Category Random/Rant

Festivus for the Rest of Us

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

A classic Seinfeld episode

A classic Seinfeld episode

Here is a link to a very funny, yet sad, story about my fellow Washingtonians.

The show, Seinfeld, is one of my favorite TV series of all time.  In fact, “The Strike” is one of the best shows on that series.  It is the one in which we discover George Costanza and family celebrate Festivus.  Some other highlights from that show: The Human Fund, Kramer working at a bagel shop and Elaine trying to get her stamp card for a bad sub shop back.  Anyway, the gist of the article… in an attempt to be politically correct, the state gov’t of Washington is allowing Festivus to be displayed at the capitol as well.  Hilarious and sad at the same time.

Grace,
Brian

One Sentence Random Snip-its From My Life

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Thought I’d try something new and possibly fun with the blog today.  Since text messaging is the rave and seeing as how some of my posts (okay, almost all of the) the 162 characters allowed in text messages, I thought I’d update you on some things about my life with one sentence updates (and some visual enhancements).  Enjoy.

  • To save cash, I’ve been drinking only drip coffees with Sugar Free Hazelnut (instead of lattes and such).
  • Whenever our daughters do anything funny they ask, “Are you going to blog that?”
  • My fantasy basketball team is 7-5 for the season, tied for 5th place (out of 12).
  • This is my 158th post on this blog, I’ve had over 10,000 visits from folk like you.
  • I’m looking forward to a Lifeboat reunion this Sunday with my class of 2008 LB guys.
  • My current favorite at home beverage is Cherry Coke Zero
  • A few new things entering the Youthmark radar screen have me prayerful/expectant/excited.
  • I think that Facebook is ultimately going to be a great personal evangelism conduit as it has put me back in touch with many of my old friends who knew me before I trusted Christ.
  • My immediate at home “to do” list: assemble a bookshelf, fix all three toilets (they all need new inside stuff) and put away Christmas boxes for the next few weeks.
  • I’m reading John Grisham’s book, “The Appeal” for enjoyment reading.
  • Halle lost another tooth this week.
  • My last phone call with Barry St. Clair (mentor) was our best phone convo yet.
  • Excited to share at the main services at Calvary Chapel South this Sunday (they are doing a YMV).
  • Reading 1 John again for my own personal study; great stuff.

Hope you enjoyed the Snip-its.  I’ll try this again sometime.

Grace,
Brian

Church Search

Brian Aaby 2 Comments

Since July the Aaby family has been doing our “church search,” looking for the place we will eventually call our church home.  Perhaps one of these days I’ll blog about the search, but today, I wanted to keep things a little lighter. 

First impressions are always important for a church; Elisabeth and I always debrief after the service and talk about everything from how we were greeted to the sermon, worship and everything else.  So, that very first impression, to us, is an important element.  In some of the churches we have been to we have been greeted well, in others, we were pretty much ignored.  Unfortunately (because I would crack up laughing), we have yet to meet this guy:

Grace,
Brian

First Experiences

Brian Aaby 4 Comments

Yes, I’m 35 and until yesterday I had never experience Thai food.  Man, they love peanut stuff don’t they?  

We were up in Bellingham for the beginning of our weekend.  One of my former C-Group (FEPC Small Group) members, David, wed his sweetheart, Natalie.  I was in the wedding.  It had been a long time since I had been in a wedding and not been just attending or officiating the wedding. I even remembered how to put on a tux!

After the rehearsal, we joined the crowd at the Thai restaurant for the Rehearsal Dinner (never knew why we had to rehearse dinner?).  Thai food, interesting choice, seemed a little trendy or something, because there was a huge group of college students (not with us) enjoying in as a large party, and then all the college age folk in the wedding seemed to really know what they were doing.  I just sat there trying to figure out what ingredients were in each dish (but it was a guarantee that there was some sort of nut).

When all was said and done, I decided I would be willing to do it again, and would even be excited about a couple of the dishes!  

On a side note:  My girls LOVED the rice (that was all they ate, but they did love the rice).

On a different side note: Be proud mom and dad, I tried something new (I normally turned up my nose to new foods growing up).

Congrats to David and Natalie (this means about half of my 2001 Graduating Class C-Group is married now).

Grace,
Brian

Stamina

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

Should one really get tired emptying the dishwasher?

Should you really feel like you need a nap after running a quick errand to the grocery store?

Does the thought of getting up to find the remote to change the channel motivate you enough to turn over and sleep for another hour?

Honestly, should I feel winded having walked up one flight of stairs?

 

My last 3 days.

My last 3 days.

Yes, I am whining.  The last three days have been a whole lot of nothingness.  This cold really got the best of me.  The only two things I could taste on Thanksgiving was the saltiness of the turkey and the nice flavor a good merlot.  

 

It’s nice to feel some more energy today, however, the “to do” list is motivating me to go take another nap!

Grace,
Brian

Thanksgiving Poll

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

I often do “opening questions” when leading a small group (seems to break the ice well), and this or a version of the poll below always seems to create good controversy!  Give me your vote and don’t hesitate to comment with your strong opinion as well!

Grace,

Brian

Back At It

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I’m looking forward to sharing about our Youth Leader and Spouse Retreat to downtown Seattle.  I’ll be sure to post some pictures and some thoughts.  It was a great couple of days but with much small detail work to do before, during and after, I have not been able to post.  Thanks for the grace (for those who are regulars to the blog).

Thanks to my wonderful bride I was able to sleep in this morning until at least 8:00 AM!  This after having fallen asleep on the couch around 9:30 PM (and going to bed at 10:00).  Ahhh, rest!

I’ll get back on here later and post about the retreat and the latest stuff!

Grace,
Brian

New Network

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

Several weeks ago I posted about the breakfast Youthmark was hosting.  I advertised and invited any Youth Pastor in the Kent/Renton area to be a part of this gathering.  I tried to make myself clear that I was using this time to  (A) promote Youthmark Mission Ventures and (B) talk about networking for the Kent/Renton area.  This has been a tough line to toe, I really want networking to succeed, but I could see trying to do both could be something that created blurry lines… I have really tried to not be “sales-y” in network settings and I think most have been appreciative of that.

The breakfast was a lot of fun and we had a pretty good turn out.

During the breakfast I asked the youth leaders to fill out a brief survey letting me know when their best and not best times were to have a regular network meeting (because nothing is currently happening as far as networking goes in the Kent/Renton area).  

Thursday, November 6, 2008 marked the launch of the Kent and Renton network.  Good turn out yesterday at Round Table Pizza in Kent.  

Though most of my fall has been spent on Youthmark Missions stuff, I have also made it a priority to see better networking take place.  It’s pretty cool that in the last three months we’ve seen three new networks begin!  

Grace,
Brian

Voting

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Elisabeth and I were just too undecided, so we let Halle and Audrey fill out our absentee ballots…

Growing up fast, but not that fast!

Growing up fast, but not that fast!

… I’m kidding of course (we’re VERY decided and we did our own ballots)!  Don’t forget to vote (that is, if you’re 18, ha!).

Grace,
Brian