my last twelve hours

I am in two fantasy football leagues. I actually am not a huge football fan, but I love numbers games and strategy games, so this works out for me. Last night was supposed to be the draft for one of my leagues so after I got home I checked my email to see where I needed to log into to join the draft. That's when I found out this was an in person draft. Interesting. I needed to be at the church library by 8 PM to make the draft.

Given some technicalities regarding this draft, not the least of which was that no one had a complete list of players, the draft went slowly and I didn't get back home until 12:30 AM. I was nowhere near tired enough to go to sleep when I got back so I watched some TV until 2 AM to get myself to the point where I could sleep. I knew I would be tired the next morning, but I could handle that.

At 5 AM I woke up with cramps in my stomach. They were bad enough that the themes to my dreams prior to waking up had included stomach pain. I couldn't get comfortable and I couldn't get back to sleep. I tried walking around the house. I tried lying down in the recliner. I started debating with myself how sick I needed to be to call in sick to work. I did finally find sleep around 6 AM and woke up feeling much better a little more than an hour later.

I was a little disappointed that I didn't get the opportunity to call in sick when I had to deal with the stomach pain, but I can't be upset long about feeling better. That was my last twelve hours. I am hoping the next twelve are not so eventful.

katrina

I can't think of anything to post now except that my thoughts and prayers are with those who are in Katrina's path. When I first heard the news that New Orleans was in Katrina's path, I was peeled to online news sites for about two hours, then TV news channels the rest of the night. This is on the same level as 9/11 to me given that there will be more destruction, there is the possibility of a greater loss of life, and people had a day's warning to get out.

After talking about how unpredictable the weather is in Kansas I checked the forcast and we should have sunny weather for the rest of the week, which is a far cry from the destruction that Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, et al are facing. No matter what situation you are in there always seems to be someone who is worse off. Please keep those who are worse off in your prayers.

something to talk about

I think I know why Kansans put up with tornadoes. They are more predictable than the rest of the weather out here.

Yesterday was a good example. On Thursday it appeared that the storms that had been blasting through the area all week had stopped. I was looking forward to a sunny Friday. Friday morning I was surprised to be waken up by continual loud thunder cracks. I was a little disappointed, but I am an adult and I can deal (usually). After dressing up warmer than usual for an August day, skipping the sunglasses in the morning, and pulling out the umbrella I headed for work. I wasn't there two hours before everything cleared up and I regretted not bringing the sunglasses for the drive home after work.

Golden and I were discussing the difficulty of predicting the weather in the Midwest after I got home from work yesterday and she talked about how each change in the weather surprises her. This shocked me since she grew up in Missouri, which is not known for its weather consistency. She then pointed out that she was always a little annoyed by the continual changes in weather as she was growing up.

I guess it gives people around here something to talk about. I can imagine an attempted conversation in a more mild location.

"How about this weather?"

"What weather?"

spam a lot

Golden and I combine for about 150-200 spam emails each day. A while back I installed Thunderbird as my email application because it has spam filtering capabilities, and so the daily ritual for me after work is to run Thunderbird, wait a few minutes while the emails download then are filtered, and manually remove the spam that isn't filtered. This is annoying, but we live with it.

Now spam has started invading the blog world. I have noticed a significant increase in spam posts over the last few weeks. I removed four in an hour period yesterday. If someone wants to put a geniune (non-offensive) comment to a post on my site that is great, but making no comment about the actual topic then putting up a link to a cat furniture site is not a genuine post.

One separate thought on a related topic. Is most email at Pfizer (the company that makes Viagra) filtered as spam? It seems that half the spam I get is peddling Viagra or Cialis. Just a thought.

golden's house of horrors

I appreciate how well Golden organizes the house. I really do. Even though she works outside the house she manages to keep the place relatively clean without too much help from her hubby (oops). I am actually going to look like something of a heel for posting this because she does do so much, but I did get permission.

There is one thing that concerns me about her cleaning habits. Rather than do things in a way that would save time and frustration over the long run, she tends to do things that are the quickest in the short term. This can lead to precarious situations.

One example of this is the way that things get stacked in the cabinets. There isn't really much planning involved. It is really more an issue of throwing things in the cabinet and closing the door before anything can fall out. I used to get startled if I heard Golden open a cabinet door and shout as something crashed to the kitchen counter (or onto her). It has happened so much, though, that now it doesn't phase me.

Another example occurred a few weeks ago. There are some glasses stacked on our refrigerator in front of a few kitchen items that are also stored above the fridge. Golden went to grab a lunch box from behind the glasses. She could have moved the glasses ahead of time, but instead she skipped this step and simply dragged the item real slowly across the top of the fridge along with about three glasses. I stopped the inevitable crash just a few moments before it would have happened.

Yet another example is that there is a disregard for extremely hot items in the kitchen. We currently have a burner on the stove that needs replaced because a plastic wrapper was left too close to it when it was on. Golden has also burned herself on a few occasions. The last time was a rather serious burn on her arm due to an incident where she compensated for an underpadded oven mitt by laying part of the scorching hot cooking stone that she was pulling out of the oven on her arm.

As final example is that items like screwdrivers, books, footballs, shoes, and the like tend to get left in the living room where people can trip over them and they detract from the decor. It is real annoying because there is a place for those things and it isn't the living room. Oh wait, that is what I do. I guess we both have our issues to work through.

snack conversation

I usually ignore the stuff added to the back of cereal boxes. I especially ignore the jokes and games on the back of kids' cereal boxes. Yesterday was an exception, though. The back of the box that Golden and I were snacking from had what was labeled as "fun questions to spark great family discussions." I am not sure I would want to discuss all of them with kids, but here is a sampling of the least cheesy questions and my responses to them.

What if you didn't need to sleep?
That's a super power only college students have. I would get a lot of work done.

If you could change sexes for a day, would you?
I absolutely would, so long as it was only for a short time like a day and it wasn't one of those "we were only kidding about changing you back" scenarios. I want very much to understand what it is to live in a world of emotion. I would probably spend the day watching chick flicks to try to get a better grasp on the appeal of those stories. I would also like to know what it is like to not compartmentalize the things in life and have all experiences intermingle with all other experiences (Did I describe that right?).

What if you had the power to know every time someone told a lie?
This is one of those things that sounds like a blessing, but is actually a curse. Do I really want to know what people think of me? I think I would still like it once I got used to the judgmental types, though. On the plus side, I could have a killer career in sales.

If you could be really smart or really athletic, which would you choose?
While ignorance is bliss, especially if you are the popular athletic type, I couldn't stand being a meathead. I'd pick smarts.

Would it be good if you got everything you wished for?
This is a little deep for the back of a box of cereal. Of course, I shouldn't get everything I wish for. I don't think this means that it is bad for me to get some things I wish for, though. :)

What if everything you wrote came true?
I'd be glad I didn't have a tattoo.

south carolina: land of paradise

Growing up I always believed that God wanted people to be conservative and that He desired to turn the nation into a theocracy. That is what conservative circles tend to preach, and that is what I accepted as a kid.

My views have changed a little since then. If God has established every authority that exists, then every nation is indirectly a theocracy already.

I was reading the paper earlier today and came upon a story (same article with no required sign-up here). Apparently, there is a group that is trying to mobilize people to move to the already conservative state of South Carolina so that they can eventually exert enough political power to make the state a conservative paradise of sorts. Only four families have actually moved as a result of the effort, though.

What makes a family decide that this is even a realistic goal, let alone a noble one? While mine is probably the blog in our little circle of sites that hits preachy topics the most, I have purposefully stayed away from true political discussion. This is partially due to the fact that I honestly believe that any time an area becomes a conservative or liberal paradise, bad things start to happen. When you start to believe that a paradise on earth can be found by getting the right laws, politicians, or judges you depart from the reality that humans, conservative and liberal, are naturally selfish.

Most conservatives and liberals (and "independents") will have specific ideals which are ends that may be justified by any means if not they kept in check. I believe that even those people with whom I most sincerely disagree has been placed in power by God to keep things in check. Of course, that doesn't mean I'll vote for them.

God has to have ultimate control, be it in Washington D.C., Topeka, or Charleston. If He doesn't we're all in trouble.

kill the boar

Sawyer points his handgun at the boar to show it that he means business. This animal has had it in for him for the past couple of days so now its days have been numbered, or so we think. Just then we notice Kate watching Sawyer but hidden from his view. She obviously has some emotions invested in the outcome of this standoff. We already know that Sawyer is just the sort of scumbucket who would kill a defenseless animal and there are no PETA protesters within a thousand mile radius to save the boar. Just then Sawyer has what appears to be a change of heart and lowers the gun. He isn't such a bad guy after all. Kate is ecstatic.

The description above is from an episode of Lost that I watched last night. There are a few things about this incredibly idealistic scene that bother me.

1. Sawyer should have killed the boar. Until this point we have unemotionally seen several boars killed for meat on the show. What is so different here?
2. Sawyer should have killed the boar. There are over thirty people on the island who need to eat.
3. Sawyer should have killed the boar. The animal obviously was out to get him and posed a serious security risk.

This is something that has bothered me for a while about TV and movies. Animals are put on the same level as humans. In Lost it isn't even realistic to think that a character like Sawyer would refuse to pull the trigger because he is going to be thinking about his next meal more than anything else. But who could kill such a sweet creature?

The movie ID4 (otherwise known as Independence Day) contains perhaps the most frustrating example of what I am talking about. As explosions are ripping through Washington D.C. we see what must be the death of thousands of people in the background. At the very same moment we are transported to an emotionally moving scene where a pet dog barely escapes the explosions to safety with its owners. When I saw that I was insulted that the movie makers thought I was stupid enough to miss the scope of the situation. I refuse to have my emotions heightened for a pet rescued while they are deadened to human life being destroyed in the background.

The two movies that I can think of that got it right were Jurassic Park II and Signs. The dogs died in those movies. It's not that I can't feel for the loss of a pet. I just don't want to be manipulated into thinking that the animals are more valuable than the humans.

peeled from the bone

A couple of days ago a conversation in my office revolved around some elements of a strong man competition. There was talk of the bus pull and the stone carry and other things that sounded equally as uncomfortable, then the discussion went in a much more uncomfortable direction that these conversations always seem to go. One of the guys mentioned a time when he saw someone's pectoral muscle tear during a workout.

There seems to be an unwritten rule that when guys discuss strong man, weight lifting, or body building competitions at some point someone is going to mention a worst-case-scenario story of a horrifically torn a muscle, dislocated joint, or really nasty hangnail.

This could be because deep down normal guys get some pleasure out of inordinately strong or toned guys suffering some tragedy. It could be that this is just an example of the male interest in more disgusting topics such as horrible injuries. It could just be a figment of my imagination. I don't know why it is, but I do know that the conversations I have noticed always tend to go that direction.

I can't complain, though. It gives me a reason not to exercise.

please don't step on the art

On the recommendation from Forrest, Golden and I visited the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art on Saturday. We both actually enjoyed it. It is rather small, as we took our time and we were still through in just under an hour. I did make two observations while I was there, though.

When I am looking at contemporary art I am never completely sure what is and isn't art. There were a bunch of toys in the middle of one room. Was that an art piece or was it to keep kids occupied while the adults look at the pieces? When I was at the The Art Institute of Chicago Museum a couple of years ago I almost stepped on some art in the middle of a display room because it looked like a mat. At one art display once (I don't remember where) I almost sat down on some art because it was made to look like a seat. It may not have been art after all, but who can tell?

Dave Barry once pointed out that while he did not disagree with displaying art, he did believe that it should be obviously marked as art so that the 98% of the population who cannot recognize non-conventional modern art when they see it will not sit on it. I agree with this sentiment.

The second observation I made was that if a body is displayed in art, the odds are very good that it is not a traditionally attractive body. However, if sexuality is alluded to within the art that does not depict a human body it is typically (in my limited experience) either portrayed as beautiful or aggressive.

Case in point, there were several statues of humans in the museum and not one of them would really typically be considered attractive. There were a couple of Georgia O'Keeffe paintings at the museum as well that were accompanied by a plaque that stated that many believe her paintings represent feminine sexuality. This was denied by O'Keeffe, but the fact that paintings of flowers are thought to be sexual simply due to their beauty is telling.

Then again, what do I know. I'm a literalist.

honor the sabbath

I am posting this due to Dar's request at Golden's site. This is a soapbox issue of mine. In case you haven't noticed, I have avoided a lot of soapbox issues simply due to the fact that most of my audience agrees with me and would probably be bored with most of what I say. Soapbox issues tend to create very long posts.

I do want to note at the start that I believe my parents have always done what they believed was right. While I now disagree with some of the stances they took while I was growing up, I can't fully fault them for my discomforts. I know that I will make mistakes when I have kids as well, and only hope that I can remain as consistent for my (future) kids as my parents were for me.

When I was really young there were certain things I didn't do. I didn't talk back to my parents, I didn't lie, and I didn't do anything that might be considered entertainment on a Sunday. This came from a view that my parents enforced that Sunday was the Lord's day. They did loosen up on the issue as I grew older.

This meant that no forms of entertainment were allowed. This was subjective and on occasions meant that we didn't watch TV, but it wasn't usually that strict. We were also often strongly encouraged to try to rest on Sunday since it was the day of rest. These rules actually varied a bit throughout my childhood, and I presume that is because it was difficult to know what specifically dishonored the Sabbath.

As I got older I determined that this seemed rather arbitrary and that my friends who did entertaining things on Sundays weren't getting struck by lightning. Also, since we were willing to bend the rules when visiting extended family, I didn't think that my parents believed this was a lightning-strike-from-Heaven offense. In the ranking of offenses, it was a relatively minor one.

Now I am old enough to have read most parts of the Bible multiple times and to have had the opportunity to study portions of it rather intensely. Given what I have read, I am sure that the idea that God set aside Sunday as a day where Christians living under the New Covenant must do nothing but sleep or think about God is not a correct view. Every day is God's day and He is more interested with how I live on the other six days of the week than He is with whether I am watching TV on a specific day.

Now for the points from Scripture:

1. Nowhere in the Bible is Saturday replaced with Sunday. I think it was moved to Sunday because of the comments in Acts 20:7 or because the Resurrection was on the Sabbath. Either reasoning is weak, though. This is one of the very few things that Seventh Day Adventists get right. If we must follow strict rules about the Sabbath, it probably should be on Saturday.
2. Of all the times that Paul referred to Sabbath days, he never was for enforcing them. He did say in Rom 14:5-6 that people who observe the Sabbath should be convinced that what they are doing is right. He also said that the person who does not observe should be convinced he is right as well.
3. Paul twice actually argued against those who said that the Sabbath must be observed. In Gal 4:8-11 he calls observation of special days "weak and worthless elemental things." In Col 2:16-17 Paul says that you shouldn't let someone judge you for not observing a Sabbath day and that it is simply a shadow of what was to come (Christ).
4. One argument that we are still under this portion of the Law generally points out that Christ said that He would not remove even a letter from the Law. In the same breath Christ said that He would fulfill the Law.
5. The author of Hebrews, Like Paul in his letter to the Colossians, pointed out that the purpose of the Sabbath was to point to Christ. This is detailed in chapters three and four. The Sabbath rest represents the fact that we no longer have to work toward our salvation, and that Christ took care of it all. That is what entering His rest is.

Thanks for indulging me (which you have if you are still reading this). I won't do these kind of posts too frequently, but it is nice to mix things up a bit.

happy fifth, golden

You are my golden gleam in the morning
And my laughter before dark

A mere five years have passed
Since on this journey we embarked

We have learned about each other
And faced each year as two

I happily look forward to the next
Five, ten, and fifty with you

otb©®™ (patent pending)

I always kind of imagined that I might write some song or story or something original of that nature. I always figured the proof that I had created something would be some official copyright that signified that I had privileges to reproduce that creation. I would then come to and realize that I would probably never go through the hassle of filing a request for a copyright.

A few days ago I came across this site on common myths about what is and isn't a copyrighted material and was a little surprised to find that any original thoughts typed on a blog site are technically considered to be copyrighted. Doesn't seem like such a big deal, but I am happy that I have in some official form the copyrights to ideas like the RIPO post or my letter k post.

I guess it means little if no one ever wants to pay for the copyright rights, but it's nice to feel like a few of my ideas are now mine in some legal sense.

i see you haven't been flossing

Throughout my lifetime I have spent a lot of time in the dentists' and orthodontists' office getting teeth pulled, filled, readjusted, and just about everything else that can happen to a tooth. As such I have never really liked going to the dentist, but it isn't really a big deal to get my teeth cleaned compared to the things that have been done to them in the past.

The one thing that always does bother me about getting my teeth cleaned is having to hear about how I should be flossing more and how the inflammation in my gums is due to my lack of flossing (and not the violence with which the dentist flosses my teeth). I don't know for sure why I can't get in the habit, but come bedtime I have other things I want to do more than spend time working a piece of string back and forth between my teeth. It is actually partially because of this that I have avoided going to the dentist for about two and a half years. I figure I need to go back eventually if I want to keep my teeth in the long term, so I have devised a plan to avoid the lecture on flossing. I now floss after lunch at work.

Yesterday some of my coworkers noticed the floss container laying on my desk. What is that? Dental floss. Why do you have it here? To floss my teeth. When do you do that? After lunch. Has anyone walked in on you flossing? Not that I am aware.

After I had fielded quite a few questions I noticed that one of the guys figured that I had a good idea after all and had started flossing during our conversation. At this point there were complaints about some tartar flying around, then everyone left. Maybe I should think twice about maintaining my dental hygiene at work. Nah, I still think it is a good idea.

exclusive offer!!! *

I would like to believe that the people watching The History Channel or The Science Channel or The Discovery Channel at midnight are intelligent people. Based on the commercials that I see at that time at night I have my doubts. If I were to go by the bulk of the advertising that fills the airwaves at that time on those channels I would have to assume that the typical viewer is a debt-ridden moron who can't or won't read the fine print at the bottom of the screen.

One advertisement I noticed was for a credit assistance agency that was supposed to help people get rid of credit card debt. The commercial was complete with testimonials about how much the service had helped specific people get out of debt. But wait, right at the start of the first "testimonial" was text in a very small font that read "Dramatization." What's the point of a testimonial if it is fake? I'd say deception.

The next commercial for the site FreeCreditReport.com was no better. They talked about how wonderful it was to be able to see your credit report for free. Then in incredibly small text across the bottom of the screen I saw the exception below (which can also be found at their web site).

"When you order your free report here, you will begin your free trial membership in Triple Advantage Credit Monitoring. If you don't cancel your membership within the 30 day trial period, you will be billed $12 for each month that you continue your membership."

If you really want to see your credit report for free, look at the official site set up by the three major credit reporting companies.

To be honest, I prefer the stupid Ionic Breeze infomercials that flood The Science Channel (thanks for buying into the allergy stereotype of geeks, guys) over these shyster commercials, even if their testimonials are fake too.

* By reading this site you automatically grant me permission to bill you $24.99 a day for the use of this "service." I also get a stake in any potential business profits you may experience and power of attorney in your personal dealings.

the absent-minded dust

Last night was a great night for a movie at the drive in. That was Dash's idea, anyway, and it turned out to be a good idea. I enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and even Dukes of Hazzard mostly because I knew what to expect. They were both schlock in their own ways.

Before the movie, though, I made an absent-minded mistake. I meant to call BB to check to see whether he had arrived at the drive in and I inadvertently called my manager from work who has the same name. The two numbers are next to each other on my cell phone list. The biggest blunder was in the fact that I did not notice that I had called the wrong person at first. The conversation went like this.

Me: Hello, B. Are you here yet?

B: Huh?

Me: The reason I ask is that we are in a hard to find location and you may need some help finding it.

B: Who is this?

Me: Dust. Why do you ask?

(here I realized my mistake when I noticed that the voice on the other end didn't sound like BB's)

Me: (embarrassed) Oops.

Anyway, I am glad my manager has a sense of humor. I am sure everyone else at work will have a sense of humor about this, too, when they find out.

do you smell something?

I have one sense that far surpasses the others in strength. It is not eyesight. I am one of those people who doesn't need glasses, but I am not too far away from needing them. It is not hearing. My ability to distinguish softer noises is already going. My strongest sense is smell.

What is more worthless than a strong sense of smell? It means that I get the joy of getting way too big of whiffs of peoples' cologne when they drench themselves in it. It means that I can tell when someone else hasn't showered for three days. It means that I know when the cat just did her thing in the litterbox.

Golden does not have a very strong sense of smell. Because of this, there have been many conversations like the following in our house.

Me: What's that smell?

Golden: What smell?

Me: What do you mean what smell? That putrid, rancid smell that resembles death.

Golden: I don't smell anything. Nothing smells.

Me: How can you not smell that? Is it the garbage? Wow! That's bad, but that's not it.

Golden: I think you are making this up.

Me: It's not the cat's food dish either. Wait, it's coming from the sink. Let me go ahead and run the garbage disposal.

(Whirrrrr.....)

Then, an hour later

(.....rrrrr)

Me: That's better.

Golden: That was a figment of your imagination.

footprints in the sand

I have always been a little more fragile than the average guy. I always got cold or hot a little quicker than most, always cringed just a little more before getting hit on the football field, I always got winded quicker than everyone else, and I picked up plenty of scars growing up from doing what boys do. Even so, I never backed down from sports when I had the opportunity because I love competition to the point of being willing to play through the pain.

Last Sunday evening our church had a sand volleyball night scheduled for our young adults. Since this is one of my better sports (meaning I am not horrible at it), I went for a full evening of games. Golden, bless her heart, patiently sat through it all, too.

When I first got on the sand I realized that the day had been plenty warm. Everyone was complaining about the heat of the sand, but it seemed hotter to me than anyone else was even implying. I was on the sand for a while because we were playing winner stays on the court, and my team kept winning. I also tended to be on the hot side of the court longer than the cooler side. I think that contributed.

For most of the night after the first two games or so, I felt like either my feet were on fire or I was experiencing half of the Stigmata. I figured I had blisters, but the depth of the issue was not apparent until I got home that night. I have been hobbling around for the last couple of days while I heal. I think I'll just keep score in tonight's game.

stained glass for the temple

One of the guys in my office likes tattoos. He likes them a lot. His arms, back, and legs are a testament to the artistic abilities of some tattoo artist (or artists) somewhere. While I personally have never understood wanting to have a tattoo, I can tell that this guy made absolutely sure that the images that would be permanently displayed on his body were of the highest quality, and I can appreciate that to a degree.

On Friday I overheard him talking with another coworker about a run-in he had recently had with some Christian protesters. They told him that since he was marking his body up, which they believed was an obvious crime against the temple of God, that he was headed to Hell.

I could say a lot of things to rebut that position. I figured I would rather portray a humorous conversation between this Pseudo-God who sends the tattooed to Hell and a faithful Christian instead because it is more fun.

Pseudo-God: I see that you have accepted Christ and allowed Him to sanctify you into a creature worthy of Heaven.

Faithful Christian: Thank you. You know that I have sacrificed all for You.

Pseudo-God: That was what was necessary. Well done, good and faithful ser--uhh, what's that on your arm?

Faithful Christian: Just a cross tattoo. It reminded me of your Son and the sacrifice He ma--

Pseudo-God: And you thought this was alright because???

Faithful Christian: I don't remember Jesus, Paul, Peter, or John saying anything about tattoos.

Pseudo-God: Of course they did. Didn't you read 1 Corinthians, or was it 2 Corinthians? Anyway, if you look at the original Greek and start in this verse, write down the first letter, then skip the next ten letters, then write down the next letter, then--

Faithful Christian: You're kidding, right?

Pseudo-God: Seriously, how didn't you get this? This is simple. Wait till you see how complex the algorithm is that proves that electricity is from the Devil.

Believe it or not, my point is not to be sarcastic, but just to point to the absurdity of denying people the opportunity at Heaven because they inked their body. It frustrates me the barriers we put in front of people to keep them from accepting the Gospel.