Alright, Nixter!

Here is my "yearbook" self. www.yearbookyourself.com

Everything you need to know about owning a cat

This is a bit long, but believe me, it's worth it. Really clever and funny in a quirky way. :o)

Child of the 80's

You Are 72% A Child of the 80s

Not only did you experience the 80s... you are practically an expert. You should be totally stoked!

Are You a Child of an 80s?

I graduated from high school in 1985, so it's no wonder...

Larry and Terry

What does seeing Terry Fator have to do with Larry Norman? That's what I was wondering when I saw Larry's CDs for sale in the foyer of the concert hall last night. If you don't know, Larry Norman is considered the "father of Christian rock". He recorded the bulk of his music in the 70's and influenced a lot of musicians over the years, both Christian and secular. I was introduced to his music by a friend in college. Larry has had serious health problems for years now (I remember hearing about his chronic illnesses about 15 years ago at a concert I attended.) Well, Larry now lives in Salem, Oregon and most of his income is dependent on continued sales of his albums which he re-releases with some new tracks from time to time.

It turns out that Terry Fator has met and become friends with Larry Norman. He donated all the proceeds from the concert last night to help with Larry's medical costs. In my wikipedia research I found out that Terry also performed at Larry's 60th birthday party. Anyway, that was just the icing on the cake of a great evening. The show was really great. Terry has about 6 different puppets all with their own personalities. He also did some singing on his own, most of it impersonations of other singers. He's really good and really funny. There were some great interactions with the puppets. It's really impossible to describe. I bought the DVD that he has available of his first Las Vegas performance as well as a couple of Larry Norman CDs.

Mom and I got home at 2 AM, so that wasn't bad at all.

Terry Fator

Have you seen this guy? He won America's Got Talent. I didn't watch the show when it was on. I only heard about him from a posted Youtube video after he had won. This is my favorite segment - the first time he appeared on the show. The reaction from the judges is so fun and Terry really shows great comedic timing and an amazing voice.

My mom are going up to Salem to see him tonight! It will be a 4 hour drive both ways and we will go up and back today, returning quite late. I'll give you a full report later.

Addendum - Terry Fator will be playing at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland in April.

Minnesota Fortune Cookies

I imported my husband from Minnesota. In case you are not familiar with the state, it has its own unique culture, accent and common phrases. On our last visit back, we bought a book called "How to Talk Minnesotan - A Visitor's Guide." Of course, this is a tongue-in-cheek humorous explanation of the cultural idiosyncrasies, but there is a grain of truth in it. I'm going to give you an excerpt, but I need to give a bit of background information.

One of the key points stressed in the book is that Minnesotans are careful about being too positive about things. The general view is that something negative will be just around the corner. "It's okay to have good feelings but there's no sense running down the street telling people about it at the top of your voice. There's a good chance it won't last, anyway. Good things happen - yes - but when they do, Minnesotans are a little nervous because they know something bad will eventually happen to balance it out."

Okay, here is my favorite excerpt:

"When Chinese restaurants began to open in Minnesota, one of the first obvious changes the owners had to make was to remove the soy sauce from the table (Minnesotans kept mistaking it for coffee) and replace it with ketchup. But what kept Minnesotans away from Chinese restaurants more than anything else was the fortune cookies - the fortunes left customers with a bad taste in their mouth. So the restaurants, due to public demand, now serve Minnesota-style fortune cookies. Here are the ones I have collected from friends.

• You will change the oil in your car every 2000 miles.
• There could be thunderstorms tomorrow.
• You will run out of 2 percent milk.
• A stranger will knock on your door and try to sell you cancer insurance.
• The tops on your new shoes are not real leather.
• People around you think you are okay, mostly.
• Romance will enter your life unless you're careful.
• The smell in your root cellar is a dead gopher.
• The big shade elm in your front yard has had it."

Stephen Wright is a funny man

I saw a stand up routine by Stephen Wright on TV when I was in high school. He was so funny. Have you seen him? He walked around on stage with a bewildered expression on his face and said his one-liners with a dead-pan tone of voice. Here are some of my favorites:

*I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere near the place.
*Last week, I went to a furniture store to look for a decaffeinated coffee table. They couldn't help me.
*What's another word for "thesaurus"?
*When I was a kid, we had a quicksand box in the backyard. I was an only child . . . eventually.
*For my birthday I got a humidifier and a dehumidifier. I put them in the same room and let them fight it out.
*I have a switch in my apartment that doesn't do anything. Every once in a while I turn it on and off. One day I got a call from a guy in France who said, "Cut it out!"
*I spilled Spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone.
*My neighbor has a circular driveway. He can't get out.
*Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories .
*There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.
*How much deeper would the ocean be if sponges didn't live there?
*I bought some powdered water, but I didn't know what to add.
*I put instant coffee in a microwave and almost went back in time.
*I stayed in a really old hotel last night. They sent me a wakeup letter.
*I'm taking La maze classes. I'm not having a baby, I'm just having trouble breathing.

What I Learned from my British Roommate

When I lived in Bolivia, I was part of a small international team of missionaries. I lived with a gal from Wales for a year's time. The team leaders were from England and Northern Ireland. We also had a South African family. I spent a good bit of time with my British teammates, and here are some things that I learned.

1. Geography lesson:
someone from Wales is called Welsh
someone from Scotland is called Scottish
someone from England is called English
someone from Northern Ireland is NOT called Northern Irish. (I don't think there is a specific title)
all of the above are from the UK and are called British

an Irish person is from the Republic of Ireland which is not part of the UK

2. Having slightly different vocabularies comes in handy when you are playing Taboo.
There are a lot of words that are used differently in different English-speaking countries. For more on this topic see this post on a new friend's blog.

3. You do not have to rinse the soap off your dishes.
None of the British people on our team bothered to rinse the soap off of their dishes. I asked about this practice and was told "A little Fairy Liquid never hurt anyone!"
As for the particulars, scientifically, I was told that the soap will either drip off while they are air drying, or you will wipe it off when you are towel drying them.

One day I noticed that my roommate was rinsing the dishes. "Oh" I exclaimed, "did you start to rinse the soap off the dishes?"
"no," she said, "but I thought that when you were around, maybe I should to make you feel better."
I replied, "I thought maybe you had started to notice some subtle signs of soap toxicity"

Back in the States, I found some Fairy Liquid brand dish soap in a British import store and I had to buy some, of course. I no longer rinse my dishes, I am a convert. My new policy is "a little Palmolive never hurt anyone!"