The gates tower project is happening.

(Please forgive my Buffalo Rising habit--(e:strip) I swear you are my first love!)

Well, it was the first time. Every one said, "if you move to the city, you will be a victim of crime."

I knew it could happen, but it never did.

Until last night. Somebody took our car's CD player.

Apparently, they needed it more than we did.

Looking back, we think they broke into the car multiple times to get it done. Acura makes it REALLY hard to install/remove CD players.

I couldn't get the old tape deck out when I was trying. The dealership charged big bucks if they were going to do it (long story there), but I didn't pay them.

Anyway, the car will be a little more quiet now.

We're tempted to just sell the thing--it's the type of car that attracts criminal activity, but what can I get for a dented, high-mileage, no stereo car?

1. It can slice up more cabbage than a person could ever want to eat.

2. Only two buttons: "On" and "Pulse."

3. Three choices: slicing, shredding, and chopping.

4. The shred disc and the slice disc are the same disc (just flipped over)

5. It seems to be easy to clean.

6. A 10 cup container? no way!

7. Apparently it can even make a pie crust (I'll have to see that to believe it).

8. A low, low price! ($30)

9. So far, nobody has lost a finger.

10. Unlike my deep fryer and tv, it works.

I already replaced my monitor once, and HP was good to send a new one for free. The first time we switched because.

a. it had an annoying hum

and

b. it started changing colors around the edge.


On the current monitor, the colors are fine, but today I hear the hum more than I want to. How much hum am I expected to tolerate? Or is it reasonable to expect mostly silence from a monitor? Does HP just do a crappy job with monitors?

This is what it looks like:


I haven't recorded the sound. It sounds like, "hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . ."

I don't always like lent (a season of fasting to prepare for Easter), but I do like Isaiah 58, which gets a lot of reading during the season. Here it is (verses 6-9), from the message translation.

"This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am."

Do this and your lives will turn around at once. Wow. Too bad so few people (and I include myself and a million other Christians actually choose to try it.)

This year, for lent, I am going to memorize this, and try to live it.

Too bad (for you) none of you owe me money--because it's debt canceling season!

I'll have to talk with Janelle about inviting the homeless poor into our home, but maybe we can find a way.

Ok, so I love politics but I don't talk about them in public too much because it isn't good for me professionally. But I can say that I am happy for tomorrow. So they are, 10 Things I like about Super Tuesday.

1. My primary vote counts. This is the first time in my life that my primary vote ever mattered in a presidential election.

2. I don't feel like I am choosing "the lessor of two evils."

3. I can walk to my polling place.

4. I haven't been turned off by ugly attack ads (this has surprised me. I think maybe they are all on cable?)

5. It's a double event day, since it matches up with Mardi Gras.

6. It's the same week as the Super bowl, and really, there isn't too much else that is described as "super" any more, so we get it all in one week (if only a superman movie were released tomorrow).

7. There will be record voter turnout. The more people participate in democracy, the better it is.

8. Not having given money means not getting campaign phone calls. Ditto having vonage, I think.

9. Making punny jokes about "poll workers."

10. Listening to Derek Webb sing Savior on Capitol hill, and remembering that no matter who wins, they will likely let me down. (I guess I don't like that fact, but I love the song.)

This month, I turn 30. That feels old. But I will go and see some older people that still rock, and it will make me feel better. I will journey into the suburbs (Williamsville) where there is a 3D concert film of the greatest band in the history of earth. I am going on the 25th (after my birthday, but my sister will be in town), and anybody who wants to join (and maybe hang out afterward) is welcome.

No presents are expected--just come and join the fun!

Wow.

Paul, you clearly showed how religion can be a key ingredient to a whole host of problems. Sadly, this is not the first time I have heard a story like this. I have a friend who basically shared my values, but would never go to church with me because it caused her to have panic attacks. Another friend avoids church because during a bi-polar break she talked to God in a way that was not healthy at all.

Enknot, I would love to hear more of your story--maybe over coffee instead of through the internets, that way we don't have to worry about what other people might read. At the very least, maybe I can help you find the Bible stories that you wish to find. Probably the best story to teach honesty is the story of Annias and Saphira, who lied to the apostles and were struck dead, but that's not exactly the kind of thing we want to share with kids.

One of my favorite theologians once said, "You know we've gone and messed up Christianity when we started thinking it's someihing good for our kids."

I think what he meant by that is that the Bible isn't really the best way to get kids to grow up in the way that the American dream teaches people to grow up. To "succeed" in the the US, you have to go along with the ways and values of our empire. But Christ taught a way of life that values entirely different things. So Christians are called to love justice, and to find it, not through violence, but through love. When we seek justice instead of power and accolades and stuff, the ways of the empire seem insignificant. But the whole world lives according to the ways of the empire--this is why Jesus and so many of the first Christians were killed.

Do you want to raise a kid to believe something so radical and dangerous? I think it is a fair question, and because of it, it is important that parents think twice before they baptize their kid.

On the other hand, if this new way of living is good and better (and I obviously believe that it is) then it is worth sharing with your kids. And while I appreciate the sentiment of waiting until they are old enough to choose, remember that not everyone else will wait. If your kid watches tv, they are going to be hit with thousands of images that tell them that stuff will make them happy. If they grow up in the U.S., the news will show them that the way to peace and security is through violence (or the threat of it). If they play video games, they will learn that consequences aren't real--a simple reset button will let them start over easily (and while I love video games, I have found that this is not the case in real life. For all the cops I might shoot in Grand Theft Auto, I would only get the chance to shoot one in real life--note: I have not and will not shoot cops, this is just an example :) )

I guess what I am saying is that if you want if you want your kids to be different than the average kid (and I think the average kid is messed up), than you have to work on him/her from the start. Yes, it can have bad effects (see Paul's post), but so can doing nothing.

I wish I had more time these upcoming days to explore this further. I think I will be away from a computer until Wednesday night, but if I can get a hold of a laptop, I will check in. Until then, please forgive any lack of further response.

And I promise I will never quote Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young again.

I guess I have not been a good peep. Maybe I am depressed because I was so severely thrashed at Balderdash by (e:Jim). Really, that's my game and I am not used to losing, let alone being dominated.

Seriously, I think it has just been a lot of stuff happening at the church. I thought that this was going to be my week to catch up, but it only takes one memorial service to change that.

Anyway, on to the question at hand. I have been invited to apply to be on the board of a certain village association. I am leaning towards doing this (pending a talk with (e:Janelle)), but have not decided yet. Frankly, I like much of what they do, but not all of it. The way I see it, is it is better to get involved than to complain, but really, not getting involved is so much easier.

What say the peeps?

Every white Christian should read "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" regularly. It still makes me shiver. This quote seems to have been downright prophetic:

So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.