love : respect

i just tried to leave a comment on sarah's blog on her entry quoting proverbs 4:23 ... but aosmell made me sign in then wouldn't take comments longer than 500 characters. i refuse to use such a fascist system (sorry, sarah). so i'll leave my comment here instead:

heard a great talk on the radio about how gals value love and guys value respect. stop telling a girl that you love her and she'll get afraid to ask, fearing the worst. stop telling a guy that you respect him and the same will happen ... he's crushed by "i love you but i don't respect you" (and vice versa for her). respect is something you can earn and lose, something rational and intentional, while love is something given freely and undeservedly, something emotional.

both come from the heart.

but think about this ... which does God want more? :)

so yeah. which does God want more?

I Have No Right To Complain.

So Edwin Gallartis was riding the train in Harlem (NYC) yesterday when he accidentally dropped his cellphone into the toilet. Naturally, he decided that the only reasonable thing to do would be to reach in and fish it out. Kinda nasty, but that's what disinfectant is for.

Unfortunately things didn't exactly work out as planned. Edwin's hand got stuck in the toilet, they called a supervisor, he couldn't help and had to call rescue crews, they used three sets of power tools (including the jaws of life) to rip the toilet from the wall and cut it in half, many trains were rerouted to make room for the stopped train, and the railroad lost thousands of dollars. And to top it all off, he never ended up getting his phone back.

Bowling For Birdies.

About a week ago I had a really bad day ... things were just going wrong right and left for no apparent reason. Now, one week later, I've finally figured out why it was simply not my day: it's because it was this guy's day.

Figures.

Da Disappearing Dum-Dums

Last week in my Monday 5th bell 5th grade class, we had some contests to determine who could be the most accurate typer in the class. I was extremely proud of my hardworking students, who dedicated their every effort for 40 minutes straight to type without any errors. When the contest concluded, however, we found that a terrible atrocity had occurred. Some scoundrel ... some devious criminal ... had broken into my stash of prizes, a valuable tin full of Dum-Dums ... and removed every single one of them!

My students were crushed. Weren't you, kids?

Meet Me In St. Louis, Louie.

I've been intending to make a post about last weekend all week ... now I find myself minutes away from this weekend. I'll be heading to St. Louis with Annie, Wicker, Amber, and possibly a suprise guest to visit Brian, Val, and Caleb. I'm so looking forward to this!

Here's a quick glimpse into last weekend ... can anyone name this location?

The Ten Suggestions

My post yesterday was a response to something I had been thinking about ... I'm sick of hearing the phrase God Bless America. There's never a reason given, never an idea of what that blessing would look like, never a comma involved. Are we commanding God to bless us? Are we speaking directly to him, or simply describing in a cave-man-esque tone that his blessing is already upon us? I don't get it.

I think it's supposed to be an appeal for God to bless us. But why? There has to be something to merit it. The more I thought about it, however, the more I started to think about one of the simplest sets of rules in existence, the ten commandments. Sure, these rules were written long ago to another nation, but most humans would agree that they represent some basic laws of humanity. Yet we, as a people, have made it our daily practice, our priority, to live in violation of every one of them. Our values, our laws, our lifestyles ... they all are designed to specifically break these commandments.

I'm not a mere bible-thumping conservative ... I don't even think these commandments belong in the classroom or courtroom (unless if we're trying to point out our own hypocrisy). But I see a problem that doesn't exactly merit a blessing:

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

The crux of the issue. We put almost everything before God, even before the invisible. What we see rules our lives ... and we sacrifice thousands of times every day to the gods of money, sex, and power. We create religions out of our hobbies, deity out of our celebrities, worship out of our work. There is no value in the valuable ... instead we place it in rocks and paper and abstract concepts. Sounds to me like we're enciting some pretty righteous jealousy.

You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

"Oh my God, it's not that important."

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Yeah ... we have a great work ethic here in the states ... sure, we still get weekends off (I'm suprised no one has brought up "separation of church and state" for that one yet), but do we give that day to the Lord? Do we stop and rest, even if it is a Saturday or Sunday (or weekday) off? No, we fill our time, fill our minds, fill our hearts. We continually say we're "too busy." We cannot sit still, cannot be quiet, cannot just chill. God calls rest "holy." We are afraid of this holiness because it requires us to trust. This is a sin, friends. The word "commandment" doesn't leave much room for doubt.

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

The first commandment with promise ... yet we choose to forgo our promised land and leave our family in the dust. We choose to slap them around as teenagers then get as far away from them as possible in the ensuing years. It's a gift to have consistency and hand-me-downs through generations, yet through our individuality we strive to "make it for ourselves." How pathetic.

You shall not murder.

It is legal, even state-sanctioned, for us to murder our children in America because we feel like it. I cannot begin to understand. This alone makes me ashamed to be an American.

You shall not commit adultery.

Has anyone turned on the television or watched a movie lately? Has anyone been to a mall? Show some more skin, ladies ... impress your friends with your filthy minds, boys. Our entire culture revolves around sex and we're acting like we're not ashamed by it. I hate to break it to you ... that girl is someone's wife. That man is someone's husband. Your mind is a gift for someone else. We're simply practicing adultery at its purest form.

You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

Do I even need to say anything? I'm amazed that we think these commandments are less important than murder. Where did we get this contrived ranking? It is a lie.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Our entire way of living is based upon jealousy. Every commercial product out there appeals to our desire to be like the Jones', while even the simplest things, like family structure and the food we eat, are steeped in competition with our neighbors. Capitalism is fueled by coveting.

God, please do not bless America. We do not deserve it. We deserve your judgement and punishment. Blow up the credit card buildings, blind our eyes, confuse our languages, make Your terrible Presence known to us. This country has become its own god, thinking it doesn't need You.

I don't need it. As your follower, I routinely convince myself that it's ok to select which of your commands to keep and which are negotiable. Blow up my contrived sets of "rules", crush my will, consume every bit of my self. I have become my own god, thinking I don't need You.

No Comprendo.

Can someone please explain to me why God should bless America?

Help Wanted.

If anyone out there knows how to speak dog, could I hire you for an hour some time? There's a few simple concepts I need communicated to this beast ... mostly centering around patience, "hovering", and food rules. Thanks.

Trippin' Down The Lane ...

Oh, the things you start to find when you dig into the past. It's totally crazy just to look through some of these pages and confront the road I've taken.

Digital Camera For Sale

What An Idiom.

Dead ringer ... clean your clock ... pushing the envelope ... flash in the pan ... the buck stops here ... pie in the sky ... between a rock and a hard place ...

Have you ever wondered where a particular figure of speech originally came from? Well, wonder no longer. Origin of Phrases tells you everything you need to know and more. Have fun!

Woah. Dude.

When you pass another car and look over at the occupants, they somehow know you're looking and look back at you. How is that? Is it some kind of subconscious thing?

I've been experimenting with it all week, messing with people and myself. It's starting to freak me out.

Retire That Jersey

It's finally done. The record is broken, the lowest possible score has been obtained in MiniPutt. You may say "That boy has too much time on his hands." I simply say "Ecclesiastes 9:10."

I want to do everything, no matter how simple or insignificant, with excellence. I want to set goals and achieve them, to make committments and keep them. I want to become a man of character. Perhaps I should start with video games.

Unverified Trivia

A little while ago my brother forwarded a message to me with a whole bunch of interesting "facts" ... I'm sure out of the following 26 items, 2 or 3 are actually true. I'm trying to clear out my old inbox as I move to a new email program, so here you go.

As you read the following items, please remember that 80% of all statistics are just made up.

• Butterflies taste with their feet.
• A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
• In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all of the world's nuclear weapons combined.
• On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.
• On average people fear spiders more than they do death.
• Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants.
• Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
• Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
• Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
• It's possible to lead a cow upstairs ... but not downstairs.
• Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
• The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
• A snail can sleep for three years.
• No word in the English language rhymes with �MONTH.�
• Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
• Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
• The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
• All polar bears are left-handed.
• In ancient Egypt, priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.
• An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
• TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
• "Go," is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
• If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand seven feet, two inches tall.
• A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
• The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
• Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
• 3/4 of American people make up 75% of the population (I added that one)

Fall Off The Zipline

[props to amber]

I Don't Have That Kind of Paper

I just found a very interesting audio clip as I cleaned out the server space that hosts this website. After some investigation, I discovered that I had previously posted this clip on webeldotnet a year and a half ago, but sometimes it's worth reposting.

Helping people learn about computers is entertaining.

I Miss Paintball.

The End Is Near.

I just bought a ticket to see Five Iron Frenzy, Bleach, Holland, and Cameron Jaymes at The Underground on Friday. It's the farewell tour for FIF (entitled the "Winners Never Quit Tour") and looks lot be a great show. If you wanna go, you'd better reserve a ticket online before it sells out.

You know, it's been a long time since I've been to a good rock show, even longer since I've seen FIF (6 years ... could it be true?). I hope the atmosphere is good for blending into the crowd and getting immersed in the music ... I could use a good release. Even if they are asking the audience to wear ninja clothes.

Rivaling Reality

Thanks to Jeff for reminding me of one of the best online games ever ... Miniputt. Can you beat my best of 28?

Yeah, Weston

Bloggidy Blog

I'm feeling pretty good tonight. This should be a relatively short post (I'm actually in bed), but I figured I'd take a couple of moments to update y'all on what's going on.

My cross country team cleaned up at the league championship on Thursday. The girls weren't able to compete as a team (they only had 4 runners and needed 5) because the meet was held during our fall break, but the four that were there placed 1st (Brooke), 3rd (Karah), 4th (Adrienne), and 7th (Erin). The boys won the entire league, with finishes of 2nd (Kyle), 4th (Austin), 7th (A.J.), 10th (Jeff), 11th (Travis), 12th (Chase), and I can't remember the others off the top of my head. The trophy will be proudly displayed in my room all week ... but I'm even more proud of the victories our team had off the field. They rock, and I look forward to seeing what personal relationships continue to grow through our many times of bonding and learning together.

After the meet on Thursday I packed up and headed up to Akron to spend the weekend visiting my parents and spending some time with some old friends. I had Thursday and Friday off, so it was very good just to spend some time at home, relax a little, and make a much-needed mental transition to what should be a more relaxed and introspective month of my life. The past 5 or 6 have been incredibly hectic, so I'm looking forward to some normalcy once again.

I helped my parents set up their new iMac and get going on email ... that was a trip. They're so intimidated by the technology right now, but as they begin to use it more and more I think it'll start to catch on. We also test drove an SUV, cleaned out a lot of my old junk, and hung around the house together.

On Friday night I joined Sarah Sears (soon to be ... gasp ... Webel), my cousin Nicole, and the Bodjo twins for an evening of swing dancing. It was a blast ... there was a great band from Pittsburgh there and a ton of enthusiastic older couples. Plus, it had just been quite a while since I've been able to go swing dancing. Then on Saturday we all (plus Austin and Paul, both Webels too) went to Oktoberfest then hung out at Sarah's apartment for a little while. O-fest was basically a half-mile of German food (with a bad band in the corner) begging us all to contribute to our indigestion. Mmm. Overall, it was great to laugh so much about old stories and catch up, especially through observation, on what is new with those guys. I'll probably say more later (especially at Austin's urging). :)

As expected (by me, but not the rest of the world), the Browns just clobbered the Steelers 33-13. I was able to watch the game, so aside from a little stumble in the third quarter (when Steph called) they pretty much rolled over their AFC rivals. It's a bummer that I'm scheduled to work again next Sunday, as they'll probably lose to the stumbling-and-bumbling Raiders (they always do when I can't watch). Que sera, sera.

Time to hit the sack. Tomorrow our new network administrator starts at school, we have a programming meeting to start in-depth planning for next summer at camp, and I'm going to (Lord-willing) go to bed really early.

Nite nite!

Eighteen, Nineteen, Twinkie!

Time to clean out the recent bookmarks ... this time I've got twenty links for your surfing pleasure. Don't hurt yourself ...

1. Be mezmerized by this clock made of noodles.

2. Need some privacy? Get a floatation phone for your next important conversation.

3. Here's a gallery of stunning images of the new G5.

4. These guys pulled a hilarious prank ... they turned a cubical sculpture in Manhatten into a giant Rubix Cube.

5. What? New Zealand wants to pass a fart tax?

6. This dude made himself a superhero ... by taking an industrial angle grinder to cars with wheel clamps.

7. NPR reports on a woman who goes into Home Depot stores and makes sculptures in the aisles out of items from the shelves. She's been to 10 states and done 50 sculptures so far.

8. Oh, how generous! Microsoft is going to give away $250 million to buy a few small countries help third-world companies educate their kids on how to support the world's most ruthless monopoly. Too bad resistance can be feudal (yes, you'll lose your job).

9. Some funny iPod spoof ads.

10. A website devoted to that silly 404 error. It's a purgatory of sorts, I guess.

11. You know it's bad when a local band is planning to host a live suicide on stage during their next concert.

12. Alright, so we invade and occupy Iraq. Then we hold drunken parties in their main zoo and kill the most prized animal in the place (a rare Bengal tiger) because we were stupid enough to go into its cage drunk. Ready, break.

13. They try really hard, but I'm still not convinced that there's a point to tying a long piece of fabric around your neck. It just looks stupid and feels uncomfortable, people.

14. Yes, these are actual modified cars. And this guy actually stole a $729,000 car.

15. "How's my driving? The judge wants to know. Call 1-800-___-____." The bumper sticker that convicted drunk drivers are being forced to slap on their cars. And they're complaining that they're "embarassed"? Then don't drink and drive, friends.

16. Hmm ... paying $2350 to go to summer camp or paying $259 to go to summer camp ...

17. I almost forgot about Archie McPhee, the web's source for Librarian Action Figures, no-tamper drug tape, and everything pirate.

18. Parents, don't blame me if your kid blows his head off microwaving a grape. Blame the Internet, baby.

19. Wow. Kazaa is suing the record companies for violating their network policies while hacking into their system to incriminate the company. And Napster's just making animations. Sure, guys.

20. And finally, for all of you students out there who say my jokes are corny ... at least they're not this corny.