for the (proverbial) record

taking the long view on fitness and nutrition

2011-11-23T19:40:00.005-06:00

One of my fascinations is with the myriad of advice, tips, tricks, and general "information" out there about health, fitness and nutrition.

For a girl who's spent a fair amount of time in the gym, keeping a food journal, paying close attention to daily recommended amounts of various nutrients and reading quite a bit about the subject(s), two things frustrate me perennially:

I still get frustrated with myself for not always "doing what's right" 100% of the time, and
the fact that there are people out there who still preach (and therefore people who still believe) some pretty unhealthy stuff about nutrition, exercise, weight loss and health in general.

So I was encouraged by this article I just read on Livestrong, and it prompted me to write a little bit more, mostly to myself, about taking a long-term view, but coupling that somehow with a sense of urgency to some degree.

One of my favorite quotes - which has become a life mantra over the last 5 or 6 years - is "True life is lived when tiny changes occur" (thank you Mr. Tolstoy), and that's the idea here.

But the key to that whole idea is that TINY CHANGES HAVE TO OCCUR. Not just in my mind...in reality. And not just not just one change, but many...and with consistency and time comes a whole new life. This works in both directions, mind you - for the good AND for the bad (but that can be a whole other topic and blog post)!

There's a quick-reading and helpful little book about this idea I found a while back called The Kaizen Way. You can read it in an afternoon, which is what I did...and then I read it again more slowly. But maybe that's because I'm a slow learner or lack attention to detail or something. You probably will only need to read it once. The other half of the title is "One small step can change your life", which sounds all marketingy, but is totally true.

One small step that I took a long time ago was to stop eating anything sweet that was made in a mass-production bakery or food-like substance production facility. I was committed (like the article I linked above suggests) to NOT cutting out any particular food or food group out of my life, but wanted to make better choices.

And I love dessert. So I wasn't prepared to give it up. But when I was honest with myself, I had to admit that I didn't really LOVE most of the sweet things I ate. So I stopped eating even the occasional candy bar for the sake of having ZERO guilt or second thoughts at saying a hearty YES PLEASE to a home-baked goodie that someone brought to the office or offered in their home. Admittedly, this was one small change that had lots of opportunities for execution, but it was so freeing that I was excited about it, and I got to really enjoy the richness of a truly tasty goodie with a huge smile on my face as and when it was offered.

That one, single, solitary "no bad goodies" step I took, and the joy and success I was having with it, led to lots of other small steps over time, like "no diet soda" and "no high fructose corn syrup" (which, combined, means "no soda" for me...which I've not had or missed for over 5 years now). And then there was "no artificial sweeteners" and "no artificial ingredients" too. That last one stung a bit.

Admittedly, it hurt me when I read the ingredient list for fat free half-and-half, because I love my morning coffee, and I was using FF H&H to help maintain my overall fat intake at a level I was happy with...and so honoring my rule meant I needed to accommodate that added fat I would be getting now in full-fat H&H with my coffee...but in terms of competing priorities, I'm more concerned with what the ingredients I can't pronounce may do to me than anything else...so a little less fat elsewhere, and/or a few more minutes on the treadmill is fine by me.

Now to be fair, I started doing ALL THAT STUFF ABOVE was before I was trying my own hand at baking...and before I got married...and before I broke up with running...so I'm going to have to come up with some other small changes to keep me from eating too many of my own cookies (my fave!) and to help fend off the "newlywed nine" (which are akin to the "freshman fifteen" I hear), but you get the idea.

Let's be honest, this whole post (and others like it that may follow) is my own attempt at getting back to my own 'best practices' and advice, and incorporating them into newlywed life, but that's why people write blogs, right?

two whole years...?

2011-11-23T19:32:00.003-06:00

It's hard to believe, but true. I haven't blogged in two years (and 12 days, if you're counting - which I'm suspicious my mom is doing).

A lot has happened in two years, but the biggest thing involved the words "I" and "do".

Given that 99.999999% of people who will ever read this know me, this probably isn't news to you. But it's my primary excuse for not writing in so long. My fabulous husband and I started dating in July of 2009 and, impressively, the blogging lasted at least four months into us becoming Team Crouse.

So now, ten months into wedded bliss, I've been reading a few other blogs and thinking "I should start writing again". This is mostly for me, but I'll pretend there's a "you" out there somewhere, just because that's fun.

And with that, I'll welcome myself back into the world of bloggers. Yay me!

emotions are not a bad thing

2009-11-11T10:10:00.006-06:00

Thanks to Stott - yet again - for a great thought-starter...via today's Daily Thought email:

No warmth within:
Some preachers have a great horror of emotionalism. So have I, if this means the artificial stirring of the emotions by rhetorical tricks or other devices. But we should not fear genuine emotion. If we can preach Christ crucified and remain altogether unmoved, we must have a hard heart indeed. More to be feared than emotion is cold professionalism, the dry, detached utterance of a lecture which has neither heart nor soul in it. Do man's peril and Christ's salvation mean so little to us that we feel no warmth rise within us as we think about them?

From "The Preacher's Portrait" (London: Tyndale Press, 1961), p. 51.

I tend to distrust a highly emotional plea or sermon from anyone. And in my own comings and goings, I often want to discount emotions because of their seemingly 'unfounded' nature, but the truth is they are a very real part of how God created us, and clearly have their place.

And what's funny (read: strange, not haha) is that as much as I distrust the overly emotional...I equally distrust the complete lack thereof.

It's not at all what Stott is addressing, but I wonder what this means for the times when I have sat at a stoplight, inches from a homeless person begging for money, and sat in my car without making eye contact - but weeping because of the sadness of the situation and my sometimes cold or fearful or judgmental heart that is so paralyzed by indecision on how to respond in these moments that all I can do by way of response is weep for their heart and my own...

That sure does feel real to me. But if it's all I ever do...is it enough? I submit that it is not.

sign #78 proving that I am, in fact, a dork

2009-09-24T08:54:00.002-05:00

There are two totally obscure 'national days' within a week of each other that both bring incredible amounts of joy to my heart.

September 19th was National Talk Like a Pirate Day. How fun is that?! I am, for the record, horrible at talking like a pirate (which any of you who follow my twitter feed probably noted), and I don't know any pirates. But I did love the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies (yeah, all of them), and I did buy a t-shirt that says "To err is human...to Arr is PIRATE". I wore it out to dinner on Saturday night, and got a few funny looks, but one "Ohhh...that's right...it's Talk Like a Pirate day comment". It made my night.
Today is National Punctuation Day. Oh, the corners of my heart that are lit by the celebration of all the little squiggles, dots, and dashes that - used correctly - help us communicate with each other. At least that's what the grammar nazi in me says.

See? Total dork.

baked beans

2009-09-10T16:15:00.002-05:00

I have a can of Heinz Baked Beans that lives in my desk drawer along with all my work snacks and other such paraphernalia.

My English friend who was working here in Houston for a couple of months insisted on leaving it with me when he left...in February. Since I eat like a hobbit, I have seen it about 50 times (2 or 3 times a day, 5 times a week) since then.

Now, what my English friend apparently didn't know about me is that I think I can count the number of times I’ve eaten baked beans in my entire life on two hands – including the 3 years I lived in England, where they are a diet staple along the lines of our Mac & Cheese or PBJ sandwiches. [Aside: the beans section at every grocery in England is about as varied in selection as our cereal aisles. I'm not exaggerating.]

I’m not sure why it took me six months to share this random bit of life with you, my dear reader(s?), but it’s probably due to the fact that I don’t feel like I’ve got 2 working brain cells to rub together but am desperately trying to do some work in my currently jet-lagged state, and I just went rummaging for yet another snack to keep me going. And then I saw the beans...

So, what does one do with one random can of non-perishable food that will never be eaten? It would be weird to just drop the one can in a food bank barrel. Right?

the little things #37

2009-07-01T15:59:00.002-05:00

One of the greatest joys of humanity is the pursuit of perfecting something.

Whether it's day after day of experimenting to find the exact best temperature for a cup of hot tea or variations on complementary ingredients to find the optimal blend for the perfect cream cheese icing for red velet cake...the joy is in the pursuit, I'm finding.

Getting it wrong time after time, but always increasing in quality and pleasure...even though each attempt is joyful, the process itself ends up bringing pleasure too.

I'm confident this applies to other realms of life, but let's be honest: I love ~~good~~ great food (and drink).

breakfast rant

2009-04-08T07:52:00.003-05:00

I'm out of bread. So I had to buy breakfast at the deli in my work building.

My standard fare is at the deli is a bagel with peanut butter...but the nice lady who runs the deli stopped serving peanut butter a while back because of that scare or whatever it was. She's still not selling it.

So, I brought my own jar into the office a couple of weeks ago for mornings such as these.

But I have this problem where I forget to pay attention to how much I'm paying for dinner, or a dress, etc. Enter building deli.

I just realized that I paid $1.29 for a plain toasted bagel...which, by the way, is the SAME PRICE I pay when she puts peanut butter on it. Even with that, it was already a complete rip-off!!

The best part? I only eat half of the bagel. So I essentially paid $1.29 for 1/2 a bagel. And toasted bagels don't "keep".

Isn't a package of SIX bagels something between $2.00 and $3.00 at the grocery?

How does this woman get away with these prices??? Because people like me keep paying them.

So annoyed right now.

here comes paddy

2009-03-09T14:25:00.003-05:00

As St. Patrick's Day approaches, I thought it worth re-posting a blurb from around this same time last year, when I was fresh off the boat (well, plane) from spending a second Paddy's Day in Dublin.

So, as a recap, they would say either "St. Patrick's Day" OR "Paddy's Day", but never "St. Paddy's Day".

Also worth noting is that the Irish don't generally spell the shortened "Patrick" with a double T (at least not in this context). I know...it defies the grammarian's logic, but it's their saint, not mine.

So, any combination of the above that includes "...Patty..." is downright unthinkable.

Don't shoot the messenger. I'm just trying to be a blessing.

Slainte, y'all!!

this inquiring mind wants to know

2009-02-23T08:45:00.002-06:00

Not that I was really working on it, but this morning I think I realized I know one of the first questions - if not THE first question - I want to ask God (after of course spending millions of years prostrate in worship) when I get to Heaven.

It's actually a two-part question:

What did he put in coffee that makes it so dang fabulous?
Did the person who thought it might be a good idea to grind up the beans, steep them in boiling water and then drink the juice love Jesus back? ...because I'm gonna want to hug that person for about a hundred years.

random Monday thoughts

2009-02-16T08:34:00.003-06:00

I know I'm supposed to be in a montage (which I'm very much enjoying by the way), but I've already had some AHA! moments, which don't usually happen mid-montage. Yay!

I'm falling in love with my church. Double yay! I was already deeply in like with my church, for the record.

I never read To Kill a Mockingbird*, and I HATED Mockingbird: A portrait of Harper Lee. But there is one thing about Harper Lee's life that I absolutely am jealous of...and it's that someone gave her money to quit her job for a year so she could just write. That's amazing.

You can learn a lot from hanging out with 2-year olds.

Specialized and I are going to survive the hills to Austin.

And finally, the John Stott daily email hit another home run today:

A paradox of Christian living:
It is one of the great paradoxes of Christian living that the whole church is called (and every member of it) as much to involvement in the world as to separation from it, as much to 'worldliness' as to 'holiness'. Not to a worldliness which is unholy, nor to a holiness which is unworldly, but to 'holy worldliness', a true separation to God which is lived out in the world -- the world which he made and sent his Son to redeem.

--From "Christ the Controversialist"

*Don't freak out. I didn't read most of what I was supposed to in school. I'm also the girl who never saw Gone With the Wind or Casablanca, etc.

along came dovie

2009-02-02T08:24:00.002-06:00

Have you seen "Along Came Polly" with Ben Stiller and Phillip Seymour Hoffman?

In the film, Phillip is a washed up child actor who hires a camera crew to follow him around and tells people that they are doing an "E! True Hollywood Story" about his life. Bless his heart.

I often find myself thinking about my own life as if someone were making a movie of it. I haven't yet pulled together funds to hire my own camera crew, though I'm sure - with the right advertising campaign - the ticket sales would be off the charts.

So, on this whole 'movie about my life thing'...I started to write a post about entering another music montage, and realized I've done that twice already, originally in 2006. But here I am again - nothing new under the sun and all - and looking forward to the next few weeks of music and seeing highlights reel someday.

If you can remember that they really are the stuff of life, montages can be so beautiful.

gutting news

2009-01-29T16:16:00.004-06:00

This just in:

Almost all of my training rides for the MS150 conflict with local public showings of the Rugby 6 Nations matches.

Further, Comcast does not provide Setanta Sports in Houston (it's a luxury apparently provided only to their Bostonian customers), so I can’t even order the channel at home and DVR them for later viewing.

I’m positively gutted. Truly. I'm not even close to kidding.

So...if you:
1. Live in Houston
2. Have access to Setanta via Satellite (or some other such thing)
3. Love, like, or can even just tolerate rugby
4. Are looking for a new best friend

...I'm your girl. Call me.

random haikus

2008-12-30T08:36:00.005-06:00

Beat up the pavement
I'm not the terminator
But I will be back.

Working can be fun
But vacation is funner
Funner ain't a real word.

...and from a guest author:

The sun is out bright
I'd rather have it snowing
I need my flip-flops.

i thought it was just me

2008-12-15T08:07:00.002-06:00

I have a habit of talking to myself. Various reasons. Let's not get into the details. The thing I've noticed myself doing recently is actually asking myself questions...almost in a "give myself a good talkin' to" kind of way. The most common question I pose to myself these days is "Don't you remember that you believe in Providence?"

I'd like to take this as a sign of maturity. You know, in that "I already know the truth in my head , but some days I still fight with my heart to believe it and my feet to walk in it...so I have these little talks with myself to save my BFFs from the chore, since I know what they're going to say" kind of way.

SIDEBAR: I want to say it's ironic that I actually find myself lecturing - strike that, counseling - others with this knowledge that I still sometimes struggle to implement in my own life consistently. But I'm sure this is a more a product of the human condition than me being uniquely plagued with some sort of internal disconnections between my head and my heart (and my feet).

BACK TO THE POINT: Turns out I'm not the only one. Phew! I have been sporadic in my reading of Stott as of late, but today's words were a nice bump for my assurance of sanity, at least on this front. If John Stott talks openly about talking to himself, surely it's ok for me to do the same.

John Stott Daily Thought, 15 December 2008
Growing and Continuing (cont’d.)

485. Living the new life
We need to learn to talk to ourselves, and ask ourselves questions: 'Don't you know? Don't you know the meaning of your conversion and baptism? Don't you know that you have been united to Christ in his death and resurrection? Don't you know that you have been enslaved to God and have committed yourself to his obedience? Don't you know these things? Don't you know who you are?' We must go on pressing ourselves with such questions, until we reply to ourselves: 'Yes, I *do* know who I am, a new person in Christ, and by the grace of God I shall live accordingly.'

On 28th May 1972 the Duke of Windsor, the uncrowned King Edward VIII, died in Paris. The same evening a television programme rehearsed the main events of his life. Extracts from earlier films were shown, in which he answered questions about his upbringing, brief reign and abdication. Recalling his boyhood as Prince of Wales, he said: 'My Father [King George V] was a strict disciplinarian. Sometimes when I had done something wrong, he would admonish me saying, "My dear boy, you must always remember who you are."' It is my conviction that our heavenly Father says the same to us every day: 'My dear child, you must always remember who are you.'

--From "The Message of Romans" (The Bible Speaks Today series: Leicester: IVP, 1994), p. 187.

on missing England

2008-11-24T12:25:00.005-06:00

I've been back in Houston for about 3 months now, and I am regularly asked what I miss about England. After giving it some time to settle in...I think the things I *still* miss at this point are the things I'll miss for a really long time.

Here we go with the top 6:

Walking for transportation. It's highly under-rated. And it's a handy way to keep you from over-spending on shopping sprees. When you know you're going to have to carry it around the rest of the day...you usually only buy things you can't live without. I passed up many would-be purchases for that very reason, and can't think of a single thing I regret not buying. Except this one pair of fabulous shoes at the Selfridges sale.
The "keep calm and carry on" attitude of the British. Long lines at the check-out? Ridiculously bad customer service? Annoying traveller on the train? Grocery out of baked beans? The English just deal with it. Every time. There's clearly a lot to be said for convenience and instant gratification, but it feels like we've taken it to the extreme in a lot of areas.
Trains. Traveling non-walk-able distances by train is fantastic for people like me who hate driving. Traveling by train also allows for a LOT more leisure reading time than I'm doing these days. Also, I hate driving. Yes, twice on the driving thing.
Proximity to Europe. Much harder to get a positive response to this question when posed from Houston: "Fancy a weekend in Barcelona?"
The "rawness" of life. Partly because because neither perfect teeth nor perfect hair occupy first position on the priority list for most and partly because most Londoners walk and/or take public transport for their daily commute, and in spite of the fact that the British are generally fashion forward...they just look more "raw". There's something about this that I find endearing.
Judgement calls. The English don't expect perfection in anyone, and they are pretty consistently good at withholding judgement based on first impressions and measure worth in a person from the ground upward, rather than from a standard of perfection downward.

For the record, there is a growing list of "reasons I'm glad to be back in the States", which I will share in due course.

leisure reading

2008-11-19T12:11:00.002-06:00

I can't recommend Jonah Goldberg enough.

His recent articles and commentary on the election have been great reading.

Bookmark his archive page. Visit it regularly.

Do you know about MOVEMBER?

2008-11-12T10:04:00.001-06:00

From movember.com:

Movember (the month formerly known as November) is a charity event held during November each year - the challenge is to change the face of men's health. (I'm sure all my pun-loving friends will appreciate that one.)

Men lack awareness about the very real health issues they face. Many feel they have to be tough - "a real man" - and are reluctant to see a doctor about an illness or to go for regular medical check ups.

The aim of Movember is to change these attitudes and make men's health fun by putting the Mo back on the face of men everywhere while raising some serious funds for the number one men's health issue, prostate cancer.

A friend in England is growing a "classic rock star mo" to raise money for the prostate cancer charity. Love it!

But this isn't just for the English...it all started here in the good ol' U S of A. Jump in, boys...there's still time to grow a fabulous mo!!

come one, come all...

2008-11-11T09:29:00.002-06:00

The Richmond Arms

Ireland v. New Zealand

11:15am

oh happy day

2008-11-07T07:49:00.004-06:00

I suspect that I'll be at the Richmond Arms quite a bit in the coming weeks, and this is why.

Many thanks to my good friend Lesley for confirming the rumor that the Arms is THE place to be.

The fall lead-up to the 6 Nations tournament means I don't have to wait for January to watch the game that is everything American Football wishes it was.

So happy. So very happy.

seriously?

2008-10-31T08:01:00.002-05:00

My company is interviewing an ex-rugby player (London Irish) for a job in the London office.

Three years. THREE YEARS I was there...and did they hire any ex rugby players during that time? NO. No they didn't.

Does the HR department know about my affinity for rugby (and rugby players)? YES. Were they trying to marry me off the WHOLE TIME I was in that country? YES.

And how long have I been back in the States? Oh, about two months. Fantastic.

For the record...my work permit and visa are still valid. I'm just sayin'.

Man, this whole "believing in providence" thing is tough sometimes.

breakfast time stream of consciousness ramble

2008-10-29T07:47:00.004-05:00

Bread in my cupboard (which begins life as soft and chewy) becomes hard and crunchy when it's getting old. This is why I keep my bread in the freezer.

The lovely crackers I got at Central Market over the weekend (which, conversely, began life as hard and crunchy) will become soft and chewy if they last long enough.

How does food know which way it's supposed to go when it's "going bad"?

And if some things are going to end up hard and crunchy (and others soft and chewy), why can't it just be the stuff that started out that way?!

Doesn't my food know a single girl can't go through that many carbs in one week?! I blame the packaging industry...somehow I'm SURE it's their fault. They give me too much in one go.

I want half-sized loaves of bread so I don't have to only ever use the "frozen toast" setting on my toaster...and so I can leave my bread in the pantry and have nice chewy sandwiches like God intended.

See...this is what happens when I think too much before finishing my first travel mug of Lola Savannah Texas Pecan.

enduring ike

2008-09-14T20:42:00.003-05:00

Moving back to Houston seemed like a good idea at the time. And then there was Ike. "Hey...glad you're back...have a hurricane!" Some welcome home!

Actually, Ike's biggest impact to me so far has been a lot of inconveniences.

Some people have been without power for a couple of days now. I haven't.

Some people have trees in their roof. I don't.

Some people don't even have a roof (or a house) anymore. I do.

And on, and on...

So, when I'm sitting here in my air conditioning watching the Astros play the Cubbies in Milwaukee (weird!), I really have nothing to complain about. And I'm not. Not on the outside.

In fact, I have wept for people I've seen on the news that have lost everything. And I'm praying for the people around Houston who are growing weary of the heat (without a/c at home) and on, and on...

But on the inside I still have little frustrations about not being able to move into my new apartment this weekend to start settling in properly. Or shop for stuff for my new place. Or start to reconnect with friends. And on and on...

How ugly does pride and selfishness have to get before you do everything it takes to rid yourself of it?

desert life

2008-09-01T00:46:00.009-05:00

Here in the desert, at what I've started calling "adult camp" (I can't bear to call it a resort for some reason, and it feels like more than that anyway), when I'm not lounging by the pool, wandering around in a robe, or getting a spa treatment...I've been doing some other things I keep wanting to do but never doing.

Today I spent some time with horses, and will be heading out on a trail ride tomorrow.

I have also taken a couple of very abbreviated photography 101 type classes. My vocabulary now includes the words (and a meager understanding) of such things as ISO setting, aperture, and f-stop. Baby steps...

These are the two best images of the 150ish shots I took. God bless the man who invented digital cameras!

I got this blurry shot during a thunderstorm-laden sunset walk. Apparently it's hard to capture lightening...and I only did it with a blurry shot, but still am happy with the photo.

On a stroll around the resort...this was my attempt at stop-action and short depth of field. Meh...better than what I'd have been able to do before, but still nowhere near fabulous.

Despite the mediocre quality, I had a BLAST.

I think I might have convinced myself that it's worth the first level of investment for a digital SLR. I don't know that I really want to carry one around with me for tourism, but the idea of grabbing my camera and going out to shoot some images for relaxation and a little more creativity in my life is REALLY appealing.

vacation: an under-rated activity

2008-08-26T03:29:00.002-05:00

I miss London, but I'm sufficiently distracted for now!

Maybe it's because I don't do it enough...but totally switching off and enjoying more than just a long weekend away is SUCH a refreshing break. I'm not quite halfway through my holiday, and I'm already settled in nicely.

It's going to be really hard to get back to real work again.

last day at the office

2008-08-15T18:33:00.000-05:00

wow. that was hard.

the movers

2008-08-14T18:05:00.002-05:00

They came...they packed...they loaded up their truck with all my stuff. It took less than 2 hours.

Now it's really official: I *have* to leave...all my stuff is gone!

Tomorrow the cleaners are coming...you're pretty much required to hire professional cleaners before check-out with your landlord...and for what I'm paying them, I'd hope that not even a CSI could find any traces of me or my dirt in this place when they're done!

more lasts and sorting mania

2008-08-13T18:18:00.003-05:00

Today was my last:

full day in the office
work-out with Jacky (my e-ville trainer)
night to prepare and eat dinner in my own flat

It's finally all starting to feel real!

Sadly, I didn't get started on all the sorting I need to do tonight quite as early as I'd hoped.

See, I almost forgot to pack up my office (yeah, it's all going away tomorrow as well), so I didn't leave the office until 8:30 (after the aforementioned session with my e-ville trainer).

The movers are coming at 9:00am.

After the commute home and a little dinner, I started sorting out my junk at 9:30pm...less than 12 hours before the movers come to take away everything I own in this country.

However, thanks to a few key executive decisions, I finished all sorting needed tonight by 11:57pm.

I rock.

no surprises here

2008-08-12T16:58:00.004-05:00

I've left most of the hard work of packing until the last minute. This will come as no surprise to those who know me well.

The sad part is that I actually don't have to do much packing. For one thing, the movers won't let me pack...because if they don't do it, they won't insure my shipment. No complaints here!

So really all I have to do is SORT. One pile for the movers, one pile for my suitcases, and one pile for the charity shop down the street.

Why is this so hard? Well...a few things conspire against me.

I'm very definitely a get-lost-in-the-details sort about this kind of thing. When I clean my flat, I start in one room and make a little progress, but when I pick up the watch I left on the sofa and take it to my bedroom where it belongs, I end up doing some cleaning in there...and eventually I somehow end up getting lost in the gratifying work of cleaning the grout between bathroom tiles with an old toothbrush. And so it goes.
I'm a perfectionist. See note above regarding toothbrushes and bathroom grout. There are countless hours of my life I've dedicated in similar attention to the minutiae that I'll never get back.
I'm the queen of procrastination. If it were an Olympic sport, I'd have multiple gold medals.

So, knowing myself as well as I do...I figure waiting until the last minute may still demonstrate an awful tendency to procrastinate, but at least I won't have spent my last two or three weeks in England thinking about things like whether or not I'm ever going to wear that pink sweater again.

I have enjoyed my last few weeks in the Big Smoke, and I'm confident I'll have PLENTY of down time Stateside to sort out my world.

But I am starting to think I've left it all just a bit TOO late now...!

rollin' out

2008-08-10T12:54:00.003-05:00

Today is the first day of all my "lasts". It's my last full Sunday in London. This time next week, I'll be halfway between Heathrow and Houston.

On my way to meet a few friends for lunch and an afternoon of goodbyes, I saw this beast pulling out of the bus stop across the street.

It was one of those moments that made me sad I don't carry my camera with me at all times...this fuzzy one is from my mobile.

The other guy who stopped to take a photo told me it's a city bus that was all over the streets of London until the early 1950s.

So, that was a first for me, but a last as well, I'm sure.

finally sorted

2008-08-05T07:52:00.002-05:00

For those of you who have been asking repeatedly only to get a fairly vague response from me...let the record reflect that I have finally booked my flight home. I will be returning to God's country West of the Atlantic (aka Texas) on Sunday, August 17th.

(God's country East of the Atlantic is aka Scotland.)

It still doesn't completely feel like I'm 12 days away from leaving this small island, but I'm not in a mad dash for Heathrow, so that's fine by me.

It's still very bittersweet, but mostly sweet.

winchester

2008-07-30T15:58:00.002-05:00

Saturday I took a short little trip south to Winchester. I tried to be sparing with photos, but couldn't resist a few quintessential shots of this quaint but buzzing little English town.

Cathedral? Check.
University? Check.
A river runs through it? Check.
High-profile public boys' school? Check.
Major historical significance? Check.

It's not really a huge list by any account, but somehow it feels like there's lots going on in this little corner of England...

I put a few pictures here, and a little history lesson below.

The history lesson:

The very large statue in the pictures is of King Alfred. He was all about justice and order, and took a lot of direction from Exodus. Much of the current legal system is based on his foundations.
The 'high profile boys' school' (Winchester College) is on par with the likes of Eton (which, interestingly, is modeled after Winchester).
Turns out the founder of Winchester College, William Wykeham, also founded New College at Oxford in 1379. Funny name for one of the oldest colleges in Oxford, eh? Apparently, New College's original remit was to receive the boys who passed through Winchester and to support them during their university studies. Handy.

Don't feel guilty if you couldn't care less about the history. It's hard to care if you don't experience it...but since I have a friend who went to New College, I had an extra little bit of "oh, that's very interesting" sort of thing going on.

it's all about marketing: example #219

2008-07-21T07:45:00.005-05:00

"The Husband Creche"
I'm sure the beer in this pub isn't markedly different or better than the pub 2 doors down, but I'd stop here - even though I don't have a husband to drop off - just because of the sense of humor demonstrated with their sidewalk sign.

And I know plenty of people who would do the same.

Brilliant.

happy birthday daniel jacob!

2008-07-14T15:26:00.003-05:00

How can you NOT totally fall in love with this little man?! I can't wait to see him in August! I hope he saved me some cake.

it's a small world after all

2008-07-13T16:19:00.002-05:00

This morning, an American in London (yes, that would be me) had Welsh cakes for breakfast with Canadian maple syrup, eaten off a plate made in China (and with a fork made in China).

The weird thing is that I don't actually think this marriage of at least 5 cultures is really all that noteworthy...which is the part that feels noteworthy.

i might need to go to confession

2008-07-01T06:27:00.003-05:00

I can't deny it. I'm jealous. A co-worker is marrying a rugby player next year, and because of her fiance's connections with the rugby world, she ends up at events where she often manages to get pictures like this one:

This my friend Clodagh and her "friend" Mike Catt. Mike was on the 2003 Rugby World Cup winning England squad...WORLD CUP, people! And he still plays for the London Irish squad.

I know I have recently pointed people to my friend Tara Leigh's blog, and I really don't want to negate the stuff she's writing there...and I know you're not going to believe me, but honestly it's not that he's beautiful. I mean, I'm not gonna deny that he's not hard on the eyes, but it really isn't about that.

It's that I actually really love the game. It's the only English sport I really fancy at all...and love it (don't panic people) more than baseball, perhaps. And what I wouldn't give to be all buddy-buddy with people in the rugby world, especially when I hear that guys like Mike are actually really nice and down to earth.

Seriously, why am I NEVER the girl who has these kinds of connections? I think it's God's way of reminding me that I care just a little too much. GRR!

warming up for the countdown

2008-06-28T18:48:00.004-05:00

The writing has been on the wall for a few months, but I've finally uttered a potential date for finishing my assignment in London with the people who can make it happen.

August will definitely be my last month here, and I'm aiming for a last day in the office during the 2nd or 3rd week of the month. There are a few things I'd really like to see finished by then...but as I'm trying to manage a decent vacation before hitting the ground running in Houston in September, I'll be working hard to keep it to mid-August.

Suddenly I'm tempted to think about things like apartments and neighborhoods I like in Houston...cars, the price of gasoline, the HEAT (oh, the heat.) in Houston, and where in the world I want to go for some R&R before leaving this small island and rejoining the world of baseball lovers and 24-hour everything.

But actually I don't want to think about those things any more than I have to...I want to savor every last drop of England that I have left to enjoy. So as always...I seek to find the balance.

Actually...I seek tension, I think. I need to find a way to happily hold my excitement over going back to my homeland in tension with all that I have to live for right here and right now. Living in the moment and living in the future seem to be two desires that pull in opposite directions. Planning requires you to live in the future a little bit...but oh how easily I let the future consume me...and I forget to hold the line in tension by keeping a good deal of my attention on today.

Here's to tension! It can be good for you sometimes.

i don't get it

2008-06-18T18:10:00.001-05:00

The spell check feature in Blogger recognizes the word "blogger" as legitimate (which is handy), but doesn't recognize "bloggers" (which isn't).

in the weeds

2008-06-18T17:47:00.003-05:00

I have felt like I've been "in the weeds" at work since the day I landed in the UK. I tend to feel that way about keeping in touch with friends near and far as well. And, as all haphazard bloggers do, I feel the same about keeping this record a current and accurate reflection of record-worthy stuff.

So, in typical "catch-up" fashion, I offer a few bits and pieces:

I have been reminded yet again this week that I have very funny, wise and deep friends...which I count as a huge blessing. Amen.

I miss my best friend tremendously. Grr. And I hate that her little man is almost a year old and I've only seen him twice. Double grr.

Louie made a point of saying "thank you" to me. Honoured.

"Summer" is a relative term.

Dr. Pepper can bring joy that one never knew was possible.

Having a "clean slate" is under-rated. Highly under-rated.

I like church at Hillsong London. They love to celebrate Jesus...and I DO mean celebrate. And they're authentic. And friendly. And helpful. Every time.

I made two successful first-guess identifications of band names for over-head music in public this weekend. This is NOT something I'd list as a skill on a resume for ANY job. Gold star for me.

Someone from my pastorate (read: church community group) at HTB called me today to get the specific words from a quote I used in a little talk I did last week. She said she'd been thinking about some things I said all week. Floored. Thankful. Cheering for God.

That'll do for now.

how did that happen?

2008-06-06T14:40:00.002-05:00

Passion:London has come, but it hasn't gone. Thursday was a long day, but it was gone in a blink...all at the same time. I want to have some pithy words to describe it, but I'm at a loss.

I don't know why I'm always amazed at how much we can actually accomplish in just a short space of time. And when you put the 'God fact' on top of that...well...indescribable things happen.

I'm so thankful to have been a part of what God did through a few hours of time in so many lives - not just the students that attended, but the volunteers and hopefully some of the venue staff as well.

I didn't get to interact with many of the students, but the few I did were so fired up to be there. And the volunteers. The volunteers were incredible. I'm so thankful to have been part of it.

But 'it' isn't over. Not by a long shot.

Passion:London - almost there!

2008-06-03T03:13:00.004-05:00

It's been years in the making, but the Passion World Tour is now well under way, and has already made stops in Kyiv, Stockholm, Sao Paulo, Kampala and is be lighting up the night in Paris tonight.

On Thursday, Passion:London will come to life.

If you're not already following along, check out the 268 blog to see some pictures and read about the events held so far, or the World Tour site to see where else the tour is headed.

Pray for health and endurance for the volunteers (it's gonna be a LONG day).

Pray for the traveling World Tour team...they've been on a long journey, and our weariness due to one event can't compare to what they're working with.

Pray for the students coming to the Hammersmith Apollo on Thursday, and for a new awakening in the university generation across the UK.

Pray for a full house - not because I'm hung up on numbers, but because I long for ever seat to be filled with a soul that gets exposed to the hope of the Gospel light-years beyond 'fire insurance'.

Pray for the students to fall in love with Jesus in a way they've never imagined.

Pray for dramatically changed lives.

Pray for students to be awakened through the Spirit with a longing to live a life of total abandon for the name and renown of God.

So much hope...so many more prayers...not enough words. If you pray...I don't know what else to ask for...just...go for it.

plug

2008-05-30T06:44:00.005-05:00

So, my friend TLC is amazing.

And I don't think she's starving for publicity...but I can't not point you to her blog.

I mean, it's already on my links over there on the right, but that's pretty passive, whereas I am going for a more blatant approach here.

She sings, she's got mad guitar skills, she writes...she's one of the few people I know who is actually really good at actively maintaining long-distance friendships...and so much more.

The reason I'm pointing you to her today is because she's writing some great stuff there these days, and I basically just think anybody I know would benefit from (or at the very least enjoy) reading it, especially (but certainly not ONLY) anyone in a pre-married state.

a sigh of relief?

2008-05-29T07:18:00.002-05:00

"The urgent need for the church today is not for more clever people to explain Jesus better, it is not for more attractive people who by their looks and personality will make Christianity suddenly more trendy and appealing. It is not even more committed and disciplined people who will advance the cause of the kingdom of Jesus by grit and hard work. The great need today is for deep and authentic people."

Taken from Wasteland by Mike Pilavachi - quoting the British evangelist David Watson)

time to make the donuts

2008-05-19T15:24:00.003-05:00

Everything seems so crazy right now, I'm sure I'm going to meet myself coming in the door one day soon, just like the Dunkin' Donut guy.

Anybody remember him?

hmm...interesting...

2008-05-15T08:18:00.002-05:00

As it's been over a month since my last plug for Stott, I thought this little snippet was worth sharing. Much shorter than usual (and certainly much shorter than the novel of an entry from yesterday).

Doing the truth

Everywhere in the New Testament God's truth is something to be *done*, not something only to be believed. It carries with it demands, duties, obligations. The evangelical faith radically transforms those who believe and embrace it.

--From "Make the Truth Known" (Leicester: IVP, 1983), p. 12.
----------------------------------------------------
--Excerpted from "Authentic Christianity", p. 129, by permission of InterVarsity Press.

this is (now) a grumble-free zone

2008-05-14T07:12:00.008-05:00

"Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life..." Philippians 2:14-16 ESV

Someone from my church Pastorate (read: community group) shared this verse as part of a testimony of her journey to/in faith in Christ, and I was immediately mindful of the fact that I have been doing a LOT of grumbling recently about how much stress I'm enduring at work lately, mostly because:

I feel 100% personally responsible for the success or failure of a major project that affects every single person in my office
I have to rely on some people outside the company to hold up their end of the deal, and I have no real bargaining position or recourse for their poor performance
I'm generally stretched for time due to other equally pressing projects

But everyone is stressed right now. So it's not like I'm the only one waving that flag for whatever reason. And other people aren't holding my feet to the fire anything like to the extent that I am.

So when my friend read these and the surrounding verses, I was captivated. It dawned on me that I used to let all the stress roll right off my back, or let off steam within a 'safe place'. But now, I get a bit defensive and am always at the ready with excuses. And people don't need or want to hear defensiveness and excuses (no matter how valid).

My main problem is that I've been too transparent with people along the way, so the fact that the project completion date keeps getting pushed to the right makes me feel like I look incompetent...whether or not that's actually true. (The phrase "under-promise and over-deliver" comes to mind. This is not the tack I've taken up to this point. Note to self for future projects.)

And thinking through dropping the excuses, etc., I'm having to eat the words which I've uttered many times to many different people: "You have to be willing to be misunderstood." Ouch. And then when you throw that "shine as lights in the world among a crooked and twisted generation" bit in, there's even more consequences (tangible or not) of being a grumbling Christian.

I sense there are two trains of thought running here, actually...but it's all related in my mind.

Regardless, I have a new sense of perspective and am feeling rather chilled about the chaos that ensues around me. Gold star for the readers that powered through to the end of this stream-of-consciousness brainstorm.

musical recommendation

2008-05-12T06:46:00.003-05:00

Most of you know that I'm more often on the receiving end of this deal, but I've found, of my own accord, a new musician I'd like to recommend.

Admittedly, when I asked a few of my UK-based friends about Duffy, they all already knew about her. BLAST and DRAT!

However, I'm hoping (with fingers and toes crossed) that some of the rest of you won't have heard of her, and I'll get credit, possibly for the first time in my life, for recommending a new up-and-coming music artist to my home country.

i love christopher walken

2008-05-08T16:46:00.001-05:00

So, I'm totally ripping this off (well, the link, anyway) from a friend of a friend, but I can't not...

The best line, as the aforementioned friend of a friend also notes, has *got* to be: "Exit Pig One. Pig Two...same story."

Classic. Beyond classic, actually. Whatever that means.

second brush with fame

2008-05-05T17:25:00.005-05:00

Some of you may remember that during my first week in the UK, I came very close to meeting the queen . I maintain it as a real possibility that we may have been invited into Balmoral Castle for tea if I'd just thought quickly enough to bump her car ever so slightly with mine.

Today, as I was walking to the Texas Embassy to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, I looked up as people were shouting "Boris! Boris!" to see London's newly elected Mayor ride by on a bicycle. It all happened way too fast to pull out the camera, so you'll just have to believe me on this one.

for michelle

2008-05-01T16:20:00.000-05:00

bits and bobs

2008-05-01T16:17:00.002-05:00

Today is my cousin Lori's birthday...and she's in Canada, alone. Boo on that, eh?

I went to the store today, twice, and both times, as I was walking back in the door to my flat, I remembered something I forgot to buy...but I couldn't be bothered to go a third time, even though it's only a 2 minute walk down the road.

The one thing I went back for the first time was milk. Just so I could have a cup of tea. Mmm...tasty.

I "made brownies for the office" tonight. Translation: I wanted brownies but want to keep myself from eating the whole pan, so I made them on a non-weekend to be sure others could help keep me from consuming 100% of gooey chocolately goodness.

Yesterday I found out for sure that two good friends are coming to visit me! YAY!!

Some people were not wired to work from home. I'm one of those people.

Today we passed the 1,000 tickets sold milestone for Passion London. The venue capacity is 3,600, so there's still plenty of room, but we're praying for a sell-out. We need more volunteers, so if you want to come and serve...let me know if you're going to be (or be able to be) in the London area on June 5th.

weird folk

2008-04-17T09:34:00.003-05:00

I've been reading through Genesis and Exodus in the last couple of weeks.

It's been a long while since I read either of these books comprehensively (rather than for discrete verse references), and I'm finding myself shocked at some of the things Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all of their relatives did "wrong", and yet still found favor with the Lord.

It's a nice reminder that even Biblical heroes were human and sometimes made bad choices...even some which brought life-long consequences...and yet God blessed them immensely.

Why am I surprised at this? Why am I ever surprised when God does things that I don't expect?

happy birthday, mom!

2008-04-16T08:10:00.002-05:00

My mom turns 65 today. That's just crazy...because she's not old enough to be a "senior citizen". I wonder if this means she's old enough to drink coffee with her meals yet? I'm not. And now that I'm in my 30s, I think i qualify as a legitimate adult...so the only milestone i can see from here is senior citizenship. I digress...

To many she is known as "Moms", because she claims many kids scattered about the globe. And although she is very good at loving them all, I know I'm her favorite.

And she's my favorite too. I love her in all her quirks, country ways, bizarre sayings and various imperfections. When I was younger, I think I saw my family through rose-colored glasses and completely missed all the imperfections. As I've grown up, the rose colored glasses have come off bit by bit over the years...sometimes not so much to my delight (because we all want the picture-perfect family, don't we?).

However, I've realized that over the years my love for my family has grown into the closest thing I can imagine to true Christ-like love.

Because I love my mom for who she is. Not for what she does for me or what she can give me. I love her despite her imperfections. And although I always want to help her see them and change for the better (sometimes gently sometimes abruptly)...because as I've grown up she's become my friend as well...even though she'll always be my mom first and foremost. But I love her anyway, even if she never changes a bit.

And I love her more than words can express. Which makes me feel silly for even trying. I could write pages and pages and still not quite feel like I've done it justice. But I can't not try.

I love you, mom. I hope you have the best birthday ever!

when you point your finger at someone...

2008-04-16T07:03:00.004-05:00

...remember there are three fingers pointing back at you!

I'm sure my mom has said this to me a thousand times...but some things take a new delivery to really sink in, or raise your awareness and actions toward what your ideal image of yourself says you are (behind, of course, what Scripture says about who we are and how we should act).

I just read this short article by Abraham Piper (son of John) on DesiringGod.org and immediately thought of one of my favorite preachers (who has never gotten any air time here before) named Voddie Baucham.

Just after he makes a particularly piercing point, he often says "If you can't say 'Amen!', you ought to say 'Ouch!'..."

I was definitely saying 'OUCH!' just now. But I was also nodding my head in Amen-like agreement.

For audiences that are familiar with Voddie, I think it would be funny (and possibly even more convicting) for him to sometimes say "Let not your 'Amen!' be lessened by the simultaneous inward uttering of a very loud 'OUCH'!"

science v. theology...?

2008-04-03T03:10:00.003-05:00

Now here's a surprise...I'm sharing another thought from my beloved Stott (emphasis mine).

Nature and Scripture are both divine revelation ('general and special', 'natural and supernatural', to use the traditional terms), since God has revealed himself both in the world he has made and in Christ and the biblical witness to Christ.

Science is the fallible human interpretation of nature, while theology (or 'tradition', which is theological reflection) is the fallible human interpretation of Scripture.

You and I believe (I think) that in nature and Scripture there are certain given things, *data*...which, if they truly come from God, cannot contradict one another.

The contradictions have not been between nature and Scripture, but between science and theology, that is, between different human interpretations of God's double revelation.

If, therefore, we are to learn lessons from the past, it is neither for conservatives to deny the evidence of nature, nor for liberals to deny the evidence of Scripture, but for all of us to re-examine our interpretations of both.

--From "Essentials", by David L. Edwards and John Stott (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1988), p. 335.

I think what I love about Stott is his gentle manner in bringing out different sides of an issue, acknowledging them all, and dealing with each in equal measures of tact. At the end of the day, it may be clear which side of the fence he falls on in any given debate, but the other side would be hard pressed to feel offended by Stott's approach to the contest.

i'm annoyed with myself

2008-03-25T18:31:00.002-05:00

Somehow, posting a spinning shamrock seemed like a good idea at the time. I now feel like I've outed myself as "that girl". You know, the one who sends on every FW: email that she gets and uses cheesy clip-art in PowerPoint presentations.

I'm not her.

I just had a moment...that's all.

I promise.

happy paddy's day

2008-03-17T10:11:00.005-05:00

Things I learned in Dublin last weekend:

One is welcome to refer to today as "St. Patrick's Day" or "Paddy's Day", but NOT "St. Paddy's Day". I failed to clarify why that is the way it is, but I believe it has something at least loosely related to "the Troubles".
There are a LOT more Americans who have passports than most people in Europe think, and they were ALL in Ireland over the weekend.

culture clash

2008-03-14T07:51:00.001-05:00

As an American living in London...I have become keenly aware of the cultural differences between my home* and my home-home**. These differences seep down into our sub-cultures as well (e.g. into the local church). One would expect this on an intellectual level, but even I am shocked at my own lack of awareness of this on a practical level.

Further to that, armed with my new-found cultural awareness, I'm shocked at the pre-conditioned response I still seem to bring to Scripture. So, today's little dose of Stott was a poignant one for me.

Obedience and understanding

Obedience is a precondition of understanding. We need to repent of the haughty way in which we sometimes stand in judgment upon Scripture and must learn to sit humbly under its judgment instead. If we come to Scripture with our minds made up, expecting to hear from it only an echo of our own thoughts and never the thunderclap of God's, then indeed he will not speak to us and we shall only be confirmed in our own prejudices. We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behaviour.

--From "Culture and the Bible" (Downers Grove: IVP, 1981), p. 33.

Someone once said that upon accepting Jesus as Lord we are positionally justified but that we will also always be going through the process of sanctification (i.e. we are both positionally and progressively holy). I'm really thankful for the term "process" in that context.

*home: the place where one spends most nights and all her currently-used stuff lives.
**home-home: the place one claims to be "from" or where her "roots" are.

washington dc: a short tour

2008-03-05T17:02:00.005-06:00

I was in DC a couple of weeks ago on my way back to London. I had a few hours to be a tourist, so I hopped on the Metro...

...where the "Park and Ride" concept has a distant cousin:

I went to the Washington Monument (which I failed to take a picture of), enjoyed the 70-second elevator ride to the top, and took a few snapshots of the view.

Begin tour.

The Lincoln Memorial

The Jefferson Memorial

The Capitol

The White House

End tour.

happy birthday mrs. palazzo!

2008-02-29T03:27:00.001-06:00

My second grade teacher's birthday is on February 29. She's the only person I have ever known born on this day. I'm not sure if I'd love it or hate it it were my birthday.

I suspect 'hate it'.

Just because...when do you legitimately get to celebrate, except every 4 years? February 28 is too early...and March 1 isn't even the same month anymore. Boo on that!

However...what better excuse to throw FABULOUS parties every 4 years could there be?!

I bet Mrs. Palazzo is partying it up today! I know I would be.

an inconvenient truth:

2008-02-28T07:58:00.000-06:00

Life takes time.

Grr.

ridiculous frivolity

2008-02-27T17:11:00.003-06:00

I know it's a total buck-waster but I totally want one of these.

I just can't bring myself to buy one...even if they are on sale 50% off. But I bought some stupidly expensive facial slather at Urban Retreat last week. How weird AM I?! (Speaking of Urban, I have decided I should alter my speech when referring to a certain spa service. I shall no longer say "I love having facials" and will hence forth be saying "I love having had a facial". Why? One word: extractions. Can I get an amen, girls?)

This one appeals to the inner geek of an organizer in me, who knows she could create it on her own, so is unwilling to pay for it, but won't spend the time to do-it-herself at home.

Other ridiculous (but maybe not frivolous) items available from the good folks at wishing fish include this little gem.

Now, I just don't ever see me being the girl who reaches up at the beginning of a flight to attach my Plane Clean Air Filter to create the lauded "Air Curtain". I'll take my chances with the viruses and bacteria, for the sake of what little cool factor I have to hang on to. Seriously, who buys this?

the montage revisited

2008-02-15T08:19:00.000-06:00

Almost a year and a half ago, I was on my way into a montage.

I think this season of Lent is proving to be a music montage of sorts, in the sense that this season for me seems to be all about being faithful to today, every day, and just doing the things I know to do...and not worrying about the seemingly big decisions that await me in the near future (because aren't there always big decisions or big events right around the corner in every movie when the music kicks in?).

It feels like there's not much news to report to friends or to God and there's LOADS of things to report - all at the same time.

Although I'm not really listening to much music right now, I think my soundtrack for this season is relatively unchanged. I'm not sure what that says about me or montages in general. Maybe I'm stuck in a music rut, or maybe some of these songs will always be montage songs for me whenever I need them.

"This is Your Life" - Switchfoot (The Beautiful Letdown)
"Where Will I Be" - Emmylou Harris (Wrecking Ball)
"Hope to Carry On" - Caedmon's Call (Caedmon's Call)
"She Must and Shall Go Free" - Derek Webb (title track)
"I'm Alright" - Kenny Loggins (various albums)
"A Foggy Day (In London Town)" - Michael Buble (It's Time)
"All That You Have is Your Soul" - Tracy Chapman (Crossroads '89)

I think there are more songs to add to the soundtrack that would accurately represent this current montage, but as I'm not listening to music (on purpose) right now, I guess they'll have to be named post-montage. That seems oddly backwards, but it is what it is.

happy valentine's day

2008-02-14T03:13:00.002-06:00

heads up boys...

2008-02-11T09:04:00.000-06:00

The biggest oxymoron in the floral world, which can prove to be even more deadly on Valentine's day than any other day of the year:

"beautiful carnations"

I'm sure anybody reading this knows that carnations alone aren't going to cut it...but if you're not yet to the "dozen red roses" place with your sweetie and feel compelled to opt for a bouquet of some sort...may I suggest absolute resolve against the presence of the carnation. No...not even for bouquet filler. Not even one.

i am a steward of truth

2008-02-11T08:02:00.000-06:00

Today's dose of Stott is short and punchy!

Stewards of truth
All revealed truth is held in stewardship. It is given to be shared, not monopolized. If men cannot keep their scientific discoveries to themselves, how much less should we keep to ourselves the divine disclosures?
----------------------------------------------------
From "The Message of Ephesians" (The Bible Speaks Today series: Leicester: IVP, 1979), p. 120. Excerpted from "Authentic Christianity", pp. 90-91, by permission of InterVarsity Press.

My first thought was: "YEAH!"

My second was: "Why aren't I (we) as vocal as those with scientific discoveries (and the like)?" I have a few thoughts on that one, but will leave the question out there to ruminate.

the littlest man who stole my heart

2008-01-31T15:21:00.000-06:00

Man, it's gonna be fun to spoil him!

so tempting...

2007-11-27T02:58:00.000-06:00

There's a job opening at Transport for London.

Unfortunately, there are at least two decent-sized obstacles to overcome in pursuing my dream job:

I'm not sure they will be looking for someone with an American accent...no matter how mild.
Somehow I don't see business trips to Houston being part of the job description.

But the biggest obstacle seems to be the fact that I can't find the job listed on their "careers" page. Hmmm...maybe it's one of those "you've got to know somebody on the inside" type things.

moving on...

2007-11-20T10:57:00.000-06:00

Just for fun - and to get past the potty humor, but not the true subject of my last post - I offer you the following:

Today is Peanut Butter Fudge day!!

Now, those are three words that I like independent of each other, and combining them together creates lots of yummy things!!

Peanut(s) - low fat and tasty source of protein; especially good with baseball and beer (although I guess the beer is full of carbs...which isn't fat, per se, but easily turned into it. I digress.)
Butter - one of the purest representations of the truth that fat = flavor
Fudge - any chocolate lover's delight
Peanut Butter - mmmm...smooth, creamy and easy to combine with other tasty vittles, or equally satisfying on it's own (from a spoon, preferrably) for a late-night snack sure to sooth your hungry belly 'til morning

...and today's delight...

Peanut Butter Fudge - probably the best example of combining peanut butter with another tasty vittle.

world toilet day

2007-11-19T05:53:00.000-06:00

Following on from global poverty prayer week...today is World Toilet Day.

Frankly, as a squeaky girl, I'd rather you get the details from Jonah than from me.

two sad days

2007-11-15T06:49:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday, all the trains toward the London suburb where I work got re-routed, delayed or cancelled because there was "a fatality in the area".

Today I read in the paper that it was indeed what most people suspected and I feared: the Surrey Herald reported that a woman was killed when she stepped off the platform into the path of an oncoming train.

My heart broke last Thursday when I suspected it was something of the sort...because quite apart from the sadness of the event itself, many of the comments I heard were things like:

"Now I'm going to be late for work."
"Great. My other train was cancelled and now I'm stuck on this one with standing room only."
"I had to pay for a taxi on top of my train ticket to get to work on time."

The list goes on, but is mostly grumbling comments about the inconvenience that has been caused.

And don't get me wrong. It was an inconvenience to me as well. The journey that normally takes me about 30 minutes ended up being over 2 hours that morning. But I cried on the train, thinking of how heartless we can be sometimes. I'm confident there were many others who were thinking the same thing as me that morning...and who were saddened by it. But that there even be any of us who are so wrapped up in ourselves that our first thought is of our own inconvenience, and not of the suffering of others is a crying shame.

My heart broke again today when I learned that the victim was a 76 year old woman. How sad and lonely Ann Winnett, of West Byfleet, must have been to step off that platform. I have a very tender spot in my heart for the elderly that feels like it has grown a lot in the last couple of years. I even find myself more and more sentimental about my grandparents (and the fact that I've lost them), rather than less and less over time.

There's just so much I think we don't capture from the older ones among us. They have the wisdom of age, they have great stories, they have seen years of change and the cycles that repeat themselves in life and history through politics, in relationships and in families. And they're often the loneliest and most forgotten among us.

The other thing that a few people said to me that day was "it's just that time of year", which is admittedly a factual comment (not a grumble), but just the fact that it is a fact...that makes me sad too.

Sometimes I really do just want to cry out "Come Lord Jesus".

another dose of Stott

2007-11-14T06:23:00.000-06:00

Today's nod of agreement is about...The Cross of Jesus:

88. God in Christ
If we speak only of Christ suffering and dying, we overlook the initiative of the Father. If we speak only of God suffering and dying, we overlook the mediation of the Son. The New Testament authors never attribute the atonement either to Christ in such a way as to disassociate him from the Father, or to God in such a way as to dispense with Christ, but rather to God and Christ, or to God acting in and through Christ with his whole-hearted concurrence.

--From "The Cross of Christ" (Leicester and Downers Grove: IVP, 1986), p. 156.
----------------------------------------------------
--Excerpted from "Authentic Christianity", p. 54, by permission of InterVarsity Press.

I think this addresses the tendency of some groups of Christians who, maybe only in their diction, focus on God and seem to forget about Jesus, and other groups who focus so much on Jesus that they forget to acknowledge God. I'm sure neither forgets either the Father or the Son, but I often think about the outsiders, who sometimes don't get a full picture of the trinity. And even here we have not mentioned the Holy Spirit...but I guess I've taken this a step or three beyond what Stott was trying to address.

global poverty week

2007-11-12T12:51:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Jonah for raising my awareness about Tearfund's Prayer Week.

There's a different focus each day this week. Get involved!

Sure, there are a million things that already beg for our attention in prayer, but that will always be the case.

Much like my attention was drawn to service men and women on Sunday when we had a special prayer focus (it was Remembrance Day in the UK, essentially the same thing as the our Veterans Day in the States) at the close of the service...Tearfund's one-week focus on global poverty brings the awareness of those prayer needs to the front of my mind, even if only for a short while...until either God grows a passion for those ills of society into my heart permanently or He shifts my focus to another prayer need (and then grows a passion in my heart for one of those), and I'll pray for global poverty again the next time God uses something like Tearfund or someone like Jonah to bring it to my attention again.

I hope that doesn't sound heartless. It's meant to be an honest confession that there are always more things that need prayer than I stop to give attention to...because I'm so self-centered and busy that when I DO stop to pray, it's usually about me, and then I quickly move on to something else. What a crying shame.

ahh...harry!!

2007-11-06T06:49:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday night, my sweet Jonah took me to see

Harry Connick, Jr.

at the Royal Albert Hall.

It was a wonderful night...and we looked pretty fabulous, but I wish I'd taken a look at this photo before we left the scene. I'm sure I could have asked another random stranger to go for "take 2" to capture a less grainy version of this Kodak moment.

Insert big girly sigh here.

i pulled a "dovie"

2007-11-01T04:22:00.000-05:00

My company holds an annual Halloween costume/decoration competition in the Houston office. My friends in the marketing department there had a very clever idea this year...they went for a group entry as "Ceiling Fans". See image below...faces disguised to protect the innocent (or guilty, depending on how you look at it).

I decided to send a little note of acknowledgement, and it went something like this:

TO: Employees London
Subject: "ceiling fans"
Well done. Very clever!

Now...the problem is probably quite evident. I can't seem to tell the difference between typing “Employees London” and “Marketing Group” in the ‘to’ line of an email…

Naturally, I made an attempt to recall the message, and that's never really a good idea, is it? It would have been better to just let it go. Following the receipt of about a gazillion "Message recall: Failure" notes, I sent a note to those folks saying "oops!", and tried to explain...but it's like a joke gone really bad...there's just no way to recover.

All this and it's not even NOON yet. I wish someone would just send me home to start the day over.

too good not to share

2007-10-17T10:58:00.000-05:00

I know I'm always pushing Stott-isms on you...but this one was so good I couldn't keep myself from yet another plug for my favorite theologian.

I've never heard anybody address the Kingdom in this way...

Taken directly from my daily-email-dose-of-Stott:

The Kingdom of Heaven (cont'd.)

60. Total blessing and total demand

When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God he was not referring to the general sovereignty of God over nature and history, but to that specific rule over his own people which he himself had inaugurated, and which begins in anybody's life when he humbles himself, repents, believes, submits and is born again. God's kingdom is Jesus Christ ruling over his people in total blessing and total demand. To 'seek first' this kingdom is to desire as of first importance the spread of the reign of Jesus Christ. Such a desire will start with ourselves, until every single department of our life -- home, marriage and family, personal morality, professional life and business ethics, bank balance, tax returns, lifestyle, citizenship -- is joyfully and freely submissive to Christ. It will continue in our immediate environment, with the acceptance of evangelistic responsibility towards our relatives, colleagues, neighbours and friends. And it will also reach out in global concern for the missionary witness of the church.

--From "The Message of the Sermon on the Mount" (The Bible Speaks Today Series: Leicester and Downers Grove: IVP, 1978), p. 170.

----------------------------------------------------
--Excerpted from "Authentic Christianity", pp. 43-44, by permission of InterVarsity Press.

rugby goes to paris

2007-10-03T14:49:00.000-05:00

2007 is a Rugby World Cup year, and the England v. Tonga match landed on Mick's birthday. Even though he had the tickets long before we met, I got to go! Yay! :)

We went. We saw. We took some piccies! There aren't as many as I would normally take, but I was so preoccupied with being the tour guide that I didn't take the time to get my camera out that often.

England beat Tonga quite legitimately, but while there are other final scores of 103-8 being put on the tally board, we couldn't agree with a fellow England fan that the England-Tonga score (36-20) meant that we "stuffed 'em".

Now, who's impressed with my incredible picture-posting speed...given my recent performance?

i don't get it

2007-10-02T03:22:00.000-05:00

I read a excerpt of this article during my morning commute today.

It does make it sound more like family members are pressuring them than they are seeking advice from psychics themselves...but still...I'd have thought phrases "devout catholic" and "psychic advice" would never really come into contact with each other.

snapshots of ireland

2007-09-24T14:22:00.000-05:00

A little late (as are all my picture posts these days), but here are some photos of our tour of Northern Ireland in late August.

blog roll update

2007-09-21T02:08:00.000-05:00

Jonah has (re-)entered the blogging world! Hooray!

two things

2007-09-20T02:37:00.000-05:00

Arr! I ain't believin' me own bad memory! I failed to direct all ye good folks to pay homage to Talk Like a Pirate Day yesterday, I did. What a squiffy I am.
Jonah told me about this monstrosity a little while ago, but I managed to put it out of my mind, until Greg reminded me. One word: UGGABUGGA!!!!

happy 25th!

2007-09-19T05:41:00.000-05:00

It seems the smiley "emoticon" is 25 years old!

Thanks to Jonah for passing this little tidbit along.

brrr!!

2007-09-18T02:30:00.000-05:00

YAY! Today is the first day of properly chilly autumn weather in London...so there was actual NEED for my morning latte (over and above my caffeine addiction).

Scarves are out...the air is crisp and chilly...ah, it's wonderful!

it's ridiculous...

2007-09-10T09:16:00.000-05:00

...how cute baby Daniel is, especially in his Wagamama t-shirt!

summer photos

2007-09-02T16:03:00.001-05:00

Well...some of them, anyway.

Here's the snapshots from the trip to Houston and LA in July.

More pictures to come soon, from the trip to Ireland. And for those of you following along, both Abby and I survived quite well. Mick might be dreaming of a holiday without either of us, but all of us arrived home safely. :)

i can't resist

2007-08-23T06:50:00.000-05:00

...I'm totally copying this from my friend Beth.

It turns out...snails actually really are cute!!

I'm not sure I'm going to stop eating them, though.

bank holidays: no joking around

2007-08-21T08:36:00.000-05:00

Given that I can't keep up with any of the other trips (large or small) and associated pictures that require posting for your viewing pleasure...I thought another trip away to pile on the picture-posting stress would be a good idea.

Seriously though...a(nother) trip to Ireland is around the corner! Mick and Abby and I are going to Northern Ireland for 4 days! Yes: I'm going to be on vacation with a 4 year old person. Nobody panic: I will have supervision!

What prompted me to share this bit of information with you, my dear reader, when I don't typically pre-share all of my other holiday plans? Well, because it seems the British don't kid around with their holidays, and that makes me chuckle a little bit.

Almost all my friends here and several work colleagues (total English phrase I can't not use) are all fleeing the immediate area for the bank holiday this coming Monday (thus creating a 3-day weekend trip, at the least). If some of us weren't going to other parts of the UK, I'd be nervous that there would be a mass exodus of the entire country, leaving nobody to watch the cricket matches! Oh wait...nobody watches those anyway.

a few pictures

2007-08-15T06:48:00.000-05:00

There are heaps of photos I'm working through to post an album of Houston, LA, Christchurch and Edinburgh sometime soon.

However, for now I offer a few random snapshots...because something is better than nothing, right?

Mick loves trucks...and they are EVERYWHERE in Texas. Yeehaw!

Obligatory stop in Houston for boots and a hat. Yes, we're at "Boot Town".

Mick's mom (mum) in Christchurch with tiger-faced Abby. don't you LOVE her dress?!

The fam (L to R): Abby, Mick, Nanny Ruby, Margaret, Barry.

Beach huts along the quay in Mudeford (near Christchurch).

View from Mudeford toward the Isle of Wight.

Heather "accepts" a flyer for a Fringe show in Edinburgh.

Ensign Ewart pub...this one's just for Kelly. :)

I guess the Cow Parade came through Scotland as well...?

And finally, one for all my punny friends...a souvenir shop in Edinburgh.

return...with a guest blogger

2007-08-13T05:05:00.000-05:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

After a season of relative silence, I offer a return to the blogging world by way of a guest post courtesy of my Mick. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dovie asked me to do something about this photo for her blog ages ago…apologies for the delay…even though you didn’t know there had been one until just now.

A couple of years ago I was watching a news report that had something to do with Canterbury Cathedral. I really can’t remember what it was, and to be honest it really doesn’t matter. The news reporter was standing at the bottom of this flight of old and worn stone steps while saying his bit to the camera.

For some reason the thought struck me that these steps were a symbol of hope. When the steps were first put in place they would have had sharp square edges and have been completely smooth and flat. The thought of changing the shape of those hard stone steps simply by walking on them would have seemed ridiculous. Yet hundreds of years later, thousands of feet have walked up and down those steps and slowly over those centuries the shape of the steps has changed.

Sometimes I look at situations that seem just too vast for me to realistically expect any significant change. It’s at times like that when I need to remember the steps, remember my God and faithfully play my part.

Dovie and I went to Canterbury Cathedral earlier this year and walked up and down those same steps. We took this picture as a reminder of hope.

my, how the time does fly

2007-07-19T15:47:00.000-05:00

I'm dangerously close to a month of silence. I'd chalk it up to writer's block, but the truth is that life is just a bit out of control these days.

However, it's been an eventful summer so far. Here are a few pictures from July.

less is more

2007-06-26T04:08:00.000-05:00

Jonah and I were talking last night about a few specific situations that have recently happened which make me wish I had the power to actually change the world.

It reminded him of this Tolstoy quote:

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."

Ouch. Tolstoy also said:

"True life is lived when tiny changes occur."

Wow. Eight tiny, but powerful, words.

Interestingly, one of the things that came out in our conversation last night is that I have a habit of over-explaining things.

I know that I do this. I HATE that I do this.

It's one of the things that frustrates me in other people...but I'm guilty of doing it myself!! I won't out Jonah on any of the things that came out about him, but since this is my blog, I'm happy to use it for my own personal confessional. (See! I just did it then a little bit! Oi! What am I like?!)

I think that this over-explaining habit has something to do with the fact that I like quotes.

Partly, it's nice to find a blurb where someone famous says something that supports your thinking, because somehow that seems to make it more valid - which is an entirely separate discussion which might be fun to have.

But really...the reason they appeal to me is that when you find a quote that sums up an idea or argument really well, it's fantastic...because the best things come in small packages, right?

The most difficult thing for me is finding the delicate balance in giving enough background for people to get the big picture with sufficient detail, so that when you throw out a punchy one-liner...it has real impact.

birthday shout out!

2007-06-25T06:15:00.000-05:00

The holder of the strong opinion was born this day many moons ago.

Is it time yet for those "By the time Jesus was your age...he'd saved the world" jokes yet? Or did I miss my chance at that last year?

weekend snapshots

2007-06-18T14:31:00.000-05:00

Jonah and I went to Kent this weekend. The rain followed us almost all the way to Canterbury, but we lost it somewhere along the way.

Even though it wasn't exactly a pilgrimage, we walked for hours around the city on Saturday and saw quite a fair bit of history, most of which we were completely unaware of...much like one is when traipsing around Rome.

On Sunday, we got out the atlas and picked a place to spend the day along the way back to Wimbledon. There were lots of choices, but we decided on Hever Castle - which we've both decided was a very good choice.

For the picture lovers: here they are. ENJOY!

the story of the kerfuffle

2007-06-14T06:24:00.000-05:00

I left work at 5:30 for the first time in weeks on Monday. Excited to have an early night at home with no other commitments, I came strolling through the main door of my block of flats just after 6:00, and that's when the fun started.

There's a flat just inside the main door, and I heard an alarm going off inside. Oven timer? Smoke alarm?? Burglar alarm???

Knock, knock, knock. No answer. Hmm...I head back outside to check the windows...can't see a thing inside. Grr. Well, maybe it's nothing. Up the stairs to change clothes and wait a few minutes to come back down to check again.

Coming back out of my flat, I could have sworn I smelled something electrical burning, so I hurried downstairs to investigate further. Still the alarm is beeping. Still no answer at the door. The door isn't hot, but after another quick run upstairs to knock on the neighbor directly above said flat, I'm now convinced I smell an electrical burn of some sort. Right, then...I'm calling the fire brigade! My first ever 911 call (though it's actually 999 in England).

Fifteen minutes later, they showed up and 3 firefighters poured out of the truck. They can't decide if the smoke they're smelling is really there, or just their clothes. I'm thinking: "Seriously guys?" They do all sorts of poking around and peering through windows with fancy heat-sensitive cameras and can't find any reason to break down the door or do anything else.

So I get a "Well, you did the right thing by calling, but there's not really anything else we can do." Um, thanks...I guess.

I trudged back upstairs, convinced something still wasn't right, but who am I to argue with a fireman about FIRES? I decided I'd come back down and sniff around in about 15 minutes. I mean, clearly the building isn't on fire, but maybe things will have changed in a bit.

I hate to admit it, but I got distracted and forgot to watch the clock. About 30 minutes passed before I FELT something shake the building.

Um, I think the fire brigade is back, and I think they just broke down the door. I managed to grab my handbag and mobile phone and get downstairs in about 10 seconds where a neighbor confirmed that, yep, it was just as I suspected. Someone else got home and went through the very same scenario...and this time the smell was strong enough to convince them they needed to go in.

I still don't know exactly what happened, but three firemen came and knocked on my door two separate times and spent some time poking around the heating cupboard checking wires and such. Sadly, none of them appeared to be a fire brigade calendar model. Unlucky.

And that was it. A funny sounding smoke alarm. The smell of electrical burn. A fruitless first call to 911. But a night that ended with a broken-down door for one of my neighbors and a nasty smell in the hallway.

All rather anti-climactic, but I guess that's what you want in a potential fire situation, isn't it?

what a waste

2007-06-13T02:06:00.000-05:00

The London 2012 Olympic logo has caused quite a kerfuffle (there's that word again) on this side of the Atlantic.

It cost £400,000 to create and is U-G-L-Y, which has sparked even more bitterness about the overall cost of the Games, which as risen from the original estimate of £2.35 billion to the current estimate of £9.3 billion. Ouch!

There's an online petition to have a new one commissioned, and people from all over the UK are sending in their cut at an improvement on the icon that will label the Games. The BBC has posted at least 2 galleries of images: this one and this one.

Of the amateur submissions the BBC has posted, I think they would have spent the money better by giving it to the guy who created this one:

Or they could have given it to me. I'm sure I could come up with something than the official logo. Or something people would hate less, at least!

word of the day: kerfuffle

2007-06-12T09:44:00.000-05:00

There was a bit of a kerfuffle at my building last night.

Unfortunately, I don't have time to write the story at the moment (oh, to be a well-trained journalist who can throw down a 10,000 word story in 30 minutes or less).

However, I'll leave you with this teaser: I got to dial 911 for the first time in my life.

paintball, anyone?

2007-06-11T06:46:00.000-05:00

We went. We saw. We did not conquer.

On Saturday, Jonah (a.k.a. Mick) and I went for a day of paintball with his brother and brother's fiancee...and 14 or so complete strangers that we got paired up with once we arrived.

The opposing team that we competed against all day was CLEARLY more experienced than our rag-tag bunch, and we lost by a land-slide.

And it was pretty hot out.

And the masks you have to wear (complete with someone else's sweat from the day before) constantly steam up so you can't see anything.

And sometimes you do something stupid like leave the field because you got hit before you realize that it bounced off and the paintball didn't explode (which therefore doesn't count as a legitimate hit). Sometimes you do this 2 or 3 times. Ahem.

And sometimes the guy you nail right in the knee refuses to acknowledge he's been shot, hides from the game marshalls and proceeds to wipe off the hit. GRR!

BUT...and this makes everything else above worth it...

YOU GET TO SHOOT A (paintball) GUN ALL DAY LONG!

Excellent stress reliever. I highly recommend it. In a word: cathartic.

Highlight of the day: Jonah was the only one to earn bonus points for our entire team (including the strangers) all day long! At the end of the day, a decent percentage of our total points earned were directly attributable to him (which unfortunately tells you a lot about how many overall points we earned)!

I blame the strangers for our overall loss on the day. I mean...I'm a TEXAS GIRL. I was practically born with a BB gun in my hand. And with the team hero coming from our little foursome...there's a clear theme emerging here, I think.

two for the price of one

2007-06-10T11:35:00.000-05:00

First, at long last...I have finally finished the bit of editing I wanted to do on Barcelona pictures, and you can see them here. Yes, I know that I forgot to edit the title paragraph, but I haven't figured out how to fix that in the last 30 seconds, and I'll live with the imperfection.

Second, I did a 5K with my friend Janet this morning. I'll spare you the before and during pictures...but here's our "after" shot.

communication tip #274

2007-06-07T07:55:00.000-05:00

Don't ever let your marriage become like this one.

an offering

2007-06-07T04:59:00.000-05:00

In the absence of anything else blog-worthy these days (save, of course, the forthcoming pictures of Barcelona)...I offer the following, which should at least be good for a chuckle:

A bloke sitting in the pub hears voices coming from the bowl of peanuts on the bar..."How are you doing?" says the voice..."You're looking well. Have you lost weight? That shirt looks good...takes years off of you"

Strange though it is, he quite enjoys the attention until he walks over to the jukebox and a voice says "Oi, you! Get out of my pub, you ugly prat, before I smash your face in!"

He goes back to the bar and mentions to the barman that the peanuts were saying such nice things to him, but the jukebox was really quite rude.

The barman says "Yeah, I know. The peanuts are complimentary but the jukebox is out of order."

Let the groaning and eye-rolling commence...

shameless

2007-06-01T03:18:00.000-05:00

So, I still haven't finished editing my photos of Barcelona...but feel like I should have at least something to offer my faithful few readers. Now, this may not seem like something FOR you, but really...it is...sort of.

Wait for it...

< plug >

Basically, I'd like to draw attention to the fact that my half-birthday is coming up in just a few (well, seven) short weeks. I thought I'd alert you now if you're the kind of person that enjoys giving half-birthday presents to your favorite people.

If you are that kind of person, it may prove helpful to know that I have a wish list on Amazon.com, AND that I'm not opposed to USED BOOKS.

And honestly, I do want to read everything on that list...in no particular order, but if the first book I got happened to look like the one below...I would be delighted.

And really, there's only so many John Grisham books a girl can read in a row. After the second one, all the characters start to blend together and you start wondering what happened to what's-his-name only to realize later that he's not even IN this one! Basically, I need to be able to alternate between fun stuff and good-for-the-soul stuff, and we all know that reading is FUNdamental.

I'm just sayin'...most of us are not fortunate enough to have perfectly-timed birthdays such that we're never more than six months away from presents...and there's plenty of time for shopping and shipping between now and July 21.

< /plug >