Random Cathy vs. Guitar Hero III

Today, Jim Burdette brought Guitar Hero III.

We've done this before. Our conference room with its dual screen set up makes it a perfect venue for lunchtime competition. Though I've watched in the past, today was the first time I'd ever played.

It was cool. I chose a Japanese pop-star avatar, picked up my plastic guitar, received minimal instruction, and the music began.

The main point of this post...Guitar Hero is SO MUCH HARDER THAN IT LOOKS. In fact, in mid song, my avatar stopped playing, put her face in her hands and sobbed, ponytails bobbing in abject misery. And it was all my fault.

The end of a promising career all because of a silly plastic guitar.

I will avenge you Japanese pop star. I promise!

Of Miracles and Theophostic Prayer

It started with an article I read in the Dallas Observer when I was sitting at Bic's waiting for Nancy one morning several weeks ago. Andrea Grimes wrote an article on theta healing in the irreverent, wry style she does well.

The article saddened me deeply. Not because Andrea questioned if there really was a God. (That is a big, common and completely understandable question.) But because the theta healers seemed to be doing more effective work than the church.

My Christian faith runs deeply, but I have to confess, in 41 years, I have only once seen a true "rise up and walk" moment. My frustration was this.....If Jesus came to “bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness the prisoners,” then why am I so completely powerless to do the same in the lives of those around me? I can pray for people. Show love to them. But I usually have no ability to truly alleviate suffering (emotional or physical) on a long-term basis or to make any immediate and lasting changes on the complexities of living in a fallen, hurting world.

Moreover, if Christ is really, really, really, real (and I believe He is), then all the excuses in place ("you don't have enough faith" "it is God's will" etc.) are incongruous with what we teach of Him lame. Yet, no one seems to notice that.

My google search started with "theta healing" and through a random assortment of hypertexts wound up at "theophostic prayer." The official site, www.tpassociation.com has a directory of people who practice it. I contacted one of them and made an appointment.

The focus of Theophostic Prayer is on letting God do the healing (no mental gymnastics required) and for God to shine light on the lies in the person's life that are believed.

Simple? Yeah, I know.

I met with Carol and her prayer partner, Annette. (Theophostic prayer ministers work in pairs). My specific issue was in dealing with some very dramatic physical reactions to an emotional trauma I experienced. The office is in a little white house with chickens in the yard and flowers all around it. As I walked up the porch I was very, very nervous.

I wasn't sure what to expect. As for "enough faith" I can promise I didn't have it. I was just sort of taking TP for a test drive. The interior of the office was warm and welcoming. I took a seat on the flowered couch and made a mental note of the tissue box nearby.

They asked me what happened. I shared. Then they prayed, simply. No large vocabulary words. No copious reading of scripture. Just a simple request to God and periodic questions about what I was thinking or feeling.

Our session--which took way longer than I thought it would--was cut short because they had another appointment. Though I didn't have dramatic results, it did feel good to talk openly to people with such kind eyes. I made another appointment. (Again, not really sure that it was worth the time, but they work on donation so it wasn't like I was being charged hourly if it didn't.)

What happened over the next four days, was completely unexpected...as if some big plan to heal me were set in motion. The physical symptoms were bad Saturday night, and I woke Sunday morning to find John's hand on my head. "Are you praying for me?" I asked.

"How did you know I was praying?"

(Okay, don't weird out at this part.) "I felt God's power coming from your hand and flowing into me. Pray out loud so I can hear you."

He did. As John and I lie there praying, I began to join him. I prayed like the theophostic prayer minister had and began asking God to expose the lies I was believing. They started coming to mind and I began confessing them. The moment was so holy and so powerful, I can't find words to express it. It was as if God were right there in the room.

For the first time in my life, I experienced a dramatic "rise up and walk" moment for myself.

It's a Woot! Christmas....

It's Cathy Mitchell's fault....really. She was making all of these amazing meals in minutes with her Xpress101 and held Bethany and I spellbound for a full half hour. And--yes--i confess, I picked up the phone. I got almost all the way through the order process until I was shell shocked back into sanity by the high cost of shipping & handling.

It got me thinking. I'm not the only one.

Infomercials produce about 1.5 billion in sales each year. I quote this statistic not only to justify my loss of 30 minutes to Ms. Mitchell, but also to tell you about last year's Christmas shopping adventure. I couldn't help myself. If I was that susceptible I figured my family and friends were too. And so, I pulled out my credit card and did it. Everyone on our gift list received something sold on TV. We got the buttoneer for Karen, the BeDazzler for Elissa, the Popeil Pocket Fisherman for Troy, Pasta Magic for my mom (and me). The list went on and on. Depending on the price of the gift, some got multiples, but all followed the theme. (I even did these cute 1950's golden-age-of-television gift tags and wrapped them all in turquoise paper.)

This year, I have a new shopping passion. Woot.com. One deal each day. Primarily personal electronics. The beauty of this shopping strategy is it actually makes life easier. No crowds. No wanting to creatively annihilate the woman who cut me off in the parking lot. The gamble is that Woot will have something that matches each person on our list. So far, we have four weeks to Christmas and are only halfway through.

I'm hoping for a Woot Off...

The Sparrow Condominiums

I really enjoy watching birds. Back in our first house where we had large trees, our next door neighbor kept several feeders going. In fact, once when Bethany was a very little girl, she commented, "Mom, all the pretty birds come to see us."

"No," I corrected. "They come to visit Betty, because she feeds them."

Since we moved, I've missed Betty's birds, so we put out a feeder and have enjoyed watching the sparrows, doves and occasional cardinal. We even have a bright yellow parakeet that visits. It's always sort of a gift to see him out there. Very cool that he is doing fine in the wild.

John started a project a few months ago to build a birdhouse that would hold several feathered families. Because the plans--which he pulled off the internet--were a lot larger when he started building it than it seemed on paper, we've taken to calling it the "sparrow condominiums."

The condo was finished this weekend. I watched all day Sunday to see if the birds would suddenly move in in a flurry of activity, but so far they haven't. Which, I'm not sure I really get.There are 14 units and the rent is pretty cheap. Plus, it is stationed close to our "all you can eat buffet" so one would think they would fill up quickly.

Wouldn't it be cool if the budgie decided to take one?

Walk in the Woods

City girl that I am, I spend most of my life pretty disconnected from nature. Every once in awhile that starts to make me feel restless.

Not too far from our house is a nature park. Bear Grylls would laugh at my even calling it nature, but for me, it provides trees, wildlife, a creek and serenity; and even if most of the paths are paved, I do have the option to leave them.

My favorite time to go there is when it is raining because the chances of running into anyone else are minimized creating the illusion of truly being out in the wild.

Yesterday, as I walked, I was listening to my MP3 player. (Stop laughing, Bear. It drowns out the traffic noise.) Switchfoot was singing, "This is your life. Are you who you want to be?" For some reason those types of questions seem more profound walking through a canopy of branches and leaves.

As I thought about the question, I found that I kept confusing "who I was" with "what I'd done." There's still so much more to do. I still want to learn to play harmonica. Still want to go to Scotland with John and visit Guanajuato with Elsa. Still want to complete my book on The Power of Story. Still want.... well, the list is endless. But when I shifted my focus to who I was, I found that there is a "still want" list there too.

The song asked "are you who you want to be?" Maybe, the question really should be "are you who you want to become?"

I hope I never stop becoming.

The Legendary Jason McKelvey

At AD, there's always a lot of laughter in the day-to-day, no matter how busy (translation: stressed) we are. The flurry of e-mail's sparked by Microsoft's "chassis intrusion" error that plagued, our office a few months ago was truly greatness and almost each person on our team has had a moment of true comic genius somewhere along the line.

However, one of our video designers, Jason McKelvey has done much to distinguish himself on the comedy scale. To introduce you, this was the image on Jason McKelvey's "Happy Thanksgiving" e-mail.

The thing is, we've come to rely on Jason for this type of creativity. We've been regaled of his heroics as hairdresser to the Cherokee nation and were astonished by his dead-on impersonation of Michael Scott in the reenactment of the birthday episode of The Office for Steve Reed's 50th.

Just last week, we received another e-mail of Jason completely not getting why he was frequently mistaken for this actor from The Princess Bride. Do you see a resemblance? Jason felt it was.....inconceivable.




====================================================================

Update: I ran across this on You Tube. The legend lives on:

The Myth of Radical Transparency

Contrary to what I've read, blogging doesn't actually require radical transparency. Just like in any conversation, you can pick a level of depth and swim there.

For example, I can blog about going to the movies and thinking Robin Williams quote is beautiful, or write about the Nerf Gun wars at work, or talk about my personal theology, ideals and philosophy without actually delving into any of the insecurities, pain or failures I'd rather not discuss on the world wide web.

Recently, my husband blogged about his struggle with the transparency of blogging. I love my husband's blog because it gives the world a small glimpse of the intelligent, funny, often unexpected man I live with, yet in all of John's writing, the door gets opened only a crack. For both of us, the intimacy of marriage is the only thing that provides enough safety for true, radical transparency.

As for transparency in blogging, I think it is more about authenticity. Not about being completely emotionally naked, but about being real enough.

The 4am Birthday Mission

John has been looking at big screen TV's in earnest for over a year. Unbeknownst to John, I'd put back money to be able to surprise him for his birthday. And though it wasn't quite enough money for the 37" he was hoping for it was still going to be an HD flat screen.

John's birthday is around Thanksgiving every year and today, it fell on Black Friday.(Black Friday n. the day US retailers cross over from being in the red to being in the black on their balance sheets through after Thanksgiving sales.) Originally, Bethany and I had planned to take John to Uncle Julios--his favorite--for lunch, and give him the card with the money in it. But after being inundated with ads for amazing deals on flat screens, and at the prompting of Chase who is now working for AT&T Wireless at Best Buy, the three of us gave him his card last night.

Last night, John and I couldn't really decide if it would actually be worth it to try to brave the frenzy of the crowds, but we both woke up around 4am, and decided to jump in the car for the adventure of it.

As it turns out, the trip was a great idea. This morning Walmart had sixteen 42" Poloroid LCD's for the price of a 32" They were located on pallets of four at four different points in the store. And thanks to some good direction from a couple of helpful employees, we were able to score one of them.

So, now the rest of the day is going to be about finding a mount, purchasing cables and all the other techno details John will enjoy. As for me, I have to check my facebook, finish this post, and go back to bed!

Thanksgiving at My Sister's House

My sister, Karen, made the most amazing Thanksgiving dinner today.

She had all of the food set up really pretty and when we walked in the door. Her table had a few appetizers including this wonderful olive relish set out and a percolator full of the spiced cider we grew up with.

Bethany and Elissa hung out in the new fully restored 1966 MG that Uncle Rick bought off of E-bay. I always knew it was possible to buy a car from E-bay, I just never knew anyone who had actually done it until now. (Of course Beth wanted immediate access to these photos so she could post them to all of her friends.)

Chase and Austin--who have been close ever since they were little, got to catch up. Mom hung out at the "kids table" for a bit to hear all of their news.

This is the first year my sister has hosted the meal at her house. Normally mom and dad do it complete with chargers and individual salt and pepper shakers. Karen and Rick moved to a new house earlier this year about a mile from my parents and since she has the larger dining room, we decided to have it there. Karen pulled out her wedding china and used the individual salt & pepper shakers that mom and dad gave her for Christmas. (They gave me a set too--which are still in the box.) I'm much more likely to rely on paper plates for ease of clean up than to actually pull out the china. Come to think of it, I don't even own china. I let it go to a garage sale after several years of non-use. (See yesterday's post.)

My mom makes amazing dressing, and the year I became vegetarian, she came up with a vegetarian version that tastes exactly like the turkey-based version. It is absolutely delicious.

Karen and Rick have a pool, and Chase decided to go swimming. (Please note that it was SO COLD that it started SLEETING not 30 minutes after they got out of the pool.) Not to be out done, Bethany joined him. John bet Chase $20 if he could stay in for a full 10 minutes. Determined young man that he is....he did it. (Not sure if it was out of tenacity or desperation for cash.)

Of Clutter, Closets and Creativity

When the US Army sent our family to Panama, we lived the first two months in an apartment with government supplied furniture and something called "hold baggage."

The thing about hold baggage is that you have to decide what you absolutely positively need under a certain weight limit. It's a bit like that game where you decide what to keep and what to throw overboard when your ship is sinking and you are about to be stranded on a desert island.

Here's the thing. I learned two huge life lessons while living with only rented furniture and hold baggage. 1) You actually don't need that much stuff. 2)When you don't own stuff, you have a lot more time.

It makes sense when you think about it. Stuff has to be used, organized, cleaned, and dealt with...all of which takes time.

I took the lessons to heart, and though we don't live an ascetic lifestyle--I still like pretty and useful things--I am in the habit of donating any and everything that isn't used often. Which means for the most part, I don't have to search through a lot of "might need that someday" when going through my cabinets, drawers or closet.

Except...for two shirts I bought in Panama.

They are men's shirts, so they've never quite fit right, but the molas on them (indigenous artwork by the Kuna Indians) are incredible. Year after year, the two shirts have hung at the back of the closet mocking my goal of efficient living, but I found myself unwilling to part with the shirts because I would lose the artwork.

This weekend, I had an incredible flash of inspiration. I could ditch the shirts while keeping the artwork. So, with a pair of scissors and a few inexpensive frames I purchased from Walmart, the art now hangs on my wall, solving the blank spot in my bedroom and silencing the violation of my personal closet code. (Yes, I know I sound dangerously like Monica on Friends. But in my own defense, I do try to keep my OCD limited to my own personal space as evidenced by my daughter, Bethany's room.)

Tuesday Night at the Movies

Tonight we made the spur of the moment decision to go to the movies at the Studio Movie Grill.

For me--ADD personality that I am--the ability to shorten the time I have to sit still by combining the movie with dinner is perfect.

Bethany and her friend, Elisa joined us, which meant John and I had an audience for our pre-movie comedy show. There was a lot of rolling of the eyes. (They are teenagers after all.) But also genuine laughter.

We went to see The Martian Child--which was great by the way--but what hung with me for the night was a phrase I heard Robin Williams say in the trailer for August Rush. I wish I could remember the exact quote, but it was something like, "All things are made of music. The universe is a harmony that connects all things together."

Not only was the thought beautiful, it also seemed true. As John and I exited the movie theater, the phrase was still ringing in my ears.

When I started to say it, John finished the quote. It had struck him the same way.

True.

What if it is? All living things have a vibration to them--a frequency. Vibration is sound. Is it really that far to consider that those vibrations might be music? What if when God spoke the universe into being, the song never stopped?

A beautiful thought...one I couldn't help but share.

Candles and Cords

I took this photo during church this morning. I loved the contrast of the candles (which have been used an worship throughout ages) with the cords (which power a very modern sound system).

This image of the ancient mixing with technology sits well with me. Perhaps it speaks because I find myself a mix of the two....a contemporary woman immersed in a fast-paced digital world with a faith that connects her with those that once walked in leather sandals down dirt-paved roads.

This morning the scripture was from the book of Luke. Jesus healed 10 lepers and only one came back to say, "thank you." The passage reads like this in the Message, "It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met him. They kept their distance but raised their voices, calling out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!Taking a good look at them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." They went, and while still on their way, became clean. One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. He kneeled at Jesus' feet, so grateful. He couldn't thank him enough..."

Pastor David mentioned going through this passage in his personal prayer time with the art of Lecto Divina. A very ancient art, practiced at one time by all Christians and now in practice by the monastic tradition, it is a slow, contemplative praying of the Scriptures. Essentially, you choose a passage and read it through four times. Each time with a different lens.

The first, lectio is about listening. You read aloud trying to hear the "still small voice of God" to tune into God's presence in the words. The beauty is that two people could practice lectio and "hear" completely different things as they gently listen.

The second step is meditatio...meditation. Whatever was lifted out during lectio becomes focused on in meditatio. Some people compare it to the example of the Virgin Mary “pondering in her heart” what she saw and heard of Christ (Luke 2:19).

The third step in lectio divina is oratio...prayer. In this prayer, we allow the word that we have taken in and on which we are pondering to touch and change our deepest selves as it is lifted to God in prayer.

The final step is contemplatio or contemplation. The idea is one of wordless, quiet rest in the presence of the One Who loves us. The practice is silence, letting go of our own words to enjoy the experience of being in the presence of God.

Lecto Divina is something I've only discovered recently. In all my Christian education, I never came across it until now. Apparently it takes intentional effort to let both candles and cords sit comfortably side by side.

Meeting Ramon

With Chase, the whole dating thing was easy. He grew up crazy about Nichole--who lived around the corner from our house. We knew her parents. We knew her teachers. We knew her friends.

As Bethany's parents, we had to institute a "date rule." The rule is simple. If a boy wants to take you out, he has to meet us first. Period.

We had one of these such meetings tonight. His name is Ramon.

Though I expected him to be nervous, he wasn't. (Well, not much.) But Bethany blushed for hours. (Not that John and I didn't contribute to that. We did tease her a bit. As parents you have to be able to have some fun at your teenager's expense.)

What was really cool is that when we dropped him back home, his parents came out to meet Bethany and us. They were delightful people. Not only that, but his mom was thrilled to learn I speak Spanish and we had great conversation.

Because it is a teenage relationship, I don't know if it lasts 12 minutes (like the last boyfriend) or 12 years (like Chase and Nichole), but it is nice to be involved. Even if it does make Bethany just a little bit embarrassed of her parents.

The Facebook Epiphany

I have a group of high school friends I get together with each year for a reunion. We have history. We like each other. We keep in touch via phone calls and e-mail because we don't have geographic proximity. We should have been the perfect test group for the article I’m writing about using existing social networking apps to connect people with shared passion or common interests.

However, as sometimes happens, when you start researching you find something you didn’t expect to find.

I set up our group’s page with a story or two of memories and photos of us complete with 80’s hair and my parent’s flowery couch; but then only one of my friends joined Facebook. (Lynette-the-Cowgirl, in case you were wondering.)

Now understand, the test drive was outlined as a pretty limited commitment. Join Facebook (free + 10 min of time to set up), connect your profile to the group, then check the group page and your personal page once a week for eight weeks to help me with this article. The other three came back with…”please don’t make us do this…” after the “what is Facebook?”

After replying to the last rejection e-mail, I went back to my profile and had an epiphany. Everyone who is actually using Facebook to connect with me is under 30. The generational divide is marked. Except for my one futurist/guru friend, Rex Miller, the only ones fully using the tool are Net Gen.

I even searched for another guru/author friend of mine who is known for being on the cutting edge of future thinking. He wasn't there, but his college-age kids came up. (I haven't actually met his kids, but they do have a unique last name and the resemblance was pronounced.) I e-mailed him to tell him about it and his response was the equivalent of “But, I already have a webpage.”

What?

And so, my article is going to have to take a markedly different slant than I thought it would when I began. If churches and philanthropic organizations try to use Facebook with their 40 & up members, the odds are pretty high they are going to be hitting their head against a wall; however, for the 20-somethings they can’t afford to remain illiterate on it.

The Cobalt group at Crosspointe is using Facebook extensively to plan, share and keep in touch. A group of 20-somethings, they don't know it yet, but they are going to make a perfect test group. That is, if they’ll let 40-something me join in.

To the Class of '09

Craig is speaking to architecture students at the University of Kansas today. When we were brainstorming his topic, I came up the idea to use this image from the perspective that university students don't need to know that the world is changing.

They are a product of that changed world. What they need to know is how to survive in a corporate culture that can't see that the world is changing.

Cisco has a great commercial for their telepresence product. The video is a beautiful illustration of growing up in a world without boundaries. Growing up in this world changes perception about what is possible.


Add to that the culture of mass colaboration....Wikipedia, Open Source, Modding, Steampunk, Mashups, etc, and you have a culture shift where people feel it is their right to be able to impact and contribute. The thing is, they will quickly disconnect if isolated in a cubicle where they have to follow old rules that don't allow them to have input.

Luckily, the Net Gen shouldn't have to wait too long for the rules to change. If corporate America doesn't take advantage of their energy, they'll simply go out and make money without us. After all, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Anshul Samar are already there.

Imago Dei

There's a sort of magic to creative collaboration; yet, there aren't many words to express what happens when a group of people get together and there is "click." Synergy? Flow? The vocabulary palette is limited.

Today, Ron Martoia, was in our offices to talk about facilitating change--specifically with groups of people. Many of his concepts came from Dr. Otto Scharmer's book Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges. I participated via speaker phone from the comfort of my bedroom since I STILL have the flu--ack--but as I listened I imagined I could hear that magic/synergy/flow working throughout our team as the big thoughts swam around in the ether.

Scharmer's ideas filtered through Ron's personal journey painted a picture for me of open doors and hands reaching outward. Ron described the current methodology of facilitating change through strategizing, developing a process, working the process, then reaching the summit. But, what if that linear process only achieves limited results? What if the reasons the discussion starts in the first place is because there is an awareness of entropy and people feel the need for change?

Ron dared to label the magic I struggled to describe in the first part of this post, Imago Dei--the Latin phrase for Image of God. It is a concept outlined in the Book of Genesis when it describes God creating man in His own image. It is the idea of a divine spark that exists in humankind. It exists in the Hindi term namaste--a greeting which translates as an acknowledgement of the divine in the other person. Literally, "The light in me bows to the light in you."

If we are to reject the linear, "1) make a plan, 2) work the plan, 3)if it doesn't work go back to step one," then what would facilitating change look like? Would it be exponential and transformative rather than linear and incremental? Would it start to look more like inspiration than dictation? Would it tap into that click/synergy/flow?

Inspiration isn't something you can bottle, market and sell. In fact, you can't control this connection of the "divine spark" between people at all. The best you can hope for is to try to become the type of person who can bring this out in others and create structures and environments in which it can thrive--which is the discussion Ron facilitated.

I love it that I work in a place that is interested in unleashing the spark of what is possible--not only in projects but in people...in being transformative over simply being content to be collaborative. Perhaps my favorite part of the conversation was in Craig's closing remarks. "I'm not sure if this is possible, but I'm willing to go down trying."

Me too.

Juicing...

Whenever I've been sick, I tend to go into hyperdrive on doing healthy things for my body until I'm back to 100%.

In my copious amounts of reading on vegetarianism, I stumbled across juicing. The idea is that raw fruits and vegetables are the ideal fuel for our bodies, but we don't get nearly enough in the standard American diet. Juicing is an efficient way to consume a lot of raw fruits and vegetables to deliver all of those wonderful phytonutrients to your cells.

If you want to read more on this, I highly recommend Jay "the Juiceman" Kordich's book, The Power of Juicing. As for me, it was a process to figure out what would actually be practical for a busy wife-mom-marketing diva.

The juicers available in your average mega-mart or department store are usually the centrifugal kind. I tried that when I first got into juicing, but found I never took the time because they were such a pain to clean. Eventually, I invested in a commercial grade juicer by Champion Juicers. The best price for these is on the internet. For ease of cleanup and a motor that won't burn out, I highly recommend it.

I tend to go in phases on juicing, doing it religiously for a few months, then completely falling out of the habit. It is well worth the time because the practice tends to boost energy, but go on a few business trips and work late a few evenings, and it is easy to let the juicer lay dormant on the counter--especially since the juice is best when consumed fresh.

Carrot juice, grapefruit juice and watermelon are favorites for me. You can make the vegetables more palatable by combining them. If you are just getting into it, here are some of my favorite combinations.

1) 1 large beet, two apples, 1 lime, 1 inch of ginger.
2) 5 roma tomatoes, 1 lime, stalk celery, two carrots, (slice jalepeno if brave), a little salt
3) 3 leaves kale, 2 green apples, 1 lime
4) 1 cucumber, 1 lime

I've never been able to get my family into the practice, but when I'm consistent, it makes me feel wonderful. With Bethany having 7am basketball practice, we'll see if I can keep it up.

Dolphin-Safe Peanut Butter

In my perfect world, I'd be a raw foods vegan. However, in my real world, I'm a pescatarian who doesn't eat dairy. For a girl who grew up with baloney and cheese, chips and twinkies in her Donny Osmond lunchbox, it has been a journey.

When we first moved to Dallas, I went to work for early childhood consultants at the Caldwell Scott Corporation. They officed in a school they owned in Carrollton which created a perfect scenario for a mom with young children. My boss, Debbie Handler--someone I admire greatly--was vegetarian. When I first went to work with her, I couldn't understand how (or why for that matter) she could give up meat. Sometimes she would bring tofu for lunch, and I would be completely grossed out.

But in 1996 when my mom and dad were both diagnosed with diabetes, I started looking at my genetics and decided I was going to have to do something radical to increase my chances of staying healthy well into my 90's. Suddenly vegetarianism looked like a viable option.

I started by giving up pork and beef, then eventually chicken. However, I didn't really think it through beyond giving up meat. Within two years, I had completely messed up my cholesterol and triglycerides, causing my doctor to ask what the hell I was doing. (Okay, so my doctor didn't actually swear. He's way too polite for that.)

So, I started doing research. I discovered a book called Total Health Makeover by Marilu Henner. I bought the book based on the cover noticing that Marilu looked better in her 40's than she had in her twenties when she starred in Taxi. I picked up her second book which walks you through making the dietary changes in 30 days and did it. I dropped 30 lbs and learned why not eating meat but leaving in white breads and processed sugar causes problems.

I went through our kitchen and got rid of all foods with preservatives or ingredients that couldn't be easily pronounced. It's weird what you find out when you start reading labels. For example, mayonnaise has preservatives, but Miracle Whip does not. (It makes sense if you think about it. You have to do something to eggs to be able to have them sit on a shelf in the market for months at a time.) I also began stocking our fridge with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables--making that the staple of my diet.

I began my love affair with the Whole Foods Market and introduced my family to a more natural way of eating, causing Chase to dub Marilu as "the woman who ruined his life."

Though my husband and teenagers continue to bring in the occasional sour cream and onion flavored potato chip and have learned to grill steaks and prepare hamburgers on their own, for the most part we all live without a lot of conflict. Except on the issue of peanut butter.

From my perspective, once you switch to all-natural peanut butter you can't possibly go back. Jif and Skippy start to taste like sugar-flavored plastic, when you've gotten used to the rich flavor of the unsugared version. However, my family complains that the oil separates and that it "doesn't taste right."

Last week, we had a mouse in the garage, complete with the cute little hole in the drywall just like in cartoons. I bought humane "catch and release" traps and John loaded them with what he calls our "dolphin-safe" peanut butter. It's been over seven days, and the mouse hasn't taken the bait causing no small amount of teasing from my family that even the mouse won't touch the stuff.

As for me, I can't see how the dietary habits of mice are going to have any type of impact on what I enjoy eating. Besides, this post is making me hungry. All natural peanut butter, multigrain crackers and some apple slices sound like just the thing.

I'm sick!!!!

WARNING >>>> It is entirely possible that this post may sound dangerously close to whining. Continue at your own risk.

I wasn't feeling great at work today, but I figured, "Eh. I'm just tired. I'll go to bed early."

By afternoon, I called my sister-in-law to cancel our plans.

By end of day when John brought the newly-repaired Scion to my office to swap cars with me before he went to meet his buddy, he kissed my forehead and said, "Do you have a fever?"

I powered down my computer and walked out the door at 5:45pm. I won't bore you with the frustrating details that prevented me from getting in my door until 7:15pm, but by that time even the smallest obstacle brought tears...including not being able to find the remote control in my bedroom.

Now, I'm full of advil. And though I'm still cold and achy, I have on one of John's long sleeve shirts and the most amazing snuggly cotton thermal socks. (You know, the kind that look like sock monkeys.) I'd take a picture, but if the camera isn't an easy find it could potentially cause a breakdown. I'm not willing to risk it.

Skip, the Scion

I love my Scion XA. He's fuel efficient. He's cute. And, when the parking lot is full, he fits on the porch.

HOWEVER, Skip, the Scion, is sick today. He has a hole in his vacuum hose which caused a problem with some other system. He also needs new brakes and his tires rotated.

The repair bill made me gack. (Wouldn't have been tragic except we just had a hugely expensive termite treatment bill and John's car had to have the clutch repaired.)

Always seems depressing when unexpected expenses come in waves. Sigh.

The Energy of Connection

When the same concept hits you from multiple different angles in a single day, it seems you should pay attention and spend some time grappling with it.

I just sent in my article this morning to Church Production Magazine called, Church 2.0. My editor, Mark Johnson, gave me a bit of grace on my deadline and thanks to some graciously added last-minute thoughts by Ron Martoia (author of Static) the piece turned out really well. The main idea is that Web 2.0 is by nature participatory, customizable and creates community; however, current church services are primarily a one-way conversation…from the platform out to the congregation. The article explores what church could become as the culture shifts.

As I was in my e-mail, sending this document full of ideas about technology and connection, I received an invite to Facebook from a potential client in Nigeria. I decided to sign up and take a few minutes to explore it. When I looked up at the clock, an hour had flown by without my perceiving the passage of time. In a whooosh upon entering Facebook, I was connected with collegues, past classmates, old friends, and gurus from my industry. It was a networking event, trip down memory lane, reconnect to people I haven't spoken with in awhile and hello ping to people I'm geographically far from. What is really cool about Facebook isn't simply the connection, it is the interconnection. For example, I had no idea that Rex Miller was connected to Terry Storch because they spoke on a panel together, or that Pres Gillham was connected to one of my networks. Surfing through Facebook allows you to get a visual picture of social networks and how they connect to each other.

It's that visual picture that brings me to the next big connecting thought...

I worked with Jeff Strickland--who also happens to be on Facebook. While Jeff was in grad school one of the projects that he would talk animatedly about was surfing these types of networks and the blogosphere to find trnds and connections. He is now working in Washington DC on these types of datamining projects. To read more about what Jeff has written on this, check his blog.

One of the cool websites that Jeff told us about is wefeelfine.org--a visual representation of emotion on the blogosphere. The datamining is simple. The tool mines for the phrase "I feel." It is the interface that is a beautiful thing to surf. There are six views: Madness, Murmurs, Montage, Mobs, Metrics and Mounds. Madness is a sea of colored dots and squares. The dots are colored by the range of emotion. Blue for negative, yellow for happy, pink for love... The squares are images. If you follow a dot and click it, it will isolate the thought and give you the opportunity to jump to the blog. The thing to keep in mind is that this is real time. You are viewing the blogosphere as it happens.

I clicked to a girl who was expressing introspection on her 18th birthday and hoping that she spends the next 18 years helping people and changing the world. As I read her piece, I connected. Total stranger. Twenty year age gap. Different geography. Identical human emotion.

Personal Media Players

It has been brought to my attention that I am a Level 5 geek. With all due respect to the fact that I have actually used the phrase "space/time continuum" and that I have an affinity for movies with superheroes in them, I'm pretty sure that it isn't so much geekdom as it is that I can get really, really enamoured with technology.

My current favorite is my personal media player. Not only do I have ALL my favorite pieces of music with me ALL the time, but I can also listen to the radio or watch videos. The unexpectedly cool thing is that it will store photos. I've never been one to keep one of those plastic things with pictures in my purse, but having them digitally is awesome. I just learned this week that I can record audio with it too. So now I've made .wav files of things I want to learn. I figure if I recite the information over and over to myself via recording eventually it will become a permanent part of my mental database. Not only that, but the library in my town offers downloads of audible books, making this by far the best $60 I've spent in a long, long time.

How did I get a personal media player for a mere 60 bucks? Why woot.com of course. I check it every day.

Okay, so maybe I am a Level 5 geek.

Monday night!!!

Every season I have one show I'm obsessed with. One that if the phone rings during that hour, Bethany is instructed to answer, "I'm sorry, Mom cannot come to the phone right now. Her show is on." First it was Roswell, then Buffy, then Angel, then Firefly, then Studio 64. Now, it is HEROES!!!

I love shows where the story arc takes all season. Throw in some aliens, vampires or super powers and plots--which are normally terribly predictable--become interesting and suprising.

Tonight is a Heroes night. Don't call.

20th Anniversary Celebration

John and I invited a few of our couple friends who have been married awhile to help us celebrate our 20th Wedding Anniversary. We came up with The (Not So) Newlywed Game. Based on the television game show from the 1960's, we developed a way to play the game at home complete with theme music, laugh tracks, and applause. John played the part of Bob Eubanks while I ran the cues and kept score. (Okay, I kept running a litle behind, but that just added to the real laughter.)

Meet the contestants...

Rhonda and Troy Hutchison. Married in 1988. They met on a double date—with different partners. Though they had a slow start, they made up for it in the final round. They were the only couple who actually agreed on the "who is the better driver" question.

Robin and Floyd Eggen. Married in 1994, Robin and Floyd met at the Pocket Sandwich while both performing in Ebenezer Scrooge. The question that really gave them trouble was the impression one. When asked which impression her husband did best, Robin said "Shatner"--the one he is most famous for. However Floyd said "Adam West." Though technically the two impressions sound much the same, we couldn't give that one to him.

Chris and David Wahlstedt. Married in 1987, Chris and David met in the drama department at Tennessee Temple University. The question that hung them up was the driving question. Chris said she was the better driver and that the legal documents (aka. driving records) proved it. David heartily disagreed. We had to remind David we weren't talking about golf.

Nancy and Peter Jumper. Married in 1978, Nancy and Peter proved to be the most in sync. They met in college as RA’s when Nancy asked him to investigate the "dead girl" in the shower. As it turns out, it was simply an alchohol-induced pass out. My personal favorite answer was to the "what item of clothing do you wish your wife would get rid of from her wardrobe?" Nancy answered her "grandmother's long puffy ball skirt." When Peter flipped his blue card around he had drawn it....with the "puffy balls" in perfect detail. They won the grand prize....his and hers MP3 players.

We had a wonderful time. I laughed so hard at John's Bob Eubanks impression, and the questions generated a lot of funny moments. To top it all off, Palios catered our candelight dinner, so that I didn't have a lot of set up. It was a wonderful way to commemorate our past 20 years and to celebrate the marriages of our friends. We'll have to think hard to come up with something as memorable for our next 20.

Sometimes you get to get the getter

I mentioned Steve "MacGyver" Reed in my earlier post. What I didn't mention is that Steve turned 50 about a month ago, and in an effort to "get him" the whole office conspired to reenact the birthday episode of The Office.

As part of this elaborate set up--which included encasing something on Steve's desk in jello and a video ala The Office style starring all of the members of our team--we created this blog with all of Steve's supposed adventures. There are only a few entries. If you happen to know Steve, it is worth the click. If you don't know Steve, you'll have to tell me if the humor crosses over http://fakestevereed.blogspot.com.

In any case, it was wonderful to see Steve--the usual instigator of this type of thing--at a loss for words...if only momentarily.