Friday Five: Positive Potpourri

Will Smama has the Friday Five from RevGals this week:

Greetings friends! It's been awhile since I've contributed to the posts here at
the revgalblogpals website, but I agreed to step into the Fifth Friday of the
Month Friday Five slot.

So here I be.

As I zip around the
webring it is quite clear that we are getting BUSY. "Tis the season" when clergy
and laypeople alike walk the highwire from Fall programming to Christmas
carrying their balancing pole with family/rest on the one side and turkey
shelters/advent wreaths on the other.

And so I offer this Friday Five
with 5 quick hit questions... and a bonus:

1) Your work day is done and the brain is fried, what do you do?

Stay at the office and do some posting on the Husker bulletin boards at the Lincoln Journal-Star website. Because, let's face it, with two girls under the age of two at home, there ain't no rest at home until at least one of them is asleep.

2) Your work week is done and the brain is fried (for some Friday, others Sunday afternoon), what do you do?

Fridays I try to get home and go for a walk or something similar with Kris & the girls. Sundays, if I'm lucky, I get two hours to read through the Sunday paper. I'm not a napper, so Kris takes my preacher's nap for me and I read the paper, IF the girls are both asleep. Hasn't happened much lately.

3) Like most of us, I often keep myself busy even while programs are on the tv. I stop to watch The Office and 30 Rock on Thursday nights. Do you have 'stop everything' tv programming or books or events or projects that are totally 'for you' moments?

Anytime my beloved Cornhuskers are on TV. Anyone who knows me knows better than to interrupt anything Cornhusker. Beyond that, we love our new DVR because we can just wait until we've got time to catch anything else. I do like to read, also, but lately that's been a struggle since I'm getting home after 10:30 several nights a week and that doesn't lead to quality reading. I also love to do yard work, but again, with our girls it's sometimes impossible to do what I'd like to do.

4) When was the last time you laughed, really laughed? What was so funny?

Last night, at Theology on Tap, when I asked D why he keeps coming back to our faith community, and he immediately answered, "Guilt." :-)

5) What is a fairly common item that some people are willing to go cheap on, but you are not.

Beer and/or coffee. Life is far too short to drink cheap versions of either one. Also, shoes. I've paid over $100 for each of the last three pairs of 'work' shoes I've bought (black & brown Dr. Marten's boots and a pair of Born dress boots), but they are all at least four years old and showing no signs of wearing out.

Bonus: It's become trite but is also true that we often benefit the most when we give. Go ahead, toot your own horn. When was the last time you gave until it felt good?

This is going to sound a bit weird, but I've been doing much better at pastoral care since I moved to this new call, and it feels good. Pastoral care is NOT something I do well; I've always been far more of the "preach and teach" pastor, and I've learned to be honest about that so that folks understand who I am and why some things they might expect from a pastor are difficult for me. But a few of our students have come to me for 'counseling,' and I've found myself able to do it, and do it well, I think. Not that I'm going to be looking for a chaplain's call anytime soon - I'd no more ask people to let me do that than I would ask them to let me remove their appendix. But it feels good to know that something I've always considered a weakness is improving, even if it'll never be my strong suit. So, no, it's not "giving until it feels good," per se, but I think it fits the spirit of the question. Besides, it's my blog, right? :-)

Eine Gut YouTube Video fur Reformation Sonntag

Just a few folks you might know will be celebrating today - take a listen!

One FYI, however: Garrison Keillor is NOT Lutheran - he's Episcopalian. He just plays a Lutheran on National Public Radio - sometimes with painful accuracy...

A New Evangelism Strategy

Okay, hear me out. This comes from a discussion group on Facebook regarding Kelly Fryer's new book, Reclaiming the E Word. Someone used it as an example of effective evangelism and it's so funny and fresh that I think it works.

Of course, what the movie shows is fake, but the end result is EXACTLY the type of reaction for which we should be aiming, right? A faith lived out so boldly, joyfully and publicly that people say to themselves, "I want some of THAT!"

This would look different for all of us - but the point remains the same: never be afraid to live your faith joyfully, loudly, passionately, publicly.

And if it gets a few laughs, so what? :-)

Friday Five: Back To School!

It's been a while since I played a Friday Five from RevGalBlogPals - here's this week's edition:

It's time for a Back-To-School Friday Five!
1. Is anyone going back to school, as a student or teacher, at your house? How's it going so far?
Yes, someone from our household is going back to school: me! Well, not really 'back to school,' but close. It's my first fall semester as a campus pastor, so I'm also getting back into the swing of the academic calendar (which, by the way, is far superior to the Gregorian calendar, IMHO).

2. Were you glad or sad when back-to-school time came as a kid?
Both, like many kids. Being a farm kid, I spent a lot of time playing with my brothers and working for my dad over the summer, so seeing friends all day instead of a few hours for baseball practice and swimming lessons was cool. I've always loved buying pencils, notebooks, and the like for the beginning of a new school year, too. But facing hours of enforced learning was always tough: I'm a self-directed learner and school was always tough for me, not for lack of intelligence or ability, but for the restraints teachers had to use to keep me in line with the rest of the class.

3. Did your family of origin have any rituals to mark this time of year? How about now?
Mom always wanted a picture of us boys before we got on the bus the first day of school, and there was always a trip to Sioux City for a few new school outfits, but nothing beyond that. Since our girls aren't school age yet, we don't do anything special, but something will be in the works when that day rolls around, I'm sure.

4. Favorite memories of back-to-school outfits, lunchboxes, etc?
Nike Air basketball shoes were HUGE when I was in high school, and I remember the day I found some Nike Air Whatevers on sale. That was pretty cool for me. :-)
Another memory that always makes me laugh is my freshman year in high school. Small schools like ours let all the kids practice with the varsity for all sports, so when football kicked off I was thrown into the mix against our varsity team, which ended the year ranked #2 and lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual state champion. After two days of two-a-days I was so sore that when we arrived in Sioux City for the aforementioned shopping trip, I had to LIFT my legs out of the back seat of our Buick with my hands because I couldn't move them otherwise. It was worse than the aftermath of any marathon I've run!

5. What was your best year of school?
My last year of seminary was about as good as it gets for me. Finally seeing the end of a LONG educational road (six years undergrad + 1 year working + 4 years M.Div.) was just part of it. I finally hit my stride in terms of classes, interests and motivation, and it showed. I did my best work by far that senior year, including a ton of work on Bonhoeffer and a great job as a teaching assistant for Dr. James Nestingen, who is still a major influence for my theology and my preaching. I met Kristin that year, and by the time graduation rolled around I was pretty sure we'd be making things permanent very quickly. To top it off, a friend nominated me to give the graduate address at our commencement ceremony, and the rest of the committee voted me in. Quite the privilege, and likely the highlight of my academic life thus far.

Pastoral Care They Don't Teach You In Seminary

You need to read this post by the Questing Parson, even if you're not a pastor - because there's a good chance that all of us, pastors and not, have been a "Ralph" at some point in our lives.

Friday Five: Garage Sale!

Songbird and will smama are responsible for this week's Friday Five. I'm not much of a garage sale person, but it's a step in a different direction for the FF. So here goes:

Welcome to your irregularly scheduled Fifth Friday Five, hosted by will smama
and Songbird!Since will smama is preparing for a joint garage sale with her
parents, and Songbird's church had a Yard and Plant Sale last Saturday, we have
five enormously important questions we hope you will answer:

1) Are you a garage saler?
Umm, yes, but only for certain items. Like cheap clothes and tools, etc. I’m NOT a “go to every garage sale and grab whatever looks like a good deal even if I’ll never need it” garage saler.

2) If so, are you an immediate buyer or a risk taker who comes back later when prices are lower?
They do that? Why not price it low in the first place?

3) Seriously, if you're not a garage saler, you are probably not going to want to play this one.(That wasn't really #3.)

3) This is the real #3: What's the best treasure you've found at a yard or garage sale?
My parents found a horribly ugly chair at a garage sale my freshman year in college. Seriously, it was a block of wood covered in that ugly brown striped ‘70s upholstery – a real dog of a chair. But it was super-comfortable and I had it for nearly fifteen years. It’s now in the youth room at Peace Lutheran Church in Barrett, MN because I replaced it with my Grandpa Johnson’s recliner (also somewhat ugly, but not nearly so much).

4)If you've done one yourself, at church or at home, was it worth the effort?
I haven’t, and I don’t think I ever will, because for me it would definitely NOT be worth the effort.

5) Can you bring yourself to haggle?
Not in a million years. I have a hard time haggling over used cars, for crying out loud...

BONUS: For the true aficionado: Please discuss the impact of Ebay, Craig's List, Freecycle, etc... on the church or home yard/garage sale.
I don’t think they’ve really impacted garage sales that much. Let’s face it: when you reach the bottom line, it’s still just folks trying to get rid of their crap, and we’ve all got a LOT of CRAP. Thus the picture of my favorite comedian, George Carlin, and a quote: "A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff...Have you ever noticed that their stuff is shit, and your shit is stuff?"

Out of the Mouths of Babes...

In an act of extreme kindness, the youth group of Lord of Life Lutheran Church (the ELCA congregation using our space for their home) prepared water bottles and goodies for our college students. The cards they included with the water bottles were, well, interesting (read: "that'll blog."):






Now, just so you know that the lunatic fringe didn't totally take over the project, here's one of the numerous "nice" cards the students made for us:


See, this is when the church is awesome - when we do things in great love for one another. What a morning!

Thursday Coffeehouse Update

I'm not having a good afternoon.

Mind you, I'm not having a bad afternoon - but I'm beginning to feel like I've been surreptitiously cast in a Mr. Bean episode. I walked into Panera at 2:00 p.m. It's now 2:30 and thus far I've gotten bupkis done on the sermon this week. But I have:
- found my favorite table, right next to the fireplace (essential on a cold, rainy day like today).
- spilled a good portion of my first cup of coffee because said table was wobbly.
- fixed the aforementioned table with several trips to the counter for napkins.
- spilled coffee again because I didn't actually fix it as well as I'd thought.
- taken two more trips back for napkins and, finally, fixed the table.
- answered the comments from the guy at the next table who also hates wobbly tables.
- fired up the trusty laptop.
- dropped my Bible on the floor.
- hit my head on the wobbly table while bending down to pick up my Bible.
- discovered that my laptop battery is low and, unfortunately, I'll need to move because no outlets are open in the vicinity of my favorite not-so-wobbly table.
- walked around for several minutes looking for an open outlet.
- found an outlet, moved all my stuff, bent over to open up my laptop & hit my head on the low-hanging table sconce.
- knocked over the other chair at my table while piling my jacket & bag on it.
- finally gotten my computer set up, coffee refilled, Bible opened and ready to go.
- sat down & discovered my chair is wobbly. At which point I burst out laughing.

You could ask, "Why are you writing away from your office in the first place?" Well, I've discovered that when I'm at the office, it's really easy to be distracted by housekeeping details and never get any writing done on Thursdays. I spent the better part of the morning working in the sanctuary: cleaning out the old sound booth, setting up the pews (which are still out of order after being moved for renovations last summer and fall) and cleaning & reordering the sacristy so that we can start using it again. This is stuff that needs doing, mind you, and it's part of my unspoken job responsibilities to be the building caretaker, but I can't do it ALL the time. Unfortunately, there's a part of me that would rather spend my time finding new ways to organize the cleaning closet and replacing lightbulbs instead of doing the hard work of proclamation. There's a different kind of creativity that's needed to create order from the chaos that is this building, and it's a creativity that appeals to me, but the primary reason I was called to be a campus pastor was NOT to change lightbulbs and reorganize closets.

I made a promise to myself that when we moved here, I'd spend more time meeting people than I would "nesting." I did pretty well in that regard - it took me two months to get all my files into the filing cabinet, and I didn't get my posters and degrees hung on the wall until last night. I've spent the time I would have spent organizing my books, etc., getting to know folks in the community and learning about stuff here, and it's paying off already. After all, knowing which folder contains my Ancient Hebrew History notes from UN-L is far less important than knowing that Susie's grandpa is sick or Pastor Inquist has been a strong supporter of campus ministry in the past.

We had a great ecumenical prayer service last night. Some of the students at the St. Thomas Aquinas Center were doing a cardboard city sleepout to raise awareness for homelessness and poverty relief, and I sort of invited ourselves to worship with them instead of holding our usual service at the Lutheran Center. About eleven of our students and the same number of RC folks stood in the Campanile and joined together for song, prayer and just a little bit of preaching from yours truly. We talked about doing a joint sleepout next year and getting more Lutheran Center folks active in the ONE Campaign at Iowa State, which would be really cool since I'm a ONE campaign member myself. Good times with our brothers and sisters from the RC church, especially with Papa Ratzi having come to America yesterday.

So, that's the news from the coffeehouse, and since I've managed to avoid hitting, dropping or bumping into anything for a while, I think I'm safe to get back to work now.

Slainte,
Scott

Random Monday Musings

Just some random Monday musings for you today.

First off, will SOMEBODY please send a memo to anyone in showbiz explaining the difference between a Sigma and an Epsilon in the Greek alphabet?

For future reference, this is Sigma:

And this is Epsilon:
The first correlates to our English S, the second to our English E. Therefore, when you use the Sigma because it sort of looks like a fancy E, all Greek and stuff, what you’re really doing is a horrendous misspelling. Like, “My Big Fat GrSSk Wedding.” Or the new show on ABC Family, “GRSSK”

I wonder if there are any fraternity or sorority alumni/ae producing these shows? Or if they all killed that particular brain cell at a Thursday night kegger and never remembered that THOSE ARE ACTUAL LETTERS ABOVE THE DOOR OF YOUR HOUSE.

Morons – I’m surrounded by morons.

Second, I’m really enjoying The Pillars of the Earth on my iPod right now – for crying out loud, the thing is 40 hours long, so it’ll be more than enough book to get me through the month. Good thing audible.com doesn’t charge by the minute. But Mr. Follett’s constant return to sexual themes is getting a little old. The plot is already fascinating, and his descriptions of cathedral construction and the social and environmental setting are great, and every time some young wench bares her heaving bosoms to somebody, I wonder, “When did I download Clan of the Cave Bear?”

Third, The Pillars of the Earth, at 40 hours, is one monthly credit at audible.com, while The Amber Spyglass is two credits, though it is less than half the length. Not cool.

Item the Fourth: I’d like to register my chagrined aggravation with God rewarding my parents' steadfastness of 30+ years ago by giving me a child exactly like me. I was that kid in church who couldn’t sit still for a second and hated every blasted minute of it. (I was actually dragged out by my father once, screaming "Don't spank me, Daddy!" the whole way.) Guess who else must be moving constantly and will not, under any circumstances, be contained within a pew for any length of time? And worse, she doesn’t yet understand that church is a sit still activity, so I can’t try out my dad’s patented Vulcan knee grip just yet. But am I looking forward to that day? You bet your sweet bippy I am.

Finally, just because it’s freakin’ funny, another song interpretation from David Armand. Have a great Easter Monday.

Yes, Sir, That's My Baby

So, here's the good news: Kristin has found a part-time job working in youth ministry at Collegiate Presbyterian Church in Ames. The staff is great, she likes the office and her co-workers, things are good. So, great, right?

Well, yes. They're good folks, and we realized this when Kristin went in on Friday to sign some papers and get things rolling on the payroll stuff. Ainsley, of course, came along for the ride. She walked into the office with Mommy and was, of course, an instant hit; our little girl is pretty much our best public relations ploy at the moment. That is, until you put her down and let her walk around and see what's what.

There was this statue of Jesus somewhere in the office, and naturally Ainsley wanted to investigate. So, under Mommy's watchful eye, she walked over and patted it on the head. It promptly fell over. And broke.

That's right: my kid broke Jesus.



When I was five years old or so, my aunt & uncle bought their first house and we helped them move in. It was a split level with fairly modern construction, including an open staircase and railings. To a five year old farm boy, of course, such things are meant to double as a jungle gym. Within ten minutes of arriving in the house I had pulled their railing out of the drywall. Fifteen years later, the same aunt and uncle moved into a new house in the same city, and we again helped them move. This time, I was just walking downstairs when I stepped wrong, grabbed the railing for support and again pulled their railing out of the wall. (When we moved into our new house in Ames, we invited the aunt & uncle to return the favor when they came for a short visit - and they politely declined.) I've got a reputation for breaking something the minute I get going in a new house/job/etc. It's nice to know that my kid is now known for making the same destructive first impression.

But that's not the worst of it. At the time, the office administrator just watched the statue topple and said, "That's really funny." Sort of bemused about it, you know - kids just break stuff sometimes. But when Kristin returned to attend her first staff meeting yesterday, she discovered that Ainsley had not just broken a statue - it was a sculpture done by Christian Peterson, a local artist of some repute whose works are all over the campus. I'm assuming it's a reproduction, because the staff was still laughing about it yesterday, but seriously, I'm beginning to feel like the Topper - "That's nothing. My kid broke Jesus!"

Look Before You Leap, It's The Friday Five!

Okay, so this Friday Five is certainly topical, and definitely a good one - but I had to have some fun with it, too. Enjoy.

Hello from your Fifth Friday Five team, will smama and Songbird~

It's Leap Day!! Whether you're one of the special few who have a birthday only once every four years, or simply confused by the extra day on the calendar, everyone is welcome to join in and play our Leap Year Friday Five.

Tell us about a time you:

1. Leapt before looked


In 1996 I took a position as re-developer of Beta Sigma Psi fraternity at the Lutheran Student Center, University of Nebraska. Beta Sig had basically partied themselves out of existence three years earlier, and the alumni board wanted to use the proceeds from the sale of their old house to build a new, service-oriented men's group from the ground up. Now, I have a lot of skills for ministry and evangelism, but cold-calling strangers is NOT ONE OF THEM. Needless to say, the group was a rather dismal success - there were five of us by the end of the first year, all friends from the Lutheran Center whom I'd recruited through our interactions at worship, etc. Never mind the fact that this is, I believe, a far more effective means of building small groups; what I was hired to do never happened, and it took several more years and far more qualified folks to get Beta Sigma Psi Delta Chapter up and running again.

2. Leapt to a conclusion


My home congregation had promised financial aid through seminary for me, but one year that aid check didn't arrive at the start of the semester as we'd expected. After a few phone calls went unanswered, I leapt to the conclusion that thanks to my involvement with a reform-oriented group within my denomination, I was getting blacklisted at home. So I sent off a blistering, accusation filled email to my church - that is, to the secretary of my church, which was the only email address I had at the time. Turns out they'd simply forgotten to send the check. Much face was lost, much crow eaten. And boy, do I wish that was the only time I'd done something like that.

3. Took a Leap of Faith


This is one I don't mind having made, though it certainly didn't end as I'd hoped. In May 2002, I moved from my internship in Titusville, FL to Monterey, CA, putting my seminary program on hold for one year to tend to my marriage (my wife and I had separated, then we were trying to rebuild our marriage while she studied at an Army language school in Monterey). It lasted about a month; things just fell apart once I got there, and by July we'd filed for divorce and I was back in Minnesota to finish my M.Div. program. Yeah, it wasn't fun, but at least we can say we'd done what we could to live out our marriage vows. I feel a lot better about it today than I would have done if we'd just called it quits the first moment things got rough.

4. Took a literal Leap


Seventh grade. Spring. Shoe company representative is in the gym selling track shoes. I buy a pair of running spikes, totally ignoring the look of surprise on the rep's face when I tell him the model and shoe size. By the first meet I'm firmly ensconced in the throwing events and my friend Anthony is wearing my spikes. The first of many "what-the-#%@$-were-you-thinking?" moments.

5. And finally, what might you be faced with leaping in the coming year?


Let's see: A: new call to campus ministry. B: purchased our first house. C: awaiting the birth of our second child. Is that enough for hurdles, or do I need to come up with something more?

You can find these posters at one of my favorite online stores, despair.com

Finally, one more to go on:

My "Laugh Out Loud" Moment Of The Day

Thanks to Tripp for posting this:

Birthday Cake Mash-Up

All right, fine - she really IS my daughter:

Many thanks to Matt for videotaping the moment - I was having too much fun being part of it to actually think about pictures/videos/any kind of recording device.

A few still shots to enjoy, too:

Sermonating on a Quiet Midwestern Wednesday

Wow, is it ever quiet here today. ONE person has walked through the door since I got to the office at 9:30 this morning: my administrator, stopping in for just a little bit of work she had to finish today. I've read two issues of The Lutheran, last week's Newsweek (still getting forwarded to us from Minnesota), this morning's Des Moines Register, and now for the last two hours I've been working on my sermon for Sunday by reading links at Textweek. I'm hoping to have a manuscript by tomorrow afternoon. Shhhhh, don't tell anybody.

There are some great folks out there posting stuff for sermon reflection. Two of my favorites are Dan Clendenin and Brian Stoffregen. Check them out if you need inspiration and/or thoughtful reflection on the texts for the week.

Speaking of helpful sermon stuff, Luther Seminary has a new preaching site: Working Preacher. Weekly commentary on the three lectionary texts is usually very helpful. Plus, Mark Throntveit, Professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary, fellow Tolkien nut and self-proclaimed curmudgeon (though I don't think he's actually reached the age at which one can legally use the term self-referentially) has posted a great piece, "New Year's Resolutions for Preachers" .

I've heard this quote from Annie Dillard mentioned several times this week already:

“Does anyone have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets! Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews! For the sleeping God may awake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us to where we can never return.”[1]

That's good stuff there, too. Put that book on my Amazon wishlist, if anyone's so inclined.

Tonight it's going to get busier here. We'll have choir practice at 8:00, followed by Holden Evening Prayer at 9:00 and pizza at 9:30 (again, campus ministry ROCKS). Will we have even more students in attendance this week, again? Hope so. But at some point the novelty of "the new guy" will wear off, and then I can really get to work.

Our good friend, JZ, who is a Baptist sometime-preacher, church janitor, sometime-mortician, erstwhile middle school English teacher and promoter of Public Television, made us a mix CD before we left for Iowa. He's been known to pass on music occasionally, ever since he discovered that we share a love for U2, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. I've been listening to it nonstop in the car ever since - it's a neat collection. Here are a few of the selections:
"Gloria" and "40" by U2 from Under A Blood Red Sky
"The Man Comes Around" and "Personal Jesus" by Johnny Cash from American IV: The Man Comes Around (yes, that last is a remake of the Depeche Mode classic. It's incredible)
"People, Get Ready" by the Blind Boys of Alabama & Robert Randolph
Good stuff, all of it. Thanks, JZ - it was a very thoughtful gift. Well, that's about it for this Wednesday - think I'll call the ladies and see if they want to make a Target run before I have to get ready for worship tonight. We need cat food. Well, the cats need cat food - we just need them to shut up about it. Anyway, I'm gonna get going. See yah.

Peace,
Scott

---

[1] Dillard, Annie. Teaching a Stone to Talk © 1988, Harper Perennial.

2008 World Man Croquet Championships

This week's entry from the "No, I'm NOT Kidding" department comes from my old college roommate, Coulter, known to friends as "Cousin Eddie." Coulter lives in an undisclosed location in Minnesota, where he has far too much free time on his hands. Thus the following email, which I received a few weeks ago:

It's once again time for what has become an annual tradition. You are all cordially invited to participate in this invigorating winter activity. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, it's quite simple. It's exactly like lawn croquet with a few minor variations. First off, we got rid of those wimpy little wooden balls and upsized them to bowling balls. Then since the balls are much heavier, we've discarded the tiny little mallets that were really only good for whacking your kid brother in favor of something a smidge bigger, sledge hammers. We've also replaced the flimsy wire loops with re-bar. And to really make it interesting, we play it on a frozen pond.

The Man Croquet Championship of the Free World will be held on Saturday, the 19th of January commencing at noon and continuing until it's done, which last year was sometime in the wee hours of Sunday morning. We will be playing once again on the meticulously groomed frozen surface of Lake Libra located at the Libra Ranch, which is just a couple miles west of [Unnamed Minnesota Town]. The address is [Insert Complicated 911 Address Here]. If you require more detailed directions, please ask.

A few other things to note, first off, dress appropriately. It's cold out there. Second, you will need to bring your own beverages. You can also bring along snack items to share as well. Third, be prepared to take penalty shots. We make the rules for these up as we go along. Also new for this year, ice cleats will be allowed and running on the ice will not. Kent can explain why these changes were made if you wish to know.

Hope to see you all there. If for no other reason than just to say that you've seen something new.

And just to make sure you believe me, here are the pictures from this year's event:











Sometimes words just don't do people justice. You rock, Coulter - see you at the ISU game in October. But bring your own beer.

Baby Noises

In which Ainsley makes noises guaranteed to bring her parents to hysterics...

And Yes, He's Got Coffee

In just over an hour, CBS will air a two-hour special called "In God's Name." It's supposed to be a conversation with several religious leaders from around the world, including ELCA Presiding Bishop and Lutheran World Relief President Mark Hanson.

Newsweek ran a picture of some of these leaders this week. There were shots of the Orthodox Archbishop in all his liturgical finery, a wonderful shot of the Dalai Lama, and then there was a shot of Hanson. In a suit. Walking down the street. Stainless steel coffee mug in hand.

I think someone at Newsweek is having some fun on us...

Friends To The Rescue

The following two minutes of pure silliness are brought to you by a true friend who, obviously, has the brain today:

Late Night "What the $%#@?" Moment

Took this quiz on a whim. To be honest, I was going to take it and then make some witty remark about how we're conditioned to take these things by all the tests we've already taken. Then this result pops up:

You Are Likely A Forth Born

At your darkest moments, you feel angry. At work and school, you do best when your analyzing. When you love someone, you tend to be very giving. In friendship, you don't take the initiative in reaching out. Your ideal jobs are: factory jobs, comedy, and dentistry. You will leave your mark on the world with your own personal philosophy.

The Birth Order Predictor

First off, what the hell is a "forth" born? If it's supposed to be "fourth" born, the creator of the quiz misspelled it in several places within the code, not just once (though I'm not suggesting that the people who write these quizzes are evil genii or anything. After all, you'll notice they also used an incorrect possessive "your" where the contraction "you're" was the correct word.). Secondly, factory jobs, comedy, and dentistry?


I have a license for causing pain...

As I said, "What the $%#@?"

Bad Band!

This was just too funny to pass up. While looking around ESPN.com for information on the search for Nebraska's next football coach, I saw the following link:

Rice band director apologizes for halftime show.

Classic.