Author: Robert

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i caught you a delicious bass

water bottle

i drink a fair amount of water. i prefer to do this from a waterbottle which is why i usually carry one around with me. i had a perfect steel one that i had gotten off of amazon for $6 last year. about 4 weeks ago it went missing. i’ve looked all over for it and i can’t find it. where ever it is i hope that it is as happy as a well loved bottle bottle can be.

saturday i found the above cheap, bad boy at fleet farm (we love fleet farm). it was $6.94 and has the pattern of a black bass imprinted on it. i’m not sure there has ever been a better water bottle. i am very happy.

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i love the world, except for all the people

running the sahara

i recently watched “running the sahara,” which is a documentary about three ultramarathonners running across the sahara desert. it really is an impressive accomplishment and a pretty cool documentary but that is not what i want to talk about. instead i want to talked a quote from the movie.

toward the end of the documentary one of the runners says that they wanted to run the sahara because they “love the desert and the love the people.” this was a pretty ironic statement because it came right after he tore into his two remaining support team members. the group had started out as six and slowly the team began to disintegrate because of one of the runners who continually chewed out anyone he thought had not met his unstated expectations. the irony was that this came from the same runner who said he was running the sahara because he loved the desert and the people. of course, i don’t know the whole story but from what i saw in the documentary it appears that he loves all the people he doesn’t know and not the people who were actually helping him run across the desert. i haven’t run an ultramarathon yet (hopefully i will in spring) let alone across a desert but i do know from my marathon experiences that you don’t make it that far on your own. it’s a team effort. you may be running but other people are providing for your needs.

it is far to easy to love “people” in the generic sense rather than actually loving specific individuals. when we love specific individuals it must be accomplished in actions. when we love in the generic sense it can be reduce to nice words and platitudes.

this reminds me of two quotes.

  • the first is from men at work’s song “dr. heckyll and mr. jive” it says “he loved the world, except for all the people.”
  • the second is from deitrich bonhoeffer’s book “life together” page 27 – “he who loves his dream of a community more than the CHRISTian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions my be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.”
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a few random things

*the above video is a commercial that i think is quite cool. hd cameras sent into near space via balloon. for the fun of it they videoed a vintage chair the whole time. it makes for some amazing images. wait for the end when the balloon pops.

*i love my wife, which shouldn’t be a surprise. it thrilled me to read some of pamela’s thoughts on tapestry that she posted on her blog. you can read them here. i agree with everything she said except for the part about the preacher. i’m a little sick of hearing him.

*i read a statement today saying that some central african nomads value their freedom so much that they refer to houses as the “graces of the living.” i wonder if our lifestyles don’t function much like graves, trapping us into death.

*like an idiot i decided to go to the standing rock dog park yesterday after having “jumped” my car off. i was convinced that i just needed to drive my car a little while to recharge its battery. boy was i wrong. my battery was completely dead. it was bad enough being stuck 10 miles outside of town but even worse that i forgot the jumper cables and my cell phone.  i couldn’t find anyone at the park who had jumper cables but i was eventually able to borrow a cell phone to call pam. why would i pay for a cell phone and not bring it with me? not one of my brighter moments.

*ROLL TIDE! ROLL! i’m enjoying watching bama’s season from afar.

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the week in tweets – 2009-12-05

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to place clothes on or not

last night i went to the wisconsin dells with pam for a conference that she was speaking at (yes, i am married to an impressive woman). if you have never heard of “the dells” you need to understand that it is the big vacation spot in the mid-west. tons of large resort hotels with indoor (for the winter) and outdoor water parks. anyway, pam was presenting a seminar on assisted living technology with the chair of her department and one of her students. so pam was going to be at the conference and since they provided a hotel for the night i went with her. my only goal was to spend the evening with pam without the boys and then i thought i might run around “the dells” during her conference.

well last night was a fun date. pam left in the morning for her conference and i prepared myself for a winter run. now you need to know my typical winter running attire. actually my tops don’t matter, it is what i wear on my legs that you need to know about. i am a little ashamed to admit this but i have been converted on windy winter days to just wearing running tights on my winter runs. when it isn’t windy or super cold i still just wear shorts – my legs warm up quickly when i start running. unfortunately they don’t warm up at all when it is super cold or especially windy in the winter. i have to wear tights then. at first i wore shorts over my tights. i changed when i realized how much unnecessary laundry i was creating. it was at that point that i decided to just wear the tights. after all it’s a pretty typical thing to see around the point area – you see winter runners in central wisconsin all the time wearing tights and a jacket.

so i was in my tights and windbreaker when pam called and said she needed me to perform tech support on her computer. they couldn’t get the projector and computer working that they were going to use in their lecture (rather ironic that no one in an assistive living conference could operate this technology). well this is part of my duties as the husband. pam regularly says that my job is to open jars, kill bugs, and keep the computers working. so i had to decide – do i run over to the conference in my tights to fix the computer or do i get dress in normal clothes first? it’s one thing to wear running tights for a morning run and only be seen on the street. it is quite another thing to wear tights when you are bending over working on a computer. of course the problem was that pam needed me to fix the problem before they started her seminar. i had to move quickly.

i will leave it to your imagination concerning what i decided to do.

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now for something completely different

not really but i did see these two adverts today and they made me chuckle and think a little.

claytonhomesad that will bugg out

neither a can of beans nor a drive by pooping are your typical form of advertising and i am sure that there are some disadvantages in advertisements like this (credibility, etc.) but i personally respect people and companies that are willing to take chances and be abnormal in an attempt to grab my attention. at the very least you would have a great story concerning the can of beans you got for buying a house or the guy on the toilet that drove past you on i-39 and 70 mph.

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the week in tweets – 2009-11-28

  • @joecausey – ditto what @MicahHaley said – lots of caffeine & sleep. in reply to joecausey #
  • tonight at @sptapestry i mentioned the crimson tide and jan thought i was talking about some kind of drink. 🙂 #
  • @mike_shipp – the best was we had a guest from egypt – i turned asked her & "do you know who they are" & she said "yes, they're great" in reply to mike_shipp #
  • I earned the Bootcamp sticker on #GetGlue! http://bit.ly/6ptqAY #
  • I just saw a pregnant woman projectile vomit in Emy J's. After taking her some napkins I decided it was time to go elsewhere. #
  • bonhoeffer is described as caught by his own preaching and so people listened! am i challenged by what i preach? do the words shake me? #
  • @dhaltom7 – huh? in reply to dhaltom7 #
  • FINISHED! #
  • @dhaltom7 – nope they've never heard of "pastor appreciation month" which i'm kind of glad of. still a shotgun?!?!?! wow. in reply to dhaltom7 #
  • @dhaltom7 – i didn't say a shotgun was a good thing. just wow?!?!? 😉 in reply to dhaltom7 #
  • @shmonnie – oh i will judge you for that. CONSIDER YOURSELF HARSHLY JUDGED FOR WATCHING SUCH TRIPE! #
  • i can now read what i want again. i'm about to kick into a MAJOR bonheoffer feast. i love that guy. considering reading his dissertation. #
  • “Adolescence is not a stage of life; it is a psychiatric disorder” (Chapman & Chapman-Santana, 1995. p.154). THANKS CHARLIE! #
  • I am about to go running BUT NOT ON THE TRAILS BECAUSE IT IS DEER SEASON! #
  • starting smoking the turkeys for leftover sandwiches this morning at 6. can we skip lunch and just go to the sandwiches? #
  • @Joshross – i always find it a little lame when someone calls their own thoughts controversial before there is any controversy over it 😉 in reply to Joshross #
  • and the @jesslawrence1 – it's thanksgiving, why do you have a CHRISTmas tree up? #
  • @jesslawrence1 – it's thanksgiving, why would you have a CHRISTmas tree up? in reply to jesslawrence1 #
  • @jesslawrence1 – but that's just it. thanksgiving doesn't end until the last turkey sandwich is consumed. that should be around saturday. in reply to jesslawrence1 #
  • based on a conversation w/ @jesslawrence1 my new rule is that thanksgiving doesn't en until the last turkey sandwich is consumed around sat. #
  • uhmm, bama where are you? #
  • that's more like it BAMA! #
  • i saw ice on the flowage portion of the plover river today. not much but it is a start. #

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sort of attacked

first, I’M FINISHED WITH MY LAST D.MIN PAPER FOR THE “DOCTRINAL FOUNDATIONS OF MINISTRY” SEMINAR I TOOK! WOOHOO!

secondly, i was kind of attacked while running this past saturday. it was by a dog. this kills me because i love dogs. in fact, dogs usually love me. it’s part of my charm. i like dogs and they like me. except for this dog. he was not a fan.

i actually don’t blame the dog. it’s owner was walking along on the trail without holding on to its lease. the lease was just hanging to the side of the dog while the dog was running around. when i was about ‘100 away i could see the dog running free. he would run off and then come back to its owner and then run off again. it was also at this time that the dog saw me and decided that it’s goal for the day was to bite me. so it ran full tilt in my direction. i screamed for the owner to grab her dog but she was too busy with what was obviously a very important cell phone conversation to help me with her dog. it must have been an important conversation because surely no one would allow their dog to attack a runner just so they could continue a conversation concerning “twilight.” when the dog reached me and jumped at my throat i kneed it in the chest to knock it away. this worked pretty good so i moved quickly into my second line of defense which was to stretch my arms out and look as big as i could. i wasn’t really trying to scare the dog as much as i was trying to get the cell phone talking owner’s attention. it worked. she ran over grabbed the dogs leash and told me “you did the right thing” as she pulled her barking and lunging dog away from me.

i really wish i could tell you that the dog was a toy puddle or something so you could enjoy a fun visual image but the dog was about the size of a german shepherd and it put a decent amount of fear into my day. the only thing i rememer afterward is thinking how odd the lady’s statement was. “you did the right thing.” thanks lady. nice to know that i did the right thing while you were ignoring your runner chasing dog and talking on you phone. it was really not what i was expecting to hear.

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the week in tweets – 2009-11-21

  • FYI – when having a battle with your 12 yr old remember that cats do not make effective machine guns. violent grenades – YES. guns – no. #
  • @Joshross – not sure. i put my request in early and then have had a couple of people send me an invite. not sure what i actually received it in reply to Joshross #
  • @thegsides – what's happened to your broncos? #
  • duck hunting + cotton socks = VERY COLD FEET. this is such a rookie mistake. i should know better. #
  • @zmikko – no doubt on cotton, which i know but i was in a hurry this morning and just put on whatever i could find. hunting outside plover in reply to zmikko #
  • @zmikko – just west of tommy's turnpike on the wisconsin. in reply to zmikko #
  • @zmikko – no geese would land today but we did get a few ducks. in reply to zmikko #
  • @bCodySmith – we shot 2 yesterday and nothing today. it was still fun though. in reply to bCodySmith #
  • @bCodySmith – mallards and a white eye i forgot about. in reply to bCodySmith #
  • mhmmmm! i get chocolate chip pound cake tonight! i love chocolate chip pound cake and @pamelaaugust pam makes the best. #
  • i'm looking at a huge plate of FRIED DILL PICKLES!!!!!!!! oh yeah, i love my woman (thanks @pamelaaugust) #
  • I just had a bald eagle fly within 25 feet of me. Very cool. #
  • my basset hounds b'day gift to me is that they have decided to beg for their morning walk earlier than normal. thanks for the gift dogs. #
  • It's November 18th and I just saw cut CHRISTmas trees for sell. That's going to be 1 brown tree by 12/25. #
  • @exchangedliving – thanks drew in reply to exchangedliving #
  • @nicoleccausey – thanks nicole. you'll be thrilled to know that i am celebrating my birthday by wearing my new BAMA hoodie 😉 in reply to nicoleccausey #
  • @overflowinglove – true but then you have a green overspray image of the tree on your wall and floor in reply to overflowinglove #
  • @meganckelly – thanks for the well wishes though i would say you have probably been a bigger influence on me than i on you. in reply to meganckelly #
  • @aeah2089 – thanks niece. in reply to aeah2089 #
  • http://twitpic.com/qd10n – Running on a foggy morn. Good stuff. #
  • I'm really amazed by some of my LSU friends calling for the firing of Miles. Are you guys really that fickle? No wonder Saban left. 🙂 #

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pam kicks butt on birthdays

it’s my birthday tomorrow but as has been our family tradition for the last 15 years pam and i will be in two different places on my birthday. the ASHA convention is always on my birthday and when i was a youth minister our fall retreat was always on my birthday. it was just the way it was. this is a long way of saying that since pam will be gone tomorrow for the ASHA convention tomorrow the family celebrated my birthday tonight. i had mash potatoes, fried chicken, and FRIED DILL PCIKLES! mhmm! my stomach is now making room for a piece of homemade chocolate chip pound cake. double mhmmmm!

best of all pam bought me a BAMA hoodie which had to be special order because we don’t have many of them around wisconsin. oh yeah, i love this woman. she also bought me an electronic knife but that has more to do with her growing up than it does my birthday.