Small World at the Cracker Barrel

In celebration of having the day off, Dixie and I went out to breakfast this morning. This is notable in that I am not a fan of getting up early. However, I am a fan of food, so it worked out.

When I walked up to the hostess to put my name in, I was totally thrown for a loop when I saw my last name already written down on the list. Sure enough, she called out, "Enzor, party of 2" while I stood there. [Insert creepy music.]

PS - I watched the other Enzors come up and had no idea who they were. If I was more on my game and less dumbfounded, I would've said hi.

PPS - Breakfast was okay, but the real highlight for me was getting down to just 2 pegs on the little peg game they have on the table. According to the scoring system, I am "purty smart." It's better than my normal score of "eg-no-ra-mus."

Archeology and Cosmetology

This past week, I went to two fun events: a lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls and a Mary Kay party. Did you ever think you would see those two items in the same sentence? I know - it's exciting! So what do these two things have in common? Aside from the obvious connection (me), I found two little nuggets of wisdom reiterated at them.

My friend Jessica hosted a Mary Kay party on Tuesday. During the shindig, we tried out different types of makeup and skin care products. At the end of the evening, the Mary Kay consultant had us do a little "compliment circle." Okay, that's not the exact term, but it works. We focused on each person one at a time and said what we thought looked good on her. Of course, the goal is that we'll love hearing everyone compliment the blush/mascara/foundation and will buy stuff ;) But it reminded me of the importance of giving people compliments. I often think to myself, "She has such great taste," or "He is always so nice and says hello," but I don't always say it. It's nice to hear good things, so I'm going to try and do that a little more frequently.

Later I went to a lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls at the North Carolina Museum of Science. The museum is currently exhibiting some of the scrolls and is featuring a lecture series on related topics. Wednesday's topic was "Israel at the Time of the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Historical Background of the Scrolls." I was lucky to make it in; the lecture was so popular that they created an extra session of it. Aside: I love going to little lectures like this. It's fascinating to hear people talk deeply about their niche knowledge, and I enjoy gleaning knowledge about different fields. I'm feeling the need to put in a longer plug about the importance of liberal arts education here, but I will refrain :)

Anyhoo - one of the points Dr. Schiffman made was that when reading the scrolls, we should keep in mind that we only have a small knowledge of things. There's a wider context that the scrolls may not address. So rather than read a scroll and treat it as if it tells us everything, we need to remember that it may be leaving out assumed common knowledge, be biased, be incomplete, etc. It's a good point that can be extended beyond historical interpretation and literary criticism. Sometimes we don't have the full story.

Filling the Void

The Olympics are over, and now my life is empty.

Okay, that's not entirely true, but in the area of television watching, it is indeed much smaller. I'm used to watching the Olympics every night or at least having the option of watching them. It feels weird to not mock Bob Costas, watch emotional athlete spotlights, check in on the latest Mary Carillo travelogue, and immerse myself in sports about which I know nothing (but with which I will soon become a self-appointed authority and comment about the size of splashes in diving, the necessity of bowing in gymnastics, and rules about synchronized swimming).

For those looking to relive the fun, check out this article for highlights, this gallery for pics, and this piece if you need a Phelps fix.

I noticed that MSN had an article yesterday talking about how the coverage of the Beijing Olympics has transformed viewing events and getting info from the web. They then tried a plug for their upcoming coverage of the Democratic National Convention and encouraged people to stay tuned to it as well.

It was an odd little segue. Is Bob Costas going to be a presenter? Is Mary Carillo going to do spotlights on Denver? Will Barack be getting 8 gold medals? That's what I thought. But don't worry, MSN - I'll catch the highlights.

The Grocery Store

One of my least favorite activities is going to the grocery store. As a result, I go as infrequently as possible. However, as one might guess, this eventually becomes a problem. So after a Sunday of staring blankly in the pantry and moaning, "There's nothing to eat," my roomie and I journeyed to the nearby Harris Teeter after FHE last night.

In an effort to love grocery stores more, here's list of things I've discovered I like at these locales.

1. Samples. Last night I was a sample junkie. I decided to ignore any sanitary concerns I have about the food sitting out with little hands roaming over them and try some samples. As a result, I am the proud new owner of a cantaloupe and some strawberries. I like both of these already, but I probably wouldn't have bought them without a little prodding. Memo to Harris Teeter: samples work.
2. Pushing the cart. Okay, this joy only lasts about 5 minutes, then I wander away and poor Dixie has to push it. But for that 5 minutes, I enjoy it. My favorite thing to do is to walk up to whomever I'm shopping with and put my hands on the bar of the cart and try to push with them. People don't like that. Which makes me find it hysterical. Dixie's exact words last night: "However did you come into my life?"
   
3. Dancing. Something about the combination of soft rock and fluorescent lighting just gets me groovin'. My favorite grocery-story routine is the Electric Slide, but I also like good old-fashioned spinning. Best aisle to dance in: frozen foods. Best lighting, wide spaces.
   
4. Buying toiletries. Okay, I'll admit this is a weird one. But I love not running out of hand soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. When I'm in the shower and realize I'm out of body wash, I want to be able to walk (or do that dripping-wet dance) to the closet and have another container right there ready to go. It makes me feel prepared. One would think I would have this same desire to have food on hand, but evidently that is not the case.

See? Only 4 things to like about the grocery store. Lame.

Four for Four

I'm pleased that I have been sensible thus far in my Olympics intake. I've watched some of the games everyday (hence the four for four), but I haven't burned myself out on them yet. Hooray for moderation!

Well, "moderation" may not be the best word to describe last night. I stayed up late because I evidently had to watch the men's swimming 4x100m relay (a self-imposed obligation). But let me tell you - it was worth it! If you haven't seen it, check it out here!

A Little More Will

I'll just make it a Shakespeare day. After all, can you have too many of those? Well, I guess too much of any one thing could become tiresome, and I certainly don't want to burn anyone out on the bard. But I doubt two back-to-back posts are going to do that ;)

I found this piece via my favorite blog the other day and thought it was great. It's called, "Hamlet: Facebook News Feed Edition." If you love Facebook, Hamlet, or both, it's an item to enjoy.

What's in a name?

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, retain that dear perfection which he owes. Romeo, doff thy name, and for they name, which is no part of thee, take all myself. –Courtney's recollection of memorizing Juliet's speech in 6th grade. Actual text here ;)

I was going to be a Lily. Today I was chatting with my friend Randy who has a daughter named Lily, and I mentioned this little tidbit. He asked why, so I gave him the scoop:

The previous 4 generations of women in my mom's family alternate between the names "Lillian Frances" and "Virginia." My mom's a Virginia, so I was in line to be a Lillian Frances. However, my mom decided to spice things up and name me "Courtney" after the 5th generation back: my great-great-grandmother, Ella Courtney Grandy. Ta-da!

While Juliet espouses that a name doesn't have to matter, I have found that my name does matter. I love learning about my namesake. My name has meaning, and I'm part of something larger than myself. Ella Courtney was a strong, fascinating woman and I hope to do her justice :)