I’m sitting here, still wiping the tears from my eyes. We did it! My team, the Texas Rangers, have beat the Yankees to be crowned American League Champions! That means we’re going to the World Series! There’s no other way to describe how I feel than this…WWWWOOOOOOOHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOO!!! This is the singular defining moment of my year to this point. Last year the singular defining moment was the birth of my goddaughter/niece. I was there in the beginning. I, my brother, and my two best friends, Fern and Jon, went to Opening Day this year as we have for several years now. We witnessed the beginning of what will ultimately be defined as the greatest year in Rangers history. My brother and I bought a mini-plan of tickets this year. I must have made it to almost twenty games this year and watched the vast majority of the rest on television. I bought a new jersey at the beginning of the season to add to the ten I already own. I bought five more t-shirts as well. A couple of stickers, several beers, two big bags of sunflower seeds, three new caps, and a sweatshirt round out all the Rangers gear I purchased throughout the season. This is about the norm for me. I am a die-hard, no holds barred, never say die, never leave early, never quit, always stand and sing during “Deep in the Heart of Texas”, eleven bobble head having Rangers fan. And when things are good, life is good. And when things are bad, life is still good, because it’s the Rangers. I love ‘em!
How much of a fan am I? Well, besides hardly missing a game and buying enough merchandise for an entire family, I am versed in Rangers history. I know about the great players in our history. I know about the good times in our history. I know that the franchise was originally the Washington Senators who moved to Texas at the urging of the Mayor of Arlington and local businessman Tom Vandergriff, founder of the Vandergriff auto sales empire. I know that Arlington Stadium was originally called Turnpike Stadium and was home to the minor league Fort Worth Cats and Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs. That’s right, the Rangers played in a converted minor league stadium for the first 22 years. Did you know that Ted Williams managed the Rangers back in those days? Do you know how many numbers the franchise has retired? I do…only three: 26, Johnny Oates; 34, Nolan Ryan; 42, Jackie Robinson (by MLB). This is a point of contention for me and my brother because we can name so many former Rangers who deserve their numbers to be retired. That is a whole other blog in itself. Do you know how many players are in the Texas Rangers Baseball Hall of Fame? I do…13, including recognizable names like Jim Sundberg, Fergie Jenkins, and Rusty Greer. Speaking of Rusty Greer, who was a hero of mine as a kid, he is currently working at Texas Wesleyan University as an assistant baseball coach under former Ranger Mike Jeffcoat. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.
My love for the Rangers spawned from hot summer afternoons and evenings sitting in the metal bleachers at Arlington Stadium. This was back in the day when they gave out full size bats to the first 5,000 kids under 13 in attendance. And we would take those bats and bang them on the metal seats to make as much noise as possible. The Bobby Valentine days…when it was literally a 50-50 bet whether we would win or not because we were just an average team. I remember my Dad explaining things to us as they happened. I remember the clunk of batting practice homeruns on the seats around us. Those were the days when baseball in the Dallas-Fort Worth area was just a secondary attraction. Back when if you lived in Dallas, you had to pass by the monument of Dallas’ true love, Texas Stadium, on your way to Arlington to watch baseball. My more vivid memories come from the Ballpark. The Rangers moved into their new stadium in 1994 and we went to one of the first games there. It was like a castle, a cathedral, compared to Arlington Stadium. Everything had the look and feel of a stadium from the 40s and 50s, except it was brand new. We used to sit out under the homerun porch in right field and yell at Rusty Greer to try to get his autograph. This team, these stadiums, the memories…all of them feed my continuing love and respect for Rangers baseball.
Sure, the relationship soured during the Tom Hicks era. I was old enough to understand that we were good enough to make it to the post season, but not good enough to make it to the World Series. I was young enough that not making it to the World Series killed me. I was old enough to realize we overpaid for A-Rod. I was young enough to let stupid management decisions like that jade my love of the team as a whole. I started climbing back on board after I graduated college. A-Rod was gone, Michael Young was emerging as a leader on the team and things seemed great. Except that they couldn’t make it back to the postseason. But my love for them grew back more and more. When I met my best friends along the line of my life, their love for Rangers baseball just boosted mine. Pretty soon we were making trips to Opening Day every year, buying jerseys for each other, and going to games together. We talk baseball all the time now. In fact, the one person that called me to celebrate the Rangers win tonight was my buddy Fernando, who is my Rangers accountability partner. He lives in Atlanta, but still loves the Rangers so much that he came back the past few years for Opening Day.
So, all of you out there who read my blog and like to know what’s going on in the world of me, here it is…I am completely stoked about the World Series! I am sitting here in my Claw and Antler shirt and Rangers shorts looking at $400 standing room only tickets on StubHub and seriously considering buying some! I just order two more Rangers t-shirts (an AL Champions one like they were wearing on the field and in the locker room after the game and a “Hambino” Josh Hamilton shirt). I am drinking an ice cold, Texas brewed, Shiner Bock, listening to the post game roundtable radio show, and thinking about how to clear my schedule and skip classes next week so that I can see the World Series games (which start Wednesday). The Rangers, they are my heart. And you know what else I realized as I was looking online for AL Champs shirts? I need to find a woman who already has the Texas Rangers “T” logo thong or panty, because the woman who is Rangers fan enough to have that underwear is Rangers fan enough for me.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Since I've been gone...
Alright, I’ve been slacking off a little on this whole blog thing lately and for that I apologize. Apparently there is a good deal of you out there (more than five, less than ten) that enjoy reading these things. I didn’t know I meant so much to you. I honestly have some relatively good excuses…sort of. My Monday blog that should have been done earlier this week didn’t make it to press due to me staying at my folk’s house all weekend taking care of their dogs. I didn’t have my laptop with me. Well, wait, yes I did, but my folks don’t have wifi at their place and my non-wireless network card doesn’t work in my computer, so I didn’t have access to my notes etc. So there you go, that is why I miss my early week blog entry. Sure, I could have done it later on, but I try not to waste time on my blog on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday due to the fact that I have classes and should be working on those. I didn’t get it done on Friday this week because I had a relatively busy day compared to how my usual Friday goes. I had a lunch meeting with a friend, a client meeting for my class project, to help my mother put up Halloween decorations outside their house, and then the Rangers first ALCS game (don’t get me started on how elated and heartbroken I was in a span of four hours due to that one). Today we celebrated my folk’s anniversary which is actually Monday, so I have just gotten around to doing this (since I can’t sleep and there is nothing on TV).
I have struggled with what to talk about in this blog since my life lately has been a little less than exciting. Sure, I’ve been busy and done some fun things, but none of them seemed terribly blog-worthy. So, I’m going to my playbook and coming out with a canned topic I thought up when I first decided to refocus my blogging efforts toward talking about my life. There is a neat little list I made up that is saved as a Word file on my desktop (if you know me, you know how seriously OCD I can be at times and how forgetful I can be at other times, so making lists gets me through my everyday life). It started with things that I noticed I do on a regular basis. Then it started to include things that seem uniquely bachelor-esque. Then it mutated into things that bothered me or were on my mind at that specific moment. No, the topic this week is not my blog topic list or how I make lists in general (though that topic has now made it onto my blog topic list). My blog topic this week has come about due to some things I’ve experienced over the past week and a half.
This topic may not seem important to some of you, but to a man such as me, in my situation, this is a very important part of daily life. I’m talking about chick radar. The reason this topic came to me started on Thursday when I was at the State Fair with my brother, sister (in-law), and niece. We were walking into the fair past the crowd control barriers and ticket booths when out of the corner of my eye I spotted her. The first thing I noticed was blond hair. Now, I’m not necessarily a guy who digs blonds (all the girls I’ve dated were natural brunettes except one who was dirty blond at her lightest). It’s hard not to notice a blond. They stick out in a crowd, especially when that crowd is filled with rambling geriatrics (apparently Thursday was senior citizen day at the fair). She was cute, shorter than I would usually go for, but hey, you don’t have to be picky when you’re just looking (sounds terrible, I know). She disappeared into the crowd and I thought nothing of it after that. Then, it happened again. Standing in front of the Fletcher’s corn dog stand waiting on my sister to get something to eat, a pretty brunette slipped through the crowd toward the auto show building. I locked on right away. Once is just a coincidence, but two times of finding the prettiest girl in the crowd, that’s almost uncanny.
My brother had noticed how much my head had been on a swivel and mentioned something about the second girl who seemed to be working at the car show. Now, this was a full minute or more after she had caught my eye, which struck me a little. The situation became more apparent as we were leaving the butterfly enclosure (not my idea to see the butterflies, but don’t get me started on that) about an hour or so later in the day. We were walking across the lobby of the building where the butterfly deal is and there was this six-foot, gorgeous brunette and her shorter but equally cute friend paying to get into the exhibit. They were right there, plain sight, so I figured you’d have to be blind to miss them. My brother and sister disappeared to change my niece’s diaper and when they came back and asked what we should do next, I said, “I’d like to go back and see the butterflies again.” My brother was stunned by that and asked, “Why?!” I of course said, “Didn’t you see that six-foot brunette and her friend in line to get in?” He said he hadn’t. I realized then and there, my chick radar had kicked back on.
Every man has some form of chick radar. I even knew a homosexual gentleman who could spot the hottest girl in the room before the straight guys could. It’s nature or something like that. Beautiful women just get your attention right away. They draw your gaze. To quote the film Beautiful Girls: “A beautiful girl can make you dizzy, like you've been drinking Jack and Coke all morning. She can make you feel high…full of the single greatest commodity known to man - promise.” Sometimes this chick radar can just click off or stop working. As in the case of my brother, who is happily married to a woman he thinks he doesn’t deserve and the father of the prettiest baby girl I’ve ever seen. When life works for you like that, chick radar just isn’t needed. But, when you’re single, you know you’re single, and have somehow come to the conclusion that being single is best thing for you right now, then chick radar is your best friend. It shows you all the wonderful prospects out there. It shows you how beautiful women don’t just exist in your dreams or on TV. They’re right there, in front of you every day. This is the greatness of chick radar. I had noticed it starting up late last month when having dinner with a group of old friends in a trendy restaurant in Frisco (an upscale suburb of Dallas). I was the only single person at the table (a topic I’ll touch on at a later date)…and the only one who noticed the bachelorette party that was seated two tables away. That, my friends, is chick radar.
Now for the sensitive side of me to make a statement: in no way do I measure a woman’s worth by her appearance. Nor do I base my relationships, whether friendship or something more, solely on looks. I doubt there are many who will argue whether it takes an initial physical attraction to spark a relationship. Of course it does. But what makes relationships work, what makes relationships last, is personalities. I haven’t been in a relationship that didn’t involve attraction not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally (because I wouldn’t invest myself in a relationship that didn’t have those things). To quote Prince Akeem from Coming to America: “I want a woman that will arouse my intellect as well as my loins!”
I have struggled with what to talk about in this blog since my life lately has been a little less than exciting. Sure, I’ve been busy and done some fun things, but none of them seemed terribly blog-worthy. So, I’m going to my playbook and coming out with a canned topic I thought up when I first decided to refocus my blogging efforts toward talking about my life. There is a neat little list I made up that is saved as a Word file on my desktop (if you know me, you know how seriously OCD I can be at times and how forgetful I can be at other times, so making lists gets me through my everyday life). It started with things that I noticed I do on a regular basis. Then it started to include things that seem uniquely bachelor-esque. Then it mutated into things that bothered me or were on my mind at that specific moment. No, the topic this week is not my blog topic list or how I make lists in general (though that topic has now made it onto my blog topic list). My blog topic this week has come about due to some things I’ve experienced over the past week and a half.
This topic may not seem important to some of you, but to a man such as me, in my situation, this is a very important part of daily life. I’m talking about chick radar. The reason this topic came to me started on Thursday when I was at the State Fair with my brother, sister (in-law), and niece. We were walking into the fair past the crowd control barriers and ticket booths when out of the corner of my eye I spotted her. The first thing I noticed was blond hair. Now, I’m not necessarily a guy who digs blonds (all the girls I’ve dated were natural brunettes except one who was dirty blond at her lightest). It’s hard not to notice a blond. They stick out in a crowd, especially when that crowd is filled with rambling geriatrics (apparently Thursday was senior citizen day at the fair). She was cute, shorter than I would usually go for, but hey, you don’t have to be picky when you’re just looking (sounds terrible, I know). She disappeared into the crowd and I thought nothing of it after that. Then, it happened again. Standing in front of the Fletcher’s corn dog stand waiting on my sister to get something to eat, a pretty brunette slipped through the crowd toward the auto show building. I locked on right away. Once is just a coincidence, but two times of finding the prettiest girl in the crowd, that’s almost uncanny.
My brother had noticed how much my head had been on a swivel and mentioned something about the second girl who seemed to be working at the car show. Now, this was a full minute or more after she had caught my eye, which struck me a little. The situation became more apparent as we were leaving the butterfly enclosure (not my idea to see the butterflies, but don’t get me started on that) about an hour or so later in the day. We were walking across the lobby of the building where the butterfly deal is and there was this six-foot, gorgeous brunette and her shorter but equally cute friend paying to get into the exhibit. They were right there, plain sight, so I figured you’d have to be blind to miss them. My brother and sister disappeared to change my niece’s diaper and when they came back and asked what we should do next, I said, “I’d like to go back and see the butterflies again.” My brother was stunned by that and asked, “Why?!” I of course said, “Didn’t you see that six-foot brunette and her friend in line to get in?” He said he hadn’t. I realized then and there, my chick radar had kicked back on.
Every man has some form of chick radar. I even knew a homosexual gentleman who could spot the hottest girl in the room before the straight guys could. It’s nature or something like that. Beautiful women just get your attention right away. They draw your gaze. To quote the film Beautiful Girls: “A beautiful girl can make you dizzy, like you've been drinking Jack and Coke all morning. She can make you feel high…full of the single greatest commodity known to man - promise.” Sometimes this chick radar can just click off or stop working. As in the case of my brother, who is happily married to a woman he thinks he doesn’t deserve and the father of the prettiest baby girl I’ve ever seen. When life works for you like that, chick radar just isn’t needed. But, when you’re single, you know you’re single, and have somehow come to the conclusion that being single is best thing for you right now, then chick radar is your best friend. It shows you all the wonderful prospects out there. It shows you how beautiful women don’t just exist in your dreams or on TV. They’re right there, in front of you every day. This is the greatness of chick radar. I had noticed it starting up late last month when having dinner with a group of old friends in a trendy restaurant in Frisco (an upscale suburb of Dallas). I was the only single person at the table (a topic I’ll touch on at a later date)…and the only one who noticed the bachelorette party that was seated two tables away. That, my friends, is chick radar.
Now for the sensitive side of me to make a statement: in no way do I measure a woman’s worth by her appearance. Nor do I base my relationships, whether friendship or something more, solely on looks. I doubt there are many who will argue whether it takes an initial physical attraction to spark a relationship. Of course it does. But what makes relationships work, what makes relationships last, is personalities. I haven’t been in a relationship that didn’t involve attraction not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally (because I wouldn’t invest myself in a relationship that didn’t have those things). To quote Prince Akeem from Coming to America: “I want a woman that will arouse my intellect as well as my loins!”
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Jump on the Bandwagon? No, I'm on the Fan-wagon
Let me start off by saying that someone paid me the nice compliment the other day of asking if I had been working out. I have been working out, but that isn’t the point. The point is that they noticed a change in my appearance due to this workout routine. I trust this person because they are not a close friend or anyone who would stand to gain from paying me a compliment. They are an acquaintance from class who knew me in the spring, didn’t see me over the summer, and is now in my consulting group this fall. So, I thanked them for noticing and then gave a conceited comment to reinforce my high feeling. Something along the lines of, “I look damn sexy; of course I’ve been working out.” I can’t help it. Sometimes that side of me, the overzealous, self-righteous, self-absorbed Aaron comes out for a bit to play. Mostly I am modest, self-controlled, and humble, which has worked for me so far, but doesn’t bring quick results. I guess what I’m getting at is that I’m not all “nice guy” Aaron who doesn’t ruffle feathers and isn’t conceited. Sometimes I’m “that guy” Aaron who knows from years of family reunions and boisterous family members that “it is hard to be humble when you’re a Hansen.”
I forgot exactly what I was going to talk about today. I have a list of topics I want to cover at one point or another, but I’m too lazy to pull that up right now. I had something lined up to talk about earlier this morning, but by the time I’ve gotten around to writing this…it is gone. Oh, I know what I can talk about. Something that is near and dear to my heart. If you know me, you know that my love for this runs as deep as my love for my family or a good beer. The Texas Rangers are my heart. If you have watched any sports related news or picked up a paper then you would know by now that the Rangers have made it to the postseason for the first time in over ten years. This has created a little bit of a Rangers fever in the DFW metroplex that has been compounded by them winning their first two playoff games. I was listening to sports talk radio on the way in to campus today and the “experts” on there are talking World Series berth. They’re debating who would be the best team to face in ALCS. They’re touting Rangers manager Ron Washington as manager of the year. It is all a little overwhelming for a true fan like me. The die-hards like me always talk like this at this time of year, when the rest of the sporting news is talking Cowboys, Stars, and Mavs. It is the first time I have seen a true bandwagon following for the Rangers.
I don’t believe in bandwagons. Ask my brother and he will tell you that he admires my commitment to my teams, rain or shine, without fail. With the Rangers, it goes deeper than that. The Rangers have been a part of my life since I could remember. Our folks would take us to Rangers games as kids. I had a poster of Nolan Ryan, dressed as an Old West sheriff, on my wall in my room. There’s never been a point in my life that I didn’t own a Rangers cap of some kind. Never a point in my life that I wouldn’t watch a Rangers game over another show. Never a point in my life that I didn’t dream of running out on the field at old Arlington Stadium or Rangers Ballpark to take the mound and throw an opening pitch. Needless to say, I love the Rangers.
So, it does bother me a little when the whole Rangers playoff bandwagon gets rolling. Nothing against extra fans, because the Rangers will need all the fan support they can get if they are going to face a national powerhouse team like the Yankees, but it does bother me that in six months these people won’t give two squirts about the Rangers. Sure, Opening Day is always packed, but that’s either because we’re playing some national following team like the Red Sox or people want a reason to skip work. Let me give you an anecdotal example of this bandwagon ridiculousness. I went to a game last week with a friend and my brother and sister-in-law. We are all Rangers fans. My brother and I had a mini-plan of tickets this year (can’t afford season tickets yet). My friend follows the Rangers and went to practically every game with me that my brother didn’t go to. We are real Rangers fans…they are our team. Sitting behind us was what appeared to be a couple from the area and some friends of theirs who were visiting from out of town. The man from here was stumbling and bumbling over facts about the team the whole game. He misidentified the order of first basemen we have had this year. He didn’t know who was traded in the Cliff Lee deal. He didn’t know the names of the base coaches. He was a hot mess of misinformation about the Rangers. Then he said something that got my ire. He said he was a fan and had been following the team all season. If he had, he would know that we started the season with Chris Davis at first base, then Justin Smoak, then Mitch Moreland, then Jorge Cantu, then to platooning Moreland and Cantu. If he had read any newspaper in DFW near the trade deadline he would know that we traded infielder Justin Smoak, pitchers Blake Beavan and Josh Lueke, and infielder Matt Lawson to the Mariners for Cliff Lee and Mark Lowe and more than $2 million in cash. And if the dude had spent just one night in front of the TV watching a Rangers game, he would have learned that our first base coach is Gary Pettis (5-time Gold Glove winner) and our third base coach is Dave Anderson (member of Dodgers' 1988 World Championship). Fans, true fans know this stuff by heart. Bandwagoners have to guess or squint to see the names on jerseys. Sad.
I forgot exactly what I was going to talk about today. I have a list of topics I want to cover at one point or another, but I’m too lazy to pull that up right now. I had something lined up to talk about earlier this morning, but by the time I’ve gotten around to writing this…it is gone. Oh, I know what I can talk about. Something that is near and dear to my heart. If you know me, you know that my love for this runs as deep as my love for my family or a good beer. The Texas Rangers are my heart. If you have watched any sports related news or picked up a paper then you would know by now that the Rangers have made it to the postseason for the first time in over ten years. This has created a little bit of a Rangers fever in the DFW metroplex that has been compounded by them winning their first two playoff games. I was listening to sports talk radio on the way in to campus today and the “experts” on there are talking World Series berth. They’re debating who would be the best team to face in ALCS. They’re touting Rangers manager Ron Washington as manager of the year. It is all a little overwhelming for a true fan like me. The die-hards like me always talk like this at this time of year, when the rest of the sporting news is talking Cowboys, Stars, and Mavs. It is the first time I have seen a true bandwagon following for the Rangers.
I don’t believe in bandwagons. Ask my brother and he will tell you that he admires my commitment to my teams, rain or shine, without fail. With the Rangers, it goes deeper than that. The Rangers have been a part of my life since I could remember. Our folks would take us to Rangers games as kids. I had a poster of Nolan Ryan, dressed as an Old West sheriff, on my wall in my room. There’s never been a point in my life that I didn’t own a Rangers cap of some kind. Never a point in my life that I wouldn’t watch a Rangers game over another show. Never a point in my life that I didn’t dream of running out on the field at old Arlington Stadium or Rangers Ballpark to take the mound and throw an opening pitch. Needless to say, I love the Rangers.
So, it does bother me a little when the whole Rangers playoff bandwagon gets rolling. Nothing against extra fans, because the Rangers will need all the fan support they can get if they are going to face a national powerhouse team like the Yankees, but it does bother me that in six months these people won’t give two squirts about the Rangers. Sure, Opening Day is always packed, but that’s either because we’re playing some national following team like the Red Sox or people want a reason to skip work. Let me give you an anecdotal example of this bandwagon ridiculousness. I went to a game last week with a friend and my brother and sister-in-law. We are all Rangers fans. My brother and I had a mini-plan of tickets this year (can’t afford season tickets yet). My friend follows the Rangers and went to practically every game with me that my brother didn’t go to. We are real Rangers fans…they are our team. Sitting behind us was what appeared to be a couple from the area and some friends of theirs who were visiting from out of town. The man from here was stumbling and bumbling over facts about the team the whole game. He misidentified the order of first basemen we have had this year. He didn’t know who was traded in the Cliff Lee deal. He didn’t know the names of the base coaches. He was a hot mess of misinformation about the Rangers. Then he said something that got my ire. He said he was a fan and had been following the team all season. If he had, he would know that we started the season with Chris Davis at first base, then Justin Smoak, then Mitch Moreland, then Jorge Cantu, then to platooning Moreland and Cantu. If he had read any newspaper in DFW near the trade deadline he would know that we traded infielder Justin Smoak, pitchers Blake Beavan and Josh Lueke, and infielder Matt Lawson to the Mariners for Cliff Lee and Mark Lowe and more than $2 million in cash. And if the dude had spent just one night in front of the TV watching a Rangers game, he would have learned that our first base coach is Gary Pettis (5-time Gold Glove winner) and our third base coach is Dave Anderson (member of Dodgers' 1988 World Championship). Fans, true fans know this stuff by heart. Bandwagoners have to guess or squint to see the names on jerseys. Sad.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Confessions of a Wannabe Truck Driver
Alright…so I spent a splendid weekend in Missouri. All of you out there are now thinking, “how do you have a splendid weekend in Missouri?” Well, first of all, you have to realize how long you’ve been in your home town without leaving it. This should depress you enough to make you want to leave town and go anywhere…it won’t matter where, just anywhere. Then you have to weigh your options of where to go. Financially, the places you absolutely want to go will probably be out of your reach. Let’s say I wanted to go to Hawaii…I can’t afford to go to Hawaii and pay my bills for the month. So you whittle it down to where you can go. Finally, you wait for a friend to ask you to go with them to said place. Once you have the backup of someone going with you, you are set. You are away from your home town, not spending yourself poor, and with a friend(s)…splendid.
Seriously, I went with my best friend Jon and his wife to Missouri to see his little brother play some college football. Let me see if I can some it up in a few sentences. It was an eight and a half hour drive and we took my increasingly unreliable truck (smart). We stayed in the Quality Inn which is not as bad as it sounds, but not much better than you think. My room was relatively nice…apparently Jon and Bekah’s was not. We went to dinner at a not terribly good, but terribly bad Mexican restaurant (you don’t realize how good you have it living in the melting pot of Texas until you dine out in other states). Got to see Jon’s little brother’s place, which was awfully nice. Got up the next day and had the free continental breakfast. Went to the college bookstore to get some game day gear, which was interesting but not terribly noteworthy. The game was not great (they lost), but it was fun to see unpretentious college football. The weather was weird, but nothing that couldn’t be handled. We had a little tailgate after the game. Then we went over to Michael’s for game night and a night cap. Other points of interest: we went to Wal-Mart twice while we were there; I had a mini-fridge in my room that served to keep the beer cold for a day; Missouri is actually a really pretty state; my truck made it all the way there and back without incident.
Ok, now what you really come to my blog for…pointless interesting thoughts from me. I realized something while making the entire drive there and back myself. I didn’t have to; it was more of a choice than a requirement. I didn’t want Jon to drive my truck (I really don’t like anyone driving my truck but me). And, when Jon and I made the trip to ATL earlier this summer, he drove the whole way there and back, so I was repaying him for his diligence with my own. All of that is not what I realized, though. I realized that if I would have had less ambition in life (or more, depending on how you look at it) I could have been a truck driver. Being behind the wheel for hours at end doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t have a regular sleep schedule (or a sleep schedule at all). I kept thinking the whole time driving there that I would have loved to have a CB radio. I mean, truck driving would be the way to go, if I hadn’t spent so much money on a college education. Jon even pointed out a couple of truck driving schools and companies with “drivers wanted” signs out front. I just don’t know if the trucker lifestyle would work for me in the long haul (pun).
Another thing that struck me during this epic drive was the obtuse amount of adult video stores along the interstate in Missouri. Interstate 44, which runs the length of Missouri across the southern portion, has a section running from Springfield to St. Louis called “Main Street U.S.A.” This sounds quaint and fun doesn’t it? It gained this claim to fame because it is the part of I-44 that runs almost parallel to Route 66. It is an amazing drive through the foothills of Missouri passing nice little towns with lots of tourist traps. Well, apparently “Main Street U.S.A.” has porn stores every 50 miles. These range from broken down shack type places to the more swanky joints with 24-7 video arcades (if I have to explain what an arcade in an adult video store is, then you don’t need to know). This wasn’t as astonishing as the fact that once “Main Street U.S.A.” ends going west on I-44 past Springfield there are adult video stores every ten miles. Really, how many adult video stores do you need on one piece of interstate? I guess if I was a truck driver, I would know.
Seriously, I went with my best friend Jon and his wife to Missouri to see his little brother play some college football. Let me see if I can some it up in a few sentences. It was an eight and a half hour drive and we took my increasingly unreliable truck (smart). We stayed in the Quality Inn which is not as bad as it sounds, but not much better than you think. My room was relatively nice…apparently Jon and Bekah’s was not. We went to dinner at a not terribly good, but terribly bad Mexican restaurant (you don’t realize how good you have it living in the melting pot of Texas until you dine out in other states). Got to see Jon’s little brother’s place, which was awfully nice. Got up the next day and had the free continental breakfast. Went to the college bookstore to get some game day gear, which was interesting but not terribly noteworthy. The game was not great (they lost), but it was fun to see unpretentious college football. The weather was weird, but nothing that couldn’t be handled. We had a little tailgate after the game. Then we went over to Michael’s for game night and a night cap. Other points of interest: we went to Wal-Mart twice while we were there; I had a mini-fridge in my room that served to keep the beer cold for a day; Missouri is actually a really pretty state; my truck made it all the way there and back without incident.
Ok, now what you really come to my blog for…pointless interesting thoughts from me. I realized something while making the entire drive there and back myself. I didn’t have to; it was more of a choice than a requirement. I didn’t want Jon to drive my truck (I really don’t like anyone driving my truck but me). And, when Jon and I made the trip to ATL earlier this summer, he drove the whole way there and back, so I was repaying him for his diligence with my own. All of that is not what I realized, though. I realized that if I would have had less ambition in life (or more, depending on how you look at it) I could have been a truck driver. Being behind the wheel for hours at end doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t have a regular sleep schedule (or a sleep schedule at all). I kept thinking the whole time driving there that I would have loved to have a CB radio. I mean, truck driving would be the way to go, if I hadn’t spent so much money on a college education. Jon even pointed out a couple of truck driving schools and companies with “drivers wanted” signs out front. I just don’t know if the trucker lifestyle would work for me in the long haul (pun).
Another thing that struck me during this epic drive was the obtuse amount of adult video stores along the interstate in Missouri. Interstate 44, which runs the length of Missouri across the southern portion, has a section running from Springfield to St. Louis called “Main Street U.S.A.” This sounds quaint and fun doesn’t it? It gained this claim to fame because it is the part of I-44 that runs almost parallel to Route 66. It is an amazing drive through the foothills of Missouri passing nice little towns with lots of tourist traps. Well, apparently “Main Street U.S.A.” has porn stores every 50 miles. These range from broken down shack type places to the more swanky joints with 24-7 video arcades (if I have to explain what an arcade in an adult video store is, then you don’t need to know). This wasn’t as astonishing as the fact that once “Main Street U.S.A.” ends going west on I-44 past Springfield there are adult video stores every ten miles. Really, how many adult video stores do you need on one piece of interstate? I guess if I was a truck driver, I would know.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Punctuality, Cleanliness, and Straight Shots
Ugh! You may have noticed that I didn’t write a blog earlier this week as I have made customary over the past few months. I had a pretty busy and sleepless weekend due in small part to my own negligence for my health and in a larger part to what a friend termed “female persuasion.” Regardless of what any of that means, I am finally back to a semi-normal schedule though I have developed somewhat of a head cold. Nothing serious, but it is just a bit annoying. Seriously folks, have you ever had that congestion that only blocks one nostril at a time? It is like a little war happening right on your face. One side wins out and can breathe clearly while the other is stuck clogged with the aftermath. Then there is a coup and the nostril that had been the victor is now the defeated. This goes on back and forth all day until peace negotiations happen through the softness of facial tissue or the rest of the body commits to a police action with the use of pharmaceuticals. We are at peace now because the drugs have kicked in, but those are due to run out in about an hour, and I’m still in class for three more hours. The war will continue.
Aside from that, I had a pretty darn good weekend. It was full of fun with friends and libations, which led to the exhausted feeling (and perhaps illness) that I felt on Tuesday. I got to polish off 22 beers with my friend on Wednesday, had pizza with my professor on Thursday, celebrated a friend’s birthday on Friday (and mourned the defeat of my ‘Stangs), reconnected with an old friend on Saturday, saw my best friend on Sunday, and went to the state fair on Monday. Interlaced with those events were other occasions that took up a great deal of my time and drinking ability. But, I made it through and I am here, back on an even keel now. I am looking forward to a trip out of town this weekend which will introduce me to the wonderful world of Missouri and reacquaint me with the glory of Division II college football. It should be amazing, and I’ll definitely blog about it next week, but until then you will have to make do with my random thoughts.
As I was rushing to class tonight, running late (well, late for me, but on time for others), I started to think about how punctuality has become a pet peeve of mine over the years. If you work jobs in the traditional sense where your boss is usually standing right inside the door when you get there, then you come to appreciate the importance of being on time. It is not the flexible cubicle dwelling lifestyle where you are expected to be there the majority of the day, but being a few minutes late is no big deal. It is more like if you aren’t hear on time I will mark it in my book and when you have three marks in my book you are terminated. So I always try to be early. When I can’t be early, I get a little miffed. Today was nothing of my doing necessarily. My dad called me an hour before class and asked if I could run by their house to feed the dogs. This is not a normal situation because usually either my mom or dad is home in the morning or evening to feed them. But, tonight my dad was working late (driving the school bus for some volleyball games) and my mom is out of town. So, I had to drive all the way across Dallas County in rush hour traffic to feed the dogs and then halfway back to get to campus. Needless to say, I was pissed…but my parents raised a good kid, so I did what was asked. Plus, I love our dogs too much to have them suffer through going on ten hours without food or a bathroom break.
Since I was thinking about pet peeves I tried to come up with any others that I have. If you read my last blog then you could probably guess that one of them is hygiene. I can’t stand people who don’t try to take care of their personal hygiene. We live in America, where the luxury of being able to bathe every day is almost a given. There’s no reason why you should be going out into public without at least washing your hands and face. I know I have days where I skip a shower just because I’m being lazy, but I usually am not leaving the house or having guests, so the only person who has to deal with my level of cleanliness or dirtiness is me. I’m just saying, we live in a society where bathing is considered a courtesy to those around you. Now I study international business and I know there are countries and regions where bathing every day would be seen as opulence. These places I understand completely and do not hold my pet peeve nonsense to. In fact it reminds me that I have the privilege of being able to bathe and makes me want to go take a shower right now just because I can.
Another pet peeve I thought of is fruity shots. I can’t stand the idea of shots being anything other than straight alcohol of one type. A shot of whiskey, a shot of tequila, a shot of vodka…these are easy to order, sometimes hard to drink, and get you hammered faster than if you mix fruit juice with them. I was out at a bar Sunday night with a lady friend and the people next to us were ordering shot after shot of some sort of green liquid. I can’t remember the name of what they ordered, but there two girls and TWO GUYS were downing these shots like crazy (never mind the fact that it was a Sunday night and they were throwing back shots). I just don’t see the appeal. Doesn’t mean I won’t drink a fruity shot though. My buddy Jon worked at a bar on lower Greenville in Dallas for about a year and I became a regular there. There was a bartender there who made mystery shots (I won’t say her name, but if she is reading this she knows who she is). The place was usually not that busy so she could screw around behind the bar a lot and experiment with making various combinations. She never came up with something that wasn’t palatable, but they were always spiked with some sort of fruit juice just in case the liquors she chose didn’t mesh so well. I miss those mystery shots, but if she ever asked me to order a shot I always said, “Give me a shot of bourbon.”
Aside from that, I had a pretty darn good weekend. It was full of fun with friends and libations, which led to the exhausted feeling (and perhaps illness) that I felt on Tuesday. I got to polish off 22 beers with my friend on Wednesday, had pizza with my professor on Thursday, celebrated a friend’s birthday on Friday (and mourned the defeat of my ‘Stangs), reconnected with an old friend on Saturday, saw my best friend on Sunday, and went to the state fair on Monday. Interlaced with those events were other occasions that took up a great deal of my time and drinking ability. But, I made it through and I am here, back on an even keel now. I am looking forward to a trip out of town this weekend which will introduce me to the wonderful world of Missouri and reacquaint me with the glory of Division II college football. It should be amazing, and I’ll definitely blog about it next week, but until then you will have to make do with my random thoughts.
As I was rushing to class tonight, running late (well, late for me, but on time for others), I started to think about how punctuality has become a pet peeve of mine over the years. If you work jobs in the traditional sense where your boss is usually standing right inside the door when you get there, then you come to appreciate the importance of being on time. It is not the flexible cubicle dwelling lifestyle where you are expected to be there the majority of the day, but being a few minutes late is no big deal. It is more like if you aren’t hear on time I will mark it in my book and when you have three marks in my book you are terminated. So I always try to be early. When I can’t be early, I get a little miffed. Today was nothing of my doing necessarily. My dad called me an hour before class and asked if I could run by their house to feed the dogs. This is not a normal situation because usually either my mom or dad is home in the morning or evening to feed them. But, tonight my dad was working late (driving the school bus for some volleyball games) and my mom is out of town. So, I had to drive all the way across Dallas County in rush hour traffic to feed the dogs and then halfway back to get to campus. Needless to say, I was pissed…but my parents raised a good kid, so I did what was asked. Plus, I love our dogs too much to have them suffer through going on ten hours without food or a bathroom break.
Since I was thinking about pet peeves I tried to come up with any others that I have. If you read my last blog then you could probably guess that one of them is hygiene. I can’t stand people who don’t try to take care of their personal hygiene. We live in America, where the luxury of being able to bathe every day is almost a given. There’s no reason why you should be going out into public without at least washing your hands and face. I know I have days where I skip a shower just because I’m being lazy, but I usually am not leaving the house or having guests, so the only person who has to deal with my level of cleanliness or dirtiness is me. I’m just saying, we live in a society where bathing is considered a courtesy to those around you. Now I study international business and I know there are countries and regions where bathing every day would be seen as opulence. These places I understand completely and do not hold my pet peeve nonsense to. In fact it reminds me that I have the privilege of being able to bathe and makes me want to go take a shower right now just because I can.
Another pet peeve I thought of is fruity shots. I can’t stand the idea of shots being anything other than straight alcohol of one type. A shot of whiskey, a shot of tequila, a shot of vodka…these are easy to order, sometimes hard to drink, and get you hammered faster than if you mix fruit juice with them. I was out at a bar Sunday night with a lady friend and the people next to us were ordering shot after shot of some sort of green liquid. I can’t remember the name of what they ordered, but there two girls and TWO GUYS were downing these shots like crazy (never mind the fact that it was a Sunday night and they were throwing back shots). I just don’t see the appeal. Doesn’t mean I won’t drink a fruity shot though. My buddy Jon worked at a bar on lower Greenville in Dallas for about a year and I became a regular there. There was a bartender there who made mystery shots (I won’t say her name, but if she is reading this she knows who she is). The place was usually not that busy so she could screw around behind the bar a lot and experiment with making various combinations. She never came up with something that wasn’t palatable, but they were always spiked with some sort of fruit juice just in case the liquors she chose didn’t mesh so well. I miss those mystery shots, but if she ever asked me to order a shot I always said, “Give me a shot of bourbon.”
Friday, September 24, 2010
Civilized social graces means "take a bath"
Almost every man I know would agree with me on this…if we didn’t have to try to be clean and look good, we wouldn’t. If there wasn’t a basic societal pressure to not be offensive both visually and to the nostrils, men would still be slightly more than cavemen. This is where the live of the bachelor can be quite different than that of the non-bachelor. I am faced every day with the daunting task of personal grooming to impress. I know this for a fact from my married friends. Once you begin cohabitation in the bonds of matrimony, the need to impress more than one person who is already impressed with you seems to slip away. But, as a bachelor, you never know when you are going to come across that potential lady friend and looking like you just came out of a two week expedition in the bush is not the best start. I’m just saying, when I know I’m going to be coming across new people, potentially new and attractive women, I do everything I can to make an impression.
Why am I talking about this? There are two good reasons. The first one is concerning something I experienced last night. My global marketing professor is one of the nicest, funniest, and strangest guys in the world. We had our midterm exam last night and after every midterm in every class he teaches he takes the whole class out for a pizza dinner. So I went to the pizza dinner last night after the exam and of course I had a good time because I have really close friends in that class and like I said, the prof is a trip. We were sitting there, eating pizza, drinking beer, and shooting bull about jobs and relationships when in walks this tall, attractive woman who makes a bee line for our table. Apparently, this tall drink of water is in our class! How did I not know this? Well, tall women are my kryptonite and I was on the verge of making a move until I realized that I looked like hell. I have a two week beard, haven’t shaved my head, and was nursing a serious hangover…not impressive or sexy. I missed an opportunity to break the ice right there.
The second reason I am talking about this is that I have a new opportunity tonight. A close friend from high school who I reconnected with at my reunion is having a birthday dinner tonight. I know what those of you who know me personally are thinking…it’s TCU-SMU tonight, the Battle of the Iron Skillet, why is he going to a birthday dinner? Well, I’m TiVo-ing the game, so don’t tell me anything about it, but I care about my friends. If you’re one of my friends, you know that I go out of my way to be there for people who are important to me. Also, this is an opportunity to expand my horizons a little. The birthday girl has different sets of friends that I am not a part of. New people, new women to be introduced to is a great proposition. This means the operation to grow the beard out for Halloween is going to hit a snag. I am shaving it off tonight to be presentable. But, I will go back to the beard growing tomorrow.
The point I am trying to make is that personal grooming is an important part of the bachelor lifestyle. I go through several rituals to prepare myself for being out among the potential lady friends. As you may have seen, heard, or read about, I am voluntarily bald. I shave my head to reduce the shock of seeing a man in his twenties with thinning hair. Well, it isn’t the easiest thing in the world (I have a new appreciation for women who shave their legs regularly). I shave my head every other day. Since I’ve got the razor out, I usually shave my face on those days too. I have a time tested and well planned out combination of fragrances and deodorants and antiperspirants that keep me comfortable and feeling fresh. I always brush before leaving the house. Clean teeth and fresh breathe are endlessly important. I almost always have a shirt on that has a collar. It means that I look slightly more polished than the other guy who is wearing an Affliction shirt or whatever most douchebags are wearing these days, but still casual.
Appearance is everything to a bachelor. The nice car, clean and organized house, and personal appearance are all staples of the bachelor life. This is what I have learned over the years (especially recently). So I take things seriously when it comes to making the right impression through personal hygiene. Sure, it seems shallow, and it is…but in an open market (the dating world) the company with the most visible/tangible assets is going to attract investors (sorry, I’m watching Wall Street right now). Now, I’m not necessarily trying to find someone right now, but it never hurts to be prepared. And that’s all grooming is…preparation for being out among civilized company.
Why am I talking about this? There are two good reasons. The first one is concerning something I experienced last night. My global marketing professor is one of the nicest, funniest, and strangest guys in the world. We had our midterm exam last night and after every midterm in every class he teaches he takes the whole class out for a pizza dinner. So I went to the pizza dinner last night after the exam and of course I had a good time because I have really close friends in that class and like I said, the prof is a trip. We were sitting there, eating pizza, drinking beer, and shooting bull about jobs and relationships when in walks this tall, attractive woman who makes a bee line for our table. Apparently, this tall drink of water is in our class! How did I not know this? Well, tall women are my kryptonite and I was on the verge of making a move until I realized that I looked like hell. I have a two week beard, haven’t shaved my head, and was nursing a serious hangover…not impressive or sexy. I missed an opportunity to break the ice right there.
The second reason I am talking about this is that I have a new opportunity tonight. A close friend from high school who I reconnected with at my reunion is having a birthday dinner tonight. I know what those of you who know me personally are thinking…it’s TCU-SMU tonight, the Battle of the Iron Skillet, why is he going to a birthday dinner? Well, I’m TiVo-ing the game, so don’t tell me anything about it, but I care about my friends. If you’re one of my friends, you know that I go out of my way to be there for people who are important to me. Also, this is an opportunity to expand my horizons a little. The birthday girl has different sets of friends that I am not a part of. New people, new women to be introduced to is a great proposition. This means the operation to grow the beard out for Halloween is going to hit a snag. I am shaving it off tonight to be presentable. But, I will go back to the beard growing tomorrow.
The point I am trying to make is that personal grooming is an important part of the bachelor lifestyle. I go through several rituals to prepare myself for being out among the potential lady friends. As you may have seen, heard, or read about, I am voluntarily bald. I shave my head to reduce the shock of seeing a man in his twenties with thinning hair. Well, it isn’t the easiest thing in the world (I have a new appreciation for women who shave their legs regularly). I shave my head every other day. Since I’ve got the razor out, I usually shave my face on those days too. I have a time tested and well planned out combination of fragrances and deodorants and antiperspirants that keep me comfortable and feeling fresh. I always brush before leaving the house. Clean teeth and fresh breathe are endlessly important. I almost always have a shirt on that has a collar. It means that I look slightly more polished than the other guy who is wearing an Affliction shirt or whatever most douchebags are wearing these days, but still casual.
Appearance is everything to a bachelor. The nice car, clean and organized house, and personal appearance are all staples of the bachelor life. This is what I have learned over the years (especially recently). So I take things seriously when it comes to making the right impression through personal hygiene. Sure, it seems shallow, and it is…but in an open market (the dating world) the company with the most visible/tangible assets is going to attract investors (sorry, I’m watching Wall Street right now). Now, I’m not necessarily trying to find someone right now, but it never hurts to be prepared. And that’s all grooming is…preparation for being out among civilized company.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
The New Me, I Mean Blog, New Blog
I’m going a new direction with the blog. Sorry to all of you who are deeply in love with the current format (all two of you). I enjoy writing about what I usually write about (religion, sports, and randomness) and I still will write about those things, but I feel like a blog should be more personal. I have felt my interest in blogging waning over the past few months and a change is definitely needed. A friend suggested that I blog about my experiences as a bachelor. You know, how awesome I am, how I handle things, etc. I trust this friend even though we have only really become close over the past two months (and she doesn’t live in the state). So, after much consideration and even more beer, I came to the conclusion that this is what I need to do. I am a rare thing among my friends, the bachelor. Even rarer still, I am the bachelor in his late twenties. I have been living the life over the past seven or eight years, but I have not really embraced my bachelorness until the past few weeks. It took God putting something in front of me and then swiftly taking it away for me to realize how much I needed to learn and experience on my own. So, this starts a new chapter for The Elder Statesman…blunt, honest talk about myself. Here it goes.
I had this really long blog written about how I use nicknames with my friends, but that doesn’t seem to do the idea of a new direction justice. Sure, it was funny and insightful like most of my writing, but it didn’t seem to make a point. It was more or less just rambling about how I use pet names and nicknames with my friends more than their own names. As I was driving home from my parents’ house tonight I came to the conclusion that I would talk about something more near and dear to my heart…Halloween costumes. As a kid we always had nice and relevant costumes. One year I was a Ghostbuster and I had the jumpsuit, the proton pack (the authentic toy one, not one I came up with myself), and realistic nametags. I looked good, if I do say so myself. Ever since then, if I have put on a costume, I have gone all out. A couple years ago I was a firefighter and I used my brother’s old bunker pants from when he was in training, an EMT shirt I had, and real rubber boots. I pulled it off so well that a friend driving up actually thought I was a real fireman. So, this year, with the potential for two Halloween parties to go to, I have been racking my brain to come up with something.
It was an epiphany, of sorts. I am the elder statesman of my friends. I am a bachelor. I have amazing skills and hidden talents that inspire awe from those who know me and those who don’t. Who could I be that would fit my personality and make a statement. The Dude from The Big Lebowski? Naw, I’ve got things together way more than he does. George Washington? I might be able to pull off the impressive revolutionary war uniform, but the powder wig, not so much. Humphrey Bogart? I admit, a white dinner jacket is classy as hell, but who else my age knows anything about Bogie. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks…I can be The Most Interesting Man in the World from the Dos Equis commercials! I can easily pull that off. Grow out the beard, get me some hair (by that, I mean a wig), and the rest of it is just a six pack of Dos Equis and a suit. Awesome! I mean, I am already a graduate of The Most Interesting Academy (http://dosequis.com/academy/) and I am well versed on the man, the myth, the legend that is The Most Interesting Man in the World. This will be great!
How could I not pull this off? I am a bachelor and it’s pretty obvious that The Most Interesting Man in the World is as well. How else could be pal around with the bevy of beauties you always see him with in the commercials? A wild, untamed man like him would not have been tied down into marriage (not that I don’t want to get married, I do, but just not yet). I am skilled at a variety of useful (and some not useful) crafts. In The Academy we call this The Eclectic Arts. And if you know anything about The Most Interesting Man in the World, you know that he is quite skilled. I draw the attention, respect, and honor of those around me (seriously, I not conceited, I’m just one of those people). People look to me for strength and guidance, which I happily give. The Most Interesting Man in the World is the same way. People are drawn to him, they want to know him, and they respect what he says. Truthishly, I am the most interesting man in the world (or at least in my world). So look forward to Halloween weekend when you will definitely see pictures of me posted on facebook in my costume. How will you tell it is me? I will be the one you won’t be able to stop looking at…because I am that interesting.
I had this really long blog written about how I use nicknames with my friends, but that doesn’t seem to do the idea of a new direction justice. Sure, it was funny and insightful like most of my writing, but it didn’t seem to make a point. It was more or less just rambling about how I use pet names and nicknames with my friends more than their own names. As I was driving home from my parents’ house tonight I came to the conclusion that I would talk about something more near and dear to my heart…Halloween costumes. As a kid we always had nice and relevant costumes. One year I was a Ghostbuster and I had the jumpsuit, the proton pack (the authentic toy one, not one I came up with myself), and realistic nametags. I looked good, if I do say so myself. Ever since then, if I have put on a costume, I have gone all out. A couple years ago I was a firefighter and I used my brother’s old bunker pants from when he was in training, an EMT shirt I had, and real rubber boots. I pulled it off so well that a friend driving up actually thought I was a real fireman. So, this year, with the potential for two Halloween parties to go to, I have been racking my brain to come up with something.
It was an epiphany, of sorts. I am the elder statesman of my friends. I am a bachelor. I have amazing skills and hidden talents that inspire awe from those who know me and those who don’t. Who could I be that would fit my personality and make a statement. The Dude from The Big Lebowski? Naw, I’ve got things together way more than he does. George Washington? I might be able to pull off the impressive revolutionary war uniform, but the powder wig, not so much. Humphrey Bogart? I admit, a white dinner jacket is classy as hell, but who else my age knows anything about Bogie. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks…I can be The Most Interesting Man in the World from the Dos Equis commercials! I can easily pull that off. Grow out the beard, get me some hair (by that, I mean a wig), and the rest of it is just a six pack of Dos Equis and a suit. Awesome! I mean, I am already a graduate of The Most Interesting Academy (http://dosequis.com/academy/) and I am well versed on the man, the myth, the legend that is The Most Interesting Man in the World. This will be great!
How could I not pull this off? I am a bachelor and it’s pretty obvious that The Most Interesting Man in the World is as well. How else could be pal around with the bevy of beauties you always see him with in the commercials? A wild, untamed man like him would not have been tied down into marriage (not that I don’t want to get married, I do, but just not yet). I am skilled at a variety of useful (and some not useful) crafts. In The Academy we call this The Eclectic Arts. And if you know anything about The Most Interesting Man in the World, you know that he is quite skilled. I draw the attention, respect, and honor of those around me (seriously, I not conceited, I’m just one of those people). People look to me for strength and guidance, which I happily give. The Most Interesting Man in the World is the same way. People are drawn to him, they want to know him, and they respect what he says. Truthishly, I am the most interesting man in the world (or at least in my world). So look forward to Halloween weekend when you will definitely see pictures of me posted on facebook in my costume. How will you tell it is me? I will be the one you won’t be able to stop looking at…because I am that interesting.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Not the Iron Chef...More like the Tin Foil Chef
I blew it last week. I’d been promising myself I would cook a good meal. Since my standard dinner lately has been a plate of nachos and a couple of spoons of peanut butter. I figured it was high time to cook a proper meal. It started well: I snagged a fancy pasta recipe off the internet and raced through the grocery store after class loading up on ingredients I had no business buying: sun-dried tomatoes soaking in tubs of yellow oil, artichoke hearts squeezed into tiny square jars, and a big bottle of dry white cooking wine for simmering the sauce. Then I came home and made a huge mess.
First, I didn’t have butter so I tossed the chopped onions into some lukewarm olive oil. Then after I realized I forgot to buy garlic I dumped the whole bottle of artichokes in to make up for it, figuring they were related somewhere way back in their vegetable family tree (I know better than that, but when you start cooking and don’t have what you need, sometimes you improvise). Unfortunately, while trying to get the onions frying I dissolved those artichokes to mush. My grip on dinner was slipping so I tried saving the day with half a bottle of white wine before letting the whole thing simmer for ten minutes. Smiling and satisfied, I washed my hands and scooped a bed of steamy pasta onto a dinner plate before pouring a generous amount of my sauce on.
Well, guess what?
It was disgusting.
The onions were somehow raw and burnt (if you’ve cooked before, you know this feat is hard to accomplish), the artichokes were long gone, and the booze hadn’t simmered off so the entire thing tasted like hot wine. I got up to check the recipe and noticed I’d forgotten to put water in during the important final stage and somehow replaced it with triple the amount of wine. It was a terrible meal and I choked it back through a forced smile and hot tears. A half bottle of Parmesan cheese and a loaf of bread were also called in to help. It was a sad day but I really do hope that one day I get to experience the joy of cooking something new and having everyone like it.
This is not something I have no experience at. I have been cooking successfully for many years now. I can make lasagna from scratch with the noodles you have to cook first (not the cheater, cook while they bake ones). I can make a pretty good chicken noodle soup (so I’ve been told). I am a grilling champion the likes of Bobby Flay. And I have a mean prowess when it comes to baking a firm, but moist, cake. So I know what it looks like when people enjoy your culinary creations. I can see it now.
After flipping through cookbooks and strolling through aisles I get a sneaky twinkle in my eye as I race home ready to whip up a storm. Next I grab my trusty “cooking towel” (a multipurpose towel I use while cooking), throw on a cap to hold back the sweat, and preheat that oven. After spinning like the Tasmanian Devil for a couple hours everyone finally comes over and samples my big meal.
“Ohhhh…” they say softly “Wow, this is delicious! What is this?”
“Oh … just some experimenting,” I smile back shyly, shrugging my shoulders. “It was so easy, honestly.”
But they won’t stop. None of them will. A round of applause starts as I get up to start cleaning the kitchen. They want the recipe, they want the leftovers, they want me to cater their upcoming dinner parties…I am chef galore. This, of course, has never really happened. I do get compliments, though. I make a darn good turkey gravy at Thanksgiving. I can make just about any casserole from memory (my folks are from the Midwest, home of the casserole). But, on those rare occasions where I screw up, it reminds me how good I should be. I never make the same mistakes twice and I’ve never made a bad meal two times in a row.
First, I didn’t have butter so I tossed the chopped onions into some lukewarm olive oil. Then after I realized I forgot to buy garlic I dumped the whole bottle of artichokes in to make up for it, figuring they were related somewhere way back in their vegetable family tree (I know better than that, but when you start cooking and don’t have what you need, sometimes you improvise). Unfortunately, while trying to get the onions frying I dissolved those artichokes to mush. My grip on dinner was slipping so I tried saving the day with half a bottle of white wine before letting the whole thing simmer for ten minutes. Smiling and satisfied, I washed my hands and scooped a bed of steamy pasta onto a dinner plate before pouring a generous amount of my sauce on.
Well, guess what?
It was disgusting.
The onions were somehow raw and burnt (if you’ve cooked before, you know this feat is hard to accomplish), the artichokes were long gone, and the booze hadn’t simmered off so the entire thing tasted like hot wine. I got up to check the recipe and noticed I’d forgotten to put water in during the important final stage and somehow replaced it with triple the amount of wine. It was a terrible meal and I choked it back through a forced smile and hot tears. A half bottle of Parmesan cheese and a loaf of bread were also called in to help. It was a sad day but I really do hope that one day I get to experience the joy of cooking something new and having everyone like it.
This is not something I have no experience at. I have been cooking successfully for many years now. I can make lasagna from scratch with the noodles you have to cook first (not the cheater, cook while they bake ones). I can make a pretty good chicken noodle soup (so I’ve been told). I am a grilling champion the likes of Bobby Flay. And I have a mean prowess when it comes to baking a firm, but moist, cake. So I know what it looks like when people enjoy your culinary creations. I can see it now.
After flipping through cookbooks and strolling through aisles I get a sneaky twinkle in my eye as I race home ready to whip up a storm. Next I grab my trusty “cooking towel” (a multipurpose towel I use while cooking), throw on a cap to hold back the sweat, and preheat that oven. After spinning like the Tasmanian Devil for a couple hours everyone finally comes over and samples my big meal.
“Ohhhh…” they say softly “Wow, this is delicious! What is this?”
“Oh … just some experimenting,” I smile back shyly, shrugging my shoulders. “It was so easy, honestly.”
But they won’t stop. None of them will. A round of applause starts as I get up to start cleaning the kitchen. They want the recipe, they want the leftovers, they want me to cater their upcoming dinner parties…I am chef galore. This, of course, has never really happened. I do get compliments, though. I make a darn good turkey gravy at Thanksgiving. I can make just about any casserole from memory (my folks are from the Midwest, home of the casserole). But, on those rare occasions where I screw up, it reminds me how good I should be. I never make the same mistakes twice and I’ve never made a bad meal two times in a row.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Babaganoush Sports Beat
Texas Rangers
Tonight, the Rangers open up a series with the Detroit Tigers. Two days from now the Rangers will have an off day before heading to Seattle. They will play the Mariners, Angels, and A's before coming home (likely as AL West Champions) to play the Mariners and a season finale season series with the Angels. That means two things. HOLY COW THE SEASON IS ALMOST OVER and HOLY COW THE RANGERS WON'T PLAY ANOTHER NON-AL WEST TEAM AGAIN UNTIL THE PLAYOFFS AND THEN NOT AGAIN UNTIL 2011. I think about this season and it seems like it has flown by but then I think about things like the McGriddles game in Cleveland and it seems like a lifetime ago. I mean, Matt Harrison was in the rotation then. Ryan Garko was the starting first baseman that day. Cliff Lee was still a couple of weeks away from debuting in Seattle. Justin Smoak was still a week away from debuting in Texas. His debut? April 23rd at the Ballpark against Detroit of course.
It's been a long, strange, weird, awesome, draining, amazing, confusing, sexy, and hilarious season. And it's weird that this meaningless, except for Magic Number watching, series feels like such a milestone. No more AL Central and no more AL East. After Wednesday, the Rangers head out west and the next time they face a team from outside their division it will be the first time they've done so in a little thing we call MLB Postseason since 1999. It feels like reality is getting ready to sink in.
SMU Mustangs Football
Zach Line rushed for 122 yards and two touchdowns to lead SMU to a 28-7 victory against UAB on Saturday night. Line, recruited to SMU as a linebacker, moved to offense and was the team's goal-line rushing specialist last year, scoring seven TDs. The 235-pound sophomore won the starting running back job in the preseason.
Darius Johnson caught two touchdown passes from Kyle Padron as the Mustangs (1-1, 1-0 Conference USA) beat the Blazers (0-2, 0-1) for the fourth time in as many meetings since the schools became league rivals in 2005. Johnson had seven receptions for 45 yards.
David Isabelle threw a 4-yard TD pass to Mike Jones for UAB's only score.
Dallas Cowboys
For some, it is time to move on. For others, the bad taste that came with the 13-7 loss to the Redskins hasn't dissolved just yet. Players such as Keith Brooking and Marcus Spears talked about the disappointment of losing a game in the final seconds, especially when it virtually came down to a pair of plays at the end of each half. For rehashing sake, the two plays in reference were Tashard Choice's fumble on the last play of the first half when it seemed the Cowboys should've just kneeled on the ball and gone into halftime with a 3-0 deficit. Instead, a Hail Mary from their own 34 was called, resulting in a dump-off pass to Choice, who fumbled and it was returned for a touchdown. Secondly, with the Cowboys looking for the go-ahead win in the final seconds, trailing by six, an apparent game-tying touchdown pass from Tony Romo to Roy Williams was nullified by a holding penalty on Alex Barron, the third of the game for the Cowboys' right tackle.
Coach Wade Phillips refused to single out any player or coach on the final player, and didn't say whether Barron was supposed to have blocking help on the right side against Washington pass-rusher Brian Orakpo. Barron, who didn't speak to reporters after the game Sunday or in Monday's open locker room period, did apologize to Williams after the game, according to the receiver. While Barron apologized to Williams, whose game-winning touchdown certainly would've gone a long way to restoring the confidence of a Cowboys' fan base that has ridiculed the wide receiver, another culprit from Sunday's loss faced the music with reporters as well.
Admitting that he's constantly trying to make a play, Choice took the blame for his second-quarter fumble, the first of his career. Choice said he received a lot of support from his coaches and teammates about the play, and said the fact he got more carries in the second half was also encouraging.
However, more than Choice, taking most of the blame for that play was Phillips, who said he should've been more assertive in telling offensive coordinator Jason Garrett to call a more conservative play with just four seconds left on the clock. The play before the fumble, Barron was called for a holding penalty, pushing the ball back to the Cowboys' 36. Before the play, the Cowboys were prepared to throw a Hail Mary into the end zone.
Tonight, the Rangers open up a series with the Detroit Tigers. Two days from now the Rangers will have an off day before heading to Seattle. They will play the Mariners, Angels, and A's before coming home (likely as AL West Champions) to play the Mariners and a season finale season series with the Angels. That means two things. HOLY COW THE SEASON IS ALMOST OVER and HOLY COW THE RANGERS WON'T PLAY ANOTHER NON-AL WEST TEAM AGAIN UNTIL THE PLAYOFFS AND THEN NOT AGAIN UNTIL 2011. I think about this season and it seems like it has flown by but then I think about things like the McGriddles game in Cleveland and it seems like a lifetime ago. I mean, Matt Harrison was in the rotation then. Ryan Garko was the starting first baseman that day. Cliff Lee was still a couple of weeks away from debuting in Seattle. Justin Smoak was still a week away from debuting in Texas. His debut? April 23rd at the Ballpark against Detroit of course.
It's been a long, strange, weird, awesome, draining, amazing, confusing, sexy, and hilarious season. And it's weird that this meaningless, except for Magic Number watching, series feels like such a milestone. No more AL Central and no more AL East. After Wednesday, the Rangers head out west and the next time they face a team from outside their division it will be the first time they've done so in a little thing we call MLB Postseason since 1999. It feels like reality is getting ready to sink in.
SMU Mustangs Football
Zach Line rushed for 122 yards and two touchdowns to lead SMU to a 28-7 victory against UAB on Saturday night. Line, recruited to SMU as a linebacker, moved to offense and was the team's goal-line rushing specialist last year, scoring seven TDs. The 235-pound sophomore won the starting running back job in the preseason.
Darius Johnson caught two touchdown passes from Kyle Padron as the Mustangs (1-1, 1-0 Conference USA) beat the Blazers (0-2, 0-1) for the fourth time in as many meetings since the schools became league rivals in 2005. Johnson had seven receptions for 45 yards.
David Isabelle threw a 4-yard TD pass to Mike Jones for UAB's only score.
Dallas Cowboys
For some, it is time to move on. For others, the bad taste that came with the 13-7 loss to the Redskins hasn't dissolved just yet. Players such as Keith Brooking and Marcus Spears talked about the disappointment of losing a game in the final seconds, especially when it virtually came down to a pair of plays at the end of each half. For rehashing sake, the two plays in reference were Tashard Choice's fumble on the last play of the first half when it seemed the Cowboys should've just kneeled on the ball and gone into halftime with a 3-0 deficit. Instead, a Hail Mary from their own 34 was called, resulting in a dump-off pass to Choice, who fumbled and it was returned for a touchdown. Secondly, with the Cowboys looking for the go-ahead win in the final seconds, trailing by six, an apparent game-tying touchdown pass from Tony Romo to Roy Williams was nullified by a holding penalty on Alex Barron, the third of the game for the Cowboys' right tackle.
Coach Wade Phillips refused to single out any player or coach on the final player, and didn't say whether Barron was supposed to have blocking help on the right side against Washington pass-rusher Brian Orakpo. Barron, who didn't speak to reporters after the game Sunday or in Monday's open locker room period, did apologize to Williams after the game, according to the receiver. While Barron apologized to Williams, whose game-winning touchdown certainly would've gone a long way to restoring the confidence of a Cowboys' fan base that has ridiculed the wide receiver, another culprit from Sunday's loss faced the music with reporters as well.
Admitting that he's constantly trying to make a play, Choice took the blame for his second-quarter fumble, the first of his career. Choice said he received a lot of support from his coaches and teammates about the play, and said the fact he got more carries in the second half was also encouraging.
However, more than Choice, taking most of the blame for that play was Phillips, who said he should've been more assertive in telling offensive coordinator Jason Garrett to call a more conservative play with just four seconds left on the clock. The play before the fumble, Barron was called for a holding penalty, pushing the ball back to the Cowboys' 36. Before the play, the Cowboys were prepared to throw a Hail Mary into the end zone.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
The Mysterious Trinity
The language of three persons points to a mystery of distinction that nevertheless abides in relationship at the heart of the one God. God is not a singleness but a communion—a living fecundity of relational life. For God, to be is to be in relation—this is the primary divine characteristic of God. Yet, even these powerful words are not to be taken literally. As St. Augustine reminds us, "the formula 'three persons' was coined not in order to give a complete explanation by means of it but in order that we might not be obliged to remain silent." Fundamentally, speech about the Trinity needs to go hand in hand with knowing that we do not totally understand. Quite simply, to say that the persons are three is to negate solitariness, thus affirming relationality at the heart of God.
Although the images of Father, Son and Spirit are rooted in Scripture, liturgy and traditional use, they are not necessarily the only imagery in which the triune symbol can be expressed. The Scriptures themselves speak about the triune God in the economy of salvation in cosmic images such as light, fire and water, and theology today quests mightily for other articulations. Whatever the categories used, the three's keep circling round. Always there is reflected a livingness in God; a beyond, a with and a within to the world and its history; a sense of God as from whom, by whom and in whom all things exist, thrive, struggle toward freedom and are gathered in.
The biblical doctrine of the Trinity, bound to the experience of salvation in Jesus and freed from literal interpretations, has the power to call forth loving relationship in our community and in the world. It does so positively, by inspiring efforts to create a community of sisters and brothers interwoven with the whole web of earth's life according to the ideal community that the Trinity models. It does so negatively, by prophetically challenging social and ecological injustices that distort such a community. And it does so by the power of grace, the trinitarian mystery of God actually empowering relationships of mutuality, equality and inclusiveness among persons and between human beings and the earth.
The goal of all creation is to participate in the trinitarian mystery of love. The Church is called to be a sacrament making this love visible and effective in the world. Wherever the human heart is healed, justice is done, peace holds sway, liberation breaks through, the earth flourishes…wherever sin abounding is embraced by grace super-abounding…there the human and earth community already reflect, in fragments, the visage of the trinitarian God.
Although the images of Father, Son and Spirit are rooted in Scripture, liturgy and traditional use, they are not necessarily the only imagery in which the triune symbol can be expressed. The Scriptures themselves speak about the triune God in the economy of salvation in cosmic images such as light, fire and water, and theology today quests mightily for other articulations. Whatever the categories used, the three's keep circling round. Always there is reflected a livingness in God; a beyond, a with and a within to the world and its history; a sense of God as from whom, by whom and in whom all things exist, thrive, struggle toward freedom and are gathered in.
The biblical doctrine of the Trinity, bound to the experience of salvation in Jesus and freed from literal interpretations, has the power to call forth loving relationship in our community and in the world. It does so positively, by inspiring efforts to create a community of sisters and brothers interwoven with the whole web of earth's life according to the ideal community that the Trinity models. It does so negatively, by prophetically challenging social and ecological injustices that distort such a community. And it does so by the power of grace, the trinitarian mystery of God actually empowering relationships of mutuality, equality and inclusiveness among persons and between human beings and the earth.
The goal of all creation is to participate in the trinitarian mystery of love. The Church is called to be a sacrament making this love visible and effective in the world. Wherever the human heart is healed, justice is done, peace holds sway, liberation breaks through, the earth flourishes…wherever sin abounding is embraced by grace super-abounding…there the human and earth community already reflect, in fragments, the visage of the trinitarian God.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Lunch/Dinner for Breakfast and Everything Else
My day got away from me on Tuesday a little bit. I knew I didn’t have class that night so I pretty much got out of bed in the morning thinking of how to occupy myself before going back to bed that night. As I completely zoned out in front of the TV at nine o’clock in the morning, I skipped my usual breakfast of high fiber cereal and low fat milk. At about eleven o’clock I came to the realization that my stomach was growling. I went to the fridge but it felt too late for cereal and too early for lunch. I needed something…and two slices of leftover cold pizza caught my eye. Cold pizza any time is how I usually run my life, but the rare occasion where it fits in my breakfast schedule makes me wonder what else you could eat besides the typical breakfast fare. I realized that cold pizza is just the beginning.
Now, make no mistake here: breakfast has a lot going for it already. Yeah, we’re talking fresh brewed coffee, sizzling bacon, and hot, fluffy pancakes (unless you are adverse to breakfast carbs). Nothing wrong with waking up groggy and heating up the dirty frying pan, flipping down the toaster, or getting that coffee machine dripping. But there’s also something sinful about eating things that have no business being in your mouth before noon. It makes you feel like a rebel, like you have gone off the beaten path, or in my case, like you are still a college freshman. As I ate my cold pizza and drank sweet tea I came up with these other breakfast substitutes:
- Cake: What’s up, last night’s birthday? We were all stuffed when the flaming sugar slab got wheeled up so most people didn’t eat much. Thank goodness someone put it back in the fridge because now it’s time to kickstart the day with a couple icing flowers. Goes great with morning ice cream.
- Coke: There was a time in my life where I started every day with a Mountain Dew and nothing else. It’s deliciously sinful pouring a tall glass of the brown (yellowish/clear) fizzy at 8:00am. Don’t even try to justify it, either. We understand, friend. We’ve all been there.
- Mix and Match: This is where you stare into your fridge for five minutes and realize you don’t have any good breakfast stuff kicking around. Now it’s time to grab a couple pickles, spoonful of peanut butter, and some slices of bologna before putting the backpack on and running out the door. Works best after late parties where the second round of appetizers is ignored due to booze consumption.
- Regular breakfast food with a key ingredient missing: If you grew up in the hood then you know there were days where milk was not around, so your ‘rents told you to put water on your Cheerios. Sure, maybe it’s disgusting, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. If you’ve ever smeared strawberry jam on your pancakes or eaten a plate of eggs with a handful of Ritz crackers, then you know what we’re talking about.
- Breakfast Grillin’: Flip on the gas and get grilling. You can try whipping up bacon or eggs out there if you want to keep the classics, but frankly, if you’re ever gonna do sausages or wieners, now’s the time. Great for camping or cottages.
- Leftover takeout: Open up your fridge and get ready for that surprise Styrofoam wake up call. Nothing like some snow peas and cross-cut carrots soaking in an ice-cold bath of soy sauce to get the day started with a salty jolt. There is a warning on this one, don’t take your roommates leftovers cause they’ll end up eating whatever you thought you were going to have for lunch.
Now, morning is generally time for slow movements and soft tastes. Most of us baby our tongues with oatmeal muffins, scrambled eggs, or some butter on toast. But that’s why it’s fun eating ridiculous things for breakfast once in a while. You’re drawing outside the lines, ripping up the rules, and adding adventure to your morning. Bring on the day! I will eat this two day old spicy steak and peppers! I will garnish my fried eggs with crushed barbeque flavored potato chips! I will eat the cupcakes leftover from my niece’s birthday party! Seize the day, readers, seize the day!
Now, make no mistake here: breakfast has a lot going for it already. Yeah, we’re talking fresh brewed coffee, sizzling bacon, and hot, fluffy pancakes (unless you are adverse to breakfast carbs). Nothing wrong with waking up groggy and heating up the dirty frying pan, flipping down the toaster, or getting that coffee machine dripping. But there’s also something sinful about eating things that have no business being in your mouth before noon. It makes you feel like a rebel, like you have gone off the beaten path, or in my case, like you are still a college freshman. As I ate my cold pizza and drank sweet tea I came up with these other breakfast substitutes:
- Cake: What’s up, last night’s birthday? We were all stuffed when the flaming sugar slab got wheeled up so most people didn’t eat much. Thank goodness someone put it back in the fridge because now it’s time to kickstart the day with a couple icing flowers. Goes great with morning ice cream.
- Coke: There was a time in my life where I started every day with a Mountain Dew and nothing else. It’s deliciously sinful pouring a tall glass of the brown (yellowish/clear) fizzy at 8:00am. Don’t even try to justify it, either. We understand, friend. We’ve all been there.
- Mix and Match: This is where you stare into your fridge for five minutes and realize you don’t have any good breakfast stuff kicking around. Now it’s time to grab a couple pickles, spoonful of peanut butter, and some slices of bologna before putting the backpack on and running out the door. Works best after late parties where the second round of appetizers is ignored due to booze consumption.
- Regular breakfast food with a key ingredient missing: If you grew up in the hood then you know there were days where milk was not around, so your ‘rents told you to put water on your Cheerios. Sure, maybe it’s disgusting, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. If you’ve ever smeared strawberry jam on your pancakes or eaten a plate of eggs with a handful of Ritz crackers, then you know what we’re talking about.
- Breakfast Grillin’: Flip on the gas and get grilling. You can try whipping up bacon or eggs out there if you want to keep the classics, but frankly, if you’re ever gonna do sausages or wieners, now’s the time. Great for camping or cottages.
- Leftover takeout: Open up your fridge and get ready for that surprise Styrofoam wake up call. Nothing like some snow peas and cross-cut carrots soaking in an ice-cold bath of soy sauce to get the day started with a salty jolt. There is a warning on this one, don’t take your roommates leftovers cause they’ll end up eating whatever you thought you were going to have for lunch.
Now, morning is generally time for slow movements and soft tastes. Most of us baby our tongues with oatmeal muffins, scrambled eggs, or some butter on toast. But that’s why it’s fun eating ridiculous things for breakfast once in a while. You’re drawing outside the lines, ripping up the rules, and adding adventure to your morning. Bring on the day! I will eat this two day old spicy steak and peppers! I will garnish my fried eggs with crushed barbeque flavored potato chips! I will eat the cupcakes leftover from my niece’s birthday party! Seize the day, readers, seize the day!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
The Babaganoush Sports Beat
Texas Rangers
We’ve hit the skids. We’re on the schneide. When will it end? I’m not going to tell you! Why? Because you should be watching the games at home or heading out to the ballpark, that’s why. The Rangers are on the cusp of being a true playoff contention team, but they need fan support. So dig out those Rangers shirts you have hidden away in the back of your closet or on your rag pile and throw up The Claw. IT’S TIME!
Dallas Cowboys
As much as I would like to say about the embarrassment that was our preseason, I’d rather not. We’ve had some keys players with injuries over the length of preseason, so it is hard to judge, but let’s just be content that preseason doesn’t count, it’s hardly important, and it’s over. The regular season starts Sunday for the Cowboys, so get your hands out of your pockets and start cheering for the home team. How embarrassing would it be to be considered a Super Bowl contender at the beginning of the year and not make it? Not as embarrassing as having to host the Super Bowl at your new home stadium and not make it? Think about it.
SMU Mustangs Football
Kyle Padron was 21 for 38 and threw for 218 yards, along with 2 touchdowns in a loss against Texas Tech on Sunday, 35-27. The win gave Tommy Tuberville his first as Red Raiders coach. Texas Tech ran its winning streak against SMU to 14 games, dating back to 1989. Tech QB Potts was 34 for 53 with no interceptions and connected with Lyle Leong for three scores and Detron Lewis for the other. Eric Stephens rushed for 3-yard TD to put Texas Tech up 35-14 midway through the third quarter. Texas Tech's defense had the task of trying to stop Padron, who threw for a school-record 460 yards and two touchdowns running coach June Jones' run-n-shoot in a 45-10 win over Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl. SMU’s Darryl Fields returned a kickoff 92 yards to set up a 24-yard field to pull SMU within 35-17. Early in the fourth, Matt Szymanski booted a 61-yard field goal, his longest ever.
SMU scored its first touchdown on its final drive of the first half as Padron led a 13-play drive, including his scrambling for 18 yards for a first down on fourth-and-3 from Tech's 34. Zach Line scored from 2 yards and the Mustangs were down by only one score. SMU pulled within 35-27 midway through the fourth quarter after taking over on downs on the Tech 32. On fourth-and-six from the 13, Padron threw into the end zone and it looked like safety Cody Davis had broken it up. But the ball stayed up in the air and Cole Beasley caught it for a score.
The Mustangs had a chance late and were driving when they failed to convert a fourth-and-21 from the 50 on their final drive. Texas Tech intercepted SMU quarterback Kyle Padron three times in the game. The Mustangs rallied behind their special teams. The Mustangs also blocked two field goals. All in all, it was a fun game to watch, if not completely frustrating. SMU had many chances to break open this game and turn the tides, but failed. It was just plain sloppy, especially the first half. Once Padron seemed to calm down and get in a rhythm things started to look up for the Mustangs, but you can’t bet the farm on him just yet. If I had to pick an upside of this loss it would have to be the SMU defense. There were times in this game where SMU’s defense looked completely gassed, but came through with a big stop. Against the less offensively suave teams in our conference, I have no doubt that this defense will be a huge game changer.
We’ve hit the skids. We’re on the schneide. When will it end? I’m not going to tell you! Why? Because you should be watching the games at home or heading out to the ballpark, that’s why. The Rangers are on the cusp of being a true playoff contention team, but they need fan support. So dig out those Rangers shirts you have hidden away in the back of your closet or on your rag pile and throw up The Claw. IT’S TIME!
Dallas Cowboys
As much as I would like to say about the embarrassment that was our preseason, I’d rather not. We’ve had some keys players with injuries over the length of preseason, so it is hard to judge, but let’s just be content that preseason doesn’t count, it’s hardly important, and it’s over. The regular season starts Sunday for the Cowboys, so get your hands out of your pockets and start cheering for the home team. How embarrassing would it be to be considered a Super Bowl contender at the beginning of the year and not make it? Not as embarrassing as having to host the Super Bowl at your new home stadium and not make it? Think about it.
SMU Mustangs Football
Kyle Padron was 21 for 38 and threw for 218 yards, along with 2 touchdowns in a loss against Texas Tech on Sunday, 35-27. The win gave Tommy Tuberville his first as Red Raiders coach. Texas Tech ran its winning streak against SMU to 14 games, dating back to 1989. Tech QB Potts was 34 for 53 with no interceptions and connected with Lyle Leong for three scores and Detron Lewis for the other. Eric Stephens rushed for 3-yard TD to put Texas Tech up 35-14 midway through the third quarter. Texas Tech's defense had the task of trying to stop Padron, who threw for a school-record 460 yards and two touchdowns running coach June Jones' run-n-shoot in a 45-10 win over Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl. SMU’s Darryl Fields returned a kickoff 92 yards to set up a 24-yard field to pull SMU within 35-17. Early in the fourth, Matt Szymanski booted a 61-yard field goal, his longest ever.
SMU scored its first touchdown on its final drive of the first half as Padron led a 13-play drive, including his scrambling for 18 yards for a first down on fourth-and-3 from Tech's 34. Zach Line scored from 2 yards and the Mustangs were down by only one score. SMU pulled within 35-27 midway through the fourth quarter after taking over on downs on the Tech 32. On fourth-and-six from the 13, Padron threw into the end zone and it looked like safety Cody Davis had broken it up. But the ball stayed up in the air and Cole Beasley caught it for a score.
The Mustangs had a chance late and were driving when they failed to convert a fourth-and-21 from the 50 on their final drive. Texas Tech intercepted SMU quarterback Kyle Padron three times in the game. The Mustangs rallied behind their special teams. The Mustangs also blocked two field goals. All in all, it was a fun game to watch, if not completely frustrating. SMU had many chances to break open this game and turn the tides, but failed. It was just plain sloppy, especially the first half. Once Padron seemed to calm down and get in a rhythm things started to look up for the Mustangs, but you can’t bet the farm on him just yet. If I had to pick an upside of this loss it would have to be the SMU defense. There were times in this game where SMU’s defense looked completely gassed, but came through with a big stop. Against the less offensively suave teams in our conference, I have no doubt that this defense will be a huge game changer.
Monday, September 6, 2010
When is Baptsm Appropriate
As our family has been growing over the past year or so with the cousins starting to have babies, there has been a point of contention among our ranks…when is it necessary to have the baby baptized? My father comes from the generation of Catholics who were told that a baby must be baptized as soon as possible (as in a day or two after the baby leaves the hospital). But, due to how spread out our family is and the fact that godparents often have to come from obscure corners of the US, the new babies in the family have gone a month or more before baptism. This confounds my father greatly and he has asked me repeatedly if this is alright or not. Why me? I guess because over the years my brother and mother have nurtured this idea that I am some sort of expert on canon law. This is hardly the case. Although today, sitting in church I was reminded of my goddaughter’s baptism and decided to look into it.
Catholics believe in infant baptism. I have written about this before on a couple of occasions but I’ll try to sum it up. Catholics believe that because of Original Sin, all men have lost the original holiness and justice given to Adam and Eve [CCC, no. 405]. Just as He gives the gift of life, so God gives Baptism as the gift to bring us eternal life. Not only is this given as a gift, but God requires us to accept His gift in order to be saved. As Jesus Himself says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:5). Children, even babies, were not excluded from the Old Covenant. Likewise, the family of God in the New Covenant is for all people, including babies. As Jesus Himself said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Lk. 18:16). This is the basis for our belief and the reason why we baptize our babies rather than waiting as most non-Catholic Christians do. I fully understand and appreciate the non-Catholic stance on baptism and have witnessed my own friends receive their baptisms as teenagers and young adults. I’m not here to say one way is right or wrong, for it is not my place to judge. I am only telling you what I, as a Catholic, believe.
Back to the question at hand, when is it necessary to baptize a newborn baby? For the answers I went to the one place that would have it, a website of Catholic Canon Law. Catholic Canon Law #867 states that, if an infant is in danger of death, it is to be baptized without any delay. Under ordinary circumstances, states Canon #867, parents are to see to the Baptisms of their infants within the first few weeks: "As soon as possible after birth, even before it, they are to approach the parish priest to ask for the sacrament for their child and to be themselves prepared for it." So according to the Church, my father is relatively correct in his knowledge of Catholic Tradition. The Church still believes that baptism is essential as soon as possible after birth.
I wanted to know if there is any flexibility in this, because Canon Law is like the Constitution…it was written a long time ago, hardly ever gets revised, and takes ridiculous amounts of effort to change it. I found information for new parents on how to prepare for Baptism. The first consideration in determining the time is the welfare of the child. If the child is at risk of death from complications at birth, it is important to have baptism administered immediately. Also to be taken into account is the health of the mother so that if possible she may be present for the Baptism. For Catholics, baptism is one of the first holy and spiritual moments they have with their child and it is important to be there and be healthy. There may also be necessary some time to prepare the parents for the sacrament and to plan the ceremony. A specialist in canon law has noted that the phrase "within the first weeks after birth" may be interpreted broadly to allow for special family considerations, for example, to await the return of a family member who lives out of town. So, there you go.
Catholics believe in infant baptism. I have written about this before on a couple of occasions but I’ll try to sum it up. Catholics believe that because of Original Sin, all men have lost the original holiness and justice given to Adam and Eve [CCC, no. 405]. Just as He gives the gift of life, so God gives Baptism as the gift to bring us eternal life. Not only is this given as a gift, but God requires us to accept His gift in order to be saved. As Jesus Himself says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:5). Children, even babies, were not excluded from the Old Covenant. Likewise, the family of God in the New Covenant is for all people, including babies. As Jesus Himself said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Lk. 18:16). This is the basis for our belief and the reason why we baptize our babies rather than waiting as most non-Catholic Christians do. I fully understand and appreciate the non-Catholic stance on baptism and have witnessed my own friends receive their baptisms as teenagers and young adults. I’m not here to say one way is right or wrong, for it is not my place to judge. I am only telling you what I, as a Catholic, believe.
Back to the question at hand, when is it necessary to baptize a newborn baby? For the answers I went to the one place that would have it, a website of Catholic Canon Law. Catholic Canon Law #867 states that, if an infant is in danger of death, it is to be baptized without any delay. Under ordinary circumstances, states Canon #867, parents are to see to the Baptisms of their infants within the first few weeks: "As soon as possible after birth, even before it, they are to approach the parish priest to ask for the sacrament for their child and to be themselves prepared for it." So according to the Church, my father is relatively correct in his knowledge of Catholic Tradition. The Church still believes that baptism is essential as soon as possible after birth.
I wanted to know if there is any flexibility in this, because Canon Law is like the Constitution…it was written a long time ago, hardly ever gets revised, and takes ridiculous amounts of effort to change it. I found information for new parents on how to prepare for Baptism. The first consideration in determining the time is the welfare of the child. If the child is at risk of death from complications at birth, it is important to have baptism administered immediately. Also to be taken into account is the health of the mother so that if possible she may be present for the Baptism. For Catholics, baptism is one of the first holy and spiritual moments they have with their child and it is important to be there and be healthy. There may also be necessary some time to prepare the parents for the sacrament and to plan the ceremony. A specialist in canon law has noted that the phrase "within the first weeks after birth" may be interpreted broadly to allow for special family considerations, for example, to await the return of a family member who lives out of town. So, there you go.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Mount Tater and Lake Gravy
I went to lunch with the family last weekend as my brother and sister were preparing to go out of town this week. It was one last chance to catch up on things before being in different cities for a few days. Sounds a little crazy, I know, but I don’t care because I got to see my niece for a few hours. She even went all thug at one point and threw her glass bottle to the ground, shattering it and spraying apple juice everywhere. She’s hardcore…straight from the hood! Anyway, we went to a country style eatery near my brother’s place and I got me some chicken fried steak (it is the Sunday special after all). It comes with mashed potatoes and realized once again my love affair with them. Sure I have had mashed potatoes off and on over the past months, but there’s something about having mashed potatoes and chicken fried anything that just rekindles your love. Must be the gravy…thus I thought I would elaborate on my love of mashed potatoes today.
Are ya’ll ready? Ready to get your mash on long? Ready to get your mash on strong? How great is it that a bunch of rock-hard brown things yanked from the dirt can turn into a creamy smooth-n-salty canvas of deliciousness right in the middle of our plates? I’m talking salty lumps, I’m talking tasty bumps, I’m talking mashed potatoes, people. Mashed potatoes require a certain artistry to make, especially from scratch. Sure, the instant mashed potato flakes don’t measure up to the real thing, but if prepared properly, they are more than serviceable. My family has a long tradition of making mashed potatoes properly from scratch, however. You have to know what to use and what not to use. If the potatoes are cooked just right, then you don’t need to cheat by adding sour cream or any other binding agent to them before mashed. All you need is a little salt and pepper, milk, and butter (unsalted real butter is best). Some people like their mashed taters with skins…I say to each their own. I can say that sometimes skins add a little flavor and sometimes they make the whole thing taste like dirt.
Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty here. The true loveliness of mashed potatoes comes from the fact that they are moldable. Their like Play-Doh that you can eat and it doesn’t have the taste of Play-Doh (for all you weirdoes out there who actually ate Play-Doh as a kid…weirdoes). Mashed potatoes are one of the few foods who achieve that rare 10 out of 10 on sculpt-ability. This comes in handy when eating your mashed potatoes with gravy. I don’t know where the heavenly combination of mashed potatoes and gravy came from, but it is truly glorious. There are many ways you can form your taters to handle the gravy properly:
- Lakes and ponds. The classic. Nobody’s bending burgers into teapots or folding pancakes into salad plates, but we’ve got no problems curving sloppy potatoes into gravy swimming pools in no time flat.
- Broken dams. Need some gravy on that turkey? No problem! Just slice a gully in the side of Lake Gravy and watch the salty brown goodness lay a flash flood on that bird.
- Retaining walls. Sorry? What’s that? Unruly cranberry sauce is threatening to contaminate your casserole? No problem! Just smear some mashed potato paste across your plate like mortar and keep all the flavors where they belong.
- Buried volcano. When you got the gravy pond sitting pretty on your plate it’s sometimes fun letting it soak in and then quickly flipping the entire structure onto itself, completely submerging the gravy under a thin sheen of potato. Now you’ve got a starchy chest full of treasure.
And because mashed potatoes offer so much potential it’s not uncommon to see other creations like green-bean porcupines or lumpy Pyramids of Giza in the middle of a mashed potato plate. I am not advocating playing with your food, not in the least. I was raised a southern gentleman by a good Catholic couple from up north (a contradiction, I know), but that means you sit up, keep your elbows off the table, and don’t play with your food (while anyone is looking). I have to admit, I am stung by the creativity bug when I’ve got a smooth pile of mashed potatoes on my plate. I try to find ways to eat them so as to form a story. Like the army is surrounding the potato village and their cannons are breaking down the potato walls slowly, bit by bit. There is really no limit to the possibilities so just remember to dig for the moment, sculpt for the memories, and build for your life.
Are ya’ll ready? Ready to get your mash on long? Ready to get your mash on strong? How great is it that a bunch of rock-hard brown things yanked from the dirt can turn into a creamy smooth-n-salty canvas of deliciousness right in the middle of our plates? I’m talking salty lumps, I’m talking tasty bumps, I’m talking mashed potatoes, people. Mashed potatoes require a certain artistry to make, especially from scratch. Sure, the instant mashed potato flakes don’t measure up to the real thing, but if prepared properly, they are more than serviceable. My family has a long tradition of making mashed potatoes properly from scratch, however. You have to know what to use and what not to use. If the potatoes are cooked just right, then you don’t need to cheat by adding sour cream or any other binding agent to them before mashed. All you need is a little salt and pepper, milk, and butter (unsalted real butter is best). Some people like their mashed taters with skins…I say to each their own. I can say that sometimes skins add a little flavor and sometimes they make the whole thing taste like dirt.
Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty here. The true loveliness of mashed potatoes comes from the fact that they are moldable. Their like Play-Doh that you can eat and it doesn’t have the taste of Play-Doh (for all you weirdoes out there who actually ate Play-Doh as a kid…weirdoes). Mashed potatoes are one of the few foods who achieve that rare 10 out of 10 on sculpt-ability. This comes in handy when eating your mashed potatoes with gravy. I don’t know where the heavenly combination of mashed potatoes and gravy came from, but it is truly glorious. There are many ways you can form your taters to handle the gravy properly:
- Lakes and ponds. The classic. Nobody’s bending burgers into teapots or folding pancakes into salad plates, but we’ve got no problems curving sloppy potatoes into gravy swimming pools in no time flat.
- Broken dams. Need some gravy on that turkey? No problem! Just slice a gully in the side of Lake Gravy and watch the salty brown goodness lay a flash flood on that bird.
- Retaining walls. Sorry? What’s that? Unruly cranberry sauce is threatening to contaminate your casserole? No problem! Just smear some mashed potato paste across your plate like mortar and keep all the flavors where they belong.
- Buried volcano. When you got the gravy pond sitting pretty on your plate it’s sometimes fun letting it soak in and then quickly flipping the entire structure onto itself, completely submerging the gravy under a thin sheen of potato. Now you’ve got a starchy chest full of treasure.
And because mashed potatoes offer so much potential it’s not uncommon to see other creations like green-bean porcupines or lumpy Pyramids of Giza in the middle of a mashed potato plate. I am not advocating playing with your food, not in the least. I was raised a southern gentleman by a good Catholic couple from up north (a contradiction, I know), but that means you sit up, keep your elbows off the table, and don’t play with your food (while anyone is looking). I have to admit, I am stung by the creativity bug when I’ve got a smooth pile of mashed potatoes on my plate. I try to find ways to eat them so as to form a story. Like the army is surrounding the potato village and their cannons are breaking down the potato walls slowly, bit by bit. There is really no limit to the possibilities so just remember to dig for the moment, sculpt for the memories, and build for your life.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
The Babaganoush Sports Beat
Just in case the fact the Rangers lost two of three games to Oakland last weekend made any of you a little anxious that this AL West race might become more nerve-wracking than you might prefer, let’s step away from the race for a moment. I’m not saying there is cause for concern about our upcoming push for the playoffs, but it is never too early to start thinking or game planning for next season. Besides, do you want to be the one hit wonder team who crushed the competition one year and fizzled the next? Yeah, me neither. So let’s just tap the brakes on playoff talk and walk this way…
Slowly. Carefully. There ya go.
Now, let’s talk about something we’re more used to talking about at this time of year. Mainly, that would be next year. While CEO Chuck Greenberg said the club would pursue free agent pitcher Cliff Lee for a long-term deal after 2010, the question is whether investing in him long-term would pay the biggest benefit. Cliff Lee can pitch. And he’s not tanking it. But the question is this: If the Rangers can afford to make one major free-agent acquisition, where are the dollars best spent? There are definitely various other spots around the field where you could at least consider a major investment or at least some well calculated moves. I’ll go around the horn and point out some opportunities that the team shouldn’t pass up if it is at all possible to address them.
Catcher: Remember a year ago, when this position looked like it was stocked for years to come? Not so anymore. The Rangers had to rush to get Matt Treanor as a backup during spring, got more than they ever expected and then still felt the need to get Bengie Molina to front the position. Molina went into Monday hitting .212 as a Ranger. Anybody interested in bringing him back? Or giving the job to Treanor, who will be 35 and who has never been a starter? Or Taylor Teagarden? It’s a problem position. The Rangers will need to pursue a catcher this winter. There just aren’t many guys – if any – out there who would be worthy of a long-term deal and big bucks. The Rangers will sign or trade for another catcher this winter, but it won’t be for prime dollars. It will fall under the heading of “affordable.”
First base: Remember, like six months ago, when the position looked like it was stocked for years to come? Not so anymore. Justin Smoak was traded in the Cliff Lee deal. Chris Davis appears to have three strikes against him after three demotions in two seasons. Mitch Moreland has done a solid job since his promotion, but didn’t Davis do the same thing with more pop for half a year in 2008? Are the Rangers content to go with Moreland, considered the lowest of the three first base prospects in the system a year ago or might they want to pursue somebody like Adrian Gonzalez, a Gold Glove caliber defender and disciplined hitter? Could they bring themselves to doing that after letting him go as a throw-in five years ago?
Third base: There is public sentiment that Michael Young’s defense is regressing. I’d say his defense has been disappointing this season. Think even Young will eventually acknowledge that and pledge to do all he can to improve his range for 2011. But despite the defensive shortcomings, which extend only to range (not hands or arm strength), Young remains one of the better overall options at third. If, however, Boston’s Adrian Beltre were to test free agency, you’d have one guy who might be a better defensive fit and an equal offensive threat. It would allow the Rangers to potentially step away from Vladimir Guerrero, make Young the regular DH, but also play him at three infield spots regularly to keep Beltre and Ian Kinsler healthy and Elvis Andrus fresh. It might be intriguing, but there also might be too many moving pieces to make it all work.
Outfield : It’s rumored that Carl Crawford will end up with the New York Yankees after this season. Just as it’s rumored Cliff Lee will end up there. The Rangers have spent the whole year flip-flopping between a pair of left-handed bats in the outfield. David Murphy can produce runs and plays solid all-around defense; Julio Borbon can run and gets to everything in the outfield. Crawford does what both Murphy and Borbon do, only better. How would an outfield of Crawford in left, Josh Hamilton in center and Nelson Cruz in right, look? Expensive. That’s how it would look. But it would also look air tight on defense and multi-dimensional on offense.
So that said, where do you go? You stick with pursuing Lee and putting him atop the rotation (which I see as less and less of a need if the post All-Star CJ Wilson is going to stick around for a few years), or do you decide to take draft picks for him, let the Yankees take all the financial risk and try to address another spot on the roster?
Slowly. Carefully. There ya go.
Now, let’s talk about something we’re more used to talking about at this time of year. Mainly, that would be next year. While CEO Chuck Greenberg said the club would pursue free agent pitcher Cliff Lee for a long-term deal after 2010, the question is whether investing in him long-term would pay the biggest benefit. Cliff Lee can pitch. And he’s not tanking it. But the question is this: If the Rangers can afford to make one major free-agent acquisition, where are the dollars best spent? There are definitely various other spots around the field where you could at least consider a major investment or at least some well calculated moves. I’ll go around the horn and point out some opportunities that the team shouldn’t pass up if it is at all possible to address them.
Catcher: Remember a year ago, when this position looked like it was stocked for years to come? Not so anymore. The Rangers had to rush to get Matt Treanor as a backup during spring, got more than they ever expected and then still felt the need to get Bengie Molina to front the position. Molina went into Monday hitting .212 as a Ranger. Anybody interested in bringing him back? Or giving the job to Treanor, who will be 35 and who has never been a starter? Or Taylor Teagarden? It’s a problem position. The Rangers will need to pursue a catcher this winter. There just aren’t many guys – if any – out there who would be worthy of a long-term deal and big bucks. The Rangers will sign or trade for another catcher this winter, but it won’t be for prime dollars. It will fall under the heading of “affordable.”
First base: Remember, like six months ago, when the position looked like it was stocked for years to come? Not so anymore. Justin Smoak was traded in the Cliff Lee deal. Chris Davis appears to have three strikes against him after three demotions in two seasons. Mitch Moreland has done a solid job since his promotion, but didn’t Davis do the same thing with more pop for half a year in 2008? Are the Rangers content to go with Moreland, considered the lowest of the three first base prospects in the system a year ago or might they want to pursue somebody like Adrian Gonzalez, a Gold Glove caliber defender and disciplined hitter? Could they bring themselves to doing that after letting him go as a throw-in five years ago?
Third base: There is public sentiment that Michael Young’s defense is regressing. I’d say his defense has been disappointing this season. Think even Young will eventually acknowledge that and pledge to do all he can to improve his range for 2011. But despite the defensive shortcomings, which extend only to range (not hands or arm strength), Young remains one of the better overall options at third. If, however, Boston’s Adrian Beltre were to test free agency, you’d have one guy who might be a better defensive fit and an equal offensive threat. It would allow the Rangers to potentially step away from Vladimir Guerrero, make Young the regular DH, but also play him at three infield spots regularly to keep Beltre and Ian Kinsler healthy and Elvis Andrus fresh. It might be intriguing, but there also might be too many moving pieces to make it all work.
Outfield : It’s rumored that Carl Crawford will end up with the New York Yankees after this season. Just as it’s rumored Cliff Lee will end up there. The Rangers have spent the whole year flip-flopping between a pair of left-handed bats in the outfield. David Murphy can produce runs and plays solid all-around defense; Julio Borbon can run and gets to everything in the outfield. Crawford does what both Murphy and Borbon do, only better. How would an outfield of Crawford in left, Josh Hamilton in center and Nelson Cruz in right, look? Expensive. That’s how it would look. But it would also look air tight on defense and multi-dimensional on offense.
So that said, where do you go? You stick with pursuing Lee and putting him atop the rotation (which I see as less and less of a need if the post All-Star CJ Wilson is going to stick around for a few years), or do you decide to take draft picks for him, let the Yankees take all the financial risk and try to address another spot on the roster?
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Biblical Quandary: James, the brother of Jesus
Television shows and books refer to St. James as the brother of Jesus. In the Apostles’ Creed we say, “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord…” If St. James is Jesus’ brother, would James not also be God’s son? Were Mary and Joseph the parents of James?
“James, the brother of the Lord” has puzzled people for centuries. The New Testament refers to three men named James:
- James, brother of John the Apostle, himself an apostle and a son of Zebedee (Matthew 4:21, etc.), is called James the Greater. He was martyred by King Herod Agrippa I about 41 A.D. (Acts 12:2) and is venerated in Santiago de Compostela (Spain).
- James, son of Alphaeus, also an apostle (Matthew 10:3, etc.), is known as James the Lesser. He was clubbed to death and is often confused with “James, the brother of the Lord.”
- The third James is the brother of Joseph/Joses, Simon and Judas of Nazareth (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3). Jesus appeared to this James after the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:7). With Peter, he led the earliest Christian community in Jerusalem (Acts 12:17; 15:13-21), is mentioned by St. Paul (Galatians 2:12) and was stoned to death in 62 A.D. on the high priest’s orders.
The third James is the presumed author of the New Testament’s Letter of James. He may have been Jesus’ cousin; other members of his family headed the Church in Jerusalem until that city was destroyed in 70 A.D.
For us, the term “brother” means a male relative sharing identical parents with the person who calls him “brother.” The term, however, in some societies can include other male relatives, even cousins. Jesus uses “brother” in an even wider sense in Mark 3:35 (“For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother”), Matthew 25:40, Luke 22:32 and John 20:17.
The Catholic Church maintains that Mary had only one child, Jesus, who was not biologically the son of Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:34-35). Already in the second century, the Protoevangelium of James described these “brothers of Jesus” as children of Joseph by a previous marriage. St. Jerome (d. 420) considered them cousins of Jesus. There is no scriptural evidence that Joseph was a single parent before marrying Mary.
“James, the brother of the Lord” has puzzled people for centuries. The New Testament refers to three men named James:
- James, brother of John the Apostle, himself an apostle and a son of Zebedee (Matthew 4:21, etc.), is called James the Greater. He was martyred by King Herod Agrippa I about 41 A.D. (Acts 12:2) and is venerated in Santiago de Compostela (Spain).
- James, son of Alphaeus, also an apostle (Matthew 10:3, etc.), is known as James the Lesser. He was clubbed to death and is often confused with “James, the brother of the Lord.”
- The third James is the brother of Joseph/Joses, Simon and Judas of Nazareth (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3). Jesus appeared to this James after the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:7). With Peter, he led the earliest Christian community in Jerusalem (Acts 12:17; 15:13-21), is mentioned by St. Paul (Galatians 2:12) and was stoned to death in 62 A.D. on the high priest’s orders.
The third James is the presumed author of the New Testament’s Letter of James. He may have been Jesus’ cousin; other members of his family headed the Church in Jerusalem until that city was destroyed in 70 A.D.
For us, the term “brother” means a male relative sharing identical parents with the person who calls him “brother.” The term, however, in some societies can include other male relatives, even cousins. Jesus uses “brother” in an even wider sense in Mark 3:35 (“For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother”), Matthew 25:40, Luke 22:32 and John 20:17.
The Catholic Church maintains that Mary had only one child, Jesus, who was not biologically the son of Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:34-35). Already in the second century, the Protoevangelium of James described these “brothers of Jesus” as children of Joseph by a previous marriage. St. Jerome (d. 420) considered them cousins of Jesus. There is no scriptural evidence that Joseph was a single parent before marrying Mary.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
It's been 10 years...darn, thought it was longer
I've written about my 10 year high school reunion before, but as it is tomorrow I am going to just touch on the subject again. I initially wanted to go to my reunion since I figured that is what you are supposed to do. After getting in touch with an old high school girl friend (now friend) several years ago, she convinced me that going to the reunion would be a torturous waste of time. I stuck with that idea up until a couple weeks ago when that same friend IMed me to ask me if I would go with her and another friend to the reunion. So now I am apparently going. Luckily I planned ahead a bought a ticket, just in case, but mostly because the reunion committee kept sending facebook messages about being sure to buy your ticket so they would have the money to pay for the venue. Regardless, I am going. I still don't really feel like going, but everyone says I will have a good time (and for some reason I trust them). I know all about reunions due to what I read on wikipedia and what my brother and friends have told me about theirs.
A class reunion is a meeting of former classmates, typically organized at or near their former school by one of the class on or around an anniversary of their graduation. Former teachers may be invited as well. Usually, participants nostalgically reminisce about their old school days, fondly remember their school pranks, and bring each other up to date on what has happened to each of them since they went their separate ways. Alumni are quite often concerned about how their lives have turned out when compared with the lives of their former classmates, and will sometimes feel pressured enough to go to great lengths to concoct stories about their fruitful careers, personal accomplishments and relationships with others.
In film and literature, especially crime novels, thrillers and psychological suspense novels, class reunions have been a frequent device used to show the eruption of emotions such as shame, hatred or guilt within individual characters who, suddenly faced again with their own youth, become aware of the fact that they have been unable to cope with their past. In many cases, those who used to be bullied, humiliated or in any other way mistreated by their teachers and/or classmates believe that now their chance has come to take revenge on their former torturers. Another staple of this kind of fiction is former classmates taking up with their old flame again, either because they have changed to their advantage and developed into an admirable adult or precisely for the opposite reason—because they have not changed at all in a fleeting world.
I don't have much else to say. I may do a special edition of The Elder Statesman next week to tell ya'll about it, but I don't think I'll have that much to say. I mean really...is getting back together with the people who I spent four grueling years with ten years ago going to change anything about my life for the next ten years or more? Probably not. In fact, it will probably be a relatively expensive night on the town thinking about past glories and failures (basically the same as my early twenties). I'll let you know how it goes maybe...
A class reunion is a meeting of former classmates, typically organized at or near their former school by one of the class on or around an anniversary of their graduation. Former teachers may be invited as well. Usually, participants nostalgically reminisce about their old school days, fondly remember their school pranks, and bring each other up to date on what has happened to each of them since they went their separate ways. Alumni are quite often concerned about how their lives have turned out when compared with the lives of their former classmates, and will sometimes feel pressured enough to go to great lengths to concoct stories about their fruitful careers, personal accomplishments and relationships with others.
In film and literature, especially crime novels, thrillers and psychological suspense novels, class reunions have been a frequent device used to show the eruption of emotions such as shame, hatred or guilt within individual characters who, suddenly faced again with their own youth, become aware of the fact that they have been unable to cope with their past. In many cases, those who used to be bullied, humiliated or in any other way mistreated by their teachers and/or classmates believe that now their chance has come to take revenge on their former torturers. Another staple of this kind of fiction is former classmates taking up with their old flame again, either because they have changed to their advantage and developed into an admirable adult or precisely for the opposite reason—because they have not changed at all in a fleeting world.
I don't have much else to say. I may do a special edition of The Elder Statesman next week to tell ya'll about it, but I don't think I'll have that much to say. I mean really...is getting back together with the people who I spent four grueling years with ten years ago going to change anything about my life for the next ten years or more? Probably not. In fact, it will probably be a relatively expensive night on the town thinking about past glories and failures (basically the same as my early twenties). I'll let you know how it goes maybe...
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The Babaganoush Sports Beat
Southern Methodist Football
It took coach June Jones just two seasons to turn SMU from a joke into a bowl team. The Mustangs improved from 1-11 in Jones' first season to 8-5 last season, capping it off with a 45-10 rout of Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl. It was SMU's first postseason appearance since 1984 and just their second winning record since resurrecting football in 1989 after an NCAA-imposed "death penalty." The turnaround doesn't look like a fluke. The Mustangs return 15 starters, and though the schedule is difficult, another bowl bid looks likely. SMU hopes to take the next step this season, which begins Sept. 5 at Texas Tech. The Mustangs are aiming for the Conference USA title – though Houston is more commonly considered the preseason frontrunner. But really, who is afraid of Houston? Not the Mustangs. One trademark of a June Jones-coached team seems to be an absolute absence of fear. SMU lost a lot of talent from last year's team, but the players and coaches seem positive their system will work better and better as the talent and depth improve and the players get more and more familiar with the intricacies and nuances of the offensive and defensive systems.
STRENGTHS:
1. Coaching: June Jones has had something of a Midas touch wherever he has been. He lifted a long-dormant Hawaii program to new heights during his tenure on the islands, and in just his second year in Dallas, he led the Mustangs to their first bowl game in 25 years. Jones is renowned as an offensive genius, and rightly so, but his most important gift might be that of master psychologist. He and his staff have changed the culture around a program that had had just one winning season in the previous two decades. Jones believes in positive reinforcement and has instilled a new level of accountability in his team, from freshmen to fifth-year seniors.
2. Quarterback Kyle Padron: With exactly six starts on his college résumé, Padron already is one of the clear-cut leaders on the team. He has a 5-1 record as a starter and set an SMU single-game record with 460 passing yards in the Hawaii Bowl and was named the game's Most Valuable Player. His passer rating of 159.9 was the fifth-highest mark in the nation.
3. Defensive ends: Starters Taylor Thompson and Marquis Frazier completely changed the effectiveness of the defense last year, playing solidly against the run and the pass. Coupled with backup Margus Hunt — who, in his first year of playing football came within one of the all-time NCAA record for blocked kicks in a single season — the Mustangs have the best trio of defensive ends in more than 20 years.
4. Offensive tackles Kelvin Beachum, Jr. and J.T. Brooks: the bookends of the Mustangs' offensive line are big, athletic and technically solid. Beachum earns more accolades, but by the end of the 2009 season, Brooks was the offensive line's best player. These two were key reasons why Padron barely got any pressure at all in the Hawaii Bowl.
WEAKNESSES:
1. Depth: Since Jones' arrival, the Ponies have collected some quality starters, but are dangerously thin at many positions.
2. Uncertainty in the running game: transfer Shawnbrey McNeal was a pleasant surprise last year, running for more yards than any back June Jones has ever coached in college, but he is in San Diego now, trying to make the Chargers as a free agent. Chris Butler, Zach Line, Bryce Lunday and Ryan Moczygemba return, but many expect a pair of true freshmen, Kevin Pope and Darryl Fields, to compete for significant playing time — if not a starting role — right away.
WHO TO KEEP AN EYE ON:
The Mustangs are coming off their first bowl appearance since 1984, and returning to the postseason will depend heavily on QB Kyle Padron. He was pressed into starting duty as a true freshman in Game 7, after Bo Levi Mitchell was injured, and Padron performed so well down the stretch that Mitchell -- a two-year starter -- decided to transfer to FCS member Eastern Washington. Padron threw for 1,922 yards in seven games, and 3,000 yards is an eminently reachable goal this season. Padron is the latest quarterback off the assembly line at powerhouse Southlake Carroll High, in the Dallas suburbs.
PREDICTION:
Since coming back from the death penalty in 1989, SMU has finished with a .500 record or better three times. How have the Mustangs fared before and after those seasons? Before and after each of those winning/even seasons, the Mustangs had losing records. Some of those were as bad as 1-11 like in 2007 after Phil Bennett lead SMU to a 6-6 season in 2006 or as innocuous as 5-6 like the 2005 season where Bennett lead the Mustangs to 5-6. If I had to make a gut prediction based on what I know, I say the Mustangs go 6-6 this season. The Mustangs lost a small senior class, but that class included a lot of key performers, including WR Sanders, SS Rock Dennis, CB McCann and C Mitch Enright. Jones and his staff are building the program the right way, stockpiling young talent, but while that talent base grows, the Mustangs will call on a lot of young players to fill key roles.
Now, if you are asking me as an alumnus and SMU homer…I say we come back with another 8 win season, starting with an incredible upset of Texas Tech at Lubbock. Kick ‘em Stangs!
It took coach June Jones just two seasons to turn SMU from a joke into a bowl team. The Mustangs improved from 1-11 in Jones' first season to 8-5 last season, capping it off with a 45-10 rout of Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl. It was SMU's first postseason appearance since 1984 and just their second winning record since resurrecting football in 1989 after an NCAA-imposed "death penalty." The turnaround doesn't look like a fluke. The Mustangs return 15 starters, and though the schedule is difficult, another bowl bid looks likely. SMU hopes to take the next step this season, which begins Sept. 5 at Texas Tech. The Mustangs are aiming for the Conference USA title – though Houston is more commonly considered the preseason frontrunner. But really, who is afraid of Houston? Not the Mustangs. One trademark of a June Jones-coached team seems to be an absolute absence of fear. SMU lost a lot of talent from last year's team, but the players and coaches seem positive their system will work better and better as the talent and depth improve and the players get more and more familiar with the intricacies and nuances of the offensive and defensive systems.
STRENGTHS:
1. Coaching: June Jones has had something of a Midas touch wherever he has been. He lifted a long-dormant Hawaii program to new heights during his tenure on the islands, and in just his second year in Dallas, he led the Mustangs to their first bowl game in 25 years. Jones is renowned as an offensive genius, and rightly so, but his most important gift might be that of master psychologist. He and his staff have changed the culture around a program that had had just one winning season in the previous two decades. Jones believes in positive reinforcement and has instilled a new level of accountability in his team, from freshmen to fifth-year seniors.
2. Quarterback Kyle Padron: With exactly six starts on his college résumé, Padron already is one of the clear-cut leaders on the team. He has a 5-1 record as a starter and set an SMU single-game record with 460 passing yards in the Hawaii Bowl and was named the game's Most Valuable Player. His passer rating of 159.9 was the fifth-highest mark in the nation.
3. Defensive ends: Starters Taylor Thompson and Marquis Frazier completely changed the effectiveness of the defense last year, playing solidly against the run and the pass. Coupled with backup Margus Hunt — who, in his first year of playing football came within one of the all-time NCAA record for blocked kicks in a single season — the Mustangs have the best trio of defensive ends in more than 20 years.
4. Offensive tackles Kelvin Beachum, Jr. and J.T. Brooks: the bookends of the Mustangs' offensive line are big, athletic and technically solid. Beachum earns more accolades, but by the end of the 2009 season, Brooks was the offensive line's best player. These two were key reasons why Padron barely got any pressure at all in the Hawaii Bowl.
WEAKNESSES:
1. Depth: Since Jones' arrival, the Ponies have collected some quality starters, but are dangerously thin at many positions.
2. Uncertainty in the running game: transfer Shawnbrey McNeal was a pleasant surprise last year, running for more yards than any back June Jones has ever coached in college, but he is in San Diego now, trying to make the Chargers as a free agent. Chris Butler, Zach Line, Bryce Lunday and Ryan Moczygemba return, but many expect a pair of true freshmen, Kevin Pope and Darryl Fields, to compete for significant playing time — if not a starting role — right away.
WHO TO KEEP AN EYE ON:
The Mustangs are coming off their first bowl appearance since 1984, and returning to the postseason will depend heavily on QB Kyle Padron. He was pressed into starting duty as a true freshman in Game 7, after Bo Levi Mitchell was injured, and Padron performed so well down the stretch that Mitchell -- a two-year starter -- decided to transfer to FCS member Eastern Washington. Padron threw for 1,922 yards in seven games, and 3,000 yards is an eminently reachable goal this season. Padron is the latest quarterback off the assembly line at powerhouse Southlake Carroll High, in the Dallas suburbs.
PREDICTION:
Since coming back from the death penalty in 1989, SMU has finished with a .500 record or better three times. How have the Mustangs fared before and after those seasons? Before and after each of those winning/even seasons, the Mustangs had losing records. Some of those were as bad as 1-11 like in 2007 after Phil Bennett lead SMU to a 6-6 season in 2006 or as innocuous as 5-6 like the 2005 season where Bennett lead the Mustangs to 5-6. If I had to make a gut prediction based on what I know, I say the Mustangs go 6-6 this season. The Mustangs lost a small senior class, but that class included a lot of key performers, including WR Sanders, SS Rock Dennis, CB McCann and C Mitch Enright. Jones and his staff are building the program the right way, stockpiling young talent, but while that talent base grows, the Mustangs will call on a lot of young players to fill key roles.
Now, if you are asking me as an alumnus and SMU homer…I say we come back with another 8 win season, starting with an incredible upset of Texas Tech at Lubbock. Kick ‘em Stangs!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
The Communion of Saints
This is going to be a short one, more for me staying sane by not doing tons of research than for ya'll to not have so much to read. As I was sitting in church Sunday morning I said the prayers that we always say, but I was being really pensive. I began to think about each little thing we prayer and about. At one point in the Mass, the priest calls on the intercession of the communion of saints and as I looked around the room, there were some puzzled looks (as always). Today we will investigate the idea of the communion of saints.
Catholics believe in the "communion of saints." Even though people die, we stay in touch with them and they with us. How is this possible? It is possible through Baptism by which we enter into the death and resurrection of Jesus. Even though Jesus died, he rose from the dead, remaining even more present than when he was on earth to all who believed in him. We live in Christ. Those who have died believing in Christ remain alive in him.
Therefore, whether dead or alive, we are connected in love. So when your grandmother who loved you very much dies, we believe that she now continues in heaven to love who she loved on earth, but with much greater intensity and depth and selflessness.
The saints play an important role in Catholicism, because Catholicism recognizes how people come to know and love God through others. Parents and family play a key role in your development in everything, including faith. Later in life, all sorts of other experiences, especially friendships, have a deep influence on how we grow in our faith.
The communion of saints is a network of friendships that connects us to the love of God. Saints function like windows through whom we can see the shape of God's love. Saints don't point to themselves, but to God. It is impossible for saints to take the place of Jesus, for their whole lives and all their energies were and remain focused on him, and on us in him. If we look to the saints, we will be led to Jesus.
Catholics believe in the "communion of saints." Even though people die, we stay in touch with them and they with us. How is this possible? It is possible through Baptism by which we enter into the death and resurrection of Jesus. Even though Jesus died, he rose from the dead, remaining even more present than when he was on earth to all who believed in him. We live in Christ. Those who have died believing in Christ remain alive in him.
Therefore, whether dead or alive, we are connected in love. So when your grandmother who loved you very much dies, we believe that she now continues in heaven to love who she loved on earth, but with much greater intensity and depth and selflessness.
The saints play an important role in Catholicism, because Catholicism recognizes how people come to know and love God through others. Parents and family play a key role in your development in everything, including faith. Later in life, all sorts of other experiences, especially friendships, have a deep influence on how we grow in our faith.
The communion of saints is a network of friendships that connects us to the love of God. Saints function like windows through whom we can see the shape of God's love. Saints don't point to themselves, but to God. It is impossible for saints to take the place of Jesus, for their whole lives and all their energies were and remain focused on him, and on us in him. If we look to the saints, we will be led to Jesus.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
S...L...E...E...P...Y...
“All men whilst they are awake are in one common world: but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own.” – Plutarch (Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist)
I haven’t just rambled incoherently in a blog in quite some time. Since I’m a little tired and unfocused, now is probably a good time to do that. I don’t know why I’m tired. I got a relatively good amount of sleep last night even though I really couldn’t convince myself to go to bed till almost 4 in the morning. Why is that? Well, I was having a stimulating conversation with a special lady friend of mine and we didn’t get off the phone until almost 2. I could have gone to bed, but I was watching the Colbert Report which I had taped earlier and wanted to finish it. Yes, I could have skipped it, but he was in the middle of one of his WORD segments, so I had to watch. Ok, it only took about fifteen minutes to finish watching that, but then I got a little hungry, so I ate some wafer-crème cookies (one of my dad’s favorites). While I was eating those I started watching Laws of Attraction, the movie with Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore. I’ve never seen it before, so I got wound up in watching it. What can I say? I’m a sucker for romantic comedies. I got about an hour and a half into it when I realized that it wasn’t that good a movie and decided to go to bed.
Like I said, I got plenty of sleep, by which I mean I got my normal amount of sleep. I haven’t been sleeping well the past few months. Sometimes I sleep like a rock, lights out minutes after my head hits the pillow and straight through till morning. But there have been nights where I haven’t slept well at all. I’d wake up constantly, being asleep for an hour or more, but then sort of shocking myself awake. I’ve even had some pretty terrible nightmares, about one a week for the past month or so. One involved a serial killer chasing me, one involved being attacked by a zombie-like goliath, and the last one involved being mugged and shot in the head (and surviving…with brain damage). I didn’t have any dreams or nightmares last night. I slept like a rock, waking up in almost the exact same position as I fell asleep. I’ve been told I don’t move much, if at all, while I sleep, but last night into this morning was the first time I have actually noticed it. I usually fall asleep flat on my back with my arms to my side (soldier style) or with my arms folded over/near my chest (corpse style). Mom said there were times when I was younger where she felt she needed to check to make sure I was still alive.
Why am I talking about all of this? Sometimes, I feel, a blogger needs to bare themselves completely to their audience in order to gain their trust, but also to humanize themselves. I am not standing in front of you telling you my conclusions, theories, and opinions, so it can become a case where you stop believing what you are reading is coming from a living person, but rather begin to expect it to come and either entertain or disgust you as if it materialized out of nowhere. So, yeah, I am real and I am writing these things every other day just for you (well, considering there are so few of you actually reading this, then maybe it is more for me). So, if you are reading this right now, know that I am really tired, I wanted to take a nap but was interrupted by a friend’s phone call, and now I am even more drowsy/tired and I have to leave for my night class in thirty minutes. I am a complex person…
I haven’t just rambled incoherently in a blog in quite some time. Since I’m a little tired and unfocused, now is probably a good time to do that. I don’t know why I’m tired. I got a relatively good amount of sleep last night even though I really couldn’t convince myself to go to bed till almost 4 in the morning. Why is that? Well, I was having a stimulating conversation with a special lady friend of mine and we didn’t get off the phone until almost 2. I could have gone to bed, but I was watching the Colbert Report which I had taped earlier and wanted to finish it. Yes, I could have skipped it, but he was in the middle of one of his WORD segments, so I had to watch. Ok, it only took about fifteen minutes to finish watching that, but then I got a little hungry, so I ate some wafer-crème cookies (one of my dad’s favorites). While I was eating those I started watching Laws of Attraction, the movie with Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore. I’ve never seen it before, so I got wound up in watching it. What can I say? I’m a sucker for romantic comedies. I got about an hour and a half into it when I realized that it wasn’t that good a movie and decided to go to bed.
Like I said, I got plenty of sleep, by which I mean I got my normal amount of sleep. I haven’t been sleeping well the past few months. Sometimes I sleep like a rock, lights out minutes after my head hits the pillow and straight through till morning. But there have been nights where I haven’t slept well at all. I’d wake up constantly, being asleep for an hour or more, but then sort of shocking myself awake. I’ve even had some pretty terrible nightmares, about one a week for the past month or so. One involved a serial killer chasing me, one involved being attacked by a zombie-like goliath, and the last one involved being mugged and shot in the head (and surviving…with brain damage). I didn’t have any dreams or nightmares last night. I slept like a rock, waking up in almost the exact same position as I fell asleep. I’ve been told I don’t move much, if at all, while I sleep, but last night into this morning was the first time I have actually noticed it. I usually fall asleep flat on my back with my arms to my side (soldier style) or with my arms folded over/near my chest (corpse style). Mom said there were times when I was younger where she felt she needed to check to make sure I was still alive.
Why am I talking about all of this? Sometimes, I feel, a blogger needs to bare themselves completely to their audience in order to gain their trust, but also to humanize themselves. I am not standing in front of you telling you my conclusions, theories, and opinions, so it can become a case where you stop believing what you are reading is coming from a living person, but rather begin to expect it to come and either entertain or disgust you as if it materialized out of nowhere. So, yeah, I am real and I am writing these things every other day just for you (well, considering there are so few of you actually reading this, then maybe it is more for me). So, if you are reading this right now, know that I am really tired, I wanted to take a nap but was interrupted by a friend’s phone call, and now I am even more drowsy/tired and I have to leave for my night class in thirty minutes. I am a complex person…
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
The Babaganoush Sports Beat
Texas Rangers
The Rangers have gone out of their way to protect Joaquin Arias. When he couldn't break into the lineup at shortstop, they moved him around the diamond. When he couldn't throw for two years, they waited patiently. When he ran out of minor league options, they created injuries for him so they wouldn't have to risk losing him on waivers. One place they can't protect him: When he's on the field. As a late-game replacement Monday in a 6-4 loss to Tampa Bay, Arias once again demonstrated why he so perplexes management. He helped them get their first lead of the game at the plate, then promptly went into the field and opened the door for a four-run Tampa Bay eighth inning. It was enough to leave manager Ron Washington pacing his office and pinching his lip in frustration before tossing aside his hat and throwing his pack of Winstons on the desk.
We have got to get our heads out of our butts and play better baseball. We gave them too many outs. Cliff Lee should have faced only four hitters in the inning. We made too many mistakes. There were two in particular. Arias was smack-dab in the middle of both. In the field, Arias looked like an about-to-be-thrown bull rider. When B.J. Upton lifted a soft fly ball toward right, Arias wandered out after the ball in a tentative and circuitous route, but it was still shallow enough he came within six inches of catching it. Instead, Upton wound up at second with a double. After Jason Bartlett reached on a single, the next batter was Carl Crawford. He's kind of known for being fast. Word gets around when you average 50 stolen bases for the last seven years. But when Crawford dribbled a ball toward second, Arias stayed back on it, then tried to hurry a throw to second to start an impossible double play.
Asked if Arias played a role in the bizarre feeling of the inning, starter Cliff Lee declined to pass judgment. But if you were watching the game last night, you could see how Lee felt about the debacle. The heat merely appeared to be pouring out from inside of Lee as he seethed in the dugout. And this wasn't the first time the Texas defense let him down. Washington, however, did judge…righteously. He was far more direct and stinging in his assessment of the plays, quite out of character for a manager who loathes saying anything critical of a player. Then again, Washington has seen this before. Last August, with the Rangers trying to catch Los Angeles, Arias stepped in for a pair of starts at second while Ian Kinsler was on the DL. Arias bumbled through two games, both losses, and was promptly banished from the big league team. He was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City, using up his last minor league option. This time, it only took one inning for a problem to surface. This time, if the Rangers decide he can't help them, they aren't going to be able to protect him. This time, that might not be a concern.
On a note dear to my heart, Rangers manager Ron Washington said the team will wait until Ian Kinsler (left groin) resumes baseball activities until making a decision on the second baseman. Washington and team officials will evaluate Kinsler in Baltimore during the Rangers' four-game series against the Orioles or when the team returns to Texas after the seven-game road trip. Kinsler, who was placed on the disabled list on July 29 and eligible to come off it Aug. 12, mentioned before Monday's game against the Rays that he feels healthy and is just waiting on the team's decision.
Dallas Cowboys
Now training in Oxnard, CA, the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive players walked off the field when practice ended Monday, a clear indication they received the message coaches sent the day before. The whole crew “stayed after school,” as team owner Jerry Jones put it, because of a sloppy workout Sunday. They recovered nicely on Monday, drawing plenty of “oohs” and “aahs” from the crowd, especially on touchdown catches from Jason Witten and Miles Austin during a 2-minute drill. Tony Romo was sick Monday, although not as much as he had been Sunday. Jones praised his quarterback for being out there anyway as did coach Wade Phillips.
Offensive worries have been a constant the past few weeks, from the ankle injury that’s sidelined Dez Bryant to right tackle Marc Colombo needing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Monday, from the offense failing to score a touchdown in the first two preseason games to the line allowing 11 sacks in those games. So when the offense got sloppy Sunday, offensive coordinator Jason Garrett reached his breaking point. Phillips said off days are bound to happen. The bothersome part was that players let it keep deteriorating. Jones said he’s not overly concerned. Tight end Jason Witten noted that the starters have only played 32 snaps. Another risk-reward issue is how much Romo will play Saturday since he’ll be missing his usual right tackle. Phillips said that probably won’t be much of a factor in the decision.
The Rangers have gone out of their way to protect Joaquin Arias. When he couldn't break into the lineup at shortstop, they moved him around the diamond. When he couldn't throw for two years, they waited patiently. When he ran out of minor league options, they created injuries for him so they wouldn't have to risk losing him on waivers. One place they can't protect him: When he's on the field. As a late-game replacement Monday in a 6-4 loss to Tampa Bay, Arias once again demonstrated why he so perplexes management. He helped them get their first lead of the game at the plate, then promptly went into the field and opened the door for a four-run Tampa Bay eighth inning. It was enough to leave manager Ron Washington pacing his office and pinching his lip in frustration before tossing aside his hat and throwing his pack of Winstons on the desk.
We have got to get our heads out of our butts and play better baseball. We gave them too many outs. Cliff Lee should have faced only four hitters in the inning. We made too many mistakes. There were two in particular. Arias was smack-dab in the middle of both. In the field, Arias looked like an about-to-be-thrown bull rider. When B.J. Upton lifted a soft fly ball toward right, Arias wandered out after the ball in a tentative and circuitous route, but it was still shallow enough he came within six inches of catching it. Instead, Upton wound up at second with a double. After Jason Bartlett reached on a single, the next batter was Carl Crawford. He's kind of known for being fast. Word gets around when you average 50 stolen bases for the last seven years. But when Crawford dribbled a ball toward second, Arias stayed back on it, then tried to hurry a throw to second to start an impossible double play.
Asked if Arias played a role in the bizarre feeling of the inning, starter Cliff Lee declined to pass judgment. But if you were watching the game last night, you could see how Lee felt about the debacle. The heat merely appeared to be pouring out from inside of Lee as he seethed in the dugout. And this wasn't the first time the Texas defense let him down. Washington, however, did judge…righteously. He was far more direct and stinging in his assessment of the plays, quite out of character for a manager who loathes saying anything critical of a player. Then again, Washington has seen this before. Last August, with the Rangers trying to catch Los Angeles, Arias stepped in for a pair of starts at second while Ian Kinsler was on the DL. Arias bumbled through two games, both losses, and was promptly banished from the big league team. He was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City, using up his last minor league option. This time, it only took one inning for a problem to surface. This time, if the Rangers decide he can't help them, they aren't going to be able to protect him. This time, that might not be a concern.
On a note dear to my heart, Rangers manager Ron Washington said the team will wait until Ian Kinsler (left groin) resumes baseball activities until making a decision on the second baseman. Washington and team officials will evaluate Kinsler in Baltimore during the Rangers' four-game series against the Orioles or when the team returns to Texas after the seven-game road trip. Kinsler, who was placed on the disabled list on July 29 and eligible to come off it Aug. 12, mentioned before Monday's game against the Rays that he feels healthy and is just waiting on the team's decision.
Dallas Cowboys
Now training in Oxnard, CA, the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive players walked off the field when practice ended Monday, a clear indication they received the message coaches sent the day before. The whole crew “stayed after school,” as team owner Jerry Jones put it, because of a sloppy workout Sunday. They recovered nicely on Monday, drawing plenty of “oohs” and “aahs” from the crowd, especially on touchdown catches from Jason Witten and Miles Austin during a 2-minute drill. Tony Romo was sick Monday, although not as much as he had been Sunday. Jones praised his quarterback for being out there anyway as did coach Wade Phillips.
Offensive worries have been a constant the past few weeks, from the ankle injury that’s sidelined Dez Bryant to right tackle Marc Colombo needing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Monday, from the offense failing to score a touchdown in the first two preseason games to the line allowing 11 sacks in those games. So when the offense got sloppy Sunday, offensive coordinator Jason Garrett reached his breaking point. Phillips said off days are bound to happen. The bothersome part was that players let it keep deteriorating. Jones said he’s not overly concerned. Tight end Jason Witten noted that the starters have only played 32 snaps. Another risk-reward issue is how much Romo will play Saturday since he’ll be missing his usual right tackle. Phillips said that probably won’t be much of a factor in the decision.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Intercommunion: Interfaith Sharing of the Bread of Life
When Catholics from all the nations and cultures of the world gather for a Eucharistic Congress, like the one in Rome in June 2000, they celebrate a tremendous sign of unity. All who participate in this Eucharist are fed by the same life of Christ. At the same time the worldwide eucharistic celebration is a sign of unity it is also a source, or cause, of unity. We are nourished by the same body and blood of Christ, strengthened in unity. Yet there's a flip side of the coin. As remarkable a display of unity as eucharistic congresses are they also show us how far we are from unity among all Christians. A eucharistic congress makes us long for the day when all Christians can share in the one body of Christ: intercommunion. To what degree is intercommunion possible today? Are there ways we can hasten the day when all communions can participate in one Eucharist?
Different Christian Churches answer this question in various ways. Some Christians favor "open Communion." Open Communion is the position that holds that no one can stop a baptized person who believes in Jesus Christ from receiving Communion in any Church. They would say that open Communion is the preferred option because the Holy Supper is a source of unity—a means by which unity among Christians can be achieved. This, however, is not the official Roman Catholic position.
Other Christians believe that the condition for receiving Holy Communion in another Church is unity of faith in the Real Presence. Intercommunion will be possible when the Churches reach a doctrinal consensus regarding Eucharist. While much progress has been made regarding our common doctrinal understanding of Real Presence, the official Catholic position asks for more than common belief in the real presence. Some Christians—Catholics included—hold that sharing Holy Communion is only proper between Churches which have a historical succession of bishops and true priesthood. For real (valid) Eucharist, you need real priesthood. This is an important element of the Catholic position.
The official Catholic position holds that Holy Communion is not only a source of Christian unity, but it is also a sign of unity—real unity, existing now. "Strengthened in holy Communion by the body of Christ, [the faithful] manifest in a concrete way the unity of the people of God that this sacrament aptly signifies and wondrously causes" (Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 11).
We cannot put forth signs of unity when obvious division still exists. Receiving Communion at the same altar is not a sign of unity when we do so with the intention of separating afterwards to return to our various Churches. In short, the Catholic Church teaches that we should not pretend to have true unity if, in reality, we are separated from other Christian bodies. That separation is often seen now not so much over basic beliefs as it is over mutual recognition of the validity of Holy Orders.
The Eucharist is more than food for the individual Christian. When we come together to celebrate the Eucharist we express who we are as Church. The liturgy, especially the Eucharist, "is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives and manifest to others the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church" (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 2).
The fundamental meaning of any sacrament can be found in the prayers which accompany the sacramental action. In each of the seven sacraments we invoke the Holy Spirit and petition the Spirit to make us holy and to build up the Body of Christ. This petition is the key to understanding the sacrament: The primary petition of the eucharistic prayer is for unity in Christ. We ask that the Spirit change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ so that we who eat and drink might be changed into the Body of Christ. "Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ....May all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit." (Eucharistic Prayer, 2) "Grant that we, who are nourished by his body and blood, may be filled with his Holy Spirit, and become one body, one spirit in Christ." (Eucharistic Prayer, 3) The other eucharistic prayers have similar invocations. This can be a foundation for future intercommunion and well as other communal acts between various Christian spiritualities.
Different Christian Churches answer this question in various ways. Some Christians favor "open Communion." Open Communion is the position that holds that no one can stop a baptized person who believes in Jesus Christ from receiving Communion in any Church. They would say that open Communion is the preferred option because the Holy Supper is a source of unity—a means by which unity among Christians can be achieved. This, however, is not the official Roman Catholic position.
Other Christians believe that the condition for receiving Holy Communion in another Church is unity of faith in the Real Presence. Intercommunion will be possible when the Churches reach a doctrinal consensus regarding Eucharist. While much progress has been made regarding our common doctrinal understanding of Real Presence, the official Catholic position asks for more than common belief in the real presence. Some Christians—Catholics included—hold that sharing Holy Communion is only proper between Churches which have a historical succession of bishops and true priesthood. For real (valid) Eucharist, you need real priesthood. This is an important element of the Catholic position.
The official Catholic position holds that Holy Communion is not only a source of Christian unity, but it is also a sign of unity—real unity, existing now. "Strengthened in holy Communion by the body of Christ, [the faithful] manifest in a concrete way the unity of the people of God that this sacrament aptly signifies and wondrously causes" (Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 11).
We cannot put forth signs of unity when obvious division still exists. Receiving Communion at the same altar is not a sign of unity when we do so with the intention of separating afterwards to return to our various Churches. In short, the Catholic Church teaches that we should not pretend to have true unity if, in reality, we are separated from other Christian bodies. That separation is often seen now not so much over basic beliefs as it is over mutual recognition of the validity of Holy Orders.
The Eucharist is more than food for the individual Christian. When we come together to celebrate the Eucharist we express who we are as Church. The liturgy, especially the Eucharist, "is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives and manifest to others the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church" (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 2).
The fundamental meaning of any sacrament can be found in the prayers which accompany the sacramental action. In each of the seven sacraments we invoke the Holy Spirit and petition the Spirit to make us holy and to build up the Body of Christ. This petition is the key to understanding the sacrament: The primary petition of the eucharistic prayer is for unity in Christ. We ask that the Spirit change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ so that we who eat and drink might be changed into the Body of Christ. "Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ....May all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit." (Eucharistic Prayer, 2) "Grant that we, who are nourished by his body and blood, may be filled with his Holy Spirit, and become one body, one spirit in Christ." (Eucharistic Prayer, 3) The other eucharistic prayers have similar invocations. This can be a foundation for future intercommunion and well as other communal acts between various Christian spiritualities.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
So there are no beautiful managers of R&D
As I was sitting here watching a documentary about how people look affects how others react to them, I looked back over my life to how many times I’ve let a beautiful woman turn my head or convince me to do something incredibly stupid. I remember one time in college I let this all too attractive if not incredibly bitchy Chi Omega talk me into buying her and her friends drinks. Of course, I thought I was going to get somewhere with my superior generosity and fantastic charm. Wrong. I ended up with a $300 bar tab and that chick left with her friends and, you guessed it, three other guys. Am I bitter about beautiful people? No. I love beautiful people. But it just seems like they come out on top a lot. Well, apparently not all the time. Supposedly you can be too hot to be an engineer or prison guard if you are a woman.
Good looks can kill a woman's chances of snaring jobs considered "masculine," according to a study by the University of Colorado Denver Business School. Attractive women faced discrimination when they applied for jobs where appearance was not seen as important. These positions included job titles like manager of research and development, director of finance, mechanical engineer and construction supervisor. They were also overlooked for categories like director of security, hardware salesperson, prison guard and tow-truck driver as well.
"In these professions being attractive was highly detrimental to women," researcher Stefanie Johnson said in a statement, adding that attractive women tended to be sorted into positions like receptionist or secretary. "In every other kind of job, attractive women were preferred. This wasn't the case with men which shows that there is still a double standard when it comes to gender."
The study, published in the Journal of Social Psychology (I was a subscriber in college, but it is kind of pricey), was based on giving participants a list of jobs and photos of applicants and asking them to sort them according to their suitability for the role. They had a stack of 55 male and 55 female photos. While the researchers found good-looking women were ruled out for certain jobs, they found that attractive men did not face similar discrimination and were always at an advantage. But Johnson said beautiful people still enjoyed a significant edge when it came to the workplace. They tended to get higher salaries, better performance evaluations, higher levels of admission to college, better voter ratings when running for public office, and more favorable judgments in trials.
Good looks can kill a woman's chances of snaring jobs considered "masculine," according to a study by the University of Colorado Denver Business School. Attractive women faced discrimination when they applied for jobs where appearance was not seen as important. These positions included job titles like manager of research and development, director of finance, mechanical engineer and construction supervisor. They were also overlooked for categories like director of security, hardware salesperson, prison guard and tow-truck driver as well.
"In these professions being attractive was highly detrimental to women," researcher Stefanie Johnson said in a statement, adding that attractive women tended to be sorted into positions like receptionist or secretary. "In every other kind of job, attractive women were preferred. This wasn't the case with men which shows that there is still a double standard when it comes to gender."
The study, published in the Journal of Social Psychology (I was a subscriber in college, but it is kind of pricey), was based on giving participants a list of jobs and photos of applicants and asking them to sort them according to their suitability for the role. They had a stack of 55 male and 55 female photos. While the researchers found good-looking women were ruled out for certain jobs, they found that attractive men did not face similar discrimination and were always at an advantage. But Johnson said beautiful people still enjoyed a significant edge when it came to the workplace. They tended to get higher salaries, better performance evaluations, higher levels of admission to college, better voter ratings when running for public office, and more favorable judgments in trials.
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