Airplane Mode

Fun conversation with an Airline Attendant while recently flying:

AA: (cheesy smile) You're going to make sure to turn that off, right?
Me: Oh, actually it's in Airplane Mode.
AA: (beginning with Airline protocol curtness) Please go ahead and turn it off.
Me: But it's an iPhone; it's in airplane mode. That means it won't be harmf....
AA: (interrupted) Please turn it off. We ask all passengers to turn off their cell phones during take off and landing.
Me: (giving a perlexed and slightly annoyed expression) Do you understand what Airplane Mode means? hehe I'm just kidding. I didn't actually say that. I just sat in silence while giving an incredulous look to the airline attendant.
AA: (starting in with a patronizing tone) Ma'am, We just like to have all cell phones turned off during take off and landing. We like to avoid any potential loud music that might disturb the other passengers.
Me: (DO YOU NOT SEE THE HEADPHONES I'VE TAKEN OUT OF MY EAR IN ORDER TO HAVE THIS RIDICULOUS CONVERSATION WITH YOU?????) Of course.
AA: (Full on placating tone now) You can just go ahead and put it away, there's no need to turn it all the way off.
Me: Wow, really? That's great, thanks!
AA: (cheesy smile)

Because He Lives

God sent His son, they called Him Jesus
He came to love, heal, and forgive.
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.


And then one day I'll cross the river,
I'll fight life's final war with pain.
And then as death gives way to victory,
I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives.


Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone!
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living just because He lives!

Things I've learned recently...

1. If you stay up super late for multiple evenings, I think you start acting as if you're in some kind of super charged mode or perhaps like you're taking some kind of illegal substance. I'm sure the crash will eventually happen, but until it does.... Walmart? 3am? Yes, please!

2. Thursday night as cleaning night, brilliant. I woke up this morning (Friday) and realized I have a completely spotless (maybe not completely spotless but pert ner') house in which to begin the weekend. Score!

3. I can, if provoked, be a bit of a rebel. I'm not sure it's full on anarchy status yet.... I mean, I'm not be checking out the latest tattoo designs or anything, but you never know ;)

4. I do not miss school. I repeat. I DO NOT miss school.

5. I love conversation! Good conversation, boring conversation, funny, sweet, entertaining, it doesn't matter. I like it all! I never would have thought of myself as a talker, but my goodness. I like hearing what people have to say. So get a list of awesome questions, find someone you think is fun and go to town!

Ahhhhh relaxation....

So it's been a week since I finished my masters degree, and I have done absolutely nothing productive. As a tribute to this new found level of laziness, I thought I would list out what has occupied my time this last week.

1. TV. Really, I had no idea how relaxing and wonderful TV can be.

2. Reading. I pulled out a nonsense book that a friend let me borrow. It has the wonderful smell and the crackling of the plastic that always covers a library book. I was in heaven!

3. Cooking. It really is fun to put more effort into dinner than just "heating up" some leftovers or eating a bowl of cereal.

4. Cleaned off my desk. I finally went through and trashed every paper that had anything to do with class. I'm ashamed to even acknowledge how many pages of assignments, journal articles and rough drafts I tossed, but my desk is looking positively amazing!

5. I finally set up my Google Reader. Right now I have mostly "field" feeds for librarianship, but don't worry....I'll be adding some more that cover the really important topics like celebrity gossip. For now, however, I'm enjoying just scrolling through article and article knowing that I don't have to read it and won't be graded on my summation of the thesis!

TV therapy

I remember a time when my brother and sister and I would be in our pajamas on Saturday morning, eating cereal out of what now would be called cool retro bowls while watching cartoons. Our little black and white tv use to sit in the bookcase and we would gather around right in front of it. It was magical! A few years ago I decided that I would stop watching tv all together, use my time wisely and be productive. I thought I was wasting my life with hour after hour of tv shows. Although you know what, since then a lot of life has happened. And frankly, it's changed my mind about a lot of things. I like tv! It relaxes me and makes me laugh. The RIGHT kind of television anyway. A friend of mine recently blogged about this same concept. I only watch fun and light-hearted comedy sitcoms. I know that seems surface and simple, but that's the kind of therapy I need right now. My friend Kelli said it perfect, life is too short.

I don't enjoy watching about crimes and murders (fact or fiction), the medical dramas, unsolved mysteries and the like. Instead, I enjoy hearing laughter, witty banter, and watching friends and families interact in regular life kind of ways. I enjoy escaping from my current responsibilities for a few minutes to get some feel-good moments of therapy. It's only made better when I get to sit around the same living room (although the tv no longer sits in the bookcase) with my friends or family. I think it's as magical as being 5 years old and watching Saturday morning cartoons!

No Tylenol PM for me :)

Refreshing Sleep
"So He giveth His beloved sleep" (Psalm 127:2).

Ours is not a life of anxious care but of happy faith. Our heavenly Father will supply the wants of His own children, and He knoweth what we have need of before we ask Him. We may therefore go to our beds at the proper hour and not wear ourselves out by sitting up late to plot, and plan, and contrive. If we have learned to rely upon our God, we shall not lie awake with fear gnawing at our hearts; but we shall leave our care with the LORD, our meditation of Him shall be sweet, and He will give us refreshing sleep.

To be the LORD's beloved is the highest possible honor, and he who has it may feel that ambition itself could desire no more, and therefore every selfish wish may go to sleep. What more is there even in heaven than the love of God? Rest, then, O soul, for thou hast all things. Yet we toss to and fro unless the LORD Himself gives us not only the reasons for rest but rest itself. Yea, He doth this. Jesus Himself is our peace, our rest, our all, On His bosom we sleep in perfect security, both in life and in death.

Sprinkled afresh with pardoning blood,
I lay me down to rest
As in the embraces of my God,
Or on my Saviour's breast.

Taken from "Faith's Checkbook", by Charles Spurgeon

Tragedies of Life

So this week I started to notice a lot of Facebook activity about a sweet, little girl named Ava, but I didn't fully understand it right away because I'm only friends with certain people. See, I went to school with a great fella named Joel. His brother's little girl has just been diagnosed with brain cancer. This is difficult for me to understand. But even more than that, I don't understand how, after reading both Joel and Josh's blogs, they can still be functioning upon hearing such life-altering news. God's strength alone. And I'm not talking about some vague, super natural power that 98% of the world believes might be out there....I'm talking about the God of Abraham, the God of the Old and New Testament and His perfect son Jesus Christ.

God does not give us strength to handle the tragedies of life 5 years before they happen or even 5 minutes before they happen. If we draw near to God, He is walking with us through each step of life. So if or even when certain tragedies happen, we have His strength and peace in that exact moment. This is why worrying really is purposeless. I worry about things like cancer, losing my job, never marrying, dying alone and a myriad other little things. Truth is, I might go through cancer, never marry, lose my job AND die alone...and that's ok. Such things seem overwhelming, scary and impossible to handle if I let myself worry about them. This is because I haven't been given the strength to handle them today. Today I simply have to handle today. Let those days, whenever they might be, handle themselves.

This is the day which the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24

Freedoms

Dear Ottawa Citizen,
In lieu of your recent statement regarding Ann Coulter visiting your university to debate politics, let me remind you of the purpose of university campuses, both in the United States and throughout the world.

1. The freedom to access information.
2. The freedom to spiritly debate.
3. The freedom to speak.

Instead you have chosen to have your university campus be a campus that, and I quote, "promise(s) our students a safe and positive space. And that's not what (Coulter) brings."

Education should never be based on these principles. Knowing only one side of an issue is neither safe nor positive. And hearing what others have to say is obviously not what Canada brings.

Sincerely,
Freedom Supporter

Letter to the Company

Dear Parts and Fittings Company,
I realize you've been supplying the industry with parts and fittings since 1901, but please stop sending me your giant 3,856 page catalog with over 480,000 parts and fittings. I don't want it. I didn't ask for it. You make me feel like I'm chopping down a tree and throwing it away myself by not keeping it. All of your catalog numbers and corresponding fittings are online. I know how to Google.
Sincerely,
Online Shopper

Returning to Independence

I read an article today about how Bin Laden urged his followers not to do business with American companies and to let the dollar fall into insignificance. He said that by boycotting American products it would also lessen our ability to fund the war on terror. Financially speaking, he is right in that respect. If countries no longer accepted our aid, purchased our goods or sought to do business with Americans, our economy would drastically falter. But it got me thinking of this on a grander scale. What would happen if countries stopped purchasing American products. What are legitimate American products these days anyway? Would this change us?

It would. We would no longer be able to borrow money. If we can't borrow money then we couldn't purchase imported items, and we wouldn't be able to fund our military as it has been. I think it would dramatically change the image of what America is today, but the America I love would return to take the place of this America that is seen today. Oh we'd probably look a little rough, but we would be forced to grow a spirit of independence once again. We would not rely on other countries for our finances or our consumer products. I would consider this true liberation!

I don't want to be giving aid to countries that despise our economy, our capitalistic ideals or our religious freedom. I don't want to be driving a car that comes from a country that mocks us. And I certainly don't want to be buying plastic uselessness from a country that mass produces it, even if it only costs me 25 cents. I'm not sure there is an actual solution to this calculated house of cards we've created where countries are dependent on each other and enemies are doing business with each other. If nothing else,though, I plan on boycotting them long before they boycott me.