T has an update on his mission trip to Phoenix during spring break. This was a training ground for him as he prepares to return to France this summer, this time as a team leader. Prayer is good!  Please do. 

http://www.xanga.com/gutless0304
||||||  lynard

L shot these videos at school on St. Patrick’s Day, asking people to do a jig for Student Council’s milkshakes. I think he did a super job with garnering participation from everyone from elementary students to administration, faculty and lunch ladies.

After his editing and sound track addition, the video was shown in high school assembly and posted on YouTube. It is an important contribution to the fine arts and a proper Christian school worldview. 

My favorite part of both is L’s voice at the very end of each–once with a comment, the other with a Gordon laugh!

||||||  lynard

According to news.bbc.co.uk: “Google is pressing the US government to allow the unlicensed frequencies of TV “white space” to be used for wi-fi. The firm has written an open letter to regulators saying the US spectrum was a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity.’ White space is unused blocks of frequencies in between channels broadcast on analogue airwaves.”

White space between the channels? Who knew?

This is fascinating. The new tech possiblities seem to be multiplying instead of narrowing. I just read another article about using inkjet technology to make cheaper flat-screen displays for computers.

Meanwhile, our satellite subscription to SkyAngel must end, since the satellite is corrupting or melting or something serious. To keep up with our beloved SkyAngel, we are getting IPTV, which will require higher broadband speed–FIOS here we come.

We were told this week about Cavalier–a fast internet service that combines your local and long distance phone service for $50…for all three things. It sounds super, except you lose your land line, which I am partial to having.

The link for SkyAngel, which is expanding its channel offerings in its adaptation, is http://www.skyangel.com. It offers Christian programming and general family programming. For instance, even its Hallmark movies have the Lord’s name or profanity erased. The current family package is $25, although you can get less channels for less.

Technology has some promise and the possibilities keep multiplying. We just need to use it for good.

||||||  lynard

Winnie the Pooh is deep, IMHO. Last night, I was perusing some of my favorite quotes from A. A. Milne,  like:

My favorite Pooh tale is probably that of the plot to kidnap Baby Roo in order to scare Kanga out of the forest. The whole drama is packed full with revelations of human nature. Here is a little clip:

	"The best way," said Rabbit, "would be this.  The  best
way  would  be  to  steal  Baby Roo and hide him, and then when
Kanga says, 'Where's Baby Roo?' we say, 'Aha!'"

        "Aha!" said Pooh, practising.  "Aha!  Aha!  .  .  .  Of
course,"  he  went  on,  "we could say 'Aha!' even if we hadn't
stolen Baby Roo."

        "Pooh," said Rabbit kindly, "you haven't any brain."

        "I know," said Pooh humbly.

        "We say 'Aha!' so that Kanga knows that we  know  where
Baby Roo is. 'Aha!' means 'We'll tell you where Baby Roo is, if
you  promise  to  go away from the Forest and never come back.'
Now don't talk while I think."

        Pooh went into a corner and tried saying 'Aha!' in that
sort of voice. Sometimes it seemed to him that it did mean what
Rabbit said, and sometimes it seemed to him that it didn't. "I
suppose it's just  practice,"  he thought. "I wonder if Kanga
will have to practise too so as to understand it."

        "There's just one thing," said Piglet, fidgeting a bit.
"I was talking to Christopher Robin, and he said that a Kanga
was Generally  Regarded as One of the Fiercer Animals I am not
frightened of Fierce Animals in the ordinary  way, but it is
well known that if One of the Fiercer Animals is Deprived of
Its Young, it becomes as fierce as Two of the Fiercer  Animals.
In which case 'Aha!' is perhaps a foolish thing to say."

        "Piglet," said Rabbit, taking out a pencil, and licking
the end of it, "you haven't any pluck."

Speaking of pluck, you can view a few more pictures of our trip to Williamsport here if you dare:
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562804096NaccEG?vhost=good-times

We hope to be adding more soon. We’re plucky like that.

||||||  lynard

The family rendezvous in Williamsport, Pa., for the weekend was sweet and tangy–all the G siblings accounted for, for the first time in a long time. Gathering in the hometown where nobody lives anymore, we spent a lot of time at the old haunts, which included Henry’s BBQ.

This sparked a discussion, with particular lectures from the NCarolinians, on the etymology of the word barbecue. It seems some folks can be very exacting about the term, which some ignorami *ahem* just bandy about as if applied to a wide variety of sauces, flavors, and cooking methods. (Ignoramus, btw, comes from a Anglo-French 17th century legal term.)

WorldWideWords.org says the origin of BBQ harkens back to the West Indian island of Hipsaniola in the 17th century:  “The local Arawakan Indians had a method of erecting a frame of wooden sticks over a fire in order to dry meat. In their language, Taino, they called it a barbacòa, which Spanish explorers borrowed.” The Europeans also used the word to refer to sleeping platforms raised off the ground to reduce the risk of snakebite–wooden stick platforms (without the fire!).

Now, this wooden-rack cooking word evokes different ideas and flavors depending on what part of the world you are. In NC, it tends to mean slow cooking pigs sometimes in the ground. In Kentucky and Texas, the meat, often beef, is rubbed with dry spices, and in Georgia, the pork swims in a sweet tomato sauce. Of course, in Australia, it means shrimp over coals.

Henry’s BBQ seems to be a lot of slow roasted meat, any variety, with a sweet ‘n vinegar sauce. I went for the beefy chili, which came in a little bowl, but stuck to my ribs in a large way.

Here in Pittsburgh, if you say, “Do yinz wanna barbecue?” you mean etiher:
1–Making dinner on your front porch where you can talk to peeps who walk past on the sidewalk, or
2–Buying Isaly’s chipped ham and soaking it in Heinz BBQ sauce overnight in a crock pot.

||||||  lynard

I love Travelzoo’s travel deals and tips–they come to my email box each week–and right now they are having some cool contests to win trips.

|||||| lynard

Pastor Bruce has been preaching a series on John 17–Jesus’ Great Prayer. He has challenged us to read John 17 everyday, which I have not done (confessions….), but we are trying to read portions of it in family devotions after dinner.

This week his message was on unity. Pastor Bruce made me think when he said that unity in Christ is already accomplished. Jesus wasn’t praying that we would work toward unity. He was praying that we would express our unity. His work already accomplished unity: Baptists, Independents, Presbyterians, Methodists…

Why? Why do we need to express our unity in Christ?

“…to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.” John 17:23b

We need to express our unity in order to share Christ with those who don’t yet know.

||||||  lynard

The Invisible is a surprisingly a sophisticated movie, but surreal and creepy. It is not for kids under 14, IMHO.

Look for:
•   Rembrandt-type lighting
•   complex characters
•   depravity, darkness, evil
•   digital color editing
•   indie music and cool score
•   redemption
•   satisfying ending

PS–I got a letter from Judge Hargos thanking me for my juror service: “I would like to commend you on the excellent job you performed while being a juror…” Wow, I’m sure not many people get that kind of praise. LOL

||||||  lynard

“You do swear by Almighty God, the Searcher of all
hearts, that the evidence you shall give this court in this
issue now being tried shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth and as you shall answer to God on the last great day.”

I took this oath this week standing at chair #1 in an Allegheny County jury box. My right hand was in the air and my feet were shoving aside my tote bag stuffed with walking shoes, reading material, and hard candy. We had been instructed that we were also to raise our hand if we had to go to the bathroom. Apparently, the trial would screech to a halt while we tripped out of the jury box and ran down the hall. Nobody tried it. It would have felt like pulling the fire alarm.

From what I have read, only Delaware and Pennsylvania refer to God as “the Searcher of all hearts” in their swearing-in oaths. In combination with North Carolina, only these three states mention the last great day in the court pledge, according to Gabrielle Banks, a Post-Gazette reporter. All the witnesses took the same oath, although in the end, somebody was lying. Thankfully, the Searcher of all hearts knows.

I didn’t know. I’m terrible at telling who is lying.

The judge instructed us that if the preponderance of evidence and the likelihood of truthfulness weighted the scales, we must find in favor of that party. However, he said, if all the information provided seemed to hange the scales in balance, we must find in favor of the defense, a business owner who was being sued for pain and suffering.

Because of the nature of the trial, only 10 of the 12 of us had to agree. I was one of the two who never agreed. One lady, another hardback book reader, crossed over to the agreeable side just so we wouldn’t have to stay there forever.

I had had a premonition that things would go down like this, so I had pushed my madame foreperson status and papers to the middle of the table in the jury decision room, and asked my fellow jurors to elect someone else. A young brunette, four-months pregnant, volunteered. Bless her heart.

We had to decide on a dollar amount for this guy’s pain and suffering with NO guidelines from the judge or attorneys. We could have pulled a $1 or $1 billion out of a hat. My mother said that my stubbornness about the prosecution not making their case probably resulted in a lower judgment amount. We only awarded $20,000.

This was confirmed by the defense attorney in the elevator after the trial. He was smiling. He said we did a good job. The prosecution had been wanting a lot more money. So maybe I served some purpose.

Meanwhile, if the prosecution was the one speaking truth, I’m glad the guy got some money.

The courtroom was in the City-County Building downtown, which boasts this gorgeous courtroom and other sweet ones. Mine was smaller and hot (the temperature regulation is bezerk in that building) , but paneled and handsome. JFK and Bobby were framed and hung at least four times on the walls. but a picture of Roberto Clemente graced a corner, and Abraham Lincoln’s visage stared at the judge head-on. None of these men are the Searcher of all hearts anyway.

The whole day was an edjumicational experience that I will be glad to do again some day, as long as it isn’t any time soon. And I guess I won’t know the truth until that Last Great Day.

  ||||||  lynard   

One day after watching We Are Marshall, Kate is still saying in a bewildered way, “I can’t believe everybody dies.”

I swear we discussed in front of her that it was the premise of the movie, based on true story, blah, blah. Poor girl is in shock.

The thing is when the kids asked me about any book or movie plot, I often say, “In the end, everybody dies.” Maybe I cried wolf once too many.

||||||  lynard