Pac-10 Planning

Yesterday, I went to my 3rd home football game in the same number of weeks. It's safe to say that I pretty much have Trojan football running through my veins now. Of course...these past three games will have to hold me until Thanksgiving. Thinking back to our well-deserved win over Cal, our thrashing of Arizona State, and yesterday's walloping of the University of Washington Huskies...I'm already going through withdrawals.

I'm always anxious to see football season start, but this year, I had to wait until week 3 for a home game. Then I had another two-week drought before the three games in a row. We do have two games in November, but I can't go to the next one, since I will be out of town. So I will have to wait until our November 27th dismantling of Notre Dame.

To anyone out there who has control of the Pac-10 schedules...can the home games get spread out evenly through the season? Opening at home, with a home game every other week will suffice. ;)

Ah well...at least next week's game is on ABC. I'll just have to deal with screaming at the TV. FIGHT ON TROJANS...BEAT THE COUGARS!

Overeaction to the EXTREME!

Here's my disclaimer to those who don't watch Survivor: this is a mini-rant on who got voted off in last Thursday's episode.

I know that people need to beware of their competition on this game...and should be wise not to trust too many of your teammates, especially when everyone is playing for one shot at a million dollars. But it's really sad when someone gets voted off because a one-sentence miscommunication. Lisa Keiffer...you were shafted, and I hope that more people in your tribe don't fall under the guillotine of Ami, the barrista/model.

To sum up what happened...Ami was going to gather food, and Lisa said that she wanted to go with her "in case..." That's when Ami flew off the handle and finished off the sentence for her, "what...in case i get voted off?" Lisa never said anything of the kind, and I believe that was furthest from her mind. But, Ami decided that Lisa couldn't be trusted, and staged a coup to get her ousted from the island.

I think Ami got rid of a strong ally, and I hope this decision does not catapult her to success in the game. Getting rid of Lisa shows that Ami is too suspicious for her own good...I hope that the other players will see that and vote her off early.

Not Such A Pal After All...

I suppose there's something to be said for doing things the old-fashioned way. Businesses relying on online payments through PayPal have been tearing their hair out lately. As of today, things are mostly "fixed"...but due to a botched architectural release last Friday, users were having problems paying and receiving money through their accounts. Here's a message directly from their website:

Site Issues Resolved: 10/14/04
Many of you have experienced problems using PayPal over the last few days. We would like to apologize for the way this has impacted your buying and selling activity and, for many of you, your businesses. PayPal functionality has been restored and users are able to resume normal activities. Thank you for your patience during this process.

I hope people who use PayPal as a means to pay bills had enough money in their piggy banks!

Jam Anyone?

I found the following article on Playbill today.

Ållo? French Approve Use of Cell Phone Jammers in Theatres
By Robert Simonson
12 Oct 2004

Leave it to the culturally sensitive French to finally come up with a practicable way to rid theatres of the irritating chirp of an active cell phone.

The French government's industry minister Patrick Devedjian, backing up a decision by the Telecommunications Regulation Authority, gave to go-ahead Oct. 8 on a motion to allow theatres, cinemas and concert halls install mechanisms which would jam cell phones.

The one proviso is that the hardware permit emergency calls to get through.

Cell phone use at theatres, movie houses, concerts, museums, libraries and galleries was banned in New York City in early 2003, despite resistance from Mayor Michael Bloomberg. However, even the law's supporters admit it is virtually unenforceable. Unwanted cell phone interruptions remain endemic in Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres.

Now why haven’t we thought of doing this yet? We’ve gotten along centuries without cell phones, so 2-3 hours without it during a movie, play, or musical is fine by me. When someone forgets to turn off their phones, they tend to ring at the most inopportune moment. When I went to see Spider-Man 2 earlier this year, there were two people who answered their phones in the middle of the movie, while another individual sitting behind me was playing a game on their phone…with the sound effects on. Where’s a good cell phone jammer when you need one?

Faith <> Salvation

For the past few weeks, we have been going over the book of James at church. Last Sunday, we went through chapter 2, verses 14-26. The verse that catches my eye the most is verse 17:

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied
by action, is dead.

I would imagine some people are prone to take this out of context as argument that one must work for their salvation. But salvation and faith are not synonyms for one another:

salvation:
NOUN: 1a. Preservation or deliverance from destruction,
difficulty, or evil. b. A source, means, or cause of such
preservation or deliverance.

faith:
NOUN: 1. Confident belief in the truth, value, or
trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.

One of my favorite passages can be found in Ephesians 2:8-9:

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--
and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.

Salvation is gained through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as your personal savior, believing that He died for your sins, and committing your life to following Him. Salvation is gained because you have a confident belief in the truth and value of Jesus.

What we decide to do once you have been saved is what James is referring to. God wants us to fulfill our purpose of making disciples and to love one another, despite any differences we may have from each other. Without works/working for our purpose, aside from saddening our creator...there's no external proof that we have been saved. Salvation cannot be taken away, but life on Earth would be a hollow existence for us, if we did not put our beliefs into action.

Is Anybody Listening?

So began the chorus to a song from the new musical I saw this evening...The Ten Commandments, starring Val Kilmer. Yes folks...Val Kilmer can sing...and he does a pretty good job too. He had some power behind his first few solos, but started fading in the end of the second act. But, I don't fault him for that, since he's not a fully-trained actor in musical theatre. After all, he did perform the Friday evening prior, as well as a matinee earlier on Saturday afternoon. I'm really curious to see this again near the end of the run to see if Mr. Kilmer has built up some stamina in the role. I have much faith that the cohesion of the show will be much improved by then.

I was also able to get a small group of people together (57, to be exact) to see this show with me. We split up and had about 1/3 in the Parterre and the rest in Mezzanine 3...so I'm pretty antsy to discover what everyone's reaction was to this "musical spectacle". Since I'm sure no one would be pleased to receive a phone call this late/early at night/morning...I suppose I will have to wait until church to ask them about it. Until then I can happily go to sleep with this tunes still swimming in my head...