Greetings and Happy Holidays!

A quick post since there's been a lack. Christmas was great. Got to spend ample time with both Hennig's and Teece's. I got a sweet softball bat, a new wallet, and Season 1 of the The Office on DVD. The church services were excellent. We get the honor of hitting both ends of the spectrum during Christmas: contemporary @ Five Oaks and and total old school @ Mount Olive. Both were totally awesome as each really served as a reminder of what and why we celebrate the way we do this time of year.

Barry Zito for $18 million a year? Call me crazy, but that is a little out of hand. He's good, don't get me wrong. But that contract is equal to the 6th highest in MLB history. Merry Christmas to him I guess. More awesome analysis later

I've got two posts in the works right now: the promised one of Yosemite pictures and a Top 10 list style recap of 2006. Jump back after the new year and check me out!

Say It Ain't So

Today Brad Radke retired from baseball and from the Twins. I think we are truly to thank Brad for the position we are in today as Twins fans (well, him and Terry Ryan too). Radke stayed with our team through the really really crappy years and helped solidify a contending pitching staff. He also helped Johan develop his changeup and mentored much of our young starters in the rotation. He's always been above the 200 inning mark and in 2005 could have been a Cy Young contender if Johan was being Johan. Last year he pitched through a stress fracture in his shoulder blade and helped us clinch the division. Few pitchers have been as much of a horse as Radke. Take a minute to check the man out:

http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061215&content_id=1761754&vkey=news_min&fext=.jsp&c_id=min

http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061219&content_id=1764047&vkey=news_min&fext=.jsp&c_id=min

http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061219&content_id=1764202&vkey=news_min&fext=.jsp&c_id=min

An interesting article

I found this to be an interesting and quick read. I don't agree with everything that the authors suggest, but it is along the same line of thinking that I agree with. Politics and Christianity are a terrible mix if humility, love, and self-sacrifice are not the main ingredients. If Christians are the ones least willing to admit they may be wrong, refuse to be open-minded, and are antagonistic, how can they expect others to want to trust in Jesus. Food for though I guess.

In the mean time, Kevin Malone rocks

San Fran Trip #2

OK, I decided that since this blog is partially about baseball I would post on baseball. Especially as it was part of our San Fran trip. We were able to get some sweet tix to a Giants/Cardinals game at AT&T ballpark. What a beautiful place to watch a game. If the new Twins stadium is half as good as that place we'll be in good shape. We got to see the infamous Barry Bonds play and were very close to him sitting in left field. I also got to see Albert Pujols jack a dinger which was just awesome. I also got to see my good buddy Ryan who is studying at Berkley to be a really smart person (the picture of the two of us is next to a pinball machine we used to have in our old youth group house that belonged to our youth pastor.....we found it in a 50's diner). The whole experience was awesome

Our San Francisco Trip

I've probably given most of the the run of our pictures, but I thought I'd share them here because frankily the pictures we took were awesome. Actually it was probably more Luke's camera than me, but still.

We spent 4 days in the city, wandering between neighborhoods and eating lots of yummy food. We hit all of the tourist spots and other spots that were not so crowded. We biked across the Golden Gate Bridge and we ate in the middle of China Town. We toured Alcatraz at night and went through the Ghiradeli Chocolate line a couple of times for some free chocolate. My favorite part of this part of the trip was probably our walk through Gold Gate Park because Kate and I had a nice, long talk along with a long walk through this huge park on the west side of the city. There was also a nice conservatory, it really reminded us of the Chanhassen Arboretum. I was rewarded at the end as we reached our goal of the Beach Chalet that brewed its own beer. They offered each brew in a lazy-Susan sampler fashion

Come back in a few days for the best part of our trip, Yosemite National Park. You don't want to miss this one!

Best Fight Scene Ever

Are you serious? If you have 3 minutes a 15 seconds, please watch. I love the sound. Listen to how intense they are! The poor guy, fighting a woman who has her arm in a sling is probably pretty tough, especially when she owns you with a towel. Oh man, this is excellent.

Sing It Eddie

Soooooooooooooo ....... ...... it's been about.... 7 months. Uh, sorry about that I guess. I don't know where the time went. In the time since the last post I've been to 5 weddings, been a part of 3 of them, been to San Francisco, Yosemite, got a new job, and the Twins posted their best season since winning their World Series in '91, with the Cy Young, Batting Champ, and AL MVP. Wow... I have a lot to catch you up on. This is brief because its meant to let you know that this thing is still alive....not kicking yet, but still alive, and I'll be posting a lot more often.

I've changed the format a little and updated the links. Seeya back here soon!

Seeya around buddy

For those of you who know, yesterday was a sad day of Minnesota. Mr. Aaron Gibbons left for the grand city of Portland to pursue his career with US Bank. A couple of weeks ago we relived our memories at the event that Gibbons introduced us to: the Wine Party. Sitting around, sipping good wine, while the host (previously Gibbons, now myself.........Gibbons = master; Scott = lame apprentice) dishes out snooty comments about the wine that no one remembers, and everyone has a great, great time. I guarantee that those of us who attended a wine party hosted by Gibbons will always remember him when they are at the store trying to decide which kind to buy.

Gibbons is the best kind of friend you could have: he's genuine and funny, not afraid to be himself, and cares for those people around him. While on some occasions he chooses to sleep or chooses to stay in (Recliner + good book + good wine), Gibbons is always going to be a great friend. I'm proud to be friends with him and I wish you the best buddy, you deserve it. You will be greatly missed back here in the cities. Please, if you know Gibbons, post a comment for him.

Check out his blog: The Vinnlander Entries

Fantasy Baseball Lineup

I'm sorry, I have to make this post. I don't think I've ever been this exctied about Fantasy Baseball ever. I know I am nerd, but I don't care, its tons of fun. I am really high on my team, so I need to share it with all of you. Bare in mind this is a keeper league, 12 teams, head to head based on points:

C: Victor Martinez, Indians
1B: Paul Konerko, White Sox
2B: Rickie Weeks, Brewers
3B: Scott Rolen, Cardinals
SS: Bobby Crosby, A's
OF: Bobby Abreu, Phillies
OF: Coco Crisp, Red Sox
OF: Barry Bonds, Giants
DH: Milton Bradley

Starting Pitcher: Johan Santana, Twins
Starting Pitcher: Bartolo Colon, Angels
Starting Pitcher: Curt Schilling, Red Sox
Relief Pitcher: Franciso Rodriguez, Angels
Relief Pitcher: Armando Benitez, Giants
Pitcher: Zach Duke, Pirates
Pitcher: Erwin Santana, Angels

Bench:
Bill Mueller, 3B, Dodgers
Bengie Molina, C, Blue Jays
Craig Biggio, 2B, Astros
Casey Kotchman, 1B, Angels
S. Chacon, SP, Yankees

OK, so why I am pumped. First of all I GOT MY BOY JOHAN. I have serious man love for Johan Santana. Plus, I GOT HIM WITH PICK NUMBER 9. Are you kidding me? The dude before me picked CARL CRAWFORD. I'm sorry, there's no comparison between those two. Second, I got power, speed, and average. Konerko gets me 40 HR's with Thome hitting behind him, Crisp and Weeks can run, and Abreu is just an all around 30-30 stud. I got Bonds....I know I know, he used steriods but you don't get suspended in Big Bottom Fantasy Baseball for Steroids! Plus, I picked him in like the 10th round so it was well worth the pick. Third, my pitching is sick. I have Santana and Colon, the two AL Cy Young Contenders, plus Schilling who is most likely going to return to dominant form. I got studly keepers for the next couple of years: Johan and Victor Martinez. I also like Milton Bradley this year: being the magic number 27 and hitting in a very much improved A's lineup. Let's hope he kips a lid on it, though. I like Bill Mueller coming off the bench, playing in a great Dodgers lineup and being reunited with Grady Liddle in LA. Last time he was with that coach he won the AL batting title. Bengie Molina could also be a sweet catcher considering the lineup he's in.

Anyway I think I am going to smoke everyone this year. Why? Because my team name is No Probalo

Deal or No Deal

So my new favorite game show is "Deal or No Deal". It's this show where you choose a case, it could have $1 million in it or $5. Then by process of elimination you try and find out what is - and is not - in your case. Between each round the banker, the bad guy, makes you a deal to buy your case. The principle is simple. Choose (i.e. eliminate) the low dollar amounts and you have a greater probability of having the high amount in the case you chose. The banker doesn't want you leaving with the high amount, so he tries to cut you a deal to buy your case from you before you know what is in it. It's tons of fun and I love seeing people get greedy and then get screwed.

So anyway, this got me to thinkin' about a few things. First of all. They totally need a celebrity banker. Can't you see Mr. T up there like "I PITY THE FOO' WHO DON'T TAKE THIS DEAL". Also, if I got to go onto the show, who would I take as my team. See you have a small group of people with you to help make the decision to take the deal or not. So here's what I came up with:

Kate: she's really the brains of this operation anyway
Tom: he's good at math. I just hear him telling me "Well dude, the standard deviation of the 6 cases you have left plus the probability of you having the million dollars minus, of course, the algorithim Mr. T the banker uses to make his deal....I say NO DEAL".
My mom: for comedic value and emotional support
Caleb: When I have two cases left, one for $1 million dollars and one for $5 (and the bankers deal is $500,000), he'd be the one to tell me "NO DEAL" just to see me get screwed.

I want to know: who would be the best celebrity banker and who would you bring to the show?

Eww! An Atheist in the Classroom

Talk to someone who disagrees with you on something. It's good for you

http://www.startribune.com/614/story/268354.html

OK, so the students didn't really get a change to talk to the guy one or one, but you get the idea. Thanks for the article Mikey. It is certainly something many would not be willing to do. I only hope the atheist group lets the prof return the favor and have him come speak at one of their meetings as well.

Intellectual Chrisitanity

Sorry for not posting for over a week here. How lame am I? I hit you with a couple of stories and then I take a 2 week nap. My apoligies. Hopefully as you're reading this post, you are doing well.

I'd like to encourage all believers and non-believers in Jesus to go read a book about Christianity from (....gasp!....) an intellectual perspective! I'm not talking about Max "I really don't write my own books" Lucado or anything else that is so centrally focused on making Christians feel good and comfortable that they lack any sort of real spiritual challenge. I'm talking about reading stuff that makes you think and gives you that uncomfortable stomach feeling, knowing that you should probably be living life better.

OK, that is a grim description, but I guess I am so used to settling for less that what God deserves of me that I want to not do that anymore. For class I am reading a book called "Exclusion and Embrace" by Miroslav Volf. It is a great book, but it reads at like 15 pages per hour because of his heavy philosophical influence. What the book talks about refers to the questions I posted last. Should this Christian company prosecute these kids for stealing? At the time my answer was yes because I felt violated myself, much less the store. But I am starting to lean towards a proper Christian response being "no".

Let me qualify that before I get a whole bunch of "world without justice" nonsense. When I say "no" I mean I would like to see the people in charge of that store do more than just charge the perpetrators. In keeping with Christian belief, if they are thiefs and sinners just as much as the 2 kids who stole those CDs, what kind of justice are they actually obligated to institute. Now, I'm npt naive enough to say that if the bookstore lets them off then they will change their ways because the experience forgiveness. I guess what I was looking for was for the leaders of this bookstore to strive to help the kids get out of a klepto lifestyle instead of just prosecuting them. I'd get into what I've learned about this from Volf, but I am way too tired right now.

I'm also sick of Christians being lame. Often the best-sellers (just like in the secular world) are lame books. But even more so I think all people should always be striving to grow. And for Christians to pick up The Prayer of Jabez and think they'll grow is ridiculous. OK, I paint with a broad brush, but I am tired and cynical right now. Hopefully you get my point, extremely short as it may be.

Whatever you believe in, don't settle for less. You just waste everyone's time, especially your own. If I had the opportunity to give every person in America one book and make them read it, it would probably be "Searching for God Knows What" by Donald Miller.

Also, please check out Caleb's blog again. He's the man

Thanks for coming in today

This is another wacky story about the bookstore I used to work at.

Like any retail store, we experienced our fair share of theft. One day I'm in the music section and these two 15 year old kids are checking out some CDs. One was chunky, the other was pretty thin. Remember I was the music manager and basically knew when things were out of place or is something was weird. Well these two kids were suspicious so as they were walking to the front of the store I followed about 15 feet behind them. As soon as they crossed the security barriers the alarms went off and immediately those two kids took off running. Well, so did I. They took Amy Grant and I was pissed about it. So, like a movie action star, I whipped out my cell phone and dialed 911 while running behind the two punks. As they ran through the parking lot and crossed the street with me on their heels, I calmly explained to the 911 operator that Amy Grant was just ganked. They decided the 8 CDs they stole were too much weight and dropped them in the street and a car ran over them, cracking and slitting the discs and cases everywhere. AMY!, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At this point a car stopped to avoid hitting a kid. He saw that I was chasing them and they had dropped CD and decided to get out of his car and chase them with me . But, this dude was an old dude and slow and he ran in front of a car coming the other way. That driver screeched to a halt and started screaming at Old Dude. Eventually those two guys started fighting each other.

So I follow the kids around the back of the little strip mall across the way. By this time the chunky one was tired and had lost a shoe so he was just trotting along and yelling at his buddy to slow down. I just strolled behind this dude, his shoe in hand, and talked with the 911 lady, who I found out likes Amy Grant! I told her what happened to Amy and she got pissed. Once the kids ran around the little mall and back out onto the main street the getaway car pulls up. The skinny kid jumps in and Chunky who is still just walking gets left behind as the van takes off. So this makes Chunky upset and he start crying. Chunky and I get back onto the main street and the getaway car must have realized that they left someone, so it stopped in the middle of the street to wait for him. At the same time three kids, I swear they were 10 years old, jump out of the van and say they are going to beat me up. I told the 911 lady this and she starts laughing but asked me if the police are there yet. Her words must have been magic because at that moment the cops peel around the corner and the culprits all try and run and hide. Chunky even tried climbing a tree.

So, now I pose a question to you, if you've made it this far. The cops called me a couple of days later and asked what we wanted to do with the kids. I called the VP of the company I worked for and asked and he said "We need them to learn a lesson so we need to charge them with theft". Should this company, being a "Christian" company, have responded that way? I want to know what you think

Also, if you have not already, go check out my buddy Caleb's blog. He has a really great post on being Green. You should read it. Amy Grant did.

Now for something a little more less intense

So I was reminiscing about this the other day. Feel free to go back there with me:

So at my previous job at a local bookstore I was the music manager, assistant store manager....OK lets be honest I was the store manager. To do my music I had to receive the orders, update the system, blah blah blah who cares now. Anyway, much of the time I would sit in the back room with my good buddy Don. Don did the same thing for the books as I did the music. So we would sit in the back and chat away about mostly everything, but especially Carmen, Dino, and Krazy Kathy. Those three are just a trip together. We also talked about drywallin' a lot, which a euphemism for having a frosty brew. Of course some people working at the store just didn't like us talking about that, but we did it anyway, mostly to drive them crazy.

Well one day Don and I were sitting in the back doin' our usual thing and the supervisor at the time walked in the back with a new empolyee. This supervisor really didn't like us talkin' about drywallin'. The employee needed to know how to look up a book in one of the alternate systems we have. They were looking for a book by an author whose last name is "Pint". So after checking around for a few unsuccessful minutes the supervisor said "Well, it looks like Pint is not in our system". Without missing a beat Don quips, "I wish there was a pint in my system". This probably is not as funny reading it, but trust me, it was one of most hilarious things you'll ever hear.

Thanks for all the interest in the last post. If you are looking for some good reading on material that will surely challenge in your Christian walk I recommend, Donald Miller, he is the man. His two books are "Blue Like Jazz" and "Searching For God Knows What". Awesome books

God offends me

So I am watching the Daily Show the other night and on comes the semi-regular segment entitled "This Week in God". If you haven't seen the segment it is really funny and always offensive. One of the highlights was about Christianity and how the AFA, among other certain Christian organizations, protested the recently canned NBC show "The Book of Daniel" about a priest with a messed up life. In it he candidly talks to a Jesus figure in certain situations. Well the AFA, American Family Association, called for a boycott of the show because of the realms in which it displayed the priest: dealing with a stoner teenager and a lesbian sister, etc. Supposedly this doesn't happen in real life, so the AFA wanted it off the air. The host, at the end, made the fantastic point that the AFA, a Christian organization, protests a show that displays someone talking to Jesus in their everday life while shows like Fear Facotr are not nearly as protested. I think the exact quote was " Guy talking to Jesus '0', chick in bikini eating pig intestine '1' ". What a lame point of view by the AFA.

Then the next morning the Today show had an interview with Ron Howard and his movie adaption of "The DaVinci Code" starring Tom Hanks. It brought me back to the days of working in a certain Christian bookstore and seeing the surge of utter despair as this best seller was, as many felt, taking Christianity apart. Nevermind it's actually fiction. Nevermind this Christian community has done the EXACT SAME THING with Left Behind. I'll never forget talking with a customer in that store and she asked me about these books because she was so afraid this alternate point of view would make her son question his faith (as if that is a bad thing). I asked her if she read the Da Vinci Code and she said No. She asked if I had read it and I said Yes. She was ASTOUNDED. Her exact words were "You're the first believer I know who has read the book...what is it about???" The Christian community backlashed with so many books about "Breaking the Da Vinci" code, as if Christ needs to be defended against someone's imagination. We just couldn't stand seeing this book which, if you read it, does a very poor job of trying to dismantle Christianity (if that was really the author's intent, a debatable point) BECAUSE NO ONE TOOK THE TIME TO READ IT FOR WHAT IT WAS WORTH.

Here's my point. Christians often us the phrase "Jesus was offensive". True, he certainly was offensive. He offended every notion of what the Jewish society thought a Messiah would be and every notion the Gentile community though a God should be. We use this idea to propogate saying "Jesus is the only way to heaven", not back that up with Christ-like love, and then say it's OK to be offensive because Jesus was. (I'm not endorsing pluarlism here, just making a point). GET A GRIP. Christians can't stand being offended. If we are made fun of on television, we cry discrimination as if we have some sort of rights here to stake or claims in this country. How can we say its OK to offend everyone else but not be willing to be offended ourselves? Part of it is because we attach things to Christianity in America that are not Christian at all. Take Republicans. Some many Christians voted for Bush because he says he is a Christian. That's fine. I don't dispute that he is. But I would also say that there was not a single ounce of political motivation in Jesus' body. But then when someone tries to combine a Christian and a Democrat people SPAZ. When the evil CNN network talks about Bush it must be wrong. So when we attach to Christ that should not be so and they are consequently challenged, we get offended. That is our bad.

God offends me. He offends me because my very nature does not want Him to love. I want to live for myself, find success and pleasure as I see what fit best for me and yet Christ invites me to experience His glory and love first so that those aspects of my life will be focus on Him, not me. This is offensive to me because I want myself so bad, not Him. Daily I seek His control to reverse this dichotomy.

I dare you to be offended by someone else. I dare you to go out and purposely find something that disagrees with your way of life, analyze it, and try and discover why someone else would think that way about you or your idealogies. In fact take the stance of arguing FOR IT rather than against it. If you don't, you'll never be more than a comfortable couch potato, waiting for someone to always agree with you. How boring.

I hope this post has offended you.

The Black Hole of Sports

We've entered it an there is no going back because, well, no one that I know of has a time machine. Speaking of time machines: Back to Future should win an Oscar every year for being one of the best movies of all time.
Back to the topic at hand. This black hole that has surrounded us is the affectionate name of the time of the year between when football ends and baseball begins. What else do we have? Basketball??? Are you kidding? I'd rather drink a bucket of sand. Watch Sportscenter....all the top ten highlights are DUNKS. That is what basktball has come to: dunks. It's like "Match the shaped block with the right hole" for big kids. Then there is hockey. I have more respect for hockey for sure and I love going to Wild games, there is nothing like a hockey game live. But I must admit that I am a bandwagon hockey fan and it is just really hard to get into it for me. Plus those games occur once every couple of days.

So where do we go and how can we escape this black hole? Well there is no place to run until Feb 14th affectionately known all over the world as Pitchers & Catchers Report Day. Even then, there is not much action. Thank God for the World Baseball Classic, that should provide some pop between P&C Report day, spring training, and opening day. If anyone has any suggestions on surviving this hopeless time, please let me know.

The Missing Links!

***Sorry for the lack of posting recently, blogspot was down over the weekend***

Just a quick word about some of these links I why I like them

Five Iron Frenzy = Greatest Band ever, hands down

Conan O'brien = Is probably my long lost cousin

Stuff + Cats = just try it, I dare you, one click on your hooked!

Ted Dekker = one of the best fiction authors I have read. Want to stay awake at night? Go pick up a copy of Thr3e.

Donald Miller = fantastic author who discusses life, love, and Jesus from a real person point of view. Not for those who are comfortable with where they are at.

Teen Girl Squad = Goodbye Smurfs, this is the best cartoon ever

Click on "This Guy Thinks He's Cool". It'll take you places you've never been....more specifically to the blog of my best man. Check it out, he has great ideas on life and faith as well. He occaisionally is funny, but he's really just very boring.

Superbowl Commercial Review

Funniest: Budweiser Streaker

Definitely received the most laughs at the party. Between the intensity of the massive horses facing off against each other and a number of different mountain animals glued to the action on the field, the shaved streaking sheep was a pink blur of hilarity. Also adding to the laughs were a classic butt shake and hip rotation. Certainly cute, hilarious, and appaling all at the same time. All of us were holding our guts.

Most Creative: Stunt City; Degree Deoderant

The funniest part mave have been right at the beginning when the guy, instead of opening his bathroom cupboard, punches a hole right through it to get at his deoderant. And so he enters the world of stunt city where people can only go about their lives dangerously. With cars driving downside up and people arriving at work through their ceiling, the actually (gasp!) advertised their product and did it creatively (unlike Bud Light commercials which make no beer-sense and just try to be funny).

Weirded Out: Hummer Lil' Monster

Ok, what the trash was this. I think the makers of hummer went a little to far here, insinuating that a larger than life robot could get it on with an apparently attractive female godzilla creature to create...the H3, Lil' Monster. Very creative, but way too weird. Also, what kind of message are they sending? I'll interpret it for you: buy an H3 and you'll have a monster that will destroy the earth by using all the available gas on one tank. 1 Highway mile, 0 City

Best Continuation From Last Year: Career Builder: Monkies and Donkies

As my buddy Mikey says, "Monkies are advertising gold". This commercial in the same vain as last year's spoof on employment by Career Builder does wonders by showing another office where the lady works with a bunch of jackasses instead of monkies. The best part is that the donkey's are wearing shirts and pants. Also hilarious was the boss monkey lighting a cigar using lit dollar bills. Anyone who has ever hated their job resonates with these adds.

Least laughs: Diet Pepsi w/ Diddy and Jay Mohr

I swear to you in a room of 15 people this commercial got 0 laughs.....that's a big phat ZERO. This commercial was so stupid you even felt bad that they subjected the emotionless Diet Pepsi can to it! Just further proof why Jay Mohr is not famous and why Diddy has had to change his name 17,658 times.

Most Predictable: Bud Light Roof Grillin'

Basically this ad says only moron boyfriends/husbands who pretend to be productive are the ones who drink Bud Light. Only the kind of guys who don't mind perpetuating the persona that males are lazy, selfish, unhelpful, and jerks are good enough to drink Bud Light. That is why I am drinking a Sam Adams right now I guess. This commercial was completely predictable and had almost as few laughs as Diet Pepsi

Dumbest: Cadillac: Runway

An Escalade rising from the liquid waters of the model's runway......and....that's it. I think this is saying that Cadillac Escalades, just like the clothes and the look that models model on the runway, are completely useless and stupid to the normal person. Only the snotiest and haughty person would be interested in those clothes, the same goes for the Escalade.

Most Entertaining: Bud Light: Magic Fridge

A combination of funny and creative. I know I just ripped other Bud Light commercials above, but this one everybody enjoys. It still speaks to how stupid the owner of the Magic Fridge is as he evidently hadn't noticed before that his fridge was missing beer when he brought it back to his apartment, but seeing 4 college-age dudes bow down to the fridge was pretty funny. This actually will also win the award for being the most annoying after tons of post-SuperBowl repetitive play.

To check out the rest of the adds, go to this link:
http://sports.aol.com/nfl/superbowlads

NEXT POST: The black-hole of sports

Recent Life Synopsis

OK, if you are back for a second round of redheadedness then you are at least somewhat interested in my life, so I will tell you.

School: I went to college at St. Olaf from 1998-2002 and graduated with the super-nerdy degree of Classics and Ancient-Studies. I found that the sciences were not as appealing as they were once and also found a love for the ancient languages. It also helps that Olaf has one of the best, if not the best, Classics departments in the country. This degree has helped me as I am now in the midst of my second year at seminary. I take classes for 4 hours every Monday night and will probably finish in 2075....actually more like 2009 but it sure feels like it is going to be 70 years from now. After completing a Masters of Divnity I think at this point I'd like to either pastor/lead a church or teach at the college level. Consequently a PHD may be in order, but I may wait for that until my wife is making enough money to support me :). That brings me to my next point....

Love Life: Kate, my beautiful wife, soon to be the greatest audiologist in the world! Kate and I married amid an ice storm on January 1st, 2005 after being together for more than 6 years. She is a grad student at the U of M in audiology and will graduate about 6 months before me. She also holds time some part time work through the great company of ProStaff. Kate certainly compliments me and also lovingly puts up with my crap. We live at the U of M married student housing and enjoy our Minneapolis location, although we are so close to both cities we can never really choose which one we like best.


Work: After college I start to climb the ladder at a local bookstore chain in the Twins Cities. I met great people and still have friendships there, but after a manager position opened up and I was denied it I searched and found a great job: working in insurance! I know, not only am I more boring now, but I'm also more of a nerd. Actually the office is awesome, working with some people that I graduated college with as well as others. I'm person that you call up to complain about your rates to or explain what "P.I.P" stands for. I'm also the person who tells you, "What? you got a teenage boy turning 16 and getting his license? Enjoy 5 long years of super high rates, SUCKER!" Actually Farmers Insurance is a great company and does offer more discounts than any other company! I am the office manager and hold down the fort while my boss takes frequent trips to his home in Arizona. It's cool though, he deserves it after a long life of building one of the largest Farmers agencies in the country. Anybody need life insurance?

Other Stuff: For fun I enjoy lots of stuff, mostly getting together with friends. I also value my down time, it keeps me going through the rest of my week. During that time I like watching the Simpsons, playing baseball, or checking scores. Kate and I also found that we love to cook together so I enjoy making creations in the kitchen, with a pretty high success rate. Soon enough I will take on Mario Betalli on Iron Chef and as long as the ingredient is garlic I am sure to win!

Hope this satisfies your desire to know more about what is going on with me. I am also very interested in what is going on with you, so if you have a minute shoot me an email and let me know. Until we meet again......

Greetings!

Well you are here because part of you cares about me. C'mon, admit it. You wouldn't be here if you weren't just a tad curious about what I am doing, saying, or thinking these days.

For those of you with whom I have not spoken since college, high school, or even before let me say that I am sorry for the severe lack of communication but if you have gotten here by way of email invite (or forwarded email invite) then I am glad you are here and look forward to hopefully communicating with you more personally starting.........now

Please look for the next post "Recent Life Synopsis" for what I am up to these days. This will be showing up in a couple of days from now. Such a post is meant to clear the air so that if we are ever to hang out we won't have to go through the akward "So what are you doing these days?" Ya know, what you have to repeat a billion times during graduations, weddings, and family gatherings. I always felt I should just wear a sign to those events that had my name, where I lived, why I lived there, if I was in school, what I was studying, where I worked, and why I was not a baseball player yet. The "Recent Life Synopsis" post is meant to be that sign. This post is a welcome and summary of what is to come.

So, why do I like these three things?












Well, if you don't know Him, I would recommend trying to do so once in a while. When I was an earlier teenager Jesus became extrememly important to me after I realized that His death is the only thing sufficient to wipe my sins away and that He defines life's most true and pure forms of hapiness and fulfillment. I'm certainly far from perfect and screw up everyday. Unfortunately Jesus is too quickly equated with one bad experience at church, one jerk on TV or in your life who claimed they loved Him, or a number of bad representations of Him. But the true person of Christ, the Lamb of God, truly dismantles all those impressions and hopefully my life will reflect that along with His love and grace for all people.

Baseball is the just about the coolest thing ever. A true team endeavour, deep with endless statistics, and the best game dynamics of any sport. Oh I know there are haters out there, and that is cool with me, I don't expect everyone to enjoy it. But I've found baseball games to be the most entertaining events to attend or to watch on TV and I enjoy it all year round. And being from Minnesota I love my Twins. Thankfully my fantastic wife puts up with this obession.

Coming in a close second to just about the coolest thing ever is a nice cold frosty brew. I enjoy such things because they bring people together. It's about community, life together, friendship, commitment, laughing and fun. Over a frosty brew people spill their feelings, their joys, their souls. Over a bottle of wine a group of people catch up on days gone by. Of course beer is not the only catalyst for such things and here it is really a symbol. Please don't mistake my enjoying a beer with enjoying drunkenness. These things are best in moderation for sure. If I went out with you to enjoy a Leinie's I would care infinitely more about you than what is in my glass.

So, sorry this post is mammoth....it's my first blog post ever.....so that means that it can only get better from here on out. I plan to share tons of funny stories and commentaries on life, let you know what I think about the current state of the Twins, share what I learn in class and in life, and generally just blab away. I hope that you enjoy it.