Wayfarer on the Creative Path

Arrrrrrrrggghhhh

I think that part of the hotel housekeepers checklist should be to make sure that the previous guest didn't set the alarm clock radio for 3:30 a.m. and turn the volume all the way up on the rock station.

The First Day Back from Vacation

The inbox is full.
The to-do list is running over.
The desk's a disaster.
The grass is long.
The house needs attention.
The bills are due.
The messages need to be returned.

Can I go back to the lake now?

Cubs Casting

If they ever make a movie about the Cubs 1908 team or the famed trio of Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance, I think Willem Dafoe is the right casting choice for Johnny Evers.

The things you think about when you're stuck in the Denver airport.

You Say You Don't Believe in Miracles?

It's almost June and the Chicago Cubs are tied for the best record in baseball.

And people still say there is no God.

:)

Numbering Your Days

Speaking of mentors, I received an e-mail this morning from my friend and mentor, Chuck. Chuck turned me on to the Psalm 90:12 idea of "numbering your days". It's amazing and humbling to know how many days you've spent on this Earth and contemplate what you've done with them. Today is Chuck's 27,000th birthDAY (that's a lot of candles). I'm still a spring chicken today at 15,355.

You can quickly calculate your own number of days here.

No Grass Growing Under Their Feet

I had to laugh when I read a friend's e-mail yesterday. They had received Madison's support letter for her upcoming mission trip to Thailand. "No grass grows under that girl's feet, does it?!" the e-mail read.

I laughed because I was just getting ready to see Madison off on a different trip. She and her high school show choir are headed to the Big Apple for spring break. They'll perform in and around the city. Nope. No grass growing under those tootsies.

It reminds me of parent-teacher conferences. When I spoke to Madison's geography teacher, he laughed and said, "She's been to Asia. She's been to South America. That girl knows more about geography than me!"

Good for her. Good for Taylor. They've both been blessed to visit remote places and experience distant cultures. They both have taken the step of faith to go. My hope has always been that the girls grow up with a global perspective. Small town Iowa is a great, safe place to call home - but there's so much more out there.

Experiencing it can only help you to better understand yourself.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and Fleur-Design.

Thoughts on Birthing Class

Our friends Judd and Jodi, whom we've not seen since December (when you couldn't hack a good Iowa loogey without hitting a presidential candidate), are expecting their first child in a few weeks. If you'd like a good laugh today, you should read Judd's thoughts on their recent experience at birthing class.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and gaetanlee

Intimacy Lost

Today I came across a great post at Ginny's Small Studio about letter writing.

I miss writing letters. I miss receiving letters.

I miss the days of running to my College Post Office (CPO) box in anticipation of hand written letters from my parents and friends back home. I even miss the sense of loss when the CPO was empty. It made the days of finding letters inside even more special. I miss that tactile sensation of opening an envelope - like opening a gift - wondering what treasure of words, thoughts, stories and ideas lay inside.

My life-long friend Dave and I became friends through letters. I was in college as he was finishing up his last year of high school. I wrote him, he wrote back. I replied and he replied to my reply. We did not stop replying to each other. For years we faithfully wrote one another. Once, twice, three times a week we were journaling our lives, our thoughts, our passions and our foibles through letters and post cards. I went on into marriage and a career as he went on to study and teach in France. Still the letters continued.

Those letters are a treasured chronicle of that age of my life. The birth, growth and maturity of a friendship is right there in hundreds of envelopes on hundreds, if not thousands of pages covered in personal, handmade lines of ink and graphite.

I fear that our culture lost something when technology robbed us of letter writing.

Yes, e-mail is fast. Yes, e-mail is convenient. Yes, e-mail is cheap.

So is a prostitute.

The bytes and pixels of e-mail will never match the intimacy of a personal, handwritten letter.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and Aphrodite. By the way, that's an iridium nibbed fountain pen making those letters [for those of you who've never seen one].

The Creator Doodles

The other morning I was on my way to grab a cup of coffee at Starbucks. It was early and the sun had not yet risen. I turned to my right, looked out the car window, and witnessed one of the most spectacular celestial scenes I've ever witnessed.

The rising sun had created a brilliant, fiery pink shaft of light shooting straight up into the air. I don't know if it was clouds below the horizon that directed the sun's rays like a giant searchlight, but it took my breath away. I had my camera in the back seat of the car and quickly pulled it out to take this picture.

A minute later, it was gone.

Every once in a while God reminds me that He is Creator and, like all true artists, His creative work is never finished.

The sky is God's canvas, and each day we get to watch Him doodle.

A Century is Long Enough

Tomorrow is the first Spring Training game for the Chicago Cubs and you can bet it will be a heckuva lot warmer down in Mesa, Arizona than at Wrigley Field. Nevertheless, it's a wonderful sign of the coming of spring and the boys of summer. After the winter we've had, I'm more excited than ever for the promise of warm summer evenings at the ballpark.

The last time the Chicago Cubs won the World Series was in 1908. It will be 100 years this year. Baseball's "lovable losers" have been frozen out of a championship long enough.

Maybe this year!

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and brighter than sunshine.

Enough Already!!

I drove to Minneapolis yesterday morning through an ice storm (yes, mom, I made it safe). This was a trip scheduled earlier and rescheduled because of a winter storm. I think we've already doubled the normal amount of snow fall. There's a mountain of ice at the bottom of my driveway that's too thick to chop through. I have so much snow and ice on our back porch that any thing melting just backs up against the house and creates a skating rink at our back door. Arrrrrrrrrrrggghhhh!

GOD?! Could you turn off the ice maker and SHUT the freezer door, please!?

A Rant for Today

Why is it that, when school is cancelled, the kids are still asked to attend rehearsals and activites for extra-curicculars? With each snow day the girls have had this winter, Madison has continually been expected to make it to show choir rehearsal. What message are we sending to our kids? It's too bad outside to learn anything in the classroom, but you darn well better risk getting out to practice your song-and-dance routine!

[scratching head]

Sex Study

"A new study reveals that monkeys treat sex as a commodity and females make the males pay for sex by bargaining for the males to do chores like grooming them.

Or something like that, I couldn't finish the article because I had to take out the garbage and clean up the garage."

- Alex Kaseberg

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and geowulf

Word of the Day: Pontificate

Pontificate is my word for the day. Wendy used it last night and all of a sudden my brain and my mouth are having fun saying it. It rolls off the tongue in three glorious syllables filled with edgy consonants.

 
Wendy's use of the word came on the way home from church. She asked the question, "Why do church leaders always feel the need to pontificate?"

It's another reason we're such a good match for each other. We think alike in so many ways. If we're having an organizational meeting, then let's organize. We don't need a ten minute devotional thought on the Apostle Paul's admonishment to do things decently and in order. If we're getting together to make a decision on the building project we don't need a mini-book study of Nehemiah. It's especially unappreciated when the mini-sermon was, itself, hastily organized and thrown together. Then it's more aggravating because they are obviously doing it out of some sense of obligation, not because they have something on their heart they really want to say. Seriously, I won't think less of you as a member of the church staff if you skip the homily.

Undeniable Proof

It's August and the Chicago Cubs are in 1st place.

...and still people say there is no God.

What I don't get...

Does that guy on the plane not look in the mirror and see the gross bumper crop of hair sticking a half-inch out of his nostrils? Does that lady not see the six stringy long hairs sticking out of her chin?

Take Me Out to the Ball Game - Iowa Cubs!

It was a beautiful Memorial Day weekend. Wendy and I headed to tradition-rich Sec Taylor field in Principal Park this past Sunday to watch the Iowa Cubs take on the Oklahoma City Redhawks. We had a wonderful afternoon. It not only brought back great memories of my Grandpa Spec taking me to the same park when I was a kid - it reminded me that Triple-A baseball is an amazing experience and tremendous value.

Thank you to Michael Gartner and the Iowa Cubs for providing such a great venue and family entertainment.

 Here’s why I think minor league baseball is the “IN” place to be:

1. IN-credible players: I watched a crop of young players motivated to play their hearts out in order to get to the show. I also saw players like Felix Pie and Ronny Cedeno who’ve already cut their chops in Chicago and are looking to get back.
2. IN-timate setting: I sat towards the top of the reserved seats on the first base side and was still perilously close to the action – complete with dodging foul balls. No handing out oxygen-masks in the “upper deck” or hauling in my binoculars to view the action. This is big league ball in a small park.
3. IN-viting treats: baseball, hotdogs, and a cold beer. Need I say more?
4. IN-the-sunshine: I had all the food and fun outside on a gorgeous late Spring afternoon and got a tan to boot. Paying money to sit in a tanning booth never made less sense. 
5. IN-expensive entertainment: All of this, and more, for a mere fraction of the cost of a Major League game. In fact, I can get a general admission ticket for the I-Cubs for less than the price of a movie ticket. Heck, I can always rent a DVD – take me out to the ballgame!

Words Women Use

"Words Women Use" - this, from Wendy...

1. FINE: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
2. Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five Minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
3. Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.
4. Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!
5. Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)
6. That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
7. Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you're welcome.
8. Whatever: Is a women's way of saying F%#& YOU!
9. Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking "what's wrong", for the woman's response refer to # 3.
   (The following is my addition to the list!)
10. I'm okay: Don't believe it for a second, buster - I'm not okay - I'm really ticked (most likely at you) and you better start probing to find out what's really wrong or it's only going to get worse for you!

Everything I Need to Know I Learned From Noah's Ark

 

• One: Don't miss the boat.
• Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat.
• Three: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
• Four: Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
• Five: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
• Six: Build your future on high ground.
• Seven: For safety sake, travel in pairs! !
• Eight: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
• Nine: When you're stressed, float a while.
• Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
• Eleven: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.

I take no credit for this one. It has been making it around the net. Thanks to our friend Ann Wilkinson for sending it my way.

We're Living in an I-Pod Age

[sigh] Yes we are.

Hey Bartender! Hog's Bloody Mary, Please!

Wendy and I were driving back from Des Moines yesterday afternoon. We passed a huge tanker truck. It was labeled "Pig Plasma" on the back and then all over the stinkin' tank in huge letters it reminded us that it was "NON-EDIBLE!"

Dang! 'Cause as soon as I saw the words "pig plasma" I broke out two straws!

Technorati Tags: Pig Plasma, Truck, Humor, Random Thoughts

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The Evolution of Dance

Need a chuckle today? Click this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIeIWkK0t4s&eurl

You're welcome :)

How Sad is That?

It's sad when your team loses 13 of the last 15 games, and it gives you the feeling that all is right with the world.

Go cubs.

Technorati Tags: Chicago, Cubs, Baseball, Lose, Random Thoughts

flickr photo courtesy of OnceandFuture

Are You Serious?!!

I've got to rant here for a minute. Wendy and I were watching TV Saturday night and an ad came on for Superstation TBS's showing of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring which played Sunday. In the ad, they showed a montage of the hobbit characters Frodo and his friend Sam. Underneath the montage they were playing the song, "Secret Lovers" making the not so subtle inference that Frodo and Sam were gay. Are you serious?! I'm sure TBS was trying to be funny, but the whole thing is an insult to Tolkein and the millions of LOTR fans across the world. TBS has no class, man - no class at all.

Technorati Tags: TBS, Lord of the Rings, Commercial, Frodo, Sam