Mr. H's Neighborhood

Full Circle

2010-05-21T17:21:00.000-07:00

I remember when I first read meters by myself. It was strait after training and I was unsure of just about everything (dogs, using binoculars to read from afar, dogs, trooping through peoples backyards, and oh yeah…dogs). I remember going into the first yard that said “Beware of Dog” with a code in the handheld that read 14 36 34…which means ‘rear, more than one dog, dog vicious’. I was scared. I snuck in the yard as quietly as I could, peaked around the corner and saw the meter, no dogs. I read the meter as fast as I could and “beeeeeep!”, the next house had notes in it which alarm you with a pretty loud beeping noise. Just then I see two dog heads pop around the corner to discover me, and intruder in their yard. I bolt, slip on ice, get up as fast as I can and while terror is ever so prevalent in my being I let out a battle cry as I get back up and swing my bite stick(a stick with a tennis ball on the end of it). I sounded like an elephant. I had no clue what to do and my instincts took over. It worked though, and I didn’t die.

I really didn’t know what I was getting into. Everything was foreign. But it was my first route on my own and all these feelings are expected. I remember this first route like it was yesterday even though it was more like a year and a half ago. It was the only route I read by myself in Reno before I reported to Carson.

Today was my last day reading meters, and I have been reading them back in Reno for the past couple of weeks. As I’m driving out to my very last route of my meter reading career I realize that it’s in the same area as that first route I read. Then when I got to the first street I realized that it was the very route I started with! Out of all the days I decided to be my last, out of all the routes, out of all the cycles I’m ending on the same one I started with. Some would call it ironic, weird, closure, or just lucky. I call it confirmation. It felt like God was telling me that I was on the right path, that this was a completed circle in my life. And now it’s time to move on to another circle. And by the way, I shaved about 3 hours off of the route the second time around=crushed it.

I need a drummer

2009-05-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

I've been struggling to find a rhythm with my new job. I'm really enjoying it, but the biggest struggle for me would have to be the loss of internet at work. Last year we canceled our basic cable, I thought that would be hard, but the interweb saved us on that one. We haven't missed one of our favorite shows since then. But loosing the blessed interweb at work has proved a hard loss.

Example: This is my first blog since my new job.

But I feel it coming. I feel the rhythm coming on. I can feel my hips starting to swing and move with the rhythm of life these days. It's a good feeling. I'm encouraged. And hopeful. This is going to be a good year.

So Long Suckers!

2009-01-02T11:51:00.000-08:00

It's my last day of work here at A**state. (I put the asterisks because the wife has proven that people other than friends read blogs with certain key words) I am so excited for everything new this year. It's going to be a huge change not only for my direct family but also friends and other family.

I know it may not sound so christian, but I've never wanted to give a whole town (South Lake Tahoe) the finger so bad in my life. Now that I say that, I'll probably be working the South Tahoe shift at my new job. In which case I will be ninja-ing my way through the streets of crap town to avoid it's lovely people. There is an attitude up here that is one I've never felt from a whole town type of a mentality. It's their identity. I call it Lake Tahoe Narcissism, or Larcissism for short. About 50% of the population thinks that the universe revolves around Lake Tahoe, and the other half think that it should. All of the residents are owed something just for living in such a place.

Perfect example:

Just this morning a 70 year old lady came in with her granddaughter, bad attitude in tow. But it's my last day, I smile even bigger at those people, it tends to piss them off though. G-ma wants insurance because her license is suspended. While G-daughter sits right outside our door in the car (right next to the "No Parking" sign and about 10 feet from a real parking spot which I'm not sure why they exist up here) blocking parking lot traffic from both sides. After getting honked at a couple times by passer's she finally decides to...not park in a parking spot but drive around the block until she sees G-ma outside.

Once done, she picks G-ma up in the car we just insured, tried to turn around in our parking lot that would require driving over our once living lawn and through a snow bank half the size of the car. Hm. More gas and speed right? Wrong.

High centered, stuck, pissed, kicking and cursing car (the car we just insured) she gets out with chains in hand. First thing I do is throw my jacket on and head out the door for help right? Who wouldn't want help? This chick. I almost forgot where I was.

Me: "Can I help at all, we have a snow shovel and we can get the snow and ice out from under the car." I'm also volunteering my dad's help.

20 year old Tahoe princess: "No, I'm just going to put these ( holds up tire chains) on and it should work." Again much attitude in tow. Plus I think it's a little late for chains, the car needs to be moving for that.

Me: "You're sure you don't need any help". Jacket on and heading towards her to see the other side of the car to assess the situation.

20 year old Tahoe princess: "NO".

Me: "Okay, I'll be in here if you change your mind".

About 15-20 minutes went by of me watching her curse and kick the car we just insured, and many other people come and go from our parking lot watching 20 year old Tahoe princess try and get G-ma and car out of the snow bank. They watch her, smile, get in their car and leave. Driving right past her without a offer of help or make sure things are okay. This is by far not the first time this has happened just in our own little parking. It makes me sick. Larcissism at it's finest. Everything is about them.

I finally grab the shovel, and an ice axe (don't ask why we have an ice axe in the office) and tell her I am helping. 20 year old Tahoe princess says fine and gets back in her car with G-ma and slams the door.

Another 10 minutes go by of my dad and I trying to help, we finally we get it unstuck. No thank you or anything. Just a smile and a half wave and down the road they go, in the car we just insured.

Wet, cold, snow in my nice shoes, splashed with mud and snow from tires pealing out over ice and ex-living lawn on my face, and perplexed by Larcissism, I go back in the office with a smile on my face. I am so glad today is my last day.

Sorry for the negative complaints, but I know I'm not the only one with this experience up here. Maybe I should start a small group. Larcissism recovery.

Thank you Lord for placing me someplace new.

Earlier this morning someone came in to make a payment. "Ya, I have pneumonia and I thought I would stop and pay my bill on my way to the doctors." Thanks lady. Thanks. Your germ filled $33 is much appreciated.

Coping with Bunsen and Beaker

2008-11-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

Jami and I have two cats, named Bunsen and Beaker. Some people can't imagine life without their pets, I sure can. I won't even get into Jami promising me these were short hair kittens and weren't. But since I just did get into it, I do miss the days of no cat hair on anything. Back when lint rollers were for lint and not for what seems like a whole lions mane on my black shirt.

But here is Sundays experience:

1) about 4am Wake up to a plunger like sound in the living room...a cat is about to throw up a hair ball. Roll over and go back to sleep.

2) about 4:10am Wake up again to a plunger like sound in the hall way...it's getting closer. Roll over and go back to sleep

3) about 4:30am Wake up to yet another plunger like sound right outside our room. Ask Jami if she wants to tag team the mess in our house. Nope. Roll over go back to sleep.

4) Wake up around 7am by choice, clean cat barf in four different spots in our house. It must have been Beaker because he barfs and runs. Bunsen gets the hairball out in one plunger. Beaker's at least a two plunger hair ball extractor. Time to go about the day.

5) Get home from soccer game at about 3:30pm. I took a shower and was really sore from the game, so I decided to stretch in the living room. While stretching, I smelt something foul, like poop. I was really hoping it wasn't me because I thought I was a better bather let alone wiper than that. But I still thought it was me. After some deductive reasoning, I came to the conclusion that the smell was coming from the living room.

6) about 4pm I ask Jami if she smells anything and she says yes.

7) from 4pm until about 5:45pm, it was a series of asking each other what that smell was and sniffing around the living room and spraying Fabreze on spots we thought were the source but to no avail.

8) While preparing to cook dinner, something caught my eye in the corner...something out of place...could this be the culprit?

9) 5:45pm YAHTZEE! Part of me was relieved that the smell wasn't coming from me and that we actually found the source of the smell and it could be delt with. But the other part of me really wanted to call my friend Tim. I've read that he knows how to take care of these cat situations.

We're learning

2008-10-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

Our Second Gig

I like to make my wife video tape stuff. Especially when we play out. We learn from it. And this day was no exception to that. We certainly learned a lot.

It was fun all together. We met new friends in the form of bands that we could play with again and we most likely will. Our last song was a train wreck. It was awesome! Mid-song everything just fell apart. Luckily this was a Christian venue and there were no beer bottle's to get hit in the face with. Venues like these are good to start out with because no matter how much you suck and how your ideas of throwing in the towel after sucking (which none of did but it could happen), everyone is very supportive and encouraging. Risen from Reno was a band that were really cool to us that day. We will play with them again.

So on to the lessons that I personally learned.

1) Be prepared for weather when traveling out of town for a gig:
I was so cold. I couldn't feel my fingers. And when you are playing a guitar or bass, that's not good. I remember the beginning of one song (the one that was a train wreck), my mind started on the 1 (first beat) but my fingers didn't kick in till about 1.5.

2) When it's cold or any outdoor venue, tune like a champion:
Several times I could hear a note off, sometimes it was me, sometimes it wasn't. But cold weather can really screw with your tuning. Especially when you are scrolling through 4 different tuning formats for 9 songs. I didn't have my "in-line" tuner that day...big mistake.

3) Know what we want for sound:
I'll get into this on the fourth thing, but playing at church has spoiled me. 90% of the time any of us in the band play in front of people, it is at church. And we have the blessed by Jesus himself Aviom where you have an inner ear monitor and you can change your setting to whatever you want. So if I don't like the way I'm hearing in the sound check, I change it myself. During our sound check I couldn't hear anything but guitar, guitar, and drums. No voices. But instead of saying anything to the sound dudes, who were the band Risen from Reno, we didn't say anything probably because we are so used to controlling it ourselves.

4) The 'I learned in church' factor:
You will definitely see in the video that we don't 'entertain' very well. Or we don't move around or anything. We need to work on this. The band before us had sequenced head banging sessions. I'm not saying we should do that, but some movement would be cool.

5) Don't get frustrated:
We are going to have more gigs where we suck. It's part of band life. Just beware of flying tomato's and we'll be fine. Plus we will still like each other after sucking, so we might as well have fun while we are sucking. We just have to get it on tape. :)

If you want to hear more you can visit our sites:

Our iLike page:

Or our Myspace page:
www.myspace.com/ajlostones

Our Second Gig Ever

2008-09-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

So we got a second gig. Not bad. This one should be a lot better than the first. If you feel up to traveling to Fertucky for the evening, we will be playing in the park around 6ish and we would love to see some familiar faces. It should be fun.

The music: http://www.myspace.com/ajlostones

Plus we are playing some original worship songs and some non-original songs.

Photographs

2008-09-03T10:43:00.001-07:00

My Friend Aaron. He is my friend. I'm glad he is back in my life. If you want to talk about adventures, he would be the guy to talk to. Commercial salmon fishing in Alaska, hikes through New Zealand, he been a lot of places and done a lot. Then he meets a lady, his lady. Now he is back and settling down.

He is one of the funniest guys I know. I like spending time with good people, and he is definitely one of those people in my life.

These pictures are from our hike to my favorite fishin' hole. Good times. Cousin Joe, Cousin Age, Aaron, and Me.

Aaron asked to borrow my camera...this is what I get.

This is the Golden trout that we ate. I've only seen Golden's at one lake...this one. I usually catch and release because these fish are gorgeous. They literally look like swimming gold bricks. But since we were camping and none of us had ever had a Golden trout. They are amazing! You can't plant Golden's either, so you know that they are natives. Good fishing day too. The hardest hitting fish I've ever had on line.

Speaking of eating...

I'm pretty sure Hailey likes yogurt better on her face than in her mouth. But she sure makes some funny faces while eating new things. I love it.

She also likes to do things her way.
Yes, she is asleep in this one. Looks pretty comfortable.
I'm pretty sure she will play the piano. As long as she likes it. I wish I could play the piano too.

I like pictures.

Pick N Pull: Round Two

2008-07-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

I heard on the radio that Pick N Pull was having a half off sale. You can't really beat that. I'm kind of enjoying my time there due to the last two experiences being very fruitful and smooth.

My shopping list included (but was not limited to):

1. Sun Visor - those suckers are hard to find, like jelly belly's on a daycare floor they get snatched up pretty quick.

2. Heater Blower motor - mine was making a really awful noise because the rotor had disintegrated inside.

3. Grill for the Park Ave. - Yes I have a Buick Park Avenue, my grandpa was going to give it away to a charity, I said "I'm a charitable investment." He agreed, now I'm in gangster paradise.

4. A door for my Subaru - main purpose for the trip because this was going to be the most expensive and it was a half off.

All in all it was great. They only had one Park Avenue and it didn't have what I needed, so I didn't get the grill. But if two out of three ain't bad, three out of four must be even better. The door came off pretty easy off of a blue Subaru that got into a pretty bad accident that messed up the front end. But the door was in fine shape.

This is the inside of the door. Blue. And my fears came true as I looked at the wiring mounts when I got back to my house. They were different. So a longer and more tedious project was about to commence as I snipped away at wires I was unsure would ever live the rest of their life as a conductor due to not being compatible with my car.

Just look at that bloom of color. What a beautifully aggravating site. Luckily, Subaru uses the same colors for the same function on the door. Just in different shades of faded. The only thing the new door didn't have was the light down at the bottom that turns on when you open the door. I could care less about that. Here is the finished project.

As you can see, the blue door is in the best shape compared to the rest of the car. And I shall name it Francke-en-steen. Or Froderick. Either way, I love it. It's mine. It's my beast that I will keep until I can't fix it with a trip to Pick N Pull.

Total trip $47 and maybe 3 hours. Totally a great score.

Oh boy

2008-07-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the big day. The day my dad duped me into joining him in a brutal, stupid, and prideful hike. I'm a little bitter. Mount Whitney is the second to last one on the right. This picture was taken at about 12,000 feet.

Here are some pictures on my photobucket if you want more: Mount Whitney

One thing that I noticed real quick is that pictures can't describe the awesomeness of these mountains. Truly, a sight to see.

Starting at Big Pine, CA, the Sierra's started getting pretty crazy. Rigid like a breadstick. They come out of the smoke filled sky like a giant from the mist. I started looking at the huge peaks and ask myself "And we are climbing the biggest one...how?" They look pretty much impossible. It was definitely beautiful, though.

We camped at 8,000 feet. At 9:00pm it had to be in the low 80's, so it was really hard to get to sleep because it was so hot. I think the last time I looked at my watch it was 2 in the am. Mind you, we are getting up at 3am to start hiking. So after a good hour of solid sleep, we wake up, pack everything and start hiking at 3:50am. By 3:55 I was wondering what we were doing and why, and praying for my second wind. It came and I survived. It felt like I was on a hike to Mordor to destroy something that was consuming me in some way. The whole way up I could only think on why am I doing this, just to say that I have? I'm pretty sure that's pride. I knew I wasn't going to enjoy the hike. I love to be outdoors, but 22 miles and 8,000+ feet in elevation gain is just for the suck. I began to wonder if indeed it was pride that was driving me up this hill. Then I began to recognize that pride was probably the number one cause for the hundreds of people on the same path I was. I wanted off. There is a section called the 100 switchbacks where I experienced vertigo quite often. I couldn't help but think of how many people could die if they exerted themselves too much on this trail. At about 10,000 feet my dad was really struggling. About every 2 or 3 minutes I would hear a faint "Dave, I need to take a break. There is just no oxygen up here." I could breath fine though.

So on the top of the 100 switchbacks, there is a place called Trail Crest. And those switchbacks really took their toll, especially for my dad. Who I was really concerned if we should even be going on at this point, but low and behold he "was too determined" (I saw pride). This is where I got pretty frustrated and about 20 people experienced me talking to my dad like a little child. Note that this the very top of a 2 mile climb with about a 15% grade the whole way, and we are exhausted, and we just got done talking about how we both got vertigo a lot on the switchbacks. I was okay, but my dad looked like he was about to fall over. So I took a picture of the Trail Crest sign that shows the elevation at 13,600 feet, I turn around and my dad is climbing this cliff so I can take a picture of him sitting on this cliff. I yelled "would you get off of there, your going to get yourself killed." I was pissed, here is my dad who I am trying to convince to really take it easy and here he is climbing this cliff just to take a picture. That was pride. And that's what got me thinking for the rest of the hike.

Here is the picture. You really can't tell, but that rock is poking out of the ground at an angle and underneath it is about a mile of air. It makes me feel ill just looking at the picture.

There were clouds brewing once we could see the other side of the range at Trail Crest. And my dad and I both vowed that the first sign of lightning we are turning back immediately. This is because we are on the tallest mountain around, with 50 people or so on the top carrying metal lightning poles, I mean walking sticks. Many people die at the top because of lightning. So I decided to go at my own pace to the top. I left my dad with about a mile and a half to the top. In my mind, if I got to the top and turned around, my dad would say, "at least one of us made it" and it would be easier to turn him around because of the clouds. At 11 o’clock I hear the first crack of thunder. I ask someone coming down about how much further to the top and one says 15-20 min, and another says 20-30 mins. I knew that there was a building at the top. I just wanted a picture of the building to show my dad and I was done. I got there in 11 minutes. The last two people I passed, had passed us at 12,000 feet, and they said, "you set the pace and we'll follow you." I agreed and they were right behind me for about 100 feet. I looked up saw the building, took a picture and turned around. They tried to tell me "you have to go further than that, your almost there." Bull. I was there, and I'm not going to risk my life just to bask in my prideful endeavor. When I turned around I saw all the people I passed still coming up the hill. As I ran (literally ran) past them on my way down, I couldn't help but think of all the reasons why this was not worth it, and there were many.

I came to the conclusion that there are three groups of people who hike things like this:
1) They love to hike and love the outdoors (those are the ones that passed you with a smile on their face)
2) They want to hike because it's a trail they haven't been on before and it's another great experience (those are the ones who take a break next to you and seem to be interested in your life, I think they also hike to make new friends)
3) They hike because they enjoy telling their friends what they're doing and hearing "Man, you're crazy" (these are the ones who look like death, but keep climbing up)

I fear my dad and I were in group 3. Along with many others I'm sure. But I don't want to be in that group. I'm done. Anything over 3 miles better have some dang good fishing at the top. I love the outdoors, it reminds me of how beautiful life is, but 22 miles is evil.

My wife the Saint

2008-07-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

Warning: The words puke and diarrhea are going to be brought up a lot in this blog. Consider yourself warned.

There must be something going around. I remember praying for Ben yesterday morning before worship because he wasn't feeling good. I remember telling God thinking that it would be better for me to be sick because I'm just playing the bass, Ben was leading worship. I'm pretty sure that's when it started :) I felt horrible the rest of the day.

I hate puking. Everybody says that they feel better after they puke and it's a relief. Not me. I hate it. My body loves to fight puking for as long as it can, until I feel like I'm going to pass out. That process lasted for about four hours last night. Most of those four hours were spent in the bathroom, moaning, followed by crying, seconds of sleep, wake up and moan, going diarrhea, then more moaning and crying. All with my wife right there helping me with everything. This was the sickest I have been since we have known each other, just about 6 years. And she's never witnessed the hell that is Dave puking. I had a long streak going and it all ended last night. Jami was awesome, she is such a nurturer. She was up the whole time bringing me everything I needed. At my worst, she is definitely at her best. She is a saint. Right now she is at the store getting the staples when one is sick such as chicken soup, saltines, and 7up.

So now I sit and think about the things that are pretty traditional for my sick days. Mainly I sit on the couch and watch the same things when I'm sick:

The best movie to watch when your sick has to be The Princess Bride
Daytime TV is pretty limited with basic cable so there are only two shows that I will watch and they are not Oprah and Rachel Ray. The only shows I like to watch when I'm sick are The Price is Right and the Cosby Show.
There is one other thing I like to do and it's so I don't feel like I wasted to whole day, and that is to do a few loads of laundry.

So does anyone else have any sick day traditions?

Raising of Hands

2008-06-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

This is in regard to Tim's blog a while ago about lifting of hands. I thought of this right after I read the blog, but didn't comment in time to be applicable. I also didn't want to leave a long and drawn out comment and hijack your blog. :)

My thoughts: Having my first child recently, I really get to witness first hand, even though just a portion, God's love for me from a "Fathers" perspective. One of the things that I can't wait for is when our little Hailey starts to reach out for me when she wants me to hold her. She kind of leans right now, but the all out WANT with the outstretched arms to her daddy would really strike a cord on my heartstrings. That's why I raise my hands, because I'd rather be in God's arms than anywhere else. Not to be seen, or for routine, or out of American Christian top 10 signs of being a real Christian...sometimes I just want to be held.

Our First Gig!

2008-06-13T08:48:00.000-07:00

So this Tuesday, the 17th, we are playing music in front of people for the first time. We've got a song list of like 4 or 5 songs. It should be fun. I don't know if it is too late to buy tickets but they are like $10 or something, it's a birthday party for Renegade Radio. It's a big step for us. Four whole practices in...I'm pretty sure we can pull it off too.

How to make a good man cuss

2008-06-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

I've been on this earth long enough to know that when things break, they all break together. I've been battling this fact the last two weeks. At the Harder home, we have been noticing a lot of our stuff forming a guild to break at the same time. Most of the time it's just plain aggravating. But sometimes, like this time, I'm kind of enjoying fixing the broken stuff. Thus, I put up another poll. I was wondering what other people do when stuff breaks. I am the guy who takes it apart to the point I get lost to see if I can fix it myself. I've done this my whole life. When I was 10, my dads lawn mower broke, he bought a new one, and I asked if I could try to fix the old one. I took it apart, never put it back together, but I sure loved using my dads tools to take it apart.

Here is a list of things that broke or went wrong in the last few weeks that I have been dealing with.

1) My dad came over one day and as his greeting (as most dads love to point out things that need to be fixed at your house) says, "You do know that there's wood showing on your roof, right?" The answer was no. Luckily, I have shingles in my garage that have been there since the day I moved in, May 18, 2005.

Solution: I patched that sucker right up. Just in time for the rain clouds to disappear.

2) Our computer (Compaq Pressario 2100 aka the devil) has been giving us the business for a long time now. The power jack has been broken in the inside for a while, but when we tuck the power cord under the laptop, it usually will stay powered. Today, we are lucky to get 3 minutes out of it before it goes into hibernation. I took this apart and found out that I need to solder a new power jack to the mother board. Dave doesn't solder. Eventually, it will get fixed, but not by me. I have a solder gun, but I don't like breaking stuff out of stupidity and pride.

Solution: We received our 'stimulus check' yesterday, the Mac should be here by tomorrow! I heard there should be a "Welcome to Mac, You'll never turn back" party.

3) This is the biggest breaking problem, and have picture to go along with it. Ruby the Suby (our red Subaru) has been quite an interesting project since the day I bought it back in 2003. In 1990, Subaru thought it would be cool to try using pneumatic shocks so if there is snow on the ground, you can raise the clearance level of the car a whole inch to glide over the snow like it wasn't there. The problem is, the airbags were bad and they couldn't hold air after a few years. When I bought the car the front shocks were blown and I fixed them the first month I had it. Just last week, the rear shocks finally gave up trying to live.

Solution:

This is a picture of the front tire, and this is on level ground. Notice the height of the wheel well from the tire...this is good.

This is a picture of the rear, notice the tire is INSIDE the wheel well...this is bad. It finally was too much to handle when I drove to work in So Lake Tahoe and I felt like my kidneys were bruised from bouncing up and down. It was nauseating.

I love working on cars, but there is always one bolt in the whole project that gives me problems. This time, it was a two day/three broken tools problem...but I finally got it loose. Here is a broken 'breaker bar' that isn't supposed to break. I broke another breaker bar and my 3/8" socket wrench.

But finally, I took everything apart and found the culprit.

It was a holie air bag. Now I just need to take a trip to Pic-n-Save and start the whole process in a dirt lot on a car that isn't mine. I am also going to pick up a drivers side door due to...broken outside lock, broken door latch, broken window motor, broken rear window buttons, and I have to hit it with my shoulder every time I exit. I can't wait to be able to use a drive-thru! I'm also going to pick up a heater/blower motor because it was making funny noises and when I took that apart, the knuckle at the end of the fan has disintegrated (I jerry rigged that and it worked for about a year). And last but not least, a sun visor. You never know how awesome those are until you don't have one.

I'm kind of excited. There is something about the satisfaction of fixing a car and it operating in a safe manner that just gets me.

So how do you handle things when they break?

Better Days

2008-05-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

Today is different. I have the privilege of borrowing my little brothers car (who is in Iraq) because I am doing about 150 miles of driving today, and my wife needs our only car that can leave Carson City due to the other having 280,000+ miles on it and it needs some minor repairs that we can't afford at the moment. God bless family that is willing to lend a car. My brothers Subaru has a CD player. I haven't owned a car with a CD player since I sold my Integra to barley afford a wedding.

The CD player excites me. I like music a lot.

So I am scrolling through my hundreds of CD's before I leave, looking for a few to bring along on my 150 mile journey. I only grabbed one: Robbie Seay Band - Better Days

There is something about this album that hits my soul while I drive through the trees of Lake Tahoe. My whole view on life changes. Instead of rushing to get wherever I'm going I slow down. I don't get angry at the person in front of me going the speed limit (who drives the speed limit anyway?) and I don't intentionally remind the person following me way too close of the actual speed limit (oh that's when I DO drive the speed limit).

There is something about this album that makes me want to enjoy life, love, and wonder a lot more. It reminds me why my dad rolls down the window in the morning when we car pool and it's 25 degrees outside. It's so he can smell the pine trees. It makes me want to escape the busy world and get to a small secluded lake where all I can hear is the wind in the trees and the crackling of a camp fire. Better Days reminds me that life is good; it's hard, but it's good.

Part of the 150 miles include driving to Reno and testing for a new job opportunity.

Today is different.

And I posted my first poll...I conformed.

For Tim

2008-04-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

I first learned of this from Lou. It's the real deal, an you can check out the website here.

The sizing is as follows, from small to large: Hammer, Boss, Hog, and Mongo. I think we just found our new Greek fighting weight classes.

1919 Prohibition

2008-04-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

I believe these ladies quickly changed their minds, as they soon figured out it was the booze that made them attractive to their hubbies in the first place.

Was there any doubt?

2008-04-03T12:02:00.001-07:00

Quite frankly, I was surprised that Velvet Revolver lasted as long as it did. So now we get to watch two highly talented bands start (or re-start) fresh.

With Scott Weiland and STP: After Purple, I lost interest. It seemed like it depended on which drugs Weiland was on, determined how much I liked it. I own Tiny Music...and I don't like it at all (so if you want it, ask, it's yours). Correct me if I'm wrong, this was the first time that STP had to cope with Weiland going to rehab. Which doesn't mean he kicked his addiction, he may have just switched drugs. Either way, it should be interesting to hear what they produce.

With Velvet Revolver and Slash: I don't know who they would hire for a front man. Has anyone heard who they may be looking at. I know it was a long and rugged road to end at Weiland, and it sounds like they had to 'settle' with who they ended up with. So this might be interesting. How about Dave Cook from American Idol...he's rock as all get out, Paula says so! I'm kidding. Please don't slash my tires.

I can't wait to hear what is produced. I'm always a fan of hearing something completely new and hoping some old slips through.

Bassists

2008-02-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

Artwork done by Neil Hamilton.

Many of you know that I play the bass guitar. Music is something that I have always loved to listen to and play as well. I started taking guitar lessons with my cousin AJ when I was about 14 or 15. We started by learning a little bit about theory and expanding to how (and why) chords are made. I also took a guitar class in high school. Due to myself being in a huge punk rock phase, it was a total waste. I basically learned how to play a bunch of power chords. Which to musicians are basically signs of someone who doesn't know what they are doing because of the ease and lack of finger ability needed for said chords. In this same guitar class, I had my guitar resting on a chair about 15 feet away from where I was sitting and chatting with my friends when some dude bumps the chair and my acoustic guitar hits the ground with a sound that would make any guitarist cringe with an ill feeling in their stomach. The neck broke and I was out a guitar.

A few months later a friend asks if I wanted to play his bass that he just got for $50. I loved the thing and ended up buying it for $50. It wasn't a good bass. Four bass guitars later, I am where I am. I never took any bass lessons (something I would love to do), and have pretty much played worship songs and a few band attempts here and there. And I always have and now more than ever, want to learn more. So I have been expanding my listening ears to pick out bass lines in music that I don't really listen to.

Stu Hamm is what got me started really enjoying playing bass. Then there's people like Victor Wooten who makes me question why I am playing at all. I have mainly been influenced and listen to Rock bassists like John Myung of Dream Theatre, and Billy Sheahan of Mr. Big and some stuff with Van Halen, and Geddy Lee of Rush...etc. But these are all bassists who can easily have a solo career just playing their bass...not my style. My favorite thing to play is something easy, maybe with a little hook, and sitting right in with the pocket of the bass kick. So I wanted to listen to bassists that have this quality and listen and learn from them. So yesterday I started (for pretty much the first time...on purpose anyway) listened to the bass lines of funk and r&b. I listened to EWF's (earth wind and fire) Verdine White. Who many say is a boring bassist because of his lack of soloing skills, but he is right in the pocket and writes great bass lines that become hooks for the song. I also listened to Bootsy Collins. Bootsy Collins...enough said. The man has skill. I would also consider Cake bass lines to be quite funky.

So does anyone have an opinion on great bass lines or great bassists in history? I'm probably not going to get any feed back because nobody really notices the bass lines in songs they normally listen to, but if you have any opinions, let em' fly.

Since We're Talking About Hell...

2008-02-21T10:58:00.000-08:00

I heard this morning that the Westboro Baptist Church (who are famous now for protesting solders funerals and telling everyone that God hates them and they are going to hell) are going to protest Brianna Denison's funeral. This pretty much made my blood boil. Not with hate or anger, but with utter sadness. Upon further reading on the innernette, I know understand that they may or may not be here. Reading this article and watching a YouTube while they were in Reno a few weeks back, they have now said that "God hates Reno, Nevada"...specifically.

They said this because while protesting they were protested and surrounded by Veterans, Bikers, and people who don't like the family...er...group. I don't know why, but this group really strikes a nerve with me. Maybe it's because they think they are spreading the "gospel" as Jesus would, maybe it's because others truly think the group is spreading the "gospel" of Christianity. And that is where I get aggravated. If just one person gets turned off of Jesus because of this group, which is easily feasible, I think the enemy has done what it set out to do with this group. I watched a BBC documentary on this called "Americas most hated family", it was pretty good, but I wish they sent someone who did know at least something about the bible. The documentary dude spent a good chunk of time with them (like a week or something). And his main focus was the children in this family that are absolutely brainwashed.

I read things about this group coming to my town, and I want to do something. I don't just want to watch them on the news, I want to be there. Mainly I just want to hold a sign that says "My God Loves! Ask me about Jesus” or something like that. I feel like I need to shed some light on those dark people so others can see what Christianity is truly about.
Does anyone else get the urge to do anything? Is it just me? Are we supposed to do something? Are we supposed to just watch and weep at this hate?

Hiking

2008-02-12T19:26:00.001-08:00

A few years ago, a group of four of us decided to hike halfdome. It was a pretty brutal hike. The main memory I have of the 17 mile hike that my cousin the Age and I turned into about 18 to 19 miles (making a wrong turn down the John Muir trail for a while) was being so tired at the bottom that we had to run to just get the thing over with. It was the most exhausting day of my life. Yes I said day! As in one! We drove down to Yosimite, hiked halfdome, and drove back to Gardnerville all in one day. What a trip!

This picture is not of me, it really isn't of anyone I know at all. I actually feel really bad about this picture. When we got to the top of halfdome, we were taking pictures of each other standing over the edge. A lady came up to us and asked us if we could take a picture of her...because...she had some sort of cancer and she wasn't supposed to even walk again and she wanted to show all of her friends how she recovered from her "dabilitating cancer." It was my camera so I took the picture while she gave my dad the address of where to send the picture. When I finally got the film developed, I asked my dad for the address and sure enough, he had no idea where it was. So I keep this picture in hopes of one day coming accross some abscure address and mentaly linking the picture with said address.

New Hiking Trip

So now my dad wants to hike Mt. Whitney. The tallest peak in the continental United States. It's 22 miles, with 6,000 feet of elevation gain. It's pretty much crazy. And I will probably end up doing it. Pray for my soul.

Dave and Jami + 1

2008-02-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

Meet Hailey. She arrived in our life on the 31 of January, 10:26 in the a.m. She's amazing.

Following My Maker, the Brew Meister

2008-01-17T15:38:00.000-08:00

In following in the footsteps of Jesus, I have picked up a new hobby. Jesus' first miracle was turning water into wine, and not just wine, but the best wine of the week long party. And now we know that the wine back then did in fact contain alcohol, which Jesus did partake in.

One thing that I have been wanting to do for a long time is brew my own beer. Some of the reasons include, curiosity, I've always been a little scientist, and most importantly, I love to make things that I can share with others and see them enjoy something that I have made from my own hands.

Well, since my wife loves me, she got me a beer making kit for Christmas. Needless to say on Christmas night I was brewing like a mad man. It was a fun process! It was definitely a harder process then I thought (but Harder is my last name so it's just my life story). I also learned a whole bunch of new stuff, which is also something I love to do. I love to learn new stuff.

One argument that I hear a lot of for brewing your own beer is that you save a lot of money. This mindset is not my own by a long shot. Even though I would save money if I bought a lot of beer, I don't buy that much beer so it doesn't come into play like a majority of the home brewers. Here are some pictures

This is me brewing the beer, you start with 2.5 Gallons of water and make a wort (pronounced wert). Then you boil the crud out of it for 1 hour stirring it a lot so it doesn't cake to the bottom and then mix it with another 2.5 gallons of water and you let it sit for at least 7 days. Then you bottle it for another 7 days. (really short version)

This is after spending another 2 hours bottling it, 7 more days and then you can put it in the fridge. It came out really good...I was surprised. :)

A Sad Day At The Harder Home

2007-12-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

Soy muy muy triste

Just so everyone knows, it's really bad when I'm sad in every language I know. Earlier this year, Jami and I got the pleasure of joining Hillside to a mission trip to our sister church in Frankfurt, Germany. It was an excellent trip in which we got to know several people very well, both from Germany and also from our own family. It was a great time. Two of those people that Jami and I got to know very well were our German hosts Speedy and Fema. It was very interesting to stay with people who were pretty much a German version of Dave and Jami. We fell in love with this couple right off the bat. They gave us a few gifts at the end of our trip and we didn't open them till we got home. It just so happened that it was the best gift a beer lover could get. Five different genuine German Hefe-Weisen's and a genuine German beer glass, which is something I wanted since I saw one in Germany. The picture above is the exact duplicate of the one gifted to me. It was my favorite beer mug. What made it so special was the story that goes behind it. Not only did our hosts look far and wide for such beer glass, but they couldn't find anything like it anywhere. So they had to go to a local bar, and Speedy had to put on his puppy dog face that no one could ever resist and scored one from the bar.

Between 6:50 am and 7:15 am, the morning of Monday, December 10, 2007. The beer glass, that was my favorite, and only genuine (it even had the 0.5L "German engineering" precise line on the back) German beer mug, was murdered. The previous night I had enjoyed a smooth Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout in said glass and had washed the glass and it was in our drying rack on our counter. This morning, I found it in a thousand pieces in our sink. After interrogating Bunson and Beaker, I am most certain that Beaker is to blame. The guilt behind his cute kitty face was not one to ignore. Not only does he know that he is not allowed on the counter top (as he will get a swift moving airsoft pellet in his rear) but he knows that he destroyed something special to me. I'm sure it was an accident and that he is sorry, and thus no punishment will be handed out (like a swift moving airsoft pellet to his rear).

It's a sad day in the Harder home.

I couldn't help but go back my childhood in this situation. I remember my big brother and I playing volleyball in the living room (it was winter, like we're going to play outside!). It was just after Christmas and my mom had gotten a beautiful glass vase from a friend at church. Low and behold the volleyball game got pretty competitive and a super-spike got astray and knocked the glass vase over. My older brother tried for a diving catch to no avail. My mom cried a lot after that. Yes, these are all things that can be replaced, but the path in which they came can not. I didn't cry for my loss, but I felt like it. It wasn't just a simple beer glass, it was a gift, from special friends.

It's a sad day in the Harder home.

On the plus side, I did find a website that has these mugs. Check it out. http://www.straubs.net/index.htm

I just might have to replace it, and maybe add one more just because it just might make up for the loss. And plus, I'm pretty sure there is beer in heaven, and you can't drink beer without a glass...I'm pretty sure the glass and I will meet again. Until that day I will lift up other beer glasses in memory of a special gift, from special people and say "Prost!"

Silly "Christians"

2007-12-04T12:52:00.000-08:00

I don't know much about the movie "The Golden Compass", or about the book The Northern Lights, or anything about the original author (Philip Pullman) who professes to be agnostic; but I do know that I will see the movie, just because of this article I read. It's not a long read but really interesting. I might even read the books if the I like the movie (I like to work backwards). Suposedly, the books (a trilogy) have a lot of anti-church or anti-catholic, stating that "the bad guys in the novel (called the magisterium) are a version of the catholic church gone astray." Like thats never happened before. This is the same group that went after the Da Vinci Code. Well I am one Christian who doesn't want anything to do with this catholic group of 350,000. I feel bad for this group because they up in arms over a movie and a novel rather than up in arms about things that really projects Christs love for humanity, like starving children who haven't eaten in days, or the children who get sold as sex slaves. Instead of worrying about the children who may watch this movie and question the validity of the catholic church, they should be aiming their effort towards children who have never seen a movie in their life because they don't even have electricity, or who don't even know who Christ is. Am I the only one who doesn't want to be labeled under this umbrella? I don't want to be this placebo singing "Christian" label, I just want to follow Christ.

For "The Office" Fans

2007-08-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

If you are a fan of The Office (which everyone should be) you should check out Creed Thoughts. Here is just one gem from his blog:

"There’re only six things you need if you want to snag a good woman: A guitar, chicken, wine, a car, running water, and some permanent markers. If you don’t have a guitar, a lute will do. You get those six things and you’re Don Juan, trust me. "

It's good stuff.

Music and Our DNA

2007-07-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Thank you to the Mrs. Fradster for pointing this out and striking my interest.

I have always been fascinated by different types of music. I love the sound of a full symphony, it's almost spiritual in a way. I don't listen to it often, but every time I do, it cuts to the heart. A lot of people connect through music, and I wonder what they are connecting to? Why does music have such a spiritual feel to it?

At the Frady's for lunch, Brenna brought up that they found some sort of musical sequence attached to our already complex DNA. Hm, I didn't have to think twice to believe it. It would only make sense that so many people can emotionally connect to music because it is in the depths of our very being. I think that is way profound. Maybe I'm just a nerd, but I think that is cool.

So now that we all have this music in us, I wonder what God hears. I wonder what it sounds like when we all get together. I would vote that it sounds like a symphony, we are Gods symphony.

Links:

Article: http://www.classbrain.com/artteensb/publish/music_nucleic_acid.shtml

Hear peoples DNA: http://ndbserver.rutgers.edu/atlas/music/index.html

I want more of Pastor!

2007-04-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here is an article that is worth the read. If you don't like reading articles, you can always click the "for the reading impared" button. I wouldn't ever have to call and ask "so, what's up pastor?" All I have to do is check it out on the web and I can see everything. The future is now (of pastoring that is), are you guys in?

Narcissistic Relationships

2007-03-09T08:14:00.000-08:00

Narcissism is a new word for me. I didn't know what it meant until last week, and yes, I even graduated college. For those who don't know what it is, Narcissus was, in Greek mythology, a youth who was pretty into himself. He turned down a nymph echo and for his punishment he was to forever be in love with his own reflection in the water. In the most broad and simple form, I like to think narcissism=selfishness.

What sparked my interest in this new vocab word of the month was a study done in colleges around the US that show students are more narcissistic than in previous generations. To me, a bulk of this issue has to do with relationships. Some wise man once told me that everything we screw up as humans can stem back to selfishness. Example: Eve ate the apple because she thought that eating it would open her eyes and she would be like God, even though God told her not to do so. She did it out of selfish ambition...she was getting hers, she was looking out for number one right? In Matthew 16:24 NLT (one of my favorites) Jesus says "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me." Other translations say "deny himself, and follow me" meaning that we need to kill the narcissism in us and think of others more than ourselves, be humble.

Why has the word humility become a negative word in our society? Who wants to show humility any more?

Surely narcissism isn't anything new on earth, but is it really growing in our generations to come? That's heartbreaking. Yet thinking about it forces me to reminisce about times I have been selfish, it sucks. And I repent. I think in today's society we are pushing narcissism more and more. Making sure that our kids know that "you have to look out for you first and foremost." We are always told that you can be whatever you want, you are special, you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it. Which is true, but it is with selfish ambition. It's all about you, you, you. I think too many people are looking at relationships as price tags, asking what can this person do for me? Instead of a what can I do for you type mentality. Another wise man gave me another take on the verse where Jesus says "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." That's pretty scary when we're talking about a society whose majority goal is to get rich. But his take was that once a rich person goes to church, meets Christians, meets anybody, and they find out what they do or what they're "worth", they tend to treat them differently than if they were just an average Joe. I don't think people like to be treated like dollar symbols but as a human. So they end up secluding themselves from all the relationships they find as pointless because of the price tag now tattooed on their forehead.

I struggle with this sometimes...is it just me?

I don't want to be building a 'network' when I meet new people I want to build community. I don't want "This is a relationship worth pursuing" to ever cross my mind. Every relationship should be worth pursuing not because of its extrinsic value but its intrinsic value. To humble yourself and think of others before yourself. Probably seems odd to some people. But it's what Christianity is all about. It doesn't mean that we should be a doormat either. We do need to look out for ourselves, but it's a question of value. Do I do things out of selfish ambition, or necessity? When there is a fork in the road, do I choose my way, or God's way?

I thought it interesting that this comes up during our Jesus Style: Leading and Following series. Gods timing is truly impeccable.

I felt like I should have started this with "Dear Diary." Now that I read it I don't know if it even makes sense. If you made it this far, am I wrong?

For Brent...

2007-02-28T13:18:00.000-08:00

In defense of David. Rock Bass Lines have a distinct feel and carry the overall identity of the song...most of the time.

Had to do this in Feb to add to your list of blogs dedicated to you.

Things I miss as a kid

2007-02-28T12:17:00.000-08:00

One of the things I miss most when I was a kid was my big wheel. Here is a picture of me with my Transformers big wheel, it was the best. My favorite thing to do was go backwards really fast and turn and spin it forwards and keep going, like in the movies, only with a big wheel instead of a car. Do they still make big wheels? And they have to be plastic wheels because you can't power slide with rubber ones. I remember that I couldn't go past a certain crack in my driveway because my parents didn't want me 'big wheeln' it' in the street. But there was this one time I remember spacifically that my parents were gone and my grandparents were watching me. I tested their knowledge of this line, I crossed it, then I got spanked pretty bad. Turns out they knew all about the line. But I also remember that one time I swallowed and choked on a penny, my grandpa got it right out. So I guess we were even.

What are some things you miss from your childhood?

Friday, January 19

2007-01-09T14:56:00.000-08:00

Be there...or be square.

RIP Lappy 2100

2006-11-27T14:22:00.000-08:00

My laptop is in it's last hours. Numberous black screens are yelling at me that there is a problem and it doesn't know what, and then quick blue screens tell me I'm stupid and then restarts and everthing starts again. Sometimes I can get it logged on to windows...but once there it won't run any programs and it freezes and resets itself. If I do get this fixed, I am seriously going to beg the wife to do a quick printing of the pic's on pc lappy 2100, and ditch the whole pc thing and get a mac lappy. I'm tired of irrational problems coming from lame programming. The main thing I use it for is music, web, pics, and the usual Office stuff such as power point, word, and excel. I never liked mac's because I hadn't ever used one. But when Ben quit and I had to do a lot of stuff for youth group I used the churchs mac and all my stereotypes are not that true. Conclusion: I don't want to deal with all these pc crashes, I heard that the mac's are better in regards to the crashes and viruses and such. My question to the readers, is this true? Does Jave and Dami need a Mac Lappy?

Proverbs 31

2006-11-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

I'm finding that I really like LarkNews.com.

There is an article in there about a husband who justifies his beer drinking with Proverbs 31. So I'd like to know, how many Proverbs 31 people are there out there? I know there are a lot of people who think that Christians shouldn't drink at all. How many would vote that way? I think this is a very interesting issue because there are so many American views on issues like this. Does anybody have a take on this issue?

Meet Bunsen & Beaker

2006-10-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are our new kittens, but we've had them for a while now.

The collars lasted about two hours due to the fact they weighed just about as much as their head...we felt bad. We used them to tell them apart, but now we don't really need them because we can tell the difference and they have two completely different characteristics. In the red collar is Beaker and the black is Bunsen.
I'm glad we got kittens, and I'm even more glad that we got two brothers. Not only are they more entertaining than anything on our one of twenty-seven channels, but they the basis of many scientific experiments. No I don't let them drink my coffee and watch them run full speed into the wall...they do that anyway...a lot. But these are completely self imposed experiments that I just sit back and watch. And this is why they are so aptly named.

Bunsen is our thinker who doesn't do anything if he thinks it will turn out bad. Example: as a kitten, Bunsen would get up on the couch and pace around before he got the nerve to jump down, looking for other ways that didn't involve a long fall followed by a comedic tumble. He is also the bigger brother and the one who is clearly in charge.

Beaker is the explorer. He has always been the one to see how high he can climb, how far he can jump, and how fast he can run into the wall before it hurts. Beaker likes to find ways up on our counter. They aren't big enough to jump from the ground so he takes it as a challenge to find a way up there 1)Box 2)Chair 3)Table 4)Gap it to the Counter. So I move the table further away and he gaps it again to my surprise. So I keep moving it back. At the absolute furthest I can move it back I am a little interested to see if he can do it. Heck I'd be proud of the the little tyke if he pulled that off. Soon he gets up on the table, paces, pump fakes, and paces some more. This is definitely more interesting than Deal or No Deal (even though watching Howie wiggle and squirm when people give him a hug is pretty funny). I told Jami that I was a little nervous as we are watching Beaker pace a round. After a few more pump fakes he goes for it...rim shot, backflip, ground!! He either got his head or his chest but he hit pretty hard. He is perfectly fine, but that's one down eight to go. I just pictured the Muppets Beaker running around with smoke coming out of his ears. He is Beaker and he knows it.

We really like our cats.

Donuts Aren't Free

2006-10-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

There is a 'mega-church' (runnin' round 8G) that decided they need to downsize, that's right downsize. Criteria for the downsize, if you don't tithe, volunteer, or aren't involved in small groups...then take a hike. Good short read here. I am very interested to hear some thoughts on this. People are saying that this is a trend.

Am I missing something...

2006-08-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Rob Bell's book: Velvet Elvis. I really liked it. It challenged me to read and understand what the Bible means to me, and to love people where they are without an agenda. I stumbled across a few web sites that don't really like Rob Bell, this link being one of them: http://www.apprising.org/archives/2006/07/rob_bell_a_very.html

So I'm confused. I don't know much about the Emerging Church or why people are angry about it. Am I missing something here? The only thing I see is people trying to find a reason to stone people like Rob Bell. It almost reminds me of a group that also did this to Jesus and some of the first Christians...the Pharisees. Again, I don't really know what I'm talking about and I would like input from anybody. Am I missing something here?

Middle School Camp 06'

2006-07-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, dealing with 200+ middle schoolers for a week was really draining. Camp is always something I look forward to. By the end of the week I really want to go home though. Not because I don't like camp, but because I miss my bed, miss the quiet serenity that is my house, and miss the smell of candles instead of feet and body odor. Every camp has a highlight to it, there is always something that is more important than anything. This always has to do with Jesus and how the campers react to God pulling on their heart. This year was different than any other. The highlight really didn't take place at camp but on the ride home. I had the privilege of driving a van full of boys (except for my wife). This could be a suicide mission! Usually on the ride back I always wonder if the campers are going to leave what they have learned at camp or are they going to apply it to their lives back at home. So in this state of pondering if they are bringing anything back with them, I usually ask if they had fun, what did they learn, did God speak to anyone. This time was different. The response in the beginning of the ride was the typical 'I feel closer to God' and 'I made a lot of new friends' etc. So I thought it was just a typical camp with a few new things learned. We stopped about 45 minutes into the ride home for gas and all the boys thought it would be fun to buy a ton of energy drinks and coffee drinks, you know the stuff that parents dread. I began to fear the rest of the ride. But then something changed. Someone asked me to play a song on my mp3 player that they knew, a worship song. So I did, I put it on Lincoln Brewsters version of 'Surrender'. To my amazement everyone started singing...no, everyone started WORSHIPING! A little confused at the situation I looked in the rear view mirror only to see two of them with hands lifted and eyes closed. This wasn't because of my driving, they were worshiping Jesus. I started crying. I'm a baby when it comes to Jesus. In fact, I like to refer to my tears as a "Holy Spirit O Meter" because whenever I sense the Holy Spirit, I cry uncontrollably. At that point I knew that they were bringing back something new. I have never felt the Holy Spirit like that in the van ride back. To let the guys know who went to camp, I'm praying for you. I'm praying that all of you can apply your camp attitude, or campitude, here at home. Heck, you guys need to teach some adults how to worship. I'm praying that you will continue to grow spiritually. And I pray that I will be there to see that growth, because I love all of you guys.
It was a good camp.

Here is a great picture of Ben and Moses totally geeking out at Halo. For some reason they took great joy in destroying middle school kids at video games. So how many hours did you guys spend playing Halo this week?

Trip to D.C.

2006-06-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

Our visit to our nations capital was awesome. Everything is so surreal when you see everything that you've seen on movies and t.v. I couldn't help standing in this spot (see picture below) and thinking about a few things. The second thing that went through my head is more interesting than the first. I was thinking how everybody would look out across the Reflection Pond and think of (reflect on) some movement or speech that was held in this exact spot. What was the first thing that I thought of, Forrest Gump of course.
Although the sites were spectacular to see, the highlight for me was the Foursquare convention. I don't have any pictures of that though because it meant more spiritually than visually. There wasn't a speaker there that I didn't like. My favorite by far was Ken Ulmer from Los Angeles. You could feel the presence of God flowing through him and flooding the room. And it was a great message. The Newsboys also lead worship on Wednesday night, it was very good, those guys are really using their gifts for God.
And what'll ya know we did see some familiar faces while in D.C. We got to go out to dinner with cousins Brian and Angie which was a great night. Jami said I was gabbing like a school girl the whole night. I have to admit, I did have a list of things to talk to Brian and Angie about. We went to a restaurant called Buca DeBeppo, really good Italian food family style. We have a picture of out dinner, but it will not come up for the life of me. All well.

We also met and got to hang out with a few new Foursquare people that we had never met. We made a lot of new friends and it was cool. We also got to see John and Sherry, I couldn't believe John P. remembered my name, nobody remembers my name after meeting me once. All in all, Jami and I were very blessed to be a part of this. God is doing great things... let's praise Him! (that was for you Ben)

Oh Gandalf

2006-05-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

The Da Vinci Code movie has sparked a lot of interesting comments. I particularly like this one by Ian McKellen (otherwise known as Gandalf or Magneto). He thinks that the bible should have a 'fiction' disclaimer tagged on it. I also like all the reviews that are coming back saying that the movie is worse than the book and the book wasn't even good. I just think all the hype is funny. Has anybody else heard anything interesting on this? Or does anybody even care (as a Christian) that this movie is coming out, I don't. I haven't read the book, and I might see the movie for entertainment sake, based on the reviews maybe not. I think of it this way: The Code will do to Christianity what Godzilla did to the Japanese. It is just fiction people...How many people after seeing The Lord of the Rings went on a boat trip to find middle earth? Or how many people march into their wardrobe only to hit the back? Maybe I just have too much faith that people can separate fact from fiction, but then again those Trekkies are pretty convincing.

Christian Kooks

2006-05-02T21:54:00.000-07:00

People under the guise of religion have been showing up at soldiers funerals saying that God hates dead soldiers, and God hates you. This is a pretty interesting video. Don't watch if you anger easily, well what the heck, watch it anyway. I get a bad vibe from her just by looking at her eyes and that nasty smirk. Any comments on this subject? Is God judging America by killing their kids? Does God hate America?

More Sidewalk art...I guess

2006-04-04T15:47:00.000-07:00

It seems that Florida has a problem. This won't cause a problem in the fall...(enter Bird Flu)

"I know a great place to eat lunch, it's outdoors, sunny, and oh yeah, there's bird poo everywhere."

And finally, "a great parking spot in front of my apartment. I can't believe no body parks here."

3-D Sidewalk Art

2006-03-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

Julian Beever is known for his astounding 3 dimensional sidewalk art that he draws with chalk. From the side and at wrong angles these pictures make no sense at all, but as you can see at the right angle it looks amazingly real. Look him up and see his other pictures that he has done. They are really cool. I don't know how he figures out the perspective he has to use to make this type of image visable.

Progress

2006-02-21T08:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, I was watching Back to the Future II this past weekend and it sparked those desires for things that Hollywood 'promised' in the future. Here is a list of things I wanted as a kid (and still want presently) but never came. Feel free to add to this list of Cinamized ideas that never made it to reality that would be really sweet.

First is obviously a light saber
Flying cars
Cars that don't need oil
Mini pizzas that you put in a hypermicrowave for 3 seconds and its a piping hot large pizza
Floating skate boards
Elevators that go really fast without making peoples heads explode
Robots that don't suck
Mine fields on Mars (I don't really care about that one)

Haters

2006-02-07T14:09:00.000-08:00

I wanted to talk about Bush being ripped at the funeral for Correta Scott King. I don't care if you hate him, love him, or just don't really care, is a funeral really a place to slam the president that is sitting right behind you? It's almost as if the far left wants to slam President Bush whenever possible. I'm getting kind of tired of all these haters. I guess the only thing you can do about it is exactly what President Bush did, awkwardly smile as they just keep on hating. I thought that a funeral was supposed to be about remembering the life of the person that died. Maybe they are blaming her death on President Bush as well. As Christians we are supposed to have good things come out of our mouth, things of encouragement and love. Is it just me, or is this party filled with haters not so appealing to Christians?

John of Gamala Who?

2006-01-27T08:40:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting idea, Jesus was impersonated by John of Gamala, son of Judas from Gamala. This 76 year old man (Cascioli) brought charges to a local priest in Italy. Cascioli filed a criminal complaint in 2002 after Righi wrote in a parish bulletin that Jesus did indeed exist, and that he was born of a couple named Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth.

You really should read these articles, there are a lot of them on the internet, but here is the one that I read from Fox News. If that doesn't satisfy your itch to know what is going through this guys head, articles can be found on google by typing in 'Jesus and Italy' and then going to the news section. He says that he wants to do this now because he really wants to do it before he dies. He even wrote a book about how Catholicism and Christianity have been duping people for 2000 years.
Any thoughts on this???

Not too suprising

2006-01-24T15:46:00.000-08:00

What?

Comments?

Here is an interesting article on Kanye Wests Rolling Stone interview.

People and Their Patterns

2006-01-23T09:22:00.000-08:00

Blame it on me being a little 'abi-normal', but I like noticing the patterns that people get into. Maybe I just like people watchin'. I will give an example of one that I notice every day up here in So. Lake Tahoe. Every dear day, close to where I work, there is a long bearded walker who is walking for who knows what reason. I think that's the part that makes it fascinating to me. I really feel like pulling over and asking him why he walks every day. It kind of reminds me of Forrest Gump running all the time. It really doesn't matter what the weathers like either, he is always walking in the morning. When there is two feet of snow on the sidewalk, he walks on the road, against traffic. You have to be some kinda determined to walk on the side of the road while watching a snow plow plowing right towards you. I've seen that Steven King movie, watching that plow coming towards me would make me pee my pants.

Perseverance - a virtue, implies persistence, endurance, hardiness, fortitude, stamina, robustness and tolerance. It is constant persistence in a course of action, purpose, or state, steadfast pursuit of an aim, tenacious assiduity or endeavor, continuance in a state of grace leading finally to a state of glory.

I've been struggling lately to read my bible everyday and actually spend time with God. I don't know why I'm struggling but I know it sucks. Seeing the ever so persistent walker makes me realize that I should be more like the beard man in my relationship with God. And I know that God WANTS me to be that way. When the sidewalk is filled with snow and I can't go that way, walk on the street. And when the plow is coming, no matter how much I want to stop, I need to remain persistent. No matter what is coming or what the weather is like in my own life, I have to spend time with God, because without a healthy relationship with God, life really does suck.

Lord help me make a pattern to spend time with you. Help me overcome the distractions and the lies that I don't have time so I can focus more on my relationship with you.

Cough hack cough sneeze cough cough

2006-01-10T09:29:00.000-08:00

The wife and I have been sick for about two weeks now. I've never been sick for that long in my life. Usually, I will be sick for a few days and recover. Jami has it worse than me. She wakes up all through the night coughing...and waking me up as well. I wish there was something I can do, we've been through like 5 different cough syrups and one doctor appointment. I seem to be getting over it slowly, but Jami just keeps on coughin' the night away. So, if I'm not asking too much, we could really use some prayers for recovery. We mainly just need our rest, and we aren't getting any at all. Yes, this is me whining, 'so what, wanna fight about it?'...(Family Guy)

Myspace

2006-01-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

On the verge of being a hypocrite, I now have a myspace account. Initially, I started this to keep up with a youth who is now an exchange student in Argentina. I want to know if anybody likes myspace. I don't. I'd rather blog. One of the first things I did was search for people in my high school who are also on myspace. In the famous words of the Spleen "BIG MISTAKE". It seems to me that for my old high school student body, myspace has become a place to come out of the closet and tell everybody how much they love to party and drink their lives away. It's really frustrating to see the people who used to have some sense of morality throw it all away for the sake of college 'fun'. But I guess that's why they are old friends instead of friends. And that's why I like blogging over myspace. Does anyone have a viable argument in favor of myspace?

Buy your future for only 50 cents

2005-12-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

Homies...purchase your very own future for 50 cents. Jami and I saw these things in Wal-Mart. Homies are little bendable figurines that take the shape of your favorite character. You can be a short skirted mother pushing two children, or a shirtless tatooed guy lifting weights, or even a female dressed like she's working on the corner. You can collect them all, and then when the next series comes out you can collect all those as well. I don't know why I was so supprised to see these little things. No wonder our kids are so screwed up, they are getting bombarded with crap. Kids are asking their parents for 50 cents to buy a Homie, "I hope I get the one with the spray can and the oxygen mask.." I bet a lot of kids look at these things as the defenition of cool. After all, don't you want to be a homie too?

FINALLY

2005-12-27T08:38:00.000-08:00

We were begining to get a little worried here in So. Lake Tahoe. The grass looked like it was going to start growing again last week. But now we finally have some snow. If your one of those Northern Nevada natives that hates snow because it sucks and you don't ski or board or sled, let me tell you how much revenue the ski season brings to northern Nevada. Vail is pretty much giving Stateline a facelift. Given that it's very expensive to rebuild in Tahoe, Vail is dumping a ton of money in their acquisition of Heavenly and a lot of bordering ventures are following suit because "hey if Vail is here that means that people will follow". This is true...if you have snow. This week is one of the busiest in the season, and we finally have real snow. The only bad thing is getting the pot smokin kooks talking about how my car is the reason why we don't have snow. I think global warming is just a trend. Does anybody else have a take on global warming?

The Proposal

2005-12-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

Well, it's almost been a year (this Christmas day) since I proposed to my wife Jami. This picture is taken before she started balling, but I have pictures of that too. I couldn't ask for a better wife, she is the most amazing woman in my life. Coincidently, this Christmas will also mark our 6th month together, June 25. Which was purely by accident that we got married exactly 6 months to the day after we got engaged. If you ask her, it was 6 months too long. She just wanted to get married ASAP. But I was also living with my parents at that time. Which I wouldn't want to go home from my wedding and be in my parents house if you know what I mean. So I needed that 6 months to figure out my housing situation, which I did only with Gods help. My marriage has been nothing short of awesome. I know that it will continue to be great because of our love for each other, and the presence of Jesus in both our lives. Thank you God for putting Jami in my life and for being in both of our lives.

Jami, I love you. And I'm so glad that you are my wife.

Christmas Music

2005-12-09T08:34:00.000-08:00

My new favorite Christmas music has got to be the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I just bought one of their CD's and I really like it. Of course any orchestra that has four guitars and two basses accompanied by various keyboards and other orchestral instruments, will more than likely create a sound that makes me smile. I really like a wall of sound that an orchestra can provide if done right, I like to call it 'organized chaos'. Something that builds and builds to the point you can't build any more. I can't believe how some music can just make me smile, give me goose bumps, and just make me in a good mood. I forget about the bad situations I am in, the homework and projects I have to do. During that five minutes or so, it is all about that particular song. And it all depends on how well that song is put together that determines how much it moves people and in what direction. To me, those are the really great bands. The ones who know how to put together a song to match their theme and express that emotion through their music. The great bands make you feel their sorrow, join in with their joy, bang your head as if you were agreeing with the compilation (like Gary Rafanelli does to anything by Billy Joel).

Lord, I thank you for giving me the ear, drive, and talent to participate in this unique and creative way of communication. I pray that no matter what I do and how I play, it will eventually all point to You.

Ever just wanna scream?

2005-12-06T10:49:00.000-08:00

I'm at that point again where I just want to scream. Everything around me frustrates me to no end. Well, not everything, but a lot of things are really getting on my nerves right now. Let me explain:

I graduate in four whole days. This is actually pretty exciting for me, I can't wait to get out of here. But I am not sure what I am doing after that. I don't know where I want to work for the rest of my life. I know what I like doing, but those situations seem to be closed doors right now. And herein lies the frustration. There are a lot of things that I would like to do, but it seems when those things do come around, there is no way I can be involved. It frustrates me when opportunities for me arise, and then fall only to be destroyed. I have no doubt that God will give me more opportunities that I will be able to grab onto and that I will know where God wants me to work and I will enjoy it. It's the waiting part that is for the suck. Lord, give me patients to wait on your will, not mine.

Agent Smith in Training

2005-11-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

My brother Jon is back from boot camp!!! First thing we did when he got of the plane was eat a ton of sushi...Jealous Ben? Our whole family is so very proud of Jon. He is going to be stationed at Fort Hood in Texas. I have been praying for him a lot to find other Christians and that he wouldn't forget that he is a light for Jesus no matter where he is. I pray that God would keep him safe, and I know that others are praying for him too. You may not know me or know my little brother, but your prayers for the same thing still makes a difference. Pray for all our troops as well. I love you little brother. And I will pray for you regularly.

On a side note, I wanted to point out the fact that Jon looks a lot like Agent Smith from the Matrix. The photo above doesn't really do justice for this point, but I'm sure there are a few people out there who have been around Jon that would agree with me. Am I right? Lets take a look... I'm sure he's in there somewhere.

No sir...I don't like it

2005-11-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

For the past month or so, I have been in some sort of funk. This morning I woke up with a huge headache, and it isn't going away. My whole body is worn out. I know exactly what Bilbo is talking about when he says that he feels like not enough butter spread across too much bread. My daily devotional have turned into my weekly devotional. I don't like the place I'm at right now. I hate it when I feel I have no control over my own life. Right now it feels that I am being controlled by work and school. And then there's the drive. At first the Carson City to So. Lake Tahoe to Reno back to Carson City drive wasn't that bad, but now, I really don't like it. My wife is getting aggravated because every time she asks how I am doing I say...tired. Lord I pray that the rest of this semester will go by fast. I also thank you for having patience with me.

You may have crossed the line Earl

2005-10-19T08:45:00.000-07:00

I think most people have seen/heard of a new series with Jason Lee called My Name is Earl. Personally, I like Jason Lee and I laugh very hard every episode. For those who don't know what the premise of this show is I will briefly explain. Earl was your all around thug who did a lot of bad things in his life until he won the lotto and then got hit by a car. In the hospital he saw Carson Daily talking about Karma and how you do good and good things happen to you. "Ding" Earl makes a list of bad things he has done, starts to fix them, and sure enough good things start to happen for him.

I'm not to fond of this Karma thing. But I'm not sure if this is a good show or a bad show to watch. Last night while watching they may have crossed the line. Earl and his brother Randy are in a bind and brother says, "why don't you try to call on Karma?" Earl "that's stupid, it won't work". Brother, "Just try it". Earl, "Fine...karma. See it didn't work". Brother "Louder". Earl "KARMA". And thus they were saved and brother looks up to the sky and says "thank you Karma". I dropped my jaw.

This is the question I pose...Is this show something good or bad? Obviously there is the fact that people are looking at this and saying to themselves, hey maybe if I do good things, good things might happen to me. This would be good for society. BUT, they are doing it in the name of karma. Who?! That's right karma. Are they trying to 'deitize' Karma? I know the only name I call on is Jesus. So I want some feedback, should I keep watching a show that never mentions God but walks way way way around it with Karma?

Raptor Kicks All Around

2005-10-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

I have recently stumbled across a new competitive sport. I don't have a clue as to what it is called but my curiosity still wants to find out. The closest I have come to is footbag-net. This is a sport that involves a hacky sack and a badminton net. A team of two will hack it back and forth just like volleyball. But in this picture, they are using some sort of ball if you pay attention to the upper left of the photo. I downloaded a video of footbag-net and it is absolutely amazing. There has got to be some guy that is 6 foot 2 (from norland) and he is raptor kicking the foot bag over the net. That's not the amazing part though...the cool part is the little guys that defend the raptor kicks by Jackie Chan-ing a spinning kick and landing like a cat. I laugh really hard. The video that I downloaded had a few really good rallies that lasted a long time. So I need some help. Has anyone ever heard of this sport? Any bets on how big or small this sport will be? Does anybody else feel the pain when they look at this picture?

Sub-thought: I'm pretty sure the guy in the red shirt is Butch aka Ben.

Jesus v. Claus

2005-10-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have just been informed that there is a church that is including Santa in their Christmas Play. This seems a little odd to me. I don't recall anywhere in the bible where it talks about santa, can you? And anyway, arn't we celebrating the birth of Jesus? Does this seem like a bad idea to anybody else? I just think that a church that believes in Jesus should push the fact that Christmas is about Jesus.

Believe it or not many christians don't see a problem with a Santa Claus or a Easter Bunny figure. I tend to disagree...a lot! I would say that 99% of the time when the ACLU would agree with a church, that is a bad thing. I can see those card holders grinning right now. So I want to know, am I alone in this, is there really anything bad about this? Or am I just insane?

Sub-statement: Some girl in the LRC is tossing peanut M&M's into her coffee...a lot of M&M's.

General Music Blog

2005-09-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

Music is something very interesting to me. As apposed to other means of entertainment (T.V., Movies, etc.), with music there is a possibility to see what is in the mind of the writer. Assuming that the person who wrote the music is actually in the band, you can tell if that person is angry, sad, confused, or just a musical genius. It is really cool to try and think what is going on in this persons life to write lyrics like this.

So I have a few questions about music in general that I have thought of today.

Did the Nelson brothers open the door for Hanson in the 'extremely rich brothers who could very well be mistaken for girls because they use way too much conditioner' genre? And if so are these the only two bands that are like this? (Van Halen don't count because they couldn't be mistaken for women even if there were such things as Orks)

Why do people lump all "Seattle Grunge" together? If makes me want to dish out many Siagon Kicks to such people.

The Age posed a good question one day "how much dirty and loud can guitars get?" If you could determin the future of music, would it sound like something from the past?

Nobody has to answer anything on this post...I mainly wanted to put a picture of Nelson on my page to see how many people would vomit at the sight. But if you feel the need to anwer one of my deep deep questions, feel free to do so.

"This town needs an enema!"

2005-09-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

I never really liked Reno all that much. I thought it was a dirty town full of sin and cool stuff like that (like Carson and Douglas was any better as a young one). Just like Jack Nicholson in Batman, I found myself feeling that "this town needs an enema." Things have been changing in my heart to correct that feeling into one of love. I still think the town needs an enema, but the people in the town deserve a little more credit.

My wife and I got the privilege of visiting Hillside this Sunday. When you are in the parking lot, the view says it all. Hillside has such potential to reach a huge amount of people. It was exciting to me to think of how many people out there are thirsting for a relationship with God, and Hillside looks out it's front doors at them all with open arms.

God has been speaking to me quite a bit latley. I go on bike rides by myself, but really I like to say I am riding with Jesus. I pray a lot and have lots of time to listen. God has told me two things that speak in two different ways in my life. One is that there is a lot of work ahead of me. Cool with me, I'm up for working hard for God (you know I'd do anything for the Big Guy). But the second is something a lot more intersting..."revolution". Usually this has a negative stigma attached to it, but not in this sence. It was more of a feeling of a revolution of a church within a community(good), not a revolution within the church community(bad...sometimes). This is very exciting. But like I said, it can work two different ways in my life. All I know is that if there is a revolution, I want to be a part of it. I think he will give me bits and pieces of what I'm looking for, leaving me to put it together. I think I'm getting the point though.

God is so good!

Waiting on 'The Age'

2005-09-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

I car-pool with the age to UNR every now and then. Sometimes our schedules conflict and I am left sitting around for an hour or two. Yesterday as AJ was in his sweet guitar lesson I sat outside. Listening to my MP3 player I realized that watching people is really fun. I'm listening to my music so I don't get to hear what parties are going on, how much they drank last night, who hooked up with who; I get to look at people in a whole different light and not who THEY think they are. Instead, I get to look at faces and you should try this and you will find amazing things. In peoples faces and movements you can see wisdom, fear, anger, confusion, and all sorts of emotions that people try to hide behind words and every day actions. You get a completely innocent view of who somebody truly is. I feel like I have more of a connection with people when I look past all the words and the false claims and try to look deeper than the surface.

When I used to work at the comedy club I would sometimes talk to the comedians while I am cleaning up after the show. One of the times I got into a conversation with a comedian about religion. He said something that kind of stuck out to me, that "I try to look at people through God's eyes, not try and look at God through other peoples eyes." The first part of this is interesting to me because it is so difficult to do. Looking at people through Gods eyes is pretty much impossible. Extending that much love to people is tough. This whole time I was waiting for 'The Age' when God was trying to say I want you to wait on the age. As a Christian I am suppose to love and serve(wait on) others. What did Jesus do when he knew he had a few hours left to live? Washed peoples feet. What would you do if you had one day to live? Go to DisneyWorld?

"The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

Loving people is hard for me sometimes, but I realized that I need to look paste humans worldly attempt to be "cool" and try to look at what God sees in them to love them so much. Its hard to find sometimes, but I put my headphones on and I got a little closer.

Spiritual warfare...or just a dream?

2005-09-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know me, I have been going through a lot of new things in my life. This past summer I bought a house in May, then I got married in June. It's been quite a trip. The first thing I did when I got the keys to my house was pray through it with some friends. I really recommend doing this where every you are living. Since that first time my newly acquired wife and I have prayed through it quite a bit. Sometimes she will go to sleep thinking there is something in the house that isn't of this earth, so we pray. This isn't something really abnormal to me though. The thing that is different for me is a re-occurring dream I've been having since I have been married. In the dream I am inside our house and there is a demon that I can see and I am scolding it by speaking in tongues while it cowers back. I also am a little afraid in my dream but I know exactly what I am doing and saying and I am positive that I am winning this "battle". And also a lot of the times I wake up speaking in tongues. I have talked to some of my friends and so far one person has had the same dream. I'm not really wondering 'what does it all mean' but more of 'is this normal'? I'm not sure if the enemy is trying to attack me, or if it's just a dream. Has anyone else ever had anything like this?

Bad Mrs. Blackfoot

2005-09-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks there has been a woman age 35 to 40 who sits in front of me in one of my classes. Every day she is wearing some form of sandals that she likes to take off sometime during the lecture. This isn't what catches my eye every day, it's the fact that her feet look like she walked to school through a sewage plant. Now this wouldn't bother me if it weren't for a few things. One, everything else seems to be very presentable, like she is on a job interview but forgot to wash her feet for the past month or so. Two, it's only 9:30 in the morning people!! If it were later in the day that would have been acceptable, maybe she walks a lot at work, but first thing in the morning, please.

This somewhat distracts me. I find myself trying to get conformation from others around me, wanting to know if they see the same thing I do, and if they do, if they find it as distracting as I do. It's as if those dirty...really dirty feet has some sort of power that is trying to suck my will to learn. Does anyone else get distracted by odd things in any of their current or past classes? It may just be that I have adult ADD, I did see an advertisement for that on t.v.

2005-09-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

Classical Conditioning
Last night was youth group night here in Carson City. For dinner we had some kind of meat, greenbean, and macaroni casserole. It wasn't that bad, but it didn't agree with me if you know what I mean. I wasn't feeling so good, so I let my wife drive home, no biggy for me I get to relax. Like I said, the food wasn't agreeing with me too much, so one of the first things I do when I get in the car is let one go. I feel better, wife cracks the window on my side so I hang my hand out the window. Before I can blink I feel a crushing sensation...she rolled the window up with my hand still in it. While I'm screaming like a little school girl "owe my hand", wife panics and doesn't realize that she needs to roll the window back down so I have to do that myself. Wife says she is so sorry and feels like crying. I say it's okay, look all my fingers still work. But in my head I can't help but think "was this just punishment for lettin' one go?" The more I think about it, the window was only down a crack for 2 or 3 seconds, definitely not enough time for an evacuation of the scent. So why was it rolled up so quickly?
Now I'm not into any conspiracy theories against my wife, I've only been married for a whole 2 months. But I did learn a very valuable lesson in this whole ordeal, no farting when she has control of the car. I'm not too worried about my hand it doesn't hurt that much, but I am fascinated by the lesson learned. Does any one else get these "accidental" lessons taught to them by their spouse, or am I alone on this boat?