4th of July

Happy 4th of July everyone. I was watching TV this morning and they had a reporter in Afghanistan with the troops that are over there. It hit me then that while I sat in the comfort of my own house, holding my healthy happy son, there were thousands of people who could not have that privilege. They are in a foreign place risking their lives so I could watch TV, drink coffee, enjoy my family and not worry about a car exploding where I am working or having lunch.

Most of you will probably not read this on July 4th (which might be even better, it's easy to be patriotic on this day). If you read this, please take one minute to thank God that we have incredible men and women, moms and dads, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives living in places of the world we would never want to go, spending each day including the days we all have off of work, defending this great country so that we could go to BBQ's, watch fireworks and spend time with our family and friends.

So once again, Happy 4th of July everyone. We live in a great country. On behalf of myself and my family, I thank those who are fighting to keep it that way.

Father's Day on a park bench....

Yes, this is a little late but like any father of a young child, I have had little time for anything but watching baby Riley. The phrase that I have come up with to describe parenthood is (in addition to my last phrase):

Beautifully unproductive.

To do lists be darned. Our schedule has one thing on it. Anything else that happens is a bonus. But it is time well spent. These days will never happen again. Everything on the to-do list will need to be done again next week or next month. But this day with Riley will never happen again. We are trying to savor every single moment.

Father's Day began down at our house in Maryland. I got to go fishing with my dad. A regular event each summer that I cherish. We only catch 5 inch perch - 8 inch if we get lucky - but we prepare each time out like we are going out for blue marlin. And you can't beat the company and the scenery. The rest of the day was spent like any good weekend at the Bay. Wiffle ball. Crab feast for lunch. Then we made our way back to a favorite local restaurant in PA to celebrate Father's Day with my dad. As soon as we sat down, Riley got fussy. Actually, truth be told, he was fussy for the 15 minutes leading up to sitting down as well. So to spare everyone in the restaurant from his ear-splitting cry, I took Riley outside for a little fresh air.

So we walked around and stopped in a little courtyard outside of the restaurant. Together, we looked at the flowers (he has discovered colors) and listened to the XM radio station playing the best of the 70's, 80's and 90's. All of a sudden, Riley started to smile. He not only smiled, he laughed. He was having a BALL. And it hit me. Maybe he just wanted a little time alone with his dad on Father's day. Of course, he may have just had gas or something but it was clear he was having a great time. So we sat outside, Riley with a smile on his face, me with tears in my eyes, savoring our first Father's Day together, just me and him.

It must have been obvious that I was a first time dad. As we sat there and as we went back into the restaurant (even dads have to eat some time), a number of people smiled at me and wished me a happy Father's Day. It WAS a happy Father's Day.

Thank you Riley. I love you buddy. Wanna go fishing?

A First Look at First Cousins

Can you tell I am a little behind in my blogging???

About a month ago, Missy's brother, his wife and their two kids, Luke and Abby came out to visit us. They also came to see Riley for the first time. It was the first time Riley had met his first cousins. Two days after they left, Missy's two sisters came in, one of them with her son Scout. Scout is the closest to Riley's age - they are about 3 months apart. As it stands right now, Riley has five first cousins. In a span of one week, he got to meet three of them.

While Riley didn't seem overly moved by the experience (other than being hungry and sleepy not too much gets this kid excited yet), I thought it was great to see him with his cousins. I have six first cousins. I have countless memories of playing with them as kids. Whether it be at holidays, during the summer or at family reunions, I loved the times I had with my first cousins. Now they are all (at least legally) adults. I have enjoyed great conversations with all of them about kids, marriage, jobs and life in general.

Those memories get me excited to see how Riley will connect with his cousins a few years down the road. I have visions of Riley being required to play house with Jamie, football with Charlie, trains with Luke, something that involves the color pink with Abby and with Scout - he is a little young yet but in seeing him so far, knowing his father and knowing Riley's father, I could see them getting involved in some sort of criminal activity. Look out Family Reunion 2016!!

Small Victories

Before I was a parent, I heard people with kids say things like, "Billy is eating solid foods now" or "Susie smiled at me yesterday". My ignorant thought was, "So?" What was the big deal? I cleaned out my closet yesterday. No one is giving me an award. However, now I know what they are talking about.

We made the decision recently to move Riley from his very comfortable (though awkward looking at times) position of sleeping in his car seat to sleeping in a crib. Pre-parent Ryan would have listed this about as significant a move as finding an M & M under the couch cushion (why is it always an M&M or a piece of popcorn? Why can't it be a $100 bill?). However, Ryan the dad (and his wonderful partner in crime Missy the mom) devoted an ENTIRE WEEKEND to this endeavor. We approached this adventure with the fear and trepidation. We developed a shift schedule - one of us would be on call while the other slept then we would rotate. We prayed. We stressed. We begged Riley to adjust quickly to his new sleeping environment. Once again, we felt like we were on the eve of D-Day.

And you know what? We survived. Riley had a few cries here and there but he slept for the most part right through the night. A small victory in the Delp household. Now, while I deem this to be worth mention to the entire world wide web community, those of you reading probably wish you had the last 3 minutes of your life back. But once you have kids you realize - those small victories are enormous triumphs in the world of parenting. The fact that I have heard my son LAUGH for the first time is huge. The fact that he can hold his head up and not look like Stevie Wonder all the time is incredible (though if he had put on some sunglasses and a braided wig - that might be worth regressing his development for a little while).

So our son now sleeps in a crib. Now that that hurdle has been crossed, I can only see one more in front of him - getting a job.

A Trek to his Namesake

This past Memorial Day weekend was one that I had been looking forward to for almost a year. Not because we were gettting a three day weekend (which was nice by the way) but because Riley was going, for the first time, to the place for which he was named.


Our family has had a house in Grasonville, MD since before I was born. I have spent countless summer (and some spring and fall) days down there fishing, crabbing, playing wiffle ball, enjoying messy crab feasts and just hanging out with family. Some of my earliest and fondest memories occurred while down "at the Bay". To this day, one of the highlights of my year is arriving at the Bay house on Friday night ready to enjoy the first Bay weekend of the summer. Conversely, even as an adult, leaving the Bay for the last time that year brings about tremendous emotions. In short, this place means the world to me.


Over the past few years as a married man, this place has brought even more meaning to my life. It is here that I proposed to Missy (for the second and last time). And more recently, it is here that we first learned that we were going to be parents. These moments, in combination with the many memories that we have collected over the years at the Bay house brought us to the decision to name our son after the town where our house resides - Grason. We knew that we were not cool or artsy enough to pull off Grason as a first name so we decided to use it as his middle name. We may be the first parents in history to have the middle name set before the first name.


And so it was with great anticipation that we took Riley Grason down to our Bay house. True to form, he slept through most of the "firsts" of the weekend. First time inside the house - out. First time on the boat - gone. The one time he was not asleep was when we walked on the dock for the first time. The brutal sun pretty much prevented that. We feebly attempted to cover his face but because he squirms more than a morey eel, it was pretty much impossible. Though, Missy humored me by taking several dozen pictures of this momentous, if not short lived, event.


So now that Riley has his first trip to the Bay under his elastic diaper band, I look forward to many more for him. My hope is that he can experience beautiful and life changing memories at the Bay house the way his father and mother (and grandparents and great grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins) have. He already has the boat ride down. He has made a mess while eating - though his was formula, not crabmeat. And he has learned the important rule that it is ok to burp out loud. Why? Because it's the Bay! We will have to wait to experience fishing and wiffle ball. Maybe next weekend......

Mother's Day

When I think about Mother's Day, my first thought is of a video I made for my mom back in 1985 or so. I had this brilliant poem that I had just penned and I needed it to be immortalized forever. So I asked my grandfather to videotape me whilest I read this piece of literary brilliance aloud. There I stood, nappy Harry Potter hair, gap toothed (or maybe in that awkward adult front teeth/baby rest of the teeth stage) looking at the camera. Then I began to read in my falceto-like voice. I think I heard a dog howling in the background:

Roses are Red
A Dove is White
My Mom is Sweet
And so is her Love

Now, while that melted my mom's heart, I'm sure, I cannot help but look back on that poem and wonder why I inserted Line 2. My thought is that I was looking for something to rhyme with "love", however, I had yet to learn that the rhyming words come at the END of each line. So instead, I interjected with a sort of geology lesson - though I think doves are gray......I cannot remember the poem I wrote for Father's Day but I'm sure it started off something like:

I love My Dad
The Chinchilla is a Herbivore.....

Fortunately, that video has long since been lost. Otherwise, I'm sure I would have a cult following on YouTube.

This year, Mother's Day took on a whole new meaning for me. That's because Missy celebrated her first Mother's Day as a mom. In years past, I thought Mother's Day was a nice sweet day to make corny poems and give money to Hallmark. However, now I am strong proponent of having a Mother's Week. Or even Month. Watching Missy take care of Riley day (and night) in and day (and night) out. I have a new and tremendous appreciation for what moms do (and what my mom did). No amount of words or gifts or luncheons could express the appreciation and sincere awe I have for Missy as well as other moms who love and take care of their kids. Raising a child is a full time job where you take "breaks" in between their naps (like I am doing now). Not to take anything away from dads (heck, I'M a dad now) but a mother's job cannot be overappreciated, overpraised and overthanked. So to all the moms out there and specifically to the one who raised me and the one who is mom to my child, Happy Mother's Day. Oh and dolphins are mammals.

Like Father Like Son

Here is one of my new favorite pictures of Riley. It gets me every time. The word is that Missy was holding Riley in her lap and said, "Riley, here is your inspiration: I want you to make a face that reflects your assessment of your daddy's intelligence level. GO!" Here is his interpretation:

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Riley is going through, let's call it, an interesting stage. He is certainly more interactive. He is starting to smile which is awesome. He makes cute sounds. He looks at us. He looks FOR us. But he also freaks. Alot. He cries to the point where he has no air left to push out and he just sits there with a red contorted face, mouth open and nothing coming out. Then he catches his breath and winds up again. The amazing thing is that these two sides of him crash together within seconds of each other. You can watch as the transformation happens. His smile melts into the face of fury in a matter of moments. And then we are in for an extended period of shushing, swaddling, swaying and the other two S's that I don't remember - I think they are Swearing and Screaming. That transformation has led me to my summarization (thus far) of parenting. It just came to me after one of his episodes:

Parenting is a minute of bliss and an hour of misery with a second of rest.

I have found parenting to be the most humbling, maddening, selfless thing I have ever done. And I am a selfish person. When I got married, I knew that I was going to give some things up. I was going to sacrifice. However even in that, I could be selfish. It was called "compromising" or "negotiating".

Ryan: Missy, can I go golfing?
Missy: Only if I can get a new purse.
Ryan: Done.

(Later that day)

Ryan: Missy, can I go fishing?
Missy: Only if I can get blonde highlights.
Ryan: See you in two hours.

It has worked beautifully for the past (almost) four years. However, with parenting, there is no negotiation. There is no compromise. There is no reasoning. You can't promise to do something in exchange for this child to stop screaming. If so, I would have promised to be a junior high cheerleading coach (my idea of the fourth stage of hell) if he would just stop crying. But it doesn't work that way. He cries. You spend hours calming him down. Then the phone rings or a car drives by or a fly runs into the window and the scream returns. Begging, pleading, cajoling, offering every penny in your bank account - it doesn't work - believe me I've tried. You just have to take it. With a calm smile on your face. Because if you don't, Mr. Hyde will emerge and you won't remember what Dr. Jekyl looked like.

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Thank God for showers

Right up there with Columbus' finding of the New World, the discovery of penicilin and the uncovering of the Dead Sea Scrolls was our discovery of an invaluable treasure over the weekend. We learned simply by dumb luck that the sound of a running shower INSTANTANEOUSLY transforms our son from a screaming, hysterical, inconsolable wreck to a quiet angel whose face resembles the look I had every time I sat through an 8:00 am lecture in college. It looks something like this:

I'm pretty sure that half the Delaware River has run through our shower head over the past 4 days but I don't care. I wouldn't care if nuclear waste was pouring out of there, if it makes him quiet, I'll take it.

Actually, it looks like we may need to have an visit to the shower very soon.

Finally.....

I have thought about this blog every day for the past 2 1/2 weeks. A number of my friends have recently had babies and within a day or two there are pictures galore up on their blogs of the baby and their trip home and their first bath, etc. I had EVERY intention to do that. Then parenthood set in. Two weeks of long nights, dirty diapers, blood curdling screams and most importantly intimate stares and quiet kisses - all of a sudden we are a day away from Easter.

As most (or all) of you know, Missy and I had our son on March 22nd. His name is Riley Grason. Riley is a name that we both liked plus it sounded like "Ryan" without being "Ryan". The earth would explode if there were two Ryan Delp's on the planet. Grason comes from the name of the town where our family has had a summer home for over 30 years. I spent most of my summers there growing up. It is a place I hold very dear to my heart. It is also where I proposed to my wife and where we found out we were pregnant. We had the middle name picked out before the first name.

Missy went into labor at around midnight and by 3:41 pm, our son was here. I was positive that I would be a blubbering mess when he came out. I was ready to bawl my eyes out. But I didn't. I couldn't. I couldn't do ANYTHING. I just stared at him, all beat up and slimy, with nothing but an awed look on my face and perhaps a gasp of amazement and excitement. No words could describe what I had just seen. It wasn't horrible, it wasn't disgusting. It was the kind of event that renders a communication major speechless. I have seen the Grand Canyon. I have seen the Atlantic Ocean at sunset. I have seen the coral reefs of the Caribbean. But I have never seen anything more incredible in my life than this. We had a son.

Since that day, I have had enough experiences and thoughts to fill 100 blogs. From the humorous - a six day streak of being peed on - to the beautiful - lying Riley on my chest and watching him stare at me until he fell asleep. I could spend a year writing about the experiences of the past two weeks. However, I don't have that kind of time (and I hope you don't either) and actually I (obviously) have less time now than I did pre-child. My hope is to write shorter and more frequent looks inside the phenomenal world of being a parent. I have already been hit with lessons of patience, love, teamwork (NASCAR teams would envy Missy and my efficiency at changing Riley's diaper - all we need are pneumatic wrenches) and most poignantly the relationship I have with my heavenly Father.

So here is an early favorite picture of our son. I probably won't have tons of pictures (unless requested) and give weekly updates of how much he has grown (1 lb. 2oz. since leaving the hopital - he was 8lb. 8oz. by the way). This blog is my take on life and all that goes with it. My life has changed forever. My hope is that I can communicate this life change not only so you can read it but that I can always remember it.

The Delp Luck - a case of the Mondays

Quick update on the NCAA tournament. Remember when I said I had prepared like I was invading Normandy. Unfortunately, I am not having the same result. I am in third last place in one pool and only slightly better in my other pool. A high school who is in one of my pools made her picks while watching Real World/Road Rules is in third place. I am going to close my eyes and pick next year.......


Ihave known this for a long time and many people that know me have confirmed this: I have bad luck. I seem to have a black cloud hovering over me quite a bit. I had mentioned in blog #1 that I got the nickname Chief Rain in the Face for all of the bad luck that I have had. The family calls it "Delp luck". I have enough stories to fill a book. Perhaps I should start a Volume 2.....

Missy is due pretty much any minute. Our due date is actually tomorrow, March 21st. We were pretty sure that this baby was going to come early. However, unless she goes into labor in the next 3 hours, that won't happen. Anyway, we have tried to do everything within our power to make sure EVERYTHING is ready for when this baby arrives. We have even organized our vast CD collection - why, I'm really not sure. I guess if the baby really needs to hear something from an artist whose last name starts with L, we can find it quickly and efficiently. We have done our best to dot all of our i's and cross all of our t's to be fully ready when the little one arrives. Unfortunately, that wasn't good enough.

I play volleyball on Monday nights. I have played with pretty much the same guys for the last several years. Last Monday - the 12th - I was playing and we were one point away from winning the match. I went for a ball and ran into one of my teammates. All of a sudden, I felt a pop and couldn't stand on my right foot. I have hurt myself before and usually just walk it off. This time, it didn't happen. I, stupidly, kept playing and limped through the end of the game. After the game was over, I could barely walk to my car. After some prodding from Missy and putting aside my male ego, I went to the doctor. His thought - go directly to the hospital and get x-rays - your foot might be broken. Perfect. The x-rays have since come back and my foot is ok but I might have a fracture in my ankle. I will be headed to an orthopedic doctor tomorrow morning. So potentially I could be hobbling around with crutches and a cast when my son is being born. Not much we can do to prepare for that. I just hope someone videotapes the pathetic Delp family as they try and make their way up a flight of stairs when they bring their son home for the first time. It will be one sad display. Welcome home, son!

This past Monday - the 19th - I made my way out to our little old '94 Honda Accord to go to work like I do every day. I had to navigate the snow and (mostly) ice that came from the nasty storm we had on Friday. We had something like 6 inches of sleet alone. When I got to the Honda, I noticed something out of place in the back seat of the car. Snow. And glass. I then moved my line of sight to the back windshield of the car. Only one problem - it wasn't there. It was completely obliterated. Glass and snow and ice were everywhere. Using my CSI skills, I came to the conclusion that the melting snow and ice that had been on the roof of the house next to where I parked had slid off, turned into a ballistic missle and destroyed the back of our poor Honda. The car sitting six feet to the left of our car was untouched, by the way. Not only was the windshield gone but there were big dents along either side of where the windshield used to be and the roof was dented in. Being an insurance agent, I knew just what to do. I called my dad. In one stroke of actual good luck, a body shop shares the parking lot where this missle attack occurred. So my dad and I walked over and they took the car right away. I spoke with the body shop later that day and the cost of the damage totalled over $3000. That means that the insurance company will probably total the car. THAT means that there is a decent chance that I will have to drive our newborn son home in the ONE car that we still have while wearing a cast on my driving foot.

So I have been 0-2 on the last two Mondays. What I would love to have happen is a reversal of fortunes this Monday. Maybe with the birth of a son. A welcome member to the family. I just hope he doesn't inherit the Delp luck.

March Madness

I printed off probably 30 pages of statistical breakdowns, analysis and pontifications from three different sports sites for this year's NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. I also looked at a forth site that gave head to head comparisons. I wish I were kidding.

I am in three different pools. One is for a little trophy that I BOUGHT. One is for fun through church (and a gift certificate I think). And one is against several middle-aged women and their families through work (which I organized).

I am preparing for this thing like I'm invading Normandy.

I love March Madness......

30 Trips Around the Sun

Well, I figured I would wait two weeks to post again since that is probably how long it took everyone to read my Oscars diary. Sorry about that. Holy War and Peace!

Well, last Saturday I turned 30. I haven't really had too strong a feeling about turning 30 until recently. Actually until about 3:00 am on Saturday morning, I think. I woke up in pretty much a panic. Then I proceeded to wake up with the same feeling at 4, 5 and 6. It could have been the sushi I had the night before, it could have been the pending birth of our child, it could have been the realization that my 20's were just about over or it could have been a combination of all three. Either way I woke up feeling panicky. Only God knows why. I sure don't.

As I look back on my first 30 years, I have lived quite a life. I have been to 3 different continents, I have seen almost corner of this country, I have found the love of my life, I have made lifelong friends, I have felt both pain and joy that were beyond description and now I am standing on edge of the cliff called parenthood. However with each of those experiences, I experienced them through the lens of me, myself and I.

The thing that I have a hard time wrapping my mind around is the fact that other people care about me and see me in a positive way. The fact that people would take up part of their day to go go-karting with me and eat lunch with me; the fact that a decent number of people would get together, get me gifts and celebrate me (I think having free food there helped too but I will try not to think about that part); the fact that someone would drive 7+ hours round trip just to say happy birthday; the fact that someone would put together a photo montage on the computer that encompassed the moments of my life - the cute, embarrassing, momentous and downright awkward. As I reflected on the day, those things were tremendously humbling to me. It was at those moments that I realized that my life has had some meaning. It has had some impact. Since I exist only from the perspective of what I see from behind my two eyes, it is (and was) a moving experience to have people put so much effort and love into celebrating someone who I don't think deserves it - me.

All of that to say, thank you. To those of you who love me and call me friend and think that I am not a bad person to spend a part of your life with, whether it be 5 minutes for a talk about the Eagles or a lifetime til death do us part, thank you. Know that you have had an impact on a newly turned 30 year old.

So as I make my 31st trip around the sun and look back on my first 30, I hope that I can humble you and make a small part of your trip as beautiful and fulfilling as you have made mine.

My Oscar Diary

OK, I confess - I am an Oscar nerd. I like watching the Oscars and seeing the movies and actors/actresses in roles that I have no interest in seeing. Actually, I usually end up seeing a few of the films before they are nominated and then watch a few others that were nominated. I thought this year, it might be interesting to do a running diary of my Oscars experience. Also, Missy and I each made our picks of who we thought would win in each category. Most of the time, like in horse racing, we picked the ones with the best name since we had no idea what they were. I will reveal the final results at the end.

In my experiences of watching the Oscars, I have discovered a few trends. First of all, the Academy loves a few sets of people. If you are in a role as one of these sets of people, chances are you will win an Oscar. They are: mentally disabled people (Rainman, Forrest Gump, Slingblade, I am Sam), homosexuals (Philadelphia, Capote, Brokeback Mountain, the one with the lady from Desperate Housewives as a dude) and famous historical people (Ali, Capote, Ghandi, William Wallace, the lady that Salma Hayek played who had a unibrow). Tom Hanks made history by winning back to back Oscars. One year, he played a homosexual, the next a person with mental disabilities. That's why Tom Cruise has never won an Oscar. He has never played a homosexual or someone with mental disabilities - at least not in a movie. That's why I will GUARANTEE that one day a movie will come out where someone plays a homosexual who is mentally disabled. That year, there will be no other nominees. They will just hand that person the Oscar once the movie wraps.

So with that in mind, I had a few favorites - Best Actor - Forest Whitaker - only one playing a historical figure - though no one knows who he is, Best Actress - Helen Mirren - she plays the Queen of England - though this was tough. Judi Dench played a homosexual and then there is the Meryl Streep factor. If she walked into a screen door, she would be nominated for an Oscar. Also, my guess was that this was the year to celebrate Martin Scorcese. I saw the Departed. It was just like every other Scorcese film - violent, profane, filled with great actors and 6 hours long. But he has been nominated so many times, they were going to give it to him. OK, enough analysis, onto the show:

8:36 - Here comes the host Ellen Degeneres wearing a suit that Pee Wee Herman rejected. She is talking about various people in the audience. There's Best Actor nominee, Peter O' Toole. He has had so much surgery done to his face, he looks like he is permanently surprised. And the biggest applause goes to.....Al Gore. Am I watching the right show???

8:46 - OK, first award - make it a good one.......alright, my favorite - Best Art Direction - the Oscars are off to a big start!

8:53 - A song with Will Ferrell and his killer afro. Here comes Jack Black! They're hitting on the Queen! That song almost made up for the lame first award. Almost........Nevermind, they are reading the nominees for Best Makeup. The winner is......Joan Rivers! No! Pan's Labrynth - wow, they are 2-2 and I've never heard of this movie.

9:00 - Little Miss Sunshine and Will Smith's kid present TWO awards and Will Smith's kid apparently can't read teleprompters OR envelopes. At least he has cool hair and is name Jaden.

9:11 - A group that is a mixture of a gospel choir and that guy that does all of those sounds from Police Academy does montage of sound effects acapella. I guarantee that these people all got into this group because it promised to get them to the Oscars. Why else would you spend a year perfecting your impression of squealing tires?

9:20 - With the Best Sound Editing and Sound Mixing categories out of the way, the first semi-major award - Best Supporting Actor. I thought Eddie Murphy had this in the bag. The Academy loves washed up actors who make a comeback (see Travolta in Pulp Fiction) but NO! An upset! Alan Arkin wins for playing the most profane grandfather in history in Little Miss Sunshine. If he was not in that movie, it would have easily been rated PG but with him - very R. I heard Eddie Murphy left right after that.

9:25 - Dancers behind a screen rolling around and.......they made a silouehette of the Oscar Statue! I bet those were the same people who did the sound effect thing.

9:31 - Music Time! James Taylor does the song from Cars and Melissa Etheridge does the song about Global Warming.

9:36 - Here comes Al Gore and Leo DiCaprio. Al Gore reminds me of the guy who graduated valedictorian from high school (or should I say salutorian thanks to a few hanging chads), goes off to college, grows out his hair (and gains 100 pounds), starts a band and now all of the popular kids act like they were always his friend. This documentary he did made him the coolest guy in school. Leo is practically proposing marriage to him. Al is loving it. Also, this is the first "Green" Oscars which means......

9:44 - Happy Feet wins best Animated Picture - the story of a tap dancing penguin who saves the penguin species from greenhouse gases or something

9:50 - Hey Ben Affleck! - fast forwarding.....

-Hey backstage cam! Stars blowing off host Chis Connelly! Good times!

10:00 - Ellen now looking like Evil Kenevel - Best Costume Design - the winner (a woman from Eastern Europe, I think) looks like she is wearing a costume from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Clint Eastwood is smiling.

10:05 - Hey, THERE'S Tom Cruise - tribute to someone, more fast forwarding......

10:11 - Gwenyth Paltrow comes out of hiding to announce best Cinematography - Pan's Labrynth again. Has anyone heard of this movie????

more silouette people

10:20 - Naomi Watts and Robert Downey Jr. present for Best Visual Effects. Robert Downey Jr. makes fun of his decade of drug use in the 90's - always good for a laugh. The obligatory Oscar for the highest grossing movie of the year (Pirates of the Caribbean). Note to all winners, don't give a speech without notes - I was waiting for this guy to start yelling, "Yo Adrian!!!!!"

10:22 - Ken Watanabe (the guy who out acted Tom Cruise in Last Samurai) and....it looks like Zsa Zsa Gabor in her 40's presenting for Best Foreign Film....I think. What are they saying??? I can't understand them. There's a shot of Borat! He is probably thinking that his character spoke better English than these people. The winner.....oooh, not Pan's Labrynth! Some German film won. The guy is thanking David Hasselhoff AND Arnold Schwarzenegger! Ok, he only thanked the Governator. No, seriously, he did.

more silouette dancers - this time making the poster for Snakes on a Plane

10:34 - George Clooney looking like he just got done hanging out with the Rat Pack. Best Supporting Actress. Please be Little Miss Sunshine, please.......NO! American Idol castoff Jennifer Hudson wins and looks sincerely shocked to be on stage. She is defining "deer in the headlights". So let's keep score of Oscars here - American Idol reject: 1, Martin Scorcese: 0

10:42 - Best Short Film, guess how much I care.

1045 - Jerry Seinfeld comes on. He is introduced with, "You've been wondering where he was, here he is!" He's been waiting backstage at the Kodak Theatre for the last 10 years! Or has he been in hiding ever since Michael Richards started doing stand up.....OK, Best Documentary, hmmmm, I wonder who will win.....Al Gore's movie! I can't believe it! My money was on Jesus Camp.....

10:50 - Here comes Clint Eastwood.....honoring a composer.....who comes out for his Oscar.....and doesn't speak English.....is speaking in Spanish.....Clint is looking lost.....oh no, now Clint is trying to translate......this is uncomfortable.....and this guy keeps talking......and Clint is smiling through his teeth......and the audience claps long enough to get the guy off stage, wow, I'm glad that's over. As they cut to commercial, you hear Clint utter, "I should've worn my glasses". I love Clint.

11:00 - There are still 8 awards left. Why was I born?

11:05 - Best Original Score - NEXT!

11:10 - Speech by Academy of Motion Picture President - NEXT!

11:11 - Toby McGuire and Kirsten Dunst come out to the old "Spiderman" TV show theme - classic. Best Original Screenplay - the winner......Little Miss Sunshine (which guarantees they don't win Best Picture). Whenever the winner is announced, the movie trailer guy gives the audience a little factoid about the winner. For this guy, he quit being the assistant to Matthew Broderick to write Little Miss Sunshine. I would say it is a good year when you start it by getting Ferris Bueller his Double Latte and end it by winning more Oscars than Martin Scorcese.

I'm getting tired of the silouette people

11:20 - The Dreamgirls songs. They have three songs (out of five) nominated for Best Song. They HAVE to win. Right?

11:28 - Best Song - Melissa Etheridge for the Global Warming song. So let me get this right, Dreamgirls has 60% of the nominees in the category. They are performed by a multi-Grammy winner (Beyonce) and a Golden Globe and Oscar winner (Jennifer Hudson). And they lose. This really is a "Green" Oscar awards show.

11:35 - Here comes Will Smith - please do better than your son - who I think was on 18 hours ago. A tribute to America. Actually pretty good. But taking up time. My Coke from 4 hours ago has worn off.

11:41 - Kate Winslett presents for Best Editing. The Departed wins and there is a shot of a BALD Jack Nicholson backstage looking like he just put a whoopie cushion on someones' seat and is waiting for them to sit down.

11:45 - Jodie Foster intros the obligatory "Who Died in 2006" montage. I always listen for who gets the biggest applause. The winner is......Director (or Producer - what's the difference) Robert Altman who barely beats out Don Knotts. Must have been a slow year.

11:51 - Phillip Seymour Hoffman comes out doing his Jack Nicholson in the 90's look. Best Actress - let's see if my theory holds up.....yup - Helen Mirren for "The Queen". She should have won, I mean the movie WAS named for her. The movie trailer guy just said that a palm reader predicted she would. Only in Hollywood.

It's midnight and Ellen is vacuuming, I'm leaving. NO! I must stay!

12:01 - Here comes Reese Witherspoon - wow, I bet Ryan Phillipe is kicking himself now. What award is this? Oh! Best Actor - let's see if my theory keeps going - two for two - Forest Whitaker wins. He actually gives a pretty touching speech. His wife looks like she has been peeling onions for the last 6 hours.

12:06 - The heavyweights of directing come out - Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg - I wonder what they are out here to present.....oh! Best Director. Scorcese looks like a little kid on the first day of school. And he finally wins. He gets a big standing ovation and a kiss from Leo! Bonus! He looks like the little kid brother of the other directors. And another hug from Nicholson as he walks offstage. I think Jack just tripped an old woman just for a laugh.

And finally, the last award: Best Movie. The winner......Al Gore. No! The Departed. Scorcese, of course, doesn't hear the announcement from backstage. Steven Spielberg just told him he won. His mouth just hit the floor. More hugs. And he is bouncing back on stage.

And I'm done. I can't see straight. I think I'm starting to hallucinate. What's my name? Where am I?


Oh, and the final count on correct picks:

Ryan: 5 (including Best Film Editing)
Missy: 11 (Including both Sound categories, Visual Effects and Short Film - Live Action)


I love the Oscars.

A Father-to-be Reflects Part II

Holy crap it's been a month since I've posted! Chalk up another New Year's resolution down the tubes......

Well, our due date is four weeks from TOMORROW. We have had all of our showers (baby showers, I mean - we are still bathing......occasionally) which means we have enough little outfits to clothe every resident of Munchkinland. We've got the "big stuff" - a crib, a changing table, a stroller, a car seat, a SWEET rocker/ottoman and a pack and play - which is a diabolical concoction of crib/changing table/self contained storage unit/missle silo and karoke machine. Today we even got a bassinet. Our former guest room/office has been converted to a nursery/office. And there isn't much room for the office anymore.

Despite having all of these things taking over this room, the thing that grabs my attention the most (maybe because it is facing me as I type), is a collage of pictures that Missy put up on the wall. I think the intention is to "introduce" our little guy to his family. There are pictures of Missy's family as well as my family. There are also several pictures of us when we were younger. Those are the ones that get me. I look at those and think, holy crap that's me! I was once the same age as this little baby. My parents had the same conversations about diapers that Missy and I are having now. The pictures of me sitting with my mom, eating ice cream with my dad, walking hand in hand with my grandfather, my son is going to have those pictures too except I will be the one feeding him ice cream. Then the thought hit me: I am going to have a little ME.

First of all, that seems impossible. I still feel sometimes like I am 10 years old, or 17 years old or heck, even 22 years old. I am a goofy kid who plays video games, makes fun of people and spends too much money on movies. I still remember my first day of elementary school. The fact that I am going to be responsible for another human being - that he will be completely reliant on me to provide for him is beyond my comprehension (Note: I am fully aware that Missy will share in this responsibility - hopefully she will have more influence than I will for our son's sake - I am just reflecting on my own journey and my own thoughts right now - so all of you women reading, put your claws away). I don't know if I will say that I am scared (though I'm sure when we make that trip to the hospital, I might need to bring my own set of diapers), I just can't wrap my mind around ME being a dad.

Secondly, me having a son should be illegal. I have always been a proponent of people being required to have a license to have a child. However, since that is not mandatory (yet), jokers like me can warp the minds of America's future. I am waiting for Child Services to get notice that I am having a son and come take him away and send him to live with wolves because he will be better off.

However, I look around this room and I know that in four weeks give or take (hopefully more take than give for Missy's sake), this room will be very different. It will ring with the sounds of youth. It will smell of diapers, wet wipes and baby powder. It will look "lived in" rather than its current state of "prepared to be lived in". I will see this room not just at 8:00 at night when I get on the computer to email or play Minesweeper. I will see it at 2:00 am, 4:00 am, 6:00 am........

I look at these pictures of my parents holding me as a baby and think, "How in the world can I be a dad?" Then, I see one picture up in the top corner. It is a picture of my parents and myself about 3 years ago. We have our arms around each other and are smiling. To me that is a picture of accomplishment, of success. I know that I am at the beginning of another journey. My journey has now come full circle. My hope is that one day my son can blog (0r whatever they will be doing by then - telepathically communicating with aliens or something) about his fear of being a dad and realize that he can do it too just like his crazy old man did.

Job - Volume 3 - The Lord Speaks

Some of you may be Will Ferrell fans, others may not. Sometimes I think he is hilarious. Other times, he is on the crass side. But I confess to own (and for the most part enjoy) his "Best of Will Ferrell" DVD from his days on Saturday Night Live. One of the sketches on there is called "Dissing Your Dog". Will Ferrell is in this commercial trying to sell a pet training video. Basically what he does is talk to his pet in a sarcastic way to try and change the dog's behavior. For example, if the dog is up on the couch, he says, "Oh no Humphrey, don't get up. Just stay there and relax. After all, you're the one who put in a long day of work at a demanding, high stress job. Oh wait, that's me. You laid around all day in a pool of your own slobber." The idea was that the dog would get the hint and jump off the couch. The best part was to see the look on these clueless dogs' faces as they were kind of put in their place. And while it may be a very crude comparison, this skit (and specifically the tone of Will Ferrell's character) stuck in my head when I read this third and final part of Job.

To recap, Job has the worst day ever. Everything that could go wrong does. His friends come and they sit with him for a while and then Job starts to complain and complain and then he complains some more. Then his friends chime in and kind of attack him and don't really support him. They sort of go back and forth and then........and I love this transition.......the beginning of Chapter 38 is titled........The Lord Speaks. I can just see it. God is listening in to this whole conversation, shaking his head at what everyone is saying. He can tell that they are all just wasting their breath, just rambling endlessly.

Then, there is a break in the conversation. A pause. They have probably all just worn themselves out from talking. God rolls up his sleeves and just unleashes an unbelievable sarcastic line of questioning that would pretty much put any human in their place. He even prefaces it with, "Brace yourself like a man; I will question you and you will answer me."

Here are just a sample of the questions he asks:
Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Have you ever given orders to the morning or shown the dawn its place?
Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail?
Do you give the horse its strength and clothe his neck with a flowing mane?

I mean, how are you supposed to answer that??? At the beginning of Chapter 40, God pauses and let's Job respond and he does as any of us would - "I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer - twice, but I will say no more" This is the worst case of foot in mouth in history. When God calls you out, you're done.

God goes on for another chapter and a half. Finally, when He more than proves his point, Job (who is probably looking for a rock to crawl under at this point) closes the conversation with a great line. "My ears have heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

I love this section of Job. Yes, I like the fact that God has a sarcastic side. However, for me, it just helps me put into perspective who is in control. I lose way too much sleep over things I have no control of. I could push and push and build up a great life for myself and then one day a plane flies into the side of my building. Or I feel a lump on my back. Or a kid comes into my son's school with a bag full of guns. The point to me is summarized by Job's line way back in chapter 1 - "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." Lesson to learn from Job - quit while you're ahead.

Interestingly, there is an epilogue to this book. It is kind of like after a movie is over, the screen goes black and there is a paragraph or two to tells what happens AFTER the story is over.

God confronts Job's friends and calls them out as well. He asks Job to pray for them which he does - would YOU say no to God at this point???? And then,

"The Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before......the Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first.......he had seven sons and three daughters.....after this, Job lived a hundred and forty years (less trans fat and smog in those days), he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years."

Job - Volume 2 - An Awkward Conversation

I will never forget the night I came home from breaking off my engagement. I had gone over to Missy's house to tell her that my team had won the intramural volleyball championship for the first time in my five years (i had to sign on as an employee at Taylor to win the stupid thing). When I went to her room, the ring was sitting on her desk. Of course, this was a long time coming and I had a feeling it would happen but the shock of it was still gut-wrenching and as painful as anything I have ever felt. When I came home, the first person I saw was my friend Josh. I held up the ring and began to cry. He responded with the understatement of the century. "That's not good." We sat down and talked for a long time. I was at my lowest point. I was full of self-pity. I wanted someone to help me indulge in that self-pity. Josh, instead, decided to tell me where I struggle. Specifically, he told me that I compare myself with other people too much. He said that that it, in part, had killed my engagement. At the time, I wanted to rip his head off. But of course, he was right.

Sadly, I still compare myself with other people. Who has a better job. Who makes more money. Who has a nicer car. However, now, instead of allowing that to consume me. I fight it. I fight it because now I know what repurcussions can come from it. Josh pointed out something in me that was poisonous and his blunt thoughts, in the end, helped me down the road. I thought of that night when I read the second part of Job. Sadly, he didn't have a friend like Josh around then.

As I had talked about WAY back in 2006, Job had the worst day imaginable. He lost his property, his family and his health. Now, we come to the part where the people that are closest to him (who aren't dead) chip in their two cents. And I will tell you, if I were there, I would be scratching my head, looking at my watch, humming uncomfortably because wow, it was awkward. It is beautifully worded but awkward.

Job's wife starts out with some great advice. She says, "Curse God and die". Wow, honey thanks. Job tells her to go back to watching Lifetime (the channel for women).

Then Job's friends show up. At first, they do something that I think is very cool. They sit with him for SEVEN days and no one says a word because "they saw how great his suffering was". That to me seemed like a great picture of friendship. They were there for Job. They were supporting him. No one says anything.

Until Job speaks. Then the words came-a-flowing. Job starts in with cursing the day he is born and it goes downhill from there. It is very poetic at times hard to follow but he goes on and on about how it would have been better for him never to have been born. He wallows thoroughly for 26 verses. Then one of his friends chimes in. Then Job sulks for another two chapters. Then another friend chimes in.

Then it gets, um, interesting. It seems like the friends start to gang up on Job and he fights back. One asks Job when he is going to end his speeches. Another is disturbed because he feels like he is being rebuked. Job says that his friends words are crushing him and he is being "shamelessly" attacked. The last 6 chapters are from one friend who didn't join the conversation until no one else had anything to say. He was mad at everyone and just laid into them all.

What happened? These were supposed to be Job's friends. I think being abandoned by your closest friends, especially when you need them most is one of the most agonizing feelings a person can have. I know it is for me. By choice, I do not have a lot of people I consider friends. My friends are those that are closest to me. I don't enjoy having surfacy relationships with lots of people. I like having close connections with a select few. And if and when one of them is not there for me, it is a lost feeling.

Job, admittedly, was not at his best. He defined the word (or words) self-pity. He was not Mr. Happy. I don't think this is all on him. However, at your darkest, that is when a friend needs to step up. Comforting is important. Simply being there is important. But loving someone, not preaching to them like Job's friends did, is the most important thing.

I confess that I am not always there for my friends. I struggle most with the "being there" part. That may mean not physically being there when a friend is struggling - I assume someone could do a better job of helping that person than me so I stay home and watch TV. That may also mean (and I think this is worse) physically being with that person but checking out mentally. Saying things like, "yeah, that's tough" or "sorry about that" but simultaneously thinking about what is for dinner and how you can get out of the situation. You might as well not even be there. Sadly, I have done that more times than I can count.

Anyone can go to the movies with a friend. Anyone can talk about sports with a friend (except maybe Missy). But being there and loving someone when it is inconvenient, when it is not fun, when you would rather be anywhere else, THAT'S when true friendship shows up. I just hope I remember that the next time I am in the shoes of Job's friends.

Well, one last section of Job to go through and this is probably my favorite part. When everyone runs out of stuff to say, God steps in and Job gets the Holy smackdown.

Until then, thanks again for reading.........

New Year's Resolutions

No one has ever accused me of being the most disciplined person in the world. And once or twice I have been called cynical. So to me, New Year's resolutions are pretty much a joke. The fact that I am writing a blog (which I have not written on in over two weeks) about New Year's resolutions on January 10th (almost the 11th) should support my case here. There were a few times when I came up with New Year's resolutions like "Try to read 4 books in a year". I think I read two Harry Potter books during the summer and then crammed two Dr. Seuss books on New Year's eve to hit my quota. Or I would make a resolution not to get road rage and then on January 3rd would pull within millimeters of a guy's bumper who just pulled out in front of me. My justification, of course, was that this particular person was a bumbling idiot that needed to learn a lesson thus this did not violate my resolution. The one resolution that I have never had to deal with is the whole weight thing. If I lost any weight, I would be transparent. My genes (both for good and bad) have kept me at just about the same weight as I was in high school. Don't hate me. Fitness is another story. I need oxygen just walking out to my car. I have tried a few times to join a gym and get in shape and get a little stronger. However, usually something good comes on TV and I'm done at the gym for 3 years. I wish I was joking.

So now that I am a few years older and a few years wiser, I am able to see what things would be good resolutions and how they will actually translate over the course of a year. Here is what I have come up with.

Watch less TV...................Watch less TV that doesn't have to do with sports, to compensate watch more sports

Join a gym................Spend money on gym membership and new shoes and then at commercial break, try and touch my toes

Go to bed earlier...................go to bed before musical guest on Conan comes on

Get up earlier......................get up later but set alarm earlier

Be a good first time dad......................don't make fun of son for pooping himself

Be a good husband.....................don't make fun of wife for being "hormonal"

Do a better job of cleaning up after self....................fold clothes before throwing them on the floor

Save money towards a house.......................play less of those claw games where you try and snag ugly crappy stuffed animals

Laugh more............................laugh more but try and laugh less at other peoples' expense

And finally,

Post on blog more often..............................actually that one I might try and keep.

See you next time - probably in a month or so.

A Father In Waiting Reflects

First of all, sorry that it has been so long. I'm sure that your two weeks leading up to Christmas were pretty dull and uneventful. Yeah, mine too. I think participating in the Ironman Triathalon would have been less physically demanding than the last two weeks. We will return to our regularly scheduled Job discussion soon.

Anyway, now I'm sitting here at my in-laws house feeling like I just left a rock concert. You know how after a concert that is really loud your hearing is kind of muffled and everything seems a little extra quiet? Well, that is sort of where I am now.

Missy and I are here in the Midwest with her family (though I am extremely fortunate to be able to say that I consider my in laws - parents, sisters and brothers - like they are my own family) for Christmas and New Year's. Missy has two sisters and one brother. Between them they have 5 kids. About an hour ago all the kids left leaving me feeling like I am now sitting in a library. There is nothing more beautiful to hear than than the sound of kids running around and laughing and playing and crying and talking (sometimes incoherently). Now they have all left and it just seems a little bit extra quiet.

However, this quiet has given me the opportunity to look at kids and parenting as Missy and I eagerly await the birth of our son in a few months (launch date: March 21). Here is a quick rundown of my beautiful nieces and nephews - sidebar - this side of the family is 5 for 5 when it comes to good looking kids - I hope our kid can follow suit - if he doesn't I know who has the ugly genes - anyway, here is who I got to play with or simply hold this weekend:

- a beautiful 5 year old girl - she loves to run around and wrestle (but not too rough!) but also play with Polly Pocket. you can have a conversation with her and she will write a note to you or read to you. she also recently lost her first tooth. she loves to play hide and seek and somehow always finds me.

- an adorable 3 year old boy who is all boy. you can't wrestle with him rough enough (well maybe you can but it takes alot). he loves sports and superheroes (Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Buzz Lightyear) and the movie Cars. You can talk to him and listen to him with his cute little boy lisp that I hope our son has. His quick wit and sense of humor already is well beyond his years.

- a super cute 2 year old boy - he loves trains and the movie Cars (guess what movie we watched this weekend). he is very curious and has an insatiable appetite for reading and drawing. he has a smile and laugh that light up the room. he talks as well though sometimes you still have to strain to interpret some his words. his gentle heart is very apparent even at 2.

- a gorgeous 6 month old girl - her crystal blue eyes are constantly taking everything in. her big cheeks invite you to kiss them - which I did a lot - I just couldn't help myself. her hands would death grip anything that came into range. you can already tell she is going to be a heartbreaker.

-a 6 day old - his priorities were pretty basic - eat, sleep, poop. not always in that order and sometimes at the same time. his face, like any good 6 day old, often looked a lot like Winston Churchhill after eating a lemon. his fragility and newness (for a lack of a better word) were beautiful to observe. I have never spent that much time with a child that young - seeing and holding him really had the biggest impact that I was soon going to become a dad.

Through these 5 kids, I saw 4 main stages:

- a 5 year old - in school, learning to read and write, losing her baby teeth

- a 2 & 3 year old who love to play (usually more than eating) and are learning the definition of the word "share" (though to their credit were often more generous - with some prodding - than I was at that age

- a 6 month old who was starting to show her personality, roll over, smile and interact

- a 6 day old who was so new and vulnerable and dependant - without someone else he would not be able to do much of anything (except poop - he mastered that right out of the gate)

As a parent, I will get to experience each of these stages in time. As my child grows, so too will I as a parent. Changing diapers will go from dreaded disgust to nonchalant chore. Holding my child will go from handling fine china to carrying a bag of groceries. Conversations will go from monologue streams of babble to interactive conversations about life.

Parenthood scares the living heck out of me: Knowing that my kids will cry and get sick and urinate everywhere. There will be sleepless nights, repetitive discipline problems, temper tantrums in public places. The concepts of "sleeping in", "personal space" and "me time" will become unfamiliar.

However, a couple of moments this weekend reminded me why I am excited to be a dad. At one point this weekend, the three older kids individually sought me out and wanted to do something just with me. With one of them, as I sat at the table eating, I felt a little tickle on my feet - an invitation to me to chase and play with her. With another, we sat in the dark of pre-dawn Christmas morning and looked quietly at the lights on the tree. With the third, we sat in quiet and watched a talking tomato and cucumber (or was it a zucchini?) in costumes on TV. To see three kids who could have easily just run around and played on their own, come and want to sit with ME and in their own way show that they loved me too, that made me forget about why I am scared to be a parent.

So while I sit here in the quiet aftermath of a perfect storm of hide and seek, changed diapers, temper tantrums, nap times and kid movies, I can't wait for the next storm to come.

Job - Volume 1 - The worst day ever

Recently I have been reading the book of Job (though not as frequently as I would like). I have read this book a few times before. I like it but I'm not sure why. Parts I understand. Other parts completely lose me. The beginning of the book is an interesting narrative between God and Satan. Satan has been roaming the earth and he comes to see God. They kind of have a contest and use Job as the guinea pig. God points out Job saying that "there is no one like him on earth; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." First of all, can you even imagine being singled out by God as the gold standard of what He is looking for in a servant???? I mean, this is God we are talking about. I'm happy if my mom says something nice about me. This is God, creator of everything and He points out Job. Amazing. Anyway, Satan thinks that Job is so great because God has blessed with lots of money and property. He probably has a place in the Keys. A ski cabin in Vail perhaps. He is blessed. So God allows Satan to take away everything and I mean EVERYTHING (read Job 1:13-18 - it's the worst day ever) except his health. And how does Job respond:

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."

What? There is a whole string of things I would say (and sadly some I have said) to God if this happened to me. Heck, if ONE of those things happened to me, I would have flown off the handle. But Job knows his place and has an outlook on his life that few others do. I guess that's why God points him out in the first place.

So Satan comes back and says, "Well, I couldn't hurt him physically so that' s why he had that great line about being naked or whatever. Let me hurt him and he will turn." God agrees but says that Satan can't kill Job. So Job gets hit with this nasty skin disease that involves boils and scraping them with broken pieces of pottery. Sounds like a party to me!

The crazy thing about this book is that it isn't a cutesy story in a fairy tale. This is in the Bible. The best selling book of all time by far. The book that is "God-breathed". The Word of God.

A few things jumped out at me about these first few verses. First of all, who recorded this interaction between God and Satan? Who found out about it? I did a little research. One commentary I have says that Job is most likely the author of Job (makes sense). Another says he is definitely NOT the author. Another commentary online says that there were TWO authors - one who wrote the narratives at the beginning and end of the book and another who wrote the poetic middle - sort of the Lennon and McCartney of Job. So the answer is......who knows? My guess is that there was not a reporter in heaven recording the events of God and Satan and then emailing them to her editor to record in the Bible.

Another thing that jumped out at me deals with the interaction between God and Satan. God ALLOWS Satan to do certain things to Job but gives him parameters. It's almost as if Satan has to ask for permission to do things. This is an interesting concept. We wonder why things happen in the world - September 11th, the genocide in Africa, the whole priest molestation atrocity (or should I say atrocities). Is God not in control? If He is, why does He let this stuff happen? The age old question of "why do bad things happen to good people?"

I have a few thoughts on this but I am going to open it up. Believe me, this was not where I thought I was going when I started this post. However, now I would like to have those of you who read this blog (and if you want to pass it on, feel free), throw in your two cents.

The way I have read it, Job has three main parts. I alluded to them earlier. The narrative at the beginning, the poetic interaction in the middle between Job and his friends and the narrative at the end. Because I don't have eight hours to type and you don't have 8 hours to read what I type, I will break my posts up and cover each section individually. I basically covered Job 1 and Job 2 up to verse 8.

I would love to hear from you about this. This post is sort of change of pace from my usual ramblings but I thought I would hit something a little bit deeper and get you (and me) to think a little.

Thanks for reading and I hope to hear your thoughts.