The guy's got balls.

    

     So I saw on Facebook today that there was a guy in the courtyard on campus that was out preaching the gospel and condemning everyone to hell. I immediately packed up my laptop and drove to school. I was pretty excited, I was hoping to catch Fred Phelps spewing hatred in the name of Christ and yelling at the "whores" walking around in the daisy dukes, smoking their cigarettes, saying cuss words and listening to Cheap Trick. I'm no Bible thumper, but I've studied it enough to condemn anyone displaying these types of actions. One of the things that gets my blood boiling like no other is to see news reports of that Westboro piece of crap showing up at soldiers funerals and disrespecting them in front of their parents, kids, family and friends. He'll get his one day, but that's a different story.
    
     What I saw when I got there was a bit different. The guy was roped off by plastic chain and and had someone filming him. There was a group of students gathered around. They came, watched for a bit, some staying longer than others and went. Never more than 20 students at a time. I had hoped to show up and start arguing with him, proving him wrong and making him look like a fool. So did everyone else. When I walked up he was already in a debate with a student. I decided instead to sit and listen to to the dialogue.

     The guy knew his Bible. Whenever someone quoted a verse (more often mangled than verbatim) he was able to name the book and verse and follow up with the context. He could be argumentative at times, interrupting and not always listening to what some of the students were saying, but never showed signs of anger. Me? I would have gotten downright frustrated. This guy was getting attacked on all fronts. I listened not only to him, but the students that were walking up and making statements or asking other students what was going on. One thing they all had in common - they had already made up their mind about this guy and how they were going to respond to him. I sat outside and listened to him for about 30 minutes and never heard him preach anything unbiblical, even though he was a little more hardcore than I would have gotten about some things. But they were treating him like Nathaniel Hawthorne had showed up on their campus. They called him a hypocrite, a liar, a horrible example of a Christian. Of course, the most critical of him always said they were Christians themselves and that what he was doing was wrong.

     The guy said he went to college campuses all over and even to spring breaks to preach the Gospel. He said he was doing as he felt called to, go out into the world and preach to college kids about sin and salvation. Lord knows, there are not many more in this world that could use a sermon. High school and college age kids are under extreme pressure and are subject to an inordinate amount of temptation. Couple that with the fact that college age kids are for the first time, legally able to do many things they have always wanted to and most of them are freshly out from under the protective eye of their parents and you have the perfect recipe for what most would consider a sinful lifestyle.

     I sat silent mostly. I asked a couple of questions to the guy, just to get a feel for his beliefs. They were not far from mine. It really bothered me though that so many kids came up to attack, mock and ridicule someone who was there in their best interest. Someone who was there to preach the word of peace, love and forgiveness. They saw it as an opportunity to gang up on someone and to make some funny jokes in front of their classmates. Like I eluded to earlier, if he had been hateful and condemning, I would have loved to have done just that; but this guy was doing nothing of the sort. His only condemnation was that, "if you continue to live a sinful life, you will go to hell." Most Christians would agree with that. It just really bothered me how disrespectful these kids were. It bothers me that it's cool and funny to be disrespectful to people like this. He stood on one side of the courtyard, not following anyone, not yelling at passersby, but by trying to preach to anyone that would listen. It also bothered me that the kids were not only disrespectful to him, but to others that were there maybe trying to listen. His message was getting lost because most of his time was spent arguing with people who were just there to mock him and cause trouble.

Has Anyone Eaten at The Tilted Kilt?

     

I have. I took my son there yesterday. I was excited to see an Irish pub right down the street from my house. So close in fact, that if I get tanked off too many Irish Car Bombs, I could indeed stumble home to my angry wife instead of driving home plastered to my angry wife. "How much money did you spend?" "Don't be mad, I was hanging with Robert and the boys. Josh just got back from Iraq and we were celebrating." You know how that one usually goes. Anyway, I'm always looking for an alternative to Buffalo Wild Wings. Don't get me wrong, BWW's is great, but it's usually too loud for good conversation, and it's far from Cheers. I don't have a Cheers, I need one. Was this it?

     So, the first thing I notice when we walk in is the hostess' breasts. Don't judge, they were on full display. So were all the servers and the bartenders. The required uniform for these ladies was an Irish twist on what looked to be a sexy Catholic schoolgirl Halloween costume. Pretty easy on the eyes for your typical 30-year old married man, but had I know this, I most likely would have christened the place with my mates as opposed to my 11-year old son. Alas, he was unaffected - Manchester United was putting an ass-whooping on Newcastle on about 15 television sets and that was all he was concerned about.

     Save for a younger guy flirting with the bartender at the bar, we were the only two in the joint. I expected some classic Irish tunes to be playing, but instead it was Top 40 alternative. Matchbox 20 didn't exactly set the mood. They could have at least spun some Cranberries, or U2. We were greeted by a very cordial server, and she took our drink order. A Sprite for the boy, a Guinness for dad. Yea, it was 3 in the afternoon, but I can't exactly order a sweet tea on my first visit to Hendersonville's premier Irish joint, can I? We peruse the menu looking for some typical Irish treats; bangers and mash, lamb stew, maybe some corned beef and cabbage. I'm no expert on Irish cuisine, that's why I go to pubs. After a few minutes I got confused, wondering how a Chili's menu ended up on my table at The Tilted Kilt. I checked the front and it was in fact, a Tilted Kilt menu. Riddled with everything from quesadillas to hot wings and you guessed it, Irish Nachos. Irish Nachos? Yea, Irish Nachos. Save for the Fish n Chips and the Shepard's Pie, there was nothing Irish about this menu at all. All they did was place an Irish name in front of the food. Ian's Shrimp Basket, Braveheart's Chopped Salad. The rest of the menu is more of the same you will find at any poppy American family restaurant - burgers, salads, steak, wraps. Who the hell goes to a pub and orders a wrap? Would you like a Bay Breeze with that? Maybe I'm out of touch.

     We get our food and dig in. The wings were nothing special and the fries were burnt. I didn't send them back, I really didn't care at this point. I was pretty bummed out about the experience already. We ate our food and left.

     All in all, I wasn't impressed by this place. I guess I was expecting Dan McGuiness' North. The place wasn't horrible, but there was nothing to set it apart from BWW's other than a much better looking staff. They did have a nice beer selection. Boddington's on draft, that will always score some points for me. I remember a trip to Sam's Sports Grill where I actually had to request a glass with my Boddington's. I guess the girl expected me to drink it out of the can. Back to TTK - the hospitality was great from time in to time out. They greeted us immediately and said bye when we left. Our server was top notch and the decor was great. Aside from the music, I give the atmosphere a 9/10. The service a 10/10. (we'll see how it is on a busy night) The food I give a 5/10. I hold my french fries very dear to my heart and they burnt them.

     To sum it up, it's a really nice looking, Irish Hooter's. Probably a great place to get drunk with your buddies and flirt with a waitress you won't be taking home, but not a place to sing Danny Boy and reminisce about the Potato Famine. But hey, if you want to take me there and buy me a Boddington's, I'm in!

My First Formal Writing Assignment in 12 Years

I had to write this paper for my college English 1020 class. I figured I'd throw it up here and see if anyone wanted to critique it since it sounded rather bloggish.

Writing History

            After preparing for this assignment, I’ve realized that English 1020 is going to be slightly more difficult that I had originally anticipated. I am excited and apprehensive at the same time. It has been quite sometime since I have been in school and let’s just say that I took English 1010 the last time a Democrat held the Presidential Office. I have never stopped writing. In fact, I write quite often, almost daily in some fashion or another. I rather enjoy writing, but mostly in the form of blogging, internet posting, and poetry. I have no one to grade me or critic these writings but myself and there is no section in the Bedford Handbook that covers how to properly structure internet arguments and song lyrics. Maybe I will write to the publisher and suggest they amend that.

            I did well in high school, scoring an A on my senior paper in which I wrote about pirates. This was long before Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom popularized the subject, mind you. As a more creative writer, I despised having to toil over bibliography and citation. I have always written emotionally and imaginatively, so plagiarism or structured writing in general has never been a focus of mine. I do understand the importance of it and look forward to learning more about it and expanding my writing formats. I made an A in Senior English, but a C in English 1010. Of course, I did find my Senior English class a lot more interesting than English 1010 and that weighed heavily on the amount of effort and attention I gave my work in each respective class. From what I know so far about English 1020, I am very interested and hope to do well in this class after I brush up on the proper writing techniques. I have learned there are a great deal more resources for students to excel in school than there were during my last venture into higher learning and I intend to take full advantage of this.

            I’d like to give more detail about my English 1010 class, but unfortunately it is a bit of a blur. I know my professor was an extremely nice lady, but I can’t remember the subject matter. I remember reading a few stories about African-American women, but that is all I can recall. In high school we read and wrote about the Greek classics, and a lot of “old world” historical literature. I have no more in common with Oedipus Rex than I do Phillis Wheatley, but for whatever reason I enjoyed and remembered my high school class quite a bit more. Our professor, Dr. Dennis, was very involved in our work and progress. He would remind us almost daily how much we would be writing in college and how important his class was to prepare us for this. While I enjoyed coming up with thoughts and opinions for papers, I did not enjoy having to follow so many guidelines. I was never short on content, but never fully understood the point of outlines and rough drafts. On the creative side, I’m more Shel Silverstein; on the structure side, I’m e.e. cummings. Ironically, I’m a spelling, punctuation and grammar Nazi. I’m not saying I’m the most proficient in those categories as I’m sure I’ve made some mistakes in this paper. I just can’t stand to hear someone end a sentence with a preposition, interchange is and are, or spell the related form of lose “loosing”. I’ve oftentimes gotten in trouble with former bosses for replying to their emails with corrected copies, highlighting all of their mistakes with red letters and punctuation. They especially hate this when you reply to all.

            I really hope to learn a lot and excel in this class. I am always open-minded, willing to learn and eager to improve. I have also really enjoyed the topics we have discussed in class. I am very interested in politics and think that such controversial issues will feed some very passionate and informative writings. I have my opinions on such topics, but love hearing others. We seem to have a fairly diverse class with people from all over the country and with different life experiences. Maybe in English 1020 I can learn more than just how to write a good argumentative paper.

Let's get one thing straight: Conservative does not necessarily equal Republican.

All Conservatives are not Republicans.

All Christians are not Republicans.

All Republicans are not Conservative Christians.

I hope that all Democrats are not Liberals and that all Liberals are not Democrats.

This country will start to get better when we start voting for our individual beliefs and not for a party.

This country will take a step forward when we stop stereotyping people to a certain political party, it's dumb and inaccurate.

Vote Libertarian.
Vote Green.
Vote Whig, wtf ever. Just vote for your convictions and not for a person who your "party" tells you to vote for.

I would love to see an election that is split 4-5 different ways for different candidates. If we are so diverse, how can 2 men define our entire population?