22 posts tagged “matt”

For my husband's sake, I did not blog about how he ended his winter basketball season with the Super Ball Hog Ninjas 0-8, but I think he's moved past it now.  Really, he had a great attitude about it, albeit a bit disappointed.  But he's since started the spring league, and five of his former teammates decided to stick around for the next season, the outcome of which is yet to be determined.  Will it be another crushing defeat or a triumphant comeback?  Aye, time will tell (say that sentence with an Irish accent). 

They lost their first game of the spring season 66-45, but at halftime the score was within one point, so they held their own for awhile.  The Ninjas finally won their first game last week, beating a team who didn't make it into the "low" league because it was full.  They defeated this team 85-37, a very similar reflection of the Ninja's first game ever when they lost 67-22.  I did not witness the victory, but when Matt came home and told me they won, I was torn emotionally.  Thrilled for Matt, of course!   Relieved they finally won a game, you betcha!  It was a confidence booster for sure!  But I felt bad for the other team...the Ninjas WHOOPED them, gave them the same crushing defeat as they themselves had experienced...they showed NO MERCY!  "Why did they have to score so many points on them?", I contemplated.  I really felt sorry for this other team.

To his credit, Matt handled the whoopin's he experienced like a true sportsman, never complaining, and never once did he pout saying, "I just wish they didn't stomp us out."  So this is my own weird, messed up notion of sportsmanship:  when winning, a team should kindly not obliterate the other team!  Matt says I don't know what true sportsmanship is, that teams never compromise a game (i.e. miss shots intentionally or run slower or guard less) just to soften a loss.  I guess in my head that makes sense, but my heart says something else, because after Matt's blow-outs, I figured the Ninjas would be kind enough to not do that to another team; but instead, they sure strut their stuff!  It was probably all cooped up inside 'em after all this time, and I'm sure it felt good.  But really...85-37, was that really necessary?  It just seems a little over the top to me.  Am I really all that whacked?  Are blowouts wrong?  I'm probably being all girly about this, and somewhere in those big ol' sports rulebooks are rules against what I'm suggesting.  But as a wife sitting there watching her husband's team get blown out of the water, I am a little more compassionate towards the other teammates and their families viewing the slaughter.  I had the slightest inkling of hope that my husband wouldn't be the one doing the slaughtering.  Maybe that's why I was never in sports. 

Who would have thought that blogging would become a medium to share the kooky side of our family?  Certainly not Matt.  But surely it would be a lot less fun if we didn't disclose such random, spontaneous stories of our lives.  To us, they are hilarious.  To the average reader, a little funny at best.  But nevertheless, we will keep sharing these strange momentos of our lives.

Our little Molly has been known to eat bees, flies, and other such grotesque creatures that make us wonder what God was thinking them when He made them.  Even in the middle of a Bible study, she has demonstrated her technique in quickly snatching a bug buzzing around to bring about its demise by swallowing it in one fell swoop.  After being stung by a bee on her nose as a puppy, she has developed a fear of the bigger buzzing bugs.  Which brings us to this evening.

While sitting on the floor talking after Matt got home from work, we soon noticed a puppy that was snapping at the air, obviously trying to kill her foe:  a large fly (that must have been accidentally let in when Matt got home).  It swarmed and buzzed all about her, and Miss Molly started running all over the place, even up and down the stairs to try to escape such a disagreeable insect.  It was quite amusing watching her run hither to, to be in any other room but with the fly.  Back and forth.  Up and down the stairs.  The bedroom to the library.  The back door to the front door.  Whatever path of narrow escape she could create, she tried.  We finally put her in our bedroom and closed the door so she could take an anxiety break and we could finish our conversation in peace.  But we knew we had a mission for the evening:  to kill that dang fly, or else, Molly would start hyperventilating; she couldn't even calm down in our bedroom we could hear her breathing so loud. 

We have a fairly high ceiling in our entry way with a window at least 8 feet above our front door.  It takes Matt climbing an extension ladder to clean the window (yes, I'm anal enough to make him get up there and clean it every now and then).  Smart fly made its way up there.  Matt first tried using an old magazine to throw up to the window to get the fly to move.  First failed attempt.  So we collected a number of Matt's baseball caps and started throwing them at the window to try to get the fly to come down to civilization where we could swat it.  After 2 baseball caps getting stuck on the window ledge, and the stubborn fly staying put, we then turned to tennis balls.  We thereby ended up with 2 tennis balls stuck up on the ledge, then 3.  The fly was still not budging.  In an attempt to get some of the balls off the ledge, I threw one of Matt's caps up there, only to get stuck on the ledge along with the 3 tennis balls.  What in the world!!  We're trying to kill a fly for our scaredy dog?!  Who does this?!  Only crazy people who love their dog WAY TOO much!  It was quite a humorous turn of events for the evening.  But finally, after that last cap throw, the fly flew into our laundry room where Matt proceeded to swat it at least ten times, while I yelled, "Close the door so it doesn't escape!"

Now we needed to show Molly it was safe to come out.  Where was she of all places?  In our bedroom closet!!  Hiding in the closet the dear puppy was, afraid of a fly.  We showed the dead fly to her and she still ran away in the opposite direction.  But the fly was dead, and our dog would soon return to sanity.  Mission accomplished. 

Attempt #1: The Magazine

Attempt #2: 2 Baseball Caps Stuck

Attempt #3: 2 Tennis Balls Stuck (the fly is the large dark speck to the right of the tennis ball)

Attempt #4: 3 Tennis Balls & a Baseball Cap Stuck

Scaredy Dog in the closet

Molly's dead foe

After my last blog, I suppose I got a taste of my own medicine.  It was quite a long read, but the feedback of insight and links to information dwarfed my dissertation!  Thank you all for your interesting thoughts and for participating in the discussion.  Thanks to Rob and Kim who provided deeper insight into what progressive means in political and religious contexts respectively, and thanks to Meg for tossing out the challenge of providing an example of how Christians can engage in conversations that transcend religious talk and appeal to the public.

As far as an example goes, I think there is one distinction that must be made clear first.  As a Christian, I may believe something to be true because I read it in God's Word and that practice is not something to be discarded.  It is important for anyone to know why they believe what they believe, and the challenge of bringing that issue to the table of public discourse does not negate the value of religious study or discourse.  However, when bringing issues before the public sector for debate, an argument based upon God's authority will not engage the irreligious, and the debate will be unfruitful.  This is where the translation is necessary.

That said, a simple example that comes to mind is one that I frequently hear on the Dave Ramsey Show.  This is a financial advice talk show "where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice."  He offers "the same advice your grandmother would give, only he keeps his teeth in."  Dave happens to be a Christian, but this is not a "Christian radio show".  However, since he answers questions according to what he would do in his callers' shoes, his Christian values sometimes have opportunity to shine through.

An example of one question I have heard more than once is when a young man calls in asking whether it would be financially prudent to move into an apartment with his girlfriend in order to save money as one of them may be experiencing financial difficulty or they simply want to save money.  So what should the Christian response be?  Should Dave quote Scripture to the caller explaining why this is a morally wrong decision?  While the Bible is an authority in his life (and he will still often say he believes it to be morally wrong), he knows his audience and gives reasons for not living with each other until marriage that the caller can relate to.  If you're curious, he usually sites that statistics show that living with your future spouse before marriage significantly increases your likelihood for divorce.  He also shares examples of how mixing significant amounts of money with a boyfriend or girlfriend outside of a marital commitment is financially dangerous.  I believe that many Biblical truths can be supported by corroborating evidence found outside the Bible.

If you found the speech by Barack Obama interesting, you may also be interested in a debate that some other dear friends recommended.  It is a debate between Alan Keyes and Alan Dershowitz in answer to the question, "Does Organized Religion Hold Answers to the Problems of the 21st Century?"  I found this to be a very interesting read (you can listen to the first portion of the debate as an MP3).  I think that it is a great spring board for forming your own answer to that question and for continuing the discussion.  I would love to hear your thoughts about this debate as it touches on many issues key to the role of religion in society and government.  Like all heated debates, the debaters occasionally try to set traps around hot issues, but I also found it interesting to hear each side make their case.  Too often we only listen to one side of an issue (our own) and miss where the true disagreement lies.

I do have a couple of thoughts to share about the Alans debate, but I will postpone that to another time since I have already exceeded my word-count-quota.  But if you do read or listen to the debate, pay close attention to what the basis of right and wrong is for each participant.  Put another way, what is the basis of their morality?  What is the role of morality in government?

Since we haven't had any additional answers submitted to our Ink Pots Scavenger Hunt in more than 24 hours, we thought we should go ahead and reveal the anticipated results from our blog contest.  So without further ado, a big congratulations goes to  Ruth Scully! 

Ruth, Matt's Mom

Here are the questions and answers, along with the archived post where they were found:

QUESTIONS:

1. What role did Meg play in the karaoke contest during staff fun day?
2. What is the game that Meg's dad invented that the two of them would play when Meg was little?
3. As Matt grows older, what is it that he doesn't mind having?
   
4. There is a painting in Charleston found on the corner of a building of a little fellow made all out of what?
5. What was the one esoteric item Matt searched for at H.E.B. that left him thankful he had a cell phone?
6. What was in the extraordinary brown box that held a much anticipated treasure?
7. How many total miles did Meg travel from September-November?
8. What was the title of the blog that Matt linked to when he referenced a blog about insects?
9. What title did Matt wish our pastor named his new sermon series?
10. What is the name of the mathematical property that best describes our household?

1. Cage girl, or Go-Go Girl (August 2007:  "Staff Fun Day")
   
2. "penny for a question" (July 2007:  "Happy Birthday, Daddy!")
   
3. Grey hair, or wisdom hair (January 2008:  The Big 3-0...Happy Birthday Week, My Love!")
   
4. Hats (June 2007:  "Carolina Road Trip Days 7&8")
   
5. Reese's Wild Rice (July 2007:  Husbands grocery shopping without a cell phone")
   
6. The Office, Season 3  (September 2007:  "Less than 48 Hours To Go...")
   
7. 24700 (21k + 3700)  (October 2007:  "World Travels and Contextualization")
   
8. Bug Girl's Blog (October 2007:  "Blogging About Blogging...")
9. Transformers (January 2008:  "A Good Ol' Fashioned Sunday")
10. Transitive property of Inequality (July 2007:  "Our Household:  A Transitive Property of Inequality")

My most favorite answer that made me bust out laughing was submitted by my friend, Hillary, to the question "As Matt grows older, what is it that he doesn't mind having?".  In addition to the correct answer of wisdom (grey) hairs, she also put "or being able to eat all the ice cream pie leftovers himself", which Matt would wholeheartedly agree with!  Knowing me though, his chances of this happening are slim to none.

We also received some great answers to the bonus question,  "If you could choose anything for Matt and Meg to blog about next, what would it be?"  So we'll work on those; stay tuned.

Thank you to all who participated!  We had a great time putting the contest together and hope our readers enjoyed it as well.  We appreciate you all!  For little Julie, we will make more blog contests just for you!

Congratulations, Ruth! 

Welcome to the Ink Pots Scavenger Hunt in celebration of our 100th blog post!  To read how the game works, the rules, and how to submit answers, click here.  The first person to answer all of the questions correctly wins!  And he/she will have a choice of a $30 gift card to either 1)  Amazon.com  2)  Netflix or 3) Outback.  The game will close at midnight on Sunday the 24th, and the winner announced later that day.  Have fun!

SCAVENGER QUESTIONS:

1. What role did Meg play in the karaoke contest during staff fun day?
2. What is the game that Meg's dad invented that the two of them would play when Meg was little?
3. As Matt grows older, what is it that he doesn't mind having?
   
4. There is a painting in Charleston found on the corner of a building of a little fellow made all out of what?
5. What was the one esoteric item Matt searched for at H.E.B. that left him thankful he had a cell phone?
6. What was in the extraordinary brown box that held a much anticipated treasure?
7. How many total miles did Meg travel from September-November?
8. What was the title of the blog that Matt linked to when he referenced a blog about insects?
9. What title did Matt wish our pastor named his new sermon series?
10. What is the name of the mathematical property that best describes our household?

Banff's Ink Pots

1 comment

I don't know how I lost track, but it seems that my post Things That I Love, That Make My Soul Glad, written on the 15th of February, was an Ink Pots milestone:  it was our 100th blog post!  Originally, I planned to do something commemorative for my personal 100th post, as opposed to a combined post total between me and Matt, but that would be too hard to keep track of because of how our tags work, and I gotta emphasize the team part of this duo blog as much as possible to keep Matt writing (another thing, by the way, that makes my soul glad)!  So in celebration of our 100th blog post, we are going to have a contest for our beloved readers!

At noon (CST) on Thursday the 21st, we will post the Ink Pots Scavenger Hunt, and the first person to answer all of the questions correctly will win their choice of a $30 gift certificate to either 1)  Amazon.com  2) Netflix or 3) Outback.  The contest will close at midnight (CST) on Sunday the 24th.  The questions will be about the content of any of our 100 posts.  You may immediately remember the answer from reading the post, or you may have to hunt for the answer within the posts that are archived by date (you can find them in the left-side column on our homepage:  http://inkpots.vox.com).  Here are some examples of the types of questions that may be asked:

There will be ten questions total, with one bonus question.  You can answer the questions by posting a comment on the post that will be called Ink Pots Scavenger Hunt, which will appear at noon (CST) on the 21st.  Just list the question number with your answer (using the questions above as an example:  1.  a new email in her inbox   2.  Eowyn  3.  22). 

You can post a comment two ways.  The first way is through our main homepage (http://inkpots.vox.com).  If you're the first person to leave a comment, there will be a link that says "Post a Comment" underneath the post title, or if a comment has already been made, you can still click on that same comment link even if it says "1 comment".  Clicking on the little comment icon underneath the title will always take you to a page you can leave a comment on.  The second way to leave a comment is to actually click on the title of the blog entry, in this case Ink Pots Scavenger Hunt, and it will bring up the post as well as provide a place at the bottom of the screen to post your comment.

At this time, Vox does not allow anonymous comments, so to leave a comment, it will require you to create a Vox account.  To save time, this is something you can do between now and Thursday.  Click here to register.  It's quite painless, and that way, you have an account already set up for any future comments you'd like to make.  Hopefully the contest prize is worth it, too!  If you have any questions, you can either email us or post your question in a comment. 

See you back here on Thursday at noon (CST) and happy scavenging! 

I'm afraid my blogging activity has dwindled from a co-blogger with Meg to a "cameo-blogger" who only shows up from time-to-time.  To my many fans (sense the exaggeration/sarcasm), I apologize, I don't see it getting much better.  But I will still try to make a cameo appearance now and then.

So, if my blogs will be few and far between, why not stir things up a little bit?  And what better way to stir things up than to discuss religion and politics?

I came across an interesting speech on religion's role in politics that I think made some points that are worth considering.  When it comes to politics I usually fall on the conservative side of the spectrum, although there are also a few issues I think liberals do a much better job.  Given my background, you will be surprised to learn that this keynote address at a conference was delivered by Barack Obama.  I encourage you to give it a read or even watch the video.  In this post, I will simply comment on a few quotes from this speech.

"And that is why that, if we truly hope to speak to people where they're at - to communicate our hopes and values in a way that's relevant to their own - then as progressives, we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse."

I may be rather uninformed, but this is the first time I've heard liberals refer to themselves as "progressives".  I am actually a little confused by the term because I would expect all Americans to categorize themselves as wanting to see progress in our country.  Perhaps a primary distinction between liberals and conservatives is that liberals are more aggressive to abandon ideals and principles held in the past for the latest and greatest values of the present time.  Meanwhile, conservatives hesitate to release such ideals until it is 100% clear (sometimes, to a fault).  One other comment I'd like to make about the concept of a progressive nation is a phrase I recall reading in C.S. Lewis' writings, chronological snobbery.  Wikipedia defines this as "describing the erroneous argument that the thinking, art, or science of an earlier time is inherently inferior when compared to that of the present."  While I believe in progress, I think that when it involves a change to our core values as a country we must be wary of falling prey to chronological snobbery.

"But what I am suggesting is this - secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryant, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King - indeed, the majority of great reformers in American history - were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. So to say that men and women should not inject their "personal morality" into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition."

I felt that this was a great statement that is very difficult to come by in any political dialog.  More relating to this in the final quote…

"For one, they [conservative leaders] need to understand the critical role that the separation of church and state has played in preserving not only our democracy, but the robustness of our religious practice. Folks tend to forget that during our founding, it wasn't the atheists or the civil libertarians who were the most effective champions of the First Amendment. It was the persecuted minorities, it was Baptists like John Leland who didn't want the established churches to impose their views on folks who were getting happy out in the fields and teaching the scripture to slaves. It was the forbearers of the evangelicals who were the most adamant about not mingling government with religious, because they did not want state-sponsored religion hindering their ability to practice their faith as they understood it." (My emphasis added).

This is a very important statement, but I have mixed feelings about it.  I am pleased to hear Mr. Obama state the true meaning of "separation of church and state" in his final sentence, but, this definition is rarely used by liberals in politics (this is the first time I have ever heard it).  On the contrary, the liberal definition is usually the same "check your faith at the door" policy he denounced earlier in this message.  I do concede, however, that in an increasingly religiously-pluralistic nation, these discussions do become more challenging, which brings me to my final quote.

"Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason…I have to explain why [fill in your conviction] violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all."

This is where many Christians fail in politics, and probably why many avoid politics.  We need to learn to translate our values and views into the vernacular in order for them to be heard and discussed in political circles.  I am the first to admit that I am not good at this, and that the prospect is even scary.  But I think that it is a shift that needs to happen.  I think that it is also important to note that this principle doesn't only apply to Christians, or to the "religious", but also to atheists and agnostics.  Once people of faith learn to articulate their positions in politics, the challenge will also go to those with a godless faith.  The presupposition that there is no god also brings with it a vocabulary of its own that is not "accessible to people of all faiths".

I found this speech very refreshing and, as a Christian, very challenging.  Of course, when considering a political candidate, speeches should not hold as much weight as their voting record.  While I very much enjoyed Mr. Obama's speech, his voting does not appear to have been effected by these discussions much as of yet, his record is still far from being moderate.

What do you think?

Well, today was my last on staff as the Operations Support Specialist at First Evangelical Free Church after 5 1/2 wonderful years.  Last night, I cried a lot as I wrote cards to my bosses, both of whom gave me a wing-span to take off and fly in my job, and for which I am most ever grateful.  I truly loved my job.  Forgive me, but I am at a loss for words right now to express my gratitude to both the staff and the Lord for these past 5 1/2 years.  I started before Matt and I were even engaged and can count the number of people on my two hands (barely) who have been there longer than I, out of a staff of 50; I've seen lots of people come and go.  And now it's my turn.  And what a very bitter-sweet turn it is.  I will truly miss the role and people that have become precious and priceless to me, that have been a part of my life in a very significant and meaningful way.

On a lighter note, I have joked with Matt since adopting Molly from my brother, Mac, 4 years ago, that all I wanted to be was a "puppy mommy".  So in a comical way, this day is also a dream come true:  I am officially a full-time puppy mommy!  So to commemorate this special occasion, I decided to include something creative in this blog:  a video of my official announcement!  Now you must understand, I truly do not like being videotaped and hope to never own a video camera (I know, I'm weird), but I'm doing it for you all, our readers, to give you something really interesting today.  And hopefully, you'll find it as funny as we do.  Below you'll find four attempts to make this public announcement, and they should be considered more outtakes than anything else, except for the last one, which is what I was originally aiming for, but also the most normal (and boring).  So hopefully they'll make you laugh:

This is the first annual inkpots awards, the Best of 2007 (thank you, J.R. for the idea)!

WORLD WIDE WEB CATEGORY:

Best Website:  shelfari.com and myrecipes.com (tie)

shelfari.com:  a global community of book lovers that allows you to build a virtual shelf of books you've read, ones you're reading, and your wish list.  You can share your shelf, along with other recommendations and comments with your online community of friends.

myrecipes.com:  Instead of tearing out page after page of recipes Meg finds in her Cooking Light magazines and putting them in an ever-expanding binder, she can now organize her recipes online, create special menus and shopping lists!  In addition, she also has access to hundreds of recipes from Cooking Light, Southern Living, Sunset, Coastal Living, and Real Simple!

Best Blog:  J.R. Briggs' brokenstainedglass
J.R. is a friend whom Matt grew up with and who now pastors a church in Pennsylvania.  Not only does he have great blog ideas (such as this one), he also is an inspirational writer, someone whom we admire, and Meg's primo blog example.  One of her 2008 blog goals is to make it onto J.R.s "Blogs I Browse" list.

MEDIA CATEGORY:

Best New Release Movie:  Dan in Real Life
Ok, we really didn't see that many movies in the theater this year, so while this movie doesn't have much serious substance to it, it was a wonderful romantic comedy that had us laughing hard; plus, it has one of our favorite actors in it:  Steve Carell.

Best Documentary:  Planet Earth
By far the most spectacular footage of our planet!  We "ooed and awed" all the way through it.

Best TV Comedy:  The Office
Dwight.  Jim.  Pam.  Michael.  Characters that keep us laughing, cringing at awkward, embarrassing moments, and craving more.  The best ever!  We agree with J.R.:  the writers' strike has got to stop!

Best TV Drama:  24 and Lost (tie)
There's no one like Jack Bauer, and we've never sat on the edge of our seats so much, jumping up after each episode yelling, "No way!  I can't believe that just happened!"  As for the last season of Lost, what a finale:  totally unpredictable, thought provoking, and intense.
 
Best Tech Podcast:  Java Posse
Matt looks forward to this podcast each week as Dick, Carl, Joe, and Tor show themselves to be a class act in the Java community.

Best Podcast that Others Would Actually Listen To:  Focus on the Family
Matt used to listed to parts of the Focus on the Family daily broadcasts on the way in to work in the mornings if it happened to be on the radio.  But since he started listening to their free podcast, he can catch the whole show and pick and choose the episodes he wants to listen to.  A great way to stay updated on issues facing the family today in America culturally and politically.

Best Book of the Bible Studied this Year:  Ephesians
Meg took this course, taught by her friend, at church, and it was great!  Even though she had read Ephesians before, the in-depth look at this book really personally hit home and made Meg stand in awe of the promises we have in Jesus.

Best Book:  Candle in the Darkness by Lynn Austin
A wonderful historical fiction novel, the first of three in the "Refiners" series.  Set during the Civil War, it's written from the point of view of the daughter of a wealthy slave-holding family, and is a story of her inner battle with the cruelty and injustice of slavery.  It's a story about sacrifice and trust, a gripping tale and personally challenging as well.

Best Technology/Gadget:  Skype and the Skype phone (she said)
Can you believe it, this is SHE said!  Wonderful (and prudent) ways to keep in touch with friends and family all over the world.  And the Skype phone is a nifty gadget that acts as a land-line phone and also a phone that lists all of our Skype contacts.  So instead of dragging out our headset and computer to make a phone call, we can just pick up the phone and make the call.

Best News/Educational Periodical:  The Economist
Great synopsis of world events.  Dense and a lot to take in, but after reading it, we feel like we could have an educational and informative response to current events.

FOODIE CATEGORY:

Best New Recipe:  Easy Corn Casserole and Jill's Secret Salsa (tie)
Meg was ecstatic after receiving a secret family recipe for salsa from her friend, Jill, as a white elephant gift for Christmas!  But tied with it is a recipe for corn casserole.  The recipe, from Cooking Light, is a lighter version of a traditional corn-bake, but one that is just as moist and delicious...and so easy!  It's a great recipe to have on hand when craving comfort food, and goes well with a side of chili, chicken or brisket.

Best New Restaurant:  4-way tie
The foodie in Meg couldn't limit this category to just one restaurant!  These are all new discoveries (because Chuy's Mexican food, of course, would win hand's down).

The Steeping Room:  New to Austin, this is an eclectic tea room with an atmosphere welcoming to both men and women.  The list of tea selections is vast, and the food both delicious and refreshing.

Main Street Grill:  A charming, elegant restaurant tucked away in downtown Round Rock.  We celebrated our 5 year anniversary at this delectable eatery.  Expensive, but perfect for a special occasion and the food measured up to the price.  We savored every bite. 

Gristmill:  In Gruene, the Texas setting of this grill is fabulously located on the Guadalupe River.  A great place to take visitors.

Mellow Mushroom:  We came across this restaurant, a pizzeria, in Asheville, NC.  The crust, made with spring water is so good and the toppings are sometimes a unique combination, but very tasty!  We soon discovered that Mellow Mushroom has now opened in Austin on Guadalupe!

Best Snack:  Popcorn Palace Popcorn
The combo of white cheddar and caramel is the best!  This was a perfect snack to have on hand at Christmas.

Best Foodie Periodical:  Cooking Light
The special 20th edition that came out in September was the best ever! 

Best New Dessert:  Chocolate Italian Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Meg made this for her daddy's birthday in July, and it was a hit!  She had to make more icing because she nearly ate all of the first batch of icing before it made it onto the cake.

TRAVEL/ADVENTURE CATEGORY:

Best Romantic Spot:  A little bench located on the Biltmore Estates property in Asheville, NC that overlooks Bass Pond
We didn't want to leave that little bench!

Best Scenery/Outdoor Spot: The Blue Ridge Parkway
Breathtaking...and humbling.

Best New City Visited:  Charleston, SC
Between being near the ocean and the southern hospitality, we found this to be both a soothing getaway and a charming historical city.

Best Airline:  Emirates
We likely will not have this category in future "Best of" lists, but after all the traveling Meg did this year, with mishaps, delays and canceled flights hopefully to never be duplicated, Meg thought it was apropos to include this category for 2007.  By far, Emirates was the airline with the most helpful and polite flight attendants, the best flight service (for movies, music and comfort), the most timely, and the most enjoyable. 

Best Adventure:  Traveling to South Asia and England, without Matt
This was the best and most challenging!  Enough said.

LIFE CATEGORY:

Best Date:
(Each month, we plan a date for each other based upon each other's interests.)

Enchanted Rock (he said):  This was the best date Meg planned for Matt, which was a day outing to Fredericksburg to hike Enchanted Rock and picnic.  This topped Molly's list as well. 

Breakfast in bed and a trip to the nursery to pick out rose bushes (she said):  You definitely know when your husband loves you when he will gladly sit with you through a lecture on roses at a nursery and excitedly pick out rose bushes with you to plant together!  And the whole wheat pancakes Matt lovingly made and served Meggie in bed that morning hit the spot.

Best House Project:  Making our flowerbeds
This might be the best and worst all at the same time.  We worked so hard doing all the labor ourselves, only to watch 3/4 of our baby plants die in the Austin downpours last spring.  This just may end up on our "Best House Project" category for 2008 when we replant everything.

Best New Austin Discovery:  Whole Foods Market on North Lamar
A foodie heaven!  Each time Meghan is in that store, she discovers something new.  It's also a great place to take visitors; their jaws always drop!

Best Surprise:  Meghan piercing her nose
Ahhh, yes.  While in England, Meg decided to pierce her nose with a tiny diamond, a totally spontaneous and highly unlikely thing for her to do.  But she did it, and both he and she like it!

Best Reward for Standing in Line at 6 a.m.:  Getting seats for the dress rehearsal of Saturday Night Live
For Julie's bachlorette party in NYC, all she wanted was to somehow make it into SNL, which required us to make a very early morning trek to the NBC studios to wait in line for a couple of hours for tickets, with no guarantee of getting in, and not expecting to at all.  But to our surprise, all 10 of us girls made it in for the rehearsal!

Best Inspirational Story:  Watching Meg's grandmother, Gaga, and good friend, Tycha, battle cancer with courage, determination, and amazingly good attitudes
Both ladies are tremendous examples.

Best Molly Moment:  The Mighty Texas Dog Walk
Molly and Meggie participated in The Mighty Texas Dog Walk last spring, and Molly wanted to be the first to cross the finish line!  She dragged Meg the whole way and didn't even want to stop for a drink of water.  While we weren't the first to finish the walk, it was still a very proud moment in Molly's precious dog life.

Best Creative Outlet:
Blogging!  (she said):  Meg absolutely loves blogging and building an online community of friends and family; she's always looking for ways to make it more interactive and interesting.
Creating DVD slide shows (he said):
Matt made several DVD slide shows over the year for Tom and Kim's and Mac and Julie's wedding rehearsal dinners, and also helped his dad with Matt's grandpa's 90th birthday slide show.

Best Store:
Sur la table (she said):  An amazing kitchen store!  The baking selection of pans, muffin tins, sprinkles and icing is fascinating.
The Apple Store (he said):  While this is a "he said" store, every time Matt shows Meg a new Apple gadget that he likes, she just happens to want one, too.

Best Quote:  Robert Bruce, 19th Century missionary to Persia
"I am not reaping the harvest; I can scarcely claim to be sowing the seed; I am hardly ploughing [sic] the soil; but I am gathering out the stones."

Best Attribute of God Revealed:  His grace
While this is certainly a hard category to narrow down, His grace is something that has been quite evident in 2007, in a very real and necessary way, because there were definitely things that weren't the "Best of". 
"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:1-4

Best Moments: 4-way tie
June 10th:  Tom and Kim's (Matt's sister) wedding
October 20th:  Mac (Meg's brother) and Julie's wedding
Christmas with Meg's family in Austin (from the decorating and preparation to our time together)
October 21st:  Meg's Daddy's return home to TX after a year in VA for work

Best Milestone:  Our 5 Year Wedding Anniversary

PRODUCING THE SLIDE SHOW VIDEO

This is the fourth part in a series on how to make a DVD Slide Show.  So far we have walked through how to scan, crop, and resize your pictures; create a video with transitions with those pictures, and how to fit music to your video.  In this post, we will see how to produce the intermediate and master videos for the slide show.  To summarize the plan, there are 3 primary steps that remain to create the master video file:

1. Produce audio-less videos for each section of the slide show.
2. Create a master Camtasia project which is a composite of the sectional videos.
3. Produce the master slide show video and audio.

This master file will later be converted to an MPEG file which is a format than can be used with DVD authoring software.

Produce Audio-less Videos for each Section of the Slide Show

We now have a separate Camtasia project for each section of the slide show.  Each of those sections has been precisely fitted with the music for that section, and so we are now ready to produce the sectional videos.  The first step is simply to ensure that there are not any audio tracks added to your timeline.  Your timeline should be like the one in this screenshot.  Notice where the arrow for Timeline view of video is pointing; there is no audio in this timeline view.

Camtasia Studio Main Workspace

Produce using custom video format

Select AVI video

Select no audio encoding

Select video size

On the final page of the wizard, all you need to do is choose a name for this section and a location to save it to.  I found it helpful to number my sections so they will be organized in order when creating the master video.

Choose name and location

Once you've entered a name, click the Finish button and go get some hot chai tea (or coffee for you coffee drinkers); as it may take a few minutes for the video file to be created.  Repeat this process to create videos from all of your sectional projects.

Create a Master Camtasia Project

Creating the master Camtasia project for your slide show is simply repeating what we've already done for all of the smaller projects with two exceptions:  1) instead of pictures we will add the sectional videos to our Clip Bin and then to our timeline, 2) audio will be added to the Clip Bin and timeline and encoded during video production.

Go ahead and create your master project, add all your videos and music files to your Clip Bin, and then drag them onto the timeline in the correct order.  Note that you will need to add transitions between your video clips just as you did between the pictures when creating the sectional videos.  This is where the extra second comes from when setting the length of the music file as was explained in Part 3.  When you're done, your project should look like this:

The master video project

Take a look at the video timeline at the bottom of the screenshot.  You can clearly see how each sectional video is matched with its corresponding audio file.  You can easily view your slide show in the preview player to the right.  Just click on the location you want the player to begin (in the white band with the time markers above the timeline), and then click the play button.  This will help you to be sure your audio track matches your video track exactly as you intended.  I will point out again that you can easily zoom in on your timeline using the '+' and '-' buttons above the timeline on the left side.  This can be helpful when lining up the audio to your video in the timeline.

Produce the Master Slide Show Video with Audio

Once your master video is laid out the way you like it, repeat the steps above for producing the sectional videos for the master video.  Use all the same settings, except when selecting the AVI Encoding Options, ensure the Encode audio checkbox is checked.

Select the Encode audio option

Time for another cup of chai as it will take even longer to produce this master video.  Once it's done, most of the work is complete.  The next steps will be to convert it to a different video format and then create the menus for the DVD.