I Couldn't Fnd Them

I was told by my small group, that when McDonald's receives their biscuits, before they are baked, you can actually see the chunks of fat in them like they are chocolate chips.

I ate McDonald's for breakfast today. I had a biscuit. I looked for chunks of fat and could not find them.

It tasted wonderful though. It helped me make it through class this morning.

Out of My Mind, But in the Zone.

Last week in my favorite class ever (church history) I was going out of my mind as the lecture disinterested me. The teacher always posts his notes online which makes studying for the test easy to do without listening as attentively as I do in most classes. I was out of my mind and the wireless wasn't working in class that day so I loaded up free cell.

23 straight wins is my current streak. I'll head to that class again tomorrow. It is likely that I'll try to improve upon my current streak (which is already one of my longest). I'm officially done with the work for 2 of the 5 classes, and by tomorrow night will be done with all the work for a third.

I have a church history test due Friday, but I'm not real worried about it. I got a 98 out of a 100 on the first one, and was less attentive the first half of class than I have been the second half.

Last Week

This officially is the last week of my quarter at Seminary.

Unofficially, only 2 of my 5 classes are meeting, but 4 classes have things due next week.

Even more unofficial, my summer class counts as part of this year, so I don't finish my first year of grad school for a little while still as I'll have some work that I'll have to do over the summer to finish that class (like preach 2 sermons from the book of Judges).

Otherwise, I'm looking forward to playing referee at some soccer games again soon, and reading some of the books I have in the office that I haven't been able to get to during school.

A Screw Loose

It's amazing what can happen to a person when just one screw is loose.

Tonight, while in the hot tub at my parents house, I decided that their lawn needed to be mowed. Since they are out of town, I decided I'd do it for them. However, the first time I tried to turn the lawn mower left, I noticed it was missing a screw that connects its handles to its frame.

Lucky for me I found the gorilla tape in time to fix it so I could mow the rest.

Lucky for me it also ran me into the darkness so I didn't have to trim.

Something to Argue About

Jenny and I don't argue often. We just can't find much worth arguing about.

Today, we found something worth arguing about.

How exactly did the 8 bit Super Mario Bros. song go on the original Nintendo. When I make the deets and beeps and boops myself, Jenny laughs at me and says "something like that." She pushes the buttons just hard enough that we argue and "sing" our differences, but not hard enough that we actually put the game in and turn it on.

Someday we'll find out who's right.

If it is her, I'll claim my inability to hear tones properly for my loss.

Time to Get the Hands Dirty

It was pretty much the theme of the day. No homework to do, so I figured it was time for Jenny and I to get our hands dirty.

We started by eating wings for dinner.

Followed that up by pulling weeds.

Finished it off by eating hot Cinnamon roles.

Though I would probably pick writing a paper over pulling weeds, the other two made up for it by far.

I wonder what tomorrow's theme will be. Maybe we'll try, comfy clothes only.

2 Long Hours

I only got 2 hours of sleep last night. I'm heading to bed now.

Tomorrow I should return to normal functioning status.

I'll write something then.

Yay Appliances

It's 2:15 in the morning and our dishes are being washed. Yay for appliances. Especially ones we can program to work when they won't bother us.

Unfortunately, i'm still up at 2:15.

I'm busy writing a paper about how Paul uses the "power and authorities" or "principalities and powers" language. Is he speaking simply of political and social systems, addressing the occult practices of other religions, or does he actually believe in the existence of supernatural evil beings.

2000 words and 10 sources later i'll turn in my paper. Hurray for when 1:00 in the afternoon gets here and i'm free of this assignment.

My Apologies

I'm too busy to please the loyal readers tonight. Homework for Thursday is eating me alive.

I'll have something productive to say in a couple days.

Quite a Busy Week

There are only two weeks left of classes this quarter. All of my classes were backloaded as far as their workload is concerned, and with five classes, that means these two weeks will be pretty busy.

The most significant portion of this work (as far as quantity of time is concerned) is due this Thursday.

It is doubtful that any of you will see me on Wednesday unless you happen to be in the Bethel Seminary library, and it is also highly doubtful that this Wednesday night will recharge my body normally through sleep. Luckily I can sleep long Thursday night into Friday afternoon.

I'm looking forward to handing these assignments in on Thursday as the others that follow will be of a much simpler nature.

Staying Young

I have to pick Jenny up at the airport at 6:30 in the morning.

That means, no sleep for me. I hate getting up early, so I'm just going to stay awake. After I pick her up, I'll go to bed and sleep until 3 or 4 or something. I don't have class until 5:30 and I don't have anything important in either class.

Yay for youth.

Opposite Extremes

When the wife is away, you never know what i'll find myself eating for a meal.

Today i had the two opposite extremes of the pendulum.

Dinner, mom's homeade lasagne.

After dinenr meal (dinner was my first meal of the day) was a bag of combos and a 1 liter of Coke that i picked up at the gas station.

She'll be home in two days.

It All Helps

I got a letter in the mail from Bethel today.

Philip and Ardell Palmquist have decided they want their scholarship fund to pay part of my tuition next year.

I don't know how or why they chose me, but it all helps I guess.

Here's to a school discount!

Surprise Weekend

Tonight Jenny flew out to California to surprise her best friend with a weekend visit.

Her best friend's fiance had convinced her to take friday off and trust that he was taking her away for the weekend.

Jenny was excited to visit and excited to surprise her. She's been looking forward to this trip for a while so i'm glad she got to go.

I get to be a bachelor for the weekend.

Feed Me!

Long Winded

If i know enough about a topic, i can usually talk for quite some time.

Tomorrow, i have to give a group presentation that lasts 40 minutes and leaves 20 minutes for questioning. We originally had 3 people, but one dropped the class so now we only have two. With the part i was originally suppose to do, i would have talked for 15 minutes. Because i now have done research to include someone else's part, i'm convince i could talk for over an hour on the subject (Deism).

It will be interesting for me to see how me and my partner (Name Nate randomly enough) do with dividing the time. We kind of last minute both researched the third persons part so I don't know how much he'll say in that area.

Here is to hoping that I don't take us over an hour.

Auto Stuff

A number of you have e-mailed me or commented about my car and its status. Here is the update.

The Escape needed its fuel pump replaced. Something about not having access to gas meant it didn't want to move. Selfish car.

While it was there i had them check the transmission as it had been slipping a lot in first gear. We were fortunate to hear them say that they thought just a flush and cleaning would fix it and were excited that was the case. Replacing the transmission didn't sound like it would be fun.

We picked the Escape back up today, so life is back to normal in our auto world.

Congratulations

My brother got offered a new job today. He's happy about it, so i'm happy about it. It's in the city he will be moving to upon marriage, so he'll have a commute for a while, but the pay increase is nice, and the ease of not worrying so much about what work will look like after marriage i'm sure is comforting.

You can feel free to ask him questions about it here, or offer your congratulations as well. I'm sure he'll be reading.

Congratulations Jason

I Survived

The 30 hour babysitting experience is over. It went fine. Besides having to get up early, it isn't a whole lot different than trying to maintain teenagers was.

Unfortunately, my car didn't survive. It got us to the soccer game tonight but not back home. It sounds like a fuel pump problem. We had it towed to a recommended shop in Apple Valley and will hear from them in the morning.

Hopefully it won't be too expensive.

A Mother's Nature

It's almost Mother's Day. Figured I'd take the time to let you all know a little bit more about my mother.

We (the three guys in the family) did our best to make sure she always remembered she was outnumbered. From car shopping, to electronics, to sports television, to spending money, to chores, it was always clear that the majority of our house was male. We wanted toys and fun with little work. Funny though, mom's vote always stood to win 4-3 against us. She just outdid us repeatedly. Here is how.

It wasn't just because mom is a woman, or that she is a mother. She could outvote us because we all knew better. We knew that without her the house would be dirty, our clothes would smell funny, and our stomachs would be empty. The three of us would have blown through dad's money with little regard to well being. Mom always stood firm.

I knew that I owed mom for many other things as well though. All the times I had to ask her about what to get a girl, or how I was going to survive college, or why I had to get a job. I can remember her feeding not just me, but all of my friends (an easy way to keep friends). I can remember her staying up late to watch a marathon session of season one of 24. We got to bed around 4:00 and I had to teach Sunday School at 9:00, but she stayed up.

I remember all the card games she played. The penny poker that she was always good to pay me and Jason for, but not require us to pay her. I can remember her betting me that I couldn't eat two bowls of cereal and a full meal from White Castle for $100. She payed it off a dollar a week added onto my allowance for the next 100 weeks.

I remember all the baseball games, soccer games, the season of basketball games that mom made sure not just to get me to, but to be involved in and watch. I remember the speeding ticket on Friday the 13th because Jason needed to get to a sporting practice.

I remember her re-organizing her teaching schedule while I was in college so she could get to as many of my games as possible. I remember Cream of Mushroom soup when I was sick. I remember her giving me bike signal testing before i could take the bike to school.

I remember the time she invested in me, my high school friends, my college friends, my current wife, Jason's current fiance and most importantly her husband. I remember all these things, but I can rarely remember her putting herself first. She just held to her single vote, and the three of us knew, it was worth more than what we could contribute.

I didn't have to learn many lessons the hard way. I was prepared well and am more than amply supported.

It's unfortunate that i'm in the minority in both of those situations. It is unfortunate that more people don't have a mother like I do. A mother more concerned about the people around her than herself. A mother more than willing to sacrifice to appease the other. A mother more than able to hold her own amidst the three Kemper men she lived with.

It is almost unfair that she has another Kemper woman now, and that in just a short few months, they'll have us matched in quantity. We used to at least own that. Now we'll tie in quantity and not have a chance in quality. My mom beats the three of us by herself. We have no chance now. We simply live in the fact that all three of us still understand, we are getting the better end of this deal.

Mom, happy mother's day. I'm indebted to you for more than you know. I don't take it for granted, but unfortunately, I also don't show you my appreciation enough. I get to brag about you often, but affirm you in person too seldom.

I Love You! I wouldn't trade you for any mother in the world. In fact, i've got a list of people looking for you to adopt them. They've heard how good i have it too many times not to want to be a part of our family. Thank You!

Munchkin Land

Jenny and I will be spending the weekend babysitting our nieces and nephew. I don't know what my Internet access will be like so I don't know that I'll post tomorrow night.

I'm looking forward to playing with the kids this weekend, but not as excited about the sleeping schedule that kids keep.

Lets hope i can control the jungle gym for the longest amount of time.

Game Break

In the middle of doing some homework tonight I decided to play some poker. This would be one way of knowing the night was going alright.

Straight flushes aren't very easy to beat. This one would have been impossible for anyone to beat. The best thing is, the guy raised my bet more, so i ended up getting a bunch of chips from him. I didn't catch the final screenshot with all the chips quick enough.

New Question

In a world where there is so much evil, how do you decide which ones to address?

Do you wait to come face to face with one, or seek one out?

Do you wait to feel moved for one, or have you fought one your whole life?

Do you say "which ever ones God tells me to" and how do you defend that scripturally?

Do you pass between multiple?

Do you fight some only sometimes, or all the time?

Racial Reconciliation

We discussed cultural diversity for a while in class tonight. That of course brings up the topic of racial reconciliation.

I've sat through lots of discussions on this issue. They all go pretty much the same. I was surprised tonight though. I heard one new, and very profound thought. It wasn't even about how to solve the problem, just a statement.

Reconciliation, by the meaning of its word assumes that things were once good. That we are reclaiming something. That relationships between races are being restored. The unfortunate truth is that we haven't really ever had good relationships (brass generalization of society, not individuals) between Caucasians and Africans in this country. We aren't trying to reconcile something, we are instead trying to forge ahead into a new kind of living. A kind of redeemed (much different than reconciled) relationship.

More Tradition

Today continued an annual tradition.

Our soccer team started its year playing no where near its potential. Last year, we ended by not winning games on purpose so we wouldn't have to move to a harder division. Today, we lost. It wasn't close. We were probably the better team though.

Its a three year tradition we have running now though. We just don't like to get out of the gates quick.

And we didn't have any subs.

They Got It Right

I usually don't agree with movie critics. It has stuck with me since I was little. I remember that the movie "Maverick" got bad reviews and since I really enjoyed it, I haven't given much weight to critics since then.

When it comes to "Spiderman 3" however, they are right on. This movie stinks. I didn't think I could have seen a much worse movie than some of them I saw this week, but it takes the cake.

It isn't even that there are inappropriate scenes in the movie, it is just a really poorly written movie.

I couldn't tell you if it is supposed to be an action, comedy, love story, or horror film, and unfortunately, I don't think the director would be able to tell you either.

Save your money. Not just to see it in a dollar theater or on video, save it forever. In fact, save your two and a half hours. This movie is roughly 2:25 minutes longer than it needed to be.

It Has To Happen

The Twin Cities Marathon officially opened for registration yesterday. They take reservations on a first come first serve basis until they reach their capacity of 10,500 runners. Last year they filled up in 10 days.

Today, I officially registered.

It has never been more certain that I must run (though my wife was certain when we spent the money on running shoes) as it is right now.

Good Luck Me.

Hurray for Life

Some friends from Chicago were in town the last couple days. They came up because their mentally handicapped sister (14 years old) was being taken off the life support she has been on for the last month. It was expected that she would die during the night last night. These friends hadn't told us about this trip.

This morning, her mother awoke to her daughter smiling and goofing around. Life was everywhere in the room. They made immediate plans to see people. Their trip of grief became an immense trip of joy.

Praise God and hurray for life.

The Big 3

This is the first season that i've actually watched American Idol past the audition weeks. I generally only get to see it on Wednesdays, which meant I got to see all of the female singers before they combined, and now just get to see the results shows.

I'm impressed with America that the singers I picked as the three best have all made it into the top 4 contestants. I am biased in only seeing the females perform, so these three are all female. There is one guy remaining. I wouldn't imagine him being voted off next week, but I can always hope.

Small Group After My Own Heart

Our small group has been asked, and then volunteered to put on an all church picnic this year. As a part of this process, tonight was hot dog taste testing night. I can't ask for much more from people than to force me to try different kinds of hot dogs (one of my favorite foods) and for it to count in an odd way as church service.

We have also been toying with the idea of having "hot tub time" each week as small group concludes. We truly have the best hosts ever. They are people after my own heart.

Fun Making Movies

In my current preaching class (using media and the arts while preaching) we have to preach 3 times in class. We can only use a particular form (art, movie clip, powerpoint, poetry, music...) one time.

I did my first sermon on a piece of art as I was going to wait and navigate how the digital realm was working. When 8 people preach on the same day and we all use one joint computer (so you need to bring everything on a disk or something) I just didn't want to deal with the technical difficulties.

Choosing to do that paid off. Between running videos and powerpoints most people had few technical difficulties, but still had to navigate their bodies awkwardly to change slides and start videos (we don't have a sound booth guy). It gets pretty distracting. Some people haven't faired even that well. We've had 3 videos without sound and one that tried using multiple computers and projectors (which made his switching task easier) but forgot to turn off the first projector so both were casting on the same screen while we were trying to watch a video.

I decided i don't want to use digital format the next time I preach either (which is funny because i am probably more comfortable with it than the rest of the class, and have a remote to use with a projector so i need not be awkward) so i have decided to create my own DVD and use the tv/dvd combo that is standard in the class.

So it began tonight. I downloaded the 6, 30 second commercial clips that the Ad Council has produced for their "Generous Nation" campaign. They are running currently and will continue through September 17 (you find out weird things when researching copyright issues). You might recognize them better as the "don't almost give commercials."

Tonight, i effectively rid them of all "don't almost give" links and text screens (this was allowable by the Ad Council, even encouraged as long as wherever you show it either donates the time, or is for educational purpose), and have added multiple scripture texts and keywords between clips, and keywords displayed over some.

Thank you Windows Movie Maker for your wonderful program. I'll get by for free, creating myself a compilation of all the digital components i was going to use this time (video clips and power point slides) by creating them into one 3:09 long DVD. Yay for avoiding technical mess.