Goings on

I would probably have to say that my weekend was somewhat eventful. More or less.

I had to work for a few hours on Saturday, and they ended up being very productive hours. I finished things that needed finishing, and there was much rejoicing. Saturday night we had dinner with my parents and watched Stranger Than Fiction , which I enjoyed. I've seen it several times (and own it), but I think it's a pretty good film.

Chelsea awoke with a killer migraine on Sunday morning. If you're fortunate enough to have never had one (I believe I've only had one or two), you're...uh...fortunate. Dizziness, nausea, blurred vision, and, of course, the pounding headache. So, I trotted off to Lakeland by my lonesome and filled in for her with the little kids, where I had great fun getting marker ink all over my hands (some children-made kites were affixed to walls in the process). Pastor Phil expounded upon Numbers 30, regarding making vows to God. This is something God clearly wanted His people to recognize as serious business. Clearly, some of them got it.

As we began reading the text, I mentally jumped forward in time to Judges 11, which I recall from previous study of Judges. Jephthah was leading the people at this time, and vows to the LORD, "If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering" (Judges 11:30-31, ESV). This, of course, has all the makings of tragic foreshadowing. Jephthah is victorious, and heads home only to see his only child, his daughter, come out to meet him. He is heartbroken and confesses to his daughter that he has made a vow to the LORD. Jephthah's daughter, though, reacts in a manner contrary to what would make sense to the unbelieving world. "My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the LORD has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites" (verse 36). She understood that God does not take vows lightly; that when her father made his vow, the law of the Creator of the universe required that he keep it. Jephthah was not only faithful to obey the LORD, but brought his daughter up to be as well.

Sunday afternoon was most unexpected. While I fully expected Sunday to have an afternoon, I did not anticipate the direction it would take. Chelsea recovered from her malady with an unexpected vigor, and initiated a full-scale spring cleaning. We did an embarrassing amount of purging, making multiple trips to the dumpster laden like pack-animals. It was pretty intense, but we managed to get rid of a great deal of clutter, and will be donating a number of t-shirts and other seldom-worn items of clothing to Goodwill. That kept us busy all afternoon and evening.

Then I slept. Then I went to work. Then the St. Louis Cardinals kicked off the 2008 season! Then the Cardinals jumped out to an early lead! Then came the rain delay! Then came the game postponement!

Those last two statements should not be exclamatory.

It is what it is

Had an online observer happened to refresh this blog every couple of minutes or so throughout the course of today, he/she would have witnessed quite the roller coaster. The blog was unable to connect to the site where my CSS sheet is being hosted for a while this morning, so I decided to throw caution to the wind, follow Johnny's advice, and switch to a new template during lunch.

Well, I had a few that I liked all lined up. I tried template number one, but couldn't quite get a few of the kinks worked out. So, I went with option number two, which I primarily like for the AJAX effects (click where it says "Pull"). It didn't work right away, and I decided not to fiddle too much with it. So, I'm back where I was when the day began.

Thank you all for your feedback. I'll be sticking with this for a while, and hopefully making use of this space, so that I can earn the right to change my template sometime down the road, should I so choose (thanks, Chase). I really do enjoy the layout...I think I've just been itching to tweak (it happens sometimes).

So, that's that. Stay tuned.

What to do...

Throw a question mark in there, and you've got it. Clearly, I've not been feeling very "bloggy" lately. Additionally, in retrospect, I've decided that there's probably a good reason why I've never heard anyone say "bloggy" before. It's not good. I don't like it. I shan't attempt to use it again.

Back on track now.

I really like the idea of blogging. I rarely utilize this blog, however. Maybe it's a discipline thing, or maybe I just don't feel like I have anything good to write about. I'm thinking though...when I remember to think.

Please, all three of you, answer me this question: is this current template simply too spectacular to change? I like it, but I also like change sometimes. The idea of something new sounds nice.

Plus, I can always change it back.

So, type on your keyboards and input me an answer.

Whether you're a LOST fan or not...

...there's amusement to be found in this video.



Seriously, Sayid, why haven't we seen any of these moves on the island?

That time

Yes indeedy...it is in fact that time again. Time for me to post something in this abandoned space that Blogger has provided to me. It's been quite a while this time...I'll refrain from referring to any of the seemingly myriad warnings I've uttered in the past with regards to posting irregularity. I don't believe there are too many individuals out there that have been simply chomping at the bit whilst waiting for me to post something again (Disclaimer: this statement is not intended to generate any self-perceived necessity to leave a comment. Disclaimer disclaimer: please feel free to leave a comment).

As those of you that have any sort of semi-regular interaction with me likely already know, I am once again in the employ of the Southern Illinois Miners baseball team. Whereas last season I interned in the box office, I am now the Box Office Manager. All things considered, I have a challenging seven months ahead of me, but have been given a great professional opportunity regardless of where my career path meanders over the next several decades. I started last week, but spent the entire week at a ticketing conference in Chicago, where I promptly took ill. Those be the breaks. In any case, I'm in the office this week and pushing on a snowball that will get considerably larger in the coming months, metaphorically speaking. Literally speaking, I have had my fill of snow and would like few things more than to not see any for the next nine months.

In addition to my well-(self-) documented issues with irregular blogging, I also tend to be an irregular blog reader. I have, however, been better about that of late (thanks in no small part to the valiant efforts of Google Reader). I am hoping this will transition into more fruitful and frequent blog commenting and posting.

Until next time...and may it be soon,
Madly Hatter

I'm no calligrapher...

Indeed, I am a much better typist than handwriterist. I never received "A's" in handwriting in grade school. I generally prefer typing to writing. Much faster, much more legible.

That said, I do have favorite pens that I enjoy writing with. They are manufactured by the Japanese company Sakura. The fine folks at Sakura are the inventors of gel pens. They have many pen and marker-type products for art-type people. They also have a dedicated fan base that use some of their writing utensils for everyday use.

A few years ago, I accompanied my then-fiancé, now-wife on a trip to Michaels in Champaign. I was wandering the store and happened upon these pens, where I purchased one on a whim. It seemed to write well and looked pretty decent. Sakura has provided my writing utensil of choice ever since.