More Journaling

Last week I posted that I was being asked to reflect on how my personality and gifting will play a role in my preaching.  The feedback from a couple of you on here, and a couple of you in person because of that post was valuable to me.

So I am soliciting again.

This time, I have to reflect on how my CULTURE and STORY have and still affect my communication.  Things like the environment I was brought up in, locations brought up in, and general life experiences.  How do they shape me as a communicator?

For example:  How will moving throughout childhood affect me?  How will the experience of financial security affect me?  How will "traditional" stable family affect me?  Sports, education, etc...

Stickler on Technicalities

I tend to be a stickler on technicalities and logical inconsistencies.

As such, I find myself upset with the flaws in some specific rules in the NFL.

I feel that every spike to stop the clock should be called for "intentional grounding" as the quarterback does not leave the pocket, does not throw past the line of scrimmage, and does not have a receiver in the area.

I have numerous problems with the way they call and mark the recovery of punts.

Today I found a new one.  If someone voluntarily taking a knee is considered down, I feel that the placeholder in a field goal try should not be allowed to have his knee on the ground while in posession of the ball.

I'm a stickler on the consistencies.

Post Into Reality

The day of the North Central Alumni game I posted that it was not a good sign that the Mens Soccer Team had lost to the alumni.  It generally does not bode well for the team when that happens.

This year, that has been far too true.

That college soccer team has yet to win a game this year.  Most of their games weren't even competitive.  I went to see them play on Tuesday.  They lost 4-0 to the team that was our arch rivals when I was at the school.  I never played in a game that lost to that team.  It wasn't fun to watch.

This morning I was awoken by a phone call.  That call happened to be from the athletic department at North Central University.  Their entire mens soccer staff resigned and they were wondering if I would fill in coaching for the next 4-5 weeks to finish out their season.  

After many conversations and meetings, it ended up not working for some logistical reasons, though they have asked that I keep them in mind and consider at minimal applying, but more likely coaching the team beginning next fall.

I had a bad feeling for the program when they lost the alumni game.  I never imagined it this bad.

Back In Swing

Classes started again this week.

I have 4 full books and enough from two others that I have the equivelant of 5 full books I have to read by next Thursday.

Weeeeee!

My Newfound Timewaster

During the afternoon today I was reading for one of my classes.  The book wasn't holding my attention as tightly as I would have hoped, so I found myself looking for something to do to break up the monotony.

I found my new timewaster on the internet.  I did not know that there would be so many sites that recommended "Grandparents Name/Nicknames" but seeing as I had known of my brother and his wife's pregnancy for 18 hours or so, it was time to start the process.

Before I explain further, I must again, in writing, congratulate the two of them for the expectancy of the first Kemper grandchild in our generation.  As excited as I am for the moment the little one arrives, my thrill of instant satisfaction is driven currently by exploring what the little one's grandparents on Jason's side will be called.

Our grandparents never went by grandma and grandpa, instead we had individual grandparent names for each of them.

Now comes the time for us to return the favor and name our parents with their grandparent nicknames.  We have been given a formal request from mom, which will be taken heavily into consideration, but have not been given any request on the dad side.

So for now, unless otherwise stated, all grandparent names are fairgame.  

If you have leading suggestions, post them here.

Also, feel free to congratulate Jason and Sarah.

An Old Favorite

I ate 3 peanut butter an jelly sandwhiches today.

I hadn't had one in a long time.

I made them perfectly.

They must have way more peanut butter than jelly, which mine did, and not be cut in any shape.

You have to eat around the edges first, but not go over board and eat around the edges of two and then the middles.  One sandwhich at a time people.  One deliciously made, perfectly proportioned PB&J sandwhich at a time.

Un-Biased Journaling

One of my Seminary classes is requiring that we reflect upon a question, preferably by journaling about it each week.

It is from my preaching class titled "Finding Your Voice in Preaching."

This week's question is "How do your giftings and your personality show up in your voice as a communicator of God's word?  What is good and what is not so good about that?"

So I'm looking for some un-biased help.  I can answer the question quickly for myself (and will do so when I'm done posting this) but that will cover about 1 day worth of journaling and I probably wouldn't think much further.  So if you  know me, regardless of if you have heard me communicate God's word from a pulpit, what do you know about my personality and my giftings and how they affect my communication in general.

Any observations would be appreciated, both good or bad, or indifferent.

First Day Of School

Tomorrow is my first day of school for the fall quarter.

I asked Jenny (and Matt) what I should wear on the first day of school, and they seemed to think the question was unimportant.

Obviously, they have been out of school for too long. How will I impress my fellow classmates and teachers if I have not meticulously planned out my wardrobe?

No Safety Measures for That

The I-35w bridge re-opened today.

I had somewhere to go, so I drove over it.  

The new construction is nice, and from what I hear, the safety features on this thing are extravagent.

Unfortunately, they can't put up safety  measures for the gauking.  I nearly got run off the bridge today as people were too busy looking at everything on and around the bridge, and not busy driving.

There was actually a 35mph drop in speed just for section of bridge.  With that and lots of people changing lanes to get closer to or further from downtown, accidents will happen.

Head Coaching Fun

I'm almost to the end of my head coaching stint, as the actual coach for the team arrives back in town this weekend.  The teams have no more games before his return.

Under my reign they managed to go 2-0-1.  That's two wins and one tie for those of you that don't know the sports win loss columns.  

I was happy with this as they had not won a game when they were handed off to me.  They had a couple of new kids join just before I took them over which helped a lot.

It has been interesting to watch these kids play.  They are almost all freshman and many of them haven't played organized soccer before.  Lots of the experiences are first to them.

Yesterday, a kid experienced his first muscle cramp.  He thought it was far more serious than muscle cramps are becaus of the initial pain and immobility.  Another, routinely has to ask me the rules everytime he is not on the field.  

I can't remember what it is like to not know what a muscle cramp feels like.  It has been interesting experiencing sports from a group that has such fresh eyes and all of their future ahead of them, as i'm one who can only look back on my most competitive days.

Cheap Stuff

Sometimes, it doesn't have to be the most expensive to be the best.

So lets get some help.  What cheap things are totally worth it to treat yourself with?

I'll start with this desert you can find for under $3.

What can you add to the list?

Fantasy Football Fiasco

This weekend of football was one of my favorite.  

I don't think there were any weekends last year where all 3 of my teams won.  

That happened this week in some unusual circumstances.

One league, I was the highest scoring team.

One league, the second to lowest, but happened to be playing the person with the low score.

The final league is co-owned.  My co-owner actully sent me a text message on Sunday that we had pretty much wrapped up losing with 3 minutes to go in the first set of games and only 1 player remaining after those games ended.

With 2 touchdowns scored by our defense in those 3 minutes, and 3 touchdowns from our last remaining player, we ended up with a pretty substantial victory.

Yay for 3-0 this week and 5-1 after two weeks overall.

Skewed Seasoning

Jenny and I spent an evening at The Melting Pot this weekend in celebration of her birthday.

Such a place is divine.  It transends the physical and helps you to find ways to eat more food when both your appetite and your body say they're full.

However, my favorite part of the evening came when Jenny decided to try their seasoning on her food.  It was my favorite part, because of the specific piece of food she decided to season.

It is one of those scenes I can re-live in slow motion in my head.  I pulled out a skewer that had some filet mignon on it and prepared to eat it.  Meanwhile, Jenny fished out a potato that had been sitting in the boiling sauce for 15 minutes or so, because she wanted it soft.

Just as I put my meat in my mouth, Jenny dropped the potato on her plate, immediately cut it with her knife and put half of it in her mouth.  I couldn't get the words out in time that I was thinking.  I knew it would be hotter than her mouth might be prepared for.

Her face immediately showed that was the case, both as she glanced at her drink, and then quickly around the room, spitting the potato back onto her plate.

While I laughed about this, and pointed out my noticing of her looking around, and my inability to warn her as I saw it all happening in slow motion, she decided to try the seasoning.  She sprinkled seasoning on the potatoe she had just spit out, put it on her fork, blew on it, and then ate the same potato again.

Easily my favorite memory of the meal.

Growing Up Fast

It's Her Birthday!!!

She Grows Up So Fast

She's XX today.  (We aren't supposed to reveal a girl's age now are we?)

Happy Birthday Love

PrimeTime Cravings

Do you find yourself hungry while watching primetime television?

How about spending more money on groceries because of how Television shows have affected you?

An article found HERE claims that people who watch crime shows like Law & Order, CSI, Criminal Minds, Numbers, etc... are more apt to get hungry while watching television or change their grocery shopping habbits because of what they watched?

Do we believe in these studies?

Four Things You Might Not Know

I've gotten this chain e-mail from a couple of people that read this blog. I figured, since I hate forwarding e-mails, I would just respond to it on here instead.

The premise, answer four things for the categories given. Answers are in no particular order, which in my mind, also meant they need not be my top four. So I aimed more at the things you might not know about me, than at the things that were instinctual, which may be clear in no better way than looking at the movies question.

Four jobs I have had in my life

Phone Book Deliverer

Coffee Sample Distributor

Video Store Clerk

Assistant Soccer Coach

Four movies I've watched more than once

Fried Green Tomatoes

Phantom of the Opera

Quigley Down Under

Nightmare on Elm Street

Four Places I have lived:

Pensacola, Florida

Port Hueneme, California

Lexington Park, Maryland

Denver, Colorado

Four places I have been:

Thai Land

Vietnam

Bahamas

Mexico

Four People who e-mail me (regularly):

Golf Digest

Full Tilt Poker

Myself (to remind me of things)

Facebook

Four of my favorite foods

Cashews

Pineapple

Swedish Meatballs

Buffalo Wings

I would rather be right now:

Taking a Bath

On a Golf Course

In a Movie Theater

In a Pulpit

Four Things I am looking forward to this year:

Finishing up Seminary

Weekend Away with Jenny

Thanksgiving 

St. Patricks Day

The Competetion is Over.

I did end with the fantasy football record I had thought.

However, the soccer coaching (from Saturday) went far different than I thought it would.  

The team found a way to win 2-1 which surprised me, and uplifted them immensely.  It will make the approach to the games this week much simpler.  

Overall, I'm happy about the weekend of competition.  Even though I only had a 75% win rate, the 25% that lost played well and would have beaten most of the league.

Now I have to find something more productive to do tomorrow.

Fantasy Football Frenzy

With 13 games of football today, I wasn't ever not wathin t.v. or near a computer.

I'm looking good for wins in two of my leagues, though one may be closer than I would have preferred, but am shoed in for a loss in the league I co-own a team in.

Worse than all of that, the Colts lost and did not play well.

Test of Patience

My best friend is coaching a soccer team from a local private high school.  He has the lowest rated team.  He is also out of town for the next two weeks, and I am filling in for him.

They have played a couple of games so far.  They haven't been within 5 goals in either of them.

Tomorrow, we have a game.  It will likely test my patience.  

At least when I get home I don't have to suffer through any more convention speeches.  Two weeks without one realistic speech is more than I can handle.

For Those Keeping Track

The independent study is complete.  I sent in my assignments with 12 hours to spare and was given the grade 14 hours later.

6 classes and a bunch of internship stuff left.

Then i'm Master of Divinity.

Are You Ready for Football?

I am.

Jenny isn't.

Google Chrome

Anybody else downloaded it yet?

I have high hopes for it in the future, though limited expectations of it after it only being released for one day.

Seems easy enough to navigate with so far, love the most viewed part of the homepage to find all my favorite sites and see previews of them.

Can't wait to see what people come up with as gadgets for it since it is open source.

I'll be playing with it for a while before deciding if I prefer IE or Firefox.

Grassroots Holidays

I asked Jenny Sunday night what the history of the Labor Day holiday was.

She guessed and was pretty close to how it started.

It really was a pretty grassroots holiday (organized outside government, religion, or major tragedy) that the government then adopted.

I think we should start more of these.

I need ideas.

Drug Users Are Stupid

This story is copied and pasted directly from the USAToday website.

It highlights the stupidity of those who use drugs.

MODESTO, Calif. (AP) — Police say a man tried to cut off his own arm at a restaurant in Modesto, Calif., because he thought he had injected air into a vein while shooting cocaine and feared he would die unless he took drastic action.

Authorities say 33-year-old Michael Lasiter rushed into the Denny's restaurant late Friday and started stabbing himself in one arm with a butter knife he grabbed from a table.

They say that when that knife didn't work Lasiter took a butcher knife from the kitchen and dug it into his arm.

Police Sgt. Brian Findlen says Lasiter told officers he thought he needed to amputate his arm to keep himself from dying from the cocaine injection.

Lasiter was taken to a hospital for treatment of severe cuts.