A Biscuit and Pear Sort of Day

The other day I ate three (non condimented) biscuits and two pears for lunch. That's it.

It was random yet filling.

Then, for some reason, that lunch has been stuck in my head. A tangible random equivalent to a random time in my life. No job. No structure. Tons of "what ifs". Yet, my time is full.

Still processing.

In other news, tomorrow I am heading to Cajun country! Since my dad owns a True Value Hardware store, he attends a market twice a year to peruse new tools. I got handed an all expense paid trip to attend with him and my brother in New Orleans. Three days of plumbing, electric and power tools--it is going to be amazing.

I would say I would blog while there but trying to get the computer out of Zach's eyesight is like fleeing with the gold from Fort Knox.

I wouldn't get past the barb wire fence.

So, I will have to process, take pictures, and then give one heck of a posting on Monday.

Philanthropy: What Does It Really Mean?

It has been a while since I highlighted a book, but this one has garnered my attention for a time. I stumbled across this book while perusing a local bookstore and the informational flap description caught my attention. The broad stroke synopsis is that a young woman gave a deeply loved blue sweater to Goodwill, only to discover it being worn by a young African boy eleven years later. Thus began her years of working overseas, primarily in Africa, and pushing the boundaries of the typical "charity."

It is a very in depth journey of how she worked alongside women primarily in Rwanda to create business opportunities to creating a nonprofit venture capital firm for the poor that invests in sustainable enterprises. Her story tackles the harsh reality that "throwing money" at poverty is not the answer, but rather investing "patient capital", time, and basic resources can help people become self sufficient and grant dignity to the poor.

Be prepared to read stories of the Rwandan genocide, how countries have embezzled aid sent overseas, as well as how hundreds of thousands of dollars have been misused by the individuals themselves because it was given for specific reasons and not what was actually needed.

This book has made me think. What does charity look like? How can that change? Why do people think it is easier to spend money rather than spend time? What can I do to grant dignity to the poor rather than trying to 'fix' them?

Still thinking.

Favorite Quotes

"You should focus on being more interested than interesting." --John Gardner

"If you move through the world only with your intellect then you walk on only one leg." With his hands held in prayer, he lifted one leg and slowly and deliberately hopped three times. With the same deliberation and pace, he restored his foot to the floor. After a long breath, he started again. "If you move through the world only with your compassion," lifting his other leg, "then you walk on only one leg." Again, he hopped three times. "But if you move through the world with both intellect and compassion, then you have wisdom." He walked slowly and gracefully, taking three long, slow strides. --Maha Ghosananda

Daffodils?! Where?!

Continuing with our festival fetish, this morning we roped the Paces into joining us as we headed to Junction City for the Daffodil Festival. Though we knew the festival was in rural Oregon, our hopes that it wasn't lame were high.



Two hours later our fears were a bit founded. Fifteen booths, a wagon ride, (sold out) cinnamon rolls, and a missing field of daffodils met our arrival.

However, the highlight for Zach and I was the Cajun Etoufee band. Bluegrass makes us swoon.

It seems the festival is based on the six miles of roadside that daffodils can be found growing wild. We personally felt it was an excuse to have a party. Though, after further discussion and a bit of driving we decided the festival was based on this swampy field that had one daffodil plant.


Back in Salem to drop off the Paces, we decided to take a brief detour to the state capitol. Neither one of us had seen the governmental hub in person and thought it was a good day to remedy that situation.

Yep, the capitol lawn had more daffodils than the Daffodil Festival. I love Oregon.

PS: For their humor and dedication to join the Bankers in such whimsical festival meanderings, this post is dedicated to the Paces.

Kentucky Homeboys

March Madness is upon us.


The brackets have been completed.

Zach has recovered from his grieving.

The smack talking has commenced.

Zach has signed up for automatic final score alerts from ESPN.

It has been a busy few days leading to this point and it was a unique culmination on the eve of hoop mania.

Once the brackets were drafted and game locations assigned, Zach and I have been questioned repeatedly whether we had tickets to any of the games since the Rose Garden is host to first and second round games this year. The answer is no, because the games have been sold out since over a year ago. However, the interest is due to a team from the motherland will be shooting hoops in the Rose City--Western Kentucky University.


Today, Zach found out that the practice sessions were FREE, open to the public, and parking was FREE. With BD in tow (lamenting the entire way that we were not going to see Gonzonga practice) and garbed in our WKU gear we headed to the Rose Garden.

We caught the end of the Akron team practice and experienced an annoying child. Why do we always end up near the annoying kid?!


However, at 6:40pm the Hilltoppers took to the floor for their practice session. For forty minutes we heard the annoying kid yell, "DUUUUUNNNNNKKKKK!" along with an asundry of other weird lines. His brother contributed this line, "That old man has hops!", when one of the coaches dunked.


Thanks to BD's IPhone we were able to answer all the weird team questions we kept conjuring up as we watched the practice.


At the end of the session, Zach and I looked at each other and grinned. It was fun. We may not have tickets to the hot games, but it was a unique chance to see a couple teams be lax and adjust to the arena. Plus it was a moment to say, "Hey, we have been to a practice session for the NCAA tournament." When does that ever happen?

The Pioneer I-5

Many, many years ago armed with a wagon, a few oxen, minimal supplies and the hope of a better life, pioneers traversed the Oregon Trail. The tales of these courageous individuals has always intrigued me. Today, we walked a bit in their tracks.

Zach had the day off, so we headed to the mighty mountain. We chose Barlow Pass as our destination, since neither one of us had experienced its trails.

Over a foot of fresh powder coated the mountainside and the silence beckoned us further.

We took turns breaking the trail, which was quite a workout.

As we plodded along I felt a sense of anticipation; as if the snow laden trees leaned in such a way to show us the way.

I turned at one point and said, "Zach, I think we are going to hit a vista around this bend." Thus began the lyrical battle of Just Around the Riverbend.

After giggles, we eased to the right and immediately to our right the trees split and and the mountainside offered a breathtaking landscape sonnet.

We plopped down and sat for twenty minutes.

We soaked in the sights.

We soaked in the silence.

We soaked in a little water.

We watched our friend who sat with us.

It was a remarkable day.

Project Completion

When quilt tops are found in a closet at the family farmhouse, they are usually sent my way since I am the only one who quilts in the family.

I spent a "finish that project" day with with Ruth Ann.



Armed with thimbles, needles, pins and lots of binding we finished the latest quilt project.



Ah, the joys of unemployment.

Missing: McIver State Park

With disc golf frisbees in hand, Zach and I headed out this afternoon to play the McIver State Park disc golf course. I had written the instructions down and we were ready to head south a bit.

An hour and a half later we stumbled into a Ranger Station, bleary eyed and a bit frustrated, asking whether this state park even existed. The receptionist laughed at us and drew a map, while soothing our directional egos saying it is a tough one to find. Bad signage. I retorted in my whimsical way, "That seems to be an overall Oregon problem."

Six miles later we descended into a beautiful natural basin that followed the Clackamas River. We had found our Fountain of Youth.

The course was in excellent condition and scenic; the front nine followed the rivers curves.

By the second hole Zach had found the really rough area. He had to retrieve his frisbee.

I, on the other hand, did not even near the river since it stayed to our right and my frisbee had a profusely left bent.

Unfortunately, due to our temporary misplacement of the park, we were only able to play ten holes before heading back to the city.

It was an incredible day to enjoy the nature and sunshine. I love that we live near such retreats.

LOTTERY: It Pays to Play

This morning, on a whim, Zach called and said, "Hey, this evening let's go down to the Keller Auditorium and try to win cheap Wicked tickets." Having nothing on the agenda, I agreed.

Dressed up and feeling lucky, we stood in front of Keller Auditorium at 5pm. Our names had been dropped in the cauldron. We waited.

At 5:30pm, they assembled the forty people and began the drawing. Twenty tickets were on the line for the price of $25.

Paper by paper, the tickets dwindled. The third person drawn wanted only one ticket so there was an odd number. I looked at Zach and said, "If for some strange reason it gets to the one ticket and one of our names is drawn, you go. You want to see it the worst." Zach rolled his eyes.

Seven tickets left.

Five tickets left.

Three tickets. I looked at Zach and said, "Here is where our luck is crappy; we are going to get the one ticket." Zach rolled his eyes.

The guy drew, turned the paper, squinted and read, "Amanda Banker."

I looked at Zach, he looked at me, then we proceeded to squeal, hug, and jump up and down. With three tickets left, we were the last one to get a pair!

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Our adrenaline was racing as we hurried to find sustenance.

At 7:08pm we walked through the auditorium doors to find our seats. The usher woman said, "Ah, you won the lottery. That is so nice. Your sits are down front."

Zach and I looked at each other, mouths agape, and proceeded to our seats which were three rows from the front on stage left.

For the next two and a half hours we sat is awe. Wicked, to date, is one of the best stage productions I have seen. The Defying Gravity scene brought me close to tears and made my arms contract goosebumps. It was witty, thought provoking, and phenomenally done. I confess that my happy existence of the Wizard of Oz has been thwarted and I am not sure I can ever watch the movie in the same light.

It was an amazing experience and even better that we got it for the mere price of $50.

That, my friends, is the joy of the lottery!

Musings of a Former 27 Year Old

Though I celebrate all month long, in fifteen minutes my legitimate day to celebrate me will come to a close. For the sake of cliches, another year done; on to a fresh start.

Throughout the day I have done a been of reflecting on me and my habits. Some have been quite insightful and legit, while others were as quirky as me hopping one footed out the car last night to retrieve the other shoe. Musings have included:

• Cups: Sporadically placed throughout the Banker abode is glasses filled to an asundry of water levels. I seem to drop them here and there like a flower girl flings petals in an aisle. The random part is that I am known to come back to the water days later and still drink it. Don't be grossed out; I am training for when the rivers run dry and the Atlantic Ocean becomes the coolest Grand Canyon.


• Stomach Ruts: There are thousands of self help books penned just to help one get out of life's ruts--dead end job, not embracing life, or brushing one's teeth every day at the same time. None of them address the issue of what one does when it comes to stomach ruts. When Zach was jaunting across Southeast Asia, I lived on cheese quesidillas, Honey Bunches of Oats and fruit. He returned to discover that I had spent thirty-ish dollars on groceries. Since being laid off from my job, I have sustained my mid day hunger with grilled cheese. That's it. Phases ebb and flow, but I do know that my stomach gets in a rut.


• Book Habits: I read the endings first. I will reread books over and over and over and over. I like the comfort of knowing what is going on. Life is notorious for throwing right hooks, so why have the same exasperation with a book when you can figure out where it is going?

There were a few more musings, but I will leave them in the secretive stage.

Highlights of Day 1 of Year 28

Throughout the day I was peppered with phone calls and well wishes.

I did a noon class at the gym and did many more jabs and ab crunches because it was my birthday.

My mom "baked" me a birthday cake and sent me the picture. I love the tentacely, shooting stars. She said she did not want too much pink.

My life group surprised me to night with multiple sweet items--cupcakes, ice cream, frozen pops. Plus I received cards, hugs, and some great lovin'.

This is what happens when I try to be artsy fartsy with sugary items.

The cards have received have been various. I received the pinky/purpley ones from my in laws. I think my mother in law does that just to tease me.

I received this one yesterday and loved it. Suzanne knows how to nail the situation on the head.

She is my Portland pen pal.

I received this one tonight.

It makes me want to go sit on the edge of the world and dream. Maybe I will just settle for the pier on the Willamette.

As always, cards make my blue day file.

Day one of my twenty eighth year has been splendid. I have felt quite loved.

My New Unofficial Job

I started the morning chomping Cheerios and dreaming of snowmen and Christmas trees.

By the afternoon, I had become Multnomah's first unofficially official tour guide. It is preview week for the seminary and Zach had a potential couple in town that wanted to see Multnomah Falls. He lamented late last night about how he wished he had a way to get them there.

I let him despair for a moment, then gently reminded him that I am on a job furlough and would love to share my playground.

The couple agreed and we went on a drive together. It was a great time to chat about the school, life as a seminary wife (ha ha ha!), and showcase this mighty beautiful country. They are from Ohio, so the poor dears are in need of some lucious landscape.

They thought it was hysterical that I was going snowshoeing today, but was ok driving the Gorge instead. The wife said, "You seem pretty active." I replied, "Oh get ready, if you move here you get caught in the wanderlust."

Baristas, Bells, and Bodacious Hats

Baristas

This week Portland has been the host to the 2009 US Barista competition. Baristas from all over the United States have descended on the convention center to strut their coffee connoisseurness.

Today I watched the action. Not being a coffee drinker myself, I could not help but get caught up in the passion these individuals portrayed. Their devotion and artistry to their craft was unmistakable.

I confess, the setting was a bit less than I expected. I expected a bit more hoopla around the event. Instead it was warehouse feel, with three stations placed in the middle surrounded by chairs and risers.

Bells

Upon leaving the convention center I stumbled across this bell and sign. I laughed.

Doesn't a bell normally ring without warning? Isn't a bell normally the thing that declares that something is to happen?

Bodacious Hats

Since Zach decided to take a weekend jaunt to Meford with Joel, I spent the evening with Sally and Kassidy. Kassidy showed off her mad walking skills as well as her impending stylish intuition.

Plethora of Observations

Approxiamtely two weeks ago Zach spent an evening introducing me to the movie, Three Amigos. His introduction consisted of showing me his all time favorite clips and only his favorite clips. I know nothing of the other 64 minutes surrounding these clips. However, in the midst of this review I was shown the plethora section.

Jefe: I have put many beautiful pinatas in the storeroom, each of them filled with little suprises.

El Guapo: Many pinatas?

Jefe: Oh yes, many!

El Guapo: Would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?

Jefe: A what?

El Guapo: A *plethora*.

Jefe: Oh yes, you have a plethora.

El Guapo: Jefe, what is a plethora?

Jefe: Why, El Guapo?

El Guapo: Well, you told me I have a plethora. And I just would like to know if you know what a plethora is. I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has *no idea* what it means to have a plethora.

Jefe: Forgive me, El Guapo. I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?

Since this viewing, plethora has been frequent in conversation especially since I seem to have a lot of time on my hands. During this furlough I have been able to make some observations.

• Combating Obesity: As I have increased my gym time, so has many others. As I am trying out new classes and going at weird hours, so are others. A few of the gym employees have commented that there seems to be a steady stream and that classes are quite fuller. If anything, this economic meltdown could combat the obesity issue of America.
  


• New Environments: I have been able to have lunch with friends, as well as visit them in their place of employment. Today I visited Rod at Tidal Wave Bookstore, a gem of a bookstore. However, I confess that I have no idea where the name came from since Tidal Wave seems more of a canoe shop than a used bookstore.

• Not Alone: This goes without saying, but there are a lot of people unemployed. Not a day goes by that I have not discussed the situation with a random individual, whether it be at the grocery, Walmart, or getting gas.


• Whims: My attention span is quite short and having the ability to follow whims has been interesting. Today, I spent four hours at the To house making cards in solitude. It was a great way to spend the day though I was suppose to go to the bank and Walmart. Oops.

• Control: Since the sphere of my OCDness has been limited, I find the constant need to try to keep the Banker abode clean. I am weird. However, Zach has been quite vital ensuring that I do not get carried away with this notion since he turned our TV room into a computer hub.

Though I do feel as though I am a rudderless canoe at the moment, it has been an interesting week and I am sure there are many more to come.