Cover Letter

As everyone knows, I'm still jobless. Which I think sounds better than unemployed. At least it doesn't have the same negative connotations that I've long associated with "unemployed" - you know, like begging for bread and homelessness and being a crack-addict. Well, I suppose homelessness wouldn't be terrible.

anyway...

I just wrote a cover letter for Rosetta Stone, and Kyle V. is going to talk to a Sr. Writer in that Department for me tomorrow so that I can hopefully bypass the inHuman Resourceless Department and get a job sooner rather than never. What surprised me was how fun it was to write this cover letter. I mean, I sound really damn good. Who wouldn't want to hire Thomas Eric Gregory to do anything that involves writing and varying types of media mixed with a healthy dose of foreign language? Answer: NO ONE. Because I look that good on paper (or at least when I write it on paper).

I don't have any huge thoughts about pride coming before the fall or about the corporate world relying first on one's image of oneself before determining the necessity for a further phone/in-house interview. I just wanted to share that it's been really stressful today and I finally feel like I accomplished something.

See you Wednesday if not before!

"So, are you going to keep buying coffee from Starbucks?"

Randy asked me this tonight, and I didn't want him to.

I like Starbucks coffee, I really do. I like how it makes me feel. I like the friendly employees, the season appropriate music for sale, and the murky warmth of extra bold Sumatra or Espresso roast. It has been a habit for years now, and I really like it.

But I've recently been accepting the truth that Starbucks isn't GOOD. I mean sure the company is capable of doing good things, employing people, offering benefits, donating money to third would countries, and providing wireless Internet. I could find GOOD in Starbucks. But the thing is that all of this GOOD, I suspect, is merely an attempt to cover up the EeeVIL. How do the coffee farmers live? What are the workers paid? How are the workers treated? Can these people support their families on $2 a day? Can the local coffee shop owner survive the stiff competition down the street? Does Starbucks crush their competition and provide little to no relief to the impoverished workers collecting their beans?

And what GOOD am I doing, when I buy my comforting grande Christmas Blend with room for cream, served with a smile, and a pop/folk Bob Dylan cover song?

So here is the question: Is Starbucks Evil?

Sadly, I've decided to seriously limit my purchase of Starbucks coffee. And if it weren't for that fact that I know how desperate I will become on a road trip one day in the future, when I'll have to chose between a 7-11 and a Starbucks, I would proclaim now that my Starbucks days are completely over.

So I'll do the best I can at the moment. I'll stop giving Starbucks my money, and I'll commit to brewing Fair Trade at home or to buying at the local shop and roaster. But if I do find myself on a road trip in the future, desperate for coffee, I probably won't beat myself up for giving in to the EeeVIL coffee gods!

A bowl of good.

I was BLOWN away tonight when I realized that Katrina Didot (of Christ the King) is the woman behind "A bowl of good". It's a soup company in town! She makes yummy, healthy soups!

I may have been the only person who didn't know that, but either way... I'm really excited to support a local company and family by buying delicious homemade soup!

I just wanted to share this with all of you and encourage you to do the same, if you have the chance!

Here are the locations that carry her soup: Red Front (Chicago Ave, Harrisonburg); Fat Boys (33 E); Ravenwood Co. Cafe (Dayton); Joe's Country Meats (Dayon Farmer's Market); Sue's Super Nutrition (South 11, Harrisonburg); Midtowne Market (Downtown Harrisonburg) Cinnamon Bear Bakery & Deli (Harrisonburg near Costco)

Here is her wonderful website: http://www.abowlofgood.com/

Changing the world...

If our group could only have one impact on the world (or at least our church), I would want it to be to conquer the fear in people that squashes great ideas like this and to encourage more people to try them out.

Amish Friendship Bread

I am going to make Amish Friendship Bread this afternoon. Would anyone like a loaf (or 1/2) of fresh bread? I'd be happy to drop some by for you.

Also, if anyone is interested in baking the bread for yourself... I can pass along some starter for you to use and multiply and give away.

Just thought I'd ask.

Shape Note Singing

Here's the blog from the farmer that does our vege coop. He's a great writer and always has interesting thoughts. One of the previous posts about Singer's Glen is about shape note/sacred music singing. He and his family also produced a CD that we have... Haven't listened to it yet though.

Also, here's the documentary that I mentioned ("Awake My Soul"). I just ordered a copy that we could watch together. Ironically, the shipping cost $6.66 ;)

this quiz *sucks*!

Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as John Calvin Much of what is now called Calvinism had more to do with his followers than Calvin himself, and so you may or may not be committed to TULIP, though God's sovereignty is all important. John Calvin 87% Anselm 67% Jürgen Moltmann 67% Martin Luther 60% Friedrich Schleiermacher 60% Charles Finney 53% Jonathan Edwards 33% Paul Tillich 33% Augustine 33% Karl Barth 20%

It's a conspiracy! Must be written by the PCA! I'm trying to get away from them, not be their leader!!! ;D

then again, maybe it's just because I put "disagree" for all the questions I didn't understand...

Code Kids

About a year ago I had an idea that I dubbed "Code Kids" Recently I got an e-mail from Our Community Place director Ron Copeland asking for people to volunteer in all sorts of ways:

I can think of 20 examples off the top of my head of a variety of things people with varying gifts can do to contribute to the community center: a doctor answering questions once a month, helping with secretarial work, writing thank you notes, a student doing an internship to create low impact exercise programs for people who have let their health completely slip, updating the website, helping with theater productions, helping with a newsletter, helping with Soup Kitchen, teaching pottery classes, delivering a lecture on an interesting topic, building a brick BBQ pit, developing a solar energy plan, helping with transportation needs, visiting a loney person, a massage therapist giving free shoulder rub downs, playing music during meals, developing a monthly free speech night, helping in the garden, mowing the lawn, building a deck, etc. "

I just called him and pitched him my idea. He was very receptive to the idea and said that it resonated with some of his recent thinking. He's been reading a book called "De-schooling Society" and teaching out of OCP with programs like "Code Kids" fits nicely. Currently the building is still being re-modeled so it'll have to wait until that work is done, but it sounds like a possibility.

Another interesting tid-bit... Ron knows Shane Claiborne. Apparently he's been down to OCP and the Little Grille. Ron also said that the church community that he's starting is in the vein of New Monasticism. Definitely something to keep an eye on.

what theologian are you?

just finished taking a test at http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=7092N it was a good exercise because it actually showed me how my theology has changed over the years. i'm sure i would have been matched with John Calvin 5 years ago... these days i'm no less concerned with the truth, but i'm not as quick to give 100% sure answers on theological questions, so to a serious theologian i would definitely be considered a liberal. I scored as a Anselm

Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?'

Anselm 87% Martin Luther 60% John Calvin 47% Augustine 40% Charles Finney 33% Jürgen Moltmann 27% Jonathan Edwards 20% Paul Tillich 13% Friedrich Schleiermacher 13% Karl Barth 7%

a rant

Is LifeTogether allowed to have rants? Ooh-- maybe I will be the first poster who contributes a rant! So... let's get started. This is an excerpt from an e-mail I sent to 2 dear friends today.

I get asked about once a week what I'm doing with my life and the future. And I'd have to say, I really don't know. There are a dizzying number of choices, and I just want to be sure and make the right one before I've plunged into it. I want to live a rich, fully lived life, not a life of misery with glorious beach vacations for 1 week of the year. I've been thinking a lot about what the best kind of life is. And I'm still not sure. But here is my current thought. I would love to know what you think.

I don't want to be a professor or a teacher or a counselor or an office worker or a retail sales person or even a writer. At least, not right now.

I want to be tired. Like good, hard work tired. I am so sick of sitting around! I want to knead bread and feed chickens and hoe a garden. And when I have dessert, I don't want to totally take it for granted. I want to enjoy it because I spent hours baking this cake or making these popcorn balls with people, and it was hard work, and I only have dessert sometimes, not like 10 times a freaking day! ...and because I *actually* deserve it... aka "dessert". I want to live life at a steady pace, without a clock-- not this thing I have now where I alternate between boring leisure and grueling hurry.

Ugh! I am just so sick of my life and myself and all this damn 'leisure' and meaninglessness! I know it sounds like I'm ungrateful, but all these "labor-saving devices" just make life really pointless because you finish your day's work in like a minute and then you feel empty and realize how meaningless your life is and watch like 6 hours of TV and then you feel worse than when you started out. I'm entertained to death. I'm almost read out. I think I just need a good dose of hard work and some kids and other people around me to bring that tangible fulfillment to things.

And I've been reading about France, how they lowered the workweek to 35 hours, and I just don't see how people in America average a 46 hour workweek! It's unbelievable! It's not that I don't want to work, but office work is just so banal! I want to be outside! I would love to do an office job for like 20 hours a week max and earn my money, but after that, I am just so done it's not even funny.

*Aaaah! I miss sunlight!*

I want to live on Walton's Mountain or in "Sarah Plain and Tall", where they get up at sunrise and cut each other's hair and take care of horses. I want to meet real people that sweat and make up songs and like watching the sky. I want to play a board game where we spent hours making all the pieces out of wood and drawing the board onto sheets of paper that we then laminated. Or play with cards where we had fun drawing the Jacks and Queens and Jokers.

Am I just rambling, or am I making sense? All these so-called improvements to our life-- yes, many are good. But so many just make our existence into a sham because we live vicariously through them and are distracted by them. We are so overstimulated that we don't live in real relationships with real people. Gah-- I need to go read some Wendell Berry.

new "flag at half mast" rule

This is an email I sent to my Senators and Congressman. I think it would be cool if other people sent the same message:

I saw the U.S. flag at half-mast yesterday and I wondered why. It was probably because of the latest mall shooting, but I wasn't sure. I wondered what criteria are needed in order for the flag to be at half-mast.

Then I thought about all of the lives being lost on both sides of the Iraq war. We should not forget that war is a terrible thing, even if we suffer less casualties than "the enemy". And a life lost, even if it is "the enemy", is something to be mourned.

I would like you to propose the idea that our flag should be at half-mast whenever our country is at war.

Thank you.



If you think this is a good idea and you'd like to join me in sending this message to your VA Congressman and Senators, here are the links:

http://www.house.gov/goodlatte/emailbob.htm
http://webb.senate.gov/contact/
http://warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm

This Looks Good!

A Christianity Worth Believing

by Doug Pagitt

Great Analysis of the San Joaquin Situation in TEC

This post does a great job responding to the leaving of the San Joaquin diocese from The Episcopal Church (which I gather is a big deal because it's the first entire diocese to leave). Nice thing too is that I'm almost certain Geoff would agree. I'll ask him.

23 Minutes in Hell

Well, I can't sleep - guess I slept too much this morning trying to recuperate from being sick. Late night Sunday television - very entertaining. I almost ordered a book a guy is peddling called 23 Minutes in Hell but then thought I had already endured 5 minutes just listening to him. Up late and can't sleep? Try local channel 14 or helplinetv.com.

Re-imagining "Church"

Jonny Baker whom I ran into through Adam Cleaveland of PomoMusings has points out some cool thinking about what the church is in an Urban setting by Steve Collins. It'd be cool if we did some similar thinking in our context.

Front-loading Washing Machines

Like you needed additional eco-anxiety.... an interesting post about front-loading washing machines.

Organic Community

I'm wondering if anyone has heard of Joe Myers or his two books?

Organic Community

The Search to Belong

Lullaby

Sufjan Stevens is having a Christmas song contest, but it's not a normal contest... The winner of the contest actually loses the rights to his/her song, but in exchange, receives the rights to a Sufjan Stevens song that he's written especially for this contest.

I've spent a lot of time writing this song for the contest, and although I'm not as crazy about the song as I'd like to be, I'm going to submit it. You can listen/download it here.

Here are the lyrics (it's a new twist on a familiar story... put your interpretation in the comments!):

try not to cry
you need your rest tonight
try not to think about
all that's going wrong

i'll stay awake
i'll keep watch over you
and i'll never leave your side

it won't be tonight
not in a stable
just hang on till morning
and see what he provides

so i'll make a bed
i'll sing a lullaby
and i'll never leave your side

soon you'll have a new life to lead
and i know you'd rather follow

but try not to cry
he'll give you strength
just try to think about
a thousand years from now

i'll make a bed
i'll sing a lullaby
and i'll never leave your side

The Shopocalypse

Anyone want to see What Would Jesus Buy

(found on hburgnews)

Does Occam's Razor Apply to Theology?

I often end up reading theology because of all of the other reading I do. Most recently, I ended up reading a two-part lecture defending "Classical Theism" in light of "Open Theism" I ran into this from a post by Jeffrey Meyers whom I find to be provoctive and thoughtful.

In a layman's nutshell (as I understand it) "Open Theism" allows for God to be changeable. Joel Garver summarizes it as this:

[1] that God's love requires his being responsive to his creatures
[2] that creatures therefore truly influence God
[3] that human freedom sets a limit on God's sovereignty
[4] that God learns the future at it comes to pass, and
[5] that God is thereby dependent upon the world in various respects.

"Classical Theism" holds that God is "immutable, impassible, independent of his creation" i.e. he can't change.

I read through the first lecture and followed it easily. The language is clearly college level, but overall the ideas are concise and don't require an MDiv to follow. In fact, the ideas could be characterized as ordinary; anyone who has experienced love or given love could conclude that in some sense love "changes" the parties in the relationship and hence if "God is love" he must "change".

The second lecture on the other hand (so it seems) is almost impenetrable to all but the elite theologians. It's packed with words like transcendence, immanence, intra-trinitarian, etc. The lecture is at least twice as long and over half is setting the scene for the argument. So when you come to:

This discussion of the revelation of God in Scripture, culminating in the revelation of God as Trinity, and its connection with the claims of classical theism, now enables us to address the important questions raised by the proponents of open theism.

it's a bit disheartening, and the remainder of the lecture is still mind-bending (not in the good way). It concludes with:

The Trinitarian God of Scripture, therefore, is also the God of classical theism who, as being itself and pure act, remains immutably and impassibly transcendent over creation as Trinity. It is precisely in the plentitude of the intra-Trinitarian relations that God already is passionate, loving, and responsive to his creation, even, in some sense, taking up the suffering of his creatures for their redemption. This divine weakness and vulnerability is, paradoxically, the fullness of the saving power of God, that dynamic and over-abundant love that lies beyond passibility and, indeed, beyond any shadow of turning.

Contrast that with the outline above or a simple statement like this from the same author setting the background for what "Open Theism" posits:

If we present a theology in which God is incapable of [love, compassion, mercy, tenderness, delight or pity] in any sense, in which God is inert and dispassionate, unmoved and aloof, then we are not being faithful to the teaching of Scripture. This biblical language of God’s passion and responsiveness cannot be set aside simply as “anthropomorphism” or divine condescension to human limitations in order that we might somehow conceive and relate to a God who, in reality, possesses a character or nature other than what he reveals himself to be. On the contrary, God’s self-revelation in Scripture and, above all, in the Person and work of Jesus Christ, shows us who God truly is in himself. This biblical language of divine compassion, mercy, grief, tenderness, and so on is, in some manner or another, literally true of the God of Holy Scripture.¹² On that much, the open theists are correct.

As I was wrestling through the second lecture I had the asked myself the question which is the title of this post. All other things being equal, is the simplest explanation the best theology? It certainly *feels* that way.

For the record, I don't think I totally endorse "Open Theism" as presented in this article (not that I've ever though about it before... this may be the first time I've ever read the terms), specifically points [3] and [4] above. When we talk about the sovereignty of God I think we need to be careful because if He loses his sovereignty then there is no certainty in His plan for redeeming creation and finally establishing the new heaven and earth.

Also, for the record... I'm a total hack, and while I may sound like I have a clue, I'm sure that God is preparing some words for me when we meet in person ;)

Judging

On the way back from the airport, Ginna and I were talking about past churches and the feelings they bring up when thinking about them - I can't bring myself to name specific churches as I feel like I'm judging a good thing - exactly what I'm trying to write about. Anyhow, I was reading a newsletter put out by Ransomed Heart Ministries in which he (John Eldredge) talks about "judging" being a necessary and good thing - albeit difficult. Here's a link to the November newsletter.

When I think about past churches, I think the thing I react to most is the idea of solid black and white. While it's comfortable to be able to put "God" in a box, I don't like that kind of god - nor can I relate well to that such a god. If God is so black and white, why does my life seem full of gray?

Saul Williams

Since Eric, can't stop talking about Nine Inch Nails ;) it was just a matter of time before he told me about Saul Williams He's a poet/emcee/rapper/actor who recently released an album NiggyTardust (Trent Reznor from NIN produced the record). Like, Radiohead's latest In Rainbows, NiggyTardust was released outside of the traditional channels and you can download it for free (or give $5) from the site. I downloaded it for free, not knowing if it was going to be my cup of tea.

After giving the album one spin through, I'm not disappointed though it's intense music so I don't know where it'll sit in my daily spin cycle. Musically it's amazing. If all you had was the music (without the lyrics) you could spend ages just searching out all the nooks and crannies of each song. Some of the songs are harsh, driving, and angry like "Black History Month" and "DNA" others are intimate and soft like "No One Ever Does". "Sacred Money" is jazzy (remember when US3 had that hit a decade ago?). Others are so simple and elemental (just a beat and voices) like "Raw." Saul also did a cover of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" which is a nice bonus.

The album is packed lyrically too. The lyrics are often uncomfortable because of the language (you might want to skip "The Ritual" unless you have a strong constitution ;) or because they force you to step outside of your context. Oftentimes the lyrics are spiritual and profound too. "No One Ever Does" is a beautiful example of that:

No one ever does.
No one ever does.
Memories are like promises that a seldom kept hence why Jesus wept.
Everyday we are torn away from the one we love. There's no God above.
Only if you would spend your gift to uphold the truth of just me and you and we represent all the time we've spent getting to this day.
There's no other way.
Aren't we who we claim to be.
The descendants of who we place above we must place within and slowly begin to love.
No one ever does.
No one ever does.

Suddenly who I thought was me was not me at all and I feel so small.
Sitting way beneath who I want to be.
I don't want to be who I've grown to be.
Only if I might somehow riff on the way before.
Let it be some more.
Lift me from this flaw if I can walk out [broad?] to love.
No one ever does.
No one ever does.

One of the reasons why I find music like this compelling is that there is no pretense. Saul seems very self-differentiated he is raw, unpolished, and honest (so it seems). Further, I hear an echo of God in the music. Many will find it offensive or difficult to listen to. I hear God intersecting our world; this is a thin place. I think there's a good chance that Papa is listening to Saul ;).

My curiosity piqued, I did some more reading on Saul and found an open letter he sent to Oprah. Again, there is spiritual content (but also themes and ideas which will offend):

There is nothing more mainstream than the denigration of women as projected through religious doctrine. Please understand, I am by no means opposing the teachings of Jesus, by example (he wasn't Christian), but rather the men that have used his teachings to control and manipulate the masses. Hip Hop, like Rock and Roll, like the media, and the government, all reflect an idea of power that labels vulnerability as weakness.

Phew! I shudder at the idea of sharing a letter like that with many Christians I know. Honestly, I considered not mentioning it here, but decided it could be fruitful to ponder.

What does Saul Williams teach us? How do we think rightly about stuff like this?

A series to follow

A lot of the writing that Jeff Meyers does is DENSE and hard to read and often he wrestles with topics that hard-core "reformed" people tend to concern themselves with. However, he just started a series "Is The Gospel in the Gospels?" It looks like it's going to be great.

Stewardship of the Environment

Randy turned me on to Catalog Choice. It's a cool service that allows you to "unsubscribe" from unwanted catalogs. I've been processing my catalogs as they received over the last week and I already have a couple dozen that I've opted out of. I haven't been recycling the catalogs recently (just got out of the habit) but when I did, I could fill an entire paper grocery bag with the magazines laying flat in about 3 months. What a waste!

Kiva

A few years back, I had this idea of making giving work more like investing. You'd get annual reports, have access to "business statistics", etc. If you've never heard of kiva.org then go now and check it out. It's a "micro-lending" site where you can "invest" money (at 0% interest) in the businesses of third-world entrepreneurs. You can read about it here. It comes pretty darn close to my original idea. We have a portfolio, we can invest more money in different business opportunities, we get a return (our money is repaid and can be reloaned... plus it feels good to help), and we get regular status reports.

Shiree and I loaned money to Gulshen Aliyeva in Azerbijan. So far we've gotten about 3 repayments on the loan (though we can't reloan the money until it's fully paid off). You can also follow our other loans (of which currently there aren't any ;)

About the only thing that would make it cooler is the ability to interact with the entrepreneurs via e-mail/Kiva. Obviously there would probably need to be a "gateway" where the email is printed and mailed to the entrepreneurs with a SASE which they could use to send a reply back (which was scanned and then posted on the site).

Thoughts from Raph

Some of you met my friend Raph (either at Food Not Bombs or at church on Sunday)... He sent me an e-mail and had the following to say:

While I was on COTAs website the other evening I checked out a little video they’ve got up now introducing what the community is all about. I thought it might be of interest to some of the folks in your new small group as you explore the idea of intentional community. Also Karen has a recent blog entry reviewing a new book on the emerging church scene within the Episcopal Church that sounds interesting. It’s titled 'Rising from the Ashes: Rethinking Church' by Becky Garrison. If you’re interested, here’s the link to Karen’s blog.

Greenbriar House Thanksgiving Smorgasbord!

I apologize that this announcement is rather late.

My house (affectionately called "Greenbriar" because that's what our street is named) is having a Thanksgiving get-together today (Monday November 19th, 2007) and are expecting somewhere between 75 and 100 people. This has been an annual thing for the past three years or so, and I'm inviting everyone to come.

The only thing that you'd need to bring is some sort of side dish which is Thanksgiving-appropriate if you have 3 or more people coming, otherwise feel free to come and eat. We've got 3, 22+ lb. turkeys, a giant ham, mashed potatoes and gravy (along with massive amounts of stuffing). Everything else is being brought by others, so if you want to make your favorite dish and bring it, come!

Time: 5:30pm
When: TONIGHT (Monday Nov. 19th)
Where: Greenbriar House (across from the Days Inn/University Outpost - park in that parking lot and walk up the Greenbriar Dr. hill) --- 948 Greenbriar Dr., Harrisonburg, VA, 22801
Who: EVERYONE!!! (kids are welcome!)
Why: THANKSGIVING WITH FRIENDS (before doing it with the fam!)

I'll email a notice about this as well - hope to see some of you there!

-Eric

Long-Range Planning

Last April Christ the King served the meal part of Skyline Literacy Coalition's annual Auction fundraiser. There were about 10 people that set tables, served drinks and food, and cleared plates after the meal. I think everyone had a good time and it felt great to help a good organization.

Apparently we did a good job (actually I know that ;) because they'd like us to come back. The 2008 Skyline Literacy Banquet and auction is MARCH 17, 2008. Last year we showed up around 4PM and were done before 9PM. I'm going to be pulling together a team of people to do this. Let me know if you'll put this on your calendar to help!

Put it on your calendars...

On December 15th either Shiree or I will likely be going to Warren Hall at JMU at 8AM to help Mercy House wrap presents for the children that come through.

Skyline Literacy Coalition Pleasant Valley ESOL Class

On Tuesday night me, Aiden, and Riley went to Pleasant Valley elementary school to participate in the Skyline Literacy Coalition's ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) program. The program is on Tues and Thursday night from 6PM until 7:30PM. It was provided in conjunction with the school mostly for parents of students at the school. Parents are taking either beginner or intermediate level English classes run by trained tutors from Skyline.

Our job was to be with the kids. As far as I could tell all of the kids spoke pretty good English. The evening was broken into basically three parts. At the beginning we helped the kids do homework (pre-school aged children drew/colored). Then there was a time where we did an active game (Simon Says this week). The last thirty minutes we read to the kids. Because this week was rich in volunteers the reading time was pretty much one on one. Aiden and Riley did the reading and I just watched and helped when they stumbled.

We read to a boy named Uriel. Uriel was a sweet and very touchy-feely Hispanic boy. He asked lots of question and wanted to make eye contact sometime to the point of pulling your face towards his. He wasn't terribly good at respecting "tradition boundaries" he would come up to you and just grab your leg or plop down on your lap without asking.

We also worked with Octavio and Handwen. Both of these kids were a handful; very ADD and not good listeners. Handwen wouldn't tell you his name, he insisted on being called "Subway." He was a big time jokester. According to Vanessa (the Skyline coordinator in charge of the evening) he is Kurdish. For a while in college I tried to collect the phrase "How many teeth do you have?" in as many languages as possible. So I tried to get Subway to tell me. He may have done it once but blurted it out so fast that I couldn't understand what he said. He spent the rest of the evening insisting he was Hispanic.

Both Aiden and Riley enjoyed the evening, so we're headed back on Tuesday night. Let me know if you're interested.