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Sunday, June 29, 2003
I got home at about 1:45 am this morning. Rachel and I went out "clubbing" last night. Well, maybe clubbing is too strong a word; we went to a couple of different bars to check out two bands. One, of course, was the aforementioned Hayseed Dixie at a place called the Cadillac Ranch. When we were driving over, Rachel said the name made it sound like a strip club. I said it sounded like a place that would have a mechanical bull on the dance floor. I was right. The place advertises itself as having the only mechanical bull in Lexington. Thank God. It was flashback to Urban Cowboy. A very interesting place if you're into people watching, though. We had to sit through the house band to get to Hayseed Dixie, and the house band was fairly talented, but tended toward that axiom of, "If you can't play really good, play really loud." We sat through about half of the 1st set of Hayseed Dixie (who were great fun, btw), then went to Cheapside Bar and Grill to see a band that I had seen in the paper, the Patty Butcher Blues Band. Patty and I used to sing together in a band called Drop Top, many years ago. When I saw her name in the paper, I had to go check it out. Since Rachel is apparently a big blues fan, she was happy to go along. We ended up closing out that place and had great fun. Patty and I exchanged phone numbers, because she said that some of the members of Drop Top (which, btw, refers to a convertible car) wanted to do a "reunion" gig or something and would I be interested. I think I might be interested in a one- or two-time thing, but with the hours I'm putting in at work and the hours it requires for practice, etc., with a band, it wouldn't work for more than that. Drop Top, btw, was a '50's and '60's cover band, and I was basically the "doo-wop" girl, or backup singer. It was great fun in those days, but it also put me in a bad place in some spiritual areas. I want to be careful that, if I do hang out with them again, that they know I'm in a different place now and want it to stay that way. posted by #Debi at 11:04 AM | permalink |
0 comments | There was an interesting story in Friday's Herald-Leader about blogging and the perils of writing about your friends, job, co-workers, etc., online. It's entitled "Bloggers Beware", and you can read it here. I've often wondered about this concept, and sometimes feel a little stifled in what I want to write, because I never know whether someone involved in the story or someone who ought not know about a certain incident will stumble upon my blog and end up getting hurt. I know I don't usually write hurtful stuff in here, but there's always the chance when you write about interactions with other people that you will reveal something about that person (or about yourself, for that matter) that should have been kept to oneself. There are things about my past, for example, that I would like to publish here for the edification of other Christians or seekers ("testimonies", if you will) that my family doesn't know about and that would hurt them unnecessarily if they knew. I haven't figured out quite yet how to resolve that, but have been seriously considering a second, anonymous blog. I haven't figured out quite how to keep it anonymous, though. Any thoughts? posted by #Debi at 10:31 AM | permalink |
0 comments | Saturday, June 28, 2003 I should be napping now, but I wanted to post quickly before I go do that. I just got back from the gym, and here's the torture du jour: 45 minutes of stationary bike We are heading out later to check out Hayseed Dixie at the Cadillac Ranch. I'll let you know if it was any good. Back to the gym tomorrow! posted by #Debi at 6:57 PM | permalink |
0 comments | Thursday, June 26, 2003 Hooray! I tried to post last night, but Blogger was still moving over to the new system. This one looks pretty cool so far, if I can just figure out how to get to everything. We shall see. I wanted to post yesterday an example of what I've been doing at the gym. Here's a rundown of what I did on Tuesday: 30 minutes of stationary bike We've worked up to doing this or a similar amount of exercises for other areas of the body 3 times a week. Rachel says we eventually need to increase the cardio part to an hour. I'll be glad when I'm able to do that, because it'll mean I'm getting back into shape. Yay! posted by #Debi at 6:31 AM | permalink |
0 comments | Tuesday, June 24, 2003 Just got back from the gym a little while ago. I'm still having fun with that, even though Rachel's "challenging" me quite a bit. I'm trying really hard not to be a wimp, and at least attempting everything she puts in front of me. I haven't really lost any weight yet, but am starting to notice a little less jiggle in the belly. I'm doing way more than I thought I'd be able to do, and I'm looking forward to that hard body (well, that not-so-soft body, anyway). One neat thing is that people there are starting to recognize me and say hi and such. It occurred to me on the way home tonight that there might at some point be a missional aspect to this. That'd be cool. For those who have asked, things have been somewhat better in the past couple of days at work. On Monday the girl I mentioned (whom I'll call "A") wasn't at work, so I had a bit of a reprieve. Today she was there, and actually seemed to make an effort to at least be civil. She even said hello when we passed each other in the hallway. I know that one of my other co-workers took it upon herself to have a chat with her on Friday and tried to make her see that her behavior was not productive, and may have even hinted that she might reap "consequences" from it. (What she actually said, I believe, was that if it continued and I had to go to HR over it, she could end up losing her job. I had no intention of doing this unless there was absolutely no other recourse, but that prospect apparently had some effect on A.) The thing that bothers me the most about this whole situation is that A is very vocal about the fact that she is a Christian and goes to one of the largest churches in town. Some of our currently unchurched co-workers are watching this deal closely, and have made comments about the hypocrisy of A's behavior. My prayer is that I can be a better model of Christ than I usually am, so that He will be glorified in this. In other work-related news, I found out today that there may be a "freeze" on PLD (paid leave days) until we are caught up. This, if it turns out to be the case, will be another demoralizing straw to add to our backs. I know a few folks who will not be at all happy to hear this. At this time, I kinda feel like I have to stay there, for the health insurance if nothing else, but others may be more inclined to leave. One more girl handed in her 2 week notice yesterday, which will just put that much more pressure on the rest of us. Yee haw, fun times a'comin'! posted by #Debi at 10:41 PM | permalink |
0 comments | Monday, June 23, 2003 "We enter into the Mystery of the Holy Trinity not so much by thinking and imagining, as by loving. Thought and imagination soon reach the limits beyond which they cannot pass, and these limits still fall infinitely short of the reality of God. But love, overstepping all bounds and flying beyond limitations with the wings of God's own Spirit, penetrates into the very depths of the mystery and apprehends Him Whom our intelligence is unable to see. This should be an...interesting week at work. The situation with the girl at work who was treating me like a leper has gotten steadily worse, to the point now that everyone in my department has noticed it and want me to do something about it. On Friday I wanted to do something about it, but by the time it got really bad, my supervisor had already left for the day. I left work Friday with TMJ symptoms and cramps in my arms from the tension this is causing. I just want there to be harmony at work, or at least a lessening in the drama. This week we have bigwigs from corporate coming in to check us out, and we have lost several workers, including our unit manager. All this makes for a very uncertain, tense atmosphere. I'm starting to tense up just thinking about it, so I'll use the Scarlett O'Hara method and not think about it now. At least the working out is helping with the tension. I am really enjoying that. Rachel and I worked out both Saturday and Sunday. She was cracking me up after I told her about the work goings-on, periodically saying things like, "See, working out is good for tension! You're not even thinking about work now, are you?" (Well, I wasn't 'til you said that!) Well, I'm running late in my preparations for work, so I'd better get to it. Pray for me if you think of it. Oh, by the way, the Merton quote is there just because Merton made the CQOD! Plus, it's a continuation on a theme God's been ministering to me, so I thought others might benefit as well. posted by #Debi at 6:56 AM | permalink |
0 comments | Friday, June 20, 2003 Check this out, too: Bene Diction writes about the 21st century Noah building his Ark in Canada. posted by #Debi at 6:50 AM | permalink |
0 comments | Check it out: Darren Rowse is writing a new book, called Gary Kotter and the Theologian's Drone. You can read his synopsis here. posted by #Debi at 6:39 AM | permalink |
0 comments | Tuesday, June 17, 2003 OK, here's a funny quiz, thanks to Dave: What Robot Are You?
Eeeeeyyyyuuuuuhhhh!!!! posted by #Debi at 7:31 PM | permalink |
0 comments | Some time ago, a friend told me about a hilarious band, Hayseed Dixie. They are a bluegrass band that does covers of '80's heavy metal bands. Their first album was "A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC", and they have a new album entitled, "Kiss My Grass--A Hillbilly Tribute to Kiss". If you click on the albums on the website, you can hear samples of their music. Anyway, on June 28th, they are coming to Lexington, to the Starlight Lounge. Rachel and I have decided to go, and we're going to try to get a group together. If anyone's interested, let me know! Meanwhile, check out the Hayseed Dixie website. If nothing else, it's good for a chuckle! posted by #Debi at 12:39 PM | permalink |
0 comments |  I saw this symbol on the back of a truck last night on the way home from visiting with my family. I thought it was so amusing, I had to share it. The image comes from this website, which I found via a Google search. They have most of those knock-off fish symbols you may have seen on cars, and a few that I haven't seen in use yet. Check them out if you are a Christian with a sense of humor. Those without may be offended at some of the designs. posted by #Debi at 12:11 PM | permalink |
0 comments | Monday, June 16, 2003 Well, Rachel has worked me like a draft horse two days in a row, but yet I still have the strength to type. Thanks for the prayers, Rich--I survived! :^) Of course, Rachel says she's just sucking me in to the habit of working out, and then she'll really pour it on! Seriously tho', it's actually not all that bad, and kinda fun. I know I wouldn't be doing this without someone to encourage me like Rachel, and I desperately need to be doing this. I was beginning to be frightened for myself and my Jabba-the-Hut-like condition. Maybe soon I'll actually be able to see some of these muscles I'm working. I've also discovered from paying way too much at the gym that I really like smoothies! If anyone has any good recipes for them, pass them along via email. I'm getting ready to head up to eastern Kentucky in a few hours to go to my mom and dad's place. My brother and his family are in from Kansas, and I get to spend the day with them. They are bringing the two younger kids to stay with "Grandma and Popeye" for a few weeks. That should test their stamina! posted by #Debi at 6:30 AM | permalink |
0 comments | Friday, June 13, 2003 I was listening to the Rush Limbaugh Show today (yeah, I'll admit to being a Rush listener--not every day, but sometimes), and the guest host mentioned an editorial from the Washington Post that I found very interesting. So, I thought I'd share it. Here's a sample: "Everyone thought Hussein had weapons because we knew for sure he had them five years ago and there was no evidence that he had disposed of them. The weapons-hyping charge is nothing more than the Iraqi museum story Part II: A way for opponents of the war -- deeply embarrassed by the mass graves, torture chambers and grotesque palaces discovered after the war -- to change the subject and relieve themselves of the shame of having opposed the liberation of 25 million people." Read the rest here.
posted by #Debi at 10:26 PM | permalink |
0 comments | My Bloginality is ESTJ!!! As an ESTJ, your personality is Extrovert, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging. This makes your primary focus on Extraverted Thinking with Introverted Sensing. This is defined as a SJ personality, which is part of Carl Jung's Guardian (Security Seeking) type, and more specifically the Supervisors. Link via Darren, by way of Bene Diction. posted by #Debi at 9:50 PM | permalink |
0 comments | Cool! Got my counter and guestmap back, after about two months. I had to just make a guess and reset my counter. I suppose it really doesn't matter, except from an ego standpoint. Those of you who've never signed my guestmap, please do. It's a cool thing for me to know who all is reading this, or at least where you're from. I think things are pretty much up to date now, except for some links to be added as I think of them. If only organizing my apartment would be so easy! posted by #Debi at 9:26 PM | permalink |
0 comments | Yay! Alan made a major breakthrough discovery of what was causing my blog to screw up, so now I'm finally able to start rebuilding my links, etc., in the right-hand column. Expect to see some minor updates in the next few days. You'll already have noticed the "photo album" is back, and I'm planning to alphabetize my links (because I can, that's why!). So, bear with me as I do a bit of minor tidying up... posted by #Debi at 7:41 PM | permalink |
0 comments | Thursday, June 12, 2003 Jesus, like all other religious leaders, taught men to pray, that is, He taught them to look away from the world of ordinary sense impressions and to open the heart and spirit to God; yet He is always insistent that religion must be related to life. It is only by contact with God that a better quality of living can be achieved -- and Jesus Himself, as the records show, spent many hours in communion with God -- yet that new quality of life has to be both demonstrated and tested in the ordinary rough-and-tumble of plain living. It is in ordinary human relationships that the validity of a man's communion with God is to be proved. We had our bi-weekly meeting (bi-weekly for the summer, that is) last night. It was an extremely good discussion time. We did the evening office, then talked about impressions recieved from the contents of that. The Bible reading was striking for me, since it basically directly answered a situation I've been going through at work. The verse is 1 Peter 5:5b-7: "In your relations with one another, clothe yourselves with humility, because God 'is stern with the arrogant but to the humble He shows kindness.' Bow humbly under God's mighty hand, so that in due time He may lift you high. Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you." I have been struggling at work with a co-worker who acts as though she thinks that even the most casual contact with me will give her leprosy or something, to the point of not entering a room if she sees I'm in it, or moving away if I approach (like, 10' away). I'm mystified by this behavior, and have even asked her if she's mad at me or if I've done something wrong. She says no, and I have to accept that answer until she's ready to discuss it, I guess. It's just that, until or unless she tells me what the deal is, I can't "fix it", and I am definitely a "fixer" type of person. That makes for a very good legalist, I know, and I'm working on that in me (well, God is). In other news, it looks like I have acquired a workout partner. Rachel knows what she's doing, since she used to be a personal trainer. We are getting together Saturday for our first "session"--pray for me that I survive! :^)
posted by #Debi at 6:42 AM | permalink |
0 comments | Go check out Matt's very cool new look! That's really his hands in the picture. See also if you can guess who his web designer is... posted by #Debi at 6:20 AM | permalink |
0 comments | Wednesday, June 11, 2003 Here's a very cool quiz, complements of Andrew:
I'd be especially interested in hearing what result my fellow VBCC'ers get, but anyone who takes it, give us a comment and let me (and the world) know what your result was.
posted by #Debi at 11:41 PM | permalink |
0 comments | Sunday, June 08, 2003 Last night, we had our monthly celebration, with members of several communities joining with us to celebrate Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Pentecost, and just the goodness of God in general. Alan has posted a lovely synopsis of the goings-on over at The Vine. Kyle was there, as well as Rachel, Pete and Trudi Matthews, and several other, non-blogging types. A bunch of us went out afterward for pizza, then a smaller subset of that group ended up over at Matt's until after midnight watching a movie and TV. As Ana Gasteyer says on SNL, "good times!" So today is Pentecost Sunday, and instead of the frenetic activity I usually associate with anything "Pentecostal" (being of a charismatic background), it has been a very slow-moving (think "sloth"--the animal), quiet, rainy Sunday--very peaceful and very much what I had in mind. I'm planning on continuing the trend for the rest of the evening, so I'll leave you with the CQOD for today: "Recently, some Christians have recognized the existing state of the church as sinful, or, at least, as faulty and mistaken. They are trying to save the Christians out of this labyrinth by reuniting the divided churches, by forming an alliance of churches, or by trying to form an ecumenical church. For all that, it seems very difficult to obtain the desired result, because all the present churches are still standing on the principles of the Reformation, unable to rid themselves of the sectarian spirit inherited from Catholicism. So the number of denominations and sects shows no sign of decreasing, and all efforts to unite the churches seem likely to end only in the formation of yet other sects and denominations. Yet the center of Christianity is neither institution nor organization. Nor is it even the Bible itself, as the Reformers made it, for the Eklesia existed before the formation of the New Testament canon. Christians were in fellowship with God and one another, centering their faith in Christ, long before there was any accepted New Testament. There is only one center of Christianity -- spiritual fellowship with God through Jesus Christ." It just goes to show that there really is nothing new under the sun. Selah!
posted by #Debi at 6:57 PM | permalink |
0 comments | Saturday, June 07, 2003 And yet another quiz, by way of Dave:
posted by #Debi at 6:28 AM | permalink |
0 comments | Thursday, June 05, 2003 Ooh, the Manor House website has quizzes on it! In the "who would you be if living in 1905" quiz, I should be a "lodging housekeeper", which, according to the graph, is about 3/4 of the way up the social ladder for women. In the other quiz, the snob quiz, I come out as 70% snob. To quote the quiz, I'm "safely out of super-snob territory. But watch yourself--a couple more sun-dried tomatoes here and a few more trips to Dean and Deluca (?) there and you might be veering dangerously towards the stuck-up. Best go and touch some grubby sick people to keep your inner snob at bay." On that note, I think I'll go to bed and dream about work. :^( posted by #Debi at 11:52 PM | permalink |
0 comments | I just finished watching an interesting program on KET, our local public TV station. The program was called Manor House, and it’s sort of a British reality show where regular 21st-century folks role-play at being either the master and his family or the servants of the house. It was intriguing to see the people struggling to fit into their roles and rely only on what would have been available in 1905. It was the 1st episode, and already one of the “servants” has decided she’s not cut out for it and just left, without taking her belongings or anything. I did learn one very interesting etymological fact that answered a question that I’ve had for many years. They said that the time of your main meal of the day depended on whether you were “upstairs” or “downstairs”. The family of the house usually had their main meal of the day in the evening, so the staff had to eat their main meal at mid-day, and that that was why some working-class people still called the mid-day meal “dinner”. I made the mental leap and figured that this is why people in America call their meals either breakfast/lunch/dinner or breakfast/dinner/supper, depending on who they were descended from. Makes sense, eh? Anyway, I got my dose of “edumacation” today. posted by #Debi at 11:33 PM | permalink |
0 comments | I should know better than to try to cook... I nearly set the apartment on fire due to inattention to detail tonight. The "detail" I wasn't attending to was the toaster, which was busily turning my toast into charcoal while I was trying to get online this evening. I actually forgot that I had put toast in, so that when the smoke alarm went off, I couldn't figure out for a moment where the smoke was coming from. I thought it was the burner that I was using to boil spaghetti. Then I realized the deal, and quickly baptised my chartoast in the sink. Then I had to open the door to the apartment and a window and wave about with a newspaper to get the noise, the noise! to stop. The place still smells a bit like ash. Ugh! I am seriously the movie magnet these days. I already wrote about the movie gift certificates that I won at work, but I forgot to tell that the same day I won 6 movie rentals from a radio station for knowing that Bob Hope used to own part of the Cleveland Indians. Then today I got a letter from Columbia House, with whom I used to have a membership for DVD's. I say used to, because I forgot to pay a bill from them and got disinvited to be a member. I paid the bill about a month or two ago as part of my "get out of debt" New Year's resolution. Anyway, today I got a notice from them that I can pick out several DVD's to fulfill my membership, since I already paid for them. So that's 4 "free" DVD's for my collection! I think I'm getting both the Austin Powers movies that are out so far, and a couple others that I haven't definitely decided on yet. This should keep me busy for a while. Saturday is our monthly gathering at VBCC. For details, check over at The Vine. Anyone who can come join us, we'd love to see y'all! posted by #Debi at 10:00 PM | permalink |
0 comments | Tuesday, June 03, 2003 After I signed out, I went to bed (it was midnight after all), and took my copy of The Message with me. I was a little keyed up (see previous post), and reading helps. Also, I have decided that since Pentecost is coming up, it would be good to read the book of Acts again. Since it was midnight and I'm "of a certain age", it didn't take me long to be snoozing. But, I did manage to get through the introduction :^). Actually, I was very struck by several things said in the intro, so much so that I wanted to share them. Here is an excerpt: Because the story of Jesus is so impressive--God among us! God speaking a language we can understand! God acting in ways that heal and help and save us!--there is a danger that we will be impressed, but only be impressed. As the spectacular dimensions of this story slowly (or suddenly) dawn upon us, we could easily become enthusiastic spectators, and then let it go at that--become admirers of Jesus, generous with our oohs and ahs, and in our better moments inspired to imitate him. Talk about spurring one on toward love and good deeds! posted by #Debi at 6:47 AM | permalink |
0 comments | Monday, June 02, 2003 I laughed, I cried, Liz snorted...  Yesterday, Liz and I went to see "Bruce Almighty". It was even better than I had thought it might be. There were the most hilarious moments in it, some potty humor (which Liz and I seem to like), and also some very poignant moments. I won't tell much about the plot--if you surf many of the same blogs I do, you've got an idea of the plot. I had heard (read) lots of things about how there is an overt Christian message, etc., but was frankly sceptical, given that it does star Jim Carrey and all. He's not exactly known for "spiritual" movies. But I was pleasantly surprised. It was almost like one of those movies produced by Franklin Graham's production company, except for a couple of scenes that definitely wouldn't pass the censor there. It is rated PG-13, so you might want to watch it by yourself before taking the kids along. Oh, yeah--make sure you hang around for a few moments after you think it's over--like a lot of Jim Carrey movies, there's out takes at the end. Although, as Liz said, the "in-takes" (her coined word) were just as funny. I think this is definitely one for the DVD collection. We got to go for free (well, for the most part) because I "won" more theater gift certificates at work (that was how I was able to take Matt and Brian out last weekend). I put won in quotes because the certificates were actually an incentive to do overtime at work. All those who actually showed up for all their scheduled OT in a pay period got them. As Matt said when I told him I'd gotten another set, it's sad that you win a prize just for showing up when you're supposed to at work. My answer to him was that the truly sad part was that only 2 of us got them. It's now looking like we will be doing overtime throughout the month of June as well. Good for the pocketbook, not so great for morale. 'K, I'm a little freaked out right now, because it sounds like someone is shooting a firearm outside the apartment complex. There was a woman found dead this morning outside a home in another neighborhood in town. One of her neighbors was quoted as saying that the sound of gunfire had become so prevalent on her street lately that they didn't think to look out and see what was going on. That's so very sad, but I have to admit that, even though it's not a usual thing in this neighborhood and I hope it's just someone shooting off fireworks, I'm a little afraid to look out the window in case it was gunfire and I end up shot myself. Over-reacting? Probably, but I don't like the trend of things in town lately, especially with the recent stuff going on in city government. They are talking about cutting the budget for police and firemen, even though these workers are already so underpaid that a lot of them are leaving to find better paying jobs elsewhere. Our little town is growing up, I guess, and not totally in a good way. This wasn't the way I had intended to end this post, but there it is. posted by #Debi at 11:56 PM | permalink |
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