If you like satire like The Onion, but think the Christian sub-culture should be made fun of, too, then you might enjoy reading The Holy Observer. I especially like last month's Guide to Christian Capitalization. If you are either a) easily offended, or b) a big fan of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, then you may want to steer clear of The Holy Observer. (Thanks to Matt S. for the link.)

Since Monday is my day off, Tuesday is the day when I come into the office, catch up on blogreading and email, watch the latest Strongbad email, and start thinking about getting down to business. I've got one more sermon in my Lord of the Rings series. I think it's gone well so far. Maybe when I'm finished I'll post my manuscripts.

After Sunday I'll start work on the church web site. This will probably take several weeks, but I'm excited about getting started. Brendan recommended that I use PostNuke, or something like it to organize and update the site. We haven't bothered with a church website up to this point because we don't want something that will just set there and never get updated or used. Thanks to Brendan's help with this Movable Type blog, I'm starting to feel up to the challenge.

Also, I've been enjoying the political discussions over at Brendoman.Com, especially between Gringo and Roland. It's been pretty educational for me.

Click here to perform a virtual knee surgery.

Emma and I were playing computer games at nickjr.com and looking at digital photos when we found this cute one. She still wants to be called P-bob, and now Sara and I are Dora and Boots. Sara has been sick for the last 24 hours, but at least she's not as bad as Brendan.

Take triskaidekaphobia, or fear of 13s, and combine it with a Friday, a generally well-regarded day of the week, and you get Paraskevidekatriaphobics, a deep fear of Friday the 13th. (Fear of splatter films of the same name is Jasonvoorhephobia.)

It's Friday the 13th, but not to worry

He's been in over 50 movies, but rarely as the lead. He's good friends with John Cusack, who I am moderately obsessed with. (It's a tie between him and Jon Stewart). Here are my favorite Jeremy Piven-featuring films.

5. Very Bad Things
Okay, so I probably shouldn't like this movie. It involves a bachelor party gone wrong, a cover-up and other not-so-funny themes, yet this movie makes me laugh. I am truly a sick individual.

4. Grosse Pointe Blank
In this movie, Piven plays Paul, a pot-smoking real estate agent who is reunited with Martin (John Cusack), a hit man returning for his high school reunion.
Favorite line:
Martin: Debi's house.
Paul: Kinda crept up on you, didn't it?
Martin: No, you drove us here.
Paul: [pause] Yep.

3. PCU
Finally, a lead role (in an overlooked college movie about political correctness at its worst). Piven plays Droz, the leader of students who live in 'The Pit'.
Favorite line (which is oft-quoted at our house):
Droz: What's this? You're wearing the shirt of the band you're going to see? Don't be that guy.

2. Cupid
I'm bending the rules a bit; this is not a movie. Cupid was on for one season (ABC), and its cancellation rates right up there with My So-Called Life's on the "I can't believe they cancelled this show; if only the WB was around back then" list. Piven played a possible mental case who believed he was Cupid.

1. Say Anything
In one of the greatest movies of all time (completely uncontested), Piven plays Lloyd Dobler's (John Cusack's) friend Mark.
Favorite line:
Mike: I don't know you very well, you know, but I wanted to ask you - how'd you get Diane Court to go out with you?
Lloyd Dobler: I called her up.
Mike: But how come it worked? I mean, like, what are you?
Lloyd Dobler: I'm Lloyd Dobler.
Mike: This is great. This gives me hope. Thanks.

I did some rearranging here in the office today. I added this Linksys wi-fi adapter to a computer Paul brought in and moved my computer to my office. I couldn't believe how smoothly everything went. Brendan and I spent weeks this summer trying to set up a network with some crappy Belkin 802.11b PCI cards. This USB adapter from Linksys was connected about 5 minutes after I opened the box. I was a little annoyed that when I ran windows update on the new computer, it gave me no less than five pop-up ads. Why do I have to look at ads to get security fixes? As soon as the update was done, I closed MS Internet Explorer and went back to Firefox. Now I've got the new computer sharing the internet connection with the other computers in the building and I can work in the quiet of my own little office. Huzzah!

Check out this PDA keyboard. It's projected by laser onto any flat surface and it uses IR to calculate what key you're pushing. It's for sale here for $100. George Jetson, eat your heart out.

After I finished The Age of Spiritual Machines I read an Ann Lamott book that Sara had from the library, Traveling Mercies. I enjoyed it. She's not your typical Christian author. The book was made up of essays that she wrote for Salon Magazine. She has a very honest look at life and faith. Now I'm reading Stephen Hawking's Illustrated Theory of Everything.

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