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Drunk Zamboni driver…

Zamboni stories always amuse me…

A New Jersey man is on the rocks, his career on ice, after he was busted for being drunk while driving an ice-cleaning machine.

John Peragallo, 63, was given a summons Sunday afternoon near the skating rink at the Mennen Sports Arena (search) in Morristown, N.J., reported the Newark Star-Ledger.

Another employee had called police around noon to say that Peragallo, behind the wheel of the four-ton machine, was speeding, sliding into turns and nearly hitting the boards at the edges of the rink — all with a big smile on his face as nervous skaters watched from the sidelines.

By the time the cops got there, the machine — known to hockey fans as a Zamboni (search) — was parked, but Peragallo, a senior operating engineer who’s been with the Morris County Parks Commission (search) for 11 years, was still at the scene.

The police report, as quoted by the New York Daily News, said that Peragallo had bloodshot eyes and the “odor of alcoholic beverage” on his breath.

When asked to take a Breathalyzer test, he allegedly replied, “Let’s go, so I can prove I’m OK.”

Sadly for him, he checked out with a 0.12 blood-alcohol level, well above the 0.08 legal limit in New Jersey.

Peragallo’s car keys were taken away and he was told to appear in court in July to face a charge of drunken driving. Apparently a Zamboni is considered a motor vehicle, no different from a car.

Peragallo could lose his driver’s license — for both cars and Zambonis — if he’s convicted.

from Fox News

Note: The above photo is NOT of the drunk Zamboni driver. It is of my son’s teammates pushing a Zamboni off the ice after it died while resurfacing.

Botton: the strangest village in Britain

Botton, a Yorkshire village, is a place where eccentric behaviour is celebrated and people who might have difficulty being accepted by the outside world are welcomed.

One hundred and thirty five people with special needs live and work with 100 ‘co-workers’ (and their children) in a remote and self-contained collection of farmhouses set in a rugged valley on the North Yorkshire Moors.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of Botton, and some of its residents have been there since the beginning. Co-workers, too, opt into a long-term commitment to share their homes and their lives with up to eight adults with special needs; it’s certainly not a lifestyle for the intolerant or impatient. While the community appears to have been a success, it has also been controversial among some social work professionals who believe that people with learning difficulties do better when integrated into the wider community.

from Channel 4 (UK)

If not for blogs and blog-surfing, how would I have EVER heard of this place? If the pictures aren’t working on my post, so be sure to click on the word Botton at the top of the page for some lovely photos.

Horn swoggled: Book Tag: Harmless Fun or Devil’s Tool?

Horn+Swoggled is the hilarious new blog by the very talented David Brazeal, who also writes Cross Wise. David rivals The Door in his religion humor pieces. Check out his commentary on the popular book tag: Horn swoggled: Book Tag: Harmless Fun or Devil’s Tool?

Tablethoughts for this week…

Tabletalk is definitely the latest fun twist in the confessional Lutheran blogosphere. I got to chat with The Bunnie online for the first time. It was quite an honor! Here are other frequenters:

Aardvark Alley, Anxious Contentment, Be Strong In The Grace, Bunnie Diehl, The Burr in the Burgh, Confessing Evangelical, Cyberbrethren, David Creates With Legos; God With Logos, Drowning Myself Whenever I Can, Evangelical Lutheran, Here We Stand, Intolerant Elle, The Joshua Victor Theory, Maelstrom, Necessary Roughness, The Online Pilgrim, Preaching Christ Crucified, Preach. Teach. Confess., Random Thoughts of a Confessional Lutheran, The Small Catechlysm, Spirit and Life, Terrible Swede, Theology Geek, Theomony, plus many other readers!

It is just silly to have to fight my teens for the computer. I’ve got to get a second computer in this house!

What your kids think of blogs…

Blog

Ever wonder what kids think of blogs? Not teens, who have Xangas which are anything but blogs (”This is NOT a blog, Mom. Blogs are stupid. Blogs are for old people.) No, I mean kids like James Lileks’ daughter, Gnat. View this little clip created by James. I like how she keeps dropping the book.

Journalistic Jargon: Dennis Rader Confesses to Being BTK

The Lutheran Blogosphere’s own reporter writes:

In a dramatic turn of events, the man held in connection with the BTK murders (serial murders that happened over a course of almost three decades by someone who eluded capture for 31 years), confessed to being the notorious killer. BTK, a nickname given by the killer, himself, stands for “bind them, torture them, kill them”.

Dennis L. Rader was expected to change his plea of “not guilty” to “guilty,” partially at the request of his family to make it easy on them. To tell you the truth, though, I don’t know how any of this could be easy for anyone who knows or loves him. He did change his plea, and then he non-chalantly described every aspect of the killings: how he gained entry into the homes, how he went about the killings, step by step, and how he got away with each one. All this, he told without emotion. It was sickening and very, very disturbing. Read on: Journalistic Jargon: Dennis Rader Confesses to Being BTK

10 Things I’d Tell myself…

I recently read a list of 10 Things I’d Tell My 18 Year Old Self by Chaz Lehmann. Chaz’ list is humerous. He reflects over his past decade or so. He lists:

1. That beard is a really bad idea. Shave for a few years first.
2. You really are a jerk. Be nice to people.
3. Marry the girl you see on the second day of freshman orientation that your roommate calls, “Red.” By the way, her hair isn’t really red. read on…

It reminded me of a recent post by Chris Williams on how the march of time changes your perspective and fades memories. Chris writes…

I’ve done a lot of travelling in my life. My first paid job was actually in New York, in the summer of 2002, when I was 18. I worked on a youth ministry team for teenagers and it was one of the best summers of my life. I also returned the next summer and worked in a different capacity. Both times, I made a lot of good and close friends, experienced things I’ve never done before, become an “adopted big brother” to some really great kids… yet if it weren’t for the photographic evidence of my being there, sometimes, it feels like it was just a dream. Going back even further, the most dangerous and significant years of my life sometimes feel like… someone else’s story. No one who has met me in recent years guessed that I ever went through anything like that. And of the closest friends who I see and talk to almost every day, only one of them has read that to have any idea of my past at all. It’s strange how people say they dream about the future. The past often seems just as distant and dreamlike to me. I feel like I occupy just this point in time I happen to be, shaped, being shaped, and continuing to be shaped, by the hand of God. Jesus’ words, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34) seem to have an extra dimension to them I had not noticed before.

For some reason, his post has stuck in my head. I wanted to just tell him, “That’s how life is.” For those of us in our later 30’s and beyond, we can make lists of our previous states of being and experiences. And, yes, if it weren’t for the photographic evidence, the thoughts and experiences seem to have dissipated into oblivion. Scripture tells us otherwise. God knows every thought, word and deed of our lives, for better and for worse. It’s too bad I can’t go back and tell myself to avoid certain things and go for others that I am avoiding.

I don’t think I care to write a list of what I’d tell my 18 year old self. I was so unblissfully unaware of the realities of life that I’d never have listened to some boring 44 year old mom. I think the most I could probably go back is about ten years. I can also sit here and try to imagine what my 54 year old self is screaming to me right now. If I could hear her, I am sure that I would have no idea what she is talking about. That’s how life is.

Let Hillary run the country?

I’m confused. Why in the world would Billy Graham say these things?

“Graham called the Clintons “wonderful friends” and “a great couple,” quipping that the former president should become an evangelist and allow “his wife to run the country.”

From the AP News wire

Who wrote this?

This game seems to be popular right now, so I’ll join in. Who wrote this quip?

“The most moving speeches summon us to the cause of what is actually possible. Perfection in the life of man on earth is not.”

Blobjects by timman: The Quest for pie can be a beautiful thing

Tim Nelson is one of the funniest writers I actually know. He might one day rival Dave Barry. He wrote this week about craving some pie.

This evening, partly as a result of being childless and partly as a result of now having a “working” wife, we had our second night in a row of left-overs for supper. And actually both experiences were very satisfying. But following dinner, I revisited a craving that I’ve been harboring deep inside for the past several days. I suppose it started last Friday or Saturday when I visited Baker’s Square pie shop and came out with a pie different from the one I had in mind as I entered. I walked in with French Silk on the brain and left with a Key Lime in my hand. Now don’t get me wrong, I also love Key Lime pie. And because it was hot outside Key Lime sounded refreshing, and the KL pie was a dollar cheaper, but most of all I knew my wife would probably prefer the KL to the FS. So in a noble altruistic act, I bought the Key Lime and denied myself the French Silk. It did make points. And it was very good.
Read on…Blobjects by timman: The Quest for pie can be a beautiful thing