mountainmelody

Tonight I was planning on posting pictures from my trip to the Operation Christmas Child warehouse.

Instead, I'll be telling you the story of my lost camera. It's kind of long, but I know some of you like details. I'll try not to drag it out too much...

1. The rental car company near my work made a mistake and didn't have a van ready for us to go to Atlanta.

2. We had to rent a van from the company in Hoover instead (not near my work).

3. I had my camera the whole time we were in Atlanta, and took several pictures.

4. Coming back, I put the camera in the floor of the van with all my other stuff.

5. We were late getting back. In my rush to leave for church, and amidst all the stuff I had (coat, lunch, purse, free t-shirt, etc), I left my camera in the van.

6. A few hours later, I realized I didn't have my camera. Too late.

7. I called the car company this morning. They said they would "call me right back." I never heard back from them.

8. The person who rented the van called the car company. They said they would call us back.

9. The car company called us back and said they found my camera (WHEW)--but it was now in Sylacauga.

10. The person who works in their Sylacauga office lives in Birmingham, in the same apartment compex as someone who works in their Hoover office. So they'll trade off my camera.

11. I can pick up my camera in Hoover when they're open. (It's not really "at my convenience," because going to Hoover isn't really convenient. But at least they have it!)

Their hours don't work well for me, but hey--it sounds like I'll get my camera back. That's a good thing.

I'm not usually the absent-minded one, so it annoys me when I lose my stuff like this.

Sigh...you'll just have to imagine what the Operation Christmas Child warehouse looked like until then.

Many Christians obsess over the church's relevance [to the latest fads and trends] . . . But is it more important for the church to be present in pop culture--or in refugee camps and soup kitchens?

looking down

Last year, there were 30 feet of books produced for every person in the world.

About 98% of Americans will eat turkey today.

Enjoy!

Someone gave me a book full of words to use in your dissertation. Since I know you'll all want a copy, I'll provide a preview while you wait for the book to ship:

words:
concretize
encapsulate
exacerbate
intimate
promulgate
surmise
vitiate

phrases:
The question arises...
The literature is replete with references to...
The ideas expressed by __ lead to a broader conceptualization of...
...having no intrinsic relation to...
The general theoretical context of ___ is assumed to be fundamental to...
This phenomena derives from...
...token applicability to...

And while we're on the subject of wish lists, I've updated mine at Amazon. Caveat emptor.

I know you check here multiple times every day for scintillating reports of life on the mountain, but I've been busy: driving, working, driving, sleeping, working on my dissertation, thinking about working on my dissertation...

I'll work on some of my pictures later and put them up. In the meantime, I'd recommend that you find some other sites or hobbies to occupy your time. Maybe this will get you started: http://www.fsi-language-courses.net/

Almost half of Americans under age 30 have a tattoo.

Happy birthday to me!

interesting

A 75-year-old Swedish grandmother has the world's fastest internet connection. She can download a full-length movie in less than 2 seconds.

She uses her connection to read Web-based newspapers.