Who watches the Watchmen?

We went to see The Watchmen last Saturday afternoon with some friends. (note: this post might have a spoiler or two). I had not read the graphic novel, but since Jonathan was really into it, I decided to join the boys. For those of you who saw me Saturday evening, it took me a good two or three hours to recover from the movie. It is very intense, both visually and emotionally, for almost three hours. For those of you who wonder if it matches the book, I am reading it right now, and the dialogue and camera shots are nearly a carbon copy of the graphic novel (at least through chapter 3).

The reason it took me so long to recover is that, in all honesty, it's a pretty depressing story. The whole world is in a downward spiral morally and politically, we won the Vietnam War but all that the victory brought us was 12 more years of the Nixon administration, WMDs are poised to destroy the earth, and the superheros don't even know what to do about it. Even the ending leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth. As we left the theater, I told Jonathan it would take me a while to get back into reality, i.e. a reality different from the one we left in the movie. He asked how our reality is all that much different from the one in the movie. Hmmm. As I read the headlines this morning, it begs the question again. People in Memphis are killing each other over how close their cars are parked. Children are being beaten to death. A man in Alabama goes on a killing spree with both planned and unplanned victims. A pastor is shot through the heart while preaching on a Sunday morning. One may ask where our superheros are. But as we learned in the Watchmen, the superheros are just as vulnerable as we are.

So, where is our hope? How do we keep on living?

Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.

In vain you rise early and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat -
for he grants sleep to those he loves.
-Psalm 127:1-2.

If we try to solve these problems on our own, they will not be solved. We will toil in frustration. I need to place my faith in God, that he works all things for the good of those who love him. That all of the sin and scum and filth in this world shows us how perfect, compassionate and pure Jesus is, and that by trusting in him, our sins can be forgiven and our hope can be in a world beyond this fallen one. We do not stop fighting for justice, but we fight knowing that while these battles rage on, the war - the ultimate war of good and evil - was won a long time ago.

So, I went to a movie that I thought would have the depth of Spiderman, and I ended up with a renewed faith in my savior. I don't think the Watchmen will answer any questions for you, but it will hopefully get you asking some.

37 hours and counting....

...until my comprehensive exam. I could not go to sleep last night because research design lingo was swirling through my head!! I was trying to memorize all of the different types of research designs, because I KNOW I will be asked to develop a research question, sample set, and design structure for the exam. Is it "single series post test only experimental design"? I always get the first part mixed up. Tonight I am going to brush up on budgeting - what percentage do I need to set aside for payroll tax and benefits, how much do stamps cost, etc...

For anyone who is interested, I will be camping out at Quetzal on Union Ave tomorrow to study. I have taken the day off so I will be slightly less stressed on Friday morning. Come enjoy a smoothie and quiz me on management theories : ) Sounds like fun, huh?

There are many ways to say "I love you"

And one of those ways is to pay attention to the food your wife likes:

Jonathan ran to the grocery store Monday afternoon to pick up some basic breakfast and lunch stuff for me since we didn't have a chance to go to the grocery store over the weekend. I'm not a super picky eater, but I do have my favorites. Jonathan got me my organic yogurt with the right % of fat, organic blueberries, Kashi granola bars, and silly Select Harvest soup (I am taking their word for it that they use good, all-natural stuff...). With nearly four years of marriage under our belts, I still think it's sweet when he knows to get me the specific items I pick up for myself. Just a nice little note for my Wednesday afternoon.

MRTC XC Series

The cross country series ended yesterday with a 10k out at Shelby Farms. I did not have a particularly good attitude going into the race for multiple reasons, but I willed one foot in front of the other for 6.2 miles. This course had more rolling hills than the Stanky Creek trails, which are full of tight switchbacks and steep gullies. I still didn't run the whole thing, I had to take a handful of walk breaks, but amazingly enough, Becky and I beat our individual 10k PRs by about 7 minutes. That was the only encouragement of the race: we went into it with a crummy attitude, we finished last in our age group and almost last in the whole race, but we ran it faster than we ever have before. We are making progress.

Valentine's Weekend

This past weekend was a whirlwind but a lot of fun! Jonathan and I invited a bunch of friends to a 'thank you' lunch for trucking us all around Memphis for the past five months. I can never do anything the easy way, so we did a 'make your own pizza' party! It was a bit chaotc, but a lot of fun : ). I always think it's an interesting social experiment when all of our friends from different arenas of our life get together in one place.

For my foodie friends, I made the whole wheat pizza dough from the Jan/Fed Everyday Food, and it was great. DO NOT automatically put in all the flour - add it in bit by bit until the dough holds together as a ball but is still sticky. We had tons of different toppings to choose from: tomato sauce, pesto, bbq sauce, mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan, feta, sausage, pepperoni, chicken, onions, green bell pepper, tomatoes, olives, and spinach. It was so fun to see who put what (and how!) on their pizzas : ) I also had some pita chips with hummus and a green salad for munching on while waiting for the pizzas to bake. And of course what is a party without Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownies? One of our friends is a registered dietician, and I did not show her the recipe until after she ate one of the brownies. Sometimes you just have to eat food with a pound of butter!

I ran through the woods for a bit, then Saturday night we went to a dinner party with friends. It was an Argentina 08 reunion, and we had a lot of fun! Everyone contributed part of the meal, and it was all melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I love a group where you can go from silly conversation to serious and not feel awkward, and this is one such group. Courtney and McKee's 8-month old, 70 lb english mastiff was of course the life of the party!

Sunday started with some great worship (I love worship themes on grace!), then a trip to Target, studying for my comprehensive exam for four hours, a great phone conversation with my family, and finally Rhodes Bible study.

Jonathan and I are having our own Valentine's time tonight with a visit to Bosco's (that is a fancy meal in the Hulgan household!). It's been quite busy the past few days, but I have enjoyed it! Sorry no pictures - I even had Jonathan charge the camera battery, then completely forgot to break it out : (

Hope everyone else had a great Valentine's weekend!

new from the grocery store

Two important happenings at Schnuck's this evening:
1) Mayor Wharton eats chicken
2) 8 eggs for 99 cents is now 6 eggs for 99 cents!!!!! With the number of eggs we go through, I am quite distraught!

How google maps has changed my life...

...and how it can change yours, too!

My wonderful husband downloaded an application onto my blackberry last week: google maps. Prior to this, when I needed to get directions somewhere, I would just use my web browser to get to mapquest and go from there. Apparently 'apps' are better than a mere web browser, so Jonathan helped me out. So how has this changed my life? Well, google maps has a transit option, so I can look up how to get places using the bus system. The MATA website should have this, but it does not, so 'thank you' google masterminds! This means that I can navigate nearly anywhere in Memphis with bus and walking directions on my Blackberry. I am already learning the pros and cons of this independence. Pro: I can now go places I thought I could not go. Con: I really sometimes can't go places I now think I can go. This is because MATA does not always run on time. So, if I think I have 20 minutes to walk to the bus, I will go ahead and start the trek, only to discover that the bus came 2 minutes early. I have learned that I need to add a 10 minute buffer onto either side of the google maps schedule.

So how can this change your life? Well, some of my friends do not think that public transportation could support them. With this google maps app, you can find out if it is possible to walk and take the bus to church, the store, school, work, etc. You may be able to switch out a trip or two to public transportation, which will help the environment and open up your mind to the experience of Memphians who rely on MATA everyday.

Wouldn't it be a fun adventure to try to make it to and from Target one Saturday afternoon using the bus system? Let me know how it goes!