5 Dangerous things you should let your kids do

I obviously don't have kids but for those of you who do, or are kids, here's a little food for thought.

Neils Law of Reciprocal Pain

The only thing as certain as death and taxes is pain. You're going to have it. From a health and fitness stand point, you only have about TWO choices for how you will receive your pain. You can take it in small increments on a nearly constant basis (as in exercise, soreness and small injuries), or you can put it off and take it all at once (as in a debilitating disease or heart attack or stroke, etc). I call this, "The Law of Reciprocal Pain."

Pain comes around. It's like clockwork. You can try to put it off, but doing so just guarantees more of it. "MORE" probably isn't accurate. In truth, you really won't get MORE. You'll just get what's been coming to you - the stuff you have been putting off - all at once.

I find that people who are pursuing pain free fitness are only pursuing a (another) lesson in disappointment and/or futility. Pain free fitness results - DO NOT EXIST.

If you understand that pain and injuries are part of the process of fitness and better health, you are better off. In fact, YOU are probably the person who is more likely to succeed at actually getting fit and healthy, because you have not limited yourself to the impossible.

Fitness is about overload. You must overload your body to make it become more fit. If you simply give your body work that is "quite manageable" - it will not change. It doesn't have to. It had plenty of reserve to complete the work you were asking it to do.

To understand how fitness works you have to understand how your body responds to exercise in terms of survival. Exercise temporarily weakens your body. This is an emergency situation for your body as your body hates to be weakened. God designed it to think that if you are weak (like you are after you exercise) - it lowers your resistance to injury, disease and illness. Your bodies' response to this is to build you back up to full strength as soon as possible.

If you temporarily weaken your body and do this consistently, as in exercise, your body will build resistance up. It will become stronger so that when you weaken yourself later, you will still have enough energy left over to fight off a thousand philistines or disease. THIS IS FITNESS!

People who are "out of shape" don't need much in terms of exercise or intensity to see progress. Exercise for these folks doesn't need to be overly vigorous. It is therefore, inherently safer. Problem is, to get more fit you have to steadily increase overload. At some point, "just doing anything" isn't going to cut it. Eventually, you'll have to push the limits of your endurance, strength, power, speed, agility and stamina. Question is - how far should you push it? This is impossible to know and it is different for everybody. This leaves you with: 1) push too little and get nothing, or 2) push too hard and get some pain. At some point you will understand how much you can push, but until then - You'll have to push your limits!

Neil's Law of Reciprocal Pain states: You can have a little pain - under your immediate and direct control - more often throughout your life, or you can wait and have a very large amount of pain equal to the cumulative amount that you have avoided - at a later date. This "later date" is not under your direct control.

I'm a control freak. If I got to have pain anyway (it's inevitable) - I'll take it on MY OWN terms, thank you.

Three lessons of Judges 7

I wrote this up for a "what happens in the cabin stays in the cabin" reason but I figured that more than the people in attendance of the devotion could benefit from it. If you're gonna read this go get your bible or open the link in another window [Judges Chapter 6-7]

These are my notes so you're gonna have to be smart and fill in the gaps yourself.


Judges 6 (Context/Recap)

V1 Israel had done evil in the sight of the lord, they were delivered to Midianites

V7 Israel cried to the LORD for deliverance

V11 Gideon introduced Joash is his father

V24 Jehovahshalom means The lords Peace

V25-27 God has Gideon destroys this fathers altar to Baal (clean his own house) and build an altar to him in that place, showing an obedience to God and a willingness to endanger himself

V30 the men want to kill Gideon but his father stands in their way saying “if Baal wants to kill him let him do it.”

V33 messengers sent out to gather an army to fight the Midianites

V36 God shows that he is willing to tenderly encourage Gideon even though he appears faithless after Gideon asks For the two signs of the fleece and the dew.

Judges 7

Lesson One “God doesn’t share glory”

V1- 9 Here we see that 22,000 people came to fight against the Midianites, the problem is that God doesn’t share glory, and he isn’t bound by numbers. He pairs the force down to 300. So few that if they have victory against the enemy who according 6:5 were numerous as grasshoppers it could only have come from God.

Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isa 42:8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

James Duffield 1858

"Stand Up!--Stand Up for Jesus"

V3. Stand up!--stand up for Jesus!

Stand in His strength alone;

The arm of flesh will fail you,

Ye dare not trust your own.

Put on the Gospel armor,

Each piece put on with prayer;

Where duty calls or danger,

Be never wanting there.

Lesson Two “Be a Phurah”

Judges 7

9 ¶ And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.

10 But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host:

11 And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host.

These are the only two verses in the whole bible that Phurah’s name is mentioned. We know nothing about him, who he was, how Gideon knew him His name offers little clue to who he was meaning “foliage.” He was like the apostle Bartholomew who no doubt served God greatly but is in shadow to us

We can deduce that he was a man who encouraged Gods man to do Gods will. “If you are afraid…”

He was content to be in the shadows.

He was willing to endanger himself to help his friend spy on the Midianites

Lesson Three “The Battle Cry”

Shamelessly stolen from Spurgeon’s "Mornings and Evenings" (I was gonna paraphrase it to preserve the continuity but why dampen the authors more excellent prose?)

Gideon ordered his men to do two things: covering up a torch in an earthen pitcher, he bade them, at an appointed signal, break the pitcher and let the light shine, and then sound with the trumpet, crying, "The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon! the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!" This is precisely what all Christians must do. First, you must shine; break the pitcher which conceals your light; throw aside the bushel which has been hiding your candle, and shine. Let your light shine before men; let your good works be such, that when men look upon you, they shall know that you have been with Jesus. Then there must be the sound, the blowing of the trumpet. There must be active exertions for the ingathering of sinners by proclaiming Christ crucified. Take the gospel to them; carry it to their door; put it in their way; do not suffer them to escape it; blow the trumpet right against their ears. Remember that the true war-cry of the Church is Gideon's watchword, "The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!" God must do it, it is His own work. But we are not to be idle; instrumentality is to be used--"The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!" If we only cry, "The sword of the Lord!" we shall be guilty of an idle presumption; and if we shout, "The sword of Gideon!" alone, we shall manifest idolatrous reliance on an arm of flesh: we must blend the two in practical harmony, "The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!" We can do nothing of ourselves, but we can do everything by the help of our God; let us, therefore, in His name determine to go out personally and serve with our flaming torch of holy example, and with our trumpet tones of earnest declaration and testimony, and God shall be with us, and Midian shall be put to confusion, and the Lord of hosts shall reign for ever and ever.

Out of the arcives, a memoir of days gone by.

Aaron Smith

English 111 F05

9/25/03

Personal Essay

The Parish Clan

19140 Randal Road: I’m sure this sounds like just another random street address somewhere in the great American suburbia, I can tell you, it isn’t. This humble two story house twenty miles outside of balmy Juneau, Alaska has been a place of learning and growth for me. It’s been almost eleven years since my mother moved into the residence of Mr. David Jo Parish. Though I’ll admit now that originally I was less than thrilled with the idea, this house and the family dynamics I have witnessed eventually proved to serve as a standard that I will judge my family against. The work I did, the tools I used, even the house itself and all of its intricacies have shaped me. Though no tool has had an impact above that of the people I came to know living there.

My stepfather, for example, Dave, values himself to be quite the weekend warrior, regularly fending off such demonic works as rotting staircases, iced driveways, and the ever-encroaching forest that’s taken a liking to our yard, annually requiring a day or so of concentrated effort to push it back. Every weekend he’s able to come up with something that just has to be done. “C’mon guys we’ve got to get the driveway shoveled before you mother gets home,” he says as my siblings and I tear ourselves away from whatever we where doing. There are golden opportunities and spiritual growth in store if you come with me.” These two phrases “golden opportunities” and “spiritual growth” were used so much that they lost their meaning as individual thoughts put together to form ideas, and became more like entirely new words that meant “In this house, room and board are free but that doesn’t mean you aren’t working for them.”

The front yard, the grassy part anyway, consists of a very neglected garden which boasts little more than chickweed and wild raspberries every year. Though our lawn is of considerable size, being large isn’t its greatest feature; the best part is that it’s level. Though this may seem an odd thing to prize a lawn for in the middle of the forest, I personally helped level it by dragging a massive pressure-treated timber around it, sideways, while my mom stood on it, talk about feeling like a draft horse in a lumberyard at the end of the day. I guess when it’s important to have your very own little piece of open flat Nebraska it’s important.

This piece of old black timber sticks out in my mind like a pick would to in the mind of an industrial era coal miner. It’s a tool that makes your job easier but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re under-paid, union-less, and rapidly developing black lung, or blisters in my case. The garage is filled with “teachers through suffering” like that old timber.

Another fine example of such tools is one of my favorites, called a digging bar. The ground in Juneau, or at least around our house, is mostly decaying soil intermixed with large rocks topped off with a massive system of intertwining evergreen roots. To get any digging done, you often have to hack through the roots and either break or pry the rocks out of your way. This is where the digging bar comes in. The digging bar is a hexagonal, seven-foot rod made from solid steel one and a half inches thick. This fearsome monolith weighs about twenty-five pounds and has a round spear-point on one end and a wider flat chisel-point on the other. Whenever we have to do any serious earth moving, Dave says, “Go get the digging bar.” When I see this solid steel earth breaking monolith come out I know it’s going to be one of those ‘two shower’ days. Though the contents of the house have some stories to tell the house itself does as well.

Until 1985, when Dave completed the house, his first wife and their three kids were living in what is now the garage. There’s still a bathroom and a little bedroom down there that are like relics from a past age. The toilet is used so rarely that the water evaporates between flushes. The garage, however, isn’t the only place with an interesting history.

There is a massive room on the north side of the house that was originally supposed to be a sunken master bedroom. Sadly this dream proved to be impractical after Dave’s next kid came along, and especially after my brother and I moved in. Fortunately this was only a minor setback to someone like Dave. He just shrugged, smiled and did what needed to be done. First he raised the floor by building a second floor over the first that leveled the bedroom off with the room just outside and then he put up a wall that split it into two good sized bedrooms. These rooms where delegated to Julia, who is four years older than me, and Bahiyyih who is barely younger than I am. With this little addition there was a space left between the old floor and the new one. My overly inquisitive side became apparent to me for the first time when my devilishly crafty sister, Bahiyyih, and I discovered the trap door that led from her room into the forgotten area between the old floor and the new one. Though the space wasn’t quite big enough to sit up in it was big enough to crawl through quite comfortably. The area quickly came to be known as “UNDER THE FLOOR” (thunder claps, organs play). This place became similar in stature to the tunnels that run throughout UAF.

The great thing about being under the floor was that A) our parents never looked for us there and B) Bahiyyih and I could use it to get into Julia’s room as the rooms where only split from the new floor up. Honestly I don’t remember there being anything terribly interesting in there, I think it was just cool that we figured out how to get into her forbidden room without her knowing. Sadly the authorities, namely Mom and Dave, eventually found out about it and sealed it off. Now whenever I have the urge to explore my first “adventure into the great unknown” comes to mind.

The growth I have experienced in this house is from a blended variety of sources with one exception, the man of the house. My relationship with Dave has been more like an apprenticeship than the classic father-son duo portrayed by modern American culture. Having spent hours as his gopher (go fer this and go fer that) taking tools to him from the garage to wherever he’s working I’ve discovered that there is no limit to what the human mind and enough willing troops can accomplish. At the peak of its size, the David Parish workforce numbered eight plus himself. Nine people may not seem like a whole lot, but. I’ve seen two-and-a-half acres of the most hellishly wet, devil’s-club-infested land that hasn’t felt human presence in years cleared in about a week, using little more than mismatched gloves and machetes so rusty they make crayons look like scalpels. I’ve seen a 2000 square foot driveways cleared of more than two feet of snow and an inch of solid ice in an hour. I’ve seen entire septic systems replaced in a matter of days with only three of us. I’d like to see the “Jones” and their new plasma TV get their 2.2 children past mismatched gloves.

The unfortunate, or perhaps fortunate, thing is that no matter how much I despised Dave ripping me away from whatever computer game had absorbed my soul at the time, I always learned something and could victoriously look out over what ever battlefield I just left knowing I earned my sore back and splinter-filled hands. If 19140 Randal Road and its host of characters have taught me anything it’s the power of human endeavor and the intrinsic reward of perseverance.

A Warrior's Passing

By firelight, he sat a book upon his knee, a hand
that stroked his beard. Low-pitched, his voice did rise
and fall, like waves upon the sand, and spoke
of warrior's wyrd, of wizards wise and maidens fair.

Friends and strangers gathered round, to hear the tale
so stoutly sung, a tale of hearts so torn and wrung,
of weeping women's wail, of sundry melancholy parts
all wove together in a gleaming battle-shroud.

Or perhaps a sprightly tale; he told those too, and see --
the children laugh at dragon's antics, cheer the hero
who can command grim death to flee, cheer the maid
who has no fear of what lays beyond the lee, but strides forth...

They have no fear, these warriors of days long past;
they know what lasts, beyond the grave, beyond the tear.
So much more than life, oh, save your tears for lesser folk;
this bier is but a passing thing, a momentary strife,

And after, who can say? Yet surely something wondrous
does await, beyond that gate, and shall we weigh our hero down,
with calls and lamentations? Nay, let us rejoice instead,
and send him forth with all our hope, a brave panoply

To clothe his sturdy bones. For he was surely more
than a simple chronicler of the tale; his breath was too large,
for his frail body to enclose. Mix in this grief some mirth.

Despite his human failings, he was more than just a man;
through him deeper music sang,
and for a little while,
a giant once more walked this earth.

*****
M.A. Mohanraj

The Sea and the Sail

-Edit-
I totally for got to talk about the time I actually got to go sailing in Juneau. My buddy's Dad had a sail boat and I got to run the jib sheet (the one in front of the mast) it was super cool cause you had to switch sides every time you tacked back and forth, Mr. Adamson would call out "tack!" and I'd undo the jib rope from around the cleat i had it on and duck under the [boom]
as it swung across the deck, then I'd have to adjust it tight again and tie it down. So yeah... I'm kind of a sailor *buffs nails on shirt*
-Edit-

When ever I go back to Juneau or down to 'the chik' (Ninilchik) I always love being on the ocean, or just by the ocean. Something about the nature of the sea brings me to life. Its un-tameable, restless, beautiful, emotional, able to inspire deep peace and terrible despair, (not unlike a woman (tee hee ^^)

I remember the summer I fished in down in the chik how much I loved being on the water at all hours of the night and day. It was cool getting up really early in the morning and coming back to shore about 7am watching the sun rise over the surging water and shine through the patchy gray sky. I always felt closer to God for some reason when we would go out into the water on the boat totally and literally dependent upon his pleasure to give us fish. It was also really cool to pull into the shore knee deep in them and load them up into the fish bins to get carried off to the cannery. Big dollar signs raking up in my mind. Ha! I actually made like next to nothing for the six weeks I worked about $1300 If I remember right. I knew it would happen but I don't care. In case you hadn't noticed I'm more about making memories during the summer than making money.


Ok I said all this to talk about the real passion that's been brewing in my mind. Sailing...



I'm gonna paint a picture in you mind. You're in your 50s, you're retired, your kids are all off on their own so you sell you house and you and your green eyed lady/big steamy man buy a $250,000 sailboat and take on a 2 year long trip to circumnavigate the Americas. Start in Anchorage or Settle and sail all the way down to the Straight of Magellan back up the east coast and then sell the thing in newfoundland, or just turn around and come back. You could cruise all day, or drop anchor in any little cove or deserted beach you wanted to check out. You could swim all the time, fish, eat local, weather storms, break down, make due and do without. Oh, and imagine the variety of coffee you could try out in south America. It'd be even better to do it with your kids.

I heard about a family who did that and instead of only reading about Aztec ruins they got off the boat and check then out. Instead of only reading about constitution hall the went on a tour when they were in the neighborhood, I guess the kids were pretty smart, (NO TV I think). Then theirs the possibility of going transoceanic, which you can do in a 12 foot boat if you've salty enough. Seriously imagine waking up early every morning and seeing the sunrise from the deck of your bright white boat and then unfurling the sails and watching the wind grab them and pull them taught then feeling the tug of the mast on your small bark.

The book "The Count of Monte Cristo" is kind of romanticizing sailing for me lately, as well as french culture and language (both of which are okay to like as the French were critical in the revolutionary war, lest we forget;)

I realize the practical problem of never being in church but a guy can dream can't he?

I found this video that of some family out sailing, they're all drinking at the end so its kinda lame but the beginning of the video I super cool.

For those of you who think that Fairbanks is the "real Alaska" I implore you to reconsider so as not to appear foolish before those more educated.

The point of no return.

Was this not an epic summer? I think about who I was and where I stood at the beginning of the summer and I feel like I've come a long way. For better or worse anyway much has changed. I looked through some of the picture we took and my heart sinks a little. I almost feel cheated that its over. I'm just glad nothing as trite as a job got in the way of me enjoying myself. I doubt I'll ever have that good a summer again. I think from now on I'll be working all summer, likely nights for a while so I'm glad I made a lot of memories.

Ok all of these you've seen on other blogs but I'll just repost them for the purpose of memory lane. Try not to cry.

I can't believe we're going to let the lake freeze! Is that legal!? Don't people have to swim or they'll die?!

Obligatory dredge post

One day about a year ago I sat down at a table with my roommate, he was eating with some people I didn't know (by way of disclaimer "girl people") any way I offered to guide a dredge adventure. It seems every one else has a dredge post so I figured I should too. Pict 3 and 4 are the machine shop.

Last of summer 8/31. "Fire and Mud"

This was the last summery thing we got to do before school started and the leaves turned yellow and football (ugh) started.  We went out the same place off Jenny M creek we went earlier in the year.  The main road had been dug up and big ditches and walls were put up to keep people out of the owners lumber.  

The biggest difference was that this time we were riding in style, Brian let us take the top and doors of his jeep so we could stand up and really experience the trip.  That turned out to be kind of a bad idea.  at one point Jordan, when standing, got rammed in the gut by the roll bar as we went over a big bump.  Also having the doors and roof off meant we all got "a light smattering" of trail mud.  not to mention the trees reaching into the cab.  Despite all of this the feel of a topless rig, i now know, is impossible to beat.  

We pretty well mapped out the entire system of trails as far as we were willing to go.  we got turned back twice by swampy conditions, the kind that turn any adventure from fun to work.  As impressed as I was with the rig having a nice winch I wasn't interested in the slightest to try it out.  The first of these two turnarounds we (I) learned how to catch an exhaust on fire.  And my faithful crew learned hot to put one out.  I made sure we brought water remembering a time in juneau we'd been so long at digging our rig out we had to quit for thirst.

After finding a spot we could defeat the earthen road block I offered Caleb the drivers seat, which being on a trail and him being such a fit trail boss he hesitated but for effect before exclaiming his acceptance as though he'd been wanting to ask but hoping more that i'd offer.  (I'm reading an old book right now and the way its written is so cool its worth imitating, bear with me) 

When we first left the Toziers were over (Papa Tozier was off doing manly things like growing a beard so there were visiting) and the four boys came over with wide eyes wanting to know where we were going.  I felt bad we had to leave them.  If we had another rig we could have spit up and split them, that would have been fun.

After the trip was over Tobi, Jordan , and I went to Brian's house and hung out watched some stargate and some specially selected episodes of firefly.  The next day jordan and I painfully washed the mud out of the jeep and got the top back on it.  I'd suggest Caleb and Tobi owed us a little but I'm sure we just made payments on our debt.

No girls and no dogs (consequently no barf in the car) but we still managed to scrape a little fun together anyway.

Back up plan

I'm kinda starting to get a little end of school depression/irritation. So far nothing seem impossible just a huge hastle. Course really how huge a hastle can somthing be if its only gonna last another 3 months.

any way I found a mantra, a back up plan that I havn't used since this time last year. I just remind my self that If I bomb out and fail misserabley that I just have to close my eyes and count to four.

and then the answer to my problems will come to me.

One


Two


Three


Four













United States Marine Corps

If I can't help people then I'll just turn me into a killer.

Killers are cool like this guy. A stone killer.





Cept I'd be more like this guy. But... no light saber... seriously what do you expect?

October sky

I received on good word(one cryer girl, one non cryer girl, and two non cryer boys) that this movie was a tear jerker. So when Dave and I got the store last night he started looking for his standard fair (movies containing the most ownage/hour) to bolster his ego or pump him up or what ever I was... feeling it... not so much.

I was going to do a peek into the mysteries of Dave like other blogs have promised to do about Joanna (and failed) So here it is. Dave likes to cry. he likes to see the sadest thing ever and not cry but thats only so he can bottle it up and then let it fly when the time comes.

Anyway we watched this movie. It was very cute. about a group of three cool kids and one VERY cool kid who also happened to be a scrawny redheaded nerd. The era is one when the first russian satelite was launched. It was called sputnick (for those less educated) and all it did was beep. It was kinda funny though people were suspicious and thought it was "takin pitchurs uv ar missle bayses" or that I would drop a bomb on us.

Ooh this reminds me of the other night when I was standing in the church parking lot in the dark and able to see the sky and all the beautiful stars for the first time in what feels like more than a year I saw a satelite reflect the sun on a solar pannel. It was like the star got all bright and then faded back to a normal star really quick.

Any way october sky is about kids who bulid rockets and live in a mineing town. its about dreams and deafeat and dads and death (his dad doesn't die, no one in the movie does... riddle me that:)

So Dave and I watched it and we just about laughed our heads off. there was a part where one character is brooding and there is slow gun fire coming from behind him, you can't see what he's shooting at and it turns out to be his junker car. I had to turn it off so Dave could finish laughing.

Very good movie all in all though. probably has good special features though I didn't check. .8 mandibles out of 1

Parkour

This is the height of sports/fitness.

TURN THE MUSIC OFF its retarded

First day of school

So today is Tobi's first day of school. I just walked by his class room to check up on our little man and he's sitting there with that look of "You're all idiots, when will this be over, Uh... I didn't get any of that"

I wish I had a picture to post, he's the closest to the door like he's gonna bolt once class is over. An agitated Tobi is priceless.

Shady Characters

Ever met some one who just gave you chills?
Someone so shrouded in mystery, leading an existence that can only be tortured as he moves deftly from shadow to shadow. He speaks in tales and allegories eluding to his true nature perhaps, but you can't be sure. He never fully exposes himself to the light, a creature of darkness. Perhaps he's scared or horribly deformed, perhaps he's not even human... All you ever see is his face and an odd blinding glow from behind. Like the phantom of... -the blog world-

Like a King, Bachelor food, and Captain Kirk

Have you ever stopped to consider how wealthy we are. more specifically in the context of what wealth was in ages past. There was a time when it didn't matter how rich or how much of the world a king controlled he still slept every night in between bear fur rugs on a pad of hay wrapped in sheets. he didn't have light at the flick of a switch or a draft proof home (unless he didn't want any windows) he had no in door plumbing and never knew the rapturous joy of a hot shower.

King Solomon, for all his wisdom, I doubt ate with as much variety as most of us.


Oh, lulz, speaking of eating with variety. I"m going to share a bachelor secret with you.

Breakfast of champions (AKA Dog food)
3/4 cup old fashion oats
1/3 cup protein powder (chocolate)
2 tbs Adams creamy peanut butter

Place ingredients in a cup mix with hot water allow to cool and mix.

Next to zero glycemic index or insulin response so it won't make you fat. Plus it keeps you going till lunch guaranteed.


Lunch of champions (AKA Gruel)
3/4 cup old fashion oats
1 can of tunafish
1.5 tbs of mayo
*spicy mustard can be added for flavor*

Again mix and enjoy

Note the careful combination of protein fat and carbohydrates.

Sorry if this look into my world scares some of my more civilized readers. The truth is both items are quite good and really don't get old very fast. In other words don't knock it till you try it.


And a funny picture of Kirk, Just for you... *wink*