Happy Halloween 2011!

Jay and I’s traditional pumpkin carving night got moved up one night, but despite the break with tradition Jay carved that awesome pumpkin to look like Naima. As you will see, my pumpkin carving skills are considerably less than Jay’s.

More Happy Halloween pictures:

I’m not sure what I will be publishing here next Friday. Although I’m finding my mode again, there is no telling what way I’ll go.

I made it to the State Fair twice this year. I went once on a Friday to see Maroon 5 with Jill. Then on the last day of the Fair I went with my Mom. I met up with Derrick, Jen, and Evie. We ran into Sara, Shawn, and Cousin Amy. Here are some pictures from those trips:

Jill in front of the picture of her at the Photography Salon.


Jill with her turkey leg.


The damage she did to that turkey leg.


Even though Jill is a Legacy Member of the Maroon 5 Fan Club, she felt our seats could have been better…


I thought that they were pretty good.
















For some reason, Maroon 5 played before Train. Don’t know why, but at least we didn’t have to endure Train.












Evie loves baby animals!




Evie is a toe wiggler!




Evie supports winners!


We heard the following at this stand a lot: “1 fried butter on a stick and a bottle of water, please!”




You can’t imagine how hard it was for me NOT to photoshop that terrible Hawk logo out of this picture, but trust me, despite what his wardrobe is telling the world, Shawn is a good guy. He just doesn’t know how to dress.


With the 2nd Place Picture


With the Honorable Mention Picture


Some people view this as impressive.

Looking forward to next year’s fair already!

A few weeks back I was one of four lucky adults that got to chaperone my church’s youth group on a mission trip to Kansas City.  It was truly one of the best weekends of  the year for me and I sincerely hope that I get asked to chaperone a trip again in the future.

The Sunday after the mission trip I spoke before the congregation about my experience.  I was operating on about 45 minutes of sleep because the night before was Sara’s graduation party.  I got home at about 3 in the morning. I was also dogsitting Jupiter and any time I remotely dozed off he was waking me up for various reasons.

This is an approximation of the speech I gave to the congregation. Only it is better (I hope) because I’m not about to fall asleep.

The Kansas City Mission Trip was an amazing experience and there are two things I took out of the trip.

The first thing was perspective.  On Saturday night during our debriefing we watched a Nooma video that gave some extremely startling statistics:

It would cost 20 billion dollars to provide basic nutrition, heath care, and clean drinking water for the entire world.  20 billion dollars sounds like a lot of money, until you put it in perspective.  20 billion dollars is how much money Americans spend on ice cream every year.

1 billion people in this world survive on less than 1 dollar a day.

Did you eat this morning?  800 million people in the world won’t eat today. 300 million of those people are kids.  Every few seconds somebody dies of hunger.

1 billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water.

Those are worldwide statistics and they are horrible, but here are a few statistics that hit a little bit closer to home.

In Kansas City on any given night there are 13,000 homeless people.  To put that in perspective, Boone is a town of about 13,000 people.  There is an entire town of  Boone in Kansas City every night that doesn’t have a home.

In Kansas City there are 350 beds for the homeless. To put that in perspective, on a good day, there are about 350 people here during this service worshiping.  So think about it this way, everybody in this church would have a place to sleep tonight, but everybody else in town would be looking for a place to sleep. Underneath a bridge. In an abandoned car. On a friend’s couch. If they are lucky.

Many of those people won’t find a place to sleep.  That is why when we worked at the Faith Hope Ministry on Saturday, many of the people were there to sleep. They were sleeping there during the day, because there wasn’t a safe place for them to sleep on the streets.

Here is another statistic about the homeless in Kansas City that breaks the heart.  The average age of a homeless person in Kansas City is 7 years old.

I can’t imagine what life would be like if I was 7 years old and homeless.  What was your greatest concern when you were 7 years old? Mine might have been missing the Duane and Floppy Show. It wasn’t where I was going to sleep that night. It wasn’t when I was going to eat again.

Another part of the perspective I learned on this trip was extremely shallow.  I apologize for the shallowness of this observation.

I wouldn’t make it as a homeless person.  I just flat out wouldn’t.

I don’t look the way I do because of lack of exercise, although I’m sure that contributes, I like food.  I like good food.

I could not survive on the food that the homeless are thankful to have. Even the “good food” that was served at the Faith Hope Mission was tough to choke down.

Our final stop on Saturday night was at a Family Shelter. This shelter had been receiving food donations of expired food from an area Trader Joe’s.

This is perhaps my favorite memory from the trip.

One of our jobs was sorting the food that was too moldy to eat from the food that was moldy, but a person could eat it. The look on our youths face when Andrea handed them a package of strawberries that were covered in mold and told them it was edible… it was priceless.

The truth is that there were going to be people getting that food and those people would be THANKFUL to be getting it.

Perspective.

It is a reminder that everything we get is a gift from God.  Everything. That car that you are driving. Gift. That house you are living in. Gift. Those clothes on your back. Gift. That food in your belly. Gift. That air in your lungs. Gift.

The second thing I took from this trip is that this church has an awesome youth group.

I don’t pick the word awesome randomly and I don’t mean it the way most people use the word.  It is true that the members of the youth group are many of those things. They are cool. They are neat.

I mean awesome in the truest sense of the word: our youth group is awe inspiring.

The work they did was awe inspiring. The compassion they displayed was awe inspiring.

They inspired me to remember what it truly means to be a Christian. To serve others and always remember the questions: “What can I give? I have been blessed. Who am I going to bless? How can I be more generous? How can I step into my divine responsibility to give?”

I can report to this congregation that without a doubt that the Fair Stand will be in very good hands in 2035.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

I just want to close this journal entry with two Bible verses that kind of sum up the way I think of the trip:

“Beware lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.” You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
-Deuteronomy 8:17-18

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, TO BE RICH IN GOOD DEEDS, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
-Timothy 6:17- 19

In particular this passage from Timothy is one of my favorites in the Bible. Along with Psalm 139 and Ephesians 4:29.

Editor’s Note: Since I wrote this blog, I have been asked to chaperone the mission trip to Minnesota next year.

I’d like to give a big thanks to my fence crew that over the course of 4 intense work days over the last couple of months built a fence for me.

Thanks to:

Jason Stensland
Jay Janson
Andree Jauhari
Joshua Kraushaar
Derrick Gorshe
Scottie D.

Here are a few pictures from the project:

Me and my friends put a lot of sweat equity in this project. The heat index was well over 110 on at least 1 of the days we worked on this project. But I’m sure it will be worth it when I finally complete Operation Puppy!

Back in the middle of June I made a trip to Minnesota with Jim. There were several great moments on the trip, but I will just cover two of the events in this entry.

The first is a tale of when I went to see Super 8 with Jill. Since I’m slightly too lazy to re-write this small adventure, I’m just going to copy and paste from an email I sent Jen.

On Saturday, Jill and I went to see Super 8 at the Mall of America Theater. Why the Mall of America Theater? Because it was the closest theater to Eagan that Jill knew about.

As I was buying the tickets for the show, the woman at the box office asked me if I wanted the “Dbox seats”. I wasn’t really sure what that meant, but there was a sign on the box office that said something about VIP seats and that got you access to beer and wine. I assumed that is what “Dbox seats” were and we didn’t need access to beer and wine. So I told her that regular seats were fine.

The tickets were 6 bucks a piece, which I though was cheap considering that the last time we went to a movie, it was $10 a piece. But, I figured that maybe we got matinee prices since it was a Saturday and it was somewhat in the afternoon.

We were nearly late to the theater as the line for the concession stand was slow moving and going to the movie was kind of a late decision based on the fact that it was raining. So when we got to the theater most of the good seats were already taken. However, there were a couple of seats available in the back row. So we sat in the back row.

We hadn’t been situated for more than a few seconds when an usher approached us and asked to see our tickets. I handed them over and she said, “It would cost you an extra 8 bucks to sit there. You can sit in the blue seats.”

It was then that I noticed that we were sitting in a red seat. The last 8 rows of the theater were all red seats.

Most of the blue seats that were in the middle of the theater that weren’t smashed up against the screen were taken, so we took some side seat and watched the movie from a weird angle.

So here is the object lesson from this story. I will not be going to a movie at the Mall of America Theater again. A theater that has 1st and 2nd class seats.

The second event was going to Target Field to watch the Padres play. It was the first time I’ve ever seen the Padres play, so that was exciting. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Target Field


Bethany & Becca negotiating for a beer. Bethany was turned down because one of Minnesota’s Mickey Mouse Laws.


The coolest thing in Target Field


Target Field


More Target Field


Nate and Jim


If you look closely, you can see Nate, Becca, and Bethany in this picture. They are in the 2nd row from the top.


Another view of Target Field


If you look closely… Clue: Nate is wearing a yellow hat.


Venable


Maybin


Denorfia


Maybin Again


Meeting on the Mound


End of the Day for Moseley


Outfield Meeting


Adams


Some Twin

Next Wednesday’s random photo collection will be from my fence building project.

A few weeks back I went on a road trip with Sara, Cousin Amy, and the Funk to have lunch at an Amish woman’s house in Kalona. The trip was set up by the Funk who has ties to the Amish community in Kalona as she is formerly Amish.

I’ve really only known the Funk for a few months now, but she is truly one of the most fascinating human beings I’ve ever met. Not just because she is formerly Amish, but I can’t lie, that part fascinates me.

I really find the Amish community to be fascinating and to have somebody to ask question after question after question after question to is really cool for me.

The pictures of the Amish woman’s (Ruby Miller) house are being held back for Personal Photo Project #77, but here are a sampling of the other pictures we took on this incredible day.

Disclaimer: I go to Kalona about once or twice a year with my Mom. I never photograph the Amish while I’m there because I know that it is not something that they would enjoy (clearly not the right word). But on this trip I did take a couple of pictures of some Amish at the urging of the Funk. One of the pictures I took was of an Amish volleyball tournament. I really wish I would have been able to stop the car and enter the tournament. I have a history of dominating religious tournaments. A Pentecostal volleyball tournament here and a Mormon basketball tournament there. However, Amish volleyball tournament was not to be added to my list of life experiences.

Cheese from the Kalona Dairy


Kalona Dairy


Kalona Dairy


Picture for The Story Project


Flower for Sale at the Bakery




The Funk in the Community Store


The Funk in the Community Store






Clematis


Good Grass Fed Beef








Sara in Stringtown

Another bonus of this trip was taking Sara to Sister’s Garden. I’ve always kind of viewed it as Sara’s mothership even though she had never been there before. Now that has been remedied.

Next week’s Wednesday random picture collection will be from a baseball game I attended in Minnesota.

Not really sure why I entitled this journal entry Guy’s Night because it isn’t as if this group of friends has a shortage of Guys’ Nights. However, it has been awhile since Jesse, Willy, Jay (unpictured party pooper), and I have spent a night in the woods communing with nature, fire, and the dirty raccoons that try to sneak up on us and steal from our picnic baskets.

I didn’t take many pictures of what was an epic night. We got to listen to the antics of the date rapists (frat guys, so I just assume) one campsite to the south of us and the hippie flower children beating on their drums one campsite to our north. However, despite the fact that we are rapidly becoming old men, our 3 man party (the best type of party, right?) lasted at least a good hour or two longer than their weak sauce parties.

Here are a few pictures from Guys’ Night Campathon 2011:

The last 2 pictures are of a hot dog that Jesse claimed had “mystic” powers.

Next week’s Wednesday random collection is of some work I did for the United Way.

These pictures are from a vacation we took up near the Nisswa area.

These pictures come from:

Backup/Old My Pictures/Minnesota Vacation

Next week’s folder is:

Backup/Old My Pictures/New Folder

Most people are probably as sick of hearing about New York City as I am of talking about it, (not really-I love talking about me and things I’ve done) but I recently got a package in the mail from Sarah consisting of some NYC “souvenirs”, one of the nicest cards I’ve ever received in the mail, and a flash drive with her pictures from my visit.

I’m going to share a few of those pictures that I have chosen based on an undisclosed criteria.

Jesse and I at the Statue of Liberty


Jesse and I at the Statue of Liberty


Ellis Island


Jesse and Ellis Island


The Jazz Club that Served PBR


On the Subway


Tim on the Subway


Brooklyn Bridge


On the Brooklyn Bridge


Manhattan Skyline


Me


Our Meal at the Italian Restaurant


Union Station


Jesse and I Overlooking Ground Zero


Jesse and I at the Statue of Liberty


Me and a Bird


Liberty Island


Me Displaying a Blatant Disregard for the Law


Waiting for the Subway


Waiting for the Subway


Jesse and I in Front of the Bar that Screwed Us on the Free Hot Dogs

Sarah and Tim and possibly other members of my family are coming to visit Boone at a yet to be determined time in September. If you are desiring to meet these people, you better get your name on the manifest in the immediate future.

Next week’s random photos will be a very small collection of pictures from a recent camping trip.

I’m known as the tree-hugging environmental whacko in my department of the Computer Mine. I have this title because I don’t hunt, voted for Obama, and want guns to be regulated. Also, I don’t actively hate our environment. I don’t pay much attention to the derision that comes my way on that front because one of my cognitive shortcuts is that when people use words like treehugger or Obamacare, I instantly assume they aren’t particularly well informed and I needn’t pay attention to what comes out of their mouth. After all, anybody can regurgitate talk radio taking points and catch phrases. It doesn’t mean that they have actually thought about an issue. I still let them speak, but I’m thinking about mayonnaise cake or something like that.

However, on the last day of April I pulled myself out of my very comfortable bed at 4 in the morning and drove to the Computer Mine parking lot to meet Micky to go turkey hunting.

Don’t be concerned. I haven’t had a radical change. I went carrying a camera and a tripod.

Here are some pictures from Micky and I’s early morning excursion.

I apologize for the last picture, but it had to be taken.

Micky


The view from the blind.


More Micky


The Decoys


This is as close as a turkey came to us. 75 yards. Too far to shoot at even if it was a “bearded turkey”, which it is not.


The Blind


The Decoys


What a turkey might have seen if it would have come anywhere near us.


Micky and I in the middle of the field after our failed hunt.


Micky carrying the blind out. I carried the decoys in and out.


If you look closely, you can see a deer. This is about as close as we came to any wildlife besides a squirrel.


An old abandoned slide.


Micky on the way out.


The ladder we used to cross the fence to get into the field to hunt turkeys.


The road we drove down to get to the ladder.


At Micky’s parents’ home we saw this goose nesting on top of a muskrat hut. The next day the eggs hatched and the family was gone.


A bullfrog in Lake Augustin.


As we were leaving beautiful Lake Augustin, we came across a tract of land that I can only describe as Deer Auschwitz. I made Micky stop the truck and I took this picture of the inside of a deer’s ribcage because… it was there.

Next Wednesday will be 9 Month Old Pictures of Alice.