So it would appear that a politician, thankfully not from the USA, in Germany thinks that marriage should be over after 7 years. She believes that, "The basic approach is wrong ... many marriages last just because people believe they are safe," she told reporters. "My suggestion is that marriages expire after seven years." After that time, couples should either agree to extend their marriage or it should be automatically dissolved, she said." Anyway if you want to read the rest of this trash. check out....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070921/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_germany_politics_marriage
Friday, September 21, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
My exercise regimen
So after having my Rower take up space in the living room for the last two weeks, I have finally put it together and it is ready for rigorous (I hope) use. Now that my Ultimate season is pretty much over I am going to need to work out to stay in shape on a regular basis. So for the foreseeable future. I will be working out on my elliptical and rower 4-5 times a week for up to 1 1/2 hours. Man I miss Ultimate already :P
P3
So I am midway through my first week of my residency. Orientation is over (Thanks God!) and so it is time to visit patients. My clinical assignment is Pain and Palliative and Pediatrics (or as I like to call it P3). And what that means is that I will be visiting Peds patients (ages from 4-24) that may be trauma patients, young mothers, etc and trying to support them and their families through their time in the hospital. For me that will be easy. The much tougher part will be the Pain and Palliative Units.
The pain unit is for patients that have chronic pain from an infection, surgery, cancer, etc that just will not go away and is so severe they have to come to the hospital to relieve it. Usually they are very hard to interact with as they need to have their pain brought down to a level that is bearable. Once they are at that level they still may be hard to support.... well b/c they are in constant, high level, pain. And if you have ever been in a high level of pain for a long time you would know that the last thing you want to do is talk to someone. Or on the flip side if you are with someone who is in a lot of pain, it is hard to be there as we as humans find it hard to be around someone who is in a lot of agony. However they still need to be supported both Spiritually and emotionally.
Finally, the hardest unit, is the Palliative unit. This is end of life care. Every person who is in the unit will die. They may not die in the hospital, they may be sent to Hospice, but they will die normally within 1-2 months. And they stay with us for that time, if the patient can not be stabilized to be discharged. This is hard. Death is hard. Even for Christians, whom have an amazing hope and future after death, Death is hard. Who here wants to loose a parent, sibling, relative, or friend? We all want them to be here for as long as possible and when we are told they are going or are gone even the strongest Christian will be brought to their knees; and that is OK....Grief is normal. It is hard trying to help a family deal with a patient who has suddenly become terminally ill/stroke/heart attack and whom they may not be communicative with their loves ones even unto their death. Thus their love ones will not have closure. It is hard for families whose love one has been fighting for years, whom they have been with each and every day (maybe hour) of the patent's illness, and yet they still do not want them to die. It is hard to tell families it is time to stop being aggressive in treating their loved ones and that we, the health care team, have done all we can do and it is time to say goodbye.
Believe it or not this is exactly where I want to be. I am thinking of becoming a hospice chaplain when I finish my residency next Sept. And so this year will be very hard but it will be a great training and learning experience for me. I believe God will be stretching me very far beyond my usual limits and I will be way outside my comfort zone (remember I am a introvert).
I ask for prayer. I have already had two deaths, one of which I was in the room for and I expect many more... right now I know of one that will be happening soon. And that is a lot different than my internship as I would normally come and be with the family after the patient had died. Now, a majority of the time, I will be with the family when the patient passes and man will that be hard! And man I CANNOT DO THIS WITHOUT GOD or your prayers, thus I thank you in advance.
The pain unit is for patients that have chronic pain from an infection, surgery, cancer, etc that just will not go away and is so severe they have to come to the hospital to relieve it. Usually they are very hard to interact with as they need to have their pain brought down to a level that is bearable. Once they are at that level they still may be hard to support.... well b/c they are in constant, high level, pain. And if you have ever been in a high level of pain for a long time you would know that the last thing you want to do is talk to someone. Or on the flip side if you are with someone who is in a lot of pain, it is hard to be there as we as humans find it hard to be around someone who is in a lot of agony. However they still need to be supported both Spiritually and emotionally.
Finally, the hardest unit, is the Palliative unit. This is end of life care. Every person who is in the unit will die. They may not die in the hospital, they may be sent to Hospice, but they will die normally within 1-2 months. And they stay with us for that time, if the patient can not be stabilized to be discharged. This is hard. Death is hard. Even for Christians, whom have an amazing hope and future after death, Death is hard. Who here wants to loose a parent, sibling, relative, or friend? We all want them to be here for as long as possible and when we are told they are going or are gone even the strongest Christian will be brought to their knees; and that is OK....Grief is normal. It is hard trying to help a family deal with a patient who has suddenly become terminally ill/stroke/heart attack and whom they may not be communicative with their loves ones even unto their death. Thus their love ones will not have closure. It is hard for families whose love one has been fighting for years, whom they have been with each and every day (maybe hour) of the patent's illness, and yet they still do not want them to die. It is hard to tell families it is time to stop being aggressive in treating their loved ones and that we, the health care team, have done all we can do and it is time to say goodbye.
Believe it or not this is exactly where I want to be. I am thinking of becoming a hospice chaplain when I finish my residency next Sept. And so this year will be very hard but it will be a great training and learning experience for me. I believe God will be stretching me very far beyond my usual limits and I will be way outside my comfort zone (remember I am a introvert).
I ask for prayer. I have already had two deaths, one of which I was in the room for and I expect many more... right now I know of one that will be happening soon. And that is a lot different than my internship as I would normally come and be with the family after the patient had died. Now, a majority of the time, I will be with the family when the patient passes and man will that be hard! And man I CANNOT DO THIS WITHOUT GOD or your prayers, thus I thank you in advance.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
And this is faith
This is an excerpt from the journal on Charity Goeorge's web page. This is from her father....
Charity arrived back at Madonna around 5 pm. It hasn't been as peaceful of a day as the previous two days, particularly her eyes and vision seemed to be bothering her. Even so she was quite responsive to questions asked of her. One thing we noticed the resulted from the abdomen abcess and her not being able to take medications through the feeding tube together with the transfer between hospitals is that her medication list got somewhat messed up. Some medications were dropped and some weren't resumed as we thought they had been. This however might give us a bit of an idea how her body responds to some of the medications. Because she was off the Celexa anti-depressant for several days (she is back on it) we are watching to see how that might affect her emotions. I arrived back in Kansas City near 10:30pm so that leaves Sylvia solo at Charity's side until Jeremy gets back to Lincoln later this week. We keep looking for answers, and hang onto hope for as long as the Lord gives Charity life. There still are some promising possibilities for her. We look for the Lord to allow, and guide all the pieces to come together to make those possibilities, realities for Charity. While this spiral of events in these last months continues to leave us all deeply wounded, perplexed, and uncertain of the future we cling to the reality that God is, He is sovereign and He is ultimately good.
Charity arrived back at Madonna around 5 pm. It hasn't been as peaceful of a day as the previous two days, particularly her eyes and vision seemed to be bothering her. Even so she was quite responsive to questions asked of her. One thing we noticed the resulted from the abdomen abcess and her not being able to take medications through the feeding tube together with the transfer between hospitals is that her medication list got somewhat messed up. Some medications were dropped and some weren't resumed as we thought they had been. This however might give us a bit of an idea how her body responds to some of the medications. Because she was off the Celexa anti-depressant for several days (she is back on it) we are watching to see how that might affect her emotions. I arrived back in Kansas City near 10:30pm so that leaves Sylvia solo at Charity's side until Jeremy gets back to Lincoln later this week. We keep looking for answers, and hang onto hope for as long as the Lord gives Charity life. There still are some promising possibilities for her. We look for the Lord to allow, and guide all the pieces to come together to make those possibilities, realities for Charity. While this spiral of events in these last months continues to leave us all deeply wounded, perplexed, and uncertain of the future we cling to the reality that God is, He is sovereign and He is ultimately good.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Another year another piece of me gets older
So as I have gotten older pieces of my body have started to break down or need to be stretched before I do things. Such as before I was 29 I never had to stretch before sports or hiking unless it was a big game. However, now, unless I want to waddle like a duck for a few days I had better stretch before hand. Or my hearing slowly becoming worse over the years, but that might not be a bad thing because by the time I am 40 I wont be able to hear my wife {edited*} ask me to do things :). I kid.. I kid...Well I had to get my eyes checked for a physical recently and I did rather horribly. I use to have 20/20 but a week ago I found out that I cant see below line 5 in my right eye and below line 4 in my left. You know you are eyes are going when the doctor says "And they let you drive w/o glasses?!?" So when my insurance kicks in (My hospital insurance gives me an allowance per month) in Sept. Ill be getting some glasses. SO LADIES WATCH OUT!! Because my sexiness will increase 100 fold.
*nag
*nag
Nickel Creek: So long and thanks for all the fish
Well I got the chance to see Nickel Creek live this past weekend and they were really good. I heard most of my favorite songs and they mostly stayed away from their 3rd cd which is my least fav. album of theirs. Unfortunately the night was broken up by a few things. First, was the realization that this was their farewell tour. That is not cool! Second, was the drunken idiots who were heckling the band. Third, was Fiona Apple. Now to be somewhat fair to her the MANN did not have speakers pointed in our direction and as I am going deaf by degrees it was hard to hear what she was singing. And she had a great voice and probably would make an excellent blue singers instead of whatever genre she was in. However even if I could have understood her voice I would have still hated her performance because of her dancing. Her dance looked like someone dressed in a Salem witch outfit, on cocaine, animated by Tim Burton while moshing. Now this was interesting for all of 5 min. but to have to endure her weird music and her "dancing" for 45min that was unbearable and I will never pay $ to see her again.
Side note 1: If you go to the MANN do not sit in the balcony unless you really know the bands', whom you are going to see, music. There are no speakers up there.
Side note 2: If you know from what book comes the title of this blog, You win.
Side note 1: If you go to the MANN do not sit in the balcony unless you really know the bands', whom you are going to see, music. There are no speakers up there.
Side note 2: If you know from what book comes the title of this blog, You win.
This week
So this week is much more open and not planned. By the end of the week I fully expect to be stir crazy and wishing I had to go to work. My plans are: Read a few books that Brett gave me, work on my elliptical, mem. some vs for appropriate use in the hospital, Disc Golf and Ultimate, and read Our Greatest Gift: Meditation on Dying and Caring, A by Henri J. M. Nouwen and
Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World by Henri J Nouwen. I also have a book coming via mail Getting Serious About Getting Married: Rethinking the Gift of Singleness by Debbie Maken which is probably not much different than some of the issues brought up in Passion and Purity,: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christs Control by Elisabeth Elliot but Ill read it anyway because Ill get pie. And ladies and gents you can never have too much pie.
Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World by Henri J Nouwen. I also have a book coming via mail Getting Serious About Getting Married: Rethinking the Gift of Singleness by Debbie Maken which is probably not much different than some of the issues brought up in Passion and Purity,: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christs Control by Elisabeth Elliot but Ill read it anyway because Ill get pie. And ladies and gents you can never have too much pie.
Recap on last week
So on Monday, my Bible study and I went kayaking down the Brandywine and it was a very relaxing time. I am sure though both Dave and I would like the river to be higher next time, so Mark get working on that.
On Tues. I did nothing but chill.
On Wed. I got schooled by Brett on the Disc Golf course and had to dish out some $ for dinner at Sofritos. It was a great day to be out but a crappy day to loose. Plus I lost two disks.
On Thurs. I met with Pastor Bo and told him how my internship went and when I would like to start working on my ordination. I also had a so-so day playing Ultimate.
On Fri. I went out to lunch with my Dad, read The Hostage by W.E.B. Griffin and played a new CPU game.
On Sat. I declined to go disc golfing with Brett and Brian (due to my earlier performance) and later was called by Brett to tell me it was a good idea that I did. The rough had been deliberately left to grow about waist high and so a course that normally took 1hr-1hr15min. to do took 21/2 hrs. Plus Brian lost two disks. Later that day I helped a new friend move into her house and then I went to see Nickel Creek.
On Tues. I did nothing but chill.
On Wed. I got schooled by Brett on the Disc Golf course and had to dish out some $ for dinner at Sofritos. It was a great day to be out but a crappy day to loose. Plus I lost two disks.
On Thurs. I met with Pastor Bo and told him how my internship went and when I would like to start working on my ordination. I also had a so-so day playing Ultimate.
On Fri. I went out to lunch with my Dad, read The Hostage by W.E.B. Griffin and played a new CPU game.
On Sat. I declined to go disc golfing with Brett and Brian (due to my earlier performance) and later was called by Brett to tell me it was a good idea that I did. The rough had been deliberately left to grow about waist high and so a course that normally took 1hr-1hr15min. to do took 21/2 hrs. Plus Brian lost two disks. Later that day I helped a new friend move into her house and then I went to see Nickel Creek.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
WED Aug 15th
So The day has come, or will come, that I have been looking forward to for many a yr. My disc Golf partners and I have been talking about doing an all day disc golf tourney between us for a while now and we are finally going to do it. Tomorrow we will start at Cape Henlopen, then go to Killen Pond, and then to Lums. It will be Hot, it will be grueling (that is why I am getting a massage on Thurs), and I will be the victor!! Winner get dinner at a decent restaurant! Stay tuned and Matt sorry you can't be here to help pay for my dinner.
Chappie#5
So my internship is over and I have learned a lot. I plan to give a few insights over the next three weeks but for now I am enjoying my second day of my three week vacation.
What will I be doing? Well yesterday I kayaked down the Brandywine river with my small group, saw a good movie (review forthcoming), and ate at a new, new for me, Chinese Buffet. Today I am working around my room, reading Spurgeon, blogging, making dinner, and playing video games. Tomorrow I will be playing disc golf all day and Thurs I will be getting a massage and of course playing Ultimate. Fri is up for grabs and Sat. I will be going to see Nickle Creek.
So I do have some fun stuff planned, but I think the challenge for me will be to stay spiritually focused and to be preparing for the year to come.
What will I be doing? Well yesterday I kayaked down the Brandywine river with my small group, saw a good movie (review forthcoming), and ate at a new, new for me, Chinese Buffet. Today I am working around my room, reading Spurgeon, blogging, making dinner, and playing video games. Tomorrow I will be playing disc golf all day and Thurs I will be getting a massage and of course playing Ultimate. Fri is up for grabs and Sat. I will be going to see Nickle Creek.
So I do have some fun stuff planned, but I think the challenge for me will be to stay spiritually focused and to be preparing for the year to come.
Kite Runner
So I know I said I would have a review up a month ago, but my internship was requiring more and more of my time so I did not get a chance to put a review up.
I liked the Author's use of words and images. I felt that I could easily visualize where the main character was at all times. I especially enjoyed the first Kite tourney. I also liked the author's use of foreshadow and irony. Finally I enjoyed the frailty of the main character as I see any of us acting in the same way, in his situations, if we did not have God as our Rock.
However to me this book was not an amazing piece of literature and I have read books that are far harsher in their depiction of reality. There was no huge revelation at the end of the book that made me want to realign my views to the authors nor was there a challenge to any of my beliefs etc.
The reason I think that so many people loved this book was that it was their first time initiation to this type of reality. Sure this book is ficton, but I believe it depicts accurately the reality of Afghanistan and in many cases is much worse. I also think that many people were surprised at the fact that someone with Afghan roots could be a good writer, which I think is a shame.
Anyway the book was decent and if you need something to pass the time please pick it up. Or if maybe you are thinking of being a missionary to that area then this could be a good intro to Afghanistan.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Saying goodbye
I have had the pleasure of knowing Jeremy George since we were kids. We were pretty good friends up until 2nd grade when I moved to a new school and I believe his family went to a new church. However we reunited first in Kairos in 1997 and than as interns for Pastor Bill Heider where we once again became fast friends. Jeremy was part of the tri-fecta of men who once said that doing youth ministry is like getting paid to eat Ice-cream. We became so close that in the summer of 2000 I was invited to be in his wedding where he was married to Chairty. Now it is 2007 and it is hard to believe that he has been married for 7 years....7 years that regardless of what happens in the future he would not give up for anything.
For those of you who do not know Charity had a brain lesion that has severely impaired her. She cannot eat on her own, can only move her head a little, and can barely breathe. My heart has been broken time and time again as I have read the journals of Jeremy, His parents, and her family. However as many times as it has been broken my heart has been restored and encouraged as everyone involved has spoken of their faith, and how it has grown, in our Lord despite their situation.
Today Jeremy has sort of said goodbye to Charity. Not that he has given up hope nor has Charity spelled out anything more than "Thy will Be done", but they are starting to say their goodbyes, in case the Lord decides now is the time for her to go home. Here is today's journal, read, be broken, and be encouraged
Today, Charity continues to show clarity of mind and soundness of mind. As you heard from Phil already, there are some medical concerns that have arisen that are being addressed in a precautionary manner. I am so thankful for that. Our charge nurse is really a quality person who is monitoring Charity in a really wonderful way. She keeps us informed and shows great concern for Charity and us whenever she tells us anything about her condition. Today during speech therapy, Charity spelled out a request. That request spelled out "kilme." At first that seems like a desperate plea, but not if you take the time to sit and ask my wife why she said what she said. I asked her if she was more afraid of living like this than she was of dying. She nodded her head , "yes." I asked her if that was because she knew that there was something much better waiting for her. She nodded her head, "yes." I asked her if it was because it would be better to be with Jesus. She nodded "yes." My next reply to her was, "heaven must be the most wonderful place because none of this is there." She began crying as I embraced her and nodded once again, "yes." I then asked her if she was going to hold on to Jesus through this. Once again, and with an unsettling calm, she nodded, "yes." Jesus, You and You alone have kept my wife in her faith. That is more valuable to me than her getting better, so I praise You, my Lord and my God for what you have done in her heart and what you are doing. I sensed Your smile over her as she confessed her faith in You, and her love for You which today has surpassed her love for me and for our daughters. I praise You Jesus. Be glorified in my wife's life and testimony. Thank you for encouraging me today by my wife's faith. In Jesus' Name, Amen. Jeremy
If you want to read the whole faith story http://charitygeorge.com/index.php?page=blog
For those of you who do not know Charity had a brain lesion that has severely impaired her. She cannot eat on her own, can only move her head a little, and can barely breathe. My heart has been broken time and time again as I have read the journals of Jeremy, His parents, and her family. However as many times as it has been broken my heart has been restored and encouraged as everyone involved has spoken of their faith, and how it has grown, in our Lord despite their situation.
Today Jeremy has sort of said goodbye to Charity. Not that he has given up hope nor has Charity spelled out anything more than "Thy will Be done", but they are starting to say their goodbyes, in case the Lord decides now is the time for her to go home. Here is today's journal, read, be broken, and be encouraged
Today, Charity continues to show clarity of mind and soundness of mind. As you heard from Phil already, there are some medical concerns that have arisen that are being addressed in a precautionary manner. I am so thankful for that. Our charge nurse is really a quality person who is monitoring Charity in a really wonderful way. She keeps us informed and shows great concern for Charity and us whenever she tells us anything about her condition. Today during speech therapy, Charity spelled out a request. That request spelled out "kilme." At first that seems like a desperate plea, but not if you take the time to sit and ask my wife why she said what she said. I asked her if she was more afraid of living like this than she was of dying. She nodded her head , "yes." I asked her if that was because she knew that there was something much better waiting for her. She nodded her head, "yes." I asked her if it was because it would be better to be with Jesus. She nodded "yes." My next reply to her was, "heaven must be the most wonderful place because none of this is there." She began crying as I embraced her and nodded once again, "yes." I then asked her if she was going to hold on to Jesus through this. Once again, and with an unsettling calm, she nodded, "yes." Jesus, You and You alone have kept my wife in her faith. That is more valuable to me than her getting better, so I praise You, my Lord and my God for what you have done in her heart and what you are doing. I sensed Your smile over her as she confessed her faith in You, and her love for You which today has surpassed her love for me and for our daughters. I praise You Jesus. Be glorified in my wife's life and testimony. Thank you for encouraging me today by my wife's faith. In Jesus' Name, Amen. Jeremy
If you want to read the whole faith story http://charitygeorge.com/index.php?page=blog
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
The Moo mobile is put out to pasture
So Matt always threatened to buy some rims for my van (The Mooo mobile) as I did not have hubcaps on two of my wheels. He said they would be able to rotate on there own, and he wanted them so he would not be embarrassed by his friend who didn't shell out $50 for two hubcaps. Now in my defense, I have shelled out between $400-900 each year for the last three years for this van and I was sick of doing that. I also knew I was driving this van into the ground and so I was not going to shell out $50 just for cosmetic purposes. But now the Moo mobile has been put out to pasture, it has moooed its last mooo and is now a cube of metal crushed by some compactor in some junk yard.
Why? Well the last thing to go was my turn left turn signal on the left side for both the front and back. And even though my mechanic had looked at it 4-5 times (it had been working intermittently over the past year), he could not figure out what was going on and so he said that he would need to tear apart the door which would cost me $500+. Now I have already spent $400 for a busted sliding door window and so there was no way that was going to happen. Alas I have almost gotten into 4-5 accidents because people cannot tell that I am making a left hand turn. Thus my father, the great man that he is, said I could have his car for awhile as he only worked 2 min away from the home. So for the past 2 months I have had his silver van and things have been going well.
Well at least until he almost got hit turning into our neighborhood because the person did not realize my dad was making a left hand turn. And so someone needed to get a car. And so we did. We now own a brand new 2007 Rav4. It is bluish-silver and is pretty cool. And so now my mom has joined the SUV craze and my moo mobile was turned in for a $900 credit. And now my dad has his van back.... so now what do I have? I bought my mom's 2001 Camery. It is a pretty sweet ride and everything works in it and thus we are all happy and satisfied.
Why? Well the last thing to go was my turn left turn signal on the left side for both the front and back. And even though my mechanic had looked at it 4-5 times (it had been working intermittently over the past year), he could not figure out what was going on and so he said that he would need to tear apart the door which would cost me $500+. Now I have already spent $400 for a busted sliding door window and so there was no way that was going to happen. Alas I have almost gotten into 4-5 accidents because people cannot tell that I am making a left hand turn. Thus my father, the great man that he is, said I could have his car for awhile as he only worked 2 min away from the home. So for the past 2 months I have had his silver van and things have been going well.
Well at least until he almost got hit turning into our neighborhood because the person did not realize my dad was making a left hand turn. And so someone needed to get a car. And so we did. We now own a brand new 2007 Rav4. It is bluish-silver and is pretty cool. And so now my mom has joined the SUV craze and my moo mobile was turned in for a $900 credit. And now my dad has his van back.... so now what do I have? I bought my mom's 2001 Camery. It is a pretty sweet ride and everything works in it and thus we are all happy and satisfied.
Wednesdays
I love Wednesdays! Why because they are the day before Thursdays. And Thursdays are the day where between the months of April and October I can fly. I fly in the freezing rain of April, soar over the green grass of May, swing through the warm rays of June, float through the heat of July, sloag through the wasting heat of August, then soar once more through the cooling winds of September, and then fly once again through leaving light of October. All those wonderful Thursdays I am doing one thing an done thing only. I may win or I may loose. I may be the big defensive wall that flies out of no where to knock down your point, or the dancing bear as I make an unbelievable leap and grab for the win. Or I may gasp as my asthma clogs my lungs or I may be just too tired to do anything more than stand (yeah right). But I will, Lord willing, play Ultimate Frisbee every Thursday between the months of May-Oct and I will glorify the Lord with playing my best.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
More Grey hairs
So today I viewed something which took 4 years off my life. Be afraid be very afraid
http://videogames.yahoo.com/featurescreenshot?eid=524368&index=46
http://videogames.yahoo.com/featurescreenshot?eid=524368&index=46
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Answered prayers
So this past week during our group intern meeting with our supervisor, someone brought up the fact that they are starting to feel sad that the internship is almost over. And almost everyone chimed in that they felt the same way except for me. I said that I was not even thinking about the time after the internship rather I was just enjoying where I was now. And this is unusual as I tend to rarely enjoy the moment and instead I am always planning for the next big thing or thinking of things to do next. Even when I planned a white water trip, a while back, when all the planning was done and we were actually camping all I could think of was for the trip to be over and what was happening next. I did have a good time rafting but I really did not enjoy the time I got to spend with my friends. It's may sound weird but I just have a hard time enjoying the moment and it has been something that has been in my prayers, off and on, for the last 4 years. And so last Thurs. ,during our meeting, here I was not thinking about the future and just being and it was wonderful.
Friday, July 20, 2007
More than meets the eye
So I have waited and waited and waited for all of my male friends to go and see Transformers, so as to when I write my review I would not spoil it for them. Alas one of them has still not seen it, but oh well. If you don't want the movie to be spoiled Matt don't read any further.
So I loved this movie. It had some good character development, decent action, amazing animation, and surprisingly, humor.
One of the funniest scenes was the one where the teenage boy is trying to put the moves on the girl of his dreams. As is always the case she is not interested but little does she know that this boy has a secret weapon; his car. Actually the boy does not even know that his car is going to help him out which is even funnier. There are some hilarious scenes that take place due to this car from the car just completely stalling out on a remote, romantic cliff with a great view. Or the car picking certain songs like "Baby come back" when the boy, inevitably, over pursues the girl.
And Like I said, the action was good, but what really stole the show was the fast seamless transformation between car/plane, to robot and back again. Sometimes that would happen multiple times in a fight and yet it did not seem fake or too slow so as to distract from the action.
However with any good movie there are some downsides and there were three major disappointments with this movie. First, while the writer developed Optimus Prime, Megatron, BumbleBee, and some of the important humans, he did not develop the rest of the transformers. At the very least he should have developed Jazz and Starscream as they are two very important characters in Transformers mythology. He also mis-wrote one of the Deceptacons into the wrong form. Frenzy is not a boom box, he was a tape played by another major Deceptacon, Soundwave, who is the actual boom box.
Second, I REALLY disliked the destructibility of the transformers. They died too easily to human weapons and while I know there needs to be some human victory is all this, Transformers should not fall to anything less than a full compliment of missiles from a jet; not some RPG's.
Third, they killed every Deceptacon. Yes, Eugene, I know you say starscream is still alive but I did not see him fly away when he was hit by all those missiles. You cannot continue the Transformers universe when you kill off all the bad guys. After all it is a fight between good and evil. And yes I know there are some other bad guys out there but Megatron was the leader and Starscream his second in command. Who else can they bring in who would be a decent bad guy? And yes I realize they might not make a sequel but still, you do not kill off all the bad guys.
Anyway I did love the movie and I cannot wait for it to come out on DVD. I give it 4/5 stars.
So I loved this movie. It had some good character development, decent action, amazing animation, and surprisingly, humor.
One of the funniest scenes was the one where the teenage boy is trying to put the moves on the girl of his dreams. As is always the case she is not interested but little does she know that this boy has a secret weapon; his car. Actually the boy does not even know that his car is going to help him out which is even funnier. There are some hilarious scenes that take place due to this car from the car just completely stalling out on a remote, romantic cliff with a great view. Or the car picking certain songs like "Baby come back" when the boy, inevitably, over pursues the girl.
And Like I said, the action was good, but what really stole the show was the fast seamless transformation between car/plane, to robot and back again. Sometimes that would happen multiple times in a fight and yet it did not seem fake or too slow so as to distract from the action.
However with any good movie there are some downsides and there were three major disappointments with this movie. First, while the writer developed Optimus Prime, Megatron, BumbleBee, and some of the important humans, he did not develop the rest of the transformers. At the very least he should have developed Jazz and Starscream as they are two very important characters in Transformers mythology. He also mis-wrote one of the Deceptacons into the wrong form. Frenzy is not a boom box, he was a tape played by another major Deceptacon, Soundwave, who is the actual boom box.
Second, I REALLY disliked the destructibility of the transformers. They died too easily to human weapons and while I know there needs to be some human victory is all this, Transformers should not fall to anything less than a full compliment of missiles from a jet; not some RPG's.
Third, they killed every Deceptacon. Yes, Eugene, I know you say starscream is still alive but I did not see him fly away when he was hit by all those missiles. You cannot continue the Transformers universe when you kill off all the bad guys. After all it is a fight between good and evil. And yes I know there are some other bad guys out there but Megatron was the leader and Starscream his second in command. Who else can they bring in who would be a decent bad guy? And yes I realize they might not make a sequel but still, you do not kill off all the bad guys.
Anyway I did love the movie and I cannot wait for it to come out on DVD. I give it 4/5 stars.
Chappie #4: My residency
So, yes, for all those who did not know I received my residency invite a week ago and I accepted that day. I am very excited not just because I am going be a chaplain for this next year at a great institution, but also because I will be paid. Now you all might be thinking I am in it for the $ but the truth is not being paid but working 40-55 hours a week is really hard. Plus I have bills to pay, things I would like to do, and I would like to be putting $ in my savings account instead of withdrawing from it.
Anyway we get to pick a concentration within our residency and I am hoping to pick Pain and Palliative; which deals with end of life. It will be hard but as I want to go into hospice it is the best prep I can get for that job. And I say hope because I wont know if I will get it until I meet with the 5 other residents and we hash out which concentrations we want.
Well all thanks for your prayers and encouragement, I am FINALLY done with retail and I am very much looking forward to my future as a chaplain.
Blessings
Jon
Anyway we get to pick a concentration within our residency and I am hoping to pick Pain and Palliative; which deals with end of life. It will be hard but as I want to go into hospice it is the best prep I can get for that job. And I say hope because I wont know if I will get it until I meet with the 5 other residents and we hash out which concentrations we want.
Well all thanks for your prayers and encouragement, I am FINALLY done with retail and I am very much looking forward to my future as a chaplain.
Blessings
Jon
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
One man's trash, another man's umm stinky treasure?
All I can say is there is no way I would keep on digging. Once I found some of this stuff, I would then stop or give the rest to someone lower on the totem pole. That is why I would not make a good treasure hunter or archaeologist, I want the treasure and the hard work, but man the smells would kill me.
VENTURA, Calif. - The spot where a pair of outhouses stood 130 years ago is proving to be a treasure trove for archaeologists who braved the lingering smell in the dirt to uncover some 19th Century artifacts — and a mystery.
The one-time site of privies for men and women has been built upon repeatedly. Recently, crews demolished a former school bus barn on the 3.5-acre downtown site in order to build a condominium complex and a parking garage.
But first, archaeologists were called in. Beginning in late May, they started digging into the ground in a discovery process that could last several more weeks.
They uncovered a pistol, a knife, whisky flasks, a set of false teeth, two dog skulls and a blade from a set of sheep shears.
"It might be an early crime scene," project archaeologist John Foster said. "It looks like the two dogs were decapitated. Then whoever did it dumped the skulls and the blade, thinking the women probably wouldn't be looking too hard into the bottom of the privy."
The work has its drawbacks.
"The further you go down, the stronger the smell," archaeologist Marisa Solorzano said. "But it's not that bad. These privies are archaeological gold mines."
The site was known to be used historically by American Indians, Spanish missionaries, Mexican soldiers and American settlers. Once, there were brothels nearby. The area, the size of two football fields, housed Ventura's first courthouse, jail and hospital during the late 1800s.
Artifacts found at the site along with photographs and other documentation, eventually will go to the Museum of Ventura County.
VENTURA, Calif. - The spot where a pair of outhouses stood 130 years ago is proving to be a treasure trove for archaeologists who braved the lingering smell in the dirt to uncover some 19th Century artifacts — and a mystery.
The one-time site of privies for men and women has been built upon repeatedly. Recently, crews demolished a former school bus barn on the 3.5-acre downtown site in order to build a condominium complex and a parking garage.
But first, archaeologists were called in. Beginning in late May, they started digging into the ground in a discovery process that could last several more weeks.
They uncovered a pistol, a knife, whisky flasks, a set of false teeth, two dog skulls and a blade from a set of sheep shears.
"It might be an early crime scene," project archaeologist John Foster said. "It looks like the two dogs were decapitated. Then whoever did it dumped the skulls and the blade, thinking the women probably wouldn't be looking too hard into the bottom of the privy."
The work has its drawbacks.
"The further you go down, the stronger the smell," archaeologist Marisa Solorzano said. "But it's not that bad. These privies are archaeological gold mines."
The site was known to be used historically by American Indians, Spanish missionaries, Mexican soldiers and American settlers. Once, there were brothels nearby. The area, the size of two football fields, housed Ventura's first courthouse, jail and hospital during the late 1800s.
Artifacts found at the site along with photographs and other documentation, eventually will go to the Museum of Ventura County.
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