I Pledge Allegiance...A history

Every few years it seems there's some sort of who-haw about the American Pledge of Allegiance.
Well being a history buff I had to find out more about this Pledge that most American kids know by the time they are 6.
Did you know the original Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892?
It was written by Francis Bellamy who "viewed his Pledge as an 'inoculation' that would protect immigrants and native-born but insufficiently patriotic Americans from the 'virus' of radicalism and subversion." (Beato, Greg (2010-12-16) Face the Flag, Reason) Bellamy was a Baptist minister.
Originally the Pledge read:
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Bellamy wanted to add "equality and fraternity" to the pledge but didn't because of the negative ideas of equality for women and blacks during the late 1800's.
A salute also accompanied the Pledge. This salute was called the Bellamy salute. An outstretched arm towards the flag, palm down but ended with palm up. FDR changed the Pledge salute to today's right hand over the heart in 1942 because it was too similar to the Nazi salute of World War II.
The Pledge has been modified by Congress four times! And wasn't even recognized as the Official pledge until June of 1942.
In 1922 "and to the Republic" was changed.
1923 brought  "my Flag" changed to "the Flag of the United States".
1924 added "the Flag of the United States of America"
Between 1940 and 1943 the Supreme Court ruled that students were NOT required to say the Pledge, but were to be encouraged. This came from Jehovah's Witnesses claiming such a pledge was idolatry. 
Starting in 1948 various religious groups began adding "under God" into the Pledge at private events. The Knights of Columbus lead the change. It became officially part of the Pledge in 1952. 
Some groups have begun to use "under Law" instead of "under God" but it is not officially recognized.
So there's a short history of our Pledge of Allegiance!
If people want to stop with the "under God" argument I think we should return to the Original unsullied version of the Pledge. The rest of the fluff changes is merely that, fluff.

Quilting

After a year of work... that really was only logged at about 6 hours, this is the end result for Arizona's quilt.
I adore it! I love the way it turned out! I had to modify the original design but I think it turned out well!
Okay, I'll admit, its not completely finished. I still need to quilt it, and finish it. But the hard part is done! Well kinda... but still! It's progress!!!

Internet failure

My internet has been down for the past few days for unknown reasons. My cable was fuzzy too. Strange things be occuring in Pullman!

Well anyways I haven't been able to keep up on my food diary so here's todays:

Breakfast-

• one egg
• kiwi
• milk

Lunch-

• fiber one bar
• milk

Snack-

• snickers bar

Dinner-

• chicken breast- skinless
• pasta with red sauce
• chocolate dunkers (1 1/2 from pizza hut)
• milk

I cheated with the snickers bar... I try to let myself have one sweet thing in moderation a day. it keeps me from going crazy! Unfortunately I let myself get away with 2 sweet bits! Darn it!

I've also started Zumba'ing daily! Its a lot of fun, but I'm pretty sure I look mostly like a flailing idiot... good thing I can do it in the privacy in my own living room!

Also- I will be visiting the west side from June 1- June 6! I can't wait to see my family and a couple of friends.

Food Diary

Okay- I need serious help with food so I'm going to post my daily food intake on here so you call can hold me accountable. It will be one post a day (that may be edited as needed through the day). I will also be doing my regular blogging along side of this food diary. If I have to own up to what I eat, I will feel more pressure to eat well. Especially since people I love and admire read this blog.

Today's food-

Breakfast-

• small piece of cake (from a meeting at work, it was dumb..)
• egg mcmuffin
• hash brown
• medium orange juice

Lunch-

• apple

Dinner-

• sloppy joe (lean meat)
• broccoli with cheese
• one can of cola

Rapture

Well today is supposedly the day of Judgement...
Thus far nothing has happened- go figure.
This whole thing makes me roll my eyes, but on a positive note some awesome jokes have come out of it! 
We accidentally put one of my coworkers into a panic last night. She asked to leave early so she could stop by her church to pray... Woops.
Honestly, the world isn't going to end in any biblical sense... ever. Eventually homo sapiens will die out (like every other species, ever) and a new species will come forth to take our place. Eventually the sun will explode, but that's so far down the road (billions of years according to top scientists today).
Although, I will say that this whole "Rapture" thing has peaked my interest in Biblical history. Maybe a new avenue of study?

Movie Review: On Stranger Tides

Last night I went with friends to the midnight premier of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
I'm not going to give a summary of the movie, because honestly I want you to see it if you're interested. Or you can look it up on imdb.com if you really want to know. 
I will admit that I walked into the theater with extremely low expectations. There was no way a fourth Pirates movie could be any good! Especially since two of the main characters were no longer in the plot. Not even cameo wise.
I can happily say that I was proven wrong. A good movie in many aspects. I was a little disappointed that Disney felt the need to pull much of their story line from a book (On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers, 1987) since the previous three movies had been relatively original story lines. But it was an excellent story so I can't complain too much.
Much of what critics were complaining about seemed petty and not worth the worry as I watched it. No, its not Inception, or Gone with the Wind, or any other of the many "greats" but it was not bad either.
The story line lacked depth and closure at points but nothing that Jack Sparrows comedic relief or the special effects didn't make up for.
The mermaids were extremely well done, and so were the zombies both brought much to the story and visuals without detracting anything. I didn't like that Black Beard (a true historical character) was suddenly magical, but I could live with it because it worked for the story. 
Although not completely historically accurate (big shocker, I know!) the detail put into costumes, sets, and characters is definitely appreciated. The privateer story line, Spanish destruction of anything not Catholic, and the British versus Spanish conflict, all made me happy as a history "buff".

In Summary:
If you're a Pirates fan, I recommend the movie.
If you're looking for a movie you don't have to put deeper thought in to, I recommend the movie.
If you love the Jack Sparrow character, I recommend the movie.
If you're looking for a historically accurate Pirate movie, I say skip this one.
If you're going in looking for an Oscar worthy movie, I say skip the movie.

Bike Ride

There is a wonderful trail that runs between Pullman and Moscow called a the Bill Chipman Palouse Trail. Its about 8 miles long and is an old rail road track that has been converted into a bike/running trail.
Today I decided to take my bike out and try out the trail.
I couldn't be happier with the trail!
Flat and well kept it was gorgeous and I had a wonderful time.
I turned around at the mile and a half mark because the bike seat is really narrow. I might need to invest in something wider for my womanly hips!
As I rode back it began to rain, and by the time I got to my car I was soaked.
It was wonderful!
All in all I had an amazing time and can't wait to go out again! Maybe I'll eventually make it out to Moscow?

Insights of a Cook

I haven't been working as a cook for long, about 4 weeks, but I have learned somethings...

You're the last person in the restaurant to realize you screwed up.
I screwed up a pizza, accidentally forgot a topping on a ridiculously difficult order. I sent it through the oven and wasn't informed of my mistake until the customer mentioned it. Had the person at the cut table noticed this missing topping I could have easily fixed it and no complaint would have been made. All in all its my responsibility to make sure orders are right Before the pizza goes into the oven, but when I do screw up- everyone is going to know before it ever gets back to me.

People as a whole are good... but every once in a while you get a prick.
I hold a general belief that people are good and aren't out to get me. A guy last night made me think otherwise for about an hour. He called because something was wrong with the pizza (which there wasn't, he was just looking for a free pizza) but the customer is always right. If he had been reasonable and not threatened my job I would have happily and quickly gotten a pizza in the oven and off to him no questions asked. He was such a jerk, and so unbelievably rude. Isn't the rule "don't be mean to the people who make your food"? I would never tamper with food, my job is worth more to me than that, but who is to say that the next time he is rude and horrible to someone that they don't mess with it?

Sometimes your coworkers will drive you crazy, but you have to take a deep breath because they depend on you to get the ball rolling.
As the cook, you are generally the first link in the chain of getting orders going (after actually taking the order, but so many come through via internet now). Our times are dependent on my ability to get an order made and in the oven. Sometimes non-cooks have the gall to be irritated with me and make me feel bad about getting behind on orders, but you know what? Its understandable because their ability to do their job, depends on my ability to do mine.  So I have to take a deep breath and do the best job I can, because people depend on me.

Cleaning the fryers isn't as bad as you would think.
Sure, you feel like you're never going to be clean again... and it takes what feels like forever, but honestly its not that bad. Its a pretty good work out too! Cleaning the hot fryer has pretty much gotten me over my fear of hot things and getting burned, which is good.  

Being a cook isn't as easy as one would think, but its not outlandishly hard either.
Its a skill set like any other job. If I were to move up to a nice restaurant then it would become exponentially harder, but from here its not bad. I don't have to worry about making sure things are thoroughly cooked because the oven is timed and calibrated to cook pizzas. Cooking in the PH kitchen takes practice, but once it is mastered you're pretty much good to go.

Modeling Attempt 2 (picture heavy)

 Yesterday, after much convincing a friend of mine got me to come down to the Studio for some photos. My initial intent was to just go and watch but then someone pulled out the liquid latex. They started by dipping the fingers, and then the lovely Anna started throwing paint at me.
Of course once the paint had been thrown they decided pictures were needed! False lashes, neon eye shadow and lip color and we were off! Here is the end result!
My top was made by using a colorful scarf and tucking it into my tank top once one strap had been removed. Nice and easy! Click any photo to make it larger!

Photos by Michael, Hunter, and Jarred. Make up by Anna.

Spring 2011 Grades

Click to enlarge

I kicked ass this semester! I'M SO HAPPY!!!

Beautiful day to go for a jog!

 

Took this photo after my jog today! 

It was such a beautiful day!!!

Summer weather!

Summer weather has blessed Pullman!
Its a lovely 65 degrees, sunny, light breeze and not a cloud in the sky. 
My back door is open, the curtains are open, and I'm attempting to dig out my shorts from the bottom of the closet.
I'm also slathering on the sunscreen on a bi-hourly basis. I'm going to need to stock up on sunscreen again.
I don't work until Friday so I've got all week to enjoy the weather and keep myself busy.
Thus far I need to clean my room... badly! And transplant my tomato, Clyde. (David named it Clyde. Don't ask)
I should probably get to that!

Alone

The population of Pullman has halved; there are so few people here its amazing.
I hope it makes work a little slower (no more crazy fraternity rushes!)
Today David and Lindsay have both left Pullman with the rest of the mass exodus of students.
I'll be here all summer... working hard and trying to find things to do.
I shouldn't be so lonely- I've got the gliders and Glee to keep me company!
Hopefully I'll get a couple of quilts done...
I'll post pictures of quilts as they come along.