Awaiting Response

Which is better: Wendys or McDonalds?

If you are reading this. You need to answer.

Used Books and Judges

In Greensboro there is a fabulous HUGE used book store that I seriously could spend time in every day if I had an unlimited income. They have Zillions of used dvds and books to keep me busy for years. They also have a small free section, which usually has nothing worthwhile in it, although recently I did find 3 books that I wanted! I've purchased several dvds for $3 or $5, and I was able to get the entire Harry Potter series in hardback for $57 (which is EXTREMELY AMAZING). The other wonderful thing about this bookstore is that they will buy my books! I have been having a WONDERFUL time of taking books that I have no interest in, getting cash or store credit from them, and being able to spend it on other fun books or dvds. I've dedicated a shelf on my bookcase to books that I think I probably don't want, but want to read through once just to make sure I'm okay with selling it. I got quite a few IVP books from working on staff last year that are no use to me, so it's been fun to get some money from those.

Anyways, so the book I just finished reading to see if I wanted to sell it or not was a free IVP one called "Sex and Dating". In one chapter the author was referencing a story in Judges, and I had to look it up. If you don't know it, Judges is a HILARIOUS book of the Bible. In chapter 3 of Judges a fat guy gets stabbed with a sword, and the author writes in verse 21-22 "Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly. Even the handle sank in after the blade, which came out his back. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the far closed in over it." How gross and kind of awesome is that??

Along the same lines, I feel like part of 2 Kings chapter 2 should be in the book of Judges instead. "From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria." There are some crazy stories in the Bible.

Anyways, back to what I was talking about. The "sex and dating" book referenced this passages in Judges 21, which I had never noticed before. "So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, "Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, 'Do us a kindness by helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.'So that is what the Benjamites did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them." I don't know how I would feel if a guy was so desperate for a wife he just ran and captured me while I was dancing in a vineyard. Ha! Just a funny story I felt like sharing.

It's been awhile!! I don't like it when it's been awhile!! And yet I still don't have much to say. Here are some of my happy thoughts for the moment:

-I had a wonderful weekend snuggling with a dog and spending some catch up time with my friend Danielle.

-my guinea pigs are the best things ever and I love them!

-Cake at work today. Mmmmmm...

-New work clothes, on major sale - Yes!!

-Tomorrow my sponsored kid in Columbia is turning 8! I am so excited for him and love him lots. Happy birthday Duvan!

-I love Nickel Creek.

-I am getting lots of money back for my taxes, so I get to visit my sister in Maine for a week this summer!

-McDonald's gift card. I know lots of people are too good for McDonalds and talk about how gross it is and how much better Wendys is...but I love McDonalds.

-The few nice people at work that I really like and care about.

-Each day is one more day closer to warm weather! (nevermind that it snowed this morning)

Soggy mattresses in Greensboro

I think I will never become a native Greensboridian/Greensborite. "Why?", you might ask. Well, let me tell you. It has to do with furniture.

There is some mysterious rule in Greensboro that I have not encountered in any of the other three cities I have lived. It seems that, in Greensboro, there are certain places you must put your old furniture. Not just things like old couches, but plenty of other things. Screen doors, broken dressers, wheels and tires, window panes, pieces of siding, end tables with missing legs, and lots and lots of mattresses.

Now, I think that these things should be taken to the dump or at least put out with the trashcan on Mondays. But maybe there is a rule against that in Greensboro, I don't know. Or if it was in okay condition, I think it should be sold on craigslist--why not make a couple bucks off it? But maybe this stuff isn't in good enough shape to resell. So, I guess that only leaves one option. These pieces of "junk" must be placed on the side of the road. But wait. This cannot just be randomly anywhere on the side of any street. There are specific places on certain streets that, no matter when I drive by, there is a pile of crap. And the pile changes. I don't know if the garbage man eventually picks it up and people put new crap there, or if people take the old crap and other people leave new crap. I do not know. But let me ask you this--who would want to take a used mattress that has also been out in several rainstorms? Not I.

Maybe this phenomenon is a type of "right of passage" into becoming a true Greensboro resident. If so, I don't know if I'll ever fit in!