So here's Paul Ryan:
and many people are saying, due the widow's peak, he looks like a grown-up Eddie Munster:
but I think, with his grin, he totally looks like this guy:
Friday, October 12, 2012
Paul Ryan, A Comparison
I'm not going to compare Paul Ryan to Joe Biden, but I've been trying to figure out who he reminds me of.
So here's Paul Ryan:
and many people are saying, due the widow's peak, he looks like a grown-up Eddie Munster:
but I think, with his grin, he totally looks like this guy:
So here's Paul Ryan:
and many people are saying, due the widow's peak, he looks like a grown-up Eddie Munster:
but I think, with his grin, he totally looks like this guy:
Friday, October 5, 2012
Adding Tomorrows
I was just flipping through my Twitter feed, as I am prone to do, when I came across a tweet from the CF Foundation to Whoopi Goldberg saying they were glad they could help her stop smoking. I dug through some @mentions to find out what they were talking about. This little video, that I have embedded below, according to Whoopi herself, made her stop smoking.
I just watched it, and cried; duh, knew I would. You might too (and if your name is Chuck or Lynn you most definitely will.)
I am sharing this video because it is a beautiful video. It's a beautiful way to spend six minutes of your time. It's really a piece about the newest, most revolutionary drug we have now called Kalydeco. Unfortunately, this drug only treats a small share of CF mutations, and mine is not one of them. Kalydeco treats CF on a genetic level, correcting the codons in the genes to make the proteins our bodies would not make on a normal basis. I am not able to take Kalydeco because I do not have one of the mutations it treats, but there are other drugs in the pipeline (shop talk for drugs in development) that will be able to help me. And I cannot wait until that day arrives.
If you've ever wondered what exactly I mean by "doing my vest" or what in the world a day in the life is like, watch it. If you're not even sure what CF really is, watch it. If you've ever wondered how I do it all, watch it.
I'm really not that unique. I believe that the majority of us CFers tackle life by the horns and are able to inspire those around us in small ways. I've heard of a few that are not like this, that would prefer to wallow in their sorrow or deplete their overall health, but they are far and few between. We live with a cruel disease, but that doesn't mean our lives aren't filled with great joys.
So sit back, press play, and learn about what it means to live with CF for six minutes.
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation - Adding Tomorrows from Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on Vimeo.
I just watched it, and cried; duh, knew I would. You might too (and if your name is Chuck or Lynn you most definitely will.)
I am sharing this video because it is a beautiful video. It's a beautiful way to spend six minutes of your time. It's really a piece about the newest, most revolutionary drug we have now called Kalydeco. Unfortunately, this drug only treats a small share of CF mutations, and mine is not one of them. Kalydeco treats CF on a genetic level, correcting the codons in the genes to make the proteins our bodies would not make on a normal basis. I am not able to take Kalydeco because I do not have one of the mutations it treats, but there are other drugs in the pipeline (shop talk for drugs in development) that will be able to help me. And I cannot wait until that day arrives.
If you've ever wondered what exactly I mean by "doing my vest" or what in the world a day in the life is like, watch it. If you're not even sure what CF really is, watch it. If you've ever wondered how I do it all, watch it.
I'm really not that unique. I believe that the majority of us CFers tackle life by the horns and are able to inspire those around us in small ways. I've heard of a few that are not like this, that would prefer to wallow in their sorrow or deplete their overall health, but they are far and few between. We live with a cruel disease, but that doesn't mean our lives aren't filled with great joys.
So sit back, press play, and learn about what it means to live with CF for six minutes.
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation - Adding Tomorrows from Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on Vimeo.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Home Brew
Jarrod and I have become a couple of home brewers. We are about to brew our 3rd and 4th batches tomorrow. This time around we are going to do two at once, since we have enough equipment and bottles when it comes time for bottling. Not only have we been saving bottles as much as we can, we scored 118 bottles at Brewfest a couple weekends ago, which was so awesome. That was about $140 worth of beer we didn't have to buy and consume over time.
I bought Jarrod his home brew equipment last Christmas, and his first batch was a Honey Nut Brown. It wasn't bad for a first timer, but it was very sweet; too much honey.
The last batch he did earlier this year was a "Tangelo Heifeweizen". The recipe was intended for blood oranges, but he couldn't find anywhere that sold those. So he bought tangelos instead. It was better than the first batch, for sure. Not very bitter with a touch of citrus.
These next two are going to be a red American ale and a stout. The red is called a "Brickwarmer Red" and is a winter beer with warm spices, I think. The stout will be a Chocolate Milk Stout. I have a running joke with this, because it means two different things depending where you place your inflection. If you say chocolate milk stout, it sounds like you're making a stout with chocolate milk. That's not the case. Actually, it's a chocolate milk stout, haha, which means there is lactose in it. Hence, making a milk stout. So it's a milk stout with chocolate in it (and there will actually be chocolate nibs in the brewing.)
People think dark beers will taste bitter or like tar, but that is far from the case. They can be kind of sweet, and taste like chocolate, or coffee, or both. Does everyone start with a coffee stout when they turn 21? Probably not. But no one starts with a dry wine either. You gradually work up to it, and once you do, they're quite good.
I bought Jarrod his home brew equipment last Christmas, and his first batch was a Honey Nut Brown. It wasn't bad for a first timer, but it was very sweet; too much honey.
The last batch he did earlier this year was a "Tangelo Heifeweizen". The recipe was intended for blood oranges, but he couldn't find anywhere that sold those. So he bought tangelos instead. It was better than the first batch, for sure. Not very bitter with a touch of citrus.
These next two are going to be a red American ale and a stout. The red is called a "Brickwarmer Red" and is a winter beer with warm spices, I think. The stout will be a Chocolate Milk Stout. I have a running joke with this, because it means two different things depending where you place your inflection. If you say chocolate milk stout, it sounds like you're making a stout with chocolate milk. That's not the case. Actually, it's a chocolate milk stout, haha, which means there is lactose in it. Hence, making a milk stout. So it's a milk stout with chocolate in it (and there will actually be chocolate nibs in the brewing.)
People think dark beers will taste bitter or like tar, but that is far from the case. They can be kind of sweet, and taste like chocolate, or coffee, or both. Does everyone start with a coffee stout when they turn 21? Probably not. But no one starts with a dry wine either. You gradually work up to it, and once you do, they're quite good.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Did Ben Folds just resurrect the Fraggles?
Found this video today. It really made my Monday a whole lot better, I smiled the whole time I watched it. Mega points to Ben Folds for doing a video with the Fraggles. I forgot how awesome Ben Folds is playing the piano.
I loved it so much the Fraggles ended up in my office. The crazy yellow-green guy is my fave.
I loved it so much the Fraggles ended up in my office. The crazy yellow-green guy is my fave.
That thing going on half across the world
I'm sure you've heard of the recent attacks on the US Embassy in Libya which killed our ambassador and a few others. Attacks similar to these have continued to spread across the Middle East, and it seems there are new deaths, damages, and outrage daily.
What caused all this? A short, sub-par, extremely ridiculous, film that made claims about Muhammad was made, posted to the internet, the Muslims saw it, were offended, and revolted... in a nutshell.
I have not seen this film, nor do I think I want to. Usually in cases like these, I like to seek out the source and make my own judgements, but I heard a small audio clip from it, and it was enough. The audio was terrible, and it was very clear that the person being filmed was not filmed in one sitting. Meaning, things were taken out of context, here and there, clipped together, and produced. Think of it like that reminder service phone call with the automated voice: "This is SLUCare with a reminder about your upcoming appointment. {Jamie} has an appointment on {Monday, January first} with {Doctor So-and-so.}
Anyways, the lady in the audio clip said something like "I have never heard of someone so {blah blah blah} as Muhammad." The words in there, I can't quite remember, but they had something to do with womanizing, sexual abuse, and a third thing.
Pretty radical, offensive claims. Believe what you will about the Muslim world, those are still extreme, and very serious, things to say about someone's religion. As they said on NPR, you could relate it to if someone came out with a movie claiming the Virgin Mary was not in fact a virgin but was a whore. So that's what sparked this entire uproar.
Now, for my own personal reasons a long time ago, I decided to seek out the part in the Qur'an where it says you could use violence against others. After hearing this from so many people, I decided to seek out the source (like I talked about doing earlier) and see if there was any truth to it. Turns out there is. The Qur'an does tell followers that when someone is threatening you because of your belief in Allah, you are "allowed" to "use force" against them. (That's about it, the rest of what you hear is most likely exaggerated.)
I do have a bit of a problem with that verse. Nowhere in the Bible has it ever told me to use violence against non-Christians. Yes, you can preach and you are to proclaim your faith proudly to the world, but not to the point of violence. So that's a big difference right there. Aside from that, though probably closely tied, is the entire culture of the Middle East; it's just a different world from ours.
Back to America. So this "film" was made by Americans, and I've read they were Coptic Christians. After a quick detour to Wikipedia, I have found out this is a group of Christians whose version of Christianity was born in Egypt.
So, we have an extreme group of Christians riling up an extreme group of Muslims. The Muslims are calling for the US to take action against the filmmakers (jail, trial, or something like that) and remove it from the internet, which brings into the argument free speech.
I understand the free speech side of it, yet I also don't think that anyone should be able to spout off to the world any matter of lies. If someone ever made statements like this about Mary, Jesus, or whoever, I would be outraged too. I don't think I would go attack an embassy, but I'm pretty confident there would be marches, people would take off work to participate, and all manner of protest to get someone to take the video down.
Catholic bishops have blasted the Copts associated with the film, many others outside of the Middle East have come out against them, and others have said they made it out of greed. Whatever their motivation was, I think it is all extremely sad. If they truly believe the things they said, I think that's unfortunate. If they did it for greed (isn't that one of the seven deadly sins?) then that's not very Christian-like either. Maybe they wanted to call to attention that Islam is a "violent" religion. If so, then they have proven their point to their audience. I'm sure there are many people who know nothing about either side of this issue who will look at the TV say "Wow, those people are setting things on fire. They must be horrible people."
But I think the makers of this film should be held accountable for their actions. Not only did they infuriate a nation of people, they single-handedly undermined a lot of progress made in the war on terror, including sacrifices made by our troops and many people others, and decimated our relations with the Middle East.
What caused all this? A short, sub-par, extremely ridiculous, film that made claims about Muhammad was made, posted to the internet, the Muslims saw it, were offended, and revolted... in a nutshell.
I have not seen this film, nor do I think I want to. Usually in cases like these, I like to seek out the source and make my own judgements, but I heard a small audio clip from it, and it was enough. The audio was terrible, and it was very clear that the person being filmed was not filmed in one sitting. Meaning, things were taken out of context, here and there, clipped together, and produced. Think of it like that reminder service phone call with the automated voice: "This is SLUCare with a reminder about your upcoming appointment. {Jamie} has an appointment on {Monday, January first} with {Doctor So-and-so.}
Anyways, the lady in the audio clip said something like "I have never heard of someone so {blah blah blah} as Muhammad." The words in there, I can't quite remember, but they had something to do with womanizing, sexual abuse, and a third thing.
Pretty radical, offensive claims. Believe what you will about the Muslim world, those are still extreme, and very serious, things to say about someone's religion. As they said on NPR, you could relate it to if someone came out with a movie claiming the Virgin Mary was not in fact a virgin but was a whore. So that's what sparked this entire uproar.
Now, for my own personal reasons a long time ago, I decided to seek out the part in the Qur'an where it says you could use violence against others. After hearing this from so many people, I decided to seek out the source (like I talked about doing earlier) and see if there was any truth to it. Turns out there is. The Qur'an does tell followers that when someone is threatening you because of your belief in Allah, you are "allowed" to "use force" against them. (That's about it, the rest of what you hear is most likely exaggerated.)
I do have a bit of a problem with that verse. Nowhere in the Bible has it ever told me to use violence against non-Christians. Yes, you can preach and you are to proclaim your faith proudly to the world, but not to the point of violence. So that's a big difference right there. Aside from that, though probably closely tied, is the entire culture of the Middle East; it's just a different world from ours.
Back to America. So this "film" was made by Americans, and I've read they were Coptic Christians. After a quick detour to Wikipedia, I have found out this is a group of Christians whose version of Christianity was born in Egypt.
So, we have an extreme group of Christians riling up an extreme group of Muslims. The Muslims are calling for the US to take action against the filmmakers (jail, trial, or something like that) and remove it from the internet, which brings into the argument free speech.
I understand the free speech side of it, yet I also don't think that anyone should be able to spout off to the world any matter of lies. If someone ever made statements like this about Mary, Jesus, or whoever, I would be outraged too. I don't think I would go attack an embassy, but I'm pretty confident there would be marches, people would take off work to participate, and all manner of protest to get someone to take the video down.
Catholic bishops have blasted the Copts associated with the film, many others outside of the Middle East have come out against them, and others have said they made it out of greed. Whatever their motivation was, I think it is all extremely sad. If they truly believe the things they said, I think that's unfortunate. If they did it for greed (isn't that one of the seven deadly sins?) then that's not very Christian-like either. Maybe they wanted to call to attention that Islam is a "violent" religion. If so, then they have proven their point to their audience. I'm sure there are many people who know nothing about either side of this issue who will look at the TV say "Wow, those people are setting things on fire. They must be horrible people."
But I think the makers of this film should be held accountable for their actions. Not only did they infuriate a nation of people, they single-handedly undermined a lot of progress made in the war on terror, including sacrifices made by our troops and many people others, and decimated our relations with the Middle East.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Moving
What a week we have had. I think I've experienced a wide range of emotions throughout this whole moving process, and I'm excited that we're almost finished. I figure I will get everyone caught up on our house situation...
Last Friday, the 24th, we closed on our new house. Friday evening, we began painting. Throughout all of last week, Jarrod, his dad (well, mostly his dad), and my dad painted our entire house. And I mean "entire" house; we painted the walls, ceilings, and trim. Since I couldn't spend a ton of time is paint-fumey house, I would make a stop after work, drop off a load of stuff, and head on home. My mom and I spent a couple days putting away things in the kitchen. My goal was to get as much little stuff put away as possible so when we had the big move, which was on Sunday, it would be just the large furniture items.
As stressful and hectic as it was, we were able to move almost every box over, paint almost every inch of the house, and get it all put back together by Sunday. We got the painting done in record time, I'd say, in one week and one day. The moving, well more on that record in a minute...
So our big moving day was set for Sunday. The Hurricane Formerly Known As Isaac was headed here Friday, Saturday, and into Sunday. I had faith somehow that we would not get rained out on Sunday and that it would all turn out. Despite some humidity and drizzle early on, this was exactly the case. I had asked most of my mom's family to help with the move, and Jarrod spoke with some co-workers and friends. We had about 20 people help us, and what a big help they all were. The plan was for everyone with trucks to arrive in Wentzville around 1:00pm. I headed to Washington before that, with a carload, and I had people coming there about 2:30. Around 2:30 the first truckload left, and by 2:50 everyone had left.
Trucks started arriving in town by 3:15, and by 4:20 I think we were done. Yes, done. Everything went so smoothly, from my perspective, as I was directing everyone unloading to different rooms. And not to mention, super efficient. It took us an hour to unload EVERYTHING. My friend told me that was, like, a new record. It was unbelievable, and so wonderful. I felt so humbled and extremely blessed at the amount of people that came out to help us.
Monday was Labor Day, and having that extra day off was so great. Not only to kind of recoup after Sunday, but to keep up the momentum and put more stuff away. My mom and I had my entire kitchen unpacked late morning, I got our master bathroom together, most of my clothes in drawers, and I'd say we are probably 50% done! Yesterday, I kind of took the night off after putting a couple things away. Tonight I'm back to work putting stuff away. Jarrod needs to build some shelves in the basement for storage, but there is still plenty to do upstairs.
The only things left at the other house, so I'm told, are food in the fridge; they ran out of cooler space. Then we close on that house very soon, and then we're finished. I can't wait and I keep praying that it's just smooth sailing from here.
Last Friday, the 24th, we closed on our new house. Friday evening, we began painting. Throughout all of last week, Jarrod, his dad (well, mostly his dad), and my dad painted our entire house. And I mean "entire" house; we painted the walls, ceilings, and trim. Since I couldn't spend a ton of time is paint-fumey house, I would make a stop after work, drop off a load of stuff, and head on home. My mom and I spent a couple days putting away things in the kitchen. My goal was to get as much little stuff put away as possible so when we had the big move, which was on Sunday, it would be just the large furniture items.
As stressful and hectic as it was, we were able to move almost every box over, paint almost every inch of the house, and get it all put back together by Sunday. We got the painting done in record time, I'd say, in one week and one day. The moving, well more on that record in a minute...
So our big moving day was set for Sunday. The Hurricane Formerly Known As Isaac was headed here Friday, Saturday, and into Sunday. I had faith somehow that we would not get rained out on Sunday and that it would all turn out. Despite some humidity and drizzle early on, this was exactly the case. I had asked most of my mom's family to help with the move, and Jarrod spoke with some co-workers and friends. We had about 20 people help us, and what a big help they all were. The plan was for everyone with trucks to arrive in Wentzville around 1:00pm. I headed to Washington before that, with a carload, and I had people coming there about 2:30. Around 2:30 the first truckload left, and by 2:50 everyone had left.
Trucks started arriving in town by 3:15, and by 4:20 I think we were done. Yes, done. Everything went so smoothly, from my perspective, as I was directing everyone unloading to different rooms. And not to mention, super efficient. It took us an hour to unload EVERYTHING. My friend told me that was, like, a new record. It was unbelievable, and so wonderful. I felt so humbled and extremely blessed at the amount of people that came out to help us.
Monday was Labor Day, and having that extra day off was so great. Not only to kind of recoup after Sunday, but to keep up the momentum and put more stuff away. My mom and I had my entire kitchen unpacked late morning, I got our master bathroom together, most of my clothes in drawers, and I'd say we are probably 50% done! Yesterday, I kind of took the night off after putting a couple things away. Tonight I'm back to work putting stuff away. Jarrod needs to build some shelves in the basement for storage, but there is still plenty to do upstairs.
The only things left at the other house, so I'm told, are food in the fridge; they ran out of cooler space. Then we close on that house very soon, and then we're finished. I can't wait and I keep praying that it's just smooth sailing from here.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Sorry, the address you entered does not exist
So in a bit of weird news, it has come to my attention that our new house cannot be found on the two most used map search engines, Google Maps/Earth and MapQuest. First time this was a problem was with my friend Becky using MapQuest, and just now with my friend Marie on Google. Sure enough, I looked into it, and our road shows as a road, but it has no name! It's a no name road... we don't exist.
Fortunately, Bing has our road in their map, so it is searchable on there. I also decided to try my Garmin and double-check that, and it did pull up Jessica Hills Court in the correct spot. Phew, thank goodness on that one.
But I wonder how to go about contacting Google about the no name road? Even with Google, there has to be a way to correct their map stuff, or email them with issues, right? If anyone knows this, let me know. I'm going to try to do some digging myself.
In other quick news, we are moving tomorrow. I'm just ready for it to come and go. I'm excited, because I like taking on semi-large tasks of this nature and planning them out. But I'm just so tired of packing, as Jarrod is so tired of painting, and I'm so tired of shuffling stuff over. I'm ready to be done.
Fortunately, Bing has our road in their map, so it is searchable on there. I also decided to try my Garmin and double-check that, and it did pull up Jessica Hills Court in the correct spot. Phew, thank goodness on that one.
But I wonder how to go about contacting Google about the no name road? Even with Google, there has to be a way to correct their map stuff, or email them with issues, right? If anyone knows this, let me know. I'm going to try to do some digging myself.
In other quick news, we are moving tomorrow. I'm just ready for it to come and go. I'm excited, because I like taking on semi-large tasks of this nature and planning them out. But I'm just so tired of packing, as Jarrod is so tired of painting, and I'm so tired of shuffling stuff over. I'm ready to be done.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Paint Color Agony
Since we're moving to another house again so soon, I really want to get my paint colors right this time. Granted, there is nothing wrong with the colors I have here. They're all earth-tones and warm and "Pottery Barn" colors, as our real estate agent wrote in the description for the house. But one thing is clear to me now: too much tan. Of course, like all modern homes these days, we have beige carpet, and I added tan walls to that (a very warm tan.) It's just a little too much. Therefore, I'd like a slightly different palette in the new house.
I've been looking at paint colors off and on for weeks now. Now, I'm at the point that I'm trying to actually choose them, and it's the hardest darn thing!
Does anyone else agonize over paint colors like this? I mean, I guess it makes sense because of who I am: a designer. But I know this isn't a life or death decision, yet I can't help but treat it like it is.
Does anyone else agonize over paint colors like this? I mean, I guess it makes sense because of who I am: a designer. But I know this isn't a life or death decision, yet I can't help but treat it like it is.
Here's my work zone all day long. As you can see, I have everything
narrowed down to 1-3 shades, but I just can't settle on one. I mean,
what is my problem? Why is this so hard? Am I really,
really going to notice the slight difference later on and say "Oh, I
picked the wrong color"?
Don't get me wrong, I actually quite enjoy this whole process. I go nuts; I find all the RGB numbers so I can see them on my computer screen, organize them and print out a list (what you see above), and photoshop them into some photos to see what it'll really look like. Like so:
Trust me, this is a blast! Because you get to do funny things like this:
I am very glad I didn't go into interior design like I first set out to do when I entered college, but I like choosing paint colors. It's just that I can't actually, well, choose!
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Fair Shutdown
Well tonight was an experience. I'm kind of bummed out, now that the craziness is over, that the only night I care to go to the fair, it gets cancelled.
It was sprinkling, then raining, and I was so glad to have my umbrella. Me and my aunt huddled under that as long as we could until... REO Speedwagon got two songs in before a fair member got on stage to inform us a storm was heading here in 20 minutes, and everyone needed to seek shelter now. Not tents, but permanent structures.
Jarrod and I got separated from our friends, though we knew they were supposed to be in the livestock pavilion. I finally understand the complaints about AT&T and their unreliable network after this hullabaloo, you couldn't call or text ANYONE. You'd walk past a couple people who had success, but I don't know how.
It was pouring and supposed to hail, so we stayed put despite many people leaving the pavilion. I'm not sure if they had some info we didn't or were deciding to leave on their own.
We finally started wandering around, since there was nothing better to do, and found our group. Not long after that the sheriff came by and said we had to leave, they were closing the grounds. Another storm was set to come through in a half hour and everyone needed to "get to safety" and leave.
We had parked out in the lot next to the stage and weren't too far away, which was a blessing. So we didn't have too far to go, and I'm glad that my leaving the grounds was not at the fate of a bus shuttle. We got to my car (side note, thank GOD I had just done my inhaler about five minutes before all this began) and waited. And waited.
I mean, I guess the whole 'evacuation' went as best as possible, but the parking lots were another story. First of all, no one would let me out. I guess they aren't aware of the 'every other car' unspoken courtesy rule. Or they're just selfish... yeah I'm going with that one. Long story short, we sat still for about 30 minutes before we even moved much. The cops had finally started directing traffic, so things began to move at a good pace. Once we were out of the lot it was fairly smooth sailing. Except for one detail let's not forget about: there was a severe storm going down.
As we continued on to our friend's house it intensified drastically. The final road to his house was the worst. Sirens blaring, the wind was just swirling all around us, rain was blowing sideways, and I could barely see the road. We made it to the driveway and got soaked while dashing for the front door.
Let me also add to this that I hate storms. As soon as that officer told us they were shutting down and we needed to leave, I went into flight mode. I wanted out. I don't like storms, so I really don't like to get caught in them. I like to be at home, with a basement if it's needed. Add to this the cell phones not working aspect, not knowing what the weather was avtually doing, since I am not near a TV, or when we might finally make it out of there, plus knowing my mom is freaking out at home because she knows I hate storms and can't get ahold of us... and I was freaking out way more than I let on to everyone at the time. My leg was actually shaking when the storm got worse while we were driving.
I am so glad we didn't get completely stuck out there. And pretty thankful that my lungs held up. And for my umbrella. I'm so glad this storm is over. Goodnight
It was sprinkling, then raining, and I was so glad to have my umbrella. Me and my aunt huddled under that as long as we could until... REO Speedwagon got two songs in before a fair member got on stage to inform us a storm was heading here in 20 minutes, and everyone needed to seek shelter now. Not tents, but permanent structures.
Jarrod and I got separated from our friends, though we knew they were supposed to be in the livestock pavilion. I finally understand the complaints about AT&T and their unreliable network after this hullabaloo, you couldn't call or text ANYONE. You'd walk past a couple people who had success, but I don't know how.
It was pouring and supposed to hail, so we stayed put despite many people leaving the pavilion. I'm not sure if they had some info we didn't or were deciding to leave on their own.
We finally started wandering around, since there was nothing better to do, and found our group. Not long after that the sheriff came by and said we had to leave, they were closing the grounds. Another storm was set to come through in a half hour and everyone needed to "get to safety" and leave.
We had parked out in the lot next to the stage and weren't too far away, which was a blessing. So we didn't have too far to go, and I'm glad that my leaving the grounds was not at the fate of a bus shuttle. We got to my car (side note, thank GOD I had just done my inhaler about five minutes before all this began) and waited. And waited.
I mean, I guess the whole 'evacuation' went as best as possible, but the parking lots were another story. First of all, no one would let me out. I guess they aren't aware of the 'every other car' unspoken courtesy rule. Or they're just selfish... yeah I'm going with that one. Long story short, we sat still for about 30 minutes before we even moved much. The cops had finally started directing traffic, so things began to move at a good pace. Once we were out of the lot it was fairly smooth sailing. Except for one detail let's not forget about: there was a severe storm going down.
As we continued on to our friend's house it intensified drastically. The final road to his house was the worst. Sirens blaring, the wind was just swirling all around us, rain was blowing sideways, and I could barely see the road. We made it to the driveway and got soaked while dashing for the front door.
Let me also add to this that I hate storms. As soon as that officer told us they were shutting down and we needed to leave, I went into flight mode. I wanted out. I don't like storms, so I really don't like to get caught in them. I like to be at home, with a basement if it's needed. Add to this the cell phones not working aspect, not knowing what the weather was avtually doing, since I am not near a TV, or when we might finally make it out of there, plus knowing my mom is freaking out at home because she knows I hate storms and can't get ahold of us... and I was freaking out way more than I let on to everyone at the time. My leg was actually shaking when the storm got worse while we were driving.
I am so glad we didn't get completely stuck out there. And pretty thankful that my lungs held up. And for my umbrella. I'm so glad this storm is over. Goodnight
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Support Chick-Fil-A
So, at some point today I saw on a tweet, or maybe in the AP exchange, that today was "Support Chick-Fil-A" day or something of that nature. I joked with Jarrod that we should go to Chick-Fil-A for supper, to which he said "Absolutely not! Some guy at work tried to go at lunch and he said he couldn't even get in the parking lot." We opted for another restaurant instead.
If you haven't a clue why this was happening today, I'll catch you up right here: Recently, it was discovered or said that the founder of Chick-Fil-A was against gay marriage, basically. This stirred up a ton of controversy, and those in support of gay marriage started banning the restaurants in certain places and long-time fans decided to never eat there again.
For my own brief commentary on this, I'd like to say how ridiculous I think this entire thing is. Do we really need to involve politics in EVERYTHING these days? Can't a chicken sandwich just be a damn chicken sandwich? Also, personally, I feel that it seems that if you disagree with the liberal way of things, you get lambasted. If you disagree with more "conservative" tendencies, there isn't nearly the same outcry. Apparently I'm not the only person who feels this way, because otherwise today's craziness wouldn't have happened.
So back on point. Today was a day where people were going to "support" Chick-Fil-A; essentially indirectly supporting the restaurant and their stance against gay marriage. In other news, gay marriage supporters are ALSO planning a day like this, which will be Friday. They plan to flood Chick-Fil-A's with some good ol' PDA... which is exactly the way to get people to come around to acceptance of gays... *shakes head
I have never, ever seen something like what I saw tonight. We turned off a main road, onto a side road where we were stuck in flippin' traffic... for Chick-Fil-A! I mean, they have good chicken, but it's not that good lol. We had to wait over ten minutes in what was, basically, an extremely backed-up drive-thru line that spilled out onto the "road" that runs between a bunch of stores and the restaurants closer to the highway. Had we actually been in line for some chicken, I have no doubt we would have waited over an hour for it. Oh my gosh, people were parking at the back of the Kohl's lot, parking in neighboring restaurants' lots, walking over to Chick-Fil-A, there was a line of people almost wrapping around the restaurant, plus the aforementioned traffic jam. A traffic jam! Over a fast food joint!
On a side note, I feel really, really bad for anyone who had no idea what was going on, assumed Chick-Fil-A was giving away something for free (good assumption considering the swarm), only to find out they weren't, haha.
I wish I could have gotten a better shot of the whole situation, but here is a snap of the scene. It was just plain nuts:
If you haven't a clue why this was happening today, I'll catch you up right here: Recently, it was discovered or said that the founder of Chick-Fil-A was against gay marriage, basically. This stirred up a ton of controversy, and those in support of gay marriage started banning the restaurants in certain places and long-time fans decided to never eat there again.
For my own brief commentary on this, I'd like to say how ridiculous I think this entire thing is. Do we really need to involve politics in EVERYTHING these days? Can't a chicken sandwich just be a damn chicken sandwich? Also, personally, I feel that it seems that if you disagree with the liberal way of things, you get lambasted. If you disagree with more "conservative" tendencies, there isn't nearly the same outcry. Apparently I'm not the only person who feels this way, because otherwise today's craziness wouldn't have happened.
So back on point. Today was a day where people were going to "support" Chick-Fil-A; essentially indirectly supporting the restaurant and their stance against gay marriage. In other news, gay marriage supporters are ALSO planning a day like this, which will be Friday. They plan to flood Chick-Fil-A's with some good ol' PDA... which is exactly the way to get people to come around to acceptance of gays... *shakes head
I have never, ever seen something like what I saw tonight. We turned off a main road, onto a side road where we were stuck in flippin' traffic... for Chick-Fil-A! I mean, they have good chicken, but it's not that good lol. We had to wait over ten minutes in what was, basically, an extremely backed-up drive-thru line that spilled out onto the "road" that runs between a bunch of stores and the restaurants closer to the highway. Had we actually been in line for some chicken, I have no doubt we would have waited over an hour for it. Oh my gosh, people were parking at the back of the Kohl's lot, parking in neighboring restaurants' lots, walking over to Chick-Fil-A, there was a line of people almost wrapping around the restaurant, plus the aforementioned traffic jam. A traffic jam! Over a fast food joint!
On a side note, I feel really, really bad for anyone who had no idea what was going on, assumed Chick-Fil-A was giving away something for free (good assumption considering the swarm), only to find out they weren't, haha.
I wish I could have gotten a better shot of the whole situation, but here is a snap of the scene. It was just plain nuts:
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