Scottbane

That is one of the flavors of Ivanna Cone I tried for the first time this evening. Alright, it isn't actually called Scottbane, but it should be. It was Chocolate Covered Espresso Bean. A chocolate ice cream with ground beans in it. Really great. My kind friends were able to do what I could not and secure some of Haagen-Dazs new flavor, Mayan Chocolate, for me. I'll keep you updated. So far my favorite flavor from the Dazs is their Chocolate Peanut Butter.

Black and Tan is my favorite Ben & Jerry's variety. I like their ice cream quality, it is smooth and very edible, but they try to do to much with their flavors. It seems they have at least four things going on in each pint. First an ice cream flavor, then two things going on with the mix-ins (either a coated or filled thing or two different entities), and finally a ripple of fudge or caramel or berry. Just chill. Of course it can work to have multiple elements in an ice cream flavor, but the more variables the more opportunity to disappoint. One of my favorite chocolate ice creams, which is how I judge a brand, is Godiva's milk chocolate.

I've now tried the Mayan Chocolate. It is a "rich chocolate ice cream with a fudge swirl and a hint of cinnamon." It was very smooth ice cream. The fudge swirl was a pleasant accent. The "hint" of cinnamon was not as subtle, which is okay, but distracts from the chocolate. Chocolate Peanut Butter still reigns.

Signature

Saturday night, I went to the Da Vinci Code with Karen. I enjoyed it. I haven't read the book, I've heard a couple passages when Scott was listening to the audio book, but that was it. I thought all the actors were fine in their roles. Ron Howard did a fine job keeping the tempo, considering they could get bogged down in the conspiracy theory and miss out on the action. Overall, it was National Treasure with international sets and European actors. A cerebral Indiana Jones is a fair comparison. As for the actual conspiracies, I don't really care about them. If someone were to lose their faith or religion because of them, they didn't lose much.

Sunday, I did my two for one special with X-Men 3: The Last Stand, and Over the Hedge. X-Men has potential, Ebert talks about how the plot evokes a myriad of social issues. It didn't do that for me. I liked the second installment better, more history and personal conflict. Famke Jansen's Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix is supposed to have a personality conflict issue but you really can't tell from her acting, only when she delivers the lines do you know. So I think this trilogy would compare (on a much much smaller scale) with The Godfather. One and two were great with three finishing the job but poorly. Buffy would appreciate that the mother from House of Sand and Fog is a scientist in the movie.

I liked Over the Hedge. On a smaller scale (again), they had their musician companion with three songs from Ben Folds. I liked them and have always liked him. This is where the use of a know talent worked for them. The voice cast was most all known actors: Nic Nolte, Bruce Willis, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Wanda Sykes, Steve Carrell, Gary Shandling, Allison Janney, Avril Lavigne, and William Shatner. I have two and a half takes on the voice work. Nolte, Willis, and Shatner weren't able to enter into or create another character with their voices for the film. Shatner worked though because they embraced his mystique with the script, lots of dramatic CAN'T . . . .GO . . . . . . . ON!!! stuff. Nolte's voice, while full of character, never translated to his character, and Willis was weak (much better in the Look Who's Talking Franchise). Sykes was very similar to Shatner, in that the role was written for the actor, not requiring much more than being herself. Levy, O'Hara, Carrell and Shandling were successes. I could tell it was them, but if I didn't know them I would still be pleased with the results. They each become their character. Carrell's experience voicing Gary from the Ambiguously Gay Duo probably helped. And I'm sure Levy and O'Hara's sketch and improv work aided them.

After watching this movie, I'm rethinking my disdain for celebrity voiceover work in commercials. John Krasinski (ask.com), Gary Sinise (Cadillac), Dennis Haysbert (All State), George Clooney (Budweiser), and Kathleen Turner all have fine voices, not their fault they can also act. Maybe some voice over artists are doubling up their talents as well, working as cabbies at night or bartenders. Oh well.

They Scream

against ice cream!? I mentioned the Black and Tan rhubarb in my previous post. I thought I would provide some more evidence that the world aches to defame ice cream because it is so joy inducing. Meet the innocent Nogger Black. And the defenseless treat's detractors. That blasted "diasporic African culture;" always getting in the way.

Bill of Fare

Rhubarb Crisp. Strawberry Rhubarb Custard Pie.

7ish. Our Apartment. Bean Bags. Be There.

Caring Hearts and Killing Cars

This past week end, I drove up to SD then hitched a ride to DAA for my sisters graduation. I left at 6:12 am on Friday morning and 424 miles later at 12:07 pm I arrived in Rockham. Yes, I sped. On my way up, I hit a smaller bird. Then going up to DAA, we (my mother, Denny and I) hit a larger bird. The weekend's events went smoothly without any major hitches in the giddy-up. I'll share my notes that I took in the program later.

One fun piece of advice that Charles Reel, Dakota Conference Treasurer, gave in his commencement address: "If you lend someone $20 and you never see them again, it was probably worth it."

I stayed, after we packed my sister up on Sunday, to ride back from DAA to Rockham. Yes, we hit another bird. Monday was cleaning out the front porch and playing plenty of bean bags. I headed out for Lincoln later than I wanted, so I sped again. This time though, I was pulled over and given a ticket. Oh well. I felt no remorse or guilt or anger or anything really. It was a consequence of breaking the law like falling off a table is consequence of gravity. Then I stopped at the Wal-Mart to get a pint of ice cream and Arrested Development. Jennapher was the girl that checked me out, literally, not as figuratively. Why would a parent do that to their child? I was fortunate to purchase gasoline for 2.57 in Sioux City. Who knows when gas will be that cheap again. Then an hour later, I hit a deer. Don't worry; I was terribly precise with my hit. The deer only took out my headlight, nothing else.

So if you're keeping score, I had four legs to my journey, and each resulted in a dead animal. Four for Four.

The caring heart of the title is the scholarship my sister won from the NAD.

Answers and More Part Two

Jeff and Amy both mentioned my kowtowing statement in their comments, so I guess it deserves more clarification because it touches on other things.

RESPECT. By kowtow, I meant servile deference and from fawn: obsequious (to follow) behaviour. And a God who chases humans around with his love hoping they'll take it from him is obsequious and servile. But, thanks to some clarification from Jeff, God doesn't do that, so he isn't servile or obsequious or fawning. He is steadfast and powerful and loving. I can and do respect that. Amy, you thought if I were God that I wouldn't kowtow to humans. I probably wouldn't, but that doesn't mean I'd be a good God, and I think we're all fortunate I'm not.

VALUE. I'll try to make the last part of my previous post a bit clearer, hopefully Ockam won't get me. I'll rephrase by saying, "I don't find my value in the fact that God sacrificed his son for me." Jeff, you're right that my possibility comes from the Creator. [While the previous assumption about unrequited love being more valuable has been debunked, I'll continue to defend my reasoning. I figured rejected love was more valuable, so if I accepted God's love instead of rejecting it, that made it less valuable. So according to that thinking, identifying yourself by a love you have devalued by accepting it doesn't make sense. That is why I don't identify myself by God's love for me. I hope I provided more answers than questions.]

MORE. I talked about my disillusionment before in the "Jeremy Birge" post. Now I'll talk a bit about my beginning and a different disillusionment. I was baptised the summer before my freshman year. I chose to be baptised because I wanted to be part of the Remnant (there was a Prophecy Seminar the previous autumn from our pastor.) We were in the eleventh hour of eschatological time. I didn't want to miss out. The problem with this was that ten years later I don't have that urgency, and since I was baptised into the second, not first, advent part of Seventh-Day Adventism, I'm left with not much. When I was baptised, I didn't really accept what I should have as a baptismal candidate, Christ's sacrifice. This continued from that point. I've never prayed to Jesus, always God. So I understand my circumstances have come from my past and my honesty, or lack thereof, with what I truly believe. Which brings us to . . .

BELIEF. To me belief is an acceptance of an intangible based on evidence. Faith is acceptance of an intangible in spite of evidence. Faith is important, as hope is important. I believe in God and have faith in many aspects of Him. A lot of my evidence of God comes from my ability to reason. I've also felt strong emotion during worship which I attribute at least partly to God. I also hope that there is a god, which is my main exercise in faith.

Vansittart Huggins

Answers and More Part One

I thank all who commented on my Another Try post. Your comments and concerns are very appreciated. I hope to address some of the latter here.

I realize I don't live in a vacuum. I know that I have family and friends that are interested in what I believe and think, especially when those beliefs and thoughts are in conflict with their own. I might have mentioned this before in a follow-up comment, but I want to reiterate that my beliefs don't derive from any of my experiences with other Christians, and actually if they did, I'd probably be finishing up in the Seminary right now. I have many friends and family members whose faith in Christ I admire, and envy. BUT I don't think God wants me to believe based on others, but from my own thoughts and experience with Him.

Since my last post on this topic, I've been reading again from Clive Lewis' Mere Christianity, namely book two What Christians Believe. Page 52 at the end of chapter 3 in that book:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him( Christ):'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a man or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

I agree. So instead of going with what I said earlier about Jesus being a great moral teacher. I'm going to have to go with one of the other two choices.

Page 55: We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself. That is the formula. That is Christianity. That is what has to be believed.

That is not what I believe.

Terri wanted to share 1 John 5 with me. Verses 1 and 5: Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.
5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

I believe the first verse says if you believe Jesus is the saviour you are born of God and also that if you love God you also love Jesus, and yourself since you are born of God if you believe Christ (a bit circular). And as for the fifth verse, I'm not really looking to overcome the world.

Jeff made some good points and asked some good questions which I'll try to do justice to now. LOVE. I agree with you Jeff and thank you for your perspective. It makes sense that God, who is unchanging, would have love that is also unchanging. I guess the pill I have a hard time swallowing is that the Crucifixion is the best manifestation of that love.

I've been working on this post since Tuesday, I'll give you what I have now and be assured I'm not done. Til part two. TTFN

Dale Vassantachart

Dustin Halfman

Dustin Hoffman was the Marathon Man in film of same name. I'm just half the man he was.

I finished today in 1:54:27. My mother finished in 2:54:24. I'd like to give a big shout out to Erin Brumbaugh of Sidney, IA. I was fortunate to run with her from miles 8.5 through 11.5 (where I kinda hit a wall). She wore a Rolling Stones t-shirt and made pleasant conversation. You can go here if you want to see other results or more detailed results for other participants like Greg Okimi, Andrea Blake, Yolanda Blake, Mindy Mekelburg, Greg Carlson, and the aforementioned Ms. Brumbaugh.

On the whole, I enjoyed the experience. My first mile, while sorting out the opening was ten minutes. Mile 2 was nine minutes. My fastest mile was probably the sixth going north on 48th to Hwy 2. It took me 71 minutes to get to the eighth mile. 1:27 at the ten mile mark. Then a bit past the eleventh mile marker I kinda seized up and had to walk for a bit.

My "strategy" was to just go however for the first 4 or 5 minutes of each mile, then I would run faster passing people for the last bit til I reached the next mile marker. I guess it worked. I ran 10 miles on Friday, because "they" said I should run at least that before doing the 13.1. Now if I do 3 tomorrow I have the three day marathon.

After the marathon my parents and I went to Granite City for their brunch. Very tasty. You must try eggs benedict, turkey ham instead of canadian. Alright, I'm done.