First let me put an end to some nasty rumors...I am not dead. I just took a break from blogging because I didn't have anything interesting to share.
Until now...
Go to www.thechurchyouknow.com and watch all of the videos. If you are a church goer you will laugh a lot and then feel sad because everything they are saying is right.
See you again in another 5 months or so.
Tim
I have to disagree with Kermit the Frog on this one.
In about 45 seconds I was able to remove my name from the credit reporting indutry lists (Equifaz, Experian, Innovis and Transunion). These are the people who are ultimately responsible for you getting credit card offers in the mail every other day. Whenever I get them I just rip them in half without opening them and toss them in the trash and I always think to myself "What a waste of paper." Well I finally figured out that if you go to optoutprescreen.com you can fill in your name and address (they ask you for your ssn and birthday too but I didn't give it to them) and click a button and you are removed from the list for 5 years! If you take the little bit of extra time to mail in a signed confirmation you can be removed for life. I opted to go for the 5 year plan becuase I am too lazy and cheap to mail in something, and it is no burden for me to take 45 seconds every 5 years to remove my name from the list. Also if you prefer you can call 1888 567 8688 and accomplish the same thing.
Next step...remove my name from the marketing lists that send the other junk mail (Penny Saver, random coupons etc.). This one requires a signed request to be removed along with your name and address sent to,
Mail Preference Service
c/o Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 643
Carmel NY 10512
It takes a little bit of extra effort to mail it off and shell out the dough for the stamp (aren't they like a buck and a quarter each now?) but I will do it if you will do it. Together we can rid this world of junk mail and maybe even save a few trees along the way.
My bride got me a Wii for our 2 year anniversary, which was at the beginning of this month, but thanks to the incompetency of Game Stop and UPS it just arrived on Friday. It was worth the wait (and the incessant checking of the tracking process that I had been doing every 30 minutes or so for the last few weeks). The Wii has been out for awhile now but they are still very hard to get a hold of. Mariah looked for months and at every store she checked in they were sold out. Then she finally found a package deal online that came with some extra controllers and games and we ended up buying it.
We absolutely love it. It is so different than any other video game system because of it's unique motion-sensitive wireless controllers. Most of the games you have to play while standing up and moving around. With Xbox (the other video game system I own) I could just sit and waste away a few hours while unwinding after coming home from work but with the Wii it is really tiring to play. I am sore after playing it all weekend.
It comes with a disc called Wii Sports which has Golf, Baseball, Boxing, Tennis, and Bowling on it and I could play the Golf and Bowling games forever. They are both fairly realistic. My bowling score on the game matches my average in real life.
If you can find it I definitely recommend getting a Wii. We have already had a few people over this weekend to play including people that don't normally like video games, but it is a system designed to involve everyone. It's great for parties or when you have a few people over and it's relatively inexpensive when you compare it to the Xbox 360 ($400) and the Playstation 3 ($500+).
One word of caution...be careful once you get it. It can be dangerous.
I have been so stinkin' busy with school and with trying to find a new job that I have not posted on here in quite some time. Well since I have a post that is school related I thought I could make the time.
I started a project for a class I am in at Fuller called Theology and Hip-Hop Culture and I want to ask you to participate. The project is called "Hip-Hop is..." and I am inviting people to finish the sentence.
How would you finish that sentence? What does hip-hop mean to you? What do you see as both the positive and negative of hip-hop culture?
You can put your answer here as a reply but really what I would like you to do for the project is to make a video of your answer and post it to YouTube. I made a little video explaining the project and then finishing the sentence myself. You can watch it here or below. Also be sure to check out intheremix.com which is a group blog designed to engage hip-hop culture that Jason created (same classmate that made Letters From Leavers).
Thanks for your help.
The video
Bible Map is a website that I stumbled upon the other day that has all of the geographic locations mentioned in the Bible hyperlinked to the google earth satellite technology so that if you click on "Ephesus" or "Jerusalem" you will get a satellite image of what that area looked like during Biblical times. Okay so the images are from modern times but it is still a cool idea.
I know it is kind of trendy, or maybe too easy is the right phrase, to pick on the president, but I was reminded while listening to the radio that today is the four year anniversary of the President's speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, a speech which started off with the words, "My fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended."
Since major combat operations have "ended" there have been 3,213 American Military casualties in Iraq, which doesn't factor in casualties of Iraqis or other countries who have armed forces in Iraq.
In related news...to nobody's surprise, Bush vetoed the Congressional troop withdrawal bill. I guess that's one way to celebrate the 4 year anniversary of the end of combat operations in Iraq.
This blog post could very well be the saddest thing I have ever seen and yet it is one of the most beautiful musical expressions I have ever seen as well. Read the story and then watch the video.
Favorite
The guy who plays the old man is hilarious. Plus I grew up on a street named after Millard Fillmore so in a weird way it brings me home.
Least Favorite
The stupid chevy commercials with the John Cougar Mellencamp song "This is our Country" that plays over and over. It won't go away. Yesterday in church we were talking about subversion and asking "What is subverting our country?" We wanted to recognize the conversation in the media and in culture about America's ideals and what we view as an enemy to those ideals. My neighbor was bold and wise enough to mention "immigrants" as something that Americans think are subverting our country. For whatever reason at that very moment this stupid song popped into my head. Talk about subliminal! I even mentioned it during the service, that this song, probably not intentionally, but it is saying it nonetheless, "This is our country! Not yours! Get out and don't ever come back!"
Have you seen any immigrants in a chevy commercial lately? Me either. Just a bunch of white cowboys.
Here is a better version of the commercial. If this aired it would be my favorite.
No not Christmas time; to me that is the second most wonderful time of year. For a sports fan, this has to be the most wonderful time of year. The Final Four took place this weekend, with the champion of college basketball being crowned tomorrow night. The NBA playoffs are just around the corner, which in my opinion is the only worth while part of the NBA season. The Masters is also coming up this weekend and should be compelling as always. But most importantly, today is Opening Day for Major League Baseball.
Terrence Mann is right. Baseball is the one constant. It means so much to the history of the United States, and increasingly to the world. I was lucky enough to go to a couple of the World Baseball Classic games last year and was amazed at the scope and reach of such a simple game as baseball. This time of year reminds me of so much of my childhood, and makes me feel like I am 10 years old again, spending every Saturday at the baseball field, staying for hours after my game was over just to watch the other games my friends were playing in. This time of year makes me excited to be a father so I can teach my children about the "National Pastime."
If I were comissioner of Baseball, I would pick two games to be played on opening day every year, one national league and one american league, and rotate who hosts these games every year. I would have the games air on network TV back to back with a 30-40 minute break in between the two to have a pseudo "half time show" in which a highlight reel of the previous season was played as well as the clip above from Field of Dreams, just to get everyone excited about the season. Opening Day really should be something special; a celebration "of all that once was good, and that could be again."
When I first started this Beatles thing I was planning on doing it weekly. Well my regular readers, both of them, know that I have failed in that endeavor which has left me wondering what to name these Beatles posts now, because they are not weekly. Beatles Song of the Moment was the best I could come up with.
Anyway the Beatles song for this moment is I Feel Fine.
Sing it if you know it...
Baby's good to me, you know,
She's happy as can be, you know,
She said so.
I'm in love with her and i feel fine.
Baby says she's mine, you know,
She tells me all the time, you know,
She said so.
I'm in love with her and i feel fine.
I'm so glad that she's my little girl.
She's so glad, she's telling all the world
That her baby buys her things, you know.
He buys her diamond rings, you know,
She said so.
She's in love with me and i feel fine, mmm.
Baby says she's mine, you know,
She tells me all the time, you know,
She said so.
I'm in love with her and i feel fine.
I'm so glad that she's my little girl.
She's so glad, she's telling all the world
That her baby buys her things, you know.
He buys her diamond rings, you know,
She said so.
She's in love with me and i feel fine, mmm, mmm.
As far as I can tell, this blog post is about leaving church and it links to Letters From Leavers. Is it Norwegian? Can someone translate for me?
Today (and every March 22nd) is World Water Day. Four of every ten people in the world do not have access to even a simple pit latrine and nearly two in ten have no source of safe drinking-water. So far today I have already drank one bottle of water, used a toilet with running water a few times (I know...too much information), washed my hands, taken a shower, and gone to a fast food place for lunch that has 2 soda machines with water piped into them. This is a privilege that we can't take for granted.
To learn more or to help out go to water.org or water.cc.
So I bought 24 season 1 at Target about a week ago because they had it on sale for 17.99. Not bad! This show came on the air during a time in which I wasn't watching much TV at all so I had only seen 2 or 3 episodes but I had heard a lot of great things about it, and Mariah and I have been watching some more TV as of late so I figured, why not give it a whirl? I bought LOST season 1 for Mariah for Valentine's Day last year without ever having seen one episode, completely on a whim, and it has been the best 40 something bucks I have ever spent, and I mean that in all seriousness. We devoured the entire season in a weekend and then proceeded to buy the 14 episodes that had already aired in season 2 from iTunes and watched them in another 48 hours so we could catch up with the show.
In those few frantic days of watching LOST my hope for TV was restored.
I figured it was worth it to take another shot with 24.
I want my 18 bucks back.
It was good, really good for the first 12 or so episodes but things started to go south really fast. We have been watching it over the last few days and my frustrations are still swimming around in my head so I thought it might be helpful to make a list of the top 10 reasons why I won't be watching season 2 (or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6) of 24, starting with 10 and working our way up. Yes, it probably would be more clever to do 24 reasons why I won't be watching season 2 of 24, and God knows I wouldn't have any trouble filling out the list, but I have already wasted enough time with this show. Ten is enough.
10. The whole "events in real time" thing is cool but make sure that you factor in the time you are gone for commercials. If you are doing an activity that takes 45 seconds, you shouldn't still be doing that activity when the show comes back from a commercial 3 1/2 minutes later. One example comes to mind...Ricky is in the water tower, after having been shot in the arm, Jack asks him if he has any loose clothing so he can tie up Ricky's arm to stop the bleeding, Jacks starts to tie up the arm...tick tock tick tock...commercial...return from commercial....tick tock tick tock...Jack still tying up the arm. Jack doesn't seem to be the type with that generous a bedside manner.
9. Speaking of time...time of day seems to be an issue that needs some work. 6 am to 7 am episode, filmed in broad, middle of the day, high noon daylight, with some fuzzy crappy light filter on it to make it look like it was dawn...end of 6 pm to 7pm episode finishes in broad, middle of the day, high noon daylight, 7 pm to 8 pm starts off black as midnight. The sun went down in an instant? Wow!
8. The show is set in LA and I have yet to see anyone caught in traffic. I have lived here my whole life. You may be able to pull this kind of crap with your viewers in the midwest, but I demand accuracy. (On a side note related to accuracy, even though this one probably deserves it's own spot in the countdown...I am a cell phone owner and I know that if you use it that much the battery will run out and there will be several spots in which you don't get service and underground in a top-secret prison is one of them.)
7. The whole "kill Sen. Palmer and Jack Bauer and his family" plot is so freaking complicated and intricate, no wonder "the Drazens" can't pull it off. I have no training whatsoever in being a bad guy but I am sure I could come up with a simpler way of killing someone than a plot that involves recruiting two teen age boys to kidnap two girls, having someone pretend to be the father of one of those girls, doing plastic surgery on another guy to make him look like a photographer, breaking some other dude (more on him later) out of a non-existent prison in Saugus of all places, seducing a staffer for the senator, bribing someone who works for the electric company, paying off turncoat employees at CTU, setting up surveillance cameras to watch Jack Bauer's every move, and countless other things that I can't remember because I just don't care to. The board game Mouse Trap thinks this is too complicated.
6. The Sen. Palmer storyline got old after about 5 episodes and yet it just wouldn't go away. The writers just forced things into that storyline to keep it going ("accidental fires" that kill the sons Psychologist). This family is a train wreck and yet I am suppossed to accept that America is dumb enough to vote for him for Presid...wait a minute. Moving on.
5. The only reason Jack Bauer seems so great is because everyone, and I mean EVERYONE else on the show is a complete moron. He is surrounded by jerks, buffoons, and all around unlikeable characters. Seriously, name another character besides Jack that is likeable. After 17 episodes I want them all to die, every single one of them. And there is no way I can accept a hero who has frosted tips. Nobody in CTU gives him crap about that?
4. The two worst characters? The awful wives, Sherry Palmer and Terry Bauer. Every second that they are on the screen I want to claw my eyes out.
3. The worst plot device? Terry Bauer's amnesia. I was literally yelling at the TV I was so mad. TV audiences deserve better than this.
2. Dennis Hopper? Nice Accent. I have heard better Eastern European accents on Rocky and Bullwinkle. How do you produce a TV show in which this awful performance gets through to the air? Did you at least have him audition and do a reading or did you hire him on the spot based on his resume? "Wow! You played King Koopa in Super Mario Bros. the movie! You're hired!" Now I know why this guy can't get any work outside of Ameriprise Commercials. I have 3 episodes to watch in season one and I don't want to go on because his accent makes me sick to my stomach...physically ill.
And the number one reason I won't watch anymore 24 is...drumroll...tick tock tick tock....
1. Jack Bauer spells his last name wrong. It's B-O-W-E-R dummy.
Do I see God in all of this? maybe all along
It's just that we're so small, and simply not as strong
Strong like wings of silver, and feathers made of gold
To carry heavy hearts, to cover all our helpless souls
To cover all of us
Under wings of Gold and Silver sometimes we have to hide
For shelter from this bitter winter at least tonight
Is it just me or is the Anna Nicole Smith paternity situation just begging to be an episode of Maury Povich? No high priced lawyers or overhyped media coverage needed, just bring the circus on the set of Maury and he will straighten the whole thing out.
"You ARE the father!"
One of my favorite bands of all time is about to be buried .
As silly as this may sound, I am very very saddened by this news, even though I saw it coming.
I think I will do a tribute post to one of the greatest bands you never heard of after the gloomy cloud lifts as a way to send Stavesacre off.
More to come...
that it's not ok to hit people?
This is twice this season that Kobe has been suspended for doing the same thing.
No, you are not bigger than the rules of the game Kobe. No, you can't get away with smacking people in the face to try and draw a foul just because your shot isn't going to go in. Just stop.
Favorite
Absolutely hilarious! I could watch this over and over.
Least Favorite
Wasn't President's day like two weeks ago? Then why the crap do I still see this commercial 50 times a day?
And there are certain songs that you don't try to make "hip-hop", and Hail to the Chief is certainly one of them. I would also put The Star Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful in that category. And while we are at it, we better add every song written prior to the 20th century. Somehow they just don't translate that well.
