Sick is no fun.

So I am getting a cold, or having a cold, or facilitatin a cold or something.

Anyway, It has been an okay few days. I got a lot of work done over the Thanksgiving break so that makes me happy. I just have to make it 11 more days!

I am thankful for the random people who have said hello lately. It has helped my homesickness stay under control :)

Now that the election is over, the U2 album is out, and the LOTR special edition is almost here, I have been wondering what (Aside from the second coming of course :P ) I have to look forward to by way of my favorite things. And now, I know. They are turning The Chronicles of Narnia into Movies! Starting with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe of course. It is supposed to be coming out next year and is directed by the Guy who did the Shrek movies. Lewis' stepson Dougles Gresham is involved as a producer to help keep it true to Lewis' intents. (This means a pretty pro-christianity slant woohoo!) It would be really hard to have Narnia without the overtones of Christianity. It makes great stories on its own, but man.....that would be like removing the statue of Lincoln from the Lincoln memorial. Anyway. I am excited.


My friend Hikare (pronounced Hih-car-ee, not hickory) is from Chicago, and we have been venting on the differences between the midwest and SoCal lately. We have found that SoCal folks don't know how to just chill and relax. They have to be doing something everynight. We think this is because they have no winters here. When it cold and snowywe are forced to just hang around and we may complain after cabin fever sets in, but that relaxation is good for us everyonce in a while.
We have also noted that there is some weird need to dress up if they leave home for anything. I am a jeans guy normally so I don't notice it as much, but at home its no big thing if smeone left home in sweatpants or pajamas to go to the grocery or something. Out here that is a no-no.
And finally, sadly there is so much superficiality in relationships(no necessarily a surprise) out here. In general at home if someone says "we should hang out sometime" they include the possibilty of hanging out and may even pursue a coffee date or whatnot. Here that phrase is thrown around to the point that if you did try to hang out with them it would surprise them, and they would probably try to back out of it. We of course are not immune from that at home, but its really severly distorted out here.

Hooray for Advent!

Jesus is more real than the Holiday we have bastardized in this world. For that I am full of awe and happiness.

Turkeyday Fallout

Sigh, I do miss my friends and family from home.

It was very surreal yesterday. I was actually able to go to two places for dinner. The first was the home of a lady in one of my small groups. It was fun and I had a good time but I didnt knw most of the people. Then I went over to the place of a guy who has become one of my better friends out here. A lot of our building was able to go and I really felt pretty happy while I was there. God can do amazing things when you need the love of friends. So that was all good :)

I am not sure what it was like in Ohio, but the shopping madness was insane out here. My friend Jon saw that Best buy had a $500.00 laptop deal but it was only good when they opened at 6 am. So he figured he would get up around3-4 with my friend Brad and go down there. Well at 11 pm we were watching the news and saw there were already lines forming at the Burbank store. So we decided to run down to the Pasadena store and check it out. There were people who got in line at 6PM on THANKSGIVING! Jon ended up staying the night as well, and luckily was able to get the laptop... I can see waiting for about 5-6 hours. It is pushing it for me, but it really isn't so long. But 12 hours? They had to skip out on their families to be there that early. That is sad.


Blah

Makin' It Through

Well it’s been a pretty good week.

I am down to the last three weeks of the quarter. I was starting to get overwhelmed with work since I pretty much did nothing but play Halo 2 for a week, but I sat down this weekend and made up some of my handy dandy lists and calendars of what is left and when its due. It made me feel a whole lot better!

A quick rundown of what’s left:

**2 more chapters of Greek and the corresponding quizzes and workbook assignments as well as the Final.

**An 8 page write-up on my experiences in a small group for my small groups class.

**An 8 page report on some topic as yet to be determined for my Gospels Class, and a final.

**A journal of theological reflections after a fresh reading of each Gospel.

**Another journal on another small group, as well as a church auto-biography.

So it is not too bad. I can do it!


I have come to a few realizations this week.

This will be the first Thanksgiving (Christmas too most likely) I will be spending away from home. That is just hitting me. I am not too depressed, but it will be weird. I do have somewhere to go for Thanksgiving so I am not all alone; don’t be worrying about that :)

I am still very excited about tomorrow! I have listened to U2’s new album a bunch, but having a hard copy will be so nice :).

I got the job as a valet for the Ritz-Carlton here in Pasadena.

But.

I cannot start until I go through the hotel’s orientation. There was supposed to be orientation today, but the guy in charge of that was fired. There is not another one scheduled until January, but the Valet guy is trying to get them to do one sooner so that I can work. I am running low on funds so I am in need of that job ASAP. Blah Money Blah

That’s about it for now

1 part Clinton, 2 parts Bush, 1 part Carter, and a dash of Bono and The Edge...

Ok so lets see if my computer will let me post this this time....

So today I saw some clips of the Clinton library dedication on MSNBC.com. George HW, George W. and Clinton gave great speeches.

I was impressed.

The theme of all the speeches was the need to end the divisions in America. Not only did they speak of it, but they also lived it out. There was an obvious respect and kindness from all of the former presidents as well as W. It wasn’t the forced admiration for the public either. There was genuine friendship evident.

When I was in HS I was a pretty dumb kid, so I didn’t actually try to be informed on issues, I just let the conservative culture around me shape my opinions of Clinton. This is sad, because he really accomplished a lot of stuff (and yes he did screw up as well). That said I enjoyed two parts of his speech. He talked about the negative ads some; he said that remarked to a friend of his a couple of days before the election of 2004 “Am I the only person who likes both Kerry and Bush? That doesn’t think they are both bad people? That they just have two different views?”

The other thing that struck me was such a great statement. He mentioned that he was more of a red state and a blue state kind of guy and said “conservativism at its best draws the lines that should never be crossed. Progressivism at its best tears down the walls that either don’t need to be up anymore, or never needed to be there in the first place.” (paraphrase).

I love that…I wish moderates were able to run in this country, but unfortunately they have to adopt a radical plan on either end of the aisle.


Anyway, other highlights were when George HW talked about his dislike of debates and how when he looked at his watch in 92 he really was wondering if Ross Perot was ever going to stop talking. Very funny.


Finally, despite a lackluster performance in the rain, Bono and the Edge’s were still a good highlight :)

peace

my computer is pissing me off.

So I just wrote a nice size post about how impressed i was with the speeches at the Clinton library opening and then my computer decided to freeze. So instead I will just leave it at this for now..perhaps my computer will be unshitty later this evening and I can try it again... but that is doubful since this is the second time in two days it has done this. I think my computer is conspiring against me.

damn, I'm really pissed now.....

FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Out There - Caution: Do Not Walk on Tracks

FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Out There - Caution: Do Not Walk on Tracks

Welcome to the world of America...where you really can sue anyone for any reason.

Apparently a lady in Virginia who was hit by a train is suing the Railroad company for not informing her that trains tavel on train tracks.... Um Hello? McFly? If this lady is actually able to win this trial..I may join those Kerry-ites in Canada.. Probaly not, but just in case I am going to start posting signs on my window that if you climb out of it you may fall down 2 stories. This of course could cause injury or death. But who knows....someone might try it if I dont post a sign right? We don't use our brais anymore do we? Guys? Hello?

Oh bugger...

MSNBC - Of Prayer and Payback

MSNBC - Of Prayer and Payback


Ok.... so even though I voted for Bush, this scares the heck out of me.

I think the scariest line may be : "We're going to strike out and demand a conservative agenda," says direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie. "If we don't do it now, when do we do it?"

I didn't know it was the Christian's responsibility to "strike out"
Sigh... I guess I am glad that I go to a seminary where this is not the norm.

Also read about what Bob Jones III of Bob Jones Univ. has to say about liberals...

I voted for Bush, not the radical right.

blah

The Days of Wine and Roses

Some things of note from the past couple of days.

I had to take a set of psychological evaluations (fill in the bubble stuff) yesterday for my foundations of ministry course. I have determined these tests are evil. I am sure there is some scientific resoning behind this, but some of the questions were like this:

I prefer to work alone rather than with a group of flesh eating rabbits:

A.) Sometimes
B.) ? (the inbetween answer)
C.) Never


Now, my question is, why would you pair an absolute like "never" with an ambiguous term like "sometimes" and then give an option to go between sometimes and never? what goes there? Almost Sometimes?

Bah

Next and most interesting this week was that my Professor for my Gospels class breifly brought up the class that John Wimber taught with C. Peter Wagner here at Fuller back in the 70s called "Signs and Wonders"

Dr. Hagner was actually a student here in those days and attended the class. It seems that perhaps the class was not what we in the Vineyard want it to be in some aspects.

Dr. Hagner was speaking about the eschatological (relating ot the last days) realization of the Kingdom of God (the already and not yet aspects of it) and was talking about miracles and their place for today. He is a believer in miracles as true possibilities in this day and age. But, when he spoke of the class it doesn't even sound like the Vineyard would not even agree with aspects of it anymore. The biggest was that there was a lot of emphasis put on the faith of the person being prayed for and it was really affecting the students in a bad way. I was surprised since I have always been taught that it is dependant on God's desire to heal or not. So, perhaps John Wimber had a change of position on that end of things not too long after that?
He also spoke of an incident regarding the lengthening of legs. It appears that while some of these occurences are true, there is also a medical explanation that happens as well. One of the things that happens when you lay hands on someone(which is a supernatural effect) is a warming sensation. This can allow for the muscles to relax and the leg to lengthen, which accounts for the visual of seeing the leg move. One person who had experienced this was found in a couple of days to have to reinsert the lift inside his shoe. When the muscles tightened up again the leg went back to its old shape.

His main point (rightly in my opinion) was that we have to be accurate in what is a miracle and what is not. There are miracles that can only be explained supernaturally, but we shouldn't run in guns ablazing for everything.

That all said, when I approached him after class we had a pretty interesting conversation for about half an hour on the Vineyard as I presented (my understanding of) its philosophy and such which to him sounded very healthy.


And finally I was browsing Sports Illustrated's website, and found that it has a couple lists that are interesting.

Teams to root for and not to root for in NCAA basketball. While my Wildcats were not on either list, two of Cincinnati's teams made it. Xavier was listed as the number 3 team to root for. Here is the excerpt:

3. XAVIER A Cincinnati school has the No. 2 NCAA graduation rate for
student-athletes. Impossible? For the Bearcats, yes, but not for the
Musketeers. Xavier is everything Cincy (page 22) is not. Xavier's 2004
run to the Elite Eight is proof the team delivers in the postseason. NBA
clubs have noticed the skills and work ethic of X-Musketeers, drafting
four in the past two years. Cincy in that time? None. Xavier's big-man
lineage includes Brian Grant, Tyrone Hill, Derek Strong, Aaron Williams
and David West. Next up? Sophomore Justin Doellman. Perhaps the biggest
compliment comes from the higher-profile colleges that have pillaged the
Muskies' coaching staff (Pete Gillen to Providence in 1994, Skip Prosser
to Wake Forest in 2001 and Thad Matta to Ohio State this summer). --
M.H.

UC however is the number one team not to root for:

1. CINCINNATI Every year without fail the Bearcats trot out a police, er,
starting lineup stocked with juco transfers and miscreants. Cin City ballers
have been charged with every crime in the book -- and some that aren't: Donald
Little was kicked off the team in April 2002 for taping his roommate to a lawn
chair, throwing weights at his head, clubbing him with a whiskey bottle and
burning him with a heated coat hanger. Only then did Little stab him. The warden
of this outfit? Coach Bob Huggins. Yes, Huggy Bear has taken Cincy to 12
straight NCAA tournaments; the problem is that student-athlete is not the
preferred term for describing the players who have gotten the Bearcats there.
Huggins's 1996 comment "Our guys have done a good job educationally" rivals any
of Baghdad Bob's assertions. The team's graduation rate, according to the latest
NCAA figures, is 25%. But it was Coach Bob's performance during his DUI arrest
in June that cemented his Most Vile status: When Huggins staggered from his
Lexus, the officer spotted vomit on the inside of the car door. At least the
puke matched Huggins's sweater.

This one was kind of long... so if you didnt make it down this far, I understand lol.

WXRT Radio Chicago STREAMING HTDAAB RIGHT NOW!

WXRT Radio Chicago


So the wait is over...kind of. In order to counteract the pirating of the album, U2 has granted some radio stations the right to play the entire album over the air. One such station is 93 wxrt in chicago which is playing it now.

They are playing the entire album all day long...if you miss it here you can hear it next week on mtv.com

more info at : www.atu2.com

Halo 2 and HTDAAB in the same week?

I am blessed.

Holy Speed Limit Batman, What was That?!

So yesterday I finally became a true citizen of SoCal.

I witnessed my first high speed car chase. Not on the tv mind you...but rather RIGHT BY MY STREET.

It is quite surreal to be watching the news, and not only realize they are in your area, but that the load helicopter noise is not coming from the tv, but right above your head instead!

I am still not sure how it all ended, but man....this aint Cincinnati anymore Toto.

In other news, even though my midterms went great, my brain seems to want to go on strike. Combine that with Halo 2 and not much has gotten done this week. *sigh*
Lots of reading ahead this weekend.....

Excuse the Drool...

Seth since you are about the only person who is probably reading this blog so far....this is for you.

After spending 2 hours waiting in line, my friends Jon and Brad and I obtained a copy of Halo 2.

I can't say too much without ruining some surprises.
But- It is amazing! SO hardcore. It is 3 am so we had to shut her down for the night, but what we saw in the last level we were on was jawdroppingly sweeter than the plot twist of the Flood in the first one.

I am a video game geek

I am in awe of this work of art.

I am going to bed.

Electoral County Update

Okay..so the guy in charge of http://www.electoral-vote.com has changed his site. He now has a map that is more than just a red/blue breakdown, but rather a shading system to show the percentage of voters for each candidate. He is using a map from a guy at Princeton named Robert J. Vanderbei. The link to the original file by Vanderbei is here. Enjoy!

Urban Rural Divide

So, right now on my computer I have a map showing the Bush/Kerry breakdown county by county in the United States from the site http://www.electoral-vote.com. While I did finally vote for Bush...I don't have it there to remind me of the victory. It is really quite striking and sad at the same time. Where ever there is a blue county the chances of finding a large city in that country are great. For instance In Ohio, The entire state is red except for the toledo, cleveland, youngstown, dayton, and columbus areas. Also notable are th counties bordering West Virginia. The only county that appears out of place is the Athens. But, when you remember that Athens is home to Ohio University, and not much else...it makes more sense.

My point is the same one that everyone has made this week. We are 2 countries. Michael Moore has a Map of the country diveded into "The United States of Canada" and "Jesusland" on his website: http://michaelmoore.com. Granted, its a bit of an overstatement.

As Christians though...isn't it our duty to reach out to the otherside? That doesn't mean compromising our beliefs, but ma...there has to be a better way.

Coming from Cincinnati I am sure it is a no-brainer that I would vote for Bush... Yet Coming from Columbus as well I am sure some might wonder why I would do such a thing.

I did not base my votecompletely on moral values as many Bush voters did...simply because both parties have moral values I hold high and others that I don't agree with.

I tried all summer and fall to give John Kerry a chance to impress me. To see that he wasn't just a politician. In the end I came to the conclusion that there really wasn't going to be much of a change if either was elected. The country will go on and have its dark and shining moments with either candidate. So ... I chose Bush for the sake of continuity.

Away We Go!

Well..... here it is..I have finally succumbed to the power of Seth Jewett and created a Blog....whether or not I keep it up to date will remain to be seen...

I guess this will be a place for me to share a little bit about life out here in California vs. home in Ohio/Kentucky...hence the name. But I would imagine some personal views might creep out along the way...