Being Blunt–The British Language Edition

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Coco

Although I was seriously confused by some of the “features” of my hotel room, for the most part I’ve been struck by how straight-forward things are here in London, and find some British language usage to be humorously blunt.

At breakfast, the waitress will ask you if you want “white” or “brown” toast. One morning I ordered “wheat” toast and she confirmed that I wanted “brown.”

At the train station and other large public places, the exit is marked with “way out” signs. Somehow that seems more direct!

Some restrooms have cutesy signange that can be difficult to decipher, but these public restrooms took a more clinical approach.

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It’s fun to visit a city where they technically speak the same language, but I can notice many subtle differences!

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Three Things Thursday (The Confounded Edition)

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Coco

I am on a business trip, staying at a lovely boutique hotel in London. I’m used to things being different when I travel, but three things about my hotel room really confounded me.

When I saw how small the lift was, I told the bellhop that I could take my bags up myself. Maybe if I’d let him escort me he would have shown me how to turn the lights on! I flipped every switch in my room before I gave up and found a housekeeper to help me.


I could blame my jet lag, but I don’t think that I ever would have figured out that you have to put your room key card into this device by the master switch before any lights or electrical outlets will work!

Being a fan of strong coffee, I was happy to see this Nespresso machine in the mini-bar area.

Although there was a card with step-by-step directions, the card did not show where the water reservoir is. After pouring water into the wrong place two times, I finally found it. (Thank goodness for a generous supply of towels!)

I didn’t think twice when the waiter brought me a book of matches with my dinner bill. After all, this is Europe where people still smoke, right?


Luckily I took advantage of the slow lift ride back up to my room to take a closer look.

I noticed that the front of the “matchbook” says “Herbal Seedsticks”–each “matchstick” has a seed embedded in it. The directions say to poke the seedsticks into a container filled with “compost” and water generously with a fine spray.

Have you ever been confounded by your hotel accommodations?

Would you have figured out the light switch?

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Wordless Wednesday (The London Edition)

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Coco

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Carved In Stone

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Coco

You know the sentiment–you can change your mind or revise your plans because “it’s not carved in stone.” But recently we learned that even being carved in stone doesn’t make something unchangeable.

In early 2011, a memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was finalized and dedicated in Washington, D.C. There has been some controversy over the words carved into the base of the statue of Dr. King. The words paraphrase a quote, and some think the paraphrasing changes the meaning and makes Dr. King look “arrogant.”

(source)

On the eve of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Secretary of the Department of the Interior ordered the National Park Service to come up with a plan to fix the inscription. Even words that literally are carved in stone can be changed.

A recent story in the New York Times might make some people think that their weight problems are carved in stone. In “The Fat Trap” (New York Times, December 28, 2011), author Tara Parker-Pope reports on the problem that even “motivated” people have maintaining any significant weight loss. The article discusses a recent study that has been interpreted as providing scientific evidence that “once we become fat, most of us, despite our best efforts, will probably stay fat.”

There very well may be physiological reactions to weight loss. Hormonal responses may slow our metabolism and/or increase our appetite in a misguided fight for survival. But that doesn’t carve that number on the scale into stone, and I hope that “The Fat Trap” and other articles like it don’t make people give up on losing weight and adopting healthier lifestyles.

I was overweight for as long as I can remember. I lost weight briefly during college and several times after that, but not by making healthy food choices or committing to an exercise program, so the weight always came back on quickly.  It wasn’t until I had graduated from law school even heavier than I’d started that I finally got serious about taking care of myself.

My experience agrees with “The Fat Trap” in one respect–losing 40+ pounds was much easier than figuring out how to keep it off. But I stuck with it, learned to make permanent changes to my diet, worked to make exercise part of my daily routine, and adopted healthier coping mechanisms than stress eating. Now, more than 10 years after reaching my “goal” weight, I am happily, healthily still fitting into my skinny jeans.

Being overweight for 30-plus years didn’t carve my weight issues into stone. While it took hard work, trial and error, and dusting myself off after numerous stumbles, I was able to sand blast them away.

Posted in Fitness, Food, Life, Venting | Tagged | 4 Comments

Wonderfully Made

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Coco

Our Psalm last week was Psalm 139. It’s one I’ve read/heard/recited many times but, as happens so often with the Bible, different words jumped out at me this time.

Here is the full Psalm:

 1 O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
   you know it completely, O Lord.
 5 You hem me in—behind and before;
   you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain.
 7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.
 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
   and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
   the night will shine like the day,
   for darkness is as light to you.
 13 For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place.
   When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
 16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
   All the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.
 17 How precious to[b] me are your thoughts, O God!
   How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
   they would outnumber the grains of sand.
  When I awake, I am still with you.
 19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
   Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
   your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
   and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.

I usually focus on these verses:

 1 O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
   you know it completely, O Lord.

Or, if I am feeling lost or alone, these verses comfort me: 

7  Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths,you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.

But last week, it was these words that jumped out at me: 

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

It made me wonder if I ever have given thanks to God for making me who I am.

We spend so much time criticizing ourselves that we forget that we are part of God’s creation. In His eyes, we are perfectly made–human flaws and all.

Have you thanked God for your lovely voice, your contagious laughter, your warm heart, your strong shoulders, your muscular legs, your intellect, your compassion, your sense of humor, your way with words, your artistic talent?

Have you given thanks to God because you are wonderfully made?

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