Nothing is free

I guess I'm still learning this concept as we believed that if we drove all the way to the Cheesecake Factory, fought to find a parking spot and wrestled our way through the line that we'd actually get that yummy cheesecake for $1.50/slice. It was CF's 30-year anniversary; I checked it out on Snopes and everything! But alas, when we reached the front of the line, they said it was dine-in only. Bummer. Guess I didn't need cheesecake anyway.

Font humor

I know only a select few will appreciate this, but it's too funny!
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766

One Amazing Saturday

This past Saturday we saw the Dark Knight in the morning and then the Foo Fighters at night. It was a wonderful day! I was riveted by The Dark Knight and absolutely think Heath deserves an Oscar nod, no matter what other critics say. It was a fantastic movie, very true to the original comics. It was a very dark movie, but it went very deep with twists, turns and the internal struggles of the characters. I just thought it was fabulous and won't say anything to ruin it for those who haven't seen it. But if you haven't...get out there and see it! Our theater in Olathe has $5 tickets M-Th!

As for the Foo Fighters, it was our first time seeing them and I found that Dave Grohl is a genius and an incredible frontman. What if he had never come out from behind the drums of Nirvana? His ability to work the crowd and make everyone have fun is spectacular! More than half-way through the concert, they walked this long catwalk down to a circular stage that dropped down from the ceiling! We didn't even see it coming! They did a whole acoustic set from there with seven people and it was just awesome. I probably lost a little bit of hearing and a few brain cells, but it was a great show. We had floor passes and Glenn was elated to go down close and see all the equipment. He's so knowledgeable and really fun to go to concerts with because he knows so much. I just love him so dearly. He's so cool! haha

Scrimping

Being on a tight budget is never fun, but it is a huge lesson in discipline and test of our wills. Lately, we have been trying to find free or cheap things to do and eat and we've had some luck! This week, Myspace and Sonic hosted a free screening of The Rocker (Rainn Wilson), which was great! They only did this screening in five cities and wouldn't you know it just happened to be in our city and at our theater. We had a great time! We also found that we could eat HyVee Chinese food (which we love!) for $6 total! We shared and it was more than enough food. We share a lot because portions are ridiculous these days! Other things we can share for $5...Subway footlong, Quiznos sub and Dominos pizza! I love saving money. Last night we used our coupons from Sonic from the free screening and had two sundaes for $2 total! Ahh, life is good.

Tomorrow we will venture out to see Batman and hope it's not too crowded. We are going early so it only costs $5/ticket instead of $8! Then, it's off to see the Foo Fighters for $10 (parking) thanks to our wonderful brother Nate! That's right...free Foo Fighters, eat it up. :)

On another note, I finally got to use our re-useable grocery bags from Target and they are fabulous! Yay for being "green"!

More later on ways we're saving money on necessities.

Faith-based initiatives

Recently I pointed out Relevant's brief interview with Barack Obama and I'd like to expound on one of the issues they discussed. From what I gather, Obama believes his faith-based initiatives will see more success in Congress than Bush's because it is not just based on his supporters (mainly Christians). I think he will see more success because of this. But there is a hitch: People will inevitably complain that their tax dollars are going to support causes they don't agree with. Obama's team's solution is to monitor faith-based groups, saying that when they are using government funding, no proselytizing is allowed. Now, I don't think any religious group would feel happy about this.

With faith-based initiatives, the government is saying: "We see the good you are doing and want to support that." That is fabulous! But in the same breath, it turns around and says, "As long as you keep your faith to yourself." Therein lies the problem. First, there is no real way to monitor this and second, what kind of quandry does that put religious groups in? Keep your mouth shut and you get money? How terrible. I just don't see this working.

On the other hand, I think Obama reaching out to more faith-based groups is very good and people who complain that their tax dollars are going to support Muslims, Hindus, Universalists...whatever need a reality check. Are we that self-centered to say "no, those people can't have tsunami relief, the starving can't have food, the dying can't have medicine" simply because we don't agree spiritually with all the groups offering this aide? Just something to think about.

Dancing around the world

I'm feeling pretty blue today. I'm not so sure I was cut out for the office life, at least not like this. Most days, the politics, the noise, the gossip, the boredom it all just gets to me and some days I don't feel like I can pull the weight off. What if what I want to do is have babies and create invitations at home? What if that is what will make me truly happy? I still love magazines, but until I can work on one I really, truly have passion for, it's just a job and it doesn't make me happy.

At any rate, here is a video my co-worker sent me that really made me smile. Thanks Angela!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY&eurl=http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=4700755

Relevant Interview with Obama

Short, but some good stuff in here. I wish he hadn't focused so much on abortion, but for those of us who support Barack Obama even though he doesn't believe exactly what we do, this is excellent and reaffirms my belief that he is a genuine and honest person. Relevant will have a similar interview with McCain coming up and I am interested to read that because he always seems to be blowing smoke when he talks. We'll see. At any rate, this is a good read:
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life_article.php?id=7591

HAIR!!! :)

Thanks everyone for the encouragement! I absolutely love my new haircut (and my awesome hairdresser). Here it is all funked out direct from the salon. I'll post more pictures of it straight tomorrow. Oh and I also discovered for the first time in two years that I do in fact have ears. ;)

Rain, rain go away

I'm beginning to think God doesn't want us to see concerts at Starlight Theater this summer. Last night we went to see Joe Cocker and Steve Miller and were rained on AGAIN! Same thing happened with the Doobie Brothers/Chicago, except this time we stuck it out under the awnings. So, we couldn't see anything and the music was great so I was upset that they had to keep stopping. I don't think Joe Cocker stopped, but Steve Miller did and when he finally came back on we were leaving. Stupid rain. I'm tired of it! We have five sunny days in a row and the ONE night we're at Starlight...downpour for more than three hours. I just don't get it. At any rate, all of our tickets have been free, so I can't complain too much. :)

Weird bumps in the night...

Two strange things happened yesterday:
On our way to the big dog park around 5:30 or so we had trouble getting out of our complex as a man on a motorcycle had evidently been hit by a car. He was face down on the ground with a few people around him helping. I have no idea what actually happened to him and as usual, I'll probably never know. But this sparked a conversation between Glenn and I where I said I sometimes think about being an EMT. I absolutely hated the feeling of helplessness seeing someone hurt. I wanted so badly to run over and say, what's going on? I know how to help! But I cannot. Glenn was surprised at my wanting to do this because he said he didn't see me as a person who could handle a job like that. The more we talked the more I talked myself out of the idea. Perhaps I should simply learn some basic first aid? I'm not so squeemish about blood, but I think if I saw a bone sticking out I might lose it. There's also that whole thing about seeing dead people and not always being able to save lives. That is inconceivable to me.

I have a lot of friends ironically who are becoming doctors or nurses or are in law enforcement and I will always understand why they do what they do. The ability to save a life and the inherent need in us to want to help people is fascinating. For these people to do what they do every day is astonishing and I'm sure it tears away at the soul some days. But I imagine the positives far outweigh the negatives. For today, I understand you and I thank you for doing what you do.

The other thing that happened last night was strange and I'll still not know the answer; around 1:30 a.m. I heard a loud bang (not like a gunshot, but like something slamming into something else) and then a woman screamed. That was it. It was a gut-wrenching scream. I looked out the window, but you can't see much and it's frustrating me not knowing what happened. I scoured the news this morning and nothing on either of these happenings. But there were to deadly car crashes last night. Very sad stuff.

Here's hoping tonight's Steve Miller/Joe Cocker isn't rained upon and no more car crashes occur.

Planes, trains and automobiles

Glenn and I are considering getting a new car and we've narrowed it down (for practicality, versatility and cheaper insurance sake) to this!

Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen? Honda Fit...check it out!