Phil and I just finished the last episode of season four of Battlestar Galactica. This series is easily one of the best on TV right now. I really like all of the shows we watch (see the list in the right-hand column), but BSG easily floats to the top of the list because of the excellent writing, endlessly-compelling storyline and deep characters. It's not confusing and frustrating like Lost, it's not dragged on for no reason like Prison Break and it's not totally dependent upon one person like 24.

If you're putting off watching BSG, now's the time to catch up! You don't want to miss this last episode. I'm excited about season five, but not so frustrated and up-in-the-air that I'll be pacing the floors until 2008. At this point in the series, I care about the fate of each of the characters, their relationships with one another and the future of the entire fleet as a whole. I don't know what will happen next, but I have guesses of a few possible scenarios, all of which will probably be dismantled in the first ten minutes of season five. Battlestar Galactica is fracking awesome. If you give it a fair chance, I'm sure you'll be hooked too!

Reign Over Me

Almost forgot to give my review of Reign Over Me, which Phil and I saw last weekend. We all knew Don Cheadle was a spectacular actor, but Adam Sandler was a surprise. Well-done, good movie.

There was a good level of humor and a good level of seriousness. I appreciate movies like this one that have a specific storyline, but give a general application to everyone's life, even if they have not been through specifically what the main character has been through. Even though I haven't experienced great loss when it comes to the lives of my immediate family, I can appreciate the process of mourning in other ways and the role of friends and family when it comes to healing. The reminder to enjoy the time with those in our lives in this moment was great. It's easy to get stuck in the day-to-day chores instead of enjoying the blessings of time together with friends and family. Great reminders, given in an entertaining but poignant way.

I should note that I'm generally not a fan of dramas, but I can tell the difference between good dramas and bad dramas. I abhor crying, especially from movies. When someone says to me, "The Notebook was a great movie! I cried my eyes out!" I say, "Yeah, I'm definitely not seeing it now." And, for the record, I still haven't seen The Notebook and I don't really have a desire to see it. I did cry one happy tear during Reign Over Me, which is an acceptable Kacie-crying-in-movie level, so I can recommend it with a clear conscience. Another one worth seeing!

You might be wondering at this point if I ever don't recommend movies. I am a pretty optimistic person generally, but, don't worry -- summer is coming and I'm sure I'll discover my fair share of duds for the year. Hang tight!

USA Olympic Weightlifting

On Friday afternoon, I had the amazing privilege of going to watch the USA Olympic Weightlifting team practice! My trainer Sara at the gym is married to Zach Krych, one of the athletes who is likely to qualify for 2008.

Practice is just in a really big weight room at the Olympic Training Center. There are no weight machines or cardio machines, just bars and weights. As Sara said, "All you need for a full-body workout is this!" However, very few of the weightlifters do cardio -- most of them just lift weights for a couple hours each day. They do have to eat pretty well to stay in their weight class for competition, so they are mostly still in great shape, but just not endurance athletes.

The guys practiced the clean-and-jerk first. Essentially, the athletes pick the weight up off the floor to their shoulders (in front), then they throw it up and jump under it so they can stabilize it above their head. At this practice, they started at 60% of what their highest weight is on a one-rep max and worked their way up to 80% doing three reps on each weight. Sara's husband, for example, started with 100 kg (about 220 lbs) and went up to 135 kg (about 297 lbs) for sets of three. He was doing the highest weight of any of the guys at this particular practice. The guy next to him was about a foot taller than him and was doing about 2 kg less, and that was just because the taller guy had farther to go to get the weight above his head.

The girls came in and started doing their training a little after the guys started and most of them were doing the clean-and-jerk for about 75 kg (165 lbs) for practice. I forgot to keep watching the girls doing the clean-and-jerk, though, because the top two women athletes started doing back squats. This one little blonde girl (she is probably 4'10") went over there and warmed up with squats on sets of six at 150 kg (about 330 lbs)! The highest I've squatted for three sets of six so far is 150 lbs and she was doing 2.202 times that to warm up. The weight was so heavy on the bar, the bar was bending down on either side and bouncing around as she did her reps. Amazing.

Something that surprised me was just how normal-looking the weightlifting athletes are. No two of them are built the same, but they are all built to lift incredible amounts of weight. If you were to see any of them on the street in normal clothes, I guarantee you would have no idea that they are Olympic weightlifters. Even the women look totally normal -- no huge, bulging muscles. Most of them are just beautiful, fit women who just so happen to lift enormous amounts of weight for a living.

Several of the athletes thanked me for coming to watch them lift, which was really nice (especially considering how honored I was to get to come watch them). They said they are so used to watching each other that they sometimes forget that during competitions they'll have a huge crowd watching and it helps them to have an audience, even if it's one person. So that was cool.

If you ever get a chance to go watch Olympic hopefuls practice, take it! I know my jaw was on the ground the whole time and probably would be with other sports, if I know what's going on at all. I have been lifting with Sara for almost six months now and she's having me do most of these exercises, so I just took what I was seeing and compared myself to them and it blew me away. It was a really incredible experience and I hope I get to go back someday.

Here are a few really cool links I found after my experience with the Olympic weightlifters. Check 'em out!

USA Weightlifting Site - If you look at the athlete bios, you'll see more info about the people I got to see practice. All of the men and women listed on this site were there working out. Surreal for sure.

Here are a couple of YouTube videos I found later, too, that show how amazing they are (some of the footage is actually shot in the weight room where they practice):

2006 USA Weightlifting World Team

USA Women's Weightlifting 2006

300

Surprisingly exceptional movie: 300.

Phil went to see it with a bunch of guys on Saturday night at the IMAX and he thought it was so incredible, he took me back last night. I was totally blown away by this movie! I didn't expect to care for it at all, so it was a positive surprise. Here are a few of the reasons it blew my mind:

Inspirational
I agree with Phil that much of the content and battle talk and actions were Gladiator-esque -- very inspirtational and challenging. One particular exchange between Xerxes and King Leonidis where Xerxes says, "Any of my men would gladly die for my advancement," and Leonidis responds, "I would gladly die for any of my men," was really poignant in the midst of that battle. Overall, 300 was packed with incredible exchanges that really demonstrate strong and worthy leadership as opposed to manipulative, evil leadership. Those following Xerxes followed him because he fulfilled their temporary, fleshly desires. People wanted to follow Leonidis because he was fighting for their freedom and the freedom of the generations to come. The clear demonstration of that was awesome.

Technically Spectacular
Phil said they filmed all of the acting in a warehouse in about two months, then spend 18 months doing the graphics and finishing. No single frame of the entire movie was untweaked. No 30 men, no matter how hard they work, could have six-packs like that. But the settings (and even the six-packs) were incredibly realistic. The blood and gore was over-the-top, of course, with at least three very prominent beheadings. But, it was cartoon-ish blood and gore with an element of realism, but not as graphic as, say, Gladiator.

The only reason I can't fully endorse this movie is because of the nudity and junk. To a certain extent, I understand that they needed to show an aspect of some junk to show the decadence and lustfulness of Xerxes and his followers. On the other hand, the level to which that junk needs to be shown was exceeded for sure. Of course, that's part of why the movie is doing so well, but I wish it wasn't so excessive so I could endorse it wholeheartedly. But, on DVD, you can skip a few scenes and it will be remarkable. I can guarantee we'll be seeing big chunks of this at church as soon as it's on DVD.

REPORT: HomeShop

Well, it was kinda neat having the groceries delivered. They were an hour late on the delivery and they brought me a fried chicken dinner (complete with rolls and potato salad) instead of the rotisserie chicken I had requested, but the fruit and veggies looked great, and everything else was there.

When I mentioned this weird grocery-delivering idea to my friend and coworker and she said, "Man! For $10 I'd go shopping for you and deliver it!" I realized I can be a very lazy and spoiled person. But, she insisted that I'm not a brat yet -- just spoiled, so that's good, I guess.

I think it's not something I'll be doing very often, but it sure was convenient this time. If I am ever immobile, I'd definitely do it again. But, for now, this able-bodied girl will continue to walk the aisles of the neighborhood King Soopers to do her own grocery shopping.

My Music != Me Happy?

I've done a little bit of unscientific research on myself and the effect music has on me at work over the past couple of days. Here's what happened:

On Tuesday, I had the office to myself and I listened to Jason Mraz all day. Yes, all day. :o) Happy feelings.

On Wednesday, I had the office to myself so I put my iPod of 1,845 songs on "Shuffle Songs" and disallowed myself from skipping any songs. Very melancholy feelings all day and evening.

On Thursday, I shared the office and we failed to put any music on at all. Neutral to fine feelings all day.

Today, I've been at work for a while and I'm listening to a playlist of 165 songs I created the other day that has evolved over the past couple of months. It's currently called "On-The-Go 3" but it consists of Mraz, Red, The Fray, Linkin Park, Seether, Staind, The Ataris, Modest Mouse, Petidee, Nelly and various other random artists and songs. Super happy morning so far!

I knew before this experiment that my moods are greatly affected by what music is on. Sure, other things happened on each day, but nothing horrible or wonderful that would alter my overall mood for the day so dramatically. I think it's weird that not all of my music on my iPod currently makes me smile. Of the 1,845 songs on my iPod, it's safe to say that almost every single song or artist has been my favorite at one point or another over the past 15 years. But now some of those exact artists and songs make me feel really melancholy. I can't think of specific really sad or melancholy memories associated with these songs. Maybe I'm just bored of them. But, there are other songs I've known for longer than 15 years that still make me really happy! I can think of no logical explanation except for my evolving preferences.

It's curious how our tastes and preferences change so dramatically over the years without our notice. I've probably had the same sort of evolution of preferences with movies, clothes, hairstyles, house decor and other things, but it's not something quite as tangible to me as music is. I can feel good music in my bones, and my bones are currently quite happy with The Ataris' take on a classic, "The Boys of Summer"!

HomeShop

For the first time ever, I just ordered groceries online to be delivered to my house tomorrow! We'll see if my limes, broccoli and crescent rolls show up tomorrow at the designated time. The order process was incredibly easy from King Soopers (my neighborhood store anyway). And for a very small fee they pull everything off the shelf and bring it to my door. Report to follow on how this actually turns out!

Okay, so I do have to add the disclaimer here that I'm not a terribly lazy and spoiled person who needs strangers to do my grocery shopping normally. The bottom line this week is that I don't want to lose sleep or cancel other fun things I have going on, but I still need to get a huge amount of groceries for the Pampered Chef party I'm hostessing tomorrow night and it just plain snuck up on me too soon. I have 10 women coming so far (FUN!) and I'm going to need a bit more food than I had originally planned. I'm looking at about an hour-long trip to King Soopers at this point, but I don't think I actually have an hour to spare. I have to work today, have LifeGroup tonight, must sleep tonight so I can be awake for the torture at the gym too early tomorrow, then work again all day, then they'll be at my house all of a sudden after work tomorrow! When I realized this morning that I won't really have time to go shopping, I went to look at the King Soopers site to see if they have everything I need or if I'll need to make lots of stops. Turns out they have everything except what only the liquor store has, so I'm all set! Hopefully it all comes in good order. I wonder if they put it away and prepare it, too? :o)

By the way, if any of your wives (or you, if you're a female or just really into kitchen gadgets and utensils) want to come to a Mexican Happy Hour Pampered Chef party tomorrow night, shoot me an email and I'll send you the Evite!

Incompetent Knows No Borders

First, let me say I'm a huge fan of free trade and I love the idea of competition worldwide in the market. I know there are people in other countries who do amazing work and are extremely intelligent individuals.

All of that being said, it almost always ticks me off when I call a US company who has outsourced their tech support overseas. Why is it that I cringe as soon as they answer the phone? Am I racist? I really don't think I am. But I do have strong adverse reactions to incompetency. A support person whose first language is not the same as their customer's immediately has one big thing working against them as they attempt to be competent in helping their customer. All that means is that they need to work extra hard to be helpful. It's probably unfair, but it's not impossible to overcome that barrier. That's just the way customer service works.

One of my coworkers who travels a lot broke his computer again. Of course, with tech support in my background, I'm the tech girl for the office. So, I called Dell to find out if it's covered under warranty and then schedule the fix. The lady who picked up the phone would talk to me for about two minutes, then put me on hold for about 20 minutes at a time while she "tried to transfer me" or tried to "get a ticket number." The end result was two hours on the phone and uncertainty as to whether or not Dell was actually going to fix the laptop.

Now, the dude who does warranty fixes for Dell called me this morning to schedule the fix and my conversation was a night-and-day difference from the phone conversation I had earlier. I could tell he had an accent and wouldn't have known he lived in Colorado Springs unless he told me (which he does and he did). This fella was helpful, got right to the point, and even rearranged his schedule to fit in mine, even when my only conflicts were lunches or coffees out with friends. When I asked him to repeat his name so I could write it down, he said, "Rolf ... R-O-L-F ... like in the Sound of Music, without the uniform!" He said he was a rare breed -- a legal German immigrant. I don't care where he was from, he was competent and helpful and I appreciated his call.

It's amazing how easily a client's opinion about a company can be swayed by negative or positive experiences. I hope every experience I create for customers is a positive one that leaves people saying, "She's competent; her company must be competent."

iPod Isolation

If you know me, you know I love my iPod. Well, actually, I don't love the actual iPod, but I do love being able to listen to my music or watch my movies anytime, anywhere. Phil got me a new video iPod for my birthday and I use it every single day -- at the gym, in the car and at work. I'd say I use it for an average of five hours each day.

An hour on the elliptical at the gym goes really fast with a movie of my choice playing in front of me. I use this free software for Macs called HandBrake that allows me to rip any DVD to play on my iPod in mp4 format. This morning, I finished watching the new Bond movie Casino Royale for the second time since it came out last week. The best Bond ever, by the way. And, as I've already mentioned, I love having my Mraz, Red or Linkin Park on demand out of the 1,845 songs I have on tap.

Phil picked up a book a few months ago by Steven Levy called The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness:



The part I read this weekend was very interesting to me. Levy talked about how iPods (actually, Walkmans first, but now iPods) are getting criticized for isolating us more and more from one another. On the one hand, listening to your iPod at the gym prevents you from striking up a conversation with the person next to you on the elliptical. On the other hand, Levy argues that people use iPods as a soundtrack to their tedious daily tasks and, therefore, iPods are just a way for us to listen to music we love while we do things that are normally a drudgery.

I think to some degree, the isolationism is happening more and more in our world and the iPod may be a contributing factor. On the other hand, I have never once struck up a conversation with anyone at the gym, even before I had an iPod. Back in the day, I used to run and lift weights every single day at our little neighborhood gym and I never remember exchanging any words except maybe "good morning" or "are you still using this?" I certainly can't ever remember thoroughly enjoying going to the gym -- even now when my freakish strength is in play. So, listening to Red or watching Bond numbs that normally-not-very-enjoyable task.

It's interesting though. I wonder if we lived in a city (like I talked about in the earlier post) if things would be different. I wonder if I'd keep my iPod hooked up to my brain during the subway rides or lunches alone in the neighborhood cafe. What are the chances I'd strike up conversations with strangers in the subway or the cafe anyway? I see the point of the critics, but I also think this issue, like most, is one we can respond to in moderation. Obviously don't plug your iPod in at decidedly social settings like dinner parties or church potlucks; but I'm all for using the iPod during tedious tasks like driving, working out or commuting.

What do you think?

Sleep and Wake Up

Having trouble sleeping? I've found the best sleep aid ever:

Of course, don't have too much or you'll have trouble getting up in the morning. Like I did this morning. Of course, it doesn't take much for me -- I actually had probably 6 oz and it knocked me out nicely. Made it to the gym just barely on time to do squats. Now I want to go back to sleep for my head and my legs' sake!

My New Favorite TV Show

Awesome -- an album and a TV show! What more could a girl ask for?

Mrazzed

A couple of years ago I went on a work trip with my friend Leora. Her "friend" at the time (now her boyfriend, of course) made her a CD of songs for the trip that either had to do with Georgia (since that's where our trip was) or were just really good songs. Two of the songs on this album were Jason Mraz songs: Life is Wonderful and Plane. I really liked the whole CD of songs, so I got a copy from Leora which I listened to often for a while after our trip. I thought nothing more of it until a couple of weeks ago when I downloaded the free iTunes video of Jason Mraz's The Beauty in Ugly video he did with the show Ugly Betty. I've never seen the show, but listening to this song and watching this video reminded me of how much I like Jason Mraz songs.

So, this week, I've gone crazy and bought two of his albums on iTunes and I can't seem to stop listening to them! Both are excellent: Mr. A-Z and Selections for Friends. I think my favorite JM song is still Plane probably, but there are definitely a few gems on these two albums that are growing on me more and more as I listen to them.

Despite my current Jason Mraz intrigue, my favorite current band is actually Red -- they're like a really good Evanescence with male vocalists and a bit more jam. But my favorite overall is still Linkin Park. Rumor is they will finally have a new album this May (and, if I'm doing the calculations right on their page, that should be about 61 days from now). It's been almost five years, but well worth the wait. Linkin Park is categorized as "Alternative & Punk" in my iPod; Red is showing up as "Metal" and Jason Mraz is categorized as "Alternative." Weird - I wouldn't put Jason Mraz and Linkin Park anywhere near each other, but I guess alternative is an extremely vague category. Well, I like them all, so who cares what genre they are? All I know is I can officially call the 26 Jason Mraz songs now a prized part of my 1,823-song iPod.

Brawn = Brains?

Study shows why exercise boosts brainpower (CNN)

No wonder I'm so smart!

Re-Breached

Do I need to list Breach in my "Movies Seen in Theater" section a second time? Sara and I went to see it on Saturday night -- she hadn't seen it yet. We actually tried to go see Wild Hogs (because every mid-twenties girl needs to see a movie about men who are having a mid-life crisis), but it was sold out and we were impatient. :o) Glad we went to see it again -- it was just as good second time through. Again I say, "SEE IT!"

City = Community?

Phil sent me this great article written by a couple who sold their huge house in Texas after their kids were all grown and now live in downtown Seattle. The most interesting part to me is when they're talking about how they feel less isolated, mostly because they're not separated from the world in their own little cars:

Our everyday lives have changed in every way imaginable. We don't own a car, so we walk everywhere, including to and from work. We use the bus or ferry if we want to go farther afield. This has had a profound effect on how we interact with people. We realize now that the cocoons of our cars kept us well insulated from the people around us. Our genuine interactions were with family and coworkers, the only people who saw us stripped of the metal that clothed and protected us. Our neighbors, we discovered, were virtually strangers.

Now, we stand face-to-face with people in our building’s elevators, at our corner hangouts, and on the sidewalks. We chitchat and pet our neighbors’ dogs. We exchange “good mornings” with the people we pass everyday on our way to work. We’ve developed friendships with several proprietors and servers at our favorite restaurants.

We have always been fascinated with the idea of living and working in a big city like Seattle or Chicago for these exact reasons. It would be fascinating to be thrown together with a whole bunch of people whose lives and experiences are totally different from ours, and to learn from them and just live life with them. With the exception of church and Serrano's Coffee, Colorado Springs is not like this for us. Sure we see our friends almost anywhere we go. But, here we pick who we want to interact with and can basically avoid anyone else in the entire city. I think the way this couple is living in Seattle is more like how Christ lived and demonstrated to us that we should live -- in community with those around us; not isolated in our own little bubbles with people who are always validating us.

Although I believe living and working downtown somewhere would be the "easier" way to experience true community like this, there are other ways to have genuine community, even in suburbia. It's harder, though, I think. We have to step out and get involved in others' lives by serving them. Maybe we need to take meals to single moms or serve at soup kitchens or become a Big Brother or Big Sister. Of course I've never done any of these things because I'm lazy. But God is really challenging me to stop isolating myself and start serving others with no agenda but to care for them and give them the respect they deserve as other human beings made in God's image. This article was a great reminder that this is how life is meant to be lived out -- together, in community.

Now I have to practice what I preach. I'd be more inclined to pick the easy route. Phil - want to move?

Silo Climbers

We lived in Iowa for 2.5 years, so I know you have to be inventive to come up with fun things to do without freezing to death. But there comes a point when you just need to move west.

Thank Goodness the Wedding is Over

This article blows me away. Can you believe the average couple is now spending almost $28,000 on their wedding? With Phil's sister getting married in June and my brother getting married in August, wedding talks mostly have hijacked normal family conversations. I'm just relieved to be married already to the most amazing husband ever who was okay with our less-than-$3,000 wedding eight years ago. Now we can concentrate on blowing our income on important marriage-building things like this:



One for each of us, of course.

The Name of Our Next Dog

You know something is universally, genuinely funny when you can show it to your friends and they laugh like crazy then you can also show it to your mom and she laughs like crazy. We watched Conan O'Brien's Finland special last night with Phil's mom and she was cracking up. Here's the best minute:

Oscar Not Grouchy

The Departed. Finally! A movie worth winning an Oscar won an Oscar! We watched it last night -- it is fantastic! Phil had already seen it, but this was my first viewing. It's a great story, approached in a fresh way. All of the actors, of course, are spectacular. With that cast list, how could it not be amazing? I'd highly recommend it. You'll be thinking about the movie after it's over -- not because it's disturbing, but because the plot was so interesting and you're still trying to work through the details a bit in your mind. Fantastic movie -- see it.

Probably not a date movie, unless your wife or girlfriend is okay with blown-out brains and f-bombs. Screenit.com says there are at least 237 f-bombs in the 2.5 hour film. But, I'm desensitized, so that was okay.

Before The Departed, I could generally say I'm not a fan of Scorsese films. In all fairness, though, I've only seen The Aviator and Gangs of New York. I wouldn't say I enjoyed either of those. I also don't really like Leonardo DiCaprio, but he was in all three of those movies. So, even with a pre-movie attitude against Scorsese and DiCaprio, The Departed still came out on top. Fantastic flick.