Okay, these guys are just brilliant. I guess they're based in New York and do planned sponatneous acts of hilarity. I haven't looked at everything they've done, but the video about Home Depot is hilarious.
They got a bunch of people together (I think around 200), went into a Home Depot, and everyone just froze in the middle of doing something. They synched their watches so that after five minutes, everyone would go back into action. It looks hilarious. I guess they've done tons of stuff like that, which would be so much fun.
I'm guessing there are groups that do similar things around the world, but I would love to be a part of something like that here in Indy. Pranks are so fun. And they're not mean pranks or whatever, just fun little things that everyone enjoys. I would love to do something with the canal. Not sure what, but something fun. Like getting people to sing under a bridge, or swim in the canal with floaties or something. I'm sure with a group of people, something funny would come up. Anyways, maybe I'll see if there's a group in Indy doing this already. I'll be sure to let you know if I find anything. Gosh, that'd be so much fun. Anyways, here's the link to see Improv Everywhere missions:
Improv Everywhere
Friday, August 25, 2006
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Helping the Needy in Indy?
My wife and I decided to go out to eat yesterday to enjoy our last night before she starts classes again. She works full time and will be taking classes in the evening, so our time together (which already feels like not enough) is going to be even less. So anyways, we decided to go to Bazbeaux for a last meal, so to speak.
If you visit Indy, or live here and have never been, you should definitely eat at Bazbeaux. May be the best pizza in the city. At the least, we really like it. We got the garden pizza, which was great as always. My wife had to ask for the salt shaker to put salt on her pizza. I thought that was insane. Anyways, it was a pleasant meal and nothing exciting happened.
Then we were leaving and walking toward the car when a lady approached us. We had already gotten to the car when she started talking to my wife, “I like your shoes.” I’m a fairly pessimistic guy and usually think that people have hidden motives and agendas in almost everything they do. At least with strangers. So immediately I thought this lady was going to end up begging for money and was just trying to find a way to butter us up.
“Thanks, I got them at Eddie Bauer,’ my wife replied. If you ever pay my wife a compliment on her clothing, she will instantly tell you where she got them and usually how much they cost. I still haven’t decided for sure why I think she does this, but I think I have a pretty good idea. I’ve also been married long enough to know it’s unwise to write what I think it is on my blog.
If you’ve ever been approached by someone asking for money, you know that they usually try to find some way to connect with you. Our newly acquainted friend figured that Eddie Bauer would be that connection. “Oh yeah, Eddie Bauer. With them black and white bags?” My wife, who is without guile responds, “Uh, I don’t think they have black and white bags.” “Oh, yeah. Well, my name is Vicki.” She shook both our hands and asked for our names and was very friendly and all smiles.
At this point we were established friends. Then she got right to the point, “Can I get a sandwich?” This was much better than asking for money, and we really did want to help. We weren’t near anyplace that we could pick up a quick sandwich without paying like ten bucks for it. So after talking to her for a while about where to go and whatnot, we finally told her to stay where she was and we would go pick it up. At this point, we were no longer friends. She got upset and starting saying that she’d, “heard that before. Everyone says that.” We kept telling her to stay there, even as she walked away. Before getting out of earshot, I heard her say something like, “I’ll be here. I live on this street.”
After picking up a sandwich at Starbucks, we went back to try to find Vicki. We spotted her near where we had left her and gave her the sandwich. She thanked us and asked the Lord to bless us and we were on our way.
There really is no point to this story. Sorry if you were looking for one. The thing I wonder is if I'm really helping Vicki at all. Am I just encouraging her to rely on others for everything? Is that a bad thing? Am I only helping because I would feel guilty if I didn't? Does it matter in the end?
I will note that it seems like there are a lot more homeless people in Indianapolis this summer. My wife disagrees, but I don’t remember them being this visible. Not sure what that is about. I’m just thankful for what I have.
If you want to read a much more entertaining story about an experience I had with the Indianapolis homeless (and I guess I shouldn’t assume they are homeless, but I don’t know what else to call them at this point) click here to read the story. This one actually has a point to it.
If you visit Indy, or live here and have never been, you should definitely eat at Bazbeaux. May be the best pizza in the city. At the least, we really like it. We got the garden pizza, which was great as always. My wife had to ask for the salt shaker to put salt on her pizza. I thought that was insane. Anyways, it was a pleasant meal and nothing exciting happened.
Then we were leaving and walking toward the car when a lady approached us. We had already gotten to the car when she started talking to my wife, “I like your shoes.” I’m a fairly pessimistic guy and usually think that people have hidden motives and agendas in almost everything they do. At least with strangers. So immediately I thought this lady was going to end up begging for money and was just trying to find a way to butter us up.
“Thanks, I got them at Eddie Bauer,’ my wife replied. If you ever pay my wife a compliment on her clothing, she will instantly tell you where she got them and usually how much they cost. I still haven’t decided for sure why I think she does this, but I think I have a pretty good idea. I’ve also been married long enough to know it’s unwise to write what I think it is on my blog.
If you’ve ever been approached by someone asking for money, you know that they usually try to find some way to connect with you. Our newly acquainted friend figured that Eddie Bauer would be that connection. “Oh yeah, Eddie Bauer. With them black and white bags?” My wife, who is without guile responds, “Uh, I don’t think they have black and white bags.” “Oh, yeah. Well, my name is Vicki.” She shook both our hands and asked for our names and was very friendly and all smiles.
At this point we were established friends. Then she got right to the point, “Can I get a sandwich?” This was much better than asking for money, and we really did want to help. We weren’t near anyplace that we could pick up a quick sandwich without paying like ten bucks for it. So after talking to her for a while about where to go and whatnot, we finally told her to stay where she was and we would go pick it up. At this point, we were no longer friends. She got upset and starting saying that she’d, “heard that before. Everyone says that.” We kept telling her to stay there, even as she walked away. Before getting out of earshot, I heard her say something like, “I’ll be here. I live on this street.”
After picking up a sandwich at Starbucks, we went back to try to find Vicki. We spotted her near where we had left her and gave her the sandwich. She thanked us and asked the Lord to bless us and we were on our way.
There really is no point to this story. Sorry if you were looking for one. The thing I wonder is if I'm really helping Vicki at all. Am I just encouraging her to rely on others for everything? Is that a bad thing? Am I only helping because I would feel guilty if I didn't? Does it matter in the end?
I will note that it seems like there are a lot more homeless people in Indianapolis this summer. My wife disagrees, but I don’t remember them being this visible. Not sure what that is about. I’m just thankful for what I have.
If you want to read a much more entertaining story about an experience I had with the Indianapolis homeless (and I guess I shouldn’t assume they are homeless, but I don’t know what else to call them at this point) click here to read the story. This one actually has a point to it.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Changing back to Blogger Comments from Haloscan
Well, I've decided to go back to using the blogger comments instead of Haloscan. Blogger has improved a lot since I started and for reasons that you probably don't care about, I decided to switch back. It's fun messing around with my template, but I'm such a novice that it gets frustrating and I'm really slow. But I think my meager hacking skills did the job. The only downside is that now you can't see any comments from the old Haloscan stuff. That sucks and I'm going to search around to see if there is a way to copy them over. If you know of a way, please let me know.
I think I'm done tinkering with the template for a while. But it's so dang fun. I came across some good websites for doing blogging improvements and stuff. I'll leave the links below. They're worth checking out. If you blog. If you don't, then you should start. Because if you have time to be reading this, that means you have time to be doing it yourself. So, why not? Phil? And let me know when you do so I follow along. It's fun. Okay, that's my lame techy update. Uber-noob.
Weblog Usability
Quick Online Tips
I'll add more as I come across them. Please add yours too.
I think I'm done tinkering with the template for a while. But it's so dang fun. I came across some good websites for doing blogging improvements and stuff. I'll leave the links below. They're worth checking out. If you blog. If you don't, then you should start. Because if you have time to be reading this, that means you have time to be doing it yourself. So, why not? Phil? And let me know when you do so I follow along. It's fun. Okay, that's my lame techy update. Uber-noob.
Weblog Usability
Quick Online Tips
I'll add more as I come across them. Please add yours too.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Friday Night Men's Group (8.19.06): Mustard seeds and Limoncello
Well, we finally got the Men's Group rolling again last Friday. It really was a good group. Hopefully we can keep it up on a weekly basis again. Although it was odd not having the likes of Phil, Joel, Ike, Scruff and Caleb there. Life goes on though.
Luke was kind enough to host and to share some home-made limoncello. Limoncello is an Italian liquer that tastes, well, lemony. (Visit www.limoncello.com here for details) The real stuff I've had (real as in store bought) wasn't as good as Luke's. At least in my opinion. Luke told us how he made it, but I forget what he said. Sounds like it wasn't too hard. Whatever he did, it was worth it.
We then had a good discussion about having faith of a mustard seed and how to move mountains. Also what disciplines are required to cast out difficult demons. Needless to say, it was a great group.
We spent after group hours playing foosball upstairs. I've always stunk at that game, but had a surprisingly good time getting whipped. The rest of the weekend was great and I'll try to post about it later. Only a few more weeks till we head to Santa Barbara. I'm giddy!
Here's a quick recipe for making your own limoncello. This recipe is courtesy of Divina Cucina. (see left column of web page):
"Soak the zest of 5 organic lemons [I have no idea what the "zest" of a lemon is, but it sure sounds good] in 2 cups whole grain alcohol for 3 days.
(If you can't find the alcohol, use 100 Proof vodka and reduce the water to 1 cup.) Make a simple syrup by heating 2 cups of water and 1-1/2 cups sugar.
Mix together and strain out the lemon peels.
Keep in the freezer.
Enjoy!"
Luke was kind enough to host and to share some home-made limoncello. Limoncello is an Italian liquer that tastes, well, lemony. (Visit www.limoncello.com here for details) The real stuff I've had (real as in store bought) wasn't as good as Luke's. At least in my opinion. Luke told us how he made it, but I forget what he said. Sounds like it wasn't too hard. Whatever he did, it was worth it.
We then had a good discussion about having faith of a mustard seed and how to move mountains. Also what disciplines are required to cast out difficult demons. Needless to say, it was a great group.
We spent after group hours playing foosball upstairs. I've always stunk at that game, but had a surprisingly good time getting whipped. The rest of the weekend was great and I'll try to post about it later. Only a few more weeks till we head to Santa Barbara. I'm giddy!
Here's a quick recipe for making your own limoncello. This recipe is courtesy of Divina Cucina. (see left column of web page):
"Soak the zest of 5 organic lemons [I have no idea what the "zest" of a lemon is, but it sure sounds good] in 2 cups whole grain alcohol for 3 days.
(If you can't find the alcohol, use 100 Proof vodka and reduce the water to 1 cup.) Make a simple syrup by heating 2 cups of water and 1-1/2 cups sugar.
Mix together and strain out the lemon peels.
Keep in the freezer.
Enjoy!"
Friday, August 18, 2006
Save the right template!
Holy Shat! Man, I'm ticked right now. I've spent forever trying to rebuild my template. I was messing around with stuff and thought I had saved a backup copy, but it was a backup of the wrong blog. So when I screwed up and tried to start over, I had the wrong template. So I just finished and I think it's all back to normal. If you find anything odd (browse through the archives if you have time), please let me know. I'd really appreciate it. I thnk I also might consider just getting my own website. If you have any thoughts/suggestions, that'd be great.
On a different note, our good friend Joel is back to blogging. He moved to Texas and will be updating us on his adventures. Be sure to check him out at http://joeliver.blogspot.com. I'm also adding him to the blogs on the sidebar for future reference.
Joel's Blog
On a different note, our good friend Joel is back to blogging. He moved to Texas and will be updating us on his adventures. Be sure to check him out at http://joeliver.blogspot.com. I'm also adding him to the blogs on the sidebar for future reference.
Joel's Blog
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