Binge Cleaning.

That is the term that I have coinned (although I doubt I'm the first) (Sure enough. Google counted 477 references to 'binge cleaning' in only .27 seconds.) to describe the hectic, desperate, stressful, and mad dash to clean the entire house (or at least large percentages of it) in a single day or weekend.

Now, let me preface the following by saying that I love my wife and I love my mother. And I do so for very, very different reasons. Whoever came up with that old saying about marrying someone just like mom didn't know what he was talking about. I was actually kinda happy that my mother didn't take to my wife right away. However, in this binge cleaning business they are alike. I don't know if other women are like this or if it's just a localized insanity. I do not understand why a person would put themselves under that kind of mental and physical stress. Ignorance, however, does not include innocence and I was morally required to assist my wife in any and all phases of this 'Blitz-sauber' (That's german of lightning cleaning).

This, of course, was in preparation for the advent of my wife's birthday. It was grand. The highlight, I think, was when all 20-odd people assembled sang a hale and hearty Happy Birthday to my wife. The low point, of course, was the Vikings loss to the Chiefs. Oh well. Probably make more sense to start watching college ball so I can speak intelligently about who the Vikings are going to draft with the third overall draft pick.

I have heard it said that good poetry comes from a depth of emotion. The deeper the emotion, in theory, the better the poetry. I don't know if that is accurate. Surely love and passion lend themselves to prose. Loss and tragedy do also. But I don't knoe that there is a genre in the annuls of great poetry for poems of pain. Pain is a very basic experience and typically doesn't require exposition. Sure, a poem can address to source of the pain, but that goes back to tragedy or loss. But the pain itself? Not so much.

O it hurts
Ow Ow Ow
Boy, i wish this pain would stop


The Void stalks me
It calls to me with promise of shelter
O blessed relief! To be free of this weight
That surely anchors me in this mire.
But I dare not surrender
The weight is heavy, but real
The mire is filthy, but it is where I stand
The Void has no bottom, no end in that fall
And yet it's siren song pulls at me
And so I lash myself to the mast
Like a splint I force myself still
Thus stiff, unmoving and unmovable, I stand

Hey, crep.

So yesterday, I'm walking across downtown Minneapolis, as I am wont to do, going from where one bus drops me off to where another bus picks me up. It's about 3 blocks. While I'm walking I see a woman with a big backpack on and carrying 2 grocery bags. See approaches a pickup truck that has stopped at a red light. At first I assume that she is being picked up by someone that she knew. Instead of opening the door, she knocks on the window and waves. The driver rolled the window down a inch or two and the woman asked for a ride just a couple of blocks because her bags were so heavy. I couldn't hear the drivers response, but I assume it was negative as this woman threw her arms up and said "Well, #%&% you, then". I felt sorry for this woman and felt that she needed someone to show that they cared. And since she was walking the same way I was, and only had a couple of blocks, I asked her if she'd like some help carrying her bags. She said "#%&% yeah". So we walked for a about three blocks (a block past my bus stop, but that's OK). The bags were full of groceries that she had gotten at a local food shelf. She told me her name and I told her mine. She asked me what I do. I told her that I was an IT sales engineer, which meant I went out with sales people and designed solutions for customers. Her response was that that must earn me a pretty penny. She then asked me if I was married. I told her that I was and that I had three children, all boys. She commented that I must be a good father. I dropped her groceries off at the front step of a low-rent downtown hotel and said good bye. I hope that I blesses this woman and made her life at least a little easier. As I was walking back to my bus stop, about a block away, I saw my bus pulling away. I thought, it doesn't matter, God will provide. Sure enough, by the time I had walked that block and reached my stop, another bus going to the same place was right there. I didn't have to wait at all. Wow, God is good. (And I mean that both ways; He is exceedingly competent and exceedingly righteous.)

Ahhh, football is in the air!!!

The nights are getting cooler. There is a hint of fall in the air. I know Indian Summer is just around the corner, but I don't mind. The NFL football season kicked off this weekend and the Vikings started in impressive fashion; 24-3 over the Vick-less Falcons. Life is good.

Today is going to be stream of consciouness, so return your seatback to it's full, upright position, consult a physician before you begin, and you must be this tall or accompanied by an adult to ride.

In regards to the 'rejuvenation' issue, I think I have a possible solution. The past several nights, or every other night really, I have gone to the club to work out. The first night I brought an iPod with Chris Tomlin and Out of the Grey. That was awesome. Second time, Seren and I went together and we went through the work-out she was assigned by her weight-loss class. That was pretty grueling. Third night (last night) I brought a radio and listen to the TV that was playing the Sunday night football game. That also was fun. I think the answer is working out. I had the misfortune of working out on the eliptical machine that was next to the mirrors last night. I really need to get in better shape. Ugh. I think I will feel better, in the short and long run, if I keep working out. The night (and I say night, rather than evening because I'm not going until about 10:00 or later) is working. I can't work out before work because we are stuck with one car, and so while Seren is working, I am on the bus. But that's OK. Gives me a chance to read. This morning I read Power Healing. I'm way behind. I'm only on page 90 of 250, and I need to have the book finished (along with the book of Mark) by Wednesday night for the PASS class. I'm saving Mark for last since I already know how it ends. Power Healing is a good book that is prompting me to do some serious soul-searching, but there was that barely visible line that I mentioned last time. PASS was moved to Wednesday because we are going to be particiapating in Alpha starting on Teusday. That should be real fun. Oh, which reminds me, since we bugged out of church yesterday after worship, I didn't get to hear Greg's first message as interim head pastor. I need to go to the website and check that out. So I will do that, and leave this stream of consciousness to babble queitly through the rocks in my head.

The smoldering husk that was my Links tab...

Teri Sue has deleted her blog, David hasn't updated his since early June, Paula's gone underground, and Chris Reeve's has been abandoned. I suppose I can't blame them. It's been over a month since I updated mine. It's not that I don't want to update it, but it seems that it's a combination of 3 things. First, there doesn't seem to be time. Two, there is a barely visible line between the things that I can announce in a public forum and the things that I can't/shouldn't and figuring out the difference that time and effort. And third, I'm not sure how I feel about most things at any one time. Bless my wife, though. At least she is keeping at it.

My wife asked me an unusual question this morning. She asked me what rejuvenates me. This comes from my feelings/comments to her yesterday. Last night I was feeling a little anxious. It was the end of a three-day weekend and I didn't feel ready to "take on the week". This morning my dear wife hypothisized that the things that I do when I "unwind", such as play PS2 or watch TV, do not actually rejuvenate me, which leads to feeling like I do. I can't say that she's wrong. But I don't know what the answer is.