Parents, speak out!

The following video poignantly tells of the dangers our kids are facing from what is perhaps one of the most underestimated diseases in the nation. Parents, we must be informed of what endangers our kids and help save them from this dreadful disease. Watch and learn.

Book Review - Wild At Heart

In the past couple of months, I’ve gotten into listening to books on CD on my way to and from work. I figured that since I’ve got a 20 minute or so drive, I might as well use the time to listen to books. I’ve also discovered a great online source for audio books at www.christianaudio.com where they have a free book available for download every month. I’ve downloaded a couple and need to burn them onto a CD so I can listen to them.

While we were visiting my sister, her husband Doug lent me the audio version of John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart. Having just finished it, I thought I would share a review of the book. Again, thanks to Doug for lending me this book. I’ll mail it back to you shortly!

To be honest, I was a little disappointed although I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting. From the very beginning, Eldredge seems to be painting a caricature of what a true “man” that comes hauntingly close to how Hollywood wants us to view men as – rugged, square-jawed, outdoorsy types that live to clock out at 5 and have their trucks in 4-wheel drive by 5:15 on some backwoods trail. In fact, many of Eldredge’s examples of “true” men come from such movies as Braveheart and Gladiator. It is apparent that Eldredge enjoys the outdoors and who can fault him for that? The danger is when he equates a necessity of enjoying all these things to how much of a “wild man” a guy really is. He even goes so far as to say that a true man can’t really like being inside at a desk all day, but should be longing to get outside. If he does, something’s wrong with him and he needs to reclaim his manhood by getting wild (outdoors). And this is the premise that Eldredge seems to base his entire thesis on – a man must be wild, adventuresome and ready for a fight in order to be a man. This is backed up with many examples including one where he advises his son who is being picked on to punch the bully in the face as hard as he can. This apparently was designed to make his son feel enabled and manly and have the freedom to fight back, despite the fact that we are to follow Christ’s teaching of turning the other cheek. (Eldredge defends his actions by saying many in the church misinterpret this passage, but never says how or why.)

There are two particular errors (among many) in the book that I want to hit on. The first is the noticeable absence of hardly any Scripture given to support Eldredge’s many false presumptions, and the Scripture that is quoted is so twisted out of context as to make it say something that does not ring true. Instead, Eldredge relies heavily on psychological analyses that fall short of correctly mirroring any Scriptural teaching. Don’t get me wrong on this point. I believe that there is a great use for psychology and we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak. But the danger comes when we replace Scripture with the psychology and try to make it sound Biblical.

The second and perhaps most disturbing error in the book is Eldredge’s claim that, in trying to support his view that God loves adventure, God is a risk-taker and even an “immense risk-taker.” To hear Eldredge’s view of the death of Christ, you would think the crucifixion was completely unplanned and God showed up just in the nick of time to set everything straight. “God lets the mob kill Jesus, bury him…then he shows up.” Although he tries to add a disclaimer that he isn’t a proponent of Open Theism, he apes Open Theism’s teachings quite well. Risk by definition involves some aspect of the unknown and to say that God takes risks is to say that He doesn’t know the outcome of certain things.

I do believe that today’s culture emasculates men in wanting to be in touch with their softer side and perhaps Eldredge was trying to fight against that. But instead what he ends up doing is going to the other end of the Hollywood extreme in idolizing he-men. In the end, Eldredge’s answer to regaining masculinity seems to be to get in touch with our inner caveman. While there were a few good points made, they are so few and far between as to not make reading (or listening to) the book worthwhile. If I were to rate it out of 5, it would be a 1.

Bah Humbug?

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

…AND IT’S NOT EVEN THANKSGIVING YET!!!!!!!

And so begins another festive season of retailers gleefully opening their doors at the most ungodly hours of the night - at least, the owners are, I’m not so sure about the employees. Holiday tunes waft over the intercoms, bright lights spring up all over, and parking lots fill with those selling Christmas trees.

Now, please don’t get me wrong. I enjoy Christmas. Really, I do. Especially since our children came along, the joy of the season has increased. But amid all the wrapping papers, sappy music, food, food and more food, I have to wonder if something has been lost. I mean, think about. We’re not even past Thanksgiving (I refuse to call it Turkey Day)– a day traditionally set aside to give thanks for our many blessings – and already our senses are being bombarded with ploys to help us expand our ever increasing pile of stuff. You can ask my wife – I hate being asked what I want for Christmas. I haven’t delved deep enough into my psyche to determine if it’s simply because I don’t want to bother thinking of something or if it’s some sort of semi-conscious rebellion against materialism. I’m inclined to think it’s more of the former than the latter.

Or perhaps it’s something a little more personal. Christmas should be a time of celebrating God’s gift to us – His Son, Jesus Christ. Yet every year, we’re faced more and more with the stark reality that the true meaning of Christmas is being swallowed up in the buying and the giving. Where it gets personal is the realization that what I am seeing played out in the economics of it all is the reflection of my heart during the entire year. Oh sure, I might go through the motions of “remembering the reason for the season” as it were, but in all honestly, is Christmas time the only true time that I really stop to ponder the Gift or the Giver and how I should be affected? Perhaps all the yuletide buying, giving, receiving, eating, traveling, sleeping, working, planning, and general running around simply show us a condensed version of what Christ sees in us all year long. I’m so busy with the stuff of life that I relegate Christ to an afterthought instead of celebrating HIM as life itself.

This year, instead of getting all crotchety about the trappings of the season, the season should cause some inward reflection and repentance on my own busyness of the year and my forgetting the gift I have in Christ.

“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Go West, Young Man!

Last week, I had the opportunity to fly to Denver, CO for a business-related training session, and we decided to make a family vacation out of it. So eeeeaaaarrrrly on Thursday morning (11/9), we packed the kiddos in the van and drove down to Greensboro. Even though it was so early, Carlos & Jeremiah were so excited and wound up to be going on a trip. They were really quite funny to listen to. We flew from Greensboro to Memphis and then on to Denver, picked up a rental van and then drove a couple hours down to Colorado Springs to stay with my sister Michelle, and her family for a few days. We also got to see Sarah’s brother, Lee and spend the day with him too.

We had a great time staying with Michelle and got to do a little sight seeing. We went to Santa’s Workshop at the North Pole (actually at the foot of Pike’s Peak), Focus on the Family headquarters, and the Garden of the Gods. I think Michelle was trying for the Mom-of-the-year award at Santa's workshop. Kaitlyn wanted so much to go on one of those rides that goes up and around rather fast. Michelle, being the sucker wonderful mom that she is, agreed. I don't think I've ever seen a greener Michelle! It was funny to watch Carlos and Kaitlyn because they are so much alike that I don't think they quite know what to do with each other. But they did get along quite well. At Focus on the Family, they had a kid's area with some puppets that you could play with. I love using puppets and so was right at home using them. For some reason, the kids decided to attack the puppet I was using, Jeremiah especially. I had managed to get most of the kids to stop beating on the poor old "man" but Jeremiah just wouldn't stop. So finally, I took the puppets arm and swung it so that it tapped Jeremiah on his chest. Oh, the look on Jeremiah's face was priceless - a look that said "hey! why did you do that?!" Needless to say, he stopped beating the puppet.

We had beautiful weather during the entire trip and really enjoyed the visit. If you ever go to Colorado Springs and only have time for one sight seeing trip, I would definitely recommend the Garden of the Gods. Talk about an excellent showcase of God’s creation!! We all did a little bit of “rock climbing” (used in the loosest sense of the word) and took lots of pictures, some of which can be found on Sarah's blog. Oh, and we even got to see a BNSF freight train as we drove down I-25. Sarah humored me and took a couple of pictures as we drove by it, but they didn't turn out so well.

Then it was back up to Denver on Sunday evening so I could attend the training on Monday and Tuesday. I was pretty excited about this, not only to get a better understanding of the software program I was being trained on, but also because I got to ride the train into Denver both mornings! Woo-hoo! If ever they decide to build a light-rail system between Rocky Mount and Roanoke, I’d definitely use the train to go to work. No driving or dealing with traffic or finding a parking space – just 30 minutes of relaxation, reading, and watching the scenery. I could definitely get used to this mode of transportation.

Both days, my training ended significantly earlier than I thought it would and so we were all able to go to the Denver Aquarium and the Denver Zoo. The Aquarium was ok, although definitely overpriced. But the Denver Zoo was very fun, with lots of different animals and even a 3-week old baby giraffe. I think Carlos had a hard time coming to grips with something that was a baby, yet was also bigger than he was.

Driving back to the airport, I was really stressing out because our rental van was almost out of gas. (The line was actually just below the “Empty” mark.) When I had rented the van, I opted to purchase a tank of gas from Alamo instead of having to fill it up before returning. In order to get the most out of the deal, we needed to bring it back with as little fuel as possible – and let me tell you, we did exactly that!! One word of advice here though – if you ever need to rent a car, don’t get the fuel option. It’s much cheaper to have to fill it up yourself than to pay what they tell you is a price lower than outside gas stations charge. Although the price was pretty comparable to what gas stations would charge, where they get you is charging for a higher fuel capacity than the vehicle actually contains. For example, we rented a minivan that had a 20 gallon tank, but they charged for a 25 gallon tank, saying this was the average for this type of vehicle. Now, most vans I’ve researched have only a 20 gallon tank, so I’d like to know what minivan has tank that is larger than 25 gallons (since their estimate is an average). Anyway, just a side note.

Overall it was an excellent trip. The kids did really well on all flights. Carlos & Jeremiah loved to look out the window and watch the goings on while we were on the ground (wasn’t too exciting once we were airborne). But like all vacations, the best part was coming home.

More miscellaneous oddities

1. I’ve always wanted to be in a professional stage production.
2. I have made at least 6 cross-country driving trips, including going from Cheyenne, WY to Pensacola, FL, and Dallas, TX to Roanoke, VA.
3. My last three pairs of dress shoes have been of the exact same brand (as Sarah pointed out, “If the shoe fits….!”)
4. My first job was in the cleaning department at college.
5. I love to iron clothes (this is not related to #4)
6. My college friends gave me the same nickname that my Dad’s buddies gave him while he was in the Air Force.
7. Trans-Siberian Orchestra plays the best Christmas music ever. (see my previous post )
8. I like trains
9. No really, I do. :)
10. The same doctor that took my appendix out also took Sarah’s appendix out – over 15 years ago!
11. Very rarely will I drink hot drinks such as tea, coffee or even hot chocolate. It’s against my religion. (just kidding on that last one – please don’t hurt me, Mark!)

That's odd

Inspired by a friend, here are some oddities about myself.

1. Most music played on Christian radio stations annoys me
2. When I drive, I like to have my radio on “scan,” stopping only on a station that really interests me.
3. #2 annoys Sarah greatly (which is why I only do it when I’m driving alone)
4. I was once offered a job at a radio station - the guy said I had a good radio voice (?!) At least he didn’t say I had a face for radio.
5. When I was a boy, my dream was to be the first man on Mars.
6. I hate math
7. Yes, I’m a numbers analyst.
8. The smell of jet fuel makes me nostalgic.
9. My favorite boyhood superhero was Spiderman because he could climb and swing all over the place.
10. I have a fear of dismembered body parts (heads, arms, that sort of thing)
11. I'm a computer game junkie, mostly first-person shooter types.
12. The toilet roll goes over the top (learned during my time in the housekeeping department at college).
13. I’ve never been hunting and have no desire to do so.
14. I’m allergic to tomatoes
15. Most often, I get the hiccups when I eat bread.

More later (maybe).

Lost & Found

This time of year is great for photography, especially when the photo subject includes a train or two! When I was able to go out Wednesday evening for some railfanning, I didn’t think that I would get the chance to go out again so soon afterward. But wonderful wife Sarah took the kiddos with her Saturday morning to go yard sale-ing (one of her “hobbies” :)) so I could finish up my lesson for Sunday morning. I finished up sooner that I thought I would and soon felt the trackside tug. It was a gorgeous day with sunny, blue, clear skies and the leaves were starting to show their colors more and more. Quite simply, it was too much to resist. I packed up my radio and camera, and headed out.

Before I go any further, I have to share a story with you. Friday night, I got lost. Yup, you read right. He of the internal compass, the human GPS, got lost. I stopped by Papa John’s on my way home Friday night and, instead of going down Electric Road to 220, I decided to try to find my way through the back section that meets up with 220 a little further south and thus avoid both the Tanglewood Mall area and the traffic lights near Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, I missed the turn that would bring me out in the Cloverdale area and kept going straight. I realized something was amiss when the road no longer had the line markings and I passed a sign that said “End 40 mph speed limit.” BUT at the same time I was driving parallel with the railroad tracks. Since I knew they crossed 220 near Boones Mill, I figured I’d keep on going and see where it led me. Sadly, I eventually had to stop at a house (once I the road turned to gravel) and ask how to get back to 220. As it turns out, I was only a less than a couple of miles from where I needed to be.

The great thing about my excursion is that, as I said, the road I was on followed the tracks almost the entire way (this, by the way, is the Winston-Salem district often called the “Punkin’ Vine Line” because of all the twists and turns.) There are some great spots for photography including trestle bridges and waterways. Even though I was lost (only for a minute, though!), I thoroughly enjoyed the drive and the scenery, and determined that I would come back for some train photography. That’s where we pick up again on Saturday.

The first spot I stopped at was the trestle bridge over Willow Branch Rd. Parking on the side of the road, I made my way up the steep hill through the trees to the tracks. If a train came from the south, I would’ve had the perfect vantage point to get a shot as it crossed the bridge. If one came from the north, though, it would be on top of me without hardly any opportunity for a picture. After enjoying the scenery and solitude for a little while and with the newly gained knowledge of a southbound train coming from Roanoke (scanners are great!), I climbed down and drove a little farther down to the next bridge, this one going over Starlight Lane. Scrambling up the incline, I found the perfect spot. It had a great view in both directions, perfectly lined by trees with a gentle curve at both ends.

**(We interrupt this blog to bring this safety message) If you find yourself wanting to go out and do a bit of railfanning, NEVER EVER EVER walk onto a rail bridge. Not only is it trespassing, it’s just plain stupid. There are plenty of spots for pictures or waiting without endangering your life by risking getting trapped on a bridge with a train bearing down on you. (We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.)

I didn’t have long to wait before the stillness was interrupted by the distant horn of the V74 Roanoke to Winston-Salem local. Even before it rounded the curve, I could hear the low rumble of the approaching engines. As it came around the corner, I snapped a few shots and then stood back to admire the view of the black (and one blue) behemoths roaring through the once-quiet glen. Knowing that the V74 had to slow down as it approached Boones Mill, I raced ahead of it to another vantage point to get a few more shots. Because of the shadows, some of the pictures didn’t turn out quite as I hoped. But for an unplanned day of railfanning, I had a great time and am eager to get out to these spots again before the autumn colors disappear.

Bridge over Willow Branch


























Bridge over Stalight Lane


V74 heading South

An Evening Out

My wonderful wife gave the night off last night to do a little shopping and some train photography. Usually on Wednesdays, Sarah brings Carlos to the church for Sparks and then I stay in town after work and bring him home. But this time she decided to stay at the church playground with Jeremiah & Natalie and let me go out by myself for the evening. So with camera, tripod and radio in hand, off I went!

I was able to hang out at two different spots in Salem for a couple hours and take some evenings shots. Unfortunately, but the time any trains came along it was getting rather dark and my camera doesn’t take very good evening pictures. Not even the trash train (V60) was on time. But I did get a couple of non-train railroad pics. The first stopping point was at the Union Street grade crossing. There are actually two sets of tracks here; I chose the one furthest from the skate park, mainly because it afforded a great view both up and down the tracks. Although I didn’t have to wait long before my train came along, I was still experimenting was the settings on my camera and the only shots I did get really didn’t come out good at all. Low light + point-and-shoot-camera + fast train = crappy pictures. Which is ironic considering that one of the engines was a GE Dash 9-40CW, affectionately known as a Crap-9.

After a little while and quick hello to Lori, who stopped by on her way to scrapbooking at the church (hope you had fun, Lori!), I moved on to a side street just off of 4th. It was the road leading into TimberTruss and this spot was even better. Not only could I look down the track in both directions, but one had a nice gentle curve that would probably have lent itself to great photos in daylight. Even better though, straight down the track I could see the signals that could give me some indication of when to expect a train. A local switcher went by a couple times, and the second time the engineer even called out of the window to me to let me know that they would be coming by again soon. But alas, the rapidly fading light didn’t allow me to stay much longer. This picture is perhaps the best shot of the night. I enjoyed the evening though. It was my first real opportunity to use my scanner to listen to the railroad traffic and have the camera, too. Thanks for the night out, sweetheart!

Night Sentinels

Checking in

Ahh, our vacation was great and very relaxing. It was so good to be able to just get away and enjoy the family and not do much of anything. Sarah has some excellent photos on her blog, including some of Carlos' soccer game, so stop by and check them out. Oh, and don't forget to leave her a comment. :)

Now it's back to the grindstone. And I've hit the ground running. It seems like I've got so many deadlines looming on the horizon, most daunting of which is budgeting. (booo, hiss) Definitely not fun, but also very necessary.

Not much else to say at the moment. I'm hoping to go out and do some more railroad photographing soon. In the meantime, here's one I prepared earlier. It was taken from the 13th Street bridge in Roanoke, leading away west from the South Yard.

It's quiet -- too quiet

I unlock the door, push it open and walk inside the house. The only sounds are the trees rustling on the other side of the road. No sounds from the house. No scurrying feet. No “Papa’s home!!” followed by a mad dash to the front door, attacking me as I close the door. There’s not even the wail of those currently in the throes of either a tantrum, bad attitude or being remedied of them.

Nothing. Quiet. Too quiet.

But nothing is amiss. There’s simply no one else home. Nor will there be any time soon. I’ve got the whole house to myself for 5 whole days. Five lonely, quiet days. Then I get to go back to the beach and spend a whole week just bumming around with my wonderful wife and three beautiful kids.

I miss my family.