2 days

this is what my desk currently looks like, as i'm studying for my defense which is on friday. its amazing how much stuff i am still learning. running out of time to learn anymore but excited for the challenge that lies ahead. i imagine that my pit stains that day will possibly exceed the ones i had while taking pictures at melissas wedding. and those ones were impressive. ask her.

Playoff picks

Tim picked his 8. Here are mine:
Montreal will beat Boston. They've done it before as the underdog. It can happen again

Washington is too good for the rangers
I hate Carolina, thats reason enough to pick the devils.
And in the second most exciting first round matchup Pittsburgh will knock out Philly.
As for the west..
San jose Anaheim will be a long series but the sharks will win that one.
Detroit will squeak by Columbus no thanks to osgood.
Vancouver will also squeak by the hot blues.
And the hawks will knock off the sketchy-of-late flames.
I know i am stoked for the playoffs! Here we go!

why gas prices increase in the summer. or "suck splats" and why we should rid the world of them

I came across this article by Mike Fak and thought it was not only bang on, but also humorous, so i figured its worth a read for the three of you that still check this blog. we can change the world one person at a time...

**************************************************************************************
I went to see my son at college last week and since it is finally getting warmer outside, the kids were shedding their heavy garb for more summery clothes. One thing that I just shook my head at is the fact that at least 75% of the students I saw were wearing those infernal, nasty looking flip flops on their feet.

Now those chunks of rubber were invented to help prevent people from passing on foot diseases in community shower settings such as the armed forces and schools. They were never intended to be official street garb but somehow everyone in the country is going around with those things stuck between their toes and thinks its attractive footwear.

I imagine part of my angst with those things is that I grew up in a day and age when young people worried about how they looked. Never in a million years back then would anyone be seen walking around town with $5.00 thong shoes made out of recycled tires.

I watched our recent high school's Grand Prom March and was shocked to see at least a half dozen young ladies wearing $400 dresses walking around with worn out flip flops on their naked feet. I don't have a daughter but if she told me she was wearing flip flops to the prom, I would cut three holes in a fifty-pound potato sack and tell her now she has a dress that matches her footwear.

I don't know why restaurants allow people in with those things on their feet. It clearly says no shoes no service and I proclaim resoundingly that flip flops are not shoes. In fact, a person walking into an eatery with those ugly things on their feet is flopping airborne particulates of toe jamb all through the dining area and that should be considered a health hazard. Toe jamb causes cancer in laboratory rats you know.

Of course it isn't only younger people who have failed to understand the rudimentary couth of covering one's feet. You see people of all ages under fifty walking all over town with that disgusting "suck splapt" sound every time they take a step.

Maybe that would help stem the tide of this epidemic of podiatary ignorance. If a person had to go into a show store and ask the clerk which aisle "suck splapts" were in maybe they would be ashamed to ask and would go and buy a pair of gym shoes or God forbid, a pair of actual dress shoes.

Take a look at when flip flops or rather "suck splapts" came into vogue as everyday attire and you will see it correlates with the beginning of the downfall of this great country. "Suck splapts" are made of rubber. Rubber is a petroleum based product. It makes sense then to correlate that the production of these nasty rubber shoes in such monstrous numbers is the root cause of oil going so high on the market.

If everyone went back to good old fashioned leather soled shoes, we would have more and cheaper gasoline plus fewer cows creating a hole in the ozone layer with their flatulence.

It is time we outlawed flip flops. Or at least changed the name to get the proper sound those disgusting things make when someone walks in them. Suck splapt, suck splapt, suck splapt.

not proud to be canadian

i watched the junos last nite. make fun of me if you want, i dont care. during my short time on this earth, ive noticed that if you travel to other countries, people will always ask about celine dion and bryan adams once they find out you are from canada. i always used to find this embarassing. there is so much canadian music out there that is far better than these two "icons". if you dont believe me, listen to cbc radio 3 online, or your local community/campus radio station. (or come watch my band play in regina april 25th. haha)

however, last nite i found myself shaking my head at least 3 times while watching the junos. Nickelback won three awards. this is a black mark on canadian music as far as i am concerned. these guys make celine and bryan look like gems. "you look better with something in your mouth". that is a line in one of their songs. really?

i have never heard it put better than how Patrick Boyle from calgarys FFWD magazine put it in THIS short letter to chad kroeger and his buddies. read it..you will laugh. i did.

breakfast with jack layton part 2

the following is part 2 to my trip. read part 1 first.

i started off.
i got to see some cool cities. san antonio, austin, waco. but the highlight of the trip was probably pulling into oklahoma city and making tyler butel get out of bed to let me crash at his place. it was sweet to see a friend on the journey.
after i left oklahoma city, i popped in "The Shack". apparently its the hot thing these days. i listened as roger mueller read the story. this book is also apparently pretty controversial, although i am still not sure what the big deal is. its a work of fiction, one guys opinion of who God is and how he works. cheesy in some spots. but will likely strike up some conversation. if youve read it, let me know what you think.
anyway, that got me through northern oklahoma and kansas. made a crucial pit stop at Alef's Harley Davidson in wichita. the place was huge.
now i was in nebraska. that sucked. i had only been to nebraska once before and i didnt care for it much then. i was quickly reminded why. as i drove through small towns with signs saying "founded in 1857" i often wondered "who thought it would be a good idea for 210 people to live here. right in the middle of nowhere." it is worse than manitoba...ok, well maybe not that bad. and they did have free pregnancy tests at a clinic. i was too slow with my camera to get a picture but the sign said "Free Pregnancy Tests. Parking in Rear". i chuckled.

south dakota was nicer. hills and vallleys. great sunset. and by the time i got to north dakota it was dark. which is ok with me. i turned north from bismarck and officer 236 decided that i was going to fast. he pulled me over and gave me a 50$ ticket. i am still sure the sign said 75mph not 70. not impressed.
i made it to minot that night and found a hotel and was out before my head hit the pillow.
i drove to the border where i was to meet a guy to import the vehicle (the reason for this whole trip). i beat him there so i decided to head down to the local bar/restaurant/ice cream shop/parcel pick up/ local indoor smoking room where i had breakfast with jack layton. youre right, it was not jack layton at all, but it looked just like him. and i wasnt sitting with him. i was near there table where i heard conversations about wives. one guy piped up "i dont have one of those anymore. i found out she was dating someone else, cashed her out, and asked her to leave". i thought that was a nice way to put it.


anyway, 2198 miles later, im back in saskatoon. tired and smelly. but got to see a lot of country the last few days. check out a few pictures on flickr.

i had breakfast with jack layton part 1

the following is poorly written account of my trip from saskatoon to mcallen, texas and back.
part 1

it was snowy monday morning in saskatoon, i threw a few things in a bag, mostly a few books on cd, an ipod, a toothbrush and some shorts and hopped on a plane at the airport. after a quick touchdown in regina, we were off too minneapolis. after we landed we had to pass through security as per usual, and as i was putting my shoes back on, i looked behind me to see none other than mr. ochitwa.
now, mr. ochitwa was my grade 7 teacher in white city. i was sure it was him because he had the famous scar on the left side of his mouth where a chainsaw had gotten the better of him. (true story. or at least thats what he told us in grade 7 and i still believe it). we visited briefly and headed off to find or connecting flights. the minneapolis airport loves mcdonalds. everywhere i looked, people were packing away a quarter pounder and fries. awesome.
a few hours past quickly by listening to people on CNN talk about some financial crisis at AIG in the states. i caught only parts of it.
we loaded up the next plane and headed to los angeles. LAX. the airport is like a city. i asked how to find my next flight and proceeded on 20 minute walk outside. it was 10pm and must have been 25C. gorgeous. on my flight from LA to houston, i sat beside chase. chase was living in venice california and was on his way to SXSW (a music festival) in austin, tx. he told me stories of how after buying a 150$ licence you could carry a lot of marijuana on you in california and could even grow your own. apparently i look like someone who would be excited by this. i wasnt. he was a great guy though and even gave me a set of earplugs to use for the red-eye to houston.
i landed in houston, and slept in awkward positions that made my legs numb for the next two hours. my flight to harlingen, texas was late due to the heavy fog that had set. finally we made it to harlingen (look it up on a map-its basically on the mexican border) where bob picked me up to drive to the dealership. bob was a former pro-wrestler. no lies. and in a few weeks he would be having some of his old wrestling buddies come to the dealership to sign autographs and such. wrestlers like doink the clown, rikishi and others i cant remember. he told me the hollywood lifestyle he lived as a wrestler and how in mexico when they recognized him they let him drink on the streets and would even bring him tequila. great guy. good stories.
i was finally in texas.. almost 24 hours after i left saskatoon.
the only problem was i was in texas. i dont love texas. but i do love tacos. and i found some great ones.
it scares me that i could cut someone off while driving, and make them mad. its not good to make people carrying firearms in their vehicles angry.
now i had about 2198 miles to drive. thats like 3500km for those of you like me who dont know what a mile is.

Propagandhi-Supporting Caste

on tuesday, one of my all time favorite bands put out a brand new album after almost 4 years since their last one. i saw them play about a year and half ago here in saskatoon and it was one of the best shows ive ever seen. so i felt like i was about 15 years old waiting for march 10th to come when i could run down to the record store and pick up the newest release.
i remember in high school my dad read some of their lyrics or essays they had on their website and wasn't very impressed, so my old band wrote a song about it called "my dad hates propagandhi". it had nothing to do with my dad hating propagandhi at all. it was probably about some lame girl stealing one of our friends or something. anyway, back to the matter at hand...
you may not agree with everything these guys say, and you dont have too. but they have done a lot to make this world a better place. one cool idea they had was instead of leaking their songs around the internet before they were released (which probably still happened) they set up a site where you could download two, for a small donation to your choice of humanitarian effort.
anyway, their music is incredible, and their lyrics make you think and give you insight into some things that are going on in the world around you which you likely wont hear about on CNN or CTV.
if you are bored at work, go check out their website, they have a good list of books to read that may give you a different spin on things.
anyway. this record is great. i cant wait till they drive through my city.

CBC Radio3

Hey. I finally figured out how to add some songs to our profile on CBC Radio 3, New Music Canada!
Check it out HERE,
these are new songs that are not on our myspace page, so check them out if you get a chance.

tell your friends? i would

looking for a job

i confess, i dont know much about how to set up the ideal budget to run a country in the midst of this "economic downturn". or even in the midst of a positive economy for that matter. but here is an interesting quote from someone at the globe and mail

"In this budget, the government looks to have taken every demand placed on it and given almost everyone a partial loaf. Not enough to make a fundamental difference in economic terms, but a political difference that will buy them time in office."

you can read his whole article HERE if you want. he makes some interesting points. ill save my commentary. most of you can probably guess what i think. anyway

it is a strange time to be looking for employment/a means of income.

Mike Milbury actually has rational thoughts

I admit Mr. Milbury is not my favorite guy around. But I would rather listen to him than 98% of the crew on TSN. Read THIS
short article about why Don Cherry should be in the Hall of Fame...the guy is a beauty.

nickelback

if you love nickelback, or hate them. or even if youve only heard of them...go read
THIS article from calgarys "ffwd" newspaper.
its hilarious.
also...
go check out kris's blog. he wrote something for the first time in 2 years.
not bad. but its a decent read.

and because of my previous post

check out THISlink and sign your name.

actually?

did you see Stephen harpers speech today?
If you didn't google it or something. It must be on there somewhere.
I haven't seen anything so artificial in my life.
Seriously it was brutal.

Massey & The Fergusons

for any of you who are interested in some country tunes that ive been playing out here in saskatoon with some buddies... go check out THIS link for music and some pictures. and tell your friends.

leave it to tsn to ruin a good thing...

so yeah. TSN ruined it. They ruined the hockey night theme song. They overplayed it. And it's not even 20 games into the season.
Once a week was perfect. Every commercial break is too much.
Way to go boys.
You are brutal

the morning after

yep. the morning after the big election.
we ended up with exactly what we had before...so basically the last 6 weeks plus, have been nothing but a huge waste of money.
good call stephen.
and it appears 37% of the 50% of eligible voters that actually showed up
voted for the conservatives. lame, i know.

and due to a brutal electoral system, we end up with similar results
to our neighbours in the south.
less than 19% of canadians actually voted for your mr. harper.
how can you say that "they have done so with confidence" ?
if i scored 19% on an exam, i likely would not use confidence in the same sentence when discussing my results.
so now we wait and watch.
hopefully we dont follow a certain other country to the brink of a recession.
hopefully we dont send more soldiers to fight meaningless wars.
hopefully we dont scrap social programs so we can give tax breaks to big business.
deficit here we come?

update

yes. its been a while.
no i dont have a good excuse.
time is quickly running out on my attempt to put life on hold by being a grad student. its been a good 21 months. great even.
so why dont i stick around and make it a few more years of delaying real life?
now that is a good question.
one ive wrestled with, changed my mind on and second guessed an infinite amount of times.
especially with the task of writing a thesis approaching more rapidly by the minute, the easy thing to do would have been to transfer into the phd program and not have to worry about that for another 24 or 36 months. i think thats why im getting out now.
ive enjoyed the last few years, but im ready for a new challenge. something fresh and different. maybe a new city. and hopefully a job. something that will sort of change my views, give me a new perspective and open new doors.

final game. yankee stadium

Go HERE for a brief story on the final game at yankee stadium which used a few of my pictures...

the end of the war for oil?

I saw this guy speak in philadelphia. very good speaker and pretty interesting stuff.
its short, so check it out.

"

the champ

rocky balboa
Originally uploaded by .jerms.

yeah, ive been back for over a week already. but its been a busy week. if you didnt know, i spent a week in philadelphia for the american chemical society national meeting and then spent a week in nyc hanging out with my parents and watching the first 3 days of the US Open.
heading into finals weekend at the open there is a good set of mens semifinals on the go. i got 30$ riding on the fact that nadal is not going to win this tournament...

Aug 12, 1994

do you know what happened on this date? no, it wasnt anything earth shattering, and although it had implications, they were not felt worldwide such as a tsunami, or earthquake or some crazy disease.
but that doesnt make me feel any better.
14 years ago today, the montreal expos were leading all of major league baseball with the best record. they were clearly going to win the world series and then it all ended in a strike. the players wanted more money. that was it. the year that could have kept an historical team in an historical city saw it move to washington a few years later. if you even care, you can go HERE to see a CBC story about it.

on china, from australia

Kori Jones left a comment on the ten things the chinese government tried to change for the olympics. its just as good as the article on the cbc. and so good that i had to give it its own post... so read it below


**********************
This is hilarious.

Smelly cabbies. Give the guys a break they eat, sleep and other… in the car as the have to work insane hours to get by. Their fragrance is unique.
Your visit to China would not be complete with out some old lady hocking a lugey while elbowing you where the sun doesn’t shine to get in front of you at the metro ticket office. Good luck enforcing that no spitting, pushing and budging. It would feel weird if there were orderly lines every where.
Dog meat ban… an animal raised as stock to be eaten is just that, food. It is a weird texture but will probably be better than a Chinese version of beef stroganoff. I know we butchered there food over here. Us Westerners wear cat fur on a lot of the clothing.. what they don’t know won’t hurt them right. Meow or woof. A little terrier stir fry won’t hurt.
I am pretty sure we didn’t ban beef in Canada, for any international event, to keep the 1.3 billion strong Hindu nation at ease.
Cigarettes. The have pro smoking protests going on, where patrons will take over a newly stated no smoking restaurant and kick out all the employees and light up for the press. And there was definitely smoking allowed in the men’s room.

I think this it the best Olympics ever.

I see China as an old man trying to be cool with the grand kids who are coming from over seas for a long visit. He wants to lay down some rules, but keep it cool with the kids. Be the hip and happening crotchety old man. He has purchased an ipod which listens to the latest Mandarin pop top ten while wearing his locally made slippers and sitting under his large than life Mao poster. This old man is letting their parents know what is expected of the kids, and the parents in return letting him know about a few promises he made. All this has made him confused about what it means to clean up his act, to be responsible on his part…chemically changing the weather patterns and sweeping human right violations under the rug mat not be the best solution…
We all hope the visit goes well, as long as the old man doesn’t snap…
I better stop this is too much fun. China is awesome.
Sorry for hogging your comment space Jeremy.

Kori

top ten

i found THIS short little picture article pretty interesting.
it talks about ten things that you wont be able to find in beijing during the olympics that start in a couple weeks.
i think its too bad that the government there is trying to westernize and "clean up" the city. it seems they are hiding some of the culture and the 'real life' china that you might experience if youve been there before the olympics and the culture that will likely return after all the visitors leave.
ive read reports about forcing cab drivers to learn english and british etiquette and even forcing them to brush their teeth after they eat garlic. what?

sure some of these things might be good things, if the people themselves were choosing to do them. anyway. pretty interesting. check it out

jericho road

so steve earle came through town last night. this was one of my favorite songs he played (this video is not from last night). he had a little more hair and way more of a beard last night. super nice guy. some great stories. and his wife, alison moorer can sing. wow! definitely one of the cooler shows ive seen for a while.

north sask river

one of the pictures i took last september long weekend on one of my camping trips was chosen to be the background for the website for the NSRBC (North Saskatchewan River Basin Council. go check it out by clicking the link or going to www.nsrbc.ca. They have some interesting ideas and goals so check those out too if you have the time.

tim & melissa

tim & melissa
Originally uploaded by .jerms.

my sister got married this weekend. it was a good time except it was hot as stink (see picture below). she looked amazing. cody peterson let me take some pictures with him, so that was fun too. check out his website/blog at www.petersonpd.com.
and for a few more of my pictures check out my flickr.

this was from before the wedding even started

pink camera cowboy

pink camera cowboy
Originally uploaded by .jerms.

you dont see this everday, so i snapped a quick picture. a few girls from the youth group i have been helping out with invited me and two of the other leaders to their grad. so we went. this guy was taking pictures with a cute little hot pink camera.

like a swift kick to the groin

for the latest kick in the nuts to canadian hockey, go read NICs blog

supper

Hi Mom, can we have this for supper next time i come home?

GRILLED TUSCAN-STYLE RABBIT WITH OLIVE, THYME AND TOMATO

What you need

For the brine:

1 cup water
1 cup white wine
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
Some grated lemon rind
2 sprigs of thyme
2 cloves of garlic

For the rabbit:
1 rabbit, 3 to 4 pounds
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 bunch of thyme
1 cup of Gaeta olives, pitted
1 red heirloom tomato, no seeds and finely chopped
1 lemon, grated rind and juice
extra-virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
1 pinch of parsley, whole leaves

What you do

The night before: Make the brine by boiling water and white wine with salt and sugar, then adding one tablespoon of white-wine vinegar, some grated lemon rind, two sprigs of thyme and two garlic cloves. Let it cool before using.

Flatten the rabbit by cutting the rib bones from the inside and pressing lightly. Place rabbit in a plastic food-storage bag and add the brine; seal the bag and place in the refrigerator to rest overnight.

On the day: Prepare your fire - gas or charcoal, it's up to you. The better flavour is on wood coal, the convenience is on gas.

Remove the rabbit from the bag and dry lightly. Place it on the grill bone-side down, first trying to position it in the middle surrounded by slow-burning heat. Do not scorch.

Cook for 20 to 30 minutes, then turn it on the other side and cook for a further 20 minutes. Remove the rabbit from the grill, wrap it quickly in foil and set aside in a warm spot.

To prepare the dressing, chop the tomato and put in a bowl, add lemon rind and juice, thyme leaves, Gaeta olives, parsley leaves.

Break the rabbit into small pieces and toss them in the salsa; serve at once drizzled with olive oil.

Serves 4

another good read

so i realize im probably a long ways behind the rest of you in reading good books. but thats what happens when you are in grad school. fortunately, i found some time to read a couple good ones lately.
first of all 'you cannot be serious' John McEnroe's autobiography is sweet. humorous and interesting. not to mention a good look into what the top tennis players in the world deal with.
but more recently i just finished reading 'the kite runner'. it is probably one of the best written books i have ever read. i havent had this much trouble putting down a book since i read some of dan brown's a few years ago. so if you havent read this one, or ruined it by seeing the movie, track it down and read it...

NIC, dont read this.

the end of an era. my face hasnt seen the light of day since 2007. so it was anxious moments as i dug the razor out of hibernation. one piece at a time...

only in india

when i was in india in 2002, i often found myself shaking my head, chuckling, and saying 'only in india'... check this out.

carnegie hall

one of my photos got chosen to be included in this 'East Coast guide. so go to

THIS link and look under the new york section and track down carnegie hall and scroll through the pictures. mine is in there somewhere....

let me know if it works...

its rally time

game 7 goes tonite. the old beard hasnt worked all that well the last two games, so its time to go into rally-beard mode.
this is it...

tuesday debut

so its true, for those of you that havent heard, i am playing in a country band.
we are playing a show this tuesday at lydias for their open stage thing. come check it out.
it has nothing to do with billy ray cyrus other than the fact that he has written a few sweet lyrics.
so find your boots and stetson and we will see you tuesday night.

april 10

1 down. 15 to go.



p.s. happy birthday to my sister today. i forget how old she turns, but its not that old. 20 or something? she rules. so if you see her in the next day or two, give her a birthday hug for me.

its that time of year again

what can i say. its playoff beard time.
i started mine a little early this year and it has helped the canadiens make a push for the top spot in the east.
so its gonna stick around till june when they win the cup.
time to put away the razors and start looking sweet. anyone else have playoff beard? lets see it.

funny stuff..means in the studio

video follow up

check out thisVIDEO. it is about 8 minutes long, but its interesting. it goes along with my post a few weeks ago about the Rwanda story. check it out. its worth a watch.

farewell white city

my parents are packing up and getting ready to move from white city into regina. i suppose i shouldnt be surprised as i was sick of driving into the city even once a day when i still lived out there, but it will still be sad to see the house and yard go. it was a pretty fun place to grow up. i also started a sticker collection that i was very proud of that mom said had to go before they put the house up for sale. a collection like that could only have increased the value of the house, i say. at least she took a few commemorative pictures for me...



(they are apple stickers if you cant tell)

nice move stephen

so its been a while and all that stuff that everyone seems to write at the beginning of all their blogs these days.
anyway, i was reading in the globe and mail, and then in one of the worlds most prominent science journals 'Nature' about how mr. harper has decided to cut the position of national science advisor. apparently science and research is not important in canada.
as well, stephen, along with all his cabinet ministers somehow missed the ceremony for the Canadian scientists that recieved a share in the Nobel Prize for their work on carbon dioxide capture.
winning the nobel prize is no small feat, and for these canadians to win it in the area that has become one of the largest environmental concerns in our time, is outstanding. however mr. harper, being bent on using as many fossil fuels and generating as much CO2 as possible thought best not to attend. he was probably out flying in his private jet
check out the links if you are interested here is the
Globe and Mail Article and the Nature Journal Editorial

1994

i remember hearing very little about what took place in 1994 in Rwanda. back then i would have been 13 years old and probably could have cared less anyway. last year, i worked with a lady for a short time in yellowknife that was from there and heard a few stories of her time as she lived there during the terrible things that happened in 94. now, i just finished reading a book about it that gives quite an insight into what went on.
Paul Rusesabagina tells his story of what he saw and how he saved some lives. here is a quick paragraph from the book that i found pretty insane. to put it in a bit of context, he is talking about how the UN, US, Canada and other countries were useless in helping avoid, or stop the massacre.

       "Even a proposal to jam the frequencies of RTLM {the rebel radio station} was rejected, on  the grounds that the Army National Guard airplane required for the overflights cost  eighty- five hundred dollars an hour to fly. If that plane had been kept aloft for every second of the genocide it would have worked out to about twenty-four dollars for each life taken that might otherwise have been saved"
if you are looking for something to read...this one is well written and extremely eye-opening.

the hottest final ever

so saturday in australia is bringing possibly the hottest final of all time. seriously...
sharapova vs. ivanovic. watch it.




and yes i was disappointed that djokovic took federer out of the tournament, but at least roger lost to the 2nd best player in the world and not some guy no one has heard of.

are you serious?

as much as i was hoping for this to happen, i never thought it would. nadal lost to unseeded tsonga last nite in australia. in straight sets! i havent got to see this kid play, but after this run in this tournament, im gonna be keeping an eye on him anyway. sounds like he plays some pretty inspired tennis. and anyone that knocks out 'rafa' is already in my goodbooks. for all you nadal lovers, youll just have to wait for the clay court season for this one dimensional athlete to have a chance...

the final 8

for those of you who dont know, the Australian Open is happening in melbourne as we speak. the first week is over and the last 8 players on the mens and womens draws are set. there has been some brilliant tennis and some surprising upsets so far, and one almost monumental loss by federer in the third round. but he hung on and pulled it out in the 5th set. in the womens draw sharapova is playing henin in the quarterfinals, which is crazy and should be a good one.
djokovic is going to be tough to beat. federers quarter is way harder than nadals, but we will see what happens. any predictions?
p.s. on an unrelated note, i cannot stand the patriots.

top 10 of '07

 ten of my favorites from 2007...

kenya

last year at christmas, my parents gave me a gift certificate for KIVA.ORG so i could lend it to some businesses in developing countries. one of the ladies i lent some of my money too is from Kenya and i just received an email from one of the directors of the organization from Kenya. We dont hear much about this on our news over here, and who knows if what we do hear is accurate. anyway, here is a glimpse, first hand into what some of the people are experiencing...


*********************************************************************************************************
Dear Kiva Lenders,

I wish to thank you for your continued concern and support during this
very difficult moment in Kenya’s history. We have been a peaceful
Country in a generally troubled region and people sort of took the
peace for granted.


The country is now battered almost to a pulp and blood spilt with
vengeance, senseless killings and wanton destruction. Markets, food
stores and shops have been looted. Hospitals are dysfunctional and
health centers incapacitated by riots and barricades. The violence,
death and destruction witnessed in the Country for the last couple
weeks has jolted the Nation into conscience and every body is now
craving normalcy.


While peace is slowly returning to all affected parts of the Country,
the impact of the riots has been devastating. Hundreds of people have
been killed turning thousands of innocent children into helpless
orphans and over one million people have been displaced, becoming
internal refugees over night.

The impact of the riots is most felt in the micro and small business
sector. Over 1 million small businesses were looted and or burnt down
destroying the only source of income to millions of Kenyans. Most of
the fighting and destruction occurred in slum areas in Nairobi,
Mombasa, Nakuru and Kericho in Rift Valley. These regions are home to
over 70% of Ebony Foundation’s clients and as you can imagine almost
all of our clients in these regions have been affected by the riots.
Only one region- (Mount Kenya) which is home to about 20% of EbF’s
clients was spared the violence. The economy in this safe region is now
getting stretched as the residents have to now house the displaced
population.

what?

check this out.
Canadian winter golf

no one likes cauliflower, so whats the point?

a few weeks ago i was put on vegetable cutting duty at a friends place to help her get ready for having some people over. i have been thinking about this ever since...
why bother with cauliflower? i never liked it before i had to cut it, but after cutting it, i like it even less. its taste-less, not attractive to look at and makes a big mess when you try to cut it.
seriously. why do people eat that stuff? if they tell you they like it, they are lying.

first time for everything...

oh canada
Originally uploaded by xjermsx

our holiday is coming to a close. we get on the plane tomorrow and should be back in saskatoon sometime wednesday nite. then back to the real world. back to work and back to the cold. it will be good to be home.
sunday nite was one of the funnest nites ive had in a long time. we headed down to the "most famous arena in the world" to watch an orginal six match up. i would have been stoked to watch any teams play in MSG, but to see the Canadiens take on the Rangers was awesome. i felt six years old again. the game went into overtime and shanahan got in alone and sniped one top shelf. so the outcome wasnt what i was hoping for, but not a bad show for my first NHL game...

ny

artwork
Originally uploaded by xjermsx

24hrs in NYC so far. a few pictures are up on flickr. check them out.
this place is pretty crazy.
most of these ones are from the rooftop of a friends apartment.
more to come.

xmas 2007

xmas 2007 consisted of waking up early, and driving to banff.
kris and i had front row parking and got on the 3rd gondola up the hill.
after about 8 hrs, lots of crashes and some neck deep snow later, we were exhausted, wet and ready for a meal and a sleep.
we found a place in canmore that was open to serve us xmas dinner. muriettas.
its a sweet place. if you are in alberta, track it down, its worth it.
now its bed time. round two tomorrow. this old body is having a hard time taking that much punishment.
but i think i can handle it one more time.
pictures to come.
merry xmas from the bighorn motel.

DECEMBER 30TH!

on december 30th ill be in new york city watching the montreal canadiens play the new york rangers.
what a sweet deal.
this is one of those things that has been on my to-do list for as long as i can remember.
cross another one off.

finally done..

no, im not done school, and i havent decided what im going to do yet, but im finally done the website i started making a while back. the website is for our research group at the UofS. go check it out
HERE
it has pictures of the people i spend pretty much everday with and a little bit of info about what we do...

what to do?

polyethylene
Originally uploaded by xjermsx

time is winding down. im running out of time to decide. what should i do?
in about 3 weeks or so i need to let my boss know whether i am going to transfer into the PhD program, or just finish my masters degree. i could finish my masters one year from now, or transfer into the phd program and be done in 3 years from now.
seriously. any suggestions would be sweet. lets have 'em.

another season finished

With another tennis season coming to a close, Roger shows why he has been the #1 player in the world for 200 straight weeks.
he lost his first match at the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, but came back to absolutely own Roddick, Nadal and the red hot Ferrer to win the title.
I believe he even served 80% first serves in a few of those matches. that is incredible. literally, that is like having a .800 batting average, or scoring a goal on 80% of the shots you get in a hockey game. insanely hard.
2 Grand slam titles short of Pete Sampras, Federer is in a good place to break the record in 2008. this man continues to write history everytime he steps on a court.
Speaking of Sampras, the two guys are doing a tour of Asia, playing three matches over there. This picture is from their match in Seoul. Harmony is going to their match in Macau. To be honest, i have never been more jealous in my entire life. make sure you enjoy it just that extra bit for me, harm.

road trip

road trip
Originally uploaded by xjermsx

i spent another weekend out at a beach camp with these sweet high school kids and a few more that wouldnt fit in this picture. yes a beach camp in november can still be a good time. games, food, hang outs, haunted houses and some serious time talking about faith, hope, and love were on the agenda.
we did it with a super-hero theme, hence some of the sweet costumes in the rest of my flickr pictures.
but we talked about what it might look like if we actually did the faith, hope and love thing. in real life. if we actually loved, and actually hoped and had a little faith. what do you think it would look like?
apparently there is some guy in the states who decided to live out the old testament for a year. he even convinced someone to let him "stone" them, throwing pebbles at them in central park or something.
anyway, as jason, dan and i were sitting in the hot tub, jason asked, why someone/everyone dont try living out the new testament. basically faith, hope and love.
why would it be an experiment, and not the norm? would God just kind of laugh and say "stinkin took you guys long enough to figure it out"
i dont know. any thoughts out there as to what it might look like if we used our 'super hero powers' of faith hope and love?
to those of you who were there, thanks for the sweet weekend. for those of you who werent, let me know what you think...

this is rich...

i took this little section from the top story on the yahoo.com homepage. if you are one of those women...nevermind.


"SYDNEY (AFP) - Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday.


Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported."

one year ago..

mr. federer
see flickr for more from jerms

i sat in this stadium watching the top 8 players in the world with one of the best guys i know, jonny sly.
we watched federer dominate roddick, blake and nadal among others.
this tournament is starting again tomorrow back in shanghai and i wish that i was there. the city itself is an amazing place, but being able to watch 8 straight days of tennis was honestly the best week of my life. hands down.
if you get a chance try and take some of it in on t.v. its nothing like being there live, but its still amazing.

weekend away

team photo
Originally uploaded by intrepid trepidation

this crew made a trip out to arlington beach this weekend. we all stayed in this one huge, old school house. it ended up becoming lots of time to laugh, eat, think, and hang out. we talked about making quiet space. time when we can 'unplug' from everything that is happening around us. movies, tv, ipods, radios, cell phones, computers, pagers, pda's. the list could go on. none of this is really a new idea, but its just something i at least needed to be reminded of..that i dont always need to have all these things in the background making noise. that silence is ok. and even beneficial; spiritually and physically. i was also reminded that even though making this space is a good thing, there is also something to be said for seeing God in whatever things you are doing during your day. working, listening to lectures, interactions with other people, driving, jogging etc.

living in one house with 20 or so people equals some good pranks. opening a door resulted in a pitcher of water landing on my head, pouring powdered coffee whitener into sleeves and coat pockets, and a cup full of harmless maple bugs being dumped on a girl resulting in a scream equivalent to someone getting their foot caught in a bear trap were among the highlights.
click on the picture to see the rest of jessies pictures

taking it for a test drive

i just got the new Mac OS X today. Leopard is unbelievable. some reviewer, from pcmag.com had this to say:
"In his 4.5-star (out of 5) review of Leopard, Edward Mendelson (pcmag.com) maintains that Leopard is “by far the best operating system ever written for the vast majority of consumers, with dozens of new features that have real practical value.” Mendelson “found Leopard to be startlingly fast, brilliantly streamlined, and packed with conveniences and innovations. Leopard’s rich set of built-in software runs faster than I imagined possible."
there is some pretty sweet features and additions from the last version. if you have a mac, you should get it. ( i paid 69$ as a student) and if you dont have a mac, get one now, they all have leopard installed.

great quotes from don himself...

don cherry has been a longtime favorite of mine. some people dont like him but i think its mostly because they are the type of people that dont like being told how it is, straight up, without beating around any bushes.
the other day i was reading in the paper about how cassie campbell got inducted into the canadian sports hall of fame. and someone asked what don thought about cassie being the first female hockey player inducted, and his response was "yeah, but she wasnt the first person selected who played like a girl..."
always good for a humorous comment.

5 for 6 ain't bad

october brings the MLB playoffs. throughout the regular season i probably watching a totaly of 3 innings of baseball, but when playoffs comes, its a different game.
this is the 2nd annual betting on baseball playoffs with joel and so far things have been pretty sweet. last year we bet on four series. i won all four. this year, we have bet on six so far and im 5 for 6.
the red sox just completed a sweet comeback from down 3 games to 1 to cleveland to give me yet another series win. boston outscored them 31-5 in the last 3 games or something like that.
sweet deals.
so im already looking forward to next october when i can make a few more bucks. thanks joel.

the life and times of a grad student

the picture explains it all. this is a load of books from the library

bookies

so john proposed that we 'gridblog' about a book, or two, or three that we have read in the last little while. i think.
a few people have done that.. and because of that i have a longer list of books i want/need to read. thanks guys.
for me it has been a little slower year for reading for leisure since i entered the world of graduate studies. but i have managed to squeeze a few keepers in there. the one i am reading right now is called "a long way home. memoirs of a boy soldier" by ishmael beah.
8 chapters in and i am having trouble reading more than one chapter at a time. and often even one paragraph at a time. this is not because it is poorly written, or hard to get into, but this book is heavy. seriously. i dont really want to ruin it for the rest of you either, but i have never read something that is so hard hitting. not in a convicting way (yet).
he writes about his experiences in sierra leone during times of war and inner conflict in his country.
the words he uses and the pictures he paints are often more gruesome than any war movie i have ever seen. the things this guy has seen as a young child is unbelievable. seriously. i havent done it even a bit of justice, but check it out. it is good to know what kinds of things are happening on the other side of the globe. not only is awareness good, but also an honest and serious appreciation for the 'freedom' we have in our country. (yes i know that last line is cliche, but this is probably one of the first times, other than visiting india, that i have felt grateful for living in a safe place.)
anyway, check it out. let me know what you think.

watercolor on canvas

benj posted his new ink at http://strakers.wordpress.com/, so i thought id put mine up here too. the front of my right leg is mostly finished. might tie it into the back once i get more work done there. (for those of you not so quick out there, this picture is actually two pictures of the same leg from different angles so you can see the whole thing. )

starting my new career..

tuesday afternoon i begin my teaching career. i have two lab sections to teach for Chem 332. the university general calendar give this explanation for the course:
"An introduction to transition metal chemistry including coordination geometry and stereochemistry, ligand field theory, and spectroscopic, magnetic and thermodynamic properties of inorganic compounds. The laboratory work includes experiments on the preparation and characterization of transition metal compounds."
should be an experience anyway. most of the time will be tied up in re-learning and sometimes learning for the first time what we will be doing each week in the lab. i hope ill be able to answer at least some of the questions that come up. im definitely going to learn a lot anyway...

need i say more?

seriously. 4 US opens in a row. two grand slam titles away from Mr. Sampras. rewriting the record books everytime he steps on the court. rafael who?

september long

saturday morning i headed out for a camping adventure with six super good friends from church. destination: some cabin north of lloydminster. to be honest, i was skeptical getting into the car. the drive was going to be long and what were we going to do for 3 days in a one room cabin with 7 people, no electricity, running water or tv to watch the US Open or Labour Day Classic?ouch!
we headed north of lloyd and turned east onto a grid road. 15 miles or so later, we turned south onto possibly one of the worst roads i have ever seen in my life. our poor little toyota echo bottomed out numerous times and the 3 of us in this vehicle just shook our heads. 10 minutes or so later on this road and we ended up at the cabin. this view greeted us and over the few days we were there i found myself staring, thinking, listening and shaking my head. the view was amazing. surrounded by nature all on all sides. such an amazing getaway. almost too quiet at first became something that i am missing now. needless to say it was a good way to 'end' the summer and get back into a new semester at school. i often take my surroundings for granted and wish i was somewhere else. i was reminded this weekend why i love saskatchewan, that God makes some pretty amazing stuff and all a guy needs is a few pounds of bacon and some good friends to make a long weekend pretty sweet.
check out my flickr for a whole lot more pictures.

curl this.

the weakerthans have been one of my favorite bands since 1998 when we snuck out of the dorms to go watch them in dauphin. their new record is coming out september 25th. here is a little video talking about one of their new songs. some of you might find it somewhat humorous.

walking the dog.

most of you know my small amount of dislike for canines. and i hope i dont offend any of you dog owners with these few lines...but im kind of confused.
michael vick is making headlines for raising dogs for dog fighting and it looks like he could end up in jail over it. i guess he raised these dogs to fight, and if they didnt do a good job, they were killed or something.
this blog is not to condone his behaviour in any way...
but now that the dogs are there and no one is claiming them...the state is going to kill them all anyway.
whats the point of putting mr. vick in jail if the government is just going to euthanize them? another case of people getting worked up over something thats not really a big deal...dont you think?

slaughter house tales

as some of you know, and some of you may not, kris (my brother) and a few of my really good friends, kori and lisa jones and tyler butel are in africa with a handful more canadians. they are bulding a school and hanging out with kids. kris also got to kill a goat. that is sweet. for 3 perspectives on goat killing, driving in africa, eating, and even pooping check out...

Kris
Kori & Lisa
Tyler

means interview and live footage.

Dylan does some interview and then some live footage from a festival in the states. check it out.

the moustache: a victory for mankind

The Globe and Mail, generally known for its news coverage and somewhat insightful articles has struck it rich with this last one they wrote. seriously.
THIS article is worth a read, as any article devoted only to the beauty of the moustache is. the American Moustache Institute, the judges of the competition, say it was developed for "protecting the rights of, and fighting discrimination against, mustached Americans by promoting the growth, care and culture of the mustache." the rest of the article is full of quotes just as rich. i promise.

Apparently you need to read this article now and then go vote on the Greatest Moustache in Sports History. quick. time is running out. the winner will supposedly be announced at the "2007 'Stache Bash in St. Louis". this is great.

Son of a Preacher Man

Jay Bakker wrote a really sweet book called 'Son of a Preacher Man' that you should read. definitely one of my favorites and of all the people i have talked to that have also read it, nothing but good things have been said. a short interview with Jay is
here
on the good old Globe and Mail website. check out that book. its definitely worth a read.

a good read

ive always liked James Blake as a tennis player. he absolutely crushes the ball and is all heart. he has been through some brutal yet amazing struggles personally and physically which he talks about. getting to see him in Shanghai in November of 2006 was definitely a highlight and getting to read about that tournament and the ones leading up to it was amazing too. His new book just made the NY Times bestseller list and is a good read for sure. i just finished it, so ill borrow it to you if you want..otherwise, find a bookstore and buy it.

what a show

this is great.

running with the bulls.

HERE is a short video from the Running of the Bulls in Spain. Kori, Kris and myself are going in July 2009. anyone else want to meet us there?

simple yet complex

if you are bored at work, or bored at home, or just interested, you should read
this NY Times article about water. its actually pretty interesting and
it seems that it is something that is coming up a lot more with regards to environment and sustainability. something we in north america take for granted for sure is clean water. we even pay ridiculous amounts for 'spring' water in bottles. what a rip. anyway, take a look. its pretty sweet.

gaining respect

today was a sweet day. i woke up at 7 a.m. to watch the Wimbledon final. and what a final. two guys playing amazing tennis. to be honest, i gained some respect for nadal. he played some pretty amazing tennis, even hitting winners from sitting on his butt on the baseline. snap. even his ridiculous antics and bum tugging were kept a little more under wraps. maybe he realized he was in a classy place and should act accordingly...
anyway, federer is amazing. i ll admit i had my doubts during the match, but he flipped a switch in the fifth set and showed the true champion he is. if you missed out on watching it, you missed a piece of history.

nadal, whining again...

after nadal luckily escaped his 3rd round match against robin soderling, he had to whine and complain like the true sportsman he is. watching him live and even on t.v. only serves to increase my dislike for the guy. see the article
here that talks about how he takes so bloody long between each point and other reasons he isnt half the man guys like federer are.

for a good read about facebook...

check out this link at http://johnandang.blogspot.com/2007/06/facebook.html
john, i couldnt agree with you more. i never signed up for it. and im glad i havent. facebook is lame.

my new toy

bike
Originally uploaded by xjermsx

so i bought my first vehicle. this is it. its fun to ride. especially when the sun is shining like that. seriously. so if you havent heard from me for a while, im probably out on this thing..

june 4th, 1989

melissa sent me a link today from work (she must be so busy). anyway, it talked about the 18th anniversary of the Tianamen Square massacre. something i dont know much about, but had the opportunity to experience the place when i visited there in december of last year. i cant really explain it, but i had an uneasy feeling being there. the day was kind of gloomy and cloudy, as you can kind of see from the picture, so that might have had something to do with setting the mood. and it might have had to do with the fact that i was kind of picturing what it must have been like to be there on that day when tanks rolled in and the government and military slaughtered a large number of student protesters. check out the link for some more pictures and a better story than i could write. thanks melissa.
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/06/04/212762.aspx

east coast swing

i didnt actually make it to the coast. but i went to winnipeg. most of you know how i feel about winnipeg, but i must admit i had a good time. i was attending the 90th annual Canadian Chemistry Conference and presenting my recent research work to a group of mostly chemists from all over the world. it was definitely a learning experience.
the highlight of the trip however was the sweet people i got to see. a shout out to the King's for a place to stay in winnipeg and erin in brandon. and thanks to tracy, charity, murray, scott, clay, mark, dean and hub for meeting me somewhere to hang out along the way. it was good to see all you guys. minus your dogs.

my university friends

jackson and tressia are the other two grad students that i am working with at the uni here in saskatoon. both of them are extremely smart and have helped me out a great deal over the past 5 months. so i thought id post a couple pictures so when i talk about them you know at least what they look like. jackson is from zambia and tressia is from south india. i just took the pictures on photobooth so the quality isnt excellent, but its all good.

footbag

in highschool a couple of buddies and i got into the sport of footbag quite a bit. we never got close to being as good as this guy, but after playing a bit this weekend, my interest has kind of been re-sparked. check this out. wow!

a month later...

inspired by brianne's late end of the semester update, i decided to do my own. although exams finished a month ago, things have not gotten any less busy. for a few weeks there i was quite worried that my average would not be high enough and i would be kicked out of school and looking for a job come the end of april. turns out that was not the case. however, i did learn more in these past four months that i had in my complete undergrad career. that is sweet.
-ive also still been rolling with the diving lessons. that game is so hard. so many technical aspects that i never even thought of before. but by the end i am going to be able to do some pretty looking stuff i hope. i might have to continue this in the fall too.
-melissa moved to yellowknife just in time to miss nic coming home from india. some sister she is.
-i got to see pete and chelsey and the kid. good times. pete only beat me by one stroke on the golf course so now we are even. i thought that was pretty good since he has been golfing since january and that was my first round of the summer.
-i wrote my learners exam for my motorcycle license. to pass, you have to write 3 parts, one about street signs, one about your motorcycle and the third is the same one that you would write to get your learners for a car. i failed part 3 after getting 100% on the first two sections. that was embarrasing. so i did some studying and only got 3 wrong the second time i wrote. if a decently priced HD came across my path, i would be hard pressed not to buy it.
also
-i have been reminded how much i do not like the following things/people: lindy ruff, daniel briere, the toronto maple leafs, shaving, dogs, prime minister harper, baseball, the nba, vince carter, winnipeg, the wedding part of weddings, and the vancouver canucks.

grid blog about moms

where to even start on this topic is beyond me. through the years (almost 26) my mom has dressed me, changed me, taken care of me, worried about me, fed me, fed my friends, put up with my bad attitude and poor choices, and loved me through it all. she listens to me whine, complain, and still gives me feedback and suggestions on things i could do to make the situation i am in better. she has definitely taught me a lesson or two in organization and being a true servant. a lot of the time without even saying a word. being able to see Jesus in people seems to be getting more rare all the time. mom, however, is an exception. of all the things she has done for me, the single greatest is showing me a glimpse of Jesus. thanks mom. happy mothers day!

more on climate change

i found THIS article on climate change and global warming on the good old cbc website (no, stephen harper has not cancelled the cbc...yet). its coming from a pretty different point of view than anything i have heard. some interesting points include: "climate change is not a global issue--that is the problem" along with other ideas about how we maybe need to look at the positive aspects of it as well. anyway, read it for a non-traditional view point on the debate. its interesting.

weekend away

throwing rocks
Originally uploaded by xjermsx.

this weekend we headed up to emma lake to get away from the city and the busy-ness and a had good weekend of swimming, dirtbiking, working, tree chopping, sleeping, watching playoffs, eating, and laughing. this was my first time to bern & debs cabin and my first time riding dirtbikes. so preston showed me how and we ripped up the trails up there. i only crashed once. it was great to get away and not worry about school or anything for a few days. check out flick for a few more pictures.

earth day

so i dont really know what earth day even means. and ill likely become less popular for some of my ideas. but that doesnt matter. first of all. i dont really like hippies. they usually smell bad. as for earth day, i definitely think myself, as well as society in general (at least in the 'western world'), and especially old mr. harper need to change something about how we live and consume. we are not doing ourselves a favor and if i ever have kids, they are gonna be feeling it a lot more than we are today.
at the same time, i also think that a lot of it is a fear campaign. we are so good at falling for those. "oh no, a few people died of bird flu, watch out, or else", "y2k is coming soon, buy as much stuff as you can so you dont die when the computers all quit", "west nile is taking over the world, cover your body with our chemicals and you will be okay", and the list could go on. i think you all know what im talking about..we are constantly living in some sort of 'fear' because of the way we buy into mainstream media. now im starting to sound all political like blair, so i better wrap things up...all of these are problems and likely need to be dealt with on some level, and climate change and the overall condition of 'our' globe is somewhat troubling, but lets all use some common sense, lets try and be conscious of our decisions but lets also learn to think for ourselves. thats all.

i hate the canucks...

its true. i am not a vancouver fan. my good buddy pete, however, is for some reason. maybe just cause he moved close to vancouver, or maybe because he is weiner, i am not sure. but anyway, after trading a few trash talking text messages, pete decided to phone me. that was sweet. i miss that guy. i dont really have much to say other than it was a good phone call. usually i hate talking on the phone, but when its with a friend from far away, something seems to make it okay. so thanks for the call pete. i still think your canucks are gonna lose to the stars in 7 and you are gonna lose by 2 strokes on the golf course on may 5th. mark my words.

now to learn how to do it right.

one and a half
Originally uploaded by xjermsx.

after looking through my yellowknife 2006 summer pictures, i was inspired by some of the diving ones cody took. so i busted out the speedo from winter hibernation and joined the saskatoon diving club. today was my first lesson. i learned how to jump. after an hour of jumping 'properly' i am exhausted. but its so fun. so if you are looking for a new pasttime. go learn how to dive. its sweet. then when we go visit yk we can rip the cliffs and bridges apart.

wrestling

a lot of this isnt new to most of the people i have been in conversation with over the years, but i kind of like some of the ideas and the way things are said. you can check out the full article at http://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=1495 the link there, but here is a few bits and pieces that jumped out at me.

"What if we approached God, more often than not, with an attitude of confrontation rather than submissiveness?...Before taking a look at our own story as Christians, listen to what the Buddha had to say regarding following the path of truth: "Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true."

"What has happened to this ancient tradition of fighting with God? It's not an avant-garde suggestion. All the prophets did it and the wisdom books of the Bible are filled with questions, not answers. Why have we become so laissez-faire when it comes to following God? Jacob wrestled with God, breaking his leg in the process, and threatened God with continued fighting if he did not receive a blessing. How much more rich our journeys would be if would just learn to be comfortable with "fighting" God! It'd probably make His life a lot more interesting too"

any thoughts on all this?

playoff hockey

now the so called 'march madness' just finished, and i will admit that i watched some of it. and it wasnt really that good. but the real sporting event of the year is beginning. actually it really already has begun for some teams. im talking about playoff hockey. the hardest trophy on the planet to win enters its second season in just a few days and the next two months are going to blow anything basketball could offer out of the water. it wont even be close. so for all you people that call yourself sports fans but still like watching basketball, put your seatbelts on and get ready for a real sport, where a little bump or slap on the wrist doesnt get you fouled out, where the last 30 seconds of the game do not take 15 minutes to play out and where guys leave their hearts and souls on the ice in pursuit of the greatest prize in sport.

the newest toy

the newest toy at uncle berns is a unicycle. this is preston tearing it up. he is seriously a quick learner. as for uncle bern, maybe not so much.
check out flickr for a few more pictures.