SteveDennie.com - Miscellaneous inconsequential musings from Steve Dennie

The Olympics are Here (Actually, in China)

Posted on August 9, 2008 by Steve
Posted in Sports

I’m really excited about the Olympics. Only comes around every four years, and there’s always plenty of drama and the unfolding of neat stories.

Right now, I’m watching Kerri Walsh and Misty May in beach volleyball.
Had men’s gymnastics earlier, but I didn’t care for it, so mainly read and book and sat outside while Jordi was in the grass.
Actually enjoyed women’s fencing earlier in the day (not sure I’d ever seen fencing before).
Cycling doesn’t work on TV, unless it’s one of those small oval tracks.
I generally dislike soccer–scoring so rarely happens. I like a sport where things happen. But I enjoyed watching some soccer earlier today.
Saw that Chinese girl win a gold in weight-lifting. Pretty impressive.
Of course, I love Olympic basketball.

Yeah, I’ll be addicted to this for the next two weeks.

The opening ceremonies were pretty impressive. But I was mainly interested–as I always am–in how the flame is lit. The Chinese did it pretty cool. But nothing beats that arrow shot in Barcelona. That’s still the best.

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Oh Say Can You See

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Steve
Posted in Sports

Canadian pitcher Chris Reitsma about Beijing’s pollution: “You’re watching batting practice in the outfield and you can’t see the ball because it’s the same color as the sky.”

Newsweek reporter Melinda Liu describes the skies as “the color of bed sheets that have been slept in too many times.”

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My Inability to Swallow Pills

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Steve
Posted in It's My Life

You’ve seen this in movies and TV shows. Someone is having a medical attack of some kind–heart, anxiety, whatever. With much over-the-top dramatic fumbling, the person finds and opens a pill bottle, tosses the pill open-palmed into his mouth, throws in some water, and swallows. Immediately swallows. And life is good.

I couldn’t do that. Probably not even if my life depended on it. I would die with the pills and water in my mouth.

I take two pills every morning. I pop them into my mouth, take a swig of water…and then wallow them around until the pills are on the verge of dissolving. Finally, after several false starts, all of my throat muscles convene a meeting and decide, “Okay, let’s do this. All together now…1, 2, 3…swallow!” And down go the pills. Or what’s left of them.

Not too many years ago, I couldn’t swallow a pill without looking in a mirror. I would set the pill on the back of my tongue, drink some water, and eventually force the thing down.

Turns out my brother Rick has the exact same malady (as was unearthed when we got together over Memorial Day). And I’m wondering how many untold millions of people, like me, suffer from the same Protracted Swallowing Syndrome? Is anybody working to solve this?

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Books: from Lisa Lee, James Crumbley, Robert Parker

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Steve
Posted in Books

Here are three more novels I’ve read recently.

The Last Good Kiss, by James Crumley. This Black Lizard book sat on my shelf for a long time. Didn’t know what I was missing. Another roman noir book. The book takes a leisurely, meandering pace, with several seemingly unrelated things going on. At times you think everything’s resolved and the book can end now. Finally, about 80% of the way through, things collide in a way I wasn’t expecting. Well done. But the protagonist is a bit too far on the lacking-in-morals side for me. Probably won’t read any more.

School Days, by Robert Parker. A quick read, like most Spencer novels–a couple days, tops. I wasn’t sure how this one would end. I did some guessing, and came pretty close, but still enough wiggle room for surprises. Hawk made no appearance in this book, and Susan was pretty much absent, but Pearl the Wonderdog was ever present. Now I’m all caught up with the Spencer series (except for the latest hardback).

The Flower Net, by Lisa See. This author has a series of mysteries set in China. They have gorgeous covers. Every time I was in a bookstore, I was drawn to them. Finally bought “The Flower Net,” the first in the series. Set mostly in China, with the middle section in Los Angeles. Lots of background, lots of Chinese flavor. It was a little much at first, and I wanted the plot to move along faster, but once I got into the rhythm, it was good. Not great.

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Politics as Usual for Republicans

Posted on August 5, 2008 by Steve
Posted in Politics

I had thought John McCain had the potential to be the kind of transforming figure in politics that I’ve yearned for. I was a huge fan. But I’m an objective person, too. And McCain’s continual petty and usually baseless attacks on Obama (amplified joyfully by Rush and FoxNews) convince me that he’s just more of the same. Deeply disappointing.

I believe Obama, too, has the potential to be a transforming political figure, despite his youth and inexperience, and he has done nothing to turn me away. I desperately long for someone who can, as much as possible, transcend normal politics. It may be decades before another such person comes along.

The Washington Post ran a thorough article about the flap over visiting the troops in Germany, debunking the (disappointing) lies and innuendoes thrown around by McCain & Co.

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When You Just Won’t Take it Any Longer

Posted on August 5, 2008 by Steve
Posted in This or That

One of the blogs I read regularly is by Perry Noble, pastor of Newspring Church, one of the fastest-growing in the country. The last few days, he’s been talking about obesity, and of his own battles with weight. Today he wrote this:

I remember having a conversation with a guy once who asked me, “What is the first step in losing weight” and I told him, “You’ve got to get pissed, REALLY pissed!”

He looked at me, sort of stunned, so I continued.

“You’ve got to get pissed at yourself. You literally have to look in the mirror and say, You did this…but I’m coming after you…and this is going to be the end.”

That’s pretty much how it happened with me. Since November, I’ve dropped nearly 40 pounds, and am shooting for another 15 by the end of the year. Feels great. But I remember my feelings of desperation a year ago. Yep, I was basically PO’d at myself.

Is that what it takes for some churches to change? They lose people and decline, until the remnant say, “Enough! We’ve been sticking to our ways long enough, and it ain’t working. Unless we do something different, we’ll die.”

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Worries Me, Too

Posted on August 4, 2008 by Steve
Posted in Politics

Senator Thad Cochran (Republican-Mississippi) earlier this year said of John McCain: “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine…He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.”

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Segregated Sundays

Posted on August 4, 2008 by Steve
Posted in Christian Culture

CNN’s website has an excellent article on racial segregation in churches. It examined a lot of the nitty-gritty dynamics in churches with multiple ethnic groups, and how it can be like tip-toeing through a minefield as you try not to offend anyone.

The article mentions how black churches can prefer to remain mostly black, just as white churches may prefer to remain white. It mentioned how some sensitive black preachers have toned down their preaching style, knowing that whites sometimes cringe under traditional too-fiery preaching. Very interesting stuff.

My denomination, in the US, is close to lilly white. Until a few years ago (when they pulled out over petty disagreements), we had white churches in California that shared buildings with Hispanic church plants. The Hispanics were growing, the whites shrinking. But the whites pulled shenanigans to hold onto their power. It was sad, some of the stories I heard.

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Breaking Out of Your Ruts

Posted on August 4, 2008 by Steve
Posted in Anchor Church

The Swerve blog, from Lifechurch.tv, has a piece on “The Numbness of Frequency,” by staffer Sam Roberts. Robert says that when you continually xpose people to the same thing in the same way, they become numb to it.

At work, I send email updates to our constituency on an as-needed basis–that is, whenever there’s somethign to tell them. I know that if I sent an email every Tuesday, week after week, they would become numb to it. “Oh, another email from Steve. Must be Tuesday.” I’ve sent emails on consecutive days, and I’ve gone three or four weeks without sending one. I don’t want to send emails just to send them. I want people to know that if I send something, it’s because there’s something worth reading.

Church services often follow the same predictable pattern. We do minor tweaks at Anchor, nothing drastic–just rearrange the same ol’ elements. But I think of some liturgical churches where the service order is firmly institutionalized. “Time for our second hymn. It must be 11:15.” I imagine it’s very easy to become numb in churches like that.

On the worship team, we can become numb to our own songs, doing them the same way every time. With one song this week, we tried changing the ending. In practice, we experimented with a progression of solos, but clearly saw a train wreck in the making, so we simplified it to a mere drumb solo. At least it was something different. People noticed.

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Three Novels

Posted on August 2, 2008 by Steve
Posted in Books

I need to get caught up on some novels I’ve read during the past couple weeks. Here are three.

Under the Skin, by James Carlos Blake. I stumbled across this book in Hyde Brothers used bookstore here in Fort Wayne. It was excellent. The book is in the roman noir genre, where the “good guys” are part of, or at least on the fringes of, the criminal element. This was a fabulous book. I’ll gobble up any other books I find by Blake (got one more on my shelf right now).

Severance Package, by Duane Swierczynski. This was an unusual book, the whole thing occurring within a period of a couple hours. The employees of a shadowy firm are gathered for a special Saturday morning meeting. The boss tells them that they are being shut down immediately, the building is in lockdown with no escape, and everyone needs to die. They can take a poison, or he’ll shoot them in the head–their choice. It’s a bit high-concept and artsy, but entertaining and unpredictable. I’ll definitely read more by this guy with the funny name.

Flinch, by Robert Ferrigno. Another good-author find at Hyde Brothers. Ferrigno’s written three books for the Black Lizard imprint, and I’ve now read all three. Ferrigno is terrific. The protagonist in “Flinch” and “Scavenger Hunt” is an entertainment writer trying to solve a serial murder case.

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Yearly Archives: 2008

The Olympics are Here (Actually, in China)

Oh Say Can You See

My Inability to Swallow Pills

Books: from Lisa Lee, James Crumbley, Robert Parker

Politics as Usual for Republicans

When You Just Won’t Take it Any Longer

Worries Me, Too

Segregated Sundays

Breaking Out of Your Ruts

Three Novels

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