What Am I..

What Am I…Reading: Green by Ted Dekker – this is book 0 of the Circle Trilogy (actually 4 books) IT is the beginning OR the end. Just started it but I know it will be good. All of his books are good.
I am still reading Anabaptist Preaching – A Conversation Between Pulpit, Pew, and Bible by David B. Greiser and Michael King. This is one of 2 books we were required to read for the Speaking Institute I attended. Awesome Time. I learned a lot. I should have been finished this book long ago, but I am getting there.

What Am I …Listening to: Death Cab For Cutie (what I listened to most today – I bring my mp3 player to work and listen to it some). I heard there 2008 song "Grapevine Fires" on the radio the other day and I liked it. I had heard some of their earlier stuff so I figured I would pull their music out and listen.
I have also been listening to Tenth Avenue North....great new band. See past Blog about one of their songs.....

What Am I …thinking about: as always too much to type OR too private to share!

What Am I …happy about: Madeline gets to go to Family Camp. She is over the Swine Flu.
Plus lots of other things. Boiled Crabs last weekend were awesome!

What Am I…stressing about: the Dodgers. Yes we are 5.5 games up in first place in the N.L. West, but until they mathematically clinch, I will stress. I still feel – despite all of the "experts" discussions that the 2 LA teams will face off in the World Series.

What Am I…watching on TV: America’s Got Talent . I never thought I would like this show, but I must admit it has been pretty good. Can’t wait for Lost – the last season will start sometime in early 2010.

What Am I…watching from NetFlix: We watched Tempted with Burt Reynolds only because some scenes were filmed in Des Allemands and a couple of people we know (names not mentioned for privacy purposes) were extras. The movie was terrible. We did not watch the whole thing, but we FF or Rewound to see the Des Allemands scenes – or I should say SCENE. Trust me, You do not want to watch this movie!
We also watched I’ve Loved You So Long starring Kristen Scott Thomas. It is a powerful Foreign Language film (be ready to read sub-titles). It was great. Trust me, You DO want to watch this movie. We also saw Knowing starring Nicholas Cage. This was a pretty good Sci-Fi flick. Trust me, If you are a Cage fan, you DO want to watch this movie. IF you don't care about Nicholas Cage or just think he is ok, the you might not like the movie. Sometime, to me, the actor actually does make the film Worth watching.

And a final thought………I was listening to ESPN radio yesterday and the Herd (with Colin Cowherd) and he was saying that this (this time we are in) is one of the best times of the year for the sports fan.
The Major League Baseball season is winding down – the good teams are vying for the playoffs and Pro and College Football regular season are about to crank up.
I could not agree more!

Wednesday Quote

I never grow tired of quotes by Yogi Berra.....

here are a few to enjoy...

Even Napoleon had his Watergate.

Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.

Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.

He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious.

I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.

I'm a lucky guy and I'm happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.

for more great Yogi Berra quotes, go to:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/y/yogi_berra.html

Commercials that are always funny...no matter how many times I see them

Commercials that are Always funny

They have many commercials – past and present – that I like.
There are currently 4 running that I think are hilarious.
Did you see the Wendy’s commercial for the new Bacon Double Cheeseburger? All these people are amazed that it only cost $1.29.
This commercial would not be funny, but for one guy. There is a dark haired fellow – sounds like he is from Jersey or Philly or some wonderful place like that – who makes this commercial for me.
With one line, I roll laughing every time. He says “I can get about two a ‘dem.” The way he says it cracks me up. I love it.
AT-T has an ad out there about roll over minutes. They have had some terrific ones in the past with this one family. You’ve seen them; the kid doesn’t want to use the old minutes even though the mom says they are still good. Who knew, those little orange circles would be part of a great commercial. The latest (and it has been running a while – and it is still funny) is when the family is in the van and the son doesn’t want the rollover minutes. He cuts his mom off in mid sentence. He gets the LOOK! That look is funny and scary at the same time. I love it.
Verizon has the commercial where the parents are sitting and working on Facebook and Twitter. Their kids are irritated. The mom keeps writing, “I love you” on the daughter’s facebook page. The dad keeps twittering. When the son asks his dad to stop, he says almost to his self (while twittering) “I am sitting on the porch.” Hilarious.
Then we have the T-Mobil commercial with that nerdy little fellow and Katherine Zeta Jones. She asks where his parents are and he says (in that suave voice) “Richard and Linda won’t be joining us the evening” as he click the mood music and the fireplace on. Eventually Katherine Zeta Jones gives him the look and he relents. Great ad.
Do any of these commercials make me want to buy their product?
No.
Wendy’ is disgusting.
I already have AT-T.
Verizon is good (I had it on a company phone in the past) but I already have AT-T (only because they had the best plan at the time we needed phones).
But the commercials are great!

Wednesday Quote (on Thursday)

"In the mountains of truth, you never climb in vain." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Struggling with LA

In a season that began with much hope and promise came the Manny Ramirez "suspension" set back that was for all actuality, no set back at all. I boldly predicted that when he came off of his 50 game suspension, the Los Angeles Dodgers would be at least 12 games up in first place. Well, they were not 12 games up, but they were close to it.
So here we are, on August 26. We are only 2 measly games in first place. The Dodgers are 2 up on the Rockies, coming off of an extra inning loss to that Rockies club. The game last night basically paralleled the season. Up early, then down (the Ramirez "thing") then back on top (playing like World beaters during Manny's absence) then bam....we lost.
As sick as I get when the Dodgers lose (and believe me - my belly hurts today), I still feel we will win the World Series over the other LA team (the Angels). That was my prediction at the beginning of the season and I won't back off of it now. But I will say, my comfort level is diminishing.........quickly.
So lets go DODGERS....win tonight, win tomorrow and come out of Colorado with a 4 game lead on the Rockies. If this happens, I truly feel we got it, but much to my chagrin, it probably be with stress involved.

Roses For Black Moses

if you happen to be in Memphis tomorrow and have some time, you should go the the Isaac Hayes Tribute at Soulsville USA - Stax Records.....wish we could go....

http://www.soulsvilleusa.com/programs-events/detail.asp?id=93

Vick

Vick, Michael

I really thought that I would never comment on the Mike Vick issue.
But, I have to.
I will keep it short.
First, I do feel that professional athletes, movie stars, “big time” pastors, high profile people, famous musicians, etc do get preferential treatment for certain acts.
I do feel what Mike Vick did was wrong, offensive, cruel, etc.
But I also feel he deserves a second chance. He got his second chance.
Lets just say you or I did what he did. We served our time. We were sorry and remorseful. Our employer gives us a second chance. Don’t you think you or I would deserve that?
Yes.
I actually heard a guy on the radio say that if he did the same thing and his employer gave him a second chance, he would deserve that second chance. He followed that up by saying “But Vick doesn’t deserve it (the second chance).”
This guy can’t be to swift.
Mike Vick’s case is the same. It just happens to be the Philadelphia Eagles and the National Football League instead of Bob’s Vacuum Service.
His employer gave him a second chance. If your employer gave you a second chance it would be the same thing.
Another person told me that Vick isn’t sorry, he is just giving lip service so he can get back in the NFL. I asked him if he went to Mike Vick’s house last night and Mike Vick told him that over iced tea?
Now I hope he is truly remorseful about what he did do. No one that I know will ever be able to tell that.
So, in the spirit of humanity and the spirit of forgiveness, he deserves a second chance.
Whether you agree or disagree is up to you.
If you disagree, go read your Bible. There are a lot of words telling you why you should agree.