7 Quick Takes: Laptop Update, Folk Music, and 49’ers Fan Schtuff

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

My friend Tim. So how many of you saw the viral video in which a pastor who was a 49’ers fan did an “abbreviated service” this past Sunday? Yeah, he is actually a former colleague of ours from our days in Montana and he is a heckuva guy. He and his wife hosted us several times when we were splitting our time between Great Falls and home when Daniel was in the NICU as well as visiting me in the hospital. He is a native northern Californian who was transplanted to Montana for ministry and is a rabid fan of all the Bay Area sports teams, especially the Giants. (I swear… I can hear him watching the game all the way from Montana when they play.) I miss him, his wife Sandy, and their son John very much.

And yes, he *did* go back and do a REAL worship service after this was filmed.

— 2 —

OMG NCIS!!!!! I got seriously verklempt at the end of NCIS this week. Why? It wasn’t because Delilah was paralyzed after her accident. It was the scene where McGee calls Gibbs down to the hospital and asks if he can sit with him. Gibbs comes down and goes and sits with Tim as a way to lend him some support. I remember the people who came to be with me in the hospital when I’ve had surgery or when Daniel has been in the NICU/PICU/peds ward. They didn’t have to say beautiful words of wisdom or advice — all I really needed was for them to sit with me and hold my hand. It is really hard to communicate just how much their presence meant to me even if they just sat there quietly with me.

— 3 —

Speaking of the 49’ers… We have a bit of a family war going on at the moment because my extended family is mostly in western Washington and of course, I’m down here in northern California. I predict amusing status updates this weekend. I feel sorry (but not all that much) for my evil twin — his wife is a Green Bay fan, his cat is a Panthers fan, and he lives in Seahawk territory. He commented that it’s impossible to watch football right now without pissing anyone off.

— 4 —

The Boxer. I think I’ve posted this before but it’s a video of Allison Krauss and Shawn Colvin doing a cover of “The Boxer” from a concert honoring Paul Simon. It’s one of my favorite Simon & Garfunkel songs and it’s nice to have a recording that I can sing along with in my specific register. (Not that I was doing this at 2 a.m. or anything…)

— 5 —

Also a fan of this one… This is “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” from a Bob Dylan tribute concert 20 years ago. There are others I like from this particular concert (Tracy Chapman singing “The Times They Are A-Changin'” for example) but this particular one fit with the Shawn Colvin theme of the last Quick Take.

Aw heck… here’s Tracy. I love her performance because she doesn’t embellish anything in the song and her bluesy voice just fits perfectly.

— 6 —

Last video, I promise. I’m listening to Simon and Garfunkel as I blog this.

— 7 —

Orphans. Do you see these darling children?

L-R: Brett and Iris
BrettIris

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her and their dossier has been submitted to her country.

— Bonus —

Update on the laptop. I received the hard drive from my old laptop in the mail on Tuesday. I was WTFing until my mom pointed out that this was not a bad thing in case my backup on my external hard drive is messed up. I got ahold of my case manager at HP yesterday and he told me that the ETA for the build of my new laptop is January 24th and he’s getting it shipped to me 2nd Day Air so I’ll get it on the 26th. *sigh* It means sharing a Macbook with Jon for another week or so but I’m getting a new laptop out of it so I shouldn’t complain… too much. #stillwhining #firstworldproblems

Pray for Jon. I’m not the easiest person to live with when I’m going through laptop withdrawal symptoms.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

7 Quick Takes: Dinner Fail, Malala on The Daily Show, and Cute Animals

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Only in Montana… I found the following stories in the Great Falls Tribune today:

Canadian man ticketed for driving 154 mph in Montana. (Did he forget that our speed limits are in miles, not kilometers???)

Montana woman too drunk to get out of her car calls 911. (I shouldn’t laugh because drunk driving isn’t a joke. However, this one just boggles the mind.)

— 2 —

A worthy cause. Malala Yousafzai was on The Daily Show this week. She rendered John Stewart speechless. There is an organization started in her name to advocate and raise money for women to receive education around the world. Go check out the Malala Fund. She is also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and I’m hoping she wins. (She’s the youngest person ever nominated.)

— 3 —

Orphans. Do you see these two precious children?

L-R: Brett and Iris
BrettIris

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her and they are compiling their dossier to send to her country.

— 4 —

Prerequisite baseball take. I’m rooting for the Cardinals because the Giants didn’t make it to the post season. They knocked out the Pirates and will be facing Jon’s team (and mortal enemies of the Giants) the Dodgers. There will be lots of good-natured trash-talking over Twitter and Facebook during this series.

I also just saw that the Tigers beat Oakland. Things are as they should be. 😉 (Oakland is the OTHER Bay Area team and I’m still grumpy about the 1989 World Series.)

— 5 —

The zoo zoo zoo. I saw footage of the surgery that was done on the Sacramento Zoo’s tiger and the pictures don’t do justice to his size. He was sitting in the window of his enclosure and his paw was bigger than my hand! His son, CJ, is getting so big as well!

There’s also the red panda blog. We saw Kodari, the baby last month and he is adorbs!!!

— 6 —

Dinner fail. I got some of ciopinno from Trader Joe’s which I’m sure is lovely but it was too fishy for me. (It’s a seafood stew. Imagine that!) OK… onto the Gardenburgers in my freezer… which tasted weird. I finally gave up and nuked some Morningstar Farms stuff and added some baby carrots to it.

— 7 —

Research study. I got to talk to a researcher doing a project on PCOS on Friday. I wish I’d had better answers for her but it was nice to be part of a study and get to do something that might help out with eventually finding a cure for it someday.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

7 Quick Takes: Edda Helps This Week

7 Quick Takes

Edda is taking refuge from Daniel on my lap (where he has to use gentle hands to pet her) so she’s going to help me with my quick takes this week.

— 1 —

Orphans. Do you see these two sweet children?

L-R: Brett and Iris
BrettIris

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her and they are compiling their dossier to send to her country.

Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 2 —

“Mom of the Year” material here. Just a word of advice: if your child has been terrified of car washes in the past, it’s not incredibly good to take him through one because “he might have gotten over his fear”. It’s sensory hell and in addition to your kid flipping out to the point that they puke, you’ll also have a headache from the screaming.

Totally the “Mom of the Year” here.

— 3 —

Fasting for peace. I’m not sure what I’ll be fasting from because I’ll be with my parents but I’m taking part. There’s also a beautiful prayer here. (HT: Fr. James Martin, S.J)

Fasting for peace on September 7th.

— 4 —

Where bloggers blog. There’s a Tumblr that is showing pictures of where bloggers blog. I haven’t submitted one yet but I’m considering it.

— 5 —

Al Franken delivers. A couple weeks ago, I posted about some harmless political fun. He offered to let people vote on what Minnesota State Fair food he would eat in a virtual postcard to supporters. The verdict: deep-fried pickles with chocolate sauce. To spare you having to surf to one of his donation pages, I’m embedding the video below. (The actual eating of the pickles is at 1:18.)

And no, I don’t live in Minnesota — I just like Al Franken. 🙂

— 6 —

Wow. When Jon went to pick Daniel up today, his teacher asked why we hadn’t told her that he knew all his capital letters. Ummm… because we didn’t know? It sounds like someone has been paying attention during Circle Time! Go Daniel!

— 7 —

Hot hot hot! It’s supposed to be in the triple digits this weekend. Seriously, I’m wishing it was December in Montana with sub-zero temperatures. I hate heat. At least when it’s that cold, you can put a ton of layers on. When it’s this hot, you can only take so much off.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

Five Favorites: Stupid Things People Say When I Tell Them That I’m A Pastor’s Wife

Five Favorites

If you didn’t know, I’m married to a Lutheran pastor. Most people either know this or smile and nod politely but it causes some people to say some pretty *interesting* things. Here are the five most interesting ones that I remember, three that are reactions to hearing that I’m a pastor’s wife and two that are stupid things people have said because of who I am.

One

“So this means you can have sex, right?” This was said to me at 2003 at a visitation for a parishioner who had passed away by a co-worker of the parishioner’s son. I was standing in the funeral home next to the church in some fairly conservative clothes with my husband and his internship supervisor next to me. My response: “I really hope so.” The person walked away and I remember seeing my husband’s internship supervisor’s face turning an interesting shade of purple and his eyes almost popping out of his head. Apparently, this was one of the more interesting things he had encountered at a funeral visitation.

Two

“Does this mean that you’re a nun?” This was said to me by a Lutheran kid at a Lutheran church camp. (I point out that it was a Lutheran setting because our clergy are almost always married.) Apparently, he really hasn’t paid attention in church because I knew his pastor and said pastor is very much married with kids who are my age!

Three

“But you don’t look like a pastor’s wife!” One of my former co-workers said this during my second week of work when I came to work wearing my “Pastor’s wife of an LQPV Eagle” sweatshirt. (LQPV is the local high school in the area where my husband served his first parish.) Apparently, I’m supposed to be old and wear long dresses or denim jumpers or something??? I mean… I did the long dresses and skirts but apparently I don’t fit the stereotypes otherwise?

Let’s now just go into stupid things people have said to me because I was the pastor’s wife.

Four

“You’re a pastor’s wife! You’re supposed to be holy and doing the work of God’s church!” This was said to me by a 90something parishioner in Minnesota when I told him that he couldn’t just walk into our parsonage unannounced. It had been a week since I had undergone a laproscopic cholecystectomy (“lap chole” for short — gallbladder removal) and I was walking around the upper floor of our parsonage in my sports bra and running shorts, so I was a bit panicked when the front door suddenly opened and I heard someone calling out, “Pastor?!? Mrs. Pastor?!?” Thankfully, one of our elders was nice enough to go talk to him and explain politely why this wasn’t allowed. He was more amenable to him explaining it than the 25 year old pastor’s wife.

Five

“You’re a pastor’s wife. You can’t drink alcohol if you’re out at a restaurant.” This was said to me by one of my “special” people in Montana who decided that she needed to lecture me about my appearance and my reputation when she saw me out shopping in sweats. What she didn’t know: I never drank alcohol around parishioners and I hadn’t had a drink in probably… over a year at that point because my liver had a death wish and they had to scrape scar tissue off of it when I had my lap chole. (I’m also the world’s cheapest drunk so it wasn’t a stretch to give up drinking.) She felt that she had a duty to lecture me about my reputation and standing as a pastor’s wife which meant that she would criticize everything I did, regardless of whether or not everyone else approved of me.

Go love up Hallie and the others.

Five Favorites: Boston and Fictitious Twitters

Five Favorites

Before I post my favorite fictitious Twitter accounts, I want to say this:

BOSTON, YOU FREAKING ROCK!

Your blood banks were already full before the explosion happened and you stepped up to house/feed/take care of displaced marathoners. Seeing the spreadsheet of people who volunteered to transport people, house people in spare rooms, and feed people brought tears to my eyes. May God reward your efforts and may your city experience healing.

OK… onto my five favorites…

Uno

@UnvirtuousAbbey. I love these irreverent Canadians who inspire myself and many others not to take ourselves too seriously as Christians. Whether it be Star Wars prayers, Beatles prayers, or 80’s prayers, they never cease to make me laugh.

Dos

@CatFoodBreath. I have no doubt that there is a real cat inspiring the account but whoever writes it is hilarious. The user info describes the cat as “a 17 pound Siamese cat with a sushi habit” and this doesn’t surprise me given that Siamese cats are considered to be the pitbulls of the domestic cat world. I can imagine my monsters saying just about everything CFB tweets though mine definitely haven’t discovered buttered toast unless Jon has been feeding it to them.

Tres

@Rev_Norespect. I think he has my experience in ministry covered except for the Lutheran-specific parts. It’s not all bad but there are some things like getting a boatload of produce during the summer from people (or canned fruits/jams/salsa in our current parish) that are unique to it. I also love his You Might Be a Small Church Pastor If… list because many of them are true.

Quatro

@AnonChurchSec. I’m not the church secretary here for many reasons but I’ve helped out in Jon’s previous calls so I love Church Secretary. In the parishes where we’ve actually had one, I’ve made friends with them because they frequently are a source of support and also can sometimes be the gatekeeper to keep the crazies at bay. Having helped out, I can totally identify with a lot of what she says, especially her advice to get a guy from the church to come fix something. (I am totally not opposed to batting my eyelashes to get my way.)

Cinco

@ThePastors_Wife. I most solemnly swear that I am up to no good that this is not my Twitter account. I do identify with a lot of what she writes though, especially on the words she doesn’t want to hear, how to get people to shut up and stop feeding me information that I shouldn’t be privy to, and she also loves (and retweets) Grumpy Cat.

Go love up Hallie and the others.

7 Quick Takes: Cartacacoethes, Baseball, and the Ring Theory

7 Quick Takes

Before we start, please lift up some prayers for Jen (our usual hostess) and her son Joseph Thomas who was born on Monday and is in the NICU 30 minutes away with lung/breathing issues. We’re well acquainted with the NICU here at ::Meditatio:: and I hope Jen knows that my husband Jon, our son Daniel, and I are praying for her and her family.

— 1 —

The Ring Theory. This article was published in the L.A. Times and shared around Facebook this week. The premise is making a dot in the center (the person suffering) and drawing concentric circles outward representing different subsets of people ranging from the spouse/family to close friends to colleagues etc. The rule is that any negative comments can only be directed to the outer rings from wherever you happen to be while comforting words can be directed to everyone inward.

Example of ring theory
(HT: LA Times website)

Can I just say that I love this and wish I could have had it for some special people in Montana?

— 2 —

Search term fun. Thanks to the installation of the Jetpack plugin for WordPress, I can engage in sharing interesting search terms. The vast majority of mine have to do with famous brothers in literature because of a post I wrote 9 years ago while trying to find names for my mom’s boys. The interesting ones in the last three months have been…

gallbladder soy cheese
mentos tsa
darius rucker pat tillman memorial
i hate niacin
jack nicholson “as good as it gets” candy in jars
sergio romo tastic t shirts
spanking and fibromyalgia

— 3 —

Update on Ian. Some of you might remember me asking for prayer for Ian Brown, one of my college classmates. The last time I updated, he was dealing with sinusoidal obstructive syndrome which is a rare liver disease associated with his bone marrow transplant. The only hope was an experimental drug called Defibrotide which is only made in Italy. They procured some for him and after a 21 day course, he is doing MUCH better. The latest blog post had a picture of him walking to the local Farmer’s Market which required a 3 1/2 mile walk there and back. For those of us who know Ian, this is nothing new. He is the embodiment of “abundant life”.

— 4 —

Brett. This is Brett. He needs a mama.

Brett

Could you possibly be his mama? Click his picture to learn more about him.

— 5 —

Kaia. Do you have a bunch of loose change lying around? Want to use it to make a BIG difference?

Kaia's Kindergarten Fund

Click on the picture of this beautiful young lady (Kaia) to find out about how your loose change can help her family bring her home and let her go to kindergarten this fall.

— 6 —

Baseball. The Giants did not do well against the Cardinals last weekend (a 14-3 loss on the 7th was the most embarrassing) but they swept their series with the Rockies and have done well against the Cubs thus far. I’m kind of bummed that the games aren’t usually shown up here in Sacramento except on rare occasions but I appreciate that I can usually catch them online.

— 7 —

Cartacacoethes. A few weeks ago, Leah of Unequally Yoked mentioned the book Maphead by Ken Jennings. I’ve stopped and started it a couple times because I’m finding that I can’t be reading anything else at the same time and my local library seems to have cleared the backlog on my request list. I’m aiming to read it during my spare moments this weekend (which may just be Saturday night — Jon has Acquire the Fire and Daniel will be at a Respite Night). Meanwhile, I’m having major cartacacoethes.

For more Quick Takes, visit the fabulous Grace at Camp Patton.

Surviving the NICU

For those who don’t know, Jen Fulwiler of ConversionDiary.Com had her baby on April 8th. He has some breathing issues (unrelated to Jen’s pulmonary emboli) and is at a different hospital with better NICU facilities. She’s out of the original hospital but Joseph’s hospital is 30 minutes away. Priest’s Wife of Fear Not Little Flock put together a post on surviving the NICU and I thought I’d share my own wisdom as the picture below represents life for us 4 years ago.

Daniel being baptized on April 10, 2009

[+] Be gentle with yourself. It’s hard having a kid in the NICU. You get to cry as much as you want. If nothing else, you’re post-partum and it’s in the job description. You also need to take care of yourself though which means that you need to make an effort to eat, sleep, and do whatever you have to do to be functional.

[+] Ask LOTS and LOTS of questions. If you have qustionas and the doctor isn’t around, write them down and ask him when he rounds. (Oh yes… find out what time rounds are and be present for them.) There are no stupid questions when it comes to your baby. Want to know why they’re giving your baby a transfusion? Want to know what your child’s blood volume is? (I’m not kidding — I did actually ask the last one.) Ask away.

[+] Be as hands-on as you can. My son Daniel had specific care times at specific intervals. Our NICU encouraged me to be as involved as possible with them so I would take his temperature, change his diaper, and do anything else they needed done. It was good for me because I got to know what his baselines were and learned how to do things like bathe him without having to take a class. It also helps you know when there is something going on that needs attention. Something I didn’t know was that blood oxygen levels for preemies should be between 85-95% — anything higher can cause blindness.

[+] Engage in as much “kangaroo care” as possible. It has been empirically proven that “kangaroo care” (skin-to-skin contact with mom or dad) is beneficial to your baby as it helps them regulate their temperature and breathing. One of the best memories I have is of Daniel falling asleep on my chest. I also had the experience of him puking on my chest and having to remove my bra because of all the puke. 🙂

[+] Get the number for the NICU so you can call if you can’t room in with your baby. We couldn’t room in with Daniel until the end so I’d call the NICU before I left for the hospital and then when I got home. (I had a 2 hour commute each way so my favorite nurse actually instructed me to call when I got home.) I even called at 3 a.m. a few times when I needed an update.

These are my thoughts 4 years later. If you have any wisdom to offer, leave it over at Fear Not Little Flock.