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is that an ear piece or are you just plain crazy?

today i watched a crazy woman carry on a violent conversation with a burger king sign. i stood in the order line and watched as she shouted, pointed, and responded to this sign for awhile. at least i think she did because as i watched her i suddenly became aware that she might be having a conversation with someone via an ear piece hooked up to a cell phone. that’s the problem with those stupid little ear peices … you can’t tell if you are looking at a crazy person or someone who really loves their cell phone (maybe the are both the same).

now i have to confess that i use an ear piece with my cell phone if i am driving. i definitely feel safer with both hands on my steering wheel. i’m okay with people using cell phone headsets while they are driving – probably because i do it and therefore i somehow few it as acceptable. i still get a little freaked out trying to determine if someone talking while they are driving is a) singing to music, b) arguing with talk radio, c) talking with someone on a cell phone, or d) crazy. yet this is not as bad as the random stranger walking around either talking to their cell phone or to the voices that reside within them that only they can hear. i generally make it a policy to avoid people who are on the side of the road screaming at invisible combatants.

so that’s why i was so intrigued by the lady at burger king. i had to figure out if the lady was crazy or merely in the midst of a heated phone call. the two situations make for very different stories. nobody wants to hear a story about someone talking on a cell phone but a crazy woman screaming at a burger king sign is an entirely different matter. who doesn’t love a good “crazy woman shouting a fast food logo” story? nobody i know. so i searched with my eyes as hard as i could to determine if i was witnessing schizophrenia or clear cell reception. i looked for any sign that there might be an electronic device involved in her conversation but i couldn’t find any. so i’m assuming she was shouting at the voices in her head that she apparently thought were residing within the burger king sign. of course, who can really blame her? every knows that burger king signs are evil.

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a few movies & books

my cute, beautiful, intelligent wife is away for the week working on an operation smile project in managua, nicaragua (i am very proud of her). she’s been gone since wednesday and will be gone until next saturday. because of this i am watching allot of movies and reading a good bit – not much conversation around the house when my boys go to sleep. here are a few of my thoughts on what i have been reading and watching.

  • memento – movie – the language in this movie is rougher than i usually like in a movie. i am sensitive to coarse language in a movie and therefore usually avoid anything with much cursing in it. i watched this because of one of the books i am currently reading. the book referenced the movie as an amazing non-linear story. boy was it right. the movie is exceptionally well crafted. i have heard this for years but avoided the movie because of the language. i still wish it didn’t have such harsh language within it but this movie is one of a kind.
  • reel theology – book – some amazing thoughts on why film is so important to our post-modern culture. i love the thought of claiming truth where ever it is found.
  • antwone fisher – movie – what an amazing movie! i haven’t gone through physical or sexual abuse but i believe we all understand the desire to walk to the big table and hear someone say “welcome.”
  • dirk gently’s holistic detective agency – book – i love douglas adams’ writing. it’s incredibly funny in an odd english humor sort of way.
  • catwoman – movie – BORING. this movie was a complete waste of time, money, and film.
  • the scarlet letter – book – i can’t believe that i didn’t like this book when i was in high school. it always takes me a few chapters to get back into the language of the book but it is an amazing book. i sometimes think that the books kids or forced to read in high school should be forced to read them later when they can actually enjoy them.

i’ve got allot more to read and watch.

Currently playing in iTunes: City Of Blinding Lights by U2

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this is a test. if this were an actual emergency you would have been sent to a blog that actually made sense.

i’m trying out w.bloggar as a desktop blog client. this is a test to see if i have it configured right. i’ve been using marsedit on my powerbook and i like it allot. it gives me the ability to work on my posts offline and then post them later. the problem is that i’m using marsedit on a trial basis and trial is about to end. being my father’s son i am too cheap to actually buy the software. this means that i need to something that does basically the same thing but is free (and works on the windows based machine at church). therefore, i am trying w.bloggar now until marsedit is given away for free.

[tags]w.bloggar, marsedit, blogging, desktop client[/tags]

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pam & operation smile #2

my cute, beautiful, intelligent, and wonderful wife now have access to the internet down in managua, nicaragua and is therefore updating her blog to keep everyone up to date on what is happening on the operation smile project she working on. here’s yesterday’s update. if you read it and wonder what a “complete bilateral facial cleft is look here (warning this is not for the faint of stomach).

as usual i am very proud of my wife.

[tags]operation smile, cleft palatte[/tags]

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operation smile

my cute, intelligent, and absolutely amazing wife left for managua, nicaragua today. for the next ten days she will be the only speech pathologist on the operation smile trip to nicaragua for 2006. for the next week she will be part of a group of therapists, doctors, nurses, technicians, and others who will be working to change the lives of kids who have cleft palates. it should be an incredible week. i am very proud of her.

if she gets the chance to access her blog she is going to update it. you can read it here.

SIDE NOTE – if you haven’t read the austin’s blog you might be interested in knowing that arnold sliced one of the muscles in his arm

[tags]operation smile, cleft palatte[/tags]

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firefly


does anyone who reads this blog own the dvd series firefly? i watched the movie “serenity” this past weekend and was amazed by what a good movie it is. i’ve been told that “firefly” the television show that the movie was a continuation of is just as good. unfortunately blockbuster does not stock it. i’m not sure i want to buy the dvd set until ‘ve at least seen one and can judge for myself if it is as good as the movie or not. thus i am begging you people. if you have the set please let me borrow it. i promise to bring it back without peanut butter stuffed into the box.

[tags]serenity, firefly[/tags]

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multimedia prayer

here’s the multimedia prayer i developed within swish for “the view” tomorrow night. it’s my own paraphrase of the prayer suffrage b from the daily evening prayer: rite one out of the book of common prayer. the ambient music in the background came from the “podsafe” mp3s of garageband.com. it’s from a band called “anyma.” pretty cool stuff in my opinion.

within firefox it loops for some reason that i don’t understand. it might do the same thing within other browsers but i don’t use any other browsers at my church computer so i can’t really judge that. the flash file itself doesn’t loop.

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sabbath 2006

this past weekend was the second time i have done a sabbath retreat with our youth. i posted about last year’s sabbath here. here, and here. the “sabbath” is a weekend that focuses on spiritual disciplines, solitude, quietness, community, and rest.

last year i wasn’t sure how the whole thing would work. it went much better than i could ever have expected. so we did it again this past weekend and it i was once again thankful for it. of course, i will change a few things next year. the first of which is to go back to three days and two nights. this year we did only friday and saturday rather than friday, saturday, and sunday. the extra day makes a huge difference. to paraphrase the end of “animal farm” – “two days good, three days bettter.”

in a world full of electronic noise the sabbath weekend has one electronic moment. we view a film together and then discuss the spiritual implications and themes of the movie. last year we watched “a knight’s tale” – a film that was full of discussion. deciding to stick with movies that had adam tudyk within them i showed serenity for us this year. i had not heard much about this movie before. we loved it. it was great. not only was it an entertaining movie but it also led to some great discussion.

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i’m a freak


i started reading freakonomics today and it is an amazing book. the book is about using the theories and formulas of economics to deal with real world problems. i only read a little today but i am already really into the book. it’s a bit freaky but at least this far it is well worth reading.

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the circumcision sermon

for those of you interested here’s the mp3 of the circumcision sermon i did for our church new year’s day.

i posted about this message back on january 3rd. the church did eventually receive one complaint – saying that they weren’t to happy about the topic. our church administrator told the complainant to come talk to me. i personally haven’t heard from anyone yet.