Earth Day 2016

Prince

The Omni Hotel in downtown Dallas honors Prince last night.

I wasn't a massively huge Prince fan. I owned a couple of his albums but I didn't actively follow his career. I did really dig some of his stuff. Some of it was amazing. But much of his work just wasn't my style. His flamboyant creativity often overshadowed his brilliant guitar playing. He was one of the most innovative and skillful guitar soloists ever. He had an intuitive sense on how to take a song in new and unexpected directions. Brilliant and weird guy. I wish more of our modern pop artists were as daring and creative. Here are two examples of Prince's guitar solos that blew my mind...

The first video is from Coachella 2008. He's covering Radiohead's Creep. This song is a Holy Grail song for me. This song was extremely important to me in the early 1990's and the thought that someone would dare cover it seemed almost sacrilegious. But Prince respects the song yet takes it and makes it his own. The guitar solo work is crazy good...



The second song comes from a 2005 tribute to George Harrison at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. George Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps. This band features a lineup of legends: Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne and others. Prince was given the solo originally played by Eric Clapton and he rips it apart. Even in a band made of legends, he stands out. So yeah, he was flamboyant, strange, crazy and sometimes profane. But the guy could play and could play hard. He will be missed.

Bout Time

I am thrilled to see Harriet Tubman will be honored on American currency. She was a hero of great courage and moral conscience. It is also wonderful to finally see a woman represented on American money. Not to mention that it is fantastic to see an African-American represented on our currency. This is a great move on so many accounts. There is nothing bad to say about this change except this...

They are still keeping Andrew Johnson's image on the $20 bill albeit in a different form and on the back side of the bill.

He should be removed entirely.

No one on American currency is perfect. But who are you going to replace? Washington? Lincoln? Franklin? Hamilton? Grant might be debatable since he did oversee one of the most corrupt and scandalous White House administrations in history. However...

Andrew Jackson? Not really a debate.

In no particular order...

Andrew Jackson was against paper money. He was a strict adherent to the gold standard and made it illegal for people to use currency to buy federal lands. Only gold or silver coins could be used which caused the Great Panic of 1857 and led our nation into its worst economic depression until the 1930's. He was against the idea of a national bank. To have his image on currency has long been a ridiculous joke.

He murdered a guy in a duel.

As a general he illegally declared martial law in New Orleans and had federal judges arrested. He suspended due process and shut down all opposition newspapers. Hundreds arrested with no due process.

He owned hundreds of slaves. He was virulently against abolition.

He broke federal law as a land speculator by buying and selling Indian land already protected by Federal treaty.

He forcibly removed thousands of Indians out of Georgia, against their will, in an act of ethnic cleansing. He did this to make room for many more plantations worked by thousands of slaves.

He summarily executed prisoners of war during the Creek Indian Wars.

The list goes on and on. How this guy was ever honored on our currency is beyond me. This is not liberal propaganda. This is simply the truth, the facts...facts that Jackson was proud of and wrote about freely.

So yes, I wish Jackson was off our currency for good. And it was way past time for a woman and African-American be so honored.

The only people that seem to be upset by this change are white males. Hmmmmm. 

Duolingo

Things I try to do everyday:

Use the Duolingo app to study Spanish. Five minutes a day. Amazing little app. Available for lots of languages. 

Ladies Man

My son was super embarrassed to have to take this photo with members of the High School's Drill Team who were greeting kids as they came to school Friday. He looks pretty cool and collected in the pic but he's a pretty shy guy and this caught him off guard. 

Baseball Baseball Baseball

 

It's baseball all the time for us now. Practice twice a week. Often games twice a week. That's four nights a week of our lives taken by baseball...and we are not even on a tournament or select team! Not too happy with our league. We have several games that start at 8:00 pm on school nights. That means wrapping things up around 10:00 pm...for nine year olds...on school nights!

Youth league sports have gotten ridiculous. Jackson loves playing the game. Loves getting dirty on slides. Loves playing ball. He's progressing very nicely. He has a good coach and a good set of teammates. We like his team. But the overall culture places a lot of pressure on these kids. We have friends on select teams and the burden they put on these kids are terrible. 

People wonder why so many kids burn out or why there are so many Tommy John Surgeries these days. We are over-working these kids and most of them, the vast majority, will not play any sort of pro ball. A few might get lucky to get scholarships for college. But this should be about fun. It should be about building teamwork and social skills. It should be about exercise and fitness. It should be about learning the game and good sportsmanship. But now it's mostly about obsessive adults, living out their failed dreams vicariously through eight and nine year olds. And it only gets worse as the kids get older.  

The White Album

I've been talking all this spring about the amazing number of new releases coming out from my favorite bands. Since January; Gungor, Chris Isaak, M. Ward, Brazzaville and now Weezer have dropped new tracks. Radiohead and Local Natives are also slated to release records soon. It has been a great year for music, at least for me. My faves don't usually all line up their releases at the same time.

April 1st, Weezer released The White Album. No April Fool's Joke. It's good stuff. The sound is very similar to last year's excellent Everything Will Be Alright in the End. Guess it should go without saying it's not on the Blue or Pinkerton level...but probably nothing ever will be and I've accepted that. Still, these most recent two albums have been their best in years. I've got a few tiers when it comes to Weezer albums...starting at the top...

The Incomparable Work of Genius: The Blue Album.

The Classic and Amazing (but not quite as good as Blue): Pinkerton

Really Great Stuff: Green, Maladroit

Excellent: EWBAE and White

Very Good: Red, Make Believe

I dig it even though I'm embarrassed to admit it and would never say so to hardcore Weezer fans: Raditude

Meh. Some good, some meh, mostly meh and some lame: Hurley, Death to False Metal

So yeah, I'd put The White Album somewhere in the middle. I particularly like King of the World and Endless Bummer. If you put the best one or two songs from each of their last five or six releases you'd have one super great album. Unfortunately  too much of their stuff is hit or miss lately. But White really holds up pretty much all the way through. I dig it.

SMU Nights

Going to miss these beautiful nights on The Hilltop. 

Critique

So, I'm going to brag a bit. Annoying Parent Alert. My son is a voracious reader. He can't stop. He's about to come in first in his school (out of 400 students) in Accelerated Reader Points for the third straight year. He's a third grader reading on a sixth grade level. 

He just started the Harry Potter series. Before that he wrapped up John Grisham's series for kids about a kid lawyer. Since he had read the book via a library loan from Amazon he posted (screenshot above) a review (under my account). His first review and all his own words. 

America is Great!

Trump is wrong. Dead wrong. Any country where you can find Arby's at Walmart don't need fixin'. America is already great! 

Let Church Bells Ring

I know this is a little late. But we had a very nice Easter weekend. We had Good Friday off and went to our church to walk through the Stations of the Cross. I had never done this before and it was very moving. 

I spent Saturday trying to resurrect our lawn with forty yards of St. Augustine sod. Sunday was very nice. The service was powerful and lunch afterwards with the family was good. A nice quiet Easter. 

Timex

One of the birthday presents I received this past week was a watch: a Timex Expedition Indiglo with a brown leather band. Actually picked it out myself from the local Target. Listen, Timex isn't fancy. But they are tough and they get the job done. Some of my more expensive watches have proven too delicate for every day living. I'm getting too old for pretense. Just give me something that's tough and lasts. 

NCAA's

And I guess I should post my bracket since the tournament starts today. I got OU winning it all. 

2016

I know I said I wouldn't get political on the blog. But I was watching an interview with Trump yesterday and I finally had enough. I realized I wanted to go on record, public record, to say that Trump is unacceptable. He is unacceptable in every way. He is a sham of a businessman. He is unethical. He is racist, misogynst and a shameless liar. He incites violence. He has no class. He may not be another Hitler but he could be a Mussolini. 

So here are my thoughts on the other remaining candidates (all of whom, however ridiculous, I would vote over Trump):

Ted Cruz: Unacceptable extremist who is even disliked by his fellow Republicans. Plus he lies. Shady "wacko-bird" and a demogogue. 

Marco Rubio: Weasel, not ready for prime time. Bails on people so much that his fellow Floridian Republicans are openly rooting for him to lose his home state. I don't think even he knows what he believes. Was once a Mormon, now a Catholic who attends a Baptist church. 

Hillary Clinton: Untrustworthy. Hides the truth. Cuts ethical corners. Shady. 

Bernie Sanders: Too old. Too far to the left to ever gain consensus. 

So, that leaves the one guy I could possibly endorse: John Kasich. He's not the perfect candidate but he shines much brighter than the ilk surrounding him. He's a moderate conservative with experience  who demonstrates the gravitas of a president. Perfect or not (and there's no such thing as a perfect candidate) he's the guy I'm supporting now. He has a tough road ahead. Must win Ohio tonight. And must hope for a brokered convention. But stranger things have happened. No question, Kasich has to be the guy. 

The Middle Ages

Last night we met up with Kim's cousin and her family at MEDIEVAL TIMES DINNER AND TOURNAMENT. This was Jackson's first visit to the castle and oh my gosh it was one of the greatest moments of his life. 

Halfway through the joust I saw this crazed look in his eye. All was glorious! Falconry! Villains from the northlands! Sword fighting and eating with your hands! He even wants the soundtrack to the accompanying music. Even our knight not winning was no matter for concern. I think he may have enjoyed this more than NASA. 

Night

More music! One of my all time faves, Chris Isaak, released First Comes the Night a few months back. But I forgot about it. Downloaded it a few days ago and it's been on heavy rotation ever since. Saw Isaak at the Dallas House of Blues a while back. Great show and great performer. Good album. 

NASA

We decided this year against a grand Spring Break vacation. But that doesn't mean we can't have fun. So we got into the Durango and drove down to Houston for one night. We didn't tell Jackson our plans. All was a surprise. 

We spent the evening at the Kemah Boardwalk walking by the Gulf of Mexico and eating in a big aquarium next to really big fish and eels. We rode a little train and looked at the amusement park rides. We rode a ferry across to our parking lot then went to bed. 

The next day was why we came. NASA. We went to the Johnson Space Center. We saw the original Mission Control restored to its 1960's glory with all the original equipment. We saw the biggest rocket on earth, meant for Apollo 18 which was scrapped due to budget costs. Spent the whole day doing awesome space stuff. Then we drove home. Cool day. 

More Rain

The year of the aligning of the musical planets keeps rollin'. M Ward released his latest this morning. First thing I did today was to download More Rain.

If I could play the guitar like one guy or sound like one guy when I sing it would be to sound like M Ward. He's got a wall of sound that on every listen opens up new artistic discoveries. Is he folk? Is he rock? Is he blues? Yes. To all.

The Musical Planets

A few weeks ago I noted that this was going to be a most excellent year for music. In an election year full of mud-slinging, lies and noise we will need all the music we can get. Most of my favorite bands are releasing new albums this year. That's a strange thing since many of these groups only release music every few years. It's like the aligning of the musical planets.

Today it was Brazzaville. I discovered Brazzaville in the early 2000's. I've blogged about them many times. They are from Los Angeles, now based in Barcelona with their biggest following in Russia.

So this morning I grabbed my phone, opened the iTunes app, downloaded the album and listened to it via bluetooth over my truck's sound system on the way to work. People take technology for granted. I don't. I'm still amazed that I don't have to order their CD over the internet since you couldn't find Brazzaville in the major record stores (most of which don't exist any more) and have to wait a week or so before it arrived in your mailbox. It took me less than a minute to get their album and I still find that amazing.

Their new album is called The Oceans of Ganymede. I've only been able to listen to the first few songs. But of course it's great stuff. These guys don't disappoint. It's a Brazza kind of day.

Urge You On...

So I had the great privilege last night of meeting one of my literary heroes. Dave Eggers was the keynote speaker at the Highland Park Literary Festival and I got there early enough to actually meet him and get a book signed. He was very gracious with his time and we talked for a few minutes about the challenges of teaching in low income areas.

Not only is Eggers a hugely successful author...two of his books are being adapted to the big screen this year, both starring Tom Hanks no less...he runs an independent publishing agency, has founded several non-profit charity organizations, edits a literary journal, and produced documentaries among many other activities. He also is a huge advocate for teachers. He established a non-profit tutoring center in San Francisco for under-resourced kids. His tutoring centers have branched off to many cities. He has spoken out for public education time and time again. He is one of my inspirations on many levels. His TED Talk gives you an idea of his work on the behalf of educators. But he also knows how to write a good yarn.

So I was humbled to actually shake his hand and talk with him even for just a few minutes. The festival was held at my old stomping grounds, Highland Park High School...where I taught World History long ago. Last night was the first time I had been back on campus in ten years and I took the chance to swing by my old room. It was good to see that things hadn't changed all that much.

What he wrote in my book: "To Dave, I salute your work, sir. I urge you on."

Zen

Zen Construction Update: In the cacophony of construction, in the twisted metal of mankind's progress, a cardinal finds solace in the chaos of mud and steel. 

Plotting

Just sitting at a French Cafe plotting the overthrow of the Second Estate. Or probably discussing Pokemon. 

Engaged

This photo appears in the new brouchure they're giving to our district's eighth graders about high school classes they can enroll in next year as freshmen. Look how engaged my freshmen are in World History! Every parent who sees this will demand their kid gets in my class. I'll probably have 200 students next year! Waiting lists!

This photo was totally staged. 

To China...

No joke, right outside my classroom window they are digging holes 53 feet deep into the Earth. That's over five stories into Terra Firma. Then they pour the concrete. 

Monk

Black History Month Continued. Thelonious Monk. The Mad Genius. You listen to his music and you start to see life in a different way.

Lose Your Head

My classes just recently wrapped up our studies of the French Revolution. One day I mentioned in passing that street vendors in Paris in the 1790's actually sold miniature guillotines during the height of the Reign of Terror. A few days later one of my students gifted me with a mini guillotine of my own. Said it had been laying around his house for years and his parents wanted rid of it. So he gave it to me. Awesome! It now holds a place of honor next to my miniature Ark of the Covenant.  

TEN YEARS!

Photo: This is the first photo that was ever posted on The Internet Lounge back in 2006. That's me in Mexico a long time ago. 

Today is the tenth anniversary of this blog. Wow. Can't believe I've been subjecting the internet to my nonsense for that long. Actually, Dave's Internet Lounge began as a Geocities website a few years before that. But I switched over to the Blogger platform in February of 2006 and the site became an actual blog. The word blog back then sounded very cool. Blogs were new and very fashionable. Now, everyone has a blog and the word is just a normal part of our vocabulary.

Things have changed quite a bit in ten years. I wasn't a Dad yet. Neither the iPhone or the iPad were invented yet. Smartphones didn't really exist. Facebook was new and Twitter was still a few months from launching when I published my first post.

I really keep this blog up for me. I appreciate my few readers but I keep this thing going to help force myself to write even when I don't really feel like it. I don't spend much time editing or planning my posts so they are often pretty rough. My posts have gotten shorter as I've gotten busier. And I try to be less political then back in the day on the Internet Lounge. I discovered that, quite surprisingly, people aren't really all that swayed by my blog posts when it comes to politics. I decided not to be another shouting voice in the void. The temptation still exists. Just this week I published and then subsequently deleted a post about G.O.P. obstructionism in replacing Scalia on the Supreme Court. But then I realized I was just adding to the noise.

So there's never really been a consistent theme on this blog. It really is, as my caption says, just various thoughts and ramblings that make their way into my brain. So thanks for stopping by every once in awhile. Maybe we'll be around for another ten years.

THIS is the first post that ever appeared on the lounge back in '06.

Birthday

It's my wife's birthday today. I'm one lucky dude. Met her back in 1993 on a bus we were traveling on while doing promotions for our university's music department. Took me several years to convince her that I was worth her time. But by 1997 I had worn her down and she agreed to marry me. I have been blessed to have her in my life.

Liturgy

So last night I attended my first Ash Wednesday Service. I'm sure I've been to church on Ash Wednesday before, but never to a service expressly dedicated to the receiving of ashes. I found the service very refreshing and relevant. The community recitation of a Church Confessional from the Methodist Hymnal was particularly moving.

We've now been attending a Methodist Church for six weeks and have found that I really enjoy the liturgy of our church services. I realize that every Methodist congregation may go about liturgy in different ways. I also know that even though my Nazarene experience did not usually include a lot of liturgy I do know that many Nazarene churches in recent years have begun to incorporate more traditional elements into their services.

I think this may be a reaction to the casual big screen format of many contemporary worship services of modern mega churches. These modern services can be quite moving. I've attended these type of churches over the years and even though there were times of great emotion I often found myself wanting more after awhile. I wanted something with more spiritual heft, something deeper. I think a lot of Gen X Christians are searching for authenticity and a connection with the historic church. For many who grew up in the casual worship styles of the 80's and 90's, liturgy provides an element of mysticism that is sometimes lacking in Praise and Worship services. P&W services can be very emotional but sometimes they lack spiritual depth.

Now, obviously this is coming from the perspective of someone who grew up outside of high church liturgy. I'm sure for many born and bred in it some of these rituals can be just that...rituals. Maybe after I've been a part of this style of worship for awhile my attitudes may change. I doubt it, but I realize it's possible. The church we're currently attending does sing a modern song each Sunday along with a traditional Methodist hymn. But the worship director has done an excellent job of using songs that complement each other rather than an artificial mashing up of old and new just to appease different demographics.

So far, our new church has walked a very nice line of feeling casual and modern yet incorporating traditional liturgy in ways I find inspiring. Right now I am enjoying the recitation of the Apostle's Creed, the Lord's Prayer, singing the Doxology and Gloria Patri. The acolytes coming in with their candles at the beginning and extinguishing them at the end of the service gives real poignancy and power to the moment. Communion every Sunday has had greater emotional impact for me than singing lots of rousing choruses over and over and over again. Personal preference I guess.

I'm going to enjoy this liturgy as long as I can. I hope it continues to move me. I feel a greater connection to my historic Christian for-bearers. As someone who traditionally has drifted towards rationality and dry intellectual spirituality, I find myself drawn to these mystical elements of the Christian faith. They have led to a revival of my spirit after a rough time and I am embracing them fully.

Wynton

Wynton Marsalis. You want to study Black History? Or American History? Or Human History. Marsalis will teach you through jazz. 

Trane

Black History Month. Coltrane. A Love Supreme. Out of this world.

Bird

First day of Black History Month. Throughout this month I would like to recognize contributions from African-Americans in history who have inspired me and influenced my thinking. 

Kicking off with Charlie Parker. Bird. From Kansas City. Definitely on the Mount Rushmore of Jazz with Louis, Duke and Trane. Check out some of his stuff...

Kansas Day!

Man, I'm always a day behind. Happy belated Kansas Day y'all. 155 years man. You don't look a day over 100. Hope yesterday was great!

Where were you?

Yesterday was the thirtieth anniversary of the Challenger explosion. For my generation that would be a moment we would forever remember exactly where we were when it happened. It was similar to previous generations knowing where they were when Pearl Harbor was attacked or when JFK was shot or more recently, the September 11th attacks.

I was in 7th grade band. Our principal, Mr. Rockledge, came on the intercom to tell us the news about the loss of the Challenger and the seven crew members aboard. His voice was breaking as he talked. After he was done there was stunned silence in the room. It was hard to comprehend.

My current students do not have a similar moment to point to where a whole generation can remember where they were when something happened. My students were, at the oldest, toddlers when the September 11 attacks occurred. My freshmen weren't even born yet. This is a good thing. These events are easily remembered because they are tragic and shocking. It's harder to remember where you were on a generational level when good events happen. For some reason it's easier to remember the bad stuff. That was a very sad day.

Utah Again

Finally received my invite this morning to the AP World History Grading this June. AP World History teachers around the nation were getting a bit anxious because this is the latest they've been sent out. Last year it was January 22nd which was the latest ever. This year even later. All the other subjects had received theirs two weeks ago.When the hundreds of emails finally hit the inboxes there was a collective sigh of relief this morning around 10 am. Lots of texts and facebook messages going back and forth to confirm that friends would see each other once again this summer. It's kind of like summer camp actually.

I will be a Table Leader again this year. Guess I didn't mess up things too badly last year on my first go around as a TL. Being a TL means you have to go three days earlier than the rest of the graders. But the pay increase is substantial and makes it worth it. I was nervous going into it last year, teachers can be hard to handle believe it or not. But this year I'm feeling good about it.

This will be my ninth year to grade. Four summers in Ft. Collins, Colorado and five in Salt Lake City. I'm also very happy to finally fly out of Love Field again. Since they moved the grading to Salt Lake I've had to fly out of DFW. But with all the Wright Amendment restrictions finally gone, Southwest Airlines can fly direct out of Dallas to Salt Lake City from Love Field. And Love Field is so much better than DFW in almost every way. Much smaller, much less chaotic, lots less traffic and it's 20 minutes closer to us than DFW. I've missed flying out of there right over the tips of the downtown Dallas skyscrapers.

My memories of last year's grading are bittersweet. The day I arrived in SLC last year my father had to be rushed to the hospital. I found out later that he looked so bad those first few days that my wife almost had me return to Dallas immediately. I had some difficult conversations with my worried uncles about Dad's future and his health loomed large over my stay in Salt Lake. I really wanted to head back home but they all assured me he was making slow and steady progress. He came through that particular bout and was back home about a day before I returned to Texas, eight days he spent in the hospital. I was gone ten days.

Well, that wouldn't be the last hospital day of that difficult summer and fall. He'd actually have to go back a couple of more times for week long stays. And he didn't get better. And he would pass away in September. I'm sure I'll be thinking of him quite often during my time in Utah.

Not Me.

I promise that's not me. Different guy. Although I live just five miles from this precinct I live across the county line. Nope. I'm not running for any office. Promise. 

Low Tech

 

Last night was the first class of my last "real" class at SMU. All that remains after this is a capstone project which I will begin next semester. The professor of this class was the professor of the very first class I took in this Masters program. When I saw the course schedule I thought it would be fitting to end with Dr. Swaim who I admire very much. He's a true inspiration. Nice way to bookend the program. Not sure what I'm going to do with all my free time after this class is over. I will probably take a break for awhile although they are already recruiting me to continue on in the department for a doctorate. It may be a long time before I have that kind of energy again. 

Side note: We met in a fully modern classroom in the Life Sciences Building on campus. This class, like all the others I've had in different buildings at SMU, is outfitted with LCD projectors, sound systems, retracting screens, computers, charging stations, the works. Weirdly enough there was an overhead projector in the corner. Don't see those in use much anymore. I've got one in the corner of my classroom but haven't used it in years. It's just a decoration. 

But weirdest of all was that there were no white boards. On the wall was a very nice set of overlapping wood-framed chalkboards. Extremely retro. I have a center white board in my classroom but I have stubbornly kept all my wall chalkboards as well. I love my chalkboards. I have refused to let maintenance take them away and replace them with shiny new white boards. I have heard that when we move to the new building next year there will be no chalkboards.

So I texted the picture above to my principal and said look, chalkboards are still being used in the most advanced settings. Can I keep mine for the new room? He texted back "absolutely!" I think he may be joking. I am not. I want to keep my chalkboards.

The Force Awakens Review

So I waited a long time to post my thoughts on the new Star Wars. I always admire critics who can shoot out a rapid fire response on a single viewing. I like to process and I wanted to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens twice before making a judgement call. Here are some of my random thoughts. Spoiler alert for those who still have yet to see this movie.

Once again, SPOILERS follow.

Force Awakens was better than any of the prequels but not nearly as good as the Original Trilogy. This is not mere nostalgia speaking. I have my reasons for placing it fourth in the pantheon. I liked the movie but when the ending credits began to roll I had no desire to applaud. I was entertained but I was not left in awe. I actually felt more awe after J.J. Abram's Star Trek movies than I did for his Star Wars. Movies that come immediately to mind that left me with a sense of awe after seeing them in the theater: The Matrix, Interstellar, Star Trek (J.J. Abrams), The Bourne Supremacy, The Avengers, The Dark Knight...just to name a few in a similar genre. I didn't get that feeling with The Force Awakens. Maybe I was too beaten down by all the cross-promotions thrown at me for a year before the movie opened.

BUT: I did feel that awe for the first 40 minutes of The Force Awakens. I thought the first half of the movie was excellent. It then began to feel redundant when once again they go to destroy a planet killing weapon. Star Wars has not only used this plot device once, but twice! A third time felt lazy and anti-climatic. The outcome was already known. Yeah, they tried to show that the Starkiller Base was much much bigger than a Death Star but that felt forced. Lame plot device.

I thought Rey was excellently portrayed. I loved BB-8. I thought Finn was okay but he still didn't feel like an ex-stormtrooper gone good. I would expect a former stormtrooper who had been brainwashed his whole life to not so easily switch allegiances. I expect more inner turmoil. I expect a different personality from a hardened soldier than the glib "DID YOU SEE THAT!? DID YOU SEE THAT!?" or "Yes, Yes I am with the Resistance." Just a little too goofy from an ex-First Order soldier. But he was okay. The acting was fine.

It was jarring at the beginning not to hear the 20th Century Fox fanfare before the movie. That has become as much a part of the Star Wars movies as anything. I know Disney has the rights now. But the opening credits seemed weird without the old fanfare. I realize I'm quibbling.

Harrison Ford did a much better job reprising Han Solo than I expected. He's been so lousy in recent movies. But he was great. So was Carrie Fisher. All the originals did well.

I like Poe but his opening response to Kylo Ren was dumb...the whole "who talks first, you talk, I talk" took away from the sinister nature of what's about to happen. Maybe they wanted to lighten the tension a bit, but it seemed fakey.

Speaking of Kylo Ren: I'm all over the place with this guy. I liked him at first then he became a whiny emo kid. And killing Han Solo? Don't know if I'll ever get over that. And I found it a stretch that he would kill his own father. Maybe I'm naive. I am looking forward to seeing his development. Not sure if he'll be able to ever come back from the bad side. I guess Anakin did but we never saw him kill his own family. He came close but the worst we saw him do was take out jedi younglings and the camera turned away to shield us from his most barbaric act.

I thought Hux overacted his big speech to the point of self-parody. Snoke is terrible. His CG effects are already outdated. I'm hoping this will be a Wizard of Oz ploy and the guy behind the Snoke curtain is a villain we can believe in.

The effects were good. The story great in the first half, weak in the second half. Not bad...but not nearly as good as it should have been. 

Super Early Predictions

photo: Trump and Hillary when they were friends

I've been dead wrong on previous election predictions so take these with a massive grain of salt. I did say Mitt would win the last GOP nomination but I figured Rick Perry would give him a serious run for his money. Oops. 

But here's my gut instinct and it's not an original thought...it fits with most of the conventional wisdom:

This is about Hillary. If Trump or Cruz win the GOP nomination then it's a done deal. Once those guys enter the even harsher glare of a national election, they're cooked. There's only so many angry white men who vote. 

Rubio and Jeb might have a chance in a general election but they got an uphill battle just to win the nomination. Jeb is pretty much done. Rubio still has some life and I give him the best chance against Hillary. I have no hard data to back any of this up. Just pure speculation. 

Hillary will easily win the support of women and minorities. She will probably eventually win independents when they look at the alternatives. The problem for Cruz and Trump is there's not enough angry white men to turn the election to their favor. I'm still thinking the GOP will somehow come through and Trump and Cruz will be gently nudged out. My early guess is Rubio will be the GOP's man. I just haven't come to terms with either a Trump or Cruz nomination. And as much as a I despise Trump...I think I'd rather have Trump than Cruz. Cruz is an extremist and even his own party can't stand him.

As for me personally? I'm for Bernie. But he has no chance.

Annabeth

This past Saturday we invited a new kitten into our home. My son named her Annabeth after a character in the Percy Jackson series. The sign on her cage at the shelter warned that she was very scared and very shy. She was feral and just hid in the corner every day. But every time we picked her up she purred like crazy and hugged and kneaded us. The guy at the shelter seemed to think she would be fine once she felt comfortable in a new home. She had only been at the shelter a week and was still very young. We were smitten.

But she didn't make it. She continued to purr every time we picked her up and she loved to snuggle. But she didn't move and she didn't eat or drink. That final night we tried using a water dropper to keep her hydrated. Finally we decided the shelter was wrong. She wasn't merely scared or nervous, she was sick. And it was too late. Our vet did not know why she was sick. It wasn't viral. But she was too far gone for the vet to save her and her three month old system couldn't fight back.

After two days in our home we lost her. Amazing how sad we feel about a kitten that was only in our lives for two days. We will always remember her. At least she ended her short life in a comfortable and quiet setting with people who showed her loving attention. That's the best spin I can put on it now.

Church Hunting

After my father passed, it was very difficult to continue attending the church he had pastored. It wasn't anything the people of the church did. It was just that I saw my Dad everywhere. I saw him on the things he had hung on the wall or the Sunday School rooms he had renovated. I saw him behind the pulpit and in the foyer. Going to Central Church became too painful. The weight of tragedy oppressed me every Sunday. So we made up our minds to make a clean break after the holidays. We wanted a fresh start. Only problem was that there wasn't an obvious landing spot for us when it came to churches. 

Both my wife and I had grown up in the Nazarene church, we had met at a Nazarene university and we were believers in Nazarene doctrine. However, there was no real Nazarene alternative for us anywhere close. And we realized, after attending a non-denominational church on Sunday evenings for several years, that doctrine matters. No church will fit your worldview completely but the main ideas definitely should jibe. 

So for us that meant Methodism. The Nazarene church had branched out of Methodism back in the day. We like the Wesleyan-Arminianism stuff. Nazarene and Methodist doctrines are virtually identical. And I actually have quite a heritage in Methodism on my mother's side including ancestors who were pastors in the Methodist Church. I'm talking Methodist pastors in the family going back to the nineteenth century. So we began to look for a church, a Methodist church. 

My wife and I had never really had to find a new church before. I now empathize with those who are searching for a church home. It's a strange experience to just walk into a new building if no one has invited you. It takes courage to go to a new place. Coming from churchgoing backgrounds made it much easier for us than if we were new to the faith and trying to find a place to worship. The experience has made me much more sensitive to those who have not yet found a church home and have difficulty beginning the search. That takes courage.

We also had it easier than most because we had narrowed down our options to a particular denomination. Because of our upbringing and theological education we had a rudimentary knowledge of different denominations. I can't imagine how hard it must be for those new to faith looking for a church. The number of denominations and non-demominations and inter-denominations and sub-denominations can be bewildering.

Everyone is searching for different things in a church. We were looking for a healthy children's program, friendly people close to our age, a well organized service and a pastor with a burden to show Christ's love to the world. Overt politics and nationalism were a deal breaker. One church we visited was proud to announce a concealed gun license class from the pulpit. We almost walked out right then. Maybe our expectations were too high. We were not looking for perfection. We were looking for a church that exuded love and compassion, not an "us against them" mentality. We were looking for an "us for them" church.

After several weeks and several visits we have found a church we're going to focus on for awhile. We really hope to make this church our home. I'd like this to be a long-term relationship. I'm actually excited about going to church on Sundays again. I can't wait for Sundays. It's not a big church. But they exude love. I know after awhile the warts will show like all churches. We're not the type to bail during rough times.We're not perfect either. We got warts. But God loves us anyway. I think that's the whole point.

MLK

Better Already

Weezer has announced a new album coming out April 1st. They say it's not a joke. It will be self-titled and the speculation is it will be known as the White Album (guess it's dedicated to me). Sweet!

Rumors are also amping up that Radiohead will also release a new album sometime this year. Wow!

That would be enough to make 2016 better than last year. But M Ward also is releasing a new album in March called More Rain.

Word around the campfire is that Local Natives, Gungor and Brazzaville are also dropping discs this year as well. Epic music year. Glad I asked for all those iTunes gift cards for Christmas.

Very nice indeed. My iPod will be very busy.

Yes, I still use an iPod.

New cam

 

So I got my son an ion Air Pro camera for his birthday. I'm actually probably going to use it as much as he will. He really wanted one last year for Christmas but I was unwilling to spend $300 for it. But around last Thanksgiving I was wandering the aisles at walmart and stopped at the GoPro display. Then I noticed three boxes of Air Pros on the bottom shelf. I was stunned at the price. They had been marked down to $39.99!

I asked the sales associate what the deal was. Last year they cost upwards of $300 and now they were priced at less then $40?  She said they were a Black Friday special and those were what was left. I had researched this item and knew it was a good camera. I figured $40 was not a big risk. So I snagged it. 

So far the thing is pretty impressive. WiFi connectivity allows you to download videos from the camera to your phone. I haven't mounted it to the bike yet but I look forward to testing it out on the road. I also hope to use it while skiing or hiking or whatever. So far the quality of video has been very good. 

Thunder

This scene is right outside my classroom window. The photo does not convey the thundering and the smashing of the mechanical beasts. The pounding actually vibrates though my student's desks. Guess I better get used to it. Probably another year or so of the breaking of concrete. The road to the future is often filled with great clamor and activity. But hopefully a sparkling new school will be worth it all. 

Chiefs!

Finally! The Chiefs win their first playoff game since 1993! My desk is celebrating. Now, if Kansas City can go into New England and defeat the defending Super Bowl champions...that would be something. I didn't think the Royals would win the World Series either. 

Birthday

We are blessed beyond measure to have this little guy in our lives. Not so little anymore! He's a great kid who has made parenting easy. Happy Birthday to my son! 

Quiet Stillness

 

We spent most of the Holidays on the family farm in the Hoosier National Forest in southern Indiana. No internet down there. You can't get a signal for your cell phone unless you trudge up the big hill by the big barn. It's pretty quiet in the Holler. For someone like me who likes to keep up to speed with Facebook and Twitter, it's a nice way to force a tech sabbatical. School has started again. The schedule has amped up. During the busyness I like to think about the sound of that bubbling creek and the quiet stillness of the valleys on the farm.