Weekend thoughts

These are my thoughts on a weekend spent at home:
The rest was good! Even though there was alot of work we could have done, the need for rest trumped the To-do list.

My training for the half marathon is back on track, as I completed my 8 mile run Saturday morning. As odd as it may seem, I have been running lately to Francis Chan sermons, and think I like it more than music. My mind engages what he is teaching and the miles seem to fly by. THey may also fly by due to my blazing speed, but I am sure it has more to do with the Word of God. Four weeks left till Race Day!

The WWE, World Wresting Entertainment, never ceases to amaze me. Late Saturday night, I was still awake thanks to too much Espresso, I was blessed in an amazing way when I stumbled onto the Hall of Fame Induction show. There is seriously nothing like seeing chemically enhanced giants and surgically enhanced women in formal dress. To top it off, the crowd was still sporting their Dale Jr. hats, wrestling signs, and consuming large amounts of beer, most likely Budweiser. The Rock delivered a decent perfomance as he trashed several of the current guys, but watching how serious they took the ceremony was the most comical part to me. The Nature Boy Ric Flair was the featured inductee and tears were flowing as he gave his speech. I am not sure if they were crying becase they were so happy for him, or if they were sad for him. It is just tough to see someone look as bad as he does. HGH and other rodis may keep you muscular, but over tanning and being past his prime by several decades makes things just look awkward. He’s still the Nature Boy, but he looked ridiculously unnatural. THe show was definitely good for a few laughs though. On a side note, Flair was the only living inductee, still think roids don’t kill. I sure hope baseball doesn’t end like this! Check out this article for a great description of the events.

Macie is a comedian. I was not feeling great on Sunday, and Macie decided that laughing hysterically would help me feel better, and she was right. Not sure how she comes up with the ideas she does, but they are funny to watch.

Goodwill treasures are wonderful. On Saturday I got to try my new Espresso maker. And by new, obviously I mean purchased at Goodwill. It is one of the stovetop varieties and I decided last month I wanted one so I had been looking at different websites and was planning on spending the $40 on one that seemed the best for me. Little did i know, I would find the exact one at Goodwill for $1.99. Hard to beat that kind of a deal. I am still looking for an excellent Espresso roast, but this weekend I was able to enjoy several nice cups.

Basketball was great. Stephen Curry is a blast to watch. Every time the ball leaves his hand, you just knew it would go in. Hated to see them lose, but the Heels looked great too. It was a tough task, but I have convinced Macie she loves to watch basketball. Dora and Diego had to take a backseat this weekend.

“Dexter” continues to deliver very intriguing shows. I know the premise of the show is weird, and the show itself is dark, but I find it fascinating. Watching someone deal with this darkness inside them as they try to appear normal. I can’t help but think how many live life that way. Thank God we have a way to walk in light and are not controlled by our darkness!

That’s about it, nothing spectacular but that is good with me. What did you do?

I thought I had heard it all!

In the past two weeks the lady that had been on the toilet for over two years has been making headlines. I thought it was the craziest story I had heard in a while, but if you check the news sites very often, there’s always something crazy going on. In that spirit, I will be sifting through the crazies to find stories that are fascinating to me. Some may be ridiculous like the “toilet lady” or just articles I find interesting. Feel free to add let me know when you find one worthy of the list.

While the toilet story stills ranks in first place, this one from today is definitely worthy of the list. I seriously thought Law and Order had shown every possible way for a crime to be committed, with their 10 different shows consuming about 25% of the airtime now that USA runs them all day, but this one was new to me. A man in Australia claimed he was sexually assaulted by a wombat.

Click here to read more of this intirguing story. My favorite part is at the end when alcohol is blamed as having played major role in this story. You think? He also claims to now be able to speak Australian.

A woman sits on the toilet for two years and a man is violated by a wombat. What is wrong with people? Maybe she should have tried some Ex-Lax and he should have tried the Rosetta Stone software if wanted to learn a new language.

Fragrant incense or rancid meat

Revelation has always been a mystery to me. I have sat in on many different studies and heard many explanations through the years, and yet this book remains very mysterious. I am OK with that. In fact, I love it. I love scratching my head and wondering what in the world God is up to. I find it offensive when people try so hard to figure God out and get frustrated when they can’t. If we could see the big picture, and by big picture I mean all of eternity, maybe then we could begin to grasp some of the mystery. We however, are much like my wonderful 2-year-old daughter, only fixed on our next hit of hot chocolate to understand the big picture. This is why I embrace the mystery. For me, there is peace found in understanding that I can’t know it all, and there is hope in the fact that I rest in the arms of the One who does.

As I studied this week and explored this section of Revelation, I saw my face every time Laodicea was mentioned. This week we are exploring passion for Christ. Is seems a bit silly that we would need a lesson on remaining passionate for Christ, but apparently that need has been around for quite a while.
Let’s examine briefly what Christ did for us:
He bridged the unbridgeable gap between God and us.
He left the beauty of heaven to walk in our dirt and suffer more than we could ever know.
He died the worst death I can imagine.
Even though He was sinless, He became sin.
He took on God’s wrath—which we deserved.
He freed us from the bonds of sin.
He rescued us from hell.
He offers us purpose, peace, hope, and freedom.
He loved us in our sin, and loves us still despite our sin.
He rescued us from a path of certain destruction.

The list could go one forever, but for the sake of this blog, I will end it there.

Is there any reason, knowing any of the things Jesus did for us, that our passion would not continue to grow each day? When you sit down and make a list like that, it seems ridiculous that apathy even exists, and even more ridiculous that we are so accustomed to it. But, such is the case today as it was 2,000 years ago with the church at Laodicea.

Why does Christ hate apathy so much?…the rest of this blog is located on my LifeMatters blog. Finish reading it by clicking here!

The quest accomplished

Since I used a Lord of the Rings analogy yesterday, I will use it again today. Fast forward to the final scene, past where Frodo and Smigel fight for custody of the ring, all the way to the part where the ring is sinking into the molten lava. That is where I am on the ipod journey. Amy went out for girls night out last night and returned with a new ipod for me. Kind of crazy how she does things. I would have searched for the next week for a great deal and probably not found one good enough and brok down and got a new one anyway. But, she knows me well enough to know what I would do so she took care of things in one swoosh of the bank card, and brought home a new shiny little ipod nano that communicates with my Nike+ so life is back to normal. The journey ended abruptly, but alas, it is finished. I am now find myself sitting around the table back in the Shire sharing food and drinks with my fellow fury footed Hobbits. The journey may be finished but the wonderful stories will last forever. I doubt however anyone will be making my journey to the holy land(the Apple Store), or my meeting of the Genius into a epic anytime soon, but it was fun while it lasted. Onto the next topic I guess!

The journey unfinished

Much to my disappointment, even a Genius has limitations. Those limitations very closely resemble the limitations of the warranty that comes with an Apple product. Item still under warranty? They can wave their magic wand and POOF, everything is right again. In my case, my ipod was a month and a half out of warranty, just my luck. Apparently my ipod will do everything normally except communicate with the Nike+ software. The Genius had no explanation for this problem. The Nike+ receiver worked in the other two ipods we plugged it into, which isolated mine as the problem. I kind of feel like I have come to the end of the first Lord of the Rings movie. They survived the Orcs and now Frodo and Sam set out to continue their quest. There has been some resolution, but a big part of the journey remains ahead. I found out my ipod is not functioning in the way I need it to, but now I have to replace it somehow. The easy solution is to buy a new one, but I hate spending money so that option is not very appealing. All I know is, I need to resolve this issue soon so I can get back to running and training for the Nashville City Music Half Marathon which is approaching very quickly.

I guess if Frodo can find his way to Mordor, I can replace my nano.

My time with the Genius

Today is the day. I barely slept last night as anticipation for today’s event had me wired(actually I slept fine, but that sounds boring.) I do find this whole Apple journey fascinating. Yesterday, without realizing it, I spoke with the Apple Concierge and then made an appointment to see the Genius. At 11:45 this morning, I will proudly take my seat at the bar, the Genius Bar. Apple has found a way to make incredibly superior computer equipment, life altering gadgets, and then they go and revolutionize the retail experience. No longer do you search for a person in a yellow shirt and hope their 45 minutes of training was with computers and not washing machines. No more standing in a converted warehouse looking at machines and trying to compare the little tags to see which is better. No, those days are gone. Now you can make a reservation and have personal help waiting your arrival.

This journey I have been on for an exhausting two weeks has lead me to one conclusion: Apple is taking over the world! In the same way Starbucks made waiting in long lines and shelling out the equivalent of two gallons of gas for a sweet tasting shot of energy the trendy thing to do, Apple is heading down that road. When is the last time I made an appointment to see a computer geek? A few days before never. Now I have been looking forward to it like I will be meeting a celebrity, which may just turn out to be true.

(Rabbit chasing warning!)
This whole thing has got me thinking, which could be a very dangerous thing. What if I could become a genius? Honestly, they just claimed themselves to be Genius and now I have to make an appointment to see them. How else can I do things that would make the system completely different? I work at LifeWay on the Threads team. Sometimes at LifeWay, and I am sure most jobs in general, people fall into habits and just keep on doing things the same way. Not because it is best, but because it is simpler. It is easier to keep doing the same thing and not be pursuing a new angle or a different approach. What if the people following Christ had the same attitude as the Apple folks? This blog is becoming too much for my little mind. I will have to chase this rabbit at a later date. Sometimes when you chase a rabbit you get lost, but every now and then you find a path worth hiking for a while. I will pick up here tomorrow.

Back to my original thought. My ipod journey comes to an end today, or so I hope. Not sure what the answer is going to be yet, but then again I have not met with the Genius yet. Check back later to find out how things went.

My visit to the Apple Store

So, I have been in a bad mood for the past few days because my ipod is not communicating with my Nike+ accessory. This may not seem like a big deal, and it shouldn’t, but it is. My ipob has become my training partner/fitness guru. With the Nike+ deal, it keeps track of how far I have run, how fast I am running, and it keeps track of each run. Without it I feel like I can’t go for a run which I agree is crazy, but it is what it is. On Saturday I was determined to fix the situation and I called Apple Technical Support(India) and was told I was 52 days out of warranty and it would cost $30 to talk to someone. Operation Fix ipod was a failure and I was still in a bad mood. I had to think of Plan B because buying a new ipod is not an option, since the old one works fine just not for running. Plan B became visiting the Apple store in Green Hills Mall.

As lunch time approached I headed over to Green Hills Mall and searched for the Apple store. I noticed a few things as I looked around the mall:
1. People in that place are really rich
2. Even the people not dressed nice were wearing $50 t shirts. Down there it is expensive to dress down.
3. Botox is more widely used than HGH at a Canseco/Clemens party.
4. Shopping at Victoria’s Secret must be a viable lunch time option for high schoolers
5. I did not fit in!

After searching for a few minutes, I found the holy grail of computer stores. I have always heard of the Apple store, just never been in one. I am becoming a believer now that I work on one everyday, and their coolness factor is off the charts. You have instant cred if you are using a Mac in a coffee shop or bookstore. Young adults dig the Apple and so I was excited about entering THE store, even though I was merely asking about a little Nano. The girl at the front door was very friendly and pointed me to a computer to enter some info and then I was allowed to make a reservation to see a technical person tomorrow. I dorve all the way down there to sign up on the internet for a reservation to the place I was standing, for tomorrow. that was frustrating. Normally I view making reservations for only a few things. Among them would be a really nice restaraunt(which I have never done), the doctor, the dentist, and maybe a good hair stylist(something I have never done but I can see how you would need to.)

How stinking cool are Apple people? So cool that you can go into their store and reserve time to talk to them on another day. Normally, this series of events would have angered me, but for some reason I simply accepted it. It made me laugh as I walked out of the store, as did the prices of the t shirts next to the up escalator in the Macy’s store, $38 for a t shirt. So my journey continues to fix my ipod but this time I have an appointment. So tomorrow at 11:40am I will be allowed behind the veil into the holy of holies to get some answers. I just hope the answers were worth the trip!

Today’s Schedule

Yesterday felt like a Saturday since we had it off. So today is like a bonus. First off, it is 50% off at Goodwill. One day each month Goodwill decides to half price everything. That is the day to go and we will be there soon. After that its off to the Emery’s to go on an Egg Hunt at the Bridge Fellowship Church. Word on the street, or their advertising postcard, says they will have inflatables and 12,000 eggs. That sounds like fun to me, and Macie agrees. I will post pics of our exciting day later this afternoon, probably while I am watching Duke lose to the WVU Mountaineers.

Bracketology

The best three weeks in sports is about to begin. I am bummed my Hokies are not in it, but they have a good shot at winning the NIT even though no one outside of Hokie Nation will notice. But with tomorrow being Good Friday, we get the day off. I have never had a day off during March Madness. This has great potential because even Amy is digging it this year. Tomorrow I am hoping for endlesss hours of watching some hoops, teaching Macie about b-ball and checking off all the victories I have predicted. Amy is talking trash about her bracket and she thinks she will beat me, but I simply cannot allow that to happen. Here is my Final Four:

UNC vs Georgetown
UCLA vs Texas

and UNC and UCLA advance to the Finals with UNC winning a close one. This year is going to be a good one!

Today at the Y

Alright, so I know the locker room is a place where you change clothes and take showers and everything. I get that and I am ok with it. But do old men really need to be naked that much. Obviously in the showers clothing only gets in the way, but lounging around in the buff is just wrong. A guy today was shaving and fixing his hair all before adding a single piece of clothing. Would a pair of boxers be too much to ask? A towel? Something? I thought it was only taking place in the guys locher room, but my wife and several other females have confirmed it takes place on both sides of the wall.

Another thing I found interesting was the fact I have been dressing wrong all these years. I always thought you started with boxers and a t shirt and then progressed. But it is very obvious I have been wrong. Apparently the proper way is t-shirt, button up shirt, socks, tie, then boxers and pants. I think I like my strategy better though. I have heard some great stories about the Y and I am sure you know some too so share your best Y story.