I saw this on another blog. It may only be interesting to computer geeks, but it's somewhat humorous.

Labels: blogosphere, humor, politics

I subscribed to a new podcast last night. It's new to me, but the messages are about a year old.

I had read about Tony Campolo on Brad Wynne's blog and in The Irresistible Revolution, but I had never read anything by him or heard him speak.

I listened to a talk he did titled, "The Kingdom of God is a Party”. It was awesome. He is passionate, funny, and challenging. If you have never heard him speak, I encourage you to tune in.

Labels: church, podcast

I saw a preview for this movie the other night. I am really intrigued by it, but I'm not sure I should spend eight bucks to go watch a movie about America's debt. Something about that just doesn't seem right.

Labels: entertainment

The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman includes an entire chapter devoted to hobo matters. It's quite humorous. If you've never heard of John Hogman, "He's a PC". Anyways, until Friday, that was as close as I had ever came to a hobo.

Friday after work I helped a friend with a two car, one driver problem, and I ended up not having time to make it to my house before I needed to be leaving my house. The wife and I were headed to Durham with a bunch of friends to celebrate a couple birthdays. I was between my house and Durham. So, I thought it pointless to drive east just so I could drive back west. This left me waiting to be picked up at Ridgewood shopping center on Wade Ave.

Also, hanging out at Ridgewood shopping center were Dustin, Hannah, and Tom. I met Dustin as he was standing at the entrance to the shopping center holding a sign. The sign said something like Traveling, Hungry, Vegan. I saw him as I drove in and I felt compelled to go talk to him. I mean, I didn't have anything else to do, except wait.

It turns out that Dustin and his two friends were traveling back from Elizabeth City. They were headed back to Greensboro. Dustin's girlfriend, Hannah, and her family recently moved to Greensboro from Las Vegas. He decided to follow along. Hannah is seventeen and Dustin is eightteen.

I asked Dustin what the point of him standing by the entrance with his sign. He said he was just looking for a few folks to "throw down" a couple bucks so that he could get some vegetables. I told him I had time and money. So, if he wanted, we could head over to the Whole Foods. He was down, so we headed for the market. I guess this is as good a time as any to let you know that Dustin may have been the most unique looking individual I have ever talked to. I would try to paint you a picture, but it most likely would not do him justice.

I had only been to that store once, and as we walked in, I said, "this place seems fancy." He mentioned that he didn't care that much for the place1, but appreciated me hooking him up. He told me stuff about how much food places like that throw out each day because it is passed its sale by date. He started picking up various fruits and vegetables. I told him to get as much as he want bcause if I didn't spend the money on him, I would end up wasting it on myself. This led to a discussion about my questioning my consumption and that of America at large. A sentiment we shared.

While we waited in line we talked more about consumption. We talked about the issue of people in the world not having clean water, while we buy billions of dollars of bottled water each year. He made a statement that I have not confirmed, yet, but it sounded plausable. He said the Dasani, a Coke product, is bottled in India, a country with tons of people without clean drinking water. I bought his food, and it ended up only costing us $3.26. The lady at the register gave us a peach for free because it wouldn't ring up correctly.

Once outside, we sat with Hannah and Tom. We talked about random things. They asked what I did. I asked what they did. Come to find out, they don't do much. They just sort of travel around. I asked them if they always hitch-hike. They said, no, sometimes we hop trains.

I thought...
So, you're telling me that you just travel around hitch-hiking and hopping trains. You guys are hobos. Real live, in the flesh hobos.

I was unaware that hobos existed outside of novels, movies, and John Hodgman's book. These three, though oddly dressed, were just normal people; What ever that means. I wish they lived here in Raleigh. It would be great to get to know them better. maybe our paths will cross again. Until then, I wish them the best of luck in their travels.

This went long. Personally, I don't like long posts on blogs. I rarely read them. So, thanks if you stuck it out to the end. If you just gave up and skimmed to the bottom. No hard feelings.

1. You wouldn't look at Dustin and think, "this dude is into fancy places."

Labels: indiscriminate

Taken from water.org1

Today, March 22, has been designated World Water Day – an international day of observance and action to draw attention to the plight of those without access to safe drinking water.

It's hard to imagine life without clean water. I mean, we worry so much about the cleanliness of the water coming out of our tap that we buy bottles of water. However, there are billions of people across the globe that don't have to worry about levels of chlorine, fluoride, PCBs, or THMs. They have to worry about other things, like disease.

Take some time today to educate yourself on what it's like to live in another part of the world. It may make you think twice about complaining about where you do live.

1. ...without their permission. I hope they don't mind.

Labels: activism

According to my latest cable bill time warner cable customers in Raleigh will recieve a free week of HBO and HBO OnDemand from April 6 - April 13. Mark your calendars. Set Your DVRs.

Labels: entertainment

Twenty-five weeks and counting. Lil' Bojangles will be here before you know it. We are selling the naming rights for our child on eBay1. Right now, Bo's has the winning bid with a year's supply of Supreme Dinners, with french fries and iced tea, of course.

1. Dear people who do not find this funny and/or people that actually are interested in purchasing the naming rights, We are not really selling the naming rights. We have already decided that whether the baby is a boy or a girl, we are going to name it Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff Smith, and we will call it Biscuit for short.

Labels: baby

N.T. Wright made another point in his talk that I liked. It was about Easter.

He pointed out that in Western Christianity, we have started putting more emphasis on Ash Wednesday and Lent, to go along with the emphasis on Holy Week for a long time. We have special services for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and then we end the week with an Easter Vigil.

He said something like, "It's wonderful that we take the time to remember these things. Lent can be a great time to develop discipline and self-control. However, if we are going to leave something behind for Lent, we need to think about what we are going to pick up for Easter." What is going to change? He commented that we have all these services leading to Easter, but then once Easter Sunday comes and goes, we go back to our lives. He said, "This is the time of year when Bishops go on holiday." But, he suggested that this is not how it should be.

Easter should be a time of celebration, not just a time when we go back to doing the things we stopped doing for Lent. As Christians, this should be such a time of celebration that people ask, "What is this partying all about?" We should be so excited that our Lord has risen that it shows in our lives. N.T. Wright said, "What ever you do at Christmas, you should do ten fold at Easter. Why not have 40 days of partying, from Easter to the ascension?"

Easter is coming. The tomb is empty. Let's celebrate.

Labels: church

This past weekend, I took a road trip with some friends to Roanoke to see N.T. Wright speak. He gave several talks during the end of last week and the weekend. We only saw him speak on Sunday morning. One point that he made that stuck with me was this (I'm paraphrasing because I was not taking notes.):

We, as humans, are to be mirrors and reflect God's love to the world, it is a part of image bearing, but, therein lies the issue. We are not only a part of the solution, but also a part of the problem.

Labels: church, travel

A few weeks ago I had a few friends join the blogosphere. They both started off with some really good posts, but then they disappeared. Did Al Gore take away Jeramie's blog because he was driving a rental SUV? Did Jonathan run out of videos from YouTube to post? Are you guys still you there?

Labels: blogosphere

Well, I was going to ask "Where does one find the balance between sharing all things (Acts 4:32) and simply enjoying what God has blessed you with?", but when I did a quick search for scripture relating to finding joy in what God has blessed you with, I couldn't find anything that said what I wanted.

So, can someone point me to scripture that validates the idea that I should do things or buy things that only benefit me; The idea that I should be okay with spending time or resources on something that brings only me pleasure?

Labels: questions

Well, I guess it's just that time of year. Just like every year, madness abounds in March. Yesterday, every game in the ACC tournament was won by the lower seed. Given that I'm a State fan, I have a propensity to root for the underdog1. So, needless to say, yesterday's outcomes made me smile.

Last night, the Wolfpack managed to take out the Dookies, and now have to face the Virginia Cavaliers, tonight at 7. Dan Kesler just called me and invited me over to watch the game with a bunch of folks. He said I could invite anyone I wanted. So, I am inviting all of you. If you don't know where the Chappell house is, just ask someone. Come one. Come all. Come root on the underdogs.

Go Pack!

1. Including this underdog, as well as, orphans and widows.

Labels: sports

There's a blog that I follow written by a lady that lives in Africa. She writes a weekly column for the UPI about her experiences. That's how I found her.

You may have heard the Bono recently won the Chairman's Award at the 38th NAACP Image Awards1. Well, she linked to a video of his acceptance speech on YouTube. You can see it here.

1. The NCAAP and the ONE Campaign also announced that they will be partnering in the global fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. See more about that here.
   

Labels: activism, blogosphere

Tonight, I had a great night. I had dinner and hung out with a few of my favorite people over at the Rowes' place.

We had some awesome conversations. On the way home, I asked Kim what she thought about our "grown up conversations". It may seem like a funny label, but our talks were not your typical "how's it going?" or "did you see such-and-such on tv last night?", a lot of them were deeper than that. I felt like we talked about life. I'm glad I live in a community where I can discuss things that really matter.

I'm glad I can say "this is what I am thinking and why", and have people give their opinions and ask questions. You may think, "You can get that anywhere." And, you're right. You don't have to try very hard to ge people to throw out their opinions, or ask questions in an attempt to poke holes in your ideas, when they don't line up with the status quo. What I feel like I have is an environment where I can share something that might be considered radical, and have people ask questions for clarity, where the answers are not only for them, but also for me. They try to understand where I am coming from, but also try to make sure that I know where I am going. They push me.

We also had a conversation that has been needed for a long time. I think that even as close as we are, we fail to be truly authentic. There are things that are done or said with good intentions, that have effects that are not what was intended. However, the negative effects get masked by sarcasm¹, laughter, or silence. Over time, these negative effects build to the point where something that was meant for good, never has a chance. It immediately gets a "here we go again" reaction.

Our discussion covered the topic of how important the language we use is to spreading our message. It was incredible how everyone felt the freedom to express their opinons. People would ask questions and statements, not in a way that was judging, but in a way that was refreshing. It wasn't a debate where any one person or party was trying to win. It was as if we were on a journey in search of answers, or truth, and we were doing it together, in community.

Tonight, I think we experienced unadulterated, uncommercialized, unstructured, true church. Looking back, it was amazing.

Thank you for letting me be a part of your community, and lives.

¹ I would be the pot in this case.

Labels: church

Yesterday was the twenty-seventh anniversary of the day I was born. Overall, it was a good day. It would have been nice to have spent more time with my wife. Not because it was my birthday, but because we have only seen each other in passing since Monday. She did come over for lunch, but you probably figured that out from her comment on the previous post.

I had dinner at Baja Burrito¹, followed by some dessert with a bunch of guys that I like to hang out with. Then, some of us went to the NC State basketball game. The game was okay. State won, but it was late and some of us were tired. Plus, Walker and Texas Ranger, "we call him TR for short", were all hopped up on Mt. Dew and were sitting behind us. They would not shut up. People even moved to get away from the annoyance.

Like I said it was a pretty good day. Thanks to all the folks that called, emailed, and wrote on my facebook wall.

I would like to clarify something. I'm not opposed to other people celebrating birthdays. If you want to call me on my birthday, then feel free. I just don't expect it. I really didn't have much to do with my birth. So, the whole idea of celebrating me seems misdirected, but if you like to celebrate birthdays, have at it. I'm not going to be mad or annoyed that you called. It is actually nice to hear from people. It does make me wonder if they call simply because they are supposed to because it is my birthday, or if they call because they actually would like to talk to me. However, to the same degree that I am not annoyed when people call on my birthday, I am not disappointed when they don't. I'm not trying to convince others that they should look at birthdays like I do.

One thing that I would ask is that you please not spend money one me. If you feel that you have to spend money on my birthday, just give the money to some charity, or send me cash and I will do it. Whatever you do, don't buy me stuff. I already have too much stuff.

Matt, thanks again for the cake, and Jeff, I did remember one birthday party I have had. It was about five years ago when we lived in Florida. I threw it for myself. Think burgers and beer.

¹ I had forgotten how good that place was. It makes Moe's and Qdoba look like a bunch of gringos.

Labels: indiscriminate