Rain, Rain, Go Away

...Come Again Another Day (not on the newlyweds' honeymoon!)

Dear Boss

(compliments of Uncle Scooter)

Dear Boss,

I have enjoyed working here these past several years. You
have paid me very well, given me benefits beyond belief.
I have 3-4 months off per year and a pension plan that
will pay my salary till the day I die and a health plan that
most people can only dream about.

Despite this I plan to take the next 12-18 months to find a
new position.

During this time I will show up for work when it is convenient. In
addition I fully expect to draw my full salary and all the other
perks associated with my current job.

Oh yeah, if my search for this new job proves fruitless, I
will be back with no loss in pay or status. Before you say
anything, remember that you have no choice in the matter.

I can and will do this.

Sincerely,

Every Senator or Representative running for President.

Try that at your job and tell me how it works out.

Mama Mia

Over a week ago, I went with some of my old Black Hawk girls to see Mama Mia. We've decided to start a tradition of getting together a few times a year to see a chick flick and grab dinner together. Since one of the girls was TDY for several weeks, we had to wait to see the movie together.

It was a lot of fun, but very different. I knew that it was a musical, but it still caught me off guard when they started singing. Another thing about the singing... Pierce Brosnan was horrible! I saw several other people flinch the first time he went into song and we all decided that he looks much prettier when he's just standing there with his mouth shut. ;)



This is definitely not a movie that Matt or Wade would enjoy, but if you're looking for something fun and silly, this is it!

Always a Bridesmaid

So, my last stint as serving as Matron of (Highest) Honor is now complete. While Amanda may be a little sad that all of the Shipman girls are now finally married off, I have been rejoicing in the streets. (Not really the streets... more like my couch, followed by a sneeze and quick kleenex grab!)

Here are a few of the picks from the aftermath of our last bridal luncheon and nail day. We had such a good time and really enjoyed spending the afternoon together before the Big Day.

Amanda is super excited about her pedicure. She usually gets Wade to rub her feet, but settled on a paid manicurist.

Amanda, Mom, Amy, and Angie. Mom is trying to talk Amy out of going through with the wedding.

Kayla and Corey were excellent bridesmaids. Along with Christan, they covered a lot of the details that we weren't able to.

Cowards

Reading the news articles about the young girl found with explosives under her dress has made me really angry. Apparently, her husband and two other women fitted her with an explosives vest and told her to explode herself in front of a school.

"[US insiders and Iraqi police] believe that Al Qaeda is increasingly exploiting women unable to deal with the grief of losing husbands, parents and children since the U.S. invasion in 2003."

This girl is just 15 years old. Police believe her father had already blown himself up in a previous suicide bombing. When she was found, police officials said that she appeared to have been drugged and was visibly distraught, saying that she was outfitted with the vest against her will by female relatives of her own husband.

Suicide bombing is already an unbelievably cowardly act, but the new wave of recruits among the helpless is even more disturbing. I cannot imagine living in a culture like this, and hope we never find ourselves in a similar situation. It makes me sick!

IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!

Back in late May, the Adams/Johnson/Shipman fams all took a river weekend together at the Nantahala. While the majority of the group got on the river Saturday, Aunt Angelia, mom, and myself decided to take our recovering appendicitis victim shopping in downtown Bryson City instead.

Bryson City is not your normal bustling metropolis, but it does have a lot of neat downtown shops and craft stores. My mom's and my favorite store is the Craftsman Cottage, where everything is handmade (quilts, soaps, wines, pottery, jewelry etc.).

While we were looking at some of the stores, Aunt Angelia decided that she needed to go ahead and load us up on birthday presents. She insisted that we each pick out something so that she could get it for our birthdays (which range from January to August). Since we were a little reluctant to let her buy us something, she started following us around each of the stores that we stopped in. Whenever we would pause next to a particular item, she would scoop it up the moment we moved past it. We tried to tell her she was in no way obligated to get us something, but she kept replying, "ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY!" (Followed by her patented giggle and stubborn pose). ;)

She snatched up a shawl pin that my mother stopped to admire, a purse for Amy, and some pottery for Amanda and me. Since purchasing a piece of pottery at the Craftsman Cottage has become a small tradition for Mom and I while the rest of the gang is on the river, I was especially pumped to get the bowl and plate to add to my collection.

Thanks for my birthday presents, Aunt Angelia!

I'm Baaaack!

So, since I've been unable to escape to the wonderful world of blogging for the past week, I thought I should first reassure your minds and let you know that I am still alive.

One of the benefits of having to stay home sick is that you finally have time to sit still long enough to post some of the randomness that has been plaguing your mind for the past 9 days.

Here we go!

Holy Cow

I saw this on CBS Sunday Morning. (They didn't post the story or video, so this is going to be less detailed than I'd prefer.)

Did you know that there is a "Cow Chip Throwing Capital of the World"? Beaver County, Oklahoma proudly touts this honor.

A few years ago, CBS reporter Bill Geist covered the Iowa State Fair. He noticed that their cow chip throwing contests used imported cow chips. Why would a farm state like Iowa import their cow chips? Shouldn't they have enough of their own; besides, cow poop is pretty widely available, and I'm sure lots of farmers would pay you to take it away instead of the other way around!

Apparently this is not the case for the Beaver County Cow Chips. They say that their cow chips are bar none. They claim that the grass that their cows eat, the water they drink, and the wind that blows over their hills helps to create the perfect cow patty.

Yum!

Happy Friday Dance II

Aunt Angelia sent me the first "Where is Matt" link several years ago. He loved to travel and made a whole video of him dancing in various locations all over the world. Apparently, he would work for about 6 months, and then travel for as long as he could afford before having to go back to work again. He's since been picked up by Stride gum, who now sponsors his "dancing" trips. Here is his newest (2008) video.

Happy Friday!



If you haven't seen his other videos, they're even more impressive! Check them out on
YouTube or here.

Manda Panda Poll Results

For JULY: The people have spoken.

1. Lily Jealous of Rusty's New 'Do (tie)
1. Fun with Fur (tie)
2. Feigning Politcal Interest with the Best of 'Em
3. Mission Antagonize

What does this teach us? That we can't get enough of the daily nonsense that is The Pie! (and that we love stories about their dogs)

Last Shrimp Boil

It's been a tradition for our extended (former) Community Pres. family to get together to celebrate each of the kid's upcoming weddings. We are so sad that all of the Shipman girls are now spoken for and we won't have a good excuse for the Adams' shrimp boils. (We'll just have to guilt them into having us over for some other reason). ;)

The Adams are INCREDIBLE hosts! Not only do they have a great setting and menu, but they've got the hospitality thing down. They are so gracious too (and didn't even complain when Matt and I couldn't make it out of the house on time... even though we were bringing one of the key staples for the party!... Have I mentioned I'm so sorry about that yet?!). Anyway, they really are our family and we love being with them - with or without a shrimp boil!!

Relaxing on the deck.

Dig in!

Ryan sure is hilarious!


I think Susan is going to punch me for taking her photo. ;)

The current (official) Shipman brothers-in-law

Wedding Ring Thing

I've enjoyed watching the Olympics over the past several days. It's kind of funny because in the past, I've always lamented during the Olympic season because it would bump my favorite television programs. Right now, we don't have any favorite tv shows (that are actually on) so it makes it easier to sit down and enjoy the games.

I've also loved the human interest side of the Olympics and the stories about the athletes. NBC has done a really good job of telling you about the athletes behind the medals this year.

I saw the video of Kerri Walsh losing her wedding ring and it made her feel more like any other normal girl. Of course, she and Misty May are insane beach volleyball players (Matt and I have always liked watching them play; they're incredible!), but when you see them in situations that you can relate to, you feel a little more like they're just like you. I can't relate to being half of the best volleyball duo in the world, but I can relate to the stress of losing something sentimentally valuable - even if it's only lost temporarily.

Ultimate Over

I'm glad that the Ultimate Frisbee summer league is on hiatus until 2009! We need a break, and having Thursday evenings to ourselves will be nice.

I'll also enjoy not having to hear about and see all of Matt's war wounds that he acquired at each game. Our Friday morning ritual consisted of me trying to dry my hair and put on makeup while he kept bandaging and pointing out all of his cuts, bruises, and sores to me. He had a nasty knee gash that took almost two months to heal - and it was so gross!

He was a real trooper with this one, though, and even served as head usher the next morning:

Look Left!

Happy Flowers

Zinnias make me so happy. You can sow them by seed and have wonderful cut flowers from the end of summer through fall (or buy already potted plants earlier in the season for extended bloom!).








Oh, and I also love roses, especially roses that are bloom happy and don't need any spraying!

Coach Shoulda Put Me In

Now you can be a part of world history by making a bid on the eBay auction of Uncle Rico's sweet ride. Although it's not quite as sweet as Pedro's cousin's convertible with the hydraulic lift set, it is still pretty awesome.

This 1975 Dodge Santana van comes with the camper package (which includes 2 beds, a refrigerator, stove, cupboards, and sink.)

O Brother Where Art Thou

After titling my last post, I had wave of nostalgia from O Brother Where Art Thou. I think I should start periodic fun posts with clips of random movies that I love.

I definitely love O Brother Where Art Thou. George Clooney was PERFECT in his role (Holly Hunter is great too!).



In case you haven't seen the movie before, it's about Everett, a prisoner who wants to get home before his wife remarries. In order to escape from jail, he convinces the other two inmate on his chain gang that he has some buried treasure that will be lost forever in a few days when the nearby town blows up the dam and floods the cabin where the "treasure" was hidden. With a lot of the story based on The Odyssey, the men meet with all sorts of adventures along the way. Above is the trailer and below is one of the first scenes of the movie.

Dumber than a Bag of Hammers

After an apparent night of drinking, this woman decided to stop for directions. The problem is, she pulled up to a home at 4am that belonged to one of the Meade County, South Dakota, sheriff's deputies. "The female deputy believed that the woman was intoxicated and would not let her drive away...[which] resulted in a wrestling match."

Fashion Show at Lunch

"Fashion show! Fashion Show! Fashion show at lunch!"
- Kelly from The Office

I got to go with Amy to help her with her bridal portraits over the weekend. We had a lot of fun taking pictures downtown and at Bridge Street, and I think the photos are going to turn out really well. I took a few of her having her photo taken.


Amanda's awesome photoshop skills helped cover up "the dress" so that I'd be able to post a couple of the pics. It made me think of the Disney song that we used to sing as kids:

Hurry hurry hurry hurry, gonna help our Cinderelli
Gonna make her dress so pretty! There's nothing to it, really
We'll tie a sash around it. Put a ribbon through it
And dancing at the ball, she'll be more beautiful than all
In the lovely dress we'll make for Cinderelli!

Party Like it's 1999

Over the weekend, we had the pleasure of getting together with part of Matt's old college group. It's a mix of guys that lived together in the same apartment complex all the way through school. They're always so much fun and were a big part of my college experience.

Now they live all over the place, so we don't get to see them very often. It was so much fun to just catch up with everyone. We stayed up way too late, but had a great time.

Matt's been out of college for over 6 years, and I've been done for over 4. Time flies and I'm so glad that we're able to keep in touch with this great group of friends!

I didn't get photos of everyone, but here are a few:

Matt and Jerry have been friends since elementary school!

P. Love lookin' snazzy!

Rusty and Mary.

Justin is the most relaxed I've ever seen him. :)

John has the best smile!

John lives in Birmingham and stayed the night with us so that he could spend all day Saturday in the garage with Matt. He recently bought a red version of Matt's e30 BMW, and is going to start going to the track days (HPDEs - High Performance Driver's Education) at Road Atlanta and Barber Motorsports Park this fall. I'm glad that Matt has a car buddy so close to home now!

Math is Harder for Who?

Charlie sent me this really interesting article. It's about the statistical results of standardized mathematical tests and how they relate to the performance of both genders.

While boys' and girls' average scores are about equal, boys account for more of both the highest and lowest scores. (i.e., girls' scores are mediocre - not the highest or lowest, on average).

Do you remember when the former Harvard president, Lawrence Summers, brought up the fact that women are underrepresented on math and science faculties, and then posed the hypothesis that it might be due to more boys reaching the highest ranges in those skills? (He was subsequently unceremoniously dumped by the university amid screams from feminists all over the world).

I remember that speech he gave and the outcry that came as a result, and I remember thinking it was weird, but not necessarily being offended by it. But as I began reading the actual statistics about girls' math scores versus boys, I kind of felt perturbed. What? I'm statistically more probable to not excel at math because I'm a girl? How could someone suggest such a thing?!

But you know what? That's okay. I'm okay with that. Matt may have a higher probability of excelling in mathematics, but I can bet any day that I'll do better at making an artistic creation of some sort (and I'm not even that artistic!).

I really do believe that we have different gifts - not just as individuals, but as sexes too. Tonight, Mrs. A talked about how we were created to be compliments and helpers to our husbands. It would be hard to compliment and help our spouses if we were made exactly the same. I like that my Creator designed me so that I'm wired differently than my husband; it really is a good thing.