Third Week in March 2010

So, what is redemption? Since I am writing about it, I am tempted to access a dictionary and provide a textbook answer. However, that is really not what I am looking for, I am talking about myself, and what it means to me. I think redemption is the process by which you go from have 'mean spirited' or 'selfish' personality traits to having 'redeeming' ones instead, clever, huh? When you wrong someone, badly, frequently the only thing you can do is to change your own life to become a better person in an attempt to make amends. Several of my friends are willing to give credit to me for achieving changes via hard work. I am hesitant to take any credit, because quite frankly, I am unsure I've ever wanted to change a thing about myself. Still I've changed, and what's behind the changes? I like to call this process "God".

Even though I've never really wanted to change a thing about me, I've certainly been more than willing to love my Creator. God has taken this love, and taught me that the rest of creation is something that should also be loved. It's not necessarily all about the selfish boy inside me, it's about God and my neighbor too. What is redemption? It is how God turns you into the person you are supposed to be, despite your best efforts to be what you want to be. The good that comes out of me comes out of my relationship with God, I am the Redeemed, and it grants me peace I cannot achieve by my own works.

Number of the week: 107. That's how many days we went in the Omaha area between days with the high temperature above 50F, December 1 to March 17. I did some checking, and over the last five years, the second longest such streak was 68 days (Nov 19, 2007 to Jan 28, 2008). This year, between December 5 and March 3 (88 days) there were only two days that the temperature got above 40F. During that 68 days referenced above, there were 14 days where the temperature got above 40F. I wanted to get a longer baseline to compare numbers, but I found it difficult to find the information. When I thought I had found the correct numbers, I was asked to pay $70 for it, and for just a casual 'hobby' type of project, it wasn't worth it. However, why isn't that data of available free of charge? What does it all mean? This winter sucked!

Monday I finally gave up on the two week long migraine, it was bad on Monday, and I called in to work and then set an appointment with Doctor Lorrie. We had a talk about things that had changed recently in my life, new place, new bed, no girlfriend, and giving up pop for Lent. She seemed to think this last thing was the "BINGO!". So my Lenten sacrifice is officially off, although it wasn't going well anyways ... I have more thoughts on this, but they aren't put together quite yet. I ended up with a shot in my backside, which, must have been good, I basically slept for the next 30 hours.

Tuesday was mostly like the end of Monday, spent staring at the inside of my eyelids, finally around 1700 I felt good and got up and going. I ended up going to dinner with Kevin. We talked about girls, technology, girls, dancing, girls, friends, and dancing ... only not so much the technology, dancing, and friends ... it's the only subject we ever talk about. Kevin waited until I ordered, then he ordered the same thing I did! It's a clear violation of man rules.

Wednesday was Saint Patrick's Day. I don't usually go out, I think of it as amateur night, and this year was no exception. I stayed in and was enjoying a quiet evening when I got a text from Merinda saying people were on their way over for games. Pretty soon Ben was there, and Sarah, and Joe, and well, no Merinda. I guess I'm the host! Merinda did show up, as did CJ and Amy. We played Zombie Fluxx in which I made the zombies win two games in a row, it was great fun ... for me ... but then they wanted to switch games. So onto Catch Phrase, played like we always play it, which may or may not be by the real rules, I've never read them. Actually it can't be by the real rules, because we've never kept score. One thing is for certain, there is a lot of laughing, and plenty of inappropriate discussion that cannot be mentioned here.

Thursday night was supposed to be dance practice. It was my idea to mix up the days of the week, but it didn't work, no one was coming, so it got canceled. I ended up going to game night at CJs. We only played one game, it was Tales of the Arabian Nights. I really like this game, but once again play went longer than I could really stay.

Friday this happened at lunch:

Following a tradition ... also following a newer tradition of the car being still when I take the picture.

Friday night was the annual "Rite of Swing" toga party. I'm not a big toga fan, but I'll play along...

I'm not really certain what Rachel is doing, I was too busy grazing.

I took a few more pictures, but it sure seemed I was working more on dancing and keeping my toga in place rather than actually thinking about taking pictures.

After the dance, and dressed in jeans, myself Brianne, Merinda, and eventually Ben went to Village Inn and talked about dancing until 0230. The way they teach Lindy Hop now is different from when I learned five years ago, and this certainly explains why I have so much trouble dancing with certain people, we're not doing the same dance. Styles change, deal with it, but it certainly would have been nice to be told that the styles were changing, I might have been tempted to take a couple classes in the new style, now I'm more determined to learn it on my own ... well with help.

After the late night, Saturday I slept in and bummed around pretty much all day. I ended up going out to dinner with Shannon, Rachel, and all the littles. We went to a Chinese place near 114th and Dodge. The management/owners were very patient with all the littles (not the bigs, of course) making noise and crawling around ... mostly on me. It was a very good time.

After this I headed over to Kaleb's for game night. It seems like game night is becoming more about socializing and less about games. That's okay with me, although some games would be a nice change. We played two games of Lupus in Tabula, and that was it. There was a classic moment in the game when the game was down to Kaleb, his sister Sara, and his girlfriend Merriam. Merriam and Sara accused each other, and Kaleb had to decide which was the werewolf. He chose correctly, but it was fun. There was a couple hours of Ping Pong, which I don't remember being such a contact sport. Then we played Rock Band, oddly enough, the only instrument I didn't play was bass, and that's my usual. Kaleb started Dragon Age, and we noticed that it was 0230, and the party then broke up.

Sunday I had lunch at Fatburger with Troy, CJ, and CJ's mom, Peggy. Troy likes Fatburger. I was not so impressed, although I didn't have a burger, I had a chicken sandwich.

In the afternoon I did something I hadn't done since November 29th. I went for a walk, outside! Boy that felt good. I was so excited to get going that I forgot my iPod, and just went. It was only 0.8 miles, but I'll take it!

Troy and I went out to dinner too. We ate at Imperial Palace. One of their TVs had soccer on it (must have wanted customers to sleep), and the other had 1000 Worst Ways to Die (must have wanted customers to throw up). I had the Orange Chicken, I like theirs because it is usually spicy hot. Merinda managed to nap all the way through us having dinner.

Troy left for Des Moines, and I started to play the original Mass Effect, which is how I spent my evening.

Next week, all the excitement of a Tuesday evening in Blackduck, MN in the middle of the last ice age. Yep, you guessed it, I'm on call.