Glorious

A few thoughts for the arrival of the greatest time of the year:

"I see great things in baseball, It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism, tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set, repair those losses and be a blessing to us."

"In our sundown perambulations of late, through the outer parts of Brooklyn, we have observed several parties of youngsters playing base, a certain game of ball. Let us go forth awhile and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms. The game of ball is glorious."


--Walt Whitman, Died in Camden, NJ and buried a few miles from where I currently sit



For the next six months there will be something in my day that hasn't been there the past six months. In the words of that other great poet, John Fogerty, "We're born again and there's new grass on the field."

Not So Sure

I've come across this video clip from "ER" on a couple of different blogs. Initially, it does make a compelling case against the flaky-ness (not to mention intellectual inconsistency) that often comes with a "there are no eternal/lasting consequences for our actions" worldview. The individual who posted it on YouTube labels the clip "ER discovers the flaw of postmodernism." Maybe, or maybe not.

I have not seen the episode, just the two minute clip. However, I do think there is an alternative interpretation. It may actually be an idictment of the old man, and his old way of thinking. The reason I believe this may be the case is that the old guy isn't likable, he isn't nice, he isn't easy to look at, and frankly he's old and dying. And maybe ER is saying that his way of thinking is old, unkind, ugly, and ultimately dying. The woman (who I believe may be the hospital chaplain?) is sharp, pretty, and patient in the face of strong verbal attack.

The message may be in the appearance of the messengers, maybe?




EDIT: Ok, I just watched it a second time after writing the above, and I feel a little less certain of my "alternative interpretation." I was feeling good about it until the word "atonement" was used by the old-timer, and that isn't a word that would get tossed around too freely and without specific intent.

College Ball

I also have to have a little rant against those who fill out numerous NCAA tourney brackets. I don't want to hear about your "money bracket" and that you picked Davidson to go to the sweet sixteen in your espn.com bracket and on and on.... The tourney is inherently excellent, and doesn't need the additional "excitement" from wannabe "bracketologists."

I'm also sick of hearing the pundits say things like, "there's a possibility that West Virginia could make a final four run, they're that talented. However, they would have to win two tough games to get there, which they may not be able to do." That's a lot of hot air to say nothing definitive.

So after those two rants, "One Shining Moment" and announcers like Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery make college basketball great. Drink in this gem of a call (Raftery at his finest....a "taiwan special"):

The Pledge

Took a quick weekend in Nashville this weekend, to hang with some good, good friends. While killing time on Saturday afternoon, we wandered around the Tennessee state capital building. The three of us came across a statue that looked out over the city. The statue had a plaque on the bottom upon which was inscribed the following:

"The SOUTH is a land that has known sorrows; it is a land that has broken the ashen crust and moistened it with tears; a land scarred and riven by the plowshare of war and billowed with the graves of her dead; but a land of legend, a land of song, a land of hallowed and heroic memories.

"To that land every drop of my blood, every fiber of my being, every pulsation of my heart, is consecrated forever. I was born of her womb; I was nurtured at her breast; and when my last hour shall come, I pray GOD that I may be pillowed upon her bosom and rocked to sleep within her tender and encircling arms."

--Edward Ward Carmack (1858-1908), United States Representative, Tennessee


I'm pretty sure my two friends, both southerners, walked away with misty eyes.


While I don't own the same element of sentiment toward the southland, I did have misty eyes at my lunch this afternoon, which consisted of two bowls of the finest ramen noodles ever created. A favorite treat while I was serving time back in the big country:

Good Times

A and I went out for a few hours last night to a local open mic night. Our neighbor is trying to get her music career rolling, and she was headlining the open mic night (meaning that she had a pre-set time for her show). She's pretty good, and we enjoyed the opportunity to hang a bit with our neighbors.

I also enjoyed the other acts, although A didn't like them as much. I really enjoyed the "spoken word" act of one dude, who had us all yell "BLOOD ON THE WALL" every time he raised his fist throughout the act. I love this kind of stuff.

However, to wash away the stain of some of the less talented music acts of last night, I am listening to U2's live version of "Bad" - a top ten song of all time, without a doubt.

...And We're Back

Ok, been away from the blog for a while. But not any more. Some thoughts and updates for your weekend reading pleasure:

1. Amy and the boys took off for a week with Amy's parents down in TX. They had a blast. J (the irony of using just one letter for his name is rich...) has been sad to be back. He loved playing in the mud, riding his bike, hanging with the grandparents, etc... It's nice down there.

2. While they were away, I took the chance to do some extra tax returns here at work, and to steal away to DC for a weekend to visit with some good friends. It's nice to have different friends all over the place, and my time in DC was excellent. Did lots of dicsussing/arguing about: Biblical church leadership, vocations, and who will win the NL East. Good times.

3. Continuing on the sports note: your NCAA scoring leader is Charron Fisher of the Niagra Purple Eagles. Where is young Mr. Fisher from you ask? He hails from Pennsauken, NJ - the lovely and gritty hometown of yours truly.

4. Lastly, we were celebrating the reunion of our family after their trip by doing some post dinner dancing/tackling/running around our living room while listening to some loud music. In preparation of the coming St. Patty's day, we were listening to "Whiskey In The Jar." J's question: "Dad, what's whiskey?" I replied: "Son, that's what Daddy puts on his corn flakes...." No just kidding, actually we went ahead and switched the song to the "Cars" (the Pixar movie) version of "Life Is A Highway."

Good Stuff

There are two music projects out there about which I am quite excited. Both are related in that the message of both projects lies in the order of the songs on the album. I am guessing most thoughtful musicians attempt do do this, but these two have done it in quite compelling fashion:

1. Counting Crows: Favorite band of A and I. Their new album is called "Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings" The basic message is that all of life is about the recklessness of Saturday nights, followed by the pain/regret/hangover each Sunday morning. Adam Duritz (lead singer) shares how the album is born of a life trying to push everyone away and live a completely isolated life, and the bitter taste of the fruit of his folly. His pursuit of isolation, with the hope of avoiding pain, resulted in the worst kind of pain. He speaks of isolation, community, and restoration.

Favorite line so far, from the song "Cowboys": "This is a list of the things I should have been, but I'm not..."

The album is not out yet, but thanks to NPR and WXPN/World Cafe Live (here in Philly), you can listen to a 45 minute performance/explanation at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18777266


2. Jon Foreman (of Switchfoot) has a compelling project as well. He has already released two EPs, called "Fall" and "Winter," and he has two more upcoming. "Fall" speaks of the real pain of life in this world, bad decisions, injustice, etc... "Winter" includes two excellent songs about death.

He does a good job of expressing the reality of these things. So much so, that I have spent a decent amount of time discussing his songs with a good friend -- asking questions like "He's not really saying what I think he's saying, is he?!?!?" Good, honest stuff. "Fall" and "Winter" both bring a heavy (lethal?) dose of melancholy, but I look forward to "Spring."

Recollections

A and I went out for Thai food last night. I don't really like Thai food, but A enjoys it a bunch. And the place we went was pretty dang good.

My favorite food items from my multiple trips to the kingdom of Thailand:
- slurpees from 7-11
- sizzler at the royal garden hotel
- little bananas at every buffet
- fried pork on the side of the road near the ambassador jomtien
- DQ
- BK in the BKK airport
- European food at all the tasty European restaurants in Chiang Mai and Ko Samui
- pizza at the Pizza Garden in Ko Samui

As you can see, I'm not a real adventurous eater when travelling. However, it was good to recall the fine times spent travelling over the years last night with A.

Have a happy year of the rat. Go "bao" some jiaozi and eat them, or just get some orange chicken from Panda Express at the mall. Do what you gotta do.









Lastly, a little picture here below that may drum up a few Thai memories for some of you:

Happy Tuesday

It's a big day in the political arena. I love this stuff, it's like a big soap opera and I can't get enough of it. I've come across two incidents that were somewhat odd. One was national and one was local, and both involved Mike Huckabee.

I was watching CNBC (the financial channel) this morning, and they had four pundits on there commenting on the coming day's events. The final question centered on Huckabee and questioned his attentiveness to lowering taxes (a typically conservative issue). The first guy answered the question straight up, and the last guy said he couldn't imagine Huckabee succeeding in even a vice-presidential role because, "who knows what this guy would say, especially about religion." And that was it.

The second time I bumped into this was in the editorial section of the Sunday paper. The reported went on and on about Romney's flip-flopping, and McCain's stance on immigration, etc... The reporter's only quote decrying Huckabee, "he was a Southern Baptist minister, and that's all that need be said."

I'm not carrying water for Huckabee, but I will blast those who "fear" Huckabee's religious tendencies with the one of the greatest insults of our current age: That's Not Very Tolerant.

Now that I have that off my chest, go on about your Super Tuesday, and enjoy your Mardi Gras celebrations.... Be sure to get to church tomorrow for Ash Wednesday.

I think (hope) we have the next Sidney Crosby on our hands. This is J on his first skating lesson (four weeks ago). B provides good comedy on this one, his first line is "J's not doing it Dad!" Funny.


However, here is J at his fourth skating lesson (last night), unbelievable progress :

Three Years Gone By

Yes, we love where we are now. AND Yes, we sure miss this place.

A (not so) funny event

Ok, I'm back after a bit of a delay for a quick post. One somewhat memorable event of the weekend: we passed a pet store en route to another store and the boys wanted to go to the petstore. We went back to the petstore, and there were four or so people out front who were holding dogs on leashes. The dogs appeared to be of the pit bull variety, and the dogs were wearing coats that said "adopt me" on them. The funny thing is that the dogs were not nice. The people holding them encouraged the boys not to touch them, and one of the dogs lunged at B on our way out. I think this helped affirm my predisposition to never adopt a dog that is foaming at the mouth-- even if he wears a cool little "adopt me" coat.

All right, the stock market is a bit wacky now and I have to convince *myself* and our clients, who are nervously calling, that I know what I'm talking about....

Food For Urban Thought

Something to put in your pipe and toke on a bit:

1. "The country is the place where there are more plants than people, and the city is the place where there are more people than plants, and since God loves people far more than He loves plants, He loves the city more than He loves the country."
--Bill Crispin

2. "Dad, I don't want to live in the country. It doesn't have all the cool parts..." --My son J, while holding my hand and walking down 18th Street on January 13, 2008.

A Late New Year's Posting

I just spilled coffee all over my desk. I saved the computer, but sacrificed a few documents I had printed. All in all, it was a worthy trade-off.

Here's a quick post with a few pics from new year's day. We have a big parade where men wear dresses and drink lots of cheap beer. Without further ado, here are a couple of pics of our kids and neighborhood.


1. This is a picture of one of the string bands, who are actually very good. Check out the people hanging out of the windows with their bottles in their hand:



2. This is J and B in front of some of the props for the parade. As you can see, J is hungover from a rowdy New Year's Eve and B is looking upon him with no compassion. An additional note, the prison-like building in the background is our local elementary school:

My Kids = Hosed

We occasionally fire up the music loud, and do a little dancing around the living room after dinner. The boys get nuts, and A even sometimes joins us. I subscribe to rhapsody.com (on a side note, DO THE SAME, it's excellent to have any and every song at your listening pleasure) and I draw upon my "recently listened to" queue to pull a few songs for dancing. Well, I was playing DJ last night for our post-dinner craziness, and I noticed the following lyrics in a few of the songs I chose:

"Now he's having a smoke, and she's taking a drag, now they're going to bed, and my stomach is sick...."

so i changed it to another song which involved "living on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine...."

so i once again chose another song that had "we laughed all the way to hell, saying yes this is fine promotion...."



All that to say, while I hope they embrace good music as they grow, I want to guide them away from all that the lyrics suggest.....May God have mercy on us all, everyone.

Lastly, we finished up with some David Crowder's (you know, to get a Jesus song in there...) "Here Is Our King" -- which in my opinion is perhaps the finest of "the passion movement" songs.

EXTRA CREDIT: can you identify the three songs from the lyrics given above?