That's Baseball

What a fantastic season of baseball this was. My beloved Cleveland Indians have made the playoffs for the first time since 2001 and will strive for their first World Series title in almost 60 years.

Over on the senior circuit, the Philadelphia Phillies completed a historic comeback to win the NL East. They were in sole possession of first place for only 2 of 162 games, but they were the ones that mattered.

An Indians - Phillies World Series? That might be a sign of the apocalypse.

Too Excited To Sleep

Have you ever been so excited about something you couldn't get to sleep? That's where I'm at tonight. I learned that our assignment for the Dale Carnegie class next week is to give a speech on something we have a strong conviction about, but it has to be in a particular format and can only be two minutes. I'm thinking about this:

She's 16 years old. But sitting on the floor across form her, in her home in this remote village, I can't help but wonder that she isn't only 11 or 12. Maybe it was the sickness. She's fighting typhoid for the second time in her young life and is weak with a fever. But even this can not veil her radiant smile. Across the room from her is a 17 year old boy. His demeanor is different, and he has all the stoic toughness you might expect of a man that age. His threats are different too. Will he listen to the voices of violence that just a few weeks earlier forced the US embassy to close, that months earlier burned the businesses and homes of Chinese and Westerners and that a year earlier bombed a crowded nightclub in a city nearby? Or would he use the education he was receiving to provide for his future to the benefit of everyone in his community?

He faced some tough questions. So do we. Why not us? Why not here? Why not now? Why can't we be the ones that look into the face of poverty, that look into the face of sickness, that look into the face of violence, and say you will not take these lives from us! We will connect our greatest love with their greatest need.

And you know what? I see it in you. I hear it in your words of encouragement and the way you celebrate each other and rally behind each other and care for one another. And just a few weeks ago we were all strangers. But we're not the only ones who need this love and respect. So do they.

There are a thousand ways you can show it. I want to share just two. First, when you get home tonight, go to Compassion.com. For what you pay now each month for cable, you can provide a young child with all the food, clean water, clothing, shelter, education and most importantly, the hope and respect they need. Secondly, I want you to go to Kiva.org. There, for what you paid to fill up you car with gas this week, you can provide a business loan, not even a charitable donation but a business loan, to an entrepreneur in a developing nation. Recently I had the opportunity to help a dairy farmer in Azerbaijan to purchase an additional cow for his business, and it was as easy as buying a book from Amazon. Who wants to go into the agricultural industry with me?

We can do this. The need is great. But your love is even greater.

How Rude

Admittedly I have not seen the full dialogue that took place between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, but I found the whole thing to be rather rude and distasteful. If you have such a low opinion of someone, why on earth would you invite him to your campus, just so you could say so to his face? First, I doubt anyone at Columbia appreciated how incredibly inhospitable they were acting towards a guest. It is that sort of lack of appreciation for an important cultural sensitivity that is stunning to me in an age of such liberal "tolerance and diversity." How can you say you want to open and extend a dialogue with someone on important issues and then start the whole event by berating them in an unquestionably harsh manner?

Look, I have very little tolerance for anyone who questions the holocaust and who would love to see Israel and the US wiped off the face of the earth, but I at least have enough decency and common sense to not invite that person to have dinner with me under a guise of open, fair and public dialogue of substantive issues and then turn on them and denounce them before they even have an opportunity to speak. That was disgraceful.

Watching The News

I know I have commented on this topic before, but today was so over the top it bears revisiting. The major news services really do a disservice when it comes to presenting the issues. Today, I happened to catch a snippet of both FOX and CNN that left a bad taste in my mouth.

This morning started off with FOX on while I was doing laundry. They were covering the story of an individual, I think he was a Minute Man on the immigration front, complaining that he was "denied free speech" because Columbia University rescinded their invitation for him to speak. Okay, let me break this down for you. The right to free speech does NOT guarantee you the privilege of an invitation to speak in a particular forum! And the fact that you were able to air your concern to millions more people over national airways than ever would have heard you speak on your actual topic of interest at a college seminar is quite dramatic proof of just how much freedom you have. Freedom does not equal entitlement! Do people not see this?

Tonight, while I was eating dinner, CNN was on in the background. Sandwiched in between stories of how the federal government is not doing enough to provide healthcare to children, the federal government is not doing enough to protect us from dangerous imported Chinese food, and the federal government is not doing enough to enforce immigration law was a scathing report that the federal government was (and I'm not making this up) spending far too much money and will crush the middle tax with higher taxes when it finally comes time to pay up. Wow. Now, I recognize the caveat here that says is government was more efficient it could address all of these complaints at the same time, but I suspect most people did not recognize the rather mutually exclusive nature of these complaints. What do you want people? More and bigger government or a balanced budget with lower taxes? I think the moral of the story is you should always be dissatisfied with the government no matter what it does, and not realize that in actuality what you want are for incompatible goals to be reached simultaneously without any sacrifice of your own. Or, at least that's what CNN would have you believe.

Beautiful Paradox

Live as free men.

Live as servants of God.

I was reading through 1 Peter (2:16) this morning and was struck again by that beautiful paradox. Freedom and service. Liberty with responsibility.

It's a good nugget to chew on today.

Seeing What Isn't There

I love it when someone makes an observation that forces me to rethink my position or understanding of things, especially when it is something from Scripture. This came to mind last night when I was reading The Way of the Wild Heart. Elderidge makes a comment "Notice that in the tales told in Scripture, whenever God gets hold of a man, he takes that man into an adventure of the first order . . . Peter called out of the boat to Christ in a raging storm." Here's the thing though. Christ didn't exactly command Peter to come out of the boat; he acquiesced to Peter's request for a sign. (Matthew 14:27-31). Then, this morning it was pointed out to me that God's promise of a son to Abraham was not explicitly given to Sarah until after the birth of Ishmael. I could have sworn it was given to both of them initially, but there's no indication of that. Sarah is not explicitly promised a son until Ishmael is already 13 years old. (Genesis 17.)

Now, of course, all this does not necessarily mean that Elderidge's statement is wrong, and certainly we know from the rest of Scripture that Isaac is to be the son of the covenant. It's interesting though, isn't it, how we see things that aren't actually there? Many thanks to my friend who shared these observations with me.

"Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

And This Time With Feeling

So last night's Dale Carnegie speeches centered around two themes: enthusiasm and recognizing success. For the first part, you had to spend one minute demonstrating a task you do now without enthusiasm and then jump over a line and demonstrate, in an over the top manner, what it would like to do it with ten times more enthusiasm. I had to use the line, "We're going to make accounts payable exciting again!" Does anyone remember what that commercial was actually for? Anyway, it's good to know that all that time playing Moods is finally paying off.

I bet I could get 12% of people to like me

I had to laugh as I heard the news the other day that the approval rating of Congress currently rests at 11% according to a recent Reuters poll. Bush looks almost Reagan-esque compared to that number with a 29% approval rating of his own.

I should totally run for Congress. I'm pretty sure I could get 12% of people to approve of my work.

I wonder what Congress's number would drop to if friends, family and lobbyists were taken out?

Ode To Autumn, Volume Two

So my friend Becky posted a response to my Ode to Autumn list. This is my response to her response.

• The colors of the leaves are changing because the leaves are dying. See death and decay entry.
• The three apple entries only count as one.
• Football games and marching bands? Yeah, because I need another reminder of the excruciating agony that was my high school experience.
• Back to school. See above.
• Hayrides and bonfires. You only start the fire because it's frickin' freezing.
• S'mores. Overrated.
• I live alone. No snuggling.
• Food. Overrated.
• I'm 5'6". Basketball doesn't really do anything for me.
• Thanksgiving. Okay, I'll give you that one.
• Christmas is still 100 days away and should not be addressed until after Thanksgiving.

Thank you. And have a wonderful night.

Ode To Autumn

Many people I know love Autumn. For some, it's their favorite season of the year.

I am not one of those people.

Reasons not to love Autumn:

1. It means it's no longer summer.
2. Which means it's closer to winter.
3. There is a frequent smell of death and decay in the air.
4. You have to start adding layers and layers of uncomfortable clothes.
5. Fun things to do changes from "going to the beach" to "being pulled in a wagon in the frickin' cold and throwing hay at each other"
6. Colds, flu and sickness abound.
7. The baseball season is almost over.
8. You have to hear people talking constantly about the Eagles.
9. It gets dark early.
10. Did I mention it's already cold???

Thank you. And have a wonderful day.

Quotes From Giving

I went to B&N this evening and while I was there I started to peruse Clinton's book, Giving. These two quotes stood out to me.

My gift is nothing. I can have everything I need with less than one percent of my wealth. I was born in the right country at the right time, and my work is disproportionately rewarded compared to teachers and soldiers. I'm just giving back surplus cliams that have no value to me but can do a lot for others. The people I really admire are the small donors who give up a movie or a restaurant meal to help needy people. - Warren Buffet on giving $30 billion to the Gates Foundation.

Beyond a certain point, which we'd reached, money has no further value. It can't bring happiness, but it can save or tranform many lives. - Chris Hohn

Human-Animal Hybrids

If you are on the Rose and A Prayer distribution list, you probably saw the reference that "Having looked at all the evidence the [Human Fertilisation and Embryology] Authority has decided that there is no fundamental reason to prevent cytoplasmic hybrid research" and that "Individual research teams should be able to undertake research projects involving the creation of cytoplasmic hybrid embryos if they can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of an HFEA licence committee, that their planned research project is both necessary and desirable."

Human-animal hybrids? Maybe this would be a good time to pick up a copy of The Island of Doctor Moreau.

Sold!

So the final sale price on my previously dust collecting network camera? $202.50. Sweet.

President Clinton

Historically, I'm not much of a fan of the former President, but I'm really interested in reading his new book. It already seems to be having an impact as attested by the fact that he references Kiva, and they are now having trouble keeping up with demand by willing contributors. (Apparently Oprah also made mention of it so that created another channel of demand.) I'm in favor of whatever communicates the message to our country of the great need, our great resources and that offers some practical and helpful steps to bridge the two.

Positive Steps

As a little health update, I was able to enjoy some positive steps this week. On Monday, I went to the Y for the first time in ages and was able to do 30 minutes on the elliptical without problems. Tonight I went back and did 30 minutes of upper body weightlifting. That is a huge praise! I still have an occasional dry cough, my throat feels kind of sharp (if that makes sense), I need to regain some lost weight and my breathing might still not be 100%, but this was a very positive and exciting step for me. Praise God and please keep praying!

Fire Water

I don't know if anything of practical industrial use could ever come of this or not, but it sounds pretty neat.

Global Investment

Anyone want to get into the Cambodian agriculture industry with me?

One More Song

" . . . and helping white people dance . . . " Classic.

Song of the Day: Brad Paisely ~ Online

I heard this song for the first time when I was home last week. Brad Paisely cracks me up.

Also, at our weekly meeting on Wednesday, a fellow native West Virginian used the phrase "finer than frog hair." I think a little tear fell from my eye.

E-Bay

So I am experimenting with E-Bay for the first time. Thinking I was jumping on the communication wave of the future, a long while back I bought a camera for my PC when Chatham had an IT yardsale. But, being technologically challenged as I am, I never got around to installing it. So, I decided to see what I could get for it on E-Bay. The current bid is $152.50 which is fantastic and is substantially higher than the discount rate I paid for it. Now I just need to figure out how the payment system works, ship it out, and figure out what the tax consequences are of the transaction. I'm going to have to see if there's any other crap lying around my apartment I can get rid of.

Class Begins

My first Dale Carnegie Course on Effective Communication and Human Relations was tonight. I must say it was one of the fastest 3 1/2 hour classes I have ever attended. Much of the night was spent on learning methods of remembering names and beginning conversations with a little goal setting on the side. It wasn't nearly as cringe-worthy as I feared it might be in places. Even going in front of the class and sharing a gimmick for personal name association was tolerable. I am looking forward to the next 11 weeks.

One downside is that the class is up in Valley Forge so it's a bit of a hike, but on the drive home I discovered that 1100 AM covers Cleveland Indians games. I can't believe I hadn't discovered this before now. Reception is a bit shaky in my apartment but it's still pretty exciting.