Book Sneeze

I recently found out about a very cool program. It's called BookSneeze. Basically, this company will send bloggers free books to review in exchange for the blogger posting a review of the book on his or her blog. You pick out a book, they send it to you for free, and all you have to do is read it and tell people what you think. Did I mention it's free?

The first book that I requested is called The Selfless Gene. It's about the quest to reconcile science with God. Totally up my alley. Look for my review in the next few weeks (I'm a slow reader, remember?).

This is a great program. Any of you who have blogs should sign up - which you can conveniently do here.

Proverbs

So...I've been reading through the book of Proverbs lately. One of the churches in our neck of the woods has challenged everyone to read one chapter of Proverbs every day for the month of January. 31 chapters in 31 days. I'll be honest. Proverbs never really excited me all that much before. Don't get me wrong. There are some catchy life lessons in there, but it always seemed like more of a bathroom book (sorry if that offends anyone) than one of the better books of the Bible. However, as I read through Proverbs, my opinion of it is definitely changing.

I'm only on chapter 13, but God is really using this challenge to do some heart surgery on me. I am being confronted with things that I don't really like to acknowledge about myself like how I struggle with being prideful and self important. It's also giving me a new appreciation for just how valuable wisdom is. I know a lot of stuff. But, I have a long way to go in the wisdom department.

I would encourage everyone to start reading through Proverbs. Start today. It's well worth it. If you want to follow along with the Crosspoint 31 day challenge, they have a blog where they post daily thoughts about each chapter. Some good conversation happens in the comment section of that blog. Check it out. All the cool kids are doing it.

Last Night and Today

A couple totally unrelated things for today:

1. M&Ms make my child crazy. It's not the ingestion of the M&Ms but the managing of them that turns her into a lunatic. She has shed many a tear over who gets to hold the bag and how many are in the bag. Last night she got mad at me for saying the word M&M. Apparently, she was the only person allowed to say it. I wish I would have had the video camera rolling as she spun around with fire in her eyes and shook her finger at me while yelling "No Mommy!"

2. I am profoundly out of shape. I went to the gym last night and really pushed myself on the treadmill. It wasn't horrible, but I know I have a long way to go if I want to run this 10K in May. On a positive note, I got new running shoes. I actually went to a running store and got fitted. They make a huge difference. This is the kind I got. Love them.

3. This is what I am doing at work today. I dissect out these tiny blood vessels from a mouse and then thread them onto these ultra tiny hollow glass tubes that are surrounded by liquid. Then I tie them on with threads that have been unwound from a surgical suture - these are the threads that make up a suture (a whole suture would be way too thick). Then I add chemicals to make the blood vessels contract and relax. All of this work has to be done under powerful dissecting microscopes. I have steady hands and I'm pretty good at manipulating very small things. I haven't found a use for this skill outside of work, but I'm sure one day it will come in handy.

Water Bug

Harper had her first official swimming lesson on Saturday morning. Besides the fact that she was cold (it was an indoor pool but she was still cold), she did exceptionally well and we both had a lot of fun. Harper has always been a water bug.

We took this picture the first time Harper ever went swimming. She was just over 3 months old.

This one was taken in Florida when she was 6 months old.

We have 5 more weeks of lessons to look forward to. Look out Michael Phelps. Here she comes.

When The Science Hits The Fan - Smart Octopus

Octopuses are smart. Yes, octopuses is the correct plural form of the word octopus. Look it up. Anyway, octopuses are much smarter than any other invertebrate. The have been shown to have short and long-term memory, can differentiate between different shapes and patterns, have the ability to learn from observing something, and they have also been known to play. Pretty good for something that doesn't have a backbone. But, what is even more impressive is that recently several veined octopuses (Amphioctopus marginatus) were filmed using tools. These octopuses will dig up discared coconut shells, clean them out, drag them considerable distances, and then use them for shelter. Watch.

Pretty cool.

Snow Emergency

38 of the 41 counties in Middle Tennessee canceled school today. This is a picture of my back yard taken at approximately 7am this morning.

Yep. It's definitely a white out. Maybe tomorrow, my university will close and Harper and I can do some sled riding. Good thing we stocked up on bread and milk this weekend. Who knows when/if we will be able to get to the store again.

Computers, Challenges, and Dead Deer

I'm liking the random thoughts/bullet point format of my posts this week. So, I'm going to keep it going today.

• Sometimes it takes me more than one try (like 2 or 3) to correctly identify and fill in the letters on word verification things. I'm not a computer. I swear.

• I successfully completed day 2 of my 10K training. I stepped it up a notch last night. I'm a little sore today. Part of that is due to the fact that I need to get some new running shoes. But the other part is because I am not used to challenging myself physically (or otherwise). Last night as I was running, I was trying to remember the last time I challenged myself in any area of my life. Sadly, it was probably 5 years ago when Rob convinced me it would be a good idea to do an 80 mile bike ride with him. I say sadly because it's been 5 years since I have really done anything that has made me uncomfortable - that has been outside of my comfort zone. This needs to change. The 10K race will be a good physical challenge. Now I need to find things to stretch other areas of my life.
• Rob is working 3rd shift for the month of January. It's going to be an adjustment for all of us. His first night was eventful. It included drugs, guns, and a dead deer in the back of the police cruiser. That's all I can say about that.