Gimme a break...

I am considering a blogging hiatus of sorts. For most people that would mean not blogging at all for a period of time but I'm thinking of just scaling back a bit - writing two or three posts per week instead of two or three a day.

Half the time (OK, maybe more) my posts are just silliness anyway. Perhaps writing fewer posts will force me to write about more serious subjects. Or not - who knows. Then again, I may simply re-post some old stuff from my archives.

The reasons for this are many but mainly because December looks to be very busy for me in a variety of ways. There are a number of things I want to accomplish and there are only so many hours in a day...

I also need to get everything set up for my move to WordPress which I think will be on January, 1, 2007.

I'll still be reading and commenting on my favorite blogs and I'll remain involved with the Methoblog but I need a bit of a break...

This will probably be my last post for the week (other than maybe something on the Methoblog) so have a nice weekend and a joyous and blessed beginning to the Christian year!

What's your accent?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The South
The West
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Northeast
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have?

Hat Tip: Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog

Funny, Mr Chaucer himself asks, 'What is this Amerique?'

And interesting since I am a native Tennessean.

Bring it on!

News flash...

Jason Woolever has removed himself from the Methoblog.

Liberal 'provoker' that I am, I probably had a small part to play in this decision. I hate that because I had started to like Jason.

I disagree with him on almost everything but I enjoy debates and there will be less of them now that Jason is gone.

Plus, it was really fun!

Unfortunately, Jason found little enjoyment in the exchanges. I respect his decision to depart but I disagree with his rationale for doing so.

But now, the Methobloggers must find someone else to gang up on:)

Instead of looking for another ultra-conservative, fundamentalist, evangelical United Methodist, I suggest that there might be some liberal, universalist, anarchist type Methoblogger right under your very noses.

You could pick on him instead.

Fair warning: if you're thinking of the same person I am, he is not quite as thin-skinned as Jason!

The Wedding.

As promised, some pics from the day of Craig's wedding:

This is a view of the site just before the ceremony taken from the sixth floor of the hotel. I meant to take one from the ninth floor but I forgot.


Ring bearer and flower girl all dressed up - aren't they cute:

Shelby keeping watch over the guest registry:

The happy couple just after being pronounced husband and wife:

They even let the liberals attend:

Finally, Craig and Danielle at the reception:

Here's hoping Craig and Danielle have a long and happy life together...

Presenting Mr. Kirk Michael.

My wife has become a great-aunt! Her nephew, Stephen, and his wife Brandi have a new little baby boy:

I suppose I should point out that this is not the same nephew who got married this past weekend:)

Why not drop in on Stacie's blog to say congratulations on being a GREAT-AUNT:)

Another Controversy...

Another Methoblog controversy occurred and I had no dang part in it!

Jason Woolever wrote a post on the Methoblog about heresy and listed these five attributes of Christian 'orthodoxy':

(1)The inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures.
(2)The Virgin Birth and Deity of Christ.
(3)The Blood Atonement of Christ on the Cross for mankind's sins.
(4)The Actual Bodily Resurrection of Christ.
(5) Christ will return again to Earth.

I felt it was implied in the post is that anyone who does not ascribe to these beliefs is a heretic and, not ascribing to a couple of them myself, had planned to write a very respectful and civil rebuttal.

While I was at work yesterday, however, some other folks took up the task and rebutted Jason to no end. So, I guess I don't need to do that, especially since their words are more eloquent and insightful than mine would have been.

Apparently, some of these words 'distressed' Jason, especially those from Jay Voorhees. Apologies were made and clarifications went across the hyperspace to settle things down...

For the record, I want it said that I offended Jason first. These others are only mimicking me:)

In all seriousness, I don't think the words were meant as a personal attack on Jason any more than my post about his abortion post were. But if you make your thoughts and opinions public, you must expect that some will agree and that some will disagree.

I've read many political blogs and a few theological ones where the lanuguage and the arguments would make this stuff look like child's play. I'm talking about obscenities, insults to one's mother or sister, blatant disregard for common decency and so on. I'm glad that the Methoblog is so much more civil than that but it is a forum and disagreements will arise and tempers will flare...

I will never say that Jason ought to shut up or that he does not have a right to his opinion. Quite the contrary in fact. One of the main things I tried to get across to him in our controversy was that I DID NOT want him to shut up.

I may think his ideas are all wet, but he speaks his mind and he represents a portion of United Methodist thought. That's a good thing because it gets a debate going. If we all just sat around agreeing with each other all day, it wouldn't be very thought provoking (nor near as much fun).

Jason, keep it up but please don't take attacks on your ideas as personal insults. I don't think they are meant that way.

The Wedding Rehearsal.

As I've mentioned before, Stacie's nephew Craig got married last Saturday. It was special for us because Craig was the ring bearer at our wedding, fourteen plus years ago.

Here are some highlights of the wedding rehearsal Friday evening.
The wedding party - Craig and Danielle are the couple on the left:

Craig's maternal uncle, Bo, third from left, served as best man. Bo and I graduated high school together. I hadn't seen him in over 20 years!

Here's Tad and Craig's little sister, Laurel, practicing their walk. Tad kept worrying about 'screwing up'. I think he was more nervous than the groom.

And here's Stacie playing the Wedding March. She provided the music, playing the piano and singing, for the ceremony:

Finally, a nice picture of Craig and Danielle:

We had a good time at the rehearsal even though I normally hate these types of things. Being in a hotel, this one wasn't that bad.

Of course, it wasn't about me:)

Tomorrow, I'll have some pics of the ceremony itself.

Liberals... UGH.

My wife has finally admitted - in print no less - that she is a liberal!

How did this shocking turn of events come about?

I'd like to think that it was my influence that caused her conversion but the truth is that we have been on this journey together for many years. We are, by nature, conservative types in many ways - traditional, family oriented, homebodies for the most part and not given to extreme or radical thoughts.

I guess those similarities were part of the reason we were drawn to each other in the first place, but over the years we've grown and we've expanded our views. I've always thought it was sad when couples say things like, "We've grown apart." Stacie and I have grown to be sure, but we've grown together instead of apart!

Ironically, in a time when many people view Christianity as nothing more than a tool of the right wing political machine in this country, it has been our increasing faith, or at least the manifestation of that faith, that has both brought us closer together and has convicted us that the religious right has it all WRONG.

See, I try to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. I admit that I fail miserably at that most days but the more I try, the more liberal my views become. My friends look at me funny when I say I don't have a problem with Mexicans coming to this country to work and live, family members expect a punchline when I tell them I don't have a problem with homosexuals and Church members roll their eyes when I tell them I believe that everyone is going to Heaven. No wonder some folks in the Methoblogosphere have poked fun at me for being too liberal.

Stacie is correct when she says that 'liberal' has become a dirty word to some. Whether politically, theologically or socially, some will look down on anyone who calls themself a liberal. I disagree. I will join my wife and many other Christians with 'conservative' or Fundamentalist backgrounds, to say that calling oneself a Liberal is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I think it is something to be proud of.

I remain a homebody, a military supporter, an all around tightwad and a good ol' boy at heart.

And I love my Jesus.

But y'know what?

I think He's one too!

Breaking news from Bama.

Don't you hate it when bloggers predict some event then brag about their prediction when said event becomes reality? Yeah, me too but that doesn't keep me from doing it. Even if my prediction was only implied.

Last week, in my week-12 post on college football, I sarcastically mentioned that Alabama coach Mike Shula has publicly brushed off any speculation about job security. The point I was making was that it was ridiculous for him to say, "I haven't given that any thought." Of course he had... And this proves it: Alabama has fired Shula and named DC Joe Kines as interim coach.

I'd love to say, "I told you so" but I won't because there is a more important point I'd like to make. Namely that college football head coaching positions are notoriously insecure and the decisions made that cause that lack of security, are often equally notoriously short sighted.

After all the good-natured abuse that has been heaped upon me by Alabama and Florida fans, no less, for lambasting Coach Fulmer's performance at Tennessee in the past few seasons, I feel justified in turning that around to question this decision by the powers that be in the Alabama Athletic program.

Sure, Alabama didn't have a great season and Shula's never been able to beat hated rival Auburn, but he guided the program through the dark years of NCAA probation AND they had a 10 and 2 record last year with a bowl victory to boot.

Now Alabama is looking for a new coach again - the fourth time since 2000. Bama has had 7, soon to be 8, head coaches in fewer years (24) than Bear Bryant served as coach (25). Yet folks can't figure out why the program has not returned to the elite status it held under Bryant's leadership. There are many reasons, of course, but I say that one of them is this lack of stability and short-sightedness.

I think it's ironic that after seasons of 6-6, 10-2, and 6-6, they fired Shula who maybe could have taken them to another 10-2 season. As a non-Bama fan, I'm OK with that because Tennessee probably would not have been among the 2 in that scenario. But now, they're looking at another new coach, another big question mark and a 'rebuilding year' under unknown circumstances. They will be lucky to equal this year's record.

In any event, good luck to Coach Shula. I like him better already!

I hate to do this, but...

I've always disliked the 'word verification' feature in Blogger. It's that annoying little window where you have to type in random letters before you can leave a comment on someone's blog. I realize it's there for a reason but I always thought it was of limited value.

I had enabled 'comment moderation' some time ago because I was getting some rude annonymous comments. That went away eventually after I began deleting those comments before they could appear on the blog. I guess that person got the picture. (I know who you are, btw)

But I never enabled word verification because I never got spam comments. Until now, that is! I've gotten several in the past couple of weeks and their frequency is increasing. So I'm now joining the ranks of you fine word verification folks.

Sorry for the inconvenience, but if I want you to read about herbal impotence remedies and such, I'll write a post about them. Don't worry, I don't and I won't...

College Ball - Week 13.

First, LSU beat Arkansas. I'm not sure what to think about this since I pretty much despise both teams. But since it's an upset, I guess I'm OK with it.

Tennessee beat traditional beer-barrel rival Kentucky. Good. Classic quote from Phil "justgladtostillhaveajob" Fulmer: "It's great to win when you don't play particularly well...". That could be the theme of UT's season...

And sadly, Middle Tennessee lost to Troy. BY ONE POINT! On the record, MTSU remains tops in the Sunbelt Conference. But if Troy beats Florida Central they will have the same conference record as MT and, having beat MT, would get the conference bid to the whatever bowl. Potentially a disheartening end to a great season...

$#!+

Finally, Oregon State beat Oregon by two points...

Ducks versus Beavers.

Need I say more?

The Methoblog.

My blog post for the day is on the Methoblog.

The weekend.

Thanksgiving 2006 has come and gone. We spent a mostly quiet day with family and, of course, ate way too much.

As always, lunch was at my parents' house with my sister and her family. Here you can see the kids (mine and my sister's) enjoying 'crazy time' after the meal:

Afterward, we took a leisurely afternoon drive, visited the cemetery where Stacie's mom is buried and returned home to make the final preparation for the evening meal (like we needed it).

Not to brag, but our turkey was just over the top this year. Some of the best turkey I have ever had to privilege to consume.
Three guesses what's stuffed up ol' Tom's rearside... Mmm, mmm good! That bird doesn't quite look the same this morning but there are plenty of potential sandwiches left in the 'fridge!

With all that over, we should now be able to spend the remainder of the weekend relaxing around the house...

You gotta be kiddin'.

No, Stacie's working today but leaving early. Saturday is nephew Craig's wedding. The kids and I will meet Stacie at the bank with the SUV fully loaded and we'll hopefully make it to Nashville just in time for the wedding rehearsal. Then, dinner after that and we're spending the night since brother-in-law Tim reserved a block of rooms at the hotel.

I hope to have a couple of hours Saturday to do our own thing in the big city before we have to start getting dressed for the ceremony in the afternoon. Then there's the reception and the hour plus drive back home.

We'll be lucky to get home before the kids' bedtime. And then we have early service on Sunday...

So, no relaxing around the house for us, laugh.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and you'll be hearing from me sometime next week.

In the meantime, consider this: What if Geoffrey Chaucer had been into science fiction and classic rock lyrics?

What I am Thankful for.

Last Thanksgiving, I wrote the following on my old Blogspot blog:

An exhaustive list of what I am thankful for would be impossible because I have been blessed so much and in so many ways.

But, here's a few of the most important things that I am thankful for...

I make a good living in a job that I love and am apparently pretty good at.

I am more comfortable with who I am than at any previous point in my life.

I have lost neither my lust for for life nor my passion for learning.

I have a good and faithful church family that, for reasons unknown to me, look to me as a leader.

I have two beautiful and wonderful (if somewhat unruly) children that love me and I love them dearly.

I had the good fortune to meet, fall in love with and marry the most beautiful, most wonderful, most perfect woman in the whole wide world.

In short, I have everything in this world that I ever truly wanted... all my prayers have been answered.

And one year later, all the same continue to apply.

If anything, even more so.

Let us all stop to think of the many ways we have been blessed, thank God for those things and perhaps do a little something for those who have not been blessed so richly.

Does this make me famous?

Gavin Richardson, in his infinite wisdom, passed on my pictures of 'intolerant guy's signs to Nashville is Talking.

They published them on their blog!

The crediting and links are a little screwed up but who cares, the letter writing campaign might actually take off.

Wouldn't that be a hoot!

One last time: signs from intolerant-tire-shop-guy:




Thanks, Gavin. Thanks Nashville is Talking!

Mmmmmm.

Just in time for the holiday season - check out Jones Soda.

Man, oh, man, I have got a hankerin' for some Turkey and Gravy flavored soda pop!

Makes your mouth water, doesn't it???

Their Holiday Pack also contains Sweet Potato Soda (!), Dinner Roll Soda (?) and Pea Soda...

(At least it's 'pea' and not 'pee')

And just in case any of this is making you feel a bit queasy, the good folks at Jones include one bottle of Antacid Flavored Soda and a 'medicinal cup for accurate servings' with every Holiday Pack!

Oh, and they're certified Kosher too...

Excuse me, you have some algae in your cheese...

Also from Wired: the ingredients of Easy Cheese.

If you're one of those who eat this nasty stuff, don't read this story.

(Hi G.)

Wait, better yet, read this story!

Then maybe you'll stop eating artifically colored, chemically altered, over-processed, spinach and seaweed extract laden, fat-filled, cheese flavored goo from a squirt can.

UGH!

I want this...

A neat item from Wired.com's Gear Factor blog:

A tube amp that fits in the palm of your hand.

If you are agonizing over what to get me for Christmas, agonize no more!

Assuming, you've got a half G earmarked for my gift, that is...

On second thought, buy someone a cow instead.

Seriously.

In the name of love...

Some person has put up a web site slandering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I'm not giving you the URL because I DO NOT want you to go to this website. It is a racist, hate-filled piece of hack propaganda created for what reason God only knows.

I am a great admirer of Dr. King but I realize that he was not perfect. He, like the rest of us, made many mistakes. The owner of the site in question is highlighting the man's shortcomings, mixing this with some lies and innuendo while downplaying his contributions and courage in the face of hate and racism very much like that presented on this site.

They are also hoping no one cares enough to do anything about it.

I took a quick look at the site and I know enough about Dr. King to know that some of the information is blatantly false and other parts of it, while possibly true, are presented in a biased manner.

Most of us realized long ago that there is a LOT of BS on the world wide web.

(God bless your little head if you haven't yet realized that)

I mean, David Icke, Fred Phelps and moi, among many others, all have their own websites for cryin' out loud.

But here's the bigger problem: this website has garnered Google's top ranking for hits on MLK.

There are folks out there who will take a top ranked site as gospel without using any common sense or verification of the facts.

As sad as that is, it is even more sad that some, like the creator of the top ranked MLK site, will use this for nefarious purposes, thus duping many more well intentioned and impressionable - can I say naive - souls into believing their crap.

What can be done about this?

First, please DO NOT visit and DEFINITELY do not link to this site. That will only increase their ranking. That's why I didn't give you the URL. Even typing it into a blog post could be counted as a 'hit'.

Second, there is a movement brewing in cyberspace to 'GoogleBomb' them into submission. Here's how it works: if enough people link to legitimate sites about Dr. King, then the phony one will lose its top ranking and therefore be less likely to lead someone astray.

Here goes:

Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King

I ask everyone to do something similar. I realize some will be hesitant to do this because it is somewhat sneaky. But there is nothing dishonest or hypocritical about it, we are simply using the bad guys' methods against them.


(Hat Tip to John at Lake Neuron)

Goals for the day.

Short of time today so not much in the way of a blog post.

Just a few things I'll be working on:

1 - Begin the turkey-thawing process.

2 - Take out the trash.

3 - Pick up Daughter from school.

4 - Start no blog controversies.

And for no particular reason a photograph I took the other day and a poem it reminded me of:

I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Trees - Joyce Kilmer

My Old School.

They are tearing down my old school. Well, actually Frankiln County High School still exists - in the new muli-ba-jillion dollar complex on 41A bypass.

The old Franklin County High School Building is being demolished then.

Here's a pic from just a few weeks ago:

And here's one I took today:

The main part of the building is almost completely gone, the classrooms, the gym, the auditorium, the cafeteria, all gone!

Ah, the memories...

By the way, the little white specks you see in the lower picture are SNOWFLAKES.

Yes, it's snowing here today.

Outrage!

Sometimes, I get outraged about various things. It's usually when I feel others are getting the short end of the stick so to speak.

That's why I write posts about little children starving and people being discriminated against.

It's also why I wrote the post about Jason Woolever's views on abortion earlier today.

I believed that his equating abortion with murder is hurtful to people and does no good.

I still believe that but I went too far with the language I used about him in the post.

Jason left a comment on the post saying how much it bothered him and that he is thinking about giving up blogging because of this.

I hope that he doesn't do that, though I do hope that he reconsiders his views.

Ironically, I accused Jason of making inflammatory remarks - which is exactly what I did in my post.

I can admit it when I'm wrong - I removed that post.

I haven't changed my opinion, mind you, but I do regret that it came across as such a personal attack.

So Jason, please reconsider your views, please don't stop blogging and please accept my apology.

College Ball - Week 12.

The big news is that Ohio State beat Michigan. I'm almost at the point of not caring.

I really thought Western Carolina was going to destroy Florida but it was not to be...

Similar situation with MTSU and South Carolina.

Too bad about MTSU and Memphis losing to Houston but at least the Vols beat Vanderbilt.

(grin)

I am quite proud that I resisted the almost overwhelming urge to call D-Day up and sing Rocky Top at the top of my lungs:)

Auburn makes it five in a row over Bama in the Iron Bowl.

(smile)

I am quite proud that I resisted the almost overwhelming urge to call up my brother-in-law and laugh hysterically into the phone.

Coach Shula says he hasn't given any thought to all the speculation about his job security.

Sure, Mike, whatever...

Only 31 more days.

From Yahoo Odd News.

A Calififornia couple calls for orgasm for peace.

I don't even know what to think...

You can read more here.

Maybe they should get together with this guy.

Great Quotation

'You never eat peas with your knife - you mix them with your mashed potatoes first, then eat them with your spoon.'

Moe Howard

Controversy?

This was the post that was controversial. I removed the text for further off line consideration. I republished the post with this text so that Emma and Deepak's comments would still be visible. I removed Jason's comment only because it no longer is applicable to the content of the post.

Saturday Blogging.

Just in case anyone out there is interested in anything more that my flooded kitchen and my upset stomach, my more thoughtful blog postings are on the Methoblog for Saturday.

For reasons I can't yet fathom, I was invited to be an Editor/Caretaker on the Methoblog.

Clearly this was some sort of oversight and, once the powers that be in the Methoblogosphere read my posts from today, I'm sure the invitation will be rescinded:)

Until then, enjoy!

New Things I've Learned...

Some things that I have learned this weekend:

1 - The Pizza Soup recipe from AllRecipes.com is really good!

2 - Bell peppers (even in the Pizza Soup) still make me violently sick to my stomach. It boggles my mind, I can eat habanero peppers until other people start to cry but I can't eat onions or bell peppers.

Why?

3 - Trying a new Pizza Soup recipe produces a lot of dirty dishes.

4 - If you replace the water supply line on the automatic dishwasher in your home, first make sure that the electricity to said dishwasher wasn't disconnected in the middle of the wash cycle (even if it wasn't actually running at the time). Otherwise, when the water supply line is replaced, the electricity turned back on and the dishasher restarted, the old wash water will have remained in the drain tub while the new wash water is poured in on top of it and the water will soon begin to cascade over the lip of the drain tub and out onto the kithen floor while the lady of the house screams at the gentleman of the house who is, in turn, yelling at the kids to, "Bring me some @$*# towels!" while he tries desparately to stop the wash cycle.

At least now, I feel comfortable being more that 50 ft. from the bathroom and we can wash dishes again.

Life is good...

Xenophobia and the Giant Plastic Chicken...

In September, I posted a photograph of the giant plastic chicken in Winchester, Tennessee.

My wife later reported that the chicken had a 'for sale' sign on it. Unfortunately, I didn't have the money...

I don't know where my priorities are, but I didn't give the giant chicken another thought after that.

Until yesterday, that is.

As I drove through the town of Estill Springs, guess what I saw???

It can't be a coincidence can it? This same chicken that once graced 'Buen Dia' now stands guard at 'Sample Family Restaurant'.

Apart from the fact that it's a chicken, I like the symbolism: Anglo and Hispanic folks in our area get along well enough to purchase idiotic marketing props from one another. So we might just be able to live next door to each other, go to church together and love each other in a neighborly way.

On the other hand...

In September I also posted a photo of the sign in front of the tire shop in Tullahoma denying service to non English speakers.

The guy who runs this place is clearly an ass who seems to hate Hispanics for the simple reason that they did not have the common courtesy to be born in the U.S.

Mainly, though, it is because he is an ass.

Oh yeah, he has a new sign too:

I'm sure the guy gets comments about this sign. Unfortunately, they're probably along the lines of, "Hell, yeah!" as opposed to what I first thought (which is unpublishable on a family friendly blog like this one).

I thought about calling him up or walking in there - speak some Spanish to him, tell him that God loves him even though he is a crass and thoughtless bigot, remind him that some of his ancestors were most likely illegal immigrants to this country and so on...

But I'd lose my cool and end up in jail so I think I will write him a nice letter instead.

Some of you could do the same except that you wouldn't know where to send it.

That's too bad.

Oh, one more thing...

Mid-State Tire and Auto Repair
500 South Anderson Street
Tullahoma, Tennessee 37388

Top 5

Gavin is asking for Methoblogger's lists of their own top 5 posts.

Since I can barely remember what I wrote about last week and I have no objectivity besides, I thought I would open this up to my readers...

... all both of you...

Is there anything I've written that is particularly memorable?

Well???

YOUCH!

A man in Kansas who was attempting a kidnapping, stuck his gun into the waistband of his pants and accidentally fired, shooting himself in the... uh... 'daddy parts'.

Yahoo Odd News reports that he then 'cringed'...

Ya Think???

I say it was more like an involuntary attempt to curl up into a fetal position and die very quickly.

In any event, this action caused the kidnapper's gun to fire once again...

No, this time the bullet hit him in the leg.

The guy then walked to the hospital for treatment.

He and two accomplices were later arrested on charges of aggravated stupidity.

This is only a test!

The 'new blog' I mentioned yesterday is just a test. Feel free to look at it but the posts will be the same as the ones here while I play around with Wordpress and make a final decision about Blogger.

If everything checks out and works correctly, I may switch to Wordpress sometime in the future.

When, or if, I do that, the test blog will disappear and this blog's content will be exported to the Wordpress format and that will replace this front page.

That means all your comments will be gone too, Carolanne. LOL.

I won't be changing my URL or anything like that so my legion of blog fans won't need to change their link to me.

HA!

The lost story...

This is based on a true story told to me by a pastor friend.

It seems that a college student who works part time with my pastor friend's youth group approached her about buying some new sound equipment for the youth group's praise band.

Apart from her belief that the praise band is already over equipped, pastor friend had some financial concerns. When she explained this to the young man, he argued that the money was 'in the budget'.

She explained that a budget is just a guide, not written in stone and besides contributions had been down so the budget may change.

The young man thought for a moment and said, "Well, when do we get the check."

What do you mean???

"When does the government check come in?"

What in the world are you talking about?

"You know the check that the government sends us each month to run the church - when's the next one?"

Stifling a laugh, my friend explained to the young man that, in the U.S., the government does not finance churches.

(Something in the Constitution about that, isn't there?)

The young man was bewildered by this and seem incredulous, "You mean the government doesn't pay us to run the church???"

Um, NO!

(still incredulous) "IF that's true, then how do we pay the pastors' salaries and all the bills and stuff?"

You know that golden plate with the felt in the bottom that we pass around every Sunday morning...??????

"WOW!"

Hate.

Yesterday I wrote a blog post about a hilarious story a pastor friend had told me.

When I clicked 'publish', Blogger crashed my computer.

I counted to ten and wrote a snarky, yet still humorous, post about losing the other post.

Guess what happened then...

Yep.

Blogger informed me that there was a problem with the server and a technician would be notified.

Technician my A$$!

I quickly verified that the 'server problem' had nothing to do with MY server so it must have been THEIR server.

Isn't this why I quit Blogspot and got my own server space?

Why, yes it is, Art. Thanks for asking.

So why exactly does my blog post's success depend on Blogger's server?

WHY???

This all reminds me of the love/hate relationship I have had with Blogger over the past year.

I LOVE TO HATE BLOGGER.

They make it so easy too.

I hated Blogger when I had my blog on Blogspot, I hated Blogger when I tried hand coding my blog and I hate Blogger now that I have my Blogger managed blog on my own server space.

I thoroughly hate Blogger but I have never hated Blogger as much as I hated Blogger on the afternoon of November 14th, 2006!

Guess what.

I STILL HATE BLOGGER!

What should I do?

Jay Voorhees suggested on the Methoblog that Blogger dweebs should switch to Vox or Wordpress.

I checked out Vox and I wasn't impressed by the look and feel of the thing.

Wordpress, though, has promise.

I don't like all the restrictions they place on customization and such but it's FREE, has a lot of cool features and seems to work like a charm.

Fast and reliable - Everything that Blogger is not.

I set up a temporary account with Wordpress to do a testbed blog and so far, I like what I see.

I know I promised not to change my template again.

I will keep that promise.

I WILL NOT change my Blogger template again.

Ever.

Because very soon I won't be using a Blogger template at all.

I will be using something else.

Something like, oh, Wordpress.

Zune is here...

Microsoft rolled out it's Zune 'digital media player' today.

Will Zune impact the ipod - or rather how much will Zune impact ipod?

The ipod is huge but Zune has Microsoft behind it. Microsoft has a way of taking someone else's innovation and turning it into something hugely successful.

The problem - ipod is already hugely successful and ipod users are generally very faithful.

Another problem is the points system Microsoft is using in their music store. It seems way too complicated to me.

Then there's the name - Zune?

I guess it's memorable - that's all I can say for it.

I don't have either and probably won't. Although my daughter has an ipod that she loves, I have not been impressed with the itunes music store at all.

Where does this leave me? Probably listening to cassette tapes...

Ouch.

Sacha Baron Cohen, of Borat fame, was punched in the face while portraying the error prone reporter in New York.

The moral of the story - don't tell New Yorkers you want to have sex with their clothes.

Sewanee Trip...

A couple of weekends ago, we went on a Saturday trip up the 'mountain' to the Sewanee area. We do this occasionally because the area is beautiful and there are many family activites available. I also like for my children to know that there is a prestigious university and seminary just a few miles from our home (hint - Study hard and get a scholarship because it's also expensive).

These trips are also an excuse for me to take a lot of photographs which I usually post a sampling of afterwards. Unfortunately, I have been so busy the past couple of weeks, I didn't post any of my latest Sewanee pics even though they were FTP'ed to the server.

So here are some of those photos and some brief comments:

The trip to Sewanee itself is fairly impressive. We usually call the area 'the mountain' but it's actually a plateau. Still, it looms over the valley like a mountain and is visible from 20 or more miles away. To give some sense of perspective, the little square thing visible atop the plateau in the picture above is the 5 story Templeton library!





Above is the entrance to 'The Domain'. As I understand it, The University of the South owns not only the university grounds but the entire town of Sewanee and several thousand surrounding acres. The stone gateway marks the entrance into university's domain.

Just inside the domain entrance is 'the rock', a huge outcropping of sandstone that can be climbed for a scenic view of the valley. I let my kids climb the thing because I did it as a kid but it's probably dangerous. I took the picture below from the top of the rock, down toward the Sewanee side. The little blob on the shadow in the center is me!





Above is a valley view from the rock. We moved on from there to the memorial cross. You can just see the cross in the forest opening below.



Above is another valley view, this time from the cross grounds. I like the picture below because the tree seems to mimic the shape of the cross. In the extreme lower left of the picture, you can see my son running around like a madman.



More scenic views from the perimeter trail which encircles the entire domain. Sorry about the power lines visible in the one below but the aerial perspective was too good to pass up.



Pictures from the trail.



How about those autumn colors!



The kids having some fun.

The only bad thing about the trip is going home. Even though we only live a few miles away, the road to Sewanee is a 7% grade with about two dozen tight curves and switchbacks and no place to go but down if you can't keep it between the lines (The angle in the picture below is not exaggerated). Add to this the rapid repressurization of one's inner ears from the the change in altitude and you get some idea of the unpleasantness of this part of the trip.

Still, we had a great time and I took some O.K. pictures. We won't be able to go back any time soon so this may be it for '06.

Hope for us all...

A poem from my wife...

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
as I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights, nor its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
who made me sputter and gasp--
the thieves, the liars, the sinners,
the alcoholics, and the trash...
There stood that kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always thought,
would be rotting away in hell,
was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, "What's the deal?
I'd love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?"
God must've made a mistake
"And why's everyone so quiet,
so somber? Please, give me a clue."
"Hush, child," said He, "they're all in shock;
No one thought they'd be seeing you."

Amen!

I really shouldn't, but...

I keep telling myself that this is nothing to joke about...

But that little devil on my shoulder just won't stop with the guffaws:

Evangelical leader Ted Haggard, who stepped down last week after confessing that he purchased methamphetamines and various services from a male prostitute, revealed Wednesday that he was repeatedly molested by an unnamed Republican congressman in the late 1990s. "We would communicate on the Internet and then meet in his Washington office to, I thought, discuss faith-based initiatives," said Haggard in a tearful admission in which he asked for the forgiveness of God and his congregation. "Before long, he had progressed from praying alongside me to having me sit on his lap at his desk, and then to touching me in my bathing-suit area. I trusted the congressman, and he violated that trust." Authorities have not acted on Haggard's allegations, saying that Republicans are often accused of wrongdoings simply because so many of them lead secret gay or criminal lifestyles.

(Blatantly stolen from The Onion)

That last sentence is a killer...

New Blogroll...

Observant Blogees will have noticed a change to my Methodist Bloggers blogroll on the left. This is from the new script from the Methoblog. Other methobloggers can be added and get the script there.

And, no, I still haven't updated my Blogs I read on the right but I'll be doing that soon...

I promise...

College Ball - week 11.

It was NOT a good weekend for my Tennessee teams:

The Volunteers lost to Arkansas, 31 to 14, thus futher proving my argument that UT has been over-ranked all season.

Kentucky beat Vandy, 38 to 26,

And Memphis was bested by Central Florida, 26 to 24.

At least the mighty Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee beat Arkansas State, 38 to 10. MTSU now has the same overall record as The University of Tennessee, a much better (6 & 0) conference record and remains at the top in the Sunbelt conference.

Georgia crushed Auburn's title dreams and, as bad as I hate to admit it, I was glad to see Florida beat South Carolina.

I'll take a Spurrier loss any way I can get it:)

Of course, the big upset was Louisville's loss to Rutgers...

RUTGERS???

I'm tellin' ya, the end is near, repent and say your prayers!

Relax Fish.

The Anual Harris Chapel United Methodist Church Youth Fellowship Benefit Fish Fry has (thankfully) come and gone for 2006.

Here, my daughter helps with the preparation Friday evening. She was one of the few members of the youth group who did any actual work (don't get me started on that):


Joanie supervised the whole deal which she does every year:


Lt. Dan helped too. Here he is 'helping' out on the all important cookie-eating detail:


And acting goofy with Co-Co (notice Shelby trying to work on the sidelines):


Thankfully, my son had more important things to do:


The results of all this craziness: 1 busy weekend, 50 pounds of fried fish and enough sides to feed any army, a bunch of stuffed Methodists, one rural United Methodist Church that will smell distinctly of catfish this morning and over $600.00 cleared for the youth group's Warmth in Winter trip!


O.K., all you fish can relax now - you're safe again.

Until next year.

A Theology of Punk?

I like strange stuff.

Yeah, maybe that's stating the obvious but this is something strange that I really like:

Never Mind the Bibles - A Theology of Punk

This is a 60,000 word book in progress being written online by a fellow named Andrew Careaga.

I first saw a link to this on Richard Hall's Connexions a couple of weeks ago and I first thought it was a joke. I didn't quite understand it. But after some reading, I understand where the author is going...

And it's fascinating.

Who would have thought to link Biblical themes like social justice, redemption and egalitarianism with the themes of Punk Rock music and culture?

Well, not me for one.

Fortunately, Mr Careaga is not me and he did just that and more (comparing Johnny Rotten with Qohelet for instance).

I haven't read the entire progress so far but what I have read is well written, thought provoking and really, um, strange.

I love it!

Sound interesting?

Then check out Never Mind the Bibles - A Theology of Punk

Methodist History.

I saw this claymation video on Gavin's blog the other day and I thought it was too cute:



I especially appreciate the nod to our Germanic heritage and despite it's cheesiness, it's actually a fairly good overview of the development of Methodism.

If you want something a little more in depth check this out. I found it while looking for the embed from the above video:



There are a few minor errors and hiccups but good overall.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Great Quote...

"I cannot be saved by George Bush or Jesse Jackson,
by Hillary Clinton or Condi Rice,
nor by their successors or opponents.
I cannot be saved by Green Peace or the ACLU,
by Focus on the Family or by Promise Keepers.
Which returns us to the Psalm for this week:
'Blessed is he whose help is in the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God' (146:5)."

"Daniel B. Clendenin, Journey with Jesus Foundation.

The MethoBlog.

Bloggers Gavin Richardson and Jay Voorhees have started up a new Methodist blog portal called...


I'm not clear on all the details but apparently Shane Raynor who did the Wesley Blog is out of that business and this new portal is meant to be a replacement or continuation of some of the things Shane did.

Thanks to Gavin's invitation, I am among those who are responsible for coordinating the content on specific days. What in the world he was thinking, I have no idea (laugh) but I'm supposed to "review blog posts and lift up and comment on those they hold to be especially pertinent to United Methodist life".

(My day, along with a couple of other folks, is Saturday)

I've never been involved with anything like this before so I really don't know what to expect... Heck I don't even know what to do yet! But total ignorance hasn't kept me from blogging for over a year now so I guess it will work out:)

I just think this thing is a great idea. When I started blogging, it was in total isolation - no one read my blog and I read very few others. And that was O.K I had an occasional random comment, but it was really just a notebook for myself.

Since I rethought my blog concept and moved to my own server space, I've read and commented on many, many more blogs (those events aren't necessarily related, just coincidental). That, of course, encourages new visitors and since I've been among the 'Methodist Bloggers', even more so.

That isn't the reason I blog, but I like it. And the Methodist Bloggers are something of an online community and I like that too. This new portal could contribute to that sense of community and relatedness and I hope it takes off like wildfire!

Check it out!

Fair warning: There might be some crazy stuff on the Methoblog on Saturdays...

My son...

Generally, when my son comes home from school, he is extraordinarily eager to tell me about all the things he has learned. Today, I learned that Tad has been studying the human body - 'the inside stuff'.

First, I learned that 'Humans have the most thinkable brains of all the animals.'

Quite so, I think.

He then said, 'Dad, sometimes when we learn about intestines and brains and all that stuff, I start to think that people are pretty nasty on the insides.'

Yep.

'But then, when you see 'em, you don't see all the inside stuff, and they look pretty cool.'

Cool indeed:


Yes, we were listening to Sabbath. Please don't tell his mother.

When we got into the van, Tad asked, 'Hey, Is that Ozzy?'

That's my boy!

Cool and thinkable.

How a Blog post caused me to listen to Black Sabbath all day...

My friend LutherPunk is doing a series of posts on musical acts that he listens to. In today's post he highlighted the Misfits. Once again, the Reverend Mr. Punk has put me into a ridiculously bizarre timewarp.

Now I haven't listened to the Misfits in well over a decade... But wait! I might still have a cassette tape of 'Walk Among Us'. I went to the large box that contains my keepsakes, mementos, assorted junk and, oddly enough, old cassette tapes and look what I found:

Not only did I find 'Walk Among Us' but also 'Danzig'. And, as sad as this is, my ancient van has a cassette player. (I promise, the RX-8 will have a 6 disc CD changer)

So, I grabbed the cassettes and rushed out the door for my day of errands. The first thing I discovered was that cassette tapes close to 20 years old tend not to work very well. O.K. then, toss 'Danzig'. I think that actually belonged to the drummer I played with in a band circa 1990.

Hey Wes, you can have your tape back if you want:)

But I've still got 'Walk Among Us' right?

Well... In a word, NO. When I opened the case, I found Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' instead.

DANG! I was really wanting to hear '20 Eyes' and 'I Turned Into a Martian'.

What could I do? (it must have been a sign) - I put 'Paranoid' into the cassette player, cranked it to '11' and rocked out all day long.

This caused me to pound the steering wheel in time to the music as I generally drove too fast and it caused a little old lady to stare at me in the drive through at the bank. Some teenagers also pointed and laughed in the Wal-Mart parking lot and a guy who looked remarkably like Suge Knight gave me a mean look at a stoplight on Dinah Shore Blvd.

That last one scared me a little but all in all I had fun acting like an idiot today.

Lord knows where 'Walk Among Us' is. Maybe Wes has it?

Thanks, LP.