i'd rather be dutch, wooden shoe?

i'm killing a little time watching "good will hunting", and putzing around on the interwebs utilizing stumbleupon, which brought me to jardmail.co.uk. that's the website that gifted me with the following Top 10 List, Dave Letterman-style.

TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING DUTCH:

1. You can get arrested for growing plants, but not for smoking them.
2. You can make jokes about the Belgians and still drink their beer.
3. a) You can legally kill yourself, b) You can legally be killed
4. You're exactly like the Germans, except that nobody hates you.
5. You think you are a world power, but everyone else thinks Copenhagen is your capital.
6. You get to insult people and defend yourself by saying it's a national tradition.
7. You can put your finger in a dyke and it will save your country
8. You live in the most densely populated country in Europe, and still you've never seen your neighbours.
9. If the economy is bad, blame the Germans. If a war is started, blame the Germans. If you lose your keys, blame the Germans.
10. Bikes are public property. Locks are a challenge.

in light of the trip julie & i recently took to amsterdam, i found it funny. hope you enjoy, too. oh, and the website above has Top 10 lists for a bunch of other european countries.

Rick Warren and Barack Obama

Thank you Beth for this wonderful post:

http://bethquick.blogspot.com/2008/12/rick-warren-and-barack-obamas.html

Songs

From Beth's Blog: (my answers have been substituted)

• What song makes you instantly think of junior high? Mr. Big, "To Be With You", anything by Def Lepard or Tesla, and Tone Loc's "Wild Thing"
  
• What song takes you immediately back to high school? Ace of Base "I Saw the Sign", G&R's "Sweet Child of Mine", and Roxette's "Joyride"
  
• What song reminds you of your first girlfriend/boyfriend? hmmmm...
  
• What song reminds you of your first heartbreak? Bryan Adam's "Everything I do I do it for you"
  
• What song reminds of being young and reckless? hmmmmm....
  
• What song is still your favorite after all these years? Ace of Base "I Saw the Sign"
  
• What song reminds you of summer? Sheryl Crow's "Soak Up the Sun"
  
• What song reminds you of vacation? anything fun!
  
• What's the first album/cassette/cd you purchased? Tiffany "Tiffany" - especially "I Think We're Alone Now"
  
• What song do you still have in your collection after all this time? Milli Vanilli's cassette
  
• What song do you think you can sing but you really can't? Lots of them
  
• What song do you always mess up the words to? Lots of them
  
• What song makes you immediately 'bust a move'? The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian"
  
• What song do you wish you could fall asleep to? hmmmm....
  
• What song do you wish you could wake up to? hmmmmm...
  
• What song do you want played at your funeral? "Be Thou My Vision," some classical tunes, some happy, life celebrating music
  
• What song do you want played when your casket opens? Open casket? No thanks.
  
• What song do you currently have as a ringtone? Arizona State's fight song "Maroon and Gold"
  
• What song do you currently have as a ring back? I think ringbacks are odd and a silly use of $.

'tis the season

so it's christmas. while i ponder how many times i will watch "a christmas story" this year (1 of the greatest seasonal movies of all time, imho), this is also the time of year when most americans head to malls, stores & websites to purchase gifts for family & friends. while on the surface people view this as the "season of giving", i've started looking at it from the big picture. it seems to me it boils down to a lot of people getting other people stuff, but then getting generally the same amount of stuff in return...all within the same couple of days. so it's as if, in reality, we buy our own gifts but in a round-about manner. maybe i'm looking at this wrong. but if this is going to truely be the season of giving, shouldn't we just give and not get or expect anything in return? don't get me wrong, i can suffer from this sort of selfish/materialistic mindset, but i wonder if we should start straying away from this kind of gift giving. perhaps focusing more on giving to the less fortunate, maybe simply giving roughly the amount we would have spent on gifts anyway? it seems to me that this would help our local communities immensely. pick a charity & give. even if that "charity" is a family member or friend who has fallen on hard times. in the true spirit of christmas, with the celebration of christ's birth and all that it means, i think that would be more appropriate.

goin' with the flow

the nerd in me loves these...just wonderfully funny. i have no idea why, but i have this odd fascination with funny flow charts. if you know of others, let me know.

and here's another one (added December 29, 2008). it's one of my all-time favorites.

stewart vs. huckabee

jon stewart interviewed mike huckabee last week on "the daily show". during the interview, jon tackled the issue of gay marriage with mike...and did it wonderfully.

i also came across this blog a few days ago. it's an example of why a heterosexual marriage is not necessarily better than a homosexual marriage in regards to the health of a child.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mike Huckabee Pt. 2

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

SNOOOOOWWWW!!!

it finally decided to snow earlier this week here in nashville, and oh how wonderful it was. since it typically snows about once a year here, julie & i took advantage of it. the snow was great for packing...so i made a snowball & it's still in our freezer. i don't plan on taking it out anytime soon. :) julie & i went outside and made snow angels and snowpeople. yay! it was fun to play in the snow. the sad part is, the next day most of it melted. snow doesn't last very long here.