While I was in Scottsville for their VBS, I did manage to stop by the local Pamida. I checked prices and found some good deals and others slightly expensive. For example, volleyballs were on sale for $5, while Hot Wheels cars cost $1.27 (not a bargain considering they’re 97 cents at Walmart).
They do develop film there. For $7.99 you can get 6 inch double reprints….which is slightly expensive compared to about $5.99 at Kmart.
The whole concept of Pamida is fascinating. Building stores in the few places where Walmarts don’t exist. You gotta wonder what their delivery schedule is like. Delivering to out of the way places off the beaten path.
You gotta love the Scottsville folks. Dollar General is inexpensive, but way too limited to find what you’re looking for. Pamida has most of what you’re looking for, but is slightly expensive compared to Wallyworld. So Scottvillites (Scottsvillians?) drive 30 miles out of the way to Bowling Green’s Walmart to save a few dollars on domestic products.
Scottsville’s VBS was based on the Jonah story. 4 straight nights of the fish story. I didn’t know there were so many messages in this story. But apparently there might be. Such as the people’s refusal to repent; Jonah’s frustration and disobedience toward God; Being swallowed by the fish.

I had a chance to eat a White Castle square burger the other day, when I was in Bowling Green. I’ve had Krystals before, so I was expecting something similar. Krystals tend to have that certain taste that stays with you the entire day. Maybe its the onions they use. WC’s don’t have that certain taste. It’s missing. Also missing from a regular White Castle is mustard and pickle, which is on all Krystals. Luckily I did ask for mustard packets with my Castles. However the mustard they gave was the lame grey poopon variety. Looks dark green and tastes usually worse. However the mustard did give a tang to an otherwise tasteless Castle.
Next time I’ll stick with Krystals. I’m just supporting a Tennessee product with a superior taste.

Its May already. Summer is just about here. May Day. I remember 2 years ago I was stuck on a 24 hour train ride from Shanghai to Xi’an. Those were the days. That’s how I spent my May Day. No big rally. No showcase of the Communist army. Just a long slow train ride to Xi’an. And seemlingly EVERY Chinese person in the country was out traveling those days, except those working at the tourist attractions.
Was the phrase “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away” coined by the Rolling Stones? Or was the phrase already around before the song came along? Its a good song, very atypical of a rock group.
And I got my tape player in the car fixed….for now. VW would only replace the whole radio…which might cost upwards of $300…who knows. So I got a tape cleaner at Walmart for 2 bucks and it seems to work now.

It probably is imagined, but I do get the feeling people shying away from me. I don’t know why. Not as enthusiastic as before. People may read this…hanging on every word. When the story of the day turns sour, they automatically think I might be a negative person. That’s not true. I try to be positive many times. Its just this is an outlet to gripe. Or to share news that you might find interesting.
My brother-in-law and I have been trying to get these wooden coasters cut. We’re going to be using these coasters at camp for awards. Each kid gets an award on the last day. Something to take home with them. The only problems are finding the material and getting it cut properly. Both have been hurdles to overcome. I’m getting anxious about it, yet camp isn’t but a month away. Just a month to panic.
So like I said, I did get the photos from El Salvador onto a CD. I decided against putting together a slideshow on 2 reasons. 1) We had plenty of pictures to fill up a CD without the extra slideshow stuff. 2) I probably couldn’t find music which everyone would be satisified with. If I used secular music somebody would hate it. If I used instrumental Christian music, somebody would object. If I used acapella music, I probably wouldn’t be able to find enough suitable music. Acapella isn’t exactly a hot music item, you know.
I put together pictures from the El Salvador trip here. None of me, thankyouverymuch.
So the retreat at Taylor is this weekend. I’m looking forward to seeing some friends from Scottsville, but not necessarily the retreat itself. Difficult to explain, I know. Maybe things will change once I get up there. Taylor has alot of good memories.

El Salvador debriefing was tonight. I did have CDRs of pictures for everyone, which put everyone in a good mood….that and the ice cream.
The only thing I brought up was how we should give every kid who comes thought the line a toy. Perhaps collecting some McDonaldland Happy Meal toys are in order.
I probably will shave my beard sometime soon. My dad says that its not my best feature. Perhaps I will downgrade to a goatee….then eventually shave it off entirely. Especially if I get a job interview sometime in this millenium.
I haven’t felt like writing in this thing lately. Perhaps it is just a phase. I’ve been getting some mean looks, so I’m not sure if it is because of this or just my face in general. Yep, it must be my face.

I do have a beard. It’s tradition for men not to shave during our Latin American trips. So I grew one while in El Salvador. I’ve let it grow up for 2 weeks now. It’s got a red tinge to it. I’ll probably shave it once I go up to Kentucky tomorrow. Friends up there haven’t seen it and I’m interested in their reaction to it. My sis hates it. Many people hate it. The perverbial answer I give when I am asked why I’m doing this…. Because I can.
Personally I think my beard was much more noticeable compared to others in the group (minus our bearded ladies…those sideshow showoffs). I’d never had a beard before, whereas the rest of our crew either couldn’t grow a noticeable beard….or they already had one to begin with.
The beard is nice, but I think its not me. Besides, there are plenty of bare spots which should have grown over by now. It isn’t even that thick.
In other news…
The real reason for war: To Show America’s Power.

Just 2 more years and its the big three-o. Might as well curl up and die after that. 30 is when you stop being relavent to today’s youth. I know a preacher friend of mine who never tells anybody his age due to haven’t a fear of not being taken seriously by the kids he ministers to.
20s are still relavent. I mean just a few years ago I was in college. I know what people are upto. I’m hip to the latest tunes. I listen to “The White Stripes,” “The Vines,” “The Strokes,” “The Hives”…. Kids ask me “How old are you?” Without even blinking I tell them. Later on I might have to mask it. I could pass for 23. But would I really want to?
Age is an evil thing. When you’re 12 you wish you could be 18 so you could stay out late. When you’re 28 you wish you were twelve so you could relive your childhood and do things right the 2nd time around. It’s not that I had a terrible childhood or anything. It’s just that I don’t feel completely fulfilled by it. I was too busy being self-conscious about myself and not having enough fun by it. Not having really close friends in my middle school years. Too busy thinking I was having fun in high school marching band and not looking into stuff that really mattered.
So depending on the number of cards I send out each and every month or so, I should get a ton of cards today. Thanks guys. But I’m not holding my breath.

We live and die by the clock. Anytime a baby is born they mark time of birth on the birth certificate. It’s the same way when we die. “Time of death.” So what are we doing changing the clock around during the Spring and Fall? If only to have an extra hour to mow the grass in the afternoons.
I like most of the effects of Daylight Saving Time. I like having daylight at 7PM. It seems to much more normal compared to the unearthly dusk at 4PM during November. Still it is difficult to change circadian rhythms when there’s a time change.
My Windows 2000 machine didn’t even flinch when we did that time warp last night. No message saying “Your clock settings have been changed due to Day Light Saving Time.” None of that. Just kept the same time plus an hour. Windows 95 and 98 appear to nag you. Giving you information you may not need. Just to click that Ok button.
Many cultures aren’t so time oriented. I’ve heard church services in Hawaii and Brazil don’t start until 30 minutes after the scheduled time because everyone is always late. When someone in El Salvador says “Tomorrow” it could mean 6 weeks from now instead of the next day. It’s only in this high paced society where everyone has to be everywhere at a certain time. Here in the South is a bit more flexible than the North, especially in the rural south.
How did we become so time sensitive? Time is the great equalizer. Timed achivement tests. 30 minute sitcoms. 2 hour movies. 60 seconds or less at the McDonald’s Drive Thru. Makes everyone equal with the same expectations.

I guess I should comment on that lake picture. It’s Old Hickory Lake. It’s within a stone’s throw from my house. I live in a part of Mt. Juliet called “Lakeview.” We have an elementary school by the same name…and a fish and bait shop here. I drive by the lake every time I go to Hermitage. Its beauty is only surpassed by its initual ordinariness. I never visit it. When I went by there to take pictures, it had been a while since I went there and hung out for any significant time. Last year I went there to release a nuisance snapping turtle I found in my yard. I guess we take the lake for granted. Not everyone has this stunning beauty all around them.
There is a public place to have picnics there. So its sorta nice. But we never take advantage of it. There are plenty of people around here who have motorboats for that specific purpose. It is not unusual to see a boat parked in someone’s driveway.
Is she Baghdad Natalie or is she Hanoi Jane? I can’t tell the difference these days. Going overseas and telling a foreign audience she is ashamed of our president? Hmmm…. If you are so ashamed, why don’t you move overseas?
I realize that every American is free to express their opinions within reason. But this Chick was dumb enough to offend a major portion of her primary album buyers. Good luck salvaging this one, ladies.
You know that problem with the Iceland email? Well it vanished as suddenly as it began. A barrage of emails then suddenly silence. These people seemed clueless as to what was happening to them. They just couldn’t understand that if you send an email message to one address, it gets sent to everyone on the list. I wonder what happens when these people get real email viruses? Does their world come crashing down on them?
Looking over my referral logs, it would appear that many people are getting here through my friends’ webpages at UTK. So that’s cool I suppose.
I found some alternate plugins for Blogamp – such as CurrentlyHearing and What’s Playing. These would probably work better – easier to customize, but are more difficult to setup. Blogamp is still the easiest to setup by far. So I’m not even gonna open up that can of worms. Listing recently played song on this webpage is not a high priority right now.

There is a certain degree of self confidence lost when one looses their job. You tend to think that it was due to your imagined incompetence. But then you find it wasn’t your fault. It’s the economy, stupid.
So that lack of self confidence continues until you get compliments…real compliments….from people who you didn’t know…or who you thought you didn’t know. Like the other day the kids at church were asking if I was going to be back at camp next year. They said I did a good job and they had a fun time when I was around. That made me feel really good. Then there’s the support for my mission trip. I never thought I’d come close to the goal. But it has almost been reached. That is a complete surprise to me.
When I say, “Maybe people really do like me,” it’s more of a self confidence boost I’m telling myself, rather than trying to come across at having a big giant head. I hate arrogancy. I hate people who are so full of themself that it hurts. But at the same time, it does feel good to be liked in some obscure way. Even though many of these compliments are completely undeserving. I don’t do anything special that would warrant this attention.
So the bottom line is I’m not trying to come across as arrogant. I’m definitely not (at least I hope not). So I’m talking myself into a circle.
For some people its a novelty to have a webaddress with one’s own name. I’m here to tell you that its nothing special. Lots of people reserve vanity domain names. Lots of people could be known as dot coms. It only takes someone with a computer and a credit card.
And this weblog thing? Lots of people have weblogs. I’m not the only one. So the novelty of this site has worn off for me. It’s unique, because it is about me. But the URL and blogger thingy is not unique. I was always told, “Remember, you’re unique….just like everyone else.”
So I’m not the best computer program operator in the world. There are plenty of questions I cannot answer and plenty of people who are much more knowledgable in the subject. Some people don’t realize this. That’s why it comes to a shock to them that I’m still unemployeed.
And this mission trip? I’m definitely not a missionary. I go down to El Salvador for 8 days, give out some medicine, do some lice scrubs, and call it a mission trip. There are people who spend years out in the mission field. This may be a tough trip. But it is nothing to those who spend years out there. In the jungle…away from the conveniences we all take for granted.