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Well I finally got a new blog!! This way anyone can comment on my post. Check it out!!
http://partofthejourney.wordpress.com/
I cherish Sunday nights with my friends. Every Sunday night for the last 16 months or so, I play basketball with a group of guys that are my friends. I say friends with the deepest level of love and respect.
We come and sweat and trash talk like nobody's business (if an outsider were to come, they would think we really didn't like each other), but we truly love being together and playing bball. After our games are finished we go out to BJ's every week and have some cold beers and some late night greasy food. We continue the trash talking about our fantasy basketball league that we are all in.
Even on nights like tonight I come and hang out. I am out for at least a month with a hamstring issue, but I still come to be apart of the group. OH, and I also have the keys to the gym, but that is besides the point.
If you find something in life that is truly good and involves good people, cherish that and hold on to that for as long as you can.
Had to post this one.... I saw this on Tony Jones's blog
I want to be careful here, but I have to say that sometimes I become so fed up with our, Americans, egocentric attitudes that are so Self-rightous. I can often forget that other people in the world exist. That is not entirely true, because we can often hear political leaders referring to the "evil" people that they promise to save us from, and of course they live somewhere other than America. I have often seen the bumper sticker "God Bless America", and it seemed appropriate immediately following September 11th, but anymore I am turned off by the phrase. I had a friend show me a t-shirt that he recently purchased that makes my heart warm. The shirt says... well take a look for yourself.
This idea makes me think that there are people in this world that get it.
Let me clarify somethings. I love America, I live here, I plan on raising a family here, I love the people here. BUT, the thought that we become so consumed with our own needs, our own agendas, our own problems that we so easily forget about others. What about the thought of God Blessing Darfur? This is going to be our nastiest mark that this generatoin leaves on the world. We have allowed an ethnic cleansing to go down in our time.
What about "God Bless Uganda?", or "God Bless Iraq?" I have yet to see those bumper stickers. I love the idea though, so if anyone makes a bumper sticker with any of those then let me know I will buy one for sure.
Also, what kind of blessing are we asking for? I immedialty think that we are asking for prosperity, or security, or power. I know that not all people think of those things, but it seems that in the scope of that saying these are some of the things that we are speaking of. Funny that we should ask for those things, since we are the richest country in the world, the most powerful, and the strongest.
I can agree with some ideas though. God will you bless our families? We need a ressurgence of the idea of family in this country. We need help with materialism, so maybe we can be blessed with the ability to not need things. Bless us in wisdom so we can see how dead we truly are spiritually.
Maybe I am crazy, and maybe this post will upset some people, but I can't help but feel this way. We don't need more money, we don't need bigger houses, we don't need faster cars. We need help spirituallly, we need God.
So let us pray that God blesses EVERYONE.
Beauty. What is beautiful to you?
This is what if beautiful to me:
a smile
a latte
music
a hug
an honest conversation
a laugh
driving in the mountains
the story of Susana
The Gospel of John
the song "Over my Head"
truth
a good book
an upset in sports
a Suns victory
Scotland
Windsor Castle
my wife
love
babies
stonehenge
yankee stadium
family
central park
the English countryside
these things are beautiful to me, I hope that I will chase after them, and I hope that you will chase after what is beautiful to you.
Another sign that only the rich enjoy the pleasures that society has to offer. I heard that tickets for the big game are starting, STARTING, at $2,500 and are going up to $19,000. I obviously will not be attending the game, but instead will probably be watching the game with good friends, good food, comfortable chairs, and commercials. So my choice is clear, I will be watching for free.
I don't care so much who wins. I wouldn't mind seeing the Patriots win only because I don't know if we will ever see another team going for a perfect season. Then again I always like to see a good upset.
I hope that you enjoy the game, if you happen to be one those attending the game live, then you had better really enjoy the game. I will let you know how the commercials are!
I also have a hope for the future. I hope that when I have kids that I can afford to take them to a ballgame without having to take out a loan. I hope that I can buy them a mediocre hotdog for less than $7. I hope that those that are less fortunate will be able to afford going to the games, and taking part in some of our cultures sporting events. To get to this point we must figure out how we begin to bring down the salaries of proffesional athletes. Seriously, millions of dollars for playing a game and entertaining a nation? I dosn't buy it. This is the great American tragedy, that our teachers in this country scrape by on low salaries, but our athletes live ridiculous lives of luxery.
My prediction:
New England : 24 New York: 13
The peak interest of our society seems to be in the lives of our young musicians and actresses. How is it that night after night we hear details about Brittany, Paris, and Mrs. Lohan, but the truth is that we will rarely take the time to listen what is going on in the lives of the people we truly love. I know more about Brittany than I ever hoped to. I can't believe that there are papporazi that will camp outside for hours and hours (like 20 hours straight) just to get a picture of one of these celebrities. Seriously, is this what we have come to as a society. Is this the mark we're going to leave on our generation? " The generation that loved the celebrities so much that they dedicated their lives to getting pictures of them in their pajamas". We now have T.V. shows dedicated to gossip and celebrity watching. We have always had Entertainment Tonight, and Extra, but now we have a show that is so trashy that it is truly pathetic, TMZ. The sad fact is that it wouldn't be on TV is there was no one watching it, but it reamains on because we as a society eat it up.
My fear is that our youth and children are growing up and watching the adults and their infatuation with these PEOPLE (they are still people) and the message is that these people are extra important. The thing that bothers me most is when I hear a youngster say that they love Brittany or Paris or someone of the likes.
Can we, as people who are intelligent, begin to lead the spotlight off of these faces and begin to highlight the good in our society? Can we begin to be role models for our young people because of the way we treat people, love people, and serve others instead of our current cultural icons?
Let me say before I retire that I do not believe that everyone in society is faithfully following these poor ladies. There are people who are leading the way in many great arenas in life. The 3 college students who went to Africa and started an organization because of their experience there (www.invisiblechildren.com), and the young man who is trying to put an end to modern day slavery (www.theamazingchange.com) and to others who's names will never be known to anyone except for the lives that they touch (teachers, youth pastors, mentors, the kid who invites a loner to sit with them at lunch, and ordinary baristas). These people give me hope, they are changing the face of our nation in an amazing way. What will it take to start a TV show highlighting these people?
Let's leave the girls and boys of hollywood to hollywood. It's time to change course!
40 something languages, 18 cities, 10 different ethnic foods, 8 airplanes, 7 airports, 6 castles and palaces, 4 countries, 3 beds, 2 continents, and 1 drunk Irish couple! Our trip in numbers.
Wow, what a time, I am afraid of forgetting about the different experiences and places. Do you ever get upset because it seems like the negative experiences stick out in your mind? Well I do, I am afraid that I am going to let a few little negative things block out some of the great things. We did however have an amazing trip. I don’t know when the next time I will be able to come back to Europe, but it won’t be soon enough.
We are sitting in the Gatwick airport in London, and this place is a jungle. There is a heightened security alert right now, so we have gone through like 4 checkpoints, it has been crazy. We had to get here 3 hours early. Not what you want to do at the end of your trip. Speaking of end, we are ready to come home. We are ready to be in our own bed, shower, and able to make our own food. We are also ready for food that we know about. We tried many a kind of foods, most were good, some were nasty, and a few were tastless.
Important things to know when traveling:
1. Take the city bus tours in big cities.
2. Make sure to get away from the just the tourist part of the cities, as the real culture is found out of the tourist traps.
3. Plan certain activities that you want to do.
4. Learn local bus routes.
5. Try new kinds of food.
6. Never allow locals to separate you and your traveling partners.
7. Visit any castles that you can.
8. Save a lot of money, it is always more than you think it will be.
9. Be willing to get out of your comfort zone and talk to strangers.
10. Always participate in an English “fun run”.
Liz and I did not do all of these, but we learned our lesson, and next time we will try and remember this trip.
So I say so long to England, so long fish and chips, so long accents that I can’t understand, so long really cold weather, an so long to my homeland.
Thats right, England is my home land. After checking in both Scotland and Ireland, it has been confirmed that I am English. I don't have a tartan in Scotland, and I don't have a clan in Ireland. I do however have a family crest that comes from England!!
So it's been awhile since I last posted, that is because we didn't have internet access at either bed n breakfast we stayed at. So my last post was one that I wrote in word, then just pasted it into my blog a few minutes ago. But as of right now we have made our way through Dublin and made it back to Farnham here in England.
Dublin was great, but if you ever plan on going over there, I would like to give you some tips. First off, Dublin is a mecca for tourism, so there are tons and tons of tourist. Where there are tourist there are smelly men waiting to rip you off, so be careful. The bad thing about a big tourist town as cool as Dublin is that if you aren't careful you will only really get a taste of the tourist Dublin. I found that in Dublin there are two types of pubs, there are tourist Irish pubs and there are Irish pubs. Stay away from the tourist ones, there are only other tourist in there. You really have to try and get out of the city to meet the real Irish folks.
Also, Dublin is expensive!!! One of the most expensive in all of Europe. No joke, an average meal in a sit down joint over there will run you about $50. I am talking a sandwich, fries, and a drink. We bought a 3day bus pass and a city tour pass, we spent $75 on that. So bring some money! (quiznos was cheap)
So last night Liz and I decided to ring in the new year in a local Irish pub, away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, WOW!!! So we sat down at a table by ourselves, just chatting away with about an hour before midnight. Then a couple comes through the door and recognizes we are from the states, so they ask to sit down with us. Perfect, finally this is what we were looking for, a local couple to chat with and get some insight into the Irish culture. Well, I don't have time to tell all the details, (actually you probably don't have time for all the details), but let me sum it up real quick.
They were pretty buckeled (drunk) when they showed up, but after some more drinks they were well off. So they invite Liz and I over to their place after the pub closed down at 12:30. We felt like they were some nice folks, and we trusted them so we said OK. So after some uncomfortable scenarios played out in the pub, we leave and they start on the way to their place. BUT, actually they led us into another pub, a late night pub. Then the lady offers to take Liz to show her their place. Liz and I are both kind of weirded out by all of this, but she says ok, and I let her (I have no idea why). Well the creepy thing, is that the guy keeps asking me if I trust them and if I am worried about Liz. I tell him I am ok, but he makes the whole thing worse by continuing to ask me if I am worried about my wife. Turns out that the lady is asking Liz all these weird things, like do you trust me, do you think I am taking you somewhere else, WEIRD.
After this mess clears up, Liz and I make a dash for our place, we said our goodbuys and got out of there quick. We were both a little creeped out. I actually think that they were both genuinly very nice and friendly people. They were both toasted though, so they started getting all, well, they acted really drunk. So kids, don't get drunk, it does stupid stuff to you.
Well, it is time for me to hit the sack, it's about 2am here right now, and I need some good shut-eye.
Good night.
Oh, last thing, we learned that the Irish pronounce there th's as t's. That makes for some really interesting words. The best was when the tour guide pronounces cathedral. i am going to attempt to spell out how he said it, so really try to sound it out. (this is really funny when you hear it)
cat-eet-at-tral
Happy New Year, I hope that 2008 is the best of your life!
We are sitting in the Edinburgh airport waiting… They say that delays are at an all-time high in most airports, but Liz and I were starting to wonder if that were true. After all, the worst that we have had to deal with is a nasty 10 minute delay in London’s Heathrow airport. So when they announced that are flight was delayed an hour we, along with everyone else, were disappointed in the delay. But I have to admit that I can’t be that upset because this is the first delay that we have had to endure. So we have a little extra time to prepare for our 3rd country in as many days!!
The weather is quiet stark here in Edinburgh today, very cloudy and not much sign of letting up, so I am not so sad to get out of here.
I must say that I was not sure what to expect from the Scottish culture and people. We have learned some things here though. First off, Scotland is beautiful, we really only got to see Edinburgh, but it is such a beautiful town. The streets are very narrow with buildings that seem to loom directly overhead with a mysterious feel. The buildings are almost all 4 stories high with shops and pubs and restaurants on the first floor. The royal mile is a street that stretches about a mile long (I know what your thinking) but it is a very cool place to be. On one end you have Edinburgh Castle that sits atop a large rock in the middle of the city, watching over all of Edinburgh. On the other end of the street is Holyrood Palace, a place that was built along time ago (like the 12th century or something), and Her Majesty the Queen still comes and stays there every summer. The Palace is a huge place with what seems like all the original structure still in place. To think that these places were used for fortresses and are still lived in is very cool.
Ok, what else did we learn? Let’s just rattle off some things here: 1) Edinburgh is a beautiful city, 2) the Scottish can drink, 3) The f-word isn’t really a cuss word (or it doesn’t seem like it with how often you hear it), 4) we didn’t find that many Scottish people that friendly, they kept to themselves, 5) there are a ton of young people in Scotland, and apparently the gothic punk rock thing is the in thing here, and last but not least (or all we learned) 6) The Scottish are extremely difficult to understand. Holy cow,their accents are so thick that it is incredible anyone can understand what they say.
So we say goodbye to Scotland, in what could be the last time we ever set foot on Scottish territory, but we had a good time, enjoyed the scenery, and learned a little about the Scottish culture. They are a proud people, always willing fight for their rights. I will always admire the Scottish people, possibly because I love the movie Braveheart so much, I mean how can you beat a guy who tells an English royal to go in front of the enemy army and put his head between his legs and kiss his own arse?
So long Scotland, so long tartans (kilt patterns), and so long the home of William Wallace.
