Archive for the ‘Friends’ Category

I’m So White

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Posted 12 Mar 2008 — by nick
Category Blogs, Friends, Fun

Recently Amy brought it to my attention, with the help of this blog, that I am white. Examples of my whiteness: being a vegetarian, running marathons, snowboarding, listening to public radio, a love for indie music, a love for the outdoors, the list goes on and on. Basically reading this blog I feel pretty pegged.

They nailed it today though: Outdoor Performance Clothing.

I walk around with a smile wearing my ARC’TERYX fleece or my Mountain Hardwear conduit softshell, knowing my jackets are super sweet even if others don’t know the logo or the brand and that I paid more for them than you would think reasonable. A grin and kinship sparks when I see another gear nerd sporting their outerwear and we sigh at the frat-boy strutting in his North Face fleece oblivious to the fabric technology and engineering that has gone into his pop culture status symbol.

A related blog, I’ve found pretty hilarious: White Whine, IE things white people whine about.

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Now playing: Snow Patrol – Chocolate
via FoxyTunes

Scientology Protest

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Posted 10 Feb 2008 — by nick
Category Friends, News, Photos, Spirituality, Videos

Longtime friends of the Dawg Haus will remember we are located next-door to the Champaign branch of the Church of Scientology – a fact several folks have found humorous. Recently this group has found it’s way into the news and not on such great terms. There is the Tom Cruise viral video, the Anonymous response video, DDoS on Scientology’s website, and today a worldwide organized protest.

Camped out on our front couches, some of us dawgs grabbed our morning coffee and breakfast and became spectators of the event unfolding next-door.


We have a civil and cordial relationship with our neighbors – none of us would agree with their beliefs but we see them as human beings deserving of love and respect regardless of how misguided they may be. It’s this fact that makes me uneasy about the protest. I’ve been thinking a lot this year about how effective protesting is (part in reference to the call of Christians to boycott The Golden Compass and further with this protest though it’s not officially religiously affiliated).


Do signs, shouting, and name calling do more than cause the targeted group to bunker down and solidify further in their beliefs?

I’m not saying these protesters are hoping to persuade the scientologist, I’m just questioning if it’s affective at persuading those passing by. My hunch is not and thus I conclude they’re just creating a stand-off between themselves and those inside the “church” each side growing in their belief in the other being wrong and growing in dislike.

What do you think?

(PS: A very few more photo’s can be found on my picasa account. I didn’t take many.)

Sigur Rós – ‘Heima’

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Posted 31 Jan 2008 — by nick
Category Friends, music, Videos

It never fails. Just after finishing that last post Chris calls me into the other room to show me a trailer for this new Sigur Rós DVD/Documentary thing. I’m pretty interested in checking it out. Here is the trailer for your viewing pleasure.

Once

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Posted 21 Jan 2008 — by nick
Category Friends, Fun, Movies, music

This weekend I had the chance to watch an excellent film, a rarity, the excellent part. Receiving high praise from friends whose musical taste I trust I decided it worth the adventure and rented Once to watch with Amy on Friday night. The film had been sold to me as a musical romance between two budding musicians, complete with a soundtrack begging to be purchased.

You need to see this film.

At first, describing the film as a musical left me uncomfortable. (This can probably be chalked up my general distaste for genre and misunderstanding of how everything is classified as either a “comedy” or “drama”). Thinking about it now, I am more content describing it as a musical. In all honesty, the story is told through the music. The characters lack names yet feel complete enough to be a good friend – we learn about them through their music and bond with them as their pain pours through their voices. After all, isn’t this part of the draw of music, the stories songs tell, the emotions they invoke, their empathy.

In honor of not sharing plot points or ruining the film for others, I’ll end on this note. My enjoyment resides strongly on the amazing soundtrack but also in the themes presented. Watching, I was reminded of the goodness of remaining faithful to commitment, the pain and worthwhileness of forgiving, the beauty of romance and the honor in being a person of moral character.

PS: The film has a low budget or indie film feel due to it’s minuscule budget of $160,000. More interesting back story, including how neither of the main characters are or plan on being professional actors, can be found here on the ever helpful wikipedia.

Thinking about Anger

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Posted 18 Jan 2008 — by nick
Category Friends, Jesus, Light, Scripture, Spirituality

Lately the subject of anger and forgiveness have had a healthy amount of my brain and heart (in a philosophical sense not as in a “I’ve been angry a lot” sense). Anger examined in my life has quite often proven tied to an idea of entitlement. This concept, entitlement, is a little more foreign to me though. I have long been aware of frustration and anger in situations where something doesn’t go my way or the way I thought it should have – but this I was less aware of.

The thought process sounds like this: “You deserve to be heard or listened too in this group.””You deserve to be respected or understood.””You deserve to be left alone.””You are entitled to this or that.”

Last night anger had it’s death grip around my heart for a bit. I had walked out of a situation where I felt entitled to my voice and thoughts being heard, neither felt true. Enter the strongman Anger to take my heart hostage leaving isolated and lonely.

This morning I read this passage and as it sank in I began to reflect on last night.

“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.
Matthew 5:21-22

Something happens to us when we get angry with another person. It feeds self-centeredness, it dehumanizes me as I elevate my feelings/needs/desires above another persons. The anger doesn’t do anything to the other person, only to me.

Freedom from the prison of anger requires I walk back through the tangles of self-centeredness untying the bonding straps of my prison along the way. The agreements I’ve made saying I am entitled to this or that.

Last night I chose to take this journey and return to a state of less self-centered living. The result: reunion and reconcillation and a heart living free again.

"We gotta have bean juice!"

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Posted 03 Dec 2007 — by nick
Category coffee, Friends, Fun

“bring me the bean juice, I’ve been a good boy, bring me bean juice!”

As Chris and I chatted this morning we came to a realization that coffee must only have half the usual amount of caffeine on Mondays; thus twice the usual needs consuming. Our conversation reminded me of this e-greeting card:

(click on the image to go to the card
make sure you move the pot around and listen)

Free Rice

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Posted 30 Nov 2007 — by nick
Category Friends, Fun, Light, Social Justice, Technology

While working intently on his paper, Ben came across this website: Free Rice I thought it a wonderful idea – I play a game (and develop my vocabulary) the outcome of which feeds hungry people around the world.

Now, I don’t need a game to remind me that my vocabulary isn’t much larger than that of a high school senior, but I’ll do my best to feed the poor and needy.

I played for about 10 minutes this evening and donated 300 grains of rice and received a vocab score of 42. Watch out Freerice.org, tomorrow is a Friday and I have a full work day to spend donating rice 🙂

O Tannenbaum

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Posted 27 Nov 2007 — by nick
Category Friends, Fun, Winter

O Christmas Tree O, Christmas Tree,
Your branches green delight us.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your branches green delight us.
They’re green when summer days are bright;
They’re green when winter snow is white.
O, Christmas Tree, O, Christmas Tree,
Your branches green delight us!

Dawg Haus Christmas decorating 2007 shall live in infamy. Finding a tree proved a simple task this year – maybe due to fewer strongly opinionated Dawgs in this iteration. Even the controversial debate of white VS multicolored lights turned out a simple, civilized discussion. This is where the simplicity stopped though. At the end of the night (about 11:30PM) I had visited local stores on two occasions, once for lights and once for a tree stand. We replaced the old leaky stand after it leaked through the floor and onto Ben‘s Bed in the basement, Josh electrocuted himself with a rogue strand of lights and managed to cut up his fingers pretty good trying to fix said strand of lights.

As I give into sleep, I pray the tree stays standing through the night; part of me expects to awake to a loud crash as the tree topples to the floor.

Doggies

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Posted 26 Nov 2007 — by nick
Category Family, Friends, Fun

Here are some of the friends I got to hang out with when I was home this past Thanksgiving:


Tyson: He’s about 4 years old I think, a Yorkshire Terrier, and my mom’s replacement for all us kids being gone. Tyson lives with my Mom and Stepdad. This guy is who I’m usually talking about when I say “my dog”. Tyson is very loyal and affectionate, you need to either be playing with him or he needs to be laying on/next to you while you pet him. We’re buds.


Wiggles: He’s about 3 years old I think, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and my Dad’s replacement for all us kids being gone. He is incredibly attached to my Dad. He needs to always be by his side, he likes to ride in the truck with my Dad and has been known to knock over drinks (of all sorts) and lap them up. Wiggles likes to give hugs, which actually I find very awkward, but cute.


Rascal: This guy is a new addition to the extended family. He’s still a puppy and getting potty trained. He’s the “child” of my cousin Tara and her fiance. Rascal and I met for the first time at Thanksgiving dinner, he was pretty distracted by all the people and scraps of food, so we didn’t bond as much as one might hope.

Toby: I didn’t get to see Toby this weekend because Chris and Lisa were busy. He’s a Silky Terrier puppy, still under a year I believe.

Leah: No, this is not a stuffed animal, she’s a Bichon Frise/Miniature Poodle hybrid (I didn’t realize dogs could be hybrids, but my sister-in-law says so). Leah and Toby live together so I also missed out on visiting with her this weekend.

I’m sorta getting into this pictures thing. I think I’ll ask for a camera for Christmas, but for now you’ll have to settle for pictures taken from my Treo and ripped off of facebook.

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Now playing: Over the Rhine – Goodbye Charles
via FoxyTunes

"German Engineering in da Houz"

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Posted 24 Nov 2007 — by nick
Category Friends, Fun, Jesus, Spirituality, Volkswagen

Photo Journalistic-esque:

My Friend Justin

His VW’s

Tonight I got to catch up with one of my bestest friends, Justin Sears (the original JP). Justin has been a long time VW enthusiast – even before I was. The one on the left is his ’83 Turbo-Diesel Jetta purchased when we were in high school, the one on the right is his ’03 Jetta GLI with the VR6 purchased not long after I bought my Rabbit. Justin’s a good friend, he brought me around to his church when we were kids and a major reason I’m following Jesus today. It was good to see him and get a chance to geek out about our irrational love for things VW and talk about important things too.

(Images stolen from JP’s website, and the book of faces)

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Now playing: Scattertones – There There
via FoxyTunes

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