Dimly Lit

One thing I’ve got to say about the whole Emergent Church/hip Christian/whatever box or category is the latest thing to call them crowd, is that for the most part they really seem to have a good sense of humor.

Apparently some guy named Mark Coppenger read Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz and didn’t like it too much. I haven’t read the book, in fact I find it really hard to read anything lately besides Spiderman comics and stories about Knights - but that’s beside the point. However this response over at the Burnside Writers Collective is pretty funny. In my opinion. If you think otherwise, well… I guess you think otherwise.

Mark Coppenger Read Blue Like Jazz and Now He’s Mad!

Back in the beginning of January I posted a list of, what I thought were achievable goals for this year. Now, 4 months into it, I’ve read a grand total of…1 book! Have been posting less, but certainly not better and certainly not once per week. And I’m as unorganized as ever. Oh, yeah and it looks like my chances of going to a Cardinals game are pretty slim (3^rd highest ticket prices in the majors!).

If I were to follow my normal pattern, I’d look at these things and decide it’s not worth it, I’m giving up – I’ve failed already after a mere 4 months. But I’m trying to learn, trying to improve upon my past here and so I’m going to try to get back on track. Or, if not back on track, at least I can try to learn a little something about myself.

I’m realizing more and more that my scatter-brained lack of any organization skills can tend to hurt my family and prevent me from doing many of the things I would like. I’ve always chalked it up to being more of a right-brained, laid-back person, but lately I’ve begun to wonder if there isn’t also a good deal of old-fashioned laziness involved as well. The table below shows a comparison between right and left brain functions.

I’ve always considered myself to be more on the right-brained side of things, but that may be due to my desire to be an artist type. I’ve also tended, sub-consciously for the most part, to use that as an excuse for my general lack of organization and laissez-faire attitude.

Whatever the case I decided to take an online test over at Tickle.com. If you’re not familiar with Tickle, they have all kinds of online tests that you can take, and many of them are fairly good, not just cheap, cheesy, Internet joke tests. I came across one that supposedly tests which hemisphere is your strongest. You can then purchase a paper that tells you all about how that can effect your life. I didn’t purchase the paper, but according to the test I am…Balance-brained!

Ron, you are Balanced-brained

That means you are able to draw on the strengths of both the right and left hemispheres of your brain, depending upon a given situation.

When you need to explain a complicated process to someone, or plan a detailed vacation, the left hemisphere of your brain, which is responsible for your ability to solve problems logically, might kick in. But if you were critiquing an art opening or coming up with an original way to file papers, the right side of your brain, which is responsible for noticing subtle details in things, might take over.

While many people have clearly dominant left- or right-brained tendencies, you are able to draw on skills from both hemispheres of your brain. This rare combination makes you a very creative and flexible thinker.

The down side to being balanced-brained is that you may sometimes feel paralyzed by indecision when the two hemispheres of your brain are competing to solve a problem in their own unique ways.

So, there’s a nice stroke to the ol’ ego - I’m a “creative and flexible thinker”! Honestly, I don’t put much stock in this. After all I certainly don’t feel particularly balanced most of the time! And if anything I think the paralysis mentioned in the last paragraph describes me better.

Really, no matter how my brain works, if I don’t pay the bills on time, I’m hurting my family. And there’s the rub. I’m 35. I need to figure out how to live in this real world of adults.

I’ve always felt a certain amount of disdain for the self-help books that are out there - in fact, I’ve pretty much avoided them like the plague. I still think that a vast majority of what is published in this genre is complete and utter garbage. But I’m also fairly sure that there is some good stuff out there that can actually help me out.

There are a ton of resources and books available on time-management and organization. Probably the most popular book out right now, and the one I’m going to start with is David Allen’s Getting Things Done : The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. Beyond that as a starting place I’m not sure where to go. If anyone out there is reading this and has suggestions or similar struggles, I’d love to hear from you.

I’ll try to keep things updated here as I work on this.

Hat tip to Lifehacker for this tidbit:

State treasury offices have unclaimed funds websites. A great directory for the site can be found here. It is legit, apparently Dateline did a story on it recently. I just did it and may very well have found a little something that’s waiting for me in the treasurer’s office!

Good luck!

Every year spring brings warmth, new leaves, flowers and the inevitable stories about Jesus, or how Jesus wasn’t really the Jesus we think he was. This year is no different and along with the soon to be released movie version of the DaVinci Code, it turns out that there was apparently a “Gospel of Judas” that makes some startling claims. There’s even a “Lost Gospel” supersite that National Geographic has put together.

This is sure to get some serious play in the media during this season. I fully expect to see some Time cover story on how Judas was really Jesus’ bestest friend forever and it was just those mean ol’ bullies like Peter and Paul that set out to change the story.

I have to admit, I’m never quite sure what to do with these things. Yes it’s a really old manuscript. Yes, it’s interesting in an historical sense, but it always amazes me how much immediate credence is given to these new gospels when they are discovered. They are treated immediately as, not just historical curiosities, but as completely true and evidence against orthodox faith. Nevermind the fact that the church has been fighting heresy since it’s inception and so it should come as no surprise to find documents that seem to tell a different story than that found in the New Testament.

Whatever the case, I better read up on it since I’m pretty sure one of my co-workers will come across this story eventually and point it out as yet another reason the bible can’t be trusted.

With all due respect - I appreciate a good run on a record in baseball as much as the next guy. What Jimmy Rollins is doing is pretty cool, and I’d actually like to see him get the hitting streak record. But in all honesty, he still has a long way to go and his hits aren’t helping his team win, so why do all the headlines from the series with the Cards loudly proclaim something along the lines of “Rollins extends his streak!” instead of “Pujols blasts another in Cards victory!” or “Molina comes through in the clutch!”?

Sometimes you start to feel like Rodney Dangerfield.

I don’t often post pictures of my wonderful family, but as I mentioned in the previous post, there have been some significant things going on, and I feel a little bad that I haven’t written about it yet. And since a picture is worth a thousand words…

I’ll use this to introduce you all to the newest member of our little family. No, he doesn’t have a name yet and yes, he is a he. Needless to say, we are all excited! Max is very eager to meet “Baby Brother” and talks to him often as he demonstrates how to shoot rockets, or ride his black stallion (also known as the back of our couch). Hannah is every bit the wonderful big sister and is looking forward to a little one to hold. Melissa and I are eager to meet this new little person and get to know him and his unique personality. Prayers are appreciated as we are now into the 3rd trimester!

Due date = June 23