This is the super-happy post!

Life in a Nutshell

New Week, New Schedule

Hey all. I thought I'd do just a quick post, because I need to leave for work in a few minutes. Today is the day I start school. Let's see, I have Intro to Early Childhood Education and Music Theory tonight, and tomorrow I have Science and Math for Children and Intro to Communication. Terribly exciting, I know. The music class is the only one I'm really looking forward to. The upside to all this new scheduling is that I don't have to go to work until 10:30 on most mornings. But I probably won't be getting home from school until 9ish. That's alright, I'll just "look to my eskimo friend"... sorry, I'm listening to Damien Rice. I love him - he's great. My mom likes him too. Right, sorry, I'm getting all off topic. So this weekend I made highly detailed schedules for my entire fall. I'm such a loser. I need to go find some friends! :) I've decided to put some limits on my computer, etc. use, because if I don't, I won't do my homework and I won't go to bed until 1 AM every night. So I'll be using my computer for only 30 mins a day and my iPod only in the car. I'm not setting any TV limits, because I'm really not addicted to the TV at the moment. Ok, as interesting as this is, I am probably going to be late for work now (again). Come on, people, leave me a comment. Just write "hi" if you have nothing else to say. I have planned some exciting things on here for the upcoming weeks, but I'd like to know that someone cares before I put effort into it (yes mother and Liz and "that girl", I know you're reading). Ok, enough nonsense. The end.

Jill

WOTW 08/27/06

Greetings, everyone! I must interrupt this rainy Sunday afternoon to bring you the WOTW. Be careful with the pronunciation of the word this week, as it is trickier than it appears. Don't forget to use this word as much as you possibly can in your everyday conversations, in order to cement it in your memory and to spread your knowledge to the world. Alrighty, here it is:

-cerebropathy (sĕr”u-brŏp’u-thē) noun --> hypochondria resulting from too much thinking
Ex: The healthy man thought about his hypercenesthesia so much that he developed a severe case of cerebropathy, which caused his whole body to ache.

This week we have a very practical random fact for all the ice enthusiasts out there:

Ice cubes will be clearer if you fill the tray with warm, rather than cold, water. Warm water prevents the formation and entrapment of tiny air bubbles during freezing which, aside from mineral impurities, is the usual cause of cloudy cubes.

Ok, my dear amis, I hope you have a wonderful week. I was just pondering it, and I realized that the word of the week has been in existence for almost three years now. The quality and humor of the words has been steadily declining for the past year or so. Maybe we can plan some kind of three-year celebration and return to the wonderfulness that the WOTW used to be. Let me know if you have any ideas to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, it's time to cut short the rambling. Au revoir, mes petites aubergines.

Fondest regards,
Dr. J

The Music Part 2

Howdy all... I hope everyone is doing well. Let's see, what's exciting here? I have a couple days off from work right now just to relax before starting up school on Monday. Yesterday I took little Keith to Barnes and Noble... we played with their "choo choo train", Keith found a riveting book about tractors, and I got Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens for 50% off. Doesn't get much more exciting than that. Today I went hiking, in the rain... yeah, not such a good idea. I got really wet. And then I went and spent a week's worth of pay on textbooks. And now I am typing to you fine people. And let me tell you, I am very excited about our topic today. I've got some music updates for you... some new artists, some not so new artists, some music news. So let's get into it.

First up on the list today is a band I've mentioned before and that, for the moment, has lodged itself in a very close second position behind my favorite band. This really amazing band is none other than Switchfoot. I bought their album The Beautiful Letdown and really enjoyed it. Then I bought Nothing is Sound and all I can say is wow. What a great album. Musically, it's very similar to The Beautiful Letdown, but it is definitely a step up lyrically and emotionally. The thing that really gets me about this album is its honesty. That raw, frank honesty is the thing that makes the beautiful music and the beautiful lyrics even more poignant. This album is about everything from the deeply personal to the nature of our entire generation, but the whole thing just talks about real life, real problems, real emotions, and a very real hope. Lead singer and songwriter Jon Foreman describes the album like this: "Maybe that's what this record hopes to be: a simple bitter pill of truth that steps outside of our hamster wheel and looks up at the stars and beyond." It's not always a cheerful album, but it's just great. Absolutely one of my favorites. Go listen to some of the songs from the album (for free!) on purevolume.

Ok, up next is an up and coming solo artist named Brent Cashell. He doesn't quite have an album put together yet, and the music's production quality is sometimes rough, but the positive side is that you can download his songs for free on his MySpace page (yes, I oppose MySpace, but I'll make an exception this once). His songs are very simple, pretty much just him with a piano or guitar, but he has a great voice, catchy tunes, and stirring lyrics. I particularly recommend the songs "Better Me" and "Wrap Me In Your Love". I'll let you know if he puts out an album or puts new songs up or anything.

Next up is a very different type of music from Hawaiian artist John Keawe. John Keawe writes and plays a type of guitar called slack key guitar. If you like listening to acoustic guitars as much as I do, or if you like mellow acoustic music, you will like this. I don't actually have any of John Keawe's albums, but his music is featured pretty often on the HawaiiUp podcast. From what I've heard and read, I recommend his album called Keaweualani. Unfortunately, he only has a couple songs available to download on iTunes, and the albums are pretty expensive, but if this is a problem, just listen to past episodes (especially episode #35) of HawaiiUp and you can hear him.

Last but certainly not least is the ever-changing but consistently great band that is Jars of Clay. First of all, I recently purchased their latest album Redemption Songs. This is not my favorite Jars album, but it is very very good if you are a fan of hymns. This is the band's most overtly Christian album, in which they have "reworked" old hymns. Basically they took the words and basic tunes of these hymns and gave the music a modern, slightly rockish twist. I guess I should say if you don't like hymns, you won't like this album. I would actually more highly recommend the EP they released after this album, entitled Roots and Wings, which I haven't been able to find anywhere except on iTunes. It has only 4 songs, 1 one which is found on Redemption Songs, but they are all good songs, so check it out. And now, I have some super-exciting Jars of Clay news. They just recently released another EP entitled Mini Monsters, which is also almost exclusively available on iTunes. It only has three tracks, but I highly recommend that you download "Love Me" - it's a very good song. Ok, but now for the real news. Jars of Clay new album, Good Monsters, will be released in only 11 days, on September 5. I've listenened to previews of it, and I can tell you for certain that this is going to be yet another excellent album from this excellent band. So go check it out - you can pre-order it on Amazon.com or christianbook.com or on iTunes (starting on Aug. 28). Do it! Preorder your copy! Fall in love with Jars of Clay - it's so worth it.

Ok, enough shameless advertising. I swear, these bands should start paying me. Or give me free music. I have found quite a few new artists lately whose albums I really want to buy, but I am broke for the next couple weeks due to all the money I'm spending on Lost DVDs and guitar lessons. Maybe you love my music reviews so much that you want to send me an iTunes gift card, so I can get a new one out sooner. Maybe not. ;) Alrighty, folks, I have to go away now. Have a great day!

Ever yours,
Jill

Welcome back to my life...

Maybe I've been the problem,
Maybe I'm the one to blame.
But even when I turn it off and blame myself
The outcome feels the same.
-Stars by Switchfoot

Wow, hi. It's been a very long 2 weeks for me without being able to type to you wonderful people. But really, it was a very long, boring, hard 2 weeks for me. And maybe you're thinking, "C'mon, two weeks really isn't that long to go without your computer and iPod." But it was long, and that probably says a lot about me and the state of my heart. If you've read my previous posts, you know that I'm really not into deep, reflective, journal-esque blogs, but for this one time, I'm going to tell you a little bit more deeply about me and my relationship (or lack thereof) with God, because that is really will be the only thing I will ever blog about that really matters. So here we go, hiatus talk sprinkled with some reflective babble. Enjoy.

My hiatus actually started out really well. For the first couple days, I was excited to be getting so many useful things done. I was reading a lot more and practicing my instruments and it just felt good to feel like I was accomplishing something instead of staring blankly at a screen all day. But then things started to get rough, because I didn't have my computer to turn to when all my pent-up thoughts and emotions descended upon me. I guess this is the part where I tell you that I haven't really talked to God in months. Well, sometimes I talk to Him, but it never really ends up going anywhere. And I won't even start giving you reasons why, because they would go on for pages and pages and they are really just sorry excuses. The reason my electonics hiatus didn't "work" is because my abuse of technology is only a symptom of a much deeper, darker cause. I wish I could ask you for sympathy, but I walked into this with my eyes wide open. I told God that I was sick of working and that life would be more fun if I just did what I wanted without worrying about right and wrong. But what have I done with this "freedom"? Absolutely nothing of worth.

Alright, so the technology hiatus didn't break my addiction to the computer or fix my relationship with God. I should've known better. But it did give me a little time to think about my sorry heart, and here's my conclusion: I will always be a slave to the things I want. That's great if the thing I want is God, but right now, all I want is the newest and the best stuff. And the best part is that I can't even tell you why I want these things or exactly what I am hoping to accomplish with them. If you asked me what I want to do with my life, I would tell you that I want to be a missionary to the unreached people in China. This really is what I want to do, but am I making any strides towards this goal? Am I working to gain the qualities that will fill me with the Spirit of God and actually allow me to bring something of value - some real hope and peace to the people I say I want to minister to? The short answer is no. All I have been allowing to grow in me lately is apathy. I consiously numb my mind and seclude myself and then I wonder why it's getting harder and harder for me to care about anyone but myself.

Wow, that's depressing. I better end this now before we all start crying. No, but seriously, if you have any advice for me, let me know. I've been wondering if all this blogging is really worthwhile, since judging by the comments I've gotten, only about 4 people are reading this. So if you are reading this, just leave a little comment; tell me what you love, tell me what you hate, tell me what you ate for lunch today, just let me know you're reading and that this isn't a total waste of time. Ok, my dear friends, I need to go to sleep. Tune in tomorrow for another post about music - this should be good. I've got some great artists to share with you. Alrighty, au revoir.

Reflectively,

Dr. J

WOTW 08/20/06

-acyanoblepsia (a-sī”u-nō-blĕp’sĭ-u) noun --> inability to distinguish blue; blue-blindness
Ex: While his entire family admired the sparkling ocean and clear blue sky, the acyanoblepsic man sulked in a corner.

Random Fact: The eel is so chemically sensitive to alcohol that it can detect a quantity equivalent to one teaspoonful poured into Lake Superior.

WOTW 08/13/06

-hypercenesthesia (hī”pur-sĕn-ĕs-thē’zi-u) noun --> an exaggerated sense of well-being Ex: On the infamous "opposite day", the hyponchondriac displayed strange signs of hypercenesthesia.

Random Fact: Expelled air from a sneeze travels at about 100 miles per hour.

Hiatus Talk

Bonjour! I hope everyone's doing well. Not too much exciting news from the last couple days. I went hiking yesterday and saw about a gazillion frogs. Seriously, they were everywhere. There were just a lot of bugs in general, too. But that's not exciting. I had my final chiropracter visit today... I'm going to miss getting cracked, but that's ok. Doctors are too expensive.

So anyways, maybe you remember my mention of doing a technology hiatus a couple posts back. Well, it starts at midnight tonight and runs until 12 AM on Wednesday, 08/23. Here's what my hiatus entails: no computer, no TV, and no iPod. For those of you who don't spend much time around me, you may not know that I am pretty much constantly connected to one of these three things. It's a sick addiction. I've outlined 5 goals that I have for this time off. Here they are:

1. To break my addiction to these things.
2. To give my brain a rest from constant stimulation.
3. To have a time to just read and do others things that actually nourish my mind.
4. To cut out (at least some) distraction so I can listen to/talk to God.
5. To have time to do things that actually matter!

So there you have it. I obviously won't be blogging for the next two weeks, but since I am still allowed to use the phone (one thing I'm not addicted to... maybe because my sister's the only person who ever calls me), I will be calling in an audio post for the words of the week on Sundays. But that's all you'll be hearing for the next two weeks. I know, that's no great tragedy for you, but I'm really going to have a tough time without these things. I can feel the withdrawal shakes starting already. :) Alrighty, folks, I don't really have a whole lot else to say. I guess this is the end. I'll be back in a couple weeks with a nice, long, reflective post about hiatusville. Au revoir, mes petits chemins.

Dr. J

WOTW 08/06/06

Hey all. I hope you had a good week. I’ve spent my time this week searching the world far and wide to find a wonderful word to bring to you. As always, remember to use this word as much as is possible in everyday conversation in order to imprint the word in your mind forever and to improve the intelligence of the masses. Without further ado, here is the word of the week:

-heterolalia (hĕt”ur-ō-lā’lĭ-u) n. à the occasional interpolation of meaningless or unintended words
Ex: When I was mehaij driving home from work monsters yesterday, I went above meow the speed gaickle limit.

Now, for this week’s random fact:

Why is the fish a symbol of Christianity? Because in early Christian writings Jesus was referred to with a long title: “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour”; or, in Greek, “Iesous Christos, Theou ‘Yios, Soter.” The initial letters of these words spelled ichthys, the Greek word for “fish” (the study of fishes is still called “ichthyology”). Whether by coincidence or design the acronym was memorable and the fish quickly came to be a symbol for Jesus Christ.

Ok, dear amis, have a super-fantastic week. Je ne pense pas que je peux taper plus, parce que dois me coucher à une heure raisonnable ce soir. Bet you didn’t know you’d be getting a French lesson tonight, did you? Ok the end.

Fondest regards,
Dr. J

Podcasting Palaver

Bonjour, mes amis! Today was a good day... I got to sleep late, see my nephews a lot, and my madre and I went blueberry picking. There's nothing better than having 9 pounds of fresh blueberries that are just begging to get eaten. Alright, enough digressing. I'm sure you are all eager to get into podcasting news. In case you are still living in the stone age, a podcast is very much like a radio show, but you download it online and you can listen to it absolutely any time you want to. There are podcasts about every subject that you can think of. Oh, and did I mention that podcasts are absolutely free to download? You can search for podcasts on my personal favorite, iTunes, or you can go to a web-based site like Podcast Alley. I started listening to podcasts before I got an iPod, but if you do that, it means you need to spend a lot of time in front of your computer (I used to listen while I was eating), or burn the podcasts to CDs and listen wherever you have a CD player. But really, you should just spend the $300 and get an iPod. It's so worth it. Ok, but the point of this post is really to share some of my absolute favorite podcasts with you. So here we go...


My favorite podcast of all time is without a doubt The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack. Yes, it is a podcast about Lost, so if you don't watch Lost, you won't care. But, during the summer they also put out a "Ramblecast", which you will enjoy whether you like Lost or not. I'm not going to say a whole lot about the show, because you should just go listen to it yourself, but basically they do Lost recaps, talk about Lost theories, and really incorporate a lot of listener feedback. And they're very funny. And they put out two shows a week. So go listen to Jay and Jack.

Next up is a podcast called HawaiiUp with Ryan Ozawa. I first found Ryan's podcast through another Lost podcast that Ryan and his wife Jen did for awhile. Why do I listen to a podcast about Hawaii? Well, I started when I started considering going to the University of Hawaii, and I found that it's just an all-around good show, whether you've been to Hawaii or care about Hawaii or not. He does put in some Hawaii news, but he also talks about his family, he and his wife do entertainment reviews, he does food reviews, and he plays some music (some great, some not so much). It's fun... some podcasts get boring after listening to them a lot, but HawaiiUp is always varied and interesting.

The last in my top three podcasts is a show called The Bored-Again Christian. This is the only all-music podcast that I listen to, because it's the only really interesting one that I've found. The show's host, Just Pete, is a guy who decided that he was bored with the same old Christian worship music, so he finds really good music from Christian artists who you won't find on the beaten path. Some of the music is overtly Christian, some is more subtle; I fall in love with some songs right away, others are just not my thing. All in all, though, this is a great podcast if you love music, even if you are not a "Christian music" fan.

Ok, so those are my three favorites. Here are some other notables: The Switchfoot Video Podcast, which is kind of random but really funny and The Official Lost Podcast, which is another only for Lost fans. I listen to a few others, but I don't really think they're great enough to recommend to you. So there you go. I've only been listening to podcasts for about five months, so I'll keep you updated as I find new ones that I enjoy. Let me know if there's a podcast you love that I didn't mention. Ok, I'll cut this off now. Go check out some of my favorite podcasts or find some of your own! I promise that there's at least a few things out there that you will enjoy. So start enjoying! Bye.

-Jill

What's Wrong With These Pictures?

Why I Don't Think About the Meaning of Life

Hey folks. I had a lovely day today. This morning at work, the preschoolers went to the zoo, so we had a total of 6 kids with 4 teachers in the whole place. And I was with the babies, who are very easy. Unless they're hungry of course, and then I just feed them. One of our babies is 10 months old and he already weighs almost 30 lbs. I swear, that kid eats more than I do in a day. It's a good thing he's so adorable. The only unpleasant thing about work today was having to stay an extra half-hour to wait for a late parent. But I guess it's not so bad to get paid time and a half to watch 1 child.

I had my first guitar lesson last night. It was pretty good. My teacher seems nice. Don't ask me why I've started playing the guitar. I haven't been doing too great lately at practicing the instruments that I already play. But I just love listening to people play the guitar, so I thought I'd give it a shot. They really make you put your fingers in some awkward positions, though. I always thought that the violin felt unnatural to play, but it feels great compared to contorting my fingers on the guitar. Supposedly it gets easier. I'll let you know...

So maybe when you think of personal blogs you think of someone journaling their deepest thoughts and pondering their existence for all the world to see. Maybe you're wondering why I don't do this. Well, since I'm just dying to satisfy your curiosity, here are a couple reasons. First of all, I pretty much think it's the most boring thing ever to read the unrestrained, unedited ramblings of someone's brain, and I don't want to subject you to that pointless torture. And secondly, I just haven’t been doing much pondering lately. Why? Simply put, I am too addicted to my iPod. Sound ridiculous? That’s because it is. I am turning into one of those people who needs constant electronic stimulation. So I can’t do anything without having my computer or my iPod or the TV or anything that distracts me from thinking. Of course, I didn’t start listening to my iPod with the intention of escaping my thoughts, but lately I’ve found myself scrambling to fill every silent moment with some music or podcast or anything. I feel like I’m scared of what will happen if I have to be alone with myself… are my thoughts going to attack me? I suppose it’s very possible, and then I will have to face up to the way I’ve been living my life lately, which is not at all the way I want to be living. So in case you all didn’t notice, this is a problem. So here’s my solution… I’ll be taking a two week hiatus from my electronic stimuli. That means no computer, no iPod, no TV, no radio from 12 AM on Tuesday the 8th to 12 AM on Wednesday the 23rd. Can I do it? I guess we’ll find out…

Go ahead, re-read the previous paragraph, and take particular notice how I state at the beginning that I’m anti-pondering in blogs and then see me ponder away later in the paragraph. Inconsistency… it’s a wonderful thing. Ok, I have better things to be doing than rambling, like sleeping. Keeping with my theme of iPod addictions, stay tuned for a post about my all-time favorite podcasts tomorrow. Bye.

Your crazy rambling friend,
Dr. J

News? Not so much...

Hey you. Yeah, you. I really don't have anything to say today. Work is just work... boy, those toddlers are just so... I don't know, vicious? After getting kicked, pinched and bitten (and that's just from one kid!) all morning, I look forward to spending the afternoon with the babies. Babies are nice. I swear, there's this one toddler who thrashes around like he's demon-possessed when he's angry. At least work is never boring. What else is news? Hmm... my gas tank is on E! But gas is on sale tomorrow, so it should only cost me about $185937 to fill my tank. I start guitar lessons on Thursday. I've never played the guitar before, so we'll see how that goes. Keith Jr. got all his hair buzzed today. And he's sick. Poor child. Luke is good... he is very happy except when you stop bouncing him. :) Alright, folks, you're probably all as bored reading this as I am writing it. I promise to think of something more interesting next time. Maybe I'll talk about how we never have anything to make for lunch except PB&J. Yum. Ok, this is the end for real.

JML