Student Quote -- #6

I say, "There are only 58 more days of school left."

The student says, "Oh man, that means that I have 58 more times to get up in the morning and be somewhere all day!"

...

I say (with enthusiasm), "And then when you are done, you get to do that for the rest of your life!"

Student says, "Just kill me now."


Other Student Quotes:
Student Quote -- #5
Student Quote -- #4
Student Quote -- #3
Student Quote -- #2
Student Quote -- #1

Student Quote -- #5

Overheard today:

"Some people just ain't got no vocabulary."

hmm...


Here are some other student quotes:
Student Quote -- #4
Student Quote -- #3
Student Quote -- #2
Student Quote -- #1

People

On February 27, 1974 People magazine hit the racks.

So I would like to wish a Happy Birthday to all the great people born on February 27, 1974!

Google Stuff

I love Google's Stuff. Here are some things that you may not have known about previously, but I would highly recommend.

• Google Calendar Tons of features with this one. I have my wife's calendar shared with mine, and I get notifications via e-mail and on my phone.
• Google Reader (much better than bloglines or any of the others, if you ask me)
• Google Docs and Spreadsheets Almost all of the same functionality as Word and Excel. Probably not quite as extensive, but it has almost everything that I would use, plus more. For example, you can publish your documents to the web or share them with multiple users.
• Gmail I don't think that I have received more than 10 spam messages in the past 2 years that I have been using Gmail. Their spam filters are amazing. Their are tons of other features that Gmail has that I haven't seen in any other e-mail before, so you should try it out if you haven't used it before.
• Google Talk Not as flashy as some of the other IM's out there, but I really like it, and it is getting better all of the time.
  
• Google Personalized Homepage You can put almost anything that you can imagine on the personalized homepage.
• Google Video Even though Google bought YouTube, I still like Google's version better.
• Google Notebook This is a new one, but I am getting used to it. I just installed a firefox extension that puts the notebook down at the bottom of the page.
• Blogger I don't care what anyone else says, I like blogger better than any of the other blog hosts out there.
• Google Gadgets Here are some gadgets that you can put on any web page.
• Google Toolbar I really love the Google tool bar. You can get it for firefox or ie. My favorite aspect is the bookmarks. It doesn't matter what computer I am at, I have the same bookmarks.
• Google Maps Also a favorite. When I was a truck driver, I would normally use mapquest, but I had to switch over to Google Maps because I kept entering addresses that mapquest didn't recognize, but Google would. If you really like that, you should check out Google Earth, then just for fun Google Mars and Google Moon.
  

There is a ton of other stuff that Google does, you should check out their Google labs.

the number 23 27

I have been avoiding posting about this for quite some time. I didn't want to mention this number 23 movie out of my own annoyance. Oh sure, those who know me best know that I probably freaked out a little when I first saw the trailer for this movie. It's resemblance to my life (if you leave out the psychotic killer part) is uncanny. Unfortunately they got the number wrong.

The number to watch isn't 23, although 23 is a very interesting number. The real number to keep your eye on is the number 27. They probably wanted to make a movie about the number 27, but decided it was a little too real, so they picked the next best thing. The number 27 is always lurking there though. Even if you try to focus on another number.

Let me give you a for example... Let's say that you wanted to talk about the axial tilt of the earth. Some might point out the 23° that is associated with it, but according to Wikipedia, the axial tilt is 23° 27'.

Even looking at this 23 movie, consider this preview that I found which mysteriously stops at 0:27, even though the length of the clip is 0:28.

Maybe you have noticed the fact that the movie is coming out on 02/23/07. Kinda silly that they decided to premier this movie on the 23rd, but did you notice that if you just list the month and the year... 02/07... That's right, a 27 is right there, surrounding, engulfing the 23.

Which, by the way, I am in no way trying to promote the viewing of this movie. I have not seen it, so I cannot speak for its content. I just thought that I would point out their mistake in choosing the wrong number to make a movie about.


Anyway, here is another short preview of the movie, if you haven't seen it.




(Notice that the clip is 31 seconds long. What is the number that is exactly half way between 23 and 31? You guessed it.)

Men in Church

I just read a post over at my good friend Rodney Olsen's blog with the title, "Why do men hate church?" After I read it, my first reaction was: hmm... I don't hate church. But I do know what he is talking about.

I can remember while I was growing up, I would notice that it was the women, for the most part, that were on the spiritual track. It was the women who seemed to be reading their Bibles and having the additional prayer times and Bible/book studies. The men were there and they were diligent with their different duties. They provided for their families, they took their turn doing parking lot duty, they helped paint on the work days, they never missed a moment when the doors were open... but even as a child I noticed that it didn't go much further than that.

So, when I entered adulthood and God in his great mercy reached down and jerked me out of my selfishness, I purposed in my mind that I would not be that way.

More recently, when I moved to Greenville (the buckle of the Bible belt) I set up a list of things that I would look for in a church. I knew that it would be a difficult task because I saw the great list of churches in the yellow pages... there were hundreds. But one of the things that made it on my list had to do with the men in the church. I want to see men that are truly spiritual, men who are leading, men who are open and honest. (All things that I struggle with myself.) And I am so thankful that I have found a place that is like that.

Just last night I went to Starbuck's with my friends Abe and Dave, from my shepherding group. We had a chance to talk together about what was going on in our lives, in our marriages, in our thoughts, etc. It was a good time, and I found myself being more honest with them than I have with any other men that I have ever known. In turn, they were very honest with me. Sometimes it seems a little odd to hear men who are spiritual talk about their struggles, but that accountability is what brings us to be more like Christ. Anyway, right in the middle of this talking, one of the guys said, "I just love going to church."

But loving church isn't something that comes from exteriors. It isn't about the music or the pews or the color of the wall paper. Even though the right elements in church can make it much easier to love being there, the truth is, the right attitude flows from the heart. We love or hate church based on what was already in us to begin with.

President's Day

I would like to thank Abe and George for having their birthdays so close together so that I could have the day off. I have a ton to get done and really needed an extra day to get it done. Thanks guys.