Well, as I mentioned in the Tuesday Briefs this week, on Twitter several times, and on this week’s podcast – last night was sushi night at Casa de Blundell! Woot! Woot!
Now I’ve never been a huge sushi eater. I’ve had it a few times and liked it, but it always seems a bit overpriced to eat on a regular basis. So naturally, getting to eat it several times during our cruise – for free was amazing!
Continue reading Sushi night – take one
Growing up, there’s one thing I remember most about working with my dad during the summers. No matter what — the radio would be on and we’d work listening to Paul Harvey and the man behind the golden EIB microphone — Rush Limbaugh.
As I look back now, I’m not sure if it was hearing Rush day after day, or just being around the people we connected with, but by the time I read Rush’s first two books – I was sold on the idea that it truly a battle between us and them. Good vs. Evil. Honest conservatives against the lying, tree-hugging, liberals.
Listen to Rush each day and then throw in a couple hours of Bob Larson each day and you’ve got yourself one hell of an education about the world’s evil doers.
Now I’m not trying to down anyone for listening to Rush or Larson, I know plenty of fine folks who do, but over the years I’ve come to see that they no longer subscribe to my personal beliefs. And I can pretty much guarantee that it’s not that they’ve changed one bit – but I can definitely say that I have.
Ten years ago I might have picked up a book about environmentalism. I might have even tried reading some of it. Fifteen years ago I would have scoffed and pointed out all I knew about why environmentalist wackos were — well wackos.
Continue reading Gardening Eden :: why the church should care about environmentalism
“I can’t take the Eucharist and not be cognizant of the fact that I belong to a universal community.
I can’t take the Eucharist and not be cognizant of the fact that my primary allegiance is to God and to faith in Christ.
I can’t do that and then allow myself to go out and have another allegiance claim ultimacy in my life.
That is profoundly threatening if you start to think through the implications of what that looks like for the Christian who lives anywhere in the world.”
– Dr. Jeffrey C. Pugh referring to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology.
AMEN.
The other day I shared 50 Ways to Love Your Neighbor over at something beautiful. Small things that could be considered insignificant or average – but things that we don’t typically do on a daily basis.
Today’s a new day and a new list from Chris Guillebeau, who incidentally has really been inspiring me a lot lately with his blog.
He’s chosen to live a non-conforming non-average life and has a goal of visiting all 197 countries in the world before he turns 35. I believe today he hit the 108 mark as he landed in Haiti.
Chris shares 11 ways to be unremarkably average in his manifesto A Brief Guide to World Domination (a free pdf download).
1. Accept what people tell you at face value
2. Don’t question authority
3. Go to college because you’re supposed to, not because you want to learn something
4. Go overseas once or twice in your life, to somewhere safe like England
5. Don’t try to learn another language; everyone else will eventually learn English
6. Think about starting your own business, but never do it
7. Think about writing a book, but never do it
8. Get the largest mortgage you qualify for and spend 30 years paying for it
9. Sit at a desk 40 hours a week for an average of 10 hours of productive work
10. Don’t stand out or draw attention to yourself
11. Jump through hoops. Check off boxes.
Let’s see I can check off 3, 5, 6 and maybe 7 (I’ve written the book – just taking my time too much time editing it), 8 and 9. Maybe even 11. Sounds like I’m still living a pretty average life. What do you think?
Is that good or bad? Do you see yourself in this list?
photo by dno1967
UPDATE: Order Chris’ new book:
For your viewing enjoyment – tonight’s bike ride.
10 miles in just under 50 minutes.
For the record – 342 is ALL uphill! Doh!
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.