A Workin' Mama

Erica and myself, (but especially Erica) have been quite busy as of late. She has been in the process of revamping our church's website. It is all up now, and you should check it out at www.allsaintsloose.org.uk (In case you are wondering Loose (rhymes with booze) is the name of the village, and All Saints' is the 'sainted name'? of the church, (hence the possessive apostrophe). It is the church of all the saints as opposed to the church of one saint (such as St. Mary's Church)(I like parentheses).

This is the second church website Erica has done. The first being Firestone Baptist in Akron, Ohio.
If you have any graphic design needs, (religious or not)(digital or not)(<--See I told you), she's the lady for you.

Goal!

I realize that I put this up on Facebook as well, but I wanted to elaborate a bit.

Tim Howard is the goalkeeper for Everton (A Liverpool based club) in the English Premier League (Think Major League level). Tim is one of a handful of Americans playing in the EPL and is the first string goalie for the U.S. Men's Soccer Team.

On Wednesday night Tim did something rather extrordinary. He scored a goal. In doing so he joined an exclusive club; becoming only the fourth goalie to score a goal in the EPL.

If American Football players can whoop and holler just for making a tackle, what kind of celebration could you expect for a historic and unlikely goal?

None.

As you can see in the video, Howard accepts the congrats of his teammates, but then just goes on with the match.

In fact, Howard felt bad about the goal. In reference to Bolton's keeper, Adam Bogdan (who incidently was playing in only his second game of the season, for a last place team), Howard said this,

“It's not a nice feeling for a keeper. It's really awful actually. For the back four (defenders) and the goalkeepers at both ends, there was an awful wind swirling. You could see everybody was mistiming balls. I think the wind is the hardest condition to play in. Snow, rain, sun doesn't matter, but the wind really does play tricks on you.”

“I let (Bogdan) know that I was feeling for him,” Howard said. “It's not a nice place to be. I've been there before, a long, long time ago, and that was why I didn't celebrate.”

For a play that will be on highlights for a long time, that is a classy stance.

It is Howard's talent, and his attitude that made me consider supporting Everton when we first came over to England. In the grand scheme of things, Liverpool is just too far away, and I am happy to be supporting Fulham and their attempt to climb into the top ten as the EPL pauses for the January transfer window.

Day 2

The Alliance Review 17 December 2011

According to the internet, Mark Twain once said, “If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.” In the case of my hometown, I would add, if you read the Alliance Review you are mal-informed. Being mal-informed is like being malnourished. In the instance of malnourishment food is entering your body, it just isn't the food that you need to live a healthy life. I would argue that a glove shaped (really a glove? more like a deformed chicken foot) is not the kind of information one needs to live a healthy life. Mr. Beach didn't grow it himself, he just found it "in a bag of spuds". And note the small print in the bottom right hand corner. It isn't a submitted photo. A Review photographer actually took time to specifically photograph Mr. Beach and his "unusually shaped potato"!

Granted, the picture occurs on page B8, amongst some local information such as the weekly school menus; and while not a strong candidate for a Pulitzer; it is edited well. It is nowhere near the prize for dumbest headline in the Review. A few years back there was a photo of some local senior citizens doing Christmas crafts. The headline?  "Alzheimer patients create Christmas memories". 

Day 1

All of my siblings are now in Ohio. Anna arrived from Geneva a few hours before our original flight was supposed to arrive. Alas, we missed our connection in Chicago and spent the night in a hotel and arrived about nine hours later than we were supposed to. Becky caught a flight from a conference she was at in D.C. and we're sitting around and chatting as the first snow of the year falls outside.

Clive is reacclumating himself to his extended family and to my parents' dog Maggie. He did okay on the flight, but is still a bit jet lagged. Last night he went to bed at 4pm and got up at 5am. I can handle that. Hopefully tonight we'll restore him to a more convenient schedule of 6 or 7pm to 7 or 8 am. He will have his hands full tonight though as we're having aunts, uncles and cousins over.

Erica and I ventured out into my hometown yesterday afternoon. For as much as things change, they also stay the same. Alliance is grim (as Simon Mitchell would say). We talk of England's weather, but the sky here is just a different kind of grey. We did stop by a charity shop though, buy some (non-alcoholic) apple cider, and stop by Heggy's for some chocolate.

Other highlights? My brother building an open fire in the fireplace last night, beating Anna at scrabble, realizing that I didn't miss Graham Crackers that much, and listening to my dad snore as he sleeps on the living room floor.

Until Day 2...

An Infographic

I (Zac) love information. I especially love when information is presented visually. They even have a term for this nowadays; infographics.

The above infographic shows how the various parts of the islands we currently live on relate to each other. The bluish (I hope) circles represent legal definitions and the other colour represent geographical definitions.

Enjoy.

Isn't She Something?!

Erica is a pretty darn special woman. Along with being the primary caregiver of Clive, she is also a freelance graphic designer. Our church has hired her on for four hours a week to handle All Saints' publicity, posters, brochures, website, etc.

Anyway, the new front page of the website has gone up and I must say that I am impressed! She's going to have this place looking good in no time.

Check it out at www.allsaintsloose.org.uk you can look at the rest of the site too, but Erica hasn't put her magic touch on those parts yet.

Black Friday

We just got home from having a Thanksgiving meal with our small group from church. It is an afternoon where we can relax, fellowship, and and take part in one of the best holidays that the United States has to offer. It is fun to watch our British friends resist the temptation to make roast potatoes and to instead mash them, to see two of our friends pulling on opposite sides of a wishbone, or watch our priest-in-charge try pumpkin pie for the first time.

Both years I have given an abridged version of the history of thanksgiving and we go around the table and share things that we are thankful for. All around it is a fun day; especially this year having homemade mulled cider.

The question I dread though is this, 'What is Black Friday?'

You see they don't have anything like it over here and the concept is foreign to them. There is not one high holy day of consumerism where people worship under the guise of preparing for one of Christianity's holiest days. It just doesn't happen. So they are shocked when I explain to them that stores/shops open at midnight and that you have to be one of the first people in the store or else you won't get the $2 toaster (that is regularly priced at $29.99). They are gobsmacked to hear that people camp outside stores for days in order to get the latest video game system or the ticklish new toy, and they don't know what to make of people pushing, shoving, and using pepper spray!?!?! to get a good deal.

My opinion of Black Friday has changed since being in England. I used to think of it as a slightly pathetic but harmless way to spend the day after Thanksgiving. I now find it to be one of the most embarrassing parts of the culture that I come from. As one of my English friends today commented, many of the people that go out are acting as strongly religious people, committed to their belief that bargain prices are worth their time and energy.

I know it is not the only 'religion' that runs amok in U.S. culture (God and I are still chatting about my fascination with professional sports) but it is one that saddens me, especially when I have to explain it to outsiders who are celebrating a day that at it's core encourages gratefulness.