A Cup, A Bone...Honest We Still Atone.

We had visitors at church today. They seemed very nice.

I mentioned yesterday that we had a "costume party" at church last night...well, it was a full blown Halloween party - which is fine with me, I never quite understood why churches used euphemisms to avoid saying Halloween...one pagan ritual is the same as the next.

However I'm not sure how the church visitors - you know folks who don't really know our little quirky bunch of Christians - reacted to seeing the words "HAPPY HALLOWEEN" scrawled in chalk on the walkway right in front of the church doorway. I'm sure they probably bypassed them without too much thought, yet had we not arrived a little late I probably would have hosed the words away before service started.

We ran out of coffee cups at the church last week and so we improvised a bit today - you know we're a quirky little bunch of Christians, sort of odd but really quite nice - some folks used cups left over from the party last night for juice or water. They were cute little cups...




I doubt the visitors thought much about those cups either....although seeing the Pastor taking sips of water from one of the cups during his sermon admittedly might have raised an eyebrow or two, but we're a quirky little bunch of Christians...we do messy church sometimes...okay a lot.



Luckily the visitors - being visitors and all - sat a few rows back...they might not have even noticed the cup that the Pastor was drinking from - although I probably didn't help matters by pulling out my tiny camera and trying to get a picture.

Anyway, I'm at least pretty certain they didn't notice the adorable little boy playing on the floor right in front of me. Before church, he and his buddies had been playing out on the land - you know our quirky little bunch of Christians have sort of a haven in the woods...there are lots of trees, tall grass, and great places for little boys to play. Occasionally they find some cool stuff...cool little boy stuff.




But still I'm not really sure if a little boy playing with an animal bone during the sermon where the Pastor kept holding up a Halloween cup might have left the wrong impression about our little church in the woods.




I hope not.

I mean we're a quirky little bunch of Christians...but we have a sense of humor.

God gave us that too.

Ana, Monks & My Wife The Dog

First I should explain the last part of that title...we're all scrambling around preparing to go to a "Costume Party" at church. It's not a Halloween party because...well, I don't have time to go into that...anyway Ana convinced us to go as characters from her favorite TV show "The Family Guy."

I have never watched this show, but I am going as this guy:


And Amy is going as apparently the most intelligent member of the cast...the family dog:



All I had to do was buy a pair of green pants from Goodwill...I'm not quite sure how Amy is throwing her costume together yet. I haven't seen her, I've been running around all day.

Ana and I explored the San Antonio Museum of Art - specifically the exhibit featuring the Tibetan Monks who make intricate pictures called "mandalas" out of sand.



click to enlarge

Last night I wanted to find out more about the monks and this specific exhibit so I logged onto the museum's website and went to the press release area. There I was met with this notice:

Article Title Author Date
Tibetan Monks Return to SAMA! October 25-30, 2005

These are generally available for viewing for seven days. After the initial seven days, Paid Members only will have access to these files.

Seriously, they limit access to their publicity to paid members. I had to drop them a note offering my services as a Public Relations and or Common Sense Director.

Anyway, we saw the monks...which was very cool. Ana even tried her hand at sand painting.



We then debated taking the organized "tour" of the Asian art exhibit or running amok all over the museum by ourselves ...yeah, that was an easy call to make.


We saw a lot of fascinating things although perhaps we didn't always pay proper reverence...



We discussed many of the works and covered most of the museum...some of the works were uncovered...



For those, I decided it best not to say anything.




After all, there were a bunch of monks about...



And I'm a family guy.

Pausing For Pants

I know, I know...I haven't been posting regularly. I've simply been caught up in a bunch of stuff and trying to make time for the little things...like sleep.

However I have two seconds to mention this pair of pants.



They recently sold on Ebay... but I warn you that you might bust a gut reading about them.

Making A Case For Cardboard

A little oddity to start your week. You want to be PC with your PC? Political correct that is...maybe environmentally correct is a better term.
Then maybe you should junk that metal and plastic case housing your computer..in favor of one made of...cardboard.




It's made by a Japanese company called Lupo


Make sure your PC has a good cooling fan.

Okay...if cardboard computers leave a bad taste in your mouth, I'll toss in this...a scale model of San Francisco...made out of Jello.








I wasn't going to post them, but then I thought...there's always room for Jello.

Time After Time

Working Saturdays is not something I relish, but I almost never turn down the opportunity because it is literally like stealing money...except it's legal. I get paid overtime and I do less - much much less - work than during a normal workday. It's become impossible for me to resist even though with so little to do the day seems to drag on forever.

The other attraction to working the Saturday shift is that it's with only one radio station and it's actually "live." The truth is - outside of major disaster coverage - working Saturdays is the only time I get to do "live" radio anymore.

I work for so many radio stations now that everything I do is "pre-recorded" which takes a lot virtually all the fun out of it.
There is no interaction with anyone I work with and I'm for the most part a writing/recording machine for 4 or 5 hours straight every morning....interrupt me for 5 minutes and you've discombobulated my "time." It can take hours for me to recover.

I applied for a job as a corporate P.R. flak the other day on a whim simply because radio - the radio I'm doing now - has become so mechanical.
For the record, the corporate folks didn't want me which I expected - I only made a half-hearted application - making that jump for real will take a lot more thought and prayer...a lot more time.

I've already mentioned it in passing to my boss and I have some ideas I'm going to pitch - when I have the time - which I think would make the job more fun and improve the product on my primary radio station too.

Anyway I've been thinking a lot about time lately.

Time is something the importance of which Amy and I have increasingly come to recognize and cherish. We are trying to "make time" for ourselves, as well as "set aside" time for us and the Gomez family. Plus I truly want "one on one" time with John and Ana to show them things and let them show me things. Amy wants the same...which essentially means we're stretched for time.

I wish I had some answers...but I don't have time to search for them right now.

I have only enough time to write this...any more writing and I'll have taken up the time I set aside to wash our stinky little dogs.

That's something that can't be put off any longer...but I suppose it will make the rest of the time we have a little a lot more enjoyable.

Maybe that's all there is to it...make sure you make enough time to keep life from stinking...

Somehow that doesn't seem philosophical enough. Maybe I'll polish that thought...another time.


When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future - Ecclesiastes 7:14

The Boy, The Bus, And The Bird

We're in the middle of one of those "kid" things we thought we were done with...a kid who missed his bus home. I wasn't too upset about it, until I drove to the school...drove around the school...got out and walked around the school...drove around the school...and still couldn't find him. I drove back home.
Right now Amy has gone to go find John' although his mom has told him to walk home...that would be my approach too, except I'm not positive he knows the way. I know the exact distance - 2.9 miles. It's a nice day. I hope the next time he misses the bus will be a nice day too because he will definately walk home then.
Driving people to and from bus stops and school is nearly a full time job in our house and it's made having a normal life virtually impossible for me and Amy. We were hoping we'd get folks on a schedule by now but that's not working. We've got to find a way to make this work because it's interfering with the few hours we have...we being Amy and me. Today we're both worn out from driving to Waco and back to pick up Lisa who reminded us that selflessness is not taught in college, so this wasn't a good day for John' to be a goofball.

I'm working tomorrow to earn extra money so we can survive, that means Amy and I only have a few hours together before I'll need to sleep.

We'll work on this other stuff tomorrow I suppose.

God help us prevent John' from growing up to be a bird brain.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A man got a prison term longer than prosecutors and defense attorneys had agreed to -- all because of Larry Bird.

The lawyers reached a plea agreement Tuesday for a 30-year term for a man accused of shooting with an intent to kill and robbery. But Eric James Torpy wanted his prison term to match Bird's jersey number 33.

``He said if he was going to go down, he was going to go down in Larry Bird's jersey,'' Oklahoma County District Judge Ray Elliott said Wednesday. ``We accommodated his request and he was just as happy as he could be.

``I've never seen anything like this in 26 years in the courthouse. But, I know the DA is happy about it.''

For Every Thing There Is A Reason...

The reason they shear sheep.