Exhibition

It's been quite the week. Starting tomorrow I gain full control of the instrument used in the lab for taking measurements of superconductors. The next three weeks the room and machine is all mine to use to take as many measurements of samples that I possibly want to. It'll be nice, cause that way I'll be able to start writing my paper and moving towards getting everything finished up. Nice.

I'm surprised to say that none of the answers that were given for the last riddle are actually correct, although I did laugh quite hard at Philip's answer, cause I guess it could be right in some sense. But still no correct answer. I'll leave it alone for another few days. Another new one for today, quite interesting. It's a bit of reading, but a good one. A Poem of Biblical Proportions:

Adam, God made out of dust
But thought it best to make me first,
So I was made before man
To answer God's most Holy plan.
A living being I became
And Adam gave to me my name.
I from his presence then withdrew
And more of Adam never knew.
I did my Maker's law obey
Nor ever went from it astray.
Thousands of miles I go in fear
But seldom on earth appear.
For purpose wise God did see,
He put a living soul in me.
A soul from me God did claim
And took from me the soul again.
So when from me the soul had fled
I was the same as when first made.
And without hands, or feet, or soul,
I travel on from pole to pole.
I labor hard by day, by night
To fallen man I give great light.
Thousands of people, young and old
Will by my death great light behold.
No right or wrong can I conceive
The scripture I cannot believe.
Although my name therein is found
They are to me an empty sound.
No feat of death doth trouble me
Real happiness I'll never see.
To Heaven I shall never go
Or to Hell below.
Now when these lines you slowly read,
Go search your Bible with all speed
For that my name is written there
I do honestly to you declare.

We've also had a couple of scrimmages for the middle school team that I coach. We played on Monday against the Oak Ridge middle schools and their team, and kinda got owned. It was impressive, because in all my years playing in Oak Ridge, there was never a tall person on any of our teams. This middle school team had 5 or 6 players that were fairly close to my height. Kinda scary since they are only in 7th or 8th grade. Our team started brightly, and even scored the first goal, but then they just kinda gave up on stuff and got run over. The main problem is that they don't seem to get the idea of man marking. Myself and the other coaches spent the entire scrimmage yelling at people to mark up and they couldn't seem to get the idea of getting on a man and staying with them. I don't know how to impress that idea on them any better. We even pulled the entire defensive back four and told them that they needed to figure it out, sent them back in 10 mins later, and they still couldn't do it. Hopefully tomorrow's scrimmage will go better. We'll just have to wait and see.

I guess I don't particularly have any good stories at the moment. I should have some better ones after the weekend that will be spent in SC in Charleston. I'm looking forward to it. Speaking of which, I need to give Josh a call back...

Real Men Of Genius

I recently discovered one of the catchiest tunes that I've heard in quite a while by the band Relient K. They've been around for a number of years, but I've never really listened to anything by them. They put out a new album this past week, so after reading a review of it, I decided to give it a listen on Rhapsody. The album as a whole is pretty good, but the one song which does happen to be their lead single is pretty infectious. The title is "Must Have Done Something Right", and it just kinda jumps in to your head and stays there. Head here to see the video and hear the song: http://music.yahoo.com/ar-297583-videos--Relient-K. After just now watching it, it even has soccer involved. What more could you ask for?

Congrats to Lauren on correctly deducing the answer to yesterday's riddle. I wouldn't say correctly guessing, because since it's supposed to be a logical answer, there is no guessing involved. It's like those Sudoku puzzles that everyone works now. You can't guess on it, get it right, and claim to be good at them. Everything has a logical reasoning for why it works. Random ramblings. Today's brian teaser is a good one...or at least I think so. Here it is, entitled Hunting:

Everything that you catch, you throw away, but everything you don't catch, you keep. What are you hunting?

Do you remember the Bud Light commercials that ran some years ago highlighting those "true American geniuses"? They were 60 second spots essentially mocking some of cultures weirdest types of men, or "glorifying" jobs that many wouldn't think twice about. I had a friend of mine from church that played a few on a trip to his parents house, and it got me to thinking about how many I had heard, and that number turned out to be quite low. So I went hunting and found a whole slew of them...I hadn't realized that they'd made that many. Some of them are throw-a-ways, but there are a couple of them that are true gems. Of the many that I found, my favorites would have to be Mr. Used Car Lot Auto Salesman, Mr. 80 SPF Sunblock Wearer, Mr. Restroom Toilet Paper Refiller, Mr. Foot Long Hot Dog Maker, and Mr. Outside the Stadium Peanut Seller. I would put up a transcript of sorts to them...but I'd get in trouble. They are quite amusing though, with the awful background singing, and the pitch-perfect dead-pan delivery from the speaker. If you heard them, you'd remember.

I bring this up, because today I discovered that I might in fact be able to catch some Euro 2008 qualifying games live, on tv, for free. Quite the discovery. My brother alerted me to these programs called TVU player and TVAnt which are free programs that stream tv over the internet. And I happened across a site today that hosts different soccer games from around the world, including these qualifying games that are playing tomorrow. So perhaps, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to get it to work and maybe watch Germany vs. Czech Republic or England vs. Israel or something. It should be an exciting day. Real men of genius indeed.

Reset

Contrary to the post that Paul put up, Mandi didn't try to hit me with a truck, and a girl didn't try and hit on me at T-Bell. I actually don't think that I've been to a T-Bell in about 6 months...Mandi is home, however, so I guess she would be able to hit me with a truck if she so desired. And even though she's home, she decided to leave me again, and went this weekend to Harding to see some of her friends. That got me to thinking about how many people I know that are still at Harding, and sadly the list is quickly shrinking. I couldn't hardly name anyone that I would actually want to see when I was out there outside of the remaning few that are still on Apocalypse for this semester. Oh well...it has been two years since I graduated, I guess it shouldn't be that surprising. Also, unfortunately the video from last time was taken down due to copy-right stuff, which is unfortunate, cause it was painfully funny to watch.

The soccer coaching front has actually been surprisingly fun. For the most part, the kids are all pretty cool. There are the usual couple that are problems, and there is one that just completely annoys the heck out of me. Everything that I or the other coaches say is met with a sarcastic comment, he does everything half-heartedly (if even that), and is generally disruptive and uninspired in terms of his work ethic. I really don't know what to do about it. It's not like every time we say something, that we can repeat it over and over again because he feels the need to open his mouth and make comments on everything, most of the time in a disrespective way. And it's not like we sit there and beat him down, we try to be encouraging, but when it detracts from everyone else's experience...I'm just not sure how to treat it sometimes. I don't quite know the home situation, but I don't gather that it's all that great, and from his lack of respect for pretty much any adult that I've seen, I don't think he's had a lot of discipline either.

I'll be heading out to SC this next weekend to hang out with Josh Murphy and co. on the boat that he purchased last year. It should be quite the exciting weekend, and it'll be nice to get away from here for a little bit so I think I've not really been anywhere outside of Knoxville since Mandi graduated. I also get to teach the last of my lab sessions in the next couple weeks which is spectacular.

On the master's front, I get the whole lab to myself starting next week for about 3 weeks. My supervisor is married to a woman from China, and they are going to visit her parents. So I've been frantically learning everything the machine that I didn't already know in order to operate it entirely on my own. It's kinda scary, cause other than my supervisor, nobody else in there really knows how to work the machine. So if I get stuck in the next few weeks...big trouble. But I've been starting, stopping, putting together, tearing apart, pretty much anything and everything related to this machine, so I know everything that I need to know. I'll just have to go over a few more things tomorrow and figure out exactly what I should be measuring in the coming weeks. And then it's time to start writing. A lot.

On the TV front, Luke Dockery, this is for you. There is some US Soccer this coming week on Sunday and Wednesday. Nothing really all that spectacular, but it's soccer. This week are international dates so that the European teams can have their qualifying round play for Euro 2008. I wish I could see some of those games...but since we're in the closed-off US, they won't show anything good like that. There's not enough time when there's so much basketball, football re-runs, and world's strongest man competition crap to show.

And of course, the riddle of the day (or in this case, week). This one is called Plain White.

I constantly collide into all the others,
The only one of 16 without colors.
Associated with English and banking and breaking,
The answer is right there for the taking.

MXC Painful Elimination

Since it's been kind of a slow week, I've been able to catch quite a bit of MXC recently. This could quite possibly be one of the most painful eliminations I've seen. It definitely rivals some of those on the sinkers and floaters games. Prepare to feel pain.

Perspectives

First of all, I would like to offer an apology. Mandi informed me of the wrong in my statement on Paul's blog regarding "that girl" from his freshman year. I was stretching for humor and an argument where I didn't have one. Mandi did point out that there were countless other arguments that I could have used (many of which were quite funny), but since I was unable to come up with those and instead attacked something of which this girl had no control, I unfortunately was found wanting. So, here is my apology for my poor judgment.

Second, I can't tell if anyone even tried guessing at the riddle I posed the last time I posted. I guess after going on about the clapping thing...at any rate, a hint is that you should be thinking of a word, and that the word is a number. It's quite clever in my opinion. Once you've gotten that one, you can move on to this one. It's entitled "Odd Two Out Too". I'll warn you, my guesses were not correct, so apparently my reasoning was off. Here we go:

You have to find the odd ones out in the groups of words. BUT WAIT! There's a catch. Each group of words has TWO words which do not belong. Can you find them both?

EXAMPLE: Lily - Jane - Tulip - Rose
Jane does not belong as it's the only one which is not a flower. Tulip also does not belong because it's the only one which is not a girl's name (although I guess someone could name their (poor) child Tulip...). You're on you own for the rest!

1. Dodge - Ford - Lincoln - Hoover
2. King - Earl - Knight - Bishop
3. Yellow - Green - Dead - Black

You know, it is funny how so many things can be viewed from the same place, and yet be seen so very differently. All you have to do is talk to a group of people who viewed any type of spectacular event, and you'll get just as many stories about what really happened. Being a soccer person, a sporting event that holds as a fair example is in regards to the 1966 World Cup Final. The final was contested between England and West Germany, and had gone in to extra time tied 2 to 2. The English went forward, and off of a corner kick, the player controls the ball, turns, and fires on goal. It bounces off the underside of the bar almost straight down towards the goal line, then back in to the field of play where it is cleared out of bounds. For those of you that don't know soccer, a goal is scored only when the entire ball crosses the entire line. The near-side linesman gave that it was in fact a goal, and the English went on to win 4-2 for their only World Cup triumph. If you watch the replay of that goal, it is hard to say whether the ball crossed the line. I've watched it a number of times throughout the past years, and even my vote goes back and forth. Sometimes it looks like it's over the line. Other times, it doesn't look like it crossed. People still debate whether a goal should have been given, and however many people that could fit in to that stadium all have their own opinion.

Opinion is always given based on perspective, at least as far as I can tell. Opinion isn't truth, it's simply what someone believes to be true based on their knowledge. If you continue with the above example, the opinion of someone sitting on the opposite side of the field shouldn't be given anywhere near as much weight as someone sitting right on the goal line. Why? The person on the goal-line obviously had a better perspective of what happened and would be a better judge to say what did or did not happen in relation to the rules. If you want to know people's opinions on how well a particular car drives, you don't go to a 4 year old and ask him which car he likes best. If you want to know what type of individual Jesus is, you don't go and ask your best friend and take only his/her story.

The gospels are our best information to what happened during the lifetime of Jesus. They are given to us from the 4 different perspectives of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They present a broad portrait of Jesus, what he did, and why he did it. They were given to us so that we might come to know him better. We can't take our parents/friends/preachers relationship with Christ and call it our own. It's got to be personal. It's got to be from our perspective.

Clap Your Hands

You know, there are just some things about church that just boggle my mind. Take, for instance, what happened tonight, and has happened a few other times in the previous weeks. On Wednesday nights, before they dismiss the children for class, the song leader will pick a "kids" song, and have any of the kids (usually under the 2nd or 3rd grade) that want to come up to the front and "lead" the song. It really is a pretty cool thing, and it's always fun watching the kids sing, look clueless, or stand there staring at that interesting bright light coming from the projector. Now, as many of you know, a lot of children's songs involve clapping. Sadly, I cannot name one right at the moment. But, given the relatively conservative side that dominates most of the Knoxville area, I found it utterly amazing that a majority of the people, not just the kinds mind you, a majority of the people, clapped along with them. The song ends, the kids leave, and the next song on the list is a praise song that usually has clapping associated with it. A friend of mine clapped quietly to himself during this song, and was later told after church that this particular person (who had engaged in the clapping during the children's singing) didn't find it appropriate for someone to be clapping during service. So, it's OK to clap while there are kids in the room up front singing a children's song, but not alright when it's just adults? Does this mean that, to them, it's not really part of the worship when the kids are up front? I guess since it's not a 50 something man only up front, it must be something separate from the usual church service, and so therefore the "rules" don't really apply? I'm completely confused by this person's rationale.

If there is one thing about church the institution that I cannot stand it is this mindset that only what I think and believe is right, and everyone should conform to me. If I'm comfortable with it, then it's alright, but if anyone does something that makes me uncomfortable in the least, they are obviously in the wrong. I mean, I go by what my parents believed, so it's as good as the Bible, right? Give me a break. So many people are so caught up in their traditions, they don't even know why things are done. It's just the norm. It's what they've always done. It must be what should be done. I mean, Ephesians 7:3 says, "Thou shalt not clap your hands while in the church building"...doesn't it? A friend of mine made the point that if we're supposed to "Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord..." (Ephesians 5:19) then when we sing there actually shouldn't be sound coming out at all, because it should be in our heart only. He said it completely in jest, but the point is well taken. Those people that think they're the defenders of the Bible and that they know all usually know all that they want to know, and not what it really says. They take it to mean what they're predisposed to want it to mean. It's not that I'm not guilty of that, but I certainly hope that I don't take my incomplete knowledge and force it on someone else telling them it's the truth and that they're in the wrong for believing otherwise. Everyone's knowledge is incomplete, and it's our responsibility to study on our own and with others to gain a better understanding.

Granted, there are things that are right and wrong. If someone came up to me and said that Jesus is not in fact the Son of God, that he didn't die for our sins, and that he isn't resurrected and sitting at the right hand of God, I would have issue with that. That is a central belief of mine that all of those are in fact true, and the Bible says as much, taking 4 entire books (and of course many others) to explain who Jesus was in detail in his life. If you believe the Bible, you believe the Gospel's and what was said in them. You believe what you read in the Old Testament about God's love for his people, and his anger at their wrong-doings. You believe the miracles that occurred, the stories that are told, and the people that are described. Of course, the interpretation of how these events came about is what will differ from person to person, but the underlying stories are truth.

You can't simply believe the parts you want and exclude the parts that you don't think are possible. You can't believe David's story of killing Goliath, but assume that the flood and Noah is simply a myth illustrating a point when both are presented as actual events. I guess that you could, in theory, make a case that David's story is also simply a myth for a great leader that the people admired. You just can't pick and choose though. The Bible as a whole is God's word to us and how we are to know Him. If you say that parts of it are not true or that you won't believe them as truth, you discount the entire Bible, not just those areas. So when the Bible says, "instruments in worship will condemn you to eternal suffering" you should believe it. Oh wait, it doesn't say anything like that. Some people would have you believe it though. What about people picking and choosing what they want to accept as truth, but discounting those things that they don't think applies to their culture? I don't think God in his wisdom had the Bible written by so many different people so that we could come along thousands of years later and say, well, I like this section, but these few chapters don't sit right with me, so we'll skip those. This verse works well with me, but this next verse obviously cannot apply to me. We can't pick and choose. What it does say is that if something you are doing can cause someone else to stumble in their journey, then you should avoid that in order to help your brother. The church as an institution is about loving each other, helping each other, and bringing each individual closer in their relationship with God. It's not about fighting, bickering, and complaining about tradition that people think is as good as law. And the people that take things that way are missing out on what the church really should be about.

Congrats to those that correctly answered the riddle from yesterday. Given Philip's comments...I guess there could be more than one answer, although I hadn't exactly thought of it that way. Count on a Murphy for that thought pattern though. I'll admit, I laughed after I read his comment and re-read the riddle. Now I know where Paul got his sense of humor from. On to today's riddle, entitled Decapitation. I found this one to be quite clever. Good luck.

Decapitate me and all becomes equal. Then truncate me and I become second. Cut me front and back and I become two less than I started. What am I?

Winds of Change

Well done to those that answered the riddle posed from yesterday. It is true that a year is in fact shorter than a day on Venus. So go for the year and make $2 million. If you're looking for a direct deposit on your prize money, just send me your bank account number and I'll deposit it for you.

Tonight's new riddle is called "The Pope Has It". Here it is: The Pope has it but he does not use it. Your father has it but your mother uses it. Nuns do not need it. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a big one, Michael J. Fox's is quite small. What is it?

One of the things that I enjoy doing from time to time is what I guess I'll term "Bible Hunting". Now, this isn't me going around trying to see where I can find bibles, but rather, taking something and seeing what I can find in the bible that relates to it. Being the fan of music that I am (I'm listening to some right at this moment as I type this), I like to take some of the Christian bands that I frequently listen to, take some of their lyrics, and see if I can find any of them within the bible. Some of them help me out and give the references for where they got the inspiration for certain songs. Others do not. Tonight I felt like doing some bible hunting.

I pulled a band that is extremely impressive in terms of taking something directly from the bible and incorporating it in to a song that they write. The song that they wrote they titled "Dive" and referenced Isaiah 40:31 which says, "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint". If you look to the rest of that particular chapter, it is essentially God telling his people not to worry because He is there for them and looking out for them. It tells of how God is in control over everything, and that there is nothing that is able to overcome the Him. It really is powerful reassurance.

The song, for me, that came to mind when I read that verse, however, is a completely different one, which is where the title of this post comes from. The group is Kutless. Here are the lyrics:

Can you feel the pains in life?
Wrapped Around you like they're chains
Restricting all your dreams
Do you wonder if there is a way?
A way to set you free, set you free

Chorus:
So tell me all your dreams
Tell me all your fears and what you're longing for the most
It's not another way that'll end up the same
For it's under my control

Do you feel the winds of change?
Soon this weight will fall away
And take you to a place
Only found through these winds of change
A breeze that's new and free, new and free

I'll be the one who you can cry to
The one who will give you wings
I will give wings, someday we'll sail away
Mounted up on wings like eagles
We will run and will not fade away

Given my relatively young age, verses like the one preceding the one I quoted, which states that youths grow weary and young men stumble and fall, is a good reminder to me that, regardless of how I might feel on any particular day, I can not survive all of life's trials on my own. Everyone, at some point in their lives, will have times when they will need more than their own abilities and strengths to get by. And regardless of the situation that you encounter here on Earth, everyone can know that God is there for them. "He will not grow tired or weary...He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak" is what we're told in verses 28 and 29. And if one cannot take comfort knowing that God will empower us whenever we are weak or weary, then we are missing part of the nature of God, as well as misunderstanding the nature of being weak.

Physical weakness, while easily understood and recognized, does not (usually) bring one to the point of realizing that more than just the individual is needed to succeed. Spiritual brokenness brings true understanding of what God is seeking in us each and every day, and this is what will bring us into a better relationship with Him. If we can realize that we cannot succeed on our own and that we desperately need God to get us through, he will be there in an instant, since all we need to do is ask for help. God has the power to bring that second wind, to give that extra energy, to be the one urging us on. And no matter how much He has to help, and no matter how many times he has to help us pick ourselves up, He will never grow tired or weary. Once that recognition occurs, things can only get better. The winds will indeed change, and we will soar like eagles.

To Know My Enemy

I should start this post with a belated happy b-day wish to Josh Murphy. Mandi reminded me that I needed to tell him this, and yet I completely forgot about it on the day. So here it is buddy. Happy B-day. The stories that I read about just a minute ago on Philip's blog were quite humorous to say the least.

I am quite impressed with how quickly the Murphy's (Paul in particular) could jump directly to the assumption that the man in the elevator is short. It seems kind of ironic to me...but maybe I'm the only one. The solution is indeed that the man is a dwarf. Here is the solution pulled from the website: The man is a midget. He can't reach the upper elevator buttons, but he can ask people to push them for him. He can also push them with his umbrella. Clever, no?

You know, without fail, it seems that lots of parents that really don't have a clue about a particular sport think that somehow they would make the best possible choice to be a coach. Take, for instance, this idiot of a parent (I'm assuming he's a parent at least) that today comes over to us while we're practicing, and tells us to quit playing "musical chairs" with the field and to pick a side. Our rebuttal? That the previous week they had complained we were on the wrong side of the field, and were told that we were supposed to be on the side we were using today. His response? To walk off without saying anything. He then comes back later on, and tells us that we shouldn't be running a drill for footwork on the touchline cause it will mess up the line. He then tells our kids to get off the line. Are you serious? Honestly, outside of his track suit looking thing that he was wearing to cover his beer belly, I doubt he knows the first thing about soccer. The only drills I've seen him making his kids run on their side of the field are the exact same things that we do. Their practice starts 30 minutes after ours, and he's usually there about when we get going. Seems kinda strange. Hopefully we won't have to put up with anymore crap from him.

What is about kids that really have no skill having parents become complete jerks because they think their kid is the best thing to ever grace the earth? It doesn't really matter what it's in. It can be sports, academics, practically anything that has an ability that is capable of being shown to other people. I think back to this time with my brother's competitive soccer team. There was an overweight kid who could really only play goalie, except he was horrible, and therefore never really played. His dad, wondering why he wouldn't be put on in front of the athletic goalie who could kick, dive, punt, catch a ball, or move when a ball was kicked at him decided he would form his own team built around the athletic beast that was his son. He attempted to persuade some people on my brother's team to join, and all refused. He therefore went to the AYSO league, and got some of the players from there. They formed a team, and the father of this poor boy coached, of course so his son would play every game. The best part? My brother's team completely demolished that team every single time they played. I would guess the closest score in any game was maybe 4-0. I think the team broke up after about 2 years of getting owned repeatedly. I'm all for supporting your kids and encouraging them and everything, but by the time they are 14 and 15 and obviously are not meant to be playing said sport/participating in said event/whatever, I think the parents might want to consider more than their personal pride and find better ways of encouraging them then attempting to mold the world to them. I'm not of the belief that you should just serve up everything for your kids on a silver platter. But that's just me.

I don't really know what it's like, not being a parent myself, but I guess that some parents might be trying to make up for things that they weren't able to succeed in through their kids. Maybe that's why some kids are pushed so hard in things that they obviously don't want to do. Maybe that's why some parents go off the deep end when their children don't seem to quite make the cut at something. So what that they're not the star whatever that you wanted them to be. Think of all the other things that they are brilliant at and praise them and support them in those. Don't run them down in the things that they aren't as passionate about simply because you want to be that proud parents that can say, "My kid won ____ that I wasn't able to". If there's something that annoys me more than anything it's listening to people try and one-up each other using their kids. There were plenty of parents like that in my high school. Some parent chimes in with how great their child is doing in whatever. Another comes back and say that they're doing that, in addition to whatever else. And on and on and on. Please.

Wow. There's a rant for you, huh. I guess if I have to put up with this annoying coach, Monday and Thursday posts will be a little more venomous than before. So let's end it on some good notes. Mandi comes home in two weeks, which is exceptionally exciting. She's even told me that she is ready to come home, which is never something that I thought I would ever hear her say. Spring break is fast approaching, and my brother will be in town for the week, which will be quite cool. Should be some good volleyball and frisbee action going down if we can get some people together. The rec league soccer season begins this coming Sunday. I'm looking forward to it, as it will be nice to play against some people that are not 4 feet tall. Not that there's anything wrong with being 4 feet tall when you're in middle school or anything...

To keep things rolling, here's another riddle for you to have a crack at. Since I'm science minded, I found this one quite intriguing. You have to know a few things about Venus and such, which I did not remember at the initial reading of this riddle. It's a good one though.

Venus:
You awake inside a small transparent capsule sitting on the surface of Venus. From a small speaker you hear a voice that says, "We will leave you here either for a day or a year. If you choose to stay a day, we will give you $1 million. If you choose to stay a year, we will give you $2 million. Either way, you will have sufficient food and water. We will make sure the temperature is a constant 70 degrees Fahrenheit. We will also supply cable TV."What is your choice? (Don't let money decide your answer).

Game On

It's just about here. Everyone's favorite time of year when they get to pick the brackets and see which of their favorite college teams make it to the final 4. I have to admit, my interest in basketball is small to say the least, but I do enjoy picking (randomly) the teams that will go on to the end. I have to say that Mandi bested me last year by quite a margin if I remember correctly, so I'll have to try and do better this year. On most of these sports things where you pick stuff to see who wins she seems to be much better at it than I am...

Something that is quite frustrating is to go and buy a product from the store, come home and set it up to be used, and to have it explode right there on your table after no more than 5 minutes. Then you have to deal with that awful stench of burnt metallic parts and everything, and at some point you have to find the time to go back to the store and return it for a new one. And of course, you inevitably have a pressing need to use this product, which is why you bought it in the first place. Not that I have any personal experience in that, I'm just saying, that's what always seems to happen.

If you check the comments page on the last post, you will see a couple of fun little riddles to be solved. I have indeed been remiss in posting any of these recently, mostly because I misplaced the sheets that I was pulling them from, and I had about exhausted the ones that I had answered myself. I guess I might have to go find them, and of course, there is the 365 day calendar with some random word games incorporated which I could pull from. Maybe a brainteaser would work as well. At least on those I could get a definitive answer on, and I have been reading some fairly intriguing ones recently...sounds like a plan, although that plan won't come in to effect until later.

The question of camp is a difficult one. They have been some of the best times that I've experienced in the past couple years. That week of hard work and hard play has been an immense highlight. There has been so much that has happened in those 2 weeks that I've been there thus far, it's hard to remember all that's gone on. I've referenced some before, with the miserably awful firework choice to light the pyre, Paul correctly answering a question in celebrity jeopardy: the bible edition, beating the campers in football 2-0 on a mark grayson safety, finding a camper in the staff cabin with his aunt after running a double c for a few minutes, watching xbox being played in the ark on the screen...tons of others, and that's just from two years of camp. I can't say what will happen this summer. There are a lot of things that will need to happen, and I'm not sure when I can squeeze everything in. There is the necessity of finding a job, which this past interview might have helped out considerably in and there is the need to finish my master's thesis, which is coming along slowly. My mom wants me to go to Japan along with the rest of our family to visit her mother, who is quite old. People from church would like it if Mandi and I were able to go with them to the Dominican Republic for the mission trip our church does yearly. I just don't know what time I will have. Knowing the importance of getting to Japan to see my grandmother, if there is 1 thing that I can do this summer and only one, it's going to be that. If at all possible, my knee-straps and I will be coming to camp. It's just to hard to tell at the moment. I'm hoping that somehow it works out that I can go.

For any of you soccer people out there, just a warning for this week's soccer action. ESPN 2 and ESPN Classic will be broadcasting the premier soccer tournament of Europe as the 2nd leg of the 1st knock-out stage is played this Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday's marquee matchup is Liverpool vs. Barcelona (last year's champions) with Liverpool holding a 2-1 advantage from the away leg. What this means, is that as long as Liverpool ties or wins, they will advance to the next round. If Barca wins 1-0, Liverpool still will advance on the away goals rule. If Barca wins 2-0, Barca will advance. If Barca wins 2-1, they will play extra time, and if Barca wins by 2 goals or more by any margin, Liverpool will be eliminated. It'll be an excellent game. Wednesday's highlight is the Bayern Munich vs. Real Madrid matchup, with Real holding a small 3-2 advantage from their home leg. It's essentially wide open, with Real needing to tie, or score more than 2 goals to advance. That game will be on Classic at 5/4 central. I don't know how many other soccer fanatics other than myself look at this...but if you're not too into soccer, I'd invite you to check out the Liverpool - Barcelona game. Granted it's at 2:30 in the afternoon...but maybe you might not be at work that day or something...not that I'd think about doing that...

Oh, what the heck, here is a neat little riddle for your enjoyment. There is one clear solution, once you know how to think about it. Here is "The Man in the Elevator" riddle:

A man lives on the tenth floor of a building. Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby and leaves the building. In the evening, he gets into the elevator, and, if there is someone else in the elevator - or if it was raining that day - he goes back to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the seventh floor and walks up three flights of stairs to his apartment. Can you explain why?

The Prestige

Today ended up being a good day. The interview went extremely well, I've been able to get some rest and relaxation, and I didn't have to drive 50 miles in and out of Oak Ridge. All excellent indications of a good day in my book.

On one of my usual thoughts about music, I've recently discovered a band called Anberlin who are really pretty good. They've been around for a number of years, but I didn't know much about them. They are Christians, but they're music is more pop/rock and not really so much what you would consider Christian music. In other words, they aren't like groups such as Casting Crowns, Kutless, or Skillet, but they have good music in the sense of the word without preaching to the choir as some would put it. They just released a new album called Cities which is excellent throughout, with my personal favorites being the tracks "The Unwinding Cable Car", "Alexithymia", and "Dismantle. Repair." Check them out if you've got the chance.

I've been a fan of magic for quite a long time. I can remember growing up watching the yearly David Copperfield TV special that would air, and the time period when magic shows were kind of a cultural phenomenon and they would have 2 hour specials at random times throughout the year. There is just something interesting about watching someone do something that just seems impossible to all of your senses, but they are right there in front of you doing it. Copperfield actually came here to Knoxville back last fall, and my parents and I went to the show. He's done some pretty impressive stuff, such as making a train car disappear in mid-air, flying, and walking through the Great Wall of China. My favorite trick when I saw him live was where he took 13 audience members, sat them down inside a box, closed it, made them all disappear and then re-appear in the back of the auditorium. Cool stuff. I wonder what it's like to be involved on stage with that. How does it feel? I think it'd be cool to find out at some point.

I got on to this magic thing because tonight I watched The Prestige, the story of two magicians that were once friends, but because of an event in their lives became enemies that spend their lives attempting out-do the other in the world of stage illusion. It's directed by Christoper Nolan, who recently did Batman Begins, and has also done the much talked about movie Memento, which I haven't seen. The Prestige is a really well-done movie, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The title stems from a description given at the start. It says that there are 3 parts/acts to a magic trick. The first is The Pledge, where something ordinary is taken and shown to be normal, at least from the audience point of view. The second part is The Turn, where the ordinary piece does something...extraordinary. At this point, you don't quite know what to make of what just happened, but you're waiting to see how everything turns out. The final part, is the Prestige. This is where the reveal occurs. The object is returned to normal, the thing that disappeared comes back in to view, what seemed wrong and impossible, is shown to somehow be possible.

I wonder if people around in Jesus' time might have felt like they were a part of something similar to this type of description. I wonder what would happen if we had our view of magic in their time what we would make of something like this. Obviously this is a poor comparison, but I do think that it holds on some levels. They were given the pledge, where Jesus came down from heaven and became a man, saying that anyone who followed him would have eternal life. To those on the earth, he was viewed as a prophet, and by some as the Christ. The turn comes, and suddenly the one we were calling the Christ is hanging from the cross dying. We don't know what to make of the situation, and what we viewed as our reality is falling apart. Finally, the prestige comes, and what a prestige it is. Not only is the tomb empty, but Jesus is alive, and he has ascended to the right hand of God to intercede for us. When everything seemed lost, and it didn't seem possible, it is shown to be a reality. The pledge really was true.

I guess that I like to think that God has a sense of humor, or at least a wit about him that enjoys seeing us go through our lives. I'd like to think that he laughs at our jokes, or cracks a smile when we do something silly or make complete fools of ourselves. Obviously sending his son was not an easy task, and he was incredibly pained at the separation he had to endure. But, like all great illusionists, he knew the true nature of the event. His sleight of hand fooled evil in to thinking that it had triumphed, when all along, God knew the secret. He knew...the prestige.

Rain

What is it about rainy days and practices that makes it so much fun? I can't really put my finger on what makes rainy practice days fun, but they always seem to be that way. I think back to who knows when and playing competitive soccer. Some of my favorite practices were the ones done in complete downpours where the mud is so stained in to your clothes that they have that awesome new color of washed out brown that never goes away. You got to do the fun drills at practice like diving header practice, where you'd start from between the center circle and the 18 yard box and you'd sprint on to a ball being thrown in front of the goal to score that perfect goal (or more often than not just miss the ball).

As a defender I was always fond of the slide tackle practice session. What's more satisfying than seeing a forward running with the ball 15 yards to your side and getting up a head of steam, hitting the ground, and flying in from the side and taking the ball while knocking him over? Nothing much in the game of soccer. One of my favorite memories from high school soccer involved that very thing. We were playing in the tournament that Oak Ridge hosted annually and were playing in a heavy mist...just enough to get everything nice and wet, but not so much that you couldn't see anything. I was one of the last defenders, they're team went on a fast break, and I had to cover. A quick sprint, a lunging slide tackle, and the ball is running towards the out of bounds allowing my team to recover while the opposing team's forward goes flying over me as I stand up to go after ball. I can still remember the feeling of knowing that I just completely owned the other guy just like it happened yesterday. Anyone that plays sports I'm sure can relate to that.

Frisbee practice was much the same way in the rain. Given my inability/lack of wanting to dive, they were not generally as exciting to me. My overriding memory of rain practice involved diving practice where I ended up not being able to turn my head to the left for about 2 days because of landing awkwardly on my neck. To this day, I don't think that I've ever laid out for a frisbee. I'm sure there are those reading that will feel like berating me for such a blasphemous comment. And in response, all I can say is...you're right.

Why all this talk of practices in the rain? It's because tonight's middle school practice occured in the rain. And it was awesome. Now, we're not allowed to use the fields when it rains, so we couldn't do any type of diving/tackling practice, but we did play on the tennis courts and enjoyed some fine running. And by we, I mean myself included. I figure, at this age, it was always easier for me to run if our coach ran with us, so why not. It was a good work-out for me anyway. We played my soccer version of king of the hill, which is essentially a drill to get the team talking, working together, and understanding the importance of ball movement, while it gives people on defense the chance to completely own the offense and make them do push-ups/sit-ups/running/whatever punishment you can think of when the defense holds the ball for more than 5 seconds. It also teaches team defense, and that when you turn the ball over, your one goal should be to get it back as quickly as possible, which for this age group seems to not be something they're too concerned about.

All in all, it was good stuff. Makes me miss the days when all I had to worry about was soccer practice, my piano lesson and a little homework. I've got myself a job interview tomorrow, which should be interesting to say the least, since it's more geared toward engineers, which I'm certainly not. It should be good experience anyway. And I'm still waiting on that pros/cons view of soccer Luke.