President Bush in Salt Lake City

That's right President Bush arrived in Salt Lake City yesterday afternoon and is still here today. He met with the First Presidency of the Latter-Day Saints Church this morning before 9:00 a.m. and then it was off to his speak engagement of the American Legion. He was out of the city by noon today and off on a plane to who knows where (well I'm sure somebody knows, just not me).

And you're probably thinking what does President Bush's visit do with Jenn. Well, it did effect me, in the most insidious way. It messed up my drive to work this morning. That's right all the traffic was backed up and not much fun today because a good number of roads were blocked off for the President's security.

Okay, I'm going to try and not sound upset here, but let's do some math. Securing a road for 1 man vs. traffic and longer commutes for a couple of thousand. Hmmm, that math seems a little off. Boy, am I glad it's not every day the President comes to town.

I Did a First Tonight...

That's right, I did something for the first time this evening. I went to a movie theater by myself. You see, I sort of had this pass good for one free movie ticket and it was expiring today, so instead of letting it go to waste I thought I might as well use (even if it meant going by myself). I really didn't mind the whole experience either.

In the entire auditorum it was me and two other girls. I guess they weren't have a very busy night, or it could have been my choice in a movie (Material Girls). I thought the movie was cute and funny, not the best or the worst I've ever seen, but on the whole a good film.

It was the previews that really got me. One preview in particular. It was for an upcoming film called Flicka. I'm sitting there watching this preview about a mustang (for those of you who think that's a car in this case i'm talking about a horse) named Flicka and the young girl who tames it. The movie is also about the relationship between a daughter and her father.

I've never done this before, but I started crying over this preview. I sat there and knew I was going to see this movie someday and when I did I'd have a box of tissues close at hand. You know if I have tears during a preview I'll be sobbing the film away. Boy, and I can't wait for that film to come out!!

Thoughts on Home...

Last evening I was drive home from a movie and my thoughts were centered around the city I was driving through. This happens to me a good deal. I'll be driving to or from somewhere and I'm impressed by all that I can see in Salt Lake City. It's more than just how beautiful this city is, it also goes to all it has to offer commercially as well.

As I was driving past all too many store fronts last evening (and all very closely located to my residence) I couldn't help but think how lucky I am to have so many options available to me. In fact it's way to many options, I haven't come even close to visiting all these stores or even knowing of their existence. Yes, finding a new store location happens just about every week for me. Here I am living in a city where I find a new store every week.

Even last night, the movie theater that we visited was somewhere I've never been before (and I've lived in this city for well over a year now). Now that movie theater is a good example of what I'm talking about here. I had never been there before or even thought of its existence, and then I step inside and I'm totally blown away. This wasn't just any movie theater it was a mall. It had 17 auditorms and it's concession stand wasn't just one food area, but a complete food court with tons of culinary options and plenty of seating to eat at. Just going to the movies became an adventure experience that I really enjoyed.

So it was with these thoughts that I was driving home from the movies. I was thinking how lucky I am to be living in a city that is a constant adventure for me, and that I have more options than I know what do to with. Of course I was thinking how could I ever leave this area (or who would ever want to leave).

Then I got home and got online to read some of my friend's blog entries. Brendan posted some updates including a picture from Highland County in Virginia. Oh Highland County!! My mother grew up in rural Highland County, so in my life time I've spent considerable time in that area visiting with family there. I remember times in my childhood that we spent a week or so visiting my grandparents in Highland County. We called in Camp Vance (their surname), for it was like a camp, lots of fun with swimming in the river and playing around outdoors.

Highland County certainly doesn't have that much to offer as far as commercial options or entertainment is concerned. No, it certainly doesn't have much of that to offer at all, but it does have adventure and plenty of nature to enjoy. I looked at that picture Brendan posted and immediately knew why people leave cities like Salt Lake, nothing will ever compare to country life.

A Little Humor For Ya....

Okay, I enjoy a good laugh just like the next person. Even if it is directed at my own gender. Well, I found this posting on someone's MySpace account last night. I can't remember who it was that had it posted, but I know I found them through the EMU alumni page.

Well, it doesn't really matter who it was that posted it, just that they have a good sense of humor.











Now, I do remember where I found the "Redneck Bear". That was on Richard's MySpace account. Now Richard is one of those old friends from high school, so it's not surprising that the "Redneck Bear" reminds me of home. Well, at least it reminds me of some good ol' rednecks back in Virginia.

Well, that's all for today. Maybe I'll catch you all up later with some of my favorite comics that I find online.

Sore Knees...

The last couple of afternoons (and evenings) I spent painting a coffee house. Not just any coffee house I might add, this is a very special coffee house. That's because it belongs to Discovery Christian Community church.

This very afternoon I was down on my knees painting for several hours in our new coffee house. You don't realize how much it affects your knees until it's all said and done. Sometime in the early evening hours I just called it quits on my painting for the day and went home. Upon arriving at my apartment I look down at my knees and they are all swollen and red (not fun).

An hour later, after some ice packs and relaxing by the t.v. I'm feeling 100% better. I'm not too worried about my knees, especially since I won't have to be down on them again for awhile (I can't think of any reason I would have to be any time soon).

It was while I was painting this afternoon that I had plenty of time to think. Funny enough, my thoughts centered around what I should write about on my next blog. Isn't that sad? I see the world through potential blog entries. Any time an event or thought takes place my mind wonders is this worthy of a blog entry, and how should I angle my writing.

Today I was thinking of how best to write about my phone conversation with Emily. It's quite a story. As it happens I had a terrible nightmare last night about Emily. I dreamed that she had been killed on her motorcycle, while she was turning out of her lane. I called Emily today to relate my dream and she tells me of how she never stops at the end of lane. She likes to check the traffic while she's driving and then continue easing out. Hmmm...maybe my dream was a warning!!!

Anyways, I think I've left you with enough for today. You have everything from sore kness to motorcycle crashes, that's what I call blog entertainment.

Too Much Information...

I'm a little afraid that there might be too much information out there on the world wide web about me.

I was made aware of the fact when this evening out of the blue I received a phone call from a long lost friend. Okay, this isn't bad because I knew this guy and he's completely trustworthy(even someone I was happy to talk to). I was just a little perplexed when he called me, especially on my land line phone, which isn't known by too many people. So I asked the question on the top of my mind, how did you get this number.

His response, "Oh, I just looked your name up on the internet and I got your number and address." Being that his response alarmed me somewhat I decided to try this for myself. I went to a online phone directory site and typed in my name and state. One simple click and I had my phone number and address on the screen (minus my apartment number - so I felt better about that).

Another click away and some exchange of money and I could have easily gotten a background check on myself.

Well, to turn the tables a little bit I typed in my friend's name. John Guengerich I know where you live!! (Not that I didn't know that already).

Learning to Save...

A couple of evening ago I wrote out this really neat blog entry about my new experiences with MySpace.com. Come to find out later there must have been a glitch, because my entry didn't post. Of course, I wasn't too smart, for I didn't save my work. That's something I'm going to have to work on; I'm sure it'll improve my health by keeping my frustration and blood pressure low.

Well, on to the cool world of MySpace.com. Over a year ago one of my dear friends told me about this "evil" thing called MySpace. She said that people who were up to no good went to MySpace and did their no good deeds. Well, I figured if it wasn't wholesome then I'd just ignore it.

Periodically in the last year I would hear from other friends about them joining MySpace, and the long lost friends they reconnected with there. Eventually curiosity got ahold of me and I checked it out. Not only did I check it out I started myself an account. It's been pretty neat! I've looked up old high school and college acquaintances and reconnected again. I've enjoyed reading from their profiles where God has lead them and what they've been doing.

The only harmful aspect of MySpace (that I've found true for me) is how addicting it is. On the other hand I know what my first friend was saying about it being unwholesome. She saw it for what certain people were using the site for, but I've learned that it's what you make of it.

Okay, on to other news. I've cut back on eating meat. No, I'm not a vegetarian, but I've been concerned recently about the lack of efficiency in using our world's finite resources. It's some reading I've been doing that lead me to understand how meat products consume more resources (land/water) than are necessary. If the same land and water were used to feed human need (with grains and such) it would far more efficiently feed people than the animals raised on that same land and water.

Don't worry I'm not preaching to anybody or telling them that they should follow suit. It's just my own conscience that lead me to give up the large quantities of meat I consume. I figure I'll still eat meat on occasions, but if one less person needed as much meat than maybe more of our resources could be used to displace hunger somewhere else in the world.

You know, it's been fun so far. I've enjoyed trying new ideas, replacing fruits or vegetables in items for where I use to place meat. Like for example my favorite sandwich is turkey. Anything with bread turkey and cheese and I've got myself a fine lunch. So today instead of turkey I had bread, mushrooms and cheese. It was really good!! The day before I had bread, apple and cheese. That was even better!!!

You should try it yourself sometime. I used some honey wheat bread that I made late last week. Sliced an apple in fine strips and used some Brie cheese. I made it just like a grilled cheese sandwich and with the bread toasted with butter and the melted cheese I was in heaven. The tartness of the apple with the cheese was excellent.

I'm sure by now I've got your mouth watering, so you should be going to make yourself a grilled apple cheese sandwich. ENJOY!!

Mother's Daughter...

I have become my Mom. That's right, I'm definitely my Mother's daughter. Today I went to Home Depot got some paint samples and then studied them for over an hour. I did have a reason for doing that, it wasn't some bizarre action on my part.

It just so happens that I'm in charge of a decorating project at my church. Well, it's more than just decorating, I'm actually coordinating the addition of a coffee house for the church.

My first concern is getting the room painted, which explains my obsession with paint samples. As I stood in the room, of what is to become our coffee house, and held up paint samples to the wall; I was struck by the fact that this was behavior I use to watch my Mom exhibit.

Mom I love you, but I'm about tell on you. She use to have these paint samples and would ask everyone in the family what we thought about her choices. She would ask, and she would ask, and she would ask. Truthfully, none of us cared. It's just that my Mom has such good taste in colors and design that whatever she picked always looked nice.

And here I stood today, looking at different paint choices and gripped with indecision. Man, if someone else had been in that room with me I'm sure I would have annoyed them with constant, "Are you sure it looks okay?"

Yes, I'm definitely my Mother's daughter. I LOVE YOU MOM!!!

For the Bike Movement Guys...

Guys, here's that photo you wanted to see. For everyone else that's a photo of Nathan Maust feeding an ostrich in South Africa.

Bike Movement....

Now if you've had the chance to read my previous entry then you already know of my intent to talk about Bike Movement. I first heard of Bike Movement from my good friend Mike, who had known that our common acquintance, Nate Maust, was biking with the group. I was interested in what Mike was sharing about this group of young adults biking from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans.

Mike went ahead and forwarded to me the Bike Movement website. As I read who was involved with this movement and why they were taking months from their summer to cycle across the country I was hooked. Just about everyday I went online to see where they were at, read their journal entries, read forums, or just look at their really cool photo gallery.

Even today I went online to see how things were progressing with the group. I learned that today they were attempting to set a Bike Movement record, and were in the process of biking a double century (200 miles).

Though I know that each one of them enjoys biking and is taking something from this experience, what's really awesome is what they giving to this movement. It's sort of a two fold effort here (and they explain best at their website). As they travel across the country they're creating dialogue and community with other young adults from the church. It's about each voice being heard and the church learning from each other as they grow in relationship with Christ. They're stopping at Mennonite (and sometimes non-Mennonite) churches along the way and meeting with people and creating dialogue. They're encouraging others to join them for any length of time as they (like how I went and spent and evening fellowship). And they're keeping a VERY up to date website that has a really neat forum that allows people from their own homes to join in the dialogue.

I did say that this movement was two fold. Their other effort is to create support and funding for AMIGOS. They are in the midst of raising $50,000 to help support the effort of sending other youth and young adults to Mennonite World Conference, so their voices can also be heard in the church. The way they estimate funding is if they're able to receive $15 for each mile that they're biking across country then they'll have reached their goal.

I know there is a lot of worth while causes in the world; heartbreaking concerns that we choose between when giving of our blessings. The question I'd like to present to each of you is this; have you ever felt that no one was listening to you, or that you weren't even present to have your voice heard? Just know that you can affect someone else's ability to have their voice heard.

When I look at how the Mennonite Church has grown around the world, and how dynamic it has become in it's diversity, I can't help but desire that we continue in that direction. For that reason it is important that every voice have a chance to be heard no matter their financial circumstances. I like to ask you each of you to consider giving to AMIGOS, that more voices would have the chance to be heard.

If your wondering how you might give just visit Bike Movement online. They have information concern donations by mail, and they've made it possible to make a donation online with your credit card.

While your online making your donation please check out the participants page. I'd suggest thinking of these young adults and keeping them in your prayers. It's not always easy out their on the roads, and sometimes even dangerous. I'm sure they'd appreciate your prayer support as well.