I'd gotten into quite a habit of featuring North Dakota's ubiquitous windmills for a while there. These days, not so much. Chalk that up to the fact that we've been so incredibly busy around our house that I simply haven't had much time to run around with the ol' camera. I got a rare opportunity to do so the other day, and of course a windmill was among the photographic targets acquired.
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink | Click a dot to rate this entry:
( 3.1 / 162 )
Super Bowl XXXVI had a special significance outside the football realm: it was the first after the terrorist attacks only a few short months before. Concerns about security ran high, as the nation was traumatized by the events of September 11th and worried whether more such attacks on civilians were in store. Thanks to President Bush, we have not been hit since, but some healing was in order. Who best to deliver a halftime show to help along the way than U2?
The YouTube video I'm going to link to below contains the second half of the show. I have a copy of the full show, raw as it was sent from the truck to the network, but I don't have permission to put it online. The first song they play, Beautiful Day, is also on YouTube; just search for "U2 Super Bowl Halftime" and you'll find it. But the part that had me standing, jumping, and cheering that day was the second song, perhaps their most famous: Where the Streets Have No Name.
When Bono is walking with the microphone before he begins to sing, he quotes Psalm 51:15 – "O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise." In an episode of VH1's Behind the Music, U2’s manager tells the story of how, in the band’s early days, he’d find them in the bus after their shows reading the Bible instead of out partying it up. Apparently they're Christians of some sort. According to the program, they almost called it quits when all the fame took hold because they didn’t know what it might do to them. They didn’t break up, however, although Bono has since jumped the shark. I like their music and choose to remember where they supposedly came from.
This year's show featured buffoon Bruce Springsteen, who claims his career got a kick-start after writing an anti-President Bush song. Whatever, I have no time for a bunch of wacko liberals. At halftime I treated my family to some pizza and garlic breadsticks in the kitchen, taking them down to the TV room for the start of the 3rd quarter. As far as I'm concerned, wacko politics aside, I've already seen the only halftime show I'll ever need to see.
On a side note, apparently there were two Christian quarterbacks this year. I'm told by a friend that Kurt Warner is a Christian by a friend at church who's a big sports fan. My friend Chuck has been friends with Ben Roethlisberger since high school and was his church youth group leader, and he told me Ben is a born-again believer. Just a cool tidbit about the game I thought you might enjoy. I've always been a Steelers fan, and Ben rides (or did ride) a Suzuki... so it's easy to guess which team I was hoping would win!
[ 3 comments ] ( 57 views ) | permalink | Click a dot to rate this entry:
( 2.9 / 128 )
My wife and I were among hundreds of couples who attended the Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage presentation this weekend at Bismarck Community Church. Presenter Mark Gungor is a really neat guy, and I learned a lot about myself and my wife this weekend. I think she learned a lot about me, too! I highly recommend seeing this presentation on DVD if you get the chance. If you have the opportunity to see it in person, even better. You'll be glad you did.
One of the things we found really interesting was the Flag Page Test, which they did with a sample couple from the audience. As with many couples, they tested as somewhat opposites. After bringing them up on stage and showing us their scores, he asked them a variety of questions and had them pegged right on with each question. The goal is to help you understand your spouse better by finding out what matters most to them, then finding out how best to satisfy their needs. It's really cool.
Two things I really agree with from this weekend: One is that the feminization of our culture (especially the churches) is doing the men of our nation a horrible disservice. Another is that a strong marriage isn't about changing who we are, but about realizing how to best give our spouse the type of love and affirmation they need. That starts by figuring out just what in the world that type is, as I described above.
There were so many gold nuggets in the two days of presentation, I can't list them all. I do know that we will be buying his book by the same name, which goes into greater detail and gives specific citations of the studies that he mentions in his presentation.
Stacy and I had originally scheduled a "date night" for this Friday, with our friends taking the toddlers for a sleepover. Then we found out about the Laugh Your Way presentation and decided to attend as part of our date. My wife's persistence paid off in being a lucky caller to KNDR to win a pair of tickets, which left money in our Date Fund to spring for a nice meal at the Walrus and some swag at the event. It was all time and money well spent. Even a healthy marriage needs maintenance, and we intend our marriage to last. Part of that, by the way, is my decision to not take my ubiquitous camera along on our dates, thus the less-than-stellar cellular phone picture above.
[ add comment ] ( 3 views ) | permalink | Click a dot to rate this entry:
( 2.6 / 181 )
One casualty of the beating many fixtures took from today's wind is the cable strung across the east end of The Strip in Mandan. This poor police officer was parked nearby with his flashers going when I came to Mandan, and he was parked there when I returned to Bismarck. I know it's important to make sure nobody ran into the fallen cable and pulled the whole works down, but I'm sure he was plenty bored! Poor guy.
[ add comment ] ( 1 view ) | permalink | Click a dot to rate this entry:
( 3 / 154 )
Is it any wonder why we're still not into mass transportation around here? :) This bus stop sits near the Fort Lincoln Elementary School south of my beloved Mandan. It may look like a bus stop in the middle of nowhere (at least I hope it does, I tried to make it do so) but is actually on a city street, with much of the land behind it already platted for development. Many of the streets were actually paved just before winter blew in last year. Mandan, she's a-growing!
[ 1 comment ] ( 20 views ) | permalink | Click a dot to rate this entry:
( 2.6 / 127 )
Calendar
