Thoughts on Keywords

It is an interesting excercise to visit my internet tracker. I check it regularly, not to see how many people have bumped into my little slice of cyber-heaven, but see how they found it. I love looking at the keywords. SOmetimes they're funny, sometimes I scratch my head and wonder how those words found this blog. Its not really important what the words are, because I don't have any examples. I can tell you this, though, gastanks are very important. Most of the hits I have on my blog come from people who are searching something to do with gas or gastanks. These searches include everything from "pictures of empty gastank," to "what happens when there are rocks in gastank."

I also get strange things like "pedal pushing videos," which turns out to be a strange fetish. By definition, though, fetishes are strange, I think. Or at least "against the norm."

I guess I never really thought about that kind of thing when I set up this blog. I don't suppose its a bad thing, per se. Matter of fact, its pretty interesting.

That's about the best I can do for an entry today.

Ready, Set... GO!

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How Many Reams

When did libraries become publishing houses? I am amazed at the amount of printing/photcopying that goes on this library. I'm sure I did it when I was doing my schooling, but certainly not this much, right? The other day someone put 15, you read that right, fifteen reems of paper into our various printing machines... that wasn't enough by the end of the day. We charge .04 cents a page, why? A statisitic: last year the library spent over $50,000 dollars on paper, toner, and printer upkeep. The students get angry that we charge for copying. We have no choice, we don't get a cut from the "technology fee" that the university charges the students. That goes towards computers and internet and all that good stuff.

I found myself, at times, gritting my teeth after the umpteenth "Hi, how do I print..." or "I told it (the computer) to print, but where do I get the printout?" Their eyes glaze when I ask "do you have money on your jagtag?" Jagtag being student id/library card/copy card all rolled into one. It doesn't, pardon the phrase, compute. Then I have to give them a quick tutorial on how to put money on said jagtag and then how to get said printer to do what it was designed to do.

Another great question is this: where's your fiction section. Its tough to explain to a freshman, sorry first year student, that fiction is not in a section like they know in say a Barnes & Noble. Their eyes glaze over, again.

Its funny, actually. So, I shall continue to shake my fist at the whole thing and laugh and just shake my head...

Gravel Voiced Icon to be Missed

The Cinema world is going to be different from here on out. The Movie-Voice Guy, Don LaFontaine died this morning at the age of 68. You may not know who he is, but you know who he is. LaFontaine was that deep voiced "In a world where..." movie trailer guy. It wasn't a movie trailer until you heard his voice. I think he did every movie trailer I ever saw throughout my childhood. He was one of those pop culture icons...

*does his best Don LaFontaine voice* In a world without Don LaFontaine...

sorry, kids... no go.

A Rambling Entry That Touches on Some of the Newsworthy Items of Recent Days*

so i was watching cnn last evening. that's always a fun thing to do. particularly when anderson cooper gets on there and starts over reporting and getting all kinds of dramatic in his one-size-too-small black t-shirt and looking so, i don't know, anderson cooperish. here's to hoping someone pops him inna mouf some day. whatta tough guy. and lookit at his gun show. careful man, with those guns, ya might hurt someone.

well any way, i was watching cnn and they were talking about the republican convention and how this hurricane gustav might affect it. here is the little tag line they had underneath all the talking heads: "bad timing for a convetion." yeah, you read that right.; the republicans saw there was going to be a hurricane in the gulf coast so they collectively said "ooh, lets hurry up and do our convention this week!" an aside, or digression, your choice: can i punch anderson cooper inna mouf? it would make me feel better. really it would. i think the tagline should of been "bad timing for a hurricane." which does beg another question, sort of, but i'm going to ask it any way mainly because i'm sure at least 85 percent of americans are asking the same question: you want to live in new orleans? really? me, not so much.


now, as for sara palin: hotty. or to misquote owen meany, "your mom is cuter than all the other moms." how do i feel about her on the ticket? its ballsy. i feel better with someone who doesn't have much (okay, any) national experience as the vp, as opposed to the presidential end. you know, i think if the democratic ticket was flip-flopped i might be more likely to vote for biden/obama (maybe) as opposed to an obama/biden ticket (pigs might fly and hell may freeze over...) she's got that librarian look that seems to be all the rage right now. seriously, though, i don't know enough about her to decide if i should be please, or fearful of the choice.


so, i'm going to rib fest this afternoon in downtown indy. it is overpriced and the ribs tend to be a bit dry, but the rev peyton' big damn band is playing and i lurve the rev peyton's big damn band . this is my first real day off in a while. i've kind of been bouncing off the wall since yesterday in anticipation. it feels good.

*sings along with the rev peyton cd* wejustgettinba lord, wejustgettinba! wejustgettinba, lord! wejustgettinba, lord!



*borrowed from my diary at opendiary. somewhat expanded, though

Stopped, Rested

I was sick most of the day today. I woke up throwing up and headachie. It honestly sucked. I called off from work from the bookstore and I have a feeling that was a not a very good idea. i'm sure the bossman wasn't happy. I could hear it in the long silence as I told him I wasn't coming in. I slept most of the morning. I've been pulling about 50 hours a week of work the last three weeks, I guess. Today, because I called off was my first day off since I started working in the library. I was trying to balance both jobs, but working seven days a week just doesn't cut it. Maybe I'm a wuss, that could very well be, but I've learned through my life that when my body says "stop, rest" I stop and rest. I just wish it hadn't been such a violent "stop-rest," but I guess that's the only way I'll stop & rest.

It felt good to just kind putter around the house doing this and that, but it got a bit old. By five o'clock I was ready to get out and do something. I should have mowed the lawn, but I didn't. That'll get done this week. Tomorrow or Tuesday.

Genuine Smile

This is the last picture of my father in his pastoral robes. He is second from the left in the front row. That smile is genuine. He genuinely loved being a pastor and loved ministry.

He passed away six months ago last Sunday. Its hard for me to believe that a half of a year has gone by so quickly. My mother and I are doing well. We both miss him, but together we have worked through the sadness; there wasn't much of that, though. No, we both believed, nay, knew that he was with his Lord. And we both took so much comfort in that. We knew that if he had survived and been sent to a nursing home, or even sent home, he would have been unhappy with the quality of life.

We first saw the picture in the new church diretory. We were both a little surprised by it. It was a bit of shock to sit in the pew that Sunday morning we first got it, flip through the pages of the directory and there with a huge smile on his face is my father, doing what he loved most: pastoral ministry.

That smile is symbolic, too. For all Christians. I am sure that my father has that smile on right now in heaven. He is at peace and in the Church Triumphant. That smile, though, is the key to it all, at least for me. Its just another one of those little gifts that my dad gave my mom and I. That smile, the big toothy, happy smile.

That smile is a result of a life-long faith that never wavered. It was tested, I'm sure, but that faith always came out of the forge stronger. About a week or so before he died he had been listening to Coach Tony Dungy's book Quiet Strength. In that book Coach wrote that his mantra was simply "do what we do," he used that mantra to get his team the Indianapolis Colts into the proper frame of mind and to keep focus. One day, my mom and I walked into his room and he looked at us, smiled and said "Do what we do." I think he had somewhat reconciled himself to the fact that he might not be coming home, that he might be going to a nursing home, at least for a while, but he looked at it as another form of ministry. Do what we do.

The Lord called him on Feb. 17, 2008. My father did what he did and he touched many people with his ministry and love. That smile that beams from a picture is the result of that ministry and his Doing what he did.

Peace, dad, and thanks for that smile.