I Always Feel Outta Place...

...whenever I go to my kid's school. Now let me explain. My wife is a teacher in a very affluent school district. One of the perks is that she gets to bring her (our) kids into the district to be educated. That is awesome and my children LOVE the other kids and teachers. The education is of the highest quality.

But these families live in million dollar homes. I rent a duplex. They travel in brand new SUVs, expensive minivans and fast shiny sport cars. I drive a cheap minivan. It is old and it is paid for.

Not one person or persons have made me feel bad. No one points and laughs. No one stares and no one gives funny looks. But I am still an outsider. I do not live or hang out in their neighborhoods. I do not shop or eat in the ssame tores that they do. I am not part of their community.

Except of course, all our children go to school together.

I can accept that most of the issues are in my head. That I have the problem and not "them". But this does not make me feel any better.

And then to make things worse this year is the first year in a middle school. New school. New kids. New parents.

I hated jr. high and high school. I remember that awkward, weird age. I was a geek, an outsider. I STILL have nightmares about going to the wrong class or skipping class because I couldn't figure out my schedule! STILL!

And this week was no freaking different! It was meet the teacher night and I was given a schedule to follow. You simply go where the schedule states right? Well problem #1. I have twins therefore I have 2 schedules. No one else had 2 schedules. They are similar, but not the same. So first I have to figure out which classes to attend. I finally just choose one of the schedules and stick with it. I chose the schedule that had a technology class instead of the drama class. Then of course I wandered around looking for the right place to go.

Problem #2. The schedule changes from day to day. So even within one of the schedules I still had to figure out what classes I am supposed to be going to-what "day" it is supossed to be for this one night meet the teachers crap. So wouldn't ya know it. I walk into the technology class and it is normally at the same time that the music class is-the music class that I had just met the teacher of... So I looked like a goober going to a class where there was no meeting of the teacher...it was the period before. While I was in that stupid music class. And then I was late for the class I was supossed to be meeting another teacher at!

I still feel out of place in a middle school. Stupid meet the tachers night. Stupid schedule. Stupid school.

-Durk-

I Recieved a Frustrating Email Today...

...From a friend. First it didn't have a title in the subject line...that is just a pet peeve of mine. I used to have a supervisor that didn't even read emails without something in the subject line. But more importantly it was an email about God and finances. I have a strong faith in God and I'd like to be financially healthy. So I read on. Now it started off innocently enough...here read the beginning:

God is the biggest help in the World. I claim it for you - now claim it for
me. God has more than a thousand Ways to provide for us, that we know nothing
about. Here is your financial blessing! It's a simple prayer, you got 30
Seconds?

Sure, I got 30 seconds...But then it goes on:

Don't sleep on this...Someone recently read this for the first time and received exactly enough for a $0 balance on all credit cards. If you need a financial blessing, continue reading this e-mail.

It is at this point that I get VERY angry. I believe that God will provide all of my spiritual needs. But is He gonna pay off my bills? NO, he isn't. Will He keep me from getting sued if I don't pay my debt back? Nope. I don't believe that is His responsibility. And then to talk about credit card debt? Don't get me started!

God is not a cosmic ATM machine. He isn't some magical money tree. And the thing is this email comes at a time when I am really struggling financially. The School Loan People really want their money. I think I went to the most freaking expensive school in the country, MNU. I don't know if I can make the payment that they want or not. And there are always threats that go along with their request for repayment. But do I lay that on God? Well, maybe, but I still have a responsibility. I am still accountable for my own past choices

I believe that God cares about His creation. I believe that it is His desire that his people be blessed and live healthy lives. But is God gonna just let me do whatever I want, let me make bad descisions and then bail me out? No. I don't believe that. I believe that God will honor my good intentions and my good stewardship with my finances. But God ain't gonna make all the money I ever request fall out of the sky.

-Durk-

Now That's a Funny Name!

I was following a truck to work this morning when I saw the name in the web address on the back...It took me a couple of seconds to actually read the name:

http://www.frenchgerleman.com/

FRENCH GIRLYMAN? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Whew..that was pretty funny. It reminded me of Hans and Frans from SNL!

Girly Men Pumping Iron

-Durk-

Funny Nerdy Shirts

http://www.nerdyshirts.com

I love to Blog

I know, you would never guessed! But I love everything about blogging. I love the writing. Blogging has given me an avenue to vent, joke around, be creative, review, journal, and just ramble on and on. I love the recording aspect, the memorializing. I love the picture part of it, kinda a voyeuristic aspect and it allows you to share family pics with friends and family. I like the idea of having a presence on the web. Blogging is becoming a bit of a passion for me. As it has for millions!

In my pursuit of blogging I have run across some pretty cool stuff, photo sharing (I am not quite finished reviewing all of the photo sharing sites on my list), free space and new blogs.

The latest blog site that I have come across is wordpress.com. Check out keech17.wordpress.com and thewienerdogblog.wordpress.com.

I really like their blogging format, it is extremely intuitive and easy to use. I actually like it a tad bit better than blogger! I shall try to remain loyal. One of the things that the wordpress blog site can do that say this site cannot do: upload pictures. And their themes have a lot of options and customizations.

Like I mentioned, one of the limitations of blogger is the inability to upload pictures and files. I ran across another cool, but extremely simple web site that seems to not have too many restrictions on file storage- www.wikispaces.com. Check out Durk’s PPC software site. It is pretty simple and plain; not too many graphics or themes. But one very unique thing, you can create pages super quick and you can upload and link to files with ease and speed.

I have been trying to think of a way to use all of these cool websites with their unique services, storage, blog formats and various bells and whistles. I have been trying to think of them as tools at my disposal.

I plan on sticking with the photo sharing sites for a few reasons. They can hold a whole lot of pictures. It is a one-stop shop for organizing and backing up pictures. They allow you to put together some pretty cool shows and filmstrips and such. And then easily allow you to share. It makes sense to have one place to store all of our pictures.

I plan to use wikispaces.com for file sharing and if I need a link to a separate page-like what I did with the email correspondence and the PPC software. It makes sense to have one place to store files and host extra external pages.

I also decided to get the family involved.

Kaleb & Keegan created their Keech site; it is dedicated to their adventures with and cheats for Club Penguin.

I also started thewienerdogblog to have another blog to maintain! And of course to chisel out a spot on the web for our Dash and Izzy.

That pretty much covers everyone except for the wife. I am still working on her. She has concerns as to how she will be portrayed to current and prospective employers. Many employers will scour the internet searching for potential employee’s presences on the web.

This is a valid concern. But as long as one isn’t sharing inside secrets, dissing the boss or complaining about students by name, then you should be OK. And so should she.

-Durk-

I'm With Fred! Are You With Fred?

-Durk-

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow about a week ago. So I thought it was time to give it my review.

I want to start out by saying that I thought it was a fantastic final chapter to a very entertaining series. It kept my attention and I enjoyed the story very much. There were many "loose ends" that were addressed at the end. I was just thinking yesterday that I would have liked to have known what happened to the house elf Kreatcher and maybe the plight of house elfs in general. But other than that most of my questions were answered. It definitely was an appropriate ending to the series.

So I liked the book and liked the series. But I am still hung up on the whole allegory thing. I still think it just might be JK Rowling's intent for the series to be a complete Christian allegory. But it isn't a perfect allegory by any stretch of the imagination.

There is a scene from CS Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where the Son of Adam and the Daughters of Eve are walking into Aslan's camp. For me it was one of the first times that the allegory was staring me in the face. The younger brother, the other Son of Adam, had betrayed his family and was being held captive by the White Witch. The other 3 traveled to go see Aslan who might be able to help fight against the White Witch. And here they are entering the camp, walking through it to seek Aslan. And there are all of these other creatures, centaurs and such that they are walking by. It was very cool on the big screen. And then all of these creatures recognize that these three are human...and they do the most incredible thing-they bow, they offer respect! It was at that point that I lost it, I just started to cry, and not subtly, but in convulsions. I just kept thinking, "No, you don't understand, stop! We don't deserve that kind of honor and respect! You don't know what kind of evil we are capable of." And I thought of how heaven welcomes us in, these dirty, filthy, rotten sinners, they rejoice when we are gracously accepted by Christ.

And then there is the scene where Aslan lays slain. Suddenly his body disappears. The altar where he had laid is broken in two. Again the allegory smacks you upside the head. The curtain between the Holy of Holies and the priests ripped in two.

I have to say, there are no scenes in any of the Harry Potter books that scream out the allegory. There are things that happen and things that are said that can be taken in an alegorical manner, but nothing that is blatant. And for me that is most disappointing. I thought there may be something at the very end of the final chapter. But the death is nothing too special. There is no parallel of what happens to a Harry while he is dead. The "ressurection" is nothing special. And finally the victory is nothing special. Instead of the story representing the Gospel there are themes that are present: Harry conquers death, is a savior of humanity, overcomes evil with good, and is an example of a good person. In the end though I thought Harry was a pretty lame representation of Christ. I also thought that the author had a pretty good opportunty to create some pretty amazing final scenes that may be Gospel representations, just his reappearance alone could have defeated Voldermort. Maybe others could have been brought back to life. And as mentioned in the allegory editorial on mugglenet it would have been cool if the Veil of Death room had been destroyed or torn apart or whatever. And finally although there are "things worse than death" that was mentioned, nothing seemed to have come of it too much.

I want to state again that the book and the series are awesome stories! Just not that great of an alegory.

-Durk-