Help Me, Help You

As most of you know, we are adopting again from Ethiopia. We have decided that this time we're going to go to Addis Ababa and pick our child up. Oddly enough this trip isn't free. We would like to try and raise as much of this money as we can. Over the next couple weeks you might be seeing some of these ideas pop up here.

Here's something small that you can help with. It costs you NOTHING. I swear. NOTHING.

Before I go on, let me tell you that this sounds like a scam. I'll be the first to say that it does. I am always ultra skeptical of this stuff. I also need to say that I've checked it out. A youth pastor I know went through the whole deal and it worked. If you think it's fishy, don't do it. This isn't a guilt trip.

There are several websites from a company that gives away free ipods, iphones, etc. They do this through promotions from companies. Here's how it works. You sign up for one promotion for a FREE trial. The easiest is stamps.com. Then you refer friends to sign up. When you have 8 referrals they send you an (in this case) ipod touch.

The plan is as follows. I'm looking for people to just sign up. I don't care if you follow through with getting your own ipod touch or not (but that could be a bonus for you!). I will then turn the ipod back around for cash. They're going for a couple hundred buck easy on e-bay right now.

Cost to you: 0
Potential help to Ethiopian account: 2-300 dollars.

Let me walk you through it step by step.

START BY CLICKING HERE

-Start by clicking the link above.
-This will take you to youripodtouch4free.com.
-Basically you follow the directions from here. Select what prize you would like (if you ultimately aren't going to follow through with the entire deal for yourself it doesn't matter what you select)

-Then enter an e-mail address in the box. (I would say here that I haven't seen any increase in SPAM to my mailbox....however I have a couple junk e-mail addresses I use to sign up for things or give people I don't want to have my real e-mail address....)
-You will then be taken to a sign up page. They ask you for your address because they have to send the ipod somewhere. Again, if you are uncomfortable just don't do it, that's fine.

-You are asked if you want to do referral or points. If you want to get your own ipod, then you make the choice yourself by reading the info. If you could care less and are just helping me out....then choose referrals, so I can keep walking you through this.

-You are then left with offers options. The easiest is Stamps.com because it instantly gives you credit for signing up. So find Stamps.com which should be near the last page. Click the complete button...and then the "continue with this offer" button.

-You will go to a STamps.com page. You fill in your real information. You will then be asked for a credit card #. I have done this. They charge you nothing if you do this right. If you don't then you are charged 15 bucks a month. put in your info.

⇒NOW PAY ATTENTION!!!!! You will be signed up for Stamps.com and you need to download the exe file they give you. Once you do that, go back to your ipodtouch site and it should show that you've completed that offer. When you do, I get credit for that. I need 8 referrals.

⇒Wait one day. So tomorrow call this number between 6am and 6pm PST (9am and 9pm EST) and CANCEL Stamps.com. They'll ask you to confirm who you are. They'll ask you why you want to cancel. You tell them because you realized you just aren't going to use it. They'll make you an offer to continue service just politely say no and they'll cancel your subscription. No cost. No fees. You're done.

As I've typed this out....it seems like it's pretty involved. It's not. It's reading and filling in blanks. Again, don't do this if you don't want. If you would like please pass this on to people you know that might be willing to help out. It's important that they use the link listed here or I won't get credit for it!!!!

If you help out. I thank you now. If not, stayed tuned for other ideas (that sound significantly less like a scheme)!

What are we teaching?

This may not be an incredibly coherent thought. I should just go to bed....except I need to get this off my chest first.

As a youth pastor I am offended when I encounter youth ministries that revolve around the "activity". I am discouraged by adults who plan organized parties for teens and call it a youth ministry. I am frustrated by endless, shallow, pointless, fun which is packaged in such a way to make it seem like the teens of a church are being reached out to. There is a burning fire of anger inside me toward this. I want nothing to do with it. I don't want to be lumped into this pot.

Should we have fun activities? Yes. Isn't it great to have outings? Yes. I'm all for fun. I love having fun. At what sacrifice to we do that? When every major activity on your calendar is "invite all your friends", "this is going to be a blast"....where does Jesus Christ fit in? Is Sunday or Wed. night youth group the only time we're allowed to say His name?

What about this for an idea....what if we center our entire youth program around Jesus Christ and teaching, nurturing, and explaining the Gospel to teenagers (in an age where Bible literacy is in the toilet) and then we'll throw some fun stuff on top.....instead of the other way around. Why not start giving teens some "meat and potatoes" rather than marshmallow fluff.

Novel idea.

The Call

I love my brother. I wish he and I weren't so busy and we could hang out a whole lot more. I wish we were better at keeping up via phone and e-mail. We try hard....

So it was surprising when my phone rang yesterday afternoon and it was Jeremie. "Cool." I thought.

So here is the conversation we had (to the best of my knowledge). Jeremie will be in red.

"You doing anything?"
"no"
"Ok, well I just heard some news on the radio that I thought you should hear."
(I braced myself)
"Ok shoot"
"Well I"m listening to the radio here and they just said that they found out that NKOTB was getting back together."
"SHUT UP!"
"No kidding"
"HOLY COW"
"I know"

Shortly after this we hung up.

Sure enough. It's true. New Kids on the Block are getting back together! There is an article in People Magazine professing it to be true.

So what? Well I must tell you that when NKOTB were out and popular I absolutely HATED THEM! With a passion. I saw through their dance moves and saw them to be musical hacks at best. HOWEVER.....for some silly reasons that can only be attributed to dumb college humor, I decided that since they had gone the way of the buffalo I would be their biggest fan. When I told people this, they started giving me things. LOTS of things. I have shirts, posters, action figures, buttons, banners, trading cards, marbles (still sealed in the packaging!), wrist straps, hats, book covers, bio books, you name it. It's a joke. It's funny. Except now they're going to tour again. Do I go? I mean I really think their music is pretty bad. But.....I'm suppose to be their biggest fan. Except if I go, there will be bonified fans there who really really care when Joey makes flirty eyes at the ladies.

I'll keep you posted.

final Winter Classic thoughts (and video)

I just wanted to add a couple things to my Winter Classic post.

First, there's rumors that the NHL and the New York Yankees are in discussions of holding a game at Yankee Stadium next year. My thoughts: AHHHHHH NO! New York had everything, why would you give it a classically cool game like this? The only reason would be money and marketing. I would love to see the game go to Minnesota or Detroit or Canada again....not New York. The only thing worse would be California.

One could also make the argument that it would be the final sporting event in Yankee Stadium....as a sports purist, would you want the last event to be a hockey game in the house that Ruth built?

Please NHL, Gary Bettman, for once just do the right thing. I know that you aren't used to doing that, but PLEASE for all that is good and pure in hockey don't play in NYC.

OK here are two commercials that I saw for the first time at the Winter Classic....I know the first one was debuted for that event and features Ryan Miller goalie for the Sabres.

Fruity Friday

Though my wife hates these types of posts....this is how my brain works and so I've stored up some little snippets for everyone else.

Have you ever been in a situation and you just weren't sure what to do? You know other people have been in the exact same place but what would they do? Well the answer is RULE OF THUMB.

This is a little old....apparently a while back a deer somehow jumped over a fence into the polar bear tank at the Pittsburgh Zoo. You have to watch closely...the upper right hand corner....the bears then chase the deer around the area for awhile before zoo officials got on the scene. The deer was so freaked out it eventually had to be put down (that's not on the video don't worry).

You may or may not be familiar with Despair Inc. They have a pretty funny series of "demotivation" posters, shirts etc. Well if you're familiar with their motivation postors (of have seen them online) they have a new generator for you to create your own. I don't have a ton of creative ability, but I'm sure some of you would enjoy this.

Ok the next one is just plane stupid. Dumb. A total waste of time. And there's a chance you might laugh. It's called Stuff On My Cat.com. Basically they just put stuff on top of cats.

Under the "are you kidding?" category....leave it to Major League Baseball. As if the whole steroids problem wasn't enough. MLB has decided that they will sanction team logos on coffins and urns! I kid you not. Check out the article and pictures!

Ok I'll finish today with a video. Japanese TV.....which means it doesn't make sense. They strap binoculars on a bunch of guys and make them play soccer. The striped uniforms and the lady with the bunny head don't make sense....but this had me in stitches. Enjoy.

New Years Day

"All is quiet on New Years Day" -U2

Well not this year. And it was some of the sweetest noise I've ever heard.

Way back in September the NHL announced that it would hold a Winter Classic hockey game in Buffalo between the Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins on New Years Day. The morning tickets went on sale they sold out in 30 minutes. Earlier that morning I had called my dad and asked if they would be willing to pay for some of the cost of tickets for said game. I called him back later to inform him that that would not be necessary since it sold out.

Since there was no limit on the number of tickets people could purchase I had a feeling that some tickets would be up for sale. And they were. (I mentioned in an earlier post that there were a set of 4 tickets on sale on e-bay for $4,000)

So as time came closer prices started dropping a bit, but still out of my league. So we're at my parents house it's Dec. 29th....and I'm randomly checking craigslist....BAM! I found two tickets row 12 for under half of what they were going for on e-bay. I instantly e-mailed the guy and he still had them! We met at a Giant Eagle and I walked away with plans for New Years Day.

So on our way home I called my friend Anneliese (Wheeze) who after some talking by me agreed to accompany me on this stupid venture. For those not understanding what the Winter Classic is/was....they built a hockey rink outside in the football stadium that the Buffalo Bills usually play in. Outdoor hockey. Most of the NHL players played hockey on ponds or backyard rinks as kids.

So the morning of the game it's snowing like MAD at our house and in Titusville (where Wheeze lives) so driving was slow going for awhile. As soon as we hit I-90 we were flying. It cleared up as we drove NORTH....go figure. So basically every car on I-90 was going to the game. Seriously. This was proved when we stopped at the rest stop....and EVERYONE was in winter gear or Pens gear.

Without going through all the details one by one I'll cut to the chase.
-AMAZING SEATS! Row 12. Simply Amazing. I would've fought a bear for these seats.
-They sang O Canada, but not the National Anthem.....They sang God Bless America.....but not the Star Spangled Banner. What?
-Helicopters flying overhead.....WOW
-I have bad circulation in my hands and feat but with some help from some hunting hot packs I was plenty warm all day. Wheeze got cold during the 3rd period because the wind finally picked up.
-The atmosphere is almost indescribable. It doesn't compare to any hockey game I've ever been to. 72,000 fans yelling and screaming.
-As long as there was action on the ice, we didn't sit down. Only when the Zamboni's were on the ice did we sit.
-I missed the only Sabres goal because I went to the bathroom and literally there was so much congestion in the hall I couldn't move I was stuck amongst bodies.
-It couldn't have ended better. A shootout between two of the greatest young athletes the NHL has....Sidney Crosby and Ryan Miller. The NHL is marketing these two guys and it came down to the wire. GREAT GAME.
-I struggled with who to root for in this one. As you may know, I've been behind the Sabres for the past couple years.....but I still have lots of love and devotion to Pittsburgh. I was just there for the game really.
-Going home was HORRIBLE. We literally sat in the parking lot trying to leave for about an hour and 40 minutes. The snow hit us HUGE on the way home and it took 4 hours from the time we left the game to the time we got to my house (a trip that should take an hour and a half regularly). It was so bad, Wheeze spent the night in our living room and got up early to get to Titusville the next morning to teach school.

So on the whole.....the NHL did an amazing job.
Chances are they'll do it again. They're already talking about it.

They did great TV ratings.

Will they do it every year? I hope not. I think there would be something lost in that. Will it be back in Buffalo? Doubtful, just because they would want to include other teams and cities. Would I go again? YES! Even if it's in Detroit or Boston, or Toronto....I'd seriously consider making the trip. This was simply AWESOME!

Next time I'd pay the little kids 15 bucks to park on their lawn though.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.......for a limited time.........

U2-New Years Day.mp3

Death Cab for Cutie -The New Year.mp3

Christmas/Holiday travel

Why do I bother trying at this? I'm so far behind! Ugh

Christmas has come and gone. So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and in case I forget Happy Valentines

This year we opted for two Christmas trees instead of one. Actually we got two tiny trees instead of one giant one that would take up space. They were cheaper too! Marjorie did an amazing job (as always) of decorating and making our house festive for the season.

This Christmas was fun with Corban. He was a bit young last year and just wasn't able to grasp what was going on. This year we sang Christmas carols to him at bed time for about a month and read him the Christmas story a gazillion times. By Christmas he was singing along and reciting the story while we read. He was fun. Every time he saw candles he would sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Do you know how many candles are lit around Christmas time?

With Christmas being in the middle of the week this year, Marjorie decided to take the whole week off work and we went traveling. Seriously we were nomads for a week.

First it was off to Canada in a crazy snow storm near Buffalo. We got to spend time with the whole family. All 31 of us gathered for Boxing Day Christmas festivities. Always fun to see everyone. Corban was a bit overwhelmed after awhile, but he managed.

Then we did the long drive to my parents house near Pittsburgh. Unfortunately my brother's family got sick and we didn't get to see them. It was good for Corban though to have some alone time with Grandma and Papa. After being with 15 cousins, playing alone was a good change for him.

FINALLY we're home and back into real life again.