retelling the story

Star Wars is back! New movie August 15.

Lucas offered a glimpse into the latest creation in his sci-fi universe at the theater-owners convention ShoWest on Thursday, showing a sequence from "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," due in theaters August 15.

read more | digg story

this video is symbolic of my fathers strength and struggle with brain cancer.
james 1:2-8

read more about ann's story.

SNL digital short: the mirror

this is really funny.

indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull

Watch the Trailer on Yahoo! Movies

24 chapters in 24 days

i will be joining each person who took on the challenge this week; to read 24 chapters of luke in 24 days. starting monday 11th, you should have read chapter one and today chapter two, completing the entire book one chapter at a time on march 5th. if you do it, dinner is yours!

when are your favorite shows coming back on?

film school rejects posted a list of tv shows and when they will return yesterday. quite a few will be filming new episodes to be aired in april, while quite a few others will not return until next fall, and others not at all. there are also a few that are still up in the air.

read here for more info on what the details are of the new contract the writer's are expected to are on.

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Now playing: Jack Johnson - Angel
via FoxyTunes

dad, february 6th, 2008

This past Monday my father returned to see his surgeon and oncologist. As he has been he is recovering well from the surgery. They removed half of the staples from his head and plan to remove the remaining next week. The surgeon said that the wound is healing nicely. Dad continues to feel dizzy, however. Some of that is caused by the surgery he endured and some is caused from the seizure medication he is taking. I am not sure what it is, but that is one of the side-effects. He was having an additional MRI this week to plan for the radiation and the oncologist has set up a schedule for treatment. He will begin his radiation treatments on Wednesday February 13^th. Chemo is schedule to start at the same time with oral treatment. I will be trying to get back down once that begins. His particular type of cancer is Glioma Astrocytoma. Those are a couple of big words for brain cancer.

His email tonight said “all I can do is lay around from one chair to another and watch the boring TV.” He sounds good when I talk to him, but I know he is feeling worse than he shares. I respond much in the same way. But you can hear it in his voice. It stirs the range of emotions in me too. I find myself very angry at times. This is not easy for any of us.

Here's an article that was written about him recently in the Naples’s Daily News. Dad’s been writing articles about once a month for the paper’s faith section sharing childhood memories and his deeper sense of connection to God. This time the article was written for him. It will give you some insight into the man I call Dad.

what they play

one of the ongoing questions i get in youth ministry is what do i think about "X" video game? is it safe? is it appropriate? i am glad to see that a web site has been developed to help parents figure out what the ESRB ratings mean, what certain warnings have been given to the game, and what the actual reference is. it appears as though this will be a great tool for parents to use when buying new games.

the site is whattheyplay.com. it distinguishes itself by having writers who have played through the game to explain exactly why a rating has been given. for instance cooking mama 2, for the DS, has an alcohol warning because she refers to cooking with it.

this is a great reference for parents who are looking to purchase a new video game but are unsure what is appropriate.

the hawaii chair

just came across this little gem. i know some people are probably struggling with the new year's resolution to maintain a regular workout schedule. this has got to be the prodcut to turn all of that around. introducing the hawaii chair.

oldschool

i got the itch to sit down and watch some old school skateboarding videos. so, i sat down and watched the bones brigade video show, future primitive, and animal chin. as i watched the old videos and i look at today's skateboarding, rodney mullen was doing things in the 80's people still aren't doing today. he invented tricks, perfected tricks, and can do things the average skater can't do. you can read about him n wikipedia, too.

here's a couple videos i found. from his attire, this is in the 80's for sure.


this is a best of compilation.


here's a few more on youtube.

you can find some more on what appears to be an unofficial mullen site.

thanks for boarding this train down memory lane.

saturday 1/26/08 update

I changed the subject line this time because I kept typing in the wrong day, although I did have the right date. I still can’t get it right. I hope it didn’t confuse anyone too much. So this is the third installment with updates about my father. All great stories have been told in trilogy’s. So like George Lucas, I will wrap it up in this third email. However, you never know, there may be more to come.

Today, Saturday, Dad was in great spirits. He had been up and eating real food. They got him out of bed and into the chair in his room. This was partially because they wanted to get him up a little today and partially to prepare him to move to his room and out of ICU. That would take quite longer than expected. We arrived to the hospital just before noon. He had some other visitors come by from the church. We ate lunch in the café’ and found the waiting room had been freshened with new magazines. We decided since he was still in ICU that we were no longer going to abide by the 3 in the room at a time. Today we took in 4. At one point we even had seven. But Susan, Tonya and I sat with him until dinner. He called at about 9:30pm and said that they had just moved him into his room on the sixth floor.

Dad is feeling great, sitting up and laughing. He is happy watching college basketball and reading his woodworking magazines. I think the most frustrating thing will be not being able to drive his couple of month old Rav4. He has mentioned that quite a bit recently. He is taking medicine now to prevent seizures. He had been having petite mal seizures from the pressure of the tumor. He won’t be allowed to drive again until those have completely subsided. He will begin radiation and chemotherapy in 2 weeks. The radiation will last for 6 weeks. He will go in 5 days a week at 10 minutes at a time. His church members are beginning to sign up to drive him to and from treatment, allowing Susan to return to work. The chemo will begin at the same time. It will be the oral type so the doctor is expecting that he won’t be sick from it.

If everything goes as well as it has, Dad should return home on Sunday. I know he is excited about that and his dog will be too.

Again, thank you for your support, encouragement and support. Please continue to keep my father in your prayers. While the crisis period is over, the fight is not. The battle will go on. It’s been a long weekend, stressful at times, but I don’t think it could have gone any better than it has. Dad’s recovery has been better that we could have ever have hoped for.

God’s grace is abundant.

friday 1/25/08 update

Today was much like a long day on a youth trip. We went to bed after midnight and needed to leave the house at 5am to get my father out to the hospital on time. Little sleep, no shower as I am not a morning person, going all day long, eating fast food, lots of coffee, getting a pimple, and trying to keep with others made me feel right at home.

The doctors got him right in and prepped for surgery as soon as we arrived. The nurses and doctor were great. He got into surgery about an hour late because of some other things going on in the hospital. Surgery went great and in just over an hour and a half, dad was back into the recovery room awake and moving his fingers and toes. Before we were able to get in to see him, the doctor came to give us the news. Some good, some bad. The good is that dad was recovering well, in good spirits, and recovering as well as they could expect. However, based on what he had seen in the past (actual biopsy results will come back Monday) the tumor was a 4. If you don’t know what that means, it’s the worst type. Because of this, the doctor believes that the cancerous tissue is spread throughout his brain, the extent of which is unknown. While they removed the entire tumor, they will continue with chemotherapy and radiation. These will start in two weeks. The radiation will last for 6 weeks and the chemotherapy for as long as he can continue with it. The doctor shared that is working with another that has been on it for over 5 years now and doing well. It was tough news to hear. Tears fell and out hearts hurt. It is difficult to take in and understand what that does and doesn’t mean. As we have witnessed already, dad has been the strongest person throughout all of this short week, which has been more of an encouragement to us than I think we have been for him.

We got to go see him shortly after the doctor shared that news with us. While my dad was in pain, he was already joking around. We spent about 30 minutes with him before letting him get back to rest. As I was leaving I bent down and kissed him on the cheek. He responded by saying, “well you don’t have to ever worry about me being gay, because I could never get used to being poked with your whiskers.” Dad has a very dry humor and is always working on a joke. He believes as I do, just keep going after the joke and eventually one will be funny. For some of you, my humor is beginning to make since.

We remained at the hospital for the remainder of the day and spent some more time with him this afternoon. He was watching Rachel Ray, drinking Diet Coke, and keeping his hand warm by holding Tonya’s. His vitals were normal. He was tired but talking and sharing and glad to have company. They are keeping him in ICU through the night and plan to move him to his own room tomorrow. If all goes well, they expect to send him home on Sunday. I would never had imagined the initial recovery would be so quick. He is a strong man and has exemplified who I want to be in time of crisis. His faith remains strong and reminds us that God is control.

Thank you for all of your prayers and your messages today. We shared those with dad and he appreciates it all.

Thanks. Take care and more tomorrow.

thursday 1/24/08 update

Tonya and I, my sister, Dawn and her younger son, Devin, all arrived this evening at my father’s home in Bonita Springs. If you had not been caught up at this point, earlier this week, doctors discovered he has a brain tumor and decided to remove it on Friday.

Tonight, his lay leader organized and planned a prayer service for him at the church. The pews were all full. As Dad was sharing what was going on with the congregation he joked about it taking a brain tumor to fill the seats with everyone at once. He is in great spirits and as he shared with the congregation a few words, we saw a man who was confident in his faith in God, stood with strength, and prepared for his surgery in the morning. He goes to the hospital at 5am and surgery will begin at 7:15am. The expect it to take between 1 and 2 hours and will be in ICU through Saturday.

We have a lot of questions about side effects, about malignancy, and recovery time. We will know much about these things once the surgery is complete. Until then, we will follow my dads lead and remain confident in the doctor’s ability and in God’s hand in the situation. Please keep the situation in your prayers as we go through this weekend.

Thanks and we will update you again later.

paradigms of youth ministry

at the large church initiative today, i sat in a class that was discussing the need for a new paradigm of youth ministry in the united methodist church. this need is due in large that there is little education specific to youth ministry (outside of a few good books) or specific about how to do youth ministry and all the tasks that come with it. many people go into a career of youth ministry with the passion and desire and receive little or no training prior to being placed in the position. we know that most people don't last more than 2 years in youth ministry on average and many move on long before that. in the methodist church there is a great standard set for pastors to be ordained and to take lead in a church. yet, for other church staff there is very little education offered and what is available is difficult to receive, unless you go back to school full time again. the methodist church should set a minimum standard for its youth ministries. this will bring quality to the ministry and quality to the spiritual growth. it will also give the church a higher level of integrity. but the church's should get involved in helping to make this training and education available. i think this is the beginning of a conversation that needs to continue. it will take quite some time for this idea to be moved into action and will need to continue throughout the denomination.

now this is a jump

might not be the record, but good enough i would say.

my love languages

The Five Love Languages

My Primary Love Language is Quality Time

My Detailed Results:
Quality Time:	10
Words of Affirmation:	8
Acts of Service:	7
Physical Touch:	3
Receiving Gifts:	2

About this quiz

Unhappiness in relationships is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. It can be helpful to know what language you speak and what language those around you speak.

Take the Quiz!

a few shots from christmas

spirit

my mom and i

my dad and his wife

tonya and i

outpouring speaker for 2008

jason gant, director of student ministries at church of the resurrection in kansas city, will be sharing the scriptures with us at outpouring in august 2008. take a listen a recent sermon he gave at their youth group.

if you would like to see more, check out their videos at blip.tv.

how much is this blog worth?

My blog is worth $1,129.08.
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it's not much, but i'll take it.