Category Archives: Misc

Random and Miscellaneous thoughts

12 Great Gifts for Valentines Day

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To balance things out – here are 6 great gifts for women and 6 great gifts for men for valentine’s day.

Gifts for men:

  1. Tool – No, not the band.  PLEASE, not the band.  Any guy can use a new tool, be it screwdrivers or a joiner/planer.  Yes, guys think this is romantic.
  2. Fishing gear – Particularly on the coast, always a good choice.  What?  Your man doesn’t fish?  You know what they say “Give a man a fish, he eats once.  Teach a man to fish and he’ll spend his weekends with his buddies making up stories of the one that got away.”
  3. Bacon – Nothing says I love you down to your cholesterol clogged arteries than bacon.  Did you know there’s a bacon of the month club?
  4. Dark chocolate – Real men don’t want their chocolate all sweet and silky with fancy centers and delicate designs on top.  They want it dark, bitter, and in a plain wrapper.  Here’s an example.  Want some flavor?  Fine, add some chili powder.  That’s a man’s chocolate!
      Have to make a substitute for chocolate – after further review, the replay booth says “whole bean coffee and a good coffee grinder” is a better gift.  Or green coffee beans and popcorn popper, if your man is man enough to handle it.
  5. Tongs – Any man who cooks (and by cooking, I mean grilling or BBQing mainly) needs tongs.  You only grab a hot steak off a fire with your hands once before you realize that tongs are a good thing.
  6. Anything to make a fire with – A creme brule torch.  A propane burner.  An outdoor fire pit.  Man’s best friend may be his dog, but fire is his favorite toy.

Gifts for women

  1. Time – Best gift of all.  She wants to spend time with you.  I don’t understand it, but that’s why she loves you!
  2. Hand written love note – It doesn’t have to be long, but it does need to be sincere.  Think about the day you met.  Think about how much your love has grown.  Think about the little things she does for you.  Tell her you love her forever.  (But don’t steal from a song.  No one wants to read their note and hear a song in their head.)
  3. A day away – With you is best.  Alone or with friends works.  As long as the kids aren’t there you’re good.
  4. Chocolate – Good stuff.  Not that cheap stuff you get at Walgreens.  Something to be savored, not devoured.
  5. Her favorite flower – If it’s roses, fine.  But think hard – is there some other flower she likes?  Maybe a different color?  Maybe a different scent?  Look at her perfume and see if it has any flower scent to it – that’s a good hint.
  6. A snuggie – Ok, that’s only partly a joke.  Really – something warm, soft, and comfortable for her to wear is always a good choice.  Think cashmere.  Yes, it’s a lot for a sweater, but she’ll love it.
      Again, another substitute.  After consultation with my fairer half, she suggested this.  I think she may have been joking, but I’m not one to chance it.  It must be popular, because it’s already out of stock!

Top 12 Groundhog Day Movie Quotes

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In honor of my favorite useless holiday, I present these – my favorite 12 quotes from the Bill Murray 1993 classic – Groundhog Day.

  1. You wanna throw up here, or you wanna throw up in the car?  I think… both.
  2. Do you ever have déjà vu, Mrs. Lancaster? I don’t think so, but I could check with the kitchen.
  3. It’s the same thing your whole life: “Clean up your room. Stand up straight. Pick up your feet. Take it like a man. Be nice to your sister. Don’t mix beer and wine, ever.” Oh yeah: “Don’t drive on the railroad track.” Well, Phil, that’s one I happen to agree with.
  4. Come on, *all* the long distance lines are down? What about the satellite? Is it snowing in space? Don’t you have some kind of a line that you keep open for emergencies or for celebrities? I’m both. I’m a celebrity in an emergency.
  5. This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather.
  6. This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a rat. What a hype. Groundhog Day used to mean something in this town. They used to pull the hog out, and they used to eat it. You’re hypocrites, all of you!
  7. He… might be okay. [the truck explodes in a fireball] Well, no. Probably not now.
  8. If you gotta shoot, aim high. I don’t wanna hit the groundhog.
  9. You want a prediction about the weather, you’re asking the wrong Phil. I’ll give you a winter prediction: It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be grey, and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life.
  10. What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?
    Ralph: That about sums it up for me.
  11. Not bad… Mr. Connors, you say this is your first lesson? Phil: Yes, but my father was a piano *mover*, so…
  12. Well maybe the *real* God uses tricks, you know? Maybe he’s not omnipotent. He’s just been around so long he knows everything.

12 Great books that grow Faith

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A member who is on medical leave asked me recently to suggest some books to read to pass the daytime hours (when TV consists of news, talk shows, soap operas, or bad re-runs).  I thought I would answer his question and share 12 books that I have found that have helped me grow in faith and how to live that faith out in a positive way.

  1. The Call by Os Guinness – A great book for understanding that we are all called and how to fulfill our calling to serve Christ.
  2. Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster – The best and most approachable book on spiritual disciplines.
  3. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis – A classic that still speaks to the essentials of faith.
  4. Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell – Cutting edge and gets you thinking.  Will get you mad and make you think.
  5. The Jesus I Never Knew by Phillip Yancey – A great book about recapturing the biblical Jesus.
  6. Why I’m Not a Calvinist by Walls and Dongell – Written by two of my seminary professors.  A great philosophical answer to the prevailing Calvinist theology of the day.
  7. The Universe Next Door by Sire – Perfect for understanding the root differences between Christianity and other religions/philosophies.
  8. Jim and Casper go to Church by Henderson & Casper – A telling book of a journalist and and atheist who visit various churches.  Challenges us to ask if we are really reaching those we are called to reach.
  9. Lessons from a Sheepdog by Keller – Another classic that gives a shepherd’s insight into the Psalms.
  10. Wild at Heart by John Eldridge – Perfect for reviving the heart of a man for Christ.
  11. Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts by Parrott & Parrott – A great pre-marital resource, but also a good tune-up resource to see how you are living in relationship with your spouse.
  12. Hearing God by Dallas Willard – A great book on understanding God’s will.  Will transform your understanding of what God’s will is and how to seek it.

18 Tips on Starting a New Habit

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Great article courtesy of Life Hacker

Wouldn’t it be nice to have everything run on autopilot? Chores, exercise, eating healthy and getting your work done just happening automatically. Unless they manage to invent robot servants, all your work isn’t going to disappear overnight. But if you program behaviors as new habits you can take out the struggle.

With a small amount of initial discipline, you can create a new habit that requires little effort to maintain. Here are some tips for creating new habits and making them stick:

1. Commit to Thirty Days – Three to four weeks is all the time you need to make a habit automatic. If you can make it through the initial conditioning phase, it becomes much easier to sustain. A month is a good block of time to commit to a change since it easily fits in your calendar.

2. Make it Daily – Consistency is critical if you want to make a habit stick. If you want to start exercising, go to the gym every day for your first thirty days. Going a couple times a week will make it harder to form the habit. Activities you do once every few days are trickier to lock in as habits.

3. Start Simple – Don’t try to completely change your life in one day. It is easy to get over-motivated and take on too much. If you wanted to study two hours a day, first make the habit to go for thirty minutes and build on that.

4. Remind Yourself – Around two weeks into your commitment it can be easy to forget. Place reminders to execute your habit each day or you might miss a few days. If you miss time it defeats the purpose of setting a habit to begin with.

5. Stay Consistent – The more consistent your habit the easier it will be to stick. If you want to start exercising, try going at the same time, to the same place for your thirty days. When cues like time of day, place and circumstances are the same in each case it is easier to stick.

6. Get a Buddy – Find someone who will go along with you and keep you motivated if you feel like quitting.

7. Form a Trigger – A trigger is a ritual you use right before executing your habit. If you wanted to wake up earlier, this could mean waking up in exactly the same way each morning. If you wanted to quit smoking you could practice snapping your fingers each time you felt the urge to pick up a cigarette.

8. Replace Lost Needs – If you are giving up something in your habit, make sure you are adequately replacing any needs you’ve lost. If watching television gave you a way to relax, you could take up meditation or reading as a way to replace that same need.

9. Be Imperfect – Don’t expect all your attempts to change habits to be successful immediately. It took me four independent tries before I started exercising regularly. Now I love it. Try your best, but expect a few bumps along the way.

10. Use “But” – A prominent habit changing therapist once told me this great technique for changing bad thought patterns. When you start to think negative thoughts, use the word “but” to interrupt it. “I’m no good at this, but, if I work at it I might get better later.”

11. Remove Temptation – Restructure your environment so it won’t tempt you in the first thirty days. Remove junk food from your house, cancel your cable subscription, throw out the cigarettes so you won’t need to struggle with willpower later.

12. Associate With Role Models - Spend more time with people who model the habits you want to mirror. A recent study found that having an obese friend indicated you were more likely to become fat. You become what you spend time around.

13. Run it as an Experiment - Withhold judgment until after a month has past and use it as an experiment in behavior. Experiments can’t fail, they just have different results so it will give you a different perspective on changing your habit.

14. Swish – A technique from NLP. Visualize yourself performing the bad habit. Next visualize yourself pushing aside the bad habit and performing an alternative. Finally, end that sequence with an image of yourself in a highly positive state. See yourself picking up the cigarette, see yourself putting it down and snapping your fingers, finally visualize yourself running and breathing free. Do it a few times until you automatically go through the pattern before executing the old habit.

15. Write it Down – A piece of paper with a resolution on it isn’t that important. Writing that resolution is. Writing makes your ideas more clear and focuses you on your end result.

16. Know the Benefits - Familiarize yourself with the benefits of making a change. Get books that show the benefits of regular exercise. Notice any changes in energy levels after you take on a new diet. Imagine getting better grades after improving your study habits.

17. Know the Pain – You should also be aware of the consequences. Exposing yourself to realistic information about the downsides of not making a change will give you added motivation.

18. Do it For Yourself – Don’t worry about all the things you “should” have as habits. Instead tool your habits towards your goals and the things that motivate you. Weak guilt and empty resolutions aren’t enough.