31aug07 today's quote

the easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. the hardest is with one.

-joan baez-

and in other news...

my younger brother has a job. this has been long awaited. he is working for the newspaper back home. the hours are nice, day hours and off by noon. he gets paid very well by columbus standards. him finding a job is definately an answer to prayer. earning money on a regular basis is a new thing to him and will present many, many challenges.

cheers . . ..

some pics of the week so far

while waiting in the parking lot at golden corral, i took this picture. most of the storm passed on to the north of town. we didn't get much action from it.


this picture was taken of the sky to the east. i wish i could have captured some of the great lightning that was flashing all around.


here is jars of clay taking the stage.


here's a quick shot taken of those sitting in the row. there's jay, ben, mel, dave, amy, ben, and renea.


and a phone, but no phone. i thought it funny. cheers . . ..

30aug07 today's quote

think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.

-henri louis bergson-

29aug07 today's quote

good manners will open doors that the best education can not.

-clarence thomas-

28aug07 today's quote

to design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master.

-milton glaser-

just what i needed

i left work early tonight to go to ben and crystal's house for a meal. megan and crystal had prepared some delicious food. there was some chicken (it just fell apart in my mouth! i could have gone with less spice, but remember, i'm a spice wuss and i'm glad i got to taste indian food that was more real to indian food and not catered to my wants), and there was some veggies (the zuchinni was the best part. unlike my roomie, i love zuchinni. and the veggies were very colorful. you have to have color in your food!), and there was non (it's the bread. so good). megan lund made brownies and i ate them with ice cream and then had a mint or two, or three, and some coffee.

the time there was so good! i left work feeling without energy. i debated going home and showering because i felt gross, but knew if i did go home, that i'd crash and would have called it quits for the day. so i lumbered up the stairs to the davy house. once around friends and smelling food, i began to feel the energy called life coming back to me. and now, with a full belly, a smile, an awesome breeze coming through the windows, and a nalgene full of water, i am sitting down to watch a documentary on ants. i checked it out from the library this afternoon.

good night all. have swell dreams. cheers . . ..

27aug07 today's quote

even a clock that does not work is right twice a day.

26aug07 today's quote

from now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which i will not put.

-winston churchill-

um...it's been boring...yeah...it stinks

i've been asked a lot lately how my summer has been. i hate the question. not always, i just hate it right now. because my summer has been non-eventful and boring. i can't help but think it's just been a waste of time. i've neither progressed or advanced in the least in any aspect of life. that's the saddest part of the whole thing. and i've been working a job i don't like and where the hours have kept me from being able to hang out regularly with a lot of friends. there's been a lot of time being by myself - too much time actually. it's made me feel terribly lonely. much of this time has been spent going over what i've done, what i could have done, where i could be and where i'm not. it's depressing.

believe it or not i've been in and out of a depression since shortly before i moved out of the house i lived in with brittan. ... ... that was four years ago. so if i've not fully answered your questions or have been ducking out early or not fully laughing at your jokes, it's because i'm not happy. i'd write more but it would long and drawn out.

cheers . . ..

the newest addition to the armory

i got a really good deal on this paintball gun. it's a smart parts shocker s/f. the s/f stands for select fire. the gun can be switched from semi, to three shot burst, to full auto. my favorite thing about the gun is the awesome splash color scheme. splash anno was pretty popular back in the nineties.

i need to acquire a few more masks and i'd have enough set ups for half a dozen people to go play. i'd like to get some friends together who've not played and go spend a day playing. that would be great! i'm thinking for jay's bachelor party, paintball should be involved.



cheers . . ..

25aug07 today's quote

whoever is in a hurry shows that the thing he is about is too big for him.

-lord chesterfield-

you see a napkin, i see a super hero!

here he is:



and here our super hero has just defeated the evil tobasco villian!



i was at yia yia's last night with some friends. i began to play with a napkin. a short time after, i noticed the napkin had taken shape! fun times. cheers . . ..

24aug07 today's quote

the greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.

-elbert hubbard-

23aug07 today's quote

no man is sane who does not know how to be insane on proper occasions.

-henry ward beecher-

you're super cool man

i can't tell you how many times i get polled over each week and this happens to me. :rolleyes: cheers . . ..

22aug07 today's quote

the most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "eureka", but "that's funny..."

-isaac asimov-

21aug07 today's quote

dream a stream of magic and love,
imagine summer on a star above.

-andrew, age 10-

totino's party pizza

i bought a frozen pizza from the grocery store this morning. i've not had one in ages and am excited to eat it. i'm going to add my own sauce on top of it, some provolone cheese, and tomatoes. w00t w00t! i'm drooling.

i've danced so much on saturday and sunday that my legs are sore, especially my calves. ben the roomie arrived back last night. and i've got a new 80's music cd that david made me. man, is it awesome! music you've never heard.

have a swell day all.

cheers . . ..

20aug07 today's quote

fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.

-german proverb-

the family reunion in kansas, and wow!

yesterday, i went with my family to kansas for a family reunion on my father's side. about two weeks ago, my father had asked if i wanted to go. i knew it would mean a lot to him if i attended. so i told him i would go. i was a little worried that i'd be bored or hurting from all the brokenness i'd run into there.

my family stopped at my apartment in lincoln early saturday morning. my aunt even came from omaha. we all rode in my parents' new vehicle. i brought along a crossword from wednesday's paper and figured i'd pass the time doing that. my aunt is big into crosswords and she finished the last half because i couldn't.

i was curious as to how things would turn out. my father's side of the family is stubborn, passive, non confrontational, negative, and unchurched and wanting nothing to do with church. people on that side of the family sit around and small talk mostly. there's never any meat to the conversations and nothing even remotely close to a deep thought. it was amazing to see this as a common trait amongst everyone and to think about how it's been passed along through the generations. i began to think about how i've been affected by this.

there was so little motivation for connection that i was getting pretty intimidated to initiate any. in my heart i wanted these people to connect, to know each other, and to love each other. i was deeply saddened. this is one thing i thought about before i answered my father and told him i'd go to the reunion. this was a great temptation to say no. i made myself known to some people playing basketball (we were in a community center that had a basketball court). there was dylan, an eighth grader. i believe he's barb's son and they might live in wymore. i think barb is my grandmother's sister but i really don't know for sure. there was also a little girl, i'd say about six or seven. her name was zoe (pronounced zo-ee). she was really good at basketball for her age! there were about four other kids under the age of five. i don't know their names. but i did pick one of the little boys up and i held him over my head so he could put the ball in the hoop. he was the happiest little guy then! i'd like to see the photo his mother took of it.

well, it was getting time to eat. and i hadn't breakfast that morning so i was starving. i was sitting at a table, across from my sister, looking at all the food. i knew no one was going to pray for this food or ask the lord to be with us all. this also saddened me. not because some ritual wasn't observed, but because there would be no thanks given, no exclamation of praise...no admitting to our need of a savior. i prayed inside that the food would be blessed, and that i wanted god to be present. i also prayed that i wanted people to be open to one another. and then something happened that i think is really, really, really, really awesome.

one of the most outspoken men of the family came to me AND ASKED IF I'D SAY GRACE.

whoa! i felt honored! i can't tell you all the things that were going through my mind at that moment. holy cow! god! you are awesome! the man whistled by putting his fingers in his mouth. people quieted down. it was still. i thanked god for the food and for those who had brought it and for this time to come together as a family, i asked him to be a part of this gathering, i asked for his blessing over the food and the hands that prepared it, i asked that he make our hearts open to one another, to be receptive, that we would enjoy each other and that he would be glorified. i think it was a longer prayer than what anyone was expecting "saying grace" would be. my mother immediately told me, "that was a nice prayer scottie". she then told me i should be a minister. many others came up during the remainder of the day and told me thank you for praying. i give credit to god. he gets all the glory for this. for he raised me up at an appointed time.

i'm curious how god will use this event in others' lives? i question the same for my own life? one thing that amazes me about this whole thing is god's answering to our prayers, also, his intervention. i was praying silently in my own mind not asking god specifically to make these things happen. rather, i was telling him the pains in my own heart. god then answered that prayer. EVEN THOUGH I HAD NOT ASKED HIM SPECIFICALLY FOR ANYTHING. he knows what we need. he knows what's best for us. he answers prayers we don't even pray for. he intervenes in our lives.

it is this very excitement, joy, praise, and amazement in my own heart that i wish others to know. i'm happy. i'm still in shock. and i'm outta here. gonna go dance my little heart out. cheers . . ..

19aug07 today's quote

the test of courage comes when we are in the minority. the test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.

-ralph w sockman-

something super lame

my friend robin had no ride home from dowtown lastnight. she asked, and i gave her a ride. instead of going straight home, she wanted to go to a party. so i went to the party with her, around 8th and sumner. the house was a wreck. the people there were young, drunk, and ghetto. i say ghetto in that they were all white, but they all thought they were black. and sure enough, it took only a few minutes before a fight broke out. one guy cold cocked another guy who was minding his own business outside. mr innocent dropped like a bag of potatos, out cold. then there were friends of his at his defense and more punches were thrown. my friend pinky got hit. pinky is a big guy. he doesn't like to be drawn into this kind of stuff and is big enough to put a stop to things pretty quickly. some of the thugs were at a distance just taunting pinky, who by now had a group around him holding him back. there was a lot of tension. eventually a bunch of people left, claiming to come back with guns.

come back with guns? come on! that is the lamest, LAMEST thing ever. freakin' white boy thug gansta wannabes! :shakes head in disgust: it's rediculous. SO rediculous. pinky decided to leave, just in case the group did come back. i left shortly after as well. robin decided she wanted to stay. i don't know why, but that was her call and i double and tripled asked.

stupid, petty squables that break out into fist fights? a glorification of the gansta life? wtf? are you not mature? can you not act your age? have you only half a brain?

i'll stop before i get angry. if you ever find yourself in this kind of situation, get out of it. wannabes are, more often than not, more dangerous than the real deal. cheers . . ..

18aug07 today's quote

always kiss your children goodnight - even if they're already asleep.

-h jackson brown jr-

overgrown

i love looking out of the front window of my apartment at the overgrown foliage growing in the drainage runoff canal thingie across the street. the sides of the drainage canal are too steep to be mowed and as such, the vegetation is out of control. it's awesome, so wild! i imagine millions of little critters call this vegetation forest their home. i think i like most how organic it is. and there exists a complete absence of human beings.

currently outside i see rain coming down. weeeee! i see, and hear, cars driving past. i imagine the drivers to be anxious to get home after a week of work. i'm excited the weekend is here as well. tomorrow, my family is swinging through lincoln to pick me up on their way to kansas. there is a family reunion (my father's side). i've not seen some of these family members in a long time. i won't even remember them. it means a lot to my father, so i told him i'd go. his family is not well connected. my family is not well connected. i see it in my father though, that he desires a connection. it's just interesting to me to be able to detect the desire in him, even if he may not know what it is.

the reunion is keeping me from being in stanton. there is a demolition derby and a dance tonight. it stinks missing out on things! but i look forward to what tomorrow will bring. cheers . . ..

17aug07 today's quote

creativity can solve almost any problem. the creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.

-george lois-

16aug07 today's quote

i pray on the principle that wine knocks the cork out of a bottle. there is an inward fermentation, and there must be a vent.

-henry ward beecher-

some pics of an amazing sunset

too bad i the only camera i have exists on my mobile. these pics can only give you an idea of how awesome this sunset was. they cannot give you a fuller picture as a nicer camera could have. the sunset occured two saturdays ago. i was at a lake north of columbus.



amazing! cheers . . ..

15aug07 today's quote

when you close your doors and make darkness within, remember to never say that you are alone. for you are not alone, nay, god is within, and your genius is within. and what need have they of light to see what you are doing?

-epictetus-

ready? set? okay... here goes

quick post of the day's events. and i mean quick, i'm going to bed.

this morning, my phone showed a missed call from my younger brother at 2:41am. made me worry. received a call from super target optical requesting i come in and interview on thursday afty. i baked a casserole. it rules. at work, i called a woman whose first name was "lady". i had some fun on the call. "okay lady. you don't speak english lady? lady, what language do you speak? i'll have someone call you back lady that speaks spanish. lady, have a great evening okay? goodbye lady." i intentionally was loud. people around me wondered what the duece was going on. ha ha! went to seward. hung out with jake. am now recommending the gallery to everyone i know. am also recommending to everyone i know that they not play jake in pool...they will lose. barteneder there recognized me from 80's night. small world. jake went to work. i drove, windows down, home. chased a moth around the house. he must have snuck in when i came in. catch and release. he's flying around outside now. drank some water. blogged. went to bed.

okay. now i'm off to bed. don't let the bed bugs bite. cheers . . ..

14aug07 today's quote

the great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.

-madeleine l'engle-

and the riddle has been solved

mike callen had the correct answer. the old lady could make eight cigarettes in all. with 49 butts, the woman would have made seven cigarettes, smoked them all, then had seven butts left over, and made one last cigarette out of the remaining butts. the riddle is unclear as to what the old lady does with the lone cigarette butt at the end.

i assume mike likes riddles. he thought a lot about this one. mike, you win the prize. but there really is no prize, sorry. but you do get the congratulations. cheers . . ..

looking for gainful employment

i've been looking for a different job lately. gallup just isn't where i want to be. i find it too taxing on me in a number of ways. gallup is one of those jobs that you have for a season. and having it for a season is okay. now i'm looking through classified ads to find something new. and until i'm prepared to be a counselor by more education and time in that field, i'll go through another "season" with an employer. wish me luck. cheers . . ..

13aug07 today's quote

great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.

-baltasar gracian-

funny kyocera commercials!

and number two:

rofl! cheers . . ..

12aug07 today's quote

a wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top.

the riddle still stands

there's this old lady who loves to smoke, but she can't afford cigarettes. so she collects cigarette butts and makes cigarettes out of them. if she collects 7 cigarette butts, she can make 1 cigarette. so, if she collects 49 cigarette butts, how many cigarettes can she make?

11aug07 today's quote

imagine if every thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. this happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining.

-jef raskin-

a riddle

there's this old lady who loves to smoke, but she can't afford cigarettes. so she collects cigarette butts and makes cigarettes out of them. if she collects 7 cigarette butts, she can make 1 cigarette. so, if she collects 49 cigarette butts, how many cigarettes can she make?

(please give your answer and a reason why you think you've got the answer). cheers . . ..

10aug07 today's quote

if you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to the state fair. because after five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, "you know, we're alright. we are dang near royalty."

-jeff foxworthy-

09aug07 today's quote

the chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.

-samuel johnson-

just about 12 hours of rain

the rain finished up this morning a little before noon. all through the night it rained. i left the windows in my room open so i could hear it coming down. occasionally the wind would pick up and i could hear that too. there was thunder all night long. and even with my eyes closed, i could detect the brightness of the lightning flashes. needless to say, i stayed up most the night. just gazing out the window watching a seemingly never ending fall of water drops. pitter-patter. bang! flash. repeated at random.

it's been awfully hot and humid lately. the coolness of the night felt really nice. i just about went outside for a walk around the block to intentionally get soaked and be cooled down from the previous few days' heat. i enjoy the rain. can't wait until the next rainfall. cheers . . ..

08aug07 today's quote

if you wouldst live long, live well, for folly and wickedness shorten life.

-benjamin franklin-

amazing sights and sounds

the

lightning

tonight

is

AMAZING!

and so is the way the thunder shakes the entire earth. wow!!! cheers . . ..

my ho hum wardrobe

i don't have a lot of clothes. i guess i've never invested much money in them. as a kid, shopping for new clothes meant a trip to the goodwill or the sally army. and that was only if the hand-me-downs from my brother were in too bad a shape to be worn. i cannot tell you the last time i went to a real store and purchased clothing for myself.

so today i stand in front of my closet gazing at my ho hum wardrobe. there are only five shirts that i wear regularly. i must look like a cartoon character to some, always wearing the same thing. i do have some collared, button up shirts but they don't fit quite right and therefore aren't quick to be worn. along with having five shirt regulars, i have five pant regulars - two actual pairs of pants and three pairs of shorts that were once pants. all are dickies. dickies because they LAST. i do have three pairs of old-guy-grandpa plaid golfer pants. plaid is hands down my favorite! but one pair has too big a waist and no belt loops. another is just a wee too short. and the last has a hole in the knee. obviously, these three do not see much sunlight...unfortunately.

as i mature, i find myself giving more attention to the clothing i wear. and thus, in the near future, i foresee additions to the wardrobe. we'll see you. cheers . . ..

07aug07 today's quote

drive-in banks were established so most of the cars today could see their real owners.

-e joseph crossman-

i hate thieves

tonight my seat and seatpost was stolen off my bike. it makes it awfully hard to ride. and me being tall, that was a special seat post. it was extra long, extra strong, had an 1 1/2" set back, and was expensive. the retail price on it is $120 and that doesn't include a seat. i was working at the bike shop at the time so it was much cheaper when i purchased it. but now, i'll be paying full retail. i'm angry. grrr and cheers . . ..

06aug07 today's quote

we turn not older with years, but newer everyday.

-emily dickinson-

a sense of renewal

i was telling mike moore this morning before church that i'd a bad week at work, and though it ended on friday, it still was lingering with me. i told him i just couldn't shake it and it was making me gloomy. :ick: i even shuddered and stuck my tongue out in the appropriate :ick: expression. mike was encouraging and positive, just what i needed. he said that church was starting in a minute or two, and we'd go into the sanctuary and sing our hearts out and worship god. the gloom will fade away he said. thanks mike.

it did fade away. i couldn't tell you exactly when, but it was gone. there was great comfort in the message today. also, it was a communion weekend. w00t! i also use that time for confession. i cried. i laid the past week at his feet. i was reminded of his faithfulness and i was comforted. the gloom was gone, the joy was back. god rocks!

later tonight, i'll be dancing. i love sundays. cheers . . ..

05aug07 today's quote

people who ask our advice almost never take it. yet we should never refuse to give it, upon request, for it often helps us see our own way more clearly.

-brendan francis-

missed out

well, i didn't make it to the czech festival. i didn't realize i had neither the gas, nor the money, to get there and back. the bourne ultimatum debuted last night as well. but movies nowadays are like $8 or more. again, with no money that i can use towards luxuries such as movies, i had to pass. and after having an extremely crappy week at work and yet another not so great day on the job, i wasn't having much energy to be around people who were happy and smiling while inside i was not. so i did not go to megan's celebration of her arrival back from india.

my friend paul received a call from me explaining i wasn't going to czech days. he was actually glad because he really didn't want to go anyway and was only going just to tag along. he was downtown with some friends whom used to work at gallup. "used to" being the key phrase there. they've moved up in life by getting away from that place. as paul put it, "a career at gallup is like calling macdonald's real food". he said this after ben was telling us how a manager scolded him for having poor performance during his last couple of weeks - poor performance as in 85%. ben was told that he shouldn't think about leaving, people make careers out of gallup. i won't get into those with "careers" at gallup interviewing and their overweightedness, paleness of skin, overall unhealthy appearance, poor posture especially with their backs, etc. that will be another rant at a later time.

played a game of chess at yia yia's. went to o'rourkes. came home between 1:30 and 2. ate some rice. went to bed less than happy, fullfilled, or joyful. wanted to cry but couldn't. awoke this morning. looks like i'll be going to columbus per the amazing workings of god. i'm thinking columbus will be a pretty good time. cheers . . ..

04aug07 today's quote

the speed of the boss is the speed of the team.

-lee iacocca-

wilber czech festival 2007

the czech festival is in full swing! i was planning on heading down this morning to get ducks and dumplings. SO GOOD! it's duck cooked up wonderfully, dumplings, saurkraut, and a sauce. the old ladies in town cook it up in the morning for breakfast. they've been cooking all sorts of goodies all week long, i'm sure. i am anxious to get ahold of some colaches! i'll be heading down to wilber tonight after work.

here is the wilber czech festival website. it has a link to the schedule of events. if i wasn't going to be busy tomorrow, i'd take the fairlane down for the car show (after i had some ducks and dumplings).

http://www.ci.wilber.ne.us/festival.asp

yummy food, lots of people, and polka! i love polka music. you just can't help but smile when polka music is being played. have a good day. cheers . . ..

03aug07 today's quote

no one can earn a million dollars honestly.

-william jennings bryan-

a few music videos from my 2001 stay in germany

whenever the television was on, it was on mtv2.de, germany's mtv2. the music was absolutely fantastic! most everything was techno or dance. i wish i could remember all the groups that were big then, but i cannot. here are a few videos to sort of give you a taste of what was playing.

safri duo - played alive

barthezz - on the move

fragma - everytime you need me

fragma - you're alive

sylver - turn the tide

atomic kitten - whole again

no angels - rivers of joy

sarah connor featuring tq - let's get back to bed boy

emma bunton - what took you so long

the gorillaz - clint eastwood

westlife - uptown girl

right said fred - you're my mate


cheers . . ..

02aug07 today's quote

you're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.

-malcolm x-

01aug07 today's quote

i have everything, yet have nothing. and although i posess nothing, still of nothing am i in want.

-terence-