nametags

So after a 20 minute long debate with myself in bed I threw on some clothes and went to the Men's Breakfast at church this morning. I was ten minutes late and found that I was wearing black socks, but the food was warm and I met some new people.

A men's breakfast potluck is not a good place to meet girls. Fortunately, I am happily married and this is not an issue for me. It is a good place, however, to learn who's wife is a good cook.

It's also a quick study in the sociology of nametags. In my several years of attending gatherings of well-meaning friends, strangers and people you're too ashamed to ask their names again I have come to see the benefits of having everybody wear nametags. If nothing else it's an opportunity to passively introduce yourself to people in the supermarket when you forget to remove the nametag after the meeting.

I sometimes wonder if wearing nametags is a secret penmanship contest and one of two of the guys in the group are mentally ticking off who's crossed their t's and dotted their i's, who has smudged a little on the last letter and who has drawn the most perfectly round o.

Things got more complicated at this particular men's breakfast when the discussion leader picked out twelve guys to give us a picture of what the twelve apostles would look like. This was all fine and good except that for the rest of the meeting I didn't know whether this one guy's name was Dennis or Simon Peter. And imagine my chagrin when the clerk at Save Mart pointed out, "You must have been made fun of as a kid, Mr. Simon the Zealot."

At least I didn't have to be Judas. Even in the post-Christian world this name continues to be unpopular. And plus, nobody wants to kiss you. Which would not have been a problem this morning, as we have already established that there were no girls at the breakfast this morning.

catan city (composed in the style of a fourth grader)

Settlers of Catan is a fun and interesting game. It is cool. It is fun. My sister and her husband (his name is Jon) got this game and they took it to my house and we played it. I remember I liked it cause I played it when I was in Sokolov a few years ago with Brian and Beth and Emily. They're married now. I mean Brian and Emily are married. Beth is married to Paul and he's a different guy.

So we played Settlers of Catan last night and I liked to play it again. It was interesting. In Settlers of Catan you get cards and you build stuff with the cards. I like to build cities with the cards. I couldn't build the longest road cause Chrissy blocked me. I said "I hate you! You blocked my longest road!" She said "Yes." And she laughed. I don't really hate her. She's my wife and she's pretty nice except when she blocks my longest road. I get pretty compedadive. But it's cool.

And that's why I think Settlers of Catan is a fun and interesting game.

attack of the mold!

Kitchen floors have been known to make many sounds. Among these are *stepstep*, *stomp*, *creak*, *clipclop* and, when little feet are involved, *pitterpatter.* But one sound they should not make is *squish.* Unfortunately, this is the sound that Joel's dad's kitchen floor was making earlier this week.

Dad left home in the early evening for a meeting at church to a *stepstep* and returned to a *slosh.* The subfloors had been inundated with an old, until now unknown small leak that Monday night became a larger one. The damage is pretty significant, and tomorrow a crew is coming to gut the kitchen floor down to the studs and joists. Dad's taking it with grace and humor today, but it's another big blow in what's already been a really tough couple of months (to put it lightly).

So we're going to do some unexpected packing tonight, skipping out on the incredible closing shop sale at Borders in the Galleria (it would take something this big to keep us away). Please remember to step in for Dad when you're talking to Jesus these days. And to call down brimstone and judgment upon the mold, if you think of it.

mystery solved

We have discovered the secret identity of Merry Mistletoe.