A Good Samaritan for Today

At a time in our history when immigrants are being vilified regardless of their legal status, Manuel Jesus Córdova Soberanes stepped up to become and example for all of us.

As reported here, Córdova, a Mexican bricklayer, on his way to Tuscan, AZ, stopped just fifty miles short of his goal to save an eight-year-old boy. The boy had survived a car crash which ultimately resulted in his mother's death. Even though neither spoke the other's language, Córdova was able to discern that the boy had been in an accident with his mother.

After an unsuccessful attempt to rescue the mother, Córdova built a fire and stayed with the boy until rescuers could arrive.

Córdova was deported.

The boy was treated for minor injuries and reunited with his biological father.

A columnist for Arizona Republic wrote that Córdova was probably nobody special. That's the point. Neither are any of us.

Thanksgiving 2007

I'm up early (for a holiday) so that I can watch the most famous parade in the world. I love this thing! I watched this when I was a little kid. It was the only thing I could do on a Thursday with no school and with my parents preparing to gorge their entire family on turkey. It helped that it was so kid friendly back then.

When I grew older I was lucky enough to see this parade in person. That was my first trip to New York City. I was there with my best friend. We were both theatre nerds. (Note the spelling. Damn you, spellcheck!) The parade has slowly evolved into a Broadway love fest. The kiddie stuff is still there, too. Basically, it's designed for me.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Beverage of Choice

What have I been drinking lately? It's a question I'm sure many of you have found yourselves asking while lying awake at night. Well, here it is in all it's glory; my elixir. I find myself thinking about pouring one of these while at work on particularly difficult days.

It's not what you think.

Cranberry Splash Sierra Mist is God's way of opening my heart to the wonders of the holiday season. No, seriously. It's that good. I heard about this wonderful drink last year, but stupidly did not buy 30 cases of it. Although, if I had tried it, I'm sure I would have. It has returned for this year's batch-o-holidays and has claimed my tongue as it's slave.

Now, I'm a little nervous. I know that this is a limited edition soda. Come January, this will be gone from store shelves and my pantry. I just hope it makes it back to me come November of '08. I don't have the best of luck when it comes to consumables. Long-time readers will remember the Shamrock Shake fiasco. There was another Christmas themed soda; Holiday Spice Pepsi. May it rest in piece. Even television shows aren't immune from my reverse Midas touch. I give you Firefly, Arrested Development and Drive.

I'm just going to have to have faith that God will see me through. (I guess this is good practice for the whole being pregnant thing.)

First Baby Picture!

There it is. The squiggle inside the dark oval is my baby. As you can see, there's just one there. No multiples in spite of what some people have said. (You know who you are.) According to the measurements, Baby is as big as the top of a pen cap. (That's about 1/4 inch in diameter!) The projected due date is July 6, 2008.

Wow!

Of Colds, Candles and Crabby-Face

So, God thought it was wrong of me to use a sick-day at work without being actually sick. Fortunately, He saw fit to help out by making sure I was actually sick. Joy! All in all, being under the weather was okay. It just made it hard to communicate during the latter half of my 12-hour Dungeons & Dragons game on Saturday.

Last Sunday, a racial slur was found spray-painted onto one of the buildings of the undergraduate campus. The university officials moved quickly to remove the graffito. So quickly that few people even heard about it. That's the problem. This Christian school did nothing but release a statement saying it was bad. The students of the school of theology were personally moved to action and took matters into their own hands by writing and performing a candle light vigil this evening. Some would argue that they didn't really do anything, but I think they did. The only effective response to hatred and bigotry is love. That's what this service was about. The students who organized this deserve many congratulations for their bravery, leadership, and integrity. I'm especially proud of Monkey-Girl (as I must be) who lead the musical portion of the service.

Lastly, I'm afraid I have to mention Crabby-Face. She's one of Monkey-Girl's fellow seminarians. Crabby-Face has a reputation for being - well, crabby. Anyway, Monkey-Girl was telling a friend at school how excited she was to be getting off the mountain especially how fun it would be to go to Barnes and Noble and get baby books. At this, Crabby-Face (not previously in the conversation) made a laugh-like sound. Monkey-Girl then called her into the conversation and asked for the reason for her amusement. "As if any book could really prepare you for childbirth," was what C-F had to say.

Wow! I guess, since C-F is a mom already, that we can assume she had her child after having done no research what so ever. Furthermore, since it's a fool's game to think that one could ever know everything about theology from "any book," C-F must have done none of the required reading for her courses here.

It amazes me what some people will do or say without thinking of how others may perceive them. I seriously doubt that Crabby-Face meant to sound as if she was belittling our excitement at being pregnent. I also doubt that she frequents Penguin Postings, but if she does and she sees through the pseudonym, I won't be ashamed. Some people have to be told when they're embarrassing themselves.

Playin' Hooky

I needed a mental health day. I took one. Monkey-Girl and I will be heading out to the new mall after her morning class. We're really looking forward to checking out their Barnes and Noble because 1) we're nerds and 2) we want to read up on being pregnant.

Today's image comes from somewhere on the internet. It's uncle Owen and Aunt Beru from Episode IV: A New Hope post stormtrooper raid. I know it's sick, but it tickles my fancy.

Tell 10 to Tell 10

The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman.

It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on "donating a mammogram" for free (pink window in the middle).

This doesn't cost you a thing.

Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising.

Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

Courtesy of the "Tell 10 to Tell 10" Group on Facebook and Eric Ryniker.

The Celebration

This weekend has been quite busy. The undergraduate school had its homecoming. With over a thousand alumni descending (or, since we live on a mountain, ascending) on the campus, several people were asked to tend bar for various parties throughout the weekend. I stepped up and made some extra money in the process. Boy, can those alums drink!

The upshot is this: Monkey-Girl and I haven't actually celebrated our expected addition yet. So tonight I made a dessert for us to enjoy in just such a vain.

Behold monkey bread! It seemed the most appropriate thing to make.

Halloween Creche

What else could be making our Halloween night so full but a "traditional" living nativity. Participants were encouraged to costume themselves and stand in for the recognizable characters from a creche.

Most of the choices were logical. There was an angel, a wise man, Mary (wearing blue and sporting a beard), Joseph (not pictured, sorry Wil), even a donkey.

There were also opportunities to buck tradition in favor of more creative interpretation. Standing in for baby Jesus is Aaron. Aaron dressed as Hugh Hefner for the night. His lovely wife, Rachel, is a Playboy Bunny. My guess is she's a bunny that was present at the birth of Christ. The bowl on baby Jesus' tummy? That's for trick-or-treat candy.

Monkey-Girl and I were invited to participate, but Halloween being on a Wednesday can sure hobble the celebration. Besides which, we took a pregnancy test and found out we were going to be parents that night. Cut us some slack!

Ta Da!

So this is a major part of why Halloween was so full.

Yay, us!