Down for a few more days…

My little laptop is aparently allergic to the Arkansas air.  I’ve been told that the hard drive is beyond repair, which means that I have lost alot of data and have to buy a new computer.  Give me a few days and I’ll update when I can.  Happy New Year.

A little Scattershooting to catch up…

I haven’t had much time to sit down and write here lately so I’ll try to take a few minutes to catch up with a few things that have been on my mind.

If you have read the posts from the Jamaica trip you probably remember my roomate for the week, Josh Thompson.  Inspired by the poor and uniformed attempt at authorship found on this blog, Josh has finally thrown his hat into the public square.  Go check out what he has to say from time to time.  Josh and I have very similar opinions about many things and I share his heart and passion to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.  Take a look at what he has to say and post a comment or two…

Elisabeth and I saw The Pursuit of Happyness last night.  It was good.  I’m not generally what you would call um…compassionate, when it comes to the homeless.  I say that to my own dismay; it is obviously something I need to work on.  It is just that in most of my dealings with people who live on the streets I have found that they essentially choose to be right where they are.  I’ve known one young man, just a few years younger than me, also named Nick, who came to Denton to go to school, discovered the “joys” of hard liquor, dropped out of school, cut himself off from his family and lived on the street to avoid having any responsibilites that would hinder him from catching a regular buzz.  He was reached out to, ministered to, cleaned up, given all the help that could be offered only to voluntarily leave the program he was in because he missed getting loaded and sleeping under a bridge.  Last I heard from him, he left a message on my cell phone telling me he had hitched a ride to Colorado, still living on the streets, and still getting blitzed every time he could bum a few dollars from people around town.  Sure, you could argue addiction, but in Nick’s case the truth was that he thought there was something romantic about being a roamer, never tied down to one place and not having to answer to “the man.”  Going to school near downtown Dallas I encounter panhandlers pretty regularly.  Some of them I’ve talked to, given money to, bought food for, etc.  There are a few who occasionally hang out around the Starbucks across the street from campus which I have to admit is a pretty good idea.  Personally, I almost have to give them a little change if I’m going to spend $4.85 on coffee. 

Anyway, this movie shows how homelessness can happen to people who didn’t choose such a life for themselves.  Chris Gardner, played very well by Will Smith, isn’t presented as completely innocent so as to appeal to a bleeding heart.  He has his flaws, but through the course of the movie we watch him swallow some of his pride while clinging even tighter to his determination to make a life for he and his son, played in the movie by Will’s real life son Jaden.  I found myself rooting for the guy, though most of the movie gave me that sick ”can’t a guy catch a break” feeling in my stomach.

I saw the real Chris Gardner on Oprah when Elisabeth and I were flipping channels a few nights ago.  He seems like a good guy.  Things were rough for him in the early eighties when he happened by a guy parking a Ferrari.  Chris asked him, ”What do you do and how do you do it?”  The guy was a stockbroker and he told him ”You just have to be good with numbers and with people.”  That was when Chris set some goals for himself and went after them.  He was homeless for about a year, staying in shelters, and various public places around San Fransisco before he was able to get on his feet.  These days Gardner is rolling in cash, cars, and expensive clothes, but he still remembers where he came from, donating quite a bit of time and money to various charities and to Glide Memorial Church where he and his son would go to eat.  Oprah made a comment that his story was the epitome of “the audacity of hope,” alluding to the title of Barack Obama’s book.  Seems Oprah is part of the vast left wing conspiracy to get Obama elected…

Which brings up the next topic, Peggy Noonan has written a great article on Barack’s almost certain bid for the presidency.  I wasn’t expecting it to come so soon, but the boy seems to be dipping his toes in the water.  I can only imagine what a Obama/Mama Clinton ticket is going to look like.  Would Hillary settle for the number two spot?  Maybe Barack will be more like Bill and just get out of her way and let her do her thing…

On a brighter note, the Mighty Fightin’ Romos have clinched a spot in the NFC playoffs.  Now if we could get Tony to play defense too, we might have a shot.  News this week that Southlake Carroll head coach Todd Dodge signed a five year deal with UNT has sent a question sweeping around Denton, “North Texas has a football team?”  Dodge’s Dragons beat the tar out of my beloved Allen Eagles 38-0 last Saturday at Texas Stadium.  I’m calling it a third place finish for my alma mater and hoping that they’ll have a chance to bring the title home in ‘07, an even 10 years since I was paroled…

Which leads me to confess that yes, I am rapidly closing in on a 28th birthday.  It isn’t really a big deal except that any birthday leads to an evaluation of where I’m at in life and where I’m heading.  The answers to those questions are up in the air.  Like any young man I have a tendency to compare myself to my home-owning, baby-having peers and of course to my father who on his 28th birthday was just a year and a half away from having his more handsome, smarter, and more loved second son.  Don’t bother sending me any gifts, just make a donation here or here…

I’ve been thinking alot the last few days about the two dudes from Dallas and their yankee buddy that decided to climb Oregon’s great Mt. Hood.  I’m not the type to write something like this off as “they got what they deserved” like I’ve heard a few people insinuate.  Nor do I like the whole “at least he died doing what he loved” line of thinking.  I imagine that if I were skydiving (something that I love but have only done twice) and the chute didn’t open, my last thought would be more along the lines of “Man I’d love to be home with my wife reading a book and drinking coffee,” rather than “Hey!  What a way to go!”  I guess the thing that I wonder about through this whole story are the thoughts and regrets that must have run through Kelly James’s mind as he watched his two friends head back down the mountain to find him help.  I wonder if the last time he turned on his cellphone it was to call his wife and kids and tell them goodbye, only to find that reception is a little sketchy in the middle of nowhere.  I can only hope that it wasn’t an excruciatingly painful ordeal for him.  Earlier this evening I was clicking around reading about the whole mess and I found out that Kelly’s brother is a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary.  The family has set up a blog to keep those who are praying for the climbers informed…

On a lighter note, as one of a certain select few, a member of the elite group of people known as “Internet users,” I have been named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2006.  I was shocked and honored to find this out, even if I have to share it with the likes of you…

Well, that about wraps up the Scattershooting for the evening.  Thanks for indulging me and if you don’t hear from me between now and then, Merry Christmas.

It ain’t Christmas till Bing sings…

Every year around this time I try to squeeze in a few hours to make something hot to drink, find something sweet to snack on, and chill out on the couch to watch White Christmas.  I know it sounds corny, but this movie just helps me ease into the spirit of the season.  I’m not usually a big song and dance kind of guy, but for some reason listening to Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney croon and watching Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen dance brings home the reality that it really is Christmas time once again.

“Phil Davis (Danny Kaye):  How can a guy that ugly have the nerve to have sisters?

 Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby):  Very brave parents.”

So, here’s your chance.  Take a few minutes, click on that little “Comments” button right beneath this and tell me what your favorite Christmas movie is.  Why is it your favorite?  What part do you like best?  I won’t make any judgments about your character based on your favorite holiday film, I’m sure there are some very intelligent people who can enjoy Elf and It’s a Wonderful Life. 

A valuable way to spend time online…

For the last several weeks, I’ve been playing with this website called librarything.com.  If you’re not familiar with it, it is a great way to organize your books online.  Seting up an account is easy and adding books is not only simple, it is just a little bit addictive.  You can check out the libraries of other members who may have some of the same tastes in literature as you and the website itself will create suggestions as to what to read next based on what books you own.

One of the neatest features, if not the most useful, is the UnSuggester.  This will take a book that you own or have read and tell you based on that particular work what you probably wouldn’t enjoy.  For instance, if I owned Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology (which I don’t but it is on my Christmas list) and I entered it in the UnSuggester, it would tell me that I probably wouldn’t like Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (which I bought for 5 bucks at Wal-Mart, read it through, and then promptly threw it in the kitchen trash).  If only I had known about the UnSuggester when I bought that book…

Another thing that might come in handy is the ability to print out a list of the books that you own.  This would come in handy for me anytime I find myself in a used book store and wind up buying something for $2 only to come home and find that I already have it sitting on my shelf.  This occasionally happens when you own books you haven’t gotten around to reading.

 Anyhoo, if you’re interested you can see my books here.  The list isn’t complete yet but I didn’t really have anything of substance to write about this evening even though I felt the urge, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to share the fun of librarything.  The bibliophiles out there will appreciate it.  I took my last final exam of the semester earlier this evening so as things cool off around here I will try to post something new.