The Shredi Master

Modeling Contest Results

2006-08-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

You know, Ang is quite the wife. Seriously. There's all the normal good stuff that you might guess at, but she goes beyond that. For my birthday she got me a model kit that I had mentioned liking - once, in passing - and she waited all day to give it to me. I was very suprised! This was no ordinary kit. It came with a challenge.

The kit was from a small compnay called Downtown Deco, who make model railroad oriented kits from Hysrocal (like plaster). Randy, the owner etc., decided to put this kit out and run a challenge to go along with it. The building is a creepy funeral Home called Grimm's. His challenge was to simply do whatever you wanted to make his kit the creepiest coolest diorama possible. Anyway, the winner would recieve 5 years worth of free kits .

As you know, if you knwo eitherAng or I, we're in the middle of a large bathroom project. I had a couple weeks left before the contest deadline and went to town on the kit, with her blessing. And as the last two weeks approached, I spent the majority of my free time on the kit - not the bathroom. That's pure love right there.

Well, weeks later the results were announced. I wasn't the winner, but oddly enough the winner and I had already talked and shared photos. I came in the 2-4 place spot (the scoring was too close to rank, so Randy grouped.) He also changed the rules and I get to pick three kits for free in the coming years. Very cool. You can see my contest model at my train site and check out pics of the construction process - including the pic of Ang helping me make the roof. It was a fun model to build and I loved building it with Ang. I will always remember building the first kit I've ever done with another person. There is also talk that an article will be put togther for on eof the Model Railroading Magazines covering the winners, so that would be great as well!

Coincidental thought

2006-07-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

What a day. I've had some interesting thoughts over the last few days and wanted to write out at least a couple here. Coincidentally enough, today I ran across a news tidbit that tied in to what I was thinking about. So I think that shall be the impetus for this entry.

Now, for whatever reason, I started thinking about Abraham. It could have been something I caught on the radio, as I've been picking a channel and sticking with it for a few days - Classic Rock, KNWS, KBBG..... Anyway KBBG and KNWS were the last couple, so more than likely, I heard something that got me thinking about Abraham. Anyway, I have no children, so I cannot fully appreciate what it would be like to be told to sacrifice my son. But I started thinking of the same situation with Ang in Abraham's son's place. First off, no matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn't; imagine putting a knife in Ang's chest - regardless of the fact that I was told to. The amount of faith it would take to be willing to do such a thing is unimaginable.

This led to thoughts about hearing from God. Would it be easier if I regularly heard from God? When did God stop communicating with us? It's so much harder to imagine hearing from God and following his instructions when I can't even wrap my mind around hearing from Him in the first place. I've talked to a lot of people about hearing God's will for your life and aving prayers answered. And I believe that God does open and close doors for us. I believe He has numerous ways to get his will across to us. Many times I've had prayers answered in miraculous ways. But to have God SPEAK to you, or APPEAR to you? I couldn't imagine it. (Maybe that says something right there.)

So, thinking of sacrificing my amazing wife pretty much drove home a few deep thoughts on faith and love. Then, wondering about what it would be like to have God speak to you - directly - not through symbolism or signs or things that the secular world would consider "coincidence." You could spend hours thinking on these things. I have.

Then today I happen to see This article in FoxNews. Miraculously enough - or "coincidentally" for you non-believers, a construction operator in Ireland happened to unearth and save a medieval book of Psalms from a bog. I'll paraphrase Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland: There are two things that make this a miracle find. The first is that such a book could have survived in a bog. The second is that it would be unearthed and then spotted before it was destroyed.

That was all interesting to me, but here's the kicker... The book was opened to Psalm 83; which is a prayer to God which outlines that Israel's enemies "...have said, Come, and let us cut them off from [being] a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." Does that sound like it has any relevance to events on the world stage right now? Most of the middle East believes that Israel as a nation does not exist. Listen to the rhetoric from Hezbollah - they would like to erase the Jewish state. Anyway, maybe God doesn't appear to us in visions, and maybe He doesn't speak to us as a friend would. But to think that God doesn't talk to us anymore.... Is purely in our own eyes.

Wet and Wild

2006-07-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

If nothing else, we have a shower. Soon we will have tunes. Shower + tunes= oh yeah.

Blogger Blues

2006-06-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

Blogger has very crappy support. Try to find an email address for support.

Anyway, I can;t post pictures and 99% of the time I can;t log in or do anything because I get a message saying my cookies are disabled. They aren't. Apparantly a LOT of users are having the same two problems, so hopefully the twinkies at Google can fix the problem someday soon. Until then, blogging will have to wait.

He so ronerey.

2006-06-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

You hear a lot about the craziness that is North Korea. Kim Jong Il is definitely a crazy guy. Anyway, they don't let Americans into NK, but they do let Russians and Europeans in sometimes. I just finished reading this awesome blog post with many great pictures taken by a Russian inside NK. A lot of the pictures are of things they tell you not to take pictures of. The funny thing about NK is that since the government rules everyones lives, all the people think they live in this modern advanced utopian society. What a ruse. Take 10 minutes and check out the pics on the first couple pages of this thread and read the short captions. I guarantee you enjoy it and you'll learn something too. Did you knwo they whizz out in public. They farm using animals as power.

Go Here

The Tuesday Twelve

2006-06-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

I'm going to roll with Ang's Thursday Thirteen travel thing. Only it's not Thursday. So, twelve places I've been: ( I'm going to try to list things other than what Ang already did, so she can "learn soemthing about me." )

1. Boston/ Cape Cod. I've gone to Boston to see the master of all things Model Railroading, George Sellios, maybe 4 times now. I love the area becasue of its rich history and the coast and small towns are beautiful.

Downtown Boston:

2. Victoria, B.C. Victoria is amazing. I went in college and we stayed at the Empress hotel - also amazing. One of the other students and I went up to Whistler to do some sweet skiing. The view from that high was breathtaking and I liked the skiing better than Colorado.

3. New Orleans, LA. My family used to take cross country train vacations when I was young. We'd go to 5 or 6 big cities and stay for a few days each. I think we stopped here three times. I tried alligator, rode the trolleys and took a little chucnk of concrete out of this dam thing. Just kidding.

4. Tuscon, AZ. Tuson was hot. Walking on the sun hot. But it's a dry heat right?! Yeah whatever. The best part of Tuscon was always Old Town, which is where they shot several movies including the calssic, "Three Amigos." They do cowboy shows and have some rides and it's just a generally cool, old west gunslinger themed town.

5. Australia. Went to Cairns, Canberra, and Syndey. Sydney was a very unique city. This was a college business trip and we had some great meetings. The best place by far was Cairns, where we went snorkeling on the great barrier reef and then I took a free day and took a scenic train up into the rainforest. It was a whole nother world.

6. Auckland, New Zealand. Also a nice place. They have a bunch of inactive volcanoes that you can walk up on and look around at the city. Very nice place and they have great accents.

7. San Juan Capistrano, CA. Very nice climate. We visited a mission there. I was in school in California so, being that long ago, it must have been a pretty cool trip for me to have remmebered it.

8. Mystic, Connecticut. Family trip again. This is the town from a crappy chick movie called Mystic Pizza. Bad movie aside, it is a very nice town and is typical East Coast. We had excellent seafood at a place right on the water.

9. Long Barn, CA. We used to have a cabin in the Sierra's in this small town. This place makes Shell Rock look like Manhattan. It was great. We were 10 minutes from Pinecrest lake and 20 mintues from Dodge Ridge - my favortie ski place ever. AND, we were half an hour or so from Jamestown - which is where the Jamestown Railroad museum is. (They've filmed a million shows and movies here including little house, an empisode of the A-Team adn Back to the future three.)

10. Chicago IL. Yeah, Ang listed this one too, but I've beent there so many times I have to list it. Chicago is a great city. great architecture and museums etc. I've been there with Mandyto take the trian and with Chris to go see a Dream Theater concert and go museum hopping. Chicago is just one of those cities youhave to see. (And if you do, stay in Naperville or some suburb and take the trian in. it's fun and you'll save a ton.)

11. Everywhere, Wiconsin. I love the landscape in Cheddarslovakia. My favorite place is the Hous eon the Rock in Spring Green. Great cheese can be found in Dodgeville. The Dells of course are a great time. I've been to Elroy multiple times with my friend Jeremy as we like to bike the Elroy Sparta bile trail. It's an old railroad line that has been converted. 36 miles long (72 round trip). There are great views and amazing rock cuts, tons of railroad history and.... three tunnels, the longest of which is almost a mile long. Even on the hottest day of summer, fog rolls out of tunnels as they stay 50-60 degrees all the time.

12. Your house, right now. Look behind you!! Okay never mind.

12. Vancouver, BC. Where they film all the movies now. Hollywood is all union until they have to make a movie - then it's off to Vancouver or Sydney. Vancouver was nice. great seafood and very reasonable costs. Beautiful landscape and lots of water!

That's it for now. I'll try to add pictures later.

Signs of the Times

2006-06-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

A few news items over the last week that weren't very widely reported really caught my eye and begged for a little commentary. You may have heard some of this, but more than likely you haven't.

:: Kids are dumb. Teens are dumber. With the changes in popular culture and the lack of qualified teachers, the self absorption of parents, and the breakdown of the traditional nuclear family come big unintended consequences for our youth. The case of Katherine Lester is a story indicative of a bigger problem. The 16 year old met a guy on Myspace, whose user name- Abdullah Psycho - should have told her something, left her farm town of under 1000 people and boarded a series of flights for Israel's West Bank. The whole ridiculous story can be read here. Anyway, she is a good student and according to the article is a fairly well adjusted typical teen that fell in love with someone on Myspace who was supposedly 25 and who told her how to come meet him in Israel. So you read this story and you think "What would make an otherwise bright kid do something so unbelievably stupid?"

I think the answer in part is found in the last bit of the article. She's from a broken home and the mother, whom she was with at the time, obviously isn't the brightest bulb in the bunch. The mother fell for the lame story about a trip to Canada and helped her get a passport for heaven's sake. Anyway, what can any psychologist tell you about children of divorced parents and people who have MIA fathers? They lack love and attention and often reach out (in stupid and unintelligent ways) to get it.

This incident was only one of three in the last month when teenage girls from Michigan have left home looking to meet older guys from Myspace. In May a 25 year old guy was caught while en route to meet a 13 year old girl he met on Myspace. Earlier this month a 17 year old drove down to pick up a 12 year old girl. The sheriff says complaints about these internet related deals are now a daily occurrence. In just the past few months the National Center for Missing and Exploited children have seen child enticement calls soar from 50 per week to 199 per week. Bottom line - if you are a parent, skip the next episode of Lost and instead find out what your kids are doing online. The web is a great place to meet people but it has also created an excellent tool for sexual predators of all persuasions. Unfortunately for kids, they have to grow up much more quickly now.

:: Should your kids watch PG movies and not just G's? They will have to now.

"As the MPAA explained to Kris Fuhr, Provident Films vice president for marketing: "The movie was heavily laden with messages from one religion, and this might offend people from other religions. We alert parents to something that isn't in their religion. Parents are very sensitive about having their kids exposed to religious material." "

The above was a quote referencence to the movie Facing the Giants. Anyway, to keep this short, the MPAA has decided that if a movie has a faith "theme" it will need to be bumped up to a PG instead of a G. You've got to keep your kids away from sex, violence, swearing and religion!?

:: If you need a reason to celebrate something, the UAW will be taking some major hits in the days to come. It's no secret that I dislike the major US auto makers. They force US suppliers to make razor thin margins or to go overseas. Thus most car parts in US made autos are from overseas anyway. Meanwhile Toyota and Hyaudai and Honda have all built plants over here. Oh the irony of the "Buy American" mantra. I've always resented Ford, GM and Chrysler for decreasing their part costs so much and then increasing sticker prices. More than the makers themselves however, the UAW is the reason for increased costs and decreased quality. The great thing about unions though, is that given enough time, they will destroy the companies they leech off of. Such was the case in the airline industry when the pilots union led their airline into bankruptcy. Now it's the UAW's turn. The latest news is that UAW leadership will have to give in on some of their insane health care benefits to the big three during the next round of contract negotiations. Welcome to the real world UAW!

:: FEMA, along with being inept at disaster relief, seems to have mis-spent a Billion of our taxpayer dollars. We paid to send people to Hawaii, paid for divorce lawyers, double paid for people to stay in hotels, paid for a sex change, for season football tickets etc etc. If you are reading this and you are a Democrat, go read THIS article about how the relief money was spent. Now think again before you opt for government to take over any new roles. Universal healthcare - yeah right. If you are a Republican, lean back and laugh at the idiocy of liberals who want the government to do more for us.

:: LAST item: Irresponsible media. This month has been a doozy for the mainstream media. In the race to be the first to report stories, many MSM outlets have decided to forego fact checking or vetting of any sort. Liberal bias has been in plain view as well this week. The biggest example of reporting anything - sans any substance- is the Duke rape case. The MSM was quick to crucify the WEALTHYHLY WHITE MALE students in favor of a poor black stripper. The case has fallen apart like a John Kerry presidential run. Things got worse for the prosecution this week after more story changes and the news that the hospital might not have detected after all. Gee. The case is about race and the political aspirations of a DA up for re-election.

The other big media deal that irked me was that all of the MSM jumped on the Haditha story about Marines killing innocent kids. Along with calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay, they hopped on the prisoner suicides there and one paper actually called them "heroes." If they weren't so busy reporting on the crappy conditions for the terrorists at GITMO, they might have mentioned the 8 US soldiers held in shackles in solitary confinement at Camp Pendleton since April. 8 soldiers who have yet to be charged with any crime. You can read about it HERE.

The greatest generation

2006-06-06T07:19:00.000-07:00

62 years ago 3 million allied troops stormed the French beaches in the largest invasion in the history of the world. 53,700 dead, 18,000 missing, 155,000 wounded. Back then, America would make the greatest sacrifice imaginable to combat evil. Today we can't stay the course overseas because, as the mainstream Media has pointed out repeatedly, 2000 US lives have been lost. Even worse - we can't even call "evil" what it is because it's not PC. Much like the Romans, America is heading for a big fall because our sole focus is on "us." When we are no longer able to summon up the courage to sacrifice for a good greater than ourselves, we are lost.

Hop over to this Bog and read an excellent D-Day post about the courage we had as a nation.

Check this Blog out to read the citations for the 4 Medals of Honor given on D-Day- all posthumously. Courage.

Shower Ho!

2006-05-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

No, not that you wierdo - this:
The lighting is all in and is very super sweet. YOu can tell you are a dork when new lights really get you excited. They are cool though - really! We went with an air tight Halogen low voltage design. The lights last foever, use a fraction of the electricity and put out a really vibrant white light. And you can even aim them up to 30degrees in these housings. I chose a bunch of different MR16 bulbs to try out different wattages and different beam angles. ANYWAY, they have been up for a long time. We insulated the room nicely and had to do some plumbing rennovation after the big flood before the wedding. I have one more sub-floor panel to put down. The shower pan is in as is the plumbing and the piping. Ang and I insulated the ceiling and as soon as we get the cieling up (beadboard) we'll hit the small patches of wall by the shower. Then it's time to put up the shower enclosure and start takling showers. We're both excited for that day. Well, here are a few pictures.

Flower Power

2006-05-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

Ang and I bought some nice Tulips on clearance and I managed to plant them a few weeks ago. Here are some cool pics of them while it was still nice out. You can click for a larger view:

United 93.

2006-05-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

Last week Ang and I finally managed to go see "United 93." I had wanted to go all week and ended up being really excited by the time the big night arrived. I can;t even say precisely why I was so excited; I knew it wouldn't;t be a laugh fest, and I knew I already knew the plot. I had read a lot of bloggers reviews and read both sides of the controversy that surrounded the movie. Would it be true to life? Would reality be "toned down" so that we didn't offend anyone? Would a particular bias slant the movie one way or the other? And what about the reports of dead silence at the movie's end, or of people sobbing in the theater or in the bathroom together? I had seen the Passion and I very well knew what it was like to see something that impacted people on a level much deeper than "art" usually does. I knew about tears and sorrow and a feeling of conviction. So what was I looking for with this movie?

The "action" of the movie almost solely comes from the fact that you already know the story. Or you think you know most of it. Suspense, rather than action, keeps you from leaving to go to the bathroom. I honestly don't think I've ever had my heart pound as hard during any movie as it did during this one. You know... But you still hope that maybe the outcome will be different. It isn't.

The movie itself is very finely done. My sole criticism of the production itself is that the director followed the trend (and that's all it is - a trend) of using hand held cams for a lot of the film. So you get shaky pictures and at the beginning for most of the establishing stuff, you feel grateful when they cut to a slow pan shot or motion control or anything but the shaky shots. I can't wait until this trend dies it's rightful, inevitable death. That aside, the production and casting and everything else are great. Even the score, though unmemorable, supported the film well. The first half of the film deals with the FAA and the tower controllers and the shocking realization of what was happening with American 11. After the towers are hit, the second part of the film focuses on the United 93, as it was the last to take off.

I read that "every high school student in the US should be required to see this film." I would certainly agree. I think though that every adult should go see this film. It shows some very important things very clearly; a few of which I'd like to touch on. First, Evil does exist. Despite the claims of the moral relativists and atheists, the is absolute truth. This film does a good job of showing Islam for what it is - an affront to civilization. The Koran does not teach Muslims to peacefully co-exist with Christians and Jews and Catholics etc. - it teaches that anyone who does not convert to Islam is an "infidel." There is no such thing as an innocent to a Muslim. And as such, the nearly 3000 people killed on Sept. 11, were a blessing to Islam. The "infidel West" had just suffered a blow that we thought was impossible. Evil does exist.

Second, bureaucracy is inefficient. Government is the worst manager of any program. Other than what was specifically called out as federal responsibilities in the Constitution, there is no program that the government can do better than the private sector. This movie shows point blank the cluelessness of the FAA and NORAD and the excessive red tape of the military and the irresponsibility of the politicians. Even when they did figure out what was going on, the agencies couldn't'; communicate or make effective decisions, much less make things happen. Turn something over the the government and you'll get a top heavy organization where no one wants to take responsibility and thus decisions are passed around as people cover for their careers.

Third, the is also "good" in the world. In stark contrast to the bureaucratic government agencies, the people aboard United 93 figured out what was going on and took action. You have to have leadership or nothing gets accomplished. Watching the passengers take down their captors was probably the most satisfying moment I have ever experienced from a film.

The movie doesn't hide the fact that Muslim terrorists took over United 93 to fly it into the White House and kill everyone onboard. They do a good job of factually presenting what happened without venturing too far into conjecture. Whoever you are, reading this right now, you should go see this film. It's not gory, it's not boring, and it's not something you'll easily forget. Comedies and Action film come around everyday; take a break and see something that will have an impact on your life. You'll be thankful that you did.

Slow like George Clooney

2006-05-04T14:14:00.000-07:00

So I'm running a little slow at the whole Blog posting thing. It could be worse.

I'm going to try to ID 6 weird things about myself like Ang and Mel and Natalie and so many have already done. Bear with me, I'm normal. (Right Ang? Right!!!??)

1) Matt's theme music.
When I was younger and living in California, I always either walked to school or rode my bike. This is in elementary school mind you. It was a pretty long walk, but I was short back then, so it took what seemed to be forever. Anyway, enough set-up: I always created theme music in my head. When I was walkign to school I'd imagine I was the central character in some really cool action movie or show. Maybe I'd borrow the A-team theme or Night Rider or even MacGuyver, but I had music running up there. That continued into middle school when I'd walk or take mass transit. And it would reappear any time I visited the trainyard on weekends to hang out.

2) How do you listen to music??
I can sing the lyrics to a lot of songs, but I usually have no idea what they mean or what the song is about. When I listen to music or songs, it seems my brain is always focusing on the arrangement and the instruments and such. I focus on the lyrics as a part of the song becasue that's usually where the melody comes from - so I think that's how I can sing the words. Anyway, I'm always deconstructing. Always seeing how the different instruments interact with eachother and picking apart each individual performance. This comes in handy when I want to sing or whistle something back. I can whistle the main part of most songs I've heard, including fills and instrumentals.

3) Playing with trains or being a craftsman?
I will "play with trains" until I die. Or until I can't see anymore. I used to feel guilty about not going out on a Friday night with high school friends becasue I wanted to go up into the attic and work on a model. I guess you start "playing with trains" and you can elevate it into an art form. Laugh away, but we call it "craftsman modeling." There's something great about dreaming up a structure, building it almoist from scratch, and then making it look so real you can't tell the difference. I often thought building models for movies would be an awesome job. But then I'd have to live in Hollywierd. So anyway, I still "play with trians."

4) Typing flaw?
When I type on the computer I look solely down at my keyboard and not at the screen at all. Maybe I'll check it if I think I made a mistake. I also type mainlywith my index fingers and thumbs, but I can rival most 10 fingered typists for speed. Hmmm. When I read stuff on the internet I aslo have to highlight text with my mouse and then unclick it and just keep doing that. I don't highlight what I read, I just highlight stuff.

5) Holiday Overboard
When Haloween rolls around I don't want to sit at the door and give away candy - I want to create a haunted house (or church) that has spooky things people cant figrue out! It's got to be realistic! For Christmas I need to create something way over the top and try to keep it tasty as well. Though Ang and I will definitely end up disagreeing on what "tasty" is. But we're not decorating a tree - no way - we're decorating a few trees and then doing the outside of the house up! Yeah!

6) Theme time
If I could live in a Disneyland enviroment or a hollywood set - I would. I love theme environments. I like them to be real - but to be completely out there. Some of that comes from Disney, some from parks as a kid and a lot from the House on the Rock. One reason I bought the church/house is becasue it is wide open and lots needs to be redone. I wanted the openness so that I could create something insane. I wanted the basement to be like walking down backstreets in the city. What!? Yep. Signage, outdoor lighting, brick weathered exterior etc. I wanted out entryway to have 2 story fake trees and a waterfall and be forever set in "night time" with darker blue lights and fake firefly's that glow. Insane? maybe. Wierd? I like to call it "unique."

As a bonus bit of "wierdness" I will add that I have already built a 1:18 batmobile:

Dave, the designer for Hotwheels/Mattel who designed the car off the WB's original told me this model is "how it should have turned out." That was a cool feather in the hat.

And I will build the car in full size as well :) Like mi amigos Kevin, Jack and Rusty from CLTC (who are each working on their own). Below is a replica:

There's more to democracy than a purple finger.

2006-03-22T10:02:00.000-08:00

Well, after all the toil and bloodshed in Afghanistan we supposedly help the Afghan people set up a democracy. But, it is an Islamic democracy. And of those two words, Islamic takes priority over democracy. Do you know of Abdul Rahman? You should; he is your Christian brother. Here's some of his story from the Chicago Tribune:

Abdul Rahman told his family he was a Christian. He told the neighbors, bringing shame upon his home. But then he told the police, and he could no longer be ignored.

Now, in a major test of Afghanistan's fledgling court system, Rahman, 42, faces the death penalty for abandoning Islam for Christianity. Prosecutors say he should die. So do his family, his jailers, even the judge. Rahman has no lawyer. Jail officials refused to let anyone see Rahman on Monday, despite permission granted by the country's justice minister.

"We will cut him into little pieces," said Hosnia Wafayosofi, who works at the jail, as she made a cutting motion with her hands. "There's no need to see him..."

...Prosecutor Abdul Wasi said Rahman had been told repeatedly to repent and come back to Islam, but Rahman refused. Wasi called Rahman a traitor.
"He is known as a microbe in society, and he should be cut off and removed from the rest of Muslim society and should be killed," Wasi told the court.

Rahman said he had surrendered himself to God. "I believe in the holy spirit," he said. "I believe in Christ. And I am a Christian."

Judge Ansarullah Mawlawizada, who is handling the case, said he normally takes two months to decide on cases. But because this case is so serious, he expected to hold another hearing within the next week and make a decision.

Mawlawizada, who kept Rahman's green Bible on his desk, said he respected all religions. He emphasized that he did not favor the aggressiveness of the Taliban, who cut the hands and feet off criminals in a soccer stadium. But he said Rahman had to repent.

"If he doesn't regret his conversion, the punishment will be enforced on him," the judge said. "And the punishment is death."

From the Globe and Mail:

"It is a crime to convert to Christianity from Islam. He is teasing and insulting his family by converting," Judge [Alhaj Ansarullah Mawawy] Zada said. "The Attorney-General is emphasizing he should be hung."

Prison officials refused requests to interview Mr. Rahman, but one of his cellmates said he was resolute.

"He is standing by his words," said Sayad Miakel, 30. "He will not become a Muslim again."
Another cellmate said Mr. Rahman seemed depressed.
"He keeps looking up to the sky, to God," said Khalylullah Safi, 31.

When Afghanistan set up its new constitution it made sure to state that no law could be passed that was inconsistent with Islam. Sharia law, which governs many Islamic countries, says that conversion from Islam is to be punished by death. This means that Afghanistan is in direct violation of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 18. Article 18 reads: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance." Once again, the "religion of peace" shows its true colors and emphasizes what "tolerance" means to Muslims.

Germany, Italy and now Denmark's leaders have all clearly voiced their outrage over the issue.

Denmark: Foreign Minister Per Stig MÃ¸ller, Conservatives, Berlingske, March 22:
ÂThis in no way corresponds with AfghanistanÂs constitution which says that the Afghans have Freedom of Religion.Â

Spokesman on Foreign Issues, Naser Khader, Social Liberals, Jyllands-Posten, March 21:
"The government must act on this matter and show that Denmark is at the forefront in the fight for Human Rights and international rule of law. That is why we are in Afghanistan. If necessary, the Danish forces in country must liberate Abdul Rahman and offer him asylum in Denmark. This case underlines the need for Sharia law to be fought wherever it is found.Â

Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini on Tuesday said Italy would raise the case of Abdul Rahman with the Afghan ambassador in Rome, European Union diplomatic representatives in Afghanistan and EU human rights bodies .

Fini said he would voice to the ambassador "the thorough disapproval" of the Italian government if there was a "possibility" of Rahman being sentenced to death. Italy is the de facto EU diplomatic chief in Afghanistan because Austria, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, does not have a mission there .

Italy has some 2,000 troops in the 10,000-strong NATO-led International Security and Assistance force (ISAF), which began peacekeeping operations in and near Kabul a year after a US-led coalition drove out the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime in 2002 .
Rome held ISAF's six-month rotating command until last month. It is leading the reconstruction of the Afghan judicial system and has also contributed to other reconstruction projects such as roads, hospitals and schools .

Germany said Tuesday it would appeal directly to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and "do everything in its power" to save the life of Rahman, who returned home from Germany when the Taliban was overthrown.

I am ashamed to say that until today neither the United States President nor the State Department uttered a word about Rahman's case. Unfortunately President Bush shows again that he is a Politician first and a Christian second. Word today is that the president is "deeply troubled" however. I'm sure that within the next few days some polling can be done to help GW determine if the American people think he should put the US behind Rahman.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack did address the Rahman case at his press briefing earlier today. In true political fashion he said:

"Previously under the Taliban, anybody considered an apostate was subject to torture and death. Right now you have a legal proceeding that's underway in Afghanistan and we urge that that legal proceeding take place in a transparent matter and we're going to watch the case closely."

AND:

"It's a constitutional matter so it's a legal question. So what that tells you is that there are two sides to this."

So, how can we act to save the life of Abdul Rahman? There are several ways: Call the Afghan Embassy in Washington at (202)483-6410. You may get put on hold for 5 minutes, but they have been responsive. You can also call the Whitehouse at 202-456-1111. Or:

Write the embassy of Afghanistan:
Ambassador Said T. JawadEmbassy of Afghanistan2341 Wyoming Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20008info@embassyofafghanistan.org

Contact the State Department:
U.S. Department of State2201 C Street NWWashington, DC 20520
Main Switchboard:202-647-4000

Debbie Schlussel says this of calling the Afghan Embassy:

After reading the letter from your reader, I, too, called the Afghani Embassy. The man I spoke with said that they got 50 calls about this today, and that they have no authority to save the man. They said there are only two people who can stop this: Mr. Shinwari, the Chief Justice, who is an old man and an intolerant Taliban remnant; or President Karzai, who can--but has not--removed him. Nice to know that all our soldiers' efforts and U.S. funds are being negated by a powerful remnant of the Taliban...

The bottom line is that we need to help Rahman and address Islambecausecasue they don't want to play hangman with you. Well... maybe they do.

On the perils and benefits of Ignorance.

2006-03-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

Now that we’re down to a month before the wedding I figured I should get started on the two big house projects that have to be done before the I Do’s are said. Actually I started a long time ago, as I had to custom order the doors and the locksets. That is/was the first big challenge. The doors came in on Tuesday and Jack and I picked them up from Lowe’s. As the loading homeboy got the unit outside, I noticed something. Both doors should be double bored (have two holes).. and yet… only one does. Arrgghh! After chatting with the manager and Patrick, my Lowe’s millwork buddy, they agreed to go 10% off and throw in the cutting tool set required to drill the remaining holes. Okay, one obstacle down. I took off work a bit earl Friday to pick up supplies and meet Jack to install the doors. We got started at 4 or so and took the old door out and started to remove the old framing etc. Things were going slow, so I called my friend Jeremy, who has a LOT of construction experience and he made it over at 6 or so.

This story could be 10 pages long, so I’ll abridge it for you. We first found that there was a concrete foundation in the wall that wouldn’t allow the doors to fit in. Dang. So, after a few careful smacks with a good sledge hammer, we removed some of the concrete. By the grace of God, the door was going to fit in the remaining space. SO… the next big deal was finding that the window above the door A) has no real header and B) was leaking water and millions of Asian Beetles. AND there is a porch roof that comes into the house just over the door header and – guess what – it is rotten to the core from water leaking in from the porch roof. It also contains a small mecca of beetles. So, with luck, we pulled that out without the porch falling and killing us. The new header we added was a sight to behold. You could balance a tank on that beam. Some would call it overkill, but we called it a perfect fit. ANYWAY, a new problem arises: I measured the inside and assumed that the outside was going to be the same. WRONG. There was wood planking around the single door and then the aluminum siding for the house starts. Well, we had to cut back the siding on both sides. That was not one of my all time favorite things to do. About 1:00am we got the door in and shimmed and screwed in. We had them in and closing by 2am.

I pulled the doors off the frame and Ang’s dad came over and started to paint them Saturday morning. Five coats and 3 days later, he was able to leave. I think we added a quarter of an inch with paint alone. Great paint job though. If you need an amazing painter, call Dennis Thompson. He also managed to paint our new vanity as well.

While he was painting I decided to fill the gaps with low expansion foam. Bad idea. The doors were finally almost dry on Monday night, so I decided to put them back on and try putting the hardware on. I started with the dummy door and got it back together and on and closing and then drilled out the top and bottom for the locks. All was fine. Then I added the second door. They don’t close. Not by a long shot. The “low expansion” foam expanded a little more than it’s “low” rating. My dad came over and helped out as we tried to get the doors to close and fit together. I removed all the foam and we added some more screws and finally – everything fit.

The good part of being ignorant is you’ll tackle a project bigger than yourself or your knowledge. Though I did have a great book to go from (which was a help as the instructions sucked.) You remain optimistic simply because- you don’t know any better. The bad part is, you think putting a door in will take 3 hours. And it does. It’s the 7 hours of old door removal that you don’t plan for. Anyway, I’d like to think the benefits outweigh the costs when it comes to being slightly ignorant in construction. We’ll find out. I still have the bathroom to redo from scratch. Three weeks and counting….

Lighter Fare

2006-02-03T08:35:00.000-08:00

Well after the last entry I need a bit of lighter writing. The topic came up on a musicians forum about people's worst shows. So, here's a few that I can remember:

1) The absolute worst is actually a summation of all the shows we've played with horrible monitor mixes. There's nothing as unpleasing as trying to inmprovise or play a passage with a bunch of compoud bends when you can't hear yourself over the vocals and you certainly can't tell when you've hit pitch on a bend. We've played a LOT of shows with horrible monitor mixes. Or shows where we didn't get to soundcheck.

2) Sundown Mountian Show 2005. I was just coming down with a nasty sickness. We played two late night shows as it was an all night ski event. I think we started at 11pm and then again at 1am or something... I was heavily medicated and though I didn't actually sleep, I was like a zombie all night. Other than setting up my own gear I didn't do any set up or teardown. Turned out I had walking Pneumonia and would be sick for the next month. Strangely enough, the show went well and I played okay. Muscle memory is an amazing thing.

3) Xmas show 2004 in Independance. We played an hour long Xmas set and then took a break. After that we came back and started into our regualr rock set. Right after the first couple songs - just before a big instrumental section - my guitar cut out. I messed with everything to try and locate the problem, but I was hosed. I took my other amp back from Chris (rhythm guitar hombre) and he used his smaller amp that - thank God- we brought along. It turns out that the circuit board on my power ampcaught fire and the power amp went out. Since then I've added another power amp and another preamp as backups in case something like this shoudl ever happen again. Be prepared!

4) Derailment in Osky. We played a good sized church in Oskaloosa once - a LONG time ago. I've never forgotten that show though. I like to improvise a lot of my instrmental parts, and I guess just in general. Anyway, I took the solo break in Consumign Fire (I think it was) with much gusto. My gusto was short lived though. I soon figured out that I was playing about a half step off - that means out of key and out of key BAD. Now days I would have hit the first note and either bent it into a correct one or slid or slurred it and went on no probolem. Back then it pshycologically messed me up and the solo turned into a train wreck. I will always remember this guy and his girlfriend sitting in the front row before me and the twisted looks of disgust and embarassment they let loose. It was that bad.

5) LifeLight tryouts - South Dakota 2005. We had basically a 15 minute try out for Life Light - a huge Christian music festival. It was a pretty bad experience but we got chosen anyway. We showed up early and I restrung my baritone guitar a couple hours before we went on. I would have done it sooner - like I did my other guitars, but the baritone takes special guage strings and they just came in the day before. Anyway, we were the first band of the day and they hadn't gotten their sound dailed in yet - so we had a HORRIBLE mix. Which was even worse because of what came next. I used the baritone guitar for our first song and, along with the normal inevitable string stretching, one of the strings wasn't theaded through the vibrato all the way and it finally pulled thorugh. What that means is that the string just got about a half inch longer - and looser - which means major out of tune! Now even though that guitar has a locking tremolo unit, if the pressure is released on one string to that extent, the trem is going to move and all of the other strings are going to change pitch as well. And they did; oh yes they did. Normally i could have tuned on the fly by ear and gotten back into the song with a minimal amount of fuss. But, since the mix was bad and I couldn;t hear myself, tuning was a lost cause. I tried to transpose the song on the fly and play everything as single notes on one string. It might have been better than just stopping playing - but I'm still not sure.
So, let that be a lesson - be prepared. Do everything ahead of time! The guys after us had a tube go out and luckily I had one I let them use. Again - be prepared!

That's it for now. The RV certainly is a source of problems with travelling, but that'll have to be another post.

Sadly Misled

2006-01-26T10:54:00.000-08:00

I read, with interest, a Blog pointed out to me by Ang today and tried to comprehend the mixed moral messages that were put forth under a post on abortion. The post actually had more to do with life, liberty and justice that it did with abortion per se. I always read these kid of morally mixed up Christian viewpoints while shaking my head and thinking “how can someone who has a bible misunderstand this?” So, in response to this post, I’d like to go over some of the moral issues presented, one at a time.

Abortion
Mrs. Vashti doesn’t support abortion. She doesn’t oppose it either. Early on she says “I believe in the sanctity of all life.” However, she is still “pro-choice.” Her main argument against outlawing abortion is that she doesn’t think the government should intrude upon our “rights” – in this case the right to end a life- in that manner. This argument completely misses the issue of whether or not abortion is morally right. Does the government intrude upon our rights when they say we can’t kill the guy who never uses his turn signals? I really want to kill him, I do. But alas, God says I can’t and our constitution agrees with Him.

Mrs. Vashti worries that a government who can ban all abortions could also force abortions or control how many children we have (i.e. China). Wake up my friend! If nine justices can determine the constitutionality of any issue and then legislate from the bench, as they did with Roe v. Wade, they can just as easily decide that in order to have “…the pursuit of happiness,” families need to have no more than three children to prevent overpopulation. God has determined what is morally right and wrong and you cannot turn your back on His word simply to protect yourself from an immoral government (or Supreme Court).

Aside from the moral issue, if Vashti believes in democracy, the only position she could take is that the individual states should have the power to decide upon abortions legality by a vote of their people. Representative government. The powers not expressly laid out in the constitution (abortion), are reserved for the states. This doesn’t make abortion nationally legal or illegal, it simply allows “we the people” to decide its legality on a state by state basis. And if the people were to have a vote, abortion might well become illegal in many states. It was illegal in 46 states back in 1973, before Roe. NARAL itself reports that if Roe were overturned, and people had a voice, 19 states would outlaw abortion and 19 more would follow suit.

To sum this up, she believes that we cannot decide when to kill ourselves (“ I don't believe that it is any human beings choice to decide when or how another should die. I don't think it is our right to decide when we should die (i.e. suicide).”) but we can decide to kill unborn children. So, if I understand this view correctly: God decides when we are born and when we die, and we shouldn’t override His decision about death, but we can choose to override His decision on who is born. Okay.

Extra crispy: The Death Penatly
Here’s where the waters get even muddier in her essay. She believes in the sanctity of all life, but doesn’t condone killing babies. But, she does believe that killing grown inmates is wrong. Here’s the big biblical secret that a LOT of Christians miss when it comes to “thou shalt not kill” and the death penalty:

There is a difference between killing and murdering.

If Christians will take the time to go back to the Hebrew translation of the bible, they will note that this commandment doesn’t say “Thou shalt not kill,” it says “thou shalt not murder.” “Killing” is all inclusive. “Murdering” by definition, is killing an innocent person. (Kind of like aborting an unborn child.) The guy who killed his wife and child and got caught on tape and left a knife with his fingerprints on it is not innocent. A jury of his peers found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In fact, he’s likely had 20 years of appeals to challenge his guilt. He is not innocent and therefore can be put to death in good conscience by the most bible reading spiritual Christian on Earth.

War, huh, what is it good for?
Well, it’s really good for breaking away from Brittan and starting a republic in order to ensure a man’s religious freedom. It also comes in handy when people are getting gassed by an evil dictator or raped and tortured by one of his sons.

“Think of all the innocent civilians being slaughtered, coldly referred to as "collateral damage." Think of all of our young men and women dying.”

I do think about our soldiers that are killed. But I also think about the innocents that are being killed in much greater numbers. In the same way that Vishti misguidedly cares about the guilty being sentanced to die, she should also care about the people dying because of morally corrupt dictators. If all she cares about it saving lives, wasn’t it better for us to end Saddam’s regime and stop his killing spree? It has taken us around 2000 lives to get rid of him and lay the foundations for a democratic government, but have saved many more innocent lives in the process. And what about Africa? What about the thousands upon thousands that are being murdered there? Is it worth going to war to stop? Is it morally right for us, as Christians, to stand idly by and watch the slaughter when we could end it?

I’ll never understand the “peace at any price” logic anyway. People that subscribe to that philosophy don’t understand that God gave us all free will. This free will results in man having the choice to be good or evil. And they can’t understand that some men will chose evil. The peace at any price crowd are the people who would enable the Stalin and Hitlers of the world because they won’t make a sacrifice to do what is right. Would God rather we help homeless people, or keep them from being killed? Probably both; but you can’t give someone low rent housing if they’ve just been murdered.

The bible is filled with tales of War. The old testament lays out how God chooses sides and commisions his followers to take them out. He even provides support for them. It is His will. If a people were unjust and morally corrupt, God would use His followers to pass His judgment upon them.

In summary, Christians like Vishti need to dig into the bible and really examine their motives and understanding when they decide about these issues. There is absolute truth and absolute right and wrong. God laid it out. Now have the courage and fortitude to learn about it and be morally clear. All the grey area surrounding abortion and government and the law clears up if you acknowledge the truth that God loves the inncocents and wants them to live.

Tag, I'm it.

2006-01-24T15:37:00.000-08:00

I've actually thought about 4 or 5 different posts I'd like to make. It's been far too busy reading books and handling crazy work related events latley. So, to keep my content from getting completely stale, I'll post this Tag thing. This post is kind of like topping off a half full lukewarm cup of coffee. It's not as great as a fresh cup, but it'll have to do.

Four jobs you had in your life.

1. Freelance web designer. Great stuff. Just enough graphic involvement to keep the coding part from putting me to sleep.

2. Rubber Development Inc. What haven;t I done here over the years?

3. Christian Guitar Shredmeister. This is more charity than job judging by my income - or lack thereof. It's great to go out and feel like I'm using my powers for good... not evil.

4. Part time Carnie. Yeah, I worked the food stand at a carnival. I remeber that... day.

Four movies you could watch over and over.

1. Batman. As if the Batmobile weren't enough, Michael Keaton makes a great Batman and the sets and cinematography are great.

2. The Transporter. The orginal didn;t have all the sex and graphic violence the second one does. The first was independantly made, the second made by Hollywood - go figure.

3. The Matrix. I think I could watch it again and again. I'd have to try it to be sure though.

4. Lord of the Rings. Even if I watched this repeatedly, I'd probably only get to see it 6 or 7 times before I died of old age. it's long. Long movies rock.

Four places you've lived.

1. San Jose, CA. Born and raised in the sunshine of the South Bay. Dude.

2. Waverly, IA. Home off and on since 93. I love it.

3. Storm Lake, IA. Home of Buena Vista University.

4. Denver IA and other roadside areas. Lived in the RV for a while. It was nice.

Four TV shows you love to watch.

I don't have a TV and I don't really miss it that much. BUT, if I did get to watch TV, here's what I'd watch:

1. Law and Order
2. The Oreilly Factor
3. Unique Homes (or some other HGTV show)
4. Something else.

Four places you've been on vacation.

1. New York, NY
2. Australia
3. Whistler, BC
4. Shell Rock

Four websites you visit daily.

If I have time to check out sites, here's where I go:

1. www.michellemalkin.com
2. Batmobile Forum
3. www.google.com
4. www.anncoulter.com (on Fridays)

Four of your favorite foods

1. Donuts
2. Chocolate
3. BBQ Ribs
4. Diet Pepsi

Four Places you'd rather be right now

1. On our honeymoon in Cancun! (with Ang)
2. Anywhere but work.
3. Kuranda, AU
4. Ruby Tuesday's.

Four bloggers you are tagging.
tagging is illeagal. I got busted for tagging this wall in California once. No wait, that was my brother. Ask him about it sometime.

Proposal series

2005-12-16T11:12:00.000-08:00

Finally done. people just wouldn't stop harassing me. It was crazy; all the threats..... Well, it's done. Be sure to scroll down and read from Chapter one. It's kind of anti-climactic if you start from the last chapter.

The propsal: Chapter V

2005-12-16T10:19:00.000-08:00

Are you ready for the exciting conclusion of this tale? I have as many chapters as there are Rocky movies, so I can stop after this.

I'll admit that I was pretty nervous Friday night the 9th. I certianly didn't sleep well. I don't know if it was nerves as much as it was excitement. All that planning was about to come into play. And it would go very well, or not so great. I knew either way that Ang would be exstatic and that getting engaged is the only part that mattered. The rest was all just bonus stuff. But I also knew that this would only happen once. I may have more money later in life or more connections or whatever, but now was the only chance I had to make this one day super memorable. And so I really wanted all the bonus stuff to go perfectly.

I got up early and had to do a lot of plowing to get out of the driveway, feed the fire and all that stuff. I then went to my parents house to get the ring (which was in secure lockdown). After that I had to run down to Love and Lace and pick up a new vest for the tuxedo that I had picked up the day before. Denise and Rhonda were great help and they made sure the new vest was there and waiting. [As a sidenote, I went in to rent the tux I wanted and my story was that I had a party to go to. But I didn't want anyone to say anything to Ang in passing. So, there I am checking out andRhonda says "Is this for a party?" and Denise says "or a proposal?" - or something like that. I hate lying. I feel bad about it no matter what. So I had to fill them in and swear them to secrecy. They did a great job.] So, now I have to run to work and get the camera and my itinerary (with phone numbers) and then head over to Hy-Vee to get a dozen roses. My dad and I discussed how to keep the roses alive the night before, and I told the Hy-Vee guy what the plan was. He told me to go buy my cooler first and come back and we'd work on the arrangement. So, I went and bought a large cooler (for insulation). He wrapped the roses in paper and I was off.

I made the point of trying to downplay the whole day. I thought Ang would start to doubt herself by the end of the day after nothing had happened. (Mean I know, but I really wanted to suprise her!) So, I showed up late and told her I had to run to work first. I showed up in jeans and a crappy band t-shirt. (Not my band - we have sweet shirts). Off we went - into the crappy weather. I don't know what I was smoking when I thought we'd be able to take a carriage ride and stay outside on that hill. I obviously wasn't thinking of 10 degree weather.

We got to Galena and it was so beautiful. The snow was gently falling and there was an amazing layer of white over everything. We drove around to six different bed and breakfasts and looked at the great old houses. That took right up until 4pm. At the last house, the lady asked if we were staying here for dinner. I said yes and she asked if we had reservations. I said No. She said "On a Saturday night? I hope you can get in." When we left Ang asked if we should get a reservation. I nonchilantly said "No. We've been here before and we've never had any porblems getting in. I think she's over-reacting."

We then walked around and lookeded at Galena's poor attenpt at living windows. The obviously haven't been to Waverly. There wasn;t even a cool Christian Rock band in any of the windows! Most either had nothing, or someones pet, or some guy in drag. No, I am not kidding. Well, it was still snowing and it was really cold! We stopped in at a coffee shop that we'd been in and killed some time. Ang went to the bathroom and hen she came out I told her I had called and made a reservation for 8 at Vinnies. Then we shopped and shopped and eneded up stopping at another coffee house. I actually wanted to go in for warmth more than anything else; even thought Ang will tell you I was just killing time. So, we talked and Ang got a bit quiet and I knew she was coming to grips wit the fact that I wasn't go to propose afterall. Yeah! I am so mean.

We then went to Vinnies and they reserved the special table in the room I wanted just like I had planned. It's called the dungeon because the room is small and is walled in on three sides. You have to go down some stairs to get there. It is such a great room. Anyway, we got one of the two tables (the other was empty) and we ordered away. I thought it'd look bad if I put my coat on to go to the bathroom, so I told Ang I was cold and kept it on. After we ordered, I told her I had to go to the bathroom and clean out my teeth (root canal a couple days earlier). So I left...

This is where I get to tell you about how God was with me that night. We rarely can get a spot on main street Galena. It is just packed and the spots on the main drag are highly coveted. After our home tours earlier in the day, we drove down to main street and I was going to park up the hill behind the restaurant. We got right to the restaurant and a truck pulled out of the very first spot right in front of it. There is no more perfect spot than that one. Some may call that coincidence. I call it God being with me every step of the way.

So, I ran out to my car and grabbed my duffel bag, the roses and vase, and the tux. I literally ran into the restaurant's bathroom and got to work. What work, you ask? The work required to have a vase of roses, duffel bag, and other crap in a single toilet stall and change into a very complex outfit. If I hadn't closed the toilet lid, I'm sure my foot would have been in there. Now the adrenaline starts to flow like a river. I hurry up and get ready and put all my crappy clothes in the bag. All presentable, I head back for the table, roses in one hand, ring box in the other. With each passing step my heart starts to beat faster and faster. Coming down the stairs and getting down on a knee seems so surreal now. Ang's hands were to her mouth the second she saw me turn the corner and she started crying almost immidiately. I managed to stammer out "Angela Thompson, would you be my wife... and marry me?" Between sobs, she said yes. That was quite a feeling. I sat down and watched her struggle to open the box as the couple at the table near us clapped and gushed. Ang couldnt; get the box open, so I opened it and gave her the fabrige egg that the ring came in and opened it for her. She put the ring on and try to regain her composure. She couldnt; eat a bit. I was starving as my nerves started to relax and the stress started to melt away and I ate a bit of our now cold meal. Angela will tell you that I was gone frever. In truth, I can't say howlong it was. it seemed like mere minutes to me.

After we paid an employee came up and siad that our driver was ready. I had just finished tellign Ang about the plans for the day and how I had to cancel the carriage bit. So, she wondered... We walked outside and I can vividly remember turing the corner and looking down the stairs to the amazing limo and driver waiting in the snow. It was great. We got in and I had told the driver ahead of time that we wanted to drive around and check out the Christmas lights. So, we talked and he'd drive up to different houses and stop briefly. It was an amazing limo and the driver was great. Overall a very unforgettable time and I will always cherish the look on Angela's face at the moment I showed up. All that planning and the night went so perfect.

The drive home was great as well. Ang called her family and my family, and my sister and im and Sharon etc etc. So, I got to hear the story of the night many times. I enjoyed listening to it every time. Sunday was great as well as Ang was super duper excited to show everyone her ring and shout our engagement fro the rooftops.

And that's the end. it was a lot of reading I know; hopefully it was entertaining. I'm sure Ang can tell you about something I got wrong :) Pictures of the night and the ring are HERE.

The Proposal: Chapter IV

2005-12-16T10:02:00.000-08:00

I ended up talking to Angela's sister Beth on the phone about some Chistmas stuff. I wanted to knwo when she was going to be there (at Angela's folks' house in Des Moines). Just in passing, I mentioned this to Ang and I could see the wheels turn. The new plan was to make her think I was going to propose at Chirstmas.

In the meantime, I was researching what was going on in Galena that day and starting to put togtehr an itinerary. There were Bed and Breakfast mansion tours in the early afternoon and Living Windows in the evening. I had picked up a brochure on the carriage company that operates out of downtown. Over the next few days I would call and make reservations for the special room at Vinnie Vanucchi's and call the carriage company to set up the ride.

The original night was planned like this:
-Pick up Angela and drive to Galena - be there by 1:00
-Go around and see all of the Bed + breakfasts and explore until 4:00
-Do some shopping and enjoy the Christmas windows until 7:00
-We'd go eat at Vanicchi's
-Half way through dinner, a violinist would show up and play for us
-When we left, the horse and carriage would pick us up and take us up to the hill where we first watched the fireworks.
-We could sit there on a blanket and I'd propose, while the violinist played
-Then we'd have another 30 minutes of carriage ride to enjoy

That sounded excellent. Then December came. I talked to the carriage company weekly and becasue of the weather I had to do the carriage ride before dinner. They couldn't make it up the hill, so we'd get dropped off and picked up at the stairs that go up to the top. And December kept getting worse. The carriage company told me that they had cancelled their last two weekends worth of rides and that they'd most likely cancel the 10th. I couldnt; get ahold of any local musicians to fill my violinist spot either, so that was falling apart. Time for a new plan. And waht, you ask, was the new plan? Well, I'll tell you. The new plan was exactly what happened, so I'll just tell it as it happened on the 10th. In the next chapter....

The Proposal: Chapter III

2005-12-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

My goal with these chapters is to create more chapters than there are Rocky movies. I have a ways to go...

Every year I go to Promise Keepers. And without fail, every year God has moved mountains in my life right after the trip. Sometimes it is very hard to discern what God is trying to tell you about your life and what his will is for it. Other times you get to inderstand things so clearly that you'd swear God was standing beside you and whispering in your ear.

This last year was no exception. I always get many things from a PK conference, but this year most of my thoughts came back to Angela and the fact that I knew that it was God's will that she was in my life. And I kept coming back to the fact that it was more important to make her my wife that to accomplish anything else in life...

Back to the story.
We had looked a few times at rings occationally. Following Pastor Jim's love for Sam's Club, we stopped and looked at their offereings and I picked up a few catalogs and information on diamonds in general. At that time I knew noting about diamonds or jewelery in general. I'd try to ask Ang waht she liked for size and style and cut and she was, obviously, more than happy to tell me just what she liked. Natalie was also a great help nd offered to help me get a ring if I needed it.
I read up on clarity and cut and how diamonds are graded and what makes them attain "fire" and "brialliance." I also started to look for the perfect ring for Ang. Well, being addicted to online shopping (go free market capitalism!) , I found a great store in New York with the perfect ring. I knew it was right. I sent Ang pictures of three or four different ones to get her reactions, but I already knew which one I was getting. To sum this portion of the tale up a bit, I got the ring and had it for a LONG time. I tried to keep it a secret, although I did have to share with my parents, the band, and Natlaie and Bill. It was too amazing not to show anyone. But after the initial showing... it went into hiding.
I'm sure Ang knew which one I was getting. She probably wasn't 100% sure, but like I said, she is brilliant. In fact, maybe a month before the proposal Bill and Natalie told me Ang was way too smug about knowing all the details of the engagement. Bill suggested that I move the date and try to throw her off. I seriously thought about it. But I knew that she would be disappointed if that day came and nothing happened. And I didn;t want to disappoint. So anyway, I fugured that she knew that date - December 10th. She knew it was in Galena. She thought she knew about the ring. I started to get a bit paranoid. HOW could she know all of these things!? I figured that she could guess about the date and location, but the ring? Dang computers. It was entirely possible for her, if she looked on the right places, to find out that I had bought a ring - and she could even see which one. That was disappointing to me. Was she like a kid shaking the Christmas presents; snooping around trying to find out every last detail? I should move the date and show her.
But alas, you already know I kept the date and the place. You already know why I wanted Galena. It is special for us both, so I figured I'd hjave to come up with something else to throw her off track. But what?

The Proposal: Chapter II

2005-12-16T09:32:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm going to go off on a tangeant here. Why? Becasue it's MY blog and I can do what I want. Anyway, I ran across my little "diary" entry from our first trip to Galena. So I thought I'd include it here. Mainly to embarass Angela :) Actually it shows how things really happened since my memory only works 72% of the time and my "Chapter I" post was off in a few places.

"Great start to a great day. I showed up with a single rose, which went over very nicely. I can tell Angela is a big flower fan. We did the drive up under gray skies and occasional rain, which let up by Wisconsin. The house was an interesting tour. Angela went a bit faster toward the end, but it could have been that her stomach was bothering her. After we left we had to stop and grab some meds and then head for Galena. She slept and was better by the time we reached Galena. We did some walking and looked into stores. She can walk anything, I however, was being overcome by the humidity. We finally ended up at a place called Venucchi’s and split a nice Chicken Parmagiano. It was nice and about right with the split. After much conversation, we went back out and dallied around, stopping in a Christmas store. She loves the zebra stuff and most music related stuff. There was a brown grand piano ornament that caught her eye. She also loves the silver music notes.

We continued to walk and browse and ended up arm in arm – her move not mine – very clever. Eventually we staked out a spot high atop the hill, by the old high school upon which to see the fireworks. It was a great spot. There were peripheral fireworks all night leading up to the real ones at 10, which were spectacular. I did manage to put an arm around her and she didn’t punch me – so I guess that’s a good sign. It was a long ride back and we listened to her stuff again, mostly Phantom and then some jazz/rat pack stuff. At least she’s good to talk to! We made it back at about 1 or so and I gave her some cheese and the night ended with a hug. It went very well I suppose. I need to get her a new rose to replace the dead one. "

The Proposal. Chapter I

2005-12-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

I guess I should start at the beginning….

A long time ago, there was this guy. And there was this girl. He proposed to her.
THE END

Ha! That would dive women crazy! You females are so detail oriented. Well, I am going to do this in parts. So start with Chapter 1 and read onward. I'll try and make something up about aliens if it gets too boring.

Anyway, I suppose it’s a completely different tale from my side. I’ve always known Angela is brilliant, and I knew that she was on to my proposal plans. However, Ang is sentimental and she definitely wanted to get a ring sooner rather than later. Knowing these things, I thought Galena would be the perfect place and this would be the perfect time of year. I figured she might guess at the location and the time, but that’s life.

Angela and I had been hanging out for a while and walking etc. when I asked her if she wanted to go to the House on the Rock in Wisconsin with me. We went up on July 4 and I had a great time. Ang was okay at first, but wasn’t feeling well toward the end of the tour. (Too much gold I think). Anyway, we headed out and she slept as I found a short cut South to Galena. We figured it’d be a really neat place to watch fireworks that night. Galena is an amazing place and, along with having great architecture and a rich history, it is extremely picturesque. We walked all over town and found some really neat little places off the beaten path. As has been the case ever since, we ate dinner at a great little Italian restaurant called Vinnie Vanucchi’s. Later that night we meandered up to the old High School building which sits atop the side of a hill, overlooking the town and the levee and river beyond. It was a great time and the fireworks were amazing. I was, however, not distracted by the fireworks as I was in deep thought about whether I should put my arm around my still plutonic friend. Anyway, I guess my heart won out and I made my move. Very slowly… After everything was done we left and Angela put her arm in mine as we descended the hill. And that is why I had to propose in Galena.

Your un-PC funny for the day

2005-12-01T11:43:00.000-08:00

Check out this little parody on airport security here. Funny funny stuff.

Christmas lights!!

2005-11-23T09:30:00.001-08:00

I think the great philosopher Alvin, of Alvin and the Chipmunks said it best when he said - "Christmas, Christmas time is near. Time for joy and time for cheer. We've been good and we can't wait, so hurry Christmas - don't be late. " Ahhh.. words to live by.

Anyway, let's talk Christmas lights. As Heather pointed out, there are different routes you can with lights: fun, tacky, classy, etc. Anyway, I have this wired recessive gene that makes me always want to do something times 100. I don't know if you've seen those commercials for Scott Trade where the guy always talks about "as a kid I believed in giving people more than they paid for..." I guess I have a mix of PT Barnum and Walt Disney in my blood. Anyway, Christmas decorating is no exception. I used to light up my parents house for them. They have the perfect place for a classy display. It's a half Tudor house and it looks perfect with white icicle lights and bows and garland. Have a look. It took a lot of work and as you can see in the picture, there was still a strand that went out.

Understanding perfectionist males 101:
This is for all you ladies who are reading this entry: both of you. You can't just throw lights on a tree or hang them opn the house. They have to look right. This includes spacing and symmetry and how they hang. And you can't use adhesive hooks outdoors. As soon as it gets cold enough the adhesive will fail. All that leaves are special clips and the clips that you nail on.

Well, despite the fact that I agree with the "no Christmas decorating until after Thanksgiving" mantra, I started early this year. I have a huge mission to accomplish. There are so many cool possibilities with the Church/house that my mind has been spinning. I printed out pictures of the house and came up with a Christmas light plan. The plan is color coded and shows what kind of lights will go where. It's more of a guide really... So, because of the amount of work ahead of me this year, I - gasp - started - gasp - already. I didn't realize how tall the church was - I mean really realize - until I got up on the extension ladder last night and was about 2/3 of the way up there. When the thing starts swaying and you've got lights in one hand, garland in the other, a hammer tucked under your chin and a nail in your mouth, you start to get this sort of uneasy feeling. A feeling that says - I need a truck with a cherry-picker.

Well, I could go on and on, but I won't. All I want to say is IT HAS BEGUN. When everything is ready, I'll invite everyone I can think of to come by and check things out. That's the real fun of it all. For now, check out a few more Christmas pictures I just posted on my website.

More music industry DIRT

2005-11-22T13:05:00.000-08:00

Coincidentally, I just read that Elliot Spitzer's (NY state's attorney general) office just came to an agreement with Warner Music where Warner will pay 5million in fines for it's "payola" scandals. This summer Sony Music settled for 10 million for the same sort of scheme.

This is Reason #473 why Matt vehemently dislikes the major record companies. Basically, Warner and Sony paid DJ's, stations, and networks like Clearchannel to play their artist's records. The labels would line up contests, pay for trips, electronic equipment, prizes, etc. etc. in order for their artists to get more air time. Interestingly, this case pointed out that the stations and DJ's were essentially soliciting the labels for kickbacks. Certain DJ's wouldn't play an artists songs unless the label paid them for the priviledge.

In the previous post I mentioned that sales are in a slump because there is an inordinate amount of CRAP being pushed in the mainstream markets. If you are a budding band trying to make a start for yourself and get some airplay - or if you are a band who happens to be on a smaller or independent label - you have no chance against the machine that is the large Labels. As long as labels have to trow money at stations for airplay, only the larger names like Brittney and Christina are going to have a shot at airplay.

Anyway, it's discouraging to say the least. I just keep supporting online formats and online sales and anxiously watching and waiting as the general music industry sales figures crash each quarter. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch...

Buy 1 get 1 free

2005-11-22T12:42:00.000-08:00

Usually I like to buy something and get something else for free. I think most people do. Sometimes poeple are more apt to buy an item if there is something of value that comes with it for free. It's a good sales tool...

I don't think that was Sony Music's plan however. Sony didn't advertise what you got for free when you bought one of 52 select CD's. So... what was it? You got a nice piece of code added to your computer when you played any one of those 52 CD's. I actually only mention this for two reasons. 1) I have a tendancy to hate msuic companies and 2) you might have purchased Switchfoot's last CD.

Other than violating your privacy, you might be saying, "so, what's the big deal to me?" Well, I'm glad you asked. When you play one of these special copyrighted CD's on your computer the CD adds a bit of code to your Windows registry. The aim was to make it so that you could only copy the CD three times. Anyway, without getting technical, the problem is that you now have a bit of code that hackers have the opportunity to exploit in order to maliciously use your computer. As of right now, you cannot remove the code either. Sony Music came out with an uninstaller, but it didn't work as planned. So, you'll have to watch for them to release a working version.

Sony has about 5 million of these CD's on the market - over two million have been sold already. They recalled all 5 million. Along with the recall Sony has incrred the wrath of many consumer advocate groups - and rightfully so. They didn't tell anyone that they were going to be adding potentially hazardous code to your computer. Well, maybe Sony will one day wake up and realize that the music industry sales slump isn't a result of incresed piracy, but a result of the mainstreaming of musical choices and the general push of Crap that they are selling.
Then again, I could be wrong...

Planned Parenthood:1 Babies:0

2005-11-09T13:02:00.000-08:00

Let me ask you a question. Maybe a couple questions actually.

Do you have to have parental consent to get a tattoo if you are a minor?
Do you have to have parental consent to get your ear pierced if you a minor?
Can you legally enter into a contract if you a minor?
Can you legally drive a car unrestricted if you're under 16?
Can you buy a gun if you are a minor?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, kill yourself, you are a burden on society. Just kidding... sort of.

Yesterday, Californians answered this question:
Do you have to tell your parents if you are going to have an abortion?
And 52 odd percent of the populous voted NO.

So, logically, let me get this straight. Teens - or minors if you wish - are not equipped to make the decision to get a tattoo. They don't have the tools do decide if they should get their ear pierced. They are not intelligent or responsible enough to vote or to consume alcohol. BUT, they can choose, on their own, to kill their baby. Does anyone else see an illogical parallel between all of these things? Is terminating a viable life a lighter decision than piercing your tongue?

There are no good arguments as to why a minor shouldn't have to notify their parents before getting an abortion. Not one. Anyway, I'm glad I don't live in California anymore. By the way, all 8 propositions were voted down in CA yesterday.

Day of the living dead

2005-09-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

This almost sounds like a Halloween post. There's a pale guy that's been skulking about the cubicles today, drooling and groaning as he stares blankly off into space. That guy is me. "Here are the sales orders you wanted," they say. "Arrrggghh!" Dribble. Dribble. Co-workers scurry away in fear. They know the only things that can appease me are chocolate milk and Chicken Noodle Soup - neither of which the average white collar offcie worker wanders around with.

I crave not thine TPS reports or thine Order Updates. NO. I need cough syrup and Zithromax!

Anyway, tonight I'll try to lave the cold sweats and the excessive drooling, slow impaired speech and child like swagger behind as I press forward toward Des Moines. Then on to Springfield. And so on until I have consumed all of the chocolate milk and chicken and stars soup I can find!

Someday I'll post here

2005-08-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

Someday I'll post something of significance here. People will come here and read this post and their lives will be changed. They will probably be stupider - or at least more confused. I'm sure that both people who come here to read my posts will be deeply moved by my amazing wit and ability to bring grown men to tears through my verbiage. Someday... Until then, check out the background. It's so sandstone looking, isn't it? Cool.