Thursday, July 10, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Thingie Proxy Results from Udine (Italy)
Well, thanks to the Herculean efforts of several gentlemen in Europe, including 'Thingie Kingie' Edo Bertoglio, the 2008 European Thingie Proxy Race continued on to its fourth stop at Udine, in northeastern Italy.
They raced our cars on this beautiful fast track, with the high banked 180-degree turn at one end:
Our Anglican Beach Party Shinoda Mongoose fared better than at Düsseldorf, where we broke, but we were still pretty far back in the pack. After the Udine round, our car sits 19th of 34 cars in the "Fast & Scratchbuilt 1/24" category.
Here is a great short video from Lucio Cocchi, showing just how dangerous this sport can be!
And here on this page may be found Edo Bertoglio's colorful and photo-filled "Proxy Diaries" of the event.
And, finally, a few line-ups with our Anglican Beach Party Shinoda included ...
Here are the 'Noda entries ... (our car is 2nd from left).
And an actual race line-up, showing a larger variety of Thingie bodies ... the ABP entry is at far right.
They raced our cars on this beautiful fast track, with the high banked 180-degree turn at one end:
Our Anglican Beach Party Shinoda Mongoose fared better than at Düsseldorf, where we broke, but we were still pretty far back in the pack. After the Udine round, our car sits 19th of 34 cars in the "Fast & Scratchbuilt 1/24" category.
Here is a great short video from Lucio Cocchi, showing just how dangerous this sport can be!
And here on this page may be found Edo Bertoglio's colorful and photo-filled "Proxy Diaries" of the event.
And, finally, a few line-ups with our Anglican Beach Party Shinoda included ...
Here are the 'Noda entries ... (our car is 2nd from left).
And an actual race line-up, showing a larger variety of Thingie bodies ... the ABP entry is at far right.
Monday, July 7, 2008
How I lost 40 pounds ...
How did I lose 40 pounds of unsightly flab? By leaving The Episcopal church! A bit of over-simplification1, perhaps, but true nonetheless.
This photo, taken tonight, is of me wearing the pants from the suit I wore when I walked out of The Episcopal church for the last time, in the summer of 2007. They fit me back then.
You see, it is hard to be Episcopalian without unconsciously picking up the habits and patterns of living of your fellow Episcopalians.
And one of the main patterns of living of Episcopalians I knew was what might be referred to as the Life of Ease. It is a Country Club mentality. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands2 ... but never late for cake and cookies at Social Hour! You will be hard-pressed to find anything like this lifestyle advocated by any New Testament writer ... but if you join The Episcopal church, and if you stay very long, it begins to rub off on you. Sodomy is not the only "S" sin of TEc; there is Sloth as well.
And, hand in hand with Sloth, Gluttony. I have actually heard Gluttony preached against in the Sunday morning sermon (at one of the better TEc parishes!), followed a few minutes later by an invitation to Social Hour ... where there was a large and pathetically unhealthy cake waiting. Judging by the portion sizes, many parishioners had not listened to the sermon!
And accompanying Sloth and Gluttony is a sort of Hopelessness ... the idea that we are really all victims of evil things ... that the world is winding down, that heresy, evil, and bodyfat advance relentlessly ... and that no effort on our part is able to stop them.
I would say (judging from my weight histogram) that it took me about 5 months from the day I left The Episcopal church until I began to have hope again ... hope for the larger Church Militant, and hope for reforming my own earthly body.
1Well, I did also spend quite a bit of time on the treadmill.
2See Proverbs 6:9-11
This photo, taken tonight, is of me wearing the pants from the suit I wore when I walked out of The Episcopal church for the last time, in the summer of 2007. They fit me back then.
You see, it is hard to be Episcopalian without unconsciously picking up the habits and patterns of living of your fellow Episcopalians.
And one of the main patterns of living of Episcopalians I knew was what might be referred to as the Life of Ease. It is a Country Club mentality. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands2 ... but never late for cake and cookies at Social Hour! You will be hard-pressed to find anything like this lifestyle advocated by any New Testament writer ... but if you join The Episcopal church, and if you stay very long, it begins to rub off on you. Sodomy is not the only "S" sin of TEc; there is Sloth as well.
And, hand in hand with Sloth, Gluttony. I have actually heard Gluttony preached against in the Sunday morning sermon (at one of the better TEc parishes!), followed a few minutes later by an invitation to Social Hour ... where there was a large and pathetically unhealthy cake waiting. Judging by the portion sizes, many parishioners had not listened to the sermon!
And accompanying Sloth and Gluttony is a sort of Hopelessness ... the idea that we are really all victims of evil things ... that the world is winding down, that heresy, evil, and bodyfat advance relentlessly ... and that no effort on our part is able to stop them.
I would say (judging from my weight histogram) that it took me about 5 months from the day I left The Episcopal church until I began to have hope again ... hope for the larger Church Militant, and hope for reforming my own earthly body.
1Well, I did also spend quite a bit of time on the treadmill.
2See Proverbs 6:9-11
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Kicking Asphalt & Taking Names!
Eliot's Cobra-IRS Meteor has passed it's road test ... We tooled around the neighborhood for about 10 miles Friday and Saturday. If it can handle our Michigan roads, with no pieces falling off, I'd say we have it buttoned up pretty tight.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit A:
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Reversing the Conventional Wisdom.
You know, even though it should not surprise me ... the fact that everything is backwards and upside-down in God's world, from the fallen human perspective ... it still does catch me by surprise.
Because, you know, the world's conventional wisdom will tell you to overcome your fear of appearing in front of an audience by picturing that same audience wearing only underwear. But I have found it much more motivational and inspiring to enhance the fear by picturing myself in front of the audience in (essentially) my underwear. I have lost 39 pounds this year, using this method.
Only 17 days to go!
My arms look decent in this one. Dig the license plate!
Because, you know, the world's conventional wisdom will tell you to overcome your fear of appearing in front of an audience by picturing that same audience wearing only underwear. But I have found it much more motivational and inspiring to enhance the fear by picturing myself in front of the audience in (essentially) my underwear. I have lost 39 pounds this year, using this method.
Only 17 days to go!
My arms look decent in this one. Dig the license plate!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Vintage Rails @ Beech Bend Raceway Park
The first stop on our recent family vacation was Beech Bend drag strip in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to see the Hot Rod Reunion and the associated Vintage Drag meet.
It was spectacular. This little video I made is a compilation of some of the rails we saw that weekend.
It was spectacular. This little video I made is a compilation of some of the rails we saw that weekend.
Friday, June 13, 2008
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