Sep 16 2008

My Phobia

Category: Uncategorizedpodrey @ 8:39 pm

A couple of my blog buddies have posted about some of their phobias.  Cindy has an interesting kite phobia, as well as many other phobiasKerry has arachnophobia.

For the most part, i don’t think i am afraid of any of these things.  I don’t particularly like spiders, or mice, and would prefer that Lance handle those unpleasantries when necessary.  But they don’t paralyze me, and i could deal with them if i had to.

What i am kind of afraid of, though, is bridges.  Big bridges over large bodies of water.

Driving over a bridge makes me very nervous.  I was reminded of this when driving to and from the Outer Banks earlier this month.  Both hands must be on the wheel – there is no casual one-handed steering on a bridge.  My hands grip the wheel tightly.  I repeat to myself in my head “I will not drive off the bridge.”  And i have to resist the urge to roll down the windows.  See, i am afraid i will drive off the bridge and into the water.  Of course i will survive that, but my power windows will not work once in the water, and i will be unable to get out.  And i will drown.

Someone recently told me about the LifeHammer (or similar) tool, a tool that is made specifically for this situation!  It’s supposed to be able to cut you out of your seat belt and break your window.  Perfect!  I didn’t know they made such a tool, and it’s now on my list.

I also really really don’t like the underwater tunnels.  Normal tunnels, under mountains instead of water, don’t bother me much.  An accident in a mountain tunnel seems less likely to cause the tunnel to collapse.  I also think you have a higher chance of surviving a cave-in if it occurred in a normal tunnel.  You’d be partially protected by your car, and could possibly survive until the rescuers dug you out.  But if an underwater tunnel collapses, i think you’re just fucked.

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Sep 16 2008

Another Letter From Grandma

Category: Uncategorizedpodrey @ 6:20 pm

This time, it’s not my birthday or Christmas or Easter… i think she just sent me the letter without an occassion. I suppose the occassion might be The Saving of Audrey’s Soul.

It’s not quite as crazy as the last letter. It’s full of evalengelical stuff, sure, but it’s not signed from God or anything. She did include a helpful pamphlet titled “Running From God?”

Are you running from God? The reason i ask is because I ran from God for the first 22 years of my life. I grew up in a Christian home… I knew about Jesus Christ, but i did not have a personal relationship with him…

As i think back on those years of running from God, there were several excuses I had for not giving my life to Him. Perhaps you are using the same excuses i had. I thought being a Christian was boring. I wanted to have fun. Christians, in my mind, were people who had decided to live a life that was devoid of excitement. I thought real excitement was found in bars and nightclubs, and for a number of years I looked for my fun in those places…

Another excuse I used for running from God was that i was too young to give my life to Christ. I wanted to enjoy my youth and thought I might give my life to God when I was old.

So, this is what my grandmother thinks of me! I can understand a bit why she is trying so hard to save me:

  1. She thinks I hang out in bars and nightclubs. While i have nothing against bars or nightclubs, i can sympathize with my grandmother’s impression that the godless do nothing but drink and stay out late and generally lead hell-raising lives. I mean, what else do we have to do? Of course she would want to save me from that.
  2. She thinks i can be saved. If she thinks i am running from God, then it implies i think there is something to run from. I think if she really and truly understood that i don’t believe there is anything at all, she might stop trying.

So, i’m going to correct her misimpressions and write a response this time. I almost wrote to her after my initial birthday letter from God, but figured it might all go away if i ignored it. But this time i’m in the mood to stir things up. I will post again if i get a response from her.

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Sep 15 2008

The Drive to Work

Category: Uncategorizedpodrey @ 5:06 pm

It’s Monday, and i dislike Mondays, like most people i know. But today’s drive to work had a few sort of nice things about it.

  • The commute - it’s actually a nice drive. 20-25 minutes of quiet time, during which i can think, listen to music, practice a ToastMaster’s speech, or just zone out. I can choose the highway route, or the scenic route, or something in between.
  • A bus - For a short part of the drive this morning, i was stuck behind a school bus. It made one stop while i was following it, and traffic on both sides of the street stopped. This struck me as really NICE. I am not normally commuting at hours when schoolbuses are out, so i don’t “get” to stop for schoolbuses. But it was just NICE to see it, and to see people not being assholes about stopping.
  • The moms - At the bus stop i observed (it was near an apartment complex), there must have been a dozen or so kids waiting. And there were at least half a dozen moms waiting, too. I loved seeing that. I don’t know why, but it just made me feel kind of warm & fuzzy on the inside, seeing a few moms that were taking time to go wait for the bus with their kids. And, i’m sure, keeping an eye on the other kids too. I have the impression that these same moms do it every day, as they seemed to be chatting amiably with each other as they walked back up the hill to their homes.
  • The security guard - My place of employment has three entrances to the campus, all of which contain a gatehouse and security guards who are theoretically checking cars as they come in. The “back” entrance (off of Trenton Rd) is my favorite. The security guard there makes it her responsibility to smile and wave and greet every car that comes in. It has never failed – every time, she has a big smile and something nice to say, like “Have a good day” or “It’s Friday, enjoy the weekend!” I love it, and it really starts the day off in a good way. You can’t help but smile back at her.

So, this week, Monday wasn’t so bad. :-D

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Sep 05 2008

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Category: Uncategorizedpodrey @ 9:08 am

The Historian is an amazing book.  I absolutely loved it.

It is a story of stories, nested within each other.  It is told from the first person perspective of a girl 16 years old, and spans about two more years.  She lives in England, alone with her father, whom she loves fiercely.  One day, in his library, she comes across a strange old book and some yellowing letters.  The book is blank except for a wood cut in the very center of a dragon.  She gets one look at the beginning of the letter and reads “My dear and unfortunate successor…”

The book hooks you pretty quickly.  As i mentioned, it is told from her perspective.  But once she finds the book, her father begins to explain some of his past, and tells her stories, which are told from his first person perspective.  In his stories, he finds letters from his mentor, which are told from his mentor’s first person perspective.  In his mentor’s letters are copies of letters from old monks, which are written from their first person perspective.  Over the course of the telling, there are many different characters whose stories are told to us, all in the first person.  Sometimes, especially after taking a break and picking the book back up again, you have to figure out who is talking and to whom.

But it is a beautiful story.  It is a story of love – a love of a student for his mentor, a love of a father for daughters and daughters for fathers and mothers for daughters, a love of historians for history.  And ultimately, it is a story of Dracula.  It is based in real history – there was a real man named Vlad Dracul, or Vlad the Impaler.  This book is a search through the past, and the present as it turns out, as strange things start happening to our characters.

After all the suspense throughout the book (it was hard to put down), the ending came upon me rather suddenly.  It wrapped up just a little too nicely for me.  But the story was definitely worth reading, and it will remain one of my favorites.  5 of 5 stars.

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Sep 05 2008

Tropical Storm Hanna

Category: Uncategorizedpodrey @ 8:44 am

Hanna is headed our way and is going to cut our stay here short by about 18 hours. We would have left early tomorrow morning, but now we are going to leave around 2 o’clock this afternoon.

It’s a little too bad – an extra day of playing in the ocean would have been fun. But i am pretty much ready to be back at home in my own bed anyway. We will be housing 9 additional people in our house for 2 nights. It will be quite a full house.

I’ll miss the beach. It’s been good to us for once. There were no blobs of hydromedusa or anything floating in the water. I had no experience of little crabs getting inside my suit. The waves in the ocean were soothing (except for the two times i got tumbled and somersaulted). I think i’m still a “lake person” instead of a “beach person”, but the beach is a nice place to visit, too.

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Sep 02 2008

You’re At Work and I’m Not

Category: Uncategorizedpodrey @ 2:15 pm

Day 3 of the family beach trip. It is absolutely marvelous.

There are 11 of us: Seven Shulls and four significant others. It is a merry group, and there is absolutely no expectations put on anyone. You want to sleep all day? No problem – no one wants to know where you are or insist you participate in any particular event. There is just a general acceptance and respect for the fact that this is everyone’s vacation.

The house is awesome. It’s got plenty of room to sleep everyone, and a spacious, open common area where everyone tends to congregate. There is also an ample deck, which faces the ocean and is shaded in the afternoon. It is extremely pleasant to just sit and feel the ocean wind on your face and listen to the waves. As the day progresses toward evening, you may even need a sweatshirt.

The beach itself is of course beautiful. It is a quarter mile walk from the house, maybe a little less. It’s not crowded, as we are past the peak season. The water is warm still, and even though there have been red flags posted, we can still wade in and get splashed by waves. Walking on the beach, searching for pretty shells, and exclaiming over the interesting creatures we find on the sand – all of these are things i have loved doing.

Today is the first time i’ve bothered to get on the computer. I checked in with work, and it appears to be functioning okay without me. Which is good – i don’t have to feel guilty about not being there, and can continue to just enjoy the week.

I don’t think i can remember the last time i took a full week off from work for simple relaxation. I’ve done this beach trip with the Shull family two previous times, but both times i only took a day or two off to make it a long weekend. Usually i spend my vacation on bridge tournaments, again generally for long weekends. This just feels so extremely luxurious, and i love it.

This week is also different from my own family’s vacations. I mentioned the fact that there is no pressure to perform in any way (my family does have a fair amount of that, intended or not). The biggest difference, however, is the copious amounts of alcohol. Beer and wine are consumed with gusto, and by everyone. After the first day, and we didn’t arrive until 4 pm, there was an entire trash bag filled with empty bottles. It’s pretty awesome, actually.

And now i think i’ll go sit on the deck some more, in the afternoon shade, prop up my legs and read for awhile. I’m reading a beautiful book called The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I’m sure i’ll be writing a review in the next couple of days.

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Sep 02 2008

Secret Service

Category: Uncategorizedpodrey @ 1:36 pm

Amusing conversation overheard the day before we left for the beach, between Lance’s mom, Carol, and our buddy Malcolm.

Malcolm: At this point, I am a little worried for Obama’s safety.

Carol: Why is that?

Malcolm: I’m not sure the American public will tolerate a black president.

Carol: Well, i think the protection we have in place now is a lot better than it has been previously.

Malcolm: Oh you think so?

Carol: Well, Bush hasn’t been assassinated yet!

This is so true.  Bush is such a bumbling idiot; it does speak to the effectiveness of the Secret Service nowadays.

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