Friday: Mount travel-size air pump on bike (finally!)
Friday: Go for awesome bike ride along the swollen Mississippi River
Friday: Make homemade ice cream sandwiches (which really turns into homemade ginger snaps with a large bowl of ice cream that won't really fit between the, um...four...cookies you eat), all while watching Greg LeMond in all his TDF glory (coupled with some really gnarly 1980s music)
Saturday: After 1x practice on Lake Phalen, teach a Learn to Row class
Saturday: Impart great wisdom (ha!)
Followed by chattin' with friends, naps on both Saturday and Sunday (!), church, more Greg LeMond, grocery shopping, and library bookin'. 'Twas a good weekend.
(Special thank-you shout out to J & S for teaching LTR with me, and S for taking pictures)
In honor of the fact that the Olympics are 63 days away (milestone, right?), I give you this:
Agree? Disagree? I'm thinkin' maybe cricket and polo don't belong on the list, but...equestrian high jump? Equestrian long jump? Motor boating?! PETA would have a cow over the live pigeon thing. But they should *totally* bring back tug-of-war. Brilliant!
Very interesting (and pretty accurate) take on the Vikings stadium vote (pardon the language): here. (And there are plenty of other stories, including this one and this one, and about a 975 million dollars, er...others.)
Have you ever noticed how people are so frequently signing their valedictions with "best"? "Best" what? This really annoys me. Best regards? Best hatred? Best love? Best sincerity? Best in show? Out with it already! It's completely passive-agressive because it shows an inherent laziness, disrespect, or lack of mental decisiveness on the part of the author, and it can then be interpreted by the reader any way the reader so desires, which may or may not be what the author intended.
Well, from here on out, I am declaring that I will be reading a closing comment of the milquetoast "Best" to mean "Best of luck figuring out the tone of what I've just written to you, but you may feel free to read into my words an incompetent malaise or a sneeringly obscene gesture or somesuch nonsense."
I love your writing - I always have. For example, I just finished reading Kill Shot and enjoyed it a great deal. You have great characters, gripping (and believable) story lines, and a most excellent sense of pacing.
But, really? What do you have against rowers? Also, I would've believed it more had you said an "eight-man crew" or a "four-man crew" instead of a "six-man crew" in chapter 27. All the parts about single sculls were believable, though it still begs the question of why you don't like rowers to so woefully characterize one in a way such as you did.
Don't worry, though: I will still read every book you write, and will continue to enjoy all of the non-rowing parts of them (which thankfully, is more than 99 percent of the writing).
xoxo,
A Minnesota Rower
_____
Dear Howard E. Wasdin,
Now that I have finished reading Vince Flynn's latest work today, I am moving on to your memoirs, Seal Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper. I have been looking forward to reading it for a while, and finally have some free time this afternoon. However, I will be the first to admit that reading both Vince Flynn and your books in the same day may be akin to last year's watch-the-entire-Band of Brothers-series-in-one-day-in-the-middle-of-a-Legislative-session idea, or reading Russian literature in the middle of January snow storms: I might regret it. But I doubt it. (Obviously. I keep doing it.)
With great expectation and anticipation of your penned words,
I saw an unusual sight last weekend. Not unusually, I went to see a play* at the Guthrie. But I did see something new and unusual: tailgating.
Yes, that's right. There was a group of women standing around the opened trunk of their SUV, drinking their coffee or tea or whatever and noshing on hors d'oeuvre, all in the parking ramp across from the theater.
Who knew? Maybe it will become a trend.
xoxo,
Minny LinnEy
*Sorry to say I can't really recommend it. Also, I really, really, really do not like this actress. Having seen her in a couple of productions now, she is really irritating in a most annoying way.
"If Mr. Colson can repent of his sins, there just has to be hope for everyone."
-Boston Globe, 1973
Last fall I had the privilege of meeting Chuck Colson.
You see, one of our prisons has something called InnerChange Freedom Initiative (part of Prison Fellowship Ministries) as one of its treatment programs. It receives no state money; it's run by volunteers. And for the prisoners, it's their choice to join. You might be surprised to know there are a couple hundred guys - inmates, really - who voluntarily want to get up at 6 o'clock every morning (when they could choose other treatment programs with better hours); they have pledged to spend time in their Bibles, in worship, in prayer; they want to stay accountable. And I've heard there's a waiting list! The recidivism rates are low, and guys who've made it give back and encourage those still working through the faith-based program. Ex-offenders are given hope and help to make a valuable contribution to society upon reentry, to reconnect with their families, to support their children, to continue in their faith.
So when the 10th anniversary of the program's introduction to Minnesota came 'round last fall, I jumped at the chance to attend. It was held, naturally, in prison. Let me tell you something: it's actually kind of hard to get into prison. But one of the "perks" of my job is getting that opportunity. I finagled an invitation to go to the anniversary celebration, meet Mr. Colson and go to lunch with him and several other Prison Fellowship Ministries people.
But the biggest part of that opportunity to me? Was watching Mr. Colson interact with the inmates. He knew so many of them by name. He took the time to speak with every one, even just a word and a handshake (if not more). His attitude spoke volumes in that he genuinely cared for these men. He was invested in their lives - who they were, who they are, and who they will become. He was one of them, and had lived through the same struggles, and the inmates knew it.
A worship service was part of the celebration (and it apparently is part of the program every day), and let me tell you: that was an experience. It was the biggest surprise to me. Here you are, listening to musicians (all offenders - this prison houses all sorts of offenders from murderers to rapists to drug dealers to thieves, and everything else you could probably think of), singing songs (the hymns and songs you hear in church every week), worshiping together, and hearing the same kind of devotional you'd expect to hear in college chapel. It was probably one of the strangest feelings I've ever had. If I was ever to come close to having a Paul in Prison moment, that was it. Just because I have not committed a crime that has landed me in prison doesn't mean I'm any less of a sinner in God's eyes. Sin is sin, and it parts us from God. All of us need spiritual redemption; all of us can repent and receive forgiveness, whether we're behind bars or not. And all of us can worship together. And we did. It was eye-opening (though I will admit it was not quite earth shaking in the Paul in Prison way; I eventually left, the offenders stayed).
As I learned tonight that Chuck Colson has passed away, I'm grateful that we all have a second chance, that opportunity to turn our lives around. We can all have hope.
Today is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.
Today is also the day that my boat club decided to hold its annual meeting.
Now, usually I would be all in favor of forgetting tax day to think about something pleasant like rowing, but this year tax day isn't until the 17th. And instead, it's a significant anniversary of a large boat sinking.
Coincidence? Probably. A sign of things to come this year at the boathouse? I sincerely hope not.
(Although seriously: we've been on the water for almost a month now. It's so warm, it would take a miracle to have a literal iceberg in the water. And since the chances of work/session interfering this summer - like last summer - are slim, I don't foresee too many figurative icebergs interfering with my season this year, either. Except laziness. That figurative iceberg is always out there.)
Two guys were chasing a goose across the front lawn of the Capitol mall with a butterfly net.
One guy was an officer from animal control, and I was so distracted by the butterfly net, I really couldn't tell you who the other guy was (possibly a cop, possibly a plant management guy). Anyway, I'm not exactly sure what their objection to the goose was, but obviously something was up because the two of them were literally running after it, trying to catch it. I cannot tell you how much that makes me smile, even now, hours later.
Eventually I learned from another co-worker (who was just as taken with this sight as I was - probably more so, since he waited to enter the building and continued to watch until the situation was resolved) that the goose flew about 30 feet away, and the two guys gave up and left. Those young people today! They lack perseverance. Character qualities are especially important in people's lives, especially when it involves the capture of a silly goose for my entertainment.
Last night I played my violin for one of my two favorite church services every year: Maundy Thursday. (Never mind I haven't actually touched my violin since the other favorite service - Christmas Eve. My hands are a little swollen today. It was well worth it.)
One of the reasons I love those two services best each year is that they are evening services. They always have a later start time, and end in stillness - dark, peace, quiet. To me, they will always be linked in my mind since I started attending this church because on Christmas Eve, seven candles are lit. On Maundy Thursday, seven candles are snuffed. Both represent a life that is connected - Christmas is related to Easter. Jesus came into this world (Christmas) to be our Savior (Easter).
Maundy Thursday is especially a time of reflection. It is a service of darkness during which we remember the struggle of Jesus as he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, his betrayal and arrest, being denied by his disciples, and other Biblical events that led to his crucifixion on Good Friday.
This year, there were two pieces that we did that I just loved. The first was Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted. I felt extremely convicted: who am I who judges my own sin so lightly, when the perfect Son of God bore my awful load of sin and died for it? Yet my hope is built in Him.
Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
'Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, 'tis He, 'tis He!
'Tis the long expected prophet,
David's Son, yet David's Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
'Tis a true and faithful Word.
Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.
Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed!
See Who bears the awful load!
'Tis the Word, the Lord's Anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.
Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ the Rock of our salvation,
Christ the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.
Words: Thomas Kelly, Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture, 1804
Music: Wo Ist Jesus, Mein Verlangen, Geistliches Volkslied, 1850
The second piece that I loved so much is Psalm 22 from The Psalm Project.
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