Mar 03
The Academy Awards are coming up on Sunday. After watching the great Roger Ebert on Oprah yesterday provide his Oscar picks, it brought me back to a memory from when I was in college.
I worked as a page at the Lilly Library at Indiana University. The Lilly is a rare books and special collections library. It is 50 years old and the core collection consisted of a donation by J.K. Lilly of the Lilly Pharmaceuticals Company. The Lilly has subsequently added a plethora of valuable and wonderful collections to its library.
When I graduated from IU in 1999, my colleagues of three years allowed me to put together a private tour for my family, who came down for the graduation. On that tour, I was able to show off some of the treasures of the library. Some of those were:
- A document signed by Queen Elizabeth I
- Shakespeare’s First Folio
- One of the rare first printings of the Declaration of Independence
- A Confederate soldiers diary
- A copy of General Robert E. Lee’s General Order No. 9
- Scripts from Star Trek and Star Trek the Next Generation
- X-Men no. 1 Comic
and…
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Mar 02
Today is my nephew’s 7th Birthday! Happy Birthday to my little buddy! I remember when he was born. My sister called around 3am to say she was starting to have contractions and asked if I could watch the boys. I raced over to her house, which was about 30 mins. away.
They wait a little while to go to the hospital but they leave. I am with two little boys, age 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 — ALL DAY LONG. My sister did not have my little buddy until later in the afternoon.
Happy Birthday Ry! Ry!
Feb 18
I debated on whether to write about my personal Lenten challenges, but decided to give it a shot anyway.
I am a huge caffeine drinker. I love me some coffee, soda, tea, and the occasional energy drink that will shut me down right in the middle of a presentation. However, I feel I have let it determine my plot through the day:
- Its morning, must have a cup of coffee.
- Its 10am, time for coffee break.
- Why thank you, I will have a Coke with lunch.
- Its 2pm and I need something to get me going. I’ll have another Coke, thanks.
- I think Iced Tea would go better with my dinner tonight than milk would.
- I’ll have a nice cup of hot tea (Earl Grey, its a gentleman’s drink!) while I relax and read for a while.
I need to break this habit. While I am not wholly giving up on the caffeinated goodness, I do think I can cut back drastically. I am going to completely eliminate the Cokes and drink less of the tea and coffee (one cup in the morning of coffee and tea EITHER for dinner OR evening, but not both).
This will be a challenge for me. I’d rather drink a nice cold glass of iced tea than milk. I love my coke, but frankly I think the coke is killing me from the insides, just between you and me.
So if you see me with a Coke in my hand. Slap it out. If you see me with a cup of coffee, ask how many that’s been for the day?
I have other Lenten spiritual things I am doing, but will not write about. I want you to help me keep myself honest with easing off of the caffeine.
Ash Wednesday went well with just a cup of coffee in the Morning and I drank a lot of water the rest of the day. So it is a start.
