Money and Moral Balance

I listened to part of this interview on NPR on the way to church last Sunday. I downloaded the podcast and listened to the rest.

Several of the thoughts I've had swirling around in my head recently on counter-culturalism are discussed.

While Nathan Dungan's system may not be entirely practical, wouldn't the world be better if it was.

Minority Reportesque

Check this out!

Beach Vacation

We just got back from week at the beach. For the first time in a long we had an actual vacation. A go to the beach, do nothing, read a book (or two), get a tan (burn), eat too much, think about nothing kind of vacation.

We stayed in Perdido Key, FL at Windmere. The place was nice and big enough to house us all comfortably for a week. I'm still trying to figure out how I can sell everything and go live there.

Apple

Well...

I'm now a member of the Apple community. I finally got an iPod. All you who have had one for a while can thank me, because I'm sure they'll come out with a new wide screen version (I'm not counting the iPhone...anything over $500 in the portable electronics department effectively doesn't exist in my world) now that I've got one.

While I was at it, I decided to try out Apple's new Safari for Windows. It's about time. They claim that it's quicker that IE (duh!) and Firefox (we'll see). I've not used it enough to know yet.

Chickenbutt

I heard this on All Things Considered yesterday. I almost wrecked my truck I was laughing so hard...because...well, I'm related to people like that.

Click the link, then click "listen"

Coconuts

Coconut

Bear with me I
want to tell you
something about
happiness
it's hard to get at
but the thing is
I wasn't looking
I was looking
somewhere else
when my son found it
in the fruit section
and came running
holding it out
in his small hands
asking me what
it was and could we
keep it it only
cost 99 cents
hairy and brown
hard as a rock
and something swishing
around inside
and what on earth
and where on earth
and this was happiness
this little ball
of interest beating
inside his chest
this interestedness
beaming out
from his face pleading
happiness
and because I wasn't
happy I said
to put it back
because I didn't want it
because we didn't need it
and because he was happy
he started to cry
right there in aisle
five so when we
got home we
put it in the middle
of the kitchen table
and sat on either
side of it and began
to consider how
to get inside of it

~ Paul Hostovsky

The Writer's Almanac

I've always been a big Garrison Keillor fan. I still lament not going to see A Prairie Home Companion when it came to Jackson several years ago. The movie was okay. My brother-in-law has seen the show live before and says the movie does a good job of showing how chaotic the show actually is.

After years of listening almost exclusively to sports radio when I'm out an about during the lunchtime hour, I've started listening to NPR. I know I'm late to the show, but at noon every day, Garrison has a short segment called The Writer's Almanac. It's a brief "...on this day in..." kind of synopsis of various writers and artist. He also reads one poem each day.

I highly recommend that, if you're listening to the radio at noon, you turn over to NPR and give it a try.

No matter how bad my day is going, it makes me feel like it's Saturday afternoon.

Happy Birthday to me

Well...Memorial Day was memorable for me this year.

May 28, 2007 I turned 35. I don't know why, but this one seemed to affect me a little more than usual. Normally, I'm unfazed by birthdays. Turning thirty, I felt nothing. The last five years, however, have seen dramatic changes in my life.

Since I'm a list kind of guy...

• I left Peoples Bank (and "The Family") to join Community and move my family to Madison. I didn't know public schools could be this good.
• Lan has gone from a little boy in the second grade to a big boy in the 6th (soon to be 7th) grade.
• O'Neal has gone from a shy little boy who could not leave his parents sight to a shy little, but tall, boy who is going into the 4th grade.
• Stroud has gone from...well...Stroud hasn't actually changed that much.
• I've started a real estate construction business. Very scary.
• I've learned to eat sushi.
• I've learned to lay ceramic tile, hang doors, stain concrete, lay sod, landscape (and countless other home improvement tasks).
• I've lost a lot of hair.
• I became a deacon...errr...member of the Ministry Coordination Team....errrr.....deacon.
• Learned to sing tenor.
• Lost two grandparents and one great-grandparent (I know where one of them is. I'm not so sure about the other two).
• Went to Charleston :-)
• Lead hosted a small group.
• Became a licensed appraiser.

My sweet wife went above and beyond for my present. Let's just say I'm now a member of the HDTV community.

Stroud topped the day off by giving me two cards. The first was hand written and said that he loves me "with all of his heart and with all of his soul and with all of his strength and with all of his mind."

I started to tear-up, ready to proclaim myself god-for-the-day.

Then I got the second card. It was shaped like a car tag and said Historical Vehicle at the top and was personalized with the word's "OLD FART" in bold letters. When I opened it, it said something to the effect of "...because I never run out of gas!" He was delighted. So was I.

It was a good day.