Am I rooting for a jersey or a team?

Here's a quote from the Eagles' website, "The Eagles spotted Denver 28 points, but rallied for three consecutive scores before dropping a 49-21 decision to the Broncos in Denver."

Truth be told, the Eagles didn't spot Denver anything. They tried to score, but couldn't. I know the Eagles are a second half kind of team so I didn't get too stressed during the first half of the game, but it seems to me that their defense couldn't stop Denver from scoring at will. For a brief snippet of time, it looked like the Eagles were catching up. They were only down by one touchdown, but alas, victory eluded them.

Here's a thought. This year's Denver Broncos team is made up of many former Browns players, yet the fans in Denver root enthusiastically just the same. In my case, I cheer the Eagles on every season, regardless of their roster (ie, Terrell Owens).

My question is this, am I rooting for a team or a green & silver jersey? Regardless, I haven't lost hope for the Eagles yet. There's still a lot of season left.

Schedule note: Stop by again tomorrow for the Tuesday segment, "Funny thing my kids did."

Next week's schedule

First of all, thanks for the nice comments from regular readers. I enjoyed reading them all, and I'm glad the blog keeps you entertained at work/college/home, etc.

Inspired by your comments, I'm going to try to publish a new post each day of next week (M-F). Here's the proposed schedule.

Monday: Eagles update
Tuesday: Funny thing my kids did
Wednesday: Commentary on a house with strange siding
Thursday: Reader profiles: (e-mail me a picture and paragraph to be included)
Friday: Stump the Pastor

On a sad, but not surpising note, a 42 year-old woman who hung herself this week was mistaken as a Halloween decoration. You can read the story here. For my opinion on the current state of Autumn decor., please click here.

Roll call

A few days ago this site logged 355 page views. In the vastness of the internet, that's certainly not a lot, but as one who has hosted a few webpages over the past few years, that's a larger daily readership than I'm used to. A regular group of faithful readers typically drop a comment from time to time, but I'm always curious to know who else is out there. I'm taking a semi-annual roll call today to give you the opportunity to check in.

As you type, please enjoy the nice assortment of Kaiser Rolls pictured above.

Differences between men and women

Scott McGrady called me this past Saturday to ask my opinion on this question, "What are the differences between men and women." He had to survey a few people for his counseling class. Here are a few of my thoughts. Feel free to add to the list.

1. Men are more spacially aware than women. Women are more likely to walk in front of you without realizing they have done so. This just happened to me in Lowe's as a woman walked right in front of my cart without looking to see if someone might be coming by. Women always do this at the mall as well.

2. Women are better at multi-tasking. I have seen Andrea cook dinner, paint the kitchen, read stories to the children, label constellations, record the genus and species of a fruit fly and give the neighbors hair cuts all at the same time. I, however, prefer to focus on just one thing at a time and get annoyed when I'm interrupted.

3. Women hold grudges longer. Men can get upset with each other and even come to the point of physically injuring each other, yet the next day become best friends again. Women remember every time someone looks cross-eyed at them and deep down, resent that person for years. This is one reason men tend to have more friends than women.

4. Men say what they mean (no interpretation necessary). Women say what they feel (interpretation often necessary). Thus, because we communicate differently, we mis-read each other and end up arguing needlessly.

5. Women look and smell good. It's rare when that statement isn't accurate. If men look or smell good, it's considered a special occasion or a rarity.

I have obviously written this list from the male perspective. I will add to it if I can think of a few other notable differences. Feel free to offer a few other suggestions if you have additional insight.

Workboy, for life

The summer of my fifteenth year, I was hired as a "Workboy" by the Pocono Mountain Bible Conference. How this term came into use, I don't know. It sounds like a combination between a slave and a farmhand. But all workboys know we wear that strange title like a badge of honor.

Upon becoming a "Workboy" at PMBC, you are imbued with an insatiable desire to burn things in the burn pit behind the Dining Hall. Though I am now the Director of PMBC, I have not wandered far from my Workboy roots.

Today, along with a few other lifers (Tyler Parry and James Sienkiewicz), we got rid of a lot of burnables from an old cabin that is currently undergoing a remodel. Here are today's time-elapsed photos.

Strangely satisfying.

Anagrams

Anagram: A word or phrase formed by reordering the letters of another word or phrase.

While searching for a website that would show me all the words that my phone number spelled, I came across another site that makes anagrams from the letters of your name.

First, I typed in my name, "John Stange." Not much of interest there. Here are the top two words or phrases that the letters of my name can spell.

1. johns agent
2. john gas net

After trying my name, I thought it would be fun to enter my wife's name, "Andrea Stange." Let's just say that her name was the anagram jackpot. Here's a sample of some of my favorites.

1. enraged satan
2. angered santa
3. angered satan
4. grenade santa
5. grenade satan
6. sergeant dana
7. garden tan sea
8. danger at sean
9. garden ant sea

I'm glad I found that site while Christmas is still a few months away. Apparently my normally sweet wife is really an upset devil who is preparing to blow up St. Nick. Consider yourself warned, Kringle.

(Note: Now that my blog is getting a lot of traffic, I have been dealing with blog-spammers who leave messages in the comment area. Many of these messages are deleted, but I'm getting sick of doing that every day. I turned on word-verification today, so if you leave a comment you will get to see how it works. It should help prevent spam.)

Pigeon John fan club

I just bought a CD that came with a free DVD. On the DVD, among other things, was a Pigeon John video. As I watched it on my computer, Pigeon John's entire fan club sat on my lap to watch it over and over.


Above is a picture of an earlier meeting of the Pigeon John fan club as we discussed the intricate rhyme patterns on his new CD. (Picture was taken after my kids returned from working third shift at Krispy Kreme).

Long live Christian hip-hop. Visit Pigeon John here.

Pinball - return the love

Many aspects of my life have changed since my college days, but some things I hope never change. Most especially my love for pinball. As I have mentioned before on this blog, I used to spend a considerable amount of time (and quarters) playing pinball while a student at PBU. That was a while ago now, but my love for pinball has evidently been communicated to games throughout the pinball universe and frequently, pinball machines return the love.

Take last evening for example.

While in the town of Moosic, I came across a new machine I had never played before. I made change for a dollar and prepared to play when I noticed that the start button was already blinking, meaning there was a free game already waiting for me. I played that game and came close to the replay score, but missed it by a few points. No problem. The machine gave me a free game anyway.

After enjoying the second game, I realized that there was yet another free game on the machine waiting for me to enjoy. What have I done to enjoy such favor? I played that game as well, but both the machine and me knew that I had run out of time and could play no longer.

I thanked the pinball machine for its graciousness and prepared to leave, but before I did, I had to check the change return slot. To my surprise, there was a quarter waiting there for me.

In summary, I played three free games of pinball and was paid 25 cents for doing so. Thank you pinball for returning the love.

Uglify your home

This evening, I took my 5-year old daughter Hannah out to a restaurant. The foyer of the restaurant was decorated with mums, pumpkins and some other tasteful Autumn decor. It looked pleasant and gave me one of those "I'm glad it's this time of year" feelings.

As we left, we drove through town. I have noticed that over the past few years, some people are getting more and more into decorating for Halloween. I can appreciate the time it takes to stretch fake cob-webs over your bushes and hang severed limbs from the eaves of your house, but no matter how you look at it, it's hard to imagine an uglier way to decorate your home.

Update 10/11/05, 3:59pm. I just drove past my neighbor's house and noticed that they decided to add bed sheets covered in fake blood to their Halloween decor. The sheets are draped over the banisters of their otherwise nice/modern home. I can just see them stepping back as they put the finishing touches on their "murder-themed manse" and saying, "Hmmm, now that looks festive. Let's all go out and kill someone in their sleep." Lunacy!

Interesting update

On September 14th, I told you about a local gas station that I wasn't terribly fond of (for superficial reasons, I admit). My reasons for complaint were:

1. The sheet with the number 24 with a slash though it that has been in their window for several years. This was their way of protesting Jeff Gordon's success in NASCAR. Well, since posting that comment, they have removed the sheet (I'm not kidding....compare the pictures in this post with those of the September 14th post.)

2. I also complained about the notice that "drive offs would be shot at" which was painted on their pump. Here's a closer look at the pump, including a new sign that was written on a bag placed over top of the pump. Apparently, they have decided not to bother selling gas any longer (at least for a while).


The third picture I took just for fun. The sign on the door reveals that the owner apparently has another job, which I consider a relief.


What does this all mean? Is it possible that this insignificant blog has influenced a local gas station to pay closer attention to detail or is this all a strangely timed coincidence?

My Hero

Rev. Charles Spurr. My hero.