Randomness, randomness, it's what I long for

My friend Guy tagged me the other day. Apparently he did this in response to being tagged by his sister. I'm not sure who she was tagged by. My understanding is that now I'm supposed to post five random facts about myself. So, here goes:

1. I had kidney stones the day after my 21st birthday. I had just moved into a trailer - sadly, not a double-wide - and woke up with the most excruciating pain. I couldn't centralize the pain, so I was trying to crack my back and go to the bathroom - not at the same time - but nothing helped. When I started to have dry heaves, I thought I should go to the hospital, and stones were the culprit. So when Marcy finally gives birth, I can sort of empathize.
2. I have had several interesting experiences getting pulled over by police officers. When I was in junior college I was pulled over while riding my ten-speed because I didn't have lights, a bell, or a horn. I was once pulled over for drunk driving, which was unique since I have never had an alcoholic beverage. It seems I was a little tired and was swerving a bit. And while I was living in Toledo I got pulled over twice in a matter of two weeks...while walking! I still can't figure that one out.
3. Since Guy posted something about caffeine, I might as well, too. I, unlike Guy, love coffee! I have it every morning, and I get excited when I am in an area that has a Starbucks. But the reason I drink coffee is somewhat strange. In my dorm at Asbury we had a free table, which meant that if you put something on the table - books, food, whatever - it was free for the taking. One day, my friend Big Al Martin left a four-cup coffee maker on the table, and I thought, "Hmm, I could drink coffee." The rest is history.
4. I once turned down Indians playoff tickets - maybe even World Series - because I was convinced that I was a jinx. Prior to that, I went to one Browns playoff game that they lost due to a number of questionable calls by the officials, and later, I was at the game in which Michael Jordan hit "The Shot." You can see why I felt the way I did. But since Cleveland has still not won a championship, maybe there's a deeper curse than one simply attached to my attendance.
5. The titles of my top three favorite movies of all time involve death in some way, shape, or form. They are, in no particular order: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Evil Dead 2. I'm not exactly sure what that says about me. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Now don't you feel more complete as an individual now that you have this information about me? I know I feel like a giant weight has been lifted...

Christmas Present Idea

Since Christmas is right around the corner, it makes me think about what might be cool to get for Christmas...while the Domino's guy couch would be pretty sweet to get, I may have found something better...there was a kid in my neighborhood while I was growing up that had a treehouse, but it was nothing like this...this one has a clubhouse, tower, and fort...it has a rope bridge and a straight bridge...it has a rock-climbing wall, fire pole, slide, and sandbox...and the best part, it has a sliding peephole in the front door so you can see if anyone is sneaking up on you...and all this for only $114,530.00...what a deal!...I'm not sure how it will fit under my tree, but I'm sure Santa will find a way...

And if that doesn't happen, just some cold hard cash for a laptop would be acceptable...

Baby Boy Fitz Is Growing Up

So the doctors tell us that the boy is looking good, that he has a beautiful heart, and that he has long fingers and toes (wide receiver? power forward? pianist?)...the first thing I noticed was that he doesn't look like a gummi bear anymore; he actually looks like a human being!...and because of his size and progression, they moved his due date up to April 1st...yes, that is April Fool's Day...this boy is in trouble from his dad if he is born on that day...he'll never hear the end of it...

Prayer Retreat

A couple of weekends ago, I took some of our youth on a prayer retreat to the YMCA Camp Lakewood in Potosi, MO...man, what a good weekend!...the centerpiece of the weekend was a prayer labyrinth that we set up for them, thanks in large part to John, Joyce, Barry, Mandi, Carrie, and Kim...it was cool to watch the students be affected in so many different ways, from letting go of their troubles, to recognizing their selfishness, to struggling with trying to forgive people that had hurt them...it was also fun getting to know some more students, including one that had never come to our youth group before...it was like he had been coming for years - much fun!...anyway, just thought I'd give you a brief update (especially since Jory gave me a hard time for not blogging about it yet)...oh, and by the way, if you see Jen or Brittney, tell them thanks from me for the abusive lip sync they directed at me :-)...it was pretty funny...

If you want to see what a labyrinth is like, check out this online version...

Youth Specialties

I'm writing this from the National Youth Workers Convention that Youth Specialties puts on every year...I'm in Nashville, specifically, standing at the digital lounge that they set up for such souls such as me that are unfortunate enough to not have their own laptop...I am here with 7,500 other youth workers from across the country and world, the biggest convention they have ever done...it's pretty amazing!...YS does such a top-notch job with this gig, and it's gets beter every year...each day has a couple of general sessions in the Gaylord Entertainment Center that feature some comedian or skit group (including The Skit Guys!), worship (which has been led up to this point by the David Crowder Band - WOW!!!), and a main speaker...there are also tons of seminars to chose from each day, but if you don't feel like going to one, you don't (like right now)...anyway, it's a load of fun, very renewing to my spirit, and it's good to connect with friends and family...and to let myself go like I have during the worship sessions just feels good...maybe I will have pictures to show you in the future...we'll see...just wanted to get y'all caught up...

Leaves...and other stuff

I love autumn...it is by far my favorite season...the cooler air is invigorating...Halloween, my favorite holiday, is in autumn...the scent and the visual display of the changing leaves is one of my most favoritest things ever...football season is in full-swing which, for a Browns fan, should be a depressing thing, but it still makes me happy...I love autumn...

But as much as I love the changing leaves, one thing I don't like is the fact that they actually fall from the tree, forcing me to remove them from my yard...this involves much raking, especially since our yard is longish...fortunately, on Monday, when I started raking, my 93 year-old next door neighbor popped his head out his door and asked me if I wanted to use his leaf-blower...I knew I liked Harley...

As I raked and blew the leaves, I started thinking about how so many people like spring as their favorite season...a good number of them seem to like that spring represents new life, starting over...but what about fall?...is it only about death and dying?...and if so, is that such a bad thing?...Jesus told us that we need to die to ourselves and to our desires...in order to receive the new life he offers, we need to die to our selfishness, and our greed, and our lust, and our idolatry, and our (fill in your vice here)...we need to let go of those leaves on a daily basis before we can hope to have new life and godly desires take their places...and maybe the coolest part is that we don't have to rake them up - it's taken care of...I love autumn...

A couple of other notes:

• We're having a boy...just thought you'd like to know
• What better way to screw up a kid for life than how UNICEF recently chose to advertise fundraising efforts for ex-child soldiers in Africa
• I still think Bud Selig is a horrible Commissioner of Major League Baseball and that my cousin's husband Stephan is the perfect choice to replace him, but I like what Selig got done on the issue of steroids: 50 games for a first offense, 100 for the second, and lifetime ban for a third
• Can't wait for this weekend...I am going to Nashville for the Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention...I'll get to hear great speakers and check out lots of seminars, I'll get to hear David Crowder and Chris Tomlin, and I'll get to hang out with my cousin Scott and lots of friends
• How in the HECK did Arrested Development get cancelled?!?...sign this petition if you're ticked off like me...now, if Prison Break goes anywhere, I might just get rid of my TV...not really
  
• Go Lebron James!
  

Vacation Update, Final Report

OK, the two or three of you that actually read my blog are probably getting sick of hearing about my vacation...fortunately for you, this will be my last report on it (there was much rejoicing - yay...)...we took a couple of days while we were away to get away by ourselves to go up to Victoria, British Columbia (that's in Canada, they tell me)...we had to take a couple of ferries to get there, which was kind of cool, especially the first one because it was so darn foggy that it felt like a cool horror movie...I half expected something to jump out of the fog at us with a machete or something...when we finally got there, we were verbally assaulted by the customs agent at the dock...OK, that is probably an overstatement, but he was very good at his job - very intimidating...he started firing questions at me, and when he found out that we were driving a car that neither of us owned - it belonged to Amber - we thought he was going to stop us right then and there...he wanted to see a letter from Amber saying we could use her car, which we didn't have...he explained that, as far as he was concerned, the car could be stolen...but he ended up letting us go anyway, maybe because I told him I was a youth pastor (I knew that would come in handy someday)...Victoria is a very nice city...it felt more European than the US does (not that I've ever been to Europe) and had a diverse population, or at least a diverse cross-section of visitors...we saw a lot of Japanese tourists, heard countless varieties of accents, and saw many Mediterranean restaurants...we stayed at the English Inn and Resort, which we got a great deal on through Hotels.com...here you can see our room:


You have already read about our food excursions in Victoria...we didn't only eat while there - really!...we also did a couple of fun things:

Butchart Gardens
These gardens are one of the big things to do while in Victoria...what started as a quarry site, Jennie Butchart turned into a series of beautiful gardens, starting in the early 20th century...they are a national hitorical site now, and well-deserved...while not everything was in full-bloom, thanks to us visiting in the fall, it was still quite stunning...the highlight was turning a corner and seeing the sunken garden spread out below us...it was quite a site!...the Japanese garden was also very beautiful...I can't imagine the amount of work that goes into the upkeep of the gardens...I have a hard time just mowing my lawn!...


Craigdarroch Castle
This was the other big thing we did while in Victoria...it is a castle built in the late 1800s by a wealthy coal guy, Robert Dunsmuir...the central focus of the castle is the staircase, which rises 87 steps up through the center of the castle...when you walk in, they make you look up the center of the staircase (which, by the way, is much better than looking down - queasy!)...the self-guided tour takes you through the 20,000 square feet of space and allows you to see how the rooms were decorated back in the day...the thing that stood out to me was the crazy amount of wood that was used in everything...the tour guide told us that five freight cars full of wood were used to build the inside of the house...that's a lot of wood!...while Butchart Gardens were a 30-minute drive from downtown, you could walk to Craigdarroch Castle from the harbour...do it, if you go...

Empress Hotel
This is a shwanky hotel, right on the harbour...we would have stayed here, but I'm not Bill Gates...we were going to do high tea here, but we couldn't afford it, and I don't own the right clothes...but at least we walked through it, and looked down our nose at the rich people...this is a pic of the Empress from the ferry...

A couple other observations about Victoria:

• There was lots of foot and bike and scooter traffic all the time, day and night...Marcy's comment was, "Does anyone work around here?"
• The city mostly shuts down at around 6pm...there are many cool stores in the downtown area, but if you want to shop after dinner, good luck finding anything open...this was surprising for such a tourist town...
• Smart cars...you thought the Mini Coopers were small...we saw many of these around town...they probably get great gas mileage, if they even use gas...wish I had one...when I wasn't using it, I could carry it around in my pocket...wonder if they'll be in the US soon...

That's enough of my vacation for you...thank you for putting up with the tedium...but if you ever head up to this area, you can thank me...

Vacation Update, Part 3

OK, now that you have digested what all we ate (nice play on words, eh?) while in the great northwest - or southwest, if you're looking at the Canada part of our trip - what did we do besides eat, you ask?...that's a fine question, so here you go:

The Underground Tour
If you go to Seattle, I highly recommend this tour...it is a history of Seattle told by some creative storytellers (if you can, request Gael as your guide - she is the poster child for ADD, and hilarious), but it isn't your everyday history lesson...they get into more of the seedy side of the history that maybe the visitor's bureau would shy away from...for example, the city was originally built lower that it is currently (that's why the tour is "underground"), but had to be built up, because every time the tide came in, it would wash throughout the city everything that was in everyone's outhouses...or, that much of the revenue in the city's early days came from taxing the "sewers" (code word for prostitutes)...it was very interesting, and very fun...you'll need to set aside about an hour and a half of your time...

Pike Place Market
This is an outdoor (under tents) market down on the waterfront...notable items were the abundance of flowers (and cheap!) and the throwing of fish...that's what the market is famous for...apparently, when you choose a fish from the ice up front, they pitch it to the back where it is wrapped and weighed, with lots of shouting back and forth...interesting...

Starbucks
Yep, the original one was here at the Market...'nuff said...

Microsoft
Since Amber & Jeff both work at Microsoft, we got to go there...it's huge and sprawling...we went to the Microsoft store and loaded up on software for the church (they have ridiculous deals there)...plus, I got to play the new Xbox 360...I was King Kong that kept getting mauled by a T-Rex (OK, so I'm no good at video games)...


Space Needle
You can't go to Seattle and not experience this...it was somewhat cloudy when we finally go to go up, but we could still make out the faint image of Mount Ranier in the distance...I was surprised to discover that the observation deck was only 100' higher than the tallest roller coaster at Cedar Point, the Top Thrill Dragster (man, I need to ride that coaster!)...

Without having my notebook in front of me, that sort of exhausts what I can remember about the entertainment options we experienced...if I come up with more, you will probably read about them here...boy, I hope you people are more creative with your comments this time around...

Vacation Update, Part 2

What Not to Eat...and What to Eat:
As you may have noticed from the above post, food has been a central focus of our trip...here are the yummy and the icky:

First Dinner - OK, so I forgot the name of the Tex-Mex place we ate the first night, but man, was it tasty!...I had some kind of enchilada with chicken and chorizo...I thought I was going to burst I was so full...














First Breakfast - we had breakfast at Lowell's at Pike Place Market...Marcy and I each ordered something so we could split each...big mistake...we should have gotten one thing and split it...the blueberry pancakes I got - three of them - were the size of hubcaps...isn't gluttony one of the seven deadly sins?...

Second Dinner - forgot the name of that one, too, but we got Thai take-out...had a spicy Pad Thai...yum!...again, thought I was going to die I was so full...

Pagliacci's - outstanding Italian food in Victoria...our first night there, we were standing outside the restaurant, and a woman walked past us, into the restaurant, and said, "It's fabulous!"...that was all we needed to hear...she wasn't kidding - it was great!...we had linguine with a red sauce, sausage, and pepper, but I think the highlight of the meal was the bread - WOW!...

Rosemeade Dining Room - this is the shwanky restaurant in the English Inn & Resort where we stayed...the only reason we could afford to eat there was because we got a voucher with our room...Marcy got crepes with granola and a berry sauce; I got eggs Benedict and hash browns - muy yummy!...

Wharfside Eatery - ate there for lunch in Victoria one day...the starter we got was very good, fries with a gorgonzola cream sauce...the pizza we got - four cheese with basil and tomatoes - was gross...I've had pizza with lots of cheese before, but this was overwhelming...four cheeses, all of which were strong - I don't recommend it...

The Garlic Rose - this is a Mediterranean seafood restaurant right across from the Wharfside where we ate dinner that same night...it was much better as far as I was concerned, but Marcy didn't really dig it...nor did she dig my garlicy breath the rest of the night :-)...

Starbucks - a trip up here wouldn't be complete without a mention of Starbucks...yes, I have had my share of Starbucks, and it's been wonderful...and being able to drink coffee poured at the original Starbucks was truly a treat...here's a pic...

Vacation Update

So, we're in the great northwest and having a great time...by the time it's all said and done, I will have gained quite a few pounds...but hey, what are vacations for, right?...some highlights and not-so-highlights:

Why you should never fly with an airline that has gone bankrupt:
We flew to Seattle on Northwest Airlines...not a great choice...because they are doing so poorly financially, we had to pay to get snacks on the flight between Minneapolis and Seattle...no joke, there was no bag with three pretzels or five peanuts to munch on during our 3 1/2 hour flight...we had the choice of paying a buck for a bag of trail mix, or three bucks for a snack pack...we chose the snack pack that included Ritz Chips, some dried fruit mix, a beef stick, chocolate Giant Goldfish, and some nasty cheese sauce...I think we'll be sneaking snacks on the plane for the ride home like we do at the movie theatre (crud! Was that out loud?!?)...

Amber & Jeff:
This is why we chose to come to Seattle...Amber, Marcy's sister, just married Jeff at the beginning of September, so we decided that it would be fun to see where they live and visit with them as they start their life together...it has been fun!...unfortunately, we haven't gotten to see their house yet, as they are waiting to move into it...instead, we are staying at their temporary corporate housing that Microsoft has for them...it's a pretty nice place, except for the fact that it takes a couple of days to do a load of laundry - literally...but we have had fun with them tooling around the city, getting rained on together, and eating entirely too much food...tomorrow we get to see their house, where they work - Microsoft (she works for the XBox division, and he works for MSN) - and eat more food...

More details tomorrow...time to go to bed now - after I get the popcorn shucks out of my teeth...

Fantasy Basketball

Just did my fantasy basketball draft with some friends...didn't get Lebron like I wanted (stupid Trey!), but here's who I did get, in the order they were drafted - your thoughts are welcome:

Tracy McGrady - F/G
Elton Brand - F
Mike Bibby - G
Rasheed Wallace - F/C
Carlos Boozer - F (I'm really unhappy with this because of what he did to the Cavs)
Kurt Thomas - C/F
Jamaal Tinsley - G
Jason Terry - G
Antonio Daniels - G
Wally Szczerbiak - F
Michael Finley - G/F
Mehmet Okur - C
Raef LaFrentz - F/C

This is my first foray in fantasy basketball - I've done baseball and football before...we'll see how it goes...

Seattle, and parts surrounding

It's been a while since I have posted much on this page, and it will probably be another week before I do so...Marcy and I are heading up to Seattle to visit her sister and new bro-in-law, and also just to get away...we will be in Seattle a couple of days, and in Victoria, BC (that's in Canada, eh!) a couple of days - we have to take a ferry to get there...the picture you see here is the inn that we will be staying at in Victoria; pretty nice, eh?...yeah, we're loaded - I'm a youth pastor, what do you expect?...seriously, it will be good to get away for a while...I'm pretty tired and it will be good to have some uninterrupted time with my wife, and some good, solid reading time...maybe I'll blog more from the coffee capital of America: Seattle (I definitely plan on checking out the first Starbucks - it will be like Mecca)...

What do we do?

Events over the past days have made me stop and think...as I've stated in the past, I hate it when that happens...it makes my head hurt...seriously, the recent earthquake in Pakistan and India breaks my heart...the report I read today said that they are estimating the death toll to be around 41,000 people...FORTY ONE THOUSAND!!!...I have a hard time comprehending that number...the whole city of Cape Girardeau has a population of around 35,000 people, less than the number of the dead in Pakistan and India...unbelievable...

Now, not too long ago, New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina...the Church was praised, rightfully so, because of how it reached out to those affected by the storm and its resulting flooding...the way believers banded together to serve was something to behold and to be proud of...the Church continues to minister to these individuals...but if we put the need in New Orleans on a continuum with the current need in Pakistan, it really doesn't measure up...I certainly don't want to downplay the need in our own backyard; it's a real need...but the question it raises in my mind is, what will we do?...the Church was Jesus in a real way to the New Orleanites; how are we going to be Jesus to the Pakistanis?...how will we serve them?...or perhaps the better question is, will we?...

Core Values

I am working on a list of core values that will help in the overarching direction of the student ministry that I lead...my thought is that there would be a series of images that would correspond to the various core values, so that it is not simply a series of words or sentences, but that they would be pictures that would conjure up certain emotions or thoughts...here is what I have so far; please let me know what you think or if you have other ideas that would communicate the values more effectively:

We Value:

• Wrecking balls, not mortar - (I don't have a one- or two-word phrase to go along with this one, but the idea is that we want to tear down walls between students, not build them up)
• Welcome mats, not deadbolts - Hospitality
• The path, not the finish line - Journey
• Sugar, not Sweet'n Low - Authenticity
• Potluck dinners, not TV dinners - Community
• Closets, not home theaters - Prayer
• M&Ms, not Hershey Bars - Diversity
• Flashlights, not darkness - the Bible
• The body, not the building - the Church
• The person, not the number - Individuals
• Marathons, not sprints - Longevity

Your thoughts?...

What Does It All Mean?

I have been pondering a lot lately...I hate it when I do that...it makes my head hurt and makes the formerly clear things quite muddied...I prefer black and white, but lately have been getting varying shades of grey (I like the British spelling of that word)...specifically, I have been wondering what it really means to be a Christian...how does that journey really start and what is the best way to communicate that truth?...here are some thoughts from my life and observations:

Fire Insurance: when I first got saved (I won't even attempt to define that word in the Christian sense - it's a book in and of itself), it was at junior high camp between 7th and 8th grade...much of the preaching and teaching done that week and in that day and age was about heaven and hell, that if you didn't want to burn in the lake of fire, you needed to get saved...I also remember a series of movies about the end times designed to scare the crap/sin out of you...so one night at camp, I thought, "If the guy next to me goes up to 'get saved,' I'll go too."...he did, so I did...I got saved that night mostly to make sure I went to heaven instead of having to deal with all the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth...

Personal Relationship With God: this is probably the most tossed around phrase in evangelical circles these days, although I'm not sure the chapter and verse references of where it shows up in the Bible...we talk a lot about the God of the universe and how we can know Him personally and be friends with Him...but can we really 'know' Him...I mean, he's pretty big and all, so whatever we know about Him is scratching the surface at best...is this a way to make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside, like God is a really cool big brother?...almost the opposite of fire insurance; more of an emphasis on heaven, and less on hell...

Born Again or Sell Everything: Story #1: a religious leader is told by Jesus that in order to see the Kingdom of God, he had to be born again...Story #2: a rich guy is told by Jesus that in order to get to heaven, he must sell everything he has and give it to the poor...so which is it?...it seems that we - the North American, Western church - have latched on to the concept of being born again, but we rarely talk of selling everything we have and giving it to the poor (He also said that it is very difficult for a rich person to get into heaven in later in the story)...both were directives by Jesus, but we emphasize one over the other...granted, the Kingdom of God does not necessarily equal heaven...but is our emphasis a sign of our comfortable lives, that because we have it good here in America, we don't want to downplay the American Dream by talking of giving it away?...I remember a story about Rich Mullins: as he drove by a store with all sorts of stuff in the front windows, he started crying...when someone asked him what was wrong, he said, "The things of this world just don't satisfy."...do they satisfy us too much?...

Follow Me: it seems that the most popular way that Jesus referred to becoming a Christian (which of course is a term he didn't invent) is in terms of following...He told his disciples to follow Him...Peter, Andrew, Matthew, Philip, and the rest...so they did...and according to Rob Bell, this meant that Jesus saw something in them that made Him think, "These guys (and girls) have what it takes and can do the things I do."...is the Christian life merely a journey in which we make a decision to follow Jesus and, with His help, do the things He did?...and if so, what did He do?...He fed people; healed people; looked out for the overlooked and downtrodden; He served; He prayed; He sacrificed; He stood against injustice; He forgave; He refused to be pigeonholed; He taught about truth; He loved life...and that's just a short list...am I a Christian, if this is the definition?...

Some Sports Figures Are OK

Charlie Weis gets my vote for being one of the good guys in sports...they are sometimes hard to come by, but the Notre Dame football coach stepped up big time this past weekend in their game against Washington...apparently, he visited a 10-year-old boy with a brain tumor in the days leading up to the game...after talking with him, he asked the boy what play he should call on the first play of the game...the boy said, "Throw right."...the boy ended up dying the day before the game...on the first possession, Notre Dame got the ball on the 1 yard line, so no one would have blamed Weis if he had bailed on his promise, because there are just too many things that can go wrong throwing from your own end zone: your QB can get sacked, you can throw an interception, you can get flagged for holding in the end zone resulting in a safety, etc...but instead, when Weis was asked by his QB what they were going to do, he replied, "We have no choice. We're throwing it to the right."...they did and gained 13 yards on the play, with the young boy's mom watching the game from home...Weis is OK in my book...you can read the full article here...

P.S. I still don't like Notre Dame...

My Pirate Name

Today is Talk Like A Pirate Day, matey...so, for the rest of the day, I shall be known as Mad Tom Flint, my official pirate name...I found that out when I took a Pirate Quiz online...I also learned this about me: "Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!"...who knew?...

The Ultimate Guy Furniture

Ran across this couch at a blog that features strange new products...I'm not sure why this is featured at this site, because it certainly isn't strange...it is what every guy has been dreaming about their entire lives:

The new "man couch" boasts the following features...

• Two Domino's Heat Wave hot bags


• A mini refrigerator


• A Coca- Cola beverage cooler


• Remote control caddy and bottle opener


• Built-in Xbox with three controllers


• Built-in MP3 player


• Built-in XM Radio


• Built-in NEXTEL cellular phone and a NASCAR headset


• Built-in DVD player and two flat screen televisions


• And a megaphone to complain about bad referee calls

The couch can recline back, and the head rests double as paper towel holders. The white cabinet fronts at the bottom of the couch pull out to reveal the Xbox consoles.

Christmas is only a few short months away...man, I hope Marcy reads this...

Thank God For Sports

On ESPN Radio this morning, Mike & Mike In The Morning read a portion of a column by John Seracino...in this column, Seracino suggests that the NFL is wrong in going ahead with the first week of the NFL regular season in light of the devastation from that evil woman, Katrina...he suggests that it is somehow disrespectful to those that have suffered and are suffering...I couldn't disagree more...when I heard them speaking about this, I tried feebly to put myself in the shoes of those that have lost everything...I imagined myself living back in Cleveland, Ohio and having a massive tornado or a freak tsunami on Lake Erie come through and wipe out the city and surrounding areas...my house has been flattened and I have been forced to relocate to another state...and now, the NFL is getting ready to start the season...what would feel better to me: for pro football to take a symbolic week off, or to escape for a while at a sports bar watching the Browns play (and probably lose)?...the choice is easy...sports are ultimately meaningless, but for those of us that are sports fans, they become the fabric of our lives, the blood that runs through our veins, the air that we breathe...what other activity allows grown men that have never met each other to hug and high-five each other or cry together depending on how 'their team' does?...sports is transcendant and lets us step away from the horrors of real life for a few hours...let the games continue...

I Guess It's True

We officially have visual confirmation...in case you haven't heard yet, Marcy and I are expecting our first child on April 4th, 2006 (although I'm hoping it comes on April Fool's Day)...it's one thing when your wife tells you through tears that she is pregnant...it's yet another when you start going to the doctor and they take the blood and urine - from Marcy, not me - to confirm what you think you know...but when you see a picture of the little critter - who we are lovingly calling 'Flipper' at this point - and hear it's heartbeat, it takes on a whole new level of realness...I'm pretty sure it still hasn't hit me full force yet, but when it does, YIKES!...I don't know exactly how I'll react...but for now, it's just pretty cool...