Okay... not so nerdy....

DitzyCam is back

ditzycam
Originally uploaded by AultTimIT.

My brother took some pics, so I have more material for the DitzyCam!

Here's Ditzy hanging out in his favorite place at my parents' house - right above the steps.

Looks like he's about to pounce an unwelcome guest.

Another fun quiz...

Which Animal Spirit Totem Are You?

Your soul is bound to the Fourth Totem, Solomon: The Owl.Solomon appears as an azure feathered owl. He embodies wisdom, judgement, reason, and stability. He is associated with the color azure, the season of autumn, and the element of water. His downfall is farsightedness.You are most compatible with Ravens and Monkeys.
Take this quiz!






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Triumph The Insult Comic Dog with Ladysmith Black Mambazo

A great finale to comedy Central's "Night of Too Many stars"

...Come back Marion Barry!

And now for a fun quiz...

M over at Brash, Dramatic, & Outspoken posted up the results of a neat quiz on her personal DNA, so I thought I'd take it too.

Here are my results:




My Personal Dna Report

Republicans blame liberals for Foley

And the Republicans sink to an all new low

Olbermann Traces Bush Admin's Pre-9/11 Actions

Here's the video of the previous post.... very hard hitting, tough questions that have been left unanswered.

Olbermann's Litany of Incompetence

Here's an eye opening playback of the chain of incompetence seen by the Bush people in the 8 months leading up to 9/11. "Do nothing" seems to be the operative word. And as for Bin Laden? Well, he's gotten away with it. Let's face it. conservatives are all talk. When it comes to getting the job done, they can't deliver.

But hey, it's okay to go back and attack Clinton for not doing enough.... so let's see if Bush did enough too...

Transcript from "Countdown with Keith Olbermann", 9/27/2006

In a sense, we are all still detainees in the wake of 9/11, but there is some unrest among the inmates, being asked what steps he took to stop al Qaeda, President Clinton freeing many to ask what steps, if any, his successor took in the most critical time before the plot.

Yesterday, President Bush declined to address Mr. Clinton‘s remarks, saying, “We‘ve already had the look back this and look back that.” But if we are to look forward with any clarity, it is important to know the facts about where we have been and how we got where we are.

Thus tonight, a special investigation. Mr. Clinton is not in office, Mr. Bush is. His policies determine how the U.S. fights al Qaeda, so it is important that we understand how he has done so in the past. Comparing the two presidents is valid, necessary, to illuminate the capacities of the office. Mr. Clinton said it plainly, he failed to get bin Laden. Mr. Bush has acknowledged no such failure.

But while it has become conventional wisdom, although debunked by the 9/11 report, that Mr. Clinton dropped an offer from Sudan to hand over bin Laden, it is rare to hear anyone discuss whether similar but real feelers were ever extended to Mr. Bush. And it is, we suspect, even more rare to see this tape of the Bush White House addressing reports of such feelers in February 2001, after the government knew al Qaeda had attacked the U.S.S. “Cole.”

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, February 27, 2001)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Taliban in Afghanistan, they have offered that they are ready to hand over Osama bin Laden to Saudi Arabia if the United States drops its sanctions, and the—they have a kind of deal that they want to make with the United States. Do you have any comments (INAUDIBLE)?

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS Secretary: Let me take that and get back to you on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OLBERMANN: There is no record of any subsequent discussion on that matter.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, of course, responded to President Clinton by defending the Bush record. “We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda,” she said.

Our goal in this report is to rise to Mr. Clinton‘s challenge and assess the record of Mr. Bush‘s efforts against al Qaeda in his first eight months in office.

We begin with Rice‘s claim that Clinton left no strategy to fight al Qaeda.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, January 20, 2001)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So help me God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OLBERMANN (voice-over): On January 25, 2001, five days after Mr. Bush took office, counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke sent Rice a memo, attaching to it a document entitled “Strategy for Eliminating the Threat of al Qaeda.” It was, Clarke, wrote, “developed by the last administration to give to you, incorporating diplomatic, economic, military, public diplomacy, and intelligence tools.”

Clarke‘s memo requested a follow-up cabinet-level meeting to address time-sensitive questions about al Qaeda. But President Bush had downgraded counterterrorism from a cabinet-level job, so Clarke now dealt instead with deputy secretaries.

RICHARD CLARKE, FORMER COUNTERTERRORISM CZAR: It slowed it down enormously, by months. First of all, the deputies‘ committee didn‘t meet urgently in January or February.

OLBERMANN: Why the delay? Rice later tried to explain.

RICE: America‘s al Qaeda policy wasn‘t working because our Afghanistan policy wasn‘t working, and our Afghanistan policy wasn‘t working because our Pakistan policy wasn‘t working. We recognized that America‘s counterterrorism policy had to be connected to our regional strategies, and to our overall foreign policy.

OLBERMANN: That, although Clarke‘s January 25 memo specifically warned, “Al Qaeda is not some narrow little terrorist issue that needs to be included in broader regional policy. By proceeding with separate policy reviews on Central Asia, etc., we would deal inadequately with the need for a comprehensive multiregional policy on al Qaeda.”

Clarke‘s deputies‘ meeting came in April, when, he says, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz insisted the real terrorism threat was not al Qaeda, but Iraq.

By July 16, the deputies had a proposal for dealing with al Qaeda, a proposal, Clarke says, was essentially the same plan he gave Rice five months earlier, and it still had to go to the principals, the cabinet secretaries.

CLARKE: But the principals‘ calendar was full, and then they went on vacation, many of them, in August, so we couldn‘t meet in August. And therefore the principals met in September.

OLBERMANN: Although the principals had already met on other issues, their first meeting on al Qaeda was not until after Labor Day, on September 4, 2001.

But what were Mr. Bush and his top advisers doing during this time? Mr. Bush was personally briefed about al Qaeda even before the election, in November 2000. During the transition, President Clinton and his national security adviser, Sandy Berger, say they told Bush and his team of the urgency of getting al Qaeda.

Three days before President Bush took office, Berger spoke at a passing-the-baton event, which Rice attended.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, January 17, 2001)

SANDY BERGER, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: With (ph) survivors of the U.S.S. “Cole” reinforced the reality that America is in a deadly struggle with a new breed of anti-Western jihadists. Nothing less than a war, I think, is fair to describe this.

OLBERMANN: Eight days later, Clarke sent Rice the strategy Clinton had developed for retaliating in the event that al Qaeda was found to have been behind the previous October‘s attack on the U.S.S. “Cole.” The next day, the FBI conclusively pinned the “Cole” attack on al Qaeda.

Mr. Bush ordered no military strike, no escalation of existing Clinton measures. Instead, he repeated Clinton‘s previous diplomatic efforts, writing a letter to Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf in February and another on August 4.

Until September 11, even when Mr. Bush was asked about the “Cole,” an attack carried out on water by men in a boat, he offered a consistent prescription for keeping America safe, one he reiterated upon taking office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: To protect our own people, our allies and friends, we must develop and we must deploy effective missile defenses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OLBERMANN: Democrats, who controlled the Senate, warned that his focus was misplaced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D): I‘m also concerned that we may not be putting enough emphasis on countering the most likely threats to our national security and to the security of our forces deployed around the world, those asymmetric threats, like terrorist attacks on the U.S.S. “Cole,” on our barracks and our embassies around the world, on the World Trade Center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OLBERMANN: He was not alone. The executive director of the Hart-Rudmann Commission‘s request to brief Bush and Cheney on the terror threats they had studied was denied.

On February 26, 2001, Paul Bremer said of the administration, quote, “What they will do is stagger along until there‘s a major incident, and then suddenly say, Oh, my God, shouldn‘t we be organized to deal with this?”

According to the 9/11 Commission report, even bin Laden expected Bush to respond militarily to the “Cole” bombing. Quote, “In February 2001, according to a source, bin Laden wanted the United States to attack, and if it did not, he would launch something bigger.”

The most famous warning came in the August 6 presidential daily briefing, reporting “patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.”

According to the 9/11 report, “Bush did not recall discussing the August 6 report with the attorney general, or whether Rice had done so. We have found no indication of any further discussion before September 11 among the president and his top advisers of the possibility of a threat of an al Qaeda attack in the United States. Tenet does not recall any discussions with the president of the domestic threat during this period. Domestic agencies did not know what to do, and no one gave them direction. The borders were not hardened, transportation systems were not fortified, electronic surveillance was not targeted against the domestic threat, state and local law enforcement were not marshaled to augment the FBI‘s efforts. The public was not warned.”

Explanations after the fact suggested a lack of familiarity with the recent history of terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

RICE: I don‘t think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center.

(Subtitle: 1994, France disrupts plot to fly a jet into Eiffel Tower.)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There wasn‘t any

way then we could have anticipated what was about to happen, of course, in

on 9/11.

(Subtitle: 1995, Philippines uncovers plot to fly planes into Pentagon and World Trade Center.)

(Subtitle: September 1999, U.S. study: Al Qaeda might crash planes into Pentagon.)

(Subtitle: Spring 2001, New York City trial testimony: Bin Laden sending agents to acquire planes.)

BUSH: These terrorists had burrowed in our country for over two years. They were well organized. They were well planned. They struck in a way that was unimaginable.

(Subtitle: July 2001, FBI told of Zacarias Moussaoui‘s interest in flying jumbo jets.)

(Subtitle: September 2001, FBI memo: Moussaoui could fly something into the World Trade Center.)

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

OLBERMANN: On September 10, 2001, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California requested a meeting with Vice President Cheney to press the case for aggressive counterterrorism measures. She is told Mr. Cheney will need some time to prepare first, six months.

That same day, the NSA intercepted a communique from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia, stating, “Tomorrow is zero hour.” That communique was only translated into English on September 12.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OLBERMANN: It appears now that the operative word in the phrase “We could not have anticipated” was the word “we.”

I'm in Nerd-Denial

Dammit! I'm a scientist, not a nerd.

Olbermann: This Hole in the Ground

I can't think of any other journalist out there as eloquent as Keith Olbermann. I have Tivo'd his "Countdown" show for the past month. He exhibits a strong sense of reality, makes good arguments, is eloquent in speech, and has the kind of humor tghat speaks to an Xer like me. Seth McFarlane of Family Guy fame does voice-overs as Stewie Griffin to introduce his "Monumental Earth Shattering News" segment, a blatant mockery of the "Fox News Alert", in which Olberman just ends up announcing a trifling tidbit of ET news about who got bumped off "Dancing with the Stars".

Watch this video, Olbermann's commentary on the 5th anniversary of 9/11, to see firsthand why Keith Olbermann is by far the best anchor on TV.

Geotagged Photos

Finally, technology that lets you make an electronic travelogue.
I have recently been going through my Flickr photos and assigning latitude and longitude coordinates to them. This way they can be placed onto an interactive map.

Click here to check out my geotagged photos so far

The Energy Crisis is Solved!

Scientists have discovered how to harness cats' desire for food, a limitless resource...

As Dana Carvey's Bush Sr. said

"If you wanrt to get elected, you gotta be on the right for your base, but for the public you gotta do that middle dance"...

So, if you haven't heard,

McCain faults administration on Iraq

Gee, that McCain, he's such a maverick, criticizing the president like that...


So here's the question, McCain, why didn't you say something back in 2004?!?!?

Hmm... let's fire up the wayback machine to the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City...

[an excerpt from McCain's Speech]

"I believe as strongly today as ever, the mission was necessary, achievable and noble.

For his determination to undertake it and for his unflagging resolve to see it through to a just end, President Bush deserves not only our support, but our admiration."

So much for the "straight talk"...

Face it, McCain is no maverick, and this action is no where near "straight talk". McCain is a GOP shill looking to twist his words into the Whitehouse in 2008. And to do so, he's distancing himself from an unpopular president that he endorsed for reelection in 2004, criticizing an unpopular war that he once supported, and kowtowing to the religious right that can make or break his support in the Republican party, just look at his "evolving" view on intelligent design...

...careful John, don't pull away too far from their agenda, they may drop their support. Read his transcript statements in the interview on NPR with Tom Ashbrook. I listened to this show last year, and McCain was basically spouting that ID should be taught in school under the guise of "all points of view". It was as if he was towing the party line but didn't believe a lick of it... SHILL!


straight talk... more like
bullshit.

Is it Southpaw or $outhpaw?

How about that... a new scientific study says us southpaws make more money
than right-handers.

So, when is this going to help me out? According to this study, I'm supposed to be getting paid 26% more than rightys, but I'm just not seeing it (yet)...

Who knows....

Eye Candy for Political Junkies

I just found this nifty resource over at the New York Times. It's an interactive map for the 2006 midterm/gubernatorial elections. You can pick, senate, house, or governor, and it indicates who is running in each race, recent poll numbers, a color-coded interactive map breaking down past election trends, tossups, you can make your own predictions... and waste away several hours in the process..

See for yourself:

Ali G - sandwich war

We went to war over sandwiches... check around the 2:20 mark...

If Dave Chappelle were Howard Dean

Byaaaaah!

A Terrifying Message from Al Gore

You have to appreciate the self-deprication Al Gore can put himself through.

Bike to the Bay Year 2... Some people never learn ;)

Last weekend, June 24-25, 2006, I participated in my second MS Reeves Northup Memorial Bike to the Bay ride. This year I was joined by some of my coworkers at The University of Toledo. Five of us formed the "UT Rocket Riders" team and together collected over $1000 in pledges to benefit the fight to cure MS.

Three of our team members decided to get a later start, but Tom and I showed up early and started off at about 7:45. It was a gorgeous day... sunny, no clouds, 75 degrees for the high temp. The only drawback was that the wind was coming from the NE, an unusual pattern for this area. This meant that for the first day we were riding into the wind.

←Here I am in Tontogany sporting a UT Rockets Flag.

By the time Tom and I hit the 1st rest stop south of Waterville, the rest of the UT Rocket Riders - Sarah & Guy (a married couple from my UT Department) and Matt (Sarah's father) were getting ready to start off. We continued on, and on the way to Tontogany I head a metallic 'pop' sound come from my bike. At the Tontogany rest stop, I ran into to Ginny, our church's secretary. She was volunteering and cutting up apples. Tontogany's stop is known for their brownies, so I went ahead and had one... very delicious. At Tom's insistence, I also took my bike over to Reggie's truck for them to inspect my bike. Turns out that I busted a spoke. They didn't have a spare one, but the fellow from Wersells had a spare one, so they were able to cooperate and get my bike back into shape and ready for the rest of the ride.

←Tom celebrates our progress in Tontogany.

We went at a good pace, skipping the Devil's Hole Road rest stop and pedalling on to lunch in Pemberville. By then I noticed that I had forgotten to apply sunscreen and was sporting a lot of red skin. I applied sunscreen, then as we sat down for lunch I met up with Julie, the woman I rode bike to the bay with last year during the return trip. She was there with her friend Joyce.


Just as we were leaving from lunch to get back on the rode, the rest of our UT rocket riders team, Sarah, Guy, and Matt arrived. We had our group photo taken and then went our separate ways, continuing on after lunch...
←Here's the UT rocket riders Team (left to right) Tim, Tom, Sarah, Matt, and Guy

Water levels were high from the recent heavy rain and flooding in the area. Our next stop was Gibsonburg. A parade was taking place, Gibsonburg's annual homecoming parade, so we saw a few pontoon boats turned floats going down the street. Tom remembered that his aunt and cousins live in Gibsonburg, so after a short rest (and popsicles...ummm) we took a 3 block side trip so he could pop in and say hello. His cousin's son was cutting the grass, and I waited outside while he went in to say hello. About ten minutes later we set back off for Port Clinton. We rode across route 20 through Lindsey, then across the turnpike and stopped at the Oak Harbor 1 rest stop behind a small church. There we met Dave, an older man who has done bike to the bay for 13 years. Apparently his son was also doing the ride but was well ahead of him. As we went to finish the last 2 legs of the 1st day, Tom found his second wind and went flying on his 10 speed (an orange Pugenout he picked up during his army days in Germany in 1975). He was well ahead of me. At the last stop before Port Clinton, I caught up with him, only for him to pull far ahead of me by the time we crossed route 53. Only a few miles left, and I crossed the route 2 overpass, flew down the hill and turned into the finish line at Port Clinton HS. The time was 3:45.


←Didn't anyone read the sign?!

I signed in and picked up my Jet Express pass... last year I didn't use them, but this year I was definitely going to go to Put-in-Bay... I wanted a beer. Tom & I put our bikes in the bike corral l-a baseball field with an ironic warning that no bikes were allowed, ate supper, set up our tents, cleaned up, and set off for Put-In-bay.


←Home sweet home for the evening.

←Getting on the Jet Express to DrunkLand...er... Put-In-Bay.

The view of Lake Erie was spectacular. I had never seen clearer conditions. I could see the Monroe Power station's smokestacks, Fermi's cooling towers in Detroit, Kelley's Island, South Bass and Middle Bass Island, and West Sister Island off in the distance.



←The famous Boat-House made from the hull of a ship.

The Jet Express definitely is fast for a boat. As we neared Put-In-Bay, we passed by the boat house, that is, a house made from the hull of a ship, rattlesnake island, and I could also see Pelee Island off in the distance, which technically is Canada.

As we departed the Jet Express, a place that is most for upper middle class b we noticed boaters to go and get hammered, we were greeted with a sign reading...

←"We're glad you road the Jet Express."

...it's rode, drunkass (dumbass might apply, but I'm certain this was an alcohol-induced misspelling from my experience on the island).

Our first stop was the Roundhouse Bar, a dirty old building filled with obnoxious, predominantly-white drunks yelling and smoking up a storm, but the place had a good selection of beer on draft. I ordered a blacksmith (half Guinness, half Smithwicks), the bartender had no idea what it was. I clued him in and was rewarded with the beer I had looked forward to all day. Tom and I hung around for a few minutes as we watched one rich arrogant bastard yelling at a bartender (it was too loud to hear what he was saying, but I think he spoke in 4-letter words) and he was throwing dollar bills, one at a time, in the poor fellow's face. Classy!

←The Perry Monument on Put-in-Bay... closed for repairs from the recent storm.

We both had enough of this spot, so we ventured down Delaware Ave to the Beer Barrel Saloon. Pat Dailey was playing right then... Tom had been talking about going to see Pat Dailey perform 20some years ago when he was younger, so he was excited to have such fortunate timing. The place seemed a bit crowded and I wasn't sure about going in, but Tom was nice enough to pay my way in despite my reservations. We sat down in the crowded room to hear him perform, and I must admit, he is pretty good; his songs are a bit vulgar and just what the drunk crowd of regulars wanted.



←Pat Dailey performs at Put-In-bay.

Tom went to get a beer, and I was surprised that he brought me one too! We listened and laughed at his song and antics for about an hour then decided to go walk around some. On the way out I ran into S and her daughter from my church. They had sailed in and we were both surprised to see each other there. I got a congrats for completing day one and then Tom and I went off to walk around the town. We walked over by St. Paul's Episcopal and Mother of Sorrows church when Sarah and Guy called saying they were catching the next ferry to Put-in-Bay, so we walked back to the main part of town to wait for them. As part of our Jet Express passes, we were also given coupons for a place called Del Sol to receive a free color-changing tote bag with a $5 purchase. I expected the place to be just another gift shop, and I needed to buy batteries for my camera and some ibuprofen for my sore muscles, but instead it ended up being a sparse shop selling nothing but color-changing trinkets. I looked around, but there was nothing I really wanted. So I bought 3 $2 keychains and got a free totebag. The clerk didn't seem too happy, but then again, if he had more to sell...

We waited and waited for Sarah and Guy. Tom and I were tired and wanted to leave the island at about 10pm since we were getting up at 6am for day 2. BTW: Sarah and Guy have a cottage nearby. Sarah's dad had ridden with them, and her mom was waiting in Port Clinton with their 2 children to pick them up and take them there, so they left just after they hit the finish line and were going to spend some family time instead of doing the return trip. The closest ferry leaving around 10pm back was the 9:45 one, and as we were picking up our boarding passes to head back, Sarah and Guy arrived long enough for us to say hi and then get on the ferry home.


←Sunset at Put-In-Bay.

I sat next to a drunk on the way back who had scarfed down some pizza and, IMHO, was close to sending the eaten pizza flying as we hit some choppy water. The night was near a new moon, and the stars were brilliant in the clear dark sky over Lake Erie. If only I had brought my binoculars... We made it back to the tent city around the school.. now filled with dew, and went to bed.


Day 2:

We got up at 6am, packed up our gear, and retrieved our bikes. Inside the High School we were treated to breakfast including flying pancakes. Basically they cook the pancakes and then fling them at you for you to catch. Tom and I sat down for pancakes, sausage, coffee, and cereal, then got our bikes to take off for day 2. Tom went to the bike techs to check his tire's air pressure, when they noticed a crack running around the axle (inner cone) of his front rim. Apparently the spokes were too tight and it looked like the bearings inside the axle had seized, making the bike unsafe and definitely not ridable until it got a new rim. His front rim is a Wolber, which the old mechanic said was made when he first started in the business in the 70s and the kid working on Tom's bike wasn't even born when they stopped making them. It was an original rim, collector's item, but busted. The mechanic called around to all the bike techs on the route searching for a replacement rim, but there was none to be found. So Tom went ahead and called his wife to come pick him up. I was off on my own, and what's a real shame is that Tom was in much better shape than me to ride the return trip to Toledo.

I started off at around 8am after hanging out hoping they could fix Tom's bike. I slowly made progress, having been one of the last ones out, I passed by several people along the first 2 stops. Then the Toledo Bike Police team went cruising by me. They had started even later and flew by me in a group, drafting off each other. At each rest stop I would leave just before them only to be passed up a bit later. At the Woodville rest stop, I left at the same time as the Bike Police Team. Another rider and I decided to see if we could keep up with them and drafted along with them behind their last person. I kept up for about 3 miles before it became too much to endure. But in that time we must've passed about 60 riders. At lunch I met up with the other fellow trying to keep up with them. He only lasted about a mile more after I gave up. I have to give the Toledo Bike Police their due, they are a tough bunch, and if you're a fleeing criminal with one of them on your tail, just give up because you can't outrun them.

←Just finished lunch in Pemberville-75% done!

At lunch I called my family to say hello just before my mom took off for Reno, Nevada. I also ran into Dave, the 13 year bike to the bay vet, and his friend Stephen, who was doing his 16th year. We ate lunch together. After a good meal, I was back on the road. This time another group drafting off each other passed me. I recognized them from last year. They were some people that had finished the last 2 legs of the return trip with Julie and me last year. I was able to keep up with their pace, so I continued on with them. As I got to know them along the route, I found out that they call themselves the "Beer Nuts", since they like to drink beer.

Drafting, for those who don't know, is where you ride close together to minimize wind resistance. It takes a lot of communication and control of the bicycle to do. The return trip was my first experience truly drafting in a group, but I learned fast what to do, and the beer nuts group was nice enough to correct any mistakes I made without getting mad. Good bunch of people...

The last half of the ride was all country roads, and bumpy, uneven country roads at that. The constant jarring of the bike lead to numb hands. In addition, some of the legs were northern, right into the wind, making the riding tougher. After our last rest stop in Waterville, we all took a detour from the approved MS B2B path and jumped on the Wabash Cannonball bike Trail. It was not a short cut, it probably added another 200 yards to the trip, but the trail has no automobile traffic to worry about and is paved much better than the shoulder of the approved road. Finally, we crossed the Anthony Wayne trail, rode through downtown Maumee, and ended Day 2 at the finish line at the Rec center. We all sat down for a BBQ chicken dinner and picked up our gear and completion certificates. I said goodbye to the beer nuts and headed home for a long, hot bath.

Today, Monday, my legs are a bit sore, but I found out that we had a total of 1,041 riders for the event, and that just over $263,000 was pledged for the ride, with the amount raised for the ride (which will be known by the end of July) to be much higher than that. My ride was sponsored by several friends and family members for a total of $270. Thanks Guys!

This is definitely going to be an annual event for me as long as I live in the area. It's for a good cause, filled with great people, and a wonderful way to make new friends!

-Tim

Now I live in lakefront property!

I just got back into Toledo last night... and we've had one of the worst thunderstorm in the past 25 years... 4inches fell in one hour! Laast evening I got a chance to visit my friend Steve in Cleveland, and as I left we were starting to get hit with a massive storm. I drove down the turnpike from Cleveland to Toledo right through severe thunder, some hail, and heavy rain with about 30 yard visibility... which meant I wasn't going much faster than 40mph.

today Steve sent me an image he saved from weather underground of the total rainfall from last night... what a storm!


When I turned down my street to pull into my driveway, I found it flooded! I had to drive up and across the lawn to avoid the water... and overnight thw water kept rising. By the is morning it looks like there's a lake in my front yard.


Also, at the end of the road Glenway there is a small brick house. This one is not built up on top of the hill like the others... its lawn has disappeared and it looks like their 1st floor is under 2 feet of water... worst yet, I saw the house up for sale a few weeks ago. Talk about bad luck...


In all my 8 years of living here, I've never seen anything like this. I'm sure Ditzy hasn't either in all of his 3 years of life... but cats are curious. I'm sure he's wondering if there's any fish to be found in there.


This is all spill over from a ditch adjacent to the street. It has overflowed its banks, washing some beer bottles, litter, and plant debris up onto the lawn.


The concrete tunnel the drains the nearby ditch into the Ottawa River has vanished. The only signs of it are these massive gurgling sounds coming from the water where its submerged.


The city was by this morning to inspect the flooding, as were a few neighbors. I checked the Toledo Blade today, but somehow they missed this street in their article... well that's somewhat to be expected. This area is pretty secluded, which is why I like it so.

And now that its lakefront property, I hope the rent won't get raised!

-Tim

A little perspective...

Leave it to Bizarro's sunday comic to address the history of religious intolerance so eloquently...




...and yes, I'm a southpaw... I guess that means I'm an abomination...

School's out already?

Cinco de Mayo today... and the last day of finals week for UT. Tomorrow is the big graduation day for many families, and many students have already moved back home for summer jobs.

Just when the weather started to turn nice.

Welcome to the Semester System.

Back around 1998 the University of Toledo converted from the Quarter System to the current semester System. Rather than have three 10-week terms, Fall, Winter, and Spring (and Summer if ya watned) during the academic year, now there are 2 15-week terms, Fall and Spring (yeah yeah yeah summer too).

But here's the big difference: under the semester term, classes start around Labor Day and End in early May. In the quarter system, classes started around the middle of September and ended in the middle of June.

That's right, the middle of June. Sure, that meant everyone else has a head-start on you for summer employment (missed many a summer-opportunity because of this), but it also meant:

warm days on centennial mall
hanging out at the Old West End festival with your college buddies
walking to class through a blizzard of cottonwood snow along the Ottawa river.
Frisbee, outdoor events on a warm day, lounging in shorts & sandals while student government hopefuls went about their busy-ness in hot Oxford shirts, slacks, and ties.
Outdoor classes out under a shade tree
outdoor lab exercises collecting measurements of the campus
sneaking onto the roof of the Student Union to enjoy a day of sun.

...I'm a year-round UT employee now, so I still get to experience the season on campus. Just wish everyone else still did.

Star Lords: Where's Jimmy Castor when you need him?

Well, the inevitable has happened: someone has combined Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. The montage of rearranged and edited clips starts off rather slow and boring, but then...

It goes funkadelic. Wayyyy DiscoFunk.



Unashamedly, over the top disco, complete with cleverly back-and-forth edited dance scenes by all our favorite characters.

Even the cantina band joins in the fun while Gandalf does the "Curly Shuffle".


It's worth a look (or cringe)... but those of you who know me well know that when things get this cheesy I just can't turn away!

Brought to you by MisShapenFeatures

And that music: "It's Just Begun" by Jimmy Castor, circa 1972

Republican's Scheme to Bribe Americans

Question: With faltering congressional and presidential approval ratings, a White House cabinet stocked full of Ex-Oil Executives, record profits for Oil Companies, a spike in gas prices, and the 2006 Midterm elections looming... what's a Republican to do?

Answer: Give Americans a $100 "Gas Rebate".

So where is the $100 rebate coming from? Are we taking the money from the Oil Companies' windfall profits?

Nope, it'll come from our TAX Money (or from our deficit, which means they're borrowing the rebate now and our TAX money will be used to pay it back later, with interest.)

I can't help but think of bread and circuses here, folks. People are upset with our Republican "leadership", so instead of addressing the problem (which they can't because they're in bed with the oil companies), they just throw around some Benjamins as a sort of "hush money" or bribe.

But there's a catch (isn't there always)... the proposal also contains a provision to open up ANWR for oil drilling, cause senior Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska (yes, the same Ted Stevens building the alaskan Bridge to Nowhere, and the the same one who brought the Oil Executives to testify then refused to have them sworn in to testify) has a boner for ANWR oil.

So, this is the "solution" the Republican Senate proposes to alleviate our energy crisis: We know you need gas and we've let the price at the pump get out of control, so let us drill in ANWR, and we'll give you $100 of your own tax money as a "rebate". And we'll tie this proposal as an amendment to an emergency spending measure that funds the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina rebuilding, that way if the Democrats vote against it, they don't support our troops and they're "dragging their feet" to help out the Katrina victims.

Tell them we don't need their bribe, and let's send this group of incompetent miscreants packing in November.

From the UT Daily Message System

A friend of mine pointed out this message on our University of Toledo Daily Message Center

3). Praise and Worship Night

Praise & Worship Night

April 25th

7:00 p.m.

Come out for a free concert

-Refreshments will be served

-Please bring canned goods for donations to Katrina victims

-Come Praise the Lord for how good he is!!!!!

...I love the juxtaposition of the last two lines in a sort of cynical way. I know what they mean, but their wording could be better...

You know it's bad when....

...Fox News' Opinion Dynamics Poll puts Bush's approval rating at 33%.

With the poll pegging Bush's disapproval rating at 57%, that's a whopping 44% difference between the two, and very reminiscent of Nixon.

...of course, the spin is for the GOP will be to dump their lame duck president and distance themselves from his political troubles just in time for the 2006 elections and the 2008 Presidential Race.

Eat the Damn Apple!

My tolerance for Churchianity continues to wane. My church, I fear, has become an institution more concerned with its own continued existence rather than follow the mission that bore its creation. Centuries of order, rules, and standards set to most effieciently do God's work have been perverted into a cumbersome system that has lost its way. Rules are to be obeyed, even when unjust, over the extraordinary circumstances that the call of the Holy Spirit calls just. The words of Jesus the Son are lost in the cacophony of theological psychobabble of the "church leaders". What is simple is made complex. What was straightforward in the Gospels is bent and twisted to accomodate the wills of men over the ages. Just War. Love with conditions. Exclusivity in God's Kingdom. Fractured denomiations out of communion when all of them bless the bread and wine in God's name. How is it we humans can make such work out of something practically given to us?

God has given us an apple to spiritually nourish us, and instead of eating it we investigate it for worms, guess it's size, its species, even run DNA tests so we can determine what tree the apple came from. And while we meet and confer in commitee and "take it all in", that apple rots before our very eyes.

Why can't we just eat the damn apple?!

After attending a Vestry meeting today we talked about meeting with our bishop. This is something I dread because I can't think of anything he can do or say that will make me feel much differently about him. Some think I hate him, yet I don't. I just see him as another person. His position as bishop doesn't mean anything to the Baptist in me. Just another fancy title. I fear the problem is that he sees his title as important. That somehow in the grand cosmic scale of things this makes what he says and believes more important in an antiquated patriarchal way. Not that there aren't great spiritual leaders in the world. He just isn't one of them. Anymore, this bishops seems more to represent the CEO of subsidiary nonprofit than the role of a Shepherd for God. Maybe it's because that in this day and age his position is spread so thin that it takes a bishop 2-3 years to visit each church in their diocese, that their jobs are less and less to be shepherds than it is to shuffle paperwork, make "clerical" decisions for the doicese and the other type of day-to-day operations you'd expect more from a business than a church.
I haven't had the chance yet to sit with him face to face, so I don't know if I'm angry with him or with the system in which he is so ingrained.

Some on the vestry told me I should learn to live with it, that this is the way things are. I can't help but believe that we should never be satisfied with how they are and should demand change in the direction towards God. While we squabble on who can and cannot bless the bread and wine, who can and cannot become bishops, or the injustice and twisted theology of Churchianity, I, as R+ once put, fell my inner prophet.

That led me to turn to Isaiah, one of the big prophets. I wanted to read what he was saying. I started at the beginning, and this passage just seems to resonate with me right now.

Isaiah 1 (from The Message//Remix)

11"Why this frenzy of sacrifices?"

GOD's asking.

"Don't you think I've had my fill of burnt sacrifices,

rams and plump grain-fed calves?

Don't you think I've had my fill

of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats?

12When you come before me,

who ever gave you the idea of acting like this,

Running here and there, doing this and that--

all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?

13"Quit your worship charades.

I can't stand your trivial religious games:

Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings--

meetings, meetings, meetings--I can't stand one more!

14Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!

You've worn me out!

I'm sick of your religion, religion, religion,

while you go right on sinning.

15When you put on your next prayer-performance,

I'll be looking the other way.

No matter how long or loud or often you pray,

I'll not be listening.

And do you know why? Because you've been tearing

people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.

Are we just going through the motions of playing 'church'? Saying the right words at the right times like that somehow makes a difference? Perpetuating an institution for the sake of perpetuating the institution? More concerned about the houses men built than for God's house until we can't tell which is which? While I can see the institution's shortcomings, what about my own? At least those I can control. Still, I want my church to become something better. Likewise, I hope that I will become better myself, because I'd be a liar if I said I'm not the same.

I think I need to take another bite of that apple.

Atonement theology schmeology

Recently during our choir rehearsals we have been mentioning the amount of atonement theology found in our musical selections, especially this time of year. Atonement theology, basically, is the notion that Christ died on the cross to pay a ransom for the sin of mankind, and only through this sacrifice could we find our salvation. While some hold this belief, there are many who do not. And I am one of those that reject atonement theology.

Simply put, I cannot imagine a world where God demands blood to atone for the very shortcomings he created us to have.

Palm Sunday I was absent from our Sunday service to visit family. Yet my reason for absence was twofold. At the end of the Palm Sunday service comes the veneration of the cross. A cross is brought into the nave and it is venerated. That's fine and all for those who see that cross as a symbol of salvation, but for me all I see is a representation of the device used to murder.

As we end Maunday Thursday and head into "Good" Friday, I found myself wondering why I feel the significance of it? The agony in the garden, the crucification, etc. if I don't ascribe to atonement theology? As I stood through the reading of Christ in Gethsemane in a darkened nave underneath this huge, crude wooden cross, I chewed on what ineffible thing it was that gave this story importance.

Throughout my life I have dreamed of something better. You could say it's the optimist in me, but I'm sure I'm not the only one with that trait. Ideal job, ideal home, ideal partner, ideal church, ideal club, ideal blah blah blah. But they are just ideas, not reality. We humans aspire to make our dreams real. To form that little utopia. Sometimes we even stumble upon something that seems close enough to ideal. A club, a partner, a church. Yet what we see happen over and over again is our attempt to make our dreams real ran afoul. As Yeats wrote, "things fall apart". Nothing we make is permanent. Eventually this 'good thing' we've found will end. We will ourselves change and lose interest in what we once treasured, our vision of utopia will be hijacked and ran aground by others with different visions, our treasures are ransacked by greed and envy, and eventually all we have of our great big plans are dust.

Jesus had a great vision of the Kingdom of God. A new society, a new way to relate to one another, a new set of values based in spirit rather than material. And what happened when he worked to make it a reality?

They washed their hands of him. They betrayed him. They denied him. They stole from him. They conspired against him.

And then they killed him.

As a Gen X'er, I find this to be in tune with the notion that our generation doesn't trust anything. It's not quite true, we trust very few things, butwe just have given up on institutions and we are a bit fatalistic that nothing good ever lasts. How many X'ers come from broken homes, or a one driven nearly into poverty by Reaganomics, or attended a deteriorating public school? How many of us have emerged from our youthful innocence to face a world where our parents' generation is borrowing away our future, housing prices so high we may never own a home, and to be the first American generation not to do better than our parents?

Of course, the problem here is that He wouldn't stay dead. That kinda makes your message hard to kill...

I wish I was more articulate than a 2am rambling, but I've found a rather eloquent paragraph from Sarah Hinlicky's article Talking to Generation X over at First Things. I wish I had found the link earlier (have I mentioned how much I love google?)

Mostly, though, turn us towards God hanging on the cross. That is what the world does to the holy. Where the cities of God and Man intersect, there is a crucifixion. The best–laid plans are swept aside; the blueprints for the perfect society are divided among the spoilers. We recognize this world: ripped from the start by our parents' divorces, spoiled by our own bad choices, threatened by war and poverty, pain and meaninglessness. Ours is a world where inconvenient lives are aborted and inconvenient loves are abandoned. We know all too well that we, too, would betray the only one who could save us.

Read the whole article. It's really good, and almost makes the same points I'm making, if not more articulately.

Doing the Happy Dance

Today, after 3 years of research and 2 years of writing (okay, 6 months of writing and 18 months of edits), my research paper has finally been submitted to a journal for publication.

That's not to say that they still won't reject it, but I'm still doing the happy dance because it is done.

One thing I know about myself is that my 'shadow side' likes to start a project, get about 90% of the way done, and then abandon it, never to finish. That's a part of myself I don't like, so today's submission for me is a celebration, a triumph, so to speak, over that part of me that tends to leave things undone.

Yay!!!!

...now to do the dishes. [sigh]

I'm a what?

Great. Now, can anyone tell me what a Mandarin is (other than an orange, a language or a collar)?

I'm a Mandarin!

You're an intellectual, and you've worked hard to get where you are now. You're a strong believer in education, and you think many of the world's problems could be solved if people were more informed and more rational. You have no tolerance for sloppy or lazy thinking. It frustrates you when people who are ignorant or dishonest rise to positions of power. You believe that people can make a difference in the world, and you're determined to try.

Talent: 46%
Lifer: 31%
Mandarin: 62%

Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

Would you use this service?

Today I just listened to one of our grad students give his thesis defense on the viability of a TARTA (toledo area regional transit authority) shuttle bus to the airport. Unsurprisingly, his findings, based on modeling, statistics, and ridership of the pilot program showed it to be a failure. His findings concluded that the Toledo Express Airport does not provide enough passenger flights to make the route viable.

Everyone here in Toledo flies out of Detroit Metro (DTW). It's an hour away and offers direct flights all over the world. The airport is also one of the world's biggest. Little Toledo Express can't match it in service, and most flights taken out of Toledo Express just put you on a small plane heading to Detroit for a transfer that takes a few hours (a wasteful option since you can drive yourself there in one hour).

So what's the down side to flying out of Detroit for the average Toledoan? Parking.

Unless you can have a friend drop you off at the terminal, you're going to have to park your car there for the duration of the trip, which can get rather expensive. Plus, there's the 100 mile round trip to consider. For a car with 20mpg highway and $2.75/gallon, that's $13.75 in the fuel alone.

More Toledoans fly out of Detroit than Toledo because it makes more sense. The fares zre cheaper and it takes less time out of our day. So, as our department chair asked the grad student, why doesn't TARTA offer a service to Detriot?

The answer, of course, is politics. the Toledo Port Authority would balk at one of their entities servicing a rival airport in lieu of their precious Toledo Express. So, TARTA will, for political reasons, never provide the service.

So, the next question he presented to the grad student was, instead of the Airport shuttle bus going to Toledo Express Airport winding around through the Central Business District to the commercial districts and eventually to the airport, why not have a huge free parking lot where Toledoans could park their car, get on the bus, and have non-stop service to Toledo Express?

The answer why TARTA doesn't consider this is, once aagain, politics. TARTA has promised the business and commercial community that it would not provide free long-term parking for its riders, especially since this would hurt the CBD parking businesses. Thus, the idea of cutting down transit time with a direct line rather than curbside stops is also out of the question.

So, if we can't depend on TARTA, a publically-funded transit entity to provide services where demand lies, what about the private sector?

Yep, that's right. A lefty-liberal progressive like me said private sector.

Think about it:

A private business senses a need for a direct transit shuttle to the Detroit Metro Airport. The potential riders would be locals heading out on a trip. Odds are, if they can afford to take the trip, then they can afford personal transportation. Now, how can we make using our shuttle service a more enticing option for these people compared to them driving there themselves? Answer: money and time.
If the fuel cost alone is $13.75 per vehicle and the time is one hour of driving, and at least $7 to park the car and have a friend drive it home, then a $10 ticket one-way to the airport taking about 1 hour 15 minutes doesn't seem that bad...

...especially when the service offers free, long term parking.

Toledo is right in the center of the rust belt. We used to be a much bigger city. Now where there were once buildings and houses there are vacant lots and parking lots. If there is one thing Toledo doesn't lack, it is available unused land.

Imagine if you would:

On the edge of the city lies a derelict shopping center (Toledo has four locations to choose from here). Let's go with Southwyck Shopping Center in this example. A private entity could easily buy up one of them and utilize the parking spaces for long term parking. They would run a shuttle service, let's call it the blue-line, from Southwyck to Detriot Metro Airport for $10. The shuttle leaves every 2 hours. The parking lot is monitored by security, fenced in, and safe. Also, the Southwyck Shopping Center is reconfigured to not only offer shopping, but also car rentals, food, and a shortbus to the nearby hotels on Reynolds.

Would you use this service? Could it make money?

Ditzy Cam... Kitty Jail

Here's a picture of Ditzy from back around Christmas. We're getting ready to head back up to Toledo, and Ditzy is ready in his carrier for the trip My brother Gary took the pic with his new digital camera.



He wasn't too happy about leaving. While at my parent's place, he had 2 other cats and a dog to play with/harass.

But he should consider himself lucky to have such a roomy cat carrier. At least this isn't his cat carrier...

Another Non-substantive post

Just another online quiz.... I need to sit down and actually write something of substance soon...

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world. Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them. When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well. But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What's Your Beer Personality?

...and I drink that stuff!

Who would've thought that Mentos are the new Pop-Rocks?

At least I now know a cool recipe for killer belches!

Ultimate Pen Tricks...

Damn SPs!

Just one more reason....

....to get out of Ohio. The one good candidate the Democrats have to defeat Mike DeWine for US Senate has been squeezed out by HIS OWN PARTY. It seems the party wants Sherrod Brown to run instead (and most liekly lose). This area is so backward thinking that it drives me crazy.

And to think I was going to volunteer for the Hackett campaign, stick around until November... well, hell with that!



Here's the press statement:

Today I am announcing that I am withdrawing from the race for United States Senate. I made this decision reluctantly, only after repeated requests by party leaders, as well as behind the scenes machinations, that were intended to hurt my campaign.

But there was no quid pro quo. I will not be running in the Second Congressional District nor for any other elective office. This decision is final, and not subject to reconsideration.

I told the voters from the beginning that I am not a career politician and never aspired to be--that I was about leadership, service and commitment.

Similarly, I told party officials that I had given my word to other good Democrats, who will take the fight to the Second District, that I would not run. In reliance on my word they entered the race. I said it. I meant it. I stand by it. At the end of the day, my word is my bond and I will take it to my grave.

Thus ends my 11 month political career. Although it is an overused political cliché, I really will be spending more time with my family, something I wasn't able to do because my service to country in the political realm continued after my return from Iraq. Perhaps my wonderful wife Suzi said it best after we made this decision when she said "Honey, welcome home." I really did marry up.

To my friends and supporters, I pledge that I will continue to fight and to speak out on the issues I believe in. As long as I have the microphone, I will serve as your voice.

It is with my deepest respect and humility that I thank each and every one of you for the support you extended to our campaign to take back America, and personally to me and my family. Together we made a difference. We changed the debate on the Iraq War, we inspired countless veterans to continue their service by running for office as Democrats and we made people believe again. We must continue to believe.

Remember, we must retool our party. We must do more than simply aspire to deliver greatness; we must have the commitment and will to fight for what is great about our party and our country; Peace, prosperity and the freedoms that define our democracy.

Paul Hackett

...and once again the Democrats snatch Defeat from the jaws of Victory.

When you have these kind of moronic decisions being made, it is time for the Democratic Party to either change or die. Or, simply put, if they don't change, they will die.

As an Ohioan, I can tell you that Hackett was Ohio's best chance for US Senate. Now they'll just have to contend with the weak sacrificial-lamb candidates they always send up to lose the election.

And the chances of an Ohio pickup go flushing down the toilet...

Ditzy Wants Attention

IM001082
Originally uploaded by AultTimIT.

I was trying to play with my new Mac, but Ditzy got jealous and jumped on my lap.

Dangerous

For those of you that know me well, you know I usually don't write anything this personal. But today this was an epiphany. Where I once was distraught, beat down, and dejected, I am now certain, resolute, and reenergized. I now know where I stand.

What I say I don't say lightly, and I don't know who else may feel this way. But this is my path, and I will follow it because I think it's right.

As some of you may know, in the past month our rector was forced to leave our parish. The circumstances were tragic, and the outcome unwanted by our parish. Ultimately, the decision was made by our new bishop. A decision made in a vacuum, without a single visit to our congregation, or, for that matter, any true relationship or attempt to make an informed decision. We were told this decision was done in our best interests by someone who doesn't even know us to know what our best interests are. Now, our rector is gone and we have only ourselves, the bishop, and the diocese to contend with as we begin the process of looking for a new rector. In the meantime, we have a revolving door of supply priests coming and going while we search for an interim rector (and the list of candidates is infuriatingly small).

It had left me in a bad way. Our rector's departure exposed all of the ugliness of the politics that I pretended weren't there. I've been left disillusioned, apathetic, angry, and a bit withdrawn. But most of all, I've been disgusted. Disgusted that this is the structure we, as human beings, have put into place to worship God. A God whose very nature is the opposite to this institution. This hypocrisy is the very reason I stopped going to church for 12 years.

So, Would I eventually stop coming again? Would that solve anything, or is it just running away from the problem so that it won't get to me? Normally, our previous rector would be there to say the right thing, like he oh so knows how to do, but this time I'm on my own.

Unless our supply priest makes me start thinking...

Today our supply priest somehow thought it wise to give a sermon on loss and suffering, considering our circumstances. His sermon was long winded and, at first, frustrating. At first he gave out a long list of the ways we might be feeling right now, angry, hurt, withdrawn, etc... yet he failed to mention mine: disgust. Disgust of a system that could allow this to happen. Contempt for an institution more concerned about its own rules self-perpetuation, and structure than in doing Christ's bidding. As he droned on and on, I drifted off into my own thoughts, and I began to wonder...

What do you do when Churchianity is ruining your Christianity?

Today, because of the rules and regulations set up by the Episcopal Church, we have turned to supply priests to perform the sacrament of Eucharist for us. For those of you who don't know, apparently, by Episcopal Church rules, only an ordained priest of the Episcopal or Lutheran Church is allowed to say the blessing and conduct the sacrament of communion. Somehow, anyone else's blessing of the bread and wine within the 4 walls of an Episcopal Church is null and void – only an Episcopal Church-approved priest can say the magic words.

Why is this? ...I'm not really sure myself. While some of the may argue tradition, or job security, or what have you, I believe anyone should be able to do it. It boils down to one thing: Who gives the ultimate authority of the sacrament of Euharist: God, or Men?

A few months ago, while our previous rector was away, our Sunday service was one without a priest, thus without communion. In what I saw as approprite irony, our reading from the Gospel was the story of the Pharisees inquiring of Jesus by whose authority he did his ministry. To this Jesus asked of them by whose authority did John the Baptist baptise, by God or by Men? The Pharisees, knowing John the Baptist was popular among the people, were in a quagmire. If they said “Men”, then John didn't have the authority, and the people would turn on them. If they said “God”, then they admitted their lack of authority on such matters. So they said “We don't know.” In turn Jesus said, “then know that by that same authority I minister.”

So here we were, not performing Eucharist because no one had the authority of MEN. Any one of us could have stepped in and performed the sacrament since deciding who can and cannot perform it are ultimately God's domain, not man's.

But we didn't go that path. We followed the Episcopacy's rules that day.

If only we had the conviction to listen to God's authority that day, what would have happened? We probably would have been in hot water with the diocese, and they would do quite a bit to make our lives uncomfortable to assure future compliance, and, once again, the need to preserve their institution would trump their commitment to follow the path of Christ. All in all, in this circumstance, following Christ's path is the dangerous one. Defying the diocesan insitution would exact retribution.

I personally wish we would have done it – performed communion that day. But why do I wish we'd done it? Was it so I could feel the satisfaction of thumbing my nose at them because I didn't like their decisions?

...Or was it because I thought doing it was the right thing to do in God's eyes?

I honestly wasn't sure, I would have felt rather good at defying them. I know I shouldn't but I'm no saint. So while I contemplated this, I tuned the supply priest back in. His sermon now dealt with our reading from Isaiah, in which the prophet encourages them not to despair or give up while in exile in Babylon. He noted that many of the changes in Judaism occurred during the exile. That these changes: their realization that they didn't need an heir of David as king, their new belief that God was the God of all people, not just of the Israelites, etc. came out of the exile. For the Jews, a great growth and transformation came out of their loss of home and their suffering in servitude. He then compared our situation to those once in exile, noting that this loss we have suffered will help us grow and transform. He then went on to tie this to Jesus, and how he also sought to transform the way we worship God, even to the point of suffering on the cross for that transformation to happen.

That was enough for me to tune him out and start thinking again. Surely, Jesus did quite a bit to disturb the Pharisees and religious scholars in power back then. And they sure did everything they could to stop him. They even killed him.

But did Jesus buck their system just for the satisfation of defying them, or because it was the right thing to do?

Worded this way, the answer was obvious – because his way was the right way. In my circumstance, my disgust for Churchianity was rooted in the fact that their way is wrong and out of a sense of principle I wanted to see it fail. When I wished we did our own communion that day, I realized I should want to do it because it was right. Also, I should take no satisfaction out of overcoming the shortcomings of other men. That feeling is no good, sinful you may say. If anything, I should pity them because they don't understand. My understanding has outgrown them, but I must never confuse this with any idea of superiority, for this is certainly not the case. We are all children of God. There are no favorites.

My dilemma was solved.

I told myself:

Don't defy the manifestations of Churchianity on these matters because you want to be a pain in their side. Do it because you think it is the right thing to do. If you're uncertain where your heart is, then stop! Think about your motives. Make sure they lie with God, not with your lesser desires.

Oh, and one more thing: don't expect to make any friends this way. To go up against an institution like Churchianity is certainly a losing battle, and dangerous! Even Christ himself was killed by holy men for opposing them. There will be consequences.


About this time I tuned the supply priest back in, he was talking about Jesus out in the wilderness, and compared our situation to being in the wilderness. But it seemed to me that his conclusion may have unintended consequences. He said that our time in the wilderness will be a time of great growth. And it just may be.

I think we may, as a community, outgrow our diocese. I know I have.

And that's dangerous.

Stupid Mac Tricks: Vol. 1

This is my first experiment with my new Mac and Garageband. I basically took a choral piece we're performing at my church and sight-read all 4 parts (to the best of my vocal range). The recording is a pale comparison to how this song sounds with a full compliment of singers...It's rough and not very refined (more practice on my part could help!), but I'm amazed that something like this can be done on a computer right out of the box!!

BTW: The song is "An American Thanksgiving - I. Webster" from the Songs of the Sacred Harp, by Carol Barnett. I found a sample clip of the piece online. It's worth hearing!

First Blog from the ibook

new ibook
Originally uploaded by AultTimIT.

Well, the new Mac arrived tonight, and I've spent the last few hours setting it up, downloading software, and now, blogging.

I even had the good fortune to catch my friend Steve on the ichat. Nice to hear from him!

As of today, I'm going Mac

So, I just ordered a new personal computer today to replace my Windows98 dinosaur (the best the year 1999 had to offer). I guess you could say I was overdue for an upgrade. I just couldn't take another Blue screen O' Death, let alone the video gobblygook that appeared whenever I closed a window (random pixels, trailing multiple afterimages whenever I moved it, etc.), or the surfing 20 web pages then the computer freezing. I don't understand how a company can put out an OS this bad and have people continue to come back and buy more stuff from them. I'm tired of feeding the beast that is Microsoft. So I checked out the Apple store for refurbished computers - they're supposed to have good deals (according to the IT guys here at work), along with the standard warranty you'd get from a new one. And wouldn't you know, there, for $719, was a refurbished G4 1.2GHz ibook. I didn't expect to find a laptop, but it seems like a good deal. I should have it in 2 weeks.

ThunderBlizzard! ........ThunderBlizzard?!? WTF?

For a while I always liked to use the term thunderblizzard to describe the wackiest type of weather I thought possible. I thought is was impossible or at least extremely rare weather at best.

...well, as I live and breathe....

I just returned from the grocery store tonight. It was sprinkling a little as I brought in the groceries. As I was preparing supper I looked out the window and in just 10 minutes the ground and streets were covered in snow. While I was preheating the oven and watching TV I saw a bright blue flash. I thought maybe one of the kitchen lights had gone out when

KABOOOMMMmmmm..

Thunder. Blizzard. .... ThunderBlizzard...

WTF? No way!

But here I am, in Toledo, Ohio, witnessing an honest to God ThunderBlizzard.

Still, it's wacky weather, but what do you expect for this area of the country?

ADDENDUM: rather than use my name, thunderblizzard, this phenomenon is oficially called thundersnow. Wikipedia has a good writeup on it.

Also, on last night's Colbert Report, Steven Colbert did a good ribbing on thundersnow. It replays a few times today on Comedy Central. He claims this is proof that God is mad at us, and we should also expect sleet-tsunamis and flood tornados. Catch it if you can...

Republicans: Mind your own business!

See the San Jose Mercury News for more info in their editorial...

So now the Republican Bush Administration wants Google to hand over 1 million random web addresses from its search records along with the search info users typed into its search engine over a one-week period.

Why? So they can further their crusade against porn.

Right now the government is trying to legally defend the constitutionality of the Child Online Protection Act. This 1998 law makes it illegal for web sites to post material that is ``harmful to minors'' unless they ensure that only adults can access it. The law, as currently written, could criminalize protected speech like dating and sex advice articles, web sites dealing with reproductive health or gay issues, and even those of some art galleries and bookstores. The U.S. Supreme Court has already cast doubt on its constitutionality.

So basically, we have a Republican Party being ran be religious fanatics that just can't abide to the idea of staying out of people's private lives. So they need to snoop into people's searches and see what kind of things they're querying. All so they can defend a poorly written law to keep sex censored.

And they say they're doing it for the kids. The same kids who can find a liitle of the ultraviolence at the drop of a bowler. We have action movies, computer games, tv shows, and the 6 O'Clock news for that.

...not to mention sports brawls and a war in Iraq. I'm sure they think our kids should be exposed to that.

But when it comes to love, dating, sex, the nude body, and those aspects of humanity?

Not in their America, buddy. These right-wing elitists know what is best, and they will invade your privacy to make sure you comply with the standards of decency defined by their religious-fanatic core.

Then again, I think the Bush Administration is just expressing sour grapes with Google over the search terms "miserable failure" and "worst president ever"

Another Theological Quiz

I swear, this paragraph below reads like the Episcopal Church's Via Media program, especially the idea that learning takes place in dialogue...

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 64% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 64% Classical Liberal 57% Modern Liberal 50% Neo orthodox 46% Roman Catholic 43% Charismatic/Pentecostal 36% Reformed Evangelical 11% Fundamentalist 0% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com