random birthdays

hi

if you've got a way to solve redeye, lemme know... :-)

old friends

make funny pictures


and good ones too

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?