Well that was my final time for running the 5K Kolache Days fun run last week. I finished just behind my dad and several minutes before mom. Naturally I would’ve like to do better but considering its the first actual race I’ve run I was glad to run the whole thing. And in the words of all Cubs fans, “There’s always next year!”
The week of travel from one relatives to the next did get tiring as longerish vacations do, but I really did have a blast. As Rebekah blogged about we led a romp (clan slang for a hike) instead of just following. We really are the next generation which is both scary and exciting! Whenever I head out to the “mountains” around G&G’s house I’m always amazed at just how beautiful it is. Of course I always wonder what I would do to the land if I could.
Right here I would put in a picture, but the internet here is stupid so that’s why my 365 really hasn’t been too active. Oh, I ordered a laptop finally! It should be here in a couple weeks and I’m hoping it’ll really help get me organized because my current computer:
- Has only 1/4th the RAM my new one will
- Has only 1/3 the hard drive my new one will
- I don’t even want to think about the processor differences
- College students really need small things and a laptop<desktop
- Microsoft word on my current one doesn’t work well, as in I every couple sentences I have to wait for a few minutes before it lets me type again.
- New is always better right! ok, maybe not. . .
- I’ll have a webcam!
Sorry for the extreme ramdomness (I don’t care what you think about my useage of this word) of the post, but it’s something.
Most of y’all that know me know that I’m a fairly hefty guy. I don’t know exactly when I started packing on the lbs, but I was extremely chubby until high school when I shot upwards but not really inwards. I’m pretty much the only nonathletic person in my family. It’s not like we’re a sportsy family, but we’re usually pretty good at running long distances anyway. In the past I’ve tried to get into an exercise routine, but it’s never really worked (yes Rebekah I know that diet is important too). But I think this summer I’ll really be able to get into a good routine. I honestly don’t care how much I weigh I’m not overweight at all I just want to get rid of all the excess fat and most importantly be healthy and feel good. I really don’t know much about how somebody should go about losing body fat and gaining muscles because frankly it doesn’t interest me. I figure I’ll just try to eat well and do my best to be pretty active in exercising. So far I’ve done pretty well this summer with the latter not so much the former though. I’ve been doing most of the mowing of the yard which is decently sizeable and the impressive thing is that I’ve been running! Running 4 miles is nothing to my older siblings and its only a minor accomplishment for my younger brothers but for me it actually brings a good feeling of accomplishment that I can do it. Lately I’ve been going up to Marengo Ridge when Liz goes up to run. Usually I’d just run a 1.2 mile route with Leah and try to get roughly 10:00. Then the other day I randomly (I did use that word correctly so be quiet Mom) decided to run the 4 route and somehow Leah and I survived it. At the very end we actually walked so technically it was just about 3.5 but whatever. And today I did it again sure my body hurts a bit and Leah and I were both dead tired but we did it! Running with a short dog probably doesn’t help me too much physically with her initially going slow and other places going much faster and me having to adjust depending on if she sees a squirrel or is running into my heels, but psychologically it really helps me to have somebody (that also needs exercise) to run with me. I think next week I’ll attempt the 3 mile fun run at Kolache Days in Verdigre. I’ll just have to try and ignore what competitiveness there is in me and just do my best, wish me luck!
Joe Hisaishi is a Japanese composer that has done a bunch of work with anime director Hayao Miyazaki (who makes about the only anime that I like). Here’s a wonderful version of his song “Summer” the orchestra version is also quite nice.
Yesterday George Tiller was fatally shot outside his local Lutheran church in Wichita Kansas. If you’ve been following the news then you’ve probably heard that Mr. Tiller was a doctor that performed late-term abortions for women. This isn’t the first time that violence has been used against abortion advocates or against Mr. Tiller, but it has seemed to stir up emotions. Some reports seem to indicate that this instance of violence is just how radical many conservative groups are and the extreme-right will stop at nothing to have their agenda dictated on the general populace. Many pro-life institutions have, rightly so, backed away from the murder and condemned the act as wrong. Much of the press seems to be taking the murder and its condemnation by pro-life groups as sharp step forward for pro-choice peeps. This doesn’t exactly seem to be the case. So in all of this what is a Christian’s response to such a situation where a person is clearly disregarding the sanctity of life and the government allows and protects them?
Well in looking at this whole situation I think it starts with Mr. Tiller. Was it right for him to perform abortions? NO. From the moment of conception a human is a human regardless of where on the biological time line they are. Should the government have allowed Tiller to perform abortions? NO. Just as the government protects the natural rights of a 47 year-old black male or a 6 year old white girl they should also defend the life of a unborn child. Should somebody have taken steps beyond the government to murder a murderer? I don’t think so, but it can be hard to say. Tens of millions of lives have been destroyed by the presence of abortion but does that give permission to the born to kill? We know that murder is wrong (which is why abortion is too) but should it be allowed in order to protect a greater number of people? Was it ok for small groups to try and assassinate Hitler in order to save the larger numbers of Jews? Essentially the question seems to be if citizens have the ethical obligation to surpass the government when a situation arises that runs contrary to their beliefs?
If the answer is yes then doesn’t that give full permission for crusades and jihads and all other manner of social anarchy merely dependant on what somebody’s code of ethics are?
But if the answer is no then does that leave people only trusting and being passive rather than active in making a politically better world? Over the past several months I have seemed to be running into the separation of church and state (or lack thereof) debate quite frequently and I still haven’t figured out whether it is a Christian’s responsibility to do everything possible to stop sin from happening or to allow somethings and not other or to allow everything. In a perfect world everybody would do everything right and we’d have a theocracy but what are the rules when there’s a single person that disobeys? Do we stamp them out? I think it’s best if we follow the model Jesus tells us in Matthew 18 or trying to convince them of their wrong but what do we do if they still don’t turn? What if what they’re doing directly threatens us then do we have the responsibility to stop them forcefully? Historically we look at the Roman days and see Rome persecuting the Christians but we look at the Crusades and see Christians persecuting others were the Christians not pushing their faith enough or pushing too hard? If as citizens we shouldn’t go beyond the boundaries of the law then what as Christians are we to do in the face of venomous governments that are part of a fallen society that compose this dying world? The only thing that I’ve really resolved on in this debate of Christian ethics in politics is that we must Trust. Trust entirely on God’s power and will for us and for the world. No matter what there will be problems with ourselves and people around us and so we can only depend on the mercy of God. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t vote to protect life or we should all go and become abortion doctors, but it does mean that as Christ suffered the weight of the world so should we bear our burden of a lack of trust and bury it in the tomb.
Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir also known as Yohanna is the Icelandic representative to the Eurovision competition that I mentioned last week. Since hearing that song I became a bit interested and her other songs are quite wonderful. Yohanna has a beautiful vocal tone and a command of her range that you wouldn’t expect from an 18 year old singer. Of course it doesn’t exactly hurt that she’s quite beautiful herself, but still. I just wish they’d release her CD “Butterflies and Elvis” in the US. Here’s her song, “Is It True” that she put into the contest but you should check out some of her other stuff on YouTube as well:
European and some Asian and African countries last week had their annual Eurovision Song Contest which is something akin to American Idol, but a lot bigger there. Each country selects a musician and a song from their own country. The musicians may be chosen at a music festival, by judges, or a televote show like American Idol or any other way. The main requirements are for a country to be part of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and there’s a few other little stuff (like not being too political which was why Georgia’s entry this year was kicked out for referencing Russian PM Putin). The countries can choose any language they want, but using the largely universal English language is quite popular.
The show is split up into 3 nights having two separate semi-finals which then vote to see who advances to the third show: the final. The UK, France, Germany, and Spain automatically get into the final because they are the biggest financial contributors to the competition. Russia automatically got in this year because they are the hosts this year since they won last year. Each contry has the same amount of votes that they allocate based on 50% of a televote and 50% is from that country’s judges. Until this year it was entirely televoting except in the ’50s when it was only judges but because countries would mostly vote for their neighbors and cultural allies they switched it a little bit. A country is able to allocate point numbers 1-8, 10, and 12 with the larger numbers going to their favorite entry. They aren’t allowed to vote for their own.
I first learned about this contest after the 2007 winner from Serbia was so awesome. This year I wasn’t sure when it was and it’s not even broadcast in the US so I just sort of followed online this weekend during the final. In the biggest blowout of point in the history of the competition Norway won this year. At age 23, Alexander Rybak wrote and performed the song very well here it is:
It wasn’t my top choice really, but I did enjoy it. For the most part it’s all pop music, which sometimes I like other times I don’t, just depends. I don’t really understand some of the choices in the final though, maybe Europeans are just weird. My top choices would go like this:
5. Norway
3. Greece
2. Malta
1. Iceland
So this past weekend marked separates the normal section of school year from dead week which is the week before finals. During this weekend SAC (Student Activities Council) organized a whole bunch of activities for teams to compete it. Teams had to turn in rosters as well as music for a couple events several months ago. My team is almost all freshmen (we have one sophomore that’s a freshman at heart) and we’ve been practicing three of the events for a while. The first one was our opening in which we were supposed to present a plot and our team characters. The overall theme of spring weekend this year was CU @ Work so we chose to be office supplies (more specifically Sharpie colors) as our team theme. The biggest event of the weekend in the Lip Sync when we present the main part of our team’s plot and resolve it (we showed the same story from a different angle). The Sharpie plot was that all of us had separate colors of Sharpie markers and we fought over who was the best before figuring out that together we combine to be the best. It was simple and easy to understand. The third event that only some people were in was the Syncronized Swimming event (since Concordia doesn’t have a team or a pool anymore we just use kiddie pools). I wasn’t in this event so I got the chance to film my team doing it.
This year was supposedly almost opposite of past years. It had only 5 guy teams but 8 girl teams. The guy teams supposedly are usually pretty dirty with their dances and stories but they were definitely cleaner than most of the girl’s. Of the guy teams one was just a goof off team that didn’t really follow many of the rules or even participate in many things, but another team has won the past 3 years and was seeking to have domination through all their years here. We and another serious, respectable, and good guy team didn’t want to let that happen.
Friday night we had the opening which went very well for us and we ended up getting first in the event! The team was totally ecstatic about that and we though we had a chance of winning everything. Later that night we had a mural making compitition and a dance that we had to dress up as forensic scientists. So we all wore black, but dressed one of our memebers as a corpse and we planted his body and acted like people from CSI. We wore sunglasses inside and lowered them to say stupidly obvious things like, “Well, I see that body appears to be dead”. Anywho, the dance was pretty awesome and we definitely got a workout from it. I’m really not much of a dancer, but it can be fun to at least try and move to the music. Our excellent execution (no pun intended) of our assigned theme of forensic scientists and our strange animation of our corpse-member’s body into dancing allowed us to win first in that event. The next day we had a bunch of random games like putting a hose through our shirts quickly, tennis ball slingshot, digging in the sand v-ball court for small items, and the trivia that we did well in mostly because of me (though I should’ve known more of the US Presidents ones). That night was the big lip sync event that is worth the most points in the weekend. We did very well (or so we and everybody that saw it thought) but the judges didn’t much like us and gave us fourth. That really hurt us a bit since we expected to do much better then the teams that were racist/sexist, dirty, or just plain stupid and pointless. During the day we got 3rd in practically every event, but getting 4th in the one that mattered most didn’t help us at all. On Sunday we had a game of capture the office supplies (yep, just like capture the flag). My team really isn’t athletic, at all, but we almost beat our biggest competition, the team that we actually respected, but somehow one person can get everybody back in and lead them to winning the game. There was also an obstacle course that had us do random parenting things like changing a diaper and putting away toys. Now during all the weekend it was freezing with lots of rain so it was quite strange to do a soapy slip N’ slide in the rain during this event, but it was very fun anyway. Finally was the sync swim event that our team got first in!
Our Sharpie team ended up getting 3rd of the guy teams, but we ended on a good note and lost to the hardcore teams. Oh, the reigning champs got second, HA! It was a very fun, but long and tiring weekend.
So tonight Liz called me and asked me if I knew what had happened. I hadn’t had any idea about anything. She was talking in a sick voice that sounded like she was crying over the phone so I was worried somebody had died. It turns out my brother Joe is engaged!
WOW!
Last weekend was obviously Easter break and I got Good Friday and Easter Monday off so I was able to hitch a ride with Rockford peeps to get back home. It was quite enjoyable and relaxing to be able to spend 3 days home with the family just chilling instead of working on school stuff. It seems like home is a couple weeks behind into spring than college, but nice days about anyway. Here at least. . .
Last week there was a big event in maritime history. The hostage situation involving the American crew of the Maersk Alabama were captured in the popular pirate waters near Somalia. When the pirates boarded the boat which was carrying US aid destined for Kenya and Somalia (those jerks) they were repeled by the American crew that fought back though they were unarmed. Don’t ya love American’s resiliance? Unfortunately the pirates took the captain and held him as a hostage in a lifeboat until, several days later, US Navy SEALs shot the pirates. What I wonder in all of this is why we haven’t gotten down to the problem and just destroyed all Somali piratey ships. Sure there’s a huge task force of international navies in the region trying to stop the piracy, but doesn’t it seem about time that we finished it off? Somalia is pretty much just anarchy with the standard war lords thrown in, but the world seems to scared to put an end to it. I’m sure much of it has to do with how President Clinton was too cowardly to continue our military protection of the UN humanitarian mission in the ’90s. When people are in dire straights, a phrase which here means “extreme poverty”, they do things that normally would be a bit inhibited by one’s conscience. But people in the Horn of Africa are so needy that they’re willing to take over ships and attack cruise ships even. Anyway, I think that we should send in the military and company to try and bring order to Somalia.
There’s also plenty of anarchy down in Mexico. Their President, Calderon, was elected in 2006 and began a change in policy to fight the drugs, gangs, and corruption that are so rampant down there, partly because of us. Most of the weapons used in the drug war come from the US which is where most of the drugs go to. With this affecting the US so much I think it is paramount that the US gets involved with military if needed to help the situation. Perhaps not invade Mexico by any means, but instead we should ask how we can help. Much of the problem is that the Mexican military takes out the top drug lords and then the gangs are left in disarray which then causes problems both within and without the gangs. Thousands of Americans, mostly tourists, have been kidnapped in Mexico and require ransom which often doesn’t even manage to free somebody. This needs to stop. When I went down to Mexico in March 2008 my misison trip group walked over a bridge of the Rio Grande and BOOM! there was this armored car sitting at the other end with machine gun on top and everything. There were troops all over the streets to try and stop the drug cartels and protect American tourist money. It was rather shocking to me. I’m not sure whether the military presence is scary or heartening, but it was different. On the way back over the bridge though we were able to see through a little bit of fence some of the off-duty soldiers playing soccer. Seeing people that have so much power over life and death having fun playing a simple game reminded me of the human effect behind all of the goods and bads in the world. That as Lemony Snicket says people are like a salad where there are bits of good and bits of bad mixed in together. It’s true of pirates, war lords, drug lords, soldiers, and me.
Perhaps it is just the onset of spring (even though it did snow today) that suddenly in the past few days has driven a desire in me to get dirty. Many of my favorite sensations have to do with the upkeep of a yard. And lately it really hit me how long it has been since I really stuck my hands into the deep, dirty, moist, beautiful earth. Even though things like the weeding that mom always made us kids (though it only seemed to be me at the time) do was painful at the moment there is just something about gardening that I like and now miss. No mom, you can’t just make me do whatever when I get back this summer! But I have had the urge to do something with plants.
