***In order to read this post to its fullest effect you must first imagine Joe standing outside next to a tree with his mouth wide open and a look of utter amazement on his face. His hair is a bit rumpled, and perhaps he has put his pants on Backwards or inside out. Got it? Good. Go on with the reading, then.***

Life has a way of waking you up sometimes. You see, its very easy to get bogged down in the monotony of work, sleep, work, sleep, and to sometimes loose sight of the inconceivable joys and astounding sorrows which can occur in the world. Especially poingiant is the sequence when you are presented with Joy, then Sorrow, then Joy, then Sorrow, then Joy all within the space of a week. It can belittle your own self to such an enormous degree that you are faced with the George Harrison fact of existence:

"When you've seen beyond yourself then you will find piece of mind is waiting there. And the time will come when you see we're all one and life flows on within you and without you."

The past week has been such a week.

Such a wonderful week.

It all started when I found out my new car (now named "Sam Wise"), the one I have been fighting for for three months, would be ready right before Thanksgiving. In fact, I could pick it up, pick my mom up in Anniston, and along with Nick drive to South Carolina for Thanksgiving with Will, Megahn, and unborn Liam, Daddy, and the Hobbs. Every time I thought about this I was very happy. I then thought of Peeg and Stacy in Japan and Liz and Josh who had to work and was sad they could not be there, too. They were indeed missed.
That day, right after confirming that my new car was ready, I got a phone call from Mama saying the Beam's Vet Clinic had been badly damaged in a Tornado. The Beams are family friends. Sadness. Then I found out everyone was ok. Great joy and relief. And, oddly enough, the initial joy of my new car was much smaller, now in perspective.
We got to SC and had a wonderful time. Great food, family time, the annual football game where everyone had a least two great plays, and more food. Joy, joy joy.
Nick and I then left and stayed in Anniston for a night, sharing a Sonic feast with my grandparents. They amaze me. The dedication to eachother is amazing. More Joy.
The next morning, very early, Will called to say Meghan was in labor. Joy to the point of jitteriness. Nick and I drove up and got there right after William Arthur Leudders Chandler ("Liam") was born. I held him and he didn't cry. He is healthy, Megahn is healthy. Nick and I hung around to take care of some stuff for Will and Meghan so they could sleep a bit. Indescribable joy. No words, just a warmth and perspective that makes everything else, quite literally, ok. Nick and I headed back to T-town with tons of leftovers in a new car after meeting our new Nephew after having a wonderful thanksgiving in which countless lives (animal and human) were spared in a Tornado. Cloud Nine.
The day after we got back I got a call from my dad. My Great Uncle Arthur had died just a few days short of being 97. Sadness. Sadness for Grandma, his sister, and for the world at the loss of a wonderful man.
Recall, however, Liam's full name. It includes Arthur Leudders... Great Uncle Arthur's name. Liam was named for him. I was told that Uncle Arthur new of the birth before he passed away. Indescribable joy and awe.

Life flows on within you and without you.

I hope everyone is well.
Peace,
Joe

Its a good feeling (when you are training to be a research scientist) to get some research up and going after a bunch of prep time. In the last week or so this has happened twice to me. I have run the data on my thesis pre-test and started a dialog with some folks in the field on how to improve my measures, and have started testing a scale that has been in development for a year or so. Good times. You would think that this means I have gotten much work done. You would be mistaken.
Imagine, if you will, a peaceful stream. Maybe there are some birds there, and you are sitting beside it on a warm day with a slight breeze. Perhaps you even have some Guinness in a cooler nearby. Now imagine if that stream were to become A GIGANTIC RIVER OF MOLTEN ROCK THAT CONTINUOUSLY POUNDS YOU washing away your blanket, all the birds, and making it very hard to drink the beer. In this story, the RIVER OF MOLTEN ROCK is my workload from here to the end of the semester. It seems never to end, it is very hard to get away from, and at times it burns (like when you are so tired from no sleep that you spill coffee on your face).
So I am busy, what else is new? Please do not take that story to be complaining. If my work were truly a RIVER OF MOLTEN ROCK, I would be a person who loves molten rock. But even molten-rock lovers can only take so much or it at once, you know? Geesh.
Outside of school, U2 releases its new album soon. All I can say is HOLY CRAP HOORAY! I am pumped, though not as pumped as my super-U2-loving-girlfriend Jenn, who gets so excited at the mere mention of the new album that at times I have to bring her a nice glass of water before she can really breathe again. I love her for that. And many other things.
Also, I PICK UP MY CAR NEXT WEDNESDAY THE 24th of NOVEMBER 2004!!! All I have to do is put my purty signature on the paper, put my old plates back on, and I'm good to go. The very first trip? Straight to South Carolina for Thanksgiving. SUPER GOOD TIMES WILL BE HAD BY ALL, and I will get there in my brand new ride. I wish Peeg and Stacy could be there, but they are sort of in another country. Speaking of Peeg and Stacy, they sent us all of this awesome stuff from Japan the other day. The treasures are too great to post all at once, but I will say there is a candy included called "Cream Colon" that is made by a company called "DevilRobots." Laughed. So. Hard. Then. Ate.
So Peeg and Stacy, thanks for the A cool Number One toys and candy. You will be missed at the Thanksgiving. And Peeg, you will be missed at the Chandler Family Football Game, though it doesn't matter since Nick and I would've totally won anyway. Totally.
Time to dive back in to the RIVER OF MOLTEN LAVA (insert scary music here)
I hope everyone is well.
Peace,
Joe

CRAP.

I'm moving to Ireland.

Crap.

Peace (ha!),
Joe

The saga is nearly at its end.

Saturn is replacing my car.

Yep, you heard me.

And here she is. She will be born this coming Monday the 8th in Spring Hill, custom built for little old me. I will take posession of her soon after. Suggestions of names are most welcome.

So after two months of, ummm, lets just say frustration, I will soon be driving a car of my own again. If you want details, give me a call. One thing I have learned from this is that information is powerful. For the good and the bad.

We'll just say it turned out very well in the end.

I can say no more.

In other news, Winter is finally coming! I am genuinely excited about wearing coats again. Also, the semester is at the point where everything you thought was a long way off suddenly isn't. So soon I will be driving back and forth to my office on no sleep again.

At least it will be in my own car.

And to end on the "lighter side" (what does that really mean?), today Jamie brought an array of Little Debbie snacks to the department. I was not aware of this until a friend pointed it out, at which point I literally jumped out of my chair and ran to the lounge, where I promptly ate a lunch of sugary goodness. Besides that, I had coffee for lunch. HEALTHY IS MY MIDDLE NAME OK. I am now paying for the goodness with wonky belly supreme and the sugar / caffine shakes. The goodness, she hurts so bad.

Also, you have to look at this.

I hope everyone is well.
Peace,
Joe