Not All Who Squander Are Lost...

Yes, I realize that you've gone too many days without a fresh dose of Dave. Look, I'm doing you a favor, all right? Too much Dave is addicting, and frankly, you've been showing all the warning signs. It just isn't healthy. I mean, the stomach cramps (from laughing), yellowing teeth (from emulating my coffee habit), the perpetually cracked windows in your office (uh... methane!), and your increasing propensity for finding bad puns amusing. The signs are there. You're not a professional, like I am. Your heart and soul can't take such abuses -- I've trained my whole life to be Dave. You've got to ease up. For your sake, and the sake of those that love you.

Yes, I'm calling for an interdavention.

And part of the recovery process is for me to go upwards of 5 or 6 days without updating this blog. I know the withdrawal pains are hard, but think of your kids. You must endure.

So...

So, what new and exciting things have I discovered and/or explored in the time I've had alone? I'll give you three guesses... and a hint: the answer rhymes with "absolutely nothing, because I'm a pathetic scrub." I work, I come home, I turn the computer on, I try to get myself to work, I play and/or lurk the web until 1am or so. I'm tired of making excuses, and I'm tired of asking why I do it. I just do it, that's all. When it changes, I'll let you know. Short of someone coming over and kidnapping me and taking me on a fun adventure, it doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon by my own initiative.

I did see a movie on Saturday, though, with my good friend Dave McIntosh. We saw Total Recall, and frankly, I'm glad I didn't look at any reviews ahead of time. My take-away was that it was enjoyable, and I'm glad I saw it, and I want to get in shape like Colin Farrell is. It had some eye-rolling elements, but hey, it's Hollywood, what does one expect?  Catch it on DVD when it comes out, you'll like it.

Look, here's a black lion.

There, I've made my point.

So I have something theological (and, as it turns out, greatly practical to me) in nature that I've been chewing on. I'd love some input, but I'll have to phrase it more vaguely than I'd like to. Although it won't take a genius to figure out what I'm referring to.

So, if there's someone in your life that you have to interact with, but it is difficult to deal with that person, is there any benefit at all to creating a version of that person in your mind, and dealing with that version of the person instead, as though that's the way the person is? In other words, sort of pretend the other person was different in certain key ways that would make them more palatable to deal with if they were true? I guess it would be like having filters, so that you see the person how you'd like them to be, and overlook/let go the things that would normally bug you.

I think I've subconsciously done that, with a lot of things/people in my life. On the one hand, it strikes me as lazy/cowardly - in that I should have the backbone to accept and deal with a person as he/she is, whether he/she is offensive/frustrating or not. On the other hand, why frustrate myself unnecessarily? "Oh, don't let him bother you, that's just the way he is. He doesn't mean it when he does/says that." Do you think everyone hand-crafts certain versions of the people in our lives like that?

The verse I thought of was the one where it says "God sees things that are not as though they were," or some such. Doesn't He do that with us? He overlooks certain things, puts them "under the blood" while we change, etc.? Or is that something else all together? Doesn't He see us the way He wants us to be?

Our pastor said this morning that God "finished us" from the foundation of the world. I'm having a hard time getting my brain around that. What we will ultimately be was already in His mind before He created us? That doesn't make sense. Then why struggle to change? Or struggle to keep from sinning? That seems to say that whatever circuitous route we take that lands us in the Kingdom once this life is done, God will point at us and say "That's the version of you I had in mind from before you were born."

So if I craft a version of someone and deal with that person as though that version was legit (even though I know it's not), just so the person is easier to deal with, is that a bad thing or a good thing? Isn't that what we do when we forgive someone? We forget what they've done and try to believe they'll never do it again?

OK, enough theology. The head and the heart, goin at it again...

By the way, you know you're having a hard time focusing on work when the phone rings and you agree to do a political survey on the phone instead of working. That... is sad...

The Olympics are on. They don't interest me in the least. I am sorry.

I've been Skyping with my wife and kids every night for the past week or so. It's fun and awkward at the same time. If you don't know what Skype is, it's a video chat program that lets you use your webcam (if you have one) to have video conference calls on your computer. It's free, too, which is awesome. Saves the cost of a long-distance call. Anyway, I've used it to read bedtime books to Youngest... and my webcam is so clear, I can hold the book up to it and Youngest can read every other page with me. It's fun.

So, three more days of solitude and then the fam is back. I contemplated trading my wife's car in on a new one, and having it in the garage for her when she arrived home. I decided against it. Gone are the days of the $10K Hyundai. We bought both of our Elantras (an '02 and an '05) for exactly $10K each. They're almost double that now. The only reason I considered it was that it's at the point now where paying for the maintenance on her '02 is about the same as making a monthly payment... so why keep dumping $ into a car that's feeling its age when I could dump the same $ into a more reliable car? That was my thought, anyway. That was before I saw how much cars cost lately.

OK, I've dodged long enough. Time to dive back in.

Adios for now,

Dave Double-You