A Whole Nother Thing

A Whole Nother Thing
Seldom at a loss for words.
ABOUT THE BLOGGER Abode: Nine Forward Interests: Writing, Singing, Working Out Clickage Here Will Land You My Complete Profile RECENTLY POSTED A New Flag for Oregon Go Sox! Can't think of a better way... Last weekend I visited my son and his girlfriend d... Flags on the Fremont Bridge Rear Window UPS Circle of Honor Camping out at Sbux. While I like it here, it's ju... Home sick today. Damn these sinus issues! This yea... Updating IN THE BEFORE TIME September 2004 October 2004 December 2004 February 2005 April 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 May 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 November 2006 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 June 2008 August 2008 October 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 August 2009 December 2009 February 2010 September 2010 October 2010 March 2011 May 2011 July 2011 August 2011 September 2011 November 2011 January 2012 Subscribe to Posts [Atom] IMPORTANT LINKAGE My campaign for a new flag for Oregon My Small Business E-Mail Your's Truly The Dullest Blog in the World Car Talk-- My Saturday morning fix Great News Homepage Shipit Thanks for stopping by! Your visit here isn't complete until you do the comment thing. Don't make me pull over, just do it! Click on the "reflections" link at the end of a post. *A WHOLE NOTHER THING: A selection of words from my vast vocabulary, including the ubiquitous "the," the always versatile "and," and the more obscure "incontrovertible," arranged in frequently meaningful, sometimes profound, yet often pedestrian sentences and statements, designed with one goal in mind-- that being, to communicate; keeping in mind the oft-used bromide, "Never use two words when one will do the same job as two or more words would have done, unless you just want to take up space and sound important," which is, I must concede, too often a secret objective of mine indeed. And yet, now, the secret is out. Who ARE these women? © MMX Mattquist. Some Rights Reserved	Monday, January 30, 2012 A New Flag for Oregon If you know me, you know that I am a bit quirky about some quirky things. One of my prevailing interests is flags. I'm a member of the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA), the dominant organization concerning flags in these environs. I've done my share of designing flags and symbols. I guess I'm just prone to lean toward the visual media. That said, I've come up (again) with a design for a state flag for Oregon-- one that I'm embracing very enthusiastically. In fact, I'm actually launching a campaign surrounding this proposal. Please check it out here: http://neworegonflag.org, then feel free to join the cause! I encourage feedback; and even more, I encourage your support! Thanks. link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 1/30/2012 09:13:00 PM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE. Wednesday, January 04, 2012 Go Sox! As I was navigating my shopping cart down the aisle of the local Fred Meyer today, she snagged me. "The best team, huh?" she said. It took only a few seconds for me to realize what she meant. I touched the "B" logo on my cap and smiled. "Yes, Boston?" She smiled back. She had a warmth, a calm, a sense of serenity. She looked deep into my eyes, as if she could see everything. She said something about the Red Sox, that I, as a secondary fan, didn't quite capture. "Yes," I responded, trying to be friendly, even though I didn't get what she said. "That's my team," she smiled, "I'm originally from Boston." "My son lived in Boston for a few years, so I became a fan of the Sox," I said. She held her place in the aisle, smiling, and looking deeply into me. We began a conversation that lasted more than just a few minutes. I was captivated by her gaze, and her friendliness. We discussed my sons, and their legal careers. She was impressed. She had lived near Boston College, where Keaton got his law degree. She asked me what I thought of Boston. I said I liked the city. She liked that, and then we talked a little about Portland. It was a special encounter. One of those random meetings that... that are really cool. link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 1/04/2012 11:22:00 PM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE. Monday, November 21, 2011 Can't think of a better way... ...to spend a Saturday afternoon. Got the chance to babysit my one-year-old granddaughter, Claire, for a few hours. She basically spent almost the entire time in this position (right). She is a snuggled, that's for sure. She's fighting a cold, so that made her need some extra sleep. Believe me, Pappy didn't mind. link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 11/21/2011 10:23:00 PM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE. Saturday, November 05, 2011 Last weekend I visited my son and his girlfriend down in the Bay Area. Had a blast. We biked across the Golden Gate Bridge, but it almost didn't happen. I almost didn't make it *onto* the bridge, let alone *across. Acrophobia kicked in. There's a 10 inch opening at the bottom of the railing and I had to stop. Bikes use the west side of the bridge; peds the Bay side, so going north, we were on the inside, next to car traffic. That's the only thing that saved me. I memorized my son's bicycle seat because I couldn't look at anything else. When we got to the north side of the bridge I told 'em we'd have to find another way back cuz there was no way in Hades I could go back on the outside. We rode into Sausalito and took a ferry back. link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 11/05/2011 11:46:00 AM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE. Friday, September 09, 2011 Flags on the Fremont Bridge Okay, right off the bat, I'll admit I'm a tad anal about some things. Flags-- I love flags. I've designed my own, actually. Yeah, I'm a true vexillologist. A card-carrying member of NAVA, actually. Anyway, below please find the text of an email I sent to the poo-bah of the Portland NAVA chapter. You may find it... interesting: This is cool! I drive downtown every day, and without exception, my gaze always finds its way to the top of the Fremont Bridge (I-405) to look at the US flag and the State of Oregon flag. For quite awhile, it seemed to me that the Oregon flag was flying just a bit lower than the US flag-- it wasn't hoisted all the way up the staff. Perhaps I'm just a bit anal about this, but it kind of irritated me. I didn't know if it was just my perception, or if it was real. After an indeterminate amount of time (months... years?) I came to the conclusion that it wasn't just me; the Oregon flag was never hoisted quite all the way to the top of its staff. I suspected that someone at ODOT* (the agency responsible for Interstate freeways in Oregon, and thus, the Fremont Bridge) was under the mistaken idea that no flag can fly at the same height of the US flag. Finally, I couldn't take it any longer. It just didn't seem right that the Oregon flag was not properly displayed at the top of the bridge. I went to the ODOT website and filled out a Contact form, voicing my concern. (I don't have the text of what I said, since it wasn't an email, it was typed into the little box on the ODOT website.) I also provided a link to the wikipedia article about the US flag code: *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Flag_Code#Displaying_the_flag_outdoors* Well, this week I noticed that the Oregon flag had been raised all the way to the top of the staff! And today, I received this response from a Manager at ODOT: Matt, Thank you for pointing out our error on placing the Oregon State flag slightly lower than the United States flag. It is my understanding that it has been incorrectly assumed that this is the proper way to do it for quite a while. With your help, we have corrected the situation, raising the Oregon State flag to fly with the United States flag. Thank you very much. If you see other things wrong or have questions regarding ODOT facilities please do not hesitate to contact us. Rick Garrison Oregon Department of Transportation Is that cool *or what?!* Us vexillologists can do good! /\\ /\/ link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 9/09/2011 07:55:00 PM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE. Saturday, August 27, 2011 Rear Window One of my favorite movies is Alfred Hitchcock's "*Rear Window." And it has* to be watched in the heat of the summer. Because the whole movie is set in a sweltering New York summer. Before I had air conditioning, I used to love watching this movie on a Saturday night, sweat dripping from my forehead, as it did with Jimmy Stewart in the movie. There was something about watching this movie in the hot evening hours... But when I got air conditioning, well, it just wasn't the same. Modern technology has taken something from the experience. *Rear Window* isn't quite the same if you're not sweating while you watch it. This summer, though, I was greeted with a dead AC unit when I got home from work yesterday. The repairman won't come till Monday. SO, I availed myself of the opportunity, and as I type these words, Jimmy and Grace are gracing my television, in that NY apartment, as they stalk Raymond Burr-- the murderous murderer who lives across the apartment complex. Thank god for special AC outages. Very good memories, actually... Very good. link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 8/27/2011 09:03:00 PM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE. Friday, August 19, 2011 UPS Circle of Honor Today was spectacular. This morning I was inducted into the UPS Circle of Honor, for having achieved 25 years of safe driving. As circumstances worked out, my oldest son Keaton happened to be in Portland this weekend, and was able to attend the celebration, along with my second son, Brant, who lives here. The best part of today was that they were able to be here. I'm the proudest dad in the world. link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 8/19/2011 07:56:00 PM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE. Saturday, August 13, 2011 Camping out at Sbux. While I like it here, it's just not SBC @ Borders. The pace is more hectic, loud. Better for people-watching, but not as good for concentration. I hope something goes into the closed Borders location, here at the Station, and I hope they open up a coffee shop where SBC used to be. I have virtually nothing to do this weekend, which is nice for a change. Last weekend was too busy. Need to regroup. This week, down at work, they're planning a recognition celebration for my entrance into UPS' Circle of Honor. It should be fun, but from what I'm hearing, it sounds like they're going to beatify me. Hope they don't go overboard. Need to start working on my acceptance speech, I guess. link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 8/13/2011 11:23:00 AM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE. Wednesday, August 10, 2011 Home sick today. Damn these sinus issues! This year, for the first time ever, I've dealt with weird nasal problems. Never had allergies like this. Gone through roll after roll of TP, and so many tissues! I hate tissue issues! Today, sinus headache. Yet another first for me. Usually don't have to deal with the headaches. Today it was so bad it actually hurt to open my eyes! Feeling a tad better tonight. Must get back to work tomorrow... link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 8/10/2011 07:24:00 PM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE. Tuesday, August 09, 2011 Updating ...re-doing my personal/professional site: mattnorquist.com . I love doing this kind of stuff. link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 8/09/2011 09:49:00 PM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE. Monday, August 08, 2011 Just a note ...for historical purposes. Today the NYSE Dow/S&P etc., PLUNGED. DJIA: – 634.76 But it'll come back up, right? link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 8/08/2011 07:09:00 PM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE. Saturday, July 30, 2011 Claire I just spent some time looking over this blog, and I realized that I haven't posted any pictures of my beautiful granddaughter, Claire! So, here's one! This was taken a month or so ago... Claire smiles like this continually! She genuinely seems happy to see and interact with people. Brant & Em are such great parents. link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 7/30/2011 09:35:00 PM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE. Sunday, July 24, 2011 Kenny Chesney. 7/23/2011 Rose Garden, Portland. Really good concert! link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 7/24/2011 03:36:00 PM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE. Saturday, May 21, 2011 I have one question... We all know now that Harold Camping was epically wrong in his “Biblical” prediction that the rapture would happen on May 21, 2011. I stumbled upon Mr. Camping almost two years ago, as I was flipping through radio stations during my commute home from work one day. I was immediately fascinated by not only his droning, sonorous voice, but his absolute assurance about his position-- that the rapture would occur on May 21st, and that the world would totally end on October 21st. He claimed his findings were based on Biblical passages that had been heretofore un-decipherable by church-goers. But God had opened our eyes (seemed like just “his” eyes) in recent years, in order that we could know the events that would lead to the end of the world. Mr. Camping always, continually, incessantly insisted that the May 21st date wasn’t from him at all. It wasn’t something he, personally, was “prophesying.” He always said that this chain of events was “guaranteed” by the BIBLE. It was the Bible speaking, not Harold Camping. People would call and refute him, and in his inimitable way, he’d insist that his caller needed to read the “Whole Bible,” and not simply take individual verses out of context. He absolutelyinsisted that his findings were biblically-based and founded in the whole of Scripture. He was, as I said before, insistent in his position-- that it wasn’t something HE conjured up, but that it was clearly, solely and definitely-- from the Bible. Yes, it was very entertaining to listen to his broadcasts-- especially when he’d make a statement with amazing authority, and then he’d pause, and the caller would seemingly be silent (as if they had no words to refute him any longer). Then he’d say in his singular style, “But thank you for calling and sharing… and shall we take our next call please… Welcome to Open Forum.” Then the next caller would begin. It became apparent though, after only a few calls, that the pause when the caller was silent after his “answer” to their question-- was more likely caused by a producer cutting off the caller. But it came across as the caller being silent after such an authoritative answer to their question. No matter what the caller brought up, Mr. Camping was unflustered, in control, and totally authoritative. He never flinched. Anyone who disagreed with him was obviously not willing to listen to the counsel of the “Whole Bible.” The caller was obviously (to Camping) caught up in the Church’s (now defunct) theology-- the Church’s very own “Salvation Program” that wasn’t biblical at all (according to Camping). After all, Camping insisted that Satan was now ruling in the Churches. Caller after caller to his “Open Forum” program would try to refute him. Yes, many would ask questions about passages in the bible, and would ostensibly be satisfied by Camping’s answers-- but of course, many would adamantly disagree. Regardless of the outcome of the call, though, Camping would always insist that what he was teaching WASN’T from him (man) at all-- it was totally, unequivocally, singularly, without doubt, solely the BIBLE (God) that was speaking over Camping’s airwaves. And so it went, for well over a year. Each night, as I drove home from work, I’d pop in on Camping’s “Open Forum” show, between switches to NPR and other stations. And all the while, Camping’s prediction of May 21st as the beginning of “Judgement Day” continued to fascinate me. Why did it fascinate me? Well, as a man who has recently come out of the conservative, evangelical, American, Republican church, it fascinated me because Camping’s insistence that his foundational source was solely the BIBLE sounded only too familiar. Without exception, ALL of the conservatives that I’ve heard ALWAYS claim that their positions are rooted, grounded and founded solely on the BIBLE. How many times have I heard preachers say, “Don’t take my word for it-- check it out in the BIBLE!” ? Harold Camping was just as adamant (if not MORE) as anyone I’ve ever heard preach. And he was wrong. So, here’s my question: “If Camping was wrong, why shouldn’t I believe that the others are wrong?” Misinterpretation? Sure-- all of the other evangelical conservatives are certainly going to say that Camping woefully misinterpreted Scripture. Camping simply got it wrong. Camping-- from my observations during those many commutes home every night for nearly two years-- CERTAINLY KNEW SCRIPTURE. He had passage after passage memorized to back up his position. He ALWAYS insisted that callers who clung to a specific verse (e.g., “No one can know the hour of His return…”) weren’t taking into account ALL of Scripture. The sceptic needed to take in the WHOLE bible-- listen to ALL of the bible. So, how is it that Camping got it wrong? He never, ever said that we should listen to HIM-- he always said we should listen ONLY to the bible! (Are you getting my drift here?) So let me ask you this: “Why would God give us his “Word” (the Bible) and then let so many people misinterpret it-- especially when the correct interpretation of this book was essential to their ETERNAL EXISTENCE? If you were in that position (God's), would YOU allow YOUR “children” whom you ostensibly love-- so much that you’d DIE on a cross for them-- to be swayed into eternal HELL by mere misinformation or misinterpretation? link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 5/21/2011 09:14:00 PM \| 1 reflections. CLICK HERE. Monday, May 02, 2011 An answer to 9/11 link \| posted by Matt Norquist at 5/02/2011 06:29:00 PM \| 0 reflections. CLICK HERE.
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