we really had a great time! there's nothing like gocarts and lazer tag with crave teenagers. it's so important to have fun with people from your church. growing relationships with those of like faith, is truly something special. don't miss events like this...they will provide friendships with people whose faith will help you through your tough times in life.

the really great part about my day...jake woke me up at 7:30am! nothing like grocery shopping and several loads of laundry on 4 hours of sleep. of course, there's always a saturday birthday party to attend.

Internet successfully working, which means I can stay in contact with my friends much easier.  Hopefully be starting to work soon.  

Gonna be bowling with my peeps on a Sunday league.  My brother and sister should be on my team, so that's cool.  It also gives me a reason to quote The Big Lebowski for the next 32 weeks (the average length of a league).  Best quote may have been spoken by Walter when he said...

"Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos."

So good.  So good.

What about you?  Any Lebowski fans out there?  There was actually a great article in Rolling Stone about the movie.  10 years celebration type thing.  I wrote the author and said thanks.  Not very often you get a focus on movies like this.

Enough.  Must keep checking out Google Chrome (review later?).

Des Weiteren kann ich sagen, dass ich in den letzten Tagen leider nicht so viel posten konnte, da meine Wii angekommen ist und ich somit leider anderweitig beschaeftigt war. *hust*

5. Essentially receiving a 60% pay raise for taking on 25% more work.

4. Pandora Internet Radio

3. Student Bloggers website

2. Successfully constructing a corn hole game set without losing any appendages.

1. Drunk Bowling

-- That's right, the number 1 thing for my week was last night. I went bowling with my law school friends and, naturally, showed them how it was done with my immense bowling skills and went over some of the finer points of the beer-bowling skill ratio. A comparable demonstration can be seen in this graph:

This graph shows the relationship between arousal level and performance on a specified task. However I believe that with some slight changes, this very same graph can show my beer-bowling relattionship. Unfortunately my photo editing software is in the process of dying so I can't show you my vision (just replace "emotional arousal" with "amount of beer").

The only major difference would be that if you do continue to drink past the point of highest performance, you really don't care - so fun factor may continue to increase. I will need to conduct further studies into this, but I will need some volunteers to drink beer and go bowling. Hmmm, where can I find people who like that stuff?

Wow I sort of went off on that...better add the "ramblings" tag....done.

I guess this post wouldn't be complete without the top 5 worst things of the week...or is it the bottom 5?

5. Not getting a ticket to the UCF-USF football game this weekend.

4. No refund money from school yet.

3. Trying to find a publication from the U.S department of transportation (I thought it would be easy when I picked it).

2. No trash collection on Monday = overflowing recycling bins full of empty, smelly beer bottles.

1. Not actually winning a game at drunk bowling last night.

-- That's right, despite my seemingly certain unmatched skill, I was defeated in the 10th frame by Erin. The second game was cut off in the 6th frame (which I was dominating), so my only chance at redemption was stolen from me like cars out of the UCF parking garages. And you know what? She didn't even take home her trophy beer cup.

I must have not had enough to drink yet....

The more recent UAAP matches which have upped the competition between schools in Manila have not exactly spurred my interest either.  My alma mater, though nationally (and even internationally) renowned, have not exactly had a great rep when it comes to sports.  We may produce some of the nation's intellectual elite and civil society movers, but generally suck when it comes to sports.  Occasionally, there may be some recovery - but only occasionally.

In real life, I'm not exactly a sporty person as well.  Though I have been known to shoot some hoops now and then, they only take place when I'm actually in a basketball court and there's a ball and there isn't anybody else playing, and I have nothing else to do.

More than just occasionally - occurrences which are getting more and more rare, I would play billiards with friends.  Almost everyone I know has picked up a billiard tack at one point or another - it was a game that infected quite a number of people ever since Efren "Bata" Reyes began winning those international tournaments.  It was a fun game, not so strenuous, and challenging enough to want to score more points than your opponent.

Sometimes, when there are just too many of you and there aren't enough available billiard tables, you team up instead of take turns.  Then it becomes a group game, and quite a bit of hilarious moments can transpire.

The most recent billiard experiment left most of us laughing in good humor as one hit the mother ball, making it bounce instead of roll - bouncing once to the middle of the table, and "rebounding" on the edge to come back and bounce once again in the middle before he deftly caught it just as it was heading out to crash on the floor.

"Three points!"

And then there was the time when the competitiveness in a particular game was getting everyone in a winning mood.  Winning became a source for hoot calls and great laughter as the "losers" were busy pretending they didn't care who won or lost.

At one particular moment, the balls had aligned seemingly perfectly along one long edge of the billiard table.  The mother ball on one end - right in sight of the 2-ball, which presented an almost direct path to the nine-ball at the other end - right at the mouth of the corner pocket.  All he had to do was hit the 2-ball, direct it to the 9-ball and maybe nudge the latter toward the corner pocket.  Then he would have won the game.

The entire table was mostly silent, some jokingly calling out that he can't make the shot - his teammates, urging him to hurry up and finish the game.  He silently and seriously contemplated the view before slowly bending down to position the tack.  We were all quiet then, waiting to see how he would do.  And then he swung, and the mother ball careened swiftly into the mouth of the corner side pocket without having moved a hair of anything else.

Most of us laughed so hard we were red-faced and crying from the laughter.  We would never have let him forget it except that he took the matter so seriously that he erupted quite vehemently at each taunt.  We decided it best to let the matter drop.

I myself have not been left unscathed by these "mild sports" booboos.  The first time I played bowling, I threw the ball as neatly as I could.  I was looking down towards the pins, wondering why in the hell the ball seemingly disappeared, only to turn around to find everybody behind me turning red with laughter.  And there, in seeming innocence, was the bright pink ball (which had rolled off my fingers) lying sedately behind me.

I knew there was a reason I was never Olympic material...

Ah, New Glarus Uff-Da Boch beer. This blogger calls it "mighty tasty." He doesn't lie. As for the shirt, I think the designers may be ripping off the Hash House Harriers, whose motto is "A drinking group with a running problem." I once did a beer run with a local HHH chapter, which consisted of jogging a mile and slamming a beer after each lap. Another time, I ran with them while half the group wore wedding dresses. True stories.

Size Medium
Price $7 + 3 shipping
90 percent cotton, 10 percent polyester

$1 from the sale of this shirt is donated to restore urban river trails and waterways through the River Revitalization Foundation.

Monday

We woke up Monday morning a little later than normal. It was much warranted after 2 long days of travel and exhausting fun. Caroline and I woke up in New York, both dizzied from the pace of the weekend. It was a funny mix of joy from the last 2 nights of celebrations and today's inevitable heart-breaking separation. She was to go her way back to the Midwest and I was supposed to head back to Boston. But what she didn't know was that there was a slight amendment to the agenda.I wasn't quite ready to let go of the weekend. I had other plans.

When she thought we were going to grab lunch with her family and then drop her off at the airport to bitterly wave goodbye to each other for another several months, in actuality, I had penned a different ending to the story. I misguided (i.e. outright lied) to her by saying I was going to catch the Bolt Bus back to Boston for a mere $15 (which is a steal, by the way), but in reality I had already booked a flight back to Chicago leaving from LaGuardia only 40 minutes after her. Ingenious, I know.

The lunch went as planned and she said her goodbyes to her parents and her brother drove the both of us to LaGuardia. Pulling up to the terminal, I put on my best sad face and pretended to dread our last goodbye. Gave her a hug and told her to call when she landed and we went our separate ways. I immediately got back in the car and Andy (her brother) and I did a lap around the airport before he dropped me off at the same spot we'd been only 5 minutes earlier! Doing my best to duck and cover from being noticed, I managed to slip into the nearest Au Bon Pain to wait out the time it would take her to check-in. Unable to wait too long, for fear that I wasn't going to be able to check-in on time myself, I quickly made my way through security and toward the gates. But I didn't quite make it to my gate, perse. See, I was supposed to be waiting in Gate D8, but Caroline was in Gate D7, which were gates that faced one another. I wouldn't let this whole surprise fail with that sort of knuckle headed move. So I stopped short of my gate and slipped in to sit and wait at Gate D2. I was 5 gates away from this whole thing becoming unraveled. After I saw her plane detach from the skyway, I quickly hurried to my own gate, because it was in the midst of boarding.

I made it! I was on board and she still didn't know. How do I know she had no clue? Well, after I landed in Chicago, I got a voicemail saying she landed safely and that she was with her friends and would call me later. Perfect! Everything was going according to plan. She was supposed to go out with her friends to celebrate and I was "supposed" to be in Boston, sulking her absence. I got scooped up from the airport by Dan-I and before we rendezvoused with our friends at the designated surprise location, we managed to slip a quick bite to eat at my favorite Chicago hot dog establishment - Maxwells. One Polish, extra mustard, please.

From months ago, Jean and Jenie had helped me in planning this Chicago leg of the weekend. We had it all perfectly orchestrated from the meeting place to the timed unveil. So with everyone in position, Caroline and her friends came down Michigan Avenue toward the lounge we were going to host the party at. And to her surprise, there was a crowd of 13 people there waiting for her. Ok, so at this point she's thinking, "I guess it's not just a dinner with my roommates, but a dinner with all my close friends! Yay!"

"But wait...who's that strutting toward me...with yellow flowers?" Surprise! Out from the haze of the afternoon sun, I walked toward her and fulfilled the final installment of a weekend full of surprises! From Boston to Chicago in 0.2 seconds. Watch the video.

Yes, she tried to kick me. Yes, she hit me multiple times. But in all, it was a great night of celebrating a very special weekend with our even more special friends. It was an epic night: cheeseburger cupcakes topped with haribo gummy bears doing unmentionable things, sparkling grape juice in self-assembled plastic champagne glasses, and dizzy bowling with your best friends. All told, it was 3 days in 3 cities. Everyday was filled with a different adventure. Each story was intricately woven in order to form what was the perfect weekend.

Now I write this as an engaged man. What's different? Nothing, really. But I'll tell you what will remain the same. I commit myself, as I did from day one, to love her as Christ loved the Church. We haven't said our vows yet, but the attitude starts now. Please pray for the both of us that our relationship would be another great picture of the Good News of Jesus Christ: a God who loved His rebellious people so much that He was willing to give and sacrifice His only Son, so that those He loved could come into a more intimate relationship with Him forever. Pray that our relationship would picture a Gospel of Love, Forgiveness, and Service. Just as God Loved, Christ Forgave, and the Holy Spirit continues to Serve.

A gigantic shout out to our family and friends for making everything possible. We love you all and are overwhelmed by the thought of God's grace shown to us through you.

To Caroline, let's give our all until there's nothing left. And when it's all said and done we seek only the approval of One as He says, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

  Jake with Great Granny Hazlewood and Great Aunt Lucy.

He really enjoyed the company.  He lights up when he gets visits.  He is definitely a special boy and we truly love him.

I got to Sub this week.  I did 1/2 day yesterday and will do a full day tomorrow.  It has been awhile since I was in the classroom and boy it felt good.  It was strange not having to write the lesson plans or prepare the work, but nice to just jump in.

Have to get ready for bowling.  Jake and Trey have league tonight.  Trey will be trying out for the H.S. team next week.  I think he will really do great.

More later!

And we do... hard.

The Bunny and myself started out with two games each prior to everyone elses appearance, we did have to stop briefly so the Bunny could snag a new ball and shoe combo.

Later everyone else shows up and we get into the swing of things.

I started off the night poorly at eighty-two [82], not good.

Most of the crew was doing quite well... but then had to leave with a game and a half remaining.

So the Bunny and myself had to finish up... which we did... she with a 123 and me with a 167.

Which was unfortunate since I had nearly gotten four in a row.

[X] [X][X][9]

[damn]

It's still a good start to the forth coming league play.

• Sunday was incredible.   There were new faces volunteering and giving of their time and talents. Thanks again to all of our HERO's, you guys are awesome!
• I love giving out survival kits.   It means there are new people coming to know Christ in our church.
• Fervid Praise really rocked Sunday Night!  I really think the bass player is awesome.
• COSMIC BOWLING was incredible.   We had 40 plus people attend.  Believe it or not I broke the 50 barrier and even the 100 barrier.  Craig and I rocked against our opponents.    Our score ( just the two of us....sounds like a song) equaled more than the 4, yes FOUR people we were playing against.  WE ROCKED DUDE! 
• It was great seeing all the college students come out and those that are attending our church.   Pray for them and that they will stay passionate for God.
• Took Benjamin back to TMC on Monday.  
• This Sunday is going to be awesome.   Don't miss it - bring a friend.

Kevin - a.k.a.  STRIKE!

I didn't bring the camera, so all I had was my cell. I really need to take a camera bowling sometime. Zoe does all her own bowling (without one of those guides for kids) and won or nearly won some games. At this place, apparently you pay for time and if you're in the middle of a game you want to finish, you go pay for more time. Lame. This is the bowling alley that you can never get in to b/c every night is league night. Well it was pretty dead on a Saturday afternoon.

The reason we went bowling is that Hawk's BFF (Motorcycle Man) came to finish the electrical stuff from Friday and said, "Yinz wanna go bowling?" which is actually considered a greeting in Altoona (and sometimes a proposal). So we went bowling and got in two and a half games.

Then we went to a buffet place which was a little warm and noisy for our taste and the food was so-so. It was pretty evident that the place is trying to compete with Hoss's. The kids didn't eat except for maybe a dinner roll and some of their milk. They eat up at Hoss's. So I don't think we'll run back to this place. The cheesecake dessert was pretty good though.

So Sunday we went to the county fair:

We didn't go to the fair last year but we went two years ago and I blogged about the "mouse game." It's an odd creature they use in this game. It looks like a chipmunk w/ a mouse tail. This year, I won. I bet on red ("for my hair") and I won. Zoe bet on "purple dots." We won a pink fabric rose. I also won the above fish in a ping pong ball game. We had to go to Wal-Mart and buy a min-tank. I'd thought of getting the kids a fish for a while and this $0.25 cent fish only cost me $2 in ping pong balls! Also we played a dart game and the kids each got a cheap stuffed animal. Zoe got a pink teddy and Holden got a cow jumping over the moon.

For food, I got a caramel apple (and ate it last night so I wouldn't have to try & share it) and we got a bag of tri-color cotton candy. We also got a $2 bottle of Aquafina ("the end of water as we know it").

I got a ball of naturally black alpaca yarn. Not sure what I'm making et but I think I want to cast something on right away. It's luverly.

On Monday afternoon we went to Beta's place. This is the view from her backyard:

The golf cart is one of the many ways one might get around in the greater rural Bumblefuck area.

All of the four-wheelers are out being used but Beta said I should photograph the "redneck vehicle display."

There was a lot of food (good food too). The kids liked jumping on the trampoline. I had to yell at one kid who was basically a mouth with an attitude attached to it. I even called him "Kid." Like, "If you can't follow the rules, kid, you're gonna have to go find something else to do." Oh yeah, I'm becoming that mom.

Beta said that it would be a Beta's Family Party unless someone went to the emergency room. I hurt my foot jumping off her deck but I didn't go to the ER (yet). It's getting better though. I'm not sure if anyone went after we left but Nina has some story about the four-wheeler trip she & her friends went on. We had gone by the time they came back. She & her friend took Holden & Zoe out on one of the golf carts:

Beta also told her sister that anything said can and would show up in the blog. So her sister gave me a banana rum and Pepsi; it may have been a bribe, I'm not sure. Nothing that unusual happened really. But damn was that drink good. I need to go back if just for another of those. It was fun to be around a new family and feel so much a part of it right away.

This was the Bumblefuckiest weekend I have ever spent and I tell ya, it was a hell of a lot of fun. Bowling! County Fair! Mixed drinks out of a plastic cup! If you're not in Bumblefuck, you're missing out (I make exceptions for my friends in Erie b/c I know that's a party waiting to happen as well). So come on down (or up or over) to central Pennsylvania.

Oh btw: we were "down the mountain" Tuesday evening. It was 95-97 degrees. When we got home, the thermometer read 77 degrees. That's right -- a drop of 20 degrees and a rise of about 850 feet. It was a lovely day... here.

So there are 3 retreat days in a year where all of the Viz-a-Viz Ministries people meet. So this was the first time I met the 2nd years and the church based people. We started off with some Worship and then a kind of introduction to all the various ministries of Viz-A-Viz which was realy interesting, they do so much!! Found out plans for a youth event INSIDE chelmsford cathedral involving skate ramps! We had a time of prayer in twos, and later on walking around praying for all the various ministries and people. Lunch was at 1pm by which time everyone was starving and our stomachs were rumbling loudly, especially during the quiet times! Then the afternoon was a little education on 'More To Life', and we discussed a question, well I wrote all the notes while everyone else watched and talked about other things! We had a time of worship and communion and then Kathryn (who has done 2 years with Optimum, and is about to go off to Spurgeons college to train to be a baptist minister) spoke which was really good. The chairs were really squeaky which was especially awkward/amusing when everyone sat down 'remaining in a state of worship' *SQUEAK, SHUFFLE, CREAK*

Then a group of us (La Roche - Taste's DJ, Matt - Taste's Drummer, SammyJ (Gammy) - Taste's Bassist, Keel - Taste's Techie, Claire - Taste's lead vocals, Rachel, Ollie, Ami and Jenni (second year optimum students), Dan - techie, Paul (not sure who he was!) and me) went bowling. It was fabulous fun, involved me getting laughed at, ridiculed and entirely surrounded by the taste boys who thought it was hilarious! Randomly you only give one shoe in when you get your bowling shoes...so of course there would be one who lost their one shoe they had to look after...Dan! I got two strikes in a row - my moment of glory but then it kinda went downhill, though i beat a few boys first time round :D

Came home and had chilli and rice. Settled down to watch Hollyoaks on E4+1...steph, what were you thinking?!?! Watched 'Lost in Austen' on ITV1 which was actually pretty good!

Bedtime now....

*1 Corinthians 3:5-9 'What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.'*

We hired a guide service, which provided us a Nepalese sherpa guy, a donkey man and his helper, and a team of donkeys. The donkeys unwillingly carried our tent, food, and cooking supplies for us.

The trail on day 1.

Our donkey man. An 80 year old Tibetan fellow.

This line of work is surprisingly dangerous. The day before I took this photo, the group camping about a half mile up ahead of us had just pulled into their camp when their pony man got kicked in the head by one of his ponies. Early the next morning, that pony man died from his head injury. We heard about it from the man's group as they were descending back into to Leh that morning. We were surprised that no one reporting the accident appeared to be very shocked or dismayed by the event. I guess they figured the pony man was onto his next life already.

I gather that working with donkeys is a little safer due to their smaller size. Here the group is unloading the beasts of burden.

Donkeys are, or course, more stubborn and harder to work with. This donkey called it quits about 100 feet before he reached camp. They had to unload him after he refused to go any further bearing the load.

Donkey 1 - Donkey men 0

To acclimatize effectively, our hiking schedule was pretty laid back, just a few miles and a few thousand vertical feet per day. This afforded us lots of camp time.

We had lots of time to drink tea.

Allison won lots of rupees from me in countless poker games.

Everyday, we beat the donkey man and his donkeys to camp. While waiting for the donkeys to arrive, we had to come up with other things to do. We introduced our guide to bowling.

Not a bad setup for the wilderness.

I used an example of perfect form to demonstrate.

I don't think they have bowling in Nepal. This guy may have been up Everest twice, but I doubt he could break 100 at Luckystrike.

Allison's really hard on herself when she scores under 250.

On day 3 we made a big climb up to the Stokla saddle at about 15,000 ft. We posed for a misty photograph.

The Himalayas are gorgeous.

Really interesting rock formations.

This is a yak.

Everywhere you look, there are prayer flags flying across some great span of space.

We made it to basecamp (16,500ft) on day 4.

Looking down towards the basecamp ghetto of tents.

On summit day, we departed at 1:30 am.

A brutal time to wake up, but Allison was still smiling.

We walked through the snow in the dark for hours. There was only a few inches on the ground, but it was just enough to make everything slippery. Once the sun came out, we realized that the sky was completely socked in.

Climbing to the final pitch, we roped up for safety.

The sun came out for a brief few minutes. The rocks were glazed with rime, and glittered in the sun. The views were amazing. It took a few quick shots at around 19,600ft.

Looking south.

Looking down the ridge we had just come up.

And up towards the summit.

Approaching the top, there wasn't a lot of air to breathe. Our pace slowed considerably, but we trudged on to the top.

We stayed on the summit for 10 minutes or so, just enough time for a few photos.

It was cold and windy, and didn't appear as if we were going to get any break in the clouds, so we headed back down to basecamp. We left the summit at around 7am.

Allison and the guide snaking back down into the clouds.

We made it back to basecamp, did a high-5, and took a few short naps.

The next day we hiked down to the town of Stok Village. One more wait for the donkey man and we hopped on a van to take us back to Leh, where we planned our route back to Delhi and onto Mumbai...

-A's

It's 1:00PM on a Tuesday afternoon. Where are most of us? If you're a working stiff, so to speak, like the majority of the contributors to this column, you're at work, or at best, cherishing the precious moments of a lunch break or a much-needed pre-work nap.

Where are you, though, Granddad? Oh, you're hangin' tough at the bowling alley. Old you are, and no doubt very experienced in the ways of life, surely arrived-upon after years of toil in some thankless industry or another, and therefore all too deserving of the obviously leisurely life you lead.

Is it too much to ask, then, that we get a little smile out of you? Heck, I would settle for the absence of an expression. You're clearly exerting every ounce of effort you have to make yourself look anything but happy, though.

This lunch hour bowl-a-thon is the highlight of our day, maybe our week. Just because it's too cold in here (it's not), or it's too early to order a plate of French fries (it isn't), or the bar is still closed (three strikes, you're out), is no cause for your perpetual imitation of a crab.

Sure, I gripe about everything under the sun here, but that's from the privacy of my own home or, if I'm lucky, the complete lack-of-privacy of my workplace. Also, our griping has been carefully crafted to uplift anyone lucky enough to find it, more than anything, not make them feel like everything they have to look forward to is afternoons bowling and being grouchy and alone, true (and highly anticipated) though that may be.

Still, Really?

The second game is tougher - our arms are tired enough the scores are not improving. Jessica is beginning to get frustrated, but sees it through to the end. An hour later and two complete games are done. We went bowling and enjoyed it. We should do this more often.

No picture though - it was too dark to get a good image of anything. Perhaps its better this way :).

When we finished our games, Drama Queen skated for over an hour.  Ashley and I decided to just watch since neither of us has skated in quite a while and we didn't want to risk injuring ourselves.  It's a lot harder and more embarrassing to pick yourself up off the floor when you're our age!

Afterward, we met our best friends, James and Deena, at their furniture/appliance store, they closed early for the holiday, and then we drove to a nearby town for an early dinner.  We laughed and talked and caught up with each others lives,  I love that even though we only see each other every few months, we pick up right where we left off. 

We've been friends since high school and they have been instrumental in our lives in so many ways.  In fact, God used them to lead us to move to Georgia.  They had moved the year before, and when we came to visit them in January of 1996 we knew God was leading us to move, we just didn't know where at the time.  But, after visiting them we knew it was God's will for us to move to Ga.  So, here we are twelve years later and although we did move an hour south three years ago to be closer to our grown children and grandchildren, we have remained just as close to them as ever.  We are very blessed to have them for friends.

How did you spend your Labor Day?  I hope you had a wonderful day, and have a great night!

Love, Velvia