Stuff I don't get...

I think there will probably be two blogs this morning. This one will be short, the second probably will not. This is the first of many blogs about things that I just don't get. I have no idea what the subject of the second installment of "stuff I don't get" will be, but the subject this time around is beer- specifically Coors Light.

I've got this weird issue about commercials. I hate dumb ones. Even worse than that, I hate commercials that don't make sense to me. Even worse than that, I hate commercials that try to sell me on something that is totally the reverse of what the same company has been trying to sell me for years.

For as long as I can remember Coors Light has had commercials that stated that it was brewed from water "In the Rocky Mountains" so the water was cold. Then it was brewed cold, then filtered cold, then packaged cold, then shipped cold, then sold cold. I'm pretty sure the message was "Our beer is going to taste better because has always been cold!!!" Now all of the sudden all of the commercials are about the new Coors Light bottles and cans that turn blue when the beer is cold. WTF? If it's brewed cold from cold water in the Rockies, filtered cold, packaged cold, shipped cold, and sold cold, then why do I need a bottle or can that turns blue when it's cold? Were you lying before? Or should I allow my beer to get warm, so I can test out the cool (no pun intended) white-to-blue label? Have you given up on selling the beer on it's taste and now you're going to sell the beer because of the label? Geez.

The funny thing is, I don't buy beer that often ("rarely" doesn't come close to how infrequent it is) so I don't know why I even care. I have too much time to think.

He's Gone Country

I was never really a country music fan. I'm not sure why, really. To be honest, I think part of it was a snobbish Yankee attitude thing. Some of the twang bothered me a little. But my wife loved it, so I tolerated the country music in the car. Then one summer she dragged me along to a country music festival of sorts here in Boston. There were 4 performers at the show we saw. Keith Urban, Martina McBride, Alan Jackson, and one other that I can't remember. I have to admit, I was pretty blown away. I recognized a couple of Alan Jackson's songs and liked the music with simple messages that he performed. They're not all that deep, simply songs about life. And I found that it wasn't all that true about the "whoa is me" lyrics that are supposed to make everybody cry. He didn't just sing about losing his wife, dog, and truck. It was some stuff I could identify with. He's a man's man. Probably a bit too much testosterone for me, but it was OK. Keith Urban was relatively new at the time, but he could really rock. I still enjoy his concerts more than just about any others that I have been to. The musical talent impressed me as much as anything else at these concerts. I was expecting banjos, spoons, and mouth harps, with the occasional moonshine bottle thrown in for a bit o' bass. What I heard was some very talented musicians that actually sounded a lot more like rock than blue grass.

I particularly remember being blown away by Martina McBride's voice. I couldn't believe what she could do vocally. Her voice was so strong and never wavered. It seemed like she could belt out high, long notes, on pitch, endlessly. The pitch thing is important to me. Not a lot of people know this but I played piano for around 12 years. I never learned to read music too well, but I got pretty good at playing by ear. I knew if something was wrong if it didn't sound right. I don't play the piano any more, but I still have a really good ear for pitch. Some have told me I have perfect pitch. I don't, and I really admire those who do (like my sister and my friend Melody), but I am pretty good at hearing when someone is singing off key (including myself which happens a lot). American Idol can be hard to watch sometimes as I can hear when a contestant is a bit off. Paula and Randy like to refer to this as "pitchy." The thing is, Paula and Randy aren't really good at hearing when someone is pitchy and when they aren't. I've heard some contestants be really off and get high praise from the judges while others are right on and get lambasted by them for being pitchy. I roll my eyes a lot listening to those pretentious judges.

I also struggle with live bands some times. There will be a song that I hear and love on the radio and then I hear the artist do it live and I'm very disappointed because they really can't carry a tune that well. I'm often amazed that they did it well enough for the recording. I think this is one thing that I really like about country music. More often than not, the person performing is right on pitch, and they have a strong voice. Martina McBride is my favorite for this. She's just amazing when she sings.

I'm blogging about country music because last night I went with my wife to see Carrie Underwood. A band called "Little Big Town" opened for her. They sing a song called "Boondocks" which talks about having pride in being where you are from. "I feel no shame, I'm proud of where I came from, I was born and raised in the BOOOOndocks!" (This is one of my son Josh's favorite songs. Joy and I were really wishing he was there to see it.) The whole concert was wonderful. I really enjoyed myself and the company I was with. I think the Carrie Underwood story is great, and as annoying as American Idol can be sometimes, I love to see people who were "nobodies" attain a dream. Carrie Underwood is no fluke. She has an amazing talent. The vocal talent of Little Big Town was great too. I litterally get chills when I hear strong harmonies, and I felt them a couple of times while Little Big Town was on.

I remember another concert we went to a while back. It was a Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert. Faith is another female vocalist that some would say tops Martina. Not for me, but it's close. I remember watching her and Tim (who is also her husband) sing and noting how much I was enjoying it. I'm not the type to go to a concert because I have some fascination with the performer. I don't really want to be them, but I do want to enjoy what they offer. When I'm at the concerts I often look around at all the people there interacting with the music, and the performer interacting with the crowd. It's a dance of sorts, with one building momentum from the other. I really like to watch the interplay- the artist doing something that brings joy into the lives of others.

I remember being particularly appreciative of this interplay at the Hill/McGraw concert. I had one of those "everything is right with the world" moments. It was a little weird, but very meaningful for me. I was simply so glad that these two, particularly Faith Hill, were using the talent that God gave them. It would have been a shame if they didn't use it. I looked around the arena at all of the people singing, dancing, and screaming in delight and really couldn't help but think God was pleased with the fact that she was using her talent to provide joy for others. Now granted, she wasn't leading hymns in church, but I don't think that's all God wants us to do with our gifts. I don't believe that we're gifted just to please God. Well, maybe I do, but I think that when we're helping others to experience joy, even the joy of listening to music at a secular concert, God is pleased. And I don't think God is totally pleased if we're not doing all we can to help others experience joy. It's part of what makes life worth living. Sometimes I think God still looks at some of His creation and calls it "good" when it's going according to His plan. Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, Little Big Town, all using their talents in ways that bring joy into people's life must make God happy on some level in-as-much as their singing is according to plan.

So all in all, I'm very appreciative of my wife bringing country music into my life. I've seen quite a few country musicians now including: Faith Hill (wonderful voice), tim McGraw (great performer), Martina McBride (perfection in her voice), Alan Jackson (knows how to enjoy life), Tovy Keith (more testosterone here than at an NFL game. He's a bit too gung-ho for me, but he's got some great music.), Keith Urban (lots of energy), Kenny Chesney (somehow this little pipsqueak is all the rage with the women), Little Big Town (fun songs and good harmony), Carrie Underwood (talented girl with a wonderful voice, and not all that bad to look at!), and Charlie Daniels (a "Christian" that refers to people as panty waste. I'll let the Lord judge.) I'll continue to attend concerts where I can understand and appreciate the lyrics. Live music is great no matter what kind it is. I love that feeling that goes through your skin when the bass is so smooth and loud. My skin feels like it's rippling water with the vibrations running through it. I love it.

Jesus will not be President of the United States.

I’ve tried several times to begin a blog about the Presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain. I’ve failed each time because I’m not really a political guy. I’m way to moderate. I see some good in each candidate, and I see some things I don’t like. So it’s hard for me to have any real commentary that I feel anybody will care about. I have NO clue how to fix the economy and hate the fact that money even exists. I have NO clue about how to fix the health care system and don’t understand why people need money to help other people stay healthy. I also believe that neither the democrat nor republican party have a monopoly on honesty. I don’t know who to believe anymore. I believe John McCain was probably very courageous in that POW prison. I don’t believe Obama is Muslim or a terrorist. I believe they both love the United States and want better for the country. It’s difficult for this moderate to articulate how I feel about the race because I feel that they are both lacking in many ways, but neither are the epitome of evil that so many make them out to be.

It seems that every 4 years each Presidential race polarizes the United States of America than the last. There doesn’t seem to be much united about the process at all. There is invariably only 2 real candidates, and if we want to vote in the election, we need to either choose one of the two candidates or vote third party; the latter being frowned upon as throwing away your vote. I don’t really see this as throwing away your vote and seriously considered doing it for this election. I guess it’s the only way I can send any sort of message to say that I’m displeased with my choices. I have to be honest, there isn’t really a third candidate that I have any knowledge about, so I couldn’t say that I was voting for the person I thought would make a good President. Then there is the option of not voting. A friend of mine named Dave said that’s what he was going to do. I pretty much agree with all of what he said, except for me, I believe that as an American citizen that is enjoying the freedom that comes with my citizenship, I have a responsibility to show up at the polling station. I have considered submitting a blank ballot to fulfill my duty but also express my disdain with my options.

I don’t feel that a blank ballot is necessary for me this year. I believe both of the candidates have some good things to offer, and they both have some positions with which I disagree strongly. But I do believe both candidates mean well and want to see this country do well- albeit in different ways. While in the past I have made my decision based on who I thought was the least of two evils, I have decided not to continue to label anyone as evil and look at who offered me more. I need someone to believe in.

On a church-related website, my brother recently posted a link to a youtube video of some minority youths expressing hope in their future with Barack Obama as President. Essentially the video was saying “Hey, if Barack Obama can attain the Presidency, then I can [you fill in the blank]. My brother and I are a lot alike in that he is not really all that political, but shares some values with Obama. There are also some things on which he really disagrees. In no way does he believe that Obama is the savior of the United States, let alone the world. He has never made such a statement (I don’t believe) nor will he. He understands that Obama is a man with political aspirations, that he is very fallible, and he will make mistakes even if he is elected to serve this country as President. He simply posted a video expressing his appreciation for the possibility that there will be a President that inspires children to set lofty goals for themselves and work to attain them. It was apparent from some of the comments that followed his posting that not all felt this way. One of the follow-up posts said that the video reminded them of the Hitler youth movement and that they couldn’t believe how the spirit of antichrist has infiltrated our country, church, and schools (specifically church-sponsored schools). Essentially, they accused my brother, and others like him, of acting in non-Christlike ways because they have appreciation for Barack Obama. Really?! “Antichrist?” How on earth did we come to this? Am I to believe that Obama is the antichrist and John McCain is somehow closer to resembling Christ than Barack? Am I really supposed to equate a vote for John McCain as the Christian thing to do?

I find it very troubling that anybody would make any attempt to equate Christlikeness with a politician- democrat, republican, or whatever. This idea that America is a Christian nation is hogwash, and frankly, the more I examine the Christ in the Gospels, the less faith I have in the American way. The American way is NOT the way, the truth, and the life. It is NOT the Kingdom of God. Again, I believe my friend Dave was right on in his defense of his decision to not vote. When it comes down to it, there isn’t a politician out there that can offer what Christ offered. How did we come to this?

I am conscious of the fact that this next paragraph may leave people wondering if I believe that the Bible has an equal in relaying the Word of God. Let me assure you (both of you), I don’t. However, in recent years I have come to have a whole new appreciation for the it. I once saw it as God’s Word. I was supposed to read it and obey what it said, simply because it said it. It was there to help me avoid sinning and to tell me how to deal with sin should I fall into it. I have come to believe that this may be a functional way of looking at the Bible for some but I’m leery of viewing the Bible this way myself. In Jesus’ day, there were many people who looked at the scriptures this way and Jesus told them that they didn’t understand the scriptures. The Bible is still sacred to me. I believe it contains God’s Word, but it is not all of God’s Word. It is a book about part of human history and our relationship to God’s Word. It shows us what can happen when we choose to ignore God’s Word and it shows us our potential when we revere and stick with God’s Word. God’s Word existed before the Bible, and it will continue to exist should every Bible be burned somehow. The Bible does not usurp God’s Word. God’s Word is Truth, and the Bible helps me understand Truth. It showed me how one man- Jesus- lived Truth. The stories in the Bible of God’s interaction with man are critical to understanding Truth. They explain how God feels about various things that we do and how He dealt with our actions. Eventually, God felt it was necessary to give us written law because we had grown too self-centered and blind to follow God’s Word without Him spelling it out for us. And it also sheds some light upon how God feels about our capacity to govern for ourselves.

In the story about the Israel as told in the Bible, there came a time when the judges- a group of people who received direct communication from God- no longer satisfied the governing desires of the Israelites. The Israelites asked Samuel, the last of the good judges, to appoint a King to rule them. This upset Samuel since the judges received their instruction straight from God. God was displeased as well.

God answered Samuel, "Go ahead and do what they're asking. They are not rejecting you. They've rejected me as their King. From the day I brought them out of Egypt until this very day they've been behaving like this, leaving me for other gods. And now they're doing it to you. So let them have their own way. But warn them of what they're in for. Tell them the way kings operate, just what they're likely to get from a king"(The Message, 1 Samuel 8:7-9).

Samuel did tell them what was in store for them under the rule of a king. The king would take what he needed from the people by force. Essentially the people would then serve the king and not God. The loyalties would be split at best. The story which follows is one of corruption and lack of obedience to God.

Several years later (like hundreds of years) Jesus enters the picture claiming to be the King of the Jews, the Messiah, who was here to set things right. The problem was, the Jews were still looking for a king of political power. One who would conquer nations and put Israel back on the Imperial map. But Jesus would have none of it. He had no interest in earthly rule. This was Jesus' whole message. God wanted to rule men’s hearts. It was a different kingdom altogether. It was not of this world. If it was, Jesus would have set out on military conquests and his followers would have risen militarily. But again, Jesus would have none of that. It wasn’t how the Kingdom of God worked (and still works). This was evident in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested by both his words and his actions:

Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. 51With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

52"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

God’s Kingdom wasn’t one of military conquest; it was not going to conquer people militarily. God wants people’s hearts, not their territories. Jesus understood this and shunned political leadership. I think this is one of the things Jesus was saying when he told people they didn't understand the scriptures; that they didn't understand the Word of God.

Why do I say all this? We fall into danger of not understanding scripture when we equate American Nationalism with working for the Kingdom of God. I say it because I am very disturbed by what I see happen to the church every 4 years around the Presidential election. I’m just tired of the demonizing that happens. It’s not even like people try to sell “their” candidate based on their qualifications. Instead they ridicule the “other side’s” candidate and talk about how terrible of a President they would be. And in the church, people have the nerve to throw around the label “antichrist” in regards to a particular candidate and those that might find some good qualities in them. I’m at a loss for words as to how to describe how dumb it is to pretend that the United States is even close to the Kingdom of God. It’s not. I won’t even pretend that it is. But I still plan to vote, and my Christian worldview will affect my vote.

If the two of you are still reading this entry, thank you. I can’t imagine why you’ve stuck with it this far. AND, I can’t imagine why you would care who I’m voting for or why. But for some reason, I just feel like sharing it. I’ve recently decided to vote for Barack Obama, and likely not for the strongest of reasons. But I’ll list a few here:

1 I do not really consider abortion to be a real issue any more. It only seems to be an issue at election time or when a judge is nominated to the Supreme Court. There has been a conservative republican in office for 20 of the past 28 years and nothing has changed in Roe v. Wade. Apparently, voting for a candidate based on this issue is not a great decision. Even if it did, I’m not really convinced that a written law will end abortion. It’ll make it illegal, but it won’t end the problem. I would like abortion to be legal and non-existant because it is unnecessary. I believe Obama feels the same way. I believe abortion is wrong, but I don’t want people not having abortions because it’s illegal, I want them not having abortions because they don’t believe they need to have one.

2 Gun control. “Guns don’t kill people; People kill people.” Yes, and it’s easier for people to kill people if they have a machine gun.

3 Global warming. Don’t know if it’s man-made or not, but I don’t see the harm in changing our habits to protect the earth.

4 Economy. Like I said, I don’t have a whole lot of knowledge about the economy. What I do know is that rich people don’t get rich by giving away their money, so I’m a bit skeptical of a “trickle-down” approach.

5 The war. First of all, I believe we were lied to about WMDs. I don’t think it was an accident. This war with Iraq was about a lot more than WMDs and how much of a threat Saddam was to the US. Also, I really don’t think that most of the American people want to be at war with the Iraqi people or the Iranian people. I think some very rich people, some of whom are in the American government, benefited from going to war in Iraq and would like to go to war with the Iran government for similar reasons. I don’t want my government killing innocents and calling it “collateral damage”. I don’t understand how the deaths on 9-11 made it ok to kill several thousand more Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi’s in the name of finding WMDs that didn’t exist. This wreaks of empire building and oil control. I won’t even argue about this. I just know how I feel about it. “Who would Jesus bomb?” isn’t just a smart-ass quip. Answer the question. Yes, I feel pretty strongly about this. And it’s NOT about the troops, it’s about those that created the war.

6 Finally, VISION. I describe my feelings about the two candidates this way: I’d like to have a cup of coffee with McCain and perhaps ask him for advice. That would be fun. I’d like to work for Obama. I believe he has the vision for not only a better America, but for a better world. He inspires me to do better and to be a better person. I believe he sees the potential for humanity. We, as a world, need to change and the US needs to lead the way. I struggle with McCain’s “Country First” slogan. My neighbors live beyond the borders of the USA and I care about them too. I think it is high time that our Presidents and citizens realize we're all in this world together so we should stop destroying each other.

I think I’ve rambled enough now, and this is beginning to sound a lot like gobble-de-gook. In summary, I’d only say this: Don’t compare these candidates to Jesus or this country to the Kingdom of God. It’s not even close.

The Luckiest Kid EVER!!!!

Here's a quick picture of a friend or mine named Matt. As you can tell, he recently had a pretty good experience at the Red Sox game. He was lucky enough to have tickets to the game where the Red Sox officially clinched their playoff berth. Apparently after the game he made his way down to the field for the party and was fortunate enough to receive a gift from one Jonathan Pappelbon. The gift was the first base bag that was used in the game. As you can tell, he was pretty excited.

I was really happy to hear that this happened to Matt. He's had a long year fraught with serious health challenges. It's a long story, but at one point we were worried that he might be on his death bed...literally. So I'm glad to see he got to experience this. I also found this picture of Matt sitting outside Munro residence hall at school- a women's dormitory- and I can only assume he is using it to pick up girls. I imagine it's a pretty nice prop to have- although he doesn't need it as he's a terrific kid.

Congratulations Matt!

As far as I know, it won't be going on ebay!

Jesus of Montreal

I don't usually write movie reviews that are longer than a couple of sentences. Usually it's something like, "I liked this movie. It was good. I recommend it." I'm not really good at writing reviews. But I recently was surprised by an old, French-Canadian movie called Jesus of Montreal. In recent years I've become really interested in the historical Jesus, not just the spiritual guru and savior and stuff. I find that the more I know about Jesus the Jewish man that lived in Israel 2000+ years ago, the more I grow to admire him. This is why I enjoyed this movie. I recently wrote a review of it for Naznet. And I figured I'd post it here too. Why not? Here it is:

Jesus of Montreal was filmed in 1989 and won multiple Genie awards- the Canadian version of the Oscar. It is French-Canadian, spoken in French with English subtitles. The movie was controversial at the time, and many would still consider it to be so. It is Rated “R”. I didn’t think the acting in the movie was all that great and the effects were very dated, but the plot was fascinating for me. As such this will be a rather lengthy review, probably longer than I’ll ever spend reviewing a movie again.

The story goes like this:

A Catholic Priest approaches an actor about bringing something “new” to his parish’s annual Passion play. The script has been the same for the past 30 years and it has lost its luster somewhat. The priest desires to have it changed so that it is not so dated. The young actor takes on the assignment and begins to study who Jesus was. We are not told of the status of the actors faith prior to the movie. He begins to look at some of the recent archeological discoveries and the evidence for the life of Jesus. Using the new information, he re-writes the Passion play in what he believes to be a more historically accurate light, not just relying on the Bible or church tradition. The public loves the new play, the church however, is not pleased. Thus ensues the conflict in the movie.

As I mentioned before, this movie is rated “R”. It should be, even by today’s standards for the following scenes. In one of the early scenes the main character goes to a studio where some people are serving as voices for a pornographic movie. There is a brief shot where we see the movie and it is obvious from the sound what kind of movie it is, but I don’t recall that we are able to see any, well, sex. The camera pans to three actors who are reading the script for the movie and we watch them all read their parts. I think this was supposed to be humorous, and I guess it kind of was, but it was totally unnecessary except for the symbolism which I will explain later. There is also partial male nudity because the main character, who plays Jesus in the Passion play, is nude when he is crucified. There is no frontal nudity, but there is a rather revealing shot of him being swung over the shoulder of the roman guard. Also, there is a quick topless shot of one of the actresses. It is not a sexual situation. In fact, it is anything but.

Lothaire Bluteau plays Daniel, the young actor responsible for re-creating the Passion play for the church. He has a shocking resemblance to the modern, stereotypical, non-historically accurate (as far as we know) appearance of Jesus with flowing shoulder length hair and a five o’clock shadow. It's got everything but the well-pressed robe and purple sash. As soon as he agrees to take on the project, things in his life begin to parallel the life of the Jesus in the gospels. For instance, he begins to look for people to help him with his project and finds three of his actors at a porn stage. Consider the reputation of those involved in the porn industry. They are not highly regarded either in the world of acting, or in the world in general. Compare this with where Jesus found his disciples. Fisherman and tax collectors…

What I didn’t really “like,” so to speak:

The “historical accuracy” of the new Passion play that is created in this film doesn’t seem all that accurate in some ways. I don’t just say that to defend the accuracy of the gospels in the Bible. I love looking at the historical Jesus and don’t mind when people challenge our traditional stories about what happened during Jesus’ life. However, I think some of the historical stuff presented in this movie was a bit off. For instance, they seem to want to make Pilate seem more compassionate than he actually was. Pilate didn’t care about Jesus at all. His only care was for Rome and his place in the gov’t. He used Jesus to further gain a foothold over the Jews. This movie missed that point. Some people will find the other historical commentary on Jesus in this movie to be offensive. I didn’t really find it offensive, I just didn’t find it convincing. But all of this was kind of secondary to what I believe was the point of the movie.

What I liked:

The symbolism throughout the movie was brilliant and hard to miss. There were many different things that happened in the life of the main character Daniel that paralleled the life of Jesus. The church establishment becomes upset with what he says about Jesus, just as the Jews of Jesus’ were upset with him for what he was preaching. Daniel calls out the Catholic Church in much the same way Jesus called out the Pharisees and Sadducees. Daniel comes to the aid of a young actress who is being used for her body, much like Jesus comes to the rescue of, well, all women. Daniel is temped to use his new found fame for wealth much like Jesus was tempted in the desert. Daniel gets upset and throws some tables around, much like, well, you know…Daniel’s message ends up in the subway, Christians are forced underground.

There is even a great parallel of how the gospel stories evolve. As the new play gains popularity, people begin to become enthralled with this young, formerly unknown actor and begin to tell Daniel’s story on the radio and on TV. As I recall, there are three different people explaining “who” Daniel is, where he came from, and his academic background, etc…Each one of them is telling a similar story with similar facts, although some of the facts totally contradict each other.

In the midst of all that is going on in the characters’ lives, Daniel really begins to take on the persona of Jesus. That is, he begins to live his life in what you might refer to as “the way, the Truth, and the life” that Jesus talks about. He becomes a very gentle spirit, truly caring for his friends and others around him. He also develops a strong conflict with the established church. He becomes very concerned for the future of the world, even to the point of depression.

This movie is too old to rate on a scale in reference to quality of film, acting, etc…It did win a lot of awards during its day. But all of that is secondary to the message that I took from it. Even with all the controversy surrounding who Jesus was historically speaking, the message that Jesus brought is still relevant and still largely ignored.

I saw this movie by using Netflix’s online viewing option. You may have a difficult time finding it elsewhere, but it is worth the search. I highly recommend it. I also recommend watching it with adults, as there are scenes that are inappropriate for children.

Good Weekends Rock!

I must say, Joy and I have never been the best at having a routine. It seems like we're always running around somewhere for something. I'm not entirely sure how this came to be, but we've been spending time in the recent months to make some changes and adjustments in our life. In some ways it is hard to believe that 10, almost 11 years have gone by since we were married. A lot has changed in our lives and it seems that this was the appropriate time for a reality check. Where are we now? Where did we think we would be? Where are we going from here? Yada, yada, yada... Two of the areas that we wanted to improve were to set a routine as best we can, and and spend more time together alone as a couple.

We're still working on the routine. It seems like as soon as we get into a routine that is working really well, something comes up that kind of sets us off the routine for a while. They are not necessarily bad interruptions, just interruptions that take us off of the routine. A vacation would be one example of an interruption. It appears that it takes about 1.5 to 2 weeks or so to re-group. It's important for many reasons, among them are financial reasons. It seems that when we don't have a routine, we eat out a lot more and spend money we don't really need to spend. Then we get to bed late, and, well I'm sure I don't have to explain this too much. So we're working on it.

Part of setting the routine is setting aside time for date nights. I've got to say, we're doing a pretty good job of this and we're LOVING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We go out each (OK, well, most) Tuesday evenings. Every other Tuesday we visit what has become one of our favorite restaurants, The Melting Pot. It's a restaurant that specialized in fondue. Actually, everything is fondue. At first I was concerned that my manhood would suffer from eating at a fondue place. As it turns out, my manhood is just fine, and I might just sacrifice it to eat there anyways! It CAN be a bit pricey if you go for the whole meal. I would suggest that you don't do that. Go for a cheese appetizer (we recommend the cheddar) and a dessert. You'll have MORE than enough food to fill you up, and it will cost you around $30 or so, depending on what you drink. We only got the big meal once (I think it's called The Big Night Out), and didn't really like it. I think we've decided that God made fondue pots for cheese and chocolate, and that meat stuff doesn't work too well. We've actually developed a kind of relationship with the restaurant and they've told us to ask them for a special dish next time we're there...which is tomorrow! Woo-hoo!!!!!

Another way we're doing this is by swapping date-nights with my brother Jeremy and his wife Meghan. We baby-sit their kids every two weeks while they go on a date, and they baby-sit ours every two weeks while we go out. It's been working out really well so far. I will say that I was a bit intimidated watching 5 kids at once. Joy enjoyed just watching me look stressed out. It doesn't happen much. Meghan says Jeremy is the same way. Hey, contagious crying isn't fun.

This weekend was our date night weekend. Joy likes to get coupons from a site called restaurant.com. If you'd like to visit that site, think really hard about where you might find the site. I highly recommend it. They have some pretty good deals. Our coupon this week was "Buy two entrees, Get $25 off." Others are something like "Spend $35, get $25 off." So you could, technically eat for $10. They're good deals. Check it out. We went to the North End of Boston. It was a BEAUTIFUL night. We drove around the North End for a few minutes while we located the restaurant and were unable to find parking on the street. Not that we expected to be able to. So we parked in the State Street garage for $13 and walked over to the restaurant. It wasn't too far.

I couldn't believe how packed the North End was. I mean it's always busy, but it was really busy last night. I was amazed. It looked like everyone was just out having a good time, which is how I believe God meant for it to be- enjoying life with those you love. After we ate our meal at a restaurant called Davide, Joy just had to visit Mike's Pastry shop. Not that I minded. I got some chocolate chip Gelato and Joy got her Canolli and two chocolate dipped strawberries. Mmmm. I saw something there that I hadn't seen before. There were these two guys walking around playing the accordion and violin. It was pretty cool and reminded me of our trip to France when we saw somebody doing the same thing there. I emptied all of the change out of my pocket, about $1.50, and gave it to them. Then, across the street I heard what I thought was an Opera CD. Nope, it was a guy singing opera music. I have to say, he was pretty good. I hadn't seen that before either! I've seen a lot of street performers in Boston, but these two were new to me.

We headed back to the car and had to cross the new Rose Kennedy Greenway. This is the new park where the old highway used to be. It's absolutely beautiful! We stopped to talk for a little while and I snapped a couple of pictures with my cell phone. Sorry about the quality. But the night was unbelievable. If and when we move away from Boston, we're going to miss the city. But we're still here right now!

Finally, we had a pretty busy Sunday too. We went to church as always and then headed back to Quincy for a birthday party for one of Josh's friends. We left there at about 3:30 and headed to New Hampshire to spend time at my parents house to spend time with my family while the Patriots, led by Matt Cassel, beat the J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS...again. Same story different year. While we were there, Jordan got to spend some real quality time with her Great-Grandpa Scott. It was precious and I think they both enjoyed it equally. We were home by 9PM. I grabbed about 2 hours of sleep and went off to work.

We had a great weekend, and our routine starts tomorrow! I'll be making tacos for dinner!!! Mmmm....!

Millions and Millions of Cats

I remember a book from when I was a kid. I think the name of it was Millions and Millions of Cats. I don't remember much about the book except that I think it had a red, white, and black cover. (After a quick Amazon search, it turns out it's yellow, not whitem and it was only 'Millions'. So I embellished a bit.)The story was about, well, a ton of cats. I bring this up because this is what we might title the 2008 summer at the Scott house.

I had noticed, as had my wife, that we had a couple of cats in our yard this spring. No biggie; they didn't really bother us or any of our stuff. A couple of times I scared them out from under our back porch. They had also been in our garage, entering through one of the broken windows and through the base of the garage which had rotted away (another post for another day). I didn't really mind them all that much. I wasn't really sure if they were strays or if they belonged to one of my neighbors. At any rate, I let them stay because they weren't really bothering me.

Here's the thing though. I hate cats. I've always said that. I'm not sure why or where that opinion began. I think I'll blame it on my aunt Melissa. She hated cats passionately. Well, I really liked my aunt Melissa and as kid wanted to be like her in many ways if I could. So as far as I know, this was my first reason for hating cats. Thanks Melissa! Secondly, I'm very allergic to cats. Anyone with a cat allergy knows what I'm talking about. It's debilitating. With these things in mind, you would have thought that I'd have done anything I could to get rid of these cats. But I didn't. Oops.

This past June I opened the doors to my garage and found the cats there to greet me...with 6 kittens and one other adult cat. Yep, 9 cats sitting in my garage. Check that, living in my garage. Awe, ain't that cute. I actually thought it was cute! I mean seriously, even though I "hated" cats, I still found it difficult to ignore the cuteness of the lil' kitties. Josh was thrilled! Mom-mom and Pop-pop had taken in a stray in Maryland and that stray had kittens that loved him. So Josh thought that could happen here too. I'm a sucker for pretty much anything my son wants, and Joy had always kind of wanted a cat. So I figured, hey they're in the garage, what can it hurt? Stop laughing. We went out that weekend and got one of those big fluffy pillows, an auto-feeder and auto-water bowl, some food, a litter box, and some kitty litter. I figured they'd warm up to us when we were feeding them. Nope.

It was a bit frustrating. Apparently these cats had never heard the phrase, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you." They never had the opportunity to bite my hand. They made it quite clear that if I put my hand anywhere near them, I'd regret it much like the poor little torn apart birds that were strewn around my garage floor. I quickly learned the difference between "stray" cats and "ferrel" cats. One may warm up to you, the other certainly won't. Google it. All nine of these cats, including the kittens, wanted nothing to do with any of us. Even though we were feeding them. Ungrateful little balls of stink. And they did stink.

Do you know what kind or work it takes to care for 9 cats? Well, they would all fill the litter box in one day. It stunk and I didn't empty it every day. When I didn't, they then pooped on the plush pillow we bought for them. I know when I'm appreciated. We stopped feeding them. I thought maybe they'd eat each other and we'd be back where we began. Well, sometime after we stopped feeding them they left. I'm not sure that it mattered if we were feeding them, I think they would have moved on anyways. Oh, well, I thought. It was just as well, I could hardly breath in the garage now. It took about 5 breaths for my throat to close up from an allergic reaction.

About a month or so went by until one day, I opened my garage doors to find 6 more kittens. This wasn't the same bunch. New kittens- 6 of them. They too, were entering under the rotted portion of the garage. They were living between the wall and my wood pile. "This is progress," I thought. I thought maybe they'd be friendly since there didn't seem to be any "adult" cat to teach them bad manners. I took two steps towards them and found out that they were under strict orders to rip my hand apart if it came anywhere near them. I had learned my lesson the first time. No food for them! And you know what? This seemed like the perfect time to fix the garage. It was leaning to the right and the sill plates were already rotted when we bought the house. During the process of fixing the garage, I threw the wood from the wood pile into the yard so I could get to the sill plates I needed to fix. I was feeling bad as they looked at me like "What are you doing to our home?" And then, as I reached down one last time to try and pet one of them, it hissed and made that face like the posessed cat in Pet Semitary. That was that.

This past Friday my wife woke me up saying "Jeff, the kittens are back and they're letting us pet them!" I didn't believe it. "Come look!" I drug myself out of bed to see more of the cats that I now had good reason to hate. Sure enough, I got downstairs and there was Josh playing with three of the cutest little kittens you've ever seen. (You can see where this is going can't you?) these were 3 more, new kittens, and they were considerably younger than any of the others. Too new to have been taught to eat me. In fact, I think these cats were abandoned by their "parents". I don't know if they were dropped intentionally at our door, but there they were squeeking and crawling around our feet. I'm not sure they had been weaned yet, so I tried to feed them with a dropper. Only one of them took to it. I got a box from the pile of stuff I had taken out of the now empty garage, placed some old towels in it with a small bowl of milk. Then I shut them in our back porch so no evil adult cats could get to them to ruin our precious little angels. BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!!

So now we have three kittens. I think one is already claimed from somebody else and I'm pretty sure I have an idea who might like another. So, now I, a cat hater, have a cat. Rush out and buy stock in Claritin-D! It's my allergy medicine of choice. We haven't named them yet. We need your help on that point. So if you have any suggestions, leave it in the comment section.

So, as Bob Barker would say, "Help control the pet population. Have your dog or cat spayed or neutered!"