just wanted to let anyone who read this blog and will be around point during thanksgiving that the terrell family would love to have you join us for thanksgiving lunch. we have a few tapestry people joining us and hopefully some international students from uwsp. just send me an email and i’ll get directions to you.
baching
pam is presenting at the asha convention. she’ll be enjoying chicago till sunday. this means that the boys and i are baching it until then.
once a month i visit with a group of pastors for a book discussion. actually i belong to several different groups that i visit with once a month but this one is specifically for a book discussion. anyhow, i have been recently hit by something that i know i must do also but i initially notcied in some of these pastors and that is to “give the benefit of doubt” to people we agree with while at the very same time not doing it for those we disagree with. in the group i am the odd man out and probably agree the most with the thought that this the majority of this group doesn’t like. therefore it has been easy for me to notice when they have automatically assumed the worse concerning a statement that could mean several different things. they want to disagree with the statements from the group they don’t like and therefore they want it to mean the worst possible thing. the irony is that after a group discussion concerning whether or not we agree with the title of the book the leader of this book discussion stated “we all know what he meant to say and therefore we should just assume it means this.” he then no longer referred to the book by it’s real title but instead called it by the title he said the author “meant to use.” that’s a big benefit of doubt. 😉
this post isn’t about trashing on this group because i like these guys in spite of all this. what i’m trying to do is to remind myself to give those i disagree with the same benefit of the doubt that i would give to those that i agree with. that means even those in this book discussion. it seems only fair.
SIDE NOTE – thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday yesterday. it was a good day.
the trophies
this is what you win when you do well in curling. the one of the right is from winning the ‘08-‘09 open tournament and the one of the left is from coming in second on our evening for the ‘08-‘09 season. i don’t drink alcohol so i’m not an expert here but i’m pretty sure the short glass is meant for whiskey sour old-fashioneds which are a big deal around here. of course, i could be completely off base in my guess. could my drinking blog readers help me out here?
random thoughts
i’m just posting right now because i haven’t posted in a few days. therefore, i would recommend that you quit reading at this point because this will be a boring post.
- i just bought the text books for my class for the winter ‘09 nobts trimester. thank GOD for used books and amazon. i now have a ton of reading that i have to begin and several papers to write.
- i’m going to start destroying and redoing the boys’ bathroom tomorrow. new tile and a new toilet are the first steps. wow, what fun.
- since water in central wisconsin is so hard it looks like we’re going to end up buying a water softner for the house. it’s either that or constantly replace our water-based appliance (dish washer, clothes waher, water heater, etc.). i hate spending money on things like water softners but hard water is a royal pain in the butt. i have never in my memory lived in a place with hard water (or more likely never when i was at an age when i cared about it). to paraphrase the waterboy’s mom “hard water is the devil.”
- i love sunday evenings. the group that makes up tapestry just gets better and better. they really seem to be connecting with what the leadership team had dreamed about tapestry being and they are joining in on it. i think my personal favorite aspect is when the band pulls out a different instrument for the music. it makes me smile every time. every now and then someone comments on the blog asking if there is a podcast of sunday evenings and the answer is yes. unfortunately, for copyright reasons i can’t post the music. still you can subscribe to the messages in itunes by clicking here or go to the messages directly and listen to them by going here.
- point’s 08’-09’ curling season starts tomorrow. i’m very excited about this.
- i wish i could have been near some of my lsu friends during the bama/tiger game. oh that would have been fun.
- i am very excited about what we, as a family and as tapestry, are going to be doing within advent conspiracy. i think it will involve some cool things and discussions.
- winter has arrived in central wisconsin (yes, i know that technically it is still fall (winter starts december 22) but the weather here has kicked into winter gear. as i type this it is 17º outside and we have already had three days of slight snow flurries. we had a little accumulation but nothing significant. the biggest problem with this is that it is now too cold for me to want to be on the river in my canoe and the water hasn’t frozen over yet for ice fishing to begin. it’s a none fishing period and i’m not the biggest fan of that.
election night
first, i have friends and family who voted on both sides of the election and feel pretty strongly about it. therefore this post has nothing to do with who was right or wrong. it’s just about two things.
1) i am proud to be an american. i would have been proud to be an american if mccain had won also so it has nothing to do with obama winning … well sort of nothing. the pride comes from the fact that history was made last night with a black man being elected president and it happening without total chaos. the same would have been true if mccain and palin had been elected except it would have been a woman elected to high office. it is just amazing to think that this could happen as fast as it did. while official segregation was over before i was very cognizant of it i do still remember as a wee young thing driving through certain parts of montgomery, al and seeing obvious signs of that past struggling to survive. i also saw much of it still working in detroit, michigan when i lived there for a summer in ‘87. i’m not sure that i honestly thought that an african-american would ever be elected to the office of president during my lifetime, nor for that matter a woman. it says a lot for american that we heal that fast. i’m not sure we are completely healed from the issue of racism (or that we ever will be) but we’ve obviously come along way.
2) the electoral map below is probably the funniest thing i have seen on explaining politics. i have not followed crikey before but i probably will start doing so now just because of that map. you have to love those auzzies.
pam’s halloween costume
just in case you can’t tell she’s from alaska.
staying to the talking points
wow. this is incredible. it’s a mash up of mccain’s and obama’s answers to questions within the three debates. it really let’s you know how obama and mccain say the same thing over and over. the tone and the words are the same every time. it’s incredible.
when i used to preach in the sunday morning services of parkview (which i think all concerned would say was thankfully rare) i would get bored of my own sermon after the second service. i hated preaching the same thing three times. i can’t imagine saying the same thing over and over.
SIDE NOTE – i’m pretty much ready for the election to be over.
cnn & palin
i saw this a few minutes ago and thought “wow it’s about to hit the fan.” cnn said sarah palin was now talking openly about running in 2012. i was floored. then i watched the whole thing and i think cnn blew everything out of proportion but i still think palin may have screwed up. so here are my two thoughts:
- palin did not start speaking openly about running in 2012. instead she responded to a question concerning what would happen if they lost. of course, i would imagine that as far as the mccain camp is concerned she probably responded poorly.
- palin answered poorly. i think wolf blitzer did hit the nail on the head at the end of the segment when he said “that is not supposed to be something that you say. you are supposed to say, ‘well, i’m not looking ahead, i’m not looking ahead only to tuesday,’” i really don’t think palin has done much to help mccain win this election. in my opinion if he gets elected it will probably be in spite of her. yes, i know some of y’all think the world of her. since i think the world of most of you i’m sorry to say that i just can’t go there.
mcdill pond
the above is a picture of mcdill pond. it has been drained in an attempt to use the winter to kill the non-native aquatic plants that have taken it over. i understand why it is being done but driving by it still make me a little sad. it will be even worse this winter because whenever you drove by mcdill you could always count on seeing people ice fishing. that want be happening this winter because when you ice fish immediately over dry dirt the results are always abysmal.
RANDOM QUOTE – love & the church
where love is implemented, there is the church. ubi caritas, ibi ecclesia. … where it is not translated into blood and prayers and tears, into “works of love,” no amount of theology, candles, vestments, incense, or polished black hearses can make up the difference…
john caputo, what would JESUS deconstruct?, p. 124.