Waiting

I'm reading a book about a man who promised to build a school for children in a village in the mountains of Pakistan. So, he went home to America and raised money and got supplies and returned a year later only to find out that they needed a bridge first.

Sometimes it feels as though having to wait for something is delaying what should be happening now. Lately, I'm coming to the realization that maybe when we have to wait for something it's because we aren't quite ready yet. We are being given the opportunity to prepare a little more, and testing our patience all the while.

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry." - Psalm 40:1

"Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience." - Colossians 3:12

God in everything

Lately, I've been listening to the newest album from mewithoutYou, and if you've ever listened to them, you know they've got some pretty powerful lyrics. I could probably write several posts on their songs, but I'll just stick to one song in particular that has been running through my head quite a bit lately.

In everywhere we look

Allah, Allah, Allah

In everyone we meet

Allah, Allah, Allah

In every blade of grass

Allah, Allah, Allah

It doesn't matter what you've done...

what effect is without a cause?

so what does it matter what you think you've done?

now, lay your faithless head down

in neccessity's Cotton Hand

there's a Love that never changes

no matter what you've done

-Allah Allah Allah

It's funny to me that I can accept God's forgiveness for myself, and then turn around and be so critical of other people. I'm no better than these other people and they deserve God's forgiveness just as much as I do. God is in everything and everyone, we just need to stop and notice that. When we do, I think we'll see people as God does.

Best game ever!

So, Saturday night, Kimberly and I took in our last Bulls game before we leave the country. It was the Bulls vs. the Gwinnett Braves and they were in a tie for first place in the division coming into the game.

The Braves jumped out to an early 6-1 lead, but the Bulls brought it back to within 2 runs (7-5) to start the bottom of the 9th. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and a full count, Reid Brignac hit a shot that just cleared the right field fence and tied the game up at 7-7.

The game continued like this until the top of the 14th when the Braves scored 2 runs off of Bulls infielder, Ray Olmedo. In the bottom of the 14th, the Bulls loaded the bases, then cleared them on Jon Weber's game winning double.

The game lasted over 5 hours and was easily the most exciting game I have ever witnessed in person. What a way to see my final Bulls game! I only wish everyone else I know could have been there.

The Last Day

On February 8, 2006 I began working at my current job. Today, on August 28, 2009, I am entering work here for the last day. It's definitely started off as a day of mixed emotions. Initial mood when I got out of bed was one of excitement, because I can finally rest and relax for a little while before Kimberly and I leave the country. I thought that excitement would be the overriding emotion for the day...I was wrong.

This morning as I'm pulling into work, I'm remembering the very first day I drove to work here. The nervousness at the new job, meeting new people, etc. The excitement because I finally had a job after searching for a month. Then I started to think about all the changes that have happened in the 3 1/2 years that I've worked here.

I've gotten married, made new friends here at work, got a new position, seen friends leave from work. I also think I've matured quite a bit in my time. I'll miss the friends that I've made here, but the experiences from this job are what's going to stick with me the most.

The one impact I hope to have had during my time here is that I've earned the respect and friendship of everyone I've worked with.

Goodbye.

Things that bother me...

Three things that bother me:

1. People who tailgate.

Whoever thought this would be a good idea? I mean, when I'm going the speed limit and you are riding my bumper, it's not going to make me go faster. It's only going to make you get more mad, and I hate to see the day that the person you are tailgating has to slam on brakes and you slam into the back of their car.

2. People who drive in the pouring rain with no lights on.

I'm going down the interstate at 60 mph and can't see cars coming up behind me because they are driving a gray car in the pouring rain with no lights on...very dangerous.

3. People who park in non-parking locations when there are parking spaces nearby.

Yesterday, Kimberly and I were at the park and a guy pulls up and parks on the grass. The crazy thing is there were dozens of parking spaces within sight of where he parked. My first assumption is that he was just lazy, but no he was there to do a run. So why couldn't he just park 20 feet down in a parking space?

La Máquina

That up above is translated from Spanish to "The Machine" and it's the nickname that has been given to Albert Pujols, first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals.

I just saw a statistic this morning on ESPN that was absolutely stunning and had to share it.

With the bases loaded this year, Albert Pujols is:

7 for 9 with 5 HRs and 24 RBIs.

That means if you are pitching against him, it's pretty much better to walk him and give up a run than to possibly give up his average of almost 3 RBIs per AB with the bases loaded. The 5 Grand Slams in one season ties the National League record. The Major League record is 6 by Travis Hafner and Don Mattingly.

Bad Luck Charm

I mentioned in my previous post that Kimberly took me to see the Braves play the Nationals in Washington, DC. It was my first Braves game away from Atlanta, but the 7th one overall. While I've enjoyed myself, the Braves haven't had much success when I'm in attendance.

June 7, 1991 (Montreal Expos) - Steve Avery vs. Oil Can Boyd - Braves held it close at 4-1 before giving up 3 in the 8th and 4 in the 9th and lose 11-2.

June 8, 1991 (Montreal Expos) - Pete Smith vs. Brian Barnes - Braves scored early and held off the Expos for a 7-6 win.

September 5, 1999 (Arizona Dbacks) - Tom Glavine vs. Randy Johnson - Chipper hit 2 HRs and put the Braves in a position to win before with 2 outs in the 9th and a one run lead, Eddie Perez threw away a dropped 3rd strike. The Dbacks scored 3 more runs and won 7-5.

April 5th, 2001 (NY Mets) - Odalis Perez vs. Rick Reed - Reed gave up 1 run on 3 hits and the Braves were never in it, losing 7-1.

August 12, 2001 (Arizona Dbacks) - Greg Maddux vs. Albie Lopez - Junior Spivey of the Dbacks went 5 for 5 with 5 singles against Maddux and the Braves lost once again, 9-1.

June 22, 2003 (Baltimore Orioles) - Shane Reynolds vs. Jason Johnson - I don't remember anything about this game except it was blisteringly hot and the Braves lost 9-3.

July 4, 2009 (Washington Nationals) - Tommy Hanson vs. John Lannan - Hanson pitched 7 innings and gave up 3 hits and 1 run; the Braves bullpen pitched 1 inning and gave up 4 hits and 4 runs; Braves lose 5-3.

So there you have it, the Braves are 1-6 and have been outscored 22-54 in the games I've been to. Maybe I should buy season tickets to see the Yankees play?

Daytrippin'

So, a little update on what's been going on lately with us.  Last weekend, Kimberly took me to Washington, DC to go see a baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals.  It was a great experience since I'm a huge baseball fan.  On the way, we stopped in Richmond to see her grandmother and Uncle Lee.  I had only seen her grandmother one other time and that was at our wedding 3 years ago, so that was nice.  After we returned on Sunday night we had supper with Kim's sister Heather and her husband Chris as they were in town for a concert.

This past weekend, we drove to her parents Friday night and stayed with them one night, visiting with them and her other grandmother and Uncle Roy.  Saturday, we drove down to Georgia and saw my brother and his wife, who we hadn't seen since Christmas.  It was good to catch up with them and see their new apartment that they moved into last month.  Then it was on to see Allison and Patti who we hadn't seen in over 2 years.  We stayed with them Saturday and and Sunday night and went to Faith's wedding reception Sunday afternoon down near Atlanta.  We were also able to hang out with the other Allison Sunday night, so that was good as well.  Finally, Monday morning we made the long trek back to Durham.

For the past 10 days we have driven/ridden 1300+ miles, visited with 11 family members we hadn't seen in quite some time and a handful of friends that we hadn't seen in over 2 years.  It was exhausting, but we definitely had a good time.  To our friends down in Georgia, thank you for a great weekend and it's a shame that we don't see more of each other.  It was almost like old times again.

What was your best day?

I'm reading a book right now called A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America. Buck O'Neil was a Negro League ballplayer who never got the chance to play in the Major Leagues because of segregation. Regardless of this unfortunate restriction placed on him, he remained a person full of life and joy and kind to all. In the book he asks the author, "What was your best day in baseball?" Buck's was the day he hit for the cycle and then later met his future wife. He says remembering that will keep you young.

But this doesn't just apply to baseball, thus the title of my post. Ask yourself, "what was your best day?" Remember the times in life when you felt like you were at your best. Hold on to that.

What was your best day?

Baseball rant time!

Just thought I would warn everyone.

So, for those who know or care, Manny Ramirez (Man-Ram) was suspended back in May for testing positive for steroids. It is a 50-game suspension without pay (meaning he'll lose 7 million in salary this year); he's set to return to the team on July 3rd.

So, I just learned this past week that he'll begin playing with the Albuquerque Isotopes (LA's triple A team) until he can go back to playing in LA. Also, ESPN is going to feature each and every one of his at-bats. Is it just me or does it seem odd that he can play professional baseball while on suspension from professional baseball? ESPN should be speaking out against this too, not going along with it and profiting off of it.

I was so happy to see an actual professional baseball player get penalized decently, but baseball allowing this is just depressing.

Stranded on the Front Porch

I've been drawing blanks on what to post here lately, and I even talked about that on Saturday afternoon. Who knew that what happened late Saturday night/Sunday morning would provide me just the story to break my draught.

So Kimberly and I were house sitting for a lady that Kimberly knew from a previous job. The lady, who was going on vacation to Florida, lives in the northern part of Durham county. In Durham county, once you drive north of the city there is pretty much a 15 mile stretch of nothing but farmland and really big houses with lots of property. The house is located in a new neighborhood with probably only 20 homes.

We were also watching and feeding her dogs, and Saturday night one of them started to bark pretty crazily at around 2:30. We woke up to investigate and decided to let the dog out of the garage. I stepped out the back door, went through the yard, and opened the back door of the garage to let the dog out. In the meantime Kimberly stepped out the back door also, to tell me something. It was then that we realized we were locked out.

It was 2:30 AM, I'm wearing only shorts and some shoes, Kimberly is wearing only pajamas and no shoes. No keys to the house, no keys to our car, and no phone and a nearly empty neighborhood. After checking all of the doors and windows, and trying to break into the house, we decided the only other option was to go to someone's house. So at now approximately 3 AM we walked through the neighborhood half dressed and rang a doorbell.

Let me tell you, that was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, because there is no telling how the person is going to react. Luckily, we got a friendly if not confused elderly couple who was nice enough to let us use their phone. After calling several people and still not being able to get in the house, we called my dad to make the 20 minute drive from his house to pick us up. We made it to their house a little bit after 4 and crashed into the bed.

It was easily the most bizarre night of my life, but one that I'll never forget.

Summer Reading

Just a few of the books that I intend to read this summer.  Being that I'm a baseball fan, it's 99% books about baseball.

The Meaning of Ichiro - Robert Whiting

As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires - Bruce Weber

The Complete Game - Ron Darling

Odd Man Out: A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit - Matt McCarthy

Summer of '49 - David Halberstam

When Baseball Went to War - Todd Anton

Beyond Belief - Josh Hamilton

The Teammates - David Halberstam

Ernie Harwell - Tom Keegan

Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig - Jonathan Eig

Satchel Paige's America - William Price Fox

On the Road - Jack Keroauc

What are you going to be reading this summer?

Random Thoughts

I typically do these random thoughts blogs when I haven't posted in a while.  I just haven't had that much to post about lately, but here goes.

• Just watched a movie called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly about a man that has a stroke and gets locked in his mind.  He only has the ability to blink his left eye, but manages to write a book about his life and experience.  True story, great movie!
• Today is the 55th birthday of the man, the myth, the legend...Jerry Seinfeld.  In honor of him, please watch at least one episode of the show today, you can bet I will.
• A couple of weeks ago Nick Swisher played first base for the Yankees, hit a HR, and then came in to pitch a scoreless inning.  The only other time that an AL pitcher hit a HR and pitched in a game since the DH was Jeff Kunkel of the Texas Rangers in 1989.
• Switchfoot posted this statement on their Twitter last week: "So we haven't been entirely honest when we said we've been recording a new record. The truth is, we actually recorded 4 albums, 80+ songs.  We'll be releasing them one at a time, starting with the first one this aug/sept."  -  Incredible!

Pursuing your dream!

Kimberly and I just finished watching a movie called Man on Wire.  It was about a man by the name of Philippe Petit, who back in 1974 wire walked between the World Trade Center towers for 45 minutes.  It was a pretty incredible feat, but the real accomplishment was how he did it.

He realized that he wanted to do it back in 1968 before ground had even been broken on the towers.  On top of that, he would have to do the walk without the permission of the World Trade Center since there was no way they were going to allow someone to wire walk 1350 feet above Manhattan.  He pretended to be a French journalist, a construction worker, and a electric fence installer all in order to investigate the buildings and set up equipment.  He was even caught by the police one time, but it never deterred him from his dream.  Hearing him talk now 30+ years later you can hear the excitement in his voice.  Clearly this was his passion.

What are you passionate about?  What would you do to pursue your dream and would you let anything stand in your way?

Town Hall for Hope

The economy is bad right now, we all know that, but it doesn't have to be bad for you.  If you're sick and tired of hearing all the bad news about the economy then go to a Town Hall for Hope meeting near you.  Dave Ramsey will be providing insiteful answers to questions that are nagging at you about the current economy.  Even if you are not currently struggling financially this will be helpful resource for your future.

This is being broadcast live in over 5,000 different venues nationwide, so I'm sure there is one near you.  Find one, go!

Good Friday Service

Friday night we went to the Good Friday Service at Duke Chapel and let me say, it was an awesome experience.  It started off like a typical service with hymns sung and a brief sermon.  After that, there six candles and a "Christ" candle lit up front.  Someone came and read six passages from Matthew, starting with the scene in Gethsamane and ending with the crucifixion.  After each passage was read, we sung a line from a hymn and a candle was extinguished.  By the end, all of the candles and all of the lights were cut off in the chapel.  When I say all of the lights, I mean ALL of the lights!

If you ever wondering what a big chapel like Duke's looks like with all the lights off at night, it's really dark.  As I was sitting there, I was expecting the lights to come back on after a few seconds, but they didn't.  I kept hoping they would come back on, but they still didn't.  The thought that ran through my mind at that point was, "this is what the disciples must have felt like after Jesus died."  Total dispair, waiting for something to happen, but nothing.  They had placed ALL of their hopes on this man being their Messiah and now he's dead.  To me it only added to the awesomeness of the ressurection.  It was truly and amazing experience.

Also, we were in a thunderstorm, so shortly after the lights went off we had lightning that lit up the entire chapel, followed by a huge clap of thunder!

Maundy Thursday

"I no longer call you servants, because I servant does not know his master's business.  Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I have learned from my father, I have made known to you." - Matthew 15:15

Sometimes a friend is called an "other self."  What this means is that a friend is basically an extension of you.  When your friend celebrates, you celebrate with them.  When your friend grieves, you grieve with them.  Jesus called us friends, therefore we should suffer with him in his crucifixion.  We didn't have to go to the cross; Jesus did that for us, but our "selves" should die daily, just as Jesus died for us.

This is just one of the messages I heard like night that I really liked.  The service was very formal.  We sung hymns, did recitations, and had scripture readings.  Duke is Methodist although it kind of came off what I imagine a Catholic Church to be like.  I'm not sure if this is typical for a Methodist Church or if Duke does things different.  At first it's easy to be critical of the ritualistic nature of the service, seeing as how that I have attended mostly churches that try to get away from that.  However, I really enjoyed it.  It's very bare bones and straight to the point.

I love my church, but sometimes my non-traditional church can become repetitive and very traditional in it's own way.  Going to a service like this helped me regain my focus on what's most important, especially at this time of year.

Holy Week

So Kim and I are doing something this year that neither of us has ever done before.  We are going to holy week services.  Tonight we are going to Duke Chapel for Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday service and tomorrow night we are going for Good Friday service.  Maundy Thursday is done to remember the passover meal with the disciples, the washing of the feet, the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, and the events of the Garden of Gethsemane so I'm not really sure what to expect from this.  Good Friday services, I'm told, are very somber as they remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  My hope for this service is that the somberness of focusing on Jesus' death will give me an even greater appreciation of what happened on Easter Sunday.  I plan on writing about my experiences with the two services, but I would encourage you to try to find a service in your area that you can attend to, I think it will be worth your while.

One of a kind

So, I just saw a story about a man named Jim Ancel.  Mr. Ancel is a collector of baseball memorabilia.  He's got the jersey that George Brett wore in the "pine tar incident", he's got the line-up card from Ripken's record breaking game, he's got letters from Lou Gehrig to his doctor, and he's even got a love letter from Marylin Monroe to Joltin' Joe DiMaggio; it's an impressive collection.

But those pale in comparison to his other items.  He has a baseball collection that is truly one of a kind, so much so that not even the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown can match.  He has baseballs signed by all the Presidents of the United States dating back to Theodore Roosevelt!  The ball signed by President Roosevelt is the only one known to exist.  Of the next 5 presidents, only his ball and one at the Hall of Fame actually exist.  As a fan of the sport and a minor collector of items, seeing this story is jaw dropping, it's history right there to see.

Restoration

Just read an amazing article about the struggles and restoration of former Newsboys singer John James.  You may not know who he is/was, but it's still a great story of how God can still heal all the things that we try to mess up.  It's a long article, but definitely worth the reading.

Facts about Turkmenistan

So, I guess it's time for me to give some information on the country that Kimberly and I might be going to with the Peace Corp in September.  I'm a little hesitant since I did this for Morocco and it didn't work out.  If you want to read what I wrote about Morocco, check here, here, and here.

• Capital City: Ashgabat (loosely means City of Love)
  
• Population: 5 million+
• Religions: Islam (89%), Eastern Orthodox (9%), Unknown (2%)
• On the same longitudinal plane (same distance from the equator) as Richmond, VA.  However, because there's no shade in the desert, it's much hotter in Turkmenistan.
• They are a democratic nation, which is another reason I am disappointed about not going to Morocco.  I really wanted to experience living under a Monarchy.
• They are bordered by the Caspian Sea to the west, Iran to the southwest, Afghanistan to the southeast, Uzbekistan to the northwest, and Kazakstan to the northeast (yes, the one that Borat is from).
• It was a member of the Soviet Union until 1991, therefore many of its influences are Russian.
• One last bit of information I'll leave you with for now: In 2008 Turkmenistan scored a 1.8 on the Corruption Perception Index on a scale of 0 (most corrupt) to 10 (least corrupt).

More to come at a later date.

Childhood memories

One of my favorite books as a kid was a wonderfully short book called Where the Wild Things Are.  It was about this kid Max who makes his parents mad and gets sent to his room without supper.  While he's there he imagines a wild place with wild creatures and goes on a great adventure.  The book is only 10 sentences long, but has some of the most amazing pictures you will ever see in a children's book.

It has now been turned into a movie.  I know you are probably thinking that they might have ruined it, but I saw the trailer and it looks equally amazing.  Go here to check it out and I hope you get as excited as I did yesterday.  I almost cried.

WWJD (What Would Jack Do)

This is a segment that I wanted to do called What Would Jack Do.  In it, I will present a difficult situation and then answer by telling what Jack Bauer would do in that particular situation.

Okay, imagine you are driving down the road transporting a cargo container holding a biological weapon.  You look up in the rearview mirror and notice that there are some flashing lights on the container.  Curious, you stop the truck, get out, and see that there is damage to the container and the biological weapon inside is now leaking some kind of gas.  What would Jack do?

Well, obviously he would take a deep breath, open the container, run inside and turn a simple valve to shut off the gas pouring out.

WHAT!?!?!  If that sounded illogical you're not alone.  This actually took place on last night's episode of 24.  I love the show, but that's a tad bit absurd.

New Music - Fleet Foxes

So, I love to tell people about the new music that I pick up, especially when it's someone new altogether.  Yesterday, I picked up an album I've heard quite a bit about.  It's the debut album by a group called Fleet Foxes.  Their style is kind of folk, a little bit of rock, and heavy on the instruments.  It's a nice sound and also very relaxing.

I encourage anyone out there to give them a shot, even if it doesn't sound like the type of music you would normally listen to.  It never hurts to expand your horizons.

I love March!

As a sports fan, I love the month of March.  You have March Madness, which really begins the last couple of weeks of February, and then you have Spring Training for baseball.  It really doesn't get any better than having those two go on at the same time.  At least, I didn't think it could get any better.

This year I've gotten into the World Baseball Classic.  Three years ago when it took place I could have cared less and I can't tell you anything that happened.  This year is different though, and last night really proved it as I found myself pulling for a baseball team from the Netherlands, who have players that I've never heard of (except Randall Simon and Sidney Ponson).  They beat The Dominican Republic, who have lots of players I've heard of (including some All-Stars and future HOFers).  They didn't just beat The Dominican Republic, they eliminated The Dominican Republic from the entire competition, they sent them home.  Check out the web page, read the rosters, love the World Baseball Classic.

The conference tournaments in basketball have been particularly good this year as well.  There have been upsets (18-16 UTChattanooga winning their tourney, Cleveland St. beating Butler to win theirs), there have been close games (a couple OT championship games), and even a first time participant (North Dakota St. in their first year of eligibility).  It's already ridiculously good and we haven't even made it to the big conference tournaments or the NCAA tournament yet.  To see about all of the tournaments, go here.

Welcome to the family

My wife has finally joined the blogging community and I would like to personally welcome her.  I would also like to encourage anyone and everyone to check her blog out, it's called Kitchen Contemplations.  She is blogging about pretty much whatever is on her mind (what else do people blog about?), but also is focusing on various things she cooks (which she loves to do), and also about things we are doing to conserve.  Just today she posted a great blog about a company that produces biodegradable plates, silverware, coffee cups, and other products.  Not only do these breakdown in a landfill (or more ideally in a composter), but they appear to be a little bit cheaper so they should save you some money too.  So check her out, enjoy, and leave some love.

Brrr!

Welcome to the North Carolina winter.  In case you're new to the area, the typical (at least for this part of NC) winter is mild temps in December, really cold temps in January with maybe a snow shower, really cold early February, winter appears to end in late February, and then some freak winter weather (i.e. 3-5 inches of snow or bitterly cold weather) shows up out of nowhere. 

This morning it was 15 degrees here in Durham when I got up.  I thought my hands were going to freeze off just walking from my vehicle (which is my dad's van without heat) into work.

I will say this though, the snow that we got Sunday night and Monday morning was absolutely gorgeous.  I will never tire of seeing snow falling and accumulating on the ground.

Lent

I'm not if you observe Lent or not, but it's something I've been trying to observe over the last several years or so.  Sometimes I'm really sucessful and sometimes not, but I usually try.  I often have a hard time deciding what to give up because I want it to be a sacrifice, but I want something to motivate me.  This year was easy.

Blood:Water Mission (an organization I am very big on) put out the challenge to drink only water during Lent and take the money you would have normally spent on other drinks and donate it to help build wells in Africa.  I'm not telling you this to brag about what I'm doing for Lent, but to encourage you to give this a try.  Heck, even if you don't decide to do this for Lent, at least consider donating money to such a wonderful cause.

On a side note to Jace: The last time Duke scored 100 in a game was 12/17/07 against Albany (111-70) and the last time they scored 100 against an ACC team was 02/20/05 against Wake Forest (102-92).

Peace Corp Reboot

So, I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, but I really haven't had anything worth sharing with the outside world.

However, today Kimberly and I found out for sure where we'll be going with the Peace Corp.  We now know we will be going to Turkmenistan (or Stan to Kimberly) and leaving sometime in late September.  That's a long time away, but we are still eager to experience to the Peace Corp and all it has to offer so we are going along.  I'll post more details when I know it.

St. Valentine

An article on Wikipedia states that the first mention of a Saint Valentine was 3rd century Rome where a priest was marrying Christian couples.  At this time it was illegal to aide Christians, who were being persecuted by the Romans at the time.  The priest was arrested by Claudius II and actually gained favor with him until he tried to convert the emperor.  At that point, Claudius decided to carry out his execution.  He was beaten with stones and clubs and when that didn't work he was finally beheaded.

So how did this incident turn into what we know as Valentine's Day now?  Is it because people still want to make guys suffer like St. Valentine by forcing them to have to decide on what to get that special someone.  Personally, I think the whole "holiday" is bogus, but I can't get away with ignoring it.  I love my wife 365 days a year and I tell her every day.  The best I can do is to not fall into the trap of buying 2 dozen roses and paying $5 for a card.  Roses and chocolates and cards have killed the imagination of men everywhere (not to mention the wallets).  So, I know it's late, but do something creative and out of the ordinary for your special someone this year.

The Circus!

These are just a couple of pictures from mine and Kimberly's trip to the Circus on Thursday night.  We had great seats (surprisingly) and really enjoyed all of the acts, except for the feather girl who was blocking our view of the elephants.  The only thing I thought was odd was all the singing in the show.  Since when did the circus become a musical?  Either way it was lots of fun and a memory I won't soon forget.

A Reason for the Pain

So, I'm a pretty big fan of the show Lost; I watch it on a weekly basis.  For those that don't watch the show, lately it has involved inadvertant time travel.  What I mean is the people on the island are traveling back and forth through time without being able to control it.  This past week, they had gone back in time again and one of the characters came across a particularly troubling time in his past.  One of the other characters asked him why he didn't go and stop himself from doing whatever it was.  His response was this, "I needed that pain to get where I am now."

Many times we view the difficult times in our lives and wish we could go back and change them.  But those are what really made us who we are.  We either learned from those mistakes or they made us stronger people than we were before.  I can think of a few instances that I would love to go back and change in my life, but if I did that I know it would change the person that I am now.  What did you learn from a difficult time in your past?  How is God shaping you through your mistakes?

Songs for hope...and help!

So I recently discovered that the band Mae, who I really, really enjoy their music has decided to do something interesting with their new music.  They are big supporters of Habitat for Humanity and wanted their fans to get involved as well.  So, instead of just releasing a cd as usual, they are releasing a song each month on their site and if you donate at least a dollar to Habitat you get the song, plus a description of the what the song is about and what it supports.  I think this is a really cool idea, since I'm a big fan of Habitat and also Mae.  You can enjoy the music and love what you are doing to help out at the same time.

It might be too late to get the song that's available for January, but go here to get the next one and keep coming back.

Jeopardy

I did an online tryout for Jeopardy last night on a whim.  I usually do pretty well when sitting in my living room, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  It's a live tryout where they ask you 50 questions about various topics and you have 15 seconds to correctly answer each one.  I think if I had to make a wild guess, I answered about 10 of the 50 and probably only answered 5 of those 10 correctly.

The problem was that they didn't ask any questions about topics I know.  They asked about world religion when they should have asked about Emmanuel College, they asked literature questions when they should have asked me about Seinfeld, they asked political questions when they should have been asking me about my extensive knowledge of the NCAA tournament or Major League baseball.  Alex just must have gotten his cards mixed up.  Maybe he'll get it right next time.

Busy weekend

Saturday night: Kim and I went and saw Slumdog Millionaire, a movie we've been waiting to see for some time now.  It did not disappoint either.  It's the story of a kid from Mumbai, India who grew up in the slums with nothing and makes it big on India's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.  It's an amazing story with great acting and will most definitely move you.  I'm not usually one who cares about all the awards ceremonies, but I really hope this one wins an award or two.

Sunday morning: We went to Duke Chapel to see Shane Claiborne speak.  It was great if just for the experience of the church service.  Duke is a Methodist school, and so the service is much different than what I'm used to, but I really got a lot out of it.  Shane spoke about how we as Christian's should not be dismayed by the things going on around us.  We have a greater reward coming to us and therefore should be a light in the dark times that the world is experiencing.  It was a very good message.  If you don't know anything about him, I suggest you pick up his book The Irresistable Revolution and at least read some of it.

5 Years From Now

So this May is officially 5 years since I graduated college and I was thinking about the question that you always get at the end of college, "what do you think you'll be doing in 5 years?"  I don't remember what my response was, but I can guarantee you it wasn't what I'm actually doing.  I thought I probably would be finishing up grad school, dating Kimberly, and probably preparing for my first real job.  Instead, I'm living in Durham still, working a job that doesn't pay much more than the ones I had in college, and I am married.

Things don't always work out like we expect them to or believe that they should.  That's not to say that life will be bad, mine is far from it but plan for the unexpected.  I have a job (that's more than most can say right now), I have a wonderful church family, I have the hope of a future in the Peace Corp, and I have an amazing wife.  Sometimes we get into the mindset that since we planned well that our plans for our life must be God's plans for our life.

God I want to have the confidence in your plan, no matter what that may be for my life, and even if it conflicts with my plans for my life.

Sick dunk!

Sorry it's been a while but I really haven't had anything to write.  I hope this makes up for it.  This is a video clip from a nasty dunk by a guy from Anderson University (formerly Anderson College) in Anderson, SC.  Unbelievable!

John Smoltz

Days gone by...

I was reading somewhere the other day about how we like to romanticize the past and dream of going back to a time in our childhood when we thought things were better.  Though they stated that usually things weren't really better then than they are now, it's just that we tend to forget the bad stuff from those times.

That being said, if you could go back to another time in your life or another period in time, when would that be?  Mine would be either my junior year of college or if I could go to another period in time it would probably be the 1950s.  The 50s to me were the golden age of baseball and I just think it would be a lot of fun.  So what would you choose?  I'm interested to know.

Curveballs

I've always heard the phrase, "sometimes life throws you curveballs" and took it to mean that sometimes life gives you something that you're not expecting and it stinks.  But lately I've been thinking about that, and as a baseball fan I don't think that's what it means.

A curveball is a pitch that when you see it initially you think it's a bad pitch.  Your gut reaction is to bail out because it looks like you're going to get hit or to not swing because you think it's a lousy pitch.  But what good players know, is if you recognize it for what it is and hang in there, you can hit it out of the park.

I think that's really the situation that Kimberly and I are at right now.  We're getting a big fat curve and our initial reaction is fear of a bad pitch, but I think we should just hang in there.

The Minute Mustache

This was my mustache that I had for just a brief period of time this morning.  I was shaving my weeks worth of facial growth and decided to surprise Kim.  Boy was she surprised!  She basically told me to immediately go to the bathroom and kill the woolly worm.

*As a side note, I need to apologize because I completely forgot to mention, in my previous post, that Skip Carey (may he rest in peace) is gone from the Atlanta Braves...as is TBS.

The End of an Era

So word has just come across the wire that the Red Sox and John Smoltz are close to sealing a one year deal.  While I'm glad for the Red Sox, I have more of an attachment to the Atlanta Braves and this news saddens me like no other news...probably like the day I found out the Braves let Dale Murphy go to the Phillies.  I see this as the end of an era though.  These are no longer the Braves of my youth.

Gone is:

Ted Turner

John Schuerholz

David Justice

"Neon" Deion

Terry Pendleton

Ron Gant

Greg Maddux

Tom Glavine - Technically he's back, but I think the Mets just returned his body like the alien abductees in The X-Files.

John Rocker

Andruw Jones

Rafael Furcal

Mike Hampton - Oh wait, I'm glad he's gone

Fred "Crime Dog" McGriff

Vinny Castilla (twice)

Francisco "the one hit wonder" Cabrera - I made that nickname up just now

The Revolving door of closers (Wohlers, Merker, Stanton, Rocker, Lightenberg, etc.)

Ryan Klesko

Rafael Belliard

Mark Lemke

I suppose Chipper Jones is the next to go since he's a free agent after this season, but hopefully since they don't have any other players they can at least afford him for a few more years.  I feel my childhood slowly slipping down the drain.

Google maps to the rescue!

Those who read this wonderful blog know my love for Google Maps.  Recently, police in Massachusetts used it to help find a girl who had been kidnapped by her grandmother.  It's a great story that I encourage you to read here.

2008 Bowl Season

This year I've seen an unusually high number of bowl games and I have to say, some were entertaining but most have stunk.  Some of my favorites were:

• Boise St./TCU (Even though I was pulling for Boise St.)
  
• W. Virginia/UNC (Great game, great outcome)
• Iowa/S. Carolina (Just funny to see Spurrier stomping up and down the sidelines)
• Miss/Texas Tech (Shocking game)

This being said however, most were uninteresting, and I have to say it's the match-ups.  I cannot stand arranged match-ups in specific bowls.  For years people have been talking about how good USC is and how good the SEC is, but the two never meet.  That's because they would have to meet in the championship game or not at all.  For the past 3 years USC has abused 3 different Big Ten teams in the Rose Bowl.  Enough with the crappy bowl games!!!