Power Lunch!

I went into my bank yesterday and found out it was Small Business month. Since I have a small business, I was given a free “power lunch” (that's what the packaging actually says). The “power lunch” is a chocolate chip granola bar. Not bad, eh?

Better yet though, I was informed that I really should switch from a business to small business banking package. Whereas I'm currently without online banking because they charge a nice fee for that to businesses, if I tell them I'm a small business, I get that, and all kinds of other goodies, for free.

I suppose I really should keep track of what the bank has to offer a bit more actively.

Back to Normal

Well, I don't have any more scores to report, so expect my normal type blog postings to return tomorrow. I can't promise that one more baseball post might not wander in, but don't let them scare you away. If anything, let the possibility of my upcoming political musing scare you instead!

Nameless, Part II

I talked to my classmate for a moment about class, all the while hoping Amelia would not return before I had finished the conversation. But, Amelia came up from behind when, to my surprise, my nameless friend exclaimed, “Amelia, what are you doing here?” Now, that was not what I was expecting! “Hi, Alex,” Amelia replied. I didn't learn the details until one day the next semester when Alex and I got to talking, but they explained to me that Alex too had been a student at the Lutheran high school that my cousin was still attending. At that point, I explained to Alex that Amelia was my cousin and that she had come to get a feel for LU and sit in some classes (including Brit Lit I). Alex remarked that she had not yet had time to read that day's assignment (this was about an hour and a half before class) and that she had better go read it fast, so she could “say something to sound intelligent” in class.

We ended up sitting at a large round table near the windows overlooking the football field. As I recall it, I spent most of lunch quietly tending to my food while Amelia and Maggie talked. Maggie was talking about some career choices; at one point Amelia provided a bluntly honest remark about the one way Maggie was leaning, and Maggie remarked that Amelia's honesty was one of the things she really appreciated about Amelia. I, of course, did not disagree, for my cousin would have likely hit me if I had — she's always been that way to me (I can only hope Amelia does not read this, or… gulp Ouch!).

All kidding aside, it was a nice lunch. With plenty of time to spare, we left the cafeteria and traveled up the hill to the dorm located directly by the local AutoZone. This was Maggie's dorm, and she offered to give Amelia a tour of it. Since I could not join them (obviously — it was the ladies' dorm), I took to leaning up against a column of the building and reading the next reading for Brit Lit. It wasn't a very comfortable column; it was rather slick and its tall foundation only offered enough ledge to barely allow me to pretend to sit. Time passed for what seemed like an eternity without so much as a sign of life from inside the building. Periodically, I checked my watch only to see that “plenty of time before class” start inching toward “not so much time.” After awhile, an acquaintance from another class came out; seeing me just leaning against the column, she asked if I was waiting for someone. I said I was and talked for a little bit; at first she offered to go in and see what had become of my cousin and Maggie, but since she did not know Maggie or what part of the building she lived in, that wasn't really possible.

Finally, about ten or fifteen minutes before class, the two missing members of our happy little trio reappeared. Amelia had not been feeling too well, and had been sitting down for a bit. Fortunately, she was feeling fine now. We parted company with Maggie, who had other places to go, and headed a little less quickly back across campus to Brit Lit. We got there in plenty of time and made our way in. I usually sit in the front row of a class, but since there was not a second front row spot available, I opted to lead us to seats further back. One thing I recall was how much blander and dirtier the back of the room seemed. Maybe that's why those who sit in the front row are statistically said to do better… well, probably not. I offered Amelia the extra bottle of water I had somehow managed to get stuffed in my satchel along with my books — she didn't want it, so so much for my amazing feat of fitting it in — and then busied myself getting my mind ready for the always possible pop quiz, a quiz which did not appear that day.

At any rate, I was disappointed that this class was not among the most interesting of the Brit Lit I sessions I had been in hence far. We looked at a text on literary criticism (I believe it was by the ever relevant Samuel Johnson) and then finally got to something I hoped would show off my professor's talents a bit more: the great metaphysical poet John Donne. We moved quickly and covered a number of Donne's works, including the rather amusing “the Flea.”

After class, I introduced Amelia to my professor, Dr. Glover, and then slipped out of the room toward the room down the hall that had the next stop on our tour. I was a bit dejected. There is nothing worse than telling someone how great something is and then it being less than exciting when that person actually is around to see the thing in question. That had been Brit Lit. Dr. Glover is an amazing professor, but it just had not been the best day. I was pretty sure the next class would be much more successful, and it was. This next class was Philosophy of Religion and our topic was the problem of evil.

We walked in the room, and I was about to again find a seat in the back, when I heard someone call my name. Alex was at the door. Alex and I sometimes chatted and joked about literature on the way out of class, but that day, as I said, Amelia and I had quietly and briskly left the room. When I came over, Alex had thought of a clever play on words from Donne which she presented to me. We talked for a few moments, until my professor, Dr. Meyers, arrived and I returned with Amelia to staking out a good seat. With it a fairly cool temperature outside, it was a good day for Amelia to be visiting — the room this class was in was often miserably hot, but was tolerable that Friday.

A few of my friends were in the class, and a couple that were on the side of the room we ended up on (the opposite that I normally was on) were among those I introduced Amelia to. JonPaul was one of them, and while he was yet another fellow I was unfortunately unable to name at the time (I may forget names, but once they stick, I do remember them), but somehow I fudged the introduction and all was well. A few other friends, whose names I did know were on the other side of the room, and I simply never got to introduce them to my cousin, which was a shame. Amelia is the type of person who people always want to be introduced to; I recall as late as last semester, one friend from that class who I had failed to introduce to Amelia inquired to me about who that was who had been with me that day in Fall of '04. That was not an isolated incident, either.

By this time, it was already 2:00, but there was still more to come in our little adventure. I will detail the conclusion another day.

Nameless, Part I

I have a funny mind. I can remember frequently bizarre details, or the dates of things I did, but on the other hand, can easily forget that I meant to update this or that web page tonight or, often far worse, someone's name. That strikes me today, as — depending on whether you choose to count the anniversary of a day by the day of the week or the date — a particularly vivid day occurred two years ago the Friday of this week, today, or, really, two years ago Wednesday. I can say that somehow without looking back on the calendar. I just know innately that it was two years ago. It isn't that the date is stuck in my head, I just remember. How odd.

For some reason, I have the urge to write out the “story” of that day, so I shall.

It was a warm, crisp autumn Friday in October. I got up earlier than usual and cleaned up my car a bit. My cousin, Amelia, was coming over to go with me to Lindenwood so that she could get a taste of the university. Amelia was in her senior year at Lutheran High at the time; originally we had planned to do this little tour and “class sit in” the semester before, but the plans had just not come together — that was just as well, as the classes the previous semester would not have proved nearly as interesting for her to sit in. Regardless, it to be this day and not some other one. I don't think she was really considering going to any other school still at the time, so perhaps the purpose of giving her a taste of LU wasn't as useful as it would have been before, but the main thing was that it promised to be a fun day.

When she arrived, we hopped into my Jeep and headed off. I thoroughly confused her as I cut through the various back roads I take to avoid the traffic of Highway 94 in the morning. We chatted about various subjects, including the upcoming presidential election. We arrived several hours before the first of my two Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes. I pulled into the parking lot of St. Charles Presbyterian, turned the wrong way and tried to maneuver into a parking spot, but ultimately had to back out carefully and come around the right direction.

We talked as we walked up the hill to the campus and I began a tour of the various buildings. I believe we walked through Butler Hall — the professors' offices — first, wound around and back out the basement, went through Roemer, peeked into Butler Library, then Young, and into the dark (and often ignored) Memorial Arts Building, that houses the business faculty. We went to the drab downstairs, because I wanted to introduce Amelia to Dr. Chilton, who is a friend and mentor of mine, but his door was shut all the way and I presumed he wasn't there (I later found out he was).

At that point we wandered over to the Spellmann Center to eat lunch. It was just before 11:00 and we were to meet my cousin's friend Maggie, who had just started at LU. We came down the stairs and Maggie came up and introductions were made. I'm not quite sure the reason, but we stayed outside the cafeteria for a few minutes. I remember leaning against the cool of the exterior facing wall of the building as we talked. I asked Maggie about what classes she was taking, and if I recall correctly, she was in a World Religions class with Dr. Mason.

We entered the cafeteria when one of my professors from the semester before, Dr. Stein was walking over to get a tray. I introduced my cousin to him. My English advisor, Dr. Hickenlooper also walked by and I introduced Amelia to him. I seem to remember introducing my cousin to Dr. Chilton, whom I mentioned a few moments ago, too, but can't say for sure — which is odd, given that I can remember the other details. The cafeteria was extremely sparse feeling that day, it was almost as if there were a few professors there just so I could introduce them to my cousin and that was it. I'm sure there were some students milling around, but I can't recall that at all.

The menu included baked fish, broccoli, and baked potatoes in the “homestyle” section of the cafeteria. I got all three, and, I think, a salad as well. Amelia and Maggie had gone to other sections to get food and I met back up with Amelia on the way in to the cafeteria.

I'll continue on this story tomorrow. I'm not sure exactly why; hopefully it won't prove too uninteresting.

Tired.

I feel exhausted tonight, for the second night in a row. The funny thing is I slept very good last night and had a mostly peaceful day today. I guess I'm just running behind on energy. More tomorrow.

Let's Polka!

My family usually has a few parties each year, and often times we'll have a theme of some sort. Today, my mother put on an amazing little Root Beer/Oktoberfest party for us. As part of that, we had lots of polka music, and I learned how to polka. By the end of the night, my cousin Amelia and I managed to polka across the house — and not break anything in the process!

The party, being an Oktoberfest party, had beer (of the rooty sort). It wasn't just a root beer party, but a root beer tasting party. Using blind taste testing, all of us tried nine different types of root beer and rated them. I, along with about half of the others, unknowingly picked A&W as my favorite, over more exotic ones, such as “Virgil's” and “Sparky's.” A&W was the only one that we had not purchased at Straub's, an “up market” little grocery chain that we went to specifically to get root beer. I also found St. Louis hometown Fitz's and Route 66 rootbeer to be quite good. Some of the others weren't very good at all. One, I think it may have been the Virgil's, tasted like cough syrup, for instance.

Quite a night, at any rate.

The Weary Rant of Madness

Ok, I surrender. I'm tired and weary — let's end this.

You want it? Fine, have it, I didn't want it anyway. Don't I? Well, that's not true. I do want it, but I know it is inevitable. You will win. It is always inevitable, so why do I keep starting over when it always must be surrendered at some point?

I'm too weary to fight anymore. Too weary for all the democratic window dressings over predetermined courses. Why the charade? You will do what you will do.

Fine. But you have to take the veggies and not just the dessert. I've given in before, let's do it once and for all and completely, now.

I just want to rest, so take it. But take it all.

Go, Go, Go

What a week. The first few days of the week I spent a lot of time preparing for the relaunch of OFB, particularly the technical aspects of the new site. Then I spent a good deal of time studying — trying to catch up on the things I didn't get done the first part of the week. Last night, I was at the wedding of a friend from church. Then today, we had a special service and installation ceremony for our youth minister who is now our Pastor of Youth and Celebration Worship, then I went and got a flu shot, followed by various small projects, and finally, Alpha. I also spent a lot of time on the phone providing technical support throughout the week — starting with two calls of about one hour each on last Monday evening.

The week got more intense, it seemed, as it progressed. Now this week I have two major tests. I can't wait until next weekend.

Busy Day

So, I had a nice, busy Birthday. With Alpha meeting on Sunday nights it was a bit different than normal, but good none the less! The light rain kept me inside a bit more than I initially planned, but I got some reading done, which was something I had been hoping to do for awhile.

Tomorrow's back to work, though!

Spinning Wheels

Lately, I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. I rarely seem to get much done, I simply add to the things in progress or work on the things in progress without seeing much of an end. Tonight was sort of like that; I spent awhile on the phone following up on computer technical support issues for clients, yet did not seem to get anything really done.

When I finally took off for the night, around 10:00, I decided to spend some time organizing and cleaning, so at least something would feel like it had been accomplished. And it does. While I still have plenty of stuff to do, at least I feel like I'm doing it in a slightly less disorderly environment!