Green...Ted Dekkers latest offering

Recently I read Green by Ted Dekker. It's called book Zero. According to Dekker you can read this final book in the Circle trilogy. Which is ironic as this is the fourth book and there are some other books that are connected to these books as well. Confusion aside, Dekker is an amazing storyteller. Quite possibly my favorite author in this fantasy genre. I recommend his books, although some of them can be a bit dark, this one included.

It is good to recall all the familiar characters from the other books, as it has been a while since I read them. It took a little reading before I felt like I was totally sucked in, but by page 100 or so there was no turning back. Gripping story. Excellent character development. Mind bending thought process. Reality jumping. This book was hard to put down. Of the Circle books, this is easily the darkest. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is interesting.

I would personally recommend reading this one last. I think that if you don't you will miss out on some of the great character development there is when you read the rest. It is a bit frustrating at the end as there is no real resolution, but perhaps there is some genius there? I don't know.

OK, Maybe I Should Quit

After reading this story
I have begun to rethink my eating competitions. Not that I enter real ones. They are with friends or my brother. Sometimes the competition is with the restaurant that charges me so much for their all you can eat meal. I want to walk away feeling like I got my money's worth and then some. It makes me feel like "I'm stickin' it to the man." or something like that. Haha.

After reading this you may feel like you should pass judgment on me. Please don't. You may envy me. Please don't. You may look at me in awe and wonder the next time you see me. Please feel free to. A few years ago I went to Red Lobster for their Shrimp Lovers Fest and beat my friend Matt by eating 153 shrimp. He actually was ahead at 152 and I had 151, but our server asked me who won and then she walked back and gave me 2 more on the way out. Todai's has held several eating fests for me (FREE on my birthday) 36 crab legs, 54 shrimp, 18 lobster tails (small) and 5 crepes. Not too bad. I once had a 5 patty, bacon, cheese, egg burger at Johnny Rockets. When they came out with it 4 or 5 staff came including the manager with a camera. No one had ever ordered that. I know. I was shocked too. It was in the picture they had on the table (showing you all the things you could do to make it your way). I definitely met with the Comcast people after that one! (sorry)

The creme de le creme happened this past week when I was on vacation in South Carolina with my family. We went to a Crab Shack and my brother, sister and brother in law each got the all you can eat snow crab legs. Wes taped out at 36, Nina made it to 60 (wtg sis) and my brother hit 95 and then went to the bathroom. While he was in there they came out with the last pail of legs and I plowed through some more and got to 103! My brother said he was done as he fell too far behind. I hold the crown! Yes, I am proud. Give me my moment would ya?

I know that these are few and far between, but I got scared when I read about the potential bursting of your stomach and all the other potential issues. Maybe I should slow down at the buffets. Typically I eat pretty healthy. Red Robin always delivers me a chicken Caesar salad with the Caesar on the side and no cheese. Every time. I don't know. Perhaps this will have only a momentary affect on me. I am pretty good at forgetting things. This story will probably soon be forgotten too.

Cell phones...my struggle

Can I be honest with you? I love technology...and I hate it. There are so many things about technology that I love. I love how it has "made the world smaller"; I love how I can be connected to people I have lost touch with and meet new people too; I love that I can get information almost as quickly as it happens; I love getting to be creative with it; I love the breakthroughs we are having as a result of technology. Who knows, maybe we will see cancer eradicated in our lifetime. Maybe we will find ways to sustain vegetation in places previously unable regions (desserts, etc.) where the hungry can more easily be fed. There is so much sitting out there waiting to happen. Shoot, you can even lock, unlock and start a car with an iPhone app now.

The hate part. Sometimes technology can do the exact opposite of bringing us closer. Sometimes it keeps us from our face to face connections. For instance, when I am out to lunch with someone I know that the cell phone can be a huge distraction. Someone else calls, a text message pops up or a twitter message is waiting to be read, etc. In the past I have been known to leave my phone on the table so I can be sure I don't miss anything. After all, it could be something very important. The problem is that suddenly the person I am with no longer feels important. That bothers me. I want people that I spend time with to feel valued. I have made a a decision. No more cellphone sitting on the table when I am at a meal with someone. Feel free to call me on it too. I am also trying to keep my laptop put away at home until everyone is in bed. It is such an easy distractor (real word?) from my time with others. 

[a note to tech haters (twitter, text, internet, iphone, blackberry, etc): I do believe that these things are also bringing us together. I often hear, "why would I twitter what I am doing or text someone or blog when I can just call someone r go see them face to face?" or "if people want to know what's going on in my life I don't need to blog they can call me." The funny part is that they use the technology of the phone to call someone, or the technology of the car to get there. hmmmm..don't hate on what you don't get. "We mock that which we don't understand." someone said that I am sure, at least I said it. I believe I am more connected to people I follow on twitter than I would if I didn't read their updates. I don't always get to hang out with those people on a regular basis, but when we are together we can follow up on some things that have happened, etc. Kinda cool I say. Plus I get to see your pics and videos you upload to facebook and youtube. How else would I see that? When was that last time you went in and printed off pics from your digital camera?]

Back to the frustration part. I wish I could sit down with people who just don't get it all and do a little training course. Even if it were a cell phone etiquette seminar. People, if you don't want me coming up and asking you a question about the conversation you are having in line at Starbucks, don't be on the phone and talk like the person is across the room. (yes, I have done it...albeit not often and only with a funny comment that made them laugh...but got the point across). People, turn off your ringer when in a meeting or at church or at a movie! I mean seriously! Case in point, Hugh Jackman stops his play to ask someone to turn off their cell phone. Watch this video. Unbelievable.

Well, I feel my thoughts are a bit scattered on this one, but I want to thank blogger for providing me a place to write my thoughts down. I am not great at blogging very regularly, but I am waaaayyy worse at journaling, so this is a bit of an outlet. If you don't want to read this, the great thing is you can click the little X in the upper left hand corner (or upper right hand corner if you are stuck in the PC world).

Feel free to comment as you like.

How Would Life Differ If It Were More Fun?

Have you ever taken a moment that wasn't all that great and made it more fun and completely changed how you felt? No? Maybe it's time to do just that. This probably means you need to turn on some creative juices. When Jeanne-Ann and I were dating in college, neither of us had a lot of money. While many of our friends would run up to Buffalo (1 hr drive) and go to the movies, etc. we would stay on campus. We had to get creative with our dates.

For our first valentines together I decided to write out our story on a posterboard using those candies that say things on them. I used a whole bunch of them and hung them up in the elevator of Jeanne-Ann's dorm. Needless to say the elevator ride became much more fun than just getting to your destination. As a matter of fact many stayed on until they finished reading it.

On our first dating anniversary I used what was available to me to make our celebration an evening to remember. I worked ski patrol at our school (we had a 5 slope "mountain") so I had the keys to the lodge. I made a giant heart in the snow and had music playing in there when we walked in (after driving her around blindfolded for a while so she would think we were far away from campus.) Then I had some snacks, sparkling cider and we danced (shhh...don't tell anyone. That was against the rules). It was awesome!

It didn't take much to turn the mundane into fun. You don't have to be super creative, you can do it too. Look at what VW did in order to make a viral video. They did some testing to see if they could make the mundane fun...like walking up the stairs over taking an escalator. It's an awesome video. They actually have 3 experiments in the works. Check em out.

PIANO STAIRS


THE WORLD'S DEEPEST TRASH CAN


BOTTLE ARCADE (to come...)

T-Pain and President Obama

Ok, if you have an iPhone you know that there is an app for pretty much anything. One of the hottest apps to hit the app store recently is the "I Am T-Pain" app which does an autotune of your voice and makes you sound like T-Pain does in his songs. I have it and it is a lot of fun to play with. I see endless possibilities coming up in the near future. Yes, you can count on hearing a song recorded by me using this app. I am busy working on it as we speak (so to speak). You gotta check out this video clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live  with T-Pain and President Obama.
Oh man is this funny.

When Was The Last Time You Had Some Vacation?

Just posted this to my personal blog, but thought it was something that was worth the read here too.

I just read a great little blog that deals with time management. This is something I have to consistently work on. I read a book a few years ago that is called Eat That Frog.
The basic premise of the book is that if the worst thing you have to do today is eat a frog, do that first and get it out of the way. If you have to eat 2 frogs, eat the ugliest one first. Bottom line: Do the hardest things on your to do list first so they don't weigh you down.

Every day(ish) I write a new frog list for the next day. I put down all my to dos, the things I can delegate, phone calls, emails, etc. Then I try to knock off as many as possible that next day. I try to make this list feasible. I don't put down the things I have to accomplish "this year," just that day. I may include some things that be done if I finish the rest of the list, but I don't stress myself out.

What kind of helps do you use to get things done? Another great book for productivity is Getting Things Done by David Allen. I have recently started using a program called Things and so far so good. It is pricey and I have not decided if I want to go beyond the trial or not. Another good resource is Remember the Milk. This is a web app, you can download a desktop app to go with it and for you iPhone users out there, "there is an app for that" too. Also, they can integrate it with twitter.


Being a guy who is not known for details or great time management, this has done wonders for me. As a matter of fact I am trying to drop the stigma that I am not good with details, etc. So please disregard the first sentence in this paragraph. That is no longer true. I will not speak tearing down prophecy on myself anymore.

Back to the blog I read. Is it time for you to take a vacation? Are you too stressed out? I will give you a peek at what he did by showing you a picture. Then I want you to go read the blog here.  My results? I am good. I just had a vacation and don't need one just yet. ;)

Wow, lots of links in this post!

What are You Afraid of?

Fearless...I just recently got a copy of Max Lucado's latest book Fearless. What a great read. In Matthew (in the Bible) 8:26, Jesus says, "Why are you afraid?" Lucado jumps right into this question and looks at all the reasons we deal with fear. From not mattering to not being able to protect your kids to not knowing the future to being afraid of what comes after this life. Lucado tackles it all.

He points out that Jesus takes our fears seriously and that the one statement he made more than any other was, "don't be afraid." I find it interesting that Jesus spent a good amount of time saying that. I know I deal with and have dealt with fear in my life. Growing up I was afraid of the dark. As an adult I have dealt with fear of not being able to protect my kids.  Fear can have a snowball effect on us and bring us to our knees.

In the book Lucado mentions that "Fear itself is not a sin. But it can lead to sin." "Fear may fill our world, but it doesn't have to fill our hearts. It will knock on the door. Just don't invite in in for dinner, and for heaven's sake don't offer it a bed for the night." I have always enjoyed how he is able to take a concept and personalize it. He does so with fear.

In the chapter on kids he recommends to pray over your kids regularly, especially when you fear you can't protect them. "When you send them off for the day, do so with a blessing. When you tell them goodnight, cover them in prayer. Is your daughter stumped by geography homework? Pray with her about it." A simple concept, but sometimes very difficult to keep at. Pray! I need to pray more for my kids.

I recommend you pick this one up. It's an easy and enjoyable read with great stories that hit the heart. There is also a discussion guide at the back of the book for every chapter. This will help you dig deeper on the concept and could be a great idea for a group read and discussion time.