Battlecat buries a bone!

Battlecat explores an alternative to digging up our backyard.

Lake House/Layton/Exams

Lots of things have happened since the last post:

Battlecat discovered that water is not such a bad thing as she made her first ever trip into a body of water (other than our bathtub). She really wanted to eat a duck... but alas ducks are wise to these types of things. Battlecat roamed the backyard of the lakehouse freely and played with Tank & Trolley - she came when called (with two exceptions!) and discovered that one of her life's passions is chewing on blocks of wood!

Jason and I built a Deck.... Julia hung out with her main squeeze Eli, and Erin studied....

I went to the SLC this past week for work. When I finished with work, I got to hang out with many people. Here are some of the highlights:

I got to talk social activism and oil companies with E-Pac and his crew.
I had lunch with Sam and Jonathan Hays
I had dinner with Jonathan and Christina (who seems to love lil' Jon-Pow in spite of his recent fashion/facial hair salute to 3rd World Refugees)
I went to O2: J-Rad brought the Word, and I got to see many friends who I've missed dearly
After O2: Went over the Jonathan and Sarah's (w/ Jonathan/Christina/J-Rad) We watched old Salt Co skits on DVD, and Stella licked me when I tried to kiss her... she was quite giggly.
I saw Sean and Rachael... Rachael was making some sort of pound puppy backpack.... so Sean and I retreated to the man cave for discussion.
I saw Chad and Sarah - we drank some coffee and had a really good discussion on Africa, Skid Row, etc.
I had breakfast @ Ruth's with my Dad, Joel, and Jonathan....Ruth's biscuits change my life and it was awesome to see my brothers at the same time.
I had lunch with my mom @ ZCMI center..... taco maker...mmmm....
I had dinner with my family and Juanita and Joshnita at TGI Fridays..... Josh drove.... and I have to say that he is a beautiful man and did a great job.
I hung out with my mom & dad all day Saturday!
I missed Erin the whole time..... and I missed Battlecat.

I'm back in Houston now... Kaleo had our first official meeting at our new meeting space.... The portable church crew did a sweet job and Bill is preaching through Ruth (you read that right....).

While I was gone Battlecat staked claim to much of the upstairs.... I've been taking her for walks and playing with her to tire her out... and once she falls asleep.... I will enlist the services of her arch nemesis - the vacuum cleaner and we will re-claim the upstairs space.

The next two weeks are going to be tough for us. Erin is taking exams which means she will be studying 24 hrs a day. Please pray for her strength and resilience that studying wouldn't overwhelm her and that I can be a servant to her especially over these next two weeks.

No New Song to Sing

Long time no post....

I just finished Blue Like Jazz....there's a lot I'd like to say about that book... I really enjoyed it, but I will save it for another post. Right now I just want to draw all readers attention to:
www.freederekwebb.com

Derek Webb is my all-time favorite artist, and his latest album: Mockingbird is available for free download. Derek is making the album available to the public to generate more dialogue regarding the issues raised. I encourage everyone to check it out.

A few of my favorite tunes on the record:

Mockingbird
Rich Young Ruler
A King and a Kingdom
My Enemies are Men Like Me

Erin and I are off to Julia's dad's lakehouse somewhere near Gun Barrel City, TX.....
This will be Battlecat's longest roadie, and a true test of her ability to listen as she will be off leash roaming the lake with Tank and Trolley.

Please check out the album - it's amazing... even if you think the music sucks.... listen to the lyrics.

Check this out

Hop on over to Chris Snow's blog and check out the Aug 16th entry if you get a chance.

http://csnow.blogspot.com/

Astros etc.

Last night Erin and I went to the Astros-Cubs game with our good friends the Matthews. It was their son Eli's first baseball game (he's a month old...). Clearly Brad Lidge didn't get the memo about it being Eli's first game and gave up a home run in the 9th (as is his custom)... and the Astros lost in 18. Follow the link to Jason & Julia's blog for some pictures.

Battlecat has gone completely insane recently...... I decided it would be a good plan to let her shred some of my old undershirts..... as it turns out... that was unwise. Battlecat has taken to running laps around our coffee table and she likes to put her paws on Erin's lap regardless of Erin's physical location (In Bed... Standing in the Living Room.... on a couch... in the bathroom).

Erin and I have a bad habit of starting long movies after 10PM... which automatically makes a movie suck, even if it could have been good had we viewed it at a normal hour... the resulting effect is that we now watch the Gilmore Girls pretty much exclusively when we have some free time to watch something.

Whatever longings Erin and I may have had for a child... our desires are now being met by two new additions to friends. Erin is spending Friday afternoons watching Abby G (our neighbors daughter), and we see Eli Matthews with some frequency.... I even hold Eli... although I'm still pretty clueless about what you do with a baby when they are awake and squiggly....

I am currently working on a plan to breed Battlecat with an Alpaca to create a race of 'Battlepacas' that will eventually become the dominant species on the planet.... for further info on alpacas visit: www.ilovealpacas.com

Back in School.... Back from Trips

Erin started school on Monday..... pardon me while I try to contain my excitement..... As you may have noticed... we've been absent from blogging lately. Here's why: Erin went to SLC after we got back from Belize and stayed there for the rest of the month. I had one week here with Battlecat.... alone..... one man cannot contain Battlecat. Jason & Julia had their baby! I went to SLC for a weekend visit, and then to the Canadian Rockies (eh) for a week long field course. Our neighbors Chris & Martha had their baby on Pioneer Day (that's the 24th o' July for you non-Utahns.....) they were elated to find out their baby was born on a state holiday! So.... Brandy is coming to visit us this weekend! We're going to a water park... I'm sure Erin and Brandy will sew something.... and we'll probably watch some Gilmore Girls. And now.... Pictures.

Aspen meets her new sister Allie

Erin and I went to the Red Iguana with some friends.... including: Amie and J-Rad

Rachael, Jonathan Hays, The Boom, Lazlo the Destroyer, Christina, Jon Pow

Destroyer, Christina, Jon-Pow, J-Rad, Amie

Two cute little llamas

SEAN... and Rachael

Bearded Lovin'

Pow!

Canada..... ain't it pretty

Banff

el oso

I was studying fold and thrust features.....

What type of fold is exposed here?

Self-Portrait.... Katy Wiest captured in the background

Bald Eagle

Banff... again

Belize It

Erin and I went to Belize for a week of vacation.... and it was awesome! We stayed at Ramon's Village, and spent most of our time in hammocks on the beach! For the first three days we were there we just chilled out on the beach. Our room was the top part of a thatched hut, and it had a mini fridge, and a microwave.... but no TV. At first the no TV through me for a loop, but it turned out to be really good. There were no distractions. Erin and I could just hang out. We played a lot of cards, and I've discovered that deep down inside of me lies a Rummy Champion waiting to be unleashed on the world.

The first tour we went on was to the national Belize Zoo and Cave tubing. The Belize Zoo was beautiful, and we had the tour guide all to ourselves. All the animals in the zoo are native to Belize, and in their natural habitat. It seemed like very few of the enclosures were artificial... it was almost as though they'd thrown up fences in random areas and whatever happened to be there during fence construction was what you saw. After the Zoo, we went out to a jungle resort for cave tubing. A river had cut through some limestone outcrop creating some spectacular caves...... and being a geo-geek I really liked it. We hiked for 30 min or so upstream with our intertubes and then floated the river. The river was high, and the water was really moving. At one point there was a fork in the river, and everyone else went one way andI got sucked the other direction where I was sure to be eaten by crocodiles..... somehow I managed to right myself, and caught up with the group... but it definitely wasn't pleasant for a few minutes.....

The next tour we went on was of some Mayan ruins called Lamanai'na which means 'submerged crocodile.' Because we were staying on an island (Ambergris Caye) we traveled by boat everywhere.... the total trip to Lamanai'na was ~3 hrs.... but the trip was beautiful. Our first time to the mainland on boat we saw dolphins, and what our guide claimed to be Tiger Woods yacht.....When we went to Lamanai'na we passed a huge Mennonite/Amish settlement...which was pretty sweet.....after an hour so up one particular river, it opened up into a beautiful lagoon and peaking above the trees you could make out the tallest temple. The ruins were really cool, and Erin and I climbed the tallest one.... unfortunately we had to go back down which is brutal since I have 'height issues.' Anyway, this temple was smaller than one we'd climbed at Chichen Itza on our honeymoon so I felt OK about it.

The next day we snorkeled and saw sharks, and sting rays, and a random assortment of colorful fish. Overall we had an amazing time in Belize. There was a couple on the island who ran a frozen custard shop which changed my life......they had pumpkin pie custard..... two scoops pumpkin pie + one scoop vanilla.... = thanksgiving any day of the year....

But I digress... After we got back from Belize we drove out to Beaumont to pick up a puppy for Erin to bring to Juanita.... the puppy - Aspen - and Battelcat got on quite well... I think Battelcat misses her. I miss Aspen's cuteness... but not her need to pee at 4 in the morning every night she was here!

And now: pictures

View from the plane

Corey Duncan and another monkey

Italy v Germany..... I only caught parts of it, and it caused me much angst

Erin and I: Self Portrait outside the caves

Ramon's from the pier

View from the High Temple at Lamanai'na

Erin snorkeling at Shark Ray Alley

Erin and I in are natural habitat

Ramon's by night

Battlecat and Aspen

Officially an MS2

After 11 months of classes, studying non-stop & tests—I have officially completed my first year of medical school! Now only 5 more months of Basic Science classes to go and then I will be on to Clinical training. It has been a very long year—I can still hardly believe it is really over. I am SO tired of studying! I am very much looking forward to this month to relax and try to recuperate a bit. Throughout God has been very gracious to me and Jake has been very understanding and patient, taking very good care of me! I have an enormous amount of information crammed into my head somewhere—I’m sure I don’t remember everything I am supposed to have learned, but hopefully I will remember enough that I can build on it during the clinical years.

This is a silly picture of Battlecat. During test weeks I pretty much sit on the futon for about 15 hours a day studying. It’s good and bad for Battlecat—she doesn’t have to be home alone, but she finds me frankly very boring. Lucky for her generally Jake comes home in the evenings to talk & play with her. However during my last week of tests Jake had to go out of town for work and so Battlecat had only boring me for company…and though we have very good neighbors with dogs that come and get Battlecat to play for a little while, by the end of the week she had had enough of not getting enough attention! As I was trying to study for my last test, she kept jumping up onto the chair I was sitting in…it was really funny though because she wouldn’t sit next to me even if I pushed her to the side…she kept sitting directly on top of me.

Jake & I just returned from vacation in Belize last night. We had a great time and will post some pictures and tell you about it soon. For now we must return to watching the World Cup Final!

Sadness

Erin called me at work today to see if I'd heard that the US has leveled against Ghana.... as I was asking her to explain how they scored she went silent..... then she told me that Ghana had been awarded a PK for no apparent reason... and I knew the US was finished.

When I got home from work guess what was waiting for me? My US Soccer Hat had arrived in the mail! I wore it as I watched the game on our DVR in disbelief..... I thought we were the better side against Italy, and I thought we were the better side against Ghana.... if Reyna doesn't jack his knee... then Dempsey's goal puts us up 1-0. If McBride was standing three feet in any direction, Beasley's goal puts us ahead against Italy....oh well.... I guess all the fair weather fans can go back to feigning an interest in the 768 game-long baseball season. There's still a lot that interests me in this cup..... and I guess I'm back to supporting Italia.....

Erin's first exam is tomorrow... she's been learning about parasites and random neurological disorders.....amongst other things. The other day I came upstairs and she was watching a lecture on various STD's which made me nauseous.

My Mom & Dad went to a family reunion this past weekend in OR for the Umbriaco side of the family. I was quite sad to miss it as I haven't seen many Umbriaco's lately. It's always nice to be around family....even family you've never met.

I've been thinking about this quote a lot lately:

“The gospel always comes to people in cultural robes. There is no such thing as a ‘pure’ gospel, isolated from culture”-- (David J. Bosch. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. 1991:297)

Specifically how this relates to Lord's Day Worship..... and contextualization of the Gospel in the way it's presented in song, Word, and sacrament....

I wonder if that statement is true. I suppose I'd need the full excerpt to really evaluate it but it has me thinking of this paradox: The Gospel is transcendent v the Gospel is imminent; The Gospel transcends culture v the Gospel is received in 'cultural robes.'

Where is the balance in that tension? Is it a cop-out to say that because the Gospel comes to us in cultural robes that there is no transcendent way of communicating it (I'm thinking here of the Lord's Day context)? Is it a cop-out to say that it really does come in cultural robes as though it were an unavoidable conclusion? And therefore the cultural robes limit the audience?

I think to some degree this 'contextualization' discussion (though profitable) has become a shelter for us to run to when we need things to make sense. When pragmatics overwhelms our faith in the Holy Spirit - contextualization becomes our friend. It makes us OK with the fact that we only reach people who look like we do, because our gospel is robed in our culture. It seems to me that Christ crucified means the same thing regardless of the time period in which it's received, and that Abraham believed God's promise concerning the Seed and that it was credited to him as righteousness is still the Gospel.... we all come to faith in the same way. I think the real 'contextualization of the Gospel' happens post conversion as the Spirit provides a context and lense for interpretation. I think there is a transcendent way to speak the Gospel to all mankind regardless of their culture..... and I'm sick of being bound by this 'I can only reach people like me mentality.'

Wasn't it the Christ who said 'Love your neighbor as yourself?' I don't recall any qualifiers in the Holy Writ regarding loving neighbors who you identify with culturally...... nor do I remember reading anything about it being more effective for neighbors of similar cultural identity to love each other. The Kingdom transcends culture. How are we announcing the Kingdom with this 'oh well... I don't identify so perhaps someone else can reach them more effectively' mentality?

Are the answers holy mysteries we're just not meant to grasp? I doubt it........ I think we've just lost sight of the Holy City and all our means of contextualization are referenced to the city that passes away.

Ps. 46
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

I'm not sure if this post will make much sense to the readers.... but it's late (12:45 AM) I'm trying to stay up with Erin tonight so she will have energy to study.....

This blog is brought to by the letter 'p.'

Happy Birthday Battlecat!

Sat. June 10th was Battlecat's 1st Birthday (and my 25th....),

We celebrated with new toys, tummy scratches, and long walks. We gave Battlecat a soccer ball toy with 4 ropes for tugging attached to the ball. The ball contained a noisemaker, so whenever she bit the center of it, an announcer's voice could be heard saying "He shoots.... He SCORES! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL" It's pretty awesome... any time Battlecat bit that part of the ball she'd freak out....she'd dance around and bark... and then as soon as the voice stopped, she went back to chewing the ball!

After we celebrated Battlecat's birthday, Erin and I went with some friends to Doneraki's. Doneraki's is a Mexican restaurant here in Houston. When I was here 3 yrs ago for an internship, my friend Hieu (on my right in the picture) and I would eat there all the time. It was close to where he lived, and the menu's stated that it is the "Most Authentic" Mexican Restaurant.... who can pass that up?

Anyway, we were all at the restaurant eating and hanging out... and this mariachi band comes out and starts playing for a large group near us in the restaurant..... after they are done playing... Hieu disappears to 'go to the bathroom.' Shortly after his return I was swarmed, and the next thing I new, I was wearing a sombrero and I had whip cream on my face from the spoonful of dessert the waiter served me... while I was still stunned from the donning of the 300 lb. sombrero.

We had a great time at the restaurant and then went back to our place for cake and ice cream. A couple others came over and we sat around and talked while Battlecat entertained all with wit, charm, and soccer ball.

Today Jason (also pictured above with his wife Julia) taught Battlecat to catch a tennis ball in her mouth. Battlecat's previous experience with balls mostly involves chewing them to pieces.... sometimes we'll throw it, and she'll go and pick it up.... but she never brings it back... she just gets bored and walks off..... but now we've got a new move to work on.

Erin has finals starting on Friday and then she's officially a 2nd Year Med Student!!!!!!!!!!

We're going to Belize for a week after she finishes and we're really excited. We're staying in an amazing hotel (www.ramons.com) and will post pictures of our trip sometime before December.

Other than that... I am freaking out about the World Cup.... tomorrow I'll be quite distracted in the morning.... go USA, and go Italia!

Joshnita

Joshnita and Erin
Kemah Boardwalk by night
Joshnita and Erin at the Aquarium
A view of the bay from the restaurant

The Code of a Superhero.....an exhibit at NASA

Seersuckers pictured here to commemorate the engagement of John Roberson.

Picturas

Mom, Dad, and I on the ferry to Kemah
Erin and I: Self-Portrait
Umbriaco's at the Aquarium
Longhorns outside of NASA
The International Space Station Mission Control Center
Proof that my mom likes Battlecat!

Family Visits & The Flight of Battlecat

Long time no post...... sorry..... we've had some visitors and things have been quite busy.

My parents came to visit the 2nd weekend of the month! They got in Thurs. night and left Sunday night (their flight wasn't scheduled to leave until after 9 which is quite late for my mom!).

When they got in, we went to eat at Golden Corral - as is the tradition of my people. On Friday Erin went to get her haircut with my mom while my dad and I hung out at Borders and read books.... My dad was flipping through Horton's Intro to Covenant Theology and I was reading Knoll's Scandal of the Evangelical Mind! After haircuts and dinner, we went to an Astros game... it was Astros - Rockies... my mom was rooting for the Rockies..... the game was pretty blah until the 6th or 7th when I donned my rally cap and the Astros went on a 6 run tear in response. My mom (who was rooting for the Rockies) was mortified that I rallied the Astros with my Denver Broncos hat..... I fear that I am something of a Colorado traitor to her......

The Astros have sucked since that game so perhaps God (who is a Broncos fan) is punishing me for abandoning a Denver-based team in their time of need.....

On Saturday we went to IKEA in the morning and to NASA and Kemah (www.kemahboardwalk.com) in the evening. We ate at a restaurant called The Aquarium which has a lot of....get this.... fish tanks in the restaurant. There were some pretty cool sharks and eels. On Sunday we went to Kaleo and then paid our homage to Katy Mills.... the largest outlet mall around.

Apparently Continental had some issues leaving on time as they were waiting for travelers coming in from the port in Galveston after arriving late from a cruise... my parents didn't get back to Layton until 3 am.....

I really miss my parents! My mom - who is petrified when approached by anything with more than two legs was excellent with Battlecat.... she petted her and never once was she (my mom) compelled to dive onto the couch in fear! My dad got me an early birthday gift - The Mel Brooks Collection on DVD!!!!!! We got to watch cool movies together including The Blues Brothers. My parents also got Erin and I an armoire as a house-warming present. The cool thing about the armoire is that my dad and I got to put it together.... and we like putting things together and watching cool movies (cool movie is defined as any movie that my mom would deem as inane or otherwise contributing to the death of my brain cells). As an aside I did watch Robin Hood: Men in Tights two times in a row the other day!

Two weeks after my parents came, Joshnita came for Memorial Day weekend. Josh arrived Friday morning and after lunch, he and I dug up our backyard. We loaded our garbage can and wagon with grass and dirt and smoothed out the rest.... we tried to get some dirt bags to even out the backyard the next day and quickly realized that we needed a truck to do the job.... perhaps I will get that done this weekend if it stops raining.

On Saturday we went to Nasa and the Aquarium restaurant in Kemah (sound familiar..... there's not a whole lot going on in Houston.....). The strange thing about the Saturday adventure was that there was nobody at the Aquarium....... two weeks before we waited for at least an hour and a half to be seated but this time we walked in and were seated immediately.....Erin and I had bought three tickets to a water park to use for the weekend... we'd planned to go Sunday but alas... it was raining so after church we went to the Galleria..... the Galleria is a huge mall right near our house.... and again..... there was hardly anybody there... the whole thing was kind of eery..... After the Galleria we took Erin home to study and Joshnita and I went to see X-Men 3.... which was an OK action flick, but I really enjoyed the first two better.....

On Monday Joshnita and I went to look at cars... we looked at Cobalts, Corrolas, and the Yaris which we were both impressed with! Then we went to the Body Worlds exhibit at the musuem of natural science (www.bodyworlds.com). This is an exhibit of real human bodies..... an anatomical exhibit... there was only time where I really felt compelled to vomit......it involved a trapeze. We also got free tickets to the Ur exhibit.... Ur is where Abraham (you know... Father Abraham.... he had many sons... and many sons had Father Abraham.... I am one of them.... and so are you... so let's all praise the Lord ________ insert motion). Unfortunately the Ur exhibit was more like a pottery collection...which I guess is cool if you're into that... I was hoping for a bit more history......anyway we rushed through it to get Joshnita to the airport for his 5:30 flight.

After we dropped Josh off we were on our way home when he called to say that his flight had been delayed.... to 9:30..... so we decided to go back and pick him up to take him to dinner..... unfortunately the airline wouldn't let Josh leave.... they made it sound like at any moment they were going to pull an aircraft from the hangers and head to SLC.... Erin and I got temporary gate passes and had dinner with Josh inside the airport. After we got done with dinner (around 8) the departure board said the flight had been delayed another hour.... Erin called the airline and the told her that the flight which was taking Josh to SLC wasn't going to arrive in Houston until 10:27 if it left on time..... so there's no way the flight would leave by 10:30..... so we decided to try to get Josh on standby for the 9:05 at another gate..... we went to board the tram to the next game only to find out that the tram was temporarily out of service.....

Long story short... Erin and I enjoyed 4 hours at George Bush Intercontinental with Josh and he was able to get on the 9:05 and arrived in SLC around 11:30.......

The Flight of Battlecat.....

Battlecat has been growing in her rebellious efforts......she seems to be incapable of heeding the command: Come. She will sit from a mile away but if you tell her to come she just runs..... Erin and I have been letting her roam free on our gated street so she can frolic, eat wood chips, and poop! Two days ago I was walking out the door to pick up some groceries when Battlecat met me at the door looking quite distraught. She pleaded with me to go outside.... and I acquiesed. Battlecat ran to the end of the street..... I went to the end of the street and she bolted to the front of the street... coincident with her sprint, our neighbors were loading stuff into their trucks outside the gate.... Battlecat seized the moment and ran into the street.... I followed her....walking so as not to make her think I was giving chase... she ran up to another man with a dog and stayed there barking and hopping until I arrived and she bolted down another street and into a cul de sac. There are two homes with no fence dividing the backyards..... after 10 min of chasing her from one side of the backyard to the other I enlisted the help of a man who was at the used car dealership across the street.... the plan: to chase Battlecat from one side and have her cornered by my accomplice. Unfortunately Battlecat realized she was cornered and sprinted past me before I could pounce. Back up the street she went..... by this time Erin had decided to come see where we were.... and Battlecat went right up to her.........must be a chick thing....

This morning Battlecat tipped Erin's study table over as she was goofing around and Erins cereal tipped onto her laptop.....bummer #1.

Erin called me on the way home from school while she was on the train.... and that's the last place she remembered having her phone. So Erin is having a sad day..... we're hopeful that someone turned her phone into a train operator. When I got home from work, her laptop seemed to be in working order (other than some sticky keys....).

Well.....I will post several pictures this weekend....

That's all for now.

Erin: Before & After

I've dropped off the e-map.... sorry for being a bad updater/commenter.......

Chris - I swear I will catch you on IM soon....

I also resolve to blog about my parents visit (we had an awesome time!)

But for now - Erin:

Before......

After her haircut.... 10 in. to locks of love!

Sorry, no brown rice on Sunday

Erin in front of a sign at the capitol.....

The office of Terry Tottenham

This is a statue to honor the 'confederate dead' at the state capitol. There's no mention of the union here... I'm not even sure I saw anything about the United States.... just Texas and the confederacy.....here's hoping TX leaves the union and we get dual citizenship.

Jess and Erin in front of the capitol
The bar area at the Hula Hut where we spent an hour and half consuming 5 or so bowls of chips and queso.....mmmmmm.......
Jess and a cannon.
The view from the Tottenham's backyard... amazing.... notice the topography
Jess, her mom, and my Erin.

And now.... a real post:

So.... we went to Austin to visit Erin's college roomie: Jessica (she and Alamo need a blog) Tottenham! Jess is a staff worker for Young Life in SLC. Jess has an amazing opportunity to start a Capernaum Club ministry in SLC to disadvantaged youth (http://www.younglife.org/Pages/Capernaum.htm).

Jess was in town to update some of her TX based ministry supporters about her work with Young Life and the new opportunities doing Capernaum. A little known fact about Jessica Tottenham is that she was born right here in Houston! Who knew? Another fact about Jess is that her passion for all things TX is sort of justified... at least when it comes to Austin.

Austin is beautiful..... Houston is this flat concrete jungle...... Austin has rolling hills...everything is green... there's lots of crazy hippies and really cool confederate memorabilia.... oh and ton of bats that live under a bridge. Austin is home to the main campus of UT, Amy's Ice Cream (which is.... dare I say it.... more glorious than the Midvale Cold Stone...) and the Tottenham's.

Erin and I stayed with Jess and her family at their amazing home. Her oldest sister Joe was in town with her twin boys who were very shy and silly. I really admire their life... they sleep for like 10 hrs, get up... eat.... poop their pants... wait 'till someone changes them.... go back to sleep... and repeat.... it's amazing!

Speaking of pooping your pants... I heard a life-changing story from a source that shall remain nameless.....

A friend had gone to a bachelor party in the great state of TX.... and this was their activity for the evening:

Everyone put on a pair of depends.... took some ex-lax, and wrestled the night away.... last man to poop his pants wins! What a glorious way to spend your last night as a bachelor!!!!!!

Here's a quick list of guys I'd like to wrestle and poop my pants with:

1) My Dad - who introduced me to professional wrestling (Old School Wrestlemania Videos - we used to get big bags of popcorn and watch Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant go at it!), Mel Brooks, and the Broncos, and just about everything else that makes me manly!

2) Jonathan Hays - Jonathan would be too funny..... he embraces his.... physique and the physical comedy of him pooping himself would be too much to handle.

3) Sean Patrick - I dare not speculate on what his wrestling outfit might look like... I just hope it's made of mesh

4) Gep/Dittmer/Schwarz/Ari: My college roomies from the crack house and el caliente apts! We watched wrestling pay per views together.... .Kyle and I retook Physics because we played wrestling so much.... Ari gets special bonus points for his luche libre qualities (he can reverse a powerbomb - although he's a little guy... so his poop would not be as explosive)

The next dude to get married.... PLEASE consider this for your bachelor party, and consider inviting me!

OK.... back to Austin....

So the first night there was Jess' Donor Dessert....... one of her neighbors made a ton of desserts from scratch... espresso brownies, strawberry cheesecake thingies.... chocolate cake..... it was AWESOME.... all natural ingredients too for those of you Whole Foods types....

It was cool to meet all the sweet people who showed up!

On Saturday we made our obligatory pilgrimage to the State Capitol! Everyone who crosses the state line needs to visit the State Capitol. It is beautiful.... we found out why Six Flags (the theme park) is called Six Flags..... we found out that God & TX are inextricably linked, and we saluted the soldiers who fought valiantly for the confederacy......and I mounted a cannon.....

After the capitol, we went around the campus of UT which was quite impressive....the soccer stadium is huge! After we drove around the stadium we went to the Hula Hut for lunch.
The wait at the Hula Hut was an hour and half... which fortunately is just the right amount of time to sit in the bar area with some chips and queso and people watch the crazy texans! (It would be redundant to say crazy inebriated texans... as all texans are by legal mandate inebriated after 1 PM) By the time we ate we were full from the chips... but the Hula Hut was awesome... right on a river/lake thing.... you can boat right to the restaurant!

After lunch we went back home and chilled out while I watched the NFL Draft..... I can't comment here on my NFL Draft thoughts..... it would distract from my focus on Austin, and pooping.

Saturday night we went to dinner at this sub shop called Thundersomething.... It was like 8PM and this joint closed at 9.... which for some reason meant they'd shut off everything that could be used to heat anything in the building..... like a sandwhich or meat.... etc. But that didn't dissuade us. When we got to the counter I was filled with glee... the young, potentially stoned, sales attendant had a full color tattoo of several characters from He-Man! I promptly told him about my dog named Battlecat to which he replied something incoherent...... I was soooooo let down by his lack of enthusiasm... perhaps he was hallucinating when he got the tattoo?

So we followed the subs with some Amy's Ice Cream and then saw Thank You for Smoking.... I'm always up for satire and thought the movie was quite funny... although I could have done with about 600 less f-bombs per sentence.

On Sunday we went to Johnny Rob's church - Redeemer Presbyterian. The sermon was awesome... a little Luke 24 meets Genesis 3... I dug it! They had an intense organ player which was cool. After service we went to lunch at this Chinese joint.....

The server came to take our order, and I requested brown rice.... to which he replied... We don't serve brown rice on Sundays......

I'm not sure what that means..... I was too amazed to ask why not......

After lunch Erin and I had to leave the beautiful land of Austin and head back to Houston.... and though we were excited to see Battlecat and eat at Dairy Queen on the way.... we were quite sad to leave behind hills and Tottenhams.