Veni, vidi, vici.

Some of you know, some of you don't. I am a youth mentor for senior high kids at my church. This weekend we did the 30 Hour Famine. This is where you fast for 30 hours. It was held at St. Andrews Lutheran church in Eden Prairie. It was Friday night and all day Saturday.

Friday night we saw a comedy team called Comedy Sportz. They were really funny and they have regular shows at a place in Calhoun Square. Then we heard from a speaker. His name was Shane Claiborne. He's basically a missionary. He goes around the world helping people in need. He has worked with Mother Theresa, worked in a Leper colony, he lives in Philadelphia where he takes in homeless and feeds them and gives them a place to stay for the night. Basically doing the things that most people would never do. Then we saw a video about the war in the Sudan in Africa. It was a documentary about how Sudan is divided in civil war, and the army who is trying to over though the government is abducting children and forcing them to become solders. These kids range from age 5 to 18. Their stories where absolutely horrific.

After the movies we divided up into groups. One group went and did activities, and the other group packaged food for Feed My Starving Children. Feed My Starving Children is an organization out of Minneapolis that packages food for country's where starvation is eminent. The meals that are packaged consist of chicken base, dried vegetables, soy, and rice. They weigh between 380 and 400 grams and one package will be enough food to make 6 meals. We packaged 81,000 meals. 1331 kids will get one meal a day for an entire year. And when it's the difference between eating mud or rice that's an amazing thing.

Saturday was a day of group activities. There was an information presentation about basically how unbalanced the world really is. We all know how hard it is to drive during rush hour. Our roads are packed. But did you know that only 8% of the worlds population drives. Eight percent. That means that 92% of the world doesn't drive a car. Did you know that the hunger problems in the world are solvable. The amount of money needed to end starvation is about what Americans spend on ice cream in one day. When you see the bumper stickers that say "God Bless America" just know that he already has.

There was also a "structured free time" on Sat. We were able to play DDR on PS2 and there was a craft room, and best of all. Pin guard in the gym. Sweet. After all of that we packaged food again. We packaged for 2 hours on Saturday and that time went the fastest.

At the end of it all they divided us up as the world is. A small percentage was the rich counties, a little bit bigger portion of us was 2nd world countries and the rest of us were 3rd world countries. When we broke the fast, they feed us that way. They had two tables for the rich countries where they got trays of chips and pretzels and grapes and juice, and had as much as they wanted. Then the 2nd world countries. Each person got a bowl of the food that we were packaging. Then for the 3rd worlds. We were divided up into groups of 25 and each group got one bowl and one spoon. After they showed us what it was like we all went and had spaghetti.

All in all the event was really cool. I'm glad I did it. The not eating wasn't even that bad. You only think about it in the first few hours, the next day I didn't even feel hungry, but it was only 30 hours. Not an entire lifetime. I like the idea of "experiencing" something like this because you don't feel guilted into doing something about the problem from some old guy on TV, asking you to send your coffee money. I actually felt empowered. I felt like I was actually helping and that there is an end to this.

So. I came, I saw, I conquered.

Fasting is no problem. Starving is.

Links: http://www.fmsc.org/default.aspx
http://www.30hourfamine.org/

Quick update

Most of you know my cousin Bryen. He currenty resides in Chicago. Well he started a "political, not so political" blog to keep up with the times. Check it out here.

Just for Eric

Bryen's "first" wedding.

Random Picture

Misty

A sad day.

My parents called me tonight and informed me that they had to put Misty to sleep. For those of you who don't know Misty was our dog for about 14 years. She was a German Shepherd/something mix. She was our family's second dog after Dusty, our Chocolate Lab. Misty was a wonderful dog. We never had a single problem with her. She had an enlarged heart and fluid in her lungs, which is why this all happened. The vet said it was Congestive Heart Failure. Which is kind of ironic, cause I didn't know dogs could get that. My grandfather had that as well. Anyway. I don't know what else to say other than she was a great dog and will be greatly missed. This could not have happened at a worse time. Rest in peace, Misty...

Quick update

My cousin eric has a blog now. He set one up to keep us updated on his well being while he's in the crappy sand box. Check it out! Zimm's Blog

Router

I'm so happy that my parents know the difference between quality and crap! The got a router for me, for Christmas/helping with the bar. It is total quality. I got the Festool OF 1400 EQ router. It is probably the nicest router I've used to date. I was in the garage tonight using it and it was almost effortless to use. It's very powerful, has a smooth start, three different size collets, so I'm not limited to one bit diameter size. Absolutely wonderful.

When it comes to routers. There are plenty of great ones on the market for great prices. And most of them would be more than adequate for most jobs. This one, on the other hand has very easy one handed use, and a plethora of add ons that only help with doing flooring. To quote Ferris Bueller, "If you have the means, I highly suggest picking one up.

Hear are some of the features it has.

The OF 1400 is the new benchmark in the medium-power router class. It gives you more power in a lighter package, easier operation, smoother running, deeper stroke, and the ultimate in dust extraction. With thoroughbred performance and a host of unique features, it takes routing to a new level.

- HIGH POWER, LOW WEIGHT: Get more done with less effort
- RATCHETING SPINDLE: For faster bit changes – a world first
- NEAR-TOTAL DUST EXTRACTION: Work cleaner and healthier
- 2 3/4" ROUTING DEPTH: Largest plunge capacity in its class for versatile use
- FAST DEPTH ADJUSTMENT: Extreme 1/256" precision
- DOUBLE GUIDE COLUMN CLAMPING: Faster in use, greater baseplate stiffness
- DOUBLE GUIDE ROD CLAMPING: For fast side stop setting
- SMOOTH OPERATION: For easier work and great results
- ERGONOMIC HANDLES: For easy control and safe handling in any position
- MMC ELECTRONICS: Maintains constant speed under load and provides overload protection

I'm just so pleased with it, I thought I'd share with all of you!

Inlay part 2

It is complete. Yay!! Monday night Tuesday morning and most of today was needed for the completion of this medallion. It was a bear to get together. There are a few things that we'll be doing differently if we ever make another one. This morning I took it down to Todd at the shop, and ran it through the time saver sander. That helped out a ton. It was looking pretty rough before that. So, here are the pics of it installed in the floor....

The floor itself has not been sanded that's why it looks so dusty, and that stripe is in the floor. The trimmers must have had something laying there and got some over spray on the floor. Not to worry though, it'll all be sanded out in the morning.

There are four different species of wood. The cross is Rosewood, there is Maple surrounding the cross, the circle is Walnut, and the floor is Red Oak

Inlay

We're making an inlay at work for a floor. It's a Maltese cross. Here is what we've got done so far.

We cut out the maple today. It's going to look just like you see it but the maple will be cut to fit inside and the whole thing will be round. I'll have more pics as it progresses.