Extreme Home Makeover: Project Complete!

Yep, it's done!  And, as promised I've got lots of pictures of the process and the finished product.  Obviously we will still be improving it -- Melissa has some great ideas which she talks about on her blog.  But the furniture is complete.  I've even got pictures of Melissa sitting on it, just in case you are skeptical. 

So, are you ready?  Here we go (click on any of the pictures to see it full sized):

Here's the before shot.  This is where the loveseat is going to be.

Tip for Tipping

Those of you who have been a waiter before (and even those of you who have not) might think that you know where I'm going. You might think that I'm gonna rant and rave about how people these days don't tip enough, but that's not what I want to talk about. This is really more like a case study into the lives and psychology of waiters.

The job of serving food requires that a person deliberately choose to be on the downside of an unequal relationship: The power is all in the customer's hands. In any other setting the waiter and customer are (at least theoretically) equals, but not in this setting. In the restaurant the customer is always right.

Nouveau who?

So it's been a week since I posted last.  I've got some stuff I want to write about, but I've been busy training for my new job at Red Robin (where they expect you to have everything memorized by ingredients and amounts after the first week).  It's hard for me and I've worked at Red Robin before.  Anyhow, I'm off today to a training for my other vocation, which isn't really a vocation yet because I've yet to even land a single day of teacher substituting, much less a job as a teacher.  Oh well, God knows what He's doing.  If He wants me to be a waiter all year then...I can do that.  Not what I had hoped for, but I'm not God after all so I will let Him make the plans.

And so, since it's the weekend, I figured I'd share a video with you all that Melissa's dad sent to us.  Knowing the internet and Facebook connectivity it's possible you've already seen it.  But if so, then you know that it's funny enough to watch again.  Enjoy.  (It's a little too wide for this blog and it won't let me resize the movie, but you can click on the "full screen" option in the upper right part of the video to watch the whole thing.)

Report: Growing Ranks Of Nouveau Poor Facing Discrimination From Old Poor

Phoenix rises, Furniture updates and Musicians from the 80's

...The Dirty Bird rises from the ashes to clutch me in it's claws!

Yep, I've got a job at Red Robin starting next week. I never thought I'd say it but... I'm glad to be working at the dirty bird. Ok, I'm not there yet (I start training on Tuesday). But I've got a job! I will be making money next week rather than just spending it. And I'll have a flexible enough schedule to focus on teaching, building community, and volunteering (all things I'd like to do here in Houston).

And no, I'm not done with the furniture making yet --

Extreme Home Makeover: RPCV Edition

"In a race against time on a project that would ordinarily take months to achieve [never even be taken seriously], a team [duo] of designers, have just [enter some ridiculously short period of time here] to completely renovate an entire house  [find a way to seat more than three people in their home at any given time].  Can they do it?  Find out next on Extreme Home Makeover: RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer) Edition."

When I'm Found in the Desert Place

So if you haven't read Melissa's most recent post on Considering Loss, you should.  Cuz I feel like we both went through the same steps and came to the same conclusion...only she did it half a day ahead of me.

I don't know why or how I sometimes get so focused on money.  I don't do it so much with things, I tend to be pretty good about not really caring about things.  But money on the other hand, money is a control issue for me.  So all I've been thinking about is: if I don't get a job, and if we weren't surrounded by loving family and friends, then, worst case scenario, we could default on our lease agreement.  Therefore, I made a bad decision with my money.  Therefore I wasted all that money.  Therefore I've put us out on the street, with no money and bad credit and no job and...