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Introduction To The House of Carr
Introduction To The House of Carr

My Boring Life

Change Is Good

OK, so I felt it was time to change up the blog again. I didn't really vibe with any new themes so I decided to take an entirely different approach: I'm switching from Blogger. When I started blogging a couple of years ago I wasn't too sure how dedicated I would be to the discipline. That's why I went with Blogger: the price was right [read: free]. The longer I went, the more it became habit, and the more I've learned about the different options available. I've decided to switch over to a Wordpress blog that will give me a lot more tools to work with.

So things will be a little choppy this week, but soon everything will be at beitcarr.com. I'm still working out the feeds and some other issues; I was already able to transfer many of my previous posts but, in order to get everything, I'll have to make a mess of the current Blogger site.

I'll keep up-to-date on this site until I get the change over complete.

Until then, pardon our dust.

Outbreak

Rumors surrounding my demise have been greatly exaggerated although I have been feeling like death warmed over the past few days. Thursday I braved the cold to take advantage of a free ticket to the Reds game [thanks again, Brian]. Fortunately there was one place we found selling coffee which made the game at least bearable in those arctic weather conditions.

That night I returned home and starting feeling a tad sick. Kelly was volunteering at her inner-city program, so I had Kaelyn at home. All of the sudden, I felt like I was having an Alien [the movie] experience, as if something was trying to rip out of my stomach. Fortunately Kaelyn fell asleep early that evening and I spent the rest of the night near the bathroom [details withheld for your protection].

Friday I was still sick but had to speak at the Good Friday service at Covenant First Presbyterian downtown. I couldn't pass because the venue is amazing. If you ever get the chance to go some Sunday, you need to check out [plus Russell is a great preacher]. I felt bad because I rolled in late, did an average job, and got out of there as soon as I could. On the plus side, though, I didn't yak all over their 150 year old pulpit. Yea, Steve.

For Easter we enjoyed going over to my parents house. It was there that I tried to infect Mandi [my sister-in-law] with my virus. Apparently she took issue with the way I chose to acquire the ice for my beverage. All I'm saying is I grew up with her husband and he is not the model for perfect hygiene. We westsiders view the world of viral infestation differently than everyone else; it's share and share alike. There, I've said my piece.

So four days later, my stomach is still queasy. I guess I keep using illness as my ultimate weight loss program. It really sucks because I'm eating better than I ever have in my life. I'm working out of the house which means I'm not surrounded by other sickies all the time. I'm not quite sure what else I can do to keep from getting sick.

Maybe I should pick up smoking. That would fool these viruses to thinking I'm an unworthy candidate.

Back To Reality

The silence is broken. I'm back. I was out of town this week and have quite a few stories to tell. Perhaps one or two of you was curious as to why there were no posts this week. I'm just not one of those people who like to blog about their upcoming trips. Posting that kind of info on the web seems a little foolish. If I had written that Kelly and I would be out of town for a few days, what's to keep one of you from breaking into our house? You can't be trusted.

So we're back and I'll soon fill you in on our whereabouts.

And I have a gun so stay away from my house, robbers.

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House Cleaning

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Quick hits:

  • No Tuesday's With Kaelyn video this week [again]. Between all of us being ill the past few weeks, we've wrapped up filming for now. I'm thinking it'll be at least another week before I try again. Fortunately, my new digital camera takes camcorder quality recording, so production quality/diversity should increase throughout the spring and summer
  • If you're interested in what we're doing at Echo, be sure to check out our podcasts. This link takes you to iTunes where you can download the mp3. I find it interesting that, among the people who download our podcast, this is what else they listen to:

-Willow Creek in Chicago: Bill Hybles and me = peas and carrots. -Catalyst Conference: for young, hip Jesus people. -Imago Dei Church in Oregon: Rick McKinley can throw down. -Mars Hill Church in Seattle: Driscoll rocks.

-And finally, people who download Echo messages also download Strong Bad Emails. Who is Strong Bad, you ask? You must find out. Click here.

  • Speaking of Echo, you can check out the slide backgrounds I make for our Powerpoint here.
  • Today Kaelyn and I watched some Sesame Street for the first time. I better watch how addicted she gets to that show. Elmo makes me want to punch a wall.

That's all.

For Your Listening Pleasure

Christmas time is here, and it is evident at Beit Carr with the arrival of Christmas decorations. This is, by far, Kelly's time to shine as she makes our condo a veritable Winter Wonderland. She does a great job with a limited space. The funniest thing about this transformation is the arrival of the Christmas music. Kel still has a cassette [a rectangular cartridge that plays music just like a CD] with some older holiday tunes she recorded from records [a circular disk much larger than a CD that plays music like a cassette]. She plays the tunes to get in the Christmas spirit, warming up by hearing that "it's Christmas-time all over the world," as well as a "song of mine, in three-quarter time." Classic.

Although I'm not quite the Christmas zealot, I do like some Christmas songs. I'm pretty particular in what I listen this time of year, so let me suggest three CDs you should acquire to get you through the season, ranked in ascending order.

3) Now That's What I Call Christmas. The hits series gathers an eclectic mix of Christmas classics from Nat King Cole to Frank Sinatra to Bing Crosby. The inclusion of songs by Michael Bolton and Gloria Estefan keep it low on the list.

2) A Charlie Brown Christmas. Kelly got this for me as an early birthday present. The jazz interpretation of popular holiday songs by the Vince Guaraldi Trio could soon become my number one. But it hasn't yet unseated . . .

1) The Home Alone Christmas. I wasn't a huge fan of the Macaulay Culkin franchises but the soundtrack that my brother Tim purchased in the mid-nineties has since heralded in my holiday season. Subtract the TLC rendition of Sleigh Ride [Rest-In-Peace, Left Eye] and you have a stellar set of songs. I look forward to explaining to Kaelyn the merits of Tom Petty as a Christmas crooner.

Deck the halls, my friends. Deck 'em till they bleed.

I'm A Quitter

Look, peoples, you gotta cut me some slack. I know I declared it "IF I BLOGGED THEN" week, but I'm going to have to scrap it.

It was probably a little kitschy anyway. I was trying to break up the monotony for you a little bit but I just can't do it. It's a combination of 1) I don't have the time to be that creative right now and 2) there's a lot of other stuff I want to touch on right now.

What I will do, however, is pull out the "IF I BLOGGED THEN" every once in awhile if I'm feeling it.

If I let you down, you have my deepest apologies. Check out the video at www.houseofcarr.com for a peace offering.

IF I BLOGGED THEN

Sunday June 14, 1987 I was rad tonight!

Growing up in a small church sucks sometimes. We go to church 20 minutes from home so none of my friends from school go here. There aren't any good looking girls in the youth group. And we always are going to church. We're there two times on Sunday, on Wednesday Night for prayer, and on Friday Nights for work night. Sometimes I wonder if I'll go to church when i'm older.

But tonight was cool because I got to preach a sermon. We had a Youth Night and I was allowed to preach for the very first time. I wasn't sure what to talk about but I got this idea out of a book that sounded cool. I had a lock box of love and was asking people if certain keys would open it. I had keys like SELFISHNESS and WORK but they didnt work. Then I had a key that labeled GOD and it opened it. And then inside the lock box was a Bible. And I was like, God loves us and he gave us the Bible. IT WAS SO RAD! Nobody wanted to be baptised though.

Someone said I should be a minister someday but that's the dumbest thing ever. I don't want to be a dweeb. I'm going to play football at Ohio State and then go into politics.

Oh, and the Reds beat the Braves today. I hope they win the World Series this year. It sucks that Pete Rose retired last year but he's an awesome manager and will be in the Hall of fame in four years. You can bet on it.

That's all for now. 21 Jump Street is coming on and Johnny Depp is way cool. He might make it far but that Holly Robinson sure will. She's hot. I don't know what a narc is, but maybe I can be one if politics don't work out.

What If I Blogged Then

Next week completes my second year of blogging. It's been a good ride. I've been able to keep at this rather consistently and it has, overall, been an enlightening experience. I'm not sure how long the blogging trend will last [can't imagine that people will still blog twenty years from now] but I'm still satisfied and will keep at it until it's no longer fun.

I like to use the anniversary as an opportunity to switch things up here at Beit Carr. Last year I proclaimed it Steve's Week 'O' Secrets, revealing little known thoughts about myself. This year I decided that I would dig a little deeper and proclaim it "IF I BLOGGED THEN" WEEK.

What if I had been blogging for the past twenty or so years? How would I have reacted to certain important moments of my life? For the next seven days, I'll try to reflect on what I might have written on some of those occasions. It might sound stupid, but that's my schtick so take it or leave it.

It all starts tomorrow, friends. Try to get some sleep tonight.

Don't Speak . . . For Now

I knew this was going to happen someday, and now is the day: I'm disallowing unapproved comments here at Beit Carr.

Part of the blogging experience is allowing people to comment on things that you've written. I'm all for some healthy debate, but when some people are more interested in posting incendiary comments, then that's going to far. As of late, I've received a few comments that crossed the line. After deleting them I was called out for censoring thoughts.

You can call this censorship if you want; and I'm fine with that, but you'd be wrong. Just because you have something to say doesn't mean you have to be perverse. I don't have to tolerate that, and I'm not going to.

And I should add that it's not as if I just came up with this idea; I've actually been mulling it for a few months now. I sometimes go days without checking out people's comments. And if it was something older, I might never see it. I'm not keen on people thinking that because I didn't erase an obscene comment that I somehow endorse it.

So because HaloScan, my current commenting feature, won't allow for approval unless you upgrade the account, I'll have to reinstitute the Blogger comments [this means you won't be able to access any old comments]. Then comments will only be posted if I give them the OK. Not the best way of doing it, but better than totally disallowing them.

I'm still messing with the HTML code and will hopefully have this taken care of by the end of the day.

What The Fore?

How can two ministers go to a golf course on a beautiful day and almost get in two fights? I'm still not sure myself, but it almost happened today.

Aaron and I decided to take the afternoon off and squeeze in nine holes at a nearby course. Obviously, we weren't the only ones who had the idea. A beautiful day brought out all sorts of golfers, backing up the course [it doesn't help when the old men in front of you line up every putt as if it's the Masters]. After twenty minutes on the 300 yard par 4 1st hole, the starter drove up to us and asked us to pair up with the people behind us. That's odd in of itself, because the people behind us weren't even done with their hole and the guys in front of us were teeing off. Aaron logically asked if we should pair up with the older gentlemen ahead of us and the starter replied, "whatever."

Right as we started to hit our balls a greenskeeper decided it would be a good time to blow some leaves of the green of the par 3. While we waited for the dude on the green to move, the old farts got ticked off and sped off in their cart muttering, "we're not going to wait on you guys. Play by yourselves." Aaron tried to yell back at them as they were driving off, but they were half-way to the green. Turds.

So then we paired up with the rednecks behind us. These guys were in cut-off jeans, mullets, and had no less than fifteen cans of Budweiser in their golf cart [no exaggeration]. When we told them the story about the old men they proceeded to hit their golf balls at them while they were still on the green. I cautioned the guys, lest we get kicked off the course, to which one responded, "wouldn't be the first time. I got kicked out off Hartwell, Glenview . . ." and he proceeded to list a few other courses he could no longer play at. At least these guys were entertaining.

So a few holes later, we were again waiting on the old man whores in front of us to take their shots [sounds cruel, but we were continually around these guys and they never said a word to us or even looked at us]. The rednecks were in their cart by the tee box, right on the edge of the cart path. It needs to be noted that while they weren't fully on the cart path, they were on the grass/dirt part right before the path started. So another set of old guys playing behind us finally catch-up with us and proceed to yell at the rednecks to get their cart on the cart path. Apparently being four feet from the paved section of the path was too far for these gentlemen to bear and they made it known by barking orders as if they owned the course. Aaron and I hit our balls and walked off as the new old guys were still yelling at the rednecks.

It was then that we decided we were done playing golf for the day.

I've never left a round of golf early, no matter how bad I was playing, unless it was pouring rain. It was surreal, truly a good walk spoiled. I'm not sure if there's a lesson to be learned here, except it sucks to be playing golf around old people. They can do/say whatever they want to you and pay no penalty. I mean, you can't really get into a fight with them because, if you do, you'll end up making the news as the crazy guy who punched an old man on the golf course.

At least the old people couldn't affect the weather. It was gorgeous out today.

Uninspired

I really want to leave an intelligent blog post. Honestly I do. But I just can't; it's just not there right now. I'm not quite sure why. I suspect it's because my mind has been all over the place the last couple of days. I've been deep in thought. Thinking about a lot of things recently, such as . . . - Why won't people at least try raising their kids in the city? - Hospitals are boring. - I'm typing pretty well right now but it has nothing to do with the dirt on my typing hand. - Kaelyn having a cold is the saddest thing since she had IV tubes in her head. - "Doppelganger" is the new "plethora." - I might watch 24 this season. A two-year hiatus is enough. - If a politician would use a political attack ad to call their opponent a "filthy whore" I would vote for them in a heartbeat. Until then, I refuse to pay attention. - My brother's in Mexico. Will he bring back some Cubans? - Remember the Seinfeld when Kramer has Jerry bring back Cubans from Florida? - I don't need a car to parallel park for me, thank you. - How will we look at Iraqi War vets in twenty years? - Throwing the long ball on 4th and 1? Ballsy. - My wife is freaking awesome. - If Madonna wanted to adopt me I don't think my father would mind. - Why did we skip fall and go straight to winter? - If 30 Rock isn't good tomorrow, I'm writing it off. - William Tyndale doesn't get enough credit today. - I could shop at Lowe's everyday. - "Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven."

That's all I've got.

Elbow Rubbing

Just in case you're curious, I have a new title. I am now the Chair of the Parents and Young Families Committee of the Cincinnati Mayor's Young Professional Kitchen Cabinet. I think it'll take two sides of a business card to fit all that.

I put in a resume for this new group that Mayor Mallory was gathering to act as a sounding board and made it on; he's looking for some ideas from a demographic the city has struggled to maintain. I was told that I was the only member of the faith community to apply for a position, so I think I'm the token minister. The committee's job is to explore what isn't being done and what should/could be done to make it a better place. I'm passionate about Cincinnati and think this will be a great opportunity to make some connections that should benefit our church.

We'll see how it works out. I've already had a couple meetings about it this week and will have a few more in the week to come. My first executive committee meeting with the mayor and twelve others felt like an episode of the Apprentice with me playing the role of the guy who gets voted out first. It's a relaxing feeling to be a room with a bunch of go-getters and not feel the need to be overtly impressive. While everyone else was wearing their suits and power ties, I had a blazer, untucked button shirt, and denim jeans. I'm so Gen X. They can't handle the truth.

Even made today's paper. You can check it out here.