Sunday News

Today being Sunday, Nick and I continued our church search. This time we went back to Shandon UMC, but we also visited a Sunday School class to get a feel for the other married young adults in the church. We were definitely made welcome by the class, but we are really struggling to find a place where we fit in. This may be it; we just aren't certain yet. As it turns out, most people our age here are either married with kids (or kids on the way) or are singles. We would love to find a group of young married couples who are at the same stage in life as we are. Who knows, it might be waiting just around the corner. We have faith that we will find our place here.

After church we did exciting things like laundry and house-cleaning. I count myself as very fortunate that Nick shares this task with me. He is always willing, and sometimes I might even say eager, to clean the floors or do the dishes. He's such a great husband! This is especially helpful since we both keep full-time schedules. If he didn't help, only half of our chores would ever be done!

Since late this afternoon, though, we have been indulging in a new favorite activity. We put on some classical music and have been reading our books. Nick is finishing up The Hobbit, and I am reading The Birth of Venus. It has been relaxing, and Finlay has napped alongside us as we read. It's a perfect, peaceful way to start out another week. Below are some pictures of us enjoying our leisure time.

We're Back!

After what some (Mom) may consider to be a prolonged absence, we're back. And as a peace offering we have included a new picture. This picture is of the whole family cheering on the Baylor Bears as they are steam-rolled by Kansas. Please note that both Nick and I are wearing our Baylor gear and we have some football essentials: chips, queso, and bee...uh, we mean Dr. Pepper- that new "blonde" version of Dr. Pepper...yeah, they just introduced it on the east coast...hasn't made its way to Texas yet. We would never consume any type of intoxicating beverage while watching a Baylor event. Never. Not us. So it must be Dr. Pepper.

Today we are also cheering on our Gamecocks. Well, sometimes you just need to cheer for a team that wins. Go Cocks!

Let's see, what has happened in the past week? Nick has gone to work. I have gone to work and to school. Finlay has enjoyed spending some time on the couch an getting to know his black kitty friend a little bit better. Our life is boring lately.

The most exciting thing to happen lately is that it has finally gotten cool here. Our AC hasn't run in two days! Last year this happened somewhat earlier so we are enjoying the nice, crisp air since it is finally here. Those of you who know me well may be expecting some mention of Christmas music here. Well, in a showing of unprecendented self-control I have yet to listen to a single Christmas song, not even one from the Nutcracker, which, come on, doesn't really count for me since as a child I would begin rehearsals for The Nutcracker in October. No, I am holding strong. However, all bets are off should the thermostat dip below 50 during waking hours.

We will try to be more regular with our posting, but we don't really think you want to hear about what we have for dinner every night or about the boring things we do at work. So until something interesting comes up, we may just not have anything to write about. Please be patient with our (sometimes) lack of inspiration.

Until next time!

Another Sunday at the Halls

Today was another typical Sunday for the Hall household. This morning we visited another new church. This time we tried an episcopal church in honor of Grammy since she loved her St. Richard's so much. We also thought the service might be a good fit because we really like a formal service. We ended up visiting the Trinity Cathedral in downtown Columbia. It's a beautiful cathedral with lots of stained glass, old style pews with kneeling benches, the whole schebang (sp.?) We really enjoyed the service - the preacher reminded us a bit of Ron Durham at CABC in Waco. However, we didn't get a feel for how many younger folks might be among the congregation. We are far from decided as to our new church home, but we already have two great candidates.

This afternoon we made another attempt at Finlay's new jump toy. He's exhausted and napping or he'd tell you about it himself. He did a lot better today, and he seems to finally be getting his command down. He also seemed to have a lot more fun! Below, you can see a few pictures of Finlay doing his "up" trick.

Finlay's First Steps on the Road to a Championship (well, one can hope, right?)

Hey guys, Fin here again. I figure that if Mom and Dad can blog so can I. Plus I know that lots of you guys like me best anyway! When I woke up, today seemed like a normal Saturday. We all slept late, watched College Gameday, and then Mom and Dad went out for a while (typical).

When they came home, I knew Dad was up to something because he was working out on the deck with his tools. Mom and Dad wanted me to stay outside with them, but I was just too hot, and besides that, why should I have to stay out there - it's not like I can help anyway!

Once he was finished Dad absolutely insisted that I come outside, and boy did I have a surprise waiting for me. Mom and Dad called it a toy, but I still haven't figured out why. To be honest, it looks pretty scary, and I didn't want to go anywhere near it.

I soon realized, however, that I had no choice. I had to play with my new "toy" if I wanted to get the treats Dad was holding out. I tried every way in the world to get to those treats without jumping over the thing - whatever it is - but Dad would only give me a treat if I jumped over it so I finally caved. It's not like I can't do it! It's just that it seems like a lot of effort to put forth when you can just walk around it. I really let Mom and Dad hear it about that.

They finally gave up on making me jump after a while, but the "toy" is still hanging out in the backyard so I won't be surprised if they make me do it again.

P.S. I overheard them talking about listening to the Baylor game tonight which makes me believe I will have to do that silly "Sic'Em" trick over and over and over tonight. Oh, well...at least that means more treats for me.

Until next time,

Finlay

P.P.S. We (Nick and Lindsay) would just like to say that Fin did an excellent job his first time working with the jump. It's up to AKC agility competition standards, and Fin can already make it over the bar for his class. He just doesn't really like to do it yet. We hope that once he gets better at it, he'll like it a little bit more.

"My stomach bug" and "The Waco connection"

Well, yesterday was not a great day for me (Lindsay). Apparently I caught a stomach bug - one has been going around Columbia. I won't give you the gory details, but my stomach and throat are very sore this morning...Finlay was a great care-taker, though, even sitting calmly beside me each time I bowed and prayed to the porcelain god. Shockingly, though, he wasn't too keen on giving kisses!

On another note, a new colonel has come to Nick's squadron. Nick spent the past two weeks working as his executive officer, and yesterday they discovered their Waco connection! As you all know, Nick married a Waco girl (that's me), and as it turns out, this guy grew up in Hewitt and graduated form Midway High, the same as I did. Although he escaped being in school with any member of the Reitmeier or Colvin families, it's still a pretty cool coincidence. I can't wait to meet him to find out what Midway High was like when he was there and if he misses good old Waco as much as I do.

Today Nick plans to make some AKC agility obstacles for Finlay. He's been excited about that ever since we moved to our new house with the big backyard. We'll see how that goes...

We hope you all have a great Saturday!

P.S. We are posting in green today in honor of the Baylor Bears as they prepare to taken on Colorado!!! Sic' Em!

Fin's Very First Fight

Hey guys, Finlay here. You might note the large gash on my nose in this picture, and you also might be wondering where it came from. Now, this is not the time to start accusing Mom and Dad of being bad pet parents. No, I got this wound in my very first fight!

Dad took me outside to play after dinner, and we ran into a mean kitty. Well, I didn't know he was mean at first! I tried to play with him, but he just swatted me straight across my nose! (He has clearly not been de-clawed) I didn't give up on our blossoming friendship, though. I tried to win him over even after his completely unprovoked attack. Unfortunately it didn't work...

So if you see a mean lookin' calico cat walking around in your backyard, my advice would be to stay away.

(Not to worry, both of my nurse grandmom's - Mom lubed me up pretty well with Neosporin so the cut should be ok in a few days)

Until next time,

Fin

Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater

Did you know that I teach a class here at USC? Well, I co-teach it anyway. It's called University 101 and it's supposed to help first year students make a smooth transition to college life by addressing lots of first-year issues. We do a really good job of it here at USC, according to U.S. News and World Report. It's consistently a "program to look for" and was ranked first in the nation in programs of its type the one and only year they actually ranked them. So, I'm really excited to be co-teaching a class.

Today my co-instructor Steve, was at the beach (nice, huh?) so I had the class to myself. He asked me to address cheating. Now, I am admittedly no expert in the matter because, and I swear to you that this is true, I never once cheated on anything in high school or college. I have never considered that to be any great feat...that is until today, when I had the cheating discussion with my class.

I began by addressing my class, which is exclusively composed of business students, with a question: "How many of you have ever cheated on a school assignment?" I am not exaggerating when I say that every single hand in the room shot up unreluctantly. The I asked how many had cheated on a test. Once again, every single hand was in the air. The hands only started to go down when I brought up plagiarism, which to my class, is "a much bigger deal." Only about sixty percent kept their hands up for that one.

We went on to discuss the many forms of cheating, according to our university issued Transitions book, and let me tell you...my kids had cheated in ways that the book didn't even mention. And that's in addition to covering every cheating avenue that the book did address. They talked about cheating with calculators, the best ways to create and conceal a cheat sheet ( one creative student had sewn hers into her private-school uniform), strategies for copying from a friend without being caught, and of course the relative merits and difficulties of cheating using one's cell phone. Cell phones, by the way, although feared by professors, are not widely appreciated among the the student population as a means of cheating. Oh, the things I learn from my students.

Now, those same kids adamantly asserted that they would never, not ever, consider cheating during college, but the scary thing is that upwards of 50% of all MBA candidates cheat. One can only assume that the undergrad statistic is comparable if not higher.

So, I left class wondering, will we ever be able to stop students from cheating? And if we can't, what then?