Or rather, here.

It’s the change of seasons again, which means it’s time for a change of my WordPress theme.

It’s not really a new theme – just changing the backgrounds a bit and tweaking the layout.

I will be fixing some small things as we go along here, but I can already tell this one is going to be much easier on the eyes than that last one.

Because next year is when things change.

Significantly.

And maybe I’ll resume using complete sentences and paragraphs.

As you should all know by now, the Big Ten becomes the Big Twelve in 2011. And the Big Twelve is reduced to the Big Ten at that time.

And the Big Ten has assigned its members to one of two divisions, and there will be a conference championship played between the winners of each division.

The big story is that Michigan and Ohio State are in separate divisions. The Big Ten Conference floated some ideas out there and got a bunch of criticism from alumni.

So the conference’s decision was to still have Michigan and Ohio State play each other on the last game of the regular season just like they do now. But since the division winners will have been determined at that point, the game won’t count for much.

As a Michigan fan and blogger, I am compelled, nay bound, by the laws of blogging, to add my opinion to the internet.

I don’t like it.

No, not the internet. Or my opinion. I like those. What I don’t like is the Big Ten Conference’s decision. But, since I am not an alumnus of either school, I guess the Big Ten doesn’t give my opinion much weight.

I think that the Big Ten couldn’t win at this one, no matter what they did. But they could have done better.

If I were in charge, I would have put them both in the same division. The game would still be at the end of the regular season, but it would matter. So what if you don’t have a solid anchor team on the other division? It’s not like Michigan has been pulling its weight anyway and will be the automatic winner of its division every year. I think some of the other teams would be fine anchor teams for a division, and a division could be healthy and competitive without UM or OSU in it.

But since they didn’t do that, they could at least move the game. I don’t mind rematches; I do mind back-to-back rematches. In the case that Michigan gets its act together and wins its division, it could play Ohio State twice in a row. Sure, there might be an extra week or two in between the games, but it would still dilute them. A matchup early in the season (and that counted for the conference results) would make for a better game and season.

The Big Ten chose the second-worst possible scheduling format for Michigan and Ohio State. The only worse one would have been not playing each other.

This caused a problem recently. I was making brownies, and I followed the instructions as written on the box.

and here’s a close-up view of the instructions:

It clearly stated that I was to add water and microwave. So I took out a big bowl and poured in the brownie mix. Then I poured in the water.

Then I put a microwave in the bowl and stirred everything together.

It didn’t taste very good.

I think their instructions were wrong.

Phrase: “The noodles are on the stove.“

Phrase: “The dishes in the dishwasher are clean.“

Phrase: “What time is dinner?“

Those were, of course, random examples from anonymous people.

Here’s my tip for wives: don’t read anything into what your husband says. Take it at face value – he is just giving you information.

Here’s my tip for husbands: try to guess what your wife means when she says something. Don’t take it at face value – she is giving you secret instructions.

A co-worker and I were discussing the new laws about cell phones. In some states, it is illegal to use a cell phone while you are driving (although hands-free phones are allowed).

In our state, it is legal. But some cities have enacted local ordinances that make it illegal. So you could be driving along a road, using your cell phone. It would be legal for a while, then illegal for a while, then legal again as you drove into and then out of (if “into” is one word, why isn’t “outof” one word?) the city.

We came up with a solution that should work for any state: let drivers take a test to get a cell-phone endorsement on their licenses.

We have that for various things already – motorcycle, commercial, etc.

• Some people can handle a motorcycle, so they prove that to the state and their licenses are marked with that fact.
• Some people can handle a big rig, so they prove that to the state and their licenses are marked with that fact.
• Some people can handle driving a vehicle while talking on a cell phone, so why not let those people prove that to the state and get their licenses marked? I’m sure the DMV/BMV/SOS wouldn’t mind the extra business.

Not only would it help weed out people who shouldn’t be DWTOTCP, but it would help the budget. Just think of the fees charged for the cell-phone tests and the upgraded license!

Texting while driving is illegal in the whole state. The state should also enact a texting endorsement. The test for such an endorsement should be done on a simulator, because no one could pass it. And because no one could pass it, it would be pure profit for the state.

Win-win!

People stay in the same situation they are today (no texting) but they feel like they have an opportunity (hope) and the state gets more money (which will help the schools, I’m sure). It would end up being a voluntary tax, like the lottery.

Hold on while I get a Facebook fan page setup to garner support for this plan…

He scorns the tumult of the city, The shoutings of the driver he does not hear.

Job 39:7

]]> http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1913/feed 1 http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1909 http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1909#comments Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:09:18 +0000 Some Guy http://www.someblogsite.com/?p=1909 We had a thunderstorm with a lot of lightning, just after the kids’ bedtime. My wife and I noticed one particular flash of lightning that originated near the ground (not close though) and was greenish. And then the power went out.

My comment was that it looked like a transformer blew up. When the transformers around here blow, they are hurt-your-eyes bright, the light from the blast is green, and there is a very loud buzzing noise during the blast.

After the storm calmed down (and the power came back), I put Alpha back to bed. He was asking about what if the power went out, what if this, what if that, etc.

Then he asked, “What happens if another transformer comes?”

Transformer comes? That’s an odd way to phrase it – the transformer goes out when it blows up.

Then I caught on.

“No, not that type of Transformer. Just an electrical transformer. It’s part of the electrical system. I’ll point one out to you next time we drive by the substation.”

I didn’t exactly confirm my suspicion, but I got the inkling that he thought a Decepticon got in a good hit and blew up the Transformer and that Transformers blow up with a greenish blast.

As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire.

Ezekiel 1:4

]]> http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1909/feed 2 http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1904 http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1904#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:35:38 +0000 Some Guy http://www.someblogsite.com/?p=1904 Welcome SCL fans!

While there may be no better way, around here at least, to stir up a good debate among Christians than to question the merits of hymns versus praise chori, I do not want to stir up a good debate right now. (And “chori” is the Latin pluralization of chorus, so it’s holier than “choruses”.)

I wrote this blog post mostly to send my regular readers, some of whom don’t regularly check SCL, to SCL. For my regular readers who are not familiar with the acronym SCL: it is short for Stuff Christians Like. Jon runs that blog and was gracious enough publish a guest post that I wrote.

But so that you, dear SCL reader who followed the link from there to here in the hopes that you would be further amused, are not disappointed, I will provide you with one bit of praise chori humor.



Click on the picture for a slightly larger version. If you’re not familiar with the Blues Brothers, then it probably doesn’t make much sense to you.

I am sure that there is an SCL post waiting to be written on this subject, but I’ll let someone else run with it. I’m all creativitied-out for today.

Praise the LORD!Sing to the LORD a new song,And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones.

Psalm 149:1

]]> http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1904/feed 3 http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1898 http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1898#comments Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:36:46 +0000 Some Guy http://www.someblogsite.com/?p=1898 RIAA certifies numbers of albums sold and gives awards for various levels of achievement.

If an album sells more than …

• 500,000 copies, it is certified Gold.
• 1,000,000 copies, it is certified Platinum.
• 10,000,000 copies, it is certified Diamond.

What is the Christian equivalent to RIAA certification?

It’s not the GMA Dove Awards, as those are vote-driven not sales-driven.

The closest thing I found was the CMTA SoundScan, but you have to buy a subscription if you want to know the sales numbers. So I don’t know the Christian music sales numbers, nor do I know if there are awards at various stages of sales achievement.

The RIAA people don’t give awards that are explicitly Biblical. Christians need an equivalent to the worldly awards. There are Christian music associations, so why not more Christian awards?

Therefore, I propose a Biblical rating system for album sales. If an album sells more than …

• 200,000 copies, it is certified Gold.
• 500,000 copies, it is certified Frankincense.
• 1,000,000 copies, it is certified Myrrh.

Notice I made the numbers smaller too. That wasn’t done to be more Biblical; that was done so that musicians in the GMA/CMTA realm could make the cutoff.

I’ll keep you, loyal reader, updated if anything ever comes of my proposal.

After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Matthew 2:11

]]> http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1898/feed 2 http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1892 http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1892#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:43:00 +0000 Some Guy http://www.someblogsite.com/?p=1892 The topic of the week at our time at Maranatha during our vacation was relationships. The speaker was Ron Zappia, whose bio in the link I just provided accurately reflects his speaking style. I bet he wrote that himself.

He gave a week’s worth of sermons, complete with illustrations (literal drawings – he used markers and a sketchpad on an easel). I am not going to recap everything here, but I will go over one particular point.

Without self-examination, there can be no self-control.
– Ron Zappia

That’s good, but that’s only half the equation of self-control. People need to see themselves honestly, but they shouldn’t be looking at just themselves. How does what I’m doing affect others?

That goes along with one of my favorite quotes about self-esteem:

Kids don’t need more self-esteem; they need more others-esteem.
– I forget who

That’s what I see as one of my tasks as a parent – get my kids to see that what they do does affect other people. If it helps them, then they should do more of what they’re doing. If it hurts them, then they should not do it. Be aware of more than just yourself.

But that strays slightly from Pastor Zappia’s point, which is that you need to be aware of yourself first. If you don’t think you’re doing something, then you won’t check how it affects others.

So two points for raising kids (the process of which I am merely beginning): get them to recognize their own actions/attitudes and get them to recognize the effects those have on others.

I suppose the third point should be to get them to change the behaviors that are not good.

“But how do I get my kids to do that?” you may be wondering.

I am wondering that too.

If I ever get the answer, I’ll let you know.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways!”

Haggai 1:7

]]> http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1892/feed 1 http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1883 http://www.someblogsite.com/archives/1883#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:34:17 +0000 Some Guy http://www.someblogsite.com/?p=1883 We did the blueberry picking thing a couple weeks ago. Now raspberries are in season, so we picked some of those.

Rather, I picked raspberries and the children just held the baskets for me.

Maybe there were too many bees buzzing around. I told the boys that they won’t sting you unless you hurt them, but they were very wary of picking after seeing all the bees. And it was very hot. We spent about a half hour picking raspberries, but it felt much, much longer.

Alpha just wanted to go home.

I had to carry Gamma the whole time because I did not want to clean squished raspberries off every surface within his reach. I did set him down at the beginning – because he did a fine job at blueberry picking – to see if he would help with raspberry picking. But it took one raspberry to see the damage he could do.

And Beta just wasn’t interested in picking berries. Worse than that, he was actively taking berries out of the basket and throwing them as far as he could.

I asked him why he was doing that, and he said he was getting rid of the squishy ones. He meant well, trying to weed out the bad berries. But, as Alpha then reminded him, all raspberries are squishy. I told him just to leave all the raspberries alone and I would sort them at home.

We finally finished, after about 20 reminders to the kids that the more berries they pick, the faster we’ll be done and the sooner we can go back home.

Did I mention it was hot?

Back home, I sorted the raspberries and found a stowaway.



I quickly disposed of him, and any raspberries that had any dark fuzzy spots. Those went in the garbage. Any raspberries that were not moldy but were just on the too-ripe side of things I also disposed of. Those went in my belly.

And now, some gratuitous close-up shots of fruit, compliments of the macro setting on my camera…





In case you’re wondering about the trends in U-pick berries: 3.25 lbs. cost $12.50, so that’s about $3.85 per lb. Last year, they cost $3.75/lb. So it looks like raspberries cost more this year, and blueberries cost less this year.

Side note: When my wife was looking up U-Pick places, we wondered what else could be U-picked. So after a little research, we found a U-pick chicken farm. They also have U-pick rabbits and U-pick fish.

I wish someone would have a drive-thru u-pick place. I would donate them some letters so they could upgrade to a drive-through you-pick place.

Why have You broken down its hedges, So that all who pass that way pick its fruit?

Psalm 80:12

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