Katdish.net

There are many reasons I love Austin. First and foremost being, it is in Texas. I was born in Virginia, but as the saying goes, “I got to Texas as fast as I could.” This attitude may seem obnoxious to many – especially people from Oklahoma – but speaking for me personally, it is not meant to be. It’s one thing to visit here. You can come and go, then move on with your life. But there’s something about living in Texas that grabs onto your heart and never lets go. Can I get a witness? But back to Austin. How could I not love a place whose slogan is “Keep Austin Weird”? Here’s a brief explanation from the crack research team at Wikipedia:

Keep Austin Weird is the slogan adopted by the Austin Independent Business Alliance to promote small businesses in Austin, Texas. The phrase arose from an offhand remark by Red Wassenich (a librarian at Austin Community College) in a phone call to a local radio station. He and his wife, Karen Pavelka, placed the slogan on bumper stickers, distributing them free to businesses in Austin.

One interpretation of the slogan is as a reference to the many small businesses in Austin, which give the city its unique cultural identity.

The “Keep Austin Weird” slogan reaches far beyond a marketing campaign, however. Austin reflects a culture of artistic and individual expression that maintains the city as a vibrant and eclectic creative center. In a mostly conservative Texas, Austin is “Weird” because it continues to be progressive in the arts and music. “Keep Austin Weird”, moves beyond a mere slogan, to reflect the dynamics that encompass Austin.

For example, in January 2009 alone over 1700 live music venues were supported. Few cities in the world could boast such a broad spectrum of tastes. In addition, multiple festivals such SXSW, Austin City Limits, Armadillo Bazaar and the Batfest, among many others are highly attended with far reaching audiences.

Austin is just cool. Having said that, I’m glad to be home: Land of superior Internet connections. It seems everywhere I went in Austin, I saw reminders of home. For instance, I saw a sign that reflected my sister’s Native American name:

I even saw signs that reminded me of my Internet peeps. The kids and I ate lunch right next to this place:

which obviously reminded me of Tony C at Tony C Today. Incidentally, if you’ve never checked out his blog, he’s got what I consider to be the most awesome header bar in the blogosphere. That alone is worth the visit, but I digress…Right across the street, I saw a store the reminded me of my friend Sherri at Matter of Fact:

(Y’all, she don’t spell so good…)

And since my friend Helen over at Random Musings just got a new bed, this sign made me think of her:

Here’s a store that reminded me of Steph at the Red Clay Diaries, Beth at That’s Not Me Anymore, Annie at Buzz by Annie’s, Nick the Geek at My Experiences as a Youth Pastor, and Jake at Very Much Later:

(Okay, Jake – I realize that Boise isn’t exactly backwoods, but I didn’t see a baked potato place.)

Right next to “Backwoods” was a store that reminded me of Mare at It Might Be Hope and Koffijah at Koffihouse:

Hey, fellow smartypants contributors, check this out:

(How cool is THAT?)

Yes, reminders were all around me. Even on the drive home, the signs were everywhere. Here’s one that made me think of my new bloggy buddy Mandy Thompson:

As I entered the final stretch, literally minutes from home, I saw a sign that reminded me of Kathy at This Crazy Adventure I call Life:

Did I spend entirely too much time snapping pictures and generally annoying my children on this trip?

But that’s just one more thing that makes me so very annoying/endearing!

Okay, ya’ll. I think I’m at my self imposed limit of ridiculous posts for the week. However, I have no such limitations over at The Fellowship of the Traveling Smartypants. Here’s a sample of what’s over there:

If you’ve never visited the smartypants blog, well, hmm….I’m not sure what to tell you. Imagine a blog with a bunch of contributors who would hang out with me. Scary, I know…

Disclaimer: Yes, that is a pricey Fossil purse with paint on it. But in my defense, it was a gift from my sister. She feels sorry for me because I have chosen to live a life devoid of overpriced accessories, so she buys me expensive purses, Pandora bracelets with coordinating overpriced beads to go with, and other fancy stuff for Christmas and birthdays. I had no idea how much that purse costs until I went to get one without paint on it. After pricing them, I decided my purse had character. I bet no one else in town has a chocolate brown Fossil Sutter Crossbody flap bag (don’t think I didn’t have to do a Google image search to figure out what kind of purse it is) with off-white trim paint strategically dabbed on the credit card zipper pouch. Katdish: trendsetter (CHECK!)

I’m really liking Twitter. There. I said it. (How’s that for a segue, huh?) Now, I’ll also say this: my friend Steph at the Red Clay Diaries was right. Yeah, Steph. You guilted me into it, but I’m glad I came around. It’s really opened up a whole new world of Internet peeps for me, and as you all know, I don’t spend nearly enough time on the computer. For example, this chick named
Mandy Thompson started following me. So I go check out her twitter page and her blog. Turns out, she’s just like me, except that she’s an incredibly gifted musician and is cool. She thinks I’m cool, too. But let’s not let that cat out of the bag just yet. She’ll figure out what a dork I am sooner or later.

Anyway, Mandy recently wrote a post dedicated to stuff in her purse. It looked really professional with corresponding letters to the stuff all nicely laid out. There was a purpose for everything she had in there. Contrast that to Steph’s post awhile back about stuff in her purse. Which is waaayyyy closer to what is in my purse. As it should be, as we are the same person, just in the alternate universes of Texas and Georgia. But I digress…

I really liked the way Mandy lettered the items. So, in attempt to copy her (cuz she’s cool), I attempted to do the same with the items in my purse. You would think that someone who actually paints murals and custom artwork as a trade would be able to use the paintbrush function on her computer. And you would be wrong. Painting with a mouse is nothing like painting with a paintbrush. I pretty much suck at it. But still, it took me a long time to designate letters to items from my purse in no particular order, so I’m going with it. Ladies and gentlemen, the ABC’s of crap in my purse:

A) Rudy the cat. He is not now, nor has he ever been in my purse.
B) My second Blackberry. I upgraded from my first Blackberry when my dh decided he needed an iPhone. Some people never get a brand new car. I never get a brand new PDA. (Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I dig it.)
C) My business cards, “Ragamuffin Child Interiors” I realize the “child” part is redundant, as the definition of a ragamuffin is “a shabbily dressed child”. But would you hire a painter whose company name is “A shabbily dressed child Interiors”? Me thinks not.
D) Large stack of random receipts. I think it’s important to keep receipts. Why? Because my husband says so.
E) Pens that I can never find, but have obviously always been in there.
F) Giveaway mirror from my old church.
G) Oil blotting sheets. People, I am very shiny! Those paper toilet seat liners are also great for blotting the excess oil from your face, but by using the little blue sheets you will draw way less attention to yourself in the ladies room. (You’re just gonna have to trust me on this one.)
H) Orbit gum – I tease Pete Wilson about chewing gum during interviews, but I’m a fairly prolific gum chewer myself. (Don’t tell him I said that.)
I) Eye wetting drops from when I had lasik surgery a year ago. Hey, you never know.
J) Broken pieces from a cheap tic tac toe game that my daughter asked me to hold for her last month.
K) No-slip ponytail holder. I swear by those, especially if you have thick hair.
L) Leftover nail glue and orange stick that I used to apply Lee press-on nails to my ugly man-hands whist attending Catalyst One Day in Alpharetta, GA.
M) Several tubes of lipstick that I almost never wear. Also, one of them is a highlighter.
N) A Speert purse hook. You set the square part down on the edge of a table, and then you can hook your purse on it. Another fancy gift from my sympathetic sister. I’ve used it once: the day she gave it to me at lunch.
O) Bed, Bath & Beyond and Linens n’ Things 20% coupons. You never know when you’ll need to buy someone a Snuggie. (I know LNT is out of business – I threw it away.)
P) A bulletin from a church where we guest-led worship a couple of Sundays ago. (Okay, it was mid-January. Are you beginning to see a trend here?)
Q) Business account checkbook.
R) A bag of gourmet coffee that they were giving out at Catalyst One Day.
S) A bag of airline pretzels.
T) A foil pack of Gas-X. (I know, I know — TMI.)
U) A copy of “Making your Mark: How to leave long, annoying comments on other People’s Blogs” by Wordy McTypesalot. You never know when someone’s going to ask you for your autograph. It hasn’t actually happened yet, but I’m ready!
V) Wallet by “The Sack”. I love that wallet, but I don’t keep any credit cards or ID in there. It’s basically a fancy junk drawer for my purse. I’m pretty sure Waldo’s in there.
W) Credit card zipper pouch where I actually keep my credit cards and ID. Incidentally, I almost never use credit cards. I should take most of those out of there and put them in my wallet.
X) Huh….apparently, there is no “X”. But I’m not redoing that picture! (Man, I hope Angela doesn’t read this. That will drive her nuts! I swear, Angela; I did not do that on purpose this time.)
Y) Tres muchos denaro. (Dang. I’m practically bilingual!)
Z) Correct change for nothing in particular.

I suppose my purse (and the center console in my Jeep) are very much like this:

To my guy readers. Sorry. I hope you didn’t get any girl cooties while reading this post. I’ll try to write a post with some fart humor and/or gratuitous violence to make up for this one.

Wow. That was a really long post about the contents of my purse. I’m actually kind of embarrassed. But not embarrassed enough not to publish it. (Hit “publish post”.)

Why yes, I AM very shiny!
Thanks for noticing.

6:00 pm (ish): Meet my new driver friend (whose name I still can’t pronounce) in front of my hotel. Call Steph to get the address for Buckhead Christian Church. Driver enters info into his GPS, which apparently works way better than Google maps, because Google maps sure didn’t help Steph get to Buckhead very well.

6:30 pm: Arrive at Buckhead.

So, I don’t really get Atlanta. Buckhead is not downtown Atlanta, but it sure feels like it should be downtown. I suppose it’s like Houston in a way, in that we have lots of places that have tall buildings. But in Houston, the only place that really “feels” like downtown to me is downtown Houston. But I digress…

I suppose I should have mentioned on my previous post that I spent a fair amount of time at North Point shoving a paper doll in the hands of random people and then asking them to pose for a picture. If you attended Catalyst One Day, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Oh yeah…I remember her now. Boy, was that chick annoying!” Thanks. It’s a gift, really. Anyhoo, when I arrived at Buckhead Church, I continued to take pictures of people posing with Zeke. I also met a couple of people who also have blogs, and it’s cool to put a face with a name, like Ben Arment and Nick Carnes. I was early, and basically sat around waiting for Steph. I also had the opportunity to meet Jon Acuff’s mother-in-law and his wife Jenny (who is stunning, btw). I did not get a chance to meet Jon’s dad, but boy, do they look alike!

It was starting to get crowded, and the band was rehearsing so no one was allowed in yet. Pete Wilson was nice enough to put Steph’s giant booty (bag) between 2 seats in the front row, thereby saving our seats. I enjoy asking popular pastors from large churches to do little errands for me. It’s just one more thing that makes me so very endearing. Not unlike when I asked Brad Lomenick, who is the Executive Director of Catalyst to pose for a picture with Zeke. When he asked me what it was for, I said, “Don’t worry about that, just pose for the picture already!” Yeah. People dig me. Oh, where was I? Oh, yeah. They start letting people in. Steph is no longer lost, but now cannot find a parking space. Which is weird, because they have at LEAST 10 parking spaces designated for an event that has about 150 attendees. Go figure.

Steph finally arrives. We exchange hugs and settle into our seats. Pete Wilson introduces Aaron Keyes and friends, then we are lead in some praise and worship songs. I am lamenting the fact that Aaron Keyes has better hair than me, and wondering if he uses a flat iron or does he just have a really good stylist. He is also a big fan of the book of Psalms, which is cool, cuz me too. He also quotes a scripture about breast feeding and mentions that he has 4 kids and his wife is breastfeeding. Now I’m thinking, “Okay, let’s move on.” At one point during all of this, Steph accuses me of interfering with the Holy Spirit just because I suggested that she randomly shout out, “JESUS!” during this time. She was definitely interfering with my spiritual gift of sarcasm. But I’ve prayed about it, and I’ve forgiven her ungrateful heart. There is barely enough room on the front row to hold Steph, me, and our combined sarcasm.

Pete Wilson gets back up, introduces Ann Jackson, Carlos Whittaker and Jon Acuff, during which time the three of them are awkwardly trying to set up 4 stools on a very small stage. Jon is sitting on the end with his stool butting up to a mic stand. Rather than moving the mic stand off the stage, he settles for sitting VERY CLOSE to Carlos Whittaker. I thought I was the only one who notices this, but clearly, this does not escape Jon’s attention. Which is just one more reason why that guy cracks me up.

Ann, Carlos and Jon proceed to “Go First”. What this means is that they shared some very personal, potentially embarrassing situations that they have struggled with in their lives. (Did I mention that Jon’s parents and in-laws were sitting in the audience?) When they finish speaking, Pete asks them a couple of questions and then opens it up to the audience. So how many people do you think raised their hand? Yes. You are correct. Approximately none. Well, I’m chock full-o-questions, and fear of making a fool of myself has never really been a big deterrent for me in the past. So, after three famous bloggers bare their souls to a crowd of strangers, I ask the following questions to Pete Wilson courtesy of my friend Helen of Random Musings:

What makes a blog comment worthy to you?
How many blogs do you check out per day?
What have I got that Helen hasn’t got?
Why do you never comment on her blog?
Why do you make your wife freeze by keeping the thermostat too low?
Buy her a snuggie already!
If you and Jon Acuff had a fight with fists tied behind your backs, who would win?

After the third question, there was an audible hush in the room, as if to say, “Who in the hail is this person, and why is she asking those stupid questions?” But at that point, I was committed. I’m pretty sure Steph is slouching down in her seat in an attempt to become invisible – which totally didn’t work. Pete very kindly saves the moment by saying, “In the interest of time, I’m only going to answer one of those questions.” He answered the blog comment one, saying that if a comment seems to come from the heart, he often felt compelled to answer it. Of all the people sitting on the stage, Carlos Whittaker is the only one who has absolutely no idea who I am. I’ve never commented on Ann’s blog, but she works for Pete, so she sort of knows who I am. I think his mouth was literally hanging open during that exchange.

After I broke the ice. Well…after I smashed through the ice with a high powered sledgehammer, a couple more folks asked questions. Here’s one that I thought was kinda special: “What goes through your head right before you throw up?” Now, see…for me, that would be, “Gross. I’m about to throw up.” But whatever…

The evening was not what I expected, but it was very cool. I was able to talk briefly with Carlos Whittaker and Jenny Acuff who were both very gracious. I also gave Carlos Whittaker a copy of a CD made when I was at another church and an autographed copy of a little book called “Making Your Mark: How to leave long, annoying comments on other people’s blogs” by Wordy McTypealot personally autographed by yours truly. So, I’m pretty sure I made his month, if not his entire year.

Steph and I walked approximately 42 miles back to where she had parked. We then proceeded back to Alpharetta and back to my luxurious suite at the Comfort Inn where, instead of interfacing over the Internet, we were able to really get to know each other…NOT! We both had our laptops and were commenting on The Fellowship of the Traveling Smartypants blog, which is more of a geeky chat room than it is a blog.

Also, I had Cheetos for dinner.

I will now open up the floor for questions. Anyone? Anyone?

Oooooh, Shiny!

Here’s the link: Marketing Homelessness

What I would really like to do is to draw attention to this issue. I would very much appreciate it you would consider writing a post about this on your blogs as well.

Peace out.

So….

I know what you’re thinking. Is katdish just going to post links to other people’s blogs or is she actually going to write something? I’ll let you in on a little secret: I am really crazy busy doing things in the non-virtual world currently, and it’s all I can do just to spend a few minutes trying to keep up with my blog reading. I’m also working on another prosperity gospel rant that will be delightful, I’m sure.

For now, check out Marni’s post.

As my friend Ryan B. would say, it’s crazy delicious!

And speaking of Ryan (who loves Dr. Pepper), here’s a random story: A few years ago, as head of the VBS crafts mafia, I decided that I would have the kids make ships in bottles to go with the story of Jesus calming the seas. I called the Dr. Pepper bottling plant located in the great city of Houston, Texas to see if they would donate some 2 liter plastic bottles. They graciously agreed, so I drove down there to pick them up.

Question: How many empty 2 liter Dr. Pepper bottles will fit into a 2005 Chrystler mini van?

Give up?

Three hundred and fourteen. But only if you have no passengers, you don’t mind driving on major freeways in rush hour traffic looking like a recently filled gumball machine, are not so concerned about seeing traffic that is not directly in front of you, do not need to make any sharp turns that would require unrestricted movement of your arms, and have several people waiting at the church to help you pick up EVERY SINGLE BOTTLE. Because they will spill out of said minivan like water from an overfilled balloon as soon as you open the door. So, that was kind of special…

P.S. – If ya’ll haven’t read Koffi House, you’re missing out. IT IS GOOD!

My new blogger buddy Jason S. over at Connecting to Impact wrote a very thought provoking post. Check it out and leave your two cents worth. (Or in Sherri’s case, your five dollars and ninety-two cents worth.)

Here’s the link: Withholding the Actual Cost

Okay, peeps. Don’t get your grannie panties all in a bunch. You know you’re all my favorites for different reasons. But Koffi House is more like reading a book — a very, very good book.

Koffijah is a missionary in a “closed” country. For this reason, he does not go into great detail on his profile. He only recently started writing this blog, so you have an opportunity to read it in its entirity and get in on the “ground level”. I would highly recommend it — especially for my friends in ministry.

And Koffijah, if you’re reading this, thank you for sharing your thoughts and wisdom. Please continue to write.