Typing Test

Friday, July 28, 2006

Whoo hoo! Just took a typing test and got 79 wpm. Would have been 80 had I not had that one error. Oh well, that's still good news since I thought it was around 55.
posted by suzyjax on 7/28/2006 12:38:00 PM > 0 comments

Church Signs: Not always uplifting

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Church signs. You know them. You drive by probably at least ten a day. They usually have something witty or relevant. Things like "You think it's hot here, wait for the afterlife". Or, "Like Ted Drewes, we make great Sundays". Cute, pithy, and full of cliches and silly humor.

As much as they can be uplifting or funny, they can often be mean or depressing. Examples of this were plentiful during last years Gay Marriage Amendment in Missouri. And I have come across many that make me wonder if they are really effective marketing tools or just a tool of evil.

For example, a few years back I was be-boppin' down the St. Charles Rock Road. I was stopped at a light at McKibbon right in front of the First Baptist Church of St. John. I had a great view of their church sign which read: "Poverty and Laziness are First Cousins".
That evening I called and left a message on their preacher's phone. Keith (the preacher, who I knew prior to this phone call) called me back that next day. We had a good talk about the message that sign sends. Poverty has many causes and occasionally that is laziness. More often it is a woman who lost her husband and has many children to care for. Poverty can also be caused by a devestating illness to the many millions in our country who are uninsured or underinsured. To say that poverty and laziness are directly related is an insult to the people they could minister. This church is right on a bus line and many minimum wage/below-the-poverty line workers would see that on a daily basis. Is this the message of the Southern Baptist Convention?

Well, tonight I saw another less-than-uplifting message. At the Stephans United Methodist Church (Charlack) the sign read "A life without love is worthless" Well, I can just imagine some lonely soul driving by there, agreeing, and being pushed right over the edge to suicide.

What is wrong with "Sunday School at 9 AM, services at 10:15"? It really wouldn't offend anyone and would actually be more likely to get folks in the pews.
posted by suzyjax on 7/25/2006 06:30:00 PM > 0 comments

Now the lights might NEVER come on

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Bush has declared this a national disaster and is sending in FEMA. Oh lord. At this rate, and with FEMA messing up any progress, we may never get lights in some neighborhoods.

My update: My house never went out. My neighbors where I was house/dog sitting got there on Saturday monring. My parents are still out since Wednesday.
City Hall and the community center were on after the Wednesday storm but out after Friday's.

Walgreens was trying to hook up some mondo generator to their store, which lost power on Friday. Heaven forbid they don't open for a few days.

Work got power on Friday afternoon. However, they still have everyone on lock down and not moved back to the previously non-powered/non-air conditioned areas. Thus, not much to do at work today. (Well, there is always cataloging!)
posted by suzyjax on 7/23/2006 02:02:00 PM > 1 comments

The Trains Never Run on Time

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Will the end of capitalist America be in that the trains never run on time? In my dealings with Amtrak, they are more likely than not to be running late. Today it was a classic. Our train was to leave St. Louis at 8:30. Nope, it was delayed at least 3 hours. Which meant not much time in our destination city.

So, the trip was scrapped.

I got up early for this?

Well, it's a beautiful day, weather wise, so I can get a ton of things done around the house.
Maybe even take a nap. Ahh...Saturdays.
posted by suzyjax on 7/22/2006 08:53:00 AM > 0 comments

The Night the Lights Went Out in Overland

Friday, July 21, 2006

On Wednesday, a furious thunderstorm blew through St. Louis. It knocked out the electricity at the house where I am house/dog sitting. It has been miserable. Though, the dog seems fairly content. Downright happy, actually. But, then again, it is a dog. They are happy all the time.

In total, over 500,000 homes were without electricity. It is down to 400,000 now according to an AmerenUE spokesperson who was on KMOX this morning.

The thing about the power outage is that it is hitting randomly. The house where I am house sitting has the entire block without power. However, the cross street of their street has power. I live only a block or two away from this house and my street also has power.

This randomness is what is going to take forever to fix. I have yet to see an AmerenUE (or other utility) truck anywhere since Wednesday. However, some folks I know in Bridgeton and St. Ann have had their power restored.

Two positive things:
1) I think I have sweat off 10 pounds!
2) The power is out at work also. Thus, I didn't have to go in last night (for a dance) or today. Yeah! Free holidays! (Because as state workers we don't have enough.)
posted by suzyjax on 7/21/2006 06:31:00 AM > 0 comments

Take My Son, Please

Saturday, July 15, 2006

The other day I was at a community function and speaking with two women I had never met before. When they found out I had gone to Ritenour, they wanted to know if I knew their sons. Both had sons who were just a year or so younger than me. They thought it was odd that I didn’t know them. Hey, it’s not a small school. And it was 20 years ago! I’m not sure if I would remember someone I met last month. Anyway, the conversation is moving along and then came the question. That question. Arrgh. That question I just hate: “Are you single?”

Now, there are only two reasons women ask you that question. 1) If they are the same age as you, they are going to judge you based on your answer. 2) If they are old enough to be your mother, they ask because they have a single son.

Back in the day, I used to have a bit about experiences at the grocery store. Included in that was women who would strike up a conversation with the sole intent of fixing me up with their son. Well, this was almost like some altered version of that.

Within five minutes, one woman had me married to her son and was making arrangements on how I could drop off her grandchildren so that her son and I could have a night on the town. I could tell the other woman was regretting she didn’t think of this tactic first. She was pumping up this other woman’s son, but at the same time interjecting selling points on her own offspring.

I dashed off as quick as I could, but not before providing that first woman with my e-mail and phone number to pass along to her son. Before I could get out of the building, woman #2 approaches and says if things don’t work out with guy from woman #1 that her son is just perfect. At this point, I couldn’t NOT give her my e-mail and phone since she was there when I gave it to woman #1.

It is such a Noah’s Ark mentality. Everyone must be paired off in their little couples. And, if you aren’t paired off, it is the public’s responsibility to get you into a pairing.
posted by suzyjax on 7/15/2006 08:44:00 AM > 0 comments

Rainy day blues

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Oh lordy. Bad day overall. No pick for jury duty. Then couldn't take Zoey and Shelby swimming because of the weather. So, letting them fight with each other for a couple of hours seemed to wear them out for the day. Then I fed them, popped in a movie as they quickly fell asleep.
posted by suzyjax on 7/12/2006 06:23:00 PM > 0 comments

Jury Duty

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

I am off to Jury Duty tomorrow. I may be picked and be out of touch for a while (and just when I finally got my phone). Or, I may be back on Thursday. I am excited either way. I want to enjoy my summer. But, then again, I've always wanted to be on a jury.
posted by suzyjax on 7/11/2006 05:42:00 PM > 0 comments

Back in the tech world

Whew. I am back in 2006 again!

Today, I finally got my new cell phone. I have felt so detached from the world and now I am once again connected.

And, I also got on the download/podcast bandwagon. Today, I purchased an MP3 player. My first downloads: some NPR programming and a David Sedaris book.

I know, I know--what a geek! But, I love my geeky side.
posted by suzyjax on 7/11/2006 05:40:00 PM > 0 comments

Two things that made me think

Two things recently got me thinking. First, was from of all things, the Jeff Foxworthy show. This was a Nick at Night rerun at 4 AM on Monday. The son on the show has a crush on his teacher. The kid (who is about eight years old) really believes the teacher reciprocates his feelings. The mother pulls him aside and gives him this sage advice: "Sometimes when we have a crush we see things that aren't really there."
Boy, that philosophy hit me like a ton of bricks on a Monday morning. And, it really applied to something I had been thinking. Crushes are the worst. I don't like not knowing if this guy likes me or if that guy is gonna ever ask me out.

Second thing was this MCC thing I came across:

Girls Like Me
Girls like me aren’t hard to find
We grow like roses on the vine
We wear our hearts on our sleeves
You probably know a girl like me.

We live alone and in our heads
We eat standing up or in our beds
Guilt and fear merge easily
In the quiet souls of girls like me

And loneliness is like a cold,
Common and no cure we’re told
We take to bed per chance to dream
In the blue light of the TV screen.

Girls like me like summer light
And cold beer on a summer night
And boys who aren’t afraid of what they see
Inside the eyes of girls like me

And hopefulness is like a drug
It makes a girl believe in love
And if somehow you love us back
You think there’s something wrong with that

Girls like me aren’t hard to trust
Your deepest secret’s safe with us
And when it’s time to set you free
You can always count on girls like me

It’s good to know a girl like me
Could you love a girl like me
posted by suzyjax on 7/11/2006 05:25:00 PM > 0 comments

The Young and the Phoneless

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Sometimes, I can't win for losing. I ordered a new phone from T-Mobile on Friday. During that process they turned off my current phone as the other ships to me. I don't have an issue with not being able to use my phone, but I would like to be able to receive calls (that go into voicemail) in the meantime. And, from what I can tell they did this late on Friday so the phone will not ship out until Monday. Receive date : Wednesday. So, that's almost a full week without phone calls. Not that it's ringing off the hook.
posted by suzyjax on 7/09/2006 06:57:00 AM > 0 comments

The Two Me's

Monday, July 03, 2006

Sometimes I feel like there are two of me. And those two are very different people with different groups of friends. And those friends would never cross over with one another.

On one hand, I have my Overland and my work friends. These are more for the "Overland Hoosier" in me. These are my friends I can talk about more low- brow stuff: drinking, sports, television, cars, gambling (though that's not really for me), and the like. However, the only time I am asked to go out for drinks it is either birthdays or if they want a designated driver. This is a group of friends with mini-vans, children, and the whole bag of suburbia.

Then I have my---hmm, how do I put this without sounding like a total snob--more literate friends. These are my friends where I can discuss politics, the environment, documentaries (my favorite type of movie), books, etc. These are the friends that will go to a protest rally with me, but would never go to a Rams game with me. Some are married, but none with children. They are all very urban.

I guess both groups fulfill a certain need. Yet, I could never ask my friends from one group to socialize with my friends from another. It's like I would be the only common denominator. And, it makes me feel like I am on the outer periphery of both groups--like I am accepted, but don't really belong. Or maybe belong isn’t the right word, but don't fit in.

Why am I writing about this? It hit me the other day at the pool, when one friend from group A rolled her eyes that I was reading a non-fiction book while lounging by the water. I mean really, I am Ms. Non-Fiction. Come to my house and it's mostly non-fiction books on the bookshelf and documentary movies in the entertainment center.

And maybe that’s why I can’t find that one great guy. If he is more down-to-earth, then he will make a statement about bringing the biggest book he could find to a desert island so he would have something with which to wipe his ass (true story, and so not something you tell a librarian). Or, I have someone that can hold down an intellectually stimulating conversation but would never go to a Rams/Cardinals or other sporting event with me (also true, and why would you just leave me to myself—and the trouble I can get into--for the ENTIRE football season?).

And this isn’t about just finding some romantic attachment. It is truly about friends and how I don’t fit in there most of the time. They are both symptomatic of this “two me” syndrome.
posted by suzyjax on 7/03/2006 05:31:00 PM > 0 comments

Sit and Sweat

Yuck!
I am sitting in an air conditioned room, yet the sweat is still just pouring down my back. I feel gross. On days like these, I take about 3 or 4 showers a day (or almost every time I have to go outside) and still feel a bit earthy.
Yuck!
posted by suzyjax on 7/03/2006 05:26:00 PM > 0 comments

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