May 2007 Archives

I thought I'd post some of the pictures from our recent Anniversary weekend in St. Louis

There were some weird people dancing in downtown Kirkwood. We've no idea why.

Here is the church where we were married.

A full shot of the same church

It was sunny outside, hence our expressions

Me getting a much-needed massage at Sharper Image

Laumeier Sculpture Park. Carrie is posing to give us some perspective on the size of this dude.

Me being awesome

Carrie on a bridge

Carrie being cute on the bridge

Me climbing the bridge

Getting tired of the bridge?

Modern art is difficult to describe

Carrie investigates

Where's Carrie?

AHHH! It's that bridge again!

Carrie is tired of driving

I suggest Ted Drewes for some custard

Nothing can quite cap off a trip as well as some beer, Ukrainian style

I was browsing CNN this morning and came across something called reCAPTCHA. Rather than just being a bot-blocking move, though, this organization is using their free plug-in to help solve the problems encountered with digitizing books. If you're interested, more info can be found here: reCAPTCHA.

Long story short, you can help libraries by commenting on my blog. Yay!

Well, I must say, that Carrie really had a great birthday this year, due in large part, to yours truly. :)

This being one of the most important days of the year, we started off with breakfast at McDonalds. Oh yeah. I'm talking deluxe breakfast with an iced coffee. Sure, I can make pancakes from scratch and now have the ability to create most common varieties of espresso drinks in our kitchen, but nothin' compares to that MickeyDee's.

Then Carrie had to work. (Laaaaaaame.) But her kids were cool enough to throw her a surprise party, complete with baked goods and cards. It was during this time that I went to Target and picked up a few little gifts for her to open. (Her main gifts were a couple of prints from our wedding.) This included a Hello Kitty card, a Hello Kitty pez dispenser, a Carebears doll, and a box of Twinkies. She loved them all.

After some gift opening we went to Garozzo's, her favorite Italian restaurant, and enjoyed a nice bottle of Pinot in addition to a St. Louis classic, the toasted Ravioli. Afterwards, we met up with some peeps for drinks at Tomfooleries, which was a lot of fun.

So, while at times I think it odd how excited Carrie can get about her birthday (I've never very much gotten into my own birthdays), she really knew how to have an awesome day.

Here's to you, hon.

Well folks, I've finally crossed the 20,000 hit milestone for this blog, mostly due to the recent visitors I've had from Cool Running. Yes, it did take me almost four years to reach this many hits, but it's still nice to know people are still reading. For those of you who've been, well, bored by my running updates I apologize. I'll try to at the very least post some entries that have nothing to do with running on my off days, but can't make any promises.

Carrie and I went to one of the largest Dick's Sporting Goods stores I've ever seen today, and I picked up a new running shirt that was on clearance.

(There are so many good lines with that store. Such as, "Wow, that's one of the biggest Dick's I've ever seen," or "All I need to cheer me up on a bad day is Dick's.")

Anyway, what's awesome about this shirt, aside from the fact that it is basically painted on, is that it has a built-in iPod nano pouch. How awesome is that. Then I can run the headphone wire through the shirt so I don't have to deal with it while I run.

I haven't gotten a chance to go running with it, but so far I'd say it's awesome.

Me being hot.

The full effect.

Careful ladies, I'm a married man.

We've had a second cat for a while, but, unbeknownst to us, most people didn't realize this. To remedy the situation, I've added a new page of photos dedicated to our new(ish) cat, Minnie.

Now for a bit of background on this cat. She was born on a farm to be a mouser (hence, Minnie the Mouser), but not long into life she was kicked in the face by a horse. I kid you not. They were going to put her down but the vet decided to fix her up instead. She had her jaw wired shut for a while, but she managed to come out of it relatively unscathed. She is missing some teeth, but doesn't have any trouble chewing or biting.

She was quite small for her age when we got her, leading us to think that maybe she'd stay small due to the tube feeding at a young age. Well, we've had her for a few months now and I'm happy to report that she has indeed grown. She's still a bit smaller than Rusty, but she certainly has no lack of appetite. In fact, unlike most cats, she'll eat pretty much anything, from salsa to strawberries. Weird.

Anyway, just thought y'all should know.

The iPod pulled into the UPS distribution center in Lenexa, KS, which is a mere 20min drive away. I wish I could just drive out there and pick it up rather than waiting for it to be delivered at some ambiguous time tomorrow.

So here's the thing. I'm getting a white, 1GB iPod Nano for my birthday, but it hasn't arrived yet. Indeed, though it left San Pablo, CA at 2:49 am on the morning of the 15th, it isn't scheduled for delivery until Friday.

Normally this wouldn't be such a problem save the fact that it is the last piece of the Nike+iPod puzzle that I don't have. I have the kit that goes in the shoes and connects to the ipod, I have the iPod armband that is tragically empty, and I have the Nike shoes that, while they have come in handy, are waiting to use their full potential.

I don't know if I can hold out two more days. :)

Yesterday I had asked my mom if there was anything Carrie and I could do for her for mothers day (aside from the chocolate we were going to buy her, of course). Her only request was that we come to the Mother's Day potluck at PFLAG. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this acronym, it stands for Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and my mom is the president of the Kansas City chapter.

Their mission, according to their website is:

Provide a support system for the families and friends of LGBT people to enable them to understand, accept and support their children with love and pride;

Support the full human and civil rights of LGBT people.

All that being said, I know that there are many of my friends who would disagree with part if not all of what this organization stands for. This post does not concern that. Merely I would just like to relate some of what transpired at this meeting.

It should be noted that their meetings are confidential and in respecting that I will only be speaking in generalities and not mention any names.

As part of the gathering, everyone got up to introduce themselves to the group after we had finished eating. We heard many amusing stories, as well as other stories that really tug at the heartstrings. Being mother's day, there were several people there, of various ages, who thanked the mothers that were present. So many of them have lost a relationship with their own parents by "coming out" that, for them, this organization was their family. As my mother was personally thanked several times, I am proud to say that she is a part of PFLAG.

Now, if you had the opportunity to listen to my phone call into a local NPR station or read this post, you'll know to an extent what I think it means to be a Christian. Now this group of people may not be going hungry and they probably all have a place to lay their heads at night, but a lot of them are homeless. Too many in this community have been abandoned by those that should love them most--their families and the church. Therefore, I'm going to be putting my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and will make it a point to attend PFLAG's monthly meetings. As an ambassador of Christ, I feel it is my duty to let these people know that while the world may turn their back to them, God has not.

For those who feel strongly about the morality (or lack thereof) of homosexuality, I would simply add this. We in the church are so quick to look at homosexuality and condemn it because it is often visible. We fool ourselves if we think that among our close, Christian friends there is not one who has something they'd rather not be brought into the light. We do not hesitate to associate with all sort of sinners (for we all are), and yet place all sorts of prerequisites on friendship with homosexuals.

While certainly we in the Church still desperately need to feel the love of Christ, I think those who have never experienced it need it all the more. The Christian message isn't for us, is it? Once you have it, once you understand it, it stops being about you and starts being about everyone else.

Not knowing what to do last night, Carrie and I decided to try a new series on DVD called How I Met Your Mother. Having not seen an episode before (CBS doesn't come in so well over the rabbit ears), we were mostly going off the fact that Alyson Hannigan (aka Willow of Buffy) was on the show.

Well, I think we were both pleasantly surprised at how funny this show could be, and while we did like Alyson's character of Lily (what's with the plant/tree names?), it was really Neil Patrick Harris (aka Doogie Howser, M.D.) that steals the show. He plays a dork-on quite well, which ends up being quite good for me as I know that when he does something that I think is cool, it really isn't. "Self-five!" (He's a big blogger though... hmmm)

We've only watched the first four episodes so far, but I am fairly confident that I can still give this show my recommendation.

I think I mentioned this online game before, but I have to once again. Kingdom of Loathing is one of the weirdest, most fun online games I've ever played. It is a role-playing game (you know, kind of D&D style), but the images are all stick figures, the currency is meat, and the quests are funny. For instance, in the "Trial by Friar" quest you have do defeat some monsters (mostly Imps like the "P Imp" that attacks with his diamond-studded cane), and then they teach you how to drink, granting you the "Liver of Steel."

I could try to describe it, but frankly there is too much I could say. Right now I'm busy with my mushroom farm, and I also enjoy creating elaborate alcoholic drinks. I am a seal clubber my trade, and you can choose to be that, or one of five other classes: Turtle Tamer, Pastamancer, Sauceror, Disco Bandit, or Accordion Thief. Seriously, though, if you have some free time you should give it a go. Either you'll love it or wonder why I wasted so many words talking about it.

If it was only for about a minute or so

Well, I finally did it. I've been tempted to do this about 482 times and my cell phone and a very interesting topic finally got me to do it. I called a radio talk show.

The show was our local KCUR's Up To Date with Steve Kraske, and the guest was former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Ms. Townsend has recently written a book about how the Church has become too politicized and is missing out on its mission to reach out to the poor and needy in the world (which I haven't read, merely heard her talk about).

Wow, didn't I just blog about that?

Anyway, I got so excited that I just had to call in (the cell phone comes in handy once again), and, as one who gets really excited about the slightest ego boost, I've decided to post the show here.

This first file is the half hour where she was on the air, which includes my call. (I don't necessarily agree with everything that she has to say and a lot of it is specific to the Catholic Church, but frankly I think the topic is very important.)

Up To Date (Full) - 28:59 (13.4 MB)

This next file is just my phone call and her response, in case you don't have a full half hour to kill.

Up to Date (Cut) - 1:44 (800 KB)

Let me know what you think.

A recent incident struck home a bit too much for Carrie and I, and that was the recent shootings at the Ward Parkway Mall here in Kansas City.

A good recap can be found in this Kansas City Star Article.

Naturally, anyone connected with Kansas City was shocked by this incident, but for some of us that shop at the Target in that mall several times a week, it was particularly disturbing. Now, as a rational person, I understand that I should be far more concerned about driving to get groceries or eating too much cheese than these random shootings, but it really has altered how I think about our area.

I hesitate to get too much into a fragility of life discussion (I'm 24, and thus invincible, no?), but it has made me think more about something that has been in the back of my mind lately--do I really walk the walk?

Over the last year or so I've become keenly aware of how much consumerism dominates everyday life. More and more I feel myself being suffocated by it, but at the same time unable to escape. Since Carrie got a full time teaching position and I opened my piano studio our monthly income has increased tremendously, and at the same time I find myself struggling to stay on top of everything. The more we make, the more we spend.

All of this makes me feel like a failure when it comes to being a representative of Christ on earth. You see, it's not my sins that make me a hypocrite (after all, by calling myself a Christian I am acknowledging that I completely lack righteousness of any kind), it is rather that I am not living my life for others.

This then makes me think of Matthew 25:31-46, a passage of scripture that has probably gnawed at my conscience more than any,

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

When I read this I start to think about what Christians in America tend to look like, especially those that are 'active' in their faith. You see, for all the services, Bible studies, summer camps, small groups, activities, and seminars that we like to attend, and for all the books that we like to read, we are missing out on seeing the face of God. For all the knowledge we like to gain and for all the devotional activities that we like to do, the easiest way to see the face of God is in the faces of those in need.

So what does any of this have to do with a shooting that left four people dead in my backyard? Frankly, it has made me think about death, but not in the way you might expect. You see, for me, death has been conquered. Death is dead. (For brevity's sake I won't elaborate on that point.) Moreover, I am already dead. To quote Paul's letter to the Galatians,

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Sometimes I just need to be reminded that I am dead, for that is the only way that I can hope to follow Christ. If I do not die to myself, then I cannot live for others, which as we can see is paramount in the Christian life, much as we fail to do so.

I do not mean to undermine the loss experienced by the families of the victims of this shooting or, for that matter, the victims of Virginia Tech. My prayers go out to them as well as those who suffer from mental illnesses and hopelessness. All I mean to say is this has served as a reminder to me that I am already dead, and that I need to start acting like it.