My Dilemma

Hey guys! I hope everyone is doing well. Sorry I’ve been MIA for a while. I’ve been student teaching and therefore have been very busy. I thought I’d send an update your way about what’s going on in the lives of the Stubbs’s.

1. Charlie’s doing great. I’ve never been more proud of him. Last Friday, he made his directorial debut. He has been working on the play Beau Jest for the past few months and it just opened. The show is great. He did an amazing job directing.

2. Harrison’s doing great. I’m 29 weeks along now. He moves a lot, especially when music is playing. The pregnancy has gone well. My biggest complaint is a lot of lower back pain thanks to the baby being on the sciatic nerve and driving two hours a day.

3. Why are you driving two hours a day, Diana? Because the school I’m doing my student teaching is an hour a way. I was at a much closer school but I was in a horrible situation and MISERABLE. Now I’m at a different school the next county over. I only have two more weeks of student teaching left. I’ve had a great experience and can’t wait to get my own classroom.

4. This leads me to my dilemma. I had a job interview today. I have given my résumé to the county and have been patiently waiting for a call from a school. Today I interviewed at a school about an hour from our apartment. The interview went very well. The principal asked if I was interested in working at the school. I told her I needed a week to think about the job. She said she will call me then because she’s “very interested” in me.

Why I should take the job

-Duh, it’s a job.
-It’s a school a lot like my internship school. I’d be used to the demographics and what-not.
-The school is getting a grant to keep their class size under 15 children.
-Since she’s hiring so many teachers, I can pick about any grade I want.
-Based on what the principal said in the interview, it sounds like a school I would want to work at. For the most part, our philosophies match.
-Who knows if there will be another offer?

Why I shouldn’t take the job

-It’s an hour away. Charlie and I would probably move. Ew.
-The principal at my school doesn’t think very highly of this principal. I’m not sure the exact reason why. All I was told was it was because this principal was really tough and not always very friendly. I really respect the principal at my school, so her opinion is valued. Also, they have high teacher turn-over at the school I interviewed at.
-There probably will be another offer. Our district is hiring hundreds of teachers so I could get a call from a closer/friendlier school.

Any thoughts?

Bigfoot and UFOs

As a child, I adored the idea of UFOs existing. Among other things; Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, Abominable Snowman, etc...

I would literally check books out at the library on said subjects, hopeing to see some great new photograph of one of them.

I would always stop at the Discovery channel or what-have-you if these mysterious beings were being featured...

I would imagine how wonderful life would be if aliens allowed us access to their knowledge. If we were able to mate Nessie and produce little dinosaurs to display in zoos.

I have finally come to a sad conclusion... none of them exist.

How did I come to this conclusion? All religious and scientific reasoning aside, it was simple deductive reasoning my friends…

First off, back in the day, few people had cameras… and those that did didn't take them EVERYWHERE they went. So back then, you had to be in the right place at the right time, but you also had to have a camera on you! What are the chances...?

Today, urban sprawl has taken over, there are more people in more places. And EVERYONE has a camera. Even if it is not a point and click camera, everyone (pretty much) has a camera on their cell phone and they take it everywhere.

So, we have more people, in more places, the majority of which have a handy phone on hand.
So why is YouTube not filled to the gills with footage of Bigfoot or UFOs? Sure, the chances of seeing a drunk 17 year old girl dancing to "Getting' Jiggy With It" are greater than that of seeing Bigfoot, but I am no longer convinced he exists.

I swear I saw a show on one of the cable channels with this team of 'experts' dedicated to finding Bigfoot. The promo hailed it as being the end all, be all of Bigfoot footage. I NEVER saw Bigfoot, I heard a strange growling in the forest, I heard someone CLAIIM a rock was thrown at them, and back at the "home base" some guy had all the fancy equipment out and on his laptop screen was Microsoft Streets and Trips…

Just like the giant squid hoopla… show me some real, high quality footage, until then, let me watch Seinfeld reruns.

What Happened to the Blogathon?

Indeed, I cannot blog at work any longer. So sorry to be gone so long, but there are a few good excuses/reasons:

1. I have a new job where I work in a secure environment and things like Blogger, MySpace, and pretty much every other fun thing on the internet are blocked. This is a good thing in many ways, though since I really enjoy the work I'm doing. Have I explained what it is I am doing? Well, here goes: I am in charge of writing and enforcing the standards used to protect the entire Air Force network. No small task, but one that has been actually fun for me. I work with some very nice and fun people, too, which makes the job even better.

2. I have 2 little boys now. Luke just turned 3 on March 4th. He's lots of fun. Every afternoon, I come home and we play with his train set or in the backyard or something. By the time he and Noah are asleep, I just don't think about the blog...Noah is beautiful. He's growing way too fast, but strong and well.

3. We're about to renovate our kitchen and family room. This entails so much more than I can mention here. We're doing it ourselves, though, with the help of my dear old Dad. It's going to add some significant space and open up the rooms quite a bit. Lots to do, lots to do...

OK, 3 reasons are enough, right? Wrong. I feel bad about not visiting my dearest friends. Hopefully, this post will expunge my trespass from the blog record. But, I do hope to chronicle a few more things here. I miss writing, too. So many things must move to make space, but for the best, my dear friends.

Oh, I almost forgot! Some of you know this already, but Rachel is working from home now! I'm very proud of her, and the extra cash helps, too.

Alright, that's it for now. I'll write again as soon as I can think of something to write about and have time to do it. Love and peace, my brothers.

A Good Service

I’m a writing fool today. Sorry for those who get bumped.

Amy and I visited my grandmother the other day in Maryville, Tennessee. While there we attended the Maryville church of Christ. What a joyous thing it was.

The congregation is decent in size, probably around 300 members. This made for a glorious song service. It really is amazing what a few hundred extra members will make in the singing. But beyond just the change is numbers, the member all seemed to truly be singing with joy from their hearts. I hate to sing congregations that don’t really sing, and adore it when everybody gathers together to create a “joyful noise.”

The lesson, likewise was marvelous. The preacher spoke about avoiding temptation, and feeing the devil. He spoke energetically and enthusiastically. He used some examples from current events (some local teens had just been killed in a car accident involving alcohol,) told some personal anecdotes, and made us crack the Book multiple times. The scriptures were actually read (instead of just alluded to) and he applied them directly to his points in the sermon.

The congregation was not overly friendly, but no less than half a dozen members approached us and chatted us up amicably.

All in all it was a very wonderful service where we worshipped God appropriately, and left feeling enthusiastic and encouraged.

Ice Storm In Indiana

Though it is warm and sunny here these days, it was but a few weeks ago that we were covered in a thick layer of ice. Being the incredibly brave (or insanely stupid) adventurers that we are, me and Amy of the Chaldeans took off and captured the beautiful ice in picture form.

Technology VS God

We now have a variety of ways to communicate with each other instantaneously. Through e-mail, blogs, instant messaging, text messaging, and cellular phones we can talk to the world instantly. Yet, it seems to me, that the Church is using this new technology only to tear down each other through gossip and maliciousness.

For example, at the congregation I attend we receive a newsletter from a congregation in Mississippi that is always filled with the errors and problems of other congregations and our universities. Every month there are articles lambasting Abilene Christian or David Lipscomb University for some liberal movement that have partaken in. Likewise other congregations are decreed as unscriptural for something found in their bulletins, or spoken by one of their leaders.

This is but one example. There are many other places printing similar bulletins and writing similar things on blogs and webgroups.

My assumption is this newsletter’s editors are scouring these organizations web sites and bulletins for something damning. Likewise, like minded people are forwarding gossip over to their offices for write ups.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a liberal movement in the church, and there are congregations moving away from the Word. These things need to be dealt with, yet I cannot say that damning them in a printed bulleting is the way to do it.

Rare is it that I see one of these types of publications actually attempt to contact the offending congregation and get the full story. Few are the times when we gently try to lead those astray back to the fold before we print their hanging in large, bold type.

I guess I’m just tired of seeing so much hostility and gossip, and very little energy spent on encouragement and spreading the joy of the Gospels. It seems like technology could be used in such amazing ways to improve the Church, yet so often it is only used to attack others.

Tags, Part III (The Last Post On This, I Promise - Maybe)

I hate to harp on this again, so soon after my last one, and especially since you guys are actually starting to use the tags, but before it becomes a bigger mess, I want to point out a few things.

In the space where you can write in your tags, there is a link labeled “show all.” Please use this as it will show you all the tags that have previously been added. Before you add a new tag, please use the ones already invented.

Also, before you add a new tag, think a moment about whether or not we need to be that specific. Tags need to fall somewhere in between really general and really specific. If it is too general then basically every post we create will be tagged as that, and then it is useless. Too specific and you only have one or two posts with that label and again its usefulness in questionable.

Honestly, I don’t mind the really specific stuff as much as being too general. So, while “smoking” or “jamboree” may never get used again, I don’t think it is a bad thing to have to specifically labeled out. My main concern, here, is that we are using the ones already created. For example, Mullins you used “mullins” as a tag, when “mullinz8” has already been created. And neither of you two used “personal” or “life story” when all of the recent posts fall into those categories.

I know, it is all new, and you both probably could care less, but I’m really into the tags and want to make them work properly. And I don't mean to constantly be jumping on anyone. I'm thrilled you went back in and tagged, I just want to make sure we do it properly, otherwise we'll have a whole bunch of tags for the same thing.

Just to stave off confusion, I’m going to break down all the tags and their meaning.

All Labels:

• ACPO: Any post dealing with the American Coalition for Peeing Outside.
• Art: Any post dealing with painting, or sculpture. This can entail discussion of classic artists, making your own art, or a picture of a particular artistic piece.
• BigSip: All posts written by the illustrious BigSip.
• Blog: All posts about this blog, or blogging in general.
• Charlie: All posts written by the not so illustrious Charlie.
• Church: Honestly, I didn’t create this one. I was tagging all spiritual discussion under “religion” but we could make this more geared to attending church services, or related specifically to the church of Christ.
• Current Events: Any post geared to items currently in the news. This is not for personal posts about events that recently happened to ourselves.
• Diana: All posts written by the beautiful and luxurious Diana.
• Dream: All posts written about dreams that we have had or, dreaming in general.
• Fun: A pretty general category. I created it originally for our random posts about funny things we’ve found on the internet, but can be used for anything deemed enjoyable.
• Internets: Mainly used for posts which contain links to outside websites, but could also be used for general discussion about the cultural phenomenon that is the World Wide Web.
• Jamietoons: All posts about Jamisons cartooning endeavors.
• Jamison: All posts written by Jamison.
• Kermitgrn: All posts written by the funny little green man.
• Life Story: Personal posts that are written in story form. The original idea here was to separate the simple personal posts, “I applied for a job today” from the longer posts that tell an interesting story.
• Literature: All posts about the written form, can be classic literature, pop fiction, or even our own attempts at writing fiction.
• Mat Brewster: All posts written by that hack.
• Movies: All posts written about the cinema, including our own attempts at short film.
• Mullinz8: All posts written by David Crosby
• Music: All posts written about music.
• Personal: Any posts of a personal nature. A very broad category which encompasses most of what we write, but excludes all the random silliness we are all fond of.
• Photography: Originally intended for any post containing a picture we have personally taken, but it kind of morphed into any post that contains a picture.
• Politics: Any post about politics.
• Rachel: Any post by the glorious and wonderful Rachel.
• Religion: All posts about God.
• Reviews: All posts that review something. We haven’t done these in awhile, and I really created it to try to get Jamison to do more reviews, like he used to do.
• Television: All posts on TV
• Tnmommieof2: All posts by the effervescent Juliana.
• Travel: All posts about traveling.
• YouTube: all posts that contain a youtube video.

I know that’s a lot, and probably most of you didn’t read half of this. But please do browse the selection before choosing a new one. This simply won’t work if we don’t use it properly.

Breathing easy

I am very proud of my wife and you all should be too.

As many of you know Jules has smoked for the past couple of years. She stopped when pregnant (thankfully) but has been a slow burning chimney none the less for quite some time.

Recently I had to play nursemaid to a sick wife who was too wiped out to do much of anything including smoke. After just over a week the illness passed and Jules was already most of the way through her de-toxing without having put too much thought into the whole process.

The next week was pretty tough because her routine at work was shaped by her need to smoke: lunch, breaks, trip in and back home all with smokes in place.

On a weekend shopping excursion Jules asked if she could buy one pack, smoke one and let me hold the rest for her. I told her if she bought a pack she would have to give the rest to me and I would instantly throw them away.

She continued to be smoke free for another day. To date my wife has continued to be smoke free. What that really (selfishly) means is that Isaac, Caleb and I don’t have to be unwilling second-hand smokers anymore and for that I’m very thankful.

I don’t know that you guys really know what it is to quit one of the most addictive and socially accepted drugs in history so please take a moment and let her know how happy you are for her determination, strength and courage to fight this addiction.

Julie, I love you and am very proud, thank you.

Grove Park Inn

The Mulls and The Brals had a grand ole time in Asheville, NC.

Sometimes I forget how much I can laugh, and sometimes I forget how much I can make other people laugh, but apparently I had because we all laughed alot... likewise, we rested alot.

I won't go into how good the food was, and how nice the spa was, nor about how nice it was to stay up late in the grand hall by a fireplace that 15 men could fit in while I tried to convince Mullins to use some of my material in his standup routine. I will also pass over the part about getting a box of chocolate (And the box was made of chocolate) delivered to our room by a guy Mullins had befriended that worked there...

But, I will leave you with a few pics... I have some awesome ones of all 4 of us, of the Mulls, and of just me and my wife, (another one) but this is all I had at work. The rest are at home.

I am really relaxed in this first picture...

Sat on their park bench like bookends...

Everyone has friends. What seperates folks is the quality of those friends and the bond of that friendship.

As mentioned in an earlier post, Jamboree was last weekend and I did the stage managing duties, as always. This year, John Gordon brought in a few old school Jamboree hosts and hostesses from years past. One of those was a one Jennifer Puryear (Now Jen Duncan).

Jen was one of my first friends at Faulkner. Yes, before Brew, and before Sip. Maybe not before Ryan though. Jen and I have seen little of each other since she graduated F.U. She came to my wedding, I went to hers, and other than that, it has been virtual radio silence. Sure, the occational email will be tossed in there, but not much else.

Were we mad at each other? No. Did we have a falling out? No. Was our friendship put on hold? No. But relationships do this from time to time... they don't fizzle out, they just slow down for a period of time I guess. Life takes over and life changes, and friendships adjust accordingly.

Joining MySpace may have been one of the best things I have ever done to push out any remaining depression I may have had in my life. Reconnecting with so many old friends has been glorious. Jen being one of those friends. We were able to reconnect, catch up, and appreciate our friendship again! I then learned she would be coming to town for Jamboree and I was as happy as you could imagine.

When Jen came into town, we went to lunch that day. Let me tell you folks, it was like she never left. We laughed at everything. Just like the old times. Back in the day we would just look at each other in chorus practice and laughter would ensue. I have way too many memories to share so I won't even start. But after lunch last week we grabbed my camera and shot at least 15 pics of ourselves with as many expressions as we could come up with. The top picture is "Melancholy".

A test of a true friendship is going a long period of time without seeing or talking to one another, and seeing how strong the relationship is after that "time out"... and not freaking out or losing your mind when you realize that the relationship is in a time out . I'm happy to say the friendship I share with Jen is as strong as ever, and ever will continue to be.

Of course the obvious question people used to ask is "She is beautiful! Why didn't you ever go out with her?" All I can say is that I never looked at Jen based on her looks. She became my friend when I honestly had few if any friends at Faulkner and from that day forward, that's what she was to me. I wouldn't even call it a brother-sister thing, we were pure and simple friends! I am sure I considered it once or twice in the many years I knew her, but 2 minutes later she would call and ask if I wanted to play hide and seek or go climb a tree and those thoughts just went away for what ever reason.

Hearing Jen sing last weekend was unreal. We all have known her our who college lives, and we were all friends with her. I grew to "get used" to her singing abilities. I guess you could say I took them for granted. I knew she sang well, but I had heard her sing so many times and I knew her so well that frankly, I stopped getting a thrill out of her amazing singing voice. When she started to sing Friday night at Jamboree I could not move. Ussually I am busy backstage when there is a performance going on. I rarely just stop and watch. But I sat there remembering that "Hey, she is a really good singer" because frankly, I had forgotten. I guess in a way this is just another sign of a true friendship; I wasn't her friend because of her looks or her singing abilities... but man, can she sing!

Anyway, I know many of you know Jen, and thought you may enjoy that story. A quick update, she is in a suburb of Nashville with her VERY good looking husband who runs a recording studio. He must be good at what he does because he has a few Grammy's to prove it. Success and money have not changed the Jen we all know and love. She is as solid as she has ever been.

I leave you iwth a few more pics taken during jamboree, of more "Old Friends" as the title of this blog suggests (Assuming you have heard that song).

Me and the lovely Compton sisters.

You can't talk about old pals without talking about Fred...

Perhaps you remember Jason Gray?

Who can forget Knapp?

Saying something I never thought I'd say

Jamboree has come a long way.
Sure, the hosts and hostesses aren't going to win grammys anytime soon.
Sure, the club shows can be cheesy and repeatative.
But this year, I actually had ... FUN!
And next year, I actually HOPE I can do it!
The students at Faulkner (At least the ones in clubs) were a pleasure to work with. They were all fun, well behaved, and extreemly nice and welcoming. And ALL the shows were actually GOOD!
Gone are the days where you have one club show that is really good, 2 that suck, and one that doesn't even exist. The clubs work VERY hard on their shows, and honestly, few really care if they win or lose, they just have fun and do really great shows!
I did a video. Unfortunately, there are no shots of the new clubs show (cant remember their name... basically they are Mu Beta Sigma with alot of Kappa members in them) who did an awesome Alladin show, complete with the blue and red genie! I also didnt get any shots of the Zeta and AAA show, who did a fun pirate show. The two best shows were Kappas and Epsilons... and guess what? Epsilon didn't win this year, shocker! But both clubs did great shows!

Enjoy the film! If you have MySpace, check out all my photos from Jamboree on my page...

Death Of The Blog. Plus Tags, Part 2

The blogs not really dead, but it is definitely sick. In the last month we’ve seen a lot of Jamison, quite a bit of me, and a smattering of Mullins. No Sipper, no Mrs. Sipper, no Stubbs (Mrs. or otherwise) no anyone else.

I’m not really complaining, just stating the facts. We’ve seen very little action around these parts for some time. I realize there are reasons, Josh can’t blog at work, and would rather spend his home time with his family instead of us (this is a credit to Josh, again not a complaint.) Mullins seems to have landed a job where they actually expect him to work, and likewise spends his home time with family. I’m sure Diana is busy with school and Charles was eaten by a crocodile. We’re all busy. I haven’t posted as much as I used to, and I’m less busy than any of you folks.

The truth is, for whatever reason, we all haven’t been that active. Even the discussions have been bereft of the regular Café-ers. Thank goodness we have some new readers who have greatly added to the discussion.

My point here, is what’s next? I very much don’t want to see this blog die. I know in the past, I have spoke out against inviting other writers, but times are changing. I’m suggesting we grab a couple of other folks and invite them to join our little blog family. Ryan, I’m looking right at you. You’re already a member, and kindly have only kept yourself to the comments, but I see no reason you can’t chime in with posts of your own.

There are others we could invite. In fact, I have secretly made Kellie a member, due to the fact she agreed to help me with the tags. Anybody have a problem with her adding new posts? I would so much rather this blog take on new voices, than fade away due to our busy lives.

What say ye?




Speaking of Kellie and tags, she has spent many long hours helping me tag the 600+ posts we have written over the last two years. This was not an easy task, as the blogger software doesn’t let you mass tag very easily. Our posts are also often rambly, covering multiple topics at once and thus, are not easily tagged.

I am proud to say that we have finally completed this endeavor and every single post we have written is not gloriously tagged and categorized.

A few notes about the tags:

Names were tagged when you wrote a post. “Life Story” is simply a personal post written in long form with some sense of storytelling. “Personal” denotes a more personal post meant to pass along simple details about our lives. Although, somewhere along the way life stories also got tagged with “personal.” So there is overlap.

“Internets” for the most part denotes a post with an external link to various things we felt were worth mentioning. “Literature” denotes any discussion of the written word. The rest is pretty self-explanatory.

Some fun facts:

Jamison is king of the blog with a whopping 153 posts written, followed closely by BigSip with 143. Rounding out the top four posters with over a hundred posts a piece are me and Mullins. Person with the fewest posts is one Charlie with a mere 4 posts written.

Our favorite topic is “personal” of which we have written about 212 times. Showing how literary we all are, “life story” closely follows with 143.


I beg, nay plead with you to please add tags to your new posts. It took a lot of time adding these things in, and I don’t want to have to go back and do it again, because you all are too lazy. If you don’t understand how to do it, just ask. Please also note that you can click on “show all” while you are writing a post and it will give you a list of all the tags we have thus far used. Though if you feel it merits it, you may add new ones.

Tags are a great way to organize the blog. At a touch you may now read every post by Jamison or tnmommieof2. Want to know if we’ve ever blogged about the evils of instrumental music? Click on the religion tag and find out. Want to create some categories for next years blog awards? With the tags you can easily look through all our posts and find the best of the rest.

Now go forth and write!

Family Secrets

I’m still trying to research this a little, and fill in the details, so there will likely be a longer, follow up story in the weeks to come, but I found some information about my family I wanted to share.

My grandfather fought in the Philippines during World War II. This is a fact that not even my father knew until a few years ago, for grandfather never, ever mentioned it. Last summer I brought it up with him wanting to get some stories out of him before he died, but all he would say is that he had seen action.

Talking with my grandmother, this past weekend she told me that when his active duty was done that he was told to stay in for two extra weeks, doing office work, and he would get a nicer benefits package. He refused outright and wanted to be shipped immediately home.

Once he returned home he boarded up his windows and nailed his door shut, afraid that the Japanese would sneak in and take him.

For a year after he returned he would often cry out to his mother that he could never go to heaven. That he was bound for hell for the things he had seen. The things he had done. For he had killed men. He had bombed buildings, murdered innocents. He had seen little children’s arms and legs flying dismembered from the explosions he had caused.

Eventually, she said, they calmed him down and made him understand he had served his country, and the Greater Good and could indeed go to Heaven. But hearing that story, broke my very heart.

Here was a young man, 17 at the time, I believe, from the hills of Tennessee. Seventh grade education, never seeing much beyond the farm he grew up on. Suddenly he is shipped to the wonders of California where he learns how to be a warrior, a soldier, and killer. Then he is shipped to some exotic island to experience what hells I’ll never understand only to again be shipped back and expected to live a normal life.

I may not agree with the politics of our current wars, but my heart goes out to all the men and woman who quite literally put their lives on the line ever single day. I pray God brings them home safe, healthy and able to adjust to normal life again.

Ban the bridge

The toll bridge near my neighborhood (that turns a 40 minute drive to work into a 22 minute drive) was sold. Sold to a company in Australia. the first thing this new company does is raise the toll from $1.00 to $1.50.

I thought I would be the only person upset about this, but I get a flyer on my mailbox every other day, picketing lines are being formed every weekend, and there is an unoffical boycott of the toll bridge the day that it will first go to $1.50.

I listen to local talk radio alot and people call in all the time about it.

So I did my part...

www.banthebridge.com

it is not done yet, but almost finished, check it out! I certainly will not be able to not use the bridge every day, but I can cut my usage down by 50% easily, saving me money! So it is really a good thing!

TLC

THis will be (plan on it being) a short post... but on a topic that bugs the dickens out of my wife and me.

Anyone ever watch TLC? AKA, The LEARNING Channel?

My wife and I have yet to figure out what there is to LEARN on TLC...

I can guess 9 times out of 10 what will be on it before turning to it. I simply say "something about tattoos or building chopper motocycles." I am ussually right...

Here is abrief glimps of their programming:

"Krazy Kids" First off, I love the witty misspelling. This was a show with home videos of kids acting funny... AFV basically. What can be learned? Babies are funny.

"Miami Ink" How far can you take a show about tattoos... not a history of them, a reality show of a parlor. Can you say "Yawn"? What is learned? Someone fill in this blank.

"American Chopper" Okay, the first 2 or 3 times you atch it, it is cool. Nice bikes, nice workmanship, cool rides... okay, then toss in a stupid son who is there only at the producers request for laughs, make the dad get so angry you wonder if his penis is the size of a toothpick and the only way he can feel better is to yell the F word 50 times, get spitting angry at some milimeter mistake, and call it good programming. What is learned? Dont make a 65 year old mane with tattoos mad.

"Little People, Big World". Cool show, but honestly, it has run its course... they are midgets. They are small, they overcome things, awesome... let it end.

The World's Tallest Bridge

That right there, is the highest bridge to ever be built. It is currently still under construction in the mountain range of Massif in France. It is approximately 984 feet high, which is taller then the Eiffel Tower.

Wednesday Nights

What's cool about this blog group is that I can say the most insane thing and it be considered as something intellectual.

Let's talk about Wednesday nights, shall we?

Firstly, let's eleminate all talk of any Wednesday night class from college level on down. I look at college, youth, and child class on Wednesday nights as fine, and worthy.

Adult classes, at least in my opinion at my church, are lacking.

The more I think about the choices I have (A class about Old Testament stories, a ladies class which I dont qualify for, but I hear it is really dull, and ussually an auditorium class that is as exciting as my business calculus class in colelge) the more I am happy I teach 2 and 3 year olds on most Wednesday nights. I am sorry, but talking about Hebrews in a lecture-style way, or David and Goliath does not make me want to go out and start knocking on doors for Jesus.

I thought Wednesday night services were to lift us up, recharge our batteries, get us back on fire for Christ. Instead, we are lead to the auditorium after dull classes like cattle, sing a song WAY flat and slow so we sound like we are SAD, even when singing a happy song, and hear a lesson that sounds like the past 232 Wednesday night devos, always ending with "if you need anything, please come as we stand and sing."

This is out "battery charger" after working 8 to 9 hours in this evil and tempting world.

Here is my idea;
Instead of starting at 7pm (an hour before many children's bedtime) have it at 6pm.
Have your classes for 30 minutes. All ages in their own classrooms. The last 30 minutes of church is int he fellowship hall, or what-have-you, eating a pretty cheap meal, easy to make for large groups (spagettii, some rice dish, etc...). Before eating there is a gathering for QUICK announcements, a thankful prayer, go get your food, and someone speaks for MAYBE 10 minutes tops as we eat. "The Invitation" (which we find no wher ein teh Bible, yet would split churches if we didnt have it) can be optional.

Heck, make classes optional. Make it one big fat happy family meal!

Fellowship. That is the ONLY part of Wednesday night service that recharges my batteries. We are not commanded to worship God in any specific way or time on Wednesdays. So in a way, it IS a selfish day to have any sort of church related event on. WE NEED IT! If fellowshiping with fellow brothers and sisters who need fellowship too is how we can recharge better, so be it.

Of trees

This might be an odd observation but it’s one I’m been holding on to for some time. It has to do with chunks of wood. Recently I noticed a steel safety barrier and in between the anchor posts and the railing I noticed these big blocks of wood.

On the inner stated I noticed rigs hauling steel bridge tresses with large wooden beams placed between the trailer and the raw material.

Standing as a tree there is little thought given to the potential of the mass other than by carpenters and the like. They are wonderful things to climb and memorable to swing from and as a child they are everything from monsters to castles. As adults these towers are ornaments and landscaping devices. As industrious folks can envision these natural phenomenon are virtually anything that can be imagine.

For all of the great innovations people have made over the years I think it’s funny that the one item that is both amazingly strong and durable and still able to flex, collapse and cushion is wood.

This simple and often underestimated thing which can have life spans from a few short years to well over 400 is truly one of the most versatile devices created by a loving God.
Again I’m not sure why I thought of this a week or so ago but it has sort of helped me keep some things in perspective.

Why Montgomery Needs Mullins

Back in the day, me and the Mullins talked about creating a local advertising company. The idea was that local markets continuously have the worst possible commercials. We figured with a little cash we could do so much better.

Well, after watching this Montgomery commercial, I think a blind, retarded squirrel could do better.

Blogger 2.0

Blogger has finally seen fit to allow me to switch this blog to their upgraded version. If it continues to work right, all writers will be asked to switch when you sign in. Don't worry, it is painless, although it may take a minute if you are on a slow connection.

In terms of reading, and writing on the blog, this won't mean all that much to you. There are a few enhancements in what you can do with the look of the blog, and feeds and such like, but since we mostly stick to the basics, most of this stuff will pass right by. Though feel free to play around a little.

One big change is the ability to add tags. For the uninitiated tags are like little categories you can add to each post. The idea being that whenever someone visits the blog they will have all our little posts in nice neat categories. Say you want to read every post by Jamison, blamo, right in a neat little link you can have them all neatly piled up. Or say you are interested in our thoughts on religion, or the Beatles, or various cheeses. Well, with tags you can see everything written on a particular subject.

All of these tags can be added to the side bar for easy access. At least I think they can, but have yet to figure out how.

I will, over the course of the next few days/weeks/months, be going back and adding tags to all of our posts. I do want to create a tag for each person that posts. However, before I do that I want some permission. I know some of you are weary of getting your full name into the world wide web, and so I would like everyone to include the name you would prefer for tags. I can very easily use the names you use in blogger, as they are already attached to the posts created and the comments written, but if you want another name, let me know.

For the future, the ways to create a tag are simple. Simply type in the categories, seperated by a comma, in the little space that is just below the area you normally write a post in. Blogger labels it as "labels" and it is pretty straight forward from there.

It is usually best not to get too terribly specific as then there won't be very many posts in a category. I'll probably add some generally generic ones like: "religion", "work", "life stories", "movies" and such like. I'll let everyone know exactly what I create once I get there. But you are welcome to come up with some of your own too.

A Most Unusual Washing

Over the last few week’s we have had a handful of storms delivering 1-2 inches of snow each time. The temperature has not risen above freezing in that time, and thus we now have a very dirty, collections of nasty slushy, snow conglomeration. Needless to say my automobile looks most miserably disgusting.

This past Saturday, even though it was still well below freezing, I decided to get a car wash. It was a very pretty day, and the weather wasn’t calling for more snow for at least half a week. Wanting to get the nastiness, especially all the corrosive salt off my car I decided it was worth bearing the cold for.

Apparently, this was a common thought, as there was quite the line at the car wash. Three lines extended into three separate automatic washers. I choose the one on the far right. As we nudged closer, we noticed that the walls of each washing stall were covered in ice. We also laughed as we saw large ice sickles hanging off the washing lines.

Finally there was only one car before us and nudged our way up to the pay-machine. Inserting our cashola we watched the car in front of us get a wash.

Interestingly, the pre-wash soak part seemed to not be working. Little soap bubbled sort of dropped from the machine, but the car was certainly not getting a good sudzing. That doesn’t look good, we thought, but what could we do? We were trapped in a stampede of cars.

A knock came upon my window and a fellow stood there telling me the machine was definitely broken.

“Pull through,” he said, and advised me to get into another line. Pull through I did and drove around to wait in line a second time. For my trouble he gave me double the cash I had originally paid.

Waited again, we did and finally got the car washed. While being soaked and washed we laughed as the mirrors and back windshield quickly froze over, before being washed again, thus wiping away the ice. The end came, and I slowly drove through the dryer. Not slow enough, it seems, for when we parked at Kroger, the entire car was caked in a thin layer of ice.

It eventually did melt, and get blown off, but that was definitely the most unusual washing my car has ever seen.

There is a market for pee

Okay, I posted our ACPO message on youtube saturday... and in 24 hours almost 100 people have viewed it.
And this blog post is the FIRST "announcement" i have made for it.
Makes me wonder what people are searching for on YouTube....

Party ANIMALS!

Warning!
Be aware that what you are about to see is a film of 2 college aged GUYS celebrating NEW YEARS!
Having said that, you may watch...

You've seen it before, but I've edited it so it looks cool and stuff... My fave part is the music at the end...

yeah, it's sad but...

...at least the gene pool is a bit thinner.

Inner City

What I am about to say here may sound pretty pathetic, mean, hateful, and will sound very much like a man who has no faith in the power of God. I reckon it is fair to say that. However, I have to get this out of my head and onto paper...well, er, the screen...

Every Tuesday night, I go to our church and participate in the Montgomery Inner City Outreach. Basically, several churches around the city take a bus load of kids varying in age on different nights (We take 7, 8, and 9 year olds on Tuesdays for example). The night last 40 to 60 minutes. But class only runs for 40 minutes.

Essentially we have 2 to 4 classrooms with 7 to 10 kids in each class... 10 at most, sometimes 6 after you send the bad ones out. We read a story about Jesus, we answer questions, color, do a word search related to the story, etc... We all think of inner city kids as being mean, hateful, and rowdy. Well, in a way this is true. But honestly, they are just kids and there are a handful who are just as sweet as your own child. Then there is the one who has behavioral problems out the yen-yang because she got hit in the neck by a stray bullet and her brother molests her every night.

Here is where my faith in god may sound lacking. Our work seems useless and futile.

First of all, our curriculum is written on a 3rd or 4th grade level. Have you ever heard an inner city public school 8 year old try to read the word "Apostle"? Or even try the name "Daughter"? How about the one kid in every class that looks up at you when he comes to the word "then" because he cant pronounce it? So mistake number one is that these lessons need to be readable on a 1st grade level at BEST because that's how these kids read. Granted, there are the 1 or 2 kids in the class who love to read and read like an ace and my heart goes out to them because they have everything it takes to be successful yet they were dealt different cards in life as you and I and will have to work EXTRA hard to be successful.

Secondly, as these kids read aloud, the remaining 7 or 8 are in la la land either looking around, kicking one another under the table, flipping the other off, or trying to get out of their seat. And you cant really get mad at them. Heck, they are probably fussed at all day or worse, beaten. Best you can do is get the bad ones out of class and the rest are fine.

Okay, best case scenario: They come in, sit like little angels, read like a poet, comprehend every bit of it, and go home only after giving you a big fat hug... They get home, find mom (and maybe a dad) in the house selling dope or weed, repeating the F-bomb over and over, treating the child like an inconvenience, neglecting the child, and subjecting the child to rap music that does anything but lift a child's spirit. 24 hours later, the fact that Jesus died on a cross means nothing to this child. You can't force a mom or dad to be a good mom or dad...

Half these kids don't go to church and the ones that do go with their grandmother to some church OTHER than the one sponsoring this outreach program.

Now, here is where I come in.... I no longer feel like I am doing this work for God or the Church, but rather for the people that do it with me. Let me explain...

Before I did inner city, I was doing VBS. I noted that alot of guys and gals I knew and loved from church stopped coming to help with VBS. Being a sweet and innocent boy, I figured "I have no right to be upset that they aren't coming if I don't help THEM with inner city!" So it started. I started doing the inner city thing. Already for the wrong reasons.

Well, turned out, me being there didn't encourage anyone anymore to come help with VBS the next summer. Yet, I knew the need for inner city workers was great so I kept going. Not for the kids, not for God, not even for me, but so my friends wouldn't be deserted when a big bus load showed up and there are only enough teachers for half those kids. Guilt I guess.

Do I like doing it? No! On Tuesdays I simply stay at work till 6:30pm rather than drive to Wetumpka only to have to turn back around! I miss dinner and wife time in the process. I'd love to never go again? Why? Because I not only don't think I am doing anything worth-while, but I KNOW I am not doing it for God but rather my friends. TOTALLY wrong!

There, that's off my chest. I know God can do ANYTHING, but sometimes, it seems like Tuesday nights are His biggest challenges...

I hate computers.

I used to love them but not I have stopped the fetish and consider them a waste of time. Of course I really like playing Lego Star Wars II with Isaac and I couldn't do my job without using one. I enjoy getting emails from my pals, I hope you guys are all doing good, it's been a while. Still I don't like the dang things and someday when the great economic fall comes they won't even be good for keeping a fire going.

Here's hoping I remember how to get back on to this thing in the morning.

BTW I think I'll have a piece I did at the Grove Park Inn on line some time tomorrow. If I can remember how to post it on the WBIR site I'll let you guys know.

Since I am on a Stubbs-Coke kick....

Long time coming

Coke's (should be anyway) new ad campaign, and spokesman.

(I added another one in my bordum today.)

O Thou Lying Girgashite!

While doing a little surfing, I stumbled upon a Biblical Curse Generator. It says that it takes it is loaded with "blistering put-downs as delivered by Elijah, Jeremiah and other monumentally angry saints," but I'm pretty sure most of them are made up.

Whether it is actual scripture or not, it is pretty stinking funny.

Here's a few of my favorites:

"Harken, O ye discourager of the brethren, for you will go on a diet of crunchy,
unsweetened locusts!"

"May you be as welcome as a fart in the queen's bedchamber, thou irritating inhabitant of Gath!"

"Behold, thou shalt be pursued into the mountains by sex-mad baboons, O thou babbling Assyrian!"

"Thou shalt become as popular as a boil on the king's backside, O thou whose name is but dung!"

$10 and my faith in humanity

So my general faith in the world at large isn’t what it should be and I’ll easily admit that. This morning while I was showing Isaac how to pump gas, the kid likes to be helpful what can I say, some guy asks me for a couple of bucks so he can get these two girls to work and then back home.

I look around at the other cars and see that they have this less than approving look on their face.

I think,” this is a test” amid everything else in the world I’m being tested by this schlep that needs gas. I get $10 and hand it to him he give me a couple of “God bless you” lies and the usual stuff and then starts to get in his car. I yell at the guy and tell him “Now, get the gas now!” “Oh, yeah”. The woman in the drivers seat, the whole time is mouthing “sorry, sorry” and while the guy goes in, I imagine he’s prepaying for the gas, the bitch in the back seat gets out and gives me this sob story. I tell her that I’ll get paid again in a couple of days and as long as he’s not buying smokes and junk food I don’t mind helping someone out.

When Isaac and I finish we walk in and considering this is one of my two places I get fuel I ask Carl how much gas the guy on one got. “The first time he spent two bucks, just then he spent $1.50”.

What a shit heap. By the end of the day I hope I won’t be pissed about this but there is a good chance I’ll not be able to reconnect to the forgiveness post of yesterday. This is insignificant and won’t matter in the great scheme of things but it’s a shitty way to start the day.

The art of forgiveness.

The Bible is a wonderful book; it’s a collection of writings that truly span the existence of man on this earth.

For as much guidance it gives me it is a conundrum for application. What I’ve found is that the Bible tends to share the spotlight in the phrase “easier said than done”. Then again…

Some recent events which bare no further explanation (so don’t ask) have tested this hypothesis. What I’ve found is that the less significant the situation the harder it has been for me to follow the seventy times seven example of forgiveness.

I’ve always questioned the application over the ability of being able to forgive someone no matter the situation because there should be no way I can hold some something over anyone else’s head when my example for forgiveness life has forgiven me for everything I’ve done.

It’s most practical application to me comes in the parable of the king who forgave his slaves debts. One slave then forgave those who owed him and the other slave refused to forgive his friends debt, reaping punishment upon himself.

This should be my example for living. I’ve encountered dozens of situations in my life since I sort of reexamined things about two years ago and have had no desire or means to apply this teaching because I’ve always been right in my assessment of the situation, no matter what.

What would stick out to me was the idea that I was wronged and there should be some sort of residual retribution made to me before I forgive anyone. My point must be made and accepted, then and only then will I bestow upon you the gift of my forgiveness. This is not how it should work.

What I’ve figured out is that when the pressure is on and you’re really digging deep for some sort of divine guidance application is a matter of asking. Humility and pride must be adjusted into submission and your heart must be placed in a sort of cruise control beyond active thought. After that everything else is easy.

I think the key to things like this is to actually and completely believe that’s what God wants to help you do. When you sincerely ask you shall completely receive.

frilled functioning fossil shark

I thought is would be nice to throw out this little reminder about how much of the world we know about. Recently some Japanese fishermen saw a strange fish and called most marine biologists to check it out. It ends up to be a very rare frilled shark that’s thought to be extinct or very near to it living at crushing depths.

I know that I can sound a bit like a whack job when I begin talking about animals and the Bible but when there are fossils found with this creature and then you find this creature something automatically doesn’t add up with the evolutionary explanation of things.

I thank God for my faith and his ability to show up people who think they are far smarter than I because of some old bones.

First Day

Well, I'll start by saying that my new work environment will not allow me to blog from work. It's all for the best, of course, but I'll miss having the amount of interaction I used to have.

On the other hand, I LOVE where I work thus far. I went in this morning and did some paperwork in the very building I used to work in. Then it was off to Gunter Air Force Base to see my boss and meet everyone.

When we finally got to the building, it looked like any other government building I've ever seen. But, inside it was a different story.

My boss, Bernie, took me to the "watch floor" first. It looked like something right out of NASA or some sci-fi flick that portrays a military watch floor. Everyone sat on tiers at lined-up workstations and looked on as information scrolled across huge, flatscreen TVs mounted to the walls. There were several different clocks to tell them what time it was in Japan, Germany, etc. It reminded me very much of where I worked up in Georgia, just way cooler.

After I met some folks and filled out paperwork, Bernie took me to my workspace. I was equally amazed, but in a different sort of way. The room struck me as serene. The carpet was a dark, calming green color, flecked with complimentary tones, the cubicle walls were sage with hints of black and there was a huge accent wall at the end that was the same, calming green color. Not only was the space colored perfectly, the lights, instead of beaming down garrishly on my head, were pointed toward the ceiling, causing a beautiful, dappled feel. On top of all that, I have a huge workspace with a large, L-shaped desk, 3, yes 3 separate computers, and an ergonomic chair my boss said cost over $350 (of course, everyone there has one!).

Everyone has been very nice and helpful and interested in my ideas for how to change their training environment. I'm looking forward to really digging in and getting started! I think I'm going to really enjoy this job.

Ice Storm In Oklahoma

Taken by my father in Choteau, Oklahoma, a few miles from where he lives. They have been covered in a sheet of ice for the last several days. He says the neighbor's kids have been ice skating on their yards. Luckily, they have kept their power on, while many in the area have been without.

just the facts ma'am, never mind...

Knoxville is typically not a city where grisly murders take place. Recently the city was rocked by the double murder of a young white couple. Last week one of the suspects was apprehended in KY, later in the week the other was captured by KPD SWAT in a house locally. WBIR was first on the scene to tape the last guy being apprehended. It’s very exciting in the news room when something like this happens, we’ve got people in the mix and reporters trying break the story and everyone gets in a tizzy trying to make sure they get their stories out first.

Anyway one of the reporters had gotten the scoop on how the couple was found. What wasn’t common knowledge until recently was that the guy was badly burned, possibly alive and then shot several times. There is also the idea that since the girl lived for several days after she a) witnessed his murder and b) he witnessed her repeated rape. When the girl was found, she was found bent over, face down in a large trash can. KPD took her to the coroner’s office as she was found. There were signs, from the scene alone that she was subjected to horrible acts of violence prior to her demise. The coroners report confirmed the crime scene.

The subject of this is two fold. First, when something happens all the details are cycled through the newsroom. Part of me loves knowing more that others and then I feel wretched for confirming the despicable facts of some people’s existence. Secondly, I’m glad this place doesn’t release every last detail to the masses.
I don’t know what these guys were on to commit such horrible acts but there are those times when I think it’s just pure evil.

Shut Up Sea Cow

Most of you will remember this bit from Dr. Katz. I've never actually seen the guy in person, so it's funny to see him out of squigglevision. Still. Hilarious.

Dream: Baseball With The Mob

I was playing baseall with against the mob. Actually, I was the son of a mob guy, and was part of the business, I just wasn’t made yet. And that’s the way it was, the sons and underlings of the made guys against the real deal.

It was a tough game too. We were neck and neck the whole time.

For some reason, the made guys had a little kid as their catcher. He was like 13 years old, and not very good. So, I was enlisted to stand behind him and make sure the game ran smoothly – catch anything he missed, keep the ball rolling quickly so the game would keep going, but since I was on the opposite team, it was understood I would not be making any fast throw to get somebody out.

Bottom of the ninth, we were up by one. The made guys are up, this time I’m really catcher. There’s the pitch and somebody tries to steal third. I grab the ball and throw it fast to third and….whoof…it just keeps going. There isn’t a third baseman. I look around and see all of my players not doing anything.

It is then I realize we are making the made guys win. They are in the mob you know, and if they lose, they might get made. Mob guys mad is bad. Very bad.

Game over and we’re all headed out t a meeting. My real dad walks by, and he is one of the top mob gus. He’s helping all these really old mob guys into their cars and asking the “boss” if he wants to go with him.

At this point I think I begin to wake up, so the dream sort of swirls and moves quickly. I remember there was a moment where I was explaining to dad that I didn’t want to be in the mob. And another one talking with my fellow sons of the mob about not being willing to kill.

Don't Know Much About History

As part of my New Years Resolutions, I have decided to start studying history. I'd like to say I've always loved history but that's far from the truth. I mean I paid attention to history in high school and found some of it to be interesting, but never enough to make me read about it on my own.

In college, well I know Jamison will remember how boring the Hick's classes were. The only thing I remember from those classes are that history can actually be interpreted many different ways, and that Jamison remembers all the lyrics to Neil Young's "Unknown Legend."

Perhaps it is the advent of the History channel, or maybe it is my need to watch Band Of Brothers over and over again, but I've recently become much more fascinated by not only our own history, but the worlds. Actually in a sense, it all boils down to wanting to have a wider education. Jamison's recent Boston Tea Party post illustrates my point beautifully. I had no idea it was the anniversary of the Party and I honestly barely remembered what the hub-ub was. I'd like to fix that.

Initially I thought I'd take one subject at a time and read about it for a month before moving on. I had hoped to start early with the Greeks before moving onto the Romans and then, perhaps to the Chinese, but a quick visit to the old bookstore today made me give up such hope. Oh, they had lots of books about the Greeks, but with just a thumb-through I couldn't tell whether they were worth the sticker price.

I'm a beginner, you see, and I don't want a massive, boring tome that will kill this knowledge gaining before it even starts. I did pick up the general history book, which my title comes from, and it is proving to be a fun read, but it's very basic covering subjects in but a few paragraphs and I'd like to dig a little deeper.

Ah, and now we reach the point. I would like some suggestions from ye, my well read friends on some good history books to read. Jamison, I'm looking directly at you.

It's alive. It's alive... It's Alive!!!

Well it seems all I needed was a little time away and to reread Brews amazingly simple instructions, again… Luckily I was able to let Isaac walk me through the steps and here I am.

It’s been a while and I hope everyone is doing great. The blog has been a bit slow so perhaps we should do some catching up.

I guess I’ll start. WBIR is a lot of fun and I’m really enjoying the new gig. I was talking to an old pal at Scripps and telling him that I’ve gotten to experience the weather (one of my simple joys) shoot, edit, create content, and provide for the show. I’m trying to line up shoots at the Grove Park Inn, a monster truck show, an awesome local restaurant, a family therapist and what ever else I think could be interesting.

The wife is wonderful and the kids are too. Caleb has given us a little scare recently and begun stuttering. This happens all the time but when two and two were connected that this began after a small dresser fell and hit him on the head while staying the night at his aunts I went into quiet panic mode. He’s fine and the stuttering will pass on its own in time.

We have cable back in our home and I can tell you I really don’t care. I spent over an hour last night flipping channels simple because I haven’t in such a long time. I was bored stiff in the process. In the past I’d watch a DVD or something or do something called reading. I should have opened a book, eventually I went up stairs and did some editing and felt productive again.
There’s the Readers Digest version of my world over the past little while. What are you guy sup to? Sip, how’s the new gig? Brew, anything? Jamison, have you found any more nasty arithmetic? I know that I just came off the MIA list but are Chuck and Stubbs still out there?

Bathroom Math

I was taking a leak at work in the boys bathroom, and instead of seeing the typical bathroom graffiti, I found a puzzling mathmatical conundrum. Maybe KellieJ can shed light on it, being that she was a math major.

As best I can tell, it is "D = (The Square Root of) (x2 - X1) to the power of 2, + y2 - y1) to the power of 2."

Perhaps it was a formula for a test...?

Happy New Year

Amy and I are headed to her folks for New Years. We'll actually be having a bit of a Christmas celebration with her family as well. Ten adults, six children, one small house. Should be fun!

Hope everyone has a very happy new year!

Semi-Secret Agent Trainer Man

So, the interview was today. They hired me on the spot and said I'll get to negotiate my salary later. I have a few more papers to fill out, but Bernie the task lead and Bobby the DB guru said they are looking forward to working with me.

The job itself hearkens back to what I used to do in the Air Force and for Lockheed Martin. Of course, I had a Top Secret/SCI/SSBI clearance back then, but I'll have at least a Secret this time because of the nature of the work.

First off, I'll be the lead trainer in charge of all the training development, standards, evaluations, education, etc. I have never been as excited about a job.

I just typed what I'll be doing, then I deleted it. I'm a little reluctant to post it, but let's say we'll be handling some matters of national security.

Thanks for all the prayers and support my friends. We are ever thankful for you all and our Father even more.

Say a prayer of thanks to God!

The Brewster's Enter the 21st Century.

Amy has recently taken a teaching position at DePauw University in beautiful Greencastle Indiana. Unfortunately her pay grade is not nearly enough for us to afford a move to beautiful Greencastle Indiana which means my wonderful wife will have to commute. It is about an hours drive and as such we have decided to join the 21st century and get a mobile phone.

That's right, the Brewsters are getting a cell phone.

I despise the idea, but I despise the though of my wife being stranded on Indiana highway even more.

The thing is, we know absolutely nothing about mobile phones. We're pretty much tried to ignore there obnoxious existence until now. So, I'm calling on you, my cellular friends to give me some run downs. The main things I'm curious about are:

Brands: Any opinions on which services are better? Cingular? Sprint? T-Mobile?
Types: Flip phones? The chocolate thingy?
Plans: What plans have you found the best?

We shouldn't need too many minutes as we don't really use the phone all that much. My understanding is pretty much all plans now have the free long distance nation wide, but that's more of a guess than actual knowledge. But if this is not true, then we'd definitely want a plan that included free nation wide calling. Actually we'd want cheap international calls too.

We don't really need all the fancy doohickeys, but I'm totally for camera phones and .mp3 players. But I'm guessing that all has to do with the actual phone and not so much the plans.

Texting I can live without, but I'd definitely like some kind of internet options.

I'm probably sounding like such a doofus with this information as it is probably all self-explanatory, but again I've completely ignored all cell info to this point. All info is absolutely asked for.

Boston Tea Party... Celebrate it this Saturday...

History has always been a bit of a passion for me, particularly the history of the United States... Sure we pretty much screwed the natives later on, and had a horrible civil war (essentially because of what we now call "the Feds"), but thinking of the gutsy nature of the colonists who thumbed their noses at the King of England is really very inspiring... And at the same time very sad that we Americans today take a tax increase with a shrug and a rolling of the eyes... Colonists literally died to keep the money they worked for.

On December the 16th of 1773, what we now call "The Boston Tea Party" occurred. Many people think of this event and can only come up with " A bunch of trick or treaters dressed as Indians tossed a bunch of tea into the harbor." I am blogging this to tell you why, and to help you appreciate it and our history.

You've heard the phrase "Taxation without representation." What's that mean? Okay, when these dudes left England to colonize "America", they were really still part of England. England had parliament (Kindda like our Congress). Everyone had a "representative", except the colonists. No one in parliament represented the colonists, so they kind of felt like they weren't subject to being taxed. I mean, how could people vote to tax them when no one represented them to argue for or against it? The biggest issue these colonist dudes had was the Stamp Act. Anything printed on paper was taxed. Here is the rub; the colonies were taxed 5 times the amount the folks in England were taxed for paper goods... Essentially, this pissed them off.

England loved tea. It was imported from China to the rich folks there. You and I pay 5 to 10% sales tax on things we buy. Tea was taxed 119%. England eventually lowered the tax and everyone was able to afford tea... So they "allowed" China to import to the colonies... And in turn, get some tax money from the colonies.

So the night came that 3 ships packed with tea arrived in Boston. This rag-tag group of dudes called "The Sons of Liberty" met in a pub, drank a few pints, damned the King to hell a few times, then decided to dress as native Americans (to avoid punishment from someone identifying them) and snuck onto these ships. They were not going to let England get any tax money from the sell of this tea by golly! By 9 p.m., they had opened 342 crates of tea in all three ships and had thrown them into the harbor. They took off their shoes, swept the decks, and made each ship's first mate agree to say "The Sons of Liberty had destroyed only the tea", they were met with almost no resistance except for the first mate of one ship who fought valiantly taking out the eyes of several of the residents. The next day, they sent someone around to fix the one padlock they had broken.

England reacted by closing the port of Boston. Some copy-cat groups burned other ships carrying taxable goods in other harbors... As far as tea drinking itself was concerned, many colonists, in Boston and elsewhere in the country, pledged to keep from the drink as a protest. May be why we drink iced tea more often in America...

So this Saturday, make some tea and think about what a luxury it once was in England and the colonies... or, grab a tea bag and throw it into the trash can as a "nod" to some of the framers of this country. And next time the price of stamps go up, or your senator votes to raise your taxes, notice the difference in your reaction and how the "Sons of Liberty" would have reacted. This ain't America the Free anymore.

Jamie Toons

I would appreciate if all would visit this site and find mispellings and such. And even offer advice as to the look and feel of the site. Am willing to change most of it if need be.

http://www.jamietoons.com/

Blockbuster VS Netflix

I have been a member of the online DVD rental community off and on now for several years. For the longest time I went with Netflix because, well at first they were the only ones around, but even later because they had the greatest selection and seemed to treat their customer’s with a well pleasing service.

A few months back I switched to Blockbuster, and I don’t see myself turning back.

Here’s the rundown.

Blockbuster has essentially stolen Netflix’s game plan from them so both services are nearly identical. You choose a plan which consists of how many movies you want out at a time. For example I am on the 2 at a time plan which means at any given time I have two movies “out” (this doesn’t necessarily mean I have them in hand for this count also involves mail time. For this it costs me about $17 a month.

Both services have similar queues wherein who select the movies you want to watch and then as returned movies are turned in, the next movies in your queue are mailed out. Due to popularity of certain titles, an item in your queue may not be available when it hits the front of the line. Both services make not of this on their queues and will then send out the next available flick. I have noticed that Blockbuster has a tendency to send the movies in my top ten a little out of order even though none of them are listed as unavailable. Though I’m not sure why this is, it really isn’t too bothersome to me since I’m not that particular.

From my location and my calculations both services are comparable in terms of how quickly they process returns and send movies out. On average I receive a new movie five days from the time I have returned it.

In terms of selection Netflix gets the prize. They, by far, beat Blockbuster with number of movies in their archives. They also do not place any restrictions on ratings (Blockbuster doesn’t allow NC-17 or X rated films.) Neither company supplies pornography or “Adult” films.

So, why did I choose Blockbuster? Because they give you free in-store rentals. Before a few weeks ago they gave me 1 coupon per week to rent a movie from their physical stores. With my normal online rentals averaging out to two movies a week added with the 1 coupon per week I was receiving approximately 12 movies per month. At less than $20 per month this was already a big bargain.

Blockbuster has recently changed their terms and now instead of mailing the movies back to them you can simply return the DVDs to any Blockbuster store. Once turned in they automatically send out the next movie in my queue thus upping the amount of movies sent to me per month. Also each time you turn in a movie, you may rent one from the store. Thus, even with my old average of two movies per week I’m now doubling the amount of movies I rent from the store, and with the improved mailing times this may even triple. That’s 16-20 movies a month!

Well worth it in my book. I will probably even drop my selection to one movie at a time for $10 which will still see me receiving 12-16 movies per month.

It is a no brainer for me. Now I know most of you are probably now thinking to yourselves that there is no way you could watch that many movies in a month. The reality of the situation is that you don’t have to. With the online rentals there are no due dates or late fees. You can keep the movies as long as you want. With my DVD burner I tend to maximize my movie gathering and money saving potential by turning them in the day after, but you can certainly be more leisurely about it. Even if you take the $10 one at a time option and only watch 4 movies, you’ve still saved yourself money over watching those same movies with regular rental prices.

The HOLY COW Jumped Over the Moon

I'm sorry, Brew, but I had to blog this:

I was outside hanging Christmas lights after Wed night class tonight after the boys had gone to bed, when my wife sticks her head out the back door and says, "Josh, NASA just emailed and they want you to work for them..."

I asked her to repeat what she'd just said. She said it again and I asked if it was a joke or SP@M or something...

"Nope, this guy emailed you for real."

I finished up the lights and walked in, still not sure about how real this email was. When I got to the computer, there it was:

Joshua,

I came across your resume in our database and wanted to reach out to you to see if you are open to relocation to Huntsville, AL. We have a position working with NASA as an instructional design consultant that I thought you might be an excellent fit for based on your background. If you are interested please let me know and I will give you a call to discuss in more detail.

Ummmm, what the heck!?!?

This is NOT a joke. This guy is serious. He works for a company called Booz Allen Hamilton who contracts to NASA among other government entities. I told him to call me to discuss it tomorrow afternoon. Only thing is, we'd have to move to Huntsville. I called my Mom and she said that if it were her, she'd HAVE to check it out. Rachel and her folks agree.

And, after all, just because I check it out doesn't mean I have to take it. Right?

Filmmaking eBay Style

Just thought I'd throw this out there; it looked like something some of you would be interested in. "The eBay Model Goes to the Movies"

Apparently, Google has created a new site on which anyone can sell video or film, auction-style, with ratings.

The Librarian And The Sweet Dairy Products

I admit it. I have a great fondness to adventure stories – specifically Indiana Jones-esque adventure stories that involve looking for ancient, secret treasure. This should explain why my wife and I sat this Sunday evening watching The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines.

While my wife watched, she also searched the kitchen for something sweet – anything would do cookies, ice cream, pie. She chastised me for having not picked up any such thing on my visit to the grocery store earlier in the day (silly me, I bought non essentials like milk and chicken.) She then started to crave a Steak and Shake milkshake which is when I started to pay attention.

There is a Steak and Shake a few measly blocks from our abode, and I have to admit they make a mean shake. Suddenly I was craving a little ice cream, vanilla and maybe a hint of caramel.

The problem was we were both bedded in for the evening and tucked into our flannel pajamas. Though in this college town we wouldn’t be looked at twice for stepping out in pajama pants, that’s just not something we do in this family.

So we made a deal. Next commercial we’d change, then the following one we’d make a mad dash for the shakes.

Now the thing is I wear my pajama pants a little free in the undercarriage, if you catch my meaning, and I wasn’t prepared to equip myself with a clean pair for but minutes in the car. Thus I stuffed my khakis over my flannel pants and geared up to go. I got the keys and the coats and we prepared ourselves for the next commercial break.

Like a light we took off and I drove like a madman on crack. Somewhere on Second Street it struck me how absurd it was to be driving in the middle of the night, in the freezing cold, sans underpants with flannel pajamas sticking out of my khakis all in order to obtain a frosty treat.

Never stand in the way of a fat man and his sweetened dairy products.

We arrived safely back at home with our delectable caramel and fudge milkshakes and we only missed a few minutes of the movie.

A Sunday Dream

My alarm was set for 7 in the AM. After several snoozes I shut it off completely, knowing that this would mean we would miss Bible study and possible worship services. I woke up on my own about 8 in the AM but again rolled over decided I would not look at the clock again for I would find it necessary to get up and I just didn’t want to do that.

However, after some more sleep I did look at the clock and found it to be 8:50. Knowing I had to get up, I patted Amy and told her the time and she got out of bed in a jolt.

Entering into our bathroom we noticed that the light had burned out. Reaching into the dark tub, Amy lets out a little shriek and picks up a strange object. Handing it to me I realize it is a part of a brick.

Amy seems to not be bothered by this and again reaches into the tub to find a soaking wet towel which she promptly throws on the floor. I tell her I’ll toss the brick and get her a flashlight. Underneath I’m petrified. There wasn’t half a brick in the tub last night. Somebody had to have snuck into the house and put it there as some kind of signal.

I dump the brick and begin checking out the house. Even though conceivably the rest of our lights work, and that it is towards 9 in the morning our house is very dark. I walk through the blackness expecting to be attacked at any moment. Sensing that the culprit must be hiding in our second bedroom, which we have made into a study I bust in quickly with a karate kick. I then attack the closet but find nothing.

Amy, who is now in the shower, yells at me to join her. Before I do I go back to the bedroom, where our computer is located (in reality it is in the study) I quickly check my e-mail expecting something important, but finding nothing.

I then go to the bathroom to bathe. I have great trouble taking off my t-shirt and get it stuck above my head. Comically I struggle with it greatly before finally removing it. Amazingly I am much skinnier and more fit in reality and I begin to check myself out in the mirror. Just as I’m doing a heavy flex move I wake up with a jolt.

It is 8:15 in the AM and highly confused I wake Amy up to bathe and get ready.

My Myspace Addiction

This was going to be a lot more fun before Jamison became an addict as well, but so it goes.

About a year or two ago I signed up for a myspace account on a whim. I think, at the time, I was looking for other blog type places to do my writing and I knew a few folks with myspace accounts. Mainly I just wanted to see what all the noise was about.

It didn’t seem like much. Almost unanimously all of the sites looked terrible. Backgrounds were often loud, obnoxious and obscured the actual text. They were often way too busy with screaming, flashing lights, multiple videos and slideshows rolling at once and really annoying music would start playing even though I didn’t ask it to.

When I began trying to set up my own little space I could see the problem. The Myspace template sucks eggs. They give you little boxes to fill in such creative things as favorite movies, music, and books, but no tools in which to add anything interesting. They do allow you to add your own html and embed things like slideshows and youtube, the their organization is such that anything you add will look like crap. And it often does.

The only way to create something interesting is to know a lot of coding and have mad design skillz. Obviously, most people don’t have these things and so we get millions off awful sites. Including my own.

Well for the last few months I have quickly become very addicted to myspace. What it lacks in design, it makes up for in usability. I now check my myspace page two or three times a day. It has become nearly as addicting as e-mail.

Why you ask? Because everybody is freaking on it. They allow you to choose what schools you have gone to and then search for other folks from that school. Once I let everyone know I graduated Faulkner it became this big FU reunion. Kellie J is there, Scott Mobley, Helen Wishum, Devon Griffith, Jason Gray and even the freaking Gordon brothers.

It’s like I’m back in college without the crappy dorm rooms, curfews and studying to deal with.

So sign up people, and join the crap.