And so it begins

Did my first ride on Sunday. 23 km mostly though Fish Creek Park. Can't say it was glorious start cause after 23 km I was still 10 km from home and couldn't go any further. So I called home for Kim to come get me. Personaly I blame the studded tires on my bike, great for the ice in back alley and in fish creek but slow on the paved paths. I did get some nice pics though.

- Peace

Nanny McFee

Kim and I were invited to a preview of Nanny McFee, we both enjoyed it. There will be many kids who remember Nanny McFee they way I remember Marry Popins with fond if somewhat vague memories. While I'm sure somewhere someone is debating whether or not Nanny McFee is super nanny or parenting disaster, kids will remember her for her magic and some funny moments. I don't know how true the movie stayed to the source material - the kids come off as very modern not at all form the 1800s where the story is set. I guess fans of the original source material might object, but if like me you haven't read or heard of the original book (I know it's nurse something or other) and you can except modern kids in an 1800s setting it works. While there's some symbolizing about discipline being ugly until you get to know her this isn't anything very deep going on here. Worth seeing or renting if you've got kids too young for Harry Potter or Narnia.

- Peace

Four Things

Four jobs I've had:

1. news paper boy
2. worked on the evis line at LillyDale
3. Teacher - taught Java at NAIT and the U of C.
4. Software Developer

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. Star Wars Trilogy
2. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
3. Serenity
4. Jesus of Montreal - I really need to get this on DVD.

Four places I've lived:

1. Southwood Park in Fredricton NB till I was five. I remember racing big wheels (mine was a no name knock off) down the big hill and loosing a friend's spiderman in the snow.
2. Keswick Ridge just out side of Fredricton - our first phone number there was 363-3633. We got calls from drunk people at night.
3. Montieth, Fredricton - grade 7 to 11. The road out the subdivision makes a t with what was at the time the Trans-Canada highway at the bottom of a steep hill. I once lost my breaks on my bike and got way to close to a passing semi trailer.
4. Edmonton - I miss the festivals: the Folk Fest, the Fringe, the Street Performers festival.

Four TV shows I love:
1. Lost
2. Simpson
3. Corner Gas
4. The Muppets - I got season one on DVD for Christmas :)

Four places I've vacationed:
1. The east coast of the USA - when I was in grade 6 we drove from New Brunswick all the way down the coast to Florida and back.
2. Revellstoke - the mountain biking is fantastic and the camping is cheap.
3. Kananaskis country - but only when we lived 4 hours away in Edmonton.
4. Vancouver - cause for a short time my best friends from Fredricton and Edmonton and Kim's best friend from Moose Jaw all lived within 20 minutes of each other in Vancouver.


Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Kim's Orange Chicken
2. Kim's Apple Pie
3. Mom's Oatmeal
4. Fresh Atlantic Salmon

Four sites I visit daily:
1. Slashdot
2. Wired
3. Java.net
4. Flickr

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Hamilton - I'd love to see the Frwy Cafe.
2. Toronto - Steve and Julie are studying to be priests and I'd love to catch up.
3. Australia - cause I've always wanted to go there
4. Fishcreek - I headed there this afternoon to get in my first bike ride of the year.


Four bloggers I am tagging:
Steve
Rev Joyleaf
Phil
Karl

- Peace

Forgiveness and a P-Coat

Richelle's dad and mom didn't like me so much when they met me. Didn't like me at all really. I was a kid from the wrong side of Kensington, and they thought I was bad for their daughter - that I was not worthy of her.

Karl Testifies!

- Peace

Heading home from work

Yeah an exciting headline right? Well last time I headed home from work looking forward to hearing the election results I woke up in the hospital the next morning. After yesterday's excitement I'm feeling a bit skidish.

- Peace

Rear-Ended!

We were on our way to the Flickr meetup when they guy in front us made a quick stop. I made a much quicker stop than I normally do, but avoided hitting the guy. I looked in my rear view mirror to see a car coming way to fast. It hit our bumper on the right side. I think we're ok, and the damage looks minior, though it doesn't sound right when we drive it. What blew me away was the woman's additude.

She wasn't driving too fast, cause she had just checked as was only doing the limit before she hit us. [cause it doesn't matter what's in front of you as long as you're not speeding]

She wasn't following too close cause she did try to avoid us. [Well thanks, I guess I should be reassured she don't hit us at full speed]

She didn't expect traffic to be stopped on Macleod trail. [umm there is a traffic light there, it's been there for over a year]

It's ok cause her car was about to be written off anyways. [Gee thanks, mine wasn't]

She was deeply offended that I didn't see these excuses as an applogy. [Cause excepting responibility doesn't have anything to do with a real apology]

I was deeply blessed by the fish on her car.

- Peace

Learning

In matters that are at the very core of our existance we learn through demonstration, by having truth done to and for us. God demonstrated in Jesus Christ. He did it first to make it possible for us to do it. "We love because he first loved us" is the way Saint John put it (1 John 4:19). Christians learn to trust God not because they've been convinced by arguments that they should trust Him but because they have been treated by God in a loving, accepting, trusting way before they were lovable, acceptable, or trustworhty.

Eugene H. Peterson from Like Dew Your Youth.

- Peace

Stephen Harper is a very bad man

You know it's true! I just wish I could vote for le Block, no better way to keep Canada together.

- Peace

Just so Calgarian eh?

A runner in Fish Creek who passed us on the very snowy path.

- Peace

Too Real for Words

It's better to speak in poetry instead of systematic theology, because some things are just too real for words.

an unnamed Benedictine Monk as seen on Dry Bones Dance.

- Peace

Revealing U2's Soul at Work

U2 members bring their whole selves to their music, including their spirituality, and thus go against the grain of the artistic world they inhabit. "We throw everything in, you know, politics, religion, sex, everything that is us. I think that is what's missing now in music, that completely holistic thing. It's like art and music mostly has completely turned its back on anything spiritual for such a long time," observes The Edge, also noting that he thinks that trend will change eventually. U2 is aware of a generation growing up in their native Ireland with the influence of the Catholic church having waned and nothing yet replacing that spiritual influence. Because they believe that to be human is to be spiritual, U2 looks forward to the day when the spiritual element reasserts itself in Western society in general and in the arts in particular.

U2 members are not involved in the institutional church; they rely on their wider community to nurture them in their spiritual lives. The Edge describes this community: "There is that community sense that I would associate with the Christian ideal of looking after your neighbor. But it isn't always pretty; in fact it's often very rough. Like do you care enough about someone to risk confronting them with the truth, if it is going to hurt them? That's love in action, real commitment to one another, real community, and it has nothing to do with being nice to everyone at all times. So in some ways rather than being a once a week concept, it's sort of the way we try and live here. And the challenge is to try to move it out further, so there's not just your immediate small community but it's asking, can you get it to be bigger and bigger?"

From Revealing U2's Soul at Work.

- Peace

I.T. Agony Bingo

Get your game sheet and yell Bingo! I did.

- Peace

Found Magazine

A magazine made up of stuff people have Found:

We collect found stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, doodles- anything that gives a glimpse into someone else's life. Anything goes.

We certainly didn't invent the idea of found stuff being cool. Every time we visit our friends in other towns, someone's always got some kind of unbelievable discovered note or photo on their fridge. We decided to make a bunch of projects so that everyone can check out all the strange, hilarious and heartbreaking things people have picked up and passed our way.

As seen on the DVD from the Paste Rock ’n’ Reel Short-Film Contest.

- Peace

First Interesting Pic of 2006

This is the first pic in my Most Interesting of 2006 set on flickr. Thanks to my wife Kim for getting us out of the house for for a walk on Jan 1st.

- Peace

Love Freedom Flowers and Divorce

Love that is not free is not love. If you doubt me, try this next time you buy flowers for your wife. Explain that you had to buy her flowers, husbands buy flowers for their wives, therefore you bought her flowers. "It's nothing personal dear." Let me know how that works for you.

It's tempting to envy the divorced, their relationships are so well defined, the amount of money a man must give his ex is nailed down to the dollar and day. He knows exactly when he needs to take care of the kids. Not only is his role clear it is given the force of law. None of the ambiguity of submitting to one another, loving and honoring.

Of course if I use my freedom as an excuse not to love then I will do more than envy the divorced man, I will be one.

- Peace

Holy lives among the inept

The Church is not a natural community composed of people with common interests; tt is a super-natural community. And the supper in that word does not mean it exceeds your expectations; it is other than your expectations. ... It is the Holy Spirit's style to fashion Holy lives among the inept.

Eugene Peterson from The Wisdom of Each Other. I love Peterson's additude towards Church. He's both hopeful and honest.

- Peace

Best 2006 Prediction so far

2006 - I'll buy that.

- Peace