giving strangers birthday cards

I think birthday cards are a huge waste.

and I hate picking out birthday cards for strangers.this was the stress at my job yesterday.some of you are thinking, "that was your biggest point of stress?? I wish I had it so good!"and I am saying, "YES, precisely, THAT was my biggest point of stress..."

job is boring, can you tell? but I really do dislike picking out birthday cards. so I opt for nice ones rather than offend someone inadvertently with my choice of a "humorous" cutting-up kind-of card. One of my co-workers says I'm "too nice" in my card choice. I told her she can come along with me next time... and then I'll make her pick them out. Because believe you me, I don't like doing it.

and then I have everyone in the department, about 12-15 people, sign the card. I'm the last to sign and don't want to say the SAME EXACT thing as someone else. Only problem: EVERYONE says the same exact thing. It's either "Happy Birthday [insert name here]!" sometimes with the name before, sometimes with more than one exclamation point, or it reads "Have a great [birthday/day/year]." What else can you say, right?? So I TRY to think of something a little more creative. Fail miserably. I say something with a high corny factor like "Hope your day is full of [joy/laughter/adventure]" - which works, but hey, does the person whose birthday it is REALLY take our trite comments to heart? I guess one receives the general good-feeling from others' good-intentions. But I say, tell them in person, or write a real letter, and while you're at it, save yourself $3.50 from buying a birthday card that will be trashed in less than 10 minutes. These things are not worth $3.50. And if you keep your birthday cards?? That means either a) someone really did write you a long, meaningful birthday note, in which case, congratulations, I'm shocked, or b) you are a pack rat and need to throw those things stacking up in boxes AWAY.

with all that said, for some reason I still like it when my Grandmother sends me birthday cards.

I'm bubbling over with contradictions today.

the late late show

yea.... stayed up to watch the late show with conan... just to see switchfoot perform, which was about 1:35am. needless to say, I didn't roll out of bed until 7:35am. What time do I leave my apartment for work? Yep, 7:35am. Amazingly, I got here at 8:14am and still beat 4 out of 5 co-workers. At least they don't care too much about punctuality... not as much as I do.

incase you haven't gotten their new cd, RUN, don't walk, to get it! and read the lyrics intently. I worry with their new cds if their sound will change, be less powerful, less creative, sell out, shift to pop or something... but I think I don't need to fear that. their stuff just keeps getting better and better.

I watched the documentary about making this album, while on the road. man, I watch this stuff and think... it would be great to be in a rock band. or marry a rock band guy. (I mean, I'd marry Tim Foreman. He wears a plaid blazer!!) It's clear they love what they do... and I can't wait to see them again in October.

ok, enough enough, I'll stop the rambling. Besides, you'll get more installments about switchfoot as the concert approaches...

so. wednesday. sigh.

more iraq

"As the Deuce Four heads home this week, they leave behind a Mosul that, while not yet in the clear, is much closer to security and prosperity than anyone would have considered possible eight months ago. In between the daily secret reports Kurilla has brought to his hospital room so he can track his battalion, the Commander watches television news, increasingly frustrated by what he sees as a clear, and inaccurate, negative bias. 'When you get the news back here in the states, it’s all doom and body counts. I only wish the American public could see the incredible progress that is being made every day in Iraq, particularly in places like Mosul.'"
-from Michael Yon's web blog

But no one listens to soldiers nowadays, right?
Though, clearly, a soldier's mentality is different from some. The clearest example being, a soldier can't truly be a pacifist or they wouldn't have chosen the vocation they did. I think pacificism is a great philosophy, a noble one. I just don't think it's possible here and now. At least, not entirely. Definitely possible in some situations, on a small scale. And of course, the ripple effects of living that out can increase in magnitude. But Iraq? Right now? It would be massacre for us if we took a pacifist position. Which, I am mindful of, some may not see as a problem.

well, ok...

not sure about the fruity stuff, but otherwise, ok???
(of course, it's not like I can actually go try the coffees they are recommending... sniff, sniff.)

Take the City Dock Coffee Personality quiz here.

Your Coffee Personality!

You enjoy fresh, vibrant, clean flavors! You probably squeeze lemon onto your broccoli and limes into your Mexican beer. In coffee you lean to snappy acidity and brilliant fruit flavors. Try the incomparable Kenya AA with its winy fruit notes or Costa Rican Tarrazu "La Minita" Estate for its fine sweetness, suggestive of maple with a hint of citrus.

AND

Unusual and unabashed describes your taste in flavors (and probably your clothes, too!). If other people think it's too strong or too stinky then you're sure to love it. That's why you'll dig the blueberry in Ethiopian Harrar, the sweet, earthy character of Sumatran, the scotch and tobacco notes of Yemen Sanani, and the defiant darkness of Italian Roast.

pocket of joy in a black hole of malaise.

Switchfoot releases their new CD tomorrow. Can't wait. And then their tour tickets go on sale... and I'm going to Cleveland with Rachel to see them... it has been way too long since I saw them last... I think they came to Ichthus in 1999... (I missed them when they showed up in 2001...)

If I knew this morning how poorly I was going to feel when I got to work, I might have called in sick. Fitful night o sleep last night, in part thanks to my dog, general malaise, overall feeling of "BLEH."

Chad asked me if I could be anywhere in the world right now, where would I be? I said I would be having an Americano at City Dock in downtown Annapolis, reading and discussing and people watching and sailboat gazing, and maybe someone like Freya or Lisa would be there with me...

Incidentally, Chad said he was standing outside the University here in Lexington sipping coffee with a friend and remarked he wished he was sipping coffee in City Dock in Annapolis right then.

What can I say, great minds think alike.

Plus, my brother-in-law is just plain awesome. Put it this way: he owns a bright blue pair of Saucony Jazz Nylon Suede shoes. They don't even make them in that color anymore. And they're my favorite shoe.

stretching for sunlight

stretching for sunlight, originally uploaded by krisde.

photo shoot at Ms. Hughes' garden.

basking in its glow

basking in its glow, originally uploaded by fotobutterfly.

me, in Pensacola, enjoying a beer from the great state of Texas. Shiner Bock.

i read today...

"You are not here merely to make a living... You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."
-Woodrow Wilson

"Every day when you wake up and take a breath, that's where your responsibility begins."
-Jon Foreman

friday at last.

so i was remarking to a friend that i think labeling people can create real problems. specifically in the realm of politics. i have a true distaste for when political or other such labels encourage one to act in a specific way because of the label, irregardless of who was labeled or who did the labeling or whether the label is an accurate label or not. Let me give an example or I will confuse everyone. Let's say I label someone "Republican." I say, "Joe Schmoe is a Republican." Chances are, most other people who call themselves "Republicans" will automatically assume they will agree with Joe Schmoe. And chances are those who call themselves "Democrat" will not. These are premature assumptions, since no one has met Joe Schmoe or talked to Joe Schmoe about his stance on things. Even worse is when someone rejects or accepts blindly anything out of so-and-so's mouth. Just because of a label.
For a practical example, just because I voted for George W. Bush twice doesn't mean I agree with everything he says, everything he does, or how he runs his administration. On the flip side, anyone who dislikes the President shouldn't automatically reject and oppose his every move. Granted, a critical eye is needed. We don't abandon reason. Neither, however, should we just get on a bandwagon simply because it feels virtuous to join a subversive opposition, nor should we keep silent because it's just plain easier to go along with the masses rather than challenge the masses and/or the instituted authorities. I've seen and read way too many examples of people who just like picking fights when there is really not a whole lot to pick a fight about, and likewise other instances where a majority stays silent when voices crying out in the wilderness are needed.

so today is Friday. at last. a long, slow, boring week. I am really craving just vegging out and being a bum. Maybe do some reading. Maybe sleep a whole heck of a lot. Maybe watching a couple movies. All this travel and running around and having things on my "to do" list is wearing me out. What a nice feeling to have not a single thing to do! To just relax, enjoy the present. Oh, how nice it would be to live without planners and watches and phones... this sort of feeling makes me want to take a fast from communication and technology. Fast from T.V., from cellphones, from going out in traffic, from alarm clocks, from the internet... just me, good books, good food and drink, the sound of the breeze out my window, the stars above, and a continual song of prayer and quiet rejoicing in my heart...

I Dream by Paul Colman Trio

I closed my eyes again and I fought this traffic jam
And I tried to slow this engine down
But just like all last night I felt injustice bite
One body one chance one country at a time
And no rewind button
I dreamed of things I'm yet to be
And of angel wings that carried me
From suffering and agony to eternity

I dreamed that you were next to me
And all your scars refused to bleed
I dreamed that love and peace had power
Over fear and bitterness

I dreamed I saw a million angels
Coming forth to rescue me
Singing welcome home my faithful servant
Tantalizing images I dream

The sky was like an angry bruise
That wouldn't let the sunlight loose
And bring us healing and take the swelling down
And these were years of insurrection
Condemnation and disconnection
Refusing to believe that you'd paid the tab for me
And unhappiness is here defined
To know the truth but to stay behind
And to burn your invitation to the promised land

I dreamed the dove of peace was chosen
Over fear and weaponry
I dreamed someone could raise a family
Never fearing tragedy

I dreamed I saw a million angels
Intercepting evil schemes
Love and comfort never ending
Everlasting images I dream

I dreamed I saw a million angels
Breaking through the clouds of grey
The sweetest sounds of hallelujah
Came and stole these blues away

I dreamed I saw a million angels
Coming forth to rescue me
Singing welcome home my faithful servant
Singing words I long to hear

sorta bluish?

so it's like a blue green. not sure what i think. it'll stick for now. attempted to make improvements to font size and tried to have post titles stick out more as a way of divisions...

incase anyone was wondering, i just like spanish. maybe i'll rotate the languages to throw everyone off.... brou ha ha.

if you don't want your site linked on my sidebar, you better tell me...

so i had this crazy dream that my friend lauren and i were taking trains down the eastern coast of south america... then somehow we took a plane to skip over a country named "soqay rohay" - close enough, i read it on a map i was looking at. lauren commented she was glad to skip that country, as you could tell from her map, it was a blank nothing. so we went on to arcatania, a country north of rohay on the map but southern in latitude... we ate at a street restaurant. lauren amazingly ran into someone she knew in arcatania, since she's a crazy world traveler and knows people everywhere, and i tried to order an alcenia sandwich (apparently it had spinach, turkey, broccoli, and sausage on it) and a coke in broken spanish and the cashier laughed at me... so then we were headed to catch a boat to africa where we could travel up africa's eastern coast. it was undecided if we'd do train, bike, or foot. we were hoping to finish our travels in 2 weeks.

i usually don't remember my dreams, and even now, i've forgotten most of it. complete randomness.

flickr update

ok- just a little FYI - i've changed my flickr account some. basically, i originally signed up for flickr so as to have a way to post pictures to this blog. it started out with some really boring photos of my life in lexington: apartment, workplace, dog, etc. then i posted photos other friends wanted to see: weddings, dog, travels, etc. many of these photos i did not take. and since for a long time i was without a digital camera, i only posted other's digital photos, not my own. hence, my flickr account became a hodge-podge of worthless images (worthless = unartistic) or images i couldn't take credit for.

so i've opened a new flickr account with a different location to be filled with these worthless but worthwhile for someone else type photos.
www.flickr.com/photos/fotobutterfly

also, this frees up my original account to be devoted to photos that i can personally take credit for, where i can post photos that i've both worked for and worked on. feel free to (and please do!) comment on them, and i will be adding more very soon, i promise! i just took a whole card full of shots while away last weekend.
www.flickr.com/photos/kristimeador

both sites are still under construction/revision...

this service announcement was brought to you by the ashland diversion project: seeking to put the gainful back into the employment.

my 2 week goals

1. Spend less than $30.00 on food.
2. Manage on one full tank of gas.
3. Finish reading Hosea.
4. Finish the last 20 pages of If on a winter's night a traveler.
5. Research at least one grad school.
6. Purchase ticket to see Switchfoot in concert in Cleveland.
7. Take post-work naps.

ay yi ye

yea, don't ask.

songs that describe my life in the past 36 hours or so:

"If you're on your own in this life/the days and nights are long/When you think you've had too much of this life to hang on/Well, everybody hurts sometimes/Everybody cries."
-(deep thoughts from...) R.E.M.

"He is my Light and my Salvation/whom have i to fear/in His secret place i'll hide and pray/that i might hear a simple word/o how i would have despaired/if You had not come found me there/i can lean against Your throne and find my Peace/find my Peace." - Jennifer Knapp

weddings are too much stress. and they're never even my wedding.
communicating with people is also stressful. but essential. good communication that is. i have been lousy at communicating well for the past couple of days.

SO... my new best friends! i must give a shout out o' love to you for calling me on my road trip. Thanks to David Ferrell and Kevin O'Barr (even if you did call 24 hours late, and I missed your call, I still got the message! Thanks!) Double thanks and love to LAM who woke me up, because I was oversleeping on Thursday night!! I left KY by 11:41pm.

I also talked to a few other friends who said they wouldn't mind if I called them late at night or who didn't know I was driving all night, like Jake and Freya and Lauren and Joseph. So travels went well, I arrived in Destin about 9:30am Central time. No flooded bridges, no evacuees attempted to hijack my vehicle, no severe gas shortages or hour long waits, though they had signs posted. Ironically, the further south I went, the cheaper the gas was. $2.60 in FL as opposed to $3.29 elsewhere in KY! And everyone was so worried... well, I wasn't. Yes, I'm glad I proved them wrong. ;P

picture highlights will come shortly.

other musings:
sometime in the next 5 years i want to take another trip down to FL and drive on Route 331. Route 331 between Montgomery, AL and Florala (border town) is a pretty interesting drive. There are not a lot of places to stop or even pull off on the side of the road. Speed limit varies between 25 mph and 65 mph. But it is one of the most interesting drives for the things you'll see. I was always in a rush on this trip and didn't do any stopping... but I want to go back and spend all day on that drive (which normally would be about a 4-5 hour stretch) and photograph it. You'll see rusting school buses being subsumed in a sea of kudzu, boarded up building and gas stations that still have signs standing posting old gas prices, random mom n pop shops that sell antiques or what appears to be just junk, houses that look like they're always having a yard sale but you wouldn't want to stop incase you were wrong...., BBQ hole-in-the-wall places or restaurants that specialize in catfish and country vegetables, rest stops that look like barns, open air airplane hangers backing up to the road and the strip appears to be nothing but a field, boiled peanut stands, pecan and peach stands, marshes, actual white clapboard churches (some of which are actually in trailers), and curvy roads. did i mention i love the south?? so, hopefully, i will travel there again (maybe with a friend) and turn my words into pictures to give you a real glimpse of this part of the country.

and now I'm at work, desperately wishing i were sleeping instead at home, and feeling metaphysically nauseous.

btw: i'll be playing around with the appearance when i can.... don't mind me.... ;)

color color everywhere

color color in your hair... i mean... nevermind...

so...
my sister complained about the color of my blog hurting her eyes. i started playing around with the color schemes, and found that all the other combos i liked were equally bright and annoying (if annoying is what you could call it)... that's to say, i liked them, but chances are my blog readers would not. i like the bold colors, but if you have an opinion on it, let me know. (as in, if the color scheme gets in the way of you visiting my blog.... ;)

i am off this weekend for fun in the sun. hopefully a miracle will happen and gas prices will plummet (HA)... I will be seeing friends and photographing a wedding... the pressure is on! yikes.

and my offer still stands, call me between 10:30pm and 9:30am EST and you'll be my new best friend ;)