More in Common than Football

A few of you know that I went to high school with Matt Light who is the left tackle for the New England Patriots. I even had his mother as a music teacher during elementary school.

Matt has a foundation that works to empower young people. Click here to check it out.

The foundation has put together a film called Stands Alone Warrior that takes 4 young men from an East Coast urban setting and 4 young men from a Cheyenne Indian Reservation and places them in an outdoor setting in Montana to work on their development as men. It looks rather interesting and one to check out if you are interested in initiation practices and masculine spirituality.

You can watch the trailer below.

Bill Maher Documentary

Getting Roles Reversed

I saw an article on Yahoo this morning that said what I've been thinking for some time now. After hearing Gov. Palin last night (and not being impressed) the article talks about how she sees what we're doing in Iraq as "a task from God."

The quote comes from a spokesman from Americans United for Separation of Church and State:

I miss the days when pastors delivered sermons and politicians delivered political speeches," he said. "The United States is increasingly diverse religiously. The job of a president is to unify all those different people and bring them together around policy goals, not to act as a kind of national pastor and bring people to God.

I agree wholeheartedly and it looks as though Gov. Palin is continuing that line of thinking that we've seen in the Bush Administration.

A Boy and his Dog

As of Sunday evening we now have a dog. She is a 9 year old Cairn Terrier named Muffin. She has been nothing but a good girl since we got her.

The back story for this event.

My wife and I have been looking for a dog ever since we moved out to Illinois. I am a fan of Huskies/Malamutes, German Shepherds, Beagles and Schnauzers. My wife is a huge Labrador Retriever, Dachshund, Jack Russells and Pug lover. We couldn't settle on what kind of dog we wanted and had some potentials not come thru.

We found out about Muffin thru some friends whose Uncle was going to be moving into a retirement community and couldn't keep her. The offer was there we just weren't sure.

Saturday afternoon I had a revelation. I had a dog growing up named Buttons and he was a mix of Lhasa Apso and terrier. We never knew exactly what kind of terrier until then. When our friend said Cairn Terrier I wasn't certain what the breed looked like so I googled it and I found Buttons!

The numbers game: We got Buttons in 1988 and had to get rid of him in 1999 when my folks divorced so he was 11 years old. I have not had a dog since then... 9 years. Muffin was born about the same time as we gave Buttons away and she looks just like him (especially in the face).

The revelation was this: you have a chance to finish with Muffin what you didn't with Buttons. The process feels like a continuation... and my wife and I will love Muffin for the rest of her life (be it a year from now or 6 years).