what's in the air?

well, i should be writing reviews or something else or doing some other work or something i'm sure... but i'm being a little selfish i suppose and getting some things tapped out here for my own venting purposes... first off, i hope everyone had a great fourth of July... i had the day off which is always a good thing, but it felt like Saturday the whole day and this morning i felt a little betrayed when i accepted that i had to come in to work... at least it's a short week ahead of me to compensate for the shortest weekend ever... yesterday morning, we took "Red Rover" (our Durango) into the "car doctor" because "he had an askident in the parking lot," leaving a puddle of antifreeze, coolant, or some other green shiny fluid... (you see how good i am with automobiles)... not sure what the story totally is yet as the mechanic called saying that they couldn't even get it started... the rest of the morning disappeared in a flurry of preparations for a barbeque we were hosting... our guests arrived around three and the festivities began... we were three couples all in all with a few extras and it took less than a half hour, before the World Cup was on (not by my request) and from that point on i was pretty much the only guy still milling about... i had to obviously run the grill and take care of the littles to some extent... kind of annoying, but such is life... television has certainly been quite a socialization deterrent... So the grill was quite interesting in and of itself... we had some chicken that was soaked overnight in marinade and well, the marinade was based in olive oil which has a great reaction to fire... the flames literally shot up over my head... it was spectacular and little boy in particular was captivated by the display... he has, by the way, been enamored with fire as of late, ever since we watched Fantastic 4 and he came downstairs from his nap in the middle of it... the "man on fire" really got him charged up... and from that point on... fire has fully captured his attention... thus, the giant flames coming from the grill were quite an attraction... Anyway, as the afternoon moved on - and by the way, the food was delicious - we had some threats of rain and what not so we ended up inside for a while talking and, of course, watching CNN rotate the same five 30 second videos of North Korea that they had while they said the same thing about the missle tests over and over.... not the best scene, but we did actually muster a little bit of conversation and i think overall the evening went well... After the littles were in bed is when the fireworks began... (actual fireworks mind you)... and it wasn't long before i could hear little boy squealing, oohing and ahhing out his window at the spectacle... being the nice guy that i am, i went up and brought the boy outside so that we could watch them together... this is an experience that everyone should have with their kids... there's not too many years when fireworks are new and exciting still... and there's not too much that can cap off a day like discussing with little boy whether the moon has been shot out of the sky by the fireworks or if it's simply hiding in its house of clouds looking out the windows once in a while to see if it's safe to come outside... which brings me here today, wanting to get some thoughts out on screen i guess... back at work, back to the frustrations of everyday life... facing accusations and dealing with people who make it hard to love my neighbor... for instance, because it's so fresh in my mind... a female collegue whose official title is "project manager"... someone who's told me in the past how she can manage the schedules of other people very well and effectively (essential to project management), but when it comes to her own schedule, she can't manage time well... this statement (and i'm getting a little sidetracked) reminds me of when a neighbor of mine was starting up a landscaping company and became upset with me because i wouldn't agree to let him mow my lawn... my reason for not agreeing, besides being cheap, was that his lawn looked terrible... if he doesn't do a good job on his own lawn, why would i trust him with mine?... this is sadly the way i've found that most people who call themselves Christians operate as well... we're really good at telling others how they should live, but do our own lives reflect that? (see, i got sidetracked)... the example that's fresh in my head, though, actually ties into this as well... so, we're talking about this whole North Korea thing... and i say, somewhat off-handedly that i feel sorry for President Bush... and seriously, i do... the poor guy has the most stressful job in the world, and then you take days like yesterday that are supposed to be pretty fun and festive... and WHAM! you 've got a crazy nation on the other side of the world trying out weapons that could potentially be severe threats to our nation... i mean, come on, can the guy get a chance to exhale for goodness sake? well, i no sooner get that sentiment out into the open air, before it's countered with "Eh, he deserves it, he takes enough vacation the rest of the year"... well, i bit my tongue because it was a clear reminder of why i rarely engage in small talk at work and why i generally avoid conversations that have any political themes... but my gosh, are you freaking kidding me? how on earth can someone who works for a "Christian" organization and who is a leader at her church stand there and coldly, callously make a statement like that?... where in that statement is there any room for love and compassion? So i stood before this resounding gong for another minute or so as she quickly moved on to explaining how she managed to watch the fireworks show on "The Mall" (downtown DC, for those who aren't sure) and still avoid the traffic at the end of the night... Look, i don't care what you think about President Bush... whether you think he's a lunatic, dishonest, whatever or if you like him... it doesn't matter... he's the leader of our nation (for the Americans) and our nation happens to be rather influential in the rest of the world (for the non-Americans) and the bottom line is that he deserves a healthy level of respect based on his position regardless of what your opinion is... especially as Christians, we're specifically told to respect the authorities that are in control here on earth... we should realize that these leaders have been granted their positions by God's will... and that's not a mistake... if we can't accept that, then that's a weakness in our faith... and even if he wasn't the president, he's a person and as such, he's our neighbor... deserving of our love and compassion... now to be fair, when i heard about the missle testing, i was quite ok with North Korea disappearing from the world... or at least the leadership within that nation... i realize that it makes me somewhat of a hypocrite and i've since come to realize that all these things that i've just said about President Bush are also true of Kim Jong-il... that's hard to swallow, but it's very much the truth... so then the question remains... how does one love people of that caliber? wow... that ended up being longer than i expected or intended... but i think it may just tie into the "My Enemies" post from earlier... in some way... anyway... thanks for reading if you made it this far... i suppose if i want comments i need to say something controversial like... well, never mind... have a great week... currently listening to: Various Artists - My Other Band Volume 1 Matthew West - Sellout Watashi Wa - Eager Seas Virtue - Testimony keeping an eye on... peace... love... bdg...