What’s In a Name?

In just a short while, I will no longer have to spell ‘Olivet’ for anyone, or have to repeat ‘Olivet’ over the phone (“All of what?”) or have to deal with the misspellings (Olivette, mon amis?). Nope, in a few short months we’ll be (drum roll please): Head over to Pastor Tim’s blog for the lowdown on a whole bunch of cool stuff that was unveiled last Sunday night. Awesome days ahead! 

Slopecycle

If I had an extra $800 kickin’ around, this would be awesome. And I would also break most every limb.  (www.slopecycle.com)  

What Does It All Mean?!

This is the Lost poster that’s been announcing the season premiere (8 more days, but who’s counting?). It looks fairly typical and Lost-ish until you notice the city skyline in the water’s reflection. Ooooh, the foreshadowing!   

Mind Dump

1. We kicked-off our new youth night (The Shakedown!) and it ruled. It included hours of setting up a new stage backdrop with cool lighting, loud music, confetti launchers, live crickets, 216 rolls of toilet paper, free t-shirts (designed by Shepboy) and more. Very exciting stuff! Also, the crickets that survived the night were fed to my piranha, which was also entertaining. 
2. I saw Juno. It was great. Very funny, well-written and very quotable. PLUS, a cameo by Rainn Wilson (aka Dwight K. Schrute) made it even better. 
3. We kicked off a new series at church this week called ‘Illuminate.’ Every week the theme of the service is written on a massive 6′x8′ Lite Brite that we had created and put up on the stage. Very cool. 
4. Pastor Tim threatened me and Amy with wedgies at our staff meeting yesterday. Yup, wedgies. I haven’t been threatened with wedgies since Jr High, and my mind was flooded with great memories of sweat pants and grade 7. 
5. The Macbook Air looks pretty cool. Not sure why you would need it, or what market they were trying to reach, but hey, it’s thin and cool. It’s like an After Eight chocolate, but, uh, electronic. 

Why Thank You, I Am Looking Slim

Tonight, I stepped onto the scales for the first time since my weight-loss challenge began on January 2nd. I wasn’t sure if anything I was doing was working, but tonight it was confirmed: I’m down ten pounds! Holy smokes! My first thought was, “I can’t even believe this is working.” My second thought was, “Uh, ten pounds in a week? Do I have an eating disorder? This seems unnatural.” My third thought was, “I’m really hungry.” Here’s what I’ve been doing: 

1. No sweets
2. No pop
3. No chips
4. No cream + sugar in the coffee (only milk)
5. No seconds 
6. Way too much water

And that’s it. I haven’t even exercised yet. This weight loss stuff is a breeze. I’m going to go write a diet book.

Owen, Juno and Ralph

1. Owen (Book): I’m currently engrossed in John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany. It’s hilarious, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s all interwoven with spiritual significance. Random trivia: The movie Simon Birch was loosely based on the book, as was the Jimmy Eat World song ‘Goodbye Sky Harbor.’ Who knew? 
2. Juno (Movie): Despite the fact that this apparently hilarious indie movie is raking in the big bucks, it’s a no-show in Fredericton. In Saint John and Moncton–yup. But Fredericton–nope. Liz and I have been dying to see it for over a month, but to no avail. Frederictonians, unite! Someone other than me should organize a petition. *Update! Juno begins playing in Fredericton on Friday. Hoorah and stuff!*
3. Ralph (TV): If you’re tired of the Obama and Hilary show, someone else just entered the Presidential Race. Choo-choo-choose him! 

The Top Five Movies I Haven’t Seen

‘Tis the season of Top 10 Movie lists, with every Tom, Dick and Bloggy writing up their ‘best movies of the year’ lists, along with all those artsy types predicting their boring Oscar winning flicks. I, however, am writing a different type of list altogether. Yes, my list is comprised of movies I’ve never seen. In fact, they’re movies you haven’t seen either. That’s because none of them have been released yet. (The previous statements may be rendered obsolete if you are the owner and user of a time machine).Without further ado, here are the best movies of 2008 that we haven’t seen (by order of projected release date):

1.  Cloverfield (Jan.18) — This is the top-secret monster movie that Lost producer JJ Abrams has been keeping under wraps. All we know is that there’s a big monster, and there’s a beheaded Statue of Liberty. Sweet.
2. Iron Man (May 2) — I’m not a comic book geek, but neither were many of the other billion people who sold out the Spider Man movies over the past few years. Robert Downey Jr is Iron Man, a guy who basically puts on a big heavy suit and enjoys flying around and shooting things. The trailer sold it for me.
3. Prince Caspian (May 16) — The first Narnia was movie awesome, and this one should be, too. 
4. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (May 22) — It doesn’t matter that Harrison Ford is now 64 years old, it’s freakin’ Indiana Jones! And, Shia LaBeouf of Transformers fame is signed on–rumour has it that he’s either the adopted son of Indy or a motorcycle greaser. Either way, I’m pumped for another Indy movie. 
5. The Dark Knight (July 18) — The new Batman is back, this time with Heath Ledger as a terrifying looking Joker. Seriously, he looks terrifying. Batman Begins redeemed the Batman movies (George Clooney is a crappy Batman, and his batsuit had metal nipples. Who did this?) and this one should be good. 

Christmas By The Numbers

I took quite a hiatus on the ol’ blog over Christmas break. In fact, I didn’t even use my computer once from Christmas Day to New Year’s and it was awesome. Here’s a quick ‘By-the-Numbers’ wrap-up of the Brewer Christmas and beyond:

•  1 – number of gifts Liz and I gave each other
•  10  –  number of DVD’s in the Blue Planet/Planet Earth box set she got me. Sweet! 
• infinity – number of gifts our girls received 
• 102 – minutes it took to unwrap the aforementioned gifts
• 4 – snowstorms that fell on us in 7 days
• bazillion – inches of snow that fell during those 4 storms
• 1 – number of times I lodged my van into a snowbank…in my own driveway
• 470 –  number of people at our Christmas Eve Services! 
  
• 25 – pounds I will lose before an unnamed nemesis in our weight-loss challenge
• 28  – days until the Lost Season Premiere
• 1 – number of confetti launchers I bought for our new youth ‘Shakedown’ kick-off
• 19 –  number of times per day that Emily asks, “Is it summer today?”
• 19 – number of times per day that Emily asks, “Oh. Will it be summer tomorrow?”
• 170 – actual days until summer