Where I actually mention the PBGC

Good news everybody! June is almost over. Fall cannot get here fast enough….

Today, I wanted to talk about the cost of doing business. There was an article in this morning’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the Pittsburgh Brewing Company. The PBC has informed the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation that they will have to file for bankruptcy UNLESS they terminate their pension plans. Sound familiar? It should, everybody and their grandmother is trying to drop their DB and contributory pension plans. It’s sad really, and that’s why I’m writing about it.

Before the advent of the 401(k) (or the 403(b) for my non-profit/educational friends), a man’s pension WAS his retirement. You went to work for a company for 30 or 40 years, knowing that when you retired, you would continue to receive compensation from the company. This was a great way to command company loyalty. Not only will the man pay you for hours worked, but if you work long enough, the man will continue to pay you after you’ve stopped working. That sounds like a beautiful plan, and a great way to thank your hard-working employees.

But something has changed. When executives look down at the factory floor, the employees are mucking up the bottom-line. The very same people who helped them get where they are today, are the same people who are now weighing them down. And here’s the point that I want to nail home. Where did we lose our concern for our fellow man? In particular, what makes your business more important than people? You have people who have given you years of their lives with the promise of a guaranteed income after retirement. And now you want to yank that away, because it’s not good for business? Hey, maybe if you would fund your plans like you were supposed to, you wouldn’t have these problems. Maybe if you invested more in these people by working hard for them, I wouldn’t be writing this. And don’t blame the market. The only people responsible for slow/no market adapatation is the front office. Don’t penalize your crew because you steered them into the iceberg. I’m just sayin..

TTD

Last Friday, the Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point got stuck. At the top of the hill. If you are unfamiliar with the Dragster, it's not your normal coaster, so it's a little out of the ordinary for people to get stuck at the top of the hill. Check out the video here.

And never underestimate the importance of body language..

If you know me, you know I like to watch people.

In particular, lately, I've been paying more attention to body language. How people carry themselves when they walk. Do they walk with their heads up and their shoulders back? Or do they keep their eyes focused on the floor and slump their shoulders? When people talk, do they use their hands? When you see a couple together, do they have the eye contact to match their physical contact? Do they walk like they're together?

Take a look around you. The next time you are in a retail establishment purchasing something, make it a point to look that person in the eye. See if they return your look. Interact with them. Tell a joke. Compliment them. One of the easiest ways to show God's love is by a kind word. Be especially aware of the people that you interact with on a daily basis. Look for situations where they thrive, as well as the situations in which they don't do so well. Show love.

Thersly

Congratulations to the Messiah College Solar Splash team, who placed fourth in this year's competition. Etown entered for the first time this year, and they placed tenth.

For the record, I will put down money that when War of the Worlds opens on Thursday, it will make less money that Batman Begins did. Batman opened with a five-day pull of $72,896,986, which breaks down to $14,579,397/day. I don't know if Hollywood will include the holiday with their figures or not, but 15 mill a day is going to be a pretty tough task.

Paul Winchell passed away last Friday. For those of you who didn't know (and there's probably a few of you), he was THE voice of Tigger. The only voice. Tigger just won't ever sound the same...

And on a non-related note (but which I was reminded of yesterday), I saw Star Wars Ep. III last week again. I was much more aware of Anakin's fear of death. Even from the opening scene where he and Obi-Won are in battle, when some of the guys covering them start getting hit, he wants to go back and help them. He didn't want them to die. He didn't want to kill Dooku, and I feel fairly confident that he wouldn't have killed Mace. What I'm not quite sure of, is how you balance that out with the slaughter of the younglings, who I didn't think we would kill. But the road that Anakin took to the dark side seems to be much more defined for me now. He took Fear Avenue to Anger Way, then followed Anger down to Hate Drive and turned on to Suffering Court.

17109

Free ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery this Saturday. They have a new flavor called “Oatmeal Cookie Batter,” which on paper, looks like something I would love.

There was a movie that came out a while ago that featured this quote: “With great power comes great responsibility.” I was thinking about that in relation to my status as a Christian. God has given me power and gifts. It is my responsibility to use these powers and gifts for good and not for evil. I need to further the Kingdom, and God has given me the resources to do that. If I do not use what I’ve been giving, not only am I not being a good steward of my resources, but I’m missing out on a ton of opportunities to show God’s love to the world.

It's hot in here.

First, an open letter

Dear Colonel,

This past Friday evening, I decided that after my normal visit to my neighborhood Wal-Mart, I would stop by your Mechanicsburg KFC location to try some of those brand-new spicy buffalo popcorn chickens. Imagine my suprise when I pulled up at your restaurant at 9:05 pm, only to find that you were closed. At 9:00 pm on a Friday night. This made me sad. I normally only visit a KFC once a year (roughly). You may have lost my business for 2005. Please consider staying open later. Otherwise I might have to take my lucrative fried-chicken dollars to Popeye's.

Your Friend,
Me

Those of you following the entertainment biz, may have heard that a certain Oprah Winfrey was denied entry to a store in Paris. Word on the street is that they didn't let her in because she was black and that they had been having problems with North Africans. I heard that she was refused entry because she tried to enter the store after-hours. Apparently, Parisians don't cater to all celebrities. At least Tom Cruise called ahead to the Eiffel Tower to get a private tour...

Dishin' on Disappointment

In your life, what about you is a cause for disappointment? I made a list tonight, that was a little larger than the examples I give here. One of them is rather vain. I'm disappointed that I don't have better/more hair. Yes that's right. I inherited a widow's peak, and I'm disappointed about that. For the longest time I've just kept the bangs long so it wasn't that obvious.

Another disappointment that I have is that I often feel like I'm an ineffective communicator. I know the words that I want to say, but often times they don't come out right. This wouldn't be a problem, if my fellow earthlings didn't have feelings. But they do. And when my ineffectiveness causes pain or heartache, it not only disappoints me, it frustrates me.

And here's where it gets crazy. In my vanity and ineffective communication, I am a child of God. And God can use me despite my shortcomings. But that's sometimes hard to see. It's easy to get down and frustrated, especially when you can't do anything with your hair. But what I've found is that while I'm trying to solve my hair woes, I lose my focus. It starts being about me. But it's not about me. I'm on this planet for one reason, and it's not hair-related.

Am I going to turn from my hairy ways tomorrow and be a new man? Doubtful. But I have the confidence, nay the hope, that my God can use me, despite my perceived shortcomings, and transform me into what He wants me to be. But I have to focus on the big picture.

And I have to get a haircut.

A Drive to Remember

I think that was actually a car company's slogan for one of their sale events...

Anywho, I've been thinking about this drive. I have never been to any of those states before and I think it would be fun to check out. Northern AZ and southern UT seem to have a bunch of national parks and monuments that would be worth checking out...

Rice cakes and grilled steaks

If all goes well, one year from now, some friends and I will get on one of those big metal birds, and wing our way east to Germany. Chances are, if you are reading this, you know what's going in Germany next summer. If not, catch up here.

The key phrase here was the first four words "If All Goes Well." Things haven't gone so well thus far and it's made planning something like this very difficult. But not impossible. And I will continue my planning. You see, I've made a commitment to this trip and I've had other folks line up to go as well. So I'm compelled to make this thing happen. Even if it means going without tickets in-hand. Yikes! That's scary. But notsomuch if you approach it as a German vacation with the possibility of a soccer match. We can do that, ja?

This weekend, I am moving home. To my parents' house. I'm making a liar out of myself. I publicly stated that I would never live at home again. And that's not really true anymore. I am a little old to be moving home. Not really old, but a little old. I've had good runs living on my own, but I seem to have done better when I've had a roommate. In the past eight years, roughly half of those were spent with a roommate, and half without. And I much preferred the former. Don't get me wrong, I love my personal time. But I also know that it's nice to have another person around. Even if we're not actively engaged in coversation. But I digress. I'm going home. I love my parents a lot and I'm grateful that they're willing to take their son in...again. And I hope that for the short time I'm staying with them, I can be a blessing to them. Cause God knows, they've blessed me a bunch.

The Revolution

Here's that Manning devo I mentioned earlier:

If there is any priority in the personal or professional life of a Christian more important than the Lordship of Jesus Christ, he disqualifies himself as a witness to the gospel and from membership in the gentle revolution. Since the day that Jesus burst the bonds of death, and the messianic era erupted into history, there is a new agenda, a unique set of priorities and a revoluionary hierarchy of values for the believer. The Carpenter did not simply refine Platonic or Aristotelian ethics, he did not merely reorder Old Testament spirituality, he did not simply renovate the old creation. He brought a revolution. We must renounce all that we posess, not just most of it (Luke 14.33); we must give up our old way of life, not merely correct some slight aberrations in it (Eph 4.22); we are to be an altogether new creation, not simply a refurbished version of it (Gal 6.15); we are to be transformed from one glory to another, even into the very image of the Lord - transparent (2 Cor 3.18); our minds are to be renewed by a spiritual revolution (Eph 4.23).

Jane, stop this crazy thing!

Loews Cineplex and AMC Theatres are merging. There has been a lot said in the cinema biz lately about the big boon in home video and the prolonged slump at the box office. They're hoping that this consolidation can help battle that.

Nicole Kidman turned 38 yesterday. She's a good gal. This quote, about her birthday is why:

"(I) send my mom flowers to say thank you," Kidman said. "I don't think your birthday is about you. I get enough attention. I don't need any more attention."

Silly Thomas.. For the record, I don't think that you shouldn't get any attention on your birthday, but I do think there's such a thing as too much attention. Although I tend to shy away from the spotlight anyways, so I'm happy with minimal attention. I like to keep a low profile. Know what I'm sayin'?

It's been a while

Since I mentioned anything about The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. So here's a link to the poster which should start showing up in theaters this weekend.

My man Billy Graham is preaching his last crusade in the United States this weekend. New York City will once again have the opportunity to hear him share the Gospel. I had the privilege of hearing him speak at RFK many many years ago. I regret that the only thing I remember was that my mom sang in the choir. I wish I would have payed more attention. Shoulda Coulda Woulda.

It's a crazy-slow day..

There was an article in today's USA Today about Joe Gibbs preparing for his second season with the Redskins. They were talking about different types of people, and here's what Joe said:

"There's been a lot of changes in the league, but the only thing, to me, that hasn't changed is human nature," Gibbs says.

"Some people are motivated by money, some people are motivated by fear, some are motivated by getting a little sugar. Some are not going to be good team people. Some are self-centered. Human nature, that's going to be part of the game plan until the Lord comes here again."

Give it up for Coach Gibbs. Not only recognizing man's sinful nature, but also recognizing that people are motivated by sugar!

Quicktime Love

Some of you may find this funny. Others will find it hilarious.

Also, making some noise in conservative circles is Nick Cannon. You may remember him from Drumline, or he also had a show on Nickelodeon. Anywho, he's premiering his new video today on MTV of a song called "Can I Live." It's based on a real-life experience. Nick's mom was planning on aborting him and had actually made it to the clinic for the abortion. But she changed her mind and walked out before the procedure. It's definitely worth a peek, considering how common-sense values get panned in pop music. Check it here.

I'm just thankful.

I've gotten some really great sleep over the past ten days. And I wanted to let you know that good sleep is a blessing. And you become much more grateful when you haven't gotten good sleep in a while.

Also, sleep is one of those funny words when you say it enough. Sleep.

Go Spurs Go!

First, a big shout-out to my man Stubbs, who was a big help with the Father's Day grillin' yesterday. Most of you don't know Stubbs, but then again most of you haven't had a roommate from Texas. That same roommate also introduced me to Mrs. Renfro. Thanks brother!

I meant to comment on this last week, but I love using my E-Z Pass on Delaware roads. They have "Express E-Z Pass" Lanes where you only have to slow down to 65 mph, as opposed to 10 mph on the turnpike. It's great!

I got a great business idea for the Central Pennsylvania area: Mister Softee

Yesterday in church, the pastor gave a message titled "What Every Husband Wants." The answer of course, is respect. And it's not just husbands that want it, but all men want it. This quote from pastor Phil resonated in my head (in all actuality this is just the second-half of the quote, b/c by the time I started to write it down, I had forgotten the first-half, but the second-half was equally thoughtful.

Men have a tendency to drift away from situations that make them feel inadequate.

Too true. I was thinking about areas or situations that I shy away from. I want to learn how to dance. But I'm only willing to learn in a class of beginners, so that we're all equals. I have a group of friends who really like to play board games. But they play board games that require careful thinking and planning. I'm more the "Creative Cranium" guy than the "Risky RPG-type game" guy (please note, that risky isn't necessarily the best adjective to use, but I was shooting for some top-quality alliteration). And because I don't feel that that type of game is my strongsuit, I stay away. I want to thrive or at least hold my own in any situation that I put myself into. I learned how to play tennis. It didn't work out so well for me. I put down my racquet. I was called a baby. But I didn't thrive in the game of tennis. Perhaps if I ever won a match, I would feel different. But I never won a match. So when I stopped playing, I didn't feel like I had lost anything.

Bottom line, I'm more comfortable when I feel adequate and feel that I'm respected. And perhaps when I'm more comfortable, I'm more productive (socially and otherwise). So if you ask me to do something outside of my comfort-zone, understand that I'm probably only doing it for you, and that if things go awry, I may never do it again.

Now that I've typed all that, it feels incomplete, but I'm not sure how to complete it.

A Movie Theatre Review

This past weekend, the Cinema Center of Camp Hill opened it's doors. For those of you who don't know, this theatre is located in the same shopping center as the Camp Hill Diner (currently under renovation) located on Simpson Ferry Road. All you West Shore Regal lovers no longer need to travel to Harrisburg (unless you really want to). Matinee showings are $6.00 and evening showings are $8.00. The concession area is quite spacious and covers all your standard movie theatre fare. Prices seemed to be similar to AMC and definitely cheaper than the Regal Beagle. But here's the real reason to check out this theatre. Not only is it stadium-seating, but the seats RECLINE. Ya know how the Regal seats give a little? That's nothing compared to these bad boys. The seats are red in color with what appears to be black pleather accents. Very comfy. And it gets better. And once the lights went down, there were no commercials. Very nice. And their gameroom was awesome. It was huge. My LOTR-friends might enjoy the fact that they have a LOTR pinball machine. They also have one of those "Dance, Dance Revolution" games along with an air hockey table and this cool looking old-school table soccer game. Top-notch for a theatre.

So I would recommend this theatre. I can't give it a complete rating since I didn't try the popcorn or use the restroom, but right now I'd give it a 5 out of 5.

I would also like to give a shout-out to my friend J. who took home an Emmy at the Washington-area Emmy Awards. Good job dude!

Movie Review: Batman Begins

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Took in the latest installment of the caped crusader last night. It was very good. Great? No. Very good? Yes. For those of you living under a cinema rock, the Batman is back, thanks to Christopher Nolan, director of Memento and Insomnia. And he's back with a vengence. For lack of a better term this newest installment can be considered a prequel. But in many ways, it's not. It's almost as if Nolan is ignoring the previous Bat-movies and starting afresh. Through a series of flashbacks, we see how Batman got his name and the first twenty minutes or so intersperses these flashbacks with Bruce's training with the "League of Shadows." Liam Neeson plays the role of Ducard, leader of the aforementioned League. In a departure from past Neeson roles, he's involved in a lot of action. Moreso than what you saw in Star Wars.

I think Nolan did a great job of fleshing out Thomas Wayne, Bruce's father. In Tim Burton's movie, you only saw his father when he was getting shot, but you never knew anything about him. Nolan also did a fantastic job with Lt. James Gordon. It was actually fun to see what the commisioner did before he was commissioner. I'm not going to touch on the storyline or the villains revealed.

What I liked about this movie was that it was very organic in nature. And by "organic," I mean that it felt rather believable. None of the campy parades down the streets of Gotham, or secret underground Penguin lairs. It all made sense and fit well. I'm going to give it a "9" on the 10-point scale. It was very good, but it didn't leave me with the feeling that "Wow, that was awesome!"

Music News

The Millenium Music Conference starts next weekend. If you like music, there's a ton of acts that come to Harrisburg and play at various venues around the area. What's interesting to note is that there are three Christian bands playing this year. Last Tuesday, Day of Fire and The Mint are all playing the conference.

Also cool: There's an organization in Harrisburg called MOVIATE. They're basically a film co-op from what I understand. Anyways, they're sponsoring an outdoor movie series over the summer, where they show movies downtown on the side of a building. Check out their schedule.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are engaged. They got engaged at the Eiffel Tower. How do you say "Marry me, please!" in French? Voulez vous... In last week's Entertainment Weekly, Tom got very defensive on his Scientology. Actually, he's been really defensive in the past few months. Lots of people are giving him crap and he is not taking it quietly. I wonder if Joshua Jackson will be attending the wedding?

Speaking of Entertainment Weekly, my subscription is ending today. I'm sad. It is the one magazine that I read on a weekly basis. But it's expensive (at least in my mind). You're going to laugh, but to renew they offered me 27 issues for $30.00. I thought that was too much. See, I'm pretty sure I can get those same 27 issues for under twenty bucks. I just have to find the right deal. So I'm cheap. Nay, the word is THRIFTY. So no EW in my box next week.

I should have my Batman review up this weekend.

Smoke gets in my eyes..

Ever have one of those moments that you wish you could have back? Had one of them tonight. Had a situation that I didn't handle very gracefully. I can only imagine what I looked like from the other person's point of view and what they were thinking. Sorry 'bout that.

Someday you'll find it, the rainbow connection..

Did y'all hear the latest in the "Runaway Bride" saga? The bride-to-be and her fiance sold their life story to a media group. For $500,000. Because of this contract, Kutie Couric got first dibs on the first interview which was done over the weekend. The contract prevents any other media interviews until the NBC interview is aired. I think they're making it a special episode of Dateline. So this chick skipped out of her wedding, lied about it, was charged with a misdemeanor, and was nicely compensated for it all. Ha.

Now, onto the main feature. I'm a dreamer. I think WAY outside of the box. If you know me somewhat, think about some of the ideas that I've had, and how excited I get about them. I like to dream big. Here is one of the latest ideas I had: I would love to have the opportunity to talk with Kelly Clarkson. Yeah okay, she's a good lookin' girl. But I would still like to talk to her. You'd probably be suprised how many people I'd like to talk to. Anywho, she's doing a show here in Hershey in August at the Giant Center. So I got to thinkin', if she's doing a show in Hershey, there might be a chance that she would go over to Hersheypark for some recreational-type roller coaster riding. So if I could figure out a way to find her there, there is a slight chance that I could get to talk to her. Conversely, I could just write her a letter and ask her if she would like to go to Hersheypark with me....

So yeah, I like to dream. There's lots of stuff still in my head that hasn't made it out yet. For every idea you hear from me, there may be three more that you don't hear about. Whatever you think about dreamers, I feel blessed that I can dream.

I also dream while I'm sleeping, but those aren't so much creatively based as they are based on whatever I ate for dinner or watched or listened to or thought about. And those are some pretty wacky dreams, let me tell you. But I'll save that for another time.

It's a state of mind..

I decided I'm still on vacation. How do ya like that? I'm staying up past my normal bedtime and I'm goofin' off! I'll be up to midnight tonight! Woooo!! I haven't shaved since last week! And I'll continue to goof for the rest of the week. Tomorrow, I'm playing some mini-golf and eatin' some ice cream. Friday, I'm eating Japanese and seeing Batman Begins (I think). Then my vacation will be over. Then it'll be the weekend. And then I'll shave.

BTW, just a reminder that Father's Day is this weekend.

I've been working through some thoughts in my mind regarding the relationships I have with my friends. Specifically, putting their interests before mine. And even more specifically, how much should I go out of my way to put their interests in the place of importance. If a friend called and asked a favor of you that you could do easily, would you do it without thinking? Or would you decline? And if so, what would make you decline? Didn't feel like it? Eating dinner? Sick cat? Better plans? I know that I myself have declined to help folks out, for no other reason than selfishness. I'm not so proud of those instances, and I now try to really be their for my friends when I'm needed. I also try to use the proper spelling of "there" when required.

Tomorrow I think I may write about being a dreamer. I am you know. A dreamer. For serious.

Sunrises

The belt only cost $325

I forgot to mention yesterday that while I was at Rehoboth Beach, I was showing my brother-in-law a Dance Dance Revolution-type game. Imagine our suprise when we noticed that there was an active game in progress and nobody playing it. Well, I couldn't let someone else's dollar go to waste, so I jumped on. Remind me to show you my DDR skills sometime. I'm quite, ummm, spectacular.

Tonight, thanks to a friend of mine, I was over at the Giant Center watching a taping of WWE "Smackdown." I'm not even going to link to it. Fake wrestling has always held some sort of place in my heart. I grew up watching it. My dad actually took me to a match when I was in elementary school. My roommate and I traveled out to Philly while we were in school to watch a live match. And I use to watch it all the time. Notsomuch anymore. I was watching events unfold last night and I was thinking to myself: "This is junk." It was the same wrestling that I had seen 20 years ago. The same sequence of events in each match. The same gang-beatings and the same lone wrestler to come out and try and save the guy getting beaten. If you've watched wrastlin', you know what I mean. So I'm watching this match and watching the people. I spent the first few matches up in a suite enjoying some ginger ale. Then I decided that it would be fun to go hang out with the "average fan." What an eye-opener. People are nuts for wrastlin'. The subject heading on today's entry, reflects the price of the World Championship Belt that you could buy. For real. I've always thought wrestling was fun. Now I'm not so sure anymore. Keep in mind that I'm not trying to say anything negative about the people who watch it and buy stuff. But I believe it's something that I grew out of in about three hours tonight.

I think ABC just tried to edit out a chant during the Spurs/Pistons game. You know the one. It starts with "Bull-." Also seen during the game. Stevie Wonder attending the game (not watching, attending) and singing along to "Shout!" And doing hand-motions.

Happy Flag Day.

Forgiveness

Lazy Monday

Another lazy day today. I only woke up by 9:00 so I could get down to the boardwalk for my 10:00 am appointment. Did some reading today, some browsing at the outlets, some eating, and then spent the evening with the fam at Rehoboth Beach. I have some photos, but as today was a lazy day, I haven't thrown them up on the old web page yet. Maybe tomorrow.

And tomorrow it's over. Back to the grind. I'll take my time going home, stopping where I feel like, perhaps takng some more photos, or grabbin' some lunch. Trying to wrap up my vacation as slowly as possible.

It's time to start planning my next vacation!!

The big news here at the beach was the Michael Jackson acquital. How about that? I was thinking about the trial and how much money was put into it. Not just by the city of Santa Clara and the participants in the trial, but by the media. All the TV stations there, the newspaper and magazine coverage. All that money. Was it wasted? I would say yes, but some others may disagree. But hopefully this will all die down and we can wait for the "next big thing" to occupy our attention.

I've been working on a new mission statment while I've been here at the beach and I feel like I've made some good progress. I'll see if I can't post what I've come up with so far later on this week.

Guten Nacht!

Pulp-free Orange Juice

Paying homage to the sun god

Dear Sun Worshippers;

Please clothe yourself properly or apply a good sun screen.

Sincerly,
Me

Here's what I noticed today: People on the beach, burnt red as lobsters. Seriously red. And guess what? They weren't making any efforts to cover themselves up! These people got burned by the sun....and they wanted more! What is up with that? Yuck. I have a very sad feeling that incidences of melanoma are going to skyrocket from my parent's generation to my generation. Oi.

Second point. I touched on this ever so briefly last month, but what happened to the one-piece bathing suit for the ladies? Lots of ladies trying to show as much skin as possible, wearin' the teeny-weeny-yellow-polka-dot-bikini. C'mon ladies, don't put everything on display, when it's not necessary. I think I feel like a torch-carrier for some sort of "modesty movement." I was out at Ocean City tonight (see the photo to the right) and I thought the best lookin' girls were the ones actually wearing clothes....with seams and none of those pleated skirts (or whatever they're called).

But these are just the ramblings of one man. You ask "Well, what if you're wife wants to wear a bikini?" I don't know. I need a wife first. But I might try out the theory that "I don't want anyone else to see your midriff bare but me." Think that would work? We'll see what she says about that. That, as many things in marriage, will be up for discussion.

Also of note, I prayed with a stranger on the Ocean City boardwalk tonight. Very uncharacteristic of me. A gentleman approached me and explained his situation to me. He had just checked out of a hospital, where he had been admitted for some high blood pressure issues (i.e. didn't know he had it). He needed some cash for his meds. Normally, I would ignore a request like this. But he offered to sell me some of his videos. As I had no used for Spawn or Blade II. I declined. But I said this: "I don't want your videos. But I have a $5.00 bill in my pocket and I'll give it to you, no questions asked, if you let me pray for you." He agreed, and I did. It was kinda cool and it was soooooooooo outside of my comfort zone. But still cool.

Chick-fil-A

What's that smell?

Ah, the beach. Once again the clan has packed anything and everything and made the short-term migration down to Bethany Beach. You can see some pics from day one in the photo blog.

There’s something about the beach. Driving down Route One towards the Atlantic, you get that first whiff of that salty ocean air. And you know…..you’re back. When I was a young lad, one of the highlights of my summer was going down to the beach to stay with my grandparents and cousins for a week. My grandparents would rent the same house every year and there were certain rituals that would occur each year. Miniature golf was a given, as were some amusment rides in the neighboring towns. Now given all my good memories and fond feelings, you would think that I liked the ocean.

You’d be wrong. Not a big fan of the salt-water. Not a big fan of the sand either. But I love the atmosphere at the beach. Everybody is laid back. The speed limit in town is like 25 mph so no one can be in a hurry to get anywhere. And the city folks who are in a hurry, get ticketed. Get up when you want to (or when your nieces decide to wake you) and do what you want to, just make sure you lock the door behind you and don’t forget the sunscreen.

I’m not sure what I should do next. Should I read a book? Take another walk? Take a drive somewhere? Who knows. I have plenty of time..

People who have my back.

My day is Friday.

The Elks Theatre in Middletown is showing Monty Python and the Holy Grail on 06/20/05.

Set your watches for 10:00 AM EST this Monday morning (06/13). At that time, go here and look for me. I tried this once before and it didn't work so well. So make sure that your 10:00 matches the 10:00 on the website. For my west coast reader, don't feel pressured to get up that early.

One of the best reasons to go to the beach.

Do you like Scottish Squirrels? Then check this out.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is coming to the Whitaker Center. That will be cool.

Love

Twelve Words for you to ponder

Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

And now, the news

I don't normally watch the evening national news. But because of my schedule last night, I did. They did an segment about a "conservative" phone company and it's sales style. You can read it for yourself. But what I wanted to say is this. There are a lot of Christians doing a lot of good things in this world. Most of them do not gain the attention of a lot of folks, much less the nation. And I'm okay with that. What I'm not okay with is all the publicity stuff like this story gets and the damaging effects it has on Christianity. I consider myself to be conservative, but don't you dare lump me into the same boat as these folks. We may be a part of the same army, but we're not in the same fleet. But Christians often times will get lumped into the same category as the most recent news-makers for better or worse. And that's kinda sad.

I used to think that Howard Dean was just a little odd. Now I think there may be something more there. I think he genuinely hates Republicans. This is rather bothersome. He seems to be talking a lot about Republicans as opposed to trying to create solutions for the Democratic party. But I suppose you could argue that he was selected as chairman of the DNC for a reason. I'm not going to argue that. Everybody just needs to love each other. Can't we all just get along? = )

Guess the last time the thermometer hit 90 degrees in Pittsburgh? September 2, 2002. I didn't realize Pittsburgh was so cool..

Just a little off the top..

Long-time blog readers who have memories like steel traps will remember that there are pretty much two reality shows that I watch. One of them is The Amazing Race, which just finished up last month. The other one just started it's second season tonight. It's called Blow Out. For those of you not falling into that first sentence stereotype, it's a show about a styling maven who is fanatical about hair. And it's based around his businesses. Last season was about the opening of his salon, and this season is involved with the same salon, as well as the start-up of his new hair product line. Besides my interest in the business side, I'm also interested in the interpersonal interactions between Jonathan and his people. It certainly makes for some interesting reality-drama.

Now let's talk about eyebrows. Or I'll talk and you can laugh. Isn't it odd how eyebrows are so unique? I suppose maybe odd isn't the right word. Maybe the word I wanted to use was "great." Some people grow shrubbery above their eyes, and some like to keep it a little thinner. Some people do the comma thing (thicker on the nose-side and tapering out to eye-side). Some people don't have real eyebrows, but use makeup to create eyebrows. And some people only have one eyebrow. So here's your assignment for today: When you look people in the eye today, take a sec to look at their eyebrow(s). Variety is truely the spice of life!!

And if I die before I wake..

Why is it that it seems like only unexpected death makes us realize how short and how precious life really is? I'm just wonderin'...

Life

2-3-7-1

As a follow-up to my post this morning about the Olympics. It looks like the New York bid is in trouble. One of these days, I think I'd like to go to the Olympics. Not so much the Winter Olympics, but the Summer Olympics. It's on my list of things to do.

I actually did have a list of things to do. It was like "Things Stephen Would Like to do in This Lifetime." I'm being serious. There were like 50 items on the list. And it varied from sports events like attending the Olympics and the Final Four, to meeting the President of the United States and cruising around Europe on a barge. Regretfully, when my laptop crashed last year, this list disappeared.

Odd moment of the day: I was sitting in my apartment, and a car drove by blaring their music. That's not odd. What was odd, was that the music was Phil Collins.

Another big idea that I had. A road rally. Find some friends, take a week off of work, and "race" across the country. Wouldn't that be fun? There would have to be rules of course. No speeding more than 10 mph over the posted limit, mandatory rest period every so many hours, no car modifications. Stuff like that. I wasn't inspired by Cannonball Run, but by an article that I was reading while getting my front brakes looked at.

Common Sense

Dream Big

I think I'd like to go to NYC for the Fourth of July this year.

Who could ask for anything more?

Watched the Tony Awards last night on CBS. Fun stuff. I love the theatre. I wish it were more affordable. The musical "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" did a great number (they were up for best musical) featuring none other than Al Sharpton as one of the contestants. That was ah-musing. As was the Spamalot number.

Want to go see a show? Me too. Let's go. Take a peek at the Rush/SRO tickets available to Broadway Shows here. The only thing better than "Free" is "Cheap."

Not lookin' so hot for NYC to host the 2012 Olympics. It looks like Paris and London are the front-runners.

It was 90 degrees yesterday. That's hot. Only three more months till September!

Air-conditioning

I heard the Switchfoot in church today

This is cool. Pittsburgh has an awards show for high school drama productions done by schools in the greater Pittsburgh area. Really great idea.

Message this morning was broadly about marriage. However, on a more specific basis, it was, according to the subtitle in my Bible, "Imitating Christ's Humility." Here's the passage that Phil spoke on:

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Phil commented on one of the causes of "irreconcilable differences" is what he calls the "cycle of selfishness." In a nutshell, the cycle involves the husband and the wife both looking out for themselves and not looking out for each other. Their selfishness causes them to drift apart and to stop functioning as a couple.
As I was listening to the message, this question came to mind: "How prepared should/could a couple be for marriage?" It strikes me that you cannot possibly be prepared for everything you will experience in a marriage relationship. But how can you be as best prepared as possible? I don't know the answer. But what I do know is that I feel that there is a lot that can be learned by my relationships with my friends and family. And I believe that will help me in a future marriage relationship.

For the record, I had some great baked oatmeal today. I think I ate about fifth of the pan. Mmmmm mmmmm mmmm.

Garlic

On today's show..

Hey soccer fans, check out this article. The governor of New Jersey is complaining because when England played Colombia at the Meadowlands earlier this week, they didn't play the United States national anthem. How very odd..

Has anybody seen those commercials for the "all-natural" chicken sandwiches at Arby's? By all-natural, there is no sodium or water added. Anywho, I'm writing about it because Central Pennsylvania is one of two markets that Arby's is testing the sandwich in. Jacksonville is the other market. Apparently Arby's does some pretty solid business in this area. Whoddathunkit? So now you know.

Open house at my church tomorrow. You're invited. Free pork and italian ices.

Light Breezes.

Thursday = Slowday

So here's a link to the latest version of Pride and Prejudice, due out in the fall. This is always a fun topic for my small group to discuss because most of our folks seem to have concrete feelings about his movie, some good, and some bad. I've never seen it. But Keira Knightly is in this version, and I think it's high time that I see what all my friends are talking about.

I thought it also might be terribly not-fun to check up on my goals for 2005. Here they are:

1. Run a 10k road race
2. Learn how to dance
3. Travel to Europe
4. Volunteer 100 hours
5. Learn how to cook something besides rice
6. Learn how to sail (I would really, really like to learn how to do this, but it's rather expensive to learn so there are no guarantees here).
7. Go to a Red Sox game at Fenway

I'm sad to say that I have not accomplished anything on this list yet. That kinda bugs me. And now I only have half-a-year to accomplish this stuff. Oi. I gotta get crackin'.

Sunsets

Test your spelling-bee prowess

Take this quiz.

Friends who will hold you accountable.

Bouncin' around my head...

These lyrics were:

yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
yesterday is a promise that you've broken
don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes
this is your life and today is all you've got now
yeah, and today is all you'll ever have
don't close your eyes
don't close your eyes

this is your life, are you who you want to be
this is your life, are you who you want to be
this is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
when the world was younger and you had everything to lose

-This is Your Life, Jon Foreman

A nice car.

Look what I learned on the TV

I was watching the Discovery Health channel, and they did a show about sex change operations. Here's the first thing I learned: the phrase "sex change" is very not politically correct. Now, it's called "gender reassignment." How's that for some interesting terminology? Here is what I was thinking as I watched this show. When did the medical profession decide that changing somebody's sex was okay?

I went to the batting cage last night. Check out the pics of me and Don Mattingly on the photo blog.

Now let's talk about Mr. Mayor, Ed Rendell. He's all upset because something like 80% of the school districts in the state voted against Act 72 (which would provide school districts with money from gambling revenues, provided the same school districts raised their local tax). He's mad. If I see him, I would say "Mr. Mayor, what I don't think you realize is that Pennsylvanians don't want that dirty gambling money." I don't think people want to spend other people's gambling money like that. I haven't lived in PA long, but I know that the commonwealth has done a pretty decent job over the past couple hundred years without slots. I'm just saying..

Forgiveness

And now for the audience participation portion of the show.

Later this month, I'm headed to the beach for a few days. I estimate that I will have approximately 24 free hours over a three day period to accomplish something. So what should I do? The easy thing would just be to read a book. But I might end up doing that in the evenings anyway. So I'm looking for suggestions.

Chicken