MySpace

Remember MySpace? I don't either. I was just browsing my old blogs on that site and I ran into this oldie. I published it on 1/30/2009. I got a good chuckle out of it.

burrito

In economics we're taught about the marginal propensity to consume.  There's some dumb math equation and some theory to go along with the idea.. Who cares.  I'm thinking about my marginal propensity to make every food I encounter into a burrito.  It works with most food.  Chicken alfredo pasta, chicken ceasar salad, eggs and bacon, quishe, morning star farms chikin nuggets and buffalo style chikin nuggets.  Everything is better wrapped in a tortilla.  Well, maybe not.  Pizza is good not wrapped in a tortilla.  Cereal is good in a bowl with milk.  Some types of soups are good with no tortillias. Maybe it's the Latino in me, but I think tortillas are one of the greatest food inventions of all time. 

The other day a man on the bus welcomed me to his country.  He said, "Sir.  You're not from here are you? I would just like to welcome you to my country."  I said, "Thank you for that. But I'm actually from here.  I'm from Santa Fe."  He thought I was of some Middle Eastern descent.  Then he said I should shave my beard and so he doesn't mistake me for some other nationality.  Quite funny.

Why the heck do people think New Mexico is all desert and it is always warm here and we all speak Spanish.  I wish I spoke Spanish don't get me wrong, but we are part of the United States.  Sure the Spanish came here in like 500 BC, or whenever it was, so we do have lots of history with Spanish speakers, but after the Spanish left we became part of the United States--English speakers.  We have cars, we have airports, we have mountains, we have forests. We also have deserts.  Yes, and we have burritos, and everyone here likes them.

Strange Day

What an interesting day it has been so far. Our neighbor is really elderly. She's probably in her 80's or 90's. Today she kinda lashed out at me. It was really unexpected. Lindsey and Luke went to the zoo to enjoy the day while I stayed home and just sat around. I decided to grill myself a burger (cause that's what dudes do). While I was grilling she peered though my fence and started to tell me that she wished I would disappear. Her eyes looked like they were cloudy and her nose had dried blood around it. She continued on and told me that I was evil and said that she believes in God and that I am going to disappear. It really threw me off because other encounters I have had with her have not been so bad.

I didn't think to much about her words to me. I continued on and turned on Jon Stewart. While I was watching my program and eating my burger, I heard a pounding on my door. Diego (my dog) started to freak out and began to bark. It was her. She was pounding on my door. I have no idea what is going on in her brain. She does seem to have a bad case of dementia or some other mental illness. I called the police. They came over and asked me some questions. I was worried for her safety and for mine. Who knows if she has weapons in her home or not.

I hope this is that last bad encounter we have with our neighbor and I really do hope my call to the police leads to help that she needs.

Cold Day

It's a cold day today. It's like 40ºF outside right now. It's mid April. What the heck? Overall it's just been a strange day. I drank a Moose Drool beer last night and I woke up this morning with kind-of a hang over. My head felt stuffy. My body felt weak. And I was just overall tired. It could have been the beer. It could have been that I need some rest.

<This week has been weighing on me. Senseless tragedies like the Boston bombing. The reminder that our government is pretty much broken. Tons of snow in Denver in April. Super windy and cold here. Floods and supper cell storms in mid-Missouri. Giant fertilizer plan explosions in Texas. Earthquakes in the Middle East...

What's going on? We're reminded of how screwed we are as humans every day. Am I crazy for looking for hope in Jesus Christ? One of my favorite musicians of all time thinks so. Mike Herrera from MxPx talked about his loss of religion in an interview I read last night. Here is the link to the interview I read.  He talked about how he was brought up in a church and attended youth group and that's the only reason he believed in the Christian religion. I've been there. Why do I believe? I was brought up in a country that encourages Christianity. It I were born in Turkey I would probably be Muslim. Or if I were born in India I would be Hindu. Or if I were born in China I'd probably be Buddhist  If I were born on Utah I'd probably be Mormon. You get the point.  So what makes my God special?  What makes my choice the right one? Believe me, I wrestle with that idea all the time. Then I stop. I look up.  I think about our vast universe.  I think about the complexity of the human body. I think about all of what I don't know. This doesn't prove Jesus Christ is God. The universe doesn't prove God. My love for my son and wife doesn't prove God. Music doesn't prove God. Evil in this world doesn't prove God. Historical writings don't prove God. Can God be proven?  No. Because God can't be proven does not mean that he doesn't exist though.

I remember listening to Stephen Hawking and listening to him explain the origins of the universe.  Incredible. All I could think about is how amazing the first moments of existence must have been. Even Hawking admitted that he wanted to look at a supreme creator for the acting force behind our universe's beginning.  He doesn't believe a creator to be behind it, but his mind pointed to a creator for a moment.

Every day I have questions.  Every day I'm thankful that I have hope in Christ. I'm thankful that I was created with a mind that questions things. And I think God wants us to question his existence.  Blind faith is useless. We're brought up as Christians, but when you're old enough, think for yourself! Don't believe in something just because your parents believe it.

Today I read in Jeremiah about the Israelites and how they "whored" themselves about with other religions. They completely turned their backs on God. God expressed his feelings in the book. He expressed his anger. He expressed his love and his willingness to forgive.  Then I read in Luke about Jesus and how he taught us to love our enemies.  He showed this love by healing the ear of the chief priest's servant. A person who was arresting him to have him tried and eventually killed. Jesus showed love to that man.

Well, that's about all I want to talk about that. I still have a headache. It's still cold here. Evil still exists. Humans are still hateful. Just last night I was talking to a man on the phone for work. The man said I sounded like a nice man. Then he asked me if I was Caucasian  For whatever reason I answered his irrelevant  question as "yes". I'm not Caucasian  I'm Latino  I'm New Mexican.  I'm a darkey, Yo! After I answered he proceeded to tell me the most horrible, racist joke. I felt like my brain had been raped with hate.  I couldn't stop thinking about how terrible it was how this man said nasty things about a person only because of his race. This isn't new to humans, though. Racism is ugly and it is has been in existence since history has recorded.

So, pushing forward. It's Thursday. I hope it warms up. I hope this weekend brings joy.