Month: April 2009

Tuesday Briefs

tuesdaybriefs

Late Tuesday edition…

highlight(s) of the week:
We had a great time helping host Fresha Peppa Cafe with Aaron and Keri this past Friday night. Laurie and I joined them and Tracy to host a “fancy” dinner for the Brian and Heather Treadaway. We had a lot of fun as Laurie was the paparazzi, Aaron was waiter Fredrico, I was Tiny the bus boy, Tracy was the local bar fly and Keri did most (if not all of the cooking). Lots

books i’m reading:
Still working on Gardening Eden by Michael Abbate’. So far its great! Need to get it finished so I can move on to several others waiting in the wings.

things that are annoying me:
Follower counts on Twitter. Like several others have suggested this week – I’d be totally cool if Twitter chose to remove the follower counts on the site. I could care less that you’re a movie star and have 1 million followers – and I could care less if you have 1,000 followers or 5,000 followers or however many. I’d like to think that Twitter’s not about a popularity contest. But of course if I had 1,000 followers too – who knows – I might catch myself braggin’ about it as well. 🙂

things I’m not looking forward to:
Laurie’s going to be spending some time out of town the next week or so for work. It might seem a little silly but we’ve never spent a full day apart since we’ve been married – two years next week. She’ll be gone tomorrow morning till Friday evening and then again two days next week – including our anniversary.

Of course I’m glad she’s getting these opportunities. She’s really thriving in her new job and I’m super proud and excited for her.

things I’m looking forward to:
Making sushi at home. While Laurie’s gone this week I’m going to console myself by trying my hand at making sushi. She’s definitely not a fan and not interested in trying it – so I’m going to try out my new “sushi for two” kit that I bought from Half Price Books last week.

The calorie counter

Been trying to get a lot better at tracking my calories. I feel like I do pretty good during the week and stay below my recommended 1900ish calories. However, the weekends tend to do me in.

We often end up eating with friends or family and I find it hard (and someone intrusive) to sit and try and figure out everything that’s going into the food I’m eating. Even harder when we do potluck for our community group each Saturday. Suffice to say, I usually track all I can on the weekend and then tag an extra 2-3k calories on top of that.

livestrong calories 04/21/09

It’s really amazing to see how many calories you ingest day to day. For example, my huge salad from Chili’s last night was 850 calories where as the roast beef sandwich I was given for lunch from Corner Bakery weighed in at 1000 calories. I did however check the Corner Bakery and saw that it reported the calories at 790. So of course I submitted the changes to Livestrong.com.

Either way – I would have to say I’m eating less as well as smarter now that I realize how quickly those calories add up (of course I guess the real judge is the scale and Laurie :-)).

WIN :: Gardening Eden

The view from our family's farm in Nebraska (circa 2004)

I’m right in the middle of reading Gardening Eden by Michael Abbaté. It’s a great timely read – especially with Earth Day on Wednesday.

I’ve got an extra copy of the book, so as a thank you to folks who read this blog, I’m giving away a copy of the book on Friday afternoon. Read the synopsis and then find out how to win below…

Before the snake, the apple, and the Ten Commandments, God created a garden, placed humans in it, and told them to take care of it.

“Spiritual environmentalism” did not start out as an oxymoron—it was an invitation. Yet today, many believe God’s original job description for humankind has been replaced by other worthier pursuits. So when did this simple instruction become so controversial? How does one sort through all the mixed messages? Is making the world a healthier place for the next generation really a responsibility—or even possible?

Gardening Eden is a new understanding of how the spiritual dimensions of life can find expression and renewal through caring for our incredible planet. Empowering, simple, and never polemical, Michael Abbaté outlines the Bible’s clear spiritual benefits of caring for creation, exploring new motivations and inspired ideas, and revealing the power of our basic connection to all people and living things through the growing interest in spiritual environmentalism.

Green living is no longer a fad—simple lifestyle solutions are now available to everyone. Gardening Eden shows readers how this shift transforms not only our world, but their very souls as they’re drawn into deeper harmony with the Creator. This book invites them to discover the powerful spiritual satisfaction of heeding the call to save our world.

To win:
All you have to do to enter is leave a comment sharing what you think about “spiritual environmentalism.” It can be a short response, a long response, pro or negative, just so long as you share your thoughts in the comment below. This contest will go until Friday afternoon @ 5pm (my time) and then a winner will be randomly chosen.

Easy cheesy. So what are you waiting for?

On the issue of gun control

gun control - http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmiked/232984651/

As you may have seen, I received an e-mail last week that bothered me a bit about gun control. I shared my response here on my blog.

I’ve received a couple good responses to the blog post via Facebook and on another blog.

Continue reading On the issue of gun control

JustOneDallas :: May 16th :: Life in Deep Ellum

JustOneDallas – May 16th – Life in Deep Ellum

Can’t wait!

justonedallas_front1

justonedallas_back

JustOne is a non profit organization that was formed to stimulate greater global awareness about extreme poverty, and to provoke compassionate ideas and intelligent giving in order to provide sustainable relief. We are a collective voice for the victims of social injustice––the one(s) living in geographical and situational poverty; the one(s) orphaned through death, disease and desertion; the one(s) trafficked into slavery throughout the world.

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How

Through our innovative development of resources, creative awareness campaigns, educational gatherings, speaking engagements and activist mobilization, JustOne provides reprieve to the marginalized and the oppressed.

We believe in an economy of enough that is established through the cooperative practice of sharing and redistribution. These practices are central to the Laundry Love Project, A Trashcan can Make a Difference and the Activist initiatives. We hope to see these initiatives expand throughout the US and overseas giving others the opportunity to be the enough for those living in localized poverty.

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Inclusion and Accountability

We are a social mercy foundation that exists to change universal issues of social injustice effecting millions of people regardless of race, culture, sex, age, or religion. We have an open policy partnership, meaning we will collaborate with a diversity of people(s) and organization(s) regardless of differences while holding to wisdom, discernment and the collective council that directs the mission and future of JustOne. The collective council comes through the Board of Directors and organizational Partners.

Want to take it a step further and help sponsor the event? Download our sponsorship info pdf.