12:47pm. 3rd OT. The cup finals go back to Pittsburgh.

e:Janelle and I have been trying to drive less, make more of our own food, shop locally, and all that good stuff. e:Janelle has even taken it to the next level, and discovered that vinegar and baking soda makes a great cleaning solution.

So last night, she asked me to go buy paper towels, and I looked at her and asked, completely straight faced, "Don't we make our own paper towels now?"

I thought I was so funny.

I am at a conference in Princeton, and will be blogging from it at elmwoodjesus.org

Wow. I have been the king of short and infrequent posts recently. I think it is time for another list of ten.

1. Everybody looks better. (Call me shallow if you want, but its' true)

2. They are emotional events, even for cavemen like me that rarely express strong emotions.

3. They remind me of my own wedding (which was great) and many of my friends.

4. An open bar is always nice.

5. Ditto a nice dinner.

6. Dancing with my bride.

7. Sometimes a wedding means a little bonus for ministers

8. Marriage is one of the Bible's most used metaphors for God's relationship to us.

9. Special musical choices, like when Julie walked down the Aisle to "God only knows," by the Beach Boys, or when Rich and Dawn left to "Beautiful day."

10. The way everybody works together to make an awesome day for two people.


Congrats to Rich and Dawn, married yesterday.

1. He's dependable. As sad as it is, just showing up and sticking around puts you ahead of WAY too many parents. Dad's always been there.

2. We can disagree without being disagreeable.

3. He has "outsider" politics. One of the things that we agree on is that the system we have (politically speaking) is messed up. The Buchanan-Nader coalition is a weird one, but it's real.

4. He loves sports. A half-time call is a usual and good thing in my family. I learned loyalty from my Dad--we stick with our teams through thick and thin. In the case of the Pirates, there has been a whole lot of thin.

5. He treats people right. Dad makes sure that his employees get health care. He doesn't need the government to force him to pay a decent wage. He doesn't discriminate.

6. He loves my Mom, and cares for her.

7. He's a man of faith, and a respecter of people.

8. He's a good listener.

9. He is patient.

10. He's my Dad!

Happy fathers' Day!

"Bike to the estrip party," I thought.

"It's eco-friendly," I thought.

"It's a nice night for it," I thought.



But didn't the forecast call for rain?

It did.

So there was a drizzle when we left for home.

And then at Tupper and Main, the rain picked up. We hid under the police stations awning to stay dry.

Why didn't they bring hot chocolate? We pay our taxes!

If we were younger, getting caught in the rain would have been romantic.

Our old bones just got cold.

The rain didn't slow down. We toughed it out and are now warming up at home.

Pearl Street was fun. Good night.

$10k is a whole lot to spend on a car from 1998, but this is tempting:

It's our weekly meeting of "house church."

If anybody wants to stop in, tonight is a good night. There will be a few other new people, and root beer floats, too.

Agenda:

7-7:30. Float making/hanging out/getting to know one another

7:30-8:15. Reading a piece of scripture and talking about how it might shape us.

8:15-8:30 Praying for one another.

It's open to everybody. Nobody has to do anything that they do not want to. No particular belief is necessary.

At 8:30, provided we end on time, we might walk to the Village Beer Merchant. There is a free tasting until 9.

My house is 265 Lexington. It's yellow.

Essex corners' newest place Is open. They are next to Urban Roots and are kind of a "back of the house" operation for Dolci on Elmwood.

I didn't get any gelato because I had eaten sweets all morning, but e:janelle got a coffee and I had a slice of white pizza. Both were very good, and affordable. The people were nice, too.

At the same time, Urban Roots was celebrating their one year anniversary and was full of life (human and plant, both.)

I think the day that everyone feared is finally arriving: gentrification. The place was just packed with preppy, cute, white people. Of course, there were still signs of the stagnation that has been in that section of town for a long time, too, but my sensors say that things are underway.

I think it can be done right, however. People are working to keep affordable housing available no matter what. Property values are going to climb a little bit, but that is necessary to provide an economic incentive to make it a nice place to live.

Anyway, go get a gelato or a slice of pizza. I promise you won't inflate property values too much, (at least not until the city/state start taking care of their properties) and you will be satisfied with your choice.

A good speech here: