Thursday, December 17, 2009

O.k., so my laptop is busted so I can't update at night like I like to. Anyway, I'll have to carve out waking hours to update the blog if I'm going to do it. This post will cover several things seen across several days. Also, I think this may be the last day that I use the date as the title for the post, that way it's not as obvious how much time goes in between posts.

Last week I drove with a co-worker through Madison and out into the county. I always like making drives like this because of the diversity of houses that I pass. There's always the obligatory trailers - single-wides, double-wides, well maintained and shoddy. I always look at these and ask myself this question: "Are these people happy?" With everyone's pursuit of their own American dream, is this theirs'? Did they want to live in the country and are they happy living where they're living and working where they're working? I have to think that for some they truly are. I knew people growing up who lived in trailers and they were usually happy. It makes me look at my life and I wonder if I'd be o.k. if that's where I ended up. I'd like to think that I'm deep enough that I don't need material possessions to be happy but I don't know that I am. It just makes me think...

Something else that I've taken notice of lately is the resurgence of the station wagon. Pay attention while you're driving and look at the number of new station wagons you see. Granted they call them other things today but they are all essentially station wagons. I guess there's nothing new under the sun. One thing that really excited me a couple of days ago though was a Ford Flex with faux wood grain paneling on the sides! THE WOODY IS BACK! I gotta tell you, if loving wood-grained accent on the outsides of station wagons is wrong, I don't wanna be right!

Two other items of note:

I saw a doctors office with a sign out front that said "Urgent Care: No Appointment Necessary". I would hope that you wouldn't need to make an appointment for an urgent medical condition. "Yeah, I'm planning on being in a pretty serious car accident tomorrow afternoon, could I get an appointment at say 3:30?"

I also saw what is possible the greatest promotion offered by a bank ever: open a checking account and receive a free Snuggie! I am so getting one!!!

Have a great day!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Today was funny. I'm driving to lunch and I pulled up behind a fairly old car with the following bumper sticker: " Drive Closer: I brake fast for tailgaters". The I saw that license plate. It was a disabled veteran plate with a frame around it. The frame had a scroll LED display that had this message scrolling across: "Get off my ass or you'll have to buy me". I'm not sure who was talking in the message- the car or the driver. Two things struck me:

First, this guy really does not want to be followed closely. It made me want to tail him a little closer than I normally would just to mess with him. I don't know what it is but there is something inherent in me that really wants to screw with people. I suppose that's not good...

Secondly I thought that it is interesting that he has a scrolling display on the bottom of his car which he obviously expects people to read and he's concerned that they are going to hit him. Luckily I ran into him at a light but I'm pretty sure if I was behind him while driving I would definitely scoot up enough to read his scrolling display.And while I'm reading the scrolling display it would be much harder for me to notice if traffic were stopped up ahead or even if he hit his brakes. The whole ordeal just seemed to run counter to what he was trying to accomplish.

So, if you've been reading this blog at all you know I'm going to stretch to try to make this apply to something deep so I can feel justified about spending time writing this blog. How often do we take actions that are supposed to lead us in a different direction only to find out that the very actions we took will cause more people to come and stare? It makes me think about some of the fashions and the people wearing them. Everyone starts fashion trends to be original and unique but in the end, the very thing that was meant to isolate and make them stand out is what draws people in closer; the very people for whom the fashion trend was started to get away from.

On another note entirely the Parkway is back open down where I live. The affect of this today on my commute home was a 1/3 reduction in the overall time it takes to get home... that's pretty significant. Granted it normally takes only thirty minutes to get home after work but if I can get home in twenty... SCORE!

Alright, have a great night!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

I noticed an interesting phenomenon today on my way to work. I drive through a neighborhood with homes that were built in the 1960's that all have an interesting and obsolete feature - a one-car garage. There have been several houses in the neighborhood that have since closed in the garages to make additional rooms but you can still tell that all the houses built in this time frame had single-car garages.

Contrast this to today's homes. Every new house has at least a two car garage if not a three or four car setup. It just shows how life has changed in the last 40-50 years. I think it also shows us how spoiled we are, especially during this downturn in the economy. The fact is, as time goes on and the overall level of wealth increases, what we expect increases with it. Whereas a one-car garage used to be sufficient as evidenced by the number of houses sold with a single bay, nowadays a two-car is the bare minimum. This is because we cannot conceive of a world (at least in Huntsville) where a family would only own one car.

Think about the other items that you own that are ubiquitous but astounding: computers, cell phones, credit/debit cards, iPods... the list could go on. All of these we see as rights, not privileges and we get angry when something or someone limits our access to these "rights".

Speaking of common technology - I saw a woman dial and/or texting on her phone today in her car. This normally would not have been worth noticing except that she had her blinker on and was trying to merge and a car was stopped to let her in but could get her to look up to see the opening. It was actually kind of funny to see someone trying to be nice while the other driver could stop was she was doing long enough to see that.

I also noticed that they have put the stripes down on the overpass on the Parkway which may mean that they are nearing completion on the construction which means that my commute time will be reduced by 10 minutes or so which will be really nice although I'm sure I'll see less stuff to blog about.

Let me know what you saw today...

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Again, I'm being sporadic with my posts. The holiday last week threw me off a little and to be honest, since the time change it's been more difficult to spot stuff because it's dark on the way home. Tomorrow I'll start looking again in earnest while I'm driving and try to update every day but at least several times a week.

This post is about last Tuesday. I met a couple of guys for breakfast at Chik-Fil-A. We were walking in about 6:30 and were stopped by a guy standing outside the restaurant with a simple request: "Spare a quarter for the homeless". I gave my normal response which was "I don't have any cash on me" which is normally true but that morning was false. I didn't really think anything of it at the time as I walked inside and placed my order.

The next person through the door was a lady in her mid thirties. She brought the homeless guy in and took him to the counter to place his order on her tab. He ordered a chicken biscuit and she asked him if he wanted coffee too. If that wasn't humbling enough, the homeless guy then asked her if he could get some cinnamon clusters too to which she replied "sure". He ate his meal with a smile on his face and went on his way.

I screwed up - even if I didn't have cash my agenda was more important that the person standing outside looking for something to eat. It would have been so simple to give him a hot meal but I gave my short pat answer and walked on. Why did I do that? One of the cashiers asked the woman if she knew the guy and she said she didn't, she's just seen him around town a lot and figured he could use a meal. Would I have even noticed him around town?

It really reminded me of the lyrics to the song "This World" by Caedmon's Call:
And the least of these look like criminals to me
So I leave Christ on the streets

The whole asking for cinnamon clusters really got to me too because the woman didn't even bat an eye or huff or sigh. She was willing to give to this guy unconditionally even when he asked for something he wanted not just something he needed. This reminds me of us with Christ - the guy asked for 25 cents and got a full meal plus cinnamon clusters! We come to Christ with nothing looking for only forgiveness and get salvation plus so much more which is given to us willingly and without hesitation.

After that experience I hope that I never look at someone as worth less than a quarter like I did that morning. I need to remember the generosity that has been given me through Jesus and pour that out into others. It's messy and time consuming but well worth it!

Thanks for reading... see you tomorrow...

Who is the Mary you know?

O.k., so I didn't actually see this while driving although driving past some of the more run down areas of town has made me think further on this. A lot of this actually came to me while driving thanks in part to Mark Driscoll's sermon on Mary. You can listen to it here.

Mary the mother of Jesus is definitely one of the more iconic images throughout history. Her image has probably been represented nearly as much as Jesus himself through art and imagery. It is because of this I think we lose touch with who Mary really was. Most everyone has seen a picture of Mary that looks something like this:

She looks so peaceful and serene, with gold and beautiful clothing; no worries in life whatsoever… But is this true? Let’s take a quick look at some facts about Mary:

1. She was probably a teenager – in that time girls could be betrothed as early as 12 and married by the time they were 13. We don’t know how old she was when she was visited by Gabriel but one could assume that she was in her early to mid teens. 
2. She was poor – The best evidence of this comes from Luke’s gospel where we are told that she and Joseph offer two pigeons for a sacrifice which was an accommodation made in the Mosaic Law for those who could not afford a lamb for a sacrifice. Not to mention that Joseph was a carpenter. In that time there were doctors, lawyers, bankers, soldiers, architects, essentially a whole range of “professional” occupations. Joseph was a tradesman which most likely meant that he was uneducated. Mary was most likely uneducated as well. Living in a rural community and being a girl would have meant that she did not have access to education and would have been likely illiterate. 
3. She was from nowhere - Mary lived in Nazareth. Nazareth was a rural farming community that was very very small. It was not well thought of, in fact upon hearing about Jesus for the first time Nathanael (one of the twelve apostles) said “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” 
4. She was likely regarded as a whore – Think about it: if you lived in a small rural community and a young, uneducated girl became pregnant and then went and told you that it was a miraculous conception that was foretold to you by an angel what would you think? In fact in John 8 we see the Pharisees level this very accusation at Jesus by asking “Where is your Father?” They regarded him as a illegitimate child without a father.

In light of all of this, does this change your view of Mary? I tried to think about it in the context of today – what would Mary look like today? Where would she live? This is what I came up with:

She would likely be a young girl, living in a trailer park or a rural community with little education, little future other than hoping to find and marry a guy who can make enough money to squeak by in a trailer near their parents. She then ends up pregnant and scared because all of society calls her names like “white trash” or “trailer trash”. Her parents and her fiancé’s parents likely would not believe her and her fiancé himself is about to leave her too until God intervenes through another visit from Gabriel.

This was the family that God chose to enter the world through. This was the world that Jesus grew up in – small town, working class family, rumors about his parents constantly swirling around. So let me ask you… do you know a Mary? Do you know someone in dire straights that the world has cast aside as trash? If you don’t, why? Are you too scared that you might get dirty? That your reputation might be tarnished? This Christmas think about the people through whom God chose to enter the world and reach out to them. Bless them this Christmas if at all possible, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

Monday, November 16, 2009

So, after a week away due to sickness and laziness I'm back updating.

Today I really took notice of the billboards as I was driving. Here's my thoughts on billboards in general: they are the modern day false prophets pointing followers to false idols which will fulfill all of our hopes and dreams. You can tell what is important in a culture by what gets advertised and how. There were some trends that I noticed in what was advertised:

1. Subdivision and new homes - This taps into one of our most primal needs - shelter. Each billboard touted a different amenity whether it was prestige or price point. I was heading towards an area of town that has seen explosive growth over the past 5-10 years and the sheer number of billboards heralding different subdivisions by different builders was overwhelming. Turn right, turn left, turn around, great schools, pool, clubhouse, more house for your money, lake lots, custom homes... The list goes on and on. All of them were ultimately promising to be fulfillment.
2. The other trend I noticed was in medical care - specifically dental care as well as some information regarding preventive medical care. We are obsessed with remaining healthy and having access to immediate high-quality healthcare that is covered by our insurance plans. This is one of the reasons why the healthcare debate in this country is so heated. Again though, the false prophets were proclaiming the health and a bright smile are the path to happiness!
3. Government Contractors - I don't ever really understand these billboards. They will be from a government contractor like Boeing or Lockheed-Martin or someone smaller and all they are there for is to proclaim the completion of some project or show what the company does. In some cases there are websites that look like they link to career sites so it may be advertising for job posting but it's pretty unclear.

One of the striking things that I thought while seeing these is how incredibly blessed I am to live here. While I am driving down the road with companies competing to provide me housing and healthcare there are many in the world who have access to neither. We are truly blessed beyond our own recognition even to the poorest among us. 

Have a great day!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Ahh... the start to another week. Mondays are interesting days for me because I travel further Monday mornings because I drive out to Madison for a meeting... this tacks on about 15-20 extra minutes onto my drive depending on traffic and how much I speed. This also usually gives me a good opportunity to see stuff. Today however was a little different. There were only two things worth noting that I saw and neither one really took place on my longer drive.

The first was a beat up old car that had been pulled over by the police, I presume for speeding. Looking at the car you would not know that it was capable of starting, much less speeding. It makes me wonder why it got pulled over and not any of the other 500 cars that probably sped past the police officer. Did it get pulled because of its looks?

I also saw something while trying to find a parking spot at lunch today. There was a goth standing in the parking lot and the guy looked like he was rubbing something on the girl. As I passed I saw that he had a lint roller and was rolling all of the lint off of her black clothing. As I circled for a second time looking for a space I could see that she had turned around and he was de-linting her back. It was a little ironic that this couple that is so "unique" and counter-cultural was spending so much time with the lint brush. But, when it comes down to it, they just want acceptance, same as the rest of us. She had the same insecurities everyone else has that her clothes were not going to be just right and because of that, she was going to be judged. He was willing to stand in the parking lot and make himself look slightly ridiculous to ensure that she felt comfortable. It was actually kind of sweet. It was nice moment for me to look at both of them as people and not He-Goth and She-Goth.

Have a great day!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Well, today I got the chance to put my money where my mouth is and I blew it. I was driving to work this morning and there was an older guy walking down the Parkway in a closed section of the road. It was not super cold this morning but was probably high 40s with a breeze. Traffic had slowed and there was plenty of room for me to pull off and see if he needed a ride. I kept second guessing myself until it was too late and the opportunity had passed. I watched him cross the road in my rearview mirror and it looked like he was just walking to McDonalds so he wouldn't have needed a ride anyone but that's not the point. I had a chance to practice what I've been preaching and I didn't because I thought too much: what if he doesn't need a ride? what if he's just out for some exercise? what if he's one of the workers on the road? what if he thinks I'm dumb?

In reality, none of these things should have mattered but they did. Why? I mean, worst case scenario the guy would have said "No thanks". I mean I guess he could have pulled a knife or gun on me or something but I highly doubt that in SE Huntsville. I was so worried about my reputation that I missed a chance to help someone out. I guess when push comes to shove we make a value proposition in our heads - which is worth more to me? My self-esteem and reputation or someone in need of help? I want so badly to win that argument and say that it's the latter but all the evidence refutes that claim. I hope I get another chance soon...

On a different note I noticed today how much lighter traffic was. This is due in large part to the flex-time schedules a lot of people in Huntsville are on which allows them to take every other Friday off. It's interesting how something like that can have a noticeable affect on traffic conditions. I wonder what everyone does on their days off? Never having worked flex time I don't know what I'd do with three day weekends every other week.

Finally, for all you entrepreneurs out there I saw a business opportunity: a Hawaiian Shaved Ice stand was for sale and the U Sell It lot. It was green and had a penguin with a lei on it. I think this would be a great business opportunity come summer time... Think about it...

Thanks for reading!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Well, the inevitable happened today... for the most part I didn't see anything worth writing about today. Sure I saw an ice cream truck pulled over with a blown out tire and the driver standing outside explaining something to a cop but otherwise it was fairly quiet. This is the same ice cream truck that drives down our street at 40 MPH... no wonder he blew out his tires.

Thankfully, there are a couple of things that I've seen over the last several weeks that wouldn't necessarily fit into the days that I saw them either because I got verbose or because I forgot that I saw them... So, here's some stuff I left out:

The first day I started doing this I was driving home through a neighborhood and saw an old lady walking towards me. She looked me in the face and mouthed "slow down". I looked at the speedometer and saw that I was going 30 in a 25 so not excessively fast. The reason this stuck out to me is that I've done the exact same thing while walking around our neighborhood at night. We tend to have a lot of teenagers driving around in the neighborhood and they drive what seems to be really fast. I've been out with the dog or the kids and yelled at them to slow down; I've even contemplated throwing a bag of dog poop that I happen to be carrying at the cars.

However, seeing this lady yell at me made me stop and think. 1) I'm just as guilty. I was speeding in her neighborhood, not by much but speeding nonetheless. 2) It's really a matter of perspective. To someone walking 30 is really fast; to the driver it's frustratingly slow. This caused me to thing about the other things in my life that are colored by perspective. Everything that I see that goes on in the news or in my interaction with others is colored by my upbringing, preconceived notions and general worldview which results in me judging others for things that I am just as guilty of in other contexts and that are really not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

The second thing happened just this past Sunday. If you read the post for the weekend I wrote about the fog on Sunday morning while driving to church. On that same drive I pulled up to a stop light at 7:10 in the morning. There were no cars coming from either direction and there were none behind or in front of me. My light was red and stayed red for probably 30-45 seconds and I waited the whole time. Why? It was not unsafe for me to go at that point, there was no camera on the light and no police in sight to enforce the law so why didn't I go? Why wouldn't most people go?

So I started comparing the way that we drive here in America with the way that people drive in other parts of the world. I think that by and large we think that we're unique and rebellious and all march to the beat of our own drums. But, if you compare something as simple as driving, we're complete rules followers. If you've ever been to another country, especially a second or third world country you will know that the rules of the road are really more guidelines than anything else. People run red lights in situations like the above and do not pay attention to lane markers or turn lanes or turn signals or anything of the sort. Here however, everyone maintains their lane and conforms to the rules of the road.

Granted, this makes travel much safer and more pleasant here and having to sit at a light for a minute is worth the cost of the improved conditions. But have we taken the conformity and rules following too far? Are we so conformed to the world that we just stay in our lane, interacting with our people and follow all the "rules" that have been set up arbitrarily? I know I tend to follow all the social rules when I'm with people outside my circle of friends. We talk about safe topics and laugh at all the jokes and don't get too deep into our lives because that's messy and we all like to live on four lane divided highways with overpasses so we don't have to stop and see anything.

I think it's time we all started breaking a few rules and seeing what it would do to the world. Maybe we should drift out of our lanes or drive 4 wide on a two lane country road. We should stop waiting around for the "green light" in our friends and neighbors lives and should instead just invade their lives and decide the you are going to screw the rules and be real. That would be awesome!!!

Hopefully I'll be back with some new stuff tomorrow... we'll see! Later...

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

It looks like I'm finally caught up! It's Wednesday night and I'm posting Wednesday's entry! Here we go:

First, I saw a car with one of those "In Memory of" decals. The dates were 1994-2006. I just looked at that and thought about how tough it would be to lose an 11 or 12 year old. I mean, any loss of a child is horrible and traumatic in its own unique way but losing a member of your family who's been there for 12 years? That had to be insanely tough. There was a much younger child in a car seat in the back who looked like she might have been born in 2006. I cannot imagine what the parents must have gone through.

I saw a guy painting the concrete posts on the new overpass. I was unaware that those required painting. I just assumed that they were naturally concrete colored... evidently this one needed a touch up though. Wouldn't want to have unattractive overpass supports now would we?

I realized today that I hate it when I pull up beside someone I know. I pulled along a co-worker today while we were driving to the office and my passenger window happened to be down. So he rolled his window down and we had a brief conversation at 50 MPH. That wasn't the part that I hated, it's what to do after that that bothers me. Do I speed up and try to leave them behind? Do I slow down and pull behind them? Do I just try to drive like I would normally drive and try not to look at them again? It just ends up being awkward.

I think that this awkwardness comes because of the removal from a familiar setting. I guess we relate to people differently based on where we are and when we see people outside of our comfort zone it's a little off putting. A prime example of this is my son who hides from his preschool teachers if we see them in Target. He doesn't have anything to say to them outside of the context of preschool. It was sort of that way with this guy today. Outside of work, I don't have a relationship with him. I don't know where he lives or what he does on the weekend. We've had friendly conversations in the office but he is in his own little silo isolated from my church friends who are isolated from my neighbors, etc...

Ideally I would like to break these barriers down and interact with everyone on a relational level instead of a transactional one. This particular coworker and I don't work in the same department and only really interact when one of us needs something of the other. However, he is close to my age and we really get along well when we do interact. All of us should make more of a point to de-silo our lives and let everyone mix together...

One thing that I did notice while driving and paying attention to my car and my coworker's car was the natural instincts that begin to develop when you do something repeatedly. I drive the same road to work every day and evidently my brain can now process everything without me so that I don't ever have to think about what lane I'm in. For example, my coworker switched lanes at one point and, although the lane was currently uncongested, I knew that it was going to slow down in a second. The weird part is I didn't know why it would slow down... turns out it's because cars were merging.

I just think it's amazing that our brains have been set up to work this way. I mean it's constantly running in the background trying to solve problems all day long and making connections to things that you didn't know were connected while at the same time keeping your heart beating and lungs moving. God made us incredible that we are able to function at such a high level without even thinking about it. For example, I kept having dreams last night because I was worried that on the Monday post I might have written rouge instead of rogue. Evidently this was very important to my brain because it kept getting brought up!

Finally, I got to see a near accident with one car being driven off the road by another. Car #1 was in the right turn lane moving up to the light to make a turn when Car #2 decides it needs to turn and pulls out in front of Car #1. Car #1 swerves and runs up on the curb while Car #2 takes advantage of a break in traffic and makes a right turn. It was fun to watch but I'm glad that no one and no things were hurt.

Thanks so much to everyone who has told me in the last several days that you enjoy reading this blog. I enjoy posting this stuff so please keep coming back!

Have fun...

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

This morning was fairly chilly and as I was driving to work I passed a Huntsville Utilities meter reader walking around some of the condos near my house. The first thing I thought was that I would like that job... a lot of walking around and seeing people's houses and yards. Of course, I would only like it on my terms: cold, not hot; no rain. I think we all romanticize other people's lives and think "man I wish I was like them." But, in actuality we wouldn't like their problems any more than we like our own.

I also saw some advertisements for a Christmas Superstore with "trees so real they'd even fool Santa" or something like that. It occurred to me that this sign has been up for several weeks and I haven't really thought anything about it. I would say that it's been there since at least mid-October which is now evidently the start of the Christmas season... who knew?

I passed a bank and tried to take a picture of the signs over the drive-through exit. They said in big letters "NO ENTRANCE" and then underneath in a much smaller font and all lower case letters "please". The signs on the inside say "WAIT HERE" then "please". It seems like the please is an afterthought thrown on the sign. The ironic part is that if the signs had just said "NO ENTRANCE" or "WAIT HERE" I wouldn't have seen them as rude... they were just stating the rules. But once you tack that tiny "please" at the bottom, suddenly I'm aware that the sign was being a little rude and demanding and frankly I'm a little annoyed that it just chucked a "please" out there as an afterthought! It's just the bank trying to be all hip with the lowercase fonts and stuff but I totally don't think it works.

Finally, I saw a Great Dane in a coat. Just let that sink in.... a Great Dane.... in a coat. A 150 lb fur covered animal in a coat. It was fantastic! And I can't remember exactly but I'm pretty sure that the person walking said Great Dane just had on a long-sleeve shirt with no coat... Oh yeah, by then it was 50 degrees outside.

Anyway, I'm sure they had a good reason for the coat, maybe the dog is naturally cold natured or has poor circulation due to its massive size. I suppose seeing an owner being too caring for their animals is better than the alternative so I shouldn't mock. But it was pretty funny looking.

Thanks for reading... Have fun!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Today I witnessed a case of what I will call Passive Aggressive Vigilante Justice or PAVJ for short. PAVJ takes place on our roadways for a variety of reasons but the primary trigger occurs in the following situation: A multiple lane road has a sign which reads "Lane Ends, Merge Right (or Left)". Many drivers immediately begin the transition to the lane(s) which will remain open except for a few rouge drivers. These drivers take advantage of the newly vacated lane to move up in the traffic pack. They will drive alongside all of the other drivers waiting patiently in line and, at the last second, cut back in front satisfied that they have passed 15-20 cars and are now 3 minutes closer to work!

However, these rouges should be on the look out for vigilantes. These vigilantes will stop at nothing to bar the rouges access to their precious lane! This is called Passive Aggressive Vigilante Justice. The vigilante would not dare confront the other driver if it were not for the safety of their automobile. However, since there are thousands of pounds of metal between them and the rouge the vigilante inches forward, front bumper pressed against the tail end of the car in front, never making eye contact with the rouge but never allowing more than 2 inches of space into which he might squeeze.

I have to admit, I have played both of the parts on multiple occasions. However, PAVJ backfired once on me in a major way. We were driving back from the beach and were just south of Birmingham when traffic began to backup due to an accident. As we drew closer is was evident that the accident had happened under an overpass and completely shutdown the interstate. As a result, all of the traffic was being diverted to an off-ramp, over the connector road and back onto the interstate on the other side of the accident.

I complied with the signals and move over to the right like a good soldier ready to wait my turn in line. But wait... what's this I see in my rearview? A rouge! Flying up the left side of the stopped cars until he reached me at which point he threw on his blinker and awaited my acquiescence. However, he was not to enter, not on my watch! I inched and crept directly on the car in front of me, eyes fixed firmly ahead and he did not gain entry.... until the car behind me let him in. Within 60 seconds we felt a jolt as the rogue rear ended our car... He had been too busy watching the accident to realize that we had stopped moving and had bumped right into us.

Obviously I was furious! Not only was he a rogue, he was a rubbernecking rogue! I hopped out of the car fuming, ready to drop the passive part of PAVJ. At which point the man jumped out of his truck, came to me apologetically and explained that this was his normal exit. He lived a few miles from there and was just trying to get home to eat lunch before he had to go back to work. He was so sorry and it was totally his fault and he just can't believe that he did that. His insurance company took care of everything and thankfully the car was a rental so there was really no inconvenience to us whatsoever other than some lost time.

This brings me to my point... He was a person. Not a silver Chevy Silverado... a person. I had no idea what the situation was and assumed the worst. I think this is the problem on both ends. The rogues, in general, do not have any regard for the PEOPLE in the cars, they're just cars. I highly doubt that these people would cut to the front of a line at the Post Office. Meanwhile the vigilantes are concerned with one thing - vengeance. Think about it, what do they gain by not letting the car in? Tops you're looking at 10 seconds of time saving... maybe a couple of minutes if the rouge sneaks through a red light. It's all about vengeance and teaching a lesson.

Anyway, it just gave me something to think about. I never know the situations that lead people to cut in line like that. Maybe there is an emergency or maybe they just don't see that I'm a person. Either way, I think next time, I'll just let them in...

Two other things and then I'll be done:
1.) I looked at some people's faces today while they were driving. Based on their countenances you would have thought that they were driving to their funeral. It made me self conscious and I tried to smile and look more cheerful the rest of the drive. I think it actually put me in a better frame of mind once I got to work.
2.) Way more people talk on cell phones at 5:00 than at 7:40. On the way to work I counted 2 people talking  on phones. On the way home that number was closer to 15 or 16. I know it's not scientific but it was intriguing nonetheless.

Later...

Friday, October 30 - Sunday, November 1, 2009

I'll be covering the whole weekend with this post.

To start with, Friday started off looking bleak and rainy but at one point I looked up and there was one clear patch of sky that was bright blue in the middle of the clouds. It was really cool to see and reminded me a lot of my life... mostly cloudy with brief glimpses of clarity!

I saw a couple of guys cramming a huge amount of black tubing into the back of a Range Rover... it really did not look like they were going to be able to drive it away. What's more, it was outside of a bar downtown... so I'm not really sure what to do with that??

I saw one of these in a parking lot:

I'd never seen one of these before but I think it'd be fun to have one of those and just travel around to see what's going on. I say that but in actuality I would much rather drive around the country in one of these:

Of course, I doubt I could afford one tank of gas, much less the actual cost of the motor coach!

I also saw a blue Chrysler Crossfire with a tag that said "VOTEDEM" and various Obama and Democrat miscellanea. It was actually refreshing to see, especially in Huntsville. Not because I necessarily agree with all of the beliefs of either party but because it was someone who was doing more than taking a stand. The lady who owned the car was taking a stand at a personal cost. She had to pay for the tag and drive around in a very conservative part of America. It's easy to take a stand by slapping a sticker on your car, but she knew what she believed in and was spreading the word!

Finally, I saw this while driving to church at 7:00 on Sunday morning.

This reminded me of 1 Corinthians 13:12 "...Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." It gave me something interesting to think about on my way to church... 

Have a great day!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

I saw this sign on a church today: Evolution - When Scientists Became Monkeys. I gotta tell you, this really angered me! I mean, we're supposed to be salt and light, a city set on a hill and they go and put THIS on their church sign? Church marquees in general can be cheesy and preachy and I guess I understand them from a marketing perspective. There's a church in town that always advertises its sermon title this Sunday and they are usually current, culturally relevant (albeit slightly cheesy) titles. Regardless, I can appreciate that they are trying to entice people to come and (hopefully) hear the gospel.

With the church I saw today I don't understand the purpose of the sign. It's obviously not to share the gospel or to entice the unchurched to come check out a service or even to make people think. Instead it simply spreads the stereotype that Christians are a close-minded group of people who would much prefer to sit in their sanctuary and judge the outside world. That they are cloistered away from society and occasionally chuck God Bombs over the wall in the form of sarcastic signs or Chick Tracts. It is very frustrating! If you have some insight into a sign like this that I'm not seeing please comment and let me know... I would love to be wrong in my sweeping assumptions.

The other thing that I noticed today were the changing leaves. In looking at them today death kept being brought to mind. By and large, people think that Fall is beautiful because of the changing colors. But it's only beautiful because we know the end of the story. The leaves change color as they are dying and will eventually fall to the ground but we know that they will return the following Spring. I doubt that we would all enjoy Fall so much if we did not know what was going to happen next.

Imagine if all the world had known was Summer and green leaves on the trees and suddenly that all changed. Leaves began to die and fall to the ground. Botanists around the world were stumped and had no idea what happened. Would we think that the oranges, reds and browns were beautiful? Or would they be terrifying? But since we know that after this death there is rebirth we look on the Fall with joy at the beauty in creation. I think the analogy here is fairly clear... those in Christ know the ending. We have the rebirth after death takes us and can therefore die in a way that is beautiful to those who we will see again and we can approach it without fear, for it is not the end!

Have a great day!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

This morning on the way into work I say a young boy - probably 6 or 7 - out in his front yard with a Golden Retreiver. It got me thinking about all the dogs that I've owned and the lessons that I learned by owning them. I think it's really important for kids to have pets (where possible). I've learned a lot about unconditional love, personal responsibility and humanity by caring for animals.

Our current dog, Tank, is 5 years old and is the only dog that my kids have known. They love to climb on him and pet him and get excited to see him when we come home. My son is now to the point where he wants to help feed and take care of Tank and I think it's helping to teach him some additional responsibilty. It's also helped us be able to teach them both that they should be kind and gentle to animals. The downside of owning a dog the size of Tank is that neither of the kids have a fear of other dogs, even in a healthy sense, so we have to be careful around dogs that are not used to our kids.

Throughout my life I've had to put down 5 dogs that I can think of (there's probably more). Each one was a heart-wrenching event but showed me that life is fragile. It is some of the deepest sorrow that I've felt to lose an animal that's been part of my family for 10+ years. But this too was good for me to learn as a kid and is good for us to learn now. In fact, the loss of my in-laws dog this year led to some deep discussions with my son regarding life and death and was a big catalyst in him asking Jesus into his heart. I think it's clear that I've got a soft spot for pets!

The other big thing I noticed today while driving was all the Halloween decorations. I don't remember there being that many decorations when I was growing up. There are some people that definitely go all out for Halloween. I have to admit that Halloween is a fairly new thing for me. Growing up we didn't celebrate Halloween due to the dark aspects that are associated with it - witches, ghosts, etc... It was something that my parents didn't really want in the house so we tended to not have any celebration or acknowledgement of it.

Thinking back on those times, I think that if I saw some of the houses that I've seen recently I think I would have judged them as Satanists or at least heathens unworthy of my attention. As I've gotten older and out in the world a little more I've started to realize something - Halloween doesn't mean any more to most people than Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas. There may be a vague familiarity with the origins of the holiday but by and large it has nothing to do with the way that it is actually celebrated. And granted, there is a minority who celebrate Halloween as a "holy" day. But for most, Halloween is a time to get together with friends and family and the traditions dictate that costumes are worn and candy is taken from strangers. This is no stranger than hunting for eggs or eating turkey or exchanging gifts, it's just what the traditions call for.

So with that said, While I do try to remember the real reason for Christmas and Easter as those have true meaning in my life, Halloween has never had a "religious" meaning for me. So, I'm going to give it one this year. Here's my plan: to celebrate with friends and family, to dress up in costumes and beg candy from and hand out candy to strangers; to go WITH my neighbors door to door; to develop relationships with people on the one night of the year when they will willingly open their homes to me and my family with no questions asked. I want it so that next year I'm taking candy from/to friends and neighbors and not strangers.

So that's my encouragement to you: don't withdraw from the culture, engage! Plus, it'll probably end up being a fun and sugar-coma-inducing night...

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Today was a rainy day and I was glad to have something to look for while I was driving other than grey skies and rain.

Here we go:

There was a Jaguar with this license plate: ARMSDLR. Don't know what the guy does for a living but I'm not going to break into his house!

I decided to write down all the different states I saw today and of course there was not a whole lot of variety:

• Florida
• Georgia
• Oklahoma
• California
• Tennessee
• Utah

I actually talked to the guy with the Utah license plate. He's an auditor and has been at the bank for the past several days and he's got his family with him in the car. I asked him today if he drove them all the way here from Utah and he said he's been relocated to Charlotte but they drove over from there. I think it's great that his family is able to be here with him, that's gotta be fun...

I did drive down the best looking street in Huntsville, at least in the fall. If you get a chance, drive down Franklin St in downtown between Lowe Ave and Williams Ave. I'll try to get a picture in the next couple of days to post. It's great with the leaves changing and the old homes in Old Town. 

Let me know what you think if you get to drive down Franklin St... 

Monday, October 26, 2009

I have to confess that this post will encompass both today and yesterday, mainly because what I saw yesterday trumps what I saw today...

While driving home with the family from church yesterday morning we came upon a truck sticking out into the middle of the road. It looked like the driver had turned onto a side street and stopped with the back end still hanging out. As we approached the truck, we saw two people standing of to one side - a man and a woman. I'm not sure what the man looked like because everyone's attention was drawn to the woman. She was wearing a long sleeve black shirt... and that's it. I couldn't tell if they were fighting or just carrying on a normal conversation. Regardless, I immediately shouted "This is so going in my blog!!!" This is not something I expected to see three blocks from my house.

I just reread the above paragraph and realized something about that last sentence - for the most part none of us expect to see this in our neighborhoods. We like to think that everyone within a 5-mile radius is just like us. They all have jobs that provide good income, access to all the fringe benefits that we enjoy (college, cable, internet, etc...) and expect that in general they should look like us. It freaks us out when we see someone who lives in a lower socioeconomic position than we are. Ultimately we should remember that these are people not projects and they deserve respect. I want to teach my kids this.

I'm actually quite glad that once they start going to school my kids "commute" will take them past some lower-rent apartments. I think this will be good for them to understand that everyone comes from a different background and everyone should be treated with the same respect and honor as an image bearer. I hope I can follow through with that...

Today I noticed how many cars in the area have some connection to South Carolina. I saw one car that had a SC license plate followed by at least 3 or 4 others who had the palmetto and crescent moon somewhere on their car. It was weird.

I also saw a guy driving down the interstate with his gas flap open and the lid waving in the breeze. Since we were going 70 MPH I did not try to communicate with him; I would have if we'd been on surface streets.

I saw a dentist office that will be holding the "Great Candy Buy Back" on November 2... I guess they are buying kids' Halloween candy so they don't get cavities. Sounds like great publicity...

Have a great day! See you tomorrow....

The Week of October 19-23

This week was an odd week for me, I had an early breakfast on Tuesday and worked half days Wednesday and Thursday and did not go into work on Friday. After my thoughts on routine from last Friday this was a very odd week because there was very little regularity. This also did a number on keeping track of what I saw when so I'm doing one post for the whole week. Hopefully this will not be super long, I'll try to be brief.

At different points I drove through a drive-through and picked up takeout. I need to explain something first, we eat Steak-Out a lot. I didn't realize how much we ate Steak-Out until a few months ago. I walked in the door and they said "Hey, Mr. Treen, how are you today." I hadn't called in an order so I know they didn't just look it up on the screen; they actually know who I am. They also know my car so when I pull up, if I've called ahead they have my order ready by the time I get inside. I know this is a little sad but the food is good and marginally better for us than fast food. These people have stopped seeing me as customer X and started seeing me as Mr. Treen (which is humorous in and of itself). I try to be nicer to them now too; I'm not anonymous anymore.

Regardless, I drove through a fast food restaurant this week. Here I am, interacting with another human being while I'm in my car! It's exactly what I've been writing about this whole time. Well, not exactly because they weren't in a car but still... I found myself thinking about the person at the window. Rather than a tool or obstacle to me getting my food, this is a person. What are they going through today? What is going on in their life? Is this a temporary job or is this their career? I gotta say, once I started thinking of them as people it changed the way I interacted. I made eye contact and said thank you.

I've been out with friends in restaurants where I have been embarrassed by how the servers were treated. They were talked down to and treated like second-class citizens. Please don't do this! Think about the fact that every food-service worker is fundamentally a person. They deserve the same level of respect that you would give your friends or anyone else you respect.

• I saw a truck moving a big house on Drake. The house took up both lanes and I'm pretty sure that they were going to have to take some signs down that were in the middle of the road to get the house through. I wonder what is so important about that house that people are going to the trouble of moving it. 
• The Rock Family Worship Center got a new sign, it looks good and very 2010. It'll be fun in 10 years to be able to look back at styles and think "that's soooo 2000's".
• I saw a self storage facility that had a sign that said "Climate Controlled Storage". There's nothing interesting about that except that Storage was on the bottom line and had flames coming from underneath it. I couldn't help but think that the sign should have said "Climate Controlled Storage FROM HELL". 
• This reminds me of another storage facility I pass regularly, you may have seen me post this on Facebook but I think it's worth posting here too:

Yes, this is a Funeral Home/Climate-Controlled Storage. 

Hopefully this week I can get back into the routine of posting every day. Thanks for reading!

Friday, October 16, 2009

The big news of this day is that I saw the Alabama/Kentucky guy AGAIN... This is three days in a row. In fact I was behind him and got a picture of the tag (the numbers have been blurred to protect the innocent).

If you click on the picture to enlarge it you should be able to see the license plate frame.

So after three days in a row I started wondering if all of us are really that predictable? We all leave the house at the same time, go to the same job and do mostly the same stuff for 8-10 hours (or more) and then head home. I bet that I would run into this guy on the way home except that I take a different route home. It's really no wonder that we don't take more notice of the people around us. We're so stuck in our routine, engrossed in whatever is on the radio.

I also saw three cars all in a row that had advertising on them: ALFA Insurance, Caroline's on Main, and Kemp's Flooring. I don't know anything about the people driving these cars but I figure it's one of two things: either they are driving a car that is paid for by the company and the driver doesn't necessarily care or the driver is pursuing a dream.

I have great admiration for people who can start their own business. In many cases the routine that I described above does not apply. Predictability is not a part of their vocabulary. I don't think that I have it in me to start a business. I need the routine and stability that comes from working for someone else. But there is something attractive that comes from creating something that's bigger than yourself. I hope for these three drivers as well as all of my friends who have their own businesses that things go well. And for those of you who are like me, support the people who step out on their own.

Let me know what you're routine looks like in the morning, especially if you've got your own business. Do you think you could start something on your own? Would you want to? What's holding you back?

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Day Three of my experiment. I've gotten several comments from people reading this both on the blog and in person so, thanks! It was a fairly interesting day today for sightings:

• I passed a cream colored VW Beetle convertible driven by a woman in her twenties with a "Baby on Board" sign in the back right next to a "Grandmas for Obama" sticker... one of those things did not seem to fit.
• I saw two overly-affectionate construction workers hugging on the side of the road... it was a weird sight!
• There was a great bumper sticker that said "I'm all that's left of a bizarre childhood". Totally describes my life.

There were two things that happened today that made me stop and think. First, I saw the Kentucky/Alabama House Divided guy again. It made me wonder how many of the same people I drive to work with every day and I have no idea who they are. In the car culture that we live in we're in insulated bubbles with our own music and conversations and never bother with people in the other "bubbles". I wonder if it would be different if I took public transit (if that was an option for me). Would I be on a bus or train with the some of the same people every day and would I interact with them or would I shut down with my cell phone or iPod? How would our culture look if we were all forced to interact with non-friends or family during our commutes? 

The second thing that happened started when I decided to write down all the vanity tags that I saw today along with the corresponding car type. I saw quite a few, here's the list:

• DUCTRK - Ford F150
• LAVON - Mitsubishi Eclipse
• MOUSE88 - Pontiac Gran Prix
• FIRELDY - Classic Mercedes Convertible (I couldn't see the model)
• PBURKS - Dodge Intrepid
• RGPHHR - Chevrolet HHR
• SFTBL7 - Dodge Ram
• PROHR - Mercedes G Class
• PRLE89 - Chevrolet Cobalt
• DKPONY - Ford Mustang - Shelby Cobra edition
• 1TPEACE - Buick Rendezvous
• HO-3 - Mistubushi Galant
• WE ROOF - Dodge Ram
• KT BEL - Saturn Ion

So, it was a fun exercise although in retrospect I wish that I had recorded the type of license plate each car had because it seems like most of them also had specialty or collegiate plates. I've always had a hard time understanding these plates because I hate having to pay the taxes each year to get my tags renewed and the thought of having to shell out an additional $50-$100 gives me the shakes. But I tried to put myself in these people's shoes to figure out why they would do this. Then it hit me: each person wants to fit in and they want to be unique. 

Think about it - how many collegiate plates or stickers do you see in a given day? How many Willowbrook magnets do you see on mini vans driving around town? People want community; they want to be a part of a larger group. They want to see someone with the same tag or same sticker and feel connected. 

At the same time, many of these people want their own unique identity within their community. They want to stick out with a custom tag; they want to be differentiated from the rest of the Auburn or Alabama fans. So they are willing to pay $100 to be a unique part of a smaller community. It's really what we all want - we want to fit in without blending in.

So, here's your challenge: find someone and be their community. Provide the affinity that they desire that will allow them to fit in. And when you're with your groups of people, find out the unique attributes in people to keep them from blending into the background.

Thanks for reading this super long post. If you or someone you know uses vanity tags or specialty tags or both comment on this and let me know what that particular tag was chosen... 

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

So, my experiment made for an interesting day today. I was much more attuned to what was going on around me and paid more attention to the people in the cars rather than just the cars themselves.

That's not to say that it wasn't an interesting day for sightings:

• I saw this first:

 Yes that is a Pumpkin duct taped to a mailbox...

• I saw a Yellow Mustang with the tag: MOMPONY
• I saw a car that I see at least once a week that has a "House Divided - Kentucky/Alabama"  license plate frame. It's a blue Toyota Avalon that I always remember because I wasn't aware that Kentucky and Alabama were rivals...
• There was an accident near the Interstate with a firetruck, ambulance and police cars. I couldn't see what the problem was because I was trying to get through traffic and off the ramp. But, I did say a prayer for whoever was involved... See, I'm paying attention to people!
• I saw two cars that were in the process of getting parking tickets. I tried to get a picture of the man getting out of his little ticket car but couldn't snap the shot.
• I passed abortion protesters twice - thankfully there were no kids out there with them to be indoctrinated in ignorance. I could write a whole post on this subject. I don't disagree with the protesters beliefs, just their methods.
• Finally I saw what could only be described as a used medical equipment tent sale outside of a doctor's office:

The sign says "Make Offer" in very poor handwriting. 

So that's about all I saw today. Like I said it made me aware of my surroundings and made me think much more about what's going on with those who I interact with daily. If you feel up to it post a comment if you've seen anything interesting as you commute...

Tuesday, October 13

• A mail truck being towed
• A super old guy driving a white car
• A student driver who didn't understand the concept of a green arrow.
• A guy standing beside his car talking to another guy that was in the middle of the road. The middle-of-the-road guy glared at me when I passed them.