It all makes sense now. According to the Superhero Personality Test, if I were a Superhero, I would be Spiderman.

Well, I am sort of a web designer, so maybe there is something to this…

Here are my results:
You are Spider-Man

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

The other night my wife and I made a late mad dash to the Columbia Target on Route 175. Something about an expiring coupon that was about to self-destruct if we didn’t use it before 10pm tonight.

So anyway, as we are making our way to the car my wife remarks that it seemed unusually dark in our parking area tonight. I responded with a typical grunt (watching too many Tool Time re-runs I guess) and off we went to Target.

Upon returning ($70 poorer despite having ’saved’ lots of money) I observed that the light post on our corner was not working, hence the unusually dark parking area ( I watch a lot of Monk also).

Of course, out of pure manly instinct, I walk over to ‘fix’ the light. This ‘fix’ consisted of hitting the lamp post as hard as I could with the side of my fist (again… I refer you to Tool Time comment above).

Much to my surprise, the light actually came on, sparking a rare profound thought in my mind…

As a Christian, this lamp is much like the relationship I have with God.

Some days, I can feel Gods light shining upon me and showing me the way. However, most of the time, I simply take Gods presence for granted. On that rare occasion when it seems that God has ‘left me in the dark’ to fend for myself, I usually react by beating at Gods lamppost (either in prayer or out loud) demanding he show me the light… please!

God, being loving and faithful, never seems to leave me in the dark for very long, often returning his guiding light to me as quickly as the lamppost did tonight.

The question now is, will I seek the necessary maintenance to keep that light shining upon me, or will I simply forget that the fix was temporary and go on my merry way until I find myself once again wandering in the dark?

The Columbia Flier is the local newspaper around these parts and it comes out every Thursday… at least thats when it usually shows up somewhere near the front of my house.

It’s generally delivered to every Columbia resident free of charge (tons advertisements from local merchants foot the bill) and it is actually well written and has plenty of interesting news about what is going on in Columbia.

When I decided to become the “Resident Blogger” for Columbia Maryland, one of my first thoughts was “what if I can’t think of anything to say?”

Then I thought to myself, no problem, if I get writers block I will just thumb through the good ole Flier and see whats happening around town and talk about that!

Well this Thursday the paper never arrived… Friday either.

What??? It ALWAYS comes, whether I read it or not! Its like the sun rising or the tide coming in or… well, perhaps not quite THAT reliable but you get the picture. And now, just when I need it the most, my Flier has flown the coop!

Oh well, I guess the paper boy (which is usually a middle aged man or woman in a beat-up SUV) got sick or quit. Looks like I’m on my own this week so my FANS (all 3 of them - Me, Myself and I) will just have to read more lame posts like this all week.

NEXT WEEK I WANT MY FREE PAPER DANG IT! OR I SWEAR I AM NOT GOING TO PAY THE BILL!!

Breaking News: Controversial high-rise going up downtown

That was the title of an article on the front page of the Columbia Flier a while back.

So I read the article to see what was so “controversial” about this high-rise. Was it going to displace several families? Was it going to destroy some wetlands? Were they employing illegal workers? (No, that was County executive Kenneth Ulman on the other front page story)

No, none of that kind of controversy was happening as far as I could tell. Apparently the high-rise is dubbed “controversial” because 4 residents who live in the ‘Lakeside at Town Center’ condominium building right next to the site of the new high-rise have decided to fight the construction of the 22 story high-rise in court.

Now, I don’t necessarily have a problem with these 4 residents challenging the construction in court. Frankly, the article did not go into enough detail about why they opposed it for me to even give my opinion on the matter.

My problem is with the OVERUSE of the word “controversial” these days, especially in the media. Just who decides what is truly controversial and what is just normal differences of opinion?

4 residents, 4 residents, 4 RESIDENTS! Is that all it takes to dub something controversial these days? 4 people who don’t like something? I guess so.

Personally, this is bad news for me. You see, I have a set of 3 candles that are perched in each window in my townhouse. They are made of plastic with 3 small 5watt bulbs in each set.

I put them up one Christmas because I really liked the way they made the house look from the outside. I also grew to appreciate some added benefits of having these candles burning in the windows at night.

1). They are a built-in night light for those late night trips to the fridge and bathroom (not necessarily in that order)

2). They give off just enough light that my dark end unit seems a little less inviting to would-be thieves.

3). My plants seem to enjoy the extra light… at least that’s what they told me.

So, I decided to keep them in the windows ALL YEAR LONG, burning 24/7… gasp!

Now my point is, I’m sure this qualifies me for “controversial” status. I mean, there must be at least 4 people in my neighborhood who don’t like the fact that I have these candles in my windows. 4 people who think they are tacky, 4 people who think I’m terrible for wasting electricity, 4 PEOPLE WHO WISH THEY COULD JUST REACH IN AND YANK THOSE STUPID LITTLE CANDLES OFF MY WINDOWSILL AND THROW THEM IN THE TRASH!!!

I can see the headlines now… “Controversial neighbor sued over annoying lighting practices”… I wonder if my plants could testify in my defense?