Thoughts and Musings on Faith, Music, Family, Life

My journey as a 21-day Vegan

Yep - as of today, I've completed the 21-day vegan detox diet that's all the rage.  No meat, dairy or eggs for three weeks.  It's been a bit of a change, but nothing terribly bad.  In fact, I've rather enjoyed it.  Some random reflections on the journey in no particular order:

• I lost a lot of weight, somewhere in the 10-12 pound range. This was the main reason I did the diet.  The trick, of course, is keeping it off.  We'll see how long that lasts.  But for now, I'm pleased.


• I didn't miss meat as much as I thought I would. I'm not a huge steak-eater and hamburgers make rare appearances in my diet.  The meat I'm more inclined to eat is when it's part of something else - turkey in a sandwich, chicken in my wife's awesome chicken pie, ground beef in a bowl of chili.  I thought I'd miss this kind of meat moreso, but other than the occasional craving for a slice of pepperoni pizza it hasn't been that bad.


• Probably the hardest thing to give up was dairy.  I've always been a big milk-drinker - some in my cereal in the morning, a glass or two with dinner at night. It's a pretty significant part of my diet.  Problem is, the milk we buy at the grocery store has all kinds of hormones that were given to the cows that produced it; and those hormones wind up in our body.  Soy milk and almond milk are acquired tastes, but after a while you get used to it. 


• I thought a lot more about the foods I put in my body. And I guess in a sense that's part of what the diet is about.  You can't just grab whatever's in the fridge or whatever you've got in the pantry.  You're constantly asking yourself: Does this have eggs in it?  Does it have milk?  This wasn't a bad exercise to engage in outside the diet itself.  How many of us eat whatever's right in front of us without thinking about where it came from, what's in it, etc?


• I ate less. Kind of a natural byproduct of the previous one. Besides, if your fridge is like ours, you have multiple kinds of sandwich meat and cheese but not a lot of beans and greens.


• Side effects of the diet - your body has to go through an adjustment period as it transitions to the vegan diet. For me, it hit around Day Three or Four.  I felt a little tipsy that was something between slight fatigue and a weird high of sorts.  I had this odd metal taste in my mouth, probably a little iron deficiency going on.  Once I hit Day Five, though, it was all good.  I found my energy level was much better.


• As with everything, there's an app for that.  Although I didn't use it much, since it called for some recipies that were either a bit extravagant for my tastes, or unreasonable for one reason or another.  But it's still worth checking out.  And when you do, you'll learn that....


• Cous cous and black beans rock. They're in just about everything in the diet, and that's perfectly fine with me.  Others that found their way into my diet over the past 21 days - peanut butter, good ol' fruit, carrot sticks, soy milk. Oh, and give the green smoothie a try.  Sounds gross, but it's actually pretty tasty.


• It's a bit of a challenge when your family isn't doing the diet with you, but it's not impossible. Basically I made my own meals beside the rest of my family for three weeks.  The only time this was hard was when the wife and kids had her most excellent homemade chicken pie.  That was a tough one to sit out.  And going out to eat had its challenges, especially in my locale where "family cooking" is most prevalent and certainly not very vegan.  In the end, though, everything worked out fine.

So - where to go from here?  More than likely I'll retain some elements of the vegan diet but not so hard-core.  I'll probably throw fish back into the mix and eat beef and chicken very sporadically. I'll eat some eggs but do my best to make sure they're free-range and organic.  As far as milk - this is the one thing I think I'm going to give up altogether. Soy and Almond milks are not a bad substitute, and void of any nasty hormones.  Big deal for me, as I've been a "milk boy" for most of my life.  Hopefully this modification will continue helping to keep the weight off!

A good week in Chicago

I’ve said it before – I love airports.  There’s something about the random humanity that fascinates me. I’m in an airport as I write this – Chicago O’Hare, to be exact – at some concourse restaurant grabbing a hot dog. Aptly titled “the Chicago.”  I like the way my waiter pronounced it when he brought it to me – “CHI-cago,” not “SHI-cago” like us non-residents are prone to say.  I gladly stand corrected.

I’ve spent the past week in the Windy City at McCormick Theological Seminary.  You know those people who have elaborate plans to tour all major league ballparks?  A few years back I decided to do the same thing with Presbyterian Church (USA) seminaries. I know, not as exciting; but as I'm proving at this very moment, you can still get a hot dog. Anyway, there are nine or ten of them, depending on how many you count in the mix; and including the three I attended for formal schooling I’ve been to six: Union (Richmond, VA), Columbia (Decatur/Atlanta), Pittsburgh, Louisville, Austin and now McCormick in Chicago.  I’m always amazed by the diversity of the schools and the people associated with them, but also all the things they share in common. Every school in their own unique way is making a difference.

I usually try to attend some specific event, like a conference, but if that’s not available I’ll spend a few days just studying and reading.  The latter was my intention when, back in the summer, I pulled up McCormick’s web site.  And then my eyes caught a little blurb about their brand new Certification in Environmental Ministries and Leadership.  Anyone who knows me can certainly understand my immediate interest.  I was getting spousal permission and plane tickets within days.

The program is spearheaded by four faculty and involved ten participants from all over the country and beyond (a gentleman from north of the border joined us).  We met for three days, two of which were seminar-style discussions and one “field trip” day to a local conservation.  Lots of incredible conversation and insight.  In many ways its getting back to some of the core Biblical and theological emphases on "creation-care" that we seem to have lost in recent years - captured quite eloquently in a comment I remember someone making in our local curbside recycling brouhaha last spring: that "God loves people, not the earth" (there's this little thing called John 3:16 you ought to check out...)  It's helping me fine-tune my perspectives and passions on the issue so I can do my part to help the faithful  reclaim an important conversation that's been sorely neglected.

Anyway, this was part one of two trips - we’ll be back in early 2012, after which we’ll have a project to complete. And as much as I enjoyed the program itself, I also fell in love with Chicago.  The seminary is located in Hyde Park, on the south side of town.  I came to love the neighborhoods and my daily walks through the University of Chicago campus to some friends who graciously opened up their guest room for me.  It was also cool to reconnect with some old Mount Airy peeps (and a former Mediocre Bad Guy band member) who moved up here a year or so ago.  Hyde Park is a fantastic place, bustling with activity amidst old-school buildings and homes, ornate trees, and two – yes, TWO – organic coffee shops.  Take that, Starbucks.

Lots to think about as I board my flight home in an hour – including my strategy on how to get to my parked car as quickly as possible so I can to book it home in time to make a Mediocre Bad Guys gig.  Enjoy the pics that follow, and pay special note to the incredible rainbow that greeted me this morning as I prepared to depart.  I'll take it as a sign that this week was time well spent.

  Downtown Chicago skyline via Grant Park on a gorgeous day

 

Chicago Harbor. Bet this looks different in January.

 

Home of a certain famous Chicago residence who currently resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC. About two blocks from the seminary. Pleasantly waved to the Secret Service guy parked across the street before snapping this pic.

  Went on a jog one morning and headed six blocks east to Lake Michican. Got there in time to see the sunrise. Add this to my collection of awesome sunrise running pics.

 

Our Certification group visiting Glacial Park about two hours outside Chicago

 

So I was walking to my last class Saturday morning with suitcase in tow right in the middle of a rainshower. Kind of a pain, until the sun came out and I stopped at 55th Street to see this. If it's not a sign of the promise, at the very least it's a Starbucks PR dream.

Close call

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  This one only needs seventeen:

A tree fell in our yard yesterday.
It barely missed our car.
It demolished our basketball goal.

It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that we are most grateful that the car was spared.  If it looks like the tree fell just to the side of the car, that's exactly what it did.  There was literally no space between the tree and the side of the bumper.  The car did get nicked up a bit, but nothing any more serious than someone opening another car door into its side.  This "branch" that fell is part of a huge Bradford Pear in our yard (the rest of which will be coming down soon, I can assure you), and with its size and dense heavy wood it easily weighs over a thousand pounds.  Six inches more to the right and it would've crushed our little hybrid. 

That's the story this picture tells.  But what I'm even more grateful for is the story this picture doesn’t tell.

About 15-20 minutes before this happened, my eldest son and I were heading out the door to take our dog for a walk.  Our youngest asked me to move the car so he could play basketball.  In a moment of lazy parenting I said no, for no other reason than the keys were upstairs in my bedroom and I didn't want to go get them.  I asked him to join us instead, not sure if he would.  Somewhat surprisingly, he did.

We were getting ready to turn the bend in the road to come home when we heard the horrible "cracking" sound.  I knew it was either a tree in the woods across from us or one in our yard.  Turned out to be the latter.  As I ran up and surveyed the scene, it didn't take long for me to realize that, had I moved the car as my son requested to shoot baskets, he would've been right underneath it when it fell.

We're bummed about the basketball goal, but honestly, it needed to be replaced anyway.  And we're thankful that the car got out of all of this relatively scot-free.  But we're obviously most thankful that my son was walking with me and not shooting baskets. Perhaps I should try to be a lazy parent more often.

Speaking out for curbside recycling

This evening my family and I attended a public hearing held by our city commissioners.  The topic: curbside recycling.  Our wonderful little town of "Mayberry" doesn't have it, and after years of egging our community leaders on, they finally scheduled this forum.  Strange as it is to say, this has been a contentious issue in our community, as there are some who are vehemently opposed to the idea for a number of reasons.  Cost is one of them (and a reasonable one, I confess); but a significant group who view such an initiative as "government intrusion" and even those who see curbside recycling as a not-so-veiled form of socialism (as I highlighted in this previous blog post).

The forum lasted just under two hours.  Those who spoke were overwhelmingly in favor of curbside recycling.  I didn't keep track, but I would guess that for every one person opposed, four or five were in favor.  A lot of the vitriol that had surfaced over the past few weeks in the social media world over this topic was nonexistent.

Both my wife and 8-year old son spoke, as did I.  In my comments I approached things from both a pastoral/spiritual angle, as well as a city resident and taxpayer.  Below is what I said. 

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My friends – tonight I come in two capacities to express my support for curbside recycling – as a pastor and a resident of this wonderful town.  As pastor, I come not representing the church I serve, but representing many people of many faiths who understand that the call to take care of God’s earth comes first and foremost from this – the scriptures.  In the book of Genesis, which serves as the foundation for some 2.2 billion Christians and Jews worldwide, the scripture says this:

Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth, and over the earth itself.

Sadly, over the years that word “dominion” has been misconstrued to mean “do with the world as you wish.”  When in fact, the Hebrew here actually describes a scenario where a servant is entrusted with the care of their master’s possessions.  So the world does not belong to us – it belongs to God.  Like the Psalmist says in Psalm 24:1: The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.

People of faith all over the world understand God’s mandate to care for creation – including many here in our community, represented in these signed petitions, stating that curbside recycling is not only a civic calling but a spiritual one as well.  I submit these to you for public record on their behalf.

The second capacity in which I come tonight is as a citizen of this town – a citizen who recognizes that waste disposal comes at a cost to the taxpayer, no matter how we go about doing it.  We can either continue purchasing additional land for the landfill – land which will eventually fill up and cause us to purchase more land – or we can enact a curbside recycling program that, in the long run, will cost the taxpayer less.  If we are going to talk about cost in this discussion, as some people are so eager to do, then let us be open and honest about all costs involved.

It’s become apparent that, if curbside recycling is going to happen in Mount Airy, it’s going to require some "forward-thinking" on behalf of you, our city commissioners.  Which is why I’m grateful that this is something you all have demonstrated in the past.  Five or six years ago, you will recall, Reeves Community Center was in danger of shutting its doors.  It would've been easy for you, our elected officials, to have said, "We can't afford to get involved." Instead, you wisely recognized that you couldn't afford NOT to.  So you chose to take over Reeves and keep that vital community resource intact.

And, you know, it strikes me that the city didn’t have to hold a public forum back then to discuss this, even though it came at an additional cost to the taxpayer.  So why is this issue so much more contentious?  The real reason, I would submit, is not about money.  The real reason is about doing something new and different; something we’ve never had before.  It’s about change.  And as creatures of habit, we humans are not very fond of change.  But sometimes doing the right thing, doing the smart and sensible thing, doing the economically viable thing, requires that we do something we’ve never done before.

On a personal note: I’ve had the honor of getting to know each of you on a number of levels.  I’ve served with you in Rotary and in ministry.  I’ve shared the stage with you for shows you were running sound for.  I’ve coached your children in swimming, taught them at the college, officiated your daughter’s weddings.  I know you love this town and want very much to do the right thing.  My friends, this is the right thing!  And, contrary to our local newspaper’s editorial yesterday, this is also very much the right time.  I implore you, as a fellow citizen and colleague and friend, to once again engage in “forward-thinking” and bring curbside recycling to Mount Airy.   Thank you!

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I welcome all comments and thoughts, both those who agree with me and those who don't.  Here's the deal - this is my blog, so I reserve the right to delete comments that do one of two things: 1) engage in namecalling, belittling, excessive vitriol or other such nonsense, and/or 2) do not contribute to the dialogue in a meaningful way. If you don't feel you can abide by either of these stipulations, you probably don't need to comment (or just don't get all bent out of shape when I delete it).  If you can abide by it, please, comment away.

Telling only one side of the story

There are many, many things I love about the small town my family and I live in.

And then there is this.

Where to start?  Obviously the guy is entitled to his opinion, although it certainly is based on hearsay and lines drawn with the most random of connections.  Without diving into a full-on political debate, I simply cannot understand how someone could equate "socialism" with "sustainable living" so completely.  Nevertheless, he is entitled to his opinion.

My concern lies with those who make the agenda for our city commissioners and those who report for our newspapers.  I am friends with a number of city commissioners and individuals at the local newspaper, so I do not say these things lightly. But how this individual got on the docket of our city commissioner's meeting is troubling to me.  Obviously, armed with powerpoints and a formal presentation, this was not something out of the open public forum.  This gentleman was invited to speak.  Fine.  But if you're going to extend him an invitation, you must invite someone from the other side of the argument.  And there are plenty of people in our community who would be more than willing and qualified to do that.  Such as Joe Gardener, a nationally-renowned expert in sustainable gardening and living who lives a mile and a half from the city building where the commissioners meet.  He's an intelligent guy, a good Presbyterian, and he kicks butt on the Stairmaster at the community center.  Someone majorly dropped the ball by not making arrangements for a counterpoint voice to be heard.

But that's not all.  I understand that the reporter's job is to report what happens, and the city commissioners did not give the newspaper a counterpoint to report on.  And I know the print dealine looms large every day and a story must be turned in for publication.  Still, I can't understand why the reporter did not take a few extra minutes to pick up the phone and call any number of people to provide another perspective to balance the article.  Reporting is about sharing what happened, but it is also about striving to present a full picture, especially when the facts presented here are so skewed and one-sided.

I am not a fan of socialism.  I am a fan of sustainable living.  And I cannot see how one could possibly lead to another, unless you succumb to a radical perspective based on something other than just the facts.  Which is why I fear there is more going on here than meets the eye. I've said this before and apparently it bears repeating: when we live by our fears and not by our hopes, when we use scare tactics to get our way rather than presenting a complete picture and the facts at hand, we only hurt ourselves.  And that's not something this small town - or any town - ever needs.

I welcome your thoughtful and respectful comments below, whatever your perspective might be.

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UPDATE: Here's a wonderful letter to the editor from my friend David Petri, who lives in Mount Airy and works with a local company in the area of sustainable living.

Trashing the Biodegradable Sun Chips bag

If you haven't heard the news about the Sun Chips bags, that may be because you haven't heard much of anything since you last opened one.  They were, of course, the biodegradable packaging brainchild of snack-maker Frito-Lay.  The deal was that the whole bag was compostable - meaning it was made out of plant material that would break down over a few months.  This is in contrast to other snack food bags, and all plastic bags in general, that are petroleum-based and take anywhere from 500-1000 years to degrade, so the scientists tell us.

Now let's shoot straight here - ultimately this was nothing more than a sales gimmick.  It worked on my family.  I mean, we've always liked Sun Chips, but we bought more of them when they made the bag change.  The fact that they restricted the use of this bag to the Sun Chips product - the supposedly more natural/healthy option in their snack food arsenal (yes, you may snicker here) - seemed to prove this point.

Nevertheless, they did in fact do what they claimed to do - as the compost in my backyard has become the final resting place for many a Sun Chips bag, where they wind up looking much like the picture to the right.  So regardless of their motives, it was nevertheless a bold move and at least indicated that a company-for-profit might actually be growing a conscience; might just be thinking about something other than the bottom line.

Might.

That changed this past week, when Frito-Lay trashed the biodegradable bag option - all because consumers complained that they were too noisy.

And make no mistake - they certainly were.  Freakishly noisy.  I mean, plastic snack bags will never be described as "quiet."  They have to be made out of a crisper plastic to keep moisture out, lest your Cheetos or chips become soggy, which would be a travesty.  But these bags - my gosh, you could tell when your neighbor across the street was taking them out of their pantry.  No snack-sneaking here, folks!  One study showed that they elicited 100 decibels of bag-crinkling noise, compared to the sound of a lawnmower (90) and a New York subway (94).  Facebook groups popped up, like: Sorry But I Can't Hear You Over This Sun Chips Bag and The 100% Compostable Sun Chips Bag Is 110% Annoying (the latter demonstrating that creating a Facebook group doesn't mean you have to be good at math). 

So yes, they were noisy. Loud. Obnoxiously so.

But here's the thing: is loudness really a legit reason to ditch a decent sustainability initiative? Do we really want to include that among the excuses we've concocted for avoiding the more environmental-friendly option - a list that already has:

• "It's too expensive" (cities like mine refusing to offer curbside recycling, people not switching to greener technology in general).
• "It's not convenient" (not hauling recycling to a center when the city won't do it).
• "Our economy will always be oil-based, so why change" (not driving hybrid or electric vehicles).
• "It's too much of a hassle and I don't have time for it" (not growing food in your own garden or setting up a recycling station in your home).

Do we really want to add "It's too noisy" to that list??

I have this image in my head that I can't shake.  It's America fifty years from now.  That's when many studies suggest that all our landfills - those big holes in the ground we never see where all our trash goes - will be completely full.  As in, there is no room for the 4+ pounds of garbage produced by every American every day (not counting commercial and industrial waste, mind you).  Which means we will have resorted to burning it, dumping it on some third-world country, burying it deep in the ocean, or even launching it into space - all of which will wreak even more havoc on our environment.  I'm trying to imagine what they (read: our grandkids) will think when they learn that we nixed a compostable snack food bag simply because it was too noisy.  Don't you think that's going to come across as more than a bit petty?

At some point we North American consumers are going to have to accept the fact that things must change; the first being our habits and our attitude.  I'm not saying that the fate of the world rests in the balance of an obnoxiously loud Sun Chips bag.  I'm simply saying it might be a good thing to look at the big picture for a change, despite what our ears may tell us.

R.I.P., Biodegradable Sun Chips bag. You will be missed by some of us.

Preaching with an iPad

When the iPad came out earlier this year, honestly, I thought the whole thing was kind of silly.  I was already halfway geeked-out with a MacBook and iPod and had my eyes set on the future release of the iPhone 4.  I really didn't see the need for another Mac device, especially one that, at first glance, appeared to be nothing more than an oversized iPhone.

The only reason I thought I'd ever actually get Steve Jobs' latest gadget was to preach from it.  If I could read off it and scroll with the tip of my finger, well, that actually might be worth something. But that was just a crazy thought.  It wasn't like it was going to dramatically change my preaching.  No real need for it.

So it really should come as no surprise that I now own an iPad and am preaching with it.

And yes, I'll confess straight-up - ultimately this is about having a gadget to play with.  I will admit to my tech-geekdom.  Although it does save paper - I typically read off 7-9 pages a Sunday, and that adds up to a few trees every year, right?  It's the pastor going green!  And playing with another gadget.

I've been at it three weeks now and it's going well.  I'm viewing the sermon as a pdf file in iBooks.  Positioning the iPad upright, I simply "flick" through the "pages" with a sideways swipe.  I have to save the document at a rather large 20 pt., but this does the trick . Of all the ways I've tried to view my sermon this is more like using actual paper, without the paper.

Is there a little anxiety about relying on a battery-powered instrument?  Sure.  The first two weeks I printed out a hard copy (albeit single-space and smaller font), just in case.  I'm glad to say I didn't have to use them, and I imagine I'll forego this security blanket soon.  The iPad actually holds its charge remarkably well.  And I'm not too concerned about finger-swiping too far - it's not any different than accidentally turning two pages instead of one.  Preaching is far from a perfect enterprise, and honestly, that's part of what makes it special; knowing Someone other than yourself is at work in the process.

Response from the congregation, in case you're wondering, has been fine.  No one's walked out in protest.  If anything, those who've noticed have asked questions and seemed genuinely intrigued.  Although one family was caught off-guard - apparently they paid attention to how many pages I turned and could tell when the sermon was wrapping up.  Now the finger swipes, more plentiful, were throwing them off.  I like keeping folks on their toes. ;-)

My plans are to make it more than just something I preach off of, turning it into a portable sermon study resource. I've loaded it with lots of tools - the entire NRSV and Message translations, in which you can do some amazing searches and comparisons.  I've installed apps for Hebrew and Greek and the Confessions, as well as weblinks to a number of sermon resources I use.  In iBooks and the Amazon Kindle app I've downloaded some commentaries (although it's currently slim pickings in the ebook world) and a few great reads by the likes of Brian McLaren, Marcus Borg, Frederick Buechner, and Anne Lamott.  And perhaps just as notable is what I don't have on it - no Facebook or Twitter on the iPad.  Seriously.  I'm keeping it pure!

Like I said, this isn't going to transform my behind-the-pulpit experience.  I don't know that preaching with an iPad will necessarily make my sermons any better. But if today's technology can be put to use in the church, why not? 

Plus, it gave me a reason to create a Facebook page on the topic, which you should join right now.

 

 

Z-packs, Facebook pages, getting published and sabbatical hammocks

In a nutshell, that describes my first full week of sabbatical.  Sure, the first official week was back at the beginning of the month, spent with the family at Disney World (you can experience it for yourself in this previous post via tweets, if you like).  But in many ways that felt like nothing more than a standard vacation week.  The real odd sensation was coming back from that trip and not having to go to work the following day.  That's when the full effect of the sabbatical began to hit.

Unfortunately, what also hit soon upon my return was a nasty sinus infection.  All the wonderful symptoms started to rear their ugly head around Monday - mostly head congestion and a general desire to do absolutely nothing.  Thankfully I got to the doctor for a nifty z-pack prescription.  And while the sick bug plagued me for most of the week, I started to feel noticeably better by Thursday.  So thankfully it wasn't a totally lost week.  Which is good, because already I'm sensing that these three months are going to fly by.

Around the middle of the week I mustered up enough energy in my sickly state to create a Facebook page for my new CD, whose back-story you can read about here.  I must admit that the end of this project has kind of snuck up on me - since the CD's debut will be at the June Massanetta Middle School Conferences, there's a fixed date I have to deal with - it's not like I can put it off or anything.  And the time between then and now, hard as it is to believe, is quickly shrinking.  Already my producer, Doug Davis, and I are beginning to feel the heat and have scheduled what looks to be a marathon mixing session tomorrow night (thank goodness it's only five songs we're having to work with).

But back to the Facebook page - I figured this would be the quickest way to get the word out about the CD and keep people informed of its progress and the general public release sometime in early July.  It was also a chance to show off the hot-off-the-presses artwork.  The first is a nifty creation by local art store owner Sara Ann Butner, whose husband happens to be one of my landlords at the music space I've rented during the sabbatical (I need to do a blog on that space, by the way.  I'll try and do that this week).  I dig the artsy earth for sure.

The second one was done by a youth in my church, Maggie Mills, whose artistic endeavors (visual and musical) I've admired for many years.  I asked her to include a lot of feet and hands in the artwork, given that it's part of the project's title; and as you'll see she did not disappoint.  I like the title she gave it: "Explosion."

Anyway, both of these will find their way into the CD packaging, as well as come with any downloads from CD Baby or itunes when they're available.  And of course I'd be more than happy (elated, in fact), if you saw fit to join the Facebook page titled "Feet & Hands & Stuff" and invited lots of others to do the same.  Actually, I believe the official lingo is "like the page," but that just doesn't sound right. Whatever it is you do, please do it.  The more the merrier.

What else?  Oh yeah, getting published.  We've got a neat lady in our little town named Wanda Urbanska - you may have heard of her through her syndicated TV show on PBS titled "Simple Living."  Wanda is a strong proponent of Mount Airy and an author as well; and back about eight months ago she asked me to write a small piece for a new book she was working on.  The subject: simplifying your wedding.  Which was kind of funny, since my wedding was anything but ("This is what happens when you marry a minister," I had to keep telling my then-fiancee).

But I have seen a different side of weddings as an officiant and an occasional wedding musician.  So I thought I was up to the task and could come up with 700 or so helpful words (that's the number Wanda gave me to work with).  Back in the fall Wanda took a sabbatical of her own and moved back to her native Poland to finish the book.  I kind of forgot about it, until this past week when she left a message on my Facebook wall telling me she was home, the book was out, and that my contribution had made the cut.  If you're interested you can check the book out for yourself here and read my piece on pgs. 231-232.  And while you're at it, read the other 251 pages too.

One last thing: the hammock.  You know, it's funny - I had to plan out a fair amount of stuff in preparation for this sabbatical.  But the idea of a hammock never crossed my mind.  I remember having a hammock as a kid growing up in Raleigh - I always loved the thing, but for some reason I never got one of my own.  That may have something to do with the fact that I've not always lived in a location that lent itself to decent hammock-installation.  Here in Mount Airy, though, our house is surrounded by trees.  So I found a good pair underneath a canopy of pines and maples that shield the sun.

Of course I installed it with tree straps and not hooks drilled into the tree itself - silly you should even ask.  I haven't used it much yet, just now getting over the sick thing.  But I promise you, I will. Very soon. Except not right now, because it's storming outside.

(P.S. If you subscribe to this blog in RSS feed or email format and got a strange blog post from me early this morning, please accept my apologies.  If you're wondering, this is what happens when you accidentally hit the "Invite All My Friends to Facebook" button and have your blog email in your address book.)

Global Darkening and Peekaboo-ologists

Indeed, it's a strange, strange world when a comedy television network speaks the truth.  And makes you laugh while doing it.

Behold short video clips from Jon Stewart's The Daily Show (4 min) and The Colbert Report (1 min).  Both aired back-to-back on the same night, February 10th.  Both came out of the context of the massive snowstorms that have sacked the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states in recent weeks.  And both highlight the silliness of egocentric thinking.

Three things: first, if you get these blog posts via email and can't see the video clips, click on the links above.  Second, Hulu typically inserts a 30-second ad at the beginning of each clip, so if it does go grab some chips and a drink and it'll be done when you get back.  And last, a heads-up: there's a comment in the Daily Show clip that some would deem inappropriate for little ears.  It's at the 6.57 mark (pretty much guaranteeing some of you will scan right to that point so you can hear it first).

Enjoy. Laugh. Ponder.  You're meant to do all three.

The ups and downs (and results) of the latest car shopping saga

Let me begin by saying that I am not a good car-shopper.  I have friends who excel at this sort of thing and have a power over the salesperson where the unsuspecting soul winds up practically giving the thing away.  Maybe it's like the jedi mind trick or something; I don't know.  What I do know is that I can't do it; no matter how hard I study Kelley Blue Book or read Edmunds.com (there's a great article where Edmunds actually hired a guy to go undercover and sell cars for a few months to expose the tricks of the trade. A must-read, even if you're not currently in the hunt).

My inability to prove myself wouldn't matter much if I wasn't having to buy a car.  Alas, the past two years have seen me engage in the madness not once, but twice (the latter of which you can read about here, if you want).  So about a month ago I began the search. The wife and I laid out the parameters: definitely used, small (we've already go the minivan for the family), good gas mileage, some room for toting music stuff to gigs.  In other words, practical; pretty much what every other car-shopper in America is looking for these days.

And I don't know why, but when I'm car-shopping I pretty much throw myself into it.  It becomes a saga that is all-consuming.  The "perfect car" could've just been listed on the internet, just been traded in at the dealership in town, just appeared in the classifieds.  So I comb through it all (or try to) multiple times a day.  If there's a car parked alongside the road with a "For Sale" sign in it, I'll spot it a half-mile away.  And I find myself noticing the make and model of cars on the road with me.  It's exciting and incredibly draining at the same time.

At the top of our dream list we had a Prius - we're very happy with our other Toyota (a Sienna) and both of us feel strongly about the auto industry (and us as consumers) going "green."  There was one big problem.....well, two actually.  The price for a typical used Prius is high for our range.  There also just aren't many out there, presumably because people don't want to give them up.  It's a very thin market (unlike, say, the Volkswagen Beetle, which I saw everywhere).

The search began with a few small sedans (Corollas, Civics, Sentras) but eventually honed in on the three or four used Priuses in a 30-mile radius.  One was owned by Lutheran minister, but the interior of the car was, to borrow biblical lingo, an abomination.  Besides, it would've looked weird for a Presbyterian minister to tote around in a car that had a "Love Your Lutheran" bumper sticker on the back.  Another prospect dropped out of contention when the salesman on the phone told me to come see him for more details and ask for "the real McCoy."  Oh man, you did not just say that!   His name wasn't really McCoy.  Scratch.

Things started looking up late last week. On a whim I upped the mileage radius for the Cars.com search and discovered a 2005 Prius at the right price.  The problem was that it was in Charlotte, a good two-hour trip away.  Too far to drive to check out a car.  But for some crazy reason, I picked up the phone and called the number anyway.  A folksy-sounding guy named Joey answered.  I asked a few things about the car and all his answers confirmed that this was the kind of car we were looking for.  Except for that whole distance thing.  No problem, he says; he could have it brought to me.

Hmm.  Brought to me.  Really?  I reminded him that I lived two hours away; he said that'd be no problem.  Hmm.   What kind of car salesman, pray tell, drives the car 75 miles just to be looked at?  I asked him this quite directly, and he told me it's how Carolina Motor Club works.  Turns out they're part of AAA, the nationally-recognized roadside assistance service.  I had no idea they also bought and sold cars.

I was still skeptical.  What obligation was I under?  He said none.  So your people could drive this thing two hours up the interstate for me to look at, and thirty seconds later I could just tell them no and they'd be on their way?  Yep.  Could I test drive it and have it checked out at the local Toyota dealership?  Absolutely.  He even told me he could have the paperwork all arranged so that if we liked it we could buy it on the spot.  I asked, half-jokingly, how the driver would get back home.  He said he sends two drivers and they go back in the other car.

At this point I'm trying to think of ways I can expose the huge scam this had to be.  I asked about financing, hoping he'd quote some sketchy rate that would seal his doom (I'd already checked at our local credit union and their low 5.75%).  He asked some questions, did some calculations, and said, Great news!  We can get you a rate of 4.5%!  Ah, so low that there had to be a catch - some sketchy outfit that'd sell it six months later at an astronomical rate.  Now he was sounding like a real car salesman!  With some satisfaction I asked him who was doing this financing.  And with a voice that was playful without being condescending he responded, A little bank called Wachovia.

Oh, I see.  Yeah I've, umm, heard of them.

Could it really be this easy???

The fact of the matter is that, as much as I tried to find holes in this arrangement, there were none to find.  Yeah, we're different than the others, he told me.  We like to fly below the radar, so to speak.  No kidding.  So at 10am the next morning, two drivers pull in our driveway with a very nice-looking black Prius.  I give it a quick look-over and it's the real deal.  The Carfax had already come back clean as a whistle.  We take it to the Toyota dealership where they do a full check of the car, including the all-important hybrid battery (this, I might add, is in addition to the 150-point check that AAA had already put it through).  The guy at the dealership inquired about the asking price; and when I told him his jaw hit the floor.  It's a pretty darn good feeling when the dealership is highly recommending that you buy a car they're NOT selling.

So we go home and I have a short conversation with the wife, and we decide to buy the car.  We invite the drivers in our living room.  Oh, did I mention that the two drivers were in fact husband and wife, retired, in their late 60's.  Meet Barney and Carol, friends.  They do this car driver/seller thing for AAA part-time, they say, because they love traveling and meeting new people.  Wow.  We sit at our kitchen table as the boys sing and dance around us; Barney and Carol walk us through the paperwork, showing us where to sign what.  And that's it.  They follow me to the bank, where I give them a cashier's check for the down payment.  They hit I-77 back to Charlotte and I head home in our new/used car.

I'm telling ya, folks, I'm a believer.  I'd recommend this AAA Carolina Motor Club thing in a heartbeat.  Dealing with dealers - especially the "real McCoy" type - can be insanely frustrating.  Buying from a private seller only works if they have a decent idea of the worth of their car (usually they don't) and actually take the time to, umm, clean the bloomin' thing. I know I'm not alone in feeling this.

Which is why I really think this business model of selling cars could be the next big thing - meeting the potential buyer on their terms, taking the guesswork out of the process.  I'll admit that it's almost too easy - it could've been a disaster.  It would've been an entirely different experience if the car wasn't in good shape, or if the financing suddenly looked suspicious, or if the paperwork was out of order.  The fact, though, is that none of that happened.  Barney and Carol and Joey sold us a great car, and I didn't have to graze a dealer's lot or scour the tiny code of a classified ad to do it.  I just had to walk out the front door of my house.

I really hope our family is set in the car department for a while now and we won't have to do this sort of thing anytime soon.  But if we do - well, when we do - you can bet your gas guzzler that I'll be looking these guys up again.  I'd suggest you do the same too.  Now please excuse me while I go take the new wheels for a little spin.