Some things just make me smile:
I knew God approved of coffee!!!! 🙂
I just may have to try this out! 🙂 How funny!
Category Archives: Paroxysm of Giggles
Déja Vu, All Over Again
Have we as a society just given up on any sense of morality? I don’t typically read news articles. I don’t subscribe to the paper. I rarely look online at news sites. There’s so much depressing news out there. So, I figure that if there is something really important going on that I should know about, I will hear about it either at church or at work. Otherwise, I really don’t need to marinate in the culture of death that surrounds us.
But, I do leave on my web browser homepage a little box that will give me the top stories of the day, and sometimes I look at that little box. Today, there was a headline which actually made me read the entire article. Apparently, a group in Israel burned a bunch of New Testaments. The head of this group said that it was an unauthorized event, that he was merely trying to round up all of the [problematic] “Christian propaganda” in the city. Oh boy. Haven’t we been here before? At least the last time there was such an event as this, the world actually cared and took notice.
However, we are living in an age where scientists have taken to creating animal-human hybrids. Once, this would have been an inconceivable thing to do, and it would not have been tolerated. Now, why not? Sure, there are articles talking about the controversy and some people are speaking out against it; however, with our lovely consumeristic society, you can buy a T-shirt. Seriously. There is something, really, really, really wrong here. And we aren’t reacting. Or seeming to react. We should be horrified. Seriously. Horrified.
From LifeSiteNews came this (you can read about LifeSiteNews’s mission statement, as it were, here to see what their slant is in news reporting):
In his State of the Union address in January, US President George W Bush condemned the practice. “A hopeful society has institutions of science and medicine that do not cut ethical corners and that recognize the matchless value of every life,” he said. “Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research, human cloning in all its forms, creating or implanting embryos for experiments, creating human-animal hybrids, and buying, selling or patenting human embryos. Human life is a gift from our creator, and that gift should never be discarded, devalued or put up for sale.”
I agree with that. Please pray with me.
Who I Am, A-Z….
The theme for this meme is: using the 26 letters of the alphabet, express who you are, what you do, your interests, what matters to you etc. You have to write it within 26 minutes. Taken from Kasia:
Am a/an:
A. Avid talker
B. Bouncy
C. Competitive, Candid, Catholic (but not competitive in my Catholicism per se, no Rosary-making prayer-writing competitions in my immediate future; however, I *am* candid about my Catholicism)
D. Dancer, especially in my pajamas or in the street late at night or, you know, both of those… 🙂
E. Enthusiastic individual
F. Friendly person
G. Giggler
H. Health-challenged
I. Inquisitive
J. Jenniebean, Jaibee, Jennifurball (but only to John)
K. Kind, on my better days
L. Loyal
M. Mischievous
N. Nut
O. Obsessed with order, so much so, that if I cannot find a place for something to “live,” it ends up in a heap until it can be properly categorized, labeled and arranged — end result being that I look as if I’m a slob; however, you can have lots of fun repeatedly messing up my colored pencils and watching me put them back into proper order according to wavelength
P. Photographer; Present-giver
Q. Quirky
R. Reckless (this is what my confessor told me about me)
S. Starbucks patron; Sassy; Sharer
T. Thrill-seeking
U. Ubiquitous, and stealthy — figure that one out!
V. Voracious reader
W. World Youth Day pilgrim
X. XO – second in command, my favorite position of power
Y. Yearning — for many things: a deeper relationship with/understanding of God, children, peace
Z. Zoo patron – formerly
Mmm… Ice Cream!
You’re Mint Chocolate Chip.
Mint chocolate chip ice cream wakes up people’s taste buds, and you do the same thing when you walk into a room. The chocolatey bits represent your sweet, flirtatious side, and the minty flavor represents your high energy level. You are smart, witty, and you make a great first impression. Your friends value your advice, because you tend to see things from a fresh new perspective.
Hmm. I don’t personally find mint chocolate chip to be my favorite flavor, but I do like this description of me! 🙂
Schism
Yesterday, as I was in my parents’ kitchen talking to them, a little body comes flying in the door and hugs me.
“I didn’t know you were here!” says Vanessa. Before I could say anything else, she accuses, “And you went to see the Pope! And you didn’t take ME!”
Here’s the part where I stand here and look a little stupid. Why? Because, 1. I had no idea Nessie would want to go with me and 2. Vanessa (her mother legally changed her name to Vasaliki a few years back) is Greek Orthodox.
I’m not so sure her mother would want me to take her 9-year-old little girl to see the Bishop of Rome. But how to explain this to Va? So, I tell her that our churches are very similar, but there’s a difference in that her church doesn’t see the Bishop of Rome as her head. (Don’t they look to the Bishop of Constantinople?) She looks blankly at me, then says, “Oh! I know the bishops! We see them all the time!” Mmmm. Not quite what I meant. Let’s try again.
“Do you know about the filioque?”
“The what?” (Yeah, I predicted that answer….)
“Well, we believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the Son; your church believes that it just comes from the Father.”
“Right! Father, Son and Holy Spirit!”
“No, no. I mean that the Holy Spirit comes from both, not just the one.”
“Right! The Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son!” (Oops! I may have just bridged the schism.)
And, Vanessa’s reflections on Mass, “Sometimes, the priest will talk really fast, and I can’t understand what he’s saying, so I’ll just sit there and think about what I will do for the rest of the day. I’ll be like, ‘Do I want to ride my bike, or watch TV?’.”
And on speaking Greek:
“Okay, Ness, my priest speaks Greek, teach me something I can say to him.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Maybe something you say to your Mom.”
She says a phrase that I repeat. “Okay, what did I say?”
“I love you.”
“Um, maybe teach me a different phrase? I’m not sure he’d take that too well.”
She says another phrase, which I repeat. “And what’s that?”
“Good morning.”
“Well, that’s better. Hmmm. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to know that I can now say ‘Good morning! I love you!’ in Greek!”
And then, my Orthodox-corrupting is interrupted when her brother, Petros, comes in to tell her that Grandpa needs her to come home to help clean the fish (calamari). 🙂
Statue of What?
It Will Never Happen Again
Well, as usual, I was up late and too tired to pack for our trip before I went to bed. I figured that I would just get up early (as I am used to do) and pack then.
So, of course, I slept in.
However! I still managed, somehow, to be showered, dressed, and packed one hour later. That is amazing. Especially since I can be a kitchen-sink kind of girl (for good reason, I can go into later). Then, I had 30 minutes to try and clean up my house before everyone comes over and sees what a bad housekeeper I am.
They are running a bit late, so more dishes to do for me!
See you all after New York!!!
That’s Not What I Meant
It can often get amusing when your dictation software confuses your medical dictionary with your theological dictionary:
“I said, ‘anastomosis,’ not ‘a nasty Moses’!!!”
Most Ridiculous Thing I’ve Heard All Day
Earlier today, one of our nurses came up to me and mentioned that an insurance company denied a patient a PET scan because they only approve so many PET scans per year, and this particular patient (not one of mine) was not on their list. Nevermind if it’s a medically necessary study, or the fact that the patient hasn’t had one before. “We gave a PET scan to “Frank,” so “Bill” will be unable to have one.” What kind of policy is that? Assuming that you are an insurance company and you have 100 patients and you only approve 5 PET scans a year, how do you determine who gets one? Alphabetically? Certainly they do not have the kind of information to be able to know who is worse off from a medical perspective, especially if a PET can tell you about the extent of the disease, and that’s precisely what they are limiting.
But then, she said the best thing of all. Apparently the insurance representative told her that it was okay to deny the authorization for the PET scan, since, “The pancreas is an experimental organ anyway.”
Really? Huh. And here I thought that God had been making people with pancreases since Adam and Eve. Apparently not. Since when did people start becoming equipped with a pancreas?
So, they are saying that God is experimenting with the human body?? (Obviously, they cannot be arguing from a Darwinian model, since random mutation and evolutionary processes can hardly qualify as an “experiment.” You kinda need sentience for that, in order to evaluate results.)
What? To see if people with pancreases sinned less than people without pancreases? But, God is all-knowing. He doesn’t need to conduct experiments. If we are truly free-willed, then the presence or absence of a pancreas (assuming that a pancreas affects the decisions that we make, morally speaking) would have to have no affect on our decisions, or then God would be skewing things either in His favor, or out of His favor, as it comes to our choosing to be obedient or not.
So what type of experiment could God be running that He wouldn’t know the answer to already, and that wouldn’t influence our will?
And more to the point, how is it that this insurance company is privy to God’s experiments? If they have some sort of direct pipe to know His mind on things — I want in on that! It would save me a lot of grief if I already knew the correct answer/response to things, instead of trying to discern on my own, because I *know* that *my* thinking is flawed.
But okay, let’s examine this pancreas issue for just a moment. My vote is that the pancreas would increase our tendency to sin. Why do I say this? Well, if your blood sugar is either too high or too low, then you are more prone to mood swings, and behaving poorly because your emotions may be erratic and you are irritable. This of course supposes that the previous system (in the non-pancreas people) worked perfectly.
Of course, the other option is that the pancreas is *not* an experimental organ, and is an integral part of God’s design for the body.
More Fun with Appliances
Hahahahaha! Just now, S was making a pot of coffee for her and Dr. K (as the only 2 people in the office without Starbucks addictions, who can still drink “normal” coffee). For whatever reason, it doesn’t drain down and fills the little filter bucket, which then overflows, making a huge mess over the counter. I help her clean it up, and she tries again. Same thing. She calls me over for help. Another secretary, K, wanders over to see what the fuss is about. So, now K and S are watching as I try to take the filter-bucket-thing off (which is full of water, grounds and coffee). It sticks on something coming off and hot water, coffee and grounds splash all over me and the surrounding area. (It’s hot!) I was happy it didn’t get K or S. Of course I couldn’t be wearing a dark colored shirt this morning, so I look like I’ve been in a mud fight. We were laughing so hard!
After we clean this up, I say, “Let’s try it again!” (See, I am wise. Or stupid. Something.) “Only this time, we’ll only use 3 cups of water and the filter and see if we can get the water to go through by itself.” Now, picture it: 3 secretaries are huddled around this tiny coffeemaker, watching it brew…hot water. 🙂 This worked fine, so we next try to make a regular pot of coffee again. This time, we actually get it.
Dr. K will be back in about 15 minutes from his meeting before he goes to clinic. I think I shall stand up and say, “I had to fight for it, but I won some coffee for you this morning!”
Whoever said secretarial work is dull was soooo wrong!
Hahaha! Dr. K leaves for clinic, “Don’t touch anything electrical!”
