megachurches...

King of the Hill's interpretation of the megachurch movement. How far off base is it--seemingly, not too far. Thoughts? (follow the link)

http://drewmoser.blogspot.com/2006/09/video-of-week.htm




So, I've been a bit absent from "blogging" whatever that means. Trying to find a little focus for this kind of forum. Thinking along the lines of random thoughts versus giving whoever happens upon this thing a rundown of my life (how boring).

Cat Anyone?

(photo is from when she was 4 months)

Her name is Gus.
1 year old med/long haired cat. Coloring considered Pastel (gray with white and brown).
Female.
All up to date shots... with documentation. She is spayed (or is it neutered? I can't ever remember)

Any questions... go ahead and ask.

pink

Yes, folks. I am a fan of pink. Therefore, pink blog. yay.

I must have really had a bit of caffeine if I felt like doing this at 11pm on a Monday night. yup.

New links on the right; some older ones. To be noted:
woot- I spend a little bit of time here (on fridays and mondays) looking at the creativity of people who know how to use photoshop and also seeing if maybe there's something I need being sold for super cheap. As of now, I have yet to buy anything!
The Diabetes OC- This is a weird thing. As a Type 1 Diabetic (evil word), I have been fairly introspective with the whole thing in the past; keeping it to myself, but in the past year and a half, I have made a lot of changes on how I deal with diabetes and I've tried to limit its control over me. This is a good thing. In my search, however, I came across some interesting blogs. Many, if not all, are listed on the pages of the OC. It's been really fascinating to see how other people are dealing with diabetes and really being public (maybe a lot more than I'd be willing). It has also brought me to a point of realization-My single passion in life is not that I have diabetes, writing about diabetes, etc. I don't particularly care to share my daily struggles and triumphs with whoever stumbles upon this site. However, reading what others have to say, has been helpful (Does this then make me selfish because I'd rather not post or am not driven to post of the subject, but I lurk and read what others say?) hmmph. Either way, it's my modus operandi as of now.
BBC News- you should follow the news and perhaps not via some local newspaper lacking a quality editor (FR Herald)
Google- what google can't supply for you, God can take care of. Alright, that's excessive. :) google is a neat little thing... many people just search, but there are other fun things to do through the programming of the google-people. Personal favorite: having a customized google home page with a new soduku puzzle any time I want; oh and a ziggy comic, daily joke, AND a crossword. :) it's the little things people.

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 100

while performing spell check I find it bizarre that the words "blog" and "google" came up as misspelled words.

..no words..

http://www.lauravanryn.blogspot.com/

I had just posted this with a little blurb. Everything has changed.

I just thank God that He's the one in control.

hope

www.lauravanryn.blogspot.com

I've been greatly encouraged by the body of Christ and the faithfulness of Christ to his child by reading the blog set up by Laura VanRyn's family. Laura was in a horrible accident involving an 18-wheeler and a Taylor University 15-passenger van. She was the only student survivor. Her sister, Laura, is chronicalling her recovery and providing us with all the info. The power of prayer and the encouragement we have through other believers is seen through this. I encourage you to read starting at the bottom.

(For info on the accident you can visit the Taylor website: tayloru.edu)

heritage

Oh how they grow...

Then at 4 months (top) and now at10 months (bottom) and for anyone who might be wondering her name is Gus. Not Oliver or Twist or Enkidu or Gilgamesh... although, most were great suggestions ;) And she is the only kitty still here. Also, for anyone who might have worried, she is all recovered from her visit to the Vet. Took almost a full week to get her back to normal, but last night she finally ventured her way up to my pillow last night for bed time and I caught her napping in my bed--all signs of a full recovery. :)

what you never knew about genetics

time for a new quote:
talking about a brochure that could be used year after year for camp: "well if you take out the dates, this brochure is pretty genetic."

nice. (it would just be a funny slip, but when it's repeated, one has to wonder if the person really thinks that this is the word they were looking for... pretty funny.)

I was a fashion disaster tonight and loved it!

A quick thought: I was tired enough tonight that I made a huge fashion statement. The statement: It's ok to wear completely different and unmatching colors together if they are representative of the same sports' team. Above is a picture of me sporting my Kelly Green Shamrock Red Sox Hooded Sweatshirt and my brand spaking new Red Sox Flannell Pajama Pants that Athena gave me for Christmas! Speaking of Christmas... I look kinda festive there, don't I? :)

My usefulness :)

An email from my friend Melinda demonstrating the importance of blogging, or something.

I wanted to tell you the funniest thing. I was reading your blog and I read the entry about your car's catalytic converter shield falling off. Well, the other night Jon got home from work and said, "Look what fell off my car!" And I said, "I bet it's the catalytic converter shield!" So he took it to the garage and they said I was right=) And not to worry about it. Thanks for the educational blog entry!

(see the original story)

resolutions

January 2 is the official holiday in Massachusetts--therefore these resolutions are not late :)

I don't remember ever being one to make a resolution. I'd just break it anyways. Can you honestly imagine me giving up, say, soda or caffeine. I could make all my resolutions attainable--giving up coffee or to go to church. But, unfortunately for me, that's exactly not the point of resolutions. Also, I would say I did fairly well for myself last year without a resolution. I made some serious progress health wise--conquering some major fears and pushing ahead despite the large levels of suck involved :) That all being said, here are a few, real-life resolutions for 2006:


1. ** **** ****** *** *** *********!
That's right folks, a resolution even too personal for you all (by you all I mean the masses of people few people one person who reads this. Besides it being a little more personal, I don't deal well with failure, so to safeguard myself from having others know that I failed, I just won't tell you. It will still bother me if I don't succeed, but let's not squash all hope.

2. Make more of my time.
I'm a procrastinator. Some things, when you procrastinate, aren't actually put off but they're missed out on. Such as, spending time in the word--if you've put that off until tomorrow than you've missed out on something today. It's not like doing the laundry, etc.

3. Sleep more.
This piggybacks on resolution number 2. Seven hours of sleep or less just doesn't cut it. Back in college I was lucky to get 5 hours or any sleep during finals, but the Melissa that now works 40 hours a week and is getting older just cannot handle it. It's really the end of an era and also a more unachievable goal.

New Year's Resolutions

well, instead of coming in a little bit too late with
a resolution, i have decided to post ONE resolution
now and think about others later :)

resolution 1. To post my resolutions here.

Ah, hopefully the satisfaction of having completed
a New Year's Resolution will inspire me to complete
the upcoming resolutions.

Time will tell.

Thanksgiving

Hebrews 7:24-25 "but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them."

Before the Throne of God Above

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Syringes and such

It has been over 24 hours since I last gave myself a shot AND my blood sugars have been mostly normal! This has not happened in 18 years. As a matter of fact, I have given or gotten upwards of 16,000 injections of insulin in those 18 years and I've hated every single one just as much as the one before it. You never get used to it--so if I ever told you that-- well I straight out lied. Sure they don't hurt in a physical pain sense so much, but they do hurt sometimes. And they always suck internally. Now, I still have to think about what I'm doing and each time I eat there is a consequential action--however, there are NO shots :) I've thus far missed 3 injections. wahoo.
3 shots/day v. 1 shot/3 days. sweet.

Next step- new pancreas (wish it were that easy!)

:)

for matt.

a photo tribute to Matt and his "Southern Bell" :) ah. (check it out)

hmm

well aren't I negligent. Not that anyone reads this per se. But oh well. That's not entirely the point-- and this may be why I don't write anything. Nothing of interest has happened to me recently, nor has anything happened that could be misconstrued in story form over the internet to make it sound more interesting...

Tom Brady

And he did not deny that he even surfs the Internet for pornography."It is not worth explaining. It sounds worse when you explain it, so I won’t explain it. It is what it is," he [ Tom Brady ] said.


hmm.

see full story: Tom Brady

waddles...

my new pet. why?? because I can (and
I've always wanted a penguin!)




if you click to play with him and then click on him a
bunch of times you can knock him in the water :) tee hee)

frustration, car woes, and a little anatomy

Well Things have been fairly frustrating lately. Work makes me sick-- not that I don't like the principle of my job, but just circumstances have made the thought of being at work and my time spent there cause a lot of anxiety for me. I really thought I was going to be sick today. I'm being optomistic though to think that the feelings will pass as time passes. I did recently have a few days off from work and just relaxed which is never a bad thing. I've read two books in four days--don't worry, I'll be back to my ever so busy self soon enough.

I think I'm going to be getting rid of the kittens. They are cute and all, but if I'm only going to be keeping one, then I need to only have one around. Being away for four days did not go over well with my mom's idea of caring for them. I came back to quite the set of circumstances around here--and three cats go through an awful lot of kitty food!

I have nothing of terrible importance to state. Mostly I'm just bored and restless. Didn't sleep well last night in anticipation of the morning's arrival at work-- kept feeling as though I had something important to do that was going to take me all this extra time before work. I did get up a little early because of all this anxiety and good thing! Here's my exciting story:

Lately, my car has been rattling ever so slightly and rather sporadically. Of course, I fear the worst, but don't make time to get it specifically checked out. Well, it's 7:45 am and I'm on my way to work this morning, just rounding a corner about half-way between home and work, when THUD! and chinckkkk.... (or whatever the correct spelling is for the noise a piece of metal makes as it's being dragged along asphalt). So I slowly pull my car over and think to myself, "yup, just my luck-- on the positive side, I did over 6 hrs of driving this past week and nothing happened, but the negative-- my dad used to get me AAA and because we never used it, he cancelled it recently"). Great. So I reluctantly get out of my car to go and start the terribly embarassing process of looking underneath my car while traffic passes by at a EVEN slower than normal speed due to my pulling over and using my flashers near a busy intersection. I hear a voice (thank God for the voice) saying, "You got something hanging from your car." My honest to goodness (I'm going to hell) first thought, "Well thank you Captain Obvious. I had actually pulled over on this fine and lovely early Friday morning to take a pee in front of your house." However, I was slightly revealed, because, heck, I'm not car genious and there is somethign hanging from my car. This man, continues to walk across the street, crouch down alongside my car, reach for this hunk of metal, and ever so gently rip it out from underneath my car stating 'looks like it's just your cadalitic converter shield." Well that's not so scary, I mean, if he knows what it is and doesn't seem worried about it, then it must be safe to continue driving-- mind you, I can't stop thinking to myself- "it must have been shielding something from breaking the car." Anywho, I thank the man, and go on my way. Now besides all of my sarcastic, less than stranger-friendly thoughts and comments, I am extremely grateful for this man to take time out of his morning to very cheerfully assist me with my car! So thank you Capt. Obvious :) (oh and the other great thing is that the auto repair guys put the car up on the lift and took out all the left over scraps of Cadalitic converter shield that were unnecessary and didn't charge me anything! yay, auto guys.)

Interesting fact o' the day: If you happen to lose your Cadalitic Converter shield, the auto companies tell you to just get rid of it and not to worry. The auto guy explained this to me as a safety precaution-- but apparently not one that needs to be followed through after the first one falls off. While speaking to the auto guy I simply stated: "hmm, so the shield's a lot like an appendix..."

name the kittens

Alright, so the three kittens are staying. One is Alicia's his/her name is Muffin (the kitten formally known as Tiger). The white one currently has no name, but used to be called 'fluffy' (I personally dislike cute-sy pet names-- my dog is Charlie/Charles/Chuck, etc). The one with the cute little brown splotch on his/her face was called Patches, which I'm not 100% opposed to, but still it's kind of generic. So I'm enlisted you, my myriad of readers (insert wild laughter from my two actual readers), to name the two kittens. I kind of like the name Oliver, just so you can get a sense of my tastes and remember gender doesn't really matter... although I could not name a female cat- 'Sally.' Check out www.shutterbook.com/albums/