I sleep less... and I think more

Quick update

2008-09-27T13:26:00.007-05:00

I know it's been a while, but I had a big desire to blog today. I realized there are many things many people don't know. Like...
I moved to Memphis. It's so beautiful and I wish I had better pictures to show you. Everything is so green. People say it's the "biggest small town." It's really true... there's such a small community feel

Tyler and I have a garden in his backyard. He tilled the ground, built a fence, made the rows, planted, and now we water constantly and pray that God will show us some fruit from our labor! It's looking so beautiful and I feel so proud every time I look at our strong plants!

I really have loved gardening. It takes so much time, but it makes my life feel slow, calm, simple. I can't wait to eat our vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, radishes, kale, sugar peas, snow peas, carrots, spinach, turnip greens, onions, and more) and share them with our neighbors!

Tyler and I have been vegetarians since we moved to Memphis. I'll go into more detail in another post, but we're not extremely strict, and decided to have meat once a month. I chose Buffalo Wild Wings the other day, and was NOT disappointed at all in my decision because it was coupled with a snow cone, my room mates, and a park.

I'll blog more in depth soon about: the program I'm doing, my new nanny job, being a vegetarian, my wonderful room mates, and more. Stay posted!

Donald Miller is riding across America

2008-06-11T13:08:00.001-05:00

"Serve God, Save the Planet" by J. Matthew Sleeth, MD

2008-05-30T12:18:00.003-05:00

Caleb (one of the program guys) just went to the ER because he cut his toes with a machete. He was just walking and swinging it... and the rest is history.

:/

I found that video blogging is easier and more interesting than this. I've been doing them on facebook. If you don't have facebook, I'm sorry. I'll try to figure out how to get some on here.

I'm reading this book called "Serve God, Save the Planet." It sounds cheesy, but it's SO good. This guy is a doctor and I guess one day he looked around and realized his family wasn't being a good steward of God's creation. So they moved into a house the size of their old garage, his kids hang their clothes on the line, and they only have one bag of trash every few weeks.

He talked about how 1 in 15 people get some type of cancer, and it's all because of what we're doing to our environment, our food, etc. We just accept it as a norm that so many people get cancer, but it's not supposed to be like that.

So this guy (J. Matthew Sleeth, MD) is just talking to far about why we should care about our environment and diseases that have been caused by it. In the rest of the book he'll get into how to do that, etc.

It's a GREAT book and so cool to hear from a Christian perspective. Some people say it's going overboard to be obsessed with preserving the environment, but it's just taking care of what God made and preserving it for our people!

He just told a story about an 8 yr old girl that died from air pollution and it literally made me cry. So sad.

Anyway... check it out.

Itchy in Oklahoma

2008-05-23T15:41:00.004-05:00

This is the time of day that I get terribly sleepy.

And terribly itchy from all the mess that's in this Oklahoma dirt and air.

My throat is going crazy. I just want to take a long back scratcher and shove it down there to give it a good scratch. In a perfect world... it wouldn't make me gag either. No, in a perfect world... I wouldn't have an itchy throat.

And about these eyes.
My contacts feel like goggles suctioned to my eyes, trapping dirt underneath.

Right now I want to nap. No, I want to read. But reading lately makes me sleepy. It's sad.

Still waiting on:
Chacos in the mail
My bike coming today from Lindale
Letters from you!

:)

the big MO (I think that's the abbreviation)

2008-05-22T15:04:00.003-05:00

We went to a starbucks in Joplin, Missouri lastnight.

My first time in Missouri. I feel like there's nothing different about it... but also heard that's not the best part of the state.

Interesting.

I got a company vehicle to drive around until my beloved bike gets here.

It's a 4 wheeler.

Booyeah.

This just in: Oklahoma has the Internet!

2008-05-20T18:13:00.004-05:00

And wireless at that!

Casey, Presley, Chili, and Tomara drove me to Lindale, TX on Sunday night. It was a fun little roadtrip. The Oklahoma camp director lives there in a house on a lake. It's BEAUTIFUL. I woke up in the morning and had the house to myself. I sat, read, wrote thank you cards, made some eggs, relaxed.

The drive to Quapaw with the director's wife took 6 hours. She is SO great. She's so wise and just a ton of fun. I can't wait to learn a ton from her this summer!

So... the staff seems cool. I've been kind of introverted... just sitting back and trying to figure out everyone's personality. It's interesting.

I'm excited to be running, biking, and reading in my spare time.

Keep checking back... hopefully I'll have more interesting stories. I'm just trying to keep y'all posted so far.

OH and... I only get reception in a few areas around camp, so emailing is probably the best way to get to me fast.

Much love!
Erica

7750 S. 655 Rd. Quapaw, OK 74363

2008-05-15T19:12:00.000-05:00

Welp... the job turned out to be at the Oklahoma Sky Ranch.

AND I TOOK IT!!!

I'm leaving Denton on Monday.

My summer dilemma

2008-05-15T08:53:00.002-05:00

I'm in day 4 of the working 8-5 world.

I just can't do it today.

The guy I worked for in Colorado asked if I wanted a job with him in East Texas. I just wanna do it. I could leave Nissan, spend the summer outside, do something different everyday.

I wanted to spend these last few months in Denton, but now I feel like all my friends are gone, or leaving in the next few days... and I only have a few hours a day to hang out with people that ARE here.

I feel like I'm not staying in Denton to enjoy it or hang out, but rather to work. Blah.

How do people do this 40 hour office week!? I can't imagine having no end in sight. (Though the end of the summer seems too long to wait for anyway).

The dangers of 20 mph

2008-04-28T00:56:00.003-05:00

There's a really long street on campus that has a mph of 20.

Just now I was driving on it and there was a cop, so I was extra cautious. I stared intensely at my odometer, making sure it didn't go above or below 20. It's actually really hard driving 20 mph!

The point of it being so low is that there are a lot of pedestrians around campus, right? Well I realized, at the moment someone could walk right in front of my car and I wouldn't even know. I'd definitely run them over because my eyes were GLUED to the odometer.

Oxymoron.

Sleeping Dilemma #1 (because I'm positive more will come)

2008-04-22T01:56:00.003-05:00

It finally has reached the time in the night when things have calmed down and everyone is still (or at least quiet).

The sucky thing is that it's 2 a.m. and I should go to sleep. But this is the moment I've been waiting for! This would be the perfect time to study full force.

My huge desire for productivity comes from my competitive nature. Yes, needing to be productive is like competing with myself. It's sick. And it keeps me up at night, because sleeping is for lazy people. (But not really, I just have a crazy head).

I'm hoping this problem self-corrects after college. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Sleep on, you wise people.

Fun at work #1

2008-04-18T16:49:00.002-05:00

Setting: work
People: Me, Lorielle (coworker #1), Connie (older coworker #2)

(I roll my chair over to Lorielle.)

Lorielle: when is your twin getting married?
Connie: You have a twin!?

(I look at Connie and roll away, because she should know).

Connie: You have to remember, I'm old and I forget things.
Me: My mom is your age, and she ALWAYS remembers I have a twin.

The Gospel of Apple Computers

2008-04-10T22:44:00.002-05:00

I'm researching Apple as a brand and I came across this customer comment:

" we've always been known to be rabid/cult-like followers anyhow. not only have i recommended Apple to many friends & family over the past few year, i've personally helped at least 5 people switch in the past couple years."

hmm... sounds like they're converting people.

the sad thing is, i read this and got excited. "way to go guy!" i thought. I will talk to someone all day about why they should get a Mac and why they're better than PC's. I know that once people go Mac, they never go back. And it excites me.

If I really think that Jesus is the best thing someone can know about... why don't I talk about Him with the same enthusiasm?

Ouch.

Babysitting computers

2008-04-08T19:33:00.000-05:00

When you ask someone to watch your computer while you go to the bathroom, you can rest easy knowing "surely this guy won't just let someone run off with my computer."

But...what if the only person that even thought about running off with your computer is the one you asked to watch it? Who's holding him accountable?

I had this thought when the guy I asked just now (we'll call him Will) seemed a little weird/high. "Will's totally gonna take my computer," I thought. Yep, I stereotyped him. But... I came back and not only was everything in it's proper place, but Will had changed his sitting direction so he could be facing my stuff.

Wow. Thanks Will... for having my back, even when I don't deserve it.

This terrible title

2008-04-08T00:32:00.000-05:00

Right now I feel like I'm going to die if I don't sleep.

Maybe NOT sleeping is for dead people.

Maybe I was a little hasty with the title of this blog. I'll get back to you.

For now... study on.

Hair and the cold

2008-04-06T20:10:00.001-05:00

My arm hair stands straight up when I'm really cold. I think my leg hair would too if I kept it somewhat long, so I guess I have no way of knowing. Okay that's a lie. I know very well that my leg hair sticks straight up. But that's not the point.

Why does only arm/leg hair do that? Of course hair on your head is too heavy. But what about... your eyebrows? What if, when I was extremely cold, my eyebrows stuck straight out?