Now that's more like it

Just one reason I like Obama

"We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers.''

-Barack Obama

You wanna hear some blues?

You may know that I really enjoy guacamole. We have made lots of guac lately and it rocks. I think I may have mastered the art of picking out just the right avocados. Not too swishy, just just swishy enough.

John Mayer was pretty great. It was the only big concert Brian and I went to this summer and we both agreed we picked the right one to attend. The weather was totally on our side, it was a beautiful night. We even ran into one of my favorite Fowler campers. At SPAC we usually run into campers, but that will probably happen less and less as the summers go by.

I forgot to mention last weekend we also volunteered on a Habitat for Humanity house. I had done this a couple times before in Michigan with my youth group, but it was a first for Brian. This site was a little more unorganized than the ones I had been on previously. Basically it was a bunch of retired men in charge, so there was no rush. Then some people came who really didn't want to do much of anything. When they requested more people to get onto the roof to nail, I looked around at a bunch of grown people staring at their feet and figured it was time to get up there. I actually really like working on the roof, I thought it would be scary, but it wasn't so bad. Overall it was a great experience and I think we should do it again.

It is now post time, and party time

Brian and I have been trying to squeeze as much into the last weekends of summer as we can. We finally fulfilled my dream of going to a drive-in movie, which there are several of close by. In Michigan I can only think of one, and it was a long drive. Anyway I really liked it a lot. It was nice to sit outside, and we could talk without bothering anyone. Cheap side: we saw two movies for $8 a person, can't beat that.

We have been going to our neighborhood pool a lot this summer and we made another trip this weekend. I won't lie it's pretty ghetto, but again pretty cheap (free). We can't bring any bags in, you have to put the bag in a locker or just carry stuff in. Whateves

SPAC is next on the list, we are heading there tonight for the John Mayer concert. I've never seen him, but I have heard good things. I think SPAC is a great place to see live music. Our second summer at camp we were there for three different concerts and they were all great. It's really nice have music available close by. In GR you pretty much had to drive to Detroit or Chicago for a lot of acts (unless it's country music, then there's no problem really).

Brian starts school on Tuesday, so I will probably need to entertain myself a little bit more. I might start knitting again.

Splash and Dash

Well swimming is over and going to sleep on time can start up again. Gymnastics were also keeping me up. I was completely taken in by the so-not-sixteenness of the Chinese gymnastics. They were so tiny! Not cool man.

On an Olympic note: I love the movie Cool Runnings. Here is a clip, go to 9.35 for the song that never gets old.

Dwindling photo cred

http://herald.rca.org/inprint/churchnews0908.html

Just a little bit about the new dining hall at camp.

There was a factory, Now there are mountians and rivers

I listen to NPR a few hours everyday at work. I like Diane Rehm, she is a pro. Today they were talking about student loans and a caller ended up sobbing on air over his financial troubles. I had to turn it off it was so depressing. I get sad about my student loans sometimes, but I know how lucky I am to have as little as I do. I would never be driven to sobs on the Diane Rehm show.

Also NPR related: I don't think it's my Michigan bias, but quite a lot of callers from my home state.

We have been watching the Olympics like the rest of the world. Swimming is a lot more fun to watch with a swimmer.

We bought a converter box for our TV. The picture is really clear...when it comes through right. ABC and CBS are good, but NBC is super finicky. We spent about half an hour getting a good picture to watch some diving.

I think I am finally getting used to the regular gym visits (only took two months). There are so many weirdos at the Y. I got so used to the GVSU workout facility where we all could have come from the same dutch family. Our Y includes:
- a guy who wears a horrible toupee while lifting, seriously doll hair
- a fairly old man who doesn't notice his shorts are really really falling down his backside
- a horrible grunting man, several times I have thought he was having some sort of medical emergency
- a guy who works out in belted pleated khakis and a black button up short sleeved shirt, and a walkman

We finally made it to camp this weekend. So good. It was great to see friends again. Weather was on our side on Saturday, we enjoyed a beautiful canoe ride to the outlet and a nice time on the raft. Dinner was delicious in Wells. Melodies was good for beer and some Olympic viewing. It was pouring and chilly when we left on Sunday, it's easier to leave when it's raining.