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10:00 AM:
They found Sadaam Hussein in a hole beneath a shack outside of Tikrit. Wow…this means so much for that region. This could shift the entire tide in that region. Here in American, the economy is already gaining strength, and now it’s going to boom. The War in Iraq will not be a floundering effort, but a conclusive strike. George W. Bush will get re-elected.

I woke up this morning and realized Randy Raus would be staying at my house tonight, so I ran into the guest room to change the bedding. I heard the babbling news loud in the other room. Matt M. doesn’t normally get up this early, and why is the news so loud. There’s something important going on and here I am changing sheets… So I walked quickly into the living room. Matt blurted out: “THEY CAUGHT HUSSEIN!”

I am listening to the radio, enjoying the news coverage. It’s always a spectacle listening to the loose reporting. Because nobody really knows anything, the reporters fill time by making vague, blanket statements, “Although many flood to the streets firing their guns in the air in celebration, many Iraqis are not excited about his capture.” Or, “some Iraqis are demanding a civil trial.”

It’s 10:10 AM, the president will speak in five minutes.

I am at Candyce’s coffee shop. A nicely dressed young lady just walked up to me, shook my hand and said, “Thank you for standing your ground.” I smiled, she smiled, she turned around and went on with her day. That was so cool. The radio is tuned into the news, and it’s interesting to watch people file through the line for coffee, asking one another, “What’s going on?”; Whoa, time to listen to the speech.10:23 AM
What a powerful, concise speech. He has an excellent speech writer. Bush delivers the words with confidence. Good job, W.

I slept in;until 11:21 this morning. After weeks of traveling, I earned 10 hours of undisturbed sleep.

It’s odd…I went to Cosco this morning to get new tires on my PT Cruiser. The last thing I want to do on my Saturday off is to wait for two hours at Cosco. It’s entirely un-important. I love doing important things. I like to be where it’s happening, making it happen.

But no, I sat on a cold curb listening to the mechanics spin wrenches and bounce tires. I watched parades of people push massive carts of crap to their SUVs. You’d be surprised how many people will buy a ceramic rooster.

As a Christian, I know the importance of humility. So I stepped on my ego and prayed. I prayed for the young couples with young children. I prayed for the lady sitting in the Navigator with 22-inch rims. I prayed for the guys a few feet away smacking their spare tire with a pipe wrench.

Soon my car was ready, and I was more than happy to leave. I had so much scheduled to do. Mother Teresa and I are always fighting. I like doing/being big. She tells me, “You can do no great things, only small things with great love.” Today I listened to her.

So I got a call back from a guy who owns a badass Civic I drove a month ago. This thing was break-neck fast. It was delicious. Oh…man, it’s hard for me not to groan out loud.

But, a few days ago I bought a 1994 Honda Civic Si from my friend Tam Le. I’ve always adored that model of the Civic, and I’ve always lusted after the VTEC engine.; Tam said he was selling his, and I gave him the money he wanted. He’s a good guy, and I want him to have my money, even if it is more than I think the car’s worth.

Why the Civic Si:

1. Once you own a Honda, it’s hard to own anything else.
2. I like the year, model, and engine size
3. With all young guys being “Fast and Furious,” I know the resale of this car is good. This car cost $13,000 win it came out in 1994. Ten years later, it’s worth $5,000. In 1994 a Volvo 850 T5-R Turbo was $42,000. Ten years later, it’s worth $9000.
4. I could afford a lot of cars, but that doesn’t mean I should buy whatever I want. I work for a youth ministry. I believe in LIFE TEEN with all of my heart, and I don’t want anything in my personal life to jeopardize our ministry.; I am also good with my money. You can get paid a dollar, but that doesn’t mean it has to stay a dollar. You can turn $1 into $2. You can turn $10,000 into $20,000.

This is my experience with cars:

1. I like cool cars. I could go to a car show every week and be happy
2. I like custom cars.
3. I drive 30 minutes to the studio each morning.
4. The car is the worst investment you can make

Here’s a summary I wrote for tonight’s episode.

Mission 11: Turntable
The Real World keeps on losing players in the Gauntlet, and there aren’t new checks on the wall. I really hope the team pulls together here, before it’s too late.

In the Beginning

• In the opening shots, you see tall waterfalls. One weekend I rode my bike up to those falls. It was an hour-long ride uphill, but it sure felt good to get away from the drama and appreciate my vacation. Telluride is beautiful.
• Whoa cool, they just showed footage from an older show and they show me yelling in the canoe. That’s pretty cool.
• I am happy to see Dave from RR wearing a Cub Scout shirt. I don’t’ know if he was in Scouting, but that is such a great program. I am a proud Eagle Scout.
• While they are talking in the dining room, you can see a small white note on the refrigerator. I taped that there with my contact info they day I left.
• You see three guys from Road Rules debating about voting off women on the road. The background keeps changing and I can tell they are switching back and forth. They had to be talking for a half hour. That was “the road” that took us everywhere: to missions, into town, to the Gauntlet, and back home once you left.

Work it Out:

• So they get the word that the next mission will require endurance, so everyone goes and works out. I know it didn’t happen like that, because it is difficult to quickly work out your “endurance muscles.” You have endurance or you don’t. But I see that the editors want to contrast the brute strength of the guys with the patience of the ladies doing aerobics.
• Who knows when this footage was taken. We worked out a lot. Not just to get stay in shape, but to let your teammates know you were willing to go the extra distance.

Turntable:

• This had to be one of the more fun missions. Eating all that ice cream, putting together the mask puzzle, the canoe, those were no fun. But sitting on a giant record player and holding on for dear life-that’s fun.
• The editors had a good time with this episode because they had cool footage, like catching Abe rolling off. It’s funny because right now the production people are watching the show critiquing the camera angles, the cuts, and the audio.
• Theo is a good Christian man. He and I talked on the phone, and he told me about how he prayed so hard during this competition. I am so happy to sit here in my house, months after the recording, and hear him praying, “Victory in the name of Jesus. ” All praise and glory to God!
• Theo says, “Praise God!” as he’s getting the award. I love that guy.
• You’ll see Theo wearing a “Royalty Respected” shirt. That is his company.

Back at the Ranch:

• LifeTeen.com!!! Wow that is cool to see. Right after I got back here to Phoenix after I got voted off, I made a gift box for the team. I had a dozen Life Teen shirts, a couple CD’s for Mike, and a big fat-ass LifeTeen.com banner to hang on the wall. I mailed it up overnight. Theo told me he hung it on the wall, and it’s so good to see it there! Yippee!
• RW Alton had not done well on two missions, so he says he should go. Good man! He’s a strong player, and he should not have gone, but I like his character. He was being real and admitted he’d done poorly and didn’t try to worm out of it.
• “Be bold and might forces will come to your aide.” What a good quote, Alton
• LT volunteers himself to go to the Gauntlet. It looks like he just voted for himself and that’s the end. But they could’ve debated for an hour and cast votes, but they edited it down to a 10-second sequence. It’s amazing how little actually makes it on the show.

At the Gauntlet:

• Alton is going into this Gauntlet with real grace and charm. Good job Alton!
• It just makes me so happy to see the two of them hug before the competition. Because now we’ve all gone back home, and you have to face the reality of who you were on that show. Alton can look back and know he did the right thing.
• It looks like Alton and LT are going to compete in a pole climb over the pool. This is going to be Alton’s competition, because he is an excellent climber. In his free time, I’d see him climbing boulders near our house.
• In an interview with a director (it’s not on the spot), Norm said we’ve been through so much, “emotionally, physically, Alton you need to come back. We need you.” Norm is saying this once it’s all already happened. Our interviews happened at the end of each week, and we’d talk about the past three or four missions. We knew the outcome of each mission, and all we had to do was provide commentary that fit into the plot we saw sorting out. The game was saying the right thing to match the tempo the show would have: aggressive, compassionate, disillusioned, etc.
• In talking to Theo on the phone, Theo lead a prayer over Alton before he went to the Gauntlet. Alton wins.
• ;It’s too bad to see LT go. He and I are both from North Carolina, and we’re both Christians. He was on RR the same season I was on RW, so I feel like we have roots.

Girls vs. Boys?

• In the last few minutes of this show, you see folks from both teams playing in the pool. The talk is all about how girls have been so valuable in the competitions. The guy/girl thing was always an issue, mostly because in “RW/RR Challenge: Battle of the Sexes” the guys won everything.
• It makes me wonder if this is a teaser for future episodes or just quick commentary for the day.

I ran into the Notre Dame cheerleaders this morning in the airport in Syracuse. The Notre Dame fighting Irishman, the leprechaun, came up and said hello. Very quickly I recognized him from ND Vision a couple years ago. ND Vision is a week-long teen leadership program for Catholics at Notre Dame. They have several programs that summer, and I made it up to speak a couple times. He was a student leader that summer at ND Vision.

Notre Dame had played Syracuse last night, and now they were on their way back to South Bend. I was so happy when the leprechaun told me that people have been talking about Life Teen at Notre Dame. In middle school, I was a hardcore Notre Dame fan. I drew the ND logos all over my notebook. I watched every game I could. I dreamed of going there. Even as a student at Georgia Tech, I didn’t mind if we got beat by Notre Dame. So, for the little boy in me, it meant a lot to hang out with the Leprechaun this morning.

I am on an airplane from Detroit to Phoenix. I am delighted by the Northwest Airlines legroom. I can kick and flail and not hit anyone. Woo hoo! Every few minutes I’ll peak over and watch a couple seconds of “Bruce Almighty” a few seats over. We’ve got another two and a half hours of flight, and I only have an hour left on my battery. To anyone reading this, if you want to get me a good Christmas present, let it be a Titanium Macintosh G4 Powerbook battery for a 15” monitor.

:::

Last night was entirely random. I’ve been to Rome in Georgia, and Rome in Italy, but never Rome in New York. The snow and Christmas lights were perfect on the rooflines of the older, stately homes. Although Rome has lost the luster from it’s industrial past, the residents are proud and comfortable in their hometown. My hosts had me for dinner at a restaurant known for having an endless collection of Teddy Bears. You don’t get that everyday.

With the fresh 8 inches of snow on the ground, I didn’t expect anyone to come. I was happy to see the pews full with a couple hundred teenagers and a sizable number of old folks who came to see what the hell was going on at church. The night was prayerful and intense. The young nun who ran the whole night was darn cool. She had a relentless charm and a beautiful voice. After an hour of pictures and signing things, I ran upstairs to the rectory and kicked back with the priests. We had a good time chatting before I went to bed.

:::

Matt Maher called me back at 1 AM, oblivious to time-zone difference. I was delirious and told him that VW has a new GTI with over 600 horsepower and can go from 0-60 in three seconds. I said we’d talk more when I got home and I fell back asleep.