Mmmoo

Change of Venue?

2010-02-27T10:17:00.001-05:00

http://www.shawnandlaurenalspaugh.blogspot.com/

So I haven't posted in a long time, and one reason why is the above link. Apparently the wife thinks we need to have a joint blog, so there it is. Most (all?) of my posting will be done there, would be my guess....

Something New

2009-07-01T22:06:00.002-04:00

No, not getting married, although that's less than a month away, and definitely will be new and a shock to the system.

Rather, I'm about to take a short vacation with my family that's been planned for a long time. Which means, for the next couple weeks, I'm not going to see my fiancee. Now, we've spent close to a week apart before, but not really since we've been engaged, at least not in the last month.

So how does one deal with the time apart? Well, I'm sure we're going to talk some on the phone, but other than that, it will be quite the adjustment. I'm looking to really try to grow with God during this time, too, some "last minute lessons, so to speak."

Two weeks without being able to hold her, though? Most definitely be something new...

I'm engaged!!!

2009-04-28T17:40:00.004-04:00

So, I know I haven't posted here much lately, but there's a reason for that. Her name is Lauren. Apparently, when you talk to someone every night, you need to do less thinking and debriefing online, and you also seem to have much less time to do so.

Anyway, I'm crazy about her, and last Sunday felt the time was right to propose to my lovely Lauren.

She's pretty. :)

But I digress....before I get so mushy I throw up in my mouth a little bit...

It was a fun outdoor event involving fire and, of course, Peanut!

If you don't know Peanut, you're missing out...

Anyway, for all you ladies out there, it's not a great picture, but it's all I got right now, if you want to see:

The "joys" of March Madness

2009-03-21T09:18:00.003-04:00

So, my bracket made it through 1.5 days. On Thursday I went 11-5, which isn't great, but I lost no Sweet Sixteen teams, so I was feeling pretty good. Then, on Friday afternoon, I was a perfect 8-0. Sitting pretty....

...then the evening came. It was not a nice night for me. I missed four games of the eight games, and of the four, two were going to the Sweet Sixteen, and one was going to the Final Four. So, I'm pretty much done. Excellent. :(

By the way, I was a perfect 0-4 on picking the 7/10 games. What can I say? It's a gift...

Maybe I'm not that old

2009-01-28T09:55:00.003-05:00

A couple weekends ago, I was out scouting with a couple of the other basketball coaches. These guys are 40-year-old balding men, mind you. Also, I hadn't shaved in over a day. We decided to eat at BW3's before the game, and had to sit in the bar to get a seat. So what immediately happens? I get carded.

I've been getting grief about this ever since. I mean, come on...

Anyway, we've gotten a ton of snow dumped on us the past couple of days. I shoveled twice yesterday, and have just as much snow--if not more--to move today, just to get out of my garage. The one cool things has been that the local cardinal population seems to love the tree outside my kitchen window--yesterday there were seven male cardinals on it, plus a bunch of females. That's a lot of birds!

My first T

2008-12-17T11:40:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday at Greencastle I got my first ever technical called on me. And the ironic thing is I'd been sick--I had no voice. I still have trouble talking. But still I managed to get T'd up. Go figure.

So here's the setting. We're down by about 11 or so in the fourth quarter. We hadn't played well at all, except for the second quarter which we won 12-0 (how do you shut a team out in a quarter and lose the game by double digits?). We just didn't have good defensive intensity, and offensively we played frantic and unintelligently. I was frustrated.

Right in front of our bench, there was a scrum for the ball, and it very obviously went off the leg of a Greencastle guy. I ended up catching the ball as it went out of bounds, telling my guys it's alright, good hustle, because it's still our ball. The official, who hadn't been very good, gave the ball to Greencastle. My reaction was to just pound the ball into the ground, maybe shouting no. The official didn't like that at all. As the walked by when Greencastle had the ball, one of my assistants was really yelling at him pretty good. Then, as he was about to cross half court, I mentioned (as loud as I could, which was not very) that "everyone in the gym saw that but you."

Apparently, that crossed the line. I knew it before he turned around or blew his whistle. My assistants than start laughing and cheering, congratulating me on my first one. I don't think laughing is supposed to be your response to getting T'd up, but that's what the other coaches were making me do. But it does feel like I've now entered some kind of coaching club now. My brother would be proud (he has like 4 or 5 T's)!

A Tale of Two Weekends

2008-11-16T21:59:00.002-05:00

I didn't realize how much I use and enjoy my weekends until the past ten days or so. Last weekend, I went to a men's retreat in Wisconsin. I had late basketball conditioning the Thursday beforehand, and left on Friday morning (first ever personal day from school!) to head north. I did not arrive back home until about 11pm on Sunday night. Can we say long weekend? Don't get me wrong, it was an amazing weekend, but it was incredibly taxing--physically (I was actually sore the next couple days), emotionally, mentally, spiritually... Oh yeah, and I gave a test to 60-some kids the Friday I was gone. So, all of last week was catching up on sleep, grading, and lots of laundry. It was a long week, though, with all of that, and starting basketball season. So, sleep didn't happen. At all. Except for the day I slept through my alarm...

Fast forward to this weekend. I decided to stay in Friday night instead of swing dancing, then some friends came to visit me on Saturday, so I got to stay at home all day as well. Throw in some church (woohoo!) on Sunday, and I was back home with no stuff to do by 8:15. I feel rested and ready to start the week.

To a teacher, weekends are beautiful things, and I didn't realize how much until now.

Just over a week until basketball games start!

Don't Tell Anyone

2008-11-05T06:31:00.002-05:00

I was talking with one of my kids in class yesterday, and apparently she went to a math camp during the summer in late elementary school. At Ball State. Called Big-M (Ball State Institute for the Gifted in Mathematics). I went to that when *I* was growing up (big surprise, I'm a nerd, get over it). It was interesting to talk to her impressions about the experience and her impressions of it--they were somewhat different. But it was still really interesting to chat about. And she'll probably be mad I'm talking about this, as math camp is usually not something you like to broadcast to the world.

I Feel Naked...

2008-10-20T17:35:00.002-04:00

...and fortunate. I made it through the whole day today without my purity ring on my finger, and no one commented. Not a lot of kids know that's the reason for the ring, but a few do, and I was a little worried I was going to get a lot of grief and people were going to make invalid assumptions.

I'm still wearing it--kind of. The ring was an unfortunate casualty of worship yesterday. Those of you who have seen it know it's really four rings intertwined together--a puzzle ring. Well, while playing my djembe, one of the rings happened to partially unwrap itself, and a few good knocks on the drum later it was in two pieces and horribly bent (but not until giving my middle finger a nice puncture wound). The ring kind of still works with just three pieces, but it looks a little weird and doesn't stay stuck together. So, I gave up on the idea of putting it on my finger, and wrapped it through my chain.

I've been amazed at how many times I've fiddled around with my ring finger today before realizing there's nothing there. It's really an odd sensation. I imagine this is a lot like what wearing a wedding ring would be like. After awhile, it's hard to imagine not wearing it. Probably hard to imagine life without that other person, too, but that's moving a little outside my field of expertise...

Golf is Cool, Take Two

2008-10-13T19:35:00.002-04:00

I previously have posted about some of the cool rules that arise in golf...got another one this weekend.

If you hit it toward a spectator who is eating a sandwich, and your ball lands on a piece of lettuce that is dropped, you must hit it off of the lettuce--it is considered a loose impediment, like a leaf. However, if the lettuce has a condiment on it, you are allowed relief from said obstruction.

Sure...

Nerdiness Coming Out

2008-10-09T20:15:00.002-04:00

A student I've enjoyed teaching the past couple years (but not this year) was recently having some chemistry questions she was struggling with--she's in AP Chem this year. Now, I took AP Chem in high school (got a 5--woohoo!), and almost completely a chemistry minor in college, so I know a little chemistry, but it's been a really long time. But, I wanted to try, and I like to help, so I gave it a shot.

I was definitely rusty, but I got all the problems done, and it was a total blast. I think I enjoyed it way way way too much. I'm pretty sure it makes you a nerd, though, when you take a break from your math to do hard chemistry problems.

Poker Pro

2008-10-04T12:06:00.003-04:00

I was playing a quick online poker tournament a few days ago (ahh, the joys of not coaching--this free time will last for another couple weeks, and then it's gone), and something pretty cool happened. One of the guys at the table was really pretty good. We even got to commentating a couple of the hands we played. Eventually it got to heads-up with him and me. I had him covered (more chips than him) and all-in with a hand that should win about 81% of the time...and proceeded to lose the hand, and ultimately, the tournament. After the hand, though, he mentioned he had played in the main event at the World Series of Poker ($10,000 buy-in, multi-millions to the winner) and eliminated a well-known pro (Jeff Schulman) in an almost identical situation, just out-drawing him. So, by the associative property (don't even bother, bum, I know it doesn't apply) I am a poker pro. I knew I could hold my own, but I didn't know I was that good. :)

Work Story

2008-09-10T22:08:00.002-04:00

A colleague (who will remain nameless) was on her way to work today, but was rushing because she was running a little late. While driving, she reached into her purse to put on some chapstick (I think she had not had time for make-up). When applying the chapstick, she noticed it tasted really bad. So she looked at it...sure enough, it wasn't a tube of chapstick. Rather, it was a tube of anti-itch stuff for spider bites. Apparently, in short order, her lips went numb.

How much fun would it be to try to teach with numb lips? I can just imagine someone drooling while trying to stand up in front of a bunch of high schoolers. Just a random thought...

Representing

2008-08-24T20:56:00.002-04:00

On Thursday I had a girls golf match. I had talked to the hosting coach the day before, and he told me to bring my clubs. So, much to the joy of my team, instead of watching three hours of golf I got to play golf myself. Now, this made me a little nervous, because I really wanted to represent Sullivan well. And it would be nice to validate my status as a coach if I don't completely stink at golf. Since I'd not played in a "competitive" match with someone new in a really long time, I was a little nervous.

So how do I start? I chunk my first drive about twenty yards into water. We laugh and play it off as not being loose/my first drive, and I retee. And snap-hook a shot left where we couldn't find it. I end up dropping a ball and just playing from there...

After my horrific start, however, things turned a little. I salvaged par on the first hole, and then started outdriving and out-"straighting" the other coach. Finished my round with a one over par 37. Note: the best I've ever done is shoot even par, so that was a pretty good round for me. And how did things end up with the other coach? Oh, he still beat me--shot a one under par 35. So, that was annoying. But, I feel like I did represent Sullivan well, and I had a great time (the match went so much faster), so it's ok.

Cubs

2008-08-17T21:33:00.002-04:00

So, the Cubs are (apparently) the best team in the National League. I say apparently because, clearly, you can't really make that statement because this is, well, the Cubs.

My question is this: As a fan, how do you deal with that? I'm a Cubs fan--I seriously don't know. Cubs fans aren't used to success...

The Water is Receding!

2008-08-15T19:20:00.002-04:00

I can actually see a (very) small portion of my little dock, for the first time since the floods. Those were way back in June or something, weren't they?

Love

2008-08-13T21:23:00.002-04:00

Can you love a golf club? I think I do... Spending the amount of money I did for a new driver hurt a little (but I do get paid to coach golf, so that should go to golf expenditures, right?), but it's amazing what a new driver, and specifically one much more designed for my swing, will do. I went from struggling to hit it 230-240 yards with very little control, to hitting it 250 yards on bad hits, and 290-300 yards on numerous occasions. All of a sudden, I'm playing a completely different game. It's exciting!

Ok, I'm blogging about golf clubs, so I'm a nerd. Big shock.

Speaking of golf, girls golf recently played a match in Bloomington. The girls wanted to eat dinner afterwards, so I convinced them to eat at Dragon Express--my favorite Chinese place. I only ate there 2-3 times a week for about four years. It's ridiculous how good it tasted. Unfortunately, school starts tomorrow morning bright and early, so late nights so we can go out to eat after matches are a day of the past. So sad...

Basically, what I'm saying is I have absolutely nothing to talk about. :)

Small Towns

2008-08-01T16:31:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I met with a realtor in Sullivan to look at some places, mainly for informational purposes: I live a half hour away and gas is $4 a gallon. Well, after golf practice today I stopped by the high school. When I popped in the office, one of my students was there, as well as (I assume) her mom. I have that student again this year, and so we were checking her schedule, and her mom said, "So I hear your looking to move to Sullivan!" All of what, three people knew I had looked at places yesterday? Apparently I am a hot topic of conversation!

Hand help

2008-07-28T10:30:00.002-04:00

One of the defining characteristics of the worship at my church has been the drums. Well, recently I have become a rather consistent part of the drum chorus--three or four djembes that play along with the worship. My question is this: how do you play a djembe for a long period of time (the singing portion of worship went almost two hours yesterday) without making your hand swell up? After worship I put, with some difficulty, my ring back on my right hand (it cuts up my finger if I keep it on and play), and was unable to take it off the rest of the day--my finger(s) were that swollen. Maybe it's normal, but I'm not exactly a percussion expert... Anybody know?

Things that make me smile

2008-07-21T22:13:00.003-04:00

These are things I've stumbled across in the last day or six while wasting time online. The first is for all you math nerds out there...

And the second is for all you music nerds out there...it's a pictoral representation of the phrase "shut up."

Intercession

2008-07-21T11:53:00.002-04:00

I had the distinct pleasure of hanging around after worship on Sunday and chat with some visitors to our church--a couple who were, for lack of a better word, missionaries. I think they currently had jobs in America, but used to be full-time overseas and still go on numerous missions trips. Anyway, this couple had dealt a lot with spiritual warfare and things of that ilk, so it was very interesting to hear some of their stories.

However, early on I was being introduced to them by the "mom" of our church (the female leader whose house we meet at). We'll call her "Lisa" (because that's her name--but since this is the internet, we'll leave some ambiguity--it might be her name). Anyway, they were introducing some of my traits and, of course, dancing was mentioned, because it's not normal and because Lisa in particular loves to dance (I have to teach her and her husband some swing on many of my trips there). So at one point in our dialogue, I said something to the effect of: "the only reason they keep me around is for my dancing." (hmm...side note: am I grammatically allowed to colon and then quotation mark?) Of course, everyone kind of chuckled, and then Lisa said, "No, your dancing and your intercession." Oooooohh.

Now, I know all Christians are intercessors in some sense, or at least should be. And God has prophetically linked Lisa and I, for whatever reason, as two people who need each other's prayer support to operate fully in His name. But to be labeled by a believer you respect as an intercessor was cool (and humbling, but that's maybe hte topic of a later post). I once read a Peretti novel (I think This Present Darkness) about spiritual warfare and a preacher who would enter rooms and the demons present would say things like, "Oh no! The praying man!" Part of me always wanted to be that guy, even if the thought of that kind of up-front spiritual warfare is mildly intimidating. So, to have my intercession be one of the primary traits Lisa mentioned was pretty cool. Made me all warm and fuzzy inside. Ok, enough mush...I should probably go do some war!

Wow

2008-06-26T22:36:00.002-04:00

So, while watching the NBA draft (first mistake), I was flipping through channels and somehow starting watching the show on MTV (second mistake). It was a show where two people who used to date but are currently dating other people spend the weekend together. (side note: why on earth would you possibly do this?) Since this is MTV, of course they do things like have dinner in bikinis/bathing suits in a pool, spending time learning to use a stripper pole, playing make-out games in a hot tub, or sleeping in the lone double bed in the room. What they don't know is their current "others" are watching everything they do for the weekend in a nearby room. In this episode, while the exes were having sex on their final night together, the current "others" get revenge by doing the same. Obviously, very high quality television.

But what blew my mind was the end of the show--the current girl(boy)friend got to confront the ex girl(boy)friend, and then the current relationships met. And both of them basically said: You cheated on me, which was horrible, so then I cheated on you, and you can't say anything about it. And both couples basically decided to ignore this and move on and get more serious and committed as a couple.

Are you serious?!?

I know sex isn't valued by society nearly as much as I think it should be, but it still blew my mind that it effectively meant nothing to these people. And you have to factor in the fact that these people would actually agree to go through this weekend anyway, so their mindsets are slightly different from mine, but come on. You're allowed to cheat as long as I get some too? According to our society, are relationships just a balancing act--just make sure you don't get hurt/taken advantage of more than me?

That's what I get for flipping through the channels....clearly more evidence that watching NBA is evil.

The Aftermath, Part Deux

2008-06-18T22:12:00.003-04:00

GNATS! Freaking gnats. All over the place. Any time you go outside, they swarm you, and Off does very very little. If you, hypothetically, want to do some yardwork outside to try to start repairing your lawn from the high waters, you will get swarmed. If you want to go to the driving range to hit some balls, especially with the fun new driver you hypothetically just bought, you will get swarmed. I even tried to go to Sullivan to play at the course there, but one can only take so many gnats in your ear (and this was the first time I ever remember putting Off in my ear), your eyes, and up your nose--all while trying to putt--before just calling it a day and walking off the course. And I was +3 through six holes, with the three easiest holes left, so you know it had to be bad.

How does one make gnats go away? Golf an hour away?

The Aftermath

2008-06-10T08:17:00.004-04:00

I finally have internet access again, so I am able to upload pics from my area I took the day after the worst rain. I say the worst rain because, of course, we got a bunch of rain yesterday and last night, and I think there's a chance for more in the next day or so. I would say some cheesy cliche like "when it rains it pours" but that is, ironically, exactly what seems to be happening.

This is the road that you normally take to get into my subdivision. Clearly, minor alterations need to be taken.

This is a road that connects to Springhill, about a day after the main rain.

This is a yard off of Springhill, again about a day after the worst of it. For those who don't know, Springhill was flooded and is the road that connects to McDaniel--which is the road in the first picture.

On a lighter (and drier) note, over the past two days I've been without internet I've gotten hits from: Canada, Turkey, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Colombia, Spain, Romania (non-Marghita), United Kingdom, Indonesia, Japan, Brazil, Latvia, and Israel. No common connection between them, they just happened to all check in the past two days. I think that's weird...maybe that means I'm weird. Note: the following day, you can add hits from Algeria, Malaysia, India, Iran, France, Sweden, Ukraine, Argentina, and Kenya.

I See Your Downpour...

2008-06-07T15:51:00.002-04:00

...and raise you, well, something resembling a monsoon. Last night was crazy, and the Wabash Valley area is under all kinds of states of emergencies and things like that because of all the rain we got--some areas near me got nearly 10 inches in the span of about 17 hours. I'm actually flooded in--I can't get anywhere in my car. These pics make the previous pics look like nothing.

I See Your High Water...

2008-06-06T11:56:00.003-04:00

...and raise you a downpour. The insane spring of water continues, and the water level in my backyard is at an all-time high. I mean, the dock posts are almost underwater!

Nerves and Golf

2008-06-03T18:02:00.002-04:00

Monday I was the most nervous I have ever been at a golf match. Unfortunately, I wasn't actually playing golf, which means it was very difficult to do anything about my nerves. It was golf sectionals, and I had two guys playing fairly well. That's not completely true...they played mediocre to slightly below mediocre on the front nine. However, both of them lit it up on the back. So well, in fact, they actually had a chance to advance out of sectionals to the regionals. That would be a pretty great thing. That being said, the scores we had to worry about were in groups behind my golfers, which means we didn't really know what score it was going to take to get out. This makes each stroke incredibly important, and incredibly nerve-wracking. Especially for a coach, who has no real outlet for his nervousness. Plus, when the tee box at the par 3 17th (a long carry over water--very nerve-wracking under normal conditions) has a long wait, I have to try to hide my nervousness and somehow entertain my golfers so they aren't too nervous or thinking about the importance of each shot (especially the senior, who's playing in his potentially last golf tournament). This was a totally new experience for me...

All that to say, both of the guys made it to regionals! One finished even par on the back nine and got in fairly easily, while the senior squeaked in and tied for the last spot. But, I get another round of golf for free tomorrow, and both my guys get to play at regionals. Woohoo!

I'm Just Sayin'

2008-06-01T23:02:00.002-04:00

The Cubs entered June with the best record in the Major Leagues (and promptly won their first game in June). This is the first time this has happened in a long time. A really long time. 100 years, to be exact. For those of you a bit baseball-history-challenged, 100 years ago was the last time the Cubs won the World Series.

I'm just sayin'...

Crazy Baseball Stat

2008-05-29T07:56:00.003-04:00

The Cubs just swept the Dodgers, which brings the all-time record between the two ballclubs to....1010-1010. Are you kidding me? How do you play baseball for over a century (they've been playing since 1890), and you have a .500 record against each other?

Oh, an even crazier baseball stat? The Cubs lead the Central Division... (sorry bum)

Going All In

2008-05-24T10:32:00.002-04:00

At the lindy exchange last weekend, a friend of mine had an interesting conversation with a dancer who has a reputation as being somewhat of a player. Currently, the guy is in what he called an "open relationship." In defense of that, he asked the question: Would you prefer getting from your partner 10 out of the 10 units of love he can give, or get 500 of the 1000 units of love he can give?

Now, my first instinct would be to shrug off the question as being stupid. How would one person be able to give 10 units of love, compared to 1000 units of love for another person? But my friend completely skipped that, going to the heart of the question anyway--she said she would take the guy giving 10 out of 10. And she answered without hesitation. That answer kind of took him back.

Numbers aside, that's clearly the right answer. Whoever I take as a wife (God willing), I want her 100% committed to me, even if she "only" have 10 "love units" to give me. What does it say about me, though, that my first instinct was to nit-pick the question?

The more I thought about it, the more similarities I see about the question and our relationship with God. Now, it's not like God is giving us 500 of His 1000 love units, or anything like that--He loves us completely. But comparitively, the love we show Him is incredibly small. But, what does He want? He wants all 10 of our love units to go to Him.

Anyway, on a completely unrelated note, I got a hit from Marghita this morning, so it's cool to know that Kelsey is checking out my blog!

Oh Yeah

2008-05-19T21:51:00.002-04:00

Because of my crazy business this year, I had forgotten how much I enjoy swing dancing. Thanks to some Indy friends, we took a spur-of-the-moment trip to the lindy exchange (think: non-stop dancing for like 10 hours a night for multiple days in a row) in Columbus (Ohio). Now, I need to commend the exchange: there were some really good dancers there. Better than any other I've ever been to. It's so much fun to dance with a bunch of really good swing dancers, to the point where I don't really worry about asking a new person to dance because they're sure to be good. It was a ton of fun--I had a blast. I'm exhausted (only slept from about 3am until 8:30am, and that's getting awoken multiple times), but it was really natural and right in a lot of ways to be dancing again. Good stuff. Other good stuff? Sleep...

Sitting On the Dock by the Bay

2008-05-15T06:19:00.002-04:00

Not quite the lyrics, but whatever. For those of you concerned about my little deck over the water, it was almost completely out of water about three days ago. Then the rain came, and now it's completely under water once again. Probably more covered than it's ever been. So, no sitting on, or using, the dock for quite some time...

Tough Track Meet

2008-05-11T10:55:00.002-04:00

Friday I got to work as the assistant starter for a conference meet down south. It was fun, and easy money...at least, so I thought. Tons of things went wrong. First of all, it was stinkin' cold--nothing says "middle of May" like seeing your breath...oh wait. Secondly, one of the teams is on central time, so the starting time got pushed back an hour, making for a long night: field events started at 6pm, but trials didn't start until 7:30, and the regular events were supposed to start at 8:30. Of course, the automatic timing system wasn't working, so everything was handheld and human operated. Which, among others things, means things go a lot slower--the running events didn't start until after 9pm. Then, we missed a violation (neither I nor the head starter saw the supposed violation happen, although I think I heard them talking about it afterwards) that may have actually determined who won the meet. All in all, I left at just a little before midnight, which means I didn't get home until well after 1am. It's Sunday now, and I'm still trying to get my sleep schedule "reset."

Not So Bad After All

2008-05-08T21:28:00.004-04:00

So, this was going to be my week from....well, let's say a busy week. But, two rained out golf matches later, the week has become a lot easier to handle. Now, if rain washed out my track meet in Mitchell tomorrow, my week will become ridiculously easy.

One nice thing about free nights (what to do with all this time???) is the reentry of my guitar into my life. It's been too long--my fingers hurt. But, I'm finding a little worship does a wonderful job of refocusing and reenergizing me. Long-time struggles seem to go away in the presence of God. Amazing what a sovereign Creator can do. :)

Anyway, it's been great to refocus on God some at a time when I was going through somewhat of a dry spell. And a couple of cool insites came out of a CD sermon I listened to today out of Matthew (13, I think)--the parable about selling everything you own to buy that one amazing, most-precious jewel. In particular, the typical roles in the parable were reversed. Jesus was the buyer, and I was the pearl. How crazy is that?!? But he did--he gave his life to buy...me. I can picture Jesus there, just holding a pearl like a baby with a goofy grin on his face. So content and happy that he's got me. That is an amazing picture.

We Don't Really Fit In

2008-04-30T22:01:00.002-04:00

We=Christians.

I had the extreme pleasure to go to the IBCA (Indiana Basketball Coaches Association) coaches' clinic this past weekend. It was a blast, I learned a lot, saw I lot I think could be good to use, and am ready to start our next basketball season. Plus, I got to see Coach Crean (!!!) on Saturday when he came to make an appearance. Plus, other coaches made talks--Felicia Leggette-Jack from IU (women), Brad Stevens from Butler, Sean Miller from Xavier, and the coach from IWU. However, the most interesting talk, and most relevant to the current post, was the talk by current St. Louis coach Rick Majerus.

Now, to completely set this up, I should mention that the Friday evening sessions, of which this talk was one, also involved a college team so the coaches could use actual people to do stuff. The college they chose this year? Taylor University. How cool was that?

Anyway, during his talk, Rick Majerus starting picking on a guy on the TU team for a lazy pass. I think he was just trying to rile him up, but the guy wouldn't really react, although he did look annoyed at being teased in front of 400 basketball coaches. To get him worked up, though, Majerus start teasing him more and more. And more. And then the jokes got sexual (....just fake it....ask your girlfriend what that's like...). At one point later on he said he wanted to take the entire team out for a beer. For those who don't know, when you're at Taylor, you sign the LTC saying you won't have pre-marital sex or drink (among other things you abstain from in order to focus on community).

Now, most of the crowd laughed, but especially with my allegiance to Taylor and therefore the guys on the court, I felt uncomfortable for them. It just made more real to me that, even in an environment where I'm doing something I really do love doing, Christians are not "normal." We stand out. Things that are cool or normal for the rest of the world aren't in God's plan for us, and that will make us...well, different.

Full Contact Golf

2008-04-23T21:51:00.002-04:00

I've never seen two golf teams really dislike each other, but our golf team and the team we played tonight don't like each other, at least not any more. It's not like the match was close--we won by 19. But, in general, the school is Sullivan's big rival, and there was an...incident.

On the fourth hole, one of my golfers putted out while holding the flag (it was a six-inch tap-in). The problem is, that's against the rules. Now, it's a casual dual match which shouldn't be close, so they weren't going to enforce the rule, just let us know about it. At least, that's what they told us. So, no harm, we learn from it and move on. Well, as the guys are going over their scorecards, the opponent decides to enforce the two-stroke penalty. So, that annoys my golfer, because we were told they weren't going to make a big deal about it--they just wanted to make sure we know.

So, tempers are rising a little. Well, as we're waiting for later golfers to arrive, my "offending" golfer goes in to talk to the club pro. He gets intrigued...and does some investigating. Now, apparently, according to the United States Golf Association, my golfer's actions are actually not a penalty. His score is already turned in, so he has to accept higher score, but he feels like he just got screwed--forced to add two strokes to his score that he shouldn't have and was told he didn't need to add.

Unfortunately, he also feels the need to make sure the other team knows what he'd found out, so proceeds to tell them. This, of course, leads to a war of words because they've been told (so they say, who's to know?) by numerous club pros that this was a penalty. Now, it's possible this is a specific rule set by the IHSAA, but that seems unlikely to me, and I don't remember it being mentioned if it was.

A couple of my guys wanted (at least, claimed to) to bust a few heads and then it would be over. I wasn't able to get them to shut up about it, but at least I kept them from fighting.

All over a 20 point match...

A New Experience

2008-04-18T06:35:00.002-04:00

So, I've lived through my first earthquake.

I awoke at 5:41 (according to the clock by my bed) with the walls and my bed shaking. A weird experience, let me tell you. I wondered if it was a tornado (no storms in the area) or an earthquake (but come on, this is Indiana). So, I decided on one of two options:

First, God was trying to rapture me, but my house was fighting with Him.

Second, my students wanted me to get twenty minutes less sleep than normal, so they snuck into my house and released some oompa loompas, who proceeded to crawl under my bed and shake it at the aforementioned time.

As cool as those options would be (actually, the rapture one would be pretty *not* cool), it turns out it was an actual earthquake (5.4 on the Richter scale), centered a little southwest of me in Illinois. Huh...

Odds and ends

2008-04-14T22:36:00.004-04:00

Random thoughts almost worth making into a normal post...

Since apparently it's a cool thing to do (says the bum, and all math majors are inherently cool), how about a nice mileage shot?

Previously I mentioned how high the water was...it's higher. Note the lack of dock.

Got to mow for the first time this season this past weekend (got that? or rather, this?). Annoying, because it starts a never-ending process....but even more annoying because I could see my breath as I was doing it. What's up with that?

Rain rain go away...

2008-04-04T21:56:00.005-04:00

Holding golf practice is very difficult when our home course is completely water-logged. How water-logged, you ask (you did ask, right?)? Hmm....is double question marks appropriate there? Anyway, I digress. Or regress. Or both. I need sleep... Anyway, the best picture to show how much rain we've gotten is to show a picture from my house in Terre Haute. For those of you who have been here, you will appreciate the normal water level relative to the dock on the pond in my backyard.

Note: Earlier this winter there was probably a good three foot drop between the dock and the water level.

Hurts me in the heart-bone

2008-04-02T06:48:00.004-04:00

I played at open gym last night with some of the basketball guys who aren't in spring sports (note: I'm getting too old to do stuff like this). At one point, while holding the ball at the top of the key, some of the defense got confused and two guys were guarding one guy, leaving one of my JV players from last year wide open on the baseline cutting to the basket. He was so wide open, I got nervous, rushed the pass, and threw it just past him and out-of-bounds....to which I uttered a profanity-laced "Dang It!" That's literally what I said.

Apparently, that's not the "expletive" of choice in today's generation. They were making fun of me for the next two or three possessions. It hurts my feelings... :)

New pets

2008-03-21T18:47:00.002-04:00

Indiana got racked with rain this week, especially in the Terre Haute region. One day we got about five inches in about twenty hours. So, that being said, the water level of the pond in my back yard went up. A lot. The corner of my dock is actually under water. Plus, for those who saw it, the little "dam" or "levee" that I made in the ditch (when I was really bored over the summer) was overflowed. It was the first time the water got even close to the top, and it rose and breached it on the right and left parts. The highest part, though, in the middle, is still slightly above water. Why do I mention this? It's about the only piece of land in the area above water. So, it has become the habitat of about eight different rather large turtles. They were sunning themselves this afternoon. It was pretty cool...although they ran off when I tried to get close enough for a picture. Bummer.

Championship Basketball

2008-03-16T09:00:00.002-04:00

I saw something really cool at the 3A high school semi-state basketball game yesterday at Seymour. Washington, behind absolute stud Tyler Zeller, won 73-69. Note, they were down 26-24 at half. Tyler absolutely took over in the second half. But what was cool was with about 30 seconds left, Batesville was trying to foul. Washington inbounded the ball to a guard, and he got fouled before he could get the ball to Tyler. And what did the guard do? The guard apologized to Tyler. No ego. Total focus on the team. He realized the best chance to win was to get the ball to Tyler, and he was ok with that. Winning was more important than points or personal glory. He apologized. So cool...

I also wish our guys could have gone and see how hard the guys on the court played. If we played that hard this year, we would have had 6 wins before the Wabash Valley Classic, not at the end of the season.

Philosophical Dilemma

2008-03-12T06:27:00.003-04:00

Assuming no massive upsets, which is a big assumption given the recent trend of things, IU and Purdue will play in the semis of the Big Ten Tourney. Now, I bet two of my friends on the results of the previous meeting of these two teams (which IU won, of course). The bets revolved around pop and bulletin boards (don't ask). Now, of course, neither of these losers has paid off their bet yet--an object lesson in taking the word of a Purdue fan.

Which leads to my dilemma. Since then, Coach Sampson has been fired, and IU has since packed it in for the season. They don't care any more, and aren't really playing very hard, especially on defense. So, what do I do in terms of these bets? Do I get cocky and give these people "outs" and double or nothing anyway? Or do I try to quietly hide and stay away from these people so I don't have to face any bets over this match-up? And if so, does that make me a bad fan, even though I seriously doubt IU will win?

What makes it worse, one of these friends actually has tickets to the game, assuming it happens. I seriously expect a text message the moment the game would end...

Note: The double or nothing offer has officially been made--do I accept?

Ouch

2008-03-09T10:23:00.002-04:00

So how do I take this?

I spent a night this weekend with a female friend. It was someone I hadn't seen in a while, and we just hung out, ate some food, and just had some fun. Anyway, beforehand a co-worker overheard us making some final plans, and talked to the lady after hearing that. She asked first if we were dating (of course--two single people spending time together clearing must be dating), and when told we aren't, made a comment to the effect of, "Ok, I don't want you to get your heart broken."

So, my friend told me this, so she obviously isn't too worried about that. But, what does that say about my co-workers opinion of me? How am I supposed to take that?

Yorktown Too

2008-02-24T21:04:00.002-05:00

Ok, maybe not so much. I think I just need to mature some. But, one of the consequences I'm noticing of attending a church really far away is you tend to get disconnected over some of the missions. The church has two main parts to the body--a Muncie group and an Indianapolis group. Exciting things are happening in both places as they work together and apart to do things in their workplaces, Bible studies, and every part of their lives.

So what about me in Terre Haute? I'm the only one out here, and at times it feels isolating. I know part of my role out here (not that I necessarily know how to "execute" it, so to speak), but I want these radical, transformings things to happen out here as well. Part of me feels overwhelmed and incapable, as if I was the one doing any of the work (praise God for God!). There's a part of me that just needs to get over myself and accept that God can work through me, speak through me, prophecy through me, heal through me, do any other miracles through me, and get on to loving Him. Those things should then follow.

All this probably means I need to find a fairly like-minded body here in Terre Haute that I can fellowship with, though I'm still not sure a good way to go about finding one. Plus, I'm lazy. I guess right now I'm feeling somewhat....challenged? Motivated? Umm, some other synonym?

Indianapolis...

2008-02-22T16:06:00.002-05:00

...needs to be closer, especially on days like today. Snowy, cold, icy, and no school. Which means no practice. Which means a lot of down time at my place. So, clearly, my friends, most of which seem to live in Indy (or Anderson or Muncie or Bloomington), need to come visit. If only it weren't so far away and so icy...

Google hit #1 for...

2008-02-12T21:32:00.000-05:00

"what is the plural of metropolis

This is a proud day for me--my blog is being used for intellectual purposes. :)

Athletic Move of the Night

2008-02-12T07:16:00.000-05:00

The other exciting event of the past basketball game took place during the varsity game.

I got tackled.

I was sitting on the bench, minding my own business, when a West Vigo player lunged for a loose ball. His momentum proceeded to take him into (and really, through) me as I'm sitting on a folding chair on our bench (note: he fortunately missed our head coach who was sitting next to me and is currently suffering from a broken collarbone). And here is where the athletic move takes place. The force of the hit moves the folding chair I was in backwards....and closes it. The chair ends up closed and propped up against the bleachers about four feet behind the bench. And I'm sitting on the chair. The chair got moved back four feet and closed, and through the whole time I stay on top of the chair. Not exactly sure how it happened, but I'm gonna take some credit for a nice athletic move nonetheless.

A New Side of Shawn

2008-02-08T21:50:00.000-05:00

Apparently last night I weirded out a lot of my students. We lost my JV game by 4, and it was a game we should have won. We scored 52 points, which is really good for a JV game, but that clearly means the 56 points we gave up was too much. Our defense struggled, and we made a lot of mental mistakes (both offensively and defensively). Apparently I was getting frustrated with my guys. Really frustrated. To the tune of lots of yelling and stomping and other signs of frustration. Apparently more so then I've ever done in class (not that I've ever yelled in class) or at any other time these kids have seen me over the past year and a half. At least three different classes, as well as a group of kids after school, expressed some kind of surprise/fear/interest/awe at this new behavior of mine. Now, I thought it was just general intense coaching, but I tend to be a low-key guy, so it's a little big of a change for them. I guess now I get to worry about how my non-player students are reacting to my coaching as well...

Brand New Ice Experience

2008-01-22T21:42:00.000-05:00

So today we should have had a two-hour delay. But we didn't. It wasn't an issue until I got to Sullivan--the roads in town were insanely bad. I didn't get over 20, and had serious issues stopping/slowing down on multiple occassions. One incident, however, was a new one for me. There was already an accident on Section Street, with a car half in my lane and half in the ditch to the right. So, after waiting for a gap in oncoming traffic, we got ready to move forward. When I took my foot off the break to pull around, my car started to move....sideways. The road was so slick the tilt of the road was enough to push me towards the ditch on the right.

If you've never been through it, being in your car and moving perpendicular to the road in quite the experience.

Weird Game, Take Two

2008-01-19T22:47:00.000-05:00

So, we one-upped ourselves tonight. For those of you interested in basketball in any way, I have a question for you. When was the last time you can recal where a team scored seven points in the second half of a ballgame.....and WON BY 12?!? Screwy... White River Valley hit a three at the buzzer to go into the locker room down 19 at 35-16. By far the best half we've played as a team all year, I think. And sure enough, we come out and coast in. To the tune of 7 stinkin' points in the second half (and all by one guy). But, it was still enough to win 42-30.

It'd be nice to be able to play well, you know, for four quarters in a game.

Weird Game

2008-01-19T11:35:00.000-05:00

My JV team was involved in a very weird game last night. We led 13-1 after one quarter--we just put on a clinic. A beautiful display of 2-3 zone precision. Then, we fell apart. Down 19-18 at half, and 31-25 after three quarters. Then we started changing up our defenses, mixing in some trapping, some man, and some press. We ended up winning by 7, I think. Craziness. On a team that averages about 22% from the three point line, we went 5-8. Clearly, that's great coaching.

Freakin' cold

2008-01-14T20:55:00.000-05:00

The title has nothing to do with this post, I just wanted to complain about how freakin' cold it is.

Had a very interesting conversation yesterday about God's place in a marriage. And it's not necessarily something I didn't know, but to hear it said, to hear it to be "ok," and to see people who live that way, it's really cool. When "leaders" of the house church I attend get stressed, get excited, get confused, or any other pertinent emotion/verb strikes them, they don't go to the other. They go to God. I know God is supposed to number one, even above a spouse (maybe especially above a spouse), but to see someone attest to that and really live that is pretty cool. And encouraging--that it's possible to achieve the thing I'm striving for and do so within the contexts of a marriage, something else that would be nice at some point in the future.

enter smooth transition here

I have a hypothetical situation I want to throw out there and get feedback on. Say this person you love and want to marry ends up, through no fault of her own, to have this deadly disease. To consummate a potential marriage would involve contracting the disease on your own. For extra kicks, let's say that the life expectancy after contraction of this disease is only a couple of years. So, would you actually marry the person? And if so, actually consummate the marriage (after all, sex is an important part of marriage, in my completely single opinion)? Would doing so be really stupid, or really romantic? I'm curious as to your thoughts... (for what it's worth, the origin of this train of thought is not a desire on my part to get married to someone I know who has such a disease...or any disease, for that matter)

Almost a huge problem

2008-01-08T21:10:00.000-05:00

When I awoke this morning, something felt wrong. Out of sorts, so to speak. It took me a second to realize what it was--my alarm didn't wake me. That seemed weird--I felt fairly well rested. So I look at the clock. 6:36. Hmm, not too bad. Except that I want to wake up at 5:30. Apparently, setting the alarm clock wasn't high on my priority list last night. Oops. Now, I have to be at school no later than 8 (I try to get there by 7:30), so it wasn't the end of the world, and I actually walked in the building at 7:58 (all kinds of time), so there was no real big consequence, but it made for a rather stressful morning. Breakfast never tasted so...fast...

Almost Over

2008-01-03T11:37:00.000-05:00

It's so sad--my break is almost over. I have only 4 days left. And of those four days, I have two basketball games to coach, one practice to run, oil to get changed, hair to get cut, seating charts to make, and lesson plans to write. I'm excited about that, no really, I am.

So how do I respond to that? Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights!!! But it led to a very interesting philosophical question: What is the plural of metropolis? Is it metropoli? Metropolis? Metropolices? Metropolises? Oh, and by the way, when you have two of...them....it's very helpful in the whole "winning the game" process. :)

Voice Change

2007-12-18T05:48:00.000-05:00

Does anyone know a good way, short of going through puberty again, of making my voice deeper?

Last weekend made it very apparent--in a loud gym against a rival, it's really hard for players to hear me yell things at them. My voice is just not deep enough. It doesn't carry well. Which makes it hard when three or four of the guys know what you're trying to do, but all five of them don't.

So, I gotta work on really projecting my voice a little better (using my hands as a megaphone-type thing?), but if someone knows a good way to make me heard (bullhorn?), that would be wonderful!

Scouting my JV team

2007-12-09T21:07:00.001-05:00

Apparently, my JV team is being scouted. Well, kind of. In our first offensive possession of the game on Saturday, we ran a set play I got from my days at Glenn. And, of course, the play worked, but it almost didn't. That's because halfway through the play, one of Greencastle's assistants started yelling out what was going to happen. I thought they maybe were just really really perceptive, but no....

The guy came from Plymouth. One of Glenn's big rivals. He actually recognized the play from three area codes away. How crazy is that?

Authorship

2007-12-06T21:46:00.000-05:00

A good friend of mine recently wrote a book. A novel. I got to read the first draft--it hasn't been published yet, and in fact hasn't been accepted for publication. And, before it does, it needs a rewrite. Besides general proof-reading missteps that will come up in a 600-page book (it doesn't read that long), there are a few parts that need to be toned down. But he enabled me to get a copy of the first draft, which I read very quickly.

I think the book is very good, and has a chance to get a lot better after those minor changes.

Now, how cool is it to know someone like that? To be able to say "I know an author," or maybe even "I gave him feedback on his book." I feel important or famous by association. As if that mattered...

But even cooler, I think, is to have had a lot of personal, intimate conversations with the author. To know some of his joys, his struggles, and his passions, and then to see it come out in the book. There were portions of the book that made me smile because it just reaked of the author's personality and beliefs. I've never tried to write something that big, or known any who did, but I've found it fascinating. Not just to have the creativity to do so, but the willingness to open yourself up like that is amazing. I'm so proud of him, and excited for what God may do through this book!

Third time's the charm

2007-12-02T13:52:00.000-05:00

So, take two was unsuccessful Friday night at Brown County--it was a good game, but we ended up on the short end of things. We were down three with about two minutes left, which was unfortunate, because if the game wasn't so close I probably would have gotten a technical. One official was actually apologizing for the other one.

Saturday night gave us our third try, though. We played a team that was taller than us at every position, but was really slow and couldn't handle the ball very well. So, we picked them up full court and got out in the passing lanes. We won each quarter by about five points, until the fourth quarter, which we won by about twelve or fourteen. It's nice to have a runaway win, to protect our home court, and to really see positive things.

Now, in the future, we're going to go up against teams that are going to be quicker and apply more pressure to us, but hopefully we've learned a little bit, so we can play this way against stronger teams...

Second Chance

2007-11-29T20:30:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow night I get my second chance to notch my first career coaching victory. All you Bloomington friends should find their way out to Brown County at 6pm to watch some high school basketball. I'm getting a couple of varsity of for a couple of quarters as well, so there's a pretty good chance of getting the win. Actually, I think we might win without the varsity guys....here's to hoping I don't eat this words!

Golf is Cool

2007-11-25T15:33:00.000-05:00

Reading my first issue of Golf Digest (yeah for expiring airline miles....or should I say: yeah for Romania!) this weekend, and they had an interesting article about a specific golf ruling. Or rather, rulings.

Say, for instance, you hit it into a crowd of spectators. Say you hit a spectator. Then, let's assume this spectator falls on top of your ball. The article explained that there are different rulings depending on whether the spectator is actually alive or dead.

Are you kidding me?!?

Out of the Way

2007-11-24T22:44:00.000-05:00

Well, that's out of the way. I picked up my first loss on Wednesday night: 34-50. It was a tough game against a pretty good JV, and I knew my guys were going to need a game or two to realize how quick the game is. But, I hope we learned a lot, and next weekend we have two very winnable games, so hopefully we'll get my record above .500 real soon!

No Sleep Tonight

2007-11-20T21:45:00.000-05:00

The fun and games start tomorrow night--my first game as a basketball coach. I don't expect to sleep very well tonight--too hyped up. I'm excited. I'm not real sure about the team yet, so this should be interesting, educational, and hopefully a lot of fun.

Everyone is welcome to come out to South Knox High School tomorrow at 6pm!

Are dates tiring?

2007-11-11T20:39:00.001-05:00

So, how much effort are dates? Like, do they physically make you tired? I had a conversation with a friend recently about this. I'm not saying do they make you nervous--I'm nervous whenever I'm on one. But, my attitude is usually "whatever, I'm just going to be myself, and if she doesn't like it, tough." Maybe it's because I've had such success in dating (stop laughing!) that I can be so cool about it. But seriously, after the first couple minutes of nervousness, that usually goes away, too. Does that make me weird? Do you need to hit me upside the head or something?

I'm scared

2007-11-10T18:14:00.000-05:00

If you look up "rabbit signs of affection" on google, I am hit #2. I don't know if I should cry.....or go for #1. Which is the cooler option? Or maybe, which is the least scary?

Fishies Experiment, Part 2

2007-11-10T18:06:00.001-05:00

So, I got a couple of fishies (for my *little* pond out back) this summer to see if they could last the summer. Actually, there were three nice goldfish and a few algae eaters (maybe 3 or 4 of them?). Now, unfortunately the water isn't the clearest, so I don't have a great view of how many may or may not still be alive, but I do know one thing--two of my algae eaters have kicked the can (can fishes kick?) this past week. Apparently freezing temperatures at night were too much for them. Now, as of a week ago I had at least one goldfish still alive, so we'll see. I think the little pond is deep enough not to freeze over through the winter, but we shall see about that, as well as how they handle a winter of cold. Regardless, it is sad to see my fishies pass away...

"We trust...

2007-11-01T22:36:00.000-04:00

...that you're a fine, upstanding, God-fearing gentleman with Christian morals and principles who will set an example and a standard of leadership for our boys. Tell me, do you believe in man-to-man or zone defense?"

Have I mentioned basketball practice starts on Monday? Woohoo!

Busy and good

2007-10-31T20:41:00.000-04:00

Basketball practice starts on Monday.

I have a date on Saturday.

**Not sure which of those I'm more excited about. Actually, I am pretty sure...**

I am reading an awesome book on about a prophetic vision this guy had that is challenging me and encouraging me and breaking my heart and...

And hopefully, there will be poker on Friday...

Annoying google ranks

2007-10-24T17:39:00.000-04:00

#10 under the search for "am i really stupid university."

What does this say about me and my blog?

Sunset in Terre Haute

2007-10-23T22:02:00.000-04:00

It rained all day yesterday...until about 6pm or so. Just enough time to give one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen in a long time. Pictures don't really do it justice, but actually make it seem a little more firery.

100009

2007-10-19T14:00:00.000-04:00

I'll take "Odometer readings I wish I have looked at ten miles earlier" for 1000, Alex.

That's what I get for driving when I'm tired--I miss important milestones.

Bawk

2007-10-16T21:18:00.001-04:00

On a much less serious note, I have a plastic chicken in my classroom. Rather, had. It is no longer in my classroom -- it has been stolen from me. How depressing is that?

Well, besides seriously missing my chicken, it has become quite the topic of conver- sation in my classes. Well, recently I got a ransom note. Kind of. No actual note or demands, just pictures of my poor, defenseless, tortured little chicken. :(

What kind of vile, horrible, moral-less person (not to insult my students, of course), would stick my little friend on a grill? Or under a car? Or in a cactus?

The question becomes, do I actually go into the student parking lot and try to find the owner of the hubcaps in the picture? :)

Spiritually on trial

2007-10-15T22:18:00.001-04:00

Well, sort of. Amongst the craziness of all God is doing (and did) on Sunday, one such thing is my leadership status in the home-church I attend. Mainly, am I a leader/elder of the group? My status in this group has always been weird--not a new believer, but I don't have the history with the other elders. God sees me as part of the core group there, but I do live 2 hours away. So, am I an elder there? The current elders are praying about it, and it's weird knowing that. I trust God is at work, and it's not really something to "worry" about in any way--it doesn't really say anything about me as a person one way or the other--but it's still a little weird.

I didn't think anything about it until one of my best friends (and current elder) asked me, "Do you feel like you're being judged?" No, I don't, but now that you mention it... Again, I'm not really worried about it one way or another, but I think it's weird to actually know you're being considered (especially in a church with no formal nomination process). Anyone else can relate to that?

On a somewhat related (but probably only in my head) note, have you ever felt a finger being pointed at you? From someone ten feet away? A prophecy was being given, but the prophecier (spelling? is that even a word?) didn't know to whom it pertained....and then all of a sudden did, and pointed, and said, "And it's you." And I felt it in my chest. Not like a pain, but something....that kind of spread through most of my torso. Weirdness. God's doing stuff, I just hope I have the faith to trust Him and let Him take charge...

Wait 'Til Next Year

2007-10-07T22:05:00.000-04:00

CHC 1
ARI 3

CHC 4
ARI 8

ARI 5
CHC 1

I hate baseball. And if the bum's Indians don't put away the Yankees real fast, I'll hate it even more.

At least, until March.

Insomnia

2007-10-04T22:56:00.000-04:00

Cubs. In the playoffs. In Arizona. Games start at 10pm.

Sleep is overrated, right?

Silver lining

2007-09-30T14:03:00.000-04:00

I feel like crap today. Which is really annoying, because it means I can't drive out to worship. However, if there was ever a day to need to stay at home on the couch...

FOX has football
NBC has President's Cup (golf)
CBS has football
ABC has NASCAR
FSN Ohio has Cubs (with Cincinnati announcers, unfortunately)
FSN Midwest has Cardinals-Pirates
FX has Top Gun

If only it wasn't sunny and gorgeous....

Ho-ly Cow

2007-09-29T09:47:00.000-04:00

Cubs win! Cubs win! Ho-ly Cow!

In spite of our best efforts, the Cubs have managed to win the NL Central. It has more to do with the futility of the Brewers than with the prowess of the Cubs, but when you're a Cubs fan, you take what you can get.

"We're singing now Go Cubs go, go Cubs go
Hey Chicago what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today
Go Cubs go, go Cubs go
Hey Chicago what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today."

I need solace

2007-09-25T22:40:00.000-04:00

The Cubs started the week with a 3.5 game lead in the central, this being the last week of the season.

Pending a huge, miraculous comeback by the suddenly atrocious Cardinals in the ninth, the Cubs lead is down to 2 games.

Still, a really strong lead, you might argue? I need to highlight one more piece of relevant information:

THESE ARE THE CUBS!!!!!!!

So please, send prayers, send solace to me (and all Cubs fans), and if possible, send a power-hitting bat and/or a shut-down starting pitcher.

High-Impact Worship

2007-09-23T20:52:00.000-04:00

Who knew church was so physically taxing? I actually got hurt...

We were worshipping/jamming a little at the end of our time, and the djembe playing next to me got up and left. Well, being the good little percussionist I dream that I am, I went ahead and picked up the djembe to filling in--I know enough music that I can wing it and make that work... Anyway, shortly thereafter, our little worhsip/jam session with piano and guitar and 2 djembes turns into a dance/worship/jam session with just us two djembes. And it continued....and continued...probably for about eight minutes or so. And, of course, since it was just the two of us guys drumming (is that the right verb for playing a djembe???), we can't exactly sit out or relax or rest. So, the beat was pumping, there was dancing and praising, ... , and my right thumb (the part of my two hands that I use to accent or "hit" a beat) is very sore. Right at the base of the thumb. So, no snapping for a couple days for Shawn (seriously, where my middle finger "lands" is right where it's sore). Clearly, I have no percussion technique. :)

Dangerously Pure

2007-09-16T20:47:00.000-04:00

At church today, at one point a little clip was played. It was taken from some kind of prophetic word that was originally posted on a prayer wall in the middle east. Someone copied it from there and brought it back to the US, where it's been made into skits and songs and all kinds of stuff like that. It even remained anonymous for a long time before the author finally came forward.

Anyway, during that pice we were listening to, a little phrase popped out and struck me. Dangerously Pure. I really like that, and yet....what does it mean? How can purity be dangerous? To what is it dangerous? Is it kind of like the metaphor about light versus darkness, and light cutting through the darkness, and the darkness can't stand it or stand against it? Can purity be such a powerful force that, for instance, me being so pure that it infects people I'm around? Purity, in it's truest sense, is not weak. We Christians are not trying to "protect" our purity in the sense that it's fragile and if we move the wrong way it will break. But can it be aggressive to the point of being dangerous? Interesting to think about, I think.

This is for you, bum

2007-09-09T21:29:00.000-04:00

So, for those of you who have heard me do it, or heard the Ray Steven's version of "In the Mood" chicken-style, we got onto that topic today on the carride back from church today. We had lots of branches on the "chicken" theme, like maybe "bawk"-ing is a prayer language (can you imagine laying hands on someone and then clucking like a chicken). Eventually, we got to the topic of chicken praise. In particular, what type of music would chickens "sing" to? My feeling is lots of hymns, in a very serious, somber mood, with the very occasional crazy song (think Sister Act). Thoughts?

And by thoughts, I mean other than the "you have completely lost it" variety...

I'm old!

2007-08-28T21:17:00.000-04:00

So, what's one main lesson we've learned about Sullivan people? They can't tell age...

Last year, at a little kids basketball game (the big Sullivan-Carlisle 5th/6th grade rivalry), I was asked which team I was rooting for. When I tried to explain I was just to "scout" our upcoming kids, she got confused, and eventually asked, "....so you're in high school?" That's what every twenty-six year old wants to hear.

Tonight, I was the at the junior high golf match (again, scouting out the "future"), and a parent of one of the kids asked me, "So which one is yours?"

So, I look like I'm in high school, but am old enough to have a middle-school kid. Not sure I like people thinking I'm old, either...

By the way...since it may have slipped your notice...it's really freakin' hot outside.

Clever

2007-08-20T16:25:00.000-04:00

A scene from Algebra II:

"Great! Now, let's do that same thing, just with letters this time!"
"Why???"
"Actually, we're going to use 'x'."

You have no idea how much I enjoyed that....

I am finding God to be kind of clever lately....if He isn't necessarily getting some of the growth and commitment He wants out of me, what does He do? Give me more responsibility, in fields I care very much about. So what do I have to do? Spend more time with Him, seek His guidance all the more. Sneaky...

Small Town USA

2007-08-19T10:18:00.001-04:00

Ahh, the joys of a small town...

Being a basketball coach, I have to work the concession stand during the varsity football games. Pretty much all coaches have to do this at some time or another. Of course, since this has been going on for awhile, the community expects the basketball coaches to be there. So when I'm in there, they're a little curious. I mean, this is a small town, so they gotta know what's going on. I don't know how many times our head coach was asked who I was, with me standing only six feet away. It's fun to hear "he's our new JV coach....he helped out last year....did a good job..." over and over, but I was amazed at how many times I had to hear it. Sort of makes you feel a little famous. :)

Now, I'm sure there'll be a time when I want things more private, but for now, it's kind of fun.

Too many links!!!

2007-08-12T20:40:00.000-04:00

So, I've been linking a lot on here lately, so what am going to do about it? Link some more.

I like it. I like the idea of God fighting for me. I've been reading a little about us being God's bride, and what that means in terms of Him wooing us and such. But, being a guy, sometimes I struggle with that analogy. But I really like the idea of God fighting for me.

Last night, of course, then He posed the response to me. Am I willing to fight for Him? And maybe not in a traditional sense. I think there's a tendency in me to do all the things a "good" Christian does (whatever that means), even if those things go against the grain. Does that make any sense? For instance, I feel called to Yorktown, and so most Sundays I go there for church, which is definitely a sacrifice of many things. And God is honoring that. But do I fight to totally maximize my time there? When I can't go, do I fight for quality time here by myself in TH? Or do I just kind of...skip it. Do I fight to meet with God every day? I think not fighting, in some ways, just resorts back to the "religion" that I've been ranting on. Yeah for being hypocritical!

All this, I need to keep in mind that God still fights for me. He still seems me as being worth that. Don't get too hard on myself....just make sure I'm fighting, too.

Hungry

2007-08-10T19:18:00.000-04:00

I want to go get some Chinese for dinner, but I currently cannot leave the TV because Tiger Woods is making a run at history at the PGA Championship. He's currently on 17, and two pars will tie the low round for any major. Now, he's in the fairway on a birdie hole, so we (I) could be about ready to see something that's never happened before.

So, while I wait, I did some exploring. I saw a skit parodying Who's on First the other day on TV (not this one, though it's quite funny), so I've been trying to find it. It's the same dialogue, with the exception that in place of Who they put Tino Martinez, in place of What they put Chuck Knoblach, and in place of I Don't Know they put Scott Brosius. It was really funny, regardless of the use of Yankee infielders. The duo was called Slovin & Allen. If you can find it, better luck to you... Otherwise, spend a lot of time watching Comedy Central until their CC Presents comes on and tape it for me...

The fast and the furious

2007-08-09T15:07:00.000-04:00

So, when you are almost the only teacher at school and you need to download some videos, you get between 2 and 3 MB/sec. Rock on!

The (curse of the) billy-goat is getting furiously busy lately. I already mentioned the injury to Alfonso Soriano a few posts ago. Well, the Brewers, who lead the Cubs by 1 game, are in a free fall, so to keep the Cubs out of the play-offs at this point, he's had to go into overdrive. So, instead of calling up our stud outfielder to replace Soriano, we call up someone else who does almost identically the same thing, just not as good (batting about .060 worse). Then, our stud third-baseman, who's leadin the team in RBIs, hurts his hand and has been/will be missing some games. Then, another outfielder goes down, so we finally bring up our stud outfielder, Felix Pie. In last night's game, who do we play against the rightie Roy Oswalt? Neither of the two lefties we just brought up (that would make sense), but the right-handed-hitting Matt Murton, who can't hit right-handed pitching. *sigh* Oh yeah, and our ace gave up 7 earned runs in 5.1 innings. Now we got to Colorado, which has won like 9 or its last 10 home games...

I think it would be really cool if I could somehow title my next post The cast(e) and the curious. Then maybe The bass and the laborious. The past and the pore-eous??? Maybe The last and the laborious. The sass and the soreness? I'll shut up now...

Interesting YouTube thingy

2007-08-09T10:07:00.000-04:00

Found an interesting few parodies on YouTube today (total of six of them). Regardless of whether you think the viewpoints are perfect or 100% theologically sound (at least, in how they're presented), I think it's interesting to see a little rebellion against "religion" like I've talked about before. I think the best one is the one I linked to above...

The billy-goat strikes again

2007-08-06T09:23:00.000-04:00

The Cubs All-Star left fielder, who just signed an 8-year, $130 million dollar contract (or something ridiculously huge like that), pulls up lame trying to go first-to-third on a single during yesterday's game. He strained his quad, and is out for 2 weeks to over a month. So, not only do we kill a rally in an important game last night, but our starting-to-sputter offense is in *a lot* of trouble. We're still only 1 game back of the Brewers, but I've seen this before...

Chinese food

2007-08-01T14:25:00.000-04:00

There were six lucky numbers on the fortune cookie fortune today. Three of them were prime. The other three were:

2^5
5^2
2*5

I seriously need a life...

Seems shady

2007-07-31T17:29:00.000-04:00

I got my first ever filling today. They numbed my mouth area around that tooth, and then they proceed to scrape and scratch until I feel pain. That's actually what the dentist told me after I reacted to actually feeling something in my numb tooth. Great.

Anyway, the doctor told me I have a small mouth. Then he kept talking to me about getting a wisdom tooth pulled, commenting on how hard it will be to do with my small mouth. Since it doesn't really hurt me, it doesn't make the prospect of getting it taken out very high on my priority list, now does it?

Speaking of which, clearly a small mouth makes me more amorous, right?

This is aggravating

2007-07-30T23:27:00.000-04:00

So, I was messing around some with Flickr today, and actually tried to log into my account, which I haven't done in a long long long time. In particular, my standard ID wasn't taken, so I got confused and tried to create it again. Well, that didn't work because of the following error:

>>If you are trying to access your spocktongue Flickr account, please sign in to Yahoo! again with your skadefoso Yahoo! ID.<<

Why would I do this to myself?

For what it's worth, the skadefoso sign in was the right one. *sigh*

I need a life

2007-07-27T10:25:00.000-04:00

We have finally found a skill that Shawn has--rock paper scissors!

Facebook (of the devil) has an RPS application, and it's a fun way to waste some time. Plus, I'm 23 games over .500, so apparently I'm not horrible at it. But, it's nice to have a little bit of fame. :)

Any clearer?

2007-07-26T23:31:00.000-04:00

So, day after my diatribe and little conversation with God, and I have everything solved and figured out.

HA!

Ok, seriously now, I probably am more confused than yesterday. I allowed myself some "me" time today, some "sin" time, and I think it killed a little bit of my momentum from last night and this morning. Some points of clarity, though, that I have reached at this point:

The first point comes from the last sentence of a little packet I read through today: The difference between hearing God's voice and not hearing it is the difference between having a relationshiop with God and just having a religion. I want to hear God's voice. No, I need to hear God's voice. Not that I'm ignoring Him or anything, I'm just not very actual pursuing it. There's that word again--pursue. Not very passive.

Speaking of not passive, prayer group at Sullivan was pretty small today (it'll get to the not passive part soon, I promise). So, I basically brough my guitar and did some singing, and then led the praying. Now, I've been ceding to the more assertive HSers in the group for the most part, keeping it as their group in a lot of ways, but today I couldn't. In particular, most of you probably know how I feel about singing in front of people, especially with no strong vocal to support me (aka Stephanie in Btown). Well, I had to lead, and it went really well. I was on key (gasp) and pretty strong, even on Holy Spirit Rain Down, which was requested since it's currently my favorite song. It was such a blessing, because to sing that song you need a really strong voice to pull it off (preferably female, but I can't really pull that off), and I really felt the Spirit moving while I was singing it. I wonder if the kids noticed?

All that to say, I need to be willing to risk for God. To step out in faith. I have so little of it....I believe, God, help my unbelief. I am so concerned about things like what others think, what my future holds, if I'm prepared enough, how things may affect my life. Things that, ultimately, do not matter. I can be safe, or I can be a man, be a disciple, be a son of God.

Why do I do this when I'm sleepy?

2007-07-25T23:48:00.000-04:00

Today the Cubs won, I hit a 270-yard drive, and all I can think about it the mess inside my head right now. God spoke to me a lot at small group tonight, and then some more through my good buddy who was leading it and who also seems to be going through a lot of the same stuff. I need to try to sort some of it out before I go to bed, so lucky you...

I want to be a man. A real, true man. A God-fearing man. How does one become such a person? I don't really think it's by anything we do, and yet it's completely determined by what we do. Getting married doesn't make me a man. Abstaining from pre-marital sex doesn't make me a man. Having an awesome youth ministry doesn't make me a man. Leading a home church doesn't make me a man. Impacting tons of people (whatever "tons" means) doesn't make me a man. It's something more intrinsic, more basic. Something about the relationship with God. Something about what God is doing in you. Something about what you are willing to do when asked by God.

(lack of segue here) I love Thomas. He's my favorite disciple. I think I can relate to him on a lot of levels. Without delving into a sermon, I'll focus on one incident that I love and God brought back to me tonight. Thomas said, "Unless I see the scars, I won't believe." Jesus showed him the scars. And Thomas responded with: My LORD and my God. How freaking great a response is that!?! He didn't shrug it off, try to save face, go sulk in the back because he was embarrassed, or even shot out a "Praise God!" I think his response was even better than that. I feel like I'm in the "Praise God!" stage right now, which is a good stage, but there's something more. It's too passive, while Thomas' response feels much more proactive/assertive. I want that assertiveness. Being bold, being assertive, even with respect to God, doesn't make me a man. But, a man of God is both of those things.

(ditto the segue thing) I don't like "religion." It seems fake. It is fake. Religion, to me, is a lot of rules and regulations, expectations and being fake/putting on a good face. (editors note: before anyone starts arguing this point with me, make sure you understand what I mean by religion, if it's not clear from what I'm saying so far) I tend to rebel against those kinds of expectations somewhat (some may argue not enough). At least, I feel like I do. But, I can do the same thing to myself. I can put expectations on what it takes me for me to a "good" Christian, to have an appropriate "quiet time," to be a "man of God." In doing so, I'm just creating for myself the same thing that frustrates me.

(segue, take three) I have so much ministry potential right now, so many places where I can impact people. I have so many unanswered questions on my life, ranging from churches (where, how, with whom) to women (who, when) to school. Somehow I need to wade through all the crap, all my expectations for myself, for God, and get rid of it all. Clear it all away and say, "God, it's up to you. I can't do this. You need to give me the direction, and you need to give me the faith to follow that direction, and you need to give me the strength/wisdom/courage/power/etc. to succeed." And somehow, in all of that, I think there's some real masculinity.

(segue four) I'm going to bed.

Golf is....

2007-07-24T22:54:00.000-04:00

...let's go with fickle. Yesterday I hated golf. I went to the driving range and was horrible. I stunk. It was really pathetic. I almost left halfway through the bucket of balls because I was swinging so poorly. Today, golf is pretty cool. I played fairly well, shooting a +2 37 at the Sullivan Elks, our home course for the high school. I made some really nice contact, and didn't really truly mishit any shot. So, guesses on what tomorrow's round is going to look like?

On much less exciting news, I picked up my laptop today, which means that technically I should get started on beginning of the year stuff. Of course, I conveniently left a lot of that stuff in my file cabinet at school....I guess that will buy me a couple of days, right?

Funeral and such

2007-07-19T21:26:00.000-04:00

The funeral for Arthur was really nice, in particular the luncheon afterwards. After eating, we spent almost an hour listening to a bunch of old people who knew him years and years (like 70-90 years) ago tell stories. For those who don't know him, some of these may not seem that cute, but if you did, they are great--I just wanted to get them down.

Arthur came from an interesting family--they were very neat people. In particular, Arthur's mom made sure the driveway of the farm was always clean. The gravel driveway. She actually would sweep the driveway all the time. For instance, if someone was mowing the lawn, she followed the mower, making sure the grass clippings stayed off the driveway. Art's dad was just as fanatical about weeds in the field. If they saw a weed, it got picked. Immediately. If Art or his dad saw a weed in the field, and they were wearing a suit, they would climb the fence, walk out in the field, and pick the weed. All in their suits. This apparently happened frequently, because if you know Art, he always wore a suit, even when at my family's lake cottages.

Arthur was very simple, and didn't desire amenities for the sake of having them. In particular, for the longest time none of their tractors had a cab on them--why do you need that added expense. Well, at one point they needed to get their tractor fixed, and so the tractor store lent them a tractor until they got the old one back. This new tractor had a cab. With air-conditioning. Sure enough, when he got off, a friend asked Art about the new tractor. His response? "You know, I think I might have to get me one of those."

While at Purdue in college, a long time ago, Art had a job at a Kroger. He got paid $3 a week. Rather, that's what he should have gotten paid, but he made a deal with his boss. Instead of the money, he received four boxes of candy bars. He then proceeded to go the frats, selling each candy bar for $.05. The end result? An income of $4.80, a meager return on his investment of 60%.

But, probably my favorite story...

Arthur, in his older years (he was in his mid-80s), learned how to send email. Well, kind of. Using eudora, he could read email and reply to email. He couldn't close an email, though. Eventually, after opening enough emails, the computer gives out, and Art would have to call over a guy from IWU to "fix" the computer. The computer guy didn't mind it, though--his grandfather grew up across the road from Art's family's farm, so he would fix the computer (click on the "x" a bunch of times) in 2 minutes and they would talk for the next 40. Well, Arthur felt bad about continuing to call him over, so one particular Saturday Arthur insisted on paying him for his effort. He helper refused, insisting that he enjoyed the trip and it was really no problem--no money was required. Arthur would not relent, though, and opened his billfold. Now, the worker got a little worried, because Arthur tended to keep a few hundreds in his wallet. Arthur immediately pulls out....$2. Two stinkin' singles. And asks, "Is that fair?" Chuckling to himself, the helper guy reiterates, saying "Really, anything you pay me is more than enough--it's not a problem at all." So Arthur took a buck back, and then insisted on the guy take it. He left Art's condo $1 richer. :)

So, in case you've made it through this essay (really a collection of short stories), I do have a question for you, and that is this: how bad of a fashion faux pas did I commit at the funeral? (I would like to add that it's really fun to use the word faux pas in a sentence) I forgot that dressing up for a funeral is not shirt and tie, like it normally is for me, but rather a suit. My suit was left in Terre Haute. So, while the other 5 pallbearers (two words? hyphened?) were all wearing black suits with white shirts, I was wearing a black shirt with gray slacks. I felt a little self-conscious, especially since my parents weren't present and so I was the eldest representative of my family (my younger brother was also there, in a black suit with a white shirt).

I think this post may crash the blogspot system...

The sacrifice fly

2007-07-14T22:33:00.000-04:00

As the Cubs are playing the best baseball in the Majors (at least, until I wrote that) and only 3.5 games behind the division-leading Brewers, in the dead of the summer with no other sports going on, you have to indulge the quirkiness of this great game.

So here you go. I think my favorite part is that Mickey Mantle has 47 career sacrifice flies, while Neifi Perez have 46 career sacrifice flies. How crazy is that?

My fishies and my bees

2007-07-14T13:34:00.000-04:00

My fishies did not make it. After some deliberation, a friend suggested they may have suffocated (???), so I tried again with a four fish yesterday and my generator circulating the water. The result?

Umm....not sure. As it turns out, there are currently no fish in the pond. I can't find them anywhere. The pond isn't very big, and there's not really any place to hide. So how do four fish completely disappear?

Also, I spent some more time building up the "dam" in the ditch, and as I was walking back and forth some, I got stung. Twice. Once in each leg. So now I have swollen legs that itch like crazy (that means they're healing, right?). Is there anything you can do to make them feel better and/or heal better?

Wiped Out

2007-07-11T13:36:00.000-04:00

Word of advice for any of you out there crazy enough to think about doing this: if you want to play 18 holes of golf, work on your yard for about 4 hours in the afternoon, and play 4 games of basketball at open gym, don't. I am exhausted. And hungry. And tired. And sore. And I have no energy.

So, of course, I'm going to open gym again tonight. :)

But, on the positive side of things, the little pond behind my house is now really really clean. So clean, in fact, that I put a few fishies in there, just to see what'll happen. I've always wanted an aquarium, and now I (kind of) have one. We'll see if I'm actually able to sustain their population, and if there's enough algae in there to support the algae-eater. I love fishies.