Shockey Showdown

playoffs…..we’ve got a shot! 

Eagles -36

Giants -22

’nuff said.

Quizzo Questions

so last night I was playing quizzo at Kildare’s, and one of the last questions was “If something occurs bi-annually, how often does it occur?”

My answer, of course, was every two years.  After all, the bicentennial happened in 1976, after two centuries.  A bicycle has two wheels.  A bisexual likes two different sexes.

However, the quizmaster said the answer was every 6 months or twice a year. 

After checking some websites, I’ve seen it used both ways. See http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bi-annual

So somebody smart help me out here — what is the correct definition of this word?

Thanksgiving

Well, it’s thanksgiving once again and there’s several things I’m thankful for this year.

– I’m done with college! (no more Carnegie Mellon University)

– I’m gainfully employed

– I have a beautiful nephew who just turned one

– I have a caring family

– I’m in a wonderful small group (when I’m able to attend)

– I’m (fairly) healthy

– I have food to eat and a roof over my head

What is everyone else thankful for this year?

Week 8 NFC East Round-Up

Man, it hurts to be a Philadelphia Eagles fan.  It also hurts to be an Steelers fan (who loses to Oakland?), but fortunately I’m not a Steelers fan.

Before the start of the regular season, Sports Illustrated predicted that all the teams in the NFC east would finish the season at 9-7.  I disagreed with that prediction then, and I still disagree with it.  Here’s my predictions for the NFC East for the second half of the season.

New York Giants: 5-2

11/5 – Texans: W

11/12 – Bears: L

11/20 – at Jaguars: W

11/26 – at Titans: W

12/3 – Cowboys: W

12/17 – Eagles: W

12/24 – Saints: W

12/30 – Redskins: W

 Final Record: 12-3

Philadelphia Eagles: 4-4

Nov 12 – Washington: W

Nov 19 – Tennessee: W

Nov 26 – Indy: L

Dec 4 – Carolina: L

Dec 10 – Washington: W

Dec 17 – Giants: L

Dec 25 – Dallas: W

Dec 31 – Atlanta: L

Final Record: 8-8

Dallas Cowboys: 3-3

10/29 – Carolina: W

11/5 – Washington: W

11/12 – Arizona: W

11/19 – Indianapolis: L

11/23 – Tampa Bay: W

12/3 – Giants: L

12/10 – New Orleans: W

12/16 – Atlanta: L

12/25 – Philadelphia: L

12/31 – Detroit: W

Final Record: 9-7

Washington Redskins: 2-5

11/5 – Cowboys: L

11/12 – Eagles: L

11/19 – Buccanneers: W

11/26 – Panthers: L

12/3 – Panthers: L

12/10 – Eagles: L

12/17 – Saints: L

12/24 – Rams: L

12/30 – Giants: L

Final Record: 3-13

So at the end of the season we’ll have:

Giants: 12-3

Cowboys: 9-7

Eagles: 8-8

Redskins: 3-13

so the Giants win the division with the cowboys possibly a wildcard in the playoffs.  for the Eagles and the Redskins, there’s always next year.

Unfortunately for Philadelphia, a city that has been without a championship for a long time, the chance for a superbowl win is over.  The franchise has been built around Donovan McNabb who is getting older, and won’t be in his prime much longer, as are key defensive players, Jeremiah Trotter and Brian Dawkins.  While some of the younger players look talented, they are not superstars.  It seems that Andy Reid, Jim Johnson, and Marty just don’t have what it takes to coach this team to any sort of decency.

The Church and Independence

Here is another excerpt from Tim Conder’s book, “The Church in Transition”.

Somtimes our churches resemble me and my chainsaw.  The chainsaw is high on my hierarchy of personal tools.  It’s convenient, efficient, and kind of fun to use.  I feel strong and in control when I use a chainsaw.  But each of the seven homes located on our circle owns a chainsaw–and none of us uses this tool more than once or twice a year.  Why do we have so many chainsaws?  Ignoring our affluence for the moment, part of the answer lies in the suburban “holy grail” of independence.  We want to be able to use the chainsaw at the precise moment we choose, and we don’t want to depend on anyone else’s graciousness to tend to our little corner of creation.  It’s our way of being adam in the garden and saying to Eve, “I don’t need you!”

An abbreviated list of “chainsaws” in the tool sheds of many churches could include our children’s programs, youth programs, support groups, mission endeavros, facilities, and vehicles.  These can all be necessities, but often they are redunancies created in competition with other churches.  Missional proximity and missional dependence are closely related.  When congregations have a stronger sense of missional proximity, it will diminish redundancies and increase their dependence on one another.

I would love to see more churches working together, and less churches competing.  Anyone have any idea on how to foster these types of relationships?

The Role of a Pastor

I’ve been reading “The Church in Transition” by Tim Conder.  I think the beginning of the book is quite boring – he talks about post-modernism and what it is…but that’s really nothing new considering the wealth of commentary on that subject.  However, I became intrigued when Tim started talking about the role of the Pastor as an ‘apostle’, ‘poet’, and ‘prophet’.  Some say that pastors need to have “the entrepreneurial skills of Bill Gates, the counseling skills of Dr. Phil, the organizational abilities of Stephen Covey, the authenticity of Oprah, the compassion of Mother Teresa, the courage of William Wallace, and the humor of Jon Stewart.”  I think this is a pretty accurate assessment of what most people expect from a pastor.  There’s no doubt about it – being a pastor is hard.  That said, just because a job is hard isn’t an excuse to do it poorly.  There are many professions which require people to wear many different hats.  Doctors need to have the technical skills to assess and diagnose illness, as well as the proper bedside manner.  Engineers need math and science skills to make machines work, as well as creativity to create and develop new technology.  Pastors simply need to follow God, and draw upon the wealth of resources offered by a multi-faceted supreme being.

an APOSTLE leads a congregation to be witnesses to the gospel in lands where old maps no longer work – he leads the church out of its insular experience as a safe harbor from the surrounding culture and into the uncharted seas of the emerging culture. 

 a POET hears and expresses the experiences of the congregation – sensing the experience of the body and giving that experience a voice….poignantly narrating the yearnings of a gospel community.

a PROPHET leads with insight and savvy, addressing of the word of God directly into the specific, concrete historical experience of the people of God.  The contemporary prophet translates God’s revelation into our current realities.

Does anyone know of a Pastor that is an apostle, poet, and prophet?

Monday NFL Update

Since I haven’t done an NFL update yet, I’m gonna provide brief thoughts on Weeks 1-3 and then talk about Week 4. 

 Week 1:  I was in LA, and missed the Eagles.  I did see a little bit of the Reggie Bush action, and he looked great for a rookie.

Week 2:  The absolute worst loss for Philadelphia sports in recent history.  Anybody disagree?

Week 3:  The Eagles try to redeem themselves against the 49ers.  They won the game, but a 14 point swing on a Mike Patterson fumble return isn’t enough to show fans that you’re serious.  However, I love seeing defensive lineman stagger down the field.

 Week 4: The Eagles play the Packers tonight.  With Lito Sheppard back in the Eagles secondary, they should be fine, but Favre will still play well enough to keep the Packers in the game.

Crooked Soulz Play Of The Week: Byron Leftwich steps into a big hit on 4th down in order to throw a pass setting up the field goal to tie the game.  Sadly, the Jags lose in overtime.

Fantasy Update: Overall, I’m 4-4 right now….however, after the Eagles play tonight I should be 5-3, which might move me into 3rd place in my division.  It’s gonna be a tough end of season for me if I’m gonna make the playoffs.

Louisiana, NFL Week 1 & 9/11

This past weekend I was in Louisiana on business.  One year removed from hurricane Katrina and there’s still a lot of damage to be cleaned up.  Here’s a summary of my trip:

Saturday:

Almost missed the flight because of traffic on the way to the airport.  Got there 40 minutes before take-off only to be told you can’t check luggage if you don’t arrive 45 minutes before take-off.  Had to buy another ticket to send my luggage, but made it on the original flight.  drove an hour to drop a co-worker off at a meeting, then drove an hour back to the airport to get the luggage, then drove an hour back to the meeting.  Attended a cool worship service saturday night, then had dinner, and chilled out watching college football before bed.

 Sunday:

Attended church in the morning, went out to lunch, surveyed all day, then grabbed dinner at sonic burger and watched the manning bowl.  sonic burger has really good fruit smoothies – wish they had them here.  The manning bowl was good, the giants look good, but the colts were a little better that night – however, it was penalties that killed the giants.  My favorite play was the Plexico Burress jump ball in the endzone. 

Monday:

Another meeting, then a quick survey of destruction in New Orleans, and then the flight home.  Watched a couple of Lost episodes before heading to bed to prepare for work the next day.  Lost is an amazing show.

Ok, that was my weekend trip.  My fantasy team did well this week, I won both my games.  Hopefully I can keep that up.  My biggest mistake was not playing Heath Miller over Algae Crumpler.  I think Miller will have a break-out year. 

As we all know, this year was the five year anniversary of 9/11.  It seems that a lot of people have forgotten what happened that day and what it meant for our country and the feelings we all shared on September 12.  That being said, I really appreciate all of those who do remember and the media outlets that paid tribute to the events of that day.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor day weekend has come gone.  It sucks that summer is pretty much over now.  However, it was a good summer, and overall, a good labor day weekend to close it out, despite some trials.  Here’s out my weekend went:

 Friday Night – watched the eagles/jet pre-season games.  timmy chang sucks, but the rest of the eagles looked decent.  I think we’re in for a good season(not a superbowl season), if everyone stays healthy. 

Saturday – went down to south philly to meet up with Erica and her peeps for cheesesteaks.  I haven’t had a good philly cheesesteak in a while, and haven’t seen erica in a while either, so that was awesome, though I think Erica and i need a little more catch-up time.  I saw the liberty bell in its new building for the first time, and i really liked the new building.  It’s put together really nicely, and the exhibition is much better than just seeing the bell.  When I got home saturday night I watched Poseidon with my family.  It could have been a good movie, but it wasn’t, it was moderately painful to watch.

Sunday – Mark had his baby, so worship was interesting.  I was the only guitarist, which was fine, but Mark added singers and changed the songs, plus the team wasn’t familiar singing together, plus we weren’t all knowledgeable about set-up, so it was….interesting.  Sunday afternoon I took a short nap after waking up way too early for worship, then added another coat of polyurethane to the sliding glass door in my dining room.  I worked on plans for my basement renovation and then sunday night we watched inside man, a much better movie than poseidon.

 Monday – I needed to take some pictures for work on monday morning, and it was a nice day so I brought my mom and Daniel along for the ride.  I found the place no problem, and got the pics, but when I went to leave my frickin’ car would start!  I was ticked.  Eventually, after half an hour with gm roadside assistance (gm sucks) and another 45 minutes waiting for my brother in law to come pick us up, my car started.  Big surprise, life always works that way.  I took my car into the mechanic and heard today that he thinks its the battery, so we’ll see how that goes.  I made it back in time for people coming over at 2:00, but no one got there until later.  I met Dale and Heidi, which was fun, and Becca B also came over.  Which was awesome cause I haven’t seen her since like january.

So today I’m back at work, and I can’t wait til its over, cause Lost comes out on dvd today and I’ve been dying to see the second season.  How was everyone else’s weekend?

Draft Night!!!

This year I’m playing in the Riverside Fantasy Football League.  The draft was last night, and it was pretty fun, but harder than i expected.  The list of players I’ve acquired is below:

Quarterback
      Donovan McNabb
      Jake Plummer
 

Runningback
      Ladanian Tomlinson
      Clinton Portis
      Fred Taylor
      Chris Brown

Wide Receiver
      Randy Moss
      Plexico Burress
      Joe Jurevicious
      David Givens
      Travis Taylor

Tight End
      Alge Crumpler
      Heath Miller

Kicker
      Shane Graham

Defense
      Philadelphia Eagles

 I’m reasonably satisfied with this line-up – we’ll see how it goes!