Resolutions

Funny thing about New Year's Resolutions... Sometime after Christmas and before New Years' Eve, I thought of a really good resolution. Something that I could do without worrying about breaking it. Then, I promptly forgot what it was... Still don't know.

So, over the weekend, I thought of a new one. Lately, I have really been into cooking. Not just cooking, but learning what flavors go well with other flavors. What foods taste good together. So, I figure my resolution is to cook a brand new, never before tried recipe once a week. The goal is to learn more about food, cooking and creating recipes. I firmly believe that a recipe is only a guide and not something to be followed to a tea. So, I think this will be a fun experience.

Over the weekend, I made a marinade for some t-bone steaks. Click here for the recipe.

Now, right of the bat, you should know a few things about my experience with this recipe. First, I thought we had lemon juice, but we were out. So, I substituted lime juice. Also, substituted olive oil for the vegetable juice. Second, I didn't use flank steaks, but T-bones. They marinaded for nearly 24 hours. Third, when it came time to grill these suckers, it was about 5 or 6 degrees outside, which was fun. I think the cold affected the charcoal's heat. The grill only got up to about 225F. Lastly, Scooby was not looking like himself all day. When it came time to grill the steaks, I had to pull them off earlier than I wanted and bring him to the Vet ER. He is feeling better. Not sure what they problem was. Likely a combination of overweight and a viral bug that zapped his energy. When we got back, we finished the steaks on a griddle in the kitchen.

Despite all of the above, the steaks were very tender and flavorful. The substitution of lime didn't have an adverse effect on the flavor. For me, the unfortunate part was the too-cold charcoal and the vet trip made it difficult to sear the meat properly. That led to an under-colored finished product, yet still was tasty.

Overall, it was enjoyed by all. So, in that respect, it was a success.

Don't know what my next recipe is going to be. But, I have lots of source materials: from Gordon Ramsey to Betty Crocker cookbooks and the plentiful internet. I'm sure I'll find something fun. The trick for this is to plan ahead and shop for the right ingredients. If I can do that, I'll be able to keep this resolution.

Thoughts on teh Gay

A friend on Facebook posted a note about a conversation she had with her dad about homosexuality. That's her story, so I won't recap it, but it probably went how you'd expect a conversation with a DE-VOUT fundamentalist Christian to go. I left a comment on that note that I now wish to expand on and clarify. This was my comment:

Ask him if it's ok for heteros to have anal sex and watch his head spin. It's one of my favorite questions to ask my Christian friends.

Reading over that now, I think a person can assume a lot about that statement that isn't there.

First a bit of background. On Facebook, I list myself as a "Thinking Christian" which, to me, means that I believe in God, Jesus Christ and His Resurrection, but I also don't blindly trust everything religious leaders have tried to teach me. My brand of Christianity is deeply rooted in questioning my faith and beliefs. I like to talk to God, ask Him questions, and learn from the messages He has for me. It's a very personal relationship that does not fall inline with "mass organized religion" or that thinking. In other words, I like to think for myself. And while I admittedly don't always get it right, I have no doubt that God accepts my questioning Him. I also have no doubt that this kind of questioning is what God wants from our relationship - regardless of whether we get the "right" answer. I think He is more concerned with our journey to get the answer. By the way, this is my journey and I don't expect others to have the same journey.

So, getting back to the whole homosexuality and Christianity thing. A few years ago a good friend and I had an email conversation on the subject. He was curious as to my thoughts on the subject, as I was relatively new to the Christianity thing at the time.

I told him of my Catholic upbringing and how, as a teen, I never felt connected to the religion. I specifically remember reading from a Bible given to me as a Catechism student Leviticus 18:22 (yes, THAT verse). In that Bible, it said, "Do not have sex with other men. God HATES that." Note, the emphasis on HATE is from that particular version (it wasn't NIV, that's for sure). And I remember thinking, "Wait... God hates?" I have never understood how God can hate. That goes against everything anyone has ever tried to teach me about God. Further, it goes against everything I have ever learned from God about Himself.

Here's the crux of the problem for me: How can a loving God create a group of people (homosexuals) that are automatically excluded from entering the Kingdom at Heaven at birth? I do not accept that homosexuality is a choice. I have too many gay friends and have watched them come out to know that it is not a choice. Plus, looking around nature, you'll find plenty of examples of homosexuality in animals (the neighbor's male dog tried to hump Scooby the other day). Did Fido choose to be gay? I don't think so. If homosexuality is not a choice, then why would a loving God create a person He hates the moment the breath of life enters that human? It makes no sense to me that the God I love and follow would condemn a person to a life of lying about who they are. Which by the way, wouldn't the lying about who they are kind of screw their chances of seeing the Pearly Gates? I don't think a truly loving God would do that.

At the time of that email conversation, I stated that I don't know if homosexuality is a sin. I get the feeling that it's not, despite Leviticus 18:22. Either way, it's not a sin I have to worry about committing. So, I don't. And it's not my place to judge those that do have to worry about whether or not it's a sin. It's between God and that person. Just like my own failings are between God and myself.

Now when it comes to gay marriage, the way I see it, I think people of the same sex should be allowed to file their taxes jointly. The government has no business excluding people from stuff that like. If they really want to be as miserable as the rest of us... J/K.

Religiously, if two gay people find a priest, rabbi, minister, whatever, to perform the ceremony before God, then who am I to say that God doesn't acknowledge their unity? It doesn't affect my marriage.

Later in the conversation, my friend wanted to my thoughts on a more... ahem... probing question - namely my thoughts on gay sex being a sin. Which brings us back to the Facebook note and my comment. I was thinking of this reply from the email convo when I commented:

Is it a sin for a guy and a girl in a committed, monogamous relationship to have anal or oral sex? If it is, then I have to think it would be the same for a homosexual couple... But, I don't think it is. One of the gifts God gave us was sexual intimacy. Again, if homosexuality isn't a choice, then I don't think a just, fair, loving God would exclude a segment of His people from the love that sexual intimacy in a monogamous relationship provides.

My point: I don't think God cares who we have sex with, so long as it happens with a person we've built a relationship with based on love. Outside of that context, then perhaps, that's where we get into a lot of trouble.

Considering...

For the, like, 2 people who might actually care, I am considering picking this back up again... Note, I don't have a strong feeling about it either way. But, I might have things to say still... That is all.

Reflections on 2008

2008 started off to be a very promising year. In January, work looked up as I in line for a temporary promotion. The company was investing in a technology that would nearly automate the daily tag & bag process every TV station in the country goes through. I was brought in at the beginning stages to be the “Manager” of a new department that would be housed locally. It was to come with a higher salary. Basically, I was going to do all the leg work in setting up the process and procedures. Then, once the system was ready to go, part-time or entry level positions would maintain it. From there, I would go back to working my normal job at the new salary. Sadly, before the system was even ready for me to start working, engineering figured it was nearly impossible to implement due to the amount of RAM and processing power needed to run the entire (and I’m talking 30 or so stations networked across the country) system. So, by March or April that completely fell through.

Oh, and the company declared bankruptcy recently. Actually, I’m not too worried about that, layoff-wise. We are a hub for the entire company. And, we turn a decent profit. Plus, most of the debts are on the print side of things, and it’s most likely layoffs will come from that sector. Also, I’m probably one of the least expendable people in my department. But, really who knows? All I know is I’m not worried about it.

Theatre-wise, I did as much as I intended to do this year, which was pretty much nothing ‘cuz I needed a break. Well, nothing ON-stage. I worked on a few shows backstage for the money. And enjoyed every minute of it. Enjoyed it enough to put a little seed in the back of my head for a career change when I don’t have to have a stead income (ie: No kids; no responsibilities).

In fact, I realized that theatre was missing from my life, and in 2009, it will be theatre filled. First, I recently joined the board of directors for my local community theatre. That’s been quite interesting so far (and that’s quite the understatement). Now, I’ll be producing “Guilty Conscience” for CCP starting right at the beginning of the year. The show runs at the end of February and goes into March, but a lot of my work on it will be in January and February. Then, after that, I said I would work crew on “Ms. Saigon,” at Footlite Musicals for Noffke. That will take me into May. By then, we’ll be diving head first into “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” We’ve been working on that since March 2008 and it will be wonderful to actually cast the show and start rehearsals. After that, who knows. Hopefully, I’ll be able to work on “Frog and Toad” again in 2009. It’s just so much fun, and money to boot.

Then, the biggest news from 2008 – Tricia’s back surgery. It’s hard to believe that it’s taken up the last six months of our life. The bad pain started with an ER visit. Then a few Spine Dr. visits later, we knew she would need the surgery. That was in early September, and she’s hasn’t worked since Labor Day. That put a big strain on us financially. But, the good news is that we are at least floating and not dead in the water. In fact, she got the A-OK to return to work on January 5th. I hope that’s not too early nor too strenuous for her back, but I’d be lying if I said we didn’t need her paycheck. Thankfully, most of the surgery bills were covered by insurance, but we will be paying our chunk of the bill for the next year. She’s healing quite well, by the way. Most of her back pain is gone. And, she’s thrilled to be able to get out of the house and back to work. She doesn’t deal well with sitting at home with nothing to do.

A bright spot has been the evolution of my relationship with my son. The teenage years have been very frustrating. But, I think I learned the key to it all – Understanding his language and communicating correctly. I don’t mean talking all, “OMG BBQ BFF Jill,” like the kids do these days. I mean hearing what he’s saying, not just the words, but the meaning. For example, when I say, “What are you up to?” what he hears is, “What kind of trouble are you getting into now?” So, his reply is, “Nothing” because he isn’t doing anything to get into trouble. But, that’s not what I’m asking and I can plainly see that he’s doing “Something.” After all, doing mundane things is still something. So, I would get frustrated because we were speaking different languages. Now, I think we have a better understanding of where we’re both coming from and the yelling has decreased significantly. Of course, there is the occasional, “I need you to clean this to my standards not yours,” argument. Followed by the, “It might not be yours to pick up but, either A) you took it out and therefore need to place it where it belongs, or B) I’m trying to get this other thing done and we need your help in other areas (it’s called contributing to help the family, now get off the couch!),” argument. But, yesterday, he gave me a hug for my birthday and, you know, that’s all I ever really wanted.

Changing the subject drastically, you know, I just haven’t been able to connect with God much this year. It’s not like I’m losing faith. No, I just haven’t had time to talk with Him like I should, or reflect on how He’s blessed me in the past year. I do believe He’s been taking care of us. But, I have trouble noticing those “small miracles” in life. I do need put more focus on God in the new year.

I guess that’s one of the things I’ve been struggling with: Do we ever reach a point where we don’t have to run as hard to keep up with God? Where our day-to-day actions with and for God come more naturally… I’m getting tired of going to bed thinking, “Crap, I didn’t get a chance to read the Bible or really sit down with God for a spell.” I don’t know…

Anyway, here’s hoping for an outstanding 2009! It’s gotta be better than 2008. I mean, the bar is pretty low…

Also, I know I'm not blogging much anymore. I don't have much interest in this anymore. I'm not saying I'm closing the shop, but just don't expect it to be open all the time. When the passion strikes me, I'll tap the keys. But, I posted 20 times (including this post) this year. 20% of that were updates on Tricia's back that were emailed to people anyway. I don't know when the next post will be or if there will be a next post. If there's a way to easily archive all of this, I might end up taking it down. I really don't know. I'm typing whatever comes out of my fingers right now, so I might just be talking... Stay tuned... Or don't... Or do...

In the meantime, here's a picture of Nikita sleeping under the Christmas tree:

Ham at 3am

Cops can be dicks.

'Round about 3:11am this morning, I was awoken by ringing telephone. Glazing at the caller ID, I almost didn't answer it because it said "Privacy Manager." Luckily, I did.

"Hello, this is a call from the Carmel Police Department," the recording said.

What the fuck? What did the kid do to get into trouble?

After the recording, a police officer begins questioning me as to the whereabouts of my son. Mind you, I'm not very coherent due to, you know, waking up from a dead sleep. Try explaining to a cop at 3am why your "Mr. Long" and not "Mr. Schiro," especially when you have no inkling as to why said cop is calling.

"He's supposed to be at Kane's house."

"Do you know Kane's last name?"

"Um..." was the best my groggy mind could muster.

"Your son is with some other kids, sir. He's underage and out after curfew."

At this point, I'm trying to piece it all together. Was my son and other kids walking around the streets at 3am? My wife has woken up enough and can hear the conversation.

"He just came to the house to get some movies and they are going back to Matt's. He called to say they were coming. He even came upstairs and kissed me goodbye."

I am a very sound sleeper and woke up for none of that. Only the cops phone call. So, my son was being driven by Kane's 19 year old brother to get some movies from our house.

The cop proceeds to lecture me about curfews. I start falling back asleep when he asks if we can come pick him up. Really?!? Yes. There were at a certain intersection that was about a mile down the road and less than a mile from their destination.

We pull up to the flashing lights. I get out the car and the cop lectures me and my son about curfews again. Nevermind that he was with a legal adult. Apparently, there have been a rash of break-ins and robberies in the city. And the cop was serving and protecting by pulling over a car with "kids" in it. A car he clocked going 36mph in a 35mph zone.

I don't know where I was going with this post, but geepers. The whole affair really felt, "Cops can be dicks."