Nero played a fiddle...

Now, I'm no expert, and maybe he's switching between chords, but if Mr. President were to strum that guitar it would sound rather aweful, regardless of the fact that it's got a presidential seal on it. Hmm... an interesting metaphor.

If I was an American, I'd be rather pissed that my President was showboating it, chumming it up with some country singer. Especially if it happened to be the day after much of my country is drowning under water, and being shocked by the reality of lives that have been literally torn apart. On the other hand, he has cut his massive vacation short by a couple of days to return to the white house and 'oversee' the relief efforts. Not lead, but observe. So yah, If I was an American, I'd be rather pissed right now. But, I'm not.

Did anyone see on the news yesterday the man in shock who's house was cut in half by the wind, and his wife disappeared? He was clutching two children, saying "I'm lost," and the reporter could barely keep herself from breaking down emotionally. Wow. So, Mr. President, put down that guitar that you obviously don't know how to play, roll up your sleeves and do something about the mess that your country is in. Bring back some of the National Guard from Iraq who would normally be mobilized to deal with this sort of thing. Be a leader. Be a servant. Serve your country.

Weekend Update

Pray for the people in the path of Katrina, especially the poor people living in a stadium who don't own SUV's enabling them to evacuate.

A tiring weekend has been had. I think I'm getting old. Staying out till 3AM is a damaging experience for me now. Saturday still turned out great though, regardless of the fact that I was fried from the night before. I watched the finals of the Peterborough Ultimate League, where the home team won! Afterwards Todd and Chuck arrived in P-town for a quick visit. Chuck rarely ventures away from 400-series highways, so this was his first real visit to Peterborough. I think it was everything he imagined it would be. Actually, Chuck is one of the more adventurous people I know, and I've been able to travel to China and Thailand with him in the past, both of which have been fantastic. Chuck is departing again shortly, which was the reason for the reunion. Pints and food were enjoyed at St.Veronus, before sitting around for the rest of the evening drinking homebrew, eating store-bought burritos and other random food found in my apartment. I love the fact that every time we get together we have incredible conversations, both challenging, quirky, and relevant. I'm blessed to have friends like these guys.

Here's some random reading for you if you're bored or just want to catch up on some (un)current events...

- Good news out of Iraq. link
- Fun with Iraq. link
- Trade Wars. link
- Emotional Tirade??? Honour your agreements! It's not like you said we looked fat in these pants and we went off on you. You owe us $5 billion. Maybe we should just forget about the whole NAFTA thing and keep our oil and water and everything else to ourselves... link
- Speaking of oil... link

Blogger Spam

Well, it's happened. I got my first Spam Comment on this blog. I've kindly removed it. I'm assuming it was either for porn or an online dating service "Are you alone, click here".
Anyone know how to prevent this?

Christians behaving badly.

You've probably already heard about this, but I'm with Bill, Pat Robertson is an asshole.

I've got soul but I'm not a Soldier

- Axeworthy writes about NAFTA.
- National Security - The next premptive strike.
- If I was a teen, my corolla wouldn't be cool.
- Iraqi Economics.
- Most of these guys (and girls, tragically) are younger than me.
- Finally, Bush apparently has time for a nice bike ride around the ranch, but doesn't have time to sit down for a short conversation with a grieving mother.

Confessing Christ in a World of Violence

- Sojo delivers, again.

Sustain This

Ever since I first heard James Kunstler coin the phrase "the 3000 mile Caesar Salad", I've realized the distance that food travels to get to my plate. I try to buy local produce at the grocery store as much as possible, but I know there's a ton I can do to improve. Peterborough has a fantastic farmer's market that sells local produce that I just don't ever make use of. A couple out in B.C. made it their goal to only eat food that was grown within a 100 mile radius of their home. Their story is found here.

In other news (hypocritically related), I drive a lot. I put 1300 km on my car in two days recently. 700 for work, 600 for pleasure, although both were enjoyable.
On Saturday we drove up to Ottawa for a Craig Cardiff living room show in celebration of a friend's birthday. It was fantastic. If you ever get a chance to see him play, don't miss it. An altogether good evening was had; drinking fine beer, 10 year old scotch, eating Lebanese food, listening to fine music and enjoying the company of a certain beautiful girl. Life has been undeservedly good these past months!

GRACE

On Sunday I had a friend over for dinner, and after dinner I hauled out a box of photo albums to look through. We looked at pictures from my time at Queen's, a visit to Thailand, and a couple from China. Yesterday while putting the box back I noticed an old journal of mine in it and pulled it out for a read. It was from my 4th year at university. I began to skim through it.
At times I laughed at myself and my immaturity (of faith, of life), at times I was impressed at insight I had into scriptures, and at times I felt like someone watching 'Titanic'. You know how the movie is going to end, yet for some reason you find yourself hoping that the boat avoids the iceberg at the last second and doesn't sink. Ok, bad example. Point being, it's interesting to read through the events of your own life almost 6 years later and know how it's going to work out yet hoping that the main character would wise up and make better decisions. I guess this just means that I'm a bit wiser and more mature than I was 6 years ago, which has direct correlation to the events that took place back then. I had a conversation with a co-worker today, and he said that in many ways our lives are defined by the hard times we go through, the times of suffering, and how we handle them. As a result we either grow up or we let the suffering ruin us. I found myself praising God for his grace as I read last night. If I can look back on my own 'brilliance' 6 years later and see the stupidity of some of my thoughts and actions, what does it look like to God, who defines wisdom. I think he sees it through the lens of grace. I learned to ride a bike without training wheels. However, there were definitely times when my dad would be running beside me with his hand holding the seatpost, keeping me steady, until I was ready, even as I tried to speed away from him. In the same way, God's steadying hand has been holding me throughout my life as I venture into each new episode and situation, whether I know it or not. Grace.

Eric of Thinskull

the Psalms

"At the age of 12, I was a fan of David. He felt familiar, like a pop star could feel familiar. The words of the psalms were as poetic as they were religious, and he was a star. Before David could fulfil the prophecy and become the king of Israel, he had to take quite a beating. He was forced into exile and ended up in a cave in some no-name border town facing the collapse of his ego and abandonment by God. But this is where the soap opera got interesting. This is where David was said to have composed his first psalm -- a blues. That's what a lot of the psalms feel like to me, the blues. Man shouting at God -- 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me?' (Psalm 22)."

link to Bono commenting on the Psalms.

Friday Afternoon

I guarantee you that you will waste the next 10 minutes of your life if you click this.

I'm a nerd

Ok, I admit freely that I am indeed a nerd. Why else would I seek out a website that reviews movies based on their adherence to the laws of physics? Well, Star Wars III has been reviewed, and Mr. Lucas won't be happy...

BRIDGES

Brian McLaren writes an interesting article about faith, politics, views from the Left, the Right, and a Ministry of Reconciliation. I found it at the 'Sojourners' site, which I typically visit once or twice a month. I recommend taking a few minutes and reading a few of the articles and archives there.

SPACE, THE FINAL FRONTIER

Two and half years ago, on my birthday, I happened to turn the TV on in the morning to watch some sports highlights from the night before, and while surfing to TSN I noticed that instead of Saturday morning cartoons most stations were showing the news, more specifically what looked like a comet shooting across the sky and unconfirmed reports that the shuttle had broken up.
The first shuttle mission since Columbia returned to earth safely this morning. I've been doing some thinking lately, which is dangerous but useful, and have been asking questions like 'Can we justify the billions of dollars spent sending an oversized RV into space to visit and stock up an orbiting science cottage when we can't even figure out how to evenly distribute the food and wealth on our own planet?' I'm all for scientific research and discovery and exploration, but at what cost? Here's an interesting article which raises similar questions, and gives a bit of background on the shuttle program. Put your critical thinking skills to use. Apparently it's cheaper and easier to conduct scientific research with unmanned rockets/probes/satellites. However, given the chance, I'd love to orbit the earth for a week in a winged tin can, floating in near-zero gravity, trying to keep all my peas and carrots on my plate. Does this make me a hypocrite? Wouldn't be the first time.

Bill Shakespeare

I'm back. I took last week off, and aside from one brief encounter with checking my email I avoided computers for a week and a half. It felt great. Freeing. I recommend the same for you from time to time. Actually, I haven't had an internet connection at home in months, and I haven't missed it. I spend 8 hours a day in front of a computer at work, so what's the point.
Highlights of my week off:

Alex and Elaine's Wedding - The minister, while speaking about the similarities in the imagery of marriage and Christ and the Church said: "In the same way a man leaves his Father and Mother to be united to his wife, Christ left His Father in Heaven and his Mother at the Cross to be united to the Church." I thought that the reference to his Mother was beautiful.

The Dow residence at Silver Lake - They've got a little terrier, named Ruffy, who likes to play tug of war games. He's just a little guy, but is full of 'piss and vinegar'. He's the kind of dog that latches onto the tug of war toy so hard that you can lift him off the ground with it. He also chases loons. Canoeing/swimming in the middle of Silver Lake he decided to swim after a family of loons. It was great to spend time with the Dow family and catch up with Craig again before he heads back to Egypt again.

Presqu'ile Provincial Park - While buying a block of ice to keep my beers cold at the store a mere 100 meters from the park gate a car with Quebec plates approached me and asked me where Presqu'ile was. Perhaps it was the lack of bilingual signs that confused them and prevented them from finding Presqu'ile. That reminds me of when my uncle was traveling through Quebec and someone asked him where Wolf River was. He'd never heard of it. Riviere-du-loop on the other hand was just down the road.
I digress. Camping at Presqu'ile was great. Fantastic weather, huge waves to play in at the beach, massive camp fires, cold beer, and a bit of a family reunion. Good times all around.

The Complete works of Shakespeare - I went and saw an outdoor production of the Complete Works Of Shakespeare last night at the Peterborough Centennial Museum. I must admit, it was a rather ambitious project for the three talented actors to pursue, but they pulled it off. Condensing the 16 comedies into a single 5 minute play certainly sped things along. The crowd favorite was Macbeth performed with Scottish accents. They even dared to utter the title of the play on stage. I rather enjoyed Hamlet, with a South Parkish rendition of the play within a play bit. The 3rd encore when they performed Hamlet backwards was certainly a bold and brave accomplishment. If the 'Driftwood Theatre Group' comes to a town near you, check them out and bring a friend or two. You will not be disappointed.