Not even lying...

McDonald's has the Monopoly game going again. I recently scored Park Place. If you, anyone in internet land, get's Boardwalk I will split the $$ with you. We'll get an attorney and draft a contract, do it right, and bam--done--

Seriously...

Not even kidding...

My childhood! Revived in a fun way...

Yes, after searching high and low, I've found a place where one can play the orignal "Oregon Trail" online. I absolutely loved this game, and it should come as no surprise after playing it for an entire Saturday, I still love it.

Also available at www.virtualapple.org:

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Lode Runner

Wheel of Fortune

Got a game you grew up on during computer time on the ol' apple IIe? You'l probably find it here...

...bad news though...

If you're a Mac user it won't work. You must play on a PC. Ironically, it's the only platform that this specific mac emulator will run on.

(you're hearing taps played on a bugle)

It was a sad day, kind of...

For about five minutes of it.

I picked up my lovely wife at work and we walked down Main street in search of a lunchtime destination. Her preference? The Greek Garden. A delightful little place that makes great gyros and is the only place close that does saganaki, or 'flaming cheese' as we call it. It hasn't been back open since the flood. It may not every open back up.

My first choice was Fuzzy Berstein's. A Jewish-Italian style deli further north on Main. They always had a great assortment of sandwiches and soups and the coffee wasn't bad either. To our surprise, the flood wiped them out too. The only thing in their space was a chalkboard sandwich board that simply said, "Thanks everyone. You were the best customers ever."

My sadness isn't because I was hungry and they wouldn't be hooking me up with lunch. Most people that start their own business do it for the love of it. Many of them have their dreams fulfilled by opening a little Greek place or a unique Jewish-Italian style deli. Unfortunately, they had to wake up far too soon...

So, we walked and reached our lunchtime destination. The food was great. Company was the best (love you, baby). And now that my belly's full (from a particularly good sandwich, by the way), I'm sure I'm bumed for the people that lost their little hunk of small business bliss, and less about the lack of good saganaki in the county.

Reason #117 why I love 'The Office"

I'd want to get more than necking out of that effort, too :)

If you don't watch the office, you don't know what I'm talking about...

Sorry?

Sorry, Tribe...

Maybe it's a different Ohio team's year. Apparently, Jesus is a Buckeye...

crap...

Fan-freakin'-tastic...

I wish there was more music like this...

Manny being Manny, yes...but

isn't he mostly right? Wedensday he said this when asked about his feelings about the possibility of being eliminated from the playoffs:

"If it doesn't happen, who cares?" "There's always next year. It's not like it's the end of the world."

Now, as an Indians fan, I appreciate the sentiment. For me, it wouldn't be the end of the world if the Red Sox lost tonight (or in game 6 or 7 for that matter). However, I found this particular statement to be interesting.

Like any fan of any sport, I want to see the players on my teams win or die trying; give all the effort they can (which is 100%, not 110%, thanks). We want to see them fight tooth and nail for victory, and we even see this lived out on the recreational fields of rec league softball games and all the way down to our 4 year olds playing soccer. Win! Win at all costs, dammit!

There's an outcry of "You lazy piece of crap" when we hear athletes, like Randy Moss, confess that he doesn't go all out on every play and he really only plays when he wants to.

I confess I'm one that gives Mr. Moss plenty of crap for that reason.

Is it just me, or is the only time we hear athletes say something like "You know, we play a game and that's all we do" when there's been some large sweeping national or internation tragedy? Then they go out, play, and with everything in proper perspective, everyone enjoys the games for the reasons we ought, because they're games.

Isn't poverty a large, sweeping national tragedy? What about the genocide in Darfur? What about the AIDS pandemic? No athletes keeping their jobs in perspective over these. There's often only a black stripe on a sleeve, or a flag on jersey, or a number or initials on a helmet or sleeve, or a pink bat. No keeping their 'recreationally based' careers in the perspective as they ought.

Manny just did. Although, I'm sure he wasn't trying to. He's more like the airhead you went to school with that got 100%'s on everything (not 110%'s). But, he did hit on something true that no one will look at as truthfully as they ought because there hasn't been something big and tragic to help us remember and give perspective.

They'll just pissed that he seems to not give a crap.

That's just Manny being Manny...

If you love food...

...you'll probably like this:

I did.

Sorry...had to giggle...

There is a town close to Findlay called Carey. And in Carey there resides a high Catholic population--there's actually a shrine there, too. It should also be noted that the Carey High School mascot is the Blue Devil...where am I going with this? I'm going here:

I went to Maria's Tacos to pick up lunch for the family today and walking out of the restaurant was a nun. No biggie. Not all that naturally occurring in Findlay, but she was there nonetheless and probably enjoyed what is the best taco in town. She got into her car and I noticed the ribbon-magnet thing on the trunk said out loud and proud, "GO DEVILS!"

The sight of a nun driving a car with GO DEVILS on the back made me giggle... Not an out and laugh, more like a giggle/snicker really.

I'm done now :)

GO TRIBE!!

In yet another effort to voice my love for the lovable Wigwam-ers of the Cuyahoga, I post this...

YANKEES SUCK! An I am TIRED of the ESPN east coast/big market bias. My Tribe looked awesome versus a collection talent. That's all that those crappy Yankees were, a collection of talent...nowhere close to a team.

Now, we feed the Red Sox the screws (and subsequently ESPN) and get to the series!!

Ahhh....much better...

A new addition

Because I go through CD's much faster than books, I've decided to add a feature I'm calling the CD of the month. If you're anything like me, you tend to get hooked on a CD for a period of time. Then you might move onto a new 'flava' and on and on it goes...

In an effort to accommodate this tendency in myself and possibly others, I'm adding this little feature--located in the column on the right. SO, you may do one or none of the following:

-Give a review of the CD if you listen to it.
-Suggest similar artists to me (and subsequently others).
-Suggest CD's to add to the list of consideration of CD's OTM.

Later...

Did I just write a Psalm?

God’s love confounds our mind
God’s love defies logic
God’s love is the most complete
God’s love is wider than mine

My mind’s limits can’t stop God from doing His thing
Doesn’t matter if I get it or not, God will be God.

My mind would never be able to think of enough ways to explain God’s love
My mouth would never run out of words
Even if I had all the words, my statements would still end with “but it’s more than that”

We are people that continue to look and still not see
Time and time again we hear, but we don’t listen

In the same way, our love will remain only in dimensions that we understand.
But,
God’s love is complete; I know this because I’ve felt it, and I know that despite my effort,

I can’t love like that.

And to me, that is confounding—
To know complete love, but not be able to love completely
To know how wide God’s love is, but not be able to love that widely

God, may we all fall in love with Your mystery


It's the mysterious, seemingly random actions (or desertions) that can be the biggest barrier to faith--for Christians and those who don't consider themselves Christian. But I can't help but think that it's not a reason to not love or not have faith in God, after all, God loves the hardest parts of us to deal with...

whether we acknowledge God or not...

Perhaps the biggest dis-service that the church has done over the past years is giving the impression that God loves if.

Truth is that God loves because...

taking some steps...

into the world of family cars...

And now, we have one. Here's a stock photo:



Same color without the rugged, grassy terrain.

We just picked up on Saturday. Reece LOVES it. We stopped by the dealership on Friday to look at it, and we took it for a spin. Reece (unprompted mind you) flatly says, "Daddy, can we tell Mommy we like this tar?"

Yes...yes we can, buddy.

The guys at the dealership were awesome, too. Our salesman was pretty decent overall. As we were signing the papers, two of them were on all fours racing toy cars on the floor with my boy.

Kudos, guys...

Proof positive to my thought-- cars are much more fun to buy when you don't have to buy one...