Kutless Concert

This weekend Matt and I did a couple unique things: One being seeing the "Expelled" documentary that we've been talking about. It was really good. It didn't give a lot of facts or base things on Christianity, but it definitely shows how defensive Evolutionists get when their theory is compromised, and it seems to show how silly the beginnings of the "first cell" are.

The second interesting thing we did was we went to a Kutless concert, with Chris Taylor and Esterlyn as well. We both spent way too much money, but we had a great time. Here are a couple of the better pictures I got out of the evening:

Chris Taylor Singing

Esterlyn!!

The entire Kutless band

The vocalist/sometimes guitarist/sometimes keyboardist of Kutless

UMA Groundhog

The above pictures depict the only resident living on the UMA campus. My guess is he lives under the gazebo, and many students have seen him before, although Wednesday was my first time. He apparently has a name, but I don't know it. He is very humanized, and came right up to me. I thought the flash would scare him off, but he only came closer. I think I was 3 feet away, and more scared than he was! Note the specific notch in his fur which shows us that we are all looking at the same groundhog:

Made for Each Other

You know the semi-cliched term "Made for Each Other?"

What would the evolutionist say to their partner?

"Honey, we were evolved for each other!"
"Oh, Dear, you're so romantic!"

Ha, ha... I crack myself up!

Nothing New.

In Denny's, before he decided that a restaurant is not the place for a camera...

Well, now that the blog has taken a break for a couple of days...

Matt visited this weekend. It was fun. We rented 2 movies, Juno and The Water Horse. Both OK I guess. Juno is a little slack on moral for me, and the water horse was a little too... dark to keep my interest. I can't really think of a better word than dark. There seemed to be a consistent lack of color in the film. I think Matt liked it though.

Well, the disappearing theater in Portland has reappeared, so that's where we will be on Friday night! What else...

I may be moving just a tad sooner than expected. I was planning on moving between December and January... Possibly during my winter break... But I may start looking a little sooner... Mid November maybe. That's when the Halloween season ends, so I really won't be getting many hours at work after that... And I'm counting on the hope that someone will hire me with the knowledge that I am to graduate in just a month. I was thinking about getting a seasonal Christmas position right after the Halloween season so as to assure work for myself during Iparty's slow time, but my mom suggested skipping that step. How in the world I will afford an apartment (first and last months rent and whatnot) I have no clue. Maybe my mom will help me out with my Fall semester too so I can save up.

OK. Done babbling.

BPA in Plastic Products

A few weeks ago I had mentioned how Nalgene plastic water bottles had a potentially harmful chemical that leached from it? Well it's apparently called BPA, and it appears Nalgene is doing something about it. You can read the article I found here.

If you read the article, you will also notice the mention of BPA in baby bottles. . . Scary, huh?! When I first heard about plastic baby bottles being potentially harmful, I vowed to only use glass water bottles if I ever have kids. My Environmental Science class has been keeping up with a few bills in Maine legislature, one of them being "harmful chemicals in children's products." This bill has had at least 15 amendments proposed, with probably 6 being accepted into the bill. It's not the one I'm studying, but they will all be presented at the last class, and I'll let you know what the bill entails when I know.

Until then, I would stay clear of any soft plastics that children might put in their mouth (such as rubber duckies) and watch out for plastic teething and drinking products.

The most annoying sound in the world...

Is a buzzing fly... (esp. if you're asleep)

Too bad I'm too lazy to get a fly swatter.

A Plethera of Different Topics

First: Spring!!

I spent weeks thinking spring, and now it's here! There's hardly any snow anywhere!! I spent too much time inside, it's like spring came overnight- it was 65degrees outside yesterday.

Second: Adulthood?

• When did I grow up? Like the coming of spring, the fact that my life consists of college, work, and grown up issues has hit me all at once, even though I've been doing all of this stuff for at least a year. Maybe it's because when I graduated I was so young, and still felt like a kid even though I was working and going to college. Now that I'm thinking about a more permanent job, graduation, and eventually an apartment away from home... I feel like I've become one of those boring adults that would rather sit and chat with family about gas prices and politics than play with my new toys on Christmas! *sigh*

Third: Expelled.

• Sub-topic 1: The movie

• Matt and I are probably going to New Hampshire two weekends from now the day before the Kutless concert to see the movie because we can't get in contact with the theater in Portland and we can't find out show times, so I am under the assumption that the theater has closed. Plus the theater in NH is just as far away from Matt as Porland is from me, so it really wont be too different in retrospect. Let me just say that for only working 11 hours that week, I'm going to be putting out more money in gas than I'm actually making!

• Sub-topic 2: The evolution subject itself (a bit lengthy, don't feel obligated to read)

• I showed a flyer for the movie to my science professor, asking if she had heard about it. She hadn't, but we managed to get into a debate. I was just saying that Intelligent Design should be taught in school, or at least the faults and evidence against evolution taught. HAH! "Scientific Theory is not like any thing else..." and blah blah blah... I can see why some scientists have lost their jobs and almost their career over this...

• I then talked with another student in my class, and he was nicer about it, saying "anything is possible," and while he himself is "religious" and believes in the Bible, he thinks that a lot of it is not to be taken literally, which is true to a point. He however believes in what some call "Creationism," which is the belief that God basically created the big bang, and set evolution in process, and the 6/7 days we know to be creation happened over billions of years, thus evolution and the belief that the earth is 4.5 billions of years old.

• I told him that the primary "evidence" for evolution was fossils, and in order for fossils to be created, death had to happen, which didn't until after the fall of man. Makes perrrrfect sense to me, but he started going on about how he didn't think there was such a thing as an eternal 'body' and that the death not happening until after Adam was referring to a spiritual death that was non-existent before the fall of man.

• Why do I get into these debates? People are usually pretty set in their ways, as I am set in my mine; I'll admit that I'm pretty closed minded when it comes to evolution. I just think that it should be presented in a manner that doesn't make it out to be fact. There is a lot of evidence against macro-evolution that is never looked at when it is discussed. Would I rather it not be taught at all? Of course, I think the concept is ridiculous. But let's at least give people the option to believe something else (and yes, I told them this and they said basically that it's religion and should be kept separate from science, and people were idiots if they didn't think critically and search for information on other subjects if they found fault with Darwin's Theory.)

• But yet, the people that DO research against Darwin's theory and report their findings are shot down and shunned by other scientists! Hence the creation of the film Expelled!

• Sorry. That was still fresh in my mind. This class has 10 people, and I know 3 people including myself who outright do not believe in Neo-Darwinism. 3/10? 33.3%? That's a large percent. Why can't we get anything else but Darwinism taught?

(sorry, bullets were the only way to indent and make this book easier to read)

Expelled

Click to Enlarge

I saw the commercial while watching TV with my dad on Tuesday night, and I was just soooo happy! Someone actually made a documentary that will be in a few select theaters (only one in Maine) that actually suggests something other than evolution/Darwinism is out there. I haven't been able to get in contact with the theater that is supposedly playing the movie starting this Friday (I need to know showtimes!). It's in South Portland, and hopefully Matt and I will be going sometime this weekend (YAY!).
I would also like to host a Generation Christ event geared towards high school and college students based on the information in the documentary and the materials from their website. They make it easy with a slide show presentation, teaching tips, handouts, etc. Myself included, students in any sort of science class are bombarded with evolution thrown into every aspect of practically everything taught, and it makes it hard to know whats fact and fiction.
Call me a geek, but I'm really excited, because this has been a sore spot for me recently. I attribute my sensitivity to this subject to the fact that I'm in the middle of an evolution intensive course, and the fact that I attempted to debate NOT that ID (intelligent design) is the way to go and that everyone should believe it, but just that it should be taught in schools, because evolution is still a THEORY! I got shot down!
I wasn't attacking their belief, I was just suggesting that maybe, just as in psychology there are multiple theories taught, that the same should be in science until we are 100% sure. These people were like "oh we are 100% sure stop being closed minded!!" HELLO!!!! Who is attacking the other's belief, and who is suggesting both be taught?! Who here would you consider closed minded?! Insecure much!

OK enough of my rant, but here's some food for thought: How come all of the links that prove evolution are missing?

Cute picture

Here's another picture taken during the Generation Christ photo shoot on the side. I thought it was cute.

Image Map

For my web design class I have to create a complete website by myself, and I have a list of requirements, one of which is an image map. Since I was already creating the Generation Christ website I'm using that for my project. View the Contact page and scroll all the way to the bottom to see my image map! Also note that the slide show has more than two pictures!

Here are a few of the less serious pictures taken during the hunt for the perfect image map picture!

we take Jesus seriously!

Creepy Van?

Ok, so this is kinda backwards....

You know how you [mostly women] get annoying forward emails about not parking next to large vans, or if there is one, go in through the passenger side door? Yeah, well Karen was like "oh yeah there's an exit on the other side of Wal*Mart!! So I followed this large white van all the way across the parking lot to find that you can only go in that way. Apparently the driver of the van also didn't know this was only an entrance, as he turned around, and I followed suit. We then were behind this van for another 5 minutes before we turned, and found it hilarious that this time we were the ones stalking the creepy van. If you don't find that funny, then just imagine that Karen and I (a couple of teenage girls) were on a sugar high. It was completely hilarious. This was before we got lost.

On a side note, I ended up driving down to see Matt this weekend. Yes, even though he's sick. I'm pathetic. BUT Matt is just as utterly pathetic when he is sick as I am the rest of the time (inside joke). We had vapor rub and chicken soup, so we're all good now!

Stress and Sickness

For anyone that doesn't want to read a negative blog, I'd stop here.

First of all, Matt's sick. Blah... This is bad in so many ways... his health... missing work.... feeling icky.... and being contagious! He was supposed to come and visit me this weekend, but he isn't anymore because he's sick :'(. And, me being as pathetic as I am, am making the short trip tomorrow morning. All in all, we won't spend more than 25 hours together, and that number includes the time we're sleeping. *sigh.*
Two short weeks, with a long gap in the middle. I feel like my mind has this clock in it, and I just feel like "ok, I should be hanging out with Matt really soon." I say goodbye usually on Mondays, and then see him again either Friday or Saturday, and so Friday I start counting down until I'll be in South Berwick. However, because of Matt's work schedule, I made it an early event last week, because it gave me a few extra hours, and he was going to be working either way. It was an average amount of time, but Matt was sleeping so much it felt like a lot less.
[Matt, I'm writing the following to you as much as I'm just posting another blog]
About Wednesday the alarm clock goes off, its about time to see Matt... Oh wait, he's not coming until Sunday. I've been counting down since Wednesday and now he's sick and there are just some weeks were seeing him is so habit and some weeks where I just miss him and need to see him and this is one of the latter. Augh! my vent. I know, most people who are reading this are probably like "oh my gosh, she's crazy... Doesn't she realize there are starving children in India!" I feel so bad about feeling bad, because I know in retrospect I have it so good, which only makes me more stressful.
Which brings me to the stress part of the title. Sometimes I feel that I look so calm and relaxed all the time I even fool myself... Funny enough, when I have a lot going on I seem to take it better, but now that things have slowed down, my stress has picked up. I'm not going from school to work to school to sleep, rinse, repeat.... but I am OVERLOADED with homework! What do I do?! There just isn't enough time for me to do homework and relax, and I definitely need some down time sometime!! It's getting so bad, sometimes I feel like I'm going to burst out in tears during the middle of a class if I don't understand something. (Almost did that today)
Matt is my excuse to relax.... "I can't do homework, I'm with Matt..." And that is why I'm risking getting sick. Maybe if I get sick it will be an excuse to stay home from work and catch up.

So there. now you know.

Sleepy Time

Oh man, did this blog miss pictures or what?!

I figure I better make up for the time my camera was out of commission.

These were all on my mom's camera (used as the family camera, used by all). Apparently my family likes to take pictures of people sleeping.

THE BIRDS!!

This was actually at my house at the last snow/rainfall. Apparently the birds were just as unhappy about the snow as we were.

And here's a still picture of Tiger.. He couldn't resist the flocking birds, but his presence didn't stop them!

On a cuter note....
Oh my goodness this is the CUTEST kitten! It's got that baby kitty purr, its teething, its ears are still so small you can barely see them amidst the fur! I want it!!!!!! (it's a myspace video, and kinda long so you don't have to watch the whole thing, just long enough to understand its cuteness)



Posted by Laura on Matt's account on accident.

Spring Cleaning

Today before work I did LOTS of cleaning! I picked up, dusted, vacuumed (all rooms plus the car) and changed my sheets.... I'm still planning on doing laundry, cleaning my laptop, and cleaning the bathroom (yuck).

Funny enough, Matt decided to do the same today, as rare as it is. Now, I don't think he's actually gotten any cleaning done as of yet, but he's planning on cleaning out Fuzzy Lumpkins' (the hamster) cage, cleaning his room, and even tackling the bathroom and kitchen with Jason. I don't think the kitchen has been cleaned since I started dating Matt a year and a half ago. Wow.

Array of Pictures

Here's some of the latest pictures that were on my camera. I had basically forgotten about them, and they are such a random bunch I figured I would post about them. Why not?

Um. Yeah.

Haha, she was probably coming up real close to me when I snapped this.

Yes, I took a picture of a pizza. If I remember correctly I think it just looked so perfectly round I had to.

Show of your muscles, Macho Man!

If the moon would only stay still, I could take a decent picture.

Yeah, so today was lazy day for Laura. I woke up at about 11 or 12, I don't remember (yes, Bad Laura slept through church...) And I spent the rest of the day working on the Generation Christ website. It needed an update, and its also my final project for my webdesign class, so there were some behind the scene changes that needed to be made. If you look at the website, you will see little to no difference, but there's a good 10 hours I put in today in there.

Home Again

This trip was just as long as any other. No shorter, no longer.

The difference is, Matt slept most of the time. He's been working weekends anyway, so I made the trip earlier this week because it worked better with my schedule to have more time with him, and he was going to be working this weekend anyway.

He slept until 3:30 on Friday, and I didn't see him awake on Saturday.

I miss weekends where we had the entire day together.

blahhhhhh

And I got lost again with Karen. I rock at getting lost. <3
"I think we're supposed to go right here"
"nah, we can go either way and end up home"
...

Getting Lost

Well, here's the good news:

I GOT MY CAMERA BACK!!!

Woot! I'd post a picture of it, but.... well. I'm sure you understand!

Now, StoryTime:
Matt was asleep, and I had just finished all the homework that I had brought with me, so I figured I would venture out. I had to pick up his paycheck so he could deposit it right when he woke up, and I got a call that my camera had been returned to the Newington Best Buy, although I thought I requested to have it sent directly to me.
I also needed gasoline, and to stop at an ATM. Perfect errand run, right? Well, I left a little earlier than I should have so even though I stopped at the gas station twice (the first time I realized that Matt still had my credit card because he had to get some tickets with it, and then I realized I had enough in my checking account because my income tax direct deposit went through anyway) I was going to arrive too early at Center Point to pick up Matts paycheck, which is available at 1.
So on my way back to 236 from the highway I figured I would take a detour to Kittery just to shop around a little. Apparantly that didn't work, because I got off at the correct exit, but then the road split and I had a 50/50 chance, and lost. So I ended up going all the way back to Portsmouth (different part) and getting back on the highway!! Dejavu.
This time, I made it to the outlets! YAY me! Unfortunately, I didn't know how to get back home because the only other time I was paying attention through Kittery we drove to Portsmouth from there and then went home (and I wasn't going back to Portsmouth). SO THEN I got on the highway... North. Already past the South Berwick Exit.
I got off in York, and thought I could make my way home from there, but got frustrated from exploring and just went BACK on the highway South and got off on the 236 exit. I made it! On and off the highway 1..2..3..4..5 times in like 2 hours. I fail at this game.

w00t for camera!

4 Amanda comments

Thanks to Amanda, Amanda and Amanda for commenting on the last blog.

When I got 4 emails in a row each saying that Amanda commented on your blog, I thought that someone accidentally hit the send button 4 times. The Amanda's have proved me wrong!!

And Amanda C... well, Amanda Elizabeth C., I'm coming down tonight until Saturday afternoon, so you'll see me soon!

Mini Eggs

So, Matt and I did a variety of different things this weekend:

Movies (The Game Plan & Vacancy)
Shopping
Matt hanging at Iparty where I work
Searching all across town for Cadbury Mini Eggs left over from Easter...

Well, while I was working, Matt trekked all over Augusta, and ending up finding some Mini Eggs and surprising me. How cute.

Yeah, that really is the best thing I could come up with for this post. Deal. :-P