Why I love...The Web Office!

Welcome to the latest installment of “why I love…” and today I love the web office! Boy…that web office is really cool. I mean, it has windows and Ikea furniture. And you never have to turn the fluorescent lights on, and the walls are really white.

Ok, what I really love are the guys IN the web office. Why? Because it was there that I was first welcomed into the Fellowship family with sarcasm and mockery…I mean brotherly love and affection. It was there that I learned that to be really important at Fellowship Church, you had to have TWO computer monitors, eat Quiznos like it was going out of business, and whoever dies with the most water bottle caps wins. I also learned all about Bradittude, which I would explain if I thought you could handle it, but you can’t.
I also love them because I can come and visit them any time I want and they are always happy to see me! At least, they pretend to be. I think they are really just hoping for cookies. Or an invite to lunch.
Brian is a super cool boss because he lets them print out giant posters of him and tape it to the door. He’s also really smart and talented and has been published in the wall street journal. We’ve discussed the intelligence of his blog and how much more smarter it is than mine…I would insert a link to it here except I’m not that smarrt.
Brad is also super cool because he does things like curling (the human-sized shuffle board thing they do in the Olympics) and swim to Alcatraz in shark-infested waters. I don’t know anybody who can say that. He also leads a hometeam, and hometeam leaders in and of themselves are cool.
Andy seems pretty super cool but I gotta say I don’t know him very well since I got booted out of the office when he showed up so he could have a desk (seriously people, priorities). But I do know that he’s always at the tone & tighten classes at lunch so he can probably beat up Chuck Norris.
And of course there’s Jeph, who even if you don’t know him, you already know he’s super cool because he spells his name with a PH. People with alternative and confusing spellings of their names are always cool. Jeph also has the best sense of humor out of anyone I know, and he says it’s pronounced “porsch” instead of “porsch-A”. Try it next time you see him. He likes it, I swear.

So, web office, that is why I love you. Never change your unique blend of witty, jovial, cynical, clever, chuck-norris kicking, weird name spelling, smart blog typing, bradittuding fun because you guys are great!

Oh yeah…and I like bread.

Florida is stealing my friends.

Stupid Florida. It steals all my friends. First the Bradquester and now Ryan King and who knows who else around here will be boxed up and shipped off to Florida.

Ok don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that we have a new church in Miami, it’s amazing in ways I can’t even fathom. And so stinking exciting. I love it. Every minute of it.

But Florida is not allowed to steal any more of my friends. None. No more. That’s it. El Fine.

Dinner for One

How to Eat Alone
by Daniel Halpern

While it’s still light out set the table for one: a red linen tablecloth, one white plate, a bowl for the salad and the proper silverware. Take out a three-pound leg of lamb, rub it with salt, pepper and cumin, then push in two cloves of garlic splinters. Place it in a 325-degree oven and set the timer for an hour. Put freshly cut vegetables into a pot with some herbs and the crudest olive oil you can find. Heat on low flame. Clean the salad. Be sure the dressing is made with fresh dill, mustard and the juice of hard lemons.
Open a bottle of good late harvest zinfandel and let it breathe on the table. Pour yourself a glass of cold California chardonnay and go to your study and read. As the story unfolds you will smell the lamb and the vegetables. This is the best part of the evening: the food cooking, the armchair, the book and bright flavor of the chilled wine. When the timer goes off, toss the salad and prepare the vegetables and the lamb. Bring them out to the table. Light the candles and pour the red wine into your glass. Before you begin to eat, raise your glass in honor of yourself.
The company is the best you’ll ever have.

This piece of prose I discovered in college and always enjoyed what it had to say. This week my one evening off was on Tuesday night, and as I stared blankly into my refrigerator wondering what to eat, this piece popped into my head. So I turned off the tv and turned on my soundtrack to “The Piano” and cooked up a real dinner...there wasn’t even anything that got put in the microwave! I pulled out the pretty silverware and lit some candles and set the table as if someone important were visiting. When I sat down with my food, just looking at the way it all was set and how nice it looked made me peaceful already. I enjoyed the stillness and quiet and totally loved it. Ok, so maybe the chicken wasn’t exactly 4-star restaurant quality and there was 2% milk in my wine glass, but it was still greatness. And I realized that so often we are always so concerned about not offending others, or how everyone else feels, and if we’re treating our neighbors as ourselves. Which is all well and good. But sometimes you have to take a step back and treat yourself as others would treat you. A good quote to go along with this… “if you had a friend that talked to you the way you talked to yourself, would you continue to hang out with that person?”

I would challenge everyone I know...especially all the single ones...not only to treat others the way they'd want to be treated, but also to treat yourself how you want others to treat you! Because whether you realize it or not, you're teaching them how to do it right now. And why wait to get married before somebody starts treating you right??

Ed says "Say Tech-NO!"

Oh what a terrible blogger I am. It seems that since I have moved out of my parent’s house that was a wireless hotspot of internet activity allowing me to blog to my heart’s content, into my new, internet-free zone that I call my apartment, it sure is a lot harder to keep the blog updated!!

But I have a good excuse…you see, a few months ago when Lisa Welchel came to speak at Fellowship, she told a story about how she tried to buy her Mickey Mouse Club ears off Ebay, and she was willing to pay up to $500 for them. When she didn’t end up winning, she felt convicted to donate the same $500 to a church or charity, hearing God’s voice saying to her “if you are willing to give $500 to Mikey Mouse ears, then you are willing to give $500 to my kingdom…”. Well that comment really spoke to me and in the midst of making Town and Country giving commitments, God got my attention, albeit on a somewhat smaller level…

As I looked at my new budget which included the new apartment and all the bills that go with it along with a new T&C line item, I thought about my cable and internet bill and heard a small voice in my head that said “if you are willing to give for cable and internet, you are willing to give to Town and Country…”. So I made the decision not to get cable or internet in my new apartment and add that amount to my monthly Town and Country offering. This meant no news reports while I eat breakfast, no Whose Line is it Anyway while I work out, and no daily Friends before I go to bed. And no internet with which to blog. And while every month brings a temptation to use some of that T&C money to bring the internet back into my life, I often don’t even miss most of that stuff if I'm totally honest. Because now when I eat breakfast in the morning ,I can sit in peace and quiet before facing the noise that is the day, and when I work out at night I can let my mind process everything from the work day, and when I miss Friends…well I can pop in a DVD of any one episode from all of my 10 seasons (you didn’t REALLY think I could give up Friends completely, did you?). But the internet is a little trickier…it’s definitely hard to keep the blog up. And it’s hard to resist the urge to come in to work on the weekends when previously I could just check up on things from my computer at home.

But I know that giving up a few tv shows and having a slightly smaller blog are small potatoes compared to listening to the tiny voice in my head that is the Lord’s.

And if you are sad that the blog seems lonely and collecting cobwebs these days...well it’s all Lisa Welchel’s fault! BUT…if you would like to make a donation to the “Save Crys’s Blog Foundation”, I’ll be having Brian Bailey install way to help you donate online to this noble cause…

O Blogger, Where Art Thou? or S'more Better

May17th??? I can’t believe that was my last post. Oh, the shameful blogger that I am. Well, to keep you posted on the life and times of Crys, I went camping this past weekend and had a blast. And in all my camping experiences, the most valuable lessons learned always seem to revolve around the s’more. So should you ever go camping, remember these things…

*Toasting marshmallows is good. Toasting twinkies is bad.

*Always eat dessert first in case of rapture. (ok, this is just a good rule to live by in general). But when camping…if you toast your marshmallows first, THEN use the same stick to cook your hotdogs, you will have a yummy marshmallow-flavored hot dog.

*Do not be deceived by the raccoon who wants a bite of your marshmallow. This is a ruse, do not fall for it. Unless you have enough marshmallows for all the tiny woodland creatures of the forest.

*Should a fly find himself trapped in your bag of marshmallows, do not try to get him out by pounding your fist on the side of the bag. This will only result in the undesirable smashmallow/fly combination.

*Always remember to store the chocolate bars in the cooler…especially when camping in Texas…in June. However, should you forget, it is perfectly acceptable to soak up the melted chocolate with your toasted marshmallow.

*Never try to eat the toasted mallow off the metal stick you just cooked it with.

*Should you drop you mallow on the ground, the 5-second rule does not apply.

*Always splurge on the mallows when camping. Do you realize there are only 90 calories in 4 mallows??? 4!!!

*To torch or not to torch…that is the question. Whether tis nobler to patiently brown your mallow, or take arms against a sea of fire, and by opposing, blacken thy mallow…

Finally, the most important thing I’ve ever learned on a camping trip, is how to IMPROVE the s’more. They said it couldn’t be done. I call it the S'more Better. But I warn you…the secrets I am about to share are not for the faint of heart…

To make your S’more Better…Use your toasting stick to bore a small hole thru the middle of the mallow. Insert the chocolate into the hole, then proceed to toast as usual. Warning…be sure not to burn the chocolate! If you are like me and you prefer your mallows flaming pieces of carbon, this is tricker...but it can be done! However if you are more patient and do not believe in torching your mallow, this will be easier. Once the mallow is toasted, and the chocolate is all melty and gooey, proceed to mash onto the graham cracker and consume as usual. (uh...graham cracker optional)