Your Career Personality: Empathetic, Loyal, and People-Oriented

Your Ideal Careers: Chef Corporate trainer Designer Events Coordinator Librarian Politician Psychologist Small Business Owner Social Worker Teacher

The Quick and Dirty Career Test

Reconsilosec

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Hatip: aka Pastor Guy, Body Piercing Saved My Life and Think Christian

Global Rich List

I'm the 59,805,858 richest person on earth! Discover how rich you are! >>

I've said before that I feel blessed to be an American, and websites like this illustrate just how blessed I am. I feel humbled with this knowledge because I have done relatively little to earn such wealth and privilege (we don't choose the country of our birth). Living in America, it is easy to get caught up in the materialistic trap of comparing ourselves with others who have more. But the Bible and Christ compel me to to look in the other direction and see just how much I already have compared to the rest of the world. I pray that I use the resources at my disposal wisely.

Sealand for Sale

No its not a water park. It's a sovereign principality (micronation), and according to FoxNews, it's for sale. The "island" was originally built by the British Navy 6 miles off the English coast during WWII. After the war, it was abandoned in international waters. During the 1960s, an entrepreneur moved in and claimed sovereignty - much to chagrin of the British government. Read more of the fascinating history at the official Sealand website and at Wikipedia.

How cool is that? So if anyone wants to loan me a few hundred million dollars, I'd be much obliged ;-)

Is Harry Potter great literature?

I consider myself a fan of JK Rowling's Harry Potter series (I've read each of the books and watched the movies). However, I've always thought of the series as just children's literature and fun summer vacation reading - almost a guilty pleasure.

Thanks to the Hogwarts Professor, I'll won't feel guilty anymore. Check out what he has to say about the literary (and even spiritual) value of the series and his speculation on the 7th and final book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Warning this blog says its for the "serious reader of Harry Potter" and much of what he says may make your brain hurt (no pain, no gain).

hat tip: Filmchat

Fatherhood

Fatherhood is like an extreme sport. There are perils to avoid, fears to overcome, challenges to meet, sacrifices to be made, and disciplines to learn, but the rewards do equal the challenges: tickle fights, playtime with lincoln logs, plenty of hugs and kisses, giggles, being a human jungle gym, and squeals of delight when I get home from work.

Music Geek: My Listening Habits

I've been a music geek for a long time, and with the addition of an iPod and iTunes in 2005, I've gone overboard. One of my favorite features in iTunes is the play count. So here is an analysis of my Top 100 Most Played Songs from the past 18 months (current iTunes count: 1714 songs).

Top 10 Most Played Songs (play count)
1. God Be Merciful To Me - Jars of Clay (41)
2. Runnin' Down a Dream - Tom Petty (38)
3. Desire - U2 (35)
4. Pride - U2
5. Get Me Ready - Lost Dogs (33)
6. Invitacion Fountain - The Violet Burning
7. Our Love Is Loud - David Crowder (32)
8. It's Love - King's X
9. Oh Lord My God - Neal Morse
10. Vertigo - U2

Top Ten Artists/Bands* (songs /total play count)
1. U2 (10/295)
2. Lost Dogs (7/168)
3. Daniel Amos (7/163)
4. The Violet Burning (5/138)
5. The Seventy Sevens (5/135)
6. The Choir (5/123)
7. Jars of Clay (4/120)
8. David Crowder (4/115)
9. Switchfoot (3/84)
10. Chris Tomlin (3/79)
*Top 10 artists/bands represent 53% of Top 100

Top Ten Albums (songs/total play count)
1. Redemption Songs - Jars of Clay (4/120)
2. MTV New Wave Hits (4/102)
3. The Lost Cabin and the Mystery Trees - Lost Dogs (4/100)
4. Passion: Our Love Is Loud (3/89)
5. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - U2 (3/84)
6. A Collision - David Crowder Band (3/83)
7. This Is The Moment - The Violet Burning (3/75)
8. Napoleon Dynamite Soundtrack (3/73)
9. Oh How the Mighty Have Fallen - The Choir (3/69)
10. Faith and Devotions of a Satellite Heart - The Violet Burning (2/63)
**Top 10 albums represent 32% of Top 100

By Decade (songs)
1950s (1)***
1960s (1)***
1970s (2)
1980s (27)
1990s (28)
2000s (41)
***Johnny Cash

Top Five Years (songs/total play count)
1. 2005 (11/299)
2. 1992 (7/168)
3. 2003 (6/164)
4. 1990 (6/164)
5. 2002 (6/160)

and finally here's my
Top Ten Most Played Songs of 2006 (play count)
1. Get Me Ready - Lost Dogs (33)
2. Lutheran Hymn - Greg Adkins (23)
3. That's Where Jesus Is - Lost Dogs
4. Control - Mute Math
5. Devil's Elbow - Lost Dogs (22)
6. The Lost Cabin & The Mystery Trees - Lost Dogs
7. Pray Where You Are - Greg Adkins (21)
8. Typical - Mute Math
9. Broken Like Brooklyn - Lost Dogs (20)
10. Only One Bum In Corona Del Mar - Lost Dogs

Christmas Kids

I thought Christmas Day would never come

But it's here at last, so mom and dad, the waiting's finally done

And you gotta get up, you gotta get up, you gotta get up

It's Christmas morning....

Did my sister get a baby doll? Did my brother get his bike?

Did I get that red wagon, the kind that makes you fly?

Oh, I hope there'll be peace on earth

I know there's good will toward men

On account of that Baby born in Bethlehem

(Copyright 1993 Rich Mullins)


The presents are under the tree, the cinnamon rolls are in the oven, grandma is making final preparations and my girls are not so patiently waiting for everyone else to wake up, arrive or get off the computer. The house is alive with anticipation. It's Christmas morning and I hope you this post finds you in similar circumstances. May you have a blessed and joyful day.

The Movie List

Since I saw so few of this year's films (six!), I'll start by posting the top ten movies I'm glad I missed in 2006:
1. An Inconvenient Truth
(the prequel to The Day After Tomorrow or "the day before the day after tomorrow")
2. The Da Vinci Code
(too much hype and one really bad hair cut)
3. Snakes on a Plane
(ophidiophobia)
4. Little Man
(someone actually thought this would be a good idea?)
5. All the King's Men /Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector
(southerners behaving badly+bad accents + sean penn)
6. Facing the Giants
(poor writing, poor production, altar call ending - yep its a "christian film")
7. RV
(robin williams is no longer funny)
8. The Shaggy Dog / Zoom / Santa Claus III
(tim allen needs a new agent)
9. Hostel
(sadistic torture as entertainment - not for me)
10. The Ringer / Jackass 2
(johnny knoxville takes lowbrow to new depths)

honorable mention:
Deck the Halls, Basic Instinct 2, The Benchwarmers, Stick It, Poseidon


Now here's my ranking of films I did see this year:
1. Hoodwinked
(first rate animation, hilarious off-kilter humor, and a cool soundtrack!)
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
(a fun popcorn flick with a cliffhanger ending)
3. End of the Spear
(a well produced film with a fresh perspective on a story that I've grown up with)
4. Curious George
(fun family fare and gorgeous "old school" animation)
5. Eight Below
(average disney feel good film)
6. Mission: Impossible III
(a better drama than the previous two, but the stunts felt old and tom cruise feels old)


Finally, based on trailers & reviews these are the top ten movies of 2006 that I haven't seen yet:
1. Letters from Iwo Jima / Flags of Our Fathers
(as a world war II junkie, i am ashamed to even admit that i haven't seen these yet)
2. United 93 / World Trade Center
(there's really no good excuse why i haven't seen these either)
3. Cars
(pixar = quality)
4. Sophie Scholl
(a film about the anti-Nazi resistance movement The White Rose)
5. Casino Royale
(i do enjoy a good Bond flick and this one has gotten mostly raves)
6. Over the Hedge
(looks like the best non pixar animated film of the year **UPDATE** we watched this on Christmas Day and really enjoyed it)
7. Wordplay
(this documentary got rave reviews and looks fun + my wife is a bit of a word geek)
8. Lady in the Water
(this film got mixed reviews, but i've liked Shyamalan's other films and my father raved about this one)
9. Marie Antoinette
(historical bio-pic with rock music soundtrack and the French lose in the end - what's not to like about that)
10. X-Men: The Last Stand / Superman Returns
(i loved the first two X-men flicks and have watched a lot of Smallville this year)

Honorable mention: The Pursuit of Happyness, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Inside Man, Thank You for Smoking, A Prairie Home Companion, Nacho Libre, Barnyard, Jesus Camp, The Last King of Scotland, Stranger Than Fiction, Fast Food Nation