hoooooooooooray

i had a most fab-u-lous thanksgiving...love turkey day, mainly because it kicks off the month we celebrate christmas. yes, i had the house appropriately decorated before i left for tulsa for thanksgiving so that when i came home, my halls would be decked.

i'm so happy that this week will be the week that kicks off december...it's that time of year again, and i LOVE it!!! as jay and i drove into h.p. village last night to eat at our sunday night staple, mi cocina, i shreaked with delight to see that the trees were once again filled with lights. i am like a dang griswold house inside...all lit up and cheesy! love it!

i'm thankful for...

mckenzie helped me decorate for christmas

this really isn't funny...

bah humbug 

bono on 60 minutes

Bono And The Christian Right
Nov. 20, 2005
(CBS) The members of the Irish rock band U2 have always believed that their group was about something more than making records and playing concerts. The themes of their music, often about social injustice, ranging from the American civil rights movement to genocide in Bosnia, have helped them sell more than 130 million albums around the world and gross nearly a billion dollars on the concert trail. And offstage, their lead singer, known by his teenage nickname “Bono,” is equally impressive. His political activism, working to help erase third world debt and supplying Africa with AIDS drugs, has made him a political force. Correspondent Ed Bradley takes a look at U2 and the double life of their lead singer.
After 25 years of touring, most critics say U2 is as good today as they’ve ever been, still selling out some of the world’s largest stadiums and arenas when touring around the globe. “It's only rock and roll where people are burned out at 40. I want to see what can happen with a band if they keep their integrity, keep their commitment to each other, and can we create extraordinary music,” says Bono, speaking to 60 Minutes while on tour in Milan, Italy this past summer. “You know what would have happened – and I'm not making a comparison, because I don't feel worthy to touch their hem – but what would have happened if the Beatles lived, and didn't, you know, disappear up their own arses but actually stayed in contact with the world, were awake. Didn't let their money buy them off. You know I'm still hungry. I still want a lot out of music,” Bono says. Bono has said when fans are screaming, it’s not about the band, it’s about them. “It's unexplainable what a song means to you. Because, remember, songs, it's not like a movie you see once or twice. A song, it gets under your skin and that's why [we] abandon ourselves to it,” says Bono. “It has a sense of kind of uplift, of getting airborne.” “Everything feels possible. And maybe more things are possible than we think,” he adds. And at every concert, the band tries to make that happen. Before the show, fans are asked to join a campaign to help end world poverty. And during the performance, Bono sings of social justice and argues for religious harmony. Bono’s passions are shared and supported by the band, drummer Larry Mullen, Jr., bassist Adam Clayton and the guitarist who calls himself “The Edge.” “I think early on the heroes that we had were people like Bob Marley, John Lennon, The Clash,” says The Edge. “And those bands all had the same combination of rock 'n roll, the rage, railing against injustice. And the politics. We connected with that in a major way.” The four of them formed their bond and their politics as teenagers in Dublin, Ireland. Larry Mullen wanted to start a band to play in pubs. Instead, he got one intent to take on the world. Mullen says being Irish helped shape the bands’ political and social concerns. “I mean we lived all our lives with the terrorist situation in northern Ireland. And with the British army and seeing that on the news night after night, atrocity after atrocity,” says Mullen. “But more than anything else, for the British folks Irish people were all terrorists. So when we went to Britain, it was always a lot of resistance to U2. And that's why we came to America.” In 1980, American music fans embraced them. By 1987, following their masterwork album “The Joshua Tree,” critics began to call them the biggest rock band in the world. Tours and CDs since then, including their latest, have added to their popularity. But along the way, they found another calling: getting help to the starving, troubled continent of Africa. The band did their part at the 1985 Live Aid concert. Bono continued on, behind the scenes and in front of news cameras, to lobby world leaders to action. Bono once said, “I'm available to be used, but I'm not a cheap date." And he stands by that quote. “No, I'm not a cheap date. I'm in the checks business. You know, and not just people signing the checks, but people cashing them. And I'm ready to spend my, whatever you want to call it, the currency of my celebrity, if that’s what it takes to get there.” He gets a lot of credit for lobbying President Bush, who he has met several times. Today, the Bush administration contributes to one of his biggest causes, AIDS medication for Africa. “People openly laughed in my face when I suggested that this administration would distribute antiretroviral drugs to Africa,” Bono remembers. “They said, ‘You are out of your tiny mind.’ There's 200,000 Africans now who owe their lives to America.” How does he get support for his projects? “It was probably that it would be really wrong beating a sort of left-wing drum, taking the usual bleeding-heart-liberal line,” says Bono. Instead, he enlisted the ruling right of American politics. “Particularly conservative Christians, I was very angry that they were not involved more in the AIDS emergency. I was saying, ‘this is the leprosy that we read about in the New Testament, you know. Christ hung out with the lepers. But you're ignoring the AIDS emergency,” says Bono. “How can you? And, you know, they said, ‘Well, you're right, actually. We have been. And we're sorry. We'll get involved.’ And they did.” His proudest achievement may have been helping convince the G8 industrial nations to sign an agreement that will forgive more than $40 billion in loans to Third World countries, 18 of them so far. “And these countries, instead of paying that money servicing old debts, can spend it on health, education and infrastructure in the countries. It’s an amazing achievement,” says Bono. But for all his success as an activist, Bono remains a rock star at the core. He and the rest of the band members have vacation homes in the South of France, the epicenter of celebrity lifestyle. How did he end up in the South of Frances, as opposed to Italy or Spain? “There's been, always been, an Irish/French thing going back to what's called the Flight of Earls. And in the 19th century. So, they're very tolerant of loud Irish people here, as you can see,” says Bono laughing. “As you can see I like to keep a low profile,” he adds. Fact is, Bono’s celebrity profile could hardly be bigger. Rock star sunglasses aside, he dispenses with the trappings of celebrity as much as possible. Bono doesn’t travel with security and doesn’t have a posse. “I've always, you know, our thing, and being in U2, is like, how do you be, but not have to have all that bulls*it that goes with being famous and so, answer number one, live in Ireland. Ok? That helped,” says Bono. Bono also jokes about keeping his low profile in the South of France. “Why live in France? Because the French are so snobbish…. The French are so into themselves that they don't even notice you.” Truth is, Bono and the band are treated like royalty on the French Riviera and spend as much time there as possible. On tour this summer, they commuted to many of their European concerts from the South of France in a private jet. Poking fun at themselves is something they do well, and often. At the height of their early fame almost 20 years ago, Frank Sinatra joined in at one of his Las Vegas concerts. “During the show, he stood up, he stopped us and made us kind of stand up and do the wave thing. And we were dressed in, you know, rags, just in comparison,” remembers Bono. “And he just stopped. He said, ‘You're number one all around the world.’ He said, ‘Look at you. You haven't spent a dime on your clothes.’" Today, they do spend millions on their concert production. Every detail of their sets is state-of-the-art, even a cappuccino machine under the stage. And the attention to detail goes for the music, too. The band gets a lot out of their instruments. Part of their secret is guitar technology. “It's like a programmable switching system. So I can go through any combination of effects,” explains The Edge. But Larry Mullen makes his job as simple as possible. He doesn’t do big drum solos. “It's fairly simple and straightforward. But because of my…I'm not that good. And I concentrate quite hard,” he says laughing. Mullen and Clayton focus on creating the engine that drives the music. Bono and Edge are the navigators, trying to take each song and each concert to new heights. This is where the band’s two worlds collide. Their global fame has given Bono a political voice. U2’s politics give their music a little something extra. And Bono is confident U2 will be remembered in the future. “Actually oddly enough, I think my work, the activism, will be forgotten. And I hope it will. Because I hope those problems will have gone away,” says Bono. “But our music will be here in 50 years and 100 years' time. Fact that our songs occupy a sort of an emotional terrain that didn't exist before our group did.” By John Hamlin © MMV, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/17/60minutes/printable1053542.shtml

tech...ech

first, watch this video...especially around the 35-second mark. i went back a hundred times to watch it...he's down, then stretches his hands into the endzone. no question.

not to be a sore loser, but...insurance salesmen from lubbock shouldn't be calling tech games. i just watched dale hansen complain about it...a nebraska fan of all things, and now i read this from the star telegram...

November 19, 2005
Big 12 refs steal one from OU
I have just watched the ending of the worst-officiated game in college football history. I'd show you the replay, but apparently in the Big 12, replays are presented for the TV viewing audience's amusement only.
I'm referring to the final seconds -- the final quarter, actually -- of Texas Tech's alleged 23-21 victory over Oklahoma in Lubbock.
The so-called winning touchdown came when Tech's Taurean Henderson stretched the ball over the goal line, well after his body had already been tackled to the ground.
This followed an even more ludicrous incomplete pass that the officials nearly ruled a touchdown (it was reversed, thankfully). And that was preceded by a fourth-down spot that gave the Red Raiders at least two feet and a game-saving first down.
All three plays were reviewed. Only the end zone pass was properly reversed. (The receiver never actually caught the ball).
You'll seldom see me mention an official's call in one of my columns. I'll leave the referee-complaining to the head coaches.
But the ending of the OU-Tech game was so blatantly mishandled, it totally altered the outcome.
Tech's second-to-last touchdown, come to think of it, shouldn't have been allowed, because the receiver left the field of play and came back in to make the catch. Again, the replay showed it, but it wasn't corrected.
On the fourth-down catch, Cody Hodges' pass was deflected, and Danny Amendola made a terrific play to wrest the ball from an OU defender's hands. But he was at least two feet shy of the first down mark when he came down with the ball.
The officiating crew seemed to be more interested in determining who had possession than it did in correctly marking the spot. The bogus first down kept alive Tech's winning drive.
The Henderson "touchdown" was a gutsy call by Tech coach Mike Leach, because he knew that a running play would run out the clock. But calling a run didn't fool the Oklahoma defense. Henderson was wrapped up, twisted, and his body clearly appeared to hit the turf one yard short of the goal line. The end zone TV camera probably showed it best.
Again, however, no official aggressively came running in to mark the forward progress. Even the official that was nearest the play didn't call a touchdown. After a few seconds, an official -- the line judge, I think -- came in and threw his touchdown signal into the air.
If the Big 12 is going to have instant replay and ignore it, why bother even reviewing a call? The officiating crew in Lubbock needs to be tagged, dipped for fleas and banned by the conference from ever doing a Big 12 game again.
Were they intimidated by the home crowd? Mad at Bob Stoops? Too leg-weary by the fourth quarter to call the game correctly? We'll probably never know.
What I do know is that Oklahoma should be headed to the Cotton Bowl, not Texas Tech. The disputed "victory" puts another asterisk on Tech's patsy-inflated 9-2 record.
Posted by glebreton on November 19, 2005 at 05:05 PM in College football Permalink Comments (52)

love is...

i read a little blurb today, asking kids to describe what the word "love" means to them. there were a lot of cute answers, but one in particular really grabbed a hold of me...

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."

Bobby - age 7

why i love gordon keith, in his own human-words

thank you, dallas morning news.

Newspaper Column: There's a reason I write this thing
07:47 AM CST on Thursday, November 3, 2005
By GORDON KEITH

My basic goal every day is to not get pregnant. But after that, my next goal is to avoid speaking with another live human being.

I complain about the world being this way because it is a fashionable gripe, but I secretly do everything I can to avoid interacting with other so-called humans. I remember the wisdom my father imparted to me every year on my birthday: "Son, if you avoid eye contact, then maybe, just maybe, they won't knife you." Then, with tremendous fanfare and laughter, my father would knife me for emphasis.

The truth is that I am painfully vapid and I know any conversation will increase the possible exposure of this dangerous social flaw.

If my cellphone rings, my heart starts racing. So I mute the ring and procrastinate checking the voicemail for a few weeks while I get drunk. If my doorbell chimes? I dive under old clothes and hold a quivering pistol to my head while sweating and mumbling prayers in improvised Spanish. I hate that I am like this, but I have social anxiety. And bird flu.

I think the whole world is becoming a collection of isolated cocoons rather than the interactive corpus God intended it to be, and that's fine with me as long as I don't have to issue pleasantries. E-mail, voicemail, tall fences, HVAC, disease, fear, all of them are important allies in my quest to remain in a womb of anti-social bliss.

Are you like me? Take this helpful quiz to determine if you are a homicidal misanthrope.

•Do you pray to Sweet Sweet Zeus that you are delivered unto voicemail when you call someone, just so you can avoid that warm feeling of interaction?

•Do you wish your side fence were 12 feet tall instead of a stingy eight?

•Upon entering a restaurant with another diner present, do you simply eat in the alley?

•If someone tries to "make plans," do you claim leprosy?

•Do you load up the adjacent theater seat with scrap metal?

•If someone says "hello," do you make your eyes real big and scramble up a tree?
Put your pencil down. Give yourself two points for each "yes" answer. Add it all up and you'll find it equals a lonely but increasingly common life.

Totally freak Gordon out by e-mailing him at gordon@gordonkeith.com, then eavesdrop on his awkward communication efforts on "The Ticket" KTCK-AM (1310) weekday mornings from 6 to 10.

now if you aren't crying, then what exactly does it take to make you laugh?

ouch

i stepped on a nail a couple of days ago. it went right into the center of my right big toe. wearing high heels to work is more painful to this injury than working out. yes, that's right, if i'm wearing my comfy little new balance tennies, i can go to the gym and walk with relative ease, lift weights, and do the elliptical (not quite back to running, but still...I think I'll be there today).

what does this tell you about heels? i just really think that someone didn't have their head on straight when they thought that this was a woman's only option in the workplace. well, either to wear heels or to look 'not-cute'. my mom always told me,"looking cute takes work, no pain no gain."

i don't remember heels of these extremes being popular in my mom's schoolteacher days, and i defintiely know that she's ever stepped on a nail before. i'm thinking we women need to band together and come up with some sort of rational alternative, at least for those inflicted with injury. ugh.

carpe diem

today i learned of the death of a close childhood friend's mom...this the third recent death that has come into my life. death is one of those things that we all at some point will realize, but all try our best to keep from our minds. i don't want to live my life worrying, but after the recent blows of the death of a close friends' grandmother, the tragic death of a friend's husband, and today, the death of a sweet mother, i was left feeling plagued with the pains of death.

my dad and i talked for a while this afternoon. my dad is just one of those people. such passion, such wisdom, such kindness. as i shared the saddness and the worries of my soul, he reminded me of what should come of this...it should serve as a reminder, that whether a loving grandmother, a godly young pastor, father, and husband, or a faithful mother, wife, and teacher...we should savour each day. there is no way of knowing when our time will come, so we should enjoy and live each day as if it is our last.

i just hope that people remember me in any of the ways i remember these fine people. as a person that lived each day to its absolute fullest, that loved their God, family, friends, and each day they were given. a person that can look back and say "i'm glad i did that!"

pooh

this morning i am getting ready to head to little rock, arkansas to be a part of a dear friend of mine's wedding, jennifer, aka "pooh". pooh is such a wonderful and thoughtful friend, and i am thrilled to be able to spend some time with her on her special weekend.

in honor of the bride, i wanted to post a quote that she has several times sent me...one that always brings a smile to my face and reminds me of my sweet friend pooh.

"if i could reach up and hold a star for everytime you've made me smile,
the entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand."

congrats, pooh and russ!

nail polish

ladies, i don't know about you, but the few times i have attempted to paint my own fingernails have resulted in a mess on the nails and a mess on the carpet. i prefer the snob route (going to a salon) or none at all, personally.

i just watched a lady driving down mockingbird lane, talking on her cell phone, with one hand on the steering wheel propped up just enough, and the other holding the brush...as she painted her nails. she must be superwoman, because i can't even chew gum and talk on the phone at the same time. wow.

i had a great birthday weekend. friday night jay and i went to bob's, had some steak and watched the stars game. saturday night was the big
par-tay (i've included some pics) and it was a blast. sunday night i did dinner at mi cocina with friends to seal off a great birthday weekend.

thanks to all of you for being a part of my birthday and making it special...including the phone calls, cards, and emails. i am very blessed to have a wonderful family and true friends. i love you all!!!

thought for the day

"Each of the redeemed shall forever know and praise some one aspect of the divine beauty better than any other creature can. Why else were individuals created, but that God, loving all infinitely, should love each differently? . . . If all experienced God in the same way and returned Him an identical worship, the song of the church triumphant would have no symphony; it would be like an orchestra in which all the instruments played the same note. . . . Heaven is a city, and a body, because the blessed remain eternally different. . . . For doubtless the continually successful, yet never completed, attempt by each soul to communicate its vision to all others . . . is also among the ends for which the individual was created. "

- C.S. Lewis

vote

i am SUCH a good citizen...i voted yesterday. ; )

in all seriousness, don't forget to vote. you don't get to celebrate or complain if you don't actually participate in making the decision.

good ol' steve

i'll preface this post with a statement: i am a christian and i am not gay. i believe in the sepearation of church and state, mostly because i read the Bible and believe that is the way God intended it. now, onto the post...

i've been reading steve blow's articles for a long time in the dallas morning news...he wrote one yesterday regarding proposition 2 that i felt really hit the nail on the head. i posted the prop below and then his article. i felt that he made "my" point better than i could, so i did the old cut-and-paste for your reading pleasure.

Proposition 2

"The constitutional amendment providing that marriage in this state consists only of the union of one man and one woman and prohibiting this state or a political subdivision of this state from creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage."


Steve Blow:We can't help who we fall in love with
08:27 AM CST on Sunday, October 30, 2005
I saw Sandra Bullock interviewed on TV recently, and a question came up about her unlikely marriage to Jesse James.
I'm sure you know Ms. Bullock, all perky and cute. You may not know Mr. James, all coarse and tattooed. He builds motorcycles for a living and became a TV star in the process.
So Ms. Bullock explained the unusual way she realized she wanted to marry this outlaw.
She attended a car race he was in. He crashed during the race and was badly injured. She ran to the ambulance and discovered that as his girlfriend or live-in or whatever, she was just a face in the crowd, legally speaking.
Excuse her language, but she said: "I was so pissed off that I had no legal say. None! And I knew from the moment I got into that ambulance ... that I was in for the long haul with him. That was a huge deciding factor for me."
Well, her story probably won't be a huge deciding factor in the upcoming election, but it struck me as going to the very heart of this gay-marriage amendment.
Neither you nor I may understand homosexuality. But I'll bet we both understand Ms. Bullock's moment of realization that she wanted to officially be part of Mr. James' life. Forsaking all others, she wanted to be one with him.
And that's really all this boils down to – whether two adults ought to be able to legally entwine their lives into one.
Love is funny, isn't it? I'm sure Ms. Bullock can't explain why she was drawn to rough-and-tumble Jesse James. She just was.
I can't explain why dark-haired, headstrong women appeal to me so much. But they do. And I'm sure happy with the one who plighted me her troth, whatever that means exactly.
Love plays its funniest joke on gay people. For reasons neither they nor science can explain, the heart draws them to people of the same sex.
It's not a choice. It's not a lifestyle. It's just another wrinkle in funny old love.
As I have observed the long, long debate over homosexuality, it sure seems like society has pulled a double-cross on gay folks.
In the beginning, you often heard opponents portray all gays as outrageous, wanton, sex-obsessed creatures.
That description certainly didn't fit the mass of gay and lesbian couples living quiet, faithful lives.
Yet when that segment of the gay community stepped forward to decry promiscuity and champion committed relationships, the critics suddenly reversed course.
Oh, no! they screamed. You can't have what we have! Marriage is only for men and women.
So gay folks are blasted for being promiscuous on the one hand and blasted for wanting to legally marry on the other.
Talk about a no-win situation.
Many people I respect seem caught in a semantic quandary. They believe that gays deserve fair treatment. But they are deeply troubled by expanding marriage to include same-sex couples.
For me, it boils down to a pretty simple "duck" test. (You know, "if it quacks like a duck ...") Gay couples I know have relationships that sure quack and waddle in a very familiar way, one I call "marriage."
To me, marriage is about commitment, not plumbing.
But I understand that society changes in stages. So if it's just words that hang people up, then fine, let's find some new ones for this new territory. Fairness is the real issue here, not vocabulary.
And that's where Proposition 2 goes wrong. This amendment goes far beyond defining marriage. In a case of overkill, it goes on to deny gay people "any legal status identical to or similar to marriage."
Did you get that swipe?
Forget about marriage, the amendment tells gay couples, and also forget any other legal commitment that even smells like marriage.
Look, I can't explain love. Sandra Bullock and Jesse James? That will always be a mystery to me. Gay couples may baffle you even more.
But should we deny them the right to unite their lives – just because we don't understand?
E-mail sblow@dallasnews.com

good work, steve. once again, i applaud your thoughtful insight.

U2

well, the show was even better than i could have ever imagined. lights, sounds, images...bono and the boys know how to put on a show!!! they even started pulling the audience members onstage, allowing you to imagine that you could possibly be up there...people, it's too much for my little heart. they even went into their original stuff and played "electric co" off their original album, boy. if you have never seen U2 play live, you are really, really missing out. sharing it last night with mols, kevin, and jay just made it more special.

to top it all off, they ended the show with their old-style ending, playing "40," their own rendition of psalm 40. i was moved to tears. to hear your favorite band of all time singing praises to our Maker...it just doesn't get any better than that.

i love you, bono.

relief

the move is now complete, just some organizational things to take care of this evening. i sat this morning in the little sunroom spot i've created for myself, a small loveseat tucked in the corner, surrounded by windows and looking out over the backyard. had some cereal, hot tea, and a good little quiet time in prayer. and then i just sat and watched mckenzie run around the backyard and gave a little sigh of relief. it's nice to feel settled again...

and one honorable mention as i hear, "pride" (U2) playing in the background right now...it's officially now THE weekend of U2. saturday night cannot come soon enough!!!!

the move

well, it's 10pm and i am sitting in an apartment with white, bare walls and boxes. it's very odd to see your "life" packed up and just sitting around you. it's odd how un-home-like it feels, even when you've lived here as long as i have. i am a sentimental sap, so this is hard for me. i know i expressed it a couple of weeks ago, and yes, i know i am only moving 3 miles from here, but it is fun and sad at the same time to sit and think about all the memories i have in this place and realize tomorrow i will leave and not come back to it.

it does make you realize that it really and truly is NOT the walls, floors, and ceilings that make up a home, it is the people that you have shared it with, the memories that you have there, and the experiences that have molded you as you lived within it.

i have shared these feelings with several friends today who giggled at me, how silly and sentimental i'm being...so i was very thankful for the equally sentimental email that mollie was so quick to send back a few moments ago. it's so amazing how just when you need a little pick-me-up...the phone will ring, an email will pop up, or a knock will come at the door. i'm really thankful that God puts people in our lives that just kind of "get" us...

nano

yaaaaaaaaay! i'm officially off the old mp3 player and into the world of iTunes!! verrrry exciting, people. jay's brother, judd got him a shuffle for his b-day, and upon seeing my excitement about the whole deal, jay decided it was necessary for me to receive an early birthday present...a nano! so we are now both card-carrying members of this newly formed cult, and very excited about it! btw, hanging out in the apple store is just plain fun and a very simple ploy on their part to get me interested in spending thousands of dollars on some seemingly necessary computers, ipods and their accessories. i mean, even the kids in the apple store seem hip, playing games on a cute little setup and sitting on yoga-style balls as chairs. before leaving the store i had already sold out for an overpriced arm-band to work out with my new nano...we are so inseperable already. hahaha ; )

i like you, judd.