My Drug-Induced November

As my wonderful and creative cousin Erin sets out for college in January, I had one simple piece of advice for her: make sure you try all the drugs before you put your money into any single one. There's nothing worse than getting addicted to crack and realizing you could have saved a lot of money with other options. Even Reggie, the balding cocaine dealer down the street from where I work, has double-coupon days every other Thursday.

The reason I mention this is because I have, at times this month, wondered if I haven't slipped into some such habit myself. I mean, this month has flown by. I suppose there are several reasons for this, upon reflection...one being that I can't ever remember working so hard over the span of two weeks. Tomorrow morning marks a big milestone for my volunteer team at work: a fifteen-minute, scripted six-page presentation in front of an audience of twelve committee members. In it, we have to demonstrate why our project was actually worth the time we spent on it. What an effort it has been! I have about twenty-five lines of memorized dialogue to get through, and fate will probably determine whether I make it or not. I suppose I could have slipped another few bucks into the offering plate at church on Sunday to help things, but isn't hindsight is always 20/20? I'll just be thankful when tomorrow morning has come and gone, and we can all go back to our usual non-normal lives.

Another reason for the workload this month is a very good one--the completion and rollout of the Bethany Presbyterian Church web site! My wonderful aunt Tina and I worked together to get this done (she gathered the content, and I designed and implemented the site itself), and it was a fun experience. Technically, it is the first paid web project that I have completed, so I suppose I am officially a web design professional now. The best part is that I can do this job with pajamas on, a cat in my lap, and war paint on my face...no one ever knows the difference!

Oh, and one more new development: United Guaranty basketball season has started up once again as of tonight. This is a work team that I have played on for two seasons now, and sometimes I really have a difficult time describing it. If you will, please imagine with me...a beautiful day in the park, the sloping lawns masterfully created, and as we crest the nearest hill we come upon nine frolicking puppies. Some of the puppies are cute, some of them are little older than the others, but none of them are very graceful. At the moment, their collective attention is completely held by a group of five college students throwing frisbee across the open lawn. The more we watch, the more we wonder why the dogs simply choose to form a giant pack and chase after the frisbee with wild abandon. Why don't they split up into pairs and wait by each thrower to intercept it? Why are they constantly tripping over each other? Why are they so white?

The UG men's basketball team is a collective 1-27 over two seasons. And I play as many minutes as anyone.

That's pretty much all of the personal news I have at the moment, but I have a great bit of other news to share: my great friend Josh is getting married! He and the lovely Jossi have decided to tie the knot, which was terrific news. For those of you that don't yet know Josh, you will...he is the Best Man in our wedding this March! And what's more, he has asked me to do the same in his wedding next year (probably July or August), which I was very honored to accept. Perhaps the best part is that it gives me "embarrassment insurance", because I will have the last say in that particular sequence of events. :) I only wish I had similar insurance against my Dad, who's delighted himself by intentionally embarrassing me for years. I guess you can't have everything.

Well, that's it for tonight...thank you very much for reading! Just remember that I love all you guys, even Michele.

Have a great rest of the week, and here's to Arnold in 2008! You know where your vote is going...nobody wants to be a "girly man".