Shipwrecked & Comatose

Kevin and I bought a new TV this past weekend.  We upgraded from an old tube model to a much bigger flat screen with a few whizbangs and gizmos. Our old TV was twenty years old.  Let me me point out that it worked fine.  Over the years we have watched it regularly and it never failed us.  That TV served us faithfully for more than a decade. So why get rid of it?  Why would we throw out a perfectly functional television set?  (Unless we can find someone to give it a home, we plan to take it down to the electronics recycling center.) Why?  You'll just love this reason. (Wait for it) We're getting rid of it because... (You're really gonna love this) I bought some new Kinect games recently and the resolution on the old TV was terrible.  I couldn't read the onscreen instructions for the games.  It made playing correctly almost impossible.  We needed a good HDTV flat screen so we could see what we were doing while playi...

I had one of my typical bouts of insomnia last night.  I'm not sure what time I woke up this morning, but I know sometime around 4:45 I decided to pack it in and just stay awake until it was time to go to the gym.  I knew I wasn't going to sleep any more. When it was close to the time the gym opens, I began to don my sneakers and get out the door.  As I sat on the couch tying my laces, a terrible feeling of sleepiness came over me.  Of course I felt as if I could sleep as soon as I was about to just start my day.  I was sitting there on the couch trying to motivate myself to stand up and walk out the door, but all I wanted to do was lie back down and sleep. I considered going back to bed.  I thought I could sleep for another hour or two then I could hit the gym when I truly had the energy.  I could just call in late and take a couple of hours of personal time.  After all, with only a few months left of employment, my personal time is trul...

When I was growing up I spent a lot of time in church and Bible study and Bible camp. As very young kids, my fellow students and I never questioned openly things we were taught. (You can pick your jaws up off the floor now.) I grew older. I went to school and learned about science and history and how the world works. I learned about the origins of life itself. Like many others who were taught never to question their spiritual leaders, I felt a sense of cognitive dissonance. I understood that science is about those things that are tested and have hard evidence. Unfortunately it tended to be in conflict with what I learned in church. The funny thing is that once I, along with other students feeling the same conflicts, actually spoke up and asked religious leaders how to reconcile these two ideas, they were very willing to do so. I heard all sorts of comforting and semi-rational explanations: God works mysteriously and maybe some things we aren’t meant to worry about; God’s time is ...

It seems every year I have to make some kind of post about Christmas and this year will be no exception. I'm finished with blogs full of outrage about the War on Christmas crap.  For one thing, there seems to be some kind of stalemate in the war this year.  I still see a vocal minority claiming outrage at the phrase "Happy Holidays".  I also see plenty of online requests that we all must keep Christ in Christmas or not celebrate at all.  Those voices just seem much quieter this year. I like to think the louder voices have become the voices of reason.  If others can't be offended or feel excluded by Merry Christmas, then you have no right to be offended by Happy Holidays.  A winter holiday existed long before Jesus and you can't stop people from celebrating the season as they wish.  It even seems that the push to shove Christmas down everyone's throats as soon as possible has been mitigated as well.  As I mentioned in...

I have an obsession with Harley Davidson motorcycles.  Kevin does too.  What can I say?  They're beautiful machines.  They represent fine automotive craftmanship and they're made in the USA.  There is an enormous tradition behind them.  Kevin and I have been known to go to dealerships to walk around admiring the bikes and even indulge in some of the related merchandise. Do you know I have never ridden on a motorcycle and don't want to?  I'm really rather afraid to do so. Do you also know that motorcyclists suffer an injury once every 7000 hours of riding and yet horseback riding has an injury rate of one serious accident once every 350 hours?  My choice of hobby is not terribly logical is it? I suppose that it makes somewhat logical sense that I should be afraid of riding a motorcycle.  There is a story behind it .One day in high school I was driving home from school and cut across a side road.   There was a motorcyc...

I am amazed at the hostility to OWS by people who were not even directly affected by it (say by having to fight the crowds to walk to work in the morning).  What do you think these people are protesting?  I suppose you don't know, because the media are telling you the message is garbled and  unfocused sounding.  No, these were not all lazy unemployed hippies, socialists, students, or terrorists.  They were Americans, just like you, who understand that things have become so rigged in this country that only a handful of citizens are benefitting.  We have returned to the Gilded Age - the age of the Robber Baron - and if you are fuzzy about history, the Gilded Age ended with the Great Depression.  How is it that so many Americans have been convinced to vote against their own interests?  Why are we so convinced that reasonable regulations, ones that have been in place for decades and still allowed people to become very rich, are somehow tan...

For those who celebrate Christmas and related holidays, this time of year can be quite exciting or it can be quite annoying.  Halloween was just a week ago and Thanksgiving won't be here for two more weeks, but Christmas is already on the brain for many.  Christmas trees, lights, and assorted decorations are creeping into the displays of many stores.  Radio stations pepper their playlists with Christmas songs.  Some folks love to start the Christmas season early.  They buy fake trees just so they can put one up as early as possible.  They deliberately listen to Christmas music.  They are planning their parties and their menus while they put out their Halloween candy.  Others can't stand the early hype.  The believe Christmas needs to come in its own time.  Enjoy Halloween.  Enjoy Thanksgiving.  Don't feel pressured to decorate, shop, and feel any sort of "Christmas Spirit" when there is over a month to go. Lately it see...