New Grill

Thank you to those who pitched in for the new grill. It works great! I have grilled several things on the grill to Jessica’s delight, Abby’s dismay [I won’t let her come out onto the patio while the grill is on] and to the very extent of my cullinary skillz. I can’t wait to do shish-ka-bobs (who came up with that name? That’s just funky) on it because those are always quite the treat. Yesterday Tony grilled the steaks he got for a present from his in-laws, so we’ll see how he feels about Omaha steaks. Unfortunately I’ve been ruined by Ruth’s Chris so I can never have a ‘regular’ steak and enjoy it on the same level… they cook it there the way I like it: at 1,800 degrees. Maybe in a couple of years, after we get settled into our house (that we’re planning on buying some day) I can make a special furnace for cooking steaks at 1,800 degrees as well as reinact the biblical story of Shadrack, Mishack and Abednego 🙂

The only downside to this grill so far is the $54.00 I had to pay for the gas cannister (there’s an exchange program so that after this it’ll be approximately $20.00 to exchange an empty tank for a full one). Good thing the tanks last a long time!

Thanks again for the great birthday surprise I was expecting a half-knit teal uni-sex sweater with a zig-zag collar… this far exceded my expectations 😉

2004 Presidential Debate Critique

I am not so naive to think that the debates were useful for anything more than swaying the dumbed down masses who somehow have not been jaded by a co-worker, relative or commercial to date. However, when I read Top 10 Secrets They Don’t Want You to Know About the Debates I was even more dissappointed. Who lost during these ‘debates’? The American public. Bush and Kerry both win with the goofy contract that exists in the debates.

Bush stuttered. Kerry spun. Bush spun and Kerry shifted. Americans watched two candidates spew lies, garbage and verbal diarhea for 90 minutes. The best part of the television was the fact that it was not interrupted with commercials. Unless of course you consider the fact that it is one big commercial for the presidents. Since the ‘debate’ doesn’t follow a true debate format and since most Americans are not familiar with debate format (including myself, I’ve only been to a few debates) it really doesn’t surpise me that people accept it as legit.

I was really saddened by the ‘everyman’ and ‘everywoman’ interviews they had this morning on the ‘news.’ People were absolutely spineless and wishy-washy (Which is of course due to selective editing by the producsers of the shows, or the journalists doing the interviews). Not one person that I saw interviewed said anything about truth, asked questions about spinning and honesty, or asked for the debates to cover issues that are critical to this nation, not Iraq or North Korea! When Kerry ignores the religious implications of the middle east he shows his diplomatic ignorance and when Bush spits out the same old lines about going to war with Iraq (though I believe removing Saddam was a good idea – he is a wicked modern Stalin or Hitler) we get nothing new from the candidates and further the ignorance of the American citizen.

Can we please get a real debate or some real candidates?

Busy Kitties

Busy Kitties is a book by John Schindel with photographs by Sean Franzen [but it at Amazon.com]. I have known Sean since the fourth grade and he’s an amazing photographer. Sean’s involvement in this book was pretty cool. I’ve known various published authors from seminary but it’s neat to know someone involved with a kids book because it’s a totally different audience. Sean’s pictures are great, but this is a board book mostly for toddlers so you’ll want to keep that in mind. I’m getting one for Abby 🙂 note: you can search for words on Amazon to see pictures of the book, I recommend the word ‘kitty.’

Camera Part II

Well, the camera finally arrived yesterday. OK, no it didn’t. The memory card did. That of course thrilled me like nothing else because that means had the camera come the memory wouldn’t have. Anyway, I called the company this morning to find out where my camera is and… this is not a religious or racial issue… due to the Jewish holiday Succot (The Feast of Tabernacles) they’re closed. Now, how am I supposed to deal with that? I can’t be upset for them letting their employees off for Succot, that’s just wrong, but I’m really steamed about not having my camera yet. Either way, the Lord has a time for the camera to arrive… it’s just not today or this week.

Update: I contacted DHL and the gal Kristen that I spoke to was very helpful. She’s innitiated an investigation into the location of the package. She’ll be getting back to me within 24 hours if the camera package is found anywhere in the US. Good things.

Happy Birthday Tony and Josh

Happy Birthday to Tony Nuzzi and his son Josh who share the same birthday. I remember sitting in Josh’s room one morning in Austin while Tony and Erin slept while Josh was just a baby… but he’s not any more! And Tony, I remember being in the same room as him while at a youth retreat (believe it or not we were trusted as chaparones) and thinking, “Dude, somebody in this room needs Beano!”

Abby, What Do You Want For Lunch?

Jessica asked Abby, “What do you want for lunch?”

“Cheese, Pretzels, and Marshmallows,” Abby replied naturally. As if we all have that for lunch every day. The humor for me in this lies in the fact she didn’t say ‘hot dogs’ or ‘fries and chicken’ which are her usual responses. We feed her healthier food than those listed usually, but she sure does know what she likes!

Of course the plan for dinner tonight involved shoving a beer can up a fowl’s nether-regions and grilling it, so I can’t say that as adults we’re too much more sophisticated than her cheese and marshmallows.

Weekend Report

This last weekend for our 6th anniversary (yes, it is a wee early given that the actual date is October 3rd) we drove down to Colorado Springs. We stayed at a bed and breakfast there and really enjoyed ourselves. I’ll attempt to give a general replay of most of the events as they happened.

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Abby’s Prostate

So I got a prostate pillow for preventative reasons. It is a pillow that rests on my chair to prevent from having ‘excessive pressure’ on my prostate and bladder. I’ve got prostate issues in my family and since I’m feeling older at twenty-seven I thought I’d just give this cushion a whirl. It arrived today (still waiting on the camera, argggh) and Abby was so excited. I explained to her it for for Daddy’s prostate. She said, "No, Abby’s prostate!" At which point Jessica and I had a hard time breathing we were laughing so hard. She cracks us up in her ignorant bliss.