Dance!

Tracy versus Midas

I don't think of myself as a person with a chip on her shoulder. I don't go through life feeling like the world doesn't treat me right because of my identity as a woman or as an Asian woman. I am a bit paranoid, however, whenever I take my car in to get fixed.

My car has been racking up some problems: the rear left blinker hasn't worked since July, I needed to get my oil changed, and I have a feeling the O2 sensor is not working as efficiently as it should. I took my car into Midas this weekend and hoped for the best. After an hour, I was sitting in Subway next door when I get a call from the mechanic. "I have some news for you," he says, then proceeds to list a bunch of services my car needs with the final price of about $200.

Crap. My first thought was that they probably saw me and thought one word: woman. Knowing that my car-knowledgeable friend Gehr was only a phone call away, I replied without skipping a beat "okay, I need you to list again what exactly needs to be serviced and how much it is costing me." I interrupted him often, asking him to distinguish between labor costs and material costs. Having clearly taken him by surprise, his tone of voiced changed completely. I told him I wanted to go to the shop in person before signing off on any services. "Yes ma'am," he answered. "We'll be waiting for you."

A phone call later, turns out I didn't need half the services that were suggested. I go in, tell them firmly what I wanted done and what I didn't need done. I ask him how much longer before my car is ready. "Well, we need to get a new air filter for you...that may take about an hour." I looked him evenly in the eye, "Do I really need a new filter?"

"Well ma'am, I guess it wasn't that dirty."

"Could it last another 3000 miles?"

"I suppose it can... yes, you'll be fine until your next oil change."

Bam, another $16 bucks saved. Final amount spent: $50. Tracy wins this round, Midas!

Isaiah 45:4-7

For the sake of Jacob my servant,
of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
and bestow on you a title of honor,
though you do not acknowledge me.

I am the LORD and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
though you have not acknowledged me,
so that from the rising of the sun
to the place of its setting
people may know there is none besides me.

I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the LORD, do all these things.

Interesting account of Calvinism

"Calvin wrote his epochal work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion, when he was only twenty-six, and never changed his mind on any salient point; in it, he rigorously drew together all the most severe elements of the Old Testament, the patristic writings, and Lutheranism, and derived from them by selection and extension a ferocious theology built upon total human depravity, the implacable wrath of God with man, and the concepts of absolute predestination, the election of the every few, and the certain damnation of all the rest.

Had Calvin been a happier or healtheir man, Puritanism might never have been puritanical, and the thinking of the Genevans, the Dutch, the Scotch, the English, and the Americans ever since might have been different... Unlike Luther, Calvin did not enjoy playing the lute or flute, eating broiled fish, or downing a flagon of beer; unlike Luther, he was small and thin, dyspeptic and ailing, intense and unhumorous. Conceivably, the ascetic and repressive features that mark Puritanism at its unloveliest and have given it a bad name owe as much to one man's glandular shortcomings as to the social goals of the bourgeoisie."

~ from Morton Hunt's "The Natural History of Love."

Reactions?

SNL and Politics

These two videos had me laughing to the point of tears. Enjoy!

$2.99???

Holy smokes! Rode past a gas station this morning on my way to school that was selling gas for $2.99 a gallon...

Just for laughs

Could not stop cracking up this morning:



Ah, the ridiculousness sometimes.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Why have I not been sleeping well the last couple of weeks? Here's why:

For Sale

Anyone in need of a dining room table? We're replacing the glass table with one I bought at Ikea to match our chairs. There's a few scratches on the glass, but otherwise in good condition. $45 or best offer - the chairs are NOT for sale. Let me know!!

Life's a Blur

It's a beautiful day out today. Woke up this morning feeling incredibly lazy. I cleaned the apartment from top to bottom, did my laundry, booked my flight home for Christmas break, and am now studying for my stats exam before writing a paper for my Old Testament Sunday school class and reading for research.

Life's a blur. But once in awhile I'll get a moment to sit and enjoy the fresh air and watch my roommate's dog play on our deck.