Tuesday, January 29, 2008

For a good time call......

In the ever evolving connection between marketing and politics, there is a new way to promote candidates. (or make a joke at their expense) If you go to Mitt Romney's website you can actually make a personalized phone message to send to your friends. This is epically fun to send to your liberal friends.

Monday, January 28, 2008

A little slice of justice

The CEO of Countrywide, a defunct sub-prime lender that is being bought out by Bank of America, is declining his severance pay of $37.5 million. It's refreshing to see someone in the business world willing to do without their golden parachute. (Click)

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Greening my food

For some time now I have been thinking more about what I eat. Not only how can I eat healthier, and loose a couple of pounds in the process, but how can I have more of an environmental impact with the food choices that I make. To do this I have decided to try to grow some vegetables in my apartment.

I will be the first to admit that I do not have a green thumb. Here is a picture of the only plant in my apartment and the remains of some other plants.

It is a species of Elephant Ear plant. The only reason that it's still alive is because it can live on very little water. Usually I notice that it as almost dead and then give it a good drink and forget about it until it's brown again.

So I ventured out to Home Depot and bought some supply's. For $25.00 I got a tray, some soil, and some seeds, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, and baby carrots.



I also bought a little device that grows bean sprouts. I'm not a big fan of bean sprouts but it looked idiot proof.

It takes almost two weeks to see if any of the plants are going to grow, and about 45 days until I could be eating my first salad. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Why I won't vote for Hillary

I would not vote for Hillary, if she makes the democratic nomination, for one reason.
Not because of her politics. Not because of her persona. Not because she is a woman.
I won't vote for her because if she is elected as President, for 24 years the United States will have been controlled by two families. The Clinton's and the Bushes. Irrigardless of their politics, their failures and their accomplishemnts I do not think it is a good idea for the office of the President to be held by the same people for so long.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Got Freedom?

Didn't we being freedom and Democracy to this country? (Click)

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

No Forclosure No Eviction

Yesterday there was a small victory in the sub-prime foreclosure market. A woman in Dorchester with the help of City Life, was able to avoid her foreclosure on her home for a few days. (Click) I am encouraged to see people organizing around this issue.

I recentiely took a first home buying class, where the teacher, said rather bluntly, "They signed the paper they knew what they were getting into." Sure there should be some responsibility placed on the individuals. On the other hand Countrywide is being bought out by Bank of America, and there has been some talk about helping out other mortgage companies, but what about the people who would loose there homes? Who will help them?

Maybe we have to help each other?

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Relationships

Having left my church 8 months ago to pursue a less formal way of following Jesus I have discovered an unexpected benefit. The other day I was having dinner with a friend and I realized that I am satisfied with my relationships at the present time. I have two friends that I meet on a weekly basis and a second circle of friends and neighbors that I meet on a monthly basis.

When I was attending church I always felt unsatisfied with relationships. Thinking back I realize that, at least for me, it is not the ideal place to foster relationships. Think about it. I went to a church of about 700 people for about 7 years. Every Sunday there were say 100 people that I have had some sort of a connection with who I could talk to or would want to talk to me in the 15 minutes before and after service. Those numbers don't add up to forming satisfying relationship.

To solve that problem most churches these days have small groups, another 12 people that I know and should have a relationship with. Lets be honest, you meet once a week. Being a former small group leader I can tell you that it takes a good 6 months to a year to build intimacy in a small group, and by that time people are moving on or the leadership is pressuring you to spin off new groups.

On top of that, most churches want you to be involved a ministry of some sort. Mine was worship team (Teams of about 6 people on average). This was the most frustrating area of relationships for me. I played with a band three weeks in a row with 5 weeks off. It was mostly focused on practicing and playing the music, and relationship building took a back seat. With the exception of one person I didn't have any sort of regular contact with anyone else on the band outside of the worship team.

So there you have it about 100 people that I am connected to in some way that I feel obligated to have some sort of relationship with due to my church structure. Many people can function just fine in this environment. Being an introvert, I am not surprised that I am more fulfilled with a smaller amount of relationships that I have now.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Old People Cursing

If you like listening to old people saying obscene things, you'll love this video.
It's a review of the movie Superbad.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Adding Insult to Injury

I'm sure you remember the shock and disgust that we all felt when the abuse of Abu Ghraib were brought to light. Well now several years later the US military has cleared the name of the only solder charged with the abuses. (Click)

It is as if nothing ever happened. The humiliation that these men experienced did not happen. The pain that they experienced didn't happen. No one did anything wrong.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

$3 quadrillion

I must admit I have never heard of quadrillion before, and this is not the place that I would want to see it. (Click)

Monday, January 7, 2008

Life in Dorchester

Sense moving to Dorchester two years ago I have been able to see a side of the city that most don't. Many nights I hear sirens in the neighborhood. The other night a helicopter circled my neighborhood for half an hour. The crime and violence here is palpable.
You don't have to live in Dorchester to know this. The news paper and the news on TV keep up us up to date with the homicides in the city. This year 51 people dies from gun shots in the City of Boston, just three shy from last year, the highest in a decade. (Click here for a map of the homicides in Boston)

One statistic that doesn't get talked about or reported is the number of non-fatal shootings. This year there were 273 shootings in Boston. (Click for statistics)


I know one of the people who was shot this year. A teenage boy who was shot in the face after having an argument with another boy at school. There could have been 324 people killed by guns in the city this year. What can we do to stop the spreading of guns and violence in our city.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Reliving Youthful Memories

Tonight I am finally able to reminisce in the adrenalized show of my youth.

American Gladiators.

Grandiose games, hard hitting crashes, scantily cladded amazon women, and cheesy characters, Oh Yea!!!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Things I though I would never say...I agree with Joel Osteen

Something that I thought I wound never say is that I agree with Joel Osteen......in part. In a recent Slate.com article, Chris Lehmann had the following quote from Joel.

"I'm not called to explain every minute facet of Scripture or to expound on deep theological doctrines or disputes that don't touch where people live, My gift is to encourage, to challenge, and to inspire." from his book Become a Better You.

Lehmann went on to critique Osteen, and not in a friendly way. For the most part I agree with what Lehmann says, I have a similar outlook on modern evangelical mega churches. But the Osteen quote got me thinking.

Many of our churches spend a lot of time, i.e. every Sunday morning, preaching theology. Theology is good and an important facet of following Jesus, but to me theology is best presented as a dialog not a one way conversation. In many ways preaching theology doesn't, as Osteen says, "touch where people live." Wouldn't our Sunday morning be better spend being encouraging, challenging and inspiring each other rather than having one way conversations about minute details of theology?

I'm not sure exactly what that would look like for me. I don't think I would use the standard Sunday morning Church format, but I think I would enjoy going to a gathering like that, non-Christians might too.