just testing to see if this still works

so here i go, here i go, here i go!!

the apple store is awesome

i went out without my camera last night so i don't have a picture, but just believe me. and right by it is FAO Schwartz so i did see it Jeff. i just didn't go in. so it's my last morning in NY and i've come to 2 more conclusions, well 3
1. i've seen more mercedes, bmw's and land rovers than i have ever seen in dallas.
2. new yorkers have lots of dogs. i don't know how a big dog can live in an apartment.
3. as i walked down 5th avenue and saw the prices of things, i was struck by the conundrum of how there can be such massive abject poverty a few blocks away from such opulence. i mean there have to be enough people that can buy a $2000 purse that the stores can stay open.

i went to barney's on broadway and looked at their clearance rack and i just can't fathom a $70 t-shirt.

a few more pics for you. i'll put some of these in a yahoo photo album and send it out later.














this is michael gungor, he wrote "friend of God" with israel houghton. pretty cool.

this is for johnny q. cordes. don't you wish you could hit the beacon on dec 12th or 13th?















this is for jetter. december 16th at the beacon. if ben harper was playing it would be a trifecta. new york is for music lovers.













who's buried in "grant's tomb".......



NO ONE!! grant and his wife are "entombed there"
btw this is in harlem. so i was in harlem. i'll post more about all of the cool churches that i went to today. i went to st. john the devine. riverside church and corpus christi. i like old churches. i could just go around and check out old churches all day. i'll leave you with the plauque on the entrance to grant's tomb.

it says "let us have peace"

have a blessed day

chuck

i'm sitting at starbucks...

on broadway and 80th street in manhattan. i highly recommend staying in manhattan if you come to NY.
two things i have noticed about NYC.
1. manhattan is an island, and everything has to be delivered to it daily. the sheer amount of food and products that it takes to support 4 million in population, and another 1 million in tourists is staggering.
2. almost everyone in manhattan has an ipod. it's kindof odd. noone talks to anyone else unless they are not from the city.

do you recognize this building. it's the actual facade used for the diner in sienfeld. i've walked around the city for 3 days now, and it's amazing how many "kramer" t-shirts i've seen. on people, in the stores. i guess he's just pretty new york.








i was going to see a broadway show last night
but they were all like $60, not really the kind of money i want to spend, so i spent some time walking around times square. i almost got tix to the david letterman show, but my conference is going on, and i couldn't get there to pick them up. this conference is amazing. erwin signed my copy of "barbarian way" and he wrote "risk everything" WOW!!
this is erwin. he is much better in person. mosaic brought 40 people to new york with them. everyone i have talked to is genuine, and they love Jesus. erwin said yesterday that he didn't believe in hell. he believed in Jesus. he knows that hell exists, he just doesn't believe in it. that is a pretty cool statement. i have so many things in my conference notes that i can't begin to type all of the cool things that i have learned. a lot of people think because erwin has a mystical faith that he is a heretic. i've heard him talk about nothing but scripture this week. he just says that the Jesus of 1950's america isn't relevant today. in other words. Jesus hasn't changed, but the way we approach him needs to.

be blessed today. i'll be back in tx tomorrow.
chuck

greetings from NYC

this trip has been amazing. it started with us flying in with manhattan on my side of the plane. i tried to take some pics, but it just turned out blurry.
after a fun bus ride, i checked into my hotel. it is spartan at best. it's better than some of the camp cabins i've slept in the last 7 years.

i started my first full day off with a trip to the today show. i was on tv people. i hope you saw me. i have pictorial proof.
this is the head of matthew broderick. i'm not good at taking pics of people while they are moving, but there he is.

after this i started to walk down 5th avenue. my goal being washington square park. i got there. but not before going up in the empire state building. what an amazing view.



so after that little trip, i continued to walk downtown. i walked through soho all the way to the brooklyn bridge. amazing neighborhoods. i had lunch in chinatown at a resturaunt where i'm pretty sure i'm the only person who spoke english. then i went to my conference. amazing speaking and performance by the urban poets. met people from all over. i'm going to put two more pics on here, and i'll blog more later. having a blast

this totally reminds me of those commercials

WILFORD BRIMLEYASKS FOR SPLENDA.
BY JEFF BARNOSKY
- - - -
Hey there. Kyle is it? Well, hello, Kyle. I have diabetes. Now, I know that, as a waiter at a Chili's, you have a lot of important people to wait on, and I know those people can be demanding, but what you have to understand, Kyle, is that I check my blood sugar about 47 times a day, because of my diabetes. And when you just put down a bunch of packets of pure sugar on the table with my iced tea, well, Kyle, you almost killed me right there.

Kyle, when you're diabetic, you're entitled to diabetes testing supplies at little or no cost if you're a Medicare beneficiary, which you may or may not have known. So when you put those 10 packets of Imperial brand sugar on my table here, you did me a great disservice. As a diabetic, Kyle, I'm entitled to diabetes testing supplies and I check my blood sugar close to 329 times a day—in fact, I've checked my blood sugar 13 times since I sat down to this wonderful little meal of baby back ribs and chips. So what you did, Kyle, was tantamount to serving an alcoholic a shot of whiskey.

We need to have a little chat, you and I. In this world, we're given a series of choices. Moments where we can choose—though it may not always seem like it—to make the right choice. Well, Kyle, now is one of those times. I wish we lived on some different planet, Kyle. I really do. One where we didn't get any older, we didn't get diabetes, and we didn't ever die. But that's not this world, is it, Kyle? Kyle, I've checked my blood sugar 11 times since you came over here. I just checked it again. See that delivery man at the door, Kyle? Well, he's bringing me more diabetes testing supplies. That's the kind of world we live in, Kyle.

How about you do this for me now, Kyle? Why don't you walk yourself over to the drink dispenser over there, reach underneath the counter, and pull me out a few packets of Splenda—or Equal, if that's all you got. You'd be helping a tired old man with diabetes and a sense that the world isn't just quite ever going to be what it used to be. How about getting that Splenda for me, Kyle?

It's the right thing to do, Kyle. I think you already knew that.

and that show that he was on with the lady from "days of our lives"
"our house"

so did anyone catch trading spouses this past week

there was this lady from louisiana who was just "on fire" for God. she then proceeded to have a meltdown and turn into the lady that noone wants to be around. i wish i could post a video clip here. of course that show always puts the most opposite people they can find together. her family got to entertain a hypnotherapist who was very nice. this self proclaimed "God-Warrior" got to go to the home of buddhist astrologers. this guy was super accomodating to this religious whack-job. she wouldn't even have a conversation with him about his beliefs. so thanks margeret perrin for making Christians look like lunatic fanatics. maybe think about sitting down and having a conversation with someone before you beat them over the head with your King James Bible.

sorry, just had to vent. i'm to relational to demand what this lady demanded.

have a great day
chuck

i love dry humor and mcsweeney's is the most dry

Covering Teen Wolf:One Coach's Guide.
BY PASHA MALLA
- - - -
Used to be, the key to beating Teen Wolf's Beavers was just to play them on any night there wasn't a full moon. We were unlucky one season in that we met them 28 days apart, both times in their barn, and Teen Wolf destroyed us—64 points in the first game, then a quadruple-double in the second, with 14 blocked shots and 25 steals. Our third matchup, though, we were fortunate enough to have a 76 percent waxing gibbous, so it was regular Scott Howard, who turned the ball over twice before fouling out, scoreless, in eight minutes of play. These days, however, it seems the guy can change over whenever he wants, which poses a real problem to opposing coaches. What follows is the best strategy my staff and I have come up with to limit Teen Wolf's effectiveness on the court. While admittedly far from foolproof, it will, hopefully, prove useful to your team. We're all in this together, folks.

To begin, you're going to have to resign yourself to the fact that Teen Wolf is probably going to drop at least 50 points. That might seem like a lot, but, unfortunately, it's just the way the ball bounces. As coach, you need to recognize that your job isn't to do the impossible; you're not going to stop Teen Wolf entirely, but you can try to contain him by making him play your team's style of basketball. Discipline and defensive fundamentals help: nose on the ball, feet moving, channeling him into traps—careful with those, though. Soon as Teen Wolf gets two guys on him, he tends to find the open man. He's a heads-up ballplayer with great court sense, so if you're going to bring a trapping zone against Teen Wolf, make sure you have solid weak-side rotation and your defenders are communicating.

Of course, that's only if he feels like passing. Teen Wolf gets scrappy once you put the pressure on, and he's a great ball handler with a low-to-the-ground style reminiscent of Pistol Pete or a young Isiah Thomas. Add to his skill and quickness those gigantic, hirsute paws, and you're up against one hell of a dribbler. We've tried giving Teen Wolf a step, respecting his speed, but we've found that if our guys slack off him, he'll generally hit the open jumper—or else take off from wherever he's standing on the court, sail over everyone's heads, and finish with one of those dunks where he ends up sitting on the top of the backboard, howling, feet dangling down through the hoop.

While you're welcome to try it, my feeling is that man-to-man defense simply isn't an option. Some teams like to play a box-and-one, which generally works well against most lycanthropes. With Teen Wolf, though, you have to be careful. He'll just stand baying by the sideline while the rest of the Beavers run four-on-four. Then, at a signal from Coach Finstock, Teen Wolf will come screaming down the lane, fur bristling and fangs bared, for the alley-oop. (And with him having what's rumored to be a 78-inch standing vertical leap, rest assured he's even more difficult to stop once he gets up in the air.) I've heard of coaches dealing with this by putting a sniper in the crowd with a box of silver bullets and a hunting rifle. We tried it once, back when Teen Wolf was only a freshman: the shooter missed, and when the cops showed up and cleared the gym we were forced to default.

So, I bet you're wondering, if it's impossible to cover him through conventional defenses, what can we do? Here's the key: Teen Wolf doesn't get along with his teammates. While he's certainly got the individual skills to dominate most games, I'd have to struggle to think of ever seeing a more selfish player in my 28 years of coaching. He tends to alienate his fellow Beavers by doing things like stealing the ball off them, or stealing their girlfriends, and their resentment is easy for opposing teams to exploit. Sympathy seems to work well; get your players to say stuff like, "Man, sure sucks playing with Teen Wolf," or "I'd hate to have a guy like Teen Wolf on my team," and you'll be surprised how quickly the Beavers' team defense will start to open up.
Another trick is to keep on the officials about aggressive play. Granted, most refs are pretty scared to call anything on Teen Wolf, what with the risk of being devoured in the parking lot after the game. Still, it's hard to ignore someone being gouged by lupine talons, especially if the player's entrails are exposed. Coach Finstock hates sitting Teen Wolf, but if his star picks up three fouls early, there won't be any other option. Just make sure to tell your guys to resist taunting Teen Wolf while he's on the bench; it only makes him angrier, and with that anger comes frightening strength.

Finally, keep in mind that beneath all that fur, Teen Wolf is only human—or half-human, whatever—with weaknesses, just like any of us. And as a hormonally imbalanced, eternally cursed teenager, he's particularly fragile. For one thing, at just under 70 percent, Teen Wolf's free-throw shooting is comparatively weak; if you've got a kid on your team brave or crazy enough to knock Teen Wolf down with a hard foul, encourage it. Make him earn his points at the line. "Hack-a-Wolf" brought us within 10 of the Beavers during last year's playoffs—that is, until Teen Wolf dunked eight consecutive trips down the floor from the 3-point line, putting the lead out of reach.

OK, that's pretty much all I've got. As I mentioned earlier, defending Teen Wolf isn't an exact science, and you're more than welcome to alter these tactics as befits your own ball club. I hope that between us we can keep the lines of communication open and continue to share strategies that seem to work. My feeling is that there's no team that is completely unbeatable, even if their star transforms into a werewolf before every game. Oh, and if you come up with some way of preventing Teen Wolf from jumping up and catching your team's shots, I'd be particularly interested in hearing it.

Thanks, and best of luck.

laugh often and hard
chuck

an excerpt from kyle lake's last sermon

Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun.

If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time.If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well.

Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all… because soon he’ll be wiping his own.

If you’ve recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven.

And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift."

live every day as if it were your last-advice i need to give myself
have a great day
chuck