Vader
Apr 28, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Dark
//TIVO: er
This is awesome. Darth Vader has a blog. Here’s an excerpt from today’s entry:
…You try to be an effective manager, you weed out the bad apples like the late Admiral Ozzel — only to find that an insidious culture of incompetence has somehow transformed your deadly pan-galactic armada into a fleet of spaceballs.
To demonstrate a more appropriate level of Imperial resolve I have commanded all wings to follow the freighter through Hoth’s asteroid belt. We are sustaining massive losses due to asteroid impacts and subsequent complications, but I feel confident that this will serve as an important object lesson to the surviving staff.
Let the Force sort out who is to live and who is to die. I know my destiny does not lie here.
A Great Story
Apr 28, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Excited
//ITUNES: “Jesus is for Losers” - Steve Taylor
Today, a woman stopped by the classroom I was working in to chat with me for a few minutes. She told me her story and how it intersected with Riverview. I was blown away with what God has done with her and her selfless perspective.
During the Spring of 2001, she saw our facility being built. Actually her mom saw it and asked her to go “when it opened.” They watched it go up and then saw the painters finishing it up. Her mom knocked on the door and found out we were holding our first service the next week. They came. So did 264 other people, including the 240 or so that had been attending at the Kellogg Center.
Over the last 4 years, she has watched the church grow and grow and grow. And in her own words, she has “felt the same loving environment the entire time.” So now, she is excited to see that God is bringing more and more people. While the natural inclination is to feel lost in the crowd, she feels that she is the part of something big that God is up to. She has brought co-workers and clients with her. She has seen her own life and the life of her husband change. She volunteers in the kids ministry and pours her life into other people.
I asked her what she thought of the transformation of the small church she first came to into the big church she now attends. She smiled and said:
“I waved at you last week after church and thought ‘I am one of two thousand people that wave at Noel each week and he probably doesn’t know my name.’”
She then laughed and said she thinks that is a great thing because it means that there are a lot of people coming and having their lives changed.
After she left, I sat back in my chair and thought about how thankful I was that she told me her story. I am always worried that people are not connecting at Riv because we are getting too big. Here is one person who sees is not only connecting but sees the big picture.
I should have asked her for her name.
Quote of the Day
Apr 27, 2005 Quotes
A couple guys from Consumers Energy just stopped by the church and I was standing in the utility room talking with them. Here’s part of our interchange:
Noel: You want a cup of coffee?
Guy 12: “Nope, but there is another guy on your team that would go crazy if you offered him a good cup of coffee.”
Noel: “Well, we’re really into our coffee here.”
Guy 2: “Oh yeah?”
Noel: “We go through a lot of the stuff.”
Guy 2: “Are you telling me your preacher is that boring?”
Noel: “He better not be, because you’re talking to him.”
Guy 1 bursts out laughing.
Guy 2: “You gonna be able to get past that?”
Noel: “No problem.”
24 Update
Apr 26, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: huh?
//NOISE: Coley saying “APPA!”
I have learned the hard way that Dave Barry goes through 24 in chronological order. So I can read his weekly update as long as I avoid the last few lines. Today, he had some great observations. Here are my favorites:
Our story so far: Marwan, evil terrorist mummy genius mastermind and Home Depot customer, has once again outwitted the entire U.S. Intelligence apparatus, which turns out to be not as hard as we might have hoped, because the U.S. intelligence apparatus is constantly being distracted by subplots. Marwan’s men now have gotten hold of a nuclear missile and - what is worse - a pickup truck. Jack Bauer is still doing his best to catch up to Marwan by torturing people as fast as humanly possible, but one man, acting alone, can break only so many fingers and shoot holes in only so many thighs.
Meanwhile Acting President Nervous Breakdown is in his bunker, acting nervous, perhaps because he and his top aide are always bathed in red underlighting, which suggests that everywhere they go there are unseen men crouching in front of them with red lights…
Update: This torture thing, as it so often does with young lovers, is coming between Audrey and Jack.
Update: The terrorists have taken the missile to Iowa! So there’s really no threat.
Update: There terrorists have to reconfigure the trigger mechanism to make it compatible. This will take an hour, so apparently Windows Service Pack 2 is involved…
Update: This is weird. They’re showing a COMMERCIAL with PRESIDENT ALLSTATE IN IT. Any minute now we could see a commercial with MARWAN. Maybe at Home Depot…
Update: For a nuclear terrorist, Marwan has really excellent teeth. (Noel’s note - I was thinking the same thing this week.)…
Update: Marwan got away AGAIN. If they ever catch that guy, they should put him in charge of figuring out what to do about Social Security.
Update: I think Edgar and Chloe should just give in to their lust for each other and do it right on Edgar’s keyboard.
Update: I think the warhead software uses iTunes…
Update: Chloe can’t find the car keys. What a ditz.
Update: I take that back, about Chloe. Do NOT mess with Chloe, is my advice…
Why I love my Junk Mail filter
Apr 26, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Elated
//ITUNES (and this is a tad embarrassing): “Together Forever” - Rick Astley
Periodically I peak in my Junk Mail bin to see if it has snapped up an email message I need. I have it automatically delete any message after a week, so it can keep things nice and tidy. Currently, it has 543 messages not deleted yet. That means I am averaging 77 junk mail messages a day.
I also just realized I have 12,675 messages in my Deleted folder. Maybe it’s time to empty that mamma jamma. I am always afraid of losing something I need, though.
Quote of the Day
Apr 26, 2005 Quotes
//MOOD: Twangy
//ITUNES: “Same Old Train” - Alison Kraus
Thanks to Bruce for this great quote:
“Brethren, do something; do something, do something! While societies and unions make constitutions, let us win souls. I pray you, be men of action all of you. Get to work and quit yourselves like men… Our one aim is to win souls; and this we are not to talk about, but do in the power of God!”
- Charles Spurgeon
24 Update
Apr 25, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Very Very Awake
//TIVO: “01:59:59″
In order to protect the ignorant, I am not posting my comments on 24. For those of you have already watched it click the following for my two favorite moments:
Spring in Michigan 2.0
Apr 25, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Warm
//NOISE: Click Click
A few days ago I posted about the wonderful Springtime in Michigan.
In fairness to Michigan, I have decided to post a new picture from the same location in my yard.
Quote of the Day
Apr 25, 2005 Quotes
//MOOD: Laughing
//NOISE: Grace cooking, boys watching TV
From The New York Post, here’s the actor who plays Marwan on 24.
“I was in Home Depot the other day,” he recalled with a laugh, “and I was looking at samples of something for redoing my house, and I heard somebody in another aisle say, ‘I’ve spotted Marwan! I’ve spotted Marwan! Call Jack Bauer!’ “
My Unitarian Jihad Name
Apr 25, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: A bit tired
//NOISE: Rescue Heroes in the other room
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Sibling Cattle Prod of Looking at All Sides of the Question.
Language
Apr 24, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Well
NOISE: Coley Breathing in my Ear
Your Linguistic Profile: |
| 70% General American English |
| 25% Upper Midwestern |
| 5% Midwestern |
| 0% Dixie |
| 0% Yankee |
Spring in Michigan
Apr 24, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Waking Up
//NOISE: Band warming up
I woke up to this view out of my family room window today:
Apr 23, 2005 Uncategorized
Ok this is insane. I just heard the weather and we could get 9 inches by thursday.
Cliche Time
Apr 23, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Freezing
//NOISE: Softly falling snow
I know it is cliche. And in every corner of the grand ole U S of A, people say it. But today it seems abundantly true.
“Don’t like the weather here in Michigan? Wait five minutes and it will change.”
This week I was out mountain biking in my shorts in 80 degree weather. Now, I am looking outside at snow and it is 34 degrees out.
Brrr….
Anyone want to move to California?
Another Quote of the Day
Apr 22, 2005 Quotes
//MOOD: Cranking
//ITUNES: “Violent Blue” - Chagall Guevara
“Security never gives a license to sin, but at the same time sin does not cause us to lose our salvation.”
-Charles Ryrie
Quote of the Day
Apr 22, 2005 Quotes
//MOOD: Really tired
//NOISE: The iron heating up
From Dead Youthpastor Walking:
I think if David, Job, or Jonah had the f-word at their disposal… it would be in our scriptures along with many of the other lewd references. Not sprinkled throughout like paprika… just placed in just the right spot to convey the tremendous combination of angst, confusion, and disgust at something that punctuates a low time– not just a desert time, but a devil-standing-next-to-me-in-the-desert kind of time.
Quote of the Day
Apr 21, 2005 Quotes
//MOOD: Quiet
//IPOD: “Here Is Love” - Passion Hymns
“Strange how when you’re young you have no memories. Then, one day you wake up and, boom, memories overpower all else in your life, forever making the present moment seem sad and unable to compete with a glorious past that now has a life of its own.”
-Douglas Coupland
Good vs. Evil
Apr 21, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: A little tired
//ITUNES: “Imagine” - Dave Matthews & Blues Traveller
Dang It!
Apr 19, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Pissed
//ITUNES: “11:11″ - Rufus Wainwright
One of the highlights of my week is reading Dave Barry’s commentary on 24 each Tuesday. Today, he hosed me over. What did he do? He revealed the twist that they showed during the preview. Jerk!
I work so hard to not see any previews for 24 because of this exact thing. I am so mad!!!!!!!
