Spring Sure is Exciting

Music: O.K. ready for this, tons of variety... Led Zeppelin, Simon and Garfunckle, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Wallflowers, Probot, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, White Stripes, Stavesacre, and "Steady, as She Goes" by The Raconteurs...

Well I have so many things to be excited for this Spring. Baseball starts in like one week and the Twins could be a contender. It kind of depends on if the gambles they took pay off we will see. Go Twinkies!!!

Reason number two to be excited this spring is all the super cool music coming out. Here are probably more but three big ones for me are...

1. Stavesacre:How to Live with a Curse, April 18th. They are one of the coolest Hard Rock bands out there. Their concerts are super intense and they are probably the best band you have never heard of. They have these great lyrics and just this intense sound. I heard someone once call them the Emo version of Tool, which probably annoyed them and I am not a huge fan of people making random comparisons like that but you get the point.

2. The Raconteurs: Broken Boy Soldiers, May 16th. This is a group consisting of Jack White of The White Stripes and Brendan Benson an old friend of Jack's from Detroit and then Jack Lawrence of The Greenhornes and Patrick Keeler also of The Greenhornes. Their first single is called "Steady, as She Goes." You can find it on their web-site which can be a little finicky at times but it is really cool, the song, the web-site is pretty clever. Anyway I'm pretty excited for that album.

3. Less Than Jake: In with the Out Crowd, May 23rd. Their last album Anthem was really good super solid punk-rock-ska album. So I'm pretty excited for their new one. There aren't a whole lot of ska bands that are still around making cool music so I like it when one is still doing their thing.

Also just doing all the stuff getting ready for this summer. I need to find a summer job and try and get into a class or two, time is running out... Yikes, but I am excited to keep on going with the whole nursing thing. I was definitely using this semester as a litmus test. Do I really want to subject myself to endlessly tiring weeks for the purpose of pursuing this career.

And the usual fun things about spring and summer, nice weather, weddings (way to go Andy), Softball starts in like thirty three days, and just a chance to take a break for my school job I'm super excited!!!

Probably the thing I'm most excited for is the worst part of my week...

Godspeed,
Caleb M. Saarela

Times Like These
Dave Grohl

Happy 50th Post!!!

The Black is Back!!!
Music: Lots of Alternative Rock and band you should check out is Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders. Taylor Hawkins is the drummer for the Foo Fighters and the album is pretty good. I've been jamming to it.

Well here it is I am feeling the pressure since I have been talking about this for a while. I made this fun little video introduction but google video was not being nice to me so sorry about that, I know my sister wants more videos so I will have to work the kinks out of that. The basic point of it was this, I just want to say a huge thank you to anyone who reads, shows it to friends, makes comments, and tells me they like my blog. I love putting it together and just want to say Thank You So Much!!!

So what you are getting is what I consider to be they best eight posts with a couple posts that were originally two posts combined, a bonus post from Lunch with Scotitch and Nathleb, and some honorable mentions. All of the posts have been digitally re-mastered, well actually I just went back over them and added some links and might have taken out some unnecessary pictures. You will find a link to the posts below. They have been reposted on a greatest hits blog because when I linked them on my blog it would go straight to the bottom of all the comments and it just wasn’t right, so that’s why the new blog, if you have comments they have to be left on the bottom of this one it’s not an option on the linked post, ah that is pretty confusing sorry…

1. The Theory of Cuteness: This one is first just because it kind of set the tone and people kept on telling me how much they liked it and told their friends about it. In reality I had been writing this one for like ten years this was just the first time I got to put it in a place for people to see.

2. Why I Will Buy Nothing: This one is long and I was feeling inspired I like the issues addressed sorry it is still super long.

3. Being Green: Again I like the argument and the way this one was written, I also like the issues addressed.

4. The Better Gift 1 and 2: So in light of the past three months this is a pretty funny one but it doesn’t mean I don’t believe what I wrote in this post. I still believe that Singleness is still the Better Gift, and it was the peace I needed to hear, and if the Lord would have it for me I would be single the rest of my life…

5. God’s Sovereignty Part 1 and 2: God’s Sovereignty is important.

6. Darkness, Light, and Christmas: I really like this poem, I thought it was good and I worked hard on it and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

7. Dear Francis,: So the more I think about this post and movie the more I liked it, again if you get the chance to see this movie you should.

8. The Old Man and Christian Music: So the old man post was really random and then the music one was pretty serious and I like the music one.

9. 93 Dollars and 26 Cents, That’s a lot of Bling: Well this one still makes me laugh every time I read it, lint, arby’s, and hiding in barns and noble…

Some things that didn’t make the list but are worth mentioning are…
“Random Monday Rants” 1/16/06: I liked the poem about my shoes, the comments about risk, and the funny picture of my mustache.
“Christmas reflections and other random stuff” 12/28/05: Mostly I like the comments about girls, I was so confused at the time because of a certain someone.
“What’s Up” 2/28/06: Lot’s of links to HomestarRunner.com
“Funny Quote about my life” 12/13/06: I’m Lazy
“North Hangook Falling” 2/05/06: North Korea
“Down at Colfax and Broadway” 1/31/06: Five Iron Frenzy Rules!!!

One I wish would have been better was the Post about Poverty 2/26/06 the Re-Cap salvaged it a little but it was not my best work.

Anyway there it is the best of the best. Again thanks for reading, I really appreciate it a ton. It has totally become a great way for me to relax and have some fun. Time to start counting down to 100!!!
Godspeed,
Caleb M. Saarela

Race and Housing

Music: Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Weezer, Wallflowers, The Shins, Smashing Pumpkins, Coldplay, The Pixies, Violent Femmes, and lots of White Stripes.

So this is a little break from my homework. No really I have gotten a lot done today no really, all right who am I kidding…

Anyway like two weeks ago at the Sunday school class I have gotten to go to a couple times Ben Piper showed the third part of a PBS show about race, entitled Race: The Power of Illusion. I have actually seen it before a couple years ago and most of it is pretty good but the standout portion of it is part three The Houses We Live In. It is a very good explanation of the difference we now see in the general displacement of wealth in our county.

A friend of mine once asked me “Slavery was abolished over a hundred years ago and the civil rights movement fixed the other problems forty years ago why are black people still so poor?” I had no answers, his conclusion was that basically there was something wrong with them, my conclusion was that there was still some sort of carry over that we were fighting against, what that was I didn’t know…

Then after seeing this half an hour video I started to have a better idea what that barrier might be. I am just so glad I got to see this again and to see the concepts for a second time. So now I share them with you…

The idea is this, after WWII is when the idea of a long-term low monthly payment loan was first made available. Returning soldiers where given the chance to settle down and buy a home for basically nothing. The Government were the ones who were giving out the loans and deciding who qualified and they basically came to the decision that ethnic minorities did not qualify. Yes this has been made right in the 1960’s but it is interesting what it setup.

I am going to simplify a ton here cause you should try and see this for yourself or look up the information and I need to get back to my studying. Most Americans possess the majority of their wealth in their home and “Wealth isn't just luxury or profit; it's the starting point for the next generation.” So after world war two is when American started to own homes and the suburbs were built. And this ability to buy a house was only given to whites. Ethnic minorities were considered to be to much of a risk and so my grandfather was given a great chance to get ahead and I am still reaping the benefits. On the whole that continues to be passed down and we are still dealing with that difference today.

To correct this discrepancy it will take radical lifestyle choices by those who have started from an advantage.

O.K. that is it there is more to say but that is all I have time for go read the information presented here it is worth your time and if possible you should try and find a copy of this video.

Godspeed,
Caleb M. Saarela

No Way Back
D. Grohl

Coming Soon...
Caleb's 50th Post, it is actually going to be pretty dull just a little thing we call...
CALEB'S GREATEST HITS!!!

Best of Cd's

Music: Stavesacre, little Coldplay, Jeff Buckley, Foo Fighters. On Monday night I finally found an acoustic version of Everlong, it is awesome, I have been looking forever...

So something is jacked up and messing up my “photo” on my profile and everywhere I go it is messing things up. So if it looks like everything has loaded but that. Just stop the loading process, sorry if I messed up anyone else’s blog, my bad…

So this is just a great way to waste some time here and there but not really doing anything serious. So I made this Best of Five Iron Frenzy Cd for Missy and thought I would post the list and see if anyone thinks there are songs missing. I think I will do this periodically with other bands too. I think it will be fun, I don’t know maybe I am crazy. Maybe everyone will be totally bored with it but this was perfect I could do it in like 20 minutes before class started. Bands that I would like to do this for would be Stavesacre, Foo Fighters, Weezer, Black Eyed Sceva/Model Engine, Poor Old Lu, Plank Eye, and a couple others. Anyway here is my Five Iron Cds, oh yea Five Iron gets two Cd’s every other band will probably just be one. Suckers…



Album name is Bold

1. The Old West Upbeats & Beatdowns
2. Where Zero Meets Fifteen (Live) Extra Fun Stuff
3. Cool Enough For You Upbeats & Beatdowns
4. A Flowery Song Upbeats & Beatdowns
5. Cannonball The End Is Near
6. Third World Think Tank (Live) in Holland Winter Wonderland
7. One Girl Army (Live) Proof That The Youth Are Revolting
8. Pre-Ex-Girlfriend Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo
9. The Phantom Mullet All The Hype That Money Can Buy
10. Sweet Talkin' Woman Quantity Is Job 1 (EP)
11. Pootermobile The Cheeses of Nazareth
12. Blue Comb (Live) Proof That The Youth Are Revolting
13. Rhubarb Pie The Cheeses of Nazareth
14. You Probably Shouldn't Move Here (Live) The End is Here
15. Canada (Live) The End is Here
16. Farenheit All The Hype That Money Can Buy
17. Four-Fifty-One All The Hype That Money Can Buy
18. Handbook For The Sellout (Live) Proof That The Youth Are Revolting
19. New Years Eve The End Is Near
20. Far Far Away Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo
21. A New Hope (Live) The End is Here
22. Something Like Laughter The End Is Near
23. That's How The Story Ends The End Is Near
24. On Distant Shores The End Is Near

1. My Evil Plan To Save The World Quantity Is Job 1 (EP)
2. At Least I'm Not Like All Those Other Old Guys (Live) The End is Here
3. Arnold & Willis & Mr. Drumond (Live) Proof That The Youth Are Revolting
4. You Can't Handle This Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo
5. Anthem (Live) Proof That The Youth Are Revolting
6. Vultures (Live) The End is Here
7. Amalgamate Upbeats & Beatdowns
8. Giants All The Hype That Money Can Buy
9. Juggernaut Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo
10. Banner Year Our Newest Album Ever
11. Milestone Upbeats & Beatdowns
12. See The Flames Begin To Crawl The End Is Near
13. Suckerpunch Our Newest Album Ever
14. It's Not Unusual All The Hype That Money Can Buy
15. Mayonnaise Taco Monday (Live) Live From Cornerstone 2003
16. Pootermobile (Live) Live From Cornerstone 2003
17. Wizard Needs Food, Badly The End Is Near
18. Marty The Cheeses of Nazareth
19. Most Likely To Succeed Our Newest Album Ever
20. When I Go Out Quantity Is Job 1 (EP)
21. Farsighted Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo
22. Spartan Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo
23. The Greatest Story Ever Told All The Hype That Money Can Buy
24. Dandelions Quantity Is Job 1 (EP)
25. World Without End All The Hype That Money Can Buy
26. Every New Day (Live) The End is Here

Let me know what you think, also if you know me and would like to borrow this collection to check out the coolest band ever or other bands I do this for let me know and I can make it happen, the first would be free you know just to get you hooked…
Caleb

A New Look for a New Year?

Music: Since my last post I have been listening to a lot of Foo Fighters, Folk, older country, Johnny Cash, O Brother Soundtrack, also Coldplay and other calmed down rock but today has been lots of Heavy Metal and Hard Rock with some Foo Fighters and Weezer. Lots of Metallica, Incubus, Rage Against the Machine, Stavesacre, P.O.D., and Probot...

Look it looks differenty. I changed a bunch of my links and it kind of messed up the side bar so it felt like the time to iron out the kinks and make her pretty again.

Well the next couple weeks are going to be pretty busy so if there is not a whole lot new up here sorry about that. I got some things coming but the two papers and bio test coming up will probably put a halt to my blogging for a little while. Well a hault to my long winded rants anyway, these pointless ones I might be able to keep up. Yea for wasting your valuable time...
Caleb

New Post Coming, Good Bye Kirby...

Music: Foo Fighters and more Foo Fighters. I love that band, Everlong Rules!!! Times Like These, End Over End, MonkeyWrench, Learn to Fly, M.I.A., Come Back, Stacked Actors, My Hero, Razer, Best of You, and New Way Home!!! Just to name a few. I love that band!!!

Anyway got a post in the works for later this week, called "The Way I Write" It's going to question if I write form to much of a Christian Worldview. Just a thought it won't be anything special and if I were you I wouldn't read it.

Last things last...

Good Bye Kirby, I will miss you... I know stuff happened after your retirement but man you were a great player. The 1991 World Series!!! I still look back and see that as the end of my childhood, one last summer and fall to be a kid to jump up and down on the couch to cheer like crazy for every pitch, catch, hit, homerun... And that was Kirby's series!!! The catch to rob Ron Grant, the homerun in the 10th, him waddling around the bases pumping his fist... I will never forget that series and that game six, it made game seven even better. Thanks Kirby, you made me want to play outfield the way I do, reckless... Here are a couple good articles about Kirby...
Article One
Article Two

Thanks Again Kirby
















Godspeed,
Caleb M. Saarela

Centerfield
John Fogerty

Dear Francis,

Updated 3/6/06 8:00am. Music: I am rocking my Christian Rock Best of Playlist, which includes bands like Switchfoot, Aaron Sprinkle, Poor Old Lu, Brave Saint Saturn, Black Eyed Sceva, and Model Engine. Rock and Roll!!!
Anyway it was brought to my attention that the Handshake link is a bit confusing. Handshake is a song by Black Eyed Sceva written by Jeremy Post. The song is about Jeremy's interaction with a homosexual individual who has AIDS, and dealing with his own homophobia and fear about AIDS. Sorry if that was confusing.


Music: Well I listened to a lot of Hip-Hop this week, lots of Mars Ill and Pigeon John. Today I have listened to Model Engine and Black Eyed Sceva, Foo Fighters, and am curently rocking out to Switchfoot…


Well I am feeling way ahead in my classes and this being Spring Break we are going to blog and then get to some homework later, oh I am a bad man!!!


Well last night a bunch of us went to see Dear Francis, at what has been named “First Friday Films” at Bethlehem Baptist. Their link has also been added to my link section and any of the movies I see there can be accessed from their little blog.

Anyway a little setup about the film. Unlike the last film we saw (Seoul Train) this film had more of a faith-based perspective. It basically chronicles a trip taken by two college students to the country of Swaziland. If you have never heard of Swaziland don’t be totally alarmed I hadn’t either. You can read more by clicking on Swaziland above. The link above will tell you that Swaziland has one of the highest rates of infection of HIV/AIDS in the world. Well that is not exactly true, it actually has the highest rate. In 2003 it is estimated that 38% of the population was infected with the virus and then we heard after the film that the most recent report the number had gone up again to 42%. In adults 25-29 (I think those were the number) it is estimated that 48% of the people are infected. Here are a couple more statistics that I found on the website. Of those between the ages of 15-23, 53% of are HIV positive. Of rural Swazis, 20% of the children are orphans from HIV/AIDS. 88% of 15 year-old boys will be dead by 2015 because of AIDS. Those statistics are breathtaking… If you can, don’t just read over those statistics but take a second and let them sink in… I saw them and have a hard time feeling the whole weight of what that means.



But now lets add some faces to those statistics. The two students were going with an organization that presents abstinence to adolescence as a way of fighting the epidemic, along with encouraging students to get tested for the virus instead of just living without knowing. The two students were naive and under prepared for what they would encounter as apposed to all the rest of college students who set out on short-term mission trips to devastated areas of the world.

What they encounter is that the problem, like most problems around the world and in our lives, is not so cut and dry. Poverty, blending of cultures, fear, apathy, shame, desperation of the oppressed, and the sinfulness of man muddy the waters of the situation. It is compelling to see the discovery of this and the way the two students deal with it.

Kelly (one of the two students) visited an orphanage/foster care center and learned about how deep the problem goes, how often children’s parents will die and the children will exchange sex for food instead of starving. She also learned more about the issue of child abuse and rape in Swaziland, it was amazing to hear how many of the girls had been raped by family members, teachers, or other people that should be protecting them. She heard story after story of the abuse of the powerless by the powerful. She was talking with the director of the orphanage and you can see him break down as he tells stories of abuse and as his voice finally fails him he mumbles “No Justice, No Justice…”

One of the students (Lance) establishes a relationship with a young man (Senzo) who like many of the students could possibly be infected because he has been sexually active and had a father die of an “unknown” illness. Lance is able to convince Senzo to go and be tested for AIDS. It was heart wrenching (my body hurt from the stress) to watch them go in and take the test wait for the results and then receive the news. Unlike Lance (who also takes the test) Senzo has probably a 50/50 chance of having the virus. I will not tell you the results cause you should try and see the movie yourself. Even today as I was driving over to Macalester College to study, I was fighting back tears thinking about Senzo and his bravery, and the drama of his story and his life.

I don’t know stress…












Missy asked me as we were driving home, “So why do you think it is important to watch things like this?” And I added “And what can we do now that we have seen it?” Or something like that (sorry Mis). I will start with what I told her, I do think she knew the answer I was going to give but it was nice of her to ask. Awareness is the first step towards action! As Christians we need to be more aware of what the rest of the world is going through. So that we can tell others, pray and hopefully get involved, whether it is by going over and serving short term or long term or helping and encouraging others to go. More importantly we can pray, and be on our faces before God asking for justice and hope for these people. At DearFrancis.org you can find information on how to help. There are ways to help financially and there continues to be teams that go on similar trips. There are also tons of organizations who do great things in Swaziland and the other countries of Africa to fight the AIDS epidemic.

See this movie, it was very moving. My emotions are easily stirred when I see children in pain and hurting, and in some ways this story hits just a little to close to home as I have seen someone close to me die of this horrible disease… So maybe I am not the best critic, maybe I am to emotionally involved, but I guess I will let you be the judge, “Go, go see this movie…”

I know my posts have been heavy as of late and have been talking about weighty issues but I really think it is important for these things to be on our mind and really effect they way we live our lives. We may not all be able to help financially or go right now but there are things we can do… Again remember the story of the Good Samaritan. My neighbor is anyone I can show mercy to. I love you all very much, thanks for reading, it does mean a lot to me when people say they read what I wrote and sometimes even liked it. I have found great joy in rambling, and am thankful for this stress reliever. And thankful for anyone who would take time to read this...
Godspeed,
Caleb M. Saarela

If you do not own or have never heard “The Beautiful Letdown” by Switchfoot you should check it out. I’m on fire when I think of the carnage of the world...

Handshake
Jeremy Post

Poverty Re-Cap

Music: I am listening to Yellow Second, Roper, and the best of my punk rock, little Green Day right now.

So when I wrote the poverty thing I was pretty tired and so I want to just say a couple things I was thinking about. One, I don't think everyone is called to live in the ghetto and do ministry by living in that community and giving of yourself in that way. Some people are called to live in the suburbs and do ministry that way, I pray that God would not lead me to that, that would suck. But that being said I do think that trying to bring about equality is something that we should all be striving for, not only in the way we "see", or "respect" others, but we should also strive for equality in standard of living and money. It is amazing to me that Jesus has become the poster child for capitalism... It is a strange thing that has happened. Also I am not a communist and please don't tell me I am a communist or anything stupid like that, comments stating such things will most likely be deleted for lack of logic and for just missing the point. I point you to 2 Corinthians 8 look at the hole thing but then specifically look at verse 13, for "fairness". Very interesting. Anyway I think it ends up being he question I presented before, when asking the question of who is my neighbor the answer Jesus provides is that it is anyone we can show mercy to.

I am still learning how to do this better, how do I get to know my neighbors and minister to them; it is socially awkward for a single guy to be involved in the lives of families around him. But I don’t care I want to do better to be involved, do I think we are called to that at the very least, yes, I do, strongly. Are you supposed to pass out money to every beggar or panhandler you see, probably not, but we can be striving for equality and helping people in those situations. If you are a woman should you consistently put yourself in danger or high risk situations? Not if you want to have a lasting long sacrificing lifetime of ministry. We can do some great things by getting involved in people’s lives. There are organizations that can help people in those situations and can help equip you to help them. Another great resource would be #211 (I think, if that is wrong Eileen or Missy help me out). Apparently they are a great source of information when it comes to social services. Like if you called them and said, “I need information about chemical dependency programs for males over the age of 18 they will give you a list. Pretty cool. Anyway I’m done…
Godspeed,
Caleb M. Saarela

“If I had a nickel for every single time
I've tried to classify the populace around me with a word,
or a catchy phrase, I could quit my job for good
and play Nintendo until my fingers ached.

Am I an idiot, too lazy to think twice?
I point the finger, but I can't take my own advice.
I put a name on something and ever since,
I've made an art of building my counterfeit intelligence.

Seemingly to me,
I am straightening a world of cluttered thoughts
and a debris inside my head,
but I think instead of prejudiced
and I give people names to make me feel safe.

How does it feel what does it take to make me understand?
If I could only walk a mile in the shoes of another man.
If I could look out through his eyes
and know what it means to bleed the same red blood that I do.

What is economic status, and tell me what is race?
who decides to Classified taxonomy of grace?
If one man gets less that another is it true,
that he is all that different,
that he is less than you?”
R. Roper