My sister is engaged!!!!

Kelly and Doug, freshly betrothed.

Mustoe Christmas #3

Me, the Mrs. and my Grandma

A Mustoe Christmas Dont Stop

Christmas morn

After four Christmas eve services last night, Sarah and I have
completed our first Christmas morning together! She got me an Iron
Man bobble head, who we see paying his respects at the manger.

"The Greatest Gift"

Here's a video we made for Sunday. Big ups to my boy Loggy (who is pictured below).If you'd like to see the others click here

"Dirty Santa"

At our staff Christmas party we have a "White Elephant" gift exchange, or what some may call "Dirty Santa". My boy Loggy and I decided to wrap up some pictures of us in some different sized frames/felt ornaments/a snowglobe. May they spread Christmas joy to you and yours:

"You're going to make fun of me on the internet aren't you"

So, there Sarah and I are at Michael's looking for various things. And she can't figure out why the "E" in mouse is missing.....The blog title was her response.

Christmas Music Update

My friends all know that I'm nuts about Christmas music. Last year my sister and I came up with a pretty sweet compilation. So this year, I have some additions to recommend:

Glory in the Highest | Shane and Shane I listen to this from top to bottom all the time. Now, if you don't like S&S you definitely won't enjoy this. Their harmonies and guitar parts are ridiculous. But sometimes they can get a little like Boyz II Men at the end of their songs when they're really goin after it... "Although we've come, to the EEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNDDDD OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOF THE ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDD". This is my favorite new Christmas music this year.

Other Noteworthy Additions:
Winter Song | Sara Bareilles This song is very pretty. "December has seemed so long, you're not where you belong, inside my arms." Whew! Not cheesy when you listen to it, promise.

Jingle All the Way | Bela Fleck and the Flecktones Yule tide Banjo.

Feliz Navidad | Los Lonely Boys I'll admit, most of the reason I like this song it because it makes me think of Taco Johns Nachos Navidad

Finally, check out this powerful rendition of O Holy Night. This was sent to me by my friend Dan who is a Vocal Performance/Sacred Music grad-student at UMKC. It defies further description.

Its Happening

So I'm hanging out with Middle Schoolers on their half day today.

We're playing some Christmas jams, and one of my favorites "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" by Nsync comes up.

The kids don't even know Nsync ever existed. They have no idea who they are.

I'm getting old.

Rude Awakening

So I'm getting ready this morning, and being winterish outside I had a bit of dry skin on the ol' noggin. I get out Sarah's moisterizing face lotion to remedy my "shkin" situation, and it explodes all over me.

The future is here

When my buddy krueger end to Japan a couple years ago he told me about
the vending machines there. You could enter your cell phone number,
select a drink, and they'd bill it to your cell. This isn't quite as
cool, but at chesterfield mall they now have a coke machine that
accepts credit cards! Pretty cool.

What in the World is Going On?

So I'm on Amazon snoopin around for some books to put on the ol' Christmas list, and I see this:

What In the World Is Going On? Ten Propehtic Clues You Cannot Afford to Ignore

Ah yes, no better subject for ranting than Christian literature.

To be fair, I haven't read the book. And I won't. I know all I need to know from the description:

It is hard to piece together all this information in a way that gives a comprehensive picture of what the end times will look like. That's why so many theories abound. And that's why Dr. David Jeremiah has written What In the World Is Going On?, a unique book that cuts through the hundreds of books and numerous theories to identify the essential 10 most important bible prophecies.

AKA "Yeah, we know theres a ton of other books like this out there, but they all suck and this one is right."

Also, note that they are trying to compell you to purchase the book by relying on fear. "Clues you cannot afford to ignore." Right. This is the same tactic the local news uses right before the commercial before they tell you about the dangers of salmonella tracings on your child's lunch tray.

The book offers scriptural enlightenment on the following subjects:
- The oil crisis
- The resurgence of Russia
- The new axis of evil
- The importance of Israel
- The new powers of the European Union

Now, we all know its easy just to rip on stuff and never really offer anything yourself. So here's my take: Whats wrong with the world can be seen when a Wal-Mart clerk is crushed beneath a mob of blood, er, bargain thirsty shoppers. When a man who is clearly dying, being treated by emergency response crews is casually passed by because BluRay DVD players are 10% off, we can see what is wrong with the world. I don't think scripture is meant to be twisted into an ethnocentric magic 8 Ball and I don't think we need to see another Christian prophecy book. Rant on!

Back in the saddle

Hello friends. I've been absent as of late. I didn't think any one really noticed, but I received a couple of comments within a short span that reminded me that sometimes people do check this thing, and think of me as a bum when the posts have been so infrequent.

So, today I resolved myself to resurrect my electronic presence. Both on here and Facebook; plus Brad and Adam have both posted. So I gotta keep up with them.

Here's the Rundown:
-Election
-Quantum of Solace
-Holidays
-Funny Stories

Election So I put up a post from my phone the night of the election. It was a neat event to witness for sure. I watched the quarter million people at that park in Chicago and I just don't have that much hope that all of a sudden everything is going to be awesome. BUT many people a two generations ago would've laughed you out of the room if you told them there would be a black president. I just hope we don't lose the urgency for alternative fuel with gas prices falling, although I'm not exactly complaining. It was $1.49 in St. Louis today! I almost offered to fill a strangers tank up.

Quantum of Solace This movie was awesome. Daniel Craig is a man, baby! Sure, some of the scenes were over the top; the plane chase in particular. But isn't that why we saw the movie in the first place? There were about 19-23 times that I said "that was awesome" under my breath.

Holidays Sarah and I are having our first go around with Thanksgiving and Christmas as a married couple. Christmas is something I take very seriously, and I've got some fresh recommendations for the sounds of the season for later on. The Mrs. and I went and bought some decorations. Including the search for the perfect Mustoe Family Christmas Tree: a 4.5 foot pre-lit beauty. It is beyond my ability to describe how great it was to put it up. We're going to KC Wednesday night thru Sunday. For Thanksgiving i'm smoking a turkey! So I'll try and have some progress updates with that adventure.

Funny Stories I had a "you know you're married now" moment at last week. Sarah and I were at the grocery last week:

Me: "Hey, you want to get some of that pulled pork again?"
Sarah: "No! You remember how that made me sick last time?"
Me: "...ya, but thats because you got the spicy kind."

Also, last Saturday I bought a new holiday sweater. We have church directory pictures coming up, and its always good to be festive right? So I get one from Target and wear it to church last Sunday. Jordan, one of my students says "Hey, Justin (his brother) bought that sweater too. He wore it to our church pictures." I tell him to call his brother in order to alert him to not wear his sweater. Jordan says "Got it, I'll call him."

Sure enough Jordan called his brother. Only he said: "Hey, Adam wants to see your new sweater." Well played Jordan, well played.We thought it was a bit like a before and after weight loss shot.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody, I'm back!

Speech

Just watched Obama's speech in Chicago. What blows my mind are all the
people that have voted today that coudnt when they were my age because
of their skin color, and yet a man who couldn't have ridden in the
front of a bus in the 1960s is the president elect. I think Jesse
Jackson says and does many, many stupid things. But when I see his
reaction it's a peak at the significance of this election. More later
this week.

Sent from my phone

Sent from my phone

I Got Served

So after last Sunday's loss in our Fantasy Football League
my fellow staff member and fantasy victor Michael has the entire staff sign a grief card for me. Nice. Here are some highlights:

"Adam, thinking of you in this difficult time"
"Adam, you're a winner just for playing"
"Adam, you suck"
and my personal favorite-
"Adam, I will be lifting you up in this time of loss and despair. But you know- I just have to believe that at this point in your life you should be pretty used to losing."

Just thought I'd share.

MISSOURI FINALLY GETS SOME DAP

The Yahoo headline: Will Missouri voters decide who will be President?

RESPECT!

Bell's New Book

Picked this up today: "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" by Rob Bell and Don Golden.

Should be interesting. From the back cover: "It's about what it means to be a part of the church of Jesus in a world where some people fly planes into buildings while others pick up groceries in Hummers."

Snap!

The Imitation of Christ

Tonight at worship we're beginning a series based on The Imitation of Christ. Here is some more information:

About the author, Thomas 'a Kempis

More on the book here, here, and a free ebook here.

Buy it here or here.

roflrazzi.com

more lol celebs!

Here's a pretty funny site, from the creators of LOLCats. I liked this one, even though I don't understand anything about bailouts or deficits.

The Politics of Faith

I always read Relevantmagazine.com's news headlines. Read this one today. Apparently some Pastor's are sticking it to the IRS and risking their non-profit status by endorsing candidates from the pulpit, which would be a violation being that:

Under IRS regulations, non-profits are "absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or opposition to) any candidate for public office."

I believe this is tricky stuff. I don't think a Preacher should tell people who to vote for from the pulpit either, but perhaps for different reasons. To me, I would find it hard to come down definitively on one candidate. This is the first part of the joke of this whole debate: as if one Presidential candidate (or party) has the solution to all of our nation's problems. Preachers do have a responsibility to point their congregations in the right direction; I just think there's too much ambiguity on all sides of the political spectrum to proclaim one party/candidate as "the right one" especially from a pulpit.

The second part of the joke in the article, to me, is the underlying assumption that faith should be relegated from politics. You cannot nor should not keep them separate. Am I saying that we should elect super-Christian President man someday, like some White Knight of WASP lore to rescue all the good and God-fearing folks from liberal degradation and R rated movies? Uh, no.

I'm just saying if your faith isn't informing how you see the world than it doesn't hold much water. Faith is very much a political matter.

In Defense of Cable

Ok, so all my buddies are doggin on me now because I caved and got cable?

Here's the thing, previously my buddies and I would just sit and veg in front of ESPN and never say anything. Thus, TV eroding at community.

But Sarah and I find ourselves at home quite a bit, and would like to enjoy several shows together. Thanks to the DVR we can. For instance, I have band practice on Thursday nights. So, we record the Office, and watch it when I get home. Or, Sarah can now join in on the "Project Runway" discussions in the teacher's lounge. Thus, TV building community.

PTI is no longer on ESPN.com by the way, they're promoting the audio podcast instead.

We do actually save money on Internet, but then we turn around and spend it on the cable.

We got a Toshiba HD TV for our wedding, and it would be silly not to use it to its fullest potential.

So there it is. I went for a year, it was good. But its good to be back. BB, you gotta help me out here.

5 Lists of 5

Hey gang. Long time no post. Here's a little something.

5 reasons I haven't blogged lately:
-Led worship on Sunday morning for 3 weeks
-Preached last Sunday
-Fantasy Football time eats into blog time
-Launched a new worship service
-Am married now, so blog time at home is not as plentiful. I'm not as bored!

5 things I am excited about:
-Office premier tonight
-Getting cable installed today
-Just got some new frames after 3 years, with my wife's sweet sweet teacher insurance
-Iron Man on DVD/Body of Lies coming out in a couple weeks
-My buddies Diffey and Crystal are getting married this weekend

5 things I would normally be embarrassed to admit:
-I actually enjoy watching "Dancing With the Stars"
-I downloaded, and often listen to "When You Believe" by Whitney and Mariah
-Sarah and I refer to "Wheel of Fortune" as "our show"
-My favorite item from Shake's in Columbia was called "The Pink Poodle"
-I still have a deep desire to play with Legos

5 Political/Current Event Comments:
-If Sarah Palin wasn't hot, she wouldn't be as big of a deal. Just sayin.
-If we are in such a financial crisis, why have there been like, 8 new banks built all over the place?
-Missouri currently may have the worst sports teams combined in history: Cards/Royals- not in the playoffs. Rams/Chiefs- two worst teams in the NFL. Blues- sucked it up last year, and currently have a "whatever it takes" campaign going. On the bright side, we do have Mizzou football, but that doesn't count towards the professional ranks.
-I find campaign ads insulting to the public's intelligence. Whether its McCain/Obama or Missouri Governor ads, they both say the other will raise taxes and that they've lowered taxes.
-The Zooperstars are awesome. I think mascots are hilarious.

5 Bold Predictions:
-The Presidential debate this Friday will be the highest rated ever.
-The Office Season 6 will be its last.
-Within 15 years, the Methodist Church will split over the issue of homosexuality.
-The San Diego Chargers will rally from a 1-2 record to win the Super Bowl, and LaDanian Tomlinson will retire.
-People will finally realize the futility of offshore drilling and by 2012 we will have alternative fuel stations (I almost wanted to say Gas stations...)

ROOTS | Launches Wed September 3 | 7-8pm

I AM KING OF THE NERDS

My email was answered on the ESPN fantasy focus podcast today!

Thank God I'm already married.

Check it out here

They answer my email at the 38:35

Paradualis

Its been a while since I've written much of any significance. Well, I guess you could say that about anything on here! But I think I've come up with a word that describes something I've been fascinated with for a long time. Be warned, this post does show how dorky I am and displays thinking too much about fairly dumb stuff.

Have you ever listened to Elton John's "Your Song"?

It's a song...about writing a song for someone.

Mind blowing!

A couple Sundays ago my Pastor gave a sermon about lots of the shallow self-help clothed in Christianity stuff that is out there. So in many ways, it was a sermon about types of sermons.

Ah-ha! There it is again.

My wife Sarah is a teacher. In college, she was in classes learning how to teach other kids. A class about running a class.

So here it is world. A combination of the word paradox and the latin word dualis, which means "containing two".

Paradualis: When the object or action being performed is of the very substance that said object or action is propagating. (sounds official right?)

Can you think of any others?

I LOVE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD

Kate Moss's likeness is a gold statue.

Warning: Rant Ahead

So I was driving downtown with a friend this morning and took a picture of this billboard. Don't worry, I wasn't driving. The U.S. Cellular sign pictured a little girl and read "Believe in something better".

What a load of crap.

What bothers me most is companies spend lots of money in advertising and marketing departments, so I doubt that they would spend all of that money unless they thought it would be effective, or has been effective in the past.

So let the rant begin: On one level, is US Cellular really that better than any of the other cell phone companies? I doubt it, so lets leave the sappy looking girl of the billboard and offer me free texting or something, then I'll blog happily about that.

"Believe in something better". Ya, like SOMETHING BESIDES ANOTHER FREAKING CELL PHONE COMPANY! Ugh. Our culture's #1 value is commercialism, that there is hope in stuff. There it is, plastered along the highway. I'm out!

What Say You?

L-O-V-E

Here is an article from Relevant Magazine called "Saying Goodbye to Guilt Driven Christianity".

Sadly, many—if not most—Christians live with the same guilt. We feel guilty if we stay out too late on Saturday and sleep through church on Sunday morning. We feel guilty if the physical components of our relationships with our girlfriends or boyfriends “go too far.” We feel guilty if we don’t give money to the Church or spend the right amount of time in prayer. Unfortunately, many believers are driven to do these things—pray, tithe, attend church, remain sexually pure—by a rabid sense of duty.
This ought not to be. While these things are good things and goals to be sought after, and while guilt should be a natural reaction to sin from a regenerate heart, the Christian faith should never be driven by a sense of duty, guilt or entitlement. Instead, we should be driven to lives of holiness by passion—passion for God, passion for the lost, passion for the Gospel, passion for each other.

I'm not sure if I agree. Is the nature of love always a great passion from inside compelling you to do everything with a grin on your face? I would say, no. In fact, I find it takes the most love to do something you really don't want to do at all, you might even say out of a sense of duty. Just this morning, I put some dishes away from dinner last night (which I probably should've done before I went to bed). Did I want to? No! But I told Sarah I would and she hates doing dishes. I figured the least I could do was not make her clean up after she cooked.

I think this sort of approach to Christianity can lead to a willy-nilly do whatever you're excited and passionate about attitude where you don't have to confront the fact that love means doing a lot of things (often very mundane things) that you don't want to do and will never get any recognition for. I think I've heard all of this somewhere else too.....

Good News

Well folks, my baby girl is fixin to get paid. Sarah is going to be a teacher.

Sarah was all but hired (barring some official paperwork) this morning. After weeks of trying to get a foot in the door she was called yesterday for an interview, it took place this morning, and obviously went well.

We are so blessed.

I have really learned what it is to be in desperation. I have also learned the undeniable links between desperation and appreciation, between comfort and apathy. The support of friends, family, and our church has been so helpful. She's at a conference this weekend so we haven't celebrated quite yet, but I can't wait to!

The Question of Origin (sneak preview)

Here's something I'm working on for a new worship service we're launching in September. In microsoft word, its about two pages. Hopefully, it will generate some discussion:

We’re starting ROOTS worship with this “What’s our story?” series. Each week we’ll be looking at “big picture” questions and seeing how they fit into the Christian story and the story the world is telling. We’ll also be looking at how we each answer these questions with the way we live our lives whether we realize it or not. The Christian faith is not simply a list of rules, but rather a story that you are a part of. We’re told stories when we’re little to help shape our little tiny human ethics. When we go to the movies, we’re paying money to be told a good story. When it’s not compelling or poorly executed, we’re disappointed we spent all that money and sat in the dark for two hours. But the Christian story is much larger than any one fable or film: the Christian story is one that should shape our entire life as individuals, and as the church. Much of the Bible is made up of narrative; it is a big book of stories. God created designed us in such a way so that stories make sense.

Tonight we’re dealing with the question of origin: Where did we come from? There are all sorts of ways we could try to tackle this question. I could get up here and show a bunch of graphs or pictures of fossils and give you some fancy timeline; but I don’t think anyone would be very moved by a courtroom type presentation of evidence. It’s been done. Go out on the internet and look at all the websites devoted to crushing the evil atheists or silencing the naïve Christians. Every couple months it seems like Newsweek or Time is doing a coverstory featuring “Science vs. Religion”. Creationism, evolution, Darwinism, young earth, naturalists, how science is taught in school; the question of origin is a “hot button” issue but I think most people are just tired of it. So many really smart and passionate folks have spent so much time trying to answer this question of “where did we come from” I think if it were possible to “prove” an answer to the question of origin, someone would have done so by now. I think the problem is we’re going about it the wrong way. We need better questions.

Think about it, most of the debate revolves around how or when types of questions. As Christians, we look to scripture as our authority; but folks try and project the how and when questions onto a source that is mainly concerned with who questions. We try and site the Bible like a science textbook and it just doesn’t work like that. Scripture speaks to who created the Earth and why, not how or when. So we hit this brick wall when folks are arguing about 24 hour literal days or reconciling the fossil record with the creation accounts in Genesis. We’re arguing about the wrong questions. We need to not be so concerned with the method of creation, but the origin of the creator. The question of origin is not a new one.

Consider the words of Paul. Paul was a member of the religious elite in the first century. He was actively persecuting the church until his dramatic encounter with Jesus. Paul was writing to the church in Rome as he traveled around planting new churches and encouraging existing communities of faith through his letters. In Romans chapter 1 we read:

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

As I said before, we need better questions. We need to be asking questions about the nature of our creator, not worrying about when or how we got here. Paul ascribes creation to God, not chance. We live in an age where the march of human progress and better living through science are the ultimate authority. The world is like a giant erector set that we can tinker with until we discover all its secrets. The scientific method yields infallible results. So one of my questions for you is this: “Do you believe everything is empirical?” In other words, is everything, I mean everything able to be proven?

Try this. Those of you who are married, picture your spouse. If I asked you why you loved this person, how would you respond? You’d probably list several qualities about your husband or wife. What if I told you I think your decision to marry this person is ludicrous because you didn’t have a large enough sample size to determine that this indeed is the most lovable person? Or lets say I took the qualities you may have listed: smart, funny, good looking, caring, compassionate. Ok, what if I went and found someone who scored higher on every standardized test, told better jokes, stopped traffic with their celeb-like appearance, volunteered 4 days a week at an orphanage AND ran a shelter for abused gerbils. Would you then transfer your love to this person that I have scientifically demonstrated is smarter, funnier, better looking, more caring, and has a deeper compassion than your spouse? Now, you may have seen this coming a mile away, but if we wouldn’t think like this about important people in our lives why do we do it to God? Not everything is able to be proven in a lab, maybe the most important things to us can’t be demonstrated on a pie graph.

So let’s not get too caught up in the specifics of how or when God created the world, lets let other folks continue to argue about that. As Christians, we must not only believe this to be true, we must live it. Like the Jenga game where blocks are removed until the tower falls, the way you answer the question of origin has big implications for everything we do. If all of this just happened, why not just do whatever you happen to feel like doing. But if instead, we are created and therefore things like love, beauty, and truth are invisible qualities installed into his created beings then we have a whole lot to live up to. What we see in the world are the consequences of a story that tells us that we are simply here; and that we may do as we please. What the story of Christianity tells us is that everything in creation has value because it was fashioned by God. All of this is essentially is “on loan” for us to take care of, especially the other people we find ourselves in the middle of all this with. I feel that if we start asking better questions, we can indeed clearly see God’s invisible qualities and live like we mean it.

@ willow creek leadership summit

Our church is a satelite location

Big ups to Dunklin County

Yesterday I stepped on a nail, so just to be safe today I got a tetnus
shot. I must say I was impressed with the health dept as I was in and
out faster than any hardees I've ever been to. So everybody don't
forget about tetnus, the rusty silent killer.

Although somewhat immasculating berry rain is quite refreshing.

Contraband

The best part of workcamp is that you appreciate everything so much
more. Showers, amazing. But these pizza rolls we snuck were a
delight, making full use of the oven in our room.

Representin living word "staff meeting"

Kara and I at a brainstorming session

Gone this week

In southeast Missouri on a workcamp. Follow along at www.lwyouth.org

Sent from my iPhone

At Onerepublic

Uncle Mustoe

My best friends new son Israel. He is hairy and I love him.

New daddy

Finally

Men, scrub with dignity. I'm a sucker for marketing like this. I'll
spare everyone the "full review" if you know what I'm sayin!

work friends

My bro bros at a brainstorming session

Gloves are coming off

Alright, I've been rather milk-toast lately. Lots of gushy wedding stuff and piddly articles and talking about Batman a lot.

Then my friend/colleague Chris points out the latest issue of the United Methodist Reporter. On the cover, a caption below a picture reads: "United Methodists, as do most Americans, believe that many religions can lead to eternal life".

In that one statement, there's a lot to "unpack".

First of all, its my understanding that The General Conference speaks for United Methodists, not the reporter. You can site a survey if you'd like, but I would not have phrased the caption in such a way.

"Many religions can lead to eternal life". I take that to mean, that since religions lead to the same end, eternal life they're all essentially the same. I think most people who would agree with that statement just don't want to come off as being judgmental. But ironically, that is exactly what happens. Because in trying to avoid making assumptions about another person's faith, you actually are.

By saying that Buddhism and Christianity are really not different, you're making assumptions that I feel a Christian and a Buddhist should both disagree with. The trinity is not the same as the 8 fold path, and nirvana is not the same as heaven. Escaping from suffering is not the same as "thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven".

The only people who really agree with a statement like "many religions can lead to eternal life" don't know their own faith or know anyone of a different faith, because they're not the same.

Now, does that mean we just go around telling folks they're going to hell? No. There was a situation several months back where I stopped by the side of the road to give some guy a lift because his car had obviously broken down. Turns out he was a Muslim imam. Shame on all the Christians who passed this man by. Picked him up, payed for his tow, and brought him back to his mosque. A got a tour and we exchanged phone numbers. Couple months later, he calls me and we go on another errand together.

Did we have some interfaith dialogue? You betcha. Do he and I believe the same things? No! And both of us would agree that we disagree, but guess what, I'll still give him a ride.

So lets not buy into this politically-correct humanistic bare-minimum theism, which is really reserved only for spineless bourgeois intellectual types. Lets not put that junk on the front cover. If Methodism devolves into universalism, you can count me out.

Goin nuts

Here is an article that discusses peanut-free zones where the Seattle Mariners play. They actually did this at Busch two nights ago. It was really funny, they interviewed some folks and had a peanut with a no smoking slash through it up on the big screen.

Mobile test 2

What up!?

Man-Test

This Sunday at youth group was our 3rd annual Man-Lympics; a competition of rugged masculinity. Because of Title 9 we allowed females to participate as well, and also enjoyed shaming all the boys that they beat.
Here's how it worked:

-Dr. Pepper chugging
-Sawing (like, an actual board)
-Washer Tossing
-Football catching
-Sunflower seed spitting
-Written portion

Here's the written portion: How much man are you?

2008 Man-Lypics Written Portion

1.The latest installment of Batman opened up this last weekend, name the 5 actors who have played Batman: (1 point for each, 1 bonus point for correct order)

2.Recently, auto makers have redesigned classic cars for the 21st century, name one such vehicle:

3.Let’s say you’re shopping for a new pair of shorts. Do you:
a. Look at 7 different stores, trying on multiple shorts per store
b. Ask your Mom or Girlfriend or Sister to pick some out
c. Go without wearing any shorts at all
d. Go to your “usual store” hit up the sale rack and find your size

4.How much milk does the Kraft Mac N’ Cheese box call for?

5.You have an 18 gallon gas tank in your car. At half empty, you decide to fill up (because it makes you feel like you’re spending less money on gas). You’ve also kept track of the miles you’ve driven since last fill up; if you’ve traveled 167 miles, how many McDonalds double cheeseburgers could you buy with the same amount of money?

6.The PS3 was widely touted for what new technology?

7.Name 5 AC/DC songs (1 point per song, bonus points for listing Band Members):

8.What team originally drafted Albert Pujols?

9.One of your friends discovers something in the fridge that stinks, almost to the
point of causing vomiting. He offers you a sniff. Do you:
a. Scream “you’re crazy!” and run out of the room
b. Walk over to whatever is causing the stench and inhale deeply
c. Start crying
d. Pretend to sniff and fake a reaction, but you were really holding your breath

9. What color was Mace Windu’s light saber?

10. What does PSI stand for?

11. Who was the world series MVP in 2002?

12. If you ordered a whopper, what restaurant would you be at?

13. Name one reason Chuck Norris would kick your butt:

14. Which is the better burrito the size of your head: Chipotle or Q Doba?

15. Fill in the blank: ___________ is awesome.
a. Saying “dude” a lot
b. Nickel back
c. Buying shampoo
d. Accessorizing
e. Wearing Crocs

Choose the more manly:
16. Rambo: First Blood or T2
17. Alien VS Predator: Good movie, or Bad movie
18. 1080p or 1080i
19. Chrysler Seabring Convertible or 89 Toyota Corolla
20. Arts or Crafts
21. Fresca or Diet Coke
22. Mowing the Grass or Tending the garden
23. On thanksgiving: Falling asleep watching football or shopping
24. HDMI or Composite Video
25. Flower Bouquets or Big Screens

Manly, Yes or No:
26. Speaking in public restroom
27. Using a napkin for cheeto dust
28. Climbing trees
29. Having a “shopping date”
30. Using a fork to eat a chicken wing
31. Subwoofers
32. Concern for the environment
33. Veggie Pizza
34. Snapple
35. Spitting
36. Facial Hair

Movie Review>The Dark Knight

The movie was so worth all the hype, to which I've contributed.

At the theater we went to, there were 7 sold out midnight showings. 1 was on "the Mega Screen" which seats a ton of people. They added 2 more mega screen showings, one at 3:20am and another at 6:15am or something.

I think this one might break all the records. It was crazy: people dressing up, lines everywhere.

Um, this was not like most superhero movies where things are just awesome. There was some of that.

But it was scary.

And deep.

And Heath Ledger, and the dude from "Thank you for not smoking" were incredible, especially Ledger. Man, he was creepy and eeeevil.

It was so intense, I probably will see it again just to enjoy it rather than be all worried about what is going to happen next.

My only negative comment would be that Maggie Gylenhal's (sp?) face makes her look about 78 years old.

Can't say enough good things about The Dark Knight. I look forward to many more.

Local Humor

Belgian Brewer InBev's takeover of AB has already crept in.

Batman Fever Continues:

Here is an article from BoingBoing about the plausibility of someone training to become a superhero.

Yes!!!!!!!!!

Movie Review>Wall-E

This is a little late. Sarah and I saw Wall-E on our honeymoon. This movie was outstanding. There's no dialog for the first quarter of the movie, something some critics didn't like, but I think it is an indicator of how great the storytelling is. Thats the thing, Pixar tells great stories. Ya, the animation is cool but other studios can do that too.

There is so much commentary on things like taking care of the environment, technology, and convenience. Frankly, I felt a little guilty once or twice. One scene in particular showed two humans cruising along the spaceship in their space aged scooter things talking to each other on a video conference monitor right in front of their faces. Turns out they were right next to each other. Ouch!

Great movie, I would see it again. I even have a little stuffed Wall-E on my desk. I didn't cry, but I thought I would. Go see Wall-E!

An All-Star Mustoe Beard Salute

In months/years past, Jason Giambi was askew in steroid scandal. Now, he has risen from the ashes, with an amazing-'roid-fueled MUSTACHE.

So here's to you Giambi. Because of your most excellent Wade Boggs like stache, I will break my longstanding "no rooting for American League, especially Red Sox/Yanks" rule. Keep on rockin.

Check it out

I'm working on summarizing some theological positions, so see what ya think. In this document I try and summarize two competing stories of existence. SOUNDS EXCITING DOESN'T IT!?!?!?

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Post-Greensburg

Hello friends.

Last week was a great time. The group from our church was small but mighty and we joined over 100 other folks to help rebuild the City of Greensburg, which was 95% destroyed after an F-5 tornado in May of 2007.

Here's some websites to check out:

The Lope (photogrophers blog, REALLY powerful before and after shots)
BigWell.org (Local Greensburg attraction)
GreensburgGreentown.org (a site about the initiatives in Greensburg)

We helped to improve some homes that had failed inspection to get them to the next level. Ate some BBQ on the way over, did some good work, and caught some frogs. All in all, we were very blessed.

The most powerful part of the week was hearing the stories of the people there. The army core of engineers came in after the tornado and basically said they should bulldoze the town and forget about it. But the people didn't want to leave their home. Not only are they rebuilding, but Greensburg is the only city in the US to pass an ordinance that any new public buildings must be constructed using LEED certification. Pics:

Workcamp this week

Once again the blog posts may be sparse as I'm out on Workcamp to Kansas this week. With some luck I'll post some photos. Later!

Interesting Reading

Parade magazine has McCain and Obama answering the question "What is patriotism?"

Maybe I'm naive to assume this, but I'm impressed that it seems to be original material.

Click here for articles.

I'm a bit conflicted here. As a Christian, I feel I actually need to oppose many of the things "America" does, does that make me unpatriotic? Read the articles, let me know what you think.

I'm back baby!/Longest Post of All Time

Alright, pretty much the biggest two weeks of my life, so I hope you'll understand my absence from blogging. Please allow me to take you on the journey through photos and witty commentary:

PRE-WEDDING CARDINAL GAMES, June 18 and 19:
Crew #1, sweet seats. Although we did witness the Cardinals blowing a lead to the Royal pansies.


Crew #2, with noticeably higher altitude seats, still had a blast though, even though we witnessed the KC Royals sweeping the Cards, which is a bit like losing to a girl in a wrestling match.

BACHELOR PARTY, June 19:

This is me dominating the "spin & win". I won the jackpot a (I think) record breaking three times. We also discovered why I should never gamble however as I became much like an 84 year old women at "her lucky machine" and I screamed "I'M GETTIN HOT!" at least 4 times, and actually meant it like, twice.

Here is BB playing some weird Japanese game where you climb into this red bulbous apparatus, with pretty funny results. I expect this to be a standard profile picture for years to come.

Here's the whole crew, minus a couple of high school buddies that left early. Note the gigantic spider man, a daunting 6,800 tickets to snag, but relatively easy when every one pools their tickets. Believe it or not Spider-Man would go on to make an appearance at the wedding rehearsal.

WEDDING, June 21

Here's a shot from Sarah's aunt, which turned out pretty well. We've got some other ones from friends, but I'm gonna hold off on actual ceremony pictures until we get the good stuff from friend, photographer, and blogger Dustin of BrysonPhoto.com

HONEYMOON, June 22-28



This was our suite, which was outstanding. We stayed at Big Cedar Lodge, outside of Branson, MO. The whole thing was nature themed and so well done. Because, let's face it, theres a bit of irony in having a massive resort complex in rustic nature decor when you've tore up nature to put it there in the first place. But Big Cedar really does want the natural beauty of the ozarks to be preserved, and the different buildings are done so tastefully. Very nice.

Here were are on the lazy river.


We drove by this sign in Branson a couple times and were a little confused: "Is it a segway store? Is it merely a pro-segway billboard? Is it like a go-kart place...only with segways?" The answer to each of those questions was "YES!" I will say this, it is more fun to talk about the time you road segways than it actually is to ride them.

Here we are at Ozarkland, afraid, as we perused the confederate gear section. Yikes. Mecca is to Muslims as Branson is to white people. I used to love going into Ozarkland as a child, because they always had a fine selection of plastic swords. They still do, but I don't like going in there as much anymore.

Here is my Pastor and I. Before you get too freaked out, let me explain. Sarah and I were returning from seeing Wall-E. We parked and were heading up to the room when from the parking lot we hear someone fanatically screaming "IT'S ADAAAAAAAAAAAM". A little frightened that maybe the confederates were after us, I turned around to instead find our good friends Michael and Susan McIntyre. Turns out they had a wedding there the next day, and had scammed the office into telling them what room we were in so they could come try to embarrass us and have a good story. It was actually a really funny surprise, and we hang out for a bit. I think they were a little disappointed in not making us feel as awkward as they had planned! Michael and captured the event in this photo, taken on the bed for no particular reason.

THE RETURN, June 28

The only bad thing the whole trip happened on the way home. Here is a shot of my beloved malibu being towed. We were on I-44 and the car just stopped working. Luckily we were able to get to the side of the road. Un-luckily it was in the grand metropolis of Marshfield Missouri where most auto places either weren't open at all, closed at noon, or were booked until Monday. So, we were towed to an auto place that could look at the car on Monday, leaving us stranded in Marshfield. Luckily, Bob Casidy (pastor of this church) came up and got us and brought us back to civilization so we could rent a car. My bu is quickly becoming less and less beloved.

So, other than the car breaking down it's been the best time of my life. I'm glad to be back in the saddle. If you've made it this far, you have earned my respect and pity.