I Made A Whopping $5.75 at my garage sale this weekend. It took me two hours to sort through my stuff, haul it downstairs, and arrange it in the driveway. I sat there from 8:45am all the way to approximately 3pm (so, roughly 6 hours). And then it took me another hour, or so, to clean up. So... that's approximately $.67 an hour!
Wow!
I am completely underwhelmed!
Clearly I either need to get better junk, or I need to rethink my finance strategy. Then again, I thought for sure that there were several interested buyers who looked at my stuff and started calculating the financing and how to afford such rare artifacts, but then this glassy film spread over their eyes as God hardened their hearts and they turned and walked away. If God makes getting me to Africa too easy, it will not serve to glorify His name! ;)
(I'm hoping sarcasm isn't a mortal sin... Nope... no lightning bolts!)
No, but seriously, Saturday was fine for what it was. It was absolutely gorgeous outside and my house was in the shade for the first five hours. I could sit out front on my garden chair and hang out with my family and talk to my neighbors and friends like Andy who stopped by. It was almost too nice to have a garage sale. And after the garage sale I had a very lightly attended Burrito Night which was about as successful as the garage sale, in both ways - disappointing by results, but absolutely wonderful for what it was. The food was awesome and the company was great. Sometimes we have to look beyond what we hoped for and just enjoy what is.
I figure $5.75 pays for the gas to the airport. I can't check bags yet, and I can't get past the security checkpoint. But I can at least watch everyone else fly off to Africa. Only $3594.25 left to go! Whoohoo!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Politics - Where We Part Company, Mr. President
This is where I part company with President Obama. I believe that his proposed Universal Health Care idea is deeply flawed and potentially disastrous - not as a matter of concept, but merely as a matter of execution. He should realize that he doesn't quite have the solution yet, and back off on it until he does. A truly good solution will find supporters on both sides.
The problem, as I see it, is that by in essence creating a governmental overlay on a deeply flawed system, you are not encouraging the system to be corrected - you are merely enforcing its flaws and making them worse by throwing tax payer money at it. The problem with the health care system is not the doctors or the technology. We have the finest health care system in the world. But we also have the most expensive. Making health care mandatory doesn't make health care more affordable, it makes it less affordable by driving up the costs of basic goods and services. Don't agree?
Let's look at what government backed student loans have done for college tuition fees over the last thirty years. When tuition was high and college was seen as an elite luxury for the upper middle class and wealthy, the US government started guaranteeing student loans. As more people were able to afford college, the attendance increased, and the costs increased as well. The more people who went to college, the more expensive it got, and the more watered down the value of a college degree became. Its to the point now where parents have to save almost all their lives just to insure that their children can attend a college in order to get a degree that has become mandatory and increasingly worthless. The only ones profiting from such expansion the college system are those who finance them. We've taken a system that was designed for those who could afford it and we've guaranteed with tax dollars that everyone could receive it without first creating a system where we could control the costs, and as a result, the costs have skyrocketed.
If the government guarantees medical coverage by offering government backed insurance, then there will be no one to stop medical companies from raising their costs. The only thing keeping medical costs in check now is that the costs have to be somewhat realistic in terms of supply and demand. With guaranteed money out there, the medical companies can raise their costs and expect that the government will cover any difference between what you can afford and what they charge. Where's the pressure to keep costs down? There will be none because all of the money will be guaranteed by Uncle Sam.
And this lie about letting everyone keep their current insurance coverage? Sure, you'll be able to keep it. Until the costs for that insurance sky-rocket and you're forced to go with the cheaper government option because that's all you can afford. So, in the end, the system will right itself and those that can afford good medical benefits will get good medical coverage, and those that can't, will not. How is that any different than what we have now? Well, the major difference is that with this new plan, medical companies will become rich off of tax payer's money.
Let's face it, any plan for universal health coverage that doesn't also include some way to control high medical costs is a disaster waiting to happen. And that's why I can't support the President on this program.
He needs to go back to square one.
The problem, as I see it, is that by in essence creating a governmental overlay on a deeply flawed system, you are not encouraging the system to be corrected - you are merely enforcing its flaws and making them worse by throwing tax payer money at it. The problem with the health care system is not the doctors or the technology. We have the finest health care system in the world. But we also have the most expensive. Making health care mandatory doesn't make health care more affordable, it makes it less affordable by driving up the costs of basic goods and services. Don't agree?
Let's look at what government backed student loans have done for college tuition fees over the last thirty years. When tuition was high and college was seen as an elite luxury for the upper middle class and wealthy, the US government started guaranteeing student loans. As more people were able to afford college, the attendance increased, and the costs increased as well. The more people who went to college, the more expensive it got, and the more watered down the value of a college degree became. Its to the point now where parents have to save almost all their lives just to insure that their children can attend a college in order to get a degree that has become mandatory and increasingly worthless. The only ones profiting from such expansion the college system are those who finance them. We've taken a system that was designed for those who could afford it and we've guaranteed with tax dollars that everyone could receive it without first creating a system where we could control the costs, and as a result, the costs have skyrocketed.
If the government guarantees medical coverage by offering government backed insurance, then there will be no one to stop medical companies from raising their costs. The only thing keeping medical costs in check now is that the costs have to be somewhat realistic in terms of supply and demand. With guaranteed money out there, the medical companies can raise their costs and expect that the government will cover any difference between what you can afford and what they charge. Where's the pressure to keep costs down? There will be none because all of the money will be guaranteed by Uncle Sam.
And this lie about letting everyone keep their current insurance coverage? Sure, you'll be able to keep it. Until the costs for that insurance sky-rocket and you're forced to go with the cheaper government option because that's all you can afford. So, in the end, the system will right itself and those that can afford good medical benefits will get good medical coverage, and those that can't, will not. How is that any different than what we have now? Well, the major difference is that with this new plan, medical companies will become rich off of tax payer's money.
Let's face it, any plan for universal health coverage that doesn't also include some way to control high medical costs is a disaster waiting to happen. And that's why I can't support the President on this program.
He needs to go back to square one.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Give a man a fish...
I learned something this weekend. Give a man a bowl of macaroni salad and he'll eat for five minutes, but let him make his own macaroni salad dish, and it'll last fifteen minutes!
Apparently, I'm something of a Macaroni Salad Savant. While other kids my age were going to Seven Eleven (a convenience store like AM/PM or Circle K) to buy Big Gulps and Nachos and Dorito's, I went to the store for a container of Bob Ostrow's Macaroni Salad. I've always loved Macaroni Salad and can eat an entire bowl of the stuff myself - no problem. But until this weekend, I'd never challenged myself to make it. I've never had to.
In our neighborhood growing up there was Herb's Deli that made the absolute best Macaroni Salad (very creamy with loads of pimento)... okay, second best, cause the first best was at this deli called Bill's Deli in West Portal that, unfortunately, closed about six months after I discovered their mac salad. Anyway, for most of my life, there was Herb's as number one salad. But a close second (third?) was my step-mom's recipe. When Herb's closed (and Bill's), my step-mom's recipe became the number one recipe. However, convincing her to make Mac Salad is a hard thing to do. She makes it about twice a year and not always with the same gusto - so you might get a really good batch once a year. It was good enough, though, to satiate me for an entire year.
However, as I've been preparing recipes for a potential Hot Dog stand, I decided to try my hand at creating a serviceable Macaroni Salad that I could cook. It wouldn't be as good as my step-mom's, of course, but I thought if I could make it close, it would help the hot dog stand.
So, after putting out the bowl yesterday, I watched as my brother, sister, and Mom ate a bowl of the stuff. Their reactions were tepid and even though the salad had tasted okay to me I thought maybe I had a dud on my hands. Not wanting to get stuck with an entire bowl of salad, I told my family that I didn't want any leftovers and to help themselves. Ten minutes later, the salad bowl was empty.
Either I've created the pasta equivalent of crack cocaine, or else I just hit a macaroni salad nerve. Either way, I was very encouraged by the response. But since I'd siphoned off a little for myself for lunch today, I was even more encouraged by the fact that the leftovers were just as good as the original batch. This stuff rocks!
I will be hard pressed to keep from making Macaroni Salad now whenever the desire hits me. And already, I'm contemplating a way to raise funds for my trip to Kenya - one crackalicious bowl of Mac Salad at a time.
Speaking of Kenya and food and feeding, my Kenya Children's Mission Group sent off our first donations to the various programs in Meru last week. I just finished reading the responses from these very happy and thankful people and I am hooked. Not because I feel like some sort of hero for doing this - on the contrary, I am frustrated that I don't have MORE to give - but because I was allowed to be a part of God's great plan in Africa. Hearing that response was the same to me as when I finished five days of work building a monster playground and got to watch the kids run around on it. The kids didn't need to thank me. Their smiles and shrieks of laughter and total excitement was more payment that I could ever hope to receive. To Him be the glory, now and forever!
All this is preamble to remind everyone that this Saturday at my house is the Fifteenth Annual Burrito Night! Every year, on one special day, I host a Burrito Night Foodraiser! The task is simple. You come. You bring a topping. You eat Burritos! And eat. And eat. And eat! The COST of admission, however, is what makes the event special - a Food Donation for the San Francisco Food Bank. Because Nobody Goes Hungry on Burrito Night! (And that includes my dogs who look forward to this event all year! ;)
Like each of the last three years, my brother is running the grill and he's like a grilled meat savant. He can do amazing things with steak, chicken, and sausage. So, as usual, we'll have steak, chicken, sausage, beef and (maybe) shrimp, as well as all the fixings, sides, and wraps you can imagine. Please come by, have a burrito, and go home stuffed!
Oh, and please bring a donation for the Food Bank!
15th Annual Burrito Night
Pacifica, CA
(write for directions)
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
6pm - 8pm
Apparently, I'm something of a Macaroni Salad Savant. While other kids my age were going to Seven Eleven (a convenience store like AM/PM or Circle K) to buy Big Gulps and Nachos and Dorito's, I went to the store for a container of Bob Ostrow's Macaroni Salad. I've always loved Macaroni Salad and can eat an entire bowl of the stuff myself - no problem. But until this weekend, I'd never challenged myself to make it. I've never had to.
In our neighborhood growing up there was Herb's Deli that made the absolute best Macaroni Salad (very creamy with loads of pimento)... okay, second best, cause the first best was at this deli called Bill's Deli in West Portal that, unfortunately, closed about six months after I discovered their mac salad. Anyway, for most of my life, there was Herb's as number one salad. But a close second (third?) was my step-mom's recipe. When Herb's closed (and Bill's), my step-mom's recipe became the number one recipe. However, convincing her to make Mac Salad is a hard thing to do. She makes it about twice a year and not always with the same gusto - so you might get a really good batch once a year. It was good enough, though, to satiate me for an entire year.
However, as I've been preparing recipes for a potential Hot Dog stand, I decided to try my hand at creating a serviceable Macaroni Salad that I could cook. It wouldn't be as good as my step-mom's, of course, but I thought if I could make it close, it would help the hot dog stand.
So, after putting out the bowl yesterday, I watched as my brother, sister, and Mom ate a bowl of the stuff. Their reactions were tepid and even though the salad had tasted okay to me I thought maybe I had a dud on my hands. Not wanting to get stuck with an entire bowl of salad, I told my family that I didn't want any leftovers and to help themselves. Ten minutes later, the salad bowl was empty.
Either I've created the pasta equivalent of crack cocaine, or else I just hit a macaroni salad nerve. Either way, I was very encouraged by the response. But since I'd siphoned off a little for myself for lunch today, I was even more encouraged by the fact that the leftovers were just as good as the original batch. This stuff rocks!
I will be hard pressed to keep from making Macaroni Salad now whenever the desire hits me. And already, I'm contemplating a way to raise funds for my trip to Kenya - one crackalicious bowl of Mac Salad at a time.
Speaking of Kenya and food and feeding, my Kenya Children's Mission Group sent off our first donations to the various programs in Meru last week. I just finished reading the responses from these very happy and thankful people and I am hooked. Not because I feel like some sort of hero for doing this - on the contrary, I am frustrated that I don't have MORE to give - but because I was allowed to be a part of God's great plan in Africa. Hearing that response was the same to me as when I finished five days of work building a monster playground and got to watch the kids run around on it. The kids didn't need to thank me. Their smiles and shrieks of laughter and total excitement was more payment that I could ever hope to receive. To Him be the glory, now and forever!
All this is preamble to remind everyone that this Saturday at my house is the Fifteenth Annual Burrito Night! Every year, on one special day, I host a Burrito Night Foodraiser! The task is simple. You come. You bring a topping. You eat Burritos! And eat. And eat. And eat! The COST of admission, however, is what makes the event special - a Food Donation for the San Francisco Food Bank. Because Nobody Goes Hungry on Burrito Night! (And that includes my dogs who look forward to this event all year! ;)
Like each of the last three years, my brother is running the grill and he's like a grilled meat savant. He can do amazing things with steak, chicken, and sausage. So, as usual, we'll have steak, chicken, sausage, beef and (maybe) shrimp, as well as all the fixings, sides, and wraps you can imagine. Please come by, have a burrito, and go home stuffed!
Oh, and please bring a donation for the Food Bank!
15th Annual Burrito Night
Pacifica, CA
(write for directions)
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
6pm - 8pm
Friday, June 19, 2009
Pre-Production Begins on Dane!
This morning I received the final pages of the Dane script. For the last month or so, Andrew Navarro and I have been writing up a storm as we've taken the synopsis and fleshed it out into a full fledged script. We've had some stumbles along the way, but nowhere near as many as we did on the Twelve Step Jedi script. Overall, this is one heck of a good script. Can it be improved? Sure. And we've got five weeks to do that. But, in the meantime, it's good to go. And I can't wait for you all to see it on the screen.
So now begins the process called pre-production. Over the next five weeks we need to cast the movie, crew the movie, find locations, get costumes, get money, get equipment, figure out the logistics, etc... so that we can start shooting on the weekend of July 24th (one year to the day since we started shooting Twelve Step Jedi).
Because we have many different locations on this particular film, we won't have a single long shoot of 10 to 12 days, but will have to spread out the shooting over several weekends. Every weekend, we'll try to shoot at as many locations as possible - though certain locations may take more than one weekend to finish shooting. We're going to start breaking down locations to determine what exactly we need, but if any of you know of a wide open space that nobody is using and would be perfect for set construction, please let me know.
While I don't have an exact number of pages yet, the film looks to be between 80 and 90 minutes long, and has a fairly decent sized cast made up of mostly small (single weekend) parts. But there are a small group of characters who are in just about every scene. We're locking those actors in now and will start looking to fill the other parts later.
For my part, I need to lock down the script, then break it down logistically, then budget it, then get it funded, then find a crew, then actually prepare to make the film. There's a lot of work ahead for me, but I'm not worried because I can already see the end product in my mind... and Dane is going to kick some serious booty!
So now begins the process called pre-production. Over the next five weeks we need to cast the movie, crew the movie, find locations, get costumes, get money, get equipment, figure out the logistics, etc... so that we can start shooting on the weekend of July 24th (one year to the day since we started shooting Twelve Step Jedi).
Because we have many different locations on this particular film, we won't have a single long shoot of 10 to 12 days, but will have to spread out the shooting over several weekends. Every weekend, we'll try to shoot at as many locations as possible - though certain locations may take more than one weekend to finish shooting. We're going to start breaking down locations to determine what exactly we need, but if any of you know of a wide open space that nobody is using and would be perfect for set construction, please let me know.
While I don't have an exact number of pages yet, the film looks to be between 80 and 90 minutes long, and has a fairly decent sized cast made up of mostly small (single weekend) parts. But there are a small group of characters who are in just about every scene. We're locking those actors in now and will start looking to fill the other parts later.
For my part, I need to lock down the script, then break it down logistically, then budget it, then get it funded, then find a crew, then actually prepare to make the film. There's a lot of work ahead for me, but I'm not worried because I can already see the end product in my mind... and Dane is going to kick some serious booty!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
On Turning 40 - Part Two - "Letting Things Go"
I've decided that I will never be a professional baseball player. As things go, this was a relatively easy decision to come to. I've also decided that I will never compete in a grueling Eco-Challenge. Unless things drastically change, I will probably never climb Half-Dome, nor Mt. Kilimanjaro (though there is still hope of summiting Mt. Kenya) - and I don't know why that hurts.
Through much of the first 20 years of our life, our perception of the length and breadth of the world is controlled by our surroundings. If we come from a well-off family, our perception might include skiing in Vale, yearly trips to Europe, and a boarding school on the East Coast, but probably doesn't include slums. If we're middle -class and well traveled, we might have a more pedestrian view of much the same things, but we probably had to work harder to see that world. If we're poor, often, our view of the world is limited to an area around where we grew up.
But once we become "adults" our perception of the world changes and at some point, we realize that the only boundaries on our world are the ones we create for ourselves. I know people that have literally traveled to every single corner of this globe. But beyond travel, our perception of opportunities also open up. We feel that there is no reason why we might not some day walk on the moon, or climb Mt. Everest, or learn how to scuba dive, or swim with dolphins.
Of course, the hard realities of growing up is that those things cost money, and time, and dedication and there are other resources in our life that clamor for those things as well. As much as we'd like to do them all, reality tells us that we will have to pick and choose... or delay.
I've always felt that eventually I would get to those tasks - that I would gain that adventure - someday. But 40 has made me start to reevaluate my life. Odds are that I only have another 40 years or so to go, and I want to make the most of those 40 years. I don't want to wait for adventure to find me, I want to seek it out.
Kenya is part of this, to be sure. But so is making films. One of the things I said about making the film last year was that no matter what, on my 40th birthday, I would be able to look back and say, "Last year at this time, I was making my first movie."
So looking for things to do and then doing them is part of this equation, but there is the other part of it as well. Looking at things that maybe I once thought about doing and have always kept in the back of my mind as possibilities, and letting them go. Fwoosh! Goodbye...
No more Ultimate Sequels, Andy. ;) Probably never going to be the full fledged President of a major studio. Will likely never work for Disney. Not going to ever run for President. Losing all desire for ever having kids (but will certainly work to make sure all the abandoned ones are loved and taken care of).
And also, saying goodbye to things in my past. I sent a Happy Birthday notice to my ex today and made sure to note that it would be my last communication with her. Goodbye. High School was fun, but it ended years ago and I have little desire to see anyone from that era that I don't already see. Goodbye. Youth Group... time to let the younger people figure that one out. Adios.
So, its time to embrace the new and throw out the old. I'm going to get to a serious cleaning of my attic this weekend. I'm getting rid of all the old books that I have yet to get around to reading and never will. I'm throwing away the nostalgia that means nothing to me now (if it ever did) and all the little knickknacks from years past that are doing wonders clogging up space in my closet. If I can figure out a way to convert these things into cash for my trip to Kenya, even better. If not, then hello recycling center or Goodwill.
I'm not going to throw away my past, just unclutter it. With all that junk taking up space, I just have no room for new things. And I've got another 40 years of stuff to accumulate - adventures, relationships, and memories.
Goodbye past, hello future.
Through much of the first 20 years of our life, our perception of the length and breadth of the world is controlled by our surroundings. If we come from a well-off family, our perception might include skiing in Vale, yearly trips to Europe, and a boarding school on the East Coast, but probably doesn't include slums. If we're middle -class and well traveled, we might have a more pedestrian view of much the same things, but we probably had to work harder to see that world. If we're poor, often, our view of the world is limited to an area around where we grew up.
But once we become "adults" our perception of the world changes and at some point, we realize that the only boundaries on our world are the ones we create for ourselves. I know people that have literally traveled to every single corner of this globe. But beyond travel, our perception of opportunities also open up. We feel that there is no reason why we might not some day walk on the moon, or climb Mt. Everest, or learn how to scuba dive, or swim with dolphins.
Of course, the hard realities of growing up is that those things cost money, and time, and dedication and there are other resources in our life that clamor for those things as well. As much as we'd like to do them all, reality tells us that we will have to pick and choose... or delay.
I've always felt that eventually I would get to those tasks - that I would gain that adventure - someday. But 40 has made me start to reevaluate my life. Odds are that I only have another 40 years or so to go, and I want to make the most of those 40 years. I don't want to wait for adventure to find me, I want to seek it out.
Kenya is part of this, to be sure. But so is making films. One of the things I said about making the film last year was that no matter what, on my 40th birthday, I would be able to look back and say, "Last year at this time, I was making my first movie."
So looking for things to do and then doing them is part of this equation, but there is the other part of it as well. Looking at things that maybe I once thought about doing and have always kept in the back of my mind as possibilities, and letting them go. Fwoosh! Goodbye...
No more Ultimate Sequels, Andy. ;) Probably never going to be the full fledged President of a major studio. Will likely never work for Disney. Not going to ever run for President. Losing all desire for ever having kids (but will certainly work to make sure all the abandoned ones are loved and taken care of).
And also, saying goodbye to things in my past. I sent a Happy Birthday notice to my ex today and made sure to note that it would be my last communication with her. Goodbye. High School was fun, but it ended years ago and I have little desire to see anyone from that era that I don't already see. Goodbye. Youth Group... time to let the younger people figure that one out. Adios.
So, its time to embrace the new and throw out the old. I'm going to get to a serious cleaning of my attic this weekend. I'm getting rid of all the old books that I have yet to get around to reading and never will. I'm throwing away the nostalgia that means nothing to me now (if it ever did) and all the little knickknacks from years past that are doing wonders clogging up space in my closet. If I can figure out a way to convert these things into cash for my trip to Kenya, even better. If not, then hello recycling center or Goodwill.
I'm not going to throw away my past, just unclutter it. With all that junk taking up space, I just have no room for new things. And I've got another 40 years of stuff to accumulate - adventures, relationships, and memories.
Goodbye past, hello future.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
When is funny, not funny...
I have been fascinated by this Letterman/Palin thing since the beginning because I'm still not entirely sure what it all means. In my heart, as a cynic, having watched Palin's pathetic attempt to turn herself into a media darling, I believe the outrage to be mostly political in nature. Palin saw an opportunity and has exploited it. But having been on the Letterman end of that outrage before, I can't ascribe to that position completely.
When I was in High School, a female friend of mine and teammate on the swimming team suddenly started giving me the cold shoulder. I was completely perplexed. Using the High School grapevine, I tried to find out why she was behaving this way, only to discover that all the women that talked to her also started giving me the cold shoulder.
"How could you say that to her?" They would ask me.
"What?"
"You know what you said!" They would reply.
Now, I knew these people and knew that they weren't trying to gain an upper hand or anything in some sort of strange High School Politics game. They were genuinely outraged by some comment or comments I had made about this female friend of mine. I racked my brain and racked my brain, but for the life of me, I had no idea what I'd said. And no amount of pleading my innocence gave me any inroads. No amount of trying to pass it off, or letting it lie, made it go away.
Finally, I did the only thing I could think of, I apologized to the girl and begged her forgiveness. "I don't know what I said to offend you, but I never meant to hurt you. Please forgive me."
We eventually went back to being friends, and to tell you the truth, to this day I have NO idea what I said - but apparently it was received the wrong way.
Letterman got it right last night on his show when he said that he realized it was all about perception. A joke is only funny when both parties think its funny. If the other party perceives it as an insult, no amount of saying, "It was only a joke," will ever work to mollify that party. The only thing to do at that point, no matter what your intention was in the first place, is to take ownership of the comment and apologize for having said it.
Still, I have to say, this rabid "protest" that has been going on with people organizing protests and calling for Letterman's head, strikes me as a somewhat civil version of organizing the masses for post-election violence. Our side was offended, our side was hurt, therefore let's get the rabble-rousers out there to stir up trouble. We have got to get past this witch hunt mentality in this country. There are too many more important things to worry about.
P.S. I did just have the thought that Palin's camp was in trouble earlier for demanding the firing of a former ex-husband of someone in the family. And when that firing didn't occur immediately, allegedly, newly appointed Governor Palin had that person fired. So, perhaps the calls for the head of David Letterman fall into this camp. I don't know. Just a thought...
When I was in High School, a female friend of mine and teammate on the swimming team suddenly started giving me the cold shoulder. I was completely perplexed. Using the High School grapevine, I tried to find out why she was behaving this way, only to discover that all the women that talked to her also started giving me the cold shoulder.
"How could you say that to her?" They would ask me.
"What?"
"You know what you said!" They would reply.
Now, I knew these people and knew that they weren't trying to gain an upper hand or anything in some sort of strange High School Politics game. They were genuinely outraged by some comment or comments I had made about this female friend of mine. I racked my brain and racked my brain, but for the life of me, I had no idea what I'd said. And no amount of pleading my innocence gave me any inroads. No amount of trying to pass it off, or letting it lie, made it go away.
Finally, I did the only thing I could think of, I apologized to the girl and begged her forgiveness. "I don't know what I said to offend you, but I never meant to hurt you. Please forgive me."
We eventually went back to being friends, and to tell you the truth, to this day I have NO idea what I said - but apparently it was received the wrong way.
Letterman got it right last night on his show when he said that he realized it was all about perception. A joke is only funny when both parties think its funny. If the other party perceives it as an insult, no amount of saying, "It was only a joke," will ever work to mollify that party. The only thing to do at that point, no matter what your intention was in the first place, is to take ownership of the comment and apologize for having said it.
Still, I have to say, this rabid "protest" that has been going on with people organizing protests and calling for Letterman's head, strikes me as a somewhat civil version of organizing the masses for post-election violence. Our side was offended, our side was hurt, therefore let's get the rabble-rousers out there to stir up trouble. We have got to get past this witch hunt mentality in this country. There are too many more important things to worry about.
P.S. I did just have the thought that Palin's camp was in trouble earlier for demanding the firing of a former ex-husband of someone in the family. And when that firing didn't occur immediately, allegedly, newly appointed Governor Palin had that person fired. So, perhaps the calls for the head of David Letterman fall into this camp. I don't know. Just a thought...
Monday, June 15, 2009
And then I rested...
Yesterday, I delivered a sermon at my church. My hats off to anyone who has to do this week in, week out. I've been writing since I was in second grade, and that was easily the second most grueling thing I've ever written. I can't imagine trying to do this every week. Though I think the sermon went well, God willing, it'll be my last.
Okay, I'll amend that last statement... if I do another sermon, it really will be a Sing-A-Long sermon.
I chose to write a sermon about the various journey's we all take in life and how God likes to throw obstacles in our path so that he can challenge us, but also so that we make tighter bonds with one another and also with God. It began with a brief overview of various family vacations before it went on to discuss the various aspects of a journey - the call, the preparation, the departure, the setbacks, the arrival, and the aftermath. As I spoke about the various steps of the journey and how they've affected my own sojourn through life, I used illustrations from the Exodus to make my point. So, for instance, in the call, I talked about how God called Moses to free his people from Pharoah, and then I explained how God called me to join the Navy. In Preparations, I noted how God used the plagues to not only punish the Egyptians but also to prepare the Israelites to leave. Then I deftly explained how the 1983 Youth Group of Lakeside used their preparation for the trip to Alamosa Colorado to get to know one another better. So on, and so forth... In the arrival section, I used an illustration to explain timing - how the Israelites rejected the Promised Land at first and had to go back out into the desert for 40 more years of seasoning - and then noted how I'd also been sent back out into the wilderness for some twenty years before I was allowed to finally go to Film School.
Some of the comments I received afterwards were rather nice - one woman telling me how she felt touched at a particular section as it illuminated a similar section of her own life. Many were especially moved by my concluding section, which explained how I'd been called to go to Kenya (as already related here at ICON a month ago). I never once was able to practice that section without feeling the Spirit flow through me and I felt it again as I read it in church. Since it deals with hearing the call of God in your own life, I was rather hoping that it did move other people to listen to God's call. If I had any part of that, God used my sermon for His purposes.
Ironically, after nearly four weeks of preparation, thought, and writing, I think the thing that I liked the most was the last thing I conceived that morning - my very simple prayer that opened my sermon. Lord, not my words, but your words; not my thoughts, but your thoughts. May the people hear you in all that I say here. Amen.
Amen, indeed.
Okay, I'll amend that last statement... if I do another sermon, it really will be a Sing-A-Long sermon.
I chose to write a sermon about the various journey's we all take in life and how God likes to throw obstacles in our path so that he can challenge us, but also so that we make tighter bonds with one another and also with God. It began with a brief overview of various family vacations before it went on to discuss the various aspects of a journey - the call, the preparation, the departure, the setbacks, the arrival, and the aftermath. As I spoke about the various steps of the journey and how they've affected my own sojourn through life, I used illustrations from the Exodus to make my point. So, for instance, in the call, I talked about how God called Moses to free his people from Pharoah, and then I explained how God called me to join the Navy. In Preparations, I noted how God used the plagues to not only punish the Egyptians but also to prepare the Israelites to leave. Then I deftly explained how the 1983 Youth Group of Lakeside used their preparation for the trip to Alamosa Colorado to get to know one another better. So on, and so forth... In the arrival section, I used an illustration to explain timing - how the Israelites rejected the Promised Land at first and had to go back out into the desert for 40 more years of seasoning - and then noted how I'd also been sent back out into the wilderness for some twenty years before I was allowed to finally go to Film School.
Some of the comments I received afterwards were rather nice - one woman telling me how she felt touched at a particular section as it illuminated a similar section of her own life. Many were especially moved by my concluding section, which explained how I'd been called to go to Kenya (as already related here at ICON a month ago). I never once was able to practice that section without feeling the Spirit flow through me and I felt it again as I read it in church. Since it deals with hearing the call of God in your own life, I was rather hoping that it did move other people to listen to God's call. If I had any part of that, God used my sermon for His purposes.
Ironically, after nearly four weeks of preparation, thought, and writing, I think the thing that I liked the most was the last thing I conceived that morning - my very simple prayer that opened my sermon. Lord, not my words, but your words; not my thoughts, but your thoughts. May the people hear you in all that I say here. Amen.
Amen, indeed.
Friday, June 12, 2009
LOST
Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Unemployment, Global Warming, Health Care, Corporate Greed, Foreclosures...
On the other hand...
Bad Taste Jokes, Potentially racist statements, torture is okay, half my party isn't conservative enough...
Is it any wonder nobody's listening to the formerly grand party? Have they really descended to such a level of inane blather? And are there really people out there not only listening to them, but agreeing with them?
The Democrats are not a perfect party - far from it - but they seem to at least take the job seriously. I suggest the other party kick out all those who refuse to do the same and reclaim some of their not-so-far-past glory.
We're in too much doodoo to listen to people who are offended by talk show hosts bad jokes. Be offended. Then move on. Quit trying to distract the American people from their real problems.
On the other hand...
Bad Taste Jokes, Potentially racist statements, torture is okay, half my party isn't conservative enough...
Is it any wonder nobody's listening to the formerly grand party? Have they really descended to such a level of inane blather? And are there really people out there not only listening to them, but agreeing with them?
The Democrats are not a perfect party - far from it - but they seem to at least take the job seriously. I suggest the other party kick out all those who refuse to do the same and reclaim some of their not-so-far-past glory.
We're in too much doodoo to listen to people who are offended by talk show hosts bad jokes. Be offended. Then move on. Quit trying to distract the American people from their real problems.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Hypocricy in San Francisco? I'm SHOCKED! ;)
Boo to the San Francisco Supes yet again for completing their hypocritical journey this week with the reinstatement of the JROTC in San Francisco.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm actually for the JROTC in San Francisco and always have been. As a voluntary program in our High Schools, the JROTC program allowed some people to take military training over good old fashioned PE classes. I was never a member of the JROTC and had no desire to ever be in the military when I was in High School, but I certainly didn't begrudge anyone else that choice. I knew plenty of good, fine, outstanding young Americans and people of conscience who served in the JROTC. These kids weren't sheep and many of them did not end up in the military following High School.
Also, to be clear, I think George W. Bush will clearly be identified as the single worst President this country has ever seen - and that's with full knowledge of the historical record of all past presidents (I've taken US History about five times now - I could practically teach it).
That said, I was a little miffed during the height of the Bush Presidency when San Francisco decided to kick out the JROTC programs because they feared they were being used to "recruit" kids into the military. The knee-jerk decision to end a long lasting and respectable educational institution because of a bad war in Iraq and a bad President in the White House was akin to spitting on drafted veterans and calling them baby killers because you were against the Vietnam War. Though the San Francisco Supes protested that this was NOT a knee-jerk reaction to an unpopular war, the action was clear for what it was.
So, Now I'm even more dismayed that they would change their minds just four years later and reinstate the program. Clearly, the military needs recruitment even more now than it did in 2004. Do the Supes now think that the JROTC will no longer recruit the kids like they were five years ago?
Of course not! This was never about the kids. This was all about national politics. Bush was bad and this was a way to punish him. Obama is good so there's no need to keep punishing. The Supervisors of San Francisco have proven themselves to be every bit of the naive short-sighted political hacks that they were upset about in the White House.
Its good that the JROTC is back... but for five years, San Francisco lost one of its great educational tools because of stupid politics.
(Now as an addendum, I should add that San Francisco politics has always been way too far out there for most San Franciscans... and yet, they keep voting for these hacks. At least, its entertaining. Most San Franciscan's, believe it or not, are moderate blue collar types. The difference is that we tend to have a very real laissez-faire view of the government intruding on our lives - hence the reason you can have an active JROTC program and a very active Code Pink club in the same high school without any sort of friction. Its weird, but pleasant, once you get used to it. We always tend to say, "Not my cup of tea, but you go for it if that's what you like." The only thing we don't tolerate are Dodger fans. :)
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm actually for the JROTC in San Francisco and always have been. As a voluntary program in our High Schools, the JROTC program allowed some people to take military training over good old fashioned PE classes. I was never a member of the JROTC and had no desire to ever be in the military when I was in High School, but I certainly didn't begrudge anyone else that choice. I knew plenty of good, fine, outstanding young Americans and people of conscience who served in the JROTC. These kids weren't sheep and many of them did not end up in the military following High School.
Also, to be clear, I think George W. Bush will clearly be identified as the single worst President this country has ever seen - and that's with full knowledge of the historical record of all past presidents (I've taken US History about five times now - I could practically teach it).
That said, I was a little miffed during the height of the Bush Presidency when San Francisco decided to kick out the JROTC programs because they feared they were being used to "recruit" kids into the military. The knee-jerk decision to end a long lasting and respectable educational institution because of a bad war in Iraq and a bad President in the White House was akin to spitting on drafted veterans and calling them baby killers because you were against the Vietnam War. Though the San Francisco Supes protested that this was NOT a knee-jerk reaction to an unpopular war, the action was clear for what it was.
So, Now I'm even more dismayed that they would change their minds just four years later and reinstate the program. Clearly, the military needs recruitment even more now than it did in 2004. Do the Supes now think that the JROTC will no longer recruit the kids like they were five years ago?
Of course not! This was never about the kids. This was all about national politics. Bush was bad and this was a way to punish him. Obama is good so there's no need to keep punishing. The Supervisors of San Francisco have proven themselves to be every bit of the naive short-sighted political hacks that they were upset about in the White House.
Its good that the JROTC is back... but for five years, San Francisco lost one of its great educational tools because of stupid politics.
(Now as an addendum, I should add that San Francisco politics has always been way too far out there for most San Franciscans... and yet, they keep voting for these hacks. At least, its entertaining. Most San Franciscan's, believe it or not, are moderate blue collar types. The difference is that we tend to have a very real laissez-faire view of the government intruding on our lives - hence the reason you can have an active JROTC program and a very active Code Pink club in the same high school without any sort of friction. Its weird, but pleasant, once you get used to it. We always tend to say, "Not my cup of tea, but you go for it if that's what you like." The only thing we don't tolerate are Dodger fans. :)
Friday, June 05, 2009
Brother of a Beach!
Yay! I made it a whole week without blogging!
Oh wait... Doh! This isn't Facebook!
Actually, I just wanted to welcome back my wing man and brother from another mother, Andrew Lie, whose blog A Mile From The Beach ought to be back online and kicking and screaming by the time I get back to the cyberverse on Monday. Welcome back, Wingman!
Don't ever leave me again!
The rest of you have a good weekend. That's an order!
Oh wait... Doh! This isn't Facebook!
Actually, I just wanted to welcome back my wing man and brother from another mother, Andrew Lie, whose blog A Mile From The Beach ought to be back online and kicking and screaming by the time I get back to the cyberverse on Monday. Welcome back, Wingman!
Don't ever leave me again!
The rest of you have a good weekend. That's an order!
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