what do you like best about your wife........

As in my mom's fashion we celebrated a combination of Billy and Lizzie's Birthday as well as my grandma and grandpa martin's 60th anniversary. During the anniversary portion of the party there was a little entertainment called the oldlywed game, Jaimie was the host. The contestants were grandma and grandpa HeHe, Granma and pa Martin, and John and Grace......(I was very worried that Grace might die of embarrassment...especially on questions like How would you describe your wedding night....but she held up pretty well and actually really got into the game...Billy saw her cheating at one point whispering her response to John) Some of the highlights were....
Q. What do you like best about your husband?GrandmaH's response-He's good to me
Q. What do you like best about your wife?Grandpa H's- She's even-tempered...she stays mad all the time! (It was most fun to watch grandpa when a question was asked, you could actually see the wheels turning to think of a witty response....like a steel trap!
Q. If your husband were a car would he be a luxury, economy, or muscle?Granma H-Can I say
luxury and muscle?!
Q. How would you desribe your first kiss, simple and sweet, can you say St. Bernard, Like Ft. Knox? Granma H-dies laughing and says what if you can't remember...but finally says simple and sweet where as what do yo think grandpa said....can you say St. Bernard!
Other highlighs were when asked which were the better cook, grandma said giggling yet with confidence NOT SQUIRE!
Grace clapped every time John got a right ansewer
My Grandma and Grandpa Martin both desribe their wedding night as Shazam!
And if granma H were a horse grandpa says she'd be a mustang!
Danara and her roommate Maritza came home for all the fun so as you can imagine with them and Billy an I... there were alot of catcalls and whistling going on during the game.

Bird Massacre

Crazy news from Egypt:

One of Hamdy's friends from Egypt called him today and told him that the Egyptian government is basically slaughtering all the birds in the country because they have had some cases of the bird flu. Whole farms of turkeys and chickens have been wiped out (along with the farmers' only source of income) as well as birds in pet stores. One of Hamdy's friends lost a lot of money because the government killed more than 20 of his speciality parrots in the shop. From what Hamdy told me, you can't even buy fresh chicken right now in Egypt--you have to buy it frozen (welcome to American eating!) Is that craziness or what? Actually I founds some articles about it on BBC and Aljazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/49B837EB-726A-4B0B-BE68-3D05A4BF2D7E.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4733532.stm

Roll Call

O.k. so I have some official buisness from Aunt Diana (aka Mom) I have been told to address the issue of next Thanksgiving's N.Y.C. extravaganza. As of now Mom, Grandma, Billy, me,Danae, and Danara are in. Aunt D is wanting to make hotel reservations for any and all who want to be involved. So first I need to know from Queen Sarapatra if we are still able to use Hamdy's discount for the hotel... and how that would work. Secondly we need a head count for who wants in. It will indeed be a good time, so I suggest all be involved....also if possible mention it to all members of the Hillman blood line in Michigan. My guess is Uncle Pike is gonna wanna be in, because I know how he likes to research in NYC(not the mulungeon roots but the Jewish) Danara will be back in a few days from Egypt...yes that's right, she decided to go back to Cairo while she's on that side of that world again....you'll have to ask her why....but let's just say she could be following in the footsteps of a certain Mulungeon/Russian Jewish cousincoota of ours....if you know what I'm sayin. Anyone coming this way for easter??

Decisions, decisions...

So I don't really have anything interesting to say, but I was just tired of seeing that picture of Magnum P.I. everytime I opened the blog. :-) I spent the last two days in Ann Arbor for a recruitment weekend at the University of Michigan. Can you believe it is the first time I have ever been to Ann Arbor even though I grew up in Michigan? Wow--what a cool ethnic, cosmopolitan town! I feel like I discovered a side of Michigan that I never knew existed. They actually show foreign films and eat vegetarian Indian food! ha!
So I was there with four other recruits--they were from Harvard, University of Chicago, Berkely, and Andrews College in Michigan (a small seventh day adventist college) Whew! Thank goodness for the latter guy. :-) Just kidding--I held my own with the ivy league crowd. They were impressed of course when I bragged about my melungeon heritage...

I left feeling pretty confident that I'll get accepted--especially since the professor who is in my field of interest (Arabic language acquistion, applied linguistics) really seemed excited to work with me. He was a short, bald, jolly Palestinian guy who turned our 30 minute interview into two hours! but, i also just got word that i was accepted into the PhD program at Michigan State, so I'm really undecided at this point. Obviously U of M is more prestigious, but I'm not sure about the whole moving or commuting thing at this point, and also the PhD at Mich State would take 3 yrs, whereas at U of M, it would take 5 because I would end up doing a second masters. I really don't want to be an eternal student like another member of our family....

Sick Day

I don't remember the last time I got to take a sick day. Of course, sick day in grad school is not quite as fun as the sick days of old. However, it does mean that you get to do homework in your pajamas with bad 80's television in the background.

One piece of Magnum P.I. trivia, then it's off to write more internship cover letters. Thinking that the show was going to be cancelled in 1987, the producers created a dramatic finale in which Magnum was killed and went to heaven. However, the series went on to do one more season. And so the first show of the last season explained that he had not actually died but instead had only dreamed of going to heaven while in a post-gunshot haze.

Have fun at work, suckers.

Born in Brothels

At Danielle's suggestion, I went out and rented the "Born in Brothels" documentary last night. I had been wanting to see it anyway. Wow--how tragic and inspiring at the same time. I couldn't believe how bright and talented those children were--especially Avjrit (sp?). Did you see his drawings? Amazing. Speaking of adopting Egyptian babies, that movie kind of made me want to adopt an Indian baby! I think Angelina Jolie is next in line though...sigh...

My travelin pardner

Well Danara is on her way to Dubai...first she goes to london for 4 days and then back to the middle east....I wish I was with her , and I was very,very,very close to being with her but alas I am not!! Instead I have been at church for the last 8 hours working on some stinkin banners for the auditorium. I must know one thing from Sarapatra...Are you and Hamdy gonna go see that new disney movie about the pack of 8 huskies/wolves/some sort of dog like that, I think that you should take Aslan and Messiah. And speaking of movies have any of you seen the documentary Born into Brothels? If you haven't you must! I'm out yo!

Waste your time with Mickey Ds!

Wowza, this is the most in-depth flash game i have ever seen. You get to take over McDonalds, run its farming and ranching, run the feed lots, burger lines - even the PR and Marketing agency!

My favorite options were being able to corrupt a politician or dietician to promote your product. Yay for Capitalism!

Reflections on the "Hillman Curse"

Last night I got to thinking about the curse. It's interesting that the Curse of the Bambino was so much in the news two years ago (perhaps, rightly so as the Red Sox may have reversed it), but I have never read anything about the Hillman Curse in the papers. There was also the Curse of the Black Pearl, which was featured in the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean.

I did read something today about the Jefferson Curse. Apparently Thomas Jefferson was several days late to the First Continental Congress due to "stomach problems." That must have been some serious digestive issue to miss two days worth of discussion on the future of the American colonies. I did miss about half of my Business Statistics final during my freshman year due to the Hillman curse, but that just fails to compare.

Anyways, you might want to check out the following:

Click here, and you will be taken to a superior site that provides you with random curses in Shakesperian language.

Click here, and you will be taken to a grand and highly recommended site. It provides citizens with a medical history of every president. Be sure to note that Andrew Jackson had a bad slobbering problem and William Taft was once laid up for several days because a bug flew in his eye.

Spotted in Bloomington

More Church Vernacular

More information on how to decode a pentacostal church service from one of the blogs i read when i pretend to work.

I'm sure if i should laugh or cry.

Cyborgs take Bloomington

I'm sitting in a cafe and the guy next to me is reading "Robot Building for Dummies".

Fantastic.

Gangs of Middleville?

Barry County Sheriff's deputy Julie Jones said she discovered "gang tagging" Monday on a dumpster in Middleville. Tagging is graffiti of letters and symbols painted by gang members marking their territory. Anyone who sees this kind of "tagging" should take a picture of it, notify the police, and then paint over it. Help the department "nip it in the bud."

In an unrelated story (or is it unrelated?): water system improvements are coming to Middleville this year.

The Sun and News
No. 5 January 31, 2006

First in Middleville/Caledonia quasi-news

How to make a million on Ebay--or at least a hundred!

okay, so here's the inside scoop on making money on Ebay. PET PRODUCTS...yes, Americans will pay unbelievable amounts for their little "fluffy" or "Cookie" or "Messiah"....

Product: Petsafe Sportdog Sporthunter remote training system (otherwise known as a shock collar)
Starting Bid: $49.99
Selling Price: $109.00
Amount we paid for it: $0.00--(came free with Aslan.)

We also recently purchased the same product for $10.00 at Goodwill--hoping to make another $100.00

So..e-drinks are on us!

Five creative ideas for your old WWJD Bracelets

1. They make great collars for small dogs and cats-even your ferret can get its Jesus-love on.

2.Turn your lust-a-lot Barbie into a bona fide beleiver with a WWJD "bracelet" headband or belt.

3.At the next wedding you attend, forget about throwing the rice and birdseed or blowing bubbles-toss your WWJD bracelet at the newly christened husband and wife.

4. Hang your old bracelet on any doorknob. It's a great conversation piece.

5. If you have more than six old bracelets, put them all on your next bottle of Coca Cola-they'll keep your hand from getting wet!

Yes...more from the book