the unlikely orange

i was recently commissioned by a friend to make a collage for her husband that she could give to him as a gift for a family celebration.  as inspiration for the collage she mentioned that he has recently been praying the hours, and that his spiritual/prayer life has really been blessed by it. People have prayed at fixed hours during the day for centuries. Quietly easing away from the obligations of home or work, they take a few moments to spend time with God. These moments connect them to the Divine, and to the countless others who are also pausing to pray the prayers designated for that hour, on that day. Prayers whispered and chanted, spoken loud and clear or murmured silently within, all join together in a continuous flow, a river of words from our soul to God’s. Praying the hours enjoins us to stop, let go of all that occupies us, and focus on the sacred at regular intervals throughout the day. Suddenly, every day becomes holy, for every day is laced together by our appointme...

last week while i was down the shore at a conference committing all kinds of headdesks, i found some time at night to read a book that's been in my queue for awhile.  it's just a little book called "The Last Lecture" by a guy named randy pausch.  the premise of the book is that pausch, a professor at carnegie mellon university in pittsburgh, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given just a few months to live.  he responded to this challenge with charisma and grace, even preparing a final lecture as a way to leave some of what he learned in his life.  that final lecture is actually on you tube and you can watch it in its entirety, if you'd like.  the book, though, is basically just an expanded version of the lecture, and was a fascinating read.  pausch is a really neat man, who had the courage to keep dreaming big, even after he became an adult, and the persistence to follow these dreams even in the face of obstacles.  along the way he has acq...

it's pretty much unbearable for me to post this picture on my blog, but i feel like i have to.  yes, the bungles beat the steelers yesterday in another game that the steelers had a nice lead and then decided to lay a big turd on.  blech.  i hope the steelers wake up.  it seems as if they're good enough to be winning these games (although the defense looked pretty week yesterday), but just don't have what's needed to finish.  what is missing?  fire?  skill?  fundamentals?  coaching?  execution?  speed?  i don't have the answer.  but i hope that the steelers are putting pictures like this all over the locker room to inspire them to work harder so it doesn't happen again.  my steelers haven't lost two games in a row in quite some time, so it gives me an opportunity to reflect on the fact that i am no fair-weather fan.  no bandwagon jumping here.  i love the pittsburgh steelers, as you know by now, and i wil...

you may remember that i made a wager about the steelers game last week.  oops.  that didn't work out too well.  so, since i'll be wearing joel's stupid cutler jersey today, i thought i would share this little photo of him as hines ward.  this picture, and the constant reminder that the steelers have 6 lombardi trophies, will be all that gets me through this. 

behold the steelers logo of the week.  i tradition that i started last week, which i will also immediately stop if the steelers lose again this week to the (who dey?) bengals.  the bengals like to refer to paul brown stadium as "the jungle," since bengal tigers presumably live in the jungle, and because cincinnati fans with mullets enjoy rocking out to guns-n-roses.  i think the idea is that other teams are supposed to be frightened by coming into the jungle, but the steelers haven't lost there since 2001 (which is nearly a decade ago.  just sayin.).  let's go steelers!  tame the jungle kitties!

Hey folks.  sorry i haven't said much this week.  as i said earlier, i was out of pocket most of the week, and then when i got back we had a major problem at the church involving pressure in the sewer line and a subsequent eruption in the basement, resulting in more than a few loud interjections.  so needless to say its been exciting.  on a less crappy note, my friend justin and i are playing a couple of sets of music at a local community's art festival today.  you can see the link here.    in case you can't find us, we are called, "justin and greg."  should be fun just to get out and sing and play the guitar (and the djembe, mandolin, harmonica and penny whistle).  here's one of the songs we'll be doing, just for your saturday morning enjoyment:

oh, and one more thing. this is me at my conference: