The Reality of Sleeping

22 Jan , 2009 No Comments

I was reading through one of my issues of Wired Magazine and read an article called “Three Smart Things about Sleeping Late.” If you know me, you’ll have no surprise at why I’d be interested in this. They listed three benefits to staying up late and sleeping in. So, if you are a crazy morning person (aren’t all morning people crazy?) then spend some time processing through the following realities that Daniel Dumas points out in the magazine…

  1. You may need more sleep than you think. (Research by Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Disorders Center found that people who slept eight hours and then claimed they were “well rested” actually performed better and were more alert if they slept another two hours. Until the invention of the lightbulb the average person slumbered 10 hours a night.)
  2. Night owls are more creative. (Artists, writers, and coders typically fire on all cylinders by crashing near dawn and awakening at the crack of noon. In one study, “evening people” almost universally slam-dunked a standardized creativity test. Their early-bird-brethren struggled for passing scores.)
  3. Rising early is stressful. (The stress hormone cortisol peaks in your blood around 7 a.m. So if you get up then, you may experience tension.)
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Top 60 Church Blogs

21 Jan , 2009 No Comments

Kent Shaffer, from churchrelevance.com, recently did some internet research and determined the top 60 church blogs. If you are wondering what other people are reading or if you’re looking for some new sites to broaden your horizons than check out his list.

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A Bible for Your Hand

20 Jan , 2009 No Comments

picture-1On this historic day in our history as a nation, I find it fascinating that Obama will be using the same Bible that Lincoln used for his inauguration in 1861. I have to admit, I am getting more and more curious to see how he turns out as a President. He certainly has an opportunity to leave his mark upon history.

Click here to see a site that shows the Bibles used for different inaugurations throughout history and which verses they were opened to. Thanks to Zach for finding it.

My favorite was Reagan’s selection for both of his inaugurations:

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

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Netflix vs Blockbuster

15 Jan , 2009 No Comments

I’ve had the Blockbuster online movie rental membership for over a year now and I thought that they had delivered the final death blow to Netflix and any other competitors. In addition to getting DVDs in the mail, you can also exchange them instantly at any Blockbuster store. Can’t get much better than that right? Wrong.


Netflix added a new feature where in addition to getting DVDs in the mail, you can now watch a handful of movies instantly on your computer, or if you have an Xbox, you can watch them instantly on your TV. Shazam. And since I am an Xbox man myself, I decided to try it out. Needless to say, I’ve cancelled my Blockbuster subscription and am now a Netflix convert. They are updating their instant movie queue to catch up with all the movies out, so it will probably take awhile until all movies are available instantly. But when they do, Blockbuster better get creative and come up with something revolutionary. It turns out that competition really is good for the consumer.

Click here to see about Netflix’s program.

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An Amazing Story

14 Jan , 2009 No Comments

In case you haven’t seen the commercial telling the story of Norma McCorvey, aka Jane Roe, please watch this video. Her situation changed how our entire country operates (perhaps you’ve ever heard of Roe v. Wade?) and now her story has an amazing new twist. You can find out more at virtuemedia.org

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A Day in Politics

13 Jan , 2009 No Comments

Yesterday was a bizarre day. In a good way. My Dad was asked to give the invocation at the opening of the Arizona 49th State Legislature. He agreed to do it and asked me if I wanted to come with him. So I dug out my dress clothes, put on a tie, and went with him into the unknown.

I say the unknown because neither one of us really had any idea what to expect. I confess, I’m not the most seasoned political mind out there and so I honestly had no idea what awaited us. The only instructions we had were that we were supposed to meet up with someone named Kirk Adams when we got there.

We soon discovered that yesterday was the day that Kirk Adams (pictured right) became the new Speaker of the House. Surprise #1. Apparently, he personally selected my Dad to give the opening prayer. Surprise #2. We then made our way into the floor of the House of Representatives (the picture above) and realized that we were sitting with Speaker of the House Kirk Adams’ family. Surprise #3. I was sitting next to his young daughter Emma and was laughing to myself as I realized that we were right in the middle of the action. His family was absolutely amazing to us. Very welcoming, sincere, and fun. A testament to what they’ve been through recently.

Once the event kicked off I realized how out of my element I really was. My Dad did the prayer (which he nailed, if it is possible to “nail” a prayer). There I sat, amidst the Speaker of the House’s personal guest section, as I glanced around to see people I recognized like Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Attorney General Terry Goddard. Janet Napolitano would speak later in the day. The most humorous element to me of the whole experience is that people were trying to figure out who I was (my Dad was sitting a row in front of me–as a result, it wasn’t obvious that we were together). They knew who my Dad was because he had given the prayer, but they looked at me like I was some secret celebrity that they just couldn’t seem to recognize. After all, look where I was sitting! At one point, the Mayor of Phoenix walked by me and gave me a little pat to acknowledge that clearly I was someone to be acknowledged. If they only knew…

Look for me in the pictures from Monday’s State Legislature, I just might be in them.

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