if you can read this, you're literate

sure, burning the flag is unpatriotic.

it might offend some people.

but it isn't wrong.

i understand why people would be offended by it. it stands for our way of life, and it is a reminder of those who gave their lives for our freedom.

but saying it is wrong is going against every patriotic notion there is.

if you remember correctly, this nation was founded on people rebelling against their own.

in this country, we have the right to free speech. which includes burning the flag as you see fit. it's this same right to free speech that allows espn writers to call people "depraved dirtbags."

the fact is, that while irreverent, burning the american flag is not against a law, and to make it against the law would go against everything that flag stands for.

Posted by erichapman at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments

well it finally happened...

my computer won't even boot up now.

so that means i'll be blogging from work from now on.

cripes!

Posted by erichapman at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments

i've told this story about a hundred times since it happened to me on thursday.

i should just post it, print it, and never have to tell this story again.

i had a craving for a hardee's hand-dipped cookie's and cream shake. delicious in my belly.

i wasn't too hungry, but it was lunch time, so i thought i'd just get a roast beef sandwich. slightly healthy for fast food, and that's what i wanted. that's exactly what i wanted.

so i got to the drive-through and started off my order, "can i get a roast beef and..."

"SIR!..."

i had been cut off.

interrupted.

"...WE HAVE NOT HAD ROAST BEEF FOR OVER TWO AND A HALF YEARS."

gut shot. that's how i describe it.

in that split second that it took for that guy to piss me off, i was confused as to why i was even angry.

not the point. the point is he was rude. and i didn't like it.

i said the first thing that came to mind.

"THANKS FOR BEING A JERK!"

and i turn my steering wheel to leave the drive-through.

that's when i hear, "YOU'RE WELCOME, THANK YOU!"

AHHH!

so, like the mature man i've grown into over 24 years, i smashed the gas and got out of there in a hurry.

here is a small list of things that lead up to my anger:

1. they didn't have the sandwich i wanted
2. the guy was rude
3. i never ended up getting my milk shake that was the whole purpose of going to hardee's!

then i got about a half a mile away and i had to add something to my list.

4. i thought of a good line (good, although extremely mean and unloving) that i could have used

it was this; "you've been working at hardee's for over two and a half years?"

that would have been my one line before i left the drive-through that would have made me feel better (and made for a different conversation with the man in the radio and consequently, a better story).

now, i know i shouldn't think of him in a negative way (the guy's a loser) for working at hardee's. i worked at a mcdonald's (for a few months in high school).

yeah, the old argument comes into play, "at least he's got a job!"

that's what i tell myself when i see the lady in her 40's delivering papers in my mom's neighborhood.

i guess i justify my negativity by this...

with an attitude like that, it's no wonder he's worked at hardee's "for over two and a half years."

...sir

Posted by erichapman at 3:25 AM | Permalink | Comments

it's one of my favorite verses. i use it as a little prayer sometimes when i don't know what to say to God...

"Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing."

i've been praying that almost daily for over a year now. and i still really love it.

but today as i was sitting outside in my lawn chair [you can take the boy out of pekin but you can't take the pekin out of the boy], i realized something about the first part of that verse...

"teach me to do your will..." i always wanted that. how awesome would it be if i just always did what God wanted me to? sure, sometimes it would be hard, but it would be worth it.

[i still don't always do God's will but that's another post...]

the "do" part of that is what got me today... to be honest, most of the time i just want my will. and i don't give a lot of thought to what God wants.

i was thinking back to jobs i didn't get or just things that didn't go "according to plan." [i use that term loosely]

i don't like to change up the word of God... but i did ask if he would "teach me to accept your will, for you are my God."

Posted by erichapman at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments

so my computer's hard drive crashed... but apparently not too hard.

it booted back up last night, gave me a crash analysis and was fine for the half hour i had it on. [i didn't feel like risking it much longer than that]

so maybe i will have enough time to save up for this...

Posted by erichapman at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments

yes, i have experienced a huge loss [more than the white sox and cardinals COMBINED this weekend].

my computer died this morning. it freezes up, you hear some weird noise inside, the virus blocker pops up and then BAM... some kind of DOS-looking safe mode or something that you can't back out of.

i think it's toast.

and those of you who are close to me [jeff, kevin, charlie, sarah, becky...], you realize how ironic it is that MY computer had to die THIS weekend.

the good thing is that i already had my next computer picked out.

the bad part is that i was planning on having more time to save up for it.

i might have to go sans computer for a few weeks... i don't know if i can survive that. especially since i know i'll be paying for internet service and getting NO use out of it.

*sigh* ob la dee, ob la da...

Posted by erichapman at 7:58 PM | Permalink | Comments

remember the post a couple ago?

the one about women's saggy boobs reaching their increasingly high-hiked pants?

i found out at a meeting this week what weird thing old men do...

they search the world for pants with huge zippers.

i have NEVER seen a pair of pants with a zipper more than about 5" long at most.

these old dudes had zippers reaching over a foot.

now, i didn't get out there and measure, but it was enough to distract me.

it wasn't just one guy either... it was the speaker, and any number of old farts around me.

i just can't explain how crazy this is to me... and how much it worries me.

i might get old someday. please, if you're reading this, and you know me, DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO KEEP ME FROM TURNING INTO ONE OF THESE OLD PEOPLE!

Posted by erichapman at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments

if you haven't heard of it, xxxchurch is AWESOME!

they're a non-condemning organization that is there to help. people get addicted to porn, or even stuck in the industry, and they do everything they can to get them away from their addiction, or out of the industry.

they even raised thousands of dollars for this lady who was starring in porns to move her away from her lifestyle and find her a job and get her daughter in a good school.

they hand out bibles at porn conventions.

apparently people have problems with them...

they get it from both sides: "you're no christian." and "you christians suck."

it's lose-lose.

...except for those who have really been helped by xxxchurch.

yeah, they make shirts that say "Jesus loves porn stars." and that might sound like mocking at first.

but... don't you think Jesus DOES love porn stars? he loves everyone.

he loves me, and i'm just as bad as a porn star.

Posted by erichapman at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments

it occurred to me last night at work that old people's bodies change in weird ways.

and then it occurred to me that they change their appearance in weird ways.

i really wanted to find a picture of it, but there aren't too many good ones out there.

[this one will have to do for a "weird picture" of old people]

but the thing that made me realize at work last night is this:

old boobs sag. they start dropping like fried eggs nailed to a tree.

that's out of their control.

but what about this factor?

you know how you can cut down a tree and count the rings to see how old it was?

well, you can measure how high the pants are on an old person and calculate how old they are.

it's linear... the older someone gets, the higher they hike their pants up.

on the female of the species, it's a race to see what can reach the belly button first... the pants or the boobs.

very urkelesque.

Posted by erichapman at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments

gotta be one of the dumbest things ever... but with a hilarious video

Posted by erichapman at 3:17 AM | Permalink | Comments