Kingdomality
Apr 30, 2004 Uncategorized
Thanks to JR for reminding me of this old Medievel Personality Test.
Apparently, based on 8 questions, this describes me:
Your distinct personality, The Benevolent Ruler might be found in most of the thriving kingdoms of the time. You are the idealistic social dreamer. Your overriding goal is to solve the people problems of your world. You are a social reformer who wants everyone to be happy in a world that you can visualize. You are exceptionally perceptive about the woes and needs of humankind. You often have the understanding and skill to readily conceive and implement the solutions to your perceptions. On the positive side, you are creatively persuasive, charismatic and ideologically concerned. On the negative side, you may be unrealistically sentimental, scattered and impulsive, as well as deviously manipulative. Interestingly, your preference is just as applicable in today’s corporate kingdoms.
Tivo
Apr 28, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Chill | TIVO: Touching Evil }
So I have this Tivo deal. One of the things it has is this Season Pass thing which basically records shows the entire season long for you. You prioritize what you want it to record in case of a schedule conflict. I was looking at my Season Passes and I thought it was a good indicator of what our current favorite shows are. Some of these are Grace’s and some are mine. Anyhoo, here is our current Season Pass line-up:
24
Alias
CSI: Miami
Touching Evil
ER
Las Vegas
Monk
Significant Others
Wonderfalls (which has only recorded once because of schedule conflicts)
Reno 911
Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica
Interesting. I’m not gonna tell you which ones are Grace’s and which ones are mine. You’ll just have to wonder.
Help
Apr 28, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Great | NOISE: Birdies }
I really need your help. I am starting a new series next week called “This or That.” Basically, the idea is “We think God is really concerned with THIS when he is really concerned about THAT. Anyhoo, I think it is a great idea, but I am having trouble narrowing the field on this one. So, what would you suggest? What are areas where we have a wrong view on what God is concerned about? I need 4 solid ideas (Mark is going to do one, which will make 5 weeks in the series).
Election
Apr 28, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: OK | NOISE: Sean }
Everyone is asking me who I am going to vote for.
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The Great Belt Buckle Project
Apr 28, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Thoughtful | ITUNES: “Man on the Side” - John Mayer }
So I have discovered the most amazing thing. It has to do with my now famous belt-buckle:
I have discovered I have the ability to switch out the picture with a different one. Right now, I have Jesus (who looks like Kid Rock) in there, but I am going to begin to have a little fun with this.
This is where I introduce The Great Belt Buckle Project. All you have to do is send me an image you think would look good on my belt and if I like it, I will wear it and put a picture up here. I am hoping to have a great Belt Buckle Gallery.
Welcome to Michigan
Apr 28, 2004 Uncategorized
It snowed yesterday and today it will be 70 and tomorrow 80. Yippee.
Boomer Power
Apr 26, 2004 Uncategorized
Thanks to Steve (a boomer, I may add) for this article on “Gracefully Passing the Baton”
I am home
Apr 26, 2004 Uncategorized
We are finally home! I am so glad to see my wife and kids. It was awesome just sitting there, eating dinner with them last night. To see our last set of pictures from Amsterdam, click here.
Follow-up
Apr 20, 2004 Uncategorized
Melissa thinks I should explain the callgirl one a bit more. Here’s the scoop:
I was heading from where Katie and Eric were to where Jen and Eric were. I thought I knew the alley I was in and I turned onto a road I thought was familiar. Apparently not. After walking down a bit, I looked around I realized I was just inside the Red Light District. It is not as easy to tell during the day. I wasn’t sure which way to go to get out of there. So I thought I saw a map across the canal, so I headed over to find it was just a poster. I asked a woman there how to get back to The Dam. She told me and I said “Hey, I don’t recognize your accent, where are you from?” She told me and it wasn’t until later in the conversation that I found out what she did. She wasn’t dressed for work (or undressed as the case may be). Anyhoo, I headed out of there as soon as I could appropriately do so and that was that.
Crazy Times
Apr 20, 2004 Uncategorized
Here is the summary of today in a series of haikus:
***
I lost Eric H
Then I found the poor lost boy
Then I lost Katie
***
I took a wrong turn
I saw a lot of red lights
I met a call girl
Hometown Cameroon
Wants to move to Canada
To make more money
***
Dutch bookshop woman
Talked about homeschooling kids
She thought I was nuts
***
Dinner with the Dunns
I ate two awesome Shwarmas
And yummy deserts
***
Take a break tonight
Ren and Stimpy on TV
With Dutch Subtitles
Amsterdam
Apr 20, 2004 Uncategorized
Yesterday was an awesome day. I don’t really have time to type a lot, but here are the highlights from my little brain:
*Eric, Jen, and I headed into a little cafe yesterday and met some really cool people. I am probably going to slaughter their names, but these are my horrible American spellings: AnnMarie, Renee, Desiree, Bus, Roel (pronounced “Rule”). They were celebrating their graduation from college and they let us join them. That was very cool. We hung out for a few hours and I learned a ton about Dutch culture from them. We talked about religion and politics (everyone here wants to talk about politics and George Bush), 9/11, and tons of other stuff. It was awesome.
*Roel invited us (Jen, Eric, and I) to a invite only beer tasting last night. Apparently, each month a bunch of bar owners and bartenders, etc. get together and listen to a presentation from a different brewery and taste beers. We were the only non-Dutch people there. The guy doing the presentation was from an organic brewery. One out of three were good.
*After the beer tasting, we hung out at the brewery until 12:30 or so talking with Roel, Bus, and another guy Martin. Martin and I talked for hours about everything under the sun. It’s kinda a joke here that you are not supposed to talk about Religion or Politics, but that is what everyone wants to talk about! Very cool open people. There is a Dutch word I can’t remember that describes a cool, ambient environment that you feel comfortable in. That describes the time very well last night. After Martin took off, we stayed and had a lively discussion with Roel. He is really intelligent and is really open to talking about spiritual things.
Here are some other random Amsterdam thoughts:
1) Amsterdam has a bad reputation that it does not live up to. Yes, from what I hear the Red Light District is pretty wild. But that seems to be an anomoly in the city. Yes, it is more “open” to pot (you smell it around), sex (there are posters here and there with full nudity on them), etc., but it feels like any other artsy community and I feel real comfortable here.
2) I have met people from at least 7 different countries in the last 2 days.
That’s all for now. CYA.
Sleep
Apr 18, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Grrrrrreat! | NOISE: Eric talking nonsense}
So last night I went to bed at 8:00 PM (2:30 AM Michigan Time). I slept until 1:00 AM and then I was totally awake. I stayed awake until 3:30 when JD woke up and hooked me up with some Melatonin! This wonder drug is my best friend: I fell back asleep until 8:30! I think I have screwed up my sleep pattern, but at least I have had sleep. We have a team meeting at 9:30 and then it is off to play some Foetbal with the Dutch. Yay. I’m so in shape, so this should be great!
30 Hours and Counting
Apr 17, 2004 Uncategorized
I have been awake for 30 hours and counting. Just thought you’d like to know.
More to come…
Trains and Coffee
Apr 17, 2004 Uncategorized
Well, here are a few things I figured I could share with you about our trip so far:
Our first building
After catching a train from the airport, here is the first building we encountered here in Amsterdam. This is the train station:
My first pot of coffee
If there is one thing I figure I can do in any culture, it’s make coffee. Apparently not. Here is a picture of the coffee maker I nearly destroyed by doing it wrong:
Ah, what a lovely beginning. We have a team meeting in 24 minutes, so I should go wake up the boys. CYA.
Well, well
Apr 14, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Pleasant | NOISE: Birds outside my window }
Well. The last few days have been interesting. Here’s a recap:
Easter Sunday: Had a decent morning at Riv, then headed to my parent’s house with Kite. This is his third year as an adopted family member and he always leaves with a lot of food. This year, it was 2 cakes. My dad took a ton of digital pictures and some were really good (whoever said Lawyers can’t have an artistic eye?) Here are my favorites:
Monday: Had lunch with Roger, a guy who had a huge impact on my life in High School. It was awesome to catch up and have him kick my butt in darts.
Tuesday: Had our last Amsterdam team meeting before leaving the country. This team is getting along so well that it took me an hour and a half to get the meeting started. Crazy. We ate and prayed and went through last minute details. It’s kinda weird to think I am leaving in two days. Especially since it hasn’t sunk in yet.
Food
Apr 9, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Still Tired | TIVO: Still Reno 911 }
So my wife is throwing a baby shower for Suzanne tomorrow. There are a great many things to be said about this, but I want to focus on the important one: food. She is making so much food. And I cannot have any of it. She has made homemade oreo cheesecake (with Raspberry Drizzle, no less), cheeseballs (trust me they look better than they sound), chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels, etc etc etc. And while we had these lovely smells in the house, what did we have for dinner?
Taco Bell.
Did I mention I’m not getting any of this food? Oh well, at least the house smells a little worse because of the Taco Bell…
Mach 3
Apr 9, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Tired | TIVO: Reno 911 }
From Ananova, here’s an awesome story:
Mini ‘caught speeding at Mach 3′
A Belgian motorist has been sent a speeding ticket for travelling at 2,100 mph.
The ticket claimed he’d been caught doing Mach 3 in his Mini in a Brussels city suburb.
Police have apologised for the mistake, and have blamed a faulty radar.
They said human error was to blame for sending out the ticket, even though it was clear the man’s car couldn’t have been travelling at three times the speed of sound.
Belgian newspaper La Derniere Heure said the alleged speeding incident happened in December, but only came to light when the ticket was sent out this month.
Prosecutors asked to follow up the unpaid find said: “We called the local police to find out what height the plane caught speeding along the Boulevard Lambermont was flying at.”
After the call, police apologised to the motorist, and promised to make sure the radar was repaired.
Passion Thoughts
Apr 8, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Average | NOISE: Printing Sounds }
From Ship of Fools, here’s an interesting article. And, as always, I reward the lazy by quoting an excerpt:
YOU’D BE FORGIVEN FOR THINKING there was not much fun to be had from Mel Gibson’s paschal bloodbath, The Passion of the Christ. It’s an unrelenting two-hour gorefest in Latin and the only joke in it is extremely poor.
But you’d be wrong. The display of double standards from Christian anti-violence campaigners happily denying everything they have preached for a quarter-century has been thoroughly entertaining. For years they have told us that ketchup explosions degrade and corrupt viewers, that graphic violence inspires copycats and undermines society.
Now, without so much as a grinding of gears, they have stolen all the liberals’ best arguments to explain why the film Roger Ebert called “the most violent I have ever seen” is the greatest story ever sold.
