Sunrise, Sunset

"We fear change." - Garth Algar, Wayne's World.

We've been in a small group Bible study through our church for the past three years. It was a very serendipitous series of events that lead us to the group that we ended up attending. I won't bore you with all of the details, but suffice it to say that we were very happy with the group. Up to that point, we really hadn't connected with people in town and were happy to even have people that we could name that I didn't work with. Very quickly, we were doing social events outside of the weekly small group: going out to eat, watching sporting events, play dates for the kids, etc. However, it is looking as though this chapter in our lives has come to a close.

We always knew that our group would most likely be temporary. In fact, it was stated as such at the beginning. We would stay together for a few years and then we'd branch out into other groups. After all, our church had just started trying to get people in to small groups and there was a strong need for more group leaders. That was the plan and we knew it from the onset. That doesn't mean that I have to like it, though.

It's not as though our group remained the same through all three years. One couple that was at the initial meeting decided that the group wasn't for them, so we didn't see them the next week. Over the three years, we added two new couples, a total of six new kids, and one more baby sitter. We've seen each other through ups and downs in our personal lives. We've spent more time talking about the collective labors and births than the time that was spent actually in labor and childbirth. We've laughed together, cried together, prayed together, and eaten a lot of desserts together. Now the time has finally come where it's time to branch out. It's time to multiply our groups so that others can be involved in small groups as well. So that they can have the closeness and the friendship. I'm just not sure if I'm ready for it to end.

I've used Garth's line from Wayne's World many times over the years because it is a quote with which I strongly identify. I've always been resistant to change. I think it has something to do with my upbringing. I lived in the same house for nearly the first 19 years of my life. In that time, I attended the same church, went to the same school with essentially the same classmates and had the same haircut. I had the same girlfriend all through high school along with the same best friend. Hopefully, that helps explain my aversion to having anything in my life change.

Again, I point out that I completely acknowledge the need for the group to split. We need to give others the opportunity to join small groups so that, as a church, we can have sustainable, personal growth in our faith. We need to make sure that people feel welcomed and "plugged in" at the church.

I'm just saying that I'm really going to miss that guaranteed time with some of my closest friends.

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How Many Times Have I Been Fooled?

I know that at this portion of my life, after everything I've seen, I shouldn't be allowed to get my hopes up. I've seen the same sort of results every single time, but yet I keep hoping. Hoping that I'll see the years bear fruit, but the same old conclusion keeps slapping me in the face. There's an old saying that insanity can be defined as repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting to get different results. Well, that's been me for the past few years, and tonight it completely slapped me in the face. That's right, it was the night of the NBA draft lottery. I think that it's been fairly evident that I'm a fan of most of the Minnesota pro sports teams. Along with that has come a lot of heartache. It might not be on the level of Philadelphia sports' problems, but there's still a rather impressive list. Consider:

• Going to and losing four Super Bowls. Sure, I wasn't alive during any of them, but it's still my heritage.
• Trading away a king's ransom for Hershel Walker with Denny proudly proclaiming that they've just won the Super Bowl because they acquired the missing piece. The problem with that quote was that it was actually taken from the Dallas press release.
• Drafting Ndi Ebi over Josh Howard. Yes, Howard has had some reported problems lately, but at least he's actually a player in the league. Ebi spent three years being "injured" and then was done.
• Isaiah "J.R." Rider. That's all I have to say about that.
• The Wolves never improving their draft position in the lottery.
• Drafting NBA Rookie of the Year, Brandon Roy...and then trading him away.
• Joe Smith.

These are just the examples that immediately spring to mind. I could go on for quite a while. The point being that I was looking to tonight as being a potential turning point for a franchise that needed a bit of luck. They needed the ball to bounce their way just for once. They have a very good player in Al Jefferson who could be a cornerstone in the low block for years to come, but he needed some help. Help in the form Derrick Rose to run the pick and roll, give perfect passes for easy finishes and to receive the outlet pass to start the fast break. Help in the form of Michael Beasley to share the rebounding chores, make the opponent pay for a double team and provide some much-needed help on defense. Alas, these scenarios, as it stands now, appear unlikely to occur. You see, the Wolves, true to their history, stayed put. They had the third-worst record in the league at the conclusion of the season, and they will have the third overall pick in the NBA draft. All of this means that among my fellow Wolves fans the debate will start about who is worthy of the 3rd pick that will also help the team. One of the largest problems that I see in this draft is the fact that many of the players mentioned for the number three pick have skill sets that are very similar to two players the Wolves already have on their roster in Randy Foye and Rashaad McCants. O.J. Mayo, Erik Gordon, and Jerryd Bayless are all, essentially, mid-sized (6' 3"-6' 4") scoring guards who might have to be forced into a hybrid point guard role in the NBA. That pretty much describes Foye and McCants. A back court of one of those players and Foye or McCants would most likely be a disaster. You can't teach size, right? That's what we hear all the time about why a general manager selected a big man over a more talented but shorter player. However, it rarely holds true. If the big isn't athletic or have solid skills already, they aren't worth the risk. The possibility of selecting Brook Lopez or Kevin Love scares me right now because I'm not sure how well their games will translate to the next level. DeAndre Jordan is intriguing, but has the "motivation problem" label. All of these lingering problems is why I so desperately wanted one of the top two picks. I would actually have preferred the second pick. Let the team in the first position agonize over who to select. Just hand in the card for the other guy after they make their pick. But, no, the Wolves get the third pick. Sure, something strange could happen and Miami or Chicago will over think things and pass on Rose or Beasley so they fall in to the Wolves' lap. That's essentially what happened for the Vikings with Adrian Peterson, so it's not completely unprecedented. What's the likely-hood of that happening, though? I was talking with my brother-in-law about the lottery results and he responded to my lament about picking third with the following: "The one thing I'll say is that there will be 3 stars coming out of this draft. We know who two of them will be, but the question is who will be the third." My current pessimistic response? "We just know that it won't be whoever the Wolves pick."

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I Gotta Go Potty!

Travel with my family continues to get more interesting. Today was the first day that we went on a trip since starting to potty train Doodle. The current state is that he's in his normal underwear when we're home (his choice of Spider-Man, Diego or Transformers). If we're going to church or the store, he's in a pull up. For bed time, he's still in a diaper. Progressively, his pull ups have been dry. This also means that we've been making more trips to the rest rooms lately.

For the most part, this is OK. Anne will watch the other kids while Doodle and I head in to the restroom and take the largest stall available, and he goes potty. Then he covers his ears while the toilet flushes. Those things can be loud some times. If at all possible, he likes to wash his hands by himself. Usually, the sink isn't low enough for him, so I have to lift him up for the washing.

Today, we made sure that he went at home before we left and put a pull up on him. Then it was on the road. We were about half-way through the trip to Grandma's house when it started.

"I have to go potty."

"Well, you're wearing the pull up. You could just go in that." This was an unacceptable solution to the young man, and to a certain extent I can understand. Once you've had the sensation of not having a wet diaper for portions of the day, I can imagine that one would want to keep it that way.

Since it was almost time for supper anyway, we stopped at the nearest Unnamed Fast Food joint and took care of both outgoing and incoming business.

Of course, an hour later, we had to stop again for a bathroom break. I have a bad feeling that trips are going to take longer for a bit.

Really, he's doing a great job with it all, for the most part. It's just frustrating that that my schedule is being interrupted.

Of course, maybe that's being selfish.

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Holy Crap: My First Experience with DTV

A couple of months ago, I applied for a coupon (pronounced "coo-pon") on a website. For the next few weeks, I checked the mailbox every day and told Anne that if I got the coupon, I would be immediately rushing out to make a purchase that I hoped would change our lives. I'm talking about digital television. Actually, that doesn't do it justice.

Digital Television!

There. That's better.

You may or may not know that in February of 2009, the TV stations that we're used to seeing over the air and captured on our rabbit ears will be going away and replaced by a purely digital signal. This is a good thing. Just like digital technology on our cell phones, DTV promises clear reception because it's either a one or a zero. The receiver isn't having to figure out where along the entire wavelength the signal is at a given moment, it's either a one or a zero. You either have the signal or you don't. There's no fuzziness. No ghosting image. Great right?

Well, I finally received my coupon in the mail on Saturday. I of course rushed right out to purchase the Zenith digital converter that Consumer Reports recommended. It took me a couple of days to find the time to connect it, but I finally did it. Then I turned it on.

The setup couldn't have been easier. It ran through the channels to find the signals available. The basics were all there - ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC - and there were some extras that were pleasant surprises such as a couple of weather stations and about four different kinds of PBS. OK, I could have done without the PBS stations, but whatever.

My initial reaction was "Wow!" The picture was completely amazing. I don't have a high definition TV, but the image was crystal clear. I settled in and watched a bit of Letterman and a bit of Family Guy. I was happy.

Could it last? Of course not. Suddenly, some of the stations would go black and show a happy little bouncing sign to tell me that there was "no signal." Herein lies the problem with a digital source: The fact that if you don't have a signal, you really don't have a signal. Granted, I just have rabbit ears on the top of my TV and I'm sure the consistency could be smoothed out if I got an attic antenna or something . However, it's not like I live out in the country. I live right in a reasonably sized metropolitan area. I should have very good signal consistently. Maybe this will improve as we get closer to the full switch over, but it's mildly frustrating that it's not better now.

For more information, you can go to the US Government's site dedicated to digital TV.

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