cubism

Have you ever see a car that you thought was just plain ugly? Which models/makes are on your list?

I'm not old enough to has seen such classic disasters such as the Edsel, but there are plenty of vehicles on the road that I think are design failures: PT Cruizer, Chevy HHR, and the worst offender, the Pontiac Aztek.

Early Aztek Engineering Design

Now there's a new polarizing design on the horizon... the Nissan Cube. It is reminiscent of the boxy styling of the Honda Element or Scion xb. The windows have rounded frames and the rear hatch opens via side mounted hinges.

Forward design or huge mistake?

Where a kid can be a kid

I just uploaded a couple hundred photos from our camera when I came to the realization that waaay too many of them are located within Chuck E. Cheese. Someday our kids are going to look back through all these pictures and think that they were raised inside of one.



It is one of our family's favorite places to go, especially when the weather is cold or rainy. You can sign up on the chuck e cheese website to get a "buy 40 tokens get 60 free" coupon which really sweetens the deal.

Aaron loves skeeball. He could play that the whole time. Evan likes the racing games. Becky is the wheel spin queen. and me? Fast Fingers World Champion!! It's a game where you trace a LED maze with your finger against a 15 second clock. I usually beat it the first or second time, but then the prize ticket count resets and it's not worth doing again. Plus it kills your finger to drag it across the surface as fast as you can more than 4 or 5 times.

But now that the weather is finally warming up we'll take some more pictures outdoors (and maybe even spend some time out there while we're at it).

I'm Baack

Hi. I hope my extended absence hasn't driven you fine readers away. I was having some serious PC troubles and it took quite a while to figure things out.

As mentioned in my previous post, my folks were in town and we spend several days in Canada visiting my Grandparents in Niagara Falls. However, just before that trip we started having some serious problems with our laptop (actually, the churches laptop). It turns out that it had become a large collection of viruses contained within a plastic shell. We got it back several days later after it was wiped clean and rebooted. Then the power cord stopped working. Since I had received the laptop secondhand the battery had very little usable life (and by very little I mean 5 to 6 minutes), but it was not a big deal because I always had the power cord in order to use it. Until now. So I had to order a new power cord, which got to me several days later. The laptop worked great for 1 day... and then it really broke. Gone. Dead. Garbage.

I spent about a week shopping around. I was really hoping to get a mac. but our church doesn't have much budget for technology and price drove us to go with a Dell Inspiron. I'm sad the mac didn't work out, but someday it'll happen.

I'm glad to be back in the blogosphere. Hopefully we can get back in the ongoing conversation that is 'the best 3 minutes of your day'.

Bloggin from work

I don't usually blog from work, but I thought I should give you all (all one of you) an update of what's going on in my life. Just a couple posts ago I talked about how I wanted to get back in the habit of blogging more consistently, but then our laptop became a virus factory. Nothing would work and I had to take it in to a repair shop who is wiping it clean. This process takes several days, of course.

We won't get it back until tomorrow and then I won't be blogging because my parents are coming into town and we're headed off to Canada to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Teal.

I'll be back soon. Promise.

Bubbles gets a makeover

Detroit is hurtin' these days. In addition to the well documented struggles of the Big Three, the Detroit public school system is shutting down 23 schools and laying off 600 teachers and staff. The D can't catch a break. But one of the city's most troubled citizens is getting a facelift this year.

Bubbles.

You may know him as the logo for the Detroit Lions.

I have no idea how or why he is named Bubbles, he just is. I first heard about this from sports insider Robbie Bolton who told me that the lions website was liquidating all the old gear. The rumor is that the new logo may be publicly revealed sometime around the upcoming NFL draft. But, it appears that a copy of the image was leaked onto the internet, so here's a sneak peak:

(new logo on the left, old one on the right. new font underneath)



I like it. I'm glad they left the colors the same and it's not drastically different from the old one, but it's one step removed from that 0-16 season. Bubbles is looking gooood.

What do you think?

graboids

Right now Becky and I are watching "Tremors" on T.V. Right away, how many of you have seen this cult classic? I mean, my mom even loves it.



I've seen it tons of times and it never gets old. Cheesy, but fun. I don't think you can really classify it as a horror film since it's not really scary. The Comcast on screen guide calls it a "good- natured spoof", but I don't think it's quite that light. Regardless of whatever section of the movie rental store you find it in (which is probably going out of business) it's irresistibly watchable. Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward have really chemistry as two old buddies stuck going nowhere in a tiny town in the middle of the desert and decide to leave "Perfection" just one day too late. Monsters and mayhem ensue and Michael Gross and Reba McEntire are hilarious as gun loving isolationists.

It requires watching anytime you come across it. I find the same thing with Die Hard. If it's on, I've gotta watch it.

What movie will you watch when you find it on T.V., no matter how many times you've watched it before?

april update

Apologies to my dedicated readers for not blogging lately. No excuse or reason, just wasn't participating the global interweb community.

I actually don't have anything to blog about now; I'm just trying to get back in the habit. I enjoy posting my thoughts and web gems that I come across, not to mention reading your comments. It's widely known that one of the keys to having a successful blog is consistent updates. Consider yourself updated!

SPARTANS

Way to go STATE!! I didn't get a chance to watch all of the game but was excited that our homestate Spartans will be playing in the big game on Monday night. I must admit I'm primarily a Michigan fan, but I'm not hardcore enough that I want Michigan State to fail (unlike the Lopez's:). The way I see it, their success reflects well on all of the Big Ten. Plus Michigan certainly can use all the good news we can get these days.

Big NFL news

Jay Cutler was finally traded today to the Chicago Bears. (source) Chicago gave the Broncos starting quarterback Kyle Orton and a few draft picks. For those of you who haven't been following this story here's the short version: Cutler is a very talented young quarterback who lead the second t offense in football last year. However, the Broncos defense is horrible and they missed the playoffs. So they fired the head coach and brought in a new guy from New England to coach the team. The new coach tried to trade Cutler for Matt Cassel (who had a great year for the Patriots) and when Jay found out about it he lost it. He asked to be traded and refused to talk to the coach or owner. Now he'll be starting for one of the worst offenses in the league and I think he's totally ruined his reputation (I'm not the only one who thinks so).

Last week I was hoping the the Lions might trade for him since they have plenty of draft picks to negotiate with, but I'm really glad we didn't get him. The way that he has handled this situation has shown his selfishness and immaturity. The Lions certainly need as much help as they can get, but we also need the right guys. Jay ain't one of 'em.

Kindygarden

I hate it when people call Kindergarten "kindygarden". I try hard not to be the pronunciation police, but there are some words too annoying to be ignored. But I digress...

Becky and I have been traveling around the Kindergarten circuit in preparation for Evan's entrance into academia next fall. The state of Michigan is mandating that all schools must transition to all day Kindergaten in 2010, but the Dearborn district has decided to be ahead of the curve and the public schools are all implementing full day K starting this fall.

When I first heard about this I was pretty put off by the concept. I know that having our kids at home with mom puts us in the minority these days, but it seems like a major challenge to put kids into school all day instead of easing the transition with a half day program. Last night we went to the open house for the local public elementary school (Snow) and I have to admit that I left the meeting much more open minded about the possibility than I've been the last few weeks.

The two things that stood out to me are:
1) It give the teachers more time to teach each subject. Instead of rushing from writing to math to recess the students are able to work on each topic with greater flexibility and less pressure to power through it.
2) It allows more time for social interaction and communal learning. I think this is one of the most important things for Evan to get from Kindergarten; a full day program gives the students time to interact that doesn't exist in half day K.

So here I am, harnessing the limitless potential of the internet, asking you readers what your take is. Have any of you sent your kids to full day K? or experienced it yourself?

pwnage

Jesus Pwn3d U - barats and bereta

Close Call

I was stopped at a red light when I saw police lights flashing behind me. He was about 1/2 a mile back so I was pretty sure that he wasn't after me, but you can't help the fact that for a second your heart jumps and you have "wha'd I do!?" rush through you're head. I was in the center of 3 lanes so I moved into the "right turn only" next to me to do my best to clear the way for him... and I'm glad I did.

No sooner did I pull over when ZOOM, some ancient mini-van goes flying through the red light just ahead of the cop. I didn't see him behind me because I was focused on the lights and siren. He was lucky to make it through the intersection because it's a very busy 6 way stop (for you locals: Outer Drive, Pelham, and Carlysle). I was really, really, really tempted to follow them to see how it would end [i.e. pit maneuver], but I needed to get home. I didn't follow them far, but it appeared to me that he later turned the wrong way down a one way street.

It was my first time seeing a live police chase. It was a bit exciting, but I just can't believe the stupidity of anyone trying to outrun the police. Haven't we all seen "World's Wildest Police Chases" volumes 1 through 25? Or even more seriously, the metro- Detroit area is still reeling from the recent deaths of 4 teens at the hands of a drunk driver; drunk driver, reckless driver, it doesn't matter... police chases never end positively. Fines. Jail. Injury. or Deaths.

I hope the chase ended quietly and the guy gets what he deserves.

Candy Tails

tweety

About 6 months ago I was asked by a co-worker "have you ever heard of twitter?" I told him "no" and he introduced to me to the concept of micro-blogging. I thought it sounded pretty cool, combining the status update of facebook with the mobile convenience of texting. I haven't tried the service though since I don't have a phone plan which includes texting [as mentioned in this previous post].
Fast Forward to today where it seems like Twitter is taking over the planet. Everyone is talking about Twitter or tweeting [the act of posting a message to Twitter]. NBA players are tweeting during halftime IN THE GAME THEY ARE PLAYING! (source) Congressmen and Senators were tweeting DURING PRESIDENT OBAMA'S FIRST PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS (source). I know that several of you readers tweet and the rest of the internet is taking notice as well. The much maligned recent update to Facebook appears to be a direct response to the Twitter trend.

So what is your take on Twitter? Is micro-blogging the future of social networking and web communication? Does Twitter have a place in the virtual world along side Live Journal, Blogger, Myspace, and Facebook... or will it replace them?

Just a few degrees

Why is it that in the spring 50 degrees feels sooo nice, but in the fall it's freezing?

We got teased with nice weather (high 50's) last weekend, but it's been nothing but grey skies and cold days ever since. I'm ready for summer, anyone else?

10 Year Anniversary

I can't believe that 10 years has past so quickly. It was just a short decade ago that one of the most influential musical acts in human history dropped their debut album on a world totally unprepared for the melodic sonic-boom that was about to overtake them. I am speaking, of course, about "Where No Cheese Has Gone Before" by Smooth Smoothie Smooth and the Smoothed Out Smooth Ones.


Recorded and released in the fall of 1999, the Compact Disc (or "C.D.") was greeted with mixed reviews. Some called it "the most amazing album ever produced" while others said it was "the most incredible album ever produced". 500 CD's were produced and over 400 of the CD's were sold to a ravenous and dedicated fan-base. The few remaining unsold copies are a highly sought after collector's item with unopened editions selling for tens of dollars.

Before the break-up of the band in the winter of 2000, the 6 remaining band members sat down and recorded a small collection of songs that were never released. This uncompleted EP has been worked on in several stages and will perhaps be released to the public at some point in the future. There have been rumors circulating around the internet community of a reunion concert, but the band has never spoken of reuniting.

But seriously folks (or based on my readership, folk), it was such a great experience to be a part of The Smoothies. If you ever have a chance to be a part of a band, do it. Even decades later you'll look back on those times with a smile.


(actual photo's from the final Smooth Smoothie Smooth and the Smoothed Out Smooth Ones concert)

The Heartbeat of America

This past week the results of the American Religious Identification Survey were released (source). This poll is regarded as one of the most comprehensive studies of "how contemporary Americans identify themselves religiously, and how that self-identification has changed over the past generation" (they've also conducted the survey in 1990 and 2001). The survey found that the number of Americans that identify themselves as "Christian" has dropped from 86% in 1990 to 76% in 2008.

My friend and fellow blogger Adam recently commented on the opportunity that these findings hold to remind us of the growing need of lost people. I agree with Adam that our reaction to this survey should not be to circle the wagons and cry about the decaying moral fabric of our culture. I mean, who among us in the church really believe that 76% of Americans are Christian? Perhaps this is a good sign that many people who consider themselves Christian are realizing just how little they invest in their faith. Maybe there are people out there today that would be willing to explore a walk with Christ who would have not thought of it as necessary previously.

People need the Lord. It's not just a rockin' 80's tune... it's the truth.

Untouchable Movies

We're all aware of the biggest trend in movie making today... the Reboot/Remake. It's simple and a safe bet because you take an existing film with a built in audience and add a few cg effects and *boom* a new, old money-maker. IGN.com recently came out with a list of the top 10 films that should be left untouched and un-updated:

1. The Exorcist
2. The Godfather
3. Blade Runner
4. Ghostbusters
5. The Terminator
6. Raiders of the Lost Ark
7. The Wizard of Oz
8. Poltergeist
9. Jaws
10. Alien

I think it's a pretty good list. It's not necessarily a list of the best or most important films, but movies that are unique because they were executed well and a new film would miss the elements that make them great. I absolutely agree with "The Godfather", The Terminator", and "The Wizard of Oz". I'd also add "It's a Wonderful Life", "Citizen Kane", and "Jurassic Park".

What movies would you hate to see remade/rebooted?

Manual Transmission

Has it ever taken you a really long time to read a book? Not due to the extended length of the book or complexity of the subject matter, just for some reason you start to read it but aren't able to find the time to continue. I've been "reading" Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell since September. I've really enjoyed it and been challenged by it and someday I'll finish it.

One of Rob's arguments really stood out to me this past week. He says that we should get rid of the 'Bible as an owners manual' analogy. The analogy is often used because a manual gives us instruction and guides our path. The problem is that we only use owner's manuals when something goes wrong.

Last week a projector stopped working in the church basement. I opened the owner's manual for the first time in the 3 years I've been using the projector. And not only was it the first time that it was used in three years, but it didn't even help with the issue I was facing. There were no problem shooting tips for the lamp inexplicably shutting off. The 50 (english) pages were not even remotely helpful and I'll probably never refer to it again.

The Bible is not a simplified set of unhelpful, vague schematics. It is the wild, uncensored, passionate account of people experiencing the loving God (Bell, 63). I like that.

mother nature

I just saw this commercial on T.V. and I nearly fell over laughing. Too funny...

Man vs. Food 2: Electric Boogaloo

Watching Man vs. Food again. Tonite's episode features none other than food guzzling world champion Joey Chestnut!

Joey just pounded down a 17.5 inch, 5 pound burrito in 3 minutes, 10 seconds.

The picture says it all. [he's 2/3rds of the way done]

what villainy is afoot?!

Quick Poll:

Who is the most evil villain currently on T.V.?














Ben Linus, LOST
















Simon Cowell, AMERICAN IDOL
















General Juma, 24

... or this guy...















Jason Mesnick, THE BACHELOR

Book Review: This Beautiful Mess

Quick Summary: I just finished "This Beautiful Mess" by Rick McKinley and I really liked it. An easy, yet challenging look at living a life for God today.



Extended Summary: Rick McKinley is the Lead Pastor at the Imago Dei church in Portland, OR [the church attended by best-selling author Donald Miller]. Pastor Rick writes this book in an effort to help us recognize the importance of seeing God's Kingdom as realized both in heaven and on earth. There is a real, perfect place awaiting us beyond this life, but Jesus says that the Kingdom is present here as well.

The book is easy to read, yet full of deep, challenging questions and ideas. I felt that it started a bit slow, but it got better as it went on [which I suppose is better than a book that gets worse as you read it].

Here's a great paragraph about the problem of many Christians today :

We take the "Jesus is our Savior" message home like a really good story, but Jesus as King has no place in our lives. Kings are for fairy tales and burger commercials. Kings wear clothes and funny hats. We don't need a king. What we need, we think, is a little more defense in our doctrines and a little more time to tidy up our messes. That's all we need; then our world will get better.
Except it doesn't. (pg. 31)

and later he answers this problem with the reality of the Kingdom:

The kingdom of Jesus is alive and growing, but not because we make it grow. We plant seeds of life. We water and weed. We sweat and hope and pray. But the dynamic of life in the garden is the kingdom at work. It is the life of God springing up around us. (pg. 65)

Any books I should read next?

Sing It With Me!

Watch it once; you'll be singing it all day...

Melodious Melodies

This evening I was privileged to attend a concert by the davidcrowder*band at Spring Arbor University. It was a really great concert. It sounded just like their recordings, which is a compliment to both the engineering quality of their albums and the live gifts and abilities of the band members. If you ever have a chance to see them live... GO!

I can't wait for the next album to drop (which according to david's blog is currently in production)

nice try

Remember a couple of days ago when I revealed that I am a "Super-Taster"? [if not... read it here]

My lovely wife, Becky, wrote a strongly worded comment calling me a "food hypocrite". It was tough love, but I'm a big enough man to take the criticism (and cry myself to sleep). Well, today Becky made spaghetti for dinner and as I ate it I could tell that something was different about the sauce. I asked if she put something additional into it; I described the taste as being a bit like onion and celery... and then iI remembered that Becky recently purchased some leeks! She thought that she could sneak it by me... BOO-YAH!

Oh, and I did eat the entire plate of leek drenched spaghetti without any complaining. (it wasn't bad, but i prefer without it).

Let's here it for the super-tasters!

Imagine all the people...

Evan has a fantastic imagination. He's a really creative kid with the memory of Ken Jennings. He loves to talk about all of the characters from Nintendo (a la mario kart wii) and Star Wars [he's never seen an episode, he just plays with the action figures that i had]. He's also created his own characters named King Hocken, MegaJon, and Mole Hut (accompanied by bearazoids).

His latest interest has become comparing the abilities and alliances of each of the characters. All day long he constantly asks things like: "who is anakin friends with?", "who does obi-wan protect people from?", "who is faster than yoshi?", etc. etc. etc.

Then he starts to add a level of complexity to his questions by mixing the genres and asking things like: "is jabba the hutt faster than bowser?". As a fan of nintendo and star wars i can answer most of his questions without getting too thrown, but he asks Becky these types of questions ALL DAY LONG too. I'm sure she never thought that she would become an expert on the relative top speed of luigi vs. donkey kong.

It gets really funny when he and Aaron start to talk about it together because they argue about whether or not Grandpa Backes is faster than Yoshi. Then it leads to Aaron saying that HE is faster than Grandpa, but Evan denies that claim. Then Evan says that he's right because he's going to be five... and every time Aaron responds by saying "i'm six!". It's awesome to hear them talk about it together.


I love Evan's mind.

For Grandpa and Grandma Teal

[and anyone else who wants to be mesmerized by our kids]

I knew it all along!

Science has verified a belief that I have long held in my heart. It turns out that they have scientifically proven that some people have a greater number of taste-buds and are therefore "super-tasters".

I am a picky eater and I know that a lot of my food issues are just in my head. I don't like many vegetables or any condiments. But i've always said that I have a different opinion because I can taste things better than most. I've always been able to tell when Becky or my mom have tried to sneak veggies into other foods.

Don't believe the hype? Read the source or search for "super tasters"

Man vs. Food

I don't watch many shows on the travel channel. Actually, I only watch one show on the travel channel. MAN VERSUS FOOD. The premise of the show is simple: The host travels around the country finding all those "hole-in-the-wall", "mom-and-pop", local restaurants that serve over- sized meals and chows them down. It's like a leisurely version of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Tonight, the host (Adam) went to Seattle and Boston, in two different episodes respectively. In Seattle he tried to tackle a 12 egg omelet packed with chili, salsa, sour creme and cheddar cheese. Here's a pic of the omelet in the making:


Then in the next episode he tried to eat a hamburger with 5 lbs. of meat, 20 slices of cheese, and 20 slices of bacon. And it comes with 5 lbs. of fries.

I can't believe that some of these places actually serve meals this huge. It's funny and sad. BTW, he didn't succeed in either challenge (but i've seen him best other meals). Check it out sometime (but not when you are eating).

Have any of you succeed in an eating challenge?

You don't mess with DETROIT!

NBC brought on Matt Millen as a commentator during the Super Bowl. That decision didn't receive any support from the people of Detroit. Everyone in Detroit HATES Matt Millen. He is reviled even more than Kwame Kilpatrick. I intentionally did not watch the host programming just to avoid watching him. But the next day I heard that WDIV, the local NBC affiliate, had the guts to show this ticker as Mr. Millen was on screen:



I'm so proud of those guys at WDIV. I hope they all got big raises.

Wait a minute!

I just got back from our Sr. High winter retreat at SpringHill camp in Evart, MI. It was a great weekend with Terry Prisk and Andy Rocker. But i've only got one thing on my mind right now. "love addict" by family force 5. They used the song as part of their countdown for the main sessions and it was crayzay!



I hope you get it stuck in your head too

One Scary Tale

You are all aware of the current state of the economy. It seems that every business/economic report is about about pay cuts, layoffs, or corporate bankruptcies. Most days it feels like it can't get much lower than this. We'll, let me share with you some even more frightening economic news: The company behind the "snuggie" has sold more than 4 million units. (source)



That's right... there are more than 4,000,000 of these fashion disasters enveloping people around the country. Backwards Robe; Monk's Shroud; no matter what you call it people are buying them up like crazy (or maybe they are buying them because they are crazy).

So here's the moment of truth... the point of confession... do any of you own or use a snuggie?

The weekend

I just got back from a middle school retreat at somerset beach camp. [shout out to phil and sara for a great weekend]. I took 9 of our students there and had a great time. It was cold, but there was enough snow to give us plenty of sledding and snowboarding opportunities. However... there is always a price to pay for going to somerset. Each lodge has a piano in the common room.

I'm sure some well intended geezer made a donation specifically for piano's thinking how nice it would be to be able to sing hymns together 'round the fire (not realizing that today we have electronic pianos called keyboards which are portable and have volume control). I don't have an issue with piano's per sey, but rather an issue with the rotation of kids who relentlessly pound the keys during every waking hour. There are 4 basic types of piano players found on a retreat weekend:

1) THE NOODLER- this kid has never taken any piano lessons, but has some musical ability. He never performs an actual song but just plays random keys and chords trying to figure something out. He never gets there and infuriates everyone in the process.

2) THE REPEATER- this student knows how to play one song. Only one song. It could be a classical masterpiece or the thing you play with your knuckles. But it doesn't matter which one it is because any song played 93 times in a row is unbearable.

3) THE POUNDER- this one's pretty self explanitory. Most of us see a piano as doorway to heartwarming harmonies and rising melodies , but he sees it as an invitation to shatter ivory and eardrums.

4) THE SCAMMER- this guy is similar to the repeater because he probably only knows one or two songs. The difference is that the song that he knows is a ballad he learned to play for the sole purpose of impressing girls. It makes him seem sensitive and mysterious (bonus points if he has hair that hangs down in front of his eyes), but he's out of place during the winter retreats since the girls aren't allowed in the building. So he just practices playing that emo song and looking angsty.

Are there any ones I'm leaving out?

Psych!

Sometime last fall I started watching the USA network show "Psych". It's a fun show with the feel of "Monk", but it's humor is paced must faster. One of the re-occurring bits on the show is when the central character, Shaun, will introduce the other guy, Gus, using a ridiculous pseudonym.

My sis, Angela, is also a fan of the show and told me about the Psych nickname generator on the official website. Try it out.

My nickname??? Hobart "Fly Zone" Zuniga.

Bye Bye Bye

I'm feeling the effects of Detroit Sports News Withdrawl (commonly known as DSNW). Around 3 years ago I started listening to WDFN (1130 on your AM dial). I've grown to listen nearly every workday to Seany B and Stoney & Wojo talk local and national sports. It's funny, but I feel like they were my friends (from a distance, of course). And last week they all got suddenly yanked from the air. You can read the story here.

Apparently, Clear Channel, the parent company of WDFN, decided that they just couldn't afford to keep them around in these tough economic times. I understand that tough choices need to be made by many corporations, but it sucks that these guys lost their jobs. They were really good at what they did and they certainly weren't replaced by better radio hosts (a couple of nationally sydicated guys... boring!!). I can't stand listening to them.

Good luck to Sean Baligian, Bob Wojnowski, and Mike Stone. Let us know if you get back onto radio somewhere.

Times a Changin'

Our lovely Ashlyn is reaching a new milestone as we speak... her first tooth! I'm excited to see her grow and watch her relationships with her brothers strengthen (not to mention Becky and I), but I'm sad about the tooth at the same time.

A tooth changes the way a baby looks. I know Ashlyn will look adorable with her new teeth, but there's just something special about a child's toothless, goofy grin that I find irresistible. Some of my favourite pictures of our boys are before they got any teeth.

And she's not just getting one, there are 2 more waiting to break the surface right behind it. My girl... all grown up:

LOST

Becky and I just watched the season premiere of LOST (thanks for not spoiling anything). It was awesome! I had been feeling a bit apprehensive in anticipation of this season; afterall, we haven't seen any new episodes since june and it seems that many T.V. shows have been struggling creatively. All fears were cast aside after the first few minutes.



This episode was intense! Full of Action and Suspense. Complex and Compelling. Supremely Acted and Masterfully Produced. I think the biggest success of the premiere as a whole was how connected it felt to previous episodes and seasons. You can't help but wonder how much of this was planned in the beginning because it feels like it was all part of the original vision with connections to Locke's memory of the drug plane, the woman with white hair (who i'm guessing is daniel's mother), and the central importance of characters like charles widmore, penny, farraday, and desmond. If you don't watch LOST... rent season 1. You'll be glad you did.

My favourite moment was when Hurley threw a Hot Pocket at Benjamin Linus. Hilarious!

Missing Out

Tonight in the season 5 premiere of LOST. It's actually on right now, but i'm not watching it. I have music practice on Wednesday nights at 8:15 and i don't usually get home until after 9:30, so we are taping it upstairs. Yes, I actually mean taping with a vcr.

*For the kids out there... a vcr is like a dvr except you have to put a giant brick sized tape into the box and you can't watch it until the show is totally over. And you can't pause or rewind live tv. and most americans can't make the clock work.

The point of this blog post is DO NOT TALK TO ME ABOUT LOST. I enjoy surprises and hate having them spoiled. I never try to find Christmas presents early, i never read ahead in a book. I plan on devoiding myself of as much media as possible until I'm able to watch the episode just so I don't accidentally some across anything. I'll post my review of the episode when i've seen it so you can know when it's safe (probably no until friday).

forgetfully yours

Most of my inspiration for blogging comes spontaneously. I'll hear something, read something, or do something that will make me say "i should blog about that". I try to keep a running tally in my head of the "to blog" list, but I must admit that I've been struggling to keep track of the list lately.

Part of it stems from the schedule of my day. I try not to blog at work, unless it is just too awesome, and when I come home I try to give my attention to Becky and the kids. So I don't get around to blogging until after 9pm (usually after 11) and by that time I've forgotten what i was going to write about. And I feel like that's been happening alot over the past couple of weeks.

The other part is that my memory doesn't seem to be as sharp lately. I've always suffered from the ability to remember tons of information of absolutely no consequence (movie trivia, pop culture references) and very little practical data (shopping lists, things that Becky says, Bible verses), but it's getting worse.

How do you improve your memory? I'm sure i could google it, but does anyone out there have real tips that work for them? Or am I just getting old...

r u kidding me?

A dad in Silverado Canyon, CA received an oversized letter in the mail recently. The contents of the package turned out to be a 440 page cell phone bill for his 13 yr old daughter. She managed to send 14,528 texts that month. yeah, i typed that right... 14,528! Mathematically, that's an average of 484 texts everyday or one text every two minutes of the waking day. Fortunately they have unlimited txting (or they'd be facing a nearly $3,000 bill) and the family is taking steps to reduce their daughters txting activity (apparently she has four other 13 yr old txt-addicted friends). source

Wow. I don't have a cell phone plan that includes texting. I've thought about it, and I'm sure I would use it if I had it, but it's a concious choice that I can save the ten-or-so bucks a months by not adding it and use that money elsewhere.

I send prbly a dozen texts a month. How many do you average a month? What's the most you've evr sent out in one day? Any txting addicts out there?

Bush's New Job: Comedian

I don't often comment on politics on my blog, but I just can't resist this time. You may have seen that President Bush gave his final press conference yesterday.

He strongly defended his Presidency and the choices that were made. I'm sure that he has insight to the issues that the nation faced that he cannot openly talk about. I understand that he has his own perspective on the long and short term accomplishments of his administration. With this in mind I wasn't really concerned with anything that Bush said or defended... until he got to Hurricane Katrina. When asked about the slow Federal response he responded:

"Don't tell me the federal response was slow when there were 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm passed. ... Could things been done better? Absolutely. But when I hear people say the federal response was slow, what are they going to say to those chopper drivers or the 30,000 who got pulled off the roof?" he said.

ROTFLOL!

The work of those pilots and rescue workers was absolutely of critical importance and they rightfully deserve much praise. But there should have been more relief on a much larger scale. No one could have predicted just how devastating the storm actually was, but everyone knew this was a huge storm, everyone knew that the levees were in danger. The government could have done so much more both in the immediate hours following the storm and in the weeks and months afterward.

I'm ashamed to admit that I voted for him twice [in my defense, it's not like I had much choice in 2004. I mean, seriously... John Kerry??]

Best. Job. Ever.

A little while ago I wrote about my secret dream job of being a game show host. But I'm trading that job for a waaayy better dream job.

A tourism business in Australia has just opened a position titled "The Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef". and the job is even better than it sounds. For six months your responsibilities are:

Explore and report back
There’s so much to see and do, so you’ll have plenty to write about in your weekly blog. And with so much life above and below the water, you’re sure to capture some entertaining moments for your video diary and photo gallery. To keep you busy, Tourism Queensland will organise a schedule of travel and events on the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. Your schedule could include sampling a new luxury spa treatment at qualia on Hamilton Island, trying out new snorkelling gear on Heron Island, or bushwalking on Hinchinbrook Island.

Feed the fish
There are over 1,500 species of fish living in the Great Barrier Reef. Don’t worry – you won’t need to feed them all.

Clean the pool
The pool has an automatic filter, but if you happen to see a stray leaf floating on the surface it’s a great excuse to dive in and enjoy a few laps.

Collect the mail
You’ll have some time on your hands, so why not join the aerial postal service for a day? It’s a great opportunity to get a bird’s eye view of the reef and islands.


Did I mention that you get to live on an island and they pay you $103,000 ($150, 000 australian dollars)? This is the best job that a person could ever have. ever.

If I didn't have the responsibilities of a family at home I would be all over this. If anyone is interested you can apply at www.islandreefjob.com (submitted by 60 second video)

Evan and Aaron have developed an addiction. Every morning their cravings start during breakfast and they get very demanding if they don't get what they want. I might as well face it... they're addicted to Ashlyn.

It's like going the night without her is too much for them. They start asking to see her in the middle of breakfast (when they hear Becky come downstairs with her) and as soon as they are done with breakfast they literally run into the living room calling out her name until they can hug and kiss her. During the day they are constantly running up to her and hugging her and showing her toys and books.

I must admit that she is pretty intoxicating. It's really great to see how much her big brothers adore her. It makes me feel alot better about the next 18+ years:)

The Legend of Master Legend

I read a Rolling Stone article because I thought the title was funny, but the story really made me think. It takes a few minutes to read but it's worth it.

Read the Rolling Stone Article here.

For those of you without 5 extra minutes: the article is about a guy in Orlando, FL who has created a superhero identity for himself. He goes by the moniker "Master Legend" and he fights crime. really. There's also a brief and unfortunate reference to "Captain Jackson", a costumed hero I've come across in Jackson, MI.

The reason that I was so challenged by this article is because hidden in the middle of the story is a section about the work that Master Legend does between fighting muggers and developing new crime- fighting tools for his utility belt. He does a lot of work to reach out to his community (raising money for down-and-out families, giving food and razors away to homeless people). Here is a guy who may possibly be a bit wacky and hides his real identity behind a mask, but he genuinely cares about the people around him and is really in touch with the needs of his community.

Too often we Christians like to keep a buffer zone between ourselves and keep our hands from getting dirty in the lives of others. Of course, it does not mean you are a "bad Christian" just because you don't hand out things to homeless people, but how many of us are really in touch with the immediate needs of our neighbors? I'm slowly trying, but it's much easier to stay at home. Maybe I can learn a thing or two from the Master.

Happy New Year!

Thank everyone for stopping by my blog in 2008. I hope to make 2009 an even better blog-year.

Finally... A Story Retold

This is a video I made for our church's Christmas Eve services.

World-wide Premiere

If you pay close enough attention you can hear Evan quite easily. Ashlyn and Aaron also make brief audio cameos.

40 Motivational Speeches

I'm not a morning person and it's nice to receive something to pick me up and get me pumped up for the day. ladies and gentlemen, i give to you...

wha????

Did anyone else watch "heroes" tonight?

How on earth did the african guy suddenly come back to life and appear in suresh's apartment?


He's dead and they totally played the scene like he was really there, not some kind of vision or apparition. And it wasn't a "he got shot in the stomach, but didn't really die" situation... because he died of getting his head torn off of his body. It's pretty hard to come back from that one.

Can anyone explain this to me?

Daddy Daughter Day

Ashlyn and I connected today. I picked her up from her nap this afternoon and we sat together on the couch for about 10 minutes with no crying! Then we played on the floor for another 10 minutes and she smiled at me alot. It was sooo great.

Some of you may be asking "what's the big deal, isn't she like 5 months old"? That's true, but Ashlyn is very much a Mommy's girl and doesn't let me hold her for more than a few moments without crying. I think the breakthrough began last night.

Last night was not a good night for sleeping. We had some friends spend the night with us (which was great). Since they are a family of 5 we gave them our room upstairs to make space for everyone without banishing anyone to the freezing cold basement. Becky, Ashlyn, and I slept in the playroom together. Becky and I slept on an air mattress and Ashlyn in a pack 'n play. Ashlyn rarely sleeps in a pack 'n play and did not take to it well. Becky tried everything to get her to fall asleep for a couple of hours to no avail. I took over around 2am and held her until almost 3. She was fine with me holding her, but she refused to fall asleep.

Sharing a common challenge brings people together. Maybe our shared sleepless night brought us closer. In that case... it was worth it.

Great Song

my second calling

We had our annual Church Christmas Party tonight, but it was very different than past years. Previous church "parties" were basically an hour and a half of testimonies and reports punctuated with snacks. They were nice, but very dull. Don't get me wrong; testimonies of what God is doing in our lives are a great thing, but that can't be the only thing that we do together as a fellowship of believers.

Tonight's party was a great time of singing, laughter, creativity, fellowship and snacks. It wasn't a perfect night, but I think it was a real step in the right direction. And I had a blast co-emceeing the evening. I've often thought that I could have a second career as a game show host. I enjoying making a fool of myself on stage (to a certain extent), and making people laugh and have a good time. I liked hosting events at SAU and this was the first opportunity for me to do that here at Dearborn [outside of youth events; i have plenty of opportunities to make a fool of myself there].

If you could have any career other than your current one... regardless of skill, experience, or education... what would you do?

First Snowfall

When do you consider the first snowfall has taken place?

The first flake you see...
The first snow that stay on the ground...
The first blizzard...

For me, it hasn't really snowed until you shovel. And I shoveled for the first time today. The snow wasn't too deep, but just enough that it wasn't going to go away on it's own. It was also a precaution to help in case there is a deep snowfall overnight. I had to dig myself out on Sunday mornings a couple of times last year and it's not fun when you are crunched for time and have a ridiculously long driveway. Even moving a little bit of snow can make it much easier.

We've had snowflakes fall on us earlier this year, but this is the first snowfall of the year.

a boy and his hat

A Hat is a very special thing for a man. Sure, every guy has a collection of hats, but he only has one Hat. Once a man finds a Hat, it seldom changes. It grows better with age like a fine wine. Every rip and tear, each stain and spot is a mark of pride. A badge of honor.

I have a dozen hats [Baseball Caps and Old Fedoras from my Grandpa], but my Hat is the one I wear most frequently, the one I identify with. You may have a picture of me wearing it. It's black, it's fitted, it's got my name on it.

Aaron has found his Hat. It's plastic, it's orange, and it's always worn backwards. He wears it all the time. Everyday when I come home from lunch he greets me at the door wearing it. I'm sure he would wear it out of the house if we'd let him. It's irresistibly cute.

Most Realistic Paintjob Ever!

Intersections

Our Church has been focusing on intersections for a couple of months now. By "intersections" I mean those times where your life connects with someone elses. Intentionally or by chance, intersections happen constantly with your family, friends, coworkers, and everyone you interact with on any given day. It's been a good reminder that living your life for Christ isn't just about serving in a ministry within the church walls and that God wants to use our lives to show Himself.

Tonight I had an intersection with my neighbour Dane. Dane is about 22 yrs old and lives in the house next to us with his extended family that includes anywhere from 8 to 12 people [we aren't sure how many of them live there because it seems like it's not possible to fit that many people in a tiny cookie- cutter Dearborn house.]

As I was taking the garbage out in the rain Dane walks out to his car and calls me over. He asks "what Church do you go to?" So i told him and he proceeds to tell me about how he went to church until his mid-teens and hasn't been back since. Dane became a dad several weeks ago with his live-in fiancee and has been interested in returning to church. He knew we went to church (I don't know if he remembered I'm a pastor) as we talked he said that he would come to church on Sunday. I have no idea if he'll actually come and even if he does it doesn't mean that he's found Christ, but it was a moment that I didn't shy away from and I hope that it will provide opportunities for the future.

Let's pray for more intersections with Dane.

Good Times and Noodle Salad

We're back from our thanksgiving holiday. We all had a great time with Becky's family in Huntington, IN. Evan, Aaron, and Ashlyn each got lots of love from grandma, grandpa, and Aunt Melissa; Becky and I got to play alot of cards and had plenty of help with the kids; and we all had some great food (Becky made her best pumpkin pie ever. it was sooo good.)

Other highlights include:
- "five hundred" score for the weekend: 15 hands for Dad and I vs. 9 for Becky and Melissa
- a new personal best for wii golf: 9 under par
- Becky and Melissa leaving at 11pm on Thursday to shop until 6am on Friday!
- and the Lions got demolished

Outta sight, outta town

I'll be out of touch with the blogosphere for the next few days. We are going to visit Becky's folks for thanksgiving. We always have a great time eating food, playing cards, and wii golfing; but it's like traveling back to the stone ages because they don't have the internet (how can you live like that?).

I wish you all a happy thanksgiving. And I'll hopefully come back with a few good stories to tell.

Thanks for caring.

Duel of the Fates II: Electric Boogaloo

While I was working this morning Becky got some great pictures and video of the boys sword fighting. No children were harmed in the the following media (at least, not hurt badly:)































Yes, Aaron is using a lightsaber

Happy Meal

Guess what I'm eating right now (for the first time in about 6 years). A Hot Pocket. Jealous?

taking it up a step

I think I achieved a new level of parenting tonight.

Earlier today we decided to give Ashlyn her first taste of solid* food. Evan and Aaron are really excited about being involved in her life and they wanted to help feed her. So we gathered everyone together in the kitchen and prepared her first real meal.

As a modern parent I prepared all the electronic devices required to capture the event. Becky, Evan, and Aaron started to spoon Ashlyn her food and my responsibility was to archive this historic moment. I recorded the action with our video camera in my right hand while simultaneously taking pictures with the same device and in my left hand I used our digital camera to take additional still pictures. Yes, you read that right... taking pictures with both hands and recording video all at the same time.

I have leveled up to obsessive "capture the moment" techno-geek dad.



*solid = mostly liquid with a trace of rice cereal

I'm Baaaack. For Gooood.

Sorry friends, it's been a while since my last entry. Been pretty busy lately.

One good thing going on right now is that I didn't have Jury Duty again. As you may recall, in May I was summoned for Jury Duty and went in, sat around for a while, and then was dismissed after a few hours. Then I received a "get out of Jury Duty free" card which is valid for one year for responsibly serving our state's justice system. However, the fine print says that I can still be called for FEDERAL jury duty. Guess who received that summons a couple weeks ago.

The worst part of Jury Duty is that for all the plans you have to change in order to move your life around this single date they might not actually need you on that date. So you have to call in the night before and they connect you with an automated system which informs you if you are actually needed. If they don't need you on the original date, you must call in each day for the next TWO WEEKS to see if they need you. Then you only have about 12 hours notice to drop/cancel/move everything in your life in order to report downtown.

So I called, every weeknight for the past 2 weeks. Today, Becky made the final call, and we both had a sinking feeling that I would be called in tomorrow. Thankfully I made it through and I can relax. It really was stressful to go through the past 10 business days knowing that I may suddenly have to change all my plans around with very little advance warning.

a quick word of advice

Evan and Aaron have discovered the joy of sword fighting. Fortunately at this point they prefer to fight me instead of beating the sense out of each other. I really like playing Star Wars or Pirates with them (then again, I'd probably play with just about anyone). As a result of our "fights" I feel that I am in a position to offer some advice to the future sword fighting fathers out there.

Every strike will hit your hand. As if your fist were an electro- magnet for swinging plastic edges. They are seriously unavoidable. You try to parry and block the blows, but the angles and speed are completely random preventing you from being able to predict the path of the oncoming sword. They couldn't be more precise if they were trying.

So, for those who are about to compete in the gladiatorial games of fatherhood, buy some hockey gloves. Or toughen up your hand by punching a tree Kill Bill style.

Save the Date!

January 21st 2009.

LOST
season 5 season premiere

3 hour event
8pm-9pm: clip show (essential viewing to recap the last 4 seasons)
9pm-11pm: 2 hour season premiere

(source)

I'm looking to upgrade my guitar this holiday season and I'd like to benefit from the knowledge and experience of those of you readers who are guitar playing types. I know you mostly get what you pay for concerning musical instruments, but I don't have much available for my budget ($300-$400ish). Any recommendations for an acoustic-electric guitar?

Pre - Teen Spirit

Not quite as angsty as the original, but very cool none the less

Election Prediction

Just got done voting. The line for my precinct was pretty short, I only had to wait about 15 minutes. I think that this race is going to be much closer than the analysts believe and we won't know the results until tomorrow.

Who do I think will win?


Obama

Dumars makes a move... finally

The big news in Detroit sports today is that Allen "practice" Iverson is a Piston. We had to give up Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess and a development league player. It's a big price to pay and a big risk, but I'm excited about the potential of this trade. During the 2008 playoffs I complained about the poor performance of Mr. Billups. He's been very inconsistent during the last several playoff series and rarely lives up to reputation as "Mr. Bigshot". When most of the Pistons were struggling during the first and second round we needed to rely upon someone to carry us through. Chauncey didn't get it done.

I think that we're getting Iverson at just the right time in his career. He seems to be past his selfishness but he can still break ankles. Hopefully Kwame Brown can give us a basic post presence (we don't expect much), and we can bring another championship home.

Plus there is a chance that we can get McDyess back if the Nuggets buy out his contract.

[here's a great article by J.A. Adande about the significance of this trade]

Eat your heart out DaVinci

Evan took part in Vacation Bible School this past August. During VBS they rotated through several stations throughout the day participating in different activities at each stop. At the "craft" station the kids had to paint a tile. This is the competed project as a whole:



This is what Evan painted. It's Jesus holding Evan.

Arrr Maytee. Avast!

our halloween costumes: 4 pirates and a parrot

Hooray for free tacos

thanks for a world series promotion tomorrow (Tuesday, October 28th) taco bell is handing out free tacos from 2pm to 6pm.

how many are you going to get?

oh canada

My family (Becky, Kids, Me, My Parents) is preparing for the long journey to Niagara Falls, Ontario to visit my grandparents. We weren't able to visit my grandpa after his stroke in June because Ashlyn was about to be born, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to see him again. I don't want to take this opportunity for granted. In just the last couple of weeks a couple different kids in the youth group have lost their grandparents and it's reminded me of what a joy it is to be able to have them in our lives still.

The drive, on the other hand, will be a challenge. It'll be our first significant trip with 3 kids. Both the boys traveled really well as infants (they still do), let's hope Ashlyn got some of those genes too.

Canada, here we come!

the best fake news

A few years ago a friend of mine told me about lark news. It's a Christian version of the onion [satirical news in the vein of the daily show and colbert report].

Here's a "news" article they wrote recently about the use of movie clips during a sunday morning sermon:

Sermon overwhelmed by film clips
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — Pastor John Taylor, 43, once a winsome and compelling preacher, has lately embraced film clips as a way to illustrate his sermon points. Last week his sermon was finally overwhelmed by them.
"He used fourteen clips, totaling 33 minutes of a 35-minute sermon," says one observer. "I forgot he was even on the platform."
Taylor’s speaking portions consisted mostly of short introductions of scenes.
"It was all, ‘Have a look at this clip. Now have a look at this one,’" says one man. "I felt like I should have brought popcorn."
The selections included such disparate fare as The Simpsons Movie, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Atonement, Juno and Live Free or Die Hard. Many found the point inscrutable.
"I think the common thread was loyalty or friendship or something," says one woman. "I believe there was a message in there somewhere but I’m still trying to figure out what it was."
Taylor insists that film clips offer "unparalleled emotional impact and common language." He used to write sermons with emotional variation — humor, poignancy, personal examples and exhortation. Now film clips perform those functions for him. He likes to start with a humorous scene, segue into a more serious one, then build his argument using clips from a variety of movies. He usually ends with an emotionally impacting scene, such as one from Titanic, intended to leave the congregation deeply moved. When the lights go up he simply says, "Let’s pray."
Taylor, who enjoys reading Variety to see what movies he might use as spiritual illustrations, has already planned his preaching schedule through 2012 based on future DVD releases.
"Spiderman 4 comes out in 2010," he says. "That should make for a great Sunday."
Of all the people in the church, the youth are the most supportive of the new direction.
"It’s Sermon Mash-up every Sunday," says one young man. "It’s awesome."

busy busy busy

We're getting ready for mom and dad to visit. It's tough to be so far away from them and we are looking forward to a week and a half of grandma and grandpa.

we've just got to make sure the house is ready for them.

one rollover that isn't loosing value

Joey Jo-Jo Shabadoo Jr.

This past Sunday evening in Times Square a new pizza king was crowned. Joey Chestnut [of Hot Dog eating fame] downed 45 slices of pizza in 10 minutes. Yeah, I typed that right, FOURTY-FIVE slices of pizza in TEN minutes. (source)


I think the most I've ever eaten in one sitting is 7 or 8, but that certainly wasn't in ten minutes.
Does that make you hungry? or want to throw up?

Space Mutiny!

I'm currently watching one of my favorite episodes of MST3K, "Space Mutiny".

For those of you who aren't "Misties", Mystery Science Theater 3000 was a 90's t.v. show that mocked [or riffed] really bad movies. I started watching MST3K around college and I fell in love with it. The show hasn't been on in nearly a decade, but a very loyal fanbase still circulates tapes of all the old episodes (some of them are available on dvd in stores also). Thankfully, i still have a couple dozen shows on tape and I drag them out from time to time.

Space Mutiny remains one of my favorite episodes. The movie is as bad as they get. No continuity, huge plot holes, sets and costumes that are laughable on every level. If you've never seen a episode of MST3K, check it out.

digital transition

I think there's a lot of confusion out there regarding the digital conversion of all TV signals in February 2009. This brief video should help clear things up.

do i ever feel old

At some point between 7pm and 8pm on Tuesday, October 7th I turned into an old man.



I've been needing new jeans and we made the time tonite to go shopping as a family after dinner. We drove down to Kohl's and while Becky took Aaron and Ashlyn on her own, Evan and I went to the jeans section. I have never been so overwhelmed and confused while shopping in my life. Low Rise, Boot Cut, Relaxed, Straight, Loose, Slim, Skinny, Original, Carpenter, and infinite combinations of these cuts (not to mention the colors, fades, and brands). Seriously, what is the difference between relaxed fit, loose fit, and straight fit? I knew for sure that I was too old for rockin skinny jeans and too young for the standard fit. After trying on 4 different pairs I ended up with a relaxed hip + low rise + straight leg... and an identity crisis. When did jean shopping get so complicated?