Robert's Blog

i saw this on marko’s blog but it came from josh treece’s blog. anyway, it seemed like a good way to look back over the year.

1) What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?

• planted a church!
• finished a marathon
• caught a muskie
• caught a smallmouth bass – remember i was raised fishing in the south
• taken a doctoral level class

 

2) Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

• most but not all of them

3) Did anyone close to you give birth?

• some former youth

 

4) Did anyone close to you die?

• yes

 

5) What countries did you visit?

• nicaragua
• minnesota 🙂

 

6) What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

7) What date(s) from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

• may 18 – finished first marathon
• august 6 – tapestry provided a village of 300 with clean running water
• september 14 – TAPESTRY’S FIRST PUBLIC WORSHIP GATHERING

 

8) What was your biggest achievement of the year?

• these are both group achievements but planting tapestry & finishing the marathon

 

9) Did you suffer illness or injury?

• sick as a dog at CHRISTmas – worst i’ve felt in years
• decided it would be nice to stick a fish hook through my thumb.

 

10) What was the best thing you bought?

• a bright yellow canoe – thanks mom and dad

 

11) Whose behavior merited celebration?

• pam – becoming the most amazing professor ever
• adam & noah – acting out the four things and adjusting so well to the late 2007 mvoe
• the tapestry launch and worship teams – all of them are servants

 

12) Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

• a couple of pastors whom i am fairly sure bore false testimony against someone whose views they don’t like.

 

13) Where did most of your money go?

• bills, diet coke, coffee, tithe (hopefully not in that order)

 

14) What did you get really, really, really excited about?

• tapestry’s launch – i still gets goose bumps
• family trips to chicago and milwaukee
• smallmouth bass fishing with friends and family
• wisconsin summers – there is nothing prettier
• cheese and crackers with pam at night

 

15) What song will always remind you of 2008?

• "the way i am" by ingrid micealson – it’s a pam thing

 

16) Compared to this time last year, are you:

• Wiser? yeah, i think so
• Healthier? probably a little but i was already into the running thing last year
• Richer? far from it

 

17) What do you wish you’d done more of?

• played basketball
• cleaned the garage
• bushwhacked the backyard
  

18) What do you wish you’d done less of?

• watched tv when there was no reason too.
  

19) How did you spend Christmas?

• sick

 

20) Did you fall in love in 2008?

• nope, just continued to learn what real love is all about – i’ve been in love since 1987.

 

21) What was your favorite blog post that you wrote?

• not sure if i understand this one? is it asking about my own blog or a post i read somewhere else? i’ll have to think about this one.

 

22) What were your favorite TV programs?

• the office
• lost
• heroes

 

23) Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

• i don’t think so

 

24) What was the best book you read?

• “the jungle” or “oil” – crap, sinclair is amazing

 

25) What was your greatest musical discovery?

• at the moment i am really liking the welcome wagon

 

26) What did you want and get?

• a church i could be proud to be part of and oh yes i got it

 

27) What did you want and not get?

• cross country ski boots – couldn’t find the ones i wanted (i.e cheap ones) anywhere.

 

28) What was your favorite film of this year?

• if it is just in theater then probably “the dark knight”
• if first watching’s of dvd’s count then “into the wild”

29) What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

• i’m 41 and i curled and then hung out with my family

 

30) Which celebrity/public figure did you like the most?

• wow – this one is hard. truthfully i distrust most celebrities/public figures.

 

31) How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

• whatever pam buys me – is that a style?

 

32) What kept you sane?

• the family, the dogs, the running, and the fishing

 

33) Who did you miss?

• the suite and honorary members of the suite

 

34) Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.

• once you think you are finally dreaming big, stop, grab a diet coke, and realize it’s not as crazy of an idea as it should be so dream bigger still

 

35) What did you gain this year?

• a reason to love sunday evenings
• a lot of new friends
• new missions
• some great times with pam

 

36) What did you lose this year?

• the money i spent on my ticket to see "indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull" – what a waste of film

 

37) Who was the best new person you met?

• i met a ton of amazing people in 2007 that i won’t mention here because this is about 2008. thankfully i met a ton of cool people in 2008 also. i’ll just mention a few
• all the people involved in leading tapestry worship – heather, hilary, sarah, eric, jackson, and joel
• perry polnaszek & jerrmiah mitchell
• josh ross
• josh jones

 

38) Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

• have to do some research on this
  

after a couple of days of having a stomach bug i have started and finished studying for the day. i am now watching the second episode of “the thorn birds” with pam and i thought that while we watched this thing i would post some random thoughts and events that aren’t big enough for a full post.

• the main priest in “the thorn birds” is scum. not because he gives into fleshly desire but because he puts his own selfish ambition before the family of the woman he loves (albeit a creepy sort of love) and then says its for the love for GOD. several parts of the miniseries have upset me but that lack of justice has been the worst thus far.
• as a family we usually go see a movie on CHRISTmas day. we were too sick to go this year until today. we finally went to see “bedtime stories” today and we were pleasantly surprised. i usually have mixed feelings on adam sandler movies but i do respect the fact that he generally has many of the same people in each of his movies. it’s pretty cool when people genuinely enjoy working together and therefore do on multiple projects.
• i’ve recently been turned onto a blog called “presentation zen“. it’s about simplicity in presentations and it’s quite good stuff.
• i’m an idiot – just wanted to get that out there for everyone to know. how could i have been in youth ministry for nearly 20 years without realizing there were pro ana (pro anorexia) web forums. these are basically support groups for teens who want to help each other be anorexic. i probably can’t be blamed for 15 of those years because i’m not sure they even existed (at least not in an organized internet manner) but i should have known over the past 5 years. i’m sure i probably read something about it somewhere but it didn’t stick with me. poor sick kids trying to help each other stay sick. it’s a great, big, stupid world.
• i am presently wearing a t-shirt that pam gave me for CHRISTmas. it says “go curling … get stoned.” it’s hilarious.
• i’ll be in NOLA january 12-14 for class. this means i’ll be busy from 8am-4pm each day but i’m open to dinner afterwards with anyone whose interested. of course, i will not have a vehicle so you’ll have come to me or meet me somewhere that public transportation can get me too.