I'm not moving, but I've decided to "move" my primary blog elsewhere. If you'd like to continue to read what I've chosen to write, please feel free to go to kristinjhand.com for all future posts.

I'll be keeping this account, as there are blogs I read here, but I'll only be updating sporadically, if at all.

Thanks!

I saw this story on foxnews.com last night while I was at class, but couldn't post it at the time.

Click here for a story about a child raised by a member of Hamas who has converted to Christianity and the issues he now faces, as well as his viewpoint on the Muslim faith, having lived it for most of his life.

It's a very interesting piece.

It's been a while since I've posted, and my first post in a while is going to be a gripe. Sorry.

In my line of work our student files are virtual, meaning we don't have any file folders in cabinets. As a result, notes on the student's file are entered into our computer system for anyone in the office to read. This is supposed to be helpful, in the event that more than one person talks or emails with a student.

However, I've come to learn, that reading notes has become unnecessary (if not impossible) for some people, and they would prefer to just ask questions that already have answers staring them in the face. Now perhaps if the notes were confusing, that would be one thing, but I know for a fact that the notes in question were clear.

I think the next round of interviews my office does should involve asking questions and making the candidate look up the answers to see if they are able to read and comprehend, without needing people to read the notes for them.

I got the opportunity to see "The Dark Knight" last night, and all I can say is WOWOWOW!

I was super concerned that since I don't handle scary movies well, that this would be a tough one for me to watch, but I was not about to miss Christian Bale for the world. Christian did not disappoint, and neither did Heath Ledger.

I was sufficiently creeped out, without being entirely scared to death. I had failed to notice that the movie is PG-13, so there couldn't have been too much gory stuff.

One thing that maybe disappointed a little was that quite a bit of the dry humor from "Batman Begins" was missing. That was one of my favorite parts of the first movie was the humor. Perhaps they cut a lot out due to the darker nature of this film.

I've read that if the Nolans do a 3rd movie, Christian will be there. I'm rooting for that.

Too much Christian Bale is a good thing!

I'm working some overtime today, and noticed something a bit disturbing about myself.

(some necessary background info...I process financial aid for a university for a living)

I am currently working on processing aid for a group of students that started class at the end of May. I have a processing "rhythm" that I work hard to maintain. Then I glanced over at my desk and realized that this "rhytm" takes 9 different writing utensils, 8 ink pens (all different colors) and a highlighter. Even more disturbing, each ink pen color represents something different (based on info I have to look up for each student).

I think I might be losing it.

Here's a picture of my newest nephew, JD, taken after his baptism on Memorial Day Sunday.

My dad is no stranger to misused words. He has been known to refer to cars as being "cherry apple" red, and has advised us not to "run a dead horse into the ground." He is really very smart, just sometimes gets his words and cliches mixed.

This past week was another one of those instances. He went golfing at a new course, and so he was telling my mom about the lay of it. He noted that there were several rolling "hills" in the fairways, and then he said it. He told my mom "It was a nice, ovulating course."

Mom said that it took some effort to not laugh in his face. She told him that he probably didn't mean "ovulating," but couldn't come up with the word he was looking for, so she called me. I let her know that "undulating" was the word they really wanted, and that I was glad Dad knew that there was a five dollar word to describe that golf course.

However, this one will go down as one of the best "dad-isms" of all time.

My great-aunt Margaret (the wife of my "Grandpa" Jim, who killed himself last month) appears to be doing well.

My mom talked to her this past week, and Aunt Marg told her that while she's never, ever believed in seances, she could really use one right now. That kind of took my mom by surprise given that my Aunt Marg is one of the godliest women we know. Aunt Marg continued by saying that she has two questions she needs to ask Jim:

1) What in the world were you thinking? and
2) Where in the world did you put everything?

Apparently "Grandpa Jim" squirreled away the important paperwork, and my poor Aunt Marg can't seem to find things. She said that she's been trying to think like him and maybe find some clues, but there towards the end he wasn't thinking very clearly and she thinks he may have moved stuff around.

The rest of that family (the 3 adult children and their children) also are doing well, although Memorial Day and Father's Day were extremely difficult for them. My family is strong and very stubborn, so I have no doubts that they'll be fine. However, there are still some holidays coming up, so later in the year might be a rough patch for them.

This post will give some insight as to my geekiness, but I am writing it anyways.

I love baseball, specifically Major League Baseball. I can listen to any game, even if I don't root for the teams involved. Today I am listening to the Milwaukee Brewers vs Atlanta Braves game. The radio broadcaster for the Brewers (the feed I'm streaming) is Bob Uecker.

If you know anything about Mr Uecker, you know that he played the dad in the "Mr Belvedere" TV series, as well as playing a broadcaster in the "Major League" movie franchise. He also does some stand up comedy, and is hilarious if you ask me.

Today, the radio stream gave listeners the opportunity to hear the National Anthem, and to be honest, it wasn't good. The girl singing it changed keys by the second phrase of the song, couldn't find the melody line towards the middle, and completely re-wrote the "rocket's red glare" part of the melody.

Bob's response: "Well, ok. I hope that girl gets better soon." This was followed by: "I certainly hope you weren't eating while she was singing."

He's definitely not one to mince words, but that was a bit more direct than I was expecting.

He certainly makes a game interesting to listen to!

Yesterday I spent my evening sitting at my sister-in-law's apartment watching her fold laundry and pack boxes. It was a super hot day, and a perfectly cloudless blue sky, so I left my moon roof open while I hung out with her.

About an hour into my visit, I glanced out the window and said "WOW, it's really pouring out there!" Then I went back to my reading and TV watching. Much later that night, I went out to my car to get it ready to load a recliner into, and I glanced at a piece of paper in my front seat and it briefly registered that it looked like it had gotten wet.

It then hit me that I had left the moon roof open, and that it had rained. Both my front seats were soaked, as were a book, a flier about a wedding rehearsal dinner that I am invited to, and the plastic tray thingy that sits between the two front seats.

Fast forward to today. I checked the weather, saw no rain in the forecast for today, so after church I left the moon roof open again, because otherwise my seats won't dry out. The wet seats will only create a sauna effect and it will just start to smell.

About an hour after I get home, my husband calls to say that it's starting to rain at his work (about 20 minutes northwest of our apartment), so I might want to go close the roof. I grab the keys to head to the parking lot....and it was already sprinkling! In fact the sidewalk was completely wet, and there was new water in my car. UGH!

At the rate I'm going, it will take a shopvac to get the water out of my seats. And since I don't have one of those, I think I'm going to have damp pants for a very long time!

According to this article, a 12 year old Canadian girl took her father to COURT to protest the fact that he grounded her for accessing websites he tried to block and posting pics of herself only.

SHE WON!!!!

[insert eyeroll here]

Even better, she used a court-appointed lawyer to argue her case, so not only was it ridiculous, but the public paid for it.

I certainly hope this doesn't catch on. It's bad enough that certain forms of punishment are often prosecuted as abuse, if parents can't ground their kids, there won't be any way to control them at all.

I'm starving. I'm an hour past my lunch time of 11:30, but I can't go until shortly before 1 so that I can be here to answer a co-worker's questions he might have while answering the phones.

It's been almost the hour that I would have been at lunch, and he has not asked me a single question, which is both perturbing and a relief. I've already assisted him in answering 6 phone calls within the first 3 hours of work (less than 20 phone calls), so the time off is helping me get my own work done. The perturbing part, of course, is that I COULD HAVE EATEN AND BEEN BACK BY NOW! >(

I'm not normally this upset about being flexible. However, my office has 20+ other counselors that could help him answer his questions, he just won't contact them. I mean, why bother, when he can walk the 10 feet to my cubicle and use me as his personal financial aid answer guide?

In case you're wondering, I have voiced my concerns, and was assured that further training was headed this co-worker's way, so I'm trying to be patient. However, I cannot continue to have to put my lunch off until 1 when I eat breakfast at 6. That's a LONG time to have to wait for another meal - even with my 10 am snack.

BTW, I promise a more uplifting post the next time around.

This fun little tidbit from the section of the local paper that allows people to voice their opinions without having to give names:

"You're right. The boss is a jerk. How dare he expect us to work our schedule, come to work on time and do our paperwork correctly? He should be fired."

I've got the attention span of a 2 year old today. I can actually see that the sun is shining, there are only 3 of us in my office, and to be honest, I've got so much work, I don't know where to start, so I'd just rather not start at all.

It's the holiday's fault. Monday holidays throw me off more than any other-so much so, that I'd rather celebrate all holidays on a Friday, then I don't have to worry about figuring out what day of the week it is when the next week rolls around.

It's also the office's fault. Besides trying to do my own work, I'm also filling in for someone, and while her work isn't difficult, it is extremely time consuming. Then you toss in the myriad of questions the 2 other people in the office have been asking all week, and my little task tracker looks like I've just been sitting around for a few days.

Oh well, I know the truth, and that's all that matters.

Recently an NBA player was arrested for possession of marijuana and having an open container of alcohol. According to this, the player's father just doesn't understand why people are bothered by this.

Really????

I realize that perhaps some people don't think that marijuana should be illegal, but the fact of the matter is that right now possession of marijuana is a criminal offense. So is standing on a street in Florida with a plastic cup of alcohol. And the fuss is due to the fact that like it or not, kids look up to his son as a role-model.

Next time, teach your son that if he must drink, he should do so indoors, where plastic cups are permitted, and not on the street--or better yet, buy a bottle since someone who gets paid a couple million dollars a year should be able to afford one of those.

As much as we would like to believe it, kids are NOT adults. There are children who grow up faster than other due to family situations, they're still kids.

I don't have any kids. However, I have 5 nephews and a niece, and I have made several dollars as a babysitter. I realize this hardly qualifies me as an expert. I do know that medicine designed for adults should NOT be given to children. Apparently, this foster parent hasn't figured that out.

As a result, the foster child she was raising is dead at the age of 6. What a sad, sad situation. Now the foster parent is facing murder charges, and no matter what state the child's biological parents are in (presuming they are alive) they now have lost a child.

Foster care is supposed to be a safe place for children. A place away from the danger that their parents present, not a place where they have to worry about more danger befalling them.

It makes me mad.

Here's an article that my blogging friend thesynergizer will be happy about.

As of July 1, Indiana employers are required to make working, breastfeeding mothers more comfortable with regards to pumping. Click here to read about it, if you wish.

My Grandpa Jim is gone. To be honest, he's not my grandpa, but rather my great-uncle. However, he's been Grandpa Jim to me ever since I was 14, which was when my own grandpa passed away.

While he was no spring chicken, I thought he was relatively healthy, so it was quite a shock when my mom called Wednesday to say he was gone. Even bigger was the shock that came when my mom told me that he had suffered a panic attack which lead to him shoot himself. The official family statement is "lethal combination of medicine," but really it was a gunshot wound to the head as a result of medication.

The family is going to be ok. The funeral was yesterday, and so to quote my great-aunt, "Now begins my new normal."

The obituary had an interesting error, being that my Grandpa Jim liked making wine. However, my Grandpa Jim had never had a glass of wine in his life, most definitely did not make any. The family isn't sure just exactly how the funeral home came up with that tidbit, but it helped make us laugh.

We take great comfort in the fact that he is in heaven with his Lord, and that we'll see him again someday.

Livejournal tells you how long it's been between blog posts, which is nice but also a bit depressing. I logged on this morning to find it had been a week since my last post - ack!

I've been fighting a toothache for about a month, but didn't really have the time or money to deal with the issue. Actually, that's not really true. I didn't have the "want to" to deal with it. I was doing well at managing the pain with two Excedrin every 4-6 hours. The whole thing did leave me completely wiped out after an 8 hour day of work.

Added to the pain was that last week was a "lockdown" week at work, so I hoped and prayed that I would be able to put off the dentist until that week was over. Sunday at lunch I was eating soup (nothing hard or crunchy) and the pain I experienced almost made me physically ill, so Monday I got myself a dentist appointment to see exactly what the issue was.

I'm now minus one wisdom tooth, thanks to an extraction that I suffered through yesterday. The dentist noted my file so that the next time I have to have any major tooth work done, I'll be given a Valium prior to anything else.

If I've learned anything through all this it's that I don't have to worry about a Vicodin addiction. That medicine makes me extremely sick to my stomach.

I feel like I have been working hard for a long period of time today....

Then I look at my clock and realize it's only 9:18, and I've only been working hard for 2 1/2 hours.

It's going to be a long day.