Eric's Juliets Announce New Alternate Plaid Jerseys

The New Musician, 2009 Edition

Terminator Salvation

I didn't see Terminator Salvation. I stopped after T2, being fully satisfied that I had seen enough. But I was surprised by some of the reviews I heard from some people at church. Basically, the people that saw it liked it. I also heard praise from more than one person that was something like, "There was no sex, and very little offensive language." Hello. What are you thinking? What are you drinking and/or smoking? I mean, they made it sound like good clean family fun for children of all ages. My concern is that it may be, well, just a tad violent. IMDB (see link above) mentions that it is "Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and language." I saw a review that said that once scene is the most-accurate ever Hollywood depiction of what it must be like to be inside a crashing helicopter.

I'm not here to condone extra-marital (or even on-screen marital) sex or foul language. But there are other things on film that I think can affect people negatively. As I said, I haven't seen TS, but I think I'd prefer the PG-13 content in Star Trek ("Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content") for myself or my kids.

Can anyone who's seen both comment?

2008 Biking Recap

Bicycle: 321.02 miles
Motorcycle: 61.4 miles.

32.1 Miles

I've run 32.1 miles in the past week. Boy do my knees feel it -- and both in different ways!

2009 Daffodil Bloom Date - 23 March

Here's one of the few remaining traditions around here: pictures of the first daffodils of the year. This year, our daffodils seems to bloom later than others in the area. Perhaps our soil isn't as good or something. Also, there was some dispute about possible blooming the day before. But we'll stick with 23 March as 2009's official date of the start of Spring.

2009 March 23
2008 April 08
2007 March 24
2006 March 30
2005 March 31

New Personal Best

1998 United States Australian Rules Football Championship

I thought I'd post this photo here rather than e-mail it to some friends:

Shy Anne

Sadly, since my last post, C.C. has passed away. But here's the new kitty, Shy Anne.

Candaele ("Candy") 1992-2008 R.I.P.

2008 is the year of the dead pets. These photos are from 4 November 2008.

New Canon SX10 IS

Here are my first out-of-the-box, completely auto mode, shots. I definitely need to spend some more time learning the camera.

No zoom:



Full optical zoom:


Full optical and digital zooms. Something went wrong with the upload, and you can't click to make it larger.

Sargeant, 1986? - 2008, R.I.P.

Everything You Wanted To Know About the Ukraine (But Were Afraid To Ask)

Two years ago, we learned about Hungary. Now, it's time for the Ukraine. The same comments regarding the Hungary poster pretty much apply.

My Question for the McCain/Obama Debate

I hear that the upcoming debate between McCain and Obama will take questions from us "common folk" from the audience. In my opinion, most of these kinds of questions are rather weak. After thinking about it for two minutes, here is the question that I would ask:

232 years ago, Thomas Jefferson wrote that all "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Assuming you agree with these sentiments, how would your Presidency best "secure these rights"?

McCain =? Bush

I watched a few minutes of the Democratic convention last night -- it was about all I could take before getting bored. But I noticed that they were making a definite point of equating McCain to a continuation of Bush's administration. Phrases like "Bush/McCain" were bandied about. Of course, they are "preaching to the (Democratic) choir" as it were. But, will this work with the larger population? I'm not so sure. Voters must like Bush. After the first 4 years of being in the White House and showing the public what he was all about, Bush did better in the 2004 election than he did in '00.

McCain is apparently not popular with the conservative wing of the Republican Party. If the Democrats can convince voters that McCain is just like Bush, I'd think McCain would win.

Have You Accepted Jesus as Your Personal Lord and Savior? (or "A Rabbi Talks with Jesus by Jacob Neusner")

When I saw that the book A Rabbi Talks with Jesus by Jacob Neusner was recommended by Pope Benedict XVI, that impressed me. (And, for the purposes of this review, it would probably be useful to the reader to have me on the record as being a Protestant Christian with Evangelical [religious, not necessarily political] leanings.) Based on Benny's suggestion, I decided to give it a try. At first glance, it might seem like an odd choice of writing to be recommended by a Pope. Neusner is a Jewish rabbi, and the book is basically his explanation as to why he rejects Christianity and stays with his Jewish faith.

However, Neusner does this in a very respectful way. As he might say, "Some of my best friends are Christians"; he shows great respect for Christians and their teachings. Neusner explains his disputes with Christianity by imagining himself within the world of the Gospel of Matthew. (He uses only Matthew.) He places himself at the Sermon on the Mount, as well as other locations in the gospel, and discusses his reactions to its teachings.

The title of the book may sound provocative. Indeed, there are discussions with Jesus, but the replies from Jesus are brief and mirror other statements in Matthew: Neusner takes care to avoid putting words into Jesus's mouth.

A few years ago, as I was driving, I saw a sign that queried the traveler, "Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour?" I'm not sure how common this question is in the wider world, but in the religious circles I frequent, the question is so common it's (almost?) a cliché. With this in mind, I tried to think of an odd way of responding to the question. What came to mind was, "No, but I've accepted Jesus as my collective group Saviour".

To the Evangelical (Protestant) Christian, this response sounds odd and almost funny. But I think it strikes at the heart of one of Neusner's main objections. He sees himself as a member of "Eternal Israel", of the same family as Abraham and Issac, Rachael and Leah. As such, he is looking for not just a personal relationship with God, but also direction in the here and now regarding how to live as a member of eternal Israel.

There were other objections as well, but I found this one the most striking. Overall, I found the book to be highly interesting. For the most part, my past discussions with Jews haven't dealt in detail with religious beliefs. I'm sure that reasons for this include the fact there isn't a lot of proselytism in Judaism, and also that being "Jewish" is largely a cultural identity to some people. So, the book was educational to me in its portrayal of Jewish religious beliefs.

I'd recommend it to Jews, Christians, and people interested in learning more about Judaism and Christianity.

Firefighter in Training

One thing they do these days when kids take a class trip to a fire station is to explain all the equipment that a firefighter/fireman wears. In part, this is because they want kids to not hide and run away when one is trying to rescue the child from a burning building.

To the left, you can see:

1. Boots
2. Heavy Coat
3. Gloves
4. Fire Hat
5. Breathing Oxygen Backpack

He's not wearing the special fire pants in the photo.

This is a couple of weeks after the trip, and that's a lot more than I would have known at that age!

2007 Biking Recap

I bicycled and motorcycled a lot less in 2007 -- I ran instead. I bicycled (on my main bike) only 194 miles, and motorcycled 126 miles.

2008 Daffodil Bloom Date: 8 April

For the past few years, I've taken pictures of daffodils the first day that they bloom, and record the photos and date with my blog. This year is no exception. I guess you could consider it my own little personal record of one aspect of climate change or lack thereof. I'm sure that there are variables besides local climate, but here are the dates I've recorded for the daffodil bloom:

2008 April 08
2007 March 24
2006 March 30
2005 March 31

It looks like the trend is reversed, at least for this year.

O-Bee, 1989? - 2008 R.I.P.