Stranded!

I've been in Grand Rapids the past few days (see my other blog for more info.). It was a fine few days, but much to my chagrin, I'm still here. That's right, I got up at 4:40 am and drudged off to the airport only to discover that my flight had been cancelled due to fog. So now I'm stuck here until 3:30 pm. Ugh.

I came here full of good intentions, of course. I was going to finish this week's sermon and get started on next weeks. Finish the four books that have been staring me down for the last month. Prepare for my adult ed class on Sunday. Read the Bible through in a single sitting. Oh, the mighty plans I had.

But, needless to say, few of them came to fruition. Somehow, I found other things to occupy my time. I got caught up in my novel. Chatted with old friends. Adjusted my glasses (new frames last week are still driving me nuts). And, oh yeah, watched cable TV.

I used to want cable. Secretly, of course. In fact, Jill and I used to have a "deal" (I'm not sure how serious either of us where) that if we made x amount of dollars we could get cable. I don't know if we've crossed that magic line yet or not (I don' think so), but we have made a choice not to get cable in our home. This week, I was reminded of at least three reasons why I'm glad we made that choice. (And pardon me if I sound like a real snob here--don't want to be one of "those people" who says, "Sure, I watch TV--did you see that new episode of Nova last night on PBS?). Here they are in, descending order:

3. Espn2/Espn Classic--Okay, I'm sure its hard to find sporting material to fill all 18 Espn channels (they could try bike racing, but I digress). But seriously. Turn on ESPN2 and you know what you get? Poker. Yeah, you heard me. Poker. What's next, Nascar? (Oh, wait...). And you know what was on ESPN Classic? An episode of "American Gladiator" from the mid 80s. At least there is some physical activity involved there (and some impressive mullets), but give me a break.

2. VH1--it's depressing to me that as a culture, we actually care so much about so-and-so's divorce/shopping habits/weight gain/weight loss. Even more depressing is that many of the shows on this channel make "Paradise Hotel" look tasteful.

1. "The Pussy Cat Dolls." Do I really need to say more?

Will Power

Saturday morning I headed out to Golden for a little ride. My goal was to ride up Lookout Mountain, which I eventually did (10 miles, 2000 ft. of climbing). But as I wheezed my way up one switchback after another, I couldn't help but think that things might be slightly easier if I lost the little Pastor's Paunch. So I resolved to eat better--I even thought about giving up ice cream.

Well, it only took until Saturday night for my resolve to crumble. We (Jill, me, and pal Pico who's visiting for the weekend) went to a Rockies Game (Hooray for $4 "Rockpile" seats!). Below are pictures of our supper. Needless to say, not a real good start on the "eat right, eat healthy etc..".

Mmmm. Nachos.

That's about 4.5 lbs of cheese, sourcream, and other "product."

24 Hours Later, I can assure one does not eat all that cheese product/jalapenos without consequence. The wages of nachos is....never mind.

There's a hotdog under there somewhere...

I asked Jill for permission to post this picture. I'm not really sure why she gave it to me.

A not so full house at Coors Field.

One of THOSE People

CL reminded me the other day that I haven't updated my blog in a while. He said (as I remember it): "You never update that thing. You're turning into one of those people."

He's right, of course. I haven't updated in a few weeks (especially if you don't count gratuitous Youtube content). And I don't have an excuse. It's not that I've been getting a tremendous amount of reading done (you'll notice the book list hasn't changed in a few weeks), or that I've been terribly overworked at church (on the contrary, I feel like I haven't as productive as I'd like the last few weeks), or that I've been spending two hours a day on the bike (let's not talk about that). Again, no excuses. I'm just one of those people.

I was thinking about that today--about how I've become one of "those people" that I said I'd never be. It's been on my mind for at least a good five minutes now because I've come to realize that it's happening in other areas of my life other places too. Proof? Twice a day I go out the door with a dog and a plastic bag. Oh, the indignity of it all. But let's not talk about that either.

Better proof is the fact that I've spent too much time the last few days investigating cell phone plans. That's right. A cell phone. It looks I'll soon be stepping into the year 2001. And then I'll be one of those people going 47 mph in a 65 mph zone, swerving erratically in between lanes, talking at a ridiculous volumes in restaurants about the rash I've got under my arms, or calling my wife every three minutes from the grocery store so that she can tell me what kind of apples to buy, then what grade of ground beef, then what flavor of cheese?

Sheesh. What's next? I'll cry when Sanjya finally gets voted off American Idol?

Well, at least I'm not the only one going downhill. Jill discovered ebay the other night. But more on that another time.

dirty preacher

In a lame attempt to update my blog at least onece a week, I'm posting somebody elses video. But it IS at least vaguely related to my life. Last Sunday, I was trying to talk about a woman's "dress" and ended up saying "bress." Of course, all the dirty minds in my congregation thought I said something else. But on the bright side, I think I handled it better than this guy.
PS: Too "edgy" for the church blog?