Why The Pope Wears Red Shoes

According to NPR, the Pontiff sports these fancy red loafers "as a statement of his desire to demonstrate continuity with the symbols and history of the church," but I think they left out the most important reason:

"There's no place like Rome...there's no place like Rome...!"

Why Was 6 Afraid of 7?

What happens when one of my favorite bands starts doing children's songs:

Some of You Will Laugh. Some of You Will Call.

Songs Everyone Should Know

It's hard to pick some favorites, like a favorite movie or book or song; it seems there are too many categories. But if I had to choose a favorite song, this one would definitely be up there in the top five. Maybe top three.

I was listening to it this evening and wondering if I could find a video...there are a bunch of weird things out there on YouTube, including some live bootleg versions of this that have been entirely ruined by tone deaf audience members singing along as they were recording. Not good.

But this is pretty cool. Just the words, with the studio recording. Simple.

I will warn you that I'm pretty sure the phrase "white sea of eyes" should actually read "WIDE sea of eyes," because otherwise that's just creepy. Anyway, enjoy a little Ben Folds:

On Significant Days and New Beginnings

My heart is full today, and my own words fail, so I will speak with His.

Psalm 30: 11-12

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

Feliz Año Nuevo

Perhaps your New Year's resolution is to better yourself, to enrich your life and expand your horizons by learning a foreign language, for example. If that's the case, I urge you to try Spanish! It's useful in many parts of the country, and as you can see from this video, even a freshman effort can put you on the path to becoming a Latin lothario:

Merry Christmas

Blackfive, the best milblogging read on the Internet, put out the call for his fellow milbloggers to send their Christmas wishes to the troops via video. This is the result:



It is strange and heartwarming to see the likenesses and hear the voices of faraway people whose sites I've been reading for so long.

Also from Blackfive comes this Christmas Eve report from independent embed C. Blake Powers, known on Blackfive as "Laughing Wolf." It is good news: security, economy, and community are taking hold in Baghdad. The people are standing up for themselves, building infrastructure, creating art.

Laughing Wolf says it best: "Perfect? No. Much improved and continuing to improve? Yes. The people have security and hope, and appear to be making the most of it."

Hope is the best gift you can give or receive. Merry Christmas to Iraq, and to all of you as well.

How to Handle a Telemarketer

HT: Cube

Valour-IT: Give For A Wounded Warrior

This post will remain at the top of my blogs until November 11, 2007. Skip on down to the new stuff if you've already seen this...but please read on if you're new here.

Guide-dog-puppy-in-training Truman and I are big fans of the U.S. military; you might remember our care package posts, and you might also know that I am a Soldiers' Angels volunteer. Both my dad and my grandpa served during wartime, so this is a cause that's dear to me.

Many of our young men are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with devastating hand and arm injuries that result in isolation and frustration in addition to the physical pain of the injury itself. Think about it: is your computer your lifeline? Your source of news and entertainment? Your outlet for self-expression? Your means of earning a paycheck? If your hands were burned, bandaged, missing -- such that you could not even scratch an itch or hold a toothbrush, much less send an e-mail from your hospital bed to a faraway loved one -- what impact would this have upon your life?

Project Valour-IT exists for this reason. The project that serves our wounded troops by providing them with voice-activated laptops is having its annual fundraising competition, complete with a little good natured inter-branch rivalry.

I made a generic pitch/bleg last year, but this year I'm aligning with Team USMC, in honor of my adopted Marine (and because Truman also fancies himself a devil dog of sorts).

Will you take a moment to make even a small tax-deductible donation (via PayPal or credit card)? Every dollar counts, and every cent goes to the purchase and shipment of the laptops. This is a perfect opportunity to show your gratitude for the sacrifices made by our military (especially if you live in an area not directly connected to the military community), or to teach your children the value of giving, or to be a vital part of someone's healing process.

Help Team USMC reach our $60,000-by-Veteran's-Day goal! Please give by clicking on the thermometer graph in the sidebar.

Thank you. And now, back to our regularly scheduled random posts.

Cure for the Modern Bland-O-Lantern

You've seen them around the neighborhood: round, smiley, friendly, pointy-nosed. The typical boring jack-o-lantern. Maybe you've even carved your share of uninspired pumpkins.

Not anymore. Not after this.

Oh, the Irony of Saying This in a Blog Post

I've been wrestling with my schedule lately, trying to get a solid hold on how I'm spending my time and energy so I can cut things out or be more disciplined (this is my perpetual battle). Again and again, I come back to how much time I've been spending with my beloved Internet. Technology is beneficial only insofar as it serves us...but many of us have instead become its slaves.

Not that you'd know it by the infrequency of my blog posts for the last several months, but I really am spending too much time "plugged in." I don't have an iPod, and I'm not as much of a texting fiend or cell phone user as many people my age, but I'm almost certain I would be reduced to a quivering blob of jelly in the corner if someone were to take away my Web access for more than a few days at a time. It's where I get my news; how I stay in touch with friends, make social plans, and archive the goings-on of my life and volunteer work; it's how I *do* some of my volunteer work; it's even a significant component of my (ahem, actual PAID) job.

Certainly it's no coincidence that in the last few weeks -- since I've been praying for wisdom and insight into the problem of my technical difficulties, as it were -- I've run across three wise and insightful articles on the subject. Any of you wearing similar cyber-shackles would do well to get some perspective here:

* Joe Thorn on "unplugging"

* Joe Carter on taking an "Info-Techno Sabbath"

* Mark Driscoll on "Cell Sin"

(Too many HT's to list...everyone's talking about this topic!)

Anyone Else Feeling the Stress Already?

Is it Christmas?

www.isitchristmas.com

Why I Was in Minnesota

But seriously, folks...

I actually went to Minnesota to attend the fifth annual Desiring God conference. This year's topic was endurance and perseverance in the faith, and each of the speakers was worth the price of admission.

You want perseverance? Try being a single woman in the mid-twentieth century, working as a medical missionary to the people of Africa, only to be kidnapped, beaten, raped and held captive for five months by Congolese rebels. Dr. Helen Roseveare -- who never married, by the way -- is in her eighties now, and still active in speaking, writing, and mentoring young women in her native England. What an incredible experience it was to hear her speak about the foundations of joy and hope, without a trace of bitterness or anger about the trials she's endured throughout her many decades of ministry. She radiates joy.

Why is perseverance important? So many people with an alleged assurance of their own salvation completely drop off the spiritual map, either by succumbing to discouragement in hard times or by leaning a bit too heavily (and selfishly) on the doctrine of grace and "freedom in Christ." Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason has an excellent, brief article on this subject that's worth your time.

Want in on what I heard and saw at the conference? All the sessions are now available online for free.

Things I Learned in Minnesota, Part 4 (Special "Mall of America" Edition!)

While you are not allowed to bring your gun to the Mall of America, you are allowed to do the following:

Ride a roller coaster!



Get married!





Raise up an army of frightening, Disneyfied, sparkly makeover preteen zombie girls!

Things I Learned in Minnesota, Part 3

Minnesota's full of saints!

And apparently it's also full of nature. This is part of the historic stone arch bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Anthony Main, the riverfront district. We walked around here for a bit, until it started raining:



Then there's St. Paul, of course. Here's the St. Paul Cathedral, as seen from across the street at the Capitol:



And here's the Basilica of St. Mary (America's first basilica, built in 1914):



The Basilica had a gift shop, which necessitated a visit. Amy wins the prize for finding the most offensive-to-good-taste affront to the Gospel -- a wee plastic idol of St. Joseph, which can apparently be used to help you with your real estate woes:





Though there were many other items in the gift shop that would remind you to "invoke" certain saints to help you with day to day tasks, St. Joseph wins this dubious honor because he was represented by an actual idol. An IDOL. For those of you who don't understand what the problem is with this (and who don't hear that whirring sound that is surely Martin Luther spinning in his grave), I'll let Amy explain.

Things I Learned in Minnesota, Part 2

My friend's sister, who lives near Minneapolis, was kind enough to pick us up from the airport on the day we arrived and drive us over to where the rest of our friends were meeting. We parked at the destination, got out of the car, and Amy and I stood at the corner of the intersection to wait for the traffic signal...

...while Sarah, halfway across the street, looked back at us like we were aliens.

"What are you guys waiting for?"

After exchanging a puzzled glance, Amy and I crossed with the just-turned light and caught up with her.

But it wasn't just Sarah. Turns out, ALL Minnesotans share this blatant disregard for pedestrian rules. The entire weekend in Minneapolis, we marveled as the tourists waited at the corner and the locals stepped right out into the street. Is it that the population isn't so dense that the traffic is prohibitive of illegal crossing? Amy's theory is that people are just too nice there, so drivers will courteously allow such strange behavior (a theory disproven when I, crossing legally, was nearly squashed by someone making an errant left turn).

Not that I have a photo to illustrate this further disproving of the politeness theory, but I must also note that everyone we encountered who worked in a customer service job was surly, slow, and seemed inconvenienced by our mere presence. The weather was beautiful all weekend; maybe Minnesotans suffer from some reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder that renders them unhappy in all but the coldest temperatures.

Things I Learned in Minnesota, Part 1

It's good for me to get out of Southern California every once in a while, to experience a different region, city, culture, maybe even a little weather. A recent trip to Minnesota proved both entertaining and educational.

For example, you are apparently allowed to carry a gun in Minnesota. But you are apparently not allowed to go anywhere with it.

Reasons Not to Mess With Texas

I don't like this, not one bit. And it just gets worse as you keep reading....

Your Nominations Welcome

Today's most excellent Yahoo! News headline:

"Scientists find parasitic star that feeds off nearby companions"

Narrow it down for those of us who live in L.A., guys! That could be almost anyone.

Tales From the Spam Folder

Spam subject lines I have loved (and the senders who sent them), categorized for your convenience:

VERY ENCOURAGING, THANKS
* (St. Maris) - I like you
* (Cordelia) - Why I Love You

SERIOUS DISCUSSIONS AHEAD
* (Conrad) - It’s ok. I can take it.
* (do you like me) - Nude modeling, business or art?
* (Summers Randolph) - He wasn’t sure about Sal.

POINTS FOR CREATIVE VARIATIONS ON TIRED SUBJECTS
* (Sales) - Your weenie will thank you ;)
* (Abdul K. Holman) - Big your piano, be a real man
* (daytime) - Classy drugs at very low prices!
* (Deana Cooper) - Make fab, not fat

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION?
* (Britney’s bra) - Britney’s bra: Not for sale
* (David O) - discover the madness of Davido....

ONE I WAS ACTUALLY TEMPTED TO OPEN:
* (anarchist@ff.com) - announcement

FANTASTICALLY UNINTELLIGIBLE
* (Cameron) - Recreational hacksaw
* (Neda Whitten) - weedy armpit gegenschein
* (Luisa Clinton) - Bangui range range

BEST USE OF A SERIES
* (bias) - Hi sweety! Remember me? cupid
* (elastomer) - Hi sweety! Remember me? yogi
* (cluj) - YO Superman! Remember me? transvestite