Have you ever noticed that a dictionary never has an index? Hmmm

The average home price in Phoenix fell 29% from July of '07 to '08, second only to Las Vegas which had a drop of 30%. They say the good news is that the rate of decline seems to be slowing some. These really are amazing times. You'd almost be better off buying a new car in terms of the rate of depreciation.

Speaking of cars...
Just when you've convinced yourself that there is an innate moral system built into the universe you pull up to a stop light and notice that in the lane next to you is a young woman driving a Saleen Mustang. That is SO wrong.

I met Josh W. this morning at his church and we rode our bikes (the go-fast kind) out to Bartlett Lake and back. It's been too long since I road twisties. On the way in I felt tentative and road accordingly. I felt some better on the way out, getting into a rythym and working the bike through the turns. But I clearly need more practice!
After we got back into town we stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant for which Josh had coupons. Decent food, nothing special. The only real noteworthy thing was that the host and waiter, who were both Hispanic, used some basic Spanish when taking our order, refilling our Cokes, etc. "Amigo," "Si," "Gracias" and the like. I was surprised that it didn't seem at all affected, artificial.
But what I enjoyed was the opportunity to talk shop. Josh and I typically get together once a month but it had been two or three since we last met at Paradise.
I don't know if it works like this for other profession but ours is so subjective, so difficult to measure. They talk about "nickles, numbers and noise" as the standards of success in ministry, but that's bogus and most of us know that. So it's helpful to ask, like we did today, "How's your preaching lately?" Because Josh had a really outstanding homiletics prof we can talk easily about some of the technical aspects of that task, discussing structure, balance and the like.
This back-and-forth conversation has an effect something like standing outside myself and more clearly seeing what I'm doing and how.
My guess is that some other professions experience the same dynamic - that H.S. teachers benefit from discussing their teaching methods and journalists leave conversations with other journalists with a fresh perspective on their own reporting. So lunch over chimichangas may not seem like a working lunch but I sure feel the better for it.