Aardvark

The author has unilaterally determined that "aardvark" might be the coolest ever potential username for websites which require one. Simply attach some number of significance to it, and slap it on there. This idea did not come about through seeing said username. At work today, the author was lamenting his state when going to the copier/scanner to send some plans via pdf, and having to scan through multiple pages of first names which alphabetically come before the author's. The name must change!

It's also great for people who can't mind their own business.

Finally, stare intently at the aardvark, and in your best seinfeld saying "newman" imitation, say "aardvark!" a few times. If this doesn't make you smile, you might be taking yourself too seriously. Think about it.

I'll take what I can get, but....

I think there's been a mistake. Maybe it's because every now and then I write in the 3rd person and use terms such as "veracity of the claim", etc. Still, it's funny.

Bullet Grind

In an effort to write more frequently, the author hopes to make this a regular segment of PYHOOYB(pullyourheadoutofyourbutt). "It's fun to say too!" Brief ideas or jumping off points that have been found interesting either to the author, or to others and it has come to a more corporate attention. They might also turn into some rants of frustration as deemed necessary by said author's immediate sanity. As always, we here at PYHOOYB are visual learners, and seek to provide visuals for any and every idea. Hope you like it, and would appreciate and welcome comments.

##*## Hospitality in Community -

It's a lost art according to a study I recently heard of (sorry, no link, but I think you can determine this from basic experience). Some dude did a study showing how full service sit-down restaurants are declining, and fast food restaurants have increased by 100% over the life of the study. Most of these people eat in a car alone. People go to places where other people are, but remain alone. There are hordes of people starving for hope and companionship, even if just a little. It seems we need to learn to slow down enough to eat with people. It would probably make us healthier too.

##*## Insecurity in Religion -

Believers should be extremely careful about who and what they criticize. It's a dangerous thing to promote one's own understanding as the "only way." I'm ever amazed at others (and my own) propensity for attacking those against whom my battle is not. You will know my people how?

##*## Advent -

The advent season is one of expectant hope. A great picture is the history of Jews in captivity, waiting for the Messiah. The poverty and despair present in that time provides an interesting backdrop to Western Culture today. We are impoverished in our souls as we seek to light our own candles and find hope and peace within ourselves. Many are given over to their evil desires as they stand in defiance of God. Total depravity indeed. O Come Emmanuel. We need you.

There are 3 kinds of people in the world...

Those who can count, and those who can't.

Husbands, Fathers, Manhood

1. Load and Install iTunes on your computer.

2. Go to iTunes store and Podcasts.

3. Download and Listen to "Mars Hill Church Sermon Audio" - Get the one from 10/1/2007 "Fathers and Fighting"

4. Repeat as Necessary.

Sometimes people need a slap in the face. I think sometimes is fast becoming often in our brave new world (Oops).

Possibly the Funniest All-U-Can-Eat/Buffet Comedy Ever

If you're going to watch this, please commit the full time to it, because it gets the best at the end. Wow!

Reformation: sad, but certainly the source of some good theology in song

Good stuff right here. Even better considering people "trash-sang" each other with this.

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,His kingdom is forever.

It's Division I Football!!

Ah, the joys...Sometimes as one travels around and runs into all kinds of totally irresponsible people who refuse to take any responsibility for their children, a little person in someone's head might mimick Dan Hawkins and say "You're a parent! Grow up! You're kid doesn't need a buddy! They need a dad/mom!"

The video below is pretty self-explanatory and pretty much just ridiculously funny. Check it out.

Why do YOU struggle with the Church?

Oh, I don't know, it just seems fake. hmmmmm. This is hilarious and saddening at the same time.

Facebook Stalking (or Myspace, or whatever)

"ok, educate me, please: how in the HECK would one "facebook stalk" a person?" -Sandy

For those of you who do not know, "Facebook" is a social networking site. On this site, you can post pictures, communicate with other people, update where you are and what you are doing, etc. Most people use this to stay in touch with friends, plan events, and keep their pictures online. Whenever you update something (unless you choose to change it in the privacy setting), facebook informs all of your friends that something has changed such as "Sam is now listed as in a relationship."

This is a new format of facebook that was instituted months ago. It is known as "Stalker Facebook." Not to be confused with Facebook stalking, which is when somebody who knows you (or might not for that matter) gets on your page and begins to learn all they can about you. Friends of a girlfriend get on your site and let you know they are "keeping an eye on you." You get to a wedding your girlfriend is in, and as the bridesmaids/matrons are looking out trying to find you, not your girlfriend, but someone you've never met (but who knows you from facebook) says "I think he's right there in the back." And she is right. This is the relatively harmless method of facebook stalking. There is a much scarier form where people really do use it to obsess over and stalk people (at least I would assume).

Facebook is a dangerous mistress for people who need to know what's going on with everybody. It's really quite funny to see how much people relate through this site. One friend (of Amber's) I met this weekend was even joking about it. "Now that I've met you it will be so much more fun to follow you on facebook." She then mimicked as if she were reading a screen as if it were a story about my life, and said "uh huh, uh huh." This was actually quite funny, and not really scary at all because as I've said previously, this is harmless facebook stalking.

There's a whole new universe out here, and it's called the internet (best read in George Bush Voice). We've gotta fight them there, so we don't have to fight them here.

Bloggage Update

I met this guy a couple months ago and just realized he had a blog as his wife was facebook stalking me. I'll Link to one of his funnier posts, but he's got some great commentary on being of Arab heritage in an anti-arab America. You can link to his home page here.

You mean I'm supposed to be real???

Chris Matthews gets a little more than he signed up for (read: accountability) from Jon Stewart regarding his new book. Priceless.





Lastly, is it just me, or does Chris Matthews laughing make you want to scrape the back of your eyelids with sandpaper?

Decisions...

Don't you wish they were less like this... and more like this...

Ah, freedom and intellectual integrity

So the President of Columbia University took a lot of heat yesterday for inviting the Iranian Leader Ahmadinejad to speak at the institute of higher learning. He then proceeded to rip him a new hole. Check it out. Also, if you'd like to hear some intellectual dishonesty, look at Ahmadinejad's responses. My brother and I especially took pleasure from Mr. Bollinger commenting on Ahmadinejad debating the truth of the holocaust: "You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated." & aside: "will you cease this outrage?"

Freedom and Perceived Prisons

I found this on Gordo's Blog today, and thought it was a great quote. I wish I could locate its author. So for now, it will be unknown.

Avoid regret for a man that has the freedom to follow his dreams, and does. Feel empathy for those who live under the illusion that they are trapped in prisons, and don’t.

Quote applicable to current event

"Those who wish to sacrifice essential liberties for a bit of temporary security deserve neither and will likely lose both." - Benjamin Franklin

Current Event: Andrew Meyer at John Kerry Event at the University of Florida.

Please disregard the F-bomb and the unnecessary "God Bless America" Garbage at the end of the video. I think the editor of this video went a bit far.

Peaceful Image

Click on the Picture for Image Information

Real Men of Genius

Friends. Gone are the days of a quality Big 10 Conference. After UF's dismantling of OSU in front of a national audience, USC's shellacking of Michigan in the Rose Bowl, and Michigan's stellar start to the season at 0-2, it's sad days for the mideasters.

In light of that, somebody came up with a Bud Light Real Men of Genius spin off. So read the words below, and make sure you sing it to yourself. It's way funnier. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can listen to some old commercials here.

So without further ado...

Bud Light presents Real Men of Genius

(Reeeeaaal Men of Genius)

Today we salute you, Mr. Delusional Michigan Fan

(Mr. Delusional Michigan Faaaaaan!)

Season after season, year after year, you try to

justify your absurdly high preseason ranking

(clutching at straws!)

Season after season, year after year, you scramble

to make futile attempt

sat damage control when the Wolverines lose to a

grossly inferior opponent

(How'd Appalachian State score Thirty Fouuuuur?)

Inevitably, you'll bring up the past, boast of

National Championships won 40

years before you were born

(those were thedaaaaaays!)

You will point out that you have more wins than any

other program as though

that is relevant to the current season

(been playingsince the 1870's)

Go on, ignore that loss to Ohio State in the regular

season finale andcontinue to believe that you'll defeat your bowl

opponent with striking ease

(we'll win by thirteeeeeey!)

So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, oh Emperor of

Excuses, and take comfort

knowing that when you finish ranked number twenty,

you'll be back to numberfive when the preseason polls come out next year

(Mr. Delusional MichiganFan!)

many hands make light work.

Black Truss Markings

While working on some stuff around the house this weekend, the question arose of what those little black diamonds were every 19-3/16." The question was brought to work today and answered by the greatness that is Wikipedia.

"One little-known feature on most tape measures is
a small black diamond that appears every 19.2 inches, known as the 'black truss'
markings. This is used to mark out an equal five trusses per standard eight-foot
sheet of building material. (8 feet, or 96 inches, divided by 5 is 19.2
inches.)"

So under a normal 8-ft piece of plywood, if there are 5 spaces, there will be 6 different supports. And you don't even have to figure out the correct spacing to be exact. How sweet is that? I for one, can't wait to build a roof in the near future, because it will be soooo much more efficient.

Lessons from Nature 1, Extremes = adaptation/evolution

To live in a different kind of way requires adaptation. What do you mean, right?

Are we searching for a different kind of kingdom with a different kind of king? Or are we happy with the world as it now is?

What must be stripped away? This question has been asked before, and I don't endeavor to answer that question for you; only to say this: all the normal trees in the forest are different than this tree. The other ones would die up there. The tree's also not very big, but it's anchored well.

I've lately been freed from some naivete regarding helping people. It doesn't make you feel better for long, and sometimes it makes you feel worse and hopeless, like how's this ever going to change? I wish I knew. My buddy Tim has a great signature at the ends of his e-mails. It goes like this (and given my options I think I prefer this to luxurious self-indulgence):

"We can do no great things, only small things with great love." --Mother Theresa

"We can do no great things, so let us fail with great enthusiasm!" --Tim Miller

Don't get it? You should've taken Calc 2

This is an excerpt from an actual test. You might have to click to enlarge. Enjoy

I got a masters degree for this?

Seriously though. I enjoy it.

Another one bites the dust...

Young Ben Lavin (pictured center in the all white, obviously) got married this weekend in Cool, California. It was a good time. The author particularly enjoys the mountains and quality weather of said california. God Bless you and Kamy, Ben.

I always knew women talked too much to be healthy

Honestly, if you're offended by the title, you should really consider taking yourself a little less seriously.

Heard about this on NPR last week and found it rather intriguing. Apparently, young women are prone to co-rumination in over-abundance, leading to further problems and worsened mental state.

Now, it seemed this was too good to be true (and it was). The hope was to have irrefutible evidence that whenever a female said something I didn't like, I could simply cite this research and inform them of their mistake. :D

Sadly enough, talking about your problems isn't a bad thing. Only talking about them too much.

Ah well, there's always next year...

Church essential number one: Brokenness/Wholeness

It seems a key element in any kind of effective church is the ability to grieve healthily. A corporate outpouring of this character is stoked by all of the individuals' willingness to sit in hard places, and believe and hope for redemption.

I believe God has an inner fire in each of us, but so often we let it die because we are broken by life, sadness, pain...

A friend of mine once related a similar situation to me using an analogy of a broken glass (paraphrased):

"Sam for such a long time, all I could do was sit and say look at the broken glass; what am I going to do? My glass is broken...After some time, I realized there was glue, and the glass could be put back together. It wouldn't be put back together, though, without blood-without your hands being cut over and over again. It also would never look the same as it did before. How could it? with glue holding glass together like mortar with bricks. However, it can again serve its purpose." That purpose? A vessel. "Be filled and spill" also comes to mind. This cannot happen if we believe we, in and of ourselves, can do it. We can't. We break, we weary, we despair. But there is much to say for our past pains becoming strengths that can be used by a perfect Creator as he deems fit. Not for our own glory, but for his own. We are broken, but our brokenness can be made new, can be re-sculpted for good (what was intended for evil).

(I'm really thinking out loud here and trying to dream a little bit. I welcome your input and thoughts, criticisms and questions. I'm hoping to think of more of these and bring them together for a more cohesive whole.)

Good things can come from Nebraska

Disclaimer: The author obviously does not believe the implication from the title. Knowing many people from Nebraska (some, good friends, and most, good people), the author knows better. However the craft shown in the photo represents one of the not so good things to come out of Nebraska.

Remember the days of Freedom. Creighton Blue Jays keeping it real. This is a great tool for people who need help getting into a routine.

Considerations of Late...A visual representation

This has been spurred by readings and conversations of late.

Will Ferrell doing George Bush on Global Warming

Yes, you should watch this.

Going green with your H20 (Public Service Announcement)

It has come to the attention of the author that many people (the author chief among the offenders) use far too many disposable containers to hold food and beverage.

Sure it's easy to just grab a plastic cup or plate and throw it away, but it would be a whole lot better to ease up on filling landfills and the like and lessen our need for mass quantities of plastic. It's also cheaper.

There are other alleged repercussions involving the ways in which we live affecting things like cancer in humans. Some of these questions are raised by Michael Sleeth of A Rocha

He also gave a good talk about Conservationism, simplicity, and a bit about the whole cancer thing. You can find it here (you'll want July 8th, "Serve God Save the Planet"). The sermons around this one are also intriguing.

The picture above illustrates some of the author's efforts to change the way he effects the world around him. Small yes (well the liter mug isn't small, but the effort is). Is it a little odd to use a beer glass for water in the workplace? Maybe, but it's also a great way to start a good conversation about taking care of what we've been given. Appreciating our blessings without exploiting them.

Revel in it friends...

You always want what you can't have. Crap that's funny.

What's interesting to me is that nobody ever broaches the topic (mainly because it's not funny, exciting, or interesting) of what happens when people go get the thing they don't need simply because they can't have it. Usually they're left holding responsibility for some crap they didn't want. Think about it.

Giving other blogs a bump...

Since the staff of "Common" Sense has realized the mass quantity of humanity which comprises its readership (read diminutive at best), they have decided to issue virtual shout-outs to other blogs of note (biased or not).

Kyle and Michelle, parents of ridiculously over-cute children have updated their blog with numerous posts and also changed addresses. Give the family some love...

While the author is a bit bothered that they have taken the URL which was obviously created for keeping track of the life and times of the prodigious offspring of the author, there are certainly other options, so no hard feelings you guys.

Effectiveness

Gordo Byrn has a great article on personal planning. You can find it here.

Ah google, you had me at "I'm feeling lucky"

The author honestly feels a little bad about his inordinate affection for google. But he's torn. He loves the company which continues to improve its offerings and thus continues to have the author's support.

The author justifies his technological romance by not clicking on the ads (but it's not really true, sometimes his interest is piqued enough to follow those crazy ads on the side).

Latest in google's laundry list of life simplifying devices is 1-800-GOOG-411. I suppose you could use 800-FREE-411 but why?

The author is a huge fan of google reader, google documents (which you can keep online), and especially iGoogle (a place to bring together all of the googley goodness), but lately has found himself checking back with google labs just to see what's in the works. Ah google, someday I'm sure you'll turn into a cruel blood-sucking mistress, but today, you are my friend.

Questions (for some reason, I can't get the title bar to work, so this will have to do)

Recommended listening for whenever you get a chance:

Kent Dobson on the Present Kingdom (June 24 2007). You can find it here.

A rallying post

A selection from an especially solid movie (with some selective editing).

I can’t do this.

I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, … …. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end.Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?…But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow.Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, …, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something.

What are we holding on to…?

There’s some good in this world, … And it’s worth fighting for.

Hard and Soft Power

Ah the beauty of a good article. Truth and balance can warm the soul. Enjoy the 4th.

Picture by Kevin Kallaugher

Late Father's Day Tribute

In the first picture, you'll see my father and myself taking part in one of our favorite pasttimes: micturating into large bodies of water. Not really. In fact, we were actually at Lake Erie for a family wedding, and it was about 10-15 deg F cooler up on the lake than everywhere else in the greater Rochester Area.

Unlike many people, I'm grateful to be able to say truthfully that my father is a good man. To the man who taught me how to be a man: Thanks dad.

Postlogue: My brother's a pretty good dad too.

Telling you things you might already know...

Ahem: There are still good people in America.

[Please don't interpret this as some kind of theological stand on the goodness of man (The author has not lost his mind in the last couple weeks).]

US charitable giving set a new record in 2006. A selection from the article above:

The overall increase for the year was 4.2 percent, or one percent adjusted for inflation. But if disaster gifts are excluded from the 2005 total, giving in 2006 rose 6,6 percent.The record-setting gift total in 2006 included $1,9-billion from billionaire Buffett, the world's third wealthiest individual, in the first installment on a 20-year pledge of more than $30-billion to four foundations."While headlines focus on 'mega-gifts', they represented 1,3 percent of the total," said George Ruotolo, chair of the Giving Institute."About 65 percent of households with incomes lower than $100 000 give to charity. That is higher than the percentage who vote or read a Sunday newspaper.""There certainly is a tradition of supporting nonprofit organizations in the United States," Jolly told AFP."It's just characteristic of the American public to give to the extent that they're able contribute."

This is not to say that America doesn't have a long way to go, because with much privilege comes much responsibility, but it does give you the right to think reasonably and with the solid cranium you were born with as opposed to just feeling guilty and bad about yourself everytime some moron reporter writes something because he wants to make people who make more money than him feel bad (oops, did I say that?)

Give generously, Live simply, Love your neighbor. Peace.

Interrogating God...

First up, you need to read the passage below: an uncanonized piece of "scripture", if you will relating a similar tale to the one we might read in Job.

Two quick asides:

1) Isn't it funny that Job is named Job, and he gets worked over by the devil? I think it's interesting when looking at the curse of how work affects our lives, relationships, and spirits.

2) Way to go Catholics! Keeping alive the book of Tobit. In addition, keeping alive some of the beauty and goodness of God by showing appreciation and respect for art, non-Canon literature, "secular" culture, etc. I deeply admire the ability to acknowledge and uplift other parts of the body which point to the Creator, regardless of minor differences, or subtle nuances which might create personal difficulty in telling a simple and easy story. This is far from a full description, so take it easy on the criticism of this paragraph.

So now we come to it, the point of the post. And it is.....have some respect for God. We have so many questions and difficulties. We question whether He is at work in His world. We question His goodness. We think we know better. A lot like Orual(sp?) in one of Lewis's lesser known works. Read it if you haven't. Just know you might have to work through the middle. It isn't as easy as his books normally are. But at the end, orual wants to destroy the God because it wronged her and took away her life in the way that she most wanted it. She had no appetite for understanding mystery. Only her correctness. In the end, she is brought before the God, and files her list of complaints (but it is really only one complaint, that she didn't get what she wanted), and after some time the truth becomes painfully obvious to her. We are not Gods. We do not get to be God. If we believe that or are working for that, we need to go ahead and shut it down now at worst as an act of self-preservation.

He is real. He is bigger than you and I, and all our garbage we think can hold him up. He simply.....is.

Tb 3:1-11a, 16-17aGrief-stricken in spirit, I, Tobit, groaned and wept aloud.Then with sobs I began to pray:“You are righteous, O Lord,and all your deeds are just;All your ways are mercy and truth;you are the judge of the world.And now, O Lord, may you be mindful of me,and look with favor upon me.Punish me not for my sins,nor for my inadvertent offenses,nor for those of my ancestors. “We sinned against you,and disobeyed your commandments.So you handed us over to plundering, exile, and death,till you made us the talk and reproach of all the nationsamong whom you had dispersed us.“Yes, your judgments are many and truein dealing with me as my sinsand those of my ancestors deserve.For we have not kept your commandments,nor have we trodden the paths of truth before you.“So now, deal with me as you please,and command my life breath to be taken from me,that I may go from the face of the earth into dust.It is better for me to die than to live,because I have heard insulting calumnies,and I am overwhelmed with grief.“Lord, command me to be delivered from such anguish;let me go to the everlasting abode;Lord, refuse me not.For it is better for me to diethan to endure so much misery in life,and to hear these insults!”On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media,it so happened that Raguel’s daughter Sarahalso had to listen to abuse,from one of her father’s maids.For she had been married to seven husbands,but the wicked demon Asmodeus killed them offbefore they could have intercourse with her,as it is prescribed for wives.So the maid said to her:“You are the one who strangles your husbands!Look at you!You have already been married seven times,but you have had no joy with any one of your husbands.Why do you beat us? Is it on account of your seven husbands,Because they are dead?May we never see a son or daughter of yours!”The girl was deeply saddened that day,and she went into an upper chamber of her house, where she planned to hang herself.But she reconsidered, saying to herself:“No! People would level this insult against my father:‘You had only one beloved daughter,but she hanged herself because of ill fortune!’And thus would I cause my father in his old ageto go down to the nether world laden with sorrow.It is far better for me not to hang myself,but to beg the Lord to have me die,so that I need no longer live to hear such insults.”At that time, then, she spread out her hands,and facing the window, poured out her prayer:“Blessed are you, O Lord, merciful God,and blessed is your holy and honorable name.Blessed are you in all your works for ever!”At that very time, the prayer of these two suppliantswas heard in the glorious presence of Almighty God.So Raphael was sent to heal them both:to remove the cataracts from Tobit’s eyes,so that he might again see God’s sunlight;and to marry Raguel’s daughter Sarah to Tobit’s son Tobiah,and then drive the wicked demon Asmodeus from her.

A few quick pointers

Sometimes one remembers good days, sometimes one remembers bad days, and sometimes one remembers strange days. Today was such a time.

Recollected today is the key to young bachelorhood: Eat whatever together and get creative. Space is limited. Time is essential. Dry Ramen is always a good option. If the cash flow is low, it has been found that a hot dog bun filled with mustard and relish is almost as good as a hot dog and has approximately 1/3 of the calories. Never forget that salad dressing and a loaf of bread can go a long way. Ditto for BBQ sauce, mustard, ketchup, syrup, whatever. This is a fully utilitarian issue. Just make it happen. I for one, just nostalgically ate a hot dog bun with pickles, mustard and a dash of ketchup. Ah the good ol' days...

Peace and Punishment, a not so Common Sense thing

It is a difficult thing, forgiveness. It's also a very difficult thing to not punish wrongdoers. Is there compromise? Does it depend on the outcome. Is peace the greatest good, or just a figment of our imaginations? If we offer amnesty, do we encourage more violence by evil people (read: if there is no punishment/discipline, what's to keep people from repeating the offense?)

How do we move on when so much wrong has been done by all sides?

What hope is there to answer the injustice? This is a brief venting of frustrations. I believe the best answer is to work to prevent most of these things from ever happening (Easier said than done, I know). But how do we do that? I don't know, but there are some things I'm willing to do to attempt to sway myself from apathy.

1. Be Content. I don't need your stuff.

2. Promote Peace in my relationships

3. Promote Peace with my words and actions in other public spheres.

4. Find new ways to be an agent of change for good.

It might be, It could be....

Caught behind 2B by Ryne Sandberg. This one's for Sammy B. I'll call soon.

harry

Philosophy 101, the laughing way...

Do you want this book? I know I do. Heard this guy on NPR this weekend, and he was hilarious. Best part is, the jokes were funny even if you didn't know the philosophical concept. (Which was about 50% of them for me).

The Power of Perpetuity

Sam, why must you strange conjugations of words? Because I must, because I must.

Have you ever asked yourself or realized at some salient moment that you've forgotten so many things that were simple and true and made your life better, but were let go of because they were either too simple or just a little below you?

Let's try to say this another way: ever noticed how crappy pop songs can get stuck in your head forever? (Hey now, you're an all-star... or Girl you're my angel, you're my darlin' angel, closer than my peeps you are to me-e, ooh ooh). I hope I didn't just ruin your day reading those, but the point is clear: our minds are affected by the things we allow to consume them, so what are we consumed with? Is it truth? Is it life-giving? If you had kids, or people you really wanted to be healthy and live a good (whom you influence), would you put the things in their head that you let rule your inner monologue? A few words to focus on and repeat to oneself during a day can make a monumental difference. Truth and Peace. Mercy and Hope. Passion and Justice. Grace and Patience. Belief and Love.

What fills your mind and defines your daily movements?

Sam welcomes himself to the ranks of the pseudo-technorati

Yes, you should check this out. I never understood (until now) why all these websites had this "RSS feed" thing.

I believed it was just some more nonsense known by people who know the shortcut keys to order an espresso prepared with love by their computer.

I. Was. Wrong. Check out google reader. It's cool. It will save you time. Etc.

The 2nd Quarter (That's right OH, your time is now)

Ohio, ohio, ohio...when will you learn? "Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers?" Alright, I get the Wright brothers; but do you know why they went to Kitty Hawk? 1: They needed to see the sunshine to jumpstart their minds again, and 2: ohio's dynamic topography didn't allow them to get a start for their flight. I have two options for Ohio. The first involves the things that Ohioans will brag on for why their state is awesome: a) Cedar Point: roller coasters? c'mon and of course the ever ubiquitous and logically sound b) because it is. There. see. That's great. I propose small script and bullet point style memo. The second option is really the one I would go with were I in charge. But as I don't have the moral flexibility to move to Ohio like some people (ahem..Tim ) might, this obviously will never occur. Be that as it may, here's how it should go down. Have you seen these quarters that are all colored in on the back side? Ohio needs one of those with the whole background just straight, flat, grey. There would then be two people walking in a field of mud with the stalks cut talking about killing themselves. Then one would say "Look I think it's the sun!" The other (obviously suffering from SAD) would say "No it's just the nuclear fallout coloring the clouds from the Mistake by the Lake." (For those who don't know, a.ka. Cleveland)


Before some of you go and get all sensitive about things like what state you're from, I'll go ahead and bash my state's quarter (although they went pretty straight forward and in line with how it should be: state song, obvious landmark, business, etc.)

KY sports the title to its state song which speaks of another time (one in which certain wordings and activities were deemed acceptable), A horse, a mansion, rolling hills, and a KY farm style fence. Now, this is all admittedly very neck (and a solid representation of a majority of people in this fine state IMO), but according to state representatives, it still had a purpose: Tourism. At least KY gets that. Granted, tourism in KY is in my opinion like an icemaker in antarctica, but at least they're trying and not straying off the path. Here's to you KY.

Armpit states of America, watch out.

For the Married Peeps out there...

"Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and will, any marriage, happy or unhappy, is infinitely more interesting than any romance, however passionate."

-- W.H. Auden

Mmmm...I'm hongry!

What do you want? Stop looking at me! So what if I do have an inordinately large head relative to my hind quarters! Get off my back!

More is Less

No, that's not a usage error of the colloquialism in the title. It's the beginning of a question. In regards to making money, having things, and doing things, why do we constantly need more? It often requires more of our time to work extra hours for more money, to take care of the things we've bought which we don't need or use. Yet we as a culture are still obsessed with it. It's very easy (and not that inaccurate IMO) that one of the reasons it's done is to avoid slowing down and facing the fears of silence, simplicity, and calm. The problem is that this way of life has no true center and roams around the spirit like a devil pac-man eating up any substance that exists until all that remains is a shell, just a sketch of the former and intended whole person. The difficulty arises in having to say no, in having to pay bills, in feeling the need to maintain the "everything's just fine (even though I'm losing my mind)" view for the world to see.

All the time and money that we've accumulated has done nothing but rob us of true purpose. The things and the love of money do not inherently bring life. In fact, the opposite is the case more often than not. To walk away from a world of wealth is a difficult thing. But is it worth your soul?