Check this out.
Don't want the hassle of going to a gym? Have it brought to you! Curbside fitness is a giant luxury truck filled with workout equipment that will pull up to your house for an hourly rate.
A couple friends spotted the bus in a luxurious area of St. Louis yesterday and alerted me to the existence of such a service. Wow.
How ridiculous a society where you don't even have to have a gym at home to get a gym at home. Why would you ever want to leave the house anyways?
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
What to do what to do
So it's 12:40am, and I'm still reflecting on something that happened at church tonight. Every Tuesday at church we have ultimate frisbee from 9-11pm. We use these frisbees with two different colors of glow bands. We have music, lights, drinks, and pizza. Usually about 80 kids show up, if you want to see some pics check out lwyouth.org
The cool thing about "Ultimate Tuesdays" is that probably 80% of the kids that come don't attend our church.
I don't say all that just to "brag" but rather so that you better understand what took place. So at 11pm we shut it down and kids parents are picking them up or kids are driving themselves home. We have a substantial amount of equipment to carry in, not to mention emptying trash and picking up spare Gatorade bottles and what not, so there's plenty to do. If there were only 2 or 3 of us cleaning up it would take more than an hour. Luckily we've got great volunteers who stay to help clean up even though they'd rather go home and sleep!
But tonight something abnormal happened. There were about 20 kids or so who stayed after. So we were like, "Sweet! More help!" It's always a little awkward when you ask people to help clean up, so like the cheesy youth dork that I am, I say something like: "Hey guys, I know a fun game we can play...help us clean up this junk! Who wants to play!?!?!" The crowd of kids just stands there looking at me. So I stick out the speaker wire I was holding and say to one of them- "Here man, you can play, it's easy!" He just looks at me and says, "Nah, thats ok." He was on his cell phone.
So here you have a group of kids literally standing there having just enjoyed the fruits of our labor- listened to music, ate pizza, drank Gatorade, played frisbee; and now they're actually in the way of people cleaning up, but not really taking the suttle invitation to help pitch in.
Like I said, I don't really know who any of these kids are- I can't assume they go to any church, I have know idea who their parents are, I don't know them at all. But frankly, I found it very rude.
Now as I sit here and type this out, I failing to accurately describe the audacity of the kids (is audacity the right word? i'll get to that in a sec). My question is this:
What should I have done?
Should I politely ask them to leave if they're not going to help, since the event was over at 11?
Should I yell at them and tell them how rude and inconsiderate they were being?
Should I just pretend it's not big deal?
As I'm pouring out the extra ice from our massive cooler, there's a couple bottled waters left, so I offer it to them and they accept- then just keep chatting and pretending there isn't work to do. I ask them if they had fun and cheerfully say I look forward to seeing them next week.
Was that the right thing to do? In my mind, I can't hold these kids to a standard that they might not hold themselves to- as a Christian, I believe we are to offer ourselves in service to one another, especially when whoever it is needs help has just spent time providing me with a good time!
But from their perspective, did they even notice? Were they conscious of the fact they were being in considerate? Or have they just been in such a position to be served their whole life? Remember these are suburban St. Louis kids who drive nicer cars than my Dad.
What is the Christian response? Frankly, I'm convinced that part of being a Christian IS being taken advantage of. But am I providing these kids with a dis-service by not pointing out the err in their ways? Or was it right to still treat them kindly. Was it right for me to fake kindness when inside I really wanted to yell at them?
What should I have done?
(If this seems like a melodramatic post, I'm sorry. If you would have been there the situation would have had more magnitude than reading it on the blog! I also apologize for the many spelling and grammatical errors in this post, it's late.)
The cool thing about "Ultimate Tuesdays" is that probably 80% of the kids that come don't attend our church.
I don't say all that just to "brag" but rather so that you better understand what took place. So at 11pm we shut it down and kids parents are picking them up or kids are driving themselves home. We have a substantial amount of equipment to carry in, not to mention emptying trash and picking up spare Gatorade bottles and what not, so there's plenty to do. If there were only 2 or 3 of us cleaning up it would take more than an hour. Luckily we've got great volunteers who stay to help clean up even though they'd rather go home and sleep!
But tonight something abnormal happened. There were about 20 kids or so who stayed after. So we were like, "Sweet! More help!" It's always a little awkward when you ask people to help clean up, so like the cheesy youth dork that I am, I say something like: "Hey guys, I know a fun game we can play...help us clean up this junk! Who wants to play!?!?!" The crowd of kids just stands there looking at me. So I stick out the speaker wire I was holding and say to one of them- "Here man, you can play, it's easy!" He just looks at me and says, "Nah, thats ok." He was on his cell phone.
So here you have a group of kids literally standing there having just enjoyed the fruits of our labor- listened to music, ate pizza, drank Gatorade, played frisbee; and now they're actually in the way of people cleaning up, but not really taking the suttle invitation to help pitch in.
Like I said, I don't really know who any of these kids are- I can't assume they go to any church, I have know idea who their parents are, I don't know them at all. But frankly, I found it very rude.
Now as I sit here and type this out, I failing to accurately describe the audacity of the kids (is audacity the right word? i'll get to that in a sec). My question is this:
What should I have done?
Should I politely ask them to leave if they're not going to help, since the event was over at 11?
Should I yell at them and tell them how rude and inconsiderate they were being?
Should I just pretend it's not big deal?
As I'm pouring out the extra ice from our massive cooler, there's a couple bottled waters left, so I offer it to them and they accept- then just keep chatting and pretending there isn't work to do. I ask them if they had fun and cheerfully say I look forward to seeing them next week.
Was that the right thing to do? In my mind, I can't hold these kids to a standard that they might not hold themselves to- as a Christian, I believe we are to offer ourselves in service to one another, especially when whoever it is needs help has just spent time providing me with a good time!
But from their perspective, did they even notice? Were they conscious of the fact they were being in considerate? Or have they just been in such a position to be served their whole life? Remember these are suburban St. Louis kids who drive nicer cars than my Dad.
What is the Christian response? Frankly, I'm convinced that part of being a Christian IS being taken advantage of. But am I providing these kids with a dis-service by not pointing out the err in their ways? Or was it right to still treat them kindly. Was it right for me to fake kindness when inside I really wanted to yell at them?
What should I have done?
(If this seems like a melodramatic post, I'm sorry. If you would have been there the situation would have had more magnitude than reading it on the blog! I also apologize for the many spelling and grammatical errors in this post, it's late.)
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Post #200!
It's a bicentennial of sorts for IKOTM! I first titled the blog from a rap line P. Diddy does on Usher's 2002 hit "I need a girl". Since the blog started I've gotten engaged, moved to St. Louis, and am not about to settle into a rental house!
So to commemorate this occasion, I've swapped the colors and template, added a "Current Reading" section, changed the description, and basically copied whatever else Andy did. So, here's to many more posts and even more comments!
So to commemorate this occasion, I've swapped the colors and template, added a "Current Reading" section, changed the description, and basically copied whatever else Andy did. So, here's to many more posts and even more comments!
Monday, July 09, 2007
The New Crib (probably)
So I think I've found a house to rent for the next couple of years. Not buying yet. The owners are really nice folks and are putting a ton of work into the place. So here it is for your viewing pleasure. It's not quite done yet, but this will give you an idea. 3 bedroom 1 bath, giant backyard,cozy little place.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
When In Rome
So this article was on Yahoo today.
Basically, The Pope is endorsing Latin masses again. Apparently in up until the 1960's it was the norm. From the article-
"Before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Catholic mass was an elaborate ritual led in Latin by a priest with his back to the congregation. Vatican II reduced the formality and had the priest face the faithful to pray in their local language.
Traditionalists rejected the new style's sing-along hymns and guitar music. Many missed the Latin rite's sense of mystery and awe and the centuries-old Gregorian chant that went with it."
Now, to me this seems like a no-brainer. A service in Latin? Yikes. No body can understand it! If that's what "mystery and awe" means then to each his own, but I'd at least like to hear about God in English so I can then ponder the mystery and be in awe- because I don't understand God... NOT WHAT LANGUAGE THE SERVICE IS IN.
Obviously my protestant bias and gross lack of Church history is showing here. But this got me thinking...
Does protestant Christianity do the same thing? Think about it- don't we have a language all our own? Fellowship...Narthex...Sacristy...Transubstantiation...Epistle...Abrahamic Covenant...Sanctification...I could go on.
I think a lot of times theres a "lingo" that unless you've just been around a long time you won't understand because no one stops to explain things. So although our services are given in English, consider the following being mentioned in the service:
"Today's scripture lesson is from Paul's second Epistle to the church in Corinth." Now, what all does this phrase assume?
1. That you know what an epistle is
2. That you know who Paul is
3. That you understand the inherent connection between Paul and the epistles
4. Basically that you have enough Biblical and Ecclesial knowledge to translate into: 2nd Corinthians
I would guess that many folks sitting in the congregation wouldn't be able to articulate those 4 things, and why should they unless they've been taught or given the proper tools to discover it for themselves? If you haven't taken bible classes in church or in college or you haven't been raised in Sunday school where do you get to know all the fancy phrases?
My pastor calls it "church-eese" or "christian-eese" and we need to be mindful that we articulate such specialized language. The church can't be so presumptuous to just assume people either know this stuff or will have the where-with-all to go figure it out themselves.
If we don't give consideration to issues like this, we might as well give the services in Latin.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
4th of July
The 4th was always one of my favorite holidays. I remember going to the gas station as a child, and getting a bottle of JOLT cola to shoot bottle rockets out of. Here in St. Louis county you can't shoot off fireworks, but at the county line on I-44 into Jefferson county it's like the Las Vegas Strip of Fireworks stands, hillarious.
So, for all who care to read, here's some 4th of July favorites:
Music-
Jimi Hendrix, Star Spangled Banner
Ray Charles, America the Beautiful
Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA
Movies-
The Sandlot
Independance Day
Fireworks-
Smoke Bombs
The Lil' Green Tanks (my personal favorite, see above)
Food-
Brats
Homemade Ice Cream
Not-So-Favorite Things About 4th of July:
Barking Dogs
Burning your hand
The cheap wicks fireplace stands give you
So here's to a happy 4th of July to everyone, especially folks overseas who can't be with their families.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
John Mayer Concert
I didn't really do this justice on the blog yet. Almost two weeks ago some friends and I saw John Mayer at Verizon Amphitheater/UMB Bank Pavilion/Riverport. It was nuts. Brett Dennen and Ben Folds opened up, who were also very good.
It's time to revisit my John Mayer theory.
I don't know how much longer he can hold up. I think Continuum is one of the best albums ever. The dude can sing, play, and write all EXTREMELY well. He could be a great solo artist just on his guitar playing alone. He's dated Jennifer Love Hewitt and the magazine covers have tagged him with Jessica Simpson.
I believe there's no way a relationship between John Mayer and any celebrity will ever last. Why? It's too much. No single man can be THAT awesome. What do you think fuels a lot of his songs? Problems with love. You can't come out with a blues album if you're dating Jessica Simpson. No one will believe you could ever be blue. The only thing that allows him to keep his street cred is the fact that he's unhappy in the love dept. So he's doomed to either keep being awesome musically or give up his material in exchange for love.
That being said, a highlight of the show was impersonating John Mayer's guitar face. You can see Jimmy Fallon's impersonation here about halfway through.
So here are me and my friends best impersonations:
It's time to revisit my John Mayer theory.
I don't know how much longer he can hold up. I think Continuum is one of the best albums ever. The dude can sing, play, and write all EXTREMELY well. He could be a great solo artist just on his guitar playing alone. He's dated Jennifer Love Hewitt and the magazine covers have tagged him with Jessica Simpson.
I believe there's no way a relationship between John Mayer and any celebrity will ever last. Why? It's too much. No single man can be THAT awesome. What do you think fuels a lot of his songs? Problems with love. You can't come out with a blues album if you're dating Jessica Simpson. No one will believe you could ever be blue. The only thing that allows him to keep his street cred is the fact that he's unhappy in the love dept. So he's doomed to either keep being awesome musically or give up his material in exchange for love.
That being said, a highlight of the show was impersonating John Mayer's guitar face. You can see Jimmy Fallon's impersonation here about halfway through.
So here are me and my friends best impersonations:
Monday, July 02, 2007
The Secret
Secrets don't make friends.
Secret is a woman's deodorant.
James Taylor says "The secret of life is enjoying the passing of time".
"Gnosis" is secret knowledge.
"The Secret" makes a funny book.
From the introduction: "As you travel through its pages and you learn The Secret, you will come to know how you can have, be, or do anything you want. You will come to know who you really are. You will come to know the true magnificence that awaits you."
Well, I guess I'll just read this book, imagine myself kickin back on an island somewhere and hang out until it happens! Why didn't anyone tell me about this before!?!?!?
Oh man, this ought to be good. Lately I've been enjoying finding out "what else is out there". Right now I'm got the God Delusion and The Secret going, and earlier this year read "The End of Faith".
I'll let you guys know how "The Secret" suits me. It's going to be fun.
Secret is a woman's deodorant.
James Taylor says "The secret of life is enjoying the passing of time".
"Gnosis" is secret knowledge.
"The Secret" makes a funny book.
From the introduction: "As you travel through its pages and you learn The Secret, you will come to know how you can have, be, or do anything you want. You will come to know who you really are. You will come to know the true magnificence that awaits you."
Well, I guess I'll just read this book, imagine myself kickin back on an island somewhere and hang out until it happens! Why didn't anyone tell me about this before!?!?!?
Oh man, this ought to be good. Lately I've been enjoying finding out "what else is out there". Right now I'm got the God Delusion and The Secret going, and earlier this year read "The End of Faith".
I'll let you guys know how "The Secret" suits me. It's going to be fun.
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