Josh Schroeder

He's Right, You Know

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 06:39:00 +0000

Portage Mayor Ken Jahn says the proposed tourism billboard would be a big waste of money. I totally agree.

Meanwhile, my offer still stands.

Portage, WI to Rent a Billboard for Tourism

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 22:19:00 +0000

I'm not going to say this is a bad idea, but it probably is. Allow me to ask some very specific questions.

Who has visited Portage, WI since 2007? What were their reasons for coming to town? Why did they want to go to Portage?

What does Portage have to offer that other cities do not?

What would the billboard say? "Visit Portage, next exit?"

Are we trying to draw attention to what Portage has OR are we trying to strategically target the certain individuals, families, and organizations who want the specific things Portage has to offer?

What is the expected return on investment (ROI) on this billboard? In real dollars, how much money do you expect to be generated as a result of this billboard (at a minimum)? If you can't measure it, you shouldn't do it.

A lot of people will drive past the billboard who don't care about what the billboard says. We are trained to ignore billboards. My worry is that the Tourism Promotion Committee is doing this because "it's what you do" but they haven't fully thought it through. You have to be strategic. You have to think like likely customers. Who is the target audience for this billboard. If the answer starts with "Anyone who..." it's a lost cause. Get specific! Get niche! A broad, general, not very specific, unmemorable, ignorable billboard will bring little to no business and represent nothing more than money poorly spent.

What I'm saying is this: I could be more effective for Portage tourism with less money. I could assemble a small team, do some DETAILED and SPECIFIC market research to identify people and organizations most likely to spend tourism dollars in Portage, and implement strategic methods of reaching out to those likely customers. Give me $75,000 total for a year, maybe even less, and I will bring much more business to Portage tourism than the billboard could.

Think anyone will take me up on it?

Luther's Vestry Prayer

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 08:16:00 +0000

Everyone is familiar with Luther's Sacristy Prayer. You'll likely find it in a pastor's office, the place that he suits up for worship, or in the room reserved for the altar guild.

But I have recently uncovered the long-lost Luther's Vestry Prayer. It's a rough translation from the German, but it goes something like this:

Dear Lord, how do you fold all this stuff?

On Soprano Saxophones

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 01:20:00 +0000

I've bumped up Soprano Saxophone to the top of my instrument wish list. Here's why: the hot jazz group were starting has more than a few numbers where clarinet would be my instrument of choice. I have a clarinet and am learning to play it, but I'm nowhere near ready to perform on it just yet. What a soprano sax would do it put me in the same general range as the clarinet but with an instrument I already know how to play from top to bottom (at least when it comes to knowing where the notes are on the instrument). Plus, my current tenor works and I'm figuring out how to squeak out the really high notes even without a high F-sharp key. So adding a soprano is more important than replacing a tenor.

I looked at a soprano sax today in a pawn shop. It's a brand name you've never heard of (made in China or Taiwan) not always known for its quality. But I went to check it out because the price was right IF it was a good horn.I already knew before going into the store that it was one of those two-neck horns, meaning that it comes with a straight neck or a curved neck depending on your preference. A "regular" soprano sax doesn't have a neck that you can change, it's just a part of the body (as opposed to alto, tenor, or baritone saxes which all have removable necks).

My first sign of trouble was the cork on the two necks (I only tested the straight neck). It was splitting at the seam at the bottom of the cork. I'm not a saxophone technician, but I had a guess as to why this was the case, and it has to do with how you tune a saxophone. Think about piano strings: the short strings play high notes and the long strings play low notes. On a saxophone, you can't adjust the body of the horn. The only way to "make the horn shorter or longer" is to adjust the mouthpiece. If you are too high, pull out the mouthpiece a little bit. If you are too low, push in the mouthpiece a little bit. And because soprano saxes are smaller than the others (alto, tenor, bari), you have much smaller margins for error. In my estimation, the mouthpiece needed to be jammed too far down the cork to play "in tune," and even that was a challenge because if the middle C was in tune, the G three steps lower was not in tune. If the G was in tune, the middle C was not.

Back to the necks and corks for a moment. It seems to me that if you have to jam the mouthpiece too far down the cork, it's going to put a lot of pressure on the cork, so I assume that's why it was splitting. And if the mouthpiece is that far down on the cork, it's going to be a little more labor intensive to remove it than if it is just snug. Furthermore, because the necks are removable, the only thing holding the neck onto the horn is the screw that tightens the body around the neck. If you try to pull a jammed mouthpiece off of such a horn, you're likely to pull the neck out of the horn instead of the mouthpiece off the cork. You don't want to do that. So you have to remove the neck first. Then you have a lot less leverage to work with. I got the mouthpiece off, but the wisdom in not having removable necks became apparent.

Bottom line, the intonation of the horn was not where I needed it to be, so I did not buy it.

Even though I left the house at 9:30 this morning and came back at 11:00 AM empty handed, it was a worthwhile trip. I swung by the music store in south county and picked up a couple soprano reeds (so I could test out the horn at the pawn shop) and I learned and / or confirmed precisely what I am looking for in a soprano saxophone. Even though I would like to have a playable soprano saxophone immediately, it is clear to me now that what will best suit my needs (and budget) is the Kessler Custom "Performance" Model 1 soprano sax.with the upgraded mouthpiece. So I'll have to practice clarinet all the more in the mean time, play more gigs for some money, and have a little saved up to get the Kessler.

-----------------------------

On a separate note, there are two music stores I frequent in the Saint Louis area: Saxquest and Nottelmann Music.

I would describe Saxquest as a saxophone website that also happens to have a brick and mortar store because a lot of their business is from across the country (and around the world). As you can imagine, they specialize in saxophones (though they have a few clarinets, flutes, and other instruments, the overwhelming majority of what they do is saxophone). Since I started playing sax in Saint Louis, I've had all my re-padding done at Saxquest.

Nottelmann Music is your go to place if you are in band at school. DO NOT TAKE THIS THE WRONG WAY. They certainly deal in instruments at the immediate and professional levels. It's not like they only cater to students and entry level equipment. But compared to Saxquest, which is a specialty shop, Nottelmann is a music general store, if you will. They have lots of stuff for brass, woodwinds, strings, percussion, etc. I purchased care kits for saxophone and clarinet there (everything you need to properly maintain your instruments like bell swabs, reed cases, key brushes, cleaning cloths, mouthpiece brushes, etc). They carry things that Saxquest does not (just like Saxquest carries things that Nottelmann does not).

The other thing I love about Nottelmann is that they sell Rico reeds (orange box) individually. This was perfect for the time I went to check out an alto saxophone at an estate sale, or the soprano I tested today. It's really handy to buy just one reed instead of a whole box of reeds.

Maybe Just Staying in Saint Louis

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 05:01:00 +0000

Sooooooooooo...

Seminary has not been going well for me, more or less since I started last summer.

As has been mentioned previously, I flunked Greek in the fall of 2009 and flunked Hebrew in the winter quarter. Then in the spring, despite these failures, I did take a few regular MDiv classes. Although I got an A in one of the three spring classes, the other two (which required significant paper writing) did not go well at all.

This quarter, Greek is also not going well at all (even though I did pass the Greek qualifier over the summer). I had a test last Thursday, and despite the fact that the passages we had to translate were ones we had done in class before, I couldn't do it. No way. I mean, I could pick out some words here and there enough to identify that, for example, this one passage is where Mary Magdalene on Easter Morning thinks Jesus is a gardener. As far as questions like parse this word, ha ha, yeah right. Or why did Paul choose to use this word and what does it mean? He chose that word because he knew Greek and it means he was smarter than I am.

And the other two classes I'm taking also require book reading and paper writing. Never mind the fact that I have next to no interest in reading most of these books (Becoming a Contagious Christian, for example), much less actually writing papers about the books. Yuck.

And it's not just that I'm not interested in the books. I have problems writing papers for books I DO enjoy reading! I've had problems writing papers since high school. Sometimes the papers get written, sometimes they don't. I can't explain it one way or the other.

"Well," some will say, "you know what you need to do, so just read the dang books and write the dang papers! Is that so hard?" The answer, is yes. I can't explain to you why it's hard. But I can tell you that it is related to my ADD and whatever other associated learning disabilities I have. "Oh you're just making excuses." Right.

"But you edit the student newspaper. How can you have organizational problems?" I can't explain it.

And what people without learning disabilities largely don't seem to understand is that those of us who are LD don't just need help, we need help getting help. Actually speaking to a psychiatrist on the phone (who would be covered under insurance) and setting up an appointment takes a lot more organization and effort than you realize. Because most of you developed organizational skills both as your brain developed and as you practiced those habits. More or less, it's something that just normally happens.

Except when it doesn't.

Welcome to my life.

Anyway, so needing help getting help. In other words, if your problem is disorganization (among other things), it requires no small amount of organization to get the help you need. This is like not knowing how to swim in the deep end of the pool, you call out for help, and the lifeguard says "Swim over here and I'll teach you how to swim." Does that make a little more sense?

I have been encouraged by many to just keep trying, stay the course, you'll get through it, everyone else sucks at Greek too, they're just better at hiding it, everyone has rough spots, etc. No, you don't understand. This hasn't been working from the beginning. There is a fundamental underlying problem that is affecting everything in my life. That problem is not being addressed. Let's do another analogy. I'm in a car race. My tires are all flat. No crew chief in his right mind would say "Just stay out there racing." No, you come in to the pit IMMEDIATELY and address the problem, even if it means taking the car off the track and into the garage area. This isn't a little tire adjustment that we'll just make whenever the next time I happen to make a pit stop.

So long story short, this is going to be my last quarter at Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis.

What now?

Well, because we live in the married housing on campus, we'll have to move out. How soon? We don't know yet. But if we stay past the end of the quarter, I'm sure we'll still have to pay rent. Either way, unless Alison enrolls in the deaconess program here, we're going to have to move. Alison isn't going to do that, just for the record.

Speaking of paying for things, we still have to make monthly payments on credit cards and whatnot. But if I'm not enrolled at least on a half-time basis at a higher education institution, I have to start paying back my student loans (well, there are a few other ways to defer, but generally speaking, the clock is ticking). And I thought our debt was bad when we got here; just wait until we leave!

So what is someone with a B.A. in Theology supposed to do? Well, because I graduated from Concordia University Wisconsin, and based on prior classes I took in undergrad, I am only four classes away from being on the Synod "church worker" roster as a Lay Minister. This term "lay minister" seems to be misunderstood in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Lay Ministers should NOT be doing Word and Sacrament ministry - that is, they are not to be doing that which is reserved for the Office of the Holy Ministry. Lay Ministers are not pastors and they should not function as pastors. A Lay Minister serves in an auxiliary office, and does things such as social ministry, family ministry, evangelism, missions, and parish education. Synod's screwed-up nomenclature aside, I see this as the Diaconate. Deacons are involved in the liturgy and in service in the church. I want to be a deacon.

At any rate, the Lay Ministry classes are all online, so I don't need to travel for it. And the classes are one at a time, so the load will not be great. AND, because I've taken many of the classes already, I'm not in a new class every eight weeks - I can take breaks when they're teaching the classes I already had in undergrad. Very manageable.

But not necessarily full time. I could start working tomorrow as a deacon (if someone hires me). I don't necessarily need to go back to school for it (as I already have a BA), but doing so would put me on the Synod's roster and make me eligible for a "call" whereas if I'm part time, I would probably be contracted. But being part time also allows me to continue to make money playing saxophone. I play with one band in the Saint Louis metro area, and not being at seminary would give me more opportunity to perform (and make money in the process).

There are some other income opportunities that are possible, but they would take some time to develop. But for the time being, I should be able to secure our finances as a saxophone-playing deacon.

And throwing off my seminary requirements and responsibilities will make it easier for me to get the help and treatment I need for my ADD. When we're on better financial footing and after a significant amount of diaconal experience, then I'll make another run at pastoral formation. But not right now. What I'm trying now isn't working. And we all know the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over but expecting different results.

Seminary life has become unmanageable and unsustainable. I need to get away, get things in order. Then, later on, we'll give it another go.

That's the plan for now.

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Excursus

I took a look at the Wellness Wheel the other day (or is it Wholeness Wheel?) and realized that while I am still baptized, my vocational (student vocation) is in horrible shape, the financial spoke is in horrible shape, I'm not physically unhealthy but I'm not getting enough sleep and I've put weight back on. Now, you're never going to be at 100% across the whole wheel, but things can get to a point where you need to make some changes. My wheel is not rolling anymore. I need a change of pace and focus on improving some of these areas before making another run at seminary.

Josh's Musical Instrument Wishlist

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 05:14:00 +0000

I currently own or have at my disposal three adequate (or better than adequate) musical instruments: the student tenor sax I've been playing since 1993 when I started fourth grade (Yamaha YTS-23 which was used when we bought it), a vintage alto saxophone that a friend owns, and my sister's Selmer Signet wooden clarinet. Here's what I would like to add to my arsenal, in this order:

#1
Professional Tenor Saxophone
Saxophone.com Brand Gold Lacquered Tenor Model TS-642L

#2
Student / Intermediate Soprano Saxophone
Kessler Custom "Performance" Model 1 Soprano Sax

#4
Xaphoon
C Pocket Sax

My thinking is this:

I want the tenor first because I am first and foremost a B-flat tenor saxophonist. The tenor is the backbone of the music that I play both for fun and profit. The main thing I'm looking for in a new horn is a High F-sharp key, an animal I didn't even know existed until a few months ago (I was never a serious sax player until I started getting paid to play gigs in Saint Louis - up until then I was just having fun solely in the context of grade school, high school, and a little jazz band in college). And while I could just spend $400 having a High F-sharp key added to my existing horn, I'd rather not alter the very first horn I've ever owned. Call it being emotional or sentimental, but apart from new pads and basic maintenance, I'd rather not modify my original horn and just keep it the way it is. The saxophone.com professional tenor is a top of the line horn produced in Taiwan in a town that has been manufacturing saxophones for over sixty years. I think they know what they're doing. And if I don't like the horn right away, I can return it.

I've never owned a soprano saxophone, and I've only ever blown out a few notes on a soprano owned by my high school. I'm going to be getting into some applications where a soprano sax and / or clarinet would be more appropriate than tenor, or even an alto. I'm in the process of learning clarinet (I started on Monday, October 18, 2010) and am making good progress, in part because I've been a sax player for so long. But the fingering is significantly different between saxophone and clarinet and it will be a while before I'm a performance-grade clarinet player. In the mean time, soprano sax fingering is exactly the same as other saxes, so it's just a matter of embouchure and finding the right sound (mouthpiece / reed / ligature setup). The specific soprano that I've listed above is in the student horn price range, but based on numerous reviews I've accessed online, it is an intermediate level bordering on professional horn. You can spend more money and get less horn compared to the Kessler Model 1.

The Xaphoon, based on YouTube videos, sounds like a soprano / clarinet hybrid. It uses tenor sax reeds, has a familiar, but not identical, fingering chart to what I'm used to. This is the lowest item on the list but also the easiest to come into possession of because the price is under one hundred dollars. I'd prefer to hold off on this because I want to focus on learning the clarinet and not be distracted with learning other instruments. So I won't buy this until I've got a good handle on clarinet.

There are a few reasons I'm going with new horns as opposed to finding good used horns:

You know what you're getting, namely a brand new horn of which you are the first and only owner.
Warranty if something goes wrong.
Price - high quality used horns will go for at least as much as I have listed above
Vintage horns cost more than the purchase price; you'll have to take it in for some kind of adjustments whether it's replacing pads, adjusting keys, fixing tone holes to stop leaks, etc. I'd rather have something reliable out of the box.

I was at an estate sale this weekend and saw a Bundy II alto saxophone. On Friday they wanted $150 for it and on Sunday they wanted $120 for it. The body looked to be in great shape (though the reed on it was a wreck) so I didn't play it to try it out. I went back Sunday because I knew if they hadn't sold it, they would reduce the price. I brought along my cleaning kit, cork grease, and my own reed and put some air through this horn. Turns out the octave key was sticking, notes on the high end and the low end were problematic, there was metal touching metal where corks need to be replaced. I don't own an alto mouthpiece, so I would have to buy a mouthpiece for it (one that comes with it is junk). The pads seemed to be in okay shape, but I don't know for sure. Also, the case is not in a condition, in my opinion, to withstand daily travel. I decided that even if they gave it to me for free, I could buy a brand new horn (either a cheap Asian horn) or a better used horn that would end up costing me less in the long run. I watch low-priced vintage horns on ebay and craigslist. If you're interested in a local horn on craigslist, at least you can try it before you buy it. On ebay, you're rolling the dice. Even if the seller lets you return it, that's a hassle you're better off avoiding in the first place.

Also, from what I understand, assuming the tone holes are cut correctly, you have good pads, and the neck and body are in good shape, what affects your sound the most is reed, mouthpiece and ligature. The horn itself, so long as it is up to general standards, is secondary to where the sound originates (the mouthpiece and your respiratory system). And buying quality vintage horns from reputable used horn dealers is (because you know what you're getting) not cheap. It's not expensive (depending on the horn), but it's not cheaper than buying the horns I've selected for my wanted list.

If I continue to play saxophone "professionally," that is, if people continue paying me to play saxophone and I improve as a musician, I will invest in a vintage horn here and there. But for the immediate future, these saxophones at these prices will best improve my current situation.

Did you notice I skipped Number Three?

You see, number three is the exception to the rule. Number three is a C Melody Saxophone. It is about the same size as a tenor, but it is in the key of C whereas the standard tenor sax is a B-flat instrument. This is helpful because on a standard tenor, when you play a C on the tenor saxophone, it's actually a B-flat on the piano. This can sometimes be a pain in the butt because some keys that are nice for guitar (such as E) are more difficult to play on the saxophone. The ideal situation is for a song to be in B-flat (for tenor and soprano) because the sax player doesn't have any sharps and flats. But you don't have to screw around with any of that when you have a C Melody Saxophone, because you don't have to transpose keys - a C is a C whether it's sax or piano. The problem is that almost every C Melody saxophone is vintage. They were made in the early 1900s, were rejected by the bands and orchestras of the day. And while there was some popularity among entry level and amateur musicians (and some pros), the C Melody saxophone pretty much died when the musical instrument industry was hampered by the Great Depression. So an inexpensive vintage C Melody saxophone (plus mouthpiece, reeds and case) on ebay or craigslist will be Number Three. Though the Xaphoon may come before Number Three. We'll see.

ALWAYS VOTE FOR TEH CONSERVATIVE!

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 07:53:00 +0000

Sorry, but I have to depart a little bit from Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin. And the thing is, a lot of you in Wisconsin will have to agree with me on this.

Limbaugh and Levin were out in force Monday and Tuesday saying vote for the conservative every time, and saying implicitly or explicitly to vote for Christine O'Donnell in the Delaware GOP U.S. Senate primary.

Four years ago, I voted in Wisconsin. Senator Herb Kohl was up for re-election, and there were rumors that Tommy Thompson might run against him. There were rumors that Glenn Grothman would run against him (in fact, I helped collect signatures for Glenn) but then Glenn chose not to run. You know who was our nominee that year, almost by default? Robert Gerald Lorge. Mr. Unelectable. Did you even know that he was running for Lt. Governor this year? He lost, in case you didn't know.

It's not that he's wrong on the issues. RGL believes in liberty, individual freedom and responsibility, limited government, the right to bear arms, family values, and whatnot. Without a doubt, the man is a political conservative. But there's just something about him (and the fact that he's always running for something, and that his brother the Elvis impersonator was a state legislator). His website doesn't change much from year to year. Everything about his campaigns are embarrassingly amateurish. And I don't mean amateurish in a grassroots rising up for the first time, I mean, severe lack of quality all around the board.And besides, Herb Kohl has more money than he knows what to do with. The party supported Lorge to the extent that he was on the ballot in November, but that was it. Robert Gerald Lorge would not be elected "most likely to run for office in 2012" because he just wouldn't get the votes he needed. He's conservative all the way, but there's just something about him that the Wisconsin electorate won't touch him. He's just one of those "in your guts, you know he's nuts" candidates, whether that's a fair characterization or not.

Can I tell you a secret? I didn't vote for Lorge in the general election in 2006. Just couldn't do it in good conscience. Kohl was going to win anyway, and Lorge was a disaster (remember the robocall He recorded to refute some obscure allegation that he had molested a three year old in 1986?) so I wrote in Glenn Grothman. Yeah, I threw away my vote in 2006 because I was confident Kohl would win (against my wishes), but the conservative in the race, Robert Gerald Lorge, fell well below minimum standards.

And I wasn't the only Republican in Wisconsin who didn't vote for him: Robert Gerald Lorge received less than 30% of the vote in Herb Kohl's re-election. Senator Kohl, by the way, received 67% of the vote. We know that there are good and legitimate reasons to not always vote for the conservative - there are such things as minimum standards. (I'm not done yet - read more below the fold!)

Now let's give Mr. Lorge here a little benefit of the doubt. He was Don Quixote running against Uncle Pennybags. What if this had been a primary race for an open seat? Would we support Lorge in the primary for an open U.S. Senate seat? Here's the answer: NO! BECAUSE EVEN IF HE WAS THE ONLY CONSERVATIVE IN THE RACE, HE'S UNELECTABLE. THIS IS UNQUESTIONABLY TRUE. The guy is just off. And I don't hesitate to say that in a race for an open U.S. Senate seat in Wisconsin, every conservative talk show host in the state would agree with me that we'd rather pick a less conservative, but more electable Republican over Lorge six ways til Sunday. Always vote for the conservative? Generally true, but we know better than to say ALWAYS.

Ok, so this isn't a 100% apples to apples comparison by my own admission, but just do this little exercise. when you hear someone say "always vote for the conservative" replace Christine O'Donnell with Robert Gerald Lorge. Or replace Robert Gerald Lorge with Christine O'Donnell.

I can't speak for the rest of you, but I was along the same thought patterns as Mark Hemingway, John Hawkins, and Patrick Ruffini. It's not a question of policy, because we don't disagree with constitutional, conservative positions. We're not establishment ruling-class blue-blooded country-club moderates who are embarrassed by Reagan conservatism. We're not out to get her because she's not "one of us elites." That's not it at all. My great hesitation to O'Donnell was similar to my Lorge hesitation in 2006. It's not the baseless "nuts or sluts" defense tactic to attack someone's credibility, and it's not just worried that she has some baggage (everyone has baggage). Flags were raised that she wasn't ready for prime time, that she made really bad staff choices, did she earn degrees or not, what is or isn't she or her campaign saying or not about this or that, she seemed to have problems telling the truth, etc. And I will always remember her as the naive token Christian on the panel of Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher on ABC (yes, she did always stick to her guns, FWIW). I just got the sense that something wasn't right about this campaign and this candidate. I was issued a Lorge Watch (not to be confused with a Lorge Warning, a Lorge Watch means "maybe" whereas the Lorge means "it's a sure thing").

And I won't hide what I said about her back in 2008 when she ran for US Senate against VP candidate Biden.

Here's what I'm trying to say: The message really matters, but so does the messenger. A bad messenger with a great message does have the capacity to do much more harm to the movement than good for the cause. And I got the sense that O'Donnell was not a Palin situation, or a Doug Hoffman situation, or a Rubio situation, or a Joe Miller situation. My fear is that it's a Robert Gerald Lorge situation. I hope I'm wrong. I hope the best for her, and I hope that she wins now that she has the nomination. By all means, go out there and get the US Senate in the right direction! Christine has earned the right to be that standard bearer. If she wins, I just hope that we will not, in the future, look back on DE primary day (or general election day) and regret that she won because she said or did something really stupid. I don't want that to happen.

Idealism does have to intersect with pragmatism at some point. We know ideas matter. And we know that ideas have consequences, especially the bad ones. And we need to turn this country around. Hopefully I'm exaggerating, but we have to turn it around now before it is too late. We need as much conservatism as we can get into Congress, that is for sure, but the clock is also ticking and the Senate balance of power looks to be really tight. If we don't take back the Senate, could the damage be irreversible by that point? Is it worth losing the country as we know it if we pick an ideological candidate who then goes on to lose and keeps us in the minority? Is it worth having a no-secret-about-it RINO win an election if it means saving the country from the brink? We can always elect more constitutional, conservative Senators in successive elections (handy how those six-year terms stagger elections), right?

Also, what happens if the Democrat wins in November in Delaware and the Republicans don't have enough seats to take back the Senate? Yeah, there's always the chance that someone (Mike Castle, etc) goes all Jim Jeffords or Arlen Specter on us. But if we don't take back the Senate, Obamacare will not be repealed, for example. Will we have moved the ball far enough if we are still in the minority in 2011? Just sayin'. (Sorry to go all Politics Of Fear on you there!)

Look, I'm no RINO fan, but "death to all RINO's" (I know I'm exaggerating) is not a healthy position to take.

And don't get me wrong - I was NEVER supportive of Mike Castle. If I lived in Delaware, I probably would have voted for O'Donnell given how close she was polling up to today, riding a big wave of momentum from the Miller win in Alaska and the Palin and DeMint endorsements. But I'd have to do that similar gut check when I was pondering Lorge in November of 2006. I'd have to decide if I thought something was off about her, to the point that it would be better that she wasn't the nominee this go around, and be upset that there wasn't someone better than Castle to have ran.

If she wins in November, maybe she'll have a successful Senate career and retire honorably at the time of her choosing. I certainly hope so! I just hope that something doesn't happen down the road that we kick ourselves for missing what we will look back on as obvious warning signs that popped up over the course of this campaign. That's the Lorge Watch.

So forgive some of us who "have a bad feeling about this."

Let us just hope for the best.

Here's hoping.

And you know that what I'm saying is true because I really don't have anything invested in this race, and I stayed up until three in the morning typing it out. And I don't live in Delaware. And I haven't been nearly as active in politics as I have been in years past (my blogging reflects this). For all the times to get sucked back into political blogging, what a time to get into it again. Well, at least the primary is over.

Speaking of primaries, what a great night in Wisconsin! Walker, Kleefisch, Johnson, and more. Good stuff. I have great hope this year for the state in which I was born.

UPDATE: Did Doug Hoffman just lose his primary in NY-23? If so, isn't this of greater concern to us? I mean, this is Doug Hoffman who beat out Scozzafava but lost the special election in that big race. Doug couldn't pull it off? This concerns me, and it's not helping my pessimism.

UPDATE II: Karl Rove's analysis less than objective? Ugh. I'm just glad I don't live in Delaware so that I don't have good reasons to worry about all of this.

WI 2010 Primary Day

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:45:00 +0000

Tomorrow is partisan primary day in Wisconsin. If I were voting in Columbia County (I'm voting in Missouri this year), here is how I would vote:

Governor: Scott Walker
Lt Governor: Rebecca Kleefisch
US Senate: Ron Johnson
Columbia County Sheriff: Brian Landers

I expect all of these candidates to win tomorrow, except for the Sheriff race. Don't be surprised if Sheriff Richards pulls it off. I find Landers more impressive, but I don't know if the voters in Columbia County feel the same way.

Any other Republican races worth mentioning?

"New LCMS president, officers installed"

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 21:26:00 +0000

Check it out:

The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod - New LCMS president, officers installed

On Burning the Qur'an

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:27:00 +0000

With a mighty hat tip to radio's Mark Reardon of WTMJ and KMOX fame...

I was against the pastor in Florida and his congregation threatening to burn the Qur'an on 9/11 until David Axelrod opened his mouth on the Today show:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here are Mark Reardon's tweets:

Axelrod on TODAY on Quran burning pastor said "the question isn't whether they have a right to do it, the question is whether it's right"

Isn't that the SAME exact issue with the Mosque? #hypocrisy

Brilliant!

Please do not misunderstand: I am still advocating NOT burning the Qur'an. But this pastor in Florida, whether he meant to or not, has demonstrated the most excellent example of illustrating absurdity by being absurd, and David Axelrod fell for it like the old earphones not plugged in trick. Point well made, sir.

Now, you're not actually going to burn the Qur'an on 9/11, right?

Beware: The Higher Education Bubble

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:38:00 +0000

Check out this must-read article from Michael Barone called The Higher Education Bubble. Here are the first two paragraphs:

Imagine that you have a product whose price tag for decades has risen faster than inflation. But people keep buying it because they’re told that it will make them wealthier in the long run. Then, suddenly, they find it doesn’t. Prices fall sharply, bankruptcies ensue, great institutions disappear.

Sound like the housing market? Yes, but it also sounds like what Glenn Reynolds, creator of instapundit.com, writing in the Washington Examiner, has called “the higher education bubble.”

The Glenn Reynolds piece is here, also a must-read. Here's a quote from his article:

College has gotten a lot more expensive. A recent Money magazine report notes: "After adjusting for financial aid, the amount families pay for college has skyrocketed 439 percent since 1982. ... Normal supply and demand can't begin to explain cost increases of this magnitude."

I'm a firm believer that there is a higher education bubble, and we MUST get out in front of this. And by "we," I am referring to the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod which owns and operates ten colleges and universities, including my alma mater Concordia University Wisconsin, and two seminaries (one of which I currently attend). We have been in higher education for over a century, but without the self-sustaining endowments lasting in perpetuity that other old universities have. Under current conditions, our schools will not thrive when the crash hits. Also take into account the educational debt load our church work students require to earn at least a bachelor's degree in order to be on Synod's roster (I'm thinking especially of our Lutheran dayschool teachers). Most are in at least five figures, if not six.

I firmly believe that the crash is not a "maybe it will, maybe it won't" scenario. It's only a matter of time. It's not if, it's when. We're talking the ugly, thin cows are eating the attractive, plump cows, and the thin ears are swallowing up the good ears. This is going to happen in higher education.

In the LCMS, not counting the Board for University Education and the Board for Pastoral Education (unless they got blown up in restructuring at convention this summer), we have 12 presidents and at least 120 Regents who govern our higher education institutions. Apart from maintaining our confessional Lutheran identity and whatnot, they must make preparing for the bursting of the higher education bubble a top priority. Maybe that means selling some of the schools now while they still fetch a decent price.

The bottom line is that we need to get out in front of this looming disaster. Fundamental shifts will drastically affect the landscape of higher education and we must be prepared. If we allow this crisis to catch us unprepared, the consequences will never be the same.

People with too much Time on their Hands

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:28:00 +0000

Here's a story in the Portage Daily Register about people playing "catch the pig" and people protesting said activity as an "animal rights violation." It's a story about people with too much time on their hands (on both sides).

Missouri Stops Printing the Blue Book

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 19:00:00 +0000

I'm actually going to disagree with the Missouri legislature and the Governor on this one.

[Governor Jay] Nixon said it does not make sense to continue paying to print the books when the information can be accessed online. The governor's office estimates the legislation will save about $1.7 million over two years. "The need and demand for paper copies was no longer there," Nixon said.

I know we have internet archives and whatnot, but it seems to me that the blue book, which contains a healthy amount of official information, ought to be printed and distributed across the state. It's a good current and historical record to have at libraries and schools. I mean to say it's good to have the physical copies and not just the information available online. What if the internet goes down? What if an EMP wipes out the file wherever it's stored, or whatever? What if they don't have PDF viewers in the future (or whatever format) and they can't access such files?

My point is that we know how to preserve information offline for the very long term. But online, I don't think we've thought everything through, yet. The Blue Book is too important to be online only.

300,000 Wisconsin Jobs by 2020

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:09:00 +0000

Wisconsin Governor candidate Mark Neumann spammed me a press release today about his plan to create 300,000 jobs by the year 2020 using "research triangles."

I like the specificity of this plan.

However, I'm skeptical. For one, assuming population growth over time, won't there be more jobs just because there is more people? Say a village grows in population and Culver's decides to open a shop in that village. So on one side, maybe this number wouldn't be so hard to hit? I don't know - I haven't analyzed the data.

On the other hand, do you think his plan will succeed? My first impression was rainbows, unicorns, pie in the sky and so forth. A Bermuda Triangle, if you will.

Maybe this isn't such a bad proposal. But even if it is, Mark Neumann has run a despicable campaign. I wouldn't vote for him, FWIW.

The Case of Two Lawyers with the Same Name

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:06:00 +0000

Many of my readers will remember the ordeal that was the Columbia County, Wisconsin, Sheriff's race back in 2006 in which Sheriff Rowe did not seek another term. Part of that situation was that the campaign manager for Dennis Richards was attorney Steven J. Sarbacker who is a lawyer in Portage, WI, had been arrested for drinking and driving.

What follows was only recently brought to my attention: It turns out that there is another lawyer in the United States by the name of Steven Sarbacker. However, he practices law in South Dakota. These are two separate people and they are not related to each other.

So don't think that the Steven J. Sarbacker in South Dakota is the guy who got picked up for driving under the influence. Compare the above two links. You will notice that the man in the Portage Daily Register is not the same man who is a partner with Cutler & Donahue in Sioux Falls, SD. The problem is that in the Internet / Google age, when you type Steven J Sarbacker into a search engine, it comes up with drunk driving results and if you're not paying attention, you will get these two individuals with the same name mixed up.

Now, I'm not going to delete my posts, because, well, the doings of the Wisconsin attorney are a matter of public record (he pled no contest to operating a motor vehicle with a prohibited blood alcohol content in October of 2006 - look it up on the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access website) and this incident had bearing on the Sheriff's race as he was a campaign manager for a candidate. I can't undo these events and I won't pretend that they didn't happen or that I didn't react to them at the time. That being said, I will make an effort with this post and with disclaimers in old posts that these two men are not to be mixed up for one another.

You've Probably Seen This

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:15:00 +0000

But you need to see it again. This drummer is awesome:

Three Republicans Running for Columbia County Sheriff

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 02:59:00 +0000

I didn't know that this was on the radar, but the Portage Daily Register is reporting that Detective Sgt. Dan Garrigan is running for Sheriff in Columbia County. Interesting. Interesting!

The first to throw his hat in the ring was Wisconsin Dells police officer Lieutenant Brian Landers. Then incumbent Dennis Richards announced he is seeking re-election. With this latest edition, that makes for a three-way primary. Interesting.

How does this affect Richards' chances? Remember that in a primary, you don't need to get more than half of the votes, you just need to get the most votes. With three candidates, you could win the party nomination with 33.4% of the vote. At first I was inclined to think that this would help Richards. If there are only two kinds of voters (pro or anti Richards), then Richards gets all the pro votes, and the anti-Richards votes are divided between the two candidates. But there is something else to take into account: back in 2006, when Deputy Richards first ran, he was the "Portage candidate" whereas the other candidates were lived elsewhere in the county. It's fair to say that some people supported Richards for this reason. So now in 2010, Garrigan is also a Portage native, so Richards no longer has a monopoly on that demographic.

So Columbia County voters have to make some decisions now. If you are an anti-Richards voter, you have to pick between two candidates. If you are "Portage candidate" voter, you have to pick between two candidates.

Garrigan's entrance is also interesting because, as the story in the PDR pointed out, he's running against his boss for his boss's job. Richards chalked this up to the fact that management in the department is young and there are few promotions to be gotten, save for the top job. I won't dispute the fact that running for sheriff is one of the few ways for a deputy to get a promotion. However, one does not usually take out papers just for the sake of a promotion. Anyone who seeks to unseat his boss is making a statement that he thinks he can do the job better. If you were fully satisfied with your boss's performance, you wouldn't take out papers to run against him. I don't say this to try and generate controversy or division within the department - my only point is that I question Richards' implication that Garrigan is only running because of the limited upward mobility withing the department.

This race might be too big for me to cover. I still owe Lt. Landers a phone call because I wanted to ask him about his campaign and do a write up. But a three-way primary? Given that I'm a full-time grad student living out of state, I don't know. My blog posts have been few and far between as it is.

Interesting, none the less. But let's keep an eye on it, shall we?

KFUO FM Sale Approved

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Thu, 06 May 2010 19:33:00 +0000

The FCC has approved the sale of KFUO FM. It's official now, I guess.

And if you look at the comments on the Post-Dispatch website, people are blaming the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

Remember, this decision was made by the LCMS Board of Directors. It was NOT made by the Synod in Convention. I contend that less than half of the congregations in the LCMS approve of this sale. I believe the Board of Directors has acted against the will of the Synod.

So on the one hand, the Synod didn't approve this sale. On the other hand, the entire 2-million plus member Synod is being faulted and blamed for the decision of a handful of individuals.

Thank you, LCMS Board of Directors, for running the entire Synod's name through the mud.

Gotta Brag

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Sun, 02 May 2010 05:27:00 +0000

Okay, so I had to brag about this. In the lower right corner of this screen capture from RushLimbaugh.com (from April 30) you will see a photoshop of President Obama as Moses from The Ten Commandments.

The reason I have to brag is that I did the same thing back in June of 2008 when Obama was just a U.S. Senator and a presidential candidate. But I didn't use photoshop, I just used the standard Paint program that comes with Windows.

Uecker Having Surgery

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 04:23:00 +0000

Just found out via twitter that Brewers legendary radio announcer Bob Uecker will be undergoing surgery and will miss 10-12 weeks while he recuperates. He will be greatly missed for the next few months but we look forward to his return in August.

By the way, I mentioned last summer that I would like to own a Uecker jersey. Such a uniform would run me one hundred dollars. I can't justify that expense in my current budget. But if anyone is willing to subsidize it (partially or fully), that would make the purchase more bearable. If interested in helping me out, let me know!

Anyway, prayers for Bob Uecker and the health care professionals who will be caring for him.

Do You Trust Him?

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:27:00 +0000

Congressman Bart Stupak has reached a deal with the White House. But can Stupak trust this guy to keep his end of the deal?

And how do the pro-abortion people feel about this deal? Just wondering.

This Thursday! Issues, Etc. Money Bomb!

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:20:00 +0000

The Money Bomb is this week! On Thursday, fans of Issues, Etc. from all across the country (and maybe even the world) will make donations in support of this great Lutheran ministry. The goal is to raise two thousand dollars on Thursday, March 18. We're suggesting that individuals make twenty dollar contributions, but give whatever amount with which you are comfortable.

And don't just give all by yourself in isolation! Tell your friends about this show and why you like it so much! Encourage your friends who are fellow fans of Issues, Etc. to give on Thursday as well. Donating to the show is simple and easy. If you want to go the snail mail route, write your check out to:

Lutheran Public Radio
P.O. Box 912
Collinsville, IL 62234

You can also give online by going to the Donate page of their website. You can also call them and give by credit card over the phone. I have to make sure, but the phone number to do that is probably (618) 223-8385 which is their office line. But donate until Thursday, and tell them you're participating in the money bomb!

I Wrote a Letter to the Editor of the PDR

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:11:00 +0000

Of all the articles for which to write a letter to the editor of the Portage Daily Register, I chose this one.

Can you guess what I wrote?

Keep an eye out to see if they print it. If they do, it will probably be in the Thursday or Friday paper.

Sandra Bullock

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:51:00 +0000

So the only part of the Oscars I saw last night was Ben Stiller for the Makeup award (which Star Trek won - so I actually did see at least one movie that was Oscar nominated for anything this year).

Today, much hoopla is being made over the fact that Sandra Bullock won the Oscar for Best Actress given that she won the Razzie for Worst Actress the night before. Now I didn't see either movie (The Blind Side or All About Steve), but I think this feat is more significant than had she only won the Oscar. It tells me that she's not "playing it safe" and that she's willing to take risks, to take her work seriously, but also to have fun. Sandra Bullock is on the edges. She's not blending in with the mediocre middle. When you take risks, they're not all going to pay off. Based on these awards, you could say that the risk paid off for The Blind Side but that it didn't turn out so well with All About Steve. But if you never fail, you're not taking risks.

I'm not much of a moviegoer anymore, but Sandra Bullock's Oscar-Razzie combo has piqued my interest to perhaps rent both films.

And this is an awesome acceptance speech:

Image source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/08/ap/celebrities/main6276898.shtml

React To This Video

josh@joshschroeder.net (Josh Schroeder) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:06:00 +0000

I would like for any of my non-Lutheran friends, especially those with any background in communication, marketing, advertising, or public relations to react to this video which was filmed two days ago: