Well, I just got back from another one of my travels. IMPACT went to NYC this weekend and it was great. I went to the Modern Museum of Art (and got yelled at by a security guard- the first time for- getting to close to the painting- the second time for- accidentily walking past the painting- and the third time for- taking a flash photo of the painting-opps- i didn't mean to do any of those things). I also went to Central Park, a street fair in Greenwich Village, Times Square, and some of the other major sites in NYC.

The city is so exciting, and yet I don't understand how people could live there. It is kinda smelly (in a bad way) and you would never want to drive around there because the traffic is horrible and the people all shout and give each other the finger as often as they feel the need (which is very often). I guess it is the variety of people and the excitement that drives one there.

Bobbie Jo and I went to the biggest church I have ever stepped into on Sunday. It is called the Times Square Church. The building is a transformed Broadway theatre (so it's huge) and the floor seats and the balcony seats were completely full when we got there. So we were directed to the "annex" where there are dozens of rooms (about as big as the union ballroom) with big screen TVs showing the sermon. All of these rooms are full to capacity. It was great! All of those believers all in one place. It was so uplifting to be in a place where there were so many people praising God. You could feel it here. The ppl were so diverse too.

Well, I have to skip off to class... There were other things I wanted to talk about, but no time now.

-boo

I have had some of the weirdest happenings happen to me in the last few weeks. It's all been good times in the end though:

Well, as most of you know, my car broke down a couple weeks ago on the way to Ann Arbor. Luckily my friends are kind enough to help me with my car:





And here is a picture of Tess' hand checking the dampness in the glove box. When I noticed there was no heat in the car, I called my Dad. He had us check a few things like the tension in the heater nobs, for dampness in the glovebox, and finally he had me check the temperature gauge- that is where the problem was. My car was about ready to overheat. Lucky for us that there was no dampness in the glovebox though. Thanks, Tess, for risking the dryness of your hand for the potential dampness of my glove box:



The car blew a head gasket and such things cost way too much to replace, so I financed a newer used car. Some red car that looks pretty cool.

Shifting gears: I just got back from sunny Las Vegas, NV. I went there for my spring break and stayed with Dr. Browne and Dr. Kubasek. Garrett came along as well. The drs. have the biggest yard with the most plants. I spent much of my break weeding around cacti (oww), digging holes for plants, building a mini mountain, and spreading gravel in the yard. Here's a picture of some of the work we did. We really didn't do a whole lot of what is in the picture- they love doing yard work. It's okay, but I would never have a yard this big. The picture shows about a fourth of the yard. You can see a bit of the mural Tess and I painted when we were both out there. It is on the wall on the right side of the photo, behind some plants:



I had a great time in Vegas. I even gambled a little. Dr. Browne taught me to play video poker and about the odds a bit. I won some sweet moola playing with them.

I saw a Cirque De Soleil show while I was there. If you don't know what a Cirque show is (I didn't before I went to one), it is a troupe of body contortionists/dancers/I don't know what. The shows are wholly elaborate with crazy, beautiful costumes, intense music, and a plot that usually doesn't make much sense. The shows are hard to describe, but they are one of the awesomest pieces of eye candy I've ever witnessed.

I also went to Death Valley. It is a beautiful time of year to go there, I guess. It was sunny and warm, and there were flowers everywhere:



My other crazy story happened at Death Valley. Garrett and I stopped at the lowest, hottest point (92 degrees while we were there, 120 in the summer) on the western hemisphere. It is several feet below sea level and is called, "Badwater."



The white stuff is salt left behind by old sea water.

Well, after we were done there, Garrett had to go to the bathroom and so I asked him for the keys to our rental car so I could start the air conditioning. I unlocked the drivers side door and started the car and turned on the air. I then walked around to get into my side and realized the door was locked. So I walked back around to the drivers' side and realized it was locked too.

I have never locked the keys in my car before and I decide to try in in the middle of the desert at the lowest, most hottest point on the western hemisphere. Garrett was a little perturbed and proceeded to hunt down a coat hanger. He bent it and then he and another guy wedged it between the glass and the rubbery stuff on the car window. They finallly hit one of the window buttons and we got in. It was a crazy thing to happen and I wondered for a moment if I was going to survive the desert. We did.

Here's a picture of me very happy to be at sea level again:



Oh, and one more thing: I thought this infographic on the Onion was hillarious:



So I had a great spring break... how was yours?

-boo

Scrabble Come-On Only Worth Four Points
(onion.com)