The first pitch

I just got done watching the President of the United States throw out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals new stadium. thus watching this on my very nice computer in my warm home in a country where I am free to believe and say just as many dumb things as intelligent ones. I by no means presume to be a completely respectful person but: have to admit that I cringe @ the sound of a stadium full of people booing their president I guess some would argue that this is the very expressions of our freedom of speech. I guess I tend to think our founding fathers had a different picture in their heads of what we would use that "right" for. I have also been known to give our founding fathers more credit than some of them deserve. The more I read and hear about the men we talk so highly of in history the more I realize they too were just men.
So here's to a country where we have the freedom to be rude to any one, anytime, any place; in all of our infinite arrogance and ignorance. Hopefully l will remember this short rambling of mine the next time I want to cuss someone out for driving in a way I believe to be incorrect.

God Bless America, my home sweet home.

Colleen

A Joke and a Quote

A young fellow in the midst of cutting up in the library, was approached by the librarian. "Please be quiet," she said, "the people around you can't read." "They can't?" said the boy. "Then what are they doing in the library?"

Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this, that you are dreadfully like other people. - James Russell Lowell

I Am

I am a woman and a child.
I wonder who I'll be.
I hear people praying.
I see hope restored.
I want to make a difference.
I am a wife and friend.

I pretend to not care what they think.
I feel good when I help.
I touch them when I pray.
I worry I'll hurt someone by mistake.
I cry when I'm told I am bad.
I am a child and a woman.

I understand it is not about me.
I say that I am not hurting.
I dream of teaching my children to be better than me.
I try to humble myself.
I hope that I've helped.
I am a daughter and wife.

"Sloshed Hannah"

So, here is a dialogue that happened between my sister and my husband. Please read through. You won't be disappointed.



On Jan 2, 2008 12:57 PM, Robert Martin <robertmartindc@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey Erin,
>
> Happy New Year! Did you guys do anything special at midnight (like
> give champagne to Hannah)?
>
> Within the next week, I'm going to apply for the chance to enter some
> of my photos into my first photo show. I can enter three photos, and
> if they like me enough, they'll choose one or more to display and sell
> at a big show this spring. Would you mind helping me decide which ones
> to enter? I've put up a gallery on my webpage (called "Which Ones?")
> that has my top ten picks. It's a show designed for DC photos, so I'm
> limited to ones I've actually taken IN DC.
>
> If you like, just hit reply and let me know which three you think
> would do the best. I'm only asking a couple other people, so your
> opinion really counts.
>
> Here's the link: http://www.pbase.com/visionimages/which_ones
>
> Thanks so much Erin. Miss you guys and hope to see you soon.
>
> -Robert



> From: Erin Richer
Date: Jan 2, 2008 2:59 PM
Subject: Re: Help me choose
To: Robert Martin


A few things:

1) I'm incredibly touched and flattered. And I have NO IDEA why you're asking me of all people.

2)Hannah only had three glasses and only threw up once this new year.
But she's thrown up for all of the other holidays this holiday season, so we thought we'd induce this holiday's vomiting with alcohol. This way, we at least new where it came from.

Here are my favorite choices probably in order of favorites
1st: Monument in Moonlight (For artistic composition)
2nd: Memorial in autumn (For one I'd LOOOOVE to hang in my house)
3rd: I really like the mallard photo for one that is incredible but unrelated to DC architecture/symbolism

The first two choices are completely my hands down decision. However, Just as an fyi: Jeff really struggled between old glory and signs as the third one. And I really struggled with Old Glory and American Autumn. So Old Glory really should probably be our third choice. Its
just that the picture of the Duck is so incredible!!!!! Wow, Robert,
God has endowed you with an incredible artistic gift!

I hope I helped! I'd ask Hannah but she's still hung over.

This Doesn't Happen Everyday (from Robert)

So, while I was busy at work today typing away on my computer and taking phone calls, someone else was busy right below me – ROBBING A BANK!

I knew it wasn’t a good sign when I started seeing numerous flashing lights out of the corner of my eye and, turning my head, saw twenty people pressed up against the windows of the building across the street staring straight at my building. Shortly after seeing police cordon off the sidewalk below my office with their yellow tape, we heard from building management that the bank directly below our space, three floors down, had been robbed. Yet as clever as the thief might have thought he was walking out of a bank with a huge bag of dough that wasn’t his, he was outwitted when that dough bag exploded, squirting red tracking ink all over him and his unearned prize. Perhaps realizing he’d been foiled, he stashed the bag under a folding sandwich-board sign for the shoe store next door and took off (see man staring at red ink on sidewalk in photo above).

Staring straight down, I watched as investigators in latex gloves removed the fallen shoe store sign to uncover wads of hundred dollar bills that they started stuffing into brown paper evidence bags. For a while, bills were scattered on the sidewalk around a puddle of red ink. We’re told the bag was rigged and apparently kept in the bank in the event of a robbery.

In the midst of the ‘excitement,’ I started to wonder how something so classically huge could have happened right outside my window without me even noticing. A bag holding thousands of dollars exploded in a man's hands right below me, and I had no idea it was happening. Thinking back, I think I may have heard the shoe store sign get pushed down over the cash, and I also heard people yelling right after it happened, but I didn’t think anything of either noise. I work on the fourth floor of a downtown office building, so I hear things fall and people yelling daily. The only police sirens I don’t subconsciously block out are the motorcades coming from the White House, and I only hear those anymore because they involve about 20 sirens instead of just one or two. The only difference between the noises today versus any other day is that today’s were the result of a bank robbery as opposed to a delivery man dropping a fragile package or a homeless person yelling at the air in front of him.

After more thought, however, I was redeemed from feeling completely clueless in my office bubble. I remembered seeing a few minutes before the robbery took place a strange car stopping down the street, shifting into reverse, and backing back down the street, through an intersection, and coming to a stop about 50 feet from where the money was found. People drive bonkers in DC, but I’ve never seen anyone go in reverse through an intersection. The car then shifted back and forth a few times as if getting into position. Did I see the getaway car?? Who knows. But I went downstairs and told an investigator what I’d seen just in case. He seemed pretty interested and jotted everything down in a little flip-pad. A news report I just read says the robber was last seen going in the opposite direction of the car I saw, so it may have just been a weird car, but at least I noticed SOMETHING today. Now back to my typing and phone calls.

Up To Date

So Robert and my life...What to say what to say. One of my favorite questions I get is, "How are you doing?" or, "So, what's new with you?" Not because it is a bad question, but because even though I am asked it regularly, I still call people to talk without already having an answer prepared. Whenever I call family, and sometimes friends it is inevitably going to be asked and yet continually I am caught like a deer in headlights without an answer. "DOH!" (thank you Homer Simpson)

So, what's new with Robert and I? We don't have kids, and though that isn't new, it may stave off some quetions for those of you who are bound to ask if we are going to anytime soon...Not that we know of. We are continually working on the house. The questions that continually roll around in conversation often have to do with what colors we are going to paint the dining room, and when are we going to get pictures hung. Oh, well, life = work in progress.

This coming weekend 11/9-11/11 we are having friends stay with us from Ohio - YAY Courtnay & Steve! I am very excited about this, and I know that Robert is as well. It is interesting the people you meet and come to love when you get married. I found out that Steve was a student in the elementary school that my Uncle Henry was Principle of back in Ohio. That was a really cool moment when Robert and I found that out. So they are coming and will be our first non-family house guests (yes, ashlee, you are family.)

Oh, I also got into deep trouble with my brother over a Thanksgiving misunderstanding. That caused for some heartache and intense conversation in my life this week. But, I will never be dumb enough to try to make statements like, "Oh, my family doesn't care if I am there anyway." Okay, I am not sure if I EVER would have been dumb enough to say that, because I never believed it to be true, but after this week I won't ever forget that it's not true.

I would like to take this opportunity to make a declaration that God has given me the greatest husband to ever walk the face of the earth...except maybe Joseph. I mean, he stayed with the "It's God's baby, really hun it is," woman. Wow. Anyway that was my little shout out to the Husband and the Christmas season all in one paragraph. That was good.

So, here was my first contribution to the blogging world. Now that I have graced you with my presence, I must say

PEACE OUT