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Post by Mr. Atari on Jun 4, 2011 23:00:01 GMT -5
Here's a little Saturday night piece of "what the hell is that!?"
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jun 2, 2011 13:32:21 GMT -5
Well it finally happened. I fired my first employee.
We started this church back in 2005, and we've only ever hired one person besides me. He was on payroll for the last 2 years. Like every other organization in the country, we have to make budget cutbacks. But it wasn't just a budget decision. He wasn't pulling his weight or giving us bang for the buck, and was pretty half-assed in his job performance. So it really became an issue that everyone in the congregation was wondering why I hadn't done something yet.
We had "the talk" a week-and-a-half ago. This Sunday, I'll be telling the congregation. What really sucks is that he's one of my best friends and has been a tremendous help in other ways since we starting this thing. And now, he's giving everyone the silent treatment and vowed never to set foot in the building again. It would be so easy to bury this guy and protect the momentum of the church. But I can't do that. The only way to honor God in this is to honor him and be honest with everyone.
Church politics suck. Even the politics that come from necessary, agonizing decisions.
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jun 1, 2011 15:12:13 GMT -5
The Rockies were 17-8 in April. The Rockies were 8-21 in May.
*slowly shakes head and looks at floor*
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Post by Mr. Atari on May 17, 2011 14:43:52 GMT -5
My son and I hit up our first Sox game of the year last night. Nothing like a cold, mid-May night for baseball - especially when your team is sucking. This about sums it up: I was listening to the sports radio wrap-up of the game on the way home while my son slept in the car. They called Pierzynsky the White Sox player of the game...because his (ultimately scoreless) hit in the fifth ended the no-hitter. Uh...yay? (So, Atari, you and your son did have better luck than us. Luckily, US Cellular has the huge kid's "Fundamentals" area so my son mostly ended up hitting, fielding, and running instead of watching the pain, which was probably better.) We had a blast. It was the first time he sat through an entire game, and actually watched the whole thing (he's 8). The game was the best of both worlds: a pitcher's duel, with 5 innings played in less than an hour; and then 10 runs were scored in 1.5 innings (including 4 HRs). It was especially nice to see the Rockies hang 7 on Lincecum, topped off with a great Carlos Gonzalez blast to center field. Coors Field was a-rockin'.
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Post by Mr. Atari on May 16, 2011 11:41:18 GMT -5
If memory serves, Kevin lived in Palatine or Mt. Prospect or some other northwest suburb. Growing up in the neighboring town of Wheeling, I always thought it was crazy that they had so many "close-to-home" references for me.
Mrs. Atari grew up in rural, southeast Wisconsin, so a ton of those jokes leave her shaking her head, too.
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Post by Mr. Atari on May 15, 2011 14:10:55 GMT -5
Hooray, Flannery O'Connor!
I agree with everything you and mummi said about her.
On my way to the financially useless Literature Degree I earned, there were many classes and authors I endured for the credit, but hated to read (cough...Jane Austen...cough). Some authors I loved studying, researching, and writing about (Shakespeare, Twain, Melville). But Flannery O'Connor was one of the authors that made me read with awe and joy. I can count on one hand the works that knocked the wind out of me and flat-out changed me as a person with their genius. Dante's Divine Comedy was one, The Brothers Karamazov was one, and without a doubt, Flannery O'Connor's short stories.
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Post by Mr. Atari on May 13, 2011 12:53:36 GMT -5
How is it I just found out that Star-Burns is played by the guy who created the brilliant adult swim show Moral Orel? How did that slip by me? How is it that I just found out that Leonard is played by Richard Erdman. Also known as McNulty in the classic Twilight Zone episode, "A Kind of Stopwatch". You think about that now.
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Post by Mr. Atari on May 12, 2011 23:00:25 GMT -5
I've been avoiding the NHL lately, as my Avs have set the bar at a new low. Wow, they stunk this year.
Tonight I thought, "What the heck, it's a game 7." First, I saw Bertuzzi get knocked out of the game. Then, I saw the Red Wings go crying into the long, dark, off-season.
Hooray for hockey!
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Post by Mr. Atari on May 11, 2011 14:47:31 GMT -5
His characters and his stories don't seem to say, "Believe in God because he is real," as much as, "Believe in God because this is the alternative." I think you're on to something here. I remember doing a research paper in college on FD, and learning about how much of his purpose in writing was to process the nihilism and existentialism of his contemporaries (both in Russia and folks like Nietzche). Crime and Punishment was written if not to Nietzche specifically, at least to his views of existentialism and moral relativism. In many ways, Dostoevsky was saying in that story, "Okay, let's suppose God is dead, and right and wrong are purely subjective. What would happen then, if a guy killed his landlady for no good reason?" In many of his writings, he seemed to be making the point that the effect on the conscience and the mind of the individual would be devastating if there truly were no God. Or, as you so adroitly put it, "Believe in God because this is the alternative." I think this theme is everywhere in FD's works. And now I'll have to go find it in this short story I've never heard of before. Gracias.
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Post by Mr. Atari on May 8, 2011 14:33:48 GMT -5
When I was reminded that yesterday was the Derby, you were the first person I thought of. Sorry it wasn't a profitable race for you, but I know it's still a big day.
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YES!!
May 8, 2011 13:36:24 GMT -5
Post by Mr. Atari on May 8, 2011 13:36:24 GMT -5
Hispanic cartoons? You mean like these guys: Man, I loved Slowpoke Rodriguez.
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YES!!
May 7, 2011 21:47:06 GMT -5
Post by Mr. Atari on May 7, 2011 21:47:06 GMT -5
Well worth every penny.
It's been a while since I popped in Clint Howard's magnum opus. Tonight might be a good night for Steve Garvey, Olivia Hussey, David Warner, and lots and lots of Converse shoes.
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Post by Mr. Atari on May 7, 2011 14:26:07 GMT -5
Cheap Trick's live album cover of Sgt. Pepper.
It's a great performance.
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Post by Mr. Atari on May 6, 2011 22:03:34 GMT -5
As a fan of the AFC West, my childhood is full of fond memories of Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen.
In baseball, I grew up with Harry Caray and Steve Stone. But Vin Scully is probably the best baseball announcer ever. When he used to do national games on Saturdays on NBC with Joe Garagiola, it was a thing of beauty.
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Post by Mr. Atari on May 6, 2011 16:55:29 GMT -5
In 1994, Forrest Gump, which may be the worst movie ever made, won over...let's see now...
Quiz Show: Redford's best film, and amazingly watchable and dramatic, with incredible acting from beginning to end. Pulp Fiction: The most original movie in my lifetime, and the crown jewel in Tarantino's career. An all-time classic. Shawshank Redemption: #1 on imdb for at least 10 years running. I saw it in the theaters on opening night with a crowd of about 8 people. Even then, I knew I was watching a near-perfect movie.
1989 was almost as bad. Driving Miss Daisy won in a year that had some amazing films: Dead Poets Society, Do the Right Thing, Henry V, My Left Foot, Glory, and of course, Road House.
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