tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73991452009-11-11T23:05:39.636+03:00all kinds of time...A rock. Me. A hard place.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.comBlogger658125http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/fb_pwrd.gifThis is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-71435648872648491212009-11-11T08:51:00.002+03:002009-11-11T09:20:18.608+03:00John Allen Muhammad, the mastermind behind the sniper attacks that left 10 dead, was executed Tuesday.On CNN both last night - before his execution, and this morning - after, the reporter told us both that he would, and then did, pay for the lives he took, with his own. She used almost the exact same words both times, in the future tense and then in the past. It struck me both times: how is that Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com0http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/11/john-allen-muhammad-mastermind-behind.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-24562688773684075612009-11-02T18:11:00.000+03:002009-11-03T12:09:47.512+03:00I'm in Korogwe, which is here.I'm pretty sure I've found the only internet shack in this tiny no-stoplight town. We're about 4 hours east of Arusha, on our way to Dar Es Salaam in the morning. In Tanzania, for those keeping score. I drove my truck from Nairobi to Arusha for about 4 weeks of work with our National Office here, which is based in Arusha. After 2 weeks at the NO, we're now headed outDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com1http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/11/im-in-korogwe-which-is-here.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-11078994744112035542009-10-04T15:07:00.004+03:002009-10-04T21:20:25.481+03:00My church has been working through a series on relationships lately, the past few weeks have been focused on things like attraction and dating, courtship and intimacy (missed that week when I was out at Naivasha), sex, and today they were due to move into marriage, but they threw a curveball.When it came time for the sermon, the same pastor and wife who last week talked on sex (a talk in which, Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com2http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-church-has-been-working-through.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-9022860718679367232009-09-27T15:04:00.002+03:002009-09-27T15:13:29.387+03:00Lazy Sunday afternoon for a change and I'm finally writing...also for a change. Only really 2 things...1. A while back I wrote about Don Dawson, the guy who left his life in the US to go search for his brother who had gone missing in action in Vietnam. I turned up a good deal more than I originally thought I would, including having a commenter offer to send me an original copy of the actual Life Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com2http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/09/lazy-sunday-afternoon-for-change-and-im.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-861873427177467312009-09-16T21:34:00.002+03:002009-09-16T21:42:41.525+03:00If the blog looks a bit different, that's because it is. Blogger made some overhauls to their user interface for blog formatting, which as far as I can tell adds significant levels of coding on the back end that make it less likely that I'm finally going to figure out all the HTML and CSS anytime in the near future. Which makes it less likely that I'm going to get around to getting my own site upDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com1http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/09/if-blog-looks-bit-different-thats.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-39693419670657613902009-09-11T15:12:00.002+03:002009-09-11T15:37:28.635+03:00As the fireman said:Don't book a room over the fifth floorin any hotel in New York.They have ladders that will reach furtherbut no one will climb them.As the New York Times said:The elevator always seeks outthe floor of the fireand automatically opensand won't shut.These are the warningsthat you must forgetif you're climbing out of yourself.If you're going to smash into the sky.Many times I've Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com2http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/09/as-fireman-said-dont-book-room-over.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-75412841312675811612009-09-03T16:10:00.002+03:002009-09-03T16:17:57.574+03:00A friend writing about the Sabbath reminded me of this article today. I like the end of it in particular:Whenever I dream of living in a society with a greater respect for its Sabbatarian past -- a fantasy I entertain only with anxiety, since Sabbatarians have a long history of going too far -- I think of something two rabbis said. Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague, best known for his tales of the golemDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com1http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/09/friend-writing-about-sabbath-reminded.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-45917145492944271772009-08-27T15:55:00.001+03:002009-09-02T19:58:49.527+03:00Well, Haiti's going to be over before I finally get around to writing about it, so it's high time I get around to writing about it. I'm just going to go semi-chronological-probably-mostly-stream-of-consciousness on this one and see where we end up.Flew here on a Sunday morning from NYC. Lunch in the hotel, and I realized I was once again eating salad in the third world again. Can't trust the Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com2http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/08/well-haitis-going-to-be-over-before-i.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-5066681040338422872009-08-07T06:42:00.003+03:002009-08-07T07:21:16.579+03:00Vacation blogging.First off, there's a thing about my blogging. I fell behind in emails with more than a couple people recently, and as I've been trying to get around to telling them all - my blog has become something of a barometer of my free time / ability to have a personal life. Like, if I say, end up randomly working in 4 countries in as many weeks, and only have maybe 6 nights actually in Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com4http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/08/vacation-blogging.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-75931165588035939012009-08-02T21:33:00.003+03:002009-08-02T21:59:43.153+03:00Early on in the (rather excellent) movie Fight Club, Edward Norton's character meets Brad Pitt's character (well, so to speak), and they have a brief exchange whilst sitting next to each other on the airplane they're on. Ed tells Brad about his "single-serving friend" idea - how he meets people on airplanes and considers them "single-serving friends" just like the single-serving of butter they Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com1http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/08/early-on-in-rather-excellent-movie.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-72313525150783135782009-07-26T21:39:00.001+03:002009-07-26T21:40:10.372+03:00A year in review.365 days ago I turned 30, on my own, in Ghana.Then in August, I climbed Kilimanjaro, also on my own (kinda). And then I met up with my church's youth group for our missions trip to an AIDS orphanage in Jinja, Uganda. Then I was back in NYC finding an apartment with Dave.The fall was somewhat uneventful - I went back to Cali for Margy's wedding, and spent the rest of it mostly in Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com2http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/07/year-in-review.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-26932249880067612932009-07-09T19:16:00.001+03:002009-07-09T19:17:08.454+03:00Fourth party was off the hook, and despite our shenanigans I somehow didn't end up in jail. Fireworks are readily available in Nairobi because there's a large Indian population that has at least one holiday per year that they celebrate with fireworks (apparently there's another one where they throw paint at each other). So Saturday morning, after a quick brunch, Aaron and I hit up the fireworks Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com1http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/07/fourth-party-was-off-hook-and-despite.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-11908878276744869282009-07-03T12:29:00.003+03:002009-07-03T12:42:17.005+03:00I clearly derive far too much enjoyment out of writing party-invite emails:My fellow Frisbeetarians, Countrymen, et. al. -(please note you can read the important parts of this invitation in fast-forward by simply reading only the bold parts.)Please note that we far-flung Americans will be celebrating our liberation from our erstwhile tyrannical British overlords, this Saturday in my modest back Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com2http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-clearly-derive-far-too-much-enjoyment.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-54427830217240764822009-07-02T18:20:00.000+03:002009-07-02T18:21:00.292+03:00I was driving with my children to my wife's funeral where I was to preach the sermon. As we came into one small town there strode down in front of us a truck that came to stop before a red light. It was the biggest truck I ever saw in my life, and the sun was shining on it at just the right angle that took its shadow and spread it across the snow on the field beside it. As the shadow covered thatDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com0http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-was-driving-with-my-children-to-my.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-32498385405046637542009-07-01T18:24:00.001+03:002009-07-01T18:31:48.286+03:00It is now time to talk about the bad day.The best worst day of my life (so far, I think) happened in college. I remember it pretty clearly. In fact, most of the stories I remember pretty clearly happened in college. I don't remember a lot before that very clearly, for various reasons, but that's a story for another time, or perhaps not.It was the second half of my junior year and I was rooming Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com2http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2008/07/best-worst-day-of-my-life-so-far-i.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-45266054763561158742009-06-18T16:23:00.000+03:002009-06-18T16:23:45.202+03:00My alma mater runs an alumni update magazine type-thing that recently included a story on my work here in Africa, with a link to my blog, which may or may not have been a good idea. Let's call it a neutral one. I've just never felt very comfortable about promoting it in any fashion.Anyway, if that's how you came to be reading this, you may be interested in my fairly recent post on what I'm doing Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com1http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-alma-mater-runs-alumni-update.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-45371633902879329452009-06-17T20:17:00.002+03:002009-06-18T12:17:06.099+03:00It is now time to talk about the bananas.When I was a kid, all the way up until I was 14 or maybe 15, I was pretty indifferent about bananas. Something happened, though, right around that age, that forever changed how bananas taste for me, and I have, since that day, hated bananas with a particular passion (only one other food shares that honor: eggs - but even those I eat occasionally in an Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com2http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/06/it-is-now-time-to-talk-about-bananas.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-3182365935919440872009-06-15T18:20:00.001+03:002009-06-15T18:22:28.272+03:00(Copy/pasted and slightly edited from a chat I had on gmail today because yeah, that's all I've got in me at the moment. I'm sick again, feeling completely drained, hopefully Jonny doesn't catch it. Also, disclaimer for Mom - everyone is fine now, except for me being sick.)so jonny stayed up into the middle of the night last night doing whatever it is he does, and threw a last load of laundry Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com2http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/06/copypasted-and-slightly-edited-from.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-53427823928748855242009-05-28T23:43:00.001+03:002009-05-29T08:48:23.992+03:00Sundays are the best. I should really get more work done on Saturdays, but lately I've woken up so tired that I get little done, and if anything its pressing, immediate matters (a months overdue haircut, refilling the drinking water bottles when there's none left, etc.). So the only bad part of Sunday is that I'm behind on work and I always tell myself that I'll get it done in the afternoon sinceDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com2http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/05/sundays-are-best.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-82527398519135187392009-05-23T15:10:00.001+03:002009-05-23T15:10:42.280+03:00It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain-blanched face.He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming andDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com4http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/05/it-was-at-church-service-in-munich-that.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-38036750886084037962009-05-21T19:57:00.000+03:002009-05-21T19:59:31.759+03:00Well. Today was interesting.I went to Kibera, the biggest slum in all of Africa.For a court date, where I was found guilty in a real live Kenyan court. Of driving with a break-light out, for which I was apprehended yesterday.Here's the thing: in Africa, when it comes to dealing with law enforcement, there is the easy way, and there is the hard way. The easy way is to give them money and leave, Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com3http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/05/well.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-78342777902211910982009-05-21T02:35:00.000+03:002009-05-21T14:49:02.995+03:00Something spurred me to look something up on my blog yesterday and that made me realize how long its been since I last wrote - it hasn't been often since I started this thing that I actually missed a whole month, but I managed to do it again.It has been straight crazy - non-stop - since I hit the ground here in January. I've worked in 5 countries so far (including here in Kenya), 2 of which - Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com2http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/05/something-spurred-me-to-look-something.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-5414435399026626762009-03-27T15:55:00.003+03:002009-03-27T16:29:45.947+03:00A bit about what I'm doing in Africa. Prepare yourself for some acronyms.I am now with World Vision International (WVI, or WV for short), the largest non-governmental organization (NGO) doing humanitarian work on this continent (based on spend. I think its World Food Program - WFP, World Health Organization - WHO, and UNICEF - all 3 of which are public orgs - who are bigger). WV is:...a ChristianDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com3http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/03/bit-about-what-im-doing-in-africa.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-65725919514972906622009-02-26T13:38:00.003+03:002009-03-27T16:40:51.244+03:00This is awesome, its ESPN's top 4 players from each team in the American League, and they pick Billy Beane, even though he hardly even played for them, citing his incredible contributions off the field as the General Manager. The explanation is priceless (literally, almost):Billy Beane? Over Rollie or Catfish or La Russa or Giambi or Eck? Yes. Since 2000, only two franchises have won more games Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com0http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/02/this-is-awesome-its-espns-top-4-players.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-14336924467365158862009-02-25T16:31:00.002+03:002009-02-25T16:38:15.686+03:00There's this brief 15 or maybe 20 minute window in the weekday afternoons here in the Westlands area of Nairobi where everything just slows down for a minute. The children leaving school across the street have all disappeared, and people aren't yet "knocking off" (as they say) from work. It usually starts right around 4:30pm, and it is glorious.Pretty soon the street will be covered in the Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320allkindsoftime@gmail.com1http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2009/02/theres-this-brief-15-or-maybe-20-minute.html