net down!! net down!!!!!

For those of you who care, sorry I have been gone for so long. I have had a few topics to explore, but not the "umph" enough to actually put them to keyboard. Then, there was the net down days.

Saturday, my fantastic wife undertook a re-decorating project (which is really a re-arranging project when you rent and dont want to figuratively flush money with paint expenses). She moved the desks and chair around in our office which have actually made it a much nicer room and in the 3 days since, I have actually used the room to watch TV 2 times, which is 2 times more than the previous 8 months of living here.

The snag...
Our wireless router didnt set itself back to its previous settings, locking us out and shutting down our wireless network. This is a big deal becuase our desktop is dreadfully slow and we like to surf and blog from the comfort of our couch. So, the crisis of our weekend was no net.

But alas...
It only took 2 periods of tonight's hockey game and a call to India to get the router reset and the laptops back connected to the glorious world wide web. What would we do without this majic machine of cyberspace???



So, things have been a little slow around here lately, but steady and good. I like to think of it as a fidelity building period. It is easier to be faithful when things are frantic for one reason or another, but when things are quiet, it is easy to be lazy. But, tonight, I was not lazy: I FIXED MY ROUTER!!!! Whooo Hoooo!! Tom

And I ran for 30 minutes this morning...big day, big day.


Tomorrow Night, I shall embark on a broken toilet.

ps.
I updated my music listings, here they are.
Yellowcard- Lights and Sounds, catchy song, cd on sale
Dixie Chicks- the new one, good so far
Sanctus Real- interesting, and actually a Christian Group
Arctic Monkeys- Getting my 'punk' on. they are good

Jury is still out, but it looks like we have 4 winners here.

pps. I also finished 2 of the books and an updated book list will be coming soon.

kicked

Took a bike ride today with two people from town here who are in pretty good shape. Nope, REALLY good shape. This highlighted the fact that I am now in REALLY BAD shape. We rode for about 1 hour, 45 minutes and probably close to 18 miles. They were waiting on me the entire ride.
I feel good though. My body is fatigued, but a good kind of fatigued. I really need to get in shape, lose 25-35 pounds if possible, and "change the shape of things." I could be more healthy and could take care of myself better. I was not blessed with 135 pound genes, neither were my parents, so looking like Lance on a bike is a bit of a stretch, but, I am on the way. Wish me luck.
And, despite the fact that I was doggin it for 2 hours this morning, this is a very beautiful place to ride. If you come to visit, bring your road bike and a get ready for some hills.

peace

surrounded

I've been surrounded.
Let me explain. (this one is a little long, but potentially worth it)

This week I am in ATL for the Festival of Homoletics. For those of you that don't know what homoletics is, it is the study of preaching, basically. The Festival of Homoletics basically amounts to the mainline protestant preacher's all star weekend. Annually they gather to hear sermons and lectures about sermons. It is explained how great and faithful and meaningful our work is in spite of its frustrations and difficulties. Along with being admonished and encouraged, we are challenged to take it to the next level, preach with beauty, challenge and purpose. Preach the gospel. It is the preacher's equivalent to Emeril's 'Bam!!'

Now, to how I am surrounded.

As I type I am postponing writing my Sunday sermon while at a coffee shop called 'octane'. The curse is I pretty much have it in my head, and it is tedious to get it in print. But, I am surounded at the moment by apple laptops. Until this second apples were ruling my area of the shop, butan IBM just opened behind me to make it 2 IBMs, 6 apples, and 4 other IBM clones. Gmoney is threatening that they will take us over, yet they are the ones finally installing intel chips. So in this shop seems to be a haven for a variety of people with a high concentration of apple lovers and great coffee. Apple people, for the most part, have a keen sense of style and beauty. I am a fan, though not a follower. I was literally born into an IBM family. Big Blue paid lots of bills and old habits are hard to break.

Continuing on this theme, we return to the Festival of Homoletics. This is not a Baptist preachers festival. There are a few of us here who appreciate a different flavor than we have grown up with, but for the most part I am surrounded in worship by methodists, presbyterians, lutheran and UCC ministers. It is good, they are good people, but I am often behind in the liturgy, strange and awkward during the songs, and the culture is completely different. I am surrounded by people who are kindof like me, but not totally. It is a good, safe exercize in being in the minority. Strange, yet novel at the same time.

But, the best example of being surrounded that strangely happend last night. Let me explain.

Monday night upon arrival we consulted TJ (gmoneys college roommate who now lives in atl) about a place for dinner. He suggested la Fonda a cuban/mexican cafe on Peachtree. It is right next to a pizza place I had eaten at before, but TONS better. I had a cuban sandwich which was about like a cheesesteak and was fabulous. The blackbeans and rice were great as well.
Based on his success the night before, we asked TJ about a place last night. After a couple of ideas, he asked if we were interested in wings. We ran 5 miles yesterday so we had earned some wings. Directions were given, then followed to Joes on Juniper in midtown. The hostess like host sat us outside and gave us menus. The high concentration of males was not noticible until gmoney noticed the rainbow flag on the roof of the building. The server had come; wings were ordered; we were in for the long haul. All of the sudden the host fit in and all the 'chick' cars in the parking lot made sense: Punk'd by TJ.

But, the wings were fantastic, the people were polite and they knew we didnt really fit in. So, if I am ever jonesin' for wings when I am in atl, Joes will be in the conversation. We had a great meal and interesting expereince at Joes. It was different to be in a place so out of our element. Fortunately we were not privy to anything explicitly immoral, and we are left only with the need to repay TJ, all in good fun. Hope you had a laugh over this, we did.

weekend review

We pulled the top of the jeep yesterday and went for a drive and a hike. Our first stop of the drive was along the Blue Ridge Parkway here and our dog, UB decided to take a look at the scenery. After 15 miles on the parkway we went to a state park called Stone Mountain and hiked about 4 miles around this little mountain that looks just like the big one in Atlanta. No rebel generals here though. A little chicken on the grill made for a nice day.
Today: Sunday School, Worship with baby dedication, and lunch at the Country Club with a church member...kinda out of our league. A little nap and then prep for a trip to ATL.

I am off to ATL tomorrow for the Festival of Homiletics. Again, out of my league, I will be listening to sermons from some of the best in the nation. Then I have to preach next week so I will be taking notes. Off to bed now. I hope you enjoy the pic.
peace
aho

back to bloggin

I have been in the basement for a while and now I am emerging with the first blog in a week. Unfortunately, I am not sure there is much to say, but I will begin and see what comes. I will try not to ramble and I will be using bold headings so you can skip down as you wish.

Today
I went to Winston for a meeting and to accomplish a mission: get a haircut. Well, it didn't take long and I found a salon in a trendy place and got an average haircut. The stylist was nice, but as I think about it, my hairs are WAY too short; think Tom Cruise in Top Gun. I may be overstating, but it is not my usually choppy textured mess that Shannon has hooked me up with for so long. But, Shannon is in Raleigh and I am not. Gotta find something else.
I stopped in an outdoors store and had a great talk with the owner. It is a very high end hiking and camping store, but it is this guy's dream and he is loving it and it is going well. We had conversations about supporting the little guy instead of wally-world and he also gave me the number of another preacher in Mayberry who skateboards. I am excited about saving up my pennies and nickels and shopping at his store, but I am even more pumped about skateboarding with a late 30's presbyterian minister.

Bike Ride
I have a bike ride scheduled for the morning. It will be my first of in several years, and my first in the foothills. The last time I was on a road bike for any amount of time I was in Texas, and it was flat. We will be riding some hills and I just hope my bike has a low enough gear and I have enough gas. I passed on potatoes and ice cream tonight in favor of strawberries and green veggies to go with my grilled brautwurst. Tommorow, I may commit to green veggies for a long time.

Margin of error
If there is any thought that has been in my head alot lately, it has been this: life's margin of error is slim. I am not trying to be morbid or overly serendipitous, but really, there are near misses every day.
Just think about it next time you are passing a car on the highway, 5-7 feet from the other 2 ton heap of metal, at 75 mph. Or, the guy that ran a red light and just missed: I saw that today. What about that cup of coffee next to your keyboard. The red kool-aid or merlot on the corner of the endtable.
I am not saying all of these things are life of death, but, it has just been eye opening as I have been looking at this recently

Current listening

(I know the cd is big, but this one is not really recognizable in its smaller size)
I have been listening to DMBs Central Park concert. It is good, but it also has a great selection of my favorite songs. One line has stuck out this week though:

"my head won't leave my head alone, and I dont beleve it will til I'm 6 feet underground"

It is from the song Rhyme & Reason, whose title I had to actually look up. It is just weird how we get into such strange mind games with ourselves. I have recently been battling with lack of discipline and I often think about how I deal with being lazy at times and how sometimes I just click through things easily. I dont know what else to say, but in the words of the Ghetto Boys: my mind is playin tricks on me. See New Jack City I think. I never say it but think that song was on the soundtrack.


Next Week

I am headed to the ATL monday thru Friday for the Festival of Homiletics. It is pretty much a preaching conference with some really great preachers. I will be going with g-money and we will be listening to preachers and eating good food, hopefully. He promised workouts and with triathalons on the horizon for both of us, there is no time like the present to get working.

I wish you the best and thanks for reading.

Anything??? bueller???

el cuatro de mayo

Nothing really special to note today. I took a picture of the rain outside and was going to post it, but I left my hotsync cable at home so I cant upload it to the computer from my phone.
It has been a busy week. I have been late to work everyday, but have worked late several days and worked on my day off, yesterday.

This weekend should be nice. I need to run and workout a couple of times and Sunday is packed. Church all morning, luncheon after worship, VBS meeting at 330, sundayschool class party at 5pm, youth group stuff from 5-8ish. It will be a busy day and I certianly wont get my regular nap and will have to try hard not to be cranky.

In youth ministry, May is summer planning month. For the most part, kids are busy at school, saying good bye to their senior friends (only to see them everyotherday this summer), and getting ready to ascend the school totem pole one more slot. I, on the other hand, am beginning to live in June and July in order to line up activities and people to help kids have a great summer.

Since it is raining, I think I am going to work inside today. I need to get some promotinal stuff together for our summer mission trip to NYC and our camp at Fort Caswell here in NC.

Now, it is time for lunch. I need to go to Staples here in town to get a couple of things for my promo projects and to eat some lunch too. I guess I will go home and raid whatever it is we might have, which wont be much.

Looking forward to my 3000th hit here at open ahos head, and we are going strong on 3 weeks with no substantative comments. Rest up, get ready to come strong this summer.
peace
aho