The family was in two different time zones this weekend [literally] so I have a lot to write about here. For starters, check out the wife's recap of Kentucky's loss to Florida this weekend that she witnessed firsthand. Pay special attention to her expert analysis of why the Wildcats lost.
A wife who has a great sports IQ. I am blessed.
Thanks to my father-in-law for raising her right.
Here's an advanced warning for you: I've got a picture further down in this post that you might not want to look at. You have every opportunity to turn away. You've been warned. For the past month I've been waking up twice a week to play basketball at Cincinnati Christian University. Used to play all the time when I worked there. I really suck at basketball but it gives me good exercise. Since I have no other physical activity right now, it's become a highlight of my week.
Last week we were playing and I landed on my left ankle. Hard. It was bad, but I messed up my right one worse playing at the wonderful carpeted court in Mason. That time I was on crutches for a few days, went to physical therapy, and didn't fully heal for two months. Since this one wasn't that bad, I thought it'd be a couple days and then back to normal.
Eight days later, I'm still hobbling. I have to tip-toe up steps to relieve the pain. Had to take a picture to prove that I'm not a wuss. And now you have to see it:
Nice coloration, eh? The bruise almost looks like a Nike swoosh. Oh, and you're welcome.
Honestly, I freak out about getting injured now. I used to roll ankles all the time playing soccer in college but I'd pull on an ankle brace, pop some Advil and not miss a beat. Now, I'm out for extended lengths of time. I don't think my body heals as quickly as it used to.
I'm not feeling old otherwise, but this is rather noticeable. I'm still going to fight off the effects of aging as long as I can [thank you, Oil of Olay], so as soon as this heals I'm going back to the basketball court . . .
. . . where I can suck again.
In the winter, when all the leaves are off the trees, we can catch a glimpse of Interstate 71. At 10:50pm, it's still bumper to bumper heading into the Lytle Tunnel. That's a lot of snow in a little time. All over the news tonight people were complaining that road crews didn't get the snow up long enough. When did they have the time to get it done? An inch a snow an hour is a ton, especially when the roads are littered with cars.
I heard someone from Chicago today mentioning that Cincinnatians don't know how to get around in the snow. Considering that the Windy City has a rather intricate train system that doesn't slow down when it snows, it's not an apt illustration. I've heard similar crap from people from Indianapolis. I just wish people would stop bashing the 'Nati and think objectively: we're an extremely hilly city dependent on motor vehicle transportation. Snow slows the city down. Get over it.
When this much snow falls during rush hour, expect the delays and suck it up.
This is the most American Idol we've watched since season 1. This is still my favorite part of the entire show: the bad auditions are unbeatable. It seems like even Paula is a little less sympathetic to the bad singers. One thing that's bothered me this year is the doors of the audition room. Some producer thought it would be humorous to leave one of the exit doors locked, offering up some embarrassing moments for people who just completely embarrassed themselves. There's no other reason to have the door locked; it's a quick exit push bar. I've been telling Kelly about it for weeks and, sure enough, tonight was their "locked door montage."
Of course, why am I expecting American Idol to be sophisticated? The snow is making me crazy.
Carr out.
I love how this city gets into snow mode. We're 24 hours away from a predicted winter storm and everything is already shutting down. Notice that we're still not sure exactly how it will all unfold, but cancellings and delays are out in full force. Fortunately, when it comes to forecasting, Cincinnati weathermen are never mistaken. Sidebar: still miss ya, Rich Apuzzo. Any-hoo, checking my blog stats tonight I discovered that four people today found Beit Carr by Googling "school cancelings Wisconsin." In December of 2005 I used all three of those words in various posts. It's the only response that Google lists.
Embarrassingly, I guess I misspelled "cancelling," so I only attract those Wisconsinites who are either bad spellers or poor typers. Most likely, they're school kids so confused that they still have to go to school with three feet of snow on the ground that they inadvertently omit the second "L."
So to you kiddies who made your way to my corner of cyberspace because you can't spell: welcome. I'm pretty sure you'll have school today. My advice: move to Cincinnati. Most of our districts shut down at the mere hint of a snowflake.
Oh, and the Badgers suck. Yeah: insult+injury.
I don't have to preach today, so I thought I'd drop a little wisdom down here on the ol' blog. Topic: Church Super Bowl Parties. If you haven't heard by now, the NFL dropped a "cease and desist" this past week on an Indianapolis church who was going to show the Super Bowl at their church. The mistakes made by the Falls Creek Baptist Church were many:
1) They used the copyrighted term "Super Bowl" all over their website/advertising. 2) They advertised that they would show it on a huge projection screen . 3) They were charging admission to the event.
When the Baptists attempted to renegotiate, the NFL said, "talk to the hand." Inundated by complaints, the NFL finally did a 360, saying as long as the image shown is less the 55 inches, they're fine with it.
There are a ton of great angles on this one, but here are six I'd love to point out:
1) The fifty five inches limit will probably be challenged soon. This is supposed to be in effect for all private and public viewings. But now that they're making a whole slew of flat panels over sixty inches, I'd say they'll have to reexamine this.
2) Many say the NFL takes exception to these large viewing parties because it hurts their ratings which, in turn, brings down their advertising revenue. Really, it makes no difference unless you're a Nielsen family who has a box on your TV monitoring all your viewing habits.
I have always longed to become a Nielsen family, even sucking up to my friends who work for Nielsen [Dale and Emily!] but even they have no pull here. It's a totally random selection. If I was, however, a Nielsen family, I'd probably leave my TV on 24/7, even when away from home. What Nielsen family wouldn't have their TV tuned to the Super Bowl, anyway?
3) The NFL didn't realize who they messed with. Church folk ain't anything if they're not grumpy. This move made headlines all across the Bible Belt, even locally, as people declared this a travesty. The League has long excused sports bars of this viewing rule, giving the Christians a chance to complain of an anti-family bias.
4) What's even crazier is that another Indianapolis Baptist church that sent out a press release stating they would defy the NFL's policy and show the game on a huge screen anyway. Their pastor stated, "We want to save souls by any means necessary. Football, traditional service, street ministry -- it doesn't matter." Yikes! So now showing the Super Bowl at church is a salvational issue. If you like football and Jesus, Second Baptist is for you.
5) I find it ironic that many churches chose to take the moral high road here. Across the country churches began cancelling these Super Bowl gatherings, stating they didn't want to break laws. But churches break bigger copyright laws all the time. Whether it's mass publishing photos they don't know, making copies of curriculum, or having movie nights in the sanctuary, it's just not legal. But nobody bats an eye over that.
I'm not trying to excuse the actions. I'm just saying that there are 364 other days in a year when churches are in danger of violating copyright laws and you won't hear a thing about it after tonight. If you're going to play the "it's the law" card, do it consistently.
6) In a somewhat related note, I had to laugh that a large Texas church was giving away Super Bowl tickets [including free airfare and hotel] at their services last night. Part of their defense of the gimmick was posted on the web:
"It’s all about life change. If even one person comes hoping to win a free trip to the Super Bowl and experiences something positive in their life as a result, it’s worth the effort to do this promotion."
Um, if some church had given me free Super Bowl tickets, I'd say that would be a positive experience. This kind of thing is getting ridiculous, but that's another post.
In case you're curious, we'll be showing the Super Bo . . . er, the Big Game tonight at Echo. In case you're curious, I'm going with the Colts by ten.
Admission is free and I'm bringing a tape measure with me.
One of the benefits of our current abode is a beautiful view of the Christ Hospital. It's a beautiful edifice to observe, with its white-capped tower. But for a few days each year, it gets a little icky. I don't remember it well from last year since we were actually living over at Good Samaritan Hospital waiting for Kaelyn. At the beginning of February, they add filters to the lights atop Christ Hospital so that it looks like this:
Yeah, this is what we have to see for the next few weeks.
Not quite sure how I feel about this. I understand the desire to be seasonal, but is Valentine's Day the best choice? Instead of making me feel amorous, it makes me think of a horror flick. And I'm pretty sure that if I were being rushed to the hospital and observed that spire, I'd suggest that the driver head on over to University Hospital.
Happy Valentine's Day.
A few weeks ago I told Kelly that "it is what it is" will be the new catchphrase of 2007. I just heard someone on ESPN say it again, as it seems that it's the only phrase athletes and coaches are willing to offer nowadays. Apparently, I'm a few years too late as USA Today declared the phrase the cliche of 2004. Al Gore even used it publicly in 2002 when reflected on his failed Presidential bid. Maybe I haven't been paying attention. But I've started hearing it lately beyond the sporting world. "It Is What It Is" is ready to take over the world.
And, honestly, I've been trying it out myself lately. It's kinda fun.
Sample conversation:
Old Lady: "Mister, you just ran over my cat, got out of your car, kicked it a few times, got back into your car, and peeled out over its carcass!!!"
Steve: "It is what it is, Ma'am."
My advice: try it, Mikey. You'll like it.
Watching the Colbert Report tonight, Stephen once again enticed his viewer to attack Wikipedia. In his "Word" segment, he offered up a rant on Microsoft paying people to change Wikipedia entries. Colbert enticed his nation to change the entry on elephants, tonight he offered $5 to the first person who changed the "Reality" entry to state, "reality becomes a commodity."
I had my laptop open so, no sooner had he said it, I had the page up and it was changed. Then I refreshed the page and someone had already protected it.
At least I got the screenshot to prove it worked.
Observe the power of Colbert: once he says it, things happen.
Brilliant.
The latest issue of CCU 514, the quarterly newsletter of Cincinnati Christian University, includes an article about Echo. You can download the PDF here.
They asked me to write up some words about our endeavor, so I sent them a few paragraphs. I assumed they'd do a rewrite to make it third person, but they pretty much published it as is. My only regret is that there's a sentence in there that begins, "When I started Echo Church . . . "
Makes me cringe just thinking about it.
I read a lot of blogs by church planters that detail their ministries. Honestly, a few of them make me want to vomit; they come off like online tributes to these pastors' greatness. That could very well be me, so I'm always trying to keep my ego in check [Kelly does her part quite well]. Don't get me wrong: you do need to be pretty confident to start a church from scratch, but not too confident.
That's why I'm embarrassed I wrote the word "I." I didn't start Echo Church. There's a incredible group of people that God has called together to do this thing. Without them, it wouldn't have happened. They're some of my favorite people in the world. They deserve all the credit. I have no earthly idea how I could've written that.
Yet despite that inappropriate pronoun, I don't think it's half bad. Check it out.
I had a project I wanted to get finished over Christmas vacation. Unfortunately, I didn't get started on it until after my birthday, so it took me up to last week to wrap it up. Ever since we moved into the condo we've had a blank space over the fireplace. It's been daunting to think of the selecting the right piece to hang over the fireplace so we finally settled on a non-traditional pick:
A Steve Carr original.
I've not really painted since junior high so I was a little nervous. But I have the "Little Engine That Could" mentality so I went for it. Jessica Pendell graciously lent me here painting supplies, a huge array of various brushes, so I had all the tools I needed. Kelly helped me pick out the base colors so it would match the living room decor. We picked a canvas that would fit in the allotted area, something like 28" high and 36" wide, so I was ready to go.
Like I said, it took me a few weeks to work through it, a total of ten to twelve hours total, but I'm pretty satisfied with the first effort. Here it is:
No official title, I just always wanted to do a montage of Cincinnati landmarks. I did a good job with some of them [I liked the Tyler Davidson Fountain and the Roebling Bridge] and struggled through others [still don't like the white Central Trust building]. I'm not sure that all the buildings are straight either.
It's crazy because I thought I'd be relieved when I finished but I'm not. I now feel somewhat paranoid because I see the painting all the time while in the living room; I'm constantly see the flaws I left out there. If anything, it's a good opportunity for me to come to grips of my imperfections. I did the best I could. I might even try it again sometime, but it'll be a few years to be sure.
If anything, Kelly likes it, so it works for me.
Caught an article from USA Today . . . today . . . about the next generation of fathers. It discusses the need for "hipster" dads to try to remain cool despite transitioning into the fatherhood role. Some are referring to them as "grups." What exactly is a grup? This definition from the New York Magazine:
"Also known as yupster [yuppie + hipster], yindie [yuppie + indie], and alterna-yuppie. Our preferred term, grup, is taken from an episode of Star Trek [keep reading] in which Captain Kirk et al. land on a planet of children who rule the world, with no adults in sight. The kids call Kirk and the crew “grups,†which they eventually figure out is a contraction of “grown-ups.†It turns out that all the grown-ups had died from a virus that greatly slows the aging process and kills anybody who grows up.
So, yeah, I think it's an insult. The point is, it's supposed to describe dads who don't want to let fatherhood be the fast track to dorkville.
Let me try and break this down. Where did grups come from?
I believe it's the inevitable result of American parental evolution. Our parents, the Baby Boomers, had parents that were products of a couple World Wars and The Depression; they were more concerned about survival than staying hip [was "hip" even a term then?]. So when the Boomers had kids, they swore they'd one up their parents in the coolness area, holding on for dear life. How else do you think the Rolling Stones and the Eagles were able to do so many farewell tours. By the time you get to us, the MTV generation, we've evolved into the hipsters.
So the question that currently haunts me: am I a grup?
I'm not quite sure.
Disqualifying me would be that I've never owned Doc Martins, a Volkswagen Jetta, or Death Cab For Cutie CD. Yet I do have a fear of becoming irrelevant. Not quite sure where that phobia came from but I never want to be the guy wearing acid-wash jeans and sporting a mullet while jamming to Foreigner [unless that becomes fashionable again, then I might be game]. Because of this I try to keep up on my pop-culture. I listen to new music, read Entertainment Weekly, and stay up to date on new trends via the interwebs. Heck, we live among uber-hip urbanites, so there's some grup street cred.
Admission: I do watch VH1, but it's not as lame as it used be . . . unless I've finally crossed over and become the lame kind of person who watches VH1. Suck.
But the reality is, I'm not obsessed with staying cool. Don't get me wrong: I'm not going to mail it in yet, but I have higher priorities. More than working my gruppiness, I care about being a good husband and father. I'll admit this: I'll keep making a minor effort to stay cool, but I would never do it at my family's expense.
Ain't grup enough for that.
. . . and that means another splendid Tuesdays With Kaelyn video over at the House of Carr. I must say that we went all out for this one. Hope you appreciate the effort. Just go on over to House Of Carr and click on the "film" tab. It's a larger file, so it might take a few seconds to load. Patience is a virtue.
Enjoy.
I didn't relay the problems the we experienced at the homestead on Friday. I guess I was trying to block the negative experience from my mind. You usually don't worry much about your toilet until there's a problem. A simple flush on the second floor yielded us a water leak that seaped through to the ceiling on our first floor, ran down the side wall and ended up in the basement. Fortunately, Carr Electric Heating and Cooling also specializes in plumbing.
After removing the toilet from its base, we discovered that the flange was cracked during installation [I remind you that we purchased a totally remodled condo, so this installation was performed just a little more than a year ago]. Instead of replacing it, they decided to try to seal it with a few screws and washers. This worked as long as there wasn't any problem with the flow. Once it happened, the water leaked through the flange into the ceiling area. Wonderful.
Thing is, we know of two other people who have had similar plumbing problems that this developer was responsible for. In all the instances, they messed up the installation and caused major water damage. The plumbers were dopes. It must be said.
Thankfully, the water damage to our drywall was minimal, but there's an area where you can see the effects. My parents stopped by on Saturday to visit and my father and I were able to get the toilet set properly with a new flange. Remarkably, everything works fine when you don't use broken parts.
We're past the warranty on our unit so the only way I could recoup the damages would be a lawsuit. And even though I have many a lawyer friend who would be willing to help out, it's just not worth it. I took some pics of the damage that I'm going to email them to the developer and kindly ask for a few bucks for the paint necessary to cover it up.
We still love our place, but working with the developer has been a nightmare. In the future, I'll drop the extra cash for a hardcore home inspection.
Very good day today. Started out with the snow fall. About three inches or so. I feel the need to apologize to all my friends who are new to Cincinnati that think we've never seen the white stuff before. I'm not quite sure when my town became snow ignorant, but the noon news warned people about leaving the house today. It's embarrassing.
Anyway, I have a new digital camera so I took it out to get some pictures of the park. I've not taken many snow pictures, but it was a good first try. Here are some samples. I did give them the black and white look because I liked it better.
Took the following pictures to show how the zoom lens works. Here's the actual distance:
And here's how it looks in the zoom.
Came back home and let Kaelyn have her first snow experience. Kelly said she was staring out the window at it all morning and she was excited to take a look at it. So here's how she reacted being near to it:
And here's how she reacted when she finally touched it:
I guess Kaelyn didn't realize the snow is cold. At least she learned a valuable lesson today.
So I thought that the snow would hamper our gathering tonight. For awhile I even pondered about switching my message to something different. Of course, I was clueless and we had one of our best crowds of the year. There was a great vibe and it brought a smile to my face.
I've had a difficult time getting into this new year. Not quite sure why. But tonight was just what I needed to get me excited about what this year holds for us. I'm definitely blessed.
Yes, Ice Cube spoke the truth: today was a good day.
Felt a bit nostalgic this week with the passing of Burton Kallick. You might know him better as Buddy of Buddy's Carpet Barn. If you're from Cincinnati you're all too familiar with Buddy and his commercials. In the early 1980's he started his carpet business and inundated the local airways with goofy commercials. He starred in all of them, with his distinct voice, a kind of Cincinnati draw. Buddy never scripted his commercials, which was very apparent. They were always horrible, as if by design. But they were always on television; it was vintage Cincinnati.
After selling off the business in 2000, he had been fighting cancer the past few years, finally succumbing to it this past Wednesday. I never personally purchased any of his carpet, but will always consider him to be my Buddy.
Jim Borgman drew the following cartoon to observe Buddy's passing:
Let me follow up on yesterday's post concerning the Doomsday Clock. One of the main reasons these scientists think we're closer to the end of the world is the deteriorating state of the global environment. You have to be hiding under a rock not to know that our world is in grave danger because of all the evil we humans have inflicted upon it, from our aerosol hairspray to our burning piles of freon tanks. Unless we get our act together our children won't have much of a future, forced to wear gas masks while dog-paddling in a Waterworld all while enduring 100 degree temperatures in the dead of winter.
But all this begs the question: is global warming even real?
While there is a scientific base attached to global warming theories, we must admit that they are subjective interpretations of facts. Interesting enough, major media sources relate these opinions as unquestionable truth. But why would educated people perpetuate these theories if they weren't 100% true? Always look towards the lowest common denominator:
Money.
There's big money to be had by people willing to do research about global warming. Eccentric billionaire Richard Branson donated $3 billion dollars to help solve the global warming problem. For that kind of money you wouldn't want to admit that there wasn't a problem.
So back to the original question. Can we freely question global warming?
Not in public. Doing so in today's political climate will earn you the label of ignoramus. Some, such as CBS reporter Scott Pelley, would compare you to a Holocaust denier. This article tells about some Weather Channel climatologist who suggests that any TV meteorologist who denies global warming should be stripped of their certification. There are scientists who believe that global warming is a crock, but they lose major street cred for stepping out and saying it; additionally, if employed by a university, a researcher could lose research funding or tenure for stating their opinion.
My Christian worldview allows me a different perspective. The world was created by God to be used by human beings. We needn't worship this terra firma because it wasn't designed to last forever. Still, we're called to be good stewards of all God entrusted to us. I won't go around burning rain forests for yuks. But neither will I accept widespread persecution because I don't buy that the environment is the most pressing issue we face in this country.
Using only a half a century of reliable statistics to make concrete statements concerning a planet that is millions of years old [their take] isn't responsible, nor very scientific. So I ask politely: back off. To each his own.
I heard a rumor that Al Gore might be coming to town to give his Inconvenient Truth power point presentation. Maybe he can clear this up for all of us.
You know that things have really gotten bad when I'm thrilled with UC losing by one point on the road at Syracuse. A lot of Bearcats fans are jumping ship, not sure if they want to wait until they make it back to the top of the mountain. I, however, am sticking with 'em. Again, I declare that Mick Cronin is the right man for the job. It may take awhile, but we'll be OK. We're building character here people. In a related note, we got the latest issue of Cincinnati Magazine this week. The good news is that the cover is red, heralding "Bearcat Pride." The bad news is that the mascot is posing with President Zimpher. Could've done without that.
The Doomsday Clock moved forward two minutes this morning. I think I speak for everyone when I ask, "Who gives a ****?"
Apparently the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist came up with this Doomsday Clock after World War 2 in order to show how close we were to the end of the world. The clock has moved nineteen times in the past sixty years. It's supposed to make us recognize the tenuous state of world affairs. Because of the North Korean nuclear threat and the supposed state of global warming, we're told that the end of the world is near. Be afraid.
What a bunch of crap.
Just look at the history of this thing. In 1947 we were seven minutes till the end. By 1953 that number was down to two minutes. But by 1963 we were back to twelve minutes. I'm not a math major, but I do know how to tell time. Uncle Rico could testify that there's no such thing as a time machine; you can't go backwards. A clock doesn't work that way. The illustration breaks down.
This is just an excuse for condescending scientists to make themselves feel more important than they really are. Every generation thinks they're living in the last days. Additionally, it seems every generation thinks they can somehow prevent this end through their own intelligence. Kudos to the Bulletin of Nuke Geeks for giving it their best shot.
By the way, I don't wear a watch.
