Really bad cakes

Since I'm a sharer, I will share with you a new funny blog I was reading (using to procrastinate) this morning: http://www.cakewrecks.com/. I bet you can guess what it's about, so I won't waste time describing it. I will, however, waste time telling you a cake story.

One August for my brother Jason's birthday we appropriately ordered him a cake and appropriately requested that "Happy Birthday Jason" be written on it. The order taker, after I told him what I wanted written on the cake, repeated my request in the form of a question, to which I verified by stating, "Yes, Happy Birthday Jason." Normally a trustworthy place to buy cakes, I did not open the opaque box until I returned home. When the box was opened, we saw the cake for the first time. It read "Happy Birthday Jafon."

Yes, the letter "s" when spoken through the telephone does sound like "f." But if you didn't ask for a specific spelling, were not 100% sure, and wanted to err on the side of caution, would you choose "Jafon" over "Jason"? Something to think about.

Race for the Cure

On Sunday, May 17, I will be running the Susan G. Komen 5K Race for the Cure in Elmira (then showering and taking the kiddies up to Sky Lake Open House, of course). Susan G. Komen for the Cure is a nonprofit, grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists working together to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all, and energize science to find the cure. If you'd like to support me and, more important, this cause, please donate here: http://www.active.com/donate/twintierskomen09/TBarnes29.

Thanks!

Facebook quizzes

are pointless, self-indulgent, and wonderful. According to Facebook, I'm Ghandi, John Wesley, St. Jude, Weezer, Kermit the Frog, Elizabeth Bennett, Jean Grey, Tolstoy, Patrick Henry, the Gospel of Luke, Fidel Castro, and I should have married Johnny Depp. So worth the time taken to find this out.

Properly extending words:

Why, why, why, when someone wants to stretch out the sound of a word, do they just add extra final letters? Usually this is an "e" (or sometimes, even stupider, "t"). With the "e," all this does is turn a usually silent letter into an extra syllable, making the word a different word altogether and misspelled.

Some examples:
"I'm homeeeeee!"
Meaning: homey. If you say this, you are either (1) a homeboy, (2) homelike, or (3) homely. Maybe all three.
What you should say: "I'm hooooommme!"

"I loveeeee the Muppets."
Meaning: lovey. Also an adjective. If you say this in this way, you are misusing an adjective, which is really embarrassing, and also using a nonexistent word. "Lovey" appears in Webster's dictionary only as "lovey-dovey."
What you should say: "I looooovvve the Muppets!"

When is extending the last letter okay? With words that end in vowels and y, h, r, s, z, w, and sometimes f (but only when abbreviating one specific word).
Boooo! Hisssss! I love Taraaaaa! I love Crocodile Dundeeeee! Whyyyyyy? I'm wearing FuBuuuuu! Spaz Boy is such a spazzzzzz!

If "Free Falling" by Tom Petty is now in your head, you're welcome.

Christian Charity Raising Money To Feed Non-Gay Famine Victims

Go Lions!

In a few weeks Tim and I are heading down to NYC for the official tour of Teacher's College. We're doing the whole shebang: financial aid, lunch with students, campus tour, and campus housing tour. Tim is 99.9% sure this is where he wants to be, and we're taking the tour to hopefully solidify the last .1%.

Yes, Columbia is expensive. And as we've consistently proven, we haven't exactly established a brimming college fund (and also took a train trip and bought B-Mets tickets; I like to spend money on experiences . . . or I'm just hedonistic). However, we've found out that the government, via loans of course, will cover all tuition and housing costs. Tim applied for scholarships and grants through the school as well, which we find out about later this month. Positive thinking is back in effect. Let me know if you know of any available scholarships!

We decided before we got married that we were okay with living in college-loan debt. This "comfort," we'll call it, is helping make the Columbia decision as well. It's frickin Columbia! (With a 98% job placement rate for Teacher's College.) Someday we will pay the loans off, even if "someday" gets pushed back a bit further.

A branch of my gym is nearby, and I've been investigating United Methodist Churches to attend. So far, this one seems to be my best bet. I haven't really begun thinking about what it will mean to be moving away and how much I'm going to miss being where I am right now. I'll do that in August.

Week 2

Today finished week 2 of my half marathon training. This week I ran outside, and was lucky enough to have the weather cooperate. Today was the four mile run. What makes running outside different from the treadmill are the inclines and declines, needing to share the path with other people and animals, and no televisions (which serve as wonderful distractions for someone who doesn't have cable). However, the hardest part about running outdoors is pacing. Even when I set my pace to a song I know is the pace I want I always end up going too fast and feeling completely pooped by mile 2. Then I slow down, try not to be embarrassed by my heavy breathing, and plow through, chugga chugga chugga.

The Lake Placid half marathon officially doesn't allow headphones. I'm a little worried about this and will likely try to sneak through with some little earbuds. Don't tell. I have realized that running is a good time to pray, but pretty soon I get really bored with my own thoughts and worries and need to move on--probably how you feel when you read this blog too often.

I've also begun to approach food differently. It's become more than just something to eat when I'm hungry. I actually think about the nutrients, vitamins, protein, blah blah blahs now when I have meals and snack because I actually have to. Needless to say I'm eating a little better and including foods I wouldn't normally (but I am having macaroni and cheese and hot dogs for dinner tonight, so don't worry; I haven't changed completely). It's a little weird. I may start buying energy bars for a purpose other than being too lazy to make lunch.

I probably won't be writing about EVERY week of training, mostly because it's boring to everyone but me. Notice here that I said "probably." Just saying.

Sad day in Binghamton

Yesterday sucked. I don't have a story to tell. I don't have insight or enlightenment or anything special to say about yesterday's "Massacre on Front Street," "Bloodshed in Binghamton," or whatever you want to call it. I'm not going to write here how I feel right now about the shooter, who lived a short walk away from me. I'm really just writing this for posterity. Binghamton, NY, was the top story on national and international news outlets on April 3, 2009, and it really, really sucked.

These little town blues . . .

Today we found out that Tim got accepted by Columbia University! Woo hoo! Barring this being a really cruel April Fool's joke, I am really excited. Columbia is ranked #4 by U.S. News and World Report as the best graduate school for education. Tim's approach to teaching, education, and, well, life, is very similar to John Dewey's, on whom Teacher's College's mission is based. If this is where we decide to go, I have a feeling it will be a really good fit for Tim.

Either way, I'm pretty sure we are city bound.

Columbia to Met's games = about an hour subway ride.
NYU to Met's games = about 40 minute subway ride.
The difference is negligable.