Sarah Palin Costume

Oct 30, 2008
Categories: politics, cellphones

Check me out! I’m Steph Palin. :) Actually, i did one of those “What would Sarah Palin have named you?” things and my name became Stag Tunnel Palin.

Steph Palin

This is my Halloween costume. I think it’s pretty darn good.

4 Comments |

Racing Heart

Oct 28, 2008
Categories: life

Fall is winding down beautifully. I ran my first race last weekend - the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I joined up with a group of my friends from Twitter, and we formed a group called “Twitter for Titters.” Only three of us decided to run, and Bryan is a fast runner so that left me and Pete to run together at a slow & steady pace. It was a 5k, or just over three miles. The first mile was easy, the second was uphill a bit and then a nice long downhill, and the third mile was almost entirely uphill. It kicked my butt, and i ended up having to walk about half a mile. I finished at about 34 minutes. Not quite what i was aiming for, but - i ran two and a half miles! A couple of months ago i wouldn’t have DREAMED of ever running that far - or even jogging, whatever. So i’m proud of myself.

Me & Bryan after the Race for the Cure
Me & Bryan, post-race

Bryan, Me and Pete after the Race for the Cure
Bryan, Me & Pete

I love my flyaway hair. Speaking of which, i got a haircut. It’s pretty cute.

Nathan and i found a little wooly caterpillar later that day - a live one, surprisingly. We’ve seen lots and lots of smooshed ones lately. I’m not sure what’s going on with their population this year or why they love to crawl along sidewalks, but i’m glad i finally found a nice big live one to play with. I don’t think i’d done that since i was a little kid, back in Eugene.

Steven the Caterpillar

We named him Steven. At first i thought i’d keep him, but then i decided that was mean so i just let him do a little mini Race for the Cure over my hands for a while before letting him go. We experimented with putting him on different trees in Nathan’s yard until we found one that we thought was good and safe.

We also carved pumpkins this weekend, but mine sucked. I tried to do the Obama logo but A. that’s really unoriginal, and B. i bought a white mini-pumpkin that turned out to actually be thicker than a normal pumpkin, so i couldn’t get it to glow like i had hoped. Nathan’s is cute though…

Nathan's "Special" Pumpkin

It was my idea to put the seeds in the eyes. At least i can take cred for that.

3 Comments |

Adventures at Hy Vee

Oct 23, 2008
Categories: life

So i went to Hy Vee today to pick up a prescription, and as i was waiting for them to do what they had to do with my new insurance card a strange woman sitting nearby waiting, presumably, on a prescription, struck up a conversation with me.

Stranger : That’s a pretty ring you’ve got.

Me: Oh thank you, i got it in Paris.

Stranger: What is it..?

Me: (showing it to her) It’s a rose.

Stranger: Oh, yeah i’ve got a rose on my ankle. My mom’s name is Rose, my middle name is rose, and i’ve got two girls; [Sarah] Rose and [Jennifer] Rose. We’re all a bunch of roses.

Me: Hm, wow.

I turn back to the counter, assuming the conversation to be over. A minute of silence.

Stranger: I don’t like silver, but that’s a really pretty ring. Is is silver or white gold?

Me: It’s silver, yeah.

Silence again. I converse with the pharmacist for a minute and continue waiting.

Stranger: Is it raining out there? It wasn’t raining when i came in but it’s looking really dark. Doesn’t it look dark out there?

Me: No, it’s not raining. Just threatening. Yeah it does look dark out there.

The pharmacist asks if i’d like to pay for my groceries there. I say yes, she bags my apples, apple cider, cereal and milk.

Stranger: Oh my kids love that stuff.

Me: What… the cereal?

Stranger: Naw the… cedar.

I nod. I ask the pharmacist whether i can get a roll of quarters if i get cash back when i pay. She’s not sure, has to check with a higher-up.

Stranger: Yeah, you can. I’ve done it before.

By now it’s been cleared, i’ve swiped my card, hit the appropriate buttons.

Stranger: You just pay with your debit card, and put in your pin number, and when it says cash back you hit ‘yes’–

Me: Yeah i just wasn’t sure whether she had quarters here or not.

Stranger: –And then they give you quarters. You just weren’t sure if she had quarters..?

The transaction ends. I say “Have a nice day” and smile at the woman as i leave, figuring the poor thing probably gets the cold shoulder on a regular basis.

3 Comments |

On Religulous

Oct 20, 2008
Categories: religion, movies

Ahh, it was a lovely, lovely weekend. Saturday night Nathan and i got all dressed up and he brought me roses and took me out for a nice dinner before Grant & Renee’s semi-formal cocktail party. I’m still waiting on photos, but hopefully i’ll have something to show from that event before too many weeks pass. It was fun–i got pretty tipsy and said some silly things, but it wasn’t the first time.

Seeing each other every-other day just isn’t cutting it for us anymore, so Nathan and i went out again last night. We went to see Religulous, which was nothing if not entertaining.

Commedian Bill Maher says it’s time for we who doubt to speak up about it, so i suppose i’ll go ahead and voice my opinion on the film.

First of all, I’m pretty certain this film isn’t going to change anyone’s mind about what they believe. Religion is deep-seated, and I haven’t come across any particular creative work yet that i think could single-handedly change a person’s entire outlook on life. Atheists and Agnostics generally seem to think that the way they see things is so obviously correct that they fail to open anyone’s eyes by really exploring and working out the questions. Secular works tend instead to tout a certain point of view as fact the same way religion does.

This particular documentary, being conducted by a commedian, is certainly entertaining for those of us who already understand where he’s coming from, but i think the way the questions were asked was moreso poking fun at people than really trying to understand what they believe and why. He interviewed people who seem to take their religion to the extreme–Televangelists, the self-proclaimed reincarnation of Christ, a man who helps homosexuals become heterosexual (and although he was himself gay once does not believe that anyone is inherently gay), a man who portrays Jesus at a theme park in Israel, etc. I’d be interested in hearing more from the theologians and the average people on the street.

I’d love to see this movie turned into a television series, because i think that Maher made a good point in the end–that religion is really the cause of most of the death and destruction in the world–but didn’t illustrate that point thoroughly enough. It was a fun film that came to a sobering conclusion, and it seemed slightly disjointed. I see the connection, but it wasn’t really shown to me. The idea that people must be skeptical of religious ideas because of the tragedy that we really create or allow to be created in the name of God reminded me of Sam Harris’s book The End of Faith, of which i’ve only read a couple chapters. It’s a heavy topic, but horribly important.

Interesting points raised by the movie:

Personally, i’ve seen and heard plenty that paints religion in general as being pretty much ridiculous. I agree with it, and apparently about 16% of people now agree with it. But i still feel like part of a very small minority that thinks that the idea of God or a great spirit or a higher power of any sort is probably also ridiculous. I want to hear people talk about the root of this thing, which is God. Is it really only fear that drives people to believe?

5 Comments |

Spiralling!

Oct 15, 2008
Categories: music

I am suddenly obsessed with this song. It’s so “eighties” and so much fun to sing along to! :)


Spiralling by Keane

2 Comments |

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