30 Days of Thanks: Day 6 (Premature Edition)

This afternoon my iPhone (to which my right hand is usually welded) died.

When I say died I mean died.  I opened an app and the phone turned off and would not turn back on.  Huge bummer.

So my major thanks today was going to be AppleCare.  I have had one iPhone die already and was worried because I have had such miserable interactions when previous phones have died.  When I went to the Genius bar, however, the guy inspected the phone for about 30 seconds or so, then had me sign a sheet of paper and gave me a new phone.

I have a genius bar appt. tomorrow and hope everything goes just as well.  This is a huge part of why I like Apple so much.  I'm not delusional about their products, they're good but not perfect, but Apple's service is head and shoulders above anyone else I've dealt with.  Here's to hoping it goes just as smoothly tomorrow!


UPDATE: After having tried over the course of the day, on the third try plugging it in to my computer, the thing fired right up and works like new.  Now, perhaps I'll be thankful if it just stays that way!

Day 6: The Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina

When I was about 5 years old I was baptised at St. Anne's Episcopal Church in the Diocese of East Carolina at the Great Vigil of Easter.  This was a fortuitous first step of the many I would take in the Diocese.  I could (and have) written at some length about my relationship with the Diocese of East Carolina, but I'm going to leave a good portion of that for another day, as I'm sure my thanks for the diocese can span well more than two or three days, but I will speak primarily about my thanks for what it has done over the last couple of years. 

As anyone who's taken the time to read the bio on the right side of the page knows, I'm a Postulant for Holy Orders (Priesthood) from the Diocese, which means that Dio. E. Carolina and it's Bishop Clifton Daniel III have approved sending me to seminary.  As you can imagine, the process to be entered as a postulant is not a short one and involves approval by several individuals and committees as well as physical and mental evaluations.  The full process to be made a postulant can take upwards of two years (as it did in my case) and once granted ties you to a Diocese through three years of Seminary and two years of ordained ministry in the Diocese, so being comfortable with where you are is extremely important. 

I actually began the discernment process in 2008 in the Diocese of North Carolina where I was working at the time.  While still spending my required year at a parish before the calling of a discernment committee I had to move for work reasons.  I had the great fortune of winding up back in the Diocese of East Carolina where I had been raised.  

After attending the 2009 Diocesan convention, I was able to meet up with many people I had not seen in years, all of whom were exceptionally supportive.  After joining St. Andrew's on the Sound, starting the process over and working my way through my rector, my parish, the commission on ministry, and the Bishop, I could not be happier to be a postulant through this diocese.  It has given me more than I could ever have expected or asked for, and I'm ecstatic that I will spend the next chapter of my life working with and for such an exceptional entity.  

30 Days of Thanks: Day 5

Day 5

Sitcoms.

Yeah, sitcoms.


Judge me all you want, but they're awesome.  Not all of them are awesome, but a select few make it all worthwhile.  For every "Better with You" out there, there's a "Modern Family," for every "Cleveland Show" there's a "How I Met Your Mother."  These things are our simple pleasures.  Sure they are responsible for dumbing down America.  Sure Jim Belushi kills comedy on a regular basis, and clearly his shows have set mankind back decades.  Sure the bad ones are so horrifically terrible (and inexplicably popular) that they perpetuate and even prop up harmful stereotypes while dumbing down society and perpetuating a fatally flawed and disturbing legal system.  But like a fine Hogarth engraving, or a Bill Mauldin cartoon, a well executed sitcom spans the ages and stands the test of time, carrying both a message and humor through generations, and never gets old, entertaining the masses, informing and educating while making people laugh, and helping to define and unite a generation around a shared experience (I'm looking at you M*A*S*H!!)  So to the good sitcom writers, directors, producers, PA's, actors, interns, et al, Thanks for what you do.

And Jim Belushi.  Stop.  Please. Just. Stop.

He was prosecuted shortly thereafter for crimes against tartan.  Have mercy on his soul.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 4

Day 4

In memoriam: The life and service of Elizabeth Edwards

Last year we passed a landmark health insurance reform bill through an unwilling congress and it was signed by the President to mark the most significant change to health insurance of the last forty years.  While the bill was far from perfect and lacked the public option many wanted It was a remarkable accomplishment.  I'm not going to refight the process or the battles over the details of the bill; the important thing is that the bill passed and it's currently benefitting millions of Americans, myself included.  More than Nancy Pelosi, more than Harry Reid, more even than Barack Obama, the person who is responsible for this bill is Elizabeth Edwards. 

I had the honor of working on the Edwards for President staff in the 08 election, and was located at various times both in the Chapel Hill national HQ and in New Hampshire.  I met Elizabeth a few times, and she was a wonderful person; the kind of person who stops and talks to every volunteer in the office to thank them for everything they're doing.  Through and through a decent human being. 

More importantly than her kindness to the least of those in the office was the good she did nationwide.  It may be hard to remember now, but in 2007, no one wanted to talk about health care.  It was a quiet crisis developing that anyone paying attention knew was going to destroy the economy and cost millions of lives if left unattended.  Even so it was not a politically popular topic.  We were in the midst of two wars, a torture debate, outing of CIA agents and the like.  Health care reform was not on many people's minds.  Not many people aside from Elizabeth Edwards, and as a result John Edwards. 

John Edwards was at the time running in third place behind the Hillary Clinton juggernaut and the Barack Obama wave.  He needed to do something to distinguish himself, and this issue was a good way to do it.  It didn't hurt that he and Elizabeth had first hand encounters with the system after fighting Elizabeth's first round of cancer.  On this issue however, John used the bully pulpit of the campaign, and hammered constantly on the impending threat to our society that heath insurance companies were causing.  He pushed other candidates to talk about it and to establish positions, and by the end of primary season, healthcare reform was the second most important issue on voters minds behind.  Eventually it became so ingrained in the mindset of the campaign that public opinion began to shift and people began to call for something to be done.  

None of this would have happened without Elizabeth, pushing hard both publicly and behind the scenes to make sure the campaign drilled in the issue, health care, health care, health care, health care.  Her persistence and drive helped shape the national consciousness to the point that over the desires of the Chamber of Commerce, powerful health insurers and hundreds of millions of dollars spent against it would do little more than turn it into an imperfect form of major overhaul.  

This alone would be significant, but it merely stands alongside the other significant issues she (or she and John) stood almost alone in promoting to the public, most notably poverty, another pressing and often ignored issue that she and John tirelessly advocated.  This fit well with her personality as I experienced it, constantly reaching out to those who are not important, those who are on the margins, and those who toil, for the most part, thanklessly. 

So today, I am thankful for and I am remembering the life and work of Elizabeth Edwards, a decent and hardworking woman, tirelessly striving to improve the lives of those who needed help.  She was someone who did not mock the useful toil, nor hear with a disdainful smile the short and simple annals of the poor.  She and her service will be greatly missed.  May the peace of God be upon her. 

Give rest, O Christ, to thy servant with thy saints, where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting. -Book of Common Prayer, 499 

  

30 Days of Thanks, Day 3

Day 3: The Carolina RailHawks


In the United Kingdom, there is a stable Football League with four tiers.  Below that, there are several more tiers of non-league football, many teams of which are professional.  In the United States, however, below MLS lies turmoil.  D-2 and D-3 feature a stunning failure rate of roughly 75% and fans accept as a fact of life their team may not be around next season.  Beyond that, with the American franchise system you can even have your team yanked out from under you and moved halfway across the country where they can play in a beautiful city beautiful game beautiful beautiful club beautiful, (or something like that. We feel your pain Austin.)  It's a tenuous existence and the uncertainty of it all makes the relationship you build with your team all the more meaningful.

Sometimes, you even get to watch your team find brilliant end of the season form and against long odds clinch their conference and make a run to the League Championship Cup.


The first professional soccer game I ever watched (and the next several I saw after it) were the decorated Wilmington Hammerheads, my local team.  Like so many others, they eventually folded (they will however be reborn as a USL-PRO side in the upcoming season.)  This left me without a team until I moved to Raleigh and was able to get into our RailHawks.

While I enjoy American Football, odds are if you're reading this you know there's very little that gets me fired up, for better or worse, than soccer.  So many people have written far more beautifully than I could ever write about what makes the game great, and why it inflames such passion.  My senior thesis in college focused in large part on the role soccer played in the break-up of Yugoslavia and the fanning of the flames of ethnics tensions.  The flip to that is the epic story of the civil war in Cote D'Ivoire that ended in a cease fire because the Elephants made the World Cup.

But knowing academically how much soccer means to people is nothing compared to experiencing it yourself.  Watching our hometown guys go out and play their hearts out, week in and week out, grinding out a win, pulling out a heart stopping come back, or simply not giving up in a hopeless situation brings me more happiness than nearly anything else I can do on a summer evening.  Watching them beat a team like Montreal is enough to keep me in a great mood all week.

I'm no fool.  I know Tom Heinamann is no David Villa.  I know that Etienne Barbara is never going to be another Messi.  But I also know that I got more joy out of a last minute Heinamann blast into the upper corner to beat the impact and send our boys to the finals than I ever will out of any wonder goal Messi puts in.  I'll get more pleasure out of a Richardson first-touch-after-subbing-in goal than I will out of even the most stunning Nasri shot.  Because while I recognize and appreciate the brilliance that is regularly put on display in Camp Nou, Stade de France, Emirates or Old Trafford, those teams are not my team; the Railhawks are.

This past season we came up just short, losing in the championship to the Puerto Rico Islanders; we'd been the better team all season, but were outclassed at the end.  That's the way it goes, though, and next season, we're going to go out and beat Puerto Rico.  Then we're going to do everything we can to go back to the championship and bring home the first hardware in our team's history.

So to the RailHawks, thank you.  Thanks for the opportunity to watch quality soccer week in and week out.  Thanks for giving me the chance to watch players like Jozy Altidore score a goal (and then for coming back and getting a draw with Red Bull!) Thanks for all the good times, the great games, the passion, and the thrill of victory.  Most importantly, thank you for always playing with heart and dignity and thanks for always, always, always making our city, our region, and our state proud to call you our own.  You'll Never Fly Alone.

      Beating Montreal: So Easy A Caveman Can Do It! 

Seriously though, you're a bunch of thugs.  Go back to Canada.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 2

Having not had computer access today, I am thankful for my iPhone. This little wonder has gotten me through more tough scrapes than I can count, from being lost in unsavory parts to being bored out of my mind in more situations than I can count.

More importantly, it keeps me connected to the people I care most about in life, and of all the benefits of technology, that has to be the greatest. I know that my family, my girlfriend, and my #twitterfam are never more than a few clicks or button pushes away. And I love all of you!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

30 Days of Thanks

The campaign over, and my online communication now unfettered, I'm back to blogging and looking forward to writing some more again for fun. With Advent having started recently, and fresh of being made a Postulant for Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church, I'm taking an idea from a twitter friend and starting something called "30 days of thanks." Each day I will post something for which I am thankful. In these times, especially in the consumeristic run-up to Christmas, it does well to remember that giving thanks makes you happier. In addition, being recently unemployed and now job hunting (anyone have anything??), it won't hurt to keep my mind focused on positive things. Keep checking back, there will be new content every day, and in all likelihood some of the folks reading this will be mentioned from time to time. Now, with no further ado, here is day one!

1st Day of Thanks, Housing!
I'm writing this sitting on the couch with my absolutely delightful Boykin Spaniel (his article is coming), watching hockey on TV, soccer on the computer (Soccer's article is coming as well), and looking at an absolutely beautifully decorated Christmas tree across the room. Having this fantastic shelter is doubly nice as there is currently a heavy snowfall going on outside, an oddity for this time of year in central NC.

Our house is a couple of houses from a bus stop, and yesterday while Sarah was on the front porch making a Christmas wreath, a young kid, maybe 18 or 19, walked up in the 28 degree weather wearing just jeans and an oversize oxford shirt. He asked if he could come into the house since he'd been waiting for the bus for a while and had another 20 minutes in the freezing weather outside. Sarah offered him a jacket and came to get mine. For reasons both obvious and less apparent (we had a seeming attempted break in a few weeks ago at 5 am when she was home alone) she was understandably nervous.

I asked him if he wanted a drink or anything, and got him some water, and we all sat out on the porch for a bit. I talked with him some to pass the time and he mentioned that he was, as anyone should suspect at this point, mentally challenged and mentally ill. It also came out that he was on his way to check himself into the hospital for rehab (or possibly just a warm place to spend the night). His sister lives in Raleigh, but he doesn't have her number and doesn't speak with her and seemingly had nowhere to stay. In spite of this he was working on his GED and is trying to do the best he can with the lot he has been dealt in this life. Sadly, he is only one of the many living in the downtown area who don't know where they will be spending each night, or where their next meal is going to come from.

I feel like there are a couple of things I'm thankful for, and I'll list a couple of them here. I'm thankful we were able to do something to help this kid at all, he clearly needed it. I'm thankful I haven't had to face many of the challenges he has, and I'm particularly glad I'm not strung out on whatever it is from which he needed cleaning up.

But mostly, I'm thankful for my shelter, and that I'm not homeless. Especially in this season (both Advent/Christmas and winter) I'm glad that I am out of the elements, out of the cold, protected from the hazards of the streets, and able to stay warm and dry and safe no matter the weather. Beyond that, I'm grateful that my girlfriend has fantastic taste and know-how and our place is wonderfully decorated, even on a particularly tight budget. It's comfortable, welcoming, and very much a home. I can't imagine the stress, both mental and physical, of not knowing where you will be spending each night, and so today, with snow falling outside, and temperatures dipping to the low 20s, I give thanks for the home I am fortunate to have.