November 29, 2005 at 09:22 am
Eek!
We had a little visitor last night…
Julianna saw it first as she was walking into the livingroom to begin her dinner. After hearing the scream, I ran in to see what the problem was.
I’ve never actually ecperienced having a mouse in my house before. Well, not a live one anyway (sometimes, they get into my parents’ attic die there — it doesn’t smell very nice, but at least you don’t have to see them running around the house). Anyway, last night, our mouse made it all the way around the perimeter of our livingroom before I could catch it (or kill it, I don’t really know at this point).
After cornering the mouse behind one of our stereo speakers, I coerced Julianna (i.e., I got her to come down off of the chair) into poking it with the end of a mop handle. Once it ran out from behind the speaker, I quickly slammed a colander down to catch it. Unfortunately, I caught the poor little guy right on the neck. I scooped the mouse up into the colander with a dust pan and took it outside to fling the mouse into the street. I thought I had killed the thing under the pressure of the colander, but when I went to look where I flinged the mouse to, it was gone.
Needless to say, this freaked both Julianna and I out a little. I was confident that I could catch the mouse, but I sure didn’t like knowing that the rodent had gotten into our house. Hopefully, it won’t happen again.
November 28, 2005 at 10:16 am
Getting stuffed or getting stuck?
This photograph was taken by Julianna on Thanksgiving day…
November 27, 2005 at 1:02 pm
Post-Thanksgiving thoughts (and the first day of Advent)...
I usually take Thanksgiving as an opportunity to ponder on the previous year of my life. As I’ve said before (e.g., here), Thanksgiving always seems like more of a time for reflection than New Year’s Day ever does. Something happened over the past week that doesn’t make me feel much like externalizing on my own life, though.
November 23, 2005 at 3:47 pm
You know you wanna know...
November 23, 2005 at 12:49 pm
What should we be expecting?
In a few minutes, I’ll be heading downtown to pick up Julianna. We’re going to our five-month pregnancy checkup. We’re also going to be finding out if the baby is a boy or a girl.
Pretty exciting!
(I feel like I need to add that the subject line of this entry was sort of rhetorical and meant to be more of a pun than anything.)
November 23, 2005 at 12:45 pm
Speaking of chicken...
Last night, for dinner, I decided to make some of Rachel Ray‘s “Buffalo Popcorn Chicken Bites.” It went great — the recipe is pretty easy to follow and the Bites turned out just like they should have (give or take a couple of burnt ones that occurred while adjusting the temperature of the oil). Sadly, when all was said and done, I was not very impressed with the taste. Using pancake batter as the fried shell for the chicken comes out tasting very rich and “muffiny.” And, the batter, when fried, retains a lot of the oil. The chicken cooked nicely during the frying process, but after tasting a few of the Bites, I decided to strip the remaining chicken nuggets of their hard shells.
I’m a fan of Rachel Ray’s, but this recipe just didn’t cut it for me.
November 22, 2005 at 12:22 pm
Spoiler Alert!
I don’t think I’ve ever linked to Savage Chickens before (sometimes they’re funny and sometimes they’re not). This one struck my funny bone, though — and how true it is. 
November 17, 2005 at 10:35 am
Happy birthday, baby!
It’s Julianna‘s birthday today…
November 15, 2005 at 10:04 pm
Are you still shopping at Wal-Mart?
Tsk tsk.
Doug Weinbrenner and I went to see WAL-MART – The High Cost of Low Price this evening. Both of us are pretty anti-Wal-Mart already (for innumerable reasons) but everytime I see their evils displayed, I am sickened.
Anyway, other than instilling my own snide opinions here (it is my Weblog afterall and I don’t think I’ve stepped inside a Wal-Mart for over three years now, so there), I know I can’t tell you what to do (even though there are plenty of other places — ahem — to get cheap stuff. What I can do is ask that you make an effort to see this film — if only to see another side of the story. It’s playing at a number of locations (most of the time for free) for the next couple of months, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.
As God is my witness, if I ever step into another Wal-Mart again, may He strike me down on the welcome mat.
Here are some links you should click on:
November 15, 2005 at 3:33 pm
Record sales...
It was really cool to get an e-mail today from a guy who wants to buy forty of one of my CDs. What sucks is thinking about how that is forty-times the amount of sales I have had this year.
I really need to finish that next record.
November 11, 2005 at 10:59 am
The Place...
A little while ago, a friend of mine posted a Blog entry about finding The Place — you know, somewhere where everyone knows your name and they’re always glad you came, etc.
Well, since moving to Kansas City, I’ve always wondered if I’d find my place here. I’ve had places before: restaurants and pubs — not many, but a few. But, I hadn’t found my place in this city yet… Until yesterday…
Last night, as Julianna and I approached the pharmacy’s check-out desk at Osco, on Westport and Main, the clerk looked up and, before we could get a word out, greeted us with, “Samoff, right?”
Julianna and I looked at each other and laughed; we’d found The Place.
How embarrassing is it that we are such regulars at a pharmacy that they know our names? I mean, come on!
So, I think I’ll continue hoping for a place... Osco, I’m sorry to say, just doesn’t cut it for me. (But, stop by sometime, I’m sure you’ll find us there.)
November 07, 2005 at 2:46 pm
Flickr "Interestingness"...
I am fortunate enough to have made it onto Flickr‘s “Interestingness” calendar for November 3rd. This particular photo (which appears on page 7 of the calendar has gotten more comments and has been “favorited” more than any other photo I have uploaded thus far.
Thanks, everyone, for viewing and commenting on my photo!
November 07, 2005 at 11:33 am
House guests...
I forgot to mention that our friends, Rob and Erica, are staying with us this week. They arrived from St. Louis on Friday and will be here for a few more days. Rob has an interview at a local hospital and Erica has family out this way — not to mention all of the friends they have out here.
Anyway, it has been great having them stay with us, and I know they’ve had a good time seeing everyone.
This photo is of Rob and Erica showing our dog, Indy, how to use a PowerBook (as if she didn’t already know).
November 03, 2005 at 1:36 pm
"Reaching the Connected Generation with Blogging"
Blogging. Technology. Faith. Missions.
This video (courtesy of Google Video), including a panel led by a few of my friends, is a must-view for those of you who consider your place in the Blogosphere as “missional” (or even if you’re just interested in learning more about how blogging connects people).
This comes from a DVD set of 19 workshops presented at the Internet Evangelism for the 21st Century Conference.And, hey, DJ Chuang mentions my church community, so it must be good, right?
(Link via Steve Knight.)
November 03, 2005 at 12:47 pm
Even more humor!
Read “Why I Am Not Emergent,” by Michael Lee, and see why it would serve us all well to leave that God-forsaken movement behind.
I don’t know why I didn’t see some of this sooner:
ECM people eat their young. I don’t want to gossip, so I won’t name any names here, but I have a friend who is part of an emerging church in Seattle, who heard this story about this other emerging church where, instead of taking communion in the normal way, they eat their own young!And to think, I was just as fooled as the rest of ‘em.
Read the rest here.
(Link via Darryl Dash.)
November 03, 2005 at 11:33 am
More humor...
My wife is a nurse in the cardiology clinic at the hospital she is employed by. Because of this she comes into contact with a number of drug reps who are always trying to get the clinic to buy whatever they represent. To “aid” their sales, these drug reps usually have all sorts of schwag to pawn off on the people they meet with (not to mention free lunches and dinners at very nice restaurants). Of the varied tchotchkes that drug reps love to pass around are pens.
I’ve seen all sorts: pens with nylon grips; metallic, triangular pens that won’t roll off your desk; pens that have built-in laser pointers; pens that contain an LED light that goes off when a cellular phone rings… You name it and I’ve probably seen it.
Until yesterday.
Here is the most recent pen that Julianna received from one of the aforementioned drug reps:
Better yet, watch this video, of the Levitra pen in action, and make your own assumptions (MPEG, 784k):
November 02, 2005 at 12:50 pm
Calvin and Hobbes Snow Art...
Pretty humorous (and plenty twisted).
(Link via Tim Gulick.)