Couldn't resist this one...

Useful stuff...sort of...

O.K. - yesterday I kind of ranted a little about how the Internet is partly to blame for some of what may be considered societies' ills (depending on your perspective of course.) So in all fairness, today I thought I'd give the Internet a few props and a hearty w007! (as some may say). Can you tell how out of touch I am?

Here are a couple of things I have stumbled across that I find interesting, or at least funny or useful.

Retarded News - there's this guy in England who puts out a news feed - mainly from the AP. The trick is, his feed randomly inserts the word Retarded or Totally Retarded into the title. It's kind of cool in a sick, twisted way. Check it out Here. I check it all the time now. Where else can you read: "US campaign broadens after Obama's retarded South Carolina win." What's not to love about that?

Blog Bumper Stickers - These are cool - cutesy things that you can "legally" copy and paste onto your blog. All you have to do is give them credit for it - and of course link to their site. Where else could you find a cool sign to post like this one?

Well, that's enough for today. Just my small way of apologizing to the Internet and saying that I'm sorry if I offended it yesterday. No hard feelings, right?

Could you please pass me the reality...and a grain of salt...

As if anybody cares what I think....here goes.

I enjoy going online as much as the next guy. That being said, could somebody please tell me what the heck is happening to our society? We are becoming increasingly isolated and have substituted real, meaningful relationships for our online persona's. (See here for more of my take on this subject.)
Also, with regard to politics, we have all witnessed how the Internet has become overladen with rumors, distortions and outright lies. I for one believe in putting the power into the hands of the people, and in no way would I ever be a proponent of censorship. However, it's just gotten ridiculous lately. Who can we trust? Are there any truly unbiased sources for news anymore? It seems that everybody has a horse in this race. Also see here - for a better example of what happenned to them (Carville, Begala & Zimmerman at CNN).
A good friend of mine has a classic comeback when discussing politics. When asked if he is a Democrat or Republican his reply is simply, "I'm an agnostic."

My take on this whole thing is that we want to hear what we want to hear, and naturally gravitate towards those who share our viewpoint. That being said though, I will admit that I am as biased as the next guy. But, I am getting sick of being told what to believe - politically and otherwise. Isn't it the goal of education, (and the aim of free speech) to give us the tools to make well-informed decisions about those things that most affect our lives?
The end result, (in my opinion) is that we have been conditioned to question EVERYTHING and trust nobody! While this is healthy, especially given the current political and epistemological climate, (such big words) we seem to have all become so cynical and jaded lately that it's just depressing! Chalk it up to the effects of postmodernism, or whatever you want to call it - I don't like it. Maybe I'm just naive, but I have become increasingly nostalgic for those simple days when things were black and white. At least we had a common enemy, and we knew (at least we thought we knew) who the bad guys were - they wore black hats!

More nonesense about being left-handed...

A couple of people at work are left-handed too. We all agreed on this one:

Ladels! The spout is on the wrong side - have to scoup your gravy & soup with the right hand!!! (But if you're like me you just dunk your head in and slurp.)

This just in....

It's cold folx -





Minus One degree Fahrenheit - negative 19 - 25 windchill. Other than that, the sky is blue and it looks gorgeous outside.

Have a nice day!

Something that really bugs me...

This evening I was doing the dinner dishes and talking with my son Austin while he made some brownies. His arm got tired while he was stirring the batter and I suggested that he switch hands. He couldn't quite get the coordination down, then he said something that I had never really thought much about. "Dad, I wish I was left-handed like you!" "Huh???? No you don't son."

Then it got to me - it really stinks being left-handed sometimes. Let me just say, for the record - I am more ambi-dextrous than some lefties I know. For instance, I play guitar right-handed, drum right-handed, etc... (Those who know me will attest that I eat with both hands too!) But, there are lots of things most people take for granted that we lefties have to make up for. Here are a few you may never have thought about.

• Scissors (O.K., maybe you've thought of this one...Fortunately, I can cut both ways.)


• Coffee mugs - before you laugh at this one - look at the cute little kitten picture on your mug - if you hold it by the handle, it faces the right way - hold it left-handed and nobody else can see it!


• Notebooks/Planners/Calendars - There are a bunch of great big rings in the way that prevent you from writing legibly - leading to the "myth" that left-handers are sloppy. (That being said - I am a sloppy writer without the big rings in the way, but that's a story for another day.)


• Measuring cups and some evil lemonade pitchers - Pick it up with the left hand and you can't pour it - you have to put it down and pick it up with the "right" hand to pour. I prefer pitchers with the spout oposite the handle as opposed to the "evil" pitchers with a spout on the side.


• Evil bent butter knives - you laugh, but I have the cutest little evil butter knife in my drawer that I can't use because it is bent a certain way, and as you know, only one side is sharp. So, I have to butter my toast with my "right" hand - yes, it must be an evil plot to keep us left-handers down.

That's just a few, but next time you are in a sporting goods store, try finding a good assortment of left-handed mits - or better yet - raquetball gloves! (In the right size).

And now for something completely different!

I found (stole from) this picture on a totally cool blog site by an old acquaintance (check it out here). Talk about honesty! He really has a lot to say about the church (the way it oughtta be!).

Know what I hate? Internet connections!

Sorry about the relative silence lately. Internet problems. I called my ISP provider - got to spend lots of time on the phone - waiting on hold (doo, do, do, do, doo.. do, do-ta do...). For the past week and a half our cable connection has been intermittent at best.

Of course, it happenned to resume working again right after I called to set a repair appointment. So I called back, ...more hold time (in case you were wondering - the doo,do, do should be hummed to the tune of The girl from Ipanema)

So, when I fanally talked to a human, I cancelled the appointment. (...Darn! and I was REALLY looking forward to waiting around all day for the cable guy too!).

Later, the @#$% connection quit working again! It's been up, then down. Today, it has been up - so, I've been sitting here all day gettin' my internet fix just in case it goes down again. I check things at work, but seldom post ( I'm s'posed to be working y'now).

'Nuff said. I'm going to end this post - should have several paragraphs ago. Just wanted to explain the absence.

Hey, I'm famous...not really...just blah!

This just in. For those who may not know, I was asked to join a group blog thingy called Team Polycarp. My longtime buddy Jason Hughlett got some friends together and started it - basically it's a bunch of guys who blog infrequently (like me) blogging infrequently in the same space. Anywhooo, he decided to do a mock interview of the various members just for kicks. I was asked to submit mine first. You can read it here. Enjoy.



On other fronts, I've just felt kind of blah lately. Don't know why. I enjoyed the Christmas season despite the fact that neither of us (me and Beth) felt particularly festive. I haven't been much in touch with people lately either. Like I said, blah. I know I'm fighting off some kind of cold/flu thingy - but that's not it. Prayer should shed some insight - I hope so.



Weather has been freakishly warmish. It is now 9pm, we just got back from a nice long walk. It felt like April outside rather than the 6th of January. It must be George Bush's fault - you know, global warming and all. Last week it was 3 degrees outside - right now our thermometer says 52!!!

I'm sure it will freeze again soon.

Know what I hate? New Year's Resolutions!

Happy Nu year everybody. I know, I'm a couple of days late, but after a little thought I decided, what the heck. I got to thinking about resolutions after catching up on another blog hosted by my buddy Jason - Team Polycarp There you will find my (fake) New Year's Resolution list (in Letterman top 10 fashion).

It just got me thinking about how we spend our lives. I am a firm believer in taking stock of our lives, making lists, wanting to improve ourselves - it is very healthy. However, we have this tendency to make promises we can't keep, or don't ever intend to keep. I know I do. So what's the answer? As of now I really don't know - but rather than making resolutions this year, I just want to change my life instead.

God sometimes speaks to me in wierd ways...

So, I did some chores around the house today. There was one biggie that had been sneaking up on me for quite some time. In my younger two sons’ room we have been having issues with an old dresser. I have “repaired” it twice before and swore that we would replace it. Didn’t happen, probly won’t any time soon. So, I “fixed” it again today. What struck me was this. The thing is made of cheap pressboard - completely of sawdust and Elmer’s glue. It also has some “snazzy” woodgrain paper glued to it on the outside. This thing probably cost us 10 bucks at a yard sale – maybe $65- new. I can’t even remember when or where we got it – but it was falling apart again. I got out my manly tack-hammer, and drill and went to work – yet again. Dad to the rescue!

I don’t know how God speaks to you, but this event really struck my heart. First, we’ve been married for 18 going on 19 years and much of our “fine” furniture is nothing but pressboard – sawdust covered in paper – pretending to be something made of “real” wood. Even now as I type this, I am sitting in front of a “lovely” – broken – pressboard computer desk with peeling wood-grain paper veneer. It sits next to some equally “lovely” pressboard bookshelves that I also recently fixed because they were sagging under the weight of our books. Not all of our furniture is cheap and fake, but enough that I sometimes get a little self-conscious about it. (Sigh.) Alas, some things just aren’t important – but they do illustrate the point.

Then I got to thinking further,….hmmmm…. how much of my life is made up of pressboard? How many of my relationships go no deeper than the thin fake veneer on my kids’ dresser? How much effort, do I spend “pretending” to be something that I’m not? If I look under the surface – beneath the notso-pretty wood-grain paper, what would I see? I am afraid some things in my life have been nothing more than sawdust and glue pretending to be something substantial.

Hopefully, this is more than just food for thought. I suddenly feel really convicted about some things….. Bye for now!