Since everyone else has a rebutal of Twilight...

Count Choch might be as gay as the twilight vamps, but at least he tastes good.

More snow

As my Bend readers will attest, it snowed a lot.

Starting tomorrow we are supposed to get 7-15 more inches. It is starting to feel like Manitoba all over again.

Great idea.

How about we organize people who work in the service industry and lobby for a bail out?

Hotel workers, cooks, bartenders, waiters, dish washers, and people who work other various jobs at resorts should all get compensation for greedy CEOs who crashed our economy.

Just a thought

Beer.

It's been a while since I have blogged about one of my passions, beer.

We have a Nut Brown on tap now that is fantastic. It has a very smooth malty taste, and also very low on the hopp-ness. Being it is a Mc ale it has a very cloudy hue. I want to compare it to New Castle, but more Hardy.

Also all of our kegs are on sale for $85. So if you want to get me something for Christmas...

100 th post - or- My first acting job

Welcome to my 100th post.

So this morning I acted for money for the first time. I played Santa for 3 different breakfasts. Weird? Yes. Profitable? Yes. Children are odd little things. Pictures to come...

Bad Parents.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,468250,00.html

Thanks.

I know times are tough, but stealing my tips?

I know you did it. And I know you know I know. Every time I look at you I hope you remember what a piece of human trash you are.

Also that girl you thought was passed out but called you out when you tried to rape her told us all what you did. Sleep well, you will get yours.

The Recession and Rich Jandt

I had thought that working for a large company, in a fairly nice hotel would make my job a bit more recession proof. Turns out I was wrong.

Not only are our sales down, but the city of Bend reported a double digit decline in hotel sales for the last quarter, and are projecting another big hit. In addition to that, one of our biggest seasons in the snow season. It was like 65 degrees all this week, and no snow.

You might think “But it’s just Mcmenamin’s money, they still need Rich Jandt to please the customers on a full time basis”. Turns out that when hotel sales are down, Rich’s shifts are also reduced. I think I can swing it, but they cut my hours by 25%, so in effect, my wage by a quarter.

I tried to call some places I worked part time before, but they are not hiring. Also I looked into my former employer the U.S. Government, and all of the full time positions are in horribly isolated places in Alaska. My next step is looking for a sugar mamma, (or daddy if the money is really really good). Or perhaps building a criminal empire.

I am scared, but a lot better off than most of the people in similar situations. I own my home outright. I pay only a small amount for utilities, and of course my student loans. I can’t imagine what is going through the heads of my co-workers who purchased homes with variable interest rates, or the ones who are renting homes from owners who are now going into foreclosure. Or the ones with kids. Most of the jobs in Bend are minimum wage, with most of the income coming in the form of tips. Luckily with my YEARS of service, I have a high hourly wage.

Has the economy affected you? How so? Any bright spots for you?

thanksgiving part 2

If you havn't experenced Thanksgiving with McMenamins in the past, let me show you what you are missing.

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

It might seem cheesy, but I wanted to write a post about what I am thankful for.
1.Friends.
2.That turkey tastes so good.
3.Spell checkers.
4.Cute girls.

How about you? What are you thankful for?

Some corrections.

I am sorry. A few of my last posts have come off making me appear a little more hard-core than I wanted. Let me clear a few things up.

I am not in favor of using illegal narcotics. I do not use them. I just think that allowing alcohol and tobacco and not weed is a little hypocritical. I do not know the numbers but heart disease and diabetes caused by McDonald's probably kills more people than Heroin. I think that if we are making rules about drugs biased on public health concerns, we should actually do it with public health concerns in mind.

I am not in favor of armed revolution against the U.S. government. Yet. I was mearly trying to open discussion about a topic that I hear a lot about in Bend. Stop sending me e-mails about organizing a militia.

Guns

The second amendment is one of the most hotly contested issues in current American politics.


It reads "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."


When the amendment was written it was a very different time. The British government had made it an offence for people in America to organize into militias, in the attempt to make it harder for the people to rebel.


There has been many discussions as to what the original text was supposed to mean. Some say it is the foundation of the National Guard, and nothing else. Some say it is meant for an individual to own weapons. I even have a co-worker who claims that the second amendment guarantees that every citizen has the right to own any weapon they choose, even fully automatic weapons and explosives.


I have a feeling that the origional purpose of the amendement was to keep the people in control of the government, not the other way around. Jefferson wrote that "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." He also thought that the constitution should be rewritten every 19 years.


What do you think?

AIDS might have a cure

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27683001/

According to this website, a man with AIDS underwent a bone marrow transplant and now has no sign of AIDS. I'm amazed that this isn't front page news on all of the news sources.

It also states that similar things have happened as far back as 1982.

Busy.

You ever notice when you really need to do something everything else seems like it would be more fun?

I finally finished winterizing my home for the winter. I had to crawl under and stretch out a 6mm sheet of plastic to act as a vapor barrier, then I put up a skirting to keep the wind from blowing under my house. I also put up a 10 foot antenna on the side so I can now get the free digital broadcast that is being sent out.

My next project is to put it up on jack stands so it is a bit more stable. (for all the "rough-housing" I'm known for)

Pictures are forth coming, I ran out of batteries for my camera.

Halloween.

This was my most excellent costume this year. (and last). I had a lot of fun working security that night. Watched an intoxicated man run full force into a Volvo. Saw many people vomit. much better than hanging out with friends or going out on my own raiding parties.

The results are in (probably)

Unless the projected results of this night’s election are wrong, or some lawyers figure out a way to change it up, Obama is our next president. I wrote this blog over two months ago, and I was waiting to post it tonight. It did not matter who won or lost, the issues are still the same.

I wish that I could feel a scene of accomplishment for the election tonight. Or maybe a little twinge of things turning around. Unfortunately I do not. There are a lot of people with hurt feelings who thought because their candidate had a little R or a little D next to their name they were somehow righteously chosen to lead. This election has shown that is not true.

The rich still take advantage of the poor. The week are still at the mercy of the strong. Government is still corrupt. Big business still owns the politicians. We have worked our way into owing more money than we will ever be able to pay back. Nothing has changed.

I am reminded of stories found in the book of Judges. Where God was to lead the people, they needed a man to lead them. For a while they would do well, and then almost immediately go right back into mortal danger and need to be saved again. After the Judges we see Kings raised up to lead the people, and just like the Judges, they were flawed. People were still in danger all the time.

We need to stop believing in politics and on something bigger. No amount of elections or appointments will bring about a righteous government, because a government is anti-righteous. The Taliban would tell you they had a righteous government. So would the Romans, and the Catholic Church.

In the past few years I have learned a lot about what is right. As a member of the “Bigger than Most Other People” club as a youth, Might Makes Right is an easy conclusion. Being a bully came easy for me. After breaking my hip the first time, I quickly became the target for bullies. All those kids I had picked on were now beating the crap out of me.

It was at this time I started to believe in God. I quickly read the Bible through several times and like most religious people became a cocky bastard and switched my mind set to Right Makes Might. I could be judgmental and mean to people who thought differently than I did, because I was right about stuff.

About 5 years ago I had a series of life changing events. I lost a business I was starting; I then got laid off from two different jobs in the span of a week. I lost the apartment I was living in, and suddenly was faced with being homeless. I could not understand what was happening, I still believed in God, I went to church, I prayed and did everything I was supposed to, why was this happening.

It turns out that when you add the Might into a Right Makes equation you are wrong. Meek Makes Right is the real equation. To be righteous you need to be Humble, Meek, Mournful, Just, Chaste, Persecuted, and a Peacemaker.

You do not need to be scared or mad about the election. A man is once again in charge, and will make a horrible mess of things. We will always be in danger, and will continue to need to be saved. I suggest that you do a few things to make your position a little better. Trust in God, he will provide. (I promise, I know I’ve been there) Be nice to each other, it will make everyone’s life easier. Forgive each other, I bet that we have all made comments about this candidate or the other and have really offended some people.

If we all do these things, we will live in a righteous community.

Rich Jandt Adventure #12

Pizza Time had an awesome campus special that was $5 for a large one topping pizza.

Landreth 303 was filled with awesome guys, who used pizza tops as a medium for ark work. There was all kinds of artistic expression on boxes. A drawing of the Chaco-mountains. A drawing of a Lotus flower. Thins like that.

One afternoon I ate a pizza and decided to write the "f" word on it. I waited in the room all day waiting for someone to notice it. The look of shock on their face was well worth the wait.

Rich Jandt Adventure #11

Eric Jones.

Eric was a bad person. He did bad things and made people very upset. He had some come-upins to collect.

It all started with a gallon of milk that was half finished. It then was placed in a heating duct until the gases from the milk decomposing expanded the jug to almost double its' original size.

If you are unfamiliar with a prank called a "Flash Flood" it is when you prop a container of a liquid against a door that opens in, and then wait for the person on the inside to open the door, flooding the room with that liquid.

Well we flash flooded Erics' room with the vile decomp milk. The entire floor of the dorm smelled like dead bodies, I can't imagine what his room smelled like.

Rich Jandt Adventure #10

What Wooden Mallet.

We rented a huge tent from the Oregon National Guard. When they were seting it up they were using a huge wooden mallet. About 4 feet tall, and a huge round wooden head at the top.

When they were done setting it up, a soldier turned to me and said, "We are leaving this here. It had better be here when we get back." I really had no intention of stealing it, but a friend of mine did.

Later that night I walked into Landreth 303 and there it was. We quickly decided to call it the "What Wooden Mallet" because if anyone asked us where it was, we could say "What Wooden Mallet?" Kinda weak way out of lying, but it worked.

The What Wooden Mallet was not that usefull, but it was awesome none the less. It's ultimate purpose was smashing in a door. Even though I was not involved in this prank, I was blamed. Luckally I have good friends and was cleared in this case.

Rich Jandt Adventure #9

Josh and D.R.

Josh was a very large slow moving target. Totally mean, and a huge bully. He wanted more than anyhting else in life to be a cop. He will never be one.

D.R. not Dr. Stood for Doris Ramku. A student from Albania. At first he was only a target because he roomed with Josh. By the end of this prank he made him self one on his own.

Josh and D.R. went on a vacation together once. Myself and not a few other students were tired of Josh's bull crap and decided to trash their room. We were only going to T.P. the room, but once we gained entry we were shocked to see pictures of Hitler, Mussolini, and other evil dictators. Para-military stuff was all over the place and it made us go over the edge.

Sure we T.P.ed the crap out of the room, then we erased a white board that clearly said "do not erase" on it. I put a banana in a combat boot, we put all of thier bedding in a washer full of dirty water. A friend of mine poured half of a bottle of mouth-wash out and refilled it with his urine.

Since I have trouble not telling the truth I immediately admitted my part in it, and gathered a few of the co-conspirators to help me clean the room. The entire time we were cleaning the room, Josh was quoting the ORS at us, and D.R. was looking very much the part of a little Hitler fan that he was.

Rich Jandt Adventure #8

I have decided that since Cascade is closing, I should re-tell some of my excellent adventures of the Cade.

For most of my time at Cascade I had a set of Master keys. I found the women's athletic directors set. I went to Fred Myers and bought a key cover to cover the "do not duplicate" on them, and then had them make me a copy. Then I returned the director's set. Easy.

They would change the locks every year, but keep the same master keys.

First I will tell you what I did not do. I never stole anything, other than some snacks. I never broke or destroyed anything. I also never gave my keys to anyone who did. I did some pranks, and I used the Computer Lab after hours during my Everquest addiction stage. Also I used my keys to hang out in the Music House sometimes.

The first time I broke into the Cafeteria, I did not have my keys yet. A friend of mine climbed the two pipes that ran up the wall to the roof of the building and went into the roof hatch, went down to where the service elevator was and then let us in. The bulk of the prank was we took down the chairs and set up like 50 place settings for breakfast. Then I decided to go one step further and wrote Lambda Chi Omega on a lot of stuff with ketchup. Mostly I did this to throw the blame away from me, the obvious choice to blame. It totally worked.

Soap the fountain. On two occasions, I added soap to the fountain. The first time was on an April's Fools Day. If you are going to soap a fountain, you should use bubble bath, not laundry soap. Bubble bath bubbles will build up in a giant wall of bubbles, while laundry soak only makes a few bubbles and is much better at cleaning things, which tends to get you in more trouble.

After a late night trip to Winco foods where I bought the bubble bath, I returned to campus and used my keys to get to the switch to turn on the fountain. After adding the soap I then pulled some other pranks like penny locking some people in their rooms. I also acquired a roll of 40 pound test line and tied an entire floors' doors together. I also set up a trip wire field between the fountain and the fountain shut off valves.

At about 5:30 in the morning I heard the dorm supervisor open the doors and cuss really loud. He rushed over to shut off the fountain that by this time had created an 8 foot wall of suds. Not seeing the wire he totally bit it in the courtyard. Consequences for this one were pretty bad, I lost my job as RA, was docked one months pay, and also lost my rooming deposit.

Cascade College.

Good ol' Cascade.

Even though you are leaving I will always remember you. Or I will until I am done paying the debt I owe from attending you.

You pissed me off sometimes. But you also introduced me to my best friends.

I think you gave me IBS. I could tell which bathroom I was in because of the color of the water. The food was only good when I was cooking. The best three and a half years of my life.

You did not prepare me for real-life situations like hermaphrodites, or paying taxes. You did teach me to tell the truth, and how to be a man.

The rules you tried to enforce on me were rediculous. Most of my best adventures were a result of them. I heart soap!

I would say I wish I had gone to ACU, but thats in freaking Texas.

politics.

So after that last post (which to date has garnered the most responses), I have gotten a few calls and a lot of e-mails questioning my politics. I will try to make it short and simple and I’m sure I will fail at that.

I am not going to vote. It is not because I’m a convicted felon, or an illegal alien. I joke and say it’s because I’m too lazy, but really it is because there are no candidates whom I would want in office. I refuse to buy the lesser evil argument because it is stupid.

I would like to prioritize my issues for you. All you have to do is go down and see where I stand on things.

1.I am a huge supporter of human rights. Do you support human rights? Most do not. What group do you think needs more representation? Gays, blacks, women, immigrants or white males? Whichever group you choose I want you to think about maybe not killing them before they are born. I hate abortion. I think there should be exceptions for rape victims, incest cases, and where giving birth would cause severe health complications for the mother. Other than that, don’t murder people because you are too lazy to use birth-control.

I am not some right wing nut-job that thinks people do not have sex, or shouldn’t have sex. Everyone has sex. (Except me). No judgments, no looking down on people who like to have what I am told is the best thing ever. Use one of these methods to prevent killing someone because you are too stupid or too ashamed to admit you had sex. (Remember everyone has it). Here is a list. http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/sex_relationships/facts/contraception_which.htm

I have more to say about this, but I said I would be brief. Abortion a tough decision for rape, incest, danger to moms. Not a means for birth-control.

2. Our other rights. All 27 of them. (Except the 18th which was repealed, so only the 26 of them)

Free speech, religion, assembly, guns, due process, trial by jury, vote or not, and all the rest. These were not given to us by the bill of rights or the other amendments of the constitution. These are things that all people on the planet should expect. Any Politian who runs on a campaign of limiting the rights of people will not be supported by me. Ever. If some Politian makes it past the first thing I care about, they usually get hung up in the second.

One thing that seems to be guaranteed by the bill of rights is use of drugs. I am not some left wing nut-job that thinks that everyone uses drugs. (But just about everyone does) If you are starting to get a holier than though feeling about not using drugs, remember that headache that went away with aspirin? That cup of joe you had this morning? That night cap you like to have with that special someone? All drugs. All legal for some reason, but still drugs. I’m not saying legalize weed, I’m saying legalize everything.

Prostitution and drugs for everyone, not just the polititans.

3. Money. I earned it, let me keep it. Stop wasting it on stupid shit. A lot of Politians say they want me to keep my money, but they are liars. Democrats or Republicans will equally waste my money. Why should I pay for a bridge in Oklahoma, a state I will never go to intentionally? I shouldn’t that’s why.

That might actually be all I care about. To recap, you should do whatever makes you happy, unless it harms another human being, and don’t touch whats mine.

Suddenly I'm interested

So I hear a story from Tim that maybe Obama isn't an American citizen. The story is not being run on the mainstream media outlets, which is weird considering the implications.

There have been numerous questions raised about Obama’s background with no satisfactory answers. The questions that have been addressed include:

1. Where was Obama born? Hawaii; an island off of Hawaii; Kenya; Canada; or ?

2. Was he a citizen of Kenya, Indonesia and/or Canada?

3. What was the early childhood of Obama in Hawaii; in Kenya; in Indonesia when he was adopted; and later, back to Hawaii?

4. An explanation as to the various names utilized by Obama that include: Barack Hussein Obama; Barry Soetoro; Barry Obama; Barack Dunham; and Barry Dunham.

5. Illinois Bar Application – Obama fails to acknowledge use of names other than Barack Hussein Obama, a blatant lie.

If Obama can prove U.S. citizenship, we still have the issue of muti-citizenship with responsibilities owed to and allegiance to other countries. There are like 2 things that you have to be to be president, 35 and a natural born citizen. Can we even have this man running for office if he is not one of them?

It's not even that this is a huge issue, but has he been blantently decieving everyone about this issue? I don't think that we need a third liar in office in a row.

You can find the entire story at http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/6524

The obligitory I turned 30 post.

As many of you know, I turned 30 on Wednesday. I want to thank all of my friends who made the arduous journey all the way out to Forest Grove.

I feel that at this point in my life I am the most secure I have ever been. I have worked for the same large corporation for just about 5 years, I make a livable wage, have health benefits, own my home, and all of my cars are paid off. I have a lot of friends, and get along with my family.

I am larger and more single than I expected, but when compared to the good points, I am fairly content with my life.

I know, usually saying things like this brings on some kind of trials and or tribulation, but I think I can handle it.

Call me.

OK folks, this is the last blog reminding you of my upcoming birthday.

I will be rolling over to the wet side of the mountains early afternoon tomorrow.

Give me a call at 503-490-0476 if your coming out, or give me a call if you want me to come over and visit. I just got a new phone and don't have any of your numbers. You could e-mail me your numbers if you want.

Also if your a hot chick reading this and want to call me you can.

Drivers Licence

I went in today to renew my driver's licence. I left about a half hour later angry and without a licence.

Turns out that if you are renewing your licence, you must have an original birth certificate, and social security card. I had brought an origial social card, and certified copies of my passport, adoption papers, and tax records.

I guess that those four things plus my valid drivers licence was not enough to prove my citezenship. Thats really stupid.

Not making a huge deal of it, but the guy working the counter had horrible english.

Dirty Thirty

Ok folks, just a reminder about the upcoming holiday.

Everyone who reads this is invited to my birthday at the Grand Lodge, in Forest Grove Oregon, from Oct. 19 through the 22nd. Also if you come out, remember to bring swimming gear because there is a Japanese style soaking pool there, and it's awesome.

Oktoberfest!

Ok, so I got some pictures here that you may enjoy.


Me and Daniel were supposed to be making mean faces. But Daniel dosn't have a mean face, so this is what we got.


Me holding some wienerdog puppies. Yeah, they are cute, but they had that gross new dog smell.


Funnest thing about wienerdog races are the judges. They took it very sereously.


And here it is, the main event.

The handlebar mustache was a shaving mistake, and has been properly grown back in.

It's snowin Y'all!

Even though I hate it, I'm excited.

Go snow.

Introducing A-Clark!

Alex is both one of my oldest, and best friends.

He is an extremely loyal and considerate man, while also being remarkably handsome and good with both a sword and dagger.

You can check in on his website at

http://lixingsun.livejournal.com/

The great buyout

After checking some figures, and doing some looooong division, each US citizen who paid taxes 2007 contributed $7008.

How does that make you feel?

I sure could use seven grand.

ATTN: Single ladies!

I am sworn to secrecy, but a female friend of mine asked me recently to help her choose between two different presents for her boyfriend.

The 2 choices? A new TV or a new rifle.

So I guess I'm taking apps for a new girlfriend position. Don't forget my birthday is on the 22nd, but my party is from the 19th till the 22nd.

So much to Blog about.

I just had a rad few weeks, and will need some time to catch you all up.

First, my brother got married. I was nervous, but I met the other family and I like them. I think that if we all lived anywhere near each other we could definitely hang out.

I worked the City of Bend’s Oktoberfest. Awesome time including; sausages, beer, ladies in Bavarian costumes, I cut off my beard and grew a handle-bar mustache, and wiener dog races.

Discovered Young’s Double Chocolate Stout. Chocolate malts, not sweet, no hop, very thick and delicious!

Vacation!

So I leave in the morning for my hometown. Here is my itinerary for the trip.
Friday.
Leave Bend at 6am.
Arrive at 10am.
Call my friend Alex, whom I haven't seen in a long time.
Pick up my parents at their terminal.
Rehearsal dinner and stuff.

Saturday.
Prep for My brother's wedding, whom I haven't seen in a while.
Enjoy the time with my family that I almost never get.

Sunday.
Go to church with Justin, not my biological brother, whom I haven't seen in a while.
Eat lunch with Larry and Jan, whom I haven't seen in a while.

Monday.
Fly back to Bend.
Meetings at work.
Monday night football!

Worst part of the trip, missing my boy Baas.

More pictures!

And here is me, right after donating my hair. I'm trying to be fancy since I was in a wine shop.



Here is an outside shot of my home. I took a few of the inside as well, however I forgot to use the flash, so they are too dark.

Cliche

I have a friend at work who I tease a lot for being cliche. He does stuff like reads Shakespeare, and puts french impressionist pictures on the background of work computers.

As I was watching TV the other day and had a moment of clarity. I am in fact cliche.

An overweight, white, gun-owning, conservative man; living in a trailer.

I hope I don't die in a tornado.

Pictures!

I hope this works. Here is a recent picture of me. Right before I cut it off. Yeah, i look like a hippy.

La fin du Monde

For those few whom do not speak french, The end of the World.

I recently read an article about the particle accelerator in France. Also James had a post about it. I have been hoping for some cool things to happen, but now that we are only one day away from the start of the thing, I'm getting nervous.

One scientist says that we wont see anything happen for 4 years, which is a weird coincidence with the ending of the Mian calender. Another says that Black holes and turning our planet into a quasar are also possible.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-large-hadron-collider-end-of-the-world-or-gods-own-particle-921540.html

Mmmm, books.

Raymond Fiest is quickly becoming an author I really like.

I just read shadow of a dark queen and even though I thought of it as a fantasy version of the dirty dozen, I loved it.

I highly recommend his books to you, even though he has 5 stand alone series, you should start with magician.

Coolest thing ever!

click the link over to the right and make your own super hero.

Mine is Rich Jandt, telephone answerer. It's kinda amazing, but he is at 100% customer satisfaction. Also I really own shoes like that.

Handy man.

James can attest, I am not that handy, or so I thought.

That has all changed this summer, in the past 3 months I have fixed two leaking sinks, hung a shower curtain, replaced an alternator, re-mounted an accelerator cable, and changed two car batteries. I also helped install pergo flooring, installed insulation, some simple wiring, reattached some door hardware, and used a jig-saw to cut off some corners of boards.

Just one more thing I'm awesome at.

Nomad no more

Yesterday I moved into a lot out in the Deschutes River Woods area of Bend. It's an acre lot, complete with trees, rocks, and neighbors on both sides. It terms the nomadic lifestyle of towing my house around with me everywhere I went.

The downside is that now I have to drive out of town to be in wilderness, instead of just walking outside my house. The upside is now I have water, electricity, and a toilet, all for $385 a month. (not that bad of a trade off)

does God control us?

I was watching a recent meteor show with a friend and her two children. Since I am very like Daniel Boone, I knew an awesome spot in the Deschutes National Forrest.

As we were lying on our backs watching the shower, which was spectacular by the way, we were talking about constellations and planets and whatnot. At one point a girl about the age of 7 asked if “God controls what we do?”

Her mom’s short answer of “no” is of course correct, God gives us free will to choose to follow him, or not. What makes me keep thinking about the situation is that God does in fact control us.

What I’m looking for here is an open discussion on what “free will” means.
I know that there are things that I can’t do. With gravity, and escape velosities, and terminal velosities ect.I can't do what I want. I know I can’t make up another God and it be real. I can’t fly, or read minds or use telepathy. Unfortunately there are physical limits to our universe. With these limits there is a kind of control being put upon us.

“You cannot serve two masters” is an axiom that puts the concept I’m thinking of into words. Why can’t I? That would be free will. For my atheist friends believing in science (or whatever they believe in) and not in Hell is not going to save them from it.

So what is free will?

What the duce?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26393591/

Police had to use pepper spray to "discourage" protesters. What is amazing to me is that it was for demonstraters at the Deomocratic convention.

Seems kinda like the twilight zone, people demonstraiting democrats.

George Alec Effinger

I recently finished a few books written by George A. Effinger. These 3 books are part of a series that was unfortunately cut short by the author's death. they are titled, When Gravity Fails, A Fire in the Sun, and The Exile Kiss.

I'm a fan of cyberpunk, and I feel that these three books are a good representation of that literary movement, or sub genre of sci-fi.

The books center around a reluctant hero of a very poor, very dangerous part of an un-named city in the middle east. Like other cyberpunk stories this one revolves about cybernetic implants that enhance the human mind/body.

Another key facet of this books revolves about the sexuality of humans. In this version of the future humans pick their own sex when they grow into adult hood. So there are males, born males. Males, born females. And females that dress and pass in society as males. Also the three opposite "sexes". The main character seems to like women who were born as men.

Overall I liked these books. The characters were real, and likable. There were varying degrees of good guys to bad guys. Good intrigue, and suspense.

Sweeten the deal.

Ok, I can tell by your overwhelming responce that you guys are stoked about my 4 day birthday bash, so how about I add in that I can get you guys hotel rooms with me for only $40 bucks a night.

My Birthday.

So, since I live all the way out in Bend and no one ever comes and visits me, ever, I am thinking about booking 4 days at a Mcmemamin's location in Forrest Grove. I was wondering if any of you guys would be willing to come out and visit me on my little vacation.

Also it would be for the days of October 19-23.

Also it will be my 30th Birthday.

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

I have been reading a lot of escapist fantasy lately, and decided to change it up a bit. I selected a book titled My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola.

It seemed like an interesting book about the mythology of Nigeria. It has been praised by several book reviews, and a few of my friends.

It is one of the hardest, most irritating books I have ever read. Here is a selected paragraph for you to read, and no, I am not changing a single letter.

"Again, at the same moment that I left the place that I stood behind this tree the alarms started to blow according to how I was chasing this ugly ghostess and I was unable to stop in one place so that the alarms might stop, my aim was only to see the ugly ghostess clearly, because as she was running away so that I might not see her uglyness it was so she was laughing louder at her ugliness and I was also laughing louder at the ugliness. As I was chasing her to and fro to look to look at her ugliness it was so this this bush was blowing various fearful alarms and this was pointing out how I was running and how far reachinging in the bush to the ghosts who were chasing at the back to kill me. This young ghostess was so ugly that if she hid under a bush and if she looked at her ugly body she would burst suddenly into a great laugh which would last more than one hour and this was detecting her out of the hidden place she might hide herself."

I lied, I was going to write an entire paragragh but it is to annoying to read.

Harry Potter's end.

I just finished the last of the Harry Potter books.

I have been building this story in my mind for the last 6 books and am a little disappointed about the ending. Granted I do not think that J.K. Rowling wrote books three through six so I shouldn't be surprised at the low level of skill used in number seven.

Without going into details about Deathly Hallows, the characters that were chosen to be killed were only cheap shots to add suspense and emotion. The Potter/Voldermort story ending was better the first time I read it in the Bible, or maybe in the Lion Witch and Wardrobe. The last chapter taking place 19 years later was a lazy way to bring closure to the needless deaths mentioned before.

I don't know, maybe if I had written six thousand pages of character development and story line I would then write a good book to end it.

My first Tolkien

I have finally finished a Tolkien book. I know since I have read a huge share of escapist fantasy that it seems I would have read a Tolkien before, I hadn’t.

I tried to read Fellowship in high school, but it was too wordy. I tried after college also, but still found it borrring. Really? A 30 page dissertation on the entire history of Hobbits? Too much. However a friend of mine gave me a copy of The Hobbit, and I read it a few days ago.

Not that great, actually. It seems written for an adult to read to a child. Not being able to compare it to other Tolkien books I am going to compare it to the LOTR movie trilogy I did happen to have an attention span to enjoy. I can’t see how those fruity dwarves; fruity elves evolve in 60 or so years to become awesome killing machines.

I thought about quitting the book when the dwarves were cleaning Bilbo’s house and were singing a song about cleaning his house, like they just ad-libed some song. I can’t remember, but I think one of the dwarves was named Rodgers, and another named Hammerstein. And the elves! Letting some weak old fat hobbit run around their cave for a month stealing food and releasing the dwarves.

I can’t wait for the movie to come out, I bet it’s going to be great.

Religion and Politics.

I recently read Dune by Frank Herbert and have a few comments that I think are relevant to both subjects. Maybe it should be 2 blogs…?

I do not know the religion of Mr. Herbert however the scene he has set in Dune is very reminiscent of what I see in the Middle East.

Here are a people, who live in a desert, who rely on water, and see their own environment to be hostile and non productive. However there are people who invade their land and take it to mine a commodity that is used to expand and fuel their empire. Is this not a description of both Dune and The Middle East?

One great quote from Dune that I hope I am not messing up was “When Religion and Politics ride in the same wagon, the people are blind. They do not see the precipice until it is too late.” I see that as a possible horrible future in America, and a horrible reality in the Middle East.

I think that ruling any country through the guise of a religion would be wrong. It did not work in the Bible. It did not work out for the Romans, or the Mayans, or the Taliban. I do not think that a Christian Government in the US is a good idea either. As much as I hate to admit it, Obama’s statement about multiplicity in Christianity would have severe destructive consequences on both Religion and Politics.

Black Butte XX

Craft beer is one of my passions.

Last month was the unveiling of Black Butte XX. A very BIG beer. I am having trouble defining some characteristics for it, because everyone of the words I think of will not due justice deserved. Dark smooth chocolate, but not sweet, mixed with some intense coffee produces an almost mocca like flavor with a very viscous texture.

Tame IBU at 55, and Alcohol around 11%. Price is a factor at around $10 a 22oz bottle.

It being so rich, I couldn't drink it everyday. As a treat you should deffinitly give this beer a try.

Dune

Last month I read the last of the Dune series. I found the writing style to be disjointed, the character development non-existent.

Complaining to a friend about my disappointment, he asked how I liked the rest of the Dune books. It was the only one I had read and he lent me a copy of the first book, written by Frank Herbert.

As I was finishing it this morning, I was amazed at how incredibly well written it was. I might be putting Frank Herbert into my favorite authors category if the rest of his books are as well written.

Amazing amazing book.

Also here are my favorite writers:
George R. R. Martin
Issac Asimov
Arther C. Clarke
God (of course)
Tim M. Lewis (if he would ever publish something)
C. S. Lewis (not sure of the relation to Tim)
Stephen R. Donaldson
Frederik G. Pohl

Books I have read this month.

Magician:Apprentice
Magician:Master
Silverthorn
Darkness at Sethanon by Raymond Fiest.

Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert

High Druid of Shannara: Jarka Ruus by Terry Brooks

Mainspring by Jay Lake

Star Trek,TNG:Q and A by Keith DeCandido

No Country for Old Men by Cormic Mcarthy

Serenity: Those Left Behind (graphic novles count) by Joss Weadon

Good Service Hutch's Bike Shop

I had bought a bike a few months ago from Hutch's Bike Shop. Last week I crashed pretty good, and my bike was in-need of some repairs.

My handle bars were lose, my brakes weren't working, when I shifted the bike would make some weird noises, and one of my tires was going flat. I dropped it off at Hutch's while I was doing my laundry across the street, and 20 min. later I went to go pick it up.

The guy who had fixed it handed me the handle bars and said have a nice day. The cost of these repairs? Nothing, since I bought the bike there, they fixed it for free.

I just wanted to give a kudos to Hutch's for being good at customer service.

Brother's wedding.

I bought plane tickets for my brother's wedding today. I got them for less than $200, so I was happy. Then a co-worker remarked "I hope that airline isstill in buisness in September".

What a horrible thought.

Speaking of Horrible, Joss Weadon the creater of Firefly, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer is making some Web tv shows called "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog".

I have seen only the first one, and I really liked it.

Dirty Thieves!

This blog is for my Bend area readers mostly.

A co-worker of mine recently bought an $850 mountian bike. Actually he got it less than 48 hours before someone stole it from the bike rack outside of work. Cut through a huge bike chain and no one noticed.

Ace is a really hard working guy, who spent most of an entire months pay on a bike he really really wanted.

I hope whom ever stole his bike gets some good come-uppens.

Taco Tuesday

I went to El Burrito for taco Tuesday this week. I found that they had a happy hour special of $2 tacos.

I know Jason, the owner, and knew that if I ordered 10 of them I would regret it. So I ordered 4. Hands down the best tacos I have had. I was stuffed, and I am a big guy. Probably 4 ounces of meat, a bunch of fresh lettuce, three cheeses, tomatoe, and a slice of avocado, wrapped in a semi-fried white corn tortilla. I was wary about it at first, but it was fried enough to hold the shape, and soft enough not to break while eating.

I love this place anyway, but these tacos and the $3.50 blackberry margaritas will be there everyday from 3-5pm.

Another lesson learned in the wods.

Over a year ago, some Friends and I went into the forest to camp for a few days. We stock piled huge piles of dry dead fall, and loose wood. We also put the cardboard six-packs in the pile as fire starters. I distinctly remember leaving some of the cardboard out in the forest, thinking it would decompose.

Last week I revisited my former spot and was shocked to see that not only had the cardboard not decomposed, but I could still read the Buzzsaw Brown logo on the side. Needless to say I am very disappointed at my decision to leave it out there, and will be a better steward of my forest.

Rich Jandt Adventure #7

I was camping this weekend and had an adventure.

All day Tuesday and all day Wednesday I heard a noise coming from somewhere near my trailer. I don't know what the noise was, but it sounded kinda like a loud growling grumbling noise. Short, reverberating, low in tone. For two days I hear this thing and I finally had enough of it.

It's Wednesday about dusk, 9pm or so. I grab a handheld LED light, put my German Shepard on his working leash, and strap on my Walther p22. The sound was emanating from about a half mile away from where I was parked. (In the Decshutes national forest). The terrain around this part of the woods is spider-webbed with dirt bike trails, yet there are thick brambles and bushes about eye level so you can't see more than 5 feet in front of yourself.

I start working my way to the sounds, criss crossing several trails and peering around bushes before I step into the clearings behind them. I am holding the leash in one hand, and the light in the other. As I near the sound I become a little spooked. I am not sure if it is the proximity to the sound, or My own feelings that set my dog off, but I could tell he did not want to continue. He was circling me, yipping and whining.

I am not good at judging distances by sound, but I was a lot closer than I started, and had gone about half a mile. My dog finally sat down and refused to continue, so i had not choice but to return to my trailer.

Upon entering the clearing where my trailer was parked, I remembered a second forestry road that flanked the sounds position. I turned down to the other road noticing that it was full on dark now. The sounds had never stopped, and had in fact increased in number. As I walked down this second road I relied more and more on the handheld LED than before.

When I came to a spot that seemed right in front of the sound, We started to walk onto the woods. After crossing a few of the trails my dog started his yipping again, and the noise was at it's pinnacle. I could feel it reverberating in my chest.

To be honest with you, I lost my nerve at this point. I was turning around and the light in my hand shone directly at the bush in front of me and it came alive. It was shaking, and I thought something was coming out of it.

I quickly ran back to the road, the sounds of something huge crashing through the bushes following me. When I reached the road I put the light into my pocket, and drew my pistol. With a loud "ck-chink" I loaded a round into the chamber and I spun to meet the charging animal.

Nothing emerged from the bush, but I could hear it breathing and making the same low sounds. I was at least one half mile from my trailer, and it was around a corner, so I couldn't take a short cut. I moved very quickly from my position on the side of the road into the middle of it. And moved down the road. My dog suddenly found his speed and dragged me faster than I had moved in a while. Hearing crashes behind me, I looked to see the front line of bushes crashing and moving as something huge was pushing into them from the back, following me back to the trailer.

Luckily I had left the door open, and we jumped into it and I slammed the door shut, setting the lock instantly. I looked out the window and saw the wave of movement behind the bushes stop directly across from me.

Yeah, real good night sleep last night.

A toal loss of logic.

I have had a few surprising conversations recently.

I met a woman, lets call her Fran. Now Fran was telling me that she is a vegetarian. I asked her why she was a vegetarian, and she listed health reasons, environment reasons, taste, and "most importantly sanctity of life". We talked a bit at the bar about how she is a budest and all animals are embedded with the same spark of life and each carries a soul that at one time could have been a human.

Since we were already talking about a taboo subject, I asked her about politics. She went off on the normal left-wing hates everything Conservative, her biggest issue being how the conservatives are taking away basic human rights such as a "woman's reproduction cycle".

I had already had a similar conversation with a friend earlier in the week about this topic, and I knew she meant abortion. So I asked her why it was evil to kill an animal to eat, but a "right" to kill an innocent baby? If you didn't know, this is where I turned into a woman hating Conservative.

After her going off for about 20 minutes about society looks down on women and how abortion is the only way for women to be free of the male dominated world, I interrupted her and plainly accused her of limiting the rights of women because every female baby that was murdered was denied all freedom, including her "reproductive rights".

It just dosn't make any sence. Animals have more rights that unborn children? That just dosn't make sence. Anyway it turns out that just like most left wing wackos Fran is also close minded. I was called a few choice names for defending the rights of women, and was promptly given the finger.

(which is usually funny to me, but all I could think about at the time were dead babies so it hurt a bit)

Diablo 3.

Yes, Diablo 3 is in production.

Also Starcraft 2 is in production.

I watched both of the trailers, and read every page they have up about it. I know the quaility they are able to put out. We all know it's going to be freakin' sweet. My only question is ....

What if they both came out on the same day?

WT...?

Funny, or maybe just immature, but this is the headline of a news story at foxnews.com.
the story is here http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,371902,00.html

Home.

So I don't have pictures, however my trailer is finished. The new hardwood flooring looks great. Also this is the first place I have lived at with a gas range. Being a cook for all of those years I have always coveted having one in my house.

New Diablo?

Just a guess, but check out blizzard.com . I know Tim will recognize the runes coming out of the ice.

So mad.

People are really starting to anger me.

Why do people insist on breaking rules designed to keep themselves and other from harm? These are work related and I can't really go into many details, but they involve giving beer to a 15 year old, and a man consuming a whole bottle of wine, that he stole.

I'm starting to get so mad, but I just need to calm the crap down. But I do feel like freaking.

Ten taco Tuesday

In the Jandt household we have one weekly tradition: Ten Taco Tuesday. It's fairly easy to accomplish, I just eat a totally of ten tacos every Tuesday.

There are several restaurants that serve tacos for 50 cents on Tuesdays, and Del Taco even serves them 3 for $1.09. I have been doing this for over a year now, and I have experimented on a few different things.

Vegetarian tacos. I have a good friend who is a vegetarian who turned me onto TSP. Textured Soy Protein. It tasted really good, and I don't quiet feel as bad when I'm eating ten tacos.

I had fancy tacos with thin sliced Prime Rib and some Bourson Cheese.

I found that I like hard shelled tacos more than soft tacos.

I quit!

Well I quit my second job. I was the breakfast cook at Timber South for about 7 months.

I'm not entirely sure why I even took the job. I make pretty good loot at McMemamins, and I also work at least 45 hours a week there. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. My roommates have been shocked that I could work from 7am till 11pm between both jobs on Saturday and Sundays both, and one asked me yesterday what I would do with all my free time.

It's kinda scary because I was using work as an excuse for not finding a Church home where I fit in, and now I will need to come up with a new one.

Do they still show cartoons on Saturday morning?

Also a friend of mine came up with another movie idea.

It's called "Last Commie Standing".

It's a mockumentory of the stand up business in one of the former Soviet Republics. We are currently trying to come up with a plot.

House

I am so excited about my new "house". My dad is flying into Bend to help me with a few projects.

The first one is we are replacing the flooring. I bought some pergo brand flooring and it is very regal. We are also going to install some cabinets. Replace the fridge and propane tanks.

I'm also going to figure out how to use this computer and put some pictures up for y'all to see.

Something

I finally got my somethings I ordered.

I got a pair of noise reducing ear buds and a nice pair of yellow tinted sunglasses.

Since I am riding my bike a lot I found both of these items to be usefull. I'm glad I didn't get a grandma hat.

New home.

I followed through with my plan to buy a trailer this morning. I bought a 1971 Road Ranger. It's 21 feet long, about 10 feet wide and has a bathroom with a shower, a queen sized bed, a range, a table, its pretty sweet!

Time for an endorsement

This had been a long and boring political process. Since Huckabee and Norris are out, I have decided to endorse cthulhu. You can find more information about him at these websites.
www.cthulhu.org
www.cthulhu.org/cthulhu/index.html
www.cthulhu.com

Actual alien fotage!

Hahaha, just kidding. But I guess this guy
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,359563,00.html
wants Denver tax payers to put together a commission to plan for future alien visits.

Indiana Jones, dont read this if you havn't seen the movie!

I went an saw Indiana Jones on Tuesday. It was fantastic.

Acting was great. I was afraid that Shia LeBouf was going to make me mad, but I think he did a great job. Harrison Ford was totally believable as an older Indiana Jones.

Special effects were great also. Explosions, gun fight scenes, car chases all were done a lot better than in say temple of doom.

The only weak point was in the story. I thought the plot was good, but I saw basically the same story when I watched National Treasure 2 a few months ago. City of gold, under waterfall, the only difference was the interdementional being that escapes in huge flying saucer at the end. Not great, but better than I thought it was going to be.

Sound track was good. Not a lot of original songs, but a lot of 50's songs that fit the period setting of the movie great.

Overall, I give it an 8. You should go see this movie.

Rich Jandt Adventure #6

One summer I was working as an intern at a Church. But I also worked full time at a video arcade. One of our co-workers was a volunteer firefighter, and asked Tim and I if we wanted to go to an indian reservation to purchase illegal fireworks. Asking me if I want something to cause trouble is like asking an alcoholic if he (or she) wants a drink.

So we get up early one morning and pile into his car, and are joined by his son. I had met his son at the arcade, where he routinely won thousands of tickets and got some sweet prizes. The son started to play some Eminem, which I hadn’t really heard before. We all kind of talked about it, and I started to drop some hints about how lame it was. He didn’t get the hint.

After at least a 45 minute drive to the reservation, we finally arrived. My wallet was full of cash, and my mind of intention. We walked around and bought a sweet load of exploding flying and fire causing toys. On the way back home we listened again to the Eminem album, which really isn’t any better the second time in a row.

I wish the story had ended there, but since I was involved…

A few days later Tim and I were sitting on our roof. It was a beautiful day, with a fresh breeze and a town full of tourists. For some reason I thought it would be a great idea to light firecrackers and throw them at people on the street.

Once again, I thought it would be a great idea to light firecrackers and throw them at people on the street. I’m not sure exactly what is wrong with me, but it seems to happen a lot.

After a while one of our co-workers climbs the side of our building and is freaking out. Turns out the cops are waiting for us at the bottom of the building wondering why we decided to throw lit firecrackers at people on the street. I really didn’t have an answer for him.

To make matters worse, a few days after that someone else (I swear I wasn’t involved) made an explosive device and detonated it right next to the arcade where I happened to be working. On our way to church a few days later, we saw a kid detonate another one in a garbage can. Knowing we would be the prime suspects, Tim and I promptly went to the police station to tell them what we saw.

Needless to say, I don’t think they believed us.

Best plan ever

I am starting a grass roots movement to elect Tim Lewis President. Help me get the word out.

Rich Jandt Adventure #5

Here is another older adventure of Rich Jandt. As far as I can remember, this actually happened.

Every third Thursday, we had Pork N Beans night. We would gather together, go to Winco foods, buy all of their Pork N Beans, have a super dance party, and then distribute all of the beans plus other crap we happened to have laying around.

It was the last Pork N Beans night before my best friend Tim graduated, and I knew that we had to go above and beyond. Luckily the summer before I had acquired a large assortment of fireworks. (A forth coming Rich Jandt adventure)

It started out like any other Pork N Beans night, until we came to the distribution portion of the night. Since so many people were graduating, we had a huge pile of stuff to pass out. After the Distribution the room we were celebrating in was almost completely empty. During the dance portion, a whole string of blackcats were thrown into the room scaring us and melting the carpet. At this point we all went wild. I busted out my stash of fireworks that included whistling petes, and mega smoke bombs.

We all decided to go plant a whistling firework at Doc's house. While it would have been prudent to send one or two operative over we went as a herd. The movement of 20 or so people drew the atention of the security guard who stood in the parking lot watching our actions. After planting the device we all started to run. Possibly from excitement, passably from terror Tim tripped in the parking lot and fell.

At first I considered running, for I am known as being very fast even for a fat guy. It was especially attractive because the device had gone off, and the security guard had started to move towards us. I instead decided to not leave a man behind and helped Tim back up. Then we ran like Mo's. Right past the security guard, all the way back to the dorms.

As we were recovering we got an idea. We happened to know a couple ladies who were sleeping in the field, and would love a late night visit from a smoke bomb.

We rolled over there as quite as ninjas. They did not hear us until we were opening the tent, and throwing the lit mega smoke into the tent. It was glorious, except for the fact that the tent started to melt, and all the ladies did was come outside the tent.

We re-retreated and came up with the best idea of our lives. Right across the courtyard from our staging ground was Doctor Lynn, up late working on his graduation speech we was giving the next day. We stealthy placed a whistler on the ledge outside his window and ran. Not the way we needed to, but around the corner and then we circled back. A few minutes later Dr. Lynn calmly walked into the dorm lobby and asked if we had seen the people who had put a whistling firework on his window. It was the best "what whistling firework" routine I have ever witnessed.

Tattoo

I had my tattoo touched up today; I got it a few days before Tim’s wedding. (Happy anniversary btw) And I had forgotten how much it actually hurts. It’s less painful than breaking it, but it does feel like it’s on fire.

It was a painful reminder why I got it in the first place. Other than being a huge Starwars nerd. It is the imperial logo,
http://www.erikstormtrooper.com/impblacklogogray.gif

(sorry for the huge link, I have no idea how to make it look nice like James or Tim).

Darth Vader is definitely a bad guy when we first see him in Starwars A New Hope. He's walking around, choking guys, blowing up planets, generally being a giant space jerk. Yet by the end of Jedi we see him realize that his entire life has been misguided. His actions at the end of the movie kill him, but save the day, and we see him as a ghost alongside Yoda and Obi-wan.

I can see a parallel between Darth Vader and Saul of Tarsus. When we first see Saul he is inciting riots that lead to the death of Christians. After seeing Jesus on the road he is converted and through tradition we know that leads to his death.

When I answer people's questions about the weird symbol on my arm I explain about the inner struggle I deal with. And how Even though Darth Vader and Saul were both murderers and evil, in the end they were able to do the right thing and gain salvation.

Something

So I saw a link on Mike's blog about the something store. I paid $20 bucks (including shipping) for two somethings. My thoughts were that if I doubled up I could increase my chance of getting something good.

I will keep you posted.

Indiana Jones. Spoiler alert!

Ok, mabye no spoiler, but I just read that good ol' Indiana will be involved with space aliens in the new movie.

Nazi's I'm ok with, Russians sure. Alians?

Hot.

It hit 90 today. I rode my bike at 2pm to get to work, and I almost died.

Rich Jandt Adventure #4

I had another run in with the girl from a week ago. You know the one who wanted adult relations with me, but I didn’t have the lobes for it.

She ran up to me in another bar, and apologized for losing me the other week. (She didn’t realize I had actually ran away) To my terror she grabbed my phone and programmed my phone for her number and then called her phone so she would have mine.

I thought she was too wasted the last time to remember me, but she actually seemed to like me. I was upfront with her this time though, and said that maybe we could see each other socially but the upfront sex thing wouldn’t work. We agreed that I would call her this week.

Also I am getting ready to cut my hair off. For those of you who do not know, I have hair to the middle of my shoulders, which I am donating to charity. I bought my last bottle of conditioner so I went big and got some really nice stuff. I was surprised to see that my full mane was thick and full of body. I even had some wavy curls going when it dried off.

Rich Jandt, Producer

One of my unfulfilled fantasies is to make movies. And not the kind of movies you guys are thinking of.

One of the movies I have in mind is loosely biased on the movie Nacho Libre. In this movie I would play the most famous Luchadore in Bend, Oregon. I would have a film crew follow me around Bend documentary style filming pre-arranged situations. I was thinking that I could walk around to a few different bars and have people admire me, I could be jumped by other luchadores who are jealous of my fame and of course I would best them. I could have some kind of dinner or award ceremony where I am given some great honor. I really want it to focus more on the life outside of the ring.

I think that all I would need are two cameras, some stunt men for me to toss around, an awesome mask, a belt and a cape. I have enough connections here in Bend that I could get locations and most of the extras for free.

Rich Jandt Adventure #3

This is an adventure that I had over the course of a few years. All facts are true, and not embellished.

It started with a random drive out of Portland. Andrew, Ryan, Tim, and myself (and mabey Justin) ended up getting this plan in our heads that we were going to the base of Bridal Veil Falls. When we turned off the highway the first thing we encountered was a smallish cemetery.

It was located next to a house, that was currently lived in. And I don't mean it was in the lot next to a lot with a house, I mean it was directly next to a house. The graves were well taken care of, but you could tell that they had been there for a while. They were worn, grey headstones.

The next thing we came across was a small square building that had the word Post Office Painted on it. It was an older building, about 20 foot by 20 foot. Posted on the building was the hours of operation, which listed it being open for two hours three times a week. The parking lot around the building was huge, probably a couple hundred feet long and all gravel, with the Post Office sitting at an odd angle to the main road.

We got out of the parking lot and drove up a series of switch-backs. One both sides of the road up the hill were houses, that had blackberry bushes growing over and through them. We pulled into the drive way of one of them, and got out of the car. Inside of the obviously long abandoned houses we found furniture such as couches area rugs and dressers. It seemed like all of the houses were about the same age, and all had been abandoned at a similar time.

Following the twisty road farther up the hill we found a small turn out, with a red post covered with Asian letters. I have no idea what language, or what it said. It was really out of place though. This would become our base camp. We piled out of the car once again and got ready for our summit.

As I looked up to the base of the falls I saw what appeared to be a u shaped ravine. On the bottom near the sides was lush green Forrest, with trees and ferns growing over every square inch. Near the middle was a small stream, completely lined with blackberry bushes and stinging needles. Pretty much Endor like environment.

Knowing that this was going to be like forging a path through jungle like conditions we had come prepared. From a recent trip to the army surplus store I had bought new combat boots and a machete. I was also wearing a thick sweatshirt, and charheart overalls. The rest of the crew were wearing similar clothing.

As we started our assent, we had to make a choice of either a steeper climb on the outside, or a very wet and cold climb going up the stream. For the most part I was able to withstand the water and stayed to the middle of the ravine. A couple of hundred feet up the hill we came across a square cement building straddling the river. Inside of the building was a dozen bleach bottles, and nothing else. It was a complete mystery.

Farther along came the creepiest thing of the entire trip. On the side of the steam was a grave. Not like the graves in the graveyard, but a small wooden cross. I can't remember the dates on the cross, but it seemed to freak me out. Like there was something wrong with what was written on it. I wanted to dig it up, however I was not allowed to. It seems that my friends have a slightly different set of morals.

After being pulled away from the site, we finished our climb. By the top I was completely covered with mud, and soaked to the bone. However at the top we found a treasure trove of smooth rocks and other cool stuff that had fallen off of the falls. To this day I still have a piece of obsidian that I found in that pile. Looking down on the ravine I was able to make out our arduous trail up, and was amazed at the tenacity it had taken. At one point I had stuck my hands into the mud walls and made my own holds just to climb.

The climb down had not been much easier. I decided that I would just scoot down the stream since I was already covered with mud and water. As I passed that spot with the cross I vowed that I would return, and solve the Mystery of the small grave.

Years passed, I moved to Canada, graduated from college, moved back to Seattle, started to work for the Government. One night I told this tale to my friends Canoe and Alex. They did not believe it, and I wanted to solve that mystery anyway, so we headed down to the ghost town early the next morning.

As I took the exit for Bridal Veil, I noticed that the House that had been next to the graveyard seemed abandoned. The post office was also gone. Up the switch backs no houses were there, the blackberry bushes gone. Even the cement foundations of the houses were gone. The only way I knew we were in the right place was the small red post with the Asian letters on it.

I parked in the same spot I had at least 5 years earlier, and we started our trek. I got a serious feeling of De'ja vu looking up the hill. The cement building was still standing, still filled with bleach bottles. Once we left the site of the building I knew what was next.

I had come with a shovel, and a camera to record my excavation. After looking for what seemed like forever, I am finally certain that the part of the bank that concealed the grave had been washed away. It was gone. I dug at the edge of the bank, but found nothing. The mystery grave was not there anymore. The second assent was glorious. At the base of the falls when I looked back the view was completely different. I could see the river, and most of the hill down. I bet that sight made me feel the same way that Lewis and Clark felt on their first sighting of the Columbia river.

Iron Man

Thanks to positive reviews from my peeps like Mike Lewis, I paid the $9 to go watch Iron Man.

I am trying to come up with some non-positive things to say about it, however the only thing I can come up with is Freakin Sweet!

Good acting. Robert Downey Jr. has somehow pulled off the role as a rich drunk womanizing bastard. Jeff bridges as a bad guy, genus!

Special effects. Awesome! Totally awesome. From the suit to the explosions, nothing seemed hokey or over done.

Soundtrack. ACDC and Sabbath.

Dialog. It was really well written. As for it being a comic book movie, the best written film yet. The jokes were funny, the responses perfect. Even the evil taunting of the bad guy doesn't seem over the top.

Explosions, guns, iron fighting suits, humor, jet fighters

Home sweet home.

I want to ask your opinion on something.

Buying a house, is it a good idea?

I know if I could out-right buy one I would be better off, but what about the 30+ years of inflation laden interest I would have to endure? I have something of an experiment I am wanting to try, where I am going to buy a travel trailer and live it, parking it in a RV park. Costs would be way down, and I could save more for a down payment for a real house.

Pros I see in this is that moving would be real easy, just move. I wouldn't have to rely on other people to uphold their ends of leases. I could save gangsta money living in something I own and just paying 300 bucks for power and space rental.

Cons are no girls will ever date me. I would live in a travel trailer. I do get lonely living alone and being in a small trailer would probably increase that. Also no girls would date me.

Rich Jandt Adventure #2

What an exciting week I just had.

I had to use a week of vacation time or I was going to loose it. It’s tough actually finding 3 weeks a year to leave work and get paid while doing it, but this week was different.

On Tuesday I was called to the office and told I had received a customer complaint. In 4 years this was my first so I was surprised to hear that I was receiving my final written warning for it. Slightly bummed I knew I would be ok as long as I kept my head down, and worked hard.

I got home and my roommate told me that he was moving to Iowa in a week and I had a month to move out. Bummer also because I really like Pete, and I really hate moving.

I decided that I would focus on enjoying my time off, because worrying will not help anything. Besides, I have been though worse. I spent the next day eating tacos, and drinking beer, and the next day eating enchiladas and watching sci-fi movies. Friday I took a class on becoming a Certified Pool Operator. (Swimming pools, not the game of Billiards) On Saturday I played 18 holes of golf, and played wii all night. Sunday I went with a friend to Portland to work on his house. Sorry guys, I got a new phone and I don’t have any of your numbers, also I was there for less that 30 hours and had to do a lot of work. I get back home around 3am on Tuesday, thinking I would relax for the rest of my vacation.

However my roommate tells me that instead of an entire month, I had to be out of the house by Saturday, 4 days away. I have been very good about saving money, and have a couple thousand saved up for an emergency. Just like this one. I spend the next two days being told that I would not be rented to because I have an attack trained German Sheppard.

On Wednesday night I finally start to freak out about becoming homeless. I go back to work and order a beer, tell one of my great co-workers my plight, and she says, “I have a space for rent, it’s in my garage” I go look at it this morning and what she meant to say is that it was a completely finished room, wired with electricity and heat in the garage, with a huge beautiful fenced backyard, and she’s totally down with Baas. So I am moving in tonight.

Also One of my co-workers put in her notice and worked half of it, leaving a huge void to fill at work which pretty much shored up my position, taking me off the “next to go” list. Nothing better than being in trouble and someone else making a huge mistake, totally making everyone forget about you.

God's awesome providence and His love for us is amazing. Some of you might remember that this kind of thing has happened to me before, and just like last time I was taken care of.

The new great depression

Being a somewhat nervous individual, I am noticing a lot of changes in our society.

The first being the most obvious. Gas prices are climbing at a ridiculous rate. It is doubtlessly due to a number of reasons. Instability in the Middle East, China’s new higher demand, everyone’s wasteful attitude, and good old fashion greed.

Higher gas prices are affecting us in three ways. The first is it cost more to move around; to school, to work, to travel, airfare, just about any means of transportation. The second is heating and electricity. My house uses good old heating oil to heat the house. Based on previous years we should have filled the tank twice. In years past that would have cost around $300 for the winter, this winter was one of the coldest on record, and would have cost at least $500. Many places around the country rely on electricity produced on coal burning, which needs massive amounts of fuel to mine and transport to power plants. The third is the cost of everything goes up. I work in the restaurant business and am involved with the ordering process. Not only has the price of food increased due to larger production costs, but the distribution companies are now charging us fuel surcharges, which are about $20 a week. Higher prices for the production of menu items equal higher prices on the menus.

I used to work on a wheat farm in Canada, and learned a lot about the wheat industry. In the 80’s wheat was sold for about $10 a bushel. (A bushel is roughly a 5 gal. bucket.) In the early 2000’s when I worked in the industry the price had dropped to around $5 a bushel. For the first time since the 80’s wheat is actually increasing in price. I think that the reason for this is the newest “green trend” of bio-fuel. More and more food producing fields are being converted to fuel producing fields, making the suply of food lower. In my opinion, this is one of the stupidest things I have ever seen. When the price of luxury goods are going up it is a bad idea to make staple prices rise as well.

I watched a news clip on Foxnews about how some large retailers are limiting the amount of staples that people are allowed to buy. Not only per day, but baised on your past purchases. It seems odd to me that not only are prices increasing, but limits are starting to be set on staple goods.

I am not good at predicting the future and I am not a conspiracy theorist, but it all seems a little odd.

Think of a pride of lions

I’m sure you have heard of the huge raid on the FLDS compound. I’m amazed at the entire situation. 400 plus children, none really know who their father or mothers are, rampant child production facilities.

All this talk about me and my chaste life style has given me something to think about.

Why don’t I join a polygamist society? I think that it is a great opportunity for me, but here are the changes I would make so there will not be the disaster that happened in Texas.

1.No marriage to children. Common, it’s just wrong people!

2.Marry women of different professions. An accountant, a physician, a lawyer, a mechanic or otherwise handy woman. It is always good to have a service professional in the family, why not have them under the same roof?

3.Don’t have so many children. After the first few they really become liabilities. (I hear).

4.Instead of me working really hard to support many wives, they can work a normal work load and support me. I am an excellent cook, and am well versed in the art of homemaking. Plus I’d have time to practice Star Craft II.

5.With 5 or maybe 6 incomes coming into the home, I think that the household will be a very positive place to raise children. They would never have to worry about food, clothing, and a nice stable environment to learn. Plus with their college tuitions being split by 6 parents, money will be less of a factor determining which college to go to.

6.Have you seen pictures of those poly wives? It’s like straight out of the 1850s. Maybe marry a beautician also.

So I don’t know, maybe you can help me get the word out. I need to start my harem… I mean God sanctioned polygamist society, but I know very few women willing to join me in this. (Actually zero.)

30 Year Old Virgin

A week ago I had an adventure where I ran from an adult situation involving an attractive woman. This week I have been fielding both flack and praise for my decision. And Mike you are correct, It was very Joseph of me to just run away.

When asked why I ran away I have told the truth. The woman was mean to my friends. She was intoxicated and I did not want to take advantage. I got nervous and did not know how to react. All of these are the truth, but not the Truth. (Notice capitalization)
My male friends have mocked, my female friends have looked real puzzled and one woman I work with has called me out. She said, “It’s nice to meet a man with some morals.”

A co-worker said “You’re a virgin” jokingly. I responded, “Your moms a virgin” also jokingly. I should be proud of that fact. It’s been hard not sleeping with my ex-girl friends who are smoking hot. Or the random calls for “action”. Through all the urges my man body has put me through. It makes me want to rip my hair out just thinking about all the frustrations I have had.

I wouldn’t say that I’m an undercover Christian; my good friends know my beliefs. I don’t engage in overt anti-Christian rituals. I’m a really nice guy. However the reason I did not sleep with that woman is because I have religious beliefs that prevent me from pre-marital fornication. I ran because I did not know how to express that in a verbal manner. I still have trouble expressing it to my friends.

I don’t know if you have seen a movie named The 40 Year Old Virgin, but that movie has a scene where the title character is outed for being a virgin, and it is super awkward. That’s kinda how I’m feeling.

America you have lost your minds.

Yeah, you know who I'm talking about. The clear choice was there, but no, you had to mess it all up.
I of course am talking about American Idol. You kick off Kristy Lee Cook? I’m not saying she is talented, or the best, just the hottest.

Get on your bikes and ride

I did a weird thing the other day, I bought a bike. I’ve been riding it everywhere, and it is a blast.

Mmmmmm.... Pork Chops.

I have been eating a lot more pork lately. It is delicious. I have decided to make pork the new beef. The king of meats.
I had the seared pork tenderloin on our menu tonight. It is first seared in a pan, then roasted with a port-cherry glaze. Served with generous portions of dinner vegg and mashed Yukon gold potatoes.
I work a part time job at a dive bar as their breakfast chef. It started out slow because the only people who came in where drunks who needed cooors light to watch their nascar and Sunday morning football. Now I can easily serve $400 in food a morning. I would like to think that my skills as a chef has turned the crowd around, but it may be my love of pork.
This week I had prok chops as a breakfast special, coated in a heavy breading, and broasted. (A broaster is like a pressurized deep fryer.) It was so tender and juicy on the inside, and nice and crispy on the outside.
I think that the saying “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” comes from the fact that pork is the main breakfast meat. Bacon, sausage (patties, links, even gravy) and ham rule the morning hours. Steak and eggs are for suckers.


Don’t worry Prime Rib, I still heart you too.

Rich Jandt adventure 1

As promised, a current Rich Jandt Adventure.

Recently I was enjoying a beer after work. Working at a bar usually has it’s benefits, in this case, quick service even during busy times. I was enjoying this benefit when an attractive young lady asked if I worked at Mcmenamins. I said yes, and she asked if I could order her a drink, because she was tired of waiting. I happily obliged. Over the course of the night we flirted back and forth and we had a great time.
What was weird was I wasn’t buying her drinks, and she was still being nice, and flirting with me. And she was hot. Of course we stayed till closing, which was 1 AM, when she leaned over and whispered in my ear “this may seem a little forward, but I want you to take me home to “F-word”.” Now she didn’t use my censored wordage, she used the real f-bomb.
Being a somewhat shy (when it comes to male/female relations) I did a serious double take. My mind almost exploded. Did she really say...? Yeah she did. Does that mean she wants too…? Yes it does. Not really knowing how to respond, I said “yes, that sounds great”. She said “ok, I just need to use the bathroom, then we can go”. In true Rich Jandt fashion, the second she left the bar I ran to the bar top, paid my tab, and literally ran home. I only live 5 blocks away, and I ran the entire time.
I really have no idea how to handle that situation. I can think of at least 5 times when I was overwhelmed with adult situations and I just ran away. I am laughing so hard right now thinking about it, because it happened last night. My friends at the bar thought it was hilarious, and called my roommate, who was waiting for me in the living room. First thing out of his mouth was “You ran away?” Yes I did.

What is a hop?

Good question James. What is a hop?
A hop is the female flower of the hop plant.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hop_(plant)

Blueberry beer.

I recently tried a new bottled beer at work. The name of this “beer” Blue Dawg Brewing's Bold Blueberry Lager. It was blueberry flavored, 8% alcohol, and had a picture of a bulldog kicking a blueberry on the label.

I hated it. Horrible candy like flavoring. I had a stomach ache. The worst part, when I poured it into a pint, it was purple. I knew better but everyone else was trying it. I hate fruit flavored beers, with one exception, Ruby Ale from McMenamins.

It could be that I’m biased, having worked for the brothers for four years now, but I doubt it. It is an unfiltered wheat ale; each batch is infused with 32 pounds of fresh raspberries. It has a little malty sweetness, no hop character, and is very refreshing. That being said, I rarely drink it. It has a reputation as a beer for girls and frat boys and I just do not need that rep right now.

The role of Elders in the Church.

I am in a weird place. Those who read this will know I am often in a weird place. It’s a place where my high intellect and massive amounts of emotion mix and I come up with odd questions and situations, and even more odd solutions.
Most of this is James’ fault, all of his talk about cultural relevancies, new Church movements and what not.

Let’s hypothetically say I am going to plant a church.

If what I deem to be a culturally relevant Church, (meaning group of believers, not a building) does not resemble what we have long practiced as a congregation in the CoC? More than just not in a Church building. More than deviating from our template of opening song, welcome, 2 songs, prayer and scripture, 2 songs, communion, song, sermon, stand as we sing, announcements. What about what the New Testament defines as Church leadership? What if I couldn’t find Elders or Deacons to work with?

The Biblical definition of Church leadership is quite defined. A man who has children who believe, married to one wife, and has a good reputation. One thing that is usually associated with Elders and Deacons are their age. Do you think that the principals that made a good father and an outstanding member of the community made a good Church leader? That they were a good husband, or they just had a wife? Or was it the fact that they had children? Or that there were no people that had bad things to say about them?

What I’m getting at is, I do not think that having children that are believers make a good leader. I do not think that having a wife that hasn’t divorced you make you a good leader. I do not think having a good reputation makes you a good leader. I do not think being old makes you a good leader. I do believe that having children who follow your beliefs show that you are a good mentor, and teacher. That you are married to one wife shows that you are devoted, and care about others. To have a good public reputation shows that you are honest and have integrity. And for the most part more experience makes you wiser. (Or is it more wise?)

There are plenty of people I know who do not meet the criteria found in books like Timothy, yet posses all of the qualities that would produce the things found there if their situation were different. Our society has changed in many different ways since the New Testament was written. It has changed drastically since the Restoration movement. There is no real push to be married. Much less pressure for reproducing. In our society there is much less public interaction to build public trust. People are living longer, and have a vast advantage in education over past generations, meaning they are wiser younger and can learn to mentor without having children.

I think that these characteristics are what are important. To lead someone else to salvation you should be a good mentor, you should be devoted to the well being of others, you should have integrity, and you should be wise about life in general. I think that our culture has changed to the point were the definitions of Church leaders are outdated.


Do you think that I have the authority to make calls like this? What do you think?

National Treasure.

I know it’s not a blockbuster, but I just saw the movie, National Treasure: The Book of Secrets, and really enjoyed it.
A friend of mine said he didn’t care for it, calling it “full of action, no real story line, and totally lacking reality”. That is exactly the kind of movie I want to watch. If I wanted to watch something boring, following a well laid out plot line, and totally realistic I would buy the Little House on the Prairie TV box set.
Plus, it’s almost like a little piece of Indiana Jones to get me though till the real one comes out.

God's little plan

I often think about what God wants from me.

I think I have the basics down, love God, Love my neighbor, do not forsake the assembly. But what else is there?

I guess this is really a two part question, the first being what are the issues in the Bible that are key to my salvation? The second is what specific actions do I need to do?

The day of my conversion, I had a dream. I was standing before the throne, God was telling me something… and all I remember is saying “Yes I will do that.” I have been waiting for years and God hasn’t come down and told me yet what he wants. I’ve asked, prayed, fasted, casted lots, and yet still to this day I do not have a clear calling.

What are our salvation issues? What do we need to live in our lives? What do we need to teach? What do we need to produce? There are a lot of parables in the Bible about producing fruit, and being part of the vine, but what the crap does that mean? I’m not looking for the cookie cutter answers I got in Sunday School, or the preset answers I heard in college about going to church, or acting this way or that way.

Just the basic how do I attain a relationship with God? How do I experience him in a meaningful way? I only ask because I can’t find God in those places I learned about in school. I can’t find him in my local Coc. I didn’t find him at any Church here in Bend. The best Church experience I’ve had so far was Imago church in P-town. I see God in nature, I see God in Science I don’t understand. I see God in personal relationships I have with my friends. I even see God in food and beer.

What do you feel you need to do? What are your salvation issues?