Today I was eating lunch with some friends on the patio in front of the Panera at the Green Hills Mall. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something moving across the ground and then I saw someone walking along, seemingly behind whatever object I had just seen moving. My first thought (my first thought!) was, "Is that man walking one of those 'invisible dogs'?" and I craned my neck to see.
Note: I haven't actually seen one of those stiff leashes that are supposed to be "invisible dogs" since I was about 13 years old.
Why would I think that a grown man would suddenly be walking around with one now, here (far from the seaside boardwalks where invisible dogs are bred), at the Green Hills Mall? The idea that I thought someone had an invisible dog suddenly seemed more ridiculous to me than if he had actually been walking an invisible dog. Whose mind jumps to invisible dog before real dog, bird, napkin (which is what I really saw), strangely-visible wind, or even hole in the fabric of time?
But it had been a surreal day at the Panera even before this happened. Just moments before, a 60 year old man wearing bright green shorts, a bright pink shirt, and matching pink crocs had strode past our table. I was so distracted by his loudly-hued outfit that I did not even notice if he was walking an invisible dog. And maybe that was his clever strategy.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Sunday, June 03, 2007
My other favorite topic: Shoes
After living in Nashville for two years, I have finally stumbled upon the thing I will really miss if we ever move away -- the Marti and Liz shoe store in Cool Springs. It's in the same shopping center as the Kroger on Mallory Lane. If you have not yet visited this store (assuming that you love shoe shopping), please make a trip down there as soon as is humanly possible.
I first visited Marti and Liz after my birthday in January. With birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, Les and I found this legendary store and I spent a good hour there, trying on shoes and working to narrow down my purchases to a less outrageous quantity than every pair on the shelf in my size. I walked out the door with (only) five pairs of shoes, and it was a struggle for me to hold myself back to that number. Still, I only spent $120 dollars on five pairs, and I thought that was a great bargain.
In case I haven't explained it before, my mother created what I consider to be an ingenious system for rationalizing spending money on things. The system is this: Will you use/wear this item one time for every dollar you spend on it?
You can quickly see the wisdom in this system through the following examples:
1. A pair of sneakers for $90. Will I wear them 90 times? Yes, I'll probably wear them at least twice a week for a year. Okay, then I can rationalize buying them.
2. A dress for $80. Will I wear this dress 80 times? No way! Then I really need to think long and hard about buying it.
You can see where this system breaks down for things like cars or houses and other extremely high-dollar items, but otherwise this is a fantastic guideline for determining whether or not to buy something, no matter how expensive or inexpensive it seems.
But if you're going to spend money, just give Marti and Liz a try.
I first visited Marti and Liz after my birthday in January. With birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, Les and I found this legendary store and I spent a good hour there, trying on shoes and working to narrow down my purchases to a less outrageous quantity than every pair on the shelf in my size. I walked out the door with (only) five pairs of shoes, and it was a struggle for me to hold myself back to that number. Still, I only spent $120 dollars on five pairs, and I thought that was a great bargain.
In case I haven't explained it before, my mother created what I consider to be an ingenious system for rationalizing spending money on things. The system is this: Will you use/wear this item one time for every dollar you spend on it?
You can quickly see the wisdom in this system through the following examples:
1. A pair of sneakers for $90. Will I wear them 90 times? Yes, I'll probably wear them at least twice a week for a year. Okay, then I can rationalize buying them.
2. A dress for $80. Will I wear this dress 80 times? No way! Then I really need to think long and hard about buying it.
You can see where this system breaks down for things like cars or houses and other extremely high-dollar items, but otherwise this is a fantastic guideline for determining whether or not to buy something, no matter how expensive or inexpensive it seems.
But if you're going to spend money, just give Marti and Liz a try.
One of my favorite topics: Hair
One of my favorite topics to talk about with anyone is what they're planning to do with their hair, style-wise. My husband says that my sister and I are all about "hair and shoes" and, indeed, when the two of us are together, those two items usually come up in conversation within the first ten minutes. He suggests that talking about shoes made out of hair or a hair-style shaped like a shoe would be our ultimate bliss, but I fear that it would probably be too much of a good thing and we'd both implode as a result.
Right now I'm "growing my hair out." That is the official "girl phrase" used to describe the act of only letting your hairdresser cut off the minimum amount each time you sit in the beauty salon chair. Currently, it almost touches my shoulders, which is actually pretty long for me. If I tip my head way back, I can grab about an inch of my hair with my hand behind my back. I know that tipping your head way back is cheating when it comes to judging hair length, but every girl who has grown her hair out knows that you have to cheat a little bit to encourage yourself along down the long and arduous path of growing your hair into a longer style. Draping a towel on your head like hair and flipping it around is another good way to cheat and make yourself feel like you have really long hair. Not that I've actually done this. I'm just saying I've heard about such things. You know, from friends. Crazy friends.
There are many moments during the course of growing your hair out that you consider chopping it all off. Sometimes it gets in your mouth when you bend over to pick something up. Annoying! Sometimes you see a girl with a super-cute short haircut and you think, "Ooooh! I want that!" Or sometimes you just feel an overwhelming sense of futility about the whole thing -- "My hair will NEVER get long! What's the point of torturing myself?" But then you'll see someone with lovely, long hair and, even if your hair has never been long or lovely or long and lovely, you'll think, "I will also look that beautiful one day when my hair is long and lovely and swooshy!" And so you persist.
In high school, we used to actually wash our hair with some sort of horrible-smelling horse shampoo to make it grow faster. These days I know more people who are taking pre-natal vitamins (never mind the nausea!) for the same results. I am fortunate to have a very good hairdresser (Nikki at the Tip Top Salon) who just somehow arranges things in a magical way to enable me to have a good-looking haircut all the way through this challenging process.
Today I wore my hair in a ponytail all day and was so excited that it was long enough to do that. Next . . . braids. I can hardly handle the anticipation!
Right now I'm "growing my hair out." That is the official "girl phrase" used to describe the act of only letting your hairdresser cut off the minimum amount each time you sit in the beauty salon chair. Currently, it almost touches my shoulders, which is actually pretty long for me. If I tip my head way back, I can grab about an inch of my hair with my hand behind my back. I know that tipping your head way back is cheating when it comes to judging hair length, but every girl who has grown her hair out knows that you have to cheat a little bit to encourage yourself along down the long and arduous path of growing your hair into a longer style. Draping a towel on your head like hair and flipping it around is another good way to cheat and make yourself feel like you have really long hair. Not that I've actually done this. I'm just saying I've heard about such things. You know, from friends. Crazy friends.
There are many moments during the course of growing your hair out that you consider chopping it all off. Sometimes it gets in your mouth when you bend over to pick something up. Annoying! Sometimes you see a girl with a super-cute short haircut and you think, "Ooooh! I want that!" Or sometimes you just feel an overwhelming sense of futility about the whole thing -- "My hair will NEVER get long! What's the point of torturing myself?" But then you'll see someone with lovely, long hair and, even if your hair has never been long or lovely or long and lovely, you'll think, "I will also look that beautiful one day when my hair is long and lovely and swooshy!" And so you persist.
In high school, we used to actually wash our hair with some sort of horrible-smelling horse shampoo to make it grow faster. These days I know more people who are taking pre-natal vitamins (never mind the nausea!) for the same results. I am fortunate to have a very good hairdresser (Nikki at the Tip Top Salon) who just somehow arranges things in a magical way to enable me to have a good-looking haircut all the way through this challenging process.
Today I wore my hair in a ponytail all day and was so excited that it was long enough to do that. Next . . . braids. I can hardly handle the anticipation!
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Bible Belt Bumpers
Something that has been fun about living in The South is that people tend to wear their religious beliefs on their sleeves a lot more than in non-Southern areas. This leads to a few interesting discussions with strangers, a lot of in-your-face t-shirts (that you have to read quickly and secretly to not get engaged in a conversation on the topic of the t-shirt), and some though-provoking experiences. This post is about my two favorite bumper stickers (so far...), but I'll veer down the tangential path of Christian subculture in general as well.
But first, the bumper stickers!
Favorite bumper sticker #1: Are you following Jesus as closely as you're following me?
Favorite bumper sticker #2: Try Jesus. If you don't like Him, the Devil will take you back.
Before I moved to The South and before I worked at a Christian company, I had no idea of the humor-filled (yet pointed) subculture that exists within the Christian community. Case in point, this music video by Sir Readsalot. I love it, but I had never heard of it before I started mixing with the Christians. What else have I been missing?
Similarly, someone just emailed me these "Christian vs. Christ-follower" parodies of the Mac vs. PC commercials. Well-done, and they do make a point.
Churches here advertise on bulletin boards, our free paper has a section on where to worship, and they even have a "Church of the Week" feature on the local news. It's so different from our experience in Michigan, and I have to say that I'm more thoughtful about my faith since I've been submersed into a culture (both at work and around town) that focuses on religion and spirituality so much.
If you weren't a Christian, I could see how this would really get on your nerves, or make you feel like an outsider here. But, that's the interesting thing about Nashville . . . there's the honky-tonkin', partyin', livin'-it-up side of the city as well. Although sometimes you'll find the same people at Tootsie's on Saturday night and in the pew next to you on Sunday, so you never can tell...
But first, the bumper stickers!
Favorite bumper sticker #1: Are you following Jesus as closely as you're following me?
Favorite bumper sticker #2: Try Jesus. If you don't like Him, the Devil will take you back.
Before I moved to The South and before I worked at a Christian company, I had no idea of the humor-filled (yet pointed) subculture that exists within the Christian community. Case in point, this music video by Sir Readsalot. I love it, but I had never heard of it before I started mixing with the Christians. What else have I been missing?
Similarly, someone just emailed me these "Christian vs. Christ-follower" parodies of the Mac vs. PC commercials. Well-done, and they do make a point.
Churches here advertise on bulletin boards, our free paper has a section on where to worship, and they even have a "Church of the Week" feature on the local news. It's so different from our experience in Michigan, and I have to say that I'm more thoughtful about my faith since I've been submersed into a culture (both at work and around town) that focuses on religion and spirituality so much.
If you weren't a Christian, I could see how this would really get on your nerves, or make you feel like an outsider here. But, that's the interesting thing about Nashville . . . there's the honky-tonkin', partyin', livin'-it-up side of the city as well. Although sometimes you'll find the same people at Tootsie's on Saturday night and in the pew next to you on Sunday, so you never can tell...
Construction Worker Kudos
Now, I know that giving props to construction workers is not exactly "up there" in the realm of popular things to do, but I just can't help it. I drive on Elm Hill Pike and under Briley Parkway every day on my way to and from work. I have been making this commute ever since I moved to Nashville, and construction on this intersection basically started as soon as I moved here (had I known, I would have looked for a place of residence on the same side of Briley as my office, but that's water under the bridge now), so I feel that I have seen the whole project from start to almost-finish. And I have to say, that things are really coming along!
When it comes to construction, I'm pretty much a six year old boy's brain in a 33 year old woman's body. I love all the various construction equipment, and could sit and watch them move earth around, break up concrete, and load rocks into trucks all day long. The power! The mobility! The excitement!
Every day is a surprise. One day I drove to work and the road was curving one way, and then I drove home after work and they had shifted the lanes over and things were totally different. I got on Briley by accident because I veered where I used to veer and it was an on-ramp instead of just a jog in the road!
But I back to the praise for the construction workers. They're really working hard and getting this project done. They work on Saturdays. They work early and late. They work at night with lights that are as bright as the sun. They hang from harnesses and balance on beams and eat dust for lunch and still keep plugging away at this big project that 98% of the people who drive on Elm Hill Pike every day would tell you will never be completed.
But I'm really seeing progress. I got on Briley Southbound and was on a whole new part of the road. They're pouring cement for the edge-of-road barriers so you can really see where the road will be, how the on- and off-ramps will work, and how they'll shift all the traffic on to the new bridge.
Maybe I'm a geek for being so excited about all of this. In fact, I'm almost sad to think that they're almost done. Erm, okay, maybe not. As much as I love construction, I love quickly flowing traffic even more.
When it comes to construction, I'm pretty much a six year old boy's brain in a 33 year old woman's body. I love all the various construction equipment, and could sit and watch them move earth around, break up concrete, and load rocks into trucks all day long. The power! The mobility! The excitement!
Every day is a surprise. One day I drove to work and the road was curving one way, and then I drove home after work and they had shifted the lanes over and things were totally different. I got on Briley by accident because I veered where I used to veer and it was an on-ramp instead of just a jog in the road!
But I back to the praise for the construction workers. They're really working hard and getting this project done. They work on Saturdays. They work early and late. They work at night with lights that are as bright as the sun. They hang from harnesses and balance on beams and eat dust for lunch and still keep plugging away at this big project that 98% of the people who drive on Elm Hill Pike every day would tell you will never be completed.
But I'm really seeing progress. I got on Briley Southbound and was on a whole new part of the road. They're pouring cement for the edge-of-road barriers so you can really see where the road will be, how the on- and off-ramps will work, and how they'll shift all the traffic on to the new bridge.
Maybe I'm a geek for being so excited about all of this. In fact, I'm almost sad to think that they're almost done. Erm, okay, maybe not. As much as I love construction, I love quickly flowing traffic even more.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
That's SO meta!
I have a "Quote of the Day" box on my Google homepage and I am continually amused by the quotes that appear. Some are extremely funny, some are wrist-slitting depressing, and some are brain-stretching, like this quote from Jacques Derrida:
To pretend, I actually do the thing. Therefore, I have only pretended to pretend.
Best quote ever! Now this is the way I like to think! I printed it off and stuck it up in my cubicle, upside-down of course!
To pretend, I actually do the thing. Therefore, I have only pretended to pretend.
Best quote ever! Now this is the way I like to think! I printed it off and stuck it up in my cubicle, upside-down of course!
Friday, May 25, 2007
Drinking Problem
Whenever I fill up a glass, I fill it all the way up, to the point where it's almost overflowing and I have to slurp up some of the liquid in it before I can even pick it up. I am particularly bad about this with water and with coffee (though my need for extreme amounts of creamer is partially to blame).
You know how they describe optimists as people who see the glass as half full, and pessimists as people who see the glass as half empty? What's it mean when you see the glass as never full enough?
You know how they describe optimists as people who see the glass as half full, and pessimists as people who see the glass as half empty? What's it mean when you see the glass as never full enough?
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Snow's a-comin'!
Here is the official forecast for Nashville as it stands right now:
Tonight
Light snow developing after midnight. Accumulation around 1 inch. Lows in the mid 20s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 90 percent.
Thursday
Light snow in the morning...then a mix of light rain...snow and sleet in the afternoon. Additional snow and sleet accumulation around 1 inch. Storm total accumulation around 2 inches. Highs in the mid to upper 30s. East winds around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.
As a former Michigander, I must admit that I am having quite a bit of fun watching everyone freak out over a potential 2 inches of snow. People were taking work out the door with them in case they had to work from home tomorrow. People with 4-wheel-drives were commenting how nervous they were about how bad the roads might be. And when I drove up the hill into my apartment complex today, the driveway had already been pre-salted . . . just in case.
Now, I assure you that I have already heard all the usual commentary about snow in Nashville: (1) people here don’t know how to drive in snow, (2) we don’t have the equipment down here to handle snow, (3) you may know how to drive in snow, but ice is a whole different situation, and (4) remember that terrible snowstorm in 2004 when it took us all 8 hours to make the normally 30-minute drive home!?
I’m all for being “better safe than sorry” when it comes to bad weather (which is why I always had a blanket, boots, a small shovel, snacks, and a candle in my car during the winter months in Michigan), but this much excitement and concern seems a little disproportionate to the amount of snow predicted, and honestly seems to border on irrational behavior.
But, since I don’t think I can really do much to reassure people that it is honestly going to be alright, I thought I would – at best – share some factoids of truly amazing Nashville weather, or – at worst – just feed the paranoia.
Here’s my personal highlight:
Most snowfall in 24 hours: 17.0", March 17, 1892
Now that’s something to freak out about!
Tonight
Light snow developing after midnight. Accumulation around 1 inch. Lows in the mid 20s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 90 percent.
Thursday
Light snow in the morning...then a mix of light rain...snow and sleet in the afternoon. Additional snow and sleet accumulation around 1 inch. Storm total accumulation around 2 inches. Highs in the mid to upper 30s. East winds around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.
As a former Michigander, I must admit that I am having quite a bit of fun watching everyone freak out over a potential 2 inches of snow. People were taking work out the door with them in case they had to work from home tomorrow. People with 4-wheel-drives were commenting how nervous they were about how bad the roads might be. And when I drove up the hill into my apartment complex today, the driveway had already been pre-salted . . . just in case.
Now, I assure you that I have already heard all the usual commentary about snow in Nashville: (1) people here don’t know how to drive in snow, (2) we don’t have the equipment down here to handle snow, (3) you may know how to drive in snow, but ice is a whole different situation, and (4) remember that terrible snowstorm in 2004 when it took us all 8 hours to make the normally 30-minute drive home!?
I’m all for being “better safe than sorry” when it comes to bad weather (which is why I always had a blanket, boots, a small shovel, snacks, and a candle in my car during the winter months in Michigan), but this much excitement and concern seems a little disproportionate to the amount of snow predicted, and honestly seems to border on irrational behavior.
But, since I don’t think I can really do much to reassure people that it is honestly going to be alright, I thought I would – at best – share some factoids of truly amazing Nashville weather, or – at worst – just feed the paranoia.
Here’s my personal highlight:
Most snowfall in 24 hours: 17.0", March 17, 1892
Now that’s something to freak out about!
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