goodbye sweet butterscotch . . .

Well, butterscotch isn't completely off limits, but I've apparently been neglecting the greener side of things for the starchy and fatty side of things. Not a huge surprise, I've just got to be disciplined about what I'm eating from now on. So I've got to pull off some protein and fruits for breakfast, have half of my plate filled with vegetables at each meal, and cut down on the "fatty tasty stuff." blah. maybe I'll go ahead and lose some weight and get rid of this reflux crap so I don't have to worry so much. Or I could actually start exercising (another thing that was cited). We'll see how that works out, but travelling around for the holidays sure won't help me much. Why I can't I just be a teenager in body forever and eat all kinds of crap and not worry? I shouldn't have consequences for my lack of health concerns, I just shouldn't.

kind of a letdown

Well, last night was my last exam of the semester for which I only had to show up, listen to two presentations, and participate in the "closing ritual." Well, there actually wasn't a "closing ritual" besides finishing up the sex video we had started in the last class period. Yes, I did say sex video. This being a class on Christian Communalism, we looked at the various alternative sexual practices of some of the communities. During the last class period we got the guy saying "I've always dreamed of having a bevy of young, attractive girls to have sex with, so that's why I started this commune." Last night, we got the folks who were talking about how wonderful it is that their child would have two fathers and a mother, not knowing which of the fathers they are biologically linked to.

It's always kind of sad to think about how the bizarre decisions that parents make effect their children. I guess that's part of the whole parenting deal, but I just hate thinking about how my decisions might cripple my potential child's development. I guess we all screw up our offspring in some way or another, and we survive and grow despite ourselves.

Anyway, we didn't have any real "closing ritual" other than the professor asking us to let him know if we saw a new commune, started one, or joined one. That's just fine in some ways, but I was kind of looking forward to something bizarre. Oh well, I've gotten plenty to make fun of out of that class already.

I've been declared to have acid reflux, which really sucks because now I can't have caffeine, peppermint candy, carbonation, and chocolate. I had SO much trouble at Robert and Heather's rehearsal dinner and on the way back not getting Milo's sweet tea. I pulled it off somehow, but it was very, very difficult. They've got me taking prevacid in hopes that my esophogas can heal and then I won't be burping up food and having a burning sensation most of the time. Here's hoping. We're going to see a nutritionist this afternoon, so maybe she'll have something to contribute.

where will we go

So I've got a semester left to go and I have absolutely no idea where within North Alabama I will end up. Sylacauga? Huntsville? Reform? Gu-win? New Site? Downtown Birmingham? Turkeytown? I've heard various reports of how the process goes, from District Superintendents brokering trades to the Bishop just randomly deciding that you'd be a good fit at a certain church. We should get some idea around February where we might go, then another idea around March, and hopefully by April we'll actually know where we'll be spending the next few years.

It's sort of unsettling for both of us, and I'm sure it'll only get more nerve-wracking as it gets closer to June when we'll have to move. I do know that the official pronouncement will be made on June 3rd, so we'll definitely know by then. Until then, I guess it'll just be wait and see, occasionally hearing random rumors from those who are actually in Alabama and talking to other people. Oh well, just another joy of being a Methodist.

Sportsnight

Anyone remember Sportsnight, the TV show from 1998-2000 that featured Felicity Huffmann (currently of Desperate Housewives), Josh Charles (of Dead Poets Society fame), Josh Molina (of West Wing), and Sabrina Lloyd (most recently of Numb3rs)? Amanda got me the DVD of the 2 seasons it was on the air last Christmas, and I'm currently making her watch it for a second time. It's great. The producer, Aaron Sorkin, also created and produced The West Wing. Anyway, it's entertaining, and I like it. Hooray for DVDs of old TV shows that didn't stay on the air as long as they should have.

finals be gone

I just completed my last real final, a full four days before finals week is even supposed to start. Hooray! I say "last real final" since I have to show up in a week for a final, but it will actually just be a few folks presenting on a commune and then a "closing ritual." I'm not sure what that'll involve, but I guess I'll find out in a week.

It was kind of weird turning in my project today and actually feeling like I did a good job on it. It's not too often that a slacker like myself actually puts significant work into an assignment, so when I do so it's kind of surreal. I go from "it'd be sweet if I got an a" to "i'll be kind of mad if I don't get an a." I guess that's one reason I'm usually such a slacker, adopting the mindset that it's better to be nicely surprised than to be disappointed.

I had forgotten before my Discipline final what it's like to memorize long lists of items that I probably won't remember for a week, but it jogged my memory. I think I did reasonably well on that, too, so that's nice. Now I'll take a short break and then work on my thesis (no really, I'm serious this time).

last week of classes

It's kind of hard to believe that this semester is almost over. It's particularly hard to believe when I think about how much work I haven't done on my thesis, as well as how close I am to being done with several of my classes. I'll only have 2 exams, both of which I'll have finished in a week. Well, I say only 2, there'll be one more that we're required to go and hear 2 groups presenting and have a "closing ritual." Not sure what that's gonna be, but if it doesn't involve food, I'm not sure I'm gonna stick around for long.

My communalism class had us pick a commune to study, and my group chose The Family. They're really, really bizarre. Looking at their website, you wouldn't think they were anything out of the ordinary, but when you look at former members, you start to see a completely different picture. Sex for evangelism, sex for fundraiser, sex with kids. Not a very appetizing picture.

In other news, Amanda's cooking some very attractive desserts. There's a reason I keep gaining weight, but I'll keep blaming it on my lack of exercise rather than my overactive eating for a little longer.

order of elders meeting

So today I went to a meeting for the order of elders of the North Alabama Conference. It was basically a big meeting of ministers trying to figure out how to clarify our identity as elders and how to help the church in its mission. We spent about a third of the time talking about what we saw as the most urgent need facing our mission, about a third talking about the redistricting plan, and the last third in a worship service.

One thing that I noticed throughout this meeting was how poorly we communicate. It seemed like every person had a different idea of what the original question was, like the presentation about redistricting emphasized trust without providing much information, and that we can't even make a powerpoint slide that has all the words. I felt really bad for Denise, who was leading a prayer, because we got lost on the powerpoint, then the person switched back to the previous slide so absolutely no one was following along. She had the whole prayer in front of her, so she kept reading even when no one else could see the words. In all three sections, it seemed like we communicated either insufficiently or ineffectively, which undermines what I'm starting to see as one of the most central aspects of being a pastor: trust. Bishop White said yesterday that "pastors don't have great power, they have great trust." We identified trust as one of the things that congregations are losing with the annual conference, and I think it's one of the central things in our role as pastors as well. Developing trust in each other, in Christ, and in our mission as a global church is one of the hardest things we'll be faced with as pastors, but I think it'll be one of the most important.

iron bowl day

Well, Amanda's wearing a sweater that she apparently wore every game of the 1992 season. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but I sure won't complain if we pull it out. It's bizarre how we're not superstitious about anything but Alabama football, but we've got the same things that we wear week after week. It's kind of bizarre, but oh well. This'll probably be the last Saturday for a long while where we'll sit on the couch and watch up to 10 football games during a day. That whole getting a job next year things will probably make it a little less likely that we'll be able to get this much time. Oh yeah, I've decided to take an appointment next year, so we'll see where we get sent in North Alabama. Back to the games . . .

Roll Tide Roll

wow

You know, I have a really amazing wife. Over the last 4 days, she's cleaned our apartment from the bottom up, all while with a sprained foot that kept her from walking for the first day and a half of that time. She's currently making cookies, which I will consume with fervor. This is pretty fun.

In other news, I'm pretty sure that I'll be going back to North Alabama next year. The more I think about being a professor, the more it feels like running away from what I need to do. I'm still thinking about it some, but that's the direction I've been heading. So, that'll mean moving to some random place in North Alabama come June. Hopefully it'll be someplace good. Well, I might want to start doing a little work on that thesis, it won't write itself I've heard.

Peter

How to get UT players on the field. 

Peter's Geek Test

So, here are my results from the nerd / geek / dork test. I was kind of surprised, I figured I'd have a higher rating on Geekiness, but I guess compared to folks my age I do.

Joe Normal 47 % Nerd, 47% Geek, 47% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored less than half in all three, earning you the title of: Joe Normal. This is not to say that you don't have some Nerd, Geek or Dork inside of you--we all do, and you can see the percentages you have right above. This is just to say that none of those qualities stand out so much as to define you. Sure, you enjoy an episode of Star Trek now and again, and yeah, you kinda enjoyed a few classes back in the day. And, once in a while, you stumble while walking down the street even though there was nothing there to cause you to trip. But, for the most part, you look and act fairly typically, and aren't much of an outcast.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 35% on nerdiness You scored higher than 68% on geekosity You scored higher than 80% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on OkCupid Free Online Dating

stupid football fans

So Amanda and I are at the Georgia Tech game the other night, and this completely moronic and loudmouth woman is sitting a few rows behind us. It's one thing to be annoying, it's another thing to be so loud that people in the next state can hear you while you making stupid comments. It was, however, very very nice to drink real Coke at a football game, rather than commie Pepsi products.

I'm quite pleased with Bama's defense. As they said on Gameday Final last night, Bama's D will keep us in pretty much every game all year. That's a good feeling as a fan, just knowing that it's going to be close (unless we blow them out, which I'm all for).

espn and frat boys

so ESPN has, for the second straight week, noticed that frat boys dress up and bring their sorority dates to the games, also dressed up. they at least had someone figure out that it was part of rush. they then, however, started making fun of the frat boys, how it's too hot to wear that kind of stuff. i always made fun of them, since lord knows I'd cause the second flood if I wore a suit to a Bama game.

i can't believe that fsu had to come back to tie the citadel at half. ridiculous.

refugees and such

well, i've now completed my first week of my last year in seminary. kind of weird, I guess, but not really. I think my classes will be pretty good. I'm taking Methodist Polity with Bishop Woodie White, Theology of Church and Sacraments with Ted Runyon, Christian Communalism in America with Luther Smith, and Pastoral Care and Mental Health with three different adjunct professors, in addition to my thesis work with Dr. Noel Leo Erskine. Interestingly (I just realized), all but one of the teachers I've got this semester are black. I think each of my classes will be good in different ways, and that the semester will be a good one.

one of the things on tv that's really annoyed me is a) all the people playing politics and refusing to see any mistakes from anyone of their political persuasion (from liberal leaders who only want to blame to feds to republicans who only want to blame the mayor of New Orleans). There was a lot of screwing up that happened, and I'd just like to see the nation help the millions of people who are currently refugees.

which brings me to my major annoyance b), which is that people are offended at being called refugees and feel that using that term makes them less human and less American. i hate that there are refugees right now; I hate that there are folks in Rwanda who are refugees, folks in Israel who are refugees, and folks in Atlanta that are refugees. I hate that my uncle was a refugee for a while as he and his wife and kids stayed with my parents. But to imply that "americans can't be refugees" or that "refugees aren't human" shows both a misunderstanding of the concept and a complete disregard for all of those who have been refugees for years. Thankfully things haven't gotten as bad in Houston as they have in various parts of Africa, but we've still got refugees (which includes any corporate types staying in ritzy hotels while their gulf coast mansions are rebuilt). To have people out of their homes and living elsewhere for protection is horrible, but I just can't see getting riled up about being called a refugee as productive.

the stories of Katrina

the following was written about the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. (possibly ever, possibly deadliest before Katrina). I think it applies to Katrina today.

from the website http://www.1900storm.com/

The story of Galveston's tragedy can never be written as it is. Since the cataclysm of Saturday night a force of faithful men have been struggling to convey to humanity from time to time some of the particulars of the tragedy.

They have told much, but it was impossible for them to tell all, and the world, at best, can never know all, for the thousands of tragedies written by the storm must forever remain mysteries until eternity shall reveal all.

Perhaps it were best that it should be so, for the horror and anguish of those fatal and fateful hours were mercifully lost in the screaming tempest and buried forever beneath the raging billows.

Only God knows, and for the rest let it remain forever in the boundlessness of His omniscience.

But in the realm of finity, the weak and staggered senses of mankind may gather fragments of the disaster, and may strive with inevitable incompleteness to convey the merest impression of the saddest story which ever engaged the efforts of a reporter.

- As published Sept. 13, 1900, in The Galveston Daily News

today was a good day

It's always nice to have a good distraction, and today proved to be that. Alabama wins, Tech knocks off Auburn, Franchione's team loses. All I needed was UAB to pull it off against UcheaT. Things are great. I know there's all sorts of bad crap going on, but after a week of seeing horrible pictures from New Orleans, it's been nice to forget about that, even if it's just for a while. I'm definitely blessed to be able to forget about it, but hopefully by doing what I can it'll help ease some people's suffering.

Pictures from DragonCon 2005

storm troopers

the emperor etc.

friday night lights

quite possibly the worst sports movie I've ever seen. I can't believe that I actually just heard a halftime speech involving "hold each other in your heart." I'm going to list a few of the things that are just ridiculous.
1. The football play looks, as my buddy Will always says of football movies, "more like war footage than a football game."
2. They sit down and have a freaking debate about where to play the game and who officiates it. I believe that's something that's decided beforehand.
3. They have a three person coin flip to decide who goes to state, rather than any other sort of tie-breaker.
4. They just ran a delayed draw on a 4th and 2 inches, which is something that not even Jim Donnan would call.
5. A cheerleader just pushed the opposing team's running back 3 feet.
6. They let the quarterback play with blood down the entire front of his jersey.
7. Got to love the quarterback turning into Tommy Frazier on the last play, running over folks, jumping over folks, and looking like an all American until they have a group hug on the one foot line and he falls down.
8. Yeah, the alchoholic father is going to give his son his state championship ring right after they lose the game. RIGHT.

They at least didn't have a completely sappy ending, so that helped, but overall I still think this was one of the worst sports movies I've seen. Maybe Varsity Blues was worse, I don't know, but this was pretty bad. I'm by no means an expert on high school football, since I only played in 7th-9th grade, but just being around football makes me realize that a lot of this movie was unrealistic. Maybe I just wasn't willing to suspend disbelief so I never got started in the movie, I don't know. Anyway, to quote Amanda, "I'm sure glad we didn't rent this [we checked it out of the library]. Still, it wasn't worth the gas to go to the library [which is all of .3 miles from our apartment]."

Peter

coffee

Hurricane Katrina is freaking scary, so I'm trying to distract myself from the Weather Channel by looking up stuff on the internet.

One of the things I found was this: Coffee might soon be considered a health drink, courtesy of Slashdot (and yes, I do regularly read a site whose subtitle is "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"). I've always teased my Grandma Young about the fact that she averages about 6 cups of coffee a day, including one at every single meal. Now, I'm beginning to think that maybe she's on to something (well, that and the fact that she's by far the most mobile and well-preserved 87 year old I've seen). Anywho, coffee gets my recommendation for the day.

Some of you from the UA Wesley Foundation may notice that I am shamelessly copying Eric St. Clair, who recently began offering the "Eric Seal of Approval" to the lettuce crisper and the St. Loius Arch. Well, E's smart, I like him, and I like his idea, so I'm stealing it. If he comes and beats me up, blame the GIS program at St. Loius U. Or better yet, start searching the woods of Cherokee County, since that'll probably be where my body is buried.

That's all for now,
Peter

college gameday preview

Amanda and I are both fired up about the pending football season.

We're also quite perplexed by Mark May's "beard." Did he just decide to have an anti-goatee and shave right under his lip, or is his beard-growing ability as bad as mine?

And how about Hoover High school getting on ESPN? That's just nuts, particularly considering how bad they sucked when I was in high school. That was the only guaranteed win Homewood had when we were in Class 6A with Hoover, Vestavia, and Pelham. Now they're on freaking ESPN. Amazing what having a decent coach and annexing half of the state of Alabama will do for a football team.

Wesley Foundation Alums at Peter and Amanda's Wedding 

The two of us 

panama and FSU

Well, Amanda and I are spending our first New Year's as a married couple in an unusual way: we'll be on a mission trip in Panama. We'll be going with Will Willimon, bishop of the North Alabama Conference, and other young clergy types. We're not sure exactly what we'll be doing, despite the fact that I'm one of the only folks going who have been to this area of Panama (although I went in 1999, and my major contributions were my excessive sweat aiding in mortar maintence and playing with the 40 Panamanian children who came to watch us work). We're allegedly going to be staying in a hotel in David, which is about 45 minutes away from Ceinaguita, where we will likely be working. Last time I went we were helping put the walls up on their building, and this time there's a chance we might be laying some tile on the floor, so it'll be neat to see the way things progressed since then. Hopefully it won't be quite as hot since it'll be in December, although I'm sure it'll still be pretty warm.

In other news, I'm kind of excited about the possibility of Alabama and FSU playing in 2007. That'd be pretty neat, and a lot better than adding a D-2 team or something to fill the 12th game. As per usual, the only thing holding up the deal is money, with CBS wanting to get a piece of the action instead of just letting ABC cover it.

our new home

Welcome to our new place on the web. Our old home was annoying since no one could post, so I thought I'd start us off with something new.

Theoretically, this will be a place to find out the latest on the von Herrmanns, to find things that we find amusing or interesting, and to harrass us so that we can in turn harrass you. We'll see what happens.

Peter