So, it seems there’s a blogging meme wherein you take the first line of every blog you’ve written that year and assemble said lines into a new nonsense blog. So here’s mine.
I think it was Robert Fulghum who said that instead of making New Years resolutions, he liked to go through the things that he did the prior year and make a posted dated list of his accomplishments. No, I’m not talking about the dark days of the digital world when Windows 3.1 ruled the PC world. There’s a weatherman on AM 750 in Atlanta who has what he calls the Mellish Meter, its an arbitrary scale of how good the weather is going to be on a given day. What is the appropriate verb for telling someone to read your website? I just got back from Disney World, and while I was there it occurred to me that the Walt Disney Corporation believes that it’s customer base is far more intelligent than the does the federal government. Last week Laura and I went for our first prenatal doctor’s exam. The one were you actually meet the doctor (or midwife in our case) who will be helping manage the pregnancy. Four years ago I had an epiphany that started my on a path to a career in psychology. “Welcome to Bear Country†that’s what the sign at the trailhead said. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I don’t go very far without a pen in my pocket. pleonasm: the use of more words than are necessary to express an idea. When I was in high school, I had a friend who attended a performing arts magnet school as a bass player. My friend Matt, who you first met in my non-bear adventure, was in a car totaling accident a few months ago. I was at the Braves game today and as I was walking back to my car there were guys selling beverages out of coolers along the sidewalks to the parking lots. August is probably an odd month to be thinking about resolutions, but it occurs to me after going back through some of the comments that my New Years Resolution Post needs a follow up. I recently attended an awards banquet for the company my wife works for. Last week I met an old friend for dinner. For me Friday the thirteenth is more than just some superstitious nonsense. With my son’s birth, I find that there are certain songs running through my head that are very appropriate for my new role in life. Today is my 30th birthday, and can honestly say I am quite happy right now. It’s election time in the good old U. S. and A. After writing this post I got to thinking about all of the titles or roles that I have held in my lifetime. It seems impossible to avoid getting calls from telemarketers. My phone number is on the do not call list. One night this summer I woke up from a very vivid dream. I had written a long rant about the politicization of Christmas, denouncing anyone using the celebration of the birth of Christ to promote political agendas.
And in the words of Billy Ray Valentine, “Merry New Year!” — “Beef Jerky time!”
First of all I would like to thank my wife for encouraging me to start this blog. My review of How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science by Michael Shermer. In church last week a lady spoke about using Christ as a template for your life. I’ve always been very patriotic. I recently reread Steve Hawking’s book The Universe in a Nutshell. Today after church, I was relaxing with a book when my oldest daughter, Rachel, came up to me and said, “Dad, would you pick out a book for me to read, please?” In the summer of 2003 Victoria and I took the kids on a cross-country road trip. I was looking at a friend of mine’s IPOD today. I just thought this song had some rather profound lyrics and wanted to post them here to share. As a family we just finished reading a great book. All this week I’ve had to go downtown for a training class. I read a lot of nonfiction books. I recently finished reading another book that falls into the Coke v. Pepsi genre that I described last week. In the past few years I have taken several philosophy and critical thinking courses and read many books on the subjects. I just finished reading the latest in my series of books exploring the complicated mix of science, theology, and politics. With the advent of email the world became much more in touch. Just for the record: I am not in the dating market and I haven’t been for 17 years. This has been a common theme for me but recent events have made me think about it again. A few years ago a new genre of movies emerged. I deliberately waited a few days before posting a 9/11 comment because it took me quite a while to compose my feelings about that terrible day. I was deeply saddened by the recent and untimely death of a role model to me. Until I was in my thirties I had never had a family member or a close friend die. I took debate in high school and I enjoy studying logic and critical thinking. A recent comment requested that I suggest a book on libertarianism. As I pointed out in my 9-11 posting, I’m deeply troubled by the state of our world today. Most of the church histories that I have read fall into one of two categories. Okay I have a confession to make. With the news that the Peoples Democratic Republic of Korea, AKA North Korea, has tested a nuclear weapon the talk at work has been focused on this “new threat”. Along the same theme that I seem to fall back on frequently; that being science, politics and religion, I just started reading a new book this week. I’ve always enjoyed the Russian story about stone soup. I finished reading The End of Faith today. A coworker sent me a link to a little video called the Watchmaker. If a producer were deliberately trying to make a movie that showed the worst aspects of LDS culture yet stay as far away from any doctrinal issues as possible I don’t think they could do much better than Church Ball, the latest release from Halestorm pictures. A few months ago I was looking through a photo book of an extended family member’s. I just finished reading The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis S. Collins. Just for a change of pace I decided to read a book about a personal hero of mine. The Y chromosome seems to have a gene attached to it that causes carriers of this gene to engage in, for lack of better words, “one-up-man-shipâ€. Yesterday the ground was broken for the MLK jr. memorial on the Washington Mall. Two co-workers were talking about a game of trival pursuit that they had played over the weekend. I had an experience that bothered me last week. It’s been really hard to update my blog lately. There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. I want to get a Tivo for my life. If you haven’t noticed I have a tendancy to overthink even casual remarks and look for deeper meaning and philosophies. I’ve just finished reading my latest book on Early Christianity. Misquoting Jesus- The Story Behind Who Changed The Bible and Why by Bart D. Ehrman. While reading Misquoting Jesus- The Story Behind Who Changed The Bible and Why the author goes into great detail to describe the differences between reading a book and hearing it read. Read this article. Sometime in the last month or so I completely lost focus. Here is a list of all of the books that I have current checked out on my library card.