A simple question?

Simply the best question ever from a marriage prep book.

Are you gay and marrying me to cover it up?*

(*True question from an actual marriage prep book)

Growing Up

There are many rites of passage in life. First kiss. Graduating High School & College. First job. I am about to embark on another. The first house. Over the past two months I have been getting pre-approved for obscene amounts of money and looking at houses twice the cost of my parents.

It all started for me as the dream of buying my own house and fixing it up. Sense I was a little kid I have watched programs like "This Old House", fixated on all the ways you could improve on your home. I guess that might explain why I worked in a hardware store as a kid, and ended up being an Architect.

Even with a background in Architecture, this is a frightening idea for me. Now it's my house, it's my money, they're my ideas, and good or bad, I have to live with them. I would be lying if I didn't tell you that I enter this with a bit of trepidation.

Today I am putting an offer on a house. (technically it's the second offer I have submitted, the other property fell through, but that's a post for another time) It's a 1900 brick Victorian row house in my neighborhood. Just off Maverick Sq.

I hope all go's well and that I get the place so I can start a grand adventure.

Tradition and Culture

Image via Wikipedia

This past week I gained a new appreciation for tradition and culture. Specifically religious traditions and cultures. Every church had it's own traditions, meaning it's customs and beliefs, Every church has it's own culture, meaning they way their traditions are carried out. Sometimes they are explicitly taught. Sometimes they are unspoken. But they are always there.

This past week it was my turn to provide the content portion of my house church meeting. I decided to focus on prayer, something that I have come to appreciate more and more from my previous church experience. I come from two religious traditions with two different religious cultures. One fairly traditional, Christian Missionary Alliance, and the other charismatic, The Vineyard Christian Fellowship. My experiences on prayer were more shaped by the latter, through small groups, retreats, and all night prayer meetings.

I wanted to share some of my experiences from the past 10 years with my new house church, but I only had one hour to do it. As I struggles with how I might do this I realized that following Jesus is a lot like looking at a sculpture. Our religious tradition and culture help to shape our thoughts on what we see. But if we allow ourselves to move around the room we can see the sculpture from another vantage point, and gain a deeper experience, understanding and appreciation of what we are looking at. We can see those things that are not visible from any another place in the room.

The same is true with religious traditions and cultures. By trying our new and different way of experiencing God we can gain a deeper understanding of him. And by reflecting on our past religious traditions and cultures we can gain a new found appreciation for what we once had even after we have moved on to new experiences and vantage points.

Politics as usual......

If you have been following the news lately you have been hearing about the health care debate. Recently it had devolved into more of a shouting match.
There was a opportunity to have a meaningful conversation about death and end of life care in America., but it has gotten away from us.

Included in the health care bill in Congress was a provision to provide counseling on end of life care. In typical political fashion, the Republicans latched on to this and stared referring to it as a death panel. And in typical Democratic fashion, they let them get away with it.

Now this provision has been removed from the bill. (Click) Who wins in this kind of debate? The Republicans claim victory over the Democrats. Citizens don't get the health care they need. One more meaningful national conversation is avoided.

Revelation

Image by ehpien via Flickr

There has been a rising source of tension in my life recently. The small group that I am involved with in my neighborhood. We can't seam to settle on what exactly we are doing. We seam float around from one idea to another. Every idea seams to be just as revolutionary as the next. But today I realized that this group is different from any other that I have been in and perhaps am the one who should change.

Most small groups are content spending each week politely discussing a topic and moving on to a new topic the next week. Not this group. My friends add the extra step of dreaming up big ways of how these new ideas can be integrated into our lives.

I realize that I have been wanting complacency and the status-quo, when others are inviting me to dream for a bigger more fulfilled life.

The Shack - Book Review

Cover of The Shack

While on vacation I started reading the book "The Shack" by William P. Young. This has been a widely popular book sense it has come out even making it to the NY Times Best Sellers list.

On one hand I can understand why. The Shack attempts to explain everything anyone would want to know about God. How does the Trinity work. Why did Jesus have to die. What is Gods plain for the world. And the most important question in the book, why is there pain in the world.

As for myself I did not like the book. To me The Shack seamed to be one persons attempt to spread their own theology. What little plot that exists is only there to support the long philosophical arguments about God.

Undoubtedly some will find this very helpful, but I feel this book is a snapshot of some of what is wrong with Christianity today. To often we seek the easy answers, the explanations that will satisfy our deepest questions. What I find fascinating about Jesus is that his narratives were different.

Jesus spoke in parables. Short story's that explained little, but drew the listener into into a deeper questioning. The Shack reads as if some one is preaching to you rather than asking you to question more.

iWoz - Book Review

Cover via Amazon

I recently finished reading the book iWoz; How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It. This is the autobiography of Steve Woznaik. I found this book to be a delight, not only because it is an easy read, but because it also feeds my fascination Apple computers.

In reading this book I was fascinated with how passionate Woz is. Wither it is engineering, education or parenting, he throws all he has at the task at hand. You can almost feel his grittiness as you read the storeys from his youth. I wish I had half of his enthusiasm.

One of my favorite bible passages is about the sheep and the goats. In it Jesus makes the point that we may be surprised at who gets into heaven. I wouldn't be surprised if Woz is up there. Although respecting Jesus, he is not a "Christian". But this does not stop him from giving generously in many circumstances; selling apple stock to employees who didn't get any before the IPO, putting on a rock concert even though he lost 12 million dollars, teaching computer classes at his kids school. He even has a street names after him in San Jose because of all his philanthropy.

My only critique is that in his zeal for engineering he often descried, in some detail, the engineering projects he worked on. This sometimes got tedious, especially for someone without an engineering background, but those parts are easy enough to pass over.

Ps...then looking at pictures of Woz, especially during the 80's & 90's he reminds me of my father. The could easily be mistaken for brothers.

Let's take Jesus out of his packaging

Image by bookgrl via Flickr

The other day a friend told me a story. Apparently some college professors wanted to use the Shane Claiborne's book "Jesus for President" as a starting point for a class the were going to teach.

It resulted in a couple of students committing to spend the year getting a homeless man off the streets. What surprises me is not so much that they were successful, but that their teachers were shocked that their students would do such a thing.

My question is this. What is the state of religious teaching in the church if professors would be so shocked. What are we expecting students to get out of religious training if not to become more like Jesus. Why do we care so much about teaching Greek and systematic theology? Sure these are important things but they are not as great as a group of college kids learning to be more like Jesus.

Let's take Jesus out of the box we package him in and see what happens.

Life is funny

Last night our group, (I'm not sure what you would call us, house church, organic church, small group......whatever) came full circle. We have been talking about doing a relational tithe, (sometimes called a giving circle) for a while now. Last night we hashed out some of the details. One detail was about how we will give. It was noted that walking in the door and handing someone a few bucks before the meeting started didn't seam to do the act justice. It was suggested that perhaps we could make some sort of meaningful ritual out of the act of giving. (We were careful avoid the word offering.)

The discussion of how we would collect the money was interesting also. There were three suggestions: A promotional Tequila cowboy hat, a baseball cap with the Borat catch phrase "Sexy Time" on it, or a glass jar. We settled on the glass jar although the "Sexy Time" cap was a close second.

Life is funny, we spend so much time and energy forging our own path. Questioning and critiquing the actions of our forefathers just to come around full circle to appreciate that traditions we once scorned.

Book Review - A Year of Living Biblically

Cover of The Year of Living Biblically

This evening I finished reading the book "A Year of Living Biblically", by A.J. Jacobs. It was a delightful read in the emerging style of immersion journalism that is quite popular these days, resulting in an insightful and hilarious book.

Jacobs spends the year following the Jewish and Christian rules that he gathers from the bible, trying his hardest to take the most literal interpretation possible. Over the course of the year he manages to stone an adulterer, go to a snake handling service, travel to Israel, and refrain from shaving his beard.

To give away the ending of his book, Jacobs concludes with idea that we are all following our own interpenetration of the Bible, cafeteria style. A much as we would like to think that myself (and others like me) are following the bible correctly to some degree we are all picking and choosing (interpreting for ourselves) how we will follow the bible.

If I am honest with myself, I have to agree with Jacobs. How can we expect to follow all the the rules the bible sets out for us. We all have those parts of the bible that we love and cherish, and those parts that we choose to hold at a distance. And maybe this isn't so bad. As the the Apostle Paul says "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" Perhaps we aren't suppose to know how it all fits together. Perhaps it's ok if we hold closer to the things we can understand and that move us.

And A.J. just in case if you read this review..........helmet.

My Hispter Douche Bag Bike

For a while I have wanting a single speed road bike. It's not that I need a new bike my old stand by is working just fine. It's more of a novelty factor thing. So about a month ago, after searching craigslist for a couple of weeks, I purchases a beat up Ross 10 speed road bike. Over the past few weeks I have been cleaning up the bike, ordering parts, and building the bike single speed I wanted.

In the end I spent about $230.00 total and got a pretty cool bike out of it. I also learned a thing or two about how to fix up bikes too.

I have one problem though. A couple of days a go I saw this old beat up bike being thrown out in the trash and I though to myself, "Hey I could fix that bike"

Community Project

Last night I went to a community party in my old neighborhood. It was jointly hosted by the neighborhood group I was involved with and the Animal Rescue League of Boston. For the past three years there has been a group tirelessly working towards improving the local park by the creation of a Dog Recreation Space. Last night was a sort of celebration and reminder of all the work that is ahead.

It reminded me of how much I loved that neighborhood, but specifically of now much I loved the people. I realized that the creation of the DRS was just a means to an end. That end being a stronger community. Neighbors banding together to make their piece of the city just a little bit better.

If you could, please consider donate some money to towards the DRS. They still need to raise $10,000 in order to complete the project. You can donate through the Animal Rescue League's website. Just put Ronan Park Dog Run in the Special Instructions space.

iPod's Are Required

In technology news, it was announces that the university of Minnesota's journalism department is requiring all journalism students to have an ipod's. This is to enable students to download podcasts of the lectures they attend. In an interview with the Missorurian, Brian Brooks, Associate Dean of the aforementioned school, stated, "Lectures are the worst possible learning format. There's been some research done that shows if a student can hear that lecture a second time, they retain three times as much of the lecture."

So my question is, if this is true, that lectures are the worst possible learning format, what is the benefit of listening to a preacher on Sunday morning? Most likely people are not retaining the information they are being given. What kind of disciples s the Church producing by relying so heavily on the lecture format? Are we wasting an hour of our spiritual lives each week? Are there other means of communication that are more effective?

Or we could just issue an ipod to everyone at conversion?

(click) (click)

Productive day

This has to be one of the most productive Saturday mornings of my life.

First I get up and make sweet and spicy bacon for breakfast. You wouldn't believe me but there is actually a way to improve on bacon. It involves cumin, paprika, pepper and copious amounts of brown sugar.

Secondly, I transplanted a few of my plants from their egg containers to old plastic soda bottles cut in half.

Lastly I finished the repairs to my childhood bike. I started the project in Feburary, so I guess it's about time I finished it.

Did I mention it's only 11:00 Am...... I guess I don't have to feel guilty if I take an afternoon nap.

What does Social Justice Mean to you? Part 2 or Dude Where's My Kingdom?

Image via Wikipedia

If Jesus had a catchphrase it might be "The Kingdom of Heaven is near." He seam to be saying it all over the Gospels. When Jesus heals people, the Kingdom of God seams to be near. When someone shows great faith, the Kingdom of God is near. Why is this?

As human beings there seams to be something that is dividing us separating us from experiencing God, his Kingdom. Something that we were made for. Perhaps it's Chaos creeping back into our lives. Traditional Christian teaching would say that it's sin that separates us. I usually make it a habit not to contradict 2,000 years of thought but I might add a little something to this...... Perhaps it's not so much the bad things that we're doing (sin), but it's the good things that we are not doing that is what is keeping us from experiencing Gods Kingdom. What would happen if we followed Jesus example of loving others selflessly. When we stand up alongside those who are being oppressed and help them to overcome, would the Kingdom of God be nearer to us? I think it would.

When a retiree helps a little kid learn to read, the Kingdom of God is there. When someone is healed from a debilitating disease, the Kingdom of God has been experienced. When a homeless man gets a warm meal and a change of clothes from a stranger, the Kingdom of God has manifested. It's as if Chaos has been pushed back a little bit further and we can experience the Kingdom of God when we love other people.

The funny thing about this kingdom is that it's not based on rules. There is no secret password at the door. There is no way of keeping people out. There might not be any doors, walls or borderlines at all. Instead this kingdom is based on what we do. The common actions that we perform together. That we are loving our neighbors. That we are feeding the hungry and clothing the poor. People can be experiencing the Kingdom of God and not even know it.

Come join us in the Kingdom of God.

Parable of the sheep and goats: Matt 25:31-46

What Does Social Justice Mean to You? Part 1 or Plant a Garden

A couple of years ago the question, "What does Social Justice mean to you?", was asked in a group of friends. We all gave our own quick 5 minute synopsis and moved on. But this question has always stuck with me. So I have deiced to turn it into a series of blog posts. As a note; I am not theologian, I have never been to seminary or bible college. I like theology but get tired of it quickly when it's all fine sounding arguments and no action. That being said please read on.....

When I think about Social Justice, I don't think about Jesus or the Prophets of the Bible. Instead I think back to Genius. There is something about that first story that intrigues me. What was here before we were? One interpretation of Genius would suggest chaos was here first. Nothingness swirling around in a cosmic void with no order, pattern, or purpose.

In the first few versus, God simply speaks and things start happening. There is light. There is water and land, ect. As he creates these things he also fills them. The light comes from the sun. The water is filled with fish. The land is inhabited with animals. And after creating the first people he gives them jobs. They are to tend to the garden, seemingly to keep chaos from creeping back into Gods creation.

A group of my neighbors are planting vegetable gardens this spring. To me, there is something Justice related about this action. Taming a wild and abandoned section of the city. Where there once was chaos there will soon be a harvest. Where there was there once was neglect will be now be sustenance.

This sounds a bit like Justice to me.

I am the God who brings life to the dead and calls things that aren't as thought they were. Romans 4:17b

Photo Credit: Robertg6n1 (Click)

This I Use to Believe

As I have previously mentioned on the Blog I am a fan of the radio show This American Life. This week they has a great program called "This I Use to Believe" A take on This I believe, a different NPR program.

In the second segment of the show there is a great dialog between a former believer and a Texas high school football coach. It offers some great insights into the missed conversations between believers and non-believers.

If you have a free moment you should check it out. (Click)

Improving on Perfection

There are few things in this world that embody beauty and perfection. The Sistine Chapel, the grand canyon, and bacon come to mind. But how could you ever improve on these things.

This for lunch today I visited Scup's in the Harbor. I decided to have the grilled cheese with sweet and spicy bacon. It was like heaven in my mouth.

I'm not exactly sure what they did to the beacon, but I think they added brown sugar and pepper. Perfection improved upon.

Lent 2009

These pictures are from my Lent project this year. They were taken around my neighborhood i an attempt to understand my neighborhood better. You can view more photos at my flickr account.

The Servernt Savior

Colossians 4:12
Originally uploaded by sgs_1019

Today is Good Friday, the day Christians set aside to observe the death of Jesus. The day they rejoice and morn over as Gods plan to redeem mankind's sinfulness. Jesus death on the cross is viewed as the pinnacle of history and Gods ultimate gift to mankind. Historically this has been called Christus Victor (Click)

Modern Evangelicalism has been built upon this theology. It is the lens through all things are viewed, effecting the way we see all things and how we treat all people. Christus Victor is the driving force behind evangelism, giving christians the passion to preach the gospel at all costs to see as many people as possible saved. But what if this wasn't the only way to observe Good Friday.

What if we viewed Good Friday as an act of a servitude? What if Jesus came to earth to show us Gods love. What is Jesus came to show us how to serve, to give all of yourself to others, to give our very lives. Could servitude be Gods plan to usher in his kingdom?

What if we practiced servanthood instead of preaching man's sinfulness.

What if we loved and cared for the poor so deeply that it upset the status quo?

Would people want to join our churches and communities?

Would we have more of an impact on those around us?

Would people see Jesus in us?

Spring

At lunch today, during in a break in the rain, I went for a short walk around the North End. I began to think about the end of Lent. For the first time I got excited about Lent and not just that it's ending, and I can end my fast. I reflected on rebirth, the renewing of a life and the hope in something new. I think I may have stumbled on to the Easter Spirit.

The Bell

This morning I joined my father as he went to his final prostate cancer treatment at MGH. We were a little early for the appointment, and shortly after arriving a steady stream of older men joined us in the waiting room. I was introduced to many of the guys my father became friends with over the past two months.

As we gathered around each other in the waiting room, there were congratulations given to my father for finishing his treatments. They even presented him with a kitschy certificate that looked as if it was printed from word.

As my father slipped away to change into his hospital gown, the Actor mentioned that his wife planed a busy weekend for them in New York. The Professor talked about how can't fit into his 40 slim suits anymore. Someone else casually announces that although he is having some trouble sexually he still dreams of sex. "They can't take that away from you!", yells another man from around the corner. The veteran says that he only dreams of the war.

My father slips in and out of the treatment room, the treatment itself only takes minutes. After he's changed we make our way to a bell, which is strangely located in between the bathroom doors. My father begins an impromptu ceremony by reading the words on the plaque under the bell and then rings it three times. Pictures are taken, hands were shaken, and farewells are given.

I join my father and another man, Frank, for a quick coffee upstairs in the cafe. After getting our coffee and finding a free table and the conversion turns to more mundane topics like, the economy, work, and franks new house. A few minutes late I excuse myself so I can get to work by 9:30.

As I walk out of the hospital my mind drifts back to the men in the waiting room, my chances of becoming sick, and what life is about. I send a text message to my girlfriend.

"Miss you.....love you......can't wait to see you again"

Observations from my recent trip to California

Observations from my recent trip to California

1) It's not always sunny and warm in Cali. (Unless if you are comparing it to New England)

2) In & Out is still the raining champion of fast food hamburgers.

3) Farting, although funny, is not a acceptable way to win an argument with your parents.

4) You can take the Clear Lake out of the trash but you can't take the trash out of Clear Lake. (Jen's observation, not mine)

5) Although they live on opposite coasts and have never met, both Laura's & my mother have the same antique sowing machine.

6) You should never miss an opportunity to sell a car.

7) Bass fishing can be a lucrative career.

8) I hope I'm elected.

9) Do everything you can to avoid driving over the mountains. (Unless if you enjoy being car sick)

10) Meeting the girlfriends family is nothing like a Ben Stiller movie.

Meet the Strohmeier's

Last night I flew to the west coast to meet my girlfriend. We've been dating about four months now. In my option the relationship has been progressing we'll, at a normal pace except for the fact that after this weekend we will have already met each others parents. I am not sure where this should fall on the standard relationship timeline, but it seams a little quick to me, but this was not by our design.

Shortly after we started dating my father moved to Boston to live with me while he underwent some medical treatments. So naturally, when someone is living with you for two months you would expect that they would meet your girlfriend. And of course my mom came to visit for two weeks as well.

The trip to the west coast was originally to meet her friends and go to Disneyland. But again due to circumstances out of her control we're ending up spending the weekend with her family.

I must admit. I have never met "The Parents" before. I'm a little concerned. After we started dating her father sent me strange messages via facebook......yes her father is on facebook. (Mine was to for a while, but left citing "there is just to much information on Facebook".) I have sense learned that her father has a strange sense of humor, and that there was no harm intended.

This mornning I woke up at 4:00 AM (7:00 AM my time), I'm sitting in their basement alone writing thsi blog wondering how he weekend will turn out.

Good Times

I found this video on my computer that is about 9 years old.

The Social Experiment

Sense I have been pursuing social justice as an expression of my faith I have ascribed to some of Shane Claiborne's ideas. Particularly the concept of setting up faith communities in the desolate areas of the world and proclaiming Gods Kingdom. This model worked well for me in my last neighborhood, but I'm running into a few hurtles in my new neighborhood.

I've been to a few community meeting, observing mostly, looking for ways I can engage my neighborhood. I'm realizing that things are pretty well established here. There are plenty of programs and non-profits in the neighborhood. On one hand this is great, on the other hand my new neighborhood is clearly not a desolate area. I need a new model.

As a "doer" type of personality, the old model worked great for me. You can do pretty much anything you want and have a good chance of making a positive impact. I believe that this new model will have to rely more on relationships/socializing. Admittedly, this is not one of my strengths.

Photo Credit: The Waving Cat (Click)

I am not a morning person anymore.

I have always thought of myself as a morning person. Then my parent's lived with me for two weeks in my small, cramped two bedroom apartment.

I typically wake up at 6:15 and by the time I open my bedroom door my mom is already sitting in the living room watching the news at an unnecessary volume. I'm thinking; "Why is she up already, she's on vacation?" Then I try to use the bathroom and my father is taking a shower. I'm thinking. "I really have to go to the bathroom.....this is very annoying!" I start to make my breakfast and before I finish my father sticks his head out of the bathroom and says "Do you have to take a squirt? " I'm thinking; "Squirt.....who the fuck uses the word squirt, that's disgusting." I walk in and use the bathroom for a few minutes, then as I leave he go's back in to finish his morning routine.

As I sit down to eat my breakfast my dad starts preparing his. He gets out a cup of yogurt and a granola bar. He likes to break up his granola bar and put it into his yogurt. Under normal circumstances I would have no problem with this, I even enjoy it myself. Except that my father gets out the rolling pin from cabinet and proceeds to beat the granola bar with the rolling pin creating a lot of unnecessary noise for 6:30 in the morning.

Then I made myself some hot tea. As I was squirting the honey into my tea it made the per-verbal fart noise, at the sound of which my father did a double take and stared at me with a devilish smile. As he is my father I didn't even need to look in his direction to know he was doing this. No words were exchanges and at 6:45 am I do not appreciate my fathers childish sense of humor.

So this dance continues for the next 45 minutes or so, my parents doing something innocuous and me suppressing a disproportionate level of frustration. Around this time I realize that although I have always had a roommate I am usually up and out the door before they even wake up. I very rarely have had to deal with another person's morning routine. Maybe I am just not the morning person I thought I was.

Eastie Gras

Tonight our community celebrated it's first Mardi Gras, Jesus style. No beads. No boobs. Just good conversation. (I know, it's not as much fun but it's more meaningful) We ate pancakes with all the trimmings; brown sugar apples, chocolate chips, and whip cream, while discussing how we as a community could participate in Lent.

By the end of the night we stumbled on the following idea. Spending the time of Lent to reflect on our core values as a community. Finding what aspects of Jesus we most want to reflect in our neighborhood. We also want to document the brokenness we see in our neighborhood. Our hope is to find a synergy between our values and the brokenness we see in our neighborhood and to come away with an action.

As for myself. I have decided that I want to be more creative and be less depressed about the possibility of loosing my job. So I am going on a media fast (News and TV) and start some creative projects. I am going to try and write a short story that has been in my mind for a while and be more intentional about getting out of the house to shoot some photographs.

For the first time in many years I am actually excited about Lent and what can come out of the experience.

The Story of My Life

It seams as though I have ambition, or maybe it's just something inherent in all men. I start these crazy projects that end with mixed results. Once it was a bookshelf. Of course I couldn't just make a normal book shelf, it had to have crazy angles and aircraft cable. Then there was the Media Center PC. I bought a 500GB harddrive, and new RAM, but of course they weren't compatible. I eventually got the computer to work, and it's still sitting next to my TV.....but it's not hooked up.

Last week, while cleaning my bike, I found out that I had two broken spokes on my rear bike wheel. I could just take my bike to the shop and have someone fix it, but what's the fun in that. So I went to the bike shop and after a breif converation with bike mechanic I walked out with a new wheel, two specialtey bike tools and $120.00 less in my wallet.

I was able to get the rear cogset off the old wheel and on to the new one fairly easly. I go the new wheel on the bike and took it for a spin. I did notice that the breaks are not properly aligned, and that the cables are a little warn, but I'll leave that for another day.

Thoughts on the economey

It seams as though everyone has a comment or an opinion on the economy, so I figure I would set up a soap box and give mine too.

President Obama signed the Economic Stimulus bill earlier this week with the hope of stabilizing the markets and bring economy back on track. But do we really want things to return to normal? Or do we want something more?

Tonight a friend told me some statistic's that read something like this: Corporate executives make as much as 400% more than the lowest paid workers in their company. The top 1% of in America, own 90% of the wealth. Is this the type of economy we want to return to?

At it's worst American capitalism rewards economic growth at any cost. Stock prices go up based on quarterly profit reports, regardless of how worker were treated and the environmental impact of the products produced. An ever growing GDP is the end goal, and the indicator of a "healthy" economy.

John Perkins said it well in his book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man"
"The system, however, is fuels by something far more dangerous than conspiracy. It is driven not by a small band of men but by a concept that has become accepted as gospel: the idea that all economic growth benefits humankind and the greater the growth, the more widespread the benefits. This belief also has a corollary; that those people who excel at stoking the fires of economic growth should be exalted and rewarded, while those born at the fringes are available for exploitation."

I am not a politician or an economist, and I do not know the answer to our current economic woes. But I hope to be a prophetic voice that can point us in the direction of a more just economy. An economy where the environment if cared for. An economy where they is enough for everyone to be provided for. An economy where everyone is valued.

My G1 phone is amazing

So a little while ago I wrote a posted about my G1 phone working without the data plan. To reiterate it worked perfectly fine without the data plan.......but it works even better with it.

I was trying to fix a problem with my SD card, so I decided to reset my phone. To do this it required me to turn back on the data plan. Now I'm hooked.

This morning I used an app called Buddy Runner, a GPS tracking app that works off my phone. I was able to track my run, fairly accurately, and give me a report on my distance, time and elevation. It also sends the information to a website that logs all your runs.

With the Android app store going to payed apps this week I am sure there will be even greater apps to come. I guess there is a good side to capitalism after all.

Simplicity

There is a lot of talk about simplicity these day's. My group of friend is no different. Last night we attempted to understand simplicity and came up with our own take. Here is some of what I remember from the conversation.

What are our values?:
The question behind simplicity is in someways a question of what are your values. What do you want your life to reflect. For example, if you value the environment living a simple life might look like buying less, or growing your own food. It is also helpful distill your values to a select few that are import to you. Meaning, the more values you try to reflect the more likely you will not be able to do any of them well, or that they may contradict each other. For example if you value spending less money and buying organic healthy food, you will have to deal with the fact that you'll be paying a premium for organic food.


Limiting Options:
In America we have way to many options. If you go to the supermarket you will find 20 different types of canned peas. Do we really need that many choices? Could limiting our choices actually make our lives simple. Could limiting our choices allow is to have a deeper experience with the fewer choices we have. Take friendships for example. Although it might seam harsh to say I am limiting my friendships to a few select people, it would allow you to intentionally deepen those relationships. Fewer choices could mean a simpler and more connected life.

Geography:
At one time in my life (early to mid 20's) I was all over the Boston. Lived in one part of the city, worked in another, and on any given night I would be somewhere else meeting friend or at an event. This adds a lot of travel time and general complexity to my life. Recently I have move to East Boston with a few friends. Now I only really need to leave my neighborhood to go to work. My social and spiritural circle of friends all live within a few block radius of my apartment. This is a part of simplicity that I think comes with age. When you are younger you feel as though you don't want to miss out on anything, but as you get older you don't mind missing the latest movie opening to stay in and finish a good book.

Photo credit TheAlieness GiselaGiardino's (click)

Phew

Recent Giuliani quote:
"I remember when I was mayor, one of the ways in which you determine New York City's budget, tax revenue is Wall Street bonuses."

I'm glad this man is not our president.

G1-data=cool+savings

So my diabolical plan worked after all. I have been wanting a smart phone for some time but did not want to pay the extra charges for the data plan. So when the G1 came out I was pretty excited.

First off, when I bought the phone the salesman in the store said you could cancel the data plan after one month. But when I called T-mobile on Monday to cancel the data plan they assured me that the phone would be bricked after I canceled the data plan.

Two days later the phone sill works, and I can access the internet & maps when I am near a wifi point. The only negative I have found is that the twitter client that I am using seams a little buggy. I assume that some of the apps may be programmed to work on the network not through the wifi, so there may be a few apps that don't work properly.

Ps in order to get the text messaging plan back on to my phone I had to tell the website that I did not have a G1. I needs my 400 text's a month......what does that say about me?

Money

There is a saying that where your money is....there your heart is. For the past year I have been tracking my spending to see where all my money go's. I came up with a few surprises.

Number one on the list.....Housing? Food? Nope Taxes!!!!! Yep, 24.33% of my money went to paying state and federal taxes. (That does not include any sales tax. That would be impossible to track.) That was quite a surprise to me. Paying for wars and bailouts is not a priority for me, but schools and parks.....I'm a little conflicted.

Second on the list was savings (13.81%). This is not much of a surprise to me because I am on an aggressive savings track to buy my first home. Although, when I think about it, the general rule of thumb is to save 10% of your take home pay. I feel that I have gone to some great lengths to get to 13% it's no wonder that most Americans have little savings.

Third, rent 12.92%. I am a little surprised by this number. Living in Boston, I thought it would be higher.

Fourth, giving 9.78% I was hoping this would be a little higher. Something I need to work on.

Everything else was under 7% . This brings some perspective to things like retirement, travel, and entertainment. When budgeting and tracking I tend to be obsessive about these sort of things when in reality they make up very little of my spending.

Starting off the new year

I have been listening to Democracy Now for the past couple of months. This year they have started off with two phenomenal shows. One on Utah Phillips, the orginizer, singer songwriter, storyteller, and general anarchist. And and the other show is a talk by Howard Zinn, historian teacher and writer.

As I listened to these two stories, it makes me think about the type of person I would like to become. Both men speak their mind and stand for justice. Followers of Jesus, in the US, tend to be meek. As if Jesus wanted us to become nice people. Sure we are to love our neighbors, but were also called to stand up for justice. This should, on occasion, put us at odds with those in power in our society.

I recommend giving these two stories a listen and be inspired to cause a little trouble. (Click)