In the lead up to today, I’ve been thinking about how funny, and perhaps deeply meaningful, it is that Valentine’s Day and Lent are on the same day. Chocolate and romance and sacrifice and contemplation all mixed into one? I had such lofty dreams. Could I combine these two seemingly disparate holidays and  meaningfully vow…

I never heard of Fat Tuesday as a kid. The whole Mardi Gras thing way too exotic for my rural Wisconsin German Lutheran world. I think even Lent was a little suspicious because it was so Catholic. Anyway, as I understand it, Fat Tuesday is all about indulging in delights that you are planning on…

“You’re not very good at not doing things…” Chad told me this at the end of our weeklong vacation in Florida last week. And yeah, I got a titch defensive. What do you mean, are you saying I can’t relax? So then we chatted, (over day drinks)d, about how not doing things isn’t the same…

It’s almost February, but I think I still have time to proclaim 2018 as the year that I will “Be a Better Drummer.” Which doesn’t mean that I am currently a crappy drummer. Not that any of my readers are necessarily thinking that, but that’s what my inner critic voice is saying. I have a…

I lost my Deadpool shirt. But that’s okay, it will turn up eventually. Or maybe it won’t, because I’m not sure I acutally have a Deadpool shirt. This confusion stems NOT from alcohol consumption (valid guess) but from the shirt in question coming via LootCrate. I’ve seen so many emails ads for a LootCrate with this…

NPR’s Marketplace Weekend show does a regular segment called “By the Numbers” (yes, I’m as surprised as you that I listen to it enough to know that) where they throw out a number so listeners can guess what it is. In that spirit, I give you the number 1,336.7. Is that: how many glasses of…

Yesterday Chad and I were in charge of the service at our church. This endeavor involved  choosing and stringing together a selection of readings and songs and presenting them. This is the introduction I wrote for the service: When Marie asked Chad and me if we wanted to take responsibility for this December 31 service, we…

Today is Day #22 of “40 Days of Awesome” (and yes I successfully continued the streak with a 5 mile indoor track run today). The number 22 doesn’t have any special significance that I know of to running.  However, because of the play “Panache” that I was in this fall, I know it might have…

I’m smack in the middle of “40 Days of Awesome.” For a variety of reasons (perhaps for a later post) I’m feeling much less than awesome right now, but the 20th Day of Awesome still requires a blog post. “40 Days of Awesome” is a running challenge issued by Runner’s World to run at least…

My temporary tattoo that says “Be Present” is fading away more quickly than I was prepared for it to. If I view my tattoo as an aid in realizing a spiritual truth, this is highly appropriate. My tattoo is a real-time lesson that things don’t last, everything is ephemeral, and all we have is this…