Blog? What Blog?

Gee, it's been awhile since i have visited the blogosphere! Let's just say it hasn't worked out like i imagined. Hats off to you people who have the energy to keep up with blogs and Facebook! Speaking of Facebook, i did just go against all of my principles and installed a new Facebook application. Why? So i could adopt a Fluff-friend! What can i say? I have a weakness for pandas. (Petite adopted a little guy named M. le Chat, too!)

Meet Panda Bébête. If you're on Facebook, please stop by and pet him!

PBS Junkie

My name is Mari, and i am a public-brodcastingaholic.

This evening i was faced with a shocking truth. I am addicted to public broadcasting. The evidence is overwhelming and it hit me like a ton of bricks as I sat on the sofa this evening, having just seen Petite off to a meeting.

Without getting into too many details, let me just say i found myself trying to drag myself from both the current PBS & NPR broadcast programs to watch a taped episode of a PBS show i was trying to finish in time to start a PBS DVD that's due back to the library tomorrow. Don't get me started on the complimentary online features or the programs that have nabbed be at lunch the last couple of days.

Let me tell you the biggest danger of getting hooked on PBS: there are no commercials. I'm talking about fascinating, 1-, 2-, even 3-hour long programs with no potty breaks. Holy mackerel.

Blogger's Block, part II

Gentle readers,

Apologies that this blog has been dormant for quite some time now. Not only have we been awfully busy (and Mari obsessed with reading the news lately)... but it's too nice outside to be inside blogging!! Petite is finished with school for the semester; perhaps that will lead to some more free time. We'll be out of town next weekend for a friend's wedding, though, so it's probably going to be after that before anything new pops up here.

Happy May!

Birthday yum-yums

Hello and thank you for stopping by! Sorry there's not been much happening at Mari Bébête lately. I was going to say a word or two about Petite's birthday (which happened last week), but it looks like she already covered it pretty well. She didn't say very much about all of the restaurant reverie, though, so let's talk about that...

Petite mentioned Mama's, the Korean place, by name but didn't say much else about it. We got an early start there, kind of a Birthday's Eve celebration. The great thing about the Korean BBQ is that it's fun having the little grill in the table and about 15 sundry sauces, toppings, and condiments. And thanks to my brother who discovered the place (when he was home for the holidays after having spent a couple weeks in South Korea), we know the secret code to get dessert, which is usually only served to actual persons of Korean heritage -- which seems to be about 90% of the clientèle. (But Mari Bébête reveals no such secret codes on the Internet! So don't ask!) For those in-or-near the Bloomington area, Mama's can be found at 10th and the Bypass. Yes, that's the old pet store but we won't belabor that fact...

The day of Petite's birthday, Mari came home early to make lasagna for dinner. It wasn't Mama's, but it wasn't bad. We took a bit of a birthday dining Sabbath on Wednesday, best i can remember, then back to the grind...

We tried a new restaurant with Petite's sisters on day four of her birthday celebration. It is called Mandalay and it serves south-eastern Asian cuisine, specializing in Burmese. We had never had that before, and it seems to be a close relative to Thai, as one might expect. It was a pretty good find. It's located on Fourth Street near all of the other quaint, ethnic eateries. Try the hot tea.

Day six of the birthday festivities found us at Smokin' Jack's Rib Shack, a locally-owned BBQ joint (that's southern BBQ, as opposed to the Korean variety mentioned above). SJ's provides about twice the food for half the cash of Smokey Bones -- as a Kansas City native agreed today while we were extolling the virtues of Smokin' Jack's. It's on 17th Street just west of Walnut. Along with your ribs, may we suggest a side of collard greens, some cornbread salad, and a piece of chocolate-pecan pie? Petite would goes for the "sweet tea", but Mari does not. In fact, we didn't try the pecan pie for really sad but very good reasons, but how can you really go wrong when the words "chocolate", "pecan", and "pie" appear in the same name?

For dinner, we met friends at El Norteño, just north of the square on Walnut, in the old Princess Theater. Tried the Horchata. (A rice milk beverage i believe.) Petite agrees, it tastes like Navidad.


Day seven was Easter in Columbus, where the family gathered for a multi-faceted celebration. Petite's step-dad unfortunately had a near-death experience due to an unidentified allergen -- ostensibly coconut, but none was found on the scene... however, thanks to Benedryl crisis was averted. Petite's aunt outdid herself on the cheesecakes. One chocolate, one lemon... both amazing and each a sight to behold.

That's all for now.

Blogger's Block

Petite and Mari have had a busy week of classes and work and homework... oh my. Petite is finally putting the finishing touches on a huge group project that she's been working on that is due at midnight. The project has consumed all of her time and energy this week (that the youth group hasn't), and had us both hard at work today to get it all snazzy-looking and functional enough to turn in. It turns out to be around 25 pages of colorful, hyper-linking madness in Microsoft Word, made to approximate a web site.

At least we got outside in the sunshine yesterday when we did some grounds maintenance at church. My Sunday school class and the youth group worked together to spruce up the church property and the old parsonage. The grounds look nicer now, but ol' Mari is pretty sore on account of the usual routine not requiring particular work outside of the thinking, talking, and button-pushing varieties. Grocery shopping is about the height of my normal workout...

Anyway, Mari Bébête seems to be suffering from a case of Blogger's Block lately. A couple of politically-themed essays were composed but didn't make it to "post" status. Nothing much else comes to mind. Maybe i am too old for this stuff. Maybe inspiration will strike soon. Apologies to my loyal readers for the lull.

Enjoy the last week of March!!

Couch Potato

As Petite Américaine's readers apparently already know (uh, thanks Petite), Mari Bébête has had some time to entertain himself at home recently. Here are some recommended viewing suggestions should anyone else be looking for some worthwhile entertainment.

Oh -- coincidentally, it was Spring Break and Petite was able to partake of the movies as well. So we've got up to four thumbs between us for the ratings. :)

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The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

Four thumbs enthusiastically up.

I, personally, would never would have picked this up off of the shelf at the video store, but it was recommended to Petite by colleagues turned out to be fantastic.

Based on a true story as recorded by one of the main character's children, the story takes us back to the 1950s. A housewife supports a family of ten kids and an irresponsible, alcoholic husband with her indefatigable spirit and a knack for writing jingles. Apparently it was common back then for large companies to sponsor contests to promote their products -- contests that involved more cleverness and wit than the "blind luck" of most promotional contests/sweepstakes these days. (A change which some characters in the story lamented as they saw it changing.) Any time the family needed something, this woman would enter a contest to win it. For example, her son wrecked his bike; she entered a contest offering a bike as a prize. It so happened in this case, it came with $5,000 and a washer and drier as well; which was fortunate because when the prize was announced, the family was being evicted from their apartment and were now able to buy a house.

The way she kept the family afloat and looked for the best in things in spite of difficult circumstances and the nonsensical mores of the times was inspiring.

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Amazing Grace

Four thumbs way up (and Mari's big toes, too).

Still in theaters, this is the first movie we've gone out to since Casino Royale last November. Well worth the price of admission.

It tells the story of the hard-fought but ultimately peaceful abolition of slavery in England. Inspired by pastor John Newton (writer of the hymn "Amazing Grace") to oppose slavery, William Wilberforce introduced a bill to Parliament every year, and every year it was defeated for nearly a decade. This movie chronicles the political challenges he overcame to finally pass the bill to end the slave trade in England. The quality of both the story and the film-making surpassed our expectations. Albert Finney (of "Daddy Warbucks" fame in "Annie") was great as Newton; most of the rest of the cast was unfamiliar but quite good.

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Yesterday

Four thumbs up.

A beautiful independent movie, in Zulu with English subtitles.

This is the story of a woman "Yesterday" living in a small village in South Africa with her daughter "Beauty", while her husband works far from home, under ground, in the mines of Johannesburg. The story begins with Yesterday's efforts to simply see a doctor in a clinic several hours' walk from home; after weeks of trying to get in -- and being turned away because the line was too long -- she is diagnosed with HIV.

In order not to reveal any "spoilers", we'll not say much more except that Yesterday's quiet determination and dedication to her daughter's future makes the story heartwarming despite the tragedy that surrounds her.

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Casino Royale

Three thumbs up (of four)

The 21st James Bond adventure is now out on DVD. It is grittier (à la "From Russia with Love") and may be the most realistic that the series has been. On first watching, it is very suspenseful. Being based (fairly closely, they claim) on the first Bond novel by Ian Fleming, it shows 007 earning his "00" and gives some insight into what makes the character the way he is.

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One Night with the King -- Two thumbs up (of four)
Based on the Biblical story of Esther, this movie either involved quite a bit of research into the historical story that's not in the Bible, or took some liberties. (We're guessing the latter.) Brings life to some subtler elements of the story, perhaps, but doesn't do the story justice.

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If anyone would like to borrow any of these, especially if you can't find them at the library or the video store, we have the DVDs available for loan. Except "Amazing Grace" which is still in theaters, but give us about four months. ;)

Very sweet man

So i was in a planning meeting today for a publication i edit, and a guest adviser from a local organization was talking about an award show that they put on annually, in which they give a really nice hand-crafted limestone trophy to each of the winners. Someone asked where they get the trophies made; he said they get them from (so-and-so), "who is just such a sweet man". He said some more about the craftsmanship of the trophies, the reasonable price, and kept coming back to "a sweet man -- very sweet man". Out of the blue, he perked up and added:

"Very sweet Christian. I mean, it's like God blesses you every time you talk to him. And I can use that."

This was a professional meeting that is generally pretty secular. In this case, (besides me, a bit of a Methodi-Baptist) there was someone i think is Unitarian; the other two -- whose spiritual beliefs i don't know -- are more strongly associated with their activity in the homosexual community than any religious involvement that i'm aware of; although i'd only just met one, who was the speaker. And whatever his personal beliefs, he was obviously very impressed by the person that he went out of his way to call a "very sweet Christian." Everyone in the room sensed the genuine appreciation that he felt for the trophy vendor.

I felt a little blessed myself to observe this. But i am also saddened by a couple of things here. For one, i'm saddened because from many other things i observe, it's got to be fairly difficult for the homosexual community to have a positive impression of Christians these days. i'm also saddened by the fact that i doubt that people i serve in my job go around telling people that i'm a very sweet Christian. My "workmanship" is sometimes good, sometimes lacking. My prices are sometimes good, sometimes just what my predecessor set or the computer comes up with. And i'm not effusive about my faith at work. Bottom line: my witness is not anything like this "very sweet" gentleman.

But i'm happy that this gentleman is such a good example. I hope i can come to be more like him. If there were more Christians like him, perhaps there would be... more Christians, as a result of the positive "buzz".

This just in...

Folks, an update has been received Petite Américaine. In response to a previous post (23 Feb), she has conducted exhaustive research to learn what types of cookie personalities are available on the test mentioned. Unfortunately comments don't seem to allow picture links, so instead of commenting she e-mailed the HTML code to me to post.

So... a "guest post" from Petite follows:

OK, so I took it upon myself to do some cookie-personality research. Here are my results (scroll down for pics):

Available personalities include:
Oatmeal Raisin
"Black & White" cookie
A "Jam Cookie"
And one other you have to see to believe...it's at the bottom.

You Are an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

"On the surface, you're a little plain - but you have many subtle dimensions to your personality.
Sometimes you're down to earth and crunchy. Other times, you're sweet and a little gooey."

You Are a Black and White Cookie

"You're often conflicted in life, and you feel pulled in two opposite directions. When you're good, you're sweet as sugar. And when you're bad, you're wicked!"

You Are a Jam Cookie

"On the outside, you project a straight-laced, innocent vibe.
But on the inside, you're complex, exotic, and full of flavor."

Last but not least, the scary Happy Face Cookie:

You Are a Smiley Face Cookie

"You're happy go lucky. So happy, in fact, it's a little past the point of normal sanity. You usually make those around you smile ... when you're not creeping them out!"

I think I'm scared...

And that's all she wrote. Of course, these are in addition to the previously reported personalities of "Chocolate Chip" and "Fortune Cookie". As this story unfolds, if you become aware of cookie personalities that have been missed, please write in and let us know. Until then, let's all keep an eye out for the elusive "Thin Mint" woman that Spocktongue (the male Fortune Cookie) seeks for a possible LTR.

Marking births & passings

Welcome to my birthday post!

My birthday turned out to be bittersweet this year. Petite was very, very good to me; the week prior she took me to see Garrison Keillor at the IU Auditorium (as previously noted) which was uproariously funny, and then the day-of she only had to work a half day so was able to take me to lunch at Samira, a fantastic Afghan restaurant on the Square in Bloomington. (They have a weekday lunch buffet that is the best deal in town! If you go for dinner, i highly recommend the Kadu Pallao*.) All of that was lovely.

But at lunch Petite told me that she'd gotten a call about her horse Dandy, who had unexpectedly become ill that morning. We decided to go visit him after we ate. But when we called the PALS stable -- where Dandy worked with children as a "therapeutic riding" horse -- we learned the tragic news that the vet had already needed to put him down. It was profoundly sad and he will be missed by many; you can learn more about Dandy on Petite's blog.

On that somber note... my planned topic for the birthday post was a remembrance about a man who shared my birthday -- Johnny Cash. I shall now go on with that.

Johnny Cash was born on Feb 26, 1932. He's one of my very favorite musicians. Another fave, Bono of U2, had the following to say about The Man in Black: "Every man knows he's a sissy compared to Johnny Cash."

I love that quote. :)

Johnny is no longer with us... but for anyone who wonders what he's up to now, there's a great song that was found after his passing that gives some insight into his plans for the hereafter. The recording was behind his studio, in a box with some others of just him and a guitar, marked "Personal File". (If i learn to stream audio from my blog, i'll put it up but so far i don't know how; meantime it is available on iTunes for a buck.) It's called "One of These Days I'm Gonna Sit Down and Talk to Paul", and it's delightful!

One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to Paul
One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to Paul
I'm gonna ask him about his travelin'
And he will tell me about it all
One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to Paul

I'm gonna tell him I read all his books
I'm gonna tell him I read all his books
And that is sure was hard to follow down the same road that he took
But I'm gonna tell him I read all his books

He'll introduce me to Luke and Timothy
He will introduce me to Luke and Timothy
I will be so glad to meet them and they will be glad to meet me
He will introduce me to Luke and Timothy

One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to Paul
(Talk to Paul)
One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to,
Sit down and talk to Paul
I'm gonna meet his friends in Heaven
I'll be singin' with them all
One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to Paul

One of these days I'm gonna shake that healing hand
One of these days I'm gonna shake that healing hand
That hand that raised up Uticus, that old sleepin', fallen man
One of these days I'm gonna shake that healing hand

I know just how he felt locked in that jail
I know just how he felt locked in that jail
And I bet that him and Silas will have quite a tale to tell
I know just how he felt locked in that jail

One of these days I'm gonna sit down and,
Sit down and talk to Paul
One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to,
Sit down and talk to Paul
I'm gonna ask him about his journeys
And he will tell me about them all
One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to,
Sit down and talk to Paul

Must be a great conversation.

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For a list of other events that happened on this day in history, or to find out what happened on your special day, check out The New York Times' "On This Day" site.

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* Update: we returned to Samira for dinner with my father and his fiancé on Friday because 1) it is the official restaurant of Mari's birthday week, and 2) Kadu Pallao is unavailable on the lunch buffet. Following the amazing appetizer of eggplant, thinly sliced and marinated in spices and olive oil then served with flatbread, i partook of my favorite dish. It is comprised of several medallions of pumpkin or squash with sauces encircling a mound of spiced basmati
rice. It was heavenly. Thanks Dad!

Ski Paoli!

Gentle Reader:

Apologies to any who read my 50th Anniversary post and then came back on Monday (26 Feb, and tomorrow according to the time-stamp on this post) looking for the ski pictures that i promised. Things got busy. Unfortunately, pictures weren't that good, either. But here we go.

Point of order, BTW -- is it considered poor "form" to blatantly manipulate the date of Blog postings and write as if it were really that day? I have decided when doing so, i shall set the time to 12:00 a.m. on the fictional date. So, midnight posts don't mean i've been up all night blogging, but that i am fudging it.

Now, on with the post!

"Today" (see note above) we had the wonderful opportunity to go skiing with our neighbors. Despite the less-than-ideal weather (it rained about half the time), we had a great time! Pictured, at left, is Petite with our neighbor... we'll call her "L". (Note smiles indicative of having a great time, and gray sky, indicative of poor weather. I'm not making this stuff up!)

Paoli Peaks, about an hour south of Bloomington, turned out to be a pretty decent little ski resort. It wasn't Deer Valley or Alta or Loon Mountain or Breckenridge... but for the difference in plane fare, it was darned nice! (And huge props to them for actually having snow, in Indiana, near March, after a week of 40 degrees and rainy.) We'll likely go back next year now that we know.

As for this trip, we lucked into free passes that our wonderful and very generous neighbors had received and were awesome enough to share with us. We'll call our neighbors "C&L" due due the semi-anonymous policy of this Blog. "C" and myself are not pictured. Sorry.

After skiing we stopped in the charming Paoli town square for dinner at Los Compadres, an adorable (and colorful) little Mexican restaurant. Unfortunately i was the only one desiring dessert, and was actually pretty full after my "Dos Chimichangas" so i had to pass on the Flan. (Cry.) If anyone has tried it, let me know how it is.

One thing I noticed on the trip that i've not noticed at other resorts before -- and which betrays the fact that I am a boy, with tendencies toward geekiness -- was how they counter-balance the lifts. There is this huge block of limestone (pictured at right) that would rise and wane with the weight of skiers on the chairs. Is this how it's done elsewhere, or just at ski resorts within a stone's throw of the Limestone Capital of the World? (Folks, you won't find this kind of introspective musing on any other Blog.)

Thanks for stopping by!

50th Anniversary

Thanks for helping Mari Bébête exceed 50 visits in the first week!

Check back Monday for ski pictures. Our neighbors have invited us to ski Paoli on Sunday! :)

Narnia Personality

Just took the Narnia Personality test and found that my Narnian alter ego is a little girl!



Yes, i'm Jill Pole. Coincidentally that's the book we're reading now! Here's the rest of the comparison, for those who know these characters:

SCORES /500
331 Jill
331 Shasta
330 Rilian
323 Puddleglum
321 Mrs Beaver
321 Susan
319 Lucy
314 Tirian
313 Eustace
309 Caspian
307 Tumnus
301 Bree
299 Puzzle
295 Mr Beaver
294 Trumpkin
293 Peter
291 Edmund
276 Aslan
273 Jewel
237 Reepicheep
228 Jadis

Also, while we're at it... i've just learned that if i were a cooke, i would be Chocolate Chip!

You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting. You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

(I married a fortune cookie.)


Thanks to Beth for the fun links. :)

Ash Wednesday

Today i simply want to mark the beginning of the season of Lent.

May all of our spirits be renewed by a deeper understanding of God's grace, and may each of us take a moment to reflect on our individual callings for service in His name.

Birthday Treat

It is with much pleasure that i share the exciting news that on Wednesday night, Petite is taking me to see Garrison Keillor at the IU Auditorium for my birthday. (Actually, five days early.) I've been a fan, particularly, of the "News From Lake Wobegon" portion of his program for years and it is fantastic to get a chance to see him live.

[Prarie Home Companion website and podcast info]

It was awful nice of him to come to town for the occasion, and i'm sure Petite used considerable influence to arrange such a coup. She's so good to me. :)

The verdict is... to Blog!

Many thanks to all who visited my blog today. It was very nice to hear from everyone!

The initial feedback to my "To Blog or Not to Blog?" question came back overwhelmingly positive; the only dissenter suggested that i may be too old for this stuff... and i mean to tell ya' i laid some smack down on him. Oh, yeah. Without missing a beat i whipped out a link to a Nonagenarian's blog that is way better than mine; proving that i am NOT too old, but simply lacking in talent.

Did that come out right?

Anyway, i promised yesterday to explain the name of my blog, and i'm a man of my word. So here it is:

I take it on faith that the translation for "Mari Bébête" is "silly husband". Note that I am not so naive as to discount the possibility that -- in classic "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" style -- i've been given a self-deprecating thing to say about myself in a foreign language so that French speakers are having a heyday at my expense. In reality i only know enough French to discuss the whereabouts of ham (jambon)... but i digress.

Back to my story: Having been preceded in the blogosphere by my lovely, talented, and French-speaking wife, Petite, I had already been dubbed "Mari" for purposes of semi-anonymous online identification. (I am convinced that "mari" is, in fact, French for "husband".) Needing a "last name" to properly sign up for a G-mail account, I had to consult Petite for another French word that could fill that role. The first word or two we tried was already taken; "silly husband", however, was remarkably available both on Blogspot and G-mail. Plus it's quite fun to type é and ê on a Mac, putting PC users at a disadvantage to make two accents in such quick succession, which is like gravy. (Apologies to 95% of the computer-using world.)

So there you have it.

Perhaps tomorrow i'll tell you about my pending birthday present and/or celebrate the tenth (visit) anniversary of my blog. I will undoubtedly test my ability to incorporate an image into my blog. So come back real soon!

Priorities

Blogging, Day 2

Before the fun of Blogging really gets underway, let's pause to remember some prayer concerns, as it were. These are things i may or may not give more specific thought to in future posts, things i don't necessarily have answers for, but they're issues that i want to keep close to heart and mind as i go about a somewhat sheltered life; things that i should think of before spending $4 on coffee too often.

In no particular order...

The humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

The morass in Iraq, where 4-5,000 civilians are being killed and 100,000 displaced each month according to an NPR report yesterday. [Measuring Progress] [Fatalaties]

NOLA, a place in need of hope, protection, and rebuilding. [H-T ARTICLE]

America's public schools, which have been set up to fail by short-sighted politics.

The American people, hungering for leadership but filling the void with whatever comes along.

God's creation, which i'm hopeful that we're finally moving to take better care of, but which we've failed to tend to for too long.

No end in sight to the deficit spending that saddles future generations with debt.

AIDS and Malaria epidemics in Africa.

America's "non-system of illness care" (to quote Dr. Robert Stone, a health reform advocate in town). Our health care system worked well, i suppose, when "lifetime employment" with one large company was the dominant paradigm. But that is not the situation now. The W.H.O. ranks the US health care system approx. 35th in the developed world. We have a higher infant mortality rate and don't live as long on average as people in countries that spend 33%-50% what we do (per capita) on health. (i.e., France and Japan) [Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan]

Little things we do every day can help or hurt the situations above. Let's encourage one another to help.

Perhaps on to lighter fare tomorrow, such as the origin of the name of this Blog!

Thanks again for stopping by. :)

To Blog or Not to Blog?

That is the question.

I often feel the lure of the blogosphere but must admit that i have some degree of technophobia and am not sure how i'll take to this. The thing that bothers me is not having something to say so much as being able to say it with the requisite style associated with the Blogs my wife is always looking at. (BTW, we'll call her Petite.) I confess, i have neither the creativity nor the time to be so dazzling. Apologies in advance; i won't be offended a bit if you go right to the "Next Blog" button.

But here's the thing: i'm so delighted to see Petite's posted musings and the interactions of friends on their blogs that i feel an almost magnetic pull to join in.

So, i've now gone so far as to have set up a Blog. We'll see if this is just a goofy phase.

Perhaps i'll post again... for now, thanks for stopping by!