It's Not Only About Terri Schiavo

This whole Schaivo thing makes me literally sick. I have to take a breather everytime I read about it. This piece by Henthoff, "It's Not Only About Terri Schiavo," is really good.
Fighting for her life is more than enough reason to keep up the challenges to her husband's evil. But if she falls, the next will be easier....

From the Home Office...

from The Holy Observer

I'll second that

Puh-reach it brutha John, Puh-reach it!

Active Investigative Explorer

Sounds like the name of a semi-generic Action Figure, but that's actually a description of me (in theory). Gerald So's blog directed me to Find Your AQ. Your AQ is your Adventure Quotient--a measure of your spirit of adventure (sponsored by Land Rover).

Anywho, my result was:

The old saying "You learn something new every day," is a bit disappointing to you--you'd like to learn something new every hour, at the very least. Our initial calculations reveal that you are the Active Investigative Explorer.
The mysteries of this world fascinate you and your life's mission is to gain insight that can satisfy your hyper-curious mind. Your quest is knowledge, and lucky for you that treasure is free for the taking. There are no secrets to this universe, just truths; and while they can't all be discovered in one lifetime, searching for them is the ultimate adventure.

eh, maybe...

Pe-dro! Pe-dro!

whoo-hoooooo! 11-1, baby!

4 1/2 game lead now for the Yanks...sure, Fenway this weekend could change that. But...heh,heh Pedro giving up 5 in one innning? Too sweet.

Seminary Updates

I'm keeping (well, trying to anyway) a blog of my seminary work, for those who are interested. I'd have put that info up here, but many of my supporters, church members who might be interested, etc. really don't want to read my rants about George Lucas' ego, Batman movies and questionable taste in TV shows. Anyway, I do know a couple of people who read this are interested, so now you have a place to go.

It's also added to my blog list to the left, there.

uh oh

Discovered that my church's candidate (or at least his wife) has read this thing...gotta be careful what I say here (esp. if I don't like the sermons).

On the other hand, this could come in handy for a bargaining chip...just need to start posting things like...."Great guy, decent preacher, but man, I just worry that he's asking for too much in the way of salary. On the other hand, there's this other candidate..."*

*This is of course a joke, all pastoral candidates ask for too much money.

Fulfilling the contractural obligation

It seems like it's a duty for blogs to talk about this forgerygate story (after all it was blogs that made it a story), so I'll just point to Fred Barnes' piece. Doesn't say anything you don't know, but ya gotta love the opening line to his article, The Burden of Belief: "CBS has left the flap over purported documents involving President Bush's record in the Texas Air National Guard in this posture: Who are you going to believe, CBS or your lyin' eyes?"

Q&A

from my notes for last week's Catechism class, here's a couple of gems from John Willison

Q. Does Baptism seal and apply these things equally to all who are baptized?
A. No, for to elect infants and believers in reality it seals and applies these things absolutely. But to those who are only believers in profession it seals and applies conditionally, upon supposition that they are what they profess.

Q. Are the benefits sealed to believers immediately conferred upon them at the moment of baptism?
A. Though a sealed right to these is then given them, yet the efficacy of baptism is not necessarily tied to the moment of time where in it is administered. For God, being a most free agent, makes this ordinance effectual and confers His grace when and how He pleases. Besides, the fruit and power of baptism reach to the whole course of a believer’s life (John 3:5,8).

20 winks

As those who've known me for any length of time can attest, sleep has never been a huge concern/priority for me. I do it when I have to, but if I can put it off to read something, write something, watch something, or for pretty much any other reason, I will.

Now normally this is fine, doesn't cause too many problems--and at times has even worked to my advantage (when I have to meet a deadline of some sort, it's easier for me to push sleep to the side and get it done). And over the last few months, for the most part anyway, as I've been preparing my exhortations for Sunday mornings, that's been invaluable.

Last night I got less sleep than normal for a Saturday night (30 minutes total), but didn't really even notice it--I was really into the writing, really into the text, and loving the final prep. So I ended up only taking a quick nap from 2:30-3.

I do my final practice/revision on the way to church while my wife drives. This morning, I was going along, editing a bit, reading, practicing how I wanted to phrase things and ... next thing I knew I was 2 pages ahead of where I remember being. I'd drifted off reading my own sermon! How bad is that? (how boring must it have been?)

Tip o' the Cap

Kudos to the Crusty Curmudgeon for doing a typically more thoughtful rant on Lucas tinkering with his classics...

Catching Up

I've been meaning to link to this for a few days now: Jonathan Edwards blog which describes itself as, "Quotes from the sermons and writings of Jonathan Edwards." A great place to drop by once a day or so...

Guess I'm an idiot

Heinz Kerry Bashes Health Care Plan Foes

Teresa Heinz Kerry says "only an idiot" would fail to support the health care plan proposed by her husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Kerry's proposal includes health care subsidies for children, the unemployed, small companies and others as well as government assistance to insurers and employers that hold down premiums for workers.

Watched part of a Kerry speech yesterday morning (before I put myself and my kids out of our misery and watched a Dora the Explorer re-run for the 13th million time). In the Health Scare section of the speech, he talked about how horrible George Double-U Bush's policies were (I doubt he meant the huge Medicare expansion in this, otherwise I'd agree) and how the US needs to join the nations of Europe (Kerry's template ideas are from France after all) recognizing that medical care isn't a privilege for those with the money, but a basic human right!

If I didn't care about the Swift Boat Vets, the war in Iraq, or on terror, or anything else, Kerry would lose my vote right there. Why not just drop the pretense and run as a socialist?

"Only an idiot wouldn't like this," Heinz Kerry told the Intelligencer Journal of Lancaster for a story in its Thursday editions. "Of course, there are idiots."

Ahh, such a calm, reassuring, tolerant voice for a future First Lady to use. Yeah, this'll unify the country.

If Kerry is elected, Heinz Kerry predicted, opponents of his health care plan will be voted out of office.

Great rallying cry for the RNC here!

Still, the multimillionaire and philanthropist balked at the idea that she was selling her husband's plan.

Psssssssssyeah, right!

Someone STOP George Lucas!!!

The man just has to be stopped--now. By almost any means necessary--do like the South Park guys did and just steal his movies from him. Or take him to court a la Randall from ABC's Clerks. Or something not done by an animated character, I don't care. Just STOP HIM!

According to Sci Fi Wire, he's going to tweak the original trilogy when it comes out on DVD. 1. Hayden Christensen (the piece of plywood in the role of Anakin Skywalker in Ep. II) will be the spirit next to Kenobi and Yoda at the end of Jedi. 2. Ian McDiarmid will be in Empire as a holographic Emperor. 3. The whole who shot first, Greedo or Solo thing will end with it being a draw.

LEAVE IT ALONE MAN!!! THEY WERE CLASSICS FER CRYIN' OUT LOUD!!! You want to re-do something, fix up Tucker or Willow, or some other movie that wasn't that good in the first place.

And this is the man that's doing the re-write on Indy IV? Ack.

School Daze

First day of school today...forgot how hard this is (I think Samwise did, too, come to think of it).

First curriculum induced gripe of the year--everything's in cursive for Frodo. Fine, you want to teach him a horribly useless style of writing, okay go ahead. But to have everything in his curriculum (phonics, spelling, etc.) in cursive already on Day 1 seems to be asking too much...part way through the year, you know, when he's had a chance to learn the letters, fine. But to start out with all of his examples in a script he can't read just seems mean.

On the way home from PE today, I was trying to tell him about this, and he replies very matter-of-factly "Oh, that's okay, Mojo Jojo is always saying 'Curses' and 'Curse you,' so I know about it."

Ah, silly me, never mind then...

update

Mentioned a few weeks ago that my blood pressure was high (to say the least). Well,
good news it's down. Bad news: that's all via medicine, haven't taken a pound off yet. Don't think the Doc is going to be happy w/me.

Low Tolerance

This is pretty clever...don't let the name dissuade you, click here: http://www.pleasurecaptains.com

P.E.

Well that was interesting...the parents seemed to be made up of die-hard home-everythingers, a couple of upper middle-class yuppie types, one dad [was relieved to see another dad there] who's trying the homeschool thing because his kid isn't fit for the GRTF schools, a few I couldn't pigeon-hole...could make for some interesting convos if we ever get to that stage.

The kids had a blast, out there doing some sort of silly activities with balloons--and, of course, the Hokey Pokey*. Frodo, typically, was intent on getting everything just right, just like the teacher told him (and, in a very Adrian Monk moment asked permission to fix a saftey cone that had been knocked down--I could tell it was really bugging him). Samwise, on the other hand, threw himself into it with gusto--as long as he was sorta doing what he was told, that was enough. Frodo did have fun, but he was too busy making sure it was the right kind of fun he didn't enjoy it as much as his lil' bro. Something tells me that's pretty much going to define their lives.


* the question must be asked..."what if the Hokey-Pokey is what it's all about after all?"

This should be interesting...

The local "Rec Center"--which has little to do with recreation, more of a fitness club funded by city funds--has a Homeschool PE program. Today is the first day of class for my boys. Outside of Sunday School, Samwise hasn't been in anything like this. Frodo's experience on the T-ball field will pay off for him. But taking orders from someone who's not a parental unit and dealing with children he's not related to aren't exactly Sam's cup of tea. So a little apprehensive there.

On the other hand, these two get to run around and burn a lot of energy. This could make for a nice afternoon for dear ol' dad...:)

This is why I shouldn't fly

Okay, a couple of years ago I fly down to San Diego for classes (see Jan 2003), on the way home, I’m stuck in Salt Lake City overnight. This week I fly down to Greenville, and on the way home, I get stuck overnight again. I had options for where I could get stuck this time, ‘tho. At 5 pm I could wait (an estimated) 4.5 hrs for my delayed flight to Chicago and wait to fly to Boise in O’Hare until 10 am the next morning. I could wait a couple of hours and then wait in the Houston airport until 9 am. Or I could wait in Greenville until noon.

Of course, I pick the option that allows me to smoke cigars, drink Guinness and talk theology.

So I get home about 20 hours after I was supposed to. This made sermon prep, getting to work, family life, etc. very, very hard. And blogging pretty much impossible. But I'm back...will try to say a thing or two about the trip to Greenville here soon.

The bat closes in for the kill

Quick post to point all bat-fans to this great article from the Telegraph: The bat closes in for the kill

toooooo busy

have much to say and report, no time to do anything (including this)...stay tuned, true believers...

Update on me

Well, the Mrs. and I did make contact (she called me). So, crisis averted there.

I've been in Greenville, SC for about a day now. Nice place. A lot more trees here than I figured. Not sure what I expected, but it wasn't trees.

Fell asleep in church today, but at least I didn't snore. Ugh. Who'd have thought sitting on a plane doing nothing would be tiring? Read a novel between Boise and Chicago. Actually would've had it finished between Boise and Denver, but made myself stop every now and then.

And it was hard to make myself stop. I was reading the latest Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, Bad Business. It's rare when I can pace myself through a new Spenser, esp. one this good. But facing impending boredom I was able to discipline myself some. Just not enough.

Using an on-loan laptop and I don't have my spam filter on this one. MAN! I get a lot of junk.

Well, that's all for now, will try to have actual news tomorrow.

To My Wife

Hey hon, on the off chance you decide to check this thing while you're at your folks, sorry. I tried to call. Multiple times. But for some reason the #&$(#&)(*^$#!!! phone company says it can't connect me.

MIss you and the kids already. Love you. Hope to be able to talk to you soon.

Theologically Speaking

It's been noted a handful of times (esp. by me) that for a blog maintainted by a seminarian and Presbyterian elder, there's very little talk about theology here. What's up with that?

Well, for one thing, pretty much everything I have to say about the Bible/theology/doctrine/etc. is for my sermons. I simply don't have energy to think about anything else at the moment. Hopefully, my upcoming seminary studies will help me there.

Secondly, it's just really hard to find the time to finish those theological posts I start. I'm very careful about what I publish in that regard. For example, raving about the upcoming Batman Begins is easy--if it turns out to be a flop, I can live with myself. Saying something baseless or groundless about the new Finger Eleven album..eh, whatever. But I can't say that about say questioning (or not questioning enough) the orthodoxy of writer X, or idea Y that I might want to talk about.

'nuff said...

Sermon Prep

Somehow I doubt Alistair Begg does it this way . . .

If you look closely you can see the drool dripping down my arm. :)


(photo, btw, taken by Frodo)

A Warning to Stephen King fans everywhere

Okay, I don't know for sure that Scott Peterson killed his wife and son, all this could be whatever cockamanie story his defense is using. I only know 2 things for sure: 1. it was nice of him to give Dean Cain a chance to act again; 2. the testimony from Amber Frey shows that if he's not a murderer, he's a first-rate cad.

What I don't get is all the noise being made over the fact that his favorite movie is The Shining. "Wha--? The Shining? Well, doesn't the husband in that movie chase after his wife with an axe? Clearly there's something wrong with this man..." Welll, yeah, but the movie also featured a haunted ski resort (or something along those lines)...so what?

Hint for anyone thinking of killing your wife (Mr. Hacking, it may be in time for you, probably not 'tho)...when asked what your favorite movie is? Pick a romantic comedy, something based on a Jane Austen novel...Whatever you do, no Stephen King!

Preach It, Brother!

I know nothing about Nick Gillespie, but what he says in American Slender: When did freedom become just another word for 10 pounds left to lose? is truly wonderful.

Which is why of course, we're doomed.

We all knew it was coming....

1. Utah suit challenges laws on polygamy
[link fixed in case you were having troubles earlier]

2. Is Speaking Truth a Hate Crime?

ummmm

Just don't know where to begin objecting to this one...

Vicar will launch naked calendar

Best line from the article belongs to the Vicar: "Undoubtedly some people will complain but it is important to see it before making any criticisms."

LOL

sweeeet

Casting for The Goblet of Fire has been announced: Miranda Richardson as Rita Skeeter--excellent. Richardson never hits a bad note... Brendan Gleeson as Mad-Eye Moody--not bad. Ralph Fiennes as You-Know-Who--very, very cool. And of course, the long-in-the-tooth Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.

The Mrs. will be geeking out tonight...

Catching up

Well, last week we moved. Which is a pretty amazing thing...seems our last landlord was gave us "an extremely negative reference" that caused the property manager at this new place some second, third and fourth thoughts about us. Thankfully, I had warned her about it, and reason saw the day (if we'd been so horrible, why'd she kept us around for 5 years? why did she invite us to move into a much nicer place last year? etc.) Anyway, living out of boxes this week, which is oodles of fun.

So then last Monday, I come home from work and there's my official letter of acceptance from Greenville--finally. Here's the fun part: part of that letter was news that I am "required" to attend new student orientation on-campus on Aug 23-24. 'Scuse me? I have to travel cross-country in less than a month and this is the first I hear of it?? By a remarkable series of providences in the last couple of days--including some help from very generous friends (both here and in Greenville), I will be able to attend. Should be fun.

Then comes Thursday, and the friend who was helping me with the first batch of moving had some mechanical trouble, so he's running late. But, I have a phone appointment with my academic advisor in just a few minutes...what do I do? Well, I imagine this is going to be 30 or so minutes, just like my advising sessions in college, so I'm a bit worried. I throw caution to the wind and grab the cell, load up a desk heavier than the truck we're using, the file cabinet and a few other things, run them out to the new house and call... I just know he's going to be annoyed by the noisy engine in the background of a static-filled call. Thankfully, doesn't even seem to notice it in our brief conversation (0:05:39). 1st words out of his mouth, "I'm exempting you form Rhetoric." Well, okay! 3 credits down! When I go back I will take the OT Survey test to see if I need that. Will try the Greek I test in the Spring. He wants me to start out slow, given it's my first semester and all my other responsibilities. Intro to Reformed Theology and History of Philosophy if I pass the OT test. Otherwise it'll be Intro to Reformed and OT Survey. Am very nervous about the test. If it was Greek or even intro to Ref. Theology or Ante-Nicene Fathers I wouldn't mind so much...just not looking forward to failing that test. "Boy, you obviously haven't read your Bible enough..."

Work is..wow. Counted the hours this week, and I'm getting a lot more than I said I wanted. Which is nice money-wise, but man! I'd occasionally like to see my wife, or hang with my kids and my wife at the same time. Getting better at the work itself, on the whole, but still not as fast as these punk (and very foul-mouthed) kids.

Speaking of the kids, everyone's doing fine. Taking a brief break from school while we unpack our lives a bit. The Kidney Kid's cutting a tooth--and he doesn't handle pain meds very well, but he does respond really well to being held on your lap. Which is nice...unless you're trying to pack/unpack/write.

Lastly, going to the doctor today. While getting treatment for my sprained wrist over the last few weeks, have noticed something troubling about my blood pressure. It's high. Don't remember the actual numbers, but if the Dow Jones was as high as my blood pressure then both Bush and Kerry would be able to nap 'til November when Bush would be reelected in a landslide. (that metaphor worked much more smoothly in my brain than on paper...) Mostly tho' I'm going for my feet. They're in pain. Not just aching from being on them so much, but sharp, lasting pain. After working 7-8 hours I can barely walk, and then the pain's still there when I crawl out of bed--pain killers don't touch it. Probably going to be told to get a desk job or something, but gotta give it a shot.

You're now up to date on my life. I pity you. :)

Homeschooling for Liberty

As we approach the start of the school year, Tom Smedley's new piece on LewRockwell.com is worth a read or two.

First quote-worthy section:

To the rational thinker, handing off children to paid agents of government makes as much sense as hiring the hangman as your babysitter. Yet today otherwise sane people consider it normal to frog-march a terrified five-year-old child to the bus stop, and send him off into a penal system peopled with monsters and manipulators. "After all," the gulled parent says, "public school did me no harm!" Other than damaging your critical faculties to the point where you are unable to perceive the harm done to yourself ...

Second quote:

Home-schooling is the place where the love of liberty intersects the love of our children. This is normal, principled, child-rearing, where we take our offspring by the hand to lead them on a guided tour of the real world, the wondrous universe. It is also, in retrospect, one of the few important things I have done with my life. If you are like me, you have met too many parents in tears over how their children were alienated from them, and came to hold in contempt the defining values of their family. In stark contrast, over the course of the last two decades, I've met zero home-schooling parents who regretted that decision. Even parents who eventually handed their kids over to the government regarded their home-schooling years as times of unusual closeness, happiness, and adventure.

Is home-schooling hard work? Let me rephrase that: is it an ordeal to spend large blocks of time with the people you love most on earth? With personable youngsters who are alive with questions, alive with the love of learning? Who regard you as their primary expert on everything? Who are eager to try out the things you teach them? Avid readers, well able to engage in intelligent conversation at an early age? So where's the hardship?

Hard work, yes. Hardship, no.

sure thing

Just saw a story where NBC will be running a 5-week reality series in the Spring, the search for the next Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Cover Girl. Good grief! Can you imagine the ratings on this thing???

(and no, I won't be watching)

dropping in

Been quite a while since I blogged...very busy, moved last week; many, many things up in the air with seminary; really, really tired overall...hope to have something here soon.

Warning, Warning!

Mallard Fillmore is frequently preachy, all to often just not funny, yet frequently hits the nail on the head. This isn't particularly funny, IMHO, but it's true.

my night

5:30 go to work. Things are crazy.
7:00 Things slow down for 30 minutes
7:30 Things go even crazier. We are inexplicably 1 person short on grill, this makes things even crazier.
8:25 YAHOO! One more hour of this insanity..
10:20 WHAT? Forgot to look at my watch 'til now! Ugh.
10:30 All caught up, in a slow period again. Ask managers if now is an okay time to ask about going home. They look at the clock for first time in hours...tell me to clock off and apologize.

So, how much am I gonna get done for Sunday now? blech.

not writing....but I am reading

Can't seem to get anywhere in my prep for Sunday morning. Which is bad, because I think I should do more than read James 1:9-18, say "amen," and sit down.

So, as I frequently do, I turn to some other writers for inspiration. Even if it's on a different topic, just reading something good will get me going. Hasn't worked yet today, but here are my top 5 columns of the week...

5. Kerry/Dole '04! by Jonah Goldberg

Imagine you are a war hero senator running for president. You have a very long and, for the most part, dull legislative record. You're stiff on TV and generally listless on the stump. You can't stop talking like a senator even though you know it leaves people cold. Your opponent, the incumbent, is presiding over a booming economy just emerging from the doldrums. Your base despises the president, but you need to reach out to moderates who are inclined to like him.

Wouldn't it make sense to fix your charisma deficit and bolster your ticket by picking an energetic, enthusiastic, appealing younger guy - somebody who both excites your party's base and charms the press by being polite and high-minded?

Well, that's certainly what Bob Dole was thinking when he picked Jack Kemp as his running mate in 1996.

4. Free the Schools! by Harry Browne

Education is a disaster. If you don't believe me, ask the politicians. Every election year they tell us how terrible the schools are — children not reading at their grade level, bullies running the schools, infrastructure falling down, drugs being sold in the schools, classes that are too large.

Of course, every politician has solutions in his pocket that will cure all these problems. But even after they impose their solutions, they keep coming back to tell us what terrible shape the schools are in.

3. What media bias? by Larry Elder Nothing earth-shattering here, just a good review...

2. The demise of literature by George Will

There have been times when reading was regarded with suspicion. Some among the ancient Greeks regarded the rise of reading as cultural decline: they considered oral dialogue, which involves clarifying questions, more hospitable to truth. But the transition from an oral to a print culture has generally been a transition from a tribal society to a society of self-consciously separated individuals. In Europe that transition alarmed ruling elites, who thought the ``crisis of literacy'' was that there was too much literacy: readers had, inconveniently, minds of their own. Reading is inherently private, hence the reader is beyond state supervision or crowd psychology.

Which suggests why there are perils in the transition from a print to an electronic culture. Time was, books were the primary means of knowing things. Now most people learn most things visually, from the graphic presentation of immediately, effortlessly accessible pictures.

People grow accustomed to the narcotic effect of their own passive reception of today's sensory blitzkrieg of surfaces. They recoil from the more demanding nature of active engagement with the nuances encoded in the limitless permutations of 26 signs on pages. Besides, reading requires two things that are increasingly scarce and to which increasing numbers of Americans seem allergic -- solitude and silence.

and the top column of the week is....
1. The Imperial Middle by Jonah Goldberg.

November 2 promises to be another in a long line of elections decided by those Americans who are the least engaged, least interested in, and least informed about politics.

and Goldberg thinks that's bad...and he's right.

new TV

Just got done watching FX's new show, NYFD Blue...er, no, make that Rescue Me. Not bad...little foul mouthed, little too pre-occupied with 9/11 (but don't think that'll last). All in all a good use of TV.

It's kind of like Dennis Leary's The Job from ABC without the pressure to be comedic.

Taped The Grid Monday night, haven't found the time to check it out...maybe tomorrow. FX and USA have done some good original shows, time to see if TNT can follow suite.

A moment of self-indulgent venting deleted

shouldn't have indulged that way...

Quick notes about movies

Okay, it's been awhile since I've posted anything...I've actually started quite a few, but haven't gotten further than that. I have a small rant I'd like to do about the Bryan Singer Superman movie (despite the fact that most of my readers really won't care), but in the meantime, I'll just give you a couple of links.

1. Why no one want make Hulk 2? A plea for a second chance from everyone's favorite green giant.
2. An open letter from Wolverine to Superman...not as clever as the Hulk piece, but darn close.
   

Kidney Kid Update

Well, today was the least interesting kidney doc visit we've ever had...guess that's a good thing, right? He took his pulse, read over the last test results (astoundingly good) and said, come back in 3 months! (okay there was a little more conversation, but not much)

Other than that: he's rolled over once, but keeps getting tripped up by his shoulder when he tries it again. Teeth are in the near future. Pretty much normal stuff. He's a lot of fun ('cept at times like the moment when he's yelling for no reason...)

hi, remember me?

Sorry I've been away from here for awhile...been working on a couple of personal projects and trying to get my brain moving in general. This last week I've just been fried. Between trying to start a series on James, this misc. personal stuff, and work...I'm on overload it seems.

This McDonald's stuff is unbelievably hard. I'm sure I'm working more for this slightly-above minimum wage gig than I have for any of my "professional" jobs. Working with the customers is fun, the rest isn't too bad (although I could do without the rushes once we're down to our skeleton crew), but you're pretty much moving all night. So I come home totally wiped out, yet unable to sleep for an hour. Generally, it's sometime after 3 that I crash most nights. I think I'm getting more used to it, but in the meantime. sheesh.

housekeeping

Every few days, my wife will complain that she can't see this blog. She uses IE, and while it will show up fine in Mozilla, it won't in IE. So I re-publish the index, and all is well. I don't get it. Does anyone have any ideas why? Anyhow, will try to get better about checking IE to make sure it works...

Secondly, just set things up so that the Mrs. can post here, too. Don't know if she ever will, but a little more Noise from her can only help this thing.

Finished!

32 weeks and I've finished my series of exhortations through the Epistle to the Ephesians. Originally, I was hoping, hoping to get through Eph. 3 before I got to stop because we'd have had a new pastor. Clearly, that didn't happen. It was cool to work through the entire book--I think I grew and I know my gifts (if they exist) were tested. I know I'd rather listen to the latter ones again than the first. The congregation here has been mind-blowing in terms of their support and encouragement. I wouldn't want to think about how it would've turned out if not for that.

Sadly, today I felt off my game--like the pitcher who for some reason one day doesn't "have his stuff." What's worse is that the PCA pastor in town decided to worship with us today--his last day of vacation, and he didn't want to get back in the office early, so to speak. I mean, I hate being off anytime, but it seems worse...eh, he was encouraging, so I should probably get off the ego trip....

Lord willing, beginning next week, we will be in the Epistle of James—-for me at least, it will be a bigger challenge. I haven’t really studied James in years—-in fact, it was the same year I wrote a college paper saying that Luther got it wrong in his debate against Erasmus, needless to say, my perspective has changed a bit since then. I hope very much that I won’t get very far in it before we have a permanent man in this pulpit.

Finallly, Trebek doesn't look so smart

Thanks to World's blog for tipping me off to this nice article from National Review about Ken Jennings, aka "That Jeopardy Guy". The dude is just smart...it's amazing to watch.

Just hope he doesn't lose tonight when I'm at work and can't watch. Then again, maybe I don't want to see that.

Why didn't I watch this??

Oh yeah, something about working...oh, man, oh, man.

Okay, I'm not gonna talk about Sheffield getting hit twice by pitches, I'm not gonna gloat over the 8.5 games that the Yankees have over Boston, what I am gonna say is this: Say what you will about A-Rod or Nomar or whoever being a one of the best short-stops playing. Here's what makes Derek Jeter a great player



from mlb.com:
Boston had runners at the corners with two outs in the 12th, when Trot Nixon lifted a fly ball to shallow left field. Jeter ran the ball down near the foul line, catching it before diving head-first into the stands.

"It's the greatest catch I've ever seen," said Alex Rodriguez, who was just feet away from Jeter at the time. "It was unbelievable, he's so unselfish, putting his body in compromising situations. It was hard to watch."

No time for a big blog on this

BUT, Sam Raimi--you're my hero.

Alex Ross--wow, I wish I was rich enough to buy your prints.

James Franco--hang in there, you're improving.

Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, Bill Nunn...A+'s all around.

Go read this

Razormouth.com has returned from the land of no-updates--not sure if that's good or not yet. But this column "Knocked up and down", is the best "culture of life"-esque thing I've read in ages

Spider-Man 2 Conspires to Silence Michael Moore

This is too funny.... click here and scroll to the article by Scott Ott

"Mr. Moore added that buying a ticket to Spider-Man 2 is 'tantamount to voting for George Bush.'"

groan

Stumbled home a little while ago from my first non-training shift. Am tired, dead tired. Legs hurt, feet hurt, back aches, eyes burn--but brain isn't ready to shut down. I feel coated with grease, and if I were to shower for 2 hours a day for the next week, I might feel clean again. Instead, I'll go to work tomorrow night and do it all again.

I worked the first drive through window tonight (taking orders, taking money). That part was fun. But when there are no customers...I'm working on dishes...which is just wet, messy, greasy work.

If anything will drive me to give up fast food, it'll be washing dishes at McDonald's. But I don't think even that will interfere with the pleasure...as long as I have a couple of hours away from the sinks :)

Off to collapse now...

as long as we're talking cool Spidey stuff...

Ain't it Cool News has this very interesting best Spider-Man comics, fun with the movie column up today.

Spidey II: The Anticipation

From the day that Sony announced the release date (and then the revised date), my family has been focused on the sequel to one of our favorite movies, featuring my kids' favorite fictional character (and one of my top 5). Sadly, schedules didn't work out for us to see it on opening day, but we've got our tickets for Thursday. Mom and I are throwing caution to the wind and taking Sam and Frodo with us, The Princess and the Kidney Kid* will have to wait for the DVD (which all my kids are already asking for). I think it's safe to say that we're more excited about this than any silly "holy day" in December.

And then you get to the reviews: Joel Siegel, Ebert & Roeper and others are pronouncing it the "best superhero movie ever." Marv Wolfman (comic writer extraordinaire) says, "it is unarguably the best super-hero movie ever made. Because it's as much a drama as an action film, it can also stand up to almost any other movie out there. This one transends the genre. Congratulations to director Sam Raimi for a brilliant movie without a single false note in it." Peter David (another comic writer extraordinaire, and the man who wrote the novelization) writes, "The acting is even better this time around, the CGI has improved, and the sequences with Doc Ock are so seamless that you literally don't think about the fact that it's all trickery. Molina is just spectacular as Octavius, and the aerial battles between him and Spidey--especially when they're plummeting and still whomping on each other--are great. And it's true: Aunt May delivers a spectacular speech on the nature of heroism which alone is worth the price of admission." Harry Knowles (of ain't it cool news) can't say enough good about the movie.

I am so psyched....

*can't wait 'til he gets more of a personality and I can give him a new nickname

The New Job

Okay, have now completed three training shifts underneath those lovely Golden Arches. It's not the greatest gig in the world, but it certainly could be worse. I might actually enjoy it when I get used to the stupid keyboard at the cash register, or when I finally memorize all the ways the different sandwiches are made--would've thought I'd have had that down already, honestly...guess I need to eat there more often (just kidding, dear). Worked assembly today (putting together the sandwiches, etc), enjoyed myself occasionally--and working drive thru last night in the lightning storm was fun. Think I could do okay there.

One giant fear: I don't want to end up talking like a dumb high-schooler because of all this exposure. Nice kids (most of 'em, anyway), but, ugh. I hope I didn't act like that when I was 17...or 13, for that matter.

I should really subscribe to this

Took that off of The Door's description of the May/June 2004 issue. LOL.

quick hits

I've really been wanting to come up with something meaningful and insightful to write about for awhile now, but it seems my tank is tapped at the moment. (mixed metaphor there I think)

Anyhow, at the moment I'm supposed to be doing something both productive and that will make my wife happy. So, of course, I've been catching up on my on-line reading.

Ann Coulter, of course, is on her game today with a column about Clinton's book, and the left's obsession with him.

WND frightened me with this story of a new Bible Translation that makes the gender-neutral Today's NIV look decent. I will have nightmares for a week.

Movie Reviewer James Bowman tickled me with his Fahrenheit 9/11 review: "One thing that is clear is that Michael Moore is a stranger to all forms of restraint, and that he is able to find anti-Bush material in just about anything. To him, the president is guilty both of stupidity and of diabolical cunning, of laziness and of leading the march to totalitarianism, of cowardice and of insouciance under pressure in that Florida classroom — Goat-gate, as perhaps we ought to call it — of fear-mongering in order to sell the war and of neglecting warnings of terrorist activity, of over-zealousness about security and of laxness about security. Not only is he guilty of all these things, his whole family is. So are his friends. So is his administration."

His Life, His Lie, His living testamonial to the paper industry

"The book, which weighs in at more than 950 pages, is sloppy, self-indulgent and often eye-crossingly dull — the sound of one man prattling away, not for the reader, but for himself and some distant recording angel of history.

"In many ways, the book is a mirror of Mr. Clinton's presidency: lack of discipline leading to squandered opportunities; high expectations, undermined by self-indulgence and scattered concentration."

And that's probably the best thing that Michiko Kakutani had to say in his NY Times Book review of ex-Prez Clinton's memoir this weekend.

"...it devolves into a hodgepodge of jottings: part policy primer, part 12-step confessional, part stump speech and part presidential archive, all, it seems, hurriedly written and even more hurriedly edited."

Of course, who could imagine editing this guy? The draft probably hit the publisher's desk mere days before it was due...probably just run it through a quick Microsoft Word spell-check (with the "Check grammar" box checked of course, too), send it to the printers--all you have time for.

"Part of the problem, of course, is that Mr. Clinton is concerned, here, with cementing — or establishing — his legacy, while at the same time boosting (or at least not undermining) the political career of his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton."

Part of the problem? No, that's the crux of it. That's all the book is about (IMNSHO). The biggest question about this tome is what effect it will have on Kerry/Bush. Could actually make the Kerrster look intersting.

Trying to get excited about this

Turned in a bunch of applications today, ended up getting an interview with one of them. The interviewer will have to check with the manager, but it looks really likely that I have a job starting as early as next week.

At McDonald's.

Hardly a dream job, but it should pay enough to make ends meet. And hey, free food....

Still, it's McDonald's

Move over E=MC2

c=(m+n0)/p has arrived.

What's that? The formula for the perfect joke.

"The funniness of a joke – c – is worked out by adding the comic moment – m - to the “pratfalls”, or the number of times someone falls over – n0.

A comic moment is calculated by multiplying the funniness of the punchline and the length of the joke’s build up.

The “pratfalls”, or number of times someone falls over, is worked out to the power of 0 – the ouch factor which is the social pain or embarrassment of falling over as well as the physical pain.

This total is divided by the number of puns – p – to establish the final funniness of the joke."

You just know there were a lot of tax doallars that went into getting us to that point.

This is cool

Apparently this past Lord's Day while I was leading the worship service, the Kidney Kid was trying to interact with me. During the hymns, he was silent, but anytime I started talking, his mom and others tell me he started talking, too.

Okay, maybe it took him forever to smile for me, but, who cares? This is better than that. Can't even see me, but he knows it's me.

Spending too much time with Grandpa

Okay, I admit it, we've slipped when it comes to working on the catechism with the kids--between my work and all the hub-bub surrounding the Kidney Kid's arrival....anyway, not only haven't we made progress in the last couple of months, it looks like we've regressed.

Tonight was Night #2 of getting back on track. I ask Sam a question he used to be able to nail: "Can you go to heaven with this sinful nature?"

He answers: "No--I must change my heart before..."

We stop him at this point, and help him get it right, "No--my heart must be changed before I can be fit for heaven."

and him named for a Reformer . . . .

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Just heard Mick Jagger singing that in the background of a C2 commercial. He is sooo right. The Mrs. brought home a C2 for us to try out tonight. Gross! Give me New Coke anytime over that.

The Mrs. said it tasted to her like it was half Coke/half Diet Coke (and the ingredients suggested the same). Maybe, maybe not. I'll only say, ew, ew, ew, ew.

Twisted Thinking

“The only way that an outside observer can determine whether any entity feels pain is if the entity communicates distress to the observer. The parties agree that fetuses are unable to communicate, so it is impossible to determine conclusively if the stress responses seen in fetuses in fact translate into an actual pain response…”

So wrote Judge Phyllis Hamilton as she struck down the Partial Birth Abortion ban. This kind of thinking will cause me to lose sleep at night.

My wife works at a residential care facility for the Developmentally Disabled, many of whom are totally incapable of communicating in any meaningful way. By Judge Hamilton’s reasoning, why would it be wrong for someone to go through the campus and kill those clients? Heck, we don’t even have to go so far as killing—could the facility use her logic to explain why they don’t investigate charges of abuse? (this is a purely rhetorical question—they do investigate).

On a side note, I wonder what she’d say about Animal Cruelty Laws—I mean, the dogs can’t really communicate with us. No matter what we like to think, we don’t really know what they’re thinking.

Oh, for a judiciary bound by the law….

Mourning in America

I feel compelled to say something about the death of Ronald Reagan. Not sure what I can say that doesn't pale compared to everything I've heard in the last day and a half.

When I heard the news yesterday afternoon, I was stunned. Sure he was 93, and the long battle with Alzheimer's, but he was Ronald Reagan, fer cryin' out loud. He was about as likely to fall as Rushmore.

I guess the best way I can summarize my feelings about it is this. When I heard the news, I shed a tear or two. Can't imagine doing that for any other political figure--ever.

Signed, Sealed...

(Delivered was three months ago)

The Kidney Kid was baptised today. After trying and trying to get schedules to work out nicely, we threw that idea out the window a few weeks ago, and got our Ministerial Advisor over here today to administer the Sacraments.

Lord's Table, Son Baptised, and I didn't have to exhort! Who could ask for more?

near disaster

As you may recall, back on March 4 I talked about the PR gal at the hopsital taking photos of my youngest, but he wasn't going to end up on the billboard (and if you do recall that, I almost pity you--read a book!).

Well, today I'm driving home from signing Sam, Frodo, and the Princess up for swim lessons, and as I enter the driveway, I grab the rec catalogue, and my eye catches the back cover--full page ad from the hospital--"That's My Boy!" and "That's My Garage! Better hit the brakes!"

Turns out there's actually 2 pictures of him in the advertisement. How cool is that?

Now, gotta grab a few handfuls of that catalogue tomorrow :)

So-called Chaos

Alanis' new album is, of course, as lacking in chaos as anything with that title could be. This is really her best album since Jagged Little Pill, which she won't ever be able to top--others will be able to, just not her, since a lot of it's magic is that it's her bursting on to the scene (and she can't re-burst).

Anyhow, the music is great, the lyrics are frequently clever, she doesn't over-do the strange meter thing too much (and it's very effective when she does it). Of course, she bears her soul and psyche throughout, but what do you expect? It's Alanis.

There's one big beef I have with the album's lyrics--and it's a common theme in the post-Jagged Alanis stuff--I hate it when I hear interviews/read books/hear songs by people that have so clearly spent too much time in therapy (not the Dr. Phil kind, see below). Now, in a way it's more tolerable this time around--there's less of it, I think. But at the same time it's worse--because when it's there, it's a lot more heavy-handed. Reminds me of the David Meece album, Once in a Lifetime--it's just sooo clearly the product of a good session with a counselor/shrink.

Standout tracks (at least for now) for me are: "Eight Easy Steps", "Knees Of My Bees" (aka Head over Feet, pt. II), Everything ('tho I have a couple of knee-jerk rebuttals to make to that one sometime--still like it). Problem track? "Doth I Protest Too Much" Just a tad--but you definitely Pusheth the Metaphoreth Too Much, a few less lyrics would've saved this song.

Yes, I did just relate an Alanis Morissette album to a David Meece album. Bet I'm the first to ever do that!

Proof against Darwinism

Back in the day, when I was in High School, Bill Engvall was a funny guy. He had this great stand-up act. Then he decided he wanted to make more money, or maybe he really likes hanging out with Foxworthy (somebody has to). But, IMHO, he's really watered down his act. He would (still does, I guess) complain about stupid people, wishing they'd have to carry signs, so you'd know who you were talking to.

Here's a couple of people deserving signs:

1. Heard this on Sean Hannity's show today (2nd segment), looked around online, but can't verify it yet. 'Course I believe Hannity (am about 60% Hannitized), so here it is. This guy files some sort of complaint with the Civil Rights Commission in New Jersey and gets Ladies' Nights at bars banned! Apparently this bar had a five dollar cover charge for men on said nights and charged full price for drinks. Clear discrimination!

2. This utter moron (sure, he has a doctorate, but he's still a moron) who's filed a complaint with the FCC about the disclaimer on the Dr. Phil show. "It needs to be bigger and at the beginning, so people know it's not therapy." Well, DUH! Any semi-lucid person watching that lunkhead for five minutes knows it's not therapy anymore than Katie Couric is a journalist or that Judge Judy is a competent jurist (which still puts her ahead of most Federal Judges). Of course it's just entertainment--for some anyways (making no judgments about those who like him for entertainment purposes). He spends too much time and effort on the goofy facial expressions and the clever figures of speech to be real therapy.

Latest on the kidney front

Whoo-hoo! (or for the geeks in the audience, w00t!)

Fresh from the kidney doc--things are looking good, he's a little low on sodium (always has been, just like his mom). So we'll be getting a supplement there to help. Otherwise, everything's looking good.

In fact, if the magic levels in his blood level off where they are, instead of renal failure before the age of 2, we could be looking at 6-8 instead!!!

Otherwise, he's doing great. He's growing slower than his siblings, so mommy gets to play with a baby a little longer than she's used to. He's talking a lot, almost rolled over last night, smiles for everyone but daddy....can't ask for more. God is truly blessing him.

Wouldn't it be nice if he actually had a chance?

I don't know much about Libertarian Presidential Candidate Michael Badnarik other than what's in this post, but, man! Wouldn't it be nice to live in a country where a guy like this had a shot at the presidency?

Here's what he as to say about schools
There is no clause in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution that grants the federal government the authority to control public schools. The entire Department of Education is unconstitutional. The citizens of the United States used to be the most intelligent society in the world. Now we rank approximately 21st in the fields of math and science. Even if the Department of Education was legal, it is not doing its job. There are heated debates about posting the Ten Commandments in schools. Football players are prohibited from saying a short prayer before the big game. We do have to "separate church and state", but in trying to decide whether to keep "God or government" in the schools - we've picked the bureaucrats. How dumb is that?!

Listening to the Radio

Heard some interesting things on the way home tonight

1. A certain county commissioner here in Idaho (actually the county I reside in) has issued a "Public Safety Advisory" because the INS is not enforcing it's regulations and will allow 12 illegal immigrants currently in Canyon County Jail for various crimes to be released if a judge sets bail. Reportedly the commissioner doesn't understand why the INS is doing this. This same commissioner made the news a few weeks ago when he sent the Mexican government a bill for the expenses of incarcerating illegal immigrants who committed crimes in the county. He made Hannity & Colmes, Today, etc. because of that one

So the big question is: Guy looking for headlines, Racist, or Hero? (I'll make it a little easier for you: his name is Velasquez)

2. This can only happen in Idaho: a few days ago a young bear stumbled across a McDonald's parking lot, some idiot gave him a chicken sandwich. Shock, surprise, the next day, bear comes back with a friend. More food is given to them. Bears keep coming back, McD's asks people to stop giving them food. People ignore them, give more food. Supposedly the Fish and Game dept. will be on hand tomorrow to trap the bears and take them far, far away from the Golden Arches.

There was a third thing I found chuckle-worthy, can't think of it now (wish I'd had a pen on me...)

Can I get this kid on a committee for General Assembly?

So, Frodo's reading to me from his reading book. This is an optional assignment--topic is Dinosaurs, obviously written from a non-Christian perspective (the curriculum makers allow us to skip this assignment and a fairy tale involving a witch). It's talking about "scientists tell us ...millions of years ago..." And I interrupt, "Some scientists think that--not all, okay?" "Okay." He keeps going, we get to another "millions of years ago" thing (cue Carl Sagan voice).

I ask, "What if some very smart people say one thing, and the Bible says something different. Which do we believe?"

"God."

"Well, how do we know what God wants us to think about it?"

He looks at me with something bordering between pity and contempt, "It's in the Bible."

So black and white for him right now. There's no "well, when you start with the assumption..." or anything. Just God's right, and He tells you what you need to know in the Bible. How refreshing. Hope he keeps that.

Our Life with Newey

Samwise has himself an imaginary friend. Well, an imaginary fish, to be exact. His brother (and to the best of my recollection, his father) never did this kind of thing. But a couple of weeks ago when they went camping, the boys went fishing with Grandpa. Sam caught the first fish, which he called Newey (from his last name), they threw Newey back and fished some more.

About a week later, Newey the Newton resurfaced--this time in the form of a drawing of a fish that he carried around for days, cared for, slept with (without wrinkling or tearing!) and so on. He may be on a different drawing now, I'm not sure. Anyhow, he pays a whole lot of attention to Newey--more than a real pet would get, I think. Today I was told (after a conversation on his sister's toy phone) that Newey's mom was coming to live with us, and his dad would be visiting tomorrow after work--he misses his son, after all.

I wonder what it's like to live in that boy's head sometimes...

America has Spoken

And my 5-year old's confidence in democracy has been restored. After the debacle with LaToya and slip up with Jennifer I didn't know if he could take a Fantasia loss...probably turn into a commie. But thankfully, that's a moot question now. He apparently was incredibly excited about the results. I'm just waiting for tomorrow morning when he'll be glued to FoxNews for their recap (over the last couple of Thursdays he's actually started grabbing the remote and switching from The Disney Channel to Fox for this) and he can tell me all about the show.

This afternoon he was full of confidence--Fantasia had to win, he and his mom voted, and who ever gets the votes wins... (lesson for Al Gore there).

This was our first season watching the show, probably not our last. I was really surprised how into it I got--btw, YAY FANTASIA (where do you think the boy got his taste?).

Now, I've got to work a couple of CD's into the budget so I can keep the command "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger..."

Guys Night Out

Well, afternoon, really.

Saturday after work, took Sam and Frodo to Shrek 2. First time in ages the three of us have just gone somewhere to hang out. They were in hog heaven (literally--couldn't believe the way that Sam devoured the popcorn!). This was only the fourth time they'd been to a theater, so that fact alone made their day. Something we need to do more often.

How was the movie? Wonderful. If you liked the first one (it's one of my favorite comedies of all time), you will love 2. Everything that made the first one worth watching--humor, pop culture riffs, music, animation, moral, characters--it's all back and all better.

I grant $104 million or whatever on the first weekend is obscene...where are our national priorities? But since $17 of that was mine, guess I can't throw too many stones.

How heartwarming

Hitler Heir Doesn't Want 'Mein Kampf' Royalties

Group project

Received this in an email to a bunch of my family...not sure if I will respond or not. Anyone want to help? It was written in response to boycotting something Muslim because of 9/11, Iraq, etc.

Some of the responses are fairly obvious, others are likely as obvious, but I don't have the facts at my fingertips...if anyone does leave a comment, and I'll think about assembling them into a response
-----
Catholics kill Protestants daily, and Protestants kill Catholics daily. Do we boycott things of the Pope or Billy Graham? Every day here in America, Christians kill Christians over money, politics, abortion issues, love triangles, etc. Shall all good patriotic Americans boycott Christmas and Easter?

So, the people who planned and carried out the attacks on Pan Am Flight 103, the World Trade Center, the Marine Barracks in Lebanon, the USS Cole, etc, happen to be Muslim. They did not do those things because they are Muslim. Nor did they do those things because most American citizens are not Muslim. They did so because of perceived political or economic injustices. The USA is now waging war on some Muslims, not because they are Muslim, but because of political, or economic reasons, or because they attacked us first.

Good Muslims the world over repudiate terrorist attacks regardless of who the attacks target. American citizens including Muslim Americans, Christian, Buddhist, and Jewish Americans, are involved in the war against terrorism. This is not a religious war and shame on any of us guilty of making it a religious war!

The terrorists are trying to make it a religious war in order to gain backing from all Muslims for their cause. If "we" Americans make it a religious war, then we are only helping the terrorists in their cause, and hurting a lot of Americans including Muslim Americans. When we Americans start fighting wars over religious beliefs, which religion will be the last one standing, Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Protestant, Baptist, Mormon, Muslim, or Buddhist American. Or will it be atheist Americans?

We're back!

Was just notified that some people have been getting a blank white screen the last couple of days when trying to access this...which does sound slightly more edifying than a lot of what's put up here.

Anyway, tweaked the settings and those of you using Internet Explorer should be able to see it again. Sorry for the trouble.

You know what the best use for IE is, don't you? It's one of the better ways to go to www.mozilla.com where you can get a really good web browser :)

Missing the point

Samwise* comes up to Daddy's Little Princess and says, "Frodo** and I are running away. You and Daddy need to take us in the van to Grammy and Grandpa's."

I interrupted, "Um, if you're running away, you need to go by yourselves, I can't drive you."

Frodo objects: "But we're not allowed to ride our bikes on the street. We're too young. It's too far to walk, so..."

Samwise adds on, "Yeah, to take us to Grammy's and pick us up tomorrow at 4, because we're running away."



*Codename for Son #2
**Codename for Son #1

Great Books?

Well, Scott reminded me to visit Joanne Jacobs this week, both of whom were talking about collegeboard.com's 101 Great Books to read.

Here's the list. Those in bold are the ones I've read. 39/101--not exactly a wonderful score. But better than Scott :)

Beowulf--wonderful
Achebe, Chinua--Things Fall Apart
Agee, James--A Death in the Family
Austin, Jane--Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin, James--Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel--Waiting for Godot--why did I waste my time?
Bellow, Saul --The Adventures of Augie March
Bronte, Charlotte--Jane Eyre--worse ways to spend time
Bronte, Emily--Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert--The Stranger --hated it
Cather, Willa--Death Comes for the Archbishop
Cervantes, Miguel de--Don Quixote (read bits of it)
Chaucer, Geoffrey--The Canterbury Tales--some great, some pointless
Chekhov, Anton--The Cherry Orchard--eh, whatever
Chopin, Kate--The Awakening--I would welcome the sweet taste of death before reading this again
Conrad, Joseph--Heart of Darkness--I would read Kate Chopin again, several times before I would read this again
Cooper, James Fenimore--The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen--The Red Badge of Courage
Dante--Inferno--cool, bad theology, but cool
Defoe, Daniel--Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles--A Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor--Crime and Punishment
Douglass, Frederick--Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore--An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre--The Three Musketeers--pretty cool
Eliot, George --The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph--Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo--Selected Essays
Faulkner, William--As I Lay Dying--whoa. Absolutely loved it
Faulkner, William--The Sound and the Fury--blew me away, not as good as Dying, IMHO
Fielding, Henry--Tom Jones--considered by many to be the first novel. Definately one of the most enjoyable. Who needs Pickwick Papers?
Fitzgerald, F. Scott--The Great Gatsby--nice, but never left me wanting to read again ('tho I've read it several times)
Flaubert, Gustave--Madame Bovary--dreary, painful
Ford, Ford Madox--The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von--Faust
Golding, William--Lord of the Flies Ultimate Proof-Text for Total Depravity from a totally secular point of view
Hardy, Thomas--Tess of the d'Urbervilles--dreary, painful
Hawthorne, Nathaniel--The Scarlet Letter--worst hack-job on the Puritans ever
Heller, Joseph--Catch 22 (on my "To Read" list, for about 15 years)
Hemingway, Ernest--A Farewell to Arms--ummm, whatever.
Homer--The Iliad--cool!
Homer--The Odyssey--cool!
Hugo, Victor--The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale--Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous--Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik--A Doll's House
James, Henry--The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry--The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James--A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man--Slightly better than Joseph Conrad. Slightly.
Kafka, Franz--The Metamorphosis --great premise, well done
Kingston, Maxine Hong--The Woman Warrior
Lee, Harper--To Kill a Mockingbird--THE best novel I've ever read
Lewis, Sinclair--Babbitt--proto-Tom Wolfe, loved the style (that's Tom Wolfe, not Thomas Wolfe, below)
London, Jack--The Call of the Wild
Mann, Thomas--The Magic Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia--One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville, Herman--Bartleby the Scrivener--don't remember any of it.
Melville, Herman--Moby Dick --don't want to remember much of it
Miller, Arthur--The Crucible--second only to Hawthorne in Puritan hit pieces
Morrison, Toni--Beloved
O'Connor, Flannery--A Good Man is Hard to Find--hard to get better than this!
O'Neill, Eugene--Long Day's Journey into Night
Orwell, George--Animal Farm--best political allegory starring animals ever. (yeah, yeah, I know--probably the only one, too)
Pasternak, Boris--Doctor Zhivago
Plath, Sylvia--The Bell Jar
Poe, Edgar Allen--Selected Tales
Proust, Marcel--Swann's Way
Pynchon, Thomas--The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria--All Quiet on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond--Cyrano de Bergerac--read this so many times it should count as 50 selections on this list
Roth, Henry--Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D.--The Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare, William--Hamlet--blech
Shakespeare, William--Macbeth--blech, blech, blech
Shakespeare, William--A Midsummer Night's Dream--blech, blech
Shakespeare, William--Romeo and Juliet--blech, blech, blech, wherefore art thou, blech?
Shaw, George Bernard--Pygmalion
Shelley, Mary--Frankenstein
Silko, Leslie Marmon--Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander--One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles--Antigone--somehow ended up reading this about a dozen times, never finished the cylcle, tho'
Sophocles--Oedipus Rex
Steinbeck, John--The Grapes of Wrath--self-important, overly political, waaaay too long
Stevenson, Robert Louis--Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher--Uncle Tom's Cabin
Swift, Jonathan--Gulliver's Travels
Thackeray, William--Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David--Walden
Tolstoy, Leo--War and Peace
Turgenev, Ivan--Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark--The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn--Can't say enough about this
Voltaire--Candide--great play!
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr.--Slaughterhouse-Five
Walker, Alice--The Color Purple
Warton, Edith--The House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora--Collected Stories
Whitman, Walt--Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar--The Picture of Dorian Gray
Williams, Tennessee--The Glass Menagerie
Woolf, Virginia--To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard--Native Son (but I did read--and hate--Look Homeward, Angel)

Quite possibly the most important link I've ever blogged

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Movie Blog

So stupid it pretty much has to be true...

Couple wants kids, but never tried sex

LWW Casting

Well, they've started casting The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. There are a lot of high hopes a la Peter Jackson with this film, hope it pans out.

The White Witch will be played by Tilda Swinton, who's just got a cool first name, and seems to have the right look (very glad that rumors of Nicole Kidman didn't go anywhere).


And then James McAvoy will be playing Mr. Tumnus. Can't tell much about him by his filmography or pic...guess time will tell.

New Fall Season

Well, the new fall TV season is being announced. NBC is the first out of the gate, and, *yawn*. The only things that look at all interesting are Scrubs (two year renewal of that is the smartest thing NBC's done in ...well, a long time), and Joey (which will probably be really, really bad, but you gotta check it out).

Man, if the others don't pull through for me, I may have to get a bigger book budget....

Welcome to the Slippery Slope

For years now, "gay marriage" activitsts have been poo-pooing the suggestion that it opens the door for polyandry/polygamy and will destroy the definition of family that has built Western Civ.

Oh really? World's blog had this entry on 5/15: Polyamory, here we come!, which read in part:

"Jasmine Walston, president of UUPA [Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness], said, 'We're where the gay rights movement was 30 years ago.'"

The attorney for a group wishing to marry in Utah stated, "This prohibition of polygamist relationships is as unconstitutional as Texas' prohibition against homosexual sodomy because it criminalizes a private sexual relationship between consenting adults."

Encouragement

I was less than thrilled with my exhortation today. Last week I sat down and outlined how I'd approach the remainder of Ephesians 6. And so all week I set about trying to tackle the first step, and it just doesn't seem to be working for me. I know there's much I could say, but it just wasn't forming right.

That impression continued through this a.m. when I was doing my final prep.

That impression increased when I was delivering the exhortation. "I am wasting everyone's time, I should just shut up." My mind wasn't there, didn't feel like I was being coherent.

Anyway, after the service a godly man in the congregation approached me, thanked me for what I said. He'd been dealing for a few days with something right along those lines, and it was as if God was speaking to him, he said. It's truly humbling and very gratifying to hear that. Who cares if I was that coherent? I helped him in a way he could be certain about. It's all worth it.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Good times

The older boys went camping with my folks this weekend. So last night after work it was just my wife and I hanging out with Daddy's Little Princess and the sleeping baby. Don't know that last time (if ever) the three of us spent time together without the boys. It was a whole lot of fun.

Then today the Mrs. wasn't feeling that well, so she stayed home from church, so it was just the Princess and I for both services--the boys came home from camping too frazzled for church (I knew I should've put my foot down about them coming home on the Lord's Day!). That was a very sweet time for me--I think she felt pretty special, too. Not sure the last time I got so many hugs.

Sometimes it's really good to be a dad.

now, *that's* precious

Click here for Rapping Gollum

All Aboard!

After a few weeks of sporadic attempts, I got serious (again) about getting Daddy's Little Princess out of diapers. Yesterday I pretty much abandoned her perched on the seat for awhile and lo and behold--we struck gold (or yellow anyway). Finally! And then twice so far today...yay! Hopefully she stays the course, and I can get down to just buying diapers for one child...not something I'm used to doing.

What's up with the subject line? Well, she knows that she's being potty trained. So, obviously, the thing she's sitting on is the Potty Train. :)

Outraged

Ticked off at Sean Hannity lately. Might be annoyed with other Talk Radio guys, too, but my schedule is such at the moment I can only hear part of Hannity and part of Glenn Beck--which is not necc. the best use of my time, I'll admit.

Yesterday he starts the show with "Well, I guess we really know what an atrocity is now..." or something close to that. This comes after a week or so of him harping on those in D.C. who are trying to turn the Iraqi Prisoner Scandal into political gain. He always throws in, "of course it's horrible and despicable" kind of disclaimer before he goes on into: Well, look what they did--X, Y, Z--and yes, what these few soldiers did was horrible, but it wasn't as bad as it was just a year ago. And I'm hearing/reading that kind of thing all over the place.

Flummery. Utter flummery. Or as Colonel Sherman Potter used to say, "Bull Pucky."

Why this obsession with comparing the levels of depravity in Iraq? It's not hard to get away without doing it.

Saddam & Co. were despicable leaders who did unspeakable things to the people they were supposedly governing.

Those who dragged those dead bodies through the streets and hung them off the bridge? Repugnant.

Those butchers who decapitated Berg? Not deserving of breath.

Those soldiers/contractors/whoever in the prisons who humiliated, raped, tortured, etc.? Despicably repugnant.

See? Did it without comparing relative morality. All the above should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law--which in each case probably doesn't go far enough. It's not that hard.

But if you insist on comparing moralities, the US guys have more dirt on them. I know, I know, to many I've just made myself out to be a traitor. Whatever. I just happen to think that those who came into a nation to liberate it, to free it from tyranny and oppression, should be held to a higher standard. Sure, it was Tyranny and Oppression Lite (less carbs, too), but we can't grade this stuff on a curve.

Our credibility there has been shot to H-E-Double Hockey Sticks. The work, sacrifices, and victories of the Coalition troops weighed against this? Weighed and found wanting. Which just means more boxes wrapped in flags. And more of the people we're "liberating" will be dead, too.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we need to pull out--if we do, it'll be worse for everyone. I'm not saying it's our fault that the Bad Guys did evil things. The fault rests solely on those who did the deeds, those who knew about it and didn't stop it, and those who ordered them done. But please, call evil what it is: evil. Don't settle for "not as bad as it was..." settle for "good." Nothing more, nothing less.

Origin of Baseball

from SI.com:
Pittsfield stakes its claim in baseball history

So Long, Farewell . . . .

Plan on commenting more in a few days on the big series finales of a couple of sit-com gems. But one quick vent right now based on the press push.

PLEASE, PLEASE STOP saying, "Cheers to Frasier"!!! It's not original, and it wasn't funny the first time someone said it (11 years ago as I recall...)

Mini Reviews

Okay, still having trouble coming up with something of substance to talk about. So a few quick reviews:

Smallville I'm not a huge fan of the whole Indian mythology/spirituality sub-plot. But I got over that long enough to really enjoy last week's episode (finally got caught up on my back episodes of everything but Alias). Lots o' action. And some great insight into Lex--esp. the Lex of the future. In his mind he's not evil, he's the "thorn in the flesh" that keeps ol' Supes from being too powerful (y'know Power tends to corrupt, Absolute power tends to ...). Oh, yeah, and an actual sub-plot with Chole and Pete (mostly Pete) that has nothing to do with the green rock, Clark, or someone's impending death. Cue Keanu Reeves: "Whoa."

The finale they're leading up to is gonna rock.

Wire Good, strong album. Nothing fantastic. But a whole lot better than Come Together. Not as good as Conspiracy No. 5 or Time.

Tricky Business In his book about computers, Dave Barry closes with this short story about a couple on the verge of cyber adultery. It was, as I recall, sweet, honest and well told. I do remember being very surprised. So then a couple of years later when his first novel is published I was very intruiged. Intruiged but broke. Finally got the chance to get my hands on it at the library a couple of months ago. It abso-smufing-lutely blew me away. Hilarious, tight plot, great characters, suspense...it was perfect. So, now I get my hands on his second novel. Not perfect.
The plot wasn't as tight, well--the plot might have been, but it got out of control. The characters were just as strong, just too darn many of them. We got little sips of characters we should've had gallons of. Still very funny, and worth more time and effort in reading than anything Robert B. Parker's put out in a couple of years.

Random Monay Thoughts

blogger.com has a new and attractive look and interface. Kinda threw me for a loop as I logged on.

The ol' brain has been running on empty for a few days now, keep telling myself I need to think of something soon. 1. To insure that the ol' bean is capable of generating thought. 2. So I can have something to blog.

Hopefuly soon...

best line of the night

Saw this in a few places: "NBC took a break from promoting the "Friends" finale to air it Thursday night"

even slightly less grumpy

I'd lost my bookmark and forgotten the name of this site 'til today: The Holy Observer

It's tough to pardoy modern evangelicalism anymore, but when Lark News and these guys hit their mark--they hit it!

slightly less grumpy

Just spent a few minutes over at Lark News. Day's looking better now, be sure to check out:

Joseph Smith returns to assert finer points of doctrine

Student who chose Bible college over Yale now feels 'royally screwed'

Church multi-plex serves choosy faithful

Puns

Received a new batch of puns in the mail, felt obliged to share the pain:

Two antennas meet on a roof, fall in love and get married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar. One says, "I've lost my electron." The other says, "Are you sure?" The first replies, "I'm positive..."

A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

A dyslexic man walks into a bra.

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"

Two cows standing next to each other in a field, Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning." "I don't believe you," said Dolly. "It's true, no bull!" exclaimed Daisy.

An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.

I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find any.

Two termites walk into a bar. One asks, "Is the bar tender here?"

grumpy

You ever have one of those days where you just want to go back to bed and start all over? But then you think about it a little bit, and you really don't want to do that, 'cuz you'd have to face it all again.

Nothing really major, nothing really bad, just a lot of inconvenient annoyances all popping up at the same time...okay, one bad thing--my temper. But otherwise, just life with fallen people (fallen short people who look and act a lot like me)

bah

Long day at work...just fixed the image below...assuming my eyes will actually focus (which they really haven't since 10 am) may say something later....