News for May 2008

lydia houge and the honest folk

 The view from here. 

Posted: May 19th, 2008
Categories: family, music
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the politics of Jesus

I’m sitting in AZ, much like I sat all the way to AZ. I just had some formula with my god daughter (p.s. she’s beautiful) (p.p.s. my formula and her formula are different. I call mine coffee. Later today we’ll each have a bottle, I’m guessing our bottles will be different too.)

While formulating, Amy (g-d’s mom) and I were talking about red-letter christians and she did a little googling and found Tony Campolo‘s site and in checking it out I made an amazing realization. Astounding. It’ll change the way you vote.

Like so many thinking Christians Tony makes the point that Jesus is not a Republican. Or a Democrat. But get this: No one has ruled out the Third Party.

Amen, Come Lord Jesus.

Posted: May 18th, 2008
Categories: politics
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travel games

I’m in Phoenix AZ.  I flew.  Actually the plane flew, I simply sat.  Before I sat to Phoenix I stood in the Lindbergh Terminal for a couple hours.  While standing I enjoyed watching men in business suits sitting in awkward positions on the floor huddling near the few and far between outlets conveniently located for the cleaning folks to plug their vacuums into.  That’s business class if I ever saw it.

My brother used to watch star trek and I remember a character/people group called the Borg.  They were all assimilated and part human and part machine and had wires hanging off them and lacked personality.  I couldn’t help but notice all the people moving in blobs not talking to each other with all their wires hanging off them.  I-pods, cell phones, laptops, goofy ear things connected to their cell phones.  Those little headsets gave me an idea for a game.  Here’s how to play.

It’s called ‘How close can I get to your ear?’

It sounds complicated but it’s actually quite simple.  The object of the game is to see how close I can get to the person’s ear before… well before some sort of altercation goes down.

There’s a couple ways to do this.  The first is to act as if the person is crazy because it appears they are talking to themselves.  Look at the them with inquisitive concern.  Step closer and closer slowly, nodding your head and moving cautiously as if to say, ‘It’s okay, I’ll get you to a safe place.  I’m here to help.  Together we can find you a mental health professional.”

(Sidenote – isn’t it a greater sign of crazy to choose to carry on personal and business calls in a crowded terminal?  I’ve been privy to so many asinine calls that have only made me think less of the caller.  In fact I’ve never heard a conversation thats made me think any better of a public caller.  Stop being crazy, talk in private.)

Anyways back to the game.

The next technique is more subtle and quite simple. I call it ‘The Nudge.’  Start about three feet from the person.  Every 15 seconds nudge closer about 3 inches.  In about 3 minutes you’ve either made it to the ear or made the person move.  As much as I like claiming the prize, it’s way more fun to get the person on the run.  It makes the game last longer too.  Yippee!  Fun Game!

The last technique I like to employ is called, ‘Join the Conversation.’  Pretend the person is talking to you and reply to the persons statement/question to the best of your ability.  Eventually the person will address you and let you know they are on the phone.  Try one of these replies.

‘Me too.  Please don’t interupt.’

‘I like phones too!’  Then use your hand phone to continue where you left off.

‘I know!  I’m playing a game with you and I just won!  Your bad!  Better luck next time!’

So there’s the game.  Go to a public place and have fun playing, “How Close Can I Get to Your Ear?’  Makes a great team sport too!

Posted: May 17th, 2008
Categories: games, technology, travel
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thanks, i'm off

thanks to all who came to the show last saturday – you were a great crowd – hope you got your money’s worth!

In a couple days I’m off for AZ where I’ll be working with Kjellgren Alkire on CD packaging for my upcoming kids CD and as we screen print our little hearts out we’ll be working on the ever evolving Jesus Rodeo.

Hold your horses,

nate.

Posted: May 12th, 2008
Categories: music, rodeo, travel
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mandate

Women talk about their girlfriends but men have guyfriends, not boyfriends. Is it insecurity? Homophobia? Maybe it just sounds dumb. Because guyfriends sounds so much cooler? Regardless of the semantics I have Man Dates. And they are awesome. Last weekend I had three in 24 hours.

Friday my friend Sean came over for lunch and to check out the wheel I had built under his tutelage. Good news, the wheel passed. (I’ve since stuck a freewheel on it and put it on an old schwinn €“ it’s a blast €“ I think I’ll go hang out in dwntn mpls with the 1×1 crowd. Hand me my chunky glasses.) As we were eating and talking about the frame he had just ordered (surly cross check) he mentioned that Iron Man was out. I wasn’t sure what Iron Man was but I figured it was a video game or a movie. Turns out its a movie. Turns out we went to a matinée. Turns out it was awesome. Jodi and I rarely go to movies and when we do they never involve guns and explosions. So I got my action fix for the decade. Yippee! Then on our way (not really but kind of) home we stopped by hiawatha cycles which was nothing short of amazing. Great shop, great people, great vibe. Someday I’ll make a lot of money and go back and spend spend spend. Till then I’ll go back and hangout and drool.

Home for dinner, put the girls in bed and then what? Marty came to pick me up for the Kathleen Edwards show. Yes, yes, yes. Best rock and roll show I’ve been to in forever. Great sound and site lines (Varsity €“ first time). What a crazy cool privilege it must be to be in a band like that. We followed the show with a pint at the Spot €“ which is a whole ‘nother story. Off to dreamland.

Saturday morning I biked up the hill to Bill’s. We cut down a tree. On purpose. Excel was supposed to come out and shut off the power because one branch was around a power line. Excel even gave a time frame when they’d be there. When they were an hour late we called and they said ‘we don’t come out on Saturdays.’ Then why the heck did you say you would? Nimrods. So we did what any dedicated logger would do. We cut it down anyways. We threw a rope around the offending branch to see if we could pull it away from the line. As I pulled the branch started to crack which meant I had to pull harder so that it wouldn’t fall on the line. It worked. The branch cleared the line and fell to the ground. I didn’t even have time to yell timber. But Bill did show me how to use the chainsaw. It had a loose sparkplug wire and I learned that you shouldn’t hold the wire on the sparkplug while you pull the starter chord. Even with thick leather gloves, you will feel a bit of a hand numbing tingle. Good to know.

All that in 24 hours.

Later our family met up with some other friends at the Living Green Expo. In some way that balanced out the tree felling. I’d say more but there were women there too, so it doesn’t fit under the title of Man Date. Stay tuned for Coupledate.

Posted: May 8th, 2008
Categories: friendship
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yes, an affirming yes

driving garage folk for the masses

Posted: May 5th, 2008
Categories: song
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3 am revelation

the web is almost full

the web is behind us now

the web is cement in a sea of paper and pencil

the web is over

the web is 217 calories per byte

Posted: May 2nd, 2008
Categories: technology
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i got high

bike 2
tall bike

Posted: May 2nd, 2008
Categories: bike, transportation
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