A Monday-like Tuesday

I have eaten like a hog. I have skipped my workouts. I have slept, seen movies and sat around. It felt darn good. But now it's time to get serious again. Fortunately it appears that the amounts I thought I was eating were just baseline with what my body could handle. So I'm doing ok (running like a madman at racquetball on Friday probably didn't hurt either).

Tuesday 5/30/2006 weigh-in: 299.8 lbs.

Over The Hedge

Funny, funny, funny.

Not a laugh riot from the very beginning, but it builds on you. By the end I was really cracking up. The weird thing about it was it kind of didn't feel like a kids movie. The "intended violence" in it seemed a little intense. At one point in the movie (you'll know which one if you see it) a little girl stood up and said "Teddy bear!" in something of a concerned voice. It just seemed like they could have made a few changes to it that wouldn't have made it so intense for little kids and it really wouldn't have concerned the adults at all. I'll let you know which category I fall in to when I figure it out.

All that said, the last third of the movie is really worth it. I haven't laughed that hard at a movie in a while.

Just remember, don't over-caffinate the Hammy.

X-Men: The Last Stand

I have seen, I have enjoyed.

Ok, I'm going to go into some bits and pieces of the movie here so if you haven't seen it yet I'd just skip on over this entry. If you have seen it let me know what you think. With that in mind......







I went into this one with all of the spoilers in mind. I've read most of the previews and they've been negative for the most part. If you're going to see it I would go in with the mantra I had, "The movie is not the comic.....The movie is not the comic." Once I got that going through my head I really enjoyed myself. Now then about the movie...

Cyclops got a raw deal. Out pretty early. But as Bill and I discussed after the movie, no body, not necessarily dead. And the whining I've heard on this has driven me nuts. Characters like this (yes, even "important ones") come and go in the comics. They disappear for a while (like Cyclops did at the end of the Phoenix Saga) and they come back later. Hell, Jean Grey has died and lived so many times it's become something of an inside joke for comic fans. So just relax.

I do like this "realistic" view of the team. It actually one of the reasons I buy into the whole Phoenix as a schizo representation of Jean as opposed to the cosmic entity it was in the comics. I mean really, do you think they were going to introduce the Shi'ar Empire for the third movie? I don't even think they'll do it if they make a new trilogy. This verision is very earth bound and earth centered. Problems just don't have that cosmic feel to them yet. I did like the image they gave her as everything was consumed around her. She was one scary redhead.

And when Wolverine killed her in the end was anyone else thinking of the ending to "Spiderman vs Wolverine"? It was one of my favorite books when I was a kid and the imagery just seems to be in inspiration. It was also kind of cool to see the Ultimate Wolverine imagery of his flesh being ripped/burned away and growing back. They don't play that up as much in the 616 universe as they do in the Ultimate universe.

I really loved Kelsey Grammer as the Beast. I thought he pulled him off very well with the intellectual sound yet the animalistic look. Only once did I ever think, "Fraiser?" And come on, they even slipped in "Oh my stars and garters." Cool.

Kitty Pride looked age appropriate at the beginning of her run with the team. I thought that was cool. I was kind of dissappointed that they went with the whole love triangle story with Iceman and Rogue. She really needs to be with Colossus (or to quote Wolverine in Whedon's AX-M run, "It's about time").

Speaking of Iceman.......HE PUT ON THE ICE ARMOR. I damn near pee'd my pants when I saw that. Just a cool touch.

Overall I thought it was a good story. It's funny that while the comics are really in a deconstructive storytelling mode, the movie tried to cram as much as it could in the time it had. If anything that would be my gripe with it....it felt too short. I would have loved for this story to be longer, but maybe there's hope for that second trilogy. Anybody else see it? What'd you think?

Tired

This has been an exhausting week so far. I've passed over the humps I needed to get to, but I'm pretty worn out now. Mentally exhausted. I have the following prayer requests. I will be sharing these with our small group, but I thought I'd share them with extended family as well:

1. Pray for Julie's Aunt Pat and Julie's family. The cancer seems to be progressing steadily but we're still at a phase where she could go on for six days or six months... No one really knows.

2. Pray for Julie. She's entering the final year of her residency and this is where the work really gets going. Decisions over the future and uncertainty are harder on her than they are for me. Just pray for her in this decision making time.

3. Pray for me in relation to Julie's decisions. Along with that there will be decisions and work to be done on the condo. I know it seems like a year is a long time, but it really will go by quick. I just want to get stuff done this summer so I'm not rushing over the winter and spring.

4. Pray for me. It's been a long week. A couple of work projects are nearly completed, but the work at the end is always harder than the work you put into getting it going. My fuse is shorter, I can tell by the colorful vocabulary I'm redeveloping. I'll have to discipline myself out of it again. It'll help to just get out this weekend and goof off. You can pray for wonderfully constructive goofing off time. Racquetball is always a great way to start the weekend and work off some of the physical energy/frustration you've stored up during the week.

Hope all is well with everyone else.

Geek Heaven

As a serious comic book fan, I really believe that I am in geek heaven. This holiday weekend I am going to force myself out of the house to hit some movies. I must see X-Men: The Last Stand. I must see Over The Hedge. X-Men looks fun. I'm hearing mixed stuff on it but what little bits I have seen have made the inner fanboy drool. So the Fastball Special isn't 100% accurate. I'll live. I just need to see all the mutants going at it. Interesting twist on the story too. In the original Dark Phoenix saga it was Scott that couldn't kill Jean, now it looks like they're giving Wolverine that role. Over the Hedge just looks funny. If you can't appreciate the irony of William Shatner playing the possum....well.....I just can't explain it to you. And I just saw the international trailer for Superman Returns. Now admittedly I was not totally excited about the new Superman movie. I am now excited. Very excited. Check out these trailer links:

X-Men: The Last Stand
Over the Hedge
Superman Returns

Let the inner geek rejoice!!!

Ugh...what a weekend

Wow. It was fun, but busy. A wedding held in Grosse Pointe Woods with a reception in Sterling Heights kept us tied up all day Saturday. The residual sleep deprevation kept me lounging around on Sunday. Dinner with friends on Sunday night just put the perfect ending of a week of horrid eating habits. Not my best week. But hey, the Tigers & the Pistons won. Life can't be all bad.

Monday 5/22/2006 weigh-in: 300.2 lbs.

Can we please just stone Pat Robertson now......?

....Please?

Maybe I'm just cranky because I left my office keys and palm pilot at home?

Maybe I'm just cranky because the Red Wings didn't seem to care and got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs?

Maybe I'm just cranky because the Pistons appear to be suffering from the same malaize in the second round of their playoffs?

But will someone please just shut Pat Robertson up? I see news stories like this and I really wonder why anyone listens to him. Gee.....he predicted storms against the US. It's not like the US Meteorological Service hasn't been predicting an upswing in storms for a year or so. He's also saying that "God told him" there may be a tsunami heading our way in the Pacific Northwest. Pat's not sure he heard God right. Maybe he ought to go ask Ms. Cleo for advice. Will somebody please ge the snake-oil salesman off of tv?!? It really feels like people like this are making a mockery of God. As though having a "personal relationship" with God is something akin to having an inside stock tip so you can make a little cash.

Bleeding idiot....

Another weekend gone....

Well, I've survived another weekend. I spent most of this weekend either moving, setting up or destroying. Friday I took apart the couch in the basement, dragged it up to the truck and dumped it in the back. Saturday was spent throwing out the couch, going to get the recliners from my folks and setting up the projector and screen in my basement. Sunday was spent enjoying the fruits of my labors.....every show feels like a movie experience now. It's very cool. Even Julie, who was initially skeptical of this purchase, is very impressed. And now she can watch Alias in supersize... ;)

The cats have acclimated to the recliners. As usual they assume these were brought in for them. I'm always moving cats out of my way to sit down, they get even by sitting on me. It's the great circle of warmth.

So with all the work I did this weekend, I also ate pretty heavy, so not much of a change this week, but it is going down.

Monday 5/15/2006 weigh-in: 298.8 lbs.

Cute Boris stories

Ok, so I have to tell this story. Last night Julie and I were on the couch watching tv. After we had finished I got up to use the computer and Julie continued to sit there reading her book. As per usual, Boris seized upon the opportunity to move up to the "Head Cat" spot and sat down in my spot on the couch. Ok, nothing new there. At the time, we left the tv tuned to PBS and the Michigan Out-Of-Doors show was just coming on. Tonight's episode: Turkey hunting. I was sitting there minding my own business when I hear Julie whisper, "Jim, look at Boris." There, in my spot, was a cat who was totally transfixed. I've never actually seen any of the cats watch tv before, but Boris couldn't peel his eyes away. He was amazed and mystified. Somewhere in that little fuzzy brain of his you could just hear him saying "What is that bird doing in my house?!? Must attack!! Must think out plan!!! Must be sneaky!!!" Boris slinked off of the couch and slowly made his way up to the gobbling fowl on the screen. Coming at it from the side he inched forward, never taking his eyes off the bird. When he got to the screen he looked up, stretched out a paw and placed it on the screen. "Hmmm.....no bird" you could hear him say. Never one to give up, he jumped up on the speaker and peaked around the back of the tv looking for his prey. Frustrated he jumped back to the ground and sat in front of the tv pondering new ways he could get that rotten bird he could hear all around him.

At this point Julie and I were just cracking up. Poor Boris. He may be the King, but there's a reason why we're the dominant species.

Oh well, tomorrow we set up the projector. 80'' widescreen in high-def, here we come!!!! Boris may drool at the turkey, but Jim will be drooling at Star Wars!!!

Monday weigh-in

Hmmm....through no fault of my own I appear to have lost a pound this week. I had kind of a bad weekend just eating little junk the whole time. I must have offset that with the racquetball and the work I did around the house on Saturday. Oh well, time to refocus and not get lazy.

Official 5/8/2006 weight: 299.2 lbs.

Happy Monday

Whew....another busy weekend over with. I'm happy to be at work.

I came to a realization a month or so ago that I have a little over a year until Bill's wedding. Coinciding with this realization, Julie and I recently had our pictures taken as part of a new church directory. Now I'm not really complaining about the pictures, I thought they were really good. But I couldn't help but look and say, "Who's the big guy?" Ok, so I'm acutely aware of my weight, but it takes on a new dimention when you can actually see yourself. So I'm moving back to the "eat better and get some exercise in" routine. I'd definitely like to get down again before we have photos for Bill's wedding. I won't go into all the boring details of the plan I'm putting together and how I'm going to accomplish this (maybe some other time. But I've been at it a few weeks and have actually lost 10 pounds, so I'm on the right track. Anyway, as part of my accountability I'm going to be posting my weight each week on here so I can see my progress in a "public" forum. I weigh myself each Monday at work, so if you don't see a post here, or I disappear and hide, send me a message and let me know so I stay accountable.

This week's magic weight: 300.2 lbs (yuk, but still better than it was)

Wings update....and a story

Ok, for those of you still interested the Wings are now down 2-1 in the series against Edmonton. We're going to get knocked out in the first round. I can feel it. It's like reliving high school all over again....

And speaking of such:

Those who know me know that I'm not one of those people who is worried about my age. I'll be turing 32 this year and frankly as long as I can still be immature I really don't worry about getting old. I seem to have that goal well in hand. But every once in a while I get these subtle reminders that time marches on....

Last night at band we had a guest conductor in who is a student at Wayne State and is working with us on a song because she needs the experience. Given that she's a student I can respect the fact that she's not going to be very good. Given a little time she'll be a respectable conductor, I'm sure. For the moment though, it's truly a struggle to follow her. We're all watching carefully but it's really becomes more of an exercise in mindreading than anything else.

Now someone must have told her that she must be assertive and take control of the band from the start. After a rough reading of one of her movements, she was looking a little frustrated. Frankly we were a little frustrated too, but that's beside the point. She proceeded to tell us, "You really need to follow me. That's all I can tell you. You have to watch and follow."

We now cut to the internal monologue in my head:

"Hon, I've been playing longer than you've been alive. Trust me I'm following. I've seen more conductors come and......

Hold on....

Let's think this through.....I started playing in 5th grade, so I was about 11. I'm going to be 32 this year.

She's an undergrad music student conductor. Worst case, she's 18, probably she's 19 or 20.

Damn, I have been playing longer than she's been alive.

Damn...."

All hail Joss Wheadon....

So I was having a conversation with a friend last night and I'm happy to say I have made another convert. I have said it before and I will say it again....Joss Wheadon created three of the greatest shows to ever hit tv. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly. I know there are some non-believers out there but trust me, just sit and watch (in sequential order) any of these shows and feel the mastery of Joss for plotting and character interaction. The man is also the master of glib, fascitious comments. Right up my alley. I'm thinking it's time to reintroduce the "Buffy quote of the month" to my website. One more thing to add to the list of things to do, I suppose. Maybe I'll put it right on the front page. So really, go sit down in front of the tv. Start with Firefly to ease yourself in. It's unrelated to Buffy and Angel, it's short (only 13 episodes and one movie) and watch them all the way through. You'll be hooked...

Oh, any by the way....

Jewel (Kaylee) if you ever get tired of that loser...I mean that guy you married....call me. I'm available. Julie knows all about my redhead thing. I think I get a free pass. Besides she never reads this blog anyway..... ;)



Ok, so I'll be in trouble later. It's worth it. Really...call me....................sigh...............

Go Red Wings!!!!!

The Red Wings are in the playoffs!!!! Ok, so it wasn't much of a stretch. After a while you just begin to expect these things. To tell you the truth, I haven't really been following hockey much this season. Not that the Wings aren't an excellent team, but I kind of feel like the hockey they brought back after the lockout isn't really like the hockey I know and love. I still enjoy the sport, but it just seems a little different. This "family-friendly", offensively fast game just doesn't feel the same to me. Maybe it's just the team I grew up on, but I want to see a couple of teams duke it out. The scoring doesn't even make sense anymore. Scoring use to tell you a little something about the other team. If your team scored more than three goals in a game, then you knew that the other team really sucked and probably needed to go back to their knitting circle meetings. But now you get these higher scoring games because "America demanded a faster paced game." Does tradition mean nothing? Do we have to tailor everything to the ADD / MTV generation? I mean 6-3 is not a hockey score, it's a player's height. But not anymore. And this whole shootout thing being exciting....Huh? A breakaway is exciting because it occurs during the game and is usually the result of either extreme skill or extreme luck. Hell, if I just wanted to watch someone skate from the midline and shoot on goal to decide the game, why don't they just do that at the beginning and quit wasting my time. Now get through three or four overtimes when everyone is exhausted, then a shootout might be interesting, but this? Nah.

The fighting isn't even really worth talking about. I've never wanted to see anyone get seriously hurt, but most of the guys in these fights jumped into them of their own free will...adreneline influencing them or not. And don't even think about checking too hard or the whistle will get blown before you even get done thinking about making the hit.

Ah well, maybe I just need some time to adjust. Now that I've got it off my chest maybe I can sit and enjoy the playoffs. But I can't be alone. Last I heard there are still playoff tickets available for Friday's game.

Playoff tickets available in Hockeytown.

That just doesn't happen.

Welcome to the new NHL

Music, music and more music

Ok, so I really intended to blog today on subjects both serious and timely. Eh...so much for that. Last weekend I bought Julie an iPod. Since then I've taken it upon myself to get my music collection on my computer as soon as possible. Those of you who have seen the "wall o'cds" know that this is no small feat. And for Julie's sake I did cheat a little bit. I rushed through some cds that I know she's been listening to a lot lately. So I've got the thing synched and loaded. But now I'm working the way through the rest of my collection. I'm up to the C's. I should be done sometime in the next lifetime. So sometime soon, I promise, serious writing about what is going on with us.

Play it again, Sam

Spring

I love spring. For some reason it just brings me back to life...along with everything else. As the sun has been coming up earlier, so have I. I feel like I can start eating better, can start moving a little. My attitude has improved immensly. I really need to find a way to beat this next winter. But for now I'm good. Believe it or not I've been using Julie's "Yoga for Dummies" dvd for the past week or so (try not to let the imagery of me doing yoga throw you). I figured I needed to start with something "easier", more stretching and core body strengthening rather than trying to go with more radical, traditional exercising with this body. And I do feel good. Yeah, I know...I cycle through this weight thing all the time. But if you don't have a tendency to be a "big" person, I don't think you get it anyway. But I'm making some changes this time. We're going to be much better off by the time of Bill's wedding next year. Ah well, I'd sit and chat, but I have to move on to a few things today. I'll try to get back on tomorrow to review a few things I've read and listened to lately.

Bye

Sunday

Phew....another weekend over. Personally, I can't wait to get back to work so I can get a break. For some reason it was one of those busy Sundays. Church in the morning, bible study, go to lunch, back to church for meeting, over to WCCC for my concert (trombone trio) come home and collapse. I am tired. I have to admit, though, I'm happy to start seeing the sun again. It's nice to have it coming up as I wake up in the morning. I'm starting to feel a little life again. Who knows....maybe I'll be able to start working out again. I almost feel like I have enough energy. I do hate the winter funk. Ah well....I'm just venting. Everyone have a good week. I'll come up with something more interesting later.

Jeremiah/Romans

Hey there folks, I'm still moving. It's been kind of a busy week...we wrapped up field work with the auditors and I finally feel like I can get moving forward again. Anyway, this post is a response to a question I got last week from someone in a class where I was substitute teacher for the week at church. Since learning comes from interaction with others, I'm curious to see what any of you think of my response. Here you go:

The question presented was, “Why does Jeremiah 31: 34 appear to conflict with our study in Romans 1 regarding whether people can be culpable in having knowledge of God? Romans 1 makes the claim that no man is ignorant of God and instead chooses other than God, Jeremiah seems to make the claim that there are people that do not have knowledge of God and are told by their brothers about Him.”

Assuming that I have summed up the question correctly, I would offer the following as a possible response to your question.

I think there is an assumption that the two passages are attempting to make similar (or at least closely related) arguments and that the “people” involved in each discussion comprise the same universe of people. In the passage we were studying in Romans, Paul was discussing the righteousness of God against a people that have rejected Him. Paul starts his argument in chapter 1 against the pagans/heathens in the society around him that have rejected God. His argument will then expand in chapter 2 to include the Jews who proclaim to follow the Law and who don’t act/judge righteously. Effectively he is condemning the entire world, the Jews and the Greeks (barbarians). It is important in reading this not to impose our erroneous view of the church on Paul’s argument. Paul is arguing as a Jew who saw the completion of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ, his “Christianity” is not a separate church from the Jewish people. His focus here is why God is righteous in judging man. Remember, his overall argument is for the glory & righteousness of God as revealed in the Gospel.

Jeremiah 31 deals with a promise made to God’s people, Israel, to bring them back from their exile. Right off the bat, there is a difference in the universe of people being dealt with. You mentioned that you read this as a messianic passage and I do believe that you are correct in assuming Christ is being shown in the passage. Amusingly, of the commentaries I had around here they either dealt with it as a strictly historical prophecy (completed with the return of Israel) or else glossed over the section without laying out any substantive discussion or premises to review. I believe that as with most (all?) prophecies given through the prophets, there is usually a dual context; and seeing Jesus in this passage is correct, as all scripture is properly interpreted through Law & Gospel and that Jesus Christ is the revelation of that Gospel. That is not to diminish or overlook the historical relevance of the prophecy, but I believe we are correct here in looking at it here from a messianic viewpoint. In this context, Jeremiah says that He (God) will place His Law within His people. They will no longer need the external Law; they will live within the Law as completed by Jesus. This passage is speaking about how God’s people will interact with Him and with each other, not with how guilty they are before God. The will walk together through the internalization of the Law of God, not an externalization (e.g. - the 10 Commandments as written in stone).

I believe entirely separate conversations are taking place in each area that when placed in context form a complementary view of life in Christ and don’t contradict one another. Man is depraved before God and He is entirely righteous in His judgment upon us. Fortunately, we are adopted sons and daughters through faith in Jesus Christ and as such live with His righteousness imputed to us and His Holy Spirit living within us.

Thoughts? Comments?

The cutest book in the world

I've just finished a book you have to read if you've ever:

1. Owned a pet
2. Currently own a pet
3. Are thinking about getting a pet.....well, I guess get the pet first then read the book.


Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan is about the sweetest book I have read in a while. Sugary sweet maybe, but if you've ever owned a pet you'll get it. It's a quick read, I spent my lunch hours the last few days alternating between histerical laughter and being on the brink of tears (definately a scary thing when you're eating out in public.) This retrospecive of the author's (and his family's) 15 years with his faithful companion is just irresistable.

Good night all....I'm up way past my bedtime... ;)

Music and the Church (AKA - too much time on my hands driving around)

I don’t take a lot of time on this blog to write about the “deeper” thoughts that go running through my head. I’m not sure why that is, except that writing has never been my strong suit. In high school I was in AP everything, except for AP English. I think I just disliked writing papers. Eh, eventually I learned to just write in my own voice and that’s usually what you “hear” when I write (grant you, sarcasm never seems to translate well.) That little aside behind us, I thought I would try every once in a while to share some of the stuff that goes through my brain on a semi-random basis.

Today, for instance, I was thinking about contemporary Christian music (ccm) and the way I’ve seen it change over my lifetime. Some of those changes have been good, others not so good. In particular I was contemplating the trend toward “praise” music that’s been going on for the past few years. Admittedly I’ve never been a fan of the new “praise & worship” trend. I’ve always felt that the purpose of song in worship was to pull you closer to Jesus and His Word. A lot of the songs I hear just seem to want to make me feel good about me (insert broad paintbrush here). Or they use “Christian-esque” sounding language without any meaning (yup, getting a good coat o’ paint on the ole house of cards today). Or my personal favorite, spiritualizing actual events or types without really proclaiming to the people the physical realities (“Days of Elijah”, anyone? Yes, he is coming on a white horse. No, he hasn’t come yet). Maybe I’m just turning into a grumpy old man, but there seems to me to be something different about the whole situation now. What used to be loudly proclaimed as a musical ministry to those outside the church suddenly turned into an industry with its own target market right inside the sanctuary. Where songwriters used to find ways to share the Gospel through music, now it feels like we share personal experiences and stories instead. Is that bad? Not necessarily, but I feel like it winds up being somewhat fake. It’s as though we use it as a substitute for relationship…for community. It’s easier to identify with the thought or feeling in a song rather than with a person. Rather than using that communication in a didactic way, we try to use it as a substitute for an intimate connection.

So in an attempt to fake my own intimate connections with people, do you have any comments? Am I totally off the mark? Hitting some points? Help me formulate some thoughts on this. In the meantime I’m going to go back and listen to some vintage Petra and Steven Curtis Chapman and revel in the glory days that were the 80’s. ;)