House Pictures

This (left) is the master bedroom. It has a master bath with whirlpool tub.


This is the kitchen. Yay cupboard space!
This is the front. It's the middle one.
This is the dining room. Same room as the kitchen with a porch off the back.
This is the living room. On the second floor. There are two windows- almost floor to ceiling- in this room. That's an electric fireplace Brandon is messing with.

Diseases I didn't think were possible

Well, my body has surprised me again. It has come up with yet another way to be mildly uncomfortable. I have been having what I called "odd" sore throat the last several days. It didn't hurt all the time, and the intensity varied and it was primarily on the left side of my throat and my left tonsil felt swollen. So yesterday I decided to go the doctor on the chance that I had some bizarre form of tonsilitis or something stupid like mono.
The first chore for me in going to the doctor is to decide which one to go to. Unlike some of my less healthy friends, (sorry K and A) establishing a relationship with a doctor is not something I spend much time doing. My first line of defense, the campus center nurse, is out for the summer. So now the real decision making comes in- do I go to the one doctor in town I've managed to get in at, but don't really like, or do I try somewhere new and face the reality that I may not get in for a few weeks? Finally I landed on option three- go to the doctor that doesn't take insurance, but only charges $50 a visit. I decided I like Dr Blay and I may continue to go to him (and the campus nurse of course) He told me he feels the health care system is "broken" and I tend to agree. He works with a single nurse out of an office that used to be a house, and he has a map on the wall with pins in it telling where all his patients have been from. Also, this week anyway, he's puppy sitting his daughters long-haired chihuahua, Ava, who licked my toes when I came in.
And what was the medical problem? You'll never guess, I had a canker sore on my tonsil, something I didn't think was possible.

How NASCAR is like Seminary

I went to my first NASCAR race on Sunday. It was free, minus the gas and parking, which was one of the major reasons I went. Since I tend to try to make connections in most things in my life, in about the middle of the race, (when it was a little boring) I started thinking about how NASCAR is like seminary. I was also spurred on by a conversation I listened to in faculty meeting last year about how if professors really want to encounter the "other" they should all attend a NASCAR race together. I decided that my first NASCAR race was very much like my first seminary class. There was some excitement in the air, but a definate lack of understanding of the terms. I knew what was going on for about the first ten minutes, then I got lost for a little while. Then something would happen and I would know what was going on again, and who was ahead. Then I would lose it again. This cycle continued until close to the end when the real excitement was that it was almost finished. Of course, my first seminary class did not include cars in flames, people drinking beer, or someone getting thrown out for ripping another guy's shirt, but aside from that, they were remarkably similar.
So in response to the faculty discussion, I think they should attend a NASCAR race. It would help them know how the rest of us feel.