Some Mad Tea-party

Thoughts

2009-08-05T21:56:00.002-05:00

I'm dwelling on a couple passages tonight.

Ezra 9:

9:1 After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2 For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race [1] has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.” 3 As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. 4 Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. 5 And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, 6 saying:

“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. 7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. 8 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold [2] within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. 9 For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection [3] in Judea and Jerusalem.

10 “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, 11 which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. 12 Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ 13 And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, 14 shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? 15 O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”

Psalm 32:

32:1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up [2] as by the heat of summer. Selah

5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

6 Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.
7 You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.

10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Man, I really don't want to be a mule...

My handiness

2009-03-03T17:18:00.009-06:00

Are you a handywoman or handyman? Describe the most impressive thing you've built/repaired/duct-taped - this question answered via Plinky.com. Check out this post about what Plinky does...it might help folks like me that never post anything.

The quickest thing that comes to mind would be the thermostat I "MacGyvered" at work a couple years ago. My coworker and I were sitting right beneath the air conditioning vent, the thermostat was getting direct sunlight, and the boss was gone for the day (along with the key to the thermostat). So, I decided to affix plastic bags full of ice to the box around the thermostat. Sure enough, after a few minutes the a/c kicked off and stayed off.

Of course, an hour or so later it started to get somewhat stuffy, and I didn't have a hairdryer to rectify the situation in the same fashion...

106 Books

2008-12-15T15:09:00.002-06:00

Chelsea tagged me on this thing, then encouraged me to post it as well.

These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread." As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded, but not to be read. A $ for the ones you own, * for the ones you've read, ** for the ones you read for a class, *** the ones you started but did not finish.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina $
Crime and Punishment $
Catch-22 $
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights $ **
The Silmarillion $ *
Life of Pi
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick **
Ulysses
Madame Bovary **
The Odyssey **
Pride and Prejudice $
Jane Eyre ***
A Tale of Two Cities $
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel
War and Peace $
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Iliad **
Emma $ **
The Blind Assassin
Zatoichi
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Quicksilver Exposition
Wicked $ *
The Canterbury Tales **
The Historian
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault's Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein $
The Count of Monte Cristo $
Dracula $*
A Clockwork Orange *
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno **
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility $
The Picture of Dorian Gray $ ***
Mansfield Park $
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver's Travels *
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune $ *
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela's Ashes
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Scarlet Letter $ **
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake
Collapse
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion $
Northanger Abbey $
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame *
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid **
Watership Down
Gravity's Rainbow
The Hobbit $ *
In Cold Blood
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers $ *

So, that's it. I guess there are many books out there that I haven't read. I hesitate to tag anyone to follow suit, because I'm pretty sure no one will read this. Clearly, you are reading this however, so feel free.

Election Day

2008-11-04T15:51:00.012-06:00

Finally...I'm just ready for this thing to end.

You can track live results here.

Seasons

2008-10-08T17:30:00.004-05:00

Baseball season is pretty much over. The NLCS and ALCS are getting ready to start, but my Cardinals aren't involved (and neither is anyone else in the NL Central...). On the other side of the spectrum, the Miners have been done for almost a month now. I'm usually somewhat saddened by the transition from summer to fall, and baseball season to football season. I love baseball. This year, however, I find myself wholeheartedly welcoming the change. This summer was a bit draining, moreso than last summer even. I'm not sorry to see it go. I'm enjoying spending more time with Chelsea, though she is busier now with school, work, and myriad activities.

My distaste for politics has ascended to another level, however. I'm ready for winter already, if only for the end of Election Season. Can I write in my vote for Dwight Schrute, the no-nonsense candidate America needs?

I love Macs, but...

2008-09-02T17:47:00.003-05:00

...I'm still forced to live as a closet PC-user. Quite literally.

Hoos Coming for Dinner?

2008-06-28T21:38:00.005-05:00

Mrs. Hatter was gone at Super Summer last week, leaving me all by my lonesome. I was fortunate enough, however, to have several opportunities (when not at work) to spend time with some friends that I don't get hang with nearly enough. So, wherever you are out there, thanks fellas.

Tim Challies has a friend that makes homemade jewelry, and I happened upon her site last week. One of her pieces struck me as one that Chelsea might like. So, I procured this one-of-a-kind necklace for her. Fortunately, she likes it! See?

Isn't she pretty? I'm glad she's home.

Achtung!

2008-06-17T21:33:00.002-05:00

A quick addendum to today's thoughts: I love my wife! She's great!

Firefox 3 Download Day

2008-06-17T11:54:00.002-05:00

Today is Firefox 3 Download Day, an international effort by the Mozilla Corporation to have as many unique downloads of the brand-spankin'-new final release of the third iteration of the popular open source browser as possible. Prepositions, anyone?

So, chuck Internet Explorer and download Firefox. It's better. For those belonging to AppleNation, the Firefox team has apparently spent much time and effort on Firefox 3 for Mac in order to improve performance and, perhaps more importantly, the look and feel of Firefox for OS X, which hasn't felt like a Mac program in the past. I am, however, still a fan of Camino, the Mac only browser built on the same Gecko engine used by Firefox. It's limited in some respects, though, so we'll see what end up with for my everyday browsing.

You may now return to your regularly-scheduled avoidance of this "blog."

Hijacked!

2008-05-07T18:24:00.002-05:00

Hello all, Chelsea here. I am hijacking Kyle's blog because he has no time to post anything and won't for a few weeks. So, to show him that I love him, I'd like to post one of his favorite You Tube videos.

This little guy likes to write songs, and we like to watch videos of him. This is Kyle's favorite. I hope you all enjoy as much as he does!

What's your function?

2008-04-12T09:51:00.003-05:00

I have to work all day today, but I'd rather be at home watching cartoons...like this one.

Flashbacks

2008-04-04T15:14:00.004-05:00

Legal ones.

I'm amazed at how certain stimuli can trigger memories. I'm not even talking about significant memories or memories that bear any sort of meaningful impact...just everyday things.

Last night, Chelsea had her entire iTunes library on shuffle, which kicked out a number of "interesting" tunes. Lots of stuff from the 90's, most of which needs to stay in the 90's (in my opinion). At one point, the speakers started belting a song from Switchfoot's 2003 album The Beautiful Letdown.

I immediately hurtled back in time and was walking north on Goodwin Ave. in Champaign, then cutting behind the Nuclear Engineering Building, angling toward the Digital Computer Laboratory. It was pretty weird...it felt like I was on my way from ISR to DCL to work on a project. I distinctly remember listening to that album on my iPod (back when it was new, shiny, and would play for longer than an hour) while making that trek across campus.

Goings on

2008-03-31T17:51:00.002-05:00

I would probably have to say that my weekend was somewhat eventful. More or less.

I had to work for a few hours on Saturday, and they ended up being very productive hours. I finished things that needed finishing, and there was much rejoicing. Saturday night we had dinner with my parents and watched Stranger Than Fiction , which I enjoyed. I've seen it several times (and own it), but I think it's a pretty good film.

Chelsea awoke with a killer migraine on Sunday morning. If you're fortunate enough to have never had one (I believe I've only had one or two), you're...uh...fortunate. Dizziness, nausea, blurred vision, and, of course, the pounding headache. So, I trotted off to Lakeland by my lonesome and filled in for her with the little kids, where I had great fun getting marker ink all over my hands (some children-made kites were affixed to walls in the process). Pastor Phil expounded upon Numbers 30, regarding making vows to God. This is something God clearly wanted His people to recognize as serious business. Clearly, some of them got it.

As we began reading the text, I mentally jumped forward in time to Judges 11, which I recall from previous study of Judges. Jephthah was leading the people at this time, and vows to the LORD, "If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering" (Judges 11:30-31, ESV). This, of course, has all the makings of tragic foreshadowing. Jephthah is victorious, and heads home only to see his only child, his daughter, come out to meet him. He is heartbroken and confesses to his daughter that he has made a vow to the LORD. Jephthah's daughter, though, reacts in a manner contrary to what would make sense to the unbelieving world. "My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the LORD has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites" (verse 36). She understood that God does not take vows lightly; that when her father made his vow, the law of the Creator of the universe required that he keep it. Jephthah was not only faithful to obey the LORD, but brought his daughter up to be as well.

Sunday afternoon was most unexpected. While I fully expected Sunday to have an afternoon, I did not anticipate the direction it would take. Chelsea recovered from her malady with an unexpected vigor, and initiated a full-scale spring cleaning. We did an embarrassing amount of purging, making multiple trips to the dumpster laden like pack-animals. It was pretty intense, but we managed to get rid of a great deal of clutter, and will be donating a number of t-shirts and other seldom-worn items of clothing to Goodwill. That kept us busy all afternoon and evening.

Then I slept. Then I went to work. Then the St. Louis Cardinals kicked off the 2008 season! Then the Cardinals jumped out to an early lead! Then came the rain delay! Then came the game postponement!

Those last two statements should not be exclamatory.

It is what it is

2008-03-28T18:51:00.006-05:00

Had an online observer happened to refresh this blog every couple of minutes or so throughout the course of today, he/she would have witnessed quite the roller coaster. The blog was unable to connect to the site where my CSS sheet is being hosted for a while this morning, so I decided to throw caution to the wind, follow Johnny's advice, and switch to a new template during lunch.

Well, I had a few that I liked all lined up. I tried template number one, but couldn't quite get a few of the kinks worked out. So, I went with option number two, which I primarily like for the AJAX effects (click where it says "Pull"). It didn't work right away, and I decided not to fiddle too much with it. So, I'm back where I was when the day began.

Thank you all for your feedback. I'll be sticking with this for a while, and hopefully making use of this space, so that I can earn the right to change my template sometime down the road, should I so choose (thanks, Chase). I really do enjoy the layout...I think I've just been itching to tweak (it happens sometimes).

So, that's that. Stay tuned.

What to do...

2008-03-27T17:39:00.002-05:00

Throw a question mark in there, and you've got it. Clearly, I've not been feeling very "bloggy" lately. Additionally, in retrospect, I've decided that there's probably a good reason why I've never heard anyone say "bloggy" before. It's not good. I don't like it. I shan't attempt to use it again.

Back on track now.

I really like the idea of blogging. I rarely utilize this blog, however. Maybe it's a discipline thing, or maybe I just don't feel like I have anything good to write about. I'm thinking though...when I remember to think.

Please, all three of you, answer me this question: is this current template simply too spectacular to change? I like it, but I also like change sometimes. The idea of something new sounds nice.

Plus, I can always change it back.

So, type on your keyboards and input me an answer.

Whether you're a LOST fan or not...

2008-02-13T16:32:00.002-06:00

...there's amusement to be found in this video.

Seriously, Sayid, why haven't we seen any of these moves on the island?

That time

2008-02-06T16:47:00.000-06:00

Yes indeedy...it is in fact that time again. Time for me to post something in this abandoned space that Blogger has provided to me. It's been quite a while this time...I'll refrain from referring to any of the seemingly myriad warnings I've uttered in the past with regards to posting irregularity. I don't believe there are too many individuals out there that have been simply chomping at the bit whilst waiting for me to post something again (Disclaimer: this statement is not intended to generate any self-perceived necessity to leave a comment. Disclaimer disclaimer: please feel free to leave a comment).

As those of you that have any sort of semi-regular interaction with me likely already know, I am once again in the employ of the Southern Illinois Miners baseball team. Whereas last season I interned in the box office, I am now the Box Office Manager. All things considered, I have a challenging seven months ahead of me, but have been given a great professional opportunity regardless of where my career path meanders over the next several decades. I started last week, but spent the entire week at a ticketing conference in Chicago, where I promptly took ill. Those be the breaks. In any case, I'm in the office this week and pushing on a snowball that will get considerably larger in the coming months, metaphorically speaking. Literally speaking, I have had my fill of snow and would like few things more than to not see any for the next nine months.

In addition to my well-(self-) documented issues with irregular blogging, I also tend to be an irregular blog reader. I have, however, been better about that of late (thanks in no small part to the valiant efforts of Google Reader). I am hoping this will transition into more fruitful and frequent blog commenting and posting.

Until next time...and may it be soon,
Madly Hatter

I'm no calligrapher...

2007-10-27T23:39:00.000-05:00

Indeed, I am a much better typist than handwriterist. I never received "A's" in handwriting in grade school. I generally prefer typing to writing. Much faster, much more legible.

That said, I do have favorite pens that I enjoy writing with. They are manufactured by the Japanese company Sakura. The fine folks at Sakura are the inventors of gel pens. They have many pen and marker-type products for art-type people. They also have a dedicated fan base that use some of their writing utensils for everyday use.

A few years ago, I accompanied my then-fiancé, now-wife on a trip to Michaels in Champaign. I was wandering the store and happened upon these pens, where I purchased one on a whim. It seemed to write well and looked pretty decent. Sakura has provided my writing utensil of choice ever since.

Futalog-wha?

2007-10-16T22:45:00.000-05:00

As per this article from the BBC, apparently some science-types in that other hemisphere found some new dinosaur bones. Isn't that great? Obviously, they're calling it the "futalognkosaurus" (pronounced foo-ta-long-
koh-sohr-us). I mean, the really good names are already taken.

The diagram to our right displays the bones that they found, leading to such exclamations as "It's like a whole lost world for us," and "It's among the biggest dinosaur finds and the most complete for a giant dinosaur."

I'm counting six bones over there. Six. That's all it takes to be one of the "most complete for a giant dinosaur?" We really have lowered our standards...back in my day, we had to assemble an entire limb of a paleontological find before we started including it in the upper echelon of completeness for "giant dinosaurs."

One Month Later

2007-09-30T18:10:00.000-05:00

Ok, yeah...I know. I've done it again. Here we are, a month since this page was last active. Let's see...in the past month the Cardinals went from sneaking back in to the playoff race to a colossal nose-dive back to third place. Bummer. Illinois football is enjoying its best start since 2001, however. Oskee-Wow-Wow, Illinois!

I've been working, which is good. It's not the type of thing I'd really like to be doing, but God has been gracious to provide for us. Our families have been tremendous blessings to us over the past month, helping meet our needs. We are very, very grateful to them and thankful for them. Most of all, we praise God and thank Him for meeting our needs each and every day. I am reminded of the Israelites and their trek through the forbidding desert after their exodus from Egypt. Each day, the Lord provided manna and quail for the people to eat. He provided enough for the day, with explicit instructions to take only what was needed, rather than trying to stockpile. The people of Israel had to trust God each day to meet their needs.

Our needs are being met on a daily basis, and then some. We are thankful that God has blessed us so much.

So that's how it works...

2007-08-31T12:34:00.000-05:00

I like Gmail. It's definitely my favorite free webmail service, hands down. The folks at Google made an informational video showing exactly how my electronic mail is delivered...

Busted

2007-08-28T11:57:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Johnny D. for the head's up...obviously my blog here is experiencing some technical difficulties. Something managed to get a little off with my css coding, so it'll need some fixin'. Bear with me, faithful readers! HA! Like I have any of those.

Anyway, I'll try and fix it when I get a little more time.

UPDATE (8/28): Well, I appear to have gotten things worked out. To be honest, I took the long way around, but got lucky in the end. Hopefully it'll stay put this time.

Danger: My (other) middle name

2007-08-12T18:29:00.001-05:00

As some of you readers (assuming I have any) know, my wife and I are celebrating our 1st anniversary today. Huzzah! One year of marital bliss...I love her quite a bit. It's true.

As you may also know, the first anniversary is the "paper" anniversary. With this in mind, Chelsea gave me a copy of The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden. It's a pretty nifty publication that she heard about on Dr. Albert Mohler's radio program. It has also been featured in Time magazine, so Chase may know something of it.

The book is chock full of useful information and tips. It includes chapters titled "The Greatest Paper Airplane in the World," "Building a Treehouse," "Spies - Codes and Cyphers," "Girls," "The Ten Commandments," and several chapters of "Understanding Grammar." There's some pretty great stuff in there...I wish I had this book about 12 years ago. Though I have yet to peruse much of it, I've found some pretty valuable passages. Take, for example, this advice about girls:

If you see a girl in need of help -- unable to lift something, for example -- do not taunt her. Approach the object and greet her with a cheerful smile, while surreptitiously testing the weight of the object. If you find you can lift it, go ahead. If you can't, try sitting on it and engaging her in conversation.

When Babies Attack!

2007-08-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

I had the privilege of seeing some good friends at the Miners game tonight. Thanks for being my friends...you know who you are.

Apparently, this little girl is on a big high-fivin' kick right now. I'm proud to say that I was on the receiving end of her first high-five-through-the-slot-in-a-box-office-window. It was pretty great.

During the game, our roving camera man got a great shot on the video board of Bekah on papa's lap. Attack of the 20-foot tall Bekah!

Thanks for all of your prayers.

Once upon a time...

2007-08-04T13:33:00.000-05:00

...I had a blog. I'm pretty confident that this was it. The site accepted my user name and password, so I'll take that as confirmation. Maybe I'll start posting here more often as baseball season comes to a close. It's been an exhausting last few months, but I've had some great experiences. Hopefully I'll be able to utilize some of these experiences to get a job at some point. Hopefully that some point isn't far from this point.

Apple Inc. has found two more happy converts. We are enjoying our new Macbook. Incentive to blog more frequently? We'll see.

I like me some spring

2007-05-07T13:39:00.000-05:00

I do. I'm really enjoying spring. The weather is more to my taste ("not frigid" is a pretty good description of my taste). I can open windows. It's refreshing.

My wife is enjoying the weather as well. Where my thumbs are pasty-pale, however, hers are green. She has done quite the fantastic job at beautifying our quaint (read: minuscule) backyard with myriad growing things. I took a few pictures..

More pictures to follow...eventually.

Along with these growing things, I like meat. Consequently, as a result, I recently fired up the grill that Chelsea and I received last year. My parental units came over and a good time was had by all...and good burgers were had by all...but most importantly, good burgers were had by me.

My Weber may not be all shiny and char-tastic, but it works for me.

Madly Hatter

Jabberwocky

2007-05-04T11:44:00.000-05:00

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

by Lewis Carroll

Run away or die

2007-05-02T10:27:00.000-05:00

I saw a news blurb on this a couple months ago. Apparently, the powers that be decided that the sign indicating dangerous radiation was not explicit enough; wasn't getting the message across. Thus, they upgraded from this:

To this:

I'm glad that we've cleared this matter up.

So remember, always run away from skeletons when being bombarded with radiation.

The word on the street...

2007-04-25T13:43:00.000-05:00

(nope, not this one...and definitely not this one)

No, the word on the street is that I need to post more often.

I honestly do wish I could blog with greater frequency. Not having an Internet connection at ye ol' hacienda poses the biggest obstacle to that, though I never seemed to blog much in the past when I did have Internet access. I suppose I'm simply a lazy blogger most of the time.

Is that, in itself, wrong? Of course it's not.

Question number two: am I ever lazy in other ways? Uncomfortable answer: yes.

I've often been prone to laziness in keeping my room (nowadays apartment) clean and orderly. I was always a big procrastinator when it came to school. I don't devote much time studying the Bible. Not as I should. Intellectually, it's a priority. It often doesn't translate into an actual priority. Why?

Why do I ever neglect the one source of absolute truth in this world? Why can I quote from memory more passages from J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert Jordan, more lines from Arrested Development and The Office, and more verses from Nickel Creek and Sufjan Stevens than from the Bible: the one true God's holy inerrant word?

I have no response, and am ashamed.

I know that through Jesus Christ I have been forgiven for my sins. I know that I must turn from my neglect and love the LORD in word and in deed.

I thank God and praise Him for providing me with so many Brothers and Sisters in every stage of my life thus far. They have helped hold me accountable, both directly and indirectly. Loving conviction is truly a blessing, though painful.

I wasn't really planning on writing about anything in particular. I guess conviction just seizes you by the scruff of the neck sometimes...

That time of year...

2007-03-30T19:51:00.000-05:00

Yes, indeed, it's that time of year. I love this time of year. It's the baseball time of year. The major league season begins this weekend with my beloved Cardinals taking on the Mets. It's feels a bit different coming off of a World Series win, as that hadn't happened in my lifetime prior to this year (I wonder how many Cubs fans haven't experienced the World Series victory...easy answer = practically none. Certainly single-digit numbers...but this isn't really supposed to be a Cubs-bashing post).

I'm also working in baseball for the first time this year, which is pretty cool. It'd be a lot nicer if I got paid more, but...

Things are really picking up around the office. Things are coming together as the Southern Illinois Miners approach Opening Day of our inaugural season. I'm busy, but it's usually a good busy.

That's all for now.

Go Cards, and go Miners!

MH

Update

2007-03-19T19:59:00.000-05:00

This week marks week number two at the new job for me. Last week started off a bit slowly, but picked up in speed as it progressed. Same goes for this week. I like the environment, not so much the hours or pay. Praying things go well...

Hatter

Family Matters

2007-03-07T16:31:00.000-06:00

Nope, this has nothing to do with Steve Urkel.

Actually, I just wanted to share something that's going on in my life. My father took my grandmother to the hospital yesterday morning. She passed away earlier today.

We were close, especially when growing up, as she lived just a couple blocks away. I will miss her, but I'm at peace.

She was in a great deal of pain, and had been for some time. In fact, I don't think she's been in constant pain for about a year, to varying degrees. She's comfortable now. She's at peace. The greatest blessing in this matter is knowing that she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior long ago, and had a very real, personal relationship with him for many years. She now gets to spend the rest of eternity praising and glorifying the name of Jesus in His very presence.

Praise God!

In other, less earth-shaking, news, I did not in fact begin work with the Miners this week. Due to technical issues, I will (hopefully) start work there next Monday. I was informed of this change on Sunday afternoon, and was somewhat bummed about it at the time. In the wake of other events this week, I thank God that he gave me the opportunity to be with my family this week.

Isaiah 49:14-16

2007-03-02T14:16:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking about this today...

But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me." "Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
(Isaiah 49:14-16 ESV)

What greater love, compassion, attention, and care can we witness in the world around us today than that of a mother with her infant? While even some mothers do neglect their children, the LORD has not and will not abandon us; Christ will not abandon the church, his bride. Do we deserve this? Nope. We deserve abandonment. I certainly do.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
(Isaiah 55:9 ESV)

Praise God!

Colossus

2007-03-01T11:45:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday, a colossal squid was caught by some New Zealand fishermen. The colossal squid is a different species than the giant squid and, as one might guess, a bit bigger. The largest known invertebrate species, in fact. This one is the largest ever seen. Its weight? About 990 lbs. That's about a half-ton. That's a big squid. Seriously.

Click here for the full story.

New Beginnings

2007-02-27T15:05:00.001-06:00

They happen. For everyone. There are many different kinds, of course. The past 6+ months have been full of them for me without doubt. There are more coming down the pike. This new blog is by far the least among them, also without doubt. I've never been much of a blogger, as the few readers of my oft-neglected Xanga site can attest to. Maybe I'll update this shiny, new blog a little more often. Maybe.

On Monday, I will officially set sail into the sea that is professional sports...no, not as an athlete. On Monday I will begin an internship with the Southern Illinois Miners, a minor league baseball team in the independent Frontier League. I'm pretty excited about it. Most that know me also know that I'm a big baseball fan, making this a great opportunity, albeit a low-paying one (cue part time job to help pay the bills). Here's to hoping this "opportunity" turns into "full-time opportunity." That's what my Alice and I are praying for, anyway. We're following this rabbit down this crazy hole, at least for now.

We know that we are where the Lord wants us to be; here in Carbondale, and at Lakeland. We've been blessed with church family that loves God unashamedly and is striving for obedience in making Him known to all peoples. We've been blessed with many new friends, brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Beginnings can be exciting. I'll try to keep you posted on how the party goes.