announcement

Due to a variety of factors, I am taking a hiatus from my blog. I anticipate returning some time towards the end of August. E me if you need me. If you really need something to do, read Jackson's blog instead. jacksonbohlender.blogspot.com.

Yahoo! News - Nevada Wildfire Is 30 Percent Contained


Would someone explain to me what a fire "30 percent contained" looks like? 70% out of control seems pretty wild to me.

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I cleaned tents today in prep for Burning Man...they were a mess from last time.

Stephen Hawking's new black hole theory:: "According to the report, Hawking has now said that once black holes form, they effectively start to 'evaporate' away, losing mass in the process, due to which they eventually break open and release the information that fell inside it."

Well, he's got this part right....the heavens are going to break open and there will be a considerable amount of information dispensed.

Yahoo! News - No Computer for Kerry As He Writes Speech
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"Sources close to the candidate reveal that, if elected, he will replace the cold war red phone with a string and soup can arrangement, build a presidential limo based on a bicycle built for two, and award all contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq to Amish-owned barn construction firms. Film at eleven."

brace yourselves...

Ok, at the risk of sounding like a raving Mac addict, I've got to tell you this one.

I use bluetooth to sync my iBook and my phone. It is a beautiful thing. I just got a new desktop in my office - it's a Sony Vio with all the bells/whistles. So I get a bluetooth adapter for it. I knew I was in trouble when seven pages of the instruction manual were dedicated to installing on a pc. (The Mac instructions took the last half page, consisting of one step: 1) Plug it in.) After trying valiantly, now for quite a while, I still can't get it to find my phone. Aaargh. I'm going to the prayer room.

all in a day's work...

...spent most of the day writing for teaching this weekend. Digging into Isaiah 58 - good stuff. Hope to do it justice. Also worked on my departmental budget. I am starting a department up from scratch, which means budgeting from scratch...a process that goes best when involving dice and a game spinner from the Game of Life. Once I got the whole thing done, the accounting department emailed me a template. A template. Just imagine that. Fortunately, the head of accounting was able to quickly sit down with me and help me hammer my numbers into their format.

I took the boys to the pool late this afternoon while Kelsey took a break. It's been hot and humid - we all enjoyed the dunk.

I think I found a very fun new thing to listen too.... The Next Big Thing: Do-It-Yourself: Show #445 (July 09, 2004)

ok, this is a little spooky...

Personality Quiz :
"Wackiness: 28/100
Rationality: 52/100
Constructiveness: 20/100
Leadership: 28/100


You are an SEDF--Sober Emotional Destructive Follower. This makes you an evil genius. You are extremely focused and difficult to distract from your tasks. With luck, you have learned to channel your energies into improving your intellect, rather than destroying the weak and unsuspecting.

Your friends may find you remote and a hard nut to crack. Few of your peers know you very well--even those you have known a long time--because you have expert control of the face you put forth to the world. You prefer to observe, calculate, discern and decide. Your decisions are final, and your desire to be right is impenetrable.

You are not to be messed with. You may explode."

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At the very least, I would like appeal the low score for wackiness.

Olympic Moment...

This is only part of the reason why I did not choose to try out for the Olympic wrestling team.

Well, this...and fear.

now reading:


Time for Truth: Living Free in a World of Lies, Hype, and Spin by Os Guinness

I was introduced to Os Guinness' writings not long ago when someone showed me a few passages from Guinness' more recent "Prophetic Untimeliness: A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance". He is an incredible thinker with the guts to think beyond fashion to the natural extension of our ideals. He also makes me very nervous as he exposes the dirty little secret of pop culture ministry - that in pursuit of cool, it rarely maintains it's grip on conviction.

"Time for Truth" speaks to the dangers of post-modern thought - it being a mirror image of modernity and reflecting that in it's own mine fields.

I recommend reading it. Unless you're just content to grouse and think about how much better church will be when your generation is in control. If that's the case, just keep surfing. You have many to commiserate with, and most of them are blogging.

and here is an essay, "What Randy's friends did on their most excellent summer vacation."

Burning Man & The Crucible Present the Fire Arts Fest:: "'A lot of pyro artists don't have a venue to do this kind of work, to exhibit their sculpture,' he says. 'You have to file for permits, do it up to code, and it's very time consuming.' You could also burn yourself, or the gallery, to the ground."

boxes, boxes...

This afternoon we had the assembly line thing going on....Kelsey, Danielle & Mom packing boxes while I made them and sealed them. Every time I run one of those wickedly fun tape guns I think of Melody Mosley. Maybe because the Bohlenders and Mosleys have moved each other so many times that it's weird to not be moving with them. We're going to our new house in Kansas City while they're packing it in back in Cinci and heading for...Texas. Who'dathunkit.

Along with the moving mess, I've got to figure out the details of our Burning Man Excursion. Camp Kingdom Come is destined for greatness...now I just need to gel that greatness with the availability of tents and cooking equipment and figure out how to get it all on the playa. I spoke with a veteran today who packs a 12 man tent and full mattress out there for he and his wife. I shall not name his name, but I will mock him in Media Mecca....

big celebration

Kels and I took two days and went into hiding...well, not very well, but we did manage to spend some time together to celebrate our anniversary (fifteen years!). We did some shopping and saw the Lewis & Clark iMax movie...excellent.

We also did the inspection on our house this afternoon - a few minor glitches to be fixed, but looks like no deal breakers. We hope to close next week! Woo-Hoo!

Ever wonder?

Ever wonder how your iBook knows the name of track 3 on the POD cd you just inserted? What if it didn't? This is a fascinating article - not so much for the technology itself but for how the technology affects consumers and they never even think about it. Their product is just there you need it. No time to expound right now, but my mind is racing with thoughts of evangelism models. For crying out loud, look at the name of the company. :)

an evening trip...

to Home Depot to pickup some packing paper brought back a whole ton of thoughts I haven't had in a year. So many things to see, use, install, adjust.... See, we've been renting this house for a year, and renting is different than owning. With two six-month exceptions, we've owned a home for fourteen years. It's felt weird to rent. Walking through the Depot tonight I found a million things I wanted...hmmmmm.

Tonight we started the loan paperwork. We're playing a little game with our Loan Arranger to see who can bury the other in paper first. When he gets to the fax machine in the morning, I think he'll see we're winning.

house update...

As of 11:30 AM today, we have a signed addendum to the original contract. Now Cameron Moss' work begins. :)

monumentous week....

It's a big week for the Bohlenders...starting last night with some killer fireworks on the lawn at Corporate Woods in Overland Park. The kids played for hours as we listened to a variety of big bands, closing out the night by laying back on our blankets staring into the great beyond and watching the sky explode with color. Three years ago we watched such a spectacular display - not from the lawn of a park, but from the fifth floor of a hospital. Kelsey and I sat on the heater by the window and watched fireworks shows being launched from five or six locations across Cincinnati. The next day, Zion was born...the ultimate firecracker. Happy Birthday, Zion!

Fifteen years ago on Wednesday (this is sounding like NPR...) at TriCounty Assembly of God in Fairfield, Ohio, Kelsey made the life charting decision to hitch her wagon to mine. Our wagons have rolled along quite nicely ever since. Fifteen years sounds like a long time, but when you're married to an angel, it passes in only a minute. I have heard offertories that have seemed much longer than the time we have been married...much, much longer. She is a jewel. Kels, I'm never sure if you read this or not - but I love you just the same. :) If you haven't met her, she is infinitely wittier, smarter and more ambitous than myself. All that in a good looking package, might I add.

I resisted temptation this morning in a very large way....5:30 AM found me standing in the dining room, brief case in one hand, gym bag in the other, looking out the window at the rain pouring down, thinking "If I do not go to the gym, will the grand purposes of God be thwarted?" The answer, of course, is no....(go ahead, Tom...debate that one...). In an unusual burst of self-control, I resisted the urge to crawl back in bed. Now, at 7:09 AM, sitting at my desk listening to a mix of soft jazz and rain on the window, with a cup of hot coffee at my right hand and the knowledge that no one will darken the door of the office suite for at least 51 minutes...I'm glad I decided to go to the gym. I hope I can remember this feeling tomorrow at 5:30 AM.

PRAYER REMINDER - The house. See post below...

okay, you people....

If you've ever asked me to pray for so much as Aunt Suzy's infected toe nail, I am hereby cashing in my prayer chips. We made an offer on a(nother) house...a simple little ranch in a great location with two monster sized trees in the front yard. Pray that we can close this deal (and soon). The owner has until 7 pm Monday to accept or counter.

the follow-up file...

CNN.com - Facing sour judgment, Scouts offer $250 lemonade - Jul 3, 2004: "SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- A Boy Scout troop tried to put a dent in a potential $14 million judgment Friday by selling lemonade -- at $250 a glass."

We'll see how this goes....