My Two New "Businesses"

After helping "save the day" at the 11th hour for my co-worker's anniversay by coming up with a simple yet romantic idea and yet again providing said co-worker with advice, I have decided that I should provide men with simple advice on how to make a women happy. A "Life Coach" type role if you will. I decided this was a good forum to share that knowledge. The first idea is for your anniversary, you simply need to show that you put thought into the celebration. For my co-worker's anniversary, I told him that he should just go by Eatzi's, buy some flowers, a bottle of wine, and pick up dinner. He did just that and his wife was quite pleased -so basically he in indebted to me. So for all of you guys wondering what to do for an anniversary or special occasion see above example.

As a follow-up conversation to how I saved the day for the anniversary, I shared more wisdom with my male co-workers. I told them to go to their Outlook calendar and pick 5 dates over the next year and set a reminder for you to do something for your wife/girlfriend. On the reminder write "pick up Eatzi's and wine" or brainstorm for an hour and and think up 5 different ideas that show your wife/girlfriend that you appreicate her and that you were thinking about her.For starters you can use the "pick up Eatzi's" idea for all five. It is important for the dates to be random so that when the day comes, you see the reminder and it seems kind of out of the blue and therefore thoughtful. So take my advice and you will stay out of the dog house and make for a happy wife/gilfriend! My co-workers of course loved the idea and promptly set reminders all the while thanking me and saying that it was sad that they had to set reminders. So I told them that I should charge for my great ideas and thus this blog was born!

Now onto my next business idea...it is simple but a good idea to help homeowner's who either travel during the week or have trouble making appointments with the cable guy, the roofer, the patio guy, etc during the work day. Instead of you having to meet the repair man, I could meet them for you and keep your appointment - basically an inhouse concierge. So once I get tired of my current job, I may open my own inhouse concierge company.

Alfredo's and "The Break-Up"

Now I will switch gears and put on my critic hat. Someone recently told me about a hole-in-the-wall Italian place on Cheshire Bridge called Alfredo’s so this weekend I decided to try it out instead of calling on my default favorite restaurant list (Tacqueria, Eats, Figo). When I hear “hole-in-the-wall” restaurant I think of Eats here in Atlanta or The Village Deli in Augusta and I also think cheap. While the prices aren’t absurd, you will end up spending $25 on an entrée and a drink if you go with the pasta and more if you go with a meat entrée. The food was good – I had the capellini pesto – but it wasn’t as good as Scalini’s (who has the best rolls vs the garlic bread at Alfredo’s). It is definitely a hole-in-the-wall and the atmosphere took me back a few years. My party also brought the average age of the customers down by about 20 years – for a minute I thought we had arrived for the early bird senior citizens discount. Aside for not being a typical restaurant that I would try, the service was good and the booths were cozy. I would recommend making reservations because the place is hopping. I probably won’t go back but it was worth the new adventure. Next up, Nino’s also on Cheshire Bridge.

This review may be biased because I like Jennifer Aniston but I really think the critics have been harsh on her last few movies. I thought Derailed was great and Jennifer really only played a small part – it was really a movie focused on Clive Owens’ role and had a good twist at the end. “The Break-up” was somewhere between “Failure to Launch” and “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” (with “Failure to Launch” being on the below average side and I am sure that some of your are laughing that I consider “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” as good but that was the best I could come up with as far as good romantic comedies). Vince Vaughn was hilarious – he had a lot of good lines and delivered them in typical Vince Vaughn style (talk fast and lots of punch lines). This romantic comedy was probably the most true to life movie about relationships. Disclaimer: Stop reading if you don’t want to know the ending. Most relationships don’t end happily ever and neither did this movie. This movie was left open to your own interpretation of the ending which is how many relationships end. Most relationships, you wonder if you will get back together , are thankful that you never have to see that person again, or you and your ex end up being friends. With this ending, I think you can interpret the ending to be either the first or the third option based on your own experience. Overall this movie was funny and entertaining, may be worth renting vs going to see it in the theatre.

Misadventures in Atlanta

Thanks to my friend Amanda for forwarding me this link...Apparently it isn't uncommon for folks to channel Carrie Bradshaw or the author of "He's Just Not That Into You." Our very own AJC has an ongoing column where 2 girls and now a single guy blog about dating in Atlanta. If you want to check out the Single Guy's first entry click here.

Disuccsion Points after you read the artilce: I agree that if you don't want to go on a date then don't say yes. You should always show up for a date that you say "yes" to unless a natural disaster occurs. It is way easier to say "I don't think we should meet up" than to fake your way through a date and then have to insincerely say you had a good time which is a whole other topic. And a lot nicer to say that than to have a person waste their time and look forward to a date. The Single Guy asks why girls make plans and then don't show up. I ask why did Mr K say he was going to call and then didn't. Just say "Thanks (or I am flattered) but I am seeing someone" that way the girl knows it isn't going to happen and you don't lead her on and you do justice to the girl you are seeing.

He's Just Not That Into You

It seems like most of my interesting material for my blog comes from my dating relationships or the lack there of. I seem to be inspired by Carrie Bradshaw’s character from SATC as of late. Although, I would also consider myself part food critic/movie critic but for this latest blog, I will once again turn to my favorite topic of (not) dating.

I was sitting at my desk at work this week when I had an epiphany. Here I was wondering for the umpteenth time why my crush had said he would call – not just once but he said the words “I will call you” twice. This was over 3 weeks ago and I had begun to lose hope at about the 1 and a half week mark. As I continued down that thought path, I remember my own unreturned email from a recent date. We had gone on a date, he followed up via email, I responded, he emailed back and I…well, I did nothing. Doing nothing is better than doing something to encourage further email or encourage further dates. It was then that I had my “Aha” moment. My crush doesn’t like me because he didn’t call me like he said he was. I am sure this must be a chapter straight out of “He’s Just Not That In To You”. Why do women try to make up excuses for their crush, boyfriend, etc for not calling when in fact we as women don’t return the phone call or email when we are not interested. If you are interested, you are excited about talking to that person or emailing that person, if you aren’t excited then you are “too busy” to return the call or email. Scary that it took my 20+ years to learn this lesson.

I think this rule is applicable 98% of the time. I think sometimes the call back or initial phone call doesn’t happen because one person is scared. Scared of possible rejection so instead of making the call or returning the call, they avoid the situation and choose to go the unknown route. Instead of resolving an issue, they let the issue die with time and never really resolve whether or not the relationship could go further. So the relationship is kind of a ping pong match of “do they like me, they act like they like me when we are together, they tell people they like me but there is no action.” This unfortunately can drag a non-relationship relationship out for months/years with neither person really being satisfied. This example falls somewhere in that 2% - maybe a ½ of a percent.

Back to the 98% situation for a sec. Is it better to return the call or email or let it die with time? I usually just don’t return the call which is probably something you did in high school but something you shouldn’t do as you mature. Is it better to know that you are rejected or better to go on with false hope? I have had crushes that lasted way too long because of false hope yet I am not good at all about giving the guy the boot – I choose avoidance myself but is that the right answer?

Not sure how long this post will stay up

So after going on several failed first dates, I started thinking about the one thing that was in common with all of these dates .... me. I do think there may be two things affecting my thoughts on a first date 1)me (well, the me that has been hurt before) and 2) being set in my ways. RDK, since I know you read this blog feel free to comment or individually email me with other things that I may do wrong while out on a date. I do know that I wear my heart/emotions on my sleeve so it is pretty hard to cover it up if I am not having a good time. While I ponder those thoughts, I will let you know some of the things that aren't good to do on a first date and some things that are appreciated. Good things to do on a first date: think of something fun to do like going to a sporting event, plan ahead, pay for dinner, pray at the meal (that might be much for a first date so you have to feel the person out but I was okay with it).
Some things that may be a little bothersome to some (ie me): not tipping enough on the check (if you don't let me see the check then I won't notice this so I may not find out until later that you are cheap), yelling at the usher, making voices to the video screen, flying like superman to the star wars song. So am I picky? Am I too picky? Probably.
I did forget to mention that I think it is a deal breaker if you don't drink. I guess it is reverse discrimination to some but I think it is fine to have a glass of wine with dinner, have a few beers at a football game, etc. So if you don't drink then it can be awkward. I have friends that don't drink and can hang out with them fine but I don't know if that works the same way if you are dating. And the final no-no for the hour - if you email and say that you aren't going to get your "(insert person's name here) time" in for the week since I am not going to see you all week, know that that will creep me out! This may be considered endearing after dating for a few months but not before - I can see how this point may be confusing but as we all know girls are confusing.

Random Thoughts

I don't have enough to write a whole entry about one topic so I am going to stick these random thoughts all together.

First I wanted to title this blog entry 'Science Fiction tology" but after the title I really have nothing to write. I feel like the title pretty much says it all.

I want to add Alfredos's to my list of restaurants that I want to try. My waiter tonight at The Grape said that it is a really good Italian place. Warning on the nerd talk...I need to figure out how to do spreadsheets in the blog so I can better keep track of which restaurants I have actually gone to. If you know how to do a table or something similar, let me know.

Another suggested rule for dating...don't text a girl and ask her out on a date especially if you haven't actually talked to her on the phone. Even if you have had multiple conversations in person and over email, text messaging is not the way to a girl's heart.

Speaking of dating, why don't guys just bite the bullet and say these simple words "Can I call you sometime?". Instead they just stand there and say "Be right back, I got to go to the bathroom". Then they continue to stick their head out of the door and look for you and then go back inside. When you throw them a bone and show some interest, they got nothing. After telling my old roommate this she said that I need to just decide to date only hot guys. Apparently as soon as she made this decision, she found her current husband. So here and now, I declare that I am only dating hot guys! I will let you know how it turns out since right now I would just like to date "a" guy - well, if you are one of my friends I know you are thinking that the "a" must stand for a long list of things such as "taller than me" or "funny" or "smart" and you are right, there is a lot hidden behind that "a".

And finally to help kick those Monday blues, here is a pretty funny video.

LLQ - Log of Lost Questions

The show Lost creates as many questions as it answers each episode. In order to keep up with the questions, I decided to start my own question log. I will try to update them with the answers, if the answers every come. So based on last night's finale, you can ponder the following question until the Fall season.

1. How is Hurly going to find the camp? - Hurley isn't a tracker, I think he is going to get lost.
2. How does Desmond's girlfriend know that she need to look for a magnetic force in order to find Desmond? Maybe she doesn't know the two are connected, so if that is the case, why is she tracking big magnetic fields?
3. Are Mr Eko, Desmond, and John dead? - I hope not! I would like to see Desmond as a new character.
4. What's up with the people in Russia? - Maybe they are responsible for the polar bears.
5. Is the "What does one polar bear say to another polar bear?" code for something?
6. What's up with the wierdo Hanso Foundation comerial and the even wierder websites that they refer you to?
7. If the key destroyed the machine where you have to enter the code every 108 mins, how did that help? - Now nothing is keeping the magnet from discharging. I think I may have missed something about the whole key thing.
8. Did Libby's husband's death cause her to go crazy? Was she crazy before or after she met Desmond?
9. Was the companion in the hatch, Katie's Dad (also Sayid's trainer)? - This is from my co-worker.
10. Will Walt and Michael really be rescued? - They can't be off the show because we still know nothing about Walt's powers.
11. If the "Others" are good, why do they have people tied up?
12. What's up with the "Other's" costumes?
13. What will they do with Kate, Sawyer, and Jack? And what was that look between Kate and Jack? Love?
14. What is that mysterious black smoke in the jungle?
15. What is that underground machine in the jungle?
16. Why did Jack think that the "Others" would attack them if they didn't follow Michale into their trap? - They could have just gone back to the beach.
17. What was that bright light and noise? Did it bring down "another plane"? - Maybe we will have "other plane people" next seaon.
18. Why do we still watch this show? - It is about nothing really.
19. What's up with that combo of numbers? - 4 8 15 16 23 42
20. What brought this group to the island? How are they all related?
21. Why was Locke's ability to walk restored on the island?

History of Dance by Comedian Judson Laipply

I am sure that you have seen this guy out at the club or maybe you have been this guy at the club. This is the funniest 6 minutes I have seen in quite awhile. Make sure you take notes so you can bust out some of these moves next time you are out in the club. Also check out Judson's website.

Allergic to the sun?

Do you sneeze when you walk outside and look at the sun? If you answered yes then you are among the 17-25% of the population that does. Since I sneeze in the sun too, I thought I would help spread some knowledge on the subject.

Sneezing in the sun is known as "photic sneeze syndrome" or "photic sneeze reflex" or the "achoo syndrome". According to Wikepedia the sneeze reflex is caused by: "The probable cause is a congenital malfunction in nerve signals in the trigeminal nerve nucleus. The fifth cranial nerve, called the trigeminal nerve, is apparently responsible for sneezes. Research suggests that some people have an association between this nerve and the nerve that transmits visual impulses to the brain. Overstimulation of the optic nerve triggers the trigeminal nerve, and this causes the photic sneeze reflex. Another theory suggests that tears leaking into the nose through the nasolacrimal duct are a cause of the photic sneeze reflex. The speed of the reflex seems to favour the first theory, as it happens much too quickly for tears to be generated and drain into the nose. In addition this sneeze reflex can be brought on by a sudden inhaling of cold air or a strong flavor such as a strong mint gum. This implies an overstimulation of any nerve close to the trigeminal nerve can cause the sneeze reflex."

So if you are a doctor and can decipher that then you are steps ahead of me. Basically there is a nerve that triggers a sneeze when you are exposed to bright light. If you notice that you sneeze in the sun, look at your family tree becasue it is a hereditary trait so some other family members probably do it too.

Summer Fun in the ATL

One of my favorite things about living in Atlanta, are the summer activities. There are so many things to do and see and it is great to be outside. In case you are new to the area or want to do something new this summer, I have put together a list of some of the great things you can do around town.

Screen on the Green - TNT shows movies every Thurs night in the month of June on a big screen in Piedmont Park.

Movies at the Fox - Recent movies are shown at the Fabulous Fox Theatre throughout the summer. Most shows are on Monday nights.

Restaurant Week - This is one of the best kept secrets in Atlanta. For one week in Atlanta, some of the high end restaurants in the downtown area get together and offer a three-course dinner menu for $26 plus tip. This has gotten so popular that you need to make reservations several weeks in advance. I let you in on this secret so don't take my reservations:) Note to those who have gone before, the price has gone up and the week is in July this year.

Hiking - There are so many trails near the Atlanta area that I would recommend getting one of the Georgia Trails book so you can find the one for you. You can see waterfalls at X or climb a gorge at Tallulah Gorge. The Sweetwater Park also has a lot of good trails and you can always enjoy a Sweetwater 420 or Blue after your hike!

ABC and Sweetwater Brewery Tours - Speaking of beer, you can't go wrong with an early evening tour of a brewery. Sweetwater has tours on Thurs starting at 420 and Atlanta Brewing Company has tours at 5pm on Fridays.

Starlight Drive-In - Did you think that drive-ins went by the wayside after the 50s? This great theatre has a good two-for-one special. Bring a picnic and enjoy the show.

Silver Comet Trail - The first thing I want to do every Spring is to get out my rollerblades and rollerblade down this relatively flat trail (well miles 0-10 are flat)that use to be railroad tracks. My advice is to start at mile 0, blade to mile 4 and come back. That is a good workout. If you don't have your own rollerblades or prefer to bike, you can rent both at the Depot at Mile 4.

Braves game - While the Braves game may be cheesy, there is nothing like $5 tickets on a summer day where you can kick back and enjoy a beer and good times with your friends.

First Thurs Art Walk - I can't personally vouch for this activity but it has been on my Summer of Fun To Do List for quiet awhile. Every first Thurs of the month, art galleries open their doors for visitors to enjoy the art of downtown.

Some fun that lasts all year but are also good summer time activities:
Shakespeare Tavern - Midtown theatre that offers dinner and a play throughout the year.

Martinis at IMAX - Throughout the year, Fernbank offers several movies on their IMAX screen. Martinis at IMAX is on Friday nights.

Whole World Theatre - Improv comedy at a good midtown location.

Now that I have given all my secrets away, enjoy your summer in Atlanta!

Storyline - Part 3

I heard one of the best sermons that Andy Stanley has ever done (4/23/06). For me it helped put all the Bible and what it means in simple terms that make sense. He explained the bible's history and how we fit into the picture. Basically, to explain the bible's history, you just need to remember eight words:
Create -> Brokenness -> Promise -> Law -> Rebellion -> Grace -> Spirit -> Eternity

Or course Andy does a lot better of explaining this than I can so I recommend that you go online to hear or watch his sermon at Buckhead Church or click here.

These are just my notes from the sermon but I will do my best to summarize what Andy talked about. Remember listening or watching him will make a million times more sense than just reading my notes. That is my disclaimer!

My Notes:

The bible is a collection of writing from 1400BC to 60A and it tells 1 story by a group of 40+ writers who never met. The theme of the bible is a story of redemption and story of God. We will never sense the story of our life until we undstand the context/understand God's story.

Create -> Brokenness -> Promise -> Law -> Rebellion -> Grace -> Spirit -> Eternity

Creation: One rule was made by God and the authority of the world was given to Adam and Eve. See Genesis 3.

Brokenness: The one rule was broken and everything under Adam and Eve's authority was broken. This explains why good things happen to bad people and why bad things happen to good people. This explains why things feel off, random acts of cruely, birth defects, etc.

Promise: God makes a promise with Abraham to bless all pepole who live thru Abraham (see Genesis 12: 1-3). God promised Abraham that his name would be greate - think about how many people know his name now. Do you know his name?

Law: Moses takes God's people out of slavery. Through Moses we discover the values of God with the law. God provides provisions, when there is sin there must be a death. This is where law is married with the tradition of sacrafice.

Rebellion: People broke God's law and didn't follow the sacraficial system (see Old Testatament with kings, prophets, and nations scattered). If you'd been born between the New and Old Testament, you would be tempted not to believe in God and how he said he would create a great nation. Even though it seemed God was silent, he was telling the story of redemption. See Malachi to John (the Baptist, who predicts Jesus - John 1: 6-9, 14).

Grace: Grace and truth (law). Throughout the story is grace (i.e. provision with the law). Grace is about buying people back not paying them back. This is about everyone and all the world not just Israel. Jesus' death is for allmen and to fufull the prophecey and make disciples all over the world.

Spirit: The Holy Spirit lives in us. The Holy Spirit helps tweak our consciousness, address our brokenness. To live in a broken world but live an unbroken life - this is our chapter which was launched by grace.

Eternity: Revelation 21. The brokenness will pass away, God will make everything new (not just fix what is broken). Hard to believe? - Look at Abraham, Moses, Mary - understand reasonableness of following God when know the whole story.

Why Girls and Guys Can't Be Friends

It struck me today that girls and guys can't be friends. That is just a fact. I tried to come up with scenarios where it would work and I could shoot holes through every scenario. First I thought, well if the guy is in a monogamous relationship (ie married or seriously dating) then you can be friends with him, no problem. But as I dug deeper I found an example where it doesn't work. It doesn't work if the guy is married because the wife is always jealous of the "girl friend" that her husband has. It also doesn't work because at some point, you will begin to consider your attached male companion as something other than a friend (and most likely he will consider it at some point too) and that could cause all sorts of wierd lines to be crossed. Or in my situation, you will have a crush on a guy and find out months later after you have been talking to him that he is married. Not a good situation because part of you will always have a crush on him because when the crush began, you thought he was unattached.

You may ask why I chose to write about this topic. It all started with an email from a friend, we will call him Ben. Ben and I went out a few times about a year ago and I decided that he wasn't right for me. Now looking back, I realize that it just wasn't the right time. So after I called it off, there were lots of times that we ran into each other and had those awkward conversations and then move on. Several months passed and we saw each other again and by this point, I thought it had been long enough that we could move into the friend category. So, we emailed back and forth and talked when we saw each other. Then I started thinking that maybe I judged him too quickly and should give it another chance. So I began to consider the possibility of being more than friends and he seemed to hint that he would be interested in going down that path again. So this weekend we had a quite enjoyable Sunday until he asked another girl for her number right in front of me. I was shocked (and justifiably so according to my married co-workers who said that they would never rule out a potential date unless they really thought of them as a "sister"). Then he had the gaul to ask if he left her number in my car. Being the nice "friend", I checked the car and found no such paper and offered to look up the girl's email (which I already had). Thinking that he might respond to the part of my email that said I had a good time this weekend or the part that wished him a fun weekend out of town. Instead, he responded "Yeah, that would be great if you could find her email". What! So prompted my deep thoughts on the fact that women and men cannot be friends. There are always ulterior motives.

Maybe just maybe if you went with the guy a long time ago and A)never kissed,etc or B)Dated, realized you weren't right for each other, and had a long time before you conversed, THEN men and women can be friends. I think I have a few guy friends that fall in category A but I don't talk to anyone that I had a relationship with so that rules out category B for me personally. Category A is even hard because most of those guys fall in the "now married" category and in general wives don't take too well to their husbands catching up with their good girl friends from college. And that leads once again to the conclusion that men and women can't be friends.

Another Movie Review

Seems like my blog may turn into a review of things that I see/do or places that I go.
This weekend I saw The Sentinel. Going into the movie, I didn't know much about it other than Eva Longoria was in it. The movie seems familar in that it is about a Secret Service agent who has been accused of plotting against the President, only they have the wrong agent, and he has to set out to prove his innocence. It sounds like The Fugitive - maybe that is why I kept picturing Harrison Ford in Michael Douglas' role. This is a "been there, done that" storline however you can't go wrong with a story centered around Washington, the White House, and the President. Or at least, I can't go wrong. There is an excellent cast - Kiefer Sutherland, Michael Douglas, Kim Basinger, and Evan Longoria barely rounds out the top billing group. Eva's roll is small but she proves that she is more than a Desparate Housewife.

While I am giving reviews, I give Strip, the new sushi/steakhouse in Atlantic Station, 2 thumbs up. I ate sushi so I was able to go right in and forego the 1.5 hr wait downstairs to sit at a booth. The atmosphere was very New York. It was loud downstairs but the volume and atmoshere was just right on the 2nd floor. They also have a nice outside patio on the 3rd floor that looks cozy - this will definitely be a hot spot for summer 2006. I recommend this restaraunt for a first date - if you order sushi because it is a little quiter then you can head up to the 3rd floor or 2nd floor balcony for drinks. Here is the opening PR for the restaurant.

The Hottest Ticket in Sports...

Sunday at the Masters. The Masters is everything you dream that it will be - beautiful course, golf drama, good sportsmanship, class, quiet golf claps and whispers by the patrons, slick greens, perfectly groommed, perfect weather, and a tasty chicken sandwich for $2.50. You knew that Phil Mickelson owned this weekend - you could see it in his easy smile and his standard saunter up the fairway. Phil had the magic this week and his putts fell and his tee shots were straight and no one could stop him - but it was sure fun to watch them all try (Couples, Singh, Goosen, Woods, Clark, Mediate). Maybe next year...
Hole #12 Tiger on the driving range. Augusta native Vaughn Taylor on 16. The official scoreboard.

LOST - 4 8 15 16 23 42

Lost is either the greatest show on TV right now or the worst. I am addicted to the show like all of my co-workers. We debrief the show every Thurs after a new episode airs on Wed - the producers need to start airing more new episodes by the way. With each new episode more questions are posed and a few questions are answered. There are so many storylines going on that it is hard to keep up with all of the nuisances that go on in each show. It is easy to miss the little "clues" that pop up in each show.

I do like some of the back stories better than others - Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke. I don't really care about Charlie and his drug problems or Hurley and the lottery or Sun and Jin and their marital problems. The best story lines revolve around Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Locke and I even like Mr Echo from the back of the plane. Ana Luica is also interesting but I think her character makes you not like her and the fact that she got a DUI and denied while on the set.

In case you need something to discuss around the water cooler, the newest mystery on the show is the map that was drawn on the doors that came down and trapped Locke. Here is a good link to the map.

Movie Reviews

I have seen a few movies lately that I thought I would report on...

Failure to Launch - 3 stars
This movie is pretty much what you expect it to be. You go to this movie because you know it is a "cute" love story and that in the end Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parket will end up together. You don't go to this movie to stretch your mind or to come away with some new thought to ponder. It is a feel good movie that gives you hope in "love" and "happily ever after". The movie is on the shorter sign and has a few wierd scenes where one of the characters is bitten by a chipmunk, bird, dolphin, and maybe on other animal - kind of wierd.

End of the Spear - 2 stars
I was expecting more out of this movie since it was about missionaries in Equador. I thought the religious exponent of the story line would be more of a prominent theme but instead the relationship between the missionary's son and the tribe leader seemed to be the central story. This movie was also on the shorter side and I think the storyline could have gone in more detail instead of glossing over the 10-20 years betweeen when the tribe was first contacted by the missionaries and how they evolved into accepting the Christian religion. This movie opens it up for good conversation after you go to see it. It is also interesting to get a view of life in the jungles of Equador.

Pride and Prejudice - 4 stars
I loved this movie. It had everything a good movie needs - good character development, good storyline and on top of that it is a romantic period-piece set in Georigian England. From the beginning of the movie you want to travel the journey as Lizzy and Mr Darcy fall in love. I enjoyed 1700/1800's setting and the relationships between the 5 sisters and of course the romatic links between Jane and Mr Bingley and Lizzie and Mr Darcy. This movie was definitely Oscar worthy and Keira Knightley gave a memorable performance as the most forward thinking sister. Although the movie helps foster Americans misconception of "love" even more, it is a cute story that makes you "believe in love" and "happy endings". In real life, a man wouldn't ask you to marry him after a few chance convesations and you wouldn't say yes but in this movie that is "romantic" and your marriage won't begin while you both sit on the balcony at your castle while looking over miles and miles of gardens that you own. While things may be happy most of the time, you will always encounter bumps in a relationship and in order for that relationship to grow, those in love must grow and change together. Of course, that doesn't sell movies! A must see movie that opens up the chance for good thought-provoking conversation as the credits roll.

Dearailed - 3 1/2 stars
I am not sure why this movie received such bad ratings and did poorly in the theatre. The only reason I can come up with is because there were such high expecations set on a "Jennifer Aniston" movie and given her personal situation at the time of the release, maybe critics weren't kind. Jennifer Aniston only played a supporting role. Clive Owen was really the main focus of the entire film while Jennifer and Melissa George (you may recognize her as Lauren Reed from Alias) played supporting roles. This movie has a good twist (similar to The Sixth Sense but not near that dramatic, more of a mystery/cops&robbers kind of twist) at the end that catches you off guard. I would say the movie could have been about 10-20 mins shorter and I would have been happy - the ending is sort of dragged out. This is a good rental for a rainy night.

US Debt

I saw this on Yahoo Most View Pictures and thought this is good food for thought. To think each family is responsible for almost $90,000 of the national debt! Good times. See article on yahoo.

St Patty's in Chicago

I know that most of you won't believe it but the river in Chicago really is dyed green for St Patrick's Day. Here is a picture of the river from my recent trip to the Windy City. It was a gorgeous day and we were able to enjoy the parade, walking downtown, and a private room at a local Irish Pub (can you believe that on St Patrick's weekend!). It was a ton of fun, mostly because of the great weather. Looks kind of like powerade or anti-freeze, huh? People have asked, "why is the river already dyed green and it isn't even the 17th?". Well, apparently Chicago always dyes the river green and holds their celebration before St Patrick's Day so since it falls on a Friday this year, all the festivities were the weekend before. No worries, there are still activities on the 17th. Just no green river.

Divorce

Divorce...it is followed by a deathly silence, a sense of shock and disbelief and this sick feeling in your gut. When there are no outside influences and someone all of a sudden tells their mate that they don't love them anymore, there are a lot of questions. How could I be so blind? What will happen in the future? Even though it isn't my divorce, it rocks the whole family unit. It affects everyone and you think about how it was your "last" Christmas together, you think of the "last" time you saw them, the "last" conversation you had - which was a text message where they were giving you love advice. You think about how they comforted you when you went through a horrible break-up. You wonder if they thought through all the things they said to you when you were going through a break-up. When they were comforting me after someone lost their love for me, were they already loosing their love for him? When they said "there must be someone else", you wonder "well, there isn't with you, right?". Did you try to go to counseling? Did you try to work it out? How you could you not? And most importantly, where did the love go? How does is just disappear? How do you just stop loving someone? Divorce...it is hard for all. It tears famlies apart. You can't take sides (not in this case) and you want to reach out to the other side because they have always helped you but not all of a suddent your relationship has been thrown out of balance. A simple phone call to see how they are doing is no longer "simple". After the "hello", you have nothing to say and don't know what to say. You just hope that the words will come. You hope that you will wake up and it will be a bad dream and that everything will be back to normal and everyone is still in love.

Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy is my favorite show on TV (followed by Lost). The girls at work are addicted to the show and we talk about it every Monday (much like Lost which we talk about every Thursday). What I love about Grey's Anatomy is that there seems to be a new episode every week. Unlike Lost which you never know if it is a repeat, isn't on, or if they are showing the pilot yet again.

So this week's episode was good as always. The introduced Mark aka "Dr McSteamy" - I can do without the nickname but he is good looking. I hope he whisks Addison back to NY so that Derrick is free to get back with Meredith. I do want to hear more details about what made Addison come to Seattle to want Derrick back. Should be an interesting story line. We know that Derrick loves Meredith but he is trying to make it work with his cheating wife. I did love Meredith's charcter and there is good chemistry between Dr McDreamy and Meredith but she may have slumped to an all new low this past week when she slept with George. George is so nice and we all like George and she is going to rip his heart in two. Could she not have just kissed him and then realized that he isn't for her. It isn't like they both agreed that it would be platonic. Next week should be interesting.

I did hear a rumor that one of the interns is going to be killed off. I can't figure out who it will be. Maybe Kereve because his storyline doesn't have a place to go and he did tell Mark that he was interested in plastics so maybe he will transfer to a new hospital. Everyone else has pretty strong storlines.

So if you aren't watching Grey's Anatomy, you need to get on the bandwagon. It is on Sunday's night on ABC at 10pm EST.