Bulek FC

From left to right: Peru, U.S.A., France (via Senegal), (above) Australia, (below) Iraq, Sudan, Sweden (via Estonia), Ireland, England

missing are folks from Wales, Sierra Leone, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, other parts of Indonesia, and Holland.

17 nations represented on one football (that's soccer to you Americans) team in Banda Aceh (a.k.a. by me as "Tsunamiville, Indonesia")

p.s. In Indonesian the correct spelling of the word is "Bule" translated as "foreigner" (but we spell it the local way, rightly or wrongly)

Different

This picture here, this is definitely not Aceh. After the wedding I went on to Jakarta to visit some friends. And I stopped at a mall. A fabulously decadent mall. I just had to get my picture taken.

Danau Toba

massively large lake in the middle of north Sumatra, 2 hours outside (to the southeast, I think) of Medan...
beautiful, even at 7 AM when you've just woken up on your way to a wedding and left at 4 in the morning to get there (except, btw, I'm still 3 hours from my destination! :-)

Speedbumps

Here in Indonesia they are known as:
"Polisi Tidur"

What does that mean exactly?
"The Police are sleeping, but the speedbump here - completely overbuilt at 6 inches high and will destroy your car? - will catch you!"

women are always right

a picture says a thousand words. So does a cover. But its the sub-story that always rings a little less hollow...

Future Rocket Scientists of America

JOIN THE CLUB!!!

Let them eat cake...

SO CUTE, she takes Marie Antoinette SO seriously!
(she's 2 today)

No Photos!!!

She hates the paparazzi at a VERY young age

Ohm (Uncle)

these are some of the cutest kids, daughters of one of the lecturers here where I teach.

WAIT

Can’t sleep – will you let me rest?
Or will you torment me until there’s nothing left?
Hours pass, still none cry –
but I, alone and weary, dismally die.
Seeking you but shall I find?
Will you turn and look upon me? Shall you be so kind?
Rendered unable, weaknesses abound,
but the war wages on without a single sound.
Return to me now – hear what I pray,
for I speak no more, run out of the beautiful words to say.
Eyes wide open but heart slammed shut.
Blood run dry, another scar left right where you cut.
Love me now before its too late
because neither of us know just how long I can or can’t wait.

Watch Out!

I remember one of my friends fathers had this "I'm watching you" thing he did to her boyfriend/fiancee/(then, finally) husband. Always made me laugh. So i figure if this is the screensaver on my phone maybe people will be too scared to steal it.

Maybe not!!! :-) (but I can hope, ya?)

out of place

these folks are in Malaysia; they do not look like most Malay - they are more Polynesian, and so out of place. Naturally they are found well outside city limits living in dirt poor conditions. :-(

proof

yes, that's me on the left at my 8th grade graduation with my friend since, like, birth, Erwin.
Well on my way to weighing in at 260 a few years later. :-)

Killer B-Day Photo

ok, this is the best of the best
(p.s. that's my local football (read: soccer) team I play for: Bulek F.C.)
(p.p.s. Bulek is the local dialects way of saying Bule, or "Foreigner")

birthday parties

Yes, yes, but people want to know how many...

...oh, right. There it is...

Aw, those tricky candles that won't go out!


Now then, don't forget to look below for other photos from the other parties (including the big day, IF i can get that one...)

30

30...
I feel 20. I certainly don’t feel old. There is a sense of refreshment, vitality and passion for life, bearing fruit in activity, duty and honor to serve and show compassion and love to this world.

I believe this is because I follow God where He leads me, that my heart is strong and young because I seek to be a man after God’s own heart, which means I want to have the same heart as God.
God’s heart loves people and all the rest of his creation. His heart is pure. His heart is infinitely large. His heart is true.
I can only pray that moment after moment I can be molded, fashioned and transformed more like that, to not only see the beauty I could not before, but heal the damage done to those who walk this world and are hurting, to be hands that serve, arms that carry, a back that holds, legs that walk the extra mile, and feet that ache so that others no longer have to.
I am a child. I trust in my heavenly Father. Jesus is my way, my truth – he IS my life.

AND I AM ALIVE!!!


I like life. It's kind of fun. A roller coaster now and then. Scenery's not so bad either.

Birthday stories for me???

Hello, for my birthday this year I was wondering if you could write back something short with one of the following:
a way in which I might have blessed or served you, a way you have seem me grow or helped you to grow, and/or a time that was meaningful for our friendship or working together.
BONUS: you can remind me of a funny story about me or something we've done together! :-)

Thanks. As part of turning 30 I want to make sure to reflect on my life.

I'll write more Saturday (the 'big' day), but to drop a note I have to say I feel like I'm 20. I don't feel like a great deal of time has passed since high school and college even though I know it has. This fact bewilders me, but it is true. Much love to you all

This is my Friday night party

which i catered instead of cooking for 60

mostly my local friends

maybe students or teachers or other

from my time here in Indonesia

Reading between the lines

Rank School Total 5-star 4-star 3-star Avg.# Total
commits Stars Points

1 Florida 24 4 11 8 3.75 2,597
2 Tenn. 27 5 7 14 3.59 2,461
3 Texas 22 2 14 5 3.77 2,439
4 LSU 24 0 16 7 3.63 2,182
5 Notre D 18 1 12 5 3.78 1,982
6 USC 13 4 8 1 4.23 1,943

Let me help out a little bit so you understand what I'm talking about and why.
1) You have total number of recruited high-school football athletes receiving available scholarships (commitments).
2) from this pool of "commits" they are then ranked as 5, 4 or 3 stars. (I suppose the good schools don't "waste" their time with lesser ranked players).
3) this ranking then finds the average number of stars, and multiplies times the total # of commits to give a total point value.

All in all, "Total Points" is a meaningless statistic. If I recruited more players, then I will have a higher score. Who cares?
Tennessee has 5 "5-star" recruits, Florida and USC 4 each. The total number of 5-star players for the top 25 schools listed on the chart I got this from was 23. That means the top 3 schools had 13/23, leaving just 10 more for the remaining 22 schools.

USC basically said, "We're going to get the best players we can find and recruit them. If they don't meet up to our standards then we won't use a [expensive] scholarship on them at this time."

Clearly, in the scheme of things two things become apparent:
1) These schools have and will continue to dominate the college football scene for a while.
2) These are all people's opinions of high school athletes, and are, to a degree, not that scientific.

I am curious, though, what is the average GPA and SAT score for these schools, comparing their incoming athletes vs. general standards for the rest of the student body?

medium short

but i am still tall



perhaps one day i'll even smile. :-)

poetic license

aren't artists supposed to have long hair or something?
BUT, everytime I let it grow, people tell me to cut it back or even buzz it.
So. you decide. Longer? Long as now? Medium like the photo of me in the yellow jersey (or the italy one back in May or June). Or Buzzcut short?

Vote now. And make sure the turnout is better than the apple vs. PC one. Or I'll just let it grow... Or not. :-)

Happy New Year!!!

and my 100th post anniversary :-)

tick tock...

and so it goes... the ball is falling soon in Indonesia, and all I got to see was a bunch of cows and goats sacrificed (Idul Adha). I'll try to post photos later. Or maybe not...

time flies... one way or another

364 down.
2006 was amazing, crazy, difficult, fun, challenging, blessing, eye-opening, painful, hopeful, inspiring and life-giving.

BUT WHERE DID IT GO???

apples win

with a stunning count of ZERO votes (actually 2 people wrote in, and 2 others told me face to face, with only one voting against: APPLE 3.5 over PC 1.5
should arrive in about 2 weeks so i can start typing from bed again...

Merry CHRISTmas from Aceh!!!

Don't sweat the holidays unless you live on the equator

If you had to pick a new computer...???

Please vote:
1) Apple (Mac)
or
2) PC (with recommendation of Dell, IBM, Fujitsu, etc...)

and 3) include reasons!

I want to see who will win (and because I need a new computer now it will determine what I select!!! So you're making a difference people!!!)

Butterflies, Snakes & SCorpions

and so it came to pass that I became one with nature:
butterflies landing on my shoulder;
pythons draped around my neck, gently squeezing;
scorpions walking up and down my arm

AWESOME!

My world is messed up

1. Here it's ok to kill orangutangs and destroy rainforests
2. Here it's ok to be obviously/possibly hypocritical about fundamental religion.
3. Here it's ok to take kids away from their parents and call them orphans.

(click on each item to go to the story. But I'm not making this stuff up)

going... going...

Fading fast,
never early but never last.
Inscruatble, undefinable, day and hour unknown.
Forgotten son,
only loss not yet won.
Memories faded of times once counted joy,
times before I no longer was a little boy,
a time when I could play - could proudly possess a toy.
Conscience in a nightmare world,
Asleep in the reality that I am not yet.
Honored by unseen faces and unspoken voices.
Rainbows pitched in darkness,
the moon points to me -
all I hear is noise.
Blackness.
Pain.
Wild abandon.
Nothing and nowhere,
drowned in the mud.
Gravel my oxygen.
Grasping dreams,
yielding nothing at last.
Only in last seconds do I realize life was worth fighting for.

Gone.

FOLLOW ME (reprise)

I see you still... waiting; afraid to step onto this road I journey on. Hand in hand, together it will be ours and not mine. I will go where you go too, but we shall never be still. The adventure will always lead to open doors - are you not excited about the closed ones we hide behind for the night, though?
Prayers will be unceasing, as answers yield more questions - the velocity hurtling toward light but our passion and joy overshadowing time itself. Hide not from me, for I long to be with you, long to hear your voice of love, your song, to see you smile and hold your hand - never letting go.
There is nothing we cannot do, no mountain too high, no valley too low. Sharing in grief and exalting in our joy, our fears defended by the other, our goals higher to the heavens themselves.
I see you still... but will not - cannot - stop. my heart waits but time and distance are unable to be bridged. My hand is here waiting for yours; take it, my love, please, I beg of you, before it's just too late.
I see you...

Funny things (continued)

Do I really need to say why THIS is funny??? :-)

I didn't realize surfers were always this close to their boards...
If you look carefully, the guy 2nd from the left is sticking his tongue out at me:

This doesn't answer how many of him there actually are, but it tries to:
Who's driving?
One day I'll make American Idol doing this!
Why, yes, it IS a really big fish... thank you...
I'll bet a dozen pigs feet...