Ground Rules

At least for now, I want to continue blogging.  But for the sake of purpose and clarity, I’ve tried to think through some ground rules, a sort of blog-filter if you will.  The blogs that have lasted are the blogs that matter and have a point.  The days of everyone starting a blog and posting nothing but personal updates and you tube videos are over.  Partly because we get tired of that.  Partly because Facebook offers a much better way to communicate personal-life details.  I’m even getting a weird feeling that Twitter is going to die out soon.  Anyone who has enough time on their hands each day to keep a consistent Twitter feed going needs to re-evaluate what exactly they are doing with their time each day.  And those are are Twittering consistently are simply going to get tired of it.

So a blog needs to be thoughtful, meaningful, and provide an actual reason for a reader to return.  I know most of you that read, and you can simply become friends with Erin on Facebook to find out that Eli had a good day at kindergarten, we went on a camping trip, or that work has been rough.  So for you to stay interested, and to attract possible new readers (which I admit I want to do), there has to be more.

With that in mind, here are a few ground rules I’m going to establish.  They’re not necessarily hard and fast (and if you just said “that’s what she said” to yourself, shame on you), and I may occasionally allow myself a guilty humorous pleasure or two, but they’re ground rules nonetheless.

1. If I can create a post in two minutes or less, it’s not a post, and never deserves to be a post.

2. Blog posts shall be well thought out, and written to the best of my ability.

3. I will try to focus my content on issues, opinions, challenges, questions, admissions, hypothesis, and general diatribes that are important to my faith, worldviews, and overall life experience.

4. Because of ground rule #3, anonymous comments are both welcomed and encouraged if the commenter feels it necessary.  This gives you the freedom to question my views, give truly honest feedback, or simply bash me.

5. There shall be no established guideline to the frequency of posts.  It’s easy to post frequently if such posts are not well thought out (see ground rule #2).  That shall not be the case here.  Posting frequency shall coincide only with the time and ability I have to post thoughtfully and effectively.  Therefore, any comment asking where I am or did I disappear shall be ignored.

6. Reader comments are not only welcomed and encouraged, but shall serve as a litmus to the quality of the posts, and the overall health of the blog.  An equation might look like this:  Comments = good post & healthy blog …(or)… No comments = crappy post & dying blog.

7. The total number of “views” on this blog shall no longer mean anything (much like a pitcher’s winning record when his ERA is actually 5.23).  It is apparent that most of my 27,000 views to date have come from people who have Googled the following search terms:  “Hillary Clinton’s cankles”, “Toyota Corolla”, “Michael Jackson History”, “BVD underwear”, and “Best Worship Music.”  None of these Google searchers have either read or contributed to the blog in any way.  They are dead to me.

I hereby announce that the official Ground Rules are established.

since my last post…

I spent 4 days in Elkhart, Indiana on a work trip.  Felt amazement at the vast expanse of corn fields along the interstate.  And partook of an almost live pig while there.

Went on a “stay-cation” in Pigeon Forge with Erin & Eli in early August for 4 days.

Took a 2 day golfing trip to Richmond, Kentucky with a great friend of mine who I had not seen in three years.

Saw Eli off to his first days of Kindergarten.  He’s doing rather well, I think.  Most days, his favorite part of the day is getting to choose what he wants to eat for lunch.  The choice is the key.  When I was growing up, they served what they served.  But he gets to choose between two main dishes, and can pick 3 of 5 side items.  Heaven for a 5 year old who loves eating.

Began shaving my head again.  I can’t help it.  It’s who I am.  I like it this way.

Saw our first ever sunflowers grow to be 6 – 12 feet tall.  Soon after, they got too top heavy for their own good and began to fall over.

Went tubing down the Pigeon River twice, once with 3 guys from small group, and once with Erin and our great friends Reid and Sarah.  I nearly broke my finger swinging from an old rickety rope swing on the side of the river.

Joined my first ever fantasy sports league of any kind.  And won my first matchup.

Celebrated my 5-year anniversary with Threds (today, in fact).  The longest I’ve ever been at one job in my life.

Saw my guys small group nearly double to at least 16 guys, maybe 18.  Sadly – and happily – we’ll soon be “reproducing” into two separate groups.

Heard the loudest singing from our community at Crossings that I’ve ever heard in my over-2 years of being there.  Tear jerking.

Rearranged my office at work.  Come visit me sometime.  You can see.

Spent 3 days in Charlotte, NC at the annual Salsarita’s franchisee convention.

Went camping for 2 1/2 days in Cades Cove with my good friend Chris.  My first time camping in about 10 years.  We saw 4 deer walking through the campground, saw 3 bears while driving the Cades Cove loop, did a 5 mile round trip hike to Abrams Falls, ate 4 fire roasted hot dogs each, and went through an entire bag of marshmallows.

Helped a new friend from small group move to a new apartment just days after he had a terrible motorcycle accident, broke his pelvis, busted his hip, and tore his leg up pretty good.  I’m so grateful to be in community with guys who are ready and willing to help.

Was thrilled to see my wife, Erin, be awarded the Golden BVD award at the last Crossings Leadership Community.  Congrats, honey!

Have thought often about the future direction of this blog.  I’ll get into that more at another time.  For now, please enjoy a sampling of pictures that help encapsulate some things I’ve just mentioned in this post.

I’m taking a break

for a while.  Can’t say exactly how long.  Been blogging about three times a week for over 2 years now.  And this whole Facebook and Twitter are taking over the world, blogging is growing obsolete, and if you’re not posting from your qwerty keyboard phone your a social geezer shift continues to weigh on me.  Therefore, it’s break time.

Talk to you again sometime in the not so distant or immediate future.

haiku

Too busy at work
To write anything at all
On this silly blog

Twelve minute lunch break
Can’t stand to leave my office
Or I’ll get behind

Need a vacation
But those things require money
Money me no have

Back to the grind now
Maybe I’ll opine again
In a day or five

i say again, no one is blogging

When I wrote several days ago that blogging is becoming obsolete, I had thoughts as to whether or not I had jumped the gun, reacted too quickly.

I’m not so sure now.  Example – in my blogroll to the left there are 14 different people/blogs listed, those friends of mine whose blogs I make sure to read the most regularly.  In the last 7 days, among those 14 blogs, there are a grand total of 7 posts.  That’s 1/2 post per blog over the last 7 days.  And a few of you have not posted in 2 weeks or more.

I know who you are.  You’re smart, well versed, funny, insightful people.  You have more important things to share than what can fit in 1/2 of a post over a 7 day period.  Some of you have many multiples of Facebook updates/comments over that same time period.  I know.  Big Brother is watching.

No man is an island.  I will not blog alone.  I put my heart on the line at least 2-3 times a week, and I have nothing to read in return.  I’m looking for friends, both men and women, who will stand up, open their minds, pour out their hearts, make fun of others and themselves, show ridiculous You Tube videos, and generally entertain me during my breaks at work.

Will you be that person?  Do you have what it takes?  In the totally irrelevant words of William Wallace……..

FREEEEEEEEEDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

is blogging already obsolete?

My wife just joined Facebook this week.  As “tech savvy” as I may be (which is definitely in the moderate range…I’m more tech savvy than maybe the average joe, but not as much as one might think), blogging is my only real cyberspace medium.  I have not joined Facebook.  Let’s just say this … when I joined My Space about 20 months ago, I was fairly quickly booted from it.  Legal reasons.  Most likely would encounter the same fate with Facebook, so I’ve made no attempt to join.

However, in the brief time Erin’s been on Facebook, just in helping her get some stuff set up, photos uploaded, etc….I’ve been able to see how it actually works for the first time.  And it’s making me think that blogging may soon be … if it’s not there already … obsolete.  I still want to blog.  I enjoy writing about the random thoughts in my brain, dusting in a little humor here and there, giving occasional updates on life, work, and family.  But I feel like my readership – or the “reach” of this blog – has likely peaked.

If you’re curious, that pans out to, from what I can gather, about 20 – 30 legitimate readers per day on average.  My “view count” would say it’s more than that, but it’s not accurate…it includes up to 125 views per day from people that have found my blog by using random Google search terms….for the last 2-3 months, I’ve had a tremendous amounts of search hits from the Google terms “Hillary Clinton Cankles” and “Foreign vs Domestic Cars”, which are two things I wrote about months ago.  But these viewers are not reading anything.  They open the blog, realize it’s not at all what they were searching for, and immediately leave.

But it’s difficult, and sort of selfish, to “market” a blog.  You can’t really put it in people’s faces.  They have to know you exist and actually want to take the time to open you up and read.  Facebook, Twitter…and I’m sure other sites I’m not aware of…are much different.  You communicate in snippets, and what you communicate is there for everyone to see, quickly, almost invasively in some ways.  It’s a constant, CNN-like message board of friend updates.  It’s easy to create readership by simply making LOTS of friends…which is sort of why Facebook exists, which means it’s very EASY to create lots of friends.  No one really wants to deny a friend, because it’s simply not cool.  A blog is much more static.  It exists in its own vacuum, waiting to be found, twiddling its thumbs, hoping to be read.  It’s not as real-time or busy-person-friendly.  A blog is like a VW Mini-Bus, taking you on a months long cross-country journey, stopping at interesting points along the way.  In comparison, Facebook is more like speed dating on a pogo stick, hopping from person to person to person, never really encountering a need to hop off the stick.

I’m not knocking Facebook or blogging.  Facebook obviously works.  It’s grown like wildfire, overtaken My Space, and is currently the ultimate friendship and community site.  (Although it is still run by a guy with lots of geek-sense, but little business-sense.  If Facebook bombs, it’ll be because they’re not making money, not because it doesn’t work on an end user level).    Blogging is still here.  It hasn’t gone away.  But why record shows on a VCR when you can afford a TiVo?  If history hold true, by about 2014, Facebook will have become obsolete as well, having been shown up by a newer, faster, more tantalizing and amazing social networking site than any of our minds can comprehend.  And all the while, this little blog will keep cruising, sometimes speeding and sometimes sputtering.  It may get a new face plate, replace some worn out parts, and receive some factory updates along the way.  Maybe one day it’ll finally break down on the side of the road for the last time.  But for now, the journey will continue, and the VW Mini Bus will roll on.  I’m just hoping to keep as many passengers as possible.

Year in Review

Simply put, here are some things that either happened or didn’t happen in 2008:

Eli turned 4, has a girlfriend in daycare, and played about 1/4th of an Upward Bound soccer season.  I’m getting the early feeling that team sports will not be his forte.  Tennis maybe?

I think I watched Conan O’Brien about 3 times in 2008.  That is truly heartbreaking.  This is due to the fact that I actually stayed up late enough to watch Conan O’Brien about 3 times in 2008.

Received the Crossings BVD award in May and proceeded on a month-long BVD Tour.  It was fun.  You can check it out by clicking here.

My youngest sister was lucky to come out alive after a terrible car wreck in the spring.  I spent probably my most wretching 4 hours of the year that day waiting to get updates back from my other sister.

I took 3 vacation days from work this year.  That’s it.  Three. 

Played enough darts and tennis in 2008 to nearly have to start icing my elbow.  In 2009, I’m contemplating showing up to darts/tennis with an Allen Iverson elbow sleeve.  I’ll be ready to kick-some-ass then.  Although I will not be inclined to practice.

Made 4 trips to visit my family in Kentucky this year, including a farewell trip to the family farm.  It’s been a blessing to be able to do this, and to see our newphew Grayson grow up. 

I’m pretty sure I made it through the year without attempting to eat a can of Chef Boyardee anything.  This was a goal of mine.  For some insane reason, about once each year, I get the idea that I actually like Chef Boyardee.  Then I buy a can of ravioli, cheesy mac, or spaghetti and meatballs.  Then I eat it.  Then I nearly puke, and vow (once again) to never eat Chef Boyardee again.

Turned 32 in April.  According to average life expectancy, I’m just on the cuff of middle-age.  So, naturally, I’ve started spiking my hair, drinking more mixed drinks, and driving my Hyundai a little faster, with popular music blasting from the speakers.  And taking more Ibuprofen.

I did not vote this year.  I have never voted, so this is not a shock.  The only time I ever really wanted to vote was in 1996.  I headed to the courthouse in Grayson, Kentucky, home of Kentucky Christian University, stood in line, waiting to vote for Bill Clinton, only to find out that I had to be registered not only in the state, but in the county I was voting in.  As a result, I’ve never voted.

Very good year with Crossings.  Small group has been great, serving each week on the productions team is a blast, and we’re now 11 days away from our first service in Market Square.  Very exciting. 

I spent roughly 8 weeks as a vegetarian back in March/April.  Carbs were my friend.  Who knew a person could actually order french fries and apple pies at McDonald’s 8 times in a row?

In a nutshell, here were some of my favorite things from this year (regardless of whether they actually happened or originated from this year):  The Dark Knight, Blue Like Jazz, Obama-mania, online recipe sites, jeans and a t-shirt, Dexter, sweet tea, SNL digital shorts, Weeds, fuel economy, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Splash Country, the fall foliage, the Wimbledon final, Tiger Woods, Hillsong United, Cracker Barrell, Mellow Yellow, the blog nation, ESPN radio, Erin, Eli, and Jesus.

Who Knew Cankles Were So Popular?

When I first switched from blogger to wordpress back in April, THIS was the very first post I wrote on wordpress.

Now, 5 months later….here are the views on this blog just TODAY, all because of people who are totally infatuated with cankles.  How funny….

Google Searches That Find My Blog…

Here are the Google searches from yesterday (Sunday) that led readers to check out my blog.  First, notice the common theme….The Bachelorette.  I’m not sure if I’m glad that the biggest reason people are finding me is because of The Bachelorette.  But, Second, notice the top search.  Um.  Ok.  I’m going to have to burst their bubble and say the answer is “no”.

Layoffs, The Economy, and The State of My Stress Level

In the last week, the company I work for has either laid off or “let go” of nearly 20% of our work force. And we only had about 50 people total to begin with, so that’s pretty significant. In my department (6 of us), one person was let go and another is being move laterally to a different position in the company.

What does this mean for me? A lot more work. I’m basically, for the forseeable future, going to absorb another person’s full time duties on top of my own. This will likely mean coming in 30-60 minutes earlier everyday, leaving 45-60 minutes later everyday, and working during lunch most days, just to keep up. I do not know how long it will last, but it could be for a few weeks or a few months, just depends on how our sales are and if we pick up any new clients or accounts.

It may also mean less blogging, since I do almost all of my blogging during work. Since I’m not a smoker and I normally bring my lunch and eat at my desk, blogging has been a good time filler for me during those daily “break” times. We’ll see. I’ll try to keep up, it’s just hard to tell right now.

Why the lay offs? Because a pretty significant chunk of our companies sales and revenue come from companies in the marine & boating industry….and the marine and boating industry is in a really really bad financial state right now, which has directly affected us in a big way. Basically, when it now costs someone up to $200.00 in gas just to go out on their boat for the day, plus the cost of towing it with a gas guzzling truck or SUV, people just aren’t buying nearly as many boats. Pretty simple.

So my stress level is fairly high right now. It’s good that my job is safe, but I’m not looking forward to the huge loads of work ahead of me each day. It’s pretty amazing how one thing – gas prices – can have such a major affect on an entire economy. But it does. Our family gas budget is now almost $150.00 a month more than it was a year ago at this time. And it’s nearly impossible for me to ride a bike or even the bus to work, since I live 23 miles away, pretty much across the county. In fact, I’ve researched the Knox County Bus system online, and there is literally no way for me to ride the bus to work. The farthest west any bus drops off is Cedar Bluff, which is still nearly 4 miles from work. And I would have to buy a bike, get on the bus in Halls at about 6:00am, make two transfers to get to the Cedar Bluff line, get off the bus around 7:50am, then ride my bike the last 4 miles to work. Which then leaves Erin with all the responsibility of dropping off and picking up Eli everyday. It just ain’t happening.

Thanks Readers!

Check this out!  The BVD Tour is sweeping the nation!  Thanks to all of you who’ve been reading about the tour over the last week….guess who has the 2nd fastest growing WordPress blog, in terms of recent popularity?

thank you, jake

I feel very honored today. A fellow blogger in Las Vegas – a friend/brother of friends we have here in Knoxville – submitted a recent post based on my personal request.

You can see it here. Thanks, Jake.

making it official

I guess I need to officially declare myself a vegetarian. I haven’t actually done that yet. It started out as an interesting thing to know about, then evolved into going a few days without meat and realizing I wasn’t morphing into an alien, and now, after 2 weeks, I’m ready to say I’m going to commit to not eating meat.

I need to also say I hope to NOT be constantly be talking and blogging about vegetarianism. But, for the short future, because of the changes in lifestyle and the adjusting, it will certainly be on my mind. I’m not really trying to champion the vegetarian cause, and I don’t think someone who eats meat is gross and disguisting and should be forced to butcher a baby calf with their own hands so they can experience the horror of killing an animal.

Also, I will consider myself an “Octo-Lavo” vegetarian….meaning I will still eat dairy products. Cheese, eggs, milk, etc. I also will not be overly concerned with whether or not something I’m eating was made with animal by-products in some way. These are steps taken to become a true vegan. But I find them daunting and frankly too difficult. It’s like saying, “yes, I’m concerned about the atmosphere and fuel consumption, so I’m going to buy a 40mpg car” vs saying “yes, I’m concerned about the atmosphere, so I’m going to ride my bike to work from now on.” Much bigger commitment, much harder work, and just not for me at this point. My main focus is simply no longer eating meat.

Why am I doing this? (and i should say, at least at this point, my wonderful wife is along for the ride herself, way to go Erin!) Why be a voracious meat eater and hamburger lover for 32 years, and now this? Wouldn’t the Atkins diet be more fun? Won’t I starve to death?

Well, there are several reasons.

1. I’m not much of a diet person. I don’t want to cut out sweets, and I have a hard time with small portions. Vegetarians can eat to their hearts delight. They actually can eat MORE food than meat-eaters, because the food they’re consuming has fewer calories per volume than meat does.
2. Meat provides only two nutritional products….protein and iron. That’s it. But it also provides lots of fat, calories, and cholesterol. And you can get PLENTY of protein and iron by eating grains, nuts, vegetables, tofu, tempeh, and fruit.
3. An estimated 15 – 20 MILLION farm animals are killed every day in the United States in order to meet the demand for meat in our country. The processes used to raise, feed, fatten, kill, and process these animals are no longer natural (not like your grandfather used to do it on the farm). Frankly, these processes are unhealthy. They’re unhealthy to the animals, to the land, to the farming industry in general, and to the food and products derived that we eat. We simply eat and waste way too much meat as a society. As a result, we’ve turned raising livestock into a type of industrialized factory in order to meet the demand.
4. It’s been estimated that the amount of crops/grain/corn/oats used to feed and fatten livestock in the US alone could effective end world hunger as we know it.
5. It costs less. Eating out at restaurants costs less. Cooking at home more often costs less than eating out. Making almost all of our meals to take to work for lunch costs less. A pound of tofu costs $2.00, much cheaper than most meats.
6. I already feel heathier. I don’t feel nearly as hungry throughout the day. When I am hungry, it’s not so much a “craving” as it is just noticing that I’m hungry. In the last 2 weeks, I’ve not had one meal where I felt bloated afterwards (you know, like you feel after eating the Wendy’s double cheeseburger and fries?). And I’ve already lost about 4 pounds.
7. I don’t really like to exercise. Never have.
8. I appreciate what I’m eating more. I think more about where the food I’m eating came from, how it was produced, the work that went into growing and harvesting it, the fact that God provided it directly from his own hand in creation. It has somehow added a spiritual aspect to eating that I never experienced before.

What am I worried about? I’m worried about getting bored of eating the same kinds of vegetables and fruits. About not having time to cook and feeling tempted to grab a pizza from down the street more often than not. About resorting to eating cereal way too often. About friends and family feeling weird about it, not knowing what to cook or where to go out to eat (which really isn’t an issue). About giving meat a try again down the road and it making me sick because my body isn’t used to it. About how it will affect our son, Eli, since it’s almost impossible for a child to be a vegetarian and go to public schools and eat from the cafeteria. We’re not really pushing this on him, but we’ll simply be more careful about the things we feed him when we’re at home. About the “stigma” that people have about vegetarians…that they’re all hippies, animal rights activitists, and want to make you feel guilty about eating an innocent animal. None of which describe me.

I’m certainly open to questions or comments of any kind. This has been a pretty big deal for Erin and I, and is not so much a diet as it is a lifestyle change. I’m pretty excited about it, actually, and hope to stay committed. Before you know it, I’ll be driving an old VW Bug, wearing tie-dyed shirts, working for Greenpeace, and saying “dude” like a true Lebowski fan. But I’ll be lovin’ me some zucchini!

you tube addiction

Have you given thought to what we would do….we, the blogging, internet dependent nation of clones…if You Tube had never come along?

What would we laugh about? Would our senses of humor have ceased to evolve? How many posts could we possibly come up with on our own? How would we watch things – like the slam dunk contest or a series of Tiger Wood’s Top 10 shots – that we either don’t have access to or are not able/willing to pay for? What would we do when we get bored at work? Have we forgotten that there was once a time when people truly worked at least 8 hours each day?

I love reading things like, “I was doing some research the other day, and I came across this video on You Tube.” Isn’t that at least a little like saying, “I needed some insight on America’s unhealthly love of sports, so I spent the day playing basketball on my X-Box.”

Don’t get me wrong. I’m guilty too. But it almost feels like I took a nap and woke up and suddenly You Tube ruled the world. And we’re all willing servants in its widespread rule.

some blogging thoughts

Just a few things on my mind this morning….

At this moment, I’ve received 2,999 visits on this blog since starting it back in July. Not a totally impressive number in comparison to many, but definitely more than I would have imagined. That means about 14-15 people are checking this thing out each day on average. I hope it’s been fun for those of you reading. Thank you.

In the last 3 days, I’ve received over 20 visits to the site as a result of this particular referral. The referral is from some type of “city-data” site for Knoxville, and one of the members on there – an individual from Kingsport – was inquiring about bounce houses. Another member – I do not know who this person is – referred them to this blog, and more specifically to a post I’d done a few months back about bounce houses. This is one of the things I find fascinating about blogging. Somehow, over time, you are connected to people you never knew existed.

And for those of you who may be reading this because you thought you were being linked to a well written and informative “bounce house mania” website, I welcome you and hope you’ll enjoy your visit.

And finally….Crossings turned 1 year old yesterday. It was an excellent morning. It featured lots of excitement, cheesecake, great worship, a live broadcast video, living room stories, the kids city group providing music and scripture, a compelling message, and nearly 300 people there to be a part of it. The entire team, in all areas, did an awesome job making so many things happen yesterday, and it made for a truly incredibly anniversary.

a case of blogger’s block

I don’t really know what to write about. When I entered the blogosphere, I sort of made a commitment to myself that I would be honest, free my mind, and try my hardest not to go more than 3-4 days without a new post….the exceptions coming when I’m out of town and have no computer access.

But I’m starting to find it more difficult to come up with interesting things to write about. Almost like all my best thoughts and ideas have already spilled out, and there’s nothing left, which leaves me feeling much less introspective and insightful than I thought that I was.

Sometimes I’m not sure whether to blog about things going on in my life, or stick more to random thoughts/questions that I have about life, religion, people, the universe, etc. I don’t really want this blog to be a “diary”, but when I have nothing deeper to offer, it’s just easier to talk about going to the bounce house or taking a vacation.

So please hang with me as I attempt to think harder, delve deeper, search my soul, and continue to offer new posts, even if they’re not all terribly funny and thought provoking (not that they all were to begin with).

In the meantime, check out this meaningless, but funny, picture:

going dark…

I’m going dark for about 10 days. Vacation time.

You can read one of my very first posts for more details. I’m going to miss blogging while we’re gone. I don’t have a laptop, or web access on my phone, or an I-Phone, or enough desire to find some local Charleston library where I can log in and feed my blog addiction. So no new posts.

Please feel free to take this time to read all the old (well, all of 8 weeks old) stuff on here. If you haven’t yet, you’ll definitely get to know me better. Good thing? We’ll see. Have a great labor day…and I’ll see you on the 10th.