there's a lot of random stuff on my mind so what better way to clear it all up then with a brand new blog!
i'd like to introduce a new feature on my blog I WAS WONDERING...
i was wondering...
why do fast food places have signs that read 'now hiring: inquire within'? where else are you going to inquire? are there people thinking to themselves, " i want to work at mcdonalds but i don't know where to go to get that job"?
who uses the term 'inquire'?
who buys stuff off of the shopping channels? does anyone i know own anything bought from an infomercial?
when do the people at the gas station change the price of gas? every day i drive by the same two gas stations near my house, and every day the prices are different. i've driven by them at all hours of the day and i still have yet to see anyone out there changing the sign. and when do the prices actually change? do they change the meter first or the price displayed on the street?
what happened to small drinks? i remember growing up there were four different drink cups; small, medium, large, and water. now there are medium, large, extra large, collectible/refillable and water. i can understand the sizes getting bigger, but why can't they still call it a small, that's what it is.
what about tapes. i remember having a decent size tape collection. they were a good stepping stone to cds. they were the first musical storage system that were easy to record on. however they don't have the nostalgia that vinyl records have, so i have to wonder what's happened to the tapes? they wore out after being played too much, and they were the most frustrating when it came to finding a particular song on an album, and they were kind of an odd shape that weren't huge, but weren't small either. but, there were millions of them. so the question is, where are all the tapes?
how do some stores stay in business? you know the store i'm talking about. it's the store right next to the grocery store in the strip mall by your house. the one that never has any cars parked in front, and the one you've walked by a million times and have never seen anyone shopping there. you don't know the name of store, and you might not know what's in there, and you probably won't remember until you go to get groceries sometime this week and you see it. how do they stay in business?
where did the phrase "i just up and..." come from? i hear it a lot in westerns when some old guy is talking jibberish, " i just up and moved outta dodge", or " i just up and bought me a new hat".
do psychiatrists have to talk to each other about the stuff that goes on at work? are there meetings where they get together and just cut loose on stories of the crazy stuff they hear? i can just imagine some exclusive back room at some country club is filled with guys telling stories like, "i've got this one guy who who put monkey bars up in his office and started throwing glue at his co-workers" and " oh yeah, one of my patients dresses up like tony from 'who's the boss' and calls everyone mona".
who first looked at a cow and said, "we gotta eat that".
why aren't there peppermint flavored sodas? everything else is peppermint flavored, candy, gum, mouthwash, medicine... why not a soda?
along the same lines... why aren't there soda flavored gum, candy and mouthwash?
_________________________________
prediction for the future:
psychologists and sociologists are going to have a field day with this one. the air conditioning in my office is not working right now (or ever) and it has been pretty miserable around here lately weather-wise. since my neighbors have an unprotected wireless internet router (thanks for letting piggyback whoever you are) and my air conditioner does work at the apt i was thinking about just working from home, and it got me to thinking...
i think in the future many office buildings will become residential buildings. how many people live in one building and travel to another building to work? at the rate of innovation i can't imagine there being a huge need to physically meet everyday at one location twenty years from now. so why not turn office buildings into residencies? obviously there would have to be some major refurbishing, but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense. with fewer people commuting to work, there would be a decrease in traffic and pollution, which would lead to less stressful work environments. also, taking commuting time out of the day would allow for more families to spend time together.
obviously not every job can be done from home, but if we could utilize these huge structures we have already in place, i think there could be a huge potential for preservation, or at least a slower rate of land consumption.
_______________________________
and for the more serious stuff...
i went to youthwave a couple of weeks ago, and i was really impressed by the way one week can change perspective on so many things. the goal of youthwave is to overcome obstacles in talking to your friends about God. we took training courses in the mornings, and hit the streets of los angeles in the afternoon. the goal was not to convert people on the street, but learn how to overcome fear of talking to them about God. it was a truly unique experience, and one that i hope to teach others.
one of the big lessons i learned that week was letting go. it's tough. sometime we forget that Jesus is in the boat with us and we worry about what we are going to do about the stormy waters. i saw 'we' meaning myself. it's an uncomfortable feeling, to let go, but the more i am able to do so, the more i feel capable of handling the tasks set before me. also, there is a certain pain that comes from trying to be in control all the time. when things don't go the way you want them to, it hurts. especially if it is something you have put a lot of energy into. i started thinking about this last time i was in dallas, and how much easier it is to let go of things now, then several years ago. there is so much less bitterness, and much more serenity, and a sense of place. hmmm.
well, to move on to a lighter note...
do you ever just start doing things differently for no apparent reason? in the past few weeks i've found myself doing so many thing differently than i have before. little things, quirks, habits, interests... for example: taco salads. i used to rag on our preacher, lawdog, about eating salads all the time, but for the past few weeks i've been all about taco salads. no reason, i just decided one day that i wanted one and i've been hooked ever since.
country music: one day i'm giving the cuz crap about cmt, the next day i'm listening to buck owens. go figure.
my shoes: i've always put my left shoe on first, now i'm putting my right one on first. no explanation.
soda: i used to hate drinking soda with ice in it, now i'm filling up with ice and barely getting any soda in the glass.
the weather channel: i usually set my alarm on my tv to sportscenter in the mornings, but i find myself lately turning to the weather channel as soon as i bother to find my remote. actually, this one i can explain. it's been triple digits here for the past two weeks and i'm waiting for the day when the high is going to be 73.
that's all for now i guess. lemme know what you're wondering about and what you 'just up and did'...
one love, one heart.
7.26.2006
6.29.2006
Bikers, Birthday parties and Baseball.
this post goes out to hub, one of the few and faithful bloggers out there that always seems to come up with some worthwhile stuff.
she had a post with five things she had recently discovered about herself, one of which struck a chord with me because of it's relevance to popular music. i'll expand on that later, for right now i'm going to go back to an old tradition on my blog, the top ten list. without further ado, here are my...
TOP TEN RECENT SELF DISCOVERIES
10. i can handle country music if it's really really old and makes modern nashville fans squirm. the cuz bought an old buck owens cd the other day and i've been rocking out to some old country for the past few days. i'm not sure why i like it, but it does get me some crazy looks from my kiddos and my neighbors when i roll up blaring some country twang.
9. newton's first law is true for me as well; an object at rest tends to stay at rest until acted upon by an other object. if i don't accomplish something constructive in the first hour of my day, the likeliness of me completing everything i wanted to do the rest of the day is pretty low. on the other hand, if i get up and get moving the second i'm at work i tend to get some crazy stuff done.
8. i'm a bi-polar neat freak. i think i've actually known this for a while, but never really put it into words. there are times where i go on a cleaning rampage and keep things in all kinds of order, and the there are times where its just good to see stuff all over the place.
7. my hobby is finding new hobbies. i have a long list of things that i would consider hobbies: guitar, songwriting, drawing, stenciling, painting, sculpting, photography, graphic design, baseball, golf, bike riding, hiking, snowboarding, watching movies, reading... the list goes on. here's the thing, i may not be the best at any one of those hobbies, but i have a legitimate interest in all of them. i think my hobby is going back and forth between all of them.
6. i feed off of my friends. not in a bad way, but i really get most of my inspiration and energy when i'm around my friends that kind of spur me on.
5. i can't handle when a picture isn't level. if i see something that isn't level i go right over and fix it without saying a word. lawdog is the biggest victim of this because i am constantly adjusting the pictures in his office.
4. i really really really really don't care about soccer. i tried to be open minded and watch a few of the world cup games and i think i like soccer less now. how can a game end in a tie? and anyone who says baseball is boring to watch and then tries to tell me that 75 minutes of a 0-0 game where guys kick a ball back and forth is exciting has lost their mind. seriously, i tried, i don't get it. soccer is lame.
3. i'm a flake. i need to learn the difference between i would like to do something vs. i can do something. i have a feeling that if you know me then i don't really need to explain this one. sorry.
2. recently, i am much more aware of the spiritual presence in seemingly mundane situations.
1. i still have a lot to figure out.
so going back to hub's post, she mentioned how she preferred bob dylan songs to be covered, rather than actually listening to bob dylan. i couldn't agree more. i think bob dylan is way overrated, and just happened to be the right band in the right place at the right time (see nirvana). call me a traitor to my generation, but there are several bands/ pop culture events that i just don't get, and/or think are way overrated. and because i'm always a fan of a good deal, i'm going to give you a second top ten list for free.
TOP TEN OVERRATED/ I DON"T GET IT POP CULTURE THINGS/PEOPLE
10. Reality TV. If survival is real, then so is wrestling. sidenote: why do they need writers for a reality tv show?
9. Horror/ Vampire movies. one makes it big, thirty more will follow.
8. Celebrity Babies. ugh, i feel stupid for having typed those letters together.
7. Computer animation movies. i think the magic wore off after shrek. i'm just not really impressed anymore.
6. Prince. quick, name three people you know that own a prince album.
5. Neil Young. is it just me or does he look like every police sketch of a deadbeat dad? and do you actually know anyone outside of the pacific northwest that lists him as a favorite? art teachers don't count.
4. American Idol. although i do like watching the would-be karaoke tryouts, i have an issue with forcing the public to recognize someone as famous. also, do you really need to win to get a record contract? not really. it's a pointless competition.
3. Entertainment news. "All the entertainment news you need to know". really? click.
2. (tie) Radiohead/White Stripes. It's going to be tough to explain to our kids how this was the music for our generation supposedly.
1. Soccer. Read previous notes.
what else is there...
oh yeah, so i finally got my record player up and going so i can now listen to all of my old records. i feel like a real musical elitist now. i can say that some stuff does sound way better on a vinyl than cd or mp3, but im not sold on all types of music. jazz: yes. ska: yes. captain and tenille (yes my dad actually bought that record) a definite no. i do have to say that it was cool last night to throw on some old duke ellington records and just chill for a few minutes before i went to bed. last night was def a peaceful night's sleep until the plant lady's car alarm went off at 3am. but as far as vinyl goes, i'm sold. i'm taking inventory of the records i have soon (for insurance purposes) i'll post what i have sometime in the future, it's a pretty impressive list, mainly because dad had an awesome collection from back in the day.
and speaking of music...
anyone who has actually read my blog for a while might remember that i've been working off and on for a while on writing music with the hope that eventually i can record my own cd.
well, i've ranted enough today. the kiddos are calling and my lunch break is up. to all the bloggers out there, feel free to vent on whatever.
one love, one heart.
she had a post with five things she had recently discovered about herself, one of which struck a chord with me because of it's relevance to popular music. i'll expand on that later, for right now i'm going to go back to an old tradition on my blog, the top ten list. without further ado, here are my...
TOP TEN RECENT SELF DISCOVERIES
10. i can handle country music if it's really really old and makes modern nashville fans squirm. the cuz bought an old buck owens cd the other day and i've been rocking out to some old country for the past few days. i'm not sure why i like it, but it does get me some crazy looks from my kiddos and my neighbors when i roll up blaring some country twang.
9. newton's first law is true for me as well; an object at rest tends to stay at rest until acted upon by an other object. if i don't accomplish something constructive in the first hour of my day, the likeliness of me completing everything i wanted to do the rest of the day is pretty low. on the other hand, if i get up and get moving the second i'm at work i tend to get some crazy stuff done.
8. i'm a bi-polar neat freak. i think i've actually known this for a while, but never really put it into words. there are times where i go on a cleaning rampage and keep things in all kinds of order, and the there are times where its just good to see stuff all over the place.
7. my hobby is finding new hobbies. i have a long list of things that i would consider hobbies: guitar, songwriting, drawing, stenciling, painting, sculpting, photography, graphic design, baseball, golf, bike riding, hiking, snowboarding, watching movies, reading... the list goes on. here's the thing, i may not be the best at any one of those hobbies, but i have a legitimate interest in all of them. i think my hobby is going back and forth between all of them.
6. i feed off of my friends. not in a bad way, but i really get most of my inspiration and energy when i'm around my friends that kind of spur me on.
5. i can't handle when a picture isn't level. if i see something that isn't level i go right over and fix it without saying a word. lawdog is the biggest victim of this because i am constantly adjusting the pictures in his office.
4. i really really really really don't care about soccer. i tried to be open minded and watch a few of the world cup games and i think i like soccer less now. how can a game end in a tie? and anyone who says baseball is boring to watch and then tries to tell me that 75 minutes of a 0-0 game where guys kick a ball back and forth is exciting has lost their mind. seriously, i tried, i don't get it. soccer is lame.
3. i'm a flake. i need to learn the difference between i would like to do something vs. i can do something. i have a feeling that if you know me then i don't really need to explain this one. sorry.
2. recently, i am much more aware of the spiritual presence in seemingly mundane situations.
1. i still have a lot to figure out.
so going back to hub's post, she mentioned how she preferred bob dylan songs to be covered, rather than actually listening to bob dylan. i couldn't agree more. i think bob dylan is way overrated, and just happened to be the right band in the right place at the right time (see nirvana). call me a traitor to my generation, but there are several bands/ pop culture events that i just don't get, and/or think are way overrated. and because i'm always a fan of a good deal, i'm going to give you a second top ten list for free.
TOP TEN OVERRATED/ I DON"T GET IT POP CULTURE THINGS/PEOPLE
10. Reality TV. If survival is real, then so is wrestling. sidenote: why do they need writers for a reality tv show?
9. Horror/ Vampire movies. one makes it big, thirty more will follow.
8. Celebrity Babies. ugh, i feel stupid for having typed those letters together.
7. Computer animation movies. i think the magic wore off after shrek. i'm just not really impressed anymore.
6. Prince. quick, name three people you know that own a prince album.
5. Neil Young. is it just me or does he look like every police sketch of a deadbeat dad? and do you actually know anyone outside of the pacific northwest that lists him as a favorite? art teachers don't count.
4. American Idol. although i do like watching the would-be karaoke tryouts, i have an issue with forcing the public to recognize someone as famous. also, do you really need to win to get a record contract? not really. it's a pointless competition.
3. Entertainment news. "All the entertainment news you need to know". really? click.
2. (tie) Radiohead/White Stripes. It's going to be tough to explain to our kids how this was the music for our generation supposedly.
1. Soccer. Read previous notes.
what else is there...
oh yeah, so i finally got my record player up and going so i can now listen to all of my old records. i feel like a real musical elitist now. i can say that some stuff does sound way better on a vinyl than cd or mp3, but im not sold on all types of music. jazz: yes. ska: yes. captain and tenille (yes my dad actually bought that record) a definite no. i do have to say that it was cool last night to throw on some old duke ellington records and just chill for a few minutes before i went to bed. last night was def a peaceful night's sleep until the plant lady's car alarm went off at 3am. but as far as vinyl goes, i'm sold. i'm taking inventory of the records i have soon (for insurance purposes) i'll post what i have sometime in the future, it's a pretty impressive list, mainly because dad had an awesome collection from back in the day.
and speaking of music...
anyone who has actually read my blog for a while might remember that i've been working off and on for a while on writing music with the hope that eventually i can record my own cd.
well, i've ranted enough today. the kiddos are calling and my lunch break is up. to all the bloggers out there, feel free to vent on whatever.
one love, one heart.
6.12.2006
You could use a little churching up. Slide on down to the Triple Rock and catch the Reverend Cleophus James.
Como estas blogworld.
So my last few posts have been pretty serious, or at the very least very pointed, so I decided to take a break this post and go back to my old stream-of-consciousness style that we all hold near and dear. So without further ado, here are the latest ramblings…
The sounds of driving. I love driving with the windows down. Chalk it up as one of life’s simple pleasures, but I love listening to things fly by as I speed down the freeway. I was out driving today and I realized that there is an almost soothing musical quality to the sound of the highway. I actually did a lot of driving this week, which is prob not the cheapest of hobbies, but I find the more I drive, the more calm and relaxed I am, and the more I have my thoughts together. On Wednesday, I had to drive down to pepperdine, then up the pch to Oxnard and back to simi, and while I was out I had some awesome thoughts I was able to put together for my sermon today. Yesterday I was out driving with a friend, which is how we end up spending most of our time hanging out, and we had one of the greatest conversations ever. Today, I was driving down south, and I didn’t even bother turning on the radio for the entire time I was on the road. In a world where it is really hard to get find silence, I guess having an audio getaway is truly a blessing.
Speaking of sounds, I’ve been in a bit of a musical slump lately. Any of you that know me, know that I’m always finding new music, and kind of recycling through my old stuff to make it new again. Anyways, I was looking through itunes this week for some new music, and I really wasn’t interested in any of my typical punk, reggae, ska or whatever else I listen to. So I decided to go old school and I ran across my new favorite artist, james brown. You know how when you watch a Jackie chan movie, you leave the theater feeling like you know karate? That’s kind of like james brown and dancing. I dare you to listen to james brown for a while and not get up and move around. It’s unreal. So much energy and passion, I should have been listening to him years ago. Anyways, it was a fun week for me musically, and I’m really glad no one has caught me in my office sliding around on the pergo with my socks on.
I thought this was kind of funny, so I would like to point out the train of thought that brought me to my next paragraph: james brown>funk>soundtracks>movies>car wash>…
Getting my car washed. I love going to the car wash. Tyra is the first vehicle I’ve owned that I actually cared about keeping clean. Not only that, but socal is kind of a funny place when it comes to car washes. It’s almost like regular maintenance for your vehicle, but it really is taken to an extreme out here. You really don’t see a lot of dirty cars out here, and there are so many gas stations out here that have car washes. In a two block radius from one of the main intersections by my house, there are three gas station car washes, and two full service car washes. By full service I am of course referring to the places where you have a seating area where you can watch your car go through the automated washing process, and then be hand dried, waxed and detailed by a whole platoon of attendants. At my favorite place, lenny dykstra’s auto center, they even have a baseball memorabilia section to occupy your attention. So I can relax, have a pepsi, check out some 86 mets memorabilia and leave with a ride that smells of coconut. Anyways, it’s one of those things about socal that we take very seriously, and I have def been sucked into that desire to have a clean ride.
Sundays are tough for me from a sleeping standpoint. I am a big fan of the Sunday afternoon nap, however those naps tend to lead to late night think-sessions where you’re not really tired enough to go to sleep when you should, kind of like the one I am currently smack dab in the middle of.
Is it just me, or is it really easy to embarrass yourself playing volleyball?
We were talking about fair-food tonite at dinner, and I had to ask the question, “who was the first guy that looked at a twinkie and decided it needed to be fried?”
I was looking for a new pair of jeans the other day, and I found a pair that cost over a hundred bucks. I immediately set them down because I assumed there would be a charge for looking at them, or some sort of ‘re-folding’ fee. Seriously, I would love for someone to explain to me the justification for spending that much on a pair of jeans.
By the way, I think the employees of stores that offer hundred dollar plus jeans have to pass some sort of service test to prove they can instantly recognize and ignore customers like me who laugh at their prices.
I was wondering what those things at the end of shoelaces are called. The official name is ‘aglet’. Totally random information, but you know the next time you look at your shoelaces, you are going to try and remember what they are called.
I was reading this book ‘freakonomics’ the other day and this particular chapter really captured my attention. It was talking about how the KKK used the control of information to perpetuate fear. They had a whole system of code words and secret handshakes that allowed them to communicate without giving themselves away. One man infiltrated the KKK and learned all of their secret code words and handshakes, with the sole purpose of taking down the entire organization. In a genius move, he gave all of his notes to the producers of the old superman tv show, and they did an entire episode on the klan, and exposed all of their secrets. Some of the terms were so laughable that it all but destroyed the entire group, and they have (fortunately) never recovered from the exposure.
Going back to the lighter stuff, I always wonder how much people that work at those little kiosks in the middle of the mall hate their jobs. Seriously, who wants to work at a fake hair stand in the middle of the mall?
And to end these ramblings, I want to share with you a dream I had the other night. For anyone that has read this blog for a while, you know that I can’t stand tim mccarver, one of the announcers for fox baseball that I have to endure every postseason. Seriously, the guy is easily the worst broadcaster on the air. Here are a few of his gems:
"In the time it's taken to play this game you could have flown from Baltimore to Iceland."
"Watch Darren Daulton use his mitt like a glove."
"He wears his hat like a left hander!"
"There is a world of difference between a count of one ball and two strikes is a lot different situation than hitting with two strikes and one ball."
"As a new day begins in New York, the sun sets in Hawaii."
I think you get the picture. Anyways, I had this dream that I was on a sports gameshow, and tim mccarver was the host. I got an answer right, and he said I got it wrong, we started yelling at each other and then the judges finally stepped in and gave me the answer. I then told mccarver he sucked as an announcer. I soon became a celebrity making the rounds on different news channels and sports shows as the guy who told off tim mccarver. Fox news refered to me as ‘the voice of a generation’, and I even got interviewed by the guys from baseball tonight. When all was said and done I was offered a job as a sports broadcaster/ analyst. Pretty sweet dream.
Well, speaking of dreams, it’s time for me to hit the sack. One love, one heart.
So my last few posts have been pretty serious, or at the very least very pointed, so I decided to take a break this post and go back to my old stream-of-consciousness style that we all hold near and dear. So without further ado, here are the latest ramblings…
The sounds of driving. I love driving with the windows down. Chalk it up as one of life’s simple pleasures, but I love listening to things fly by as I speed down the freeway. I was out driving today and I realized that there is an almost soothing musical quality to the sound of the highway. I actually did a lot of driving this week, which is prob not the cheapest of hobbies, but I find the more I drive, the more calm and relaxed I am, and the more I have my thoughts together. On Wednesday, I had to drive down to pepperdine, then up the pch to Oxnard and back to simi, and while I was out I had some awesome thoughts I was able to put together for my sermon today. Yesterday I was out driving with a friend, which is how we end up spending most of our time hanging out, and we had one of the greatest conversations ever. Today, I was driving down south, and I didn’t even bother turning on the radio for the entire time I was on the road. In a world where it is really hard to get find silence, I guess having an audio getaway is truly a blessing.
Speaking of sounds, I’ve been in a bit of a musical slump lately. Any of you that know me, know that I’m always finding new music, and kind of recycling through my old stuff to make it new again. Anyways, I was looking through itunes this week for some new music, and I really wasn’t interested in any of my typical punk, reggae, ska or whatever else I listen to. So I decided to go old school and I ran across my new favorite artist, james brown. You know how when you watch a Jackie chan movie, you leave the theater feeling like you know karate? That’s kind of like james brown and dancing. I dare you to listen to james brown for a while and not get up and move around. It’s unreal. So much energy and passion, I should have been listening to him years ago. Anyways, it was a fun week for me musically, and I’m really glad no one has caught me in my office sliding around on the pergo with my socks on.
I thought this was kind of funny, so I would like to point out the train of thought that brought me to my next paragraph: james brown>funk>soundtracks>movies>car wash>…
Getting my car washed. I love going to the car wash. Tyra is the first vehicle I’ve owned that I actually cared about keeping clean. Not only that, but socal is kind of a funny place when it comes to car washes. It’s almost like regular maintenance for your vehicle, but it really is taken to an extreme out here. You really don’t see a lot of dirty cars out here, and there are so many gas stations out here that have car washes. In a two block radius from one of the main intersections by my house, there are three gas station car washes, and two full service car washes. By full service I am of course referring to the places where you have a seating area where you can watch your car go through the automated washing process, and then be hand dried, waxed and detailed by a whole platoon of attendants. At my favorite place, lenny dykstra’s auto center, they even have a baseball memorabilia section to occupy your attention. So I can relax, have a pepsi, check out some 86 mets memorabilia and leave with a ride that smells of coconut. Anyways, it’s one of those things about socal that we take very seriously, and I have def been sucked into that desire to have a clean ride.
Sundays are tough for me from a sleeping standpoint. I am a big fan of the Sunday afternoon nap, however those naps tend to lead to late night think-sessions where you’re not really tired enough to go to sleep when you should, kind of like the one I am currently smack dab in the middle of.
Is it just me, or is it really easy to embarrass yourself playing volleyball?
We were talking about fair-food tonite at dinner, and I had to ask the question, “who was the first guy that looked at a twinkie and decided it needed to be fried?”
I was looking for a new pair of jeans the other day, and I found a pair that cost over a hundred bucks. I immediately set them down because I assumed there would be a charge for looking at them, or some sort of ‘re-folding’ fee. Seriously, I would love for someone to explain to me the justification for spending that much on a pair of jeans.
By the way, I think the employees of stores that offer hundred dollar plus jeans have to pass some sort of service test to prove they can instantly recognize and ignore customers like me who laugh at their prices.
I was wondering what those things at the end of shoelaces are called. The official name is ‘aglet’. Totally random information, but you know the next time you look at your shoelaces, you are going to try and remember what they are called.
I was reading this book ‘freakonomics’ the other day and this particular chapter really captured my attention. It was talking about how the KKK used the control of information to perpetuate fear. They had a whole system of code words and secret handshakes that allowed them to communicate without giving themselves away. One man infiltrated the KKK and learned all of their secret code words and handshakes, with the sole purpose of taking down the entire organization. In a genius move, he gave all of his notes to the producers of the old superman tv show, and they did an entire episode on the klan, and exposed all of their secrets. Some of the terms were so laughable that it all but destroyed the entire group, and they have (fortunately) never recovered from the exposure.
Going back to the lighter stuff, I always wonder how much people that work at those little kiosks in the middle of the mall hate their jobs. Seriously, who wants to work at a fake hair stand in the middle of the mall?
And to end these ramblings, I want to share with you a dream I had the other night. For anyone that has read this blog for a while, you know that I can’t stand tim mccarver, one of the announcers for fox baseball that I have to endure every postseason. Seriously, the guy is easily the worst broadcaster on the air. Here are a few of his gems:
"In the time it's taken to play this game you could have flown from Baltimore to Iceland."
"Watch Darren Daulton use his mitt like a glove."
"He wears his hat like a left hander!"
"There is a world of difference between a count of one ball and two strikes is a lot different situation than hitting with two strikes and one ball."
"As a new day begins in New York, the sun sets in Hawaii."
I think you get the picture. Anyways, I had this dream that I was on a sports gameshow, and tim mccarver was the host. I got an answer right, and he said I got it wrong, we started yelling at each other and then the judges finally stepped in and gave me the answer. I then told mccarver he sucked as an announcer. I soon became a celebrity making the rounds on different news channels and sports shows as the guy who told off tim mccarver. Fox news refered to me as ‘the voice of a generation’, and I even got interviewed by the guys from baseball tonight. When all was said and done I was offered a job as a sports broadcaster/ analyst. Pretty sweet dream.
Well, speaking of dreams, it’s time for me to hit the sack. One love, one heart.
5.31.2006
who runs into a plane?
so the cuz was flying back from florida today, and he just called to tell me that he was going to be getting in late because they had to change planes. evidently a food service truck ran into his plane. seriously, who runs into a plane? just thought that might bring you a good laugh.
one love, one heart.
one love, one heart.
5.23.2006
"there are two stories to every side"
thanks mom for the quote.
baseball.
if you're reading this, then you probably already know that i'm a baseball fanatic, at the very least baseball has a lot of meaning to me. the astros were in town a couple of weeks ago, and i went to another game this past weekend so i've been thinking a lot lately about how much i love going to ballgames, and the impact they have had in my life. mi padre had season tickets when we lived in san diego, and the story is told around our house that dad drew a circle on the map around the stadium to look for a house, and his first circle was still in the parking lot at jack murphy stadium. supposedly, the home we ended up living in was on the line of the second, bigger circle. at the very least, we lived close to the stadium when we lived in san diego, and i got to go to a bunch of ballgames growing up. so i've been thinking a lot about the wisdom that dad shared with me through the years lately, and how much of that came from our time spent at baseball games together. i guess you could call this part...
life lessons my dad taught me at baseball games:
NEVER LEAVE THE GAME EARLY. we would stay until the last out, because you never know what you are going to miss. it could be 10-1 and dad would still be in his seat, because until that last out was called, there was always a chance of something spectacular happening. such is life. there is always the chance that today is going to be an absolutely spectacular day, even if it doesn't appear that way. never give up.
THERE IS MORE GOING ON THAN WHAT YOU CAN SEE. the thing about baseball that a lot of people don't understand, is exactly how much thinking is going on at every moment of the game. sure, baseball doesn't have the pace that other sports have, but there are so many subtleties that go unnoticed. on every pitch, every player has to make split second decisions on what they are to do if the ball comes their way, and keep in mind literally hundreds of little factors like speed of the runners, spin on the ball, texture of the grass... then there's the whole decision making process of what pitch to throw, on what count, to what batters... and it should be mentioned that these guys are there for hours before the game actually starts practicing for that night. i think this is downright spiritual. there is so much more going on in this world that what we simply see. it would be foolish of us to assume that a pitcher is just arbitrarily throwing balls across the plate. it would also be foolish of us to assume that God is not involved with every moment of our lives. just because we can't always see it, or don't notice it, does not mean that it is not happening, and having a huge impact.
CHEER YOUR TEAM ON, NEVER BOO THE OTHER TEAM. i never understood this as a kid, but the more i look back, the more i realize that everyone mi padre knows, respects him. i think a lot of it has to do with that 'never boo a person' mentality that he had. i remember dad being angry at calls, frustrated at players, and distraught over losses, but he kept everything in perspective and never said anything derogatory to another person. if you make fun of someone else, then people around you are going to assume that you do the same about them. not a good way to build trust, but def a good judge of character.
THERE ARE SEVEN WAYS TO GET ON FIRST BASE: hit, walk, hit-by-pitch, fielder's choice, error, dropped third strike, and catcher's interference. there is more than one way to do almost anything, and we all have different God-given gifts to travel different paths. the important thing to remember here is, either way, you end up on first base. my life is not going to mirror your life, and truly being aware of that not only encourages acceptance of others, but it allows others the ability to chart their own course.
I BUY, YOU FLY. dad never charged me for a ticket to a ballgame, but it was my responsibility to go to the concession stands to get our food. he would give me the money, and i would go get two hot dogs and two cokes for us to enjoy. this sounds simple, but look at the trust mi padre showed from the eyes of a 7-14 year old. dad trusts me with his money. dad trusts me to get what he ordered. dad trusts me in this crowd of 30,000 people to be okay. dad trusts me get our food. you think i ever spilled a drop of his diet coke, or came back w/o the correct amount of change? not a chance. i wasn't afraid that he would get mad, i just wanted to keep his trust, and show him that i was the right man for the job.
PARK AND WALK. we would always park on the outer ring of the parking lot and hike our way in to the stadium. i always complained about this because growing up, we're typically taught by society to go after the best everything. dad never worried about the best parking spot. the people that did go after that 'best spot' typically had to spend a lot longer looking for one, and were usually stuck, in traffic longer on the way out. the first will be last, and the last will be first. it's so easy to go after the things that appear to be 'the best', and spend a good deal of time letting that consume you. so much in fact, that you might miss what you were there for in the first place. we never missed an inning of baseball looking for a spot to park.
IT'S OKAY TO VENTURE AROUND THE STADIUM. i have to laugh at this one, because it probably caused mom a fair amount of stress. me and dad typically went to baseball games ourselves, but every season when the astros would come to town, mom and sarah would come too. when it was just me and dad, he would let me wander around the stadium (i knew every spot that sold the best baseball cards in the whole stadium) and chase after foul balls. can you imagine a seven year old sitting still nine innings of baseball? not happening. when mom was at the ballgame though, i always laughed, because dad would say 'go have fun', and mom would always say 'be careful'. i laughed because if she knew how well i knew the ball park she wouldn't worry about me, but here's the deal. dad said what a dad needed to say, and mom said what a mom needed to say. i knew my mom loved me enough to be concerned about where i was going, and my dad loved me enough to let me have my adventure. God cares for us more than we'll ever imagine, but he still wants us to go out and adventure, he never asks us to sit still through nine innings.
YOU DON'T NEED COTTON CANDY. i mentioned earlier that dad would buy me a hot dog and a coke at every ballgame, what i left out of that part was that anything after that was going to be bought with my own money. occasionally dad would buy me an extra coke or some ice cream, but we never spent money on stuff like cotton candy or those little bats, or pennants or anything we didn't need. i wish i followed this lesson more closely, because it was truly an invaluable life lesson. call it the 'value of a dollar' lesson. the reason dad never bought me that stuff was not that he didn't want me to have it, but he wanted me to earn what i bought. i can not recall dad spending a dime on baseball cards for me. but he did pay me to shine his shoes so i could have spending money. looking at my baseball card collection today you would assume that dad's shoes are still holding their polish.
TONY GWYNN. one of the best hitters in baseball never really looked the part, but man could he hit. tony gwynn is a shoe in for the hall of fame, and was always the guy that dad told me to look at for examples on how to play the game. the thing about gwynn was that he wasn't never much of a power hitter, but he always managed to hit the ball. fans are easily drawn to the home run hitter, but a true fan knows that someone who hits for average is much more valuable and consistent. gwynn was patient at the plate, had a discerning eye, and almost never struck out looking. he played for the same team his whole career, and he never argued a call. if he had played for a major market team like the yankees or braves, i have no doubt that he would have been much more popular, but he played every game of his career for the same team, and that earned him the respect of millions of san diegans. see, we love the people that get the most attention, that hit the most home runs, but often times it is the guy that is doing his job well, day after day, that we should look up to. tony gwynn was laughed at because of his size and shape, and i'm sure if he had the look he could have stretched a few more singles to doubles, but that wasn't what concerned him. what concerned gwynn was putting that bat to the ball at every chance.
ALWAYS RUN TO FIRST. i remember dad used to say this a lot. his point was that anytime in baseball that first base was yours, you should get there as quickly as possible. if you had a hit, you obviously wanted to get there quickly, if you were leading off and you wanting to avoid being picked off, you would get there quickly, but there are sometimes we forget the urgency to get to base. if you get walked, don't take your time, get to first. maybe the catcher dropped the ball and you can get an extra base out of it, or maybe it shows that you have no regrets and are ready to take advantage of your situation. an even better example was after getting hit by a pitch. before craig biggio shattered the hit by pitch record, there was a guy in san diego, tim flannery, who was always getting plunked. and he o matter how bad it was, when he made his way to first, he was always running. run it off, don't dwell, don't try and force sympathy, just take your base. dad had a lot of respect for flannery and his ability to shake things off and get to running the bases. i've got a lot of respect for people who don't try and force me to empathize. you got hit, i feel bad for you, and i can't imagine how bad that hurts, but you'll be okay, it's time to take your base.
FUNDAMENTALS WIN GAMES. this is probably my favorite of all of these, mainly because it is so true. the more errors you commit in a game, the more likely you are to lose that game. in spring training baseball players young and old start with the very basics of the game and practice them over and over. run. hit. catch. throw. when you execute the mundane, menial, necessary tasks, the likeliness of you accomplishing your goal is excellent. relying on grand slams, or next to impossible catches is a dangerous way to play baseball. if you want a great life, do your homework, go to school, continually learn, work hard at your job, and reap the benefits. dad was never one to play the lottery, he never relied on that one in a million shot to make things better. sure we had amazing things happen to us, but i think that was more a reward for his continuous execution of the fundamentals of running a family.
well this turned into something a lot longer than i had originally planned, but it's all good. i think i'll continue with a couple more things from my dad and then it's time to head home. mi padre is full of all kinds of useful wisdom, and not all of it pertains to baseball. last week when i was back in texas with the fam, we were kind of joking about some of the little philosophies that pops has, so we came up with this:
THINGS DAD SAID, WOULD HAVE SAID, OR SHOULD HAVE SAID:
doing the right thing is always the right thing to do.
take every new couple at church out for ice cream.
beautiful is not a way to describe how someone looks, but a way to describe who they are.
you are more than your job title.
don't let your work define who you are.
be more than nice and friendly, be memorable.
compliment the person on who they are, as well as what they have accomplished.
heart, action, attitude... in that order.
fight to live.
do not confuse being meek with weakness, it takes much more power to hold back when you are capable.
get up early on saturdays and spend the morning helping a widow.
respecting the elderly involves a cup of coffee, and a lot of listening.
and lastly, i want to leave you with a poem that my dad wrote for my sister about three years ago. like my sister says, coming from him these words mean mean a lot.
life is an opportunity, benefit from it
life is beauty, admire it
life is a dream, realize it
life is a challenge, meet it
life is a game, play it
life is a promise, fulfill it
life is sorrow, overcome it
life is luck, make it
life is life-- fight for it!
one love, one heart.
baseball.
if you're reading this, then you probably already know that i'm a baseball fanatic, at the very least baseball has a lot of meaning to me. the astros were in town a couple of weeks ago, and i went to another game this past weekend so i've been thinking a lot lately about how much i love going to ballgames, and the impact they have had in my life. mi padre had season tickets when we lived in san diego, and the story is told around our house that dad drew a circle on the map around the stadium to look for a house, and his first circle was still in the parking lot at jack murphy stadium. supposedly, the home we ended up living in was on the line of the second, bigger circle. at the very least, we lived close to the stadium when we lived in san diego, and i got to go to a bunch of ballgames growing up. so i've been thinking a lot about the wisdom that dad shared with me through the years lately, and how much of that came from our time spent at baseball games together. i guess you could call this part...
life lessons my dad taught me at baseball games:
NEVER LEAVE THE GAME EARLY. we would stay until the last out, because you never know what you are going to miss. it could be 10-1 and dad would still be in his seat, because until that last out was called, there was always a chance of something spectacular happening. such is life. there is always the chance that today is going to be an absolutely spectacular day, even if it doesn't appear that way. never give up.
THERE IS MORE GOING ON THAN WHAT YOU CAN SEE. the thing about baseball that a lot of people don't understand, is exactly how much thinking is going on at every moment of the game. sure, baseball doesn't have the pace that other sports have, but there are so many subtleties that go unnoticed. on every pitch, every player has to make split second decisions on what they are to do if the ball comes their way, and keep in mind literally hundreds of little factors like speed of the runners, spin on the ball, texture of the grass... then there's the whole decision making process of what pitch to throw, on what count, to what batters... and it should be mentioned that these guys are there for hours before the game actually starts practicing for that night. i think this is downright spiritual. there is so much more going on in this world that what we simply see. it would be foolish of us to assume that a pitcher is just arbitrarily throwing balls across the plate. it would also be foolish of us to assume that God is not involved with every moment of our lives. just because we can't always see it, or don't notice it, does not mean that it is not happening, and having a huge impact.
CHEER YOUR TEAM ON, NEVER BOO THE OTHER TEAM. i never understood this as a kid, but the more i look back, the more i realize that everyone mi padre knows, respects him. i think a lot of it has to do with that 'never boo a person' mentality that he had. i remember dad being angry at calls, frustrated at players, and distraught over losses, but he kept everything in perspective and never said anything derogatory to another person. if you make fun of someone else, then people around you are going to assume that you do the same about them. not a good way to build trust, but def a good judge of character.
THERE ARE SEVEN WAYS TO GET ON FIRST BASE: hit, walk, hit-by-pitch, fielder's choice, error, dropped third strike, and catcher's interference. there is more than one way to do almost anything, and we all have different God-given gifts to travel different paths. the important thing to remember here is, either way, you end up on first base. my life is not going to mirror your life, and truly being aware of that not only encourages acceptance of others, but it allows others the ability to chart their own course.
I BUY, YOU FLY. dad never charged me for a ticket to a ballgame, but it was my responsibility to go to the concession stands to get our food. he would give me the money, and i would go get two hot dogs and two cokes for us to enjoy. this sounds simple, but look at the trust mi padre showed from the eyes of a 7-14 year old. dad trusts me with his money. dad trusts me to get what he ordered. dad trusts me in this crowd of 30,000 people to be okay. dad trusts me get our food. you think i ever spilled a drop of his diet coke, or came back w/o the correct amount of change? not a chance. i wasn't afraid that he would get mad, i just wanted to keep his trust, and show him that i was the right man for the job.
PARK AND WALK. we would always park on the outer ring of the parking lot and hike our way in to the stadium. i always complained about this because growing up, we're typically taught by society to go after the best everything. dad never worried about the best parking spot. the people that did go after that 'best spot' typically had to spend a lot longer looking for one, and were usually stuck, in traffic longer on the way out. the first will be last, and the last will be first. it's so easy to go after the things that appear to be 'the best', and spend a good deal of time letting that consume you. so much in fact, that you might miss what you were there for in the first place. we never missed an inning of baseball looking for a spot to park.
IT'S OKAY TO VENTURE AROUND THE STADIUM. i have to laugh at this one, because it probably caused mom a fair amount of stress. me and dad typically went to baseball games ourselves, but every season when the astros would come to town, mom and sarah would come too. when it was just me and dad, he would let me wander around the stadium (i knew every spot that sold the best baseball cards in the whole stadium) and chase after foul balls. can you imagine a seven year old sitting still nine innings of baseball? not happening. when mom was at the ballgame though, i always laughed, because dad would say 'go have fun', and mom would always say 'be careful'. i laughed because if she knew how well i knew the ball park she wouldn't worry about me, but here's the deal. dad said what a dad needed to say, and mom said what a mom needed to say. i knew my mom loved me enough to be concerned about where i was going, and my dad loved me enough to let me have my adventure. God cares for us more than we'll ever imagine, but he still wants us to go out and adventure, he never asks us to sit still through nine innings.
YOU DON'T NEED COTTON CANDY. i mentioned earlier that dad would buy me a hot dog and a coke at every ballgame, what i left out of that part was that anything after that was going to be bought with my own money. occasionally dad would buy me an extra coke or some ice cream, but we never spent money on stuff like cotton candy or those little bats, or pennants or anything we didn't need. i wish i followed this lesson more closely, because it was truly an invaluable life lesson. call it the 'value of a dollar' lesson. the reason dad never bought me that stuff was not that he didn't want me to have it, but he wanted me to earn what i bought. i can not recall dad spending a dime on baseball cards for me. but he did pay me to shine his shoes so i could have spending money. looking at my baseball card collection today you would assume that dad's shoes are still holding their polish.
TONY GWYNN. one of the best hitters in baseball never really looked the part, but man could he hit. tony gwynn is a shoe in for the hall of fame, and was always the guy that dad told me to look at for examples on how to play the game. the thing about gwynn was that he wasn't never much of a power hitter, but he always managed to hit the ball. fans are easily drawn to the home run hitter, but a true fan knows that someone who hits for average is much more valuable and consistent. gwynn was patient at the plate, had a discerning eye, and almost never struck out looking. he played for the same team his whole career, and he never argued a call. if he had played for a major market team like the yankees or braves, i have no doubt that he would have been much more popular, but he played every game of his career for the same team, and that earned him the respect of millions of san diegans. see, we love the people that get the most attention, that hit the most home runs, but often times it is the guy that is doing his job well, day after day, that we should look up to. tony gwynn was laughed at because of his size and shape, and i'm sure if he had the look he could have stretched a few more singles to doubles, but that wasn't what concerned him. what concerned gwynn was putting that bat to the ball at every chance.
ALWAYS RUN TO FIRST. i remember dad used to say this a lot. his point was that anytime in baseball that first base was yours, you should get there as quickly as possible. if you had a hit, you obviously wanted to get there quickly, if you were leading off and you wanting to avoid being picked off, you would get there quickly, but there are sometimes we forget the urgency to get to base. if you get walked, don't take your time, get to first. maybe the catcher dropped the ball and you can get an extra base out of it, or maybe it shows that you have no regrets and are ready to take advantage of your situation. an even better example was after getting hit by a pitch. before craig biggio shattered the hit by pitch record, there was a guy in san diego, tim flannery, who was always getting plunked. and he o matter how bad it was, when he made his way to first, he was always running. run it off, don't dwell, don't try and force sympathy, just take your base. dad had a lot of respect for flannery and his ability to shake things off and get to running the bases. i've got a lot of respect for people who don't try and force me to empathize. you got hit, i feel bad for you, and i can't imagine how bad that hurts, but you'll be okay, it's time to take your base.
FUNDAMENTALS WIN GAMES. this is probably my favorite of all of these, mainly because it is so true. the more errors you commit in a game, the more likely you are to lose that game. in spring training baseball players young and old start with the very basics of the game and practice them over and over. run. hit. catch. throw. when you execute the mundane, menial, necessary tasks, the likeliness of you accomplishing your goal is excellent. relying on grand slams, or next to impossible catches is a dangerous way to play baseball. if you want a great life, do your homework, go to school, continually learn, work hard at your job, and reap the benefits. dad was never one to play the lottery, he never relied on that one in a million shot to make things better. sure we had amazing things happen to us, but i think that was more a reward for his continuous execution of the fundamentals of running a family.
well this turned into something a lot longer than i had originally planned, but it's all good. i think i'll continue with a couple more things from my dad and then it's time to head home. mi padre is full of all kinds of useful wisdom, and not all of it pertains to baseball. last week when i was back in texas with the fam, we were kind of joking about some of the little philosophies that pops has, so we came up with this:
THINGS DAD SAID, WOULD HAVE SAID, OR SHOULD HAVE SAID:
doing the right thing is always the right thing to do.
take every new couple at church out for ice cream.
beautiful is not a way to describe how someone looks, but a way to describe who they are.
you are more than your job title.
don't let your work define who you are.
be more than nice and friendly, be memorable.
compliment the person on who they are, as well as what they have accomplished.
heart, action, attitude... in that order.
fight to live.
do not confuse being meek with weakness, it takes much more power to hold back when you are capable.
get up early on saturdays and spend the morning helping a widow.
respecting the elderly involves a cup of coffee, and a lot of listening.
and lastly, i want to leave you with a poem that my dad wrote for my sister about three years ago. like my sister says, coming from him these words mean mean a lot.
life is an opportunity, benefit from it
life is beauty, admire it
life is a dream, realize it
life is a challenge, meet it
life is a game, play it
life is a promise, fulfill it
life is sorrow, overcome it
life is luck, make it
life is life-- fight for it!
one love, one heart.
5.01.2006
ipod shuffle (stolen from my sister)
yeah so i typically don't like surveys, but this one was kind of up my alley so i stole it off of my sister's blog. it ended up being funny enough to make me want to actually post it.
Directions: Put your music player on shuffle. Press forward for each question. Use the song title as the answer to the question. No cheating! How am I feeling today? eleven - primus Will I get far in life? woodstock national anthem - jimi hendrix
How do my friends see me? save me - unwritten law
When will I get married? when she believes - ben harper (so many comments, so little time) What's my theme song? pressure and release - chris murray (yeah, this one hits the nail on the head) What is the story of my life? The Lark ascending or (perhaps more accurately, i'm trying to make you sing) - david crowder band How can I get ahead in life? the righteous and the wicked -red hot chili peppers
What is my best feature? walk away - zebrahead (i will leave this one alone) How is tomorrow going to be? don't push - sublime
What is in store for this weekend? aesthetics - king apparatus
What is my life like at the moment? wanted dead or alive - the slackers
What song describes my secrets? on my mind - donavon frankenrieter (so true yet again) What song will they play at my funeral?: do or die - dogwood
How does the world see me? hanging on a star - nick drake Will I have a happy life? time will tell - bob marley What do my friends really think of me? gonna find you - operation ivy Will I accomplish my goals in life? mr. smooth guy - suburban rhythm Will I find true love? dirt roads - subseven (does this mean i have to go back to oklahoma?) How do I treat others?
i want to be a cholo- manic hispanic (that's awesome!)
well, i'm officially one of those quiz people now. great. i guess signing up for facebook is all that i have left to accomplish to have the internet community cornered. i think i'll sell out tomorrow.
one love, one heart.
Directions: Put your music player on shuffle. Press forward for each question. Use the song title as the answer to the question. No cheating! How am I feeling today? eleven - primus Will I get far in life? woodstock national anthem - jimi hendrix
How do my friends see me? save me - unwritten law
When will I get married? when she believes - ben harper (so many comments, so little time) What's my theme song? pressure and release - chris murray (yeah, this one hits the nail on the head) What is the story of my life? The Lark ascending or (perhaps more accurately, i'm trying to make you sing) - david crowder band How can I get ahead in life? the righteous and the wicked -red hot chili peppers
What is my best feature? walk away - zebrahead (i will leave this one alone) How is tomorrow going to be? don't push - sublime
What is in store for this weekend? aesthetics - king apparatus
What is my life like at the moment? wanted dead or alive - the slackers
What song describes my secrets? on my mind - donavon frankenrieter (so true yet again) What song will they play at my funeral?: do or die - dogwood
How does the world see me? hanging on a star - nick drake Will I have a happy life? time will tell - bob marley What do my friends really think of me? gonna find you - operation ivy Will I accomplish my goals in life? mr. smooth guy - suburban rhythm Will I find true love? dirt roads - subseven (does this mean i have to go back to oklahoma?) How do I treat others?
i want to be a cholo- manic hispanic (that's awesome!)
well, i'm officially one of those quiz people now. great. i guess signing up for facebook is all that i have left to accomplish to have the internet community cornered. i think i'll sell out tomorrow.
one love, one heart.
4.25.2006
Semper Fidelis.
faithful / adj. 1. loyal, constant, and steadfast 2. plural n. having a strong belief 3. true to the facts or the original
this word has been on my mind a lot lately. i was looking up pictures of my dad's helicopter he used to fly, and i kept running across these marine corps websites with semper fidelis all over the place. semper fidelis is latin for always faithful, and has been the marine's motto since their inception.
so i started thinking about faithfulness, and how it relates to me specifically and these things came to mind as examples of me being faithful:
towards the end of high school i had a tough decision where to go for college. i applied for several public universities as a back up, but i knew God wanted me to go to a christian college. i remember being adamant about this, and never really wavering when it came to trusting God about where i should go to college. as a reward, i think God made it a very obvious decision when it finally came time to finally choose. and despite all of the griping i did about oklahoma, i would not be half the man i am today if it weren't for the growth that i went through at oc. i look back at my time in oklahoma with nothing but fond memories and praises to God for blessing me more than i deserved.
juaner. i would have never been friends with juaner if we hadn't been stuck in the same apt together. it's sad to say, but at that point in my life i was so close minded when it came to who i should be friends with. i remember praying to God that he give me the patience to deal with the 'frat boy- soccer playing- oregonian- psych major- transfer' that i was going to have to live with. juaner is now one of my best friends, and i thank the Lord constantly for the rock that guided me towards youth ministry. i'm just glad that God rewarded me for being trusting enough to look at juaner through His eyes, and not my own.
speaking of friends, there are three guys that were at my third birthday that i still refer to as my best friends. (i know i have a lot of best friends, most have to have prefaces like college, or new, or back in the day. these guys don't.) our relationships were forged through years of growing up in the church, and despite our distance and the frequency with which we talk, i have no doubt that we will go to our graves as best friends. what a blessing to be rewarded with lifelong friends. this may be a stretch when it comes to faithfulness, but i can't imagine us ever not being friends, and i think that helps remind me of the type of ongoing, forgiving love that God has for us.
my parents. i can honestly say that i never had a doubt about my parent's faithfulness through their twenty five years of marriage so far. it seems like the more they are tested, the stronger they bond to each other and to God. in a world were one in every two marriages end prematurely, it is a huge blessing to know that your parents are both going to be there for you. i hope this doesn't sound too self righteous, but i have had a soft heart lately for the kids of divorced, or a single parent homes. i don't know how they do it, but they manage to make it through life at a disadvantage. God bless them and provide them with the love that they need to survive. going back to my parents though, i feel like i have been rewarded for my parent's faithfulness with a confidence and knowledge of God's love that has always been a guide to me.
my job. i decided halfway through my junior year of college that i wasn't going to be a graphic designer. my grades were terrible that year and i was put on academic probation. i remember praying to God to show me the right thing to do. that summer i was forced to live at home and work and take some online classes to catch up. i was pretty humbled, and i was working landscaping, spending most of my days to myself because i couldn't speak spanish. i was really humbled. but, i spent a lot of my free time hanging out with the two interns we had at woodinville, and realizing that youth ministry was a viable option for me. i told my parents that summer that i would finish up my degree in advertising design, but i would be taking extra youth ministry classes when i could. they were very supportive. actually, they asked me what took me so long to figure it out, they had known all along. anyways, the next summer i did an internship in weatherford ok, where i was offered a job. i turned it down because i knew there would be someone more effective for a small town in the long run. on the way back to school after that summer i spent time with dantheman and lukestrong, and they said i should look into doing a semester at park plaza after i graduated. the second day of school, i met with mr wild at heart himself, and he said he would be proud to have any friend of dantheman's come work at park plaza. he said i could def do a summer there, and could probably stay till i found a job. i stayed there until i felt that i had to go home to take care of mi padre and was blessed by every minute of my time there.
moving back home. i never wanted to be 23 and living at home. i also never wanted mi padre to retire before his 50th birthday. but i knew the right thing to do was to head home and take care of pops until mom had the summer off. i knew right off the bat that God was rewarding me for doing the right thing. that time with my dad was invaluable, and i am increasingly aware of how much i wish i could have held on to that time.
but i had to leave. going back to the job hunt, i was turned down by several churches, that i was sure were 'the one'. i was picky when i was looking for a job, and i didn't want to settle. i felt called to be in southern california doing youth ministry, and i was willing to wait for God to provide with the right place. several things fell apart, and it began to look like no one wanted to hire a youth minister with no experience, no bible degree, and no wife. on the last day of my internship in san diego i received a job offer from simi. talk about having to trust God, oh man. i have to say, though, that i was confident that God would provide me the right place at the right time, and He did.
females. these stories so far have gone in sequential order, but they have also progressed in the amount of faith that it has taken for me to trust that God had everything under His control. when i was in college, i just wanted to be able to have a big group of friends that shared my faith. i had a lot of catching up to do socially, and that's what happened. when i moved to tulsa, i asked God to keep females off of my mind for a year so i could focus on ministry. He did, and almost to the day a year later i met up again with nursegirl. the only thing i place as more important than where i am meant to work, is who i should spend my life with, so i really shouldn't complain and/or doubt that God will once again reward me for my faithfulness. i think this one is way underrated considering the time we live in.
so the question i have for myself now is why should i ever not be faithful to God after He has rewarded me so many times? why isn't faithfulness on the forefront of my mind more often? why has it taken me so long to realize this? what is it that God is doing right now to strengthen my faith?
i know i have left out an obvious example of faithfulness when it comes to mi padre, and that is intentional. i open myself up a lot on my posts, but today i need to keep some things to myself for the time being. perhaps in a few days i can revisit this with a post about my dad, but not today. i hope you understand.
anyways, i hope this has been an encouragement to anyone that has read this. i would love to hear your stories about faithfulness, so feel free to respond. (i know thornton has a few, he better put something up here.)
one love, one heart.
this word has been on my mind a lot lately. i was looking up pictures of my dad's helicopter he used to fly, and i kept running across these marine corps websites with semper fidelis all over the place. semper fidelis is latin for always faithful, and has been the marine's motto since their inception.
so i started thinking about faithfulness, and how it relates to me specifically and these things came to mind as examples of me being faithful:
towards the end of high school i had a tough decision where to go for college. i applied for several public universities as a back up, but i knew God wanted me to go to a christian college. i remember being adamant about this, and never really wavering when it came to trusting God about where i should go to college. as a reward, i think God made it a very obvious decision when it finally came time to finally choose. and despite all of the griping i did about oklahoma, i would not be half the man i am today if it weren't for the growth that i went through at oc. i look back at my time in oklahoma with nothing but fond memories and praises to God for blessing me more than i deserved.
juaner. i would have never been friends with juaner if we hadn't been stuck in the same apt together. it's sad to say, but at that point in my life i was so close minded when it came to who i should be friends with. i remember praying to God that he give me the patience to deal with the 'frat boy- soccer playing- oregonian- psych major- transfer' that i was going to have to live with. juaner is now one of my best friends, and i thank the Lord constantly for the rock that guided me towards youth ministry. i'm just glad that God rewarded me for being trusting enough to look at juaner through His eyes, and not my own.
speaking of friends, there are three guys that were at my third birthday that i still refer to as my best friends. (i know i have a lot of best friends, most have to have prefaces like college, or new, or back in the day. these guys don't.) our relationships were forged through years of growing up in the church, and despite our distance and the frequency with which we talk, i have no doubt that we will go to our graves as best friends. what a blessing to be rewarded with lifelong friends. this may be a stretch when it comes to faithfulness, but i can't imagine us ever not being friends, and i think that helps remind me of the type of ongoing, forgiving love that God has for us.
my parents. i can honestly say that i never had a doubt about my parent's faithfulness through their twenty five years of marriage so far. it seems like the more they are tested, the stronger they bond to each other and to God. in a world were one in every two marriages end prematurely, it is a huge blessing to know that your parents are both going to be there for you. i hope this doesn't sound too self righteous, but i have had a soft heart lately for the kids of divorced, or a single parent homes. i don't know how they do it, but they manage to make it through life at a disadvantage. God bless them and provide them with the love that they need to survive. going back to my parents though, i feel like i have been rewarded for my parent's faithfulness with a confidence and knowledge of God's love that has always been a guide to me.
my job. i decided halfway through my junior year of college that i wasn't going to be a graphic designer. my grades were terrible that year and i was put on academic probation. i remember praying to God to show me the right thing to do. that summer i was forced to live at home and work and take some online classes to catch up. i was pretty humbled, and i was working landscaping, spending most of my days to myself because i couldn't speak spanish. i was really humbled. but, i spent a lot of my free time hanging out with the two interns we had at woodinville, and realizing that youth ministry was a viable option for me. i told my parents that summer that i would finish up my degree in advertising design, but i would be taking extra youth ministry classes when i could. they were very supportive. actually, they asked me what took me so long to figure it out, they had known all along. anyways, the next summer i did an internship in weatherford ok, where i was offered a job. i turned it down because i knew there would be someone more effective for a small town in the long run. on the way back to school after that summer i spent time with dantheman and lukestrong, and they said i should look into doing a semester at park plaza after i graduated. the second day of school, i met with mr wild at heart himself, and he said he would be proud to have any friend of dantheman's come work at park plaza. he said i could def do a summer there, and could probably stay till i found a job. i stayed there until i felt that i had to go home to take care of mi padre and was blessed by every minute of my time there.
moving back home. i never wanted to be 23 and living at home. i also never wanted mi padre to retire before his 50th birthday. but i knew the right thing to do was to head home and take care of pops until mom had the summer off. i knew right off the bat that God was rewarding me for doing the right thing. that time with my dad was invaluable, and i am increasingly aware of how much i wish i could have held on to that time.
but i had to leave. going back to the job hunt, i was turned down by several churches, that i was sure were 'the one'. i was picky when i was looking for a job, and i didn't want to settle. i felt called to be in southern california doing youth ministry, and i was willing to wait for God to provide with the right place. several things fell apart, and it began to look like no one wanted to hire a youth minister with no experience, no bible degree, and no wife. on the last day of my internship in san diego i received a job offer from simi. talk about having to trust God, oh man. i have to say, though, that i was confident that God would provide me the right place at the right time, and He did.
females. these stories so far have gone in sequential order, but they have also progressed in the amount of faith that it has taken for me to trust that God had everything under His control. when i was in college, i just wanted to be able to have a big group of friends that shared my faith. i had a lot of catching up to do socially, and that's what happened. when i moved to tulsa, i asked God to keep females off of my mind for a year so i could focus on ministry. He did, and almost to the day a year later i met up again with nursegirl. the only thing i place as more important than where i am meant to work, is who i should spend my life with, so i really shouldn't complain and/or doubt that God will once again reward me for my faithfulness. i think this one is way underrated considering the time we live in.
so the question i have for myself now is why should i ever not be faithful to God after He has rewarded me so many times? why isn't faithfulness on the forefront of my mind more often? why has it taken me so long to realize this? what is it that God is doing right now to strengthen my faith?
i know i have left out an obvious example of faithfulness when it comes to mi padre, and that is intentional. i open myself up a lot on my posts, but today i need to keep some things to myself for the time being. perhaps in a few days i can revisit this with a post about my dad, but not today. i hope you understand.
anyways, i hope this has been an encouragement to anyone that has read this. i would love to hear your stories about faithfulness, so feel free to respond. (i know thornton has a few, he better put something up here.)
one love, one heart.
4.20.2006
Beethoven was deaf. Helen Keller was blind. I think Rocky's got a good chance.
so this blog is more about blogging out of habit, and trying to keep to somewhat of a structure, which i guess really is the theme for the past few days. after simplifying my life for the past few weeks (months, maybe), and trimming down my expectations to a necessary few, i feel much more capable of creating some sort of structure to my life. it's a lot tougher than it sounds, esp when you've never really one to build structures. anyways, i'm pretty stoked for myself over the past week or so because i feel like what i want to do, and what i'm actually doing are starting to get closer in line with each other. it's funny how the most random stuff can provide the biggest inspiration. going snowboarding last week has really provided me with a lot of motivation in general, i guess you would call it a sense of accomplishment. add to that a weekend of hanging out with some of my favorite people, and the fact that the sun is actually sticking around for a few days, and i'm feeling pretty energetic and enthused about getting things done. on monday (my day off) i had a list of about twenty five things that i wanted to get done, and i did every single one of them. seriously, i've never accomplished that much in one day. it was amazing. i should probably clarify that none of those things were major undertakings, but still, it is nice to look at that day's to-do-list and see everything crossed off. i was so stoked about getting that much done, that i actually kept the list and i think i'm going to put it up in my office as a reminder of how good it feels to get a bunch of stuff done.
speaking of putting stuff up in my office, i finally decided what to put up on my blank wall that i stare at every day. i wanted something inspirational, so i went out and got a nice rocky poster to complete the office. as cheesy as it sounds, there have been several times in the past few days where i've imagined myself bouncing around the office listening to the rocky theme imitating the finale of the training scene where he's on top of the steps... yeah. so if you happen to sneak up to the office there's a good chance you're going to see me with my fists in the air blasting the theme from rocky (or whatever version it was that i bought off of itunes).
going back to having things ordered, i guess there really is a balance to how much order is good, and when too much order is kind of a bad thing. call this my orson welles part of my blog. maybe this has more to do with automation than order, but there's something i've started to notice about automation and customer service. i use my card to pay for everything, which makes keeping up with my finances a lot easier, but it makes going to the store seem very robotic. i go to the store, i pick up my stuff, and instead of actually interacting with whoever is behind the counter, i'm typically busy punching in my pin code or signing the automated screens. really, the only thing the person behind the counter is there to do is assist me in bagging. at wal mart and home depot, they've even managed to forgo that with self checkout lines. trust me, i love having the self checkout lines to avoid dealing with incompetence behind the register, but it creeps me out that it is getting easier and easier for people to not have any social interaction. if i wanted to disappear from society, or go an entire day w/o having to talk to anyone i think i could pull it off pretty easily. i know there are days where that's exactly what i want to do, but what about the people that have no motivation to interact with others. should we really provide them with the ability to do so? hmmm, just something that was on my mind.
what else is there...
i may have finally crossed a boundary that i had set for myself. my goal was to go as long as i could owning only what i could fit in the back of my truck. i haven't tested it out, and i don't plan on it soon, but i think after actually buying a bedframe on monday, i may have exceeded my limit. maybe. actually, since i got rid of my bed springs maybe i actually have less stuff. nevermind, i think i can still fit all of my stuff in my truck. all is well.
so a few of my guys decided to come to church early and we played our increasingly popular sport; puddingball. it's pretty much what it sounds like, we hit old pudding cups from the 99 cent store with a bat and try to spray each other with pudding. tonite we even branched out and got some old melons and thrashed them too. i also introduced them to the art of antiquing, or covering someone with flour so that they look like they've been asleep for about fifty years. needless to say it was a good day of youth ministry.
well on that note, i think i'm going to go home and watch a movie or something.
i hope that while you are reading this you feel blessed. one love, one heart.
speaking of putting stuff up in my office, i finally decided what to put up on my blank wall that i stare at every day. i wanted something inspirational, so i went out and got a nice rocky poster to complete the office. as cheesy as it sounds, there have been several times in the past few days where i've imagined myself bouncing around the office listening to the rocky theme imitating the finale of the training scene where he's on top of the steps... yeah. so if you happen to sneak up to the office there's a good chance you're going to see me with my fists in the air blasting the theme from rocky (or whatever version it was that i bought off of itunes).
going back to having things ordered, i guess there really is a balance to how much order is good, and when too much order is kind of a bad thing. call this my orson welles part of my blog. maybe this has more to do with automation than order, but there's something i've started to notice about automation and customer service. i use my card to pay for everything, which makes keeping up with my finances a lot easier, but it makes going to the store seem very robotic. i go to the store, i pick up my stuff, and instead of actually interacting with whoever is behind the counter, i'm typically busy punching in my pin code or signing the automated screens. really, the only thing the person behind the counter is there to do is assist me in bagging. at wal mart and home depot, they've even managed to forgo that with self checkout lines. trust me, i love having the self checkout lines to avoid dealing with incompetence behind the register, but it creeps me out that it is getting easier and easier for people to not have any social interaction. if i wanted to disappear from society, or go an entire day w/o having to talk to anyone i think i could pull it off pretty easily. i know there are days where that's exactly what i want to do, but what about the people that have no motivation to interact with others. should we really provide them with the ability to do so? hmmm, just something that was on my mind.
what else is there...
i may have finally crossed a boundary that i had set for myself. my goal was to go as long as i could owning only what i could fit in the back of my truck. i haven't tested it out, and i don't plan on it soon, but i think after actually buying a bedframe on monday, i may have exceeded my limit. maybe. actually, since i got rid of my bed springs maybe i actually have less stuff. nevermind, i think i can still fit all of my stuff in my truck. all is well.
so a few of my guys decided to come to church early and we played our increasingly popular sport; puddingball. it's pretty much what it sounds like, we hit old pudding cups from the 99 cent store with a bat and try to spray each other with pudding. tonite we even branched out and got some old melons and thrashed them too. i also introduced them to the art of antiquing, or covering someone with flour so that they look like they've been asleep for about fifty years. needless to say it was a good day of youth ministry.
well on that note, i think i'm going to go home and watch a movie or something.
i hope that while you are reading this you feel blessed. one love, one heart.
4.12.2006
It's called the '80s. Ford was president, Nixon was in the White House, and FDR was running this country into the ground.
go see benchwarmers. turn your brain off, find a friend who can handle a movie without a story and go enjoy.
so i've done about a dozen things today in between the time i intended to write this and actually started this post. it's just one of those days where i don't have anything planned, so i'm kind of going from one thing to another, getting a lot of stuff done, but not really chalking up a long list of accomplishments. i spent most of today reading and writing encouragement notes, which always makes for a good afternoon. i went through myspace and decided to write at least 25 people an encouraging line, or just say hola.
on to the reason for the melancholy... i broke up with mucho risas chica last night. my first real break up. i kinda feel like a jerk, but i don't really regret my decision. when you know someone is not 'the one', it's time to let go. better a little pain now then a lot of pain later. that, and with everything that's happening with my dad, i just think it's a dangerous time to try and start something, esp when you're not 100% sure where you want it to go. either way, today has been a surreal day, my first in a while. it's too sunny outside to listen to pink floyd, and i'm too tired to listen anything really mellow. so i'm kind of in a weird spot. going back to her though, i never wanted to be one of those 'it's not you, it's me...' or 'let's be friends' people, but as of today, i feel like i am. oh well. better now than later. at least it wasn't over a fight, which now that i think of it may have been easier. nope, it was good for me to have to do something tough but necessary, i'm thinking back to my rocky post from last week...
in other more fun news, i went snowboarding yesterday at mt. high and did awesome. i actually made it all the way down the run w/o falling down once. snowboarding is much more fun when you aren't embarrassing yourself all the way down the hill. by the end of the day i was actually carving around the people falling down in the middle of the run, as opposed to causing others to swerve to avoid me, as i had been doing earlier that day. next time i go i think i should be ready for some bigger runs, and hopefully get a jump or two in as well. actually, check that, i think i'm going to get where i can cruise comfortably and call it a day. yeah, after all the snowboarding injuries i've been around in the past few months, and the fact that my body isn't exactly 16 anymore, i may relax on trying to win any big air competitions. whatever, i had fun, and i didn't need dantheman to persuade me to go. (sidenote: i just sneezed really hard and my whole body now aches. i don't like being this kind of sore.) the best part of yesterday was that i really feel like i conquered a major personal goal. i've actually wanted to learn how to snowboard for a long time, but have always been to chicken to try. i'm not one to give myself props, but today i feel like i accomplished something big. for those of you that know me well though, i do have to talk about my best crash from yesterday. so i can handle going down the hill pretty well, but getting off of the lift is still a 50/50 kinda thing. my first time off yesterday my board caught and edge and i ended up doing a somersault and the chair hit my board, which hit me in the back of the head. the ski school that was watching nearby got a good laugh after they came over to see if i was okay, which would be pretty cool if they weren't five year olds. oh well, i'm laughing now too, and i'm really glad no one had a camera around.
on monday i got to hang out with valleygirl all day which was a blast. needless to say any female that is going to laugh at movies like benchwarmers is going to have huge potential for best friend material. the fact that we both broke out into the robot at the same time when 'safety dance' came on the radio also makes her a nominee. needless to say, we had a good day, and having someone to bounce my thoughts off of is really a blessing to me right now. now if only she weren't so busy eating sunscreen... (a little inside, i know).
so the past few weekends i've been to several plays, productions, musicals... that sort of thing, and i'm realizing now that i really need to go to a baseball game. so anyone that reads this that feels like catching a dodgers or angels game in the next few days please give me a call. actually, anytime anyone feels like going to a baseball game please give me a call.
going back to previous debates, going snowboarding reminds me of a debate that me and some of the fellas had last year, snowbunnies vs. surf chicas. tough call.
so a friend of mine asked me to put together a cd to 'remind her of california', which is much harder than you would expect. me being in a high fidelity mood and all, i put together a few guidelines for making this particular cd mix:
every band should be from california, or at least be associated primarily with california.
phantom planet's 'california' is disqualified for it's association with the tv show 'the oc', and it's just too easy.
so is the red hot chili peppers' 'californication'.
one cd isn't going to be enough, so this will have to be a two cd mix.
i'm really liking having an ipod right now for reasons just like this, i can add or remove songs at will from a playlist.
so here's the rough draft of the songs that remind me of california and any comments i felt necessary:
311/ amber - the most california-esqe of their songs.
bad religion' los angeles is burning - these guys sell out shows weeks at a time in l.a.
beach boys/ california girls - we all wish
ben harper/ diamonds on the inside- i needed some ben, this seemed to fit somehow
blink 182/ josie - before they broke big, this song was all over socal
bob marley/ three little birds - marley is still on the radio here, and this def captures a sunny day in socal
chris murray/ 4th of july - a local guy who started out playing at the beach
coolio/ 1,2,3,4 - we still know how to jam
distillers/ city of angels - this reminds me of waling down sunset ave and seeing the disparity between the different things you see.
donovan frankenrieter/ whatcha know about - surfer, songwriter, good times
dr dre and tupac' california love - i think this is our official state anthem.
escape club/ wild wild west - i don't know if there are words to explain...
eve 6/ anytime - i associate this song with snowboarding which i associate with california. sorry colorado.
g love/ honor and harmony - i could skip the cd mix and just make her a copy of the thicker than water soundtrack.
guns n roses/ welcome to the jungle - this was required by law to be in the soundtrack to any movie about l.a. in the 80's.
incubus/ warning - the whole album was written from a mansion overlooking malibu.
jack johnson/ rainbow - ladies and gentlemen, our next governor.
jane's addiction/ stop - the socal contribution to the grunge era.
jurassic 5/ quality control - the best of l.a. hip hop
long beach dub all stars/ sunny hours - this is like adding a third sublime song to the list
no doubt/ spiderwebs - ladies and gentlemen, our next lt. governor.
offspring/ come out and play
ozomatli/ super bowl sundae - the only song to be number one on the rock, hip hop and latin radio stations here.
p.o.d./ rock the party - one of our best kept secrets that got leaked to the rest of the world.
paul wright/ resurrection - this song gets put in the mix for it's references to mexican food.
pennywise/ surfin usa - one of the biggest bands in socal covering one of the biggest songs by the biggest socal band ever.
rancid/ruby soho - they may have started out in the east bay, but they live here now.
red hot chili peppers/ around the world - another one of socal's finest.
reel big fish/ sell out - one of the bigger ska songs to hit the airwaves.
reeve oliver/ i want burns - our current best kept secret.
screeching weasel/ cool kids - it's hard for me to leave this off of any mix.
slightly stoopid/ sweet honey - one of the better sublime sounding bands.
social distortion/ story of my life - orange county punk rock at it's greatest.
strung out/ matchbook - had to throw in some san diego bands
sublime/ waiting for my ruca - this song gets put in simply for it's references to selling oranges on the freeway.
sublime/ badfish - my favorite song from one of socals most influential bands.
switchfoot/ dare you to move - another well guarded secret that exploded on mainstream.
transplants/ california babylon - captures the energy of socal.
unwritten law/ close your eyes - big around here, never heard of outside of socal.
weezer/ surf wax america - the anthem for san diego.
well, since i'm in a high fidelity mood and it's getting to that point where i need to eat again i guess i'm out. more to come soon.
one love, one heart.
so i've done about a dozen things today in between the time i intended to write this and actually started this post. it's just one of those days where i don't have anything planned, so i'm kind of going from one thing to another, getting a lot of stuff done, but not really chalking up a long list of accomplishments. i spent most of today reading and writing encouragement notes, which always makes for a good afternoon. i went through myspace and decided to write at least 25 people an encouraging line, or just say hola.
on to the reason for the melancholy... i broke up with mucho risas chica last night. my first real break up. i kinda feel like a jerk, but i don't really regret my decision. when you know someone is not 'the one', it's time to let go. better a little pain now then a lot of pain later. that, and with everything that's happening with my dad, i just think it's a dangerous time to try and start something, esp when you're not 100% sure where you want it to go. either way, today has been a surreal day, my first in a while. it's too sunny outside to listen to pink floyd, and i'm too tired to listen anything really mellow. so i'm kind of in a weird spot. going back to her though, i never wanted to be one of those 'it's not you, it's me...' or 'let's be friends' people, but as of today, i feel like i am. oh well. better now than later. at least it wasn't over a fight, which now that i think of it may have been easier. nope, it was good for me to have to do something tough but necessary, i'm thinking back to my rocky post from last week...
in other more fun news, i went snowboarding yesterday at mt. high and did awesome. i actually made it all the way down the run w/o falling down once. snowboarding is much more fun when you aren't embarrassing yourself all the way down the hill. by the end of the day i was actually carving around the people falling down in the middle of the run, as opposed to causing others to swerve to avoid me, as i had been doing earlier that day. next time i go i think i should be ready for some bigger runs, and hopefully get a jump or two in as well. actually, check that, i think i'm going to get where i can cruise comfortably and call it a day. yeah, after all the snowboarding injuries i've been around in the past few months, and the fact that my body isn't exactly 16 anymore, i may relax on trying to win any big air competitions. whatever, i had fun, and i didn't need dantheman to persuade me to go. (sidenote: i just sneezed really hard and my whole body now aches. i don't like being this kind of sore.) the best part of yesterday was that i really feel like i conquered a major personal goal. i've actually wanted to learn how to snowboard for a long time, but have always been to chicken to try. i'm not one to give myself props, but today i feel like i accomplished something big. for those of you that know me well though, i do have to talk about my best crash from yesterday. so i can handle going down the hill pretty well, but getting off of the lift is still a 50/50 kinda thing. my first time off yesterday my board caught and edge and i ended up doing a somersault and the chair hit my board, which hit me in the back of the head. the ski school that was watching nearby got a good laugh after they came over to see if i was okay, which would be pretty cool if they weren't five year olds. oh well, i'm laughing now too, and i'm really glad no one had a camera around.
on monday i got to hang out with valleygirl all day which was a blast. needless to say any female that is going to laugh at movies like benchwarmers is going to have huge potential for best friend material. the fact that we both broke out into the robot at the same time when 'safety dance' came on the radio also makes her a nominee. needless to say, we had a good day, and having someone to bounce my thoughts off of is really a blessing to me right now. now if only she weren't so busy eating sunscreen... (a little inside, i know).
so the past few weekends i've been to several plays, productions, musicals... that sort of thing, and i'm realizing now that i really need to go to a baseball game. so anyone that reads this that feels like catching a dodgers or angels game in the next few days please give me a call. actually, anytime anyone feels like going to a baseball game please give me a call.
going back to previous debates, going snowboarding reminds me of a debate that me and some of the fellas had last year, snowbunnies vs. surf chicas. tough call.
so a friend of mine asked me to put together a cd to 'remind her of california', which is much harder than you would expect. me being in a high fidelity mood and all, i put together a few guidelines for making this particular cd mix:
every band should be from california, or at least be associated primarily with california.
phantom planet's 'california' is disqualified for it's association with the tv show 'the oc', and it's just too easy.
so is the red hot chili peppers' 'californication'.
one cd isn't going to be enough, so this will have to be a two cd mix.
i'm really liking having an ipod right now for reasons just like this, i can add or remove songs at will from a playlist.
so here's the rough draft of the songs that remind me of california and any comments i felt necessary:
311/ amber - the most california-esqe of their songs.
bad religion' los angeles is burning - these guys sell out shows weeks at a time in l.a.
beach boys/ california girls - we all wish
ben harper/ diamonds on the inside- i needed some ben, this seemed to fit somehow
blink 182/ josie - before they broke big, this song was all over socal
bob marley/ three little birds - marley is still on the radio here, and this def captures a sunny day in socal
chris murray/ 4th of july - a local guy who started out playing at the beach
coolio/ 1,2,3,4 - we still know how to jam
distillers/ city of angels - this reminds me of waling down sunset ave and seeing the disparity between the different things you see.
donovan frankenrieter/ whatcha know about - surfer, songwriter, good times
dr dre and tupac' california love - i think this is our official state anthem.
escape club/ wild wild west - i don't know if there are words to explain...
eve 6/ anytime - i associate this song with snowboarding which i associate with california. sorry colorado.
g love/ honor and harmony - i could skip the cd mix and just make her a copy of the thicker than water soundtrack.
guns n roses/ welcome to the jungle - this was required by law to be in the soundtrack to any movie about l.a. in the 80's.
incubus/ warning - the whole album was written from a mansion overlooking malibu.
jack johnson/ rainbow - ladies and gentlemen, our next governor.
jane's addiction/ stop - the socal contribution to the grunge era.
jurassic 5/ quality control - the best of l.a. hip hop
long beach dub all stars/ sunny hours - this is like adding a third sublime song to the list
no doubt/ spiderwebs - ladies and gentlemen, our next lt. governor.
offspring/ come out and play
ozomatli/ super bowl sundae - the only song to be number one on the rock, hip hop and latin radio stations here.
p.o.d./ rock the party - one of our best kept secrets that got leaked to the rest of the world.
paul wright/ resurrection - this song gets put in the mix for it's references to mexican food.
pennywise/ surfin usa - one of the biggest bands in socal covering one of the biggest songs by the biggest socal band ever.
rancid/ruby soho - they may have started out in the east bay, but they live here now.
red hot chili peppers/ around the world - another one of socal's finest.
reel big fish/ sell out - one of the bigger ska songs to hit the airwaves.
reeve oliver/ i want burns - our current best kept secret.
screeching weasel/ cool kids - it's hard for me to leave this off of any mix.
slightly stoopid/ sweet honey - one of the better sublime sounding bands.
social distortion/ story of my life - orange county punk rock at it's greatest.
strung out/ matchbook - had to throw in some san diego bands
sublime/ waiting for my ruca - this song gets put in simply for it's references to selling oranges on the freeway.
sublime/ badfish - my favorite song from one of socals most influential bands.
switchfoot/ dare you to move - another well guarded secret that exploded on mainstream.
transplants/ california babylon - captures the energy of socal.
unwritten law/ close your eyes - big around here, never heard of outside of socal.
weezer/ surf wax america - the anthem for san diego.
well, since i'm in a high fidelity mood and it's getting to that point where i need to eat again i guess i'm out. more to come soon.
one love, one heart.
4.06.2006
fall back, spring forward...
just a few ramblings today...
baseball is back, and sportscenter is yet once again relevant. ahhhhh... there is nothing i enjoy more than waking up to my tv set to espn and hearing "welcome to baseball tonight".
for anyone that reads this that missed last years rant on baseball, you may want to go back to my april 4, 2005 post to catch on how much i love our nation's pastime.
and in honor of baseball season starting up again i think i'm going to start up another top ten list:
top ten reasons i am stoked about baseball this season:
10. i can watch sportscenter again w/o having to put up with 'highlights' of women's basketball
9. with piazza going to the padres, i was able to narrow down my list of teams to pull for to the astros and yankees
8. with all the media attention focused on bonds, the other hundreds of baseball players can relax and do their jobs w/o a camera in their face
7. no more joe morgan comments on the length of johnny damon's hair
6. i can go to dodger games and see what the fall fashions will be like for raider fans
5. two dogs and a coke
4. me and the cuz end up watching too many movies during the off season. i can only watch breakin so many times.
3. i get to see my uncle's championship ring from last year
2. forget all these self-help motivational guru's; gammons, kruk, reynolds and gwynn tell it like it is.
1. it's baseball, our pastime. nuff said. it's one of the few times that our country gets patriotic, grown men get to be kids, and thousands of people who have nothing in common get to share a nacho stand and eat ice cream out of little helmets.
oh yeah, this year's world series picks:
safe bet: yankees vs cardinals
longshot/ you heard it hear first bet: astros vs. blue jays
moving on...
i read the other day that michael moore is invested in haliburton, hmmm, that hasn't made any of his movies.
i joined the masses and bought an ipod last weekend. this should have happened a long time ago, but it's a good thing i waited for the video ipods. there's nothing like being able to watch the office while waiting at the dmv.
since i now don't really have a need for cds, i was able to stuff them in the back of a closet this weekend. i can't handle throwing them away just yet, but i did have a ceremony to get rid of all the burned mix cds that once littered my truck
speaking of my truck, tyra has a huge gash in the side of her. i'm not sure when it happened because i never really look at the passenger side of my truck, but its pretty deep. at least deep enough that it can't be buffed out. anyways, i have a high deductible on my insurance so there's a big debate on how to approach this, esp since i'm not sure what scratched my truck. just frustrating more than anything.
and speaking of scratches, i ordered this usb turntable a couple of weeks ago that converts vinyl to mp3. it came in a couple of days ago in a box that had three corners thrashed right next to a giant fragile sticker. it's good to know that ups employees can read.
now that i have my pergo floors in my office, and my painting done, my list of projects is getting pretty narrow. here's what i have left...
put molding up around the room
make a desk
sand and repaint my old surfboard with the youth group logo on it
april fools and the time change should be set farther apart
i had to preach on sunday which is not my favorite thing to do. throw in a time change and not a lot of sleep and i was due for something to happen. it did, i misread the clock and thought i had to stretch my time and ended up going 40 minutes instead of 25. hopefully that will get me out of preaching for a while.
in personal news...
i've started to feel a change the past few weeks. you know how in the rocky movies he takes a bunch of punches in the first few rounds, then just as you start to wonder how many more he could take the music starts to change and he starts fighting back? i feel like rocky starting to punch back. maybe it has something to do with the weather, maybe it's actually having things semi sorted out, but as of late i've felt really empowered. i got my taxes done, some paintings done, i'm spending my time the way i want to spend my time... pretty soon i think there's going to be a lot of energy to focus on the youth group again. that'll be good. be prepared for updates.
this is going to sound really cheesy, but i think myspace has kind of helped me out too. out of all of the friends i have on that list, i know at least two-thirds are pretty close friends that truly care about me and my ministry. it's really cool to be able to see how many people have been a part of my life, and how so many people have affected me in different ways. it's also cool to go back and reflect on different memories, from the el patioso crew to my first crush back in kindergarden, there's a lot of fond memories tied to scrolling through my friends list. it also serves as reminder to me of how many people i have the potential to have a positive impact on, which is always a good thing.
well, i think that's it for today. it's nice outside so i think i'm going to jam a little bit before roots tonight.
one love, one heart.
baseball is back, and sportscenter is yet once again relevant. ahhhhh... there is nothing i enjoy more than waking up to my tv set to espn and hearing "welcome to baseball tonight".
for anyone that reads this that missed last years rant on baseball, you may want to go back to my april 4, 2005 post to catch on how much i love our nation's pastime.
and in honor of baseball season starting up again i think i'm going to start up another top ten list:
top ten reasons i am stoked about baseball this season:
10. i can watch sportscenter again w/o having to put up with 'highlights' of women's basketball
9. with piazza going to the padres, i was able to narrow down my list of teams to pull for to the astros and yankees
8. with all the media attention focused on bonds, the other hundreds of baseball players can relax and do their jobs w/o a camera in their face
7. no more joe morgan comments on the length of johnny damon's hair
6. i can go to dodger games and see what the fall fashions will be like for raider fans
5. two dogs and a coke
4. me and the cuz end up watching too many movies during the off season. i can only watch breakin so many times.
3. i get to see my uncle's championship ring from last year
2. forget all these self-help motivational guru's; gammons, kruk, reynolds and gwynn tell it like it is.
1. it's baseball, our pastime. nuff said. it's one of the few times that our country gets patriotic, grown men get to be kids, and thousands of people who have nothing in common get to share a nacho stand and eat ice cream out of little helmets.
oh yeah, this year's world series picks:
safe bet: yankees vs cardinals
longshot/ you heard it hear first bet: astros vs. blue jays
moving on...
i read the other day that michael moore is invested in haliburton, hmmm, that hasn't made any of his movies.
i joined the masses and bought an ipod last weekend. this should have happened a long time ago, but it's a good thing i waited for the video ipods. there's nothing like being able to watch the office while waiting at the dmv.
since i now don't really have a need for cds, i was able to stuff them in the back of a closet this weekend. i can't handle throwing them away just yet, but i did have a ceremony to get rid of all the burned mix cds that once littered my truck
speaking of my truck, tyra has a huge gash in the side of her. i'm not sure when it happened because i never really look at the passenger side of my truck, but its pretty deep. at least deep enough that it can't be buffed out. anyways, i have a high deductible on my insurance so there's a big debate on how to approach this, esp since i'm not sure what scratched my truck. just frustrating more than anything.
and speaking of scratches, i ordered this usb turntable a couple of weeks ago that converts vinyl to mp3. it came in a couple of days ago in a box that had three corners thrashed right next to a giant fragile sticker. it's good to know that ups employees can read.
now that i have my pergo floors in my office, and my painting done, my list of projects is getting pretty narrow. here's what i have left...
put molding up around the room
make a desk
sand and repaint my old surfboard with the youth group logo on it
april fools and the time change should be set farther apart
i had to preach on sunday which is not my favorite thing to do. throw in a time change and not a lot of sleep and i was due for something to happen. it did, i misread the clock and thought i had to stretch my time and ended up going 40 minutes instead of 25. hopefully that will get me out of preaching for a while.
in personal news...
i've started to feel a change the past few weeks. you know how in the rocky movies he takes a bunch of punches in the first few rounds, then just as you start to wonder how many more he could take the music starts to change and he starts fighting back? i feel like rocky starting to punch back. maybe it has something to do with the weather, maybe it's actually having things semi sorted out, but as of late i've felt really empowered. i got my taxes done, some paintings done, i'm spending my time the way i want to spend my time... pretty soon i think there's going to be a lot of energy to focus on the youth group again. that'll be good. be prepared for updates.
this is going to sound really cheesy, but i think myspace has kind of helped me out too. out of all of the friends i have on that list, i know at least two-thirds are pretty close friends that truly care about me and my ministry. it's really cool to be able to see how many people have been a part of my life, and how so many people have affected me in different ways. it's also cool to go back and reflect on different memories, from the el patioso crew to my first crush back in kindergarden, there's a lot of fond memories tied to scrolling through my friends list. it also serves as reminder to me of how many people i have the potential to have a positive impact on, which is always a good thing.
well, i think that's it for today. it's nice outside so i think i'm going to jam a little bit before roots tonight.
one love, one heart.
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