Sweets

So after looking at pictures I've realized I need to get back on my eating routine. I definitely took a break for a while. Linz and I are horrible accountability partners. Especially Linz's weakness for ice-cream, chocolate, starbucks, baileys, pretty much anything sweet.

So last week before we left for the Panhandle - I was on the treadmill 4 days straight and I'm back on my eating schedule too.

J

George Robie

My mother's father was 92 when he passed away this last week. It's been a few days since the news and only now has it sunk in after seeing the memorial site my sister recently put up. http://grfmem.blogspot.com

When is was less than twelve I experienced both of my father's parents passing and my mother's mother passing. I don't really know how it affected me as a young pre-teen. I know many other people have experienced loss of fathers, mothers, brothers, and or sisters at an early age, but to that I can only hypothesize the affect or emotions.

My dad's father "Pa" as he was called was larger than life in my memory. I only knew him as a spoiled grandchild - and rightly so I guess. I never really knew much about him and still today I don't fully know much about the lives of any of my grandparents except my mother's father.

Not that I had a personal preference towards any of my grandparents. No. Not at all. I loved them all. It is the simple fact that he (George Robie or Grandad) was the only grandparent I knew as an adult. There were things I got to ask him that I never got the chance to ask the others. I guess it mostly had to do with age and stage of life, but that was my experience.

I remember when grandad used to stay in my eldest sister's room before his age had caught up with him. I came home from whatever function I was attending to a bald headed man asleep with his face buried in his Bible. I never got to the point where I talked spirituality/Christianity with my grandad and I figured he wasn't the type to open up too much on a topic like that. Besides - here was a man who had lived through the Great depression and been a paratrooper who jumped out of planes for pete's sake. I never had the courage to ask him about his time during WWII. I always wanted to, but I figured if he didn't talk about it then he didn't want to. I'm sure there were a lot of painful memories. Probably not all bad, but I didn't want to impose.

I also never got a chance to talk to him about my grandmother. I guess it kind of fell into the "WWII" category. He was a tenderhearted man as far as I could tell. I think the only two times I ever heard him speak of her name he cried. I think the main testimony to Grandad is the legacy of his grandchildren. He has so many. Not only so many, but so many who loved him so much. His room at the Pres. Village had countless pictures of his grand children and great grand children.

It feels so unreal to me. I feel like the trip Lindsay and I will be taking tomorrow could very well be back to Little Rock where we would pick him up and take him to the house so he could argue about smoking outside on the porch. Vantage was his cigarette of choice. Talk about brand loyalty. I never saw that man smoking anything else.

I think men/young guys or whatever you want to call guys like me around 26 don't like to feel or be seen in a vulnerable state. Ever since college I don't think I've really cried in sadness. I don't think my wife has ever seen my cry, but tonight I cried. I know that we are supposed to be happy that he is with Jesus and his wife again, and for that I am happy, but I will miss him.

For my Grandad: I love you.

J

25 Things

Seriously...who hasn't been tagged a dozen times for the "25 Random Things" thing? I don't even know how to write a note in Facebook, but since Kath just did hers on her blog, I figured I could finish mine on here (I actually started this awhile ago but it takes a long time to come up with 25 things about yourself).

1 - When I was about 4, my dad pulled out my sister's trundle bed on my foot and I had to get stitches. It's still the most serious injury I've ever had (I've always been the cautious type).

2 - I was a serious nose picker (we're talking to the point of bleeding people). I can remember picking my nose and hiding the boogers behind the pillows on that plaid couch we had in North Carolina so that my mom wouldn't know. Ewwww...

3 - When I was 5 or 6, I wanted to be a belly dancer for Halloween. My mom bought all the supplies to make my costume and I changed my mind because I was embarrassed to tell people I was going to be a belly dancer. So she made me a purple princess costume instead.

4 - The next year, I went as Lauren's poodle (she was a poodle skirt girl - I had originally wanted to be a poodle skirt girl, too, but she talked me out of it). My mom made me a killer costume, probably because she felt bad that Lauren had convinced me to go as her dog.

5 - I was in speech therapy because I couldn't say my Rs. My tongue still hurts if I think about it.

6 - I started taking piano lessons when I was 5. I begged my mom forever to let me quit. The recital that I literally sat at the piano and didn't know my song (and the teacher wasn't there to help get me through it) was pretty much the breaking point. She finally let me quit, but sometimes I wish she hadn't.

7 - In Kindergarten, we had nap time right before recess. I can only remember going to recess like once the whole year. I've always been a good napper.

8 - When I was in first grade, we moved back to Texas in the middle of the year. In North Carolina we had actual desks that had a little place to keep your pencils. In Texas, they just had tables, and everyone had pencil boxes...everyone but me. So I held my pencils all day...took them to lunch...took them to recess...hid them in my lap when we sat on the floor...because I was embarrassed that I didn't have a pencil box. I went home and made my mom take me to get a pencil box.

9 - In first grade I was also afraid to use the restroom at school. So I didn't. Ever. I held it all day until I got home. Had to learn to minimize liquids.

10 - I had a pet hairless rat named Templeton for several years.

11 - I'm incredibly afraid of roaches...to the point of tears. Something traumatic must have happened to me in my childhood but I've suppressed the memory.

12 - I've always been obsessed with having everything picked up and organized. I can remember in high school that my mom would come in and clean my room so that I could do my homework.

13 - For some reason in college, I learned my roommate Abby's social security number and would check her grades for her. I still know it.

14 - I've never tried to water ski and really have no desire to.

15 - My Indian Princess name was Dancing Firefly.

16 - My favorite alcoholic beverage is Bailey's Irish Cream.

17 - I get really lazy when it comes to food when Jay's not here. Tonight for dinner I had 2 hard boiled eggs, honey roasted peanuts, and french fries. I thought about going to Chik-fil-a but then realized I could find protein and fried crap without having to leave our apartment.

18 - I was finishing my first (and only) triathlon when Hudson was born.

19 - I'm terrified of breaking the rules. I don't like getting in trouble.

20 - I don't like coffee, so I drink Diet Dr. Pepper every morning instead.

21 - I didn't really like Jay when I first met him (he knows this). But I knew I was going to marry him before he knew he was going to marry me.

I quit. That's close enough.

The MOVIES!

Movies.

Man I love the movies. I love going to movies. I love the previews even.

I know I need to watch less T.V. and I also know I need to get outside and enjoy what God has made.

But, with that said. I still love going to a flick now and again. Or at least I used to.

How many times after two or three different advertisements during the previews concerning talking, cell phones, or just plain being distracting are there still people that answer the phone, talk loudly, or even talk to or about the movie (as if they think their personal commentary is wanted by the rest of the theater). Recently I had an old guy who actually fell asleep and SNORED. No lie - he was all bent over the chair and snoring! At a matinee!

I'm sure we have all had ridiculous stories of rude people in the theaters. Guys answering their phone saying "Hey man! ....... (pause) No I can talk - I'm just at the movies" - are you freaking kidding me?

Or people behind you kicking your chair - or the guy in the corner who can't get his candy open and is trying to do it slowly because he knows it's really loud. Just open the darn thing and get it over with.

So here is the latest happening:

Me and a couple of friends of mine decided to go to "The International" which is just a blah typical action film. About 35 minutes into the movie we start to see a couple of people walking around down at the bottom right of the theater. We were up in one of the top rows of this particular showing and after a few minutes of shuffling around we noticed what the commotion was all about.

There was an elderly woman probably in her early to mid 70's with a walker attempting to climb the stairs to a higher seat. She was accompanied by a friend who didn't appear to be much younger. It was dark... I couldn't see that well... give me a break... they were old. Inside my brain a few different questions began to arise:

1. Why is a 70-year-old woman going to see an action film? Not that there aren't any elderly women who don't like shoot'em'ups, but I would assume that's not an unfair assumption and so would also assume it wouldn't be a typical film an old woman would want to see voluntarily.

2. She's 40 minutes into the film and even if she's "with it upstairs" she's going to be confused. I was confused and I had been there from the beginning. So why did she pay to come so late?

3. Why would you choose to sit at the top of the theater (which is where they eventually "landed" - on our very row (2ncd from the top)) if you need a walker for level ground? By the way - we were not in the 10 row dollar theater - we were in the 1 million row AMC 30 humongous auditorium.

So after pondering this and after they initially settled - My friends and I put our attention back onto the confusing and slow movie. But, soon after they settled, we observed another problem. She was hard of hearing and being confused and probably near-sighted as well, she began to ask her companion questions about the film very loudly. Not loud like - "hey we are on the same row and people below us can't hear her it's cool" - I'm talking - the guys who work outside the theater at the concession stand could have answered her questions.... well maybe if they had seen the movie from the beginning.

So immediately one of my friends said "lets move" and we did. We could still hear her through the rest of the film. She was a funny Ol' gal - I'll give her that. She said some hilarious things. I would elaborate, but it would eventually be a "you had to be there" type of funny.

Oh yeah also - the guy who fell asleep and snored - it was during this movie too. To top that off - he did finally wake up to his phone ringing and he answered it.

I was at the 3:35 p.m. matinee showing - what else do I have to do to see a movie without the typical nonsense?

I'm sure the Old gal just loved going to movies as a young woman and maybe she wasn't near sighted but far sighted - I don't really know, but nevertheless.... WOW. And thanks old guy for paying to take a nap next to me. Wouldn't your couch at home be more comfortable and if anything else FREE?

Amazing: I am a magnet for this type of stuff. It's like all the anomalies wait outside until they see me coming and they all watch what movie I buy tickets for and then they come and sit on my row.

J

A Note on Toilet Paper

When Jay and I first got married and moved into our apartment, I spent a lot of time in the toilet paper aisle at the grocery store trying to figure out which specific type to buy. You see, we live in an older apartment, and that little niche where you put the toilet paper in the bathroom is too small to fit all those fancy double/triple/quadruple rolls. And I realized after spending all that time in the toilet paper aisle that there is no such thing as a normal, single roll.

So we tried buying all the skinny looking rolls. This was a very bad idea. I can recall Jay apologizing for one of his purchases because it was so awful - kind of like using notebook paper.

With all our product testing, we eventually discovered Cottonelle. And I will tell you what is so amazing about Cottonelle. It's not quilted or flowery - it's striped!

Graphically, this is so much more appealing to me...much more contemporary. I kind of feel as though all that quilted flowery toilet paper is dated. Everyone wants to get rid of the 80's floral wallpaper, so why is everyone OK with ugly paper products? Paper towels with roosters on them? Paper napkins with ugly flowers or teddy bears? Why do we need quilted? Why does no one change this?

And you might say this is a bit ridiculous for such small items that you don't spend much money on. But people spend a lot of time and energy picking out accessories that are of the same size that sit a few feet away on the counter. And you can buy well-designed, trendy shirts at Target that someone put a lot of thought into for about the same price as a pack of toilet paper. Consumers have just been conditioned to not care...that quilted is somehow better for us.

So if your home decor is not conducive to cottage-y, quilted accessories, I recommend trying Cottonelle next time you buy toilet paper. I think you'll feel good about it.

Money

I came across this today and felt convicted.

"Convicted" is such an easy phrase to throw around - it's easy to feel convicted isn't it? Maybe it's time we started applying our convictions from the Lord.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD LIFE?

The percentage of Americans calling themselves happy peaked in 1957 – despite the fact that consumption has doubled since. Having more does not then mean we enjoy life more – and yet consumption is increasing everywhere except in Africa, where the average household consumes 20% less than it did 25 years ago.

IF YOUR FAMILY INCOME 
IS AT LEAST                                          THEN YOU'RE AMONG THE TOP

$355,000                                                                                1%
 130,600                                                                                5
   93,800                                                                                10
   60,800                                                                                25
   33,400                                                                                50



Jeez

Hot, Sweaty Mess

I know I should be nicer to Jay when he's sick...but it's 2 in the morning and he's keeping me up. Not because he's up, but because he's sleeping so hard that he keeps saying really funny things in his sleep.

For instance, he was mumbling about having to cut down a tree or something and then very clearly said, "That REALLY is a good tree" (a la "Law and Order REALLY is a good show"...same tone).

And then he was mumbling something about who knows what and then sat up and said, "I really can't" so clearly and matter-of-factly that I thought he was awake.

And then I touched his arm and realized how hot and sweaty he was.

And then I realized the edge of my pillow that was touching his face was soaking wet either from drool or sweat. Either way, I figured to embrace my awakeness and leave hot, sweaty, mumbling Jay alone in bed...poor guy.

At least it's off

We thought our heating and air problems were over. Think again.
At least it's off and not running without working properly.


Maybe we can get another $200 off of our rent next month? Yeaaa

Oh Shoot

Stood a little too close. Blew a little too hard.

I am Now Fashionable in China

I have this great friend in school named Jun Gu. I refer to her as "Girl Jun" to differentiate her from Jun Lu ("Boy Jun"). No one remembers which is "Gu" and which is "Lu," but everyone can handle "Girl" and "Boy." This was especially key when I worked in a group with both.

Anyways, Girl Jun is from Shanghai. According to another Chinese student, she graduated at the top of her class from the Chinese equivalent of Harvard. She was a chess master at the age of 12 or something crazy like that. She was a business journalist and has this hilarious story (although she doesn't think it's funny...just getting the job done) of chasing Jack Welch into an elevator to get an interview when she was interning at a newspaper. And we're friends.

You see, what I have to offer Girl Jun is mastery of the English language. For the past year and a half, she has sent me every email that she plans to send to a recruiter or someone of the like to check for grammar. I check her papers. Before she gives a presentation, she writes it out word for word, and I check that, too. We like working together and have worked in several groups together.

Girl Jun went home to Shanghai over the Christmas break, and she brought me this:

According to Jun, these coats/shirts are very popular in China right now. She also sent me a picture of how they are worn, so I tried to mimic the outfit to do the top justice. Here's a close-up so that you can fully appreciate the Chinese-ness of it:

Girl Jun was really nervous about the size. Besides Yao Ming, I suppose Chinese people aren't accostumed to people of my stature. But as far as I can tell, it seems to fit. I'm totally showing up to school wearing this next week.

IKEA!

Jay's original Christmas present to me didn't work out (it was an activity), so today he gave me my alternative present: we went to IKEA. For hours. And looked at EVERYTHING (including the as-is section). And didn't even get in a fight. You see, I love IKEA because Scandanavian design is so practical and functional and clean... And I love projects.

Granted, IKEA stuff is cheap and looks cheap. But just like anything, it works in moderation (I think our apartment is about half IKEA and half Pottery Barn). In particular, we're obsessed with IKEA lighting and Lack shelves (used in literally every episode of Designed to Sell or those other budget-friendly design shows because they're so cheap but cool).

So here are our many projects from today's IKEA trip:

Project 1 - Replaced the bulb that can only be purchased at IKEA in the nightstand lamp that has been useless for months.

Project 2 - While in IKEA, we sat down to have a little heart-to-heart about the fact that we're likely moving in 6 months and don't want to be hammering into the walls all over the place, so I thought this was totally out of the question until Jay suggested it...we replaced the light fixture in our dining area. Apparently the old one just really bothered him.



Project 3 - Replaced the uplighting on Jay's desk. The old lights were no longer working, and it's a nice way to work in the evenings instead of turing on a really bright lamp.



Project 4 - Put up a little art spotlight thing above our Houston painting.


Project 5 - Added two shelves in our room so that we can put pictures and other stuff (like that circle thing - I don't know what it is but my Chinese friend Jun gave it to me...it's from China...) on them because we have nowhere in our apartment for pictures. This means I will have to start taking and printing pictures. And these are the (short) Lack shelves.


We also bought these little LCD lights to put behind the TV but when Jay opened them realized they're motion-sensor lights to put in things like drawers. They only turn on when they move. Oops. So we stuck those in a drawer.

And that's it! Hooray IKEA!

I'm with "stupid?" Thanks

I want to tell a couple of stories of some recent happenings.

1. Lindsay and I went to Banana Republic to look for clothes to exchange for a gift I received on Christmas. There was a girl with a name tag who "apparently" worked there...... and so naturally I needed to ask her a question about a pair of pants. This was our conversation:

Me: "Excuse me miss - do you know what the difference is between the modern fit and the straight fit dress pants?"

Girl Worker: "Umm.... you know I'm not really sure, but I think it's the way that they fit."

Me: Thanks

2. Out internet through comcast has been giving us a lot of trouble lately. Naturally I call comcast late one night and tell the support "technician" of our internet woes and that for the last month on different occasions when the internet has had a problem - I tunred off my computer, unplugged the modem and reset our router in order to get the internet to work. For the last month that procedure has only worked for a few hours or minutes before failing again.

So I called comcast....

Me: (After all the verification etc. etc.) Hi - I've been having trouble with my internet for the past month and everytime I've had a problem I've unplugged the modem, turned off the computer and reset my router which only allows the internet to reset, but then fails shortly after.

Comcast Technician: Ok..... well here is what I'm going to need you to do...

Me: OK

CCT: I'm going to need you to turn off your modem.

Me: OK

CCT: Next I'm going to need you to turn off your computer.

Me: OK

CCT: Now I'm going to need you to reset your router and I'm going to put you on hold while all of those devices reboot.

Me: OK

CCT: (A few minutes later) Has everything reset?

Me: Yes - just like everytime before.

CCT: OK great - is there anything else I can help you with tonight.

Me: No.... No there isn't..... Thanks

Ikea Totally Ripped Off Alvar Aalto

I found my old sketch book and was flipping through it and ran across a quick sketch I did in 2003 of some chairs on exhibit in the Pompidou Center in London. One of them was a chair Alvar Aalto designed, and I realized that it looks exactly like this Ikea chair that everyone I know who buys things from Ikea (including us) has:

You see, because I was a designer in a previous life, these are things I'm supposed to pick up on...and faster than 5 years after the fact. But see I always think Eames designed the Barcelona chair (it was Mies van der Rohe! dangit so close!) and forget which Frank did which Guggenheim and forget if Texas soil has too much limestone to dig deep or if you use a limestone slurry in order to dig deep...and these are all things that have come up in conversation in the past month or two!

I bet I sounded so cultured and artistic in that former life... Now I just don't know what I'm talking about. (Actually, what I've learned being in business school in Houston is that as long as you know what oil closed at for the day, you can fool a lot of people into thinking you DO know what you're talking about! Today it closed around $44. Try that out on someone tomorrow.)

Jay's Got A New Gig

I have this professor who's absolutely crazy in a fun kind of way. He teaches Consumer Psychology, Brand Management, and Buyer Behavior...you know, the "soft" side of marketing. He is guaranteed to show up periodically with a new look: handle bar mustache a few weeks ago, giant side burns presently, I heard a mohauk a few years ago... He's probably in his mid-30s, and he actually uses words like "pontificate" in casual language.

So Jay and I go to meet up with my class at a local bar because the professor invited all of us and said he'd just open up a tab for all to use. I introduce him to Jay. He asks Jay what he does for a living. Jay says, "I play drums for a living." I've never seen someone so enamored with my husband...

Well apparently, this professor and one of our economics professors have a band and have been looking for a drummer for a year or two to track on their latest record. So he recruits Jay! I've seen the professor a few times since, and he's still so excited about it. He listened to some of Jay's stuff and thinks he's the greatest drummer ever. He told me he should fail me for not realizing this sooner, but I better get an A for fulfilling his musical dreams.

Gotta Love Houston Weather

Yesterday, it was over 70 degrees here. We could have worn shorts. And today:

That's snow! On a car in our parking lot! Crazy.

My mom and I were discussing today that you know you're from Texas when it's 30-something degrees outside and you just think, "Oh I won't worry about a jacket (or socks and warm enough shoes)...I'll just run to the car and turn the heat on." We just don't have enough of these kind of days to actually take the time to dress appropriately, I guess. Thank goodness for seat warmers!

The most fun I've ever had at an ATM...

Jay and I went to deposit a few checks at the ATM the other night. The Bank of America on Kirby apparently got new ATM machines...and they are magical.

You no longer have to put your deposit into an envelope or use a deposit slip. Instead, you feed the check directly into the machine just as you would put a dollar in a coke machine. The ATM then reads the check and tells you how much it was written for. Amazing!

Jay and I were so amazed and weren't prepared for what happened next: the receipt had miniature scanned images of the 3 checks we deposited!

Besides just being really cool, this is so efficient in so many ways, including decreasing the use of paper. Who comes up with these things!?

Bearded wonder

About every two months or so I always get the "crazy" idea of growing a beard. Honestly it's not as much a conscious effort as it is laziness. I just get tired of shaving frequently and so me and a lot of my friends kind of "trim" for a while. We like the "scruff" look I guess.

But, anyways - I typically get to the point where it's ugly and I think "ok let's try it again" or I just shave.

This last week has been the itchy annoying phase and I don't like it, but I've never really toughed it out all the way. So, at least for now I'm going to try.

I don't really know if I pull the beard off very well - but I figured I have to see it through just so I'll know. Unless it sucks and you know it, but are afraid to tell me.

Here are some pics of my "beard".

Pardon the photography and the lazy eye ;) (Kath/Chris)

I thought I would include a picture of a really nice looking beard.

Done!

I just finished another project. Jay bought me 2 canvases last year for Christmas that have been hanging blank on our walls ever since. On Halloween, I finally started on the big one and just finished:

As seen hanging above the couch:

(It's hanging really high because I had Jay help me put the wire on the canvas and then accidentally painted it up-side-down...I'll eventually move the wire so it hangs farther down.)

Admittedly, it matches absolutely nothing else in our apartment. For those of you who remember/took part in the Walton painting, you understand what an undertaken these "modern pointillism" paintings actually are! To do this, I found a picture of Houston and pixelated it to be made up of .5" x .5" squares and then limited it to 7 colors. Then it's just like paint by number on a canvas that has been divided up into a grid with .5" pixels. It seriously takes forever, though. It would be awesome to get it silk-screen printed onto canvas...

Close up:
From Wikipedia: Pointillism is a style of painting in which small distinct points of primary colors create the impression of a wide selection of secondary and intermediate colors. See? Really like pointillism aided by Photoshop!

Just Read:

Several people have recommended and given me books lately to read. Since being in school, I haven't exactly had a lot of time to read non-school books, but I figured I should get reading so I can return all these books!

I just finished this one that was given to me by a guy I tutor in Data Analysis:

It's a cute little book about leadership/management. Apparently, the three secrets in life can be summed up in squirrels, beavers, and geese. More specifically, the idea is that organizations are more efficient when everyone has a sense of purpose (squirrels), has ownership/control of goals (beavers), and encourages one another (geese).

The guy who gave this to me believes in it so much that he sent an email to our program director to give me "goose honks" (and he actually used those words in the email) for my help with tutoring him. But I will say, I felt good about helping him out just by receiving a little recognition. Guess it works, huh?