Regular Life

Recently I happened to see a user’s Inbox. The two most recent e-mails had the following subject lines:

• Ephesians 3:20
• Naked Fireman Calendar 2008

It’s always fun to see seemingly competing moral messages in juxtaposition, and even more fun to imagine whether the sender was the same for each e-mail above.

For all those (including me) who don’t have that particular Bible verse memorized, here it is without the completion of the thought, just as referenced above (New International Version):

“²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,”

To make it more modern, let’s say, “him or her.” If we were talking about firefighters in general, then that verse would fit well. They certainly do things that most of us can only imagine.

Today’s discussion, however, covers a more specific niche — the naked fireman. This begs a less reverent approach.

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Finally, I have lifted the pall that covered my musical self for nearly 20 years.

Band. Call it what you will — it was fun, and by my senior high school year it had been a daily presence in my life for seven years. Well, every school day, that is. Like any other team, we learned the language of our art and practiced together to become a single unit moving toward a common goal. Before the school year started, we hit the practice fields twice daily to mark time against August’s 100-degree heat. We performed before live audiences thousands strong. In concert band, we tackled symphonies and overtures most bands wouldn’t attempt. We won awards at competitions.

Then, after my 1989 high school graduation, for me it all disappeared. I haven’t been a part of a team like that since, and I haven’t made music with anything but my own voice. Since then I have developed a habit of whistling, humming, and other methods of making music with my mouth. I think this is because every day during a period critical to development, my mind was programmed to expect that kind of activity. Not to mention the social aspect of band.

My freshman year in college I went as far as borrowing a horn and figuring out how to work band into my schedule, but in the end I didn’t go through with it.

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The Little Christmas

We arrived home well after dark on Christmas Eve and were not looking forward to baking cookies to leave for Santa, even though they were just the cut-off kind. What to our wondering eyes did appear? Why, a Rubbermaid TakeAlong container full of homemade goodies from our new neighbors. Score!

Despite that delightful find, Benjamin was rough that night. He happily sprinkled reindeer food on the front lawn, but didn’t want to do anything in our normal nightly routine. It was nearly 10 p.m. when he finally fell asleep. Being away from home for even a few days is hard for kids that age.

Christmas Day was great. After opening all that Santa had left us, we played with Ben’s new toys. I put together his scooter, but could handle only about 20 minutes outdoors with my sinuses fully enraged at the thought.

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Ben opens his first Star Wars gifts from Christmas 2007.
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Merry Christmas to all!

Update: Ben’s Uncle and Aunt J gave him these toys that made me pine for my old action figures.

Anyone whom we sent a Christmas card probably already has it, or will very shortly. It looks exactly like the image above. All of you who do not receive one can just look at the picture here. We’re not even sure we’re going to send out 70-something cards next year, so keep your eye here next year for the picture.

After we mailed those, we took a picture of all three of us that we think would have made a better card. There’s nothing wrong with having Benjamin represent our clan, but showing a smiling family really makes a Christmas card, doesn’t it?

You be the judge.

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Three toys I saw online made me scratch my head. We’ll get to those after a brief, topical discussion (210 words — short for me!).

On my lunch hour Monday, I heard Dr. Susan Linn deride children’s exposure to television commercials and media-based toys. Her organization, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, suggests buying toys that don’t have pre-packaged personalities or complete histories laid out in a show or a movie. She had an even lower opinion of toys that allow a child to be entertained at the press of a button. Give them room to apply their own imaginations, she suggests.

I like that idea, and our son often makes up his own stories and narration for various animals and vehicles. At the same time, however, he has a bin full of Cars characters. Even with those he makes up his own stories, so I think we’re maintaining a fairly healthy balance.

Dr. Linn did not address outdoor play. Benjamin and I bundled up twice last weekend for a ride on his “big wheel” (does everyone know what I mean when I use that term?). He constantly aches to play outside. I love that.

The first of the strange toys below seems like an attempt to combine indoor and outdoor play and take away the weather concerns. The others? Well, they just seem a bit odd.

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Click any image to enlarge, and then anywhere on this page to come back.

See more Wordless Wednesday participants at:
http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/

Once again, Europe gets the cool stuff before we do.

Can you imagine strolling to your local library to check out not a book, a CD, or a DVD, but a person? At least a few in Europe have tried it since the Roskilde Festival near Copenhagen did it in 2000. My page-a-day Uncle John’s Unstoppable Bathroom Reader Calendar tipped me off to a Holland public library that started a program in 2005.

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My spirits uplifted by my conversation with a total stranger whom I most likely never would see again, I certainly didn’t expect what came next.

I watched through the show room’s plate glass windows to the service bay. As our minivan Homer rested on the hydraulic lift, his tires helplessly hanging a few feet above the ground, I wondered what the hold-up was. Complimentary coffee in a pump-action carafe sat on a table below the windows. I thought about it, then remembered that anything but decaf would send me bouncing around the office like Cornholio.

A woman’s reflection walked up behind mine. I turned to face her, my head tilted down because she stood barely five feet tall, if that. She was a brunette with dashes of gray, about my age, dressed in casual business attire. I motioned toward the counter. “Go ahead. I’ve been helped already.” She stared blankly and said nothing.

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Those reading “Bernie” will find Part Nine picks up where Part Eight left off. Handy, eh?

In this space, I often post long missives whose message might be conveyed in far fewer words. I once read an article that stated the average Internet user has the attention span to read about 500 words. Yikes! That isn’t much space to convey my message. For those of us not doing this for money, making time to write short pieces is tough.

“What? It takes more time to write fewer words?” you might ask.

Yes, indeed. But don’t take it from me. Read the following quotes from two great minds of the past.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter.
Blaise Pascal, 1623 – 1662

I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.
Mark Twain, 1835 – 1910

Apparently Twain was so terribly short on time that he didn’t have time to come up with an original quote.

In storytelling, there’s obviously a little more wiggle room because it’s often better to describe a place for the reader rather than merely state its name. For letters, e-mails, or essays — particularly for work, wordiness is far from Godliness.

For those with a little more time on their hands, here’s an informative (and mercifully brief) piece geared toward writing concise essays (because, after all, aren’t blog posts like little essays?), but that could prove useful for other applications:
http://www.paulgraham.com/writing44.html