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