charlieDEAN’S Blog

not only am I a foodie (see last post), but i’m also a techie…albeit a cheap one, so sometimes I’m slower in actually adopting new technologies than I would be if I had an unlimited budget…

anyway…this is my new technology toy…the Blackberry 8130 Pearl.  it’s sweet.  (yes, i really wanted an iPhone, but AT&T has no service where I live)

Several months ago I read Jon Krakauer’s book Under the Banner of Heaven, which is about fundamentalist Mormonism.  As part of the book he gave a history of Joseph Smith & the Mormons, which included a stint in Nauvoo, Illinois.  My friend Ryan regularly has business in Nauvoo, so I asked if I could ride along the next time he was headed that way.  Today was that day.  So this is me in front of the Temple in Nuavoo.  (In a day of small cameras, I used the iSight on my MacBook Pro to take this shot, so it’s a little awkward.)

Okay, this picture is less than revealing (except for the marks on my forehead which are from wearing my glasses up).

Here’s the wiki on the temple if you’re interested! 

last weekend i finally got to watch the movie Into the Wild. i’m a fan of Jon Krakauer, and so i was eagerly anticipating this movie-version, but was unable to get to the theater and see it when it came out in November. Here are a couple movie thoughts, and then some personal reflections:

• i’ve already said that the soundtrack is amazing. in the context of the movie it’s even more so.
• beautifully shot film. i wish i could have seen it on the big screen.
• as is the norm, the movie-makers added some content, which is too bad, considering this is all about a real person and real events. the thing is, i didn’t see that the added parts were necessary.

here’s the thing. this was a great film. but my guess is that there will be some people who absolutely love it and others who hate it — and it probably has more to do with their own personality than the actual film.

some people look at the story of Chris McCandless and say, “he was crazy” and they just don’t get why he did what he did. others, including Krakauer in the book, look at McCandless and say, “i get it. i have the same wanderlust, the same craving for adventure.”

i was telling this to Jennifer — that were i not bound by various responsibilities — i could see myself strapping on a backpack and heading into the wild for some time — and she told me how when she was in the bookstore recently she saw a promotional display that said ADVENTURE and she was looking at the books realizing that i either owned or had read many of the books.

 I read this quote in an artice in Newsweek called “A Room with a Hue” about a new show at MoMA that asks why contemporary art has so little color.

The quotation just made me sad, because, silly me, I though art was the pursuit and expression of that which is beautiful.  Without the pursuit of beauty it just seems like going through the motions.

But of course I live in the midwest and know one really cares what I think about art anyway.

For the last month or so, we’ve seen a regular pattern in Central Illinois of snow - 50 degrees - wintry mix — 50 degrees — snow…

However, in my world…spring has arrived.  I don’t know why, I’m just saying that I don’t care about the weather…spring is arriving.  I think the following factors are in play:

• opening pitch on the Cubs season is 26 days, 1 hour and 12 minutes away.
• Easter is only a couple weeks away
• i signed my two oldest boys up for baseball last saturday

So…live in winter, if you must (particularly those of you living east of here)…but for Charlie, Spring is a State of Mind!

we live in a rural setting, so there are no options for pizza delivery.  so in the past couple of years I’ve come to see myself as somewhat of a homemade pizza expert.  i’ve been building a reportoire of pizza including “chicago-style,” thin crust & stuffed crust.  this is my newest creation, inspired by a pizza at Firehouse Pizza on N. Knoxville in Peoria.  it’s a Cheesburger Pizza.  (it’s delicious!)

I bought my first Nalgene bottle probably 12 years ago, when Jennifer and I were living in Colorado (I still have it and take it to the gym everyday). I didn’t know they were “trendy” — I just knew that they held a lot of water and were supposed to be pretty much unbreakable.

But recent reports suggest that Nalgene bottles may not be so health-friendly. So, Jennifer and I are probably going to start switching over (I think there are a total of 5 Nalgene bottles in our house, so we can’t afford to do it all at one time) — and the mostly likely option is SIGG bottles. (Like Megan, I have a VOSS bottle as well, but I don’t take it out of the house much…I’m afraid of dropping it.)

So, here’s my ecological dilemma. What do I do with my old Nalgene bottles?

• On the Freakonomics Blog, they had a contest to develop a six-word motto for the U.S.  Of course, right-wing bloggers ruined the original post but they’ve narrowed it to five.  I voted for #3…. “Caution! Experiment in Progress Since 1776″
• Was anyone else extremely disturbed by the cover on the last issue of Newsweek?  The title said, “Let There be Blood” and directly beneath that, to the right, along with other right-wing pundits was a picture of James Dobson holding his Bible up.  It bothers me a great deal that the Bible is perceived as a weapon…even if it’s only a metaphor in the political arena.
• I’m extremely embarrassed by my alma mater…but not surprised…I guess that I hoped that they were above this sort of behavior these days.  Scot McKnight had some good thoughts about this (link).
• This chart is helpful in understanding the “emergent”/”emerging”/orthodoxy/evangelical labels.  It’s not perfect…but I think it helps.
• This blog makes me laugh at myself…a lot!  At the same time, there’s an important message just under the surface about being comfortable in the skin color God made us.
• And finally…this is the funniest thing I think I’ve seen in a long time…  (ht: Tim)   … I wonder if I should work this into a series at Imago?

I was looking through the DISH Network Guide a couple weeks ago and I saw my name: Chaz Dean on the screen (I’m not suggesting everyone call me Chaz…but my sister-in-law does)

Anyway…the OTHER Chaz Dean is a hair stylist.  He looks like this:

YIKES.  (should I change my name?)

There’s this coffee shop that I’ve always loved.  Everytime that I’ve gone there I leave saying, “I love that place…it’s almost exactly how I would design a coffee shop/cafe.  So I hereby declare, Panache in Sheridan village as my “home coffee shop.”  It has everything that I’m looking for:

• free trade coffee (although it’s lent, so I drank a fantastic Spiced Chai Latte w/ skim milk)
• unique atmosphere (eclectic/artistic…NPR News is on the radio right now!)
• food items (I’ve not eaten a lot here…I’ll keep ya posted!)
• fish tank (if only my wife would let me have one at home!)
• board games
• books (nothing I’d read, but I admire the effort)
• piano (who knows when I might just want to get up and play for a while)
• beer/wine (for “later in the evening meetings)

When I worked up on the “north end,” Panache just wasn’t in my path…at all.  But I declare that it is worth the drive!