Peru

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Posted by James | Posted in | Posted on 5:13 PM

Hey everybody,

I'm finally done working in the garden and it feels great. Now, I'm getting ready to go on a trip to Peru for about a week with my Dad, my uncle and my uncle's friend. By getting ready, I mean I'm just beginning to realiz how much stuff I will be packing and buying at the last minute. I have gotten about hundred e-mails from everyone going on the trip discussing what we will be doing while were down there. Here is the proposed itinerary:

  • Arrive in Lima near midnight. Take first bus to Nazca.
  • Spend night of August 3 in Nazca. While there, take plane ride to see Nazca lines.
  • Leave Nazca on August 4 for Cuzco. Check out Cuzco and get better acclimated to altitude.
  • Spend nights of August 4 and 5th in Cuzco.
  • Leave Cuzco on August 6 for Machu Picchu.Spend night of August 6 at Machu Picchu.
  • Leave Machu Picchu for Cuzco on August 7. Spend night of August 7th in Cuzco.
  • Leave Cuzco on August 8th for Lima. Spend nights of August 8th and 9th in Lima.
  • Leave Lima on August 10th for Fla.
  • Arrive Nashville on August 11th.

It should be "very cultural" I'm really looking forward is seeing southern hemisphere stars for the first time. I think I'll be at a higher elevation than I've ever been, so the skies should be extra clear too. Maybe some of the aliens that built the Machu Picchu will come back for a visit while I'm there. I don't really know many of the other details of the trip, but it promises to be a very strange adventure judging by the e-mails. My uncle claims to be having strange dreams about "A BRIGHTLY RED-COMPLEXIONED INCA IN A HEADDRESS AND ARMOR" that sprinkles him with some kind of special water and transforms him into a young Incan god-king. Sounds like fun :)

Hopefully I'll have lots of pictures to share with you when I get back. I miss you all, and I hope your summers are going well.


Even Lord Vader has a Soft Spot for Harry Potter

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Posted by Allison | Posted in | Posted on 9:26 PM

Ok all, so we went to go see Harry Potter the other night and it was a blast. I think it was my favorite movie so far just because of how many corny love scenes. Although that is why most people didn't like it.... oh well. As promised here are the pictures from that fateful night. Actually we all got interviewed by a news reporter there. He asked us really dumb questions like: do you think this is the last movie? Will there ever be a bad one? How long did you wait? (considering everyone there got their tickets online) It was entertaining to say the least!

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This first picture is of Bermuda and Roger helping James try on his costume. It was made for ages 5-7 if you couldn't tell.

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This second one is of Roger and James. I made Rogers cape and James cut up his costume so it didn't look like he was in spandex

 

The last one is of all three of us ready to go!

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Here is us on national TV and after the segment the newscasters commented on James and Roger ROFL Oh man that was Rogers quote too!

http://video.whnt.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=3956087&at1=News&h1="Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" Premieres

I miss you guys!

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Posted by mem | Posted in | Posted on 6:20 PM


Sorry I've been slacking, it's not like I'm ultra busy or anything, just out of my internet routine.  I've officially moved into the lake house!  I like feeling like a grown up again, but it's a good half hour from the side of town that my family and everyone else I know lives on, so I feel pretty isolated.  And I REALLY despise driving right now; walking is one of the things I miss most about Cookeville.  Other than that not too much to report.  My roommate, (Elle) and I have opposite workout interests, as in she's really extreme.  Today we went to kettlebell class in the morning, spin class this evening, and we're going to run a mountain at 5:45 tomorrow morning.  One week of this madness is probably going to be all I can take, then I'm back to yoga, walking, and occasional runs.  Can't wait.  
 Only 16 weeks until Roger and Allison get married!!

Oh, and the two-headed pineapple doesn't have any significance, I just wanted to spice up our blog a little.  I really did see that though, 2 years ago, in Uganda, and I ate it.  : )

The Half Blood Prince

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Posted by Roger | Posted in | Posted on 10:43 PM

Tomorrow night Allison, James, Matt, Lucy and I are going to go see the Half Blood Prince! It's gonna be freaking awesome! We are totally dressing up, still not really sure as what.... stay tuned for more details!

Racquetball

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Posted by Allison | Posted in | Posted on 8:41 PM

So I joined a summer racquetball league that started last Thursday. I was a little nervous that it was going to be all old geezers that would kick my butt. There are only like 10 people in the league and they are mostly middle aged men with knee and back problems but there is one old woman that seems really hard core and one of the guys sons is a member, they are all really good though. So I played 2 games with this one guy (after months of not playing) and I lost, not surprising but I scored 2 points on him and then 5 the second game. I got a couple good shots in so I was happy. Then I played against a different guy and I scored 8 but still lost. Anyhow, I thought I did really well but as I was leaving they said I should take some lessons..... Oh well, at least I had fun! It meets every Thursday and I just hope I am recovered enough by then to do better. Oh and I totally experienced what Mary Ellen told us about with the guys that have like 30 gloves attached to their gear, is that really necessary? I thought she was just kidding when she said people did that!

In other news, I am finishing up my classes online, I am working on 2 dresses for my culminating project and I have 2 other classes that end a week after graduation... lame! But I am graduating in less than a month! Woohoo! I am super psyched. 

So now for the bad news, most of you guys met my beloved kitty Fonzie, some of you even had the pleasure of sleeping with him or sharing your water with him. Well a couple of weeks ago his kidneys started to fail so we took him to the vet and gave him tons of fluids, but to no avail. We had to put him to sleep because he was suffering and really had no hope of recovery. He was a cool cat and will be missed. 

So our blog is sort of lagging, no one except Jami seems to have anything decent to say, so we should get on that! Hope everyone is doing well, when does grad school start for everyone? Update!

Knowing

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Posted by Jami Couch | Posted in | Posted on 9:01 PM

Have any of you guys seen the movie Knowing with Nicholas Cage? It's pretty wild, you should see it...I'm not going to ruin the movie, it's really out there and borrows some biblical imagery and such. But yeah...go to red box and rent it. Then we can talk about it. It'll be awesome.

Fireworks

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Posted by James | Posted in | Posted on 6:27 AM

I'm finally back from Arkansas/Memphis. I found some pictures from a couple of our shows. It rained like crazy during our show on the fourth; that was a lot of fun. Overall, it was fun, but I don't know if I want to do it again or not. Maybe they will let me just shoot Titans games. How was everyone's Fourth?

http://www.thesuntimes.com/news/x737356289/The-2009-Fireworks-Extravaganza-went-on-as-scheduled-despite-a-downpour-of-rain?popular=true

http://www.bellevue.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=71319

Vanderbilt

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Posted by Jami Couch | Posted in | Posted on 12:24 PM

Guess what? I heard from Vanderbilt today...I got in! Woohoo!

Decisionmaking

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Posted by Jami Couch | Posted in | Posted on 1:44 PM

So, back during our Cinco de Mayo festivities, I think I explained my philosophy of decision-making. Or, how it is that I think people arrive at their decisions. Briefly, I think that when faced with a choice, people unconsciously decide what to do immediately, and the conscious decision process is simply rationalizing it. Today, while reading Children of the Mind, one of the Ender books by Orson Scott Card, I figured out where I came up with that.
"Nobody's rational. We all act because we're sure of what we want, and we believe that the actions we perform will get us what we want, but we never know anything for sure, and so all our rationales are invented to justify what we were going to do anyway before we thought of any reasons."
I think that's more or less my jumping off point. Of course, you have to read in there that unconsciously we're sure of what we want. I'm sure all of us have had the "pleasure" of being consciously uncertain of what exactly that is-I know I have. And, believe it or not, this is actually a fairly foundational presupposition that I use to evaluate other people's actions and provide a framework for issues like free will vs. predestination, nature vs. nurture, etc. So, what do you think? Are the real decisions made unconsciously or is the conscious decision-making process more significant than simply rationalizing what we were going to do anyway?


Secession Week

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Posted by Jami Couch | Posted in | Posted on 10:24 AM

So, in light of the upcoming Independence Day, it might be nice to reflect on the two secessionist crises in American history and the very different results of the two (that would be the "Revolutionary War" and the "Civil War"). Actually, Let A Thousand Nations Bloom is running a secession week talking about secession in general. It's pretty interesting stuff...you should check it out.

Also, just out of curiosity, what are you guys' views on secession? Is it a justifiable course of action under any circumstances?

Nothing is going on! At least nothing terrible exciting. I haven't been climbing this week or anything! LAME Where is everyone?
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