When watching the last Stanley Cup game, I bought a bag of salted peanuts to take to Matt's house so I'd feel more like I was actually at the game. Some snacks just make you feel like you're at the ballpark, stadium, arena or whatever.
A number of years ago, my brother introduced me to the art of eating peanuts with the shells still on them. They're a bit drier than when you shell them, but you definitely don't get that sticky, gummy feeling that you sometimes get when you pour a handful of peanuts into your mouth. If they're salted, then shells and all is definitely the way to eat them.
As a Wings fan, it's been a great week. We're up 2 games to 0 in the Stanley Cup finals and this could be the 4th cup for Detroit in the past 12 years. For those unfamiliar with Detroit hockey, the octopus is a regular symbol seen during the playoffs. It began in the 50's when it only took 8 games to win the Stanley Cup. Someone tossed on octopus on the ice before the first playoff game and the Wings went on to win the cup in 8 straight games. At Wikipedia, there's some great info on how to smuggle an octopus into a game and the best way to throw one. I must disagree with wikipedia on this one. Most people I know that have smuggled an octopus into a game don't wrap it around their mid-section, but they prefer to stuff it down their pants to hide it from the ticket-takers and security at Joe Louis Arena.
Sad news came out of Tennessee last night as Steven Curtis Chapman and family experienced a terrible tragedy. The youngest daughter of Steven and Mary Beth Chapman was accidently killed by a car while playing in the driveway of their home. Her teenage brother was behind the wheel of the car and now the entire family will have to deal with the pain associated with this horrible accident. Please keep the family in your prayers during this difficult time. Here's an article about the accident in the Tennessean newspaper.
Stranded in the desert of Nebraska, I find myself longing for the good old days of watching Don Cherry and NHL hockey on CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Company). I've had to resort to listening to games over the internet and getting text updates from my buddy Josh to keep up with the Wings. I've found a few fellow Wings fans to talk hockey with out here and now we can all celebrate as the Wings have made it back to the Stanley Cup Finals again. I'll be enjoying the chance to see some games on network TV and root for another cup for Detroit.
So... this past Friday was a youth trip to see Prince Caspian and stop at Coldstone for some ice cream (that's getting to be a trend with youth outings). We drove the short bus downtown and enjoyed the high energy trio of girls who love llamas and grandmas. After the show, we enjoyed our ice cream and the girls went to hang outside, as the small confines of Coldstone couldn't contain the girls and their bursting enthusiasm for life. After a few minutes, they ran into the bulding and thought Lincoln was being bombed. I calmly explained to them that downtown is near to Haymarket Park, where Friday nights there are fireworks after the Saltdogs games. They sheepishly went back outside to their llama games and yoga in the streets. I love working with youth.
Being the push-over that I am, it didn't take much for the dozen kids at youth group to talk me into going to Dairy Queen last night. We spent an hour working at the People's City Mission Distribution Center, sorting donated clothes and helping compact cardboard boxes in a gianormous baling machine. The work was fun, as usual, but as soon as we were done, Jenna started in about how we should go out for ice cream. It was a beautiful night last night, so I thought that'd be a great idea. I didn't let on that I wanted to go out too, but strung the kids along and made them beg and plead a little before agreeing that we'd head to Dairy Queen. We enjoyed our treats and left a little after 8:00 pm. This morning, when I turned my cell phone on, I had a text from Amber, telling me that the DQ we went to was robbed at knife-point some time after we left. I checked the story out at the Lincoln Journal Star and found that she was right. We missed the robbery by a little under 3 hours. One of the employees is suspected of being involved in the heist, and our guess is the crabby one. She wasn't happy about anything last night.
My office, which is usually something just short of controlled chaos, is getting a major new look today. I'm having the two desks in my office replaced by a countertop that wraps around most of the inside of it. It will give me more working space and hopefully help me keep things more organized. In reality, I know that it will just give me more space to make more piles of stuff and to collect more useless trinkets and toys to decorate my office with. Today, I'm wandering the building, working with my laptop and enjoying the freedom of being a 21st century mobile worker.
It's believed that sometime in the early 80's, the New York Rangers Hockey team began the tradition of the playoff beard. When their team began playing for the Stanely Cup, the players stopped shaving. They continued building upon their beards until they were eliminated from the playoffs.
When our soccer team began state tournament play, many of the coaches and players decided to carry the playoff beard tradition to Nebraska High School soccer. With two coaches being big Detroit Red Wings fans, this was something we were glad to institute. I'm enjoying seeing how much gray is coming in, but sure am itchy. Thankfully the state soccer tournament doesn't take as long as the Stanley Cup playoff, because my patience for this beard is growing thin. I think it makes me a bit more grumpy than I usually am.
I'm really a bit more of a Star Trek fan than a Star Wars fan, but I saw this clip recently on a blog I read, and couldn't help but pass it on to all of you.
I am an Ewok hater and I also never liked Jar-Jar Binks, but this song may make me reconsider.
Time to register your comments about our trip to see Prince Caspian. What time would work best for you? Click Here to take survey
I'll be selecting 4 people at random who take this survey by Thursday, May 8th at midnight to receive a free ticket to the movie and a free bowl of ice cream from Coldstone.
It's been over 70 days that Al Zimmer has been out of the youth ministry loop at Messiah. His kidney transplant and all of the related health issues that have come up have kept him in the hospital for most of those 70 days. Ministry moves on ahead and I've been blessed with many new volunteers. God's Word continues without Al's presence and will continue when all of us haved moved on from this life. Mary is taking the Zimmer's a get well card right now, along with the generous donations that so many of you gave to the Zimmer's. Thank you for coming together to surpass our goal for helping to pay some of the Zimmer's bills during this ordeal.
Al, you've been a tremendous blessing to all of the youth of Messiah for probably more than 10 years now. We're praying that God will grant you healing and return you to us, but until that happens, we'll continue to fight the good fight and stay true to His Word.
