a chance and a rock

hisp-Antioch

2006-05-21T22:43:00.000-05:00

So, the area of Nashville I live in is called Antioch. And by callers on conservative talk radio it's called hisp-Antioch for reasons you should soon be able to guess. Recently, around the corner from my apartment, they opened a new grocery store. The sign proudly states:
Super Mercado
Latino!
At first it just said "Super Mercado" but after about a week they painted "Latino!" underneath it. Now everytime I drive by I think, "thank goodness they cleared that up. I was worried about getting it confused with the Super Mercado, Francais and the Super Mercado, Deutch."

Hoops

2005-12-20T22:00:00.000-05:00

I just realized that I haven't heard anything about college basketball yet this season. I couldn't even tell you who's ranked right now. Apparently, only girls play basketball in college in Tennessee. (GO IRISH !!! BEAT Lady Vols ! New Year's Eve!) Even though the smart kids from Nashville missed out, and the Big Orange High School from Knoxville missed out, all these people talk about still is SEC football. If this hoops drought continues, there will be February fury, March madness and it will probably carry over to April anger and May miffed...ness.

GO IRISH !!! BEAT Trojans ! ...next year :(

2005-10-15T12:57:00.000-05:00

I have a dilemma. Two hours before Notre Dame's biggest game in a dozen years, I've developed selective amnesia. I can't remember any of the words, or even any of the tune to Southern Cal's fight song. Under normal circumstances, this would be wonderful news; even though I can't remember the song, I do remember that I hate it. Most Domers, I think, would agree, that to delete that tune from your memory would be second only to winning the National Championship. If not second, it's certainly in your top ten ND wish list. However, here's where the dilemma comes in. I still like to sing my own little cavalcade before the games, with the fight songs that I learned with the Glee Club as a student. It's my own post-grad tradition, and I'm sure many former clubbers out there could itentify with it. But today, my cavalcade fell dead right after "all hail, our old Purdue..." I couldn't even transition into "The march is on..." to the sound of thunderous cheering and clapping (in my mind) because that awful piece of music was forgotten.
So, I decided to call one of my friends, someone I have enourmous musical respect for and someone I knew would appreciate the gravity of the situation. He could help me in this dilemma and he would be able to remind me of the terrible tune if I needed him to. When his phone rang and rang and finally went to voice-mail, I was unusually relieved. I was worried he might launch right into it when I told him I had forgotten it. I know in a couple hours I'll hear the USC fight song about a hundred times, so I've decided to wait till then to subject myself to the torture of that memory. In the meantime, I will forego my traditional solo cavalcade. Having spent four years at Notre Dame, I do not lightly break with a tradition, even one that only matters to me, and I understand that should the game turn out like others in recent years, I will have to shoulder a large part of the blame. However, I'm willing to risk it for even a few precious minutes of not knowing the USC fight song.

half-time addendum: Well, that blissful reprieve from Fight On... is over, but a 7 point lead at the half makes it easier to take. I meant to do it earlier, but my prediction for the game was ND 42-35 USC and I'm gonna stick with that. I admit the green jerseys worried me, but since I've been so excited about the last three appearances, let's hope this trepidation is a good sign.
GO IRISH !!! BEAT Trojans !

half-time commentary on the commentary: The Guglielmino Athletics facility looks great. From the NBC segment I'm not really sure why it's not just called the Guglielmino Football facility, but anyway. I just wanted to point out that anything located to the extreme east of anything, isn't "in the heart" of anything. i.e. the "Gug" is not in the heart of the Notre Dame campus.

post-game wrap-up: Well, we did a good job of shaking down the 'thunder' (Lendale White), but we couldn't quite bottle the 'lightning' (Reggie Bush). Bonnie Coach Charlie did a good job of waking up the echoes, but when the green jerseys saw that shirt that Joe Montana was wearing, they must have thought they were in a weird dream and those particular echoes went back to sleep again. If anyone can find a picture of that ridiculous outfit, please send a link to it here, so everyone will know what I'm talking about, in case they didn't see it.

Old Testament Football Players and Ex-Roommates

2005-09-17T15:00:00.000-05:00

I think it was Pat Haden, NBC analysist for the Notre Dame vs. MSU debacle, who said,
"If Job were a running back he'd be Darius Walker. He just waits and waits and waits, and then he spurts,"
in reference to the ND tailback. 'Waits and waits and waits,' must be an allusion to Job's much publicized patience. The spurt, I assume, must refer to his leperosy.

On another note, I saw my freshman roommate wearing a Tulane shirt (he was from New Orleans) during Fr. Jenkins' Hurricane Katrina Fund PSA. I'll be blaming his appearance on national tv for the subsequent loss.

higher education

2005-09-11T14:53:00.000-05:00

I love my alma mater and its Christian and Catholic character, but what's up with that "A Higher Education" spot they're showing during football games? Where they having trouble recruiting catholic high school students? Is 15% protestant too high for them? Just a thought, and now it's been blogged.

On another note...HAIL TO THE VICTORS!!!
No. 20 NOTRE DAME 17
No. 3 Michigan 10

Grey streets

2005-08-27T16:18:00.000-05:00

This post is from a sunday school lesson I did last year.

There’s loneliness inside her
And she’d do anything to fill it in
And though it’s red blood bleeding from her now
It feels like cold blue ice in her heart
When all the colors mix together - to grey
And it breaks her heart

There’s an emptiness inside her
And she’d do anything to fill it in
And though it’s red blood bleeding from her now
It’s more like cold blue ice in her heart
She feels like kicking out all the windows
And setting fire to this life
She could change everything about her using colors bold and bright
But all the colors mix together - to grey
And it breaks her heart
It breaks her heart
To grey

Those are some of the lyrics to the Dave Matthews Band song, Grey Street. Although DMB would by no means be considered a Christian music group, there are some very Christian truths that really stand out to me in this song. As a Christian I believe that God created the world and everything in it; that the devil cannot create anything new, only mangle and pervert the good things God had made; and that despite the devils best attempts, God's love and truth often shines through.

This song is about a girl who is trying everything she can to change her life. She wants to use bold, bright colors to hide the emptiness, and lonliness she feels within. In my sunday school class we talked about some of the emotions, feelings and other things associated with different colors:
Red - love, courage
Yellow - sunshine(joy)
Green - money, care for the environment
Blue - calm/peace
It's easy to see how someone would want to convey these things the those around her, and using bold, bright colors seems like the way to do it. But anyone who has had a basic art class can tell you what happens when you start mixing paints of different colors together. At first, you might just get different hues and shades, but if you mix too many together, you just get a colorless grey. If you mixed all the colors together, you'd get black. In a high school sunday school class it's easy to want to use kids as examples..."you probably all know someone like this in school," or "there are a lot of teenagers who try to do this." But the truth is, many adults never outgrow it. We've probably all tried at some point or other to paint ourselves a certain color...to try and portray a certain image for co-workers, friends, even fellow church members. But paint and pigments are very limited, and don't always mix the way we want them to.

Now we're going to leave art class and turn to physics and theology. This is the exciting part.

First of all, the good news for all believers is that God said he would wash us "as white as snow." No matter how many times we've applied new coats of paint, or tried to change ourselves, God can strip all that away. But just like black is the sum of paints of all colors, white is the absence of color right? Does God want to make us bland and boring, with no personality at all?

Jesus told his disciples He was the "light of the world." Here comes the science. Light acts opposite from solid pigments. When white light passes through a prism, you see all the colors of the rainbow. It works in reverse too. When you shine all the different colored light together, they show up white. So to answer our question, no, God does not expect Christians to be colorless. He intends for all of us, with the light of Jesus shining through us, to show all the colors of the spectrum to the world.

One of the verses from Grey Street runs like this:

How she wishes it was different
She prays to God most every night
And though she swears it doesn’t listen
There’s still a hope in her it might
She says, “I pray
But they fall on deaf ears,
Am I supposed to take it on myself?
To get out of this place”

The mistake that the girl in the song makes is that she does try to take it on herself, instead of giving up, and giving in and letting God do what only He can do. She doesn't believe God is listening to her so she probably wouldn't have noticed when He has answered.

The challenge for us, then, is just to keep our selves out of the way. The moment we start trying to color our lives or actions in a certain way, we're painting over the light that should be shining out of us. As Christians we are charged with presenting Christ to the world, but the only way for us to do that is to get out of the way. I know that nothing I do will ever save anyone, and thank God it's not up to me to do that. I just need to let Christ work in my life; let his light shine through me to others.

puppy love

2005-07-04T23:11:00.000-05:00

The great thing about having a dog around is that you always feel loved. All you have to do is walk out the door, turn around and go back in, and someone has missed you for weeks. Dogs are so easy to please and they will love you no matter what. On the other hand, if the dog belongs to your girlfriend's dad and you're only looking after it for about a week, you will come back to earth pretty quick once the real owner gets back. 'Cause once dad's back, then the dog doesn't see anyone else in the world.

your mission...

2005-06-20T14:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning I woke up thinking about that line from Mission: Impossible..."Your mission, should you choose to accept it..." I don't know what I might have been dreaming just before my alarm clock went off, but once it did, as I do nearly everyday, I thought about what day it was (sunday), what I had to do that day (get up for church, meet MC, go to church, get lunch, get to work, etc.), what I would wear that day (khakis, blue oxford, and new cole haan braganos which I got for free from work), and then I started thinking about that line, something which doesn't happen everyday.
In particular I was wondering about the second part of the phrase, that is, "should you choose to accept it." What if they chose not to accept it? What if the IMF team listened to what that self-destructive tape had to say and then decided it just wasn't for them? Was it as mundane as a business transaction? They refuse the mission and they miss out on the pay and/or commission and maybe they get overlooked if a chance for promotion comes up. Or, due to the nature of their business, would the penalty for such a refusal be a bit more severe? Perhaps they would become the targets for the next IMF team...should they choose to accept it. After all, they dealt with a lot of sensitive and volatile information. Could you let someone receive that information but then not respond if they ignore the call to act upon it?
That was a lot to think about first thing in the morning, and I'm getting worried again now for those IMF teams that do choose to decline the mission (if there ever were any). I have a feeling there might have been a middle area, somewhere between the mundane and the reactionary. Still, if it were me, I'd be mighty apprehensive about not accepting the mission. My advice would be to always accept the mission 'cause typically it's the good guys that win, not the bad guys, so if there's a chance of the next IMF team coming after me, I'll take my chances with the baddies. But that's just my advice...you may choose not to accept it.

Backstreet Boys

2005-06-17T00:04:00.000-05:00

The Backstreet Boys were just on the Tonight Show, which made me wonder...did Ryan McLaughlin buy their new album on the day it came out? and if not how many days did he wait? I mean, the last time they released an album I think I remember he got interviewed by the South Bend local news for being there to buy it on day one. Feel free to add a comment with your guesses about that completely heterosexual male's cd buying habits.

/* With apologies to Master McLaughlin, the author offers this correction: Mac has not in the past, nor does he plan to in the future, buy any Backstreet Boy CDs. The author hopes it is understood that he never meant to call into question the sexuality of Master McLaughlin, or his taste in music. Until N'Sync releases a new album and performs on late night TV, this post should be treated as completely irrelevant (as opposed to all my other posts, which are clearly relevant and important to everyone). */

y'all are so cute

2005-04-28T23:59:00.000-05:00

So the other day Mary Carla and I decided to have a mini cook-out and grill some chicken for lunch. My apartment has a little grill just outside my building and a picnic table next to it so that's where we were. With the chicken we decided to grill some fresh asparagus. It was all very good, till MC took a bite of one stalk of asparagus, chewed it a couple times, made a face, then spit it out. Then she tried another bite, couple chews, made a face, spit it out. Then she offers it to me, "here try this." As I'm leaning forward to take a bite of this bad asparagus off of her fork another resident of my apartment complex walks around the corner and declares loudly, "Awww! Y'all are so cute feeding each other! My ex-boyfriend and I used to do that!" In the mean time, I'm unable to spit out the bad asparagus because of how cute we are for her feeding me nasty green vegetables. Timing, it appears, is everything.

"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity." ~~Frank Leahy

2005-04-24T16:24:00.000-05:00

Jim Thome, first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, recently gave an interview in Sports Illustrated. When they asked him about Jim Thome Drive, by his high school near Peoria, he had this to say..."At time I make a detour to drive down it. I do it every year before I got to spring training. It's a way of keeping me humble." I don't know about you, but it seems to me that going out of your way to drive down a street named after you doesn't exactly scream 'meekness'. Although, according to Jim Thome logic, imagine how full of himself Sadaam Hussain would have been if it wasn't for all those statues and murals of himself he had put up all over Iraq. His ego really would have been out of control then.

"No great genius is without an admixture of madness." ~~Aristotle

2005-04-12T19:31:00.000-05:00

So I was reading this article the other day about a 24 year old student in France, Alexis Lemaire, who is now being hailed as the world's greatest human calculator for finding the 13th root of a 200 digit number in less than nine minutes. If you're wondering and too lazy to read the article, the number was...
83689566882369569398373286622256452247267804664938366774973575581573035075704089625288
02385783156837680293493820105634336385559593151445041514949070941909770444930566026840
2771869624155688082648640933
The answer itself was 16 digits long. Oh, and he wasn't allowed to write or type. He did it all in his head. And this wasn't the first time he's amazed nerds around the world. In December he broke the record for finding the 13th root of a 100 digit number. Before Lemaire, the record was 13.55 seconds, held by a German man. Lemaire found his answer in only 3.62 seconds.
The article also (under)states, "According to neurological scientists at Caen University, genius arithmeticians use a different part of the brain from that used by average humans."
Other highlights from the same study by those Caen U scientists were...
--the processors in your computer are more complex than those in your little brother's calculator wrist-watch
--Michael Phelps uses different muscles than the average 400 pound couch-potato
--French chefs use different ingredients than the average college student
--Boeing 747s use different parts than the average paper airplanes
--Donald Trump's Mahattan apartment is more lavish than mine

When Lemaire was asked about the difference between his recent 200 digit accomplishment and the 100 digit feat back in December he said, "It is 100 times more difficult than the record I broke in December
because this time there was only a one in 400,000 billion chance of getting the result by
luck against 1 in 8 million in December." Granted, I'm no arithmetic genius, but it seems to me that if he was able to find the 13th root of a hundred-digit number in only 3 seconds, he could have paused for a second or two during the interview to think of a better comparative than "100 times." One in 8 million to one in 400 billion. Then again, I don't use the same parts of my brain as he does.

Mugatu: I give you, "The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good!"
Derek: What is this? A center for ants? How can we be expected to teach children to learn how to read if they can't even fit inside the building?
Mugatu: Derek, this is just a model...
Derek: I don't wanna hear your excuses! The building has to be atleast... 3 times... that size!

I am away from my computer right now

2005-04-06T16:47:00.000-05:00

If there's one thing I like about my friend Pete Bell, it's that his away message is always original. He's never just lazily clicked on "Default Away Message" and left all his IM Buddies wondering what he's up to. Now granted, sometimes we compulsive away-message-checkers are left with no details of his activities, but at least we can shake our heads and say, "That crazy Bell, he's calling himself a weiner in his away message," instead of that boring, boring, boring, boring, "I am away from my computer right now."
And now you know how I feel about that. Thanks, Pete Bell.

940 miles

2005-03-26T00:28:00.000-05:00

It's been a long week for me, and I'm pretty tired right now, but I wanted to sit down and write about this past weekend.
Last friday, after lunch with Mary Carla, I left Nashville and started a long drive North. Seven and a half hours later (eight and a half if you count the time change) I arrived in South Bend, IN at the apartment of my wonderful friends Sweets and Eileen Dimino. It's always great to see them...whether I told them at the time or not, they're in my top ten people of all time list. The next morning, while Sweets was recovering from his night shift at the hospital, I drove over to my alma mater to spend too much money at the bookstore. Then is was over to Saint Mary's College to get some pictures for MC and a present for her too. In the process of taking the pictures I managed to lock my keys in my car. Big thanks to Bob, of SMC Security, for his skillful work with wedges and a big stick. After that little fiasco, I went back to meet Sweets for lunch. Good pinball, good wings, good conversation. Then I got the official tour of the Diminos' new house in NW SB (not to be confused with near NW). I'm really happy for those two. Sweets Jr. (or little Nate, or whatever they want to call him...if it's a him) is gonna have a great house to move into in a couple months when he gets here. I helped Sweets break in his new $75...$70...$40 fussball table. He won the first one, I won the second, and we'll save the tie-breaker for my next visit. Then it was back to the apartment where we met back up with Eileen, who despite the baby in her belly, was very complimentary about the dinner I cooked for them.
That night I got to hear the Notre Dame Glee Club's spring concert. It's still very exciting since I still know half the guys in the group. Got to see fellow '03 graduate Jesse Miller too. The concert itself was really good...Thomas Tallis' Lamentations of Jeremiah is one of my favorites and Shenandoah, Spanish Ladies, and Quigley's Danny Boy...and it's always a thrill to go up there with the alumni now. But the real highlight was seeing so many of my old friends. My big little brother John Siegwarth sang the solo in Beautiful Savior, which was the only solo I ever sang in an official concert in my four years. Karl Wahoske, who seems to be filling my old position of Vice-President admirably, had a great solo for a great Undertones act and a great announcement. Gabe Torres' Old Time Religion made me want to get up and dance in the aisle and he's still got a smile as big as Texas. Mr. President, Paul Sifuentes has always been one of my favorites, despite what some might call a cocky attitude. J-Lau, Madrid, T-Rich, Swampy, Javi, Schreck, DuVall, Pogge, Sprigg, Steve Smith...good to see them all. And thanks to Lockhart for plugging my cell phone in for me during the concert...fortunately I didn't ever need it on the drive that night, but it's nice to know it's there. I didn't get to talk to everybody I wanted to, but it was still a good night.
It really made me miss some of my other favorite clubbers. If your name is Pete Bell, Aaron Trulley, Derek Podolny, Zach Gustafson, Mike Diamond, Ryan McLaughlin, Christopher Lux, Chistopher Cooper, Phil Trible, Jeff Holmes, Corey Kelly, Jim Krueger, Tommy Prall, Brian South, or Shane McIlheney, and if you ever read this little e-journal...well, just know that whatever else you did, you made an impression, and I miss you guys. Jon, Sweets, you're not on that list, 'cause you already know it...I hope.
Anyway, enough of that, after the concert I hit the road again, this time heading south for West Terre Haute. It was a short night, but I had a nice breakfast with mom and dad before church and I got to see most of my old Sunday School class that morning. They're good kids, and I was glad to see that those months with me as their teacher didn't mess them up too much. After church we went out to lunch with some friends at Pizza Hut. Lots of fun again, and my wonderful sister even made the drive from Indianapolis, and then all the way out to the north end of town to see me.
As an interesting side note...there was a dude in the booth at Pizza Hut with a full glass of beer and an empty pitcher in front of him, and he was passed out since before we got there till after we left. Sunday afternoon, passed out in a Pizza Hut booth. It's time to admit you have a problem, buddy.
Not a lot of time at home...not enough for mom ;)...and then back on the road to Nashville. Finally after 940 miles (according to MapQuest) I was back with Mary Carla. It was a really great weekend, but it was really exhausting.
And I'm too tired to think of a fitting end to this novel.

image update

2005-03-07T23:50:00.000-05:00

For those of you who like to have an acurate and up-to-date mental image of me, I just wanted to let you know that I shaved off my little gottee tonight. Not that there was ever much of it to begin with, but now it's gone. Apparently though, it doesn't matter very much. It took Mary Carla over an hour to notice it was gone, and then only when she noticed the hair in the trashcan. I like to think that it's because she loves me for what's on the inside and doesn't worry too much about my outward appearance. The fact that a beatiful woman like that is dating a guy like me seems to back up that theory.

famous people I've met so far

2005-03-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday at work, a guy came up to me and asked, "do you have luggage?" I said, yes, and gave him directions to the luggage department, then I asked him, "By the way, do you sing for Jars of Clay?" And he said, "yeah," and then I shook his hand and introduced myself and he introduced himself as Dan and I was very cool and told him I was looking forward to their new album and how I got to hear them play a few of their new songs. I was much more articulate than the first time I met a famous person at work. Here's my list so far...

Steven Curtis Chapman
George Jones
Darrell Waltrip
Dan Haseltine

if you have to work a crap job just to make money while you're looking for a good job, you might as well work a crap job where you get to meet famous people.

/* Sorry if I wasn't clear and my celebrities are too B-list for some of you. Here's a quick guide...
SCC: Christian music artist
GJ: Country music legend
DW: NASCAR
DH: Jars of Clay
I hope that clears up any confusion among you. */

Winter in the South

2005-03-01T20:44:00.000-05:00

The Civil War took place over 4 winters and only 3 summers.

There were 200 car accidents and 100 school closings in the Nashville area today because of snow. The news called it a white-out. All I know is that this morning we had what Hoosiers like to call a "dusting," and last night it wasn't quite "snowing"...only "flurries."

200 car accidents.

100 school closings.

The Civil War took place over 4 winters and only 3 summers.

Needless to say...

2005-03-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

Let me set the scene.
There's a girl, who has married a boy. One night they're sitting at home when there's a knock at the door. When the girl answers the door, a young man shoots at her with a plastic b-b gun, then he runs away. The girl and the boy are both, understandably, upset. Once they've calmed down a bit, the girl describes the incident in her Instant Messenger away message. The next morning, as I'm compulsively checking away messages on my buddy list, I read about it. One phrase sticks out to me..."Needless to say, [boy] was really upset." A blog ensues.

"Needless to say..." always catches my attention. Why do people use this phrase? I can think of two reasons. First, they think you don't know about whatever is is that doesn't need to be said. Second, they know you must know. Regardless of what the speaker says, in both cases there is a need, or a perceived need, to say...something.

In the first, the need is the listener's. The speaker has some vital piece of information that they feel, for some reason, you need. Now the speaker's motivation for sharing this information could vary. Maybe they only have your best interests in mind and want to subtely pass the information to you without pointing out that you don't already have it, thereby allowing you save face. Or perhaps they are only trying to point out how much more than you they know. They don't think you need the information contained in the statement following "needless to say...", they think you need to be reminded that they know more than you. This is not done with your best interests in mind, nor will it allow you save face.

In the second case the need is the speaker's. They know you must know but still they have some deep seated need to remind you. This is the case of the girl in the example of the IM away message. If something like that happens, of course the people involved are going to be upset. This girl though, feels the need to remind you that she does, in fact, have a husband and he, in fact, does live up to his husbandly expectations of being upset when his wife is shot with b-b's.

Closely akin to "needless to say..." is "it goes without saying..." Whenever I hear "it goes without saying..." I think, "I wish it had gone without saying, but you can't seem to stop bringing it up!" I can't remember if I thought of that clever retort on my own, or if I heard it in a movie. If you recognize it, feel free to take my ego down a notch and tell me where it comes from. Needless to say, my ego could probably use it.

restart

2005-02-21T13:32:00.000-05:00

I guess I felt I needed a more formal introduction. I'm not sure I entirely understand the concept of a blog; however, inspired by Keeping Accounts Inaccurately and Thinking Putty, I'll just dive in. For now all I want is a place to air out random thoughts and observances...an intention I think is well represented by the first post. I'm inclined to believe that there are very few people out there who would ever read any of this, but then again, I keep track of Inaccurate Accounts and the goings-on in Pittsburgh, so maybe someone out there cares about randomness in Nashville. I'll wrap it up there. Random thoughts and unprepared introductions won't make for very long posts typically...enjoy.

"Men of principles are always bold, but those who are bold are not always men of principle." -Confucius

2005-02-21T13:16:00.000-05:00

So the man on the news said, "Nashville Police are worried about a bold purse-snatcher..." Which made me wonder, is there such a thing as a timid purse-snatcher, and if so, would you worry about him?

Not being in the habit of carrying a purse myself I can only give my best guess. I suppose anyone equally timid or extraordinarily timid would have cause to worry about a timid purse-snatcher if the purse-snatcher was comparitively bold. Still, I really don't think there is such a creature as the timid purse-snatcher. I think purse-snatching is necessarily a bold profession...or hobby...or habit...crime. Whatever it is. Even if a person who snatches purses is timid in all other aspects of his or her life, they must display some boldness to actually snatch a purse.

Therefore, to answer my own questions: No, I don't believe there is such a thing as a timid purse-snatcher, though under extenuating circumstances I'm sure an otherwise timid person could boldly snatch a purse.

But I'm not worried about them.

"Inspiring, bold John Barleycorn, What dangers thou canst make us scorn!"
-Robert Burns

"Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful."
-William Shakespeare