Movie Review: 21 & Counting

Last night I saw a preview showing of 21 & Counting.  A new movie by the team that brought us the Hangover.   The quick review - an enjoyable mindless comedy in the venue of a Porkys or American Pie.

The movie is raw, raunchy, and at times too much.  There were times I covered by eyes because it was making me gag.  Yes, physically gag to the point that I could have thrown up if I kept watching.  That's the bad part of this movie -- they need to know when enough is enough.

The good part is that it made me laugh out loud several times.  It is fun and irreverent.

The basic plot is two friends surprising the third friend for his 21st birthday.  Unfortunately his birthday is the day before his big medical school interview.  Not the best timing for pounding out a big night of drinking.  So the friends talk him into "just one beer".  A few hours of hard drinking later they are trying to get their near passed out friend home....only problem neither of them know his address.

No wanting to give away too much of the story here, the attempt to find their way home is funny, sophomoric, and raunchy.  If you find that kind of stuff stupid then this is not the right movie for you.  But if you find that stuff funny, then you will really enjoy this movie.

Using my personal rating scale ....21 & Counting is a Rental.  No need to see it in a theater, but still worth seeing.

Ugghhhh!!!!

I'm mad. I'm disappointed. I'm frustrated!

Uggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ugh #1 - You Always Miss 100% of the Shots You Don't Take
I just got off the phone with the hiring manager for a new job I was interested in.  And she informed me the manger role is already filled.  Ugghhhhh  There is still a non-manager team leader role available.   Uggghhh
This was a very good opportunity to move up in IBM along a new management path.  I'm mad and frustrated with my myself because I heard about this change and new team almost 2 weeks ago and I had only halfheartedly tried to get in touch with this hiring manager.   She doesn't use the normal instant messaging system that 75% of all our communications go through, but that should not have stopped me.  Yesterday I called and emailed her, she got back to me today and inadvertently told me she did create the managers job now (instead of being a down the road possibility as my sources has led me to believe) and she also told me she just filled the role - so recent that she has not yet even sent the announcement about it.  Ugghh  had I talked to her a week or two ago, then I'm sure her announcement would be about me.   This just pisses me off. 

Ugh #2 - Bummed about loss of Spring
Yesterday I meet with the Orthopedic Surgeon about my knee - and guess what he's now decided the best treatment is the knee surgery to repair the torn meniscus followed by physical therapy.  The swelling in my right knee is the indicator that this can only be helped with the surgery.  His guess was I would not be able to hike, bike, or job for 8 weeks after the surgery and (bonus..not) due to an extended period out of the office in March, it may be a while before they can even get me in for the surgery.  It's an out patient procedure that he estimated would take 35 minutes - so it's a bit weird to call it surgery.   He preforms these procedures on Fridays, and you need to be off your feet and on crutches for the weekend but can start moving around better by Monday.  No driving until you can easily walk on that right leg - which he says is usually just a few more days.  I almost for sure have to board Zeus through that period - trying to take him out for bathroom breaks while on crutches did not work in December and I'm not willing to even attempt it again.  Even base case that he gets me in prior to his conference and vacation that keep him out of the office, it means I wouldn't be back on my feet until mid May.  Ugh, I'll miss the Starving Rock Mega Hike that I was so interested in doing.    Trying to put a good spin on it - they organize the Mega Hike in the Fall the weekend of September 28-29.....the downside is that is the Wisconsin-Ohio State football game and I'm probably going to Columbus that weekend.   I don't think there is anyway I can do both, so I have to miss out on something fun Ugh!

Walking the Labyrinth

There is no right or wrong way to walk a labyrinth, but if possible I prefer to walk it alone outside.  I wish one of our near by state or city parks had a labyrinth.  I think it would be great if St Dom's added one to the prayer garden.  If there was one near by I would go there on a regular basis to help calm and focus me.

Enjoy the symbolism found in walking a labyrinth. It really does mirror life, at times you are very close to the center, but after a few turns, you can find yourself on a path to the outside. The good news is that the center is never really that far away, and there is always a way back to it.


This is a list of labyrinth that are somewhat nearby.

Mount Mary College
2900 North Menomonee River Parkway | Milwaukee, WI 53222-4597


St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Parish – New Berlin, WI
12700 W. Howard Ave. New Berlin, WI 53151
 Indoor In Sippel Hall, open most Thursday in Lent from 4 - 7:30 pm

Aurora West Allis Medical Center
located at the corner of 89th Street and Lincoln Avenue 
Outdoor Healing Garden with Labyrinth
Best time to walk this is in the summer.

Calvary Church (next to Jesu)
The Labyrinth Open Walk at Calvary Presbyterian Church – The Big Red Church - On Wednesday evenings Calvary Church is open to the public to walk the labyrinth. The labyrinth is a walking meditation, a spiritual tool, that clears the mind, leads to healing, self-knowledge, and peace. Calvary Church is a family of believers focused on welcoming people of all paths as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Occurs weekly: Wednesday (5:30 PM to 7:00 PM)
Contact Phone: 414-271-8782
Calvary Church
835 W, Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53233
Price: Donation

St Mary's Hales Corner (Fairly close to Whitnall Park)
Throughout history, pilgrims have traveled to holy sites to encounter the sacred and to renew their faith. When the Crusades and the plague made pilgrimage to the Holy Land almost impossible, Labyrinths came into use as a pilgrimage-in-place. Pilgrims could engage in the same kind of prayer journey without leaving their native land. Walking the Labyrinth is the equivalent of four city blocks. The path to the center and the path out are one and the same. The Labyrinth is not a maze or a puzzle.
9520 W. Forest Home Avenue, Hales Corners, WI


St. John Neumann Catholic Church
2400 West State Highway 59;  Waukesha, WI  53189-6323
Near the Fox River Park [River Road (County Highway H) and Lawnsdale Road (County Highway I)]

Foot - Vulture - Mouth - Foot

It's a pet peeve of mine when you end up missing out on something because you weren't aware of some options.  When we were in Egypt in 2008, our tour group stopped at a jewelry store so that people could order gold cartouches of their names written using the Egyptian Hieroglyphic alphabet.   At the time were were only given the option of gold necklaces.   At that time gold prices were high it was costing about $200 to $300 per necklace depending on the style, number of letters, etc.   So not worth the price to me.

I wisely made the decision not to purchase one.  The necklace was a nice souvenirs but it was not worth $200+ for a necklace I would not wear all that often.  And at the time I was not trilled with the translation of "Barb" into Foot - Vulture - Mouth - Foot.

Only later in the week when the tour group went back to pick up the orders did I find out they also sold these cartouch necklaces in sterling silver and those necklaces would have only been about $25 to $40.  So worth it - I would have done that in a minute.  But I was complete unaware of that option.  It bummed me out.

Looking at the translation now, I do wish I would have gotten one.  Until recently I didn't connect the foot in my name to my love of hiking.  Its almost like my name is twice as much walking as talking, or walk before and after you talk (cause walking helps me think and process thoughts).  I now really like it!  But I still don't know how that vulture fits in!! I wish it was a cat or the water symbols instead of a bird. 

Check out your own name in this Hieroglyphic Typewriter web page:
http://www.eyelid.co.uk/hieroglyphic-typewriter.html

Lenten Promises 2013 Status Update #2

Second update...I'm hoping by posting these it will help keep me both accountable and focused.



1st Lenten Promise is to declutter for 15 to 30 minutes most days 
I'm not taking a stop watch to this tasks, so the status is more of a thumbs-up / thumps-down.

• week 1 - Feb 10- 16 - Success, but a bit sloppy/slow over the weekend
• week 2 - Feb 17 - 23 - Fairly Successful, I may try to start timing myself to help keep focus
• week 3 - Feb 24 - Mar 2
• week 4 - Mar 3 - 9
• week 5 - Mar 10 - 16
• week 6 - Mar 24 - 30

2nd Lenten Promise is to go out for at least 4 fish fries
In hindsight this is going to be harder than I thought as I look through my personal schedule.  It may end up being a bunch of lunch time take out.  

• 1 Completed - Friday, Feb 22 with the YACC alumni at St Agnes
• 2
• 3
• 4

3rd Lenten Promise is to consume no more than 2 bags of snack food per week (Sat to Fri)

• week 1 - Feb 10- 16 - Success!
• week 2 - Feb 17 - 23 - Success (but no exclamation point); the post-Valentines sale caramel popcorn almost caused a problem, luckily I got it under control in time
• week 3 - Feb 24 - Mar 2
• week 4 - Mar 3 - 9
• week 5 - Mar 10 - 16
• week 6 - Mar 24 - 30

4th Lenten Promise is attending and/or participating in 6 spiritual events this Lent 
The impromptu Stations with the YACC alumni went so well we are planning to do it again this Friday and even started throwing around the idea of going every week during Lent.  

• 1) Completed - Fri, Feb 15, Jesus Christ Superstar
• 2) Completed - Fri, Feb 22, Stations of the Cross at St Agnes, with YACC alumni
• 3) Fri, March 1, Lenten Day of Retreat (registration mailed)
• 4) Sat, March 23, Zion Passion Play (tickets purchased)
• 5
• 6

Mega Hike Planning

My knee has not gotten better since the initial swelling went down.  I was on crutches for 2 days; doing fine but not great ever since then.  I can walk but I can't jog for even a few minutes (found that out trying to get the dog to motivate).  I've gone snowshoeing and I'd like to go hiking once the weather is nicer. 

In fact I'm working diligently to pull together a hiking weekend at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois.  They have a mega hike that goes through all 13 miles of their 18 canyons in the park on Saturday, April 27.  That means I'll miss CrazyLegs in Madison, but with my knee as it is that was probably going to be missed anyway.   I kind of stumbled onto this and now I'm really focused on trying to make it happen.  This is a good (and much cheaper) alternative to the Utah / Arizona trip I had in mind.  I'll still make it to the National Parks in that area some day, but because of my knee injury it's not a good fit for this year - I could go and hike but it would be much more limited that what I want to do and therefore it wouldn't be work the expense (to me).   The park is about 3 hours south; so I'm guessing (hoping, praying) that by late April they will have really nice weather (compared to Southeast Wisconsin, not compared to Florida duh!)

This is nine weeks away and my concern is if my knee will be in good enough shape to let me still be walking after this adventure. 

At the suggestion of a Physical Therapist, I've been taking one Aleve pill daily to help reduce the swelling, but to be honest I don't think this as done anything.   I'm going to take the next week and add in some strengthening exercises he suggested and also do the dreaded icing of the knee.  And I'm setting a deadline of 1 week - if the knee is not better from these exercises and icing, then I will contact the doctor and see about a cortisone shot in my knee.

And lastly I'll look into getting a knee brace.  I am committed to finding a way to continue hiking.  I'm willing to give up running for a while, if I have to, to heal the knee.   But if I can't find a way to hike and enjoy it both the during and after - then I will be scheduling that knee surgery asap. 

I'll need to bring my walking poles with me, just in case the knee starts to bother me.  They are adjustable height and can be adjusted down to a size that can fit in my backpack.

Great Reminder for Any Pet Owner

I ran across this list on Facebook of 10 things your dog would tell you and it really changed my perspective.  A week ago or so, I was reading a self help book that pointed out its never too late to get out of something you wouldn't do if you could do it again.   And knowing what I know now, I would not have gotten Zeus.  Let me publicly state this again - I do love my boy.  But he is more work and has had a bigger negative impact to my schedule that I realized when I got him.  If I could do it over again, I would get another cat instead of a dog.  In fact after reading that self help book I set a deadline for myself that I would give away Zeus if I couldn't get to the point where things were better for both him and me (trust me I understand Zeus could have a better life with a different family that was better set up to own a dog). 

But after reading this - I'm torn again.  My mental deadline is removed and I'm going to try to be the person my dog thinks I am.

10 Things Your Dog Would Tell You.... 

1. My life is likely to last 10 to 15 years. Any separation from you will be painful: remember that before you get me.
2. Give me time to understand what you want of me.
3. Place your trust in me- it is crucial to my well being.
4. Do not be angry at me for long, and do not lock me up as punishment.
5. You have your work, your entertainment,and your friends. I only have you.
6. Talk to me sometimes. Even if I don't understands your words, I understand your voice when it is speaking to me.
7. Be aware that how ever you treat me, I will never forget.
8. Remember before you hit me that I have teeth that could easily hurt you, but I choose not to bite you because I love you.
9. Before you scold me for being uncooperative,obstinate,or lazy, ask yourself if something might be bothering me. Perhaps I might not be getting the right food, or I have been out too long, or my heart is getting to old and weak.
10. Take care of me when I get old; you too will grow old. Go with me on difficult journeys. Never say: "I cannot bear to watch" or "Let it happen in my absence." Everything is easier for me if you are there, even my death.

Remember that I love you.

Lenten Promises 2013 Status Update #1

Like I said, I'll try to do this every Monday to give an update of current status on these 4 promises.  I'm hoping by posting these it will help keep me both accountable and focused.



1st Lenten Promise is to declutter for 15 to 30 minutes most days 
I'm not taking a stop watch to this tasks, so the status is more of a thumbs-up / thumps-down. 

• week 1 - Feb 10- 16 - Success, but a bit sloppy/slow over the weekend
• week 2 - Feb 17 - 23
• week 3 - Feb 24 - Mar 2
• week 4 - Mar 3 - 9
• week 5 - Mar 10 - 16
• week 6 - Mar 24 - 30

2nd Lenten Promise is to go out for at least 4 fish fries
In hindsight this is going to be harder than I thought as I look through my personal schedule.  It may end up being a bunch of lunch time take out.  

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

3rd Lenten Promise is to consume no more than 2 bags of snack food per week (Sat to Fri)

• week 1 - Feb 10- 16 - Success!
• week 2 - Feb 17 - 23 - the post-Valentines sale caramel popcorn almost caused a problem
• week 3 - Feb 24 - Mar 2
• week 4 - Mar 3 - 9
• week 5 - Mar 10 - 16
• week 6 - Mar 24 - 30

4th Lenten Promise is attending and/or participating in 6 spiritual events this Lent 

• 1) Fri, Feb 15, Jesus Christ Superstar
• 2) Fri, March 1, Lenten Day of Retreat (registration mailed)
• 3) Sat, March 23, Zion Passion Play (tickets purchased)
• 4
• 5
• 6

Barb - You Ignorant Slut

The title is from Saturday Night Live's Point Counterpoint from the early 1980s.   Some of my readers may be too young to get the reference.



Here's the counterpoint to the previous post - a few things that are going well or making me happy

• Zeus has been much better about entertaining himself and/or sleeping during the day so that I have less interruptions to my work day.  This is a big breakthrough.  There is still room for significant improvement but at least there is momentum in the right direction.
• Meal planning / prepping food.  I've been doing an above average job of planning meals and preparing things.  For example, both this week and last week I took time over the weekend to cut up fruits for a mixed food salad -- I know when it's made and available I add it to meals, which is much healthier than some other fall back on items.   The better planning has also kept me from throwing away fresh items that were going bad, I'm using more things up in time.  I can see a reduction in my grocery bills as I'm eating down the pantry and freezer items I already have.
• Still happy about the basement paint job.  My nephew and his friend took a week before they went back to college and painted my basement for me.  It still makes me smile when I go downstairs - the basement is so much brighter and nicer to be in now. 
• The declutter Lenten promise has already made a dramatic improvement to my home office.  Again, still more to do, but the flow is much better. 

Oh, it's a Monday for Sure!!

It wasn't even 8 am this Monday was turning into the Monday of cartoons.  In the hopes of getting it off my chest and venting - I'm going to post what's bugging me, depressing me, or just all around suckie.  I'm hoping a little venting, and a little bit of putting things in true perspective will help my attitude.

sukie stuff (in no particular order)

• medical problem #1 - I had a minor medical problem that woke me up around 2 am.  I'm not going to get into the full details because I'm not yet comfortable sharing that on the web.  But let's just say this is something that has happened in the past and I thought I knew the trigger, but there was a full day between (what I thought as) the trigger and the incident, so that's not the trigger.  And not knowing the true trigger bothers and scares me.  I'm not sure how to prevent it if I don't know what causes it.
• medical problem #2 - the torn minuscus in the right knee.  Yesterday was nice winter weather, dry and sunny and crisp but not freezing so I took the boy on a longer walk. Overall the walk was nice, and it felt good to get out - we've been cooped up too long.   But the knee was soar overnight and again this morning.  Today there is a sharp pain and swollen/tightness to the knee and I usually don't have either. 
• Zeus problem - Zeus peed on the carpet this morning - and I feel like it's my fault.  With waking up in the middle of the night and not sleeping well from that point on (I'm sure I was concern with it happening again, and frustrated that it happened in the first place), I ended up sleeping in later and getting a late start to actually moving.   The dog couldn't wait and peed a little on the living room carpet to relieve bladder pressure.  First it bugs me that I couldn't get my personal act together enough to get up and out on time to take him out, and second it bugs me that Zeus doesn't have enough confidence to bark and call me to take him out - he is so submissive to me that he won't let me know if he needs me. 
• my friend Barb bought 2 tickets to the Zion passion play - at first this is good news, I'm glad Barb is going with me but I'm worried about that second ticket.  If you remember this is on the Wally anniversary weekend and I had ideas of going to this alone.  I'm considering going down earlier in the day and either visiting the Chicago Botanical Garden (something that has been on my list for a while) or if its a nice day trying some hiking trails are various parks in that area.  I'd be happy to have Barb join me in this - although if she did the hiking would have to be seriously curtailed - even with my bum knee Barb would not be able to do what I would like to hike - and if that was any other weekend than Wally's weekend I would be ok with it.  So that somewhat pushes me to the Chicago Botanical Gardens - which is ok with me.  But my bigger concern is that second ticket she purchased.  It may turn out to be the blessing in disguise that let's me go down by myself and hike.  I'm fine if her husband joins us, and Barb thought her sister may want to go if Jon decides he doesn't want to.  And I'm also fine if Barb's sister goes -- but this is the thing, I'm guessing that if either 1) Barb's sister goes she will will want to bring some of her kids along, or 2) if she can't go Barb will ask one of the nieces or nephew to go with her.   The thing is these kids are fine in small doses but it would spoil the outing for me if they were there all evening (or worse all day) with us.  They are young 20-somethings with the jaded attitude and not very nice to Barb.  I don't want them to go with us.  This outing is over a month away - I can't let myself get caught up in worrying about that 2nd ticket Barb purchased.  I need to let this go until its time to figure things out (maybe that week) and only then add some influence to who gets that ticket.
• cheap candy doesn't equal cheap calories - I have a problem between my frugal side and my healthy side.  I have a really, really hard time passing up great deals on things I want or will use.  And after-holiday sales really can do a number on me.  This year I found a great deal on a tub of caramel popcorn for $4.  If I purchased the caramel popcorn by the bagful it would have cost me $10 to $15.  So its a great deal - but its still a lot of calories, and I ate too much of it Saturday and Sunday.  I've decided to package it up and save it for the next few weeks - I'm not sure how it will fit into my lenten promise of no more than 2 bags per week (this week I only purchased 1 bag knowing I had already picked up the popcorn tub).   And not have any more caramel popcorn until Wednesday.  The nice thing is next happens after Easter, so I have 6 more weeks or so before the itch happens again.  To help control this, I just divided the remainder into a one-serving bag for Wednesday and 2 4-serving bags for other weeks.  I labeled them with the serving size and calorie count.  I had packaged them out with measuring cups to help keep it more accurate. 
• not much got accomplished on Sunday -  part of this was due to the later nite and bigger drinking than my average Saturday nights, and part due to starting early - I wanted to get to the Elmbrook service this weekend and I find I prefer church either Saturday night (which I couldn't do due to our meeting time) or early Sunday morning (needs to start before 9 am) - so I ended up at the early service.  And it was nice and a good message for me to hear.  While its good to take time off and 'sharpen the saw', I feel like it was more of a lazy, unproductive day and not that rejuviating.  There is much to do and I didn't get much done yesterday. 
• poor purchase choices at the bakery - I do like good bread.  I had one of those groupons type deals for Great Harvest Bread.  After purchasing on Friday I now remember why I don't go there that often - the owner is a dick.  He's just rude and ungrateful and doesn't communicate well.  His attitude flustered me and I ended up making poor choices - I wanted to get good bread for sandwiches and ended up with the bacon cheese bread (which was a special bread of the month and I had intentionally wanted to get) and cinnamon crunch, and a blackberry cream cheese scone.  And it was a Friday in Lent so I couldn't use the bacon bread - and cinnamon crunch is not good for tuna fish sandwiches!! augh, I beat myself up for not getting a good rye bread.   I'm not a sweet breakfast person - I prefer eggs instead of pastries or pancakes.   So the cinnamon crunch is flustering me.  And I think I may have gotten sick from the bacon bread on Saturday -- I'll have to try it again to see but I'm blaming the owner for not communicating about how to store this bread with bacon and cheese - in the fridge? in the plastic bag he put in the bag with it but did not put the bread in plastic.  I worry that it shouldn't have been left out on the counter and should have been refrigerated.  I'm bummed that I didn't make better choices here. 

I do feel better after this venting.  And somethings are now in better perspective and I've taken action on others to help get them under control.   Some things are over and done and I've just got to let it go.  Other things are too far in the future and I've got to give them time to play out.  

Lent 2013

Lent has been special to me for many years.  Even when I was in that phase of not going to church regularly and being spiritual but not religious, I still liked Lent.  To me Lent was a fun challenge to either give up something or to do something.  I've posted before about this - I do well when I challenge myself.

I've been toying with several ideas for what to do this Lent.  One idea I had was to give up alcohol.  The thing is this is not that hard for me.  In general I guess I have 2 to 3 nights that I drink in a month's period.  Lent is only 6 and half weeks long - so that is about 4 to 5 nights of drinking.  And in most cases its usually only a drink or two at a dinner out.   Overall this would not be that hard.  And it would also have one big conflict that my frugal side would give me an exception for and let me drink on Saturday.  I have tickets for our public museum's Food and Froth event.  It's a fund raiser at the museum where 50+ food and alcohol purveyors set up amongst the museum's exhibits with free sampling.   I went last year and it is a lot of fun, and a lot of beer is drunk there too!   My frugal side kids in because the ticket was $55 and it would not be worth near that if I could not drink alcohol at it. So since its not a big challenge and I already have this conflict giving up alcohol is out for this Lent.

I've come up with multiple Lenten promises - they do not fit the traditional giving something up but they do fit a number of my personal objectives so I think it is a good way to bring the spirit in with the rest of my life.

The first lenten promise is to declutter for 15 to 30 minutes most days.  I know, I know.  It doesn't sound like a good Lent item.  But look at it from this way - as I declutter it means I will have items to donate to those in need.  And I'll certainly have more items to donate with this process than I would if I gave up alcohol!  Plus there is always the 'cleanliness is closer to God' justification. I understand most will think this item is more for me than for God, but I do believe there is a cleansing spiritual aspect to letting go of things. I must have a bit of a Buddhist view in me because I see the spirit in items and I do have a hard time letting them go if I'm not convinced they will have a better life than what I can give them.  I think this can be a win-win.  



The second Lent promise is about being good to myself.  Again I understand treating yourself is not the traditional Lenten approach.  But honestly, I've been so hard on myself lately that I need some reminders that I am good enough and worthy of fun and enjoyment.   So with all that said, the second Lent promise is to go out for at least 4 fish fries.   There are 7 Fridays in Lent (Fridays are the traditional Milwaukee Fish Fry day), so I'm enjoying a fish fry about half the time.  There is no restriction on this - I can go out with friends or family, go out by myself, or bring take out home.  I can go for either lunch or dinner.   Any of these options are open - whatever helps me find enjoyment is fine.

A third lenten promise is to consume no more than 2 bags of snack food per week.  Again I know what you are thinking.  For someone that is trying to lose weight and get in shape that is way too much!  But if I'm honest with myself many weeks have more than that; and too often once I start a bag it is gone within 24 hours.   As I've posted before, I don't do well when I completely cut out the junk food.  I was reading another article about building good habits,etc and one of their recommendations was to only cut down by half.  I'm not sure 2 bags a week is half - I don't think I normally get 4 bags a week (yuk!) but I do think this will be a challenge for me (and honestly that is true but sad to say and depresses me to post it publicly).

A fourth lenten promise is attending and/or participating in 6 spiritual events this Lent.   There is such a wide variety of things to be counted - attending Stations of the Cross, Walking the Labyrinth, attending Vespers, going to confession, etc.   I'm starting the count off this week with going to the Jesus Christ Superstar show at St Mathatias church.  My friend Beth is in their production.   I've also already purchased a ticket for the Zion Passion Play - this has been on my list for a number of years ever since I heard about it.  They used to have it every 2 or 3 years but for the last 5 years or so, they have not put on the production.  This year its back and I have a ticket for the Saturday evening before Palm Sunday.  I'm not sure if I'll go alone (that honestly has a lot of appeal) or if I'll invite some friends to get tickets.    Its the day before Wally's anniversary and for a lot of reasons I'd rather be by myself. 


I think this is a good list; it's challenging in a number of ways for me.  It's not traditional, and for some reason that fact is making me happy about this list.  This list affects all areas of my life - and that's a good thing because it helps bring Lent into all areas of my life.   It's day 2 and so far I'm doing well (chuckle, chuckle)!!  I'll try to post an update every Monday on how I did for the prior week.  I'm hopefully that type of accountability will help keep me focused.