Erin got a fair amount of playing time including the last 7+ minutes of the game. The OU-Lancaster women were the #3 seed, so they had a first round bye and didn’t have to play on Saturday. This evening, they played OSU-Lima and dominated them pretty much from the start. On Saturday, they’ll be playing the #2 seed, UC-Clermont. OU-L handed them their only conference loss of the season last month, so they’ll probably be out for revenge, but if the OU-L women can get double-figure scoring out of 5 players again like they did tonight, it could be a good game and OU-L should have a good chance.
Author: Jim C
A good evening for flying
It was a pretty nice day today, so I called over to the airport and checked to see if they had a plane available. They did, I got to fly the G-1000 equipped Cessna 172 again. I took off late enough that I decided to make my landings night landings, so I’d be current again for carrying passengers at night. I’ve updated my various web pages that have my log book info linked from my web page. It was 1°C with light winds out of the southeast. I mostly practiced normal stuff, tracking a course, holding at the VOR, slow flight, steep turns, etc.
Search committee duties almost complete
Well, we’re almost there. This morning we held a trial sermon at Grace UCC. After the service, the congregation voted overwhelmingly to extend a call to Rev. Ruth K. Farrell and she accepted. As chair of the search committee for the last 10 months, this is a huge relief to me and the rest of the committee and we’re all excited about her coming to Grace.
The US has lost all moral authority
This makes me embarrassed to be an American. The CIA director just admitted in testimony before Congress that the CIA did waterboard some detainees (remember, they aren’t prisoners). Now the White House press secretary says we could do it again. I’m waiting to hear John McCain to respond to this. As a former prisoner-of-war, I’d expect him to come out strongly against this. He, better than just about anyone on the national scene, should be able to tell you that (episodes of 24 not withstanding) when you torture prisoners, the information you get (I won’t call it intelligence) is worth almost nothing. They’ll tell you anything just to get you to stop. I could go on, but it was covered better than I could ever do it here and here. I especially liked the last paragraph of that first story:
Alexis de Tocqueville, the French historian, politicist, and observer of 19th century America, observed that “America is great because America is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” It is important for people of faith to impress upon Americans and our leaders in Washington that America’s goodness, and hence its greatness, is seriously compromised by the practice of torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments of detainees.
As the LA Times pointed out, Congress has twice passed laws requiring the military and the CIA to obey the Geneva Convention, but the White House (and the apparently spineless Attorney General) continue to be unable to see what the rest of the world knows…
Super Bowl
As you already know if you saw my post 2 weeks ago, I’m not at all unhappy with the outcome of the game that just ended. Given that a lot of folks weren’t giving the Giants much of a chance (even as well as the Giants have played the last 4 or 5 games), I thought they played very well. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous when the Patriots scored in the 4th quarter, but Eli Manning did a great job of leading the team down for that winning score. The defense really won it for NY though, they kept pressure on Brady the whole game and never let Moss or Malroney hurt them. 11 consecutive wins on the road (although the Super Bowl is a road game for both teams, so….), pretty impressive. So, the Manning brothers win consecutive Super Bowls. Congrats, Giants. Next year, it will be my Browns.
I like this guy
I was browsing some of the blogs I follow and today came across two posts that I enjoyed from a Disciples of Christ pastor in St. Joseph, MO. The first one was an interesting look at Lent from someone who didn’t observe it growing up, and only discovered it in seminary. As a UCC PK, I’ve known what Lent was for as long as I can remember, but that doesn’t mean that I always take it all that seriously (hey, I’m human), but this did get me to stop and think for a moment. This year, I’ll try to be more serious about my observance of it. The second one was about the movie Juno which I haven’t seen yet, but probably will. By most accounts it seems to be a good movie, though in the last day or two, all of the sudden I’m seeing arguments on whether the movie is “pro-life” or “pro-choice” or whether Hollywood is selling out to the “Religious Right” (as if they’d have each other), give me a break. I couldn’t help but chuckle at this passage on abortion though (as it largely describes my feelings, though obvious the particulars are his — and in case you’re counting there are at least 5 hands there).
I feel more than a bit conflicted about it. On the one hand, I’m a card-carrying liberal with a lot of white male guilt, so the last thing I want to do is tell a woman what to do with her body. On the other hand, I’m a father, because two women felt very strongly that abortion was wrong for them and made an adoption plan instead. On the other hand, that was their choice and who am I to say what is the right choice for someone else when it comes to such a personal and painful issue? On the other hand, even if I remain unconvinced that life begins at conception or even the first trimester or even beyond that–I’m not sure when it begins, I still believe the potential for life is there. I’ve counseled couples who grieved over a miscarriage and that grief was real–we did not have a funeral but we did grieve together. On the other hand, so many anti-abortion people are just so arrogant and mean and ridiculous–you want to stop abortion but you’re against sex education and birth control! What’s up with that? I could go on.
Oh, and finally, I was also amused by a story in today’s Columbus Dispatch about the problems being caused by the fact that St. Patrick’s Day falls during Holy Week this year (drinking your green beer to excess doesn’t exactly seem appropriate during Holy Week).
I’m alive again, and the blizzard (not) of ’08
Well, at 23:00 last night the temperature was 54°F, at midnight it was 44°F, and at 07:00 this morning, it was 14°F. That drop reminds me so much of the blizzard of ’78 (wow, was that really 30 years ago last week?). Alas, this time, we got the rain to start, but didn’t get the snow. We did have wind gusts of about 60 mph this morning. Meanwhile, it could be worse, Matt is dealing with -26°F and a broken windshield this morning, Shane is still in Iraq, and, at least, I’m on solid food again (you don’t really want to know what I’ve been through since Sunday morning, trust me on this one). On the other hand, if you’re looking for a way to lose 8 pounds in 2 days, this one works, but I’d just as soon pass.
Dealing with Grief
My wife’s uncle died last week. She flew down to North Carolina to attend the funeral and visit with several of her cousins. When I was traveling to NC on business a lot a few years ago, I always arranged to have dinner with him and the other 2 siblings (only 1 of the 3 is now living) that were still alive. I enjoyed the visits, but I hadn’t seen him in several years. I’ve always had a hard time with how to respond to death. There are no words, I know that, but I want to say something. This week I came across a blog post that reminded me, we already had some instruction in how to deal with it. It was there in the book of Job all along. What is required of us is silence. Just to be there and be silent. I think I can handle that.
Shalom,
Jim
Cincinnati Reds Winter Caravan 2008
Well, it is 9°F/-13°C outside and I just got back from treating myself to an early birthday present. I didn’t decide for sure until last night that I was going to go, but since I had never been to a Winter Caravan and they were right here (well, in Dublin up by my old apartment) the night before my birthday… Marty Brennaman, Wayne Krivsky, Brandon Phillips (he got the biggest applause when they finally walked in), Lee May, and Matt Maloney were present, Tom Browning joins this group tomorrow. They were 10 minutes late arriving and the whole thing didn’t start until about 19:30 (it was scheduled from 19:00-21:00). When they did the Q&A, the very first question for Krivsky was “When are you going to lock up Brandon to a long-term contract?” Which, of course, caused the crowd to go nuts. His answer was, “Soon, I hope.” The next biggest applause were when Marty introduced BP saying he “got screwed out of the Gold Glove.” The team hasn’t exactly decided how they will honor Joe Nuxhall this year beyond having his name on the jersey sleeve, but Junior had a great idea that I hope they will follow through on. It would be black jersey’s with the players names and Joe’s number for opening day, then auction them off on reds.com after the game with all the money going to Joe’s foundation. That would be pretty cool. Once the autograph session got started, I actually got a few minutes to talk to Marty because Krivsky was being interviewed by some TV guys. We talked about Joe and the Big Red Machine. I didn’t say much to Krivsky and I had to wait for Brandon to finish his TV interview and the line was long so I didn’t get to talk to him much either. It was kind of cool meeting Lee May, but he was gone before I started following the Reds. I talked to Maloney for a while since he was getting ignored at the end of the line. He’s looking forward to the opportunity to compete for a spot in the rotation next month. Only 23 days until pitchers and catchers have to report. I apologize for the quality of the pictures, but I forgot my camera, so these were taken with my cell phone.
Marty
Brandon Phillips
Matt MaloneyMartin Luther King, Jr Day
I was only 6 when Dr. King was assassinated, I remember the TV coverage very well. I knew of him, but I didn’t really understand what he was all about at the time. It was in the mid-70s that I finally read about him and Gandhi and really came to appreciate what he stood for. Today is the holiday celebrating his birth/life/legacy and to remember that there is still work to be done. Pastor Bob Cornwall has two excellent stories up on his blog today. The first talks about a sermon Dr. King gave a month before his death entitled Unfulfilled Dreams. The second one discusses remarks that Barak Obama made yesterday at Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta (Dr. King’s former church). I especially appreciate the second quoted passage. I am so sick of all the negativity and mud-slinging in politics today. All these politicians who claim to be Christian/religious don’t seem to remember the Golden Rule, do they? I sometimes yearn for a parliamentary system where the legislature can be dissolved and new elections called in a matter of weeks rather than the current system here in the US where Congrescritters essentially have to start running for reelection before they are even sworn in and the Presidential race lasts 2 years. If more folks running for office felt the way Sen. Obama speaks here, perhaps so many of our young people wouldn’t be disillusioned by the process. Ah, well. I hope you all had a good holiday.