Here's a meme. I don't know why; but Eric at Heart of a Pastor says here's a meme
--The rules for the meme are:
--Link to the person who tagged you.
--Post the rules on your blog.
--Share six non important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
--Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
--Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
1) I like to dress warm and keep a cool house. My beloved likes to have it the other way arround.
2) I prefer plastic bags to paper now that I have a dog. We go through a lot of bags
3) I like to listen to the fan sports talk radio. PA and Dubay are a hoot from 9 - noon Mon-Fri
4) I prefer cotton or wool socks no synthetics
5) I listen to public radio in the shower
6) I like to have a big tape measure on my hip when I go to lumber yards and home improvements centers (this embarrasses my beloved greatly)
now I'd like to here back from faith in community, Dave at Here I stand, Law and Gospel the Lutheran Husker and pa rum pum pum pum (a comentor without a blog who can just leave a response in a comment here any time)

A first video

Good Evening
2 notes
1) I ran into an old friend, Greg O, the pastor responsible for my nickname, Unlikely. It was great to see him and hear updates on his 2 boys and their very busy home.

2) After video taping my kids for 4 plus years and watching plenty of other videos that others have produced I've decided that I'd take a stab at producing videos. This is my first video production unless you count 3rd grade.

Why I love winter, a dad's perspective on Minnesota. from Unlikely Conversation on Vimeo.
I'll be posting all my videos on Vimeo. Please check it out.

a mokki -- a place of one's own

It's been a little noisy in the house today. We're face to face with two very determined 4 year olds who are insistent that they are in charge; but for at least 14 years they can't be in charge if our house is to survive.

It's noisy enough at times to make me yearn for a place of my own. And then in that moment I saw a story about a man, a great living American who strikes out and has a carpenter build a little space for himself (complete with bathroom, kitchenette, and DSL) while telling his wive he's building a storage shed in the back yard of their Arkansas home. The New York Times Home and Garden section, published February 21, 2008, details his exploits. Philip Besonen, who wrote of his own secret efforts, explains simply...

I wanted to build a cottage in our backyard. The problem was my wife. I had to do it before she noticed.

I don't know quite why I'm so jealous. A buddy in Fargo has a little shed in his backyard that's mostly forgotten, but this cottage, modeled on a Finnish Mokkis (pronounced like hokey) built right under the nose of his wife without her catching on at all has really gotten my imagination running. Who knows--maybe I'll build one of my own some day. There's a great picture of a mokki on Wikipedia. for now it's just kind of neat to see one man pull of such an accomplishment without his wife figuring it out until the very end.

pike attacks man

here's another great video for guys who like to fish, a pike attacks a man. Its a little gruesome but it'll make you think twice about taking a hook out of a pick casually to release it.

Trout season's coming...

It's winter time and aside from skiing with the dog, sledding with the girls, and running with the dog (on mornings my wife has to get to work early or Sunday when I have to get to work early), I'm all out of my usual outdoor pass times.

To put it plainly, trout and pheasant aren't in season and I haven't got the time to really get into skiing this winter enough to train for any races. Last night a local fishing addict/guru told me about the new patterns he's tied this winter. I guess I'm not the only one thinking about fishing and trout. Maybe I'll have to try the winter catch and release trout season this year, who knows.


This Friday was a great time to go inside. I was in Minneapolis with my girls and my folks at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. We saw some great art, I'd especially recommend Albert Bickle's Telegraph Operator, Dega's Portrait of a Little Girl, Signac's Blessing of the Tuna Fleet. and Monet's Pheasants and Plovers .


Tonight in anticipation of the annual Mother's Day Weekend Trouter I started to look up trout streams on Google Earth and stumbled upon a video of winter trout fishing in Minnesota. Many favorite spots were washed out last year in the floods. This video is from Youtube of fishing last winter in the area. I just hope it comes back as good I remember it.

A bibliographic game

Here are the rules for the a fun game for bibliophiles or students in libraries. I got this from dave.

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (No cheating!)

Find Page 123.

Find the first 5 sentences.

Post the next 3 sentences.

Tag 5 people.

I bit on this challenge

Martin Marty BY WAY OF RESPONSE page 123

"Toward the mid sixties blacks were in the process of determining the direction of their movement. I could see a diminished role for white leadership even in the black or integrated congregations I had served in student days a decade before. And when housing came to be a central issue we Martys were compromised because of where we lived."

Tom Who? What does scientology mean?

A celebrity offers his views for new members of the church of Scientology. Usually I don't care about celebrities. Sad thing is I do care about free speech and the church has done some pretty strong things to squash this video's presence on the web; but one website says they won't hide this video, Gawker.

I found the video hard to follow. Cruise uses a lot of initials and jargon that don't mean much to me at the outset. He seems very enthusiastic telling people that he has no space for spectators in the stands; humans need to get out on the playing field and telling people that he won't hesitate to put his ethics into other people's lives. He claims scientologists are the authorities who can help.

What I did understand is that Cruise believes humans can create new realities and that Scientologists are "the only people who can help when they see a car accident." New Agers have shared the same principle pretty much consistently since the Tower of Babel. The world is rough now, but if we all pull together in some new order we can make it better. Sin, death, and the devil are our real enemies and humanity in all its striving will never conquer them.

Quiz what kind of theologian are you?

There's a great quiz to identify some of your key theological leanings based on comparing views to some of the greats of theological thought.

Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Anselm 100% Martin Luther 93% Jürgen Moltmann 87% John Calvin 80% Friedrich Schleiermacher 73% Augustine 73% Karl Barth 67% Jonathan Edwards 53% Charles Finney 40% Paul Tillich 27%

I related most to Anslem.

Yep I did Caucus Tuesday

Well I did it.
I caucused on Tuesday.
I'd expected my beloved to go along too, but it was just me and the short people who live with us. The choral group she sings with had rehearsal and she felt she needed to sing more that participate in the Democratic process. My initial plan had just been to cancel out her vote. But without her going I felt the freedom to pick the best candidate on the list.

I went to the Democratic caucus and I hemmed and hawed. There were several on the ballot who dropped out a month ago after Iowa and two more who dropped out in the last couple of weeks. Living so close to Iowa we've seen TV ads and heard radio commentary and ads about many who weren't a factor in this years election at all. Having read my fill about the candidates before Iowa I decided I wouldn't pick between the front runners. I picked Bill Richardson. I know he's suspended his campaign; but I liked him best over a month ago and I still liked him best of all the candidates on my caucus ballot this week.

My wife says it was a wasted vote. A good friend who talks politics with me ever couple weeks agreed with her adding, "he's a statesman, just like Lieberman and they never get elected." But hey I can vote in a caucus for the person I think has the will to govern.

Dog on a treadmill

To all other dog lovers who get up early and run with the pooch I invite you to watch one well trained dog running on a tread mill.
My dog & the treadmill (HV20 test 1) from Chodite on Vimeo.
It sure makes sense if you don't want to run along with the dog.

Fastest Car Cleaning ever

Yep, winter is here. One man sped up car cleaning on video.

Snow Removal Time-Lapse HD from probe3 - Mark Wisniowski on Vimeo.
I wish I could do it that fast in real time. It would be awesome; but then again shoveling 8 times faster would be even better.