Okay

Tomorrow is my 2 hour oral comprehensive exam, from 12noon-2pm CST, 6-8pm GMT. :)

Thank you for your prayers.

I shall persevere.

Email Quote

"Okay, remember to pray for me because I don't want to barf and/or freak out on Thursday."

Or Wednesday.

Or today for that matter.

MRRP-a-licious

I'd post something, I'd love to post something... but I'm super busy.

I'll be un-busy by Thursday at around 2pm, after my 2 hour oral comprehensive exam is over and I have handed in my MRRP.

Near...... Far

The longer I've been living away from home, the more I realize that my family members are somewhat similar to me... my Mom sends me all kinds of cards she's made and my sister sends me funny emails of her adventures in Florida.

Really, she should just start a blog.

"Bridget and I were going to go to the beach on the gulf side today but there's been bad rip currents and 4 people have drowned in the last week, so they are advising not to go in past your ankles. So that kind of defeats the purpose. Instead I've been cleaning our kitchen and living room like they have never been cleaned before. It was sooooooooooooooooo disguisting you wouldn't believe. There was an ant colony partying it up in a can of bacon fat under the sink. I don't know when the last time the vacuum filter was changed. I still need to wash the kitchen floor but I've had enough for now. I've also done some yard work, I plan on having a bit of a garden so I've been clearing out weeds from right around the house (some one had planted flowers and a few vegetables in the past) plus I picked up all the spanish moss, branches, palm bark, pine cones, etc off the lawn, resulting in a gigantic pile of stuff that I'm not sure what to do with. Soon after that our neighbour came and mowed our lawn (he must have noticed I was cleaning up) so the yard looks much better. We have a deck and I said something to Bridget about having parties on it and she laughed as if that were impossible (oh yeah, I cleaned up the deck earlier this month.) Well, Lauren actually seems to have planned a cookout this afternoon in our yard. So Bridget is going to get back from town and see we are having a party on our deck. Ha ha."

Release

If you participated in the surveys I did not too long ago or are just interested in them, I have begun to release some of the results here.

One of the intentions of this new blog I have created is to promote a little dialog, so please leave comments there. :)

I'll be releasing more information over there as I have time, and eventually my whole paper will be available through a link.

For My Real Life Friends

I always tell people if I had a car I would paint something cool on the side of it, like a cob of corn. Because, seriously, who does that? It would be the only car in the world with a cob of corn painted on the side of it.

"Corny" is seriously going to be one of the coolest cars around.

But I really had not ever taken the time to think of other corn on the cob novelty items... other, than you know, the standard corn cob holder thingies that you can get to stick in the ends of corn cobs to facilitate the holding of the corn cob whilst eating it.

I had no idea that someone out there makes corn cob baby suits.

I would almost* have a baby just so I could get a corn cob baby suit.


*I said almost. I'm not that nuts.

Cliches

from Reuters:

"Lister said that they had expected geographical variations, but the same phrases appeared to be universally annoying around the world..."

They even mentioned one of my least favourite phrases in the whole English language (but one that seems eerily appropriate and cliched in this situation):

I hear what you're saying.

"Excuse me, Senor, I'd like to pass"

My younger sister is in Florida for 6 months working with endangered red cockaded woodpeckers. She sent me the following email with the above subject line:

"The other day I was out by myself on the range and I came across this armadillo. Actually, we come across armadillos fairly frequently, and they either notice the truck and zip on out of there, or remain oblivious and calmly go on with their business, which is usually snuffling along slowly, pausing to dig here and there. Anyway, this armadillo was of the latter variety, and he happened to be in the very middle of the road. I slowly drove up and stopped but he plainly had no plans to get out of my way. So rather than honking at him I decided to open the door. No response. Walked to about 2 feet away from him. I could have reached out and touched him (I had forgotten my camera at home that day.) No response. Bent down and said, "Hey, uh, Mr. 'Dillo, I..." Finally he looked up. "Huh?" he said, his beady little eyes finally seeing that there was something beside him (they must not have very good hearing, either.) "Ai caramba!" Then he scurried off.

Anyway, I think that the armadillos are one of my favourite things about Florida, even if the biologist part of me knows they are introduced exotics and therefore just as bad as dandelions (which I've noticed don't seem to be around here) and starlings."

Countdown

-- 8 days until April 1 (MRRP due, 2 hour oral comprehensive exam from noon-2pm CST)*

-- 31 days until graduation (Master of Arts in Christian Ministry with an emphasis in Youth and Family)

-- 38 days until I fly to Ontario (probably, I haven't bought my ticket yet actually)

-- 42 days until my birthday (I am getting old)


* current lack of content due to this factor.

Go

I don't really have time to post anything, so go here. My friend Ryan went to Auschwitz. His March 13 entry shares what he saw.

She's Back

My roommate got back tonight from two weeks away in Montana and Georgia.

She brought back two interesting items:

1. A cowboy hat with a rhinestone trim.

2. Bible Candy.

Both of these items I find somewhat disturbing.

Thank You All

I am wrapping up my surveys now, so I just wanted again to thank everyone who filled out surveys for me! Here are some links of some of those who participated... go ahead, surf around.

Kevin at blogbandit, Rodney at The Journey, Dave at Dave the Rave, Peter (and Rebecca!) at World Wide Wood, Sarah at always greener, Jan at Shalom, Mal at i say - you say, Jess at Cherry Blossom, John at Kenya minus 365, Violet at Seasons of Violet, Flip at Stuff, Kristi at EtceteraWhatever, Lee Anne at such small hands, dj at djchuang's metablog, Theophilus at Theophilus: Walking in the Footsteps of Faith, Michael at The Main Point by Michael Main, Jennifer at What's Brewing, Tim at Spy Journal, Tristan at there is no roseability, Daniel at Dan on Everything, Kati at The Riehl World, Pat at Pat Loughery @ Mt. Si Vineyard, Nikkiana at Every Tomorrow: The Blog, Irene at ireneQ unravelled, Smockmomma at The Summa Mamas, Tim at Tim Samoff // Weblog, Rus at Good Coffee, Good Conversations, Michael at Time to Believe, Sharon at God's Child, Thomas at Christian Computing, David at David's Web, June at June, Jake at Mainstreet American, Joel at Corvine News, Matt at Mystical Matt's Blog, Jeff at Curt Jester, Blinger at Blinger: A linguistics & ESL blog, Joshua at Dei Gratia, Glen at Fully Devoted - Glenn Teal, Karl at St. Stephen's Musings, Naomi at Nomes, Andrew at Backyard Missionary, Kendra at tagebuch, TulipGirl at TulipGirl, Don at Mixolydian Mode, funkypancake at funkypanckake, John at Skywalking, Julie at Julie Neidlinger's Web Log, Eric at Fire Ant Gazette, TennielDjo at School@Home, Amy at Amy Loves Books, Kevin at Samwise, Daniel at From Behind the Wall of Sleep, Jessica at Silent Tribute, Jen at Meditatio, Jared at Jared Wilson, Justin at Radical Congruency, Christin at verbingnouns, Ian at Goin's On, Jeremy at ParableMania, Kelly at The BadgerMum, Christopher at What in Tarnation?!?!?, Mike at Consitently Chili, Kolbi at Kolbi, Kelly at Behind the Eyes, Amber at Muddy Art, Rob at robbymac, Ellen at Stranger in a Strange Land, Alastair at 40 Bicycles, Sarah at a peek into my life, Scarecrow at Whilin' Away the Hours, Bob at Mr. Standfast, Karen at , From the Anchor Hold, Kneel at Imperfect but Forgiven,
Bobbi at Revolution of Love.com Blog, Michael at Cobb, Chad at Side Show Chad, Keren at kerentan.com, Greg at pura vida, Alan at Imago Veritatis, Deneice at The Journey, Jay at Jay Huff, jondixon at jondixon, Tony at tony sheng, Stacy at K.I.S.S.-Keep it Simple, Stupid, John at Skywalking, Gman at Gman, Mykel at Orizontas, Nomes at Jots and Tittles, Randy at randybennett, and Andy at Andy the Geek.

In all, I recieved 118 complete surveys. Merci.

I Hope So

Do you ever stop and think, "Gee, I have the best friends in the world"?

I hope so, because it is an awfully nice feeling knowing that there are people who care about you that much.

Remembrance of a Memory

Every once in awhile I wake up in the middle of the night and have a panic attack. They generally suck. I haven't had one for a very long time. Usually they only happen when something extremely stressful is going on in my life.

Like last summer when I had a panic attack 5 times a week for two weeks at 5:22AM every moring. Yes, that's right, 5:22AM. I have this freakishly weird ability to tell the exact time at night/in the morning. Which, you know, sometimes comes in handy but often is more weird than helpful.

Anyways, I digress. This morning I woke up panicky, but (phewff) not exactly panic-attacky about an almost car accident I had at least 9 if not 10 years ago.

I found it very odd. Not the almost-car-accident, but the fact that I was thinking about it and it was making me anxious this morning.

Sometimes I think it's interesting all the information our brains store up and then we remember at odd times.

Like the fact that Mark Manikel borrowed my ruler in grade 6 and never gave it back. And Justin-the-hotttest-guy-in-school had a green sweater very similar to one of mine in our last year of high school. And my friend Jessica got a spiral perm just like mine and I was sure that meant I was cool in grade 11. And Angeline in my older sister's class used to pick her scabs all the time. And eat them! And Kristy in the Baby Sitters Club books always wore tennis sneakers. And Lila Fowler in Sweet Valley Twins never wore anything more than once a month and the Unicorns always wore something purple every day because purple was the colour of royalty. And we had coleslaw and chicken the time I ate at the Shriner's Temple in sixth grade. My cousin Danny had gross taco salad at his wedding when I was thirteen.

Like do I need to carry around this information any more? And when I get old and my brain doesn't work quite so good as it used to, will I be telling people this weird stuff? Because right now it's kind of funny that I remember Miss Parnetta told Justin "Tu est en retarde" when he was late for French class in grade five and he answered back "No I am not a retard!" But I don't know how funny it will when I babble that off to someone when I'm 90 at the old folks home, or when I can't get to sleep in 15 years and am telling my husband weird stories of things I remember when he has to work in the morning.

I hope he has a sense of humour. I don't know how he couldn't when he marries me, after all.

:)

Something Brought You

The reason why I asked earlier why you read this is because, besides the curiosity I have and the potential for some really great answers, was because I was wondering if your reason for reading people's blogs is the same or similar to mine.

The blogs that I find truly interesting are ones of personal story… not ones of technical knowledge or endless links. The ones we like to read are ones that tell us or show us visually what life is like to be that person, who their relationships are with, how they have developed, memories of their past, and hopes for their future. Blogs that tell of people who have made a difference to the writer, of the joys of their life, the spiritual struggles they have encountered, the hope they have found... those are the ones I love to read.

I like the ones that I can comment on too.

Peter made the comment recently that although it isn't always intentional, community is formed around a blog. People come to know each other a little bit. Links are made, as are link backs. We become involved, albeit somewhat voyeuristically, although commenting does allow us to interact with the writer. And somehow, we can become a little bit a part of their life too.

Blogging allows the expression of self that you couldn't really do any other way. Reading other people's blogs gives me a little glimpse of what they love, what they're interested in, of what and who matters to them. It gives me a little glimpse of what it's like to be them.

This afternoon I was thinking that blogging has taught me a lot about myself. Being able to write out my thoughts on a regular basis has helped clarify many things for me. I think somehow I learn more about what matters to me through this writing.

And you, my dear readers, have become a little part of my life. I don't know many of you in-the-flesh, but daily you give me feedback, make me laugh, and teach me about yourselves, and through that, I learn a little more about me and the One who created all of us. On a few occasions we've even poured out our hearts to each other. You've even kept me accountable. You've even taught me more about being a follower of Christ.

For this, my friends, I thank you, and I say, "blog on."

Something brought you to my mind today
I thought about the funny ways you make me laugh
And yet I feel like it's okay to cry with you
Somethin' about just being with you
When I leave I feel like I've been near God
And that's the way it ought to be

'Cause you been more than a friend to me
You fight off my enemies
'Cause you've spoken truth over my life
And you'll never know what it means to me
Just to know you've been on your knees for me
Oh, you have blessed my life
More than you'll ever know

You had faith, when I had none
You prayed God would bring me a brand new song
When I didn't think I could find the strength to sing
And all the while I'm hoping that I'll
Do the kind of praying for you that you've done for me
And that's the way it ought to be.
- "More Than You'll Ever Know," from Watermark's "All Things New".

Tuning In

This morning I was thinking it's interesting how day after day you click a link or type http://mikao.blogspot.com into your browser to read what I've written.

Why?

Random Thoughts

a) I'm at the library working on the "literature review" of my MRRP, but I'm not really all too sure of the direction it is to be going. I took a class called "Research Design" last fall that aimed to tell you how to go about writing your MRRP. A couple of weeks ago the school just announced it?s new program requirements, and students are no longer required to take Research Design. I feel bad for all those students who in the future shall be writing their MRRPs totally and completely lost and not just half-lost like me.

b) I wish I had the internet at my house because it is so much easier to type and be able to look stuff up online when you need to check your facts.

c) But if I had the internet at my house I would spend too much time on it.

d) I lucked out and got a computer with MSN Messenger on it tonight at the school computer lab, but there isn't anyone online that I really want to talk to. Perhaps that's a good thing because I am sure I'm getting more work done.

e) My Mom phoned me tonight and told me that the family I lived with the summer I was a church youth intern in Illinois sent me a care package full of candies and other good stuff. The only problem is they sent it to my home address and not my school address. Oh well, I guess I can enjoy the goodies when I go home for a week after grad the last week of April.

f) I got my winning copy of 54-40's Since When in the mail the other day from Ben Squires over at Music Spectrum. Thanks Ben!

g) I have the flu. Or a cold. Or something crummy like that. I don't like being sick. But, I think this might be the first time I've been sick this whole school year. And, gee, what a great time to be sick when my entire M.A. hangs in the balance pending handing in my MRRP and successfully completing my oral comprehensive exam, both on April 1st.

h) I don't understand the whole concept of putting yourself on "Away" whilst on MSN Messenger. Why don't you just sign yourself out?

i) It's interesting how quickly time passes by.

Call Me Old Fashioned

I have read about Friendster a few times on a few blogs here and there around the blogosphere. Friendster claims to be "an online community that connects people through networks of friends for dating or making new friends." The whole concept makes me chuckle. Why would I need an "online community" to connect me through networks of friends to date or make new friends? Why can't I just meet friends the old fashioned way? Maybe this is just the new way and I'm not hip? I'm not exactly sure.

It's odd though. That's what I'm sure of. Especially when I got this in my inbox:

Lyre Orcajada has invited you to join Lyre's personal and private community at Friendster, where you and Lyre can network with each other's friends.

I don't know anyone named Lyre Orcajada. And I definitely don't want to be part of any community that encourages networking for dating and new friendships when I don't even know the guy who wants me to join.

I think he's just using me to get to my friends.

So be thankful I'm protecting you all.

Try to Wrigley's Your Way Out

I haven't bought gum in a couple of years. Sometimes people offer me a piece and I chew it hoping for fresher breath. But I don't really like chewing gum all too much. Usually I end up swallowing it, which I think is gross.

But I read this today "The penalty for smuggling illicit chewing gum (in Singapore), or even buying it by mail-order catalogue, is up to a year in jail plus a fine of about $7,800." Chewing gum was banned in 1992 because chewed gum was littering streets and public transit systems. Source here.

I don't know how much $7800 is in Singapore, but it sounds like a lot. Do you suppose tourists are warned before entering the country or at customs that gum is illegal there?

In the Mail

I love you Michelle.

xoxoxo,
Mummy

T-Shirt

I think it would be cool to have a shirt with "Authorized Personnel" written on it.

You could get into a lot of neat places with a shirt like that.

25 Hour Road Trip

Last week was modular week/spring break in the college here, where you're given the choice of taking a week-long class or taking off. I opted to stay at school and do homework. My friend Lowana did as well. So, early last week, we discussed taking a road trip on Saturday to do something fun after a week of work.

Originally we thought of going to Saskatoon, the largest city in Saskatchewan. But, eventually we decided perhaps Regina would be a better bet economically, being only about 100km away, a one-hour drive. Sure we've been to Regina a bazillion times, but this trip was just us, with our own agenda, for fun.

So, somehow Lowana tracked down a car for us by mid-week, and we confirmed our plans. Saturday morning she phoned me at 10:30, when we were to leave, to tell me she had checked on road conditions. Blowing snow to Moose Jaw (a 20 minute drive), and then Moose Jaw to Regina was worse with blowing snow and icy patches. But it looked fine out my window. So, we decided to go.

She also wanted to make sure if it was okay if she brought this guy Dave along. I had no idea who Dave was. "Sure," I said, why not? And, besides, he could drive, because the car Lowana found was a 1968 Ford XL Gas Guzzler.

At 11am Lowana and Dave pulled up, and we set off. The car was a real beaut, a lovely tan-green sort of colour on the outside, with an olive green interior in somewhat perfect condition. You could seriously fit at least eight people comfortably in this car. The car's radio didn't work, but Lowana was pretty pumped to discover the owner of the car kept a Fisher-Price radio with a microphone in the car, so we did a few interviews and a little karaoke along the way.

The drive to Moose Jaw wasn't all that bad, so when we got there we filled up the Gas Guzzler and decided to brave it and go all the way to Regina. A bunch of people were staring at the car at the gas station, and one guy even tapped on the window and freaked Lowana out while Dave was inside paying for the gas. I told her to roll down the window. She said you just don't do that in Ontario. I guess you don't there, but hey, this is the Prairies. The guy wanted to know where we got the car from because he used to have one just like it back when he was a kid and this one was in way better condition than that one had ever been.

The roads didn't seem to be too bad. It was snowing off and on a little bit, and every once in awhile you'd hit a patch of road where there was a lot of blowing snow. But visibility was good for the most part.

About 40km from Regina we passed by an accident where a semi truck had hit the ditch and there were a few police cars at the scene and a tow truck pulling him out.

About 10km later or so, we were behind a cautious driver who kept speeding up and slowing down? and eventually Dave hit the brakes and we started to swerve, and in seemingly slow motion, we flipped around so we were facing oncoming traffic, and ended up in the ditch between the two highways.

What do you do when you hit the ditch? We weren't really sure what to do. We didn't have a cellphone, who carries a cellphone in Saskatchewan? And no one stops because it's the #1 Highway (Canada's only National Highway), and you could be a freak out to kill whoever stops to help you.

So there we were, three Bible college students sitting in the ditch. Lowana interviewed me and Dave. I mentioned that I had a granola bar in my camera bag that I could split three ways if anyone got hungry. We had been in the ditch less than 10 minutes when one of those RCMP officers we had passed earlier drove up. We were saved! I took a picture of his flashing lights.

He came over and asked us how we were getting out. I chuckled. He coached us in skills needed to drive out of a ditch. It didn't work. He asked us where we were from and where the car was from, and then mentioned that he remembered our car passing by him before. How could you forget a beast of a car like that?

Then the tow truck drove by and came back around to pull us out. We were indeed saved. He charged us $20 and we were on our way. We thought it was a bargain, we had been in the ditch for about 15 minutes and it really wasn't that much of a hassle. Still, Dave drove a little slower the rest of the way.

So we made it to Regina. We went to A&W for lunch. We hit up Value Village. We discussed how all Value Villages have that same distinct-used-clothes-smell. Why is that? We all tried on a bunch of stuff. Dave found a couple of ties for Tie Tuesdays at school. Lowana found a bunch of shirts. I told her I was concerned that she was blinded by brand names when she bought a white and pink horizontally striped Liz Clayborn tank top. I left with a blue long sleeve t-shirt with a dorky screen print on the front that I'm going to cover up with a patch or something, and a navy blue t-shirt from the boys' section that says "i fish i may, i fish i might, catch the fish i FISH tonight" and has this picture of these two bears fishing on the front. It's got camp-cool potential. And I'm the only 25-year old on the planet who owns this shirt, I guarantee it.

Then we were off to Old Navy. Regina just got an Old Navy last fall. I'd only been to the Regina location once before. It was packed that time. It was packed this time too. Lowana and I found the clearance sale section. Dave took a seat in the kids section, where the only bench was. It was plastic and had a plastic dog sitting on it and a button that you pushed and the dog said something. I didn't take a picture because I was worried that I might get in trouble from the store manager, but it was definitely picture worthy.

Lowana and I found a bunch of stuff to try on. I ended up getting a plain pistachio-green long sleeved t-shirt and a black one of the same style, some blue cowboy buckin' broncho pajama pants from the men's clearance rack for $6.99, and this really cool blouse that I spent way too much money on.

At the check out I got this male cashier who was definitely much older, at 35 or 40-ish, that the average Old Navy employee. I interrupted his spiel after he had told me about Old Navy's return policy to ask him if he liked working at Old Navy. "It is good most of the time, but has it's downs like any other job I suppose," he said. Then he went back to his spiel and told me what he had already told me, but also added that he loved the blouse I was buying. I found that a little odd.

At Old Navy we ran into a bunch of other students from our school, and eventually decided to meet them at the cheap theatre at 9:20pm to watch a movie, "Cheaper by the Dozen". Lowana and I thought it might perhaps be wise of us to leave before it got dark, but Dave thought returning following another car would be a good idea and ideal in case we hit the ditch again.

We went to Wal-Mart. We succumbed to consumerism and bought stuff. We killed time at Burger King, eating our supper, using the facilities, reading the coffee-newspaper-thingy, etc. By the time we left a little after 8, it was snowing full force. Roads were slick. Who did we know in Regina that we could stay with if need be tonight?

We got to the mall with the cheap theatre and called the Saskatchewan Road Conditions number. "Snow. Blowing snow. Swirling snow. Icy patches. Black ice. Zero visibility. Travel not recommended." Okay, pull out the phone book. I knew that someday memorizing my friends' fathers' names was going to come in handy and this was the night. But there was no Bart in the phone book. Try all the B's. Nope. Mary, try Mary, that's her mom's name. Nope. Try all the M's. Nope. Okay, phone the dorm and find out her number. Phone the RD (residence director) and find out her number. We're running out of change.

Finally, we got our friend's Regina number. We talked to her Mom. Kaia was at the cheap theatre with her dad. "What? We're at the cheap theatre!" Eventually we found her. And we stayed at her house overnight. Her brother played the piano for us at 1 in the morning. We got out everything we had bought. Dave taught Lowana how to tie a tie. I took pictures. Lowana, Kaia, and I slept on their living room floor. I re-named all of Kaia's cats and for that they slept on top of me.

It was a little surreal. We woke up, cleaned up a bit, and stopped in at Tim Horton's. The road reports said the roads were bad but we wanted to go home and shower and put on deodorant and brush our teeth.

Our day trip turned into a 25 hour trip when we didn't get back until noon Sunday. Good thing I had bought pajama pants, I couldn't have slept in my jeans like Dave did.

Top 21

Because Andrew's doing a list of the top 100 Greatest Pop/Rock Albums over at bloggedyblog, I decided to do my own. But I think 21 is enough, 100 is too many. And he got a bunch of people to submit they're favourites. I'm just doing mine.

Here goes:

1. Jars of Clay, Jars of Clay
Favourite songs: Love Song for a Savior and Worlds Apart.

2. Free at Last, dcTalk
Favourite songs: Jesus is Just Alright and Lean on Me.

3. The Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot
Favourite songs: On Fire and Twenty-Four.

4. candycoatedwaterdrops, Plumb
Favourite songs: Stranded and Lie Low.

5. Snappy, Hokus Pick
Image not available
Favourite songs: Sliver and I'm So Happy

6. Who We Are Instead, Jars of Clay
Favourite songs: Show You Love and Sing

7. downhere, downhere
Favourite songs: Great Are You and Making Me

8. City on a Hill, Various Artists
Favourite songs: City on a Hill and Stone.

9. Jesus Freak, dcTalk
Favourite songs: Colored People and What if I Stumble.

10. Exodus, Various Artists
Favourite songs: Needful Hands and Angus Dei.

11. Room for Squares, John Mayer
Favourite songs: Not Myself and Love Song for No One

12. Sweetsalt, Sweetsalt
image not available
Favourite song: Saffron Girl

13. New Way to Be Human, Switchfoot
Favourite songs: Let That Be Enough and Amy's Song.

14. Beautiful Lumps of Coal, Plumb
Favourite songs: Boys Don't Cry and Go.

15. Tumbling After, Starfield
image not available
Favourite songs: Can I Stay Here Forever and Cry in My Heart.

16. This Mystery, Nichole Nordeman
Favourite Songs: Home and Every Season.

17. Long Line of Leavers, Caedmon's Call
Favourite songs: What You Want and Dance.

18. Heavier Things, John Mayer
Favourite songs: Split Screen Sadness and Clarity.

19. ten thousand days, Bebo Norman
Favourite Songs: A Page is Turned and Where the Angels Sleep

20. Worship God, Rebecca St. James
Favourite songs: Above All and Lamb of God

21. Reason for Living, Justin McRoberts
image not available
Favourite song: Galatians 2:20

P.S. Putting these pictures in took forever.
P.S. 2: As you can tell, I've pretty much listened to nothing but CCM for the past 8 or so years. I'm slowly expanding my horizons.

Update

It's been a looooong weekend. I'll post more later.

I'm exhausted.

Recent Soundtrack

1. Crazy for This Girl, Evan and Jarron
2. Stranded, Plumb
3. Love is Different, Caedmon's Call
4. Crush, Mandy Moore
5. Have a Little Faith in Me, Mandy Moore
6. On Fire, Switchfoot
7. Show You Love, Jars of Clay
8. My Stupid Mouth, John Mayer
9. Mistake of My Life, Caedmon's Call
10. Something More, Mandy Moore
11. Split Screen Sadness, John Mayer
12. Can We Still Be Friends, Mandy Moore
13. Not Myself, John Mayer
14. A Page Is Turned, Bebo Norman
15. Only Alive, Jars of Clay
16. New Deep, John Mayer
17. Twenty-Four, Switchfoot
18. Why Georgia, John Mayer

Youth Workers

I'm currently doing another survey asking blogging youth workers, youth pastors, and youth ministry volunteers of all sorts to participate. Those who stated they were involved in youth ministry on my first surveys have been asked to participate, as well as some random youth workers I have found online.

Some of the great people who have completed my Youth Workers survey include:

Deneice at The Journey
Kelly at Behind the Eyes
Jay at Jay Huff
jondixon at jondixon
Tony at tony sheng
Michael at Time to Believe
Tristan at the there is no roseability
Stacy at K.I.S.S.-Keep it Simple, Stupid
John at Skywalking
Gman at Gman
Kelly at The BadgerMum
Neely at Unquenchable Songs and Endless Praise
David at David's Web
Ryan at The Bytecave
Mykel at Orizontas
Theophilus at Theophilus
Nomes at Jots and Tittles
Randy at randybennett
Andy at Andy the Geek


Check out some new blogs if you have time. :)

And if you're involved in youth ministry and would like to participate in this new survey, please email me at dialog at briercrest dot com. I'd love to have your input.

Argh

So, yesterday I officially switched to Hotmail for my main-this-is-where-you-email-the-real-me address, you know, the one I give to all my friends... because I was getting way too much spam at my old one. So yesterday I emailed everyone I know to let them know, and I told them to email me at my Hotmail address so I would know they got the email. A subtly sneaky way to get real emails, even though they're short.

But today of all days, Hotmail's service is "temporarily unavailable"! Argh!

FYI, I'm still recieving blogmail at dialog at briercrest dot com... but if you want my Hotmail address (also my MSN address) and don't already have it, email me at dialog and I'll send it to you.

Phenomenon

Have you ever had one of those dreams in which you were really really busy in it and then you woke up in the morning and actually felt exhausted because you had been so busy in your dream?

Last night I had one of those dreams. I'm pooped.

Nine Layers

I got this (and slightly modified it) from James at whatisthis.com:

LAYER ONE
• Name: Michelle
• Birthday: May sometime. :)
• Birthplace: Saskatchewan, Canada
• Current Location: Saskatchewan (how did I end up back here???)
• Eye Color: hazel
• Hair Color: brown
• Righty or Lefty: Right handed

LAYER TWO
• Your heritage: English, Irish, French, German
• The shoes you wore today: Tan and brown leather runners
• Your hair: shoulder length
• Your eyes: brown
• Your weakness: umm… strawberry marshmellows
• Your fears: parking garages
• Your perfect pizza: Lets be serious, I like pretty much all pizzas
• One thing you'd like to achieve: motherhood

LAYER THREE
• Your most overused phrase on IM: chuckle chuckle
• Your first waking thoughts: ugh.
• The first feature you notice in the opposite sex: um… hair colour?
• Your best physical feature: my feet are pretty nice, I like them a lot
• Your bedtime: usually 11-12pm-ish
• Your greatest fear: a parking garage falling down on me
• Your greatest accomplishment: I have accomplished many things that have surprised me, but I don't know what I would pick as the greatest exactly...
• Your most missed memory: chemistry and physics classes in grade eleven

LAYER FOUR
• Pepsi or Coke: I don’t like either
• McDonald's or Burger King: McDonald's
• Single or group dates: both
• Adidas or Nike: who cares?
• Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Nestea
• Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate
• Cappuccino or coffee: both are gross. Unless it’s an iced cap from Tim Horton's

LAYER FIVE
• Smoke: Gross
• Cuss: I have twice. Once in grade 2, and once when I was 22, it was very accidental
• Sing: Yes, but not so anyone can hear
• Take a shower everyday: Yes
• Have a crush(es): Don’t ask me that.
• Who are they: Ha ha
• Do you think you've been in love: No
• Want to go to college: I'm done. Now to just finish this silly Masters...
• Like high school: Yes
• Want to get married: Yeah
• Believe in yourself: Yes, through Christ who strengthens me
• Type with your fingers on the right keys: Yes
• Think you're attractive: I’m okay.
• Think you're a health freak: No
• Get along with your parents: Yes
• Play an instrument: I took flute for 4 or 5 years

LAYER SIX: In the past month, did you...
• Drink alcohol: No
• Smoke: No
• Do a drug: No
• Make Out: Nope
• Go on a date: Nope
• Eat an entire box of Oreos: No
• Been on stage: No
• Gone skating: No
• Made homemade cookies: No, but I ate them
• Gone skinny dipping: never
• Dyed your hair: No
• Stolen anything: No

LAYER SEVEN: Have you ever...
• Played a game that required removal of clothing: In, like, grade 4
• If so, was it mixed company: I think so.
• Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: no
• Been caught "doing something": no…
• Been called a tease: No
• Gotten beaten up: Noooo
• Shoplifted: No
• Changed who you were to fit in: Yes, don’t all adolescents?

LAYER EIGHT
• Age you hope to be married: Try not to impose my timing on God’s timing
• Numbers and Names of Children: Do not have any.
• Describe your Dream Wedding: I would like to be married in a church but an outdoor reception would be nice…
• How do you want to die: Oh dear…
• Where you want to go to college: I really really really really wanted to go to Briercrest.
• What do you want to be when you grow up: Work with youth
• What country would you most like to visit: England I think

LAYER NINE
• Number of guys I have kissed: none
• Number of drugs taken illegally: 0
• Number of people I could trust with my life: ? What kind of a question is that
• Number of CDs that I own: Around 60
• Number of piercings: 2
• Number of tattoos: None
• Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper: Hmm… probably 10ish
• Number of scars on my body: um… 2 that I can think of
• Number of things in my past that I regret: I try to regret nothing and instead learn from it.

Our Compliments

Yesterday I went shopping and I bought a box of chicken burgers based solely on the very tasty looking photograph on the box. They're the unbreaded kind, you know, the ones that almost look like a real chicken breast.

This afternoon at lunch time I decided to try one. Upon opening the box, I was met with a frozen product that was very unappealing.

Hmm? maybe, just maybe, I thought, the act of cooking could make this uninviting burger attractive, and hopefully, flavourful.

I cooked it. The smell wasn't so great. I opened the kitchen window. I opened my last can of ginger ale that I had saved from the two I brought back from home at Christmas. I needed some kind of a treat if the burger was going to be barfo.

I prepared the bun, sliced some tomato, and placed the prepared chicken patty inside. It actually looked pretty tasty. I went for my first bite.

Distinct chicken burger flavour. You know, distinct as in "This tastes like a cafeteria chicken burger and not like a real chicken breast." I don?t like cafeteria chicken burgers, and I definitely did not like this chicken burger. Usually I feel bad when I can?t finish eating something, but I definitely could not finish eating the whole patty. I ate the bun. I ate the tomato.

Rachel got home about an hour later.

"Wow, it sure smells like salmon in here. So, you had salmon for lunch, huh?"

"No, Rachel, I definitely did not have salmon for lunch."

Really Me

Sometimes I really wonder why people like me.

I wondered about this a lot last summer, and yesterday I thought about it again. What is it about people that makes them want to hang out with me? What makes want to be my friend? What makes me friend worthy? Is there anything about me that makes me loveable?

Something I often complain about in real life is that people always say "Michelle, you're funny." Really, I suppose, this shouldn't be a bad thing. I should take it as a compliment. But people say it all the time. Usually when someone first spends a bit of time hanging out with me they say "Michelle, you're funny." And usually they add something about how they had no idea I was this funny when they first met me. No one ever says "Michelle, you're cool" or "Michelle, you're pretty," but something inside makes me want them to. People usually know me as funny Michelle or sarcastic Michelle, and sometimes I worry that's as far as they'll get and that's all they want.

Maybe I'm still going through some late sort of adolescent search for identity, or perhaps it's that quarter-life crisis that John Mayer sings about. Because who am I really? Am I that funny Michelle, or is there something deeper?

Last night I was talking to a friend about the whole concept of being "set up." I told her I always had problems with being set up because it's like the setter-upper is saying "Hey, I think you two should have a romantic relationship. I think you'd be good romantically." Like there is no time for friendship, only time for relationship. But perhaps this reveals my bias that I would rather be friends first, or that I think stronger love grows out of friendship.

Our discussion went on a little more. We talked about how when you are set up, or if someone you don't know "likes" you, we worry that they really don't know you. Of course they don't know you. They just know the perceived you. The physical you. The reputation you. It's like they don't know who you really are, they just like who they think you are.

I sometimes worry about that. That someone will like me only because of who they think I am. I worry that someone will fall in love with the funny me or the sarcastic me, or the Jamie Sullivan that they think I am.

But I'm not a movie character. I'm someone else. I'm me. I live and breathe in real life and not on a movie or television screen. I don't fit nicely in a video case and you can't just take me out when you have time and you want to watch me.

I hope sometime someone will really want to know the real me. The me that's in there deep down.

Because I really want to know him.

Yucky

I don't like it when people have dripped all over the bathmat, because usually I step on it, me being unbeknowst of the aforementioned factor, getting my socks all wet.

Wet socks are gross.

Shout Out Loud

Copying Neely, I'm going to do a few "shout outs" of my regular reads, so here goes:

Andrew Careaga: Andrew is like, a real-live celebrity. Well, maybe not celebrity, but he's a real-live author. I found his blog after finishing a big paper on internet ministry that he actually asked to read.

Cameron Lawrence: I found through Sarah Hatter's blog, I love his writing style. He tells a great story. And, he even links me, which flabergasts me.

Carly Bishop: I found Carly via comments she left back on Jason Killingsworth's oldschool blog back in the day in January 2003. I love Carly's writing style as well, and it's been cool getting to know her via MSN Messenger and email a bit.

funkypancake: I think I found a link to funkypancake via someone I clicked through off of Stacey George's blog. I love the randomness of his posts and the fun found stuff. Reading his blog makes me notice more of the world around me.

Holly Skelton: My former house-mate and chum of almost 4 years, Holly once stated "I will never have a blog." I think those words haunt her and that's why she doesn't post too often. She doesn't want to look "uncool." ;)

Jake Murdock: I'm not sure how I stumbled upon Jake's blog, I think maybe he stumbled onto mine first... but I can't remember at all. I like reading his perspective on different topics, and he's sent me some pretty cool stuff in the mail. Who doesn't like real mail? :)

Jen Kibler-McCabe: I have "known" Jenni for what seems like forever. She sent me a postcard when I was 15 from finding my address in an "fb" I think (? I'm not too sure where she found my address, but we were both big pen pal-ers) and have pretty much kept in touch since... via mail and internet, and eventually we found each other's blogs. Kinda neat how that happened.

Kathleen Reilly: Kathleen's old blog was the first blog I ever stumbled onto, after doing a websearch looking for some Caedmon's Call lyrics. She inspired me to start to blog. :) I'm glad she's back at blogging a bit after a long absence.

Neely: Neely stumbled upon my blog back in the spring when looking for Starfield lyrics, and later started blogging. I can remember her leaving comments over the summer when I wasn't able to blog much and checking out her site briefly and wishing I had more time to read more. Since then, it's been awesome getting to know her a bit and reading her blog daily... Neely's awesome!

Peter & Rebecca Wood: I think Rebecca found my blog through Kathleen's blogroll, and linked me... and eventually left comments. :) Rebecca has sent some fun snail mail my way as well.

Rachel Fisher: Rachel has an awesome blog, and it's cool to talk to her on MSN while she's already living in the next day (she's from New Zealand). I love reading what she's up to, and she has always been an encouragement to me.

Ryan Wiedmaier: I came into contact with Ryan through Carly... he started commenting away and still does every once in awhile. It's been awesome seeing him grow over this past year. And I loved it last spring when I was at home not doing much for a month between school and working at camp for the summer and I pretty much talked to him every morning.

Sarah Hedges: Sarah I found through a link on Tim Kang's blog, whom I found off of Blogger's most recently updated. I have loved reading her blog over the past year... I've seen her blogging change and her faith grow. I think she'd be an awesome person to meet some day.

False Alarm

I have gotten two emails in the past week "from" my email service's administration, saying something similar to the following:

Some of our clients complained about the spam (negative e-mail content) outgoing from your e-mail account. Probably, you have been infected by a proxy-relay trojan server. In order to keep your computer safe, follow the instructions.

For details see the attached file.

I assume the attached file is some sort of a virus.

I don't understand virus spreaders. Why do they waste their time spreading viruses? They never ever really get the satisfaction of seeing the effects of their viral programming on other people, other than in the news sometimes I suppose.

And spammers, how do they actually make any money? Who actually clicks on the links amidst all the stupid typos designed to get through filters? I guess, sure, it costs pretty much nothing to send a million spams... however it takes awhile for the million recipients to sift through the spams they've recieved.

Yesterday I got an email selling mortgages that had the same senders name as someone I actually know. I wasn't fooled, he would never send me an email with a subject line about mortages, but I did find it quite humourous.

I wish there was really something that we, as a collective whole, could do to get rid of spam. I hate it. I just want real emails. I just want to know that someone out there really cares.

Bad Idea

What is it about ideas in the middle of the night that make them seem so absolutely fantastic? Because when you wake up, you have no idea why on earth you thought it up in the first place and you realize that it was actually not so great of an idea after all.

So This is Christmas

I feel as though I should post something interesting and witty and of substantialness, but I have no patience for blogging at the moment.

Recently Viewed

Shawshank Redemption
*How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
*About A Boy

* indicates a movie which has been previously viewed.

Kudos

I keep adding more blogs to the list on my Merci post (people who have completed both parts of my blogging survey and have consented to being linked as a thank you), so continue checking them out. :)

And now I am going to close all internet browser windows and attempt to continue typing in research data... the internet is all too easily distracting!

Favourites

Reading, formatting, and typing survey results all day could make you go crazy. I would be one of these crazy people if no one had written anything that I have found humourous.

I don't know if it is uncouth or improper to publish this, but a list of some of my favourites so far include:

11. Have you ever had any problems with an "internet stalker," or have you ever had inappropriate comments left on your site? If yes, please elaborate.

- No. I've joked that I wanted a stalker, though.

- Not yet. I've been pleasantly surprised by not having this problem.

- Not to my knowledge.

- The only inappropriate comments are from those blasted spammers.

- A few comments, probably left by some bored teenagers.

31. What/who first introduced you to blogging?

- Search engines. Then reading Jordon Cooper. (I bet THAT's a popular answer).

40. What kind of church do you attend?

- I have no comment.

- Evangelical Friend. Now that you're confused, I'll say that you probably would know us better by the term "Quaker". No, we are not the Amish. No, we are nothing like the Menononites (sp?). Yes, I own a TV, Video Game Systems, and a Computer. No, we don't all dress like the Quaker Oats guy. There was a girl I was interested in dating once who asked me about my faith. When I told her she was like "Oh, I know all about you! You drive buggies and stuff right?"... Nooooo....

18. What is your opinion of the concept of blogging as a means of ministry, as a way to reach out/minister to other Christians and/or non-Christians?

- Excellent now that I think about it.. Thank you for the thought provoking questions!!

- Good idea, if that's your call. There is much evil on the internet. It ought to be counterbalanced by the good the true and the beautiful somehow!

- It is an excellent, if sometimes frustrating mechanism.

- It depends on how it's done. For instance, blogs4God and Heal Your Church Website are really excellent ministries... but I've come up against some theo-blogs that I've thought were downright snotty.

10. Are those close to you aware that you blog?

- Only my better half :)

And my #1 favourite so far:

17. How many of those on your blogroll would you consider to be Christian bloggers?

All of them. So, is this like Contemporary Christian Music? I don't know if I can associate myself with that...

I Didn't Go

My bags were packed and I didn't go to Montana for the week. I decided that I would rather get my work done than have a fun trip.

Hopefully my roommate still likes me when she gets back from a week without me. ;)

Tonight

There is something quite beautiful about a blustery snowy night when you're walking alone and the snow sticks upon your jacket.

And the Beat Goes On

I am supposed to be going to Montana tomorrow, but I have not yet decided whether or not I will be going. It would be ever so nice to have a break... but I need to keep plugging away at my work, and it would also probably be smart of me to save my money for whatever is coming my way in the future.

I have been working once again all afternoon on my Excel spreadsheets for my paper... I thought I had discovered a goldmine of a shortcut that would allow me to just copy and past things directly off my surveys on the server that houses the answers into Excel, but alas, I have discovered that when people left a "no answer" this messes things up big time. So, I will thus be forced to continue to print out all the surveys and type the answers into Excel by hand. It is very very interesting, but also very tedious. And if I could in any way spend less time in my day staring at a computer screen, I would like to do that!

I am also in the midst of getting a new blog ready where I will be publishing some of the results and will attempt to dialog on it a bit. I would give you the link here, but a) it's not quite ready, and b) there are still quite a few surveys that need to be completed in full before I want to dialog about my topic. Thank you though to everyone who continues expressing interest in my survey and project. Things will be up and running shortly, and I look forward to talking to you about them.

Sorry to those of you not interested in my survey or schoolwork at all... I will be back to regular non-academic posting hopefully soon. Right now though, I'm living and breathing and staring at research.

Uh Oh

It snowed pretty much all yesterday. And it's still snowing today. This winter I think I have seen the most snow fall of all my years in Saskatchewan

I am worried however. I think the man in the house across the road from me may have died since the weekend and no one has found his body or noticed him missing. He hasn't shoveled his driveway.

Friday night and Saturday it snowed a lot and his driveway was immaculate. There was not a spot of snow on it.

But he didn't shovel it yesterday. And it wasn't shoveled this morning when I walked to the academic building.

Should I call someone? Who do you call when there’s a dead guy in the house across the street from you?

Merci

Some supercool people have completed my survey, and some of them include:

Kevin at blogbandit
Rodney at The Journey
Dave at Dave the Rave
Peter (and Rebecca!) at World Wide Wood
Sarah at always greener
Jan at Shalom
Mal at i say - you say
Jess at Cherry Blossom
John at Kenya minus 365
Violet at Seasons of Violet
Flip at Stuff
Kristi at EtceteraWhatever
Lee Anne at such small hands
dj at djchuang's metablog
Theophilus at Theophilus: Walking in the Footsteps of Faith
Michael at The Main Point by Michael Main
Jennifer at What's Brewing
Tim at Spy Journal
Tristan at there is no roseability
Daniel at Dan on Everything
Kati at The Riehl World
Pat at Pat Loughery @ Mt. Si Vineyard
Nikkiana at Every Tomorrow: The Blog
Irene at ireneQ unravelled
Smockmomma at The Summa Mamas
Tim at Tim Samoff // Weblog
Rus at Good Coffee, Good Conversations
Michael at Time to Believe
Sharon at God's Child
Thomas at Christian Computing
David at David's Web
June at June
Jake at Mainstreet American
Joel at Corvine News
Matt at Mystical Matt's Blog
Jeff at Curt Jester
Blinger at Blinger: A linguistics & ESL blog
Joshua at Dei Gratia
Glen at Fully Devoted - Glenn Teal
Karl at St. Stephen's Musings
Naomi at Nomes
Andrew at Backyard Missionary
Kendra at tagebuch
TulipGirl at TulipGirl
Don at Mixolydian Mode
funkypancake at funkypanckake
John at Skywalking
Julie at Julie Neidlinger's Web Log
Eric at Fire Ant Gazette
TennielDjo at School@Home
Amy at Amy Loves Books
Kevin at Samwise
Daniel at From Behind the Wall of Sleep
Jessica at Silent Tribute
Jen at Meditatio
Jared at Jared Wilson
Justin at Radical Congruency
Christin at verbingnouns
Ian at Goin's On
Jeremy at ParableMania
Kelly at The BadgerMum
Christopher at What in Tarnation?!?!?
Mike at Consitently Chili
Kolbi at Kolbi
Kelly at Behind the Eyes
Amber at Muddy Art
Rob at robbymac
Ellen at Stranger in a Strange Land
Alastair at 40 Bicycles
Sarah at a peek into my life
Scarecrow at Whilin' Away the Hours
Bob at Mr. Standfast
Karen at From the Anchor Hold
Kneel at Imperfect but Forgiven
Bobbi at Revolution of Love.com Blog
Michael at Cobb
Chad at Side Show Chad
Keren at kerentan.com
Greg at pura vida
Alan at Imago Veritatis

There are a lot of great blogs, so if you are looking for more interesting reads right now and perhaps to add your blogroll in the future, have fun surfing. :)

Also, thank you to those who completed both parts of the survey and are not mentioned here, your interest in my survey humbles me.

Animatronic

I have spent the last three hours in the computer lab at the academic building of my school working on putting my surveys online and and responding to surveys already recieved. I spent all afternoon (except for about an hour), staring at the computer screen in my house typing survey data into an Excel spreadsheet. Not by choice really, but because I have to. I have all kinds of work to do on my final paper. I think tonight I shall be dreaming that I am still in front of a computer screen clickety-clacking away.

Most of tonight I could see, within my field of vision, a guy playing one of those online versions of a Tetris-type game on another computer. Why would you come to the computer lab and waste away your evening playing online Tetris? How boring is that?

I can remember when my brother got a GameBoy for Christmas and our whole family would spend hours and hours playing Tetris. I would wake up in the middle of the night from dreaming I was still playing it. Thankfully, I am no longer the avid Tetris fan I once was. I pretty much never play computer games anymore. Except for that SIMS streak last semester.

I find I only get into computer games when I am feeling like my life is devoid of meaningful real life relationships. But why would one rather spend time with a computer without human interaction when that human interaction is actually what they’re craving?

We are a funny, sometimes seemingly animatronic, people.

The Survey... Continues

I have now created an easy-to-use online survey form where you can take Part One of my Christian Bloggers survey online if you have not already done so.

If you would like to link to the survey directly, please feel free to do so, but also include a link directly to my first post on the survey.

I have also created Part Two online and am currently sending that link to everyone who has so far completed Part One.

Thank you all for your continued interest in the survey! I am overwhelmed by the willingness of so many to take part, and am continually amazed by the helpfulness of those in the blogosphere.

And, I am also loving reading all of the responses. Thank you so much to each and every one who has responded, and especially to those who continue to promote the survey on their sites:

Neely at Unquenchable Songs and Endless Praise
Rebecca Stark at Rebecca Writes
Alicia at Fructus Ventris
Jan at Shalom
Thomas Williams at Christian Computing
Michael Morgan at News Head-O-Rama

Saved!

There has started to be a little buzz about a movie other than The Passion lately, and I'm sure the buzz will only get bigger when the movie comes out. Saved! stars Jena Malone and Mandy Moore.

This is what CPYU has to say about this movie in a page about Mandy Moore:

"But up next is Saved!, a film which will be released in February and is bound to stir up a lot of controversy. Moore jumped at the chance to play one of the female leads in this dark, satirical comedy that takes place in a Christian High school. Produced by R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and directed by Brian Dannelly, the movie features a student (Jena Malone) who gets pregnant by a gay classmate, and is then ostracized by her friends, including Moore's character who is the All-American popular Christian girl with an inner evil streak. The character uses her Christianity to manipulate those around her. The movie is sure to be criticized by many Christians, but may also have a lot to say about judgementalism and the concept of grace. Moore says the movie has a positive message, however Stipe describes it as a "vampire high school kind of movie...only here the monsters are Jesus-freak teenagers."

Click here to view the trailer.

Link for the trailer found via Andrew Careaga.

Incredible Marketable Idea

So every day on my walk to the academic building I pass this yard with a high white fence that you really can't see through. And every day I hear the jingling of a dog chain or dog collar, and sometimes a little dog pant or two.

I've never actually seen the dog, but I assume, due to the sounds, that it's there.

I think you could probably market some sort of a chain dingling/dog panting sound device to owners of high fences who don't want to deal with the actual responsibilities of dog ownership but would like the image of having a dog and the protection that is offered by the sounds of a dog keeping robbers/intruders/good-for-nothings at bay.

Question

What is your definition of the "emerging church"? Is there one good definition out there, and can you point me to it?

Anonymity, Findability, and the Net

Recently I have heard from a few people asking me to remove their last names from my blogroll. This I do not mind at all, I just like to include last names, but I don't need to.

Their reasons for not including their full names vary, some wanting to remain unfindable on the net by those who know them in real life, some because of past problems with internet nuts, some wanting not to be "googleable," and some just for general privacy.

When I first started blogging, I intended to use a pseudonym. That really didn't last though, and I used my real first name. Eventually, I used my last name, and now I suppose, if you knew me and you really really wanted to, you could find my blog by searching for me. It might take a bit of work, but hey, here I am.

The internet has brought the world to our doorstep computer screen. With an internet hookup, a few strokes on the keyboard, and a couple of clicks, you can find pretty much anyone. Sure not everyone has a blog, but pretty much everyone has a phone number and an email address.

Blogging has brought push-button publishing to the masses. It has brought the world into our lives. I can have relationships with people all around the world that I wouldn't have otherwise had except through this medium we call weblogging.

I'm not going to tell you everything about me. And one day, I might just disappear from this spot. But for now, you can know this little bit of me.

Thank you for letting me know a little bit of you as well.

Yeah!

I'm the #6 search result on Google for "retro surfing dishware."

One more accomplishment I can cross off on my life to do list.

Shout Out Loud

Thanks to the following bloggers for linking to my survey post, I appreciate it greatly!

Kati Riehl at The Riehl World
Susan L. Prince at Sister's Weblog
Justin Baeder at Radical Congruency
John Carney at Kenya Minus 365
Rachel Cunliffe at Cr8ed Design
Tim Miller at Spy Journal
Darren Rowse at Living Room
Bene Diction at Bene Diction Blogs On
Rus Dixon at Good Coffee, Good Conversations
Rachel Fisher at Life Being Beautiful

For your information, I have recieved 26 Part One surveys back. Part Two will be out in the next couple of days. I am still looking for more participants, so if you'd like to participate, please let me know. :)