I am busy this week working on 4 articles which all happen to be due on Friday. So I don't have time to tackle any of the more serious topics I hope to address in the near future.
But I wanted to give you something to check out in the meantime. I know I've posted a lot of videos lately, but this one is by far the best.
If you've ever played minesweeper, you need to check it out. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1770138
--Thanks for reading and watching
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
More YouTubing
As promised, here is the latest YouTube video from Steve and me. This one is for a Best Buy contest in which the videos are supposed to show why we need them to "tech out" our dorm room. I hope you like it.
I'm including the link here so you can check out the competition, post comments, or rate our video. If we make the top 20, the rating starts on August 22. Here's the link:
Steve n' Tyler's Best Buy video
-Thanks for reading and watching
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Showing grace at the Border...
Judging by my title, some of you probably thought this post would be about immigration laws. But don't worry, I wouldn't waste your time with a petty political post; I'm nowhere near interested enough in politics to write one of those.
Instead I'm writing about a vital issue I am interested in, a matter of the utmost importance to me. That's right, I'm writing about food.
Here's the scene:
Sometime around 7:30 tonight I was about to walk into my apartment when I was seized by a sudden Taco Bell craving (of a magnitude I haven't experienced since college). So off I went.
I ordered an assortment of tacos and burritos that I was told amounted to $6.09. Let me deviate from my story for a moment to say there's one thing I hate about going through a drive-thru: trying to pull my wallet out of my back pocket. Especially when my seatbelt is fastened and I have to keep the clutch depressed and I know Chicago drivers will honk for no reason at all so I'm expecting a cacophony of car horns to erupt at any moment...
but, getting back to the story, tonight I didn't have to worry about any of that. Because I drove to Taco Bell without my wallet. Without the necessary $6.09.
I realized this sometime in that curve between ordering and arriving at the window. So I started digging feverishly through my change, extracting quarters and dimes, pushing pennies aside, hoping for some hidden Sacagawea dollars.
"That'll be $6.09," I heard the lady say when I, still hunched over the change in my center console, rolled slowly up to the window.
I looked over at her, my hands full of coins, and I said, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize I had forgotten my wallet. I can give you change, but you'll probably need to take some things off my order."
"How much do you have?"
"I don't know. Three, maybe four dollars." And I started counting again. I felt pathetic, by the way. But what else could I do? (There was a car or two behind me, but miraculously no one was honking yet.)
I was scraping bottom when I finally amassed an even $5.
"I have $5."
She held out her hand, took my mound of change, and then gave me my food. All of it.
I felt like I should at least give her everything I had left. "Do you want all my pennies?"
She laughed and said, "Don't worry about it."
So I drove away. And I did so with a prevailing sense of gratitude. (I still felt somewhat pathetic too.) I don't know if she had to contribute the $1.09 out of her own pockets (I hope not). I don't know if her boss would care, or if her boss will even know.
But it's not just about the money. Not only did she extend grace to me when she cancelled my debt (so to speak), but she also did it without reluctance. She didn't let out a massive sigh of displeasure, didn't frown at me, didn't start muttering about idiots who try to buy things without money.
She was patient. She accepted the best I had to offer. And concerning the rest of what I owed her, she simply said, "Don't worry about it."
And at the risk of sounding feminine, I want to stay that I was touched by her kindness. I felt the way I always do when strangers are unexpectedly generous. Or when they extend grace to me in times when I least expect it...like in the Taco Bell Drive-Thru.
I know I could turn this into a spiritual message, focusing on the cancellation of debts idea or another aspect of grace. But I don't think I need to be that direct. I think the message is already there. And you're smart enough to take something from it without me preaching at you.
Besides I just wanted to briefly share this story so you could 1) laugh at me for being an imbecile (or as Brian Regan might say, an "imbecilen") and 2) so you might be encouraged like I was, reminded that there are a lot of kind-hearted people in our world.
I'm am also challenged to be one of those kind-hearted people when I have a frustrating experience with a stranger. I should strive to be someone who can shrug off an inconvenience, someone who can smile at the other person and say without a hint of resentment, "Don't worry about it."
--Thanks for Reading
Instead I'm writing about a vital issue I am interested in, a matter of the utmost importance to me. That's right, I'm writing about food.
Here's the scene:
Sometime around 7:30 tonight I was about to walk into my apartment when I was seized by a sudden Taco Bell craving (of a magnitude I haven't experienced since college). So off I went.
I ordered an assortment of tacos and burritos that I was told amounted to $6.09. Let me deviate from my story for a moment to say there's one thing I hate about going through a drive-thru: trying to pull my wallet out of my back pocket. Especially when my seatbelt is fastened and I have to keep the clutch depressed and I know Chicago drivers will honk for no reason at all so I'm expecting a cacophony of car horns to erupt at any moment...
but, getting back to the story, tonight I didn't have to worry about any of that. Because I drove to Taco Bell without my wallet. Without the necessary $6.09.
I realized this sometime in that curve between ordering and arriving at the window. So I started digging feverishly through my change, extracting quarters and dimes, pushing pennies aside, hoping for some hidden Sacagawea dollars."That'll be $6.09," I heard the lady say when I, still hunched over the change in my center console, rolled slowly up to the window.
I looked over at her, my hands full of coins, and I said, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize I had forgotten my wallet. I can give you change, but you'll probably need to take some things off my order."
"How much do you have?"
"I don't know. Three, maybe four dollars." And I started counting again. I felt pathetic, by the way. But what else could I do? (There was a car or two behind me, but miraculously no one was honking yet.)
I was scraping bottom when I finally amassed an even $5.
"I have $5."
She held out her hand, took my mound of change, and then gave me my food. All of it.
I felt like I should at least give her everything I had left. "Do you want all my pennies?"
She laughed and said, "Don't worry about it."
So I drove away. And I did so with a prevailing sense of gratitude. (I still felt somewhat pathetic too.) I don't know if she had to contribute the $1.09 out of her own pockets (I hope not). I don't know if her boss would care, or if her boss will even know.
But it's not just about the money. Not only did she extend grace to me when she cancelled my debt (so to speak), but she also did it without reluctance. She didn't let out a massive sigh of displeasure, didn't frown at me, didn't start muttering about idiots who try to buy things without money.
She was patient. She accepted the best I had to offer. And concerning the rest of what I owed her, she simply said, "Don't worry about it."
And at the risk of sounding feminine, I want to stay that I was touched by her kindness. I felt the way I always do when strangers are unexpectedly generous. Or when they extend grace to me in times when I least expect it...like in the Taco Bell Drive-Thru.
I know I could turn this into a spiritual message, focusing on the cancellation of debts idea or another aspect of grace. But I don't think I need to be that direct. I think the message is already there. And you're smart enough to take something from it without me preaching at you.
Besides I just wanted to briefly share this story so you could 1) laugh at me for being an imbecile (or as Brian Regan might say, an "imbecilen") and 2) so you might be encouraged like I was, reminded that there are a lot of kind-hearted people in our world.
I'm am also challenged to be one of those kind-hearted people when I have a frustrating experience with a stranger. I should strive to be someone who can shrug off an inconvenience, someone who can smile at the other person and say without a hint of resentment, "Don't worry about it."
--Thanks for Reading
Monday, August 13, 2007
Current and Future Things
I'm going to begin with a little shameless self-promotion (I feel like I've been doing a lot of that lately).
Today, I had a book review featured on The Burnside Writer's Collective. In this article, I reviewed Anne Lamott's Grace (Eventually). For those interested, I've attached a link right here:
Review of Grace (Eventually)
I'd also like to apologize to anyone who reads my blog even somewhat regularly. I haven't been posting as routinely as I would like. And my content has been pretty shallow as of late. I plan to remedy this posthaste.
In the near future, I will be blogging on these topics:
1) How Old-Age Intersects the Eternal
2) How to Make Enemies, and Why We Should
3) Death and Two-Year-Olds
...and somewhere down the line, I will address homosexuality and the church's response.
Note: I reserve the right to post these in any order I choose, thereby rendering the above number system meaningless.
For those of you who prefer my shallow posts: Steve and I are set to film our second commercial tomorrow. (Sorry, no ketchup in this one.) When it's complete, I'll link to that too.
--Thanks for Reading
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)