My life is an endless battle against maturity.

Just because it's such a good pic. Click to enlarge it. You'll smile.

Fee, Fi, Faux Hum
I drove through a neighborhood this afternoon of newer track homes. Nice places, not basic, entry level houses. It's the standard Phoenix area subdivision, so they are all stucco, earth tones, with tile roofs. But these are clearly a step above.
As I drove the streets I couldn't help but notice that nearly every house had some adornment. Most had fake shutters. Some of the two story homes had a fake balcony off an upstairs window and others had Tuscan-style wrought iron railings that, near as I could tell, kept nothing out and nothing in. I saw houses that had fake windows with fake wrought iron bars protecting them.
The companies that build these houses know what they're doing, which means they know people are attracted to all manner of faux features. Which apparently makes me the odd man out. But I can't understand why people don't ask, "Why do I want fake shutters screwed to the side of my stucco house in the desert?"
IMHO

Smile When You Watch That
We have a few shows we like to watch each week. No, none of them are "reality shows." (I've never understood why taking 16 complete strangers, sticking them on an island they've never heard of, creating teams and then putting cameras in their faces while they make out falls under the heading "reality." Just me.)
We like NCIS (endless supply of reruns), The Mentalist and Life.
I won't speak for Pam, but I quickly tired of the CSI versions and the Law & Order versions. Today I got to thinking about why and came up with a tentative answer.
The plot lines among the two groups of shows are similar; they're all crime shows. A regular group of white hats are faced with a crime of some sort, work to find the perp(s) and bring 'em down. But I find one set dark and depressing. They are always intense, serious and wrapped around the evil part of life. The other - NCIS, The Mentalist, Life - almost always have something to laugh about. The last two are almost tongue in cheek. Light, airy, fun. I don't think it's coincidence that the videography (?) in one set is visually dark, often set at night or in dark buildings, while the other is light, in the daytime.
Life has enough evil already, I don't need an evening of worse.
IMHO

There's a Stripper in My Garage
I worked off and on today on that oak table. I have the old finish off both semi-circular halves and the leaf, and I have them sanded. Tomorrow I'll stain and Wednesday start with the three (or more) coats of finish. I should have it ready to return by Thursday, Friday at the latest. A good, no-brainer job that will bring a modest fee, but a fee nonetheless.

200 Years Ago
This is the bicentennial of several significant births. Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln both celebrated their 200th birthdays last week. (I was disappointed that Google's logo drew attention to the former and not the latter.) This is also the bicenntenial of the founding of the NAACP. But take a look at a partial list of others born in 1809:

• Felix Mendelssohn
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Alfred Lord Tennyson
• Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
• Kit Carson

Makes me wonder who is being born this year that they'll be talking about two centuries hence.

Nice Moves, Big Guy
Did you see this during All Star Weekend? I missed it live, and in case you did:
Shaq and Jabbawockeez

True North
OK, one more thought that went through my head today.
Yesterday we looked at 1 Cor. 5 in which Paul insists that the Corinthian church expel from their midst the man who was engaged in serious sexual immorality (pornea). We noted that if the church followed Paul's injuction it must certainly have caused repurcussions in the congregation. Did he have family members who would take offense at his expulsion? Close friends who would have walked out in protest? Church division?
The situations that can come up in a local congregation are often complex. Left to our own wisdom I don't know how we'd ever figure them out. Where is the line that separates grace and compassion from compromise and complicity? When is a church guilty of the kind of hypocrisy portrayed in The Scarlet Letter?
I'm thankful for the sure and certain guidance of Scripture. No, not every situation that can come up is addressed in clear and complete terms, but the Bible offers principles which speak to how we should conduct ourselves in the church of the Living God (1 Timothy). So we pray for wisdom on applying those principles. But we're not left to our own devices.
T'ank you, Fadder.