Justice served

I intentionally did not put punction on the title because it couldn't decide if it would be a statement or a question.

Read this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20514969/

This case for some reason has really hit me hard. Violent acts happen all the time, even in our city, but I guess since many CCU students attend our church and I've had many friends go there, I could really relate to this situation. A young, Christian couple, enjoying a date where they walked across the river. The fact that this girl was a virgin (I would still consider her a virgin and I hope she does as well) makes it hit home for me even more. The powerlessness of the boyfriend to not be able to do anything I think tugs at every male wondering how they would be able to handle the situation. We, as men, always think that we would be able to overcome challenges and protect our loved ones in situations like this, although it is morbidly obvious that that is not the case.

I struggle with forgiveness in these situations. Since justice in the sentencing appears to be served by him getting the max, and it appears he will not be able to do harm to others not I get myself to a place where I could forgive (with repentance) but I can't squelch the hatred I still have. Does that mean I don't forgive?

I like to think that I have hatred for the act, not the person. I truly do feel bad for the person as he is obviously mentally ill and I'm assuming his upbringing has skewed his view of right and wrong. It does make me challenge our current penal system and I do think there are better ways to reform our society.

So two thoughts for everyone reading this:

1) We must drive change and I firmly believe that education is a driver in getting people the knowledge and ability to make choices that are good for them and society. There are numerous organizations in our city/country that educate and I don't mean just in schools but on life skills. This is one of the reasons I am active with Healthy Visions. (www.healthyvisions.org). Once a cycle begins, poor parenting, lack of focus on good choices, etc. it is extremely difficult to break out of that cycle because you will lack role models, etc.

2) There must be a better way to operate our prison system. I heard a statistic once that over half of inmates are mentally ill. I think it stems from point 1, but there must be a way to treat people of the illness instead of just putting them in prison. For those who know me, you know that I definitely feel that people should pay the consequences for their actions but at the same time we must, as a society, work to help people instead of just treating the symptoms by just punishing them for their actions.

To me, this is where the church needs to step in. We're obviously missing the boat and it is most definitely not the government's place to fix our morality. We, as a church, must quit being the degraded idiots and step up and make a change.

ATTENTION PLEASE, THERE IS AN EMERGENCY....

HOLYFREAKINGMERPH, THE FIRE ALARM IS GOING OFF RIGHT NOW IN MY BUILDING AND I LEARNED THAT THERE IS AN ACTUAL RED BOX ABOUT 4 FEET FROM MY HEAD IN MY OFFICE. IT'S AMAZINGLY LOUD.

Supposedly it is just a malfunction so I'm just supposed to sit out.

I just logged onto youtube to get something to drown out the noise... this was the first thing I found

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov3aqRyQ28k&mode=related&search=

I love this song but I have no idea what it has to do with Peter Pan...

F I F T Y, C E NT and S N Double O P

uh-oh the song is about to end.

ATTENTION PLEASE THERE IS AN EMERGENCY ON OR NEAR YOUR FLOOR, PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING BY WALKING TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY EXIT AND ASSEMBLE AT YOUR DESIGNATED ASSEMBLY AREA OUTSIDE YOUR BUILDING. DO NOT USE THE ELEVATORS.......


ATTENTION PLEASE THERE IS AN EMERGENCY ON OR NEAR YOUR FLOOR, PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING BY WALKING TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY EXIT AND ASSEMBLE AT YOUR DESIGNATED ASSEMBLY AREA OUTSIDE YOUR BUILDING. DO NOT USE THE ELEVATORS.......

ATTENTION PLEASE THERE IS AN EMERGENCY ON OR NEAR YOUR FLOOR, PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING BY WALKING TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY EXIT AND ASSEMBLE AT YOUR DESIGNATED ASSEMBLY AREA OUTSIDE YOUR BUILDING. DO NOT USE THE ELEVATORS.......

ATTENTION PLEASE THERE IS AN EMERGENCY ON OR NEAR YOUR FLOOR, PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING BY WALKING TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY EXIT AND ASSEMBLE AT YOUR DESIGNATED ASSEMBLY AREA OUTSIDE YOUR BUILDING. DO NOT USE THE ELEVATORS.......

aahhhhhh!!!!!!! I'm going nuts

You really get on my last Ulnar Nerve

Well, we did it… and I do mean “WE”. We have all the floor tile laid which is/was an amazing physical feat and would not have been accomplished without a lot of help. Amy and Paul came over on Friday night and helped me finish laying the concrete board and start the first coat of paint. Thanks Owenizzles.

Saturday morning my old neighbor, Mark, came over and ended up staying all day, which included skipping a shopping trip for new furniture with his family, and helped out tremendously. We wrapped up ~4pm to head to the Weiner Dog Nationals and we had about ½ of the floor down… but getting started is always the hardest part so we felt about 2/3 complete.

Mark then emerged from the back gate of our yard on Sunday morning also, unplanned, and we laid the last tile at ~3pm. In plenty of time to make it to church. This is such a HUGE blessing. Mark was/is a huge help and although I know he loves doing this stuff, he does have a family and better things to do than spend the weekend with us. No more stress about having room to store the cabinets…. And the most important part, it looks amazing!!! The large tile (20”) was definitely the way to go, despite being a little harder to install. Plus, the tile we chose just looks awesome which is surprising since it was the cheapest one we came across. So now, this week we’ll just finish up the painting, at least the ceiling, and grout the tile in plenty of time for the cabinet delivery. Wahoo.

In other related things, it appears I have developed Guyon’s Canal Syndrome. I felt the tingling in my little finger and ring finger on my left hand before but today I finally looked it up… I have been worried I had some sort of mini heart attack or something but the symptoms are pretty clear…. Its no big whoop, what I think is cool though is that I figured this out on the internet. I tried WebMD first which isn’t bad and it mentioned this and 20 other things, but then I just Googled “Numbness in pinky and ring finger” and found the website above instantly. Looks like it will go away once I quit doing all this work but tiling on my palms all day I’m sure aggravated it. The internet is amazing.

Slightly intense

Well, the drywall dude finished yesterday and all the talk about dust from everyone we knew seemed to be a bit false. Granted we sealed off everything pretty well and not to mention, we pretty much have been living in dust for months know so a new layer isn't really that noticeable but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.... probably the worst thing about the drywall was the dude scratched up the floor in the dining room pretty bad. Hopefully it's just the poly and I can sand and recoat pretty easily. I have to admit that although the drywall guy was a little weird, he did a stellar job. Not only does the drywall look amazing but he retextured the ceilings and walls at the transition points and they look perfect.

So, Wednesday night we picked up some supplies, including the new tile saw... thanks to a gift card from my bro and his wife, to get going on the tile. Last night I started laying the cement board that acts as a base for the tile. Sorta fun as I basically trowel a layer of thinset (mortar) and then lay these sheets of 1/2" concrete down. Then screw the crap out of them. BUUFFFF. I'm not quite done but got most of it in. Should finish tonight and then be ready to start tiling in the morning.

Unfortunately, with the delay in the drywall, we're not able to paint before flooring but that is what tarps are for. Hopefully, I finish the tiling (minus grout) by the end of the weekend and then we can paint in the evenings next week.

Cabinets arrive on Thursday/Friday, yikes. Floor must be done and preferrably walls and ceiling painted also.

Plan

Some folks on Jenn's blog were getting confused on what they were looking at... here's a plan that hopefully helps. Dining room is on the right, the backyard would be on the bottom. FYI, the bathroom layout is slightly different... the toilet would be on the opposite wall. Feel free to stop by and look at our mess, and bring food. We don't even have a microwave right now because it's covered in plastic and a pain to uncover.