Woz...

Being a chubby, shy computer nerd (actually, I think we established that I am a geek, just not the circus freak kind), I found this story to be an interesting bit of fluff...

Here We Go Again...

About four years ago at our church, there was a pastor that managed to offend about half of the congregation in some manner. I don't know exactly how, since I wasn't in that half, but it was bad enough where he was asked by the congregation to resign his call. He held on for about a year before doing so, and by the time he did finally resign his call, a lot of damage had been done.

The second pastor we had at the time then took over as the sole pastor of the congregation, though she really was not qualified as an "administrative" pastor and was called as a "program" pastor. She also was not qualified to work with such a broken congregation. The congregation has brought on several interim pastors to work with her, but none have stayed long for various reasons (one died of cancer, a couple were short term to begin with, one had some issues with alcohol and no driver's license any more). Thus, problems have been simmering for the last four years.

Finally, we had to take them to the synod office. Last night, we had a meeting with the bishop and the task force he assembled. There are several recommendations that are sort of an all or nothing kind of deal. One of those is that the current pastor resign effective this Sunday. Obviously, this makes me sad as I really like Pastor K. However, I also understand why this has to happen, as she is not the right person to be leading a congregation that is in the current condition that ours is in. I just prey that she actually follows the recommendation. I can say from past experience that if she is stubborn and refuses to resign, it will cause far more pain than good.

OK, thanks for listening to my whining, but I had to get that off my chest.

Falwell Finally Said Something I Can Agree With...

Falwell is pretty much an idiot who says a lot of really, really stupid things, and does almost as much harm to the "Christian" name as does Fred Phelps. However, you have to admit that saying Hillary Clinton would be a worse choice than Satan is pretty funny.

I find it interesting that Democrats can feel free to demonize Republicans in any way they see fit, even going as far as completely destroying the fine careers of people like Karl Rove over what turns out to be absolutely nothing with nary an apology or retraction of any kind. Yet when a conservative makes a joke at a conference, well then "it seems that a new low has been reached in demonizing political opponents" to quote Lucifer's, ah, er, I mean Hillary's, press secretary. On that I call "bullshit". It was a joke. A joke by a fat idiot who constantly says amazing stupid and un-Christ-like things in the name of Christ, but a joke none the less, and a rather humorous one at that.

Static X - Dirthouse (Music Monday)

Wow, last week was busy. No blogging since last weeks "Music Monday" post. I will try to do better this week. So here is a quick recap of last week.

Work was busy and tiring. I am glad last week is over. That's enough about work.

Saturday, Lisa and I went to our last Brewer's game of the year. They won a close and exciting game, which is a great way to end it. Hopefully, they won't fall apart now on this final road trip.

On Sunday, the topic this week for Sunday School was Noah's Ark. There was a new kid in my Sunday School class, and he did a very good job participating with the other kids. I have noticed that sometimes that can be an issue for three year olds, especially boys, but it was not an issue for him.

Sunday was also the first really nice day in quite a while. I worked outside, pulling out some shrubbery that we weren't real fond of and want to replace with something more floral. Then I rested. I really needed the rest, actually.

Well, hopefully more blogging this week then last...

Music Mondays

OK, I am a day late, but YouTube was being a PITA yesterday, so I am doing this manually today...

Today I feature my favorite country singer (and pot head), Willie Nelson. In this case, singing with Bob Dylan, though I think the original was with Merle Haggard.

We (Lisa and I) saw both of these guys a couple of years ago on tour together. Some tour where they played all in minor league ball parks. It was a great show.

While we are on the subject of pot heads, about a month ago I was talking to my mom who was complaining about her memory apparently getting worse. I said I could sympathize, and she says "Yeah, but I'm getting old, your memory is probably just because you used to smoke too much pot." The best part is that my 16 year old daughter, who has my propensity to be a smart ass, was also there. Now, every time I can't come up with a word, or forget where I put my keys, or whatever, she says "see, you shouldn't have smoked all that pot when you were younger." Thanks, mom. It is not like Ashley actually needed any more ammunition...

Update: Then I come here a couple days later, and the failed posts from YouTube finally show up, and now I have the same video four different times... I give up. YouTube posts will be crafted manually from now on...

Visitor This Weekend - Megan

Megan
Originally uploaded by stuffle.

This weekend, we had a visitor. It was our 2-1/2 year old niece, Megan. She stayed with us for the weekend, and is now at her grandparent's house for a few days while her parents are in Washington D.C.

Saturday, we went to the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, WI. She had a great time there. The zoo is just south of Camp Randall Stadium, and when we left, there was quite a bit of Badger traffic because it was about a hour from game time. After we got back home, we played in the local park that the just built in our subdivision. The secret to taking care of other people's kids is to wear them out before bed time...

Sunday we went to church. Funny story there. Our daughter, who has not been to church in about a year decided to come with us. With her showing up after not being seen in a while, holding a two year old, some people asked us if our family had gotten larger and we didn't tell anyone. We assured them that was not the case. While I know it is biologically possible, and while some of Ashley's classmates are in that boat already, she, thankfully, is not.

That was also the first full day of Sunday school. I teach the three year olds, so I thought she might like to join in for the day, but she was having none of that. I think she had seen enough with just the service (which she was very good during, I might add), so Lisa, Ashley, and Megan all went home and didn't join in with my class. Oh well...

Anyhow, it was a very nice, but busy weekend.

Ignoring the Actual Problem

I heard about this story on Mark Belling's Friday podcast, and had to go check it out.

The first thing that struck me when Mark was talking about this was that the Milwaukee officials were mad at Sensenbrenner for saying what is true rather than being mad at themselves and their fellow officials for not actually doing anything about it. The second thing that struck me about this story is that city officials are more concerned with how Sensenbrenner's comments will affect industry in the city than they are about actually fixing the problem. If they worried less about Sensenbrenner's comments and more about actually fixing this very real problem, they would make great strides in attracting more tourists and more industry to the city. Instead, they choose to bury their heads in the sand and attack the messenger instead of the problem.

Problem number one is that every time something happens around here, like the sexual assault of an 11 year old girl, by several men, people blame poverty, joblessness, racism, whatever. They blame everything except for the fact that their are truly horrible people in this world who have a complete lack of any morals. As a result, we end up with a judicial system that is extremely soft on people who should have long been out of circulation. For example, many of the rapists who assaulted the 11 year old girl already had substantial criminal records, even at 15 years old.

Another example would be the murder of a young man who was just waiting for a bus. He was killed by a man who just last year shot a different man whilst robbing him, yet he was already back out on the street on probation. Yeah, it is possible that there were issues with the evidence with the last case, but more likely than not, it was simply some stupid technicality that got the guy off. Sadly, this story is not atypical.

People would rather hold pointless vigils then actually do anything useful to fix the problem. After all, to do something to actually fix the problem, we would have to admit that there are truly rotten people who deserve to be put away for a good long time.

More On Athletes Behaving Badly

Or should that be "Moron Athletes, Behaving Badly"?

Either way, a graduate from the Tonya Harding School of Gaining a competitive Advantage by the name of Mitch Cozad has been expelled from the University of Northern Colorado for stabbing his competitor for first-string punter in the leg.

I am willing to bet Mitch Cozad lashed out like this because he felt like he was entitled to that position, and knew of no other way to handle that. I also have a pretty good idea of the type of social attitudes we have prevalent in the world today that breeds this sort of idiot.

He was suspended from the team, evicted from his residence and expelled from school on Tuesday

It is nice to see that the school is not pussy footing around with this turd, and is actually giving him what he deserves. Legally, Cozad is facing second degree assault charges. Let's hope that comes with a fair amount of time behind bars. People like this certainly deserve it.

U2 - Vertigo

Everyone has a favorite band that they could never admit to their friends when they where in high school. For me, that band was U2. This may shock some people, but me and all my friends were metal heads (no, say it isn't so...). Admitting I liked U2 back then would have surely resulted in me getting crap from them for the rest of my high school existence. Now, however, I can safely come out of the closet.

And, yes, I did order the special edition U2 iPod when it was first announced. Yes, I did wait rather impatiently to get it, and yes, I did download "The Complete U2" collection from iTunes as soon as the iPod arrived.

Black Sabbath - Snowblind

Black Sabbath is my all time favorite band. I used to have all of their albums. The problem is, it is all on vinyl. One of these days, I have got to get everything again on CD. Better yet, it would be great if iTunes would release the full collection, kinda like they did for U2.

Rally Day!!

Well, today was rally day, which means that I got to meet some of my new Sunday School students for this year.  I teach the three year olds.  They are really cute, but they are kind of shy the first couple of days.  Today, there were only three of them.  We basically just played with puzzles and toys.  Today was just a fun day.  Next week, we start learn about how God created the world and everything in it.

How Can Some People Live With Themselves?

Look about half way down this news briefs page and you will see a story about a man in a wheelchair who was robbed at knife point. That's pretty low, even for scum-bags...

First off, I can't see how anyone can rob from someone else and actually still want to live with themselves afterwards. I just can't imagine having that little respect for other people and their property. However, to rob a guy who has cerebral palsy is just plain low. This couple should be crippled by guilt, but somehow I doubt they actually are.

Tales of Overpaid Crybabies...

I have heard of U.S. athletes refusing to show up for practice, refusing the play, or even just doing a really half-assed job when they are not happy with their current situation. However, I have never heard of any of them doing something as rediculous as threatening to score an own goal if he isn't traded.

Crikey!!

OK kiddies, this is why it is a bad idea to make a career out of pissing off dangerous creatures...

P.S. - don't ask me what this is doing in the ESPN web site, but they had one of the more complete write-ups on it.

Yer from Rural Wisconsin If...

A little humor for today. One of my cousins (who actually did grow up in rural Wisconsin) sent this to me. I grew up in semi-rural Wisconsin (in a small town just outside Milwaukee), and most of these still applied. I'm sure a lot of these apply in a lot of states, but are still funny.

You grew up in rural Wisconsin if...

You know how to polka , but never tried it sober... sounds about right

You know what knee-high by the Fourth of July means.

You know it is traditional for the bride and groom to go bar hopping between the reception and wedding dance. This also applies immediately before the wedding, but they just do it separately instead of together

You know the difference between "Green" and "Red" farm machinery, and would fight with your friends on the playground over which was better! Due to a former huge local employer, it was mostly orange vs. green farm equipment

You buy Christmas presents at Fleet Farm. OK, that must be a rural thing...

You spent more on beer & liquor than you did on food at your wedding. Well, duh!!

You hear someone use the word "oof-dah" and you don't break into uncontrollable laughter.

You or someone you know was a "Dairy Princess" at the county fair. Actually, I have danced with several "Dairy Princesses" and "Alice in Dairylands" when I did volunteer work at the state fair, and we would have a couple of dances a week with the 4-H kids who were also housed on grounds. However, I have never actually known one.

You know that "combine" is a noun.

You let your older siblings talk you into putting your tongue on a steel post in the middle of winter.

You think Lutheran and Catholic are THE major religions. You mean there are others?

You know that "creek" rhymes with "pick".

Football schedules, hunting season and harvest are all taken into consideration before wedding dates are set.

A Friday night date is getting a six-pack and taking your girlfriend shining for deer. There are two of you, better get at least a twelver.

Saturday you go to your local bowling alley.

There was at least one kid in your class who had to help milk cows in the morning... phew!

You have driven your car on the lake.

You can make sense of "upnort" and "batree".

Every wedding dance you have ever been to has the hokey pokey and the chicken dance. and drunken polkas...

Your definition of a small town is one that only has one bar.

The local gas station sells live bait. and hunting & fishing licenses...

At least twice a year some part of your home doubles as a meat processing plant.

You think that the start of deer season is a national holiday.

Pop is the only name for soda. We always called it "soda", but the rest of the state calls it "pop"

You actually understand these jokes and will forward them to all your Wisconsin friends!

Walls Of Jericho

A little bit ago, Stacy was talking about getting a tattoo. Some commenters talked about how they, for God only know what reason, did not think tattoos were attractive on women, which got me thinking of sexy women who have tattoos. The first woman that pops into my head is Candace Kucsulain from Walls of Jericho. Short red hair, beautiful tattoos, sings for a kick ass metalcore band, what else could a guy possibly hope for?

Damn Leftists...

And here we have further proof that leftists are simply the most belligerent bunch of classless idiots that this world has ever known....