Jen sent me this link today, saying that I could win us a free ice cream party. Sounded good to me! Thought I’d pass it along here, as well. Tell Edy’s why you think your neighborhood should host one of 1500 ice cream parties they’ll be throwing. 🙂
(Pretty sure ice cream runs through my veins… Forgot to mention that in the post below… been sharing lots of ice cream with lots of friends. OR, just eating it myself) 🙂
I must say this poor blog has been quite neglected for the past couple weeks. It seems that my writing certainly goes in cycles. Sometimes I have lots to say and just can’t help myself, so this blog is full of things to read. Sometimes I am so full of things to do that even though I do have things to say, I am not able to sit down and write them out. Other times, it’s simply time for intake rather than output. I’d say we’re definitely in a cycle involving a little of both of the last two.
So, instead of writing lots of detailed blogs (which I could certainly do, but must tend to other things) I will try and cover a lot of the stuff I’d like to chronicle here in bullet-point fashion.
And, we’ve rediscovered our fondness for the 80s TV show, The Knight Rider. Our friends, the Vs, enjoy it as well (we loaned them our iPod to watch Season One in its entirety) and Season Two is now coming to our mailbox via Netflix. 🙂 Pretty corny at times, but also pretty fun. Ah, the good ol’ days…
There have been lots of other fun events the past several days/weeks. Really can’t share them all here. As I said, it’s been a time of doing and intake more than a time of output 🙂 Suffice it to say, all of these social events have reminded me again that I am (or have become) a people person. I am not sure why I am doing an office-related job, then… 🙂 But am still super thankful for the provision we see from God in that.
More to come on the stuff I have been thinking through from the Brennan Manning tapes, as well as some good conversations with the church (friends who are fellow followers of Jesus), and just the stuff God has been placing on my heart and mind. So fun to share every bit of life with someone who loves me so much. Hope you know that, and you’re experiencing that, too.
If you are an NFL fan, you know that the annual college draft took place this past weekend… and perhaps you are happy (or unhappy) with your team’s picks. Well, the Bills used all TEN of their picks and have some pretty great new players. If you are interested in seeing what I wrote about the new guys, you can read my article here, or you can just head over to the articles page and browse the many videos and links I posted yesterday. Oh yeah… maybe even more fun… we also did a show last night, with four of the possible five BBR Guys in attendance! Fun stuff. Enjoy 🙂
We have kids. Lots of ’em. And they all like Blue’s Clues. As do we. We even don’t mind Joe, who replaced the un-replaceable Steve a couple years back now. Steve is definitely the best.
Well, not really sure why, but this morning I decided to Google “what happened to blues clues steve”. Turned out to be quite a funny/interesting webventure.
Turns out that Steve just decided after episode 100 of Blue’s Clues, that it just wasn’t what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He’s a musician at heart, apparently, and decided to pursue that. He released an indie record in 2002 I think? And is currently working on a new one (though the dates on his website seem to be pretty old… so not sure about that.)
I just found it fascinating to see “Steve” rockin’ out in a music video (his own song) on a Steve Burns fan site.
Life moves on I guess. Good for Steve. Funny story from his “Press” page on his website:
One Spring afternoon in 1999, Steve Burns was on his way to a date. He was driving through New Jersey, fighting jitters, primping in the rearview, when something on the side of the road caught his eye; a mailbox with blue cartoon paw prints on it and a message that read YOU JUST FIGURED OUT JONATHAN’S BIRTHDAY! While most rock singers would have shrugged off such fleeting details, Burns recognized them as symbols revered by millions of Americans – Americans under four feet tall and on a first name basis with Steve Burns.
“It was obviously a Blue’s Clues party,” says Burns, who was, in fact, the host of Blue’s Clues, one of the most popular children’s programs in television history. He glanced at the toys and props left in his car after a recent charity performance. The khaki pants. The iconic green-and-olive striped rugby shirt.
“I gotta do it,” he said.
He met his date, changed clothes, and drove back to the party. “We just showed up with the toys and knocked on the door,” says Burns, a slight 30-year-old sipping a latte in and airy Brooklyn cafe. “I was like ‘Hey!’ ” His narrow face and big, dark eyes bloom into the fully dilated character beloved worldwide. ” ‘Who’s Jonathan?’ The kids were, like, ‘Cool! Steve’s here!’ ” So Burns loped around, clowned with the youngsters, dispensed toys, and refused cash from the bewildered dad. It was a magic little moment – a kindhearted breach in the space-time continuum – and we sit silent for a second, contemplating it.
It would be strange being a rockstar to 3-year-olds everywhere… 🙂
For you Steve fans out there… here are some pertinent links I stumbled across today:
www.steveswebpage.com
www.steveburnsrocks.us
Steve Burns – Wikipedia
Steve Burns (Band) MySpace Page
I don’t tend to wax political here… mostly because, while fascinated, I think it just gets pretty silly pretty quickly. It’s been an interesting presidential race, though, with two democratic candidates firing shots at each other, and the republican candidate not seeming to have much (real) support from his party. Don’t forget the perpetual third-party candidate, Ralph Nader. He’s in the mix, too. Sorta.
Well, while Hillary is making up stories about dodging bullets, Barack Obama is both drawing praise and criticism for his views on race in America.
I said before what I think about “race”. It should be a non-issue. We are all one race, we just have a few different features, and many different cultures. But we’re all human. End of story. But with various comments from Obama about his “typical white person” grandma, and recently about how “bitter” people cling to religion and guns, as well as the racial comments by the preacher from his church… race is clearly an issue with senator Obama.
I read an opinion piece recently from a local radio talkshow guy because the title caught my attention. “Barack Is Not A Unifier“. I read it, and I don’t think the writer is a supporter of Obama, but the article didn’t come across as a slam, more just a “wake up and smell the coffee” about this guy. It is strange how he is seen as a unifier when he has been quite extreme in his voting record, and the stuff I hear from him only unifies the people who think the same as he does.
I’m not supporting any particular presidential candidate here, nor trying to tear down any in particular. But I do think the national media (or maybe just his own campaign folk) have done a good job of painting Barack Obama in a very rosy light. I definitely shy away from labels, but if you had to pigeonhole me, you’d probably call me a Libertarian. I think that might be 180 degrees opposite of what Obama thinks regarding goverment and it’s role in society.
Will be an interesting year. If the rockstar wins the election, Obama will be our next president. (And I will be very thankful for checks and balances at that point.) I still think Hillary cheated somehow when she won the elections up here in NY. I have never met one Hillary supporter up here in our area. (Though I have seen a few bumper stickers…) 🙂 So… don’t count her out. And McCain… has been strangely silent. He’ll win if the other two divide the voters enough, or even just make them mad enough to “vote for the other guy”.
So, that’s all the politicalness from GregsHead for now. Maybe more in November…
Jen reads lots of blogs by other home schooling moms, and various other family-oriented blogs. She read a list to me from this blog the other night, and I thought it was funny in relation to one of my recent posts below, On Being Seven.
I have not checked with the author about publishing her work here (not even sure it’s originally hers) but I figure one or two … or more… is just publicity for her blog anyway… 🙂 Enjoy… (and click the link above for the rest!)
🙂
I saw a pretty cool thing on the Red Robin website today. We love their food, and celebrate all of our birthdays there, but now I will also be visiting their website.
It’s called UnBridled Acts (of kindness), and just features stories of their employees going way above and beyond their normal duties. I read two, and there was a neat one about a Red Robin employee just paying for the coffee for the car behind him, which started a crazy chain reaction that ended up coming back to that same guy…
Check it out. Always cool to see selflessness in action. Wish that was more the norm than an “amazing story”.
(But then, it wouldn’t make for as cool a web page…) 🙂
Came across an article in my news feed today talking about a new engine that is based on a concept from a 1930 engine that could increase automobile gas mileage up to nearly one hundred miles per gallon! That seems pretty crazy, but the article references the different structure of the piston chamber reducing weight and allowing more space (for more pistons I presume) as well as firing on both sides of the chamber?
Here’s an excerpt…
The unusual configuration results in several advantages. Gas mileage can be boosted by 40 percent to 50 percent, when a two-module engine is compared with a standard diesel. The engine also can be made 30 percent lighter. Because the engine modules are horizontal, cars can be more aerodynamic.
(I do not presume to know what they are talking about, but it was interesting enough for me to post the link here.) 🙂
Perhaps I have a subconscious fascination with the automotive industry as my Dad spent 30 plus years of his life working for them? 🙂
I came across a blog post today that was pretty interesting, and I thought I’d pass it along. Jen and I talked about it a bit tonight on our way home from the evening’s activities… it’s just interesting how we put stuff between us and God. It could be a person (pastor, accountability partner), or a group of people (elders, leaders), or … well, lots of stuff.
As the blog post says, the cross removed shame, and removed the need for a “covering”. You may not be familiar with that terminology, but basically it’s the idea that you need help living your life out with God. You need to be “accountable” to other believers. While there may be truth there, it’s the wrong approach. It puts something between you and God. This blog post/email has an interesting take on that.
I’ve written here before how much divorce pains me. Well, apparently it pains the planet as well. Interesting…
