
shortest song: Bonus Track - Brad Paisley
longest song: You Don't Love Me Anymore - Weird Al Yankovic

SORT BY ALBUM
first song: Arabian Nights - Aladdin Soundtrack
last song: Old Blue Chair - Kenny Chesney, When The Sun Goes Down

Top Ten Most Played Songs:
1. Holiday in Spain-Counting Crows
2. I Don't Want To Miss A Thing-Aerosmith
3. Ain't No Sunshine-Al Green
4. Anna Begins-Counting Crows
5. Angel-Sarah Maclachlan
6. Last Mango in Paris-Jimmy Buffett
7. Extravagent-Casting Crowns
8. Friend of the Devil-Counting Crows
9. Running Through My Mind-Big Dismal
10. These Are the Days-Jamie Cullum

First song that comes up on Shuffle: Dime Mi Amor - Los Lonely Boys

Search ...."sex" ....... 0
"death" ...... 1
"love" ....... 33
"you" ..... 179

Well, I hope that was interesting! Please feel free to steal it from me now and post on your blog.

Attention guys!!!

2005-12-02T22:06:00.000-06:00

So, I just had a very good conversation with my roommate (soon to be former roommate....*tear*). We were discussing that a guy would be our hero right now if he showed up with chocolate and we didn't have to leave the apartment to get it. We also discussed that even though we want chocolate tonight, it is no guarantee that we would want the same thing tomorrow night. We could want Laffy Taffy or caramel.
So, the basic conclusion from this discussion was that women are not really that hard to understand, guys. Here is a rule for all women that should answer all of your questions about the fairer sex:

We want what we want when we want it.

That's it. It applies to all women all over the world at any time. It may sound selfish, but it's just the truth!

I hope that this helps your further romantic dealings!

Now, we're off to 7-11 to get chocolate! (Twix for me, and Teresa won't know until she sees it!)

Good Questions

2005-11-18T07:38:00.000-06:00

I just read this article, and rather than me try to summarize it or anything, I am just going to post it here. Sorry about the length, but I just think everyone should read this. Enjoy!

Five questions non-Muslims would like answered

By Dennis Prager, Dennis Prager's nationally syndicated radio show is heard daily in Los Angeles on KRLA-AM (870). He may be contacted through his website: www.dennisprager.com.

THE RIOTING IN France by primarily Muslim youths and the hotel bombings in Jordan are the latest events to prompt sincere questions that law-abiding Muslims need to answer for Islam's sake, as well as for the sake of worried non-Muslims. Here are five of them:
(1) Why are you so quiet? Since the first Israelis were targeted for death by Muslim terrorists blowing themselves up in the name of your religion and Palestinian nationalism, I have been praying to see Muslim demonstrations against these atrocities. Last week's protests in Jordan against the bombings, while welcome, were a rarity. What I have seen more often is mainstream Muslim spokesmen implicitly defending this terror on the grounds that Israel occupies Palestinian lands. We see torture and murder in the name of Allah, but we see no anti-torture and anti-murder demonstrations in the name of Allah.There are a billion Muslims in the world. How is it possible that essentially none have demonstrated against evils perpetrated by Muslims in the name of Islam? This is true even of the millions of Muslims living in free Western societies. What are non-Muslims of goodwill supposed to conclude? When the Israeli government did not stop a Lebanese massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982, great crowds of Israeli Jews gathered to protest their country's moral failing. Why has there been no comparable public demonstration by Palestinians or other Muslims to morally condemn Palestinian or other Muslim-committed terror?
(2) Why are none of the Palestinian terrorists Christian?If Israeli occupation is the reason for Muslim terror in Israel, why do no Christian Palestinians engage in terror? They are just as nationalistic and just as occupied as Muslim Palestinians.
(3) Why is only one of the 47 Muslim-majority countries a free country?According to Freedom House, a Washington-based group that promotes democracy, of the world's 47 Muslim countries, only Mali is free. Sixty percent are not free, and 38% are partly free. Muslim-majority states account for a majority of the world's "not free" states. And of the 10 "worst of the worst," seven are Islamic states. Why is this?
(4) Why are so many atrocities committed and threatened by Muslims in the name of Islam?Young girls in Indonesia were recently beheaded by Muslim murderers. Last year, Muslims — in the name of Islam — murdered hundreds of schoolchildren in Russia. While reciting Muslim prayers, Islamic terrorists take foreigners working to make Iraq free and slaughter them. Muslim daughters are murdered by their own families in the thousands in "honor killings." And the Muslim government in Iran has publicly called for the extermination of Israel.
(5) Why do countries governed by religious Muslims persecute other religions?No church or synagogue is allowed in Saudi Arabia. The Taliban destroyed some of the greatest sculptures of the ancient world because they were Buddhist. Sudan's Islamic regime has murdered great numbers of Christians. Instead of confronting these problems, too many of you deny them. Muslims call my radio show to tell me that even speaking of Muslim or Islamic terrorists is wrong. After all, they argue, Timothy McVeigh is never labeled a "Christian terrorist." As if McVeigh committed his terror as a churchgoing Christian and in the name of Christ, and as if there were Christian-based terror groups around the world.As a member of the media for nearly 25 years, I have a long record of reaching out to Muslims. Muslim leaders have invited me to speak at major mosques. In addition, I have studied Arabic and Islam, have visited most Arab and many other Muslim countries and conducted interfaith dialogues with Muslims in the United Arab Emirates as well as in the U.S. Politically, I have supported creation of a Palestinian state and supported (mistakenly, I now believe) the Oslo accords.Hundreds of millions of non-Muslims want honest answers to these questions, even if the only answer you offer is, "Yes, we have real problems in Islam." Such an acknowledgment is infinitely better — for you and for the world — than dismissing us as anti-Muslim.We await your response.

Good News

2005-10-26T17:47:00.000-05:00

So, I have good news!
I just received a job offer! I interviewed for the position this morning, and I got a phone call a little while ago offering me the job. It is an AmeriCorps position with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. I will be an Events and Outreach Member in the Marketing and Developments Department. I will work with the Youth Council, the newsletter and event planning. I start on Monday morning and I am super excited!
Just wanted to share the good news with everyone!

Random Pictures I Like And Think The World Should See

2005-10-24T16:38:00.000-05:00

So, I think these pictures are absolutely hilarious...those of you who are in them may disagree, but it's my blog!!! *insert evil plan laugh here*

Random interesting thing I copied from someone else

2005-10-24T16:28:00.000-05:00

Can you raed tihs? Olny srmat poelpe can.I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Yeah, so, I know that that was probably a complete waste of your time...but, hey it's interesting!

Let Me Tell You What I Really Think

2005-09-28T22:38:00.000-05:00

Okay, so this is an issue that has been bothering me for some time now, so I thought I'd share my irritation with everyone else!

As all of you who pay bills (which I would imagine is all of you) know, basic utilities have become more and more expensive lately. Our electricity rates recently went up and are reportedly going to be raised once again in the near future. The price of natural gas has also risen substantially. I understand economics, inflation, etc., so I know that rates do have to go up periodically for these businesses to remain profitable. That is all well and good, but I really detest paying higher prices as I see these same companies frivolously squandering money left and right.
According to www.admedia.org, in "1999, a 30-second commercial on U.S. network television cost $190,000 in prime time." Mind you, that was six years ago, so you can imagine how much it costs now.
Lately, I have seen several prime time commercials for our own lovely local utility providers. Several of these ads have had the audacity to say that they feel our pain about the rising rates, but they are striving to provide us with the best service possible. How kind. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe we have no choice about what utility providers we can use (in regard to electricity and natural gas-OG&E and ONG). Why in the world do they need to spend money on advertising? The point of advertising is to draw in new customers, but that's unnecessary in their industries! Maybe our utility rates could be a little lower if they were not spending all of that money on pointless advertising that will bring them absolutely no new business!
I know that this is an odd little soapbox for me to be preaching from, but this has really been bothering me lately. I guess it just bothers me when companies, public officials, etc. try to paint themselves as empathetic to the public's plight as they uselessly squander money.
That's what I really think.

The Great Google Maps Debate

2005-09-19T20:50:00.000-05:00

So, a somewhat meaningless debate over the "revolutionary" quality of Google Maps recently took place in our apartment, but no concrete conclusion about the worthiness of the service was reached. I think I have found the evidence to rule in favor of those who see it as an amazing new tool.
I now enter into evidence Nicole's Exhibit Number 17 (don't ask why 17- no good reason):
A man in Italy recently discovered the remains of a Roman villa by studying the Google Maps satellite photos of the area near his home.

How cool is that?! That's an application of Google Maps that I imagine the creators never thought of!

On a completely different note...I really like the song Breathe (2 am) by Anna Nalick.

Have a loverly day!

So I'm Not Very Good At This

2005-09-17T00:18:00.000-05:00

Once again I have fallen behind on my posting. My deepest apologies, but life's just been weird lately. I really don't have anything to post about right now, but someone (I'm not naming any names -- you know who you are) has been complaining.
Once I have something worthwhile to post I will do so!

Screwed Up Justice

2005-08-30T00:36:00.000-05:00

Mitchell Johnson, one of the shooters in the Jonesboro, Arkansas, school shooting in 1998 was released from prison last week after serving seven years in the juvenile system. This just seems wrong to me. These kids killed 5 people, and wounded 15 more, in a cold blooded, deliberately planned attack on their own teachers and classmates. Because he was 13 and could only be tried as a juvenile, the state had to release him on his 21st birthday, which was last week.
Now, I understand the reasoning behind the juvenile system and why many of those laws exist, but this is crazy. Not only did he only serve seven years for the murder of multiple people, he also has no criminal record now. I read one comment from an advocate for the juvenile system who says that since the system is aimed at rehabilitation, it is better to release him now than 10 or 15 years down the road when he could not reacclimate himself to society. That argument is all well and good, but who's to say that this kid is rehabilitated? That had absolutely no bearing on his release, he was released because the state required that he be released by a certain date, regardless of what kind of rehabilitative progress, if any, he has made. Now, for all anyone knows this kid could have the exact same tendencies (or compulsions, or sickness, or whatever terminology you wish to use) that drove him to murder seven years ago, but he is a seemingly innocent member of society with no criminal record. Ironically this means that the juvenile system has allowed him to serve an extremely short sentence for a very serious crime, released him back into society with no guarantees of rehabilitation, and given him absolutely no criminal record, enabling him to do whatever he pleases, including buying a gun. How does this serve the best interest of anyone, him or the rest of society?

Promised Randomosity

2005-08-20T00:11:00.000-05:00

Okay, I've been surfing around on the internet and here's some thoughts:

This article is reporting that hopeful candidates for the 2008 presidential election have already started some fundraising and campaigning. Does this seem a little insane to anyone else? I mean the last election was only 10 months ago! Granted, some of us have been speculating about the possible matchups for the 2008 election ever since the last election ended, but that is very different than people actually campaigning more than 3 years before the election! This is kind of like retail stores putting holiday items out earlier and earlier every year-all it does is increase people's stress levels. Sorry, but I'm getting more and more irritated the more I think about all of this! Moving on.....

Well, for those of you who know who Hunter S. Thompson was, this is interesting. (I guess that even if you don't know who he was, it could be interesting.) There is going to be a party in Colorado this weekend in his honor at which his ashes will be blasted out of a cannon! It seems very fitting for him, and quite a way to celebrate - certainly different than the usual scattering of ashes!

National Geograhpic's September issue will be quite unusual this year. It is a single topic issue over Africa, but even more unusual is the fact that the cover will not feature any illustration or photograph. This is only the second time the magazine has done this, with the first being its one hundreth anniversary issue in 1988. Interesting....

Okay, well I guess that this is enough for tonight, so I hope you enjoyed! Ciao!

Plans Change

2005-08-19T23:57:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I know that most of you who read this already know this (if anyone is still reading since I haven't posted in so long), but I am not doing Mission Year anymore. It was a very difficult decision to make, but I felt that it was not where God wanted me. I decided this weeks ago, but I have just recently come to peace with the decision, which I guess is why I have not posted since the last post. I am still not sure what I am doing, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens I guess! I am looking for jobs now, so hopefully something good will happen there before too long.

I promise that I will post more often now (although promise may be too strong of a word...I guess I should say that I'll try very hard to post more often!). Okay, well I am going to try to direct this blog back to its intended topic (complete randomosity) in the future, with some sidesteps into serious topics. We'll see how that goes! Adios!

Okay, okay....I'm finally posting!

2005-07-21T23:43:00.000-05:00

Alright, after hearing much grumbling about my blogging sabbatical, I am finally making a new post! I was maintaining that I was not posting because I had nothing newsworthy to post about, thus you would just be reading more of my stupid rants about pointless things like tv advertisements. However....I now have something newsworthy to post! Since I believe that my total audience is three people, two thirds of you already know about this, but you'll just have hear about it again! I applied for a program called Mission Year last week, and I found out today that I was accepted! It is a year long urban ministry program in the inner city in which you live in an apartment with your small group and work for non-profit organizations in the neighborhoods and get involved with a church in the neighborhood. If you want to know more about the program you can either visit http://www.missionyear.org or ask me! I have not officially accepted yet because I need to discuss it with my parents (which if you remember it, is a prayer request, although I don't think it will be too much of a problem). Unless something big comes up there, I intend to accept the offer. It takes place in four different cities: Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Oakland. I will not know which city I will be in until I officially accept, but I told them my top two choices would be Chicago and Philadelphia.

On a side note.....although I was not posting because I didn't want to subject you to my rambling opinions of commercials, I just saw one I have to comment on. It is the Levi's one in which the guy is carefully aging a new pair of jeans to look like his favorites, and then he gives them to his girlfriend as he leaves town. I think that it is a great ad! I don't have anything in particular to say other than the fact that it is a solid 16 in my book! ;)

Back to the Mission Year news...I will have to be in whichever city it ends up being, on September 9. (I know....that's insanely soon!) I will be there until next August, but I will have a two week vacation for Christmas and week for Spring Break. I am not sure yet, but I plan to have my cell phone with me, although I am not sure how much I will be able to talk. I will not have internet access in the apartment, but I will hopefully be able to check my email at a library at least once a week. I think I also have to send out a monthly newsletter for support raising. I will miss you all very much!!!

My Little Secret

2005-07-05T20:56:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I have a little secret that no one knows about (and yes I do realize that if you all knew about it, it wouldn't be a secret!)...every once in a while I watch an episode of Sex and the City (I can hear you already Teresa!). Most of the time it's not worthwhile, but occasionally there's something good. I caught part of an episode tonight and it focused on an issue that has been bothering me lately. In the episode Carrie struggles with the issue of being single and doing things alone, especially eating in a restaurant. I am also reading a book called Tales of a Female Nomad right now in which this was an issue. The main character in the book struggles with eating alone when she goes on vacation alone in Mexico. She actually runs around to hotels to meet people she could eat with before she will go to dinner! I understand that eating alone can be uncomfortable, but why is this such a big issue? I mean, do people really judge people who are eating alone? (If they're drinking alone, that's a whole other issue!) How shallow do you have to be to look down on someone who is in a restaurant alone? Why is that something to be looked down upon? Sorry, I know this is a really random, but it's been bothering me lately! Anyway, my basic message is that if you're single you shouldn't worry about eating alone, and if you're not single, there's no freaking reason to look down on someone who is eating alone!

Okay, so that's the random rant for today....more soon to come!

My Dorky Roommate

2005-07-01T12:08:00.000-05:00

You know you live with a law student when...they start correcting mistakes of the law lingo on Dharma and Greg! Now she's muttering about how the show needs to more and better research before they blatantly mistate legal things. I don't personally care....but she might have a good point....it's just funny to watch her sputter about it!!

I went to the BSU's summer dialogue tonight at the Kliewers and it was very good. We discussed the definition of certain words that we use so often without thinking about their meanings. Honor, worship, praise and glory were the words we discussed. My group focused on the word glory and it was quite interesting. The main definition in all of the different dictionaries said that glory is an opinion, estimate of judgment and honor results from this good opinion. I tend to think of glory more as the splendor or brightness of God, but it helped me realize that glory is something that we as humans fall short of this, but God always has. Well, I had more to say on this subject but I got sidetracked and lost my train of thought so I'll leave it at that for now. Ciao!

Great Commercial

2005-06-30T11:40:00.000-05:00

Unlike the Coke and McDonald's commercials, the current HP Photosmart commercial is great. It's the one with the song "Out of the Picture" (I don't really know that that is the name of the song, but that phrase is what I hear most!). I'm not sure why I love it so much, but that ad rocks!

Sidenote: there is an old episode of SNL on with the White Stripes as the musical guest, and I have to say-they are quite freaky! Their music is pretty good though. John McCain is the host...seems like an odd pairing...the White Stripes and John McCain...who knows, he might be a big fan!

Amazing story

2005-06-30T11:19:00.000-05:00

I just ran across this news story about the largest freshwater fish ever caught. You will not believe how big this monster is! Look at the picture also. Here's the link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/photos/sns-ap-thailand-big-fish,1,4999550.story?coll=chi-homepagenews-utl

Incidentally, why do Coke and McDonald's feel that their products will change the world? Neither of their products have ever changed my life! Anyway that's my rant for right now!

Forgotten memories

2005-06-23T23:59:00.000-05:00

We just got a new book at work called 9:02 that is about the Oklahoma City bombing. It is full of pictures, stories and biographies of all the victims. I looked through it and it was really sad, but it was kind of odd because the memory of the event had faded so far from my memory. I knew in my mind that it was awful and I remember it being awful, but seeing all the pictures again made it seem much more real. It's weird how as time elapses, major events like that construct themselves in our mind as a facade of what they really were. Seeing something like this book or the memorial reminds us that the atrocity was real, not just a vague piece of history. So, that's just what's been on my mind today.

Jazz in June

2005-06-23T23:55:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I know that there are only like two people who read this (actually, maybe just one person, oh well, whatever)----anyway, for anyone else who's reading we're getting a group of people together to go to Jazz in June this Saturday night, so everyone is invited to go with! 6ish at our apartment!

Big Sleeves

2005-06-19T00:26:00.000-05:00

I am in Fairview this weekend for Father's Day. I have been trying to get my parents to watch Napoleon Dynamite for quite a while now, so my sister and I borrowed it from someone and watched it with my dad tonight. It was the first time that my sister had seen the whole thing also. I don't think that they fully appreciated the movie, but I didn't either the first time I saw it. It took me a few days to decide whether or not I even liked it. I told my dad that, but I don't think he really believed me. Oh well, his loss! There is an interesting tradition in my family of not going to church on Father's Day, which I know probably sounds rather odd. We don't go because the sermons on Father's Day always seem to end up putting father's down and telling them how they need to do a better job, blah blah blah. Mother's Day sermons always extol Mom's virtues and hard work and tell children and husbands how they need to appreciate Mom more, etc. I have no problem with this, but why do pastors feel that the same should not be true for Father's Day? I know not every father is great, but mine is, and why should he have to listen to a sermon about everything dads do wrong, on a day that is supposed to be honoring him? This just seems to be an odd thing that happens, and I'm not sure why, but it is kind of annoying. Anyway, hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Useless Day

2005-06-16T18:49:00.000-05:00

Today was my day off of work, and I had grand intentions of getting a lot done, but unfortunately none of that has happened yet. My great accomplishment has been getting two loads of laundry done. Actually, I can't even say that because one load hasn't finished drying yet. It's amazing how quickly a day can fly by without anything worthwhile happening. However, I am loving not having school or homework! I've read three books that I really wanted to read, rather than just what was assigned for class. It's great! I really want to learn how to rock climb. Okay, so that was the random thought for this post! I don't have anything else to say now, so I'm going to go! Ciao!

Jumping on the Bandwagon

2005-06-14T23:59:00.000-05:00

Well, everybody else seems to be doing the blog thing so I thought I'd join in! I don't really think there will be much of a point to this blog, so I hope your expectations aren't too high. I would hate to disappoint you! Wow, there is an old episode of SNL on with Kelsey Grammer hosting, and he has on a really horrible wig! That leads me to another thought.......If you are a man losing your hair, please just be honest and don't go for a toupee or a horrible combover! Sorry, this is one of thse horribly annoying things in life that I spend way too much time and energy philosophizing about. Oh wow, he just took the wig off and it's not much better! His remaining hair is so long that he looks like he has a really screwed up mullet! (Not that all mullets aren't really screwed up) Okay, so as the title says this is complete randomosity....enjoy!!