I found what must be the only Grackle in the state of California. I went outside to eat lunch, and this hideous (as all you current Texans out there know) bird with a tail too long for its body comes hopping up next to me. "Are you LOST?" said I. "GRACK," said the grackle. "Are you hungry?" "GRACK" "Would you like a french fry?" "GRACK" So the obviously out of place grackle hopped over and took my french fry, calmly cut it into three pieces, managed to fit all three sideways in his beak, made one more gurgling "GRACK" through a mouthfull, and then flew off looking very proud of himself. The other birds who were keeping a proper distance swore at him as he flew away.

I'm reading Oswald Chambers right now. Ouch....hitting a little to close to home. Today was about fretting. He says that the only time we fret is when we take ourselves out of God's control and start planning our lives without His consideration. Also he says we work ourselves into a corner by allowing ourselves the luxury of thinking that our little sins are too much for God to handle...that he can't take it out of our lives it we let it. So we continue to wallow in them complacently, thinking that even God can't do anything about it. All of you should get this book -- My utmost for his highest -- Oswald Chambers. Aaron, get your copies back! Teri, I'm sure you have it somewhere....

I went on a date last night. It wasn't as frightening as I thought it would be (it's been a LOOOOONNG time). I was worried about having to fend off advances through the whole movie, so in the absence of Runts, I got Sweet Tarts and arranged them by color in my skirt, and at them one by one. Made them last the whole movie....quite a feat. It was a great movie -- Minority Report -- Steven Spielberg, John Williams, how can you go wrong? Then we went to Olive Garden. The waitress was obviously in a hurry to go home. We didn't get three bites of our salad before the meal came, and five bites into that she wanted to know about dessert, and then brought the bill when we said no. Since both of us are waiters, we knew all the tricks to rush people along.... All in all it was a great night! Low key, tons of fun. He likes red heads apparently -- since I'm only going to be here for six more weeks, I think I'll just dye my hair and keep my mouth shut.