my wife finished and turned in her dissertation yesterday. in two weeks she will defend it and then she will be through. defending the dissertation is no easy thing, but when your main prof says “you have knowing to worry about because you’ve done a great study,” then you can breathe a little. i am amazed and incredibly proud of pam. i definitely married up.
free is good – maybe
i’m a vetran garbage digger. when i drive down the street and see a pile of someone else’s junk on the side of the road i am more than willing to stop and pick up something that i like. i’ve found several great things doing this. after all, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. last night i trash dove for the first time in wisconsin.
on the side of the road were two sets of waxless cross country skis. they are espoir titans (215 & 213 centimeters) and i know nothing about them (and i can’t seem to find anything on the net). all i know at this point is that they are at least better than what i had before – which was nothing. i’ll take them the hostel shoppe tomorrow. they will probably laugh at me but i’m okay with that because no matter how trashie the skis may be they are still free.
as a southern boy (born and rised in alabama) i have to add that finding skis in someone’s garbage was just odd and put a smile on my face. it’s probably normal for people native wisconsinites but it definitely wasn’t for me.
top ten reasons why marko should link to one of my posts – part 2
this is the completion of the top ten list started here. these are the top five reasons why marko should link to one of my posts like he did with j.t.’s (blessed be his name) post.
- 5. it will solve the bcs/college football playoffs debate. for years college football fans have been arguing about whether the bcs was worth squat or not. many thought they were longing for a play off system, while others have thought a play off system would ruin what is best about ncaa football. if marko merely posts a link to one of my posts the world will suddenly be enlightened with the answer of what is best for college football and this argument will be settled. college football harmony is within your hands marko.
4. my kids will respect me and hope to grow up to be like me. marko, you’re a dad. you know how important it is to live your life in a manner that your kids can respect you. yesterday my youngest said to me, “dad, i would be so proud of you if someone like marko would link to one of your posts” and then my oldest son added, “and if nobody links to your blog then i’m going to view you as a failure and choose mike tyson as the role model for life.” marko, you can’t let this happen. i can’t lose my children down that path and the world definitely doesn’t need another mike tyson.
3. your kids will respect you and hope to grow up to be like you. lifting up the weak is a sign of a follower of GOD and if you link to one of my blog posts you will be lifting up a weak blogger (a blogger too weak to write like j.t. – blessed be his name). you’re kids will see this action (in fact, i will gladly send you a certificate documenting the event of you linking to one of my blog posts) and praise your name as the wonderful human being that you are. realistically it would not surprise me at all if you daughter and son suddenly started introducing you to their friends as “my great and caring dad who is exactly like i want to be.” this, of course, would make you the envy of all the other parents in the neighborhood and then you could start your new “side” career as a lecturer within the field of parenting. you’re first book could be titled, “link to robert’s blog and win your child’s respect forever.” i’m sure it would be a bestseller. see, this works out as not only a wonderful parenting strategy for you but also your first step into your new profession. let’s face it, nobody in their right mind would actually desire to work with ys (though if you need a representative in central wisconsin i would be open to a conversation). by linking to one of my posts you win the admiration of your kids and begin your journey of creating the next focus on the family. you will then be able to not only be a voice of power within the religious right but you will also be able to set yourself up as a political pundit and direct people in all areas of their lives. marko, this is the way that CHRISTianity is supposed to work. right?
2. it could save your life from a crazed, stalking fan. now, surely i don’t know if you have any crazed stalking fans but if you’ve seen “misery” then you surely know what type of danger these people represent. it couldn’t hurt for one of them to see you post a link to one of my posts and thereby realize that you are “a man of the people” rather than an ivory tower person. marko, these people are dangerous and you should do everything you can to keep them from being angry with you. i’m only looking out for what’s best for you. btw, i’m not the biggest fan of the blue shirt you wore yesterday. you look much better in the green one you wore two weeks ago when you were drinking coffee … at least that’s what i heard … and i know merely through hearsay and not personal knowledge … but you should wear the green one more often.
and the number 1 reason why marko should post a link to one of my blog posts is …
because i’m asking nicely. really marko, pretty please with sugar on top and all that other stuff. i’m even typing this with a smile on my face. honest, you can ask the person beside me at emy j’s (a local coffee/ice cream shop). i’m grinning like an idiot.
so those are my reasons why you, marko, should post a link to my blog or a post of mine. yes it would be easier if i could write something as great as j.t. (blessed be his name) but we both know that’s not going to happen. after all, j.t. (blessed be his name) is a youth ministry god (and a really decent guy too).
bonus reason – i could convince the people that are planting a church with me to name the church after you. instead of “tapestry” (technically it’s “stevens point tapestry church” which will be great 10 years form now when a one word name for a church sounds stupid) i think i could convince them to call the church “marko” (technically “stevens point marko church” which will be great 10 years from now when a one word name for a church sounds stupid). i think it would be a huge draw. after all people really just come to a church for a cool name, music, and marketing. this works for both of us. heck if you preferred we could even use “oestreicher.” central wisconsin is polish/german/scandinavian territory so most of the people around here would probably be able to pronounce your last name with ease. your name would be immortalized without even having to make a major monetary contribution to a university.
busy
i’m pretty busy right now so i can’t post about anything (specifically the 5 remaining reasons why marko should post a link to my blog) but i’ll try to do this tonight or tomorrow. otherwise life has been busy because:
- pam finishes the final draft of her dissertation today – pam is not to be bothered and therefore i’m running interference with the boys.
- yesterday the mall of america took forever – same as every other mall in america (i.e. boring) only bigger (and thus even more boring). still it was a fun day with the family.
- i’m feeling in for another church planter in appleton, wisconsin (an hour away from home) and so i’m busy with prepping for that.
- went to a salvation army church today – it’s not hard to guess who the visitor is when there are 10 people in the room.
i’ll write more later. now i have to continue figuring out what to do with a group of 15 people that i have never had any contact with. it’s hard to be “relational” when there’s no relationship there.
the family that reads together
actually this title is misleading because it’s not so much about my family reading together as much as it is about my wife and kids assigning me books they like. i’m not sure how it got started but somehow pam, adam, and noah gained the opportunity to tell me a book to read and then discuss it later. it’s been great. all three of them gave me wonderful works of fiction to read that i probably would not have read with out them. i love my family.
here are the three books they assigned me:
- “anne of green gables” – pam picked this one – it’s a chick book that i never would have read on my own but it was great. it had some incredible insight into church within it. i love that pam knows what i will like even when i don’t.
- “fahrenheit 451” – adam picked this one – i can not believe that i have never read anything by bradbury before. the book was fantastic and i’ll have to pick up some more bradbury. it led to some great conversation with adam and i in turn was able to introduce adam to “animal farm” (which i love).
- “things not seen” – noah picked this one – i was familiar with andrew clements because of “frindle.” he writes wonderful preteen books and this one was a pleasure to read and discuss with noah.
since i always try to keep a work of fiction and a work of non-fiction flowing through my head at the same time i now have to find some new fiction recommendations. i would probably ask my mom to recommend something (she reads more often than she breathes) but she would probably tell me about some cookbook that i absolutely have to read.
chapel of love?
pam, the boys and i are going to the mall of america tomorrow to meet a few of pam’s e-buddies from around the area. pam is really looking forward to putting faces with the names and personalities of the women she has been talking with over the past few years. the thing is that none of us are very excited about going to the mall itself. i’m sure we’ll have fun, because i have great kids and a wonderful wife, but malls are just not very high on the priority list for us and this one being the biggest mall in north america actually lowers our desire to go there instead of increasing it.
while pam was looking up some information on the mall of america she discovered that it has a wedding chapel within it’s boundaries. it’s called the “chapel of love.” the thought of a wedding taking place within a mall is one of the saddest commentaries ever on the values of western culture. it’s so sad that there is no need for me to talk about it.
top ten reasons why marko should link to one of my posts – part 1
as many of you know marko posted a link to to one of j.t.’s (blessed be his name) posts. it is now my goal to goad marko into posting a link to one of my posts. of course, i could just post something good but it’s so much more fun to be lazy and try this approach. so here is the first set of the “top ten reasons why marko should link to one of my posts”:
- 10. my posts may be lame but they’re no lamer than the items that marko points out as being stupid in his “JESUS junk of the month awards. while i can’t claim the ability to post something as good as j.t. (blessed be his name) i do think that at least some of my posts add more of a contribution to the internet and life than the miracolous JESUS night light. even though it’s a small contribution to the world wide web it is still a contribution and it should be honored. i can think of no better way to do this than by marko linking to one of my posts.
9. peace on earth – oestreicher is a german name and terrell is an english name. marko, your people have been attempting to brutalize my people for centuries. don’t you think it’s about time you commit an act of peace and bring our people together. i think linking to one of my posts would be such act. sort of like when one monarch would marry off one of his children to the enemy and thus insure peace. marko, it’s about time for peace.
8. it would be a good escape from the san diego nywc. when you really get down to it who wants to listen to shane claiborne, doug fields, the david crowder band, chris tomlin, or third day? nobody i know. having to listen to those guys for 5 days is simply not the way to have a good time. i know that it’s probably wearing mako down. wouldn’t it be a nice break to post a link to my blog? come on marko, i’m only thinking of you. it’s important for your health.
7. i will name all my future children “marko” no matter what sex they are. this offer is not diminished by the fact that i had a little surgery awhile back that makes it unlikely that i will have any more biological children. it’s the thought that counts and i’ve honestly had the thought of naming my future children “marko,” if marko will post a link to one of my posts. “marko elizabeth terrell” actually has a nice ring to it.
6. marko should ask himself “what would JESUS do?” we all know that JESUS would say “marko, give the guy a link.” that’s the way JESUS rolls and as a follower of JESUS marko should do the same thing. you could almost say that by linking to one of my posts marko would be practicing discipleship. now i don’t want to go so far as to say that it would be a sin for marko not to post a link to one of my posts but scripture does say that to him who knows what is right and doesn’t do it. i’m just trying to protect marko’s soul.
an impossibe challenge
as i posted yesterday j.t. (blessed be his name) made it onto marko’s blog and thereby became a youth ministry god. being a vain and conceited person i released my not so veiled attempt to goad marko into linking to a post on my blog. all i got was a comment. for those too lazy to visit the comment i post below what the great middle school one said:
nice. write a post like j.t.’s, and maybe — just maybe, i’ll link to you.
the problem here is that this is nigh impossible. j.t. (blessed be his name) is … well … a youth ministry god, and i’m not even a youth minister anymore (unless you count the only adolescent we have in our church but i like to call that parenting instead of youth ministry). there is no way that i can write a post like j.t.’s. (blessed be his name). you might ask well ask porky pig to speak eloquently or dwight schrute not to be weird. it’s just not possible. remember j.t. (blessed be his name) is a youth ministry god and i can’t compete with a god.
i actually think that one of the main reasons that j.t. (blessed be his name) can write such remarkable posts and i can’t is because of the differences in our hair. here’s a south park inspired version of j.t. (blessed be his name) on the left and a simpsons inspired version of me on the right.
notice the clean aerodynamic lines of j.t.’s (blessed be his name) head? this helps wind to flow smoothly over his head and thus prompts the exchange of heat between his head and the air. this heat exchange is key to maintaining the proper temperature of the brain and thus promoting amazing thoughts. on the other hand (or head), look at my head. the hair there ruins the flow of air and thereby kills the heat exchange. if i think real hard without this exchange of heat my brain freezes up until it cools down. yes i am missing a good bit of hair but my widows peak is just enough to stop the proper flow of air. some of you might be thinking that i could solve this heat exchange problem by shaving my head to look like j.t.’s (blessed be his name). the problem here is that my head looks really bad when bald. it’s a disability and it’s not real nice of you to point out my disabilities.
so as you can see i will never be able to write a post as good as j.t.’s (blessed be his name) and thereby get marko to link to my blog. as far as i can see this leaves me with only one other option of drawing the attention of the the great one of middle school knowledge, marko. i will kiss up to marko as much as humanly possible. in seminary i always hated it when people went up to the professors after class with the obvious desire just to get the prof’s attention. i thought i would never become one of those people but this is so much more important than my theological education. it’s marko’s blog and therefore i’m willing to humiliate myself as needed.
if this fails i’ll probably just start a psuedo-marko blog, link to myself, and pretend like it really is marko. if i pretend, then no one will know the difference.
probably stupid but worth a try
this is probably a waste of time but i’m going to try it anyway. so here goes.
stevens point has a large “green” (i.e. eco) community. this is just fine with pam and i because over the past few years we have been dealing with how to reduce out impact on the environment (anyone who ever looked under my desk at parkview and saw all the recyclables i was keeping under there could speak to this). so the idea jumped into my head of using paper grocery bags (the stores up here still use them) for at least part of our promotional items. i’ve been working on it today. i’ve been needing to have some basic info on something i could give to people who ask questions about tapestry and i thought the grocery bag paper would make a nice sturdy cover for this info thingy. i’ve been goofing off with the idea little today and it turns out that the ink jet printer works great on the grocery bags – it has a real “gritty” look to it that i like. i’ll put this together with white paper for the actual info and stitch them together for a nice little hand made info thingy (i have lots of time and very little money – a good combination for this type of thing). i’ll post a photo when i finish the first non-sample one.
so here’s the part that is probably stupid but maybe worth a try. i went by staples today to buy some paper for producing the inside of the info thingy (recycled paper of course). when i went to check out the clerk asked me if i wanted a “rewards” card. the “rewards” card is basically a marketing gimmick where every 3 months i get a coupon for 10% of the amount i have spent on paper and copying. the goal is to get me to come back to staples all the time. that’s fine with me since i don’t know where the local office supply place is yet and i would prefer not to use walmart for my paper needs. so i got one. the cashier also said anyone else who used my rewards number would have their transactions contributed to the total my coupon would be based on. i’m all for getting a coupon for free stuff for tapestry. in my book, free stuff for the church is great (as long as there aren’t strings attached).
here’s my request – if you use or your company uses staples would you mind entering my rewards number when you buy paper products or copying? i’m not asking you to use staples. in fact, i would prefer that you use a local company. yet, if you absolutely have to use staples (for example, your boss will fire you if you use something other than staples, you live next door to a staples and don’t have transportation anywhere else, or perhaps you are deathly afraid of all office supply stores other than staples) and you wouldn’t mind giving them the number i am using for tapestry i would certainly appreciate it.
so here’s my rewards number:
SIDE NOTE – j.t. has become a youth ministry god because marko pointed to one of his posts today (a post that i would agree was excellent). it is now my goal to quote j.t. as much as possible within my posts and thereby raise my ministry street cred. of course, if he was so inclined marko could point to one of my posts and thereby raise me to j.t.’s level so i would no longer have to grovel beneath j.t.’s ministerial feet. in fact, marko if you wanted to encourage all your readers, friends, family, and neighbors to enter my staples reward number when they buy paper and printing from staples i would appreciate that also.
2.3
i just finished updating the blog to wordpress 2.3. as usual it was easy. oh how i love wordpress.