A joke from a moving guy

So one of the guys that was loading our stuff into the moving truck told me a funny joke today.

A hobo was walking out in the country and saw a bunch of people gathered around the bank of a river. He couldn't tell what was going on, so he went over for a closer look. As he got closer he could see there was a preacher out in the water, so he tried to get a better look. As he got closer he could see that the preacher was baptizing the people one by one in the river, but the hobo didn't know much about religion or christianity. So he was watching for a second and the Preacher pointed to him and said, "You, come on down here into the river." The hobo wasn't sure who the preacher was pointing at, so he looked around him and said, "Who, me?" The preacher said, "Yes, come on down here into the water." So the hobo slowly walked down into the river not sure what was going on. When he got down there with water almost up to his shoulders and stood next to the preacher, the preacher grab the hair on the back of his head and pushed him down in the water. Then just as quickly, pulled him back up and said, "Do you see Jesus!" The hobo with water in his eyes, spit some water out of his mouth and said, "No, I don't see him." So the preacher grabbed him by the hair on the back of his head, pushed him down in the water, pulled him back up and yelled a little louder, "Do you see Jesus!" The hobo, with water in his eyes, took a breath and said, "No, I don't see him." So a third time, the Preacher grabbed his hair pushed him down in the water, held him there for a second while the hobo struggled back and forth, pulled him up and yelled, "Do you see Jesus!" And the hobo said, "Are you sure this is where he fell in?"

Moving

Moving is kind of a lot of work sometimes, but unfortunately, there just isn't a convenient way to live a nomadic life these days.

lasagna rolls with sausage and broccoli

Christmas

Very cool math article

Here is a really cool math article. It's kind of long, but if you can stand it, I'd definitely recommend the whole thing. I love mathematics so much. I wish I had more time to devote to it. Anyway, here is the article:

The Easiest Hard Problem by Brian Hayes

Today is also my anniversary. Being married is really great. I love my beautiful wife so much. We have such a good time together and she means the world to me.

December 16th

Ronald Reagan

Ron Paul

www.ronpaul2008.com

Dan in Real Life

My beautiful wife and I went to see Dan in Real Life last night. It was a really good movie. I would definitely recommend it. The house that they lived in was really cool looking.

Spider Solitaire

My awesome wife got the decks to go all black and then all red.

Chicago, Illinois

Chicago, Illinois - Marathon

On Sunday, we went to the Chicago Marathon. You can really see the determination in the expressions on the runners' faces.

I guessing that "Corre papi, corre" means "Run dad, run."
Lots of spectators made posters.
Lots runners wore costumes.
And then it was over.

Morgantown, West Virginia

I travelled to Morgantown, West Virginia, with my dad for an insurance law seminar at West Virginia University. The scenery there is really nice.

Lots of rolling hills ...
and old houses tucked away in the woods
Before we left, we went to a big football game

Dayton, Ohio

Somewhere on our way to Dayton, Ohio (possibly in Richmond, Indiana) we saw quite a lot of smoke on the horizon.


I think we heard on the radio that there was a building on fire. It was pretty cool to see, but I hope everyone is ok.

On Saturday morning, we watched the Dayton Marathon. It started at 7:35 a.m. The starting line was near the Museum and it was a really nice morning. I overheard one runner say that everyone ran faster since the weather was so nice.
Part of the course went right by the hotel we stayed in, but it seemed like most of the course was on the Wright Patterson Air Force base and was off limits to civilians. After the start, we headed back to the hotel to see some more runners. Here are a few photos:

Later, we headed back to the finish line to see the first person finish. The first person to finish the marathon was in a wheel chair. After that several people that ran the half marathon showed up and a little later, the winner of the full marathon crossed. The first video is the wheel chair participant finishing, the second video is the winner of the half marathon, and the third video is the winner of the marathon.

It looked like several people from the air force base ran the marathon as well.
A lot of people had their kids with them when they crossed the finish line,
and some crossed the finish line alone.
Lots of planes flew overhead, (courtesy of the Wright Patterson Air Force Base).
It's always fun to watch marathons. Congratulations to all the participants. There wasn't much to do in Dayton, but we weren't anxious to start driving again, so we stayed there another night. On Sunday morning, we ate at FirstWatch Cafe. It was really delicious. I had a chickenchanga and almost ordered a second one since it was so good.

On the way home, we saw a giant candle in Centerville, Indiana, and decided to stop and check it out.
It was the Warm Glow Candle Company Outlet Store. Probably the biggest candle store I've ever seen.
It had some pretty good deals,
but I was a little bit concerned about this fire exit.
Luckily there weren't any fires that day.

Later, we stopped in Greenfield, Indiana to go to some antique shops. They were all really cool. I got an old book called, "Problems in General Science".

It was a good trip. I had a really good time.

Ron Paul

Nest above my door

Scratch

Movies

We saw Ocean's 13 last night. I thought it was really good. I'd recommend it to a friend.

Interesting Quote

Here is an interesting quote from Richard Bushman.

What questions does Mormonism answer? David Brooks had those interesting columns a few months ago about how people will die for meaning, and Charles Taylor was on the TV lately saying the spiritual questions are the big questions, which I think is very close to David's sense of meaning.

What Mormons really try to do is to offer a story – a story of human existence that begins in the world before and comes to this world. It answers the classic questions of whence, why, and where. It's not just something that stands above Mormons, but is imbued into their minds. It's related to the Christian story of fall and redemption, which is another story of the meaning of life, but it extends that story into the pre-mortal life and into eternities hereafter.

Over and over again, I talk to people who joined the church, and I say, why did you become a Mormon? And they say, it answered my questions. I don't know exactly what they mean by that, but there is a sense that their perplexities about life somehow were put to rest by what the Mormon missionaries told them.

You can find the entire text here.