Fear and Trembling: Family

I managed not to ruin my wife's birthday this year

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 01:42:52 GMT

For years, Tracy and I have had about one fight per year and it was always within a day or two of her birthday, "ruining it... again" This year, no fight, Danni made her a cake, and she claims to have a good birthday. Of coarse the bar was set really low, but isn't the key to happiness lowered expectations?

Happy Birthday Tracy!

What do you get your seventeen year old girl for Christmas?

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:34:43 GMT

Luggage...

A video for my homies back on the block

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 22:07:41 GMT

Video: Eleanor is starting to walk

Tales from the O.G.

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:54:52 GMT

11 years ago I left the restaurant business and this week I have made my return. As a part time job I have started to wait on tables at the Olive Garden. My good friend Jason (an Olive Garden general manager in Champaign) did me a solid by recommending me to the Clarksville, Indiana Olive Garden and even called several other local Olive Gardens to see which of the service managers seemed as though they would be good to work with. Jason's instincts were correct and it turns out that the Clarksville O.G. is a fantastic place to work.

last week was an extensive training session with a certified trainer and I spent over 20 hours in training before I ever got my own section. I have been impressed with the quality of training and it is much better than the "hear is the coffee pot, here is your order pad" training that I have seen in most restaurants. The Olive Garden gives a server every chance to succeed in their job. As part of the training we had to sample everything on the menu and every afternoon at the end of the training, the trainer and one other trainee and I split 5 or six plates of food. That was a real morale booster for a long week without making tips!

As the week ended and I started to work real shifts (limited to 2 table sections for a week), I realized that I am not 25 years old anymore! I have worked a couple of double shifts (lunch and dinner), and had to limp home with every muscle in my body aching. Even with the food sampling feast I have lost 10 lbs in the last two weeks. I am finally fitting into many of pants that I have not been able to wear for years. This should help my bid to rejoin the National Guard if it does not kill me first. I forgot how physical it is to wait on tables in a busy restaurant.

I have found in the last 2 weeks that the Olive Garden is a well run company and I should be able to make good money. The Clarksville, IN Olive Garden is the cleanest restaurant that I have ever seen and it is the first place that actually makes sick workers go home instead of spreading their illness to hundreds of people. Fear and Trembling readers might be shocked to know how many other restaurants force their wait staffs to work even though they have the flu! Olive Garden even provides sanitary wipes at locations all over the kitchen and server areas so we can clean our hands after handling used dishes, half eaten food, and glasses.

Finally, the Olive Garden provides me with a connection to the world outside of the Seminary. Living in a seminary dominated apartment complex, attending SBTS, and getting involved in local church could quickly land me in a sequestered world separated from those who are in the most need of ministry. This is the same reason that I have spent so much time in coffee houses over the years. A pastor has to be out in the trenches and not back at the headquarters if he has any hope of being an effective minister.

Well, now what?

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 19:06:20 GMT

I am actually....Bored. This is a strange feeling. My start date for work has been pushed back a week because the trainer has strep, I am completely unpacked, and school does not start for 2 weeks. My hipster PDA that was about 2 inches just few weeks ago has dwindled to just a smattering of boring task! I realize that this is probably just the quiet before the storm, but it is disconcerting all the same. I tried to work on the new site for Fear and Trembling, but working over CSS code is not much of a solution to boredom. Now that Battlestar Galactica and Lost are in hiatus, there is not even anything to watch on TV. Sigh...

Concerning my new found appreciation for biking, I have now chose the Bike over the Car for two ordinary trips (other than the specific bike trips I have been taking.) It might not seem like much of an accomplishment, but if I am going to have a significant impact on my budget, I am going to have to make that choice more and more. With what I paid for my bicycle, I will have broke even after saving just 6 tanks of gas. I figure that I have saved three since I bought the bike in June, so I am close to being in the black. To make my bike more useful and tempting to chose I am going to make a modification using the Free Radical accessories from Xtracycle. I saw one of these up close in Champaign a while back and the owner said that you do not even notice the extra weight and length of the attachment when it is unload. Tracy would not be seen on such a contraption, but I am unfettered by potential embarrassments. Just ask my teenager! She is absolutely aghast at the kind of cars that have driven over the years. I am all about utility baby! The whole get up cost about $400 dollars, but if you look at it in terms of 6 tanks of gasoline, the investment is manageable and quickly recovered.

A little bit of good news about my waistline project: I am at the required 40 inches (after schlepping 6,000 boxes to another state and biking all over Louisville, it ought to be!) and I have 12 more days to add (or take off rather) some wiggle room. I am going back to Chicago on the sixth for another weigh in, so this time I should be back in uniform before the end of August. Just in time too; my tuition bill will be on my doorstep before you know it! I just hope I will be able to get my package before the commissioning board before it meets on the 14th.

We have made it to Louisville...

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:20:03 GMT

Whew. Hands down, this has been the most stressful week of my life, but we are making headway. My parents and our friends the Wisher family helped us move our stuff to the new apartment on the 14th and I almost had a break down the next day when I saw all of the boxes stacked six feet high all over our apartment. I am keeping this brief because I need to focus on getting the family settled, but within the next few days I should be back to blogging everyday. I could not have done this move without the support of my family and my church family in Tolono. A HUGE thanks to everyone who has supported us with financial gifts and with sweat equity!

PS.

For those of you who thought I forgot the VBS 2007 Multimedia presentation CLICK THIS LINK AND FOLLOW THE INTRUCTIONS ON THE SCREEN! I will email instructions about how to set everything else!

More on location blogging on the way

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 03:51:26 GMT

Tomorrow I head to Chicago (My fifth Monday road trip in a row) to get my Army physical. The recruiter that I have been working with is a young female who is concerned that a man of my age and social position should not have to deal with the indignity of the MEPS process. I figure that I have done it once and I can do it again. The last time I went to MEPS Ronald Reagan was the President! I spent most of my downtime in the St. Louis MEPS arcade playing video games.

1988's top 40 songs

1. Faith - George Michael
2. Need You Tonight - INXS
3. Got My Mind Set On You - George Harrison
4. Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley
5. Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses
6. So Emotional - Whitney Houston
7. Heaven Is A Place On Earth - Belinda Carlisle
8. Could've Been - Tiffany
9. Hands To Heaven - Breathe
10. Roll With It - Steve Winwood
11. One More Try - George Michael
12. Wishing Well - Terence Trent d'Arby
13. Anything For You - Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
14. The Flame - Cheap Trick
15. Get Outta My Dreams - Get Into My Car - Billy Ocean
16. Seasons Change - Expose
17. Is This Love - Whitesnake
18. Wild - Wild West - Escape Club
19. Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard
20. I'll Always Love You - Taylor Dayne

More notable events of 1988

1. The Cubs played their first game under Wrigley Field's new lights

2. The Last Emperor won the Academy Award for best picture

3. Pan-Am flight 103 is destroyed over Scotland by a terrorist bomb

4. The Democrats nominate Michael Dukakis to run for president (remember the tank? lol)

5. The Soviets (we call them Russians these days) left Afghanistan

6. The price of a Gallon of gasoline was $1.08 (lower in Mattoon, there was gas war that year and they were as low as .69 a gallon for short periods of time.

7. I was driving a 1968 Mustang coupe. My first Car that I bought for $750. Subsequent cars until present would not ever cost much more than that!

8. I wanted to work for the CIA to combat the communist threat to freedom. They seemed to take care of that without my assistance.

Tomorrow's post will be from the beautiful Chicago MEPS center......

13 days out from the move...

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 03:16:57 GMT

Today was Tolono "Fun Day." In previous years it was a day of frantic activity as the church finished up the annual Vacation Bible School float, I cobbled together some sort of sound system for the music and passed out a few hundred VBS flyers for the kids watching the parade. This year is frantic too but for much different reasons. With just 13 days to go I decided to skip out on the Fun Day activities and continue the process of disengaging from the community I have been ministering to for 8 years (Eight years today as a matter of fact!)

Instead, I spent all day in my father's workshop building 3 lofts for my children's rooms. With only 1000 square feet and 6 of us, there has to be more than a little "stacking" of children and possessions. In addition to the lofts I have had to make over 100 feet of bookshelf space to house my library that was formerly in my office at the church. Everything is pretty much built and I just have a lot of staining and varnishing to do before I pack up on the 12th and 13th. I am going to make a specific post about the furniture construction with some photos. Ironically, I have gotten much more built since I sold my tools than when I had a shop full of tools! I built all kinds of things for the church over the years (like floats and VBS props) but I have never actually built anything for my family. The cobbler's son has no shoes, I guess.

Dad and I have had a good time in the shop together too. He was not in town this weekend and he is a much better "assistant" than my wife. Dad and I can make some quick headway on projects since I can anticipate what he is going to do next. Starting with my Grandfather (or even before), the men in my family have developed a language of whistles, psssst, and other non-language utterances which allow us to communicate without actually speaking. My grandfather was the best at it, since he rarely spoke this came in handy. I am also trying to spend as much time with the parents as I can before I leave. Louisville will be as far away as I have ever been and Mom and Dad have gotten used to us being just up the road. I am at the point in my life where I don't need to be close to my parents, but I want to be close.

It is Saturday night and I need to get back to the sermon. What am I going to do with no sermon to prepare? I can imagine that my Blog post may lengthen some what with no other outlet available to me. I am sure that I will have some pulpit supply opportunities arise when I get down to Louisville. A few months off will be nice, but I will probably develop a tick without a steady diet of preaching...

Any port in a storm...

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:38:24 GMT

I have just 7 days before they measure my midsection at the Chicago MEPS station on next Tuesday morning. I am feeling pretty good about it, but I am not taking any chances and I am going to ramp up the diet and ride the bike every day until I have to go. I took off this morning with the knowledge of an immanent storm approaching but I thought that maybe I could beat it to the coffee house. I was riding furiously for about 8 miles and made it to the Hilton hotel in Champaign before the sky opened up and brought a deluge. It was kind of fun riding with such a specific purpose and I pedaled like I was being chased by the devil himself.

I spent about an hour in the lobby of the Hilton and got some computer work done, but the guy at the desk kept looking at me like I was some sort of vagrant waiting out the rain so I decided that it was time to move on storm or not. I asked the very nice lady who was vacuuming if I could have a big trash bag and there in the lobby I fashioned a poncho for myself with my ever present Leatherman tool, slipped it on over my backpack and headed off into the rain. The new bike handled nicely in the rain and my backside got a bit wet from the seat, but I arrived at the coffee house a few minutes later to dry off, write my blog post for the day and start on my Sermon for Sunday.

Do you bite your thumb at me Sir?

Mon, 07 May 2007 18:53:43 GMT

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:
Have at thee, coward!

Some home video of Eleanor and a K update

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 14:33:51 GMT

Eleanor is closing in on 1 year in May and she has been an easy baby to this point, but Tracy and I are starting to notice particular traits that are much like K Elizabeth. K is a ... special child. Tracy and I have long abandoned the idea that we were ever going to control K and have decided on a policy of containment instead. Her track training has been good for her though and I have not ever seen anything provide a real challenge until she started to run. K's coach, Abe, is an fantastic coach and pushes K to her limits. Abe has also resigned himself to the fact that K is not just concerned about speed, she also has to look good doing it. Abe, the racing professional, did not quite know what to think about the excitement K had about matching from head to foot in her new track outfit.

I will soon be posting some video of K at the track. I was amazed last night at her form and the improvments that she has made in just a few months. At the end of the month we are going to Iowa for a track meet and I am excited to see how K does against girls her own age. There is also a elementary school track meet at the end of the school year that is going to be a hoot to watch. K won 2 out of the 3 running events (got second in the third because she did not run through the finish line!) and that was before she started to train. One of K's little friends at school does not believe K when she says she is training for the Junior Olympics (and I don't blame her, K is known for an "active imagination"). This girl was the one who beat her in the 200m last year so I think that she is in for a surprise this year.

Video: Racetrack baby

Class of 89 mini reunion...

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 02:58:20 GMT

Andy Rice has become the de facto facilitator of the Mattoon High School Class of 1989 and he has arranged several lunches at villa pizza for alumni that are still in the area. Although I had hoped to see Steve Ball there, there was still a good turn out and I hope that we can get one more lunch in before Andy goes off to California to re-join the Marines.

A grand time was had by all today, mostly at the expense of Gary Otto, the eternal straight man. There was one particular moment that I would love to document on Fear and Trembling, but I am sure that it would lose something in the medium of cyberspace and I have not figured out a way to use the kind of veiled language necessary for a pastor's blog. But it got a huge laugh out of me and Andy Rice laughed until his nose bled.

I am going to post the pictures, one is below, and the rest are in my Gallery for anyone who wants to download them.

Everyone has an aunt like this and these stories must be told

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 02:15:38 GMT

My Aunt Connie is a special special women. To summarize Connie in a phrase I would have to say that, "she has excellent intentions." Where does one begin? There are a great many stories over the years that could surely fill many blog post, but I would like to share one in particular that seems to have all of the important elements.

A while back Aunt Connie lost her cat of 47 or so years. I am a little unsure of the exact details but apparently it was the most loved and self-actualized cats known in recent times. When the cat was no more, a great void was open in Connie's heart, who is maybe not as self-actualized and she felt the need to pour her affection into another cat to call her own (does anyone really own a cat, really? or do merely have the opportunity to be with cats for a while?) Aunt Connie wanted to bring meaning to this process and decided to rescue a particular breed of cat. So Aunt Connie started the ball rolling to get this gray paskaloosa or Alaskan mireamount or what ever the breed is, again, I don't think the particulars are important.

To receive this cat Aunt Connie and Uncle John had to subject themselves to strict screening and investigation of their home and cat parenting skills. From the description of the process, I think that Angelina Jolie probably had less hassle getting Maddox from Cambodia. After extensive interviews and inspection, Aunt Connie was deemed unfit to receive such a rare and precious cat. Nevermind the fact that she raised 2 children and, apparently, another well kept cat, she was not fit! During the vetting it was uncovered that her now dead cat may or may not have been declawed (she was unsure at first but then realized that it was her son's cat that was declawed) Upon clarification of this fact, the women in charge of the cat adoptions was still beside herself about the fact that Aunt Connie would raise a child who could declaw a cat. This was enough to stop the negotiations. A real deal breaker in the kitty adoption world, I suppose.

My Aunt Connie's defense and explanation of how this could happen came in one comment about the this feline fascist that sums it all up nicely, "...She is European..."

Let me tell you about my wife

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 04:20:55 GMT

My wife is unique women in many ways. First, as the wife of a pastor she is put into many difficult positions. For years I have asked her to remain quiet through many church conflicts and she has sat by and watched her husband take harsh and unfair critiques from many quarters. Her deepest desire was to rush to my defense but she let me handle these conflicts so that I would not be torn between defending the church or her. Praise God for Tracy, a great and gracious gift to me.

My wife has also been one of my best students. For years she has listened to my sermons and sat under my teaching trying to get an ever greater knowledge of the the Holy Scriptures. She has passed this knowledge to the children that she has given me and never fails to amaze me with her grasp of the Scriptures meaning and application, not merely the words. Praise God for Tracy, a great and gracious gift to my children and scores of other children that she has taught.

My wife has clarity and courage of conviction. She is not swayed by emotional appeals, false teachings, or the pressures of the world. She never fails to surprise me with a directness found in few people that I have ever met. I am never left wondering what is on her mind or what she believes. I am always refreshed by the boldness she displays. Praise god for Tracy, a great gracious gift to the cause of truth.

My wife has a bedrock faith that is never anxious for what the future holds. She knows that there will always be enough to get by and she does not chase after things that will perish with use. She has never pressured me for the fancy car, big house, new clothes or jewelry. Even when she daydreams about owning our own home someday, it never gets in the way of doing the right thing by God or the right thing by her family. Praise God for Tracy, she knows what is important in life.

My wife stands by her husband in the worst of times and draws closer the more I succumb the pressures of the ministry or my own faults. She has seen me at my lowest and has never faltered in her devotion to me because she knows that her devotion to me is part of her devotion to God. Marriage vows mean something to Tracy and I have an absolute trust in her and her in me. There is no wedge that can be put between us. Praise God for Tracy, if only the church was as faithful to Christ as she is faithful to me.

I was proud of my wife today. I gave her free license to say what she wanted and she used that license to speak forth God's unvarnished truth. Is it any wonder that I love her like I do? A great and gracious gift. Praise God for Tracy.

I had lunch with a classmate from Mattoon High School

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:08:45 GMT

My 10 year class reunion was 8 years ago and I went to the second night with my wife Tracy in tow. I was pleasantly surprised by how every one's life was turning out so far and really enjoyed myself. The best part of the evening was being able to connect with several of the men in my class who are Christians. One of those men was Andy Rice.

Andy and I did not run in the same circles at that time and I remember him as one of "those Christian" types. This time around we had a lot more in common and stayed in contact by email after that night. Andy was a Marine Cobra pilot and later flew fixed wind aircraft in several locales all over the world. Last year Andy separated from the Marines after 10 years, but not entirely on his own choosing. Through some unfortunate flukes he was passed over for promotion to Major two times and military rules say that you must separate if this happens. You can imagine this was quite a blow. Andy returned to Champaign after taking a 30 day Greyhound bus tour of the United States and seeing 12 Major League baseball parks. He is now finishing a Masters degree in Library Science (as a possible precursor to Law school).

I had lunch with Andy yesterday (for about 3 hours!) and I found out that he was promoted while on Inactive Ready Reserve! This means that he can get back in if he wants and is trying to decide on what to do. We talked a lot about life decisions and the "age math" that a man starts to do when he reaches the age of 35. 35 might not seems to "old" but it is certainly a crossroad that demands certain decisions that will affect the next 30 years of your life. I am also at those crossroads and have to decide whether or not to pursue a Masters of Divinity or a PhD in Theology and then try to figure out how to do this with a huge family and a church to pastor.

The real moral of this story is about how we perceive our peers and ourselves. I looked at Andy's life, even after his Marine separation, with a little bit of envy. He is unmarried, very flexible, well educated and able to pursue any direction that he desires. His Greyhound bus trip (and the strange people that he encountered in the "bus culture") sounded wonderfully Bohemian! Yet he looks at his life and sees that he is not married, does not have kids and is in a much different place than he imagined 10 years ago. It is not that his life is actually worse than how I see it, or that mine is worse than Andy's sees, It is that we have a hard time appreciating how good our lives are and the blessings that we have. Andy was very open about all of these issues and it was incredibly refreshing, a testimony to his spiritual maturity, and it came at just the right time to minister to my current needs. I suppose that you can either work through the angst of this age and push on into the future or you can come home every night, kick the dog, yell at your kids and feel sorry for yourself.

I believe that my time in sackcloth and ashes is coming to an end. I am about to graduate with my BA in May (a long time thorn in my side), I can start taking Seminary class from Southern Seminary through their extension center in Chicago and the online system, I enjoy my family immensely, I have the best marriage that I know of and I am constantly surprised at what affect my ministry has on people here in Tolono. I truly have an embarrassment of riches, what in the world am I constantly whining about? As my loving but sometimes unsympathetic wife would say, "Suck it up."

Carbondale Remembrances Part 4: The Dairy Queen

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:51:07 GMT

After we got married and had K Elizabeth we started to do a lot more family activities and one of them was walking down to the Dairy Queen on the Strip in Carbondale. It has been there for many years and is the kind that sells only ice cream. It was closed in the winter (like it is in the picture below). Right down the road was the Varsity movie theatre where we saw movies such as Forrest Gump and the first Batman movie.

Carbondale in the summer was a great place to be. There were fewer students and lots of outdoor activities like summer concerts in the park and on campus. It was one of these summer concerts on campus that was responsible for making Tracy want me to ask her on a date. On the way to the concert I walked into the Diner to get ice for my cooler and Tracy was in her regular booth and when she saw what I was doing, she wanted me to ask her to go with me. I did not ask her and just said "hi" as I walked on by. I watched the concert all alone, but the cold shoulder paid off in the end! There is nothing quite like blowing a women off to fan the flames of desire.

Carbondale Remembrances Part 3: Places I lived

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 20:46:36 GMT

Here are some photos of places that I lived while I was in Carbondale. The only one I do not have here is the dorm I lived in my Freshman and Sophomore years. It was Abbott Hall room 114 and we lived on the same floor as the SIU basketball team and people who needed wheel chairs. Kevin Boske and I shared a room and we lived with guys like Tom Blunk, Curtis Lueke, Wade, Larry Frantzen, Brian Yako, Mirko (who was from Serbia and had an absolutely gorgeous girlfriend that was about 6'1"), Marcelo (Who was a 7 footer from Brazil that could speak no English), Garret (who put his hand through a electric meter), Ken DeLuca and his girlfriend Laura, Tim the wheel chair kid that always wanted me to take him off the toilet, Brad the Weasel, and Larry's giant hairy roommate who had intestinal problems and bad body odor on top of it.

Then Larry, Curtis, Brian, Wade and I moved to the Country Club Circle Apartments and lived there for a year or so. Kevin, Ken, and a few of the other guys moved in across the drive from our apartment too. We were so happy...

Then I moved out the University Heights trailer park with a couple that needed a room mate. They were from New York and she was a sculptor who made giant vaginas out of bronze and he worked at the Diner with me. They moved out and Chaz, the other manager from the diner moved in with me ( he was the best roommate ever), Chaz left and "Shad" moved in. My friend Michelle Kress, who was from Mattoon also, lived in the trailer across the street.

I met Faith and we moved into the apartment on Freeman and lived there together until the relationship exploded and she left me a shell of man. I lived there by myself for a while until I got the trailer in the previous post.

Tracy and I got married and I abandoned the trailer and moved into the Forrest Hall apartment building that Tracy's dad owned for several years. We were not there long before he sold the building and we had to live with the in-laws for 3 months (Yikes). We eventually found the house on Walkup and I lived there with my family for four years before moving to Tolono

Carbondale Remembrances Part 2: The Corner Diner

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 06:45:48 GMT

Hands down, the most important place of my years in Carbondale was The Corner Diner. I began working there sometime in 1990 after I had been going there to eat and study for about 6 months and decided that it would be good extra money to supplement my G.I. Bill money. The waitress I always had, Kara, was one of the best waitresses I have ever seen and she helped me get a job waiting tables.

The Corner Diner, in its prime, was a 24 hour diner that would seat about 140 people and would be jammed packed with locals in the morning, studiers from the University in the evening and bar goers looking for some after 2 AM chili cheese fries. in 1990, there was not one espresso machine in the entire town and the quantity of coffee was more important than the quality. In many ways, it was a major hub of social activity beyond what a restaurant would have been normally. When I first started to work at the Diner, it was owned by a man named Bill Haupt. Bill also owned the bar located in the basement underneath ABC liquor, T-Birds, and would serve anyone who looked older than 15. Bill's personal life and business practices were always questionable and this made working for him difficult. It was the "pay every one in cash" sort of place at first.

I eventually became a manager at the Diner and I became a well recognized figure in Carbondale for several years. I met my pastor in the Diner, heard the gospel for the first time in the Diner and even had my conversion experience there by the dumpster. I met every girl I ever dated at College at the Diner and eventually met my wife there as well. she would sit in the first booth by the pie case with Danielle almost every single day. I was impressed that she drank her coffee black. After Tracy and I got married I even tried to buy the restaurant with the help of my father. I just could not get the financing, however, and I am thankful that I did not. As important as the Diner was in my life, it was time to put it behind me.

These pictures are of the building as it stands now, but it is a shadow of its former self. The Corner Diner is now mostly a Mexican restaurant. I was in there on Sunday Morning at 9:00 am and there were only about 6 customers. "In the day" we would have 150 customers, 8 servers, 4 cooks, 3 dishwashers and checkout girl and a manager cranking out eggs, bacon and burgers out of our woefully inadequate grill space. It was sad to see it like that and I did not even stay for a cup of coffee. You can't go home again.

Carbondale Remembrances Part 1: The Estate

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 22:06:05 GMT

This weekend I went to Carbondale for an ordination council at my old church. I used the opportunity to take some pictures of certain places in that I used to live, work and socialize. It was strange to be back and I had not been around town for many years. One of the strangest sites was the finding the last place I lived before I was married: The Estate.

The estate was a trailer that I bought from a women who was one of the many earthy people that seem to be indigenous to Carbondale. She was a receptionist at a Yoga Therapy and Karma cleansing center just outside of town, had lots of "dreamcatchers" hanging around and smelled vaguely of wet cat and cabbage. She assured me that the trailer was quite free of any negative energy, but failed to tell me that the oven did not work.

I really liked this place and it was in really great shape on the inside with its 1950 art deco style, curved wooden ceilings and yacht like appointments. I lived there by myself for the most part although I was joined by friend, aspiring actor and Pavement fan, Reed Coker for a short time. It was while I lived here that I hit my lowest points after my conversion and also the place that I got serious about following my calling. This was also the trailer that I lived in when I hid inside the darkened trailer to foil a burglar that had been robbing me. Follow this link to read the Daily Egyptian article describing the event.

When I pulled up to the trailer yesterday, it was clear that it had seen better days. some windows were broken and the covered porch looked as though it had been ripped off by a strong storm. Most surprisingly, however is that the trailer has not been lived in since I abandoned it in 1995! When I looked inside there were still some of my stuff that I left behind and the construction supplies that I was using to do some remodeling! It was like a 10x35 time capsule! Below is a current pictures and an here is a link to an advertisement of the exact model of trailer and a layout of the inside.

K Elizabeth started some track training tonight

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 02:46:49 GMT

Last year at the all -grade school track meet we discovered the K was incredibly fast. She won the 50 meter, the 100 meter and came in second in the 200 meter, but only because she was confused where the finish line was and let up too soon. K has always been a bit....aggressive, so these high intensity races were right up her alley. I only wish that I could have gotten a picture of her face as she ran. She was furiously sucking in air through gritted teeth while her eyes looked as though she was chasing down an antelope for the kill.

Tracy and I recognized that she might have some serious athletic ability and decided that we would try to encourage her to develop her giftedness and it just so happens that Tracy works with a world class hurdler at the Fitness Center. Abe Jones is his name and he has offered to train K and another girl on the hurdles. Abe says that good hurdlers are rare and are guaranteed a college scholarship. Tonight was her first night over at the Armory on Campus and I am eager to hear how she did.

The biggest snowstorm since '78

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 22:46:27 GMT

Yesterday we got an old school blizzard here in Central Illinois. The whole family stayed home all day while the snow came down for about 24 hours and the wind blew at up to 40 mph. We ended up with somewhere around 14 to 16 inches of snow and more is forecasted for Saturday.

It reminds me of the winter of 1978 when We had several blizzards like this one. I remember trying to walk to a neighbor's house and not being able to move against the wind. The snow drifts looked like mountains to a 7 year old and we would dig snow caves and tunnels into the enormous drifts.

This morning I went out to try and dig out some of the older people in the church and my friend Martin who had a fiendishly large drift in his drive way. It was a morning that I really appreciated having a big ole SUV. The Explorer in 4x4 low made quick work of the drift in my drive. I decided that I will always try and have a capable vehicle like this for emergencies. Ironically, I woke up this morning lamenting that I was going to miss my work out because the gym was closed. Shoveling snow for 5 hours took care of my exercise allotment for the day!

The kids have been home from school, of coarse, and I have decided that I need to show these kids how to make a proper snow fort. They have not seen what you can do with a five gallon bucket, a shovel and some good tunnels. It might even be a good time to teach some winter survival techniques to the kids.

I almost had a catastrophe today

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 04:07:55 GMT

I received Office 2007 today as my friend Kevin foretold in his comments to my previous post. I tried to install them yesterday but my system went wacky jacky on me and the windows installer kept popping up every single time a Microsoft program started. Then my system restore points disappeared and neither 2007 Office OR 2003 Office would work, allow me to uninstall them or let me repair them. With 4 papers due for Saturday, a sermon, and my other projects on OneNote, I started to panic...

So I went medieval on my laptop. I transferred my documents over the network to my home computer, pulled the hard drive, installed the HD in a nifty little USB case that I have, then reformatted the hard drive. Reloading XP and installing 5 years worth of security patches took the better part of 5 hours, but I have finally got the laptop up and running again. The positive side of this is that the computer is really clean of accumulated gunk and running really well.

I did get the Office 2007 installed and I really like the new UI called "the ribbon." I have yet to try the blogging functions, but I have Windows Live Writer that works well enough for the time being. OneNote is the real killer app for me however and I will be writing a post all about OneNote in the near future. It is really that special

We are going to implement a moron tax (surcharge)

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 18:08:58 GMT

To ease the pressure on out family budget we are implementing a moron tax. Our children seem to lose the capacity to make good decisions the closer they get to the age of 18. For example, Danielle, our 16 year old, went to school wearing flip flops because they were the only shoes that matched her outfit. This might not seem to outlandish but it was 2 degrees at the time. This would be a $2.00 offense. K Elizabeth decided to stack all of our plates precariously on top of a small glass as she was doing the dishes. Of course all of the plates fell and 5 to 6 Correll plates shattered into a billion shards on the kitchen floor. This would be a $4.00 moron surcharge (surcharge is what our Govenor calls a new tax). Kaiser came home with a note from school last week stating that he was dancing around in the bathroom with his pants around his ankles. A surcharge of at least $8.00 for parental embarrassment.

I am confident that my children's obvious lack of frontal cortex activity will ensure that our household budget will be in the black for many years to come.

I am really surprised that my father-in-law has stayed married so long

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 18:46:11 GMT

I do a fair share of marital counseling and the story that I just heard from my father-in-law, Hugh Hughes will certainly make the archive of "what not to do as a husband" scenarios that I like to use for the education of young couples. As a matter of fact I have half a mind to interview Hugh at length for more of these cautionary tales. I am almost positive I could get a book out of it.

One has to know a little something about my father in law to appreciate this story. Hugh likes to buy things in bulk and get the best "deal" possible and he is never one to do anything in moderation. Whether it is buying his daughter some pants for school (5 of the exact same pants in different colors, one for each day) his 20 pop-cicle a day habit, the three identical silver Isuzu I-marks that he bought for his family to drive, the vitamins that he buys by the pound, and don't even get me started on Dad's affinity for the art of BUFFETS, Hugh never does anything small.

Recently, my mother-in-law commented that she liked a particular wrinkle cream and Hugh proceeded to buy Pam and ENTIRE CASE OF WRINKLE CREAM at the flea market. This is not the message that you want to send to your wife who approaching 60. To compound the problem and to demonstrate that Hugh just doesn't get it some times, he offered some to Pam's mother as well. Now he has both of them upset with him.

MEAT!

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:27:25 GMT

My dad got a whole hog and a whole cow that we split three ways with my sister's family. We got the meat down in Chesterville just a few blocks past the used buggy lot ( I am not kidding, its Amish country) As a matter of fact a few of the Amish folk gave me some second glances and I could not figure out why. My brother-in-law then informed me that with my stocking cap and beard with no mustache I looked like someone that they probably ought to know.

I picked up some locally made polish sausage and summer sausage and I was reminded of the butcher that my Grandma Kroencke used to go to in Belleville, Illinois named Wolf's meats. The place was filled with great delicacies such as blood sausage with tongue which, as the name implies, was sausage made with blood and cow tongue strips running down the middle so that when you sliced it you got cross sections of tongue in your sandwich meat. My Grandmother also made brain sandwiches in which she would take cow brains, mash them with egg and crackers and fry them as patties. Hmmmm boy!

Back to the original topic... The meat was enough to fill the freezer outside in the garage and I imagine that this will last us through the summer at least. I also started the process of building up food reserve for an emergency. We have already altered our cooking style last year and started to cook things by scratch instead of preprocessed items. This allows us to use up 50 lbs of flour before it goes bad. It also gives us the freedom to alter recipes to suit our dietary needs. For example, I developed a pancake that uses some soy flour, whole wheat flour and soy milk instead of 100% white flour. They taste even better than a regular pancake and have this rich, nutty taste to them plus the fact that they are much higher in fiber and have a decent protein content that makes them a more balanced food

Between these four classes I should have plenty of blogging material

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 07:14:05 GMT

I have already talked about my poetry class and I have just received the syllabus for my Politics of Human Rights course. I am excited about being in a class that fits my former major of Political Science and as I read the requirements, I do no think I will have any problem meeting the standards. This professor requires 5 papers of only 1000 words (3 to 4 pages) about a list of provided readings from human rights political journals. We are supposed to write a "reaction" to the readings! I can write a 1000 words on what I had for breakfast!

Another weekend class that I am taking is Freedom of Expression: Dissent, Hate and Heresy. On the topic of freedom of expression I have been thinking about the incredible asset to democracy that blogging can potentially be. When individuals have the power to publish to the entire Internet connected world, there is real democratic power at work. This class should provide many post as well since I am sure that my constitutionally protected religious speech will come under attack as "hate speech." It is almost inevitable.

My last class is just a one day seminar on the topic of Resistance in Nazi Germany and it is taught by a Lutheran women so I anticipate an emphasis on Dietrich Boenhoffer. After watching a documentary on this man and reading two of his books, I am excited to be in this seminar and discuss the failure of the mainline churches to resist the Nazi rise to power. I am currently reading Life Together, a book on the communal life of the local church.

Got any crazy glue?

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 22:39:03 GMT

Tracy woke me up at about 5:30 to tell me that she wrecked the car. Instead of having a wrecked car, I lost an hour of sleep AND had a wrecked car. I really regret not acting more upset at her fender bender since I could have gotten some mileage out of her guilt, but good husband that I am, I asked her if it was drivable, she said "yes" and I told her not to worry about it. Besides, I backed into a guy in the Carle Clinic parking lot a few days ago so I could hardly take the moral high ground on this one. On the topic of my fender bender, I think the guy in the Volvo station wagon had a bit of SUV rage towards me. My car did not have a scratch and his door was caved in. He made sure to state that "your SUV is not hurt."

So I will be haunting the junkyards as soon as it gets warm and try to find a door and a fender. Fortunately, it should be pretty easy to find some parts on a 2002. I usually drive a car that has not been made in 20 years and they all get crushed. Until spring I have patched up the hole with some duct tape and Tracy will have to drive it that way for her penance. The lessson to be learned here is that you should fully scrape your windows on cold mornings so you can see poles instead of turning into them.

An embarrassment of Thermos riches.

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 03:18:32 GMT

We just got back from my parent's house in Mattoon and we had a great Christmas with the whole family. Sydney was a bit young to get into the event but at least Eleanor liked the wrapping paper. All the kids made out like bandits with Grandma and Grandpa and I am glad I took two cars!

For Christmas my wife bought me Guitar Hero, one of the coolest video games ever. I think that she bought it for me so I would stop playing it at the local Wal-Mart. She seemed quite embarrassed the last time that we went. We might also get Dance Dance Revolution for the PS2. The Wisher's had that game at their house Christmas Eve and I was surprisingly taken to it and was challenging all the 10 year olds in the house to "dance offs." Those 10 year olds are really cocky until the rubber hits the road!

I also got the above Thermos from my Wife AND my Mother. How blessed am I that I have not one, but 2 giant Thermos bottles for which to keep my coffee warm. It is for this reason that I chosen the title for this blog entry and the audio selection when you open the page. You might ask "Why would you need a gallon of coffee at any one time?" Any one who knows me very well understands that this is a ridiculous question! Now I may laugh in the face at any potential crisis or emergency for I have 2 Thermos Bottles. DANGER! HA HA I LAUGH AT YOU!

Kaiser finally got his Red Ryder BB gun that he has been pestering me for since I mentioned something about BB guns 4 months ago. I have learned an important lesson about Kaiser: Never give him advance notice of what I am hoping to do with him because every minute of every day until said event, he will be talking and talking and talking about it. For those of you who are wondering, Kaiser still has both eyes.

As I think about it, this has been the first Christmas EVER that I did not receive one piece of clothing; No ties from the kids, no socks from mom, no shirts from the Mrs., Nothing. I am not complaining, mind you, for I much prefer life gadgetry like the above thermos and my Leatherman tool that I got 4 years back (I use it every single day). I am just saying that it is strange.

Merry Christmas!

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 17:50:11 GMT

This year was a bit tight financially so Tracy and I did our best to get gifts for each other that would be special. For months she has had her eye on these tortoise shell combs for her beautiful long hair. I had not been able to afford it with the price of coal rising so quickly, but then I remembered a pocket watch that I have not been able to wear due to my lack of a decent chain. I sold the pocket watch and had enough to purchase the combs for Tracy and even had a little left over to purchase some chops for Christmas day.

I got home late on Christmas eve and Tracy had already gone to bed so I decided not to wake her. We I woke up this morning I discovered that Tracy had cut off all of her hair. I was shocked, as you might imagine, since I had just bought these combs for her formally long hair. It turns out that she had sold her hair to be able to purchase a new chain for the pocket watch! I could almost not bear to tell her that the watch was gone to pay for her combs! After everything became known Tracy and I both decided that this was the best Christmas ever.

Tracy gives me gas.

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 23:03:05 GMT

I was rolling along after giving a lift to Nate Turk, a friend and pre-marital counselee, and my mind became preoccupied with emergency preparedness and the need to stock up on certain items in case of emergency. The Explorer then began to lurch unexpectedly and then I remembered that I needed to stop at Wal-Mart for gas. I turned around and headed back north but it was too late. The car rolled to a stop and the irony hung thick in the car like the smell of cabbage in a carnival worker's trailer.

I called Tracy and assured her of my undying love before I asked her to pack up all the kids and bring me my gas can. Then I heard the voice of a women who had something over her man's head. About 5 years ago I got a call from Tracy who had run out of gas about 1 block from the gas station in Savoy. It was probably the coldest day of the year and she was at the Savoy Post Office trying to mail out the last of the Christmas gifts. I had the kids at home and made the decision that she was close enough to walk to the gas station. This would prove to be an error of judgement on my part.

Fortunately for me, Tracy is a much better person than I am. Although she firmly reminded me of that day 5 years ago when she had to walk in near blizzard conditions, she relented and brought me a can of gasoline. I pledged to her my gratitude and a promise that I would blog about the fact that I was so absolutely wrong not to come get her 5 years ago and that today she displayed an amazing amount of Christian love and mercy.

Our annual trip to the mall

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 12:34:01 GMT

Last weekend, we went to the mall for the first time since last Christmas. It is such a rare occasion that we darken its doors that I took the family out for Chinese food first and then took pictures of our outing. Considering that the mall will probably be the closest thing my children get to Disneyworld for a long time, I made sure that we walked past the Disney store. Please notice the antlers on my son's head, he has not removed them since our friend Jane bought them for him last weekend at K's play. He even stumbled out of bed the other morning wearing only his underwear, his blanket and the antlers. I am so proud.

K's Theatrical Debut

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 05:54:20 GMT

K Elizabeth was in a local production of Miracle on 34th Street last night. She had a small role, but to watch her at the curtain call you would think that she had the starring role. K was in her element. I can easily imagine my daughter doing this professionally. K has always been a "special' girl with a penchant for the dramatic and an imagination to match.

One of the things that I noticed was that K had no hesitation in mingling with the rest of the cast. I took her to a practice last week and we were a little late so we both sat in the back of the auditorium. Within 2 minutes K leave her seat with me and goes to sit with a group of other actors and strikes up a conversation. This is not the first time that I have seen K in action like this. Last year I took a Sunday off and went to an Episcopalian church in Mattoon. I had never been to an Episcopalian service before, so I took K with me and we went to see what it was like. After the service, there was coffee and refreshments served in the basement and I decided to have some conversations. K Elizabeth got a drink, a cookie and proceeded to start conversations with different adults while I was talking to some of the men in the room. If that were Tracy with me, I would have had to fight off her looks, sighs and tapping foot while I tried to have conversations.

Thanksgiving Deux

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 22:08:57 GMT

We made the trip up to Rockford to see Tracy's side of the family (sans parents) and discovered that there are a whole mess of kids up there now and all of them had a great time running around together. We met Candie's boyfriend and he seems like a really nice guy. Grandma Hughes is really having memory problems and was a bit confused about the identity and ownership of all the kids in the house.

I have no pictures of the mobile children, but I have some of Eleanor and our newest nephew, Harvey Broderick Hughes. Just like my sister's baby, this baby actually has a bit of color to him, unlike my fishbelly white children. He also has a birthmark that glows red when he is mad. Now Brad and Terri have a family of the same size and make up (age-wise) as ours. A 16 year old foster child, a boy and a girl in the middle, and a young one that came unexpectedly after several years.