Hymn

Rejoice, the Lord is King!
Your Lord and King adore;
Rejoice, give thanks and sing,
and triumph evermore;
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

Jesus, the Savior, reigns,
the God of truth and love;
When He had purged our stains
He took His seat above;
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

His kingdom cannot fail,
He rules over earth and heav'n,
The keys of death and hell are to
our Jesus given;
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

He sits at God's right hand
till all His foes submit,
And bow to His command, and fall
beneath His feet:
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

Rejoice in glorious hope!
Our Lord, the Judge shall come,
And take His servants up
to their eternal home.
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

Charles Wesley, 1744

Well - lucky me - I didn't have to choose. I was subjected to both situations at once - inane pseudo-intellectual conversation between two people
who punctuate their sophomoric babbling with inappropriate displays of affection...

Wooja Radder?

Maddy liked to play the game "Would You Rather...." (affectionately known as "Wooja Radder?") with us when we were in Idaho this summer.

Here is a real life "Wooja Radder?" from school today.

While attempting to study, and forced to sit next to a
couple of college freshman -- would you rather:

1) that they are having what they think is a deep
discussion about, like, philosophy, and stuff, where,
like, they are totally thinking about stuff like
whether reality, like, totally, is like *real*, or if it
is just, like, your mind thinking stuff but it really,
like, is just your *MIND* and NOT real... whoa.

OR

2) that they are an ultra cutesy couple
who are talking to each other about how
one thinks the other is really cute, etc. etc.
interspersed with ridiculous displays of affection
that are completely unjustified by the context (e.g.,
I just got back from the bathroom, let's hug, or, I
finished reading this sentence, let's make out)...

We just broke the law

There is a bad drought going on throughout the Southeast. When we were staying with friends who had cable we heard about it on the news a few times and learned that it was illegal to water your lawn more than every other day. Before we moved into our house we did hear that Raleigh was enforcing drastic water restrictions but we still thought it was legal to water every other day in Durham.

We forgot to water all weekend - or maybe we didn't really forget - we just neglected to because it's a muddy inconvenience to water an oddly shaped back yard and "2" front yards with nothing but a hose. (Californians with sprinkler systems have no idea.....)

So when we got home from work tonight Sameer immediately started watering the lawn. I opened the mail and got an advertisement from a lawn care company and called them about aeration of our yard. The salesman asked if we had been watering our yard and I proudly said, "Oh yes, we're watering right now." Pause...Awkward silence.... "Well, I certainly don't want to encourage you to break the law. You really shouldn't be watering today," he said.

We looked it up and sure enough, Durham is on strict water restrictions. We may only water on Wednesdays and Saturdays between 5 and 9. Oops. We also read that all citizens are to report neighbors who are breaking the law by watering. So now we're in trouble. And so is our grass. But at least we don't have to feel guilty when our grass dies. We didn't like watering every other day anyway.

How is one to find out about these new laws when one does not have television? Is it a crime to not waste time in front of the tv?

New Home

Well after quite a tiring summer we closed on our home and moved in the same day - August 31st. It has been a relief to settle down and we are loving our place. It is much bigger and nicer than our last 3 apartments and sometimes we have a hard time believing that we actually get to stay here. I guess it feels like we're house sitting or renting or something. It's just plain luxurious after having lived in grad student housing last year. We really really loved our New Haven apartment but while we thought it was very charming and cozy, it was a bit grimy and it lacked the modern conveniences of a garbage disposal, dishwasher, laundry room etc.

We just got internet access here the other day so I wanted to post some pictures of our place. These are pre-furniture pictures taken the week before we moved in. I took the outside pictures today - as you will see, our backyard grass is not coming in at all like it is in the front yard.