June 30, 2011

A couple of items to note

I think using manners is important, and I'm thankful that I grew up with parents who made me use them. It seems that truly polite people are tougher to come by these days. That's why I was glad to read Some Guy's blog post on Being Socially Responsible. His list of social responsibilities includes "say please, thank you, and you're welcome" as well as "hold doors open for others."

Also, I thought that some of you (particularly Joel & Pam, who have both academic and vocational interests in church worship) might want to check out Kevin DeYoung's two-part post on Ten Principles for Church Singing (Part 1 here, Part 2 here).

That's all I've got for you for now.

June 28, 2011

Hound Dog

From a Skype conversation with a couple of my brothers last night...

June 23, 2011

Ready for the Weekend

Really hoping that this guy's on my next Southwest Airlines flight. Happy Friday, folks.

June 18, 2011

Dad

Growing up I can remember my mom trying to explain to my brothers and I that we had an especially fantastic father. Being a sincere kid, I can remember trying to take that information to heart. I knew I shouldn't take Dad for granted, but I didn't really understand. Dad was Dad. Isn't this how dads are?

I didn't know that most kids didn't have dads that went to work before 5 am every day of his adult life so that he could be home by the time we got out of school. I didn't know that most dads didn't go outside to play with their kids every day -- even after working a physically demanding job. It didn't occur to me until later in life that Dad was the only coach I had for any sport until I was in junior high. He was the only baseball coach I had until high school (and, frankly, my dad deserves most of the credit for my high school team being one of the best in the state). I didn't realize it was abnormal for a dad to spend so much time with his kids. Once I was in high school and Dad wasn't my coach anymore, he attended everything I ever participated in. I didn't know other kids' dads didn't do that.

We hear about study after study after study telling us how hard it is for kids who grow up without good father figures. My brothers and I don't suffer from those hardships.

I don't know if I've ever given my dad a gift (t-shirt, mug, etc.) with "World's Greatest Dad" written on it somewhere, but in this case, that statement would be no exaggeration. Thanks, Dad.

Happy Father's Day.

June 17, 2011

Ready for the Weekend

Imagine how weird things would be if we lived our real lives the way we live our online lives. This guy is taking facebook and twitter to the real world; seeking as many friends as he can get, following them, asking them to comment on photos, liking things, etc.

June 16, 2011

You Can't Handle my Top 5 Courtoom Movies of all time

I love a good courtroom movie, so today I'm bringing you my All-Time Courtroom Movie List.

#5 12 Angry Men
You may think it unfair of me to include a movie in which not a single scene takes place in a courtroom. The entire film (and the play on which it's based) goes on inside the jury deliberation room. All I can say in my own defense is that my criteria for "courtroom movies" should probably be called "court movies," but that lacks a certain something.

This classic could very easily be ranked higher, but I've only ever seen it a couple of times (the most recent being years ago), and it hasn't stuck with me as the most intense of cinematic court battles. Still, it's a fantastic film that has a lot to say about the art of persuasion and the dangers of being completely close-minded.



#4 Rules of Engagement
Samuel L. Jackson is on trial for ordering his Marines to fire into a hostile crowd demonstrating against the U.S. in Yemen. Tommy Lee Jones defends him. Really great stuff.




#3 From the Hip
This is a little known film from the 80s, and I'm tremendously thankful for my dad who got me started on it. It stars Judd Nelson, Elizabeth Perkins, and John Hurt. The movie covers two trials. For the first one, Nelson's character, fresh out of law school and desperately wanting to argue a case, pulls some questionably unethical strings to put himself in position to defend one banker guy who punched another banker guy. This trial (roughly the first half of the movie) is quite comical and light-hearted. After his success in the first case, he gets assigned a no-win murder case in which he is supposed to defend an obviously guilty murderer. The second half of the movie is much more dramatic, and not nearly as funny. Both halves, though, are excellent, and putting them together makes for a very good, though not terribly popular film.



#2 A Time to Kill
Look at the cast of this movie: Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson (on trial... again), Sandra Bullock, Oliver Platt, Kevin Spacey, Donald Sutherland, Kiefer Sutherland, Charles S. Dutton, and Chris Cooper. Even if the storyline was awful, that group of actors would make it pretty good. Of course, the storyline is not awful. It's based on John Grisham's most popular novel. I tend to enjoy Grisham's books quite a bit more than the movies made based on them, but, ironically enough, I think this is the exception. The book is great, no doubt, but I think the movie beats it in this case. (The money line from Jackson comes at about 2:14 in this trailer. Fantastic movie.)



#1 A Few Good Men
Speaking of impressive casts: Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Pollack, J.T. Walsh, Christopher Guest, Wolfgang Bodison, Noah Wyle, Cuba Gooding Jr., and even Joshua Malina. The movie was directed by Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride, anyone?) and written by Aaron Sorkin (who even makes a cameo appearance). Given just the information in this paragraph, I'm not even sure it would be an earthly possibility for this movie to be something less than spectacular. Sorkin has an unbelievable knack for writing serious dramas about deadly serious topics while still including some of the funniest jokes I've ever heard. This movie is more hilarious than most comedies I've seen in my life. It's got fantastic acting, an incredible script, beautiful cinematography, and of course, one of the most iconic quotes in the history of cinema: "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" I watched this movie two nights ago, and this trailer makes me want to turn it on again right now. Unbelievably good movie.



So there you have it. My Top 5 Courtroom movies. Did I miss any big ones? What are your favorites?

June 12, 2011

Ready for the... week?

As you may have noticed, I've been posting (what I think are) funny videos every Friday to get you laughing as the work week ends.

I couldn't wait another second to share this one with you, though. It is absolutely priceless. (For the record, I hate cats.)

<a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/browse?mkt=en-us&from={from}&vid=ed102a58-b2f2-453f-ab08-fa749f85a8ab&from=dest_en-us&fg=dest" target="_new" title="Dating Site Bio Gets Weird">Video: Dating Site Bio Gets Weird</a>

June 10, 2011

Ready for the Weekend

This guy's fantastic. Have a good weekend, friends!

June 9, 2011

Boerboel

I have officially decided, once and for all, what kind of dog I want to own someday (someday = when I have a big enough yard to let it run around in).


This is a South African Mastiff, also known as a Boerboel (Dutch for "farmer's dog").

The following is the description of this breed's temperament from dogbreedinfo.com:

The Boerboel is reliable, obedient and intelligent, with strong watch and guard-dog instincts. It is self-assured and fearless. The Boerboel are very playful and affectionate toward their owners. Their favorite pass time would be to play a game of fetch loving every minute they spend with their master. Their jaws are strong and they will most often pop the ball they are playing with. Not to fret, they will just play with the popped ball! They are very gentle and good with children they know. Allowing them to ride on their backs like a horse, loving every minute of the attention they are getting. Boerboel will do okay with other dogs, cats and other non-canine pets, letting birds come down and snatch from their food bowl! They will guard their family, friends and property with their life. When the owners are not home they will not allow anyone to enter the home, unless they know them very well.  When welcomed visitors arrive they will accept them after being properly introduced. This breed requires a dominant owner. The authority the owners project over the dog should be so strong that the dog will not bolt out the front door when it is opened. The objective in training this dog is to achieve a pack leader status. It is a natural instinct for a dog to have anorder in their pack. When we humans live with dogs, we become their pack. The entire pack cooperates under a single leader. Lines are clearly defined and rules are set. Because a dog communicates his displeasure with growling and eventually biting, all other humans MUST be higher up in the order than the dog. The humans must be the ones making the decisions, not the dogs. That is the only way your relationship with your dog can be a complete success. If one does not understand this concept 100% and have confidence that they can handle such a large guard type breed then this is not the dog for them. With the right owners the Boerboel can make wonderful pets.


I just thought you all should know the kind of dog you can expect to see running around with us in the future.

June 6, 2011

How to Care for Introverts

A friend tweeted this a few weeks ago, and as an introvert, I think it's worth sharing.

How to care for introverts:

  • Respect their need for privacy.
  • Never embarrass them in public.
  • Let them observe first in new situations.
  • Give them time to think. Don't demand instant answers.
  • Don't interrupt them.
  • Give them advanced notice of expected changes in their lives.
  • Give them 15 minute warnings to finish whatever they are doing before calling them to dinner or moving on to the next activity.
  • Reprimand them privately.
  • Teach them new skills privately rather than in public.
  • Enable them to find one best friend who has similar interests and abilities; encourage this relationship even if the friend moves.
  • Do not push them to make lots of friends.
  • Respect their introversion. Don't try to remake them into extraverts.

See the original here.

June 2, 2011

Catching Up: Highlights from the last two weeks

- I had scheduled my last two posts to post on Friday, May 27, and Monday, May 30 - both really early in the morning. They didn't actually post (or at least they didn't show up in RSS feed readers) until sometime in the afternoon on Tuesday, May 31. I don't know what's up with that, but I apologize for two untimely posts this week. I'll try to get to the bottom of that.

- From May 19 until May 28 we were extremely fortunate to be visited by my brother, Jaron. It was absolutely fantastic having him around for more than a week. He's a hassle-free houseguest, and I love his idea of "fun." We spent a lot of time at the park playing with his super-long-distance frisbee. After I threw it into the tree once (and he had to climb up and pull it down), we managed to have a really fun time with it. What we learned is that to play with that kind of frisbee, you need a field about the size of 10 football fields that has NO ONE else playing on it.

- Tuesday we checked out Red Rocks Park and amphitheater, which is one of the coolest sights to see around here (I think Jaron would agree). After that we headed up to Evergreen and did a mild hike that Elizabeth and I have enjoyed numerous times. When we got back to the city Tuesday night we went to a Rockies game. The Rocks lost the game, but we all had a fabulous time (it was $1 hotdog night... and the dogs were Hebrew National, which totally made it worth it).

- Jaron took me golfing. First time I had swung a club in over four years. I had a really good time. I birdied a hole for the very first time in my life. Jaron was a bit disappointed, because the 9-hole course had just two par-4s and the rest were par-3s. We both felt a little silly for having rented a cart. It felt like the equivalent of riding the escalator up 3 stairs.

- Last Friday Jase and Rachel arrived from Des Moines. They were here to pick Jaron up and bring him back to the Motherland, but they drove through the night Thursday so they could be here for all of Friday and spend some time with us. It was a fantastic 24+ hours. We went out to Red Rocks Park to run around a little bit. Later, we pulled out the Saint Louis Cardinals-themed cornhole set that Joel built for us last year. It was the first time we'd ever used them. They are AWESOME and we had a great time playing. Jase, Rachel and Jaron took off on Saturday morning. Spending time with my family always makes me want to move back to Iowa as soon as we possibly can!

- Monday (Memorial Day) Elizabeth had the day off work, and was signed up to run one of the biggest and most famous 10k races in the country - the Bolder Boulder. So we headed up to Boulder early in the morning for her to run. It was a really fun race. A lot of people put on goofy and funny outfits to run it, and there are bands playing all along the race course. Elizabeth finished well below her goal time, even without ideal training conditions the week before with family here and everything. I'm really proud of her.

- Today I had two wisdom teeth pulled. It was an interesting experience. They gave me an IV and I was "consciously sedated" during the procedure. I was told that after the surgery I probably wouldn't remember much of it because the sedative gives you a mild form of amnesia when it wears off. I remember it pretty well, though (I think). It didn't hurt at all at the time, but since the numbing stuff has worn off, it's gotten pretty painful. Fortunately, I've got a bottle of vicodin to keep me company. I can't really eat solid food, though.

That's the last couple of weeks in a nutshell. Now it's June.