Did I hear that right?

Lately, my non-school/non-work time has been mostly confined to church time and drive time. From time to time, I hear interesting things on the radio that I mean to remember to blog -- time and opportunities get away from me, though.

1. We've just finished Bible Study (yay! time to spend with friends and the Lord -- I'm so glad Izzy has pushed to get this started!) and I cracked open a text book and the Internet to work on a class assignment. In the book for my nursing leadership class, I read these objectives for one of the chapters:

• Describe the six steps in the communication process
• Describe at least two ways to deal with hostile-aggressive people
• Diagram complementary transactions
• Plan at least two strategies for dealing with a sniper.

Did I read that right? Not sure if this is what I thought I was signing up to learn.

2. At the beginning of the Glenn Beck radio show, in the intro music, I swear the voice-over basso-profundo is saying "immense imperial goat." I finally got around to googling it, and was quite surprised that as I typed immense imp... the Google toolbar filled in the rest of the phrase. Turns out it's Orson Wells saying "immense ethereal gulf." Not nearly as fun -- the goat makes a much better blog or band name.

3. Speaking of bands (and this may cross a line somewhere). Almost two weeks ago, there was a tragic plane crash in our area that killed four people and injured two others. The injured persons were two artists who had just performed a free concert in our area: DJ AM and Travis Barker.
On the radio reports for the first 2 days after the crash, as everyone used the same news copy, we heard the following::

The crash killed four people and injured two musicians.

Musicians, not people.

Time to go read. Back on the blog next month.

Everyone in Mandrake falls is Pixilated

Had a web cam meeting earlier. Since I was the host (meaning that my speakers got to echo more than the rest of the group's), I spent a bit of time on the site before the rest of the group arrived. I discovered fun (waste of time?) features on the camera and took a screen shot. It's amazing how my eyes rearrange these blocks into something I recognize as my face.

Took awhile and Izzy's vast knowledge of old movie lore, but now I remember where I'd heard the quote: Everyone in Mandrake falls is Pixilated.

The quote comes from Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, which starred Gary Cooper. I'm posting the quote dialogue here so I'll have it for later reference.(from the imdb)

[Two shy sisters testify at Deeds's sanity hearing]
John Cedar: Do you know the defendant, Mr. Longfellow Deeds?
[long pause]
Jane Faulkner: Oh yes, yes, of course we know him.
John Cedar: How long have you known him?
[Jane whispers to Amy; Amy whispers back]
Jane Faulkner: Since he was born.
Amy Faulkner: Yes, Elsie Taggart was the midwife.
Jane Faulkner: He was a seven months' baby.
John Cedar: Thank you, that's, that's fine. Do you see him very often?
[Jane whispers to Amy; Amy whispers back]
Jane Faulkner: Most every day.
Amy Faulkner: Sometimes twice.
Judge May: Must we have the echo?
John Cedar: Suppose you just answer, Miss Jane. Now, will you tell the court what everybody at home thinks of Longfellow Deeds?
[pause; then Jane whispers to Amy; Amy whispers back]
Jane Faulkner: They think he's pixilated.
Amy Faulkner: Oh, yes, pixilated.
Judge May: He's what?
John Cedar: What was that you said he was?
Jane Faulkner: Pixilated.
Amy Faulkner: Mm-hmm.
John Cedar: Now that's rather a strange word to us, Miss Jane. Can you tell the court exactly what it means?
Board member: Perhaps I can explain, Your Honor. The word "pixilated" is an early American expression derived from the word "pixies," meaning elves. They would say the pixies had got him. As we nowadays would say, a man is "barmy."
Judge May: Oh. Is that correct?
Jane Faulkner: Mm-hmm.
Amy Faulkner: Mm-hmm.

Later...

Longfellow Deeds: Are you happy there?
Jane Faulkner: Oh, yes.
Amy Faulkner: Yes indeed.
Longfellow Deeds: Now, uh, Jane, a little while ago you said I was pixilated. Do you still think so?
[Jane whispers to Amy; Amy whispers back]
Jane Faulkner: Why, you've always been pixilated, Longfellow.
Amy Faulkner: Always.
Longfellow Deeds: That's fine, hm, I guess maybe I am. And now tell me something, Jane: who else in Mandrake Falls is pixilated?
Jane Faulkner: Why, everybody in Mandrake Falls is pixilated - except us.
Amy Faulkner: Mm-hmm.

Gonna need a bigger sock

Looks like the best place for any $$ we have might be in a sock under that mattress. With the threat of multiple bank closures, we might all need bigger socks.

Or patience -- we survived the Savings & Loan disaster in TX in the early '80's. We got royally screwed, tho, when our S&L was bought by the same guy who bought the Dallas Cowboys and fired Tom Landry. Bum Bright, the aforementioned owner, must have needed extra ready cash -- the "bank" started floating payroll checks. For two weeks. You can guess the havoc that played with our payments. 7-11 sends bounced checks back to the bank 5-6 times each....

Digression aside -- here's hoping the panic ends soon. I don't have a good understanding of high finance or economics, but it seems like these houses of cards should have been identified long ago.

My Patron's Baby Daddy

Pulled from a friend's Facebook Saint of the Day feed, which I decided to check out when Blackboard went down and I couldn't finish my homework.

Today is the feast of Blessed Louis of Thuringia, spouse of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, my patroness and the reason for the blog name.

BLESSED LOUIS OF THURINGIA

This German prince lived during the last part of the twelfth and first part of the thirteenth centuries. He married St. Elizabeth of Hungary when he was twenty-one and she was just fourteen. The marriage had been arranged by their parents. This was the custom. But they both loved God, and he gave them great love for each other. So it was that they were very happy together. Their joy increased when God sent them their three children. The youngest was Blessed Gertrude.

Louis helped his wife in her many works of charity for the poor. He also joined her in devout prayer. Time after time, the people saw their handsome prince and his lovely wife helping the poor. It is said that once Elizabeth brought a leper into their castle and nursed him in their bed. For a moment, when Louis saw that, he was angry. Then, suddenly, instead of the leper, he saw our crucified Lord lying there. After that proof of how much Jesus appreciated Elizabeth's charity, Louis had a hospital for lepers built.

One long, bitter cold winter, Louis had to be away from his land. When he returned, Elizabeth was overjoyed. The next year Louis left on a Crusade to free the Holy Land from the Muslims. But on the way, he caught malaria, and soon was dying. Because he had always lived in close union with Jesus, the brave ruler felt no fear of death. He received the Last Sacraments and died peacefully in 1227. Let us pray today for married couples, that their love for each other will help them grow in personal holiness.

The bit about "helping his wife in her many works of charity for the poor" makes him sound a lot more benevolent than he was at first. Like any good husband, he was concerned with Lizzie started feeding the many beggars at the gate. She was once headed down to feed some poor people and needed to carry loaves of bread past Louis, who she knew would be upset that she was again giving so much away. As she passed her husband, God touched Louis' vision so that he saw his wife carrying armloads of roses. Neat, huh?

Now that her secret is out, my medal is free to show her carrying bread.

BTW: The friend who had the saint feed dropped by the House of Chez Casa this evening with a darling book about a dinosaur who was peculiar and a lovely other dinosaur who was a free spirit and especially keen on shopping. They loved each other very much as they grew old together. We took a break from my studies and his grading to read it aloud to each other, as we sipped scotch (him) and tawny port (me) and thought mushy thoughts. Like the dinosaurs, we're older and still very much in love (not all the time, but we're so grateful when God gives us those periods of intense mushiness.)

Painting is the wedding of Louis and Elizabeth, Rijks Museum.

School Registration Form

I just realized that I've not posted anything* since August 23. Wow. School really has taken over my life.

Found this on the NY Times OpArt website today: it's a registration form for an imaginary, but oh-too-close-to-life private school.

nytimes.com/interactive/2008/09/08/opinion/20080908_opart.html

Credits: Bruce Handy, Stephanie Chen.

Amongst the brilliance:

Greetings Parents.

We're sure you're every bit as excited about the new school year as we are. (Sigh.)

Please take the time to fill out the following registration form.

Send it in on the first day of school with your fully innoculated, adequately medicated, lice-free son/daughter.
.....

4 / For this year's auction I plan to donate:
(a) Two tickets to Super Bowl XLIII
(b) Dinner for eight prepared in the winner's own kitchen by Mario
Batali.
(c) Something sad and inadequate that will be discussed in bemused tones by the more attractive mothers at pickup.

Click the pic to view larger.

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* That should read "anything here." I've certainly posted plenty on Blackboard for classes. There's also microblogging, available via LJ.