Reflections on Academy Snore

Believe it or not, we actually watched the mind-numbing exercise of self-congratulation that is the Oscars last night. It was even more lame than previous years because of all the independent movies up for awards that no one's ever heard of. But, there was on interesting tidbit last night that made it almost worth watching. The Best Supporting Actress award went to American Idol cast-off Jennifer Hudson for her role in DreamGirls. The lesson is that if you get kicked off of Idol, you too can win an Academy Award. Then a few minutes later, An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's movie on global warming, won for Best Documentary. The lesson is that if you lose a Presidential Election, you too can win an Academy Award! So, Hollywood is the refuge for all the real world losers out there.

Reflections on Snow Day

Here's the picture of the day. After getting almost a foot of snow in 24 hours, we were completely house-bound the past two days. Although we've been mostly stuck inside, today we ventured out and did some sledding. In case you're wondering, the person in the picture is my lovely and beautiful wife, Kathi.

Reflections on Political Puke

Since we've been back in Ohio, I've been getting a healthy dose of the Fox News Channel including all of its cohorts: O'Reilly, Cavuto, Hannity. Yep, it's neo-conservativism central. Kathi's dad would definitely consider himself conservative, so our news selections usually reflect that side of the political spectrum. It's been nothing but '08, Iraq, and the secular-progressive agenda the past week or so.

So, I can't stand politics. Believe me when I say that it's not because of apathy or ignorance that I am repulsed by it all. At one time, I really did try to have political convictions. Don't get me wrong...I have opinions. But, the more that I try to get a handle on current affairs, the more frustrated I become at the misinformation, agendas, and quasi-intellectual puke that is fed to us every day - Left and Right. By and large, politics isn't so much about doing what is right (I'm sure at the core of their beings, politicians have convinced themselves that they are righteous) but crafting the right image. So, now whenever I see Hillary or Hastert, I think of Isaiah 40:

All men are like grass
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field
The grass withers and the flowers fall
but the Word of our God stand forever.

Reflections on Super Bowl Shuffle

One of the benefits of living back in Ohio is that we are living near to a few very close college friends including the Floras and Surfaces. Yesterday, we headed down to Columbus to watch the Super Bowl (America's national holiday) with these four awesome people. It was disappointing watching the Bears choke Buckeye-style, but it wasn't disappointing hanging out with Brian, Karin, Randy, and Sarah. Great folks.

One piece of random trivia regarding the Super Bowl is that my recent Alma Mater, Trinity International University, has a connection with both teams. The son of Bears' coach Lovie Smith is currently the special teams coach for the Trinity football team. On the other side of the field, the defensive coordinator for the Colts, Leslie Frazier, was the first head coach and founder of the football program at Trinity. Neat, eh?

Reflections on Guitar Hero

I promised my dad that I was going to post this picture from Christmas on my blog. We spent much of the holiday playing "Guitar Hero 2" at my sister's place. The picture is of me rocking out to some great 80's metal song. It proves that I'm pretty much the most awesomest guitar hero ever!

Reflections on Packing Greatness

Here's a delightful view of the rear seat of our Honda Accord yesterday. It is perhaps the greatest packing achievement ever. Using ever cubic inch of space in that back seat and truck, we managed to get the rest of our belongings from Illinois to Ohio. So, now it is official. We are Ohio residents again!