Pastor Sharp Tells Some

The Game Has Passed Me By

2009-10-19T16:42:00.003-04:00

I used to play EA's NCAA Football games, probably too much. When I was finishing seminary, all by myself at Berea Lutheran Church in north St. Louis, I played it a lot. When I was living in The Bachelor Pad, my roommates and I had a league. I used to be really good at it. For some reason, I stopped playing it at about NCAA06. I'm not sure why.

Back in September, I picked up NCAA10. Again, I'm not sure why.

The game is way too hard for me. I completely stink at it in every way. It has gotten even more complicated and I simply don't know enough about football, and there are too many new features to digest at the same time. I can't play on a high level. I even stink at the lowest level. Thankfully, they have cheats you can turn on to make it even easier. I have to play with the settings making eat as easy as humanly possible to win.

It is sad. Brett Favre can still play real football; am I too old to play NCAA on Xbox? Horrible.

It looks incredible in HD, though.

Bob Bradley Should Still Be Fired

2009-06-24T19:59:00.000-04:00

We beat Spain. That's good. I am happy.

We have played well and also (finally) gotten a little luck the last two games.

But we should play like that every game. Even great teams have bad games (like, uh, Spain today). But we have been consistently awful for a while. We should have played like this against El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Honduras. We didn't.

Bradley doesn't get the right personnel on the field often enough and simply doesn't have us playing to our potential. Obviously, the guy will keep his job for a while. But unless the kind of organization & effort we saw against Egypt and Spain becomes the consistent level during the Gold Cup and qualifying, Bradley's poor results and mystifying player choices and tactics merit keeping him on the hot seat.

Minor League Soccer

2009-05-18T10:57:00.004-04:00

Took the elder son to his first professional soccer game Friday night. Crystal Palace Baltimore was hosting the Western Mass Patriots. I think they're the Patriots. [Upon checking, they are the Pioneers. Sorry.]

Crystal Palace Baltimore has been around a few years. Initially, they were called Crystal Palace USA, and played at the Naval Academy down in Annapolis. Last season, they moved up to the campus of Maryland-Baltimore County in Catonsville. It is some sort of artificial turf (I think it's Sportexe, but I'm not sure), but it seemed to play pretty well and is a nice little stadium. They can't serve beer in the stadium so they have a 'beer garden' which consists of a little area fenced off with that orange plastic construction fence where you can drink beer.

It was an easy drive and a pretty decent night. I bought Elias a hat. The hat had nothing on it to mark it as being connected to Baltimore in any way. In face, the price tag was in pounds, not dollars. We made out on the exchange rate, though, so that's cool.

This is the first USL game of any sort I have attended except for Open Cup games against DCU. The play was not particularly impressive. The players were slow and their footskill/touch was horrible. They looked like they knew what they were supposed to do, but just couldn't get it done a lot of the time.

The best players on the field, by far, were the two played loaned from RBNY, Matthew Mbuto (a former Crystal Palace player) and former JMU star Nick Zimmerman. Zimmerman hasn't played a minute this year for RBNY. Mbuto has played a total of five times in almost a year of service. The only other decent player was the Japanese defender, Shintaro Hirada. He, unfortunately, was taken out at halftime because they were playing again on Saturday.

So, USL-2 is not particularly good soccer, mostly because the players aren't very good.

But it might be good soccer, but it's my local club, right? I always say to Europoseurs that the should support MLS because it's ours.

Well, Crystal Palace Baltimore isn't really Baltimore's club. You can't buy a shirt, hat, or anything with the word "Baltimore" on it. There is absolutley nothing localized about the club. They didn't even bother trying to find a different shirt sponsor. They look like they're the JV using hand-me-down varsity uniforms. I appreciate what CPFC is in this for, but they need to do something more to make it Baltimore if I am going to overlook how horrible the actual soccer is.

I don't know if I will return to see Crystal Palace play again. It did serve as a good dry run for taking Elias to a DCU game. The question: Can Elias make it through a whole soccer game? Answer: Not if you expect him to pay attention.

Another Reason Why I Hate Wikipedia

2009-04-07T11:32:00.002-04:00

Wikipedia stinks for many and various reasons, although it does have its uses for those who realize its limitations.

So I am wondering about Moldova (don't ask why I am wondering about Moldova during Holy Week when I have a zillion other things to do, but I was) so I decide to check out the Wikipedia page for Moldova.

In pretty much anything that has anything to do with a foreign country, there is always some joker who goes through and changes everything to the foreign way of spelling it, and justifies it by saying it's the "right" way.

For example, Chişinău is the capital. The CIA World Factbook, as well as the website of the Moldovan Embassy in the United States and the official English-language Moldovan government website, spell it Chisinau. But some jerkface has to go through and add all the little marks all over.

Note to foreigners: the English Wikipedia should be in English. I don't go through the Moldovan wikipedia's five or six pages and change every American place name to the English spelling, do I?

Some Polish dude did the same thing to the Casimir Pulaski page. We have a stinking holiday named after him! He's an important dude in our history! That is how we spell it in English! Leave us alone!

Why I Am a Facebook Luddite.

2009-01-27T09:41:00.003-05:00

I had lunch with a friend of mine yesterday and he was talking about Facebook. Bah.

Facebook stinks.

The truth is, I have no real reason to be anti-Facebook. I have been a computer nerd from way back. Email, AIM, IRC; I was chatting on a BSS on dial-up 300 baud modems for crying out Pete. Why am I such a Facebook hater?

"But I have gotten in touch with so many people I went to (elementary/high school/college) with!"

If they are so great, why did you lose touch with them in the first place?

People used to call their friends or write letters. Then we got email. Email was awesome. Now, these people check Facebook to see if someone sent them a message. They can set it send an email to them when they have a message from someone. That's like having the post office send you a postcard to come pick up a letter that somebody sent you.

I will probably end up doing it. I realize this. This is probably one of the other reasons I am so opposed to it, because I know I will give in, just like I did with the mobile phone.

Bah.

No Votes For You

2008-12-18T14:27:00.003-05:00

I have learned via instructions from the Southeastern District that congregations that share a pastor constitute a "parish" (quotes original) and thus only get 1 shared lay delegate.

This is ridiculous in many and various ways.

Congregations who are vacant get a lay delegate.

Congregations who, during their vacancy (including what are essentially permanent vacancies) are served by the pastor of another congregation, get a lay delegate.

For the last district convention, Nazareth and Christ both got a lay delegate, although only Christ had a called pastor. Now that Nazareth has a called pastor (whom they happen to share with Christ), they are essentially being disenfranchised.

So, because they chose to to call a pastor (which is what a group of Christians should do), because they chose not simply to let the interim pastor hold their hands while the congregation died, a member-congregation of The LCMS is denied a vote in the district convention.

When I complained, both the district secretary and the synodical secretary pointed out that this is, indeed, synodical understanding. It has been since at least the 1960's. I would like to know when they decided that a "parish" meant multiple congregations sharing a jointly called pastor. It certainly isn't how the word parish is in use in The Synod. I guess I am the only "parish" pastor I know (personally - I know they exist).

Note that this will particularly disenfranchise two groups in The Synod - the rural congregations and, increasily, urban congregations like the ones I serve.

The fairness or reasonability of this aside, it also does not reflect our polity or supposed understanding of the Church as centered in the local congregation. Basically, it makes me as the pastor what defines a congregation (sorry, "parish"), not the fact that these are two separate congregations, both members of The Synod for over a century now, with separate constitutions, etc.

I understand not giving me two pastoral votes because I have two congregations. Duh. I do not understand giving congregations that share a pastor a partial vote. It's like the 3/5ths compromise all over again.

I wish I had time to argue about this, but I am sure it won't do any good. In the current climate in The Synod, especially with the Great Synodical Restructuring Thing, they are actively seeking to disenfranchise small congregations anyway, so I doubt if I'd get much sympathy.

College Football Stinks.

2008-12-05T16:17:00.002-05:00

Texas and Oklahoma have identical records. Texas beat Oklahoma. Oklahoma is playing in the Big 12 Championship game against Missouri, a team with a worse record whom Texas also beat.

For crying out loud, the BCS is horrible.

No election in 2012.

2008-12-05T12:04:00.001-05:00

They shouldn't even have a presidential election in 2012. Unless something goes horribly wrong, there's no way Barack will lose.

Whichever arrogant fool wants to self-delude into becoming the Republican Walter Mondale is welcome to, I guess, but we could all save a lot of time, money, and mental energy if the GOP just figured out by about July 2011 if they have any realistic shot at all or not. My guess is they won't.

Spare us.

The NFL stinks

2008-11-18T15:37:00.004-05:00

The end of the Steelers-Chargers game just tells you what a bunch of humorless, incompetent jerkfaces the NFL is.

The game was, for the most part, dreadful. They had a nice, fun ending that would have left fans with a positive view of what was otherwise a horrible ordeal. Instead,

1) they ruin it with an instant replay and

2) then they mess up the call.

And don't get me started on holding.

Avoiding offending people at all costs.

2008-11-03T17:23:00.004-05:00

From an article about getting rid of Latin phrases in local governments in England:

Linguistic controversies are nothing new in Britain, cradle of the English language, where people have strong opinions on what constitutes proper usage. In recent years officials have moved to avoid language that gives offense to ethnic minorities, disabled people and other groups.
Predictably, some feel the drive has gone too far. Many were bemused earlier this year when it was reported that a town council had banned the word "brainstorm" because it might offend people with epilepsy, a condition that involves periodic electrical storms inside the brain. Tunbridge Wells council advised using "thought showers" instead.

"Thought showers."

Sweet mother of pearl.

Speaking Spanish

2008-10-15T16:31:00.002-04:00

Sometimes, I think I really stink, and then I run into somebody at a taco stand or in the grocery and have a long, difficult conversation.

Sometimes, I am feeling really smart and I try to order food and the guy has no clue what I am saying.

Rhyme + Reason = 0

Bears win.

2008-09-08T17:04:00.001-04:00

Orton still stinks. There's no way we make the playoffs.

The Synodical Reorganization Thing

2008-09-08T16:39:00.002-04:00

Back when I was teaching Government to high school freshmen, I had an exchange with one of my students that went something like this:

"Mr. Sharp, why do we have to learn all this stuff? It's so boring!"

"You have to learn this, first of all, because the State says so, but also because it is good to know because the more information you have as a voter, the more informed vote you are able to cast."

"Well, I'm never voting."

"That's good. You probably shouldn't vote if you don't know or care about this."

She was offended, but not too much, I hope. And I was serious, but not too much. I guess everybody should vote if they want to, but, ideally, your voters would know what they were doing and vote on the basis on their knowledge and wisdom.

This leads me to the Great Synodical Restructuring Thing. One of their suggestions/talking points/whatever is that large congregations will receive extra votes (that's a horrible oversimplification, but that's the basic idea).

Question: Is the congregation of 50 very well-catechized Lutherans really less deserving of a vote - or deserving of half a vote, or whatever - than a congregation of 2000 people who may or may not have attended a Saturday "new members class" at their congregation which may or may not even call itself Lutheran? Do you think there are active members at some churches in our beloved Synod who don't know that they are members of a Lutheran church? These are the people you want having extra voting power?

I'm not suggesting that delegates to conventions should have to take an entrance exam, but I don't think they've thought out this proposal very well. There's a lot more to it than the perceived fairness of being more representative.

Coffee Update

2008-09-03T11:26:00.002-04:00

Current coffee is cold-brewed Tim Horton's. I love Tim Horton's. Picked up a few cans of coarse-ground coffee somewhere in Kentucky, I think, on the way back from Arkansas a few weeks ago. Enough for two batches of coldbrew.

I was excited when Wendy's bought out Tim Horton's and started to expand in the US, but it looks like that all fell through and my dreams of a nearby Timmy Hoho's are shattered.

It's pretty good, but not as good as Zeke's, of course. They have good food, too, way better than Dunkin's.

I have left and I have returned.

2008-09-02T17:52:00.001-04:00

I got busy. Sorry.

I am now a real pastor - I was installed on August 24th as pastor of Nazareth Lutheran Church in Baltimore and Christ Lutheran Church in Dundalk.

Good times.

xbox.

2008-02-18T01:24:00.002-05:00

I have an Xbox 360.

Finally.

Many a gift card, coupon, etc., made it possible.

I bought two games: Guitar Hero III and Halo 3. Halo is good enough that it should have Roman numerals, too.

I have been playing a borrowed game, Mass Effect. I like it mostly. The "Mass Effect" is a sci-fi principle that allows really, really, really fast faster-than-light travel. In the future, starships will fly around the galaxy at incredible speeds. However, elevators will be ridiculously slow. Also, we will explore planets in a modified British infantry fighting vehicle. Why fly around with our advanced technology when we can slowly crawl up the sides of mountains?

Other than that, I enjoy it.

Words Soccer Fans in the United States Ought Never Use, Part 1.

2007-08-25T23:52:00.000-04:00

cynical.
clinical.
pace. pacey.
workrate.
boot.
pitch.
rubbish.
mercurial.
lad.
on X points.
table.
fixture. fixture list.

Coffee

2007-08-11T23:20:00.000-04:00

Two things have changed my coffee life.

Before I go on wasting time while I should be finishing my sermon, I need to let you know that I love coffee. Love. Coffee is wonderful.

Having said that, my coffee love has been taken to strange new places with the introduction of two new things - cold brewing and a local roaster.

I first read about cold brewing in the New York Times a couple of months ago. I read up on it and discovered the Toddy cold brew coffeemaker. Calling it a coffeemaker is a bit of an overstatement. It's like a big plastic brew basket for a real coffeemaker. But it is easier and probably quite a bit less messy. Cold brewing results in less acid and a much nicer flavor. I have never been a fan of black coffee, i like the creaminess of, uh, cream, and the sweetness of sugar, but I will drink coffee made in my Toddy black. I like to mix it with milk, but I have discovered I don't really need sugar. Incredible.

The second thing is my local coffee roaster. I have had locally roasted coffee in St. Louis (Kaldi's) and Alexandria (Misha's) before, but neither are the bestestest ever. My new place here in Baltimore is Zeke's, and they are awesome.

Together, these twin awesomes have collided and changed my world. I will only drink coffee I cold brew myself. I no longer like Dunkin Donuts iced coffee. If you know me, you might realize the depth of this statement.

I'm going to start keeping a coffee diary as I try new coffees. Stay tuned, loyal reader!

The Xbox 360 Saga

2007-07-28T14:30:00.000-04:00

Probably not getting an Xbox anytime soon. I went to Best Buy yesterday and bought a couple of PC games with one of my gift cards. I picked up the new expansion to Civ 4, Beyond the Sword. It has some interesting stuff in it, I've only played through once. I also got the Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth Anthology. It has LOTR:BME 1 and 2, as well as the expansion for 2, all for 40 bucks. I thought that was a pretty good deal; I had been looking at getting one or the other for a while.

So, I have some new PC games. It won't let me play Halo 3 or GTA, but I'll live. And I decided I don't really like NCAA football anymore, they've messed with the recruiting system so much and still haven't fixed the ridiculous discipline system. ("I know you killed somebody, son, and it's going to get us into big trouble with the NCAA, but I just don't have enough discipline points left to sit you for a game.")

This blogging thing.

2007-07-24T10:13:00.000-04:00

I just want to say that, even though I am starting a blog now, midway through 2007, I was truly way ahead of the curve.

When I was in Brazil, I was making what would probably now be considered a blog. I called it, creatively enough, James in Brazil. I coded it in html, even though I didn't know html very well, because all these easy blog software things did not exist. It wasn't great, and nobody read it because I didn't tell anybody about it, and this was before Google had taken over the universe. I don't know why I was doing it. I guess because I could. I don't remember what service I used. I don't know if it still exists somewhere. It was a long time ago.

My point is this: I am not behind in starting a blog; in fact, I was way ahead.

I want an Xbox 360. I think.

2007-07-24T09:11:00.000-04:00

My mother and grandmother sent me $50 gift cards to Best Buy for my birthday. So now I have 100 bucks to spend at Best Buy. I really want to get a next gen system. But now that they have dropped the price on the PS3, and now that it has been revealed that the 360 is a deathrap (well, it malfunctions alot), my previously unshakeable 360 fanboydom is in crisis.

The reality of the situation is, I can't afford either, and if I didn't have the gift cards, I wouldn't even be seriously considering either. I will probably end up buying the new expansion to Civilization IV and some CD's.

Bah.

LCMS.

2007-07-19T12:39:00.001-04:00

I am displeased with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.