Sorry, mom

I was trying to come up with some good captions for the blog... the only problem is that the possibilities are ENDLESS:

"Not Again!"

"We understand, mom. It was a long flight."

"It happens to the best of us."

"I just LOVED the chili!"

"You know, adult diapers are a 3 million dollar a year industry."

The truth is, mom was sitting in a chair and someone else spilled diet coke on to it.

Moving...

For those of you who don't know: Dasha and I are in the process and moving. This is Dasha:

"When You're moving your whole world becomes boxes. That's all you think about is boxes.

'Boxes, where are there boxes?' You just wander down the street going in and out of stores.

'Are there boxes here? Have you seen any boxes?' I mean it's all you think about. You can't even talk to people because you can't concentrate.

'Shut up I'm looking for boxes!' Just after a while you become like really into it you can smell them. You walk into a store... 'There's boxes here. Don't tell me you don't have boxes! Dammit, I can SMELL them!' I'm like I'm obsessed. 'I love the smell of cardboard in the morning.'

You could be at a funeral. Everyone's mourning crying around, and you're looking at the casket. 'That's a nice box Does anyone know where that guy got that box? When he's done with it do you think I could get that? it's got some nice handles on it.' And that's what death is really. It's the last big move of your life. The hearse is like the van. The pale bearers are your close friends the only ones you could ask to help you with a big move like that. and the casket is that great perfect box you've been waiting for your whole life The only problem is, once you find it you're in it."

Fun...

I don't know why exactly... but this picture really made me smile when I saw it...

Thank you, Annie.

The Weddings

This is me at Ben and Linnea's wedding. It's the only shot I have of the wedding. I am seen here at four in the moring (Ukraine time) trying to make that special Skype call to Matt Robin's phone and talk to Ben and Linnea while they were cutting their cake.

Here I am again at Noah and Katie's wedding. They had me standing WAY in the back (Ukraine in the back). I couldn't even see sthe action or say hello. And the service at the reception was horrible. I'm standing there in the Noah shirt (you'd think they would know I was in the fan club) and no one even offered me a drink.

Those who were closer report that they had a great time. Dasha and I will try to be there next time.



P.S. Sorry I have no pictures with Dasha my date... I don't think she wanted this type of flattering picture taken of her and published.

"I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in
And stops my mind from wandering
Where it will go
I'm filling the cracks that ran through the door
And kept my mind from wandering
Where it will go"

Squirrel goes on rampage, injures 3

I couldn't NOT blog this...:

BERLIN (Reuters) - An aggressive squirrel attacked and injured three people in a German town before a 72-year-old pensioner dispatched the rampaging animal with his crutch.
The squirrel first ran into a house in the southern town of Passau, leapt from behind on a 70-year-old woman, and sank its teeth into her hand, a local police spokesman said Thursday.
With the squirrel still hanging from her hand, the woman ran onto the street in panic, where she managed to shake it off.
The animal then entered a building site and jumped on a construction worker, injuring him on the hand and arm, before he managed to fight it off with a measuring pole.
"After that, the squirrel went into the 72-year-old man's garden and massively attacked him on the arms, hand and thigh," the spokesman said. "Then he killed it with his crutch."
The spokesman said experts thought the attack may have been linked to the mating season or because the squirrel was ill.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1432171020070614

John Piper is BAD

I found this randomly and thought it was entertaining... especially for all the Piper fans out there.

Design

Some of you may know that Dasha and I will be moving soon to a little house right outside of Kyiv. It is a duplex and the second/top floor will be ours. It is still being built so everything will be done the way we prefer. The question is... how do you decorate this type of area?

These two picture (above and below) don't match up. Ours will be closer to the top plan than the bottom as far as where that door is.
So what do you do with all these slanted walls?

If anybody knows or has ideas... comment!

The Weather

It's been a whopping 11 days since my last blog... and what do people talk about during uncomfortable pauses in conversation? The weather...

I just thought I would mention that while the projected high in Salisbury, MD was 65 degrees farenheit... the high in the Kyiv (the froozing former soviet union) is 88! (If you could make numbers 'capital' like letters I would have done it.)

And now you know... the rest of the story.

Happy Victory Day

Europe Worship Link Conference, 2007

So this is where I was last weekend. I didn't do the video, one of the leaders at the conference did. These clips are mostly from the 'Arts of the Nations' night where everyone played something that represented the culture of their country.

One of the biggest chunks was our presentation from Ukraine. It was all very last minute. We didn't have any idea that we would be doing until a few hours before we went up. I'm playing the piano on the second Ukrainian bit... Have a look:

Anna's Hours

I haven't checked Anna's blog for a while. I checked it today and I'm a little worried. Could Anna be overworking? Look at those tough office hours she's putting up with.


We will all continue to pray for you, Anna. Especially for your difficult TWO AND A HALF HOUR work week.

:P

Wednesday

This is where I'm going on Wednesday.

This is a car here in Kyiv... right out in front of the conservatory.

Those are New York tags, by the way.

Things You Won't See In America - Part 5

Today, Good Friday, is a Special Edition Video Installment of 'Things You Won't See In America'. This video was taken today by me on my phone today. It is Kyiv's central square, 'Maydan Nezalejnosti' or 'Independence Square'. This was center stage for the orange revolution and with another 'political crisis' brewing here in Ukraine (I don't know if it has made it's way into western news cycles), you can see that some people have taken to the streets:



Today's thing you won't see in America is:

The Religious Left

You can hear the Orthodox choral pieces in the backround. No, that's not from the Conservatory (located just off camera)... it is being blasted over the loud speakers. It is all part of a video talking about church history that you can see being played on the big screens on both sides of the stage.

But the kicker in this video is all the pink. All the tents, flags, etc. that are pink are there representing the SOCIALIST PARTY of Ukraine. The very same socialist party that betrayed and effectively ruined the 'Orange Coalition'.

Seems a little odd... and not something that you would see in the states.

Out and About

It has been a while since I've been outside running around... and with the weather as nice as it has been I couldn't turn down the opportunity to kick the ball around Saturday morning.



A couple of us decided to get together and play and the rest are just guys that were hanging out that wanted to join in.

Take note of the lucious grass... Its impossible to plant new grass because it will just get trampled the first day.

Things You Won't See In America - Part 4

I don't have a picture to go with this... but this is something that has frustrated me over the past couple of days... and it just isn't something you're likely to see in the states:

The '24-hour tire service center' down the street has been closed twice in the past two days. So why the 24? Why claim 24-hour service when you're going to close down at night anyway?

It's little things like these that get on people's nerves. It is because of this type of thing that many Ukrainians are not going to Crimea (Ukraine's 'Florida') in the summer but are looking for cheap deals anywhere else (Bulgaria, Turkey, baltic states, Egypt).

This isn't supposed to be a complaint against Ukraine... even if it sounds like one. But you still probably won't see this in America (and not because America is so perfect and wonderful... but because the owner of such a place would probably be sued for false advertising and wasting people's time).

I'll try to make part 5 more positive...

A Big Day...

Today, my blog is celebrating it's first birthday. I've made it... I've made it a whole year. I'm kind of surprised myself to be honest. It all started with the post 'Mouth Soap' (a classic, I'm sure you all remember... hehe).

In celebration I'm adding this clip. Last night I was at a 'drummer show' with the guest star being Marco Minneman (he's a pretty famous drummer). Anyway, he was discussing memorizing music and how to put together long lines of memorized music without even being able to read music. His theory is that you can memorize anything if you put it to words/melody.

So, just for fun... he played a 'solo' over a 3 minute clip of Monty Python's Life of Brian that he had memorized. This is only 31 seconds of it that I recorded on my phone so the quality isn't great. I was quite entertained.




P.S. Someone better make sure Matt Robins sees this!

P.P.S. Last night, I also won a DW Drum's t-shirt for my vast knowledge of drum history.

"More fun, more flames, more flameouts: more Gilmore."

I just don't get it... Dasha is already watching season 3 (borrowed from Jeanne) and I still haven't been able to sit through a whole episode.

I don't think its well-written and I don't think that its well-acted and I think the highly-praised "suds-free storyline" is lame.

What do people like this show for and how can there be so many seasons of it?

Here are the promised pictures that go with Part 3 of the highly-acclaimed series 'Things You Won't See in America'. (Women the world over have given this series two thumbs-up!)