Rock of Ages Hike

Today Clay, Emily, Kelli and I braved the Rock of Ages hike in the gorge and let me just say that this is by far the most difficult hike I've done in the gorge. 10 miles, 3000 feet elevation gain (all of which come in the first 2.5 miles!). We're talking hand over foot climbing for the first two miles it's so steep. That alone took about 3 hours! The next 8 miles took 5 more hours.

It wouldn't have been as bad but the first 2 miles, it's all straight up with no switchbacks, absolutely brutal. By the time you get to 3200 feet you're exhausted and unfortunately have 8 more miles to go! Ouch.

This is a hike I've been wanting to do for a while but I can honestly say, once was enough! About 6 creeks to ford, a brutal initial climb, poison oak all over the place, it's all there! The last 3 miles were nice though, we got to go by Triple Falls which we love but unfortunately we were too exhausted to really enjoy it. In any case, I'm glad to be home!

Got some more pics here on Facebook if you're interested.

The Devil's Backbone.
This was a cool rock formation, kind of scary to walk out on. As you can see, the right side drops off to a couple of thousand feet also known as certain death. Fun stuff.















A better pic of Devil's backbone.



















Kelli and I on Devil's backbone.













Me about the push Kelli off of Devil's backbone.












The Rock Arch


















Got to go by Triple Falls on the loop back which is one of our favorites in Oregon.

Kelli

--My wife is truly hilarious in a very Seinfeld-esque way. She texted me earlier and said:

"A guy in my class has really big finger tips. The biggest finger tips on a hand I have ever seen."

I love that girl.

Prettiest Band of 2008?

Wow, it's a toss up on which one of these "guys" is the prettiest. I'll let you decide.

I saw this and I thought, "I think there is about a 0.1 percent chance that I will like the music that comes from what I see here.

Judging a book by it's cover? Maybe.

But you know what?

I was right!

Classic Bill Simmons

Bill comes up with some much needed new sports rules here.

One of my favorites is this:
New Rule: No more bullpens* emptying during baseball fights. All those relievers do is clutter the field and make it harder for me to see sucker punches and headlocks on YouTube. Stay put, bullpen guys.

Amen.

*Chris: the bullpen is where relief pitchers sit and warm up before they come into the game.

Pastor's Wife Role

Darn the luck, Kelli's out of town this week! :)

Breast Milk in Ice Cream? What?

Peta is asking Ben and Jerry's to use breast milk in their ice cream instead of cow's milk.

I'm speechless.

The Greatest

This may have been the greatest Cities and Knights game played in the history of the game. Devin put up a noble battle and led most of the game, but it wasn't enough for one brave man who fought until the end and pulled off one of the biggest upsets of all times over Devin Vaughn (in case you didn't catch it) and two characters from the sitcom Friends in a 44 minutes battle of wills.

The absolutely joy that I experienced in this victory is hard to describe, but the heartbreak that Devin Vaughn felt will probably be talked about for days, even years to come. Epic, thats the only word to describe something like this.

McDonald's Christianity

My mom took this picture today of a church right by her place I believe strictly for the sole purpose of feeding the cynical monster that lives inside of me.

I'm going to warn you that if you go to the website, be prepared for the longest (and most dramatic) flash introduction you've ever seen! I will say this, they sure have a lot to live up to with all that they promise to be!

This idea reminds me of the Seventh Day Adventist church that has the "Community Prayer Box" in their parking lot with a big sign on SE 60th, by Western Seminary.

I certainly won't criticize the loving desire to serve people in the community that on my less cynical days I believe leads to ideas such as these, but I do wonder what the response has been. Many people will say that the response does not matter if their motives were right. I disagree. I honestly think gimmicks like this are just more fodder for mockery from Christ-followers and those who don't follow Christ alike, ultimately coming from a church that has no idea of how to "get more people" to come to their church but is desperately willing to try any and everything.

How many non-Christians are going to find this appealing in any way?

A History of Bad Health

The family genes that have been passed down to me could be called anything but healthy. All of my grandparents have passed on from this life, the last one going several years ago now. Two bouts of cancers, a heart attack, and…well, just plain ol’ death took the four of them away.

In my own life, I’ve experienced some odd things for only being 28. Two knee surgeries, some random things that can only be labeled as embarrassing (which some of my college friends would remember), and a grand mal seizure that stopped the N train in New York City for about 45 minutes one night to name a few.

So it wasn’t all that surprising to get my cholesterol checked and find out that it’s less than impressive. This as well runs in my family. I didn’t know I even had such a thing as Triglycerides but apparently I do and they are fairly high (540), and wouldn’t you know it, the good cholesterol is low and the bad is high. The blessing out of all of this is that I have the privilege of finding out early enough and today I got to lay out a plan with a Cardiologist of what life looks like so that I do not end up going from a heart-attack at age 63 like my grandmother did (for similar reasons). Unfortunately she also had this knowledge but chose not to do anything with it.

Looking back through my families health history I feel that the cards are stacked against me on many levels and I’ve always kind of thought that it would be a miracle to make it to 75 but I also know that I want to do what I can to take care of my body regardless of what I was dealt. Part of this, I have brought on myself in the past 5 years and I accept responsibility for that. The other part seems sort of unfair and makes me angry. But regardless, this whole thing starts today with my 6-week plan to see how much I can naturally lower my Triglycerides and then start hitting the other things.

I guess this is a good time to say a formal good-bye to every kind of food that brings me joy in life. Good bye chocolate milk, good bye ice cream, good bye sugary drinks, good bye Trans fats. (as you can see, this isn't all hereditary!

Some Music Recs

Chad Vangaalen - Soft Airplane

Myspace
















Blitzen Trapper - Furr

A Portland band!

Myspace














Horse Feathers - House with No Home

Another Portland band!

Myspace

Random Music Rant

A little Kimya Dawson on the Juno Soundtrack is one thing, but a whole album of her?

Unpleasant if not downright annoying.

Kind of reminds me of what an album would be like if Phoebe from Friends recorded one.

Not helping any of that is the fact that the record is called Alphabutt.

Come on, really?

Onion Greatness

Pre-Game Coin Toss Makes Jacksonville Jaguars Realize Randomness Of Life

Thoughts I have had today.

-Welcome to the blogosphere Rob Grant!

-Uh, how did the Bears win today and why didn't I know more about Matt Forte?

-Guess I picked a bad year to be a Seahawks fan. :(

-The Oklahoma City Thunder? Seriously? What is that, a WNBA team?*

-Can't wait to see the new Coen Bros. film.

-Wayne's World is playing at the Laurelhurst Theater this week.

-Andrew gets the quote of the camping weekend with "that's why my beats is so dark" after explaining his pair of suicidal goldfish.

-Is their possibly a better source for comedy material than the local news?

-Why did I smile when I heard the line, "Tom Brady could be out for the year"?

-Hey Cubs, remember that whole, "we're good" thing you've had going on for a good portion of the season now? Remember? Yeah, uh, let's get back on that train.


*no offense to women who play basketball, this is targeted solely at the team names. ie. Sparks, Shocks, Mystics, Fever, pretty much any of them.

Ocho Cinco

It's official for Chad "I'm desperate for attention" Johnson, I mean Ocho Cinco.

NFL

What's their not to love about the NFL?

Awesome.

Blockbuster, what is this?

I was returning "Return of the Jedi" this morning when I saw this window advertisement outside. I can't quite figure it out.

What is actually going on here? Who is that man? Why does he have a clipboard?

I'm wondering what they're trying to get across here. Anybody venture a guess at this?

Larch Mountain Crater Hike

Today, along with Mike and Jessica Anders, Kelli and I did the Larch Mountain Crater Hike. We were going to do this one in late June but apparently there was still a lot of snow up there. Today there was no snow but it was cold enough to believe that there could be. Driving up there was incredibly foggy and when we got out of the car it was freezing. Still by the time we were done and were up at Sherrard Point it was still very cold.

Minus the impressive toadstools, and the great view from the Point (which on a clear day you can see Mt. Hood, Jefferson, Helens, Adams, and Rainer), the hike in the crater itself was kind of disappointing. Not a ton to see on this one unless you're really impressed by a boggy marsh. It was about 6 miles and the elevation gain was 1300 ft. so it wasn't a real challenging hike either. Here are a few pics but what I'm really excited about is doing the Rock of Ages hike in two weeks with Mike. The description sounds epic and is definitely the toughest hike we've done.

Tyler Ramsey

Tyler Ramsey, the guitarist for Band of Horses has a really good solo record that I've really enjoyed this year.
Perfect rainy day music.

Here's his myspace.

A Long Dream, Ships, Worried are all fantastic and he's got a good cover of Jackson Browne's "These Days" which you can listen to here.

Speaking of "These Days", another good cover is by Denison Witmer which you can listen to here.

I forgot....

...how good this record is.

If you haven't heard it, I highly recommend it.

Budweiser American Ale???

It appears that Budweiser is going to pretend that they're craft brewers after two decades of decreasing sales to try to compete with breweries that actually make beer. Obviously living in the land of the craft microbrew has influenced me in this opinion. Portland not only has the most microbreweries in the world, but in my opinion some of the best beer in the world. With the increasing popularity of craft beers that don't taste like urine mixed with water but actually have taste and substance, it is not all that surprising that Budweiser would pretend to be one of these brewers themselves. After all, only so far you can get by making a Pilsner with mostly rice extract!

I will admit that I have not tasted this beer (I'm not sure it's out yet) but this is my prediction... While Budweiser has no excuse for making bad beer with the money and the research facilities they have, Budweiser American Ale will be mediocre for two reasons:

1. They won't spend the kind of money necessary to make good beer. Their ingredients will be either sub-par or they won't use the amount necessary because they're more interested in making a buck than actually creating a quality beer.

2. Once again, because they are more interested in making a buck than creating good beer, they will create a recipe that almost tastes like a craft beer but will be watered down to appeal to the largest audience of beer drinkers that don't actually know what real ale should taste like. I'm sure it will taste great compared to regular Budweiser, but it won't cut it as a craft beer.

These are my cynical thoughts, but you've got to agree, Budweiser doesn't have a good history of making anything that would qualify as beer! If I'm wrong, I will be more than happy to get on here and repent!

Bears Name Starting QB...

...and it's not Grossman. All in all, that sounds like it's good news. But Kyle Orton isn't much of an improvement to the Bears chances.

It's like your mom telling you that you're not having spinach for dinner, but you are going to have turnips.

Neither option is great.

Go Seahawks!

2008 Music @ the half-way point.

First, I've got to say that at this point last year, there were a lot more quality records than this year. I'm not sure what is going on this year but it's been kind of bleak for good new music. I can think of more disappointments than I can great records (the top of the list for that would be My Morning Jacket's flaming pile or garbage).

That being said, there are four albums that I've found myself going back to again and again and loving. I'll save my commentary for the end of the year, but here they are in no specific order.

Fleet Foxes - S/T

Check them out on Myspace

This is filling the hole My Morning Jacket left in my heart after they decided to become a ridiculously horrible band.














The Everybodyfields - Nothing is Okay

Their Myspace page.

Sweet sounds from the foothills of Tennessee. Actually I'm not sure Knoxville has anything to do with foothills but it should. Bill? Any comment?










A.A. Bondy - American Hearts

Myspace.
















Grand Archives - S/T

The year's first great record as well as the first album Devin Vaughn as ever actually liked that wasn't Elliot Smith or Sigur Ros. You think Pitchfork is tough on music?

Myspace.

NFL

I just want to make a public declaration that this year, because of the Chicago Bears inability/refusal to get a good quarterback instead of keeping the worst quarterback in the league, for the 2008-2009 NFL football season I am officially a Seattle Seahawks fan.

If the Bears decide to finally make a smart decision and get rid of the worthless Rex Grossman, then next year I will consider re-pledging my allegiance back to the team I have rooted for since youth. But for this year I am boycotting the Chicago Bears.

Head Coverings?

After thinking about what would happen when we came up to 1 Cor. 11:2-16 in our series for the last three weeks I was pleased to escape with my life @ Evergreen this morning. I thought the discussion was very helpful, people made some great contributions to the discussion. It's unfortunate that those comments during the discussion time don't show up on the audio file because those times add a lot to the message as a whole. But unfortunately because we don't pass a microphone around, the audio is just me. :(

I know some of you have thought through this passage a lot but I wanted to go ahead and throw it out there as to how I approached it and where I came down. I'd love to hear your comments. This is a tough passage and I hope this can be of help to some other people who are preaching it. Discussing the passage this past week with Bob over email was very helpful as well. It's amazing how even a small form of collaboration can make a sermon that much better.

In any case, you can listen to the audio file here, or you can download the PDF and read it. Hope this is helpful.

A Music Rec...

I've been listening to Human Highway quite a bit which is a collaboration that a few guys from the band Islands recorded.

I think the album cover is hilarious, reminds me of something from a mockumentary. It makes me laugh every time I look at it. You can listen to a few songs on their Myspace.

This is a fun record that you should check out.

Out of Ur Article

Bob just wrote a good article here on going multi-site minus the video venue. Good thoughts. Couldn't agree more.

I obviously have a bias here since I'm the primary teaching elder at Hawthorne but I'm just trying to think how I would have felt had I been doing all of this work for the community, have a gift of preaching and teaching and then having Bob say, "we're going to do a video venue." How insulting that would have been. I dislike video venues for various reasons, many of which are expressed in the article, but one of the major reasons I dislike them is because they steal people's gifts, they rip arms off the body to put things in a more Pauline way. I never want to rob people of using their gifts for the sake of the community in the name of "efficiency" or to boost my own ego.

Quote of the Week

This week Chris Leonardo earned a spot at #1. This just happened tonight:

Dustin: "Chris, name one current running back in the NFL."

Chris (whom replied instantly): "Deion Sanders."

New Fantasy Football Category

I think this year on Yahoo's Fantasy Football they need to create a new category that will help us draft our players: "Criminal Record." I want to see a complete criminal history of the players I pick because I want to know what the chances are that my guy is going to be suspended two weeks into the season for 5 games. If there is a history of gun charges or domestic violence I want to know what percentage chance there is that a potential RB or WR is going to be locked up when I really need him. Is that too much to ask Yahoo?

...a needed rest

This past week I tagged along with Kelli and made a trip down to the southern Oregon coast and into northern California. It was a nice break and I feel a lot more energized now that I'm back. Last Friday and Saturday we had an elders retreat over at the Goff's and I didn't feel like I had anything in my relational bank to really spend on the elders so I felt bad for that. I pretty much just sat their and said very little. I wish I would have had more in me to give, but I was running on an empty tank. This week I was able to refill that tank and I'm looking forward to our baptism/bbq gathering tomorrow!

Anytime I step away for a few days I come to a realization again of how awesome the people in our community are. We've got a really incredible thing going on and I'm thankful to be a part of that!

I'm back and I'm excited to get ready for the head coverings passage next week!

Cafe Risque

If you've driven down to Florida on 85 through the state of Georgia you've probably seen billboards (several) advertising Cafe Risque which is, as it sounds, a strip club. I remember in 2000 on the way down to Florida for Spring Break with my college buddies seeing these signs and joking about them as well as the "We Bare All" signs.

In any case I have made that drive probably four or five times round trip and remember the little town of Lavonia which it was in. Well, I was surprised to see that the town of Lavonia bought the strip club today for 1 million dollars. For what? To tear it down! And they have apparently already burned the billboards. Awesome.

In any case, just a random story that I thought those who have seen the billboards as well as my college friends would enjoy.

The Mighty Redwoods

Completed another thing on my must-see list today with the giant redwoods of Northern California. We drove through some of the park and then went to the tourist trap Trees of Mystery which is kind of hokey but it was a lot of fun. There were some amazing trees there so we're glad we forked over the 13.50. And then we went in further to Klamath, CA and drove through a giant redwood tree because that what you have to do if you're a tourist here. It's required. Anyway, plenty more pics on my Facebook album if you want to see more.

Wildlife Safari Park

I'm a big fan of wild cats so experiencing this was honestly one of those thing I had hoped to experience at some point in my life. My friends laugh at how excited about this I got but they didn't get to hold an African Lioness Cub either. More pictures of the park are here.

The Lioness Cub... You can get a much better shot if you click on the picture.













The Cub growing in Kelli's face. For still being a little kitten, it's got a nice set of teeth.












Here's the black Panther cub. She was a little more mellow and kind of in her own world.


























A baby Wallaby.

In any case, we're having a fantastic time down on the Southern Oregon Coast. We're headed into California tomorrow to see the redwoods.

Quote of the Weekend

"The two things in life I'm greatest at are ping pong and badminton."

--Devin Vaughn

Here we go again...

I'm so tired of all the critiquing and the bashing that happens on both sides of this "discussion". This is just the most recent example of it. But I guess this is the kind of garbage that sells. Seriously guys, do something that is actually constructive. Yes, we understand, there are weaknesses with everyone's view, how about a little humility? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

A little like heaven...

I checked out the new Albina Press Coffee on 50th and Hawthorne today and this could be the perfect coffee shop for several reasons.

1. It serves Stumptown coffee, but unlike Stumptown you don't get the sense that everyone wishes you would leave.

2. It's got a great atmosphere. It's big, bright, with a nice breeze blowing through.

3. Free wifi, plus an electrical outlet at almost every table! At most coffee shops you've got to fight over the two outlets in the whole joint.

4. It's within walking distance of Western Seminary. It's possible to take a 10 minute break from class, walk there, grab a cup and walk back and miss almost nothing!

5. The entire hour I was there the sweet sounds of Sufjan were in the air. I don't think it's necessary to mention the horrific records spinning at corporate coffee shops do I?

This could be the perfect coffee shop! I'm relocating my office.

NOTE: After reading this post I know this all sounds really pretentious so I hope those who don't know me will give me the benefit of the doubt. I'm not a coffee snob or anything, I just want a place that's comfortable to have the occasional coffee meeting or work on my computer.

Another reason I'm not Reformed!

I came across this song "Destructor" last week and was a little disturbed by two particular lines in it (amongst many). The first line is "To the way you hated your son when you hung all the sins of the world".

Now, I'm semi-familiar with hard-core Reformed theologians but i have NEVER heard one insist that one member of the Trinity hated another member at any time. I believe to suggest that the Father hated the Son could very well be the h word (heresy) (which is a term that I use with great caution). I would love to hear others thoughts on this however.

The second line is, "God will have his glory one way or another". This picture of God is so pathetic and petty I can hardly believe it. "One way or another, even if things hadn't worked out like I planned it, even if I have to violently destroy everyone to prove myself I'm going to get my glory!" Sounds like the caricatured god of Islam.

I believe in God's judgment and in justice but I believe this makes a mockery of justice in it's simplification. He's a tiny, vindictive, violent terrorist who's out to get glory no matter what the cost! That sounds very different than the God that I see in Scripture.

Here is the full song...

"From the first time you flooded the earth.

To the last time you burned off the curse

To the way you hated your son

When you hung all the sins of the world

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy


Heaven will disappear with a roll

The host of God will come to destroy

Sin is a declaration of war

God will have his glory one way or another

In reverence we come to Your throne.

Indebted to Your holy Son

The ripe vine of the earth will be crushed.

And your light will shine over the world."

Unbelievable!

Wow, nice work Miah!

This new blogger feature...

is nice. All of my blog links on the side are all run through rss now so it shows the last time every person updated. That being said, I think there will be a new 2 month rule put into place. If you haven't updated your blog in two months, you're gone!

I'm sure this will be a gigantic incentive to blog more :)

Was Jesus the first messianic resurrection?

I love that Time magazine has one or two stories like this every year. They make it sound like a huge deal and then admit in the article that the entire significance "depends on a creative interpretation."

Ahh, if you've got something that is for real, let us know Time! I wonder what the next "tragic news" for Christian belief will be?

Hiking plan

Since Kelli and I are such organized people (and I love to plan like no one you've ever seen), we've completed our hiking plan for the rest of the summer. Plus I was hoping to give Devin some more material to make fun of me with when he gets back :(

In any case this is what we hope to accomplish! There are a few I'm extremely excited for. I think Rock of Ages may kill us but it looks pretty epic!

July 19^th – Coyote Wall 5.7 miles 1700 ft. gain

July 25^th – Ramona Falls 7.1 miles 1100 ft. gain

Aug. 9^th – Saddle Mountain 5.0 miles 2200 ft. gain

Aug. 16^th – Hamilton Mountain 7.5 miles 2400 ft. gain

Aug. 23^rd – Larch Mountain Crater Hike 5.9 miles 1310 ft. gain

Aug. 30^th – Ape Canyon 13.2 miles 2000 ft. gain

Sept. 13^th – Bluff Mountain 12.5 miles 2700 ft. gain

Sept. 20th – Rock of Ages 10 miles 3000 ft. gain

Summer Hiking Adventure #3

After an off-week last week due to strawberry picking, this week we were planning on hiking Ramona Falls over by Mt. Hood. Unfortunately we forgot our NW Forest Pass in Kelli's work car which is getting worked on and didn't want to fork out any extra money. So we decided last night we would do Silver Star Mountain in Washington only to wake up and have it be pretty cloudy and kind of rainy out. If we're going to do that hike, it's got to be clear!

So, we ended up driving east where it was actually sunny and beautiful today just past Hood River by a tiny town called Mosier. We did the McCall Point Hike.

This was an enjoyable hike, and it was great to have a nice change up from the typical Gorge hike as beautiful as those are. We were out in the open most of the time on this one and the breeze felt incredible and the sun was quite hot as well. Plenty of poison oak and ticks to go around! I'm really glad I didn't wear shorts this morning! Good call on this hike. It wasn't a super long hike but felt much steeper than the book and internet said, but it was a nice hike nonetheless. It was a perfect day out east! Bummer to get back to rainy Portland.

I think we're going to have to take a week off next Saturday as well due to a prior engagement and then it's off to Coyote Wall.


The rest of the pics can be found here.












This is where we thought we were almost done only to realize there was still quite a bit to go!
































The top is pretty much just one large wild flower field. It would be a great hike around May. Many of the flowers were already gone.

So You Think You Can Brew

Devin and I brewed an ESB style beer (Extra Special Bitter) about 6 weeks ago. I tried it tonight and it turned out fantastic. It's mildly bitter, very mild in the hop department and is definitely a session beer with a low alcohol level. A perfect summer bbq beer! I'm holding on to this recipe. Speaking of beer, my Belgian Wit is still in the primary but I can't wait for this one either.







I'll be honest here for a moment. Kelli's watching So You Think You Can Dance and I happen to be in the room (at least that's how I explain it) and I just CANNOT STAND MARY! Ahhh, it's like she's drunk all the time. Her voice just pierces a hole in my brain. I can't take it! Does she actually have fans out there?

Pine State Biscuits

You've got to check this place out. Get "the Reggie", you won't be disappointed. Check out their menu.

Thanks Ryan for the heads up on this place.

Top Ten Ways to Go Bankrupt as a Professional Athlete.

Check it out, it's a fun read.