mysteries

thoughts from this week (pondering life's mysteries):

-whats the deal with english muffins...? when you buy them theyre not really cooked, but sort of....
-If you could live on this earth forever, would you want to?
-you're on a game show. Do you go with whats behind door #3, or take the only slightly exciting lifetime supply of lightbulbs thats guaranteed if you choose it?
-the devil uses our busy chaotic lives to distract us from quality time with God....but....aren't idle hands the "devil's workshop"?
-how is it possible to release a "Greatest Hits" album for a band, if they've only got two albums out anyway? It happens all the time (See Lit, All Star United, etc.)




speaking of mysteries, more publicity for the exploding frogs in Hamburg:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7654561/?GT1=6428

resolve

I found an interesting article about frogs unexplainably exploding in a pond in Germany....but I promised myself no more animal posts for a while....so I'm stickin to my guns. Honestly, its a bit disgusting anyway.....

Today's fortune cookie wisdom: "Be direct, you'll accomplish more that way".
I honestly kept this one in my wallet for a good two years. I stuck it there back when I was quite a bit more shy, and I guess self-consious. It really helped me be more open to people, and more determined to be real. To be what I wanted to be. I had a great time meeting random people the summer I spent at school (try going up to somebody you dont know, have never seen before, and spend 30 minutes over lunch with them)....but I think an interesting point was that I got to a level where I almost went too far with my directness. I tend to "wear my heart on my sleeve" much of the time, very straight-forward, extremely blunt. I've learned that sometimes I need to be a bit more tactful, and always season my words with love....interesting to think about my progress in that way. Finding the balance is key.

band of the day: The Ramones

Bovine Intervention

you gotta check out this site, its hilarous (it has to be Chick Fil-a.....I bet....)

www.bovineunite.com

And as a follow up (actually, read this first)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/26/roaming.buffalo.ap/index.html

goose whisperer

Well, what on earth do I talk about today? My brain is never empty, but I dont know if theres much there to really talk about. (no real nuggets of wisdom)

There was the helicopter thing...theyre the weirdest pieces of machinery. I saw 4 fly by this morning, all in a row. They always remind me of the cat that I grew up with. Random, I know, but whenever I was at home and a helicopter would fly over, he would be the first to know it was coming....and get this crazy look on his face. Then he would run to a window and look out, then run around the room a few times being really paranoid, then as it flew away he would find another window and try to watch it leave. Then he would just sit there and stare at me...typical of Abel. A nice siamese cat.

anyway, I think of him, and I think of traffic. Not a good sign when you're approaching the highway and theres a chopper or two hovering above it. Either means a police chase ended right there, or theres something awfully interesting (and bad) going on with the traffic.

so these are the deepest thoughts of my day so far. By the way my pasta lunch is money. I found some pasta shaped like dollar signs....

almost forgot, if you like geese, check out this site:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/25/AR2005042501386.html

my roommate and I both work at places that sometimes appear to be overrun by geese....so its a bit more amusing to us....

..........

this is the post we will not speak of

fresh music

a different faith...

pope benedict 

finally something real to talk about...So the new pope was elected, his embodiment of St. Peter being passed along by the conclave of catholic cardinals (do I smell a tongue twister?). The guy seems genuine, but instantly it seems like a repetitive human honoring thing. From MSN:

“Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me — a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord,” he said. “I entrust myself to your prayers,” the pope said.

“The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers,” the new pope said. “I entrust myself to your prayers.”

The crowd responded by chanting “Benedict! Benedict!”

I went to a partially catholic wedding for the first time this past weekend...half of us didnt know what to do. Definitely more pre-planned responses and protocol than I expected. Seems thats what they do. I find it interesting to see it even in the Pope's proclamation to the people. Even more interesting, and disconcerting was their response: shouting his name again and again. Who is the pope? At the most an instrument of the most Holy God. I cry out to my God, I give glory to Him. What was this event, a birthday party?! I might shout out my buddy's name in that case, or even my Pastors, but this was an event dedicating the rest of this mans life to serving God. If they worship him, do they also worship God? Let's hope so.

You may provide a rebuttal saying they were merely trying to encourage him in his new role, not worship him. Very true...but the praise and glory should be first given to Him who it is due. We tread dangerous ground when we hold back this necessary acknowledgement of who created us, and instead lift up our own flesh.

Rabbit Stew

the water's warm...

Continuing with the Rabbit theme...
I can't believe it. this site is wild, it was even on the news. these guys are threatening to eat this rabbit if they dont get 50,000 dollars by June 30. They even have a Paypal account set up! As of today people have given atleast $24K. I dont know how long the site will be up...people are protesting everywhere. They have pictures of Toby, and even an internet store. I havent seen a site like this since Bonsai Kitten (a search is not recommended).

www.savetoby.com

on food and travel

WOW, it is so insanely nice outside! I'm thinking about quitting my life...running across the road into the national park, and just living there forever, foraging for nuts and berries. If the Geese can find em, I'm sure I can. Honestly, its tempting. Then I would probably be the next Goat-man (go ahead, ask I'd be glad to explain).

Well I was just on my way to grab an afternoon pick-up when I was reveling in the nature. Snacks are nice....anyway, had to decide between Twix and Snickers. Both 70 cents....tough decision. Twix today.

So, pretty good chance that during the month of May I'll have been on atleast 10 different planes and set foot in...oh..I guess 5 states. Travel insanity. I'm scheduled to be in the following places in May: Richmond,VA; Pascagoula,MS; Morgantown,WV; San Diego,CA; Somewhere, England; and Poznan, Poland! Wow, say goodbye to normal life for a while. I'll need a break after all that.

entree of the day: the most excellent Rockfish Annapolitan (can be found at Pusser's Landing)

beltway blues

well, you know something is off when you stare at the back of the same car for about 45 minutes straight and only 30 minutes after you get off the highway you can't even remember what kind of car it was. I know there was a Toyota following me....Maybe I cant remember it because I have good vision and foresight and I'm always looking 3-4 cars ahead so I can predict whats happening next: are we going to brake again, stop suddenly, gun it, break, roll, roll, stop, roll, stop, stop, roll, etc. I only had to deal with this 1 hr and 15 minutes of commute because I forgot to set my alarm clock last night.....and slept in. blah.

I guess it could be worse, a buddy of mine got a speeding ticket this morning. 75 in a 55. Oddly enough, I was probably going faster than him for atleast 20 min of my trip, but looking at the time and everything, I averaged about 28 mph. Lovely.

There was no accident, no roadwork. This was normal. Sometimes its easier to just take the day off if you sleep in for too long. Its just not worth it. (thanks for letting me mope a bit....)

random double shot

deep thought of the day: no man is qualified to speak who has not first listened
(see I gotta be serious sometimes....)

stupidest vending machine snack name: Mrs. Freshley's Frosted Donuts
believe it or not, if you leave em in there long enough, they may not be fresh...

Bonus: www.mrsfreshleys.com. a website for snack cakes? wow....somebody is seriously committed to selling sugar. I bet I'm the only one that has actually been to that site. Actually a quite thrilling site is www.frusion.com where they have an awesome Breakfast Brawl, almost identical to the original Nintendo Mike Tyson's Punchout. Seriously, they cloned that game! Its just that now you're fighting to knockout bad breakfast choices....give it a whirl. That website actually gets my award for "most likely to be influenced by Monty Python". Where else can you Contact an Elk?. You have to check it out to see what I mean.

iWanna iPod

Okay, so now I officially want an iPod. The only thing is I can't play it in my car. I put iTunes on my computer, and just organizing all the songs is a task. They dont all have the right filenames, etc. So getting them into the right albums might take a few months itself. In order to see the songs on the iPod its worth getting that fixed, so I might just have some time to save up money for the most expensive of all the little listening devices.

This would be a big shift for me. It almost feels like switching completely from film to digital photography. You may have guessed I havent completely sold out on that yet. (although I did take a nice digital self portait while in the woods the other day. I could use that as my profile pic perhaps)

Band of the day: Copeland http://www.thecopelandsite.com/

that rabbit's dynamite!

evil rabbit 

so the weekend before last my friend Deb was driving home and flipped her car while trying to avoid a rabbit in the road. Just a bit ironic since it was Easter weekend. Maybe if she had a rabbit-trained trunk money things would have gone a lot smoother. Or maybe just a lynx (see above). The Jeep landed on its wheels again, but the roof was quite busted up. Oh, and one of the tires exploded.

After the hospital let her go, she was okay except for small bits of glass she kept finding in random spots. She couldnt get in touch with anyone to get her home (her new cell phone didnt have many #s in it. I was out of town and got the message 3 days later). So she calls her roommates to see if they could help her get home, and the first says shes not feeling up to it, but maybe the 2nd would help out, once she gets home. Then 15 minutes later she she calls back. The response: "Nope, shes too tired too. You'll have to figure out some other way to get home". At this point in the story I get a bit agitated. What kind of roommates are these? Can't pick up your roommate from a hospital 20 minutes away after a traumatic event such as this? I've heard of roommate injustice before, but this beats it all. She took a cab back home for $25.

breakfast: part II

cookie of the day: chocolate dipped raspberry shortbread

a little advertising

band of the day: Mae
why they rock: because they do
most recent band description:Offering an alternately tranquil/raging cross between emo and post-grunge, Mae plays delicate, positive music without sounding like total wimps. Even at their mellowest, however, the band avoids overly dramatic pitfalls; big, super-singable choruses are never far behind.