i voted

Election Reflections, Part 1

As a Wisconsin resident, I voted yesterday on a marriage amendment and also on the death penalty.
The marriage amendment actually bans two things: gay marriage and civil unions.
The death penalty amendment doesn't actually go into law, but is rather a advisory vote for the legislature. Whatever that means. I voted 'no' for both ballot initiatives. Both passed. Marriage amendment received 59%, death penalty received 55%.

Interestingly, I most live in a strong morally conservative county, Saint Croix. In Saint Croix county the marriage amendment received 61% support and the death penalty received 63%.

The death penalty result surprises me. Given results across the country, I'm not surprised by the results of the marriage amendment, but I didn't think the death penalty would receive as much support as it did. My guess is the only reason it passed was because it was quite specific about when the death penalty could be applied: only in cases of 1st degree murder where DNA evidence confirms the guilt of the accused.

family values

In this year's election, the land of cheese, land of my nice suburban home, will allow voters to decide if they want to add an amendment to the constitution which would guarantee the definition of marriage as a contract between "one man and one woman." I'll vote no. Even if it means gay sex in my front yard and men marrying dogs.

First, let's get a few things clear: I'm a religious person. I'm a Christian. The Bible is my holy book. I'm not a big fan of the protestant doctrine of Solo Scriptura, but even if I was, I'd be more than happy to argue that God/Bible (the difference sometimes blurs), has little to say about homosexual marriage. I do not believe homosexuality is a sin. Saying so is like saying being single is a sin: God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve...therefore being single must be sinful, right?

The term Sodomy offends me. The term refers to the events at Sodom, as documented in Genesis. Most people assume the "sin of Sodom" refers to homosexuality. No. No. No. No. No. For God's sake NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Don't believe me? How about some scripture: "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy" (Ezekiel 16:49). Strange....sexual acts aren't in the list. But forgetting the poor and needy is....damn scripture....how did that verse get into the bible....

But even if I did have moral qualms with homosexuality, for the life of me I'll never understand why people get so upset by it, so motivated to make sure to prevent homosexuals from getting married. Even if homosexual marriage were legal, there is no law which would force your church to marry people. What's the big deal? Do you really believe making gay marriage legal will increase the number of homosexuals? And cynically, it's about time the gay community joins the rest of us. 50% of us will suffer divorce. Divorce lawyers everywhere should campaign for making gay marriage legal.

Proponents of preventing homosexual marriage value narrow scriptural interpretation over well attested scriptural tolerance and compassion. Did you know that a gay couple isn't guaranteed the right of hospital visitation, or terminal medical decisions, or inheritance? Can you, o heterosexual reader, imagine going to the hospital and being told you had to leave the bedside of your beloved because visiting hours were over?

I will vote no this fall, even though I worry the issue is somewhat of a moot point. Given the results of so many other states, I doubt Wisconsin will fair any better. I just wish more people would see the gay marriage initiatives for what they really are: just another ploy by republicans to increase turn-out at the polls. Sigh.

Get your buttons and t-shirts here.

And for some more good stuff, watch some Jon Stewart on the issue:

obama

Sen. Obama is considering a run for president. We can hope.

fear and anger

For Rebekah:

Faithful preachin' don't pay reader Rebekeh commented on the link I posted about the ridiculous number of Iraqi's killed in the war. She asked me to read this.

Here's the low down- A bunch of liberal hacks from Johns Hopkins claim 650000 Iraqi civilians have died since the war began. A bunch of conservative hacks from the Wall Street Journal (predictably) wrote an article about how the liberal hacks are stupid because they aren't conservative hacks.

Look, I don't care. The point is that a shitload of innocent Iraqi's have died. Does the number really matter? Even President Bush estimates the number to be 30,000. 30,000! Just think about it.

And what are our excuses....I mean justifications....I mean.........reasons for the war?
1) WMD
What about North Korea and Iran?
2) Saddam is bad
What about the dudes from North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Columbia....
3) Saddam killed his own people
What about Darfur?
4) Oil (this is the liberal hack favorite)
I'm not buying it. Iraq doesn't export much oil.
5) War on Terror.
Give me a break. That's like saying we need to fight a war in Spain to fight the war on Taco Bell.

Have I missed something?

Honestly, honestly, honestly, I can't think of any good reason for the Iraqi war. I really can't. It's pointless.

I've written about this topic before. Read more here.

Life is simple when we can make clean distinctions between good and evil. We're good, especially when compared to the bad. And to prove how good we are, we demonstrate our power, our wrath. This is the Iraq war, in a nutshell. Don't fuck with us. We're America. We're the good guys. We have the biggest guns. Saddam dared play coy with the President of the United States, Bush 43.

It makes me sad.

saved?

I need to get saved. Mac Hammond says so. Watch the YouTube link below. First, Michelle Bachmann talks about how it's God's will that she runs for U.S. Congress, and that God wants nothing more than prevent women from marrying women, men from marrying men. I'd hope God has better things on God's mind...call me a crazy liberal...people dying in wars, children dying of hunger, crazy men walking into schools and shooting kids..........

Mac Hammond, pastor of Living Word Christian Center, addresses his congregation after Ms. Bachmann's speech and says: He says "I don't want any more letters about Church and Politics don't mix. If that's your opinion, you need to get saved." If Mr. Hammond is right, I don't want to be "saved." I think politics and religion don't mix well. I think history proves me right.

This is why, if I lived in the 6th district, I wouldn't vote for Ms. Bachmann. When political canidates start talking about God's will, I get nervous.

And please, please, know I'm not crazy about Patty Wetterling as a canidate. I'd like to vote for John Binkowski. However, the "wasted vote" ideal comes into play, only because Ms. Bachmann makes me so trepidatious with her "God's will" comments.

stewart

The Daily Show, where everyone should get their news. Especially during election season. I haven't been watching the Daily Show in a while, but I plan to ramp up my viewing as they ramp up their coverage of InDecision '06.

light in darkness, part 2

Just read the link here.

i heart scotland

When I started this blog, I intended to do more whiskey reviews. I don't think I've done any. Alas, my intentions were failed by simple economics. By beloved product, Scotch, usually goes for $50+ a bottle. I might live in the suburbs, I can't be spending 50 bones a week on a bottle of scotch simply to write a review that 3 people will read. Usually, I sip a dram of Maker's Mark, a fine Kentucky Bourbon.

There's some good news. A fellow blogger is filling the gap for me. Check out the whisky room. A great source of reviews of the beloved single malt.

words to live by

How to taste scotch. A how-to-guide that tugs the heart strings.

latin anyone?

Looks like the Catholic church is going back to Latin masses. Very progressive.

where's osama?

650,000 iraqi's dead because of the war. O, and by the way, I couldn't find this story on Foxnews. So I was curious - I went to news.google.com and did a search. At the time of the writing of this post, 219 newspaper websites are carrying the story, but not "fair 'n balanced." We wouldn't want to ruin the myth, er...truth, would we?

fun with blogger beta

You may have noticed the new template. Thanks to blogger beta, it's easy to change, easy to rearrange, easy to customize. Expect periodic changes as I search for template nirvana.

blogger beta

I took the plunge and upgraded this blog to the new and improved blogger, beta.blogger.com.
I'm hoping for good things...like integration with all of my other cool google stuff - gmail, spreadsheets, picasa web albums, etc.

For now, I'm just pissed. I attempted to comment here (good music makes my day), but was unable because I have the new and improved beta blogger, but timmer k apparantly still lives in the dark ages. Additionally, windows live writer (beta) does not work with the new blogger. So I'm back to typing my blog entries into the blogger editor. Sigh. Time to buy a mac.

light in darkness

The world could use more people like the grandfather mentioned in this story.

hasapopolopolous

I'm an uncle x6.

From Jacob Theodor...

cheapsake

We ordered "carside to-go" tonight for dinner. Picking it up was quite akward. Do you tip the person that brings the food to your car? I didn't know what to do. I froze.

Tip? No Tip? She didn't do anything. But she brought me my food. In way, she's my carside waitress...but she didn't do anything! It's just carry-out...but different. When I get carry out from the Villalge Wok, they don't bring the food to my car....so it's not carry out. But do I tip? Ah!!!
I didn't tip. I felt good about it. Until I looked to my left and watched the woman in the SUV next to me hand our "waitress" a five spot. Stupid suburbs.

sandbox

Grandpa built a park in our backyard for his grandkids. Click the picture to see more, using my new picasaweb photo album:

Building The Park

Sep 16, 2006 - 6 Photos

jesus and the aclu

Bumper stickers amuse me. If it were safe, I'd take pictures of my favorite bumbers while driving. However, considering I already talk on my cell phone, drink coffee, change songs on my iPod, and yell at the kids while driving, it believe it behooves me to abstain from adding yet another distraction.

Alas, it saddens me to not have a picture of my new favorite bumber. Yesterday while driving home from The Gap, I passed a car with a Jesus! bumper sticker placed immediately to the right (co-incidence? Jesus is a republican) of a sticker with ACLU circled with a line through it.

I'm still a bit naive. I didn't realize so many Christians had it in for the ACLU. Until I got home and browsed the web. Holy smokes. I even found a website that proclaimed "ACLU - Jesus Christ lives. Get over it!"

I like Jesus. And I don't mind the ACLU. Any group which expresses concern about the Patriot Act and files lawsuits against the government for conducting warrantless wiretapping is just fine with me.

one part love

Today my niece celebrated her first birthday. I married into a family of many nieces and nephews; birthday parties aren't uncommon. And we all live within two miles of my wife's parents'--all 8 grandkids, all under 3 years old. Ana is the oldest. Birthday parties (and weekly Saturday night dinner) are complete chaos. Welcome to my life.

At today's  birthday party the "icanthroughabetterpartythanyourlameasscan-ness" was in force. My niece's parents provided a meal of gyros. But they didn't have it catered. After all that would be too easy, especially since my niece's father is Greek. Today's party featured a lamb spinning on that mysterious machine that makes gyro meat, Shawarma. We did shots of ouzo and watched toddlers play on a swingset. We only argued about religion a couple of times. 

At times it becomes easy to succumb to the laziness of selfishness. I'm surrounded by family and young children; life abounds. Yet at times I wish they would all just leave me the hell alone. Let me sit in silence and watch tv. Children eager to give me kisses surround me, but sometimes all I can think about is myself, how tired I am, how I just want to sit on the couch and have a drink. This is lazy selfishness. This is pathetic.

Life does not get simpler than a birthday party. Happiness is a swingset and chocolate cake and not having to go to bed at the normal bed time because you're daddy let your get hopped up on sugar from cake and ice cream.

Life does not get simpler than a birthday party. What could be better than shots of ouzo and lamb on a spit?

family tree

I'm famous.
Just read the link.

shiny gold trophies

The 1^st Annual Cedar 3’s – July 2006

Welcome to the Cedar 3’s, an award ceremony dedicated to the best in contemporary music. The Cedar 3 committee meets continuously throughout the year to discuss all things music; the good, the horrible, and the contenders for this year’s awards.

On with the show.

Album of the year

Gomez, How We Operate

Citizen Cope, The Clarence Greenwood Recordings

Sufjan Stevens, Illinios

Winner: Gomez, How We Operate

day to day

Do you ever wish you could make time stand still? I do. Everyday.

My daughter is two, will turn 3 this November. My son is 10 months. I'm told a day will come when they won't want anything to do with me. Someday, I'll be just Dad, the dorky & annoying old man who doesn't know shit. But today, I'm Daddy, the best thing in the whole world. I make forts, read stories, play puzzles, and (in Sam's case) give them whatever they want to eat. Including chips. I'm daddy. There's no-one better. And my heart is full. Can time stand still?

My daughter is bossy. I think it's funny. She does yoga. I think she takes after my wife. "Down dog" is the name of something related to yoga. Do you call it a "position"? or "stretch"? or....who cares-it's yoga. Whatever happened to drinking to reduce stress.
Anyway, my daughter now knows about "Down Dog." Basically, you plant your hands and feet on the ground and then stick your ass as far in the air as you can. And now Ana does it. Today, she informed me that "Daddy, you do down dog, and then I'm going to push you over."

yossarian

From Catch-22, by Joseph Heller.

"Do you know how long a year takes when it's going away?" Dunbar repeated to Clevinger. "This long." He snapped his fingers. "A second ago you were stepping into college with your lungs full of fresh air. Today you're an old man."
"Old?" asked Clevinger with surprise. "What are you talking about?"
"Old."
"I'm not old."
"You're inches away from death every time you go on a mission. How much older can you be at your age? A half minute before that you were stepping into high school, and an unhooked brassiere was as close as you ever hoped to get to Paradise. Only a fifth of a second before that you were a small kid with a ten-week summer vacation that lasted a hundred thousand years and still ended too soon. Zip! They go rocketing by so fast. How the hell else are you ever going to slow down?" Dunbar was almost angry when he finished.
"Well, maybe it is true," Clevinger conceded unwillingly in a subdued tone. "Maybe a long life does have to be filled with many unpleasant conditions if it's to seem long. But in that event, who wants one?"
"I do," Dunbar told him.
"Why?" Clevinger asked.
"What else is there?"

greg

New York Times, reporting on Greg Boyd.

the stars all have names

Do you remember the last time you were thankful?

I let stress and worry consume my thoughts, and forget life is short.

What is your definition of success? Money? Comfort? A little of both?

When did comfort become our god? Maybe I'm unique, but I doubt it. We are strange creatures. We worship comfort, stability, so much so that we make ourselves uncomfortable in our quest for that which eludes, defies definition.

the speckled mind: for the love of the city

I've been mulling over the following:
The Speckled Mind: For the Love of the City

I should probably avoid comment, since I don't know much about the topic, but ignorance breeds conflict (witness our president), and a good blog is nothing without a little conflict.

1) "But there's everything in the Bible that says you ought to want to [live in a city]." Where the hell is this piece of scripture? We ought to want to live in a city? What is a city? Since Dr. Keller is a pastor in NYC, I assume "city" = large metropolitan area? Those poor farmers, working in the country (dumb hicks) and suckers living in small cities like Des Moines.

2) When Christians talk about wanting to become "counter culture" centers of society, I get nervous. I know the idea is a noble one. Usually the argument involves the city on a hill can't be hidden argument: Christians should be ambassodors of love, peace, joy, etc, and hence "counter-cultural." I've yet to ever see this play out in practice.

3) My good friend Timmer asks an interesting question: "How does this all affect the way we live within culture?" What is "culture"? The question presupposes "culture" is a universal concept, but shouldn't we speak of cultures rather than culture? In practice, there are multiple cultures at work within society.

sam

plants

I'm growing things in my yard.

nevermind

My good friend anonymous, commenting on my endorsement of the drunk-dialing preventor, made me rethink my endorsement.

You see, most people aren't terribly enamored with talking about what they really believe or what they are really thinking. Especially me. This makes it hard to be in a serious romantic relationship with another person, unless the other person enjoys deep conversations with the conversational equivelent of a 14 year old.

Enter alcohol. Problem solved.

Did you ever see that movie The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood? I'm not ashamed to say that I enjoyed the movie. There's an exceptional line from the movie - "ever since you quit drinkin' you quit makin' sense."

I officially recant my endorsement of the phone that prevents drunk-dials. The risk of not telling someone what you really feel far outweighs the risk of making a complete ass out of yourself. Drunk-dialing keeps people talking.

Cheers.

money for my friends

A friend of mine recently sent me an email and asked me if I would post my thoughts on tithing. Here goes…

The preacher says:
Tithing is a word used in some churches to describe the church'’s particular theology about how each church member's money should be distributed. Namely, a tithe” is usually considered 1/10 of the church member's income. Some churches believe everyone should be “tithing,” meaning that everyone who attends the church should be cutting checks to the church equal to 10% of their income.

Considering this concept, I wonder: 10% of pre-tax or post-tax income? What about investment income and dividends? If I own investment properly, can I deduct my monthly costs from my monthly income? Do I pay weekly, or can I schedule my 10% payments to coincide with my bi-monthly pay checks? If I have two dependents, and both are working, am I responsible for their 10%? What about gambling income? Is that tithed as well? And would the church consider a barter system? If I mow the church lawn once a week, can I get a 4% discount? And the real humdinger: considering the IRS grants money given to churches as tax deductible, at the end of the year should I determine how much my church-giving tax deduction saved me in federal and state tax, and then pay that amount back to the church?

My ethical convictions, spurred by my nuanced Christian beliefs, demand we give willingly to the widows and orphans, the poor and destitute. After all, theirs is the kingdom of heaven, lest we forget. I believe any church which mandates a financial requirement is a church I don't have much interest in attending. Churches aren't fraternities, God is not for sale. For some families, 0% is too much--every dime that is earned is needed to buy food, clothes, and pay rent.

crickets, year 2

Crickets, year 1.

Do you remember when you went to coffee shops without your computer?
Do you remember when instead of writing in your blog you wrote in a journal?
Do you remember when you spent warm summer nights chatting with friends instead typing IM's to people you don't really know?
Do you remember when you believed in god? Does it make you happy or sad?
Do you remember when you knew you knew everything about life, love, politics, god, art, music, literature, culture?

The crickets are singing again. God is no longer sighing. This year, I think god is sad. The world has betrayed god.

Too many things crowd our desire for simplicity. Things progress and develop slowly, then vanish, abdicating their meaning to a fleeting passing of memory. Do I seem obtuse? Consider the circumstances of life around your life: the sorrows and joys of friends and family. My memory is full:
The passing of loved ones, bringing with it the familiar sting of guilt for not appreciating the person before they were gone.
The marriage of friends, and basking in their joy. Love is simple.
A brother betrayed, his relationship destroyed.
A brother renewed, mature in his sorrow.
My kids, my everything.

drunk dialing

This is fantastic. A phone that prevents you from drunk dialing people.

new music

I've pleaded for suggestions for new music in this space before. Thanks for the help.
Some of my new favorites:

1. Citizen Cope, The Clarence Greenwood Recordings
2. Andrew Bird, The Mysterious Production of Eggs
3. The Fray, How to Save a Life
4. Death Cab For Cuite, every album they've ever made
5. Anna Nalick, Wreck Of The Day

i want one

A story about a hybrid car that gets 100 mpg. Click here.
If I every buy a diesel motor car, I'm going to make my own gas. Click here.

In an unrelated note, John Kerry is still an idiot. Click here. He's for pulling the troops out of Iraq...eventually...but he's really for fighting the war in Iraq...unless he's against it, because he voted for it before he voted against it, which means he's for the troops, for Iraq, and for a better America....eventually....

a room with a view

The view from my Auckland Hotel Room. 

NZ

The good news is that I took a trip to Auckland, New Zealand last week. The bad news is that I was there for work, so my family wasn't with me, and I didn't get to see much. My days were mainly:
1) Get coffee.
2) Get another coffee because that last one was insanely tasty.
3) Go to customer site hopped up on caffeine.
4) Return to hotel.
5) Relieve stress with some whiskey
6) Do some more work in my hotel room.
7) Have another drink and wander around downtown Auckland
8) Go to bed
9) Wake up at 3am to screaming fans at the pub next to my hotel. Stupid World Cup. 

hockey hair

Congratulations (not really) to faithful reader Joshua and his lame-ass Carolina Hockey team. I'm content in leaving Nascar alone. Please give us Hockey back. North Carolina winning Lord Stanley's cup is like Canada winning the World Cup. Only much worse. And what's worse, I had to watch a bunch of red necks stand for the entire game, even though the arena has seats. Hockey fans should not act like Duke basketball fans. Sit down and have 13 beers for chrissake, eh?



And Joshua - I fully expect you to grow some hockey hair. Also, real hockey fans riot and burn cars when they win championships. Go Gophers.

whistlin' dixie

I bought the latest Dixie Chicks album today. It sounds good on my ipod.
I especially enjoy "Not Ready to Make Nice." I interpret the lyrics as a response to criticism directed toward D.Chicks criticisms of Commander-in-dufus Bush. Here's a sample:

I made by bed, and I sleep like a baby,
With no regrets and I don't mind saying,
It's a sad sad story
That a mother will teach her daughter
that she ought to hate a perfect stranger.
And how in the world
Can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Saying that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should

dream of dreams

I’m told everyone dreams while they sleep. I seldom remember my dreams. Maybe that’s why I dream so much while I’m awake.

Last night I dreamed about a priest. Not like that—don’t be so sick. I was preparing the meal for a wedding party, and the priest and I were talking in the kitchen. He was bored with the wedding, bored with people pretending like they cared about him. I kept giving him wine and telling him he should think less. At one point I asked him what kind of wine he wanted. I picked up the two bottles that were sitting on the counter, reading the labels of each bottle. He could have Jack Daniels wine or white wine. He choose white, I went with Jack. It tasted good.

Then I dreamt I should buy the latest Joss Stone album.

bring beer

do you ever wonder what it would be like to go to a major league baseball game and bring your own liquor? er...let me rephrase, what if you could bring your own liquor into the baseball stadium without having hide it in a lotion bottle tucked neatly into the side pocket of your (or your date's) purse? In short, if you want a drink, you wouldn't ahve to pay $15.23 for it. Baseball games would be BYOB.

The fine people of Great Britain know how things should work. Cricket is BYOB. I love cricket. And some money hungry bastards are planning on taking away the right of British citizens to bring their own bottles of liquor to an all day cricket match/game/whatever the hell you call it.

Read about it here.

building a mystery

My wife and I bought a house-house last year. It came with a furnace, but it didn't come with grass. The owner built the place and then his job transfered him to California a month later. In a bit of a pickle - I hate mowing grass. Grass makes me seeze. But the city and my neighbors would like it if when they drive past my house they didn't have to wonder if a pheasant is going to fly out in front of their car.

Furthermore, we got such a good deal on the house that I overlooked the fact that it is located smack dab on the biggest lot in the neighborhood. And now that the time has finally come to stop pissing off my neighbors and grow some grass, I'm reminded that my lot is the biggest in the neighborhood. I have a big ass yard. My landscaping adventures have begun.

Things I plan on doing this spring/summer:
1) Build a retaining wall behind my house. There is a big "privacy burm" that is pushing it's way into my backyard. The backyard needs to be a least big enough to fit a tent for my first outdoor party, complete with kegs and inflatable boxing ring. And a swingset for the kids.

2) Remove weeds.

3) Regrade the lot.

4) Kill patchy grass in the front yard. Apparently the previous owner took the time to throw some grass seed in the front yard and then forgot to water it.

5) Purchase 100 yards of black dirt and spread it out in preperation for seeding.

6) Put that edging crap around the house.

7) Trying my hand at sowing some grass seed. Point of interest: I once attempted to grow herbs but they all died.

8) Plant some bushes and some trees.

9) Pray retaining wall actually retains the dirt behind it.

10) Build deck. The grill needs a home.

11) Get 2nd job to pay for landscaping.

dear mr middle aged man @ the coffee shop

dear mr middle aged man @ the coffee shop with free internet access near my home,

I was sitting in the coffee shop last night writing a paper about the nature of the kingdom of heaven. You were sitting a few tables away, with your computer monitor facing me. You mentioned you liked my laptop.

I too enjoy the free internet access at the coffee shop. It's becoming a requirement when I decide my patronage to coffee establishments.

Just one question Mr middle aged man,
Must you serf for internet porn in public?

dear mr gates

Mr Gates wishes he wasn't so rich.

Dr. Mr. Gates,

I'm sorry you're so rich. I hope things get better.

-JB

cheap gas

Brother Matthew sent me this link. It's offensive, and it's funny. Just my kind of humor.

Paul, No Name, and Eli

As I posted the entry "ladies joy, hansum man, missing nascar." I was missing nascar. Some 'splainin' is in order...I'm not giving any-those who know...know. I'm not a car racing fan. Tony Stewart rocks.

JPK, if you read this, please know that you mean as much to me now as you did on those nights sitting in front of the oven, frugally trying to keep warm, drinking vodka gimlets, and dreaming of life. The lives we dreamed are the lives we've led, surprisingly. I wish you well.
And for those of you wondering, we sat in front of the oven because we kept our thermostat set at 50 degrees in the winter. Minnesota gets colder than 50. Believe me. Heating is expensive, so we told visitors to put on a sweater. Before we went to bed, JPK and I would open the oven door, crank it to 500, and wait for the soothing warmth as we soothed our nerves with too much vodka, soothing our souls with honest conversation.

Matthew recently visited. He wrote nice things about me (see below).
Matthew and I are friends because we are equally curious. We hold our opinions loosely, with hope they will be challenged. We doubt most things. We hold tightly to some things. It's strange--I've never been too certain about anything in my life. But I'm certain about my feelings for my daughter and my son and my wife. Matthew feels the same for his wife. To me, this is beautiful.

Joshua is the most decent and honest man I know. We're more alike than we care to admit. Too bad you don't like whiskey. I have stories to prove it. A proverb for everyone to remember: Just because it's on sale doesn't mean you need to buy it.

k

Smiles erase many cares. Worry wanders into our lives, absorbing our joy. There is always another chance to fret and feign contentment. Life presents a continual choice: seek good despite heartbreak or indulge in the slow drip of consuming heartache.

I am never satisfied. Each satisfaction brings yet another desire. A goal accomplished is a goal revealed. There is never enough. There is only the desire for more.

And then, every once in a while, for a brief moment, we see. We understand. We are content. But the moment passes.

Smiles erase many cares.

love boat

In honor of the Minnesota Vikings, the Saint Paul Saints (minor league baseball team) have a new promotion: free "love boats." Too funny.

what's the craic

My new favorite word: craic.

ladies joy, handsum man, missing nascar

  

curly and chubby

  

special guest blogger, matthew anderson

note: The following is a post by preachin' don't pay's first guest blogger, Matthew Anderson. Matthew visited the preacher and his family last week for a few days. Much whiskey was reviewed.

Since Joel lost the cord for his camera, I’ll attempt a word picture.

Most of my time spent with Joel in the past included discussions regarding religion, politics, and general life experience. Our skeptical attitudes toward the previous list included criticism and sarcasm mostly, occasionally we would offer a solution or two. In one sense we are good for each other, it’s nice to know someone like you, especially since that someone knows you are full of male bovine fecal material. In another sense, we were precarious. We ran rough-shod over most topics because we knew just enough to make us dangerous. Our buddy Josh kept us on the straight and narrow.

Joel and I have both married (married up I might add), we’ve both done some extra education, and both moved into a career since we met. Joel has added two beautiful children, I await that blessing. This was the first trip to see Joel in a number of years, the first time seeing his children. We still talk about politics and religion as a hopeless mess twisted beyond recognition and the perils of life, but our discussions are different.

Here’s the picture-its not the same as before. Today, my buddy Joel likes people to think, he likes to agitate for the sake of critical thinking and irritate to challenge firmly held opinion. He holds his opinions loosely and compares them to others with interest. His thoughts about life are more informed, I guess that comes with just being around longer. For Joel, life has become precious, too precious to live half-gluteus maxima. Thanks to his wife and wonderful children, Joel sees life with fresh eyes. He sees a reason to discuss the details, motivations, and agendas in politics, his children bring the future into view. Joel has a renewed sense of the importance of a right view of God because he, along with his wife, will teach their children. Life has become different because Joel has been entrusted with life. The picture of my friend has changed. I’m not talking about the size of his physique, its Joel singing the “clean-up” song with his daughter that has changed. It’s a pleasant picture, one that includes a beautiful wife, curly haired daughter, and chubby-cheeked son. Life is precious.

JB is my friend. We missed you Josh.

photographs: ETA 3 days

I ordered a cord for my digital camera. Ordering a new one was easy. I have a kodak camera. I went to kodak.com, intered by camera model into the "search kodak.com" box, and clicked "accessories for your camera." After shipping and handling, losing the original cord only cost me $23.17. Kodak has assured me that I'll will receive the new cord via ups in 2-3 business days.

life

My best man is recently engaged. Congratulations JPK.

The fifth season has ended...finally. Thank God.

Samuel is getting teeth. He sleeps no longer than 20 minutes without crying.

Ana has decided she's "little bossy," but daddy is "big bossy."

I secretly hope K moves back so the Cedar3 can be re-united.

Relationships are ending, beginning.

smile of the week #3

I've lost the cord that connects my digital camera to my computer. I'd buy a new one, but I keep hoping it will turn up. In the meantime, I've got 462 pictures on my camera. Maybe it's time to spend the $13.43 and just buy a new one.

An old friend is arriving tomorrow. He's staying with us until Thursday. I'm excited. You know a true friend when you can get together after not seeing each other for months or years, and you talk about things other than what you used to do together; your conversations are fresh and vibrant, not a simple rehashing of good times now long past.

Pictures to follow...cord allowing.

hi mom

hi mom. see you tuesday.

roses for my friends

when you're driving down the road, you can drive off the road into the ditch on either side.
on the road of life, there's two ditches you can drive into - concentrating too much on helping people, concentrating too much on helping yourself.
there's got to be balance somewhere.
and if you're thinking helping people is such a pain in the ass, maybe you're burnt out because you've been neglecting to help yourself.

smile of the week #2

Free coffee at Starbucks. When I first saw this story I was afraid it was a hoax. No way would Starbucks really give away coffee for free. On Wednesday morning I cautiously entered my local starbucks at 10:30 A.M., looking for the "FREE COFFEE UNTIL NOON" sign. My heart sunk. I saw no advertisement, and there was not a line out the door. Surely if Starbucks was really giving away coffee people would be lined up down the street!

I sheepishly walked to the counter and placed my order. "One small coffee please."
I refuse to say "tall" "grande" or "venti" when describinng what size of coffee I want. And I especially enjoy when the "barista" repeats my order using the starbucks language.

As my local "barista" was pouring my coffee, I reached into my pocket for two $1 bills. As my "barista" set my "tall" coffee on the counter, she told me there was no charge. Whoa!

my smile of the week

A wonderful blogger buddy is doing a really great reoccuring column - Timbu's annoyance of the week. Blogging, like music, is essentially stealing. You steal other people's ideas, try to make them your own, fail to mention your inspiration, and pray your readers/hearers don't catch on. I know these things; I was in a band. Now I write a blog; I've given up stealing melodies for stealing words.

But I'm not going to completely steal Timbu's idea. Instead of my "annonyance of the week," I'm going to attempt to write about my smile of the week. Those who know me best will recognize this as a stretch. I'm an accomplished pessimist. For me, annonyance are easy. Smiles are a bit harder.

My smile of the week:
Ana, although only two, is starting to display some of her beautiful mother's cleanliness habits. We were outside today. She walked through some mud. She found a stick and attempted to remove the mud from her shoe. And we have a picture to spread the smile:

the secret handshake

Thanks to the folks at postsecret, I'm finally able to poignantly describe my seminary experience.

Or, as friend once asked me: "Is seminary like watching the Wizard of Oz for the first time, and finding out that the wizard is really just a little dude hiding behind a wall?"

Yes. I'm in on the joke. God is much smaller than she used to be. Why do we equate "small" with weak? Should it be?

hobbies

I work with fascinating people. I especially enjoy learning about people’s hobbies—the things they would do if it paid. I work because preachin’ don’t pay. Today I talked to a woman who works because dog-sleddin’ don’t pay.

Did you know that if you go dog sledding in Northern Minnesota (She goes near Ely), you get to spend the nights in a yurt?

jars of clay

A friend recently hit me up for the original Jars of Clay album.I had forgotten how much I used to listen to it. So I fired up on my new iPod (my wife really does love me). More about my shiny new iPod later.

It’s hard to believe the album is 10 years old, for a couple of reasons:
1) The music still sounds unique and original, albeit many others have attempted to duplicate their style. Of course, all music is essentially stealing other people's ideas, so whatever.
2) It’s been 10 years since I first started listening to it. I’m getting old. I remember playing this album in my car stereo while at a campsite after I graduated from High School. And listening to it while driving to Lutsen for a weekend of golf the same summer. And listening to it some more during road trips in college, when it was one of the oldie but goodie cd’s we’d pop in.

I like the entire album, but especially the song “He.” I never really thought about the lyrics until today when I was listening. It’s quite dark. Which is no surprise—I usually like the dark ones.

Daddy, don't you love me?
Then why do you hit me?
Momma don't you love me
Then why do you hurt me?

Fearful tears are running down
The pain you've laid don't speak a sound
Don't take my heart away from me
And they think I fell down, again

woot off alert! woot off alert!

Today is a woot off! Check it out: woot off!

help!

I'm on a quest for new music! Loyal readers, please suggest albums I need to check out.
I've recently purchased:
1) Jeff Foucault, Miles from Lightning
2) Coldplay, X&Y
3) Sarah McLachlan, Afterglow

Help! I'm craving good new music!

happy valentine's day

From Daily Candy:

carniwhore:
n. a girl who puts out for carnations.

valentiny tim:
n. a man who's masculinity is put into question by his overenthusiasm for V-Day.

learning to talk

Ana has become quite chatty. A translation guide:

If she says "please," she means "please."
If she says "your welcome" she either means "please" or "your welcome."
If she says "ask," she means she's asking nicely as in: "Daddy, may I please have the ..."
If she says "five minutes," she is begging: "Daddy, may I pleaaaaaaaaaaaaase watch elmo for the 89th time?"
"fra-fies" are french fries.
"green" is ice cream - she only eats mint chocolate chip.
"Saminul" is her brother, Samuel.
"It-spide" is the itsy bitsy spider book.

what just happened

Regular readers of this blog know that I'm not a big fan of our President. But damn if I wasn't surprised tonight-he actually said something in his State of the Union address which I agreed. He called for America to end it's dependence on foriegn oil, and also proposed that we invest heavily in alternative ways of powering our cars and heating our homes.

Well done, Mr President.

I'm no law professor, but...

Supreme Court Upholds Oregon Suicide Law

I'm not a law expert, but why is that the conservative wing of the court seems to favor State's rights unless it the issue conflicts with the conservative agenda? This summer, the court ruled that Federal agents could arrest people in California who grew pot in their backyards for medical purposes, even though the law in California allows residents to do so. Now, the conservative wing of the court (including new member Judge Roberts), in their dissenting opinion, criticize Oregon's law which allows for physician-assisted suicide.

I'm all for the conservative ideal of state's rights. I just wish it would be applied consistently.

i heart pat

I've put up a new Poll. See the sidebar to the right.

What would we do without Brother Pat? We've been amused with him in the past:
1) Take him out!
2) God hates those who don't teach ID.
and now,
3) Mess with Israel, and God gives you a stroke.

Preach on, Borther pat. The Daily Show needs you.