An Ear For Passion

As I consider all my varied interests, I can not help but see a silver thread running through their center. When it comes to enjoying the things around us, especially the arts, it helps to have a little inspiration.

The list of things that I have pursued because of the passion that I saw in someone else is long. I began listening to Ben Harper because of my brother Quentin. My favorite books,The Lord of the Rings series, came to my attention, through my brother Tyler's interest in The Hobbit. I have a growing interest in classical music that is being fueled by the unbridled passion of my third brother Trevor (and, in fairness, Pastor Nathan). Our families (clearly my brothers) tend to have a big impact on us. The sources for our sorted passions, however, can be as diverse as they are.

If you listen to the people around you in life you can absorb all sorts of bits. My third grade teacher Mrs. Dunn would read Roald Dahl books aloud to us in class, and they remain my favorite children's books. I have worked with various people who speak two languages, and I am convinced that I will learn Spanish and German before I die. Outside of teachers and co-workers, we can brush up against the passionate people that surround us each day. Even an acquaintance, like a man named John from culinary school, can declare that "Fleetwood Mac was almost too good" and thereby raise your awareness. (Go listen to the bass line 3/4 of the way through "The Chain" and you might agree with him). Without the input of these people I may never have found all of these great things. The only thing that is required is that you listen. The people in your life want to tell you, just listen.

We have an independent spirit in us that wants to strike out on it's own. We want to be the first to hear the newest greatest band. I would never have you cease to learn of the world around you. When you consider the ridiculous amount of information in the world it is overwhelming. Here is an idea, let those around you sort some of it out for you. The cream rises to the top, and some passionate fan will be there expounding on it's virtues when it breaks the surface. Just listen and be inspired.

- Posted from my iPhone

Battle over Battleground

Do you love Battleground? Many people do. I am not one of them. I would argue that you are probably not one of them either (even if you think you are).

I have a theory that when someone tells you that they love Battleground, what they mean is that they love a romantic idea of Battleground. The Battleground that they love has ceased to exist. It left long before Fred Meyer came to town.

I have lived in Woodland for 6 and 1/2 years. I love Woodland. We have all the small town appeal that is romanticized by the masses. In many ways, we are more like the "Battleground" that you love than Battleground.

When I was a kid we used to ride our bikes from Hockinson to BG. I loved that Battleground. It was Safeway, Burgerville, a high school, a library, Rocky's Pizza, and Dicks Tire Factory. And, later, it was McDonalds too.

In Woodland we currently have a McDonalds, a Burgerville, a pizza place, a High School, a Library...sound familiar? We even have a burgeoning population of Old Apostolics. We are enjoying the fruits of small town SW Washington longed for by our easterly neighbors.

According to City-data.com Battleground's population has increased 84.8% since 2000. In 2009 the population was over 17,000. Compare this to Woodland's population of 5,300 (again for 2009). All those people... And, trying to use infrastructure that was built to accommodate 7,000. Battleground is a mess. It grew too fast, and spent too little planning for that growth.

The Battleground of today is a frustrating quagmire of strip malls and failing retail. The traffic is fantastically terrible. Ask one of BG's cultish followers about traffic, and even the faithful will bob their heads in agreement over it's barbarous nature.

During my short (second) stint living in BG I was excited to see growth. I was thrilled when we got Albertson's and Hollywood Video. I thought it was what I wanted. It was the beginning of the end for that little hole in the map.

In case my arguments were wholly persuasive, I should add a proviso. I feel we may be on the cusp of the same mistakes in Woodland. I was excited to be getting a drive-thru Starbucks and a Walmart, but I pray that our city planners will be more wise about the coming years than their counterparts in the big BG. I think that either way we are in the twilight of our golden years.

Hey, there is always La Center...



- Posted from my iPhone

How Unfortunate

It was Tuesday night and I found myself in the unfortunate limbo of not having enough time to go home, and eat with my family, before my post-work obligations for the day. As a result I went through Panda Express drive-thru. (to those of you who are dismayed that a chef is eating fast food, please remember that I am a working professional and I find myself eating quick cheap food on a regular basis)

I am conflicted on Panda Express. It seems to me that it is cornering the Chinese food market by delivering a consistent, mediocre, product in a clean atmosphere. This isn't terrible if that is all you are looking for. The danger of course is that it leaves too small a market share for traditional "mom and pop" type restaurants. These local restauranteurs have often protected excellent family recipes for years only to find themselves without a customer base to serve. You could say that they have done it to themselves by too often neglecting the cleanliness of their establishments, or something else entirely. The subject is, honestly, too large and warrants a blog all it's own. The point of this post centers around the fortune that I found in my cookie.

My fortune read: Your principles mean more to you than any money or success.





This is a fine sentiment. It seems designed to build up my ego and make an easy excuse for my egregious poverty. In many ways it is a lie. Truth is I have never truly been given the choice between my principles and money. My initial reaction was to place it on my rearview mirror and pat myself on the back every time I checked traffic for a lane change. However, It began to gnaw at me almost immediately after I placed it in it's seat of glory.

In the first chapter of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book Life Together there is a sentence that reads thus: Our righteousness is an "alien righteousness" a righteousness that comes from outside of us (extra nos). Truth is, I am not so principled that I am above success or the pursuit of money. I spend copious amounts of my life chasing after unholy manna. My principles/priorities are God, Family, Country. If you look closely you will see that I probably spend more time on the baser principles of Cafe Today, Football, and iPhones. Not because I am making a conscious decision to place these things above the things that are truly important, but I probably do. Here I can honestly echo the words of the apostle Paul: For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. (Romans 7:15).

Sadly my abject poverty cannot be blamed on my pious behavior. I would love to be able to paint myself the holy martyr for principles in an immoral society, but the reality is much less noble. Like many in my field I simply struggle to turn bring home a decent paycheck. I can not hide behind a flimsy piece of paper with Lotto numbers printed on the back.
- Posted from my iPhone

A Networked Society

Recently I have joined the ranks of the Facebook friendly. This is a big deal. Maybe not to you, but it is monumental for me. It is one of the things that I made the mistake of saying "never" about. I truly was never going to Facebook.

My 180• turn on this issue has me in contemplative mood. I have been delving deeper into what motivates myself and others to use this and other social networking sites.

I know why I initially joined Facebook. Ostensibly it was to give myself access in order to start a page for work. My Cafe Today location could use a little more exposure, and I volunteered my time to make that happen. So, joining was easy. Then I started "friending" people.

Make "friends" on Facebook is easy too. The act of clicking on the "send friend request" button takes no time at all. The thing is, I quickly realized that there was more to it than that. My mind tells me that linking my personal information with another person through a public website is simply one more exchange of 1's and 0's that we see all around us everyday. For some strange reason, however, actively seeking out people that I know was more impacting than I anticipated. For most of my "new friends" we never even exchanged words, and yet during the process I continued to hear the old AT&T tag-line "Reach out and touch someone" in my head. I could feel myself reconnecting emotionally with memories I had of these people, some of whom I haven't talked to in years.

It occurred to me that this was a big part of it. Notice what I just said at the end of the last paragraph. I was connecting to the memories that I had, not the people themselves. Connecting to friends was a nostalgic walk down memory lane. I have been very busy lately, and it felt good to stop down and reconnect ( even if only nominally), to people that I have known in my life. A rare reason to slow down and reminisce.

Today I was reading Burton Farley's travel blog which I found through a link that he posted on Facebook. Things like this make me realize that, going forward I believe Facebook could be a valuable tool for someone like me. I look on this, sort of distant fellowship with others, with blissful ignorance today. Skeptics might say that it could rob me of my motivation for real human interaction with these people, but before I simply had no contact. I did not know Burt and Christine were even in Norway, for example. So, as of now, I will soak up the experience and hope that I will have more common ground with my "friends" the next time we chance to meet in person.



- Posted from my iPhone

Spare the Change

The other day I came across a random Mexican coin that came back with us from one of our trips. It crossed my mind to throw it away like so many unwanted trinkets, but I resisted the urge. I'm not sure why.

The fact is, I found that I have a psychological aversion to junking currency. It isn't just Mexican coins that I have spared from a dark demise. I have found myself shuffling around others such as a Franc, and various Canadian coins at different times. Even the American Penny has extremely little actual worth, but I don't pitch them either.

It isn't my desire to become a coin collector. I usually just end up place them here and there until they get lost anyway. No, it is something else.

As a child it was not uncommon for me to witness my parents scrounging up spare change to find a way to pay for gas or a gallon of milk. I certainly have found myself doing a lot of the same in my adult life. One theory I have, is that being broke simply teaches you the value of small change. Only, that doesn't explain why I would save a single French "penny". You can't exchange that small of an amount of money, and I have no plans to travel internationally in the near future.

Another theory is that it feels disrespectful to throw away money in particular. Like making a snap judgement on the economies of the countries who back these coins. Declaring that these coins will forever remain valued at next to nothing. However, this theory seems far-fetched (even for a lighthearted blog article).

The other possibility is that I recognize the intrinsic value of a metal coin. On some level the ore mined and processed to make these coins has value no matter what border you cross. This too, is a thin argument. I don't have a forge for melting down metal. I also don't know of a metal recycling place where you can turn in a quarter of an ounce at a time.

My final theory is that i am simply exercising my packrat instincts. I tend to save things. (Somewhere Diana is nodding her head emphaticlly in agreement) I am working on it, but the reasons people store things are many and it is a particularly difficult habit to kick.

I suppose the real reason for my actions is a kaleidoscope view of many of the things miss-mashed together. We are complicated beings.

- Posted from my iPhone

British Petroleum

Need another reason to never buy crappy ARCO gas? They are the major distributers of BP gas in the States. I'm no enviromentalist but BP looks pretty bad about now.

You know who is a BP fan right now? Exxon. The Valdez spill is starting to look like no big deal.


- Posted from my iPhone

Just Another Saturday

Last Saturday I had to work. This led to a series of interesting events.

For those of you who do not know, I work in downtown Portland. Portland is not that big of a city, but the people who live there would really like it to be. As a result, they do a lot of stupid things. Speaking of stupid things, it was Gay Pride Weekend. But, before I get into that I would like to back up to give you the full timeline of my day.

In the morning we went to a parade in Woodland. It was a little sad. Parades are supposed to be a celebration of prosperity in the community. A real source of civic pride. Unfortunately, with the down economy, it felt hackneyed and threadbare.

Following our appearance at the parade, I went to work. Unfortunately they were replacing the roll-up door in the parking garage which forced me to park three blocks away. This is when I encountered the Gay Pride movement. It was a group made up of the fashionably unhappy. I guess they were protesting the fact that they live in an extremely liberal city with an openly gay mayor. They probably feel that people no longer respect the trials they must go through. Also, someone suggested that they had combined this with an Anti-Police Violence Rally. I just saw a bunch of selfish whiners blocking my way to work.

Once I finally waded through the throngs of limp-wristed protesters, I had to cook for a dinner party. It was a repeat of a menu that I had served at another home for Cinco De Mayo. This meant that I had a clear plan, but it got a little crazy because my schedule was compacted by being unable to get in to the building on time. I spent an hour and a half cooking, and it went pretty good. For those who are curious the menu was as follows:

Pollo Pablano with fresh tortillas

Pork Carnitas Mini Taco Bar with authentic trimmings

Bay Shrimp Tostadas with Pineapple Mango Salsa topped with Cilantro Lime Crema

Fresh Fruit Skewers

Spicy SW Artichoke Dip

Fresh Chips with Salsa and Guacamole

Following preparation, I had to retrieve my car so I could load up and make my delivery. Once again I was unable to use the garage so I was forced to load curbside. Because of the official nature of the building I work in, security is pretty tight. In order for me to load my catering out the side door there had to be a security officer standing watch. To be clear I was loading half a block away from the afore mentioned protest. This made the security officer nervous. We had protesters, lines of police on bikes (see the above picture), and police on horses 100 feet in front of us and lines of police in riot gear 200 feet behind us.

Once I got out of downtown I had to make the delivery. This particular party was in Portland's West Hills. This is a affluent part of Portland, and our customers on that day were obviously successful. This isn't that shocking or significant other than the contrast it presented to the scene I had just left. I went from pushing my way through a bunch of ne'er-do-wells to chatting up a lively bunch of socialites.

As a bookend to my kaleidoscope day I returned to our home town Planters Day festival. We took our beautiful children to the carnival and enjoyed an easy paced evening.

I hope this post doesn't read to much like a lame journal entry. I was simply struck by the queer (wink) events of the day.

As I finish this, the second half of U.S. vs Ghana is on and if the U.S. can pull out a win perhaps my next post will be about this Saturday.


- Posted from my iPhone

The More You Know

I used to scoff at the idea of a car company advertising intermittent windsheild wipers in this day and age. I put it in the same category as motels that have reader boards advertising color television. Now I am driving a car whose wipers have two settings: on or off. How did I allow myself to grow so egotistical? Why did I think I was so smart and the advertising executives were so old-hat? I have a clear record of being wrong about lots of things, and I should know better than to look down on others by now.

A few years ago I realized that my favorite Coldplay song was actually not a Coldplay song, but in fact it was-"Funeral" by Band of Horses. I was living under the assumption that Paul Harvey was a black man until someone called me on it and I found out that he was as vanilla as they come. It took me years to figure that horizon is pronounced "her-rise-in" and not "whore-a-zon". I was mortified, the first time I ever played the basketball game PIG, when my playmates informed me that I had to pee (They were trying to tell me that I had a "P"). Trust me, my list of wrongs is very long.

We all have lists like this I suppose. It is good to remember that the beginning of wisdom is realizing how little we truly know.


- Posted from my iPhone

Santa Biblia

I have been recklessly neglecting the reading of scripure lately. The other night I was inspired to read, however, and I was truly blessed by what I read. I read Matthew chapter 11 and the corresponding story in Luke 7:11. I felt compelled to paraphrase it here for you. I think I am harbouring a distant hope that you will feel inspired to dust off your copy of The Good Book next, and maybe even point me toward some highlight of your own.

We start with a really cool scene that talks about Jesus having compassion on this greif-stricken woman who had lost her son and is already a widow. He says to her "Do not weep", and then He promptly turns, goes over, and brings the young man back from the dead. An awesome display of understated power to be sure.

The story of this Resurrection and other miracles make their way back to John the Baptist. John is feeling down and is stuck in prison. He sends out his friends to figure out if Jesus is the real McCoy. Specifically he gives them a question, "Are you 'The One who is to come' or shall we look for another?". Miracles are fine, but John wants to know if Jesus is The Messiah. John's emissaries are shown a dizzying display of God's power. More to the point Jesus fulfills very detailed prophecy concerning himself in front of their eyes. After His incredible display Jesus goes back to them and tells them to go tell John that he is the fullfillment of the prophecies.

John's disciples were not the only ones who were watching Jesus on this day. There was a whole crowd there and the crowd was aware of John's people, and their purpose. Our Saviour sends John's disciples on their way, and what follows is a loose speech by The Christ with a fantastically conversational tone. These are the moments in the Gospels that tend to catch my eye and curiosity. I love seeing examples of how human Jesus Christ really was.

He addresses the crowd again, maybe he sees them all peering after John's guys walking away, and He starts talking about John. I get the feeling that people were wondering why he went out of his way to send such a sure message to John the Baptist. So He asks them a string of rhetorical questions: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see?", "A reed shaken by the wind?", "A man dressed in soft clothing?", "A prophet?". There, that's the one. He takes it one step further. Jesus tells them that John is more than a prophet. In fact, at the time he was the greatest man ever born of a woman. (This has a polarizing effect on the people. The ones who were baptized were excited by it. The ones who weren't said that it was all a bunch of phooey). He then calls them out for whining like a bunch of spoiled kids who are never pleased.

In true paradoxical form, Jesus then switches things up making grand sweeping statements. He warns the cities, that he has performed miracles in, that they should not harden their hearts. Saying to one city that they are even worse than Sodom.

He ends his speech with reassuring words of comfort for those of us who believe: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

I said earlier that I like reading scriptures like these ones because they display how human Jesus really was. In truth, that is only half of it. What makes the story so fascinating is the continual display of the complexity of His nature. He performs wondrous signs, and then he is graciously, and beautifully condescending to us with plain speech.

The Bible is the living Word of God, and we must be careful not to take it for granted. Let us all try to remember what an incredible gift it truly is.



- Posted from my iPhone

Every Cat Has A Silver Lining

Ever since that fateful November day, when the American people clamored for King Obama, I have witnessed a lot of people living in a bit of a pall.

We should be looking on the bright side! Having a democrat president has it's moments. For instance, anti-Bush songs are no longer cool and relevant. Another positive is that anti-war movies have to be more tempered so they don't come off as racist criticism of our black president. One final benefit is that old jokes and gags about president Clinton started sounding relevant again.

We have waited eight years to laugh at well timed jokes with democrats as the butts. I will get you started with one of my favorite cartoon characters of all time Eek! the Cat.

Now go recycle your own jokes. It's all about being green right?

- Posted from my iPhone

Advise Me, Please

I remember when Jagged Little Pill came out when I was a teenager. Alanis Morrisette singing "It's the good advice that you just didn't take". There is always that eternal question "Do I go with my gut, or do I follow their advice?". Going into new situations we all carry with us preconceived notions and basic strategies. Wisdom suggests that there is a time to stick to the plan, but you also must be willing to discard that plan and go with the flow.

In fantasy baseball this week I saw evidence of this. My benevolent father and big brother showered me with advice. They could see that my team was floundering and they wanted to help. I humbly instituted their ideas, ignoring my own. Right away I was fifteen points further in the hole than I would have been if I had stuck to my guns. So how do you know? In this scenario they had the on-field knowledge of the players and their statistics. What do I know? I had just lost the first three games of the season after all.

I recently started a new job. I was full of confidence in my abilities. I have run my own catering business. I have formal culinary training in cooking and restaurant management. And yet, here was a new company, and a new set of parameters to work in. So how do you know? When do you abandon your original strategy for success? Clearly I need to listen to the experienced people who surround me and have already learned the ropes, but to what extent?

The marriage advice flows like milk and honey when you near the promised lands, and when Diana and I got married the advice flooded in from all over. Before we were married someone said that they thought we should try living together first. Then there were lots of suggestions on how to get through the terrible first six months, then the first year, then the first five years (none of which were terrible for us).

Nothing elicits advice like having kids does. Do you want a closer bond between you and all the familial relations that you assumed were dead long ago? Have a couple babies. We were blessed with boundless advice from- "Put a little rice cereal in her bottle" to- "You have to pick your battles".

Advice is a fickle friend, no doubt. It seems to help and harm in equal portions. Listening to good natured advice rarely hurts. We all have to draw our own line in the sand as to when listening turns to implementing those pearls of wisdom. We would be remiss to never translate some of their advice into reality in an attempt to make our lives better in some way, and we would be fools if we didn't let a large part of it go in one ear and out the other.





- Posted from my iPhone

Tiptoe Through The Tulips

It is tulip time in Woodland. Benno Dobbe and his family put on a tulip festival each year at the Holland America Bulb Farms. The striking beauty of those flowers put me in a reflective mood.

The Reflector ran a bio-piece on Benno Dobbe a couple years back detailing his move here from Holland as a young boy. These days Mr. Dobbe is a prominent figure in Woodland and his business is a cornerstone of the community. All I remember about the piece is that it was interesting and that Benno has genuine Dutch roots.

When you stroll down the rows of tulips, basking in their glory, it is easy to forget how much work truly goes into getting their fragile petals in full bloom. I found myself pondering how impressive it was that these flowers have such vivid colors and come in so many varieties. For a moment I even slipped into thinking "I can't believe all this happens in nature". Then I corrected myself. It wasn't without work and trials. I had the opportunity to read The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas awhile back, and I was surprised by this window into Dutch history. The cultivation, research, and old-time politics needed to develop the existing breeds of tulips is jaw dropping.

Stretching past the tulip's deep historic roots into present day, I witnessed firsthand some of the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into this plant's survival. A couple years ago my company ran a food booth at the tulip festival and it stressed me out to see some of the "backstage" posturing involved with producing a successful crop of cut tulips. Not least of which is the wildly unpredictable weather in April. When we were there it was 80 degrees one weekend and another weekend they had the sonic cannon out to break up hail while it was still in the clouds (a hailstorm can wipe out an entire crop, each crystalline lump leaving a blemish on the soft blooms). In the gospel according to Matthew chapter 6, Jesus instructs us to "Consider the lilies of the field" and he reminds us that they "neither toil, nor spin". Well, those lazy lilies might not toil or spin but tulips on the other-hand are real workhorses.

I am struggling to find a moral to my story. I think I wanted to say something about the Protestant work ethic  or being good stewards of our blessings, or maybe that we should stop and smell the roses (err.. Tulips). Perhaps we shall leave it open like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book from when I was a kid...



p.s. for some ukelele fun and insight into the title of this post watch this video

- Posted from my iPhone

Sack 'o' Potatoes

Some days feel longer than others.

Last night I slept 6 hours. I got out of bed at 4:30 this morning and went to work. I then spent 11 hours at work trying to "manage" the miracle equivalent of keeping a two legged chair upright. Sat in an hour of Portland traffic on my way home. When I got home Diana had already started work, and she continued to work for another two hours.

Today wasn't the first time that I had a marathon day of working. Over the last three years, when I owned my own company, there were many such days. It is still the kind of day that can really take the mustard out of you. I am now resting on my living room floor, in front of darling Olivia swinging in her travel swing, and I feel like a sack of potatoes. I will have to find my second wind somewhere, however, LOST is on tonight.

Can't... Sleep... Yet...

- Posted from my iPhone

Absent-minded

When I was a kid I remember reading a couple books with older scholarly gentleman who were refered to as being absent-minded. I always found it to be a curious description. The kind of word that is used mostly in print and not as much in conversation. Something akin to Franklin W. Dixon's (The Hardy Boys) use of the word careening. Now as an adult I find myself indentifying with that queer trait more and more.

Today at work I was absent-minded. Not because I was inventing some kind of Rube Goldberg device, but because I couldn't stop thinking about going on a date with my wife. I would find myself interacting with customers, folding up spinach, bacon, and cheese omelets, and all the while thinking of how I could spend an evening treating my wife like royalty. I had just spent all week abusing her like a lowly peasant, it seemed that a little princess treatment was in order.

One of the unfortunate side effects of being married ten years is that you get very good at taking your wife for granted. On top of being unappreciative of her finer qualities, I have also developed a knack for taking out my stress on her. This manifests itself in childish displays of temper and lashing out for no good reason. Inexcusable. Sometimes the best you can do is have a conversation with mutual respect on a human level and apologize for acting like an ass. And, every once in a while you get a chance to go out on the town.

Planning a romantic time together isn't as hard as some would have you believe. All it takes is a morning of absent-mindedness at work.

- Posted from my iPhone

Blog Party!

When I started my blog at the beginning of this year I didn't realize it would be so much fun! I also didn't realize how many people either were already, or were thinking about blogging themselves. It's sort of like being in a fun little club. Or sorority.

Yes, I said a sorority. There are a lot of women that I know who are dabbling in the blogosphere. The original one that I knew about was my sister-in-law Tina (http://www.temost.xanga.com/). Apparently now we have my other sister-in-law Carrie (http://www.iheartjulio.blogspot.com/) and my niece Katelyn (http://www.ilovemymatt.blogspot.com/) involved in the fun. I also learned that my sister Crystal is in on the act (http://www.questadadoption.blogspot.com/) although hers is private so it is a little harder to zip in and out checking on it. It is sort of like going to a baby shower thinking it is guy/girl and realizing that you are the only guy in the room.

My inspiration for starting a blog came from reading famous columnist and blogger Mark Steyn (http://www.steynonline.com/). At least he is a guy which makes me feel a little better.

- Posted from my iPhone

Actor Highlight: Jon Gries

I would like to recognize an actor who spends most of his time on screen in support of the main characters. I realized some time ago that any movie or television show is only as good as the depth of it's cast.

Jon Gries has spent much of his career in these supporting roles. I am thankful for it. I first paid attention to him when I was watching The Pretender in it's first run. He was Broots the geeky tech guy on that show. I would argue that he paved the way for some of my other favorite tv characters such as: Chloe O'brien (24), and Marshall Flinkman (Alias).

In the movie Napolean Dynamite Mr. Gries portrayed Napolean's Uncle Rico. We may not be able to watch this film any more do to over-quoting of it's lines but, his comic timing is undeniable in it.

Most recently Jon has been making an impression as a troubled father figure on ABC's LOST. We have seen him as a mourning single father, and a mean drunk in this layered dramatic performance. LOST is hands-down the best show on TV anyway, and he doesn't disappoint as Ben Linus' dad.

In truth I may not seek out shows/movies based on the fact that Jon Gries is in them, but, if I was riding the fence, it would seal the deal for me.
Recommendation?: Go back and seek out old episodes of The Prentender. It was a good show made better by a deep cast. And, keep an eye out for Jon Gries in future projects. He always delivers a solid performance.

- Posted from my iPhone

Umbrella Anyone?

It was raining again today. I know it's a vicious stereotype but it does rain a lot in Southwest Washington/Northwest Oregon. Today was no exception.

One of the unspoken side effects of all this rain is that we become hardened to the feeling of water falling on our heads. Unless you are playing 18 holes somewhere or happen to be watching your kids play soccer, we don't use umbrellas. At least that's what I thought. Today I saw them.

As I walked through downtown Portland I witnessed at least 5 people using these bulky aberrations. This led me to believe that, either these pedestrians were from out of town or, city-folks are simply a weaker ilk than those of us in the suburbs.

I'm just saying...

- Posted from my iPhone

(Still) Thankful To Be An American

Indulge me for a moment and imagine a couple of scenarios...

President Obama issues a decree stating that following Easter no one will work Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. This is on top of the Thursday and Friday that were already consider a part of the holiday weekend. At first it might be met with mirth and glee, yeah, a 7 day weekend. Then it sinks in. That's a week without pay. Now you're bugged and maybe a little nervous about getting your bills payed. Then someone explains that Obama's new heavy handed government style put emphasis on socialism and militaritism and neglected basic infrastructure. The already anemic power grid of your country, that ill-advisedly almost completely relies on Hydro-power, is failing. There is a drouth. A particularly nasty drouth that caught your "eggs in one basket" leaders somehow by surprise. Now your mad but it's too late. You and your circle of friends can do nothing more than sit on your hands and hope that the goverment takes care of you down the road.

Or this... You go to your mailbox to see what is there and still no mail. In fact, there hasn't been any mail for the last two and a half months. The last time anything was in there was the middle of January.
You go down and talk to your disgruntled Postman and he fills you in. When the earthquake happened a couple months ago it destroyed a bunch of bikes, some scooters, and a couple of trucks. Also, the post office collapsed and, though there was a group of postal employees who tried to salvage the mail from the wreckage, noone has even considered rebuilding yet. He assures you, however, that they are starting to try and deliver the mail again now. Perhaps the most surprising thing is that you leave this exchange feeling heartened and impressed by the progress that you have seen and heard there. After all, you recall one of your friends mentioning that none of those postal workers have gotten a paycheck since October, a full two months before the earthquake even happened.

I was listening to a news program entitled The World today and both of these stories were reported to be taking place somewhere in our world.

In Venezuela, the gruff dictator Jugo Chavez is running the world's seventh largest oil producing country into financial obscurity by his cruel and disastrous policies. His answer to a failure in their power grid? They are imposing fines on businesses that use too much power and forcing everyday people to stay home from work.

In Haiti, a previously inept goverment has been brought to it's bony knees by a 7.0 earthquake. This, former French colony, was poorest country in the Western Hemisphere before the disaster. Now, thanks in no small part to the corruption and incompetance of a pathetic excuse for a governing body, Haiti has suffered an estimated 230,000 deaths and $14 billion in financial losses. But, they started delivering the mail again this week.

On Sunday Obamacare became law. Since then I have been frustrated and disenchanted with the country, that is all around me. Today God helped me to gain some perspective. While we might say that we have begun down the slippery slope of bad government that is bankrupting Europe, suffocating Venezuela, or quite literally killing Haiti, we would do well to remember that we still do not live in any of those places. Did any of us truly believe that our fore fathers had written a perfect constitution or had setup an infallible system of government?during one of the debates this weekend someone pointed out that many of the processes in our goverment demand that everyone involved engage in fair play and observe a certain amount of gentleman-like self control. Guess what? We live in a country run by lawyers for whom phrases like "fair play" have no meaning. Someday our nation will fail. All man made institutions fail. The second law of thermodynamics states that "the entropy of an isolated system, that is not in equilibrium, will tend to increase over time". In other words, everything is breaking down. This mainly applies to our physical earth, but I would say it applies to our government too. We live in a fallen world people. However, Christ came here and validated our human existence. Phil. 1:21 says "To live is Christ, and to die is gain". Enjoy life and remember that it will only get better once we move through death.

- Posted from my iPhone

The Patience of Pouring

When I got to work this morning I grabbed my coffee cup and went to drink from the coffee well. In truth my source was a two quart airpot. These airpots are standard issue in the restaurant business, you have probably used one yourself. For some reason today, instead of my pumping action that I normally employ for such a task, I gave the handle one long sustained push. Out of the spout I drew a long satisfying draught of coffee. In fact, that single action was sufficient to fill my entire cup. A simple task simply completed with very little effort. The new ingredient that made this morning's cup different, from every other time I had used a pot like that, was patience. Patiently seeing this action through to it's completion.

As I sipped that cup of black coffee, I found myself asking how many other things I waste energy on trying to force them to happen? What things in my life might naturally reach their potential without my impatient meddling? I think sometimes you just need to take action in confidence and patiently see the results play out in their own time.


- Posted from my iPhone

My Wife

My wife is a stay at home mom. She is a somewhat non-traditional stay at home mom, since she is a part time hairstylist, but she is the primary care provider for our children. It needs to said, however, that a stay at home mom is so much more than the provider of childcare. Having a wife at home loving and rearing your children in a beautiful and responsible way is invaluable.


Every man should be so lucky as to have a wife with strong faith in God and a firm grasp of what is most important in her life and in her kids lives. A nanny or a grandma can never fully understand what it is that your kids need and what it is that you want them to have. No surrogate mom can pour out the love that can be felt from a warm biological mother. No substitute parent will work as diligently to instill the values that you want your little ones to pick up on. Certainly you wouldn't expect any daycare worker to do as good a job balancing the one on one time that every kid needs to learn and develop. At this point you are probably asking why I felt it neccessary to reel all this off. I haven't said anything more than a simple list of platitudes that you could read in any number of Mother's Day cards. The truth is that this should read more like a Valentine's Day card. I am expounding on the incredible qualities that my wife possesses, but even more so I would like to try to explain why this makes me love her all the more.

I am not trying to convince you that she is perfect. Diana is not perfect. Funny thing is that she would be the first to tell you that. Noone is more self-critical. Noone has more trepidation over whether she is making the right choices for our children than my wife herself. What I hope to help you understand is that this self-evaluating, humble behavior is one of the things that makes her qualified to be a mom. Her realistic outlook on life is also one of the things that makes her an outstanding spouse.

I have noticed a tendency, in the moms that I know, to devalue themselves as a wife. As though the more they settle into the role of mothering and being a "mom", the less they feel valuable as a wife to their husband. Even more to the point, they begin to see themselves as undesirable. Somehow society has convinced them that the two things are diametrically opposed. They have been sent the message that being a motherly figure is not sexy. Filling sipper cups, changing diapers, and rehearsing the alphabet, are all things that are said to drain them of their sexuality. I beg to differ.

When I look at my wife I see a real woman. She's not a high school girl anymore. Praise the Lord! Nothing against high school girls, mine was one when we fell in love, but they do not possess the traits that make a good wife. Do you remember the old country song "Older Women Make Beautiful Lovers" by the Statler Brothers? It sounds trite and maybe even insulting to say this about my wife, but it's true. I think that song may have been about the virtues of cougar hunting, but I mean it in the most straight forward way possible. I would never want a doe-eyed young girl to follow me around bobbing her head in mindless agreement to everything that I said. As a man I need a partner who is an intellectual equal. I need someone who is willing to put me in my place when I need it. I need someone who can sense when I need support and be there to hold my elbow and help me along. There is almost nothing as powerful and devastatingly heart-warming as knowing that a mature, beautiful, clever, and real woman, like Diana, is making a conscious to decision to continue being with me each day. She isn't here because she is a scared young girl or a trapped old vixen. She is a gift from God, and she is purposefully making a choice to be my wife.

I can't speak for every man out there. I don't even think I have exactly said these words out loud to anyone before so I can't even tell you how they might react to what I am saying here, but I have a very strong suspicion that most men would agree with me. Deep down we all desire "to have and to hold" a real woman. My wife Diana is real and I thank God daily that he has sent her into my life.


-Posted from my iPhone

Think of nothing.

I sat in my livingroom the other day watching my 2 week old daughter, Olivia, sit in her Boppy pillow. She was not sleeping, as is usually the case, she had her eyes wide open staring at the front door. She would occasionally hold one of her hands up, and look at it quizzically, twisting it slowly at the wrist. Mostly, however, she just sat there blinking the sleep out of her eyes and exuding innocence and contentedness. She seemed to be thinking about nothing and doing it with some skill. In fact this is probably not true. Given her limited motor skills and her raw undeveloped sense of reason, this whole scene in her Boppy pillow could have required a great deal of effort on her part. I would like to think she was just relaxing though. I would like to think that she was taking a moment to think about nothing at all.

Quite a few years ago my Pastor taught a world religions class to a group of us in High School. The book that we used in that class was called The World's Religions and was written by a man named Huston Smith. It is an excellent resource on many things religious and I continue to refer to it to this day. In this book Mr. Smith describes one of the "yogas" of Hinduism know as Raja yoga. In Raja yoga the purpose is to find your way to god through psychophysical exercises. In fact it actually includes the exercises that most of us associate with the term yoga. The thing is to use all different means to accomplish a state of relaxation and meditation. I am over simplifying here but, the Hindu believes that you can focus your brain beyond the physical self and commune with god on a purely spiritual level. While I am not a Hindu, and I think they take it too far, I do wonder if we couldn't do with a little relaxation and meditation. Even one of the Biblical fathers, Isaac, is recorded as having used some similar practice. In Genesis 24:63a we read "And Isaac went out to meditate in the fields toward evening."

I will bet that watching me throw Isaac into the same new age colored, bag as the Hindu makes you a little uncomfortable. It probably should. The world doesn't need another wishy-washy, "many paths to the same god", speech. That is all we seem to hear anymore. What I am saying is quite different. I just think that the misled Hindu can give us great insight into what the human mind is truly capable of. I find their experiments in psychophysical exercises intriguing, and sad. They seek truth in the method of looking deeper into themselves to see god. In fact, on a grand scale they would even have us believe that we are god. This is where we must part ways. I will never follow the Hindu into the blasphemy that we need no more god than is already in ourselves. I am convinced, however, that meditation can, and even should, have a place in the Christian life. Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it in a beautiful matter of fact way in his book Life Together, "The period of personal meditation is to be devoted to the Scriptures, private prayer, and intercession, and it has no other purpose. There is no occasion here for spiritual experiments". I couldn't agree more. I do not think that we should try to dig deeper into our spiritual selves in some kind of experiment. I think that we need to do as Paul suggested in 2 Corinthians 10:5b "take every thought captive to obey Christ". This scripture is speaking to the idea that we should try to take control of our thoughts and our minds and hold them captive to Christ.

Sometimes there is no better thing to do than to clear our minds and listen to God. Try to follow Olivia's blissful example and think of nothing.



- Posted from my iPhone

Communist Books!

Has any one seen the Adam Sandler movie Bedtime Stories?











I watched it this week when I was sitting up at 5:00am with my daughter Olivia (see my post "New Life") in the hospital. Honestly the movie isn't that great. It was pretty much what you would expect: mediocre, predictable, and it had a few funny parts.

Every once in a while, though, a forgettable movie like this can have a funny quote that transcends the movie itself. Watch from minute 1:00 to 1:19 of this clip from Youtube- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6x7LkUY-ZE
In the clip Skeeter (Adam Sandler) laments the propaganda leaflets that his sister is trying to pass off as kid books to his niece and nephew.

As a father of three, two of which love reading bedtime stories, I have seen my share of crap masquerading as literature. The 1991 book The Berenstain Bears Don't Pollute (Anymore) is a great example of this. We mistakenly purchased this gem in a stack of books we picked up at a garage sale. We have since discarded the rag. The hapless father in the book is potrayed as a nature hating slob and must be reformed by his enviromentaly conscious children. Even my wife, who has accused me of being over sensitive to hidden agendas, couldn't stand this book. It is too bad that Stan and Jan Berenstain found it necessary to sully their decent series of Berenstain Bears books with this thing. In a series that extolls moral virtues such as telling the truth and sharing, this book seems awkward and ill-advised. The sad part is that they were probably just keeping up with the Jones'.

Go to Barnes and Noble sometime and peruse the kid section. The "books" there are often hard to stomach. Global warming, campaign rhetoric, and vegetarianism are all common topics. How can it be? What happened to kids books being simple fodder for their imaginations? Where did all this come from?

Every junior-Soviet with an idea knows that the place to start indoctrination is with kids. It is an old Communist idea. Wikipedia quotes a Soviet official as having said it this way:
"We must make the young into a generation of Communists. Children, like soft wax, are very malleable and they should be moulded into good Communists... We must rescue children from the harmful influence of the family... We must nationalize them. From the earliest days of their little lives, they must find themselves under the beneficient influence of Communist schools... To oblige the mother to give her child to the Soviet state - that is our task."

Perhaps, like my lovely wife, you are now accusing me of being hyper-sensitive to hidden agendas. Maybe you are thinking "he's a paranoid whacko." Well... maybe you haven't tried to read a kids book since you were a kid. It keeps getting worse too. With almost no public backlash these propagandists have gotten more and more bold with each printing. Consider yourself warned. You might wanna look closely at the next book your kid checks out from the library.

Twitter nation?

I am now on Twitter. Look for @Benjamson
Just another one of my weak attempts to join the digital world that surrounds us.



- Posted from my iPhone

New Life

My daughter Olivia Grey was born this week! What a pleasure. She is adorable and she already has me all wrapped around her finger.


- Posted from my iPhone

Thank God for Sunshine

Today we had unseasonably nice weather in the Pacific Northwest. It was 55 degrees and sunny. What a blessing! You can really appreciate good weather in February.

When spring rolls around we will expect these kinds of days. Heck, in April or May we flat out demand nice days. Greedily taking what we see as rightfully ours. It is only in the middle of a dreary month like February that we understand the blessing being bestowed on us.

Thank You God.


- Posted from my iPhone

Congratulations Drew!

Congratulations Drew Brees!

What a fantastic Superbowl. What a deserving MVP.
I have been really impressed with everything that I have witnessed from the star quarterback this week and this season. Drew Brees is a real class act and it was nice to see a nice guy finish first for once.

Who Dat?!?!


- Posted from my iPhone

Highlight: Audrey Tautou

Audrey Tautou is easily my favorite actress right now. Since she does primarily French langauge films some people can be intimidated by this genius performer. I think that avoiding Miss Tautou for this reason is a grave mistake.

Some actresses have an indescribable ability to convey complex emotion with a simple look. Her quiet understated acting imparts a reality onto her characters that sucks you right into their world. I must confess I am not educated in the art of acting and I don't always understand what it is that works so well in her style. She has a bit of undeniable magic though, that I love to witness. The other thing that she seems to do is pick her roles well. She tends to be in smart and artistic films that also have a simple relatibility to them.

Any number of Audrey's films are worth taking in. My short list of recomendations would look something like this:
Amelie (2001)
Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
He Loves Me Not (2002)





- Posted from my iPhone

Actor Highlights

My recent post, concerning Mel Gibson and his new movie, gave me an idea. I am going to highlight certain actors ( or actresses) who have always stood out for me.

There are a couple of things that I would like
to point out before I start the "Highlight" series. First, I am under no illusions that these are people from Hollywood, and that their personal lives probably wouldn't look good under scrutiny. Second, I don't intend to focus on shameful or stupid things that these actors may have done on screen. The whole purpose of the series is to point out, and praise, exceptional individual performances that I have seen on screen.

For a long time now, one of my cheif deciding factors on whether or not to choose to see a movie has been who plays in that movie. As a result, I usually pay pretty close attention to actors names. I hope this series of blogs will help lead you to new and enjoyable movies to watch in the future.


- Posted from my iPhone

Surprise!

This week POTUS gave his State of the Union speech. Obama the great aurator. I have to admit I didn't bother to listen. There are ripples out there though. Reverberating effects that have caught me off guard. Out of all the commentary and criticism, I was surprise to hear people cracking on the way the President gives a speech.

This was his strong point! This was where he always won his battles. Even his staunch critics conceded this point. I even heard a fifth grader at a school, during the campaign, say "He is really good at speaking, but I don't like his ideas". That kid was regurgitating something he had heard his parents say, no doubt, but they said it often enough that even he picked up on it.

Now? Now he has slipped even on this ground. When Obama lent a hand in the effort to defeat Scott Brown recently someone remarked "We used to think he could sound eloquent reading the phonenook, now it seems he always is". Even his admirerers in the mainstream media seem to have become critical.






- Posted from my iPhone

Edge of Darkness

Mel Gibson is back. Around the time that Mr. Gibson released Apocalypto (2006) he had made an announcement that we wouldn't be seeing him on the silver screen again. (Or, maybe it was when The Passion of the Christ came out). Well, Mel lied. This Friday Edge of Darkness comes out, and he is most certainly in it.

Can you feel the excitement in these words? I was saddened when I heard the afore mentioned announcement. Saddened that we would not be seeing another Braveheart performance. Dejected that we would not be able laugh at another Maverick or Lethal Weapon. Frustrated that we would not see the new Mad Max movie that we were promised some years ago. Now, however, the world is our oyster! The man who is possibly our greastest actor is back at it.


The film itself appears to be another revenge movie. Edge of Darkness has Mel looking like a impassioned father on a war path. We have seen parts of this character before. I saw that crazy dad once in Ransom. He was also raging around in The Patriot. The trailers for the movie also seem to suggest some sort of secret plot (Conspiracy Theory), but all this simply increases my excitement. It is promising to be everything we love to watch Mel do.

I am going to attempt to go see Edge of Darkness on Friday. You should to. In a Hollywood that creates crap like Avatar, we need to support movies with real story lines and a little grit.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Now Mobile!

Hello again,
Sorry that my last post was so dark and dreary.
I hope to be able to start posting from my phone now which should give me greater access. Woohoo!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The End

Sometimes in life things must end. It was not your plan. No secret
conspiracy hatched a diabolical plot against you. There isn't a hero
to swoop in and fix everything. It's just over.

When you run a small business, and that business fails, it feels as
though you fail. I do not mean that you failed at something, but the
person, that is you, has failed. It's hard to explain if you have
never felt this phenomenon.

The End
#END