KC Mayor's Christmas Tree Lighting

I got some nice blog fodder when we went to our "spot" to read at Union Station. We saw the huge miniature train sets, and walked the Link, and went to Crown Center where there was a gingerbread house set up. Then we happened to stumble upon the Christmas Tree lighting celebration. They were about to light the mayor's Christmas Tree for KC MO in 30 minutes. So we stuck around. We sat right in front of the tree. First there was a really bad band playing, and then the KC Symphony Chorus sang too many songs. A few people said a few words. Some one gave us some candles and lit them. So finally, about an hour later, we counted down and the lights came on, and then there was a fireworks show.




Here's some pics from the KC Star:

Thanksgiving at Bades

We got to have Thanksgiving at my in-laws and my parents went as well! Mo was not able to make it because of work, and she went to Manhattan over the weekend to spend time with relatives. Courtney's brother Ryan was there, but left before the picture was taken

It was nice to stay in town and sleep in. The food was excellent. And I loved how it provided my parents to connect with Courtney's parents and brother.

I got an awesome gluten-free flourless cake out of the deal that Kenny picked up from Whole Foods!

The cats also enjoyed the time because the dogs were boarded up for the day

24 New Season

We watched the 2 hour preview of the next season of 24. Actually about 20 minutes of it was spent standing still holding the antenna when the picture suddenly got bad.

The subject was gripping, and involved child soldiers in Africa and an impending genocide. It honestly made me want to write a check to someone who can help the child soldiers currently in the world.

The 2 hour preview was genius, fascinating, gripping, frightening, and relevant. I think it will turn out to be an awesome season when it starts up in January

See http://www.fox.com/24/dossier/

*Edit - To "help" the child soldiers means to help to improve the situation so that they are no longer child soldiers! Also, I am not too naive to think that writing a check would solve a complex situation. I am just expressing that the episode aroused sympathy within me.

Book Review: Freakonomics

Book: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Authors: Steven D Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Year: 2005

• This book has to do a lot about analyzing mounds of data to find trends, which is a lot of what my company does every day.
• Steven D. Levitt was the economist that found all of the cool trends, and the other guy is a professional author who made the book easier to read.
• The reason why crime went down in the late 90s as provided by this book is astounding, a moral dilemma. Courtney wants to read this book, so I can't really spell out that reason here.
• This book has a lot of great information about crime: how drug sales in gangs work, why crack cocaine became popular, and conventional thinking about why crime went down in the 90s.
• This book theorizes that who a parent is (demographics) has more to do with how a child will end up than what a parent does. And it claims that parenting does not matter as much as people think it does. And it has data to back it up.

So in summary, analyzing data to come up with conclusions that defy conventional wisdom means that this book is good.

Movie Review: The French Connection

Featuring Gene Hackman, this is a movie about drug cops making a huge drug bust. I really liked it. the music was eerie. There were some slow parts, but it was otherwise riveting. My heart was beating fast at many points.

The ending was the worst ending of a Best Picture Winner since Marty (1955). This one was Best Picture in 1971. Next up is the Godfather.

The sad thing is that the ending was on the cusp of greatness. It was just the very end that was bad where the bad guy got away. This was probably because it was based on a true story.

Just to be prudent, I'll mention that there is profanity and drug-related content.

This is the famous car chase scene, but don't watch it if you're going to watch the movie later.

Movie Review: Hello Dolly!

This was nominated for Best Picture in 1969. Barbra Streisand is my least favorite outspoken Hollywood liberal, and I don't know why! But she did great in this movie. Her character, Dolly, is quite garrulous and therefore annoying at times. But that was how it was supposed to be, and she played it well.

This movie had really long dancing and singing scenes - very entertaining. It doesn't quite have the charm that other musicals have, maybe because there aren't very many good songs.

I related the story to Courtney about how our family sang "Hello, Dolly", but switched the words to "Hello, Family". We sang it at a Taussig family reunion. Instead of being impressed as I expected, Courtney didn't understand why we would embarass ourselves at a family reunion by singing. Then to try to make things better, I told her about how my parents did the "Little Man skit". And then how we had the reunion t-shirt. But that did not help Courtney to understand. Anyway, "Hello, Dolly" will always make me think of "Hello, Family".

Thoughts from events surrounding the funeral

We had the funeral Thursday for Aunt Therese, and I served as a pallbearer. That was my first experience as pallbearer, also it was my first time at a Catholic funeral. I also rode in a limo for the first time, to assist with getting the pallbearers to the right places, but it was cramped. And it was really quiet of course since we were grieving. I'm glad I got to ride in a limo, but it was not awesome or anything.

My eyes teared up as the preacher, who knew Therese, shared his personal thoughts about her. He said as a silversmith puts silver to the fire so that it shines, God used suffering in Therese's life to make Christ shine more brightly. And he said, "And guess what? It did." Also special was when he shared that the real miracle at work was that Therese had the opportunity to participate in the resurrection, which Christ obtained for us through his sufferings.

It was the first family funeral I have attended in a very long time (I think since I was 9?) . The part that most brought closure was the time right before the casket was closed. The priest had a short religious service, and then one-by-one, we walked to the casket to say goodbye. The attendant had us leave the room before he closed the casket.

I am probably the only person in the family with no exposure to the Catholic faith. This was clear when I said the Lord's Prayer incorrectly, and when I did not know any of the liturgy except for the Lord's Prayer that I messed up! I wanted to experience the Rosary on Wednesday night, and to me it was unusual, but I understand the comfort it can bring to some Catholics.

The occasion was sad, but I appreciated seeing the Bade side of the family - it's a great extended family! On Wednesday night we had dinner at one of Bades' house. And a lot of the time was spent talking about and drinking beer. But at my own extended family gatherings, beer would be a bad word, and if beer showed up, that would be something to talk about! It's just families with their own set of values and I am thankful that I am part of both families.

Politics of Image

I am probably one of the last to realize the importance of image in politics. I should have known in the beginning that John McCain didn't have a chance against the young and popular Barack Obama.

I think now that political issues keep a candidacy valid, and negative gotchas can energize a base, but in the end the person with the most likeability wins. I can support this back to how far I can remember

• Bush 41 vs. Clinton - Clinton was the young energetic guy that Obama is now
• Clinton vs. Dole - Dole was the old guy, kind of having parallels to McCain
• Bush 43 vs. Gore - Gore suffered second hand from the image problems that Clinton had. Plus he was famous for being boring. He did win the popular vote, but lost his own state.
  
• Bush 43 vs. Kerry - I don't know how Kerry got selected, but he was the most unlikeable candidate for Pres I can remember. Dems blame his loss on Swift Boat, but that is not the reason.
• Obama vs. McCain- we all are familar with this one
• Obama vs. ? - It's hard to imagine that Obama will lose unless his image gets banged up because of unlikeable performance of some kind
  

I think Bush has damaged the image of Republicans in general. He didn't seem do anything that he promised to do, except persevere in Iraq and nominate good judges.

Best of October 2008

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: Patton - only one we watched

Best New-To-Me Restaurant: Grandstand Burgers

Best Life Happening: Manhattan trip

Best Book I Read: Presence-Centered Youth Ministry

Best online video I watched for the First time: Lyre Bird - Imitating Sounds - David Attenborough



2nd place: Horse Dancing




Picture(s) of the Month by Courtney. There were so many good ones, it was tough to choose.

Top pic:




Other favorites:

Obituary for Therese Bade

I'll try to post a couple of pictures as well.

http://www.legacy.com/KansasCity/DeathNotices.asp?Page=Notice&PersonID=119697709



Therese is the 3rd person from right in this picture.

Book Review: Beginning SQL Server 2005 Administration

I am realizing that I'm really strange that I read these tech books all the way through. There is really no point to do that, other than getting an information blitz. This has some nice info about how SQL Server 2005 works behind the scenes. I also got some great info about emailing messages from a SQL script. Otherwise, it was more for a full-time administrator. I am technically more of an ETL programmer at this point.


These book covers are horrible. I think the middle guy's beard is photoshopped, otherwise it is impressively full.

Restaurant Review: La Fiesta

For the sake of how I always do this on my blog, I thought i'd mention that we went to a restaurant named La Fiesta in Manhattan. It was an average Mexican restaurant

Book Review: The House that Love Built, by Bettie B. Youngs

The founders of Habitat for Humanity, Millard and Linda Fuller, sent me this book after reading my previous blog post about a previous book that Millard wrote. Here is my original post Linda got into contact with Courtney through some links on my site, and they sent me a personal letter and a free book by surprise!

Their personal letter stated "you may not be aware" that they are no longer part of Habitat for Humanity. Indeed I wasn't. They said that the book explained how that happened.

As I began reading the book, I was happy that it included a bio of Millard and Linda's early life. Millard was a total entrepreneur, and he and a business partner thought of many great ideas. Before the age of 30, they were millionaires. Meanwhile, Millard and Linda's marriage was suffering. They made a faith decision to give away all of their money and assets and to see what God had for them.

The book then goes into detail about how Habitat for Humanity started, and I don't really want to go into all of that on the blog. Habitat for Humanity grew exponentially as a ministry from the 80s into the turn of the century.



In the early 90s, there started to be some power struggles within the Habitat corporate office. Habitat attracted a lot of corporate minds, who started to take offense at Millard's spiritual approach. They wanted higher executive salaries, offices in Atlanta, and to try to manage the growth instead of continuing to expand quickly. They may have had good points, but instead of discussing the issues at hand in a mature way, they tried to bring down Millard by accusing him of things. And then in 2004, the Fullers were eventually fired in a very disgraceful manner from the organization they lovingly started and grew. Habitat changed all of the locks immediately, and put guards at the door, as if the founders were criminals. The Habitat affiliates around the world had no idea what happened. This book was to get the record out. It also made me angry and upset - although that is not the intention of the book, it is probably a natural response to it. Since I got so emotional about this, it made me wonder if I should be involved in some sort of housing ministry.

The Fullers went on to form the Fuller Center for Housing, which raises money for housing projects (including Habitat) and they have some of their own building projects. I would be more inclined to support Fuller Center than Habitat after learning more about the situation. The Habitat International Board did in fact hire a new CEO with a lot of corporate experience and not much apparent ministry experience.

Manhattan Trip Top Ten

10. Ice Cream at Call Hall
9. Seeing the Union Station Parking Garage under construction.
8. Time with the family at Mark and Susie's for Grandma's birthday
7. Watching K-State womens volleyball team slam Texas Tech with Mark and Susie. I almost wished they'd struggled so that we could be there longer than an hour!
6. Nav Night - open mic for students about their experiences at the Main Event conference
5. Disc golf at Tuttle Creek with excellent weather.
4. Piano Concert with an unobstructed view of the pianist's hands about 6 feet away - A K-State prof played Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, and Prokiev. All memorized. Incredible. G&G also loved it, and said it would be a good memory for them.



3. Visit with the Satzlers at their acreage. Catching up with them. Going down to the creek. Randomly meeting Doug Peterson -friend of the Satzlers. Come to find out he went to Shawnee Mission Northwest in 1982, then come to find out he grew up in Colony Woods, then come to find out he lived on Rosehill 2 houses down from the pool. Imagine that!
2. Hang out at the Deavers
1. Randomly running into people we didn't expect to see (Gavin and Janice, Chris Morton (3 times) + girlfriend, Becky Szcezny, Rachel Thornburg + boyfriend, Courtney Jensen.


Worst part of the trip Top Three?

3. Trying to play disc golf on a tree course. The trees weren't labeled and we couldn't figure out the map. We couldn't get through even 2 holes!
2. The sound of springs at slightest movement in bed
1. Oyster stew concentrated, mixed with soy milk.

...For more pictures see Courtney's Facebook!...

Voting Thoughts

For local elections, my main question is "what is this job anyway?". I don't even know the roles and responsibilities of a county commissioner, or an education board person, or a sheriff.

That will be my ambition before the next election- to find out what these things are anyway.

The second question I have is, does Republican and Democrat have anything to do with this person's job? Instead of being partisan, can I find out who is more qualified? Does it matter if someone is pro-life on the county commission board?

Third, there isn't much non-partisan information out there. Finding out more information is a chore.

Manhattan Trip 2008

We just returned from a wonderful visit to Manhattan KS... I can't write about it right now, because I am de-packing while listening to baseball.

Movie Review: Patton

This Best Picture Winner of 1970 was kind of a monologue - not too many other people had lines than Patton! Patton prayed on his knees and cussed like a sailor, and believed in reincarnation. And he was really full of himself. That makes for a really interesting character study.

The pre-computer age of special effects were impressive. Dozens of tanks were blown up, so it seems. The movie was not graphic in terms of blood like Saving Private Ryan.

This was not really my favorite movie, but I think it is a good war movie. Best picture winners continue to provide for some of our historical education.

An interesting thing is that Patton was reprimanded for slapping a soldier, and almost kept out of the European Front because of it. I wasn't aware that political correctness went back to 1970. Not that I condone what he did. I love the line from the German official, "Don't believe their newspapers - they would never keep their best general out of the war just for slapping a soldier." And eventually Patton got back into it, because they needed an aggressive general to press into Germany.

Book Review: Presence-Centered Youth Ministry, by Mike King

This book is the only book I've read that is written by a friend of mine. Mike King is the President of YouthFront, who is the employer of Courtney. But YouthFront is much more than my wife's employer, because it is an integral part of our spiritual lives. When Courtney no longer works for them, we will continue to be involved with YouthFront.

Mike is an easy-going guy, always bringing a smile to my face. Also, he is very deep and smart, and I admit I can't understand everything he says. However, this book, Presence-Centered Youth Ministry doesn't use too many big words.


Mike leading a time of prayer when Courtney went to Israel


The concepts put forth in this book are not entirely new to me, because I have been around YouthFront, but to many people they would probably be shocking. The book decries how our youth workers, instead of being spiritual guides, have become event coordinators, comedians, superstars, and the like. (I know that when I was the Youth Intern at CCC in 2002, it saddened me that we did not talk much about spiritual things. But that is usually the nature of summer youth ministry.) We did not provide youth the space to experience God for themselves. We just told them what we thought we should say, or told them to be quiet while we were talking, or entertained them.

Mike's desire is to connect kids with spiritual practices that are centuries old - time of silence and solitude, imaginitive Scripture reading, various postures, ancient prayers of the saints. And Mike doesn't encourage suddenly introducting these to youth. He encourages adults to practice these for themselves and slowly integrate them into the youth group. I know that when I was a youth I would have loved this format, and would have invited my friends to youth group. I think it's a great way to go.




This book has impacted me, because I have started to pray at least once daily now. I have been practicing silence and solitude. When I wake up I find a comfortable place to sit. I softly sing a worship song. I think of a topic and spend time in prayer, praying for myself, others, and/or needy people around the globe. I would like to add a liturgical prayer to end my time, but I don't know any. I would like to do this 2-3 times per day. It was easy for me to understand the process, because I have experienced this at the Altar and other events with YouthFront. I have already been blessed by doing this, by having my thoughts of the day beginning with God. I connect with the Lord, and with the needs of others.


I have been burned out by thinking spiritual disciplines had to look a certain way. Mike's suggestions have brought a renewal to my spiritual life. I find that I never read books more than once, but I might peek back at this one for more inspiration.

Weekend of Rebekah's wedding

The weekend was surreal, overwhelming, and satisfying. I disposed of my rocks with Dad, Martyn and Lindon. Had many family gatherings. Attended a beautiful wedding ceremony. Had ice cream with Courtney and went to the office complex where music plays with a fountain. Had church in Theater in the Park with the entire congregation. We had our first Sunday with Pastor Johan as our official Senior Pastor. Watched Courtney sign to "How Great is Our God". And had lunch with the church family. Worked out at the gym and watched baseball. Then I pretty much slept the rest of the weekend.

Book Review: Football for Dummies

I enjoy watching football, but do not really talk about it Even this weekend, people were rattling off their opinions about various college football matchups. I didn't even know who K-State was playing until Friday afternoon. I can K-State's coach and the quarterback and one receiver, but that is all. So I pretty much have a surface level interest in football. I like to know who won or lost, and how badly.

I thought maybe if I knew more details about football, I would be more interested. Football for Dummies is written by Howie Long, who played on defense in the NFL. So this book is pretty good at describing defensive schemes and players. I really got a lot out of the defense section.

It is good to know more about it, and I truly have enjoyed watching it a bit more, now that I have read more about it. But I don't think I be able to discuss much more when people are chatting about it, because I am still not passionate about the sport.