30 days

I have Buddy from Charles in Charge to thank for my ineptitude in remembering the rhyme for the months.

In one episode, Buddy screws something up thinking that there are only 30 days in August, and proves it by matter of factly reciting the following:

30 Days hath September, April, August and November....

As a result, that rhyme does not work for me. For I have to sit and think which month then replaces August. It's quite a dilemma. I like a good mnemonic device, but damn it Buddy you've ruined me.

How we spend our days...

Is in essence, how we spend our days.

So how have I spent my days? Sometimes I censor details in the interest of being interesting. Most of the time even when I do that I'm not very interesting NO it's TRUE. Smiling to myself as I recall many a blather recorded on this webarena that has the appeal of a piece of dryer lint.

More lint you say? Ok then...just for you.

Anyway. I'm in a small group now at church. I've been terrified of vulnerable community as of late, but this is going rather well. Doing life with folks IS a good thing. Don't kid yourself. We need people. No man is an island.

Also starting to hang out with kiddos in sunday school which we don't want to call sunday school but have yet to give it a better name. I like kids. I used to think the junior high ones were from a different scary planet (I thought that even when I was one) but I do like them, and they are very cool. Maybe I'll have some after all. Excited about investing in them more.

Work has been going very well, it's the perfect mixture at the moment of interesting, challenging, monotonous work and I love being there. I really do. How many people can honestly say THAT? I leave for Syracuse on Thursday of this week, and if any of you are in the greater Syracuse area, my colleague is meeting our client for dinner... I guess I am too. That made no sense.

Volleyball double header tomorrow nite. How I love volleyball. Insert gushies here about the heart leaps and soul smiles that come with a double header championship game.

Annie! won a thousand bucks on the radio. Sheesh. If it's Williams related, it doesn't even suprise me anymore....

FUNNY. A gal in my small group told the funniest story tonite. She works as some sort of teachers aid (sorry not exactly sure what she does) works with little kids and interacts with some hilarious parents. Isn't there some joke about parenting being one of those things anybody with a pulse is allowed to do, but we require licenses for fishing? If it's not, it should be.
I digress... A parent at her school brought a cake in for her sons birthday. My friend (I'll call her "Cary") says to her "Wow this icing is really good, it's not at all like store bought icing" to which the mom replies: "Oh it isn't just any old store bought cake! It's from Derbers." Cary has never heard of this place, and it equating it with a Straubs, or a whole foods, or something exotic. Shocked that Cary had never heard of Derbergs, they have this giant country club-esque discussion about where Cary shops and why she doesn't know this place. "Schnucks? Pshaw... it's soooooo much nicer than Schnucks. Seriously." Finally, after painful agony, and what seemed like hours, it comes to light that the lady is indeed trying to say DIERBERGS.

Shoo a sista is laughin.

My brother's TV debut came and went, and was awesome. He did well. Fun times. Had all of his buddies over to watch it at home, and they are so funny. He is one of the few people I know who has great relationships with his high school buddies still. It's nice. All my high school friends all moved away. (Understandably so).

I realize I need to talk with my roomate about this incredibly weird conversation we had about Christmas decor. We were talking about whether or not we get a tree this year. I'm thinking automatically "I can't really afford a good artificial one this year". And I totally dismissed the possiblity of putting up an actual tree. I'm a dork. That is totally what we should do. Here I was denying my capitalist pagan roots....

Side note, I had a friend in college who was jewish, who decorated a tree as a part of their traditional... tradition. They called it a Hanukkah bush (sp?). I think that's great.

I also had another friend in college. That made two.

I love tea. Especially green tea. Especially mint green tea. With one sweet and low packet. Oh yes, tasty. I've been to Kayak's twice in the last week after having never been there before. I had a delicious cup with my dear friend Angela, and then tonite stopped in for another before small group. And I have a rant about Washington University. I park in the Kayak lot. That has giant signs that say "retail parking only" I think to myself, 'I'm a retail person! I can park here!" I was in there less than five minutes, and I come out to a lovely yellow pain in my arse of a wupd parking ticket for the expired meter at 7pm. Are you serious? Can WU really commandeer a parking lot? Kayaks is a public establishment, I don' t have to be from WU to go there, and it's not even technically on campus... don't get me started. Wu can't have ANY MORE OF MY MONEY. I threw it away with flair. I hate WUPD. Their little yellow attempts at control....

On the flip side, in the good little piece of paper catergory, I got some coupons to First Watch today. Buy one get one free for any entree. Anyone want to get treated? I can hook you up. Call me we'll do lunch.

I saw a machine on video at work today that has a vision system that picks up catheters from a random loose spaghette-like pile, and using robots, threads them into a shape, and then seals them up in a package, that is way more intersting and unique than it sounds, I promise. Take my nerd-word for it.

All in all. Feeling good about life. Things are rather splendid.

Linty Murl out.

Oh Love that will not let me go.

A story I found, may be an urban legend, it's from a source quoting a source:

It is the story told of a pregnant young woman who prematurely gave birth to her first child. The doctors quickly observed major problems. After many surgeries and procedures, the couple rejoiced at their child’s restoration. In the last procedure, the oxygen tube was mistakenly disconnected for several minutes and the baby’s brain was deprived of oxygen, leaving her blind and unable to hear, speak, or walk. After hearing the news, the couple’s pastor rushed to the hospital to find the young mother holding her baby, singing to her. He said, “I am here but I don’t know what to say.” And the mother replied, “It’s okay. We are doing fine.” Caught off guard, the pastor asked how this could be in the midst of such pain. She said, “I have been thinking of a scene which has given me comfort. I picture a huge stadium with thousands of people and a platform in the middle. I see God on the platform holding this baby girl and saying ‘Who will take this one? She will never walk, never see, and never speak. She will never be able to return love to anyone. She will cost you everything you have and you will get very little in return. Who will take this baby?’ I see myself standing up in the back row and coming forward saying ‘I will take her. I will make her mine.’” The amazed pastor asked how she could have such peace. The woman said, “In my mind I think of the same stadium with thousands of people and the same platform. This time God stands on the platform holding my hand and saying ‘Who will take this woman? She is rude, arrogant, selfish, greedy, worldly and self-absorbed. She is ungrateful for all she has and will never love as she ought.’ About this time I see Jesus stand on the back row and move forward, saying, ‘I will take her. I will make her mine.’”

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

(Sing that last part with a kitchy oompa-loompa beat. Rinse. Repeat)

Homestar Dusty is an Exceptional Televised Athlete

Whoops, I got the first time wrong, see correction in red for Sunday!
He won 5th place recently at the Pinnacle "Exceptional Driving" competition in Laughlin, Nevada. (And no that's not "wow you have no wrecks AND no parking tickets") That's Golf. Where not necessarly longest ball, but longest, most accurate ball wins. And Dusty got 5th out of 128 other amateur long drivers. Which gives him pro status, puts some cash in his pocket, and gets his mug on TV.
November 25 @3:30 - 4:30 PM on ESPN2.
November 27 @ 1:30 - 2:30 PM (CST) on ESPN.

And I'm his sister. Which makes ME cool.

Right?

Guys?

Hey wait up...

It's that time again....

That's right. At long last. This blogs humble beginnings chronicled many points of the 2004-05 Washington University Women's basketball season. I know that no one else cares about this.

But that is why this is my blog. I can put whatever I want on here. If Mark Williams can blog only monthly and put pictures of giant octoblerones on his, then I can certainly plug the red and green.

Enough apologies.

This weekend, the gals opened up the '05-'06 season in typical fashion, two games, two wins. They have some freshmen that need to learn the system still, and overall they looked pretty weak on D, but that will come. Anytime you beat DePauw by more than ten, you are doing alright. Wash U also beat the former national champions, Milikin, (who are still ranked number one in most polls) in a scrimmage a few weeks ago. So they are showing great promise.

This picture I posted is one of my favorites in print from my era. It's my classmate Tasha Rodgers, arguably the best athlete to come through the program, and my assistant coach, the giant teddy bear that is Coach Cochran, or as we affectionately referred to him "BC". They are celebrating after our second National Championship, Tasha had 23 points.

I, on the other hand, had a turnover that made the other teams highlight video. It was played over and over again during the broadcast of the tournament selection show the next year with the whole team and all our families in attendance. (They still gave me a ring).

Good times ;)

Yeah Bears.

Eaten Alive by Wolverines or the Garage.

I stole this from the blog of Scott Adams the Dilbert guy. This imagery made me laugh out loud.

"Today I am whacked out on pain killers because yesterday I had surgery to correct my deviated septum. I didn’t ask a lot of questions about the procedure but I can deduce most of the details based on the way I feel today. Apparently doctors shove a starving wolverine into one nostril, where it scratches and eats until it hits brain. Then they pull him out by his tail. Nurses stop the bleeding by packing each nostril with a queen size mattress that is carefully wrapped around a wino."

Not much else to report.

But I was held hostage by my garage door today. It got off kilter in the tracks somehow. And it did, like a rat looking for a cheeto in a maze, take me a few minutes to get out. It was really cold, and it was morning. You know I rarely have anything brilliant going on upstairs before noon anyway, and couple that with my poor circulation and lower than normal body temperature..It must have been how cavemen felt. So after tapping the door three times with my car, it sprung open and a genie popped out.

Several times I almost thought it was going to be a real issue, like "I have to call into work, I"m going to be stuck in my garage forever." until the inner voice of calm that is Murl says "This is a garage. You are not trapped without food or water in an elevator or something even relatively small. And the side door still works. The people-sized one."

I could explain my attempts at getting out of this contraption, but it would be snoozerific. So I will spare you. Lets just say I learned a lot about my garage door. And about how you can't prop it up with a garden rake. And how I'm glad there weren't small dogs or children around when I tried to prop it up with a garden rake.

Funniest part may be when I eventually did get out of the garage, out of habit I hit the button and it closed. I backed out of the driveway and by the time i reached the street (read BIG time delay) I finally noticed that it had worked.

I was cold.

Change and Closure

So I had lunch with my old arch nemesis today. Some of you heard me talk about her and our struggle to coexist peacefully at our office back in the day when our noses sat thirty-five inches away from each other in the tiny office we used to share. We were both proud and stubborn, and so wanting to "fix" the other one in "christian love" that we beat ourselves senseless.

We sat in that room together for almost a year. Polishing. Annoying. Irritating. Ignoring. Sometimes crying. It was awful. A terribly painful and long experience for me and I know for her as well.

I am not a morning person. She actually tried to talk to me before noon. She is a minute detail person. I am a big-picture dynamics person. She stuck her neck out. I buried mine in the sand. She had this sinus thing that drove me crazy, said "Rum" instead of "Room"and well, I'm sure I did somethin.

But we both call ourselves Christians. This means we tried. We really tried to submit and to yield and to give in and give up and let the other one have the honor, only something would always stir our competitive spirits toward one another. We tried and prayed together and shared and stuggled to see eye to eye.

To summarize. Girls are just crazy. Especially girls who feel they still have worth to prove.

We eventually moved out of the same office before I stapled my earlobes shut. She eventually followed God's calling to plant a church out in Seattle near her in-laws. I jokingly told people God took her to Seattle for me. I was kinda relieved, to be honest. Maybe overjoyed was the word. I loved her. I really did. But I didn't like her very much. Now, still working for our company, she flys into the office to do work sometimes. The first time I saw her I didn't know how I would react. We were not friends. We were more than that. It's so weird.

So we kept saying that we needed to get together and catch up when she was in town. Usually when we got together it was one of two things. Her condescending on me. Me feeling my usually-dormant national champion competitive spirit rise up, or worse, us gossiping about anyone and everyone we could in the office. You know, in that crappy way that Christians sometimes do...

Today's lunch started out like any other. We were discussing some drama and what the cures are and why everyone is so negative all the time. Getting rather personal in some instances. And we ordered food at Bread Co and I felt the Spirit say gently "Linz, don't do this. Don't let her do this either she doesn't want that." I, ignored it, and started back in when she sat down, but she interrupted me mid-slander and called herself out and said, "Hey that was kinda gossipy wasn't it? I probably shared too much there. I'm sorry."

What? Who are you and what did you do with my arch nemesis? I'd never heard her call herself out before on that stuff. Especially when it was so heavily me too. It was awesome. I agreed and told her I had been thinking the same thing. We went on to have the best, most refreshing discussion about what God is doing in her life, and her marriage, and her heart. I told her about my new found grace (like cornflakes? "Taste it again, for the first time"). In her, I saw a woman maturing, still struggling to forget her old names, but one who was at PEACE. I used to think she put on this earth soley to get on my nerves. But now, I saw her as Beautiful. It was amazing. God gave me eyes. And I hope she saw what I now am... a person who is so consumed presently with believing who she is in Christ that no longer feels the need to compete and to strive to be liked or respected by her or anyone else.

We talked about the other doors she was closing in St. Louis and how it was timely, because she wasn't really going to be around the office in the forseable future, and maybe never again. It was like God came to lunch with us and said, "Hello Poppets. Not a single second of that time I made you spend together was in vain. Nor will any second anywhere else be wasted, because you are mine. "

Like a real live episode of 'Father Knows Best'.

Anyway. She also spoke of some things in her life that gave me thrills of joy to hear, and I told her how I was falling in love with Jesus again. I never thought we would ever be here. I never thought that she would change or that I would let her.

I'm not sure who bent more. I used to care who got that credit. But now I realize, that since we met in a mid-point at all, it means that it doesn' t really matter who bent more, because we got there. Got to this sparsely-inhabited land called "Unity". The credit really isn't ours to claim anyway.

God, in his mercy, ties up every loose end. Bottles every tear, only gives you what you can handle and will force you into situations that make NO worldly sense, that are strictly for Kingdom gain. I don't know how this story will glorify God really , because no one really knows it, but I pray it serves as a reminder of how intricately and SLOWLY he sometimes sanctifies us. This is over the course of 4 years, which in reality, is light speed, but I'm overjoyed at the moment. For the balm that God is pouring on my ripped and wounded places, for removal of old thorns in my side, and for his mysterious weave of 'coincidences' to glorify himself and bless the crap out of me. For freedom to love without condition.

I have tasted. The Lord is good. Hope that doesn't smack of Christian-ese. I'd rip out my heart and take a picture of it, if it could help you see what drives the words.

I THOUGHT I could!!!

We won a blue ribbon!! Well kids, the train that we built out of 2000+ cans of tuna, pork and beans, and pineapple is a winner. It got judged today at the St. Louis Mills mall, and won "Best Use of Labels". If you are in the area and want to see it, it's by the glow in the dark putt-putt place. There is still an award at large for Peoples Choice, so if you are there between now and November 17th, drop a vote for this little guy.
Chinese Dragon won jurors favorite which is sort of equivalent to "best in show". So the way i figure it, we got second ;). Hooray!
Here are some others that were there:
Chinese Dragon

Oscar the Grouch













Rosie the Riveter

Hungry Hungry Hippo:

Joy.

Yeah that's it.

Joy.

Oh yeah, and don't see Jarhead... unless you were a marine. Then see it and let me know if it's real. And if it's real...

Gross.

Call My Name.

The Neverending Story is my all time favorite movie. It was the first movie that I cried for joy in. You know at the end when Atreyu is riding through the field on Artax, and the music is playing. Man I just started blubbering and couldn't stop. I'm like 4. "Mom why am I crying and not sad?"

It stayed with me. Another quote that stayed with me throughout my life is this one:

Engywook: Next is the Magic Mirror Gate. Atreyu will have to look his true self in the face.

Falcor: So? That shouldn't be so hard.

Engywook: Oh, that's what everyone thinks! But kind people find out that they are cruel. Brave men find out that they are really cowards! Confronted by their true selves, most men run away, screaming!

The existance of the whole world of Fantasia hinged on whether or not this Empress got a new name.

Childlike Empress: "Born of the Word, the children of man, Or humans as they're sometimes called, Have had the gift of giving names. Ever since our worlds
began."

This flick is full of spirtual parallels. I thought of this the other night when Mike was speaking at Damascus Road. He talked about a very odd exchange in the Bible when Jacob was wrestling with God. I never really understood it until I looked, really looked (or, rather, Mike looked) at what was being said:

27 The man asked him, "What is your name?"
"Jacob," he answered.
28 Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."

What is the deal? How cryptic! The key is what the name Jacob means. It means "he who deceives". I was reading this back story on a recent trip and I could NOT for the life of me figure out what was going on. Jacob and Esau. Fighting inside the womb.

Esau is an idiot. He sells his birthright to second born Jacob for a bowl of stew. But then Jacob steals his fathers blessing by dressing up like a goat to trick his blind father into thinking that he is the hairy red headed brother Esau. It's like a hebrew soap opera. But then Jacob in the end gets the blessing from God and from his father and all the marbles. Why? He cheated! It's not fair.

That's right. It's not.

That, I think, is the point. Jacob says "I will not let you go until you bless me". God says "What is your name?" And Jacob, exhausted from the fight, ashamed and beaten says "'The one who deceives'. That's my name. That's who I am."

But God says no. He says. "Your name will no longer be that, it will be "Israel" because you have struggled with God and men and overcome. I no longer see you as the deceiver that you were."

A new name. God gives us a new name after he beats us. After we cry uncle. We get to shed our old skin. Our old name. And it's beautiful defeat. Our hip is out of socket, and we walk with a limp from now on. But we have a new name. And we must not take it in vain.

But doesn't it drive you crazy? It's totally backwards. God wins. He takes the championship belt and the crown of roses and the robe with his name on it, and walks over to your corner and puts it on your head, and around your waist, and across your shoulders and carries you out to the shouts of the crowd to your astonishment and shock at first, then to your delight.

What is the name I used to have? Slut. Coward. Cheat. Lazy. What is my new name? Beloved. Forgiven. Daughter. Sister. Bride. He tells me again in Hosea. And again in Isaiah. And again in Romans. And again and again and again.

But we have an accuser who seeks to assist us in reminding us of our old names. Much like the thing in the Neverending Story:

G'mork: Fantasia has no boundaries.
Atreyu: That's not true. You're lying.
G'mork: Foolish boy. Don't you know anything about Fantasia? It's the world of human fantasy. Every part, every creature of it, is a piece of the dreams and hopes of mankind. Therefore, it has no boundaries.
Atreyu: But why is Fantasia dying then?
G'mork: Because people have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams, so the Nothing grows stronger.
Atreyu: What is the Nothing?
G'mork: It's the emptiness that's left. It's like a despair, destroying this world. And I have been trying to help it.
Atreyu: But why?
G'mork: Because people who have no hopes are easy to control. And whoever has ontrol has... the power!
Atreyu: Who are you really?
G'mork: I am the servant of the power behind the Nothing. I was sent to kill the only one who could have stopped the Nothing. I lost him in the Swamps of Sadness. His ame was Atreyu.

But Atreyu got through the Magic Mirror Gate. And past the Sphinx, whose eyes stay closed, until someone who does not feel his own worth tries to pass by.

Add this movie to my list of stuff I want.

Stuff I want*

I know this is weird, but I've never really had a list this long or expensive before. Thought I'd let you in on this:

1. Gas powered Leaf Blower
2. Digital Camera
3. A cheap fixer for my "HP" ipod.
4. Socks. Fun ones. Big ones.
5. A bathroom in my basement.
6. A volleyball court in my back yard.
7. Not another dish in my kitchen
8. The West Wing season 5!!!!!
9. Square One TV. In any viewable shape or form. DVD. VHS.
10. Braces.
11. A big fat power washer.
12. A new haircut with blonde in it.
13. A sugar daddy to purchase all of these things.

*of course this list is material, foolish and mostly said in jest...i have all i need, and then some....
**and "Knowing is half the battle" and other good moral redemptive stuff.