A picture of my new office

I'll say!

Last week a friend asked, "where's home?" I had thought about it briefly before understanding the answer. Pumba said that "home is where your rump rests." What he meant to say was "Home is where the heart is." So where is your heart? God has my heart, so heaven is my home. I will always long for home until I am in heaven. Earth is a second-rate shack compared to what awaits me.
I may never feel "at home" in this life. "We want more than this world's got to offer." Nothing on earth can satisfy us. We can be placated, but deep down, we'll always be restless. And when we're not satisfied, the restlessness will rise to the top because there is nothing to distract us.

And I believe this restlessness to be perfectly normal. And it should be expected.

Quick Prayer Request

Forgot to mention it Thursday night. I'm looking for a part-time job. Something that pays a little bit better than minimum wage, but gives me flexibility for church and small group.

Thanks.

Worst Lesson Ever

That's what Comic Book Guy would have said if he was at my Bible Study last night. I was leading, and it didn't go so well. My activity was probably a mistake as it didn't go even remotely as planned. Then when we got to the lesson, all I had was must've appeared to be disjointed questions. But after getting miniscule audience participation, things finally started to pick up.

Whenever I lead a lesson, I have a desire that people walk away with knowledge that they didn't have when they arrived. I don't think that happened (at least from what I can gather from impressions). But maybe they did. And I pretty much shared what I wanted to share (hey, how hard is it to press on when things aren't going well?). But I can't shake the feeling that my mortal shortcomings don't do spiritual matters justice.

But today is a new day. My co-worker brought in Oatmeal Creme Pies and I am having lunch at the Pizza Grille.

What to think

I've decided that Wednesdays are officially "Random Days."

If you've ever heard of author Anne Rice, you probably recognize her from one of the many vampire books that she's written over the years. Well, she's got a new series and it's quite a departure from her previous work. Now's she's writing a story about Jesus. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but the summary looks pretty interesting.

There is some interest among some Pennsylvania legislators in getting rid of emissions testing and changing inspections from annually to every two years.

McDonald's is about to do something very brave. They are about to put nutrional labels directly on their food packaging. Here's an example: Starting in February, all food items, save for beverages will have this little graphic on it. Read more here.

And that new Narnia trailer is 52 megs of Turkish Delight.

And I didn't realize that we had exported that candy holiday we call halloween. But we did. And now they want us to keep it to ourselves.

Decision by Committee

So I was wandering the blogosphere today, when I came upon this entry. And so, for a fun little exercise, I thought I would list out the members of my proposed committee.

Mom
Dad
Sister
Aunt J.
Grandma
Brother-in-Law
Every roommate I've had after my freshman year

Who would be on your committee?

Writing out that last line of the list reminds me how cool it is that I am still in regular contact with all those guys. They're all worth talking to.

There's a new Giant/Wegman's in town

Tonight I took a drive up Route 15 to the new super-duper Giant Food Store in Camp Hill. First up front, you need to know that I’m not a Giant guy, so this entry won’t be chock-full of platitudes.

So basically, what you do, is you take your normal Giant, and you add some gourmet-type stuff. They have this nice Bucks County Coffee Shop that has everything you beanie babies need. But WAIT! They also serve bowls of cereal, toasted bagels, and waffles. And not those waffles from the frozen section. Freshly-made waffles on the griddle in front of you. Moving to your right, you have trendy dining area complete with free WI-FI. Continuing to your right, you have the cooking school, the hot grill, the sandwich place, the hot buffet, the Panda Express, the salad bar, the cheese shoppe, and then you have the rest of your normal Giant. Besides the aforementioned items, the other new and different feature was the organic foods section. Lots of stuff for the organic crowd, including pasta, peanut butter and even ice cream. And interestingly enough, right next to the organic section was the bulk food section, which featured candy, nuts, granola and grains.

It’s a nice place, but it’s still kinda pricey, even compared to Weis. But people will like it a lot and will shop there. And if I want some more strawberry/raspberry granola, I’ll be back too. Or the free WI-FI.

I was going to take some photos, but Sara Bozich did it for me.

The word on the street is that Wegman's is coming to Mechanicsburg sometime in 2006. My hunch is this store is a way for Giant to secure it's place in the market before Wegman's gets here. Then once Wegman's arrives, the people will go check it out and say "this is just like the Giant in Camp Hill." When in fact, the Giant in Camp Hill is like your average Wegman's store. Tricky. Very tricky.

Life is full of unexpected suprises.

I attended a wedding over the weekend. I don't believe that I had been to a wedding in probably four years. That's crazy hard-to-believe, but true (unless you've seen me at a wedding in the past four years. If that's the case, please let me know where you saw me. Thanks!).

I have to admit that I wasn't super-excited going into this weekend. But now that the weekend has passed, my tune has changed. This is the third wedding in which I have been a member of the wedding party, and the first time that I really felt like I played a major part in the festivities (but that doesn't take away from my participation in those other weddings, so participants in those weddings needn't feel slighted by my comments). You see, I'm used to showing up for a rehearsal and a dinner on Friday night. Then on Saturday, being at the church a couple of hours before the ceremony, walking the aisle, and sitting at the head table. But I did more than that this weekend. I played an active role in preparing the reception site for the reception. On Saturday morning. Setting up tables and chairs, and moving stuff.

And I liked it. When I found out 12 hours earlier that I had to do it, I was not at all excited about it. But then I re-discovered something. Helping play a more-active-than-normal role in the biggest day of someone else's life is a great thing. I watched as all sorts of people came together to get things done. Whether they were doing the cooking or the serving of the food, or setting up for the reception, or tearing everything down, it was a community effort. The closest thing I can equate it to is an Amish barn-raising. Everybody shows up to lend a hand to help out someone who needs help. And that was really neat to see. Which made it cool. And made me glad that I could lend a hand.

For your amusement..

BuMpArEnA

Rain, Rain on my Face

I bought a record last week. I bought White Flag, which is the new record by Shaun Groves. If you thought you knew Shaun Groves, you might want to take a listen to this new record. It's better. What makes this album even more different, is that all the songs are based on the Beatitudes. One of the things I've been enjoying is the imagery that he uses in his lyrics. I thought I would give you the lyrics to the chorus of the title track for you to chew on.

There’s a white flag
Waving where my colors used to fly
You win
There’s a white flag
Giving up and giving all of me – I give in
I’m Yours to reign and to rule
I’m just a fool
With a white flag

And one year ago Friday, I published this. What a difference a year makes..

If you're not listening to anything right now..

Menlo Park Presbyterian did a great sermon series over the summer (which I'm catching up on now) entitled "The World's Greatest Wisdom." It's a series on the book of Proverbs. Check it out here if you have some time.

I like cheese

And I love free cheese even more. Here is a picture of my free cheese.

Tonight I went to Weis to pick up some cheese dip to go with the chips that I had in the cupboard. I went to Weis because they carry this particular queso. So I picked up the cheese and went to check out. I went to the self-check and when I scanned it, it came up as $3.19. Well that wasn’t right, because on the shelf, it listed the price at $2.89. So I called for help. The Weis girl double-checked my story and since it rang up incorrectly, I got it for free.

And that is the story of my free cheese.

The Randomness of it all

I was on the Google website looking at job openings and I came across a cool video that showed what it was like to work for Google. Check it out here, then call me so we can coordinate moving.

I realllllllly like Peyton Manning. Here is Reason #27.

Okay, so let me get this straight. Budweiser creates a game called "Bud Pong," then acts suprised when they find out people are using beer instead of water? Who came up with this game? Spuds McKenzie?

And a reminder that the Passion '06 conference is accepting volunteers until 12/01.

We'll carry each other, carry each other.

I went to a Rock Show on Sunday night. Probably the biggest Rock Show that I have ever been to. So much so, that I keep capitalizing Rock Show. I went to see U2. Now before I proceed, you need to understand that U2 is not my favorite band. They're probably top five, but they're not numero uno.

As you may guess, U2 is a tough ticket to get. I've always been interested in seeing them live, but the opportunity never presented itself. Last year, U2 dismantled it's existing fan club "Propaganda" and decided to create a new fan club via the U2.com website. One of the benefits of the new fan club would be the opportunity for the chance to purchase tickets before the general public (there was no guarantee of tickets). So I decided to join because I thought this would be my best chance of finally seeing U2 in concert. And it worked. I scored two GA floor tickets for the 10/16 show in Philadelphia. And what made it more sweet, was the fact that we were selected to be in the "bomb shelter," which is the ring inside the ellipse. There were probably only a couple hundred people in the shelter, compared with the several thousand others on the rest of the floor.

So we get in to the shelter around 7:00pm, knowing that we would have to sit through the opener, Damian Marley, before U2 came on at 9:00. And for a portion of his set, we literally sat, despite the absence of chairs. After the set-change, U2's intro music came on and lights dimmed. The crowd started getting loud and as each member hit the stage, the crowd roared. They opened the show with "City of Blinding Lights" and spent the next two hours or so running through their rather deep catalog of songs.

The crowd seemed to be in it for most of the show. Notable exceptions were some of the older songs, and "Fast Cars," which wasn't included on US version of HTDAAB. At one point in the show, Bono gestured to a young boy in the crowd to come up on stage with him. He and the boy walked hand-in-hand around the ellipse as Bono sang. Later on in the show, Bono gave the boy his sunglasses and I am fairly certain he got a tambourine at the end of the night as well. You don't see too many rock stars walking around with small children during their shows. But then again, most rock stars don't hobnob with world leaders either.

Here is the setlist in it's entirety:

City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
Electric Co.
The Ocean
Still Haven’t Found
Beautiful Day
Miracle Drug
Sometimes you Can’t Make it On Your Own
Love and Peace or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Miss Sarajevo
Pride in the Name of Love
Where the Streets have no Name
One

First Time
Stuck in a Moment
Fast Cars
With or Without You

All Because of You
Yahweh
40

I enjoyed the show. The people seemed to be into it (when they weren't leaving for beers or the loo) and it was enjoyable to watch the people react to the music. Being on the floor, I was able to look up at the fans in the reserved seats and watch them clap, dance and sway to the music. I also enjoyed watching the members of the band as they played. I also really liked the way they used their lighted backdrops. Up and Down. Up and Down.

So it was a good show. As I mentioned to a friend, it was, to some extent, closure for me. I had heard the music and seen the videos. But I had never seen them in person. And it's quite exciting to hear a song like "Where the Streets Have No Name" that you hear quite often, performed live. So now I can say that I've seen U2 live. I think I might like to see them again sometime, perhaps outside. Perhaps some other year..

For pictures, look here.

Wallace and Gromit - The Review

This weekend I gathered some friends and went to go see Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I love these guys. If you are unfamiliar with Aardman Studios (who created WaG), they also put out Chicken Run. And if you're unfamiliar with that, well then it's claymation. Wallace is a cheese-loving British fellow and Gromit is his smart canine companion (who doesn't speak). In this movie, WaG run a pest control company named "Pest-O" which helps local residents protect their vegetable gardens. Until the Were-Rabbit shows up. Hilarity, madness, and British comedy ensue.

I really liked this movie. It was fun, relatively fast-paced and had lots of sly humor (including a joke about arson). I laughed out loud at several points. And any cartoon that features a vicar gets bonus points. I'm going to give this movie a "10." When it comes out on video, I think I may buy it.

Win Stuff

Enter these contests to win stuff.

This week Airtran is giving away one free round-trip ticket per hour. Enter here.

Also Chick-fil-A is giving away chicken platters and football tickets (college) through the end of the month. Enter here.

Look for posts coming soon on Wallace and Gromit, stellular and U2.

The Space Between Us

Last evening, some friends and I conversed about women and men and dating and crushing and other related topics.

A lady friend asked “Why don’t the men ask the ladies out?” Now I should preface this by the fact that not all men have this problem. The men you dance with at the club, probably aren’t the ones who are going to be tentative about asking you out. But the rest of us, we have this gnawing fear of rejection. I am afraid that if I ask you out, you will shoot me down. And that will make me wish that I would have never asked you in the first place. PLUS, it will, unless you have no feelings, discourage you from asking the next time. We as humans are programmed to avoid pain if possible. And I as a man, am not going to go out on a limb and risk rejection and pain unless the situation is right.

We also talked about how women often will drop hints to a man they are interested in. Ladies, I will be brutally honest here. I think I am ignorant in this area. A lady who is dropping hints like crazy, may be surprised and/or annoyed to find out that I may not understand those hints. Perhaps you are just a super-nice person. Perhaps you’re just showing that agape love. Or perhaps you’re really trying to say “Hey doofus, I’m interested in you!” But I don’t see that. In all honesty, I don’t know that I will ever pick up on those hints. There will come a time where I will go to a girl and ask her if she is interested in pursuing a long-term relationship with me. I will not ask her because I got the hints. Now she may have been dropping hints, but I may have interpreted them as something else. And they probably will play a role in my decision. But I will ask her because I have prayed and I believe that God is directing me to her. And my hope is that she has been praying as well and that my asking her will be confirmation for her.

And finally, some men, like me, are slow. Not necessarily slow on the uptake, just slow to move. If a tortoise and I both saw the same girl and we both liked her, he would beat me to her. That’s how slow I am. I will analyze a girl from all sorts of angles. I will observe her. Perhaps I will ask questions in attempt to feel her out. I will pray and I will talk to others. Why go to all this trouble? Because I only want to give my heart to one girl. I’ve gotten crap from people who tell me that the more people you date, the better it is, because you have a greater understanding of women and what you want in a wife. That’s crap. The more romantic relationships you’re in, the more critical you are to be of the next relationship you are in. You’re going to be comparing your current flame to all the prior burnt-out flames. And you’re not going to be able to give any girl a fair shake. So to me, it’s not worth it. But there’s probably guys who think differently. I want to devote all my heart and my time to one girl and I want her to be able to know that she is the only girl for me. And so I move with the utmost caution, which means I’m slow. Is that the excuse for the other men? I don’t know, but I know there are some thoughtful men out there who would prefer to wait in the shallow end a bit as opposed to jumping right in the deep end.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

Utah and Feeling Inadequate

A while back I made mention of what I thought an awesome road trip would be. Fly into Phoenix and drive north through Arizona, Utah, Wyoming and into Montana. Then turn around and go back. I still think that would be awesome, but as of this morning, I decided to make Utah my next targeted vacation. Specifically, southern Utah, which is home to vistas like this.

There are five national parks in southern Utah that are waiting to be seen by me. Fun fact about me: It's very easy to get my excited about nature. Not so easy to get me excited about spending the night with nature. I think that I got detered when going to the bathroom involved putting on shoes and grabbing a flashlight in order to stumble to a tree.

Now onto that feeling of inadequacy. Some of you may know that this fall I'm playing in an orchestra. There's a first time for everything, and this is my first time playing in an orchestral environment. It's challenging, let me tell you. I'm trying to follow along in the music and I get lost (as a percussionist, I don't play every note, but I have to keep track so I know when my part comes). I don't get lost as frequently now, but I still get lost. I also feel like the skills of others, on their respective instruments, are better than my skills. Last night I wondered to myself "What am I doing here?" (as I missed my note). I am somewhat consoled by the fact that I cannot be fired, and that they are just happy to have a percussionist. And the fact that this experience is stretching me.

Current Status: Disappointed

Something caught my eye in the vending machine this morning. Something I had once enjoyed as a young lad, but hadn't eaten in many years (at least five). It was a package of Twinkies. In Maryland, we lived near a Hostess Thrift Store where I was able to partake in all sorts of Hostess products including cupcakes, fruit pies, and twinkies. So I had all sorts of Hostess at my disposal. But Hostess products are made with bad stuff like sugar and animal fat. So these days, I don't eat much of the Hostess. However, I was looking for a junk food fix, and it fit the bill today.

And when my teeth sank in to the pillowy-like yellow cake, my face fell. It wasn't the same. It seemed to be just a shadow of it's former self. Sure it had the killer creme in the center. But it wasn't the same. And now I'm disappointed. I can't get that seventy-five cents back. But now I know that I have no further interest in eating twinkies. EVER.

I leave you with a quote to ponder by one Clive Staples Lewis (which has nothing to do with Twinkies):

"Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained."

A Poem by me

The sun rising over the mountains
is a beautiful thing.
A duck landing on the water
is a beautiful thing.
French Toast for breakfast
is a beautiful thing.
The love of my family
is a beautiful thing.
A Redskins win
is a beautiful thing.
A rainbow
is a beautiful thing.
Seeing four deer in the woods
is a beautiful thing.
Running with nature
is a beautiful thing.
Love
is a beautiful thing.
Two Yankees colliding
is a beautiful thing.

I took a quiz.

I was trying hard to not make my answers very Paul-like, but it didn't work. I bet if I had said hefer, I'd be somewhere in the Old Testament.


You are Ephesians.


Which book of the Bible are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

The Highs and Lows of a man called Wallace.

The new Wallace and Gromit movie opened in the states over the weekend in first place. And there was much rejoicing in England. Then there was a fire at the Aardman Warehouse. And there was sadness. But what makes me mention this at all, is a comment that animator Andy Park made in this article. Read down to about two-thirds of the way through the article. That man is solid...

Because I know you want to know..

My Redskins finally lost a game. I spent lots of time in the car yesterday. Why? Because while I can’t guarantee that my Redskins will be shown on television in this Philadelphia market, they’ll always be on 1320 AM out of Gettysburg. And I can only really get that station in my car. Which leads to this revelation:

I love listening to sports on the radio. When I was a boy, I don’t think cable existed (until my teens) and because of that, there wasn’t the availability of sports on television like there is today. So you might have gotten one game a week (shout-out to Mel Allen and This Week in Baseball). But all the games were on the radio. I used to listen to Orioles and Capitals games on WTOP and Redskins games on WMAL. When I would go to bed, I would set my clock radio so that I could listen to the game as I went to sleep. I would also listen to Larry King on non-sport nights, but that’s a story for another day.

The absence of television coverage allowed me to create a picture in my own mind of what was going on. I could create my own images of Cal Ripken, Jr, Rod Langway and John Riggins. And there was the drama. I could be on the edge of my seat, thanks to the play-by-play of people like Jon Miller, Ron Weber and Frank Herzog. It was great. And it was quality stuff. Not some of the crap they try to pass off on TV today. I’ve often thought about subscribing to satellite radio so I pick up these broadcasts again. But that time hasn’t come yet. And until it does, I’ll cherish my memories of those nights on the radio.

Ummm, yuck?

This is wrong. Is that even legal?

I almost forgot.

I saw a shooting star last Friday night. I had never seen one, so it was extra-cool.

And this is my first post using Opera.

The Coach

This is an entry about Charlie Weis. Charlie is the new football coach at Notre Dame. He replaced Ty Willingham, who was unceremoniously dumped last year. And he's the man.

He first caught my attention when I heard that he sat his team down and they all watched Rudy. And I thought "That's cool." Then something else happened. I won't go into the details here, but read the story for the full scoop. The fact that a Division I coach took time out of his week to come and visit with this kid is awesome. He could have sent a player, or an assistant. But he came himself. And he asked the kid if there was anything he could do for him. The kid says run this play. And the coach runs it. Under extraordinary circumstances. Nobody would have blamed him if he didn't run the play. Even the kid's mom said there was no way he would run the play (she had been watching the game). But he did.

And that's why Coach Weis is the man. Cause he showed some love.

Hey, one other thing. Do you ever pray for famous people? I found myself praying for David Beckham's son this morning. In case you didn't know, he's sick. Would you pray for him?

Surroundings

Before I start, I've been wanting to throw up this link for a while, but I've forgotten. It's for the ladies.

So I've been thinking about sin and the act of sinning and how it all goes down. And I've noticed something. Now I can't speak for anyone else, cause I only know what is going on in my life, but see if it strikes a chord with you.

It seems like it's easier for me to sin when I let my down defenses. When I haven't been reading the Bible, or praying or worshiping in some other matter. These are my defenses. And when I don't actively participate in these things, I feel I leave myself open to sin and temptation. I have found that it can very difficult to clothe yourself in righteousness and godliness on a consistent basis. It shouldn't be, but it is. I do pretty well (relatively speaking) for a few weeks at at time, but long stretches can be tough. I'm a weakling.

So I'm trying to train myself. Surrounding myself with things of Him. To be able to stand strong and keep my defenses up for longer periods of time. Guarding my heart and my mind.

I saw this on Lara's blog and thought it was worth your time.

Bid on Britney Spears' wooden chairs. Or her jewelry. Or her unmentionables.

Tomorrow is Dine For America. Lots or restaurants are donating 100% of their profits tomorrow to the American Red Cross. You can check out who's participating in your area on the website. Don't go to Ruby Tuesday's though. They're only contributing 10%. But go there some other time. The cheese fries are good.

Last night, I found it mildly amusing that the men's bathroom is located in the corner of the women's lingerie department at the Camp Hill Bon-Ton.

I had a dream last night. And I was cleaning. I've never cleaned in a dream before. Very unusual.

Anecdote from the Bon-Ton: While making my way to the bathroom, I encountered a middle-aged gentleman pushing his mother in a wheelchair, helping her shop for her unmentionables. That my friends, is love.

Just Because

Exit, stage left

So the Friday before the fast, I had the opportunity to see a production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, put on by Christ Community Church. I had seen a production of The Miracle Worker there last year, so I was familiar with their productions. When you think about a church production, quality may not be one of the defining words that will come to mind. But CCC does a nice job with their stuff.

The Chronicles of Narnia are my single favorite book series. Regular readers will attest to my excitement at the fact that the screen version of TLTWATW will be released in 67 days. So I had some lofty expectations. I knew the story and I knew the characters. But I didn't know how creative they would be. Working with a multi-purpose room stage leaves lots to be desired as far as space is concerned, but the set design team did a great job with the sets. As the children traveled back and forth from Narnia to the "spare oom," they used a monstrous wardobe and trees to accentuate the travel. I should mention that both the trees and the wardrobe moved in a circular fashion. Costuming was well-done, especially in the case of Aslan. I regret I have no pictures to show, but it was well-done.

The acting was fairly good. No one seemed to drop lines, but there were some slight hiccups here and there. The cast consisted of members of the previous production, as well some new folks from outside the church.

The only complaint that I had, was that the play seemed to be a little disjointed. But that was bound to happen. You see, I was following along with the book in my mind. And that could not possible translate onto the stage in a two-hour plus production. So there was some skipping around. You couldn't really avoid it, but I still missed the parts that they cut.

But I enjoyed myself, and it only helped get me more excited for the movie. And if you haven't been there in a while, check out the Narnia website. Good stuff abounds there.

One Week

My blog-fast is over. Many of you have inquired (and by many, I mean two) as to what and why a blog-fast. The goal of this fast was to not write, read or comment on, any blog entries. I have become quite fascinated with blogs over the past couple of years, so much so that blogs probably consist for 65-70% of my daily web surfing. So this past week was an exercise in discipline for me. I wanted to see if I could go one entire week without seeing a blog. I almost did it. Tuesday afternoon, I found myself reading someone’s xanga, and I didn’t even realize it was a blog until I had been on the page for a few minutes. I closed the window and that was the only time I read a blog last week. So I consider my fast to be a success.

Also, starting today, I’ve removed the comments option. Why for? Well, I think I’ve probably gotten maybe thirty comments or so over the past seventeen months. From 500+ posts. A lot of the stuff I write doesn’t even call for comments. I actually disabled the “email comments” option several months ago. So I figure that if you want to make a comment, you’ll drop me a line.

Today in church, Phil continued his series on the Ten Commandments. Today he tackled the third commandment:

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

It was quite interesting as he talked about how we take the Lord’s name in vain. Not just when we curse, but when we as Christians take his name in vain by our actions. Whether it’s a Christian getting drunk, or breaking civil laws, or abusing others, that Christian is taking the title “Christian,” meaning "Christ one," and turning it on it’s head. And God will not tolerate that. He also talked about how when we make a vow before God and break that vow, we are breaking the third commandment.

I also went to Sunday School today for the first time in years. I’m attending a class titled “Apologetics, Evangelism’s Lost Brother.” It’s gonna be a good one.

Look for posts in the next few days on Charlie Weiss, surrounding yourself with Godly things and more! Woo Hoo!!