lesterman1's Xanga

Blog change

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:54:18 GMT

You can now catch me on my blog:

http://theologiandave.blogspot.com

Stop by for talk about religion, politics, occasional film reviews and updates on my life.

You can also add me as a friend on Facebook.com to keep up with my life.

I wish you all wellness and encourage us all to love Christ and love our fellow people in this world.

Sincerely,
Dave

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:56:30 GMT

The Coen bros are the kings of moviemaking absurdism! Such is the above film. An extremely funny send up of the lies and deceits that are all to common in the Washington DC culture. The film features a great cast...especially an uproarious performance from Brad Pitt (!). This may be the funniest (as in laugh out loud) Coen Brothers film and is most definitely the funniest movie I have seen all year.

The scene where Brad Pitt and John Malkovich are talking in the car is a riot!

"Growing up oftentimes means that imperfection and weakness and evil are all part of the human condition as much as joy and happiness and good are...It's not pessimism. One of the things I am always trying to reject is a false choice between blind optimism and despair and cynicism. What I at least am always after is a hardheaded realism that does not extinguish hope." -Barack Obama as quoted by Newsweek editor in chief Jon Meacham. Newsweek, July 14th, 2008, pg. 28

Fishtown USA

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:49:39 GMT

I'm still here in Philadelphia for another two days. It's been a really great trip catching up with my old college friends.

Today, we went to an inner city ministry called Urban Hope. One of the guys that I new back in my college days, a guy named Jason, works full time at Urban Hope and has since 2001. The ministry is located in the ghetto of ghettos. Walking down the streets of this section of Philadelphia (Kensington) made me feel like I was in a different world. The feel was very sad as people here are impoverished compared to other people who live just 15 minutes across the city.

Of course, the stereotypes are somewhat true. Most of the people in the Kensington neighborhood are Puerto Rican and the next highest percentage is African-American. The people who live across town...in more wealthy or middle class neighborhoods are predominantly white.

Why exactly are things this way? Millions of books have probably been written on the topic and I definitely can't do all of them justice. Racism seems like the obvious cause and no matter how conservatives might argue, it seems more than circumstantial that many minorities would live in poverty while whites enjoy the nicer neighborhoods.

Lack of education (or rather the quality of education) probably factors in substantially to the poverty. My friend Ryan was explaining how bad the public schools are in Philadelphia and especially in inner city Philadelphia. Of course, this is also fueled by racism to a degree that the ghettos are given the worst of schools and slim pickings when it comes to obtaining great teachers.

Poverty is a vicious cycle. An unforgiving cycle that thousands of families can't seem to break no matter who the politician is or what party they are from. (See the long list of big American cities who have had Democrats in power in the respective cities BUT people still live in the same poverty they did 40 years or more ago even though Democrats have been predominantly in control for most of those years).

And the cycle continues. When the only good jobs are selling drugs or women selling their bodies as a means for people to pay their rent or buy groceries, how are people going to break this cycle?

I'm no expert but what I saw today was really disturbing.

On the streets of Philadelphia...

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:03:06 GMT

I'm in Philly visiting some college buddies of mine...one of which I have not seen in 5 years. So far, we've done some hiking, catching up and hanging out at a few bars watching some football games. It's been really great. Today, we are going to the Philadelphia art museum where Rocky famously ran up the steps. I should have some pictures posted in the coming weeks on my facebook page.
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Bill O'Reilly (God loves him) is a complete jackass and reinforces my opinion in this interview with Barack Obama. O'Reilly asks some good questions but his tone and interjected opinions seriously made me cringe.

Bill's Interview with Obama

I really did appreciate Obama's responses and I think he is on the right side of this foreign policy stuff.
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Monday, August 25, 2008

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:35:53 GMT

I'm in my new condo and slept there last night for the very first time. The atmosphere was very quiet and peaceful so I had a very good night's rest.

I'm still in the process of unpacking, not that I have a lot of stuff but I just got it all in, so now I'm organizing books, DVDs and even kitchen items. Don't tell ANYONE...but I actually shopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond which has to be some kind of degrading of my masculinity. I bought a cool shower rod, a black shower curtain, liner and a black rug. Yes, bachelors like BLACK.

True story. My parents came up yesterday to see my new place for the first time. My mom decided to bring their ten pound, anklebiting, pesky dog named Casey. My mom carried the dog into my place, put here down while she was looking around and the dog scrampered off to my bedroom. The instant I saw this happen, I knew this situation could not be good.

I rushed into my bedroom to find the little Yorkie squatted over and dropping a load in the middle of my bedroom floor. Haha. I guess when you buy something expensive and go 30 years in debt, you just can't take that seriously. Dogs can put things into perspective I guess.

At any rate, I'm excited to not have to move for awhile. Moving stuff around and changing addresses frequently gets to be annoying.

Kayaking on the Ocean Sea

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:33:12 GMT

Saturday, I put out to sea with a group of fellow adventurers up in the San Juan Islands. We took the ferry from Anacortes (about an hour ride or so) and anxiously awaited paddling around in the ocean. And paddle we did, for about 5 hours.

I was thankful for the trip. Even though it rained for a part of it which drenched us and caused the waves to be a little larger than comfortable. Still the experience was exciting and nobody got tipped over or anything.

One of my friends claims that they saw the head of a seal. I'm skeptical...I'm thinking the figure was a log bobbing in the water but who knows. We did see 3 bald eagles and they were squawking at us pretty well. No whales though and I was bummed about that.

If you are my friend on Facebook, I should be posting some pictures of the kayak trip very soon.

Also, my part two posting of my thoughts on Christopher Hitchen's book is coming...hopefully tonight. http://theologiandave.blogspot.com I think I've decided I'm going to try and do four postings total. This second one will be on the design argument for God's existence. The third one will be a discussion on morality and the source of morality (which is the majority of Hitchen's writing in the book). Fourth and finally, I'm going to write about Hitchen's thoughts on the Iraq war (since he is a self-professed liberal socialist who FAVORS the Iraq war). Very interesting indeed. Please join the discussion.

That's all for now. Enjoy the last remnants of summer!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:31:55 GMT

The John Adams miniseries from HBO is really good. Atleast two episodes in, the series is fantastic. Not surprising considering HBO's track record with original dramas...most of which are great (atleast that I've seen).

My first posting in regards to Christopher Hitchens has been posted:

http://theologiandave.blogspot.com

Stop on by and let me know what you think. I plan on there being a few more to address some points raised by his book, "god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything".

I'm a homeowner...almost

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:05:18 GMT

My offer for a condo was accepted and the closing date is 8/22. If all things go OK up until that date, I will be a first time homeowner. I will be responsible for approximately 700 sq ft. Haha. My own little corner of the world in the northern Seattle area (within city limits).

For a review of the new film "The Dark Knight", check out my new (more "serious") blog: http://theologiandave.blogspot.com

Also, in the next few weeks, I plan on writing a series of blogs in response to Christopher Hitchens' book "god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything". Having just read the book, it is fresh on my mind and YOU should stop by and engage in the conversation.

Hope everyone is enjoying a great summer!

Dave

In memory of Roy Daily

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:48:46 GMT

With a good deal of sadness, I attempt to write about a dear family friend who has passed away at the age of 85. Roy Daily was like a third grandfather to me. A gentle, kind and generous soul of whom you cannot imagine anybody anywhere ever saying anything bad about.

Thankfully, I got to see Roy on the 4th of July while he was in the hospital. That Monday, he had been filling his car up with gas at an Arco station when he tripped and fell. This collapse to the pavement caused him to suffer a broken hip.

Upon seeing him in the hospital, I was amazed because I have never seen someone before in such good spirits while laid up in the plain, white-sheeted bed and sharing a room with a complete stranger. Roy still flashed his trademark smile and told his old school jokes and repeatedly laughed about what he called his "clumsiness" which apparently had caused several accidents over the years.

All seemed to be going well as the hospital was going to release Roy that 4th of July evening to return to his wife Phyllis and the home they built together 32 years ago on Lake Tapps. Roy did go home that evening, did some physical therapy and more than likely enjoyed the majestic display of fireworks that hurtled over the water late into the evening.

On Sunday morning- July 6th, Roy suffered a stroke and would not recover.

I have many memories of Roy during my life. Most of them revolve around visiting him and Phyllis on their waterfront property. Their old, wooden brown house was built in the 1970s and they were my parents landlords for awhile. The landlord (business) tag is probably the wrong way to put the relationship because it was less business and more Roy and Phyllis inviting my parents over for meals and card games. I would benefit later from this close friendship.

On many childhood occasions, Roy would take me out in their boat that must have been from the 1960s (the interior was never redone). He would show me the various mansions on the lake (one of which was the owner of Gordon trucking- this guy started with one truck and built a multi-million dollar business). He would also tell me about the deepest parts of the lake, hundreds and hundreds of feet down which fascinated me as a kid. There were also moments of attempted wakeboarding and much inter-tubing behind his boat. More than anything, I remember splashing around in the roped off swimming area right behind their home and doing cannonballs off their old wooden dock.

Card games (which mostly was hearts- and Roy was a particularly vicious player) and many games of pool filled many childhood Saturday evenings. Roy was a good pool player and taught me how to play and gave me many pointers.

When I left the hospital on Friday, I told Roy that I looked forward to playing pool with again in a couple months time when he had recovered from his hip surgery. He seemed excited by the idea. I regret that this game of pool will not take place.

...and, a good friend will be missed.

A New Blog!

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 05:46:33 GMT

After three years with xanga, I've decided to start another more "serious" blog. My goal is to focus on writing more about the topics of religion, politics and film. I would like to write a book or two someday so I will use this forum as a way to hone my writing skills (if you can call them that).

http://theologiandave.blogspot.com

That is where you will be able to find me. I may drop by here from time to time and give a quick update on my life. However, the majority of my time will be writing for my above blog and checking facebook. If you don't have a facebook account, SIGN UP and add me as a friend. This is the best way to keep up on my life activities.

Thanks to the few of you who actually read this thing. I look forward to hearing your thoughts about my new blogging endeavor.

Peace,
Dave