Deacon: Usher, it's about the attitude of the heart - one cannot judge one's heart - only God can

Usher: Yeah, but only the musicians and leaders participate - the congregation simply mouth the words and follow the leader

Deacon: Again Usher, you cannot judge

Usher: Let's do an experiment Deak, I'll sing and see if anyone shows up?

Deacon: Usher, you can't there'd be noone left!

Usher: Proves my point Deak - corporate choreographed worship is performance!

I need to help remember to bring along the reusable grocery bags. Does us no good when they're sitting back at the house.

New soda for me: Big Peach, made by Big Red. Also picked up a tapioca pudding snack pack.

Susan gave me approval to purchase anything Krogers had in the far back corner of the store until she saw they had a Harley sitting there. Later amendment to her approval: if I could swing the Harley within no more than the amount tab for our basket of groceries - about $115 for this trip - then I am allowed to purchase two. So if McCain't wins in November and continues the W Administration's policies, by next year maybe a grocery cartful will be more expensive than a hog, and I'll be on two wheels!

A little more than nine months after loading the Blue Bug up to move from my old office, I can finally see the vehicle's trunk floor.

Didn't manage to find the missing flash drive, nor the travel power converter Kelly gave me for Christmas. But did find seven — yes, seven! — new toothbrushes that had been given to me by my dentist over several years worth of visits.

And not only is the righthand view temporary, quickly occupied by a small box of sorted junk; but other sort piles moved to the Blue Bug front seat (a few things I can use at the office), the Blue Bug back seat (books), my side of the bed (just a few books I want to peek through this afternoon, a CD I need to sync to the Zen, and a few papers to file, all to be cleared from deck today), and my nightstand (chronic exposure to clutter). Even so, half a large garbage bag (including two quite wayward ancient photographs that Susan declined to rescue) made its way from the car trunk out to the street for trash pickup tomorrow morning.

The song is "Lion of Judah" by Jason Upton; Lori Bruse choreographed the dance and worked with the students to prepare this.  "Great job!" to everyone involved!

I'm working from the house today; but during breaks while my computer chugs through its attempts to keep pace with me, I putter around helping out some with the chores: clean the bathroom mirrors; tidy and clean my sink; clean the master toilet; vacuum the master bathroom and master bedroom; and scrub the shower floor.

h/t Buelahman rocks the editing

From Max of Max and the Marginalized:

Since Bush's bankshot into the Friday evening news dumpster that he had signed off on torture and that the top echelon of his administration had all sat in a closed room to learn about and rubber stamp all the details of our illegal and unsavory interrogation techniques, the press has continued to ask how Barack Obama should answer for preferring orange juice to coffee, not how Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, et al should answer for committing crimes against humanity after years of statements to the contrary."

Max and the Marginalized are insanely talented. It's like Green Day's angst fused with Nelson Mandela's dignity.

You can read the lyrics here.

Sometimes in movement classes we are so focused on learning dance that we forget that appreciating and understanding the art form is just as important.  Of course, we learn to appreciate through doing, but here are some other ways to discover and embrace dance during National Dance Week and beyond.

• See dance - Attend or watch videos of professional performances (it doesn't matter if it's a style you are studying) or view video biographies of dancers/choreographers.  If there are no opportunities to attend a professional performance, try a local university with a dance program or a community group that performs ethnic dance forms.
• Discuss dance - Share observations about a performance, dance artist, or a significant event in dance history with your class, your friends, your peers, or your family.  An in-class discussion is great if you've experienced something as a group.
• Write about dance - Write a review or report about what you observed about a performance or learned about a particular dancer, company, or choreographic work.  You could share these with your dance class, in school, or even on your own blog.
• Read about dance - There are lots of books and online resources on dance history, dance vocabulary and technique, biographical texts, and dance criticism (reviews of dance performances). 
• Make dance - Try your hand at your own choreography, guide your students through the basics of composition, produce your own dance performance (don't forget to consider costume, makeup, and lighting if available), or share your knowledge of dance with someone else who has never experienced it.

Another important way to celebrate National Dance Week is to reach out to the community.  Many dance studios perform at local festivals, parades, and other events in honor of NDW.  Some other methods of reaching out would be to hold free classes or an open house at your dance school, perform at nursing homes or hospitals, or give workshops at public schools or boy/girl scout meetings.  Perhaps you could also organize volunteering opportunities for your dance studio during this week. Activities like road clean-up, serving at a soup kitchen, or collecting canned goods for a food bank, reflect that dancers, in addition to giving the gift of their art, seek to improve and strengthen their communities in other ways.

As we lead up to NDW, I want to discuss in more detail how teachers can celebrate by incorporating a little dance history, performance, and discussion into their classes; help you build a dance library for your school; and address why all of this is worth the effort.

What are some ways that you have celebrated National Dance Week?  Is there anything you'd add to my list above?

Dylan gets too curious about the camera, set on its timer for a snapshot of our Saturday afternoon pool chore duties from the perspective of the shallow end. So I have to chase him off and set up a second shot to catch me vacuuming up the pool floor while Susan finishes up putting DE powder in the deep-end skimmer after we had backwashed.

Susan called equipment people to have them check out some leaks in some of the pool pump seals. They should drop by in a week or two or whenever they get around to it — apparently it must be a busy time of year for pool equipment people?!

Ain't gonna hang no picture,
Ain't gonna hang no picture frame.
Ain't gonna hang no picture,
Ain't gonna hang no picture frame.
Well, I might look like Robert Ford
But I feel just like a Jesse James.

bob

If I were not an actuary, I would most definitely not be a handyman. If Ikea cared about having comprehensible instructions - which they notoriously and quite obviously do not - then I could be their crack beta tester for improving their instructions, since I can always find the wrong way to do a handyman task even when one doesn't exist. Why I ever appear in snapshots such as this is a deep mystery. Perhaps it's to teach me humility, a personality trait actuaries tend to lack.

But in this tag team method of hanging four pictures in the upstairs bathrooms, I am the one who manages to get the screws into the dense particle board of the frames, then later on to do the hanging. Kelly cuts wire, and Susan wraps the wire securely on the screws. Nat is our project photographer (although this is the only downloaded pic of the set she took that managed to make it to online storage before the death of the Dell).

But as I promised myself after one bad Kroger rental too many, I took the opportunity to look into once again having a steam cleaner of our own. I wanted a Hoover, like the one that died on me last year, but our trusted vacuum cleaner guy recommended the Royal Procision 7910, a little more expensive but with a better warranty
. . . and from what I'm reading after the fact, and from what I'm seeing in the equipment's first two passes, a superior machine. And we got it at a price even lower than the sale prices I'm seeing on the Internet.

So I'm happily back to my favorite chore. I like to steam clean carpets. If and when I retire from my actuarial work, maybe I can find me some cleaning jobs to keep me occupied.

Chores today include vacuuming all downstairs carpets, cleaning up my nightstand and bathroom sink areas, and cleaning out Gertie's bird cage.

To that add several treats for me: Krogers macaroni salad; a four-pack of the new Sunkist orange Float; and some Whoppers strawberry milkshake malted milk balls. You can see how excited I am!

Down here, Actuary Adrien predicts another six thousand weeks of the same old weather that Houston always sees: year-round summertime. He throws his own shadow in the warm morning sun vacuuming up the pool.

Kitty is on top of the chore, helping S get all the corners tucked in properly.

I'll worry about combing my hair later, maybe this afternoon.

No, of course this is not a stereograph (although that does remind me - it's been a while).

Since tomorrow is a federal holiday, I'll finish up this chore then.

OK, first the tree cutting thing needs to be fixed - it fell apart the last time I used it, and I hadn't fixed it yet. Then I took over the cutting part (and the pulling it out of the pool part). Followed by cutting down two more dead palm branches.