meet our newest roommate

Meet Rocky. Rocky decided to become our roommate this morning. After fighting/"playing soccer" in our ceiling around 5:45 this morning, Rocky managed to get into the duct work in our ceiling. After running around, my roommate opened the bathroom door and...

Rocky fell out of an open vent onto our dining room table.

That's right my friends, Rocky was in our house this morning. Ran around the dining room, the kitchen. After my roommate called our landlord, they tried to chase him out of an open window. Soon enough, Rocky was running around frantic for escape, so he ran up into my roommate's room, under the door, and introduced himself. She was not impressed, nor did she return the favor!

Rocky finally ran out of an open window, but not before traumatizing our house. We made a house decision to stay at 5 girls in the house. No squirrels. Hopefully we'll patch up some holes and finally solve this problem.

disappointing...

After warning from Sheriff, Family of autistic child attends different church
(Lora Pabst, www.startribune.com)

The mother of a 13-year-old autistic boy who was banned by a court order from attending services at a Roman Catholic church in Bertha, Minn., woke up Sunday determined to take her son to mass.

But Carol Race changed her mind when Todd County Sheriff Pete Mikkelson met her at the end of her driveway Sunday and told her she would be arrested if she brought her son, Adam, into the Church of St. Joseph.

Instead, Race took Adam and her four other children to mass at Christ the King Church in nearby Browerville, Minn. "It occurred to me that if I step foot in [St. Joseph], they will arrest me and I won't end up going to mass anyway," she said.

She is scheduled to appear in court today over a citation she received last week for violating the restraining order by taking Adam to church on Mother's Day.

The dispute has drawn attention to what Race and advocates for the disabled say is a lack of education and understanding about autism. Race said that even though her son, who is home-schooled, sometimes acts up in church, the experience benefits him.

"He has a sense of the routine," she said. "That's one of the beautiful things about the Catholic mass for autistic individuals, its routine."

The Rev. Daniel Walz, who did not return calls left at the Church of St. Joseph parish office, wrote in court documents that Adam's behavior was "extremely disruptive and dangerous." He alleged that Adam, who is more than 6 feet tall and weighs over 225 pounds, spits and urinates in church and has nearly injured children and elderly people.

In an affidavit, Walz wrote: "The parish members and I have been very patient and understanding. I have made repeated efforts through Catholic Education Ministries, Caritas Family Services, and most recently, sought to try and mediate the matter with the family to ask them to voluntarily not bring Adam to church, but it has been to no avail." The Diocese of St. Cloud said in a statement that the restraining order, issued May 9, was "a last resort."

Race said Walz's descriptions of Adam's behavior illustrate that he understands little about autistic behavior and how to address it. She said that Walz used language like "urinate" to describe an incontinence problem that Adam sometimes has which is no worse than that an elderly person or a young child might have.

Adam's parents sometimes tie his hands and feet with fabric restraints, which Race said is a technique used by other families and school personnel who work with autistic children. At Sunday's service in Browerville, Race said Adam participated in the service, kneeling with the congregation and accompanying family members when they went up front to take communion.

Carol Race said that her husband, John, attended mass at St. Joseph's on Saturday evening without his family and had stayed home Sunday morning because the family wanted to ensure that one parent would be available to care for the children if Carol were arrested.

The restraining order will remain in place for one year.

The Races haven't decided whether they will attend another parish. "My primary focus is to do the right thing, according to what God wants me to do," Carol Race said. "Without church every Sunday, my family life would have fallen apart. This is what sustains us."

Sheriff Mikkelson said he sent deputies to Sunday's service in case the Races tried to violate the restraining order.

"It was an uncomfortable thing, and we didn't want to get involved," he said. "She heeded our warning. Now, hopefully, this will get resolved through our courts."

All Creatures Great and Small?!

On the way home from Iowa this weekend, a deer and my car had a meeting. Poor Ruby Garcia took some of the damage, the damage to the deer is unknown. Didn't really want to go back and see if it was alive or dead, so I chose to just not look at all. Pictures follow of dear old Ruby, who is now at the shop getting fixed so she can be good as new.

edit: I'm okay. No harm done to human. :)



Luckily, the car was still driveable, so I was able to get all the way home and to/from work yesterday. Now I'm without a car until Monday or Tuesday of next week. Alas.

good ole bobby dylan

I'm remind of the ole bobby dylan and his song, "The Times They Are A-Changin'"

Just seems like a lot of things around me are changing:

- My coworker moved this past weekend
- My best friend is moving across the country this week
- Dordt students are graduating this week
- My sister is going to Brazil today!

Plus a lot of other good things are going on as well! It's finally spring weather, which means open windows, spring air, and the sound of the ice cream truck and kids playing outside.

Our neighbor kids were all over the place this weekend. They love the outdoors and I could hear them playing through our open windows - laughing, yelling, crying - all of the typical childhood sounds. It was downright wonderful!

On another note, if you know of anyone who needs translation/interpretation work done, I'm in the market for such work. I'm hoping to start doing more of it. I had wanted to do it at my job now, but apparently due to "legal issues", that's not allowed.

Anyway, hope you're doing well wherever you may be. Enjoy the weather, enjoy the creation. Life is good right now!

amazing.

amazing marketing.

today, this man walked into out office. he said, "we're the new hardware store down the street and we're giving out free lunches today."

so, on the day when i brought no lunch to work because I'm out of groceries....free food down the street! Tortas, Chips, and Coca-Cola. Straight after my own heart, I tell you.

amazing marketing - now I'll only ever want to do my hardware store shopping there.

hello.

hi there. how are you doing? I hope you're doing well.

life lately has been busy but not terribly exciting. a general week follows:

mondays: work, relax, chill
tuesdays: work, arabic class, roommate time
wednesdays: work, tutoring
thursdays: work, aerobic class
fridays: work
weekends: clean, attempt to do free laundry somewheres, go for bike rides/walks, hang out, spend time with roomie

that's life lately. not very exciting, but at least semi-busy. how about you?

wisconsin trip...click on photo for more!

Under the Same Moon / La Misma Luna

If you can, you should go see Under the Same Moon / La Misma Luna. It's in limited release right now, but it's a fantastic movie that deals with immigration as well as family issues. It was both dramatic, stressful, touching, and romantic.

Even if it doesn't sound like your type of movie, I highly recommend it. It's in Spanish with English subtitles and was the most fantastic movie I've seen in a very long time.

Go see it.

for please....

Happy Belated Easter to you all.

Also, I usually have pictures on my computer desktop, and if any of you are interested in e-mailing me (or sending me a link of) good pictures of yourself or good pictures in general, please do so.

Or if you'd like to send me actual tangible photos, that is welcome, too - I happen to have a bulletin board right by my desk.

You can conveniently e-mail me at nclmtmn (at) gmail.com, or post links on the comments.

I look forward to jazzing up my computer background!

Insanity Factors

What follows is my own personal list of factors that are bound to cause insanity at the workplace:

1. Chronic, frustrating situations: This may vary depending on your job situation, but one will find that even the smallest frustration that happens repeatedly will end up driving you crazy.

2. Working inside when the weather is nice: Increasingly, people walk into the office to tell me, "It's so nice outside," or "The sun is great". Personally, I wish they would say, "The weather outside is miserable, be glad you're inside." At least then, I wouldn't feel so quarantined.

3. Having someone call repeatedly: We have people who like to call about 8 times in 2 hours for the same person, after we've told them they're either out or unavailable. They think we don't know it's them, but we do.

4. The hang-up: Lately it's been a favorite for people to hang up on us when we call. Being suddenly disconnected when you're only trying to be helpful is just so comforting!

5. Working alone: Maybe you like it, but when I come in to work with the expectation of being with people, and then hearing "Oh, so-and-so is going to be late" or "I'm actually leaving early," and you're suddenly doing the job of 2 people...mm, what joyous fun!

6. The lack of sleep factor: Whether you didn't go to bed on time, you didn't get up on time, you could hear noises in your house, or you just couldn't sleep, that tiredness factor will get me every time. It seems like all I can think about is, "Man, I'm tired!"

7. The lack of caffeine factor: Related to the lack of sleep factor is the lack of caffeine factor. When I forget my coffee or don't drink enough, it doesn't matter how much I drink later in the day to make up for it, I'm a goner for functionality.

8. Consistent beeping noises: Today someone came to look at our security system. While he messed with it, the system beeping continuously in the background, just loud enough for me to hear and wish it would STOP, STOP RIGHT THIS INSTANT! :)

So, that's my own personal list of things that are bound to cause insanity in the workplace. Isolated incidents, they don't usually bother me. It's when all of these things happen at the same time, I start to wonder if I'm still a sane person...or maybe I've never been sane..??

What about you? Do you still claim sanity?

Top 10...

This is borrowed from a metroblogger who wrote about his time in Texas and the comments people not from the Twin Cities made to him when they found out he was from the Twin Cities. If you're from the TC area, you'll understand what he means...it holds true to lots of places in the midwest, to be honest...

So for your reading pleasure...


1. Wow, it must be warmer here, even though it’s been cold in Austin this week.
2. Life must go by very slowly there compared to (insert where idiot person lives).
3. Grumpy Old Men is my only reference for Minnesota.
4. The person I’m rooming with at my town is from Minnesota. Her name is Zara. What? You don’t know her.
5. I was there once. Actually, just in the airport. It was okay.
6. Oh, well I’m sure you can’t wait to leave there.
7. Do you like the Vikings? I’m a Patriots fan.
8. I love Fargo.
9. The Twin Cities have a vibrant arts scene. I bet it’s great living there.
10. Where is that again?

Oh, so funny.

This site is hilarious, and also true. I find myself nodding to a lot of things on this blog thinking, "Yup, that's me!"

Stuff White People Like

So, in honor of that, I'd just like to say, I'm voting for Barack Obama, and once I'm done, I'm taking my fair trade coffee and moving to Canada while I listen to Mos Def. ;)

and so they all become critics

I joined Netflix this weekend.

Reject movies: Suburban Girl; El Crimen Ferpecto

Winners: Wedding for Bella; Spellbound

Netflix is my new best friend.

The Song of the Day blog has been resurrected to remind you of my ecelectic taste.

LA pictures

Go here to check out pictures from LA!

I was photographer for most, some were done by Jack.

Good.

Job = Good
Life = Good

It's all good right now. Just thought I'd let you know.

Minnesota Cold (Part 2) Pounding a Nail with a Frozen Banana

Plus, this week's exciting forecast:

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around -20. Wind chill values between -38 and -43. Blustery, with a west northwest wind between 15 and 21 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.

Wednesday: Partly sunny and cold, with a high near 4. Wind chill values between -33 and -43. West northwest wind between 7 and 10 mph.

when your little dreams come reality....

Yesterday:

1. Went to an 8am orientation for work downtown. After finally finding parking and getting there, I was ecstatic to know that in one short month, I can have health insurance. Dental insurance. Life insurance. Paid time off.

2. Was inspired by another new employee who talked about working for a non-profit being her dream since she'd graduated from college. I'm so thankful that I was able to get into the non-profit world faster than many.

3. Met many employees at my office - too many to remember! Every single one of them nice, ecstatic to meet me (even if they just came down for the donuts and fruit!)

4. Encouraged as my supervisor commented that I "catch on fast" and she's willing to let me learn things at my pace

5. I have a computer account and e-mail address, soon will have a direct phone number.

6. Went to a dinner for one of my volunteer places. Took a student home, she makes my day every time I see her.

7. Went to bed early, only to realize my work day doesn't start until 10am!

It's a good start to the week, didn't encounter "a case of the Mondays" - my pipe dream of working for a non-profit has finally come to truth. It will be a long road still, but there I am.

good things, every day...

in no particular order....

1. Enjoying wonderful California weather while it was barely (or sometimes not even) 0 degrees in Minneapolis.
2. Seeing a best friend in happy situations when we expected sad situations...
3. Anticipating the start of a new job in under 24 hours.
4. Cereal nights!
5. Seeing mission-style architecture
6. Getting to know my sister (-in-law) better.
7. Loving on some dogs
8. Dreaming of owning my own dog someday
9. The weather looking up, at least for a little while
10. Laughing, laughing, and more laughing

It's been a good long while. God is so good.

the times, they are a changin'

Hello friends.

I have exciting news for you! I will be starting a new job 2 weeks from Monday! I just found out yesterday that I got a job with a non-profit agency working as the front desk receptionist/hotline answerer.

So, that means, without having to go into major explanation, that I have 2 weeks off before I start a new job! I'll be seeing my dad, going to LA to see brother and sister-in-law, and then my best friend and almost-sister will be coming to see me right before I start my job!

I'm super excited and would love to post more about it later, but I thought I would let fellow readers know that I'm switching jobs! And, thanks to those of you who put up with a lot of complaining, tears, and frustration. Hopefully that will be gone from my life in regards to my job for a while!

Hope you are all doing well, also :)

a real-life anecdote:

For those of you looking for some humor, give this one a try:

As of yesterday afternoon, my boss tells everyone that we'll be having our "Holiday Party" on Tuesday night. This hereby qualified as our 28 hours' notice. He tells us vaguely that we'll be going to "Buca" although he doesn't know where. We'll be leaving at 5pm.

At 5pm, we're waiting in the front of the office for our boss to show up. A variety of people have either real or made-up excuses as to why they are not coming. The rest of decide we want the free food. We soon discover that our boss is in the other room getting a chiropractic adjustment. So we have to wait for him in order to go.

Then, deducing that only he knows how to get to the restaurant, the rest of us agree to follow him. Being the entirely individualistic society that we are, WE ALL TAKE SEPARATE CARS. That's right, separate cars.

We then proceed to follow my boss, who puts on his hazard lights for the entire trip, going roughly 20 mph in a 40mph zone. On our way there, we then turn around in a random parking lot, him leading with 4 cars behind him, following.

We eventually arrive at the restaurant to eat Italian (which tasted very good, by the way!), but not before laughing at how ridiculous we were!

On a more nostalgic note, some picture from a visit from dear Becca this past weekend:Happy to see each other!

Sad that Sarah can't be here with us!