SWITCHED TO WP - CLICK HERE! DON'T FORGET TO CHANGE MY ADDRESS ON YOUR BLOGROLL.

Should I Switch to Wordpress? Convince Me.

My only reasons for not switching were 1) it involves a slight amount of work 2) Randy was on blogger...alas, now that he's not blogging anymore - that reason is lost.

So - I'll leave it up to my adoring public.

My fate is in your hands.

Remote Control Pigeons...Yes, REAL Pigeons

Chinese scientists, those tricky guys have made it possible to control pigeons flight via remote control.  Check it out.

More and more I'm convinced, the end is near.

How long until these are available for Christmas on the black market?

I'm the Grinch Who Stole Birthdays

So - I have this theory that, once you're a grown-up, you shouldn't expect people to make a big deal out of your birthday. (P.S. If your reading this, that probably means you're a grown-up).

Now, I know that certain families have traditions, and of course, if it's your family (or a request you have made of friends) you can have a fair expectation for a certain amount of attention, love, gifts, whatever.

Suffice to say - this is not a popular theory. But I do wonder if we have overly stoked expectations for this sort of stuff because we live in a close-knit Christian context.

Let me put it this way: If my job was as a systems analyst at IBM - I couldn't expect people there to:

A) Know it was my birthday
B) Care if it was my birthday
C) Buy me presents, throw me a party and bring me cards and cake

Again - I'm assuming I'm not close friends with ALL my co-workers: "A man of too many friends comes to ruin..." Proverbs 18:24

I'm not saying we shouldn't do anything for anyone. For example - I asked some of my friends to take me out to dinner this year for my birthday. It was fun. I was thankful for their appreciation of me, amen.

So my question: Do we have unrealistic expectations when it comes to this? I guess you already know my answer.

Another question someone might know the answer to: Is all this birthday stuff uniquely American or do other cultures celebrate birthdays of everyone yearly?

And a brief note: This really has NOTHING to do with ANYONE who has had a birthday in the last month, week, etc. - it's something I've thought about for years.

Why I don't "Wordcast" More Often:

Been thinking about this the past few days, and I can come up with a few reasons.

1) Don't have internet at home...nuff said.

2) Don't usually go online when I'm in the prayer room. Not that there is anything implicitly wrong with writing a wordcast on a little 'break' - but I'm just usually 'unwired'.

3) By far the most significant reason: I don't think out loud. Really - I don't formulate thoughts (for the most part) while I'm writing them - but before I write them. It usually takes me 3-4 days to formulate what I want to post on the next time.

This, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), means less posts for you read - but my hope is that the quality if higher. I'm not prolific (ask Jared Diehl for a definition).

Side note - I'm thinking about an idea for a book:
working title = American Pharisee (or how meekness has become an un-American activity).

Truth vs. "The Facts"

Been thinking about the fuzzy nature of truth (in the secular arena) lately as I've been reading up a lot on the Iraq war, Bush's presidency, etc.

It seems to me that in our common vernacular truth has become synonomous with 'fact' - but facts themselves can be funny little creatures - especially depending upon the context and tone in which they are shared.

As I've been reading about Iraq, I've discovered that everybody quotes everyone else - and the quotes are usually the same - but...it is often the way the words end up getting interpreted that determines people's opinions.

I feel like i should say something else. but i think i'm done.

Things I Like About George W.

In the past months I've been reading up on the Iraq war a lot, and they have plenty to say about W...and almost none of it good. Although Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice, and Wolfowitz take many punches as well; the buck stops in the Oval Office, and Bush takes a pounding from the liberals as well as the old guard conservatives.

With Bush's approval rating showing no liklihood of improving - I thought it would be nice to take a few moments to give a list of the things I actually appreciate about his unique brand of leadership.

• Decisiveness: Whether you believe in his policies or not - you have to appreciate the fact that when the man makes a decision, it is clear he'd made a decision. There is little waffling, posturing, or maneuvering to avoid making the call.

• Idealism: In some ways (according to his critics) one of his greatest weaknesses as well - he sets his mind on ideas and forms policy around those ideas - vs. a "Colin Powell" style pragmatism that can become paralyzing.

• Down-to-earth: He holds international meetings at his ranch, and invites the leaders or Arab nations to jump in his 4x4 for a spin around the property while he gets to know them. You can take the boy out of Texas, but you can't take the Texas out of the boy. Bush's folksy charm is one of his most winning qualities.

• Sincerity: Goes hand-in-hand with his idealism. I believe our president really means well when he speaks of spreading democratic ideals like seeds throughout the Middle East - he has a strong belief in the 'spirit' of America (we won't get into theology on that one...today).

So, for all you political cynics out there, chew on that for awhile.

Leisure and the Gospel: A Day in the Life of Zadok pt. II

So, we’ve already established that Zadok has about 291 days a year committed to fulfilling his commitments as an intercessory missionary. This alone, however, doesn’t really establish for us just how much he is actually working – since every hour of those days could be spent in a multitude of ways.

Let’s do the numbers on those 291 days.

291 x 24 hours in a day = 6984 potential ‘work hours’ a year

Of course, Zadok has to sleep and gets an average 8 hours a night. We’ll factor this into the number for rest at the end.

291 x 8 hours of sleep = 2328 sleep (rest)

That leaves us with 4656 potential waking hours for working. Zadok has been given grace by God to do the night watch – a lifestyle that suits his character as a contemplative and his predilections as a night owl – and he goes whole hog jumping into it for 6 hours each working day.

291 x 6 hours in the prayer room = 1746 hours in the prayer room

That brings him down to 2910 hours for the rest of his IHOP responsibilities and the mundane activities that make up the rest of life. A man of habit, he decides to clean IHOP four hours a day 6 days a week.

291 x 4 hours of service = 1164 hours in service

That brings him down to 1746 hours for personal household responsibilities. He’s a family man – and he’s consistent in helping his wife with the kids and the household chores for a solid 4 hours each day.

291 x 4 hours of 'family time' = 1164 hours of personal household labors

That leaves Zadok with 582 potential leisure hours a year – or about two hours every day. (And that’s for a workhorse who does a fourteen hour day six days a week.)

I’m not going to ask for a show of hands of people who regularly do a fourteen hour day.

If we add up those 582 hours with the hours spent sleeping – and factor them into our percentages – we get...

291 x 10 = 2910 hours of leisure in the average year

plus

73 days off x 24 hours = 1752 hours of leisure on days off

equals

4662 hours of leisure a year

divided by

8760 total hours in a year

equals

53% of hour time each year is spent in leisure, recreation or rest – with a fourteen hour work week six days a week (including sleep in leisure).

In a future post, we'll compare these numbers with the 'average American' ratios for work and leisure - though I'll tease you by letting you know that 'technically' we work more - but then, we haven't defined work OR leisure yet - which could certainly turn things on their head.