Wednesday, April 30, 2008

American Idol

I don't watch the show, but I heard about this and I think it is awesome. You don't have to watch the whole part, just Paula makes a fool of herself yet again.

God made dirt...

I imagine that you know the rest, right?

I am curious what you guys think about hand sanitizer. Do you think it is good, bad, overused, underused?

These days hand sanitizer seems to be the easier alternative to washing your hands. People don't wash their hands with good old fashioned soap and water. They pop out their bottle of Purell and away they go. It seems convenient but are there costs that we are not seeing. I tend to think so. I haven't done any studies and probably never will, I will leave that up for the scientists. But I did do a little research I didn't really find anything that I would trust my life with but some interesting facts.

Children growing up need to be exposed to all kids of germs as they are growing in order for them to have a strong immune system. So if we are constantly sanitizing everything that our children are touching, what are we doing to their immune systems. Are we dooming our children to weak immune systems. People that need to live in a germ free world, which we know isn't going to happen.

The food and drug administration says that hand sanitizer should only be used when washing you hands with soap and water is not possible. Also hand sanitizer should not be used if the hands are visibly soiled. Now in my mind, there are not a lot of places where you cannot get to a sink to wash your hand with soap and water. On this same vein of thinking, there are studies that show that the only way to effectively sanitize your hands is to wash them with soap and water.

In the long term, a concern is rising that bacteria, which are known to mutate, will become immune to anti-bacterials creating super-bacteria. That sounds bad and I don't want to get one.

One more thought that I have on the subject...Isn't the purpose of these products to cut down on sickness? People that I know who use hand sanitizers get sick just like me that won't use hand sanitizers. This doesn't make sense to me, does it to you?

Tell me what you think.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Open Mic Night

The Art of Whimsy was just asked to host an open mic night at a cool little wine bar in Colfax called Basement Wines. We used to play there about once a month last year, though they stopped the music over winter. The whole town just sort of shuts down. So once a week on Tuesday (I know odd day) we are going to be hosted the whole event, making sure it runs smoothly, and playing in the blank spots. Hopefully we will be able to make it something cool, and get some good acts in there. We are trying to come up with a cool name other than Open Mic Night. But I think that it needs to let people know what the event is. I don't want to call it Grapes of Wrather because people will think that it is a book club. You get the idea right. So I am asking for you to help out with the naming.

So if you have any great thoughts let me know......

p.s. I also want some sort of logo/picture type of thing

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Homemade Pizza

Last night Joel and Chrissy came over to our place (yay no driving!!) and brought over the fixins for homemade pizza. We had mushrooms, bell pepper, tomatoes, pepperoni, cheese, sauce, and homemade dough. We got to use our pizza stone, a wedding present we hadn't used yet. The result was amazing. The pizza was super delicious. We also had some fresh corn on the cob, and root beer floats for dessert (the floats not the corn).

And because they are super cool friends, they got us the movie "Juno." Which if you haven't seen it, I would go watch it tonight. It deals with teen pregnancy in a honest yet comedic way. It may be too much for some people to handle, but I thought it was genius and hilarious.

Martian Child

If you missed this movie I would recommend watching the movie. It is typical and mildly predictable, but what movie isn't these days? It is the story of a science fiction writer who adopts a boy that thinks he is from mars. Like all good stories these two main characters both need help and they are there to provide that help. I won't say much more than that because I don't want to spoil the movie. So if you missed it go watch it.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Percussion Sunday

I can't believe that i forgot to talk about this sooner. I was so excited about, so much that I didn't say a word about it.

This past Sunday, I was playing for the worship team and on Thursday we went to practice and realized that the we had a percussionist but we also had two more people who play percussion. So instead of having bass and mandolin we thought we would try out three percussionist instead. I played cajon and other various little "toys", another played djembe and some "toys" and the last player had a djembe and a doumbek. It was an absolute blast to have so many layers and not have to worry about filling in everything with one player. We each would hear something different, play it, and then we would work around each other. It was nice that we all had different sounds, even the two djembes had different tones; the parts that overlapped still sounded distinct and didn't turn to mud.

I know I had fun and would love to do it again, but a lot of people of the congregation also said that they really enjoyed the sound and hope to hear it again.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Passover

I know passover was on Saturday, but on Sunday evening, Colette, my parents and I went to a passover sader. The event was at our church and was put on by a great guy named Steve who happens to be Jewish and is much in touch with his Jewish side. Anyway the main purpose of the event was to celebrate passover in a traditional Jewish sense but also to show how the passover pointed to Jesus. The food was great, we brought a bunch and they also provided matzoh ball soup. It's delicious if you don't know. We read a little, danced a little, ate a little, and sang a little.

The part (about Jesus) that stuck out most to me was this...At the beginning-ish of the celebration, the leader of the passover takes a "bag" with three pockets in it each one containing a piece of matzoh. (There is some question as far as what the three pockets stand for, but the sake of this we will say, "The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit"). Taking out the middle piece of matzoh, or the Son, he breaks into two pieces. The larger piece he wraps up in cloth and hides somewhere in the room to be found later for a prize. The other piece he puts back in the "bag." The thing that makes this even more cool is the appearance of matzoh. First the matzoh has a bunch of holes poked through it (think saltine crackers). After it is cooked it has a stripped appearance. So get ready for this...

The matzoh (which Jesus later identified as his body) is pierced, stripped, broken, wrapped in cloth, hidden for a short while and to the person who finds it they are given a prize.

I thought that was interesting.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Uh-oh, oh, oh, oh, Uh-oh, oh, oh, the right stuff.

In case you haven't heard...

"After months of speculation and rumor, the Kids are coming back. A well-placed source tells PEOPLE exclusively that New Kids On The Block are indeed getting back together.

The band's Web site, www.nkotb.com, which had been dormant, is now back up and running in anticipation of the official announcement, which the source says will be made in the next few weeks.

The site currently features a television graphic with a fuzzy, flickering photos of NKOTB in their heyday, and a link inviting fans to sign up for info.

The boy band, which made legions of tweens swoon in the early '90s, selling more than 50 million albums, became a worldwide phenomenon before calling it quits in 1994.

Eighteen years later, they're still "Hangin' Tough." The oldest "Kid," Jonathan Knight, now a real estate developer, will turn 40 later this year. Since the band's demise, former members Donnie Wahlberg, 38, and Joey McIntyre, 35, have seen acting success, while Danny Wood, 38, has worked as a music producer and Knight's brother, Jordan, 37, has continued to record."

New Sweet

So on accident I just ate a couple of jelly beans with a M and M. It tasted like orange chocolate or some sort of fruit and chocolate combination. So if you like fruit and chocolate and want to cheap alternative, you should try that cause I loved it.

Revolution Wines


The Art of Whimsy just had a show this past saturday at a place called Revolution Wines. It was a lot of fun to get back up on the stage and play some music again. Anyway my parents and brother came out and drank some wine and ate some baked potatoes, with all of the toppings to go along, and of course listened to us play. I had a blast and afterward Colette, Ryan and I went out to eat and got some delicious food. I don't remember the name of the place, but it was good.

Friday, April 11, 2008

New Job

If you didn't know, Colette was looking for a new job. Her current company is being stupid and is possibly going to be cutting back benefits that make the job worth it. So about two weeks ago she started looking for a job at various companies that are more in her field of study (psychology). Well yesterday she had an interview at a place and then went back to check out what she would be doing and was then offered the job. She still needs to pass a background check, but that won't be a problem unless she has a secret life that I don't know about.

For her new job she will be working with autistic children, from 18 months to high school. Basically, she helps them learn out to interact with other people. What is appropriate, what is not. We are excited and it seems that God had a large hand in this.

This also means that in the next few months we will be moving up to the Rocklin area, which is also something that we were hoping to do at some point.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Racism

In light of Brody's post about racism I thought I would share this little story.

I was just starting my 5th period class when the teacher came in and announced that some of the students would be leaving to attend an assembly. He named off the students and they quickly raced out of the room. After the students left, the others where feeling left out, and were wondering why they didn't get to go. So it was explained that they were attending an assembly to discuss their standardized tests. After about thirty seconds the students realized (as did I) that the only people who were called out where the African American students. One students asked after this realization, "Hey! Are they being racist?"

As it turned out teachers are trying to solve the problem that certain groups (races) perform lower than other groups (races). In an attempt to solve this, teachers gave sort of race specific assemblies to talk about the tests and to urge them to do their best and to talk about their importance. This may not really be a racist thing to do, since they are trying to help all students do better, but it does send the message to the students that different races are different.

I'm not sure if there is a better way to solve this problem...

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Aloha now ATA

Aloha Airlines announced today that it will be shutting down its inter-island and transpacific passenger flight operations. Aloha’s last day of operations will be Monday, March 31, 2008.

And...

ATA Airlines has discontinued all operations and cancelled all current and future flights. Following the loss of a key contract for our military charter business, it became impossible for ATA to continue operations. Unfortunately, we were not in a position to provide our customers or others with advance notice.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Job Search

This really doesn't have much to do with the fact that we just found that we are going to have a baby, but it might be time for Colette to find another job. As much as we love her job and love the flexibility and the benefits of this job, the bad my soon out way the good. So pray for us and Colette looks for another job. We have some ideas that would be great and we would love for them to work out, but God is really the one in charge. Besides we would much rather have his plan for our life than ours, He is much smarter than we are.

Side effects or pregnancy (Good and bad)

1. Tired
2. Hungry
3. Losing weight
4. not being able to change the cat litter (really, I know, who knew?)
5. being really cuddly (yes!)
6. extreme back pain

There are some others, but you don't get to know them all.

Rebel

I saw my baby yesterday. The tiny little thing 1.23 centimeters long. Too small and underdeveloped at this stage to really see any shape other than a blob. Yet even at such a small size the heart is formed and beating. It was such an amazing experience to see the twinkle of my baby's almost microscopic heart beating.

I think that the fact that I was going to have a baby had finally settled down and became "old news." Seeing my baby certainly took this reality to another level. I can feel my attachment and love for this life growing with each stage and each day that goes by as we approach the day of its birth. Again, I can't wait.

Driving home yesterday I was struck by the awesomeness (not said in a surfer voice) of God. As I drove, watching the sunset, I couldn't help but think that the same God that created the universe that has sunsets of purple, blue, green, yellow, pink, orange, almost every color found in nature, is right now forming my child. Hair and eye color, its body type, its shoe size, will it be artistic or not, the size its feet will be, its personality. Carefully and with great intention, He is creating a plan for this child. I can only hope and pray that I will direct my child to its creator.