This afternoon during lunch I found myself drawn to this past weekends edition of the Wall Street Journal. I was originally lured by an essay on Pirates which, I must confess, the older I get is a topic that never seems to lose its intriguing appeal. I suppose I can probably safely assume I am not alone in this fascination per the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Just this past Halloween I saw a woman dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow but that is probably drifting toward a discussion I am disinclined to acquiesce in this post.
After finishing the essay on Pirates I continued through the section and stumbled across a book review for a book entitled: The Peculiar Life of Sundays by Stephen Miller. After reading through the review and excerpt I am even more compelled to add this book to my Amazon wish list. I have often found myself thinking about the subculture that is Sunday and how it probably means something entirely different to each of us. Dependent on a number of influences, everything from childhood experiences to chosen profession, the traditions we are inwardly paving within the minds of our children has substantial root in generations that came before us. I struggle with believing that what we do has any significant meaning or lasting imprint upon peoples lives. While my struggles are undoubtedly shared with many, both previous and present, I would like to think we are striving not to create something relevant to culture but something relevant to Christ. In Him lies all the answers, I am sure, but to unravel the mystery that reveals those answers is a task I am in no means adept. In any case I found the review intriguing and thought I would pass it along...
Monday, November 24, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
The dissapointment of halloween...
As we discussed everyones Halloween weekend at work this morning, one of my coworkers mentioned Ed Levine's recent blog about the Ten Most Disappointing Treats for Trick-or-Treaters. I found it quite amusing and could relate with many of the top ten. I personally like candy corns and the small versions of your favorite candy bar (I agree fun size is a bit of an inappropriate name) but other than that I can relate.
Toothbrushes? Seriously? That is just plain cruel! It takes all the fun out of trick-or-treating. I don't want my kid coming home with that or any of the other stuff on the list. Isn't the reason we take the kids trick-or-treating is so they can bring home the good candy for us? Soon enough we are going to be left with a bag of suckers and tootsie rolls which will sit there until Crystal decides to go on a cleaning binge in the snack cabinet and they get tossed out.
Yesterday as Brayden and I were sitting on the couch disheartened in our (or my) agony over the Seahawks lack of offense he asked me to watch monkey (that is Brayden speak for Curious George). Since I figured monkey would be more entertaining than the game, I told him I would put it on if I could eat all his good Halloween Candy. Being only three and not really knowing much about candy yet he agreed. Okay so it's not true (other than the part about the Seahawks) that I blackmailed Brayden for his Halloween candy. I just fought Crystal for the good stuff when he went to bed.
Hope everyone had a good Halloween and checks out the pictures Crystal put up of our Astronaut and Recycled Lion!
Now that Halloween is over, I suppose it is time to begin thinking about the other holidays that are approaching way too fast. The best thing about Halloween being over though is that very soon I will be able to get reduced-fat Eggnog Latte's from Starbucks. Oh I can hardly wait as this is one of my favorite things ever!
Toothbrushes? Seriously? That is just plain cruel! It takes all the fun out of trick-or-treating. I don't want my kid coming home with that or any of the other stuff on the list. Isn't the reason we take the kids trick-or-treating is so they can bring home the good candy for us? Soon enough we are going to be left with a bag of suckers and tootsie rolls which will sit there until Crystal decides to go on a cleaning binge in the snack cabinet and they get tossed out.
Yesterday as Brayden and I were sitting on the couch disheartened in our (or my) agony over the Seahawks lack of offense he asked me to watch monkey (that is Brayden speak for Curious George). Since I figured monkey would be more entertaining than the game, I told him I would put it on if I could eat all his good Halloween Candy. Being only three and not really knowing much about candy yet he agreed. Okay so it's not true (other than the part about the Seahawks) that I blackmailed Brayden for his Halloween candy. I just fought Crystal for the good stuff when he went to bed.
Hope everyone had a good Halloween and checks out the pictures Crystal put up of our Astronaut and Recycled Lion!
Now that Halloween is over, I suppose it is time to begin thinking about the other holidays that are approaching way too fast. The best thing about Halloween being over though is that very soon I will be able to get reduced-fat Eggnog Latte's from Starbucks. Oh I can hardly wait as this is one of my favorite things ever!
If I could vote again I would vote for a shorter election season!
Yeah, I already voted and dropped my ballot in the mailbox this morning. No more trying to convince me who to vote for but one of my favorite authors posted a new blog which I found fun to read and thought I would share it here. I just couldn't resist and I had to write a comment back to him which I have posted below as well.
Happy Monday,
Trav
http://donmilleris.com
Don,
I am a big fan and glad you started a blog because waiting for your next book to come out has only further illuminated my diagnosis of suffering from an acute impatience illness. I have sort of latched onto the part above where you address the turning point in your life of realizing Democrat does not equal some sort of demon possessed supernatural individual. As much as I try to shelter myself from politics, I have to admit I recently heard reference to Barak as the Antichrist (which I actually laughed out loud to the person who was in all seriousness trying to explain this to me... I think I offended him). I have long since been convicted of what you have addressed above and believe I would like to vote for the best candidate but I probably won't ever be famous enough to be invited to meet a senator and his wife (or the other way around) let alone one that is running for president.
I read in your about what happens when we try to email them and I don't expect a phone call to work with much a better success rate. So how can I weed through all the poo the media feeds us continually (which is why, as I alluded to previously, I try to keep myself away from politics) to understand what the candidates really believe and who to vote for?
I too have already cast my ballot, but in Washington State, so I no longer need to be convinced who is the better candidate. Lucky for me, I was able to relay that I already voted to all the candidates that called my house yesterday asking for my vote. I am still slightly disgruntled as I was trying very hard to watch the Seahawks lose in peace and I kept getting interrupted. The idea just came to me, maybe I will have my three year old start answering the phone for the next couple of days, while my bad attitude disolves?
But seriously Don, how do you get around it? I can't go some place where they decide to not talk about the issue because then I am avoiding things again and that doesn't help. If I stay in my church I will be subjecting myself to the generations of right wingedisms telling me who to vote for. If I watch the media I will be subjecting myself to the variety of left wingedisms telling me who to vote for. Maybe if I decide to vote based on how SNL interprets the candidates? That seems as unbiased as everything else?
I guess I am just at a loss. For each election that passes my vote seems to be losing value at the same rate as my investments in the stock market. Then there is the whole issue of this exorbitant amount of money that gets spent on these campaigns. I mean, we have people with real problems that could use just a fraction of that money to really make a difference and I could go as far as saying it could probably save people's lives. It just leaves me at an even deeper loss of what to do.
Thanks again for the post Don!
Travis
Happy Monday,
Trav
http://donmilleris.com
Don,
I am a big fan and glad you started a blog because waiting for your next book to come out has only further illuminated my diagnosis of suffering from an acute impatience illness. I have sort of latched onto the part above where you address the turning point in your life of realizing Democrat does not equal some sort of demon possessed supernatural individual. As much as I try to shelter myself from politics, I have to admit I recently heard reference to Barak as the Antichrist (which I actually laughed out loud to the person who was in all seriousness trying to explain this to me... I think I offended him). I have long since been convicted of what you have addressed above and believe I would like to vote for the best candidate but I probably won't ever be famous enough to be invited to meet a senator and his wife (or the other way around) let alone one that is running for president.
I read in your about what happens when we try to email them and I don't expect a phone call to work with much a better success rate. So how can I weed through all the poo the media feeds us continually (which is why, as I alluded to previously, I try to keep myself away from politics) to understand what the candidates really believe and who to vote for?
I too have already cast my ballot, but in Washington State, so I no longer need to be convinced who is the better candidate. Lucky for me, I was able to relay that I already voted to all the candidates that called my house yesterday asking for my vote. I am still slightly disgruntled as I was trying very hard to watch the Seahawks lose in peace and I kept getting interrupted. The idea just came to me, maybe I will have my three year old start answering the phone for the next couple of days, while my bad attitude disolves?
But seriously Don, how do you get around it? I can't go some place where they decide to not talk about the issue because then I am avoiding things again and that doesn't help. If I stay in my church I will be subjecting myself to the generations of right wingedisms telling me who to vote for. If I watch the media I will be subjecting myself to the variety of left wingedisms telling me who to vote for. Maybe if I decide to vote based on how SNL interprets the candidates? That seems as unbiased as everything else?
I guess I am just at a loss. For each election that passes my vote seems to be losing value at the same rate as my investments in the stock market. Then there is the whole issue of this exorbitant amount of money that gets spent on these campaigns. I mean, we have people with real problems that could use just a fraction of that money to really make a difference and I could go as far as saying it could probably save people's lives. It just leaves me at an even deeper loss of what to do.
Thanks again for the post Don!
Travis
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