Saturday, June 21, 2003

JOIN THE CLUB

I just got back from the church where a friend and I did some mowing and then "assisted" in the moving of a large metal storage shed onto the property. Describing my role as "assisting" is really a stretch. Several young men and the husky dad of two of them came with a trailer, tools, tie downs, and trucks. We caravanned over to the home of the couple donating the shed and then I pretty much got out of the way. Oh, I helped lift and move it a few feet, but really the work was done by the other guys. The guy guys. These are guys who can tune up a car engine, change their own oil, fix stuff. They have pickups, and toolboxes the size of my car. They grunt. They spit. They grumble and look scornfully if you use a piece of equipment improperly and they reminisce about how they shared near death experiences involving power tools. When they hear the term "field dress", the image that pops into their minds has nothing to do with a garment worn by a character on "Little House on the Prairie."

They are entrenched in good standing in the "all things male" club.

I would never get past the membership committee.

"Are you now or have you ever been handy?"

"No."

When I remarked that the shed looked pretty secure on the trailer long before it had been tied down with multiple criss crossed two inch by 27 foot rachet straps tested to 10,000 pound breaking strength, one of the guys looked at me warily and said, "I was hauling freight over the Rockies when I was 18, I learned a few things".

With visions of Conestoga wagons and the Donner party swirling by, I waved the white flag.

"Are you now or have you ever been handy?"

"No."


I don't know when I strayed off the testosterone trail. Actually, I'm not really sure I was ever on it.

I truly wish I was adept at some of these things, but I've accepted the fact that I'm not...and I'm not ever going to be.

Our friends moved last week and Amy was helping them. During that process, I stopped by to drop something off and saw that Amy was taking the doors off their refrigerator so that it would fit through the doorway.

"Are you now or have you ever been handy?"

"No... but is there any chance I could join the club on my wife's membership?"

posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/21/2003 12:22:00 PM  

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Friday, June 20, 2003

Close

One point five miles. That's how far it is from my home to the carwash around the corner. It's nestled behind the auto repair shop that Amy and I have helped finance over the years thanks to busted belts, ailing alternators, hopeless head gaskets and the like. Close enough to walk to with my Visa card in hand to pay the mechanic if need be.

I measured the exact distance on my way home from work today because that's where a young man was murdered this morning.

He was 21. He also lived a few blocks from the carwash. He was gunned down in the carwash bay standing behind his truck at 2:45 a.m., the exact same time that I was gunning the engine of my oft repaired car in order to drive to work...and report that he died. The phone was ringing when I walked through the office door. It was Henry saying, "We've got a DOA".

This young man's last moments of life consumed my first moments of the day.

We had a neighborhood, the night and a carwash in common. This morning we obliquely shared fragments of time.

I don't feel especially close to him....but right now he seems too close to me.

My vacation starts in five days...that's not close enough.

posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/20/2003 12:22:00 PM  

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Thursday, June 19, 2003

Are we there yet?

The countdown has begun. Vacation is now less than a week away which in reality means my mind is going to be focused on little else between now and then. I have slipped into something I call "pre-vacation Tourette's syndrome." Amy and I will be sitting around and I'll suddenly bark out a revelation like, "We need to stop the mail" or "Have we made sure the dogs have reservations at the kennel?", or "We need to make sure the newspaper doesn't deliver." All references to "we" in reality mean "Amy" since I actually don't do anything at all to help in planning our vacation. My only contributions are these periodic eruptions of apprehension...fits of mental incontinence.
Amy makes all the arrangements, figures out how much money we have and even plans our meals. Yesterday she was scooping out spices and putting them in little baggies so she'd have them 'pre-mixed' when making meals at Lakeside. Can't wait until our luggage is searched and we have to explain the carefully rolled up baggies of oregano. Maybe I'll tell the airport guards it's "medical marijuana" prescribed so that my wife will still tolerate me enough to get on a plane with me. They'll have to guess which of us uses it.

posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/19/2003 05:51:00 PM  

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Wednesday, June 18, 2003

The Moon and the Stars

I saw it this morning...in a police report. A man who has become well known in San Antonio for wearing only a skimpy thong and riding his bicycle around town was arrested. Last night he evidently decided the thong was too much...so he went for less. A "flesh colored bag" is how one jail guard described it to me. The modern day equivalent of a fig leaf.

For the record: Parading around in public wearing only a thong = legal. Parading around in a flesh colored fig leaf = illegal.

This guy is a twisted freak, but people like him make my life easier. I don't have to worry about trying to guess what people are talking about as I assemble our morning news block. I only have to write the story and put it on the air. They'll talk about it. It makes my editorial life easy.

It's like someone handing you the Moon...or, in this case perhaps, Uranus.
=======
There will be other folks parading around in San Antonio. The Spurs "victory parade" and celebration is tonight. The NBA champion Spurs, their coaches, wives, and girlfriends will ride down the San Antonio river on barges. Hundreds of thousands of people lining the river will cheer even though a handful of barges will also be stuffed with every local politician with the clout to glom onto the event.

The "politicos" will ride along behind the shining stars of the NBA trying to glisten and glimmer in their limelight. It won't work. The crowd will look at the other barges and only see a few more rear ends sticking out in public.

posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/18/2003 12:03:00 PM  

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Tuesday, June 17, 2003

WASTED

I noticed a small flaw in my blog today. I want to be able to send links to specific posts. There's every indication this can be done easily, but as usual I've wasted far too long trying to figure it out.

I usually have a solution to situations such as this...I ask Amy to figure it out :)

She should be home before too long. I think I'll put my energies to use on something I'm more adept at....in other words, it's naptime.

======
Amazingly enough I managed to figure out how to accomplish what I wanted to without Amy's guidance. Of course, it probably wouldn't have taken me as long if I had her help me, but it's still satisfying. For the record, for the two people who read this blog, the 'link' function now works if you want to send a link to a specific post, and I've added some links to some of my favorite posts to the right hand side of the page. That way if a third person decides to read this blog, they can just hit highlights :)

posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/17/2003 01:46:00 PM  

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Monday, June 16, 2003

SEASONINGS

SPURS WIN!! Yay! This was the perfect season. I was able to go to a lot of games thanks to the generosity of a co-worker. Tim Duncan was named MVP. Gregg Popovich was named the Coach of the Year. David Robinson ends his career with a championship. It wasn't a season without a price though. A lot of these games in the Finals with New Jersey were just plain ugly.



The Nets style of play is ugly too.


This season has given me some appreciation of what it's like to be a sadomasochist..it has been painful, yet I enjoyed it so much.
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The whole town went crazy last night, and this morning. Everyone at work, including me, was wandering around with this dazed, exhuasted euphoria. We will have a "Fiesta" for the team on Wednesday and a "siesta" for the team today.

Unlike other cities, the folks in San Antonio have never felt the urge to turnover cars and burn them to celebrate anything...probably because it's too hot here already.
====

This is what the Yahoo forecast says for Friday in Ohio.
Sunny



High: 72
Low: 53

This, by contrast, is the forecast for San Antonio.

Sunny



High: Don't ask.
Low: HA! We laugh at lows!

I so need cool weather to last in Ohio for when we're there on vacation. That will make for a perfect season too.
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We ordained our new Deacon and Elders Sunday



Right now that event is somewhat overshadowed by the Spurs frenzy. However in the long season of life, I'm fairly certain I know which of these two happenings will be the most important overall.

posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/16/2003 04:15:00 PM  

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Sunday, June 15, 2003

DAD'S DOINGS

Tiffany and Lisa spent some time with us last night for Father's day. They gave me a very loving card and a gift certificate to Starbucks. Amy and I swore off our Starbucks latte addictions to save money for the church building fund, so there is a certain amount of caffeine lust in the air. The girls were in high spirits and I enjoyed just watching them interact. I spent much of the night thinking how quickly they've become adults.

That's what Dad's do.
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Today was ushered in by thundershowers in San Antonio. At my house that means thunder followed by the howls of Winston who knows something is amiss and is bothered by it, so he figures the best way to deal with the situation is to start howling so everyone else will be bothered by it too. I got up and tended to him. He eventually settled down. That's what Dad's do...even if their offspring are "special needs" West Highland terriers.
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We'll mark this Father's day at church by ordaining a new Deacon and three new Elders. This is a moving ceremony which I've only taken part in before from the side of the folks being ordained. Today each member of our congregation will take a moment to whisper a few words of affirmation into the ears of these four people, encouraging them. We will lay our hands upon them.

I know some, if not all of these folks, were somewhat stunned to learn the church had chosen them for these roles. They have talents and potential that our church needs, even if they don't realize it. Today will be a little frightening for them, but oftentimes our abilities shine more to others than to ourselves. Being "called out" to use your gifts is a good thing.

And that's what our Father does too.



Psalm 2:11
Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/15/2003 07:28:00 AM  

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