Random Act of Kindness

I love my church. I love that we have air conditioning. I love singing in my church's worship band. But I don't love that while we're on stage, we're under the fry lights, out of range of the AC, and I end up sweating like crazy.

Today's sermon was on Kindness (already done Love, Joy Peace, Patience, the rest are yet to come). Good sermon, talked about the difference between Being Nice and Showing Kindness. At one point Pastor was talking about the idea of random acts of kindness that was made popular a number of years ago.

As I sat in the back pew, listening to her speak, someone tapped my shoulder. It was a guy (who'd been sitting in the comfy chairs in the way back) with a wet paper towel for me to put on my neck. He'd seen me fanning myself, then twisting up my hair to get it off my neck, and decided to do a li'l random act of kindness right then and there.

Nice. Kind. :)

We are FamiLY! I got all my sistas with ME! Hey-hey-HEY!

So my family totally rocks! I know this because... well, they just do! I got a couple of cool emails today. One was from my cousin-in-law, who sent me photos from last year's big 50th family reunion. Very cool, especially since I'd been waiting a year for it. I really love that ALL of my siblings and I, and most of our kids, were able to go. We had at least 90 people there.

And the other cool email just came from my sister, who's down visiting Dad right now, and sent us an update. You never know who/what he'll remember, or what he'll fixate on in conversation. Sometimes he can be really funny, like when he kept exclaiming "Wowiekins!" at points during their visit.

Yep, definitely a cool family - we're talking wowiekins cool! :D

Spam, spam, spam, spam, SPAM!!

SPAM - who in their right mind really wants me to know:

• nazi Toddlers ruined my birthday
• Michael Jackson is a hermaphrodite. Watch the video.
• Good news!
• How to have more sperm
• Magst Du etwa nicht mehr?
• Horse kicks Harrison Ford in stomach
• What is your credit score?
• A person is searching for you. Discover who.
• Best way to cure yourself

...and what were they thinking when they came up with their domain names?

• @takeyourbonus.com
• @mx1.affirmationsbuildconfidencedaily.com
• @funnewday.com (subject line referred to learning medical billing, of all things!)

and 'mill' domains seem popular for some reason:

• @thebigmill.com
• @oldmillband.com
• @foundrymill.com
• @millvalleybaby.com

Is it just me? I just don't get it........

Birthday plans

So I've sent out this email invitation to some friends, and am waiting (im)patiently to see if we can make a party of it for this Sunday. I'm so excited!!

TO MY BESTEST BUDDIES,

I am beginning to feel my age (beginning, hah!), and want to start doing things I've always thought were cool, but never got around to it, didn't think I could spare the money, whatever.

So my birthday is coming up next week, and I think it would be fun to celebrate by doing one of those things I always wanted to do - CHICAGO BOAT TOUR!!
(you can tell I'm excited by the double exclamation points!!)

This coming Sunday, July 27, I'm booking tickets four an architectural cruise with Wendella Boat Tour. Do you want to come along? They have an internet price of $22. (Realizing, of course, that our friendship is PRICELESS!!)

Let me know ASAP, and I'll book enough tickets for all of us.

Hoping you'll be able to come,
Waiting with baited breath (get it - baited - boats - fish - BAIT!!!!!),
Me



I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope they can all come. I've never done a Chicago boat anything, except for that one time I could wish I could forget when I was young and stupid and got drunk and then had a seizure on a guy's boat, then got back to my apartment really late the next morning, and there was Big you-know-who coming out of my apartment because everyone was worried about me because I wasn't answering my phone and they didn't know where I was, and thought maybe I had a seizure or something (which I had, but...) and so you-know-who came up and we had been separated for over a year by then and it was really weird and uncomfortable because it was kind of evident that I was still a little hung over - not to mention the fact that I had been with another guy - plus the fact that he was feeling a bit put out by coming all the way to the North Side to see if I was all right like some kind of big humanitarian gesture or something, so that experience doesn't really count. Plus I could never make the toilet flush on that boat.

So anyway, it would be nice to get a positive boating experience for my birthday this year!

(By the way, all these photos were lifted from the Wendela website and are from the architectural tour.)

Because it's always good to know these things

Don't laugh until you've taken the test yourself...


Created by OnePlusYou

Sitting Pretty

return to me
Originally uploaded by Swedish Colombian

We take photos because we want to remember, record something. I often take pictures of places I think of as ideal sitting, thinking, reading, chatting, dreaming spots. Some day, I'd like to make myself a photo book of all these places.

Like this bench in the Botanic Gardens. Almost everyone was walking past it on their path to see everything the Gardens have to offer. Its hard to slow down and just sit somewhere, when you feel you have to keep going. But I always think of the places I want to go back to...

Oh, Thank Heaven!

I love my 7-Eleven. I really do! Every morning I stop there on my way in to work or church for my 24 oz cup of steaming Joe.

The people there know me and my coworker who carpools with me. They greet us cheerfully and enthusiastically every day.

My preferred drink is a fake latte, using their steamed milk mix (which is really, really hot, by the way!), added to vanilla nut flavored coffee, with a dash of cinnamon.

It tastes and smells really good, except when it's been spilled all over the floor of your car. Twice.

The first time it was because they went environmentally responsible, replacing the styrofoam cups with paper ones (good!), and topping them off with new lids that come off as soon as the cup falls on the car floor (really, really bad!). Well, my car was overdue for an inside & out wash.

The second time was because there were no hot sleeves (needed for really hot steamed milk mix), and so the guy gave me one of those cardboard cup holder things, which of course is useless when you only have one cup to put in it. Grrr... At least the second time around I was able to clean it up myself before another trip to the hand car wash was needed.

This is one of my wonderful 7-Eleven guys. He's amazingly cheerful every morning, considering he's usually been working since the night before. (I cut myself out of the photo, since I didn't know how to photoshop away my big belly. My thought was that it was less creepy to ask if I could take a photo with him, rather than take a photo of just him... my friends assure me it's really not that much less creepy.)

It's great being known, even if the sum of almost every one of our conversations is basically, "Good morning." "Good morning, miss. Have a grrreat one!"

Oh, thank heaven for my 7-Eleven!

Bad Dancer, Good Traveler

Add this blog to the plethora of ones linking to the dancing traveling fool, Matt Harding, as he travels and dances his way around the globe, mixing his dance clips into joyous expressions of goodwill and fun. Am I the last person on earth to have heard of this guy?

It seems millions of people have watched his bad_dancer videos on youtube, or before that was popular, his own site. I wonder how many go on to read through some of his journal entries, which tie to a handy map, so you can just click on the country you want to read about, instead of having to troll through lists and lists of entries.

Matt's video is fun, funny, and feel-good. His journal is fun, funny, and interesting, not to mention all the beautiful photos he shares. Makes a great reference, too, if you're interested in traveling any of the places he's been.

Walking

Yesterday my friend and I took advantage of the beautiful day and took a walk down McCormick Ave, from Bridge Street to Dempster.

I've always wondered what kind of people actually walked those paths, that extend from Greeen Bay Road all the way down to Devon Avenue.

Well, turns out that I'm that kind of people! We walked for almost 3 miles, round trip. It was just the perfect length for someone like me who doesn't get much exercise.

The walkway has beautiful gardens, lovely green spaces, lots of picnic tables and benches to stop and read, have a lunch, play a game of chess, talk with friends, or just sit and enjoy the beautiful views.

Most of the time we were walking, we were at least a little aware of the traffic noise along McCormick.

But along a good part of the walk, you really feel like you're in a kind of hideaway, separated from the business of the city for a little while.

This sense was increased when we were somewhat startled to see a deer running along the line of trees (take a close look at the picture, or click to enlarge it - the deer is there!).

The deer past us, then stopped and hesitated for a bit, barely hidden in the shadows, flipping its tail as it watched bikers and runners pass by it, all oblivious of its presence.

Finally, he ran on again. We kept looking for him near the river as we walked, but saw no more sign of him, although we did see and hear some beautiful birds, including this red winged blackbird.

While we didn't get as far south as the Sculpture Park this time around, we did stop at the sculpture of Ghandi, who appears frozen in mid-stride atop a plinth inscribed with some of his quotations.

All in all, it was an afternoon well-spent. I don't know when we'll decide to go walking there again, but we have decided that next time, we'll park at the next lot south, and continue our walk from there.

Did You Know?

Last year a friend came to Midwinter with a little video tucked under his laptop called "Did You Know?" I actually thought it was something he had put together, but found out it's the work of some folks in Colorado. This year he and his coworkers brought the updated version, and showed everyone who'd watch. It's a pretty incredible piece:

will i really spend $600 on a phone?

I'm checking out the Nokia n 95b phone (super-duper phone that includes internet, pda, and a better camera than my current one). This would be a big move for me, since I don't really like changing things, and I'd need to change services from the one I've had for the past 7 years. Although the company did change on me (I started out with PrimeCo, and no one even remembers who they were these days), so I guess I have changed a little.

Here's a picture of the phone/pda/browser/camera. Pretty cool, does the slidey thing to get to the keyboard. Of course there's way more stuff you can do with it than I would ever do, like connect it to my entire home entertainment system so that I could play my music stored on my phone through my living room speakers (right, that'll be the day!). (but I could)

trying something out from Nokia's website...

...which doesn't work, or at least I can't figure it out. Techies, stick to stuff that works on Everyone's computers, blast you!!!

In order to view the Nokia N82: The urbanista diaries you need JavaScript and Flash Player 8+ support

feeling special

This morning on the radio (gotta love NPR, right?) they were talking about epilepsy and medication, and one physician they interviewed called himself an "epileptologist". Huh?? Wha??

Speaking as an epileptologee, I always consulted a neurologist, not realizing I had to specify that I wanted to see an epileptologist instead.

It was bad enough years ago when I had to tell people I worked for a suicidologist (really). Come on, do we really need to microsubsubteenyweenyspecialize so much that we only can do one thing?

Do I have to ask for time off for an appointment with my cuticologist, my hurtykneeologist - or heaven forbid - something really embarrassingly specialized that would be the adult equivalent of telling whether we had to number one or number two?

What about social situations? If I say I'm dating a penologist, does that have to do with male anatomy or criminal incarceration?? (Or a happy combination of both, eh?) Sheesh!

Great Quote

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

- Marianne Williamson

Ahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!

Just finished watching the first episode of the Vicar of Dibley wedding series. OH. MY. GOSH. I laughed out loud (although apparently not quite not loud enough to wake my son) when she did the Sense and Sensibility thing. Holy cow. LMAO, as they say!!
Okay - here's the scene in S&S where Emma Thompson has a cow when Hugh Grant tells her he's not married and really wants to marry her:


And now here's where they basically parody that in VoD:


Yep, a good laugh before bed!

Under 200!

Just noticed we've gone below the 200 point in our countdown of days until the Big Faker leaves the Oval Office!!


196 days and counting...


(scroll down, it's on the right!)

Déjà vu all over again

Okay. So this is weird. I'm reading, and the story line says something about a precise time that day. And so I think, how do you know it's that exact time, and my mind keeps stream-of-consciousness-ing along, and I remember calling Time and Temperature when I was a kid.

(streaming, streaming) I squint my eyes and think, what was that number we used to call? Like all of Warren, PA, it had to be 723 something - no! It was that other prefix, 726! Yeah!

(streaming) I dig deep, really deep down in my unused brainwaves and come up with a version of myself, singsong chanting, 7-2-6-1-6-oh-oh! Yeah! The whatchacallit bank we could dial up and hear the voice saying, "the time is 7 o'clock, temperature, 58." Or whatever.

I google the number, 814-726-1600, and sure enough, it comes up with Time & Temp Ser-Warren, Pennsylvania (really they can spell out 'Pennsylvania', but have to abbreviate 'service'?) Way to go, brainwaves!

So what the heck. I call the number. Just like old times. Except for the very long advertisement about whatchacallit bank's services (ser's) first, of course. To make up for that you get not only time, not only temp, but a weather forecast for tomorrow. (High eighties) And can you believe it's like 72 degrees at 1:30 in the morning there!??

By the way, here's the bank building, also known as the Flatiron Building. I took a photography class there once the year after high school. Became friends with the teacher, and saw him at our 25th class reunion, where he was taking our group picture. He's a town councilman now, I think. (streaming, streaming)