Doogie Howser Did It, So Why Not Me?

I’ve got rhythm, I’ve got style

All this was prompted while I was in the bathroom at work yesterday, thinking.

So as most of you know, I have a new job, and as a part of this job I have to dress up somewhat. I don’t have to wear a tie, but I have to look nice.

I began thinking about the origins of “style”. I mean where did we go wrong where just covering your body wasn’t enough. I can go back to the fall of man, where I can get mad that we have to wear anything at all. But that’s a whole new subject.

Maybe I’m just not educated enough to know about this or maybe it’s more of a social mindset issue or even a pride issue. But when I look at my limited knowledge of history, it’s hard for me to pinpoint the time where someone said, “hey I look better than you.”

I really doubt that the cavemen came home after a day of hunting and said, “hold on honey, let me change into my lounging skins”. Or one caveman said to another caveman, “George, seriously, where did you get your woolly mammoth skin, mine’s so Mesozoic.”

I wish we could go back to the times of Adam and Eve and really have no shame and wander “free” in a perfect climate. Or if we have to live post-fall, then I will be absolutely content with something that keeps me warm. Possibly a Ton-Ton, like Luke Skywalker had.

The real issue here is that I don’t like having to look “appropriate” at work for the sake of “business professionalism”. Clothes cover my “shame” and keep me warm, isn’t that good enough. I’m not trying to impress anyone. And my favorite shirt says “World’s Best Mom” on it. What’s so wrong with that??? So who cares if some researcher sees me in my “World’s Best Mom” shirt, it’s a fairly inclusive society.

My “sense of style” is fairly plain and cheap. So I can’t even justify paying lots of money for some fashion just because it comes from this or that store. Just give me things of one, maybe two, (and if I’m feeling really outlandish, three) colors and not a lot of patterns, maybe some stripes, and I’m set. And I don’t even need to accessorize, and as for shoes, just give me some reef sandals.

If only I could wear sandals to work, that in itself would cancel out my crappy commute everyday.

Because it makes you look smarter

I was at the mall this weekend with Matt and Jeni. I actually don’t like malls all that much. And especially during the holiday season.

But I walked past Express Men and saw a sign that read “Free Scarf with Any Purchase”. I like scarves and only have one so I thought it would be cool to get another one. Knowing that Express had somewhat pricey stuff I cautiously went in knowing that I didn’t have money to spend. So after inquiring about the scarves to make sure that they weren’t crappy or only 6″ long. I found out that they were Cashmere/Wool scarves that the sign said were a 68 dollar value. So I really wanted to test the “free with ANY purchase” sign, so I began perusing the merchandise. I saw nice things like sweaters and shirts, all well above the 30 dollar mark. And finally decided on a pair of dress socks, since I only wear socks when I have to go to work. A 10 dollar pair of socks. Quite outrageous if you ask me but not when getting a 68 dollar scarf.

On a side note, I am wearing them today and they are quite comfortable and have lots of ankle grab, no sagging here.

Once I paid for my socks they preceded to hand me my free scarf. Once in my possession I looked at the tag and what I thought was a 68 dollar scarf turned out to be a 78 dollar scarf. SCORE!!!!!!!!!! I am very proud of myself for my find.

But what really bothers me, is who in their right mind would pay for a 78 dollar scarf?????

Granted it’s nice and warm and soft and all, but 78 dollars?!?!?!??!?!

Vacation summation

Food – Good

Sleep – Good

Going back to work – Bad, very bad.

Techno Wiz

I have officially upgraded (downgraded) the equipment in which the ghetto blog will be taken by.

I went to Radio Shack the day after T-Day sale thing (only woke up at 8, not to bad) and bought this. It has a whopping 0.1 Megapixels. (that’s right 1 tenth of 1 megapixel)

Too cool.

So from now on the ghetto blog pictures will be a bit more square, but still the same high quality content.

And the Wheels go round

What is it about driving?

I know I posted a audioblog a long time ago about this.

But I really like driving. It’s something that’s calming for me.

As long as it’s not morning/evening commute traffic.

There’s a peace about being able to be driving down the road all alone with my thoughts or just zoning out and experiencing just getting there.

Today as I drove from LA to Sacramento, it was a nice drive.

I left about 9 – 9:30 and got to Sacramento about 2:45.

I had a good sing along to RENT (if you didn’t know it’s being made into a movie) and listened to Something Corporate and some KCRW while I could. KCRW had this awesome special about Leonard Bernstein that was like 11 hours long. I’m just bummed that I won’t be able to hear much more of it. Maybe I can listen on the internet.

I’m looking forward to my next road trip with John. We are thinking of driving up to Seattle and/or Spokane for New Years. Should be a good time.

I think for the ride home I’ll listen to the Les Mis soundtrack.

Mystery Revealed

If you’ve been following the discussion about the last Ghetto Blog post, then you can find my answer in the comments, now.

Looking around the house.

Hidden behind the window and the door.

Searching for signs of life but there’s nobody home.

As some of you know I house sit on occasions. I find it to be a great source of extra income for not doing a whole lot and it’s kinda fun to stay in other people’s houses for a few days.

I possibly found a new way to expand my clientele.

I heard of this on KCRW.

It’s a website called sittercity.com.

You can register (FREE) to be put into their database and have people contact you about house sitting. I just signed up today so we’ll see how long it takes for people to contact me. You can also sign up to babysit or pet sit. Upon first glance it looks like it’s primarily used for finding baby sitters.

Just thought I’d throw that out. And they have other cities besides LA, for those of you out there in Blogger World.

Crusades: Sending Small Children to War

That’s not what this post is actually about. But it catches your eye.

Went to the Billy Graham Crusade this last sat night. Click on Trogdor below to hear a clip from when we were there.

We took a few of our Jr Highers to the event. And got really lucky to be given wristbands which got us on the field of the Rose Bowl. Since it was “A Concert for Our Generation” night, meant things were a little more focused on youth. I have a funny story about how we got the wristbands, but I won’t tell it here, either call me or talk to me if you want to hear it.

It really was an honor to see Billy in person since he’s in his 80′s now and this is the last time he will be coming to CA and who knows how much longer he will be doing this at all. The message wasn’t fancy or emotion driven, but he is so clearly able to present the gospel to those who are ready to hear it. I found myself sitting there and listening trying to decipher what it was about him or his speaking that made him so effective. And again and again during his speech I found myself saying to myself it must not be him, but the Holy Spirit moving people to come to Him, God the Father. With his deadpan expression, even when telling jokes, Billy truly is God’s vessel to the masses. While I don’t know how many people came down on to the field during the alter call, there did seem to be in the air a sense of repentance and desire to know this God who Billy kept saying, loved them.

Although nothing stood out as super spiritual or even extra entertaining, this truly models how we don’t need to be fancy or even entertaining for people to respond to God’s call. I think that the statement holds true that people usually need at least 7 encounters with people or things that tell them about God, and these crusades are a perfect opportunity for all of that to come together and lives are changed.

I’m not sure of the rest of Billy’s speaking schedule, but I would definitely encourage you to go to one if you have the opportunity to see this icon of what it means to speak truth, unabashedly loving God and loving others.

On a lighter note, man, you should have seen this pulpit that Billy used. It gets wheeled out by like 5 or 6 guys. And then Billy ends up sitting in it, but you would swear that he could control the world from it or something. Click here to see the pulpit.

Graham Crackers and Apple Juice

click on Trogdor

brought to you by audioblogger.com

All I Want for Christmas is…

NOTHING

That’s right nothing at all. (except for that digital camera I’ve been looking at)

Just Kidding

I’ve seen this floating around the blogging world and so I thought I’d share it with my blogging community.

It’s a really intriguing idea when you think about it.

Check out buynothingchristmas.org

P.S. Quick little survey. I was thinking that when I have kids, I’m going to be up front with them about Santa. In hopes of not devaluing what the holiday is really supposed to mean. What are you going to do? Leave comments.