A Spectrum

Tom and Kyle both wore black shoes, black socks, khaki pants, a black sweater, and the EXACT same leather coat. Scary...

Success is not life. Fame is not life. Money is not life. Even a perfect family is not life. An abundant life is the ability to experience God's love, power, and forgiveness in the midst of what the world throws at us in our so-called "life."

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence,
and toughness multiplies toughness
in a descending spiral of destruction."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

You have to check out this commercial. It's amazing!


Honda Ad

Nap


What I wouldn't give to be able to nap...

This boggles my mind. Poor kitten only lived one day. They named him cyclops.

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

It's possible that I have been to West Virginia since I have visited that states around it but I don't remember, and the only one I may be lying about is Arkansas but I think we went through there on a family vacation, maybe... hmm.

Dreamworks

Click on "Productions" and "Flushed Away."

How can you go wrong with Wolverine, Miss Marianne, Gandalf, Gollum, and Slartibartfast?

Too bad Kate Winslet hasn't really done any fantasy? That would really fit in better.. Maybe Princess Sarah from a Kid in King Arthur's court, but that's pushing it... ;p

I was looking through random blogs and found the nerd score thing below and someone else who had a post title da bears... scary.

My brother bought a new trivial pursuit game for our family. Somehow we are going to have to squeeze in a game over Christmas. Our old one was from 1980. The box was torn, the game board was torn. I am sure some of the pies/cheeses are missing. One of the game pieces has teeth marks on it courtesy of our dog Rutledge and the USSR is a frequent answer to questions. Don't even get me started on the entertainment category. (Pre 1980, Kyle and I weren't even born yet) Anyway, looking forward to new trivial pursuits. ;)

Ah, one win away from a division title. Grossman is apparently healthy, props to Orton for keeping us alive. And we play the Packers on Christmas. Beautiful.

My dad's side is coming over at 5 and the game starts at 4, they'll just have to talk to me during commercials I guess... ;)

Check out this freakin' awesome webquest!

DaVinci Code Webquest

Click on "Make the Quest."

It takes a while, so be prepared. But, it's so worth it. And if you haven't read the book, it doesn't give away anything. However, at one point you do need the book in order to answer one of the riddles...(email me if you want and I'll give you that answer).

I enjoyed the book immensely. I would recommend it. As for its controversial nature, it's a novel, get over it. Watch out world, I am in a blunt and opinionated mood today...

For a much better telling of the story behind this picture than my story would be, go here.

I made a website! How crazy? Granted it's not a very good website but it serves its purpose. It was for a project I did on lake-effect snow. Heavens, don't read it all if you don't want to, but do check out my cool radar animation. Ya, that's about the only thing worth looking at.

My Lake-effect Snow Website

Check out the trailer for Xmen 3. It looks awesome.

I can't believe the Beast is Kelsey Grammer. That's so weird.

Woodfield Mall, Cheesecake Factory, and Pride and Prejudice... How can you go wrong? Pride and Prejudice is amazing. I want to see it again already.

Plus the Bears WON against the Packers despite their offense!

Yesterday, NIU played Akron for the MAC Championship. We were a double digit favorite and lost 31-30 with a last minute 80-yd drive when they had no timeouts. It was painful let me tell you. We intercepted the ball on what I thought was their last chance to drive for a score. All we had to do was get one first down so we could run out the clock, but no. Argh, I was so mad. Glad I didn't go to Detroit. What kind of Midwestern Team or American Team for that matter has a Kanagaroo for a Mascot anyway? "Fear the Roo" they say. How pathetic. I guess somebody had to replace Toledo in my bitter hatred. Grrrr.

Well, I saw John Williams last Saturday and it was awesome! Tom and I drove into the city and got there a little early so we walked around Millennium Park, ate at Corner Bakery, and browsed through Carson, Pierre, and Scott before going to the Symphony Center. We explored before we found our seats. There was a ballroom on the second floor that overlooked Michigan Avenue so we sat in there for a while. I took a couple pictures of this couple who were very nicely dressed (ball gown and tuxedo). (I took the pictures for them, I try not to randomly snap photos of people ;) I think they were celebrating something.

We had great seats in the 7th row, not on the very edge but not too close to center that we had to stare at his back the entire time. He welcomed us to "a night of film music without the distraction of the film." ;) He started with The Cowboys Overture, Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and War of the Worlds. Then they played four songs from other composers including the Theme from Star Trek and The Magnificent Seven. Both fun, the other two I hadn't heard of. However, after intermission was the best piece that I wasn't expecting. It was called Tribute to the Film Composer and it was a medley of all sorts of film music: Pink Panther, Theme from Exodus, E.T, Star Wars, The Godfather, etc. Then it was the 1941 march and Jaws. He rounded out the night with three pieces from Harry Potter and three from Star Wars (including Darth Vader's Theme, Anakin's Theme, and Throne Room and End Title).

Then, of course, how can you not encore John Williams. The first encore he play The Mission Theme in its entirety which is the NBC News theme and another piece from Star Wars, Princess Leia's Theme. For the second encore, what else but Indiana Jones. The audience of course wanted more ;), but he came out the last time put his hands together on his cheek (bedtime ;) and had the concertmaster walk out with him.

I cried several times (sorry Tom), but just listening to a CD sometimes makes me cry, what do you expect. It was a wonderful night!

After 15 years, NIU finally beat Toledo!!! 35-17, Ah, it feels so good. It was a beautiful, albiet long, game to watch. Just Western Michigan next week and we're in the championship. I think I may have finally lost my craving for thunderstix. ;)

Less than two weeks until John Williams. YEAH!
John Williams in Concert

Hey Keslinger won Battle of the Bands so they get open for Hanson at the House of Blues in Chicago on Wednesday. That's right, I said Hanson. How bizarre.

I am truely amazed at the postal system. Today it forwarded a letter to our house addressed to Marjorie Underwood. It was addressed to my old apartment complex but there was no apartment number. So the only things connecting me to this letter was my old apartment complex and my madien name. Granted, the letter wasn't for me, I am flabbergasted that they even found a connection to me. Now why can't they figure out that Trisha Aurand and Tina Aurand are two different people and that one moved and one did not.

HEY! My friend Seth's band is one of the top three finalist's in a Battle of the Bands at a local radio station. You can vote for them online once a day here. There is also a sample of there music if you feel compelled to actually vote for the best. But I can save you the trouble and tell you they are the best. Also check out their website. These are the guys I tried to see on my birthday and ended up walking a long way in the dark getting nowhere, what fun...

This one is easy. Post a comment if you have a guess of the place and country.

My shopping trip on friday:

Awesome pair of jeans: $12 (reg $40)
Necessary tank top: $8 (reg $17)
Fun Skirt: $6 (reg $68)

YAY!

Check out the new The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe trailer!!!

Narnia

I love that our three deep tailback, Adrian Davis, can put up 252 yards rushing. NIU 34, Kent State 3. Beautiful.

Great book, especially for someone who was under 20 when they wrote it. Can't wait for the movie and a chance to read the second book.

Eragon Movie

Is this not the cutest monkey ever?

Curious George Movie

I love Boston Legal!!! Ok, I have never seen a episode in my life. Well just now, I have witnessed about two minutes of it but that doesn't count either. But I mean it has Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and that dorky but endearing guy (James Spader) from Stargate (DUCK!!!) (Woah, I had a junior high moment there). And Candance Bergen (I can't think of any sci-fi she's been in, Does Miss Congeniality count, hey wait William Shatner was in that too...hm) Anyway, I read an article in the Northern Star that a recent graduate (May 2005) of NIU's theater program just got a regular part. Another reason to love them. (By the way, what a lucky break for that kid, he has like a 7 year contract already, geesh, he's the young one in the middle with dark hair) So I figured I check it out to see if I could spot him, it's on right after Commander in Cheif which I watch. Well, I spotted him and then came up here to check my email, but I left in on and could hear it drifting up the stairs. Now here's where we are getting to the good stuff. I here music coming up from the show, music that seems oddly familiar. THEY PLAYED FIVE IRON FRENZY ON BOSTON LEGAL! It was the Canada song. And they played it for a good minute if not more, I was flabbergasted. (Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they mention William Shatner/Captain Kirk). So now it's my favorite show that I don't watch.

Can you beat my 72%?

Quiz

Check out the new Trailer!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Do you know what seasons we have here in Illinois? I am paraphrasing here but... We have "Winter's Coming," Winter, "Winter's still hanging around," and "Road Construction." The road construction in my area has really been annoying me lately. The way I have always gotten to school has been closed since the end of May or the beginning of June I believe. Not that it mattered much in the summer, oh wait, Road Construction, but they posted a sign saying they would be done by August. Well we're pushing October people and you don't even look to be close to being done. So I made up a new route, not too big of a deal, except now they are working on one of those roads and it's a pain to even try to get on it. Now I have another route. Plus they are working right outside my rental community. So I have to fight cars every day just to get 300 yards away from my house or to get back to my house. What should take me 15-20 mins, now sometimes takes 40-50 mins. You would think that this would be enough but no... They are working on the interstate we take to get home. I am going home in two weeks. Why oh why did I not get my pilot's liscence?

Excellent Book, can't wait to see the movie!!

Memoirs of a Geisha

I am really, really craving some Hungry Hobo right now. Give me a Number 3 with lettuce, tomato, and mayo, and an order of nachos and I would be a happy camper. Mmmm.

Where in the world am I?
If you have an answer you may comment...

OH YEAH! It's in pre-production with Spyglass Entertainment which means they haven't even started shooting yet. How fun.

Underdog

Apparently. The director of the lab I work in purchased a Hot Tub over the summer and blames me. I guess I told him about my parent's and he researched them and bought one. Apparently, I also told him about getting in during the winter. He said he thought he would never do that, but I am thinking he will. He says he and his wife have been in it every night save two since they bought it. Glad to know I can cause expensive purchases. ;)

When I was either a Junior or Senior in High School so at least 6 or 7 years ago, I attended a Scholastic Bowl Tournament in Amboy, IL. At this tournament there was a rather socially inept (to be nice) boy who followed my friends and I around. My friends and I were not sure if he was trying to hit on us or just really weird (probably the latter). He became one of our "scholastic bowl" stories that we liked to talk about. You would think that the story would end here but no. Five years ago, I came to NIU. I joined the marching band. We met the week before school started for band camp. Guess who played the drums in the band? Scary Amboy boy. (Ooo, good name). Let's just stay I steered clear of him and that was that, right? (Yea, right). I encountered him again, today, in Davis Hall, right outside my office, not once, but twice, and he totally knew me. Hopefully, it's just from band. WHY? Why can I not get rid of him? Man, if I even have to see him again in another five years, I think I will go insane even faster than I am already.

During work when I need a break from entering parcel PIN numbers into a database, I check out MSN/Yahoo news and entertainment. Today I learned that "Charlie" (my hobbitt) from "Lost" is dating "Kate" from "Lost." That seemed weird, but I thought "Kate" was older than him, but he's 28 and she's 26. Interesting... Now why can't they tell me what's in the freaking hatch? Sept. 21 can't come soon enough.

I can't believe it took me so long to think about writing this. Anyway, I got the best birthday gift ever. Well, I asked for the best birthday gift and recieved it. Two tickets to a concert conducted by THE composer of movie music, John Williams. The concert is the weekend after Thanksgiving at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I can't wait, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind,....It's going to be amazing!!!

Well as expected the Cubs lost to the Braves 3-1. It was a rather boring game. I think it was the first game I have been to where no home runs were hit. Plus I had to listen to a drunk guy named Jesse who was sitting behind me talk the entire game. I now know that he sells medical supplies, his wife is 10 years older than he, and he use some horribly cheesy pick up line when he first met her and it worked. He was rather annoying, although, he did offer me a peanut, the one thing I consumed during the game. My other entertainment was the adorable four month old sitting in front of me. She was sooo cute. Ahh. But the best part was the seventh inning stretch. Guess who the celebrity singer of "Take me out the Ballgame" was? Tom Skilling. I can't escape him. :) Anyway, I love going to live games, so much more to see. Which as you can tell was my chief source of entertainment at the othewise boring game.

I am disturbed by my book quiz results. (see below) I am a frequently banned book. Great... I didn't really like this book. It wasn't very interesting.

You're The Catcher in the Rye!

by J.D. Salinger

You are surrounded by phonies, and boy are you sick of them! In an
ongoing struggle to search for a land without phonies, you end up running away from
everything, from school to consequences. In this process, you reveal that many people
in your life have suffered torments and all you really want to do is catch them as
they fall. Perhaps using a baseball mitt. Your biggest fans are infamous
psychotics.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I like to read books about this subject and I own a few (looking at both sides). It's interesting, I have one book that quotes/references two other books I have, scary. Anyway, I would say the best book if your interested on (my side of)the subject is The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel. It's very easy to read, not like this other one I am reading. I like to read before bed and it puts me to sleep every time. Anyway, it's where I got most of my information that I will relay to you.

Anyway cosmology... In Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything (great book but doesn't espouse a creator)he gives this great description of the Big Bang "In three minutes about ninety-eight percent of all the matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe. It is a place of the most wondrous and gratifying possibility, and beautiful, too. And it was done in about the time it takes to make a sandwich." Have you ever thought that the Big Bang was actually a good discovery for supporting a creator? I mean aren't we saying that God created something out of nothing. If the universe was eternal, why would we need a creator? The kalam arguement comes into play here: 1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause 2. The universe began to exist 3. Therefore, the universe has a cause. How could the universe pop into being uncaused out of nothing? It couldn't...

On Sunday night, I threw noodles at Tom... Good Therapy.

On Monday, I survived my first class. Two hours and forty minutes with long winded Dr. Brown, I am going to hate mondays...

Today, I found out I am one of four people taking my other class... i must participate, AHHHhhh.

Tomorrow, free professional baseball game, YIPPEE! Granted it's the Cubs, but they're playing the Braves so it's ok if I root for them. I'll be on the 3rd base line, watch for me. (ya right, who watches the cubs, nevermind...)

I think one important thing to note before diving into this subject is that this can't be tested in a lab or observed in nature. No one was around to see the beginnings of the universe or life in it. Everyone is basing their conclusions off of what we see or find today. Another thing that I don't see as being quite as important is the when as much as the HOW. Although I will talk briefly here about one comment I do have about the when. A big problem is the HUGE span of time between both sides (I call them sides for lack of a better term). Science claims the universe is about 13.7 billion years old and the Bible accounts for about 6,000 years. However, one possibility is that the time was lost in translation. God created everything in 6 "days" right. The hebrew word for day is "yom." In the hebrew language, it can mean a 24-hour period, a 12-hour period, or a long, indefinate period of time. I am not saying "yipee, this solves everything" but it does give an interesting perspective. (more soon)

I rarely espouse anything over my blog preferring to take a light hearted approach to my blogging life. Mostly because I find myself as more of neutral party in most issues that are debated. I like to think I can be objective when listening to both sides of an arguement, or perhaps, it's because I have such loose opinions and can be easily swayed be either side. Either way I find myself not too passionate about most political/religious/cultural etc. debates save one. Evolution vs. Intelligent design. I am not sure why I find this one so fasinating. Perhaps it's my scientific backround with meteorology, geography, physics. Listening to every professor talk about the origins of the universe and question every thing they were saying because of my Christian upbringing. How could I not believe their "modern science?" (To be continued)

Tomorrow is my birthday.

Day of birth.
Morning-work
Afternoon-shopping with mom
Evening-watching the Meteor Shower

Fri
Morning-enjoy Tom's morning off work
Afternoon-hmm, nothing yet
Evening-eat out with friend's at Damon's Grill in Rockford. Kill them all in trivia (but only slightly)
Later that evening-Keslinger Show (oddly enough within walking distance of our townhouse, on the "flyer" we live by the "h" in "farmhouse")

Sat
Morning/Afternoon-seeing my cousin, Elizabeth, in action at a cat show (should be quite entertaining, her cats are awesome Check it out)
Evening-eat out with Tom at Red Lobster

Sun
All day-Great America

Whew, maybe I should take a nap today....

I have been very anti-blog lately as can be seen by my lack of posts. This can be attributed to moving, no internet, my internship, and just plain not feeling like it since I have had the internet for a while now. Oh well, hopefully that's passed.

It must be said that my new place is amazing. I just have two words for you... Washer/Dryer. It's a two bedroom townhouse with 2 and 1/2 baths, dishwasher, central air, fireplace, garage, garbage disposal, AND they're brand new. ok that's 22 words... Plus, my friend Trisha is living with us so I now have someone to talk to during the 23 and 3/4 hours of the day that Tom's not home. ;) People keep asking her what it's like living with a married couple and she says that it's more living with me and occasionally Tom visits and fixes her car or something like that.

My internship is very cool. I am mapping out bikeways for the Dekalb/Sycamore area. Looking at where they could build new ones/connect existing ones, etc... Plus all sorts of other random things like figuring out Rockford's overweight truck permitting system, writing a highway safety press release, mapping retention ponds, data entry, breaking the copy machine, things of that nature...

Man, my life is so circular, I was just looking at the post titled "Two weeks" where I hadn't written in a while, had no computer/internet, talked about my new home, new job, plus it said I had been to a wedding and great america, well I just got a wedding invitation in the mail and I am going to Great America on Sunday. Deja Vu! (Ha! Be prepared Trisha, it's my goal to get you to ride deja vu again.)

Tom and I spent the 4th of July weekend in Culver, IN at his friend's Aunt and Uncle's house on Lake Maxinkuckee. (ya, still have no idea how to pronounce that) Anyway, we went boating, swimming, skiing, tubing, and Tom did some surfing off the boat wake, I didn't try that one. :) Lots of fun and lots more sun. Let's just say that when we got back and went to the fireworks in DeKalb, Tom got cold and sat in the car because he was radiating off so much heat. Boys...

I found this website that will spit out anagrams of whatever you type in. (I closed the window and don't remember the website, I am sure you can just google it and find something close.) Anyway, I typed in my full name. There were tons that didn't make sense but the one I think I like the best is "Earlier Emanuel." Not reading anything into that, but it made sense at least. Another one that sort of made sense is " A leaner rile emu." hmmm. And then there are the really weird, but they still kind of make sense ones.... "Anal Eerie Lemur" and "Are Urinal Melee." Fun stuff.

It's been an interesting two weeks since I left you last. My computer was gone for the last half of the two weeks and now is back, yea. I have an internship with the City of Dekalb, score, and a place to live for next year (by the way it is the most amazing place ever, you must come visit). I went to a wedding and to Great America/Hurricane Harbor. Summer rocks!

Tom and I along with my parents went to Chicago this weekend to celebrate our respective anniversaries and to see The Lion King. The musical was awesome. I was a sap and cried. Tons of fun. Highly recommend seeing it. We also visited the Shedd Aquarium which I hadn't been to in quite a while. Suprisingly, it cost $23 per person but still fun. Well, today is our anniversary and I won't get to see Tom until 9 p.m. so it was nice to have the weekend.

Well, you'll see what I mean. Depending on how you read my posts, you probably know that Tom and I went to Chicago this weekend. On Saturday night, my parents had tickets to Wicked
. I thought Tom and I might check out the Blues festival across the street or watch the fireworks from Navy Pier, basically something free. While we were eating dinner before hand at our hotel, we overheard that the people next to us were going to an Alanis Morissette
concert across the street. Tom and I thought that might be fun, so we'd thought we would walk over there, see that it was way too expensive (which it was) or that it was sold out. However, as we were walking through our hotel after dinner, these two girls stopped us and asked if we liked Alanis Morissette. Um, yeah. Well, they were two best friends and had suprised each other with tickets so they had an extra pair!! They had been trying to get rid of them and were so far unsucessful. Tom and I only had $40 in cash to offer them. So we got to see Alanis for $40 when they paid about $130! It was her acoustic tour of Jagged Little Pill, so I knew most of the songs. It was very fun. And if your wondering about how I saw God, Alanis portrayed God in the movie Dogma
. ;)

I went swimming today for the first time in quite a while. Soaking in mom and dad's hot tub doesn't really count. I went over to Trisha's apartment complex's pool. It was nice and cool and I got some sun. However Trisha and I looked like the biggest nerds. Thank goodness there weren't many people there. Out of all the swimsuits in the world, we own the same one. It was quite scary. As she put it, we looked like twins who still dressed like the way their mother made them.

1. Be on a gameshow
2. Travel practically anywhere, but definitely England, Switzerland, and New Zealand...
3. Own an Aston Martin Vanquish
4. Hear the Lord of the Rings Symphony and Smetena's The Moldau in concert
5. Surprise Tom with a Hummer
6. Learn to play the guitar and violin
7. Splurge on an awesome brand name outfit
8. Be involved in a hollywood movie
9. Stop biting my fingernails
10. Own a grand piano

George Lucas pays homage to "The Lord of the Rings" in "Return of the Jedi." Endor, the planet whose moon the ewoks live on, is actually the Elvish (Quenya) word for Middle Earth. Very Cool.

Well, I havn't heard back from my pointless interview yet. But I did just land an interview with the City of Dekalb. Yea!

So I have been watching these production diaries on King Kong (note link on right side of blog). They are just little snipits of how the movie is being made while they are filming. (Actually, they are done filming now and are in post production.) Anyway, I was watching the latest one today and Peter Jackson was answering fan questions. (Hm, I wish I could come up with a good question he could answer online.) Towards the end, he talks about how they are just editing the movie right now, fairly boring stuff. Then you see Peter lying on the editing room couch with Danny Devito editing his movie. I love the random stuff they come up with. What is Danny Devito doing in New Zealand? I wish I was in New Zealand.

So I make Tom read my blog this morning. Don't tell him anything except that I wrote a blog about him. Ya, he doesn't remember ANY of it happening. He just laughs. Crazy.

Also, I am beginning to think that Trisha is the only one that reads this. She's the only one that comments. Post comments people, please. You could at least say hi. :(

Sleepwalking freaks me out. Rightly so, my husband is notorious for it. Example: Moments ago (it's 11:19 p.m. now) I hear Tom walking down the hall from the bedroom toward the office where I am located. So I turn around and see his head and shoulders appear in the open doorway like he's peeking in ("Bizzare, I've never seen him act like that"). I don't really remember the first things he said because it was hard to understand him and I thought he was a fully concious adult who would make sense when speaking to me. However, once I caught on, I realized he was talking to me like he was asking me a question that I should know the answer to and getting frustrated that I didn't. The words I remember are, "out of a spout," "you know, cars," and "a novel." Perhaps my husband is writing the great american novel subconciously while he sleeps, the title "Car Wash" comes to mind. Anyway, I asked him if he's awake, "Yeess," he says and convince him to return to bed. After blowing his nose (a weird thing to do while you're sleeping), he lays down and goes back to sleep. I hope this affliction isn't hereditary. I won't get any sleep ever wrangling my family up each night. Geesh.

I had an interview this morning with the City of Elgin. Let me tell you the City of Elgin doesn't quite have it's act together. They started my interview late, asked me very few questions, and informed me at the interview that the focus of the job has shifted not to include GIS. Why in the world did you ask me for an interview? They must really be desperate since I have no community planning experience whatsoever. I still don't think I will get it. Man, I want a GIS internship. I have other possibilities with the City of DeKalb and NIU. Be praying please! I really want an internship!

I have titles now and dates. What excitement. (Titles and dates not provided or held by me but through a subsidiary also known as Trisha helped me.)

In one word, Amazing. Star Wars : Revenge of the Sith is awesome. I love it. It would be perfect if they would only cut out that stupid scene on the balcony. Had to have a stupid cheesy moment, didn't ya? Anyway, I won't tell you how many times I have seen it so far; however, Tom has seen it twice and my friend Trisha had to see it too. (Yes, I know my life is slightly pathetic right now.) Anyway, the midnight showing was great. I am a little peeved that the Dekalb and Sycamore theaters decided to have one AFTER I asked them both if they were or not. Whatever, the theater in Rockford was far superior, stadium seating, eight midnight showings, AND ballgame type concessions. Yes, they milked the concession for all they were worth. "Jedi's drink too," they yelled as they walked up and down the aisles. We arrived 1 hr and 45 mins early for our show and ended up near the back anyway cause the theater was already over 2/3 full. Someone had even brought their laptop and was watching Episode II while they were waiting, Smart Cookie. At least I brought cards. Anyway, the midnight showing was the best cause those people were true fans and got all the jokes and connections and stuff. At the other showings, I was like come one people, R2D2 just burnt those droids, LAUGH!!! Anyway, Tom's comment to me was, "well now we don't have any more movies to look forward to" Does he know me at all?!?, Harry Potter, Bewitched, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, King Kong, Madagascar, Xmen 3, Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, (geesh what's with the 3's), Wallace and Gromit, War of the Worlds, (hmm I need to make some more money), Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Curious George, The Brothers Grimm, The Da Vinci Code (ooo, I still need read the book before I see that one), Ice Age 2,...........

May 19, 2005


Dear Employer,

Please excuse Lauren Lee from work on Thursday, May 19. She is not feeling well. Lauren is at home in bed for the entire day, nursing what appears to be a serious hamster attack. Lauren's illness is in no way, shape or form related to the premiere of the final installment of the greatest story ever, which, coincidentally, premieres on the same date.

While I cannot confirm nor deny that Lauren has called my company, Geek Squad, asking to be set up with wireless access "in case of a space opera-related sick day" know that if you do receive an e-mail from your prized employee today, it is most likely because She was wise enough to plan ahead in the event of illness.

But as I mentioned before, Lauren is at home, safely in bed, but reachable (in dire emergencies) by e-mail or cell.

One more thing. Beginning at 12:03 a.m., Lauren Lee will be unreachable for about two hours, thirteen minutes and eleven seconds. She will be feeling really bad at this time.




Move along,
Robert Stephens
Geek Squad - Chief Inspector

Today is it. Star Wars Episode III! Well technically tomorrow, but I won't sleep till I see i, 12:03 a.m. showing. This is my weird tradition. I've seen all three at midnight the day they came out.

I went to walmart today and browsed in the Star Wars toy section and two guys came up the aisle and were real excited and bought a voice changer mask and a lightsaber.

I quipped, "Midnight showing."
"Yea, but that's not why we bought them, they're cool too."

Geesh, man you don't have to justify yourself to me, look where I'm at. I must say it was very tempting to purchase something, but I think those attending with me would refuse to acknowledge my presence if I did (especially Tom). So I limited myself to Twizzler's that I can hopefully sneak in. I'm sure you will hear about my experience soon.

As I was walking through Super Wal-mart's parking lot today, I saw a "well-used" vehicle sporting a bumper sticker that read "Lutefisk Lover." Now, that sentiment is funny in and of itself. However, I am 1/4 Swedish, I have had the unfortunate pleasure of tasting lutefisk and let me tell you it is the most disgusting thing imanginable. I am not the biggest fan of fish to begin with, but when I was forced to try it they assured me that the sauce made with it when combined with the lutefisk, made it good. I think the sauce was actually worse than the fish. Here's my advice for the day: please spare yourself the torture and never try lutefisk.

I can't wait for the new Harry Potter film. This one is my favorite book. If you can't tell by now, I like movies. Quite a lot actually, check out the teaser trailer.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Weird Tradtion #3

Calling these sundae cones, "Kini Ice Cream Cones" (pronounced "kee-nee).

Weird Tradition #3 

Weird Tradition #2

My mom risks flogging if she does not make the egg, sausage, cheese, and half mushroom casserole for Christmas morning. Only half the casserole can have mushrooms because my brother doesn't like them.

Weird Tradition #1

Whenever my brother and I watch any of the Star Wars movies, the volume must be turned all the way up from the point of the THX sound until after the prologue and the spaceship flies by.

Check out the teaser trailer for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It's kind of hidden.

Step 1. Click on the wardrobe to go through it.
Step 2. Move your mouse over the Lion's head and click "The Movie"
Step 3. Click on the "Production Room"
Step 4. Click on the TV or "Videos"

Now that I have included these elaborate directions, I predict no one will go watch it. ;)

Teaser Trailer

After watching Star Wars Episode II with my friend Trisha this weekend (because she hadn't seen it yet), I was getting ready to leave to go home. I was picking up my coat off of her couch and noticed a rather large insect in her couch cushions.

"Trisha, you have a really large bug in your couch."
Jokingly she replies, "Does it look like the bugs that try to kill Amidala?"
"Um, kind of."

Obviously, it wasn't quite like those, but ironically similar. It was about 3 inches long, rather large for a bug I would say. And it was long and skinny and had about 60 long legs all around it's body. Suffice it to say that Trisha more than freaked out, rightfully so, since it was hanging out in her couch cushions and commented that she thought I was joking about what it looked like. Good Times.

Tom and I went and saw "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" this weekend. Not knowing anything about the movie other that it was probably going to be a little bit bizarre, I rather enjoyed the craziness. Tom on the otherhand was more than a little confused (but I must say, he did laugh a awful lot for claiming to not like it very much;) Anyway, if any of you are planning on seeing it, I would suggest checking out these clips from the movie so you know what you're in for. Plus the "Internet Trailer" (also from this website) is really good and only in a tangent kind of way deals with the movie. Check it out.

Hitchhicker Movie

Check out this teaser trailer for King Kong that a fan made. Still not sure about it but it's Pete Jackson so... And if anyone can tell me what the music at the end of the trailer is from, I will love you. I can't think of it. ARGH! Check out the trailer this guy made for a potential "The Hobbit" movie. Kind of interesting.

King Kong Teaser

Well, as you can see I have been laxing on the trivia because no one really played. But perhaps I have found a better outlet for my trivia craziness. I have set up my own trivia tournament and I would like you all to join too! This time you will also playing against me cause I don't have to make up the questions (you probably like that)! Right now I have it set on movie trivia, so all the questions are from movies. But I will probably change the theme periodically. Each day there will be a different quiz. It's based on time and correct answers. (makes it harder to look up answers! Haha!) Anyway someone better play pretty soon cause it says I am the smartest person of the day. :) Anyway, the link to get to my tournament will always be on the right hand side of my blog under "My trivia tournament." And you set up a one time account and password and you can always get back in with that. Happy Triviaing!

Crazy, a Star Wars TV show. I don't know about that.

Star Wars TV Story

Tom was relating this story to me the other day. His school has a small cafeteria where you can buy nachos with a little cup of cheese. So Tom sometimes asks his friends to just buy him the little cup of cheese for 50 cents if they're going up to get something. Then he proceeds to just eat the little cup of cheese and his friend make fun of him for it. I told him they had a good point cause that is a little weird. Then he tried to justify himself by saying, "What, it's just like hard cheese except liquided" "Liquided", right Tom, your friends shouldn't make fun of you at all. ;)

My parents came up this past weekend. We went shopping, saw movies, went to church, and sat through about 7 minutes of a very cold spring football game. However, we also went and saw my other Tom, Mr. Skilling, speak on campus. Well we were sort of early since we didn't stay very long at the football game so we went over to Davis Hall and I showed them around my lab where I work. Well Tom happened to be in Davis before his talk so mom and dad got to meet him and shake his hand and of course dad talked to him about farming and old weather proverbs, things like that. So we listened to most of his talk but had to leave early to meet Tom (that is my husband Tom)in St. Charles after he got off work. So last night I got home from bible study around 9:15 and Husband Tom was on the computer and going through old files so I decided to watch tv for a bit and I noticed it was close to 9:30 so I thought I would watch my other Tom's evening forecast. I don't usually watch nighttime news. I am more of a morning news person so I forget to watch Tom's forecast a lot. Anyway, he's going through his little schpiel and then he mentions how came to NIU for a talk. I thought that was cool. And then he proceeds to say how he was able to talk to this farmer who said that their crops were about two weeks ahead. Tom quoted my dad. Hee hee. Unfortunately dad missed it but my mom saw it so she got a real kick out of it. Crazy.

I think if I go to cornerstone this year, it will be my ninth time! Crazy. Unfortunatly I missed last year because I was working and there was really only one band I wanted to see anyway. But this year there are so many good bands!!!! I wish I could go the whole time but I don't think that is possible. However, I am excited that the band I missed last year, Switchfoot, is going to be there on Sat. night, the one night I think I will be able to go. YEAH! Relient K is that night too. Score.
Cornerstone

Unfortunatly, there back. I saw one of those stupid commercials for Fanta soft drinks today. I hate those commercials. It makes me never want to purchase their product, ever. Do they honestly think that annoying us with their horrible song and idiotic fanta girls, that any sane person would want to buy their product? Not only do they annoy me on tv, but they have the audacity to play those commercails before movies where you can't escape them. Grrr.

Yay, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe has a website now. The intro is really neat. Although it took me a moment to realize that the stupid spinning doorknob I was watching was the "loading" bar/timer thing. Anyway...
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

My brother and I love Star Wars Legos and have probably wasted more money than I want to admit to. But now they have a Star Wars Lego video game! You can download a demo version from their webside. How fun!

Star Wars Lego Video Game

I recived the most bizarre thing in the mail today. Tom's school progress report. Geesh, I'm not the boy's mother!

Ok I am such a nerd but this is totally cute!!!

My Baby boy's attire

Would anyone like to buy me this T-shirt? ;)

Shirt

I went to a teacher store today with my friend Trisha. I must say I go to teacher stores far too often for not being a teacher or even a parent. :) Anyway, they had a Wisconsin Passport there. Of course the first thing I thought was "hm.. it does make sense that you need a passport to go to Wisconsin." Pretty lame I know. Anyway, the whole point of the thing was listing facts about Wisconsin, state bird, where the capital is, population, the lyrics to "On Wisconsin," that sort of thing. Hence, I learned that the state fossil is the trylobite. Why in the world does a state need a state fossil?? Anyway, I thought it was weird that they had one of the these for wisconsin but not for illinois. However, as I explored further I found one for Illinois with a display of workbooks on Illinois history that sort of thing. So I learned that we also have a state fossil, I don't remember what it was, that Chicago has a city flag, the smallest incorporated town is Time, pop. 27... etc. However our list of facts took a turn for the bizarre. They mentioned that there was a town in Illinois named Sandwich (wow) and that the town of Metropolis claims to be the home of superman, yeah, yeah, yeah (Side Note: They didn't even mention that there is a big statue of him in town, but they did say that the town newpaper is called the Daily Planet, how awesome is that? :) I mean I can kind of understand some silly facts like that. But this next one takes the cake. The had listed that in 1990 someone in the Springfield area spotted someone that looked like Elvis ordering a hamburger and fries. WHAT kind of fact is that? As trisha would say, "Crackheads!!!!"

Check out this guy's sidewalk chalk art. It's very cool.


Sidewalk Chalk Art

It's been a while since I posted anything because it has been a crazy week. I had a presentation yesterday and a rough draft of a big paper today. I just finished the paper and sent it off to my professor, yay! I must say that it is no fun when your professor decides two days before a rough draft is due that you should change your statistical analysis. Let's just say that last night was the first time I saw 4 a.m. (besides sleepy trips to the bathroom) in a very long time!!!!! Ya, you'd think with meeting with him over two weeks ago and hashing out what analysis to use I would have been ok but no. Two days ago, I ask what I thought was a relatively simple question and that was my doom. Grr...

One of the classes I have to take for my graduate program is a lecture series where people come in from other universities/places to talk about their research. They are usually fairly interesting. The best one so far was probably this past friday. Mostly because he was funny and included in his slide show a picture of a road sign warning people of things that could fall off a cliff onto their car, rocks and a cow. :) His name was Elwynn Taylor and he is an agricultural meteorologist from Iowa State University. Besides his humorous stuff he talked about the changing climate, climate cycles, and soybean rust movement. So here's my little prediction from what I learned: Looking at the precipitation cycle over the past few hundreds of years, we are entering a six year period where according to history we should see two serious corn belt droughts. So there's a 1 in 3 chance of seeing a drought over the next 6 years. And if your worried about soybean rust reaching us in Illinois. Watch for it appearing in Texas. A low level jet can up from Texas to the midwest, so if it's in Texas the disease will travel with the jet and end up wherever the jet terminates. I am just impressed that I took something away from his talk.

Elwynn Taylor's Weather and Crop Comments

Our computer decided to blow up on Wednesday. Well, it decided to not recognize any program except Internet Explorer. Stupid Corrupt Windows. Anyway, it's fixed now, no papers lost, no student's grades lost. And there are only four icons cluttering my desktop, yeah!

SEVEN WAYS TO SAVE THE PLANET

Earth Day is coming up in April, that time of year when we all ask ourselves, What's the least I can do? Are there ways that I can save the planet without putting in any real effort or time? Here are a few ways to help save the planet:

1. Wash your hands sparingly. Washing many times a day wastes gallons of water, and your hands are never as dirty as you think.
2. Turn off your watch when you're not checking the time.
3. Stop bread waste. Place condiments on both sides of the bread and use just one slice. This saves on oven-baking time and is perfect for today's low-carb lifestyle.
4. Create your own ecologically friendly products. For example, toothpaste: My recipe includes mint gum, peanut butter, and mayonnaise. The consistency and color is perfect, and your teeth stay clean without those tubes clogging up the landfill.
5. When throwing away books, be sure to break the spines first. Unbroken books can lodge in the throats of bears and cougars.
6. Don't walk -- run! Running saves time, propelling you to incredible sales and discounts faster.
7. Wear socks with sandals. My personal favorite. A socks/sandals combo says to others, "I don't care about how I look, I care about our natural environment." You will also save money on expensive habits like having a social life. Spend it on shrubs and flowers instead.
Let's all save the world... together!

(from Marlar in the Morning)