the unlikely orange

i had some fun with some photo-editing in honor of halloween.  actually, i was just playing around and the boys saw what i was doing and really got into it.  "oooh, give me some bloody slashes on my forehead!"  "i want spiders on mine!" and so forth.    so we edited these pics into the total messes that they are, but we laughed alot and had fun doing it, and i thought i would share it with you.  beware!    this last one is a photo of our jack-o-lanterns this year.  jackson's (on top) is a clone trooper from star wars, caedmon's (on the bottom) is a face that he free-handed, and i carved quin's happy little sideways-looking face.  we had fun carving (especially because we had friends over to help us!) and we hope you have a happy halloween! 

for those fretting about winds and floods and electricity, i am with you, and we can cling to this promise. 

there was an old-school feel to the drubbing delivered to the washington redskins at the hands of the pittsburgh steelers yesterday, and it wasn't merely because the steelers uniforms looked like something out of a charlie chaplin film about a jailbreak.  no, it had just as much to do with the steelers running the ball effectively, stopping the redskins from doing the same, and sending another nfc team away from heinz field with a an additional 'L' on the record.  same old story.  the steelers donned striped uniforms that predictably drew strong reactions from commentators and viewers alike, celebrating their 80th season in winning style, if not in runway-quality material.  still, even though just about every loud voice was suddenly a judge on "project runway," those bumble bee convict jerseys will be flying off of shelves, continuing to accumulate revenue for one of the most successful franchises of the last 40 years.  and if winning is traditional in p

happy saturday.  not sure why, but this song has been stuck in my head, so here it is.  it was either going to be this one or say what's 1990 rap tribute to sandi patty . 

just a quick note today about something that will happen this weekend.  on sunday afternoon the steelers and the redskins will take the field in pittsburgh and the steelers will be wearing these: and the world will point and laugh.  now, i've already written about this whole idea of going to these throwback uniforms, and you can read it by clicking here , but since this will be the weekend when everyone will be calling the steelers jailbirds and bumblebees, i wanted to go on the record on more time and say that i love them.  i think they are very cool, if not from a purely aesthetic point of view, then certainly from an historical one.  when the steelers take the field with those very unusual unis, we will be reminded that they are now playing their 80th season, and that is a great thing  because when we start looking back to celebrate the journey of the pittsburgh steelers to this point, we remember that they have won 6 superbowl championships, and been to two others.  they

-thanks to my dad for showing me this hilarious video of a man hoping to break the ice.  warning: i have no idea what is being said in german, but it may not be "oh fiddlesticks!  that smarts!"  -i saw on the news today that there was a baseball game last night.  weird, i thought the season had come to an end.  i guess, despite the argument many people continue to perpetuate, that money doesn't buy you world championships.  pitching and hitting (especially at the right times) wins you championships.   take that, yankee haters.  -when i'm at the gym in the morning, there is a fleet of morning shows being played on the wall of televisions.  from abc to nbc to cbs, from fox news to msnbc, and everything in between, i get to see the over-make-upped hosts spew vigorously about the news of the day, as well as anything else that might be anything ranging from interesting to sexy to salacious, in order to win a viewer or two (and thus an advertiser or two).  i have many

some of you may remember when i made this video a few months ago: yeah, that was fun.  that was when he was getting ready to crawl.  we thought we were in for it then, what with all the havoc he would cause by scooting around and messing with everything.  but that was nothing.  now we have this: he's a walking machine.  into everything.  he's everywhere you don't want him to be.  when you'd rather he not follow you, he's clingier than a shadow.  when you want him to stick with you, he'slippery as a wobbling one-year old can be, and when you find him, he's waist-deep in a drawer he shouldn't be in.  for example, last week i lost my tv remote for the better part of a week.  i knew that the little stinker took it, but i couldn't find it anywhere.  until i was taking the trash out and found it as it tumbled down into the bottom of the large outside trash can, covered in coffee grounds and papa johns garlic butter dipping sauce.  quin was a

    caught  (october, 2012) brothers in orange sweater vests,  smiling for the photograph in the front yard, site of so much hide and seek and tag.  caught, for now, in this bright moment through the lens, with arms around one another  like a huddle in the neigborhood football game. watching, snapping, through the glass, tagging all three with a hand of love; with one click of the frame, i capture my crazy blessedness in a colorful digital rectangle, caught.  for even longer than the lifespan of pixels, i am beyond blessed. 

last night was an opportunity for my sports nightmare to either continue down a road towards despair, or come to a merciful end.  thankfully, despite a dubious beginning, the steelers prevailed over the bengals and helped me wake up from the nightmare.  these sunday night games are killing me.  the game doesn't get over until 11:30, and then i'm way too amped to go to bed.  monday morning comes way too soon, and i'm walking around in a stupor.  at least a win helps make it bearable.  antonio brown is quickly becoming one of my favorite players.  he is so good, and just seems to fight for every yard.  he doesn't miss much, and reminds me of a guy you may have heard of named hines ward.  except much more athletic.  he was very good last night, and would have had an impressive statistical night if there wasn't some sort of special teams penalty called on every punt.  ridiculous.  it was also fun to see the new kid make it to the end zone for the first t

happy saturday, friends.  hope you find some time today to admire the crisp colors in the falling leaves, to chomp on an apple (dipped in caramel, of course), and to hear the sweet refrains of a football game in the background as you do whatever you do to enjoy autumn.  i don't know why i thought of this song for saturday song today, but i love it because it is dark and mysterious, and is open-ended enough to make me think what they are calling a 'fake empire.'  that is the title of this 2007 song by The National, from the album "Boxer."  it is a beautiful song, in my opinion, with a haunting piano part as it begins, but then ending in more diverse instrumentation.  this is not the official video, but one that some fans made, i suppose.  have a great saturday!

i've shared this video before, but i want to share it again because i stinking love it, and it makes me feel better every time i watch it.  pbs did such a great job with autotuning this and making something worth watching.  also, that slide whistle solo in the middle is absolutely tremendous.  so good.  right?  i know.  and they didnt' stop there.  they also remixed bob ross, the amazingly calm and watchable painter who entertained me everyday for at least one summer, if not more.  here he is: i love it.  he is awesome.  now i never really got into julia childs, but they made an autotune remix of her show, too, so you can see it below: well, there you have it.  amazing pbs goodness remixed.  and finally, i shared this on facebook yesterday, but i loved it so much i thought i'd put it here too.  here's hoping you can change the channel on your own thorn in the flesh...

-it's random tuesday time, folks.  let's see what's bubbling to the surface of my busy mind this morning.... -i love working out at the gym....its working out for me.  but when the guy on the treadmill DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF YOU is wearing this shirt, it is troubling, to say the least.  -yesterday, out of nowhere, caedmon said to me:  "we are God's lambs, but we are max's shepherd."  i couldn't help but laugh, picturing me shepherding max out on a field.  he would make a good sheep.  -last night we finished our 6-week study at church on Christianity and World Religions.  it was a very worthwhile study with about 20 of our members and friends, and i think we all learned a ton, grew out of some of our ignorance, overcame a bit of our fear, found some things that we can learn from our sisters and brothers of different faiths around the world, and realized once again why the grace of the Christian concept of God through Jesus Christ feels most like

this last week has been another blessed week in my life, so i really can't complain about anything.  really.  but i will.  this last week as a sports fan has been nearly unbearable.  i feel like my eyes are constantly stinging from watching the steelers embarrass themselves in front of the nation on thursday night, and then watching the yankees put on a clinic on being unable to hit a baseball every day since wednesday.  i don't normally talk about it when my favorite teams lose.  i prefer denial as a viable strategy for coping, and it works well for me.  but this week i feel like even denial is failing me.  it's just too painful.  the steelers were terrible, and not the kind of terrible that is screenprinted on all those yellow towels.  there were just plain awful.  inept.  undisciplined.  getting hurt on every play.  it was shameful, and i hope it is something they correct.  i don't like it when they lose - ever - but they better figure out a way to be respec

it's saturday song time, and since the yankees (finally) eliminated the very respectable baltimore orioles* last evening, and are now moving on to the ALCS against the detroit tigers, i thought we could use a yankees song this morning.  well, i don't know if this is a yankees song per se , but it is a song that is played at the stadium in the bronx, and it is full of some great yankee footage, and is a fun watch.  so the alcs starts tonight, which means my stomach ulcers will be as angry as ever, without any chance to heal.  oh well, it is so fun to watch october baseball, and i'm looking forward to see what happens.  go yanks! *just a note on the orioles (who my sons call "the oreos"): what a season!  not many expected them to be a force through the whole year, and even though they faded for a bit, they stayed the course and finished strong, and were a formidable force in the playoffs.  while the series didn't have the same disdain that a yankees/red so

last  night the alds between the yankees and orioles moved to the bronx, where the mystique and aura often seem to buy front row tickets and make their presence known.  last night was no different. oh, sure, it took a while for them to show up.  the orioles made the yankees look absolutely anemic, like they were trying to hit baseballs with toothpicks, except for russell martin, who finally found his bat after missing it for most of the regular season, and derek jeter, who is "too old" and so they are probably just throwing him batting practice pitches and it sure looked like adam jones was cheating up closer to the infield and turned what would normally be a routine flyout to center into a run-scoring, game-tying triple early in the game.  don't underestimate the hall-of-fame shortstop known around the bronx simply as "the captain."  he may be too old; he may have lost a step; he may have just bruised a bone in his foot last night; but last i checked he ha

in our church, we are continuing with a series called "letters from Jesus," in which we are looking at the seven letters in the beginning of revelation addressed to seven churches in asia.  we are imagining what it would be like if we were to receive a hand-written letter from Jesus to our church.  what would it say?  how would we be encouraged?  how would we be challenged?  we've looked at three of the letters now.  this week we looked at the letter to the church in pergamum.  the letter to them includes some harsh criticism of some of their behavior, but it also says that Christ understands how difficult their situation is.  and in case they feel like they are stuck in their sinfulness, Jesus says something amazing to them:  i will give you a new name.  the world gives us so many names, doesn't it?  our parents, of course, give us our birth names.  but the naming doesn't stop there.  it continues right on through elementary school, high school, and into t

big sports day for my yesterday, with the steelers desperately in need of a victory against a 3-1 cross-state rival, and the yankees starting their playoff series against the streaking-hot orioles.  fortunately they weren't at the same time, so i could get dressed for the steelers game, watch that one, and then change out of my antonio brown jersey into my derek jeter for the evening yankees game.      the steelers did their part, despite beating themselves for most of the first half.  they played more solid in the second half, at least offensively, but the holes in their defense  showed up again, and the turnover-prove vick and the eagles came back and took a late lead.  but they left big benjamin just enough time to do what he does, and the offense put together an impressive clock-consuming drive up the field (from the 10 yard line) into scoring range.  shawn suisham took it from there, and showed a certain amount of clutch by hitting the field goal as time expired

last night, on the 162nd and final game of the regular season, the yankees clinched the american league east division, and celebrated accordingly.  of course it isn't the end goal, but if you play 162 games and finish in first place, you deserve to celebrate.  the baseball season is a grueling crawl, and now they are just beginning the next leg of their journey.  still, it was fun to see the stadium go crazy when the scoreboard announced that the orioles had lost their game, clinching the division for the yankees.  of course, the yanks went on to win their game anyway, stomping the red pox as an exclamation point for boston's unbelievably bad year.  now the yankees will play either baltimore or texas, depending on who wins their little one game "series."  now the fun really begins.... let's go yankees!

i'm in kansas city to go to a conference called the leadership institute at this church yesterday i flew on one of these     which was about as enjoyable an experience as then, once in kansas city, i ate a bar-b-qued rib of one of these: it looked like this when i was finished:  and i felt like this: so then i went to the gym and did this: finally i collapsed into bed to see this:  and then there was this:  now i'm ready for a day of learning and being inspired.  oh, and the yankees winning the al east.  and maybe some sleep in there somewhere would be nice.  but no more ribs.  at least not until dinner.  catch ya later.