Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Free hugs
Even though I didn't go get my free hug, we both laughed so much from just the sight of it. Not laughing making fun, but just laughing as in - isn't that crazy and great?
So I just now found the story behind Free Hugs and also a great video. This thing really made me cry. (Isn't that crazy and great? lol) My favorite is the little old lady who gets a hug from this guy and then just holds his face in her hand. It is such a beautiful moment.
Celebrate the U2-charist
Friday, January 26, 2007
Cold enough fer ya?
60 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Minnesota plant gardens.
50 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Duluth sunbathe.
40 above zero:
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Minnesota drive with the windows down.
32 above zero:
Distilled water freezes.
The water in Bemidji gets thicker.
20 above zero:
Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves and wool hats.
People in Minnesota throw on a flannel shirt.
15 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Minnesota have the last cookout before it gets cold.
Zero:
People in Miami all die.
Minnesotans close the windows.
10 below zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico.
People in Minnesota get out their winter coats.
25 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Minnesota are selling cookies door to door.
40 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Minnesota let the dogs sleep indoors.
100 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Minnesotans get upset because they can't start the Mini-Van.
460 below zero:
ALL atomic motion stops (absolute zero on the Kelvin scale.)
People in Minnesota start saying..."Cold 'nuff fer ya?"
500 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Minnesota public schools will open 2 hours late.
See yourself?
George Bernard Shaw
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Who doesn't love a puppy?
But everytime I think about how happy it would make me to have a little friend here, I just have to smile. I am a dog person, and I miss my family dog who died a couple years ago (also named Tommy. hehe) Also Tom is extremely happy like a little kid when he thinks about us getting a dog.
So anyway, a few weeks ago we visited the humane shelter in the Raleigh area. That was an experience! I always knew a pet shelter to be this dark, dingy, concrete-ridden sad place where unwanted animals spent their last few days of life before being euthanized. Well the SPCA of Wake County runs this new adoption center that is absolutely phenomenal. It's a brand new facility, and there's like a dog wing, and a cat wing, etc. Then there is like a dog bedroom, a dog playroom, and it goes on forever! There is actually - or so it seems - a bit of competition to get the animal you want. We didn't find anything small enough to meet our needs or wants.
We've been checking Craig's List. I'm in touch with someone about these little black and white puppies - maybe even just being a foster home for one of them to try things out - but I am afraid they will grow to be too big. Hmmm.
But the two breeds we are most excited about are a puggle or a Cocker spaniel. They are both so cute. I lean more towards the puggle and Tom wants a Cocker because his grandfather (I believe) had one and he has good memories.
The only problem is I really hate the idea of buying a dog from a breeder. It's not the cost, but rather the principle of ignoring the bajillions of unwanted dogs being put to sleep each year in favor of designer dogs. Even just that phrase "designer dogs" totally sucks. But then I don't know if I should feel the guilt of all the dead pets in the world just because we choose a puggle. Again - hmmm. I'll let you know what we decide, if anything.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Apparently the Super Bowl sucks
I just find this a fascinating bit of business trivia. I mean, first of all, you have the oddity that something athletic and social would impact business in the general sense (businesses in all industries). And that something which solicits so many dollars would actually, in some sense, hurt the bottom line!
But even more fascinating (and disturbing), is the fact that everything is viewed now in terms of worker output. Reading between the lines lets us translate the header to: "Damn Sports Enthusiasts! Get Back to Work!" How productive do we as a human race have to be until we are satisfied? How many hard, long hours must we work!? I see the tangible benefits of a good work ethic... diseases cured, wealth created, etc. But the same white-knuckled grip on productivity also creates diseases (stress and all its psychosomatic ailments) and wastes wealth (instead of enjoying it).
So now I guess you know I'm not a Marxist because I hate seeing things in such cold economic terms. Have a beer and enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday! Geeeeez. Get off our backs, Man! (Yes, I mean The Man.)
Monday, January 22, 2007
The Space Needle Perspective
P.S. Yes, I did flunk out of South Beach. Hehe. I will get back on track with something...
P.P.S. Photos already available... Isn't technology great?
Sunday, January 07, 2007
South Beach doesn't equal Hollywood stars
Well I haven't read the book yet, but apparently it's from a doctor in Miami. And since Micah turned me on to the South Beach diet a few days ago, I've been really excited about it... in fact, already in the first 48 hours, I've lost 5 pounds. Every morning is like Christmas morning, waking up being excited to check the scale (finally! lol I've been avoiding that thing for months). It's funny I never wanted to learn about this diet - I just dismissed it as a fad. In reality, it's really well suited to target the areas where I go wrong food-wise.
The idea is simple - Get over your addiction to carbs. For me, this is major and totally pinpoints my struggles with weight. I love comfort foods like bread and pasta, and I have a sweet tooth like none other. I never get sick of chocolate. I truly am addicted to sugar, and food in general (I just love it... what can I say?). After two weeks of totally abstaining from carbs and sugar, you get to start introducing the healthy ones back in... moderately. That's pretty much the whole thing in a nutshell.
Again, I haven't read the book yet, but I understand a lot of this has to do with avoiding foods that mess with your blood sugar level. These foods cause it to spike, and the cycle of craving and eating continues. I have felt for a long time that my eating issues are related mostly to my blood sugar level, which is a chemical-emotional thing in the end.
I am pretty sure Friday was the first day in my nearly 25 years of life (over 9,000 days) without eating bread. I can't believe I could just eat eggs, lean meat, low-fat cheese, and lots of vegetables and actually have energy and feel somewhat full! Now I have to admit, I've been using sugar-free candy as a bit of a crutch so far. But I totally have to. Like I said, I am a sugar addict. I would have already quit if I didn't have that indulgence. After these two weeks are over, I hope to quench my sweet tooth with just dark chocolate and something else very occasionally. Trust me, I have no interest on getting hooked on fake sugar.
I know I've only been doing this diet three days, but I really like it. My challenge is to eat this new way for life. Well, not totally carb-free, that's crazy, but relying more on other foods as the basis. Success for me will be eating ordinary things in moderation and keeping up with my work outs. I hope it's finally time in my life to get all these things under control!
By the way, can I just say, how do people manage to be the correct weight in our day and age? lol There is so much good food out there, and so much stress to drive us right into it. I personally find it more strange that people are naturally at their target weight, than surprising that people are overweight.
Anyways I'm just at the beginning of this journey (again). Cross your fingers for me... lol
A Fine Line
I dreamt that I was at home (my parents' house). I was sitting downstairs at their desk and feeling overwhelmed with things I had to do related to work and just life in general. I felt really yucky and just thought, why am I here doing this work? I don't want to be in Minnesota anymore. I already spent two weeks here for Christmas and though I loved it, I missed Tom a lot during those two weeks and I wanted to get back to Carolina.
The thought of Tom spurred another thought in me - wait, I was just with Tom last night. We were at John and Deb's house with the whole church. There's no way I could be in Minnesota! Even though, sitting there at that desk, I felt as real as anyone could possibly feel, I realized me being in Minnesota was a dream. I had to get myself out of it. I couldn't figure out how to pinch myself, so I started rubbing my temples in my dream in order to wake myself up. It didn't take long until I actually did awake in my bedroom in Raleigh, my body tingling.
Crazy!!
Now the next step will be to actually stay in the dream when I realize it's happening. That's the fun part. :)
What's interesting about the whole being at my parents' desk thing is that, when I was home last month... do you ever do this? .... I just sat there and stared around the room and out the windows, trying to memorize everything I could see. Location often feels like an illusion to me. I can just as easily close my eyes and be at home, as actually being there. I think this breakthrough happened because I broke the connection with absolute reality that night, if that makes sense. Lucid dreamers call this practice doing a reality check. By questioning what's real and what's not, you allow your conscious and subconscious mind to interact more playfully.
In a way, experimenting with dreams seems dangerous, but I don't exactly see how. I'm not a "life is but a dream" type person (I was raised Catholic and appreciate incarnation and the eucharist as much as anyone - the physical realm is precious), but in a way, life is a dream.... heaven is our real home, and infinitely more real than the days we spend walking on this spinning sphere. Not that our lives aren't real - they are. They're just not very real relative to our TRUE lives, if that makes sense? I know my real life is hidden in Christ. It's a mystery I love to think about. Somewhere in the half-awake stages of life (especially morning and nighttime), I catch a very tangible glimpse of Reality... God. You know what one of the coolest things is about God? He is eternal. In the context of what I've experienced in this dream, that means he is Real. I can't snap in and out of Him like time, or consciousness. He extends forever in every direction. He has dimensions I know nothing of. He is eternal! Thank God something on this earth (and in heaven) is real.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Oh yeah, this is why capital punishment sucks
Thank you, Shane Claiborne, for saying it so well:
Shane Claiborne: Communicating Through a Noose
"What do you think of that man?" the old guy asked in a raspy voice as I settled in next to him on the plane. He pointed to the face of Saddam Hussein on the front of his newspaper with a headline story of the looming execution. I gathered myself, and prepared for what could turn out to be a rather chatty plane ride. I replied gently, "I think that man needs some love." And the rather boisterous gentleman sat still, perhaps not exactly the response he predicted. Then he said pensively, "Hmmmm. I think you're right..." And finally, he whispered in a forlorn tone, "And it is hard to communicate love through a noose."
Sometimes we just need permission to say, "It's not okay to kill someone to show everyone how much we hate killing." As Christian artist Derek Webb sings, " Peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication. It's like saying murder is wrong and showing them by way of execution." I am encouraged by how many Christians I hear voicing an alternative to the myth of redemptive violence in light of the recent killing of Saddam, folks who love Jesus and have the unsettling feeling that Jesus loves evildoers so much he died for them, for us. I have heard many evangelicals who see Saddam's execution as the ultimate act of hopelessness and faithlessness – after all it is humanity stepping in to make the final judgment, that this human created in God's image is beyond redemption. And for those who believe in hell, executing someone who may not yet know of the love and grace of Christ is doubly offensive.
It is rather scandalous to think that we have a God who loves murderers and terrorists like Saul of Tarsus, Osama bin Laden, or Sadaam Hussein – but that is the "good news" isn't it? It's the old eye for an eye thing that gets us. But the more I've studied the Hebrew Scriptures the more I am convinced that this was just a boundary for people who lashed back. As the young exodus people are trying to discover a new way of living outside the empire, God made sure there were some boundaries, like if someone breaks your are, you cannot go back and break their arm and their leg. If someone kills hundreds of your people, you cannot kill 160,000 of theirs. We've learned the eye for an eye thing all too well. A shock and awe bombing leads to a shock and awe beheading. A Pearl Harbor leads to a Hiroshima. A murder leads to an execution. A rude look leads to a cold shoulder. An eye for an eye we have indeed heard before and learned its logic all too well. But Jesus comes declaring in his State of the Union Sermon on the Mount address (Matthew 5): "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,'" but there is a another way. No wonder Jesus wept over Jerusalem because the people "did not know the things that make for peace." Gandhi and King used to say, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves the whole world blind" (and with dentures). The gospels tell the story of a group of people who have dragged forward an adulteress and are ready to stone her (this was the legal consequence). Jesus is asked for his support of this death penalty case. His response is this... "You are all adulterers. If you have looked at someone lustfully, you have committed adultery in your heart." And the people drop their stones and walk away with their heads bowed. We want to kill the murderers, and Jesus says to us: "You are all murderers. If you have called your neighbor 'Raca, Fool' you are guilty of murder in your heart." Again the stones drop. We are all murderers and adulterers and terrorists. And we are all precious. When we have new eyes we can look into the faces of those we don't even like, and see the One we love. We can see God's image in everyone we encounter. As Henri Nouwen puts it: "In the face of the oppressed I recognize my own face and in the hands of the oppressor I recognize my own hands. Their flesh is my flesh, their blood is my blood, their pain is my pain, their smile is my smile." We are made of the same dust. We cry the same tears. No one is beyond redemption and no one is beyond repute. And that is when we are free to imagine a revolution that sets both the oppressed and the oppressors free. The world is starving for grace. And grace is hard to communicate with a noose.
Shane Claiborne is a founding partner of The Simple Way Community, a radical faith community that lives among and serves the homeless in Kensington, North Philadelphia. He is a Red Letter Christian and the author of The Irresistible Revolution.