Bombs bursting in air

With a subject like that, I'm likely to end up on some terrorist watchlist. ;)

I'm actually blogging, of course, about Evansville's Independence Day fireworks display. My beloved is visiting her family in Pittsburgh, where we enjoyed the annual July 4 spectacular together last summer. Since we couldn't share our fireworks this year, being 600 miles and one time zone apart, I decided to make my first contribution to YouTube tonight, for her (and by extension, you) to enjoy:



This is just the grand finale... the rockets came in about two minute volleys for maybe 20 minutes or so, but this is the best take by far.

Now, I'm sure Gretchen got the better show - Pittsburgh has quite a few more gazillions of dollars to invest in boom-stuff than E-ville, not to mention a major local pyrotechnics manufacturer eager to showcase its latest innovations.

But our little burgh did alright for itself, I thought. Especially when you consider that the state capitol and its exhibition is just half an hour from here, and Janesville (a much larger city) has a big fireworks display twenty minutes down the road. That the people of Evansville not only bother with a local fireworks show, but do so with brio, is refreshing!

I miss Gretchen tonight. Fireworks without her aren't as beautiful. But it was alright to spread out the quilt she made for us to stargaze on, look out over the city park, and think that even if we weren't able to enjoy them together, we were both watching fireworks tonight.

Maybe when I see her the weekend after next, we'll light off some fireworks ourselves. :) Yay!

'Cause everything is rent...

I'll admit it - I'm not ready to be a homeowner yet.

I'm not ready financially. Gretchen and I have decades of higher education between us, and that comes with a cost. While she's still in school and we're living apart, buying a house would be crazy. Even once we move in together, it would be a tough sell, financially.

I'm not ready for the responsibility. I don't know how to fix minor plumbing catastrophes. I don't know (or much care) about proper lawn maintenance. I like having my lawn mown by the landlord, and my driveway plowed when the blizzards hit. I like being able to call in my broken water heater, and know that someone is taking care of it... and that it won't mean a hit on my checkbook.

I'm not ready for the commitment. Being tied down to a piece of property scares me. I've seen with one of my friends how hard it can be to move a house for a price you're happy with. With the next several years a big question mark, as my wife and I try to establish a life together for ourselves someplace, it doesn't make sense to be bogged down, even if I could joke about joining the "landed gentry." And with pastors (and possibly professors?) being more mobile than many middle class workers (and with housing still provided by many of our employers), I'm not sure owning a house will make sense down the road, either.

None of which is to rule out buying a house, if Gretchen and decide together that it's the right move for us. But it does make me want to shout a big "AMEN!" to Paul Krugman's recent column in the Times, questioning America's policy of promoting an "ownership society" of owner-occupied housing.

Why is it that my parents, friends, and parishioners are given a huge subsidy for owning their homes (deducting the interest on their mortgages come tax day), but we renters are given nothing but the finger by the IRS? What compelling government interest in home ownership justifies that kind of bias?

As Krugman points out, there are lots of arguments in favor of rental housing over against purchasing a home, particularly in tough economic times, and among workers who need to follow the jobs. He rightly wonders about the president's line of thought, when he utters in a speech: "If you own something, you have a vital stake in the future of our country." Don't renters have just as vital a stake in this country? Are we really only second-class citizens?

For now, both my wife and I rent, brazenly defying (out of necessity or out of choice) the government's preferred mode of living for us. And we, along with a whole lot of others, are paying a hefty price for being renters in an "ownership society." It's hard not to wonder why our government throws such huge amounts of money every year at discourging what is, for us right now, the best choice.

It's public policy, but is it a good policy for the public? Mark me down as unpersuaded.

Cow. Another cow.

Wow. In a scene right out of Twister, the Fargo Forum is reporting sightings of flying cows, sent airborne by exceptionally high storm winds this morning, just north of Valley City. That's maybe half an hour from where I used to live!

(Registration may be required at the Forum's site in order to view the article - sorry.)

Dean Kamen is my hero!

Those of you who know me are probably aware of my fascination obsession with the Segway Personal Transporter. I can't walk past one without getting giddy, and I'd dearly love to spend an afternoon someday rolling around Chicago with Gretchen on one of the various Segway tours to be found in the city.

You may or may not be aware that Dean Kamen, the genius inventer-cum-mad scientist behind Segway is much more than a one-hit wonder, and his most amazing inventions are aimed at restoring to the disabled much of what they have lost - mobility, agility, and the small but hugely important intangibles of human life and interaction that can be stolen by a lost limb or a back injury. His IBOT wheelchair, for example, is not only able to negotiate rough terrain and climb stairs... it's able to balance on two wheels, using the same gyroscopic technology that scoots campus security officers around the quad on a Segway, so that the IBOT's user is able to reach counters and cupboards, and even (here's the beautiful part) hold a conversation with another person at eye level.

That's what I love about how Dean's applied technology to medical issues - he seems to understand deep down that as cold and pragmatic as these robotic devices could be, there's something deeply human and humane in the power they have to improve people's lives.

Dean's latest invention, currently making the buzz rounds on the Internets, is an artificial limb he's calling "Luke" (if you're not sure why, ask Jeff or Shawn, or spend a weekend of quality time with the Star Wars trilogy). The video below shows the arm in action. You really just need to watch it.



I geeked out over Dean when the Segway came out. I was in awe of him when I read about IBOT. Now that I've seen "Luke," I've got a new personal hero.

Rhombitruncated Icosidodecahedron

It's OK if you don't get what this is doing in my blog. Let's just say it's an enduring fascination of mine to do with 30 regular square faces, 20 regular hexagonal faces, 12 regular decagonal faces, 120 vertices, 180 edges, two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. At least the first part of that.

Thanks, Roxie - that, at least, has stuck all these years!

Sweetest Day

I'm loved by the most wonderful woman in the world... who ever saw that coming? *happy sigh*

Despite all the craziness of her last few weeks at school, Gretchen made a surprise trip to Wisconsin last night in order to visit me a little early for my birthday. It also turns out that "Sweetest Day," (a manufactured holiday, yes, but still fun to celebrate with your sweetheart) is today, making it doubly nice to be with her.

Gretchen even made us an awesome dinner tonight, and left me the leftovers. At the Pig while we were shopping, one of my parishioners passed us in the checkout and asked if I was cooking tonight - when I said nope, Gretchen's making dinner, he said I was a lucky guy. True that! But a happy tummy isn't even the start of it. =) To be marrying someone who's beautiful, talented, a darn sharp cookie, and my best friend on top of all that... "lucky" hardly seems to do that justice. Blessed beyond all reason, beyond all sense, beyond all hope or expectations... those come a little closer!

It was a short visit, of course (every visit is too short), but we had a great time just being with each other. A movie, some Red Robin, cruising the mall and Michael's, and a lot of laughter also made the hit list. Next weekend (if the weather is good), maybe we'll fly one of the model rockets Gretchen got me! Wheeeeee!

It's exhausting being so in love with someone. ;) Happy Sweetest Day, love, and thank you for coming up to visit me... I can't wait to see you again!

(I should create a new blog category - "mush"! *LOL*)

Birthday greetings

Today's the birthday of my awesome Aunt Nancy - a round of applause, please! =) Hope your day is as great as you are, Nance.

In memoriam - Rev. Timothy Maland

UPDATE: Visit Tim's CaringBridge page for more information and to leave his family your prayers and remembrances.

I got news this afternoon that Tim Maland, one of the two pastors who served Faith Lutheran throughout my growing up years, passed away a few hours ago. He was recovering from a heart transplant surgery earlier this week, and died of complications subsequent to the procedure.

Despite his frequent misguided attempts to convince me St. Olaf College was the right place for me (sorry, Tim... Concordia got to me first), Tim was a good pastor, mentor, and friend to me. His one-of-a-kind Norwegian/Portugese accent was unmistakable on the phone, as was his enthusiasm for serving God, which came through just as clearly.

Not only did Tim survive my class in confirmation (no small accomplishment), but he continued to show an honest interest in my academic and, ultimately, pastoral vocations long after we both had left Hutchinson behind. He seemed particularly pleased the Halloween I shaved my head into a tonsure and dressed as a monk - he concluded I looked the part of old Martin Luther himself, and how appropriate! Of course, it was under Tim's tutelage that I got some of my first tastes of Luther's approach to scripture and theology - a debt I hope to repay in my own confirmation ministry.

A lead foot? Yes, he had one A goofy sense of humor? That, too. A bad ticker? Alas, neither the heart he was born with nor the one that was so generously given him in his last days could keep up with Tim. The ancient Greeks, as Tim could have told you, didn't locate the seat of emotions and compassion in the heart, as we do.. It was all about the bowels - the guts - for them. Wherever it may be found, Tim did not lack for "heart," even as his body was forced to struggle mightily to compensate for an overburdened, under-performing pump.

To the Malands - you remain in my prayers, as you've been throughout the ups and downs of this process. Tim was not only greatly blessed, as you've described so many times in your journal; he was also a great blessing to a great many people. His joy now and our grieving are one and the same - that Tim is at rest, away from the suffering of this life, received eternally into the arms of the God whose servant and child he has been during his brief pilgrimage with us on earth. May you be comforted by the prayers and remembrances of your friends... But much, much more by the faithfulness of God, who has never let Tim go, even for a moment.

Do you love me...?

For those who love me enough to appreciate my propensity for getting lost, and wish to give me a clue, I present the Freedom Mini Keychain GPS. With this on my keyring, my cell phone would be transformed, like Clark Kent in a phone booth, into a mighty navigation tool, ensuring I'd never again take two hours to get from Willmar to Hutchinson after dark. *blush*

@#!%$, pt. 2

Woke up this morning with my right calf clenched unnervingly tight - it took a minute or two of hopping around, alternately moaning and cursing (or so I suppose... I was less than lucid at the time) to relax my leg into something vaguely resembling a normal, non-cramped state.

Morning charley horses suck.

Blessedly, no relapses so far. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

@#!%$

Very not good. The partition on my laptop where I store my data was almost full, so I ran my partitioning software to transfer some of the free space on my other three partitions (like virtual hard drives) to the full one.

Should have been a simple procedure.

Alas, something went awry, and my laptop is now fubar. The boot prompt comes up every time I reboot, and no matter whether I choose a normal launch of Windows, the "last known good configuration," or a launch into safe mode (which should always work), I always end right back up at the prompt.

Which means that something's toasted on my system partition, the "virtual disk" that has Windows and all my programs loaded on it.

Since my data's on its own partition, restoring the system partition shouldn't affect that. But there are always things that are on the system partiton, because Windows and other applications are too stupid or arrogant to let you tell them "put ALL of my documents here - I don't care if you'd rather store them in some obscure folder somewhere else... They're MY files!"

So, the question will be, once I manage to restore my laptop to working order, what will I have lost, and what will be intact? And how long will it take to get things back to normal.

Grrrrrr.

Which leaves me computing on my cell phone for the time. It works pretty well, but there's some weirdness that has kept some people from getting e-mail sent from my phone. So, if you are expecting a reply from me and don't get one, the odds are very good it's disappeared into the unhappy black hole of my technological life at the moment. Sorry.

So, I'm going to watch something on TV and go to bed. At least both of those two items are still functional.

Heros

As I look forward to my own wedding, I'm more and more aware of the couples in my life whose marriages have endured life's ups and downs, and whose commitment to one another has remained strong despite the passing years. Statisticians - and common experience - tell us that that's no small achievement. People like this are my new heros.

Celebrating the anniversary of their wedding today are two especially important of these heros - Jim and Jan Schaefer, married on this day 38 years ago. Congratulations, Dad and Mom! I'll count myself very blessed indeed if one day, many years from now, the twins look at Gretchen's and my life together and see us as the heros you are to me.

Seriously weird...

So I'm listening to the radio on a station I've never bothered with before (I'm usually tuned to NPR or my iPod), when on comes a commercial promoting Hormel meats at Cub grocery stores.

Nothing especially strange about that, except for the fact that the shopper being "interviewed" in the commercial happened to be Shawnee, wife of my old chum Shawn (insert your own "cute" comment here). They live in St. Paul, hundreds of miles from here - not exactly a voice I'd expect to be hearing all the way down here by Madison, even if I knew she'd be in a radio commercial...

The announcer even observed that Shawnee's expecting (look for their firstborn just before the Big Event in Indiana), and asked if she would keep "Hormel" in mind as a baby name! (Clearly they didn't realize that Steve Jobs had that particular product placement deal clinched months ago...)

How often do you just happen to catch someone you know hawking sausages pork tenderloins and discussing her pregnancy on the radio? *LOL*

Way to go, Shawnee... My day has been made! :)

Update: Shawn's got the spots posted on his blog. You can listen to the Twin Cities, Greater Minnesota, and Wisconsin versions there.

Breaking News: I-35W bridge in Twin Cities collapses

I'm looking at live news coverage of the I-35W bridge across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, which completely collapsed just over an hour ago. Over 140,000 cars travel that road every day, and the collapse happened at the tail end of the evening rush, dropping vehicles and sections of the bridge into the river below. Rescue operations are underway; as of now, there is no evidence of terrorism.

If you're a praying person, now would be a very good time to lift up the victims, their families, and the rescue crews working the scene.

Blogging the Assembly!

Next week I'll be attending the Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA in Chicago as a volunteer. I'll be able to sit in on the business sessions and any other assembly event I like (as long as I'm not scheduled to be helping out at the time!).

St. John's is generously allowing me to count this experience toward my continuing education hours - and thereby use continuing ed. days and funds. When I proposed this to the council, I suggested that I could take advantage of St. John's fledgling web site to blog live from the assembly. It would be a way to generate some interest with the site, keep people back home in the loop, provide some awareness of the larger church, and put some content online, all in one fell swoop.

So I've established a new blog to post my experiences and reflections in Chicago - Dispatches from the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. I'll be updating it periodically before and after the assembly, and frequently (as in, multiple posts per day, I hope) while I'm there.

I'm looking forward to participating in an important event in the life of my church - and documenting some of the experience for those who can't be there themselves. Please hop on over to the assembly blog and check it out! Meanwhile, this blog isn't going anywhere. You'll continue to find the normal stuff here, just like always.

A tragedy at Lifest

I made an appearance at the outdoor Christian music festival Lifest this evening, to catch some performances with a group of high schoolers from St. John's who were camping out there.

It was a beautiful night out, but it was hard to get into the music - just as I was arriving (although I wouldn't know until hours later), a young girl fell to her death on a giant swing thrill ride. The reports are still coming in, but it sounds as though she and another rider were hoisted up by the crane, but when they pulled the ripcord, there was a snapping sound and the girl fell. The other rider remained suspended.

Many reports indicated that the fall was nearly 100 feet, which would make sense if the fall happened when the ripcord was pulled, at the top of the ride. Other reports are giving the height at 40-50 feet - a terrible fall, regardless.

I feel terrible for everyone involved - what a horrible accident. Please remember the victim's family and friends, as well as those who witnessed her fall, in your prayers tonight.

Sad, sad, sad...

Yes, that is in fact me, so caught up momentarily in the wonders of the iPhone that I'm completely oblivious to the wonders of my fiancée. It's a good thing she had friends to visit with she hadn't seen in a while. *blush* Hi, honey - I love you!

Click for larger version - thanks, Erin!

The Year of Gretchen

Last weekend Gretchen and I marked the end of our first year together and the beginning of our second. =) I took a little time off from work to give us a longer "weekend" (I still needed to be back Sunday morning for church), and although it's never long enough when I go to see her, it was a fun trip, all the same.

We took care of several wedding-related items: registry shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond; working on our "guest book" plates (more on them in a later post when they're finished); and looking at invitations (the samples I'd ordered were much more impressive online than in person... nuts!).

On Friday, our actual anniversary, we spent the morning and early afternoon running errands and taking care of some veterinary issues with Maggie. (Poor bunny!) Then it was in to Indy for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's final concert of the season, featuring hometown boy and violin virtuoso Joshua Bell. The concert was great, and Joshua Bell was, as expected, brilliant. It was a fine way to spend the evening.

We got to the concert hall an hour early instead of scrambling in at the last minute (which is what we thought was going to happen, after some downtown direction miscues), thanks to me not switching my phone over to the proper time zone. That was just fine, since we then had a chance to take care of Gretchen's chocolate craving at a very conveniently located chocolatier! (Her eyes were way bigger than both our stomachs... we had an ungodly amount of turtles to take home. *LOL*) Some turtle cheesecake got us through the concert nicely.

Afterwards, I caught a horse-drawn carriage, and we enjoyed a ride around downtown - it was a beautiful night to be out! Some very spicy shrimp cocktail and a delicious crème brûlée to share rounded out the evening's "dining" (somehow we made out just fine with only desserts and appetizers). After a power walk/final sprint to the parking garage, whose operator had already shut down despite it being at least five minutes before midnight, and we were on our way home.

(Well, there was a little "adventure" finding the freeway, which only proves my contention that I, at least, need a GPS embedded in behind my left ear, but we won't talk about that.)

Of course we traded presents, and I'm the proud recipient of the best quilt ever (sorry, Grandma!). =)

It's hard to believe that a year's gone by since I logged into eHarmony and discovered that Gretchen from Indiana wanted to begin communications with me. So much has changed in a big hurry, but that's great by me - I've been waiting for Gretchen for a very long time, after all! Each day with her in my life has been a gift - there's nothing I want more in life than to spend it learning how to love her better and better.

OK, I'm done with the mushiness now. ;) Being engaged to the most amazing woman in the world does that to a guy, though...

Big weekend!

Congratulations are due to Jeff, who donned the robe and mortarboard yesterday morning, and spent about ten seconds walking across the stage at Southwestern Minnesota State University - Marshall, about two and a half hours into the ceremony. It was a long time coming, in every sense, but worth all the wait beyond any doubt. Mom, Dad, Grandma, Nancy, and Gretchen and I couldn't be prouder - it was wonderful to be there for those historic ten seconds. =)

Best of all, I've got a new favorite picture of Jeff... a rare smiling one, at that. (Jeff does the "smiling" look for pictures about as well as I pull off a "serious" face - it's clear which of us is the more dignified...)

Love and flowers are due to Mom today - Happy Mother's Day! Ditto that to Nancy and Grandma, who are both blessings.

And in the belated birthday department, lots of joy in the year to come to Dad and Grandpa! (Dad - don't consume all your Wisconsin cranberry products at once.)

Since I'm creating a whole new category label of "shout-outs" just for this post, how could I not wrap things up by thanking Gretchen for taking her chances with the Schaefers and being a part of this weekend? =) I love you beyond words.

Wedding update

After a lot of looking, Gretchen and I found a wedding band for me this weekend.

We wanted my ring to coordinate with (if not exactly match) Gretchen's engagement ring and its matching wedding band. The small channel-set diamonds and the milgrain detail make the ring we found at Zales a good match for all the fine detail of Gretchen's rings, but with a more masculine look for me. The two look very nice side by side. Just like us, our rings will have their own "personalities," but in the end, I think they're each more beautiful and meaningful because they go together.

(What a nice bonus that the ring we both liked best won't end up breaking the budget!)

In other wedding-related news:

• The date and location are official: We'll be married on December 29 at St. Andrew United Methodist Church, West Lafayette, Indiana.
• Gretchen and I are working on registries. We're currently registered at Target's Club Wedd. I'll probably be putting together a wedding page on this site with all of the different registries and links, but that might be a little while in coming yet.

A day off!

Carolyn, our council president, made the call earlier today to cancel all services and events at the church tomorrow, in light of the major winter storm that's about to hit us. Churches all over the area are canceling in advance, since the authorities are urging people not to travel except in emergencies until this blows over.

On top of the four or five inches of snow from last night, the next round (already starting, if my southern view is any indication) is supposed to bring another ten inches or so. Add in winds up to 40 mph, and you get a blizzard, which is just what the weather service warnings are saying.

So I get a rare Sunday morning off! :)

At long last - the Big Announcement!

I've got some news. =)

Alright, so it's not exactly a closely guarded secret of state, but I've held back from posting my news to the blog until I was able to personally share it with all the friends and family I could get a hold of... seemed like the decent thing to do. It's been a month tonight, and I've made a heroic effort to avoid mass e-mailing, so I think it's finally time to return to the world of blogging with the news everyone's seen coming a mile away.

So, here's the scoop - Gretchen and I are getting married. Yay!

We've established a Flickr account for our upcoming wedding (yes, that's right, the wedding has an account all of its own), and you can see lots of engagement pictures there. That's also where we'll be posting pics as we look at decorations, clothing, etc., in the months to come.

The happy day will be December 29, and we're planning on holding the service at Gretchen's church in West Lafayette.

(That part won't be official until we're able to meet with one of the pastors at St. Andrew UMC - we were scheduled for our first premarital appointment this Friday, but a funeral here put that on hold for the moment, so we're scrambling to reschedule. I've let Gretchen know that if we need a backup, the pastor at St. John's would probably be pretty willing to accommodate us. ;) But I don't think there'll be any trouble getting our date "down south.")

Obviously, I'm delighted! Gretchen's the joy of my life, and sharing our days together is the most wonderful blessing I can imagine. It's pretty remarkable to flip the pages back a year and realize how my world has turned upside down in just a few short months. How can the days have flown by, but at the same time I feel as though we've known each other forever?

Ah, well... I guess I'll leave the deep metaphysical pondering for some other night. ;)

For now, I'm just glad to finally go public with the best news I've ever had to announce! Did I mention, "Yay!"? =)

The Mother of All Updates

I think my blogging credentials are going to be revoked if I'm not able to get updates online a little more faithfully! Good grief.

So, the major news is that I've had a change of scenery in the last few months. It's no big secret to many of you, but around Thanksgiving 2005 I filed mobility papers with the ELCA, and began interviewing periodically around the Midwest, as opportunities presented themselves. Discretion prevented me from blogging about the process, as Bishop Foss had recommended that until I actually received a call, there was no need to traumatize the good folks in the pews at Litchville and Hastings that I might be moving on. (The councils were in the loop, though.)

The call process stretched on much longer than I ever expected. To be honest, I had figured on a few months interviewing, tops. With all the open pulpits out there, it never occurred to me that finding the right one might take a while.

I interviewed at a handful of congregations (and spoke with committees from a number more) before being contacted by the call committee of St. John's Lutheran Church of Evansville, Wisconsin. Those of you who are observant should be able to place my interview at Evansville right down to the weekend - it wasn't completely random that Gretchen and I first met face to face in the greater Madison area. ;)

It was a very good weekend, for the obvious reason (Gretchen and I clicked wonderfully) but also for a reason I couldn't comment on immediately - the interview went well and I found myself increasingly excited about the possibilities I was seeing in Evansville. A few more visits "down south" and I was sold - God was up to something here, and he wanted me on board. So did the people of St. John's. So did I.

The moving van arrived the third week in October, and I spent my 31st birthday looking at a new home full of all the old clutter, neatly boxed and stacked around the periphery. ;)

St. John's is a congregation of right around 1,000 members, and is the only Lutheran congregation within the City of Evansville (pop. 4039). The congregation had suffered some setbacks and conflict in the last five years or so - a double-edged sword for me. On the one hand, there are obviously challenges in building the people up again spiritually and as a community. On the other hand, there's abundant potential for growth... growth for our individual members, but also growth in new membership as the congregation picks up steam again.

Evansville is a growing community, with many of the new homes in town providing bedrooms for workers in Madison (20 minutes) and Janesville (15 minutes). St. John's hasn't experienced any significant growth from this boom... yet. I'm excited about the things we're kicking around, though, and the enthusiasm I'm hearing for outreach here. I'll write more about that at a later date, though.

I'm very happy in my new home, and blessed with a whole stable full of new challenges and opportunities in my career. I miss my friends in Litchville and Hastings, but I'm very sure that this is exactly where I'm supposed to be right now. It took a long time to find it, but there's no second-guessing going on.

Sort of like with Gretchen. :)

Yeah, that's going well, too! Monday will make seven months that we've been together, and I couldn't be happier about that. One of the up sides to life in Evansville is that it's exactly 250 miles from my door to hers - not exactly a short drive across town, but very doable for a weekend-sort of trip. We've been able to get together pretty regularly since I moved out here... almost like a "normal" couple!

I spent Thanksgiving with Gretchen's family, and she came up with me to see my people over New Year's. I told her she'll make a good Schaefer. ;)

No, I'm behind the curve in getting news up on the blog, but not quite that much! No expensive minerals have traded hands yet, but stay tuned... barring a catastrophic meteor impact or something, I'd expect there might be some developments to follow here in the not-so-distant future.

So there are two major life changes going well for me.

Oh, and I got an iPod for Christmas and am quickly sinking into the Cult of iThings... I'll let you know how that major life change turns out. ;)