Puts the "Good" in "Good Morning":

"Hello?"
"I'm weak!!
"What?"
"Grande. Nonfat. Pumpkin. Spice. Latte!"
"Already?"
"Yes. It's officially fall, I couldn't resist!"
"You are weak."
"I missed my bus, it's cold outside. It just... called to me!"
"Learn to resist..."
"The self-control was in the grande... I was this close to going Venti."
"Riiiight."
"It's soooooo goooood!"
"Now you're making me want one."
"And nonfat - that practically makes it a healthfood!"
(Laughs)
"Pumpkin spiiiiiiiice....."
"I gotta go, I have an 8:30 meeting - thanks for calling, though."
"Have a great day, hope things aren't too crazy for you."
"You too. I love you."
"I love you too. I love you even more than my Pumpkin Spice Latte!! And that says a lot!"
(Laughs) "Okay, talk to you later."
"Bye."

Classtime

I started my Intro to Forensic Science Class last night. As if the hands-on part wasn't awesome enough (running field test screenings for marijuana, heroin and methamphetamines) the teacher - a forensic chemist with the DEA - is a pretty funny guy. The quote of the night was regarding our textbook, authored by Richard Saferstein:

"I used to work with Dr. Saferstein so I know that this is a good reference text, but you won't want to miss any of the lectures because the guest speakers will teach you more than this book ever could. You're not going to get near as much information from just the readings. Do any of you know Dr. Saferstein? (students shake heads) Good, then you can't tell him what I just said!"

It's gonna be a great class.

...Don't Wear it Out!

Just this morning I was thinking to myself "Self, it would be really cool if you could spell your name with letters from Flikr!" And what do you know....





Thanks Westy!

Yo, Ho! Yo, Ho! A Pirate's Life For Me!

Ahoy there mateys! It be a wonderful time of year once more! Yarrr today be "Talk Like A Pirate Day" again! So whether ye be a buccaneer, a privateer or just another scurvy deck swab here's a top ten tribute to great pirates of the silver screen!

10, 9 and 8) Name: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything
Film: Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie
Actors: Larry the Cucumber, Mr. Lunt, Pa Grape
Memorable Pirate Moment: None ...there's a reason they're called The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything
Memorable Pirate Quote: "We are The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.....and if you ask us, to do anything, we'll just tell you, we don't do anything."
Jolly Roger Rating: 2 - Yarr, they got the right clothes 'n every sailor knows singin' be the key to unity on deck but these salty dogs lose plenty o' points for not doing anything!


7) Name: Blackbeard
Film: Blackbeard's Ghost
Actor: Peter Ustinov
Memorable Pirate Moment: Uhhhh... That would require me having seen this movie in the past decade and a half. Used to watch it a lot as a kid. Yes, my pirate fascination started early.
Memorable Pirate Quote: See Pirate Moment
Jolly Roger Rating: 6.5 - Ahoy! He be a pirate and a ghost and with a name like Blackbeard ye can be bettin' that he's a fiercesome fellow!

6) Name: The Pirate King
Film: The Pirates of Penzance
Actor: Kevin Kline
Memorable Pirate Moments: Swashbuckling, Pillaging, Trickery and of course Singing!
Memorable Pirate Quote: "But I’ll be true to the song I sing, and live and die a Pirate King. For I am a Pirate King! And it is, it is a glorious thing to be a Pirate King!"
Jolly Roger Rating: 7 - Mess with this King and he'll make ye walk the plank!



4) Name: Captain Hook
Films: Peter Pan (several versions) and Hook
Actor: Dustin Hoffman (in Hook), Jason Issacs (in the 2003 Peter Pan)
Memorable Pirate Moment: Any of many sword fights with Peter Pan
Memorable Pirate Quote: "He'll crow. He'll fight. He'll fly. And then... he'll die." (from Hook)
Jolly Roger Rating: 7.5 - Shiver me timbers, Captain Hook be a villianous scab of a pirate if ever there was one!

5) Name: Aragorn
Films: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Actor: Viggo Mortensen
Memorable Pirate Moment: Some may argue that Aragorn is not technically a pirate but the same way actors can win oscars or emmys for minute long scenes in films (*cough cough Judi Dench cough cough*) I'm adding 'Gorny to the list because of his kick-ass swordplay and also the awesome scene in RoTK where he and the army of the dead commandeer Sauron's ships! Now that's Pirate-style!
Memorable Pirate Quote: "What say you?" (To the army of the dead - with the right accent it's very Pirate-ese)
Jolly Roger Rating: 8 - Avast ye mateys here be a leader fit for the seven seas!


3) Name: The Dread Pirate Roberts
Film: The Princess Bride
Actor: Cary Elwes (and for one scene Andre the Giant)
Memorable Pirate Moment: Climbing the Cliffs of Insanity or Storming the Castle Gates (tie)
Memorable Pirate Quote: "Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning."
Jolly Roger Rating: 8.5 - Here be the true secret of infamous pirateering: "Roberts had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. He took me to his cabin and he told me his secret. 'I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts' he said. 'My name is Ryan; I inherited the ship from the previous Dread Pirate Roberts, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from is not the real Dread Pirate Roberts either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Roberts has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.'"

2) Name: One-Eyed Willie
Film: The Goonies
Actor: Senor Skeleton?
Memorable Pirate Moment: He set all those awesome boowy twaps! (You mean booby traps? That's what I said, those awesome boowy twaps!)
Memorable Pirate Quote: Okay so he never actually talks in the film but as Mikey Walsh says, "You know something, Willie? You're the first Goonie."
Jolly Roger Rating: 9.5 - Crack open a chest of dubloons cause Willy here be a pirate of the highest caliberrr.

And who could be a more obvious choice to sail to the number one slot than the master of two great pirate films - soon to grant us the treasure of a third - harr harr, the winner of me pirate movie tribute be non other than....

1) Name: Jack Sparrow
Films: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man's Chest and coming soon At World's End
Actor: Johnny Depp
Memorable Pirate Moment: Too many to count!
Memorable Pirate Quote: "Captain... Captain Jack Sparrow."
Jolly Roger Rating: 10 - Yo, Ho! Yo, Ho! A Pirate's Life For Me! Drink up me hearties yo, ho!

I guess I like Wesley...

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Emergent/Postmodern 71% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 71% Neo orthodox 68% Roman Catholic 61% Classical Liberal 50% Reformed Evangelical 46% Modern Liberal 46% Fundamentalist 36% Charismatic/Pentecostal 29% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Thought this was an interesting quiz about "religion". Not sure how growing up Catholic and attending a non-denominational church puts me in the with the Postmodern / Evangelical category but cool survey nevertheless. Of course, I'm not too sure about the John Wesley influence either. Not that there's anything wrong with it but I can think of a different Wesley that I spent much more time growing up with....

Unplugged Again

Here I go with the random thoughts/updates again:

• Crazy weekend. Great birthday but I got something I really didn't want: the flu.
  

• Needless to say chocolate cake has been added to chicken soup and ginger ale as the ultimate feel better trifecta.

• All day at home on Sunday was made much more enjoyable by DAA BEARS!!! 26-0 AWWW YEAH!!

• Of course we know at least one person (not named Favre) wasn't too happy about the way the game ended up. I knew I should have bought a new bedroom set...

• And while I'm on the subject of record breaking sports performances, let me just say that the Cubs have made a rock solid case against perfectionism. Six errors and a victory last night gives slackers worldwide hope for a positive future.

• Speaking of positive future, I'm jumping on the back-to-school bandwagon (sort-of). I'm taking a class this fall. What can I say, old dreams die hard. Tell me who are you...
  

• It's been a while so we'll see how it goes. There's something a little crazy about going to school just for fun, not to mention signing over 30+ hours of the next ten weeks to class work - yikes!
  

• Because there's no nice way to transition in or out of it I want to give kudos to Greg for a really great 9/11 reflection blog entry. Poignant but not tear-jerking, it's things I would've said, had I thought of them... except I think I actually filled in the blanks the first time. ;)

• And the best news I received this week is that a family friend whose father died in the World Trade Center just had a son - born on Monday, September 11. Kind of makes you think about God as the God of new beginnings. Here's to healing and new life for all.