CaptainKinesiology's Xanga

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 21:51:34 GMT

I think I may be done with xanga. I'm sad to say it, but it's true. I'm not sure there's much point in updating this since everyone's on facebook now. Sorry people who run Xanga.

So life...is good. I drove around the world this week. or just Ohio. Or just I-80 to be specific. It's my favorite road now. That was slightly sarcastic, but I do have to say it's nice to pull over into one of those travel center things and feel safer taking a nap there than in a rest area. That's appreciated. I was supposed to go on this insane road-trip up to the U.P. and then back down thru Wisconsin on my way to Merrillville, IN, but that got postponed. Hallelujah. So not looking forward to that one whenever it gets rescheduled. In general, work is going okay though. We're starting seminar season again, so that will be a fun diversion. If only I could convince myself that visiting docs and writing underwriting reports is fun.

Time is lacking, as always. Time to do laundry and wash dishes and clean my room and make meals and see my boyfriend and see my family and see my friends and be a hermit and exercise and sleep...if anyone has figured that whole prioritizing thing out, let me know, cuz I'm definitely feeling rather stressed and stretched lately. And then I get cranky, and I don't like that. I don't want to be cranky. So, as a result, I'm going to bed. Before 10pm. Beautiful. At least that's the plan. We'll see if it comes to fruition.

And I'm going to Ireland in October. Me and Emma. And I'm so excited. It's going to be super sweet. I'm going to dance around in the Irish mist and soak it up. And while I'm there, I will scope out the castles. Because you never know when a castle will come in handy.

So yeah. Going to clean off my bed so I can sleep in it. Lata.

Emerald Isle - here I come!

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 01:06:37 GMT

I'm going to Ireland, yes I am!!! Woohoo!

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 17:50:14 GMT

Wasup, yo. So I had to change desks this week. No more my favorite Emily chats everyday. Which ended up not mattering because the very same day I started moving away, she went into labor. And today, she had a baby girl. Congrats Mike and Emily. (I just moved desks yesterday, in case any of you were trying to figure out the time period inbetween.)

Other than that...things are okay. Bought some sweet old-school Disney movies today. Summer magic and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Yup. That's right. Someday I'll take the time to watch them.

I had some brilliant thoughts earlier this week, but I'm not sure what they are now. Although one of them might be connected to my thoughts on marriage counseling. Yup. Not because I myself am in it, but for some reason, I think it would be really cool to write a curriculum for marriage counseling. Using the books of people much smarter than me, not just going out on my own since I'm clearly not married. But I think it's sooooo needed. It is a huge failing of the church. Training people for marriage. And while on the subject, why is it that Christians read so many books like the Five Love Languages and Love & Respect and all that? NonChristians don't...is it because in theory we're more committed to making marriages work so we are willing to do more research on relationships and communication and all that. Interesting. Anyway.

And now, my pizza is done. I must away. Sorry this was a pointless update, if you were looking for something substantial. I only have a half day tomorrow. Yeah for paid time off. And weekends.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:35:23 GMT

No dice on the job. They offered, but it just didn't work out. Too much of a cut in money and benefits and actually upon further consideration, I wasn't entirely sure I would enjoy the job long term. So...I had to say no. Disappointing, but when I realized I was kinda just looking at it as an option because it was something other than what I am currently doing, I realized that might not be the best reason to throw my life into chaos and financial instability. So anyway. No new job. I guess it’s good to know that I’m employable, and that I can hold my own in an interview. Now if I could only figure out what I want to do when I grow up…

Went to see LadySmith Black Mambazo (or something, i'm too lazy to look it up) with Brooke and Jeremy Sunday night. Interesting...they're the guys who sang the LifeSavers commercials, and some on Lion King 2, and on some Paul Simon album. But it was entertaining anyway. And I got to see Brooke, which was totally worth the price of admission. I like Brooke. I wish Brooke lived in Lansing. But, only for selfish reasons. I'm sure she's happier in GR. So I will take my few little moments with her and be happy.

Okay, seriously, I'm done with the computer for now. I must away.

Yeah for hope!

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 19:03:42 GMT

So...I must admit...I haven't figured out how to shut down the whole any time your friend does anything we'll tell you about it feature of facebook. And while I'm amused by the random groups you all join...not sure the play by play is necessary much of the time. But, hey, the internet is all about connectedness right?

But the point of this note...I have a second interview tomorrow! Many of you didn't know I had an interview in the first place, but I did and apparently I did well enough to warrant another attempt. It's an office manager position - sounds like it would be challenging but interesting; it's a small company, they all get along and work closely together, seems like a fun environment. M-F 9-5, no travel, no cranky docs who don't want me at their office. No driving to Peck, MI so an underwriter can not read my report and disregard anything useful I might have said in it. So anyway, we'll see how tomorrow goes. But it's exciting to think there might be a new option available. Haven't talked $$ yet, but they asked my bare minimum the first time around and apparently it wasn't too high if they're asking me back. I must admit, I might possibly be getting my hopes up a bit.

All in all it was a pretty good day actually. I had my first entirely solo presentation today at a practice in Ann Arbor, and it went quite well. I was very pleased. If I were to take any part of my job with me, it would be presenting. It's fun.

Then I came home and watched Gilmore Girls from Tuesday...for those of you who also watched this week...what the crap. Seriously. I might have yelled at my tv. More than once. For the love. Even now, arg.

Oh, and if you leave your garage door open all night when you go to stay with your friend cuz her husband is out of town at a pastor's conference and it's multiple below zeros outside, your pipes freeze. But, if you're lucky, they don't burst. And apparently this week I'm lucky. And extremely thankful. And thankful for friends who know how to pull insulation out of your garage ceiling and stick a space heater up there without starting a fire. Thankful.

Okay, back to getting some stuff done around this joint. Peace out.

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day!

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 21:17:00 GMT

So...it's been awhile. I've joined Facebook, which is just another online community where people want to be your "friends." But it's a good way to keep up with people, so hey, why not. At least I skipped being apart of MySpace. For some reason, I just don't like it.

Let's see...since I last wrote...um...narcolepsy continues to be my not favorite thing, in case you were wondering, I have not yet made peace with the fact that I require more sleep than the average bear...I have a couple leads on possible career switches so that will be interesting...I've made some new friends, one of whom may move in with me someday, and several of whom are driving me to prayer more than normal...never dull, that's for sure...small group is good, Kainos is awesome except for when we don't practice music for Sunday morning and Foco plays in the wrong key ...some of the students I worked with in youth group are now graduating college and getting married = I'm old...

Many other things, but they are going to go in my journal as opposed to a blog. Those are the highlights. Or the lowlights. Or the lights. Whatever.

And I've decided I still want a Prius. Although the guys at Honda tried their best to get me into another lease earlier this week...I foiled their evil plan by not making a snap decision...at least I have a couple months to decide...much to their chagrin. Seems like that's a lesson I'm learning a bit lately...taking things slow gives you time to think and process, both of which can be good things. Unless you're a girl like me who overanalyzes everything, but hey, that's what antacids are for right?

Okay, back to folding laundry. Hasta la vista.

Since when did it almost become 2007!

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 21:24:41 GMT

Seriously. It's almost new Years! Crazy. Obviously I haven't been updating much lately...December will do that to you.

Some pictures to illustrate what I've been up to...

(The bag game at the Kainos Chistmas party)

Had a really good Christmas with my family. Good times. It was fun to have Noah there, always adds a little excitement to the festivities.

(Noah driving Dad's car)

All in all December has been a pretty good month. Made a Mii and proceeded to beat everyone at Wii bowling, got a new haircut, cooked for my small group three weeks in a row and no one got sick - they even said it was pretty good, got to see Darin & Bethany's new baby - Quinn Mirabelle, went to a birthday party on a train, watched a movie about a train, had Christmas with my family...good times. And, I get to see Aryn tomorrow, which is a rare occurence as she currently lives near Seattle. Don't get to see her much. And then I get to go up north to the Lake. A weekend with a bunch of other people's kids. Which will probably be fun, possibly be insanity inducing, and definitely a break much enjoyed.

Perhaps more to follow at some other time when I have something profound to say. For now I have some Bowden Family Christmas presents to wrap and possibly some journaling to do before the sleeping takes over. I will leave you with an example of the fun things we do at Denyes Family Christmas...

Bah!

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 18:52:51 GMT

Today went pretty well as days go...I did my very first solo presentation. It was only an hour and only to less than 20 people, but still, it was the first I've done on my own. It went pretty well, I think. I'm sure I talked too fast and I know I forgot a couple points I wanted to make, but I had to adjust on the fly. I didn't know I'd only be talking to nurses and MAs, so not everything applied that I had in my presentation but I couldn't take that stuff out...but it went fine. A minor miracle because due to my lovely cold that has yet to abate, I couldn't speak an entire sentence last night without coughing. So all props to God for healing my throat so I could talk.

Then, on my way home from work, I made a phone call. My dad introduced me to a friend of his a while ago who has a lot of connections all over and who might be able to help me in my search for meaning in my professional life. (drama mostly for effect) So this guy wanted me to talk to someone he knew who has a physical therapy practice and who is thinking about franchising it - thinking since I have a Kinesiology background plus some experience in business it might be a good fit. I got his number and gave him a call. He had to call me back, and when we talked he basically told me I had a useless degree and go back to school. Not in so many words and he was very nice about it, but he definitely was not considering me as a possible employee. Now, granted, I'm projecting my emotional state onto our short conversation, but I definitely hung up feeling stupid. Not like an adult who has qualifications (however limited they may be) and skills and intelligence...nope. Just a girl who picked the fun major and now doesn't have a clue.

Shoot. That last sentence is kinda true...but I got into KIN for a reason initially...darn me and my bad decisions!

So anyway, after he told me to figure out what I really want to do and then go back to school because you need an advance degree for anything KIN related and an MBA for everything else, I thanked him very graciously for his time and was very nice and didn't say at all what I was thinking. HELLO! If I knew what I wanted to do I would be pursuing and getting that advanced degree!!!! Why does everyone try to get me back in school with no end goal? You don't go to grad school just to go. I need a reason. A purpose. Otherwise, I'll end up with a graduate degree that I don't want to use.

Argh. Bah. Argh and bah together. Frustration ensues. Going to eat dinner and find some perspective.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 22:28:14 GMT

Do you ever get online and then realize an hour later that all you've been doing is watching random youtube.com videos? I had such high hopes for accomplishing something tonight. Anyway.

So I was driving to Cincinnati tonight, and I had the brilliant idea that since I couldn't go to Bible Study and was going to miss the video, Katie Buer could put her phone up next to the speakers and at least I'd be able to hear it. Worked well, except for the fact that I was just coming into downtown Cincinnati when Janee got on the phone with me to ask how to turn off the subtitles. I definitely missed my turn and drove around Cincinnati basically with no sense of direction for a while...but hey, they got the subtitles off. Let me tell you, being in the middle of a bunch of university buildings and a children's hospital and construction and one way streets was a bit confusing. But, I found my way after a couple quite possibly entirely semi-random turns. Thank God for signs about the zoo. That's all I have to say. But I'm here. And I was actually enjoying the video, but the thing about downtown hotels is that you have to park in a garage. So the call got dropped anyway. So...only got maybe a quarter of the video. Oh, well, good effort by all.

By request of Brooke, some of the spiritual insights from this weekend - our theme was becoming the people of God. Kainos strives to be a community that does this by taking a more holistic approach to spirituality. God created this world. It is not intrinsically evil, but sin has marred it. God did not leave the story at this point, He instead physically re-enters in a huge way through His Son, Jesus. Jesus makes it possible for the restoration of creation to begin. Someday, we'll all be back on a new earth, living in physical bodies, going about day to day activities, able to enjoy them sans the effects of sin. We'll perfectly glorify God in everything we do, because we'll be living in perfectly restored relationship with Him, each other, and creation. That's the background. So who are His people? People who understand the story, embrace it, and inculcate themselves into it. We also focused on Faith, Hope and Love. I left my notes at home so this is coming from my limited memory - I forget therefore I write, but I forget to bring what I wrote so it's really just a vicious cycle. And frankly, the no-sleepy drugs were wearing off at that point in the day and my ability to pay attention was severely diminished.

We talked about how the church in general has somewhere along the way caught on to the idea that all their job is is to get people to a service or into the building, and then they're off the hook. So not true. Corporate worship is a place of edification and encouragement for believers, and yes, the Word is spoken and impacts those who hear, but it's primary purpose is not conversion of unbelievers. We have a responsibility to go and make disciples, not bring people to a building so the pastors can get ahold of them. It's all about relationship. We build relationships with people, and sure, bring them to services if they're interested, but it's not the responsibility of the pastors or staff to share Jesus with our friends/coworkers/families. It's ours. It's not about numbers or filling seats, it's about relationships and being involved in other peoples' lives. And that can be scary and intimidating and take a long time. But, it's the truth.

We talked about our vision for Kainos and what it means to be God's people - how we want to glorify God in everything - art, vocation, family, friends, relationships with people who don't know God, sports, food, etc. It was quite the messy conversation with few concrete conclusions, although the verses Aaron had us read about loving were quite convicting. Especially Colossians 3:12-14. Immediately previous to reading that verse I'd had several thoughts about things that were annoying and distracting me (really wasn't the time to go get food and proceed to make a lot of noise while doing it, in my quite obviously humble opinion), and then I read "...clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others...Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony." He called me right out on the carpet. We had a little tete-a-tete at that point, me and God. Who do I think I am? Why do I think I can judge someone who may be having a harder time concentrating than me or whose blood sugar is dropping so they really need to eat something so they don't pass out? Seriously...I get so stuck up sometimes, and I have no right. Where's my mercy? My patience? I have so much to learn about loving people unconditionally. About extending grace that can never come close to the extent of the grace given me every moment. So much to learn. Another thing that Aaron pointed out is that Jesus seemed to gravitate to the outcasts, the unloveable, the ignored, the socially awkward...I pray that I would develop more of that love. It's so much easier to love the people who are like me or who I get along with...but...being restored isn't easy. Sin screwed everything up, and it's always going to be a struggle to fix relationships. They are quite often more sick than well, more broken than whole. But we are commanded to go restore relationships. To go LOVE.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 19:36:03 GMT

We had our Kainos retreat this weekend and it was really, really fun. It was so encouraging to have some teaching time (woot woots go out to Aaron Buer for some very challenging and entertaining sessions - sending us out as wolves among sheep was probably the best unintentional quote of the weekend) and then to have a chance to talk about our vision and what we want to accomplish, who we want to be.

I'm really tired from lack of sleep, but it was worth it to have some awesome conversations. I even got Berna (aka "turkish delight") to try DDR with us. She's never done it before but I think she was better than me. I think someone needs to get me a PS2 and DDR so that I can develop some mad skills. Seriously. I think I got beat at all the games I played this weekend, actually...Andy Luce is the Boggle champion. But it's fun to try to beat him. I'm always up for a challenge. And come to think of it...I might have been wrong about the quote of the weekend...it might have been Foco's SAT monologue at lunch. Sarah and I were crying. Who needs to work out when you can hang out with friends, be mutually sleep deprived and laugh until you can't breathe and Sarah squeaks. Doesn't get much better than that. Only one thing could be improved for next time...it might be a good idea to go to a camp that provides potholders and dishsoap...or maybe cater so that my food list isn't 10 pages long. Just an idea. Just throwin' that out there. Other than that, very good times.

In other news, I was introduced to the wonders of Karaoke Revolution and Guitar Hero this weekend. Definitely didn't play Guitar Hero, but it was pretty darn amazing to watch Andy and Jeremy play. I don't have any of those sorts of skills. But I'm happy to appreciate them in others. Karaoke Revolution, though, I definitely played. And for anyone who's wondering, I can rock out "My Immortal." I got terrible scores on all the other songs I sang, and am now not sure I should ever sing in public again.

Singin' some songs...

Um...maybe my problem was that I wasn't even on the arrows...

Andy and Berna DDR-ing (Foco's coaching)

A little Guitar Hero...

Other gamers - Cranium (it lasted like 3 hours!) and Ticket to Ride

I'm actually going through a little bit of withdrawl tonight...I spent basically 48 straight hours with these people and now I'm wondering what to do with just me...but then again...maybe just me is good considering I'm heading into the week of insanity - I visit an ethically challenged insured in Detroit tomorrow (glad my boss is going with me on that one), go to small group, work a regular day Tuesday, stay with Shannon Tuesday night, leave for Cincinnati Wednesday afternoon, present Thursday morning, drive to Columbus, present Friday morning, drive back home, pack for Mexico, leave for Mexico at 5am Saturday morning. Why am I still typing...I have a chapter to read for tomorrow. Tengo que a ir. Hablo a tus despues. and for you GG fans that made it this far - Muffin's very happy.