Friday, August 05, 2005

And then there is Wyoming

You Know You're From Wyoming When...
"Vacation" means going to Cheyenne for the weekend.
You have ever uttered the term " Greenie!"
It's "BIG NEWS" if a non-Wyoming friend saw a celebrity once.
Down south to you means Colorado.
All the festivals across the state are named after terrain features or Indian tribes.
You know what a Jackalope is.
You know that Devils Tower is in Wyoming and that it is not where the devil lives.
You know that Yellowstone is in Wyoming, not Montana.
You know that Wyoming is in the United States, not Canada. (Or a suburb of Denver)
You drink pop; not soda.
You never knew there was a taxi service in your town.
Down south to you means Colorado.
You only paid $5.00 to cut your own Douglas Fir Christmas tree.
You pawned a snow blower instead of a set of golf clubs.
The elevation is five times higher than the population on the city welcome sign.
There are more oil pumping units than trees.
Antelope outnumber the sheep.
Wide open spaces mean 120 miles to the next rest stop.
You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Wyoming.

I'm going to miss Eugene

You Know You're From Eugene When...


You inadvertently own one or more pieces of tie-dye clothing
You have ever owned or traveled cross-country in a VW van
You used to play hacky-sack but had to give it up because you developed an allergy to the bag material
You understand the difference between cafe au lait and a latte
You know how to pronounce "Allan Brothers" but you don't care
You had to quit coffee
You find yourself humming along with the Grateful Dead, whether you like them or not
You can't always remember who among your friends is lesbigay and who is straight
You know what lesbigay means and how to use it in a sentence
You have friends who really are bisexual
You own a hand drum or know a friend who owns one
Men with short hair look kind of odd to you, but you're not sure why
You have potlucks down to a fine art
You think channeling was responsible for getting the cross removed from Skinner's Butte AND opening up Willamette Street
You understand how a reggae concert turned into a riot with the police
You don't run if it rains suddenly and you have no umbrella
You look up at the sky every morning and say "It'll burn off!"
A day without sunshine is a month
You have taught workshops and all your friends came
You know the difference between 1st and 2d degree Reiki
You and/or most of your friends are 1st or 2d degree Reiki
You dig your weekly Rolfing sessions.
You tone (with your voice, not at Gold's Gym)
You know what LMT stands for
You are an LMT
You know how to whip out a good-looking flier in Pagemaker
The people at Kinko's know you by name
You know what days they clear the bulletin boards at Fifth St. Market
You know that Fifth Street is actually Fifth Avenue
You have ever worn Birkenstocks, even without meaning to
Some of your best friends wear Birkenstocks, on purpose
You buy "distressed" produce
You get free produce from friends who work at any natural foods store
You don't know anybody who works 9-5, Monday - Friday and/or wears a suit
You call Eugene Weekly "What's Happening"
When a friend gets something she wants, you say "Way to manifest!"
You routinely use the female pronoun as generic in writing and speaking...
You think the Jerry Garcia mural on High St. is the coolest piece of art you ever saw.
You have ever attended a Grateful Dead concert at Autzen more than once.
You consider the Oregon Country Fair the highlight of the year.
You know the methods of growing marijuana without being caught.
You claim that the marijuana is "industrial hemp" if you are caught.
You understand the term "kind buds".
You actually buy Frog's joke books.
You know why Frog isn't supposed to sell the books directly to you.
You frequent at least five clothing resale shop for the clothes, not the bargains.
You miss Icky's Tea House.
You are offended by one or more of the above sentences
You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Eugene.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

The Christian Paradox

Hat tip to PP.

Iraq war casualties

I was looking at the casualties for the Iraq war this morning and noticed a few interesting things.
1. The number three killer of US soldiers, accounting for 8% of the casualties (166 deaths) is vehicle accidents.
2. Casualties are cyclical, March to June (conincides with the march 19th invasion) is when we take the most casualties. The good news is compared with the 2004 March-June cycle the 2005 March-June cycle has fewer casualties (304 in '04, 246 in '05). If this trend continues by 2010 there will be no American casualties.
3. There have been 254 Contractors killed in Iraq.
Peace,
Chris

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Coffee as Sacrament

So after church I hung out and shmoozed with my fellow Centralites. I had a cup of coffee (I’m not a coffee drinker) and felt quite awake. It got me thinking about the sacraments. I think it was Voltaire who tried to explain them away as a sort of post-Bacchus religious institution; the Holy Spirit and getting drunk off spirits were one in the same. They both effect perception of reality etc.
My thought is if we REALLY wanted to mess with people’s heads and make them "feel the Holy Spirit" we would give ‘em coffee (or Wisky or Ecstasy or LSD for that matter, but Coffee is potent enough for me). That’s my whole thought, if the Sacrement of Holy Communion was nothing more than messing with parishioner’s minds the Church would use stronger stuff.
Peace,
Chris