I started coaching my sons 2nd & 3rd grade basketball team recently. I think it is going to be a lot of fun, they have so much to learn, I think that it is very exciting.

The thing that is concerning me right now is that I have 10 boys on the team several of them are very athletic, somewhat experienced, and driven to get better. A few are not at all athletic, and not driven, but very happy to be there. I am also happy to have them there, I think that the challenge will be keeping everyone interested and happy, because very quickly I will have some that are quite advanced and some that are a little behind. I think that I will be able to handle this just fine, but it will an issue to deal with this season. If you have any great ideas, I'm listening.

I played a Nintendo Wii this weekend in a store, so I didn't have a long time with it. It was very cool! I want one. It is hard to believe though they want $250 for one if you can find one to buy, and my used Gamecube is only worth $20. Sad, but the Wii seems like it will be fun, I think I like the controllers!

I found the fixer up boat that I have been looking for. Sadly even though it is a great and low price, I am not yet financially prepared to buy it. It is a 1990 Maxum 2100 LDR (21' V bottom) with a trailer. I was about to post a picture of it here but it looks like the craigslist entry expired, so I can't. I hope the guy still has it in a couple of months.

I was pushed over the edge on wanting the boat, when this past weekend (what an amazing weekend of weather, 70 degrees at the end of November, WOW) my father-in-law's boat broke down on us for the 4th time since July of this year. It's an old pontoon and don't get me wrong I am very thankful for him letting us use it as our own, but I think it is time to put it out to pasture (we won't actually do that with the boat, though that's what many people actually do with old boats in Missouri). It's looking like it will be impossible to fix until spring, so while I have been really enjoying cold weather boating, alas no more for this fall/winter/early spring. I guess it is back to fishing strictly off of the dock.

If anyone would like to contribute to my boat fund please don't hesitate to let me know. :$)

Balance... Balance is the answer...

I think that God through scriptural instruction and admonition calls for balance in life. Work and rest (aka fun), eat and fast, follow and lead, etc. I have felt God's call to balance in my life for years, and I think that answers my last post. Sometimes with difficult decisions it becomes easy to forget that.

Added later:
I wonder if this is a cop out???

Want or Ought...

I have been struggling lately. Wondering if I am choosing things that are too selfish. Where is the balance. I am too selfish to want to give all of my money, all of my time, everything to Christ and the things he calls me to, but I really don't want to hold back either. Is all really everything, should I not sleep, should my family not eat, what about having some fun (My family has been having a great time spending time together at the Lake of the Ozarks.) , how much is right? So what is everything??? At the same time I don't feel like God is telling me I am holding anything back.

I kind of think it is a question of weather I do the things I do out of 'want to' or 'ought to'. I definitely have been giving more to my family lately (and it's been 'want to') than I have to church, and feels kind of wrong, though I know it is not. The fact is because I am a task oriented kind of person, it doesn't always feel as satisfying because with family there is no task to complete. So I kind of feel like I 'ought to' be doing more tasks at/for 'church' and 'God'.

My kids just started 2nd and 7th grades wow. We have gone to the back-to-school nights the last two weeks. Wow middle school would be scary, and I am supposed to be an adult , I can't imagine for my 12 year old daughter... I can't believe how much more work it is going to be. Speaking of being an adult, I just had a birthday, I am glad to be alive!

I think this is kind of fun. Check it out. robots

Wow, what a summer!
The teen Mission trip to Mexico that I went on a couple of weeks ago was awesome, and exhausting.
The new phone system install project at work is going really well and exhausting.
Coaching softball this summer is fun, it is great to spend that time with my family and most of the team, but it is exhausting.
I think I need a nap.
Good Bye.

My daughter graduated from 6th grade today, next fall she will start middle school. That is hard to believe! Even though she daily behaves just as anyone would expect a hormonal adolescence pre-teen to, I love her and she is great! You should stop and pray for her mother and I, right now!

This is great weather to ride a motorcycle in!

I've been thinking about buying a new riding lawn mower, but I really haven't wanted to spend that much money. My previous one was chewed up and destroyed by a dog that we had for a short time, we got rid of him when he started chewing up and destroying everything including our deck (made of wood!). This weekend I was helping the same friend that gave me his dog during a previous move (thanks alot), and the really excellent news here is that this time when he moved out of town he gave me his riding lawn mower!!!

Don't keep score everyone is a winner... what everyone is a whiner, yes everyone is a whiner! Stop it, if you try harder and work harder you should win!

So I went to my daughters science fair at her school last week. The whole 6th grade is required to participate, which means that no one, no one does it because they want to, they do it because they have to. Please excuse the following rant... You know when I was a kid you participated in things because you wanted to and for me I wanted to because I wanted to do a good job and try my best to win. Which brings me to my second point about just how ridiculous this science fair was, the following are all approximate numbers for the event; 150 entries, 40 first place ribbons, 50 second place ribbons, 40 third place ribbons, 20 participant ribbons. OK there are 6 classes in the sixth grade in this school, I could see if one were to insist breaking them into groups by class or by some scientific content category, neither of which was done, but yet there were 40 FIRST PLACE RIBBONS!!!??? What is that about, I think our teachers may need some more education, I think they don't understand the definition of "FIRST" place. By definition that is necessarily limited to ONE!

I feel bad for the 10 or so of the students who really put in a lot of work and effort and time. Their ribbons looked very much like the ones for the 'participant', who should have received an F, as they were terrible (sorry if that offends you). At some point you've got to start keeping score in Science fairs, soccer, etc. because they will in life!

must post again, come on man!

I am thoroughly enjoying my new motorcycle and the great weather KC gets these 2 weeks of the year!

Also, My daughters softball team that I have helped coach for 6 years, and struggled for many of them, won our first game Friday night BIG TIME 21 to 1. I kinda felt bad for the other team, we know what that feels like, but it felt very good to be on the other side of that this time, and to see the looks on the girls faces as they celebrated was priceless!

Warning: this post is pathetic. You probably shouldn't read this!

I am so busy. I am so tired. I feel mentally and physically exhausted! I really wonder why I do most of what I do, there seem to be at least as many reasons in opposition as there are in favor of the things I do, yet I do them anyway, after all isn't that what is expected of me. I am so tired! Hardship, hard things at every turn. I really really can't decide if I already am selfish for feeling this way, or if I want to take my time back (aka be more selfish).

Wow, how pitiful am I. My life is so very relatively easy, considering the world in which I live.

I am so tired!

Baseball: A review of our appreciation for our national pastime is a review of us:

I went to the Royals opening day game yesterday, it was a good time, they lost what's new. On to my point for this post, I really enjoy baseball, but I could not help feeling very distracted by all the goings on, from the silly messages on the scoreboards, the people walking around with painted bodies supporting the refurbish the stadiums vote, that silly lion throwing hot dogs into the crowd, the drunk guys behind me yelling all kinds of foul and ridiculous things at everyone, and my cell phone. This is what it takes to entertain us, when did a ball game stop being enough. We the people of this great country have a collective ADD outbreak, we simply have no attention span! It is sad, it is not a pastime anymore, because we nearly refuse to stop being 'productive' or wow'd by something. Take for example myself and the 2 guys on either side of me at the game yesterday, I took note in an early inning that the 3 of us had our cell phones out and were talking, emailing, or IM'ing, so I watched for the rest of the game and we were frequently saying what just happened (because we were working with our cell phones in hand). This did not look unique in the crowd around us. USoADD. Baseball is but one example, look around you can see it everywhere.

Rambling thoughts on a Sunday morning. (Posted late)

I have been blogging pretty regularly for a couple of weeks now, and this morning I realized that I am still coasting through life without thinking much about what I am choosing to fill my days with. To really and on a deep level do what God wants for my life I need to start paying more attention! I think this vehicle (blogging) can help but (duh) it's not the answer. Television is evil in my life, exercise and plentiful sleep are holy. We have too many channels on our TV, I am going to call and reduce it. I want a new riding lawn mower, I want a new bigger motorcycle, want not need, should I spend that money??? So many questions. I know the answers, but actually doing what I know is right is difficult.
I am writing this while listen to the Sunday morning sermon at my church, it has guided these thoughts, I think that is good.

It still drives me crazy, if the Scripture says 'man', don't say humanity. We understand the cultural relationship to those pronouns, but that is not what the SCIPTURE says.

Sunday school
what difference am I making in my world? Are people less hungry, less poor, less cold, less lonely, less hurting, because of my existence?

Ahhh Springtime!

I really enjoy the spring; softball coaching is about to start, I've been riding my motorcycle a lot. I am very excited about softball this year, I think we have a chance to be very very good, and the 2 top teams from last year have moved up to the next division and so we won't be playing them this year! :) We start practicing this weekend and games start in about a month. I love teaching the girls about softball and watching them get excited about learning, doing something well and winning. Soccer games are starting this weekend for both kids, back to the business of sports, but I get to go play racquetball tonight and Saturday, so I am pumped about that.

Good weekend, glad last week is over...


Joe has started leading our Monday morning prayer time, he asks us to go around and talk about a high and a low point of our previous week/weekend. So I will take this opportunity to share mine. Thanks Joe for giving a moment to slow down and think.

Low (kind of): Training last week was very difficult and frustrating, there were many many interruptions from other problems and issues at work.
High: I had a great weekend, Good time playing racquetball, and Game Cube with the guys Saturday night. Had a very good day at church, and at home with the family on Sunday.

I am playing racquetball again tonight, I can't wait. I am going to order Nascar 2005 for GameCube today, that is a really cool game.

What a week!

Training has been pretty intense, add to that many many things going on at work that I need to work on for upcoming projects, add to that daily network problems, add to that a challenging week at home with pre-teen (very challenging at times). Whew what a week! I am glad it is nearly over. Training has been good and I hope it finishes strong tomorrow. Exciting and Exhausting days.

On a more serious note, it drives me crazy...

1st> I am not an professional linguist nor was I even good at English classes in school, so I should probably keep my mouth shut, but this really bugs me, so I can't.
2nd> Don't get me wrong the people who I am about to refer are people that I care about a respect a great deal! I am going to try to allow them to remain nameless, if you know or figure out who I am talking about, know this; I care about and respect them greatly.

Why do preachers feel the need to replace the pronouns in scripture, when the Word says he, please say he, when the word says his, please say his. Don't say 'he or she', don't say 'theirs'. Your congregations are mature enough to understand (and if they aren't teach them), that there were cultural reasons for that singular pronoun to be used. If you don't like the way that version of the Bible was translated, use a different one, don't change the words yourself, without disclaiming it each and every time. When you change the words it makes it sound like you are trying to trick us, or twist what is there, I know you don't want to twist what is there, when you read please be true to the text, then add your commentary.

The weekend past and the week to come...

I am at a Microsoft Exchange server training class all this week. I hope it is good, and so far it sounds like it will be. I had a pretty good weekend, I got my van fixed, the parts cost a little more than I was planning because they changed the wiring on the new fuel pump so I had to buy a new wiring harness for it. Oh well it's fixed and that is good. The AONT conference was good/fun and I think I made some good contacts, I am kind of excited about the possibilities that it opens up for networking with others that do the same kind of church computer work that I do. I thing that I am excited about is the possibility of podcasting for my church, we stream our pastors sermon now, but to podcast it will make it much more usable. So I am probably going to try to do some podcasting testing here and then help the sound techs at my church start doing this.

PS. I am rather enjoying this blogging thing, I know no one is reading and no one cares but it is helping me to think about my life.

A good day off.

It was a great day yesterday. The kids ended up spending most of the day at my moms house, so Errin and I had a great day hanging out and taking a drive and watching the KU basketball game (boo), I no longer care about basketball for the year.

I am at an interesting conference today, AONT Conference. It is interesting to think about how technology can be at work in the church to advance the work of the church. My specific thoughts are about how Nazarene Publishing House might be able to assist and resource the church.

Just my luck...

Last night I borrowed a tow dolly (you know one of those things you put the front wheels of a car on to tow it with the cars back wheels still on the ground), and all was well until I put my van up on it. One of it's tires went flat, then it rained a little, teaching me a valuable lesson. "Stay home and go to bed!", no wait that's not it, the lesson is "Ride your motorcycle", yeah that's it. Anyway I finally got the van home and it was way to late and way to dark to start working on it, so that is what I have to look forward to tonight. Apparently contrary to what "Annie" would say, the sun will also set tomorrow, here's for looking forward to another day. Hope your is better than mine.

Wow, that was depressing, what a bad attitude I have today.
On the bright side I am staying home with my wife and kids (who are on spring break this week) tomorrow that should be a good time.

I wish I could teleport myself...

Of course the part I need for my van is one that has to be ordered and it takes 3 days, and they can't even order it until I take it off of the van and take it in for them to match. I am going to tow it home today. :(

To blog or not to blog that is the question!?

I am going to start trying to post here, even though I have given Joe and Adam a hard time about blogging. The way I see it is, "why would anyone want to waste their time reading anything I have to say", I was obviously not born to be an author. So why start now you might ask? (did you) I'll answer anyway. I am starting now because my life seems to be flying at warp speed and picking up more speed all the time, I hardly ever slow down long enough to consider the things I choose to fill up my life with. Now don't get me wrong I am busy with good things, but why am I so busy. The little voice in my head is screaming "so why add this to the list" right now. Why, because I thin, no I hope that this will encourage me to slow down long enough to really think about things that are going on in my life instead of just doing what I am supposed to do and reacting to what I must.

Speaking of reacting to what I must. When I tried to leave work last night my van wouldn't start, so I tried to work on it, and I ended up breaking something that wasn't the problem, it turns out the problem is the fuel pump. Who knew a fuel pump for such an old vehicle would be so expensive. Bummer.

So I plan to write again soon. Most likely when next have to react to something that I wish I had more time to think about.