Vote for me! Why? Why not! Visit a good local blog, Northern Alliance Wannabe (referencing a local blog/radio show host consortium called the Northern Alliance- frequent guests on Hugh Hewitt’s show). Anyway, Dan at NAW does a good job of encouraging local bloggers by posting a weekly round-up/poll. I’m on it this week, so while you visit his blog cast a vote for me.
Baseball heros of today. That was the topic of discussion at our family reunion in Mid-July. The Home Run Derby had just been on television a few nights earlier and we were discussing the merits of Justin Morneau vs. Josh Hamilton as role models for young ballplayers. My dad and I argued the whether Josh Hamilton’s story should be so heavily discussed in the media. I was surprised to hear my dad’s strong advocacy for Hamilton. My dad has been a hard-working, clean athlete his entire life. He raised children who never abused a thing and his grandchildren, so far - God willing, have managed to stay away from drug and alcohol abuse. I only mention this because I would have expected my dad to be a champion of someone like himself, like Justin Morneau. He seemed frustrated when I suggested that it might be too early for Hamilton to be praised so heavily when just 18 months ago he was in yet another bad relapse. I could only remind him that Hamilton is a rare exception to a otherwise devastating condition of drug and alcohol abuse. Jim Souhan said it much better in the paper the very next day. In This season’s best baseball stories made in Minnesota, Souhan reminds StarTribune readers that:
The stories of Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer and Joe Nathan border on boring, because they represent the monotony of perseverance.
It’s an excellent opinion piece. He ends by positing:
If Joe, Joe and Justin had tried crack, they might have become national celebrities for overcoming their addictions.
Redemption is a glamorous story-line, but isn’t it better this way, following three model athletes with no need for it?
As a mother of a young ballplayer, I would choose the influence of three ballplayers who began life redeemed and stayed that way. Youth sports, today, is filled with talented athletes who fall - sometimes inexplicably - to drug and alcohol use. As a mother, I can also rejoice that one young ballplayer did eventually find redemption.
Gene Veith asks, “Is there a Vice-Presidential choice that would make you either MORE likely to support McCain or LESS likely to support him?”
This is easy- Tim Pawlenty. Besides the usual VP qualifications, he’s a hockey player, “a really good guy” and has a very smart wife (I’m listening to Judge Mary Pawlenty guest-hosting on my favorite morning radio show). Actually, he’s too good to waste on a vice-presidency, but I think that will probably cinch it for him.
Why is junk email always related in some way to sex? Why not mortgages or purses or clothing or magic hair-growing potions? Is sex the one topic that people are most likely to click on?
Conversely, why is junk mail that comes to my home is NEVER related to sex? Now, wouldn’t that be weird? Boy, you’d sure race to the mail box to make sure your teenage son didn’t get a view of the mail!
I realize there are logical answers to these questions. And, yes, I have more important things to think about, but that one has been bothering me for a few days.
Sometimes I fancy myself a writer. Then reality hits me in the face. Sure I have lots of thoughts that are made sense of and fears that are exposed by writing. Does knowing that its good to write things down, make me a writer? Yes and no, I suppose. However, true writers are able to write without those mistakes that detract the reader. And true writers can communicate very, very well. I’ll keep practicing by reading good reviews by the esteemed Lutheran Aardvark as he highlights the recent writings of our mutual favorite, Mollie Ziegler Hemingway.
The Lutheran Aardvark writes…
One of my favorite people in the whole world, blogger or not, remains Mollie (Ziegler) Hemingway, a writer for Get Religion and all-around Lutheran orthobabe. Mollie recently had opinion pieces published by First Things, one of the most reputable religion organizations, and by that ultimate MSM, the Opinion Journal of the Wall Street Journal.
Desperately Seeking Absolution details her examination of online confessionals and America’s separation of confession from absolution. The Decline of the Sabbath includes a look at the ponderings of Christopher Ringwald in his new book A Day Apart. Both Hemingway and Ringwald lament the loss of a set Sabbath each week — not only for religious reasons but also for the personal and societal benefits they think such a day holds.
Imagine being a solidly successful insurance salesman. Imagine a beautiful perky TV anchor as your longtime girlfriend. Imagine one day seeing photos of your beautiful girlfriend on the beach in Hawaii holding hands and kissing a certain handsome musician. Then imagine your own parents agreeing to be interviewed by Star Magazine…
[American Idol star]…was recently photographed with a woman identified as ….the morning anchor for (a TV station) in Milwaukee. The two insisted they were just friends — but they were later spotted smooching in a more-than-friendly way.
That hit a sour note with girlfriend’s longtime boyfriend, an insurance businessman, reports Star magazine.
“[She] was with our family for the [Christmas] holiday and we all had a lot of fun,” boyfriend’s father told the tab. “I know they have been talking about marriage for some time.” The two have known each other since high school.
His mother told Star that the two are currently dating, but (he) himself seems less certain.
“There is nothing but love and respect between (girlfriend) and myself,” he told the tab. “There is a lot of history between us; all decisions we make are together. Whether there’s a future for (her) and (him), I don’t know. As to whether there’s still a future [for us] at this point, stranger things have happened.”
Oh, I feel bad for the guy who whose MOTHER is reassuring the press that they are still together, but the guy is saying otherwise. Of course, it is Star Magazine…
Terry Mattingly recently highlighted an article, Visualizing the Power Struggle in Wikipedia. The article is interesting from two perspectives. First, it is fun to see the list of the top 20 most revised topics on Wikipedia. Secondly, it is intriguing, but not surprising, to see how religion is a big part of the list.
From Terry Mattingly’s Get Religion.org:
…You really need to see the interesting graphic that goes with the article….
How do you keep track of the bubbling mass of information that is Wikipedia?
. . . It’s a mind-boggling task. About 4 million “Wikipedians” have made over 130 million edits, and the English-language version alone contains 1.7 million articles. Every second a new edit is made, and every day 2000 new articles spring up.
To make sense of it all, Bruce Herr and Todd Holloway of Indiana University, Bloomington, created clusters of 300 or so articles that touch on a related topic, such as a religion or a famous person. For each cluster they took one picture from the most popular article and laid them out in a circular grid.
Atop the grid are coloured dots showing how often and how recently each article has been edited. The larger, darker dots mean more intense activity. The list of blitzed articles reveals the idiosyncratic priorities of Wikipedians: Jesus, Adolf Hitler, Nintendo, Hurricane Katrina, Britney Spears and Albert Einstein.
So with no further ado, here is the list.
Note the central role of religion and even of personalities — heck, from Adolf Hitler to Britney Spears — who often tend to get linked to religious debates in the minds of some people. Was Hitler a Christian or an anti-Christian? Is Britney still a Southern Baptist?
• Jesus
• Adolf Hitler
• October 2003
• Nintendo revolution
• Hurricane Katrina
• India
• RuneScape
• Anarchism
• Britney Spears
• PlayStation 3
• Saddam Hussein
• Japan
• Albert Einstein
• 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake
• New York City
• Germany
• Muhammad
• Pope Benedict XVI
• Ronald Reagan
• Hinduism
I just heard a wonder rumor and I hope it is true.
This was posted on MNSpeak today:
If you are looking for oldies there is a new station today that plays 60s-80s love songs/soft rock. It sounds very similar to Kool 108 before (it changed after) Christmas. Al Green, Sonny & Cher, Buckinghams, Simon & Garfunkel, Beach Boys, Classics IV, The Turtles, The Cowsills, Bread, Herman’s Hermits, John Denver, The Searchers, etc.
105.1 (south)
105.3 (north)
105.7 (west)
And then this comment:
Way to go 105! I too have replaced my 108 button with 105!!! Jeff Olsen, a perfect new station for your much loved and much missed morning show!!!!
Now I realize that the new station could not even be good, but Jeff Olsen’s morning show would make me listen. I hope it’s true…
My spring vacation recovery from surgery: days 2 - 5
Things I did on my summer vacation recovery from surgery - days two through five.
I spent much more time laying flat on my back due to my poor decisions of day one. I neglected to say, in my first day’s post, that I watched the Crossroads DVD at a local home theatre store. I accompanied my father-in-law to the store (my own idea) and never walked more than a few steps. I was dropped off at the front door, walked a few steps to the surround sound leather sofa chairs, and was picked up again at the front door. I was in pain, but nothing out of the ordinary, so I thought it would be fine to sit in Bruegger’s Bagels enjoying soup and salad. By the time we were walking the short distance to the car, I knew I had made a mistake. I couldn’t get to my bed fast enough and basically spent the next day flat on my back.
A pattern, of sorts, has emerged. For every minute on my feet, I need to spend twice as long lying flat in bed getting my abdominal muscles to relax and stop hurting. My doctor has told me that simple tasks that don’t lift over ten pounds, carry anything or otherwise strain my abdominal muscles are fine, so I am managing to do a load or two of laundry a day, heat a very simple meal or maybe sweep the floor. These tasks help my mind,too.
Pain medication is something that I both hate and am thankful for. I’m not good with pain meds. I can’t tolerate the popular medications of today - vicodin, etc. So, I alternate good old Tylenol #3 and ibuprofen. I still have some pain and am somewhat groggy, but still awake and alert. I’m trying to increase the space between the doses and look forward to getting rid of the codeine.
My husband and daughter worked for an hour to create and edit this shot! My daughter was laughing so hard that the photo is kind of blurry, but it’s still pretty funny. To say that Kirby is the center of our house is an understatement. At least my husband is the one who gets up in the middle of the night with him (been there, done that for me). Kirbys simultaneously a joy and a pain. He sheds everywhere, gives kisses without asking, lays his 105 pound body on your legs as if he were a chihuahua and wags his tail whenever you look at him. What a dog!
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